Chapter Text
This blood-filled flesh bag was glaring at him.
They’ve met only a couple of times, from a racing pulse full of fear, to a pounding pulse full of anger.
Hughie Campbell stands before him with his chest almost puffed out and a fire in his eyes.
Not an ounce of fear within him, but raw anger and a power to him. A gentle power that could threaten God and shake the world.
He wanted that.
Hughie glares down at him with his mouth pulled into a snarky smirk.
Homelander would almost taste the words that Hughie wanted to say, maybe even scream at him as this wave of confidence came over him within the span of a few seconds.
Homelander’s experience with humans not fearing him is slim. Butcher hates him, but they can still have their talks. And Stan was just a fucking fearless bastard who thought he had the world in his damn hands.
But here’s Hughie.
Homelander looks Hughie up and down again, “I’m kidding.”
Starlight’s fucking boyfriend who loved her probably unconditionally and didn’t hesitate to become protective over her…That sounded so-
“Starlight, get out.” Homelander says, trying not to break eye contact with Hughie.
“What?! After the shit you just-“ Starlight starts, there’s a ringing in his ears that’s getting louder with each passing minute. Homelander sneers and glares at her. His eyes flashed red.
“I’m not going to fucking ask again.” His tone is as calm as he can manage, but irritation and anger are mixing in his chest.
Starlight looks at Hughie with fear, he gives her a short nod and smile.
No one smiles like that towards him.
Homelander rolls his eyes. Starlight turns on her heels and begins to walk out, “I swear if you-“
The ringing overpowers the rest of the words that she said, he shakes his head.
“Fucking get out already and close the door!” His head whips to glare at her, he almost lasers her in half right then and there.
A body steps in front of him again and he’s staring at a chest. He looks up at Hughie again and blinks, the heat in his eyes fade.
Starlight slams the door closed and waits outside, he can hear her heart beating against her chest, thumping wildly with fear.
“What do you want?” Hughie says through clenched teeth.
The ringing starts to dull to an annoying hum.
Homelander focuses on Hughie’s heartbeat instead. “I’m impressed, Hughie. You squared up to me twice now! That takes some serious balls to do that. Did you barrow Butcher’s or finally decide to grow some yourself?”
Hughie’s jaw clenches, and Homelander stares at his jawline with a nagging interest.
“…Do you by any chance, see your relationship with Starlight lasting long?” Homelander tucks his hands behind his back.
“The fuck kind of question is that? What, you really want to date her now?! She would never-“ Hughie started beautifully, his anger seething past that odd little point and coming out.
Homelander shakes his head. “I don’t want to date her, I’d rather throw her to fucking Greenland instead. I'm actually getting tired of her face and her attitude.” He begins to walk around Hughie. “I'm a little more interested in you though.”
Like a balloon, the confidence and anger in Hughie pop.
“I should go.” Hughie starts to curl back into his shell.
Homelander’s eye twitches. “No! I want-“ He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “Why don’t you stay a bit longer? You can stay in the Seven’s meeting room or even here if you want.” He flashes a big smile.
“I think I’ll pass. I’m not-“ Hughie tries to back away, his cast pressed tightly against his stomach in fear as he moves.
The ringing grows, it’s all he can hear and focus on. Hughie’s heartbeat fades and the conversations around the building get louder.
The tapping on iPads and keyboards, the tapping of heels and shoes, the shouting and laughing.
Homelander winces, shaking his head again and trying to get rid of the ringing.
“Fucking-Stop!” Homelander yells.
Hughie flinches at the yell. “H-Homelander?”
Was the supe finally having another breakdown?
Homelander suddenly surges forward and grabs him by his shoulders. “Can you fucking hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Holy shit he actually was having a real breakdown.
“The fucking ringing!” Homelander yells again, his grip tightening and Hughie can already feel the bruises that are going to show.
Hughie gently raises his arm and grabs Homelander’s wrist. “I don’t hear anything…Do y-you have tinnitus? Or something?” That’d be a killer that Billy could use in the future.
Homelander lets go and steps back, rolling his shoulders back and sticking his chin up. “I’m the fucking Homelander. I don’t have tinnitus.” He turns on his heel and shakes his head, a few strands of hair come loose and fall in his eyes.
“Well, on a scale of 0 to fucked, how stressed are you?” Hughie shrugs. Homelander scoffs while rolling his eyes.
“I’m not stressed. I have everything under…Under control...” He puts his hands over his ears and takes a deep breath. He tries to smooth his hair back, but one blonde strand keeps going into his eye.
Hughie glances at the closed door and back at Homelander. “I-I heard ringing when m-my girlfriend died. It was more of a, uh, stress and trauma t-thing. So…Yeah, a doctor might help you better than me.” He slowly starts to back up towards the door.
Homelander looks him dead in the eyes and he freezes, he’s almost an arm's length within reach of the door.
“Did the ringing keep coming back?”
Hughie gulps, memories of Robin’s death still stung like a bitch. Just standing on the curb as the paramedics talked to him and asked him all types of questions that he just couldn’t hear and when he laid on his bed staring at the ceiling, hearing the ringing as he thought of holding Robin’s cold dead hands until they were pried from his hands.
