Peter Parker's New Groove by CambrianBeckett

Jean Grey Pt. 2

Peter was secure enough in himself that he could take the hit to his 'comfortability' in favor of making sure Jean felt safe and secure. As such, the choice was ultimately obvious in his eyes.

"You have your own room at the Institute, right? Let's do this there."

For a moment, Jean's face is as red as her hair. She bites her lower lip... before hesitantly nodding.

"M-More or less. Okay, let's do it!"

Offering her his hand, Peter grins when Jean is quick to take it in her own. The psychic intertwines her fingers with his before moaning like it's the best thing in the world. Clearly, it's an over-exaggeration, and she giggles when he laughs. Meanwhile, those around them glance their way, but pay them no further mind then that. They're just a cute couple, nothing to see here...

Catching a bus to the Institute isn't a problem, and on the way there, Peter thinks over what he knows about the place. The Xavier Institute for Higher Learning had become something of an open secret since Thanos' attack. More open, and less secret. The mutants had come out of the woodwork in order to defend Earth right alongside their homo sapien counterparts.

That led to a lot of good will, perhaps finally offsetting the bad, so to speak. In the aftermath of Thanos and the horrors he'd wrought, the Xavier Institute had gone semi-public. Most people probably didn't know it's true purpose, thinking it just another private school... but those who were aware of such things, knew that it was in fact a safe haven for mutant-kind.

Peter didn't begrudge them that. He knew full well just how bad it was for so many of them. But he had to admit, he was a little curious what it would be like. Would it look like some old Victorian-style mansion? Or more like a post-modern private college?

The answer, it turned out, was a mixture of both. As Peter and Jean hop off of the bus and walk the rest of the way to the Institute, they find themselves on a private road that winds through a copse of trees, before opening out onto a well-manicured lawn that extends all the way up to the estate itself.

The Xavier Institute of Higher Learning certainly started out life as the Victorian-style mansion that Peter had been picturing in his mind's eye, but there had been additions to its infrastructure, new buildings made in a very different style of architecture that reminded him of his own sleek, post-modern school.

And even more was being constructed as they walked up. It seemed to Peter that the tentative trust and positive good will being extended to mutants was being exploited by those smart enough to see the opportunity for what it was. And really, good for them.

Who could say when the winds would blow in the opposite direction, really? There were always those who hated the Other, and who sought to make others hate the Other alongside them. Anti-mutant sentiment would almost certainly rise again, whether because of some firebrand shouting from a soapbox, or because of a mutant villain ruining it for everyone else, or even a mixture of both.

For the time being though at least, the mutants had the good will of the majority of humanity, and if they wanted to use that to get some renovations done, Peter certainly wasn't going to begrudge them that. As he and Jean finally make it to the front doors of the Institute, she leads him inside, still holding him tightly by the hand.

They don't get more than a few feet in before being interrupted, however.

"Welcome back, Ms. Grey. You've brought quite the interesting guest to visit, haven't you?"