Just a short piece about a single night spent between Alexander and Hephaestion while in exile. Basically just an excuse for Brokeback Mountain-esque smut. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I am merely borrowing these people for my own amusement purposes, because they are beautiful.

Exile

We passed out of the civilised lands with ease and no one stopped us along the way. But by the time we'd finally crossed the Macedonian border long days had passed and the seasons had changed; snow came down like a torrent and the wind snatched the hair from our hoods as we journeyed the rough path through the mountains. Alexander led the way and I kept a steady pace behind him, turning every now and then to check that we weren't being followed and to watch the life we had known shrink as we grew further from it. Sometimes my thoughts would stray to the others and I'd feel a pang of guilt but whether Alexander noticed or shared the same feelings he said nothing about it. His pride kept his head high and his tongue silent, playing the part of the wounded prince expertly and I knew he wanted me to think that it was only his honour that had been hurt.

Soon we reached a high pass, steep with rock and ice. We looked up and the black mountain leered at us like a challenging god, a crown of blown snow about its head. We looked at each other as our horses pawed the ground nervously.

"Is that our road?" I asked, dreading the inevitable answer.

Alexander cocked his head, grinning. "Can this be?" he said scornfully. "The brave Hephaestion; son of kings, slayer of barbarians, ruiner of women…dissuaded by a hillock?"

"Dissuaded? Who's dissuaded?" I shrugged. "I was only checking to see if you were alright, it being somewhat icy and all. You might twist an ankle. "

The prince snorted with disdain and I was pleased to see that exile had caused no harm to his self-assurance at least. "Well bless you for caring, Hephaestion, but I think I'll be alright," he replied. "And you? Wind won't damage your hair too much, I hope?"

I rolled my eyes but smiled inwardly, relieved that he was not so disheartened as to forget to mock me. We slid off our horses and led them by the reigns, Alexander, as usual, going first while I followed with an ever-mounting feeling of dread in my gut. The winds grew harsher, the air bitingly cold, creeping into the many sheepskin tunics I wore under my vest. With a shaky breath I drew my cloak tighter around my body and trudged on through the snow after Alexander, terrified of losing him in the dark.

We continued on like that for an age, the two of us fighting our way past the elements up the winding ledge of the mountain, our hands marble white as we gripped the rock for safety. If I looked down over my right shoulder I would see nothing but an abyss of curling grey fog and cloud and my grip on the horse's reigns tightened. He, I could sense, was as uneasy as I was and struggled to find steady ground against the blizzard, his eyes blinking nervously beneath white-flecked lashes. In contrast Bucephalus and his master were moving single-purposefully like men on a mission and soon they were out of sight, causing my insides to grow even colder.

"Alexander," I called out against the roaring of the storm. "Alexander, don't go too far ahead."

If he replied I didn't hear it. My ears throbbed with frostbite and the shriek of air whistling through cracks in the mountain. I looked back into the crevasse beside me and felt sick. "Alexander," I called again.

He could not hear me. Swearing hideous oaths I surged forward, kicking snow from beneath my feet and hurrying past knife-edged crags which tore holes in the wool of my cloak and the skin of my hands. It was dark. The snow drew in front of me like a curtain before my eyes and before I knew it I was blind, scared and very much on my own. "Alexander," I yelled and heard it echo off the stone. "Alexander!"

"I'm here," came a puzzled voice and I swear to the Gods I almost died there on the spot as he stepped out from round the corner, golden head speckled with snow, frowning at me quizzically. "Love of the Gods, what are you screaming for? You'll wake up the damn mountain."

"I…" My tongue felt thick in my mouth as my brain struggled to form words. "I thought I'd lost you."

His face, darkened by Bucephalus' enormous shadow, broke into a grin. "Not yet, my friend," he replied. "But if we don't get out of this wind soon it might well be a different story."

I nodded, speechless with relief. We continued on a little further, keeping our eyes peeled for shelter until we came to a spot where the path veered off and the mountain side wasn't so steep. With great effort we managed to lead the horses up the edge until we came to the mouth of a large cave which looked to me as though it had been cut out of the rock. Next to me it seemed Alexander was thinking along the same lines. "Zeus be praised," he murmured. "Perhaps there is someone watching over us after all."

We tethered the horses near the cave's mouth and headed over towards the very back where the wind was not so harsh. The walls were blessingly solid but as much protection as they gave against the storm they did little for the cold and I found myself shivering as I moved to stoke a fire. Alexander unfastened his cloak and shook it, sending shards of ice and water into the wind like falling stars before spreading it out across the cave floor. His eyes swept the space, settling on the small pile of kindling where I knelt with a piece of flint. "Someone's been here before us," he stated.

I looked up at him smiling. "Perhaps two travellers escaping injustice," I suggested. "Pursued by a force of similar evil."

The corners of his mouth twitched and I knew he was falling for the story. I looked back down at my trembling hands which held the two stone halves and attempted to strike them together. Nothing. I tried again but my hands were clumsy with cold and my fingers were frozen; the most I could do was produce a few feeble sparks that went out almost immediately. Alexander, noting my frustration came and knelt beside me. "Here," he spoke gently, taking the pieces from my hands. "I'll do that."

Gratefully I handed them over and our fingertips brushed against each other. His skin was warm, kept ever aflame by the fire in his chest that set his eyes bright and his cheeks aglow. Like the sun, I thought and was instantly embarrassed. He struck the pieces together and a flame leapt onto the wood as if from his very hands while I busied myself with supplies.

