Work Text:
Prolog:
Pacing viciously around his lair, Tom argues with himself “I can’t just ask him, he’ll say no.” His eyes bulging out of his skull he starts to grow flames out of his footsteps. “If I don’t ask I’ll never know.” He goes back and forth like this for about half an hour until he breaks and dash’s to his mirror. “Star, get Marco for me.”
Part 1:
Marco rush’s to finish the lawn and quickly rings the bell to go to Tom. He bursts through the doors of the boxcar, thanking the gargoyle as he leaves and pounds on the massive double doors. Tom opens the gate and greets his friend “Marco, welcome back.” He’s calm.
“What’s wrong, I came as soon as I could” Freaking out.
Tom waves him off. “Nothing’s wrong, calm down” He gestures him in. Marco lowers his guard
“You seemed in trouble over the phone… mirror.” He walks in
Following him in and closing the doors Tom explains “I’m not in trouble but this is urgent. To an extent” Marco gives a skeptical look. “I wanted to ask you something. Something important”
“Well, I’m here, what is it?” A little pissed.
“Will you go out with me?” He blurts out. Marco gets taken back so much that he can’t speak, his face registers every emotion at once. He blushes, smiles, grimaces, and moves his head around in utter shock. “Marco, you okay?”
“I mean… really? I don’t mean that to be rude I just never would have expected that you were gay. Or are you bi? I have a few questions.” He says extremely flustered.
“I don’t know if I’m gay or bi or pan or whatever, I just… I’ve been thinking about this for a while, ever since the whole Mackey Hand incident. So, will you?” He asks again.
“I need a minute here, can I sit down?” Tom offers a seat. “Honestly Tom, I really don’t know how to respond. Before now no one’s asked me out. I’ve always been focused on one person, Jackie.”
Tom sits next to him “I understand if you need a few days to think about it, this was extremely sudden, that’s my bad.” He chuckles awkwardly. “I just hope that whatever your choice that you don’t hold it against me.”
“Of course I won’t hold it against you, dummy.” He says looking up at Tom. “I won’t hold genuinity in a negative light, that wouldn’t be fair to you.” He smiles.
“Thanks marco.” A mist veils Tom’s eyes “I’ll let you think about this.” Helping him get up, Tom sends Marco home.
Once he arrives home, Marco takes a moment to process what just happened. He goes silently to his room and lays on his bed. After staring at the ceiling for a few minutes Star comes in. “Hey Marco, I think you still have my mirror.” He gets up and rummages his hoodie pocket, he finds the mirror and hands it to her. “Thanks.” She takes notice of his face. “Are you okay? You look dead.”
He jolts his head towards her “Tom asked me out.” This is the first time he’s said it aloud.
Star stares blankly for a second “what?” She squeaks. As Marco explains what happened her face grows more vibrant, “this is… crazy. What’d you say?”
“I didn’t say yes or no, he said I could think about it for as long as I need.” He continues.
“What are you going to say?” She prys
“Give me a break Star, I need time to think.” He’s getting agitated slightly. “You’ll be the first to know about my decision, and Star” serious “please don’t tell me how he was with you, I want to believe he’s a different person than he was back then.” She nods. “Thanks Star.”
A few days go by and everyday Marco throws himself around in his head, destroying himself trying to decide what to do. “I’m not into guys, am I?” This thought keeps him from making any choice. His mind keeps him on edge during the day and at night, he can’t sleep. Star tries her best to calm him down but to no avail.
After a week of this Marco makes a decision. He goes to Star’s room to tell her “Star… I’m gonna say yes”
Star bounds off of her bed and faces him, “Okay. Are you sure?” She asks afraid that he’s going on impulse.
Marco take a deep breath “Yes, I spent a week wracking my brain on this, I thought about the day I spent with tom last week and how much fun I had and it wasn’t the trip itself that I liked. It was spending it with him. I don’t know what kind of emotions I have at the moment but I won’t ever know unless I take the first step” He says this as if reciting a speech (which he probably is).
Star hugs him “good luck, Marco.” She hands him her mirror.
With mild hesitation he calls Tom. “Hey, so when are you free?”
Part 2:
Marco arrives to Tom waiting for him. “Hi, Marco. You look nice” Tom is dressed up semi formal, wearing a blue unbuttoned dress shirt over a solid gray tee shirt that is tucked into his jeans. Marco is dressed similarly but with a white tee instead.
“Thanks, you too, that shirt brings out your colour. What did you have planned for our date?” Taking Tom’s arm in his.
“Dinner and a movie, classic date.” He says slickly. “Is that okay with you?” He affirms.
Marco smiles “Yes sir.”
They arrive at a small bistro in Echo Creek where they are promptly seated as they have a reservation. Tom seats Marco then takes his own, “Wow Tom, this place is swanky, how’d you land us seats?” Gawking at the setting.
