Chapter Text
The two soulmates had agreed that they would start counting the week at 7 am the following day. Homelander was knocking at Butcher’s window at 6:55 and watched, bitterly, as Billy continued to pointedly ignore his presence as he carried on his morning routine as if he could not see Homelander through the window. He poured himself a cup of coffee, turned on the news, and ignored the supe who was impatiently watching from his balcony. At one point, John had sent his frustration and annoyance through the soulmark, but Butcher refused to even acknowledge him until the clock struck 7. As soon as it had, he lazily stood from the couch and finally, finally let Homelander inside.
“Not off to a good start, William.”
“Whatever could you mean? We said 7,” Billy said with faux innocence.
Homelander rolled his eyes. Billy walked back over and plopped himself back on the couch. John followed and sat beside him. Butcher would be lying if he said that he wasn’t annoyed by how presumptuous the cunt was as he sat, in Billy’s opinion, too close to him. The news was playing footage of the Deep’s new Oceanland initiative for a plastic free ocean. To market it, Oceanland was offering new Deep themed cups with each purchase of an Oceanland ticket and part of the proceeds would be donated towards cleaning the ocean. The cups were made of plastic.
“Do you want to go to Oceanland?” John suggested.
“I’d much rather drown in the actual ocean.”
“Well, what is the plan for the day?”
“I don’t know what your plan is, but I’m going to work.”
“I guess, I’ll come to work with you,” John shrugged.
“What!? We never said we had to spend 24 hours together, cunt!”
“I thought it was implied.”
“It wasn’t!”
“Well, I was responsible enough to clear my schedule, so I guess that means I’ll be going into work with you.”
“Fine! We’ll go to fucking Oceanland!”
John smiled.
“If you knew you were gonna force me to spend time with you in public, why did you show up here wearing that fuckin suit?”
“I don’t mind borrowing your clothes for this one. Your stupid Hawaiian shirts will actually make sense in Oceanland.”
“Presumptous cunt.”
John was already heading towards Butcher’s bedroom. He emerged less than 5 minutes later in Billy’s blue shirt that he recalled wearing back when he recruited MM to join back up with The Boys. Billy tried not to think about how far back in the closet he knew that shirt to be and how many options Homelander had to have dug through to find it. The nosey cunt.
They took Billy’s car to Oceanland which John complained about. He didn’t understand why Billy wouldn’t just let him fly them. The car was dirty and reeked of cigarettes. There was some piece of metal somewhere rattling as the car trudged down the road as though it might break down at any moment. Somehow, they made their way to the park. John wanted to park in the Homelander themed section of parking, but Butcher parked in the Starlight section just to piss him off.
Upon entry, they were given their complementary Deep cups that were mentioned on the news.
“Where do you want to go first?” John asked.
“Home.”
“Haha. How about the penguins?”
The two made their way towards the exhibit. They stood in silence as they watched the birds swim about in the water. John didn’t know what to say. This whole thing had been much better in his head. In reality, he was just standing next to a man who hated him watching stupid birds.
“Oi! Stop that!” snapped Butcher.
“Stop what?” John asked, confused.
Butcher turned his attention fully to John, but, as he did, his brow creased in confusion. “What the-”
“What?”
“You weren’t touching the soulmark just now?”
“No.”
“I coulda sworn…”
“You felt something?” John was intrigued.
“Yeah. It felt like regret and awkwardness.”
“Wait! You really felt it? Like how you normally do through the bond?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ve heard about this! Sometimes, when soulmates are close to each other, they can feel the bond even without the soulmate having to send it!” John was ecstatic. They had achieved something that he had heard about happening to only a select few soulmates. They hadn’t even been trying! Of course they would be able to experience things considered rare. He was the Homelander, afterall. And William was his soulmate! Of course they would be special. Of course!
“Oi, oi! Calm down! I can feel ya freaking out about this! It ain’t no big deal!”
“Yes it is! William, do you know how rare it is for soulmates to-”
“We ain’t real soulmates!” Butcher barked before forcing himself to lower his tone as a family passed nearby. “Wait,” Butcher realized. “Does that mean you regret coming here?”
