Disclaimer: I own nothing, except this little fic. Please to be not suing me?

A/N: ...I'm not even supposed to be talking to Marvel right now. We haven't been on speaking terms since they killed off Icarus. WTF, brain? Way to rebel. Writing fic is a sure fire way to show Marvel how much you're currently loathing them. --; I fail. And miserably at that.

Endurance

He can still taste her on his lips; champagne and lipstick and something uniquely Annie, and he has to wonder if Alex will ever appreciate her kisses the way he appreciated that one he was allowed to steal that night at the bachelor party. He doubts it, because he can see it as plain as day in Alex's eyes that he's still in love with Lorna, no matter how much he'd rather be in love with Annie.

Bobby sighs and pushes his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose as he watches Annie from across the courtyard with Jean-Paul. He doesn't know what they're talking about, and quite frankly he doesn't care. He watches the motions of her hands as she speaks, hears her giggling, and sees the French-Canadian smirks in response. He gnaws on his bottom lip, and suddenly his attention isn't entirely on the human nurse anymore.

...you become a block of ice that no one will want to kiss, he had said that night, and had truly believed it at the time. Because, really, who would want to kiss ice? Ice is cold and cruel and brutal, and it hurts and burns in its own way if one lingers too close for too long.

...because kissing is about warmth.

He looks back to Annie, and she's rolling her eyes and shoving playfully at Jean-Paul. Well, now Bobby understands why everyone thought they were dating; there's something about them that just clicks in that romantic way.

But they're not dating. Annie is in love with Alex, and Jean-Paul is gay – a fact he had been blissfully ignorant of until Annie slapped it in his face. The argument that followed was what built up to that secret kiss no one else knows about. Bobby and Annie's dirty little secret.

Kissing is about warmth, and I want someone who will – I want someone who...

He never did finish that sentence, because he had been so caught up in spilling his heart to that human nurse he didn't stand a chance with. He had silenced himself on her lips, and she took his breath away. Years a go, he would have thought it meant something, that he stood a chance, but now – old beyond his years and miserable and realistic – he knows it was just to shut him up.

Jean-Paul says something witty in French, and the smirk is back on his lips and Bobby's eyebrow raises. Maybe it's because he knows now, or maybe it's because Bobby's just that messed up right now, but it's hard to take his eyes off of Jean-Paul.

I want someone who...

Jean-Paul, Bobby thinks watching the nurse and the mutant converse is a frigid man. He is sarcastic and aloof, and can be crueler than a Canadian winter, Bobby's sure (he's heard the horror stories from Logan, after all). Jean-Paul is a man whose heart is like ice, and it seldom melts for anyone unless he feels like it.

Bobby's own heart, frozen over, throbs hard inside his chest, and for the first time in months his blood rushes hot through his veins.

And it suddenly all comes together.

I want someone who...

Kissing is about warmth, but there are those who do not mind the cold.

He walks over to the two, his stride confident and cocky. With his arms crossed over his chest, he asks Annie if she minds if he steals her boyfriend with a wink. Annie stares, curious, confused, and then she grins wide and bright, nodding. Bobby thanks her, then takes Jean-Paul's arm playfully in his – because Jean-Paul is none the wiser when it comes to the way boyish, immature Bobby flirts.

--

The next day, Jean-Paul visits Annie in the infirmary, and she smiles knowingly at him. "So, what was that all about yesterday?"

Jean-Paul smiles faintly. "He had some interesting questions for me."

"Oh? Do tell," Annie says, flattening a sheet against a cot.

"He seemed quite fixated on my resistance to the cold," the Canadian says, and is quite confused when Annie laughs and bounds over to him, abandoning her duties momentarily to throw herself at him and hug him tight.

-End