Benjamin Ray Parker's childhood was nothing the history books would write about. He had a mother and a father, a large extended family, and lived a very basic and smiple white picket fence with a dog life. He was an only child, often left to his own thoughts and imagination when it came to entertaining himself throughout his childhood. his favorite toys were the various science "experiments" and kits his aunt and uncle would provide him for birthdays and holidays. When not piecing those together, Ben busied himself with comics and science fiction, neither subject he was particularly picky about. He was, however, knowledgeable and found it easy to retain useless facts and stats in regards to them. Ben spent much of his time indoors and wasn't particularly social throught his young life. He was awkward, mostly, and found it difficult to relate to a lot of children his age. It was a little bit of shyness, a little bit dorkiness, a lot of just not being good at not putting his foot into his mouth.

As he grew older, it became apparent to his parents that his mind was beyond his years. Any "trouble" Ben found himself in in school, any notes sent home to his parents, were a result of a certain type of restlessness and his young brain not being challenged enough by his classes. A handful of tests were done over the span of a few weeks and Ben was pushed up a few grades -- his awkwardness grew even worse without being socialized around his peers while not relating to older students, either. Ben, as a result, seemed to isolate and keep to himself even more when given a chance, though he did have some friends he retained before he was acclerated forward. What he lacked in social graces or abilities, Ben made up for with a fairly brilliant mind and ways of applying himself.

All in all, Ben was isolated in his youth. Probably a little bit of choice, a little bit forced on him, but he adjusted to life as best as he could and handled it to the best of his young abilities. His family was, overall, very encouraging towards him and showed a great deal of belief in his capabiltiies. That wasn't the biggest concern as he navigated through teenagerdom, hormones, and all that came with it. What was the problem was being a "child" surrounded by adults -- thanks to skipping a few grades, Ben entered college when he was barely old enough to be able to drive on his own, let alone drink or smoke or do anything that was a "rite of passage" for somone entering college. Crushing from afar was his norm; approaching and dating? Notsomuch. So, Ben continued to bury himself in his work and special interests, making his social skills -- or lack thereof -- suffer even further. But he tried and he was well-liked enough by at least some of his peers, so he did manage to make some (casual) friends. Anything beyond that, notsomuch.

He was eventually able to overcome his shyness, at the very least, even if he was very much aware of his foot-in-mouth syndrome and rather spectacular way of making a situation awkward by saying what was on his mind. Which was usually one of the worst possible things to say. Sometimes, it was a good thing, others he wanted to yell at himself for even speaking before he cleared his throat to clarify just what he meant; or try to do that, at any rate. A brilliant mind didn't always mean he was good at articulating his words, but as Ben grew older, he was lucky enough that people began to brush it off most times, albeit with weird/off looks at first.

Ben eventually found himself pursing biochemical engineering in terms of rounding out and finishing his education, deciding that putting his mind to use to help people is what he wanted to do with his life and being able to use his interests to do that was a major bonus. Sure, he spent most of his time indoors and in labs, tucked away from people and sunlight, but he found himself greatly enjoying what he did and being given chances to grow within his field. He wasn't always taken the most seriously, being a fair bit younger than this peers, but he managed to prove himself as best as he could in order to earn their respect. Working on his doctorate is a thing he's considered going towards, but he's taken time off of school to intern, gain experience, and give himself some room to learn in the "real world".