Phoebe Thunderman was without a doubt one of the kindest and biggest hearted people anyone can ever meet. She always saw the bright side of everything and everyone, loved deeply and hated very little of things. And those things she did hate were: a) missing a Channing Tatum movie marathon; b) any sort of unfairness; and c) being under circumstances that forced her to miss any of her school classes. However, the fact that she should be analyzing the chemical reactions of different kinds of atoms with the rest of her group instead of storming troughs the hallways at that moment was far from being the reason of her current enragement.

She angrily walked into the school's nursery to meet just exactly what she was told by Principal Bradford, her brother laying at the room's bed with a purple bruise on his jaw and bleeding fists.

Oh that's right, another thing she also hated was seeing her loved ones suffering, but of course, if that loved one in question makes themselves suffer, that would be a paradox Phoebe couldn't handle and would often end up in her sudden frustration.

Before she could even approach him (and noticing that the young, yet, moody lady they had as a nurse was nowhere to be seen) she used her telekinesis to hit him hard with one of the pillows of the bed. That was when he finally noticed her presence.

"Ouch! Phoebe! I'm not sure if you've noticed already but I think I've had enough pain for today. Thank you very much!" He fired with thick sarcasm

"What is your goddamn problem Maximus?!" She threw her hands in the air, pacing back and forth around the room, finally letting all of her anger out. Her face was reddening in desperate fury "This is your third fight this month! Are you aware of that?! I can expect one every now and then but not this much!" She yelled

Max threw his head back, not feeling in the mood to deal with this right now "Phoebe can we... Can we just discuss this later?" He pleaded tiredly

But his twin was in too much frustration in that moment to even reason "No! We can't Max! I'm tired of covering you up! I can't keep pretending to be mom just so you can beat the hell out of everyone who does as much as brushing past you in the hallways! Today I'm telling mom and dad about all of your fights!" She threatened ferociously

Her last statement, obviously, caused Max to rapidly raise his head, his eyes wide open staring at his sister in shock. His actions quickly turned into a staring duel, Max's gaze filled with a pleading for compassion, for another chance, searching for any dim signals of hope. Phoebe's, in the other hand, was fully made of hostility, displeasure, and... Just a dash of helpless worry. Every second in the room made breathing harder, both of them were equally stubborn, neither would give up and look away any time soon which wasn't helping with the growing tension in between them.

And just right there, the door opens revealing a familiar red head walking in with a bottle of orange juice on his hand, his presence putting a harsh end to the heated feeling that had been simultaneously tightening the chests of both twins.

"Here's the orange juice you asked for" Ben said formally, but of course, he was never casual

Max took it in his hands and used this opportunity, now that Ben had finally stood between them cutting their stares, to close his eyes and lay back.

"I can't believe you decided to face this much trouble just because you overheard the guy who Phoebe rejected for Formal calling her a... 'Hooker' with his friends" the boy made quoting signs with his hands to indicate that said guy had used a much stronger word than hooker

At the mention of this fact Phoebe stared at her father's friend son with sudden interest.

"Ben!" Max reproached him

"I'm sorry, what?" Asked the interested hero

"Yeah, I don't know why you look so surprised, I mean, the past five fights he's been involved with were against guys who were harassing you somehow..." He stated as if it was beyond obvious

"I said. Ben! Get out of my head!" The supervillain called him a second time

The boy looked at Phoebe and back at Max repeatedly until he realized what he had done "oh.. I- I-..." But before he could think of something the school's bell rang, he let out a big sight he didn't know he was holding and let down his tensed up shoulders as if a heavy weight would've been lifted from them "English! Oh yikes! I gotta go to English class! Sorry Max!" Ben wasn't athletic, not even the smallest bit, but boy, could be run away from his problems? In a fraction of a second, he was out.

As soon as he left them alone Phoebe turned her head back at her brother, somehow she was no longer concerned about missing her next class "Max... Anything you want to admit?"

