The confusion Homelander feels is stark, leaving him raw and vulnerable the more that Becca speaks to him. He smells the salt in her tears and wonders, briefly, if those tears could possibly be for him.
But, remembering Becca's hatred, he decides not to consider it.
His tongue wets his lips, his shoulders rising gently with the breath he takes as he stands there contemplating it. If Becca's case is "I don't want Ryan to be depressed mourning you", then he can't very well ignore it, can he?
So, sighing (and pretending he doesn't hear Edgar and Madelyn in his head, reminding him over and over that he doesn't have to be anything but the hero Vought made him to be), he uncurls his arms from behind him and folds them atop the bridge railing. Homelander leans in, looking at the drop below, and pulls his lips over his teeth with another pull of air.
"Make me a secret identity," he says. "Someone with... plain clothes, and hobbies, and whatever the fuck it is you people need to be people.
"I don't know how you'd pull it off, considering how often I tried and failed..." Homelander's head lifts, turning to look at Becca once more with a more quiet scrutiny. "But if you really want John alive this bad, the man's going to need an identity, isn't he?"
"Did you ever so much as try to dye your hair? Wear a wig? Make yourself look small? Put on some glasses and an oversized hoodie?"
The question isn't attacking Homelander in the slightest. If anything, it's addressing the fact that if he's never been taught to be a person, he wouldn't know how to pretend to be someone else.
She pulls her lower lip between her teeth in thought.
As difficult as this challenge is, she knows it's not fully impossible. She's essentially aided in creating the Homelander's public persona, she can help John figure out his.
"I can't fake a whole identity on my own. If anything, it means something as plain as finding a song you like that much more important. I can do the image, we both know I've already done it before, but the meat of who you are has to be from you.
"I can only do so much from here. I can't exactly try and buy you clothes or scope out places for us to live. Though, I'll work on the identity part of it for you and getting Ryan's stuff together so it's quicker for us to flee in the night. Also... compliment my hair when we get back." A small smirk rises to her lips as she shrugs. "I'll dye it out of spite. That way we'll be able to change your hair color without either of us buying hair dye and raising some flags."

















