Happy Janco week, everyone. Tumblr tells me it's actually "manna week" but Janco sounds better.
This episode, Marco falls in love.
Enjoy.
Two dull weeks had passed since the incident with the wand, which suited Janna fine. Neither she nor Marco had seen or heard much of the goings-on since then, although she periodically tried to get to Mewni with Joleen's scissors. It never worked.
While she was sure Moon and River were as busy as could be, life for her and Marco had resumed a sense of normalcy. Even the Janitor's attacks had tempered off, somewhat - although every service-based employee still went out of their way to inconvenience her, it seemed that her nemesis had started to run out of ideas, and that she'd gotten so used to the repeats that she was now able to contend with them.
Among other things, she swapped lunches with Marco, swapped desks with a classmate every day, and had forgone using her locker entirely, which was just as well - she had the sneaking suspicion that the combination had mysteriously changed on it.
Without any magic adventures to hold her interest, she had instead resumed her training with Glossaryck. Rather than focus on big, impactful measures (Glossaryck had put a stop to any extreme spells when she'd accidentally flooded the street in front of her house with greenery), he'd focused her down on smaller stuff - incantations and rites that used external magic and did specific things.
Marco had tagged along, with nothing better to do in the meantime. With long hours spent in her back yard, sometimes he did homework, sometimes he practiced karate forms. He'd told her that, with no more karate lessons, he was simply bored - but Janna assumed that more than anything, he was there to keep an eye on her. After everything they'd been through, he still didn't trust her with magic!
Of which, the spells she was learning had taken a dull turn - small-scale, specific, of little impact, requiring her to memorize runes and meet strange requirements instead of just saying magic words. Most of them used ingredients, signs and incantations to access external magic, which she was sure Glossaryck was doing to stop her going overboard. Such was the case with personality magic, which she was studying currently.
"Personality magic," Glossaryck explained, "is a good way to end fights before they start, and coerce people into doing what you need. Although they don't work if someone's feeling particularly - er - strongly about something, they're excellent for solving smaller problems."
He clapped his hands, and from Janna's phone jutted a projection which illustrated several complex runes and commands. Most of them were completely illegible even to her, just as they'd been when she'd first copied them down.
"The simplest emotions are the easiest place to get started." He continued. "But personality magic is dangerous. The spells can't be reversed - only counteracted with the opposing force. So don't mess with someone unless you have to. Or really want to." He shrugged.
Janna nodded, already bored. She wondered, idly, if she could use such magic to trick her teacher into not giving homework. Piles of it were currently stashed in her bag, which was sitting against the wall of her backyard and waiting for the final hours of Sunday night to emerge.
She was also remembering when she'd last scraped with this particular type of magic. She'd used it to make herself more popular at school, and to beat a rival. Upsetting the status quo had resulted in a popularity war, the tales of which were still sung on particularly slow days of gossip.
But she had very little interest in learning to manipulate others. Aside from the moral implications which hadn't even occurred to her, the concept itself wasn't particularly appealing. If she had to manipulate someone's emotions in order to get what she wanted, it probably wouldn't be worth it anyways. Who would want to try and change what someone was thinking?
"Unfortunately, personality magic requires a subject." Glossaryck said. "Marco, if you would please."
Marco, who had been practicing karate forms in a corner, looked up in alarm. "No way! Why can't you do it?"
Glossaryck tapped the gem in his forehead. "No one gets into my head!" He laughed. "Not even me. So if you would please."
Grumbling, Marco shuffled over and forced his hands deep into his pockets. "Fine," he muttered. "Get on with it."
"Janna, it looks like Marco could use a little cheering up," said Glossayck. "Why don't we try that first?"
Snapping his fingers, a box of crayons appeared along with a pad of paper, and fell to the ground. Instructions appeared in the air in front of Janna, and, resigned to having to learn something, she began to follow them.
The runes were simple enough, which was fortunate, as crayon drawings on a concrete backing wasn't a great medium for precision. After that, she just had to concentrate on the emotion in question - a task which was far more difficult.
She formed something which she took to be at least some semblance of cheer - although, in actuality, it more resembled a relieved resignation to apathy - and said the surprisingly mundane magic words with a hand on the runes.
"Marco, you should cheer up."
The runes glowed faintly on the page, but nothing else happened. Marco withdrew his hands from his hoodie, but little else about him changed. "I don't think it worked," he said blandly.
Janna grunted, annoyed, and Marco felt a twinge of annoyance as well. "What are you annoyed about?" He asked. "I'm the test dummy!"
Janna looked down at the page and saw that the runes were still glowing a bit, and quickly removed her hand - they resumed their previous inactivity at once.
"Hm, well, it worked, somewhat." Glossaryck scrutinized Marco closely. "But not with the result we were hoping for."
"Well I don't feel any different," Marco said peevishly. "Are we going to try again or not?"
Glossaryck shook his head. Regardless of if he realized it or not, Janna had definitely pushed some emotions onto him - just the ones she'd been feeling, not the ones she was trying to get him to feel. "Not today," he said. "Odd combinations of personality magic are bad for you."
