Prompt: Creepy Crawlies

Title: The Untold Story of Indian Expedition

Warning: A crawler I used here is a spider. If you have arachnophobia, you might want to skip this. Or, give it a try anyway, as it could cure your phobia :)

A/N: This is an expansion of one of my drabbles below.

Title: At The Dead of Night 3

Word Count: 100

"Ouch!"

Hephaistion woke up when Alexander jumped into his bed, and accidentally kicked his thigh.

"Sorry, you don't see him on me do you?"

Hephaistion rubbed his eyes, and examined Alexander tentatively.

"No, I don't think so."

"It was very close this time, he almost touched me."

"But he means no harm to you."

"He is evil. Have you looked at him? I mean really looked at him? He has more than one set of eyes. It definitely is an evil to have so many eyes. And the legs …"

Hephaistion gathered him and smiled. Alexander was terrified of spiders.


After crossing over the Hindu Kush, Alexander's army was gradually entering into the foreign terrain of an unknown world. As they marched further south into India, the air became thicker with the heavy moisture, and the scenery became greener with lush vegetation.

Alexander felt high tension seeping out of usually calm Hephaistion's body who was also riding lots closer than normal to Alexander. It looked almost like the General was keeping keen watch for the enemy. His sharp gaze constantly surveyed their surroundings. Yet, once in a while, Hephaistion pulled Alexander even closer to him, and started a meaningless conversation all of a sudden. To sum up, Hephaistion was acting strange.

The General's dark mood was starting to affect the soldiers as well. They acted nervously, and even jumped at the sound of crying birds. Hephaistion did not burst out in rage like Alexander did, but they knew all too well that when the General was in a mood, they should never make a mistake. They were all afraid of the quiet cold glare of Hephaistion that lodged much deeper into their hearts than Alexander's abusive words. In a way, Hephaistion was worse to deal with than Alexander when he was mad.

Looking at distressed Hephaistion, Alexander regretted coming this far for the first time since they left Pella. His friend's face was clouded with a deep frown between the brows, and dark shadows cast under his eyes. The strong urge of giving up everything, and going back home caught Alexander, however, he knew that he could not turn around the army just yet. This was not the play of children. He could not simply quit because he did not want to go on. He needed a significant enough reason or an opportunity to make a decision for the entire army.

"Hephaistion, is something bothering you? You look distressed."

Alexander finally put his worries into words, and asked Hephaistion.

"No, nothing really. I just ... have been having this terrible headache that does not go away. It must be because of the change of the climate."

Hephaistion smiled weakly. A pang of guilt crossed Hephaistion's mind. This was the first time that he did not tell the whole truth to Alexander. Sure, it was true that he had a nagging headache, but something else was wearing him down. It all started five days ago when they camped at the valley.

Hephaistion was setting his tent with the help of his servant, Mikkos. Normally, it was done all by Mikkos, and another servant, Aetes, but Aetes had become ill a few days ago, and Hephaistion had been doing himself instead of assigning another servant.

Mikkos stopped in the middle of his movement, and watched his master with a mix of worried and confused expression. His master was frozen to the spot in front of the cot with his face so pale that Mikkos thought something was hurting Hephaistion very badly.

When Mikkos was just about to ask Hephaistion what was wrong, the General swept off the cot and smashed something under his boot. When Hephaistion removed his foot, the young servant found a big hairy spider squished on the floor with his sticky guts spilled out all over.

"Mikkos! Clean this up, and tell Alexander's pages and servants to check the King's tent thoroughly, and kill all the crawlers."

With this, Hephaistion left the tent to visit Kalanus, an Indian sage who had been following Alexander since they had met in Texila. Hephaistion's mood became gloomier after confirming his fear with Kalanus. The old sage told him that those spiders were fairy common around here, and it would get worse as they went further to the south.

Hephaistion sighed deeply. He was the only one who knew Alexander's secret, the fear of spiders. Since that day on, Hephaistion's endless quest to protect Alexander from encountering the hairy creatures had started. He could not let this secret slip away to the public. For crying out loud, they were not among a group of teenage boys any more. It would not be just harmless teasing that Alexander would receive.

