Feuer zu Asche, Wasser zu Eis

-Two-

Sixty Three's the Number

Marth likes everything really cold. Roy does not. In fact, he'd rather not freeze his arse off in his own apartment, and Marth just sits there and sips at his tea, watching.

-x-

"Marth, I know you like it cold in here, but does the air conditioner really need to be set that low?"

Marth said nothing as he watched Roy fumble around in their bedroom for a hoodie, muttering, "Goddammit, where'd I put it?" every time he couldn't find it.

"It should be hanging in the—" There was the sound of something clattering to the floor, probably nothing important, and Roy swore once again. "—closet."

At last, Roy emerged with his old Melee Academy Fencing hoodie and pulled it over his head, nearly colliding with the stupid doorway. Once his head was through and he could see (and therefore avoid a head-on collision with white-painted wood), his arms followed shortly after and he adjusted it.

Marth spooned some sugar into his tea and stirred it in, making sure to scrape off any excess that may have fallen to the bottom of the cup. That was the worst part about sugar – or any sort of powders mixed into liquid – it always ended up at the bottom, so when you would reach that point, it would taste absolutely putrid.

"If it's too cold for you, you can just find something to put on so it doesn't affect you." He carefully took a sip and decided it was still too hot. He frowned at the cup as he set it back down on the small kitchen table.

Roy scowled. "I'd like to be able to walk around our apartment and not freeze my ass off, thank you." He pointed at the thermostat. "I don't think it's necessary to have it set for sixty three degrees."

Marth chuckled. "No, you'd prefer it to be sixty nine. Then you'd probably think it was hilarious and try to make some sexual joke from it."

Roy stared blankly at his lover as he joined him at the table. "No, I wouldn't. That'd be Link."

Marth sighed and then took another tentative sip before spooning in more sugar.

"Would you like some tea with your sugar, Marthy?"

Marth continued to stir in the sugar. "Ha ha, very funny, Roy."

Roy leaned against the table, his cheek resting against his palm. "But really, why does it have to be sixty-friggin-degrees in here? Shouldn't sixty eight be cool enough?"

Marth drummed his fingers against the table as he watched the sugar dissolve into nothing.

"No," he said simply. "Sixty three suffices."

That answer did not satisfy Roy, however.

"Why?"

Marth shrugged. "Sixty three's the number. You should know that by now – we've been living together since high school."

And Marth just looked at Roy expectantly. He was right, of course – they had been roommates since 2006, when Marth arrived to The Manse late due to business having to do with Altea, and Roy was already there.

"But Marth," Roy said as he watched Marth drink his sugar-saturated tea, "Master Hand never fixed the a/c, so it wasn't even working half the time."

Marth, of course, knew this.

"That's still no excuse. You know the cold doesn't bother me."

"But it bothers me," Roy argued.

Marth rolled his eyes. "Is this going to end up in an argument we'll end up laughing about later?"

The only sound was coming from the air conditioner; Marth wasn't one to slurp his tea, and therefore, made no noise.

"…Probably."

-x-

Author's Notes: So I had a writer's block, and no matter what I did, I couldn't write. My muse had left for vacation and failed to tell me.

I'm like Marth in that I like my room freezing cold, but I'm like Roy in that I actually don't tolerate cold well. The solution? Wear a hoodie and long pants, even in the sweltering eighty-something weather in the beginning of July. The air conditioning in my room currently reads at a frigid "63", and when I was on my way to my bed-alcove-area, I was suddenly struck dumb with inspiration to write this. So I did.

Clearly, my muse was only indisposed.

And for the confused, this fanfic is post-Melee Academy, so it takes place after their (as of yet unwritten) fourth year of high school. Only after the major plot twist in Year Three is revealed will there be "spoilers" for Melee Academy, so until then, you have nothing to worry about.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! See you next time.