Way to Go LoverBoy

(ooc: Date is July 15th, day after Sparks Fly. Open only to Wilbur and Ling for now but then later on more dudes can come in to make the boy feel awkward. Excuse the title, couldn't resist)

For once, despite everything that had happened, Wilbur was in a relatively good mood. It could have been because he had finally found someone to talk to that was his own age, but also maybe because she had helped him get out of the slump he was in. However, there was one little problem, he wanted to see her again. Shanti. After all this time of trying not to get invovled with girls. He found himself crushing on one. It was embarrasing.

Kicking up some of the dust, he took a seat before trying to think of what to do. 'Is it right to ask someone on a date during war? Does that seem too selfish?" he thought with a frown. "How do guys do it?!"

"How do guys do what?"

Ling hadn't missed seeing Wilbur kicking up that dust. In truth, the older of the two had been hoping to run in to Wilbur again so they could get in some practice with their swords. That idea quickly dissipated when he approached and heard the young teen ask that question. A sly sort of grin formed on Ling's face. He had no idea what was going on with Wilbur, but he did have some guesses. Something had to be causing his sort of apprentice to talk to himself. The only question was what that was. Obviously there was only one way to find out the answer, and that was by weaseling it out of him.

"Fancy seeing you here and talking to yourself. Man, something must be up if you're doing that sort of thing." Ling chuckled. It was either that or the teen was going crazy, and Ling doubted that was possible. Wilbur seemed rational enough to him. "So, what's got you all worked up? Someone threaten to beat you up? Did the puppies steal the last of the bacon at breakfast? Don't tell me..." Ling put on a mock fearful expression and backed up a pace. "Someone assaulted you wish fresh fruit!"

Wilbur smiled. "No, no one assaluted me with fresh fruit and if anyone did threaten to beat me up I would make sure that they would find themselves in a huge mess." he replied. "Well...its kind of a embarrasing thing to ask...but hey your a dude right? I bet you had all kind of exprience with women!"

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid Why did you have to go and say that. Now he's going to be wondering why you want to know about women in the first place

"I mean its just my friend wants to know how you can tell if you like someone that's all. Nothing to do with me whatsoever. Nope, no sir."

Mock relief followed when Wilbur confirmed that he hadn't been assaulted by someone wielding fresh fruit. That would have been quite the situation, and Ling was almost positive it wouldn't have happened in the first place, but it still sounded funny. "Well, that's good. ...Wait." Ling paused for a minute and let what Wilbur had said repeat in his mind. He was a dude, he had experience with women, and then what followed sounded like a cover up for what clearly involved him. The sly grin returned, and it was even more sneaky than before. Someone liked a girl, and it certainly wasn't Ling. Not since Ting-Ting had all but vanished into the background, at any rate.

"Nothing to do with you, huh?" Ling asked. He glanced at his hand, appearing to be feigning interest right then, before beginning to consider just how he could weasel proper information from his younger friend. "So, this... 'friend' of yours. You think they like someone?" he asked. It seemed rather odd that Wilbur would come to him for anything related to romance, especially when Ling didn't have a significant other to speak of, but he'd play along. "And they asked you to ask me to tell you to tell them how you know if you've got feelings for this someone?" he asked.

"And you're certain this has nothing to do with you? 'Cause it sounds to me like maybe it's not so much a friend as it is someone in this very vicinity." Ling smirked. He didn't claim to know a lot about love, but he did know when someone was acting off. If Ling was right, Wilbur was either a horrible liar and liked someone or he was just really bad at covering for someone else.

"Well, yeah of course it has nothing to do with me." Wilbur said giving Ling a "uh duh" face. "I am not into that gooey romantic stuff, that's for girls. Not boys." he pretended to make a face of disgust. "Well, its just that this friend of mine...he can't stop thinking about this girl. He really just can't. He likes the way she laughs and smiles but he knows its kind of impossible because he's never had any kind of relationship let alone want to be near a girl."

"To be frank, I think you've come to the wrong guy. I don't know any more about relationships than you do." Ling admitted. Now, if he had gotten to know Ting-Ting more and spent more time with her then maybe he would have been more helpful. As it was, though, all Ling was really good for was teasing. Since that was the case, he felt he had every right to do just that. "That being said, Wilbur... you are one sly dog." Ling said. There was no hiding the sly grin on his face. Try as Wilbur might, he couldn't hide what Ling thought was so blatantly obvious. He'd heard that 'my friend likes this girl' thing plenty of times from guys when he was a teen. Hearing it from Wilbur just made it all the more amusing.

"Wilbur's got a girlfriend. Wilbur's got a giiiiiirlfriiiiiend!" Ling teased. He couldn't help himself. It was just too good an opportunity to pass up. Before too long, Ling had burst out laughing and put one arm around the younger boy's shoulders. It was all in good fun, his teasing. "So. Who's the lucky girl?"

