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I Summon the All-Seeing Eye	By : all_possible_worlds Category: +S through Z > Star vs. The Forces of Evil Views: 29523 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Vs. the Forces of Evil or its characters. I made no money from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Chapter 6: A Tale of Two Set-ups
Chapter Note: Be warned this is a long-ass chapter. It is almost half the size of the previous five chapters put together. I considered breaking this up into 2 or even 3 chapters, but that would have meant not including a smut scene at all again, so, well, long-ass chapter it is... enjoy ;)
Continuity stardate: This chapter takes place the day after the SvtFoE episode "Just Friends" (S02E20b). At the end of this chapter, the story will have begun to diverge from the SvtFoE season 2 mainline in ways that have yet to be fully explained.

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Tom counted to fifty in his mind. Then he counted to fifty again, and again. It didn't matter, the inferno inside of him raged on. He had been mad with fury since he realized Star had been imagining herself with another. He had been ready to let his rage fall on her. To hurt her like she had hurt him.
Twice that day she had struck him. The first time it had been so painful he thought he would die, that he would cease to exist. It was an almost alien thought for one such as him. The second time had been much much worse. He felt like something in him had actually died that night. Yet he hadn't been able to bring himself to make Star die with it as well.
The strange thing was, up to that point, up to that last second, that last cry, he had been happy. He had had Star, in the way he had wanted her for over a year, in the way he had pictured since so long ago. He had thought she wanted him. Maybe she did not love him, but for a night, maybe she could want him. In that last moment, though, he realized he never had her, and she would never truly want him again, not even for an instant.
He dragged himself back to the now empty and dark stadium, to the parking lot where a carriage pulled by an undead horse awaited. He had all the time in the multiverse to process what had just happened. He would talk to Brian about it if need be. Although, right now, Tom couldn't imagine himself saying a word of this to anyone, trained professional or not. For now, getting home was enough. He opened the door and climbed inside the hearse-like vehicle, only to notice a stranger sitting in his favorite chair - his throne, if you will.
"So, how did your date with the princess go? Got any action?" a dark haired girl wearing a green beanie asked him casually. She looked him up and down. Tom realized he was still naked and growled in annoyance. "Seems to me like you did. Good for you!"
"Get out of here mortal, before I obliterate you!" Tom saw red. Flames lit the room as he made his threat. The girl merely looked directly at him and blinked twice, very slowly, unimpressed.
"Janna," she corrected him. "This mortal is named Janna, prince Tom." How did she know who he was? "I was just leaving anyway," she shrugged. "But first, maybe I can tell you how I think your date went. OK?"
Tom considered blasting her into the depths of the abyss for her insolence. But then, he realized, no one, not even he or Star knew they were going to meet that night, and Star couldn't have told this girl about their 'date' before he got here. There was something very strange going on. "Star and I weren't on a date, we ran into each other..."
"...at the Love Sentence concert, I know," Janna interrupted him. "You attended the concert because you are secretly a huge fan of Earth boy bands, which is something you consider a dark shameful secret of sorts. There is a signed photo of yourself with Justin Towers in, well, probably that cabinet," she pointed to it, accurately. "You spotted Star as she was leaving the concert alone, looking dejected, and decided that it was your perfect chance to get into her royal knickers if only you found a way to cheer her up. She told you she got beaten to her crush by another girl and you, selflessly, offered yourself as a replacement." She laughed bitterly at that last part. "Surprising even you, she accepted without much prodding and you two bumped uglies. Say, in a park somewhere? Except, when it was all over and done, she gently clarified to you your role as the rebound guy and told you, gently again, to get lost." She paused and looked at him straight in the eyes. "How am I doing so far?"
"A little too well," Tom replied. His eyes narrowing in suspicion. Anger seemed to give way to puzzlement and the strange sensation that he had, somehow, been played. Only one way to find out for sure, though: keep the girl talking. "But you are wrong on the last part. We did not talk afterwards. She... she yelled Marco's name as she... finished."
Janna gave Tom a strange look, then seemed to be suppressing a laugh. "Wow, that had to hurt!" she remarked. "There's no accounting for taste, I guess. I mean, Marco is a fine boy and all, but going for that instead of well..." She looked him up and down again and licked her lips. "What is Star even thinking?"
Tom would never let it show, but the words soothed his ego a little bit, even coming from a stranger. He noticed that said stranger was a fairly attractive human girl, of around Star's age, which was also in her favor. Surely nothing special in the grand scheme of things, compared to the Mewman princess, but attractive on a more simple - normal, was perhaps the word? - level. Unfortunately, she would not be around to compliment him much longer.
"Well, now that I have told you about that, I hope you do realize I have to kill you," he mentioned casually. In fact, it was the only reason he had felt free to discuss his humiliation with the stranger. Dead girls only told tales when he wished them to do so.
"Sure, sure, you definitely could do that," Janna replied calmly, seemingly not at all bothered by her imminent demise, "or you could get back at Star."
Get back at Star? Tom hadn't realized how much he wanted that, until the strange girl brought it up. Yeah, she had hurt him twice that day. Granted, he had thought the first time actually made them square, balanced out what he had done to her in the past. But that also meant the second time was completely unjustified. Tom deserved revenge. Well, it couldn't hurt to hear what the girl was going to say, especially if he was going to incinerate her afterwards anyways. "How?"
"Mmm, dunno. Lots of options. If I were you I'd simply try to make her jealous somehow, make her realize what she missed on, what she discarded," Janna began, perilously prodding at his ego. "I mean, look at the facts. Evidence indicates she only notices the guys in her life after they are taken by someone else. Don't tell me you don't see that? Over half a year of 'Marco and I are just friends', then Jackie asks him out and suddenly Star wants the D...iaz. Meanwhile, you are following after her like a lovesick puppy, and of course she feels you are worthless! It is a clichè so old the pharaohs probably complained about it!"
Tom reflected on her words. They sounded true. There was definitely a type of girl like that. But he didn't think Star worked that way. Maybe he was wrong? Blinded by love, had he perhaps misjudged her?
"What you have to do, Tom, is find someone else. Preferably someone from Star's life, so that she cannot forget you exist. The closer the better," Janna continued, there was an almost hypnotic quality to the girl's voice now. "Hey, I know!" She conspicuously pretended to just figure something out. Tom had done that often enough to recognize when someone else was pulling that trick on him, still, he listened. "How about her best friend?"
"Marco?!" Tom asked, disgusted.
"Well, that would be hot," Janna observed with a chuckle. "But I was thinking about her best girl friend." She made an obvious dramatic pause. "Oh, what a coincidence, I just realized... Star's best girl friend is, well... me." The last word had sounded almost like a question, yet it conspicuously wasn't one.
Tom's eyes widened. So that was the girl's game? Well, she was cute, and she might be fun for a date or two, especially if she could actually help him make Star even a bit jealous. Wait a second! "If you are truly Star's best friend, why would you help me make her jealous?"
"Maybe I find it fun. Maybe I am a bad friend. Maybe you are just that hot. Maybe I have ulterior motives I can't yet tell you about," she listed calmly, counting with her fingers. "One or more of those."
"How do I know you really are a close friend of Star? She never mentioned you," Tom retorted.
"Well, I knew about your night, didn't I?" Janna explained like it was obvious, and the demon felt a bit slow to not have figured it out before. "Whom other than a close friend could have arranged all those happy coincidences?"
"Wait, what?! Arranged? You planned this?!" Tom's eyes went red with rage once more. "Are you saying that you not only knew what happened, but knew it before it happened, because you planned it?!"
"Point Tom," Janna replied, amused. He again had to pause to wonder how much she knew, which was probably the whole point of making that obvious reference. It gave him time to count to ten in his head once more.
"But, how?" Tom honestly couldn't conceive how anyone would know he was going to be at the concert, or predicted his interactions with Star this well.
"Mmmm... do you consider yourself a living soul, Tom?" she asked.
"Not really. Not exactly living. Don't really got the other thing either." What kind of question was that, though? "What does that have to do with anything?"
"Then maybe one day I will explain it to you," she winked at him.
