Chapter Text
Hector’s party had been a disaster. All they’d been trying to do is go for a few hours and have a good time, but after a bad argument, Patroclus ended up getting beat up and Achilles took him home.
Afterwards, Odysseus did his best to try to round up the remaining men who had come to the party with them.
Hector’s house was huge. Full of twists and turns, and the large amount of drunk people hanging around the place wasn’t helpful at all. Dry ice made the house foggy and flashing, multicolored lights made the place even more disorienting. Odysseus hadn’t even had much to drink. He couldn’t imagine trying to navigate this place while being fully drunk.
He climbed the stairs, trying to spot where the rest of the men, Odysseus’s “crew”, they jokingly called themselves, had gone off to. When that didn’t work, Odysseus just went around the house, pulling open random doors in hopes of finding someone that he actually knew at this party. He tried door after door, finally stepping into a quiet room.
He stood there, confused for a moment, before realizing the room had been soundproofed. The room was painted a light blue, and soft shapes hung from the ceiling. He realized what kind of room he had stepped into, which took him more time than it would have had he been completely sober.
Oh. Ohhhhh.
Odysseus had heard that Hector had a baby recently. He didn’t expect the baby to actually be in the house while the party was happening. He gazed upon the shape in the crib.
The sleeping baby was probably younger than his own son, Telemachus, by a few months. He peered out of the bars of his crib, before reaching a small, chubby hand out towards Odysseus.
“Dada?”
Odysseus stared at him for a moment before remembering. Yes, he and Hector did have the same kind of hat, an unfortunate fact he had discovered only after arriving to the party.
It was then that Eurylochus stuck his head through the doorway to tell Odysseus that they had to go. Odysseus could feel himself starting to get emotional. Alcohol usually did this to him and the presence of the baby who reminded him so much of Telemachus added to it even more.
“Eurylochus, we can’t just leave him here by himself. He’s all alone.”
Eurylochus sighed. “Odysseus, we have to go. The party’s dying and I’m sure that the baby’s parents will be here soon.”
“No, it’s fine. I can take care of him right now. I really can. We can’t leave him.”
Eurylochus said nothing but just pulled Odysseus out of the room. The baby inside stared to cry, and Odysseus was getting there himself.
“Come on, Ody. We have a few hours to drive and you can’t keep Penelope and Telemachus waiting. Let’s go.”
The thought of Penelope and Telemachus was about the only thing keeping Odysseus from dissolving into a large, emotional puddle right there on the floor. And so he went out to the car and sat with a few of his “crew members” while Eurylochus did his best to round the rest of their group up.