#switch!polites

Odysseus inhaled sharply and turned to Polites, unintentionally aiming his sword at him. “Oh, uh, sorry.” Ody said awkwardly as he put his sword back into the holder around his waist, “what’s up?”

Poli didn’t seem to care about a literal sword being pointed at him, but seemed rather intrigued by his friend’s reaction. “What was that?” He asked, a slight smile as he put together the pieces very quickly.

The captain’s eyes widened a little “what was what?”

“Your reaction! When I poked you!” The younger said, now fully smiling. Odysseus didn’t have time to respond before Polites lunged forward and started to squeeze his sides. 

Ody gave another sharp inhale as his arms shot down to his sides. This all happened so fast, and he was really not expecting Polites to start tickling him of all things! Yes, his friend was well known for cheering people up, and that was accompanied with some pokes every so often, but now his confidence seemed to be spiked since they were away from the rest of the crew. 

After realizing Odysseus’ stubbornness with laughing, Polites went behind the former and wrapped his arms around him in some kind of backwards-bear hug.

“You can relax, my friend,” Polites smiled as he continued to squeeze up and down now both of Ody’s sides. The captain tried to wiggle out of his friend’s hug.

He threw his hand over his mouth, to try and stop himself from laughing. “H-Huh?” He didn’t realize his stress was showing so obviously.

“I can tell you’re getting nervous, so do yourself a service, and try to relax my friend!” Polites couldn’t help but giggle at his best friend. They both knew how sensitive Odysseus was, and always has been since the two of them were little. No amount of mental barriers or war fighting could change that.

“I-I’m fihine, Polites!” Odysseus cursed himself for letting a snicker out, quickly pressing his lips tightly against each other, “What are yohou doing?”

“I’m tickling you, silly!” The optimistic man exclaimed. After realizing that the sides weren’t getting much of a reaction, Polites tried to wiggle his finger between Ody’s arms and his ribs. However, Odysseus was strong, and refused to move his arms even an inch. Polites sighed playfully, moving to his captain’s hips and giving them some squeezes as he said, “I know that you’re tired of the war and bloodshed. But tell me, is this how we’re supposed to live?” 

Despite it not being a bad spot, Odysseus felt his knees buckle, finding it becoming increasingly hard to stay standing. “Poholites! I sahaid I’m fine! Le-let go!”

“Captain, I saw how you gripped your sword, enough said” Polites said, sincerity in his voice. Odysseus was about to say something in rebuttal, but cut himself off by a strained noise when Poli started drilling into his hips, “Why should we take when we could give? Y’know Ody, you can show a person that you trust them when you stop and lower your guard. So c’mon, captain, don’t you trust me?”

“I-I doho! But why are you-” Odysseus cut himself off again, but this time with a short scream followed by frantic giggling as Polites scribbled quickly up and down his back. “Wohohoah- hahahang ohon a mihihHIHINUTE-“

“I’m tickling you because you suck at hiding your emotions. I know you’re not really fine, Odysseus. I saw what happened.” Polites explained, absolutely loving how he's finally able to freely tickle his friend for the first time in 10 years. Ody’s thoughts were right, now that they were away from the crew, he felt like he could go back to how they used to be before the war, when they were home. Gods, he couldn’t wait to go home.

Poli’s thoughts were cut short when he felt Odysseus losing balance and slowly becoming deadweight in his arms as he continued to trace a straight line up and down Ody’s spine. “You didn’t think I forgot about this spot, did you?” Polites giggled as he guided Ody to the grassy floor. 

“Nohoho! Pohoholitehehehes!” After making it to the ground, Odysseus immediately turned over, protecting his back from his friend’s wiggling fingers.

“Awwh, Ody! Now I can’t tickle your back!” Polites faux pouted, however the pout turned into a smirk very quickly as he sat himself beside Ody, wiggling his fingers above his stomach, “oh well, I’ll just go here instead!” 

