Atlas Gym, Friday Evening, 7/24

[tyler_gone]

The thing about the gym staff was, they really weren't too bright about things like making you give your keys back when you quit. That went double if you kept staying past the time the gym closed anyhow. As long as he didn't expect to get paid, Tyler could pretty much come and go as he pleased.

He'd been taking advantage of that a lot this week. Tonight, he was going to stay late and put in a couple more weight circuits ... just as soon as he'd watched David & David Have Problems all the way through while lying on a couch in a disused office.

Hey, it made him laugh.

[OOC: For one.]

Comments

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Tony shot him a look that implied he'd be sitting now, thanks. "Enjoying the show?"

[tyler_gone]

"It's okay. Kind of dumb. Sketches are still pretty bad," Tyler said, scooting so Tony could sit beside him. "What did you do with yourself today?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Me?" He remembered to bathe. Be happy, Tyler. Be very happy. Genius was taxing work, you know. You forgot the trivial things. "I drew up a few designs for my employee to work on."

[tyler_gone]

"The Wiggin kid?" See, Tyler paid attention sometimes! "What's he doing now?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Tony was actually impressed there! "I have him working on a smaller ark reactor."

Not that Tony couldn't he... a fresh pair of eyes was good.

[tyler_gone]

"You trust him." Tyler knew Tony enough to be impressed by that. "Nice when you can give a kid a project and they do it without trying to drive you nuts."

... no, this wasn't all about Ender.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't say that..." Tony put an arm on the back of the couch and consequently, over Tyler's shoulders as well. "Trouble in paradise?"

[tyler_gone]

Tyler leaned into Tony, appreciating that he'd showered. "Nah. Fight Club just sucks sometimes."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Does it?" Maybe Tony needed to go more often.

[tyler_gone]

"No. Yes." Tyler huffed against Tony's shoulder. "Arguing with a teenage girl is fucking humiliating, do you know that?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"I try to avoid getting into arguments with children myself," Tony replied dryly.

[tyler_gone]

"It's hard when they won't shut up and listen," Tyler said wryly. "This girl -- you met her. My TA. Ino. All the training, all the potential in the world, really wicked superpowers -- and she just can't understand that you can't go all-out against everyone." He looked wry.

"Making wood appear is the same thing as telekinesis. Did you know that?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Tony had to pause for a moment to process that.

"What?"

[tyler_gone]

"We let people use powers if everyone agrees and they're, y'know, sane powers." Of course, Tyler might not be the best judge on what was sane.

"One of the things she does -- she makes illusions that turn into random logs. Don't ask, I have no clue how. Last month I pointed out that it was kind of risky to do in a gym with three dozen other people, and of course that made me the asshole."

There was more, but he would pause there. He needed to be indignant.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"No, I'm pretty sure, I'm the asshole here." And he was damn good at it.

...it was his attempts at cheering Tyler up.

[tyler_gone]

It made Tyler laugh, anyhow. "Can I take second place?"

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"I suppose." Tony settled back in a comfortable position. "Why would you care what some kid thinks of you anyway?"

[tyler_gone]

"Because she's rude about it."

And Tyler had been a paragon of a good attitude.

"She got called to spar Sunday. Girl she got put up against learns fast so she had a hissy. Because she doesn't learn fast so it's not fair to have to fight someone who does when she can't go all-out." Or something; Tyler knew it was a little more detailed than that, but he wasn't inclined to be terribly fair at that moment. "And then Tuesday after class she just whined at me about how unfair it was until I threw her out of club. Life's too short."

This was clearly why Tyler was still obsessing four days later.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Is it?" Yeah, Tony noticed the obsessing bit.

[tyler_gone]

"I'm good at this, Tony. In the Club I know what I'm doing." Apparently arguing with a teenager threw Tyler into midlife crisis mode. "This is weird."

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"Then trust that you knew the right thing to do about it and follow through with it," Tony suggested.

[tyler_gone]

"Easier to hear that from someone else than to do it."

Not that Tyler was arguing.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

Tony sighed. "Did you try to find any other ways?"

[tyler_gone]

"Like what?" Tyler asked, with real curiosity.

[not-ironmaiden.livejournal.com]

"You're the expert with children and fighting," Tony replied easily. "Was there another way?"