Fic: The beginning of friendship (1/?)
Author: Angstman
Beta: Thank you very much my dearest Myr, I love your work very very much. It is so much better than the originalgrin & hug you tightly
Pairing: Alexander/Hephaistion with Cleitus
Summary: This story explore the time when Alexander and Hephaistion met for the first time and how their friendship developed.
Rating/Warning: PG ?
Author's note: While I do believe in love at first sight, it is hard for me to think that love at first sight was what happened to Alexander and Hephaistion. So, this story is my effort to see how Alexander and Hephaistion's relationship built up when they were small children in Pella.

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Chapter 1: First Encounter

It was midday when I first saw him, the boy from Athens. Never in my entire young life, had I seen a boy more beautiful than him. Most people said that I was also a pretty boy, but I could not compare myself to him. He had eyes like no other. In a way, his face looked boyish enough, but with the touch of feminine beauty that struck me as more fine-looking than most girls I knew in all of Macedon! He was also the favorite pupil of our new teacher, Aristotle. Rumor had it that Aristotle had declined my father's invitation to teach us in Mieza if this boy was not allowed to join the class. My friends and I were excited about our new teacher. We had heard that Aristotle was quite famous in Athens, and that he was taught by the Athenian Master Plato himself, but denying to follow his master's steps regarding myths and believing the goddesses. Aristotle had his own unique thoughts on any matter and we were looking forward to knowing the world outside our small frog pond.

I woke up early that morning to take a glimpse of Aristotle, knowing that he would come to meet my father that day. However, when I arrived, Aristotle had already gone into my father's room. So I planned to wait in the garden. That is where I saw him - a boy around my age surrounded by my father's pages. They were trying to steal something from him, and he wouldn't allow them. He fought against them fiercely. At first, I thought he was plain stupid. Did he really think he could beat those pages whom were both taller and bigger than him? Even though he was not as short as I was, he was still very slim. Surprisingly, he was able to knock two of them down, while others picked up a bat and aimed to hit him. I hate an unfair fight; no one should fight with three bigger guys with a weapon. So I jumped on the third guy and struck him down. The new boy was surprised to see me, as if he didn't expect anyone to show up and help him.

Before we had beaten all of them, I heard my father's voice as he and the new teacher approached us. Aristotle walked along with my father, as he scanned both of us. Then he signaled the offended boy to stand beside him. My father told Aristotle that this would not happen again. "No one in this palace shall harm you or the boy," he proclaimed, and then he told his bodyguard to punish the pages for assaulting the King's new guest. Finally, he asked me to lead the boy to see our doctor. The boy had suffered small bruises and a bleeding split lip.

"Thank you." That was the first sentence he said to me. Pleased, I thought that his voice was soft and pleasant as a melody.

"My name is Hephaistion. Are you Prince Alexander?"

"No one calls me 'prince', Hephaistion. Plain Alexander is fine with me." I knew that I was rude to him, but I was in fact not used to being called Prince Alexander. In Macedonia, it was not the custom to address royalty by their title - only at official occasions. Today was certainly not the case.

"You are very brave to fight with three bigger guys," I flattered him.

"I have many brothers and, since I am the youngest, I have had to learn how to fight with bigger men ever since I can remember. It is advantage to have been the youngest."

"Do you call that advantage?" I laughed and turned our conversation around. "What did they want?"

"What do you mean, Alexander?" Hephaestion asked, looking anywhere else but at me.

"Well, what did they want from you? I saw the pages trying to take something that was yours."

Smiling a tad embarrassed at my attention to this matter, he replied, "Oh, it is a scroll. My father gave it to me on my birthday this year. He knew that I would have to leave my home, so the scroll was the last gift he gave to me. Here! That is - if you want to take a look at it." Handing me the scroll, Hephaistion looked directly at me for the first time with his big innocent blue eyes, and that intense gaze was startling me. Before I could take a better look at the scroll, we had already arrived at the doctor's room, so I guided him inside, said goodbye to him and left. Even though the boy seemed to be nice and sincere enough, I was not allowing myself to seek his friendship from just that first encounter. My mother always warned me against opportunists seeking my friendship because they thought they achieved benefits from being the prince's friend. Trusting the wrong kind of people would be fatal, she said. So I was careful and treated everybody the same from a distance. Only a selected few were lucky enough to call themselves my friend and I had chosen them.

TBC