“Well, for a second, but not now.”
“If you regret it, can’t we just go home?”
“What? No! Of course not! But… I don’t know… I guess, I was kinda thinking that I wish Ryan were here.”
Butcher frowned, “Me too. The kid woulda loved lookin at the animals.”
John considered something for a moment, “Give me a second.”
He took to the sky before Butcher could even reply. Butcher quickly looked around to make sure that nobody saw this random man fucking fly. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice. John returned less than 10 minutes later with Ryan in his arms. As soon as he placed the boy's feet to the ground, he ran over to Butcher.
“Butcher!” Ryan called out. Butcher knelt to engulf him into a warm embrace.
“Oi! How are you, lad?”
“Great! You’re really going to spend the day with me and my dad!?”
“Yup, sure am!”
“What do you say, pal? Want to go watch the orca show?” John suggested. Ryan nodded excitedly. The three made their way over to the stadium that housed the killer whales and found a seat labeled “Splash Zone.”
Billy handed Ryan his Deep themed cup and the boy was thrilled when John handed him money to go track down the man carrying popcorn bags throughout the crowd. As soon as Ryan went to go get popcorn, Billy turned to John, “Good call inviting the kid.”
John smiled. The music cuing the start of the show began and Ryan hustled, popcorn in hand, back over to Billy and John, sitting down just in time to see the first whale jump from the water. Ryan seemed in awe. At least at first.
As the show continued, Ryan began to frown. John noticed, “What’s wrong, buddy?”
“Nothing, it’s just… do the whales want to be doing this?”
“Sure they do, champ! They get to perform for all the people who come out to see them!”
“It’s just… my mom told me that orcas travel for hundreds of miles and these tanks are kinda small.”
“Well, these whales get to put on fun shows and they get fed every day. They like it!”
“But that one’s fin is bent. My mom says that that is really rare in the wild. And she says that they are some of the smartest animals on the planet. Don’t you think they might be a little sad having to do tricks?”
“For god's sake, Ryan! They’re fine! They’re fucking whales.”
“Oi! Cunt!” Butcher cut him off before turning to Ryan, “Ya know, lad. I think you’re right. I don’t think your mom woulda liked this place. How’s about we go?”
Ryan frowned and glanced back at Homelander to gauge his reaction. Homelander was glaring at Butcher. “N-no. That’s okay,” Ryan mumbled. “I guess they’re just whales.”
“Fuck that!” Butcher grabbed Ryan’s hand and pulled him in the direction of the exit. Ryan stumbled after him, casting a look back at Homelander over his shoulder. Homelander was following the two of them close behind.
As soon as they were out of the stadium, John took a few long strides until he was in front of Billy, causing the Brit to stop, “What the fuck was that?”
“I ain’t letting him sacrifice his morals just cuz he is worried about pissing you off.”
“‘Morals?’ What fucking morals? They’re whales, William!”
“It ain’t about the fucking whales!”
“Will you two please stop fighting!?” Ryan cried out. He had his hands covering his ears and panic written all over his face. Both Butcher and Homelander felt a pang of guilt from each other through the soulbond. They both moved to kneel in front of the boy.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“We’re sorry, lad. We ain’t gonna fight no more.”
“Promise?” he said in a small voice.
“Promise,” the soulmates replied as one.
John hesitated, “I’m sorry, Ryan. It’s just… you know my friend, The Deep? Well, he can talk to fish and he told me that the killer whales love performing here.”
“Killer whales aren’t fish, they’re dolphins,” Ryan corrected.
It took everything in Homelander not to roll his eyes, “Sure, pal. But the point is that the killer whales like it.” He lied.
“Really?”
“Sure,” he lied again. Fuck his truth policy anyway. What had it gotten him?
“That’s a load of bollocks,” Butcher interjected. “Ryan, you were right. Your mother would fucking hate this place.”
Ryan looked at the ground, sadly. It was evident on his face that he was torn between what his father was saying and what he knew that his mother would feel.
