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inktober day 15: legend

"I could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world."

Change isn’t always apparent, Pat had concluded. He and Achilles had only just gotten halfway through with their summer vacation together, deep in some backwoods part of an old town where Achilles’ family owned a cottage. It was a cute little wooden thing with white trim and a cobblestoned chimney, recently renovated now that they’d be getting more use out of it.

Pat was surprised that his father had let him go in the first place, as he was supposed to be away from home for two whole months. Though he couldn’t think of any better way to spend his summer vacation than with Achilles by his side, his father welcoming him into their home as if he were one of their own.

As he laid out on large water-stained rocks near the lake, he turned his head to regard Achilles, who was sitting with his legs crossed, lazily skipping pebbles across the surface.They were both in just their bathing suits, Achilles’ being of the bright mis-matched color variety while Pat’s was more solid and subdued. They were just going into their third year of high school, and Pat was getting a bit sentimental about it after being best friends with him since fifth grade. Back then the two were practically inseperable; nothing had changed in that respect. What had changed, however, was Achilles, Pat had noticed with a shock after taking the time to really look at him. It was in the way his muscles had filled out, how broad his chest had gotten, the prominence of his jaw. Achilles was attractive.

He wondered how long the other had looked like this; he was as close to perfect as a just-turned-sixteen year old could be, whereas Patroclus hadn’t seen any development in himself aside from his height.

A part of him felt inadequate in comparison.

He squinted towards the water, watching it ripple as Achilles skipped another stone. Birds were chirping somewhere above in the trees. “You look older,” he said, slowly, as if it hadn’t been his own idea to speak. Perhaps it hadn’t.

Achilles paused. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Pat watched the other nod in response out of the corner of his eye, biting his lip. “What about me? Do I look any different?”

Blond curls dangled to the side when he tilted his head, fully turning himself around to get a good look at Patroclus. He hummed in contemplation. His stare seemed to linger too long on his collarbone for a moment before he switched it back up to meet Pat’s eyes. A few moments passed. “Yeah, you do,” he finally said, full of jurisdiction. When Pat gave him a questioning gaze, Achilles went on to touch his own face, a pinky finger brushing along the side, down by his jaw, Pat mimicking the movement on himself. “This is wider, you’re actually starting to get some hair here.” He’d already known that part, surprisingly enough. Otherwise, he didn’t feel any changes in the angle of his jaw, it all felt the same to him. He trusted what the other was saying, anyway.

Achilles went on to expose his throat, his fingers going down to his adam’s apple. “And we both have this. And.. you have a more prominent collarbone than I do.”

Patroclus urged him to continue. “Anything else?”

Achilles’ eyes pointedly followed the trail of hair going down his stomach, and Pat almost choked on his own spit. He had an intense and immediate urge to either cover himself up, or jump Achilles’ bones right there on the side of the lake. Either of those would do. Though he didn’t know how well that last one would’ve went over.

Luckily, just then, Achilles’ phone vibrated with a message behind them. His attention was diverted elsewhere for a few moments, and it gave Pat enough time to recover.

“My dad wants us back for lunch.” They shared a look with each other. Achilles grinned. “He can wait a few more minutes. You know how to skip rocks, right?”

Pat rolled his eyes in amusement. He had to smile back. It was just one of the many arbitrary ways Achilles went about spending more alone time with him, the excuses to his father growing weaker and weaker as time went on.

“You taught me the other day, Achilles.”

They stayed like that, having competitions to see who could skip their rock the furthest, joking and laughing with each other until Achilles got another text from his dad as a reminder. As they stood up together on the rough surface of the rock, Achilles stretched out his arms. “You know, I think you should be happy with the way you look.”

Patroclus switched his eyes down at the ground, traipsing around moss covered logs and thorny bushes on their way back to the cottage. He was smiling the whole way.

“Yeah. You too.”