"Shut up man!" Wilbur blushed bright red. "Its not that big of a deal, at least i managed to get a girl before you did." he said with a sly smirk. "Her name, its Shanti. the cute medic with the braid in her hair." he felt kind of embarrased to be talking about this, but he was at least glad it was just Ling and no one else to hear it.

"Just don't tell anyone about it ok, i am already embarrased enough about it."

Shanti. ...Shanti? Ling had to think for a moment before realizing that he probably didn't even know who Shanti was. He'd never met anyone with that name before. At length, he shrugged that thought off. Who really cared who she was as long as she made Wilbur happy? "Well, I may have never seen her before but I'm willing to bet she's pretty awesome if you're turning as red as a ripe tomato over it." Ling snickered. Teasing probably wouldn't stop immediately. It was just too fun to do! However, he finally decided to comply with Wilbur's request not to tell anyone. It wasn't like Chien-Po and Yao would be all that interested to know what was going on, and he doubted Tripod and Crescent would be interested. So that just left him with a very juicy secret.

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. It's not like I have anyone to tell that would be all that interested, anyway." Ling said. For a few moments he fell silent after that. It seemed like he was waiting for Wilbur to say something more. However, he did finally break the silence and playfully nudged Wilbur on the shoulder. "I just can't get over it. You with a girlfriend! That's too awesome!"

"Well, see she's not actually my girlfriend." Wilbur said. "In fact i doubt she knows i like her, so its a little bit awkward to call her my girlfiriend if she doesn't even know i am in love with her." Love? Did he just say love? No, there was no way he had just said that. "I mean, i just can't stop thinking about her and we've only talked like once."

"Hey, that's close enough isn't it?" Ling asked. She might not have been his girlfriend, but this girl was already driving Wilbur insane with such thoughts. The best part was that Ling was greatly amused by that fact. "And you can't stop thinking about her. That has to mean you really like her." he said. Oh, this was too great. His little apprentice crushing on a girl and it had made it that much easier for Ling to tease him. He was loving every moment of this because he got to tease someone. It had been ages since he'd been able to tease anybody at all.

"So, have you told her you're crazy about her?" he asked. He doubted Wilbur had gone that far, but it would have been amusing to hear the answer no matter what it was. Ling would just have to wait to hear what Wilbur would have to say.

"No!" Wilbur said quickly. "She does not know, and i am not planning on telling her! It would just be embarrassing." he frowned before rubbing his arms. "Not to mention, she probably doesn't care, she's too good for me. She probably already has a guy. Why would she like me? I mean i know i am incredibly good looking but still..."

"Hey, don't sweat it." Ling said dismissively. As far as he was concerned, Wilbur was in the clear with this Shanti girl. If she didn't like him, then she was missing out on a great guy. "You're a great guy. Your looking good doesn't hurt, either. How could she possibly resist you? You've just got to talk to her more and spend more time with her." he said. It really was the best advice he could give. Ling himself didn't have much experience in the field of romantics, but he did think the advice he was given would be good. After all, how could Wilbur go wrong with it? He would get to spend more time with Shanti and get to know her in the process. She would also get to know him. It would be good for both of them.

"Unless you want me to play matchmaker..." he smirked a little as he finished speaking. He doubted Wilbur wanted him to play matchmaker. This was for Wilbur to handle on his own terms. Besides, Ling was confident he probably wouldn't make things any easier.

"You? Play match-maker?" Wilbur crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said you knew nothing about romance. Why would you want to play match-maker." his eyes narrowed. "Unless you want to embarrass me, you really just want to step me up for some prank huh?" he pointed an accusing finger at him. "I don't think so..."

"What? You thought..." Ling couldn't finish his sentence. He'd just burst out laughing and wasn't able to stop himself for a couple of minutes. By the time he did, he'd nearly doubled over completely. "I didn't think you'd take me seriously! I was just teasing about that matchmaker thing." Ling said. Truthfully, he doubted he would have been a good matchmaker in the first place. All Ling really was good at was fighting. Figuring out girls could be someone else's problem.

"Nah, you're on your own with trying to get together with Shanti. Unless you really want me to try and be a matchmaker. I can't guarantee anything, but I could sure as hell try." Ling said. He shrugged a little as he finished speaking, really having no idea about what he was suggesting, before letting his arms drop to his sides again. "But really, I think you'd be better on your own. I'd probably just screw things up for you. I mean, hey, all I'm really good at is trying to make people laugh." he stated.

Wilbur raised an eyebrow at the suggestion of trying to play match-maker, there had to be a catch to that. "Alright, fine but what's the catch, do i have to do your chores for a week, take the wrap if you do something stupid with General Shang because i know nothing about girls. Nada, i believe the first thing i said to a girl was that "she was annoying and i had no time for her." remembering hte conversation with his mom always made him smirk.

"And you, Ling of the Stick People, screw up with a girl?" he gasped. "Say it isn't so!"