“You’re making him sad, William!” Homelander hissed.
“You’re fucking lying to him!”
He was, but he didn’t like the accusation. He was about to snap back when Ryan pleaded, “You guys said you wouldn’t fight!”
Homelander and Butcher glared at each other for a second longer. It was clear that Butcher was not going to yield on this point, and John decided to pick a different hill to die on. “Oh!” he said as though he had just remembered something, “You know what? I think the Deep told me that it was the sea lions that liked performing, not the whales! You know, buddy. I think maybe you’re right. How about we go get some milkshakes and go to a park instead, huh?”
Ryan gave a small smile and nodded. John took his hand and guided him towards the exit of the marine park. Butcher followed close behind, but his glare remained fixed on John.
The trio went into a nearby McDonalds and got milkshakes before walking a block down to a local park. They sat on a bench in silence. Butcher’s barely contained frustration would have been evident even without the soulbond. It was not a good start to their first day as real soulmates. John had known Butcher enough to understand how stubborn the man could be. He wasn’t just going to let John drop this whole ‘Oceanland’ thing; and, if John was going to get the rest of the week as soulmates like the two had agreed upon, it was his turn to make concessions. John sighed.
“I’m sorry, Ryan. I shouldn’t have snapped at you back there. You were right about the whales and I should have listened.”
“It’s okay. Thank you for letting us leave.”
“And I’m sorry, William. I… truly wanted today to go better,” he said honestly.
The honesty seemed to have affected Butcher at least a little bit. Enough that he warned, “Strike one. Just don’t be a cunt for the rest of the week, got it?”
“The rest of the week?” asked Ryan.
“It’s nothin, lad. Don’t worry about it.”
He doesn’t care if it makes him a hypocrite, John was severely annoyed by how easily Butcher had just lied to his son. Maybe it was just because it was about him. He tampered the annoyance out like a rogue ember from a fire.
“How’s about we take you back to the tower, champ?”
Ryan hesitated, “Without Billy?”
“We can hang out with William later, I promise.”
“Okay, then,” Ryan resigned as John ushered him off of the bench to stand.
“William, you wait right here. I’ll be right back.” The two disappeared into the clouds before Homelander, true to his word, returned a short time later.
As soon as he landed and began making his way back to sit on the bench William remarked, “You were a right twat today; and, if you are really expecting me to go on with this bullshit week, I’m going to need you to apologize for being a cunt right now.”
“I’m sorry for being a cunt,” John said without argument. Billy raised an eyebrow at how willingly the cunt had said it, so John continued. “I really did want today to go better. I thought having Ryan there would make it less awkward, and then he started to complain and I thought I could make him stop and-” He cut himself off as he realized how that sounded. “I’ll make it up to him,” John promised.
Billy nodded, “You fucking better.”
“Let me make it up to you, too?” John asked, gently.
Billy looked at him skeptically, “How do you suppose you’d do that?”
“I’ll kill a supe for you,” John replied with no hesitation.
“What?”
“I’ll kill a supe for you. Any supe. Just name them. That’s what you want. Right, William?”
Billy considered it before smirking, “You really know how to win a bloke's heart, don’t ya?”
“Does that mean you forgive me?”
“Any supe of my choosing?”
“Any,” John promised.
“Fine. We’ll continue with this bullshit week, but I get to redeem that lil promise at any time of my choosing no questions asked.”
“Deal.”
“K. Deal. So what’s next, soulmate?”
“Let’s go back to yours?” John suggested.
“Ugh. Fine.”
It was getting dark by the time that they arrived at Butcher’s apartment. Traffic had sucked and John had insisted that they stop to grocery shop for Butcher’s apartment. He admitted to having used his x-ray vision to look at what Butcher had in his cupboards and had decided that it would not suffice. The two carried in the bags of groceries and placed them onto Butcher’s kitchen table before unpacking them. To be honest, Butcher wasn’t sure these cupboards had ever held so much food. It was then that Butcher understood the full implications of the grocery shopping as he recalled their agreement back in the bar. Homelander expected Butcher to cook for him.