Damage Control
The look on Marco's face was torture for Star. No one liked to see their friend's in pain, and Marco was undoubtedly the closest friend Star had ever had. Despite having seen Marco emotionally torn and battered before, it never got easier to see. And from what Star could tell, this was the worst pain that Marco had ever felt. Star was several feet away from them at the instant it happened, so Star couldn't tell what Jackie had actually said; however, she could still see the expression on Marco's face, and it was enough to give her all the information she needed.
Jackie left Marco a few seconds after Marco's face had gone pale, queuing Star to go talk to him. Marco stared off into space, seemingly at nothing, while his whole body shook. When Star had gotten close enough to talk to him, she noticed that his breathing had gotten unsteady.
"Marco?" she asked tentatively.
Marco didn't respond. His eyes started to fill with tears.
"Marco?" Star repeated, this time just a tiny bit louder and with more concern. "Are you alright?"
Marco shut his eyes and clenched his fists. "I-" he whispered but choked. After a second he said through his teeth, "I'm fine."
Star bit her lip in deep disbelief. She started to say his name again, but as she did, Marco's eyes flew open, unadulterated rage burning within them. "Damnit, Star!" he barked short and hard. "Not now!" His words were so powerful that they forced her to step back in shock. When he saw her back pedal, he immediately winced and looked away. His fists started to go white from how hard he was clenching them.
"I need to go home," he said quietly, making sure he stayed as neutral as possible. "I'll see you later." Then he turned around and started aggressively walking away, pulling his hoodie over his head and shoving his hands into his pockets.
Star watched him go off silently. She had had a split second desire to go after him, but something had stopped her. He didn't mean to get so angry just now, she reasoned with herself. This must have been the worst day of his life. He just needs time to deal with it. But despite any rational thinking she tried to do, she couldn't get over how upset she was. It had been her idea for Marco to ask Jackie out, and it had taken several weeks of her insisting that he do it before he agreed. And the way Marco had just looked at her, as if it were all her fault…
Since Marco had told Jackie his feelings at the beginning of the day, Star was forced to go through seven hours of not being able to go help Marco. Despite not actually needing to go to school (as she was going to leave the planet in a couple of years), both the Diaz parents and her own had required that she get some basic education while on Earth. And due to a few incidents of playing hooky, she wasn't exactly in the position of missing another day. On the upside, she never felt bored the entire day. On the downside, she was constantly worrying about Marco and trying to ignore her own guilt of possibly having caused the worst day of his life. She met up with Ferguson and Alphonse at lunch, but when she explained what had happened that morning, their faces went pale.
"She rejected him?" Alphonse asked, both shocked and horrified. "Oh no. Oh NO! He's been crushing on her for his entire life! I'm pretty sure his first words were 'Jackie'!"
Star nodded grimly at him. "I couldn't believe it either. He was doing so well with her, talking, making eye-contact, and actually getting to know her…" she let out a heavy sigh as her chin hit the cafeteria table hard. "I just, I wish, I…" she trailed off again.
"That's weird," Alphonse commented, giving Star a confused look. "I thought you didn't want Marco to be with Jackie, since you had a-"Alphonse was interrupted by Ferguson's elbow hitting him in ribs. Ferguson gave Alphonse a deadly glare and Alphonse shut up. Then Ferguson looked back to Star, who was still pouting, and realized something. He narrowed his eyes towards Star with a suspicious look on his face.
"Wait a minute," he muttered. "You aren't blaming yourself for all of this, are you?" Star looked away from her friends and bit the table in quiet frustration. Ferguson's went wide open as his shoulders fell in disappointment. "Oh Star," he chided as if he were exhausted. "You can't beat yourself up about this. It isn't your fault."
"Yes it is," Star countered, still biting on the table.
"No, it's not, Star," Ferguson argued, mildly annoyed. "It isn't anyone's fault. Loves a fickle thing, as I can tell from all of the relationships I've seen come and go at this school."
"Then why does it feel like it's my fault?" Star pouted through the table.
Ferguson sighed in frustration. "Because you're his friend, Star. His best friend." He put his hand loftily in front of Alphonse before he could rebuke him. "And yes," he narrowed his eyes to Alphonse in an incredibly salty glare. "That puts you above us in relationships with Marco. You care about him. You don't want him to be sad, and now he's sad. Don't worry Star, it's not your fault."
Star looked away, unsure. "I don't know, Ferguson."
Ferguson crossed his arms and looked haughtily at Star. "Well, Princess," he said in an obvious tone, as if what he was about to say was common knowledge. "What do you think I'm here for?"
That made Star giggle. She stopped biting the table and placed her head on her hand, which was using the table as a support. "Maybe you're right. I think I'll still wait till the end of the day to talk to him, though. I think he still needs time to cry."