“Wait- AH! Pohohoholi! Plehehehease, dohohohon’t!” Ody pleaded, gasps and hiccupy laughter peppering his words. He tried to grab at his friend’s hands, however everywhere he tried to grab, Polites just started tickling in another spot, using a different tactic every time. From poking and squeezing to scribbling and spidering, he tried it all. “Stohohohop!”

“Aww, “please don’t stop”? Is that what you said? You don’t want me to stop?” Polites borderline bay-talked, giggling as he teased, now having way too much fun with this. He was finally able to get at the captain’s ribs, him being weaker due to the tickling. The spot caused Odysseus to bark out a laugh, a lot louder than the previous giggles. “Wehell I mehean, if you insist! You even said please! Hehaha! How polite of yohou! How am I to deny such a Nihice requehest?”

Odysseus couldn’t tell if he wanted his friend to let up, or if he was right, and he didn’t really want the playfulness to stop. Because as much as this was embarrassing, it reminded him of when the two of them were younger, and their constant tickle fights. It let him think of something else than his guilt and sorrow.

“Ooh~ someone’s blushing~!” Polites teased as he really dug his fingers into Ody’s ribs, “what’s wrong, Ody? *gasp* was a right?! And you’re embarrassed because I called you out?” 

“S-SHUHUhuhut uhuhup!” Odysseus frantically shook his head as a way to deal with the overwhelming sensation on his ribs. “Thahahat ihihis nohohot whahahat’s hahahappehehening!”

Polites let out another gasp, but his wide and playful smile showed just how offended he got. “Odysseus! How dare you tell me, your best friend, to shut up! I’m deeply hurt, and I think now I need to teach you a lesson.” The captain's eyes widened again as he let out a series of “nonono”s as he knew exactly where Polites was planning on going next. 

He tried to curl his legs into his stomach, but Polites squeezed the top of his knees to cause him to uncurl. Polites then took his seat on top of Ody’s ankles, and chuckled as he saw his friend’s fearful yet excited expression. “Just so that doesn’t happen again!” 

Those were the last words Odysseus heard before his own screaming laughter would follow soon after as Polites started squeezing up and down his thighs. “FUHUHUCK! PohoHOHOLITEHEHESE STAHAHAHAP!” He screamed as he attempted to kick his legs out from under Polites’ weight.

“No can do, friend! Now, back to what I was telling you. This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms!” The optimistic man said as if he wasn’t tickling the living daylights out of his best friend, “whatever we face, we’ll be fine if we’re leading from the heart! No matter the place, we can light up the world, and here’s where to start! You what? Greet the world with- OH GODS-”

Unfortunately for Polites, he was extremely focused on teaching his friend the importance of letting your guard down every so often. So focused that he didn’t notice Odysseus managed to sit up and embrace him in a giant bear hug, scaring the ever-loving shit out of him. During the hug, Odysseus laid back down, pulling Polites down to lay on top of him. He then started to scribble his blunt nails up and down the length of Poli’s sides, keeping his actions light and quick.

The reaction was instant, opposite to the man who was first in this position. Polites started to pour out giggles as if they were water being spilled out of a cup. “Ohohohodyseheheus! Nohohohoooo!” He squealed, trying to fight back. He plunged his hands into the captain’s underarms, which caused him to throw his head back as some full-hearted belly laughter, and started to break free from his hold.

Odysseus didn’t let it get to him too much, however, as he still managed to roll him and Polites over, so now he was straddling the smaller’s hips. Odysseus sat up, proud of himself that the plan actually worked. He quickly fixed Polites’ glasses, which were crooked due to the roughhousing. “Ah, now that’s more like it~” Ody sighed, amused with how his friend let out streams of anticipatory giggles. 

“Ohohodyhehehe! Thahat was sohoho unfahahair!” Polites complained, letting out a squeal when he felt a poke on his side. He grabbed Odysseus’ wrist, pulling it and the attacking finger away from his body.

“You really think this is gonna stop me?” Ody questioned, clearly amused, “come on, we both know that you’re too ticklish for that.” 

Polites didn’t even have time to answer before Odysseus brought his free hand to tickle up and down his wrist and forearm. “AH- whahahat thehehehe fuhuhuck?!” Polites exclaimed, giving a short squeal of surprise before landing into helpless giggles. He then grabbed Ody’s other wrist, hoping that it would stop him.

