Work Text:
Nina liked the beach. She liked walking barefoot against the warm sand and sometimes dipping her feet in the salty water of the waves that crashed against the sand. But, most of all, she loved the animals she'd meet while there, because they were different from the ones she'd meet at home.
She liked the seagulls the most, if she was honest, because they were very funny, although her dads told her they were a bad influence on her with all the things they taught her; they hadn't forgotten the seagull that told her she could drink the sea water, and that her body would take the salt out afterwards.
"Only seagulls can do that," Charles had said worriedly as Erik held her on the backseat of the car and they quickly dragged her to the hospital after she started throwing up, forcing her to drink mineral water the whole way there. "Humans can't drink sea water. Don't ever listen to the seagulls again."
She had talked with the seagulls when they arrived at the beach, telling them that they were not allowed to get close to her family during lunch — Charles and Erik's orders — but, that day, Nina had decided to spend the day with the crabs.
They were very unhappy apparently, the amount of people at the beach stressing them out, but Nina would have none of that, so she started going around the beach and asking every crab if they wanted to be in her bucket so they could go somewhere and have fun together. It wasn't long until her purple plastic bucket was filled with crabs, who all seemed to enjoy being there, even if some of them seemed like they wanted to fight.
"Now, now," she mumbled, pulling one of the crabs from the bucket as it raised its claws to attack another one, who apparently it had a feud with. "Behave, all of you, or no bucket!"
As Nina picked up one more crab and carefully put it inside the bucket, she noticed someone approaching her, raising her eyes to see a boy there, frowning down at her and her crabs. She straightened her posture immediately, alert, shaking the bucket a little too brusquely and making the crabs protest for a short moment.
"What are you doing?" The boy asked, and Nina didn't like his tone. Even so, she raised the bucket a bit to show it to him.
"Getting crabs," she answered. The boy seemed a little more confused.
"But they pinch."
"Only if they don't want to be picked up."
Nina blinked a few times then, feeling a presence in her mind that she thought was Charles at first, checking on her like he had been doing all day, until she noticed it wasn't. Her dad always said something when he reached her like that, his words clear in her mind, but that wasn't the case at that moment — instead, Nina felt a quiet sense of worry, colorful against her mind, tinted a bit yellow and turning a little orange as it raised in intensity.
When she turned to her side, she saw David staring at her from where he sat, his tablet resting against his legs now that he wasn't looking at it, and apparently he was worried about her talking to that boy. She knew better than to ignore David's worry, considering he was probably able to feel the boy's mind, so she turned to the boy again and said a very quick "Goodbye," before running away, hearing the boy shouting for her to turn back.
She didn't turn back, stopping with her breathing heavy after running through the sand, putting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath, the crabs all telling her to stop for a moment as David stared at her with wide eyes now that she was standing in front of him. Aunt Raven seemed to have her eyebrows raised as she held Lorna, Irene sitting by her side with a sleeping Kurt in her arms.
Once she could breathe again, Nina took one of the crabs from the bucket, and offered it to David, who seemed to stare at it with caution.
"Do you want to hold one?" She asked, voice still slightly breathless, David's mind's presence turning yellow again. "It's okay, they are very nice and will stay still in your hand."
David shook his head, but Nina saw the moment he hesitated, thinking about it, looking at the crab again for a few more seconds before taking a deep breath and opening his palm for Nina to place the crab there. She smiled widely at that, closing David's fingers so there would be more surface for the crab to stand, before carefully placing the crab there.
David's first reaction was finding the feeling of it strange, clearly holding back from pulling his hand away while Nina still held the crab in case she needed to take it out of David's hand. After a second, however, David seemed not to mind the sensation so much, and Nina let go of the crab fully as it waved its claws in the air for a moment. She smiled at David, who looked at her with his eyebrows up before he smiled as well. There was a burst of a few colors in his mind, excited at having the crab in his hands.
By their side, Raven smiled minimally, while Lorna's eyes seemed to finally see the crab there, cooing before reaching towards the crab with her chubby hands, not able to reach it.
"It's fun, isn't it?" Nina asked, excited to be sharing this with David. He gave her a quiet green signal with his mind, which meant yes. "Do you want to see it dance?"
Both David and the crab seemed confused at her words.
