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Sometimes, fugitively, Warren regretted the time when he was all alone at his table for lunch. Mostly, he regretted the calm . Yeah, he was still in a refectory full of students, however the ones surrounding him always talked in a hushed voice, and he always appreciated this island of silence all around him. That was something he certainly didn’t get to enjoy anymore.
Not that he hated, or even disliked, the people surrounding him — though he would never tell them that—, but damn were they loud . Zach and Will, in particular, were probably his worst nightmare come true: too friendly, and convinced he was actually a good person. What was up with that?
The only one who could get away with pretty much anything would be the girl sitting opposite him, currently laughing at one of Zach’s absolutely terrible jokes. Also the one responsible for people actually liking him and disrupting his peace, in fact. Yeah, he’d glare at her, but that was mostly so he could simply, well, look at her without being too obvious about it.
And every once in a while, she would turn back, still smiling from something one of her friends had said, and he would just silently melt inside when their eyes met.
So the noise was the main new inconvenience, but it wasn’t the only one.
Something else that happened was that people seemed to start thinking it was okay to open their damn mouths in front of him. He was used to the whispers, could practically read the insults on their lips, but he didn’t have to actually ever hear them. If the noise was good for one thing, that would have to be it. It drowned them out, now that people seemed to think he’d softened and wouldn’t beat them to a pulp if he heard them.
“…worth no better than his murderer of a father…”
He tensed when the words dripped to him with absolute disgust. He found the culprit almost immediately. She hadn’t even bothered to try and pretend, staring straight at him, eyes shining with anger. He recognized her, too, and his heart dropped a little in his chest. Ah. That complicated the matter. Instead of standing up, like he probably should have, he found himself debating what he should do. And that was when all hell broke loose.
“Excuse me?”
Fuck.
“I think you heard me right, Williams,” Grace Summers replied, straightening herself.
A dangerous silence fell on the cafeteria as Layla stood up, looking shocked. She was recognized as one of the strongest students in school, sure, but it was only her second year at Sky High. Grace, on the other hand, would graduate soon, and her telekinesis power was known for being devastating.
“How can you say something like that?” Layla asked in disbelief, and despite his annoyance at her turning this into a situation , Warren couldn’t help but appreciate her outrage. She was only looking out for him, after all.
Grace scoffed.
“The apple never falls far from the tree,” she replied bitterly, and Warren openly rolled his eyes. He was used to it at this point, but people like her could get really ridiculous.
“Warren has nothing to do with what his father has done,” Layla replied, now practically vibrating with anger. “I can’t believe you’d lower yourself to—”
“Drop it, red.”
Everyone turned to Warren as he got up, grabbing his bag. He shot Layla a warning look that she didn’t seem to understand, merely staring at him, mouth gaping.
“Yeah, red , drop it,” Grace mocked her openly. “Or maybe just do your homework. Do you even have any idea what his father has done?”
Warren clenched his teeth. He’d hoped this wouldn’t escalate like that. It was precisely what he was trying to avoid. He really, really didn’t need yet another reminder of what his father had done either.
“I really don’t see…”
“I said drop it ,” he growled, and this time when Layla looked at him, part of her anger was for him, mixed with hurt that made his throat tighten. This wasn’t what he meant to do.
“He murdered my father,” Grace continued anyway, and he realized he’d done it all for nothing. “He was saving citizens and Barron Battle blew up the building he was in.”
“And that still has nothing to do with Warren,” Layla hissed, appearing more and more ready to get into a fist fight with every second that passed.
“I’m fucking serious , Williams!” Warren exploded. “Forget it!”
Shoving past her, he got right in Grace’s face. She was almost his height, and appeared completely unimpressed.
“If you keep talking, Summers, you’d better get prepared to have your vocal chords burnt off.”
“I’d love to see you try, Battle ,” she replied, raising her chin defiantly.
He growled and hit her shoulder with his on his way out. He almost had trouble breathing now, but he was also starting to literally fume. Sure, she was a bitch, but he couldn’t reasonably beat up someone who was hurt because their father had been murdered. He didn’t mind playing dirty, he’d certainly done so with Stronghold, but he refused to stoop that low.
Grace’s eyes went back to Layla, whose eyes were still on Warren’s back. She opened her mouth, but Will shook his head, standing behind his best friend.
“You got what you wanted, Grace. Let’s stop that now.”
