The Justice League is 100% jealous of the Squadron of Justice.
Let’s say the JL finds out Captain Marvel’s identity when Billy looks like he’s 12. I say “look like” because this is a suspendium bubble timeline, obviously.
Everyone immediately goes into coddle mode. I’m picturing the YJ cartoon for this because they were all so awkward in S1E22. Some of them are angry, some of them are worried, all of them are thinking “where are his parents?” “Does he have any family?” “How did this happen?” “Who do I need to kill?”
It’s, as it always is with Cap ID reveal fics, complicated. Because these heroes view Captain Marvel as one of them. Their friend. Someone they can place their trust in. They like him. So to see this whole facade shred, and there stands this kid, who apparently is their friend, but he didn’t want to tell them about the challenges he was facing(like holy shit wdym you used to be homeless??)is pretty…I mean, it doesn’t feel good.
So, they put him on probation. Billy absolutely despises it, but he’s not about to prove them right and act like a bratty kid. He’s the champion of Magic, and a member of the Justice League. He can handle the consequences of his actions. And, if he does it well, maybe they’ll see that he deserves a seat and their table.
To everyone’s surprise, there isn’t much they need to do in his personal life. Billy lives alone in an apartment. Which, it would be better if he had foster parents to live with, but going back to CPS is seemingly the only thing he’ll be a brick wall about. He has a good job as a radio host at Whiz Radio. He spends his money wisely and isn’t starving to death. He graduated with good grades from his school during the suspendium bubble(he sometimes left in the middle of class when there’s an attack, but his teachers seemed okay with it. Weird. Almost like they knew where he was going).
(Side note, to the JL it’s very hard for them to comprehend the bubble’s effects. In their eyes, Billy is still mentally and physically a child, and in a sense, they’re right).
Billy explains his position as Champion of Magic as thoroughly as he can. He does his best to get it through their heads that this is more than something he wants to do. This is his job. He is in charge of keeping balance in the magical worlds. Protecting magic users and keeping various groups in line. He has this passionate look in his eyes as he explains some of his many duties.
It takes them off guard a bit, because Captain Marvel has said similar things to them before. Like how he couldn’t go drinking with Hal and Barry because the local forest nymphs were rioting against an out of town lumber company cutting their home down. Or, how he was too busy to stay after a long battle because various prisoners at the Rock of Eternity were planning a prison break and he needed to placate all of them.
They get a deeper insight into this kid who has more responsibilities than they thought.
Meanwhile, Billy is doing everything he can to prove himself. It’s honestly a little exhausting, but he can’t say that.
Thankfully, there’s a group of people who he doesn’t have to prove anything to. The other heroes from Fawcett’s prime capes era are still kicking, whether it’s because of their extremely healthy bones, or the little bit of magic in every Fawcitizen, it’s often that Billy finds himself going on weekend lunch hangouts with his parents’ old friends.
CC and Marilyn made a point to befriend the weirdest people, and those people have grown to know their son very well. They know that he’s capable. They’ve worked with the him many times. Him being a kid doesn’t matter to them. They also know Shazam very well, so they have full trust in Billy’s worthiness to be Champion of Magic.
Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Windshear, Ibis, Taia, Spy Smasher, Minute Man, Mr. Scarlet, Pinky, Golden Arrow, Lance O’Casey—Their constant trust is everything to him. It’s easy to talk to them. To swap stories of the past. To mourn those they’ve lost.
Billy ends up confiding in them about his current status in the JL. Obviously everyone is PISSED, but he assures them that he gets it. Not everyone can be as…close as they are. They’re the Squadron of Justice, after all. Family first and team second.
Spilling his guts tho, his true feelings on the matter, makes him feel so much better.
With the League, Billy’s carefully about talking to them and getting too close. I mean, what if he tries to act like he used to, and things get awkward? He’s not just their coworker and friend anymore, he’s the kid of the group, who needs to be constantly watched.
Months later, there’s a tentative peace Billy doesn’t want to disrupt. The JL are getting used to him, even joking with him like they used to. They’re interested in the champion work he does, and the random facts he has about Magic, and even archeology. Barry, Hal, and Oliver even played a prank on Arthur with him, and Arthur just laughed it off. It was nice. Like old times.
Billy’s a little nervous about how good this is going, mostly because nothing ever works out for him in the long run. But not everything’s gone to shit. He’s been visiting Taia’s and Ibis’ place more often. Going on walks with Jim Barr and going to Susan’s grave with Deanna(I think that’s their daughter’s name? I could be misremembering). Hearing war stories from Alan.
