the present

"We have a new member joining the seven, that doesn't surprise me" Nate leaned back in the chair. His hands hidden away inside his pockets as he looked at Maeve. The woman didn't look comfortable with the idea of someone new joining them, then again Nate knew whoever vought picked, they wouldn't last long. They never did.

If he could quit and never come back, he would. Of course he couldn't not when he was voughts most priced weapon. He hadn't seen Grace in years, of course she understood why, both of them were hidden for a reason, he would call at least, when he could.

"Apparently it's some girl" Nate huffed in annoyance as he looked at the scripts in front of him. Interviews, since when did vought care about this shit for him?

"She better be a really tough girl then... hey did they give you scripts for some lame interview too?". Maeve shock her head as she looked at the papers on the table "they must really need you to cover something up, or maybe they're trying to make you surpass homelander finally".

Nate chuckled "please, I declined being the leader of the seven for a reason, homelander can have all the credit and all the fame, I don't care about any of it. Besides we all know he would throw a fit if vought made me bigger then him".

He took his hand out of his pocket taking one of his gloves off "homelander can do this stupid interview, the fans love him more anyways".

His hand touched the paper and it faded away into dust "any chance you can do that to the deep, he's getting on my nerves". Nate smiled "maybe, gosh I hate that guy, I'd kick him off the seven if I could".

He stood up off the table "well I better get ready to meet the newbie, you got a mission?". Maeve nodded as she sighed "something homelander could handle but of course I need the numbers so...".

Nate nodded at her "well good luck" he walked off down the hallway, putting his glove back on.

—

He could hear the crying before he even walked down the hallway, as he turned the corner of the tower. The deep walked past him with a slight grin on his lips, Nate rolled his eyes at the man.

He flinched when someone bumped into him, she looked so miserable as she cried weakly. Nate moved his hands back, it was a reflex at this rate.

Even with the gloves on, he still did it and he hated it. "I'm sorry.. i.." she kept stuttering as she tried to move past him towards the bathroom.

"You're Annie January" she looked up quickly at him, her eyes widening when she realized it was another member of the seven. He stopped himself for a moment "are you alright? did Kevin do something? I swear he's always messing with the new recruits".

Annie moved back slightly as she wiped away her tears "you know my name, that's...". She let out a weak chuckle " I mean, I'm a big fan, I've never seen you before aside from the posters on my bedroom walls".

"Ah, the classic poster fangirl, I've only ever let them make a few copies of those, you must've been first in line at the store". She smiled "I was actually, me and my mom camped out all night, it's probably still hanging up in my room, I remember my friends being so jealous of me actually having one".

She looked less miserable and he was glad he could make the moment less horrible. Kevin had a history of causing trouble, of course he never got any consequences. Nate always disliked the man.

"Don't worry about Kevin, if I scare him enough. He'll stop messing with you, it'll be easy since half the worlds terrified of me anyways".

He smiled weakly as he pushed his hands behind his back, Annie noticed the gesture. "You don't have to do that around me... I uh don't mind the gloves".

He looked surprised by her words as he watched her posture straightened. "Most people prefer when I speak with them, that my hands remain behind my back or in my pockets. And that my skins always covered up, It's not an easy process to be honest, I forget a lot and sometimes... well you can imagine what happens".

Annie wiped the smudge makeup off her eye as she looked at Nate with a curious expression. "Don't you have to touch someone for your powers to work? Why would you have to keep your skin covered?".

He blinked weakly "sorta a package deal, any contact with my skin and well people just tend to die. I can control it sometimes, but still if I walked around with a tank top and shorts, people would definitely run in terror. It wouldn't be anything new".

Annie nods as she looks past him slightly "don't you get lonely?" he would've normally lied. Given most people always ask this question, but he was honest for once. "All the time, but I can't really help the way people feel about me, and I'm fine with it".

He moved back fully, "I should get going, I'll see you at the meeting later". He walked off and Annie nodded preferably to herself before she entered the bathroom.

