I have a prompt ~ No one in the League knows Billy's identity, and since he's been in so many bad homes, whenever one of them raises their voice or goes to pat his back after a job well done he flinches. Everyone on the League think it's cause he's not used to human interaction. But when the Young Justice notice it they take to protecting him in small ways, like putting themselves in-between him and the League. Even though they think he's this immortal God, they have an urge to protect him.
Ooh... I’ve gotten similar prompts before, but I like the twist of them thinking it’s cause he’s not human...
Here’s a first try— might do something bigger on Ao3, who knows—
• • • • •
Billy Batson— or, in this form, Captain Marvel— found himself staring off into space in the middle of a meeting. It wasn’t something he did often, but sometimes his thoughts wandered when a meeting was particularly lengthy or boring.
He must have been doing so for a long time and was in there pretty deep, as the sudden hand on his shoulder was like a (literal) shock to his system. Lightning arched outward from his muscular build on instinct, his eyes widening as he flinched hard and curled away from the touch.
The meeting room was gone, replaced with a dark closet full of boxes and clothes, and the raven wasn’t Cap anymore— he was little Billy Batson, bruises on his face and collarbone, scratches and cuts on the palms of his hands and forearms. His hair was a ruffled mess, his cheeks tinted red and tear-stained.
His thin frame trembled as loud, harsh voices rang out just outside the door, yelling, crying out and bashing against his skull. He wanted them to stop, wanted them to go away, wanted it all to just—
“CAPTAIN!”
The demigod gasped, eyes wide as he came back to himself. He was staring at Flash, who sat directly across from him, and visibly shaking. He couldn’t control the tremors running through him— he hadn’t had an episode like that in so long, what had brought this on—
He glanced at his shoulder, finding the hand that had been there previously hovering in the air. He followed the hand upward and found it belonged to Superman of all people— the Kryptonian was watching him with wide eyes as the demigod suddenly stood.
“I have to go.”
• • • • •
Cap hummed you himself softly as he worked on making sandwiches, getting lost in his own head as he spread various ingredients on bread.
“Hey, Cap— nice job today,” a voice said from behind him, causing the man to glance back and find Green Arrow of all people grinning at him.
“Didn’t know you could eat so much— you could almost put the Flash to shame,” Oliver said with a chuckle, bringing a hand up to clap it on the demigod’s back.
Captain Marvel flinched hard, the man’s hand feeling like fire against his skin. He lurched forward closer to the food he was making, causing the archer to furrow his brow and drop his hand.
“You okay there buddy?” The blonde asked, tilting his head in question as Marvel’s grip tightened around his butter knife. “You not like bein’ touched or something?”
Marvel stayed quiet, swallowing thickly and nodding shakily. “Not uh— not- not used to it,” he replied, setting down his knife. “Sorry.”
Oliver grinned, setting his hands on his hips. “Oh, don’t worry about it Cap— I’m sure an ancient god dude like you isn’t used to being around us common folk. It’ll just take some getting used to,” he said with a chuckle.
Captain Marvel stayed quiet, picking up his butter knife again. “R-right...”
• • • • •
“Mission report— from everyone,” Batman said, his tone more harsh and demanding than usual. A few of the League members shared a look, some rolling their eyes and others staring warily at one another.
Captain Marvel wrung his wrists together anxiously— he’d majorly messed up during this mission, and because of him someone had nearly gotten hurt. He wasn’t looking forward to highlighting that again— especially when it was something Batman had witnessed first-hand.
Flash was first to give his report, babbling about damage and civilians and goons, Batman listening with a grim expression. When he was done, he was dismissed. “Marvel,” Batman said, looking towards the demigod.
“Report.”
Captain Marvel swallowed thickly, nodding at the Dark Knight and taking a step forward. The man already knew what had happened, he didn’t want to recap. “I worked on minimizing damge, for the most part. Kept a skyscraper from collapsing, as well as put out a fire before it could do too much damage.” He said before dropping his gaze.