Odysseus sighed softly, chuckling when Polites glared at him. “Give up the act already, Poli, I know how much you love this. So might as well just let me tickle you already!”

The statement brought even more red to Polites’ already blushing face. “Shuhut uhuhup!” He turned his head to the side, hoping that the grassy floor would hide his blush. Unfortunately for him, it did the opposite, as that action just showed off his red ears.

“Aww, Polites, you’re blushing so much your ears are red!” The Captain stated as he brought up a hand to quickly trace around Polites’ ear, the hands holding his wrists doing nothing to stop him. Odysseus chuckled when he groaned (more like whined) and turned his head to block his ears, “that is so cute!”

“I ahahaham nohohot! Ahand you’re ohohone tohohoho tahahahalk about blushing..” somehow, Polites still managed to tease his best friend. He giggled when he saw that he succeeded; Odysseus’ face grew more pink and he didn’t respond with a witty, sarcastic comment… right away.

After around 5 seconds to think of what to say, Odysseus spoke up. “You know what, you’re oftly bold for someone so ticklish,” he started, easily breaking free from Polites’ hold and pinning his hands underneath his knees, “someone should take you down a few pegs.”

The sudden vulnerability somehow made Polites more ticklish, and he could already feel the ghost tingles lingering over his body. And Ody hasn’t even brought his hand out to tickle him!

“Wahahait, cahahaptiahahan, I’m sohohoHOHORRY! NAHAhahaho!” Odysseus broke the anticipation and scribbled his fingers along Poli’s right side.

“Oh no, I bet you’re real sorry,” Odysseus said, sarcasm dripping from the words as he switched to gentle spidering, “but that won’t help you! Nobody tickles the king of Ithaca without severe consequences!”

Polites was about to answer before Odysseus started tickling just above his hip bone, and that threw the kind man in a fit of panicky giggles. They picked up in pitch and speed. Nervous and excited energy lighting up his nerves as the captain teased right above one of his worst spots. He couldn’t help but try and squirm away from the touch.

“Giggling so much already? I’m only using one hand!” Odysseus chuckled, clearly enjoying this as much as his friend was. He then noticed the latter’s frantic squirming. He couldn’t not tease him about it. “Aww look at that! Your left side wants some tickles too!”

Polites managed to let out another giggly whine groan through his laughter. “Nohohoho it dohohoesn’t! Leheheheave my leheheft sihihihide ahahalohohone!” 

“I really think it does though! It keeps on pushing itself into my other hand! It's practically telling me “I want you to tickle me, Odysseus! I love it when you do that!” Aww, Poli! How am I supposed to deny such a request?” Odysseus couldn’t help but laugh along with his own playfulness. His smile widening with how Polites shook his head as he continued to let out a steady stream of giggles, his blush still growing with every stupid word that came out of the king’s mouth.

“Ihihit sahahays ihihihit dohohohosehehen’t whahahannahaha tahahalk tohohoho yohohou!” Polites squeaked when he felt Odysseus start to poke his left side with the hand that wasn’t tickling him already. He was poking in the same spot, right above his hip. It was driving him mad.

“Well that’s rude! Maybe me tickling it will show it what happens when it disrespects its captain!”

“Ehehehahahaha! Nohohaha! Gehehehet ahahahahawahahay!”

“Hmmm… nooo I don’t think so~ in fact..” Suddenly, Odysseus brought both of his hands over to Polites’s left side, spidering them up and down, starting from his ribs and going down onto his hips.

Polites screamed. “EEEHEHEHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOhohahaha! Yohohohou sahahadist! Yohohou mohohOHOHHONSTER!” he threw his head back as hysterical laughter poured out of his wide and bright smile. His laughter increased an octave when Odysseus focused on spidering both of his hands over his hip for a few seconds.

“I’m the tickle monster! Get it right, Poli.” The king noticed how now Polites was now squirming to the right side, again to get away from the tickles, “oh, so now the right side wants attention again! Well, I have to give it what it wants~” He then gave the same treatment to his right side as he was the left side.

