Title: Interlude in paradise

Author: Phaelas

Rating: R

Summary: Blind interlude, the bathing scene.

Author's notes: I decided to post this here after all, if only just to tell you that I'm sorry for suddenly leaving you but I'm just too busy/stressed to sit down and write. It might not be until after my next set of tests that I get around to writing more. However, I do have this for you. It won't make much sense if you have not read my story Blind, but feel free to read this anyway if you want, since it does not spoil anything either. Just a bit of smut. I dearly loved writing it! ;)

First part Alexander's POV, second part Hephaistion's.

Only you stay

The water is warm and makes my mind go at ease, but it is nothing compared to the warm feeling of his heart sending his love to me. I can feel it beating where I lean with my back against Hephaistion's chest, while his hands move over my stomach, caressing my skin, making me sigh softly.

I lay my head back against his shoulder, stare to the ceiling without seeing. Lips move over my neck, his hands travel upwards, fingertips playing over my chest, following the curve of my shoulders to my arms. He waits a moment, then wraps his hands gently around my biceps, sliding down slowly, his lips still nuzzling the spot just below my ear. I could forever lay here, just feeling this. Just feeling him.

But he stops and I know I can't. I sit up and turn around, the water making splattering sounds as I move, drops falling down from my hair, and I look at him. His darkened eyes gaze from beneath half-closed eyelashes, scan over my face and then meet mine. The love in there seems almost touchable, so real. And the blue… it is different. Nothing is as beautiful, I believe, no woman's eyes, no man's eyes, and I would not be surprised if the only other mortal who ever had this kind of beauty was Helen herself. The most beautiful woman in the world.

I wonder if she had the same kind of pain lying so bare in her eyes after all she had been through, and I wonder, just a moment, if Paris was able to make it go away, or if she suffered in silence as my Hephaistion was doing now. But he had me. "Let me wash you," I ask softly.

He looks at me, and I see that he knows what I am thinking: that I can erase all, from body and soul, if he will let it. It was only dust. Blinding our eyes as we turned away from the storm, but nothing that cannot be wiped out.

He closes his eyes, then looks up, smiles back, and leans forward. His warm hand settles on my shoulder as wet lips brush over mine, lingering there. I meet him gently. He withdraws and rests his forehead against mine. "Go ahead, Alexander," he breathes out softly.

I love him. Sometimes the feeling gets stronger than ever and it is the only thing present in your mind, and this is one of those moments. Zeus, how much I love him and want everything to go back to normal again, have him smile at me like he used to.

"Lean back," I whisper after I have swallowed away the lump in my throat, and he does, leaning against the back of the tub, closing his eyes. Trust.

I reach for one of the sponges and wet it in the water, kneading it in gently in my hands before rubbing some soap on it. I watch him as he quietly waits, the way his chest rises and falls in the water, his dark hair wet, pushed out of his face, the faint frown on his brow with whatever is playing through his mind. I want to kiss him... I settle one hand on his shoulder, and begin sponging the other shoulder, then his collarbone, up to his neck, and I press my parted lips to his, clamping down softly. He opens his mouth and welcomes me in.

If there is something that speaks of more love than his eyes, it must be his kisses. They make you feel as if you are the focus of his world, as he enters your mouth with his tongue, gentle and self-assured, as he strokes and bites and sucks on your lips agonizingly slow, making you burn until you loose all sense of time…

This time he lays back. I dip my tongue inside, caress the inside of his lower lip, delve deeper and I find his tongue waiting for me, happy to be loved by mine and we dance, I kiss and suck on his lips while my hands continue moving over his body. I want him to feel that I am here, and love him. That on this moment he is the center of my world.

His breathing is heavy as I finally release him, warm air ghosts over my cheek from between his hot lips, and his eyes flutter open to reveal a genuine smile. "Sweet Zeus, Alexander… don't ever stop."

"I have to." I press the side of my face to his, the scratch of his beard teasing my skin, and my arms circle around him. "The water is cooling down." I kiss him, meeting his eager tongue once more, then I withdraw to finally clean him as I promised. It seems of so much less importance, now he is smiling and his breath is still hot, but the dust from the summer garden needs to be washed away as I did with the ache in his heart.

I let him turn around and he dips his head forward while I sponge his muscled back and his neck. I smile when I am done, consider washing his hair but know that it can wait. I wind my fingers in his wet locks, then crawl forward and put my other arm around his waist as his head falls back. "Hephaistion…" Kiss his neck. "Let it go." Pull him even closer, the skin of his back brushing against my erect nipples. "It is all gone now."

He glances at me from the corner of his eyes and his lips fall apart in a wide smile, revealing his teeth as he whispers: "Yes, only you stay."