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Chapter Text

That night Diana and Steve Trevor spent together in 1984 left her with a gift. A gift to remind her of the wonderful second chance she got with him, even if short lived. A baby.

Orion.

A beautiful child of dark hair and bright blue eyes.

He was the second male who was ever allowed in Themyschira, Diana lived in London, but she took him back to Themyschira regularly so he could get to know his roots and spend time with his grandmother and all his aunts. The Amazons loved him, he was the second child to ever be on the island, the first one in centuries.

Even if some of them had had their reservations about him for being male, it hadn't taken long for them all to soften up to him and his cute dimples. He would always be in someone's arms, always getting spoiled and fussed over.

Themyschira's little star.

When Orion was 4 his babysitter, a good friend of Diana, took him to the bank with her, there, several masked men took over the bank, many people were killed, the babysitter was one of them, Orion was one of the many children who were kidnapped, and one of the many children who was never found.

Diana looked for him all over the world, but she never found him.

Meanwhile, in Fawcett City, one night C.C. Batson and his wife; Marilyn came across a toddler at a car wreck, the cops were never able to find his parents nor any family. So the couple ended up adopting him, he was mute at first, wouldn't speak to people, and in the absence of a name he was re-named: William Joseph Batson. 

He lived a happy life for a whole year, when Billy was 5 he lost his parents, his uncle taking his inheritance before throwing him into the system, claiming that he wouldn't look after a child who wasn't even related to him.

Billy went from one foster home to the other, always worse than the previous one, at the age of 7 he fell through the cracks and began living in the streets. At the age of 10 he became the Champion Of Magic, and because of this, he also found out who his biological mother was.

Diana.

Wonder Woman.

Zeus told him.

And while he did found it a bit odd to have his literal grandfather in his head, he had been busier freaking out over the Wonder Woman being his mother. 

He never approached her though, terrified of the potential rejection, he had no idea if she had abandoned him, or if he had been kidnapped, or if he had gotten lost, he had no idea how he ended up in Fawcett City to begin with.

Reason he never approached her, afraid to find out the truth, and even if she hadn't abandoned him, why would she want him now? He was a street rat, it was embarrassing to even think he was related to the Wonder Woman.

And still, fate had other plans for he ended up joining the Justice League several months later.

He had tried to avoid Wonder Woman at first, but she had been quite determined to spend time around him, he guessed it was inevitable when he had the power of Greek Gods, one of which was her own father. Avoiding her hadn't worked.

With time he stopped attempting to avoid her and became attached to her, it was weird when she began calling him brother. But he didn't mind, he liked hanging around her, hiding who he was became easier, or at least he liked thinking that.

He managed to hide it for two years straight.

Became a bit harder after she revealed that she had had a son, Orion, who had been kidnapped and she never managed to find. Knowing she hadn't abandoned him had lifted an enormous weight he had never noticed off his chest. The pain in her voice, the sorrow in her face... it had almost made him reveal himself right then right there.

But he hadn't.

Because as stated before, why would she want a street rat? The fear of rejection had kept him quiet regardless of Solomon and Zeus' words.

And he never was as grateful about the Wizard deleting William Batson's existence from the internet as he was when the Justice League decided to attempt to find him.

No records, pictures or news about him would ever be found for the Wizard had deleted it all. A form to protect him from the cops and CPS. After all, you couldn't hunt down a child who didn't exist.

He had still kept himself from going around as Billy without cover, not wanting to risk it with the League hunting any speck of information they could get about him, yeah, he wasn't on the age one born in 1984 would be, but Wonder Woman herself had said his growth had been very slow, there was no telling how old he might be now if he was still alive.

Five months later after the reveal and he thought he was safe.

He should have known the League wouldn't give up with that much ease, much less when it came to a missing child, even less if said child was from one of their teammates. 

And then shit hit the fan.

\\\\\\\\\\\\

The Justice League wasn't ignorant of the knowledge about Orion.

Wonder Woman's son.

She had told them about him when the knowledge of Batman's children first came to light and the man admitted to have hidden their existence so as to protect them.

When they first found out about it, many of them had tried and failed to search for the boy, Batman had spent a month trying to find anything that could lead him to find the boy, but for a big event as that of a bank getting robbed and the children from the hostages being kidnapped, there had been few news about that. Way too little information.

And he hadn't been successful. 

Flash had spent a week methodically running all over the world, searching for anyone who might resemble the boy in the picture Diana had shown them. But he had also been unsuccessful.

Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkwoman and Green Lantern had also tried with their own methods to see if any information about that event could be found, but it was way too suspiciously vague. Batman's words of a darker motive being behind it all growing stronger.

Superman had tried to use his journalism connections to figure out how come such an alarming event got so little attention at the time, he had even spoken with the few children who had been found, interviewed them and showed them pictures. But no one was able to recognize the boy.

The League had spent three months in total attempting to find a single clue on the boy, but no one was successful. 

And then Oracle had sent Batman an image from a security camera in Fawcett City.

Of a child no older than 10 sitting outside an ice cream shop, eating a giant banana split by himself.

A child Bruce had hunted down and gotten to speak with, had managed to get a strand of hair.

And as life would have it.

It was him.

Orion.

But the child had dropped from the face of the Earth, the League had combed the whole city, but the child was gone.

Diana had been devastated, but also had felt renewed hope, because her son was alive.

