"And you're still offering it, knowing what I am?" Paige clarified. "I got rejected from six other places on those grounds."

"You're not the only mutant at the company." Tony grinned. "Far from, in fact. There is a reason I got banished here by Bruce rather than just to the Tower. Besides the general safety level of the rest of the world."

Paige paused and let that sink in.

"What's yours, then?" she ventured after a moment.

Tony grinned and waved a hand theatrically. Over a dozen colored and differently sized foam balls floated up from around the house and zoomed over to form a miniature solar system, the sun right above Tony's head.

Paige couldn't help but stare a bit.

"I don't know if I should be impressed at the display," she finally said, "or amused that you've made yourself literally the center of the universe."

Tony snorted. "Go with both, it's easier that way," he said with a grin, waggling his eyebrows at her playfully.

Paige couldn't help it, she laughed.

"Well, now it makes sense why you keep showing up here," she said.

"Yup." Tony popped the 'p', and sent the balls back to their proper places. "Not a known public fact yet, Peps thinks the fallout from that is too bad for right now."

"No kidding," Paige said. "Could you imagine that? Owner of the biggest company on the face of the planet, outed as a mutant? The press would have the day christened as a sacred holiday."

"They normally tear into me, but this would be political as well as social," Tony said with a shrug. "The public isn't ready yet. Publically, I do support mutant rights, but I also support gay marriage. People just think I'm a nut job."

"I bet if you opposed gay marriage, you'd be pinned to the ceiling with every metal knife in the mansion," Paige pointed out dryly.

Tony snorted. "Yes, but that's beside the fact," he said. "I'm pretty sure most days Erik doesn't need that much of a reason to threaten to pin me to the ceiling with knives."

Paige just snickered a bit.

"I would ask," she said, "but I probably shouldn't."

"Oh, half the time I think Erik hates me," Tony said cheerfully. "The other half I know I'm an annoyance in a tin can."

Paige snorted, and then covered her mouth in instant embarrassment.

"Sorry," she said through her fingers.

"Why?" Tony asked, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Is this going to be a thing? 'Cause you don't need to apologize."

"What thing? It was rude to snort at you, not to mention an entirely inappropriate sound," Paige pointed out, turning a bit red with a different kind of embarrassment. She didn't like being told off.

Tony just snorted at that and shook his head. "Uh huh, sure, whatever," he said.

Paige's lips thinned as she looked away in embarrassment. She wasn't going to be made fun of for trying to be polite, and she started inching away.

"I should go help look after the kids, I think it's my turn," she muttered.

"Alright." Tony didn't try to stop her, just watching her go. Hey, he was just being him, it was pretty normal for people to get pissed off at him.

As soon as Paige was out of sight of Tony, she slumped down into a corner and tried to get a grip on herself again. She had just made a fool of herself in front of one of the most famous men in the world, that couldn't possibly lead to anything good.

As if she'd been summoned, Crystal slipped out of the kitchen and went to go find Paige, crouching down next to her.

"What happened?" she asked quietly, putting an arm around her.

"Made a fool of myself," Paige mumbled, resting her forehead on her friend's shoulder. "Like always."

"You do not always make a fool of yourself," Crystal said quietly. "You want to talk about it or should I skip straight to using him for target practice?"

"He's telekinetic," Paige said dully, "so I wouldn't." She sighed. "I was just trying to be polite, really. And he told me off for it."