TITLE: "Symbols of Springtime and Love"

PAIRING: Alexander and Hephaestion.

RATING: PG

CATEGORY: Historical AU.

SUMMARY: Hephaestion found a unique way to show his feelings to his prince.

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: Fluff?

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.

The young brunette looked around twice before leaving his gift on Alexander's bed. He knew that many of his friends would laugh at him and consider him girly because of that but there were no words in his vast vocabulary that could express the feelings inside his heart for the blonde prince. He only wished his crush understood the message.

Hours later, a very tired Alexander returned to his chamber, cursing his existence and his family; his parents had the ability to get on his nerves and no matter how hard he tried, there was always something wrong in everything he did or said.

He immediately realized that someone had been inside his room. Putting his hand on the hilt of his sword, he moved slowly, scanning the whole room searching for any hidden danger but after some seconds, he realized that he was alone.

Approaching his bed, he saw the strange arrangement of things on his pillow and a broad smile graced his face, shooing away his bad temper. It dawned on him who his visitor had been but most importantly, which his reason had been.

A red rose bud was lying on top of a plate which contained some seeds and scrolls. Next to it, three small sculptures were standing depicting Demeter and Hades on the sides, pulling each other from one of Persephone's arm who was between them. Some straw was entwined like an unfinished nest and a half pendant with the shape of Achilles's shield was cushioned on a deep midnight blue cloth.

Alexander took the half pendant in a hurry and ran towards his friend's chamber that was at the end of the long corridor. Knocking softly and after being granted entrance, Alexander closed the door quietly and stood in front of a very embarrassed brunette.

Lifting Hephaestion's face with two fingers under his chin, Alexander stared for a moment and let himself drown into those blue clear pools of heaven.

He sighed loudly and offering his half pendant to the brunette, whispered while turning round:

"Could you?"

Nervous and shaking fingers tied the knot of the pendant and then waited.

"May I?" Alexander asked, outstretching his hand.

Hephaestion took the other half of the pendant and offered it to the prince who mirrored his friend's previous action, this time around the brunette's neck.

"I hope I understood the message well. A rose bud because it will bloom as our love; seeds and scrolls that will feed not only our bodies but also our minds; a hard and constant struggle but also an honourable compromise through Persephone's myth; the straw, an easy material to find whenever and wherever we want to build our home and Achilles's shield to protect our love from any danger" Alexander said in a low but firm voice and waited.

"You know me so well" Hephaestion replied and blushed.

Alexander cupped Hephaestion's head between his hands and without hesitation kissed him tenderly on the lips, stealing his breath away. When the kiss was over, both young men rested their foreheads against each other and Hephaestion sighed because his symbols had been clearly understood.

A/N: Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the goddess of fruitfulness and fertility who was responsible for the good harvest and prosperity of nature, and Zeus, one day was picking flowers along with the goddess Athena, Artemis and the Oceanids nymphs, when suddenly the Earth opened and Hades appeared with his dark chariot and grabbed her before anyone could come to her rescue. Her screams were only heard by Hecate and the Sun. After losing her daughter, the grief-stricken Demeter withered nature, stopping crops from bearing their fruits and the flowers from blooming. The Sun eventually took pity on her and revealed that it was Hades who took her daughter. Demeter then went to the Underworld to ask for her daughter back. However, Hades was reluctant to part from his beloved. He agreed on a settlement according to which Persephone would spend eight months of the year on earth with her mother and the remaining four months in the Underworld with Hades. Legend has it, that when Persephone was taken to the underworld for the four months agreed upon, Demeter would become so unhappy that she would freeze nature making it winter on earth. During the rest of the year, flowers blossomed, nature was fertile and the weather was good, reflecting Demeter's feelings of euphoria when she would be reunited with her daughter.