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Billy Batson was turning 18 today.
Which for normal teenagers would mean a very important day. A day in which one officially, and legally, enters into adulthood. A day that is usually cause for major celebration with the birthday person’s friends and family.
But for Billy, he felt absolutely nothing about his upcoming adulthood status. Well, not nothing. He did feel a strange sort of melancholy. He always imagined celebrating this day with his parents. His birthdays since they passed have been nothing but disappointment. Most of his foster families never even remembered his birthday. Hell, Billy has forgotten his own birthday during those times when his life was nothing but moving to new home after new home.
So, yeah. His birthday really didn’t mean much to him anymore. But hey, at least he remembered this year. And for the first time since his parent’s died, he has a family to celebrate with.
His family being his 13-year-old son Conner.
Yes, at 18 Billy was a father to another teenager. It felt insane when he thought about it for too long. But it also felt so right. Ever since he met Conner he felt a pull towards the boy. An overwhelming urge to protect him and give him a stable life. And since Superman wasn’t up for the job, Billy was more than willing to fill that role.
Conner had no idea Billy was really a teenager. His son, and the rest of the Justice League, thought that Billy’s Captain Marvel form was his true form. And Billy has been living purely in his Captain Marvel form for almost a year now. He can’t even remember the last time he was the true Billy Batson.
Though he is choosing to celebrate his birthday this year, he doesn’t plan on making a big deal out of it. He was able to get a day off from the League. So he and Conner were going to go out for dinner and a movie, once the kid gets home from school. He never told Conner today was his birthday and doesn’t plan to. Technically the paperwork Batman forged for him listed his birthday as 7 months from now. Conner and the League assumed he was an immortal god, so it would be weird to say today is his birthday.
That said, Billy still plans on making the day special for himself. Even if no one knows the reason why.
While Conner is at school Billy is busy doing the weekly grocery shopping. With a full cart, he heads for the cashier. He slows down as he passes the pastry section. There are large slices of cake in little boxes on display. Billy stares at them for a minute before reaching out and grabbing the one with sprinkles and white frosting. He also grabs the pack of candles next to it.
Once he gets home he unpacks and organizes all of the groceries, leaving out the cake and candles. He looks at the clock. It’s only noon, so he has a few hours before Conner gets home.
Taking a deep breath he yells, “Shazam!”
A bright light and the buzz of electricity fills the room for a brief second, leaving in it’s wake an older teenager.
Billy sighs and looks down at his body. His much younger, much smaller, much more fragile true form feels foreign to him after being Captain Marvel for so long.
He takes a moment to reorient himself in his own body. He walks to his bedroom to look at himself in the mirror.
“Hey Billy,” he smiles sadly at his reflection. “Long time no see.”
He moves to dig through his closet. After some searching he pulls out what he was after. It’s a framed photo of him and his parents. Taken just before they died. It’s one of the only possessions he’s been able to keep with him after being in foster care. He walks back to the kitchen and sits at the table. Right where he left the cake.
Without a word he stands the photo up on the table. He opens up the cake slice and places a single candle on it.
He takes a steadying breath.
“Um, hi Mom, hi Dad. I’m sorry I haven’t talked to you guys in a while. Life has been…pretty busy I guess you could say. I’ve been doing Captain Marvel stuff a lot more lately. Kissing babies and saving damsels in distress. Y’know typical hero stuff.”
He smiles briefly before letting it fall.
“I’m turning 18 today. Pretty crazy right? Officially an adult. I-I wish you guys were here with me to celebrate…”
He trails off as tears escape his eyes.
“I miss you guys. Not a day goes by that I don’t-”
He chokes on his words and furiously wipes at his tears.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about you guys. Every Christmas, every Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, every…birthday. I think about what my life would be like if I never lost you guys. All the time, I think about it. I know it’s not really healthy to dwell on the past, but sometimes I just can’t help it. Not having a family really really sucks.
He sniffles and wipes his face again.
“But, I have a son now.”
He pauses, realizing what he just blurted out.
“Heh, sorry I should have segued into that news a little better. Before you freak out too much, just know this is totally not the result of a teen pregnancy thing I swear. I’m still a virgin.”
He froze then hit himself on the forehead.
“…Gods that was a weird thing to say. Sorry, totally TMI. Anyways, his name is Conner. Uh, my son that is. He’s 13. Well technically he’s not even a year old. It’s…complicated. But yeah, I adopted him after his real- er biological father decided not to keep him. His loss big time. Conner is amazing. Seriously, he is the greatest kid ever. You guys would have loved being his grandparents. His totally young and hip grandparents. Again, I know the age thing is kinda weird. An 18 year old with a 13 year old son. But hey! It’s working out super great. He had no one and I had no one. Now we both get to have a family. Oh! And Conner is superpowered just like me! Well not just like me but close enough. He’s Captain Marvel’s sidekick. His hero name is Cadet Marvel. I am so so proud of him and all he does as a hero. I wonder…if it’s how you guys would feel if you saw me as Captain Marvel.”
