Work Text:
Raid the Cave
Marco has a black eye.
"Hey," he says sheepishly, rubbing a hand along the back of his neck. "Sorry I'm so late..."
They were supposed to meet almost an hour ago to get street food and skateboard in the park. Jackie'd been growing increasingly annoyed and worried, especially with her unanswered texts, but now she's just worried. Because Marco has a black eye.
"Marco, what happened?" Jackie asks. She tilts Marco's face up with one hand. Marco blushes but lets her, and she gently runs a thumb underneath his eye. "It's swollen shut!"
"Yeah...we went to Mewni today..."
"To look for the book? Did you find it?"
"Yeah, no. Not even close. We just ran into some monsters who hate Star and were screaming about corn." Jackie furrows her brow and steps back to take Marco in all at once. "I'm fine!" he says. He takes her hand in his, and she can't help but smile. "I've had worse, trust me, and not even from monsters. Karate has its side effects. Trust me."
"I do trust you, of course I do," Jackie replies. "Just worried, that's all."
Marco blushes again, which makes Jackie blush. Marco swings their hands between them a little. "Is it too late for our date?" he asks hopefully.
Jackie shakes her head. "It's never too late for skateboarding and street food."
Baby
Carla, Jackie's older sister, is two years out of high school, but she still comes home at least once a week for dinner (which she, as a culinary student, usually cooks for them). This particular week, Jackie has been enlisted to help cut veggies for the stir fry, and that leads to the first member of her family bringing up her love life.
"So...a boyfriend, huh?" Carla's waggling her eyebrows, and Jackie watches her piercing move up and down with its brow.
"Shut up," Jackie replies. She looks down at the table and hope she's not blushing. "Yeah."
"Ohh," Carla laughs. She plops an arm over Jackie's shoulders. "I'm happy for you kid. Who is it?"
Jackie puts her knife down. She can only imagine how this is gonna go down. "Marco Diaz."
Carla bursts out laughing, nearly dropping her knife. "The safe kid? What?!"
Jackie's definitely blushing now. "He's not that safe."
"No, you're right," Carla guffaws. "Didn't he throw up on you once? Super hygienic."
Jackie's fighting down a grin now. "Yeah, that was him."
"Ohhh, Jackie Lynn! Look at you!"
"Shut up!" Jackie says again. She picks up her knife and starts slicing carrots.
After a few seconds, Carla nudges her with her elbow. Jackie looks at her sister, who's genuinely smiling at her.
"I am happy for you," she says.
Jackie lets her grin show. "I know."
Mathmagic
"I'm good at history, just not Earth history," Star grumbles. She's face down on the desk, her wand and her pencil both abandoned.
"I feel you, Star," Jackie says, "I can't imagine having to learn a whole new set of history."
Star nods and gestures with her hand, like Exactly.
At lunch that day, Star had been complaining about the upcoming history test. Marco said something like, "You just gotta study, Star, and you'll be fine," and Star had nearly burst into tears then and there. Jackie was shocked, and by the similarly shocked looks on Janna's and Marco's faces, this wasn't regular Star behaviour.
It's been a month since Star lost her book and Glossaryck (whose existence Marco tried to explain, but didn't really succeed at, Jackie thinks). It's clearly been taking a toll. At lunch, sitting there with a Star on the verge of tears and nobody knowing what to do, Jackie had volunteered to study with Star.
And so, they're here.
The test is on the history and founding of California, the one subject even Cali students who don't like history know, because it's drilled into them their whole lives. Jackie talks while Star listens and writes haphazard notes. Jackie likes being able to share her favourite facts with someone who hasn't grown up with it, and she likes the challenge of making the information interesting enough to keep Star focused, but still accurate.
They stop after an hour, because Jackie's throat hurts and there's only so much focusing Star can do, especially after a hard day at school. Star's packing up her things but stops when she realizes Jackie isn't doing the same.
"Are you staying?" she asks.
"Yeah, just for a bit. I'm gonna try and figure out the math homework, I'm so lost this unit."
Star tilts her head. "You should ask Marco for help! He's really good at helping me with math. I have a C+ now!"
Jackie blinks. She knows, obviously, that Marco is smart, and a math-whiz. He's the only one that Miss Skullnick doesn't totally hate, and he's the only one that always pays attention in her class, no matter what. Marco has always been the smart kid, the safe kid. And yet, Jackie didn't think to ask him for help.
