Title: Castles
Fandom: X-Men (movies)
Characters: Pyro/Rogue
Summary: Beach fun.
Author's Notes: Pre-X1. Totally AU. Or maybe not AU. Who knows.
Her sand castle was perfect. All wet sand packed together in the shape of her yellow, plastic bucket, the short pillars grouped together to form turrets and towers. Marie thought it was her best job to date. And she'd been practicing all week, trying, each time, to outdo her former creations.
It wasn't everyday that she got to see the ocean and play on the beach. At five, this was the first she'd seen of it. There weren't beaches in Mississippi after all, and her parents didn't schedule family vacations normally. In fact, she couldn't remember a single vacation before this one in the entirety of her young life. And Marie had to admit, this place called Florida was pretty fun. Lots of other kids running around and kicking up sand and laughing and playing. Her parents letting her stay up a whole extra hour each night. And day after day spent on the beach with an ocean that stretched as far as she could see.
It was cool. She couldn't wait to show her best friend, Rebecca, the pictures her father had taken of them on the beach.
That was later, though. Now Marie was most concerned with perfecting the little moat she was digging around her sand castle. Each time she tried to fill it with water it never stayed and always seeped through the sand and drained away. This time Marie was determined to figure out how to build a successful moat. And, while she was chewing her bottom lip, contemplating it, a foot came out of nowhere, crashing into the highest tower.
"Hey!" Marie was on her feet in a second, hands fisted and on her hips, brown eyes blazing furiously. "What do you think you're doing."
The boy the foot was attached to was laughing so hard he was doubled over. But he managed to get out, "This is the dumbest looking sand castle I've ever seen. Stupid girls."
Marie wasn't about to let some dumb boy tell her that her creation was anything but perfect and she scowled at him. "No one asked you. Go away."
He laughed again and kicked at another tower, sticking his tongue out at her. "Make me."
Marie tackled him. Head down she full-on tackled him, knocking him to the ground and pulling his hair. "Stop messing up my sand castle!"
A second later, she felt herself being lifted by an arm around her waist. Her father. Limbs still thrashing and flailing, Marie reached out as though she was trying to get another fistful of the boy's hair to tug.
"That's enough, Marie," her father said, making sure he didn't put her down. He knew she had a temper and that she'd end up smacking this other kid over the head with her toy shovel if given the chance.
The boy just smirked, then kicked the last standing tower down. "That's what I think of your sand castle you -"
"St. John." A blonde woman smoking a cigarette came rushing up to them and grabbed the boy by his arm. "Stop running off." Then to Marie's father, she added, "He's impossible. We didn't raise him to be such a brat. Sorry." Giving him a sharp tug, she started to walk off, dragging him along.
Marie had stopping flailing by now and had started giggling uncontrollably. "Your name is St. John? That's the stupidest name ever," she called after him.
He dug his heels into the sand, turning halfway, looking like he was about to try to wrestle free from his mother's grip to run back and finish their earlier tussle. But the blonde woman's hand tightened around his wrist and she pulled him forward.
Marie's father didn't put her down until the mother and son were out of sight. And that was when Marie informed her father, with crossed arms and a petulant pout, "Boys are stupid."