Chapter Text
It was too cliche, liking the star football player who was perfect in all ways; Flowing blonde hair that curls in just the right way around the ears, a smile that can calm any argument, it’s not even fair that he can play the guitar and the piano and probably any other instrument you give him, and no question about perfect grades and hopes to join the military. There was no way that this guy could be anything less than a god. His name was even beautiful: Achilles.
A quick slap of a hand jolted Patroclus out of his worshipping, “You’re staring again.”
There was no way that Patroclus could have survived transferring into a new school halfway through his sophomore year without his best friend Briseis. She made all of the teasing that immediately met him fizzle out to a few words of ‘homo’ or something along those lines here and there. She was used to defending against ignorant people with all the stupid comments about her hijab, but it gave Patroclus a relief to have a friend on his side.
“Why don’t you go ask him out or something instead of spending all your free time staring at him?”
Patroclus, although his complexion was quite dark, turned bright red, “I c-that’s just not-No! Do you see who he hangs out with? Do you see who he is ? What about his PERFECTION makes you think he would want to go out with me?”
A cat like grin spread across her face, “The fact that he’s walking over here right now with none of his friends and his hands in his pocket in his whole ‘I’m too cool to be with these people but I’m going to be humble about it’ look.”
It took all of his willpower not to whip around and gape at the obvious, loud footsteps of the iconic dock martens slapping against the worn out tile of the school. A rush of panic ran through Patroclus as Briseis started to walk away, trying to hold back a cackle. His legs wouldn’t work to run after her, petrified with fear, and he knew she wouldn’t let him anyways.
“You’re Patroclus, right?”
Patroclus sighed and turned around, “Yeah, and you’re Achilles,” There was a second of awkward silence between them as it looked like Achilles tried to gather his words, “Why exactly are you talking to me?”
Achilles ran a strong, large hand through his wavy locks, not making eye contact with Patroclus, “So my dad straight up doesn’t believe I’m bi, like there’s no way I could be a starter on the football team and like guys, so I thought the best way to do that would be get a boyfriend, and you’re really cool. So this was a long way to say: will you go out with me?”
“That’s the shittiest way to ask someone out I’ve ever heard. You just want me as a cover?”
“No. I-shit that’s not what I meant. I meant that that’s what gave me the idea to come over. I’ve like you for a while but-”
Before Achilles could even finish Patroclus was already three rows of lockers down the hall, back turned to him with awkward strides to get away and find Briseis to tell her all about that complete catastrophe of a first conversation.
“Well that was the worst rejection I’ve ever seen.” The strong hand of Odysseus slapped down on Achilles’ shoulder, “And I dated Calypso, the hot mess that she is. More mess than hot, and that’s saying a lot.”
“By ‘dated’ you mean you slept with her while Penelope was doing her semester abroad in Greece? I don’t even know why a smart girl like her puts up with an ass like you.”
“You shouldn’t be one to talk.”
Odysseus turned away with a booming laugh as Achilles’ shoulders sag in even more defeat. If Patroclus wasn’t going to take his words, he’d just have to show him.
“Why would you turn him down? You’ve been waiting for that exact scenario for like half a year!”
“In all of my waiting, I’ve been hoping it was genuine and not, you know, wanting to impress his dad .”
“What does that matter? He said he liked you before. Why not just go for it?”
“He’s probably just lying to get in my pants.”
“I doubt it.”
Patroclus stopped walking when he saw that Briseis had. He looked at her oddly over his tray of food. They were in the middle of walking over to their favorite lunch table in the far back with a few other friends, a few people that Briseis and Patroclus tried to save together. Patroclus looked away from his friend to the direction Briseis was nodding her head towards. He was met with the sight of Achilles staring directly at him juggling 8 pears, all of his friends around him laughing and cheering him on.
Patroclus couldn’t help but crack a smile at how ridiculous it was to watch him work like a dog running in circles. That smile must have been exactly what Achilles was looking for because his hand stopped and all the pears came raining down on his friends, some smashing hard onto the table. One landed particularly hard on his head, and he had to duck away from all of his friend’s teasing.
