Beautiful and in character, as always. You're the best. :)

Buh, this, adorable fic ... my teeth hurt from the sweetness. And it's so cute!

I enjoyed reading this very much!

When did you post this? Because I could swear I've never seen it before and I read your old stories over and over and over and over again. I liked it, clearly. Very cute, sweet, poor Alexander letting himself get carried away like that thinking on Hephaistion.

BTW I loved Hephaistion's response in his letter to Erytos. "Not only are you a very talented poet, but you also must be an even more skilful Cavalryman than I realised. I had no idea it was possible to do it that way, let alone on horseback. It sounds quite thrilling… what an exciting life you men of the Companion Cavalry enjoy!" That's great! Hephaistion must have had a dry sense of humor.

That was amazing! The perfect balance of humor and romance! :D

It seems so long since I've done this, and every day the AtG fandom seems to recede farther from me...but even if I can't write in it, I do want to keep reading, and your stories are always a joy.

"Alexander wouldn't make a fuss, Hephaestion was sure he wouldn't" - HA! _I_ know how silly Hephaestion is, thinking that, and Alexander proves me absolutely right! Still it's not really H's fault, with Alexander sighing so mournfully each time they "do it!"

That image of the Cavalry and their interaction with Alexander was wonderful. Those men were good - and they _knew_ it - and still Alexander is able to charm them. But even more I love the next paragraph, Hephaestion's assessment of his own appearance is so modestly conservative ("nice, even, symmetrical way"!) and Leonnatus' compliment, backhanded upon reflection, yes, but so obviously sincere! And of course later we find out that despite Hephaestion thinking otherwise, the Cavalry noticed him, too, oh yes! Hephaestion's little confusion about his resentment that Alexander and the Cavalry appeared so wrapped up in each other was very nice, too - I tend to think Alexander had two loves, Hephaestion and the army/battle. Alexander showed favor to pretty much all the soldiers; I don't think the usual lover's tokens - gifts, riches, attention - could've distinguished Alexander's love for the army from his love for Hephaestion, and you've hinted/foreshadowed that here.

I _like_ Erytos. (It may just be that anyone who likes Hephaestion gets bonus points with me!) His style of courtship is very nice, really. But (I'm being tongue-in-cheek here) who could resist Alexander's crazy bipolar stifled-till-explosion-in-death-threats passion! (I thought Alex's sincerity in that a wee bit alarming, myself...)

And you've made Hephaestion's decision to stay "faithful" to Alexander, at least for now, so natural and believable. You know how much I appreciate that. As always, wonderful mix of humor and more serious undercurrents - thanks for the read!

I love all your stories - this one is very good. You catch the characters very well particularly I think in The Sunny Wall. What do you think Hephaistion was really like? I can't imagine how Oliver Stone thought someone could rise to be second in the largest empire in the world simply by fluttering his kohl-laden eyelelashes. He must have been quite ruthless.

ANOTHER great story! :-)

You have *no* idea how good it is to read more of your stories, Like the fool that I am, I have neglected reviewing for far too long (prepare for the flood of reviews I mentioned,) and this is such a perfect little story that I am finding it hard to describe with satisfactory words. The warmth, the subtle descriptiveness, the pervading emotion- all your signature writing ways are once again deployed to great effect, creating a story that is romantic without being sappy, and true to life without being needlessly detailed. Hephaestion's burgeoning sexuality, Alexander's honest confession, fit so perfectly into my mind's view of your characters, that I am once again hopelessly jealous. I could feel writers block dissolving as I read this, because I was enjoying it so much- and rediscovering the Alexander that has been neglected too long in my head. Thanks again for the dedication, and damn you for raising the standard of Alexander fanfiction again. Are you sure you aren't one of Tartarus's tortures, cause Sisyphus has nothing on you XD

Hey Moon, this is great writing from you. I couldn't believe it took me days to realize its existence; glad I found it. However, I couldn't help noticing that this story seems very different from the adolescent A/H fics you've written in the past. The boys' emotions and relationship are much less intense. This time around, their proclamations of love are rather tepid and they come across as regular teens, mediocre personalities, instead of the vivid passionate individuals they were in previous stories. I was disappointed to find that the young Alexander doesn't seem as eloquent as he should be (I always liked your characterization of him: no matter what age he was, he seemed mature beyond his years, and this made him stand out). But here, he sounds like a high-school kid. Please don't be offended, because I sincerely don't mean to do so, but these are things I recognized and thought I should mention. I'd still love to read more new work of yours soon.

Very enjoyable read as always!

Your stories always make me think of Mary Renault. I loved the sly dig at her rather precious, sexually abstemious Alexander’s sighs and the ‘prince routine’.

However, please don’t hate me for this, but where was the passion, the intensity, the doubt, the self-absorbed blindness of youth in their first forays into love? Where was the unique magic of Alexander and whatever it was that was special about Hephaestion that held his devotion for 20 years? I got the impression that this was a story about two very ordinary teenagers whose first love was being smiled at fondly by their mother!

My apologies if I’ve offended you, but hope to see more from you soon.

XD

Well played.

:) good story. i'll have a poke around LJ for you.

Beautiful story as always. I love how you portray their beginning of relationship and how Alexander acted on behalf of himself and his relationship with Hephaistion.