What did shatter her was to find that her son was apparently living in the streets, and that he was 12 but that in the picture he looked like he was barely 10. He was so small and thin for his age due the malnourishment that it destroyed her completely.

She thought she would never see him again.

And then came the second footage.

A security camera caught sight of the boy, at Fawcett City, the boy went into an alley, and not even a second later the footage glitched, but even as it glitched it was still able to catch a much too familiar face coming back out of the alley.

"Captain Marvel?" Diana voiced out, confused. Captain Marvel had been acting weird for a while now, more distant, he almost seemed to be on edge, and it could be her imagination.

But he's been avoiding her since their search of Orion at Fawcett City, would barely look her in the eye at all. 

And now this... did he know where Orion was? Was that the reason he had been acting so weird? Had he found him? Was he hiding him? But why would he do that? It didn't make sense. None of this did. But there was no possible explanation for it when the time was so short, he must have seen Orion in the alley. He must have recognized him, there was no way Marvel would ignore a kid walking into an alley. But then why hadn't he said anything?

She's always had a soft spot for him, there was something about him that made her want to protect him, to have him close, like a connection she couldn't quite explain. He was like a brother to her, spending time with him made her feel at ease. Even if he could be quite immature at times, she wouldn't hesitate to trust him with her life.

So why hadn't he said anything if he saw Orion?

He knew how important her son was to her, how much she missed him, how much it pained her to know he was out there, alone. She couldn't understand why he would hide this.

"What's with the long faces?" Captain Marvel's sudden curious voice caught the room's attention. Diana felt sudden anger swell up, pain, as she shot up from her chair as she stalked up to the man she thought she could trust, her brother.

"You! I considered you a brother!" He took several steps back from her to keep distance between them, confusion washing over his face as he brought his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, hey, what did I do?"

"You know where Orion is, don't you?" Diana said, pinning him down with a glare as a wall behind halted his retreat. He might be taller than her, but Diana has never been one to let size deter her when it came to confronting others.

She expected a lot of things from the accusation.

However, she didn't expect him to grow pale and freeze at her words. And she almost felt the burning urge to put the Lasso around him and order the truth out of him, that if the sudden unadulterated terror hadn't taken over his eyes, he turned his eyes away from her, and for a moment, it seemed as if he wanted to completely disappear from the room, trying to make himself as small as possible. 

"Why would you think that?" Was what he asked, still refusing to look at her.

"What else am I suppose to think from that?" Diana stated as she pointed at the screen, Marvel threw a look at it, watching the kid go in, and him come out...

And Billy has never felt so terrified in his life, because no, this wasn't suppose to be how things unraveled, he knew he shouldn't have gone around as Billy, being Billy was way too risky. At this point he didn't even know what was stopping him from telling the truth.

Somehow, the League had found out he was homeless and that his DNA, was, in fact, Orion's. Diana had made quite clear her desire to find him, she felt guilt over his current condition, that she had somehow failed him, that she should have looked better. Reason he had been unable to speak with her since the League searched Fawcett City.

The guilt didn't let him even look at her, he wasn't even sure what was he so scared of, because he did wish to end this whole thing, he wanted to hug her and never let go, to apologize for the lies, to be able to spend time around her, not as Captain Marvel, but as Billy. He wanted her to stay by his side at night, to learn from more than just history books about Steve Trevor, to have her walk him to school, to go to the park together, things kids would do with their mothers.

But he was much too afraid of it. What if she didn't want him because he was Captain Marvel? What if it made their relationship awkward? What if he was kicked out of the League? What if he was kicked out and banned from being Captain Marvel? He didn't know what he would do if he lost it all.

But he had the feeling that even if he didn't speak, he would lose it all. And to be honest? Having her looking at him with such anger... such betrayal.

He couldn't take it.

Thus.

He fled.

Because he was a coward, he ran for the Zeta tubes, and while he used Mercury's speed, he had never felt so much like Billy Batson in this body as he did at the moment. Like a scared little kid running away from peer pressure.

"Marvel!"

Flash's voice was the last thing he heard before the Zeta tube aided his pathetic escape.

And once at Fawcett he didn't hesitate to step out of the Zeta tube.

"Shazam!"

Thunder roared above before lightning struck down, stripping his powers away, leaving him small and powerless, he bolted out of the alley, running for the one place no one would ever find him.

The Rock Of Eternity. 

He didn't even notice when he got there, all he knew is that once he was there he dropped on his knees, vision blurring and throat burning, a sob catching at the back of his throat, another sob, and another one followed after that, and before he knew it tears were streaming down his face, his wails echoing down the lone and dark halls of the place.

He had officially lost everything. There was no way the League would want him now after such incriminating move as that of escaping after the accusation.

And the realization of how alone he was made him cry harder, it felt like he could no longer remember how to stop crying, because he was alone, truly alone, and it felt like the world would swallow him all up, like it was eating him away.

And so he cried.

Chapter Text

It's been a week since the League had last seen Captain Marvel, when his villains turned up he would fight them in absolute silence and with a dark look before disappearing completely altogether, the citizens claimed something to be off about him, he was quiet, his smiles were gone and so were his jokes, something that had the city particularly... edgy. 

Though the change in his mood instead of making the citizens anxious seemed to be making them hostile, outsiders would be glared at, and even petty crimes had decreased, it seemed that while his mood had made the citizens want to protect the hero, it made the criminals fear him even more.

