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Chapter 3.1

A Spoonful of Sugar...

"...But I swear, I had your best interests in mind!" Tom pleaded with Marco to see reason.

"You...MADE...me...SCREW...MY...MOHHHHHMMM!" Marco retorted.

Tom swallowed his tongue then. He had to admit, that...was not exactly planned. "...Well...you gotta admit it was f...fun?...eheh..." He grinned a sheepish, lopsided grin.

Marco scowled at Tom...at first. Then, smirkingly, with a sign of uneasy defeat crossing his face, he now had to admit that Tom had a point...somewhat.

Tom and Marco were arguing over the horrid yet undeniably interesting situation that Tom had dropped Marco into. He decided to pay Tom's underworld bachelor pad a surprise visit. Naturally and justly, he also threatened to revoke his friendship from Tom's lonely life if he didn't relieve him of his...spyware.

"But you wouldn't've even had the guts to go for Jackie, if I didn't do it." Tom continued to push his viewpoint. "C'mon, man. You seriously need to learn how to put yourself out there more."

"Point taken...but...the MANNER in which you've done so is PROPOSTEROUS! Not even YOU'D stand for getting your BAH-DEEE taken over!" Marco seethed, continuing to lance his point forward. "I demand that you cut your ability to just take over my body any freaking time you want! If you don't, I SWEAR, our friendship is over."

"Okaaay...okayyy..." Tom said, finally giving in. He sighed a heavy sigh and then walked to the center of his cave. A fiery portal opened up beneath him, as he closed his eyes and began to levitate. A somewhat sinister aura lined the edges of his figure and he began grumbling and chanting something in a language Marco couldn't understand. Then, suddenly, Tom turned to Marco, with white hot flames in his eyes and quickly asked, "...Are you suuuure there's nothing that you wanna keep?"

...

Marco thought for a second. "...Just give me the reigns. I'll decide for myself." he finally answered, attempting to be wise about the whole thing. As horrible as his predicament was, Marco knew that there just might be need for the powers in this spell and odd setup. Thus was why he spoke his decision, the way he did. As usual, he neither threw it all out nor kept it all in...a safe way. After all, if one thing was certain from all this, it did make him a bit more comfortable, even more confident, with the ladies.

Tom gasped, his energy somewhat drained, and then his body fell to a kneel on the ground. "Hahhh...hahhh...there..." he huffed as all the signs of the casting faded from view.

"Thaaank you." Marco said, somewhat mockingly. "Truth be told though, I do feel a little more, Iunno, at ease with the ladies, after this. That much I can thank you for."

"See? What'd I tell ya? Best interests." Tom replied, just recovering his breath.

"I guess I'll take that as a repayment for all the trouble you've caused."

Tom became infuriated at Marco's remarks. "What?! I just gave you the keys to paradise city, buddy!..."

"...FORCED!" Marco snapped right back, "With a side of INCEST!"

"...Oh, yeah...eheh..." Tom looked away, slightly, ashamed and put in his place.

"Ughh...I'll catch you later." Marco said then, tearing open a dimensional portal with his scissors.

After Marco left, Tom was left to his own devices, sighing, since had much less to do without Marco to watch and mess with. "...Aw, man..." he groaned with a fairly displeased smirk. He then eyed a stray chocolate bar of the same type given to the girls from Marco, sitting on a nearby table. "Well...maybe I won't be so bored after all..."

Marco slipped back into his room and closed the portal up behind him. He took a deep breath and let it out in a wide 'ahhhhh' filled release. He was free from Tom's meddling clutches.

Stretching and yawning, his eyes wandered about the room until he came again to the short note sitting on his dresser. "Hmm...could be nice to sit with the girls after this ordeal." he said to himself, yet, in the back of his mind, he wondered of the repercussions of stewing in close quarters with three girls whose feelings were pushed into overdrive for him. He let that thought aside and jogged on downstairs to tell his mom that he was off to the mall. Not too surprisingly, she was still napping.

