"Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice."

I think I finally found an answer to Robert Frost's dilemma. 

My world would end when someone I trusted would push me over the cliff and into the freezing water and I would spend half an hour trying to make sure my teeth don't crumble from the violent chattering and my bones wouldn't shatter from the intense shivering. 

"If I d-d-die h-here, j-just t-tell my pa-parents I l-l-love t-" I spluttered as I hugged myself, trying desperately to find any semblance of warmth as icicles seemed to cover my skin.

"Shut up, Milo," Ace said and rolled his eyes, moving a little closer to me as we walked towards the car. "It's just a little bit of water."

My teeth chattered even more at his words and I glared at him. "How the f-f-fuck are y-ou n-not co-cold? Y-you're a m-monster Ar-Ar-ch-ch-"

"This can take a while," he muttered and I nudged his elbow roughly, annoyed. He grinned at me, somehow immune to the inhuman cold. 

Most of his skin had dried from the sun rays, leaving only his hair still drenched. It hadn't taken us as long to get back up as I had feared, and the deserted road had made it easier. This was one of the times that I was actually glad that Haywood only had around two thousand people living in its forgotten womb. 

"I think your clothes are making it worse for you. You should remove them," he said and shrugged. 

I remained quiet for a while and decided to deflect my embarrassment by making use of my questionable humour. "When I w-walk n-naked outside people t-throw st-stuff-"

"Haha funny," he said with a straight face and sighed. He walked closer to me and placed an arm around my shoulder. Despite my entire body trembling from the cold, I couldn't help but relax a little into his assuring warmth. How was he so warm anyway?

"Don't worry. I have something that will work," he said, rubbing my shoulder gently. 

Somehow, that only made me worry more. 

We reached his car and he disentangled himself from me, making my heart sink just a little at the loss of his warmth. He opened the back door and I stood, hugging myself before he extricated a plastic bag from the rear seat and threw it at me. I caught it and felt what seemed like a bundle of clothes in it. 

"What's t-this?"

"Some clothes you can change into," he said, grinning. "I wouldn't want to be held responsible for your death."

"W-wow," I stood still for a while, surprised. It was times like these that I got a glimpse of Archer. My best friend and the insanely caring person I knew him to be. "Th-that was ac-actually awfu-ullly th-though-ful of y-you."

He shrugged. "Now change before you freeze."

I nodded before the next problem became apparent to me. "In the c-car?"

He shrugged. "Unless you wanna do it outside?" He raised an eyebrow in a way that made my face burn and I grumbled something along the lines of 'fuck off.'

"It'll be much easier. Besides-" he laughed, "I've seen you naked before, Milo."

"Yes, when I was five," I said, staring at him in disbelief as my ears became so warm I was almost sure they would singe right off.

I clearly remembered the time when we had gone to a water park on behalf of our school. It had been a two day night camp, and I had clung on to him for the majority of it because my mom had clearly told me not to separate from the group. Me attaching on to him for almost forty-eight constant hours had resulted in somewhat of a forced friendship that had later matured into a real one. 

But I still remembered losing my shorts after swimming in the water park pool and spending a good thirty seconds naked at the edge of it before remembering I had a towel to protect whatever dignity my five-year-old self had.

He grinned wider and shrugged, leaning against the bonnet of the car. I sighed, "Okay, I'll change in the car. Don't rush me."

He chuckled and nodded, opening the back door again as I slipped into the comforting warmth of the car that immediately sent goosebumps erupting along my skin. After making sure that his back was turned, I quickly removed my drenched hoodie, slipping into the one he had brought instead. It was a black hoodie with a line art of a disgruntled tortoise printed in front. The tortoise had lifted one hand and was flashing his middle finger at everyone. 

My heart skipped a beat. I recognized the hoodie. His favourite one. 

I sucked in a sharp breath which turned out to be a mistake as a very distinct scent I recognized as his reached my nose. I bit my lip, my chest almost bursting at the familiarity and strange intimacy. 

I removed my jeans and underwear, realizing that I would have to go commando as I slipped into the pair of jeans he had brought. I placed my wet clothes into the plastic and sighed, feeling the numbness in my skin finally fading as I stepped out of the car. I was still in the process of feeling extremely warm and fuzzy when my chest ran cold all of a sudden. 

I stopped dead in my tracks when the strong smell of tobacco reached my nostrils. Ace stood with his back to me near the edge of the cliff, a dark puff of smoke visible around his head. Even though I was finally dry and warm, I felt an icy shock. 

"Ace?" I spoke slowly. 

He turned around quickly, guilt flashing across his features as he dropped the lit cigarette from his fingers into the ground. I stared as he hastily put it out with his bare foot, flinching. 

"Ace, what the fuck? Since when do you smoke?" I glared at him, my heart racing uncomfortably. 

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair before shrugging. "I was cold."

"Of course you are. You're standing half-naked. That's not an excuse and you know that," I snapped, all my affection somehow amplifying my anger. 

He gritted his teeth but didn't respond, making his way towards the car and pulling out a pile of clothes from the boot before he quickly slid into it. I crossed my arms in front of my chest, still stunned. I struggled to keep my voice even, "So, since when do you smoke?"

