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Freddy finds him smoking on the roof of his mom's apartment building. It's almost laughable, how easy it is to get cigarettes now that he has his powers. He's so clearly an adult man that no one gives him a second glance. He wonders what the wizard would think if he knew his Champion was using what he gave him to buy cigs. Not that it really matters, because the old guy is dead.
He doesn't know why he keeps coming back here; it's not like she wants him. She never wanted him and isn't that a kick in the fucking teeth? He spent so long looking for her when she never wanted anything to do with him, not even when he'd been a perfect little girl. He'd been prepared for her to reject him for not being that perfect little girl anymore. What he hadn't been prepared for was to find out that, boy or girl, she never wanted anything to do with him in the first place. That she left him behind and not the other way around.
He takes a long drag, reveling in the way it burns in his throat and chest. Then he exhales, watching the plume of blue-gray smoke curl and writhe like a snake. He knew a girl on the streets who claimed she could see your future in the patterns made by cigarette smoke. At the time he'd thought she was bullshitting, still does for the most part, but after everything he can't say for sure. Stranger things have happened, especially to him.
Voice flat and rough from the cigarette he asks, "What do you want Freddy?"
"Those things'll kill you, ya know." Even in his adult form, Freddy's voice is shrill and reedy. As a regular kid it's higher than his own actually, despite the fact that out of the two of them Freddy's the one who's cis. "Plus, smoking is bad for Captain Sparklefinger's image. So you should probably quit, just in case you get caught by some unsuspecting civillian couple trying to make out in a dark alley."
Billy shrugs, "No offense, but I don't really give a shit what people think about me in either form."
Freddy scoffs, "Yeah, okay, that's such crap."
"Go away," Billy tells him through clenched teeth.
Freddy, being Freddy, does not go away.
"SHAZAM!"
Ozone burns in Billy's nose as lightning strikes the roof, leaving behind normal-ass Freddy Freeman with his crutch and stupid hat. "Not happening dude. You're stuck with me," he huffs and sits down next to him, though not with his legs hanging over the side like Billy's are.
Something goes tight in his chest at that; Billy chooses to believe it's the combination of his binder and the cigarette smoke rather than some unnameable emotion. He takes another drag of his cigarette, pointedly blowing the smoke in Freddy's direction.
The other boy wrinkles his nose in disgust. "Gross dude," he whines, then grabs the cigarette out of Billy's hand and flicks it off the roof.
Billy turns on him, pissed off. "What the hell Freeman!" He kind of wants to shove him but thinks better of it. Powers or no, they're still pretty fucking high up.
"Smoking is bad for you," Freddy says with a shrug, not sounding sorry at all.
Billy glares at him, fidgeting with the cuff of his hoodie. He stares over the edge of the building and wonders if Freddy would catch him in time if he jumped. If he would even try. Billy wouldn't blame him if he decided not to.
"Billy?" Freddy says, sounding nervous.
"Do you think that you guys would keep your powers if I died?" he muses. He's not really asking Freddy, more just thinking out loud.
"I don't know, why?" Freddy asks. Then his voice goes all high and pitchy, "Wait. You aren't gonna like jump off the roof, right? Cause you found your mom, Eugene told me, so that would be really stupid." He laughs nervously. "Super duper stupid, duh."
"She doesn't want me," Billy says.
"What?" Freddy says.
"This is her building. She doesn't want me," he repeats.
Freddy swallows audibly, "Oh."
"Yeah, oh," he mutters. He normally would make some crack about him being speechless and how rare it is but right now he's just... tired.
Clearing his throat, Freddy tugs on his sleeve. "Can you," he starts, then curses like he does whenever his leg cramps up. He tries again, "Can you get off the ledge please?" Billy doesn't move. He's not going to jump, he doesn't think. He doesn't want to actually die. He just wants to not exist anymore. "Billy, man, you're really starting to freak me out," Freddy pleads and that's what does it, the crack running through his voice.
Billy shrugs but scoots back from the edge of the roof. "I wasn't gonna jump," he says quietly, but it comes out as more of a question. His breath catches in his throat and he wraps his arms around himself. Horrifyingly, he feels his eyes prickle with tears.
He's a superhero. Superheroes don't cry.
"Billy?" Freddy's hand is on his shoulder and he shudders, choking on the fact that she doesn't want him. No one wants him. "That's bullshit. I want you," Freddy snaps, and Billy realizes that he said the last part out loud. "We all want you. Me, Mary, Darla, Eugene, Pedro, Rosa and Victor; we all want you, dumbass! I told you, you're stuck with me."
"Shit," he mutters, wiping his eyes. "This is so stupid."
Freddy yanks on his ear and he yelps in surprise, turning to the other boy. "So not stupid, dude," Freddy tells him, grinning impishly. "You wanna know what's stupid? That your bitch of a mom can't see how great you are!"
Defensive anger surges in his chest. "Don't call her a bitch."
"Sorry," Freddy says, not sounding very sorry. "But she is stupid for not wanting you."
"No, she was just young," Billy protests. "She's in a bad place and I can't really blame her for not wanting a screw up like me." He shrugs.
"Man, c'mere," Freddy tugs him into a hug. It's awkward and Freddy's crutch is poking him in the ribs but it's the first real hug he's gotten (not counting Darla's) in as long as he can remember and as dumb as it is, it makes him break down completely.
He buries his face in the crook of Freddy's neck as he cries, big ugly gasping sobs that shake his whole body. He clings, and Freddy lets him; he pats his back, a little awkward but there all the same and that's what matters in the end. He's here and he wants Billy to stay.
No one's ever wanted him to stay before.