He swallows thickly.
“Conner and I are gonna go get dinner and see a movie later today. It’s to celebrate my birthday but he doesn’t know that. No one knows it’s my birthday today. But it’s totally fine. Getting to do something special with Conner is all I want anyways. Still, I wanted do something with you guys too. So I got us a cake! Well, a slice of cake anyways.”
He gets up to dig around one of the kitchen drawers for a lighter. He sits back down and lights the candle. He stares at the flickering flame then closes his eyes. He tries imagining his parents sitting at the table with him. Tries imagining their voices singing to him but with each passing year he finds himself struggling more and more to remember what their voices sounded like.
He opens his eyes. “Love you mom and dad.”
He blows out the flame.
He stares at the white smoke floating in front of his face. As the smoke clears he looks past its haze to find two deep blue eyes staring at him from the now open front door.
Conner stands there, backpack in hand.
Billy’s heart drops. No, no, no…Conner was never supposed to see him like this.
He quickly stands.
Before he could say a word, a heavy weight crashes into chest and sends him to the ground. His subconscious recognizes it as Conner’s backpack. Damn that kid has some heavy books.
Next thing he knows, his son is gripping his shirt and hauling his upper body off the carpet.
“Who the hell are you?! How did you get into our apartment?”
Before he can stop himself, Billy blurts, “Language young man!”
Conner’s face freezes. Billy swears he can actually see his brain buffering.
“D-dad? Dad?! Holy sh- moly. Is that really you?”
Billy sags in his grip. “Yeah kiddo it’s me.”
Conner looks panicked and quickly helps him to his feet.
“I-I’m sorry Dad! I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay bud, I’m fine," he says as he rubs at his sore chest. "Why aren’t you in school?”
He thought he had hours before Conner got home.
“It’s a short day today, remember?”
Billy sighed and closed his eyes. Damn. He totally forgot Conner’s school had short days the first Friday of every month. Something about staff meetings.
“Right, yes. I’m so sorry son I totally forgot.” He hugged Conner who now felt much bigger in his arms.
Conner accepted the hug before pushing away to look Billy up and down.
“Dad? What happened to you? Why are you…so tiny? Wait, did you get de-aged?! Holy crap, we gotta tell the Justice League! They can help.”
Conner goes for his backpack which has his League communicator. Billy grabs his wrist to stop him.
“No! Uh…I wasn’t de-aged. I’m just-”
He draws a blank trying to come up with an excuse so he just sighs in the defeat.
“Alright, I knew I couldn’t avoid this forever. Sit down kiddo.”
Conner sits at the table with Billy. His eyes flicker to the cake causing Billy to flush in embarrassment and push it away.
“Um…this might be kinda hard to swallow. But this-”
He gestures to his body.
“This is who I am. Who I actually am when I’m not Captain Marvel. I’m uh, technically just a normal person. When I was 12 an ancient wizard lured me down into the subway and gave me the power to turn into Captain Marvel. Since then I’ve been sorta living a double life. As regular human me and then as Captain Marvel. Though for a while now I’ve just been in my Captain Marvel form. This is the first time I’ve turned back into the real me in a year or so. Oh, and the League doesn’t know Captain Marvel isn’t my true form. No ones knows actually. Except you now.”
He pauses to let his words sink in.
Conner stares at him like he just grew a second head.
“Are-are you serious?”
“Yeah?” Billy shrugged helplessly.
“But you’re a kid!” Conner waved his hands around.
“Hey am not!” Billy responded like the adult he is.
“You’re a teenager!’ Conner argued back.
Billy huffed. “I’m legally an adult for your information. 18 still counts as an adult!
Conner gave him another blank stare as if to say, ‘Are you serious right now?’
Billy sighed and grabbed Conner’s shoulders. “Listen, I know this is a lot take in right now. And I’m sorry for not telling you sooner. I didn’t want to risk the League finding out and taking you away from me.”
Conner studied him for a moment before leaning back and out of Billy’s hold. “Y-you’re being serious right now? This is really the real you?”
Billy nodded. “It is.”
Conner crossed his arms over his body and fixed his gaze to the floor.
Oh…oh no. Not good.
Billy panicked internally as Conner shut down in front of him.
“Hey,” he started gently. “Are you okay kiddo? Talk to me.”
Conner dropped his head even lower and shrunk in on himself.
“Why? Why would you throw your life away for me?”
Billy drew back in shock. “Throw my- Conner what makes you say that, huh? Why would you say that?”