"Nop!" He popped on the P, playing with his bottle of juice, not daring to look up

She sighted and took a seat at the border of the bed "Don't force me to use the Thundertwins truth demand" she said softly, he looked up at her.

"You already used it three times this month"

"Nice try... I know I've only used it twice" Se crossed her arms

Her brother looked at the ceiling, mentally complaining to the God he didn't believe in before sighting and giving up.

"Well you already heard it all..."

"But why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Because! Ugh... Pheebs you wouldn't get it... Teenage boys are morons okay? And when a moron wants a girl he can't have their easiest way to deal with the desperation is calling her a whore, a slut, saying she's slept with thousands of guys... And since there's a lot of jocks in that situation with you I didn't think you'd need to worry about it" his eyes were glued at the ceiling, the last thing he wanted right now was to look at his sister's face

"I didn't need to know about the guys bullying me behind my back?" She reiterated to let him know how incoherent that sounded

He sighted "fine, I didn't want you to know, because I didn't want you to worry, alright?"

"So... Beating them and then letting the principal report you several times was a better option?" Her voice was almost fully drained from all the fury it had

"Hey, you know I like doing things my way. And they did stop talking about you after all..." The ghost of a grin flew at the edges of his lips

That's when Phoebe realized she was no longer mad, Max was still an irresponsible dumbass for letting himself in all of this trouble but hey, that's who he is, she couldn't change that, and she still owed him for having her back. Her hand found it's way resting on the top of his "Thank you... For trying to help me in your... Reckless, violent, and immature way... But still sweet" she chuckled

He laughed along, he didn't have the heart to tell her that his knuckles stung like hell when her fingertips softly brushed against them. Call it masochism, but he still enjoyed it.

The last bell of a Friday can be the most beautiful, merciful, and delightful sound the ears of any teenagers can hear. Either if you're a popular kid who can't wait for tonight's party or a straight A student dreaming about the comfort of your own home away from jocks, everyone enjoys weekends.

Ben Stridentman wasn't an exception at all, he hurried to exit his classroom, looking at the ground trying to avoid everyone's eyes while also being careful to stay out of their ways. He loathed the feeling of walking through crowded hallways, in fact, he hated any crowded place, with the inability to control his thought-gathering sometimes if he found himself with a big amount of people his brain would try to swallow everyone's information at once, which was dangerously overwhelming. As he hurried to get out of the place the ginger boy felt a heavy arm laying lazily over him, he was so weak it would've caused him to fall down if it wasn't because the arm's hand was firmly grasping onto his shoulder. He turned around to meet his new companion.

"Ben! Bensters! My main man Ben Ben-Bro!" Max greeted him being suspiciously friendlier than ever, the shorter kid needed no explanation

"No Max. I'm not going with you and your group of vandals to Hiddenville's New Year Fair just because your dad won't let you go with them unless he knows someone responsible will be there..." He immediately declined him before he could even ask

His friend made a pouting face "Awe come on red! You still owe me for giving me away with Phoebe a couple hours ago..." He reminded him

"I'm sorry Max! I didn't know!" He apologized

"I wouldn't care... If you came with me and my friends to the fair! Please! I already convinced Oyster that you're some kind of crazy Sherlock fanatic and that's how you found out on your own that he's bi, and he's actually happy the secret's out so we'll be alright! Please Ben you're my last hope!" He pleaded desperately

His friend had no choice as he rolled his eyes and gave in "Fine... But we aren't even, now you owe me" he added

That didn't seem to bother Max who was now celebrating by throwing his fist in the air "Totally! You're the best!" He praised him and messed up his red curls with euphoric affection before running off, probably to tell his friends he was going.

Ben rolled his eyes and kept walking, wether he liked it or not, he was starting to get used to his new friend's careless personality and learning to deal with it, honestly, convincing him of not using illegal chemicals for his experiments was a lot easier than just trying to have a civil conversation with Phoebe; girls were a whole unexplored area for the poor kid. The school's bus was just about to take off but he decided to walk instead, he needed some peace to clear his mind and assimilate all the new facts he had unintentionally swallowed, that's what he usually did.

