The things you can learn online.

[wildlittleminx]

"Holy...!"  Liz sat back, away from the library computer screen and glanced furtively to the left and right.  Good, no one seemed to hear or care about her verbal outburst.  With another look around the room and a swift look up at the clock, the teen pulled her chair closer to the computer screen to view the online photo and read the words beneath it.  <lj-cut>

Yes, that was him alright.  Warren Peace.  Son of Baron Battle himself, and hadn't Liz heard some of Tony's people mention that name once or twice a long time ago?  Baron Battle's son.  Well, when he said his father was in the slammer, he was right about that.  Three consecutive life sentences, damn. 

Son of a master villain and a "A super hero  Of course, this just keeps getting better and better."  Great, just great.  So, did he take after his father or his mother?  By the sound their conversations together, he might have taken after his mom more than his dad, but she couldn't be sure.  "So where does that put me?"  She continued to read, and then began doing research into Warren's fathers' history as well.

Shit.  Liz closed the window, and deleted the recent history, wiping the computer clean of any passwords, cookies and pages she'd opened in her search, then wiping the keyboard and screen clean of her fingerprints with a tissue.  Maybe she could tell him that she wasn't feeling well tonight, make an excuse for him not to come over.  He'd been doing that lately, coming in for early morning coffee or late night talk. 

'I can't tell him the truth' she thought to herself, gathering up her notebooks and making certain her area was clean before heading out the library door.  'What the hell do I say?  No Warren, it's not the fact that your dad's a villain and a murderer that has me scared.  It's the fact that your mom's a superhero.  Superheroes do superhero stuff like catching badguys.  Badguys like casino and museum thieves.  Like me.'

"But that isn't exactly fair to him."  Or her either for that matter.  He was someone she was actually growing to like.  A real man - boy - guy her own age who liked her just for who she was, or rather, who she tried to be.  And it was easier actually, having him around.  She didn't get the urge to go out and test herself against security systems , didn't get that itch for an illegal adrenaline rush by pitting herself against bank safeguards or PTZ infrared cameras, security guards.  She actually enjoyed simply being normal for a change.  Enjoyed being with him.  

'What the hell do I do?' she tried to come up with an answer as she strolled home in the early evening light.  Confessing was out of the question. 

Best bet?  Do nothing for now, except for watch and be aware.  Hero or villain, Warren just made her life a whole hell of a lot more complicated.  'I knew he was trouble when he was standing outside my door.  Knew he was trouble when he was standing in my living room in that tight leather jacket.  I knew it, and I knew it, and what the hell am I going to do now?

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[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"That?" She waved it off as they hit the front door. "Consider it an upgrade. I'm just making it a little more efficient."

Leaving all thoughts of the phone behind, she followed him down the stairs after locking the door, chatting as she went. "Do you normally stretch out at the beginning of your runs, or after your muscles warm up?" She was curious, leaning against the building wall and stretching her hamstrings.

"And how far are we going to - hey, where you going? Hey, wait up, wait - Warren!" She was off like a shot, clearing a small garbage can as she ran to catch up with the young runner.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

That should answer her question, as Warren had set off in a leisurely jog. "I don't really like to stretch a lot in the beginning of a run or workout session," he said when she caught up. "I usually save most of that for the end." He'd make sure he got warmed up, and do some light stretching to really loosen up. But that was it.

He didn't really know where they were heading or even how long a run he'd want this to be. He had been learning his way around now, but an aimless run could help him learn to find his way around even better. "Shouldn't there be a park nearby here somewhere?" He asked after a few minutes. Grass and gravel was always more pleasant to run on than asphalt.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"I understand. I like to stretch out a bit, then stretch out when the muscles are good and warm, after about twenty, maybe thirty minutes of working out. Keeps me from pulling a muscle."

She was jogging near Warren now, her legs moving side by side with his. The only time her feet didn't hit the pavement when his did was when she leaped over something, or bounced up onto the wall in a cat leap to hang for a moment before dropping back to earth and racing to catch up with him. The occasional wall-spin also kept her footsteps from matching his.

"There is! This way, come on." With a teasing smile, she speed-vaulted over a fence, and was running down a side street. "Man, things look different from down here. Hold on." She paused, looking left, then right as she jogged in place.