"Hey, thanks Star! I think I'll do that! Y'know, his karate should be done about now, so I'll walk home with you and meet him there!" Jackie stands up and starts packing her things away.
"Oh!" Star says. "I di—okay. Yeah, I mean, alright!" Jackie looks up and smiles at Star, who gives her a small smile back.
The Bounce Lounge
Janna insists that Star needs a break, a night off. Jackie isn't sure what Star needs a night off from specifically, but she agrees that Star definitely deserves a break. She's looked particularly exhausted lately. The three of them and Marco and Ponyhead end up crossing dimensions to go to the Bounce Lounge. According to Ponyhead, screaming in Jackie's ear as she dances, the Lounge is her and Star's favourite place to "par-taaayyy!!"
The girls all started dancing as soon as they got there, but Marco stood off to the side (but not too far off—the place is floating on a freaking cloud).
"C'mon, Marco, dance with us!" Star calls, but Marco just waves a hand at her.
"I am dancing!" he yells. He's kind of...bobbing in place. After another minute, Jackie can't take it anymore. She leans over and grabs Marco's hands, pulling him onto the dance floor.
"That is not dancing!" she laughs. Keeping her hold on his hands, Jackie leads Marco in moving to the beat. After a few minutes, he's loosened up, his eyes closed and hips swaying. It's like he's forgotten anyone else is around, even her. It's amazing. He's amazing.
After a while, Janna reappears and slides in between them. "Hey Jackie, dance-off?"
"Oh, you're on, girl!" Jackie replies.
The Bounce Lounge is an odd place, filled with odd people (seriously, she'd thought Ponyhead was a bizarre creature?) but it's also where Jackie's had the most fun...since her first date with Marco, probably.
She dances one on one with all her friends at least once, and all the humans ended up in a group off to the side when everybody else started dancing synchronized moves in what Janna wryly called 'space Macarena', while they three just watched.
They've been there for hours by now, and Jackie's dancing with a girl who has pink skin and horns on her head, like real growing ones, not the cool headband ones Star wears. She's tired, but good tired, and she's not sure where anybody else in her group is, but doesn't mind.
At least, she doesn't mind until she does a spin and sees them.
Them. Just the two of them, dancing together, close, like they're at a human dance. Jackie stops cold.
Star's arms are around Marco's neck, her hand linked around her wrist, and she's giggling. Marco has his hands on her back—not lightly, at her sides, like he did to all the girls when they had dance lessons in gym last year, but on Star's back, against her spine, pressing in to hold her close. He's laughing, his eyes crinkled and a dimple forming beneath his beauty mark. Jackie's heart does its weird tha-dump-dump it does whenever she really notices how beautiful Marco is.
She blinks. She swallows. She turns back to the pink girl, apologizes, and walks away to go find Janna.
Crystal Clear
Jackie sits on her bed thinking. It's been almost a week since they went to the Bounce Lounge. She's mostly been avoiding thinking about it, especially at school where Star and Marco are. It's easier to deal with them when it's one or the other, not both, but it's still not easy. She doesn't know how to act around them. Do they realize what they were like? Are like, all the time, if Jackie's being honest with herself? How did she not see it before? Janna must know, if anybody does, right? Is it just a recent thing? Maybe—
"Yo! Jackie!" Bryson's voice breaks through the haze. He's standing in her doorway, waiting expectantly.
"What is it?" Jackie asks.
"For the tenth time, dinner's ready." Her brother pauses, then adds nonchalantly, "What's up?"
Jackie lifts her hands in an I dunno gesture. "Feelings?" she settles on.
Bryson scrunches his face up in confusion. "Good ones or bad ones?"
"Mine? Bad, I guess. Those feelings, theirs...good?"
Bryson studies her for a second before walking into her room and sitting next to her. "What's up?" he asks again, quieter this time.
Jackie inhales. "I think...I think Marco and Star love each other. Like, really love each other." She taps her fingers on her knees, not wanting to look up and meet Bryson's eye.
"Why?" Bryson asks.
"W-because, Star gets quiet when me and Marco are together, and she's like, never quiet—"
"You don't have to tell me," Bryson mutters. A junior at the Academy, he's well-versed in what being a fellow student of Star Butterfly's entails.
"And Marco's so...perfect for her! They mesh really well, mellow each other out, and I know he'd do anything for her."
