Hey everyone.
When will SVTFOE come back from the war?
Still waiting for Season 2.
This is probably going to be a collection of one-shots.
Expect a lot of Starco trash.
This is one of the very few things I wrote since Star Vs. The Finale.
You know the drill: English is not my first language, so feel free to correct me harshly, if necessary.
Hope you enjoy!
The Date
Marco finally asks Jackie out and wants his first date with his life-long crush to be perfect.
That was an usual sight for princess Star: Marco, her human best friend, ditched his usual red hoodie for a grey, formal-ish shirt.
And for good reason.
"So... how dow I look?"
The boy asked to his magical friend, standing in the middle of his room, Star sitting on his bed, scrutinizing him from head to toe, acting as his personal fashion-advisor for the big night. The princess narrowed her eyes, making Marco painfully wait for a response on purpose, enjoying his dorky nervousness; she giggled a bit and finally nodded in approval.
"Relax, Marco. You're fine!" she commented, but the boy wasn't happy with the verdict.
"Fine? Just fine? It's Jackie we're talking about!" he spluttered, rushing towards his wardrobe. "Everything must be perfect!"
Star let Marco cool down for a moment as he rummaged through his hoodie-filled closet. She knew how much he waited for this night, his first official date with Jackie, the girl he was crushing on since forever. The fact that Marco finally found the guts to ask her out was already impressive enough: she was honestly proud of him.
"You got this, Marco! Don't worry! You got everything planned. Just talk to her, be yourself and… no." her smile turned into a disgusted smirk.
"The tie's too much, right?" Marco asked, quite rhetorically, as the princess zapped the horrible tie out of this world with a quick spell from her wand.
The boy, by far used to his friend's magic, simply started rolling his sleeves up, far from calming down though. "It's not like Jackie cares about how I dress, right?"
"Nah, she's not that kind of girl, she's fine… just like you!" Star insisted. "Just take her to that dumb kissy movie and… well… as I said, be yourself!"
"It's not dumb." Marco took that almost as an insult: no one should call into question his planning abilities. "It's the best romantic comedy of the year. Certified 'fresh' on all the websites that matter!"
"How cute. You could seduce her with a live review of the movie." she joked and then threw a pillow to him, which he mindlessly dodged.
Marco nervously finished rolling up his sleeves while staring at his doppelgänger in the mirror. "Very funny, Miss 'take Jackie to the Flesh-Eating Dimension where you can let her punch a real zombie demon'. Good thing I'm not dating you…"
"Mock me if you want, but I'm an expert in matchmaking and dating advices." she claimed, rather proudly.
"Yeah… no offense, Star, but you're not like other girls." he replied, spraying some nostril-killing fragrance on his wrists.
The boy checked his phone, noticing how late he was and panicked one more time for a moment. He and Star immediately rushed downstairs; he took one last deep breath, finally ready to dive into the unknown. "Wish me luck!"
Star closed her eyes, her hands joined, looking more like a female, colorful guru. "May this experience open your eyes." she spoke in a soft tone, the sentence sounding more like a dark omen though.
"Wait. What was that about?" he asked, somewhat worried.
The princess chuckled in response. "It's just a cheesy thing we say on Mewni. You think too much, Marco." she said, pushing him out of the door. "You go have fun now! The sooner you leave, the sooner I can help your dad make his delicious nachos."
"You know I'm the only one who can make super-awesome nachos, right?" he asked, amused.
"Just focus on your date, Diaz!" she yelled and closed the door, leaving him outside of the house.
Marco chuckled a bit, finding the princess' naive personality somehow charming.
He checked the time again and headed to the Echo Creek Park, the place where Jackie was waiting for him.
The two teens' laughter echoed in the entire park.
They were sitting on the grass, side by side, looking at the distant, modest skyline of the city. The park was located on a small hill, not very far from the city-centre. That was not the most romantic place of California, but that's what you have to settle for when you don't have a driver license, despite being sixteen.
"You guys really did that…?"
Jackie giggled, her beautiful, piercing green eyes glittering and reflecting the faint lights of the city.
"Oh yeah. And that's why we're banned from the Xemlar Dimension." he said, trying not to laugh again.
The date was going quite well, surprisingly well.
They've been sitting there for almost 30 minutes, chatting and laughing about Marco's crazy adventures with Star. Jackie was absolutely delighted by the boy's sometimes absurd stories about those weird far away places, alien dimensions and hideous monsters.
"I can go on forever, I swear. The Universe is full of weirdos. And Star seems to know all of them…"
They both took a sip of their soda and chuckled a bit more.
