Work Text:
i'm pointing a finger at my own face
they don't know what's in here and they
can't keep marco down
July 23, 2016.
Jackie Lynn Thomas is never nervous.
She's definitely not nervous right now, looking in the mirror of the bathroom to make sure that her hair looks nice and not like she had spent the entire morning lying in bed. And she's not looking at the earrings that Marco made for her in the mirror. She just happened to wear them today, the day that Marco came over to her house for the first time ever.
Being nervous about that would be ridiculous.
Anyways, that's Marco's job.
The high school student rumor mill said that Marco was finally going to ask Jackie to 'go steady', whatever that meant. They had been going on dates for the past couple of weeks, and even went to a different dimension one time. That was mostly on accident, and being chased by goblin-looking dudes with fire axes wasn't the most romantic thing, but the entire time, Marco was there for her. Even thinking about Marco gets her heart beating a little bit faster than normal.
The silence in her living room is broken by the ringing of the doorbell, and she nearly jumps in shock. Jackie, who is not-at-all nervous, walks to the front door of her house and peeks through the keyhole to see Marco standing outside, hands in red hoodie pocket, and her heart feels like it's going to jump out of her chest. She takes a deep breath, exhaling through her nose, and opens the door. Marco's smile looks like it could melt rainbows.
Is this what love feels like?
"Hey Marco! Come on in!"
"So, we're racing down the hill, when this freaking giant eagle thing comes out of nowhere-"
"Oh, so that's where that eagle went-"
"That was YOU TWO?"
"Yep, we had to get one of the eggs from its nest to make special brownies-"
"Oh god, Star making brownies? That didn't turn out so hot last time, with the whole-"
"-not knowing how to make brownies thing, yeah. It went better this time, because I was there to help."
"Marco Diaz, master of everything." Marco's been blushing at least slightly the whole time, but Jackie notices how deep the blush gets every time that she gives out a compliment. It's adorable and hilarious so she tries to do it as much as possible. The two are sitting in the living room, with some colorful cartoon playing on the television set in the background and a half eaten bowl of nachos getting cold next to them. The pair's been hanging out for the past couple of hours while the sun slowly started to dip below the horizon, filling the sky with subtle tones of purples. Jackie leaned into Marco, locking their fingers together. Marco leans into the physical contact, and the two slowly begin to pay attention to the cartoon on the television again.
It's in moments like this Jackie thinks about eternity. She'd probably be okay with staying in moments like this for the rest of time itself. She mentioned something along the lines of this when she had gone over to the Diaz household to listen to the new Love Sentence album. The three of them had been sitting in Marco's room, listening to Justin Towers croon on the song "We All Live In Our Own Prisons" on the record player that Marco's parents had let them borrow.
Do you ever have moments where you just feel like everything is right? Like, everything around you is just how it should be.
She remembers looking at Marco's face right then. It was a face that had a pain that she didn't quite understand. She also remembers Marco freaking out when she tried to look inside the closet to see whether or not the rumors of Marco only owning red hoodies was true. (Marco ended up telling her that it was mostly true, which turned into a pretty interesting conversation about the autism spectrum which was unfortunately interrupted by a couple of lost goblins. It's amazing how often bizarre things happened around Star and Marco and even more amazing how quickly you got used to it.)
"Jackie!"
"I'm coming, Dad!" She nuzzled Marco's neck before standing up. "I'll be right back."
Jackie briskly walks into the kitchen to see her dad grilling onions on the stove while the microwave goes off. "What's up, Dad?"
"I'm just making sure that the living room will be available for the support group. I'm hosting this week."
"Of course, Dad. I'll take Marco up to my room," Jackie replies while looking in the cabinets. "Do you need any more of these chips, or can I take them up with me?"
"Go ahead and take those ones, they're for you."
"Thanks!" Jackie sprints out of the kitchen, grabbing Marco's hand. "Marco, let's go to my room." She can feel Marco slightly squeeze her hand every time they hold hands, and it's one of the best feelings in the world.
"Just remember the rule!" Jackie's dad calls out to the pair of teens as they rush down the hallway to Jackie's room.
"Of course, Dad!"
She can feel Marco hesitate. "Jackie, what rule?"
"Oh, it's just that I have to keep the door open when there are boys in my room. No big deal." She lets go of Marco's hand to open the door to her room, but when she reaches back to grab it again, it's withdrawn into hoodie pockets.
Marco sits on Jackie's bed, hunched over, and Jackie notices the same look that she'd seen before, in Star's room. It makes her stomach twist into knots.
Marco's hands won't stop fidgeting.
"Marco?" Jackie cuddles up to Marco, puts Marco's hands into hers, and squeezes. "Is something wrong?"
Marco sighs. "Jackie... there's something that I need to tell you."
"Marco, you can tell me anything."
Marco is on the verge of tears at this point, and can't stop vibrating. "No, you don't understand... it's just that, I really like you, and this could ruin everything, and I don't want to wreck everything-"
Jackie pulls Marco into a hug, as tightly as she could. "Marco, I love you, and nothing is going to change that." Now Jackie's tearing up a little bit too. She didn't expect to say that, but... it felt right. More importantly, it felt true.
"...okay. Jackie, I'm a princess."
"Marco? Are you done yet?"
"Not yet, Jackie!"
"Hurry up then! I want to see if it fits!"
"Jackie, I'm in a tiny closet. Give me time!"
"Didn't you just come out of the closet?"
"Oh my god Jackie shut up." She's giggling while she says that. She's been absolutely ecstatic.
"Marcooooooooooooooo...."
"Okay, okay! I'm coming out now."
She steps out of the closet, wearing a bright yellow pleated skirt, hands behind her back. She doesn't want to admit that she's scared that Jackie's going to change her mind about dating her, but instead Jackie wraps her into a massive hug, and their feet tangle together and she falls backwards onto the winter coats on the ground.
"Marco, you're so pretty, holy fuck." Marco's blushing again, and doing that thing she does when she's happy where it looks like she's trying to shrink into herself. It's adorable and Jackie loves it and she loves her, her girlfriend, holy shit Marco's her fucking girlfriend, and she can't believe it.
The two are wrapped in each other on the floor of Jackie's room. In the other corner, one of her dad's old records started skipping in the middle of the song, and they can barely hear it over the "I love you"s they're whispering into each other's ears.
"Hey dad, is it okay if my girlfriend stays the night?"
"Who?"
"Marco Diaz, you've met her before."
"Only if she passes my Test of Worthiness!"
"Dad, not this again!"
Jackie's dad stops washing dishes and turns around to face Marco, still wearing the yellow skirt. "Marco Diaz, are you willing to go through the Trials and Tribulations required to spend the night in the Thomas household?" he says in the deepest voice that he can muster.
"It would be my honor, Sir Thomas," Marco replies in one of the most spot on regal accents that Jackie's ever heard in her life. And then she fucking curtseys.
"You know what? Never mind, I'm breaking up with you."
God, she loves her so much.