Alphonse looked bewildered at Star. "Marco cries? I don't think I've ever seen him cry. Maybe whimper a little bit, but…"
Star shook her head casually, slowly recovering with Fergusons words. "He cries when no one thinks they can see, but it's usually only over mentally scarring memories. I think I've only seen him cry three times in his life, and two of those times were from ghost chili peppers." She let out a sigh of finality. "Alrighty then. I'll see you two tomorrow, unless you want to help out with Marco."
Both Alphonse and Ferguson shook their heads emphatically. "No Star," Ferguson stated with confidence. "You're the only one who can help him this time."
Star sighed again and gave them both a small smile. "Of course. Ciao!" Then she left the cafeteria to be greeted with more school work. Oh joy, she thought sluggishly. Boredom. It returneths.
By the time school was let out and Star had gotten home, she was ready to talk to Marco. But before she could open the front door, Mrs. Diaz opened it for her. She looked as though she had been distressed for most of the day, but her face lit up with joy as she saw Star. Star could relate to her anxiety.
"Ah, Star!" Mrs. Diaz announced. "How was your day at school, dear?"
Star gave her a small, knowing smile. "Boring as Hell. Literally." Star's time with Tom had allowed her to get a hands-on experience of how monotonous Oblivion was, and she found school to be just as bad. "How's Marco?"
Mrs. Diaz' mask of happiness failed her for half a second before she recovered. "He's… in his room," She answered, making sure not to make eye-contact with Star. "We haven't seen him since he came home. What happened?" Star explained what had happened that morning. Marco's mother pursed her lips together when Star explained that Jackie had rejected him. "Oh dear," she muttered in a soft voice. "That explains it."
Star nodded somberly. "Can I go see him?"
Mrs. Diaz nodded her head immediately. "Of course, dear. I think you might be the only one who can right now. Or at least should."
Star smiled warmly to her guardian. "Friends have their duties, after all."
Mrs. Diaz looked a little bewildered by the child's ignorance. "Ah, right," she said, trying to cover up her disconcertedness. "Friends."
Star was getting tired of being surprised, but she was once again hit with confusion. Before she could ask however, Mrs. Diaz shook her head and said, "It's not important, go right on up."
Star nodded back gratefully and then stepped through the door. When she arrived at Marco's door, she stopped, took a long breath, and then knocked gently a few times.
"Marco?" she asked tentatively. No response. "Marco?" she asked just a half of a degree louder. She was about to knock again when the door opened. Marco stood in front of the doorway, slightly slumped, his eyes a bit puffy and only a shade too red.
"Hey Star," he said in a somewhat hoarse voice. He was acting a lot more casual then Star had expected. "What's up?"
"Uh," she said, taken aback. "Can I, uh, come in?"
Marco gave her a small but infinitely warm smile. "Of course Star." He opened the door more and she went into is room. There wasn't much, at least not as much as her room. There was a bed, a computer desk and chair, a closet, and a footlocker at the base of his bed. Star sat on the edge of Marco's bed, swinging her legs back and forth absentmindedly. Marco sat down in the computer chair, letting it spin around a few times before stopping it with his feet. "So," Marco said lightly.
"So," Star responded, feeling the awkward vibe just as much as Marco. "Uh, how are you?"
Marco seemed to think hard about it, refusing to meet Star's eyes. He returned with, "Better. I'm feeling better."
"Really?" Star asked, deeply interested. She leaned in to get closer to Marco, although he was still a good few feet away from the bed.
"Yeah," Marco said firmly. "I am." Then he looked to her with an apprehensive look. "How about you?"
Star's mouth fell open with confusion. "Me?!" she asked. "What about me? You're the one who got rejected by your life long crush today!" Marco winced at the truth in her words, and Star took in a sharp breath of regret. Before she could apologize, however, Marco put up his hand.
"It's O.K., Star," he assured her. "I've had a long time to think about this morning. Seven hours to be exact." He gave her a wry smile. "Did you really think I needed seven hours to cry about this?"
Star's embarrassment grew, and she became defensive almost immediately. "Well, she was the crush of your life. And you were really really really destroyed afterwards."
Marco nodded seriously. "You're right. She was. And I was. Star, I'm sorry for being such a jerk this morning. You didn't deserve to be treated like that, especially after you had tried so hard to get us together."
Star's face drooped down at Marco's apology. "Come on, Marco, it's alright. I forgive you."
Marco still seemed uncomfortable. "But it wasn't your fault, Star. It wasn't your fault at all Star. I don't think there was any way I was going to get with Jackie. But at least now I know that for a fact."
