American Royalty. Ch. 6
A Homelander x F!Reader and Dadlander fanfic
A/N: sorry for the wait lads, sadly I've had to put my other fic on hiatus (bcuz am overwhelmed irl from work and writing) but bcuz of that I'll be able to post this with more frequency. If you're interested in being in the taglist plz drop a comment with a request! Thanks to everybody who reads this work, you guys are awesome! also my masterlist doesn't have anymore space so I'll be making a list for this series soon, here's the previous chapter:
Tags: mild gore, angst, slow burn, fluff, oc characther, child neglect, dadlander, romance, toxic relationship.
Chapter Six
Loaded weapon.
Heavy puddles splashed all accross the floor under hundreds of steps, people panicked and yelled in fear as water burst in violent streams and the foundation of the wall eager to crumble. The dog had lost its professional cool barking madly as his owner tried to leave fast enough. Water pushing people and bodies crashing against the ground, Homelander was the first to notice the strain on her face as she tried to contain another sneeze, he looked at the mutt.
“GET THAT FUCKING RAT AWAY FROM HERE!!” He screamed, his eyes a bright red as he puffed his chest, the woman panicked picking her dog in a single swoop rushing out, splashing loudy and crying.
Behind him Helena held the flood, her arms held before her, creating a thick translucennt blue lit wall separating the thousands of gallons and the room, her body pushed back but she kept pushing forward, glass, debris and fish floating in front of her, the wall rippling around individual points, her face ready to sneeze, she was hurting, growing hot and red.
“Stop that! I'll get you out of here! Ryan!” He looks around trying to find his son in the diminishing crowd.
“The fishies!! I won’t kill the fishies!!” She cried.
“Fuck!” He cursed deciding between picking her by force and letting the chaos worsen or allowing her to continue– Y/N get Ryan, I’ll evacuate these people… can’t fucking believe I have to call Deep!!” He looked at Helena then back at you as you ran fidgeting with your bag– can… can she?”
You ignored him, splashing past him with a prescription blister.
“Is okay Helena, baby… open your mouth.”
She swallowed dried.
“She can hold it! Now do your hero shit!” You shouted at him.
The police and Vought came down, your schedule had been overridden and made irrelevant but you were glad both kids were okay, you both stayed there until the aquarium’s staff and the Deep had taken care of the fish as Helena refused to let the surviving fishes get injured, Homelander had been left in awe watching her eyes blinked a dozen shades of blue as she built stairs out of her own psionic wall for the rescuers to work with ease, getting an idea of how her powers functioned.
Smaller fishes and debri floated under the stairs, she adjusted the height of the wall to let people in, modifying for every request the teams had, as specialist vacuums pumped the water out, the outside was so loud with news vans, police and fire department doing their work, but she never broke concentration.
He had forced Deep to reassure her that the fishes were okay and weren’t angry at her, and Kevin wasn’t stupid enough to question anything about what was happening, he looked at the little girl and talked to her, turning to his freshwater friends to exchanged messages as the girl was filled with guilt and remorse, trying not to cry as to not lose her concentration.
Homelander felt prideful as he watched her work, until the moon was out and she could finally rest.
She passed out the moment the wall came down, after most of the water had been drained, she dropped instantly– Homelander caught her, his sight softening as he lifted her closely.
Ryan watched him with confusion as he carried this stranger in one arm so carefully, tucking her head into the crook of his neck, letting his chin drop against her head, to catch a whiff of her coconut shampoo.
“Is she alright?” Ryan asked, pushing her draping arm towards her stomach.
“I don’t know.” He looked at you, not wanting to hand her back– care to explain.”
“She must’ve turned off her radar… Helena is severely allergic to dogs. She can sneeze no problem” You lifted her sleeves not caring about how close you were to Homelander, her arm was covered in old darkened spots, from years of scratching, fresh hives and red streaks had settled even with the medication– but she can’t be around dogs… thank god she didn’t have an asthma attack.”
You stroke her hair checking for hives, around her neck.
“That’s why I couldn’t stay at friends for long…” You took her from him, he tried not to protest as you tore him apart– her babysitter had a mini poodle… and that was fine even if it gave her hives from time to time… she was getting better… it's my fault I didn’t check if she took her meds today.”
