TITLE: 10. "Alone among a crowd"

PAIRING: Hephaestion / Alexander. Ptolemy.

RATING: PG

CATEGORY: Historical AU.

SUMMARY: Hephaestion answers Ptolemy's doubt and Alexander finally understands his dearest friend.

DISCLAIMER: I do not know the people involved, no harm intended; everything is product of my imagination. Alexander and Hephaestion belong to History and to each other but I would not mind sharing my life with the blue-eyed man.

WARNINGS: Angst.

My mother tongue is Spanish and I work without a beta so all the mistakes are mine.

FEEDBACK: comments are love! Any kind of them will help me to improve my writing or leave it forever.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This idea is just a whim; I just wanted to try and write something different. It is a whole series of 29 short ficlets.

Blue eyes looked around the tents and the soldiers and instead of showing pride in them; they were glassy, almost inert.

The Army had fought all day long and now they were enjoying a well-deserved rest with tasty food and better wine.

The soldiers were high due to their overwhelming victory and their songs and stories about the battle around the fires showed their happiness.

However, the handsome General felt alone; his dearest friend and king had chosen another one to celebrate their victory with, as it had been his habit lately.

Hephaestion shook his head slightly to get rid of those sad thoughts; he knew that their relationship would not remain the same as when they were young; now Alexander was a powerful king and an excellent warrior and leader and Hephaestion was just one more of his Generals and Companions, a fundamental piece in that sophisticated machinery known as Alexander's empire, but no longer more important than any of the others.

Ptolemy found Hephaestion sitting on a big trunk by a small fire, with a full goblet of red wine in his hand but with a lifeless gaze, staring at the dancing flames in front of him.

"I thought you were with Alexander in his tent due to the loud noises coming from there" he said quite surprised to be wrong.

"No, the king had chosen another partner to celebrate his victory today" the brunette replied.

"I really don't know how you do that" Ptolemy asked, feeling still puzzled.

"Do what?" Hephaestion asked and then took a long sip from his goblet.

"Being so calm when another person is with your lover" the elder blonde stated.

"Well, I am his lover but he isn't mine" Hephaestion explained.

"Isn't it the same?" Ptolemy asked as he could not understand Hephaestion's point.

"No. From the very beginning I knew Alexander would never be mine alone and I accepted that" the blue-eyed man said and there was not even a hint of jealousy or regret in his voice.

Both men were so totally absorbed in their conversation that they had not noticed the arrival of the newcomer, who had decided to remain hidden behind a close tent when he saw his friends talking.

Ptolemy sighed loudly and then asked his companion:

"Why did you accept that?"

"Because while Alexander will have my whole heart forever, I have been honoured to have had a piece of his for a while" Hephaestion replied solemnly, believing every single word he uttered.

Ptolemy nodded with his head, patted the brunette's back gently and left him alone with his thoughts.

The hidden man felt a shiver run along his body and he could finally understand when more than once Hephaestion had told him that you could feel alone among a friendly crowd.