Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

Interlude: Queen Maeve

She was assertive, she was intelligent, she was gorgeous. She was probably the only one who understood him. In a world of stupid people, she was the brightest one. Brightest among the Supes, brightest among the humans. The first time he saw her, he knew. They were perfect for each other. The most powerful power couple. She took no bullshit from anybody, which only made her more attractive. When he was with her, it was like the world didn't matter. The Seven could crumble under his feet, but she was always there for him. She was the one he trusted the most, she had the perfect life, she would never betray him. They got together rather quickly, because who in the world would say no to to Homelander anyway? She was always so gracious while fighting. One punch from her could knock anyone out cold. Sometimes he would hold himself just to watch her fight, and she could wipe the entire world if she wanted to.

But she never did.

Homelander always thought about himself as superior, maybe because of the way he was "raised". He was mostly left to his own devices as a child, and he was paraded to the world like the perfect, super patriotic American Vought wanted people to think he was. And like America, he was always the number one. He would never understand the extreme compassion Maeve seemed to have for other humans. Supes were special, and he was the most special one. But his partner cared for the population way too much. She would do the same bullshit as him, she had deals with sponsors, she had to record ads and fake smile just like he did. But she hated the spotlight, and it took him a while to convince her it was part of the job. To her, the best part of being a superhero was helping people. Homelander didn't want to help people, only himself. People never helped him, so he had no reason to care.

They had an intense relationship. They were both freaks in their own way. The world was their playground according to Homelander. They would fly to California and find a spot to have sex on the beach for the thrill of it. They would fly undercover to Paris, get absolutely shitfaced and have ridiculously loud sex at the most expensive hotel they could find. Maeve felt like she would freeze to death while he flew her over the ocean, but it was so much fun. Being with him made her feel like she owned the world, like she could do anything she wanted to. He made his own schedule and there was no way she would be called out if Vought knew they were together. It really felt she was a queen, not just in name. That, unfortunately, wouldn't last long.

Every time they were out, fans would talk to her about the school bus incident. Maeve famously had saved a school bus full of children, breaking every bone in her arm. Homelander considered that to be such a waste of time. He would never get out of his way to injure himself because of some snotty kids. But Maeve was a saint to people, because she was a strong woman and it inspired other women to be independent. Homelander envied that a bit, just because he hated to see the attention going from him to someone else. In her insatiable desire to save the world, Maeve ended up not giving the attention Homelander craved. He started to get irritated, and said horrible things. He even suspected she was cheating on him. He would always complain about how people weren't important, just toys for their amusement. She started to resent him.

So he looked for someone else to satisfy him.

Maeve couldn't excuse his behavior. After she decided to break up, he started being condescending and mean. Homelander would always ask Maeve why they didn't work out, and she was frustrated that he never let her go. He would hover over her while she was out in events, once he killed a man just because he flirted with her. It was unbearable. She couldn't just leave Vought because he would find her anywhere she went. She realized then that he was never really into her, and what mattered was that they were powerful and the power was what attracted him. He talked about kids, but not lovingly, more like he wanted someone to continue his legacy. He didn't see her as a human, but as a Supe, and the Supe status was what he really cared about. She made it clear to him that they would never be back together, and he had to live with it.

Truth is, Maeve was in love with someone else, during all that time. And she was scared to death.

To Elena, Maeve was a woman. A very special, truly kind woman. Perhaps she was the only one Maeve felt safe around. It felt good to be with someone who didn't treat her like a puppet. That's why Maeve feared Homelander. Elena made her happy like she never was with him. She feared that he would find Elena's apartment one day and go there to kill her. Just like that, her life started to crumble. Unfortunately, she had to push her true love away, because of him. She hated him so much. She was disgusted to have ever touched him. He found about their relationship, then outed her on national television, mocking her sexuality, mocking her girlfriend. He was such a horrible being. In one of the last arguments they had, Maeve made sure that he knew how every minute she was with him was hell. It was a blow that his ego perhaps would never recover from.

Homelander hated how ungrateful she was. He gave her everything. She was more famous than any woman on the planet, all because of him. She started to drift away, she started to forget about him. He couldn't take it. Sometimes Maeve pretended he didn't exist. He told her many times that they had a brilliant future together. But she didn't want to be with him. She preferred to be with that lowlife, pathetic human than with him. He should've killed her when he had the chance, he should've locked her in Flight 37 to die with all of the humans she loved so much. She was just like the rest of them. At the end of the day, he was still the most powerful being in the world. Maeve was now just a joke, played for laughs, the diversity Supe that Vought would parade to pretend that they care. She deserved it. She deserved to be made fun of, because she broke him.

She broke him in ways that she could never imagine.