Although he looked like an idiot, Patroclus couldn’t help but catch his breath as Achilles looked up through his thick lashes at Patroclus with a coy smirk across his face. Patroclus turned to Briseis, pink spreading across his cheekbones, “We should go sit down.”
With a chuckle Briseis said, “Are you not going to go congratulate your loverboy. I heard that to train a dog you need to use positive reinforcement.”
“He’s not my loverboy.”
“And I was really hoping that trick would pull you over.” An out of breath voice, properly from running over from across the cafeteria, came up behind him, accompanied by strong arms in a loose grip around his hips.
Patroclus spun around, slightly mad at the assumption he’d want to be touched so intimately by someone who was practically a complete stranger, “You’ll have to do a lot more than juggle a couple pears to impress me.”
Achilles’ air of confidence immediately dropped, “What exactly do you want me to do for you, because I’d do anything! Please just tell me!”
“That’s for you to figure out, not for me to tell you”
“I can’t believe we still live in a society where you can be banned from doing something because of your sexuality or gender expression. This is idiotic. Isn’t it suppose to be the land of the free?”
“It is, if you’re a straight, white, rich, neurotypical, Christian, cis male. Otherwise, fuck you.”
Before Briseis could get another word into their conversation, they walked into their homeroom to see Achilles standing on Patroclus’ desk, with a ukulele in his hand. A big grin spread across his face. Once the stopped to stare at him, he started to strum and hum a little. When he started to sing, Patroclus wanted to hide. Of course this god of a man also has a beautiful voice and is sappy as fuck.
“Wise men say, only fools rush in. But I can’t help falling in love-”
Without saying another word, Patroclus walked straight out of the classroom, “It’s too early for your shit, Achilles.”
Achilles sadly dropped his ukelele, staring at Briseis for some reassurance as she walked closer to the desk he stood upon. She gently pat him on the shoulder with a mockingly sad face, “You got this buddy. Stay strong, Achilles,” He looked at her with hopeful eyes, hoping to get more information out of her, “If it helps, you picked one of his favorite songs.”
Briseis walked away to find her best friend who was probably wallowing in the fact that ‘there was no way a god like that could ever like me, none the less want to date me so why is he stringing this prank out’. She did not want to start her Thursday morning off with a detention for being late because of Patroclus’ ungrateful ass.
Achilles sat on the desk with his head in his hands, trying to think of his next plan to win Patroclus over; happy at least they had the same favorite song.
A week went by without another attempt by Achilles and, he would never sat it out loud, but Patroclus was starting to feel a little forgotten. Although he knew nothing good could come of it, he still did like the attention from his crush.
When him and Briseis were walking in the middle of lunch from the library, getting a little studying in before the test next period, a deep voice howled at them, “Look at this freak show, the fag and the nun.”
Patroclus would recognize that voice from anywhere, the voice that had teased him for his first month in the winter: Agamemnon. He was a huge guy, a first string linebacker that could make even an NFL player jealous with his size. He was even better at wrestling because he could demolish any one before the whistle even stopped. The worst part about him was that he was an ignorant, loud mouthed imbecile that was always looking for a fight.
Briseis turned around, infuriated, “This is called a hijab, not a veil. Do you see a white piece covering my neck and head? Unless your brain damage has finally messed up your eyes too.”
Patroclus tried to hold her back, silencing her from escalating the situation, but he didn’t make it in time. A strong hand game down on her shoulder and slammed her into the locker, hard, “What did you just say, bitch? Did your pussy finally shrivel up from it’s celibacy and turn you into this cunt, or were you just born like this?”
His raised his hand to strike her again, but Patroclus rushed at him from the side, knocking him over only a little but definitely getting his attention, “It looks like the little fag does have some strength. I thought it would get sucked out of you by all the dick up your ass.”
Patroclus put his arms up to try and protect his face, but the blow never came. He looked up from behind his arms to see Achilles holding Agamemnon's arm. He smiled at Agamemnon cheerfully, as if he wasn’t stopping him attacking the guy he’s been attempting to date, “And what exactly crawled up your ass?”