With that, he dove back into Janna's phone. The lesson, it seemed, was over.
Marco walked home, annoyed, and somewhat disappointed. Janna had probably accentuated the feelings, but actually, he'd been feeling such things more and more over the past few weeks. Janna had her magical training to occupy her time, but what was he doing? Practicing a few karate forms and waiting for her to start their next adventure.
More than once in the last few months, he'd found himself completely useless in scenarios totally outside of his control. Some of it, he knew, was part of the program. It just came as a piece of the Janna experience. Sometimes you could solve problems by beating up a normal-sized enemy. Sometimes you couldn't.
But still. With Janna learning spells for every occasion, Marco had lately felt more and more like a dummy, and for more than one reason.
This was compounded by the two weeks that he'd spent on radio-silence with Moon and Kelly, and he was brooding more and more on what Toffee had told him in the cave above the magic core.
Janna herself hadn't been concerned about it, when he'd asked her. And, to be fair, it had been her house the monsters had partially destroyed. And Ludo had, after all, invaded Echo Creek and smashed up the town, twice.
His thoughts rounded back to the issue at hand. Was all of this for the wrong side? Was he effectively helping to overthrow a leader that most people seemed happy to have? At times like these, he wished that Janna's sister had a pair of fully-functioning scissors, so he could just go and check.
But the scissors weren't working, Marco wasn't training magic, and he wasn't exactly keeping up in an equivalent field.
Sure, his grades were flawless like they always were. But that didn't make him feel much better. More and more, he was wondering if he belonged in Janna's story at all. "Janna the witch and Marco the karate-boy sideshow" wasn't exactly a title he was excited about. A perfect geometry test and a robust knowledge of the first 15 presidents of the United States weren't particularly useful tools in an interdimensional search-and-rescue.
On these thoughts and others, he brooded. What did other normal people his age do, anyways?
They played video games. Although he had a game console sitting in his room, it had never really appealed to him.
They went to parties. Marco didn't like parties. People were stupid and foolish at parties.
They had relationships. Valentine's Day was a week away, and Marco wondered idly if he'd receive anything (he never had before). Then he wondered if his tongue would untie itself long enough for him to ask Jackie on a date. Assuming she didn't already have one.
Shunting that depressing thought to the side, more than anything, Marco found himself wishing he could see Kelly. They meshed well together. Like him, she had no magic powers, but instead relied on a sword and her fists to solve problems. He kept reflecting back to what escapades they'd gotten up to, together. When he was with Janna, he was a sidekick - but with Kelly, he was more like a partner.
He wondered if Mewni had a Valentine's day. Then he wondered if Kelly had a boyfriend.
Setting such thoughts to rest, he entered the front door of his home to the smell of frying meat. His parents, perhaps in an effort to entice him home, had made a special effort towards family dinners over the last couple of weeks. But, to his annoyed, depressed teenage mind, the last thing he wanted was to spend the next half-hour at a table while people who loved him tried to coax conversation out of him.
So, rather than join them, he was halfway upstairs when his father poked his head out of the kitchen and spotted him. "Mijo!" He called. "Just in time! Tacos for dinner!"
Rafael Diaz, Marco's dad, was an unerringly cheerful man who made a living through sculpting, painting, and other self-expression. It was rare that Marco saw the smile drop from his face, and rarer still that either had a harsh word for the other.
Among other things, Rafael and Angie Diaz trusted their straight-A student enough to give him free reign. He was frequently given charge of the house, allowed out well past when his classmates would have been (even on school nights!) and, generally, left well enough to his own devices.
Only recently, probably out of concern for him, had they made more of an effort to be involved in his life. They'd also instituted an 11:00 curfew. The time was so late that Marco had absolutely no trouble meeting it, but all the same, was slightly annoyed that he'd lost his total freedom. He recognized these changes as a gesture of love - but that didn't mean he appreciated them.
Still, his stomach growled loudly at the mention of tacos, and the frying beef was smelling better and better. His father's smile widened, and Marco trudged back downstairs reluctantly.
Entering the kitchen, his mother looked over at him with a similar smile and a pan full of browned taco meat. "Three minutes!" She called, and Rafael scrambled around - setting the table, preparing drinks, cutting other ingredients.
Marco sat at the table gloomily without a word, unable to shake his emotional funk. Far too short of a time later, his parents joined him, and for a few minutes, there was nothing but the crunch of taco shells and tortilla chips while they ate.
Presumably deciding that they'd given Marco enough time for his mood, his mom egged him into conversation. "So, Marco," she said sweetly. "Do you remember that conversation we had, a few weeks ago?"
Marco picked at the remnants of his food and munched a chip, refusing to engage. He noticed that his dad had frozen, a taco halfway to his open mouth, watching Marco's reaction intently.
His mom pressed on. "The one where we mentioned that you can always bring anyone you want around."
Marco was wondering if he could get up from the table and leave, or if that would have consequences. That conversation. He'd been packed and ready to head to Mewni when his parents had ambushed him. Presumably, they thought that he'd been camping out with Janna, and while partially true at the time, it hadn't been in the context they were thinking of.
