What's this? An update? Surprise beach, thought you saw the last of me. Nah though, I planed on having a "write two chapters, so then when I start working on the third I can post the first one so then I can keep going for a little while." But as you can see it didn't happen. But I started on a chapter 5! Heck yeah man! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter four
Whither or not it was the Wisdom of Solomon that had made the connection, Billy wasn't sure. However that realization left him in a daze for the rest of the day (except he was coherent enough for a little bit to go back home for a slice of pie, back to the Watchtower, and give it to Black Canary as thanks) and followed him into the next.
"Hey," Freddy Freeman, Billy's best friend, waved his hand in Billy's face with clear worry on his own. "You there?"
Billy blinked rapidly. "Um. Yes?"
"Billy." Freddy's face fell flat. "You've been out of it all day. Did you even realize that school's over?"
"Wait what?!" Billy jumped out of his chair.
"Yeah! It was like watching a robot going on autopilot!" Freddy confirmed. "Pretty freaky if you ask me."
Billy just stared at his friend. Just what has his life become? He met with Batman twice as Billy Batson, had Poison Ivy teach him about poisonous plants as Billy Batson, and he met with the secret identity of Superman. Who he was interviewed by. As Billy Batson.
Billy shook his head and said, "it's nothing."
"Billy, that was not 'nothing'." Freddy gave him a look. "What happened?
"My mind was just thinking about stuff."
"Okay." Freddy said slowly, not sure if he believed what Billy said. "If you're sure. Anyway did ya hear?"
"Hear what?" Billy asked. He then started to get his stuff, remembering that the school day was done.
"That a reporter came from the Daily Planet in Metropolis to Fawcett!" Freddy had spoken with enthusiasm.
"Oh? Actually yeah. I think it had to do with the general store we have." Billy didn't just hear about it, he met him.
"Really?" Freddy scrunched up his nose and walked with Billy to their lockers. "People have been saying it was about the Angel of Fawcett."
It was Billy's turn to have his face scrunch up in confusion. "The what now?"
"The Angel of Fawcett! Don't tell me you don't know about the Angel!"
"Ok. I know about the angel."
Freddy groaned.
"What! You told me not to tell you that I didn't know!"
"Billy, Billy, Billy. What am I going to do with you?" Freddy shook his head and sighed. He then ruffled Billy's hair, seemingly to mock Billy as Freddy was taller than him.
"Oh come on!" Billy swatted the hand away with fake irritation. Soon enough the two broke out laughing as they arrived to their lockers.
"Oh yeah, I also heard that there's a circus coming over soon." Freddy said with a grin as he put his stuff in his backpack.
"Holy moly! Really?" Billy's smile stretched across his face. "I haven't been to a circus in ages!"
"Then you wanna go with me on Friday after school?" Freddy asked.
"Yeah! Oh boy we haven't done something like this in like forever!" Billy cheered. His demeanor then dampened. "Sorry about that."
Freddy gave the other boy a quizzical look. But then he realized what Billy was talking about. "Hey man, it's ok. I understand that you have a lot on your plate."
Billy still looked like a kicked puppy.
"Look at it this way, going to the circus would give us time to catch up." Freddy gave the shorter boy a smile.
This rose Billy's spirits. "Yeah."
As Captain Marvel went around Fawcett City for a little patrol, he had a lot to think about. Batman, Superman/Clark Kent, writing that letter to Bruce Wayne, Freddy. Even Ms. Floros.
It seemed Batman didn't really liked Captain Marvel lately, but this could have always been the case and only now Captain Marvel have been noticing it. There's also the fact that Batman probably thinks Billy has a connection to villains or something like that because of that little trip to Poison Ivy's place. Captain Marvel wouldn't be surprised if Batman found out that the woman that took Billy there and back was Ms. Floros.
The mighty mortal just hopes Batman doesn't think Ms. Floros is a villain. Because she isn't. She's just a goddess in disguise is all.
With the whole Superman/Clark Kent thing, he felt like it should've been obvious, but at the same time it felt clever. Because really. Glasses. And who would expect Superman to be a reporter? But also, there was a suspicion that Batman put Superman up to going to Fawcett. But if it were true that Superman was to go there for his job as Clark Kent, then it was one heck of a coincidence for him to meet Billy Batson in that store.
