"Now you are showing off," Patroclus murmured, fully aware that he could not have held Achilles like this himself but he trusted him more than enough to allow it, hooking his legs around his waist with a smile as he pressed their foreheads together, drinking the sight of him in. "There is no war here. No Trojans. It may be a strange place but for a time, we could be at peace. Just the two of us, allowed to exist as we want to," Thetis was not here to ruin their days or to heap expectations upon Achilles, there was no Peleus to disappoint - the only people he mourned the loss of here were Briseis and Chiron, the latter of which he had not seen in years, anyway.
Their formative years had been spent there and at war, but at least now, they could work on forgiveness in their own time. "As long as you stay here, with me. I do not wish to be anywhere that you are not," he admitted, sliding his fingers through the golden crown of Achilles' hair, still as soft as he remembered it being. He wouldn't have to look the other way after a day of slaughter, now. He wouldn't have to wash blood from his skin and wash him clean of his perceived sins.