Shazam: The Captain and the Lady

Chapter 1: The Wisdom of Solomon

They all know Mary is smart. She might deny it, but there's that feeling when you get a pile of letters from various colleges across the USA, all saying (paraphrased), "you're smart, and we'd love to have you, please say yes." So, regardless of what Mary Bromfield does now, she can't claim that she isn't smart. Or brilliant. Or any of those things. After all, she can only choose one of those letters (well, far as Billy's aware, he's not sure about this whole college thing), and if she throws it away, well, the trash is the trash. He or his foster-siblings can fish it out. Yes, that makes them raccoons, but none of them fly around in a rocket, so, copyright can take a hike. Yes, that is a reference to the invisible jet that Wonder Woman's reportedly using now, why did you ask?

Well, whatever raccoons and amazons may or may not have in common, tonight's the night of celebration. Food, drink, music, lights, friends. Maybe drugs. Billy isn't sure. He got his kickstart on alcohol when this whole superhero thing began (tasted terrible then, tastes slightly less terrible now), but he hasn't used drugs. Heroes don't use drugs. He knows they don't use drugs, because there was an ad starring that cyborg guy telling people not to use drugs, and if a cyborg with a glowing eye tells you not to get high, what else is going to convince you? So, okay then – no drugs. But everything else. And everyone else.

He can't help but feel jealous, making his way through "the Den," as he and his foster siblings call it. Mary's got friends. Some of them are his friends as well, some of them aren't. Freddy's got his friends, Darla's got her friends, Eugene's got his friends, heck, Pedro's got his boyfriend. And, okay, sure, that isn't weird. All of the Shazam Family have some of their own friends. Ma and pa are happy that they have those friends, because foster kids need a world outside their own. So, friends. Music. Partying. Dancing. It's been half a year since she got accepted into Caltech, and she's going to start in the summer. He's fifteen now, while she's eighteen. He just needs to make his way to the centre of the party – three couches, a table, lots of stuff on that table, and oh boy, it's hot in here. Climate change is like that. No wonder the atlanteans are pissed.

"Mary."

He can see her. She's wearing a dress to mark the occasion – not so fancy that it changes the mood of the party, but fancy enough that he can't help but notice it. She's talking with one of her friends – Sherone? Sherona? Sharron? It's something that begins with S, and has two or three syllables.

"Mary."

She can't see him. S-girl (Sally?) has said something. Mary's laughing. He can't hear the joke, but he hopes it's a good one.

"Mary!"

She looks up at him. She smiles. Christ, she's got a gorgeous smile. Like, that's not new information exactly, but-

"Hey, Billy." She pats the couch. "Come on, take a seat."

"Oh…okay," he says, in a high-pitched voice.

"Whoa, someone's balls are dropping," S-girl says. Mary gives her a scowl and a light punch.

Why's his voice sounding like that, he wonders? Yeah, puberty, but…God damn it, is this another one of those things that doesn't transfer to his mortal form? Like, forty years from now, when he says "Shazam," is he still going to look like a caped guy from a toothpaste commercial, or will he look like the Wizard who gave him those powers in the first place? So many questions, not enough time. He takes a seat beside his foster sister. It's a tight fit, and that their sides are touching each other isn't lost on him. What also isn't lost on him is that he's wearing a tracksuit, while she and all her friends are dressed all fancy-like. Not that he was going to come here wearing a tuxedo or anything, but still, the clothes make the man. He can only be grateful that the Wizard gave him a pre-made costume. He has no idea how all the other superheroes do it in this world. Like, did they make their costumes, or get family members to do it for them?

"So, this your brother?" S-girl asks.

"Foster brother, Stephanie" Mary says. She puts a hand on Billy's shoulder and he finds himself feeling very hot and very cold at the same time. "But, yeah. Brother."

Least he knows the girl's name is Stephanie. That's something.

"So what are your plans Billy?" one of the other girls asks – he doesn't know her name. Doesn't care right now either. "Going to college too?"

"Um, maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Hey, aren't you the kid who ran away from ten foster families before ending up here?"

Billy's face turns red. "Well, wasn't ten families actually, but-"

"Eleven?"

"Twelve?"

"Guys, come on, let him speak," Mary says. She gives him another smile. "Anyway, Billy – college." She gives him a wink and a smile, and when he speaks, Billy has to make every effort to keep his voice in check.

"College," he says. "Well, yeah. Maybe. Few years' time and all that. But, hey, Mary's the smart one in the family." He taps his forehead. "Wisdom of Solomon and all that."

Mary gives him a look, and he knows that he should really change the subject.

"Anyway, I got something for you," he says. He fishes something out of his pocket and hands it to his foster sister. "Like, congratulations on the whole college thing."

Mary gives him a funny look. But when she opens the small black box, that look's replaced by one of pure joy.

"Oh my gosh!"

Her smile is still gorgeous.

She takes the earrings out. They're jade, or so the clerk told him. He just needed something that was the right mix of pretty and cheap. You only get so much money working in an afterschool job. Also, people aren't paying him for doing lightning dances as much now, and no-one wants their phone charged. Bastards.

"So, like, hoped you might like them," Billy stammers. "Like, y'know, little gift for the whole smarts thing and-"

"Billy, I love them!" She gives him a hug. It's not too tight, but he feels himself being crushed. "Thank you!"

Actually, it's not that. It's that his heart is pounding against his rib-cage, and given how close she is, it's probably pounding against hers as well. She draws back, and he watches her put them on.

"They're jade," Billy says. "Just so you know."

One of the girls gives him a funny look. He knows he's said something stupid. But then a new song starts playing, there's a cheer, and before he knows it, Mary and the girls are getting up to dance.

"I think jade is-"

Mary drags him to his feet. "Come on party pooper, night's still young."

"Oh. Okay," he says, his voice reaching the ceiling in regards to how high it is.

She leads him over. It's a dance, in as much that they get to just shake to the beat how they want, provided that they don't bump into anyone. But before they do that, Mary asks him something.

"So what are you going to do?"

He blinks. "Pardon?"

"What are you going to do?" Mary asks. "I mean, I haven't even decided what my major is going to be yet, but-"

"Hey, I'm fine," Billy says. "I mean, Philadelphia still needs a hero, so I can keep doing that."

"Yeah, but that doesn't exactly pay the bills."

"Come on. It's your night," Billy says, before smirking. "Solomon."

Mary smiles, and they begin to dance. And as they do so, Billy thinks about something.

Mary can't claim that she isn't smart. There's no way that claim could have any weight. But right now, in this second, she couldn't claim that she isn't beautiful either. And strange as it is to notice that in a foster sister…he can't help it.

His voice is changing. His body's changing. And unlike the events of the past six months, it has nothing to do with a lightning bolt hitting him.

Even if he feels electric around her.

A/N

So, yes, this is a BillyxMary pairing. It's not something I'm entirely comfortable with, but I asked people how they felt about it in Seven Deadly Sins, and the answers were almost entirely positive in regards to whether they wanted this story or not. And look, at the very least, in the DCEU, we can safely assume that they're not blood related.

I will clarify that I'm designating this as an "Elseworlds" story in that I'm not writing it to be 100% concurrent with the DCEU, whereas most multi-chapters I do are designed to be as close to canon as possible. Reason is that, whatever happens post-Shazam! (the film), none of this stuff is likely to happen in any shape or form. So, if we're playing semantics, everything up to Shazam! happens, and then the timeline branches into this story. Ergo, I can get away with stuff I normally wouldn't if I was trying to be as congruent with the DCEU as possible.