A/N: Warren/Ethan

Somehow inspired by the music videos for Eksponat and Siski by Leningrad

Apologies spelling, grammar and OOCness

Disclaimer: I do not own Sky High or any of its characters

Warren stared.

Ethan squirmed.

It was quiet and awkward and Ethan hated it. Why on earth did he agree to do this in the first place anyway? His relationship with Warren is fine, they're friends. Best friends in fact, even if Ethan would have liked it if they were more than just friends but that isn't the point here; the point here is that Ethan's satisfied with his and Warren's relationship just as it is. Nothing needs to change, seriously he's good.

Unfortunately neither Magenta nor Layla agreed. You see, Magenta and Layla noticed what no one else did, they noticed how Ethan's been spending more and more time away from them and more and more time around Warren instead whether it was eating lunch in the cafeteria or hanging out at Warren's job at the Paper Lantern on weekends. They noticed the stares that he gave Warren sometimes that were clearly caused by more than just simple hero worship. And last but certainly not least they noticed the way that Ethan seemed to instantly deflate and go silent for the rest of the day after rumors started spreading about Warren dating the freeze girl in the senior hero class, before suddenly being back to his old chatty self when Warren told him that none of those rumors were true.

No one else noticed since, well… Ethan's kind of a dork. It seemed only natural that he'd want to reduce his dorkiness by hanging out with someone cool in order to elevate his social status and not seem like such a nerd all the time. So no one thought his behavior was all that weird, not even Will or Zack noticed since there never seemed to be a reason for them to notice and Ethan was very grateful for that fact.

But again, Magenta and Layla noticed. They saw the longing stares, silent pining and awkward stutters and were somehow able to guess exactly what was going on in their friend's head that would make him react like that. And, this is why Ethan is sitting at a table, way in the back at a restaurant, with Warren Peace sitting right across from him; staring at Ethan like he was some kind of two headed alien from another galaxy.

You see, Magenta and Layla wanted to help Ethan out, help him get up the courage to tell Warren how he felt or at least get the pyrokinetic's attention. Well, they succeeded in one respect although Ethan honestly can't tell if Warren's staring was a good or a bad thing. So far he feels like its leaning towards bad since Warren hasn't said much since he picked the younger teen up at his house.

Every other Friday, Warren and Ethan hang out, go see a movie and grab something to eat afterwards. This started about a month ago after the Royal pain incident was resolved and Sky High was reopened for the remainder of the year. It turns out that despite the praise they all got after defeating Royal pain and sending his old bully Lash to the detention room, nothing really changed in respect to the way that hero-support was treated in school. Even if he managed to stand up to Lash, Ethan was still essentially the easiest target in school so he still got bullied by some of the upperclassmen in the hero class. Of course being friends with Will helped a little and they'd usually leave him alone whenever he was in the nearest vicinity but it was still pretty bad. Until one day, he was on his way to the parking lot where the bus back home was waiting only for a couple of the more vicious bullies that popped up after Speed and Lash were sent for punishment suddenly came out of nowhere and shoved Ethan against the wall at the front of the school and cornered him. It was surprisingly vacant around him and Ethan was sure that he was done for when Warren came to the rescue and he was spared from suffering whatever punishment that they had planned for him. Although Warren hadn't really done much rescuing really.

"Hey Popsicle!" Ethan looked up over towards the parking lot just as his bullies did and they found the pyrokinetic waiting by a deep ocean blue custom Chevrolet with rocket boosters, he tossed his bag into the back seat before shoving his hands in his pockets as he approached them, "C'mon, let's go."

"Go?" Ethan asked in surprise when the older teen stopped a few feet away, "Yeah, I'm taking you home remember?"

"You are?"

"Yes, I am." Warren looked like he wanted to roll his eyes as he stepped closer and grabbed Ethan's arm before looking up at the teens around him who seemed to shrink back a bit when he approached, only to go pale when his eyes narrowed down on them in a dangerous glare. "Is there a problem here?"

