Ficlet: Independence Day (X-Men)
Title: Independence Day
Fandom: X-Men
A little ficlet in honor of the 4th of July--a look at how the X-Men celebrate Independence Day.
It's Independence Day. From the lawn of the mansion you can see the fireworks at night, great bursts of luminescence in the dark sky. Each year the staff and students have a picnic there, bringing blankets and lawn chairs, coolers with egg salad and tuna sandwiches, jugs of lemonade and soda. Xavier could afford his own pyrotechnics show for certain, but it's better not to draw attention to the school. Their fourth of July enjoyment is vicarious, but no less enjoyable for it.
This year, Logan is barbecuing: hamburgers, chicken wings, hot dogs, and ribs. It's one of those skills he hardly remembered that he had until he was doing it. Whenever a firecracker sounds nearby, he gives a little involuntary jump, the muscles in his back clenching in preparation for a fight. By now he is used to the noise enough that he doesn't extend his claws in response, even if his fingers itch each time he holds back. Ro is next to him, making marinated vegetable shish kabobs--she's been a vegetarian the last five years and she's almost convinced Rogue to give up meat as well.
Right now Rogue is distracted though, partially by Bobby who's snuck up on her and started rubbing an ice cube between the back straps of her tank top, partially because she's watching Scott and Jean kiss. Nothing much, just a quick peck, but it makes her think about what she'll be like in fifteen years, if she'll have somebody then. If she'll ever be able to kiss him.
Scott and Jean are curled up on their own blanket, whispering softly to each other, their conversation punctuated with an occasional laugh. Most of the students are somewhere between amused and mildly embarrassed to see their teachers, grown-ups, acting like a couple of college students still newly in love. They know this, and they do it anyway.
As the sun sets, Jubilee and Kitty light sparklers, chasing each other (and sometimes Colossus) around the lawn. Kitty writes her name in fire, light swirling through the darkness and then disappearing. Rogue wipes juice-sticky lips on the back of her hand and smiles at the sparkler encased in ice that Bobby gives her, its flame frozen for a brief moment before it goes out and the ice melts.
Xavier watches all of this panorama from the patio. His wheelchair isn't made for the grassy lawn with its little dips and swells, and right now he prefers to be an impartial observer anyway. When the real fireworks begin, the X-Men stop their individual hustle and bustle and gather together on several blankets, all looking up at the sky. The rocket bursts and then you hold your breath, the moment of anticipation and then delight as bright colors burst overhead and trail down as if they could reach the ground. Together they ooh and awe over these manmade explosions, and Xavier smiles.
The students have been discussing the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence last week, a special little session of summer school that was held despite their complaints. No matter how much they whine, how distracted they look in the summer heat and sunshine, Xavier wants them to hear these words and listen: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
They are luckier than most mutants: right now they are safe and at ease among their own kind. Life and liberty are always risky, fragile things and there's never any guarantee of happiness, that strange thing that's so hard to calculate--but what is happiness if not a mutant picnic?
Fandom: X-Men
A little ficlet in honor of the 4th of July--a look at how the X-Men celebrate Independence Day.
It's Independence Day. From the lawn of the mansion you can see the fireworks at night, great bursts of luminescence in the dark sky. Each year the staff and students have a picnic there, bringing blankets and lawn chairs, coolers with egg salad and tuna sandwiches, jugs of lemonade and soda. Xavier could afford his own pyrotechnics show for certain, but it's better not to draw attention to the school. Their fourth of July enjoyment is vicarious, but no less enjoyable for it.
This year, Logan is barbecuing: hamburgers, chicken wings, hot dogs, and ribs. It's one of those skills he hardly remembered that he had until he was doing it. Whenever a firecracker sounds nearby, he gives a little involuntary jump, the muscles in his back clenching in preparation for a fight. By now he is used to the noise enough that he doesn't extend his claws in response, even if his fingers itch each time he holds back. Ro is next to him, making marinated vegetable shish kabobs--she's been a vegetarian the last five years and she's almost convinced Rogue to give up meat as well.
Right now Rogue is distracted though, partially by Bobby who's snuck up on her and started rubbing an ice cube between the back straps of her tank top, partially because she's watching Scott and Jean kiss. Nothing much, just a quick peck, but it makes her think about what she'll be like in fifteen years, if she'll have somebody then. If she'll ever be able to kiss him.
Scott and Jean are curled up on their own blanket, whispering softly to each other, their conversation punctuated with an occasional laugh. Most of the students are somewhere between amused and mildly embarrassed to see their teachers, grown-ups, acting like a couple of college students still newly in love. They know this, and they do it anyway.
As the sun sets, Jubilee and Kitty light sparklers, chasing each other (and sometimes Colossus) around the lawn. Kitty writes her name in fire, light swirling through the darkness and then disappearing. Rogue wipes juice-sticky lips on the back of her hand and smiles at the sparkler encased in ice that Bobby gives her, its flame frozen for a brief moment before it goes out and the ice melts.
Xavier watches all of this panorama from the patio. His wheelchair isn't made for the grassy lawn with its little dips and swells, and right now he prefers to be an impartial observer anyway. When the real fireworks begin, the X-Men stop their individual hustle and bustle and gather together on several blankets, all looking up at the sky. The rocket bursts and then you hold your breath, the moment of anticipation and then delight as bright colors burst overhead and trail down as if they could reach the ground. Together they ooh and awe over these manmade explosions, and Xavier smiles.
The students have been discussing the Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence last week, a special little session of summer school that was held despite their complaints. No matter how much they whine, how distracted they look in the summer heat and sunshine, Xavier wants them to hear these words and listen: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
They are luckier than most mutants: right now they are safe and at ease among their own kind. Life and liberty are always risky, fragile things and there's never any guarantee of happiness, that strange thing that's so hard to calculate--but what is happiness if not a mutant picnic?