" my patroclus. "
First grade, that's when it all started. When the boy with the ridiculous name and messy, blond hair ran into another boy with a ridiculous name and tanned, ebony skin. They grew jointed at the hip, one was only seen with the othe...
" you will never be lovelier than you are now." homer, the iliad
"Are you ready yet?" Patroclus said outside of Achilles' bedroom. He'd been waiting for thirty minutes since he arrived at Achilles' house, sitting on the floor in his suit. He looked at himself in Achilles' body mirror that hung on the back of his bedroom door. He'd gotten ready at Penelope's house, knowing full well he'd mess something up on his own. She'd convinced him to allow her to put eyeshadow on him. At this point he didn't really care what he looked like for Homecoming. Homecoming was stupid, yes, and anticlimactic in every way. But in light of all of the drama at school, people seemed more interested in going this year to actually try and live like teenagers and not war mongers. "I think Briseis is already there... with Ag apparently. Hm. Should've seen that one coming, honestly."
"I told you, I'm working on it!" Achilles' voice came from behind the door. He was shuffling around his room, trying to rid his suit of any wrinkles. He was way more nervous than he needed to be, and he wasn't sure if it was because he was going with Pat or if Hector could be waiting to jump him in the parking lot. He looked in his mirror, patting down his hair, which was sticking out in every direction. "Dammit!"
"You look fine."
"How do you know? You can't even see me," Achilles snapped back, knocking over three bottles of hair product in the process. "Forget it, let's go."
"I don't even see why you worry, you always look fine, you idiot."
"You had to pull knots out of my hair yesterday."
"Well maybe if you bothered owning a brush that wouldn't be a problem, would it?"
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He opened the door, almost tripping over Pat in the doorway. He looked down, smiling. "You look good."
Patroclus stood up, facing his boyfriend. Boyfriend. He didn't go to homecoming the junior year, but sophomore year he'd gone with some girl that had asked him on a whim during English class. He'd said yes of course. Kissed her in the parking lot afterwards. Didn't really speak to her much the rest of the year. "You too. I, uh, I don't have one of those corsages... they were all sold out by the time I went to the store. Well, all three grocery stores."
Achilles rolled his eyes, grabbing the sides of Pat's face and kissing him. "I don't care. C'mon, let's go before my mom tries to take our picture and force me to smile with my teeth."
- - -
"It's about time!" Penelope turned to see Achilles and Patroclus walking up to her and Odysseus. "You missed Mr. Dion spiking the punch and then getting kicked out."
Achilles shrugged, "yeah I can see that happening. Have you guys seen Bri - never mind."
Briseis was currently in the middle of the dance floor, dancing far too close for comfort with Agamemnon. Crowds of other kids surrounded them, all half dancing, half grinding with each other, and even the teacher chaperones had given up on trying to split couples up. Some were probably doing their own grinding in an empty upstairs classroom. Because they sure as hell didn't get paid enough to watch hormonal teenagers dance to a Top 40 songs playlist curated by Spotify and that required the least amount of swear words.