Agamemnon attempted to wrench his arm out of Achilles’ hold by it only tightened, causing him to choke out a small yelp that even he wasn’t expecting. Achilles pulled his arm hard, twisting the large man to face him, “What exactly gives you the right to go around shoving people around. Do you want to call me what you just called Patroclus?”
Agamemnon swallowed hard. He didn’t want to appear weak but he knew that he couldn’t upset Achilles or no one would ever talk to him again. Achilles leaned forward, their faces only inches apart, “What? Cat’s got your tongue? Where was that just a minute ago when you made fun of Patroclus for liking guys? You know, I like guys too. And-hmm…it seems as though you picked the one that I like a lot so I’ll give you,” he pushed Agamemnon hard in the chest, sending him tumbling back and Patroclus scrambling to get out of the way, “one,” another shove, “chance,” another shove that nearly sent him toppling, “to LEAVE.”
Agamemnon was booking it down the halls before Achilles could even say another word. Achilles turned around, happy to finally get rid of homophobic guy he’s had to put up with for five years now. He stopped when he turned around to see Patroclus helping Briseis up from where she fell to the ground next to the lockers. Achilles ran over, helping them both steady out, “Sorry I didn’t help you guys sooner.”
Briseis looked between Patroclus and Achilles for a second before taking a step back, “I’ll just- you know- go to the nurse, to umm… get my shoulder checked out,” she faked a wince when she moved her arm, “So um… see you later Pat.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” Patroclus took a step towards her, worrying for his best friend’s well being.
She started darts at him, trying to convey her words without having to say them, “No… I’m fine. You stay here .”
Without running, Briseis got as far down the hall as she could get, letting Patroclus and Achilles have their alone time. Patroclus scratched the back of his neck, scuffing his ratty old high tops against the ground, “I just-I-” The words weren’t coming to him so he looked into Achilles’ eyes and blushed a little, “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. Agamemnon has had it coming to him for a long time, and it shouldn’t have taken me this long to put him in his place. No one has the right to say any of those things that he did, and even less to shove someone around.”
Patroclus had to drop the intense eye contact that was bouncing between them before he built the courage to say, “So...did you really mean what you said?”
Achilles furrowed his brows, he’s said a lot in his lifetime, “What?”
Trying to swallow down the lump in his throat, Patroclus quietly said, “That I was the guy that you, you know, like.”
With little success, Achilles tried to hold back the laughter bubbling inside him. Seeing Patroclus practically curling up into a ball made him stop. He took his hands, and gently pushed his chin up so that he could make eye contact, “Hey, Patroclus, I’ve meant it the whole time. I’ve always liked you, ever since you came here. I liked the way that you weren’t afraid to be you and you were the only person that didn’t put me on a pedestal. If it took me putting Agamemnon in his place for you to finally see it, I would have beat up his ass a long time ago.”
Patroclus couldn’t help but laugh. Achilles rested the palm of his hand against Patroclus’ cheek, and Patroclus nuzzled into the soft touch for such strong hands. He looked up at Achilles with big soft eyes as they twinkled, “So, does this mean we’re dating?”
“God I hope so.”
With that, Patroclus leaned in, closing the gap between them and sealing them in their first kiss. Patroclus wrapped his arms around Achilles neck, fisting the ends of his hair to get better leverage. Achilles had him from around the waist, pulling him even closer.
When they finally broke for air, Achilles puffed out a breath, “So does that mean that you’ll come to my family dinner this Friday?”
Patroclus laughed and swatted at Achilles’ chest, “Isn’t it a little early for me to meet the family?”
Placing another peck to his lip, Achilles murmured, “Not when I plan to be with your forever. Plus, we have another three days until then.”
Rolling his eyes and leaning into the kiss Achilles was inviting him into, Patroclus started to dread his first family meeting. How could he size up to being Achilles’ boyfriend: the very picture of perfection? It should be an interesting evening.