CHAPTER FIVE
[  𝗦𝟬𝟭 𝗘𝟬𝟲 : 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀  ]

     Juliet walked out of her penthouse and into the hallway of the 99th floor in search of the elevator. Her phone vibrated in her pocket with a new notification, probably another text message from Hughie with the address of the place where they'll meet up in a couple minutes. She spotted the elevators near the end of the hall and sped up on her walk, afraid someone might waltz in and interrupt her plans for tonight. With no interruptions, she pressed the button on the wall and held her breath as she waited for the elevator to arrive.

     Juliet heard a set of footsteps approaching her from behind and subtly looked over her shoulder to see who it was. She almost let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was Starlight, dressed in normal clothes instead of her sparkling suit. Juliet thought this might be the perfect opportunity to finally talk to her after her speech at the Believe Expo.

     "I gotta admit, that speech took some balls."

     Starlight's shoulders dropped and tiredness was evident in her eyes. "Are you going to mock me like everyone else around here?"

     "No," Juliet shook her head and crossed her arms. She wanted to ask who had mocked her about the situation, but she already knew the answer.

     "Then, cut to the chase and say what you want to say."

     "When I was with you back at the Expo, I saw you smile and wave at every person you came across and thought that was just another cheap act. But then you walked out into that stage and said what you said, and that's when I realized it wasn't. It was the courage I haven't seen around here in a long time."

     "You really think that?" Starlight's gaze softened briefly, a mix of surprise and skepticism in her eyes.

     "I know that," Juliet affirmed with a nod. "I've seen a lot of people come and go, each one putting on a façade to fit in, to survive. But you? You stood there and spoke your truth. That takes guts, especially in a place like this."

     "What's your point?"

     "Never let them take that away from you," Juliet responded firmly. "Because if you do, you're just giving them permission to strip every other part of you until there's nothing."

     Starlight was at a loss of words. The doors of the elevator opened in the midst of the tense silence, allowing Juliet to take a step inside and press the button for the lobby, meanwhile Starlight hadn't moved a muscle. When Juliet glanced back at her to question if she was going to step inside the elevator or not, the doors shut in front of her.

     The bar was mostly crowded when Juliet arrived. Hughie had already gotten a table for the two of them and sat with his arms leaned against the wood until he spotted her by the entrance. He waved her over and went on to explain how he was familiar with this place until he remembered to ask Juliet what she wanted to drink. She wasn't that much of a drinker, so she asked for a diet soda that she left aside after a while.

     "Hey. Eye of the tiger," Hughie grabbed her attention, trying his best to say his words in a serious tone. "You and me, we have a Panera gift card to win. No distractions. Come on."

     Juliet smiled at his antics and placed her focus back on the sheet of paper in front of her. Hughie thought it was a great idea to enroll themselves in tonight's trivia night at the bar, where each team was handed a sheet of paper to write the answers in.

     "Ah, good one here," The announcer pulled another question out of the bowl. "Before joining The Seven, which hero led a search-and-rescue team — "

     Juliet tried to rack her memory for the answer, but she had no clue of who it was.

     " – After the 1994 Northridge earthquake."

     "Isn't it your job to know this kind of stuff?" Hughie whispered after he saw the clueless look in Juliet's eyes. He leaned closer on the table for her to hear his words, even though he didn't have to.

     "Um. . ."

     "It's Lamplighter."

     Juliet smirked at the quick way he blurted out the answer. She set the pen down on the paper and wrote it down. "Thank you."

     "Yeah, I had all the trading cards."

     "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

     He was about to retort when a voice caught his attention beside their table.

     "Hughie?"

     A man, approximately the same age as Hughie, approached their table with cautious steps. Juliet frowned at the visible relief in the man's face, as if this was the first time he'd seen or heard of him in a long time.

     "Hey," Hughie's own eyes flashed in recognition and surprise at the man.

     "Where the hell have you been?" The man questioned immediately, a worried frown etched on his features. "After Gary's store, we all thought that. . ."

     He paused when his eyes flickered to Juliet on the other side of the table and smiled at her.

     "Oh, uh. Hi." He extended his hand for her to take. "Anthony, Hughie's best-looking friend since fourth grade."

     "Hi, I'm Juliet," she shook his hand back with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."

     "You look familiar." Anthony squinted his eyes at her. "Did you go to Kennedy?"

     Hughie was already stuttering out an answer before her. "She's, uh, new in town."

     "Mm-hm," Juliet nodded and pushed the glasses up the bridge of her nose.

     "Fantastic." Anthony grinned flirtatiously. "So, what are we drinking, New-to-Town Juliet?"

     Anthony pulled out a spare chair from a nearby table and sat down with them, not wasting his time in embarrassing Hughie in every way he could. Juliet listened attentively to every story he had to say about their time in school, laughing along to every remark or the way Hughie flushed red of embarrassment as the stories continued.

