Disclaimer: Not mine.

Ch. 7: The Next Best Thing Though…

Warren tried his best to keep a straight face as he re-entered the backyard. He could feel the flames under his skin already, desperate to climb out and melt Stronghold's face off. Or maybe he would set his entire body on fire. Or maybe just his dick. Yes, that definitely needed to go…his reverie was cut short as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Warren! How are you?" The itch from the flames went out completely as he heard Mr. Stronghold's voice. Now his body felt like it was suspended in ice water, leaving him cold and sluggish.

"Just fine, Mr. Stronghold. How was Australia?" Warren turned to face Mr. Stronghold as the cold slowly faded away. The minute Mr. Stronghold started talking about the wonders of the superhero programs in Australia, Warren switched into autopilot, nodding in all the right places as the Commander droned on. He had nothing against Mr. Stronghold, but he would never exactly trust him. And he knew he didn't trust him either. The man had a peculiar way of looking at him sometimes that at any given moment, made him feel like running far, far away and finding a safe place to hide. But for now, there were other things to worry about.

"That's fascinating Mr. Stronghold, but could you excuse me? I really need to go talk to Magenta for a quick second. Bye!" He made a fast beeline to the purple-haired girl as Steve Stronghold was left mid-sentence.

He found Magenta entertaining herself by mercilessly poking her boyfriend's sunburn, which strangely enough didn't turn white as it was poked, but instead turned the neon yellow of his powers.

"Magenta, I need to talk to you for a second."

"Hmm? Hi, Warren." Magenta turned to face him, soda in hand. Zach sighed in relief as her other hand busied itself with the soda's straw. "Thanks, man."

Warren had to stop himself from grinning. "Nice sunburn, Zach. And yeah, we need to talk Magenta."

"Alright. See you in a second, Zach." She gave his sunburn an affectionate poke as she stood, both Magenta and Warren relishing in the "Ow!" coming from Zach as he rubbed his sorely abused cheek.

Warren stepped inside Layla's kitchen with Magenta close behind him. He allowed himself to enjoy the coolness of the room and gave himself a second to steady his nerves.

"Soooo…what's up?" Magenta asked.

Warren looked around; making sure no one was within earshot before he began.

"Stronghold's cheating on Layla."

Magenta's only response was to cock an eyebrow and hop onto the island's counter. "Well, subtle the boy is not."

"Wait, you knew?"

"No, not about this. But it's not like it's something he wouldn't do. In case, you haven't noticed, Will's transformed into an asshole. And I can't even say kinda because this pretty much cinches it. So how'd you find out?"

"He asked me to hold on to some pictures he had from Australia."

Magenta held out her hand. "Let me see them." Warren gladly placed them into her open palm.

Magenta held the pictures between her finger and thumb, the way one would hold a dead mouse, or a piece of garbage. She gave them a once over and snorted. "Seriously, he has no taste whatsoever. Here, take 'em." She tossed them back at him.

"So…what do we do now?" Warren asked.

"We? What exactly do you want me to do?"

"I was hoping you would tell her."

Magenta hopped off the counter. "Me tell her? Nuh-uh. No. You know, you tell her. Maybe she'll listen to you and break up with him. I try, and all I get are excuses. Now do you have a problem I can actually solve, 'cause I have a stable, drama-free relationship to get back to, thank you very much."

"Uh…I like Layla?"

"Now that's easy. She likes you too. Now go tell her so you can go spend time making angsty, plant-growing, punk babies together."

"Magenta!"

Magenta ran out the door, laughing. Warren chased after her, yelling. "Come back here, you overgrown rat! I'll let my mom eat you for this!"

Neither of them noticed the plant on the kitchen counter had suddenly wilted.