Layla Williams (givesyoulemons) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2018-05-29 21:00:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !complete, !completed gdoc, ~2018 may, ~25 points, ~~layla williams (givesyoulemons), ~~warren peace (warrenpeace) |
WHO: Warren Peace and Layla Williams
WHAT: Catching up
WHEN: Sometime this past week!
WHERE: One of the Chinese food places around town
WARNINGS: Nothing to note!
STATUS: Closed/Completed Gdoc
Warren had been busy since he’d arrived in Madison Valley. Being steamrolled by Evie took a lot of time and energy, and although he’d definitely come to like it and to love spending time with her, he felt a little like he’d been neglecting Layla. Sure, he didn’t feel the same way about her that he did about Evie, but they were friends, and they had a history, and it only felt right that they stay in touch while living in this freaking weird town.
So he’d invited her out for Chinese food for old times sake. It was where they’d really become friends, and he knew that she liked the food. It still reminded him a little of work, but he didn’t work at this one, so it was okay.
He got there first and got a booth towards the back, and was scrolling through the network on his phone as he waited for her to arrive.
***
Things were getting better in Madison for Layla. She was making more friends, getting closer with her guardian, and was beginning to understand a few more things about herself. Layla would be lying to herself if she didn’t believe that there were still complications, but that was all part of life.
Having Warren there, even with him being tied up with the hurricane that was Evie, was still a comfort. She knew that he would just understand where she was coming from even when others didn’t.
Thanking the hostess, Layla waved to Warren before taking a seat across from him. “Just like old times, huh?” she asked with a laugh. Except he didn’t have to serve her vegetarian egg rolls this time.
“So, how goes it, Mr. Popular?”
***
“Like old times without me having to work,” he said. Eventually he’d have to get a job here, but he definitely wasn’t going to be working at a Chinese restaurant. Something where he could actually use his powers would be awesome, especially since it didn’t seem to matter about hiding them in Madison Valley.
“Mr. Popular?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. He was not that. He had never been that. He would never be that. But he shook his head and took Layla’s joke in the way it was meant, even smiling very slightly. “Not that. Just Evie.” It wasn’t like he’d suddenly gained hundreds or even dozens or even a bunch of friends. Pretty much just Evie. And that was pretty much enough.
“She’s...aggressive,” he said. It was true. It was scary. It was also sexy as hell - he couldn’t deny that. “But I like her. How are things with you?”
***
“I’m glad to see you happy, though.” Because Warren deserved that. He was a good person. He did not deserve to be lumped in to his parents. Especially his father. Layla had learned that first hand whens he had been doing her best to make Will jealous. Honestly, what had she been thinking? Why did she want to make him jealous as much as she did?
“And she got you into another suit. That’s definitely points for her,” Layla joked with a grin. She had gotten him to wear a suit to their prom back home and Layla had been touched that he even considered it.
“Pretty good, I guess. I mean, things aren’t going badly, so that’s definitely a thing.” Layla shrugged a bit. In truth, she couldn’t really explain how things were going for her. She was still in a strange gray area with so much, but Layla was just getting through.
***
Warren grimaced. He really didn’t like wearing suits - they weren’t his style at all. But Layla had gotten him into one, and now Evie had made him one. “I could hardly say no after she took all that time, you know?” And he had to admit that it had looked pretty good on him. He’d felt pretty hot at prom, especially with how Evie had looked at him.
“I am happy,” he said, almost as if he were admitting it to himself for the first time. He kind of was. It was a strange feeling, and not really one he remembered feeling very often.
“Yeah? Well, not badly isn’t terrible. But it isn’t great, either. What’s up?”
He had a feeling there was more to what she was saying than that she was telling him.
***
Layla considered his question, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she did. It was an obvious nervous tick of hers and one she had had since Layla was young. She shrugged, but didn’t simply gloss over it.
If she could trust anyone here, it would be Warren.
“How do you know what you like? Well, not what. Who, I guess. Like, how did you know you liked girls?” Layla looked over at him, clearly looking a bit lost in even trying to figure out where to start the conversation. Diving in seemed like the better option than dancing around it.
“I mean, all I’ve ever known was that I liked Will. Then I didn’t want to ruin our friendship and Gwen kind of butted in. I don’t think I like Will like that anymore, though.” Or guys in general, but it was hard to tell. It could have merely been how she was feeling after dealing with being turned down by Will in the first place.
“Am I even making sense?”
***
‘“Yeah, you’re making sense.” He said, then paused. “I guess I just...knew?” He was taking her question seriously, but he didn’t really have words for how he knew. He just had. It had just been obvious to him. He knew that he liked to look at girls in a different way than he liked to look at guys. Looking at guys didn’t give him that feeling that looking at girls did.
“I mean, I guess when I think about naked guys, nothing happens? Like...no nice little stirring of horniness? Different when I think about naked girls.”
Very, very different.
***
Letting out a puff of air, Layla just nodded. She was quiet for a few minutes, though. Swishing her tea around in her cup, Layla set it down. “There was a girl at prom. She complimented my dress. I complimented her tux.”
Chuckling, Layla shook her head. “She was...really sweet. She’s new. Elena is her name. I don’t know. Even if it was brief, it was nice talking to her.” Layla took a quick drink of her tea. “She looked cute in her glasses.”
Layla finally looked up at Warren with a sheepish grin. “But that could mean anything, right? Maybe I just really liked her glasses, right? Or thought it was cool that she decided to wear a tux instead of a dress? I mean, that’s such progressive action to take when going to a prom. I give her a lot of credit.”
It was then that Layla realized she was being just a bit too chatty. “Sorry. You know how I get.”
***
Ah, now he understood.