In his foolishness, he realized that he hadn't ever properly corrected them.
Not receiving a response, Angie plowed forward. "Well, we haven't seen Janna in awhile, and thought it would be nice if you would… invite her over for dinner. We'd like to get to know her better, right darling?"
Rafael nodded earnestly, his taco still halfway to his mouth, and Marco shrugged. His parents were wrong about Janna, but he didn't feel the need to correct them. Their version of things was so much more… magical. And he'd just been wishing his life had a little more of his own magic in it, hadn't he?
Finishing his tacos quietly, he headed upstairs for an early bed. Maybe tomorrow Janna would have a cheering spell ready, and he could finally escape his own head.
"Yes." Janna had said immediately. That was when Marco realized his mistake in mentioning what his parents had said at all.
Janna had indeed gotten better at the cheering spell, and Marco was in an unmistakably good mood the following morning. Even her immediate, obviously ill-intended eagerness to join his parents for dinner hadn't quashed it. Grinning against his will, Marco replied.
"You heard what I said, right?" Marco asked. "About how they think you're my - that we're -"
"Oh yeah." Janna said with an evil grin. "And I'm all over that."
"But we're not." Marco said. "Right?" Janna just kept grinning as she drew the runes for her next spell out of her phone.
Janna knew that they weren't. Marco knew that they weren't. Even Glossaryck, watching disinterestedly, knew that they weren't. Janna had always flirted with the intent of making Marco uncomfortable, nothing more, nothing less. Despite herself, she loved being able to make him react so predictably. Anything more had never really occurred to her - she pushed his buttons and got a result.
She'd abandoned the process, mostly, in recent months - as the two had gotten used to each other, Marco had given her less and less of a response.
Still. She knew exactly what her motivation had been, and so did he. It was an unspoken understanding that they'd had since she'd been old enough to realize what effects it had. Marco's parents, apparently, hadn't gotten the memo.
"We aren't going to do this." Marco said resolutely, though there was humor in his tone and he was still smiling cheerily. The personality spells wouldn't be denied.
Janna shook her head. "Oh, we totally are." Taking a moment, she dialed her phone (it'd been the first time she'd used it for its intended purpose in almost a month), and delighted when Mrs. Diaz picked up on the other side.
"Hello, Mrs. Diaz? It's me, Janna. I'm great. Marco just told me about what you'd said last night, and I think it's a great idea. Mhm. Wednesday sounds good. See you then."
She hung up and looked at Marco mischievously. He laughed. It seemed that rather than feel stressed or angry, he could only shrug it off.
"You know," he said lightly, "I think I'm getting pretty tired of this spell!"
Janna continued drawing the runes, head buzzing as she contemplated the upcoming events.
The intermittent days passed uneventfully for them both. With Janna's focus on becoming more adept at personality spells and Marco seemingly wanting to avoid thinking about the upcoming night entirely, the two had made a sort of passive agreement. They'd sit together at lunch, work together in class, chat amicably in the mornings and after school, just like always. He'd continue being her test-dummy after school, and they wouldn't talk about the elephant in the room, or think about it at all if they could help it.
With her focus on the personality spells, Janna had come leaps and bounds in only a few days. She'd already mastered the various forms of happiness (and, on the other side, sadness - though Marco had understandably abstained from allowing her to practice that bit as much), and had moved onto the next part of the curriculum - contentment. And, opposite that, anger.
Anger had proven easy for her. It wasn't hard for her to get annoyed, irate, or downright mad about something. Whether that was her grades, her sister, the Janitor's attacks, or Glossaryck's continued lectures, it came quite naturally to her. As a result, Marco had spent several afternoons fuming about minor things - like her inability to counteract the spell making him angry, for example.
Contentment, on the other hand, was proving difficult. Janna wasn't the type to "let it go," and Glossaryck had resorted to allowing her can after can of a Mewnian beverage (which he insisted to Marco was completely safe) that made her feel air-headed, spaced-out and quite apathetic. It wasn't quite the same as being content, but after a long drink of it, she just couldn't bring herself to care about the difference.
After a couple of cans of it, both her and Marco were sitting in her backyard on Wednesday afternoon, watching clouds roll by while marvelling at the majesty of the universe.
"You know, I think that dinner's going to work out juuuuust fine." Marco drawled. They were lying down on a patch of grass Janna had conjured, which was slowly growing its way up her fence and into the neighbor's yard. February's steely-grey skies weren't very conducive to cloudgazing, but neither of them minded that much.
"Yeah," Janna replied. "It's gonna be great."
This was the first time it'd been brought up since she'd made the date, several days ago.
"Janna," Marco said, "we aren't dating, right? This isn't a date?"
"Nah, man." Janna replied easily. "This is like, a whoooole other thing."
Glossaryck drifted by above their heads, an empty soda can floating next to him. "You know what's weird," he said. "Time. It just keeps going and going, and you don't even know when it stops."
Marvelling at the wonder of the concept of time, the three sat there as the sun set next to them. Slowly, the drink wore off and, like water sliding off of a rock, Janna felt herself come back to her senses.
