Title:Fire and Ice
Author: danse
Pairing: 2+1(+2?)
Stuff: Check out the explanation for this thing if you want all the fine print.

><> ><> ><> ><>

The bell over the door made a joyfully grating noise as I walked into the deli for my afternoon treat. Heero didn't even look up from the scarily thick book he was reading, and I used the chance to check him out shamelessly as I made my way to the counter. Delicious, as always. But I thought I might as well get some food too, since I was here anyway, you know what I mean?

I slid onto the stool closest to him as he turned the page; the wallet chain on my jeans rattled against the chrome edge as I wriggled around into a comfortable position. "Coffee cake and a large Earl Grey?" he said, holding out his hand for a bookmark. I really wanted him to look up at me, so that I could see his eyes and get the full picture.

I rummaged around in my hoodie pocket for my newest envelope and handed it to him. "I never could get the hang of Mondays," I said by way of confirmation. His mouth twitched into a little grin and I didn't know if it was from what I said or what I gave him. He stuck it into the book without another word and turned around to get my tea.

Christ on a cracker, was he ever stealing all of my attention today! I felt guilty about staring at his perfectly-formed ass and turned my attention to the day's reading selection instead. "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell?" I read off of the cover. "Man, what the hell is this stuff?"

His voice was muffled a little as he-oh God, Duo, stop staring, you perv-bent over to grab the cream out of the mini-fridge behind the counter. "It's about magicians," he said while I tried to focus all of my attention on the crow silhouette on the cover.

"So, like, it's a thousand pages about pulling rabbits out of hats?"

Heero chuckled as he put my tea down in front of me and went to get my cake. "They're more like wizards than party magicians. Mortal enemies, duking it out with magic."

I shook my head slowly and then grabbed my tea to start blowing on it. "Whatever, 'Ro. Man, 'eclectic' doesn't even begin to describe your taste in books. They need to make up a new synonym for 'weird', just for you."

We grinned at each other as he put my cake plate down on the counter beside my tea, and it felt kind of like a perfect moment. "Three seventy-four," he said, already punching buttons on the till with his other hand. I handed over a fistful of change and some crumpled ones and let him do the rest as I picked up my fork. Coffee cake is definitely a Monday kind of food; it's such a simple but ingenious combination of cake and coffee and it can basically pick up any kind of bad feeling and turn it inside out within the first three bites. I've performed clinical experiments and that's how many it takes. No Tootsie Roll Pop nonsense here.

"So," Heero said, leaning over the counter again and plucking my envelope out of his wizard book, "is this what it looks like?"

"Yep," I said, washing down cake with tea. "It's an envelope."

He gave me a Look and opened it. "Nothing written on it today," he mused.

I shook my head. "I think Noin's come up with some special, secret way of marking it anyway, though, because when she handed it to me she said it should appeal to my morbid sense of humour. I don't know where she got the idea that I have one of those."

He gave me another Look, accompanied by a raised eyebrow, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. "So what is it?" I said, craning my neck a little to see the paper. "I haven't looked yet."

He handed it back to me and I saw a little, secretive smile creeping across his face. It wasn't quite there yet but it looked like it might burst into a huge, toothy grin (or what passed for one with Heero, anyway) at the smallest provocation. "See for yourself," he said. "Read it to me." I think he purred the last bit. I had chills.

After one last bite of cake, I took the paper and skimmed it. "Another one by Robert Frost," I said. "A lot shorter than the last one, though." I cleared my throat, feeling kind of nervous. I was looking at the paper in my hand but I could feel him watching me.

"Some say the world will end in fire;
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I side with those who favour fire.

"But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

"I think this is a very badly disguised jab at my sense of humour," I said when I'd finished. "That shit is morbid as hell! All... hating the world and everyone in it, and thinking about it all ending and how well each kind of death would work...."

"Sounds just like you," Heero said, the smile getting bigger.

"Hey!" But I couldn't help it; I started laughing. What could I say? He'd got me in one. "Creepy poem, though." I skimmed it once more before trading the paper for my fork.

