Authors note: This is not an AU although it might feel like it, everyone has just grown up a lot. There is some slash, so if you're not interested/open-minded TURN BACK NOW. It IS a WarrenxOC, it's just going to be a while before it gets there so if you're not a patient reader, heed the earlier warning, mate. This also isn't my top fanfiction priority, so it might take a little longer for me to get chapters up... May be a little lemon action going on eventually, but I'll be sure to post a warning first. But other than all that jazz...

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High.

___

Eddie walked into her new house, looked it up and down and stalked off down the hallway. You'd never now she was 5'8" from the way she hunched her shoulders. She dropped her bag onto the floor of an empty room without even looking at it before making her way back outside. She watched the movers struggle with a bed frame and went to help before they broke something. That was the last thing she needed.

After all was said and done the movers had gone, and Eddie had unpacked most of her house. She glanced at her watch and headed out the door towards downtown Maxville. She didn't live too far, at least it was close enough that she could walk comfortably. She stopped at the local paint store first, grabbed a few cans of rainbow colored paints, and went straight to the Community Center. A man with two children held the door for her, and she forced a polite smile at his shock and scowl at her. She set the paints on the floor and leaned lazily against the lobby counter.

A young man, she estimated a year younger than her, with bleached blond hair and built like a football player hung up the phone and scribbled some words on a form before looking up at her.

"Can I help you?" He was polite with a bit of a ghetto edge which made Eddie gag silently.

"Yeah, I'm Eddie Slater. My dad set me up wit a job as a lifeguard here?" She was bored, and she knew she looked it.

"You're Eddie?" The young man raised an eyebrow.

"Is that an issue?" She stared at him defiantly.

"No, I was just expecting a uhh--" He stopped short.

"A guy?" Eddie tried not to sound as girly as she felt. "What the buzz cut and tattoos ain't enough for you?" She straightened her back a bit more, not that it would help show she was a woman, she was the definition of androgynous with baggy pants, ripped converse and a big t-shirt. The only thing that gave it away was her delicate face and her voice.

"No no, they're fine." The young man tried to recover his offense.

"Whatever, I get it." She picked her paint back up and headed toward the door.

"Wait, hold on!" He glided out from behind the desk and met her at the door she struggled to open. "You still have a job here if you want it. We need all the help we can get during summer. I wasn't tryna be a dick." She looked at him with a face that said she couldn't care less. He held out his hand. "I'm Zach."

Eddie put her cans on the floor and shook Zach's hand. "Eddie."

He grabbed a paint can and moved towards the counter again. "Come on, I'll show you around." Eddie followed him, leaving her paints behind the desk.

He walked her outside to the Olympic sized pool. Kids ran around and played Marco Polo while parents chatted the day away on the neat grass lawn. "It's all new, just finished this past winter but it was so cold we couldn't open until a couple weeks ago. Your dad said you had lifeguarding experience and your certificate?" Eddie nodded without looking at him but taking in the facility. "Alright then I'm assuming you know the rules of a pool. Changing rooms are there, concession there." He pointed in their respective directions. "We start at noon and close at eight. All day shifts, but the pay is good and we can eat on the job. Friends are allowed to visit as long as they don't distract us. My dad's pretty lenient about that kinda stuff. As long as we do the job, you know?" He stopped by the diving board at the opposite end of the entrance.

"Your dad runs it?" Eddie looked at him and saw the proud look on Zach's face.

"Yeah, he's the head of the Community Center." He smiled wide and Eddie just nodded.

"That's cool. When do I start?" She was a to-the-point kinda girl, no bullshit. But she was often mistaken as rude in the process.

"Tomorrow if you can. Your dad said you guys just moved here, so I get if you want some time to--"

"I'll see you tomorrow. Later, dude." She pulled her pants up as she walked away.

Zach raised his eyebrow again and shook his head. "Whatever. Stop running, please." He intercepted a few little girls before they slipped on the cement and headed back to the office.

Eddie made it home in due time and went straight to her room. All the furniture was covered in plastic or paint splattered sheets, and she didn't waste any time ripping into the new cans.

By midnight she was done with the first layer of her underwater masterpiece. She washed her hands off and dragged herself to the kitchen for food. She flicked on the lights and saw her dad sitting at the table reading a newspaper.

"Why are you reading in the dark?" She grabbed some Ritz crackers from a cabinet and plopped onto a chair across from her dad.

"I could see just fine!" He lowered the paper and looked at his daughter. "You have paint on your face." He gestured to his own cheek showing her where, but she just shrugged.

"Like that's new. How's the new office?" She passed him a cracker.

"Not as big as the last one. And it smells." He pondered the question.

"God you're a brat, dad." Eddie smiled, her first genuine smile of the day. Probably the entire week.

Her dad shrugged his own shoulders. "Well maybe if my daughter wasn't so good to me." Eddie snorted as his sarcasm. "Did you go by the community center?" He leaned across the table crumpling his newspaper and grabbed a stack of crackers from her.

Eddie nodded. "Yeah, I did. They thought 'Eddie,'" she even used air-quotes, "was supposed to be a boy. Thanks for that."

Her father shrugged at her. "It's not normal to explain what gender your children are, you know."

"Yeah, maybe you should have named me Clarissa, then." She stood up and walked over to the sink.

"Clarissa is an awful name, why would I name you Clarissa?" He looked at the cracker carefully before aiming it towards his mouth. "Ow! Goddammit, Eddie!"

Eddie jumped immediately and looked down at the marble floor, seeing her fathers sheer wings hanging down the back of the chair and spilling onto the floor.

"I asked you to keep them off the floor, Dad." She stepped around them and filled a glass of water.

"I'm at home, I'm supposed to relax at home." He fluttered them a bit, before folding them back across his back, looking at where she had stepped.

Eddie sat back down and looked over the table at the wing. "Are you ok?"

He rubbed his moth-like wing and flitted it a bit. "I'm fine. Just... Watch where you step, would ya?"

Eddie smiled again and stood up. She left her glass in the sink and the crackers with her dad. "Goodnight, dad." She pat his shoulder and went for the hallway.

"Hey, Ed?" She turned back to see him watching her with his dad-look. "Thanks for unpacking everything. I know how hard it was for you to leave home."

"Aw, come on. You're gonna make me blush." She mocked a girly attitude at him. "But seriously? You know I'd do anything for you, dad. Don't even worry about it. Anyway, gotta find my swimsuit." She did a stupid little dance down the hallway to her fathers rumbling laughter.

___

All chapters will named for song lyrics, btw. I'll try to remember to post them here.

Paramore - Decode

I'm doing my best to clear everything up as quickly as possible in the next few chapters, so bear with me guys! Reviews? Things you liked/disliked? Anything you want me to expand on or is it too early to tell? =\