The League had tried several times to intercept him, even in the middle of a battle, but after their first attempt went wrong the attempts had been halted, now the citizens seemed hellbent on blaming them for their hero's state. Marvel had finished sending through a portal a giant tree-like creature when Superman had attempted to approach him.

Marvel had paled the second he saw him before bolting off.

Superman had tried to follow after him, but a woman from the crowd who had noticed the odd exchange had stood before him, glaring him down, an old man grabbing his arm, knowing full well Superman would never risk hurting a civilian. The crowd had very... eloquently demanded him to leave the Captain alone and to not step in the city again.

Green Lantern had gotten an honest to God hotdog thrown at him. Fawcett City did not like the Justice League's presence. At. All.

And the League wasn't even sure what had happened, accusing Captain Marvel of withholding information about Wonder Woman's son without actual proof had been a bit too rash. Yes. But the man hadn't even tried to defend himself, his reactions towards the accusations had left more than clear that he did, in fact, know the child.

And then he had run off.

All those things led the League to believe the worst, but there was a lot of confusion above all. Because Captain Marvel's never given reason to be doubted, he would never hurt an innocent, much less kidnap a child and hide it. Even less if said child was Diana's. He had been a bit evasive of her when he first joined, would flinch and freeze whenever she so much as spoke to him.

He had avoided her a lot, something no one was ever able to understand, and then, out of nowhere, he had warmed up to her, had become closer to her to the point where Diana began calling him her brother. The odd thing with him was that at times, he would do something and show it to her like an excited puppy, and whenever Diana praised him his face would lit up like a Christmas tree.

He seeked her out a lot, and if it wasn't for how wrong the sole thought of it felt, several people from the League would have thought the man might have had a crush on her, I mean, most of them had had a crush on her at some point. But no, his interactions with her never held that spark, it was something else that ached at the back of their heads but that none of them was able to decipher.

Still. 

The point stood, no one could find a reason for him to want to hide the child, it didn't make any sense at all. 

And then Oracle did something that threw more confusion and questions into the mix.

She had run Orion's picture of when he was 4 through an aging app, something to help them find the kid easier. So far she had gone as far as 17, but she said something had irked at her, and she had aged him more.

Up to 20.

That's when things got weird.

The face staring back had been a familiar one, one that didn't make any sense at all.

So she had sent it to Batman.

Batman who took liberties on invading Captain Marvel's bedroom in the Watchtower in search of the one thing that could either prove magic was much more complex than he had first thought (he really hated magic). 

Or that his lack of sleep was starting to get to him.

Turns out his lack of sleep had nothing to do with it.

He didn't knew how, but Orion and Captain Marvel were the same person.

DNA didn't lie.

And if he was Orion, it explained how he never managed to find the man's secret identity, why was he so... childish, because he was a literal child. Explained his attachment to Wonder Woman, the child going into the alley and Captain Marvel coming out, how he seemed to connect with ease with the Young Justice, his need to seek Wonder Woman's approval... it had all been staring him in the face.

When he had met Orion at that ice cream shop the kid had been suspicious of him, and Bruce has never been more glad that he hadn't revealed his identity to anyone but Superman and Wonder Woman.

Because that would have seriously put the kid on alert.

How did he not notice that the kid and Captain Marvel had the exact same smiles? Same eyes, same speech pattern, even the same sense of humor. So much for the greatest detective in the world. 

Still.

He had to inform the others, Diana would certainly want to know that the man she was currently angry at was actually the child she was so desperately searching for. And he thanked God that the Amazon hadn't attacked Marvel as he had expected her to do when she thought he was hiding her son from her.

~

"You sure about this?" Diana asked, even if she was holding the DNA test, even if the picture was displayed on the screen from the meeting room, even if she knew magic could do a lot of things, she could still not quite believe this.

Because how was she suppose to react to this? To know that the man she has seen as her brother, was not even a man, but a boy, her boy, her little star. And the new knowledge of it did nothing but bring a new meaning to all the interactions she's ever had with him.

His avoidance of her when he first joined, she had thought he hated her for some unknown reason, but he had never looked at her with hatred or even dislike, he just seemed to want to avoid her.

With time he stopped flinching and freezing whenever she spoke to him, stopped leaving the rooms she entered, she didn't knew when, but before she knew it, he had become her shadow, always following her around, always wanting to hang out, they would spar together, he would always lit up whenever she praised him, always showing her from the little doodles he made on the corner of his reports to the occasional display of magic.

She had found it both amusing and adorable.

Knowing that he was Orion... it squeezed her heart to remember him following her around, how happy he would get whenever she praised him, him showing off to her, the hopeful looks, the puppy eyes. It had been her boy seeking her company and approval.

And it killed her to remember how she had spoken to him last she saw him, how he had been terrified enough to run away. A fear she put there. She had scared away the same boy she had been yearning to see again for decades. Her little boy.

She had had the occasional passing thought of how much he reminded her of Steve, and at times, even of Orion, the little dimples whenever he smiled and the mischief twinkling in those blue eyes... it had been a huge reason for her heartache.

But it never occurred to her that those occasional thoughts would have had an actual reason. How close she had been to the truth without knowing.

"Oracle informed me that he was caught last night, the CPS has him in custody." Batman said, breaking the silence that had installed itself in the room. Diana turned to look at him with a glare.

