"BENJI, I'M HOME, WHERE ARE YOU?"

Benji yelped as his head hit the bottom of his father's desk, and he scrambled out from underneath, desperately trying to leave before he was caught snooping around; he had been told since birth to never enter the offices of either of his parents; the lab and workshops were fine, but the offices were off limits.

"Nowhere!" he called back, pushing his father's chair back in, wincing at the rolling sound it made against the hardwood floor, "How was work today, mom, did you see Uncle Flash?"

"What do you mean nowhere?" his mother called, still in the kitchen while Benji crept out of his father's office, closing the door as quietly as he could, hoping that said father wasn't around to heart him.

"But, yes, I did see Uncle Flash. He found some of your stuff lying around in the apartment from years ago, do you want to see?" his mother continued, looking up when she heard him making his way down the stairs, eyes darkening at his clothes, "Why are you still in your pajamas?"

"Um..." he began, eyes wide as he realized he hadn't changed into outside clothes, "I-I just decided to change and be more comfortable—"

"You never do that," she interrupted swiftly, stalking towards him with a tightly contained fire in her eyes as she began to connect the dots, crossing her arms and waiting by the foot of the stairs, "You skipped school today."

Benji sighed heavily, mind working quickly as he tried another tactic; lying didn't work, so now it was time to reason and beg for forgiveness. "Mom, listen, it's not that big of a deal—"

"It's a huge deal," she countered, her voice cutting like a knife, "Your father paid good money to not only fund that school, but send you there, and you repay him by skipping class? You're a smart boy, Benji, I expected better of you."

"I don't need to go to school, all the teachers are stupid and all my classmates look at me weird—why can't I just go work for dad, I'm smarter than all the interns there!" Benji cried, running his hands through his hair, his voice raising three octaves and face turning red, "I'm way past high school, mom!"

His mother stared at him for a few moments, shaking her head slightly as she whispered, "You sound just like him...Benji, I'm going to tell you something that I wish I told your father when he was in this sophomoric phase: there's a difference between having power and knowing how to use it. Yes, you're a very smart boy, Ben, but do you have social skills? Do you know how to negotiate your way through every day life?"

"Why would I need to do that?" Benji demanded, "Does dad have to do that?"

His mother stifled a scoff, shrugging. "Well, I mean, as CEO of the company he inherited from Tony Stark after the man retired, I'd say that negotiating is all he ever does, but what do I know, I'm just a nurse."

Benji's frown faded and his stomach churned in guilt as he turned back to look at his mother. "Mom, I didn't mean that—"

"Yeah, you did," she interrupted, her lips pursed and eyes hard.

Benji sighed, thinking back to the conversation he had had with his father. It was the same topic, his father trying to plead with him and explain that he understood Benji's predicament, the young boy screaming that, no, his father didn't. He didn't understand what it was like to have people look at him because he was the son of one of the most successful men in the world, what it was like to have to correct teachers whenever they were wrong, what it was like to have only one friend.

"If you don't go to high school, you can't go to college," Peter explained, running a hand through his hair, "I get that you think you have a spot at my company—and you do!—but that's what I thought about Tony, but, look, I went to MIT, then I got a spot at his company, juggling all the other stuff I had to do."

"But I'm not you!" Benji cried, his hair as equally mussed up as his father's, the two sharing the same habit of running their hands through their hair, "I'm way past college! I don't need to take up something that I already understand, and it's not as if I'm going to do something stupid like mom!"

"Hey!" the man shouted shouted, causing Benji to jump; his father never shouted like that at him, "Don't talk about your mother like that, she worked so hard to get where she is."

"Oh, yeah," Benji scoffed, unable to help the poison dripping from his words, "It was so hard for her to become a nurse. Come on, dad, are you serious?"

He wasn't even given a response. His father simply schooled his features and his tone, telling him to leave the lab, go upstairs, and email an apology to all his teachers for skipping school that day, as well as finish all the work he had missed and see what extra credit work he could do to make up for it and keep his grades up. He cut off whatever plea or argument Benji tried to give him, ushering him out.

"I'm disappointed in you, Ben," his father sighed, and Benji had never understood until then why that statement seemed to bother all of his classmates, "I know you don't understand why, but when you do, I really hope you regret what you just said."

Now Benji stood in front of his mother, only a few weeks older and still not understanding, but regretting what he said; he didn't think she had heard him. He realized how awful he sounded, feeling bad solely because his mother had heard.

"I'm sorry, mom," he said, feeling tears welling up in his eyes, because of course he started crying, both his parents were major criers, it only made sense their son was as much of a baby as they were.

His mother sighed and held out her arms, rubbing his back as he dropped his head on her shoulder in shame, stomach twisting and turning as she hugged him.

"Doc, I'm home, what's going on?"

The two turned to find Benji's father walking into the room, already undoing his tie and shrugging out of his suit jacket, running a hand through his gelled hair, his body screaming tired but his eyes alert.

"Go to your room, we'll talk later," his mother said, ushering him up the stairs, turning to face her husband, "We need to talk."