"So, wait, you are telling me, that you somehow contrived a scenario where Star would get her heart broken, run into me, decide to have a one night stand with me, and then completely and utterly humiliate me!?" Flames exploded out of every pore of his body. He saw the girl flinch, just a little bit. But then he realized he was missing something: motive. Sure, someone who could plot something like that was impressive, but no one went to those lengths unless they had something to win. He was sure she had told him what it was she wanted already, too. The final piece clicked in his head. "You manipulated your best friend into a dark enough place to do something she normally wouldn't do, to hurt me to the point to which I would seek vengeance. Then you have been pulling and prodding at those desires for revenge this entire conversation. Playing me to... to... to convince me to go out with you?!"
"You got me there." Janna lifted both palms in the air. "Honestly, I thought we would already be mid date by the time you figured it all out, you are a lot more perceptive than Star or Marco make you out to be. But the real question is: did it work?"
"Honestly? That's pretty fucked up..." Tom said with a serious face, then grinned at her, "...and I have never felt more flattered in my life. Ok, you know what? You win. One date, in exchange for your honest effort at making Star jealous. Truly, you got my attention, now let's see how long you can keep it."
"Let's see how long you can keep mine," Janna retorted mockingly. "But, how about you pick me up tomorrow night at, I don't know, seven O' six. Right now is late, and you are a mess and smell of Star. I don't think I am quite into that," she shrugged.
"Fine." Tom retorted, slightly annoyed that she was still controlling their interaction. He definitely needed to go back home and think a lot of things through before any new dates, though, so it wasn't exactly a bad idea to wait till the next day. Tomorrow might even be too soon, but what the hell, going out with this crazy chick was definitely better than mopping about Star in the underworld. Janna hopped from his chair and started heading out of the carriage. He realized he hadn't given her a way to call him, and he didn't know how to find her either. "Wait! There is something I need to give you first!"
"No worries! I already got them," Janna shouted from the parking lot, waving a tiny bell and a little hammer. She turned to run away. Tom sighed in confusion and, with an exasperated gesture, ordered his ride to go to hell. Home, sweet home.
----
It was late in the afternoon the next day, and Star had not left her room. She had arrived through the window last night, clad in a hastily conjured gray cloak. She had tried to magic up a copy of her old outfit, but for some reason that's how the spell came out. She put the ragged ugly thing on and summoned cloudy. Even the usually friendly cloud seemed gray and depressed, with a slight green tint to it. It hadn't gone haywire or anything, it just didn't talk to Star at all as it dragged her back to the Diaz's place. That was fine, Star wasn't in a mood to talk either.
She had felt so tired, but still, she forced herself to get under the shower. The water flowing down her face hid her own tears, as they slid down her cheekmarks. She felt dirty in some undefined way, in a way the water falling on her would not clean. She knew it was ridiculous. She was not usually ashamed of her decisions, even when they got her into trouble, and it had been her decision to sleep with Tom. It had even been fun at times, especially when she had imagined Marco instead. She had mostly enjoyed herself; until the end, when it all came crashing down. Yet, she knew she regretted it. She tried to figure out what exactly she regretted. Doing it with Tom? That it had been her first time? That she had been thinking of Marco? Hurting Tom? Betraying Marco?
She had been surprised at her last thought. Of course she was not betraying Marco. Marco wasn't her boyfriend, he was Jackie's. Nonetheless, even after she finished showering, even after she had gone to bed, even after she woke up the next day, she could not get rid of that foolish thought. Now it was the end of the afternoon and she was still thinking it. She felt even sillier for it.
She was hungry. She had snuck in a box of cereal and snacked on it through the morning, but now she was not in the mood for more cereal. The Diaz family had called her down to eat, both at breakfast and at lunch, knocking on her door or shouting her name. She hadn't answered, and they had mostly let her be. That was at least an advantage of the Diaz household. Back in Mewni her mother would have dragged her out of her room to some royal function or another, or order that she be dragged out by servants. Of course, back in Mewni she could also have had run away to the Forest of Certain Death and hid there the entire day. She thought of running away now, maybe go to the Bounce Lounge or even visit Ponyhead in St. O's. But, she realized, the only scissors she had access to here were in Marco's room. He was the last person she wanted to talk to right now, even to ask for them.
Just then, as if on cue, she heard three quick and forceful knocks on the door. "Ok, Star, I am sorry, I don't know what's the matter, but I need to talk to you!"
"Marco, go away! I don't want to talk right now!" Star shouted back through the locked door. He had come up six times already that day. First when he got home early in the morning, and most recently just an hour ago. Each time more insistent than the last. Each time she told him to go away, and he reluctantly let her be. It was not really true that she didn't want to see Marco, it was more like she couldn't face him. Would he ask about last night at the concert? Or about what was going on with her? He sounded concerned, and hurt, but how could she explain to him what had happened? There was no way Star could tell Marco about how she had felt when she saw him kiss Jackie. There was even less chance that she would be able to talk about what had happened with Tom.
"Star, you don't have to talk about anything if you don't want to," Marco insisted. "Look, I am worried about you, my parents are worried about you, and I would really like to know what is bothering you." No, Marco, you really wouldn't. "If you need something, or if I can help, please, please let me know. But if you don't want to talk, then don't talk. But I. Still. Need. To. Talk. To. You."
He had put a lot of force behind that last sentence, and emphasized the "I" and "to you" parts. Star blinked for a moment, peering out of the bed sheet that she had bundled herself into as she sat in a corner of her room. Wait, so Marco wanted to talk about something other than what was going wrong with her? She wasn't sure if that made her feel relieved or hurt.
"Star, Jackie and I got into a fight last night..." she heard him say. Marco sounded genuinely distraught. Something pinched at the princess' heart. She felt guilt pooling around her like a cold mist. Guilt at not being there for her friend, or guilt about Tom? Or guilt that she secretly had, for a split of a second, felt happy that Marco and Jackie were fighting, before realizing that must be horrible for her friend? It was so infuriatingly hard to pick her feelings apart right now!
"Give me a second, Marco," she answered after a brief pause. It didn't matter how she felt, because all of her was in agreement on one thing: if she failed to be there for him now, she would forever regret it. She walked to her bed slowly, took the wand from under the pillow. "Radiant Shadow Transform!" she shouted, conjuring an outfit for herself. She hadn't bothered to dress yet that day. The spell fell short of its usual level of fashion forwardness, but nonetheless Star found herself dressed in a fairly decent plain black dress and white leggings. "Defensive Gate Withdrawal!" she yelled without much enthusiasm. The giant padlock and portcullis vanished from her bedroom door. "Ok, you can come in now. What happened?"
----
Janna had to admit to herself she was nervous that afternoon. She was never nervous, either about mischief or about boys. Sure, her courtship techniques might have lacked a certain finesse, but she had never exactly been shy in front of boys she found attractive. In fact, she usually managed to put them in the more uncertain position. It helped that the only men who truly managed to leave her speechless had been dead and buried long before she was born. It was hard to feel insecure with Keats, when she could only reach him through the pages of a book, his words to her already set in place where her response to them would not taint their truth. After that, it hardly mattered what opinion flesh and blood boys might have of her. It was not that she was not interested in a few select cases, but if they did not reciprocate, well, it was no big concern of hers.
Tom was different. Tom was not human. He was a mystery not the way the silent hunk at a party was a mystery; that is, in that the only mystery was what you had to do to get him to open up, and immediately reveal himself to be as boring as any of a dozen more idiots her age. Marco was interesting, to an extent. He had been outside of this dimension, apparently once for sixteen years straight. He had had a demon bound to his arm. Janna felt a tingle remembering how it had felt when she was holding the eldritch appendage. Star was mysterious too, of course. The magic that she took for granted fascinated Janna. Even compared to them, her date tonight was a whole different deal. Tom was not a human, or a Mewman, or a handsome stranger from some random foreign dimension. He was a demon. He was mysterious like the night is mysterious or like death is mysterious.
Now, Janna was not fooling herself. At least she did not believe she was. She knew Tom was a jerk, an anger-management disaster, a manipulative bastard, a ticking time-bomb, and, perhaps worst of all, a guy that very often acted just like a moody human teenager. Nonetheless, there was definitely a lot more to that particular teenager than there was to any of the idiots at her school. Tom was also very dangerous, a taste Janna realized she shared with her best friend Star.
