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Hey guys, this is my first ever fan fiction and I am a bit nervous for it.
Obviously I don’t own Atlantis, and this is a modern AU
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Jason sits, hunched over his desk late in the evening. He was drawing something on his graphics tablet. The last two months have been hectic to say the least. Jason could easily compare it to his arrival to Atlantis all those years ago. One moment they had been on the Argo, then the next they had crashed into the south of England. Jason missed Ariadne who had decided not to come on the trip despite how it has ended up. He quickly learned of the frustration Hercules and Pythagoras had with his “ignorance” at the customs and other things in Ancient Greece. Although Jason did at least have some limited knowledge of Greece which helped him. “What are you doing Jason?” Pythagoras asks. It had been a while since Jason had left his room.
“Oh, I was just seeing if I could draw Ariadne from memory. Like I told you this is where I came from and both travels have been an accident,” Jason tells him. It made Pythagoras look at his friend with a sympathetic smile. There was not much left for him in Atlantis, there never had been really. Just Jason, Hercules and some friends. Nothing like what Ariadne and Jason have with each other. Pythagoras sits down and watches his friend draw for a little while. He was amazed at how the drawing could be done without pencil and paper. It was safe to say that Pythagoras loved the thought of technology and was a quick learner, much to Jason’s pleasure. It was one less battle the younger one had to deal with.
It was definitely harder for Jason to deal with bringing Hercules up to speed on the past. Especially when he had discovered pubs and social media. He did not have to pay for anything if he got people to order him food if he gave his table number at a local Wetherspoons pub. Jason often dubbed Spoons as being a second home for Hercules. He was on better terms with all the staff and managers than he had ever been before Hercules arrived. The managers would often call him to come and collect Hercules when he was too drunk to be in the pub any longer. “Will you teach me how to draw on one of these?” Pythagoras asks, Jason. He had been mesmerised by the detail and the effort that he was putting in, but it didn’t look like it from the tablet itself.
“Sure, I think I have a spare one you can keep. It is way easier teaching you things then it is Hercules,” Jason says. It was strange to see the roles reversed that Jason was now the teacher and Pythagoras and Hercules were the students. Although Pythagoras was not best pleased when he had heard about what people in modern day London thought of him and his works. “I think even a small toddler high on sugar would be a better student than Hercules,” Pythagoras says, sending Jason into a fit of laughter. The words that Jason was now finally able to use had started rubbing off on Pythagoras and Hercules. To Jason’s horror he had discovered that his former wrestling friend had picked up a swear word after hearing Jason use it when he stubbed his toe on the coffee table. Hercules had acted like a child learning a new word.
The poor person at the end of that was so grateful to learn that Hercules did not actually know at that point when it was appropriate to use the word, so no harm was meant by his use of the fowl language. “You could actually say they are about the same,” Jason says, after he thinks back to the first time Hercules used a swear word. Pythagoras still has that air of innocence about him, so he had not known about Hercules swearing. At this point Jason didn’t think it was worth it to tell Pythagoras about that. Instead he finished up his drawing of Ariadne and started teaching the mathematician about the basics of drawing digitally. It was strangely enough easier to teach Pythagoras how to draw shapes like circles, squares and even triangles just to get him used to the movements.
It is so different to drawing on a piece of paper. When you draw digitally you have to trust your hand as your eyes are drawn to the screen. Jason let Pythagoras use his eyes in the starts of drawing humans. “Now I know why Ariadne likes you so much. Your eyes are just incredible to look at,” Pythagoras says, and Jason smiles. He is going to confuse the poor mathematician in a moment’s time. There are a lot of things that Pythagoras has yet to learn about the modern world including what relationships are like. “Don’t start turning all gay on me now,” Jason says, knowing full well that Pythagoras was not going to understand a word of what he just said. That much was obvious by the look he received.
“Turning what on you now?” Pythagoras asks, and at that moment Jason wished there was a potion he could make that would give them all the knowledge they need for the modern world and one for him to learn everything there is to know about ancient Greece instantly. “Gay, in the olden days it meant happy. Nowadays it means when a man is in love with another man in the same way that you would love a woman,” Jason explains, taking his time to make sure the words come out right. He thinks that Pythagoras understood it well enough. “So instead of man and wife, a gay man’s wedding would be like man and man or husband and husband,” Pythagoras says, watching Jason’s face to get the younger man’s reactions.