"No, no problem." The teens said backing away and Warren spared them one more glare before pulling on Ethan's arm to drag him back to his car. Ethan just followed after him, not at all sure what to do until Warren stopped on the passenger side. Ethan looked up to see Warren tracking his bullies as they got onto the bus and his eyes narrowed down a bit more. Ethan resisted the urge to squirm but Warren's hand was uncomfortably tight around his arm. "Uhm, Warren?"

The pyrokinetic looked down and stared at the boy for a moment not saying anything before he reached over and opened the door. "Get in."

Ethan did as he was told pulling his backpack from his back and setting it on his lap just as Warren spoke again, "I'm taking you home from now on."

"What?" Warren gave an exasperated sigh as he leaned into the car so he was looking right into the shorter teen's eyes and Ethan just sort of froze since he's never seen Warren that close before and now that he has, it seemed like he just couldn't look away. "Every day, right after school, you wait for me by the car and I'll take you home. Got it?"

"But-"

Warren pulled away and shut the door before Ethan could finish his sentence and the boy could do nothing more than just watch as he walked around and got into the driver's seat.

And so Warren started driving him home from school.

Despite the fact that Ethan wasn't at all sure how he'd explain this to his mom, he never tried to argue. That glare Warren always gave him when he tried to argue made it clear that the issue wasn't up for discussion.

Every day Ethan would wait by the car and Warren would drive him home.

Every day that crush that's slowly been developing since he and Warren took down Speed and Lash together grew a little more. Eventually they started hanging out outside of school which is how the whole Friday night movie night thing started since Ethan never had any plans on Friday nights and Warren didn't mind having the shorter teen around to chase the boredom away.

Of course as Ethan kept spending more and more time around Warren the more obvious his little infatuation with the pyrokinetic became to Layla and Magenta until they eventually decided to intervene.

Which is how he found himself locked in his room after school with Magenta picking at the action figures and flipping through the extra credit homework he had arranged on his desk, Layla stood by his closet door critically looking over his clothes while Penny stood towering over him as he sat on the end of his Einstein bedspread, trying and failing at not cowering at the girl's piercing and almost intruding stare.

Penny was released from her punishment a few months ago, after the girl showed a great sense of remorse in her actions during the Royal Pain debacle and the school council and principle Powers realized that the girl was actually pretty harmless provided that she didn't have any evil influences whispering in her ear. Plus the threat of permanently taking her off the cheer squad should she ever pull a stunt like that again seemed to hit home. So despite the fact was still a little bitchy she was relatively well behaved and even got on civil if not friendly terms with Layla and Magenta, despite the insults she had to offer them.

Ethan bit back a yelp when Penny suddenly grabbed his chin, took his glasses off to toss onto the bed and tilted his head up forcing him to look into her eyes as she looked over his face critically and the teen couldn't help but swallow hard as he spoke.

"Umm, is all of this really necessary?" Ethan asked as Penny turned his head left before turning it right, "I mean, it's just movie night."

"It's not just movie night." Penny said sternly as she let the teen's chin go to grab his shoulders and force him to stand up, Ethan ignored the flush that rushed to his cheeks at how easily this girl could man handle him as he snatched his glasses up to put them back on. "It's dinner and a movie with Warren Peace, the hottest guy in Sky high."

Layla frowned as she looked back at Penny, "He isn't that hot."

Penny rolled her eyes, "Ignore her, she's too blinded by her Stronghold goggles to know any better."

Layla flushed despite the glare in her eyes while Magenta gave a snort. Ethan sighed, "But, I've hung out with Warren plenty of times before and I never had to get all dressed up then."

"This is different."

"How is it different?"

"It's different because this time you're going to get your skinny little butt in gear and get Warren to really notice you, as more than just a friend." The girl said as she took a step back and turned him around, Ethan eyes went wide when he suddenly felt a hand on his back side and it gave a brief squeeze causing the teen to let out a yelp as he quickly jumped away.

"What're you-"

"You know what, I take it back. You have a very nice ass." Penny said with a smirk before her eyes suddenly lit up and she turned towards the closet, "We need to find a pair of pants that'll really show it off." Penny impatiently moved Layla out of the way earning an annoyed growl while she just started going through the clothes in the closet. "We need to find something that fits with your personality but still makes him sit up and take notice. I'm thinking sexy nerd meets, innocent virgin meets hard to get London twink but without any possible hooker vibes. I'll call it: hot Ethan."