"Oh God, what did I do?" the man asked, eyes wide as he looked over to his son who didn't meet his eyes, "Ben, what did you do?"

"Shush, we need to talk," his wife said, grabbing his hand and tugging him over to their room, "Benjamin, I'm sure you know what you need to do."

"She used your full name, what did you do?" the man pressed, yelping when he was shoved into the room, leaving Benji to climb the stairs in silence, throwing himself onto his bed.

He groaned, grabbing his phone and holding it over his head as he sank into his covers. He paused for a moment, thinking of all the people he had to text. His younger cousins on his mom's side were out of the question—his Uncle Flash and Aunt Jesse would definitely tell his mom if they found out, which they always did—and his godsiblings were just like their dad and his Uncle Ned always told his dad everything. His Aunt Michelle didn't have kids yet, and he liked to text her sometimes, but now was not one of those times.

So he settled on his two favorite people, and he really hoped they were free. Pulling up the contacts, he began to type.

► ────────── ◄

James Stormborn, Trini Stacy
October 17, 2058 at 5:19 PM

You guys on?
【 5:19 PM 】

James Stormborn
What's up, Buttercup? Why weren't you at school?
【 5:20 PM 】

Trini Stacy
How'd you know we don't have classes together.
【 5:20 PM 】

James Stormborn
Trini told me.
【 5:20 PM 】

Trini Stacy
Yeah Ben why do you keep skipping?
【 5:20 PM 】

Because I'm way past this school thing, you know?
【 5:21 PM 】

James Stormborn
Dude. Our parents co-own your dad's rival company.
【 5:21 PM 】

Well, yeah, but I'm talking about myself.
【 5:21 PM 】

James Stormborn
Deflate your head Ben.
【 5:22 PM 】

Trini Stacy
Yeah Benny we love you but please.
【 5:22 PM 】

► ────────── ◄

Benji tossed his phone aside, feeling worse than when he picked it up. Now even James and Trini were upset with him. It wasn't that he was saying he was smarter than them, it was that he was too smart for school. Which included them.

He groaned, smothering himself in his pillow, his chest aching. He hurt his mom, his dad was upset with him, and he lost the two people he wanted be around the most. All because he decided to skip school.

Setting his jaw, he jumped to his feet, grabbing the sneakers that his Aunt Shuri had made for him, racing out of his room, completely silent and making his way to his father's office; he was going to finish snooping.

His search had begun when he was at his Uncle Nicky's apartment, snooping around through the man's old blueprints that were weathered with age. He had gone through some interesting specs, including an injectable tracker, but landed on specs for retractable gauntlets and a retractable oxygen mask with a one-way holographic display, as well as a wing pack similar to his Uncle Sam's, but with less upgrades. In the corner of all of the prints had been the name 'Iron Maiden.'

"Uncle Nicky, was this for Maria?" he had called out, grabbing the blueprints and making his way out to where his uncle was making them lunch.

Maria Stark II was his Uncle Tony's daughter, eight years older than Benji's self and a teacher at Midtown. His father was her godfather, which made them godsiblings, though they hardly interacted when they were together.

"No," his uncle had said swiftly, grabbing the blueprints from him, "Maria didn't get a suit and, if she did, Tony would've designed it himself. No, this was something I did a long time ago."

"How long ago?" he had inquired, confused as to why the man looked so frightened.

"How old are you?" was the immediate reply, and Benji only laughed, thinking nothing of it, until his mom came to pick him up and paled at the sight of the blueprints.

He didn't think she could get any lighter.

So there he was now, snooping through his father's office in search of something to explain why they had been so nervous the days following, his father hiding parts of his lab and his mother hardly even calling his father by his nickname.

He didn't even want to know what spurred the nicknames. They had shown him reruns of an extremely old cartoon that had been before their time, showing a strange bunny with a carrot constantly greeting everyone with a catchphrase that, after three episodes, had gotten very old.

Focusing on the task at hand, he wandered around, fiddling with certain parts of his father's desk and his items on glass shelves. He had spoken with his Aunt Aurora who let him know of his father's fixation with secret doors, his Uncle Phillip rolling his eyes at a memory of the two installing a small one into the man's home during their junior year of high school.

Glancing to the wall, he raised an eyebrow. It fit the general scheme, but a smiling photo of Iron Man and Captain America hung in the center of the wall opposite the man's desk. It wasn't a personally taken photo, a well-made drawing, but clearly bought.

Walking over, he took down the portrait, raising his eyebrows at a touchpad. Reaching out, he pressed his finger against it, hoping he wouldn't set off an alarm; his father still had yet to teach him how to duplicate a fingerprint.

A female voice filled the room, scaring him half to death. "Welcome, Benjamin. I am Karen. Happy eighteenth birthday."

"What?" he breathed, looking around, "I'm not—"

"Your father wanted to wait until you were eighteen to allow me to reveal the secrets that he and your mother hold. What would you like to know?" Karen asked, interrupting him, almost sounding excited.

