7559/Hardly Awkward

Hardly Awkward
Date of Scene:	20 May 2019
Location:	Garage - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Fangirl Jubilee and Fanboy Peter meet Tony.
Cast of Characters:	Iron Man, Jubilee, Spider-Man

---

Iron Man has posed:
Stark's arrival spread like explosive wildfire through the campus, what with social media being what it is. He didn't exactly arrive in a subtle way: one of his lambos is now parked outside: an insane, modified version of one that's hard to actually identify. Safer to say 'the custom white one with black racer stripes'. Or STARK36, as the license plate declares.

Tony wasn't alone, two assistants came along, but they had their own vehicle, and parked more properly in the parking zone; Tony himself parked in the middle of everything in the front entryway. Which means there are now lots of pictures of him going through the school's social media. And pictures of students posing with the car. And so on. By the time Tony made the main hallway he was doing selfies with kids, in his always very pleasant and relaxed way.

One of the assistants, a young dark haired man, just recently came out to fetch something for Tony from his car, and is uncomfortably peeking into it: deciding how much nerve he has to actually touch the car.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee has her hands cupped against the driver's window, trying to see in with her face buried in her hands. "Bet he has a girl in the glove box," she says to no one in particular, as her breath fogs up the glass, and she has to move a few inches to the left to see again.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter was writing a paper when most of the excitement of Tony's arrival went down. Lounging in the library with his laptop and a notepad doing calculations on a theorized elemental equation for one of his classes that should be stimulating, but ultimately amounts to busy work. In short, he'd rather be doing literally anything else, but it was due three days ago and he only has an extension because he offered to wash the professors car every Saturday over the summer.

His phone sits just out of reach, buzzing insistantly every couple seconds as one student or another sends messages to the Schools social media. After about the twentieth time of ignoring it (because it's too far away to reach without moving), he glances around and fires a web at it to pull it into his hand and check what the heck is going on.

That's why he's not writing his paper.

That is TOTALLY why he's not writing his paper.

Heading outside with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, wearing a Game of Thrones T-shirt as he meanders in muted curiosity over to the white lambo.. "Probably two.." Said to Jubilee, leaning down to gaze in through the oposite window with wide eyes. "I can't even imagine having a dream where I could afford this car.."

Iron Man has posed:
The assistant clears his throat from behind Jubilee. He gives a brief businesslike little smile to both of them. He'll wait for Jubilee to step aside away from the drivers' side door. With some slight embarrassment but an attempt to look professional, and like he's done this before, the assistant looks at the car. "Um, open, please."

Nothing happens. He flushes and pulls his phone out, to check his note that he made about this before. Oh, right. He steps towards the side of the door. "Access, please." Please car, don't embarrass him more.

It works this time, the door slides up like a vertically opening spiral, and the assistant can reach in for the suit coat left on the seat.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee snappoints at Peter, before realizing this is the guy she hasnt met quite yet, and she looks at him curiously, as she peers inside and through the window again, being smooth. Discreet. Then the assistant clears his throat, and Jubilee jumps a foot, easily. "Oh, uh..." Jubilee shifts aside, smoothing a little white sundress adorned with embroidered sunflowers along the hem. She watches as the door spirals up, and she leans in toward the assistant as he emerges from the car, perhaps a little too close. What personal space?

"Be honest," she asides to the guy. "Have you ever sat in it just to see what a kajillion dollars feels like on your tush?"

Spider-Man has posed:
Pete glances up through the window at the assistance standing behind Jubilee, but only briefly. His attention hetherto is upon the interior of six or seven of his entire education on four wheels. Once upon a time, Peter had done something very stupid for a vehicle and this car would definitely take that cars lunch money. It's humbling, really: To be in the presence of something so expensive that even the broken off rear view mirror probably cost as much as his whole life.

