Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not even a Wii of my own.

Author's Notes: Occurred to me while playing with my cousins. For some reason, the safe house in the Norfair stage malfunctioned and wouldn't let us in. Beta by whymzycal.

IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT

"New stage, huh?" Ike looked around the area, molten lava emitting heat and light from below them. Lucas and Kirby were standing on the platform directly opposite the one where Ike and Marth were, engaged in some childish game.

"It seems interesting," Marth replied. "Though abysmally hot," he added, wiping sweat from his brow. "It looks like Master Hand has outdone himself this time."

Ike adjusted his grip on Ragnell, sweat making his palms slippery. "I wonder what booby traps this place has." Sapphire eyes glanced once more at the boiling pool beneath them. "These platforms'll probably sink or something."

"Probably," Marth agreed.

Silence settled over the two swordsmen as they waited for the brawl to begin. The new stage, dubbed Norfair, was still in its testing phase and Master Hand had asked Ike, Marth, Lucas, and Kirby to participate in a mock brawl to put the Norfair stage through its paces, and so he could work out any bugs.

Pre-brawl prep was still being conducted and Ike was getting restless—he was a man of action! Though standing around and talking with Marth wasn't such a horrible ordeal, he'd rather get the test run started.

Suddenly, the loud, booming voice of the announcer sounded out across the stage, starting the countdown. "Three…two…one…go!"

"Finally!" Ike shouted as he ran towards his opponents. Somewhere behind him, he heard Marth muttering something about bloodthirsty ruffians. He ignored the prince and aimed a punch at Kirby.

The fight was going along well when the platforms suddenly gave a sickening lurch and started sinking. Ike jumped for the highest platform nearby and barely made it. He clung to the edge with the fingers of his free hand, sword gripped in the other.

Ike pulled himself up onto the platform and glanced over his shoulder to look at the others. Marth had managed to avoid getting dumped into the lava and Kirby was flying around above them, but Lucas had gotten singed and was busy trying to put out the small fire on his shorts.

Another lurch—Ike almost lost his balance and cursed loudly—and they began rising up again. Before the mercenary could regain his footing, Lucas shouted out and pointed at something to their left. A large wall of lava was rushing towards them.

"Oh, shit," were the only words that managed to come out of Ike's mouth. Panicking, he looked around wildly, trying to see anything that could possibly help him survive the lava. He was pretty sure that his counter would be useless. Before any other thought could cross his mind, a quickly growing metal-and-glass structure rose up out of the platform in front of him.

A safe house. Everyone ran towards it, Kirby reaching it first and crashing into the blue wall. The sides instantly opened up and the four brawlers crowded inside, fighting desperately for room inside the small enclosure. Ike managed to throw Kirby out and behind him, he heard Marth using his shield breaker move.

The blue sides crashed back down, effectively sealing off the safe house. Outside, Ike could dimly see the blurred shapes of Kirby and Lucas trying to get inside. There was a thump somewhere above them; maybe one of the two had jumped on top of the safe house in hopes of avoiding the lava.

Ike looked at Marth. The other swordsman was standing only a two feet away, Falchion raised and body tensed, but otherwise not making any move to attack Ike. Their eyes met and the mercenary nodded in acceptance of a truce until they got out of the safe house.

Outside, the wall of lava had passed already. Ike readied himself to block Marth's attack the moment the safe house disappeared. Any moment now…

The moment stretched into a minute then longer. "Shouldn't this thing open up already?" Ike commented. The safe house was a lot hotter than the Norfair stage itself and his clothes were damp with sweat.

The sound of the alarm that went off was slightly muffled by the glass-and-metal walls. Marth sheathed Falchion and pressed an ear to the wall. "I think something went wrong," he said. "I can hear people outside; not just Kirby and Lucas."

"Sorry for the inconvenience."

The booming voice made both swordsmen jump; it sounded like someone was in the safe house with them.

"There's something wrong with Norfair's mechanisms. We're trying to fix the problem right now, so just sit tight and wait."

"…Great." Ike sat down heavily, long legs straight out in front of him. "We're stuck in here. We'll probably die of heat stroke before they can get us out."