After arriving to the Thunderman's household his first sight was Phoebe hugging a floral dress against herself, showing it to her mother who was trying to prepare lunch while also paying attention to her.

"Weren't you going to wear a different dress honey?" Asked Barb

"Yeah, but Cherry's wearing a shirt which is the exact same color of that dress and the last thing we need is a whole 'who looks better in it' drama going all over Instagram..." She explained in a 'dhu' tone as if it was a matter of a fact

That's when both women finally turned their attention to the just arrived guest.

"Oh hi sweety! We are you so late?" Asked the retired hero in her usual motherly tone

"I... I uhm... I wanted to walk..." He explained stuttering a little

"Oh that's alright, hey! Why don't you go to your room and choose what you're wearing for tonight's fair? Lunch will be ready in a minute!" She suggested

Ben nodded, pressed his lips together in a half heartfelt/half awkward smile and walked upstairs. The guests room he had been offered on his first day in Hiddenville wasn't the most luxurious room in the house, it was far from that, but it was decent and he was free to add all of his Superhero posters to the walls which made him feel a little more comfortable in his new environment. As he walked in and closed the door he let himself fall on the bed, his head still ached a little from all the thoughts he had read back at school, it was terrible to have his head full so much unnecessary details. He didn't need to know some Cassandra girl had stolen fifty dollars from her mother's purse, or that some Brett guy was all hyper about going to prom with his crush Claire, but then again he was already used to all of that. Ben spent the rest of his afternoon playing his dad's video game called "Strident Fighter!" and occasionally rolling his eyes at the noises coming from downstairs:

"No Billy! You can't be the queen of our Lego castle! That's me!"

"Fine! Then I'll just be the princess!"

Or

"Phoebe isn't that shirt mine?"

"Pfff... I have no idea what you're talking about Max..."

"Pheebs! Give it back!"

And so on, Ben was an only child and his parents were divorced, he was used to having his old house all for his own and the place always being dead silent, this house was the other side of the coin, always full of laughter, screaming, talking, etc. Later at nine he heard someone calling on his door.

"Ben! The guys are here! Are you ready?" Max's voice echoed in the room

"I'll be there in a minute!" He answered, shutting down his Nintendo.

He just simply grabbed his big coat and walked out, fashion was a no-go to him.

Downstairs were Oyster and Wolfgang holding Gideon by his ankles so he hanged upside down, as he tried to eat gummy bears in that position Max cheered. But there was another thing in the room which was terrifyingly alarming to the poor Ben: girls.

Kelsey, Cherry and Phoebe giggled together as they took pictures of the boys and shared them in every possible social media. Ben stood awkwardly at the end of the staircase, just the simple sight of their female figure heated up and reddened his freckled face.

"Don't forget to send them to our group chat!" Oyster reminded them

"We won't!" Cherry laughed

Phoebe was the first person to notice the ginger boy standing all by himself speechless and she tried to be friendly and make him feel part of the group.

"Hey Ben! You're finally here, come on I'll introduce you to the rest" she smiled and dragged him by the wrist, the physical contact making him panic

"Guys! Have you met Ben already?" She said

Everyone shot him kind smiles and waved a little, they could be a very unconventional group but they were nice kids for sure.

"We already do, hey Bro!" Gideon said still upside down, right before his friends carefully put him down

"Well we didn't, hi Ben! My name's Kelsey" The brown skinned girl approached him and held out her hand, the skinny supe could only stare at it alarmed and not knowing what to do. Hiddenville's superhero noticed and she decided to help him by grabbing his arm and raising it in order for him to reluctantly shake hands with her friend.

"H- Hi..." He stuttered, not only because of how immensely nervous he was but also because he tried not to show trough his weak voice all the various facts he was collecting from her mind.