“Pretty much. I don’t think you’re gay though,” Jason replies. Then they get back to drawing while they wait for the inevitable phone call from the Spoons manager to come and collect Hercules who has been at the pub since two pm and it was now four pm and surely the older man would definitely be at least tipsy by now if not full on drunk. At least the modern world seems a bit safer to the older two Atlanteans that Atlantis did. You don’t have to have a sword to hand anymore. Yeah, there are a few questionable people doing questionable things, but Jason took many hours to convince them that they had to leave it up to the police or he would be called to get them back out of jail. Pythagoras to be fair on him took less convincing then Hercules.
Especially that one time that Jason had been punched in the face by someone who was drunk and they almost started a bar fight. Despite the growing bruise on his face he still managed to restrain Hercules and get them out of the pub before they would be banned for the rest of their lives for starting a fight. It had earned him another black eye as he attempted to wrestle Hercules out of the pub. Jason had left to go to the bathroom and to let his friend get on with some of his drawings now that he had gotten into the zone Jason found himself in earlier. He also wanted to set Pythagoras up with his own desktop computer and hopefully find that spare graphics tablet he had mentioned earlier.
It was not a very expensive one, but it would do for what Pythagoras would need it at the very least. Jason was sure Mac had left an old computer laying around somewhere. He realised that Pythagoras would not be playing video games on the computer so the very basics would do him just fine. “Ahh shit,” Jason curses. He had cut his finger on the sharp metal of the computer box as he lifted it up to clean the dust. He had almost forgotten that Pythagoras was in the house. He had hoped that the young man had not heard his swears, or else the warrior would have a lot of explaining to do. “Are you okay Jason?” Pythagoras asks. He had not heard the swear but had arrived in the kitchen to find Jason cleaning his wound under the running water of the tap.
“Yeah, I just cut my finger on something. Nothing super serious,” Jason replies. He had already moved towards the medicine cupboard where he had some plasters stored and some cream so he could tend to his wound himself. Pythagoras watched in slight awe as the young man expertly tended to the minor cut on his finger. “Now, when we were in Atlantis you didn’t tell any of us you could do this,” Pythagoras says. Jason winced as he put the cap back on the tube of anti-septic cream. “Back when we were in Atlantis Pythagoras, we did not have such things as plasters, anti-septic cream or anything like that. Beside this is nothing but a scratch which isn’t life threatening,” Jason replies.
“I know, I guess I am more used to life threatening injuries when it comes to you,” Pythagoras replies. Something which earned him a playful tap on the shoulder from his friend. He could not deny it though, even in modern times trouble seemed to find Jason in his own home. “I know, I can’t even spend time in my own home without trouble following me,” Jason admits, he would be a fool if he even attempted to deny it. “Besides, if I were to have cut myself any deeper I would take myself to A&E,” Jason adds, which makes Pythagoras spit out his drink. Jason sighs, he keeps discovering more about his world that he has not told Pythagoras and Hercules yet and it always scares the youngest when the older two get worried.
“What in the God’s name is A&E?” Pythagoras asks, regaining his composure and had managed to sit down. “It’s short for accident and emergency and it is a department of a hospital where you would go and have your wounds seen to by a trained doctor. There are a lot of things in medicine which have advanced over the years,” Jason explains. It would probably trigger a career in medicine for Pythagoras which Jason would not mind. Jason knew that even when they were in Atlantis that Pythagoras was amazingly skilled at what he was doing when it came to his consistent life threatening injuries. Then again Jason would have that that same knowledge if he had studied a little more. Jason was more than happy to teach Pythagoras the ways of the internet.
His medical knowledge would be more powerful than ever. Although Jason knew that would mean that he could not get away with treating Jason for everything wrong with him. Say for example Jason had knocked himself out and got a concussion then he would have to go to hospital so he could be looked at because he would die without proper treatment. “Anyway, what were you trying to do Jason?” Pythagoras asks as Jason moves the box which he had just cut his finger on onto the table. He takes out all of the screws and lifts the side off. “I was seeing if this was worth giving a good clean out and putting to some use,” Jason replies. He blew off some of the dust and coughed as Pythagoras looked at him.
“And what would this do?” Pythagoras asks. Hercules had long been forgotten about by this point, left alone to enjoy his drunken fun with all of his friends he had made who believed his often unbelievable stories. “This is what is known as a computer. It was what was powering the screens you saw your drawing on earlier,” Jason explains. He gets up without incident and manages to gather everything he needs to safely give the computer a proper clean out. Pythagoras watches on, curious and eager to learn all that he needs to know so that once he has ownership of this computer he would be able to maintain it himself without asking Jason what needs to be done. “Do you think Hercules is drunk yet?” Pythagoras asks.