Homelander absorbed the information.
Some fish died and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages had been incurred but Vought would covered it all, his only nuisance was Ashley that had come down to the scene, she tucked her chin down as she approached him wearily, she had never expected to get such a call from Homelander earlier in the day, making her panic that this had been serious and maybe news worthy.
Seeing him in human clothes was a first, he didn’t look any more approachable than before, Homelander looked at her with annoyance demanding her to ‘spit it out already’ without words.
“Everything is under control as you asked! The aquarium holds no ill-will, and Deep has reassured me… multiple times.” She signed– minimal fish lives were lost and all the fish are not holding any grudges. There’s just one probl—
“What!!?” he yelled.
“The kid!” she jumped trying to hide behind thin air– We… for insurance purposes we need her information.”
Ashley gave you and Homelander a second look, looking at his display of stealth wealth, at Ryan and the ketchup stain on his collar, at your tired look, how severely underdressed compared to him yet still trying to look stylish in your turtleneck, skinny jeans and indoor sneakers then finally at the little girl whom he had made such strange demands for, that her mouth made an ‘O’ shape.
This was a date.
A date she was interrupting.
“You know what, sir. I’ll handle it all… you can just go and escort these civilians, we can talk about the details tomorrow when everything has calmed down.” She said knowing that a migraine was incoming– is that okay?”
She looked at you instead, trying to decipher who you were.
“I work for Homelander. Am one of his personal cooks… all my contact information– you blurted.
You looked down holding Helena tightly.
“Is okay darling! Just swing by when you come back from work and we can do all the ugly paperwork then. Is that okay?” If she squinted any harder she might go blind as she interrupted you, she smiled stroking your shoulder– just make sure this little bundle is feeling better in the morning. You know where my office is?”
“Yes, Ms. Barrett… I don’t have to go to HR? or CM?” Your cheeks reddened, yet feeling somewhat relieved.
She gives Homelander a nervous look then back at you with plastic confidence.
“Is fine! We deal with so many little kids… lots of parents have gone thru the same thing.”
“I broke Ashley’s door the other week,” said Ryan nervously.
She nodded with half closed eyes, already stroking the kid’s hair to reassure him it was fine.
“Go get some rest, will you– am just gonna go over there and see what the Deep’s doing”
She could really speed up in those heels, not wanting to persue this any further just glad everything seemed fine.
You expected to part from him at this point, but he escorted you back to your car. His excuse was to keep the reporter or police from harassing you. The long walk was filled with awkward silence, interrupted by Ryan here and there who realized that he could never quite get that dog, if Helena was around.
The kid wasn’t stupid, he had catched his father kissing you earlier, nervous to ask the little girl if she knew what was taking place behind them, and even if he hadn’t he could see in the way he looked at you– that there was something different about you, and in the way he clung to her that made a knot in his throat grow bigger.
Ashley stared at her computer screen as other members of Crisis Management delivered the news, Analytics had removed the videos but they were still circulating, Homelander couldn’t catch a break as he sat in Ashley’s couch looking at the scene, some chump had been recording his trip when it all took place, the accidental power release and Homelander’s violent outburst. It was all too fresh since the sham trial, even if he had left the courtroom with clean hands, there were people waiting for bones to tear him apart, especially when nobody understood why he had lost his cool and nearly lasered down an emotional support dog.
“She’s severely allergic… takes arbinoxa and clarinex for it, even gets asthma on the worse times.” He rested his eyes under his glove, he had skipped sleep and gotten her medical files instead– she couldn’t control her powers– fuck I might need to get her immunotheraphy…” He mumbled.
Homelander had spent the night researching how to help her, reading countless websites and pestering the lab rats downstairs for information. He could in theory provide Helena with help but her skin proved problematic.
“Y’all get the fuck out I need to speak to this idiot!” He hit his arm rest.
The team left without question, Ashley crying after them internally as she foound herself in the same room with a predator.
“Everything okay? The videos we can–
“Tell the media that it was a fucking allergic reaction, keep her ‘anonymous’ understand!! I don’t want anybody knowing who the fuck she is” He snapped– It was an accident!”
He stood up heading straight for her shiny new desk.
