~Mount Justice, 0900 EST~

All the lights in were off.

It was so quiet you could hear the air rushing through the vents.

This was so typical.

Billy sighed and went into the living room. The Team was probably out doing something cool without him, some big mission Batman had conveniently forgotten to tell him about because he wouldn't be allowed to go because A) he was still on thin ice with the League for not telling them how old he was and B) "heroes don't get days off." Although, Billy highly doubted babysitting Wolf counted as "League business." If Wolf was even still here. Conner liked to take him along sometimes. This was just going to be another in a long line of disappointing birthdays, Billy decided as he felt along the living room wall for the lightswitch.

Yup, it was his birthday. Eleventh to be exact. Not that very many people cared- just Uncle Dudley and that lady at the diner who'd put a candle on his pancakes this morning. (Her name was Edith. Billy liked her.) Birthday pancakes with Uncle Dudley was all very well and good, but Billy still really, really wished he had somebody his own age to share it with. Somebody to come over for a party, or better yet, who would throw him one.

Yeah.

That'd be great.

*click*

"SURPRISE!"

Billy literally jumped three feet in the air in surprise and, despite Captain Marvel having the stamina of Atlas, almost wet his pants. "W-what's going-"

"Happy birthday, Billy!"

"Huh?" Billy looked around the room. Everyone was there: Megan, Conner, Robin, Wally, Zatanna, Kaldur, Artemis and Rocket, all smiling and unfolding themselves from various hiding places around the room. There was a huge red and yellow cake sitting on the coffee table with a sparkler stuck in the top. There were streamers. There were balloons. There were presents. Wolf was wearing a party hat (something he did NOT look happy about). "Did you guys do this for me?"

Robin smirked. "Uh, who else here is named Billy? Raise your hand."

Everybody rolled their eyes.

"Look, dude," Wally said, "we know the League's been giving you a hard time, and I'm always up for an excuse for Megan to make a cake."

"And I know what it feels like to have a bad birthday," Artemis added.

"We just want you to be happy," Megan said. "We're your friends, Billy."

Billy looked at the others again. They were all more or less agreeing (less in the case of Conner, who was watching out of the corner of his eye as Wolf ate his party hat).

"Ok then. SHAZAM!"

A bolt of lightning appeared from the ceiling, followed by a puff of smoke and Captain Marvel disappeared. In his place was Billy Batson, grinning widely. "So what kind of cake is it?"

~6 hours later~

"Bye!"

"Happy birthday!"

Recognized: Captain Marvel.

Still waving behind him, Billy stepped away from the zeta tube. He stood in silence for a few seconds after that, taking in the deserted Fawcett City alleyway and the backpack full of birthday presents in his hands.

"That... Was... So.. AWESOME!" he yelled, throwing on the backpack and lifting off to fly home.

He'd never had that much fun in his entire life, except for maybe that one day when Uncle Dudley took him to the county fair.

Of course, he'd lost a contest against Wally to see who could eat more cake, but nobody could eat more cake than Wally, especially if Megan made it.

And then he threw up, but still. STILL.

The Team had thrown him a birthday party!

And, as girly as it sounded, just by doing it, they'd given him the best preset he'd ever gotten.

But a Batarang wasn't half bad of a gift either.

Opening the window and dumping his backpack on the couch, Billy yelled "SHAZAM!" again. Before the smoke cleared, he was running down the hall and rattling the knob on his uncle's bedroom door. "Uncle Dudley! You're never gonna believe this!"