     "So, uh, Gretchen Scaramucci — "

     "No, no," Hughie groaned, already knowing which story he was going to share next.

     " — she was bigger than all the guys," Anthony continued despite his friend's protest. "Like, than all the guys. Like, Andre the Giant-big. So when Gretchen says she wants to beat the living fuck out of this guy for making a crack about her girlfriend. . ."

     "Oh, you didn't."

     "Hughie gives her this Clint Eastwood stare, like. . ." Anthony mimics the stare he was talking about in a way that had Juliet laughing automatically. "And then, bam, runs, like Forrest Gump-runs, five blocks down into a pet store where he hides behind this jumbo bag of Kibbles 'n Bits for four hours."

     "I'll be right back," Hughie excused himself.

     Juliet silently watched how Hughie stood up from the table and walked over to the bar, asking for another drink. Anthony moved on to ask her some questions about where she was from, to which Juliet responded with brief answers that wouldn't ignite any other doubts. When his curiosity ran out, he got up as well and joined Hughie near the bar, and even though Juliet could've easily heard what they were saying, she decided against it.

     It was almost midnight when Juliet returned home from the bar. She excused herself after Hughie and Anthony returned to the table from their brief talk at the bar, telling the latter that it was great to meet him before she left. He even volunteered to walk her out to her car, an offer she had to politely decline since she didn't drive a car on her way here.

     Juliet closed the door to her penthouse and locked it for the night, something she'd grown accustomed to do even though she lived in the most secure building in the city. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and an immediate smile took over when she read the good night text from Hughie. Before she unlocked her phone to answer him, she reached over to the light switch on the wall to make sure she didn't trip on the way to her bed.

     "You were out for quite a while."

     "Jesus," Juliet exclaimed as she took a step back out of surprise, even though she immediately recognized the voice. "What the hell are you doing here?"

     Maeve offered a smile that didn't reach her eyes and shrugged in response. She had her legs crossed over Juliet's faux leather couch, an almost empty bottle of scotch placed on the coffee table, and her reddish hair all disarranged, quite the opposite of her public image.

     "Didn't feel like going back to my own room just yet."

     Juliet didn't question it any further. She set her key on the key holder glued to the wall and took a step forward toward her couch. At the same time, Maeve got up from her seat and walked over to the kitchenette on the other side of the room, in search of another bottle from Juliet's secret stash. When she found it, she cracked the bottle open and poured herself a glass, not before she looked up to silently ask Juliet if she wanted a drink as well, to which she answered with a shake of her head.

     "You're gonna tell me where you were or should I guess?"

     "I'm not going to tell you either way."

     "Fair enough," Maeve raised her glass to her lips and Juliet grabbed her arm to stop her. The redhead looked up with a questioning glare, easily pulling herself out of the firm grip.

     "I think you've had enough to drink."

     Maeve let out a scoff. "Well, we all have our habits."

     Juliet looked down at that sentence and pressed her lips in a thin line. She heard Maeve set the glass back on the counter and lifted her gaze in time to see the distant look behind her eyes.

     "What's wrong?"

     "Elena."

     Juliet hummed in understanding. She didn't know the details, but Maeve had confided in her the secret of her sexuality and her previous relationship with a woman named Elena, which didn't end in the best of terms. According to Maeve, she ended it with her before she got involved with her brother.

     "She, um, . . ."

     "You don't have to tell me."

     "I thought that I'd be over it by now."

     "We always say that and then we're surprised by our own emotions."

     Maeve made a clicking noise with her tongue to process those words before pretending like she didn't hear them. "When's the last time you've dated? Is that why you were out tonight?"

     "No, it's not like that," Juliet shook her head to dismiss that idea. "I can't remember the last time I've been on a date. It's kind of hard to find someone who doesn't see you as a ticket to Homelander."

     "Seems like our problems involve the same person."

     "You sound surprised."

     Maeve let out an annoyed huff. She grabbed the bottle and poured herself another drink without a word, despite Juliet's stare. Juliet knew Maeve had a high tolerance for alcohol, but she also knew when it was time to tell her to stop.

     "Hey," her voice was soft. Maeve set the glass back down on the counter and Juliet took the opportunity to slide it away from her grasp. "If you want to stay for the night, I can grab some bedsheets for you."

     "No, I'm good." Maeve declined with a shake of her head. She wasn't one to show her emotions to anyone, but Juliet thought they were past that. "Thanks for the drinks."

     Maeve walked away from the bar and headed toward the door on the left side of the room. She stumbled on her first few steps and adjusted the silver bracelets around her wrists. Juliet could only watch as she unlocked the door and walked outside the penthouse without another word, slamming the door shut with enough force to make anyone flinch at the loud noise.

"Night, Maeve." was all Juliet could mutter before heading upstairs for bed.

author's note !
queen maeve and juliet are the only sane people in that entire tower before starlight came along and they need to stick together 🤞

- see you soon, bex <3