“... Helena L/N is my daughter. You know our little issue downstairs in the writer’s room?” She nodded absentmindedly trying to process his revelation– I want her mother to pretend to be Ryan’s… they are both siblings so it's an easy sell.”
“She looks nothing like you.” Ashley’s voice was so low it was barely a peep.
“She’s mine… I triple checked… we can just say genetics are weird– god I already had this conversation! I just need to smooth some things here and there, but she cannot get in trouble! Not my daughter!-- and if the people wanna guess why I reacted like that… well tell them that that fucking mutt being there could’ve hurt people! There were tanks all around us...” Homelander sat across from her, his whole body exhausted a rare sight admittedly, somethign that intrigued Ashley– give that to the team but keep it on a waterproof seal, capiche?”
Ashley bit her lips nervously as she began to process his revelations, this was the odd 2nd penny she received from Homelander, already wondering if this promiscuous bastard had more children spread around, she made a mental note to double check any surviving laids to make sure Vought wouldn’t be hit with an embarrassing child support suit out of the blue.
“And the mom…?” She looked at her notes– Y/N is she going to be a problem?”
“Look at you all serious.” Her sober expression gained some color, she might now sit higher on the ladder but he was still top dog, maybe it was the brand new plaque on her door or the view on 82 giving her attitude but she was no Edgar or Stillwell– careful with that tone.”
Ryan was a sweet boy, she had grown fond of him, the boy was as if all of his father’s humanity had been spat out and condensed into one innocent child, she had grown to like being called ‘miss Ashley’ and ‘auntie’– she was also aware that the kid had kept her alive on the occasion without noticing… so all those good things came with a price and that was that Homelander now had nothing left to give to mortals like her. She stiffen her back as her skin grew blotchy.
“I’ll have a team do a background check just to be cautious… I’m sure she’ll be a team player.” She forces a confident expression– she looks perfect for the role.”
He got up with a grin.
You headed downstairs to pick up your kid, as Ashley had promised nothing big had come out of it, you were given a business card and a registration application package-- you had missed a lot of paperwork by skirting on the edge of their radars, it seems. You walked mindlessly, your back aching and your feet sore, you couldn’t wait to get takeout and have some mocktails with your kid, when you were spotted.
A man you had never seen before pulled your shoulder gently, he had the nicest shoes you ever seen, you looked at his clothes and it was all sharp and smart casual and probably expensive.
“Hi. You must be Helena’s mom, right?” he asked far too casually to not feel threatening– I'm Nigel, Elmo’s dad.”
You turned pale.
“Nice to meet you… I’m Y/N… our kids are friends!" Your voice slightly shaky-- Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier!” You stretched your hand, forcing the best customer service voice you could muster– how may I help you?”
“Well… my little prince is finally showing interest in being a supe and he drew this yesterday” He took a folded drawing from his jacket– It seems our kids are making big plans together. I work in hero management so if this is something you’re interested in, give me a call.”
He wasn’t actually pleased, he sounded as if Helena had thwarted some grand vision– at least this wasn’t about your kids' numerous crimes together, with yours as the mastermind.
You took the page seeing a crude drawing of a little asian boy and what you assumed was Helena, their names drawn in crayon “Phantasma and Poltergeist” wearing matching black, white and red suits, your daughter in a mostly black-red suit with red gloves and boots and him in the white-red suit with black gloves and boots. It was crude but you could see the vision.
“We had some names but… it's catchy” He said mildly annoyed– your daughter is very cute, they could make a great tag-team, there is actually not that much competition at the moment.”
“I’ll talk to her and see what she wants but I can take your business card… I actually don’t have a caseworker for Helena, we weren’t really going to pursue this but she seems to be warming up to the idea.”
“Your husband wasn’t down for it?” He seemed to want to coax information out of you.
“I am single… it's complicated.” He cringed but joined you as you walked towards the daycare entrance– Is it expensive to make a suit?”
He spoke to you of the basics, of the initial investment costs, and the importance of design and branding, he was over the moon that Elmo understood color theory. He told you about how he and his husband Sven adopted Elmo from Korea when he was five months old and you told him how you been a single mom since the start. You both shared bite-sized throwaway stories of dealing with kids with powers and all the broken stuff one had to clean up over the years.
The usually manic carer looked at you with horror as she spoke with two security officers with tears in her eyes, as you opened the doors.
