~1~
Allie Nelson is a perfectly normal woman. She has a nine to five job, student loans to pay off, and a landlord who's a dick. Her mom calls her once a week to gossip about her cousin and ask her when she's getting married and giving her grandbabies. Her father doesn't call nearly as often but when he does he always asks after that boy and if that boy was treating her right and makes many references to his shotgun if he knows that boy is listening.
She likes netflix, she adores puppies and kittens and Warren thinks the world of her. She makes him smile all the time and laugh even more and for the first time in his life, he is in an adult relationship where he might actually be able to say the 'L' word. After six months of dating, they're finally moving in together and they couldn't be happier.
There's only one problem. Allie hates Superheroes, Ember in particular.
Warren's alter ego just so happens to be Ember.
"Last of the boxes, woohoo!" Up go her arms before beginning to windmill and then the hips join in some dorky move that Warren isn't even going to try to recognise, and then a crab shuffle.
"What are you doing?!" He asks and almost falls over laughing when she begins a chest shimmy.
"Victory dance! And stretching out muscles, I really need to work out more."
"You're going to end up pulling a muscle not stretching it."
"Weeell, it's not like I use them so, who cares!" She pulls him down by the collar of his shirt for a quick fond kiss before pulling him away, "Come on, tell me where to put my things and get fussy when I move things around."
"I don't fuss," Warren protests but follows her anyway. They're halfway through the first box when his phone rings and as Allie reaches out to it Warren is quick to intercept. It's the Other Phone and he ignores her amused glance to answer it in his serious voice. "Speaking."
"Ember?" The Commander asks and Warren purses his lip in nervousness. You answer the Other Phone with your Other Name but he can't do that anymore, not in front of Allie and he's going to be raked over the coals for this.
"Yes, sir."
"There's trouble downtown. Assemble with the team in five." Will's father says curtly and cuts the call. He's never been fond of Warren and being relegated to managing status since his injury has only made his temper shorter.
Warren snaps the flip phone shut and turns to Allie, apologetic, "Sorry about that, it's an emergency."
Allie isn't surprised, not exactly. She can't be, after all, she has seen him run off often after taking a call on the Other Phone before, it happens all the time when they're on a date. But he's still afraid she'll find out because if she finds out, she'll hate him. There is no doubt about it, she hates Ember, calls him a reckless hothead, destructive to the hilt. He cannot defend his alter ego when she lays into him, cannot divulge sensitive details that would make her ask 'How do you know that?' and it kills him a bit knowing that she hates a part of him so much.
"Warren!" Comes the breathless shout from behind the door and he opens it to find Will there, waiting. Good old Will, always there, dependable in a way no one has been. "We have to go."
"Oh, Will is giving you a lift?" Allie asks softly from behind him and they turn to find her leaning against the wall with a questioning look. Beside him, Will blushes and stutters.
"Allie, you're...oh right you move in today, I forgot and—Umm we're really getting late and-"
She waves her hand flippantly, "Go, I'll sort through this mess." She rushes forward for a hug though and Warren wraps his arms around her tight, her soft scent of oranges calming him down, "Stay safe." She whispers and Warren tenses.
Does she know?
But it couldn't be, right?
Will all but drags him away and soon enough they are on the jet, on their way to fight whatever new horror the city has for them.
"Allie's moving in huh?" Will asks and Layla perks up from where she's backseat driving for Magenta.
"So, you're really serious?"
"Of course we're serious." Warren snaps but doesn't feel nearly as confident as he wishes he was. Did Allie know? Why did she say that, why did she tell him to be safe?
"It's just...Warren she hates you!" Layla bursts out and Warren scowls.
"She doesn't hate me, she hates-"
"Ember, yes we know, we've heard it all before. When are you going to realise they're the same person Warren. It's still you under the mask." It's an argument they've had before. Many, many times before, in fact.
Warren knows why Layla's saying this. It's not like she doesn't like Allie, she does, in the vague sort of way. They all do but they've always taken her anti-Super talk a lot harder than Warren has. But then they don't know her like he does, don't love her like he does.
And, well...he gets it. It's nothing personal, she just thinks that Superheroes cause too much collateral damage, which he knows they do because they get a long lecture on it later and have to fill out forms for all the property damage. Unfortunately he can't tell her the ways in which Supervillains make it hard for them to stop them without causing mass destruction and he can't tell her that they are all held accountable with a significant portion of their royalties from figurines and posters etc., going to pay back the damage. He knows it all, but can't tell her because it's sensitive information and it kills him. But he understands.
And he could live with it. If she hated Ember but loved Warren, that was okay with him. It hurt but not having her would hurt more so he would live with it.
So, with that thought in mind he joined the fray.
It was Ember's turn now.
He trudges back home tiredly but a bit proud too. Ember caused minimal property damage today, maybe Allie wouldn't hate him as much.
"We're headed to a bar, wanna come with?" Will asks, a bit tentatively before smiling and lowering his voice, "I know you might want to go back to Allie."
Warren breaks into that smile he does now when he thinks of the fact that he and Allie live together now. Their first day as 'roommates'.
The buzzing of his phone breaks him out of his daze though.
'Out with colleagues, may get home late.'
His smile fades but then he looks up and sees Will is looking at him expectantly, "I could go for a drink or two."
They trudge into a pub, crowded but not too crowded, a bit away from the Maxville University and look for a booth. And Warren stops suddenly in his tracks as his eyes meet those of Allie's.
"Warren?"
He knows a few of her colleagues. They're nice people but kinda like her, not fond of Supers. She sits in the middle of them all, like a queen holding court and then Magenta comes up behind him.
"What's the holdu-Oh, hey Allie, out with friends?" Magenta gets along the best with Allie of them all, probably because she cares the least about her powers and doesn't get as offended as they all do.
"These are my fellow baby lawyers, Jake, Nadine, Raj, Mike and Joohyun." They all wave at their respective names and Warren introduces his friends. Before they know it, chairs are dragged to the table and the booth somehow extended to hold all of them.
"Rough work day?" Magenta asked and Raj snorted.
"More like getting ready for a rough work day."
"What do you mean?"
And Warren has a pretty good idea where this was going and it isn't a conversation he wants to be a part of, at least not sober. He downs a shot of tequila while Allie shoots him a knowing look and answers.
"The fight that just happened, with the Dream Team and Syndrome," Warren downs yet another shot and gestures at the bartender to keep them coming. "It did a lot of damage in the inner cities so we're getting drunk now before we drown in paperwork."
"Who you gonna call?" Joohyun says as if on cue and he gets the feeling they do this a lot. It would be cute if he couldn't see Layla's face getting redder and redder.
"MCLU, the Super division." Raj answers and they knock their beer bottles together. Their side of the table laughs and giggles while the side Warren's on is dead silent.
"MCLU the Super division?" Layla asks through gritted teeth and his darling Allie, who he loves but who is kind of a shit who loves to piss people off, grins widely.
"The Superheroes fuck up so often we have a separate division for them," She drawls.
"The way you have immigration lawyers." Nadine explains seriously. Warren doesn't know if she is just drunk enough to miss the cues and the obvious atmosphere or she's just that bad at reading people.
And Warren downs the third shot, thanking all the Gods when the buzz settle sin and he feel a bit ready to deal with the explosion that is inevitable.
"They do not fuck up, we should be grateful that they're there and willing to put their life on the line to save people!" Layla says and the predatory grins that bloom on the faces of Allie's friends reminds Warren exactly why people equate lawyers to sharks.