She had fished the only truly presentable item from her wardrobe: a vintage dark green dress with knee-height skirt and a black velvet trim. She had gotten it at a thrift shop months ago and never wore it. In fact, the only reason she had taken that particular dress home, other than the color, was the the owner had told her some lady had died in it and that was why it was so discounted. She would have paid double for that! Ok, well, she shoplifted it either way, but it was the thought that counted.
She completed her look with green heels and a black chocker with a ceramic skull in the middle. Hopefully that look would not be out of place wherever Tom intended to take her out on a date. The underworld, most likely, she thought with an excited shiver.
Janna looked at her phone. Six forty-five, still some time before she planned to ring up her ride. She wondered how the rest of her little plan was going. She was sorry about what she had had to put Star through, but she knew her friend would forgive her after it all resolved for the best. The truly unfortunate thing is that she herself could not be around to see Marco's face when it all fell into place. The boy should be beyond himself with excitement right about now!
----
"I really don't know where to start, Star," said Marco gloomily, as he sat in the bed beside an equally downcast Star. They both stared at the floor for a while, sitting there together, as close as they could get without touching each other. Star's mind was still a jumble of awful thoughts. She wanted to break through it, to be there to comfort her friend, but she simply couldn't.
"Do you want to tell me what the fight was about?" she ventured the question, glancing in his direction.
"Well, after you left the concert," Marco began. Star flinched. "Sorry, maybe I should skip some of it. The concert doesn't matter. Unless you want to talk about it?" Star kept quiet. "Ok, so, anyways, after the concert Jackie and I went over to her place, to you know, say goodnight and stuff." Even bummed as she was Star couldn't help but to chuckle a little bit at Marco's comment.
"'Say goodnight', Marco? You got back this morning. That must have been some long good night," she chided. Marco blushed, but then seemed sad for some reason. Star regretted her joke almost immediately.
"Ok, well, so, Star, just to be clear, you know what people who are dating and, well, are attracted to each other, do, right? When they spend the night together, I mean?" Star blinked at this. Was he asking if she knew what sex was? "You see. At least on Earth, boys and girls are a bit different, in that the boys have a..."
Star began laughing, despite herself. There was some bitterness to the laugh, but it was overpowered by the sheer amusement at how innocent her bestie's mental picture of her seemed to be. "Marco! We fuck on Mewni too!" she shouted at him. Her cheekmarks immediately lit up, and then she felt a cold pang of regret remembering the previous night. "I mean, I don't mean I have, I also don't mean I haven't or wouldn't... let's just say I understand the concept, Marco. Congrats on banging Jackie, by the way..." she forced the words out "... hopefully it went well?"
Marco shook his head. He stared at the floor some more. He seemed very nervous, more so than usual, more than he was even when Jackie was around. "That's it, Star, I did something wrong when we were, well, when we were having sex..."
"Did you do anything to her she told you not to?" Star asked. It seemed unlikely, it was Marco after all. He shook his head and seemed a bit hurt at the implication. "Ok, then it can't be that bad, Marco." She thought for a bit. "If it's a performance issue, just take it slow and give it time, that was a pretty hectic day and I am sure Jackie would understand that you were nervous..." there she went again, the good friend offering her bestie help in getting back with her girlfriend. Good, she thought, that's how it should be.
"No, Star. It wasn't a performance problem!" Marco replied annoyed. Star flinched a bit at that. "No, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to yell. It is just, it was something very weird, and I can't say it to you, even if I try. It was... well, it felt like my mind was playing tricks on me, and I said something I shouldn't have, and that led to a whole long discussion where I realized something about me. Something that makes me even more confused. Something that I can't say, that I think I knew but I didn't know I knew, that I can't spit out even thought I have been planning to tell you since I got back home this morning..."
Star looked at her friend. For a moment she forgot all about Tom, about her confusing night and about her complicated feelings. She was just worried about Marco. He looked completely distressed. She wanted to figure out what to say that would make him feel better, or get him back with Jackie or somehow fix whatever it was that was hurting him.
"Star. I have been trying to ask you all day... will you go out on a date with me?"
----
Janna stood in the curb outside her house. She had just finished collecting a few items into her small black purse. She had applied some dark lipstick, as well. Makeup was not her forte, but she figured this much at least she had gotten down by now. She took out the bell and hit it with the ruby hammer. Immediately a fiery abyss opened up from the street in front of her, noxious fumes and searing flames exploded up into the dark sky. She heard the cries of agony of billions of ancient souls and the maddening laughs of their immortal tormentors. "Cool!"
Then she saw a large red demon chained to a wooden pillory, which was in turn attached by ropes to a small black elevator. The doors opened and she climbed inside. "Which floor, mortal?"
"Name is Janna, and, well, wherever your boss is at," she told the creature. She knew well to act unimpressed, but she was just a little impressed. She had friends, peers, acquaintances, occasionally pawns. Tom? Tom had minions. Well, Star probably had minions too, she thought, of both the magical and mewman kind. Janna had never been intimidated by Star, so why should Tom be any different?
"Ah, Janna, so glad you could join me," Tom greeted her as the 'elevator' stopped just a few centimeters above the black stone floor of an enormous underground cavern. He was dressed in a black suit, with a white shirt and tie, and three-eyed sunglasses over his face. He extended a hand to help her out of her ride. "Welcome, to Hell!"
She felt herself blush slightly. This wasn't good. She reminded herself that there was still plenty of work she still had to do on Tom, this was not the time to become complacent. "Woah, Tom, don't you clean up nicely?" she replied. It was a weak neg, and not really her style. But Star had told her Tom had said it to her before, so maybe just the fact Janna knew would be enough to throw him off balance a little bit. Unfortunately, she was running out of smug callbacks to flick at Tom after last night.
"Funny, I was just about to say the same," he retorted, rising at least one eyebrow. His expression was hard to read behind the glasses. Intentionally so, Janna concluded. "Since we are apparently going for a reenactment of sorts, let me offer you this," he said, and reached with his free hand behind him, producing a nasty looking spider larger than his fist. Nice.
"Neat," Janna smiled. Tom explained that it went on her hair and Janna allowed him to place the spider over her head. It probably did look wicked cool, even if the legs tickled a bit. "Is it venomous?"
"Deadly," Tom assured her, "but it won't bite unless I command it to."
Ah, so it was only their first date and he was already putting himself in control of whether she lived or died. Oh, Tom, who knew you were such a hopeless romantic? She thought to herself. Mostly, but only mostly, in jest. "Well, where to now? Pretty sure we are 666 years and a few months too early for the next Blood Moon Ball..."
Tom seemed caught up by surprise by her comment, despite their previous interaction. That was good, keep him guessing how much you know, Janna. The more curious he is, the less likely you die from a spider bite and all that. He seemed to ponder things for a second. "It depends. If you are hungry I can always take you to the Faust. It is the best restaurant in this side of the underworld, and only half of what they serve is poisonous for you or would doom your soul for all eternity. After that, we can go for drinks to the Vermilion Viper club."
"Sounds good, but, Tom, I am fourteen, no fake ID is going to conceal that. Also, I don't really drink..."
"Janna, first, this is Hell, of course they serve alcohol to minors. Second, we can figure it out once we get there. I am sure they have... juice," he muttered disdainfully, "if that is all you truly want. So, shall we go then?"
----
"Yes! Yes, of course I will, Marco!" Star shouted, surprising even herself with how emphatic her response had been. It felt, for a moment, as if all her worries were blown away by a soothing breeze. Marco had just asked her out, and she said yes! Wait, wait a minute. This wasn't right. It didn't make sense. Unless, "Marco, wait, are you asking me out just because Jackie and you broke up?" She felt sick once again. She loved Marco. Well, no, not 'loved'. But she had maybe a super big crush on him, she told herself, unconvincingly. If he was only asking her out to get over being dumped by Jackie, if he was about to treat her like, like... 'like I treated Tom' she thought to herself, then she didn't want it, not like that.