Star looked unsure. "Are you sure you're okay? You still seem a bit uneasy."
Marco took a long, steady breath. "Ya know, Star," he said matter-of-factly. "I cried for a straight hour when I came home. A full hour. Then, when I was done crying, I moped around for another three or four hours. I kept blaming everyone for what had happened, myself, my parents, Alphonse and Ferguson, Jackie, and you. Especially you, to be honest. I thought you had set me up for failure, that you wanted to see me get rejected, that you hated me."
Marco took another deep breath before continuing. By now Star was on the edge of her seat, completely taken in with the story. "But then I remembered all of the time we've spent together. The first time we met, the first time we made nachos together, the countless battles we've fought in, the innumerable times we've gone on adventures together. And, in the middle of my long trip down memory lane, I started to realize something that I hadn't before." Marco looked hard into Star's eyes. "You love me, don't you?"
On the outside, Star froze. She didn't move at all. It was as if she had turned into a statue. On the inside, however, her body was freaking out. Butterflies started to dance and multiply within her stomach as her bones turned to pudding and her mind raced with excitement. After a few seconds of failed attempts, Star responded with all of the force she could muster. "M- Maybe," she practically whispered.
Marco snorted. "I figured. I should have figured it out earlier, but hey, what's life if you know all the answers, right?"
Star didn't respond. Her face got so red that it almost perfectly resembled a tomato. Marco gave her a worried look and waved his hand in front of her eyes. "Uh, Star?" he asked nervously. "Are you alright?" She gave him a small nod and a short, decisive 'yes' before continuing to get redder. Marco put his hand on Star's shoulders and made sure to keep calm. He failed to keep the distress out of his face.
"Star, listen to me," he said slowly, carefully, as though she might explode. "You need to breath, Star. Breath. Can you do that for me, Star?" Star's panicked face looked towards Marco and shook. Marco took a steadying breath and said, "Star, you need to breathe. Watch me, O.K? Watch me." He took large, slow breaths of air in front of her. "See? Now you try." Star nodded and took a large, deep breath in. But she didn't exhale any of it. Her face started to turn purple.
"Close, Star, but not exactly. Now you have to let it all out, O.K.? Let it all out." Star nodded again. Then she let out all of the air she had been holding in a big, long, heavy sigh. Her body shook for a couple of seconds afterwards, but she recovered quickly. "Better?" Marco asked. She nodded again. "Good, now where was I? Ah yes, you have a crush on me, right?" Star's face blushed again, but she nodded. "Awesome."
"So, after I realized that you had a crush on me, the negative side of my body jumped to the conclusion that you had set me up to get rejected so that you could get me off the rebound. It made sense, after all. I'd get all emotional about the break up, and then you'd be there to help me get over it, and then I'd fall for you." Marco stopped talking, creating a heavy silence. Star didn't respond. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't defend herself because, well, what he said could have made sense. But she didn't have to defend herself. Marco did it for her.
"But that isn't what happened, was it?" he asked softly. "You were actually trying to get me with Jackie."
Star didn't look up at Marco when she said in a very small voice, "You had a crush on her. I wanted you to be happy."
Marco chuckled at himself. He couldn't believe he had been so stupid. "Of course you did, Star." Then he pulled her in close for a hug. Star was surprised for a second, but she soon returned the hug. "Thank you, Star, for everything." His voice had gotten very soft and very quiet. "You really are my best friend. And… maybe we can be more than best friends."
Star pulled away just far enough to look into Marco's eyes. "What?" she said, flabbergasted.
Marco chuckled and said, "If I'm sticking to this roll of being one hundred percent honest, then I'd have to admit that I've started to have feelings for you. I didn't recognize them as such, since I still was crushing on Jackie, but it's become pretty clear why I caught myself staring at you during class." He blushed a little. "Guess this isn't the best time, but, well, when is, am I right?"
Star stared at him for a solid five seconds before she burst out laughing. Marco soon followed suit and they fell to the floor, laughing their lungs out. After having such an awful day make a complete one eighty, the two friends couldn't help but laugh it all out. Mrs. Diaz appeared at the door, at first worried but then surprised at the scene before her. The two slowly stopped their laughing when she arrived.
"Uh," she murmured. "Is everything alright?"
"It's- its fine, mom," Marco giggled between breaths. "Everything's fine."
"Ah, okay," she responded, delighted that her son was better. "Do either of you need anything?"
They both shook their heads, still smiling from the laughs they had shared. "I think we'll be alright, Mrs. Diaz."
And they were just that.
Wow. This was trash. But fun to make. The next one will probably have them go somewhere, or have a TON of characters. Until then, I hoped this was good enough (or bad enough) that you all enjoyed, and have a nice day!