“Ohohohodyhehehe! Stohohop!”

“Stop what? Tickling you? I don’t think that’s what you want if you ask me.”

“Stohohop teheheheasing mehehehe!”

“Why would I? Awww, is it because you’re getting all flustered? Is me talking about how much you want me to tickle you making your cheeks and ears go all red? Does it make the tickling sooo much worse~?”

“FuhuHUHUHUHUCK OHOHOhohoff! OhohHOHO GOhohohods- Ihihihit tihihihihihickles!”

“I know, giggles, that’s the point.” Odysseus deadpanned, but a small smirk remained on his face. He never would have thought he would miss this as much as he really did. 

“Dohohohohon’t cahahahall mehehehe giggles!” Polities may have been protesting (barley), but he was having an absolute blast. He’s been waiting for a moment for Odysseus to be able to let his guard down. He really needed to learn how to open his heart again, and if he had to get tickled for him to be able to do that, so be it. 

Not… that he minded much. But he would never say that out loud. 

“Why not? I think that name describes you pretty well.”

“Shuhuhut uhuhup!” Polites giggled out, his laughter calming down a bit as Odysseus gave him a breather. It wasn’t much of a breather, however, with how Odysseus still continued to tap his fingers on Polites’ hips, causing a constant stream of giggles to pour out of his mouth. “Stahahap dohohohoing thahahat!”

Odysseus was genuinely confused for a second, before he realized his absentminded tapping. “Oh sorry, forgot how ticklish you are to lighter touches,” He gave an amused chuckle, placing his hands on Polites’ stomach, but not moving them yet, “Better?”

Panic returned to Polites’ eyes as his friend casually put his hands on his absolute worst spot. He hated the shit eating grin that Odysseus wore when he knew how much his teases were getting to him. 

“Noho! Nohohot behehetter!” He shook his head, causing his glasses to go askew once again and his headband(?) to almost come off his head, “Plehehehease n-nohohot thehehere! Ohohohodysseheheheus!”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Said captain chuckled at his own “joke”.

“Ihihit tihihihickles!”

“How? I'm not even tickling you yet!”

“Ugh, I knohohohow!” Odysseus chuckled at his friend’s giggly protests as he decided to end the anticipation and started to quickly spider up and down Polities’ stomach.

The latter squealed (for what felt like the 10th time that day) as all of his pent-up giggles burst free in waves of hysteria. Adorably bright cackles started to be heard throughout the forest of the island. The bright sound attracted some… things..? But they couldn’t be seen or heard by the two over the happy belly laughter and the sight of Polites’ huge smile. 

Polities started to think of an escape plan. Of course, he was having a blast, and he didn’t wanna stop this playful little game with his friend. But he had to get him back for this attack (he knows he started it, but it’s just so fun to see the great, powerful, war-hero Odysseus break down in a fit of giggles. Is that a crime?).

“Aww, Polites! Even your laugh is adorable! Seriously, can you get any cuter?” Odysseus was delighted to bring his friend into a pile of, how he put it, adorable laughter. It sounded so hearty and bubbly, it practically lit up their surroundings, if his smile didn’t do that already. Odysseus decided to switch tactics, forming his hands into claws and shaking them against the muscles of Polites’ stomach, causing some slightly deeper laughter to erupt from his chest as he almost completely froze under the feeling. He tried once again to curl up on himself, but the weight of Ody on his thighs were preventing him from doing so. 

“Holy shit, I forgot how much this gets to you! Is it really that ticklish? I don’t think it is, maybe you’re just being dramatic.” Odysseus chuckled when Polites gave out yet another flustered noise, now continuing his squirming. “That’s right, Poli, try to get away! I mean, not like it’ll do anything~”

“BY THEHEHEHE GOHOHODS PLEHEHEHEASE SHUHUT UHUHUHUP!” Polities pleaded. He needed a way to get out of this and politely humble his beloved captain, and fast. Then finally, an idea struck his mind. Well, it’s worth a shot! He thought.