"I'm afraid to touch it." He finally voices, half to Jubilee and half to the assistant. "What if it turns into a giant robot with an instant kill? Or talks in a robotic voice like those really old alarms in the 80s." Pause for a breath, "Vipor is armed... with enough firepower to reduce the Grand Theft population to zero..." He is decidedly not touching the car, just leaning over staring in at the seats.

"Does it have beverage warmers? How about XM radio? Tony's a Sirus man, isn't he? Of course he is... Nobody listens to Howard Stern anymore."

Iron Man has posed:
"No; usually Mr. Stark is present, and I don't think he'd appreciate me in his lap," the assistant says to Jubilee's questions, startling a little bit when Jubilee lingers so closely. He almost dropped the coat, but he grins at her a little bit anyway. He's about the same age as both Jubilee and Peter, really. He could have 'new assistant in training' branded on his forehead, with out apparent it is.

"But sometimes we drive them back if Mr. Stark has Iron Man duties," the assistant admits, in a hopeful way. Some day a disaster might mean he gets to drive the Lambo back. "Not that we want that."

"I don't know," the assistant answers Peter a little more professionally, sharp only because he doesn't know the answers. He gently turns the coat over and steps back from the car; the door automatically seems to be aware of this and starts to shut.

Jubilee has posed:
"Dude no, I was lookin' at thaaat," Jubilee laments as the door sort of curtly ushers her right back out with the assistant. She probably just Duded a car. It probably had it comin'.

"Wow, seriously, you're just standin' around sometimes and suddenly: Iron Man. I am SO jealous now. I want to be you. You wanna teach Gymnastics for a day and let me follow Tony Stark around and h--" She quickly turns back and peers into the window again before looking at Peter in awe. "Tony Stark's butt has been....RIGHT. THERE." She points down into the seat.

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter furrows his brow at the assistance comments about driving the cars sometime and lack of knowledge regarding Tony's radio Satelite radio preferences. When the vehicle basically gives both of them the hand, he straightens to watch the mechanism with a technical eye that could easily be confused with fanboy like wonder. "I can't even imagine the systems integrated into this vehicle." Said as he begins to circle around the front of the lambo, hand hovering over, but not actually touching, the hood.

"Proximity sensors on the passanger cargo doors..." Kneeling down right before the headlights, Pete bends over onto one palm to look in through the grill. It's like looking under a ladies skirt, but he's caught up in the moment... besides, Jubes is doing a fine job distracting the assistant, might as well take advantage right? "Voice recognition, are these terrain sensors?" Peering around the headlights.

"It can drive itself, cant it?"

"Does it fly?"

"Don't answer that, my nerdy deflector shields cannot handle bad assery of that magnitude..."

Iron Man has posed:
The assistant isn't sure what to do with those questions: he just doesn't know, he's too new. "Probably," the assistant says, with strong faith. He'd bet on all of those answers being 'yes' to some degree. He doesn't have to debate on what to say much longer, though.

Tony's return to the front drive is announced for him. "Mr. Stark!!" Somebody yells, attracting the billionaire's attention. He turns some to simply wave back with a tip of two fingers, entirely tolerant of all of it and smiling. He jogs down some of the stairs at an easy pace, headed directly towards his car and the group.

The person that yelled to him trails along to stand near the front entry, with a mix of other students. Just to watch. After all, that's an Avenger, right there. That's the dream, to many. One of the younger boys at the stairs remarks to the others, crabby, "He's whatever," loudly. It's a teen boy trying to act cool, and it falls flat. He still stares after Tony with a sort of angsty hope.

Tony's dressed in his usual sort of mixed attire: expensive suit slacks, but a high contrast shirt under it. He must have been on the same brain wavelength as Peter, because it's a white and black 'STARK' game of thrones reference with a direwolf emblem on his chest. He has some of his bright gold and red sunglasses on, and his charismatic rockstar presence in spades.

