Chapter 4
Title: A Perfect Mess
Prompt: Mess
Bagoas knew that Hephaistion was working late. It seemed that Hephaistion had more matters to take care of when they were supposed to be taking a break from the battles. He went through piles and piles of letters and scrolls received from all over the country; from formal letters of greetings to the official propositions of satraps. They varied in degrees of urgency and importance. He sorted them out to prioritize, yet gave equal attention to replying to each.
Hephaistion had been in his quarters since this afternoon, and he did not even come out to the dining hall for his dinner, instead he took a small meal at his place. As Bagoas suspected, Hephaistion was still deep into the piles of documents when he silently entered the chamber.
Small piles of papers were scattered all over the large table along with a plateful of fruits, some of the papers were even over flowing onto the floor. One thing Bagoas did not understand about Hephaistion was his working habit. His god was very neat and organized with everything else, but when it came to his work, Bagoas had never seen a person who could work in such a mess as Hephaistion did.
Even though Hephaistion was not watching, Bagoas made sure that he moved gracefully crossing the room and reaching a place behind the chair where his Greek god resided. He firmly pressurized Hephaistion's stiff muscles on the shoulders.
"Humm…, it feels so good …"
Hephaistion closed his eyes and tilted his head backward as Bagoas' fingers moved up the shoulders in the direction of his tense neck, and down to his upper arms again, while skillfully massaging his tight muscles.
Hephaistion sighed deeply, and his whole body relaxed feeling the heat of Bagoas' palm melt his sore tissue under the touch. Bagoas smiled, satisfied with his effect. He slid his palm over Hephaistion's smooth chest, and gently squeezed the slightly aroused bud between his thumb and forefinger.
Hephaistion's body shuddered. When a faint moan escaped, and Bagoas was just about to move his palm further down along the hard stomach, somebody tapped Bagoas' shoulder. As startled Bagoas turned around, he was met with Alexander's bright eyes.
A corner of Alexander's mouth curled up, and he gestured Bagoas to move away in silence. Without any interruptions, Alexander's hands replaced the ones of Bagoas. As Alexander's fingertips brushed Hephaistion's neckline behind the earlobe, a desperate whimper broke free from Hephaistion's soft lips followed by a murmur.
"Oh, Alexander, you have a magical touch …'
"You still could tell that it was me, even with your eyes closed?"
"Nobody can make me feel as you do …"
Alexander chuckled against Hephaistion's ear, blowing a hot air in his sensitive cave.
"Well, since it seems that Bagoas had already warmed you up, I don't see any reasons why not to finish it."
Alexander pulled Hephaistion to his feet, and they had disappeared into Hephaistion's sleeping quarter.
Bagoas sighed deeply; all wound up and hot.
'I cannot sleep now, not like this. I'd better do something to burn this up.'
Bagoas looked around searching for help. He grinned widely when he saw piles of mess on the large table, and shelves behind it. All sizes of papers and scrolls randomly mingled together.
'Oh, I can clean that mess up. I know cleaning always makes me worn out. Besides, Hephaistion should appreciate it.'
Bagoas happily crossed the room to start organizing the place. It took him a long time, but now the random piles were organized by shape and by size and they were all neatly tucked in on the shelves behind the table. Tired but satisfied with the meticulous look, Bagoas yawned and curled up on the couch against the wall.
"Bagoas!"
A loud scream woke him up. His god was standing intimidatingly right in front of him, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and his eyes shone with anger.
"Did you do this!"
Hephaistion flung his arm to the direction of the table. Bagoas swallowed and nodded. 'So he is not happy?'
"Didn't I tell you not to touch anything on the table?"
Hephaistion glared at him, making Bagoas shiver under the gaze of blue cold flame.
'Oh, What have I done? I have never seen him so angry …'
Tears welled up when Bagoas realized that he had made an irreversible mistake. Seeing the tears in the boy's innocent eyes, Hephaistion's feature softened, and he lowered his voice.
"I am sorry Bagoas, I did not mean to yell at you. But, you see, it may have not looked that way, but I had everything where I wanted. Have you ever heard of a perfect mess?"
Bagoas shook his head.
"A moderate mess is the best way to work with. Since everything you need is within reach, you can work most efficiently and creatively as long as you can tell exactly where things are. And I had them all under my control. But obviously you did not understand, and I can see that your intention was good."
Hephaistion gently patted Bagoas' dipped head. Being woken up by the commotion, Alexander came out of the quarters and grinned widely as soon as he found what had happened.
"Well, Hephaistion, come back to bed. Since it would take at least a couple of days before you could restore your working condition, you might as well take a longer break."
Bagoas picked himself up and headed back to his room. Walking on the corridor, he giggled to himself when a vivid image invaded his mind; an image of Alexander, Hephaistion and him sleeping together on a large bed. Alexander spooned Hephaistion, and Hephaistion spooned him. Hephaistion's messy tassels mingled with Alexander's blond and Bagoas' black. Their arms were tightly wrapped around each other's torsos, and their legs were entwined in the twisted sheets.
'It is a perfect mess indeed. I love it!'
Bagoas chuckled once more.