Odysseus was about to send another tease his best friend’s way, but he cut himself off with a surprised gasp. Polites, that little shit, started to wiggle his fingers from under Ody’s knees, effectively tickling just above the captain's shin.

Odysseus thought if he just lifted his knee for a split second, he would be able to reposition Polites’ hands to prevent him from trying to fight back. Biting back giggles, he slightly lifted his knee.

He wasn’t expecting that immediately after he gave Polites a little bit of freedom, he shot his now free hand to grab onto his thigh and give it a few short squeezes. 

“Wa-AIT- POHOLITES!” Ody shrieked out, trying to squirm away, but he fell backwards instead, accidentally making himself more vulnerable.

Quickly getting seated on Ody’s thighs, Polites gave a giggle-filled yell of success and started scribbling all over his friend’s stomach, just as how he did.

“Aha! I didn’t think that would work!” Polites exclaimed, “are you really just that ticklish?”

“WihihHIHIHill yOHOhou shuhuhut uhuhuHUHUP!” Odysseus’ laughter came out in waves of loudness, if Polites went over a particularly sensitive part of his stomach, especially near his ribs.

“Oh now you want me to shut up!” noticing the difference in volume, Polites scribbled the fronts of his ribs, just below his chest. Ody’s laughter spiked, jumping an octave as he started shoving Polites’ hands with renewed effort.

“Aww! What’s wrong Captain? Is this a bad spot for you?” Polites teased, “are your ribs ticklish?” 

“WHAHAHAT DOHOHO YOHOHOU THINK?!” Odysseus barked out laughter as Polites started to poke around the area, occasionally poking his chest and collarbones to keep him squealing. “STAhahahahap!”

“But Ody~ I don’t want to!” Polites drew out like a little kid, with faux sadness in his voice, “And I don’t think you want me to either!” 

Before Odysseus could answer, Polites started focusing his tickles around his neck, causing the captain to squeal uncharacteristically loud and high. Poli had to stop his torment to laugh for himself, he would have doubled over if it weren’t for one hand on Ody’s chest keeping him upright as the other one wiped fake ‘tears of laughter’ from his eyes. “Oho gohohods, what was thahat!”

“I dohon’t wanna hear it from you! You’ve made far more embarrassing noises, Mr. Piggy.”

“Mr. Piggy-?”

“Whenever anyone targets your hips, you sound like a little piggy!” Odysseus chuckled as Polites’ cheeks turned a warmer shade of pink. He then proceeded to mock his friend’s laugh (and doing a pretty good job at it actually) while throwing in snorts every other second, just to rub it in.

That was it. Polites was sick of Odysseus teasing him constantly, even when he was the one getting tickled! He liked his captain more when he could barely think straight.

“That’s enough out of you!” Polites said, with an unexpected urge of strength, he managed to turn Ody over to lay down on his stomach.

“What the fuck-?”

“What was it you told me? ‘Don’t be so bold when you’re so ticklish’?” Polites smiled as he pinned Odysseus similarly to how he pinned him just minutes earlier. “Sometimes you need to take your own advice, cap’.”

“That is not what I said!” He argued, but he squealed again when Polites ran his finger down his spine.

“I said that’s enough out of you!” Polites exclaimed. He gave no warning before he started to spider his fingers along his shoulder blades. 

Whatever protest Odysseus was going to say melted away into hysterical giggles, desperately trying to pull his arms free from under Poli’s knees, but he was unsuccessful. Not knowing where to focus his ticklish energy, he started kicking his feet, feeling the pointy grass tickle the tops of his feet due to his sandals.

Trying to escape that feeling, Ody bent his knees, but didn’t stop kicking, now unintentionally kicking Polites’ back.

“Ody! Will you stop kicking me?!” He playfully scolded, turning around and grabbing Odysseus’ ankle to tickle his calf. 

Ody screamed before falling into shrill laughter. He cursed Polites for knowing literally every single one of his spots. To be fair, he knew all of Polites’, but still! “POHOHOLITES! Plehehehehease! Whyhehehe thehehere?!” 

“Because you were kicking me!”