For the letter to Bruce Wayne, Billy still hasn't thought of a good way to phrase anything so it didn't sound, well, awful. He didn't want to sound childish, or greedy, or incompetent, or anything like that. He wanted to sound like a professional and have his handwriting look very well. So Billy might have to practice writing quite a bit. Maybe in cursive. Because isn't cursive what people write in when writing letters? Especially if they're important?
With Freddy, Billy truly felt bad for not hanging out with his friend. He was always doing something as either Billy Batson or Captain Marvel. Hopefully when Friday came, he'll get to have some quality time with his best friend.
As he flew by a random street, he heard someone call him. He looked down to see a little girl wearing a fluffy pastel dress waving at him. It looked like she wanted him to get closer. So he flew down to see what she wanted.
"My kitty, Mr. Bean Toes, is in the tree," she pointed to the tree she was standing next to, "could you pretty please get him down?"
He smiled at her. "Don't worry, I will." He then floated closer to the tree, trying to find the cat. Once he did, he found an elderly cat that lost an eye. Seeing no other cat, Captain Marvel slowly went closer to the cat.
The cat looked rather comfortable and didn't hiss at the magical man. No, it took being cradled in stride and even began to purr in his arms. As he floated to the ground, he asked the little girl, "is this your cat?"
"Mr. Bean Toes!" She cried with glee, arm outstretched to the cat. "You naughty kitty, I was so scared! I thought you would never get down!"
"I'm sure Mr. Bean Toes didn't mean to scare you." Captain Marvel told the girl soothingly. "Now you should probably get on home."
The girl nodded, long curly black hair flying every which way. She then turn and ran, most likely towards her house.
"Mr. Bean Toes. That's an adorable name." A male voice spoke.
Captain Marvel turned his head slightly and saw a curtain speedster.
"Oh hey Flash! What's up?" He asked.
"I wanted to say hi. That and I heard Black Canary talking to Green Arrow about Fawcett's best pie. Wanted to see if it was true." The Flash shrugged.
"Well, I know just the place." Captain Marvel flashed him a smile.
"Ok, so this place has the best pie I ever had." Captain Marvel explained to Flash as they both walked into the Blue Bell Diner.
"Hello!" Jasmine called. Her smiling face morphed into one of pleasant surprise. "Captain Marvel and The Flash! What can I do for you two?"
"Two slices of mixed berry pie please," Captain Marvel smiled at her as he sat down on a stool.
"Coming right up!" She then turned to tell her brother the order.
"Nice atmosphere you got going on here," The Flash complement with a smile to the owner. Although she didn't see it as she was still talking to her twin.
"It's very welcoming." Captain Marvel agreed.
They then sat in silence as The Flash was soaking everything in, the Captain was letting himself relax a bit in the calm diner; Jasmine was doing her best to get things done and not let the fact that two heroes were in her diner get her so nervous, and Jasper was getting the pie ready. It was peaceful.
Once the moment the plates of pie were sat in front of the two supers, The Flash took a bite of his pie.
"Oh my god." He managed to say through the fork and pie. "This is the best."
Marvel grinned. "See? It's the most amazing pie ever!"
If one were to see Flash's eyes, they would see stars sparkling within them.
Captain Marvel watched with amusement at the man, seeing how he was torn between savoring it and eating it all at once, whilst eating his own slice of pie.
"You know if you eat it slowly, you'll get to taste it longer." He pointed out.
"Yes, but…" the fast man trailed off.
"It's the greatest thing since sliced bread right?" Captain Marvel joked.
"Yep." Flashed popped the 'p'.
Captain Marvel shook his head and continued to eat his pie; smiling whilst doing so.
And so they sat, eating their pie.
"So you told Canary about the pie?" Flash asked his fellow hero.
"Mmhm." The captain nodded. "Got her a slice too, as a thank you for her help."
The Flash set a thoughtful gaze upon Captain Marvel as the black haired man ate his desert.
"Ya know," he couldn't help but begin to say, "there's something about you…" he trailed off.
"Uh. Something about me?" Marvel sent a questioning look to the other. "I hope it's good." He tried to joke.
"Oh, sorry. Yeah it's good." Flash apologized. "It's just." He tried to explain. "You have this… air about you."
"'Air about me?'" He repeated, rather confused.
The Flash huffed and shook his head. "Maybe I'm not saying this right."
