fandomtownies | The Perk, Wednesday, 2/02

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$perk,
tyler durden

The Perk, Wednesday, 2/02

So here he was. On the island. Teaching about fighting, even.

Tyler felt like he'd done the time warp right back to 2009.

He had some time before he had to catch his portal back to New York, so he went to the Perk to people-watch and feed his caffeine addiction. He was pretty sure the same barista who had always given him a dirty look, gave him a dirty look this time too.

He winked at her and took a window seat.

[OOC: Open post!]

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Considering this was Fandom, a time warp was a distinct possibility, Tyler. Just saying.

While Tony didn't drink coffee, he was there to pick up something to eat on his way from the lab to class with Mr. Rogers. Mmmm. Muffins.

He nodded politely at the other customer in the shop.

Tyler blinked a tiny bit at the kid. He looked familiar, but that wasn't exactly the most unique thing ever in Fandom.

"Hey," he said. "New student, right?"

If he realized his window for new stretched back nine months, he might cry.

"Yeah, Tony replied slowly. "Are you a teacher?"

~~No, just a creeper~~

"I was," Tyler said. "I quit a few months back, but I came back to help out a couple people."

And because he'd been getting bored.

"My name's Tyler."

Such a creeper (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLPZmPaHme0).

"Tony," he replied, wiping his hand on his pants before offering it. Getting a random guy's hand dirty with grease from maintaining the suit was not a polite thing.

Tyler raised his eyebrows at the greasy hand, especially when combined with the name. (Then again, it wasn't exactly the most unusual name ever.) "Nice to meet you. Working in the garage?"

Garage. Pff.

"A lab, actually," Tony replied oh so vaguely. About his secret lab to be used for crime fighting.

Annnd

Tyler's eyebrow crept up again. "I live with someone who has one of those," he said, tilting back in his chair. "I'm more a chemist myself."

A very, very amateur chemist.

"Really?" Oh god damn you, Tyler. "What kind?"

"Household experiments with a special interest in demolitions work. I'm stronger on practice than on theory."

Because that was oh so reassuring.

"The one chemistry teacher here had us blow things up in our first class," Tony replied. "I'm sensing a pattern."

"The school is carrying on a fine tradition," Tyler observed. "Who's teaching chemistry these days? Are they any good?"

Tony shrugged. "It's high school." Way to be kind to your education system, Tony.

"Her name is Kukaku Shiba. She's... very unique."

Boob-tastic.

"In the 'taslking chimpanzee' way or the 'off her gourd' way?" Tyler asked. "And you sound so very enthused."

"She's--" Tony made vague motions at his chest before giving up on explaining that part of it. "--crazy, yeah."

He shrugged again.

"It's been a while since I was in school."

Boobs and crazy. Yeah, Tyler would have to meet her if he ever had more than a couple hours on the island again.

"Me too," he joked lightly. "What did you do instead?"

"Worked for my dad," Tony replied with a quick grin. "Tech design."

Dammit, there went a weird little twist in Tyler's stomach.

"Any company I would have heard of?"

"Stark International?" If this was another person who knew some version of him and was going to ask if he was a clone, Tony was having none of it.

Yeah, sorry Tony.

".... right."

And then Tyler laughed. He'd explain the joke later.

TYLER, WHY SO CRUEL?

Tony frowned at him. "I'm not a clone or whatever else." THANKS, STEVE.

"Whose theory is the clone thing?" Tyler asked, a fist against his mouth so he'd stop laughing. "Sorry. I'm going to have to tell the other you he has a mini-me."

A pause. "Probably it'll turn into a child support joke."

"Mr. Rogers. Before he made me teaching assistant for his class." Which only proved Steve was crazy.

"Does this happen a lot or something?"

Somewhere... another Tony was opening a bottle of scotch.

"Not exactly this way, but people coming in and being the same as someone else but not?" Tyler asked. "Yeah, sorry. You can still be a unique snowflake back home."

He scratched the back of his neck. "How's Steve?"

"Okay." AND HE WOULD, TYLER. BECAUSE CLEARLY THIS OTHER HIM WASN'T AS AWESOME IN DESIGNING A MECHANICAL SUIT OF ARMOR.

AND STUFF.

"He's... a teacher?" Oh god, asking Tony to evaluate someone's emotional well-being. That way lay madness.

"Implied by the part where you're his TA."

No, Tyler wasn't expecting to get many more details. He'd met Tony. A different Tony, but still.