"Actually, Star, that's the really weird part," Marco continued. He seemed nervous, like he expected Star to suddenly grow fangs and bite his head off. That, by the way, was not likely to happen, well at least as far as she knew. "Jackie and I didn't break up. We had a fight, maybe our first real fight, but we, sort of, resolved it? She was the one who told me to ask you out."
What?! That didn't make any sense! "Marco, is this an Earth thing? Because if it is you might have to explain it to me. I am lost. You are dating Jackie, and she told you, to ask me out on a date?" Also, did that mean Marco didn't really want to go out with her? It was only because Jackie had asked? She felt tears coming up again.
"Well, I don't fully understand it either, Star. But basically, last night I realized that, well, that I... that I like you, and I like Jackie too. It came up at the worst possible moment, but it had been on my mind since, well, since a dream I had a few weeks ago. Maybe since way earlier than that, but I had not fully understood it before," he seemed afraid. "Jackie said, well, she said that she knew. She told me, that she thought you liked me too, and that she was happy about that, and also not happy about that, but that we would figure stuff out. She told me to ask you out, and that if you said yes, to figure out what our feelings were, you and I, I mean, and then to talk to her tomorrow." Then he paused, and his eyes went wide. He looked mortified, "and, oh, I am sorry. She also told me to tell you all of this before I asked you out. I kinda messed up that part. It is sort of my first time asking anyone out, sorry..."
"Oh," Star blinked a few times. That was, complicated, and weird, and had Jackie just, I don't know, lent her her boyfriend? "Well, Marco," she said very quietly, "she is right on one thing. I... I... I do like you."
"Oh," said Marco. They both stood there, looking at each other, blushing bright red.
"Then, maybe," Star continued, with some difficulty, "maybe she is right about other stuff too. This is all super weird. I think I like you, and I am glad you like me back. I get that you like Jackie as well, and I don't really want you two to not be together, although sometimes I feel like I do. I have no idea how this works, but I want to go out with you tonight, and we can figure the rest tomorrow. My answer is still yes!"
"I am really glad, Star," Marco said, looking at her. He still seemed a bit worried, but he also was smiling. "I do still love Jackie, though, and that means I have no clue what will happen, and that I cannot promise that we won't get hurt, that I won't hurt you. If I do... if I do I am so sorry in advance, and I hope whatever happens won't break us up as friends..."
"Marco, the end of the world couldn't break us up as friends!" She saw him smile, the tension inside of him seeming to ease a bit. She felt herself grow calmer too, as she realized the truth in what she had just said. Even if this did end badly, it wouldn't be like her and Tom, it couldn't be. She and Marco were besties. Whatever was about to happen, they would always have that.
"Then, there is one more thing Jackie told me to say. She told me that after I explained to you what happens tomorrow, I should shut up about her and tell you that tonight is all about the two of us, and ask you if you wanted to go for fancy dinner and then dancing afterwards."
"Marco, Jackie is awesome," she meant it, she really really did. "But she is right, if you tell me one more time tonight something she told you to do or not do... I will punch you. Tell me where you," she punctuated the pronoun, "want to take me out to!"
"How about tacos and then dancing afterwards?"
"Sounds awesome!" she replied beaming him a smile. Then Star realized she was wearing a dress that looked like she was about to attend a funeral in it. "Maybe we both should get ready first, though. Check again in thirty, Marco? Tell your parents we are not having dinner at home!"
----
"So, how do you like the Hors d'oeuvres?" Tom asked from across the table. Janna had just tried one pentagonal shaped cracker with some raw bits of meat on top of it. Surprisingly, it was delicious. But she wasn't sure she wanted to know what kind of meat it was. At least she had made her dietary restrictions clear to Tom before they got to the restaurant. In addition to nothing that would kill her or damn her soul forever, she had insisted on no human parts, nor any other creature capable of speech or otherwise similarly intelligent. She felt that wording was probably airtight enough that she wouldn't need to break the mood by asking about every dish. Besides, she had some trust that Tom would understand and follow the spirit of her request, at least to a degree.
"Well, I like them so far," Janna said noncommittally. "Cool place, by the way."
The Faust was an extraordinarily luxurious venue. The black marble walls and blood-red vitrails, depicting demons and other unearthly denizens, made it look like some perverse imitation of a medieval church. Apparently it took years to get a reservation, but Tom had simply commanded they be given the best table in the house and two poor undead saps had had to find themselves another place to have their 300th anniversary dinner. Janna could certainly respect the theatricality of such a conspicuous display of power, if nothing else.
"Ah, Master Tom, it's been far too long. What a pleasure to see you back in our humble establishment," a tall pearl-white demon with ebony hair and curled goat horns walked up to their table and received them with a vow, "and, may I add, with such a lovely lady! It is good to see your highness is, oh, how do the kids say these days, 'getting back in the saddle'?"
"Are you mocking me, Adorjan?" Tom's eyes lit up in red for a second. The waiter remained impassive, an arm in front of him holding a napkin, another extending forward the menus and depositing two leathery volumes in front of each of them.
"Wouldn't dream of it, master Tom. After all, I am but a humble servant. One who pays no heed to scurrilous rumors regarding the romantic travails of my betters, no matter how widespread. Rather, shall I offer the two of you anything to drink? Madam? Sire?" Janna stifled a chuckle, and quickly asked Tom about ordering recommendations to, less than artfully but effectively enough, distract him from the bad mood he was beginning to show.
"So, you mentioned helping me make Star jealous," Tom said offhandedly after the waiter had left. Evidently his insinuations had brought the princess back to the forefront of the demon prince's mind. "Pretty sure she doesn't even know we are here, though. Was that just a ruse to get me to invite you down here or do you intend to hold up your end of the bargain?"
"Tom, don't you think that it would be too obvious if we simply walked up to Star the day after, well, you know what, and told her to her face we were dating? She is naive, but not that naive. She would know what's up in an instant." It was a plausible excuse, the truth usually was. "No. Here is how it is going to work, if you must know: we are going to go on a very real date tonight, and we are going to bond, so that I know enough about you and you know enough about me that Star will believe we have been dating. Whether we go on a second date or not, we will also need to wait at least a week before 'casually' running into Star. Then I will hold up my end of the bargain, as you say. I'll simply pretend to be really into you and see how Star responds to that."
"Pretend? You mean you are not really into me," Tom asked slightly surprised, unable to avoid the bait. Janna kept her face unreadable.
"Well... right now, I am mostly just curious," she played it cool. "But my point is, when we finally meet Star, I should be able to act like I am really," she looked directly into the dark glasses, "really," she touched his arm and leaned forward, "into you." For a second, her face lingered right in front of his, and she basically breathed the last part over his closed mouth. A moment later, she was leaning back in her chair again and casually pondering one of the vitrails. "You know, really sell it. For Star, of course." Tom was silent, unreadable behind his dark glasses. Janna still felt she had probably made her point.
"But Tom," she added. "I think it is you who does not want to hold up his end of the bargain. I did not ask for a business meeting at a fancy restaurant, I asked for a date. I assume you don't normally spend your dates talking about your exes, right?"
"Well, it's honestly been a while since I have been on a date with someone new..." Tom began, embarrassed. He was kinda cute when he opened up like that. Janna did not have much time to enjoy it, however, she needed to press him for a bit more, keep him talking, before he realized his mistake and closed up once more.
"How about you tell me about yourself? Or about your life here? It must be so cool to rule over all the Underworld!" Flattery and getting others to talk about themselves were both good ways to put them at ease, and in this case, it helped that Janna was genuinely curious about this whole Prince of Hell deal.
"Well, I don't really rule all of it, not even close. You see, 'the Underworld' is a vast meta-dimension, older than Earth or Mewni, much older than myself. But my family has always had an important place in..."
----
"Whoa, Marco, I am honored that you are sharing so much of your culture with me, on our date!" Star shouted the last three words. She knew the whole restaurant probably had heard it, and it made her a bit giddy. But mostly, she wanted to say it for herself, just to make sure she believed it.
"Star, was that really necessary? Also, my culture? My dad's family is from Mexico, but I was born in California..." he responded, not really angry at her, more like, well, nervous. Nervous like when he was on a date with Jackie, Star observed with pride. Ok, not really the same way, but close enough.