Ethan continued to stare at the girl with his hands on his ass when he looked over at Magenta with a mournful pout and the girl just shook her head and started flipping through his day planner. "Ethan this is for your own good."

"But-"

"Ethan your crush on Warren is so obvious it was getting a little sad." The purple haired girl said without looking up from the pages of the book, "If you won't do this for yourself then do it for me, because seriously, watching you drool over him is starting to get painful."

"It… It's not just about me." Ethan said quietly causing all three girls to pause and look back at him as he sat back down on the bed with a heavy sigh before he started rambling, "I mean, I-I know that I like Warren. I really really like him but that doesn't mean he likes me back. What if he doesn't like me, what if I show up looking all weird and he freaks out and leaves or what if he finds out I like him and that freaks him out and he never talks to me again or what if he freaks out and ends up burning me alive-"

"What if the world ends, what if purple pumpkins start growing from your head, what if it turns out that Warren is actually a sixty year old woman out plotting revenge against your dad who involuntarily turned him into a baby?" Penny listed off easily and Magenta actually laughed while Layla stifled a giggle in her hand. "Stop worrying about what could happen and just let it happen. Besides, how can you be so sure that Warren doesn't like you back?"

Ethan bit his lip in thought, "Why would he?"

"You mean; why wouldn't he?"

Layla sighed as she walked over to the bed and sat down beside him, putting a hand on the shorter teen's shoulder as she spoke. "I know this is hard but, you'll never know how Warren feels about you if you don't ask. It might not seem like it but he really does care about you, I mean why would he drive you home every day if he didn't at least like you a little and even if he doesn't like you that way, Warren's a nice guy as long as you're honest with him then he won't freak out on you if you tell him how you feel."

"Yeah, I mean he didn't freak out on Anastasia when she told him." Penny said simply when one of her doubles broke away from her to stand beside the girl as she took out one item of clothing after another and gave it for the clone to hold. Magenta frowned, "Anastasia."

"The ice girl." Penny's clone said simply and Ethan's eyes went wide, "Wait, so that rumor was true?"

"About her and Warren?" Penny said pausing for a moment and looking thoughtful, "She asked him if he wanted to hang out sometime, he said no. Something about her not being his type."

Ethan looked down at his lap before giving another sigh, "It's still different. I'm not even sure if Warren… if he's into, you know."

"Other guys?" Magenta supplied and Ethan nodded, Layla looked up at the two Penny's and both just shrugged, the redhead tried for a smile, "You won't know until you ask."

"I don't know if I can."

"Don't worry you won't need to say a word once I'm done with you." Penny said as she crouched down to go through the drawers lower down in the closet, "If Warren doesn't have you tied his bed by the end of the night, then you'll know for sure that he's not gay… and obviously has no pulse."

Ethan flushed at the comparison while Magenta laughed and Layla's cheeks caught in a light flush as she shook her head at the girl before looking back towards Ethan. "Ethan just relax. Everything will be fine, I promise."

Ethan took a deep breath, not even bothering to smile back since his nerves just wouldn't allow it when Penny suddenly got up from her crouch and turned back towards the teen with a glare, holding a pair of jeans in her hands.

"What the hell is this?"

"Jeans?" Magenta asked with a slight frown while the girl just continued to glare at Ethan.

"Designer jeans, there are like five pairs in here and they all have their tags on them." Penny said as another double appeared and started going through the drawer in the closet.

"That drawer is full of clothes that my mom got for me-"

"Wow." The double said as she started taking out shirts and jackets of different colors all going from green to blue and purple while the original Penny put her hands on her hips, "Why haven't I seen you wear any of this at school?"

Ethan shifted a little in his seat, "Well they look kind of cool but, they also look really uncomfortable so-"

"That settles it, starting today I'm dressing you." Penny said completely out of nowhere and Ethan gaped, "But-"

"Oh my God he has Givenchy's leather jacket from the 2013 winter collection." The penny in the closet said before the original spoke, "The black one with the hoody?"