They were quite for a moment longer, both gathering their thoughts. The employees of the establishment did their best to ignore the conversation as if not concern them and it was quite the polite thing to do.
With a snap of his fingers, The Flash said, "sunny!"
"Bwha?" The mighty mortal's face was filled with bewilderment.
"You're sunny. Like, your personality and you pretty much light up the room when you walk in."
Captain Marvel looked at his (would they even be called coworkers? They don't get paid) coworker in somewhat worry. "Thanks?"
"Sorry," Flash apologized again, "it's just, you tend to brighten up the situation. You end up giving people their smiles back when they hardly have anything to smile about. And the kids absolutely adore you. It's like you know what they want."
The boy disguised as a man couldn't help but laugh. 'If only you knew.' He thought.
"Man, I guess I never thought it about that way. I'm just trying to help out is all. I try to make sure everyone is okay, even if it's the little things, because the little things stack up you know? Even if I can no longer help someone out in the long run, I can certainly try to keep the little things there to give them a smile, no matter how small it is. Even if I wish it was bigger."
His answer seemed to please the fastest man alive as the two continued their slices in peace. Once they were done, it was The Flash who paid for it even against the protest of a few. Captain Marvel wanted to pay for it, as he felt like he should pay for the treat since it was a treat, and Jasmine and her brother wanted to show their respect and thought that it was best to show their hospitality and thankfulness through this way. It ended up with Flash not only paid the bill, but gave a rather nice tip for any and all employees to take.
"You really don't have to…" Jasmine weakly protested one last time.
"Nah. It's a really nice place and I think I'll come here again. Might bring Kid Flash here. He really likes pie." He flashed her a smile. "See ya around."
And with that both heroes left the diner.
Captain Marvel and The Flash talked a little bit, both doing little things to help the populace as nothing big was going on. Eventually Flash had to leave and go back to his city.
"Make sure everything's okay." He had said.
Not long after did Captain Marvel notice the time; he had to go home.
"Shazam!" He cried once he was at a safe destination where no one could see him or be recorded. Out walked orphan Billy Batson from the forest riddled abandoned train station.
"Maybe I should make a garden here." He thought aloud to himself.
The abandoned train station was on the outskirts of town, on the other side of where the abandoned fireworks factory was. It was right next to a forest and it had been there a long time before even Billy's grandparents and it had been abandoned for what could be even longer. It had an air about it of it being there since the beginning of the Earth and it will continue to be there long after. Which was impossible, but there might've been a spell casted on the area so who knows.
Tall trees of all kinds grew from inside and out of the building, roots tearing apart the railroad tracks. Wildflowers of all colors dotted the lawn and rotted floor boards. Leaves from a vine of some sort crawled down and up the walls of both the interior and exterior. Multiple berry bushes were scattered about while birds sang songs in their nests and from the branches above. Billy thinks there's even bats in the rafters of the station.
The station itself was once a grand building. It still is, but in a different way, for all the greenery that had attached itself to the scene.
Billy liked to imagine what it was once like, before it became abandoned. For it was a large station, meant to help out weary travelers. There was many areas where it looked like shops would be in order to change wears and to get a chance with new people constantly coming in and out. Tables, chairs, and benches were strewn about. Some fallen over, some still standing tall. Great pillars grew into broken clocks that once was accurate when it came to telling time. The paint had faded far too much on the walls to tell what color it used to be. The floor and ceiling was made out of wood, that much he was sure of. The ceiling was broken by time, weather, and plant life; having sunlight filtering through to brighten up the darkened place. What actual windows were there were dirtied, but somehow not as much as the paint on the walls so Billy could tell that once upon a time, stain glass brought in a rainbow of colors into greeting for anyone arriving and in goodbye to those leaving.
He wasn't sure if the building could be fixed, for people to live in it, but the area is filled to the brim for opportunity to have a garden. Because even if it wasn't due to a spell, the earth thrived. And yet… it's because of this it might not be a good idea to have a garden. There's a chance that Billy wouldn't be able to maintain it and it would grow wild. And with the possibility of introducing plants that are not native to the area? Billy knew that doing so would harm not only the local flora, but the fawna. He could very well disrupt the balance that had been created here.
He doesn't want to do that.