“Yeah. Usually, A-Annie helps me with it sometimes when it-“ Homelander rushes at him, grabbing him by the back of his neck and pulling him towards the couch near the window.
Hughie slams into the couch, Homelander stands above him. “What the fuck do you do?”
“I don’t think I’m the right person to talk to.” Hughie tries to get up, but Homelander doesn’t budge from his spot.
“Fucking tell me, or I break your other arm.” The threat was pretty shitty, Hughie wasn’t completely intimidated by it but still, his left arm hides behind his back.
“I-I relaxed a little. Butcher came around and I’ve kind of been busy with that and Annie. Distractions worked the best to drown it out, b-but I-I finally have people to talk to, so that helps too.”
Homelander leans down into his space, and the edge of his cape touches Hughie’s legs. “I can’t fucking relax and I don’t have a Butcher or his group of weirdos to help. William tells me to fuck off almost every time I see him. I don’t have Starlight to baby me like you do, and I’m the biggest hero in the world! I have enough distractions already! Now, what else worked?” There’s almost a growl at the end of the rant.
Hughie bites his lip and shrugs. “I honestly don’t know. I-I’m terrible at taking care of myself really. T-Therapy might work for you? Don’t you have someone to talk to?”
“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
“Barely. I feel like I’m doing most of the talking and you’re demanding a lot and I’m really freaked out.” Hughie confessed, gulping and his palms were clammy with anxiety.
Homelander collapses into the spot next to him. He pinches the bridge of his nose, “I’m just fucking talking, you idiot.”
Ignoring the insult, Hughie tries to keep going. “When do you hear the ringing? I mean, if you heard the ringing! Not saying you are at all!” Hughie quickly covers up and hopes Homelander doesn’t start his shit again.
Homelander‘s fist clenched. “There’s no ringing.”
“O-okay. So that means I can go?” Hughie slowly starts to rise, a hand to his chest stops him and he falls back into the couch. Homelander glances around the room.
“All fucking day, it just won’t stop.”
Homelander grabs the small pillow behind him and throws it at the windows.
The pillow pops against the window, feathers scatter in the air and slowly fall to the ground. There was definitely a small imprint where the pillow hit, which he didn’t even know could happen with a pillow.
Hughie leans further into the couch, “Y-yeah, uh, j-just breathe in through your nose.”
Homelander glares at him. “Shut the fuck up.”
“Breathe in through your nose. It’s not like I’m asking you to not breathe at all.” He wishes he could ask that.
Homelander continues to glare as he takes a deep breath through his nose.
“Now hold it.” Hughie glances at what Homelander signed on his cast.
Best, Homelander.
Hughie shakes his head at it in annoyance. “Now breathe out through your mouth.”
Homelander breathes out, he leans back and closes his eyes. “That didn’t help.”
“I’m not a therapist. You need to talk about this shit with someone w-“ There’s a gust a air that hits his face before Homelander has the marker in his hand again, he’s grabbing his free hand and writing something down.
“Keep that fucking number and save it to your phone.” Homelander practically throws his hand back and tosses the marker over his shoulder. “I don’t need to talk to anyone. I’m perfectly fine.” He’s apparently not going acknowledging the number he just wrote down.
He gets up off the couch and puts his hands behind his back. “You stay here. Add that number to your phone and I’ll be back with Starlight. And don’t try and leave, I’ll just drag you back here.”
With a wink, Homelander starts to walk off. Leaving a confused and angry Hughie behind. “Wait! What-“
Homelander grabs the door knob and slams it behind him as if to emphasize his point.
Hughie gives it a good five or so minutes before he gets up and runs to the door, he peaks outside and doesn’t see any guard or security.
With a sigh of relief, he starts to walk out and is met with a hand on his chest. He jolts back, “H-hi?”
Black Noir tilts his head at him, appearing out of nowhere town and scaring the shit out of him. He begins to push Hughie back into the room and close the door.
“Hey! I can fucking leave if I want to!” He tries to push past Noir, they don’t move a muscle or even twitch at his efforts.
They hold up their hands and signal a one, Hughie stops in his struggle.
“What?”
They reach behind themselves and pull out a piece of notepad and a pen. Hughie waits for them to finish writing.
“ Homelander encourages you stay. ”
Hughie wishes Butcher was here. He crosses his arms the best he could and ignores the panic in him. “And I’m encouraging myself to leave. Now please get the fuck out of my way.” He tries to awkwardly move past Noir again.
They place their hand on his chest again and push him back. “This is dumb. Am I-“
The supe’s hands raise, Noir begins writing again.
“ Be calm and do not fight.”
“Be calm?! I want to leave and I can’t apparently leave, so no I won’t be calm! Now move-“
Black Noir grabs his cast and tugs him back to his chair. He pushes him down and Noir sits in Annie’s chair, the two stare at each other in silence.
Hughie’s eyes narrow, he slowly starts to rise out of the chair. Noir follows and starts to rise as well.
Hughie sits back down.
Fuck it.