That’s when things start…happening.
Flash finally got the courage to ask Billy to come to the next team movie night. It’s been a while. Things have died down. He’s part of the team, isn’t he? Barry just wants his trio back, ya know? Hal’s also been wanting to geek out about the latest movie they’re gonna watch tonight. It’s one the three of them have wanted to watch with the JL for a year now!
Billy’s surprised that they want him there so bad. He thought it was still awkward for them to even see him and be reminded of…well, him.
And a part of him really wants things to return to normal, to go and watch a movie with his work friends and act like these past months haven’t happened.
But, he also REALLY wanted to visit one of the museums his parents sent their findings to(the Batsons were all about returning artifacts to their rightful place). Ibis and Taia finally have time off and they want to spend it with him!
So, he politely declines and tells them why. He doesn’t want to step on anyone’s toes in case he’s reading the team wrong.
Barry and Hal are…taken aback. They thought Billy would be excited to hang out like old times. Granted, it wouldn’t be exactly like old times, but they’d all been looking forward to movie night. The two of them do their best to hide their disappointment and the slight bitterness with which they hear him gush about the legendary Ibis and Taia.
Oh well! Another time, right?
There’s another instance where Billy’s planning Jack’s(Minute Man)birthday party up in one of the Watchtower’s lounges. He really wanted to do it this year, and no one on the Squadron could say no to him.
In walks Black Canary, who’s amused by how focused Billy looks. Everyone’s hanging out in the canteen after the recent big battle. He should come along too, replenish after a taxing day.
(Also everyone wants to see him. It’s been a while since they’ve heard one of his crazy stories. The adventures he gets up to. And they were eager to talk more with the kid behind the power. Their friend. Because that’s who they all realized he was. Just…their friend.)
Dinah is all smiles as, once again, Billy refuses. He explains that he has a SUPER important job to do and shows her everything he has planned for one of his best friends in the world. The Squadron do their best to meet up as often as possible, and Jack’s not one to put importance on his birthday. So, he’s throwing him a big surprise party!
Canary gets it. Really, she does. She’s more than emotionally mature enough to get what’s going on. These people, the Squadron, were Billy’s first team. From what Billy had told them, they all knew who he was from the beginning. They knew his parents. They were all practically family.
A team that was family first, team second was unheard of. Yet, these guys seemed to pull it off.
Dinah waved away Billy’s apology and walked away. Not without taking with her a huge pit in her stomach.
Cue this happening several times more.
The League starts noting that every Saturday at 4pm, without fail, unless there’s a mission, Billy quickly leaves the tower and all asks of hangouts behind.
These guys can get grumpy, okay? It’s Captain Marvel. It’s been months, and they’ve all come to accept that their friend is…who he is(congrats guys, what an epiphany). Captain Marvel is Billy Batson, and he’s one of them.
So obviously they would like to return to their normally scheduled program of movie nights, training tournaments, and nights flying and running across landscapes alongside each other.
Also he’s fucking adorable, okay? The League didn’t even realize they had a sort of little brother of the group until some time ago, and they want to hang out with him.
They nominate Batman and Wonder Woman to follow the resident kid of the Justice League. Spying on one of their own isn’t…the BEST idea, but what if there’s something he’s not telling them? What if he’s in danger? They wouldn’t be good teammates if they left him alone, would they?
(Okay so maybe they’re attached to this kid. Definitely)
Bruce and Diana follow Billy from his zeta tube entrance to a nice 50s style diner. They peek through a window and see him plop down with a large group of people, who were already seated and in various stages of laughter and exhaustion. They cheered loudly when he came in, making room for him.
Huh. He seemed close with those guys.
Billy effortlessly traded stories with this group of people. A group that Batman and WW quickly realized were the half retired, half part time members of the Squadron of Justice. Captain Marvel’s original team.
Bruce felt a little better now. After all, this beat Billy being ganged up on or kidnapped. But there was this wrong taste in his mouth at not knowing more about this team. About their history. About how close Billy seemed to be with them.
Diana was a lot less grounded. Maybe it was childish of her, but she didn’t like seeing her pseudo-brother be all chummy with these older heroes while he seemingly struggled with his actual team. She didn’t like how bitter she felt, but she felt it anyway.
The two of them hear their comms go off.
Oliver: Hey, what’s the hold up? Is Billy alright? Some of us are waiting to hear back from you.
Oliver: …we’d like a little more than that.
