Chapter Text
To anyone else, it was a normal day. The sky glittered its normal blue, the sun shined as brightly as it always did during the spring, cherry blossoms began to slowly bloom in the swift crispy wind, and daffodils started to poke their heads out of the ground and say hello to the world around them. People walked down the street, passing the ordinary shops, and inhaled the warm smell of cinnamon buns from the local bakery and couples sat at the malt shops sharing a milkshake while men in coats went on their way to work.
Yes, it was a normal, quiet day in this small city.
That is, it would be if it wasn’t for the ruckus caused by teenage boys chasing after a small child.
Billy Batson ran through the alleyways and sidewalks of Fawcett City, desperately trying to lose the teens that were nipping at his heels. His breath came out short and ragged, he wasn’t used to running so much when he had so little food in his stomach. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t seem to shake them.
Wherever he turned, there they were, and they were way too close for him to turn into his magical alter ego, so that was out of the question and none of his usual tricks seemed to work on them. It was infuriating for the boy.
And to put it simply, it all started when Billy was at the wrong place at the wrong time and in the wrong mood. He had been up all night thanks to numerous robberies all happening at the same time, criminals were getting smarter, a League meeting, and an unplanned monitor duty shift. Not to mention that the following morning he found out that there was no more food in his cupboards and someone had stolen his only blanket while he was out.
He needed to find a suitable lock.
Then when he was walking down the street, trying to find an odd job to earn money for another blanket, he came across a group of teenage boys, trying to mug a couple for drug money and Billy had enough. He snapped.
He yelled at them. And of course, they didn’t take it well.
So here Billy was, running for his life and regretting every decision he ever made in his life.
His feet pounded on the ground, struggling to push harder when he suddenly rounded a corner and slipped on a puddle. His legs swept from underneath him and he fell hard, landing on his shoulder in a position that Billy was sure couldn’t have been good for him. He groaned in pain on the cold pavement long enough for the bullies to catch up. When they saw him, they smirked.
“Well, rat, looks like you couldn’t keep running.” The leader suddenly kicked him in the stomach, surprising the raven.
Billy clutched his ribs and coughed, desperately trying to catch his breath again as the teen leaned over him and continued to grin. The boy could practically smell the drugs rolling off of him.
“This is for the money you cost us,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pocket knife.
Billy knew that this wasn’t going to end well. If anything this was probably going to add a new edition to the growing collection of scars that dotted his skin. Still gripping his stomach, the boy shut his eyes and waited for the inevitable pain to come.
And it probably would’ve come too. If it wasn’t for a voice.
“You know, I don’t approve of bullies.”
Billy cracked an eye open. And saw that the teens were glaring at a newcomer who had appeared at the mouth of the alley. Of course, Billy couldn’t see who it was exactly, but at this point, he was glad for any kind of help he could get.
“In fact, they rather get on my nerves.” the voice, male, said again.
“Oh, fuck off asshole, this doesn’t concern you!” the leader shouted as he pointed the small knife at the man. Billy lifted his head a little, to try and see who he was talking to, but the small crunch hurt his stomach too much and he put his head back down on the pavement with a groan.
“Hey! Don’t use that language around kids!”
The bullies began to leave Billy alone and walked towards the man who dared to defy them. There were about five boys in total and Billy guessed that the man wouldn’t be able to do much to them. And it seemed like all of them had small weapons much like their leader.
“I’ll give you one last chance to walk the hell away and leave us alone...Bitch.”
Billy held his breath as he waited for the man’s answer. The air was so tense with apprehension and anxiety, you could practically cut it with a dull knife.
“Nah.” the man replied, which was soon followed by the sound of a punch and the crumple of a body hitting the ground. Billy cringed, thinking that the man was the one to be struck down. But he was pleasantly surprised when he heard his chirpy voice speak up again.
“Now...who’s next?”
It was silent for a moment before a yell pierced the air. Billy listened as a fight broke out between his savior and the bullies, not sure about who was winning and who was losing. The fight didn’t last long, which didn’t surprise the boy, it was four against one there’s no way that the man alone was able to beat all of them.
So the boy closed his bluebell eyes, preparing himself and waiting for his tormentors to come back and begin beating on him again. He clenched his eyes even harder when he heard slow footsteps walk towards him.
‘Get ready’ he thought to himself. ‘You can do this. You can deal with the pain. You’ve done it before you can do it again.’ the footsteps stopped and he sensed someone kneeling next to him. ‘Be brave Batson!’
