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At first, nobody in the Justice League had any words for what had happened. To find out that one of their members had been hiding their identity because of their age - to deceive them, to get into their ranks, to make them feel powerful, maybe?
No one had a reaction in the beginning. Victor and Bruce weren’t allowing anyone in the Medbay, not wanting Billy’s recovery to be impeded by questions, accusations and interrogations. The young boy didn’t need that at the moment, not after what he had been through.
Flash, of course, didn’t care after a couple of days. Billy was his friend, and he had hidden his identity for a legitimate reason.
It was as he had told Billy soon after seeing him. “We never said that to join the Justice League you had to reveal your identity, the others’ just have a stick up their -”
Safe to say, he was not allowed to be with Billy alone after that.
(Alfred made sure of it, because Billy was young, he was orphaned and he had black hair and blue eyes. He didn’t deserve what had happened and he was determined to look after this child for as long as possible.
Maybe Bruce would adopt him, maybe he would send Billy to a nice, fully background checked home. He himself would love it if Billy could come home to Wayne Manor, but both he and Bruce knew and accepted how hard it would be for Billy to leave Fawcett City. Unless there were no other options, Billy would refuse to leave his home.)
After a few days, Victor and Bruce couldn’t keep people away from Billy anymore. Besides, Billy had asked if he could just get it done and over with.
So here Billy was, a pitiful sight with bandages and bruises over his body, waiting to be interrogated by his best friends and family.
“You alright there, Billy?” Victor asked, nudging his shoulder gently. The man had not left Billy’s side since the revelation, with an obvious guilt in every action or word, even after Billy had assured him it was okay.
It was not okay. Billy would have nightmares for months, he would not trust people’s actions and if people tried to get too close to him, if people were nice to him or offered to help him he would shy away for years to come. They weren’t trustworthy, they couldn’t be trustworthy, he would rather be independent and alone than to accept help.
“Yeah,” Billy said instead, smiling up at the man. “I’m just a bit nervous - normally I’m like an equal to them. I’m big and strong and I can fight like a proper superhero, but at the moment I’m just… small. I’m weak and I can’t fight against bullies like this.”
Victor looked over at Billy, fully taking him in properly for the first time in a long while.
He didn’t often get to see Billy. He always saw Cap, and Cap was a completely different person To Billy. Sure, they were both happy-go-lucky and saw optimism in everything and everyone, but the Captain was majorly different to Billy.
Billy was insecure in himself and his feelings, he didn’t think he was worth anyone’s time. Cap was not different, per se, but he had proper friends who helped and assured him that this wasn’t true.
Billy did not have that as Billy.
“Do you think they’re going to kick me out of the Justice League?” Billy whispered suddenly, eyes cast on his lap. Victor could hear the hesitation in his voice and the way it wobbled as he spoke, not wanting to reveal his true emotions.
Yet Victor could still hear a reluctant acceptance. Billy truly did believe that he would get kicked out, that they didn’t like him anymore.
“No,” Victor said after a moment. He could see Billy’s confusion and disbelief - yeah, Victor had hesitated for too long. “No, because even as Bily you’re still a lovable kid who nobody could ever kick out. A kid who didn’t deserve anything that happened.”
Billy sighed and weakly shoved Victor, once again hearing the guilt in his tone.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he whispered, immediately going silent as Bruce and several members of the Justice League entered the room, shifting positions.
He loved his friends, he trusted his friends so much, but they didn’t offer the same thing back to him. They didn’t offer an easy way out, they offered only interrogations and shouting and accusations every time.
He was shocked when Flash stepped forward, daringly staring at Superman before revealing his face to Billy. The young boy instantly shut his eyes, reminiscing to when he’d done the same thing to Bruce before slowly opening them again.
“Hi, Billy,” Flash grinned, his eyes twinkling as he spoke to the boy. “My name’s Barry. It’s very cool to meet you, finally.”
He held out his hand to shake, and Billy’s much smaller one enveloped it. He tried his best to firmly shake it, but with his tender muscles and bruises he didn’t succeed.
“It’s very cool to meet you too,” he said politely, giving the man a small grin.