Benji took a moment, thinking. It was clearly an AI, and a rather old one, as her voice wasn't as smooth and realistic as the modern ones his father designed. This meant his father must have had her years before.

"Who's Iron Maiden?" he asked; he was on a mission, after all.

A whirring sound filled the room and a table holding a jet pack, two bracelets, and a pair of earrings climbed from the floor, coming to rest at waist level to Benji. He carefully walked over, picking up the bracelets and sliding them on, surprised at how slightly loose they were. Squeezing one, he screamed when it expanded outward, encasing his hand tightly in a glove that didn't quite fit. He pressed it again, relaxing when his hand was freed from its prison, his heart beating madly.

A hologram appeared in the center of the room, catching his attention, showing a younger version of his mother testing out the gadgets he had seen blueprints of, then grainy cell phone footage of a figure flying after a plane in the sky.

"Mom?" he cried, stumbling back as a clear video of his mother retracting the gauntlets into bracelets filled the screen, her lips curling into a bright smile.

"I'm guessing from your reaction you also don't know about your father," Karen said, shocking him again.

"What about my dad?" he breathed, turning around, as if the voice would manifest a body.

"Benjamin," Karen began, "Your father—"

"Benjamin Richard Smith-Parker, what the fuck!"

Benji shrieked, jumping back as his parents stormed into the room, his mother grabbing the bracelets and putting them back on the tray, his father shouting for Karen to put everything back and shut down.

"He's fifteen, Karen, did you even check?" the man demanded, running his hands through his hair.

"I'm sorry, Peter, I thought you would've made sure this didn't happen until he turned eighteen," Karen said, "I'll just leave you three alone. I'm sorry, Diana, he knows now."

"It's fine, Karen," Diana sighed, in a tone that let both the AI and Benji know that everything was not fine.

"It'll be okay, Doc," Peter said, turning to look at her, and she whirled around to glare at him.

"Don't 'Doc' me, Peter Parker, we were so close! No mishaps, no hijinks, no near deaths unless you count that one mercenary, but we were okay! We were more than okay, we were safe, we were good, we have a son!" Diana cried, grabbing at his shirt, and he shushed her, holding her close despite her struggling, shushing her softly.

"We're gonna be okay," he whispered, repeating it over and over as she continued to struggle, holding her as close as he could, "Diana, look at me, say it, c'mon, say it."

She shuddered, forcing herself to look up at him and breathing out the words, sighing as he pressed their foreheads together, shushing her softly, holding her up as her knees buckled.

"Mom, dad...?" Benji tried, still crouched small against the wall, watching them carefully, "What's going on?"

"Don't tell him," Diana pleaded, "We were so close, he doesn't need to know, please, don't tell him."

"But what if something does happen," Peter argued, and she stomped her foot, shushing him.

"Why do you think you spent the first three years of his life making every protocol to make sure he'd never have to know," Diana demanded, breathing sharply through her nose, "Why do you think we spent years trying to make sure that the radiation didn't kill me so we'd all be okay. What happened to making sure all three of us lived to be fifty?"

"What happened to communication and trust and being good parents?" Peter countered, finally looking over to Benji who was peeling at his lips, a habit that he had formed on his own and had never fully broken, "Ben, don't do that."

"I'm scared!" Benji cried, voice cracking and tears welling in his eyes, "I don't know what's happening and you're fighting and what do you mean radiation?"

His parents sighed, sharing a look before holding out one of their arms each, the other wrapped around each other, and Benji immediately rushed towards them, sighing as they enveloped him in a hug, burying his face in their arms as Diana shushed him and Peter rubbed soothing circles into his back.

"What's going on?" Benji demanded, looking towards the picture frame that housed all the people in his parents' lives, all of them grinning at the camera which had to be placed so far away to get them all in.

Peter sighed, settling back against his desk. "Ben...you know about Iron Man and Captain America, right?"

Benji allowed himself to scoff, leaning against his mother who gave him a look. "I mean, I see them at least once a month or at least get phone calls, so I'd say so."

Peter swallowed thickly. "Have you heard of the Spider-Man?"

Benji blinked. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

Diana sighed, pulling up a chair for her son before moving to sit next to her husband on his desk, letting her legs swing, bracing her hands on either side of her, Peter placing a hand over her own, mimicking her posture.

"We're going to tell you a story."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I love Benji so much, and all his era of characters, that I'm making an entire verse dedicated to the Hero of Heroes' kids and deadass no one can stop me, I love him so much it's not even funny at this point, so stay tuned because this is all I'm writing for for the rest of my life.

I really wanted to include MayDay Parker in this (Peter and Mary Jane's daughter) but I figured that if this was gonna be a story about Peter and Diana, I wasn't gonna give them the daughter of Peter and someone else, so MayDay sticks to the comics and Ben doesn't have a sister, which is a little unfortunate, but whatever. Also, that reference to radiation is an allusion to how, in a certain line of comics, Mary Jane dies after having sex with Peter because his semen was radioactive...it was a thing ya'll okay

Also, do we like how I didn't say Peter or Diana's names until they announced Benji's last name like idk I like to be like that sometimes.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!