Kids

1. beach trip [E]

〔CHAPTER ONE〕
~ the beach ~

Saturday, 12th August 2017

CASEY SAT IN the backseat of Tony's car, legs brought up onto the seat, arms wrapped tightly around them and chin rested carefully on the gap between her knees. Tony stood beside her, leaning slightly on the open door, arms crossed as he tried to get her out of the car.

"Come on, kid, you can't just stay in the compound every day. It's summer!"

She rolled her eyes. "You keep saying that and I don't give one!"

"Yeah, well, I do. Are you going to get yourself out or do I have to drag you?"

Again, she rolled her eyes, reluctantly dropping her arms and legs and sliding out of the car. She lay on the concrete just outside of the door. Tony sighed as he looked at her, picking her up gently and putting her on her feet.

Just as she went to sit back on the floor, Tony put an arm under her arm, picking her up once again and shutting the car door. He walked down to the beach, only putting Casey back down once they were far enough away from the car. She dragged her feet alongside him, trying to kick as much sand at him as she possibly could.

She was wearing an old Star Wars T-shirt, blue shorts she wasn't fond of and a pair of sliders Tony quickly bought on their way to the beach.

"Go play in the sea or something," he said, waving his hand in the sea's direction. Casey continued walking even though Tony had now stopped, turning once to stick her tongue out at him before wading into the sea.

It was a fairly empty beach despite being summer, so Casey simply assumed that not many people knew about it. That and they were in New York, so the beaches weren't as nice as other states. Still, a few families were dotted along, so Casey decided to stay well away from them and sit in the sea, sending subtle jets of water at Tony to show that she didn't want to be there.

After around ten minutes, she got up and headed towards Tony, getting stopped by a girl who looked around three years younger than herself. The girl wore a pink swimsuit, her bright blonde hair pulled into two braids behind her head.

"Hi!"

Casey smiled awkwardly. "Hi, I guess."

The girl chuckled. "I'm Eleanor!"

"Cool."

"Do you want to play Tag with me?"

Casey looked at Tony, hoping he would tell her to say no, but he simply gave her a thumbs-up. "Okay."

"Yay!" Eleanor took Casey's hand and ran off to her family, pulling Casey along with her. Once she got to them, she stopped. "I found someone to play with!"

Casey stood next to the blonde awkwardly, clearly looking like she didn't want to be there and that she was practically melting. She had put suncream on before they left, but she could tell that it was already wearing off.

"Ellie, sweetie, I don't think that girl really wants to play with you," Eleanor's mum told her, barely looking up from her magazine. Casey looked around at the family: the dad was sitting on a chair with a can of beer, the mum was beside him with her nose stuck in a magazine and there was an older boy sitting on a towel and scrolling on his phone.

"I don't think you can be the judge of whether or not someone wants to play with your child when you're not even paying attention to anything other than that stupid housing magazine," Casey said, grabbing Eleanor's hand and running away slightly. She tapped El's shoulder, shouting 'tag' and running off. However, Eleanor simply stood, messing with her fingers and looking between Casey and her family.

Casey noticed quickly and stopped. "I thought you wanted to play Tag?"

The younger girl nodded and, without warning, ran at Casey and hugged her. "Can you be my friend?" She spoke, her voices breaking slightly. Instantly, Casey realised that El was crying, so she rubbed her hand on El's back.

"Yeah. Of course."

Eleanor stepped away, wiping her eyes with a smirk as she 'tagged' Casey and ran away, giggling to herself.

They played for quite a while until Eleanor was called over by her mum and told that they were going home, so Casey went over to Tony, slightly less annoyed with him than she was a few hours previously. She sat herself on the floor beside him, messing around the sand for a good while before Tony told her they were leaving, picking her up and dusting some of the sand off her.

"Can we get ice cream? I'm boiling!"

He nodded. "Sure. Let me guess, you're going to get chocolate ice cream and bubblegum in a tub, mix them together, steal my cone and put it in that?" She nodded, laughing slightly to herself as Tony ruffled her hair. "You do realise that chocolate and bubblegum together is a crime, kid. I could have you arrested."

"You would never."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes."

Once again, Casey started to drag her feet, though, this time out of tiredness. She let go of Tony's hand, allowing herself to fall behind and dropped through a portal, appearing on Tony's back. She put her hands around his neck loosely as he quickly adjusted himself to carry her.

"You gotta warn me before you do that, kid."

"Sorry."

"For that, I'll be getting a small cone."

"No! Get one of those big waffle cones with the chocolate!"

"What about a small waffle cone, no chocolate?"

She shook her head, adjusting her postition. "Big waffle cone, chocolate and sprinkles."

"Small waffle cone, blue sherbet?"

She thought for a moment and then decided. "Fine. But I want an apple Tango as well."

"Deal."

author's notes

Eleanor is my baby and I definitely want her to be included in future oneshots. I decide what happens here and I decide that Eleanor will not be forgotten.

Peace, nerds.

Rayne :)