4973/Teen Angst Part IV: the Revenge

Teen Angst Part IV: the Revenge
Date of Scene:	02 January 2017
Location:	Earth-199999
Synopsis:	Tony has a man to man talk with Sokka.
Cast of Characters:	1076, 301

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Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka was miserable. And all of just jokes had just... died. When Tony had called, there'd been no jokes. no puns. Nothing. Tony could have lightly tossed one over the home plate and he wouldn't even try to punt it. And the morose tone to his voice was... completely out of character from what tony had likely seen up to this point.

The boy was freaking miserable. And considering how fun and perky he was normally, it was quite disheartening. He met Tony at a diner, a bit away from the mansion. Cliched, but... well... that.

Worst of all. He just ordered a coke. They had a steak dinner here. A good one. And he didn't order it. My gosh you'd think he was dying.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony Stark shows up to the meeting a bit later than planned, because having a newborn baby in the house does tend to screw up the timing of things, even things as important as slapping some sense into the dumb kid that your adopted daughter for some reason is heartbroken over. Why Sokka chose this place in particular, he has no idea. The Audi parked outside costs four times the value of the vehicles parked next to it. But Tony is wearing the stndard Marvel superhero disguise of a ball cap and sunglasses, so probably no one will recognize him.

He steps into the diner, has a quick word with the waitress and points across the dining room to the morose young man with the coke in front of him, and is waved on by. The bench seat across from Sokka creaks slightly as he slides into it. "So," he remarks casually, "Here we are. You want to start or shall I?" He glances at the menu, then orders just a coffee when the waitress stops by to check on them. Cheapskates, she thinks, taking up a perfectly good table in her section just to drink coke and coffee, but she plasters on a smile and goes to get the drink.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka gives a soft sigh and waves his hand. "Go ahead, let me have it."

He was expecting yelling, screaming, possibly cursing. Well, if they were in private. What he actually expected was annoyance, a bit of anger. Being called stupid, idiotic, a waste... a lot of different things.

Nothing Sokka wasn't already calling himself. Nothing he didn't already know he was. He sipped his coke, not even looking the guy in the eyes.

The life that usually gleamed in his eyes, especially over hte last few days was gone now. Granted, Tony might have heard about this. Sokka did have a rather... morose side when the time came for it. He prefered the term pragmatic.

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony lets him have it. First, though, he lets the waitress place his coffee cup on the table before him, thanks her, and gives himself a moment to savor a sip. Then grimaces slightly. To be fair, it's not bad coffee, it's just not his particularly favored fine blend.

He also needs the extra few seconds, if he's being perfectly honest with himself, to figure out how to handle this. He has to admit, he does kind of just want to yell and scream at the kid a bit. It's what he'd do if confronted with his own younger self in a similar situation. But he knows that won't help things. "So Toph is feeling pretty shitty today," he opens, as he reaches for a sugar packet to dump into his drink. "Thinks you'll never want to be friends with her again after that display you put on last night. Want to clue me in to your thought process, there?"

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka sat up a little straighter. "W-wait, she is? Is she okay? I didn't--" And then... "Ugh..." He buried his face in his hands. "I'm an idiot. Just... I'm an idiot. I thought... I tried to... I mean, it doesn't even make sense. Toph is... Toph. And I'm me. It's like..."

For once, he was struggling to speak, not a normal thing for him. "I don't even know. She's just... amazing. It's just... a lot to handle. I wish there had been some kind of warning. Some kind of... if she had just given some hint to it so I could have figured it out on my own." ... Oh my gosh. "She says she'd felt that way for years! How am I supposed to react to that? She's never even dropped the slightest hint!" And then face planted on the table.

"I panicked. I said she probably had a crush on Aang too and... ugh. She hates me, doesn't she? I just... I said the wrong things and... you should have seen how mad she was yesterday. When she kicked me out and just..." His hands went over his head, digging it into the table.

"I mean... why... me? It's... she's so... amazing. In every possible way. She's smart, talented, beautiful, powerful, high class, probably the most powerful bender in our world and that's including the old fire lord AND Aang and just... I'm a guy with a sword. That's it. Why in the world would she have ANY feelings for a guy like me?"

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"Shockingly," Tony drawls dryly, stirring the sugar into his coffee in the hopes it will become more palatable, "She doesn't hate you. She is in fact still hung up on you, for reasons I certainly can't fathom." Ouch. He sips his drink, and grimaces slightly less this time.

"I'm not even going to get into how blind you must be to not see all the hints she's been dropping since you came back. Seriously, I think you're the only person she's interacted with who HASN'T realized she likes you." He gives a short sigh through his nose. "--Look, let me give you some free advice here, Sokka. When an amazing talented woman likes you -- don't question it. Well, unless she's asking for your credit card numbers. Otherwise... just go with it, man. Whatever reasons she has for liking you are HER reasons. It's not up to us. We're just the meatheads who count ourselves lucky."

Another coffee-sip. "Let me ask you something. Do you like her?"

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka sighed and managed to feel even more miserable. Not that he didn't deserve it. And then Tony asks the million dollar(billion for him) question. Did Sokka like her?

