[ WP ] Every person in the world develops a weird mutation/power the day they turn 16 . Everyone 's powers are always different , some more insignificant than others . You turn 16 , and watch as all your friends discover their newfound ability 's . That is , until you discover the severity of your own .


 Danny was the youngest of the Lucas octuplets in Straustown. He shared a face with three boys, and a general facial structure with four girls. On the one hand, he was glad that if someone failed to recognize him as Danny Lucas, it was simply because there were three other people who looked exactly the same, and not because he'd failed to make an impression. On the other hand, it was difficult for any of them to make much of an impression, since whatever individuality they'd cultivated would be erased the minute someone asked, `` Wait, which one are you again?'' 
 
 So Danny was happy, at least, that he did n't have to share a birthday with any of his brothers or sisters. Due to severe complications, he was born roughly 2 hours after his brother, Gray, the second youngest. Somehow, Gray's birth had caused contractions to stop, so the doctors increased the pitocin and prayed for the best. Danny came sliding out at 12:01am on January 24, 1999, screaming wildly. Danny's father found it oddly amusing that his octuplets had different birthdays. 
 
 As a kid, Danny always got his own special birthday breakfast in bed, and his own little smash cake after dinner that night. It was n't a National Holiday or anything, but at least he had something that felt wholly his. 
 
 Of course, he still had to share the birthday party. This was, naturally, for financially pragmatic reasons, but also to keep down on the sibling rivalry, since a separate party for Danny would have been patently unfair to the other 7. Besides, neither of Danny's parents thought it likely that anyone would come to a separate party anyway, since most would look down at the invitations and immediately think, `` Wait, which one is Danny?'' So they simply had the party on the birthday of the seven, and that was that. 
 
 Danny loved his siblings, but hated their tastes. The EDM music was a bit much, and he did n't see any reason that the punch should have been spiked, especially with their parents down the hall in the lounge of the community center. But Rachel insisted that their parents would n't mind, since you only ever get one Manifestation Party. Granted, it's not everyday seven people in one town manifest on the same day. There was bound to be some issues, if only because there was no way to guarantee what powers would manifest or at what point of the day it would happen. Jenny Eastman woke up at 2:00am on the morning of her birthday to find she'd frozen her entire bedroom. Meanwhile, Karen Albrecht did n't manifest her night vision until 11:59pm, literally the last minute of her birthday. Different times, different effects. 
 
 The Lucas kids were young for their grade, so they'd mostly had to watch as all their friends manifested last spring or over the summer. Tony Feinberg could fly, and exchanged rides for blowjobs. Mallory Speth developed unfathomable intelligence after being a lifelong C student. Chris Paul could regenerate, and made a killing selling stunt videos in which he jumped off of increasingly taller buildings. His head actually smashed after he took a header off the courthouse, and reassembled right in front of everyone's eyes, leaving the rest of the town to wonder what on Earth could kill him. That video went viral, but no news outlet would air it, assuming some kind of editing trickery. Just as many assumed it was a marketing stunt for some movie, although no movie ever came. Danny could n't understand how so few people could care that Chris Paul was functionally immortal, but he supposed if he took stock of his own society in any serious fashion, it would surprise him a lot less. Even if more people outside Straustown believed it, the 100-ft autistic kid stomping through downtown Sheboygan had the nation's eyeballs and hashtags anyway. 
 
 Danny was jealous of his friends and classmates, some of whom had defensive powers, too many of whom had offensive powers, but most of whom had utterly ordinary powers, like changing hair color or levitating small objects. A small few still had no idea what, exactly, they could do. Peter Martin did n't figure out he could ingest anything until he drank a quart of vodka and nothing happened. 
 
 Still, for Danny, it was n't so much what his friends and classmates could do, but simply that they could do things he could n't. And worse, his siblings had all manifested virtually simultaneously, to boot. Rachel had strength, Harry could translate languages he could n't actually speak, Steven could stretch to impossible lengths, Krissy could jump insane distances, Brittany could create light, Lauren could mimic the abilities of others for a few seconds at a time, and Gray had super speed. This was discovered roughly ten minutes ago, and was cause for celebration, less for the appearance of their abilities and more for the miracle that seven people could manifest simultaneously without anyone getting killed. Except for Danny, who was annoyed more than anything else. However, his nerves kept him from lingering on it. Midnight was approaching, and Danny could n't be certain if his abilities would manifest as quickly as his siblings', nor did he know what those abilities would be. So he distracted himself the best way he knew how. He spotted Carly Speth across the room, looking agitated in her mismatched blue blouse and orange-yellow skirt. For the daughter of a tailor, Carly had terrible fashion sense, and an absent understanding of color. 
 
 Danny could see from her irked appearance that she was looking to rant, and he hoped her blabbering would bore him into calm. If nothing else, she seemed to appreciate that he was a good listener, and being appreciated might help. 
 
 “ Hey Carly, ” Danny said, clutching a soda can that had a reluctant splash of rum in it. “ Tony around tonight? ” 
 
 Carly's eyes widened with rage. Tony had given her a ride above the clouds in exchange for sex, and although Tony had seen this as a perfectly equal exchange, Carly was still dejected that he never wanted anything to do with her after. 
 
 “ Of course he is n't, ” Carly spat. “ He said he would be, but you know how he is. ” 
 
 “ I do n't, really, but sure. ” 
 
 “ I do n't get why everyone thinks he's that great. Flying is overrated, you know. Fucking squirrels can do it. And at least a squirrel sticks around after they get their nut. ” 
 
 “ I would n't know. ” 
 
 “ He's not that great in bed either. He spent half the time changing positions around, like he was doing it for me, to find something I'd like. But it was all just random flailing. Like he's randomly calling out categories and dollar values on Jeopardy in search of the Daily Double. ” 
 
 “ I have no idea what that is. ” 
 
 “ You do n't watch Jeopardy? Are you a fucking philistine? It's America's game. ” 
 
 “ That's Wheel of Fortune. ” 
 
 “ How do you know Wheel of Fortune and not Jeopardy? ” 
 
 “ I do n't know what you want me to say. ” 
 
 Danny looked around the party, saw his friends and classmates gyrating against each other, some of them making out, others with hands palming jean bottoms, although he could n't tell for sure from all the seizure-inducing rave lighting. 
 
 “ Tony never met a silence he did n't try to fill, ” Carly said, turning the conversation into a cul-de-sac. “ He's got ta keep talking, got ta keep talking, because he just ca n't shake the feeling that people he ca n't stand are right behind him, waiting for a lull in the conversation to break in with a terrible story about him. Maybe he knows those people have a point. ” 
 
 Danny drained his cola and belched.