"Okay...what if it's just a one-sided crush?" Bryson asks, and Jackie looks up at him. "Of course Marco cares about Star, they've been best friends for almost a year. And there's like, a synchronicity that comes from that. I could see Star having a crush on him, but Jackie, he's with you! He's dating you. He wouldn't do that if he didn't like you, or was in love with Star."
Bryson and Jackie stare at each other for a few seconds. Jackie's too embarrassed to tell him about the Bounce Lounge, about the closeness of their dance and the grip Marco had on Star, so instead she just leans into her brother for a hug.
"Maybe you're right," she says quietly.
"Of course I'm right," he replies. "Don't sweat it."
She does feel better, after that. Only a bit, but it is better. She eats dinner with her family, and makes it through one question of math homework before her thoughts stray back to them.
She should've just told Bryson the whole thing. Now she's managed to convince herself he's wrong, that any day now, Marco's gonna let her down easy, before they've hardly started, because he's realized the giant mistake he's made. Jackie's chest hurts at the thought.
The Hard Way
Jackie wants—no, needs—to talk to Marco, like, soon. She’s been putting this off for too long.
She goes to the Diaz's at nine on Saturday morning, and Angie answers the door with a warm smile.
"They're out right now, probably in another dimension, I'm sorry, hon. I'll let them know you dropped by."
"Right. Thanks Angie. I'll see you around."
Jackie doesn't put her helmet back on after the door shuts. She pulls out her phone and texts Janna, r u free?, and after a minute with no reply, shoves it back into her pocket.
She fastens her helmet and starts heading back home. If they're not in this dimension, there's a good chance they're on some sort of mission or something. And the all-seeing, all-knowing Janna failing to text back immediately would suggest she's with them.
Jackie wonders if Janna has no service because other dimensions don't support Earth cell service, or if maybe Janna's just ignoring her phone.
Heinous
Monday, there's no school, so Jackie's mom decided to make an impromptu trip out of the long weekend, stuffing them all in the car to see Granddad up north. It's a four hour drive on Saturday night, a fun Sunday and Monday there, and a tiring trip back Monday night. Jackie avoided her phone the whole time and slept restlessly Monday night.
Tuesday, when she gets to school, Marco's waiting for her at her locker like he always is, leaning on it like a dork. Like always, as soon as he sees her, his face breaks into the widest, brightest grin, and she has to rebalance on her board.
"Good morning, Jackie Lynn," he says proudly as she stops at her locker.
"Morning, Marco," she says with a smile. "What's got you all happy this morning?"
"Mm, no more than the usual." Marco exhales happily.
Jackie can't stop her laugh as she digs through her locker. Ever since that time they went to the movies, after his weird neck thing, Marco has made a concerted effort to go beyond a cool nod or hand wave in the mornings. Ever since their first date, (which was perfect except for the graveyard ending) he has succeeded 100% in making conversation with her every morning.
Jackie loves this. She loves hanging out with Marco, even at school, and...and she doesn't want to ruin it. She remembers what Bryson said last week again as she and Marco walk to class. Her boyfriend's talking a mile a minute about Mackie Hand and Jackie watches his face happily. Maybe Bryson was right after all. If Marco didn't want this, then he wouldn't be doing it. Things are fine.
(Interlude — Just Friends
"It's like you're hardly ever around anymore!"
"Did we not watch an episode of Fiesta De La Noche for Friendship Thursday just last night?"
"Ugh, yes! But that's Friendship Thursday! If you missed that, I'd be ultra super mad at you, Marco, not just regular, sorta mad!"
"...you're right. And I promise I'm never gonna miss a Friendship Thursday, okay? And I'm sorry I'm not around as much, it's just...I wanna hang out with Jackie too. And she doesn't live here, so it's not as easy to see her."
"You guys see each other at school every day."
"Star, I see you at school every day. And every morning. And most afternoons. And every night. Don't sigh, Star! I know things are different. But it's not necessarily bad, right? You're my best friend, but Jackie's my girlfriend. I want to make time for you both!"
"What if I don't want to be just friends!"
"...what?")
Face the Music
"Hey, Jackie?" Marco asks. Jackie turns from the door to face him. Math just ended, and nobody sticks around after math, not even Miss Skullnick, so the room's already empty.