Tony stared awkwardly for a moment. "He seems nice?"

It was effort!

"Glad to hear it," Tyler relented. If he were really that bothered about it, he had Steve's phone number. "He's a good guy, so..."

He trailed off. "Anyhow. So you keep busy with science stuff?"

"When I don't have to go to class, yeah," Tony replied, rubbing more of that grease off on his pant leg. "You're not going to go all teacher on me if I say it's boring, are you?"

Tyler snorted. "High school is boring. Here's a little better than most places. You get lectured a lot?"

"Once or twice."

Okay, once. He wasn't sure lectures from Rhodey counted for other ones.

"But, two more years and I'm done."

"And then you go rule the world," Tyler said. Joking. Half-joking. There was that college thing first. "Seriously, good luck."

If it weren't for the chemistry aspect that could be applied to it, spending most of your day reading through cookbooks was boring as hell, and, considering she had to start her day with radio to begin with, Kūkaku decided she needed caffeine and booze.

The caffeine was going to come first, she decided. She sniffed slightly as she came into the perk, rubbing her nose unceremoniously, and hoping she wasn't coming down with something the way she was sneezing not too long ago.

Though it was entirely unnecesarry, she smacked her hand on the counter to get the baristas attention as she barked out, "A double espresso and two of those floofy triple skinny vanilla caramel latte things!"

What? The twins loved those lattes.

As she waited for the order to be made, Kūkaku glanced around the coffee shop, narrowing her eyes slightly in suspicion toward the guy she didn't recognize, but she was kind of regarding the whole place with that kind of look.

Tyler narrowed his eyes right back at her. "Don't worry," he said. "I wasn't going to grab one of your lattes."

Kūkaku snorted. "Swipe 'em for all I care," she said. "They ain't for me; they're for the big guys outside," she hitched her thumb toward the door, where the two towering men were standing, as if keeping guard, "so they're the ones you'd have to answer to not me. They don't play nice, though."

Tyler's head swivelled toward the bodyguards, and he took them in impassively. "I just taught a whole class on not playing nice," he said. "But I think I'll buy my own foufrou drink. Two on one isn't my idea of a good time right now."

"It's your idea of a good time some other time?" asked Kūkaku, arching an eyebrow coolly to hide the fact that the correct answer to that would, of course, be yes.

"If I'm in fighting form, I don't have a portal to catch, and they don't both look like they could lift me with a finger?" Tyler checked. "Absolutely. I prefer one-on-one, but sometimes you have to mix it up."

"Yeah, gotta challenge yerself somehow," Kūkaku muttered with another snort, and narrowed her eyes at the guy again. "You teach here? How come I ain't noticed you before?"

Well, granted, she didn't exactly pay attention to most people on the island as it was, but that was beside the point.

Tyler shook his head. "I used to. Put in about two years. I left last May, but somebody invited me back so I came."

Cool story, Tyler.

"You're ... new? New-ish? Can't imagine you getting lost in a crowd, either."

Kūkaku was going to chalk that comment up to a testament to her obviously imposing personality and take-charge attitude, and pull herself up importantly. "Coupla semesters in," she allowed. "Kūkaku Shiba. Fireworks and demolition expert extraordinaire. Gracin' these poor sods with the education of a lifetime. What'd you teach?"

"Tyler Durden," Tyler said, offering his hand. "I taught blowing shit up before you did. Then I did home ec for a semester. Then history. I liked the science classes best."

"Have you let them make fireworks yet?"

Kūkaku met the proffered hand with the same hard look at the offerer that she gave whenever a hand was offered. Not having a right arm left you a little irritated with the concept of handshakes.

"In this class?" she then asked. "It's all chemistry, so the explosions have been very open-ended. They do get extra points for makin' 'em pretty, though. Was one of the main topics in the last class, though, and, dear God, I hope my progression doesn't mimic yours. Home ec??"

To be fair, there were other things about her to notice. Tyler grimaced and withdrew his hand, as if he routinely held it in thin air for no reason whatsoever.

He shrugged. "I did it half to weird people out. No regrets. It was less sewing curtains, more keeping it together on your own."

It was a look that Kūkaku obviously was used to giving.

"So, why'd ya quit?" she asked.

"Because it had been two years," Tyler shrugged. "I felt like I'd done it, time to move on. Odds are I'll end up back here in another year or so."

"What're ya doing til then?"

"Managing a gym in New York." That was almost sheepish. "I've had an, uh, varied career path."

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The Perk, Wednesday, 2/02

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