Marco looked upon her for a moment, not as a son to his mom, but, as a man to a lady. Honestly, she was pretty good looking for her age. She looked rather heavenly as she laid there, a gentle smile across her face, with one hand eased behind her head and the other resting delicately upon her belly. She was indeed a feast for the eyes, and, as Marco stood adoring her curves and bounties, her peaks and valleys and all manner of gorgeous landscapes, he certainly wouldn't mind giving her another...

"NNNNGAHHH!" he groaned as he clenched his teeth and shook his head to break the trance. "...Damnit, Tom..." he grumbled. It also didn't help that she was still loosely naked in her open robe, for all the world to comment and adore.

He swiftly but stealthily pulled it all closed, to hide her shame, and then gave her a kiss on the forehead. "...Love ya, mom." he whispered.

"Nnnnnghhh...love you too, sweetie." she groaned. It warmed Marco's heart, though he knew she was still sleeping.

Marco soon dashed off to the kitchen and grabbed himself a pen and paper to scribble out a similar note to Jackies, telling Angie that he'd run off to join the girls at the mall, and, of course, that he loves her...also scribbling in a few heart shapes in at the end.

He returned to his room, shortly after, and began dressing and gathering up his things for his trip to the mall. In his haste, he almost neglected to bring his fanny pack, and, within it, his wallet. So, he rummaged through his dresser to gain his trusty, old, fanny pack, but, he noticed that it seemed to be a lot slimmer than he was used to.

He brought the pouch before him, unzipped it, and took a look inside. It wasn't there. "But for traveling purposes, I always keep it..." he said to himself, stopping mid sentence. Within the confines of the pouch, he retrieved a dark hair, but, the shade and length were not his own.

"...Janna..." he cursed, his blood beginning to boil. His mind began flashing back through all the border-breaking and outright creeping she had done to him, all this time. Stealing his house keys, his locker combination, storing things in a hidden panel behind his locker, reading his private words within his diary, spying on him in the bathroom, slapping his rear end...the list went on and on, and, that wasn't to account for the endless list of slights and insults. Marco had always been somewhat forgiving, but, to him, now, this was the last straw.

He was about to stab his scissors into the air and fling himself into the void to wherever she might be, so he could give her a piece of his mind...but then...a slow, burning smile and a narrow eyed gaze crossed his face. He did tear a dimensional portal open, but it wasn't to Janna, not just yet, anyway.

Marco stuck his head in through the hole. "Hey Tom..." he said, catching Tom off guard as he was settled in on his gaming chair.

"Yeah?" Tom replied at the pause, fairly surprised at this new surprise visit.

"...I could use your help with...something...or someone, to be specific?"

Tom smiled, not expecting Marco to come back so soon with something like this.

"Who...and WHAT did you have in mind?"

Hey guys and gals, Demon Casket here. I really hate to do this but, it seems I've got very few options to work with, so, I'm just gonna hang my chin out here and hope you guys can understand.

So, I've started a Patron under my name, with the /demoncasket at the end, for all to find. I love writing for all of you and want to keep doing this for as long as I can, but, I'm on a sinking ship (house) and would appreciate if anyone could donate a few bucks to keep me afloat. Now, just to be clear, NO, I'm not going to be hiding any stories and, as has always been the case, MY WORK WILL BE PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE to you, through my blog posts, and here, on Fanficiton. It's not gonna stop, as long as I'm able!

I also understand that times are lean and not everyone can give, but, for those who appreciate my work and have a few bucks to spare, please do.

Support me as a patron and also help me decide, from time to time, what the next story will be.

Also, should I ever brave the world of visual arts, I will also try venturing into the world of digital artwork to begin posting some images of interest, possibly take from the stories at hand. (Not that I'm so great at doing artwork, just yet, heh.)

Thank you all for sticking with. I hope you enjoy reading these little ditties as much as I love making them.

A'outrance.