“I dihihihidn’t mehehehean tohohoho!”

“Oh yeah, sure you didn’t,” Polites gave a playful eye roll, even though he knew Odysseus couldn’t see him. He then went back to tickling his back, this time using his knuckles to run along the backs of his ribs, knowing how well that method works. 

“BY THEHEHEHE GOHOHOHODS- POHOHOHOLITES! NOHOHOT THEHEHERE- NOHOHOT THAHAHAT!”

Polites smiled proudly. “Just be quiet and laugh for like 5 seconds!”

“ONETWOTHREEFOURFIHIHIVE!”

“Oh don’t be such a smart ass!”

The captain’s laughter was much deeper than his friend’s, though not nearly deep as Eurylicus. His laughter was constantly broken up by gasps which eventually turned more squeaky, gasping enough air to let out short screams whenever a particularly sensitive spot was found. Safe to say it was one of Polites’ favourite sounds. 

When he finally snapped out of his thoughts, he then remembered why he started tickling Odysseus in the first place.

He slowed his tickling down to gentle tracing along the King’s lower back, allowing him to catch his breath but still keep a consistent stream of giggles flowing out of his mouth. The sudden switch in intensity caused a snort to come out of the latter, making the optimist giggled, “and you called me Mr. Piggy! I’ve noticed that you tend to say things to me that also apply to yourself.”

“Ohohoho behehe quihihiet!” Said captain giggled out, letting out another snort and a few gasps as he caught his breath.

“So.. do you feel better now?”

“W-whahahat?”

“Well that was why I started tickling you! To get your head out of the dumps! No point if it didn’t work,”

“I wahahas fihihine behefore Yohohou tihihickled me!” Odysseus lied. He didn’t know why, but something about him didn’t want his best friend to know that something was bothering him. Maybe because he didn’t wanna burden him? Well, whatever the reason, Polites stopped his tickling for a second.

“Y’know, I wouldn’t be lying in your position.” Odysseus swore he felt his heart drop when he felt Polites roll up his shirt. Now feeling the cold air against his back and the same pokey grass on his feet now on his stomach, he began to backtrack and desperately pull at his pinned hands.

“Heyheyhey- NO! WAIT! I’m sohorry! I lied! I wahas upsehet, but I feel behetter! I prohomise! Poholi, dohohon’t!” 

“Jeez, Cap, I’m not gonna kill you!”

“You might!”

Polites giggled at the captain’s quip, placing his hand on the middle of his now bare back. “But thank you for being honest, that’s already a step closer to greeting the world with open arms!”

“Yeheah yeah, open arms and all, but if you’re really thankful then Yohou’ll lehet mehe go!” Odysseus tried to bite back his growing giggles, but the hand on his back made him wanna twitch, even though it wasn’t tickling him! God, now he really did feel what he did to Polites.

Polites didn’t like the dismissive tone in his friend’s words. “Oh sweet Odysseus, when will you learn that sometimes you need to be quiet?” Polites sighed, playful disappointment clear in his voice as he leaned down while taking in a breath of air. 

Again, before Ody could say anything, Polites blew a huge raspberry on the small of his back, using his hands to squeeze his sides and occasionally scribble up to his ribs. 

Odysseus screamed into the grassy floor, but it didn’t do much to stop the hysterical giggles from pouring out of his mouth. Tears of laughter started to grow in his eyes as Polites continued to blow raspberry after raspberry, until one landed on the backs of his ribs.

“POHOHOLITEHEHEHES! NAHAHOHOHO! plehehehehease- STOHOHOHOP! IHI SAHAHAID SOHOHORRY!” Odysseus continued to kick his feet on the ground, the feeling of the grass no longer bothering him due to it now being compared to the torment on his back. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry- IM SOHOHORRY!” 

Polites took a break from the raspberries to laugh as he gave some more scribbles over the length of Ody’s back. “Relax, Ody! I know you’re sorry, I forgive you! I’m not actually upset. Gods, Ody, you of all people should know by now that I wouldn’t tickle you if I was mad at you!” He said. Sensing that Odysseus was reaching his limit, he slowed his hands to a stop and got off of him, pulling his shirt back down in the process.

