Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I've tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction of ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

-Robert Frost-

Lawlietwalked up behind Light, staring over his shoulder at the small paperback book he held in his hand. "Is that Robert Frost?"

Light jumped, caught off guard, before he attempted to appear as if Lawliet hadn't just surprised him. "Yes. It's Fire and Ice."

Lawliet blinked, leaning over further, and in doing so, touched his cheek to the side of Light's head. "I've read that before-"

"When?"

Lawliet thought for a moment, perhaps dragging up some long lost memory. "When I was seven, I think. You?"

"When I was nine."

"What did you think of it?"

"When I was nine?"

"I said 'what did', as in past tense, Light-kun."

"When I was nine, I thought it was strange, of course. I remembered reading the Bible-"

"You did?"

"Didn't you?" Light appeared puzzled.

"Yes, but I never pictured you as the religious type."

Light pressed on. "But you read the Bible as well, did you not?"

"Yes, but that was because I had absolutely nothing else to do for five days straight. Given the choice, I would have let the Book lay."

Curious. "You don't like the Bible, Lawliet?"

"There are too many different variations of each religion for me to choose without hearing persecution of some sort directed at it. I prefer to remain an atheist. You have an interesting expression on your face. Care to share?"

Light wiped what he knew to be a slightly triumphant expression off his face. "I'm glad my hypothesis was correct, is all. I had pegged you for an atheist."

"Why?"

"You did not seem the sort to believe in a higher power without proof."

"Ah. Well, yes. Where were we? Oh, you were speaking, Light-kun. Please continue."

Light took a moment to recollect his thoughts, which he had been trying to put into words. "Of course. I read the Bible and remembered hearing about…raining fire, if I recall correctly. And I thought it might have been referring to that, at first. I didn't like the idea of raining fire when I was little, or the end of the world, so I didn't think too much about it."

"And so what were you thinking about now?" A relatively simple question.

"…if I would rather die by fire or by ice."

That is…odd. Well, this is Light-kun, after all. "You mean by desire or by hate, I assume."

"Yes."

"And, your conclusion is?"

"Ice." Obviously.

"…" Lawliet gave him a rather blank stare, albeit confused as well.

"What? Wouldn't you agree?" Of course not. This is Lawliet, after all.

"No." Obviously not. "Why would you prefer ice?"

"If you can focus on the hate, then there is considerably less pain."

"Pain? How can the fire cause pain when the ice can't?"

Light suppressed a sigh. "Fire is desire. Desire is referable to passion, therefore attachment or love of some sort…to be killed by something that is meant to be happiness only increases the pain."

"In other words, you keep an emotional guard up." I knew that already. Lawliet placed his hands on the chair back, leaning over further to see Light's reaction.

Light's response was instantaneous. "I never said that. I am simply saying that when you die of hate, you feel hate as well, and are able to control that emotion to a certain extent. Then you can minimize the emotional trauma."

"Both are irrational."

Everything is irrational. Especially you! "As Nietzsche said, most humans are and act irrational, so it seems fit."

Lawliet quirked an eyebrow at this. "You regard myself and yourself as other humans?"

"…I was referring to others, not us."

"Interesting. So, you would prefer to die by ice because…it would hurt less?"

"That's right."

"So you do have a guard up."

"Lawliet-"

The other youth cut in on a whim. "I love when you say my name."

"…" A blush tinted the other's cheeks, who remained silent.

"I'm sorry, continue." So touchy.

Light forced some composure on his behalf. "Yes. Well. Lawliet, any physical pain is undesirable."

"I was not referring to physical pain, and you were not referring to physical pain."

"Masochists aren't limited to just physical pain, but we both already know that. What I am saying is that people in general do not like pain. Therefore, they avoid it. What makes me any different?"

Lawliet pressed on, mostly to see how Light would respond. "You are the one who avoids this particular pain - pain from desire - because you do not wish to experience pain of the heart. Consequently, you do not put trust in people, nor do you rarely desire tangible things. Like people."

"I do so." Another instant, child-like answer.

"You desire attention, power, strength-" He ticked them off on his spindly fingers.

"Wait a minute."

"Yes?"

"I let it go." For you, too.

"But you craved it, at one point."

Not anymore. "And I do crave tangible things. My point is that pain from hate is simply easier to deal with than pain from desire, because it destroys your peace of mind, as well as leave you unsatisfied. And it's usually harder to fix, if you are still alive." Stop straying from the topic, Lawliet. Such a pretty name…

"But pain from hate isn't? I see…and what do you crave that is tangible? Give me an example."

"…" More silence.

"Light-kun?" Lawliet prodded, curious.

Light muttered something under his breath, averting his eyes.

"Begging your pardon? I didn't hear you, Light-kun." He cocked his head to the side, straitening up.

"…I said 'you', Lawliet." Light let the name roll off his tongue, teasing Lawliet right back.

"…hm. We have something in common, then."

"What happen to your cute awkwardness? Oh, you're blushing. I didn't see that."

"I am not, Light-kun."

"You are mistaken."

"What?"

"Nothing. So, why did you choose fire?"

"You are changing the subject."

Light feigned exasperation. "Would prefer to stay on the other? Your red cheeks?"

"I chose desire because it is better to have loved and lost than to have never have loved at all. I state this at the risk of sounding cliché and…sappy." I still sounded sappy…

Light then spoke without thinking. "You're cute." Shoot. "Ah - that's not what I meant to say. But you are cute…" He gave a cough, clearing his throat. "Why do you say that?"

Lawliet's attention was captured, however. "You think I'm cute, Light-kun?"

It's not completely obvious? "Well…you didn't answer my question."

"I see."

"Good. Now answer my question." And don't give me that know-it-all look.

"I have been alone most of my life…you can guess how I felt during my childhood. I suppose I wanted contact…not just physically, but emotionally."

"So why did you push people away?"

Lawliet's voice turned flat. "You know the answer to that. It was extremely dangerous. That, and I never really found anyone interesting. So I desired contact. I could not hate it; I never had it to hate it."

"So you prefer to have it?"

"Yes. What is it, Li-"

Light reached up, gripping the black and unruly locks in a gentle hand, pulling Lawliet over his shoulder. He realized that he'd done this exact same move before, but it didn't matter, because Lawliet's mouth was on his, and it was warm. The warmth was overwhelming, and he slipped his tongue over Lawliet's bottom lip, who smiled, though pleasantly surprised.

"…what was that kiss for?"

"You just looked cute."

Light strengthen his hold around Lawliet's shoulders, caressing his slim arm with his knuckles. Lawliet's body clung to his, dark eyes shut for once, snuggled up into Light. A breath drifted over his chest periodically, mouth open and touching his skin. Lawliet's legs were tangled in his, groins pressing indecently and unabashed against thighs and hips, as were the rest of their thread bare bodies. A muffled, incoherent sound came from the form he held in his arms, and he kissed the parted lips.

Maybe fire wasn't so bad.