[A/N: I realize it's wild to update this again after 14 years, but I came across the files and decided it was still good enough to share. This was also written in 2009, and I'd meant to write more and a longer chapter, which was why it was never published.]

On his way to Will's, Warren realized he should probably invest in fireproof handgrips as soon as possible. A car had pulled out right in front of him, and it was hard enough to avoid running into the bastard, much less keep his hands from bursting into flame. He managed to avoid both, but it was a clear danger.

When he got there, Will answered the door with his characteristic goofy smile. "Hey Warren! You're later than usual. What kept you?"

Warren stepped inside and put his helmet down on an inconspicuous part of the hall floor. Will gaped at it and started pointing, about to say something.

"I was on a date." Ha. That oughta distract 'em.

"What?! With who?"

"A girl."

"Well okay then." Will deadpanned, "I didn't think you were gay, but it's nice to have confirmation." Warren shoved him.

Layla poked her head around the corner. "Did I hear that right?"

"That Warren had a date? That's what he says."

"Was it with-"

"No."

Warren took a detour to the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge. Usually he drank them cold like any regular person, but he had had quite enough cold for the day and he heated the bottle up in his hands before opening it. Ethan, Zach, and Magenta were sitting around the coffee table in the living room, Clue set up in front of them. Warren flopped down on a corner of the sofa, and took a swig of his warm soda.

Magenta looked up. "So I hear some sultry damsel has cut through our sullen hothead's shell, and taken hold of his squishy heart." Warren rolled his eyes.

"Huh?" said Zach.

"Warren had a date."

"Do we know her? Does she go to Sky High?" asked Ethan. Warren shook his head with his eyes closed.

"A citizen?" He nodded, taking another sip of soda.

"So where did you meet?" asked Layla.

"Why the hell is this everyone's business?"

"We're just curious..." she said in a small voice.

"I bet he picked her up on his motorcycle." said Will, who was standing by the window peering through the curtains.

"What?" said Magenta. "Warren doesn't-" but Will was looking at her wide-eyed and nodding, pointing out the window. "Are you kidding? I swear, if you're making me get up to look and-" She stopped. Gaping out the window. "Oh my god. Warren," she said, turning to him. "You have to give me a ride."

"What?"

Everyone else jumped up to crowd around the window.

"Oh dude!" cried Zach, "I have to see this up close!" And he led the way out the front door. Warren sighed and followed them all outside with his soda.

Magenta, Ethan, Zach, and Will were all lavishing words of awesome, and Warren couldn't help but smile. Layla however, was predictably looking more than a little concerned.

"Warren! Motorcycles are really dangerous! People get killed on them all the time!"

"Please, Hippie. If I get in a crash, I'll probably be just fine. It's the bike I'm worried about."

"Oh dude, man... I'd hateto see this thing totaled." Zach looked almost close to tears at the thought.

"Even if you're virtually indestructible, you're not immortal!"

"Exactly. Life is short. I bought a motorcycle."

"But-"

"Just drop it, Layla." said Magenta.

"And, to be fair," piped in Ethan, "Once we graduate we'll be regularly exposing ourselves to things a lot more dangerous than motorcycles."

Layla crossed her arms, unhappy, but mercifully seeming to realize that she wasn't going to win. All her arguments would only fall on deaf ears.

"But seriously Warren. You're taking me for a ride." Magenta looked at him sternly. She was clearly not going to give him any choice in the matter.

"Yeah, fine." Warren sighed.

"Actually, it doesn't seem to have a passenger seat." said Will.

"I think this cover is removable somehow." said Warren, stepping over.

"What, didn't your date want a ride?" Magenta said, incredulously, "Warren, I do not approve of this girl."

"Well I do." said Layla crossly.

"Hush, you."

"She had her own." said Warren absently, examining the back seat cover.

"Whoa man! You nabbed some biker chick? Wicked!" Zach put up his hand for Warren to high five, which Warren studiously ignored. Layla meanwhile, looked scandalized.

"I need a screwdriver." said Warren, looking over to Will.

"Sure. We have some in the garage."

Shortly, the cover having been successfully removed, Magenta was securing Warren's helmet onto her head, and Warren, hair tied back again in Amy's hair tie, was trying on a pair of Will's sunglasses.

"These'll do." he said. He needed the eye protection, and it was early enough in the evening that the sun was still up. Legally, he wasn't really old enough to ride without a helmet, but no one would know that unless he was pulled over otherwise. So he'd be sure not to speed too much with Magenta. He'd go Amy speeds. Not Warren speeds.

"Alright." he said, as Magenta climbed on behind him. "Hold on tight."

He took her around Will's neighborhood, and to the nearby street that had a good curve in it. As Magenta clung to him for dear life, he had the idle passing thought that it really was a shame Amy had her own bike. That she'd never ride with him like this. But of course, if she didn't have her own, he wouldn't have met her in the first place.

He pulled up into Will's driveway again where the rest of the gang were waiting for them, and Magenta hopped off with the biggest smile he had ever seen on her.

"That was terrifying, and amazing! Seriously. I am in love with your motorcycle." Warren laughed.

They stood outside admiring the bike for a while longer as Warren replaced the cover (after confirming that Layla was in fact positive she didn't want a ride too). Except Zach oddly enough, was merely staring at it in silence with a crease in his brow.

As they trooped back inside, Will hung back to whisper to Warren. "I bet he's wondering how to convince his parents to let him get one. Seeing as how Magenta's so in love."

"Twenty bucks says she gets one first." Warren answered in an undertone.

The rest of the night passed with the usual amount of silliness, with everyone except Ethan attempting to cheat at whatever game they were playing, and then watching ridiculous movies MST3K style. Anyone venturing to question Warren further on the subject of his date was met only with a stony glare, and the matter was soon dropped.

Later, Warren was sitting on his bed, propped up by pillows, drawing in a large black hardcover sketchbook. It was filled with a wide variety of sketches and illustrations in mechanical pencil and ballpoint pen. There were figures and fighters, epic battle scenes, motorcycles and spaceships, abstract designs, and monstrous beasts with feline and reptilian features, which were some of the best. His only real observational drawing subjects after all were their cat, Dexter, and his iguana, Laevo. Laevo was a four-year-old red iguana, nearly four feet long, and he was currently asleep on Warren's chest.

As Warren's right hand moved across the page, the fingers of his left fiddled idly with a black hair tie.