This is sort of a prequel to my story "Awakenings", though both are fine on their own.
Our boys are growing up, and changes are coming.
As usual…I don't own any of the characters, the movie, not a darn blessed thing. I am still trying to figure out how to get my hands on Hephaestion...but so far no luck.
Rating: K
The afternoon was crawling by slowly, and Alexander's attention was wandering. It was a sunny, warm day in Pella, and he seriously wanted to be off playing or wrestling or riding…anything but sitting here listening to his teacher drone on and on about boring history. He liked it when Lysimachus read from the Iliad. He loved the stories of Achilles and the other heroes. The battles were exciting and the characters very interesting. What they were being taught today, though, was dry, dull, and not exciting at all.
He yawned and glanced over at his friend Hephaestion. The Athenian boy was busily taking notes, ever the studious and serious one. He studied his friend for a moment. Hephaestion was taller and more slender than himself, appearing almost delicate in his mannerisms at times. Alexander knew first hand, however, that he was anything but that. Hephaestion had already beaten him in wrestling more times than he cared to count. He was not sure about the other boys, but he knew that Hephaestion would not let him win simply because he was the prince. He respected that.
Hephaestion's father, Amyntor, was a man of some wealth and apparently brought his son up to maintain an air of dignity, self-control, and respectfulness. Many of the others misinterpreted this as arrogance or conceit, or thought he was sucking up, but Alexander knew nothing could be further from the truth. Hephaestion had a quiet grace that he found intriguing. He was caring and sensitive and not prone to show anger unless really provoked. They were so different, yet it was those differences that attracted him to his best friend in the first place.
Alexander learned much from his other teacher, Leonidas, but he thought that Hephaestion struggled a bit with his lessons there. Leonidas was very Spartan in his teachings, allowing nothing of luxury and ease, but teaching of simplicity, self-reliance and hard work. He was very strict, and he taught Alexander some measure of humility, which few others dared to teach him. He was, after all, the prince.
Right now, the prince was bored and stifled another yawn. He decided to have some fun with Hephaestion. He quietly picked up a small pebble and flicked it in Hephaestion's direction. Hephaestion jerked around to see what it was that had hit him in the arm, looking over to see a giggling Alexander trying to hide his smile behind his hand. Oh, so that's it, he thought. He frowned at his friend and looked back at his notes.
Alexander was not going to give up that easily. Making sure that Lysimachus was not looking, he picked up another pebble and tossed it into Hephaestion's lap.
This time Hephaestion sat up straighter and glared at Alexander. He was bored, too, but knew they would be quizzed over this material at some point, and he did not like to do poorly on his tests. From the mischievous twinkle in his friend's eyes, he thought Alexander did not much care about that at present. Alexander could almost always make him laugh with his silly antics and this was no exception. Seeing the grin on Alexander's face, his mouth twitched upwards at the corners as he tried really hard not to laugh. He saw Lysimachus looking in his direction and quickly looked down at his paper again.
He sat quietly scribbling down his notes as before, when he suddenly felt something poke him in the leg. He looked down and saw a small slip of rolled paper at his feet. A grinning Alexander nodded towards the paper, motioning for Hephaestion to pick it up.
Hephaestion sighed, knowing Alexander would not leave him alone unless he did. Carefully, as not to be seen, he retrieved the small scroll and unrolled in over his notes. It simply said "I am bored" in Alexander's scrawling handwriting. He scratched a response "I can tell" and slid the note back over to Alexander.
The note came back. "Did you know that Cassander has a crush on you?"
Hephaestion nearly choked. "Seriously? Where did that come from, Alexander? Have you nothing better to do?" he wrote.
The note continued to pass back and forth.
"I just thought you should know. He thinks you are cute."
"Gross. I do not think he is cute at all. His nose is too big."
"You think I am cute, though, right?"
"Oh sure, and modest, too."
The note continued its journey back and forth.
"Come on Phai, you love me and you know it!"
"Do not."
"Do, too!"
"Alexander, we are going to get into trouble. Stop passing notes!"
"Why? You just passed one!" Alexander grinned at him, and Hephaestion rolled his eyes.
"Because you started it."
"You could have stopped…."
"I don't like you, Alexander!"
"Yes, you do."
He shoved the note over again, glaring at Alexander as he did so.
"Fine, whatever. Please leave me alone."
The more irritated Hephaestion felt, the funnier Alexander thought it was.
Lysimachus cleared his throat, and both boys jumped and looked him guiltily. He decided to end his lesson for the day, since it didn't seem all that productive any more. "You boys are dismissed." All of the boys in the class scrambled out of there as quickly as they could. "Alexander, Hephaestion, wait please."
They groaned inwardly and looked at each other.
Lysimachus nearly laughed at their terrified expressions. "Boys, you two are my star pupils. I would really like you to be an example to the rest. Do you think you can do that, and refrain from passing notes in class?"
They both nodded. "Yes, sir." Alexander said quietly.
"Good" he chuckled at them. "Alexander, you will be pleased to know we are going to read from the Iliad in the morning. That should keep your attention! Now go, get out of here!"
Alexander gave him a quick smile, and then the two of them turned and ran away, laughing and poking at each other. Lysimachus had to admit they were his favorites, and he loved to watch them interact with each other. They were as close as friends could be, and it made him smile. All he had to do was keep Alexander's attention and all would be well. That, he acknowledged, was not always an easy task. Tomorrow it would be easier.
