AN: This was an idea that BloodintheWater had. They read my "Discovering Us, Discovering Ourselves" and saw it as two stories rolled into one. I won't delete that story, but this story is me taking in consideration what they saw and writing a new piece based on that. Thank you, BloodintheWater!

They were nine and ten years of age, respectively. As such, Lanike, the prince's nurse, was leading them off to bed at a decent time one night.

"Lanike, can I sleep with Alexander tonight?" Hephaestion, the older boy, looked up at her with big, sky-blue eyes.

"I can't sleep without you, Phai. You know that," his companion, Alexander, who was the prince and heir of Macedonia, answered seriously. Taking his hand, Alexander held his gaze a moment before releasing him.

Hephaestion turned and buried his burning cheeks into Lanike's skirts, but she was skilled enough to not let that trip her. Petting his light brown hair, she shushed him, and then continued to lead them to Alexander's rooms. Just as they were approaching the door to the room, a low, deep moan could be heard from one of the rooms they had just past.

Alexander, who had always had a curious nature, was immediately alert.

"What was that?"

Lanike, knowing what the sound was and blushing lightly because of it, stammered, "I am not sure, Prince. I'm sure it's nothing."

Alexander stood to his full height- a mere four feet- and put his hands on his hips, "If you're not sure, Lanike, how can you say it's nothing? It could be dangerous. Phai, stay here and protect her. I will investigate."

"No!" in a flurry of skirts, Lanike pressed her back to the door, panting, "Alexander, go to bed."

"Lanike, if it is-"

"It is nothing for boys of your age to worry about. Now go to bed, and so help me Zeus, if I come in there to find you not in bed and waiting for me to tuck you in, I will spank your bare bottom with a spoon."

Grumbling under his breath at her, he let Hephaestion take him by the hand and lead him into the bedroom. Just as the bedroom door closed, the door behind Lanike came unlatched, and a head of dark hair presented itself, along with two dark brown eyes that matched Lanike's own.

"Thank you, Lanike. The king is rather... demanding, tonight..."

"It does not concern me, Cleitus. Just keep the noise down. The boys need to sleep," and with that, she walked away, straight-backed, as the door she had just left closed and latched once more.

Lanike had come and gone many hours ago, asleep in the little room that was connected to Alexander's chambers by a single door. Hephaestion was also deeply asleep, curled into Alexander's side. There was only one person who could not sleep despite the late hour, and that was Alexander.

The sleepless boy turned over, now facing his best friend, who, at his movement, snuffled and whined almost inaudibly in his sleep and then snuggled closer, hugging Alexander's arm to his face.

"Phaiston!" the young prince whispered, shaking the boy in order to wake him up.

His older companion moaned before sleepily opening his sky-blue eyes, his voice hoarse with nightly disuse as he acknowledged his prince, "Wha'?"

"Phaiston, what do you suppose that noise we heard earlier was?"

Hephaestion groaned and buried his face into his pillow, praying to whatever god was up at this late hour that his being awake was only a dream. But the sounds of the bedclothes rustling softly as Alexander moved beside him and the sound of his own name as Alexander whispered it told him that his prayer had gone unanswered and all the gods were in fact, ironically, deep asleep when Hephaestion was not.

Finally, begrugingly, Hephaestion turned over to face his friend, trying with all his might to remember "earlier." When he could not, he simply asked, "Wha' happen'?" through a large yawn.

"That sound, don't you remember?" Alexander asked quickly.

Smacking his lips a few times to cure his dry throat, Hephaestion realized he did not even remember what they had for dinner before they went to bed, let alone something as insignificant as a sound. The thought of dinner made him think of breakfast, and with a sleepy grin spreading across his face, Hephaestion decided he would have figs with his oatmeal in the morning.

He was just about to fall asleep again when he was shaken once more.

"Phai, wake up! You never answered me about what you thought that sound was!"

Hephaestion batted him away fruitlessly, his head once again buried into his pillow, "'on't know, maybe someone moaned in their slee'..."

Frustrated now, Alexander huffed, "Oh, you're no help at all," and then his face seemed to light up as an idea formed in his head, "Come on, let's go investigate!"

Hephaestion groaned louder at the word "investigate." He would like very much to "investigate" Alexander's head. And his own bed...

"Come on, you lout! Let's go!" and the next thing Hephaestion knew, he was lying on the floor, face stuffed into the carpet. Well, he wasn't one to complain... "Come on!" Alexander heaved him upright.

"All right, all right!" Hephaestion pushed him off, "Will you let me sleep if I help you?"

"Yes," Alexander nodded sincerely.