Heero spun the page to face him with one finger. "This is actually one of my favourites of Frost's," he said. "For me, at least, it really seems to be what poetry is all about: strong messages packed into a very small space. And it even has a nice meter."

I chewed slowly as I fixed my attention on his bangs and how they waved back and forth over his eyebrows when he moved. "So there's two sides," I said, swallowing. "Love and hate, fire and ice, and they're both at the extremes. You have to pick one or the other."

He shrugged with his eyebrows. "I don't know if you have to pick either one, really. Definitely, life isn't going to be as exciting as it is on those extremes though. And it's not so much love as lust. You know. Desire."

"Do I?" The words slipped out almost as they popped into my head, and I had to restrain the urge to just slide off of my stool and hide on the floor when I realized what I'd said. I grabbed frantically at my tea to, I don't know, drown myself in it, and nearly burnt my tongue on a big mouthful. Heero didn't seem to notice.

"Love is like a feeling," he said, "and desire is like an impulse. Not really the path of a rational, enlightened being." He stretched his arms over his head with a little groan, and under his apron I saw his t-shirt ride up a little to expose his hips. What a conversation to be having.

"I'm not sure I see the appeal in being rational or enlightened all the time, though," I said more thoughtfully, poking at my food. God, did my tongue ever tingle. And not in a remotely good way.

Heero chuckled and I looked up to savour the grin on his face. "You're right," he said. "Who wants to be proper all the time?"

"So," I said, drawing out the word. "You side with those who favour fire."

A water bottle materialized in his hand and he took a swig before answering me. Long, graceful neck, tilted back to expose his throat.... My mouth went dry just watching him drink. "I guess so," he answered, just as I'd nearly forgotten what we were talking about. He had the damndest smirk on his face. "I'd rather burn than freeze, anyway." He caught my gaze. "What about you?"

I'd rather burn.... I made an effort to keep our eye contact, but I could feel my cheeks getting warmer. "I'm not sure. I guess I just haven't tasted much desire. Not enough to make an informed opinion."

"That's a damn shame," he murmured. His eyes were boring into me. It was all I could do not to start fidgeting on my stool. I hoped I wasn't imagining that quick glance at my mouth, either.

Okay, so maybe I'd tasted a little desire. Someone so enigmatic, so quietly intelligent, so insightfully observant, so hot made it hard not to, didn't it? The hell with coffee cake; how could I ever be defeated by something so paltry as Monday again, when I had the benefit of this man's acquaintance?

Somehow the space between our noses had just decreased quite a lot; we were nearly breathing the same beautiful air and I couldn't tell anymore if he was still glancing at my mouth, because I couldn't tear my eyes away from his lips.

The bell over the door jangled.

Those last few inches turned back into about three feet and suddenly Heero had a cloth in his hand, energetically wiping invisible crumbs off of the counter. I put a hand out for my tea and took a long swig. It was starting to go tepid already. My hand only shook a little tiny bit as I reached out to ball up Fire and Ice and cram it back into my hoodie. It was time to go.

"Duo." His voice stopped me just before I reached the door. Should I turn around? I thought. I didn't want to, except that I also did. After losing (or winning) an internal battle, I did, slowly. The newcomer, a grandma-type, was perusing the prepackaged sandwich cooler. Heero was looking straight at me, pulling strings out of the rag in his hand.

"You know Giovanni's, up the block?" he asked.

It was a little hole-in-the-wall Italian place; I nodded.

"Tomorrow night, eight o'clock?" he asked. "I still don't think you quite have the grasp on that poem that you should, if you want a good mark."

The bottom fell out of my stomach and I grabbed the door before I could collapse from the shock. The little bell jangled some more and it felt appropriate that time. "I-I'll see you there," I managed.

He smiled at me and then turned to the old lady to get her a sandwich.

As I walked out of the deli, a very un-Monday-like bounce worked its way into my step and I found myself whistling a little song. There really was something to be said for fire.

><> ><> ><> ><>

TBC???