Some were old, like her irrational fear of tortoises because her cousin's one had bitten her when she was nine; others were odd, like the fact that she really wanted to pee but was so ashamed to ask where the bathroom was; at last he absorbed a recent memory, he saw her staring at herself in her room's mirror trying to pick out the perfect hairstyle for hours, he saw all the previous ponytails, headbands and updos she had tried before finally picking on a side French braid. Through his mind ran the proud feeling she had felt when she looked at herself in the mirror and felt satisfied, he knew how much she was hoping someone would compliment it. Finally he shook his head back to reality.

Normally he would've looked down and stayed quiet the whole night. He barely knew these guys and it is a matter of a fact how much it takes his shy self to feel comfortable around a guy, let alone that there were girls here as well. But some why he felt a strange rush of boldness run trough his veins as he let a full sentence escape his lips.

"I like your braid, it looks... complicated" he announced giving Kelsey just exactly what she wanted

An awed expression took over the girl's eyes as she dedicated him an honest smile "Thank you!" She took the braid in both of her hands "it's actually not that hard, I just divided my hair in two sections and started passing strands from one side to the other..." Ben nodded with full interest to every word she said, a big part of himself couldn't stop freaking out on the fact that he was having a conversation with a girl and he was being holy freaking successful on it, other very small part of him felt just right, probably because making Kelsey feel good about herself was good thing, and the superhero blood running through his entire body fed itself from righteousness.

"...and that's it" She announced

He smiled "Really suits you"

The girl turned her face to the rest of her friends and put on a playful smile "I like this kid!" She chuckled

Ben noticed his hosts were missing from the group of teenagers sharing a conversation at the living room's couch so he scanned the room for a second before spotting them, sitting together at the kitchen's table they were just a couple feet away from the rest of their friends but it still gave them a little of privacy. He saw their hands held together while Phoebe carefully placed a bandage around her brother's damaged knuckles, and how Max would stare at her affectionately but would drop his gaze every time she looked up to meet his eyes. The non-verbal conversation between them was enough advisement for Ben to realize he really didn't need to know what went trough those twins' heads at the moment so he tried to cut his stare before any information slipped in, but it was just a little too late. He didn't catch anything important, luckily, but he was now aware of the fact that Max's bandages had been settled a good ten minutes ago and they had just stayed there in an unspoken agreement of pretending she was still working on them while they just drew circles on each other's hands with their thumbs. The ginger boy shook his head at them, even though they weren't looking.

"Guys! I think we should get going!" Oyster informed while looking at his phone "it's almost eight already"

"He's right guys, and we've got a curfew" Phoebe agreed, finally pulling away, which made her palms feel cold now that they weren't sharing warmth with her brother's

"Let's go then!" Cherry jumped from her seat and was the first one to make it to the house's front door, she kindly held it open for almost everyone, at last Oyster held it and motioned her to leave first, which she gladly did.

The fair was the same every year, same old Ferris wheel, same old smell of sweets, popcorn and sweat, and the same tricky games you just couldn't win. But there was something about going with all of your friends and just enjoying their company that made every year special on it's own way. As soon as they arrived the place Ben noticed that Hiddenville wasn't just as small as he would've liked it to be, considering the big crowds walking all around. Feeling worried he pulled the first friend he had made when he arrived a little away from the group.

"Max... There's too many people in here... I don't think it's safe for me... I could just randomly start reading everyone's minds and I mean. Everyone's" He stated seriously

"Ben, live a little! Is it a life or death situation?"

"No but-"

"See? The fair's super fun! And I honestly think the guys like you!"

That last statement made him feel taken back "...you really think so?"

