Billy is upset his friend is gone so soon. Stevie can't stand seeing a grown man cry. Lots of crying happens.
Good thing Stevie has healing tears.
⚠
Crying goobers.
When Freddy hadn't responded to Billy's suggestion of a seriously awesome Joust style combat, there'd been a sense of unease and concern for Billy. It had been the exact sort of thing Freddy would have loved to have watched. Giant Squirrels? People riding them towards one another? A sense of slight but hopefully manageable chaos? That screamed Freddy Freeman. And yet there'd not been a peep from Freddy on the subject. When Billy finally dared to look away from his own post, he'd seen why. He didn't know if the other boy had left before or after but he was evidently gone.
Any thought of hopefully harmless mayhem was deserted and he'd retracted to his room.
It was only the next day when he'd quickly hid behind a door to go back to normal did he dare ask what it could mean that Freddy had 'disappeared.' He felt he had a fairly good grasp on the concept but he didn't want to assume. Not when it was his brother that was affected. Confirmation had stung and he'd gone as far away from the dorms as he could to just be alone with it for a bit. But he had been paying attention. Everyone said to be in the dorms at night and so, even though he'd allowed himself some time to press his head to his knees and the enormity of his circumstances sink in, he knew he needed to go back. And if he went back?
He needed to be 'Pedro.'
"Shazam," he said, with a crack in his voice. He didn't feel himself grow in size like normal. The current situation kept him just as small as he'd been as his regular self. Slamming his head back against the tree, he let out a frustrated noise before moving to push himself up with the palm of his hand to get to his knees. He pressed the palm of his hand to his eyes. "Dammit, Freddy," he mumbled under his breath with a few stray sniffles.
There was a feeling. It hung in the air like a discordant note. Stevie wasn’t conscious of something being wrong, but she was drawn to the direction like an earworm she couldn’t quite shake.
The different heights of the residents at Derleth barely phased her. Among gems she was used to interacting with people as small as the pebbles or as imposing as the diamonds. So it didn’t feel strange or out of place at all when she came across the tiny man in the white cape and crouched down next to him so he wouldn’t have to strain his neck to see her at just a few inches over seven feet.
“Hey? Are you okay?”
Stevie’s expression softened. She had a big, vulnerable heart even at her smallest. It lit up rooms, overwhelmed at times, confused at others. There was no way to turn it off. It was as constant as the pink shield she could call up on command.
“It’s okay if you’re not. But I’m here if you want to talk about it?”
Stevie’s lips curled in soft concern. Her voice was more of an invitation than an intrusion. “I think your costume is cool,” she added quietly. The kind of loud costume that others might have found cheesy or too bright? Stevie had always liked that kind of showmanship. It reminded her of the amature underground professional wrestling she did as a kid.
(Nevermind she still technically was a kid.)
He was still partially crouched on the ground when he heard he saw the figure crouch next to him. A sense of mild panic rushed through him. He hadn't been careful like he needed to be. He retracted his hand from where it'd been rubbing at his face and quickly pushed himself to stand completely. Both hands moved to rest against his hips.
"Fine!" His voice squeaked when he exclaimed this. "Fine, fine. All fine, here. We're fine." He cleared his throat and squinted his eyes to look up at her.
He glanced down at his costume for a moment. "Yeah?" It gave him the smallest hint of a smile. "It's pretty sweet," he admitted before looking back up to her. "But, really," he lifted his hand to reassure her, "...I'm good."
Stevie nodded. Yeah. She never had much of a reason to wear a cape, but she could sort of see the appeal.
It was his quick attempts to reassure her that made her frown just slightly. Ouch. Despite him being a tiny grown up, Stevie saw way too much of herself in that moment, reflected right back at her. She was the helper, she was the one that provided emotional support, and when it came to feeling down, sometimes it felt better to just put on a happy face and pretend.
“Okay,” she said, uncertain. She’d seen the man with the cape around but they hadn’t talked much. “But, it would be okay if you weren’t. When I first got here, I really freaked out. I’d been doing really good for months but once I got here my gem powers were out of control again and I was pink again and even taller than this.”
Stevie shifted from crouching to gently sitting cross-legged on the ground next to the tiny man, slouching in her posture to try and get as close to his level as she could.
“Even though you’re a grownup, it’s okay if you don’t know what to do. I don’t think anyone here does. We’re all just doing our best.”
The uncertainty resonated through Billy and he had a very stark reminder of Darla. Given he was already feeling emotionally compromised, he cleared his throat and pushed the thought of his foster sister out of his mind. Even if that was hard, given she'd have been going on just like Stevie was now if she had seen him upset.
