Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

12

"You better watch yourself, you know." Nina said. Nina and Homelander were back at the Tower. They were in his room, drinking milkshakes together. Just a woman in business attire and her boss, who happened to be in full superhero suit as he always was, having a conversation. His room had not been torn apart for a while now, and it was a bit weird being there after hearing the man fucking someone to exhaustion almost every night. She wondered how many beds he must have broken.

"What?"

"Like... with the kid." Nina raised her eyebrows. "It felt like you were about to lose it."

"He called you a stupid bitch!" He said, absolutely flabbergasted, shaking his milkshake cup, which made Nina erupt in laughter. It was such a funny sight. It was also sweet that he cared... but Nina was relieved that he didn't do anything more than give the kid a mean look.

"Yeah, boss." She put a hand over her mouth briefly, to control her laughter and maybe not to put anything out for laughing so hard. "I'm... a teacher. I've heard worse, believe me."

"Weren't you working at Walmart?" He slurped his milkshake, his blue doe eyes were so enchanting.

Nina nodded. "Yeah, but back in Brazil. I used to be an English teacher. It's a problem everywhere. They don't want to study, and the parents blame us for their behavior. They are glued to their cellphones all the time now and school is meaningless to them."

"I can't believe that. There must be some kind of punishment..."

Nina smiled awkwardly. "You can't really... just punish a kid for misbehaving. You have to find out why they do that first. There are a lot that we don't know."

"I never misbehaved as a kid." He looked at his milkshake cup, already half full.

"Where did you go to school?" Nina smiled. "Did you go flying? Was it a Vought heroes only school or something?"

Homelander sighed. Nina's smile dropped, because he didn't seem that happy. "I was homeschooled."

"Oh." Nina said. "Well, I'm sure you were a good student. That's what really matters."

"How come?"

"You know... we all want our dreams to come true. But sometimes they don't. My students wanted to be streamers, soccer players, YouTubers, tiktokers and all sorts of things." Nina slurped on her milkshake. "Sometimes it doesn't work, and you have to work either a blue or white collar job and rot like the rest of us. That's why they need to study. It's very hard to get a job with a degree and it's even harder without one."

He nodded in agreement. "Do you miss teaching? It has been a while, right?"

"Yeah. Sometimes I miss it, but my back says no. Too much suffering." She shook her cup. "For me, at least."

"And you, boss?" She sighed. "What would you do if you weren't the mighty Homelander?"

"I don't know." He shook his head. "I was born to do this."

He got silent and it brought down the mood. Questions, as Ashley said, weren't a good call. He was so eager to learn about her, but so reluctant to open up. It seemed like there were some parts of his life that he didn't want to share. He never once looked at her funny, he never provoked a fight. The questions were met with silence, or he would change the subject. Nina felt bad and decided to try the same thing herself.

"We should order food, huh?" She stroked his arm, gently. "I know a place with delicious burger and fries. I used to eat there when I was working at Walmart... it's a bit far away from here but it's worth it."

"You don't really need to order, we have food in the Tower." He made a funny face.

"Yeah... but we should. It's delicious. I promise."

Nina ordered and security came in with the food. The fries were crispy and delicious and she asked for well done meat for the hamburger. After the first bite, he seemed to really enjoy it. He pointed at it and nodded, cheeks full of food. It was so adorable. This man could absolutely tear the whole world apart and... he was smiling happily while eating a very tasty, but greasy burger.

"Wait, you put ketchup on your fries?" He giggled, pointing at Nina's fries. "Disgusting."

"I do." She nodded. "Mayonnaise and mustard too. What are you gonna do, my dude?"

"Nothing, but I will judge you for that."

Nina would lie if she said she didn't like the attention. He was very attentive when he asked questions, like he was really interested. She felt a bit shy while being watched by big blue eyes, but it seemed like he wanted to listen to her rambles about her life, and her previous jobs. It felt just like an intimate moment, even though both of them were completely dressed. There was something about seeing him laugh and joke around that made her feel safe. He was the most powerful being on Earth perhaps, and he let his guard down. He seemed so much more relaxed than before. Of course Nina was no threat, but she liked seeing him like that... like he had no worries. He worried about his life too much and although Nina understood the need for him to have a clear image, she thought that if given time everything would turn out fine. She wished she could ease everything, and that they had these talks more often. Maybe one day he would open himself to her.

It was difficult going back to sleep and not think of him. His last sexual encounter - or the last Nina knew of - had occurred three, perhaps four nights prior. Nina knew it wouldn't last forever, but she was grateful that it had ended, because she could sleep in peace. Staring at her Homelander posters. It felt so silly, having a crush in someone she now knew personally and still having that bunch of posters on the wall. He smiled every time he was on her room because of that. She removed her makeup, brushed her teeth, took a shower and went to sleep with comfy pajamas. Working in the corporate world wasn't that easy, but at least her room was clean every time she came back from working, which she was really grateful for. She even left little thank you notes here and there. But he was the best part of the job. It was stupid to admit, she knew. She could be working anywhere else, but then he wouldn't be there. Sometimes Nina just wanted to give him a big hug. It seemed like he needed it.