Work Text:
A Case of Identity
by Pirate Turner
Jonothon Starsmore awoke and stretched. He rose and walked across his room. He froze when he caught sight of something unusual out of the corner of his eye. He turned slowly back around to face the mirror that he so rarely dared to look in. His eyes locked onto his reflection as he slowly brought his hand up and stroked his chin. His chin.
He frowned. He must be dreaming. He couldn't possibly have his chin back. Could he? He moved his chin, and the chin in the mirror moved.
"Must be a dream," he said aloud, not with his telepathy but with his own voice. His voice. A voice he hadn't heard for years. A voice he had missed for so long.
He pinched himself and yelped slightly at the pain he inflicted upon his own being. That settled it. This had to really be happening. It was time to share his sudden good fortune with his friends. Grinning, he raced out of his room and bounded down the stairs, taking them two at a time as he went. He was so ecstatically happy that he actually felt like a kid again!
He found the others minus Paige Guthrie in the kitchen, sitting down to breakfast. Angelo Espinosa looked up at him. "Jono! What happened to your chest!?!"
"It healed over night," Jono explained with a shrug of his shoulders.
"We can see that," Jubilee spoke up, "but how?"
"Who cares how, Lee? The fact is it did. It's a miracle!" Everett breathed in awe.
"Congratulations," Monet added with an actual smile at Jono.
Emma Frost and Sean Cassidy looked at each other, and Jono couldn't help thinking that they must be telepathically consulting with one another in their attempts to come to terms with the miracle he had been blessed with.
Penance crept up to him. He froze as she reached out with one long, slender, crimson finger and ran her finger, barely daring to touch his skin at all for fear of harming him, along his chin. He dared to breathe, and she quickly withdrew her finger and fled the room.
Jono looked around the room. "Where's Paige?"
"Still studyin' for today's algebra class," Jubilee told him.
Without another word, Jono turned and raced up the stairs. He didn't bother to knock but instead simply barged on in. "Paige!"
Paige turned to see him. Her eyes went wide at the sight of his mouth and flashed angrily, causing Jono's smile to falter. "Who are you?" she demanded, standing and taking a step toward him.
"It's me, sunshine," he told her, "Jono."
She laughed, and the cruel sound raked his ears. "Good try, but Jono doesn't have a mouth."
"I do now, thanks to some miracle," he persisted.
"What are you -- some kind of shapeshifter?" she demanded in turn.
"No." He shook his head. "It really is me, sunshine!"
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" she demanded angrily. "I'M NOT YOUR SUNSHINE!"
Jono contemplated how he could convince Paige that he was indeed him. Maybe a kiss? Kisses could have very powerful effects. Without bothering to give it another thought, he grabbed her and lowered his lips down onto hers. She was cold at first, but her lips quickly grew warm under his as she began to return the kiss. Their tongues slipped into one another's mouths to begin a duel that was interrupted far too soon.
He had just been beginning to think his plan was working when she shoved him away. "HOW DARE YOU!" she shouted as she punched him. She followed the punch up with a series of swift kicks, slowly but assuredly driving him back into the hallway.
He tried pathetically to block her, but she had startled him too greatly for him to stand a chance of defending himself without harming her in the process. "But, Paige," he tried once more to reason with her, "it's me -- Jono!"
"Yeah, right!" she snapped sarcastically, high-kicking his jaw. "An' Ah'm Professor Xavier!" She kicked him again, and he fell, tumbling head over heels, to the floor below.
When he hit the floor, his chest exploded again, but he barely gave it a thought as he laid, looking up at the one girl he had dared to love after his powers had made themselves known. {{{Paige,}}} he whispered in telepathy as, despite all his strength and stubbornness, a single tear rolled down his cheek and vanished into the psyonic fire that was once again, and perhaps always would be, his chin.
When she saw what she had done, Paige Guthrie was unable to move or even utter a single word. She couldn't believe that her first kill would be the guy she loved with all her heart.
Jonothon Starsmore laid there on the cold, hard floor, staring up at the woman he loved, unable to move for both his broken spinal cord and his broken heart. {{{Sunshine,}}} he managed to say, {{{I'll always love you.}}}
Jonothon Starsmore awoke to find himself in a tumble of sheets on the floor next to his bed. If he could, he would have sighed with relief. {Thank God it was only a dream,} he thought, glad, for the first time, that he no longer had a mouth.
The End