But it was Stevie's admission that made him blink. "Gem powers?" He'd only briefly spoken to her since his arrival the past week but it hadn't clicked that she might have powers. Even if she was part Alien. "You get bigger when you lose control?"
He gave a shake of his head, "But. No. Really. I'm fine." The squeak in his voice was incredibly frustrating. That wasn't how he typically came across as Shazam.
"Everyone is definitely trying their best," he agreed.
“Sometimes. Technically, if I concentrate, I can shapeshift a little.” Stevie closed her eyes to concentrate and she managed to shrink down about a foot in size, still taller than she was normally but closer to normal. Still, it didn’t look completely comfortable, as if she were flexing every muscle in her body to stay that size.
“...Ta da?”
Releasing a breath, Stevie went back to her new default.
“I mean, my powers are kind of based on my feelings so, I mean sometimes I get bigger but sometimes I just lose access to different powers. It just sort of depends on how I’m doing.” Stevie shrugged.
“I’m Stevie, by the way. It’s nice to meet you…?”
She didn’t try to force anything out of him, even if the corners of his eyes seemed to glisten just a tiny bit more than eyes should. It didn’t mean there were tears. Stevie could have been projecting? She wasn’t responsible for his feelings or getting him to open up-- that was the kind of advice she imagined her therapist back home might have said. It was okay for someone else to set boundaries, and it was important to respect them.
So, they could talk about something else.
His head tilted as he watched her shrink down and his brows raised slowly as he registered that there was a significant amount of concentration going on. It wasn't like his where it was as simple as breathing. "Huh," he mumbled in response. Even though he wasn't in the best of moods, he was somewhat impressed.
"Like a mood ring," he commented with a hint of a smile.
"Oh, right, sorry," reflex made him extend a hand towards her before he remembered his size. Frustration flashed across his face and quickly his hand was pulled back. Even though everyone was going through it to some degree, the disappointment of Freddy leaving on top of trying to adjust was smashing together.
He sniffed and moved to cross his arms over his chest. "Pedro. You can call me Pedro." It was his first time trying the name out. He wasn't 100% sure if it was believable or not.
The observation made Stevie chuckle a little. “Yeah, I guess I never thought of it that way before.” Mood ring, indeed.
Perhaps to someone from a different world, it wasn’t. Stevie, for her part, didn’t seem suspicious of it at all. “It’s nice to meet you, Pedro. Are you from Earth? Or one of the Earths? I guess there’s more than one now.”
She would have extended a single finger to shake his hand, but smiled apologetically instead when he withdrew his hand. For her part, she pretended not to notice the sniffles and just kept talking. Even if he didn’t want to talk about that sometimes just having someone to talk to was nice.
"Yeah. One of them. I'm from Pennsylvania." Of course, from when they'd talked before, he knew that wasn't a state in her world. He just couldn't admit that. He didn't want to clue anyone into the fact Billy and Shazam were the same person. He'd been still in the process of discussing this all with Freddy but they'd not completely come up with a plan.
The thought crossing his mind made him shut his eyes. He took in a steadying breath.
Not even a week ago, he'd felt fine without Freddy. He had been determined to manage this all and enjoy the adventure. Now reality was sinking in and even though Stevie herself had pointed out that maybe they'd all be gone in a couple weeks, it didn't change the fact he'd had a glimpse of home and now the feeling of homesick was overrunning any determination to enjoy the adventure of this all.
And he was really sick of being the height of one of Darla's dolls.
Back home, Stevie was in therapy. Really, ever since she’d turned into a giant pink kaiju and almost destroyed all of Beach City, not to mention could have gotten others hurt or killed— the point was that the therapy had been really helpful.
She’d talked about sitting with discomfort. Mostly hers. That it was okay to feel sad or bad. But when it came to sitting with other people’s feelings? Stevie still hadn’t really figured out how to do that. A kernel of panic showed up in the pit of her stomach, watching Pedro close his eyes, the ragged breathing that was a tell tale sign of profound sadness.
She knew he didn’t want to talk about it, probably because he was a grown up and she was only sixteen. What could she really do about it anyway?
“Um, Pedro?” Stevie asked softly. “Do you want a hug?”
It was okay to ask that, right?
'Do you want a hug?'
It was something he could imagine Darla asking him if he was stressed or upset back home. She always was offering hugs to the family at the right moment. And hearing Stevie say 'Pedro?' Even though it was in a voice he was only just acquainted with and very much not his sister saying his brother's name?
