Warren growled under his breath as he stalked past the police lines. He would have shoved past the police themselves, but they were paying no attention to anything except the villain on her floating platform - not that they were watchful for her lashing out or trying to help; her power was keeping most everyone within range ensnared. Including Will. He was flying a little low, angled crookedly near the half-crumbled wall of a building.
The villain up on her platform - one of her underlings was keeping the platform running as she sang - waved her outstretched hands, lifting them both high, and her voice was suddenly supplemented by a swell of music that strengthened the effect of her song. Will wobbled in the air and dipped lower.
Warren could only barely hear the music or the voice as his fury throbbed in his chest and the soft, intense ruffling sound of his fire drowned out all other sounds. Warren's heart pulsed along with the flaring of the fire, and he roared as he threw a stream of fire upwards and it slid down his body and legs, spreading outwards along on the ground.
Flames, screams, rubble, carnage.
Warren grinned, aware it was a feral, vicious expression. The man who had just approached him with a gun - a gun; Warren snorted - backed up a step uncertainly, and Warren threw a fireball at his feet with a flick of one hand. The song grew louder, but Warren's flames sang a sweeter melody to his soul, curling lovingly around his body and racing to his will - and beyond it, anticipating his desires and growing with a life of their own.
The villain began to panic, her singing growing screechy in places, and a few people began to throw off the spell - Warren vaguely saw them around the periphery, beyond his flames. He melted her floating platform out of spite when he saw that Will was not one of them - not yet, anyway - and made his way nearer.
The villain in charge had fled already; the one singing her spell around the civilians - and the hero dispatched to stop the villain team, Warren thought with displeasure, sneering - thought better of holding out against him and tried to do the same. As her spell broke and the song underlying her voice sputtered out Warren turned away, ignoring her.
Will made to give chase, but Metallera pointed him firmly back down to earth and followed herself instead. Warren stalked off towards where Will was now coming in for a landing. A frightened yelp of his hero name caught his attention, and Warren looked around - he growled under his breath and stretched out his hands, calming most of the flames before abandoning the broken - although some of the asphalt was melted - battleground.
Will was being pushed to sit down on a bench by a vaguely familiar super-powered doctor or healer - Warren couldn't remember if her powers related to her craft or not. It was reassuring as to his condition when Will didn't seem to notice that she was trying to budge him, and only sat once he had realised she was pushing at his chest. He blushed, and Warren rolled his eyes, crossing the rest of the distance between them.
"What was that." Warren demanded bluntly as he came to a stop a couple of paces from Will on the bench.
"Uh, hi honey." Will said with a tentative smile. "It's okay, Ace." he added with a glance to the healer. Warren glared, rubbing away a splotch of something reddish-pink that was not blood from Will's temple with his fingertips. "Sorry?" he said tentatively.
"You were late for dinner." Warren said, narrowing his eyes.
"I'm sorry, W- Red." Will said sheepishly, dipping his head. Warren wondered whether the sheepishness was for missing their dinner date or nearly slipping up with his real name. Red was an acceptable if odd nickname when in hero guise, Warren was not.
"Wait, you're upset about that?" Ace asked, shaking her head, looking shocked.
"What else would I be upset about?" Warren demanded, fingers tightening in towards his palms. He took a deep breath and huffed it out.
"Captain here could have been hurt! He was hurt, being affected by that- that song!" Ace said, waving her hands. "It messed with his mind and-"
"There's not that much there to mess with." Warren said with a snort, as Will dusted himself off and rose from the bench he'd been waiting on while Ace checked him out. "I was making dinner." he said. "You are the one who insisted we do something special for Valentine's Day this year, even after last year's debacle-"
"I'm sorry." Will coaxed, running a hand up Warren's arm, ignoring Ace trying to pull him back - and the heat Warren knew was still shimmering off him, at least along his arms and the nape of his neck. "I was on my way when they called me, and I should have been able to make it home on time anyway, I- I, uh, should have."
"Clearly not." Warren said dryly.