Sitting up, stretching, yawning, and sighing in contentment (real contentment, this time), she looked at Marco. "C'mon, we're gonna be late if we don't leave soon."
Marco was still lost in his dreamworld, though, and Janna allowed herself to feel a twinge of annoyance. She placed her hand onto the rune sheet next to her, and with a bump, Marco came back down to Earth.
"Dinner!" He said suddenly, tensely. "We'll be late! Come on, Janna!"
He grabbed her arm and his bag from where it was sitting against a wall, and away they went.
Entering his home a few minutes later, Marco found it much the same as it usually was, albeit with a delicious-smelling meal waiting in the kitchen. Janna looked around with mild interest - although she'd visited Marco often, she usually preferred his upstairs window to the front door.
"Janna, mija!" Rafael's overenthusiastic voice poked out of the kitchen as his head appeared from around the corner. "So good to see you!"
"It is good to see you too, Mr. Diaz." Janna smiled at him, then linked her arm with Marco's. She began pulling him towards the kitchen, and despite the lovely smell, he was wearing an expression that made it look as though he'd just swallowed something extremely unpleasant.
"Hello dears!" Angie said from her position over the stove. "It will be ready in just a moment!"
Janna sat Marco firmly in a chair and then sat across from him. He rose immediately, and Janna muttered a quick spell to glue his feet to the floor. Noticing this, he sat down again and glared at her.
A minute later, Marco's parents joined him - a steaming tray of enchiladas sitting next to them. Accompanying the course were beans, rice and salad - Janna looked at the spread and considered that, even if she hadn't been there under pretense, it would've been worth showing up just for the food.
After they'd dug in, Marco's mom was the first to break the silence. "You know, we're very happy for you two." She said, and Rafael nodded earnestly. "As soon as we saw Marco spending time out of the house, we suspected what was going on - and seeing you two together, we were just delighted to know that he'd found someone special."
She beamed, and Rafael joined in. "Yes, so nice to see him with someone instead of wishing after that other girl - what was her name, Jackie?"
Marco tightened up even further, a lump of food in his cheek, and Janna wondered if he'd even be able to swallow. She ate earnestly, however. In two sentences, his parents had just supplied her enough ammunition for weeks of prodding.
"Yeah, Marco." She decided it was time to join in. "Glad you're totally over her, and this is much better anyways, isn't it?"
"We're so glad to see you both admitting it, too!" Angie said between bites. "You know, Rafael and I met in high school as well. He asked me to junior prom. I'd just been stood up by - oh, who was it dear?"
"Miguel Thomas." Rafael's tone made it clear he still didn't think very highly of his old rival.
"Oh, yes, the football team captain!" Angie said. She'd either not noticed his tone, or didn't mind it. "The abs on that man…" she fell off dreamily, then caught Janna's eye and winked. Janna quickly busied herself with her food again, as she was worried she would fall off her chair if she allowed herself to laugh.
Marco, it seemed, was having trouble with fine motor control, as his fork was cutting clean, wide arcs over the plate as he tried and failed to spear some food. After a moment of this, he loudly cleared his throat. "Actually, mom, dad, Janna's just a… a friend." His pause made it clear he was considering the term lightly.
Janna pouted fakely and stuck out a lip. "How could you say that, Markie-poo?" She asked in a fake falsetto, and Marco looked at her with disgust.
"Yep, just a friend!" He said confidently. "See, I've been helping her study because her grades are terrible, and she likes to do this."
Janna matched Marco's glare before asking sweetly in her fake tone, "do what, dearest?"
"Make me uncomfortable."
He returned to his food, now finding it much easier to eat it with the truth out in the open.
His parents were watching the two like a tennis match, bouncing back and forth. Then, without warning, they both burst into uproarious laughter.
After it died down, Rafael wiped his eye with a napkin and patted his son's shoulder. "Marco, Marco, I understand completely."
Marco sighed in relief. "Thank you." He said. Janna, for her part, was a bit disappointed in this development.
"You know, your mother was the same way." He said as he reminisced. "She pulled pranks on me for years before we went out. It's what made me ask her to dance."
Angie smiled prettily while both teens froze. What the whatnow?
"Trust me, Marco, it might seem that way now, but when we know, we know. We've never seen you so animated, so out of your shell! Even that cute little Irish girl we hosted a few years ago -" Rafael was interrupted by Janna.
"No, seriously, Mr. Diaz, Marco's right, I totally just did this to embarrass him." She butted in without a sign of remorse.
Marco's parents looked at each other, both smiling goofily, as if they knew something the kids didn't.
"I'm serious!" Janna pressed. Having them think there was a goofy dating situation was one thing - but the idea that she and Marco were actually meant for each other?
To her own surprise as much as anyone else's, she found herself blushing as deeply as Marco was - suddenly, neither of them could make eye contact.
Angie leaned in towards her. "Janna, trust me, I felt the same way about my husband. You'll come to understand in time."
Janna stared at her plate, now seated in embarrassment as thoroughly as Marco was. Was that what everyone thought when they saw them? That they were someday going to end up as a lovey-dovey couple just because they were friends?
Not if she could help it.