“What did she do now?” You said already drained, already preparing yourself for asking Homelander to help you keep her in OSCH.
“Are you Mr. Cripple and Ms. L/N?” Asked the security officer– "you need to come with us.”
You both panicked but the people gave you no answers, as you were forcible escourted to an area that only Nigel seemed to be familiar with, the thick cement walls of the lower floors made you more than uneasy, even the air tasted stale, both of your kids had been locked in 42D, had those guns not been loaded you would’ve made a scene.
A man neither of you had met before, awaited you in a separate room– A prison cell with a unwelcoming little set-up.
The man looked up from his files offering you both to sit, obeying purely out of fear without protest or sound.
“Ms. L/N how much do you think a vial of compound V cost?” he asked with a menacing tone.
You looked at Nigel who had no reply.
“Did my daughter do something…?”
“She did something indeed” The man in his serious black clothes who was probably one of the heads of security played you both normal and thermal camera CCTV footage, they didn’t look to be in the room at first until the filter was on, she kept to the corner and only moved to touch stuff after making them invisible.
You could see Helena scribbling on a notepad while fidgeting with the hi-tech equipment in the meantime Elmo sat keeping eye out or just bored out of his mind, exploiting his powers to go in and out at random hours during her care times, the footage compilations of at least one week’s worth of this nonsense.
The scene culminating with her taking a whole dozen bottles.
“You think my daughter is selling V in the playground!?” You shouted.
“My son has nothing to do with that miscreant!”
“I will have to agree. I doubt he knows what’s happening” You squeezed your fist– I understand she’s done something wrong, but did you just put my seven year old and her friend in jail!?”
“Your daughter is a super. We are just taking the necessary precautions.” He defended his actions.
“My daughter could break out of that cell and she choses not to… you are overreacting!” Your nails dig into your skin, your legs jittery.
“I would argue that makes her more dangerous…” The man looked serious– We are waiting for some people from legal–
The door was ripped apart from its hinges, scrunched and folded, as he tried to speak.
You jumped under the table.
Homelander stood in the wreckage, concrete dust covering his hair and like thunder in a storm his eyes glowed violently like lighting, he lifted his hand and demanded the man’s attention with a wag of his finger, the man stumbled out of his seat as you and Nigel cowered inside.
There was no screaming, just an unbearable silence and faraway steps approaching-- then the sound of a skipping pebble echoing across the hall.
“Congratulations on the promotion, wank stain” Homelander spoke to one of the men that had come– you better pray that my Helena doesn’t have a single scratch.” He growled quite literally growled.
You emerged from beneath, taking meek weary steps towards the exit.
You were on the other side of those eyes, your chest palpitating, your skin tight, it felt as if you could be suffocating on clean air.
As you saw the rage in his face, a part of you that had been left abandoned clench, to see him irate on your behalf, for him to have hurt somebody for your child, it made you blush.
Just how fucked up were you? You shouldn’t find him handsome as he licked a callous splatter of blood off his lip.
But there he was looking at you with those piercing eyes, that you remembered he never was anything but a beautiful and untouchable beast you once tamed.
taglist-- @immyowndefender @fromforeigntofamiliarity @demodemo909
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you should totally tell us some of your Jamiazu headcanons/lh
OK UH LETS GO THIS MIGHT GET KINDA ANGSTY BUT RAAAH
So Jamil was definitely initially the type to be like “oh, a crush. How do I get rid of it.”
This is both bcuz he’s a loner and also bcuz he’s never really been allowed to have anything to himself for his whole life, so something like a long term relationship seemed especially out of the question. He initially was the type to wait it out and just let the feelings disappear on their own (spoiler: they didn’t)
As for Azul, he fell for Jamil almost immediately but was slow on realizing it. It was probably some off handed comment from one of the twins that made him conscious of the fact he had this crush, but he was pretty confident that Jamil didn’t like him back so didn’t act on it.