Conner’s timidness visibly melted into frustration.
“You’re 18!” He threw his arms up dramatically. “You should still be living with your parents. And shouldn’t you…I don’t know, be in college and partying with your friends and doing drugs and having fun and stuff? Not wasting your time having to take care of a random clone kid who’s not even related you. It’s not fair, you shouldn’t have given up your life like that! You’d be better off without me!”
Conner pushed away from the table and stood up angrily. Billy shook away his shock at Conner’s outburst and stood to grab his wrist to keep him from running away.
“Hey! Conner, no. Don’t say that. Please, don’t say that.”
He brought the boy in closer, ignoring the fact his son’s head now reached just below his chin rather than his ribcage.
He gently gripped his shoulders.
“Listen to me okay. Everything you just said…totally wrong. Drugs and partying? Do I seem like the type of guy to do that? I’m a member of the Justice League for Zues’ sake,” he chuckled.
Conner continued pouting at him, so he kept going.
“College? Like I have the time for that! It’s not something I’ve ever even thought about. Besides, I could always go later if I wanted. As for this supposed wonderful ‘life’ I used to have before you…yeah, wrong about that too kiddo. I’ve been living as Captain Marvel for a year now because I had no family or home to go to.”
Conner’s eyes softened at that.
Billy paused before continuing.
“My parents…they died when I was a kid. And the only other family I had left screwed me over and kicked me to the streets. After that I bounced from foster home to foster home. Some of those homes were okay…others weren’t. I never told the League, or anyone, about it. After I turned 17 I decided being the real me wasn’t worth it. So I just…stayed Captain Marvel. And that’s all I did for months. I had no real life. No family.”
He brought Conner in for a hug.
“But then you came along. And I saw a kid who was just like me. Someone who needed a family. Even though I had no intention of keeping you forever. It was only supposed to be until Supe- that man was ready to take you in. Even if it was only going to be for a few months, I still wanted to be there for you. But then I found out I get to keep you forever and it was the first time I felt truly happy since I lost my parents. You gave me a purpose. You gave me a family.”
He pulled back to hold Conner’s face. Tears now gathering in both of their eyes.
“So don’t tell me I’d be better off without you. Because before you, I had nothing. Nothing but a cape and secrets. I was lost and alone. So, promise me you won’t think like that again okay?”
Conner sniffled and nodded. “…Okay.”
Billy gave him a teary smile and hugged him again.
“Um…” Conner’s timid voice spoke up. “A-are you still my dad when you’re…like this? Or are you only my dad as Captain Marvel?”
Billy rubbed his back and rested his chin atop Conner’s head. “Of course I’m still your dad kiddo. No matter what shape or form I am. I’ll always be your dad. I know it’s weird. But sometimes families are weird and that’s okay.”
Conner smiled then looked up at him.
“So, if this is the real you and you’re just a normal human, what’s your actual civilian name?”
Billy pursed his lips. “Heh, uh it’s still Billy Batson.”
Conner’s brows knitted together.
“You mean…you gave your real name to Batman when he was supposed to be making you a fake alias? Daaaaad,” he whined.
Billy chuckled as Conner lightly slapped him. Which felt a lot stronger compared to when he was Captain Marvel.
“I know, I know. It was dumb of me. But I don’t think he caught on and that’s what matters.”
Conner shook his head in feigned disappointment. Then his attention was drawn to the table.
“So um, what were you doing before I walked in and threw textbooks at you?”
Billy followed his gaze and made an awkward grunt.
“This is gonna sound pathetic, but I was sharing a piece of birthday cake with my parents.”
“Birthday cake?” Conner questioned. Then it dawned on him. “Wait, you turn 18 TODAY? And you weren’t gonna tell me!”
Billy let out a strained sigh. “I know, I'm sorry. But I haven’t really celebrated my birthday in years. But even though I wasn’t going to mention it was my birthday, I still planned on doing something special with you tonight. How does dinner and a movie sound?”
“It sounds awesome dad, but I feel bad. I didn’t get you anything.”
Billy shook his head. “You are the only gift that I need Conner. All I want is to have a fun night out, just the two of us.”
“Alright,” Conner relented while secretly making plans to get his dad a birthday gift.
His eyes flicked over to the picture on the table. “So, those are your parents? And that’s you as a kid?”
Billy grabbed the picture to bring it closer to them. “Yeah, these are my parents. My dad, Clarence Charles Batson and my mom, Marilyn Batson. They were archaeologists. I used to go on expeditions with them.”
Conner studied the picture. “That's so cool! You guys look really happy.”
Billy smiled sadly. “Yeah, we were. They loved me. And they would have loved you too.”
Conner could sense this was a touchy subject for his dad, so he decided to change it. Perhaps some other day Conner could hear more stories about his late grandparents.