“Hey, kid.” the chirpy voice said as a hand shook his uninjured shoulder. Billy’s eyebrows drew together.
‘What?’ he thought.
He opened his eyes and saw, much to both delight and confusion, that a young adult was standing over him. No older than 24, with windswept charcoal hair and kind blue eyes that looked at him in concern. He wore a simple blue button-down, grey jacket, and dark pants. This was the guy that had saved him from the junkies.
“You alright?” he asked. Billy dumbly nodded, still unsure of how this one dude could have stopped five bullies with weapons. It was unreal.
Nonetheless, the man smiled. “Good. How about we get you out of here?” He gripped Billy’s hand, the one not attached to his injured shoulder, and hoisted him up off of the slick ground onto his feet.
“Right. There we go.” he trilled. Billy noticed quickly how much he sounded like a bird. It wasn’t like it was intentional, it was just there, in the underlying of his voice. It reminded the Champion much of a nightingale, or a chickadee, or a… robin.
“Hey, you alright? You don’t have a concussion do you?” the man asked again. Billy shook his head, answering the man’s question and also shaking the cotton clouds from his mind. It was fuzzy for some reason. Maybe it was the pain?
“Well, that’s good. How about anything else? I saw them kick you but I don’t know if you have any cracked ribs.”
“I don’t.” Billy finally said. The man’s eyebrows raised in surprise, and a small smile graced his lips.
“So, you can talk.”
The boy shrugged, and then hissed at the sudden pain that flared in his shoulder, gripping his arm. The man immediately lost his smile.
“Does it hurt?” he asked, refraining from touching Billy, which he was thankful for since he didn’t exactly want to be touched right then and there. He nodded.
The man looked around, registering the alleyway they were in and how they were surrounded by a bunch of unconscious junkies. He turned back to Billy and jerked his head to the entrance of the alley.
“Come on, let’s get out of here and get that looked at. I doubt your pals are gonna be happy when they wake up.”
Billy shook his head. “No. They won’t be.”
The man began to walk towards the mouth and turned around when he didn’t hear any other footsteps following him. He saw that Billy was still standing where he was, not moving an inch. Even though this man had helped him and even though he was willing to do more , Billy couldn’t help but feel hesitant. This wasn’t the first time an adult tried to get him to trust them. And he doubted it would be the last. Billy’s awareness was what kept him safe on the streets. He couldn’t count how many times a gang or some drug addicts tried to get him to join them; all because he was a young and “impressionable” child.
He may be a kid, but he wasn’t an idiot.
The man seemed to sense Billy’s reluctance to follow, and he walked back to the raven-haired boy, head down.
“Listen,” he began. “I know that there’s no reason for you to trust me. If anything, you definitely shouldn’t. That would be the smart thing to do. But I promise you, that I mean no harm. All that happened was I saw a young kid in need of my help and I helped him. And now I see that he needs it again.” Billy eyed him warily. Where was he going with this?
“Now, it’s all up to you. I don’t know what your situation is, you don’t have to tell me, but I do know that I want to help in any way that I can. And if that means getting you bandaged up?” Billy’s stomach growled. “Or maybe getting you a meal?” he smiled. “Then I’m okay with that. But please, let me help you out today. Just today. And if you don’t want to see me again afterward, then that’s fine too.”
Billy rubbed his arm. It would be nice to have a little help for a change, even if it was just for today.
“Okay,” he said. “But no social workers, no doctors, and no charity!”
The man smiled and raised his hands in surrender. “That’s fine by me. Now let’s get out of here.” He began walking to the entrance again, and this time Billy followed him.
“Say, what’s your name?”
“I’m Billy.” the man nodded.
“Dick.”
“Excuse me?” Billy said, a frown twisting the edges of his face as he walked alongside the man. A smile split across his face as if he heard a joke.
“My name. It’s Dick. Well, it’s actually Richard, but I don’t like people calling me that. There were a few weird months where people called me ‘Ric’ as a joke but that was stupid and I hated it.”
“Huh, okay. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Dick.” Billy stuck out his good hand for his new friend to shake.
“Nice to meet you too, Billy!” the man chirped like a robin.
Dick went into a small drug store and bought a couple of medical supplies before coming out and hailing down Billy, who had hidden by the side of the store since apparently he was on bad terms with the store owner. It seems that there have been a couple more times than one when Billy had snuck into the store and stolen supplies. And chocolate. But that was irrelevant.
