A Natural Progression | Shazam

Chapter 11

The boy nodded, a small smile gracing his face. "Alright," he said with an affirmative nod.

- - -

Billy stayed in Jason's lap as he pulled out his cell phone, staying quiet while he dialed Dick's number. His thoughts returned to Batman who was probably still downstairs, and he shuddered. 

Terror had gripped him in that moment, his mind running a million miles an hour with the fear that Batman had not only found him out but was about to put an end to him.

It was strange to see such a sudden shift from the Dark Knight that he was used to seeing in meetings and out in the field to a soft yet stern man underneath. It wasn't something he'd been expecting, but it'd been something that made him want to run.

Jason coming in with his weird motorcycle helmet and scooping him up had been the only thing keeping the boy from panicking, so he was thankful to the man for that. He'd kept Billy close to him, something he appreciated more than he could say, and hadn't left his side in the past 15 minutes.

He rolled his eyes and let out a grunt when Dick didn't answer for the third time, pocketing his phone and a shake of his head. "Bastard won't pick up," he muttered. "It's fine, not like I know how to deal with this kind of thing, but it's fine," he said frustratedly. 

Billy felt slightly guilty, lowering his gaze and thumbing the hem of his shirt.

"Sorry, kid, I'm just not good at this kind of thing," Jason said, leaning back on his arms and glancing off. "Haven't been for a while now."

Billy felt bad for the guy- obviously, something happened to him, and the kid could tell it bothered Jason, even if he wasn't the kind of guy to let it show on the surface. If he thought about it, that made him and Billy even more alike. Neither were very likely to talk about their problems, better to let them simmer than complain and have the possibility of a foster parent beating you for it.

"Well.." Billy said, chewing on his bottom lip for a moment before continuing. "I think you're doing good..." he mumbled. Jason glanced back at him, a hint of a smirk on his face. "You wanna talk about it?" he asked, making Jason's small smirk vanish.

A haunted look came to the man's eyes, and he ran a hand through his black and white hair. "Does... does it have to do with your white hair?" Billy asked slowly. 

Maybe he wouldn't get the whole story, but he knew that confiding to someone could help a lot. Freddy had done that for him countless times, maybe he could do it for Jason.

"Yeah, squirt, I guess it does," Jason said, his voice low. He let his head fall back, staring at the ceiling as Billy scooted off his lap to sit beside him. "But I don't think you're ready for that story yet," he said, and the 10-year-old could see him stuffing his pain down as he ruffled Billy's hair.

The boy watched him with worry, swallowing thickly and nodding. "So..." Jason said, glancing at him as he laid back on the bed and used his arms as a pillow. "Wanna explain why you took off? All I know is that the demon brat showed you how to avoid the cameras- which I don't understand by the way- but I don't know the why."

Billy shrugged- what was he supposed to say? A distinct thrumming pain echoing in his head that he'd come to associate with Solomon's distaste in a situation was really the only thing keeping him from telling Jason who he really was.