"Then let's go."

They did just that, quietly slipping past Lanike and out the bedchamber door. Once out in the corridor, the sounds made themselves clear once more. Realizing they were coming from Alexander's honorary Uncle Cleitus' rooms, Alexander turned to his best friend and pointed silently in that direction. Stunned by the sounds and the realization that his friend had not been wrong, Hephaestion crouched wide-eyed behind him.

Finally, Alexander moved forward an inch on silent feet. When he had gotten almost to the door, Hephaestion startled into action, running to his friend's side, not wanting to be left behind. As his bare feet made noise on the mosiac floor, Alexander turned to him, finger to his lips.

"I'm trying!" Hephaestion mouthed.

Alexander only rolled his eyes and turned back to the door, which was slightly ajar, enough for the boys to peek inside. What they saw made them cock their heads to the side in confusion.

Alexander's uncle was fully naked, face down on a pillow, head turned toward the door but his eyes were closed as he let out breathless moans. The man they knew was Alexander's father, Philip, the current King of Macedon, knelt behind him, head thrown back.

Suddenly, Cleitus' eyes flew open and he let out a loud gasp upon seeing the boys. Philip's large hand immediately covered the man's mouth. Once he was quiet again, Philip's gaze flicked to the two boys he now knew were at the door, and he smirked and winked at them before reaching out and slamming the door shut with a strong swing of his hand.

Knowing that they had been caught and would more than likely be punished for being out of bed, if not for witnessing what they did, even though they did not know what it was they saw, they ran back to the prince's chambers and slammed the door shut, startling Lanike awake.

"Boys?" she came into the bedchamber, yawning delicately behind a hand, only to find both the prince and his companion wide awake and staring at her with the blankets pulled up to their chins, "What is wrong? Why are you awake?"

"There were noises in the corridor. They woke us and we went to go see what they were, but the dark scared us," Alexander lied, Hephaestion nodding in comformation, blue eyes terrified.

Lanike smiled softly before going to the bedside and shushing each boy, running her long, gentle fingers through their hair. It wasn't long before Hephaestion gave a huge yawn and curled up to sleep, comforted by Lanike's ministrations as Alexander watched.

Once she had hushed the prince and was sure he was also asleep, Lanike went back to her room. But Alexander had fooled her, and was in fact nowhere near asleep. Once he was certain the door connecting the two rooms was shut, he rolled onto his side, knees drawn up to his chest so that his toes brushed Hephaestion's stomach. He grinned when his friend groaned in his sleep and tried to bat away the annoyance that had drawn him out of a blessed sleep.

Now that he knew his friend was awake, Alexander whispered, "Phai?"

Hephaestion let out a loud groan, "Xander, if you woke me to talk about what we saw, you had better be prepared to die..."

Alexander gave a half smile as he watched a sliver of blue appear and the smallest frown mar his bed companion's features, "You enjoy me too much to fulfill that threat, Phai."

Knowing this to be the truth, Hephaestion resigned himself to losing the opportunity to sleep at all that night. With a yawn and a rub at his eyes, Hephaestion set his pillow against the bed's headboard and sat up against that, turning to his still-lying best friend and, such as at the moment, the reason he often prayed to the gods for infinite patience.

"What is it, Xander? I would really like to get at least some sleep tonight."

Alexander frowned at his friend, "I do believe you have an unhealthy attachment to the idea of sleep."

Hephaestion shoved him playfully, "Oh hush. Now, tell me what is bothering you before Lanike wakes."

Alexander suddenly became shy, not really having the words to ask what he wanted to of this older boy in front of him, and as such, at least in his eyes, the wiser of the two of them.

"What- what was Father doing to Uncle Cleitus? Was he hurting him? Why would he want to hurt him, Phai?"

Seeing his friend's worry and fear for his honorary uncle in his multicolored eyes, Hephaestion reached out to pet his blond curls comfortingly, "I don't know, Xander. I'm sure it was nothing. No need to worry. Cleitus can protect himself," at this, Alexander nodded weakly, eyes cast down as he began to cry, "You need sleep. We both do. Lay down, come on," they did just that, and Hephaestion made sure that the blanket covered them both before wrapping Alexander in his gentle hold, "Hush. Everything's all right. I promise."

Hephaestion kept whispering in Alexander's ear until his tears stopped and he fell into an uneasy sleep. But he himself did not fall directly back to sleep as he had hoped he would, worried for his friend, worried for his prince. Worried for his Alexander.

AN: Hope you all liked it! Especially you, BloodintheWater! It didn't end up like I thought it would, but I'm happy with it. Sorry it's so long, haha.