Darius definitely comes across as a teenager that is battling teenage problems - being picked on, fighting with a parent, eating junk food and battling acne, but the author switches it up by focusing on his Persian heritage. It's really interesting that he's fascinated by tea. I'm not really a Star Trek fan, so I can't really understand those references as well as the tea, which is explained a lot better. It would be interesting to see how the author creates a story of Darius finding himself by meeting someone he can relate to in Iran.