It made his throat crack and a sob escaped from the back of his throat. The palms of his hands shot up to press against his eyes. "I'm sorry, I..." He tried to explain seconds after the sound had escaped from him, "...you don't have to. I'm okay." His voice wavered as he said it and he wiped at his eyes with the back of his arm.
It was only then that he opened them to look at Stevie.
Stevie frowned deeply before gently pulling Pedro in close and very carefully wrapping her arms around him until she could be certain he was safe and she wasn’t hugging him too tightly or uncomfortably. He was about the size of MC Bear Bear, though not nearly as round or fluffy.
“Things are hard right now,” Stevie said quietly. “It’s okay.”
Who cared if they looked mildly ridiculous? Stevie rarely let what others might think affect her actions. Having never been to school or around many children her age, there were still hints of optimism and vulnerability that had never been run down by cruelty.
She cared openly.
Alright, so maybe Billy wasn't as okay as he was trying to play it off. Maybe the fact of the matter was he'd felt as though he had a handle on all of this at first but the reality was he didn't. And Freddy showing and leaving within a matter of days had just highlighted it all for him.
As soon as Stevie wrapped her arms around him, his face scrunched up and he bowed his head. He didn't like weeping in general and especially not in front of someone and especially not while being held.
But here he was, actively crying, and he was having a very hard time making it stop even though he brought a hand back up to his face to wipe at his eyes.
There was something about seeing a grown man cry that made it impossible for Stevie to keep it together. Then again, if it had been a child she would have wept. If it had been one of her peers she would have wept. If it had been a grown woman she really admired she would have wept. If she thought too much about snakes not having arms, she wept.
Something happened when she felt her tears roll hot down her cheeks. Pedro started to feel larger in her arms. The sensation worked in double time as the tears dripped from Stevie’s face to the top of Pedro’s hair and on him.
Perhaps if they weren’t both openly crying it might have hit her at first, but it wasn’t until they were both right sized, and Stevie’s arms were now wrapped around Pedro’s middle, that she gasped, “I think my healing tears fixed us! Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!”
Stevie fumbled for her phone. She had a limited window while she was crying to tell the others she could fix them and she hurried to type a message on the network.
Billy didn't notice at first. He was trying his hardest not to return the hug to Stevie, worried it might be weird and still self conscious about how emotional he felt, but once he did realize? "Woah, woah, woah" he began repeating, his arm dropping down by his side so he could watch as they both grew in size.
He extended a hand past her, looking over her shoulder at it, smiling instantly. "Ha!" He exclaimed before looking down at her. "That's crazy! Talk about a useful power!"
He took a step back from her, scrubbing at his face again, before looking to her as she began texting. "What are you doing now?"
“I can’t fix everyone if I’m not crying and I don’t know how long these tears will last before they dry up!” Stevie said. “Quick! Say something really sad!”
"Right, right. Yeah. That...makes sense." They weren't exactly close to the dorms at the moment. "What if we bottled them? Would that work?" He had no idea how her powers actually functioned and he didn't exactly have anything to bottle them into. Maybe they could find something quick. "Oh! I know. There's this movie about this mouse, right? And he's traveling from Russia to America but on the way he falls off the boat into the ocean and his family thinks he's lost at sea."
“Do you have a bottle?” Stevie asked. She had super speed, but she was worried running would dry the tears on her face. She tried listening to the movie Pedro was describing-- it was no Dogcopter-- but the summary didn’t quite do the trick.
“Uh, we’ll workshop that.”
"I can go get one!" He broke completely away from her, holding his hands up in a sort of 'wait here' gesture, "Keep thinking sad thoughts!" And then he took off, leaving behind a trail of a red blur. Bursting into his room, he snatched up the first cup he saw while shouting, "Hi Ned! Bye Ned!"
With the cup in hand, he went rushing back to Stevie, skidding to a halt in front of her only moments after he'd initially left. "Here," he said, holding it out for her as he took a breath. "You kept thinking sad thoughts right? Trust me. My mouse movie is legit sad. For the record."
Stevie ran the lip of the cup slowly up each side of her face, trying to carefully collect as many as she could. Unfortunately, the actual tears had stopped forming and when she looked inside of the cup itself, there wasn’t quite enough collected to fill even the bottom of the cup. She could maybe fix one person with that. Maybe.
She sighed and looked back at her phone. They had a few minutes before anyone joined to meet them at The Green.
“Okay, tell me about the mouse movie again?” she asked. What else did they have to go on?