"Yes."

"Where did you get that?-"

Ethan blinked, "I don't know, my mom travels a lot-"

"It doesn't matter. You're wearing that tonight." Penny said effectively ending the argument and Ethan wanted to protest when Layla gave his arm a comforting squeeze and Ethan took a deep breath.

"Everything's going to be O.K right?"

"Right." Layla said and Ethan felt his nerves ease up just a little and for a moment he almost thought that it was true.

But that was four hours ago.

Things are different now.

For one thing, he was different.

Penny did a number on him.

First she locked him in the bathroom and told him to shower before making him shave everything except his head, threatening to go in and help him if he didn't do it right and Ethan complied although he really didn't have much to shave anyway since he was rather lacking in the body hair department. Then she cut his hair leaving it short and shaved down at the sides. And then came the clothes.

It took an hour to convince the girl to at least let him wear an orange dress shirt since it was his favorite color, but she forbade him from tucking it in, folded his sleeves up to the elbows and left the top two buttons undone, with a black tie hanging loosely around the collar. The tie had "Everybody loves " written across it in small cursive letters. Ethan chuckled a bit when he put it on but quickly composed himself when Penny just looked back at him with a blank stare. She got it, she just didn't think it was funny.

"God. You're such a dork, if it wasn't so endearing I'd probably have to hit you."

Next came the dreaded skinny jeans, which Ethan struggled to get into since they were so tight despite being his size. Once he got them fully on they were a little bit more manageable. They were black ripped up at the knees and over his thighs with white suspenders attached to the jeans hanging loosely at his sides, finished off with a pair of converse sneakers and surprisingly enough without the black jacket that Penny said he was going to wear or any other kind of jacket for that matter refusing to explain why and just saying that he can wear the jacket some other time. She let him keep his glasses after he explained that he was basically blind without them and didn't have contact lenses but she insisted on putting eyeliner on his eyes the teen wasn't exactly sure why but Penny insisted that it was necessary and really he's let her come that far right?

All in all though, Ethan thought that he looked pretty good. He certainly looked a lot different than he did before but he didn't think it was a bad kind of different.

Unfortunately Warren's reaction said otherwise.

Warren showed up at seven o'clock, the way he did every Friday night when they hung out together. Unfortunately unlike normal Warren didn't just pause to say hi to Ethan's mom before nodding for the shorter teen to follow him to the car the way he usually did.

For one thing Ethan's mom opened the door and let Warren inside and the pyrokinetic watched in confusion as Magenta, Layla and Penny came downstairs, standing in the foyer along with him all of them looking like they were about to explode from excitement even Magenta seemed like she was looking forward to something.

That's round about the time that Ethan came down the stairs a nervous ball of energy, hoping that Warren wouldn't be mad or freaked out to see Ethan look so different. Unfortunately all Warren seemed to do once he got to the bottom of the stairs and stood in front of him was stare in complete and total utter silence.

Thirty seconds of silence.

Ethan stared down at his feet for the first twenty only to let out a sigh as he forced himself to look up at the other, only to find Warren's expression completely blank as he just stared at the teen.

"Jesus Christ, Peace, just say something already!" Penny finally snapped and Ethan felt himself flush, although he was grateful that someone broke the silence.

Warren glanced up at the girl before looking back down at Ethan silent for another five seconds before he spoke, "Ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah." Ethan said with a smile, "I'm ready."

"What about you guys?" Warren asked as he looked over to the girls and Layla blinked in surprise before she spoke, "Oh we were just hanging out and Penny wanted to talk to Ethan's mom so…"

"O.K later."

Warren said turning back towards the front door and Ethan quickly moved to follow, looking back at the girls for a brief moment to see Penny rolling her eyes in frustration while Layla frowned and Magenta looked close to face palming. Ethan almost laughed when he suddenly bumped into something and realized that Warren had stopped right in front of the door.

"Oh sorry." Ethan looked up just as Warren opened the front door standing aside and Ethan just stared at the open doorway.

"Uh, thanks?" Ethan said awkwardly as he walked through the door and Warren followed.

A/N:

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