Disclaimer: I as always, don't own X-Men since I am not Stan Lee. I have no part in the movie process since that would mean I would cause the downfall of Rogue and Bobby. I am writing this story in an attempt to deal with my emotions regarding the trailer for X3. I don't know if I am just judging to quickly… but I got inspired by my conclusion.

Thanks for reading and always review!

Bry

The Bittersweet Kiss

Have you ever let chocolate melt in your mouth? Anyone who has watched an M&M commercial has heard the line, '… melts in your mouth, not in your hands." But have you ever tasted the bittersweet treat sit on your tongue and dissolve. Don't chew, that just ruins it. Let the sugar milk coat the back of your throat. This experience is one you should never miss. Savor it, for before you know it, the chocolate candy is gone and all you have left is the bitterness in your mouth.

Take that moment and then multiply it with young angst, betrayal, and a broken heart. Now you can begin to know how I feel.

You know what? The worst part of the whole situation is that I saw it coming. I not only did I see it coming, I felt it happen. I was the catalyst of the destruction of the only true relationship I have ever been apart of.

What's his name? Robert Drake. Everyone used to just call him Bobby. The world now calls him Iceman. Six foot tall, ice blue eyes that can chill and warm at the same time, a killer smile; these things were just the trappings of a boy that I knew once.

I met him in class. He showed off a little to get my attention and topped it off by giving me a rose. I think I lost my heart for the first time when I touched that rose.

Either that or I received frost bite. Yes, Bobby- Iceman- is indeed a mutant. The rose was ice. Beautiful, but cold, just like his heart ended up.

That class took place in one of the many wood-paneled renovated rooms in Charles Xavier's mansion. His safe haven back then for mutants.

Bobby was my friend first, love second. He kissed me only when he felt brave, and then only a handful of times. But physical is not the only way to show your love for someone. We always talked. We always laughed. And with the turn of events that we lived through, we shared so many tears.

Bobby was human, hence the few times he kissed me. No, I am not that prude. I don't even know if I am prude at all. I never had the chance. Remember, I was at this safe haven for mutants: Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. I am a mutant. My power? My gift? My uniqueness… for so long my curse. My skin is a deadly weapon. One touch of my bare skin with yours will kill you. First I jumpstart your system, as if you touched power line. You can't breath. You can't think. Then I steal your power. You skills, your traits, your abilities, and if you're a mutant: your power. Finally I steal you. Your thoughts, dreams, goals, and wishes: I know them all in a touch. If I don't or can't let go, I steal your life.

This is when Bobby was considered a saint. We dated for two years with only a handful of kisses. He tried not to need me. I tried whatever I could think of so we could have some kind of touching relationship. Scarves, gloves, and bandages. Nothing worked. The adage of objects just pointed out that we couldn't even hold hands like a normal couple.

I don't know when it happened. I just know that it did. I didn't allow myself to analyze.

The boy I loved stopped laughing with me. After he got exiled from his family, he became obsessed with becoming an X-Men. He wanted to become part of the elite operation that was hidden below the pine floors of the school. He lifted weights, he ran, he conditioned his body to such a point that he was all man.

He grew distant. Maybe I did. We stopped trying to touch. We settled in our rut. I would run with him, because I didn't know back then what I wanted to do with my life. I used the X-Men to hide myself. My power wasn't the type I could use without hurting others and myself in the process, so I pretended it never existed except for those moments when I would see another girl wear a short skirt or jumped into a pool in a bathing suit. I closed myself off in my pain.

Then Kitty was assigned Bobby's partner for our junior X-Men missions. They didn't want mine or Bobby's judgments hindered by our feeling for each other. When the war was brewing, there were times I didn't see Bobby for weeks.

He always came back though. Always hugged me and told me he loved me- how he missed me. Until once he didn't. He stayed in his room for a whole day.

I was on the bench in the garden when I finally saw him. He walked across, past the fountain, and sat down like he had done so many times before. It was fall. I remember the leaves just turning golden. The grounds of the school were beautiful.

Bobby's body didn't move for the longest time as he just sat there. Then he turned, his eyes cold. "I…" he tried to start but stopped. I just stared at him, somehow knowing but not believing.

Then the bastard kissed me. He weaved his hand through my hair and pulled my head up to meet his. He gently touched my lips with his. He offered the truth in a kiss.

I felt the ecstasy of my power that I had tried to fight so many times in the past. His life ran through my veins. The skin where our lips met became frosted from his power. I saw him laughing with me. Laughing with her. The honey comb of his mind opened up to me all at once. I saw him kissing Kitty. I saw him loving Kitty. I heard him saying to her what he was meant to only say to me.

I felt the pleasure of the experiences. I felt his joy in every horrible moment as his betrayal slipped into my brain. I felt the glow from the sex. The heat of the moment, and the joy of release. I felt used and dirty. And alone.

It took Peter, the strongest student, and Logan, the strongest man to pull me off of Bobby's quivering, shaking, and seizing body. We had been locked in our last embrace for 10 deadly minutes and Bobby had barely lived through it. He stayed in his coma for over a month recovering from my kiss.

I spent over a year having his passion running in my veins. The combination of my power and my angst made me relive that moment with absolute clarity. I fought a war in pain.

He raised from my coma a new man. He stopped being Bobby Drake, fun loving guy, that day and became Iceman.

With the kiss I knew the truth. Sadly I enjoyed the experience. But just like you enjoy swallowing the last bit of dark chocolate, you feel empty when you finished with the last sensation. The craving not filled. I felt what it was like to touch another person truly in the kiss, and I will never feel that way again.

It was a bittersweet kiss.