"Yeah... You're blending in a lot much better than I thought you would, you even fucking flirted with Kelsey!" He joked making his friend's face bright red

"I- I... I wasn't flirting! And besides-"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry, what I mean is... I'm proud of you" The supervillain placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him with so much sincerity he almost didn't look like himself "Can't you just try your hardest to control it and enjoy yourself tonight?" He pleaded

The way Max looked like he was really looking forward to have fun not only with his group but also with him and the way he was actually treating him like a friend right now would've been persuasive to anyone who had been in Ben's situation during his whole life, a lonely life of being labelled as a freak for something he had no control over. But look at him now! There was a group of seven teens who were more than happy to hang out with him! There was even a really pretty girl on a French braid who had been batting her eyelashes at him all the way there! He even started to wonder if that was real life. In the end he gave in "Fine... I... I'll try".

"That's the attitude!" Max cheered and lead him back to the rest of their friends

As it was explained before, what made every fair unique and great was going with the right people. First, they went to get some pizza from this place, but it quickly turned into an eating battle between Wolfgang and Gideon where Cherry took a lot of pictures and Kelsey a funny video of Wolfgang's victory and both of them throwing up minutes later, the girls high-fived each other singing "Blackmail!" together. Then, Oyster won teddy bears for all the girls at one of those fill-the-balloon-with-a-water-gun game, looks like he was really skilled at it, who would've thought? He even won a stuffed penguin for Gideon who had been staring lovingly at it for a long while.

"I think I'll name him Chad" He said with so much seriousness

"...Why?" Cherry was oblivious of his reasons

"Aw come on! Look at his face! He is such a Chad!" Everything seemed beyond obvious to the Asian boy, his friends wouldn't dare to break his bubble and just went with it.

Later on they took a couple rides at the Ferris wheel, Kelsey asked Ben to be her seat partner, Max and Phoebe went together, Oyster and Cherry agreed on being partners and that left Gideon and Wolfgang together. Finally with the very small amount of energy and money they had left they decided to just buy a drink before driving back home. At the table all of them sat together laughing at all of what they had done that night, showing the pictures and selfies they took and talking about their favourite parts of the night. Ben stayed silent for a second and admired the scene, those kids sitting around him didn't think of him as a nerd freak, they didn't care if he was the most handsome guy in the world or just a pale short skinny dude, they didn't know he was abnormal to say the least, and they had had fun with him for the past three hours. This was beyond new to him, and for the very first time in his life, he didn't feel afraid of the unknown, he enjoyed it.

"That was the last picture I took" Commented Cherry as she held onto the collar of the leather Jacket Oyster had let her borrow since the night was getting colder

"Are they all in our group chat?" Asked Phoebe as she scrolled trough their conversations

"Yah!" Wolfgang confirmed

"We should add Ben to it!" Oyster suggested, suddenly centering all the attention on their new friend

"Yeah!" Kelsey agreed

"Re- really?" He asked

"Yeah man, you earned it!" Max gave him a playful punch in his arm, making sure he was being soft since he knew how easy it was to harm his friend

"Who's the group's admin?" Gideon asked

"Me!" Phoebe answered "what's your phone number Ben?" She handed her iPhone to the ginger boy. His shaking hand took the device and nervously typed it in on her contacts, putting a nerdy face emoticon as his name before saving it and giving it back.

A little of typing on her phone and just seconds later everyone got a notification in their phones.

Pheebs:D has added Ben:B to the group: Fwiends!11!1!

After said announcement was done everyone clapped, whistled and cheered not caring on the smallest bit if all the people in other tables were giving them nasty looks.

"It's official! You're officially one of us!" Cherry congratulated him

"Really?" He couldn't believe all of this was truly happening

Nothing could ruin that perfect moment right? What could possibly go wrong when you're sitting on a table with the friends you never thought you'd ever get in your life and they're all grinning and looking at you as if you were the coolest person they've ever know? And sitting next to the gorgeous girl who could be possibly interested in you... Oh right... That could go wrong.