Despite everything, Flash - Barry, even, was still acting the same. He wasn’t treating Billy like he was a young child who didn’t know any better, he was treating him like a teammate, that’s all he wanted.
Barry nodded, releasing his hand and (acting like he was holding in a hug, by the jagged movements and Bruce’s stern look) returned back to the group.
They were less intimidating, now that he could see Barry’s face. Even Bruce had taken off his cowl to make Billy more at ease (he knew that it slightly scared Billy, when he wasn’t Cap).
Still, Superman was standing there with his arms crossed, a blank expression on his face. Wonder Woman wasn’t even in the room, Gods, she must have been so angry.
Maybe she was even angry at him, angry that her father had given him, a ten year old boy, his blessing, given him powers when he wasn’t even worthy.
Superman stepped forward slowly, reaching the bed and crouching down. Victor tightened his grip on Billy’s shoulders, but it didn’t feel as constricting as it used to. It was comforting now that he trusted Vic more, now that he knew he hadn’t meant to let Billy get hurt.
Instead of shouting at him like he’d expected or even calmly telling him that he was out of the Justice League, he did something else.
Pulling a pair of glasses out of his pocket, he placed them onto his face and gave Billy a charming yet awkward smile.
“Hello, Billy. My name is Clark Kent, and I am Superman in the Justice League.”
Billy stared in shock for a single moment before attempting to stifle a giggle.
(Naturally, it didn’t work, as Billy was a ten year old who had just learnt that the identity of one of his favourite superheroes and role models was hidden by a small pair of glasses.)
“What’s so funny?” Clark asked, pretending to be offended. It failed, as Billy saw his lips quirk up at the corner and he knew what Billy was laughing at. “My identity is well hidden, thank you.”
“ How does no one know who you are?” he demanded, giggles still coming out of his mouth as he relaxed further into Victor’s arms. “It shouldn’t even be called a secret identity, at this point, ‘cause that is not secret!”
Clark raised his eyebrow, looking at Billy with a smirk. “Did you know who I was before this, though?”
Billy’s giggles paused as his eyes widened.
“Holy moley, I didn’t. Can you teach me your tricks?”
Clark laughed warmly before moving away and rejoining the group.
At this point, Billy figured that he knew the routine, and sure enough each superhero came over to him and told them their civilian name, removing anything that hid their face and reintroducing themselves to Billy.
Hal, otherwise known as Green Lantern, introduced himself and quickly pulled Billy into a big hug, claiming that he was “fun size! The perfect size to give the perfect hug, oh my god, you’re so small.”
(Billy had even managed to hide a flinch when Hal had hugged him, and even felt at ease within the hug. He saw Barry glare at Bruce out of the corner of his eye, gesturing towards the two and mouthing many words - probably obscene language - towards the man.)
Bruce reintroduced himself again, and then Victor did so as well. Clearly, everyone wanted a fresh start to begin anew, without any secrets.
Later, Victor told him that in the beginning, there was lots of fighting. The shouts and screams and quarreling was so loud that Bruce had ordered them to quiet down and go to their cities to cool off.
Victor had said that Billy had been asleep for a couple of days, so he hadn’t heard much of the arguing, thank the lord. Apparently, even though the wounds weren’t life-threatening, Billy had needed the chance to recuperate and allow his body rest, according to Alfred.
The Justice League had demanded to see Billy at first - namely Superman, who wanted to go in and tell Billy what a stupid idea it was to be a superhero as a child, when he had a long life to lead ahead of him and being a superhero would muck it up.
According to Victor and Barry, Bruce had gone to Clark and told him how stupid that was - did he really want to push Billy away once he had just barely accepted them? It was obvious that Clark cared, he just cared a little too much - after all, starting anew was a difficult thing to do.
It was then that Barry had the idea - why not just start again?
It was simple, they would go to Billy, take off masks, cowls, headgear or anything else and reintroduce themselves as their civilian form. It would be a fresh beginning for all of them, and it would allow Billy to see them as they truly were as well.
(Billy was very thankful for that idea. If it hadn’t been for Flash, Billy might have lost the first family he had for a long, long time.)