He glanced off to the side and... "I'd have to be the biggest idiot in the world to... say I didn't." He sighed again. "She's... incredible. She's my best friend. We get along well enough, we like a lot of the same things. She's smart and clever. And ummm... I... just realized the... errr..." And his cheeks turned red. And then he sighed again. "But... she's also... I know how..." He groaned. "I know about her softer side. I know how easy it is to hurt her. What if I do that?" And head desk again. "What if I break her heart into a hundred pieces? I love being her friend, but if... if I... did this... I'd be her FIRST boy friend. She deserves to have the best boy friend in the world, someone who can really sweep her off her feet and... and who's incredible as her! Not someone who just... holds her back..."

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony spends the time Sokka is yammering on, folding up his paper sugar packet into a tight triangle. When he seems to have talked himself out, he gives it a neat flick with his fingers, aiming to ping him in the face with it. Right between the eyes.

"Hey," he interrupts the flow of the self-pity stream. "You like her. She likes you. This shouldn't be rocket science. And I AM an actual rocket scientist, so you should listen to me on this. Yeah, if you let her down you might hurt her. You might both get hurt. That's part of the gamble. That's every relationship you will ever have. But you know how to be absolutely SURE of breaking her heart? It's to keep acting like this. And you know what else? She'll get over it. She'll get over you. She'll go on and find someone else -- but YOU," he stabs a finger at Sokka's chest, "Will never forgive yourself. She'll always be the one who got away, because you were too chickenshit to give the two of you a chance."

"So do what you have to do, Sokka. If you don't like her in THAT way, tell her. Things will be awkward for a while but she still wants to be FRIENDS with you. That's what she's most scared of losing right now, her best friend. Or," he drains the coffee cup and sets it down with a ceramic thunk on the tabletop, "if you really do think she's that incredible, what you should be doing right now is going to her on your knees to ask for forgiveness and admit you handled that night poorly and beg her to give you another chance. Trust me," he adds sardonically, "the alternative is not pretty."

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka cringed, closing her eyes. Then... "She's... scared of losing me? She thinks I'd stop being her best friend over something like this?" he asked softly. Then groaned. "You know what I hate the most? The fact you're right and I hate it." He buried his face in his hands.

He was quiet for a second. "Honestly, i'm surprised you're okay with this. I half expected you to come in here, in the suit, telling me to stay away from your daughter. I'm pretty sure her... original... would have." Sokka still didn't like that guy.

He then went silent for a few more moments. "Though... errr... there is one more thing that... Stadler kind of... mentioned. Apparently, err, due to our ages... in this world it's kind of... illegal. For us to date."

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony chucks a thumb over his shoulder. "I have a suit in the car, if you think that's necessary," he offers, garnering an odd look from the waitress when she comes back to see if he wants a refill. He puts a hand over his cup and shakes his head in a little no-thank-you. "Toph is almost sixteen, and she's been through enough ACTUAL trauma that I trust her to make her own decisions -- and mistakes," he adds, though the corner of his mouth twitches upward slightly, "-- in matters of her love life."

He rolls his eyes at the mention of Stadler. "You can date," he assures him. "You can go out together just like you have been all along, only with more kissing. Just no... birds and bees stuff until after she turns sixteen. Or ever. Ever sounds good. Are we clear?"

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka stared at him for a few moments and... "... Is this an enemy birds thing? Did Toph tell you about that? I wasn't being paranoid! You never know who's listening when you're in enemy territory. We didn't meet any enemy bees, though." Completely clueless. Then he squeaked, his cheeks flaring.

Wait, he figured it out?

"I-is that like... an engagement thing here? You give birds? I-I'm not planning to marry her immediately! I-I'm only thinking a-about namely dating her! We're not getting engaged!"

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
"Sex, Sokka, I'm talking about sex," Tony states it outright since metaphor clearly gets nowhere with this doofus. "Do not. Have sex with my daughter." More eyes are looking their way now. "Please don't tell me I have to have THAT discussion with you too," he remarks dryly.

Sokka (1076) has posed:
Sokka shrieked, his eyes going wide. "W-WHAT?! NO! NEVER! I'D NEVER! Not with, WITH TOPH?! Are you kidding, she's Toph! That's never, no no, no no no, NO!" he jumped back so hard his coke was sent spilling over the table. And he didn't even notice.

"That is most definitely NOT EVER HAPPENING!" He even made an X with his arms. "No."

Tony Stark (301) has posed:
Tony grabs for a wad of napkins from the dispenser and slaps it down on the table to stop the flow of coke before it ends up in his lap. Superhero reflexes, ladies and gentlemen. Then he eases himself up and out of his seat, just in case Sokka's next convulsion might send the whole mess tipping into him anyway.

"Sorry," he tells the waitress who hurries over to mop up the spill. All this for a four dollar tab, this is so not worth her time.

"You may feel differently in time," Tony tells the Water Tribe dork, as he unfolds another hundred dollar bill from his pocket and presses it into the waitress's hand. "Really, sorry for the trouble," he murmurs to her. She looks at the bill then at him, then a little harder at him and her eyes narrow. Tony turns quickly to leave the diner.

"Word of advice," he remarks over his shoulder, "Maybe don't open with that angle when you talk to her."