Dick had been gracious enough to not take Billy to a doctor, which the boy was sure he was going to do, and took it upon himself to check and wrap up Billy’s injuries for him. While also teaching him how to do it himself in case he ever needed to.
He also taught Billy how to self-check for cracked or broken ribs. And while it was a useful skill, it made Billy wonders why a random, normal guy just knows that.
“I’m a police officer. And I also do a lot of parkour and gymnastics and stuff, and sometimes I don’t have the money to go see a doctor when I can figure out myself what’s wrong with me. So, I know these things.” he answered when Billy asked.
After Dick had helped Billy with that, he insisted on buying him something to eat. And that didn’t mean a granola bar or a can of cold soup.
No.
That meant buying four different entrees, three appetizers, and a milkshake and soda from the local diner and watching in horrified fascination as a little ten-year-old boy inhaled all of it. Every last bite.
Dick just ordered some fries and a shake. But he didn’t feel very hungry after watching Billy eat all of that food.
“Aren’t you going to eat your food?” Billy had asked him at one point.
“No, I think I’m good,” he responded. The boy made a face but shrugged it away. After he was all finished and once the bill was paid, they both decided to just chill there at the diner and wait for nothing. The sun had long passed its peak and was now making its final descent for the day when they began talking.
Billy learned that Dick was an officer in the Bludhaven police force and that he was just passing through the city on his way to his original home in Gotham. He also learned that he had three brothers and three sisters and that he loved all of them dearly, even though they could be pretty ridiculous and sketchy at times. He learned that Dick used to live in the circus before he moved to Gotham and Billy loved listening to some of the stories that he told of his time there. He learned that his favorite food was chips and cereal, and he learned that he loved to read Robin Hood comic books. He learned that one of his brothers never slept and drank coffee constantly and he learned that another would rather die than tell you that he loved you. And that another would spend weeks away from home and nobody would know if he was dead or alive but then show up out of nowhere with an injury or roll through the house in heelies, drunk. And occasionally at the same time. It depended on his mood.
But Billy learned that Dick had a family and that he loved them and told every story he had of them. It was nice listening.
So when it was Billy’s turn... he had nothing. He ducked his head in embarrassment and slipped his hands underneath his legs so that he wouldn’t fidget with them.
“I- um, there’s not that much to know about me,” he said. “I just live on my own, and I get by. I don’t have money for toys or stuff like that, but I get by with what I have. I don’t have any brothers but I had a sister. I don’t know where she is anymore though.” Billy bit his lip before his head shot up, a twinkle in his eye.
“I really like tigers!’ he exclaimed. “Sometimes when I have enough, I would go down to the zoo and look at their exhibit!” Dick smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm, but there was a sadness in his blue eyes that Billy did not notice. “Most of the time they won’t come out, because of all the loud crowds, but I know that they like me. There’s this one tiger there, he’s my favorite, I call him Tawky Tawny.”
“Tawky Tawny?” Dick asked.
“Yeah! He always comes by. Always. He’s the closest thing I have to family, around here, and sometimes I’d get a burger for him with no pickles. He doesn’t like pickles.”
The officer smiled. “How do you get the burger to him?”
“I have my ways,” Billy said with a smug smile. He glanced out the diner window and saw that the sky was beginning to darken. He would have to be going home soon, he had run quite a ways away when the bullies chased him. Billy turned to Dick, “I’m sorry, but I think I have to go.”
The man looked at him confused. “Really? Already?”
Billy nodded. “Yeah, I should be heading back.” the boy began to pack up his leftovers. No way he was going to leave those behind. “Thank you, Dick, for the food and for helping me earlier. I really appreciate it.” He grabbed his leftovers and got out of their booth. Dick got up, holding the bag with the medical supplies.
“Wow, wait, shouldn’t I come along or something? I wanna make sure you get home safe.” He said, concern evident in his voice. Billy gave a weak smile.
“No, it’s okay, I think I’ll be just fine. But thank you so much for everything. I mean that. It’s been a while.”
Dick looked down. “Well, okay.” He offered the drugstore bags. “Here, you probably need these more than I do.”
Billy smiled. “Thank you,” he said as Dick put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “And if you ever need anything else, I’m pretty sure you can find a payphone or something around here and call me. I’m always here if you need anything.”
“Of course.”
“Take care, Billy.”
Billy waved as he exited the diner, “So long Dick!” he called out behind him. And he had the great moment of seeing the look on the waitress’s face as he said that, and he couldn’t help but laugh. He had to admit, it was pretty funny.
