Chapter 3: Caresses and Desire.

The mornings after those nights riddled with nightmares were always weird but lately they had become awkward.

Alexander used to wake up next to his friend, sharing the same pillow and with his arms still around the slender body. However, in the last months, as soon as he was awake, he disentangled from the rumpled sheets or his friend's limbs and went back to his own bed, where he spent the rest of the night thinking or looking at Hephaestion sleep.

An Alexander with heavy sleepy eyes could be seen the next day at breakfast and Hephaestion could only feel guilty because he knew he was the cause of his friend's tiredness.

So the brunette tried to be extra attentive with Alexander in those mornings, watching to his needs during their morning meal. And lately, things between them had been more subtle and, therefore, quite more intimate.

Alexander hid a big yawn behind his fist and then he pushed the heels of his hands against his eyes in order to sweep the sleep from them and let his head hang down.

Seeing this, Hephaestion poured some warm milk into a cup, added some honey and stirred it until the sweet dollop dissolved. He placed the cup in front of Alexander who didn't realize of its existence because his head was still bent.

Hephaestion put his hand on Alexander's bare arm and caressed it slightly, calling his attention to the offered beverage. The prince opened his eyes, looked at the hand still on his arm, patted it gently and mouthed a "Thank you" to the brunette, who blushed slightly.

Days went by and their subtle caresses were still unnoticed by the others but both youths were really getting more and more conscious about them and they didn't seem to annoy them at all. In fact, they really enjoyed making the other blush or extremely nervous due to those caresses.

It was midday and their lunch was nearly finishing when one of the pages arrived with a tray full of red apples. Alexander took one and rubbed it against his chiton making it shine; Hephaestion, who was coming back from the bathroom, looked at the sweet treat and smiled. Without hesitation, Alexander offered it to him, their fingers caressed each other in the exchange and a pinkish tinge appeared on their faces.

Hephaestion lowered his face and bit the apple and Alexander looked with desire how some apple juice dribbled along the brunette's chin to be wiped away fast by the very same youth. Alexander was jealous of that apple because the sweet fruit was able to enjoy Hephaestion's mouth as he had liked to do it himself.

Alexander realized he had been staring for too long when Ptolemy cleared his voice and whispered that it was rude to stare at people, no matter how handsome the person was. Alexander blushed deeply and walked away. A pair of cerulean eyes followed the blonde and due to his absence, Hephaestion's world seemed to be a little darker.

Some days after, Hephaestion didn't appear for the afternoon training. Alexander's eyes looked for him all over the place until Cleitus took him out of his misery when he announced that the prince would be paired with him as the "pretty boy" was suffering from a stomach bug and he would be in bed for the rest of the day.

Due to his distraction, Alexander received a hard blow on his right eye and it bruised pitch black immediately. Black Cleitus decided that Alexander was too distracted to go on practicing so he let him leave.

As soon as the permission was granted, Alexander ran to the water tank near the wrestling arena, refreshed his head, arms and chest, dried himself with the hem of the discarded chiton and, pulling it over his head, he sprinted towards the chamber, really fast, as if the very same Hades were chasing him.

He got to their shared chamber, took a deep breath and knocked on the door slightly. As he didn't get an answer, he entered the place without making noise, just in case his friend was sleeping.

And Hephaestion was sleeping but he was also in pain; his hand was clutching his stomach tightly and his slender body looked like a ball as he was curled up in himself. Low whimpers left those pale lips and his eyes were clenched.

Alexander sat on the cot and put his hand under Hephaestion's and he began a soft caressing movement onto his belly, drawing endless circles. That warmth started to soothe the pain and the unconscious and simple knowledge that Alexander was holding him and taking care of him had always had that miraculous and healing power.

Hephaestion could finally rest for a while and the pain lessened almost totally. He stirred in his sleep after an hour or so and when he opened his still blurry eyes, he found Alexander propped on one elbow, looking at him with concern in his two-coloured eyes.

"Hey" Hephaestion said with a little voice.

"Hey yourself, how are you feeling?" asked the blonde.

"Better, but what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the practice?"

"I was but Cleitus sent me away" he explained.

"Why? What did you do?" Hephaestion asked while sitting up; in that moment he opened his eyes really wide.

"What had happened to your eye?" he asked outstretching his hand and touching the bruise tenderly with his fingertips.

Alexander winced a little so Hephaestion withdrew his hand quickly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you" said the brunette apologizing.

"No, it is fine but it really hurts"

"What happened? Who hit you like that?"

"I was distracted and Cleitus hit me hard" he explained in a whisper.

"Why were you distracted?" the brunette curiously asked.

"Because I was worried" the prince whispered.

"What is worrying you? You know that you can count on me" Hephaestion said, offering himself to listen to his friend's problem.

"No what but who" answered Alexander in a low voice.

"Ah!" said the blue-eyed young man, feeling his world cracking.

"You had me worried, Phai, you never feel sick"

"I am better, don't worry about me. Now, let me take care of that eye before it gets worse, I have somewhere an ointment Aristotle prepared me once for that problem"

Alexander sat beside Hephaestion and sighed loudly. The brunette brought the cream back and took some of it in his fingertips and rubbed it onto the black eye. Their faces were quite near and Alexander could feel the warmth that Hephaestion's body radiate, as well as the hot breath near his face.

The prince felt Hephaestion's tenderness while he took care of his eye and he daydreamed about how those gentle hands would feel onto other parts of his body.

He was brought back from dreamland when he realized that Hephaestion had cupped his face between his hands and was getting near. Alexander gasped when he felt a tender kiss on his eye and then he could see that Hephaestion was blushing.

With a final caress, Hephaestion released his friend's face and the blonde firmly believed that he had just entered the Elysian Camps being still alive.

TBC