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“Come on!” Freddy pulls Billy along by his wrist, his laugh echoing through the empty halls.
Billy was laughing too. He can still hear the murmurs and whispers from his classmates in the cafeteria. The looks on their faces when he walked in as Shazam and sat down next to Freddy, priceless.
The look on Freddy’s face was priceless, too. When Freddy had looked up at him from where he sat, alone, at a table in the back of the room, Billy was taken aback for a moment. No one had ever looked at him like that. That made it all worth it.
He’s been so selfish and unfair to him. To this kid who, despite him being a total dick, decided they were best friends. He can admit to himself that having Freddy around has made his life so much better, super wizard powers or not. He just wants to make sure Freddy knows how much he means to him.
Freddy finally stops dragging him along and looks up and down the hallway before opening a door, a supply closet, and pushing Billy in.
Freddy hobbles in a after him and shuts the door.
It’s not completely dark, thanks to the frosted glass above the door, but it’s dark enough to make it weird for two people to be standing in a closet with the door closed.
Billy looks down, still in his Shazam form, at the grinning face of Freddy.
“What are we doing in here?” He laughs nervously.
Freddy hits his chest with the back of his hand, withdrawing quickly when a his suit zaps him.
He giggles a little and Billy is struck by how uncomfortable this should be, but isn’t really. He can’t help but join Freddy, everything they’ve been through together, everything they’ve accomplished, everything they’ve experienced. It’s all too insane to take seriously. Billy thinks that giggling in a closet with your best friend, all things considered, isn’t that crazy.
Freddy finally sobers and looks up at Billy.
“Change back, I want real Billy right now.”
Billy nods. “Shazam”, he whispers. A thunderous bolt of lightning cracks down on him and he’s just Billy again. As he always was.
As soon as the lightning fades Billy finds himself fully engulfed in Freddy Freeman, arms wrapped around his neck, the sound of his cane hitting the floor. He huffs a breath out and gets a mouth full of curly hair.
“ThankyouThankyouThankyou.” Freddy whispers over and over in his ear, voice muffled and unsteady.
Billy has never really liked hugs. They’ve always seemed awkward and forced and people just do them out of a sense of obligation. It’s never felt natural to him.
But this one.
This one feels real, feels genuine. He brings his arms up, pulling Freddy closer, seeing what all the fuss is about. It catches him off guard how nice this is.
“Hey, I might be the one with the super powers, but I probably would have killed myself without you. I just--I wanted to be there for you like you were there for me.” Billy says, still clutching onto Freddy, afraid he might try to pull away. The moment feels heavier then it did a second ago and he isn’t ready to look him in the eye just yet.
Freddy huffs out a short laugh.
“You remember I told those robbers to shoot you in the face, right? I’m pretty sure I came closer to killing you then you ever did.”
Billy laughs at that, it’s a good memory.
Freddy sniffs wetly and Billy feels him take a deep breath and release it slowly. He pulls back slightly. Enough to be able to see Billy’s face, but they’re only inches apart.
Even in the low light, Billy can see that Freddy is crying, eyelashes in wet clumps, eyes glistening.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Billy asks, even though he feels like he should know.
Freddy shakes his head a few times, “Ugh.” He sniffs again.
“I just--Billy, you’re--” He stops, eyes cast downward.
He finally glances up through his wet eyelashes, meeting Billy’s eyes. The quiet starts to feel like a third person in the closet. Freddy has always taken care of the word count in their time of knowing each other and Billy doesn’t really know how to pick up the slack.
Freddy’s breath ghosts across his face in quick bursts, like he just finished running. His eyes fall the short distance to Billy’s lips and back up again in an instant. Suddenly Billy gets it and doesn’t think twice before closing the space between them. Lips meeting his.
He’s never kissed anyone before. Imagined it would be strange, to be that close to somebody.
It’s not.
Freddy leans into him the moment their lips touch, like he’d just been waiting for Billy to move.
It only lasts a few seconds, Billy pulls away first. Freddy moves with him but catches himself, biting his lip on a smile.
“I, um.” Freddy starts, but stops to take a deep, steadying breath.
“No one has ever done anything like that for me, it made me feel like...like I was important to someone. And that. That’s--” Billy growls in frustration. “I usually don’t have this hard a time getting my point across. What I mean is. You’re my best friend, Billy. And I know that best friends don’t normally stand in dark closets and hug for long periods of time and kiss, but I think sometimes they do. Victor always says Rosa is his best friend, and they’re married. But. Anyway. What I mean is, you’re my best friend, and...whatever we had to go through to get here...I’m glad for it. If that makes sense. I hope that makes sense, and it’s not horribly offensive or something.”
Billy smiles, nodding.
He knows for a fact he would have disagreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment just a week ago. But being Shazam, finding someplace that finally feels like HOME, confronting his mother, there are things that sucked having to deal with, but he finally feels like he’s in a solid place, and he’s not going to be giving that up easily, now that he knows what it feels like. And feeling Freddy’s arms still wrapped around his neck, well that feels solid too. It’s grounding in a way that makes him want to lean back in, see if his second kiss is just as awesome as his first.
It was.