Underneath the table, she reached for her phone. Marco's parents had continued reminiscing about their many teenage exploits - several of which were definitely not appropriate dinner conversation - but Janna was no longer listening. Instead, she was scrolling through her book to the section that dealt with love - and, opposite of it, hate.
She didn't want Marco or his parents to hate her, of course, but she couldn't let them have the wrong idea - and it seemed that his parents, at least, were rather oblivious to any alternatives. Maybe just a little bit of anti-love would help them understand what was actually going on.
Which was nothing, she assured herself. Absolutely nothing was going on. They were friends, nothing more, nothing less. The embarrassment she was feeling was because she was not interested in Marco in "that way." The idea of them being together like that was gross, an abhorrent affront to the very nature of the universe.
And that butterfly in her stomach was because of how awkward it all was - and not because of the thought itself. Nope. Absolutely not.
Glossaryck (who was watching from her lap with keen interest), had warned her when they'd started personality spells - don't mess with love or hate unless you had to. The spell was difficult and imprecise, the emotions volatile and prone to extremes. They hadn't practiced it, hadn't really even mentioned it.
Well, as she found the page she was looking for, she made a decision: she definitely had to.
Janna cleaned her plate quickly, then busied herself with finger-painting in the remains. Not that anyone noticed - Mr. and Mrs. Diaz were both quite busy regaling each other with tales that they were both characters in, and Marco's eyes were so firmly glued to the floor, Janna doubted he'd look up again before tomorrow morning.
She now understood why Glossaryck had given her crayons. Her fingers skated around the plate, and she had a new appreciation for circumstance - if she ever needed to use these spells, she might not have a pencil and desk handy.
With the rune finished on her plate, she set a finger in the center of it, and focused on all the annoying things Marco did. He was constantly holding her back, nagging her, being a stick-in-the-mud, an annoying little buzzkill…
She soon was feeling a healthy appreciation for all the parts of Marco she didn't enjoy, and did her best to shove down the twinge of sympathy she felt when looking at him. He was still staring at the floor.
"Mr. and Mrs. Diaz," Janna said loudly, "You don't want me dating your son."
The enchilada-sauce rune glowed brightly and the effect around the table was immediate.
Marco looked up from the floor, his blush draining. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz were no longer smiling, instead looking at Janna with odd expressions on their faces.
"No…" Rafael said slowly. "You're right, Janna. I don't think we do."
The meal was finished in silence. Janna was pleased with herself that the spell had gone so well, but was also preoccupied with its effects. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, she worried, may have gone a little too far in the opposite direction, and had gone from boisterous and happy to seemingly annoyed.
Marco, too, it seemed, had felt the effects. He was looking at her with an ever-changing expression, as if just seeing her for the first time and not liking what he saw. Well, good. Janna quashed the worry in her stomach. Wouldn't want him getting the wrong idea, either…
As Marco's parents cleared away the dishes, Janna stood up. "Well, that was delicious." She said to the room. No one responded. "But I think I should be getting home."
From over the sink, Rafael replied: "Good idea. Marco, why don't you walk her out."
Marco made to stand up, but then Janna remembered - at the start of the meal, she'd glued his feet to the floor. She quickly muttered the counterspell.
They stood in the doorway in silence, a moment later. "Well, good night," Janna said. But before turning away, Marco grabbed her arm.
"Janna, I can't believe you made us sit through that." He said suddenly. He had a cold edge to his voice.
"It may have been a little over the line. But hey, it all worked out in the end, right, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow…?" Janna put a false, chipper tone into her voice, and Marco released her arm.
"Yeah. See you."
The door slammed shut in her face.
If Janna had suspected she'd overdone it with Marco, his actions the next day had confirmed it. He'd nearly spit at her when she'd needed to get her things out of the locker - such was his distaste for her that he'd even forgotten to wave at Jackie as she passed.
Janna had immediately forgone swapping lunches with him - as a result, she noticed that her slice of pizza had been badly burned, and that her carton of milk was frozen solid. It was as if the lunch lady had noticed their falling-out. Every lunch she'd ever passed Marco had been far, far more edible than this one.
Rather than joining him at his table, she'd decided to sit with Jackie. The girl was surprised but acquiesced - popular though she was, she usually preferred to eat alone.
"So what's up with Marco?" Jackie asked immediately.
Without hesitation, Janna regaled her with the tales of the last few days, and before long it seemed that Jackie had forgotten about lunch entirely.
"So you went on a date at his house even though you didn't want a date," Jackie said, "because it would let you make fun of your best friend, and then when things went exactly like you'd think they would, you used magic to make everyone not like you?" She shook her head.
Janna considered correcting her. Although she and Marco hung out a lot, she had never consciously given him the title of 'best friend.' She'd always considered Jackie more worthy of it. But, as she thought about it, she realized everything Jackie had said was true. Despite herself, she was a little grossed out by her own actions.
"Well when you put it like that…" she mumbled, and chewed on a corner of her burnt pizza crust. It tasted like she now felt.
Jackie sighed. "Well I know it's not your strong suit, but have you tried apologizing?"