The assistant rushes to intercept and stand nearby with the coat. He doesn't offer it: he knows Tony's hatred of being handed things. Tony spots him and adjusts his path to pass by him: not for the coat, though he does fish inside it, --- but to get a little bag of what's probably cheez-its from the interior suit coat pocket. He leaves the coat across the assistant's arms, and heads towards the car, tossing a few cheez-its into his mouth.

Jubilee has posed:
Cheez-Its. Mentally noted. Jubilee was somehow expecting Swedish Fish, but Cheez-Its are clearly the superior snack. Nothin' but the best for Tony Stark.

Now's her chance. Now is the moment when she will say that one witty and intelligent thing that will make her stand out in the memory of this Avenger God.

"Cheez-Its, huh? Cool..." GOD PLEASE SAVE HER FROM HERSELF. "We were just looking at your car." OR STRIKE HER DOWN TO SHUT HER UP.

Spider-Man has posed:
Note to future Peter from present day Peter -que introspective end of episode music-

Hey buddy, you're me from like thirty seconds from now. First, out of respect for academia, finish your paper... Second, you need to say something. No, seriously, thirty seconds of awkward staring at Tony Stark makes about as good an impression as punching a Priest on your wedding day.

Pete hears someone shout Tony Stark and stands up so quickly from eye molesting his car, he nearly trips and spins around to face the billionare tech genius like he's about to fight him over Game of Thrones house differences: Peter is wearing a Team Targaryen shirt for reference.

The only way it could be any more awkward is if he tries to lean casually on a kajillion dollar vehicle as if this was a John Hughes movie and he's trying to impress the most popular girl in school by pretending the Football Star's mustang was his own.

Or if he did all that trying to impress the Football Star who actually owned the car.

Or if he did all that with his eyes as wide as saucers. "I'm sitting on your car."

Memo to future Peter: I got nothing, bro. You're boned.

Iron Man has posed:
Tony is used to people acting funky when they meet him. It's his life, since long before he was an Avenger. Just more consistently positive, with the Avenger part. "Okay," Tony answers, agreeably, when she tells him about her snack approval, and what they were up to. He doesn't mind, but also isn't giving her a lot of attention; he didn't snub her, even considering her riveting conversation attempt.

Tony wings a glance towards the kid that's leaning on the front. "Looks like it. Well, so long as you keep your Game of Thrones spoilers to yourself, I'll manage my rage; I've been busy saving the world," Tony says, reacting smoothly to Peter's shirt, without pause. Tony has an easy, comfortable charisma that most people respond well to.

But there's also the people that see that and don't know what to do with him, too. Just /too cool/. Or too arrogant? "Or New York. Varies. Last night was New York." Tony grins a little bit.

The assistant trails along to stand nearby with the coat, looking like a somewhat lost bellhop at a hotel. Tony comes right at Peter, towards the front of the car, rolling his fingers along the edge of part of the hood. It opens. Because that's where the trunk is in a Lambo: the front. It's got an array of black and silver high tech boxed gear in it, many of the boxes with STARK INDUSTRIES logos.

Jubilee has posed:
"I heard about that..." Jubilee replies to the New York comment with rebounding clarity. As if her starstruck awe has pocketed itself without warning. "That's just..." She tries to form words, but there's a rage, somewhere deeper, that wants to lunge forth, and her lips only form a vague letter or two as she fights to quell it.

With a grounding, soul-deep breath, she finds her voice again, even with smouldering rage burning in her eyes. "What you've done for us, Mr. Stark, is something that none of us can ever --will ever-- forget. I know you do it for everyone. You do it for the world and you do it for yourselves. But when someone like you will take a stand on behalf of those who can't fight for themselves..." She casts a backward glance and an open-palmed gesture toward the kids still staring glassy-eyed at Tony Stark....Iron Man. And that one kid just eyeing his snacks, because Gilberto is always hungry. "That's somethin' bigger than you. And that's sayin' something. I don't have to tell you that. Just...well...Sometimes 'thank you' isn't enough."