“Undoubtedly so, it is Hercules we are talking about here. He would do the same in Atlantis what he is doing here,” Jason replies, without even looking at Pythagoras. They were expecting the call in the back of their minds, but they were too busy enjoying their new modern life where they were spending their evening cleaning out computers and having geek talk instead of eating food. Even outside of Atlantis they were used to not having a lot of food to their name. Hercules has a nasty habit of raiding the cupboard like he had taken drugs and had the munchies when he came back from a long day or night drinking. “I guess you’re right. Anyways, could you explain to me what all the different parts of the computer to me,” Pythagoras asks.
“Of course, although I suggest you find some paper and a pen because it would be unreasonable for me to ask you to remember all of what I am about to tell you,” Jason replies. He watches as Pythagoras scurries off to gather the paper and the pen. He smiles at the unwavering loyalty the man has for knowledge and learning more about the world around him. Jason goes on to spend at least an hour explaining in detail about all the different computer parts and what they do to the best of his knowledge. He also tried to do it in terms that Pythagoras would understand easier which ended up with them becoming more of a long winded conversation than Jason intended, but at least they were enjoying themselves.
They were thankful that Hercules is currently drunk and if he was about to walk in on them in their current situation they would never hear the end of it. He likes to tease his young companions about their nerdy habits whenever he gets the opportunity to. Jason wasn’t going to admit to Hercules any time soon that he was enjoying being able to share this knowledge of technology to Pythagoras. It was hard enough when he had to explain how the submarine that brought him to Atlantis works. Especially when he was trying to explain in more simpler terms of how dangerous it was to go into the sub again once Hercules asked if it could take them back to Atlantis. As much as Jason misses Atlantis, it would be a lot safer to let them adjust to modern life than die.
“Okay this is as clean as we can possibly get it. Now it’s time to show you the way you put all of these parts together. I just need to gem some paste first,” Jason tells Pythagoras. Jason had learned the hard way in his trials of computer building that thermal paste is a vital part and if you forget it then bye bye nice CPU. He explains this to Pythagoras as he makes sure all the old thermal paste was off the CPU. It was easier than he expected to explain it, but then again he always knew Pythagoras is a highly intelligent man. He was the man who invented A squared B Squared = C Squared for crying out loud. He made the maths about triangles that so many people love to hate when they go through school years.
Jason had not told Pythagoras that he hated the theory when he was in school. However, his knowledge of it made more sense when he showed Pythagoras his school work and his name came up. Hercules and Pythagoras had to be renamed Mark and Robert to the ordinary people of London. Jason often dreaded what to think when their names came up in conversation. To ordinary people, these men died many years ago. There would be no way on god’s green earth that they would still be alive to this day. They were soon done with setting up the computer, with a few mumbled swear words from Jason as wires would not go in when they should have and there were things that just annoyed him.
He was lucky that Pythagoras had not heard him or did hear him and not ask about it. Although knowing Pythagoras as well as Jason does, he would have asked what Shit or Fuck meant by now if he had heard them. That was just the kinda of guy he is. “Right, now let’s test this baby and hope this doesn’t blow up,” Jason says, ignoring the shocked face of his friend as he tightened the last screws and carried the case to the mathematician’s room. He would explain to his friend that it was just a saying and that the computer was not a baby and not about to blow up, but he was also slowly getting tired as the evening turned into night. He wanted to get his friend set up and on the way. He went into the storage cupboard and found his spare electronics box with the keyboard, mouse, monitor, wires, cables and the extra graphics tablet.
“This is going to take a while to set up though. I’ll need to install a bunch of software on it to get going and some of those might take their sweet time,” Jason says, as he shows Pythagoras how all the wires go in while the mathematician draws it in his little notebook. It amazed Jason how much attention to detail he saw in just a quick ten minute sketch. He was also quickly learning how to use the graphics tablet and Jason could see the same level of detail appearing in those drawings as well. He let Pythagoras push the button while he raced to his room to get the little USB stick with all the installation software needed to get this started. Pythagoras looks away as he presses the on button in case it does explode.
“I’ll go and get some drinks while you work your magic on this,” Pythagoras says and leaves the room while Jason makes himself as comfortable as possible on the chair he had bought for the desk. A good friend of their messaged to say that he had a very drunken Hercules in their house sleeping off his stupidity on the couch after he had been kicked out of the pub and no one could get hold of the boys. Hercules was going to be dropped off either mid-morning or early afternoon depending on what time he wakes up and how much of a hangover the eldest would have. “How did we both miss these phone calls?” Pythagoras asks, he had walked back in to give Jason his drink when the other boy mentioned the location of their friend.
