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9:00 am.The alarm rang as it usually did. Although it was expected, Patroclus still cringed at the annoying dings.For many it meant a new day. A new chance. For Patroclus, it only meant the hell he was trapped in would continue it’s cycle You see, Patroclus was born into a rich family. Despite his privileges, he never gained anything from it. His father paid him no mind since he was “mediocre” and his mother was a shell of herself. Empty halls with an emptier family.With this he faced some bullying. They made fun of him for being weaker than normal and of his mother’s “issues”. Patroclus finally broke and pushed one of his bullies towards a window. Normal people wouldn’t have made even a dent in the glass but, his anger was like no other. The window broke and the student fell to his death. Patroclus swore that it was only a mistake. However, with push from the boys parents and his father itching to send him away, he was shipped off to a University overseas.
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Patroclus slammed the alarm clock with irritation.“God.. shut up! I get it..!”He then quickly checked his clock to see if he broke it.University students normally prefer later classes so they could sleep in. Patroclus on the other hand, missed early class selection because of his “incident” and only could pick from the handful of classes that were left. Not to mention, he stayed up late working on a new sculpture.Patroclus begrudgingly got out of his nice warm bed and into the cold, dirty place he called his dorm.Despite his displeasure, his art classes were the only thing keeping Patroclus from hanging off of the Rio - Antirrio bridge. It was an escape. A place where people could celebrate the beauty of everyone. A place where people would criticize your art and not your ability to manage the family business. Now you may be asking, why in the gods is Patroclus so negative about his one true pleasure? Well, he has a sculpture due. It wasn’t just any sculpture though, it was a very important one.Patroclus was considered “ahead” of his class so, his professor expected a sculpture that was well… ahead. Patroclus was also a people pleaser hence, it was a given he would try his best. That’s not a hard thing right? All he had to do was to find a person and use his fingers to create something that wasn’t insulting to both the viewers and his muse. WRONG! It was hard. Extremely hard. With Patroclus’s eye for art came with an eye that was exceptionally picky. No one tickled his fancy and with that, the deadline approached.Four. Patroclus had four fucking days. If he didn’t find a model today he would be royally fucked. Not only that, his friend wasn’t helping either.“Come on seriously? You rejected another group of models? No wonder you’re single.”Briseis pointed at Patroclus with a disappointed look in her face.“I’m trying okay?! I just.. they don’t seem like they’re fit for the job, yeah? I feel like that one guy in that one movie.. Sassyphus?”“It’s Sisyphus.”“Yea whatever, anyways. It’s like I’m pushing a rock up a mountain only for it to roll back fucking down again.”Patroclus waved his arms as he tried to emphasize it to the apathetic Briseis.“I can’t help you, I even showed you some of the models I knew! Look, you’ll just have to stop being picky and just choose someone. The professor isn’t going to drop your grade for not having the ‘perfect’ model.”Patroclus looked at Briseis with a defeated look. She was right after all. But how could he prove himself if his sculpture wasn’t perfect? If he wasn’t perfect?A bell violated Patroclus’s ears. Briseis bid Patroclus farewell and took off to her class. Briseis’s words hit him like a train which making him walk around campus like a zombie.“I’m fucked I’m fucked I’m fucked I’m fucked..”Patroclus repeated quietly to himself as he walked to his first class. A sense of doom hung over him.“This can’t be the end is it? I’m too young to be a drop ou-!”BAM!Patroclus’s emotions were quickly halted by something hard hitting his face. Although it was ball-like it felt like the god, Zeus threw a brick at his face. Everything went black. Was this punishment for the actions he committed when he was young? Has Hades finally come to drag him down to the underworld?“This is it..”Patroclus shed a tear as the darkness shifted to a blinding white with some blonde in-between. Wait.. blonde?
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“Fuck.. hit..”A blur of words slowly came into his ear. Although not clear, an angelic voice spoke to him which only added to the chaos and confusion.
