Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want

50

Kelly and Nina met and hugged each other a bit past eight. Kelly saw in Nina's eyes that she was tired and sad, and she hated to see her friend like that. She updated Nina on how Sheila and Angela were, and asked what had happened on these past weeks that made Nina so upset. They ordered their favorite burgers with milkshake and fries and as they waited for the food, Nina decided to open up. She didn't know if it was right, she didn't know if she was safe doing it. But she couldn't deal with everything on their own.

"You know that John and I... are dating," Nina sighed.

"Yeah, I know," Kelly replied. She could've made jokes about Nina getting that dick and being with a hot man, but it was clearly not the time.

"Well, I know... Starlight and I know the others on the Seven and...", her voice dropped. Kelly continued to pay attention.

"They always looked either afraid of him, or they don't really seem to like him at all," Nina took a deep breath and exhaled.

"I thought it was just a wrong impression that I had, that I didn't really know their dynamics and stuff."

"Well, they're superheroes," Kelly replied, "it's difficult to imagine that they would all get along, egos and all."

"Yeah, but..." Nina rubbed her eyes, "both Starlight and Maeve never hid that they weren't the biggest fans of him. They said he wasn't to be trusted."

Kelly raised her eyebrows. She didn't know it was that serious. It was something to not be that close to someone, and it was something completely different to say not to trust them at all.

"What do you mean?" Kelly asked, almost whispering. It was something too private to say out loud. Luckily, the burger place was loud enough that it seemed the conversation didn't capture anyone's attention.

"I think they knew I liked him... just by looking at the way I behaved, I guess," Nina shrugged, "and they tried to warn me."

Kelly sighed. She went silent, giving Nina the time she needed to open up.

"It was all okay for a while, you know? You saw us on TV constantly," Nina said, scratching her head, to which Kelly nodded.

"But there's something about him... that it seems like he's never happy," Nina confessed, keeping her voice as low as she could.

"He is usually with his suit on, it feels like he doesn't like to be John," Nina sighed.

"Is John is real name?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, and he didn't tell me for the longest time," Nina nodded, "I thought it was because we weren't that close and he doesn't really have to tell anyone his identity outside of work."

"But he doesn't really like to be... John. I told him that it would be great to walk around Central Park and no one knowing who he was. Without the suit and everything else," Nina shook her head.

"He exploded at me!" Nina whispered, but gesticulated a mini explosion, "He felt like I told him that his powers were useless, which was something that never really crossed my mind."

"I told him to let it go and we spent a day without talking to each other. I never imagined that he would act like a baby, especially because I made clear that I thought his powers were amazing."

"Yeah, that's... that's bad," Kelly shook her head, "why would he take it as something bad?"

"I don't think he was ever told that before... I'm not sure," Nina shook her head and looked down.

"He had some outbursts when...", Nina had never talked about the shapeshifters outside Vought Tower, so she was careful with her choice of words, "we had a security breach on Voughtland and some creature attacked me and broke my nose."

"One day, one of the creatures came in to the Tower when Starlight was out and he blamed her," Nina was becoming tear eyed, "he said he would break her neck in front of the Seven and in front of me."

Kelly widened her eyes, and Nina was about to cry.

"She's so nice, you know? Starlight," one tear rolled down Nina's right eye, followed by the left eye, and there was no way to deny she was crying, "she didn't deserve to hear that."

"And I've been thinking about what he has done ever since I started working for him, because he went out of his way to ruin one of our hospital visits the other day," Nina sniffled.

"What did he do?" Kelly asked. She looked at her friend, feeling sorry, feeling powerless.

"He... we had to read a book for the kids and..." Nina wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her jacket, "and one of the kids said some bad things... it was a troubled kid."

Nina sighed and looked down, "you know, he was foul mouthed, but he was in poor health."

"It was a teenager in a wheelchair," she dried her runny nose, "said some homophobic, religious stuff that made everyone uncomfortable."

"The staff told me to just ignore him, which we tried, but then he called John a clown... and John stood in front of the kid with his bright laser eyes..."

Nina shook her head and started whining.

"It was a kid, just a kid! And he wanted to fry that kid with his laser eyes, in front of everybody!"

Kelly didn't know what to say. She knew nothing about Homelander besides the stuff she saw on the media and the movies she occasionally watched. It was a whole lot of new information and Kelly would probably never see the man the same way.

"Wow, that's... that's vile," Kelly replied, not sure how to translate her feelings into words.

"I had to shake him," Nina motioned, "to make him stop... and it took a few seconds for him to do it."

Nina put her two hands over her eyes and shook her head. She was exhausted and desperate.

"I haven't talked to him in like a day... and a half," Nina lamented, "I left him there at the hospital and came back to the Tower. Haven't seen him since."

"What do I do, Kelly?" Nina asked, her shoulders dropping, "that's unforgivable."

Kelly paused for a moment. That job seemed to be taking Nina's life force away. She needed some change.

"You could move back for a few days... I'm sure Angie and Sheila would understand."

Kelly touched Nina's shoulder, just in time when their food arrived.

"You can go back to the Tower, pack your bags and stay with us for a few weeks, if you want," Kelly smiled, "you'll always be welcome, we're family, remember?"

Nina nodded. Her own mom wouldn't understand, and she was relieved to know she could go to another place and call it home. She hoped Homelander wasn't there when she came back to pack her things. She needed to be away from him, and from those goddamn posters, at least for a while.