—

Nate looked miserable as he walked into the meeting room, his hands covered with a new pair of gloves. He hated the ones vought would make him wear, they were far more thicker then the ones he wore.

They were always so paranoid the fabric was never thick enough, so every other week, the gloves would get more and more thicker. His suit didn't have pockets so he let his hands rest in his lap after he sat down. "Glad you could join us for once Nathaniel".

He smiled "pleasures all mine homelander, I was sent on assignment out of town for a month, it's nice to be back with everyone". He noticed right away starlight wasn't here, and the way the deep looked amused.

Homelander smiled as he walked towards Nate, his hands behind his back. He didn't really scare Nate, he knew homelander wasn't a good guy, then again no one on the seven was much of a good guy.

"Well seems you keep being sent out of town, perhaps we don't..." before he could finish his sentence. The doors opened and Annie walked inside slowly.

Homelander turned and smiled "Starlight. Don't want to be late to your first official meeting". He chuckled as he walked towards the front of the table.

"I had a whole welcome speech planned" starlight smiled as she walked towards the table "sorry, sir". Nate almost laughed at the word sir, but he held it in as homelander neared his seat at the table.

"Please, homelanders fine", most of the table looked surprised when starlight sat beside Nate. They always kept those seats empty, because even the seven was terrified of him. That same reflex happened again and he pushed his hands away from his lap.

Letting them move far away from starlight as she sat down fully in the chair. Nate grew tense when her cape hit his side slightly, he pushed his chair away from her. He saw the way the deep looked at starlight, the man clearly enjoying himself.

"Beginning to wonder if you'd even show up. I mean, all that pressure, it's a lot–" he paused as he covered his mouth, almost as if he was holding in a laugh.

"–for anyone to swallow" starlight smirked as her posture straightened. "Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm here and I'm not going anywhere".

Nate saw the way her eyes flashed bright for a brief second, he chuckled to himself when Kevin flinched back at the action.

—

Nate let out a heavy exhale after he walked out of the meeting room. He hated sitting down for so long, going over things that didn't matter.

"Hey, I'm thinking of heading into town for a drink... would you wanna join maybe?" he turned at the sound of Annie's voice, she smiled at him kindly.

He knew that kind of smile so well, she was pitying him. "I can't really leave the tower without authorization from someone". Annie shrugged her shoulders "no one has to know, come on it'll be fun. And you can tell me about the seven".

He didn't smile but he nodded anyways "alright, I need a drink anyways. I just need to change out of this stupid suit". He flinched when she walked towards him, her hand reaching forward.

She giggled softly as she grabbed his phone out of his back pocket "I'll give you my number, that way I can message you the address". He grew tense when she went to put his phone back, her arm grazing his arm.

He felt the goosebumps on his skin almost immediately. He gripped her wrist quickly, the material of his gloves making her shiver.

"Don't" he let her go as he moved back, he pushed his suit over the exposed flesh on his arm. Annie didn't look upset, mainly disappointed with herself.

"You don't..." she paused as she tried to think for a moment. Then she moved closer to him "you don't have to worry about that nonsense around me, who cares if I accidentally touch your arm, you won't kill me anyways".

She went to touch his neck where his flesh was exposed slightly as if to prove a point and he looked pissed off. The second her hand touched the skin cracks began to form on her fingers.

She winced in discomfort as he moved back like she had burned him. The cracks disappeared on her skin as if it never happened, "that tickled.... I just wanted to see if anything would happen".

He sighed "you're stupid for doing that.... I could've taken your hand off by accident, now my suits gonna be upgraded again". He didn't say anything else as he walked off down the hallway towards his room.

Annie sighed to herself as she looked down at her hand, it was normal and yet she still felt the lingering of those cracks. She smacked herself slightly "idiot".

—
authors note:
Nate and Annie meeting is honestly a mood, of course she would secretly be a fan of his. She also definitely would touch him to see what his power would feel like for fun. I literally can't wait for this story to progress onwards, it'll just get better.