#odysseus and diomedes have such a fun friendship

[official-english-major]

Rereading the iliad bc the epic the musical brainrot is real (and also bc the iliad is a banger)

[johaerys-writes]

I know what your mythological otp is, but do you have a brotp and a notp?

BROTPs

I have some brotps though not that many, mainly because if there's a pair of fictional dudes that are just reaaaally close and always have each other's backs and everything I just imagine them secretly or not so secretly boning LMAO (I have a gremlin brain sorry) but here's what comes to mind:

Odysseus & Diomedes: I love reading their Iliad shenanigans and they also have great chemistry in TSOA so I always imagine them as this pair of friends that always have the absolute worst ideas to get everyone in trouble lolol.

Achilles & Ajax: they're technically cousins but I still love thinking about their friendship and how much respect and rapport there is between them. Some sources have them both training under Chiron, and also in the Iliad Ajax is basically the only person Achilles really listens to during the embassy scene.

Patroclus & Menelaus: this is one of those cases where I imagine them being friends and also boning LMAO but the fact that Menelaus fought so hard to keep Patroclus' body from the Trojans always makes me think that the two must have been quite close. I do actually think that they might have had a lot in common!

Also also this is pure headcanon territory but I'm really enjoying writing Patroclus' and Automedon's friendship in my fic As Fate Would Have It! I always imagined those two would spend plenty of time together, as Achilles' therapon and his trusted charioteer, so it's really fun to write them together now 😁

NOTPs

I honestly don't have many notps in general, I can’t think of a pairing that makes me so uncomfortable or something that I would never be able to consider it. But there are some that I just don't enjoy very much or that don't interest me.

Basically anything with Zeus is an instant no-no for me lmao I just don't like the dude at all 🤣 it's not even the non con aspect that features in pretty much EVERY pairing he's in, it's just... idk, the male entitlement of it all truly doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to know what he's up to and I'm not sure I'd read a story about any of his escapades (i.e. him chasing young girls and boys around and ruining their lives for fun 🙄)

Helen/ Paris: this is another pairing I can't see in a favourable light. I feel like it's pretty clear in the Iliad that Helen doesn't really like him and is miserable in Troy, and when she is shown to go to bed with him it's because Aphrodite threatens her and twists her arm to do it. I believe that there are interesting layers to their relationship and that there's a lot to consider here, but I probably wouldn't seek out any cutesy shippy content with those two. (But if we're talking about a Paris/Helen/Menelaus... now that's a different story 👀 haha)

Thank you so much for this ask!