he awoke with the feeling of discontent. that every sense and fiber of his being was wrong that he was in a place that he otherwise should not be. he inhaled sharply, a gasp as he shot up, and began to realize that his hands and his body were in inch deep water. or at the least, what appeared to be water.

blinking, he looked towards the orange sky, a frown on his lips before he felt the stirring of another approaching from behind. sliding his gaze to the side, he tried to get a glimpse of them - readying a spell upon his lips only to pause when they spoke up. “tony?” in a flash, he stood and whirled about to face the other, the cloak splaying out in a dramatic flair and an attempt to dry itself off. “this cannot be.”

great. now he’s hallucinating. after the events that’s happened in new york since the avengers came in, harry had—more or less—questioned the laws of physics. some of them didn’t obey the laws of physics at all. but he’s pretty sure tony stark died in the aftermath. harry wrote oscorp’s condolences letter to pepper potts. so to see tony stark alive was probably a little disorienting. he had to wonder if he was already in a parallel universe. “mister stark,” he began, “i’m not too sure how i’m supposed to react.”

harry rarely ever lost his temper and if he did, it was usually in the presence of no one. he was trained to have longer patience than most considering his social status and anything he did would definitely get back to his father. but this whole situation was slowly eating away at his patience. and do redheads really have this much fire?, he thought to himself as the woman in front of him reminded him of one of his closest friends. “okay fine, at least we tried,” he said as he looked at the pile of stones that was originally a big rock he threw at the glowing wall.

if he were someone else, the first thing reed would probably do was to ask why he was in his basement screaming. but he’s long since accepted tony for who he is and as a fellow scientist, he could understand where he was coming from. kind of. “hmm. you sure you didn’t soundproof your walls? i understand not wanting your family to hear what you’re working on but it does have some consequences.” reed personally has long since given up on soundproofing his lab considering everyone came and went as they pleased.

erik was amused by how quickly and how much he had managed to get under tony’s skin just by being around him. a smirk played at his lips as he glanced over at the shorter man and raised a brow. “and how am i doing that? by breathing in your general direction? giving you glances that would appear judgmental? do tell.”

was she relieved to see tony alive and well? definitely. was she shocked to see him alive and well? definitely, especially after witnessing his funeral herself. but of course, she’s come to the realisation that whoever dies at this point doesn’t really die—at least with people who are deeply embedded in the saving-the-universe-slash-fucking-up-the-universe business. “well it looks like retirement’s doing you good, tony, but looks like i’m going to have to bring you out of retirement now. i’m glad to see you, despite the circumstances.”

both of his brows shot up as he stared over at her in surprise. “is this frustration speaking or do you genuinely believe that i can just ‘magic’ all of this away?“ he asked, a bit taken aback but simultaneously amused. “because i can assure you that i cannot just ‘magic’ this away. how do i know, you ask? i tried.” he splayed out his hands and shook them at her before turning away from the red head. “it’s not as easy as it looks, jean.”

okay so he couldn’t see charles xavier anywhere—but jean grey was definitely better than nothing. not that having anyone stuck here was a good thing but they can’t really do anything much until they figure out this whole reality thing. “have you encountered this before?,” he asked as he crouched down and examined the plants, mildly interested at how it wasn’t anything like what he saw back on earth. “i ran the numbers on this one and none of it makes sense.” he was also curious as to why jean grey was apparently younger now but that could probably wait until they have this all figured out.