"How much is left?" he asked.

"Enough for at least another three days," I replied. "But sooner or later…"

I drifted off awkwardly. He nodded but I saw how his jaw clenched and the unspoken words hung in the air between us: sooner or later. Sooner or later we would have to move on. Sooner or later we would need aid. Sooner or later we would have to go back. Our world was so full of uncertainties. I took bread and water from our packs and we ate in silence, listening to the mountain's howl and our own hearts beating, counting every second that meant we were still alive, each of us lost in his own thoughts. I thought about my father, whether he had even noticed my absence. I thought about Olympias, whether she would be safe from Phillip's wrath or whether he hunted her too. But mostly I thought of home, where the sun was warm on the ceramic tiles and the air smelt of oil and honey. I thought of clean pressed tunics and apple wine, of Alexander's neck bent over a lyre beside the fire, of his muscles tensed against mine as we wrestled. I glanced at him from beneath my lashes. He was looking outside, at something I couldn't see.

"Oh Phai," he whispered suddenly and when I looked I saw his eyes were shining with tears. "Phai, what have I done?"

And there it was. The heroic front was coming down and suddenly he was no longer the dishonoured heir to the throne but a boy, far from home and fatherless. I felt my heart wrench within me as he searched my face for comfort, for reassurance that I was there and that I supported him, no matter what. In response I slipped my arm around his shoulders, thinned by harsh weather and lack of food, and held him against me. He buried his head into the nook of my neck, the tears coming fast now and I stroked his hair as memories of being a child came flooding into my head, of how we would climb into each other's beds when a nightmare or a prisoner's screams grew too much to bear. The feeling of his hot breath on my skin, his body pressed against mine brought it all back…and I suddenly grew aware of how young we really were.

We undressed each other; the soft, familiar touches a warm relief after the long journey's suffering. Dropping our damp clothes by the fire we moved to where he had laid his cloak and I pulled my own over us both. Then he kissed me, lips warm and welcoming as rain after drought with his tongue like a flicker of flame spreading heat through my body, setting me alight with his golden beauty. He moved down slowly to brush against my throat and I closed my eyes, the varying pressure almost enough to send me over the edge as I caressed the taught muscles of his back, the same muscles he had used to tame Bucephalus. His mouth was everywhere and so was mine, both of us desperate to reclaim something that we hadn't had in so long. I kissed his mouth, his neck, his collar bone and chest, marking his body with a spell that whispered mine, mine, mine.

Because we belonged to each other, we always had. Ever since that first day when time had slowed and we felt we had been together always, since Achilles and Patroclus, since the very beginnings of time. He whispered to me between kisses and roaming hands, "My Hephaestion, my love, best of friends, best of men…" and we moved against each other, our bodies cupping like hands. The feel of him beneath me, panting and slick with sweat despite the frozen air made me grip him harder, and then I felt his touch between my thighs.

"Gods," I groaned, arching against his subtle caress and biting down hard on my lip. I felt giddy, my head swam with the stars and I saw the planets sitting on his shoulders, heaven only an arm's reach away. I brought my legs up to his sides, wrapping my thighs around him so that our erections were touching. He moaned as I did so, tangling his hands into my hair and dragging his nails across my lower back. I tasted his smooth skin with my tongue as I winded down and down, crossing the hard muscles of his stomach until I hovered just above his abdomen. His whole lower half quivered and his head fell back onto his back with the effort to stay upright, stretching his neck out like a swans. "Phai," he groaned, his hands grasping my hips frantically as he entered me.

I closed my eyes at the familiar feeling of him inside me, filling me up like a wineskin. He moved slowly at first, muscles contracting beneath my flat palms like a river winding down his back and I felt as though the flame inside us would consume us both. Then he began to move faster and the echoes of my groans bounced off the cave walls with each powerful thrust. "Oh my-FUCK," I screamed as he slammed into me. "ALEXANDER, MY GOD."

"HEPHAESTION," he panted and beads of his sweat fell onto my shoulder as he pulled back and re-entered with more force. "My love, oh my love…"

It was all too perfect. My limbs shook with pure ecstasy and Alexander's moans, sweet confessions and tender words combined with the lustful rhythm until I cried out and released myself. He came a second afterward and we gripped each other desperately, panting like men after battle. Then, when breath returned to us, I lay down and he placed his head on my chest, drawing the cloak over our cooling bodies. Steam rose into the air as we lay together, our bodies rosy and filled with a sudden sleepy contentment and I took his hands, tracing the scars I knew better than my own, feeling him smile into my chest.

"It's good to know," he spoke softly. "That some things never change."

I stroked his hair with my hand, letting it slip through my fingers like fine thread. "Not this," I said. "Not ever."

Alexander nodded drowsily. "Do you remember the first time we did that?"

I smiled. "You did not have the cares you carry now."

"Cares come with the territory," he yawned.

"And one day you will be king, and your cares will line your face like the deserts of Persia," I teased.

"Yes," Alexander agreed. "One day I will be king. But not now. Now I am just Alexander."

I brushed his jaw lightly, skimming over the angles of cheek bones and chin. "And I?"

"You?" said Alexander and his eyes were like glowing embers in the dark. "You are Hephaestion. Best of men."

And with that he kissed me softly and fell asleep almost immediately. I stayed awake for a little while, watching as the sky drew fragments of snow and ice into the expanse above, lifting them into the air and dropping them just to see where they landed.