"Ok, got it. It's only a few more blocks down!" It wasn't a large park, not by any means. A nice expanse of trees, several swings, a few slides and a bunch of childrens' playground equipment, and a large sandbox filled the center of the grassy area. That was surrounded by park benches and waste barrels. A basketball court was in the background, and concrete paths criss-crossed through the park as well.

And by that time of the evening on Sunday, all of the parents and small children had already left. All that remained were a few teens over on the courtyard playing basketball, and one guy riding around the sidewalk on a skateboard and trying to do jumps.

"Well, here it is." She gasped as they drew near. And then with a laugh and a burst of speed, Liz vaulted a bench, rolled and did a backflip, ending up with a running jump to reach the top of the swing. Hanging there a second, she let herself fall, flipping in the air to land on her feet in the sand.

"Did you bring a basketball, or do you want to swing with me?" She attempted the innocent look, ruining it with a wink.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

He watched as she played around, finding obstacles and possibilities in the cityscape. He had to admit that it looked like a lot of fun, and she had a freedom in her movements that he lacked. Although, he could sort of feel it anyway, if he thought back to the days when his preferred method of traveling was by skateboard.

The further they went the more Warren picked up the pace, going faster as his heart-rate increased and his body grew warmer than it already was. He didn't sweat much, a pyrokinetic rarely did, not when his body thrived on warmth and had no risk being damaged by it. Not as far as he knew, anyway. He hadn't had to worry about a fever since he was twelve.

When they came to the park, Warren looked at that guy on the skateboard and felt a tug of nostalgic longing. Why did he ever give that up? He could pick it up again, though. Maybe.

He laughed as Liz attacked the swings and slowed down, walking the last few paces to her. He shrugged and turned his pockets inside out, an over-the-top apologetic expression on his face. "No basketball, sorry.I'll remember it next time."

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

Nudging him in the shoulder, she cocked her head toward the skateboarder. "Where's yours?" She knew that look, knew it well. Knew it too well on her own face, like those times she'd go by a computer store.

"Or maybe we should get you one? It's easier to put bring up the stairs than a bike." It was so easy to relax with him, so easy to smile with him and not feel she was putting on a front. It was refreshing and fun, once she got those 'he's trouble' thoughts out of her head.

"And since you didn't bring a basketball, I guess we're going to have to play, um, another... ah. Wow. So, wanna work on some of those free-running moves? I can show you a couple things if you want." Was it too dark to blush? Elizabeth sincerely hoped so.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

He laughed, or more like chuckled softly. "It's been a while since I was at it," he said, leaning on the frame of the swing set. "So it's in the attic of my mom's house. Just got busy with other things, you know? When I wasn't studying I was working." And occasionally fighting for his life.

He watched the skateboarder slide down the railing of some stairs leading to a lower section of the park. Maybe he should get himself a new board, as a birthday present to himself. But money was a bit tight. Maybe, though.

He nodded at her suggestion, completely missing her blush. "Sure. We're in a good place for it, right?"

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

Yea, this place is better than most actually." She gave the area a critical once-over again before making that final nod yes.

"First thing we have to do is to work on your landing and rolling ski-yea, like that." She laughed. "Looks like you spent some time in the gym yourself. What about this though, try when you tuck your head in? To roll from one shoulder to the opposite hip, diagonal down your back. Like this" She rolled once, came out of it with a slight jump on her feet.

"This way you don't put much of your weight down the center of your spine, see?" She went through landing and precision jumping skills the same way. Taking her time as the park grew darker and the basketball players went home with their ball. Talking him through the basic and some of the advanced vaulting techniques, she never realized how deep the shadows got and how the streetlights began lighting up the park rather than the skyline.

"What about a cat-jump? No, lets wait on that for a while." She felt sweaty, wiping the grass stains off the knees of her sweatsuit and trying to pull the grass out of her hair.

"We can work on wall runs and that sort of thing later on if you want, but I guess it's getting kind of late."

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

Warren had a good sense of how to move. His time at Sky High hadn't been for nothing, and hadn't only been dealing with his powers. These were new movements she was teaching him, though, but he did catch on quickly. That's not to say that he didn't stumble here and there.

He'd taken a seat on the concrete stairs when she called it a night. She was right; it had gotten dark a long time ago. They'd beet at this for hours, though how many hours wasn't too clear. Warren had lost track, and didn't have a watch on him It had been a rather long time, though, considering the burn he felt in his muscles, and he knew that he would have his aches and pains come morning.