With a sigh and a shake of his head he walked away from the fairytale like place. He walked, and walked, and walked down a path that only he knows at this point. And as he continued, ever so slowly did the trees began to fade into scattered houses. Scattered houses turned into neighborhoods. Neighborhoods grew into apartment buildings and then he was home.
And in that moment before he enters the building, he turns to look where he came from. It was a moment of looking into what could be. But then something strange happened. He suddenly saw a yellow dot grew larger at an extremely alarming rate. And it was coming towards him.
Wind whipped his hair away from his eyes and he almost felt like he was going to fly away. But he didn't. Instead he saw a teen in a costume similar to the Flash's only the colors was in reverse and he had goggles.
"Kid Flash?!" He blanched. First Flash and now his young protégé in fighting crime?
"Thank you!" Kid Flash threw up his hands into the sky. He looked… happy. "Now why can't more people be like you? The name isn't so hard to remember right?"
"Ummm. Yeah?" Billy had no idea what was going on.
"I like you kid," okay that was straight forward, "and I have a question."
"Uh. Shoot." Might as well right?
"Have you seen Flash? I think I heard him talking about this place, but I haven't seen him so I thought he might be here."
Wait really?
Billy put a finger to his chin. "Well… I did see a red blur so that might've been him. But I don't think he's here anymore."
Kid Flash slumped his shoulders. "Aw man." He whined.
The young child felt bad for the hero in training. There wasn't much he could do as Billy. But… he took a quick glance at the position of the sun and estimated what time it was.
He was probably going to regret this.
"Do you want to stay for dinner? I don't know exactly what's being cooked, but I'm sure my uncle would be glad to have you over." Billy offered.
The teen before him gave him a surprise look, then one of conflict. "As tempting as that sounds, I don't think I should." He tried.
Billy nodded. "I understand. But you could always have a little something to tie you over until later right? And I still need to ask my uncle first.
So if he says no then it wouldn't be a problem right?" He tried to convince.
He liked Kid Flash. The league is cool and all, but the heroes in training were closer to him in age. It would be nice, in his eyes, to hang out.
Although this might add more attention to Billy Batson than he would like. And yet he didn't want a fellow hero to starve.
Kid made a strangled noise before saying, "okay we can go ask your uncle. But if he says no, then it's perfectly fine. No need to pressure anyone to do anything."
Billy beamed. "Okay!" He chirped.
Kid Flash made another strangled noise. He then shook his head and sighed, all with a smile. "Alright, alright. Let's just get going before I change my mind."
The child nodded his head then turned to actually go into the building. "Follow me please." He said.
They went inside and went passed the information desk. The lady working looked up and smiled at Billy, but then did a double take at the teen behind him. She blinked multiple times before shaking her head with a fond smile.
"You didn't forced him to have dinner with you young man?" She asked, hazel eyes shining with mirth.
Billy pouted. "I did no such thing! I invited him over."
She chuckled and shook her head, dark brown curls bouncing along with her. "Whatever you say Batson."
The child blushed and began to power walk to the elevator. Kid Flash was not far behind. Once they made it to the elevator, Billy pressed his floor's button.
Silence. And then…
"Batson huh?" Was spoken with snickers.
Okay maybe it was a bad idea to invite him over.
"I promise you, it's just my last name. I have no relation to Batman whatsoever." Billy cleared the air. "Oh and my name's Billy. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier."
"Nah it's all good." He waved it away. Then he said with a grin, "I'm Kid Flash, but you already knew that."
Billy grinned back, and it even grew when he heard the words, "man that's good to say."
Finally they made it to their destination and Billy walked down the hallway. He opened the door, held it opened for his guest, then went inside.
"Billy, you're back." He heard Uncle Dudley say from the kitchen. "Just in time too, I made ham steak with mashed potatoes, corn, and gravy."
"It sounds delicious! Hey Uncle Dudley, is it okay if someone stays over for dinner?" He asked while taking off his shoes.
Uncle Dudley was silent for a moment. The older man then had actually walked over to where his nephew was. His face was blank. He was also wearing an apron obviously created by a child that said '#1 uncle'.
"You know," he started, "the last time you said that you brought over Twany."
Billy groaned. "But I don't see what's the big deal! He's a gentleman and he adores your cooking!"
"Billy." Dudley's tone was flat. "He's a tiger."