She seemed annoyed, but she still walked away. She wasn’t scared of Will by anyway, but he was still a hero, and she respected that. Plus, he was right, though she wouldn’t have minded getting into a fight with that little goody two shoes. “Not Warren’s fault”, gosh, really? They didn’t live in a Utopia. Sooner or later, the evil that ran in the family would catch up to him. Of that, she was convinced.
And also, her father had been murdered just a little over five years ago, and she really, really missed him today.
“I’m capable of leading my own fights, Will,” Layla mumbled as the crowd that had gathered for the confrontation started walking away.
“So is Warren,” her best friend replied softly.
Layla bit her bottom lip. Yeah, but it was different. She had been more than ready to actually fight. She’d seen the look on Warren’s face. He would have walked away, and she guessed she could understand why now, but it just wasn’t like her to let something unfair slide.
“You’re right,” she said bitterly, “so we should all have looked in the other direction while she was insulting him.”
Will opened her mouth to respond, but she shook her head.
“I know that’s what you were all about to do. So forgive me if I actually have a problem with that attitude.”
With that she stormed off, and Magenta threw her hands in the air. Sometimes, she wished Layla would get off of her high horse. Will, however, grimaced. He could see where she was coming from, and she was right. He wouldn’t have said anything, and maybe there was a problem with that. Because reasonably, Layla had a point. Blaming someone for their parents’ wrongdoings was, well, wrong, and no doubt hurtful for Warren. But this wasn’t just about reason, and she seemed to fail to see that.
It was a part of her, no doubt, and even something he’d say he liked about her, that absolute righteousness in her actions. He wasn’t sure what the right answer was in that situation, but he still felt like sometimes, maybe that could cloud her judgement.
And not once did he suspect that her reactions might have been due to her particular attachment to the super-villain’s son.
To put it simply, Warren had had a shitty day, the young man thought grimly as he finished cleaning up the tables at the Paper Lantern. There had been the altercation with Grace Summers, which had played again and again in his mind for the rest of the day. Everything she’d said — how terrible his father was, how he’d end up like him — was something he’d told himself a thousand times before, and that he’d heard another thousand times. It never stopped being painful though.
He could probably have handled that if there hadn’t been the thing with Layla. He’d blamed himself for it during the following hours of class, and he’d hoped they would be able to reconcile. And then he’d ran into her in the hallway and she hadn’t even acknowledged his existence, just walking past him like he didn’t exist, and that was the exact moment he’d known he’d made a mistake.
He’d tried to tell himself that, hey, she wasn’t much better, and she’d fucked up too, but that was all useless.
He didn’t know how to function without her anymore, and he was terrified he would have to learn to do it again.
So the relief that flooded through him when he saw her sitting under a streetlight, on the bench that faced the restaurant, with a book on her knees, was indescribable. She heard him as he crossed the street and got to her feet. She opened her mouth, ready to go for a no doubt longly rehearsed speech but he leaned in to steal a brief kiss, relishing the taste of her lips and the contact of her skin.
He’d missed her today.
When he pulled back, it appeared she’d completely lost her train of thought and was just opening and closing her mouth over and over.
And she was absolutely adorable doing that. A chuckle escaped him as he noticed that she was starting to blush, too. Somehow, this might be what he found most incredible about their relationship. That she could get that affected by him. Him , of all people.
Finally, Layla managed to take a deep breath, and she looked straight into his eyes.
“I can’t sit back doing nothing while you’re getting insulted,” she said bluntly.
“I had my reasons—”
“I know, Warren, I do, but I also know that you hate it when people say stuff like that. I know you’re terrified you’ll end up like your dad, and I can’t stand back when I know what it’ll put your through.”
He smiled, then nodded. He could feel his palms heating up a little, but this time, it had nothing to do with anger.
“I’m sorry I… You know.”
“You’d better be sorry,” she said with a frown, feigning anger. “If you talk to me like that again, I might have to make sure you can’t sit on the grass at Sky High ever again.”
That sounded… just a little too serious.
“Wait hippie, you didn’t…”
“I’m firmly non-violent. But I do believe in civil disobedience.”
He shook his head, the ‘I love you’ just about to slip past his lips, but he didn’t dare to say it out loud. Instead, he kissed her again, and this time, she pressed herself against him, her hand travelling to his face to cup his jaw. There was so much she wanted to convey in this kiss. How much she cared for him, how much she loved, how much she believed in him.
“I’ll walk you home,” he said, taking her hand in his, and she smiled.
“Oh, and trees in the area will drop their fruits on her for like, a year.”
Warren let himself laugh out loud, and Layla grinned, satisfied. After today, making him laugh was really all she wanted.