"Yeah, definitely more stuff like this later." He'd had fun! But enough was enough, at least for the night. He his shoulders a bit and then got up to start to stretch. It was still a run or walk to get back home, but it wouldn't do to get all stiff now. "You know you'll never be rid of me now, right?" He grinned and brushed some stray hairs out of his face. His skin and hair were only slightly damp, as he didn't sweat much.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

Her answer was to toss her hair back over her shoulder and laugh. Climbing those steps to where Warren was sitting, Liz sat down and leaned in against his knee. "Never get rid of you, huh? I may have shown you a lot, but I haven't shown you everything" she added a wink "Yet. And we still have a little way to go before we start doing all this on the rooftop of 5 and 6 story buildings."

"Have to learn to run before you can learn to fly you know." The way he twisted his body, the way he would fall back and jump back up, just the way he moved all spoke volumes to her as she had studied him copy her moves. He'd had training. Natural talent too, that was obvious. But somewhere along the line someone had taken him in hand and given him lessons, lessons he learned very well.

"I would suggest a jog home, nothing too fancy to practice the vaulting, just to keep our muscles warm. And after that" Her stomach rumbled. "I'm all for ordering Chinese and just chilling out for a while. Hey, do you like Chinese food?"

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

"Hey, why do you think I'm saying you won't get rid of me? You keep on teaching, 'cause I'm definitely gonna get this stuff down." Because it was damn fun! And further down the line, if he picked up heroing for real, he was willing to bet that it was going to come in handy. Really, why didn't Principal Powers and Coach Boomer get people in to teach the students this at Sky High?

He got to his feet and did a few more simple stretches, and then joined her in a jog towards home. "Used to work at a Chinese joint." Long enough to even learn Mandarin. And hadn't he once said that he used to bus tables back in school? "So I say that there's Chinese and then there's Chinese. But yeah, I could go with that. It's been a while."

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"I'm warning you, I can be a harsh teacher" She bobbed her head up and down a few times to accent her words. "You're going to have to learn city routes, and I'll wake you up late or get you up early - we will have to go to different parks around the city. I really don't want other people catching on and trying to copy us. Or even worse, interrupting our time together."

Or, as in her case, videotaping them. It would be just like some dumbass to put their stunts up on youtube or something. And then where would she be? Seen by security experts that were probably hired to watch out for just that sort of thing. and then? Whisked off to some foreign country under Tony's guidance again. Screw that. She had her freedom, she'd earned her freedom. She was going to keep it.
"Well then" Oh good, he'd vaulted that garbage can like a pro! Liz quickened her jogging pace to catch up with him after watching him ahead of her for several yards. "I'd say that it's up to you to chose the food tonight. I've heard that the Mint Cafe is good, and the Silver Dragon isn't bad either."

"And I don't have cable, but I do have an old TV and some DVD's if you want. Or we can go to your place and just relax and read."

Up, over a railing, back and forth down a flight of stairs, and then a leaping vault over a parked car and she was crossing the street, just ahead of the young hero-to-be. The streets were mainly deserted, cars parked for the night now in this part of time.

"Cut through the parking lot, and up the back stairs to the apartment? First one to the top wins ... something?"

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

"I'm used to harsh teachers." Like the kind who might drop a car on unsuspecting students on their first day of high school. Though he might still mind of she tried to drag him out in the crack of dawn, unless he'd yet to go to bed. An early bird he wasn't.

He grinned widely as he ran. That fence right there was too high to leap right over, but he could swing himself up and plant his feet on the top. Then he launched himself forward in a leap, tucked his head in and rolled shoulder to hip when he landed, and smoothly got to his feet to keep running.

He thought he'd be able to get them some good take-out. A good proprietor should be able to recognize when a customer actually knew the food in question, and not hand out some Americanized stuff instead of the good stuff.

"First one up gets the others fortune cookie!" With that he was off, sprinting. He was fast, had a good physique and had stamina to last. But she probably still had speed over his. He shouldn't be far behind, though.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"Not my fortune cookie, oh hell no!" His longer stride was pulling him out ahead of her, and as quick as she was he made it to the fire escape first, jumping up and grabbing the bottom rung to pull the ladder down and begin climbing up to get to the fire escape stairs..