Spider-Man has posed:
"... for nine years?" Pete asks with a furrowed brow at Tony, "How have you avoided GoT spoilers for nine years? Someone should have ruined it for you completely by accident by now..." Oh lord, he's coming over to where Pete's sitting. It's a que to stand up and he does, shuffling a step away when Tony touches the hood-trunk part of the lambo to reveal all the Stark Industries goody boxes inside.

Peter stares into that open trunk with his eyes every bit as wide, if not more so, and his jaw going a little slack. Is Tony about to whip out an Iron Man suit? "I'm sorry I sat on your car, Mister Stark. I, uh.." A few steps back, hoping Jubilee plays a good distraction-trap card face down and lets him escape this embarassing mess.

"Wait, what? What happened in New York last night?" Looking between them while reaching for the phone in his back pocket for to check news feeds.

Iron Man has posed:
"I'll tell you how," Tony begins smoothly to Peter, "I ...Just don't pay attention to them," Tony says, with what is probably a deep honesty. Spoilers don't matter if you don't listen, and you're doing other things. He seems indifferent to the car being leaned on; Tony's just not concerned. He's cool about it, but does seem to acknowledge it: Peter did catch Tony's gaze when he apologized; Tony just chose to let it go. "After all, I need to know what happened last night; priorities, although I'm pretty sure in both cases, a Stark won in the end," Tony sleekly answers Peter. His eyes move to Peter briefly, roll over him to the wrist (web shooter?), one eyebrow moves, but then dark eyes are back to the trunk, where he picks out what he wants. Tony just might not be paying attention. Or is he? He offers/hands the last of the cheez-its to Jubilee, with an expectant style that assumes she'll take them.

He wanted both hands to draw the bag out. It's a soft black bag that one would expect an expensive camera to be in. He steps back, letting the car sort out that it should close the lid.

Finally, Tony deals with Jubilee's outpouring. He smiles into her heartwarming statements about him, without any apparent embarrassment at all. Shameless Tony on display. "We all do our part; mine's just bigger than most. You're welcome."

Jubilee has posed:
Tony. Stark's. Cheez-Its. Jubilee looks down at the bag as though she has just gotten away with something huge. Must not fangirl.

"Big Sentinel mess," Jubilee explains off handedly to Peter, shaking her head. "The sooner we figure out how to vaporize every single last one of those things, the better."

Spider-Man has posed:
Parker sees the curiosity in Tony's eyes because he had that same curiosity about Tony's car. His hand slaps down atop the object on his wrist and rubs just around the strap of his watch, which happens to have a miniturized webshooter built into it. It wont do all his trick webbing, but it'll serve in a pinch. It is definitely not just a watch though and there's no reason he would think Tony freakin' Stark would think so. "Uh, yeah.. I mean, you're right. Sorry, I didn't mean anything. Just that I.. it surprised me. I guess I figured people just told you things when you needed to know it or... something. I'm not sure what I thought."

His gaze drifts over to Jubilee with the Cheez-Its, following them like a lion follows prey it's stalking. Not that he wants the snack, just something distracting. His eyes snap back on Tony and whatever he's digging out of his trunk.

"Oh." Brow furrowed, still rubbing his wrist absently, Peter looks to Jubilee and Tony alternating between them. "I'm thinking about asking Matt Murdock to help on the case against Trask. I don't know what else I could do, you know?" Some of his awkwardness drains away beneath the weight of such... weighty.. a topic.

Iron Man has posed:
"Bleh, Trask," Tony says, as if discussing a food he didn't really care for. "Got himself shot pushing on the wrong person. I can prove it wasn't a mutant, by the way. If that helps your case; but that's probably not related, unless you want to show motive of him blaming mutants for just about anything he can," Tony says, setting the case on top of the hood and looking inside it. There's some kind of small droid in there, about the size of a volleyball, but also a mixture of storage disks and what are most likely hard drives. Tony's looking through them a little bit: he's multitasking while talking to the pair. He isn't in a big hurry, by his behavior.

