TITLE: Warming you up.
PAIRING: Alexander and Hephaestion.
RATING: PG
CATEGORY: AU.
DISCLAMER: I do not know the people involved, no harm intended, everything is product of my imagination, but I would not mind sharing my life with the blue-eyed god.
NO BETA so all mistakes are mine.
FEEDBACK: comments are love! Yes, please any kind of them will help me to improve my writing or leave it forever.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This one-shot was prompt by this comment: "Funny that when I read "They mocked at him because winter wasn't his favourite season as he suffered cold deeply and tended to wander around wrapped in furs.", I think this could be a prompt. How Hephaistion suffers from the coldness in the winters, especially the first one. I can really imagine something sweet and loving between him and Alexander. Please, write a story about this when you have time …."
The boy was tall for his seven years but too thin, there was no fat in that slender body, only his blue eyes stood out in it and it was obvious that the child was very nervous. He was about to meet his prince and he had been praying to all the gods to influence the Macedonian prince to let him stay and study with Master Aristotle.
Alexander looked at the newcomer and knew that he would be his special friend. Even though he was shorter than the brunette, he was, by far, stockier than Hephaestion, and for Alexander, Hephaestion looked quite fragile with his slender body …. Time would prove him wrong.
Alexander looked with surprise Hephaestion's attire; his legs were covered with a kind of trousers and he was wearing a thick wool cloak; the prince thought it was too much because the weather was rather mild. A page took Hephaestion to his chamber and the little boy discovered that he was going to sleep in the same chamber than Alexander.
Aristotle welcomed the new boy and was marveled by his extended knowledge of the classics; he could also write correctly and his voice was melodious when reading. When the class was dismissed, Aristotle made Alexander wait and suggested him to look after the new boy because the first night far away from home and family was always difficult. Alexander nodded and took his task seriously, looking after the brunette until the other boy felt embarrassed.
After dinner, they all retrieved to their chambers for an early rest because they would begin with their physical training after their lessons the following morning. Alexander took his clothes off and left them folded at the end of the bed; Hephaestion copied his movements but then opened his chest and took similar clothes. Alexander looked at him with confusion; the brunette blushed deeply and explained that he used to wear clothes to sleep. Alexander asked him why he would do that and Hephaestion explained that his homeland was much warmer than here in the north. Alexander accepted the explanation, bid him health and blew the candle out.
In the dead of night, Alexander woke up, a muffled sob had interrupted his sleep; he turned round in his bed and listened carefully again, a second sob and some teeth chattering could now be heard. Alexander got out of his bed and approached the brunette's bed; the thin face was stained by tears, his lips were pale and, even though he was still asleep, his body was shivering and curled into a tight ball.
Alexander went to his own chest, rummaged inside it and took a fur blanket, the one that his mother had embroidered herself. He went back to Hephaestion's bed and tucked the blanket around the sleeping body. After some minutes, he could see how Hephaestion relaxed his body and outstretched his limbs, his lips were slightly rosy and his face showed a calmer expression.
The next morning, when Hephaestion opened his eyes, he could see the blanket wrapped around his body. He blushed deeply and wished Hades came to take him, Alexander should have thought he was a disgrace.
He got up, folded the blanket and left it onto Alexander's bed; he washed quickly, combed his hair in a low ponytail and headed to the dinning room where some of his companions were.
He stood next to Alexander and waited to be acknowledged. Cassander nudged Alexander in his side and headed towards Hephaestion; the prince looked at Hephaestion's eyes and gasped lowly, he had not realized the day before how blue they were. The prince cleared his voice and asked if he could help him; Hephaestion blushed deeply and said that the blanket had been very useful and promised that he would be stronger. Alexander just nodded and continued eating.
When the class began, Aristotle asked Hephaestion how he was doing and the boy just answered with a muffled "fine". Hephaestion always felt free when he was attending lectures and Alexander saw how he was more relaxed and confident.
When the class was over and they were about to go to the training filed, Aristotle asked Hephaestion to wait for him and he gently demanded to be answered with the truth. At the sight of those old warm blue eyes, Hephaestion's tears started to fall copiously; he was feeling so embarrassed, especially because Alexander surely thought he was a spoiled weak boy. The teacher patted his back and assured him that Alexander was not petty and he would not think less of him for having a rough night. Aristotle was also sure that Hephaestion would soon become a true friend for the prince … time and life would prove him well.
That night Alexander was expecting Hephaestion not to be well again so, anticipating his needs, he spread the fur blanket onto the brunette's bed. When Hephaestion saw it, he told the prince he would try to sleep without it and so in that way, he would get more used to the cold weather but Alexander refused his idea, telling him that there was no need to suffer in vain and that he should not care so much about other people's opinions.
