the most beloved | patrochilles au | boyxboy

but, death? really?

grow up - paramore

h e c t o r
" open your hearts and find your wild. " - atticus

To say that Paris was terrified would have been an understatement. He didn't fight like his brother, he wasn't into fist fights, and he certainly didn't want to have one with one of the toughest guys in school. Hector had of course beaten him up over the fact that he'd been dumb enough to sleep with Helen, but Paris didn't think it'd come to this. Not to being face to face with Menelaus in the the baseball field after school.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you, you know that right?" Menelaus threatened, sizing Paris up. Paris gulped, not really wanting to die.

"I feel like that's a bit extreme, I mean - "

"You had sex with my girlfriend," Menelaus cut Paris off, raising his eyebrows. Paris heard some kid in the crowd around them mutter a "He's got a point."

"But, death, really? And Helen hasn't really been taking sides, has she? Like, does she like you or me, who knows?" Paris was trying to defend himself. Note trying.

That's when the first punch was thrown, Menelaus' fist colliding with Paris' face, knocking the shorter boy backwards, tripping over his feet. His hand flew up to his jaw, glaring at Menelaus. He brought his hand into a fist, lunging and swinging at Menelaus, missing his face but hitting his shoulder, making Menelaus wince a bit. But not enough to keep him from swinging a second time, his fist hitting the other side of Paris' this time. Paris fell to the ground, feeling the impact of Menelaus' fist hit his chest now, and he knew his nose was bleeding, and his elbows were too.

Until Menelaus was no longer swinging, and the shouts from the crowd had gotten louder. Paris slowly sat up in the dirt, seeing his brother grabbing Menelaus, but being pushed down into the dirt and punched in the process. Hector tried grabbing Menelaus' arms, but the bigger boy kneed him in the stomach too fast. Hector was now looking worse than his brother and -

"Mr. Atrides!" a female voice came shrieking from the gate to the baseball field. Menelaus stopped what he was doing to look where the voice came from, seeing Mrs. Dite standing there, fists balled at her sides. The crows of teenagers had grown silent now, and Hector was breathing heavily on the ground, his nose pouring out blood. "I'd like you to quickly come with me to sort yourself out, and you two as well!"

All three boys got off of the ground, bloody and bruised, exchanging glances. Paris looked to the ground, avoiding both Menelaus' and his brother's gazes. Apparently their ideas that all staff would be gone by this hour was completely wrong.

- - -

"Oh, he's fucked," Achilles stated, eating a French fry and looking at Patroclus and Odysseus. He'd been there during the fight the day before, with Patroclus by his side, seeing all of the bloody fight first hand. "Like, Paris is going to get stabbed in the out-of-order bathroom on the second floor."

"I think it's stupid, them fighting this much. And I mean, what's Helen even doing? I saw her in English but that's it. And she's barely involved," Patroclus said, drinking from his water bottle. "It's just so exhausting."

"You know what's exhausting?" Odysseus said, holding up his finger, "the track practice exercises that Coach has set out for us. He sent out the email about the upcoming season and holy shit."

Achilles frowned. "Not looking forward to that. But I am looking forward to beating you this year. Again."

"Pat, control your cocky boyfriend," Odysseus said, giving a laughing Achilles a blank stare. Patroclus froze a bit.

"Ha ha, you're so funny," he said stiffly. Patroclus devoted the next few minutes to listening to Odysseus and Achilles argue and drinking his water.

Because he really didn't know what the hell was going on with him and Achilles. They'd kissed twice now, and brushed it off like no big deal. But it was a big deal and maybe he wanted it to be a big deal but all he ever did when Achilles and him were mentioned together was freeze and ignore the comment. He didn't have time for this shit, not with senior year, Helen drama, and Achilles goddamn eyes.

"Right, Pat?" Achilles' voice broke into his thoughts. Patroclus looked at the boy in front of him, a bit confused.

"Sorry, what?"

"You're coming to the first rack meet?"

"Oh, oh yeah. Duh, c'mon, who do you think I am?" he laughed a bit.

Odysseus laughed a little before picking up his trash and getting up. "Lovesick."

- - -

"Hey, Achilles?" Patroclus asked, laying down on his best friend's bed that afternoon after school. Achilles looked up from his math textbook, brushing the hair out of his face.

"Yeah?"

"Um," Patroclus looked up at the ceiling for a second, "what's - what are we?"

"Last time I checked, human beings."

Patroclus sighed. "No, like, we've kissed twice and I just..."

Achilles looked down for a second as his best friend trailed off before replying. "I don't know, Pat."

"Just - just tell me if you actually like me or if you just like my face because those are two totally different things. Because if you don't, I totally get that because you're like this huge track star and I cry under too much pressure, sl that's understandable. And I mean, sure I like you, who doesn't? Shit, I said that out loud," Patroclus covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes wide, realizing what he had just said. Achilles cracked a smile.

"You're too good for this world, you know that right?" he stated, getting up from his chair and going to sit next to
Patroclus. "You don't deserve the way your dad yells at you all the time, and I don't deserve to have you as my best friend. I like the way that you get excited for airings of 90's movies and how you get all these freckles in the summer."

Achilles paused for a moment, not sure if he wanted to say what he was about to say next. It'd never been this hard for him, but most of the time the people only wanted one night stands and popularity. Patroclus didn't need either, nor did he beg for them.

"And I most definitely, really like you too."

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a/n : school and life have been so consuming lately, but i wanted to get out another chapter, so i hope you all enjoyed this one !

- ash