Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

4

"So what did you do before this?" Homelander asked. They were sitting at a table inside his trailer, across each other.

Nina was always starstruck when she talked to him, and during the making of the movie, they spent some time together, especially on breaks. He never took breaks because he was tired, it was usually because he was bored. They started to have lunch together and just talk, and the conversation always flowed so easily. He seemed interested in Nina's life, which she found to be endearing. She never knew that she would talk casually to someone so powerful... and so handsome. Nina knew that filters and altered pics were a thing, but she saw the man in person, a few feet away from her. He had gorgeous big blue eyes and luscious blond hair. She was enchanted by his giggle which mostly occurred when she was around. He would listen to her with a half smile, holding his gloved hand to his cheek, elbow to the table. It looked a bit childish, given that it was a grown man in a superhero suit, but adorable.

"Walmart."

He raised his eyebrows. "You were working at a Walmart?"

"Yeah." She smiled, a bit embarrassed, looking more at her salad plate than to him. "I split rent with three more people."

"Well, I hope you feel at home. I really needed someone." He ate one of his fries.

"I'm glad to be that someone... sir."

He chuckled. "No more sir, please. You're not in the army."

"Well... Mr... Oh. I don't really know your name." Nina said, a bit surprised to realize that she only referred to him as Homelander. If she had heard his birth name somewhere, she had forgotten it. She thought about the dozens of movies, trying to squeeze her brain to remember anything, but it didn't come to mind.

He laughed. "Just no more sir, darling."

"You never had like... a secret identity? Like Starlight is Annie... The Deep is Kevin..." Nina poked the pasta on her plate.

He shook his head. "That was a long time ago. I gave up on it."

"Why so...?"

He shrugged. "I can't really hide these powers, can I?"

"Fair, I'm just gonna keep calling you boss." He smiled and Nina pretended to shake hands. "I'm Nina, by the way."

"Okay, Nina." He laughed, at her playful passive aggressiveness. "You came all the way from Brazil, right?"

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes, going with the joke. "There are too many white people in here."

He scrunched his nose. "Please! That's not the reason."

Nina giggled. "Listen. I know I'm the diversity hire. I'm not that stupid. Because of Stormfront..."

Her voice failed. She knew she had fucked up. She froze in place.

Homelander fell silent. Nina looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, sir."

He shook his head. "It's okay. I told you, no more sir."

Nina looked down, mortified. He concluded. "I'm glad you're here."

She nodded. The conversation died down a bit and in the end, they finished their meal silently and left the trailer. Nina felt so stupid, bringing Stormfront to the conversation. Their relationship was highly publicized, they looked like they belonged with each other. But the media found out that she was a Nazi, and he couldn't associate with her anymore. She was heavily injured in battle and died a while after. Nina believed that Homelander did the right choice by cutting ties with her, but it did damage his image for a while. She could not see him as a bigoted man, because it would go against everything he's ever said, about saving the world and being a good person. But that must have stung. Someone you love betraying you. She didn't blame him for being uncomfortable about it.

They got back to the set, without exchanging many words. They were waiting for Starlight to show up, and she was late, which made the situation even more tense. He sat on a chair, crossed his legs and stared at the set. Nina knew she had hurt him, but it wasn't at all her intention. She got too comfortable, perhaps. It was still too soon. She was deluded. He was her boss. He was nice, but it was probably because Nina was extremely efficient. He praised her to Ashley once or twice, and that was it. She never noticed any mixed signals coming from him, and she felt like a fool, because she liked him. She never admitted to anyone, but it was true. She always took their conversations as a reason to look at him. She could spend hours just admiring him from afar. He was absolutely gorgeous, like an angel. He did fly, which made the comparison much more real. It was so difficult to stare into his eyes. She would never admit to love the attention he gave her. She couldn't screw up at all. Annie showed up after an hour, full makeup and outfit on. Nina presumed she was ready to shoot and was happy to see her. Homelander was not.

"You're late." He said, staring at her angrily, like a demanding father.

"Yeah, sorry about that." She answered without much care. "I'm ready now."

"Do you think this is some kind of a joke?" He shook his head and opened his arms, palms up, showing her that she was halting everything for being late. "We have other things to do."

She avoided eye contact with him. "Hi, Nina."

"Hi."

He sighed. "Do you even know your fucking lines?"

"Yeah, yeah." Starlight crossed her arms and shrugged. "Let's just do it."

She walked to the set, to where Queen Maeve was talking to A-Train. Homelander did the same, with the grumpiest expression. When the cameras started rolling, both him and Starlight slipped into their on-screen personas and seemed to love each other like partners in a real team. However, the Seven were far from a team. They all had their individual needs, but the only one who seemed to really question Homelander was Starlight. Nina hoped to talk to Maeve about him too, but she looked tired and sad most of the time. The assistant wondered what her and Homelander talked about, when they did. Maeve seemed a bit annoyed by his presence, but nothing that gave away any anger or fear. It was like every time he went on to talk to her, she took all in, without many words. Being a leader perhaps wasn't so great, since the ones who didn't fear him, despised him instead.

After the shooting ended, Nina came to talk to Starlight. Her annoyance seemed to dissipate as soon as they saw each other again.

"Tired?" Nina asked.

"Yeah." Annie nodded. "Your boss keeps nagging me."

Nina raised her eyebrows and Annie regretted the comment instantly. "Ugh, please don't tell him."

The assistant laughed. "It's okay, he does the same to me."

The hero whispered. "How can you... how can you stand him? The man is a dick."

"Really?" Nina asked. "He's so lovely to me."

Starlight's expression dropped. Nina was now uncomfortable with the sudden change of humor. "You don't really know him, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

Before Annie could answer, Homelander called her from afar. She sighed and went to him, but not before warning Nina.

"Just... please be careful."