"And you are telling me this now? Where is he?" She demanded as she stood up.

"Diana, you should-"

"If you are going to say that I should wait here and do this by your procedures, then don't bother. I don't need anyone's permission to take him, he's my son." Diana snapped, she was not gonna leave her son to be taken and given to who knows who, she knew how the world of men dealt with parentless children, and she wasn't gonna let her son be taken by strangers when she was perfectly capable of taking care of him.

"I was gonna say that you shouldn't be rash, he didn't tell you for a reason, if you just barge in there you might just make him run off again."

Diana halted at Batman's words, he was right, the last thing she wanted was to scare him off. She sighed.

"Fine."

~

Billy was an expert at escaping places, so sneaking out of the orphanage's room wasn't much hard, what was hard was climbing down the ladder, both because of his sore arm from the fall he had gotten the night before and because the thing had more rust than an old boat, each step he took made the ladder creak.

He hoped it didn't break, he was on the fifth floor, and the last thing he wanted was to have to transform in this place and call unwanted attention.

But as life would have it, because the universe's been hating on him lately.

The ladder broke.

His scream caught in his throat as he fell, but he never met the ground, instead, strong arms caught him, and before he could even process it he was being set on the ground, and as he spun around he was met with empty air. He frowned.

What the hell?

He looked around, but he was unable to see anything, whatever, right now he had more urgent matters to attend to.

Like leaving this place.

Thus, he disappeared through an alley.

~

Wonder Woman had agreed to not appear infront of Orion/Billy Batson out of nowhere, had agreed to go see him the normal way, tomorrow morning.

But because of history, Batman had sent two League members to watch him in case he tried to escape, which Batman was certain he would do. And there was also the fact that because he was Captain Marvel, it was important too to keep watch over him, just in case.

Superman and Martian Manhunter had been the ones sent to keep watch over him.

And as Batman had said, he had sneaked out, and it took all of Clark's self control to not swoop in and grab him, because the sight of a child going down a ladder that was definitely bound to give in wasn't comforting at all.

As expected, the ladder gave in, Superman didn't even think it twice to bolt towards him, catching him before he hit the ground, Batman had said to not engage with him in case he tried to hide somewhere unreachable, to just follow him.

So Superman was quick to set him on the ground and flee off as quick as he came.

He and Martian Manhunter followed him through the night, making sure to not be seen, even if at times it felt as if the kid knew someone was following, he kept looking over his shoulder.

Clark still had a hard time believing that that small child was Captain Marvel. Same man who could easily overpower him. But this child looked so small, so frail. Even if he was theoretically speaking a demi-god, he still looked so... innofensive. 

It made Clark want to hide him away from anything that might want to harm him. 

He was also having a hard time processing that that child was Diana's son, the child the League had combed the entire planet for, a boy none of them ever managed to find.

A child who had all along been right infront of them, hiding behind the appearance of an indestructible man. 

Captain Marvel. 

~

Billy had thought to go back to the Rock Of Eternity, but the subway was way too far away, and after that fall from the ladder his arm had just begun hurting more.

The cops had given him chase, and of course he had ran, going down the emergency stairs from the building had seemed like a fine idea at the time.

Until one of the cops tripped and fell, and to not lose him, or God knows why in general, the guy had grabbed his leg, prompting him to also fall.

Down the stairs.

And because the universe hated him with a burning passion the security bars had broke, sending him crashing from the second floor into a dumpster.

He was a whole lot more durable than a regular human, but he had landed on his arm and there had been something incredibly hard in the dumpster, had felt like something had broke, but since he could move his arm just fine he didn't give it any mind.

And the cops had threatened to shove him in a detention center if he told anyone, he had bitten a chunk off one of the officer's arms, and scratched another one on the face. In his defense they had grabbed him way too violently while he was sleeping. He had just reacted on instincts at being attacked out of nowhere.

Still.

His arm hurt, he was hungry, and the stupid woman at the orphanage had taken away his backpack, leaving him with nothing, he had even been forced to shower and put on clothes that were in no way warm enough for the damn weather. Winter was a few weeks away.

He had slept in an abandoned hotel, had found the less suspicious room and hidden under the bed to get some sleep. At least whoever was following him would have a hard time finding him in a giant hotel, and no one would think of looking under all the beds.

Waking up was hell. His arm hurt even worse, but he had gotten worse, thus, he crawled out from under the bed, cursing at his stupid arm.

He brushed the dust off his clothes, making a face at the red t-shirt with Captain Marvel's lightning bolt. Children like superheroes nowdays. That's what the man who had given him the clothes had said, he didn't like wearing his own merchandise, made him feel weird, like he might come off pretentious even though no one really knew who he was.

Plus, superhero merchandise had the habit to be a bit more expensive than regular clothes. He had once found a Flash jacket in the trash, had ended up losing it during one of his short visits to the orphanage.

He sighed, rubbing at his arm with a scowl before taking a step forward. 

"Your arm alright?" 

That voice froze him on the spot, for a moment, even his breathing stopped, he knew that voice, voice he's done Olympic attempts at avoiding these past weeks.

He looked over his shoulder, hoping against hope to be wrong.

He wasn't.

Right outside the broken window, hovering in the air and looking at him. Christ those eyes were looking at him as if they knew everything about everything regarding him.

His throat closed.

Wonder Woman had found him.

And she knew all that there was to know.

