Billy Batson [One-Shots]

Aversion to Touch

Five instances when people ignored the red flags from Captain Marvel

[Number 5 contains dark scenes/themes, read at your own peril]

№ 1 Superman

Billy Batson possessed the Wisdom of Solomon, which basically made him super wise, experienced, and his head full of useful information, that was inaccessible in his otherwise mortal form. Despite being huge and adult-looking, Billy Batson was a 12-year-old kid. A 12-year-old kid who was also an orphan, living on the streets. A 12-year-old kid who was also mentally and sometimes physically abused, before he escaped the foster homes and started living on his own. So it came as no surprise that he didn't like being touched by adults. Despite people he spent most of his days with were his comrades and friends... and dare he say a family, some subconscious part of him was still terrified of them touching him, despite being invincible and immortal while Shazamed-out. And he knew he was being silly, but he couldn't contain the electric shock that went through his body when Superman's huge hand clapped him on the back. He flinched, coming out of his musings and looked around. They were still in a meeting, discussing some boring subject or another. As previously mentioned, he was still a kid, so these kinds of meetings were boring to him, even though he knew he should have paid attention to it.

"You okay there, Marvel?" asked Superman, staring at him slightly annoyed, probably because he wasn't paying attention to his grand speech.

"Yeah, sorry Supe, just got a lot on my mind recently," Superman nodded his head and decided not to pry any further.

Batman's glare lingered on him a bit longer, but he too looked away from him. Billy sighed mentally, trying to focus on the details of their discussion, trying to push away his internal musings.

'I have a lot on my mind. Like what am I going to eat once I transform back, or where am I going to sleep? Hopefully, I won't bleed out from the cut I got this morning. I still need to get my hands on ethanol and some bandages if I'm lucky...'

After the meeting was over, Superman approached him, looking at him in concern. "Is everything okay, Marvel? You know you can talk to me, right? We're not just co-workers. We are friends. If you are having some problems in life..." trailed off Superman.

Billy's hear flooded warmth, causing his cheeks to tinge a rosy pink. "Th-thank you, Superman sir, but I'll manage. It's nothing I can't handle, but thank you."

№ 2 Hal Jordan and Green Arrow

Billy was flying home after the mission, injured Hal Jordan in his arms. He barely managed to save the hero, who almost lost his head to invading aliens. Your usual Saturday night. Since other heroes, unlike him, had a life they couldn't be bothered to patrol during weekends. So Billy or Captain was the only one who volunteered to take weekends. Some people called him a hero for doing that, others pitied him feeling bad about making him work during weekends, while the rest laughed behind his back and questioned if he had a life. These cruel words always cut him deep, but today wasn't his day, so when he heard some hero muttering about show-off Marvel who apparently has no personal life, Billy couldn't help himself when his eyes started watering. He burst through the WC, using Speed of Mercury and locked himself behind the stalls.

After sniffling for a while, he heard the footsteps approaching. He shushed down, trying not to make any suspicious noises. He could hear two streams of water running... wait a second... that was no water... eww... Thanks to his Godly anatomy he didn't need to pee or excrete fecal matter, so he was quite lucky in that department. Still, he felt like a stalker sitting here all quietly and listening to some unknown men take a leak. He couldn't reveal himself though, it would ruing everything. Plus, he was sure that his face looked all red and swollen from crying. What would the heroes think of him if they found out he was crying like a little kid in the bathroom.