Work Text:
Part 1:
As the horse strides down the land a steady bass can be felt coming from the boxcar, Inside the carriage the duo get more and more into their trip, they dance and sing along to the music and eat nachos from location to location.
“Alright, we’re here” Tom leads his brown haired friend out of the car and shows him to their latest landmark “welcome to the peak of Suffering Summit!” Making a grand spectacle of the view.
“Wow, ya know, for a desolate, depressing, land of darkness, the view is pretty gorgeous” Marco looks out over the guardrail to take in the embery breeze” thanks for taking me here, Tom, I’ve really had fun.”
His heart skipping a beat, Tom squeaks out “you’re welcome” in a soft voice. Marco takes notice of his voice cracking and asks what’s wrong. “Nothing, I got ember in my throat… and eyes” he says as he notices his eyes watering.
“King of evil, huh?” Marco giggles making Tom blush, “does the ‘king of evil’ blush like a schoolgirl?” Tom blushes harder “You’re still pretty evil, in my eyes” This makes Tom laugh a little. “So, what’s next, I guarantee it won’t top this view for me.”
Tom looks at the map “I think all that’s left is this” pointing to the map
“Oh. That’s a little dangerous don’t you think” Marco says meekly
Tom rolls up the map, “yeah, let’s do something else, whatever you wanna do” stepping into the car
Marco thinks it over “well… we could just go back to your place and play video games” following him
Tom smiles “that sounds like a good time.” He closes the door and gets the cart going.
The undead horse skeleton halts in front of Tom’s lair, the pair step out of the car and enter. Immediately Tom sits in front of his t.v with Marco taking the seat next to his. Two controllers appear in front of them and with little warning the game starts.
Part 2:
The game ended with Marco as the victor, with Tom doing a decent job not letting it bother him. “Good game, Man” Tom grits his teeth saying this.
Marco notices and changes the subject “Yeah it was, tonight was a lot of fun, Tom.” Smiling
Tom switches tones “yeah! It was sick!” Tom recollects the good times had on the trip “It was interesting to see your reactions to everything.” His joy showing prominently.
Marco gets enraptured in Tom’s positivity and follows suit “it was definitely a new experience for me. The sights were amazing, admittedly I teared up at that view towards the end” Marco’s gaze drifts off as he reminisces. Tom is solely focused on marco, when marco snaps back to attention he catches Tom staring, “you good, man?” Tom begins to blush worse than at the summit “hey are you getting sick? Your face is really flush. Wait, can you even get a fever?” Before he could answer Marco gets up to get a towel, but he couldn’t find one.
Jolting back to reality, “I’m fine, just felt dizzy for a second, but it’s getting late, you wanna go home?” Tom changing the subject. Marco nods reluctantly, he doesn’t want to leave Tom if he’s sick but his parents are probably looking for him. “Alright, I’ll have a portal take you home, don’t worry, it won’t be so sudden this time.” Tom jokes awkwardly.
A portal appears behind marco, “See you later, Tom. If you aren’t feeling well let me know, okay?” Tom shakes his head in agreeance and Marco leaves.
Once Marco is gone, Tom breaks down in a fit of confusion, “this is crazy, I didn’t just spend a whole day with Marco Diaz but I actually had a good time!” His pacing returns much worse than before, “what was with me, I couldn’t get him out of my sight… oh shit.” Tom thinks of a distinct possibility that gets him scared “do I like him?”
Part 3:
At home, Marco roused Star awake to recount his day with wild hand gestures and movements to express his feelings. “That’s cool Marco” Star says with mild enthusiasm “I think it’s awesome that you and Tom are getting along” her voice steady and soft.
“It was amazing, I even beat him at his own game, literally.” His giddiness showing “I’m surprised that I actually had a good time with him, it was amazing” thinking back “Tom acted a little off at times, especially before I left. Hey Star, can Tom get sick?”
Half asleep, “no, he’s a demon, very few things can harm him.” she starts dozing off.