Odysseus turned back over as soon as he was able to, cringing when he felt how hot his face was. 

“Do you feel better now?” Polites asked, joining his friend by laying down on the ground.

“…maybealittle.” Odysseus quickly mumbled, surprised when Polites gasped.

“‘Only a little’?! No, I did not go through all of that effort to cheer you up, just for you to, one, not thank me, and two, for it just to work ‘only a little’!”

“‘All that effort”, yeah I bet it was so difficult on you when you tickle me to literal tears.” 

“Well, I guess it wasn’t that hard.” Polites teased, earning a well deserved shove from his friend. “But I got tickled too, if you haven’t forgotten!”

Odysseus chuckled. “Oh trust me, I didn’t forget.” Now it was his turn to tease as he poked his friend’s stomach, causing Polites to squeak and curl his legs into himself. 

“Hey! I can still get you back you know-”

“Welcome”

A hushed voice came from all around them, cutting off whatever Polites was going to say back to Odysseus.

The latter quickly got up off the ground, grabbing his sword from his belt and aiming it threateningly in all directions, the weapon making a satisfying “shing” noise. 

“Stay back!” He ordered, scanning the shadows for any sights of the creature, well, creatures.

“Stay back, stay back.” The voices returned. It was almost like they were whispering, but they could still clearly be heard over all of the usual sounding animals of the forest.

Polites got up, hiding slightly behind his friend as he spoke up, “my friend, greet the word with open arms.” He just had to take the opportunity to hold his side, not doing anything, just resting there. Threateningly. 

The gentle reminder made Odysseus soften a bit, but only a little. And the hand on his side took him aback. Gods, Polites really couldn't read the room sometimes. “We’re only here for food,” he informed the creatures, slightly gentler this time.

Apparently not as gentle as he thought as he felt a squeeze to his side as the creatures repeated his words back at him. After a short gasp, he looked back to his comrade just to be met with a stern look. He turned back to the bushes surrounding them. “Six-hundred friends are waiting for us to show our faces.” 

He heard the creature repeat the word “food” a few times, sensing them coming closer from behind the soldiers. He whirled around to face them. “Stay back, I’m warning y-OU!” This time a small yelp could be heard from the king as Polites squeezed his side again, “Polites, what in Hades are you doing.”

“Open arms, Odysseus.” Polites said, as if he was scolding a small child, “trust me on this, okay?”

Odysseus didn’t say anything back to him, just giving a huff of annoyance as he turned back to the task at hand. “If we don’t get back safely, my men will turn this place into blazes.” he felt Polites ready his hand to squeeze his side again, but Odysseus cut him off, “how am I supposed to say that gently, Polites.” 

“I don’t know! But threatening people isn’t greeting them-“

“-with open arms, I know!” Odysseus said, annoyance clear in his voice. 

“Odysseus, please. Don’t you trust me?” 

Now the captain felt bad. So he sighed and searched for better wording as he turned back to look around him at the… animals? around them. “We… uh… hope we don’t need to do that. But could you… lend us some of your food…” he looked back at Polites and was met with an encouraging smile, “… please.”

Polites would have hugged his friend because of how proud he was of him. Before he could do that, however, a few creatures came forward, bringing a basket of some odd looking fruit in front of the pair and dropping it on the ground in front of them.

“Here you go!”

Polites’ smile grew when he saw the cute faces of the creatures. “See, Ody? This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms!” The optimist finally let go of Ody’s sides to immediately bend down to greet as many fuzzy creatures as he could, all of them engulfing him in a huge dog-pile like hug.

Odysseus huffed out the biggest sigh of relief as he put his sword away. He knew Polites means well, but he’s going to need to talk to him about what just happened and tell him about times and places for goofing off. And that’s going to be an embarrassing conversation… 

However, for the time being, he let his friend laugh freely as some of the creatures swept him away in some sort of crowd-surf thing.

Ody bent down to pick up a fruit, cracking it open over his knee. Wait… why was the fruit glowing..?