But I cheat!" She thought to herself, veering off at an angle and putting on a burst of speed. Liz hit the wall at the corner, made a near-ten foot wall climb then twisted at the last minute, flinging her body back towards the fire-escape. She reached out, her hands clenching tight as her body circled over and came to land not even six feet in front of the athletic teen behind her. Giggling loudly she sprinted up the stairs in front of him, only to be hauled back and pushed against the brick building wall as he grabbed her and pulled her back to him.

"Cheater!" She yelled out loud between gasps of laughter. "Cheate-you cheated!" then she was right behind him, hugging onto his waist and slowing him down as he went up two stairs at a time to the top, the two of them trampling up the metal steps.

Leaning against her window, she had to stop for breath as she pointed at Warren, doing nearly the same thing while facing her at his. Her smile was wide, and her eyes were sparkling bright by the light of the streetlamps. "I think that's a tie."

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

"Cheater?!" It was with a mix of a pant and a laugh that he protested, scrambling op to the stairs, playfully fighting her all the way. "Look who's talking!" Because wall-climbing like that when he yet didn't know how to, that had to be cheating.

How they managed to make it to the top without falling down and landing on the ground in an aching pile of arms and legs would forever be a mystery. But make it they did, standing there and catching their breaths. And Warren, who not long ago hadn't had a single friend and hadn't been willing to talk with hardly anyone, could not for the life of him get that grin of his face. She? She was so much fun, and so easy to be around. And, with her face flushed and dark eyes glittering, so damn beautiful.

"Alright, so we both get a cookie." He probably would have handed over his winnings anyway, had he won the race. "My place this time?" So hers were neater, that was for sure. But his wasn't that bad, at least not at the moment. Two days earlier, before he'd gotten his laundry sorted out, now that had been another matter.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"I think we both deserve a cookie, don't you?"

At the suggestion of his place, she nodded, her concentration torn between listening to him, and pulling a thin, strong piece of slightly flexible metal out of a crack above her window. Bending it back and forth, she began to slide it in between the upper and lower window panes, angling her body to get a better grip on both the metal and the wood frame. This also just happened to obscure what she was doing from Warren until she bobbed her head once hard, and tugged on the metal. the window flew up, unlocked within seconds, and she turned her head back in his direction to reply.

"Your place, twenty - twenty-five minutes good? I could really use a long soak in the shower." The metal shard went sailing into her bedroom, followed by one sneakered foot at she began to bend herself down and slide through the window into her bedroom.

"I'll see you then!" With a wave, she was through to the other side, her window coming back down with a thump and a click as she relocked it from within.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

What she did right there? He didn't see exactly how she did it, but that looked like she picked the lock of her own window. ...well, practical skill to have, he supposed. But not really a common one. Oh well.

He waved in acknowledgment and went in through is own bedroom window. Time for some proper stretches and a shower. Music first, though. With it getting late, and him winding down after exercises, he skipped the normal rock and metal, and loaded up a playlist on his computer with stuff like Tom Waits, Nick Cave and Neil Young. A few lit candles here and there, and a relaxing feeling settled over the apartment as Warren got to his stretches.

A few songs later - and he knew that he was cheating massively and would pay for it in the morning - he stripped and headed to the shower. Sure, Liz said she was going to take a bath, but he still didn't know how long it would take until she came knocking on his door. He did have fairly good timing, as it turned out. He'd at least gotten his jeans on when his doorbell rang and Liz entered his home, though he was still bare chested, barefoot and dripping water. He was also on the phone, ordering a bit of this and that from a Chinese restaurant that he'd quickly looked up on the internet, speaking in Mandarin as he did so. They weren't going to be lacking food, that was for sure, and even if Liz hadn't said what she'd like there had to be something in there that suited her, with all the things he ordered. And the rest Warren would just have for lunch the next day.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"You didn't have to jump out of the shower just for me" she observed with a wry grin as she came through the door looking at him. "At least get a towel for your hair, I'd hate to have you catch cold on my account!" She said it softly, not to interrupt his phone call. Was that Chinese he was speaking? Warren spoke Chinese? Whatthehell? Blinking, she turned her eyes away from the half-naked, wet and dripping (he should really put some clothes on, he should know that he looked way too good without a shirt!) man to the room behind him.

The place did look a lot better with him living here, Liz decided, staring around the renovations he'd made. Ever since she'd met him, she'd held off on exploring his home without him there. She could have, his locks were terribly out of date and easily picked - but it was a honor thing with her. Some things you just don't do, and breaking into a friend's apartment, even just out of curiosity? Was one of them.