“So…dinner and a movie tonight? Where do you want to eat and what do you want to see?”
Billy put the photo down with a shrug. “Whatever you want kiddo.”
“Nuh-uh,” Conner shook his head. “It’s your birthday, so you pick! I wanna go where you wanna go.”
Billy ruffled his head affectionately. “Alright fine if you insist. But first, should we eat this cake?”
“Heck yeah.” Conner nodded.
Billy grabbed a second fork for Conner then they sat at the table.
“Wait!” Conner yelled as Billy went to stab into the dessert.
His son set up the photo of Billy’s parents as it was before then reached for the lighter to re-light the candle.
“Okay, here we go,” Conner said nervously. He then started singing ‘Happy Birthday’ but got lost after the second ‘Happy Birthday to you’ verse.
“Uh, I’ve only been to one birthday party in my life and for some reason CADMUS did not program the song into my head.
Billy threw his head back to laugh before leading Conner through the rest of the song.
Then he blew the candle out for the second time that day.
He didn’t bother making a wish.
He had everything he needed.
It was several hours later when they returned home from their birthday excursion. Conner insisted Billy go out as himself instead of his Captain Marvel form. He thought Billy should get to spend his birthday as his true self.
They stumbled into the door laughing about a scene from the overly cheesy action movie they just saw. That was, until Conner noticed they weren’t alone.
“Uh dad…”
Billy looked up and there stood Batman with his arms crossed in their kitchen.
“Ah!!!”
Batman’s face remained stoic as Billy’s scream tapered off.
The 18-year-old then panickily yelled, “Shazam!” and turned back into Captain Marvel.
“Uh, h-hey Bats! What brings you by? Um, what you just saw, yeah I can totally explain that.”
“Real smooth dad,” Conner muttered.
Batman dropped his arms. “Don’t worry, I’m just here to drop off your birthday present.”
Conner and Billy’s mouths both dropped.
“How did you know it’s my birthday?!”
Batman’s left brow rose. “William Batson? You really thought I wouldn’t look that name up and find out about your secret identity? It wasn’t too difficult to put the pieces together.”
Billy was speechless. Batman not only knew about him this whole time, but still actually let Billy foster and then adopt Conner knowing damn well he wasn’t a legal adult.
“Conner why don’t you go get ready for bed. It’s late.”
Conner looked between Billy and Batman before sighing. “Alright fine.”
Now it was Billy’s turn to cross his arms. “Why?” He asked quietly.
“Why what?” Batman’s deep voice rumbled.
“Why did you let me take in Conner when you knew the truth about me.”
Batman walked around towards the dining table. He lifted the picture of Billy and his parents to study before gently placing it back down.
“Because you needed each other.”
Billy couldn’t argue with that.
“Now about your birthday present,” Batman reached for a large envelope on the kitchen counter then handed it to Billy.
Billy gave him a confused look before opening the envelope and pulling out the thick packet of papers.
“Uh, what is this?”
“Acceptance into Fawcett City Community College. With a full scholarship. For the real Billy Batson.”
Billy blinked in shock. “What? B-but who would even-?”
He flipped through the paperwork.
“Wayne Foundation? But, why would Bruce Wayne give me of all people a scholarship?”
Batman grunted. “Let’s just say he owes me a few favors.”
Billy shook his head. “Thanks Batman, but I can’t accept this. I mean, when would I have the time between the League and taking care of Conner? I’m just not meant for college.”
“Don’t worry about the League. You’ve been putting more than enough hours in for the last year. It’s time for some of the others to help carry the burden. And this school has a program specifically designed for young parents. You’ll be able to attend classes while Conner is in school.”
“Yeah but…” Billy was running out of excuses.
Batman laid a gloved hand on his shoulder. “You deserve to have your own life too Billy. You’ve been a great hero, and a great father. But it’s time you let the real Billy Batson live again.”
“I…thank you. Batman.”
In a rare moment of softness the Dark Knight smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“So what did Batman give you?” Conner’s voice spoke up from behind him causing Billy’s head to turn.
“Well he…” Billy turned back to Batman only to face a now empty kitchen and curtains blowing from the open balcony door.
“Whoa, how does he do that?”
Billy chuckled. “I have no idea. Now c’mon, time for bed. I’ll tell you about my gift in the morning.”
He ruffled Conner’s hair causing him to fake whine and duck out of his reach. In retaliation Conner shoved his body into Billy’s side. Now that he was in his bigger body Conner wasn’t afraid of accidentally hurting him.
“Did you have a good birthday dad?”
Billy took advantage of Conner’s shove by nabbing him up into a crushing hug.
“The best. Thanks for getting out of school early today.”
Conner nuzzled against him. “You’re welcome.”