Alexander was the invincible conqueror, a god even to some. If the army ever found out that their hero king was terrified of spiders, it would be the end of this expedition, thus the end of Alexander's dream. And Hephaistion was sure that Alexander would make a scene if he ever saw those monstrous spiders. Hephaistion could not let it happen, he could not let Alexander's reputation be ruined.

Therefore, during the day while they marched in the jungle of the heavy vegetation, Hephaistion made sure that Alexander would not see the creature. As soon as he had spotted one within Alexander's sight, he distracted the King's attention by pulling him into conversation.

At night, he inspected the King's tent by himself after the pages and the servants had cleared the place. He even sneaked into Alexander's tent before the dawn to make sure that no crawlers made it inside to greet Alexander in the morning.

The constant look out and the lack of sleep was getting to him, and he was exhausted beyond the limit. Hephaistion felt like he was facing thousands of the enemy all by himself. There was no end to it, and something had to be changed very soon.

One evening when Hephaistion walked into his tent, he saw Mikkos lying down on the floor trying to get something from under the cot.

"What are you doing?"

Mikkos looked up at Hephaistion from the ground.

"Ah, Hephaistion. I lost a big spider under the cot, and am trying to get it out."

He replied while reaching under the cot with a broom.

"Wow!"

The boy jumped when a hairy creature came out of under the cot almost crawling over him. Recovering quickly from the initial shock, Mikkos raised his broom to smash the creature.

"Wait! Don't kill it, but catch it."

Hephaistion screamed the order, and the boy gently put the broom over the spider instead while Hephaistion grabbed a jar. The General knelt in front of the broom, and picked up the spider from under the broom before putting it onto his palm, and setting a jar on the ground.

The creature was huge, it almost covered the entire palm of Hephaistion. It was not the size that drew the attention of Hephaistion though, but it was the color. The spider had a beautiful hue of blue. The color of blue was so bright and vivid that it almost looked like glowing. Yellow and white triangular lines on the legs and the diamond shaped white markings on the body brought up the color of blue even more.

Hephaistion put the spider into the jar he set on the floor earlier, and carried it in his hand to see Kalanus once more.

"So, he is not really a threat?"

Hephaistion made sure that there was no misunderstanding.

"No, he is poisonous, but his poison is not strong enough to harm people. It even has a useful remedy to a certain condition."

Hephaistion's face brightened up with hope. He might have discovered the solution.

That evening, Hephaistion visited Alexander's tent while planning to spend a night there.

It had been a while since they shared the intimate moments together. This expedition in an unfamiliar world was making them too occupied with daily chores and problems. Both Alexander and Hephaistion were very tired.

Hephaistion was determined though. He had Bagoas prepare the hot relaxing bath, and the light meal. When it came to the creation of the indulgently romantic mood, nobody could compete with this young Persian eunuch. As Hephaistion expected, the bath was wonderful. He did not know where Bagos found this huge bathtub, and how he had it brought into the King's tent, but the rose oil scented bath was so relaxing and sensual.

They washed each other enjoying the physical touch, and emotional closeness that they had missed so much. Hephaistion stood up in front of Alexander while making sure to display his hard desire before getting out of the tub. He did not have to look back to see if Alexander was following him with a goofy smile on his face.

To make his point perfectly clear, while they were eating dinner, Hephaistion dipped his finger into the honey pot, and slowly licked his digit after putting the entire finger into his mouth to suck it off. He smiled satisfactorily when his action drew a moan from Alexander's lips, and the King's face contorted with lust.

"I think I had enough food of this kind. I'm still hungry for another though."

Hephaistion whispered into Alexander's ear, and that was all Alexander needed. He took Hephaistion by the elbow, and dragged him into the inner section of the royal tent where his sleeping quarter was arranged. He almost violently threw Hephaistion onto the bed, and started to kiss his mouth hungrily.

After they broke the kiss in need of air, Hephaistion told Alexander while panting hard.

"Turn yourself over, Alexander. Let me try one thing."

"What? Did you learn an ancient Indian trick or something?"

"Something like that." Hephaistion chuckled.

"Can I trust you?"

"Completely!"

"All right."

With this, Alexander turned himself over, and lay on his stomach. First, he felt Hephaistion's warm palms over his shoulders, which put just the right amount of pressure to undo the knots. The heat moved down to his soared back to the hip, and Alexander moaned against the familiar touch.