"I love the couch." The leather looked soft, the color went well with the bookcases. And the candles gave everything a subdued, soft glow. Ooh, and he had a computer, and was that - internet!! Her eyes gleamed, a quick predatory stare that she only realized she was doing after she'd been staring at the computer screen for almost ten seconds.

No, no no no NO! Too much temptation, too much... it would be sooo easy to just pull her own computer out of the bedroom closet where it was hidden and pirate his signal to... no. Damn it!

"I don't know what you're ordering, but it all sounds delicious" Now she was at the bookshelves, looking over the authors and titles. Anything to keep her eyes off the computer, and anything to keep her eyes off the man.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

He actually blushed a bit at her comments, though since he was still on the phone there wasn't much he could do about it. Thankfully he was soon able to hang up, and to go and fetch himself a shirt. When he came back out from the bedroom he had a towel draped over his shoulders, and his hair wasn't dripping quite so much but was definitely messier.

Warren did own a lot of books, and they didn't seem to follow any theme or genre. While most were beat-up looking paperbacks, subjected to wear and tear from being hauled around in his bag (and some even looked a bit singed), some were leather-bound, old-looking things, maybe not worth a great deal of money but definitely more than the paperbacks.

"I think we're getting the good stuff," he said, running his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make it at least a tad less messy. The lady on the phone who had taken his order had sounded nice enough, so he had hopes for the food. "Want anything to drink?"

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

She had her finger out and running down the well-used binding of a paperback when he approached her, her eyes intent on both it and it's neighbor.

"Drink? Sure, what do you have?" He'd be too young to have alcohol on hand, so it would probably be milk or soda? Did he drink soda? It was almost too much to ask him if he drank tea, and the caffeine in coffee would keep her up for hours longer than she needed tonight. After all, she did have work tomorrow. In the afternoon yea, but still it was work.

Of course she could have avoided all that if she had taken some more of Tony's money with her when she left, but the same loyalty that had her staying out of Warren's apartment when he wasn't there was the same loyalty that kept her from stealing from her former guardian. She took only what she had saved over the years, and much of that was also stashed away under loose boards in the closet, along with the computer, her real ID and passbook, a few more illegally gained museum pieces, and anything else she could think of that tied her to her former life.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

He was not too carefully working out a tangle in his hair with his fingers. It was probably about time for as trim, had been a while.

"Tea, coffee..." Yeah, apparently he did have tea. Lapsang souchong. Trust him to prefer his tea to taste of smoke. "I think I have a couple of beers stashed away." Yeah, he was too young to buy alcohol, but he did look older than he was. Sometimes he got away with it. He didn't drink much, though.

He watched her going over the titles of his books. "You know, if you find something you want to read, go ahead and borrow it." The ones he was currently reading himself were either in his bedroom by his bed or stashed in his bag. Yes, he tended to have at least three going at the same time.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"Mmm, tea I think. Or milk maybe? Some teas have caffeine don't they? Don't want anything to interrupt my sleep tonight." Ah, he had his clothes back on, thank goodness. It had been getting harder and harder to concentrate on keeping her eyes on the bookshelves.

She let her fingers fall away from the binding of the book, turning and leaning back against the bookshelf to watch him. "And I'll save the borrowing until after we eat. Too hungry to concentrate on what I want right now."

She cocked her head to the side, then was away from the bookshelf and heading toward the kitchen area right behind him. "Want me to help getting out plates? Do you have plates yet?"

"And if these are for me to borrow, what are you reading right now?"

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

"I do have plates," he said, and meandered into the kitchen area. Not that he usually bothered with plates when it came to take-out. He didn't go to get those out right away, though, but rather started to rummage around in his cupboards. Ah, there it was. Since Liz didn't want anything that would keep her awake, he thought that maybe the red tea that his mom had insisted on stuffing into one of his bags would do the trick.

"Right now? I've got a couple of chapters left on 'Let the right one in', am somewhere in the middle of 'The case of Charles Dexter Ward', and have just picked up 'The wee free men' by Terry Pratchett." So, new horror, old horror, and comedy. Quite a mix.

He put the kettle on, found a beer for himself, and finally got those plates out along with a cup for her tea, and chopsticks to eat with. He'd just drink straight from the bottle.