It took Billy a while before he got home, and when he got there, he saw the bare yellowed mattress, the broken lock on his door, and the empty cupboard. Well, not so empty now that he had some food and supplies.
He groaned as he looked over at his bed. He had forgotten about getting a new blanket or even earning money for the blanket. His day had been way too wild and busy for him to remember. He glanced at the glitchy alarm clock on the windowsill.
12:07 am it read. But that clock was two hours ahead. So it was actually 10:07. He had walked for two hours and the raven was exhausted. Thankfully it had been a quiet night in Fawcett, and the Champion doubted that there would be any crimes committed tonight.
So he changed out of his normal red sweater into an even bigger red sweater and plopped down onto his bed, arms sprawled and not a care in the world; all he wanted to do was sleep.
And so, the blue-eyed boy slipped into the realm of dreams, blissfully unaware of the vigilante across the street on the rooftop, observing disapprovingly of the boy’s living conditions.
Dick wondered what he should do. He knew he had to do something about it, no kid should have to live like this, but he didn’t know exactly what to do. He could always call someone, but Billy didn’t want anything to do with social workers. He had made that very clear.
He could always leave a wad of cash, but again, Billy said that he didn’t want any charity. So what could he do to help? He certainly wasn’t going to leave it alone, that’s for sure,
Dick struggled to try to find a solution that didn’t break Billy’s trust and would not make him feel like a failure as a big brother. And yes, even though they had only known each other for a day, Dick already felt like a big brother to the little guy. Maybe it was how similar they looked with the blue eyes and black hair or maybe it was the fact that Billy didn’t have all that much in the “Family” department, but one thing was for sure…
Dick had four brothers now. And nothing was going to stop him from being there for him.
So with his mind made up, Dick left. Off in search of the nearest 24/7 convenience store and to break into the local zoo.
The sun’s golden rays peeked through the cracked windows in Billy’s room, trying to greet him for the morning and let him know that it was time to wake. The boy groaned at the invading light and rolled over, not wanting to get up. But eventually, he did.
“Ugh,” he croaked out. The boy stiffly got up and changed out of his sweater, careful as to not twist or hurt his shoulder.
After getting ready and eating some breakfast, Billy went downstairs and walked into the fresh morning breeze. Today was a new day and this time he was going to find a job.
He set out across town, asking any shop owner if they had any work for him to do. Whether it was sweeping the sidewalk, running an errand, or even watching the store while they had a smoking break. They all said no.
Dejected and disappointed in his luck, Billy came across the same diner that he and Dick visited yesterday. Thinking ‘Why not?’ he walked through its doors, greeted by the wonderful smell of food and warmth.
“Oh, hey!” One of the waitress’s called. Billy whipped his head towards her, wondering if he did something wrong and should leave. “Kid! Come here. You were in here yesterday weren’t you?”
Billy nodded, a little hesitant. “Your friend said that you might come by later. He didn’t say when exactly, but he put down a suspended meal for you.”
The boy’s blue eyes flashed with confusion. “A what?”
“A suspended meal,” she said kindly. “It’s a thing we do here where someone can put down money for a meal or a coffee and somebody else can come and claim it. He put one down specifically for you. And he also said that next time you come here, to give you this!” The waitress ducked beneath the counter and pulled up a bright red bundle. Billy’s eyes widened in shock.
He gazed at the blanket in confusion and awe before noticing a new, clean stuffed tiger, sitting on top of the bundle. The boy’s mouth hung open in shock as he picked up the toy. Its fur was the softest he’d ever felt, and it looked so bright and spotless, it even had a small red collar. And when Billy held it close, it smelled of creamsicle orange.
And for the first time in a long time, Billy smiled. Truly smiled. The boy had almost forgotten how it felt. But he couldn’t help it.
Although, he had to wonder, where did they come from?
The raven’s face scrunched together as he began to wonder who the gifts could’ve possibly come from, but he couldn’t think of anyone. Then his mind wandered to Dick; could he have possibly done this?
It was at this moment Billy notices the white note sitting on top of the blanket, right next to the tiger. He picked it up, a little hesitant as to what it said, and slowly opened it. A grin crept onto the boy’s face as he read the note, now knowing full well who to thank for the new blanket and tiger.
Now I’m done giving you my help.
-Dick
Billy hugged the tiger close, breathing in its scent and grinning like a fool. He glanced up at the waitress, who also had a smile on her face, and spoke. “I think I’ll have that meal now.”