Behind the child, Kid Flash made some sort of noise. Perhaps choking on spit.
The man sighed before he looked at the red head with a smile. "You can stay here for as long as you like. I accidentally made too much for just Billy and me anyways."
This made the child beam. He took Kid's hand and brought him over to the table. Then he went to help his uncle out by setting the table and bringing out the food.
"It smells so good!" Billy finally said as he sat down.
"It better be good." Dudley said as he did the same thing.
"I bet it's good!" Billy continued, giving the man a grin.
Kid Flash watched the two at the exchange. He smiled a little, before digging in.
His eyes grew wide. "Mhhmfnhmm." He muffled through the food in his mouth.
Billy and Dudley blinked.
The speedster quickly chewed and swallowed his food to say, "it's delicious!"
A grin and a smile were his reactions.
The youngest out of the three took a bite and hummed in agreement. "I think you outdone yourself this time Uncle Dudley." He had said once he finished the food that was in his mouth.
"It's nothing special." The man shrugged. "It's easy to whip up."
"But still, it's really good Mr. Batson." Kid Flash said. This made the other two stop. The hero in training stopped as well, wondering what happened. "Um. Did I say something wrong?"
It was uncle Dudley that shook out of it first. "No, no. It's okay. My name is actually Dudley H. Dudley, believe it or not."
Kid Flash hummed and nodded. "Sorry about that." He apologized sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck.
"No, really, it's okay. You didn't know." Billy gave the teen a little strained smile. "You didn't know." This time, those three words were spoken softer.
The atmosphere quickly grew awkward as they ate. No one really spoke until Kid Flash cleared his throat and asked, "so… a tiger."
Billy blinked. "Oh! Are you talking about Tawny?"
Kid nodded.
Dudley sighed and shook his head.
"Okay so we have a zoo right?" Billy began to explain. "And Tawny is the tiger that sometimes lives there."
"Wait sometimes? Isn't that, ya know, a hazard?" Kid Flash blanched.
"He comes and goes. And he isn't bad. He just sorta does his own thing. Never hurt anyone ya know? He always comes back."
The teen didn't looked all that convinced.
"Anyway, one day I bumped into Tawny when he was out and about and I asked him if he wanted to have dinner with me and he was okay with it. So I brought him over and Uncle Dudley made steak that day and Tawny likes steak so it would be rude to not let him have any. Unfortunately he couldn't exactly use a chair, but he was okay with not sitting on it, because he's big enough to eat at the table without any problems ya know? And he really does have good table manners, so personally I would invite him over again. After that we turned the tv on for him to watch a little while he digested his food and while we washed the dishes. Eventually he had to leave so I walked him back to the front of the building and said that I'll see him later."
Not only was Kid Flash digesting his own food, but he was digesting the whole story.
"Wait wait wait. You just. Invited a tiger for dinner and your uncle let you?" His voice rose an octave while he spoke this. "Is that even legal?"
The white haired man sighed heavily. "In my defense I don't think it was a good idea. Unfortunately Billy has a stubborn streak."
"Hey!" The black haired child pouted. "Tawny is a good guy! He doesn't attack people unless they were going to hurt him or others, and he doesn't eat people! He thinks they taste gross."
That didn't seem to appease Kid Flash.
"That's… definitely a story." He managed to get out.
It was certainly something that's for sure.
It also was what broke the ice. Kid Flash and Billy got along swimmingly, asking things like favorite colors, favorite animals, things of that sort. Nothing too revealing on Kid Flash's end as Billy and Dudley respect Kid Flash's secret identity and over all privacy.
They ended up finishing most of the food, leaving leftovers for the next day in three containers.
"Um," Kid Flash had started after seeing the third container, "who's that for?" He asked.
"It's for you!" Billy said with a smile. He held it out for the teen to take.
The young speedster was surprised. He then gave the younger one a smile of his own and took the container. "Okay now I definitely have to come back to give this back."
Billy's smile grew. "You're welcome to come over for dinner anytime!" He said.
"And for once I agree." Uncle Dudley joked from the kitchen. "As long as you don't turn into a tiger in the middle of dinner."
"Uncle Dudley!" Billy gasped. "How dare!"
Kid Flash just burst out laughing at this. "Ya know what? I really like you." He said before ruffling Billy's hair.