While thinking of something to say, Marco realized that maybe he talked bit too much.
"Oh no. The movie! What time is it?!" he quickly stood up as if his own life depended on it. "We have to go, Jackie!"
The girl just stared at him, amused. "We still have time, don't worry." she reassured and invited him to sit again next to her.
She opened another can of soda and handed it to Marco, noticing his nervousness, despite his best efforts at hiding it.
"Before that Xemlar Dimension… you said something about a… reptile-lawyer guy I think?" she asked, trying to make him talk about a subject he seemed very comfortable with: his crazy adventures with Star.
Despite the memories not being all positive this time, Marco let out a soft cackle. "Yeah. Better known as Toffee."
"Toffee?" Jackie snorted, almost choking on the soda. "What kind of name is that?"
He laughed too and told her the complex history of Mewni, the monsters, Star's wand… and how many adventures this caused. He talked about his dimension-hopping experiences for maybe 30 more minutes, without even realizing how much time was passing, but the fact that Jackie was visibly enjoying it only made him talk more and more about it.
He loved reliving those adventures; he felt like he needed to share those wild stories with someone, or even talk about Star's crazy antics and spells, how much he hates when she turns the couch into a giant space worm; or how much he loves when they simply share a soda after one of their frantic monster battles.
Jackie was sincerely fascinated, intrigued by Marco's crazy stories.
She knew that the so-called "safe kid" had a very interesting life, especially since that magical princess came in his life.
The girl couldn't stop asking questions and staring at him, noticing how he finally looked confident about himself.
She also noticed something else, like how his brown eyes lightened up every time he talked about this wild stuff; that "light" looked very familiar to her: she was sure she saw it in many other occasions on him.
Not the date she was expecting, but she wasn't really surprised.
"Marco…" she simply said, amused, interrupting a story about how he and Star stopped a brain-eating plant.
The boy just stared at her in silence, smiling at her. He then looked around, noticing that they were alone.
And then it hit him.
He started to sweat.
He tried to say something, but only a series of intelligible, stuttered words came out.
"Oh no…" the boy finally spluttered. He stood up, his face turning red, completely embarrassed. "Please tell me I didn't just waste almost 2 hours of your life…"
Jackie chuckled in response, still sitting on the grass, no intention to leave. "Don't worry, Marco. That was fun!".
"Fun?" Marco asked, sarcastically. "I messed up! We were supposed to watch the best romantic comedy of the year!" he uttered, the hope of having that much-awaited "perfect" date now gone forever.
"Marco, I'm already watching the best romantic comedy of the year, trust me." she reassured, laughing a bit more. "Really nice plot and characters. But the male lead seems a bit too… distracted."
Marco was puzzled by the girl's calm and strangely amused reaction.
He sat next to her, taking a deep breath.
"I can't believe I just spent the whole night talking about… well…" he chuckled, trying to hide his embarrassment.
The boy wanted to disappear, to hide forever, maybe in another dimension.
That was probably the most embarrassing moment of his life.
And Jackie being so chill about it was somehow making things worse.
He felt like he didn't deserve that gentle, sympathetic reaction.
"You didn't waste my time, Marco. I had a lot of fun. And you are a great story-teller." she said, gently elbowing him.
"I'm a total disaster." he stuttered, lying down on the grass, staring at the night sky, defeated.
Still with a reassuring smile drawn on her face, Jackie lied next to him.
She could almost sense his utter embarrassment and how uncomfortable the whole thing was to him.
"I'm sorry, Jackie. I just-" but he was interrupted.
"The nod-look!" she said, out of nowhere. "That's where I've seen that light."
Marco simply replied with a puzzled, confused expression. "What? What look? Do I have something on my face too?" he asked, rubbing a hand on his cheek, as if it was all dirty. Jackie chuckled and got up, crossing her legs, resuming her previous sitting position. The boy did the same.
"The nod-look! The one you shared with me every morning!" she said, nodding. "Remember?"
He did remember, of course.
That was the only way he approached to her since kindergarten.
The only interaction he had with her, for years, before finding the guts to just say "hi".
One of the first steps in his perfectly-planned life with his crush.
But the whole "light-thing" was still confusing to him.
"You'd never admit it, because it's not manly I guess… who cares…" she shrugged. "But you guys have this weird thing lighting up in your eyes every time you see or talk about the girl you like. I swear we can read you like an open book."
"A light?" Marco said, more puzzled than before, a messy train of thoughts suddenly messing up with his rational mind.
