Young Marvels(Young Justice + Captain Marvel Oneshots)

The Homeless Hero

Billy Batson was homeless. There was no doubt about it. Despite having lived with Uncle Dudley for a little bit, he couldn't exactly stay with him. The raven didn't exactly want to risk the man that gave him everything's life. He loved Uncle Dudley, he really did, which is why he oftentimes sleeps in abandoned houses and under bridges and such. He, of course, still goes home- to Dudley's- and he enjoys the company, but both of them know why Billy has to stay away for a long amount of time sometimes. Dudley wishes Billy wouldn't, he's tried everything, but Billy is extremely stubborn when he wants to be, and has accepted that Billy just feels better when he's not putting any danger onto Dudley.

This is why Billy Batson is currently sleeping under a bridge. He knows he has a room in the Watchtower and he knows he has a room in the Cave, but it just feels like charity. Billy Batson doesn't do Charity. He's also been chasing a lead on a new sorcerer that's possibly causing a lot of issues in Fawcett. Sadly, he's alone on this one since both Mary, Freddy, and the others were busy with other crap he was told not to worry about- even though he still does worry for them. How can he not? All of them + Dudley are like a family to him. He loves them all dearly and he would commit many atrocities if they ever were killed by one of his enemies.

But all that aside, Billy couldn't figure out his living situation yesterday because they were doing Memevana and he was wrapped up in all of that and honestly, it was very nice hanging out with Robin- who still hasn't told anyone(other than Wally) his real name- and Wally, but that only meant he had less time to plan for his homeless situation. He really didn't want to be a bother to them, asking if he was allowed to like... have his room. The boy was usually in survival mode and usually when you're in survival mode, you think everyone wants something in return. Billy couldn't exactly risk that. A more logical part of his brain told him to stop being a big puss and go talk to them. The instinctual side of his brain decided he could be punished. Or worse.

This is where we currently find out young hero, camping out underneath a bridge in Fawcett City, tucking his phone into his worn-down backpack. He's had it ever since his parents died and he can't really bring himself to get a new one. Other than the plush tiger, Tawky Tawny- which can also turn into a real, talking tiger, which is really cool, mind you-, his black and red backpack was all he had left of his mother and father.

The ten-year-old sighed. He hasn't gotten any other leads on this supposed new sorcerer called "Warlock". Honestly a bit of a dumb name if you asked Billy. Apparently, this "Warlock" character is actually a demon who can perform magic, according to Constantine.

Ah yes. Another family member. John Constantine. The man teaching Billy Batson, both him and Captain Marvel, how to use magic since he could become extremely powerful with it. It's kinda badass if you think about it. Robin has Batman, Aqualad has Aquaman, and Billy Batson has John Constantine. His mentor of magic.

Billy smiled fondly as he fidgeted with his League communicator. He quickly packed it into a secret pocket inside of his backpack. The boy yawned, looking out over the lit-up city. It was a bit past 10 PM and Billy was exhausted. Earlier that day, himself and the team had to train with Black Canary. The only reason Billy needed to train was to work up the muscles in his human form. And to learn to fight. And to defend himself.. and other things. Okay so maybe a lot of things, shut your face. And then after training is when he stopped a giant robot, most likely one of Sivana's- that fight took about six hours- then he had to get back on track of his lead for "Warlock". He honestly doubted Warlock was even real at this point.

To say the raven was exhausted was an understatement.

The boy found himself curling up, laying his head onto his backpack. He yawned once more, feeling moisture in his eyes and rubbing it away with the red sleeve of a new hoodie that Dudley had gotten for him last week. The young raven felt his consciousness slip away, leaving him in darkness and to the mercy of his dreams and nightmares.

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Billy was suddenly being shaken awake. This immediately instilled fear into him, causing his fight-or-flight response to kick in, survival instincts kicking to the Max. Billy opened his mouth, about to yell the name of the wizard that would save him and then he realized where he was and who was shaking him.

It was Artemis.

"Billy?! Billy holy shit! Are you okay?!" The blonde was in her civvies. In fact, the rest of the team was there as well. A thought immediately popped into his head, which he must've asked aloud.

"We were looking for you! You didn't show up to the cave for training today. Dude it's like 3 PM!" Wally was now suddenly next to the young raven.

"Yeah yeah.. give me a second to wake up... w-wait... whAT-" Billy immediately shot to his feet, grabbing his phone from his backpack, checking the time. It, indeed, read as 3:23 PM. Holy shit. He slept for a good 15-ish hours. Okay so his math may be a bit off, but he's sure that's how long it's been. He wasn't exactly the greatest at math. He hasn't exactly been in school for a while... so..

"Holy moly... man.. my bad guys." He gave a sheepish smile then realized where he was. Under a bridge. Oh Gods. Robin is under Batman and it's kinda obvious he slept here... they're gonna know...

Man. The Wisdom of Solomon would come in reaaaal handy in his mortal form sometimes.

"Why are you sleeping under a bridge? Is everything okay?" Robin suddenly voiced his fears. The team also noticed this, looking around and then back to the child before them.

Billy felt uncomfortable under their stares as realization dawned on them.

"Wait.. Billy.. are.. are you homeless?" A softness entered M'gann's eyes as she went to hug the child. The boy in question may or may not have leaned into the touch.

He sighed. There's no getting out of this now.

"Well.. not exactly... sort of..? It's.. complicated." He scratched the back of his neck,"I do, in fact, have someone looking over me. Yes, he knows I'm out here, yes, he's tried to stop me, and yes. He knows I'm a superhero. His name is Dudley, or as I call him, Uncle Dudley. I live on the streets- have been for a long freakin' time- and I just feel that he's much safer at an arm's length away..." Billy closed his eyes. This was hard to do. He hated to explain things, hated the pity in people's eyes when they walked by. He hated charity and pity. He's gotten this far on his own, so what's a little longer? That's what he always told himself. Always. He's managed to get this far and with the help of his alter ego, Captain Marvel/Shazam, he could survive much longer on his own. But he would never use Captain Marvel as a means of escape. That would be abusing his powers and that was bad.

This is why he was surprised when he looked up. Instead of finding pity or anything of the sort, he found empathy and understanding.

"We've all felt that way before, B. That's just the Superhero code of conduct, I guess." Robin knelt down, patting Billy on the shoulder and standing back up. Billy then realized he was still in Miss Martian's arms and backed up a bit. She let him go.

"You do realize you could just live with us at the cave too right?" Conner suddenly spoke, his head tilted a little bit.

Billy made a face,"I don't want to be a bother for you a-" Billy winced when Zatanna, somewhat lightly, punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for?!" He glared at the magician.

"You were gonna say something stupid. Such as you being a bother." Her face suddenly cracked into a very soft smile with very kind eyes, reminding Billy of his mother. There were quite a few similarities between them that left Billy longing to be hugged by Zatanna.

"You really wouldn't be a bother, Billy. I speak for all of us, especially Connor, M'gann, and myself, when I say that we would love to have you live with us at the cave. If you will have us." Kaldur suddenly spoke up, doing his leader-ly duties.

Billy found himself thinking that Kaldur's confidence in his leadership reminded him of his father. Same with the way Kaldur held himself. It was comforting and nice.

The youngest member sighed, scratching at the back of his neck.

"I'll have to ask Dudley, and I'm sure he'll much prefer me staying with you guys than in the streets." The boy smiled softly,"Thank you for finding me." His blue eyes lit up.