Wait..yes.. that’s it! This was heaven wasn’t it? It’s clear that an angel has been sent to retrieve him so he could be thrown back into hell.“Hey.. hey! You okay man-?”“You’re an angel aren’t you? It’s okay, just send me down to hell quickly..”Patroclus slurred his words as he look at the saint with slightly tanned skin and green eyes.“Huh.. no? Look, I’m sorry for hitting you with the soccer ball I wasn’t being careful.”“No.. no.. it’s okay handsome angel just be gentle when you throw me down alright..?”Patroclus dazedly put a hand on the angels shoulder as a form of comfort.“Fuck, are you a theatre major or something?! Or did you hit him that hard Achilles?”Another voice chimed in, one more loud and gravely than the other. The two voices started to bicker as Patroclus finally managed to gain some of his braincells back. While the two beings fought, a sharp headache attacked Patroclus.He quickly pieced together the scene to make out what happened to him seconds ago. It wasn’t hard since there was a soccer ball not too far and two guys wearing soccer jerseys in front of him. ‘Then why the hell did it hurt so much?!’ Patroclus yelled in his head. I mean how embarrassing was it to get knocked out by a soccer ball out of all things?! At this point he preferred the brick because that atleast would’ve done actual damage! “Hey.. hey! He’s awake golden boy.”The older man mocked as he stared daggers into the blonde one. “Shit..! Hey uh let me take you to the nurses office yea?”The boy with blonde hair quickly gathered Patroclus’s belongings and Patroclus himself.——————————————————————————Patroclus leaned onto the boy as he walked to the nurses office. Although his blinding headache was gone, the boy insisted to have the nurse check him out.While the nurse informed Patroclus about his condition he couldn’t help but to be drawn by the golden boy’s attributes. The shape of his eyes, the way his long hair swooped just right. He was.. almost perfect.“I’m Achilles by the way.”Achilles smiled at Patroclus as he offered his hand.
Patroclus nervously looked at the boy as he took it and shook.‘How the hell am I supposed to act natural after what I just said to him earlier? I mean who the hell calls someone handsome angel?!’“Patroclus. Pleasure to meet you.”Patroclus tried to manage out a smile only for it to morph into an half awkward half constipated type of look.“Look uh.. that ball was a mistake alright? There’s no need to report me to my coach and cause a mess, yes?”Achilles leaned in and looked at Patroclus with a forced smile. It was.. almost threatening?“Well, yes I suppose?”Patroclus started to sweat profusely.“Great! I’ll be off then.”‘Wait.. handsome! Don’t go! I need to sculpt you!’Patroclus thought in horror as his one blessing started to leave. He felt helpless in this situation like many other times but this time was different, this time he was desperate!“What if I do?”“What?”“What if I report you to your coach? That shit hurt you know.”Patroclus rubbed his cheek and whined as his words stopped Achilles in his tracks.“Oh? Well that would be a shame wouldn’t it?”Achilles answered back with a fake tone. His smile was replaced with a glare. Patroclus’s heart dropped at the sight. How could someone change moods this fast? So much for angel..“What do you want then? Money? An A in your class? I can arrange something but make it quick.” Patroclus gulped and yelled out.“Be my muse!”
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“Huh?”“A muse. Artists don’t make everything on their own you know? You have to have references and stuff. It’s not hard.. I just need you to stay still for a bit and maybe take photos?”“What, so you want naked photos of me?!”Achilles looked at Patroclus with a look of disgust mixed in with surprise. Patroclus quickly grabbed Achilles hand as in a way to assure him.“No! I just need a reference of your face. There will be no need of.. that.”Silence dropped between the two once more. With Patroclus having a look of hope in his eyes, and Achilles with just confusion stamped on his face.“Well, if I must. But, if you push for more intimate articles then I will have no choice but to report it.”“Right! You won’t regret this I swear!”Patroclus enthusiastically shook Achilles hand as he told them when and where their arrangement will be.A new hope came from this agreement. A hope that Patroclus has yearned for. A yearning for not a life full of fortune, but a life that he could feel moderately happy in.——————————————————————————“So you only want me to sit here and just.. do nothing?”“Yep!”“Are you sure you don’t want me to buy you anything or do something humiliating?”Achilles looked straight into Patroclus’s eyes searching for anything that would prove for deception. However, no matter how hard he tried, all he saw was authenticity.It hasn’t been too long since he met this strange boy. He had brown eyes and hair with a darker skin tone than Achilles. Normally, if he owed anyone any favours, they would jump at the opportunity to take advantage of him.You see, Achilles was pretty rich. His dad owned a successful business and his mom was the dean of a prestigious university. Their relationship didn’t last long and they divorced right after Achilles was born. He stayed with his father and didn’t get to see his mother much in his childhood.Arguing that Achilles spent enough time with his dad, his mother pulled every string she had to get him immediately admitted into her university.Despite the nepotism, Achilles