Supersitters

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Another of the things I wrote for fandom_stocking. This one was for gliese581. It's Warren/Will from Sky High. He wanted kidfic, so I crossed over with The Incredibles and made them babysit Jack-Jack Parr.

It doesn't really feel like a superhero (in training)'s job. Will Stronghold doesn't have any real experience babysitting, unless he counts those times he helped Layla out with her baby cousin. But that was a couple years ago and Will's pretty sure he doesn't really remember how to change a diaper.

He knows he must be out of his mind when he calls Warren to help, instead of Layla or Magenta or even Zack.

It says a lot that Warren shows up almost immediately, hands deep in his pockets, and a scowl on his face that softens just a little when he sees Will. "Isn't there some rule about calling the boyfriend over when you're babysitting," Warren asks as he steps inside, surveying the living room.

Will shrugs and checks on Jack Jack, who, right now, is fast asleep. An hour ago, the baby was flying from room to room, and half an hour before that, he'd been on fire. Will handled both with surprise, but ease. He could fly himself and when your boyfriend's a pyro, you get used to the heat.

But then Jack Jack went through a rapid series of body density and composition changes and Will realized that between this being a baby who needed feeding and diaper-changing and attention, this was a superhero's kid, one who had way too many abilities for a freaking baby. It's no wonder the Parr family called in a Stronghold.

The Parrs were needed elsewhere, and while it wasn't too dangerous to bring Violet and Dash along, bringing a baby who couldn't control his powers was entirely out of the question, and so was an ordinary babysitter.

From what Warren can see now though, the Parrs were seriously overprotective. "This is the little hellion you can't handle by yourself?"

Will actually smiles because Hellion's actually a really good superhero name for Warren, but they haven't quite finished school yet so they're not ready for that. He tucks that away for later though, determined to mention it, or at least tease Warren with it. Then Warren's tone registers and his frown slips away. "You didn't see him before-" Will cuts himself off because even though Jack Jack's asleep, he's started to glow and since he hasn't done that yet, Will has no idea what it means.

Warren eyes the baby suspiciously and edges closer. "What's his power, anyway?"

"Yes," replies Will. He tells Warren about the flames, the lead, and the intangibility on top of the flying, how it seems like this baby has more powers than Will himself does. Warren's looking both impressed and slightly concerned.

After the rundown, Will goes to get them soft drinks, and suddenly Warren calls out from the other room, his voice tight. "Will, he's melting the crib."

The sound Will makes would be comical if Warren wasn't deadly serious, and Will's speed as he makes it back over to the crib rivals Speedy's. "That's not supposed to happen!"

Warren gives Will the look he reserves for when his adorable boyfriend has just said something completely ridiculous. Will sees that look a lot. "I mean, that crib's meant to withstand his- no no no, it's obviously not working."

As usual Will jumps right in, putting the concerns of other before his own, and dives under the crib to catch Jack Jack just as he's about to hit (and then likely melt) the floor. Whatever he's doing right now isn't actually physically hot, but Will's suddenly wondering about his durability where it comes to something that can clearly melt through super-metal.

Luckily for him he doesn't have to worry about his skin being burned off because Jack Jack hiccups and that stops the glowing. He's still asleep throughout all of that and Will's more than glad he called Warren in. Will stands and he's smoothing the baby's hair down when he looks up and sees Warren staring at him with an expression he's never seen before.

"What?"

"Nothing," Warren gestures to the useless crib. "You can't put him back in there now though."

"We can just take turns holding him until he's done sleeping then," Will says confidently and is actually a little amused when Warren's eyebrows climb.

Only fifteen minutes later, Jack Jack's wakes up while Warren's holding him. The first thing the baby does is giggle, reach up and yank on Warren's hair hard. Really hard. Warren accidentally flames up a little and Jack Jack squeals with laughter and mimics him.

An hour later and Will's holding back a half-ton Jack Jack who's desperate to run around the room and drag them both with him. Then he's on fire again, which seems to be his favorite, especially now that he knows one of his babysitters can do it too. It's like a strange game of peekaboo, Jack Jack and Warren flaming on and off in turns. Warren's actually smiling and so's Will, even though he's cleaning up acidic baby spit-up that 's burned through three sofa cushions so far. When he looks at Warren playing with Jack Jack, Will understands the look that was on Warren's face before.

By the time the Parrs come home, Jack Jack's a sleeping ball of fire in Warren's arms, the house is in shambles, and Will actually looks exhausted. Hero training's never been this intense, and he's glad to get out and go wind down somewhere with Warren.

Will's ready to apologize for the mess, but Mr. Incredible apologizes first, realizing that no amount of preparation for this job was really enough, especially not for a couple of kids, even if they're both heroes. And even if one of them's a Stronghold. To Will's surprise, though, Warren comes up behind him. "It's all right. It wasn't so bad." He ignores Will's incredulous look as he tacks on, "If you need another babysitter for him, let us know."

Will mouths 'us' silently and bumps Warren's shoulder. Warren's still not looking at him when they finally leave, not until they've landed back at Will's place, and Warren does that thing where he traps Will against the front door to kiss him goodnight.

Neither of them bring up Jack Jack then, but the next time the Parrs need a babysitter, Warren and Will are the first ones they call.