So, quick warning to those who hate Jarco with a passion: this fic will probably trigger you to no end. I don't hate Jarco, and in fact would prefer Jarco to Marco being single by the end of the series like Finn has been in Adventure time. Either way, this one shot will be mainly rewrites of events in the show with more context on what I think the charcters were thinking while they happened. It'll focus on Marco and Jackie's relationship, which I think is kind of unstable in the long run. This story was inspired by the P!atD song "Build God Then We'll Talk", and Zamairiac's fic "Pedestal" (Which if you aren't reading yet, you should totally check it out!).

A Wonderful Caricature

"I'm really glad I asked you out tonight", Jackie says to a slightly blushing Marco. She looks into his eyes and can't help but feel warm and fuzzy at the feelings of admiration and infatuation in them. Looking down to their hands, she notices that they'd been holding hands for a few minutes now without really thinking about it, and smiles at the fact.

"Me too", Marco replies, dumbstruck at the sight of her large, sparkling, sea green eyes. He looks at their hands and feels his heart jump to his throat, noticing they hadn't let go in a while. Instinct kicks in and Marco leans toward her slowly.

Their lips connect, and for the brief seconds that was his first kiss, Marco's heart felt like it beat a million times. Jackie felt the warmth of his lips and could see stars behind her closed eyelids. 'This is just too amazing', she can't help but think in their love drunk stupor, but then the moment ends as abruptly as it began.

Jackie's eyes slowly flutter open to see a despondent Marco staring with glassy eyes somewhere far into the sky. "Marco?", she asks confused by his strange behaviour, "what's wrong?". 'Oh dude no, he didn't taste that disgusting snack on my lips from earlier did he? I could taste it a little, but it totally didn't ruin the moment for me. Did it ruin it for him?', she wondered to herself.

Marco stared at the moon curiously. 'Blood red', he stated in his mind to ensure he wasn't seeing things off. He blinked a few times and the large red moon he'd seen seconds before was gone, replaced with the normal white moon and a hard feeling in his gut. He rushes to his phone and checks it to see that Star had called him fifty seven times in the past hour or so. "We have to find Star", he stated with unease lining every word.

The next day

Jackie was having a lovely time talking to Marco this afternoon. She'd been so confused after last night's events, what with Star's book being stolen and Marco's strange sense that something was wrong before he saw her calls, but other than all that she was left with good vibes to sleep on. She'd kissed him last night, and it was wonderful. The whole night with him was wonderful, leaving the only real question on her mind was why she hadn't noticed him this way before.

Marco on the other hand wasn't enjoying their conversation nearly as much. Something felt a bit off after what he'd otherwise call an amazing night. He's chalking it up to the way the night ended, but the explanation still didn't sit well with him somewhere deep down. 'I mean, I got to talk to her last night. I got to really know her better as a person and what's even crazier is I had my first kiss with her, so why does it feel like she's droning on about stuff I don't care about right now?', Marco pondered to himself. He'd been watching star pack a bag up all morning and decided after a few more "Yea's" and "uh-huhs", that he should probably focus on this instead.

"Hey Jackie, can I call you back?", was what she heard before the phone clicked and the call ended. 'He just hung up on me, without even letting me say goodbye...owwwcchh...I wonder if something's wrong. Maybe that book just means alot more to Star than I understand, he's probably just busy trying to console her. He's such a rad guy', Jackie concluded to herself, bringing a smile back to her face.

A week or so later

Star was spending lunch with Janna today so Jackie got to have this time with him all to herself. They had both finished their lunch a few minutes ago and Jackie was resting her head on his shoulder. Marco had his arm wrapped around her shoulders and was enjoying the company, but found that his mind kept drifting to Star and Janna's antics across the lunchroom. Janna had teased Star and started a mini food fight just between the two of them, making him chuckle at their silliness.

His focus being elsewhere didn't go unnoticed by Jackie, and while she was normally cool with Marco's wandering mind she couldn't deny to herself this time that she felt a bit jealous. 'Why has he been acting this way recently? I mean, he's always had an active mind but it's not like I didn't take notice of how much he would focus on me right before I asked him out.', she thought to herself. It perplexed her to no end, and while Jackie was not a very insecure person (in fact she was normally quite confident with herself), she couldn't help but feel some insecurities try to grow inside her. This was Marco Diaz she was thinking about. The same Marco Diaz who confessed to filling a notebook with variations of their names because he wasn't sure which one he'd liked most.

Marco glanced at Jackie on his shoulder and could see something was bothering her. Jackie almost always exuded this chill and lovable demeanor, but that made it all the more obvious to tell when something was on her mind. 'I wonder if I should ask her what's up?', Marco ponders to himself, 'I hope she isn't upset that I've been watching those two goofballs instead of talking to her...wait a minute this is Jackie I'm thinking about. She'd never get insecure about something like that, besides this show is just too great to pass up over something that's probably nothing.'

Sometime later

'Star is such a sweetie!', Jackie thought ecstatically, 'It's just like her to go and get us all Love Sentence tickets for the concert tonight. I swear she is hella the best friend a person could ask for.'. Jackie was skateboarding to Marco's house to pick them up for the concert tonight, and couldn't get the thought of the three of them having an amazing time out of her mind. She could imagine it now: crowds cheering, the music pounding...her and Marco smooching it up on the romantic bits. Tonight was gonna be great.

