Who: Jean Grey and Tony Stark (MCU) What: Talking about birds (fire birds) Where: Tony's workshop When: After this Warnings: Low
This was probably the absolute last thing on Jean's list of things she wanted to do. But the cat (bird?) was out of the bag (cage?) and honestly it was better to face it than not. Face it, just like she had last time.
Yeah Jean. Because that ended so well.
So, at Carol's insistence, Jean threw on a pair of leggings and her X-Men jacket over her t-shirt, laced up her high tops, and left her house. She had plenty of time to mull it over in her brain as she walked over to Grandpa's. It was the right thing to do, she knew, because it put the community in danger. She couldn't be selfish about this. It would be an easier pill to swallow if it wasn't Tony. Even if this wasn't that Tony (which, again, Jean got that more than most), he had the tendency to be trigger happy. And even if this Tony hadn't shattered the Phoenix, did his behavior as a person change that much from reality to parallel reality?
It would have been easier to do this on the comms. But she had to do this in person, because if Jean was going to lay bare something so personal and traumatic to her, then she needed the collateral of Tony's authentic thoughts. Nobody else knew the whole story. She wanted to hear in his head what he wanted to do to her, whether it was shoot her, lock her up, or leave her alone. She wanted the assurance, and it was her and her body. It was only fair, right? Thankfully Kitty wasn't there to say otherwise.
The lights were on Tony's workshop, so Jean went that way. Crossing that last stretch of grass, she worked on her approach. No need to start aggressive. Roll into it. Have boundaries, but don't draw a line in the sand. The last thing this place needed was rehashing AvX.
"Tony, hey. I'm sure you've been keeping on the comm network." She slowed her approach when she came up on the workshop, happy to keep a few yards between them. Her hands hit her hips and she looked at him dead on, no longer one of those kids from the 60s that was afraid to make eye contact with adults. "I know you don't know me that well, and I don't know really know you, either. Do you have a minute to talk?"