Chapter Text

Your arm alright?

That's what Diana had asked, she had promised to be gentle, to not risk spooking him, she had watched the abandoned building all night, had had a hard time ignoring the urge to just burst in there. Because her son was there, but she didn't want to scare him.

Not after what she did last time she saw him. She had been so close to hitting him. But then she saw him crawl out from under the bed, and the way he held his arm… he was hurt. And she was infront of the window within seconds.

Your arm alright? She had asked before she could stop herself. He had turned to look at her, had been looking at her for the past minute, frozen in place and looking like a deer caught in the headlights. 

She landed at the sill of the window, he didn't move, it wasn't until she set foot inside the room that he moved, by flinching.

"You don't have to be afraid, I mean you no harm darling." She assured, her voice gentle and sad, guilt curling around her stomach, she would never hurt him. 

And he still didn't move as she approached him, but he did bow his head, fingers gripping the fabric of his shirt, his shoulders shaking . And no injury has ever hurt as much as the fact that her son was afraid of her.

She came to kneel before him, not wanting to keep on appearing intimidating. From up close, it was hard to believe he was 12, he was far too small and thin for any 12 year old she had ever seen. 

"Hey, can you look at me, please?" Diana requested, but he didn't move, and with some hesitancy she brought her hands up, gently touching his arms. "I'm sorry I scared you before, I shouldn't have doubted you as I did, I shouldn't have shouted at you either."

Be it Captain Marvel or not she shouldn't have been so harsh with him. She should have let him explain, she should have given him the benefit of the doubt. 

"I would never hurt you, you are very important to me, and I wish you could find it in yourself to give me another chance. I promise you, that I will never hurt you, I will never let anyone hurt you, I will always be here for you, you don't have to be alone anymore, you don't have to hide or run anymore." She told, needing him to know that he wasn't alone, she would always be here for him, he didn't have to run anymore.

"I'm sorry." Billy found himself saying, voice tight, needing to speak before he exploded, because no, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to be kind, she wasn't supposed to apologize, be understanding or try to comfort him.

But most importantly. 

She wasn't supposed to want him. Nobody wanted him, she wasn't supposed to want him either. Kids like him weren't wanted, they were left to grow in the streets, kids who the system only took off the streets for appearances but wouldn't care if they left again. 

He was a nobody.

"You didn't do anything wrong, there's nothing to apologize for." Diana's words just made the knot at the back of his throat burn even worse. Yes, he had to apologize, because he wasn't anything of what she might have wanted. Because even after all he heard her say, it didn't change the fact that deep down, he was ashamed of being related to her.

Because he was… broken. 

Was she disappointed over what he turned out to be? A street rat who stole and at times had to recur to eat trash just to make the hunger pains go away? Was she disgusted over how she could bring something so… embarrassing into the world? He didn't deserve her, she was such a wonderful person, so kind and nice. To think he came from her made him feel like something was terribly wrong with him.

Because how could he be the son of someone so good? So kind? 

It didn't make sense.

He felt… he felt too wrong, this shouldn't be possible. It shouldn't be her. She shouldn't want him. She shouldn't be saying she wants him. Or that he is important, he was none of those things. Captain Marvel was the one people loved and cheered.

Billy Batson was the street kid everyone just wanted to have nothing to do with. She wasn't supposed to want him. She wasn't -

“Why?” He found himself asking, because he couldn't understand, why would she want him? 

“Why what?”

“Why do you want me?” He asks, forcing himself to look at her, he needs to see it, he needs to see what is it that she wants, would she lie? What is it that even had her coming here? It couldn't be him, could it?

“Because you are very important to me, and because I missed you very much, I can't bear the idea of leaving you again, even less now. I will understand if you wish for me to stay away. I won't force you to do something you don't want to, but I would truly like it if you were to let me be in your life and at the very most get you someplace to live at.”

Because as much as it burnt to even think about it, even if Diana wanted nothing more but to take him with her, she wouldn't force herself into his life, she would give him space if that is what he wanted, but she couldn't fathom the idea of him living in the streets any longer. 

He needed a home, somewhere where he would be safe, where he could sleep on a bed and eat as much as he wanted. He needed clean clothes that actually fit him, and many things more children should get to have.

Billy for his side bit his tongue, he wasn't sure what was it, the fact that he was in pain and hadn't eaten in two days, or that maybe this whole thing was nothing like what he expected, but he felt like something long forgotten just snapped, fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt even tighter as he looked down.

“But I'm not good, I'm… I have stolen, I lied, I'm not even that smart and I fight too much.” There was a reason not many people had ever truly been interested in fostering him.

Those at the orphanage had labeled him as aggressive just because he would hit the bullies who stole toys or food from the younger kids, but adults only saw what they wanted to see. The fact that his grades the few times he went to school had been so deplorable hadn't made people like him much.

All violent kids are dumb and stupid. That's what one of the ladies at the orphanage had said to him once. 

Captain Marvel was smarter than a lot of people, he was strong and people cheered when he fought villains.

Billy Batson was the stupid weak kid who picked fights with bigger kids and ended up with broken bones, bruises and bloody noses.

“You are good.” Diana said, her expression firm and her voice leaving no room for argument. “You have a good heart, what you did, it wasn't your fault, it doesn't make you any less of a good person. You did it to survive in a world where no one else cared for you. But that is no more, I'm here for you now, you will never have to do any of that again, you will never have to worry about anything anymore. I will give you anything you need, you are my son, and I will always be here to care for you.”