A few hours later

Today had been such a bad day for Marco. Star's shirt gift was too tight, he'd almost killed some ducks, and was feeling like the third wheel between is girlfriend and best friend. He felt jealousy bubbling inside him at the thought that those too could be having so much fun together while he's having such bad luck. 'How could Jackie just come in and hit it off so well with Star right in front of my face while I keep making a jackass of myself?', he thought frustratedly, 'She knows Star's my best friend doesn't she?'. Marco didn't realize how possessive he sounded until that thought shot through his mind, then he felt guilty about being so crabby all day. After they releasing the ducks back to the wild, and making up and talking it all out, they finally got back on their way to see Love Sentence.

The concert in the evening

After dancing and lip syncing along, the night got a bit hotter than intended. In the moment Marco and Jackie shared a steamy kiss, and Jackie felt wonderful. They pulled apart and all Marco could say was, "Wow". 'That...that was nice wasn't it?', Marco wondered to himself, but the thought was cut off as he immediately noticed Star was heading down to the stage. "Wait! Where are you going!?", he shouted down to her before following behind.

Jackie just sat there, somewhat embarrassed that her and Marco's display made Star so uncomfortable. 'I hope Star doesn't feel to awkward about this right now, that would be a bummer. I mean, she'd understand right? It was just us getting caught up in the moment, of course she'd understand, I'd understand if it was the other way around wouldn't I?', Jackie's mind was filled with worry for her friend, but somewhere along the way it registered the last thought it had and something inside Jackie began to ache a bit. It was hard to imagine Marco and her not being together now. She'd really fallen for him throughout their time together, and wished he was back with her by now. 'I mean, we don't even really know why she went down there, so why'd he follow? Am I a bad kisser, cause this is the second time my little dude's been strange after a kiss with me.', some of the insecurities Jackie had begun to form in this relationship reared their ugly heads for a moment, but she kept them in check. After that momentary lapse, her confidence returned to tell her that he was probably just checking on Star to make sure she's okay, like the amazing friend she is.

This return of confidence didn't completely tuck away her insecurities; however, and they manifested themselves when Marco returned. She locked lips with him almost immediately, allowing his embrace to finish the job her naturally high self-esteem couldn't.

Some more indiscriminate time later

The school year was ending and Jackie was at Marco's place enjoying the Diaz's end of the school year bash. Marco had been acting really strange the whole night, so she was trying to cheer him up. She tried making him laugh by being cheesy and cute with him, and tried to keep his mind occupied by talking about what they could do this summer, but nothing was really working.

Marco couldn't get passed all the awkwardness in the air tonight. Jackie told him everything is normal tonight, but to him it didn't feel that way at all. She was right that everything is normal for everyone else tonight, but for him and Star it was anything but. They'd never felt awkward around one another: never. Star even shares a bathroom with Marco and even that had only ever come close to creating a few awkward moments, but never truly succeeded. He was appreciative of Jackie's trying to keep him happy, but he's not sure anything she could do tonight will help at all.

Star disappeared for a while to no great pleasure of Marco's. After a short heart to heart with his father, he'd decided maybe talking it out would prove the best in working through all this tension. Currently though, he was feeding Jackie pizza nuggets in an attempt to keep himself from having a nervous breakdown before the next time he saw Star tonight. Marco spots her coming through the front door and pulls her aside to the stairwell to talk.

What Marco hadn't realized is that he'd left Jackie hanging, mouth wide open waiting for another pizza nugget like a fool. After a moment she realized that Marco had taken off, and felt a bit silly. 'Hopefully no one saw that', she thought embarrassed. After a few more minutes Marco returned. He seemed in much better spirits about whatever happened with Star. Since he hadn't told her specifically, Jackie assumed it was something awkward that they could laugh off after a talk, like accidently seeing one or the other walk won't of the shower with no towel or something. Little did she know it was much much more than anything like that.

"Marco!", Star yelled, getting the attention of the entire crowd, "Marco, we need to talk.", she said, and then she spilled her guts about it all. She tells him the truth about her crush and runs up the steps crying, claiming she probably won't ever be back. Jackie watched flabbergasted as Star revealed her secret loud enough for everyone to hear. Marco stood dumbstruck and babbling until she ran away crying, which made him spring into action.

"Wait!", he shouts as he runs up the steps, "Star, wait!", he calls as he enters her room, only to see berthing magical about it crumbling and fading away. He falls to his knees and calls defeatedly quiet, "Star".

A few moments later Jackie awkwardly walks into the room, rubbing up and down her arm uncomfortably. She puts a hand on Marco's shoulder and says sadly and softly, "Uhhhh.. Marco, I think we should talk about what just happened..."

So I didn't give any concrete resolution at the end here because the show is written in such a way that I don't think I'm capable of writing whether or not they can resolve their issues or not. Truthfully these characters are written so 3 dimensionally in the show that as much as it would surprise me if they stayed together, it also wouldn't be that surprising. They both have the tools to make things work if they really decided that it was best, but only if they decided it is for the best for them to stay together. Either way, criticism is encouraged, so please review if you could!

Also, for anyone following my other story "16 Crazy Years", don't think I've forgotten about y'all. It was originally supposed to be only 10 chapters but has evolved and grown with so much detail that it's been taking me longer to work through the chapters, all the way from concept, to finished piece.

Hopefully this fic help humanize Jackie to anyone who hates her for literally no other reason than because she isn't Star, it probably won't, but honestly my fellow Starco fans: we need to chill on the massive Jackie hate.