Disclaimer: I don't own Star vs. the Forces of Evil!

Title: Take 'er Easy

Summary: Janna makes for a good pillow when you're recovering from dying.

...

It's hard to say if Janna was sleeping, exactly, since she's always been a fitful sleeper. She wakes up a lot, drifts in and out, up and down. She used to suffer from a lot of night terrors and waking nightmares, and, honestly, you can only take so many days where giant hamsters rip their intestines out in front of you before you become numb to it all.

Whatever the case, awake or asleep, she's not surprised when she hears the Dimensional Scissors snip into the world. She's not surprised to hear her feet clunk on and around the junk scattered about her room, and she's not surprised when Star's oddly disproportionate weight falls onto her stomach. Janna lets out a quiet 'oomph' and wraps her arms around her waist.

"Hey," she whispers.

"Hi," Star mutters into her chest.

Janna doesn't question her absence. Star will tell her eventually. She's glowing, casting the room in a very faint glow. You wouldn't notice it unless someone brought it up. It's something one becomes used to, as a friend of an alien. Then again, maybe it's just Star. Something about how her body moves and bends and even glows is slightly unnatural, like a shoe you haven't worn in yet; stiff, awkward, but familiar. "Do your folks know you're here?"

Star shook her head.

"'Kay." She won't tell if Star won't.

"Marco doesn't know either," she admitted softly, like this was somehow an even greater transgression.

Janna doesn't really care if Marco knows, honestly. Certain situations called for certain friends. He would just have to deal. "Didja work things out?"

Star nodded. Her voice is high-pitched, squeaky, like she was having a good cry. She might just be. "I don't want to talk about it."

There's no rush. "'Kay."

"But I kinda do, too. Is that a thing? Like, do you ever have times you wanna talk, but you also wanna nap forever and forget your problems?"

"Star. That's, like, my everyday life." Janna risked a glance at the clock beside her bed. Two in the morning. She doesn't know how that translates in Mewman time, or which time Star's internal clock is running on. It doesn't really matter. Snuggle time is snuggle time. "Is the big baddie dead?"

"Yup. I killed Toffee. With my- with my magic. Me. I killed him."

"Hardcore."

"He kinda, like, killed me first, I guess?" Star's fingers tangle in the fabric of her pajama shirt. "I'm trying not to think too deeply into it. It's not something you wanna think too deeply into. It's, like, the opposite of that."

Janna pulls her closer and ignores the panic fluttering in her chest. It's not like there was anything she could do. She didn't have a pair of Dimensional Scissors. "Is that in a metaphorical 'he killed me' kinda way, like he crushed your dreams or whatever, or a literal 'he killed me' kinda way? Like. Crushing your bones. Or whatever."

Star whimpers. It's all the info she needs.

"I just..." she snorts, long and loud. "I needed to get away for a while."

That implies that she's going back. Janna feels a bit conflicted. On one hand- Star died on Mewni. Literally. Died. She was dead. Mewni obviously can't protect her as well as they think they can. But, on the other hand, the King and Queen are there, and they're family, and family can be really helpful when you're feeling down. In the end, it's not her decision to make.

"I was all alone," Star says, "when it happened."

"That sucks. Sorry, dude."

"No, no. I don't think- it would've been worse if someone had to watch."

That's fair. It'd be nice to die in style.

"I'm going to take a nap now. Wake me if I get all twitchy, alright?"

"I got ya'."

She always does.

Author's Note: My first Star vs. in a while, and it's Janna and Star cuddling. Sounds legit. I wrote this at, like, three in the morning as a way to work through some mild writer's block. All things considered, it's fairly coherent.

Star and Janna's relationship is up in the air here. S'really up to the reader. =)

-Mandaree1