“And you’re wondering if you like girls,” he said for her, outloud. He shrugged. It didn’t make a difference to him one way or the other if she liked girls or guys. Really, he just wanted her to be happy, because she was his friend. Which was a bit weird to think about.
“Does it matter?” He shrugged. “I mean, you do or you don’t. Either way, just enjoy yourself. If you find that this Elena girl is someone you want to kiss, then kiss her. If you find that she isn’t, don’t. I think you’re amazing either way and I don’t think you have to worry about that here. Just be yourself. Because yourself is pretty awesome.”
He shrugged.
“And Will’s a tool, so I’m glad you don’t like him.”
***
Layla didn’t care what anyone else said. Warren was a really good guy. He was a good friend and she was so lucky to have him as one of her closest ones.
“I’m glad you’re here and not him.” Which was quite a statement to make. Layla and Will had been friends since they were little. They had practically grown up together knowing that they would eventually attend Sky High like their parents had. They would get powers together and Layla had assumed they would just go together. If she could have gotten past the initial phase of asking him.
It was definitely better than she hadn’t. Layla would have missed out on a lot. Warren, even if their brief dating was to make Will jealous, paid her more attention than Will ever had just as a friend.
“And, I’ll just...try to relax, I guess. Just do what feels natural, right?”
***
“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, otherwise, things would just be weird, right? If it feels right, do it. If it doesn’t, don’t.” It seemed pretty straightforward to him, but if it could help her, he was glad to say it out loud.
Warren had never had romantic feelings for Layla, but he did like her. She was fun, and while totally a goody-goody, she was also a sweet person and kind of gave him a bit of a moral compass to follow. Not that he was a bad guy (he actually wasn’t), but asking himself whether or not Layla would do something helped him a lot too.
“And of course, I’m going to want to meet this Elena girl.”
***
“Of course you are. I mean, it would be weird if you didn’t.” It was nice to have him here to have her back. Even if he could be intimidating to the unexpected individual, Layla wanted Warren to get along with anyone and everyone that got pulled into her life.
“It might be a while, though. Maybe.” Layla gave a light shrug before crunching into her veggie egg roll.
“So, things are good with Evie. How are you handling her friends?”
***
“Sure. I mean, not everyone’s Evie,” he said, but there was a warmth that entered his eyes when he spoke of her. He very clearly cared about her. “But let her know that I’ll have to check her out before you two get serious.” He said it with a completely straight face, but he was joking.
“Her friends? Well, they’re pretty cool, really. I like them. She lives with Jay, who’s kind of her brother, and her Guardians kind of suck as Guardians, but they’re cool as people. Her other friends...well, they’re like her. And they’ve kind of adopted me since we’re all kind of bad kids.”
He wasn’t really bad, but he knew that Layla would know what he meant by that.
***
Layla’s face turned as red as her hair for a brief moment and, if she had been a different person, Layla would have kicked Warren under the table. Violence wasn’t the answer, though. Not for Layla. So, she looked down at her plate. Her nose scrunched up a bit but Layla was grinning nonetheless.
She was still glad for the subject change even if Layla didn’t mind chatting about that sort of thing with Warren.
Shaking her head with a roll of her eyes, Layla did get the general idea. “Sounds like you guys have your own little circle, then? That’s good, though. I mean, it’s really great to have people you can identify with. Like, Clark and I get along really well. He’s really helpful and I’m totally glad he wanted to take me in as his ward.”
***
“Yeah, I guess we are. I mean, I don’t know much about Evie’s family other than what she’s told me, but there’s definitely some sort of story there. Don’t know what, though.” And the implication was that he didn’t really care all that much. As long as Evie was treated well, anyway, and she did seem to be.
“Clark seems... “ he paused, looking for a word that wasn’t too offensive. “Nice.”
He seemed like a total goodie-goody actually, and kind of made Warren want to punch him for just existing, but it wasn’t like he was the only one on that list.
***
“Stop. You’re trying too hard,” Layla joked, trying hard not to bust out laughing at Warren’s expression. “He’s definitely not for everyone, but I like him. You should come over for dinner one night. Say hi. Shake hands. Try not to burn anything down,” she continued to tease lightly, friendly as always.
“He really helped me over the winter, too. It’s not my favorite season. I literally turned the apartment into a small greenhouse.” Along with Briar and a few others, Layla managed to get through the cold weather. It certainly played a big part in her diminishing mood, but she had tried to keep up a good face.
“I’m really glad you’re here, Warren. I know this is so terrible, but I’m glad it’s you and not anyone else.” Magenta wouldn’t have been alright, though, but Layla wouldn’t trade her friend out.
***
“Being nice isn’t really one of my skills,” he said, but there was a little shimmer of amusement. He normally would have hidden that, but he trusted Layla enough to let it out. She really was one of his best friends.
“Yeah, I’m glad it’s you too. Will is way too much to take sometimes.”
He liked the guy well enough, in small doses. But he was beyond glad to hear that Layla wasn’t interested in him anymore.
***
“So, that means you’ll come over for dinner, right?” Layla looked up with a grin. Oh, yes. She was going to use that moment to turn it back on the open invite. Layla had her moments when she could be sneaky in her own way.
This, of course, was one of those times while she took another bite of her egg roll.
***
Warren saw what she’d done. Oh yes. And it won her a little glare as he realized he was absolutely trapped now.
“Mph,” he said. It was the most annoyed affirmation he could come up with on the spot like this.
***
“Perfect!” Giving a thumbs up, Layla knew Warren wouldn’t stay annoyed for very long. Just enough to be grumpy before he was just his normal self. Besides, Layla wanted Clark to meet her friends eventually. What a great way to start that off than by having him meet Warren.
[Wrap!]