ribs - lorde
b r i s e i s
" patroclus ... i will never forget him. "
"You have, like, a bajillion commas missing," Patroclus looked over at Achilles. Achilles swallowed his bite of pizza.
"That's why you're proof reading it."
"Okay, but, did you even try on this? Jesus, Achilles, you can't use the word dick in this," Patrcolus tapped the 'delete' button on Achilles' laptop. "I'm done, you can proofread your own paper."
"Aw come on, Pat, please," Achilles pouted at his best friend. Patroclus ran a hand through his dark hair, rolling his eyes.
"Fine," he grabbed the laptop again, "why am I doing this?"
Achilles moved his body next to Patrolcus', looking at the laptop screen. "Because you love me. Oh come on, I can put that in there!"
"You can't talk about anal sex in a school paper."
"I'm thinking outside of the box," Achilles shrugged. Patroclus rolled his eyes again, grabbing a slice of pizza and biting into it.
This is what most days after school were like. Patroclus helped Achilles with his homework; Achilles made sure he had every TV show they liked to watch together recorded and up to date on his DVR. It'd always been that way. Patroclus knew how to work English papers and Achilles knew how to woo the cheerleading team.
Patroclus wasn't ever really sure how the two of them got along so well, since everyone knew Achilles and he was just known by association, but apparently Achilles also liked the stars and Modern Family.
"All you need to do is footnote this, and then you're set," Patroclus pointed at the screen, eating another bite of pizza.
"You're a life saver," Achilles stated, taking the laptop and typing on the keyboard.
"Mhm, remember that when you eat all of my food from my house," Patroclus watched as Achilles closed the laptop, getting up from the bed and stretching.
"C'mon, let's watch TV. I'm tired and my mom is working late tonight," Achilles turned to look at Patroclus. Patroclus groaned, sliding off the bed, grabbing the pizza box in his arms.
"That was such a fuckboy comment," Patroclus said, following the blond boy into the living room. He could tell Achilles was rolling his eyes at him.
"Shut up. I'm not a fuckboy. I'm a gentleman."
Patroclus sat back on the couch, crossing his legs. "You tried bringing up anal in your school paper."
"It's an important topic!" Achilles defended, reaching into the pizza box and turning on the TV.
"Alright, alright, next time don't ask me to edit your paper and you can keep in your preferred subjects."
Achilles draped his long legs over Patroclus' lap, shoving a piece of pizza into his mouth. "You like them."
Patroclus looked fled at the blond boy. "Oh, sure. Turn on a good show before I take all the pizza away from you."
- - -
It'd always been this way, Achilles was the golden boy, the boy with everything from golden hair to a golden smile. Patroclus was famous by association, he found Achilles too funny and gave him homework answers. Patroclus turned his head to look at Achilles' sleeping body beside him in the bed. He shouldn't find Achilles' eyelashes that pretty. His lips shouldn't be that nice to his eyes. They'd slept over in each other's bed for years. Patroclus has seen Achilles re-wear the same shirt, spill his morning coffee, and swear at his dog.
Maybe Patroclus had always felt this way. Maybe he'd always laughed at Achilles dumb jokes and watched Achilles' eyelids flutter and sit through track meets and gotten used to it all. They all blurred together, the events.
"I know you're awake, Pat," Achilles quiet voice made Patroclus jump a bit. Achilles turned over to face Patroclus. "What're you thinking about?"
"Life," came Patroclus' small reply. Achilles brought up a hand to rub his eyes.
"That's a lot, then."
"How come you're my friend?"
"'Cause you're pretty," Achilles' voice replied sleepily. Patroclus let out a small laugh.
"The real reason."
"No, that's it. In first grade - I saw your hair and thought it looked nice. So I went to talk to you."
"That's not true."
"Shut up, Pat. It's true. And I'm not just your friend because you get good grades and proof read my papers. I'm friends with you because you like dumb shit like stars and my dog and think a lot. Now go to bed, we have school tommorrow."
- - -
"Odysseus texted me five minutes ago telling me that Menelaus is pissed and is apparently going to fight Paris? Or try to," Achilles said, his voice full of sleep. He looked away from his phone and put it down, looking for a shirt in his closet. "Did I wear my green button up to that end of summer party last week?"
Patroclus thought for a moment, tying on of his shoes. "No, no you wore that dumb shirt with that cat on it. The one with the - "
"The tacos! Yeah, yeah that's it," Achilles smiled, beginning to button up the green shirt. "Is that my shirt?"
Patroclus continued to tie his other shoe, bringing one hand up to hold up his middle finger. "Yes, and I'm gonna wear it."
"Alright, don't sass me. But c'mon, I wanna get to school so I can get filled in on this drama."
"What happened to staying out of it this year?" the brunette groaned, walking towards the front door, trailing behind his best friend.
"Not getting involved, just wanting to watch it. We'll pick up Starbucks so you won't whine anymore."
"How sweet of - hold on, Briseis is calling me," Patroclus grabbed his phone out of his pocket, getting inside of his car, letting Achilles take the driver's seat. "You what? No, I'm not gonna talk to Hector, can we get back to you kissing Agamemnon? I thought you two were - don't hang up on me!"
"She kissed Ag?" Achilles asked, raising an eyebrow and starting the car's ignition.
"Apparently to try and get him to stop planning against Paris since she's friends with Helen now."
Achilles rolled his eyes, pulling the car out of the driveway. "Thanks for never dragging me into something like that. But let's get coffee so we can watch these teenagers try and rip each other's eyes out."
- - -
"Is that Achilles' shirt?"
"Shut up, Diomedes, nobody wants to talk to you right now. I need to find Briseis before first period."
"Jesus. You've got thirty minutes, Achilles. But she's in the cafeteria."
Achilles took a sip of his coffee as he walked down the hallway, Patroclus grumpily walking beside him.
"You didn't have to be so mean - "
"He's annoying, we all know that. I need to find the drama."
"You are the drama."
"Shut up and drink the Starbucks I bought you, Mr. 'don't spill anything on my seats or the universe will collapse!'"
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a/n : ayyy shoutout to the people reading this story, your comments all make my day ily. look at this start to plot, wow, amazing. ily all, i hope you enjoyed this chapter and the chapters to come.
- ash