jean.

“I’m sure they’ve got to look better than everyone else.” Gabby laughed softly at the mention of Scott as she raised her eyebrows. “Suddenly I’m really glad to not be on the X-Men.” Not that she was ever in the running for it.

“No, thank you, really. I genuinely don’t think I would have known otherwise. Kate keeps telling me to label them but I keep putting it off. Maybe the kid’s right.”

“Well it’s definitely working. I swear I’ve had like five people come up and ask me about invitations. It’s like they think that just because I’m a mutant I’m in the know.” Everett rolled his eyes and chuckled softly. It was all in good fun, though. He was pretty excited for the Gala himself. He smiled when Jean accepted his request and nodded his head. “I’m free most days of the week. But honestly whenever you’re free I’ll make it work. I just really want to get some practice in.” Mostly in regards to showing Laura all of the memories she’s missing. He was just scared he’d mess it up, though.

“Yeah, it was definitely not fun. People still throw around Destroyer of Worlds like it’s some kind of nickname.” Daisy rolled her eyes at the mention of it, but then raised her eyebrows at Jean’s words. “Woah, okay. You definitely win with that.” She teased, honestly kind of in disbelief as she shook her head. “I can imagine. Especially if it wasn’t even technically you that did it.”

Cindy was a little more than nervous to meet up with Jean Grey of all people, but the two seemed to hit it off fairly well at the interview despite the circumstances. And Cindy could always use more friends. She had a bad habit of isolating herself from people when things got intense, and she was trying to get better at that. It was mostly leftover from being in her bunker, and she refused to let it get the best of her. 

“I’m holding up better,” She admitted as she took a sip of her peppermint mocha and tried to get her foot to stop tapping so much. “My head feels more… clear? I’m more sure of who I am now, at least.”

“I’m sorry, did you just say the moon?” Cindy raised her eyebrows, a grin on her face as she laughed. “Let’s go back to that.” Maybe the moon wasn’t the craziest thing to believe, but still. It wasn’t something she was gonna let Jean just throw out there so casually.

“She really spends that much money on her costume?” It made sense, given Emma’s whole vibe. 

“I try not to get jealous often, but the whole telepathy thing is pretty cool.”

Medusa nodded slowly, unsure if she was willing to commit to a statement like that quite yet. Things would need to get worse before she was willing to agree to an Inhuman/Mutant alliance. “We’ll keep in contact, and make sure that everyone’s on the same page and updated with everything going on.”

“You’re right, it is a given. But I have a feeling that things are about to get a lot worse. Worse than normal, at least.”

“Ah,” Melina nodded along with the mutants words, making a mental note to ask Natasha about it next time she saw her pseudo-daughter. “Will there be food?”

“I don’t think Emma’s my biggest fan. I called her cape stupid when I met her for the first time.”

Janice blinked. “Don’t read minds then.”

Daisy smiled at Jean for fixing the pot and nodded as a small thank you before continuing to try and manipulate water from a cup on the counter. She’d been practicing but that didn’t mean she didn’t mess up and knock a pot or two down every once in awhile. “It’s kind of scary sometimes. There was a whole thing where my team and I got sent into a future timeline where I destroyed the Earth. It definitely freaks me out.”

“I’m not sure we’ve ever had that. Back when it was the five of us, we used to have birthday parties for each other. I feel like there was always something that went wrong at least a little.” Four teenage boys and their token girl should have expected that though. “I’m glad to help, but I’m also very glad to be on the very outside of the planning. Now, I feel like I have to ask: do you know what you’re wearing?”

“That’s sweet.” Gabby smiled bittersweetly, wondering what it must be like to have had birthday parties as a kid. She had that small thing with Laura once but other than that she didn’t get the luxury of having any sort of real childhood. Alchemax ripped that away from her. “Hopefully matching blue and gold with Laura.”

“How’d you… Oh yeah. Thanks, Jean.” Clint bashfully rubbed the back of his neck.

“Nope, stop right there. Before you say anything— this is just as confusing for me as it is for you. Scratch that— this is way more confusing for me. So just- don’t say anything stupid, alright?”