"I'm tired of the red tape and the deep-state bureaucrats." Queen Maeve spoke from her chair beside Dane. He could tell the reporter was eating it up. God, he hated it here.

A-train's race against Shockwave. Everyone had to be there. Which meant he did too.

"If the people want us in the armed forces, the people can order Congress to do it. Am I right?" Maeve turned to face the crowd around her, to which they began to cheer.

"What about you?" The reporter spoke excitedly as she turned to face Dane. "I'm sure The Shadow has a view on the subject!"

He opened his mouth to speak before a gust of wind caused him to immediately shut it, Homelander landing a mere yard away. The cheers grew two times louder as people screamed out his name.

"Sorry, I'm late. You got room for one more?" The man outstretched his hand with a chuckle that was equally matched by the reporter.

"Ravishing as ever, my sweet." He held the woman's hand for a moment before turning to the crowd, his voice reverberating from the big screen. "Hey, who's ready to see a race? Let's hear it for my boy, A-train?"

The blond ducked his head slightly. "You fucking cocksuckers." He muttered under his breath.

-

They were moved to perfect seating to watch the race. Of course they had to wave to their beloved fans every waking minute.

He stood on Homelander's right, Maeve on his left as their arms tired out over the constant greetings.

"Glad you made it." Maeve bit out through her forced smile to the crowd. "I had a feeling you might."

"Remember when we'd used to just fly off to Paris, like, on a whim?" Homelander brought up out of the blue. Dane reeled back slightly at that, eyes narrowing at the crowd in interest as he pretended to not listen.

"Yeah, I remember freezing my ass off across the Atlantic." Maeve replied.

"Yeah, those were good times." Homelander smiled. "Why did we ever break up?"

"You mind if we not crack open that tawdry little chapter?" She smiled as she eyed the crowd with a smile.

"Oh, come on." The man egged on jokingly.

"Even if we were back together, I think you have things you're much more interested in." She spoke with a reluctant smile.

"Like what?" He scoffed lightly.

"I think we both know." She murmured before turning to leave. Dane could tell she was happy to say it. Whatever got her away from the attention of Homelander. Whether it came at the cost of others.

"Well, looks like it's just us." The blond sighed, beckoning for The Shadow to move closer. Dane immediately complied.

A gloved hand brushed his bare knuckles as a shiver ran down his spine.

"You're my greatest friend, you realize that, don't you?" Homelander turned to face the other man.

"Yes, of course." Dane murmured quietly in reply. Homelander eyed him expectantly to which Dane spoke up again. "You're mine too."

The blond studied his face with a calculating gaze before turning to wave at the crowd again.

The race was over seconds after.

-

"So, Shadow, Homelander." A reporter began. It was the end of the race but it didn't seem to be the end of the annoying interviews in front of an equally annoying crowd. "You two have been great friends since The Shadow joined the team and we've even heard of your friendship as children. Would you mind explaining to us further what it was like as kids?"

Homelander turned in his seat to face Dane, a smile on his face. Looks like he wanted him to take this one.

"Uh, sure. Yeah, we were real close when we were little. We lived in the same neighborhood. Sadly, Homelander moved away when we were still young and we fell out of touch." Dane spoke, rubbing a tentative hand at the back of his neck.

"Yes, but we've since reunited after he joined the team! Our friendship's never been better." Homelander quickly attempted to make the conversation more upbeat, placing a strong hand on Shadow's shoulder.

"Yes, y—yeah. Of course." Dane moved to agree.

-

A fuzzy voice filled into the large room.

"You need to calm down."

A small blond boy shivered in the middle of the room, tears running down his round face. He eyed the door, the overhead speaker, the off-white walls, the tall mirror, the twin-sized bed.

His breathing grew rapid, eyes growing red as he did so.

"—We'll bring in a friend for you."

The boy immediately stilled at that. A friend? He'd never had one of those before.

"Bring in 014." He caught a muffled voice. He waited for a few minutes, hiccuping lightly as he did so, before a mechanical hiss brought his attention to the door.

A man, eyes following down his arm to the shoulder of—A boy, his age. He had brown hair, and even darker eyes.

"His powers aren't nearly as useful. If anything happens, he's expendable." The man spoke to a unknown person out of view from the boy before he lightly shoved the child at his side.

The other boy moved at that, shuffling to meet the blond.

"I'm—uh, I'm Dane." He muttered sheepishly.

The blond tilted his head.

-

Hanging with with Starlight was a relief. He could lean into his chair and not think hard about what he was going to say. They had become somewhat close, closer than Dane had felt with any other member of The Seven.

"So, new costume, huh?"

"Shut up." She muttered before taking a bite of her burger.

He laughed softly. "I didn't say anything."

"Sure."  She smirked.

He shrugged his shoulders, the smile on his lips slowly fading.

"Look," He murmured, leaning forward in his seat, pushing aside his basket of fries. "I know it isn't what you... had in mind, but—"

"Isn't what I had in mind?" She began to grow a little annoyed, he could tell.

"Hey, listen to me." He pleaded.

"No. I don't think you're hearing yourself, Dane." She murmured, exasperated. "Half of the team are perverts, Maeve tiptoes around everything, and you—" She cut herself off, sighing.

"...What about me?" Dane raised his brows, narrowing his eyes.

"You've—well, you've got it the worst... You're in the background, forced to follow Homelander around like you're not you're own person. You take after your own name." She said reluctantly, expression growing soft.

Dane sighed quietly, running a hand through his hair.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just on edge, I—" She started.

"No, you're right." He stopped her, holding a hand out in the middle of the table with a meek smile to which she accepted. "I'm so used to this life, though Annie. I don't know any different."