sayshazam | Billy Batson's Big Birthday Bash

If it had been anyone else Billy totally would have begged off hanging out with them after work that night. He had school the next day and was a little tired but he'd have to be mostly dead before he cancelled on his girlfriend. Even then he'd probably do his best to make it to her, especially with everything she was going through right now. She'd told him to just let himself into her place, which gave him a good idea of how she was feeling.

Sliding off Naga as he arrived at her apartment building he sent the polar bear dog off to do whatever it did when not hanging around with Billy. Eat fish and bother Ellie, probably. Izzy had a lot of black clothes and it turned out polar bear dog fur was kind of a pain to get off of fabric so he figured .

Heading up to her apartment he fought back a yawn as he adjusted his backpack. It wasn't even that late but maybe he could just crash at Izzy's place tonight and head straight to school from here. It would definitely save him some time.

Testing the door he found it unlocked and pushed it open. Anyone else he would have definitely said something about how dangerous it was but if someone broke into Izzy's apartment to rob her then they were totally the ones in danger.

"Babe, you in?" he called out, frowning when the lights weren't on. That didn't seem like a great thing, if she was here with the lights off. "I brought some food from work if you're hungry..."

[ooc: Tag Billy by shouting "surprise" at him or hit him up after that while he's wandering around the party. Feel free to tag each other too.]

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"Izzy helps without evening meaning to," Billy said. That was one of the most amazing things about her. Even more than being a Shadownhunter and all that it was how she made people better without thinking it was any special thing. "I mean, yeah she does stuff like this but she also just... she makes me want to be a better person because of who she is."

"Oh, right," Billy said, feeling dumb once he realized that it was a watch that connected to his phone. He thought about how awesome that would be until he realized how freaking expensive that was too. "Wait... you made this?"

"She's pretty sneaky like that," Billy said. And it wasn't like she didn't have a lot of chances to do it either since they were together so much. At least he could just ask Alec and Magnus about her birthday and what she'd like. "Her birthday is in like a month though, so I can get her back."

Though outwardly his expression didn't change, hearing that brought Alec a measure of contentment and respect that he hadn't had in weeks. Max was still heavy on his mind but hearing that his sister had found someone who thought like this eased his battered mind slightly.

"You're a good guy, Billy," Alec told him, nodding. "I'm glad you're with my sister. I'm glad she has someone like you."

"Of all the times I puked, it wasn't ever too many anything," Ellie agreed. Too many was an utterly foreign concept. Bad food, sure, but never just too much of it.

Tim nods.

"It's a second prototype. Well, third, really. I promised I'd ask you for feedback before we try to put it on the market, otherwise I don't think I would have been allowed to make it your gift. The second is in the shop still, and is missing a couple of features I added to this one. Speaking of..."

It doesn't take long for the watch and phone to synchronize, so once a check mark flashes on the screen, Tim pulls open a tiny latch on the back and snaps in a microchip he fishes from his suit belt. The dial flashes with the Red Robin emblem.

"Give me your hand?"

Billy flushed a bit at the compliment. He knew how much Alec loved his sister so the fact that he thought Billy was a good person to be with her was pretty much the highest compliment he could get. But he wasn't going to make it totally weird or anything.

"Thanks, I try. And I should probably go say hi to other people at the party since they're here to see me."

"I drank too much beer once," Billy confessed. It wasn't like a big deal or anything because high school kids got drunk all the time. But Billy felt like he should have known better with how much alcoholism he'd seen while living on the streets. "Like... sweet look at all this beer, everyone wants it so it much be awesome, right? It didn't even get through a whole can before I puked because it was so gross. So gross."

"Uh, okay," Billy said, holding out his hand to Tim. It wasn't that he didn't trust his friend he was just totally confused about what all this was going to do. He kinda wondered what would happen when he turned into Shazam too. The watch would show up when he turned back but what if Tim was trying to track him or something? Billy really just needed to tell Tim he was Shazam but just... not now.

"Alcohol we had," Ellie said. "I mean, not much. And when we left the Quarantine Zone it was mostly just for putting on injuries. But I guess at least I knew liquor already. Beer, though... I guess less people kept it?"

Tim takes his hand and puts Billy's index finger on a flat button under the dial, prompting a white mock up of a fingerprint on the dial, highlighted partially in red. He shifts Billy's finger a couple of times until the print is completely red and blinking.

"So, When this goes live on the market, you'll be able to use the watch to quickly make emergency calls; just tap and say if you want the police or a medic, and you'll get one sent via GPS. But this will let you hold the button with your finger and let me know you've seen something... bigger."

To demonstrate, Tim holds Billy's finger down on the button again. There's a soft beeping coming from his bag.

"Oh... oh!" Billy said, realizing what it meant. Tim was giving him a way to get in touch in case Billy ever saw anything that a superhero might need to deal with. Because he didn't know that Billy was a superhero. Crap. He totally needed to get around to telling Tim about that. Definitely soon.

"That's awesome, dude. Does it work the other way around, like you can let me know if you need to... hang out?"

"Really?" So was mine, although I'm still not entirely comfortable with sharing it. But I am getting better. But this isn't the time, it's someone else's day and I am glad to see Billy so happy.

"Well, if there's anything I can do to help...?"

There actually was a way to contact Billy on the watch, but Tim only added in on his still unconfirmed hunches. Tim isn't unfamiliar with how the powers of Shazam worked— Captain Marvel Jr. was a Titan after all. Since the incident with his Darrow 2 twin, he's had his growing suspicions. And this honestly was another tick on that list.

But Billy is his friend, and he understands that being a superhero often means keeping secrets from friends. Aggie knows who Tim is at night because of Barbara. Mr. Stark knows because he's Mr. Stark. Billy knows because he needed help and knew well enough to trust the other boy when he was in need and landed on his fire escape. If Billy is Shazam, he'll tell him when he ready. He trusts that.

Tim nods and reaches into his bag, pressing a button he added to his belt. It makes the smart watch flash his symbol again and he taps the screen to demonstrate how to accept the call. It brings up a map with a red dot flashing over Isabelle's apartment building.

"Batman's rule. Always be prepared for any possibility."

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Billy Batson's Big Birthday Bash

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