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

She didn't remember seeing the titles in the bookcase, and the books weren't anywhere in the rooms, either on a table or where the computer was, so they'd have to be in his bedroom. "Let the right one in, that was made into a movie, right?" She'd remembered seeing something about it. Something about a vampire who was a child?"

"Terry Pratchett? Excellent! Do you like Neil Gaiman too?" He had already done everything for her, and she tried to figure out something she could do or say to keep the conversation going. Fortunately, that was when the doorbell rang. Liz reached into her pocket, pulling out a crumpled twenty dollar bill. "Hope this is enough, I have more next door." At his unbroken stare she added "For my half of the bill. Just, just take it ok? I know how hard you work. You can buy me something later if you want with the money, but I really just" The doorbell rang again, keeping her from having to finish up an awkward conversation that she seemed to be having alone, as he was simply continuing to look at her with that intense and slightly annoyed stare. Turning her back on Warren, she was at the door and opening it, and taking a huge armful of paper bag, heavy with food. And still her back twitched, imagining his eyes on her back. It was not a pleasant feeling; he had the hard dark stare of a cop, or a criminal.

With a big smile she was backing away from the door so that he could come forward with the food and give the delivery girl her money.

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

"That's the one." He remembered something that it was even made into two movies, but he wasn't sure. Either way, one or two, he hadn't seen any. But he did like the book. "And yeah, Gaiman's good. Though I'm mostly into his comics." There were a few titles in his bookcases, though. American Gods. Good Omens. Coraline. And, the charming little picture book Blueberry Girl. No, his collection of books didn't make much sense.

And then they came to the eternal question of who was going to pay for dinner. Why was it always like that? He'd taken the liberty of ordering, and ordering a ton. It seemed only logical to him that he'd pay for it all. Of course Liz had to have different ideas. Well, she wasn't going to take no for an answer, was she? That didn't stop him from a somewhat disproving stare, though. Mainly because he was so good at it, and it was fun to see that even this confident free-runner was affected by it.

It was true, Warren Peace did have a slight cruel streak to him. But only a small one.

Well, can't have the poor delivery girl be made to stand around when she had work to return to. She looked Chinese, maybe she was the daughter of the owner? Either way, he gave her a brief thanks for the service in Mandarin, and gave her a decent tip on top of the cost for the food.

Plates were probably going to be needed for this, he concluded. It really was a lot of food. "Grab the plates from the counter, will you?" Him, he went and finished making the tea. A whole pot, while he was at it. He was going to have a cup as well, beer or not.

"Hey, did I tell you?" He asked as he carried the pot, cups and his beer over to the table. "A friend of mine from back home showed up in town."

[wildlittleminx.livejournal.com]

"No you didn't tell me that a friend from home showed up." Almost without thinking, her eyes skittered around the room to see if someone were hiding in the shadows. Of course they weren't, it was just her initial reaction to the news. Liz lifted the plates, grabbing serving spoons while she was at it and brought them over to the table where the food had been placed. Man it all smelled so go.

"And you didn't tell me that you spoke Chinese either. Keeping secrets, huh?" She gave him a wink with her words, just teasing. "I see how you are." She had to smile then, cheerfully as she realized what a true hypocrite she was. Expecting him to tell her all when she kept herself so hidden away. Picking up one of the paper packages that contained chopsticks inside them she scrunched up her nose and put the package above her top lip - a makeshift mustache.

"Come now" She said, German accent loud and Hollywood-fake. Teeeelll me more, Warren. Ve have zees vays of making you talk!'

[wartheflame.livejournal.com]

"Layla. She used to date my best friend until recently. Now she's looking into a college here." He hoped that she would move to the city. He missed his friends, after all.

He had to laugh at her antics. "I speak Mandarin because I started working at a Chinese restaurant before I started high school, and had been running errands for them even before that, and the missus there didn't speak a lot of English. I guess I just picked it up over the years." He started going through all the packages, loading up his plate as he went. This was going to be good. "Here. Try the Char Siu," he said, pushing a box over.

"As for my other secrets... Try asking, I just might answer." Or he might not. There were so many things he shouldn't talk about, not only for himself but because there were always a risk he'd blow the covers for his friends and acquaintances. That was just how the Super-society worked, and there was a reason why most supes mostly connected to other supes. Not just because of the things they had in common, but also because it was simply easier to talk.

Still, they were within his own four walls now, and he was more comfortable and relaxed here. So when he saw a candle going out he had to stop himself from getting up and relighting it with a flame from his fingers.