"We can go home now, honey." Will said hopefully, and Warren snorted, but stepped away and jerked his head. Will grinned and bounced along beside him. Ace said something again, but it didn't sound like Will needed continuing help, so Warren ignored her. "Fly?" he asked, and Warren rolled his eyes, lips twitching with a smile, and nodded.
Will grinned and Warren stepped back quickly, but he was too slow to avoid being scooped up bridal-style. He tipped his head back in frustration, flicking a spark at the soft underside of Will's jaw.
He jumped, laughing like Warren had tickled him with a feather rather than a tongue of flame, and Warren huffed, but didn't protest any further. At Will's speeds - careful as he was when carrying someone else - it wasn't long before they were darting through the skylight into their house.
Will kissed Warren's cheek as he released Warren, and he tugged Will back in towards him, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend. Warren closed his eyes, breathing out slowly, resting his brow against Will's.
"I'm all right." Will promised, squeezing Warren hard around the waist. It was still hard enough to make his bones creak, but Will had grown so much better at controlling his powers. It made it even harder to watch him in danger, or think he was. . .
"You phased out of our bond." Warren said softly, rubbing the inside of Will's wrist with his thumb. "I was afraid." he admitted quietly, words that came reluctantly but were not so hard to share with his soulmate, at least, if no one else.
Will pressed close to him. "I'm so sorry." he said, his eyes wide, and Warren felt a sudden flare of affection and guilt swamp him through their bond. It had been terrifying when the quiet background hum of Will through the bond with his soulmate had just . . . disappeared. As though he were dead.
Warren nuzzled him affectionately, reassured more than overwhelmed by the flood of emotion. "It was not your fault." he admitted, with a sigh. "I'm glad it was only . . . interference," his lip curled, "around our bond and nothing worse."
Will nodded, biting his lip and frowning, and Warren snorted, kissing him fondly. "I owe your mother another thank you, though." he admitted. "She is the one who convinced the Council to tell me where you were immediately. Since someone didn't mention the detour delaying our date."
Will winced. "Yeah. . . I was in a hurry. And Valentine's Day, again. . . I suck." he said with a sad frown. "And you didn't even really want, but you agreed, and we were going to have a special night, but I-"
"I can salvage dinner, it'll just be later than planned. And I'm not making anything fancy after this, so the tart for dessert is out." Warren added, flexing his fingers. He kissed Will's cheek and stepped away, opening the door down into the rest of the house from the landing point.
"Wait, really?" Will asked, perking slightly.
"Of course." Warren smirked, shooing Will downstairs. He sent a pulse of amused affection, as gentle as he could - he was still edgy and the heat of anger took a long time to fade, for him - through their bond, and Will hummed, glancing over his shoulder at Warren happily. "At least we didn't try for reservations." he added dryly.
"We do seem to have a problem with those, don't we?" Will said sheepishly.
Warren cleared his throat. "Well." he said. Last time they'd been three hours late for their reservation, and it had been his battle that prevented them from making it on time. He'd been fine, but over-occupied - and then sooty and sweaty by the time he'd gotten home. "It does seem to suit us better to stay in."
"I'm okay with that." Will said, pressing himself against Warren's back, arms snug around his waist. He hooked his chin over Warren's shoulder. "I'd rather be alone with you anyway. And your cooking is great." he added, hugging Warren just a little too tight again.
Warren didn't agree aloud that he felt much the same, though for different reasons - Will already knew that, anyway. Warren was a private sort of person, mainly. "Glad you think so," though Will's own utter failure at producing edible foodstuffs probably increased his estimation of Warren's talents, "give me twenty minutes and we'll have dinner."
"Of course." Will kissed his throat, soft and lingering, and Warren hummed with pleasure. "I'll set the table. Anything else I can do?"
"Please don't." Warren told him dryly. "I'd hate to start over with this dinner again."
This was written as part of a multi-fandom soulmate AU challenge; the prompt word for this one was 'Melody'. It's #6 out of 10 stories.