Bruce: The Captain’s meeting with the members of his old team, the Squadron. It’s likely he’s been doing this the same time every week.
Oliver: Oh! That’s…that makes sense. Cool. That’s—I mean I get it, they know a lot more…about…Yeah.
Diana isn’t afraid of looking like a kid when she leaves. Call her a toddler, but she can’t stand watching another moment where someone reminds Billy of a really funny story that happened years ago, and Billy snorting as he recollects.
Bruce, on the other hand, can’t stop himself from staying to watch just a little longer. Billy is louder and more expressive than he’s been at the Watchtower. He leads conversations instead of staying silent. And not once do his former teammates chastise him for what he does at his age. When they speak of old battles, it’s only with the rush of “the good old days”. To them, he’s just another hero. A vastly different age pool, but still, he’s not some punk going out and trying to get attention and fame. He’s the chosen Champion of Magic, and more than worthy to fight alongside them.
That’s the vibe Bruce gets from this team of old, nearly forgotten figures of power and justice. He wonders what stories they have. What struggles they’ve been through. The people they must’ve lost.
When he finally meets back up with Diana and they go back to the Watchtower with their findings, they quickly explain what they saw. Nothing specific, just that Billy had weekly meetups with his old team.
Yeah, that does not go over well. I’m not saying anyone gets outright angry, obviously, I’m just saying that no one is happy.
The next movie night, Clark is able to convince Billy to stay and watch it with them. That no one is mad at him. That they shouldn’t have been. He’s more than welcome, because he’s part of the team.
And it’s surreal, seeing Captain Marvel in his actual body, sitting amongst them, watching a movie with them with popcorn in his mouth. When Hal steals Barry’s twizzlers and they start to tussle, Billy can’t help but laugh at how stupid his adult friends look, arguing over who gets the last candy. Naturally, they do that often. It’s nice, hearing him laugh.
The movie takes place in the 50s, and lucky for them, Billy has a bunch of nitpicks about it. He’s embarrassed at first, but everyone seems to get a kick out of how annoyed he is as he corrects another mistake.
Even after the movie’s over, no one wants the night to end. They all sit wrapped in their blankets as Billy argues with Zatanna about the proper way to placate an orc.
Zatanna: Well we don’t ALL have dragon blood hanging around our lairs.
Billy: Damn, Z, that really sucks. For you.
Zatanna: You are so lucky you’re basically my boss.
Zatanna: What was that, sir?
It’s like old times. Different, but still good. The League accepts that things will never be the same, but they don’t exactly want it to. Billy’s funny, effortlessly kind, a hard worker, and he’s no different from who the captain was before. They want their little brother to know that his place here will never be questioned again. Even if someone else joins and is confused as to why the heck a kid is sitting at their table, they will defend him.
Of course, they’re still bitter about the so called “Squadron of Justice”. Sure, old teams have sentimentality, but Billy is part of the Justice League now, and has been for years.
Being the very mature and understanding adults they are, the JL has long since stopped with the pestering asks of going out drinking.
Instead, they ask Billy on amusement park trips and diner trips(copycats).
See? They can hang out with him outside of work no problem.
You could say it gets a little(being very careful with this because character personalities are not as extreme lol) better and a little worse as Billy gets older(mentally and physically pls don’t ask me about suspendium mechanics😵💫).
At this point, the League is watching Billy grow up. I mean, they always have, but now they know they have. You could say that makes them a little more territorial of him. He’s growing a lot under their tutorage. Getting closer with other fellow members. Doing college work(he didn’t have time for college after graduating and had to deal with the bubble’s effects on Fawcett) on the Watchtower and talking about normal kid things without worrying about sounding his age.
The League is over the moon about this. Billy took a while to open up, but the rewards are more than worth it! They get to hear all the funny stories Captain Marvel never would’ve told. They get to hear more about Billy’s life on the streets and then his race to get enough money for an apartment.
(Where the hell was the Squadron during this? Did they not help at all? Did they just…leave him to starve and be alone? If so, why is he so happy when he talks to and about them? What has the Squadron ever done for him that the JL hasn’t?)
Oh, and the Squadron of Justice. He…talks about them. A lot. An annoying amount. Which. Fine. It’s all good, nothing a bunch of mature adults can’t handle.
But it’s okay. They can deal, if this is what they get. Billy, finally trusting them enough to be himself around them. Being okay with them worrying about him. Confiding in them when he needs help without worrying about how they see him.
Because gods above, the Justice League loves this kid. And they’d deal with a thousand older teams before they let him go.
