Yard, 13 Griffin Way, Monday Night

[tyler_gone]

This is the list of things Tyler wasn't thinking about: Ghanima Atreides, Tony Stark, mirrored studios at the gym, Triela, Lindsay Boxer, Marla Singer, crazy brunettes, infomercials, fight club, capitalism, sex, training, what, if anything, he should teach at the school this term.

This left him a choice of alcohol or explosives as things he could think about. He picked violence. That was why Monday found him out in the back garden of the house, building a better mousetrap. Or a better Molotov cocktail. All the same, right?

[OOC: For that guy. Yeah, him.]

Comments

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

It depended on who you asked, really.

But Tony wasn't there to critique it. Much. He stayed back just a bit, pristine in his suit that probably was worth more than the average person made in a month.

"Have you done the math on that or just going with a trial by error?"

[tyler_gone]

"I do know how to do this." Tyler barely glanced up from his work as he measured things out and put them in jars. "How are you?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"You know, I have better access to chemicals. You only have to ask." Deflect and ignore. Excellent plan.

[tyler_gone]

"I like doing things on my own, Tony." And he banged the lid back onto his coffee can of some sulfates or other to make that point.

He couldn't tell you why this was Tony's fault. It just was.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Tony took a careful step back lest something explode. "I didn't say I had to help."

[tyler_gone]

Tyler rolled his eyes at the step back. "No, but you're acting like I can't manage. You remember this is my thing, right?"

He didn't come down to Tony's lab and start offering to twist wires.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Right." Tony watched him for a moment before, "Is this about the gym?"

[tyler_gone]

"No." And Tyler just had to bang a gallon jug of gasoline around there to make his point.

"... not just about the gym."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Not just?"

[tyler_gone]

"Wasn't" -- and Tyler was suddenly very involved in measuring things that probably didn't need measuring -- "the only weird part of my week."

They'd talked about this. Multiple times. Didn't make it easier.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Is that so?" Tony asked, taking a few steps forward to brush into Tyler's personal space.

[tyler_gone]

Watch Tyler try to maneuver to keep his workbench between them without being obvious about it. (He failed.)

"No." Tyler swallowed. "Only interesting part of yours?"

If Tyler had been overheated enough to do his housemate on the living room floor, Tony was probably having orgies with the entire staff of the hotel.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"No. Not the only part of mine either," Tony admitted, staying where he was and not advancing on Tyler again.

[tyler_gone]

Tyler wasn't surprised. That was why his hands didn't shake as he stirred a few things together with a long rod. If they looked like they were shaking, it was a trick of the evening light.

"We are allowed."

Allowed, like they were five. Christ. Relationships fucking sucked even if you didn't call them relationships.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"I didn't say anything to the contrary," Tony remarked, watching his hands for a moment.

[tyler_gone]

"So there's no reason to be weird, is there?" Tyler followed Tony's gaze and glanced at his own hands as he talked.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"No." He was contemplating if pointing out that it was Tyler being strange about would be worth it or not. "Are you alright?"

[tyler_gone]

"I always am." No. "Are you?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Of course."

[tyler_gone]

"So." Tyler nodded as if something was settled. "Find any playmates I know?"

He knew as he was asking that he shouldn't have.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Well, it's good that he did, because Tony was beginning to get annoyed. "Are you going to throw something at me?"

[tyler_gone]

Only beginning?

Tyler deliberately put down everything he was holding and stepped to the side. "There. Now I don't have anything to throw."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Fine." Tony smiled a perfect PR smile. "Steve. You?"

[tyler_gone]

"... Rogers?" Tyler asked, as if there could have been an invasion of Steves he didn't know about.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Is there any other Steve on the island?"

[tyler_gone]

"It's a fucking common name," Tyler said defensively. "And he doesn't even make dirty jokes. I thought he was straight."

Tyler wasn't sure how he felt. He was trying to put Tony and Steve together in his head and that was leading to oddly erotic mental images that he couldn't turn off.

"Going to do him again?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Well that seems unlikely, Tyler," Tony drawled.

[tyler_gone]

"Not to be, huh?" Tyler said, shaking his head. "My heart bleeds."

He ... possibly would have been less of a dick if he'd know how things had gone down. Maybe.

"Lindsay," he added, finally answering the question.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Lindsay?"

[tyler_gone]

"You know, tall, dark hair, amazing body?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Tony was aware of that. "How was it?"

Mmm, bitchy.

[tyler_gone]

"Like fucking." Ah, descriptive. "I could draw diagrams."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'd love to see them." Really, the emotional maturity of a gnat.

[tyler_gone]

"Give me a couple days and I'll get them together," Tyler said, and saying he had the emotional maturity of a gnat would make gnats look bad.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"You can bring them by for dinner."

[tyler_gone]

"... you're asking me for a date."

Tony was weird.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Yes, and?" Tony was really weird.

[tyler_gone]

...

"When?"

It was a good thing Tyler was incredibly strange, too.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

They completed each other in the unhealthy dealing.

"Thursday?"

[tyler_gone]

"I'll be there," Tyler promised.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Until then," Tony replied, eying the ingredients for a moment before turning to leave. "You're light on the sulfur."

[tyler_gone]

"I want this not to smell like rotten eggs, Tony," Tyler called after him. "The aluminum gives the mixture enough heat."

No, he couldn't help himself.