“I experienced a momuntary lapse in judgment, and—“ he let out a shaky breath in an attempt to calm himself. “And put civilians in danger.”
Batman stared him down, silently.
“You actively put civilians in the line of fire,” Batman growled out lowly, his hands clasped together as he stared at the taller raven. “You nearly killed an entire family, Captain.” He said, raising his voice.
“Your arrogance nearly murdered innocents!” Batman yelled, standing up and slamming his hands down on the table. Captain Marvel stiffened, his back straightening as he flinched and eyes took on a sudden sheen.
Some of the other heroes furrowed their brows at his reaction. Marvel’s posture was stiff and straight, his muscles tense and fists tight at his sides. If they looked closely, they’d see his breathing sharp and short, verging on panicking.
“I’m- im sorry, sir.”
“You damn well should be,” Batman growled, glaring the demigod down.
Marvel stayed still as the Dark Knight dropped his gaze, sitting back down with a huff. “Lantern. Your turn.”
• • • • •
Captain Marvel ran a hand through his hair as he stepped out of the Zeta Beam, trailing after the Young Justice team as they came into the Watchtower. He’s been assigned to help them on their latest mission, and overall it had gone fine— apart from the fact that he’d sort of been captured and the teenagers hadn’t stopped arguing the entire mission.
Something he should have been able to stop— he was supposed to be the peacemaker, and he’s more than failed at that aspect. Sure, he’d given Aqualad advice on how to keep his team a cohesive unit, but he still never should have allowed them to split in the first place.
And now he was going to have to pay for it.
Captain Marvel followed the group towards the main meeting room, the metallic doors sliding open and revealing the rest of the League. The demigod glanced at his spot at the table longingly— oh to not have to give this report— before shaking the thought away and straightening.
“Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman,” he greeted as he and the teenagers came in, making his way to the front of the group and holding his hands firmly behind his back. He was sure that the kids behind him could see how tensely he was holding himself, he could feel his forearms trembling and his nails digging into his skin, but he couldn’t focus on that right now.
“The mission overall was a success— the team was able to figure out the source of the animal attacks as well as get rid of the collars being used to cause the animals to attack people,” he said, taking a steadying breath in and letting it out.
“Thought we did have complications.”
He didn’t see the teenagers sharing looks behind him, or see them shuffling uncomfortably as Batman’s eyes narrowed on the hero. Captain Marvel took a slight step forward, making sure the man’s hard gaze stayed on him, rather than the others— something the team took notice of.
“What complications.”
Marvel’s nails dug further into his skin, hard enough that, had he not been bullet-proof, he would have broken skin. “I allowed myself to be captured,” he said, flinching slightly when Batman’s glare grew slightly harder. “And I allowed the team to split up.”
The teenagers behind him furrowed their brows— Cap hadn’t ‘allowed’ them to split up— they’d done it on their own, out of their own arrogance and misguidance. They didn’t understand why he’d take the fall for them like this. “I know that I was sent along with the team to make sure the mission went smoothly, and I failed in that. It was successful, but it wasn’t smooth.”
Batman stayed quiet as Superman sighed. “Was anyone hurt?”
Captain Marvel shook his head, causing some of the teenagers eyes to widen slightly— Marvel himself had bearly had his head carved into; the PTSD that could come from that should have more than counted. Why- why was he doing this?
Batman pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh. “You’re benched for the foreseeable future, Captain.”
Anyone in the room could tell the demigod was hurt by this, if his flinch was anything go by, but his expression remained neutral. “Y-Yes sir,” he said, nails finally breaking skin and causing blood to trail down the base of his palm and drip to the floor.
“You’re dismissed.”
The teenagers behind him stared at the demigod shocked, watching as the man nodded and turned to leave, maneuvering around them and leaving the room hastily. He left a trail of blood behind him, dark red spots on the bright white tiles.
Conner was the first to take off after him— the others were quick to follow. Someone needed to check on Captain Marvel.