Kelsey made a bad move, affectionately squeezing the hand of the ginger boy next to her she unintentionally triggered his incapacity to control his mind sucking. Her touch made his eyes go blank and Max recognized that emotionless, spine-chilling look on his face. He gave his sister a worried look.

"You... You deal with...anxiety..." His voice was cold and distant and gave a harsh end to the hyper air flying around his friends who were know staring at him in shock, specially Kelsey who was also hurt on how he had given her away with his terribly right statement.

To make it all harder, that wasn't even the worst part. After hours of perfectly dealing with a big crowd this had suddenly let free the starving beast that lived in Ben's mind and it longed for all the possible thoughts around him. He felt his head being filled with more and more thoughts that he could manage, like a balloon that is being filled with so much air it ends up exploding. A headache would've been paradise to him in that moment. He almost felt his brain pounding against his skull, it felt like all of his surroundings were spinning around, he was dizzy and weak. Taking both hands to hold onto his temples as he moaned in pain, dramatically falling onto the ground and curling up into a ball. The guys just stared at him, all worried but specially a pair of twins who knew what exactly was happening to him.

"We need to get him out of here!" Were the last words he heard, pronounced by Phoebe's distressed voice, before he blacked out.

There's this strange feeling of teleportation you feel when you go unconscious on a place and wake up in another one. That's exactly what he felt when he opened his eyes to meet a cold white hospital room, he was lonely and the only sound he could perceive was his own breathing. His head still ached like hell but at least it pounded no more, once he analyzed his actual situation according to the previous happenings that he could remember he immediately panicked anxiously.

"Hello?!" He tried to call for anyone who could possibly listen to his voice

"Oh my gosh, he woke up!" He heard a faint whisper from a familiar voice

After said voice, which belonged to Max, spoke; the room was soon filled with all of the kids who had been with him at the fair. Their clothes were still the same and that calmed him down just a little bit now that he knew he couldn't have spaced out for too long, how ever, there were dark circles under their eyes that could only mean it was past their usual sleeping schedule. They looked so worried.

"Dude what happened to you?" Gideon asked

"I... I don't know..." He lied

"We were so scared" said Cherry

"Are you feeling better now?" Oyster concerned

"What would've possibly happened to you?" Kelsey wondered

Okay, he definitely did not need them getting all suspicious at the moment and really didn't want to think of an excuse right now "uh... Oh... Guys I... I'm not feeling well right now, I don't think you all should be here together... Thank you all so much for coming and for caring but you should probably get some rest too, do you think you could give me a second alone with Phoebe and Max?" He asked politely, and they understood

Each one exited the room silently, giving him a last comforting smile until there was only the three super kids remaining in there. The twins made their way to the two chairs that stood aside from their friend's bed and took the seats. They stayed in silence for a couple seconds just listening to the foot steps of their group until they couldn't hear them anymore, Ben finally spoke.

"Did the docs scanned my brain?" He asked with fear

"Don't worry... They didn't..." Phoebe assured him

"Are you sure? Remember that my cerebellum is twice as big as the normal human size..." He reminded them

"We know..." Max calmed him down "they just injected you some meds, we were here the whole time..."

"Oh... Good." He finally seemed a little less tensed up

"You should probably get some more rest... How's your head feeling?" Phoebe concerned

"Full..." Ben joked, earning a small chuckle from his friends which soon lightened the mood

After the small laugh they shared Ben didn't seem to find anything else to worry about, at least not at that time. The room was suddenly taken over by a comfortable silence in which they all just enjoyed that the day was over. Soon enough he drifted off to sleep one more time, who could blame him though?Anyone would be exhausted after swallowing an amount of information that'd take around five months of intense studying for a normal individual to memorize it all. However, he woke up around three in the morning to the sound of snorting only to find his pair of new best friends still sitting next to him. Her head laid on his shoulder, his head rested on hers, and their fingers were locked together as usual. Ben unintentionally felt it. The feeling of belonging they shared when their hands remained together.

They were a set after all. Literally made together.