“Marco, I’m a demon, I am a reservation.” Coy.
A waiter approaches the table and hands the two their menus “This evening we have a special deal on pepperoni risotto with basil sauce. May I offer you young men a beverage?” They order themselves sodas. The waiter quickly returns with their drinks, “Are we ready to order?” Tom orders chicken alfredo and Marco orders spaghetti and meatballs. “Right away, sirs”
“Sirs? Young men? I feel fancier just ordering food. This is great” Marco comments
Tom smiles “I wanted to make you feel special tonight. How am I doing?” He teases.
With a shy grin “You’re doing wonderful, Tom. Thank you.” Their food is presented and they dig in. Tom inhales his as he cannot taste what he’s eating but his date takes his time, enjoying every bite of it. “Oh my lord, this is the best spaghetti I’ve ever had and ever will have.” Tom has a triumphant smirk on his face, “You look satisfied.”
“You just look happy, I’m glad.”
Marco stares and blushes for a moment before the waiter returns with the bill. “And how will we be paying this evening?” Placing the check on the table.
Tom opens his wallet and pulls out a red card “this should cover it.”
After scanning the card the waiter returns it to Tom. “Very good, sir. Have a pleasant night with your date”
Inquisitively “what was that?”
Handing the card to Marco “It’s my special ‘eat free’ card.” It shows Tom as the prince of the underworld and has a small red eye gazing back at Marco. “The eye hypnotizes whoever is asking for the bill”
“That’s so cool!” excitedly. “I take it that’s how you got those Mackey Hand tickets?” Tom nods. “Cool.”
The demon gestures Marco to the door, “Shall we get to the movie?” He follows.
Part 3:
The duo make it to the theater to see “The Son of Mackey Hand” a spin-off film. Tom flashes his red card to the usher and they are let in, he does the same to get snacks. They sit in the middle of the theater, practically alone in the row.
“Awesome, elbow room” Tom exclaims. They take their seats and Tom puts his arm around Marco, returning the gesture Marco puts his head on Tom’s shoulder. “I heard that they got Mackey’s great nephew in-law to play the part” he whispers “I wonder how he’ll do.”
The film begins, enveloping them in the glow of the projection. They sit and enjoy the spectacle of a burly young man destroying hordes of ninjas and trying to do so underwater. Marco whispers “I gotta use the restroom, I’ll be back” Tom removes his arm and let’s him up. He makes his way to the bathroom. He takes a minute to look in the mirror. He smiles, reassured that he made the right choice. As he leaves he runs into Jackie.
“Hey.” She says behind him.
He turns around and greets her “Hi Jackie, what’re you doing here?” He asks
“Oh, I’m seeing the new sports movie” she points to the poster of a relatively attractive blond man on a skateboard “How about you?”
Marco considers lying to her but decides against it, “she’ll find out eventually” he thinks. “I’m on a date.”
She’s surprised to hear this “No way! That’s Awesome, who with?” She asks.
He hesitates for a long moment “Tom, Tom Lucitor”
Jackie is clearly shocked “Star’s ex?” He didn’t think that was what she would take out of that. “That’s cool, hope it goes well. I gotta jet, my movie is starting in a minute.” She waves him off and dash’s to her theater. Marco returns to his movie and quietly enjoys the rest of it being held.
Part 4:
The two teens exit the theater. “Not nearly as good as the original Mackey Hand” Tom notes
“Not even close” Marco agrees.
As they are walking out they are spotted by Jackie also leaving. “Marco!” She calls. They stop to let her catch up “How was your movie?”
“It was good, how was yours?”
“Lame, there was little to no skating. Oh, this must be Tom” she addresses him “I’m Jackie-Lynn Thomas.” She puts her hand out for him to shake, he glares at her for a moment before gripping her hand with a little force. “Woah dude, nice grip!”
He smiles with a hint of spite “Thanks, you too.”
Marco notices his date straining to be polite “Well we gotta get going, it was cool seeing you again. See ya” after his hand is lowered Marco holds the demon’s hand trying to calm him down.
“Yeah, see ya. It was nice meeting you, Tom” She waves to them then skates off in the other direction.
Once she’s far enough away Marco addresses his companion “are you okay?”
Grinding his teeth “I’m just… fine.” He lies.
“Jackie and I are friends, Tom, we’re cool. You don’t have to be mad at her.”
Tom turns to Marco “She’s oblivious to how you felt, she says she knew all along but she didn’t get it. She only ‘knew’ because Star let it slip once.” Instant regret falls over him
“Wait, Star told her?” He says, stunned
Tom tries to explain “you weren’t supposed to know, I’m sorry.”
Marco drops Tom’s hand “I had a good time tonight, thanks for the date, Tom.” Before Tom could interject he skulks off leaving Tom alone in the glow of the streetlamp.