Janna bit back a retort. She never apologized, except for that one time. And that other time. She almost never apologized. But, reflecting, she realized that Marco was definitely worthy of it.
She stood up without another word and walked over to his table, and could feel Jackie's eyes on her back - as well as several other peoples'. It seemed that she'd been right about one thing: half the school seemed to think that they were a couple, or were going to be.
"Marco, I'm sorry." She stood in front of him and blurted it out. There was a reason she didn't apologize often - because of the mixed up stew of emotions she was currently feeling, for one thing. "I'm sorry for making you sit through that dinner with your parents, I'm sorry for leading them on, sorry for - sorry for not being a good friend." Her face was burning.
Marco looked up from his food and stared her in the face. "Okay." He said baldly, then went back to eating.
Janna walked back to her own place next to Jackie, humiliated and ashamed of herself. Jackie let out a low whistle. "Well, worth a shot." She patted her friend's back. "Give him a few days. Maybe it'll pass."
But it didn't pass in a few days. To the contrary - it seemed that Marco had gone from disliking Janna, to downright hating her. She'd caught him conspiring with the Janitor on multiple occasions, and saw the Janitor's attacks ramp up once again as a result. She could hardly walk 10 meters without something happening - a loose tile would fall on her, her shoelaces would be tied together, there'd be a wet spot in her chair, somehow, after she swapped with a classmate to avoid it.
She wasn't sure how the man was managing all of it, but she retaliated in kind. Without Marco to stop her, she flipped trash cans, left sinks running, and made a point of walking through the muddiest parts of the lawn on her way into school each morning. The Janitor wanted a war? She'd give him a war.
As she'd expected, her locker combination had mysteriously changed, but she didn't know who to talk to in order to get the new one. She'd taken to sharing lockers with Jackie, instead, which had proven to be a pain. Surprisingly, Jackie was as disorganized as Janna was, and when Janna added her own things to the mess, the result was a tangle of effects that made it nearly impossible for either of them to get to class on time.
Her magical studies had suffered as well. Without Marco around to be the test-dummy, Janna had been forced to rely on her sister, who had been absolutely insufferable about the whole affair - and she'd only even agreed to it after Janna had reluctantly agreed to take her to a comic convention coming to Echo Creek later that month.
But it was all for naught anyway - on more than one occasion, Glossaryck had corrected a spell after Janna had reduced Joleen to tears, either in frustration or misery.
"Why can't you get over it?" The younger sister snapped on Sunday afternoon. It'd been five days since Janna's dinner with Marco's family. Joleen had just been returned to normal after being reduced to an emotionally-voided husk on Janna's newly-grown back lawn, but was still in quite a bad mood. "I can't believe you're like this over a boy." She slammed the back door so hard that Janna flinched.
Monday dragged its feet as it arrived and passed. Marco's behavior hadn't changed, and, miserable and with no one else to ask (Glossaryck had adamantly refused to help), Janna turned to her mom. She explained everything, just like she had to Jackie - although this time omitted the bits about the magic.
Her mom was sympathetic - although Janna was sure that was only because she didn't know magic was involved.
"Boys are hard." Her mom, said, and before Janna could interrupt, added soothingly, "even ones that are just friends."
She thought for a moment. "Janna, listen. Why don't you invite his family over for dinner? I have tomorrow off for Valentine's day, we can do it then. You can apologize again, to his whole family. Maybe his parents can help."
Janna privately thought that Marco's parents were very likely to do the opposite of help, but agreed nonetheless.
The following morning at school, she told Jackie what was going on, and her friend thought it was worth a shot.
"But if it's magic, though, I'm not sure what you can do…" she mused, and Janna privately agreed.
Fortunately, even with recent developments, some things about Marco never changed. He'd seemingly not found the courage to ask Jackie out for the holiday, and when Janna approached him at the end of the day with the idea, he seemed more dejected than angry when he'd accepted.
The evening rolled around, and Janna had done her best to make the house look presentable, with her mom's help. They'd scoured the kitchen and dining room's floors, removed all visible laundry and garbage from the front room, and, to Janna's surprise, her mom had even decided to cook rather than order out. The last time the house had been that clean had been Christmas - and Janna, if nothing else, had been astonished at how quickly they'd dirtied it again.
Big bowls of pasta and meatballs were sitting on the table, accompanied by garlic bread. Janna knew none of it was hard to make, but as it was literally one of the only times in her life she'd ever seen her mom cook, she was nonetheless impressed by it.
The doorbell rang a few minutes after 5:00, and Janna answered it. Marco shoved his way past without being invited, and gruffly asked, "food?" His parents followed, giving Janna sour looks - although they greeted her mother very amicably.
As they wandered towards the table, Janna had a sudden burst of inspiration, and ran to the back of the house for a pen and paper. "Making things worse?" Glossaryck asked as he floated out of her phone.
"Well if you would've helped." Janna snarled at him and he shrugged. She wasn't sure why the little man had so stoutly refused to offer so much as a word of advice, but for him to speak up now, in any form, was a little insulting.
As she finished copying the rune, she stuffed it into her pocket with her phone, and heard her mom call from the front of the house: "Janna, dinner! Come eat!"