"Until we replace the Sentinels with something, we're stuck with them or something like them, or even worse," Tony observes. He looks up towards the mansion. "I'm due for another chat with Trask. Maybe I'll reschedule it again," he says, playful. Because Tony can just talk to Trask, that's normal.

Jubilee has posed:
"I don't even know what to think about that whole mess," Jubilee remarks gesturing vaguely to the topic of conversation. "The man basically signed his death warrant by making and distributing the sentinels. It's like he has a flagrant disregard for his own safety. Or like....he's got one of those things like Doe that looks just like him, so he isn't scared someone will pick him off while the real Trask is behind a curtain somewhere. How could he not think that stirring up a hornet's nest of this magnitude wouldn't get him stung?"

Spider-Man has posed:
"Or he wants to be a martyr." Peter offers quietly, looking between them, "Especially if he can make it look like a a mutant did it. There's been a brisk rise in hate crimes in and around mutant town completely unrelated to the Sentinels since they went active." He points out with a little shrug, still rubbing his wrist absently, likely having forgotten why his hand was there in the first place. "People all over the internet calling him a Saint. If he can die for his cause or, at the very least, be injured for it and put that blame on his intended target... he would have all the support he could possibly need to have legislation pushed through to put a Sentinel on every corner of every street of every city in America. Maybe the world."

His hand falls from his wrist so he can rub at his jaw, "Nobody that builds that kind of sophisiticated software or has the kind of connections he'd need to do what he's done is stupid enough to think there wouldn't be a response, right?" The question in his eyes as he gaze bounces between them. "He 'wants' a fight so he can exterminate."

Iron Man has posed:
"Bolivar Trask's no martyr," Tony says, with complete confidence. He's very sure. "He's going to purify the world, in his mind. And he'd like to see it." Tony zips the bag closed, satisfied with it.

"His security's good, I'd give him that much. He believes nothing can get at him. He learned otherwise, so he's in hiding, nursing the wound to his ego," Tony decides. He pauses, as if self-reflecting on it, but doesn't reflect for very long. Moving on.

"I think the extermination agenda is closer to the truth. We're working on it, though. Don't give up hope on me yet," Tony says, passing by Peter and aiming a brief open-handed pat at his shoulder as he passes by. He then moves a few steps to hand it to his assistant to carry. That's what assistants are for. Coats and bags. They're paid for it: and paid well. Tony's body language suggests he's headed off, even before he does the actual move.

"I'm the one to bet on, in a fight with a bunch of automatons," Tony grins, adjusting his sunglasses, flashing a patented Tony grin and thumbs-up, and then swans off towards the mansion.

Jubilee has posed:
"Be safe!" Jubilee offers as a parting shot toward the man already off toward the mansion again. She has a hand raised to wave, but stupidly puts it down. He can't see it anyway. She looks back and Peter and points back down toward the seat of the car, mouthing the words. "Right. There."

Spider-Man has posed:
Peter doesn't know Trask except from what he's read so he doesn't offer much dispute in the counter that he's not a martyr, even nodding slowly while scratching at the back of his neck in supreme awkward manner when the billion heads back for the mansion. "I haven't given up on you yet, Mister Stark." He murmurs quietly, looking from Tony to the mansion, and then back again. Maybe there's more he wants to say or ask, but honestly he could spend hours, maybe days, asking Stark questions and never even scratch the surface of all the information at the billionair genius' disposal.

Once Tony has gotten a little further away, Peter looks to Jubilee and chuckles absently at her point and statement. He looks that way, but his thoughts are elsewhere, "He said there could be something worse... did you get the impression he knows what that might be?" Said with a breathy sigh and his hands shoving into his pockets, "I need to finish my paper. Might hit up a VR arcade later if you're interested?" Anything to distract him. From school, from sentinels, from concerns ingeneral.