That first week was hard but Hephaestion managed to get a bit better; the worst part was letting Alexander see how hard cold weather was for him but the little prince had been always kind so it was frequent to find the fur blanket on his bed, especially for the coldest nights. Lately, a goblet of warm milk was shared between them before going to bed; the beverage also offered an intimate moment when both boys shared secrets, worries, dreams, in a word, life.
They also discovered that they complemented each other very well as if they were two sides of the same coin.
Years came and went by and both boys turned into two handsome teens that, at the age of 14, had discovered that their friendship was important but that it was also hiding a deeper feeling, one that made their hearts beat quicker whenever their eyes met.
Hephaestion had never totally overcome his shyness but he had proved more than once he was a strong young man, with a strong will and a quick mind behind that "fragile" appearance.
The only thing that Hephaestion had not been able to conquer totally yet was the cold Macedonian winter. He had tried many methods and the one that had suited him best was the hard exercise, especially before going to bed, but this also brought him extremely tiredness.
They were attending one of the last lessons when Aristotle saw Hephaestion wrapping himself in a thick wool cloak and the old teacher smiled, the poor boy was still feeling the claws of the cold winter and he made a mental note to give Alexander some pieces of advice on the topic.
The class was dismissed, Hephaestion stood up and covered his head with a hood and left the warm room; Alexander looked at him worriedly, his dear friend was doing up to the impossible to conquer the cold but he was not succeeding. He turned round to pick up his things when Aristotle said nonchalantly "I don't remember where I read it but it is said that the best way to defeat cold is to share body heat" and with a tiny smile, the old teacher went away, leaving an astonished Alexander nailed to the floor.
Suddenly an idea came to him and he thought that he might have been given the solution to Hephaestion's and his own problem.
Later that night, after drinking their warm milk, Alexander stood up and stripped himself of all his clothes, even his loincloth.
Hephaestion looked at him and blushed, trying to hide his raising interest; Alexander's body was awaken in him feelings that he didn't know he was able to feel; he turned round quickly, bid Alexander health and hid his head under a pile of blankets.
Alexander whispered something in the dark and that made Hephaestion turned round to ask what he had said. Alexander, with his face lit by the moonlight, repeated his previous statement and Hephaestion could only gasp.
"Would you like to try?" asked Alexander.
"But it would imply that we … we will be … be naked … together" stammered the brunette.
"We don't have to do it, I have just mentioned it because Aristotle told me this after our afternoon class …" said Alexander.
"Ah! Master Aristotle … well, in that case … we could try … if you want too …" whispered back.
Alexander sat on his bed, letting the sheet fall and it revealed his naked sun-kissed chest. Hephaestion breathed deeply and left his bed. Alexander had already opened his bed and moved to the opposite side of his own bed. Hephaestion sat on the edge of the bed and took his clothes off, feeling the blush colouring his cheeks. He lay on his side of the bed, with his back facing Alexander, and as far as it was possible. The prince sighed loudly and a little snort left his lips. Hephaestion turned round and asked:
"What?"
"Nothing Phai"
"No, tell me what is happening"
"Well, you have a strange way of testing the master's theory"
Hephaestion kept quiet but he moved a little closer to Alexander, but without touching him yet. The brunette evened his breathing and felt asleep, more due to his nervousness that to his tiredness.
But night time helped these young enamored and the cold added his part; the night turned quite cold and Hephaestion's frame was travelled by shivers. He discovered that Alexander was a constant source of heat so he got a bit closer, and then closer until he ended lying next to him, with his chest plastered to his prince's back. Alexander shivered at the contact of the cold hands on his chest so Hephaestion was about to retreat when two warm hands caught his and pushed them back to a warmer chest. Alexander patted those in-the-process-to-get-warmed hands, snuggled against Hephaestion's slightly longer body, and entangled his strong legs with the slender ones. They fell asleep some minutes later.
During the night, both youths reversed their positions so it was now Alexander who was hugging the brunette from behind, his muscled body possessively touching the slender one from nape to toes.
The warm hands wandered subtlety over the now warm and slightly flushed skin and, to Alexander's delight, he could feel Hephaestion moving further into the cocoon of his body and arms. The prince nuzzled the brunette's nape and a slight shiver ran along Hephaestion's body, but this time it had nothing to do with coldness.
Hephaestion, who was now awake, ran one of his feet along Alexander's calf while his right hand caressed the arm that was circling his waist.
Feeling a second kiss, this time on his shoulder, Hephaestion could not stay still; he turned into his prince's arms, looked into the two-coloured eyes and with his blue eyes full of heat and dormant passion, Hephaestion kissed Alexander lovingly.
What happened after that kiss … well that is a plot for another story …