Who wouldn't want, or need, to relax after a battle, in the company of some of your closest friends. Polish equipment, get a good back rub, bit of pampering, leisure pursuits...
But seriously, there is a lot of documentation in the classic literature, and arts, of male-bonded relationships, not only on the battleground, but as tutorship. Pederasty, the patronage of an elder with a younger (teenage) male was well established and sought after by the ruling classes. The relationship was primarily focused on the educational but also often intimate. Homosexuality, as modern Western society defines it, was not an issue.
Unfortunately, because of the Judeo-Christian doctrines, this became taboo (mostly Old Testament), and we have come a long way in regaining rights and normality under the protection of Human Rights.
The premise was that when you fight alongside your lover you will do everything to protect him from harm. As such they were elite and fierce fighters and many tales of their heroism are known.
On our travels through Greece, we visited the National (Archeological) Museum in Athens. The famous pottery is well-known to depict the relationships between men and women, men and men, and women and women, as well as between humans and mythical creatures, like satyrs and nymphs. On our visit some years ago all of this was removed from the display galleries. When I asked one of the curators about it he said that, because of some parents complaining, as the museum was a regular part of school trips, all pottery and other art, depicting nudity or sexual acts was relocated to a closed to the public section for the time being. What a shame.
In the classics, like the Iliad, there are numerous mentions of male bonded relationships; Achilles and Patroclus, Hercules and Ialaus, Agamemnon and Argynnus, etc. While they are usually not mentioned as explicitly sexual in nature, many (modern) historians do use the term 'intimate companion' and 'lover' or leave that option open.
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