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Word Count: 733 words

Happy birthday Iwaizumi, your other half loves you very much

***

The night after a successful campaign is filled with merriment and fine wine. The armies are chattering in the distant, between crackles of campfire and rowdy music. He’s had his share of meat and drink when Hephaestion comes to sit by his side.
“What a day,” he says, and downs his remaining wine. “But a good one.”
Hephaestion finishes his own glass. “What a surprise that she mistook me for you.”
Sisygambis had dropped to her knees, pleading for the great king to find it in his heart to spare her and her daughters. Hephaestion had blinked through his confusion and politely— far politer than any tone he uses around him— told the queen that she was mistaken. If it had been any other man that she knelt to, he would have been displeased, but Hephaestion is his dearest friend, his loyal general, the man he had given himself to and who’d given him everything in return.
Hephaestion smirks at him, all teeth. “But I am taller.”
“That will not last for long!” he protests. Even if it’s unbecoming of a king, he doesn’t need to be a ruler right now. “You shall see, in the next world!”
He loves it when Hephaestion laughs and ruffles his curly hair. Normally, he’d never allow anyone to touch him so casually, but Hephaestion is the exception. He has always been the exception.
The heat of wine simmers in his stomach, and he sits back to watch the stars shine above. Hephaestion’s hand is on his shoulder, warmer than the haze of wine. He leans into Hephaestion’s hand, and his heart races so fiercely that he’s surprised it hasn’t leapt from his chest.
“Thank you, my friend,” he says, “I cannot imagine what this day would be like without you.”
It’s his destiny to rule, and to conquer the land before him. When he reaches the borders of the maps, he will conquer the land beyond that, until his might is known throughout the entire world.
—But he’s eternally grateful Hephaestion decided to join him in battle. If Hephaestion had stayed behind to live the life of a member of the court, then nothing would be the same. He could never have looked forward over the horizon without turning back. He would have to suffer the agony of being apart from half his soul.
“You would not have been nearly as successful, that much I can tell you.” When he makes a displeased sound in his throat, Hephaestion grins. “Even if you can shine on your own, do you think I would let you fight your battles alone? Never.”
If only he really was the child of Zeus, then he could will the stars down from the sky and thread them around Hephaestion’s head. But looking at Hephaestion now, with his hair framed against the night sky, is just as good.
—
Oikawa’s probably seen Godzilla vs. Biollante at least five times by now, but if Iwaizumi can tolerate his alien movies, then he can tolerate Iwaizumi’s kaiju films.
“Hey, Iwa-chan.” Oikawa shifts on the bed to poke at Iwaizumi’s cheek. “Want to hear about the dream I had?”
“You’re ruining the movie,” Iwaizumi doesn’t look up from where he’s sitting on the floor, but Oikawa knows that he’s listening anyway.
“I dreamed that I was a great king with a huge army! I spread my empire all across the land, a long, long time ago.”
“Is this the one where you had horns and I was a knight and beat you up?”
“That was last week! But you were there too, Iwa-chan, as a general who fought by my side.” Who had loved him so much that when they finally separated, the sun inside his heart grew dim and never lit up again. “Even if you didn’t look anything like you do now, I know it was you.”
A roar from the TV, as Godzilla is pierced by acid vines. “How do you know that?”
“Don't be ridiculous. After all this time, you think I wouldn’t recognize you?”
Iwaizumi finally turns back to look at him. “No way. And even if you end up forgetting, I’d recognize you too.”
Oikawa's ribs feel tight, and he thinks about how he'd never pick anyone else to be by his side.
They’d find each other the next life, and the next life, and the next.