"Drop it , Miles," he said, raising an eyebrow at me. "It's not your business, okay?"

I clenched my jaw and glared at him. "Right. So any time that I'm not doing your bidding, its not my business."

"You don't do 'my bidding'," he scoffed. Then he sighed and spoke again slowly, "Look, I know it's a bad habit and destructive and whatever, so you lecturing me about how it causes all these diseases and conditions isn't going to make me stop. Okay? So save your breath."

"If you know all of that then why do you?" I asked, all my rationality disappearing in an inferno of anger. 

He didn't say anything, averting my gaze as I walked closer to him. 

"Ace, wha-?"

"Let's get you home."

"Ace-?"

"You won't understand, Miles. You're too fucking sheltered to understand that," he said, his voice rising just a little, but enough. 

I took a deep breath, mustering every ounce of patience I could. "Ace, look, I know you have been going through a lot of shit lately and maybe you're right. Maybe I won't understand. But I can't let you do this to yoursel-"

"Lets. Get. You. Home. Okay?" he spoke through grit teeth, enunciating each word. 

I shut up at once. That was him alright. Any time that I tried to pry even a little, he would become rude, defensive, almost cruel. During times like these, it was always best to just leave him alone till he apologized. Under any case, I was too angry to talk to him anyway. 

We drove in thick silence till the car mercifully stopped near my home. I stepped out quietly, aware of his gaze on me as I reached into the back seat for my still drenched and bundled up clothes. 

"Wait here. I'll return this," I said without looking at him and tugging at the hoodie I was wearing. He didn't say anything and I made my way into my home. I rang the bell, bouncing impatiently on the balls of my feet before my mom finally opened the door and smiled at me. 

"Hey hun." She stepped back to let me in. Her brown hair was scattered undone around her heart-shaped face and her skin looked as if it hadn't seen the sun for days. Which was the truth, considering that she worked as a web developer and most of her work was done at home on her beloved laptop.  She knitted her eyebrows and asked, "Why is your hair wet?"

"Er- just went for an impromptu swim," I answered before making my way up the staircase and into my room. I  switched on the lights and undressed quickly, slipping into my own pair of pyjamas and a tshirt instead. I folded his clothes with much more neatness than I ever showed for my own clothes and made my way back down the staircase, pelting across the porch and onto the driveway before realizing that it was empty. 

I stood still, panting from my wild run as I searched around for his car, but found the road absolutely deserted. I couldn't understand. Was he so mad at me that he just left? Perhaps. But I hadn't done anything wrong. Had I? What kind of friend would I be if I just let him waste himself like this? 

Especially considering the fact that after today, the way his laugh had affected me, the way his half-naked body had affected me, I was quickly coming to realize that maybe friendship was not all that there was between us. From my side that is. No matter how I felt about him, he wasn't obligated towards me or my feelings in any way. Maybe it was unfair of me to be so uptight about everything all the time. So critical of his vagabond ways. 

I wondered if I should call him but decided against it. After waiting for a few more minutes, I turned and went back into my home. I dragged myself up to my room again and went into the washroom. I pulled the towel from the hanger and tried to dry as much of my hair as I could. 

Ace was wrong about several things. But I knew, the one thing he was right about was how sheltered my life had been. I didn't really have any life experiences so to speak of. My parents had always protected and taken care of all of my needs. I had been the centre of their world and life ever since I had born. Hell, they had given me my own account and financial independence that I knew not many of my peers had. 

Was he right then? I hadn't meant to give him a moral lecture. I was just worried that once he got into things like that, we would drift further apart. If he thought I couldn't understand him because of our adversely different situations, wouldn't he think he was better off being with people who actually did understand him?

Almost unconsciously, I removed my tshirt, slipping into his hoodie once again. I stood still for a while and took a deep breath, gazing at my reflection in the mirror. In spite of the obvious differences in our frames, his hoodie fit me surprisingly well. It was clearly two sizes too large, covering almost my entire hand except for the tip of my fingers and bellowing out much lower than my waist. I sighed and went over to my bed, curling into a ball as I lay there. 

Maybe he was right. Maybe I should shut up and stop trying to get him to pull his life back together. I just wanted him to be safe, and the path he was going down on, I was afraid he wouldn't be.

I took a deep breath and shut my eyes as his familiar scent drifted to my nostrils. Was it a cologne he applied? Some perfume? I couldn't tell. It was a soft, ethereal fragrance that reminded me of comfort. Peace. Tranquillity. Like nothing in the world could go wrong. 

And suddenly, my chest felt tight. 

I took in deep breaths, taking in his scent and imagining that he wasn't as far away, as I knew he would always be. 

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I am rather proud of the name of this chapter.

Ace and Miles do seem really different. But are their differences greater than their bond? Do you think Miles is right in his stance? Or should he let Ace make his own decisions, good or bad and instead resort to simply being there for him? Have you ever been in a situation where your friends indulge in something you're not particularly fond of?

Personally speaking, Miles is a bit too much like me in this regard. Infuriatingly so. But oh well, we all have that one friend who's actually the mommy.

Thanks for reading!