She put the bucket of crabs down, hearing them all complain at being put down — they were nice, but very demanding — widening her stance a little as she stood, bending her knees and raising her hands as she mimicked claws with them, trying to imitate a crab. She started to move her body from side to side on a small dance, looking at the crab and waiting for it to catch what she wanted with this, and soon the crab was raising its pincers and mimicking Nina's movements, dancing on top of David's hand.
Raven seemed impressed, Lorna suddenly stopping her quest to reach the crab to watch it dancing, as David's smile widened and a quiet laugh left his lips. She liked making David laugh, so it was fair to say she felt giddy that she had done it.
After a while, Nina had to take the crab from his hand as he started to get bothered by the feeling, but his smile didn't leave, so Nina only placed the crab on the ground next to David's feet, where it resumed its dance, enjoying it.
"Here," she said, getting up and smiling at her brother, picking up the bucket of crabs again. "It'll be your bodyguard- and it likes to dance now."
David smiled back at her, leaning forward to see the dancing crab while Lorna finally let out a full on laughter, trying to jump from Raven's lap to reach the crab again. Thankfully, for Lorna and the crab, their aunt was strong.
As the day went by, Nina decided that she wanted to give the rest of her family a dancing crab to make them smile as well, the other crabs enjoying the idea at the prospect of just dancing and being watched from afar.
She had gone to Wanda's giant sandcastle, looking up to see Wanda at the top of it, looking down at her with curious eyes.
"Can I come in?" Nina asked. Wanda's eyes narrowed.
"What do you have to offer to your queen?"
Nina smiled widely at that, taking one of the crabs carefully and holding it in her palm, whispering for it to please dance. When it started its little dance, Nina raised her hand so Wanda could see it.
"Dancing crab!"
Wanda seemed intrigued, smiling down at Nina before her hands shone with the red glow of her powers, the drawbridge going down to let Nina go inside. Nina laughed a little at the fact that she was entering the very elaborate sandcastle Wanda built, quickly finding the stairs that would take her to where Wanda was standing.
In the end, Nina left three crabs with Wanda — two as her loyal knights that would protect her castle from everyone else, and one to dance with her.
After Wanda, Nina left another dancing crab with Raven and Lorna this time, which made Lorna stare at it almost like she was hypnotized by its movements, and one with Irene and Kurt. She looked around, looking for her dads, seeing Erik and Pietro still in the water as Charles looked at them, sitting close to Wanda's castle. Maybe she'd show one of the crabs to Charles now, wondering if he'd be impressed that she taught them how to dance. He always looked proud of her siblings' mutations when they managed to so something, so maybe he'd be proud of Nina now too.
As she walked there, the boy from before showed up in front of her, making her halt and stare at him curiously. The boy looked at her bucket again before looking up at her eyes and extending his hand as if he wanted something.
"I want one of your crabs," he said, making Nina frown. "You have many, I want one."
Nina pursed her lips, hesitating but sighing right after, bringing the bucket up to talk with the remaining crabs there.
"Would one of you stay with him?" She asked. As she heard the crabs' response, she raised her eyes at him and said, "Sorry, they said they don't want to stay with you because you're a fucking loser."
The boy stared at her for a moment as she stared back, right before his expression turned angry. Nina felt like maybe she shouldn't have repeated the crabs' exact words there.
"I'm going to tell my parents!" He said loudly, running past Nina and getting to where his parents were sitting, pointing at Nina angrily and making the adults look at her.
Uh oh, Nina thought. I have to run.
The crabs seemed to think the same, chanting for her to het out quickly.
She turned around, making a quick run to Charles, who suddenly seemed to notice her distress, looking away from Erik and Pietro to frown at Nina as she jumped on top of his lap without much of a warning.
"Hey, what's happening?"
"Uh," Nina tried to say, knowing she'd get in trouble, ending up saying everything without pausing once as she uttered, "A boy wanted one of the crabs from my bucket and I said he couldn't have one because the crabs said they didn't want to be with him but the crabs said a bad word so I said it too and now-"
"Excuse me," a voice said behind Nina, making her turn around and see the boy glaring at her while hiding behind his mother. Uh oh. "Are you this girl's father?"