"Do not be so absurd," Marth said. "We shall just have to be patient." The prince sat down as well, leaning against the opposite wall and crossing his legs. The safe house was so small that his knees bumped against Ike's.

"Sorry," Ike mumbled, drawing up his legs to give Marth more room.

It was a long and boring wait. Ike was pretty sure that more than a few hours had already passed by while they slowly baked inside the malfunctioning safe house. Luckily, whenever they got hungry or thirsty, all they had to do was shout at the people working outside and food and drinks were teleported inside the safe house.

Both Ike and Marth had long since removed their heavy armor and piled it up against one of the walls, their swords on top of the pile. Ike blinked a couple of times as sweat ran into his eyes, making them sting.

"Useless," he muttered, untying his bandanna and tossing it in the general direction of the pile of armor. Almost as an afterthought, he took off his shirt as well, wiped his sweating face and torso with it, and tossed it to one side as well. The heat became slightly more bearable. Slightly.

A choking sound reached Ike's ears and he turned to look at Marth. "You okay?" he asked as the prince coughed, one hand holding a burger.

"I am fine," Marth replied when he was able to dislodge whatever piece of food that had been in his throat. "I just took a too-big bite, I suppose."

Ike picked up the glass of orange juice beside him and offered it to the prince. "Here."

"Thank you," Marth said as he accepted the glass.

Ike watched him drink, taking note of how Marth's navy blue hair was matted with sweat, how his shirt stuck to his body, how the prince licked his lips as he finished drinking…

Ike quickly closed his eyes and thought of something completely unrelated to Marth. It sucked to be stuck inside such a small space with the prince, especially since it was getting harder and harder for Ike to control himself around the other blue-haired swordsman. The heat really wasn't helping him since it brought along mental images of offering to help Marth cool down and then methodically stripping the prince when he accepted Ike's offer.

Luckily, the heat also made him sleepy. "Hey, Marth," Ike said, "I'm going to take a nap. Poke me if they finally find a way to get us out of here, okay?"

Marth smiled at him and Ike had to resist the urge to jump him. "Of course."

They both shifted around, rearranging themselves so Ike could lie down and Marth still had enough room to be comfortable. In the end, Ike used their pile of armor and his own discarded shirt as a pillow, and Marth propped up Ragnell and Falchion into a far corner of the safe house.

Ike slowly drifted into a heat-induced sleep, hands behind his head to offer extra cushioning. Marth's chest armor wasn't that comfortable after all…

The mercenary was in the middle of a dream that involved swimming in a sea of ice when he was awoken by the fact that the temperature inside the safe house had apparently gone up.

Annoyed, Ike opened his eyes and tried to sit up, only to find himself with a lapful of Marth.

And the prince was kissing him. All coherent thought was lost as Ike made a muffled sound of confusion.

Marth was instantly off his lap and kneeling against the far wall. "I-I am sorry," he said, his face turning red. "I did not think that you would…"

"That I would what?" Ike asked curiously.

"Wake up…" Marth finished, ducking his head and avoiding Ike's eyes.

Well. This was an interesting development. Ike felt like jumping up and whooping but settled for grinning and feeling extremely pleased. Marth liked him back! Instead of going over to where the prince knelt, blushing, the mercenary opted to simply lie back down and trace his lips with his fingers, wishing that he'd been awake when Marth had pressed his mouth against his.

He was still busy daydreaming when Marth tentatively spoke up. "Ike…?"

"Hm?" He looked at Marth, a small smile on his face. He probably looked like an idiot, but that was all right with him.

The prince hesitated before continuing. "Did…you did not mind?"

Ike sat up, crossing his legs and propping his chin on his hand. "If you're talking about the kiss, no, not at all."

"Really?" Ike saw Marth's hand creep towards Falchion and decided that he'd better not tease the prince unless he wanted to be skewered on the spot.

"I'd actually be very happy if you decided that you wanted to kiss me again," he said smoothly.

There was a moment of silence where Marth just looked contemplatively at Ike and Ike just smiled back at Marth. Then the prince stood up, walked over towards Ike, and settled down again on the mercenary's lap.

And kissed him.

Of course, the workers chose that exact moment to finally find out how to open up the safe house.