"Thanks for the dinner you guys. I'll be back to return this okay? See ya later!" And with that, Kid Flash speed out of the building.
Billy beamed at the door. "That went well, don't you think?" He asked while turning his head to his uncle.
"Yes, but you really need to plan these things in advance." Was his reply.
Together, the little family washed up the dishes, clean the table, and got ready for bed.
Life was certainly getting interesting in the crazy world that belongs to Billy Batson.
Freddy slapped his hands onto Billy's desk, face bright with excitement. "I got the tickets!" He nearly shouted.
Billy blinked. Then it hit him like a bullet train. "Holy moly really?!"
The blond boy's grin was almost splitting his face in two. "Heck yeah! I got them and we can go this Friday! It's going to be so cool!"
Matching grins mirrored each other. Both were bursting with glee at the thought of getting together after so long. This was in need for a celebration, which in itself, is another reason to get together.
"Wanna go for some pie later?" Billy asked.
"You just read my mind."
Together the duo had enough money for two slices of pie and the rest would be tips. Anything to help their favorite diner.
"Man it feels like ages since I've been here." Freddy said. "Thank goodness that your uncle and my grandpa let us go here together."
"Yeah! He's really happy that we're hanging out."
"You could say that again!"
"Sure. He's really happy that we're hanging out." Billy gave a grin, making Freddy groan with a small smile of his own on his face.
"Man you can be so cheesy."
Billy shrugged. "What can I say?"
"That you like cheese way too much. Where are you from? Wisconsin?"
"We are in Wisconsin! And In our defense we know our cheese. And besides, everyone knows if you want cheese it's gotta be from Wisconsin! Where are you from? California?"
The two looked at each other with serious faces. A moment passed before the broken into laughter.
A face popped out of the kitchen window.
"Did I hear the sound of children laughing?" It was Jasper.
"No! You heard the sound of babies crying!" Freddy said.
"Lame. Everyone knows that children laughing is way better than babies crying."
As Freddy and Jasper continued to banter, Billy's mind wandered over to the problem of the possible garden. He wanted to do it, so then there would be more free food. Unfortunately there wasn't any plants that he knew that was native to the area.
Maybe he could go to the library? Or maybe ask the people who work at a floral shop. They would know. Right? He wasn't sure.
And he was just poked in the cheek.
"Huah?" He turned his head to see it was Freddy.
"What's up? You're thinking hard." He poked Billy's cheek again.
Billy swatted the offending finger away. "I was not. Just thinking about what to do. I want to make a garden but there's only one place I have in mind. But since it's like, out in the forest it's probably not really a good idea. Especially since I don't know what to plant ya know?" He explained.
Freddy tilted his head. He then tapped his chin. "Well," he drew out the word, "maybe we could use the abandoned golf course."
The younger boy blinked in confusion. "Wait we have a golf course?"
"Abandoned golf course." Freddy corrected. "Apparently my grandpa used to play there, but then it shut down. Same with the summer clubhouse or whatever that's with it."
Billy furrowed his eyebrows together, as he thought about it.
Then, not unlike his magical lightning, an idea struck him.
"That's it!" He exclaimed, jumping off of his stool. "Thanks Freddy! I owe ya one!"
Billy was filled with so much joy and excitement he couldn't help but give Freddy a kiss on the cheek in appreciation. He quickly turned to run out the diner, only stopping short from the door to yell, "you can give your grandpa my slice of pie. Tell him I said hi!"
And then he was gone.
He never noticed Freddy blinking rapidly, hand on cheek, and face flushed. Nor did he noticed Freddy asking no one in particular, in a daze, "did he just kissed me?"
Or the fact that Jasper gave Freddy a shit eating grin.
As Billy Batson, he ran as fast as he could to the general store, knowing just who to ask to find where the golf course was.
The boy wouldn't fly as Captain Marvel over something like this. No, Captain Marvel was for protecting the city and the world. Certainly not for making things more convenient.
So the boy just ran quite fast, not once resting all the while.
Soon enough he made it inside the store. With heavy breaths, he looked around. His eyes shifted between customers to employees. Nope.
He walked down further. Of course he waved greetings waved away any concerned looks with a smile.
Then, in the back, he saw them. The person he needed. He watched as they waved at a customer goodbye.
"Dorian!"
He watched as they turned to him, and smiled.