"Mexico? I meant your Earth-culture, Marco!" she clarified. 'La Fonda de Don Alberto' was probably a more authentic Mexican place than Britta's, their usual taco joint. The food here was spicier and less greasy, and there were more private places to sit together. But to Star, it was mostly just a new place on Earth. Besides, Marco had promised to teach her a new Earth dance afterwards. Something called Salsa.
Marco chuckled, "I guess sometimes I forget you really aren't from around here." He did? Star thought it was still pretty obvious that she wasn't really from this dimension, although she had gotten a bit better at blending in, when she didn't use magic. "Maybe I had gotten so familiar with you, that I forgot there are still so many more things I haven't showed you..." he trailed off, looking directly into her eyes.
"What would you want to show me, then?" Star said blushing. Marco didn't respond. He seemed to be staring at her, seemingly lost in thought, or maybe like he was seeing her for the first time. Star felt her cheekmarks lit up just a little bit. "Marco?"
"Ah, yeah, uhmmm," he snapped out of it and began fidgeting with his fork. "Well, right now I guess I want to show you this Pollo con Mole," he laughed nervously. Star laughed too and focused on her plate. She cut a bit of the chicken and tried it more to defuse the tension than because she was hungry. Although, well, that was true too.
"Whoa! Is this spicy chocolate sauce?! Marco, this is truly a marvel of Earth cuisine!" she declared, jumping from her seat.
"I knew you would like it!" Marco beamed at her. Of course, that was the thing about Marco. He knew her so well. They knew each other's likes and dislikes. They could usually predict what the other would say about almost anything. They shared all their... most of their secrets, Star thought, guiltily. So, what did that mean for their first date? Was there anything left for them to talk about that was different from what they talked about as friends? How was this different from two besties just hanging out?
"Star, is anything the matter? You went all serious for a moment there. Did I say anything wrong? I thought you liked the food. I thought it would make you smile, since you have been sort of... sad these last few days. Not that you should smile if you don't want to," Marco babbled on, "but I like it when you smile, Star. I feel that when you do, it lights the whole room. Yeah, kinda like that."
----
"... and because I lost the game of dice, I had to revive the soldier's wife. But what the idiot didn't know is that she had been fucking his brother the entire time he had been away from home. So, out of spite, I offhandedly mentioned that little detail and, wouldn't you know it, she was back down here the week after. The brother too." Tom concluded his latest story. He had long ago gotten rid of the sunglasses as he became more and more at ease with the girl. Janna indulged him, it was definitely better stuff than what she usually heard from her classmates, and the food had been delicious. The apple tart at the end was pure paradise, maybe literally.
"You know, Janna, Star never really had the patience to listen to my stories like this. It is always 'let's go to another dimension!' or 'yeah, yeah... boring, let's play at something' with her," Tom added. Janna made a show of raising an eyebrow. "Oh, right, not saying that name tonight. Sorry. How about you, anything I should know about you?"
"Well, nothing as exciting as ruling a hell," she emphasized the 'a', showing she had been listening. "I guess I am sort of into witchcraft stuff, but most things I do don't really work. Me and... a friend, held a seance for a dead clown once. It worked but it got interrupted by an idiot bird-man-midget-thing. I like poetry and metal, which is maybe not the most common combination, but also less rare than you might think. Dunno, I am also sorta good at messing with people."
"Ah, so resurrecting the death and manipulating mortals. I can see why you are drawn to, well, this," Tom indicated their surroundings. "Is that all you are after, though? The magics of the Underworld? There are easier bargains you could have struck for that than this date, mor... Janna."
"I imagine so," she shrugged her shoulders. "This seemed more fun, though. I guess I figure I have my whole life to go after the powers of the occult the usual way, but how many girls can say they have actually dated a prince of darkness? Besides, it is not just the title, I also think you are hot. I guess I thought so since the first time I saw you, when you were floating down the hallway the day you... went to our school." A gleam in Tom's eyes told Janna of her mistake. She had said too much. So stupid! All these manipulations and mind games and she had been the first to admit to something like that. She might as well just had come out and said she had a long-time teenage crush on Tom!
"Well, I suppose it is nice to hear that," Tom said, infuriatingly noncommittal. "I think we should move to the Viper now. Get some drinks, loosen up, maybe tell each other how we really feel," he teased. "Adorjan, you may now bring the check."
Janna felt like she wanted the earth to swallow her. Then again, this was probably the place you ended up when that happened, anyway.
The demon waiter arrived almost instantly. He seemed to notice Janna's predicament and shot her a mysterious look. "Ah, I see, Sire wishes to pay in kind, rather than keep balances in the royal tab? One must wonder whether this is so that his human date might be suitably impressed." A pale white hand produced a small black leather booklet. "Shall I make a gesture of showing her the zeros? There are quite a few of those..."
"That," Tom interrupted the server with a furious look, "will certainly not be necessary." He took the booklet, looked at its contents and discretely slipped a bunch of red banknotes and silver coins into it, making sure Janna could not actually count them.
Adorjan took the booklet from him, with a raised eyebrow. "A less discrete servant than myself might comment on how his highness puts far much effort into a pretend date that is, ostensibly, part of a dastardly scheme. In fact, such servant might observe that master Tom looks far more cheerful today than in the whole of last year." Tom glared daggers at the waiter. Janna gave him a silent look of thanks, and received the faintest of winks in return.
----
The place Marco had taken Star after dinner was also new to her. It was not really a dance club in the way the Bounce Lounge was, or a fancy dance hall like the Royal Waltz Hall in Mewni, but a strange mixture of the two. Most of the place was covered only by a dimly lit wooden dance floor, with tables set aside only on one end of the room. The music was unusual as well: it sounded older than pop or rock music, but it was also surprisingly fast paced and rhythmic. People were dancing in complicated patterns of rapid twists and close embraces. Their movements did not seem vulgar at all, but they still felt sensual in a way that was hard to describe.
"Whoa, I really have never seen this kind of dance!" Star observed, enthusiastically. It looked, well, it looked kinda intimate. She blushed slightly.
"That's the point, Star. I wanted to show you something new tonight," he looked at her with those big brown eyes and Star felt herself melt. "Now, I am not like, super good at this or anything. Some of the regulars here do this every weekend, for years." Star noticed then an older couple where the man seemed to be holding the woman mostly upside down along the line formed by his outstretched leg. "But I know enough to teach you the basics, if you want."
"Of course I do!" Star nodded vigorously. She was always up for learning new things, and only like a million times more so if it also meant dancing with Marco. "So, how do we begin?"
"Well, first, you hold my hands like this. Now, when I move my feet like this, you move back like so," Marco began. Star was a quick learner, and she enjoyed how confident Marco sounded as he explained the moves or corrected her form. He was also very careful in how he guided her through the dance floor or through the turns. Besides, unlike that time, long ago, with the bicycle thing, there was no danger of him letting go without warning here.
There was no holding her upside down, or even lifting her from the dance floor. There were, however, plenty of touches on her shoulders, or her arms, or the small of her back as Marco guided her from one move to the next. It felt, to Star, like loving, almost sexual, caresses. She wondered silently if Marco intended them that way. She gasped as he pushed forward and held her, one feet up, laying on air, horizontal to the dance floor. Wow, Marco! I wish we were alone now and then I would show you a move or two, she thought to herself, bitting her lip.
"You know, Star, I don't think I have ever been on a date like this," Marco told her as he lifted her back up. "I mean, a date where I am the one teaching things or planning stuff."
"Well, do you like it?" Star asked nervously. "I could have done the planning if you prefer, there are tons of romantic dimensions I could show you, but you kinda sprung this on me by surprise... do you know there is a spa on the cloud dimension? I mean, not that I dislike you taking me here, or teaching me Salsa or the food, not at all... I kinda like you planning stuff... but if you prefer the other way around..."
"Star, I do like it. Planning stuff, I mean. It is a nice change of pace," Marco smiled at her, sweetly. He was looking at her in a way she didn't think he had before. Well, maybe once, the day she went to the Blood Moon Ball. "Besides, Star, I think you were kinda rambling."
