54 Super Breath

[Date: March 2023]

"Dad!" Ryan yelled coming down the stairs to the kitchen. "Dad!" He looked around at the empty kitchen. It was 7AM and his dad would usually be making breakfast by now.

He looked around the spacious house bewildered, he wasn't upstairs, ground floor, basement or the garage then it clicked . 'The back yard!' he thought.

He quickly rushed out the door and onto their massive deck from where he saw Homelander floating cross-legged in front of a bunch of stacked barbell weights looking like he was…

'Breathing heavily?' Ryan thought.

"Dad!...Uh…what are you doing?"

Homelander actually seemed startled by him as he turned to him.

"Ah, morning Ryan! Sorry I was concentrating so hard I actually didn't realize you were calling."

That surprised Ryan since his dad seemed to always hear him, sometimes from really far away…even in the city where he had trouble focusing.

"That's ok, but like what are you doing? Were you hurt?" he asked with a bit of concern and saw Homelander immediately laugh and smile.

"No son, nothing like that. Nothing to worry about." He said with a smile. "I was practicing a new superpower." He said with an ever bigger smile.

"Really! That's so cool!" Ryan asked excited. He liked using his powers it made him happy and satisfied. He'd practiced really hard over the last few months to get handle on them, he was really proud of it.

"What is it?" he asked and practically leaped to join his dad in the yard.

Homelander smirked. "I call it super breath!"

"Super breath?" Ryan asked confused.

"Yea, super breath. You know how our muscles are super strong and we can lift really heavy weights and move really fast?"

Ryan nodded.

"Well other parts of our bodies are just as strong, fast and durable and we just need to learn to control them. Like our lungs, diaphragm, abs muscles and a bunch of others." He said and Ryan looked confused.

"Here check this out. It will be easier if I show you."

Homelander pointed towards a stack of 45lbs plates that went up to Ryan's waist. He saw his dad take a much deeper breath than normal held it for a second and then leaned forward and blew at the stack.

The pressure from the powerful breath was so strong four of the plates flew off the top into the air landing about twenty yards away.

"Wow! That was amazing!"

Homelander smiled.

"Do you think I can do it too!"

"Sure thing! Why don't you give it a shot!"

Ryan followed the motions his father but his breath didn't budge any of the plates.

"Don't worry son." Homelander said patting his back. "It took me a couple of weeks to get it right. I'm sure you'll get in no time. It's just like everything else practice –"

"Practice makes perfect. I know!" Ryan said cheering up. "But earlier you weren't blowing the plates away and you were still breathing weird?" he asked again.

"Ah well, what I was doing is that I was trying to breath in a lot of air" his arms moved up and spread out "and keep it in my lungs condensed." His arms brought coming back together and his hands forming a ball.

"Effectively breathing out less air than took in. You see right now I can use super breath only for a few seconds before I run out of air so I'm hoping to extend that time by keeping more air in my lungs."

"So like a reserve, like a gas tank?"

"That's exactly right!"

"Cool!"

"Very cool!" Homelander said mimicking his tone. "Now come on. Let's go inside and get breakfast started. Are you excited for the Zoo today?" His dad patted him on the back and motioned for them to go inside.

"Definitely! Are you going to wear your disguise today?" Ryan asked.

"Kinda have to sport. Otherwise we'll be swamped with fans."

"You look weird with dark hair and glasses and your hunch makes you look so small!"

"Well that's the idea isn't it? I'm supposed to be disguised. No one will suspect I'm 'The Homelander.' Now come on in you go!" he said and opened the door.

"Dad? If I have super breath does that mean I can also have Super Spit?"

Ryan saw his dad almost trip as he walked in behind him. Homelander looked up at him.

"Uh…I guess though you probably should only use that as a last resort…it's kind of gross"

"Hmm…then I'll use it only on the really bad guys." Ryan said after a few seconds of thinking.

He saw his father smile in approval.

-

Author Note:

Some Ryan and Homelander moments where the SI is trying to his best to become discount superman. I figure Homelander will never really have superman's freezing breath but the super breath itself is quite achievable it is just expelling the air at high pressure.

Also I'm not sure what Ryan's age is supposed to be in the show so I'm going with twelve years old at the end of season 3.