He thinks to himself “that’s weird, he was clearly a sickly shade of red before I left.” The more he thinks about it the more it bothers him. He goes to bed but tosses and turns, anxious. when morning comes he’s wide awake. His alarm goes off, he immediately turns it off and rushes to Star’s bedroom “Star, I need to use your mirror!” He runs straight to the mirror and begins flipping through Star’s contact list, he doesn’t want a repeat of last time so he goes straight to Tom’s contact. Star gets up groggily and asks Marco why he’s so hyper but he ignores her and places the call. It rings for a few moments, then an oddly vibrant Tom answers.
“Hey Marco, good morning.” Before Tom can ask how he’s doing Marco asks, almost demands Tom to send him a ride down to his house. “Of course, I guess.” Tom hangs up and almost instantly the gargoyle carrying the cart appears outside the balcony. Marco jumps in and get’s taken to Tom. He get’s out and is greeted “Howdy, what’s up?”
Marco comes out guns blazing but has no ammo “I… what was yesterday about? You were staring at me the whole time!” He’s screaming but not angry.
Confused, “what’s wrong? I thought you had fun yesterday…” Tom sounds disappointed, like he let Marco down.
Marco calms “I’m sorry, I did have an awesome time yesterday, you were acting different though, you only looked at me during the entire trip. Can you please tell me what’s wrong.” His tone shifting to that of worry.
Tom is trying to think of a lie “you had a huge zit, right on your forehead” he says it so bluntly “I didn’t want to tell you, I thought you’d worry about it too much and have a bad time. I’m sorry”
Eye’s wide “What!? Oh jeez I’m glad no one saw me I probably looked like a huge doofus! It’s not still there is it?” Tom shakes his head to Marco’s relief. “I’m so sorry that I came barging in here like an ass hat demanding answers”
Tom waves it off “hey it’s no problem, I was already awake anyway. Since you are here though, want some breakfast?” Before he gets an answer Tom starts pouring two bowls of cereal. He hands Marco a bowl and sits down, inviting him to join him at the table, Marco goes with it.
Looking down at the bowl of cereal, Marco doesn’t recognize it “what kind of cereal is this” Tom explains that it’s basically pure sugar with small amounts of oats in it, “that doesn’t sound healthy” he tries a bite anyway and gags from all the sugar “oh god, sorry Tom I don’t think humans are able to handle all this glucose, I think I got diabetes from that one cluster.” He jokes
Tom takes the bowl “That’s fine, more for me” he combines the bowls. “So did you come all the way down here just to scream at me?” Marco blushes. “I’m kidding dude” Tom laughs
“I’m sorry.” a sudden shift
“For what?” Tom says raising an eyebrow
Looking around the room “I came down here with no warning, shouting at you for no reason. I was in the wrong, Tom” focusing on him now. “Actually, that reminds me, why were you up so early?”
Tensing up “um, I had to do some cleaning” he lies “I could ask the same of you”
The tension moves to Marco “I couldn’t sleep last night, I was already awake when I called” studying Tom’s face as he speaks “it bugged me how you acted yesterday, that’s why I couldn’t sleep.” The two stare each other down. Tom starts to sweat, eyes darting back and forth trying to match Marco’s. “Tom.”
“Yeah, Marco?” Tom breathes shallowly
“Your doorbell is ringing” pointing at the door
Tom stands at attention. He runs to the door. “Hello?” He says swinging the door open. “Can I help you?”
Standing at the door is a woman that Tom doesn’t know. But Marco does. “Mom?!” He bolts to the door. “What are you doing here? How’d you get here”
Smiling wide “Star rang that little bell. Mijo, you need to mow the lawn, it’s Sunday.” She isn’t even fazed by the hellish realm.
With no question Marco agrees “um, see ya Tom.” He waves and leaves.
“Yeah, see you later.” he waves back.
Part 4:
Back at his home, Marco thinks over his visit with Tom while cutting the grass. “He was acting weird again, wasn’t he. He got really stiff when I asked him why he was awake already, could he have been awake all night like I was?” Before his thoughts could progress, Star waves him over. He turns off the mower and steps onto the porch. “What’s up star?”
“Tom called, he wanted to ask you something. Do you have a minute?” Marco notices that she’s holding her mobile mirror.
“Sure, I guess.” Star hands him the mirror and goes back inside “Tom?”
“I need you to come back over as soon as you can!”