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering if we could...talk." Marco fingers the sleeve of his hoodie. He's nervous, and it makes Jackie nervous. She puts on a brave front.
"Sure, what's up?"
"I, uh, I wanted you to know how much I love hanging out with you. It's so much fun, and I've loved getting to know you better, and I still really like you, you're great, like, as a person, and uh—but...uh..."
Jackie smiles, mostly so she won't grimace or cry. "You like me, but not like that anymore, yeah?"
"Wh—uh, how—?"
Jackie tightens her grip on her bag. "I love hanging out with you too, Marco. But I know..." She sighs. "I know you like her too." She looks up and sees Marco gaping like a fish.
"How?" he asks faintly.
"You two are something else when you're together. I've known for awhile, deep down, I just didn't wanna see it." Jackie clears her throat and looks down at her shoes. A minute of silence passes. Jackie knows she should leave, but she doesn’t want to.
"C-can we...hug?" Marco asks quietly. Jackie immediately drops her bag and rushes into Marco, who holds her tight. She keeps her face pressed into his shoulder.
"I'm sorry," he says quietly.
"It's not your fault," Jackie replies. She is definitely not crying.
Starcrushed
When Jackie finally got invited to go on her first mission, she hadn't exactly pictured it ending like this. This was more like the night of the dance: sad and terrifying and upsetting. A mission...sounded planned, put together, like it would succeed and have a happy ending.
This is not a happy ending.
They're all still alive, so at least there's that. Nobody has been sucked into another dimension, either. Jackie is bruised all over, and her hair's a bit singed, but she'll be fine. She's more worried about Star.
Jackie meets Janna's eye. They're all worried about Star.
"We were so close," the princess says quietly. Her voice sounds watery and small.
"I know," Marco replies. "And we'll get close again. We'll get him back, I promise." He adjusts his position a bit so Star can lean on him more. They're both on the ground, wrapped up in a hug.
Star speaks again but it's muffled by Marco's hoodie. Janna tugs on Jackie's sleeve, and Jackie nods. They wander a little ways away to wait underneath a tree.
Marco and Jackie had been playing a board game when Janna and Star had practically fallen down the stairs, yelling about figuring out where Ludo was. Jackie could pick out magical jargon when she heard it, and had been getting ready to head home when Marco had tentatively offered for her to come along. Both of them had glanced at Star, the final voice in all things magic, who had looked at them both before saying, "Okay, if you're sure," and that had been that.
Jackie mostly regretted coming, now. Dimension travelling was still a pretty cool feeling, but the fighting wasn't fun, the pain wasn't fun, hearing Star yell for Glossaryck as Ludo took him away again, seeing Star and Marco pressed into each other for comfort—for desperately needed comfort—wasn't fun.
She wants to go home, to eat the leftovers from Carla's dinner the other day, to get a hug from her mom and a kiss from her dad, and to sit on the couch with Bryson and watch Bob's Burgers for four hours.
But she's not in the right dimension for any of that, at the moment.
"Hey," Janna says, breaking the silence. Jackie looks up from the ground she's been studying. "You know about Star's feelings, right?"
Jackie looks away again immediately, scanning the horizon. After a few seconds, she exhales through her nose. "Yeah, I do." Jackie considers for a few seconds, then adds, "Marco and I broke up last week."
"Wait, what?" Janna burst rather loudly. " Last week?!"
"What's this?" Jackie teases. "A fact about Marco you don't know? What has the world come to."
"Didn't you guys go on a date two days ago?" Janna asks. Her face is screwed up—she is definitely thinking about this too hard. True, two days ago, her and Marco had gone to see a historical drama at the movies.
"That wasn't a date," Jackie says. "I mean, it definitely seemed like one, so I get where you're coming from, but we're not dating."
"Why haven't you told anyone?" Janna asks.
Jackie looks over at Star and Marco again. "Cause he thought it would unbalance Star, and she needs as much balance in her life as she can get right now."
Janna snorts. "What an idiot."
Jackie shoves down the twinge she feels to defend him. "I didn't say I agree with him. But he's her best friend, not me."
"If he doesn't tell her today, I'm gonna hit that boy."
Jackie smiles. "Do it gently, if you do. How long should we give them?"
Janna looks at her bare, watchless wrist, making Jackie stifle a laugh. "A few more minutes. She deserves that at least."
"Yeah," Jackie agrees. "She does."