She headed back to the kitchen to find that although Marco and Joleen were both sitting silently, Janna's mom was chatting animatedly with Mr. and Mrs. Diaz.
This stopped immediately when she entered the room, all three of the latinos giving her a very distasteful look.
"Food!" Janna's mom broke the silence by distributing noodles. "Time to eat!"
For a few minutes, this was enough to keep dinner going, as everyone dug in.
As the plates cleared, though, Janna's mom cleared her throat. "Janna has something to say, everyone." She said, and the Diazes set down their forks. Joleen, seemingly not at all caring about this, kept eating.
Janna stood up and took a deep breath. "I wanted to say I'm sorry." She said. "Marco, I shouldn't have led your parents on like that, and I shouldn't have tried to make you uncomfortable. I'm sorry for being a bad friend."
She looked to Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, and continued. "Mr. and Mrs. Diaz, I do like Marco, but as a friend." Her stomach turned over and she chose not to notice. "I'm sorry for misleading you."
Janna sat back down, and for a few moments, there was nothing to be heard but a crunch as Joleen bit into a piece of garlic bread. Janna's mom busied herself with clearing her plate as well. The Diazes stared at Janna stonily.
After half a minute of this, Janna shifted uncomfortably and finally hit her limit. Reaching into her pocket, she withdrew the rune she'd drawn and unfolded it in her lap. Placing her hand on it, she focused on the good times she'd had with Marco - all the times they'd laughed, hung out together, worked together at school, all the adventures they'd gone on. A warm feeling blossomed in her chest, but she kept her voice steady.
"Please," she said. "I miss Marco. I just want him to like me again."
The effect was immediate, as Mr. and Mrs. Diaz immediately broke into warm smiles. After a puzzled-looking moment, Marco did as well.
"Of course we forgive you, Janna." Mr. Diaz announced, and Janna sighed in relief. "And we'd love it if you were around our son."
Marco stood up boldly, and Janna looked at him. "I have something I want to say as well." He said proudly. Janna looked at him, and a single thought crossed her mind: oh no.
"I'm in love with you, Janna."
The effect was immediate. Joleen snorted into her plate in what could've been laughter, and Janna's mom loudly choked on her food while Mr. and Mrs. Diaz beamed at each other.
"NOPE!" Janna loudly declared, and stood up abruptly. "Come on, loverboy." She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the kitchen. Marco followed happily while Janna's mom enlisted the help of his parents to clear her throat.
The moment they were in the hall, Janna turned on Marco, but wasn't fast enough - she backed into the wall as he cornered her against it, his arms on either side of her as he stared into her eyes.
"Finally alone," he said dreamily, and leaned in towards her. Janna stopped him with a palm in his forehead, keeping him at bay while he puckered up. At least 95% of her brain did not want to know where this was going.
"Diaz, cut it out." She said sharply. "I like you as a friend. And you like me as a friend. Remember?"
Marco pouted for a moment, and Janna, despite herself, couldn't help noticing that it was cute.
"But I feel so much more now!" He insisted. "Janna, it's just like my parents said - I think we're meant to be together!"
Janna would've facepalmed, except she didn't trust Marco enough to remove her hand from his forehead, and her other one was busy rummaging for her phone.
Buying time, she improvised. "You're right, my darling Marco," she said. She couldn't quite muster the falsetto tone she'd used during dinner a week ago, but still assumed that in his addled state, it would be convincing enough. "I'm in love with you, too! But we can't do this right now. Why don't you head back for dessert, and I'll just go freshen up."
Marco acquiesced, but slowly. "I'll be waiting for you, my love!" He sang uncharacteristically as he went back to the dining room, and Janna suppressed a laugh. Definitely the magic - not that it had been a doubt.
Heading for her bedroom, she shut the door and waved Glossaryck out of her phone. He floated lazily in front of her. "So how'd it go?" He asked in a gossipy tone.
"You know darn well how it went," Janna said, annoyed. "Help me fix it. Now."
"Now now, what's the magic word?" Glossaryck asked.
"Please." Janna said, and in her hand, pages flashed by on her phone.
Glossaryck hovered over her shoulder. "Well, the good news is, there is a way. We can siphon the love magic off, and onto someone else."
"Who?" Janna asked. "Me?"
Glossaryck smirked. "I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to end up like Marco." He said. "No, I think we'll need your mother."
"My mom?" Janna asked disbelievingly.
"Janna, your mother could not possibly love you a single bit more than she already does." Glossaryck said. Janna made a mental note to give her mom a hug, later.. "If we siphon the magic off onto her, it shouldn't change a thing. Now, for the instructions…"
Janna emerged a few minutes later with a new set of runes drawn onto each hand in magic marker. Returning to the dining room table, she saw her mom once again chatting amicably with Marco's parents, while Joleen played 20-questions with Marco about how "deep" his love was, her remaining food completely forgotten.
"If Janna asked you to jump off a bridge, would you?" She asked.
"Without question." Marco said resolutely.
"What about if… oh, what if you had to fight tigers?"
