#and patroclus has fully accepted and embraced the weirdness

[johaerys-writes]

Sacrilegious

Achilles/Patroclus | E | 1.9k

I have no explanation for this other than the fact that @baejax-the-great sent this in the group chat:

...... and I simply had to write it. Please enjoy.

Read on AO3!

Achilles is a pious man. 

He always observes the holy days, performs the rituals and makes the appropriate sacrifices, and always, before each meal, makes an offering to the gods. 

When Ajax comes by the Myrmidon camp that evening, Achilles fills everyone’s goblets with the wine that the slaves have mixed with water in the big bronze bowls. From his spot near the fire, tending to the meat that’s roasting on a spit over the coals, Patroclus watches Achilles as he solemnly offers a libation to Zeus and Hestia for blessing their meal. Wine is poured onto the soil, which drinks it up greedily.

Then, and only then, does the feast begin.

The men laugh and eat and drink, make boastful jests about their exploits and the spoils they’ve taken from each recent battle. After the platters of meat are taken away, Achilles brings out his lyre. This is his favourite moment, Patroclus thinks: when Achilles places his finely carved lyre on his lap and sets his fingers on the strings, and everyone around the table goes quiet, holding their breaths in exquisite rapture. The clear sounds of the instrument and Achilles’ voice fill the night air; Achilles himself looks like an otherworldly being pulled out of a myth or an old story, the flickering firelight painting his golden features in delicate brass-rose tones.  

It is close to midnight when Ajax and his generals thank Achilles and Patroclus for their hospitality and make their way towards their own camp. Patroclus is secretly relieved that they left earlier tonight, unlike those other nights when Achilles and Ajax would get caught in games or banter until the early morning. As much as Patroclus enjoys Ajax’s company, it’s been a long day, and there was too much to take care of during it. He’s looking forward to finally going to sleep. 

Which doesn’t seem to be an option, as Achilles catches his hand in much too meaningful a way the second the door of the tent falls closed behind him. 

“Achilles—” Patroclus starts in laughing protest, but whatever he had been about to say is muffled when Achilles draws him near to kiss him deeply. His lips taste of wine and spices and the lingering sweetness of his singing, and Patroclus sighs and melts into his embrace, helpless to the pull. 

“I’ve been thinking of this all night,” Achilles murmurs, hands drifting to Patroclus’ lower back. He pulls him flush against him.

“I thought it was Ajax’s heroic tales of the taking of Arisbe you were thinking about, and all the gold he found there,” Patroclus teases. “You seemed quite taken with them.” He groans softly when Achilles’ thigh presses between his legs. He brings up no resistance when Achilles pushes him towards the grandiose chair by the even more grandiose table he had acquired earlier that month. 

“Exaggerations, most of them, I’m sure,” Achilles says. “I doubt even mighty Ajax can kill ten men with one fell swoop of his sword.”

“You’ll never know until you see it.” Patroclus lets Achilles sit him down on the chair, heat rising within him at the sight of his lover kneeling between his open legs. Achilles’ palms smooth up the length of Patroclus’ thighs, pushing the fabric of his chiton out of the way. He glances up at Patroclus, lips curled in a smirk that’s full of smugness and suggestion; beneath the fabric, Patroclus is already hard and aching, as if he’d been waiting for this very moment all night as well. 

But Achilles makes no move to touch him. Instead, he reaches for the goblet that’s been left on the table. There is still some wine in it from their meal earlier that day. Achilles picks it up, then reverently whispers a small prayer under his breath before pouring some wine on the ground.

“What are you doing?” 

Achilles looks at him straight in the eyes, as if the answer is obvious. “I’m about to have a feast, that’s what.” 

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