“Probably because we were too busy in the moment of building your computer. Hercules is old enough to look after himself and Steve said he would bring him home in the morning or afternoon when he is more sober,” Jason replies. He was about halfway through installing the operating system at this point. It was not as difficult as Jason first assumed it would be. The memories of what to do came flooding back once he had gotten himself into the zone and the mindset. “You’re right, they would have thrown him through the window by now if they didn’t want him around any longer,” Pythagoras replies. Jason winces as he remembers the bill he had to pay to have the window replaced after Hercules was thrown through it.
“Yeah, and they would be paying for the bill next time. If they decide that throwing chubby Hercules through my living room window again is worth it then they will pay for it,” Jason says. There was nothing Jason needed to press on the computer for a moment, so he took a long swig of his drink while the time passed, and the computer was doing it’s thing. He knew it was a bad idea to introduce Pythagoras to coffee, but it was bound to happen eventually. He already had all the tools he needed to have an all-nighter before the coffee was introduced so it didn’t make a difference if Jason banned the caffeinated beverage or not. The next couple of hours was spent trying to get all the software installed.
Jason wanted Pythagoras to at least start getting accustomed to his own computer while some of the knowledge was fresh in his mind. That way in the morning Jason could go and get the food while he dabbled a little more in the various software available to him. Hercules still ate most of the food in the cupboards, but it was harder for him to steal Jason and Pythagoras’ hard earned money if he could not access it. He was not given the pin codes for either of their bank cards and the two younger men swore that they would not draw cash out unless it was necessary and to keep it well away from Hercules. “Jason if you’re tired you should wait until the morning. It’s not like the computer is going anywhere,” Pythagoras says, after Jason yawned three times within pretty quick succession.
“I know, but I wanted to get it done so I don’t spend most of tomorrow morning on it. I have plans to go to the shops in the morning to buy more food and at least attempt to hide some of the good stuff away from Hercules,” Jason says, looking at the clock on his phone and frowns as it reads 10.03 pm. His brain felt as though it was later than that. Then again he has spent the best part of three years being unable to tell the time. “Don’t risk your health for it though Jason. You wouldn’t want to end up in the hospital,” Pythagoras says, and Jason smiles. The blond means well, he doesn’t know that just one late night is not going to instantly lead to some time in A&E or a ward in their local hospital. He still has so much to learn.
“I’ll be fine. One late night won’t doo much harm. Besides I am sure we have had later nights in Atlantis and done fine,” Jason replies, as his fingers danced across the keyboard to set up the operating system. Touch typing came quite naturally to Jason, but both Pythagoras and Hercules were slower when it came to them typing. It is something that comes with practice and Jason knew Pythagoras would quickly crack it. Installing programmes like Photoshop and Google Chrome take less than ten minutes so when it came to that part Jason was whizzing through it. The only thing that slowed him down was getting Pythagoras to make accounts for all of the software and sign up for the photoshop subscription which was what he had been learning to draw on thus far.
Jason became more tired as the night wore on. It was now 11.37 pm and Pythagoras was desperate to get the younger man into bed. Not in the sexual way, they had already been through that discussion before. “Now will you go to bed?” Pythagoras asks, when it seems to be over and Jason stood up to stretch for the first time in a couple of hours. “Yeah, I am gonna go to bed then get up somewhat early tomorrow to get the food. Hercules is so unpredictable,” Jason replies and takes the cups through to the kitchen to wash them. Pythagoras follows through and dries the cups as they are being washed. “That’s true, but we should not be stressing ourselves with these things,” he replies, as Jason holds back yet another yawn.
Jason just nods and goes to have a quick shower before bed. He heard Pythagoras typing away on the keyboard after shouting his thanks. Jason then walks into his room, after getting ready for the night and climbs into bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow his eyes started closing on their own and he quickly fell asleep. After a couple of hours Pythagoras shut down the computer and went to check on Jason who was fast asleep in his bed. “You do way too much for us Jason,” Pythagoras says, which was intended for Jason not to here while he is sleeping. Pythagoras would plan to reward Jason for everything that he has done especially in the last couple of months while they attempt to adjust to modern life.
In the morning Jason woke up a little later than usual and panicked thinking that Hercules was on his way back. Fortunately the former wrestler was still sleeping and was not due back for hours. Pythagoras was already up and had started making Jason some breakfast when he heard his slightly younger friend stir. Jason stumbles into the kitchen whilst rubbing his eyes. “Morning Jason,” Pythagoras says when he sees Jason. He got a very mumbled morning in reply. Jason’s body clearly needed that bit of extra sleep he got. “How did I sleep so long?” Jason asks, he had been given his breakfast and shoved a forkful into his mouth as soon as he could. “You were pretty tired last night, maybe your body needed the extra rest,” Pythagoras says.