It broke Diana's heart to hear him speak like that, where did he get that notion? He was good, Captain Marvel had never been nothing but the kindest, always willing to help anyone and everyone. Standing up for what was right. And she knew, that that ‘fight too much' might be also related to him wanting to do what was right. He had such a capacity for goodness …

She couldn't be prouder of who he had become. Steve would be so proud too. To see the person their child had turned into, how despite all the cruelty of the world he had still stayed good, having a bigger heart than anyone and fighting for what was right. Her little star had become a wonderful little person.

Meanwhile, Billy felt his chest twist at Diana's words, her eyes were so genuine, so filled with love and warmth, she wasn't disappointed, nor disgusted. The way she looked at him… no one had looked at him like that since his parents died… no one had ever looked at him like he mattered. Like he was worth something.

Not as Captain Marvel.

But as Billy Batson.

And that… it made something burn deep within, it hurt so bad and at the same time it felt like such a fuzzy warmth, like a warm blanket engulfing him in the middle of winter. It made his vision blur and a weight he hadn't noticed to lift off his chest. She wanted him. And when she pulled him into a hug something inside ended up breaking.

The wave of painful but good warmth that seized his chest made the tears finally burst out as he clung to her, because she didn't hate him, she wanted him, even though she knew who he was she wanted Billy Batson. Billy Batson who hasn't been wanted by anyone in his life, the one who was always casted aside or completely ignored even by the adults.

But she wanted him, even with his broken bits, she still wanted him.

And so all he could do was cry and cling to her. Because for the first time in a long time he truly felt like Billy Batson was also worth something.

Like maybe, just maybe, not only Captain Marvel deserved to be alive.

~

Diana had changed into civilian clothes and taken her son to get some breakfast, she hadn't listened to his protests against it, she would feel a whole lot better if she saw him eat something.

Also.

She had wanted to see what he might like to eat, which turns out were pancakes and waffles, with all kinds of syrups and all kinds of toppings, he ate over a dozen of those, she had glared at anyone who dared to look at their table wrong, no one had any right to judge a boy no one had cared to feed in the first place. If he wanted to eat dozens of pancakes and waffles.

Diana would give them to him. She had more than enough money to spend on him. 

Once breakfast had been dealt with, she took him to get new clothes, had to coax him into taking anything he liked, to not mind the price, she still caught him grabbing the cheapest thing he could find, but since he seemed to like the clothes he had chosen she hadn't said anything, she would have more than enough time to get him to understand that he didn't have to worry about anything anymore.

Also.

She did get him that Batman beanie he had kept looking at when he thought she wasn't looking. And Diana had to say he looked absolutely adorable with it. It even had the pointy ears of Batman's cowl.

Still, something kept taking her attention.

His arm.

He didn't seem to be favoring it much.

“What happened to your arm?” She asked as they walked down the street, Fawcett City was an interesting place she had to admit, many magical beings walking among humans, coexisting in a strange harmony.

“...I fell.” Was the answer she got, and something about his tone let her know that there was more than that, it wasn't a lie, but he wasn't telling her something. She didn't push on it, he would tell her if he wanted.

“Has anyone checked it yet?” He wasn't moving it as much as before, and he kept rubbing at it, if it hurt enough to make it hard to move she didn't think that that could be a little issue.

“I'm fine, it will heal.” Billy assured, it was… strange to have someone asking for his well being, but he did admit it felt nice. Diana pulled him to a stop, she didn't seem convinced at his words, totally understandable, his arm was practically stiff against his side. But he couldn't keep moving it anymore, it hurt to even flex his fingers.

And when he had been changing his clothes he had looked at it, it was swollen and bruised. He was no longer 100% sure that it might not be broken. Broken bones took a bit longer to heal than general injuries.

"Maybe we should go to the hospital, let-"

"No." Billy cut off, wincing at it, but he didn't want to go to the hospital, he didn't have good memories from hospitals, he didn't want to go there.

"Alright." Diana's easy acceptance made him do a double take, this day just kept giving him whiplash. First she just let him eat all he wanted without commenting on how much money it would cost or how eating too much might make him gain weight. He had eaten a lot of pancakes, waffles and even a few smoothies.

Then she bought him clothes. And now she just didn't react at all to him refusing something? That… it was weird.

"But we are going to the Watchtower then, someone needs to take a look at that."

Billy took a full minute to process that, what? But he could tell from one look that Diana wasn't about to let this go, it was either the hospital or the Watchtower, but his arm had to be looked at.

For the first time in a long time he was confronted with the unyielding look. He hasn't seen that look since Rosa, she had been a nice woman he spent a week with, he had almost considered staying with them, but they were taking in another child, a girl in a wheelchair, and he had felt like maybe leaving and letting that child get his room for her was a whole lot better.

So he left.

Still.

He hadn't gotten that look in a long time, getting it now was a bit… strange, he wanted to protest against it, he didn't want either, but he didn't want to come off as annoying or ungrateful, people didn't like ungrateful or annoying kids. She's given him more in one day than anyone had ever done.

He shouldn't be so ungrateful, what if she decided he was too irritating and didn't want him anymore? Stupid, he knew, Diana was better than that. But the fear was stronger than logic.

Thus.

He gave in.

