Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. They are all Disney's.

A/N: Review please.

Chapter 7

Will stared at the starry night sky, trying to rid himself of his guilt. But it wasn't as if it was a law or anything, to tell your parents that you didn't have any super powers whatsoever. His musing was interrupted when a tree appeared and his best friend stepped off.

"Hey, Layla." He greeted her.

"Hi." She came and sat by him, bringing a light wave of pleasant orange scented perfume. "So where were you after school? I was worried."

"I got stuck in the nurse's office." Will explained, sighing as his mind remembered the disastrous conversation. He might end up like Ron Wilson. Not that there was anything particularly wrong with Ron Wilson, but still, he knew his father would not be proud of his son if he decided to be a bus driver. "And the news just keeps getting better and better. Turns out I may never get my powers."

"How'd your dad take it?" Layla asked. Will kept quiet, staring at the stars. They were actually rather numerous tonight, a beautiful sight, really, but they did nothing to distract him from Layla's burning gaze.

"What was I supposed to do?" Will finally broke the silence. "He showed me the secret sanctum."

"You have to tell them." Layla reminded him. Will could argue, that really, no he didn't, he could go live as a powerless hobo and never speak to them again, but he could see her point.

"Are we talking about the gay thing or the powerless thing?" He clarified. Knowing Layla, it could have been either. She was all about being honest.

"The powerless thing, right now, though you should tell your parents about the gay thing as well." She said, sending him another stern look.

"My parents are the greatest superheroes on the planet. Everybody expects greatness from me." Will despaired. It made him itchy, the thought of so many people having such high expectations of him.

"Well, you are great." Layla said simply.

"Thanks." Will said dryly. Both of them knew that was not the type of greatness people expected of him.

"Okay, so you're a sidekick. It's not the end of the world." Layla said. "When life gives you lemons..." Green foliage sprouted up behind her and she held out an apple to Will. He laughed despite himself.

"Make apple juice?" He suggested, watching her as she tossed the apple from hand to hand. Layla made a frustrated kind of sigh.

"I can't make lemons. I don't know what it is." She complained. Will felt a brief spike of anger. She didn't know how lucky she was, being able to complain about her powers because she actually had some.

"Yeah, but see, no." He interrupted her. "You have an awesome power. You could have made hero easy."

"I'm not into labels." Layla said firmly in the same voice she used when they were in Kindergarten and she was telling Will about how one could not use a yellow crayon to color in a whale because that was not the color whales really were. It simply said that this fact was not arguable.

"But why would you choose to be a sidekick?" Will asked. To him it seemed like someone who was given a gift but refused to open it.

"Because I think the whole thing is stupid. Dividing people into group like that. I mean what is this?" She struggled for a second to come up with the correct term, but Will had one ready.

"High school?" He suggested.

"Apple?" Layla offered, smiling. He took it and took a bite.

"Thanks." He said, his mouth full and hoping that Layla knew that he was not just talking about the apple. She smiled and knocked her shoulder against his and then laid back against the roof. Will reclined until he was next to her and stared up at the stars until she spoke again.

"How's Warren?" Layla asked. Will smiled, finding the new topic change entirely welcome.


"Morning, class." A teacher, middle aged with blond hair, stepped up to the board. "Welcome to Hero Support. My name is..." He disappeared behind a screen for a moment and then sprung out again, in a new outfit. 'All American Boy!" He sighed. "Course, nowadays I just go by Mr. Boy. But this year, it will be my privilege to help each of you become the very best hero support that you can be. Without hero support, why, there wouldn't be any heroes. All right, there probably would be heroes, but they would be very lonely. Lonely heroes indeed. And..." He made to continue on the speech that was probably meant to inspire, but all it really did was make Will sad, but was interrupted by Zach raising his hand. "Yes?"

"Uh, yeah, um, when do we pick our names and costumes?" Zach asked. "Because I call dibs on 'Zach Attack.'"

"Well, you don't get to pick." Mr. Boy explained. "On graduation day, you'll be assigned to your hero, and then he or she will, uh, decide what you will be called and what you will wear." Mr. Boy must have realized everyone's horror, because he quickly tried to explain. "I think this is mostly done in an attempt to avoid clashing colors. That's why when I was paired with..." He unfurled a poster. "...the Commander, red, white and blue it was, which for me was a very good thing because, uh, as you can see, blue really just makes my eyes pop!" He made a popping noise and splayed his fingers around his eyes. "It's very dramatic. Huh."

Will raised his hand, a sick feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.

"Uh, excuse me. I didn't know you worked for the Commander." He said, hoping that it was just a mistake and that his father really didn't fail to mention his sidekick because they were unimportant to him.

"I worked with the Commander." Mr. Boy snorted. "We were a team, Mr... Mr... Stronghold!" He looked at Will for a second. "Stronghold. You're Steve's son?"

"Yeah." Will admitted guiltily.

"And he never mentioned me to you?" Mr. Boy asked. Will shook his head slightly.

"I don't... I don't think so." He said, wishing he was a good enough liar that he could say that they had talked about him all the time and make it believable.

"Makes sense." Mr. Boy tried to regain his composure. "That makes perfect sense, because the Commander does not have time to sit around flipping through scrapbooks that I took the time to make for him. No, the Commander's got to be out there saving the world! With your mom. Your mom. She ever mention me?"

"Uh..." Will stalled, thinking. Had they ever mention him? He didn't think so, but maybe he just hadn't been listening. Luckily he was interrupted by something crashing into the room.

"Incoming!" Someone yelled. Will stared in shock at the smoke in front of him before Magenta spoke up.

"Oh, look. He does glow." She said. Will glanced back, catching sight of a fluorescent boy.

"I told you." Zach reminded them.

Great. Will really was the only one without powers.