Micah comes out to his Parents

Micah sat in his room, flipping back and forth between emotional states after hours of testing the limits of his marble brain abilities. So far he’d managed to get a bunch to fly out, but losing them gave him headaches, so he realized pretty quickly it was better to leave his marbles in place. Micah had mixed feelings about his newly developed brain. On one hand he was excited to be a mutant. Mutants were the next big thing, and their species in all likelihood held future of the planet in their hands (or tentacles, depending on the mutant/time of day). Being a mutant meant that Micah now had a stake in that destiny.

On the other hand, he was ticked that his mutant power seemed to suck so much. What was the point of being a persecuted minority if he didn’t get to be a bad*ss about it?
ACHOO!

Another marble flew shot out of his skull, rolling under the bed. Twenty five sneezes and one run-in with a door later, he still hadn’t seen the same marble twice. How many marbles did he have in his head? He reached for the marble, a brilliant cat’s eye that glowed like an ember in his hands. He admired it for a moment before shoving it back into his ear. It hurt like getting ear banged by a rhino the first couple of times, but now he was getting used to putting his marbles back in place.

You know what, screw it. I’m not going to sit around and mope just because I haven’t figured out how my power is useful.

Micah sat up in bed and plotted. There had to be some way to make his power a little more potent. Sure he couldn’t summon tornados or press bench a small island, but if he got creative maybe he could use his mutant gift for the greater good. Maybe, if I sneezed right in front of a villain’s face, I could launch a marble into her eye. Of course, sneezing at the right possible moment would be difficult, as would making sure the villain stood at the perfect angle my ear, but the idea deserves more thought.
The front door to the apartment opened. His mothers were back from their date night. Micah leapt off his bed, eager to greet them. Even as a twenty year old college student, he still got excited giving his mothers good news.
“Moms! Guess what?”

Cheryl, the older and heavier set of the Micah’s parents, laid her purse down on the counter. It was the kind of large gaudy purse that only an older woman could get away with. “You’re experimenting in the dark arts again?”

Micah laughed. “No, nothing to do with the dark arts.”

“I have a guess,” Nancy laughed. She drunkenly twirled off a shawl and tossed it Cheryl. “You’re following in your favorite mother’s footsteps and spending your college years stripping for tuition.”

“No, we discussed that mom. I get too nervous dancing in front of people to be a stripper.” Micah reached into the fridge and pulled out a tub of ice cream.

Cheryl added another guess as she opened the dessert. “You’ve finally realized you’re a woman trapped in the body of a scrawny boy?”

“I’m perfectly happy with my genitalia mom.”

Nancy drunkenly fumbled for some spoons and bowls. “Well I have no idea, Micah.” Aside from you becoming either a stripper or a transsexual, I don’t know what you could have to tell us.”

Micah beamed. “I’m a mutant!”

Most children are scared of admitting to their parents that they’ve inherited abnormal genetics, but Micah had no such worries. His mothers had stood by him faithfully his entire life. Micah suspected this was because his parents wanted to be there for him in a way their parents had never been there for them, so Micah never wanted for loving support.

Cheryl dropped her spoon, and it clattered to the floor. “Oh. My. God.”

“You’re excited then?”

“Excited?” Nancy jumped up and wrapped Micah in a hug. “We’re ecstatic! What’s your power? Is it cool?!”

“It’s awesome! Watch. At first I thought it just happened when I sneezed, but after running into the door today I realized other impacts can make it happen too.” Micah slapped himself in the face and yet another previously undiscovered marble flew from his ear, bouncing off the wall and into the tub of ice cream.

Cheryl stared for a moment, then carefully picked up the marble after inspecting it for possible traces of ear juices. “So your mutant power is to… summon glowing marbles from your ear by slapping yourself in the face?”

“No, not summon.” Micah went to his room and grabbed the x-ray from the doctor’s office. He tapped his temple. “The marbles are already inside.”

His mother examined the x-ray. “And this doesn’t hurt you?”

“Not really.” Micah reached for the marble and wiped some ice cream off with his sleeve before sticking it back in his ear. “I mean, not having all of my marbles in my brain gives me a headache, but it isn’t too bad.” Micah tossed an annoying strand of hair out of his eyes. “Well, missing one isn’t too bad. I had ten out this afternoon, and it gave me a killer migraine. But either way, sticking them back in is easy, so no harm no foul.”

“Does this mutation come with anything… useful?”

“Of course! I mean, imagine if a villain was robbing a bank, and it’s looking bleak for all the innocent hostages trapped inside, but then, who’s that? It’s…” Micah struck a heroic pose, tossing his wild hair out of his face. “…MARBLES! And all the hotties go ‘oooh… ahhh ” and the villain’s like ‘oh no! It’s Marbles! What if he shoots a marble in my eye! We surrender!’” Micah looked to his mothers expectantly, who were bent over in laughter.

“That has to be the lamest superhero I’ve ever heard of,” Nancy chuckled.

Micah sighed. “Okay, so I haven’t worked out all the kinks yet. But I’m sure I can be super.”

“Have you thought about going to that Mutant school?” Cheryl scooped some ice cream into her mouth. “You should give them a visit. They know more about mutants than us. Maybe they can help you figure your power out, and besides,” she laughed, “it’ll be good for you to move away from home.”

Micah was taken aback. “Leave home?”

“Well, yeah.” Nancy pulled him in for a hug. “I mean, you are twenty years old. It was getting close to the time you’d need to forge your own way anyway. And besides, you’re a mutant now. An incredibly… unique mutant, maybe,” she giggled, “but still a mutant. You should be among your own people.”

“Own people? Mom, mutants and humans live on the same world, so we might as well share it. We shouldn’t live divided just because a few genes are different.”

Cheryl shook her head. “You always were the idealist. You sound just like one of those X-men already. Well, I don’t know if mutants and humans will ever live in peace, but I do know that moving to New York and living with my own kind,” she glanced over at Nancy, “was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.”

Nancy nodded. “A lot of good things can come from living with people like you. You can learn a lot about yourself, and maybe even find something in yourself that you never thought was there.”

Micah thought about it for a moment. “I guess I’ll give them a visit tomorrow, if anything I can at least see what they have to offer.”

Nancy tousled Micah’s hair gently. “You want me to come with you? Make sure all the older mean mutants don’t bully you?”

“I’ll be fine mom. If anyone tries to give me any crap I’ll just… shoot a marble at them. Or something.”

Nancy laughed. “That would show them.”