"Yeah..." Star admitted, her mind half lost in Marco's eyes. "Is that bad?"
"No. But, Star," he leaned forward, "that's usually my thing."
She barely realized when he planted his lips on hers, or when she parted her own to give him access. She noticed, as if in a trance, that they were indeed kissing. It was a sweet, caring kiss, but in no way could be mistook as friendly. It was a loving kiss, with the smallest hint of passion building up between their barely open mouths. The older woman in the couple they had seen before winked at Star as they passed them by. The princess felt like she was in a trance again. She saw the scene both from within and from outside of herself, she felt Marco's lips against her own, but also something else, a feeling of surprised bliss that added to her own but was not her own. It didn't matter. It was perfect. Marco Diaz was kissing her and it all was perfect.
----
Tom and Janna sat besides each other on a long black marble bar, under a fluorescent purple light. The Red Viper was packed with demons, undead patrons and indeterminate fiendish creatures, but they all gave the underworld prince and his date ample space. The stools at either side of them remained unoccupied, even as furtive glances were often cast their way.
In front of Tom was a half empty glass of some fiery amber liquid. Literally fiery, the surface seemed to constantly be in flames, and the demon drank it that way. Janna herself was slowly sipping from a pink concoction set in a martini glass. It was mostly full still. She was trying to pace herself. Despite all her bad girl creed, she did not really drink. In fact, she made a point of principle not to. But Tom had insisted and, not wanting to disappoint her date, she had let him order something light for her, just this once. A little desecration was perhaps in order, after all, seeing as how she was in hell. The cocktail tasted pretty sweet, fortunately, and didn't seem anywhere near as terrifying as whatever sort of hard liquor her date was having.
"So, Janna, I was thinking," Tom smiled at her mischievously. "How about a game, to pass the time and to get to know each other better. After all, we should, how did you put it? Bond? For the plan, of course."
"Of course," Janna replied, raising a disbelieving eyebrow. "What kind of game?"
"Oh, a very simple one: you ask me a question, any question. I either answer it truthfully or I take a big swig at my drink. Then I get to ask you a question, same terms," Tom explained. "Sounds simple enough?"
"Why would I agree to that, when I can just ask you stuff normally?" Janna stalled. She understood the benefits well enough, actually. But she also suspected she would fare poorly against Tom in any kind of drinking contest. Besides, challenging him on this, at least a bit, seemed like a good move, even if she planned to acquiesce in the end.
"Because, you get to ask stuff you wouldn't normally ask, and since it is a game, and you are just trying to get me to drink, I can't get mad about inappropriate questions," Tom explained. "Also, because it is fun."
"Ok, fine," Janna raised her hands in mock surrender. So, the plan was to make Tom uncomfortable, well, she could do that. "So, was Star your first, and if not, who?"
Tom's three eyes widened as he regarded the smirking girl sitting besides her. "Didn't you say we weren't mentioning that name tonight?"
"I said I didn't want you to spend the date talking about Star, but you can still answer if I am the one asking about it," Janna observed. Then her smile went wide as she realized her play had gone even better than she had expected. "By the way, that was not an answer, and you asked me a question. Which means you drink and I get to ask again."
Tom groaned, but to his credit, he lifted the glass and took a big mouthful of the blazing liquid. "Fine. As you said, your turn again. You cannot repeat the question, by the way."
"No need of that," Janna replied. Honestly, she had not cared for an answer, she was just aiming to shock the demon into drinking for now. Problem was, he was probably ready now for her to try to surprise him, so any other question about Star would probably be met with a more careful response now. She thought back to her books on demons and their curses, surely there were also questions Tom would not answer. "Tom Lucitor, what is your true name?"
The entirety of the bar's eyes seemed to be on Tom now. He just chuckled. "Yeah, right," he commented, with a nod towards their curious audience, and took another swig. "You play dirty, Janna Ordonia."
"Uh, you know my last name?" she muttered. "Rats!" she exclaimed just after, once she realized her folly.
"Yes, I do. Also, I get two questions now," Tom stated matter-of-factly. "First, how did you know Star and I would... ahem... get together after the concert?"
It was a pretty open-ended question. Janna considered giving a cryptic explanation, but that did not seem to be the spirit of this particular game. "Well, I knew you would be there because you are Hell's biggest Love Sentence fan," she proclaimed loudly, taking pleasure in watching Tom squirm as the bar went silent for a second. She knew about the prince's music taste because Marco had written a brief note about it in his computer, one of the few times he had started, and then soon stopped, trying to keep a journal. But Tom had not asked about that and thus he did not get that information. "I also knew Star would not be able to handle being with Jackie and Marco when they were on a date. I mean, those two are PDA central and Star is practically Egyptian, since she lives in denial about how much she likes Marco." Denial, the Nile, it was hilarious, Janna thought to herself. "So, all that I needed to do was ensure that they would all go together, wait for the inevitable to happen and for you to see it... and well, I had to plant the thought on Star about the possibility of sleeping with you..."
"You..." Tom began surprised, almost asking the obvious question. He stopped himself with a smile, "... are quite resourceful. Alright, second question, what does your plan for Star entail now, from this point forward? All of it."
Janna sighed, reached out for her glass and took a generous sip.
----
It was late that night when Marco and Star finally made it back to the Diaz's home. They had spent the entire evening dancing, talking and, Star recalled with a strangely pleasant sensation in her stomach, kissing copiously. Her legs were tired now, but she was beaming with happiness. More importantly, Marco beamed too.
"You are amazing, Star!" he remarked, making her blush. "I think by the end of it you were a better dancer than me." An obvious lie, but a nice lie nonetheless.
"Really?! Nah! But take me out more and I might be!" Star shouted as they entered the living room. "I am a magical princess, remember? Grace is kinda my thing!" she boasted, as she unceremoniously launched herself at the couch, knocking the remote flying towards the table. It bounced and hit the floor.
"I see that," Marco retorted with a raised eyebrow. She just smiled at him. It was weird being with him like this. One moment she was speechless princess Butterfly on a date with her long time crush, half-incredulous it was even happening. The next she was Star, hanging out with her bestie since forever, not worrying at all what he thought of her, because well, nobody knew her better. She wondered if Marco felt the same way. It was strange, but not altogether unpleasant, not at all.
"Uh," Marco said suddenly, looking at a note that had flown to the floor from said living room table. "'Marco (and Star), We have decided to also go out for dinner tonight. We might be out late. Don't wait up. Love, - Mom and Dad'", he read. "Looks like we have the house to ourselves..."
"In that case, Marco," Star said with a big smile, "let's go up to my room!"
"W...Wha... I mean... you mean?" Marco began. Star stared at him for a second, quickly realizing what the boy must have thought, her cheekmarks glowed slightly.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Star chuckled. "I mean, you have been to my room a thousand times already, Marco! It's just, my legs hurt right now, and my bed is more comfortable than the couch..." Now that she thought about Marco and her bed, she herself wasn't sure she really hadn't meant it that way. Certainly it wasn't a conscious plan on her part, though, but maybe if it happened now it wouldn't be too bad. Then again, would that be rushing things? Certainly it was too soon, right? Right?
"Right. Sure thing, Star. It's just, well, last time I thought nothing of an offer like that, it ended up being... woah, guess that's T.M.I., never mind, I said nothing," he stammered. Star raised an eyebrow. She was about to make a quip about his first time with Jackie, but she neither wanted to bring that up now, nor was sure she could keep it a secret how much she really knew of the matter. "Hey, you know, if your legs are too tired, I could probably carry you up," he added with a smile.
"Really? Such a gentleman, Sir Diaz," Star affected a mocking tone, even though she knew her blush probably betrayed her. "Please proceed."
He lifted her without problems and carried her in his arms up the stairs without much effort. Star was light and Marco had once thrown Man-arm flying through the air, so this was not surprising. What was surprising, to Star at least, was how comfortable she felt letting him move her around like that. She was not exactly down with the damsel act as a rule, but somehow, with Marco, right now, it felt alright. He let her down in her own bed, far more gently than necessary considering how Star normally 'landed' on her bed herself.