"I am, yes," Charles quickly answered, giving the woman a sheepish smile. "May I help you, ma'am?"
"I don't know what kind of manners you're teaching her," the woman said then, clearly angry. "But you should try doing a better job since she's out here cursing my son after being very selfish and not letting him play with one of the crabs."
"The crabs don't want to play with him!" Nina screamed, receiving a quiet telepathic warning from Charles to let him handle this while the crabs agreed with her words, raising their claws, ready to create an uprising if someone tried to take them.
"I'm sorry for whatever my daughter said, and I'm sure she'll apologize. Won't you, Nina?"
She pouted, clearly thinking she didn't have anything to apologize for, but climbed out Charles' lap with the bucket still in hands and stood in front of the boy.
"I'm sorry for calling you a fucking loser," she said, hearing Charles utter a very distressed "Nina!" behind her. The boy didn't seem like accepting her apologies, which she was okay with considering that what she said weren't her words, she was just repeating what the crabs had said. In fact, she made sure to let him know that as she kept going with, "But I was just repeating what the crabs said."
The boy's mom seemed outraged, the boy still glaring at her, when suddenly she heard her Papa's voice behind her, noticing him coming out of the water with Pietro on his back.
"Is everything okay here?" He asked, looking at Charles with a quiet questioning look.
"Can you believe this girl is cursing at my son?" The woman said, making Erik frown. "I wonder where her mother is. She would probably handle her better than her father is handling."
There was silence for a moment as Nina tried to understand what the woman was saying, right before Erik muttered, "I'm also her father."
The woman halted, her son visibly confused, before she let out a, "Oh."
There was a quick discussion with the woman, but she ended up leaving with her unpleasant son and left Nina alone after a few apologies. When she turned towards her fathers, she pouted a little at the looks they gave her.
"Nina," Charles said in that calm voice he always used when he wanted her to listen to his words. "I'm starting to think that you keep learning bad words with the sea animals."
"It wasn't my fault!" She tried to argue. Pietro seemed to watch everything closely, interested. "The seagulls just curse a lot… But- But the crabs only cursed this once!"
"What was the bad word this time?" Erik asked.
"She called that boy an effing loser." When Erik snorted, Charles glared at him for a second before he was looking at Nina again. "Be careful with what you say, darling."
"I will, Daddy..." She nodded, seeing her dad smile, suddenly remembering what she was going to do before the boy appeared again and taking one of the crabs carefully from the bucket. "Look, I taught them how to dance."
The crab, as if on cue, started to dance on top of her hand, both Charles and Erik widening their eyes at it as Pietro pushed Erik away to take a closer look, muttering, "Oh, that's so cool."
"It likes to dance," Nina said with a smile, shaking her hips with the crab now, dancing with it. "It likes to groove!"
"I think the seagulls and the crabs aren't the only ones teaching her bad words," Erik hummed, getting a glare from Charles before both of them smiled at the girl.
When they finally were leaving the beach, everyone had to wait a while longer as all the crabs seemed to get together to dance as a goodbye to Nina, the girl dancing with them and laughing out loud as Charles and Erik chuckled at the scene.
Nina felt very tired from the day at the beach, smiling up at her dad as he pulled the covers over her body and kissed her goodnight. When he was about to leave, his hand reaching for the light switch, he stopped, Nina's breathing stopping for a moment as she realized she had been caught.
He turned towards her, raising his eyebrows as she pressed her lips together tightly, wheeling himself next to Nina's bed again and narrowing his eyes.
"Nina," he started, his voice suspicious. "What are you hiding under the covers?"
She hesitated, sighing loudly before reaching by her side carefully and pulling the covers down to show Charles the crab that she had been able to sneak home. It was the same one that she had given David that day, the first one to learn the crab dance.
Charles sighed as well, placing his face on his hand before looking at Nina again.
"Nina-"
"It wanted to come with me! And David likes this one..." She tried to argue.
On his hand, the crab raised its claws and started doing the dance it had learned. Charles' eyes were quickly drawn to it, and soon he was snorting at the dancing crab and shaking his head. He looked defeated for a moment, a smile still on his lips.
"We'll talk about this tomorrow," he said, running his hand through her hair gently. "But tell your friend that it's time for bed. For little girls and crabs."