“I guess so. I still have to go to the shops before Hercules comes back with a hangover,” Jason replies. He was going to have to rely on a lot of coffee or some energy drinks to get him through the day. Once Hercules gets home he was not going to be able to get much sleep until the former wrestler falls asleep unless he goes out drinking again. It was more likely for Hercules to come in, suddenly remember again that he can’t be with Medusa even though the poor cursed woman was long gone in peace and then go out drinking. Then he was either going to come in yelling at 3 am which wakes both of his younger friends up and make them unable to sleep for a while or leave and stay at someone else’s house.
“Don’t worry about getting food specifically for us to hide form Hercules. We can get through this together, even if we do need to stage an intervention at some point on his toxic behaviour sometimes,” Pythagoras says. It made a lot of sense to Jason; they have been dealing with Hercules and all his quirks for years. They were so used to it that they didn’t consider it to be as bad as it is until someone points it out to them. More and more people in modern day London consider it toxic than people back in the past when they were in Atlantis. “I know, but it’s nice to have a snack stash to eat when you want to. Especially if you are going to spend a long time at your pc,” Jason replies as he stretches.
“I guess you’re right. Especially now I own a computer thanks to you, and I feel myself itching to get back to the computer this morning. I had to make breakfast for you first since I was up first and old habits are hard to break,” Pythagoras replies. It has been a long time since that was brought up. Back in Atlantis, unless you were injured to the point of bed rest if you were the first once awake then you would make breakfast for everyone else. Jason was often the one making breakfast back in Atlantis because his thoughts would wake him up before the other two or the climate situations would wake him up in the summer months. He was not adjusted to how hot it was in the summer, but Pythagoras knew all about it.
After all, Pythagoras was the one who stayed up late treating Jason for Heat Stroke or what they call Sun Fever when they had spent the day in the desert or a place with little to no shade protection. Jason had half expected the other two to struggle with England’s weather, but they seemed to be fine. Apparently they did have spells of cold weather and rain in Atlantis. Jason never experienced it personally in his time there, but he assumed it was a rare occurrence. Jason found himself suffering more from the cold winter than they were, and he should have been used to it by now as he was born and raised here. He found his warmest hoodie and pulled it on over his head as Pythagoras walked into the room.
“Are you feeling a little cold there Jason?” Pythagoras asks. Jason slowly remembers that he told them all about his favourite winter hoodie and why it was his favourite. “Just a little bit, the heating takes a while to kick in after it’s being off,” he tells the other male. You would think that living in the 21st century that heating issues would not be so much of a problem. However, Jason knows that the house he has is quite old and therefore the heating system is VERY much outdated at this point. He cannot afford to get it upgraded or anything like that because it is very expensive. Maybe if Hercules stopped breaking into the small savings he had then he would be able to buy that heating upgrade. Maybe he needs to open a savings account.
The trip to Asda was successful and uneventful. He had managed to stock up on the necessities that they needed for now and some extra snacks for him and Pythagoras to enjoy. Their good friend had woken up Hercules at 11 am and told him that he was to eat breakfast and drink something before he was to take pain killers and go home with at least a 24 hour ban on drinking, not that Hercules was going to follow it strictly. Jason was home with plenty of time to do a little bit of light cleaning before Hercules was to arrive home, and he had found Pythagoras already starting with the cleaning and not on his new computer as Jason wrongfully assumed he would be. “Sometimes I wonder if it is a fully grown adult that we live with or a toddler,” Pythagoras says, referring to their good friend Hercules.
Of course no ill intent was meant by what he said. Hercules knew that and that was the most important thing. Jason changed the plaster on his minor injury yesterday and Pythagoras winced as he saw how aggressive the cut was for something so small. “Let me clean it again, it would do no harm,” Pythagoras says. Just as Jason climbed onto the counter top Hercules walked in. “What happened?” Hercules asks. “Just a minor scratch,” Jason replies as he holds back a wince as Pythagoras cleans it. There was a small piece of the computer in his wound which was removed and then a fresh plaster was placed over the wound.
The rest of the day went as typical as it could have gone. Jason was helping Pythagoras get to grips with his computer while Hercules watches television which was his new favourite thing. For some reason he loves shouting at the screen whilst watching drama which he knew would not respond to him. Jason hid his smile as he heard Hercules yell “HE’S CHEATING ON YOU BREAK UP WITH HIM.” Pythagoras was confused but paid no attention as Jason started explaining the important pieces of information Pythagoras needed to learn how to manage the computer he was now in possession of. This went well into the evening until one by one they had all gone to their beds and had fallen asleep.
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Well, that is the end of my first ever fan fiction. I hope you enjoyed. Let me know honestly what you think, and I might write again.