was talented. He ran faster than most and had a fighting strength no one could parallel. Some may argue that his admittance only happened because of his family. But, he probably still would’ve gotten in connections or not.In conclusion, Achilles was weary of who got close to him, if that was even possible. So seeing someone so genuine like Patroclus was somewhat foreign. Sure, he did want something from Achilles however, this was something Achilles could do with his eyes closed!Achilles watched as the warm sun hit Patroclus’s face as he shaped some clay. Although Patroclus looked typical, the more Achilles looked, the more he noticed little details. The way his hair curled in a messy but fitting way, the way his mouth slightly parted when he was hyper-focused.It was weird. When it came to other people and how they looked, he never gave it a second thought. When his friends looked at magazines with “hot girls” he was always somehow disinterested. I mean sure, they were hot but, it wasn’t really interesting. Things like that were only surface level.“Alright that should be enough for today. You don’t have to come in again since I have my reference photos.”“Ah.. really?”They didn’t spend long together and they’ve only asked basic questions to one and another. Yet, Achilles felt weird. He never felt this feeling before. Was it disappointment? Or was it a craving to know more about Patroclus?“Weren’t you the one begging me to show up? Anyways, what if the pictures are warped in some way, it’s better if I come in.”Achilles looked intensely into Patroclus’s eyes, his heart pounded for the brunettes answer.He felt somehow embarrassed. It was like he was a dog begging for time with his owner. However, if he wanted to get into the bottom of what he was feeling, he would go to great lengths. He would even fight a river for it.
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Achilles kept his promise to himself. He jumped at every chance to get closer to Patroclus. Even resorting to skipping some of his music classes to hang out with him at his art studio.Some may blame Patroclus for Achilles carelessness, but Achilles thought of it as an “opportunity to learn about people.”Achilles never skipped his classes. Even the boring useless ones. However, it wasn’t because he cared, it was because his parents wanted him to have many talents under his belt. This was why Achilles was well known. He was the soccer talent that was also weirdly good at the lyre. To see him skip was like seeing one of the gods.This eventually reached his mother, the dean of the school. However, instead of talking to Achilles, she decided to get to the root of his problem.——————————————————————————Patroclus had shivers go down his spine while he sat outside of the deans office. His mind raced with different possibilities of what would happen. Although all of them shared one similarity, they were all bad.Did something bad happen at home? Did they find out about his past ‘incident’?!Patroclus bounced his leg up and down.He thought he left his past behind him, had it finally come to chase him down..? He made sure to not mention anything about where he came from so how did they find out?Panic consumed Patroclus. His heart beat so fast he thought he was on the verge of having a heart attack! On second thought maybe that’s a good thing. If he had a heart attack maybe, he wouldn’t have to deal with this!But, maybe this is what he deserved. Maybe all the sleepless nights with nightmares of his bullies bashed in head wasn’t good enough. He took a life after all. There’s no way he’ll ever repent that sin.“Patroclus the dean is ready to see you”A woman approached him and interrupted his mental breakdown.‘Right.. it’s nothing new. You knew this would catch up to you, Patroclus. You just have to take a deep breath and face it.’Patroclus walked into the dark office as the door slammed closed. He sat down in front of the desk as the back of an extravagant office chair faced him. The blinds were shut and the only light source was a dim lamp.‘Was this an office or an interrogation room?!’Suddenly, the chair swiveled around slowly revealing a woman with long dark hair and pale white skin. Her ghost-like demeanour immediately sent Patroclus back into a panic.“Patroclus, right? I heard you were hanging around my son.”Patroclus gulped at her stern words. Achilles was the son of the dean?! If Patroclus knew, he would’ve been more cautious around him! He finally squeaked out two words.“Yes ma’am!”“Interesting.. so you would know the reason he has decided to skip, yes?”“Skip? Uh no ma’am.”“Playing the innocent huh? My son is on track to being one of the most talented men this world has ever seen! I will not have someone like you mess with his future and his focus. Word of advice, no one messes with my son without there being consequences.”The woman spat at Patroclus and sent him out of her office. Her black endless eyes were ingrained into his mind as he quickly walked away. His shock slowly turned into anger.Someone like him.. What does she mean by that?! So what if he’s not blessed by god himself, it’s not like he forced Achilles to hang out with him!Patroclus was tired. Tired of people thinking they had him all figured out, tired of people influencing every decision he had in his life. He wanted to make his own choices, and choice he wanted to make was to still be close to Achilles!As if he manifested it, Patroclus got a sudden message.Achilles: Hey where are you?