(SBF means Sacrificial Best Friend AU!)

Ithaca, Greece.

20. Whole. Years.

It'd been 10 years already when you and Antinous first arrived in Ithaca, and Antinous along the way met 107 friends who would then band together to become the 108 Suitors for Penelope, and Antinous tagged you along in the whole thing, his childhood friend. You meant everything to Antinous, he sacrificed a lot for you, even his own humanity and morals just to give you what he never got in his life, and that meant taking everything from the Royal family of Ithaca, taking advantage of the fact that Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, had been away from home for already 10 years when you lot arrived, and he and the other suitors begun to pursue Penelope, wanting to win her affection for her to chose a new husband since everyone believed that Odysseus had been dead from war. But she refused.

He said he did it all for you, but was it really all for you? Or was it for his own selfish needs? You questioned everything he did after another 10 years passed as you both stayed in the palace with the other suitors, and he grew more colder, more distant from you, and dammit, this wasn't the Antinous you knew! You knew the old one was there, deep down, but you knew it would be hard because of the walls he surrounded himself in just to maintain his ruthless reputation. You felt sick every single time you saw him bully poor Telemachus, you felt like throwing up at seeing the lustful remarks he made towards Penelope, and sure, you got a luxurious life, one he never got, but it didn't mean you enjoyed it, no matter how much you tried to cover it up. It felt horrible to have to lie to Antinous, but what could you do?

And then came your breaking point.

You overheard the horrific plan that Antinous came up with the other 107 suitors, the plan to murder Telemachus....and "hurt" Penelope in a cruel way. You felt sick, and you snapped, so after everything was said and done, you pulled Antinous to the side, slapping him hard, which was something you had never done in your whole life, as you shouted at him, you unleashed all your rage inside, you channeled the fire inside your soul into a powerful speech you had came up in your mind countless times before, and now it all spilled out. Silence filled the air as you finished your declaration, and then....a sickening laugh came from Antinous as his head hung low, and he looked up with such manic eyes....but deep down, they looked hurt and betrayed by your words, and then he spoke haunting words that shook you to your core...

"You think I enjoy this?! Do you honestly think I like being this way?! NO! I don't! I have to be this way, I've sacrificed EVERYTHING to give you the life I NEVER got, because, by the Gods and may they curse me for this, I care about you! So much! I don't regret a single thing I've done, because while my decisions are cruel, I'm doing it for you! I sacrificed my humanity and morals for you dammit, and now you tell me you don't like it?! Well, I'll tell you this, I'll keep this up until you realize that what I do is for you, ALL OF IT FOR YOU, MY DARLING!"

He never used such an affectionate nickname for you....and you felt the silence loom over the both of you, it felt suffocating, like your heart was being wrapped in a tight blanket that your parents tucked too tight and you could barely breathe, you didn't know what to do, nor say, as you two just looked at one another in the damn eye, and you waited for a response, but nothing came. And you hated it....

He may have done it all for you, but is it worth it to sacrifice one's own morals for someone else? To him, yes....but to you? You didn't know what to think, honestly, even with his affectionate nickname. Did you mean more to him than he let on? You needed to know....