They both have a kind of guilt about not being good enough, Jamil because he has like no free will and Azul because of all his self esteem issues. They both feel inferior but see each other as absolutely perfect, they just completely adore each other
Azul is very reassuring, and just generally good with words like compliments and whatnot. This goes past their relationship, Azul just has a supreme vocabulary which is half the reason he’s able to rope so many people into schemes. Jamil isn’t as verbal or eloquent, he generally expresses his love more through acts of service like he’s used to, but it’s different w Azul. Cuz he’s not doing stuff for him because he has to or because of work, he’s doing it because he wants to, because he wants to make Azul happy cuz he’s one of the few lights in Jamil’s life.
I think Azul confessed first and Jamil ended up being the one to ask him to be his bf, probably took Azul a long ass time before he did open up to Jamil about his feelings and obviously Jamil reciprocated long before he knew Azul liked him, but he had his whole plan to repress it until it goes away lmao. So once he knows he’s not getting rid of it he’s the one that takes the initiative to make it official.
They didn’t get together immediately, kind of had a gray area period of knowing they like each other and acting sort of coupley just not having any labels on it. (But Jamil kinda likes the labels cuz he’s possessive but not like in a toxic way)
They cook for each other like a lot… Jamil’s love language is food atp and he knows Azul struggles with it so he lets him take it at his own pace. Azul doesn’t cook a lot cuz he’s not confident in his skills despite being great at it, he starts cooking for Jamil a bit later on and wow I’m realizing this whole segment is ripped straight out of aquarium cuz that fic rearranged the chemistry of my brain
They’re even worse about sharing clothes than most couples, they both like clothes w hoods (Jamil so he can hide and Azul cuz it’s dark and confined) so they end up stealing each others hoodies every chance they get until eventually no one knows which is whos anymore… Jamil can also occasionally be seen wearing that light blue coat from Azul’s dorm uniform if it’s especially cold outside (merfolk don’t get cold as easily so Azul’s always loading off his jackets onto Jamil in the winter)
On the topic of Azul’s merform, personal headcanon that it’s long as fuck, like 30ish feet, our man could easily crush a boat lmao. That’s one of the reasons he hides it away so much, not only is he self conscious he’s also afraid of accidentally hurting someone since his tentacles kinda have minds of their own and explore by themselves when he isn’t paying attention. It took a while before Jamil saw his merform, like a WHILE. like not until after NRC type shit cuz of a plethora of reasons. Jamil was always curious even before they started dating, but despite his anticipation took it at a leisurely/slower pace for Azul cuz he didn’t wanna make him feel rushed or uncomfortable.
When Jamil finally saw Azul’s merform tho it was a very sweet scene… our snake boy practically fell in love all over again lmao
Azul has not stopped trying to get Jamil into Octavinelle, in fact he’s gotten worse. He’s always pulling out the “I still think we could rule the world together” and Jamil just says the octavinelle hat is ugly then kisses him so he’ll shut up
Jamil deliberately kept their relationship a secret from Kalim specifically for months. Both because he’s trying to disconnect their lives a bit more and also bcuz… it’s Kalim. He’d probably throw like a “congrats on getting a boyfriend” party which Jamil did not want to deal with lmao. As for Azul, the tweels were the first to know. (In my headcanon/heart Kalim is besties w the tweels so he probably found out through either them or just general word of mouth cuz Jamil was determined to keep that shit from him for as long as possible)
Azuls big on pet names, E.G “my pearl”, “angelfish” etc. Jamil just sticks to “habibi” (and “asshole”/“cephalofuck” )
Azul comes to all of Jamil’s basketball games, and Jamil tries to participate in board games sometimes but he gets a lil too competitive sometimes lmao… board games club dnd campaign is kinda real to me tho so he’d probably play in that (and queue Azul “i roll to steal Jamil’s heart <3” then rolls a 4 and everyone else pisses themselves laughing while Jamil contemplates moving to another country and never being seen again)
Azul is a massive animal lover, he’s fascinated by earth animals. Jamil has had to stop him from petting a feral raccoon on several occasions. He also shares Jamil’s fondness for snakes and parrots too, I imagine if they ever move into together they’d have plenty of pets… *clears throat* I definitely haven’t made and named… pets for them… *awkward coughing*
General Azul HC he blushes blue cuz octopi have blue blood and Jamil adores this
ANYWAY UH I’ve gone on way too long here um yes JAMIAZU!! After NRC they move into a beachfront place in the Shaftlands and they r happy and canon and I am so mentally ill over them
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