"Well, Star, this was an amazing night. I am so glad I asked you out," he said, then he seemed to trail off, pensive. "Hope it was fun for you too. Maybe it is time we both got some rest?"
Star felt cold as he said that, like something was leaving her body, something warm and important and below it there was a bad thing. Right, she hadn't thought about Tom or the last night at all since dinner. But if Marco left now, then she was alone with her thoughts again, and she wasn't yet ready to face them.
There was also the matter of the next morning. Wasn't Marco supposed to talk to Jackie then? Then what? Would Jackie be mad after all? Was Marco supposed to choose then? What if he didn't chose Star? Or if he did, but then regretted it? This whole date had felt like a dream come true, but now that it was ending, Star realized something horrifying: you woke up from dreams. She couldn't do that, not again.
"Marco... don't go," she whispered at him as he began to walk away. He turned back to look at her. She needed to say something, anything that would prolong the dream. "Marco, if you want to, how to put it, heh, say goodnight... we can do that, you know?" Star said, trying her best to give him a confident smile. She wasn't sure that was what she wanted, not so soon after last night, after Tom. But somehow, if it was with Marco, then it would be ok. Better than ok, she realized, giving her 'bestie' an up and down look. It would be literally a dream come true, and if the timing wasn't quite right, then well, that was just a minor detail...
"Star... don't take this the wrong way, but I'd rather not." She felt the rejection hit her like a slap to the face. He seemed to take notice of her reaction because he flinched as well. "Is not that I don't want to, I do. Hell, after all that dancing I definitely want to, a whole lot. But we are talking to Jackie tomorrow, I am not sure how she would take something like that. Even if that wasn't the case, I am not sure I am ready, not yet, not tonight. Star, please don't be mad, but, could we, could we take it slow?"
Star felt confused. On the one hand, she wasn't sure she was ready herself. On the other, 'taking it slow'? What if this was their first and only date? What if things didn't work out well tomorrow? What if...? But Marco had talked about it like it was a done deal that there would be time to take it slow, or at least like he hoped, just as much as she did, that there would.
"Then, Marco, can you stay here anyways? Just, you know, sleep together. I mean literally just sleep," she had turned around as she said it. For some reason she didn't want to face him as she asked, just in case he said no again. She felt him sit on her bed, and then lie down, and then hug her from behind.
"Sure, Star, that sounds lovely."
"Hey, Marco?" she asked after a few minutes of heavenly silence.
"Yeah?"
"You know we are fully clothed, right? We should at least change into our pajamas..."
"Right..."
---
"You are, like, soo evil," Janna complained loudly, leaning on Tom's shoulder for support as they walked down the long black staircase. She sounded like a fool, and she knew it. Walked like one too, and yet could not avoid it. "I think I am drunk... Why am I drunk? I mean, I answered like a hundred of your stupid questions and you just drank each time, like a freaking chicken! A thirsty chicken! Hah! So why am I drunk and not you?"
"Two reasons," Tom grinned at her as he helped her walk. "First, I hold my alcohol way better than you do. Second, that pink sugary thing I ordered for you? Second strongest hitter in the whole cocktail menu!" He let out a nasty snicker.
"Pure, undiluted, evil!" Janna bemoaned, and chuckled, for no freaking good reason.
"So, Janna, just to be clear about what I learned tonight: You manipulated Star into sleeping with me so that she would then be ready to agree to go out on a date with Marco. Which you didn't think she would do until she..." he began, angrily.
"Yeah, yeah, until she touched rock bottom by sleeping with you, so that her stubborn pride and denial could not possibly get in the way!" she shouted, carelessly. Something in the back of her mind yelling that she shouldn't have said that. But who cared now? It was the truth and she had explained it to Tom already. If he wanted to know that fucking badly, then he better be able to handle the truth. The truth about what he meant to his oh so precious Star.
Tom's eyes glowed red, his pace was quicker now, almost dragging her feet along the stone steps. It actually hurt, but she felt the sensation muffled by something, probably her own state of intoxication. "I see. And you said you also arranged for Marco to ask her out, by making sure Jackie noticed Star liked Marco? Explain again to me how in Azrael ten thousand names that is supposed to work..."
"Well, the real trigger was that she needed to realize Marco liked Star back, even if he, dense motherfucker that he is, did not yet get it himself. You see, Jackie is pretty perceptive, and she has this big thing about... heh... I forget the word right now. But she will actually push Star and Marco together... at least I think she will..." Janna continued. Oh god, oh god, why was she telling Tom that? He was going to murder her for it! Literally. Somehow it did not seem to matter as much anymore, though. She felt this all didn't matter, like it was happening in a dream. A spinning dream.
"So, you never had any intention of helping me get together with Star. Correct?" Tom asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs. "None at all!" Fire danced around the two of them. It was pretty.
"I mean, I never promised that. I promised to try and make her jealous, and I was going to do my best. But she is not whom I want you to end up with, Tom..." she turned around to look at him. Their faces were so close now, she looked intently at his beautiful blue lips. He seemed less angry for a second, and then he shifted to look away nervously.
He continued to help her walk, through a long corridor and a second flight of stairs, leading to a small metal door embedded in a pentagram frame. He was a bit gentler with her now. Not terribly so, but at least he was not dragging her around like she was made of rags. He remained silent the whole time, probably doing a second mental pass over the information she had just carelessly revealed to him, again. At the end of it, he seemed more downcast than mad.
"Anyways, Janna. I guess I can't really blame you for the fallout. Is not like I didn't know I wasn't the one Star wanted..." he spoke with a voice full of defeat and resignation. "And, well, I had fun tonight. I really did. You are certainly a here of a girl. A worthy adversary in some ways, even if you can't handle your liquor. I have to admit that, as much as I hate the outcome, your plan was surprisingly well thought out." He paused and ran a hand over the back of his head. "How about I fetch you a big glass of water, don't actually kill you, and instead send you back home?"
A few minutes later, she was sitting in a red leather chair with horns sticking out of the sides of the headrest, in Tom's bedroom, drinking from a large Greek vase. He was sitting on his surprisingly plain bed, looking down at the floor. In the wall closest to them, an endless waterfall of molten lava flowed from a large horned skull into a pentagram pool. There was also a rotatory wooden rack of some sort there. The opposite wall had a series of shelfs and glass displays, as well as the room's lone bookcase. There were also three different arcade game machines and a ping pong table, for some reason. It was interesting how surreal and at the same time how familiar that room felt to her.
"Why so glum?" she finally spoke. She was not exactly fully herself yet, but felt a lot better than moments ago. They had sat there in silence for a very long while, and it was becoming unbearable. In a way, Tom being irate would have been easier to deal with than him being this desolate. Did he truly love Star so much? "I mean, you won. You got me all figured out and I feel I barely scratched the surface... I guess I don't really measure up to demon standards with the whole intrigue game, after all," she tried.
"That's not exactly true," Tom replied unhappily. "I don't really have you all figured out. All I really got you to tell me was your plan for Star. I actually didn't ask that much about you." Somehow, rather than her making him better, his words had managed to make Janna feel much worse.
"Yeah, well, guess there wasn't that much to know there, especially not much you would care about knowing," Janna sighed, sullenly. "Just an ordinary girl playing games with things she doesn't understand. Guess you get that sort of thing all the time..."
"Heh, I wish," Tom shot back. The briefest of smiles crossed his lips. "I mean, there are plenty of mortals looking for a deal with the devil, for sure. Some of them come to me, and well, I have gotten tons of calls from girls where they offer their body in exchange for the powers of hell and stuff, if you must know. But honestly, this is the first time where being with me seems to be the boon, and not the price..."
"Why would being with you be considered a price to pay?!" Janna asked, genuinely surprised. Sure, Tom had his issues, but then again, they all did. At least he was not boring. Then, in a more sly tone, she added, "also, out of curiosity, how many of those offers did you accept?"
"None! Come on! I won't say I was never tempted, but I can't think of anything more annoying than a demanding occultist who thinks she is doing you a favor by telling you exactly how she expects to be ravished by the evil demon and then asks for a ton of magical crap in return!" Tom made a face of disgust. "Brimstone diggers! They are the worst."