"I would drive them to extinction," Marco said proudly, and Joleen snickered.
"Marco, mom, can I see you both in the kitchen for a second?" Janna called, and Marco stood up at once. Janna's mom followed a moment later, obviously slightly confused.
Marco was standing idly by a moment later, gazing raptly at Janna, and Marco's mom asked, "Janna, what's going on?"
"Hold my hand, please." Janna said, and extended it. Her mom took it, still confused.
Janna extended her other hand to Marco, who clasped it in both of his and bent to kiss it. She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, Marco, how much do you love me?" Janna asked. Marco stared at her.
"More than life itself," he pledged.
Janna resisted the urge to roll her eyes again, and concentrated on other feelings - companionship, loyalty, how Marco always had her back. "Okay, but aren't we friends?"
"Of course. The best."
The effect was immediate. Janna felt a great surge of emotion pass through her as the magic transferred, and she felt a rush of affection for her friend. Suddenly, she wanted to take his confused-looking face in her hands and kiss him.
Then it passed. She was left feeling utterly normal, surrounded by a pair of very befuddled-looking people. Janna's mom still looked as though she had no idea what was going on, but Marco looked like he'd just woken up.
"Janna, what the -" a cross look covered his features. "Oh, was that one of those emotion spells?" He asked, annoyed.
Janna's mom suddenly understood everything. "Janna," she said, just as cross. "Not okay."
Janna gave her mom a hug, then gave one to Marco. "Missed you," she said quietly, and he softened a bit.
"So what about my parents?" Marco asked.
"Glossaryck mentioned that. Apparently they're just back to the way they were before I cast the first spell. You might want to mention that you didn't mean that confession, though." She added as an afterthought. "I'll back you up."
"And, um…" Marco looked at Janna's mom, and Janna realized that they probably needed to clear the air - privately.
"Do you mind giving us a minute, mom?" She asked, and her mom pursed her lips. She looked as though she had more to say, but reluctantly headed back to the dining room.
"You know I didn't mean any of that, right?" Marco asked. "Either part. We're friends. I like you. I don't hate you, I'm not," he blushed and mumbled, "in love with you."
Janna cracked a smile. "Yeah, man, I get it." She couldn't help but think of that rush of emotion she'd felt when she'd transferred the magic. She was surprised that Marco had even contained himself as well as he had - she definitely wouldn't have been able to. Now that it was all said and done, she felt a twang of remorse. The feeling had been fake, but also, well - magical.
"And I am sorry," she added. "Really. I won't, uh, go that far again, okay?"
At this, Marco smiled as well. "I don't think I believe you." He said jokingly. "But yeah, I'd appreciate that."
He hugged her, again, for a moment, and then they headed back to the dining room to rejoin their families.
"Oh, ah, Janna," he said and grabbed her elbow to stop her. She turned around to see him looking concerned. "You did get all of that magic out of me, right? Like, you're sure?"
Janna's eyes widened when she realized what he was implicating, and she took a step back. Her stomach did another little flop that she chose, again, to ignore.
Marco cracked a grin and broke into laughter.
"Now I see why you do it to me!"
So there's some fluff for you. And on a weekly update schedule, too. That's as impressive as anything.
Comment-comment-COMMENT RESPONSE!
Fenrir: thanks man, always nice to earn praise!
Allison-Collusion: "Marshmallow Marco" sounds like a drink. Maybe tequila with some kind of sweet foam topping. It'd be one of those drinks that'd be 10$ a shot and popular at gay bars.
In terms of the monsters going crazy for technology, that actually was an intentional development for once. Most of the time when you guys make points like that we just kinda roll with it, but this one was definitely deliberate on my part (although it didn't ever get written down anywhere). In the show, Ludo's castle had things like vending machines in the break room and decrepit power poles out front, and I like the idea that when the Mewmans arrived with magic and suppressed the monsters, it literally started a dark age for them. So getting the technology back is huge for the regime change.
Hope this week's episode didn't disappoint.
Guest: Janna is more important than your trivial college matters, drop out immediately. (Do not take my advice my only qualification is fanfic writer and I can't even put it on a resume.)
Wand-creature will definitely be coming back at some point.
Janco would be natural. "Friends-to-lovers" is basically my favorite trope when it comes to romance, and while I'm not super into the comedy element of it beyond what's already in the story, I don't enjoy writing ridiculous romantic drama either. Some people are good at it. I am not. So it'd be a slow and natural progression.
OMAC001 and Haziq: no specific response, but thanks for continually engaging with our story, we really enjoy reading your thoughts even when they're only one sentence.
Next time, on Janna the Witch and Marco the Karate-Boy Sideshow: It's the end of February, and Joleen's 12th birthday has rolled around just like it does every year. Only this year, it coincides with an event that she can't wait to get into - the annual Echo Creek Comic Convention! Janna's dragged along to buy her in and keep an eye on her - and that means Marco and Jackie are being dragged along, too. But when Janna insults a panelist for Joleen's favorite show, a trip directly into one of the writer's stories ends up being way more than anyone bargained for!
Join us next time for the next episode: The Second-Hand Crusade!