"I know that light, Marco. I've seen it in dozen of guys, including you. Until… well, I don't know. It just disappeared." she said, taking one more sip of soda, her smile still looking chill and sincere as usual.
"What? Where did it go?" he asked, confused, as if it was a serious medical condition.
Jackie giggled a bit, a really faint sense of nostalgia carefully hidden in her laugh. "Sorry, I meant… the light it's still there somewhere. It just found a different… source."
Marco admittedly knew what was she talking about now and he felt even more undeserving of her kindness.
He stared at her in silence, feeling her amazing green eyes piercing through his very soul, her fingers fiddling with her shell-necklace.
Waiting for an answer, she still had that very chill look on her face and wondered how she could even smile after the embarrassing mess he made.
"You're talking about St-"
"There it is again!" Jackie laughed. "I've never seen a man's eyes lighten up so fast!"
"Aw come on!" he replied, hiding his face in his hands. "I can't believe this is happening…"
Marco found the courage to look at her again, sensing her green-eyed gaze upon him, no matter what.
"I'm sorry I wasted your time, Jackie. I'm better than this, I swear. You must think that I'm some kind-"
"You're a dork." she chuckled. "You're here because you're obsessed with planning things. I know that you even made a list of steps on how to deal with me."
"She knows about the list" Marco thought, his cheeks turning red.
"And I'm pretty sure you brought it here with you, am I right?" she guessed.
And guessed right.
Reluctantly, Marco reached for a small, folded piece of paper in a back pocket of his dark grey jeans, carefully avoiding any eye contact with the green-eyed girl sitting next to him.
"I knew it. Now shred it." she ordered, but without losing her comfortable smile.
"What?" Marco shrieked. "This list is the painful result of years of meticulous planning, dreams, hopes. And some tears. Maybe. No tears. Why are we talking about tears?" he stuttered.
"You are smart, Marco, and that's cool. But you think too much…"
Now those were some familiar words.
He stared at the carefully folded piece of paper he was holding and handed it to Jackie.
"I don't want your list, Marco. Destroy it." she said, losing her smile for a moment, purposely doing an impression of a certain reptile-looking foe that the boy talked about during their date.
Slightly amused by the disturbing imitation, he took a deep breath and obeyed.
He easily shredded that long list of steps, a soft, cold night breeze blowing the pieces of paper like petals in the wind.
He felt like he witnessed the end of an era.
He felt free.
"She's not like other girls, you know." he finally admitted, hoping he didn't say anything offensive or too stupid.
"Yes. I noticed." she simply replied. "I'm proud of you, Marco." she then added, landing a gentle, playful punch on his chest.
"As a matter of fact, Jackie… you are awesome." he said, rubbing the spot where the girl jokingly punched him.
"Thanks." she simply said, handing one last can of soda to him. They cheered and took a long sip together.
The two teens stared at the shreds of paper dancing around like pollen, the glittering lights of the city skyline becoming one with the stars in the sky: the most unusually romantic sight of the night, a perfect epilogue for the weirdest date ever.
When Marco came back, he found Star on the couch, completely wrapped in a warm blanket, staring at the television, the only source of light in that dark living room. It was very late, probably around 1:00 a.m., but it was Saturday night and they had no school the next morning, so it was okay.
"Monster night?" he asked, sitting next to her, stealing some nachos from the bowl she was jealously holding.
"Better than your kissy movie, that's for sure." she replied, with a smirk, hiding the bowl under the blanket.
Some explosions coming from the TV faintly echoed in the room, followed by a deep roar, as a flying, moth-octopus monster devoured an entire skyscraper in its eldritch jaws.
"So, did you guys have fun?" she asked. "Best date ever…?" she winked.
Marco laughed a bit and crossed his legs, making his sure his grass-filled sneakers didn't touch the couch, while also stealing a portion of Star's blanket.
"Let's just say that… it really opened my eyes."
He said, his gaze glued on the princess sitting next to him.
Star stared back for a moment, a short infinite moment, and smiled back to her human friend.
"Wanna root for the monster?" he soon added, before a mandatory, embarrassing silence could ruin everything.
"It's not like there are other characters to root for…" she laughed, finally sharing the bowl of nachos with him.
Wrapped under their warm blankets, Marco finally did something he needed to do a long time ago: he stopped over-thinking things; no more lists; no more wasting time.
He just enjoyed the moment, fully embracing the truth he always tried to ignore.
He only had eyes for her.
Good thing they were finally open now.
The End