Then, there was a totally different sensation. The touch was so light that it almost felt that Hephaistion was running a feather over his back. However, the stimulation was lots more delicate, the touching edge was so light and soft like down. The touch progressed from one spot to the other like a wave. Alexander wondered what Hephaistion was using, and how he was doing this magic, but his sense was all consumed into the overwhelming pleasure.

Yet, he grunted when Hephaistion told him to turn over again. Although with all those stimuli, he knew that his middle region was not hard enough to satisfy Hephaistion. It was not because he was not excited nor hesitated to make love to Hephaistion. Gods, he wanted it so much, but the recent hardship was making him impotent.

Especially for the last three days were terrible. It rained all day and all night as if the sky had a tear and broke. They had never seen so much rain with such force. It was depressing, and made the marching very difficult. Everybody was almost at the physical limit, and Alexander was no exception either.

"Don't worry, Alexander. Just close your eyes and leave it to me."

Hephaistion's soft voice floated in the air making Alexander relax once more. Alexander gasped feeling Hephaistion's wet hot tongue ran against the length of his manhood. He was almost there, but he still could not cross the last line to be fully erected. When Alexander thought that he would burst with the frustration, his whole body tensed feeling a sharp sting on his region.

"Oh!"

His yelp turned into wonder as the wave of heat spread from the point of the pain to the whole organ while filling it with renewed energy. Delighted, Alexander tried to grab Hephaistion's waist.

"Be patient, my love. Let me get the oil."

Hephaistion slipped away from Alexander's grip to reach for the oil. He coated Alexander's fingers and overheated member that was now painfully hard. Hephaistion felt that Alexander was so eager to take him that his whole body was trembling under him. As soon as Hephaistion was prepared enough, he sank himself onto Alexander's hard rod.

Hephaistion gasped with the sensation. Alexander was so hot that he felt the heat melt away his inner passage, making him boneless. If Alexander's strong grips were not on his waist to keep him in place, Hephaistion was sure that he would have collapsed over Alexander.

The ride was amazing. Alexander hit his sweet spot each time with such incredible accuracy and force that Hephaistion felt that the whole universe around him exploded when they came together. They floated in the afterglow with no sense of possessing bodies that attached to them. When they finally came down from the fluffy clouds, Hephaistion felt Alexander's flesh start filling him again.

When Hephaistion opened his eyes next time, the rain had stopped, and the sun was up. The soft light of the late morning sun was glowing through the thick wall of the tent. He did not remember when he fell asleep.

"The sun is up ..."

Hephaistion murmured, and Alexander lifted his gaze from the scroll that he was reading at the desk across from the bed. He stood up with a big smirk on his face and slowly walked toward Hephaistion to sit by him.

"How do you feel after making love to the point of unconsciousness?"

'So that was what happened. I must have passed out after the several rounds.' Hephaistion thought grinning.

"A little sore, but refreshed and extremely satisfied."

Hephaistion stretched lazily in the bed, and replied to Alexander making the King chuckle with delight.

"The ministration you had given me last night was amazing. What was it?"

Hephaistion hesitated for a moment, but he leaned over the edge of the bed, and pulled a cage that was made with branches and vines from under the bed. He sat next to Alexander, and lifted the cage in front of the King, so that he could see the content of inside the cage.

Alexander gasped, but he did not pull away. Encouraged, Hephaistion opened the cage, and put the spider on his palm.

"So, you put this creature on my back last night?"

"Yes, and have him bite your royal dick..."

And then, they burst into laughter.

"Aren't you afraid of him?"

Hephaistion asked Alexander while petting the soft fur on the back of the spider.

"No, look at him. The color reminds me of your eyes when they are darkened with lust. How can I be afraid of something that reminds me of you?"

"Oh, on the contrary, you should be terrified of me."

Another laughter broke. Looking at Alexander who was timidly petting the leg of the spider, Hephaistion wondered if he had created a fearless monster. But, his doubt disappeared instantly when he met with Alexander's bright smile that shone like the sun.

The End


Another A/N: The spider I used here is 'Metallic Blue Ornamental Tree Spider'. I don't know if this specific spider's venom has the same effect, but at least the venom of the wandering spider - also known as the banana spider (or more formally Phoneutria nigriventer) is proven to cause erections in men. I don't recommend you trying this at home though :)