"Fine." He ends up conceding, he isn't sure how to feel when she kneels before him, it's such a strange thing how she tries to meet his eyes, adults usually tried to impose their bigger sizes on him, they never bother to see him as an equal or even give him a sliver of respect. He is just the dumb kid who is too small to know any better.

"I'm not doing this to upset you, but a broken arm is a serious issue, it needs to heal right or it will have bad effects on your mobility or use of it in the future."

"... I know." He knows she is right. But he still doesn't like it, at all.

The trip to the nearest zeta tube is quiet, but he still holds her hand, he doesn't care if passing kids give him looks or laugh behind his back for holding his mother's hand, mother's hand, it had given him a thrill to hear that. Still amazing how a pair of sunglasses and a cap were enough to conceal her identity though. Point is, he doesn't care if he is 12 and 'too old' to be holding her hand. He will hold her hand all he wants for as long as she allows it.

Because he's spent a long time wanting to do that, to walk alongside her and hold her hand, he can be 18 and he will still hold her hand if it means he gets to feel how real she is. How he finally can by her side.

To know she did want him.

Walking through the corridors of the Watchtower is nerve wracking, even more so when he gets lots of looks from passing heroes, apparently it's a major event to see Wonder Woman in civilian clothes walking with a kid clinging to her arm.

One good thing is that the doctors at the medbay are professional enough to know not to ask questions, he can still very much see the doctor who is putting his arm on a cast throwing looks at Diana and then at him, as if trying to connect some invisible dots. 

When the doctor finishes, and man was he about to have one long week, he seriously hated casts, stupid cops couldn't be less assholes to save their life. He found it strange that the universe chose to grant him the bliss of leaving the Watchtower without running into the others, who he seriously wasn't looking forward to seeing even if Diana assured him they wouldn't kick him out.

He did feel stares even when the hall was empty, maybe it was his paranoia.

He felt himself relax once out of the Watchtower, it was already dark by the time they made it to Fawcett City.

And it wasn't until that moment that a thought crossed his mind. Now what? But Diana was walking, a confident air in her stride, as if she totally knew where she was going.

“Where are we going?” He dares to ask, unsure. She gives him a smirk that just makes even more confusion fill him.

“You will see.” He frowned, but he still followed, he didn't like surprises, but he trusted her, thus, he followed in silence, confusion did grow as they entered a nice neighborhood. 

Even more so upon coming to a stop infront of a house. He stared at it in confusion.

“Does someone live here?” He asks, doubtful, Diana smiles at him, something about it making his chest feel all fuzzy. But something about her eyes also seems nervous, he's never seen her nervous before. He hadn't even known she could get nervous.

She came to kneel before him, and she definitely was nervous. It made him nervous, because what the hell could make her nervous?

“You don't have to agree, I said so before, I will never make you do anything you don't want to, but… if you wish to, this can be our home.”

Billy froze. What? I mean, she did say she wanted to be with him, but he didn't actually expect she would want to live with him, I mean, didn't she have a job in Washington? It wasn't like he could leave Fawcett City, but he didn't want her to give her job up for him. Didn't she say she liked that job?

“What about your job? Your home?” He blurted out.

“I can always go flying or just change jobs, it does not matter, and… from now on, my home is only wherever you are.”

Oh.

She was nervous because of him. That felt like a whole new world just slapped him on the face, she was nervous about whether he would reject her or not. That… it was mind blowing to even imagine he could make the Wonder Woman nervous. And he was totally not wiping away tears over the words she just said. The idea that someone might even want to live with him, that someone liked him enough to say something like that… it's been decades since he has felt like this. 

She was even willing to give her job up for him. Her job which she absolutely loved, no one had ever given anything up for him, no one had ever cared to do something like that for him. He hadn't even known he was worth something like that. It was… a nice feeling, to know someone would be willing to go that far for him.

And she was still looking at him like that, hopeful, nervous. 

He made a decision at that moment.

“Yes, I… I would like to live here... with you.”

It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and as she hugged him, Billy smiled, for the first time in a long time, he truly smiled.

Yeah, he could definitely get used to this.

~

“I thought we agreed to not approach him.” Hal said as he peeked from a corner, watching little Marvel walk alongside Diana, wearing an honest to God Batman beanie, which rude, Green Lantern beanies were a whole lot cooler. Like, in which world a plain black beanie with pointy ears was cooler than a beanie that glowed in the dark?

“Speaks the one who couldn't stop watching the security camera waiting for their arrival.” Flash speaks, also peeking from a corner, little Marvel was certainly a whole lot different than his alter ego, appearance aside, he looked like he was one second away from just hiding under Diana's trench coat, and Barry was almost jealous of how well she pulled any outfit off, last he used a trench coat with shorts the cops were called on him because someone mistook him for a pervert.

Point is, little Marvel looks nervous, and like he wants to be anywhere but there, keeps looking all over the place, maybe Diana had had a point on not approaching him just yet. 

“You both are idiots.” Hawkwoman's unexpected voice made Hal jump and kick Flash on accident who yelped and jumped out of his hiding spot, Shayera yanked him back behind the wall before anyone could see him.

“Jesus Christ woman, where did you even come from?” Hal asked, holding his chest, because what the hell? 

“Thanagar.” Was the answer Shayera gave with a straight face, Hal stared at her, she stared back. 

