The morning sunlight slanted through the blinds of the Parker apartment, dust motes swirling in the quiet air. Benji sat on the fire escape with a small notebook balanced on his knee, sketching something that looked like a cross between a power circuit and a spiderweb. The lines overlapped, connected, spread.
Below, the city stirred. Horns honked. Someone shouted for their dog. Normal sounds. But they felt a little sharper today.
Behind him, the apartment was coming to life. The smell of toast and cheap coffee wafted out the window. Peter's laugh, half-muffled by a toothbrush, echoed from the bathroom.
Benji flipped a page. More diagrams. Muscular tension patterns. Adrenal load distribution. He'd been studying himself lately. Not just his behavior—his biology. Noticing changes. Small ones.
"Benji!"
Aunt May's voice floated out the window. "You're gonna be late again, sweetheart!"
He snapped the notebook closed and slipped back inside. "Coming!"
Midtown High was buzzing by the time the Parker twins arrived. The Xavier Academy students were already gathered in the east courtyard, Quentin leaning against a tree in his usual unimpressed slouch, Illyana sitting cross-legged on the concrete bench, eyes closed.
David stood nearby, notebook in hand. Observing. As always.
Cessily waved when she saw the Parkers, her metallic skin catching the morning light.
Peter, naturally, bounced right over. "Yo! Morning, Team Mutant."
Cessily raised an eyebrow. "Bold nickname. Especially since you're not sure we are."
"Yet," Quentin added without looking up.
Benji trailed a few steps behind, hands in pockets. He wasn't trying to be rude—it just took effort to step into that orbit.
Biology class was a blur. Peter and Quentin traded barbs over genetic theory while the rest of the class tried not to fall asleep. Benji sat beside David, eyes flicking between the slides and his own notes.
David leaned slightly his way. "You're quieter than your brother."
"Observation takes focus," Benji said without looking up.
"You ever feel like your body's learning without you?" He asked pointedly, interrupting Benji.
Benji paused.
David smiled faintly. "Just a theory."
Lunch came and went. Benji didn't eat much—he rarely did when his brain was spinning. Cessily sat with him, elbows on the table, watching students file past.
"You're a thinker," she said.
He glanced at her. "That's not a bad thing."
"No. But most thinkers want to be heard."
"I think better when I'm quiet."
Cessily nodded. "Just don't vanish while thinking."
That earned a small, real smile from him.
After school, Benji wandered. Not far. Just enough. His feet took him to the small park near Midtown, the one with the rusted swings and the cracked basketball court.
Illyana was already there. Alone. Standing beneath the crooked oak tree with her arms folded.
"You always follow patterns," she said without turning.
Benji blinked. "Do I?"
"You avoid people, but not places. You make routes, why?"
"Why do you guys care so much about me? Every interaction we've had is y'all studying me like I'm a labrat."
She huffed, then broke out into a grim smirk. "You might just become one soon." She said nothing more, simply walking off and leaving him with those ominous words.
That left him more unsettled than he wanted to admit.
That night, Benji sat in his room, notebook open, pen scratching softly.
Adaptive traits manifesting slowly. Low-level healing. Resistance to fatigue. Chemical shielding?
He stared at the words, then drew a line under them. One word:
Why?
'And why were the mutant kids so interested in me to the point of tracking me outside of school?'
Then an idea hit him: "What if we're mutants? That would explain the recent changes to my body..."
He didn't know if it was true, but it lined up with the evidence.
But even if it was true, he would never leave New York. Not for Illyana. Not for Charles Xavier. Not for the Avengers. This was his home.
And damn anyone who tried to pry him from it.