“You lot are so loud.” Barry did not shriek when the air vent by his side opened, and fucking Aquaman slipped out, how the hell did he fucking fit there even? The atlantean stood up, as if it was completely normal for a viking built dude who was also the king of an entire species to slip out of a vent with dust covering his hair and beard.

“I agree.” J'onn said as he just materialized right through the wall by Hawkwoman's side, totally didn't make Shayera flinch.

“I thought we said we wouldn't spy or let our presence be known in any kind of way.” Superman scolded as he appeared out of nowhere, arms crossed over his chest as he gave them all a judgemental look.

“Did you just come out of that vent?” Hal asked, staring at the air vent across the hall, now open, dust covering the kryptonian who gave him a very offended look.

“Don't change the subject, we promised Diana we would give him time. He might not be comfortable facing us as he is now.” Superman said as a statement of fact, whether he was in the vent using his x-ray vision or not was irrelevant. They promised Diana to give Marvel space, Orion, Billy. 

And while a little part of him hadn't liked the idea of Captain Marvel being on the front lines, he also knew it would not be fair to take him out of the League when his aging wasn't quite normal.

Also.

Diana had been terrifying when she said Captain Marvel would not leave the League or be put with the Teen Titans or the Young Justice, Clark was 100% sure he had heard even Batman's heart skip a beat. But if Diana didn't see an issue with it he didn't see the problem, Captain Marvel was more than capable, he could even overpower Clark himself. 

He would still like to know that the child was able to defend himself when not Captain Marvel, not that he had to worry about that, he knew Diana would easily take care of that, and if he was Diana's son, there were chances he might have similar abilities as her.

“We know, we aren't approaching, just looking.” Flash defended, he had wanted to see little Marvel with his own two eyes, make sure he was okay, even more so when Diana said he was hurt. Oh, if Barry found who hurt him he was gonna punch them at high speed.

He's heard and seen more than enough of how kids are treated in foster homes and orphanages, and for a city that was as friendly as Fawcett was, their system was one of the worst, even worse than Gotham's! He couldn't even imagine what he might have gone through.

At least he was safe now.

~

Bruce sat at the batcave, wearing nothing but his pajama pants as he worked through all of Fawcett's cameras and whatnot, he's been two hours on it, not sure what he was looking for, but knowing something must be somewhere.

And he did find it.

In a body cam.

Officers Owen Kingley and Sasha Williams.

He watched with a tight expression as the officers gave chase to William/Orion, watched one of the officers trip and fall on the stairs, grabbing one of the boy's legs and subsequently making him fall, from two stories, his fingers curled into fists as his jaw set tight, anger curling around his stomach as he watched them just yank the kid out of the dumpster without a care whatsoever on checking for injuries, instead they threatened him.

He cut the video off, unable to look at it any longer, now he could understand why Captain Marvel has always seemed to have a particular distaste towards cops. 

“You want me to find all the dirt on them and make you a file?” Even if Barbara asked that, she was already working on it on her computer, very much eager to fuck those assholes up, she seriously hated those kind of cops who wouldn't hesitate to hurt the homeless for no reason whatsoever.

And those assholes didn't just hurt a regular kid, no, they hurt Diana's kid and also one of the nicest guys Barbara had ever met. The fact that he had the same age as Damian just fueled her desire to watch those assholes rot in prison.

Meanwhile, Bruce chose to switch to watching the security footage on Live from the Watchtower, watching Diana walk down one of the many halls with mini Marvel by her side, he couldn't help but smile as he caught sight of the beanie with the pointy ears.

He leaned back against his chair, at peace with the fact that his friend had at last found her child, Bruce understood better than anyone the pain of losing a child, how it ate you alive, how no matter how much time passed, it still ate you away, and you could do nothing but force yourself to live through an agony that sometimes just became worse to handle. And despite how well Diana had done at hiding it, he could notice the change, how genuine her smile looked, how bright her expression looked.

He never even realized how fake her smiles were until he was looking at her smiles now.

And he was glad he never stopped looking, even when all hope was lost, he had refused to stop looking. To think the kid had been so close, but to be fair Bruce never thought to connect Captain Marvel to Diana in any way. 

He should have seen the signs, Captain Marvel's behavior with Diana was never quite normal, nor was it his interactions with Young Justice and the Teen Titans, he had heard from Damian once that Jon had told him Marvel had apparently said he would go trick or treating alone and wouldn't give them any candy when the Teen Titans kicked him out of their Halloween Party.

And all Bruce could now see was a 12 year old somewhere all by himself on Halloween, probably depressed at the fact that kids his age had kicked him away. It wasn't a nice picture.

He promised himself he would fix that, Bruce has never been one to like the idea of the young heroes being casted aside by their peers or feeling like they were being casted aside, young heroes should stick together . Also, it would do well for Captain Marvel to get friends his age.

Just because Hal and Barry shared his mental age didn't mean he didn't need actual kids as friends, Bruce had a feeling the Teen Titans and Young Justice wouldn't have much of a problem with that.

Captain Marvel has always been the favorite adult, which now he guessed wasn't responsible to leave a 12 year old in charge.

Explained how come the Teen Titans ended up taking that trip in the javelin last year, javelin that ended completely destroyed and was currently at the bottom of the ocean.

Bruce sighed, he had to give it to him, the kid was smart, he wasn't even a teenager and he had still managed to trick him for years.

Definitely Diana's kid.