Janna drank some more water. She looked at a glass display on the other side of the room. Inside was a ruby the size of her head, a dragon skull and a black iron urn decorated with snakes, along with a dozen or so smaller items. "Magical crap like that?" she pointed at it.
"I suppose. Is that what you are after too, after all?" Tom glared at her.
"No. I am curious about it, but the thing I really want in this room is not behind glass," she quipped. It felt weird, being so honest about it. Must be the stupid drink still.
"Are you sure? That is the Ruby of Aeons, which can produce inextinguishable flames. That is the skull of Tareth the Vile. That is the Urn of Midra'Apep, which can raise dead kings," Tom described. "Are you saying none of that is what you are after?" He smirked at her.
"Tempting, but no, not at the moment," Janna said, standing up from the chair. She was feeling much better now. Not clear headed enough to avoid bad decisions, but stable enough to see them through. Besides, she was going to need all that liquid courage for what she was about to do. "Right now, the most tempting thing in this room, is right, here," she grabbed at his tie. "So, how about we flip the script, and you let me ravish the evil demon."
Tom raised two eyebrows. "Well, if that's truly all you want..."
"It isn't," Janna admitted, still honest, "but it will do for now."
She sat atop Tom's lap, facing him, straddling his sitting body between her legs. She pulled his body forward using the tie, and kissed him hungrily. She saw a triplet of eyes open wide in surprise, then relax to a half-closed state. She felt the demon prince return the kiss, his tongue was soft and warm. Was it warmer than that of other boys? It had to be, but Janna could not really know. Perhaps her bad girl reputation was greatly exaggerated - she preferred to think she had earned different merit badges there - but Tom was her first.
Would he be able to tell? Well, she was sure Tom would be able to tell she wasn't very good at this, but perhaps she could blame it on the alcohol. She felt him pull out from the kiss and for a second she felt worried. Was she bad enough at kissing he was getting bored? She saw his smile, a single fang escaping the corner of his lips. Then she felt a hand pushing on her left shoulder and another pulling on her right. In her dizziness, she realized what had happened only after she was laying in the bed, Tom atop of her. She bit her lower lip.
"I think it might be better if I do the ravishing, after all," Tom smiled at her. She had no objections to that. His hands left her shoulders to roam across the length of her arms, resting finally on her wrists, immobilizing her against the mattress. "So, I guess I really never did ask about you. Never had a boyfriend yet?"
Janna's face flustered. "Was it that obvious?" she asked, trying to not show her concern.
"And yet, you are the one coming onto me," he continued, ignoring her question. "You get curiouser and curiouser," Tom mused. He lowered his face to Janna's and kissed her again, his tongue dancing on her mouth. A hand left her left wrist and she could feel a single claw tracing a line on her neck, just above her chocker. On instinct, she broke the kiss and sought the finger with her mouth, using her now free hand to guide Tom's. He let her catch it and Janna sucked lightly on his finger, running her tongue around the digit, avoiding getting a cut from the sharp claw. She might be inexperienced, but she was sure she could make the difference with eagerness and imagination. The opportunity was too good to pass up, after all.
Janna did not believe in saving herself for a steady boyfriend, let alone for marriage. If she had done nothing like this before, it was only because she had never found a partner who was both game and hit her very particular type. Tom fit both categories. She was well aware that after spilling all the beans on her plan, this was probably her last date with the demon prince. Her excuse about making Star jealous was not likely to hold up now that he knew her whole plan. It was tonight or never. Seize the godforsaken moment and all that. When in hell, do as the sinners do.
"Heh, is there anything you are trying to tell me, Miss Ordonia?" Tom commented with an infuriating smirk.
"Yes," she said, letting Tom take his finger out of her mouth. "That we are both overdressed for this party." That got her a double eyebrow rise in return. Tom let go of her remaining wrist, lifting that hand to rip the tie off his own neck. He then let jacket fall behind him.
"Wait, allow me," asked Janna, as he started unbuttoning his shirt. He leaned forward again and she began undoing the buttons, one by one. It was her first time undoing buttons from this angle, but that did not faze Janna in the slightest. She pick-pocketed for fun and undid complex knots with those fingers every other weekend, ridding Tom of his shirt was child's play, even when partially under the influence.
She tried kissing his chest as she uncovered the flesh beneath the shirt. It was warm and soft, despite the firm muscles underneath. Tom was thin, but not entirely scrawny. He breathed heavily, either pleased by her actions or by the thoughts they probably evoked. Taking her cue from the demon's earlier play around her neck and from what Star told her before, she ran her own nails along his abdomen. She pressed hard, noting that she did not seem to be able to hurt the fiend's skin, even if she had wanted to do so. Thus, no need to hold back. He laughed at her, "so, you are into a bit of pain?"
"You are," Janna observed. She looked directly into his eyes, defiantly. She motioned him to lift his weight from her, so she could slide her dress over her head, without leaving her spot in the bed, under Tom. As the fabric covered her face, she felt a sharp nail trace the inside of her leg carefully, probably leaving a faint calculated scratch, stopping right before her underwear.
"Guilty," she heard Tom reply.
She felt his eyes roam over her underwear clad body, a lacy black matching set. She knew there was not much to look at, at least in terms of the bust area, but then again, if Tom's type was Star, she probably need not worry too much. He seemed pleased, at any rate. She felt a fingertip, not a claw, trace the front of her panties, pushing the fabric in slightly, damping it with her building wetness.
"I believe," he said mockingly, "that I was given a preview of something."
Janna blushed. But summoning all her courage, both natural and from the ethylic variety, she lifted her hands to undo the demon's belt and pants buttons. He helped her slide the remaining clothes away and soon she was face to face with his hard purple member. Looking up at Tom, trying her best to put on a hungry lustful look, she proceeded to lick the tip with her outstretched tongue. After a few moments, he began pushing forward, and she took it as her cue to take more and more of the thick shaft into her mouth.
It was a new experience for her, but not all that unintuitive based on porn or literary descriptions. In and out, a roll of the tongue here, a flick there. Whatever she was doing seemed to be working, because Tom was grunting and breathing heavily atop of her. He also was trashing around and thrusting himself towards her face from time to time, which proved challenging at times, but was also exciting in a way. There was something so obviously savage and primal to the demon prince's movements now. Janna had been craving for dangerous and risqué, and getting your face fucked by a demon in hell certainly qualified for both.
Suddenly, a deliciously naughty thought crossed her mind, about something she once read about in a book. She pressed her left hand against the demon's stomach, pushing him out of her mouth. She knew he could overpower her if he wished, but he responded to gesture by backing off willingly.
"Too much?" he asked with a grin.
She rolled her eyes at him. She took her right middle and index into her mouth and practically spit on them, then she got her other hand out of the way and resumed her earlier activities. Tom gladly obliged, pushing himself onto her welcoming lips once more.
She continued to work her tongue around the hell prince's cock, but at the same time, she reached around with her wet fingers, placing a probing index directly between the fiend's butt-cheeks. Tom's eyes opened up again, glowing red. But his mouth made a circle of surprise, rather than a grimace of fear, and Janna took that as her cue to push forward, inserting a finger first and then the other into her date's puckered asshole.
"By Baalzebûb below, you are filthy!" Tom cried, somehow making it sound like a compliment. Feeling encouraged, she continued pumping him from the front as she penetrated him with her fingers from behind. He grunted and thrashed around until she felt him tense inside her mouth and around her fingers. In the last second, however, he pulled out from her, and began spurting wildly all over her chest, face and hair.
"You fucking asshole!" Janna felt the hot liquid smear her bra and muck her hair. She ought to have hated the sensation, she knew Tom hadn't done that to be nice. It was probably his idea of a joke: she was now literally filthy. Joke was on him, though, it gave her a thrill to feel soiled. "You better not expect to get away with not returning the favor."
Tom did not reply for a few seconds, he was panting, recovering from his explosive climax. Then he looked at her and laughed. It was not a mean laugh after all, more of a surprised laugh. He seemed to consider her words for a moment. "You know what? I guess it is only fair..."
Slowly, he slid himself off from over her, ripping down her underwear and lowering his face until she could feel his unnaturally warm breath in her sex. Then a wet hot flexible thing parted the lips of her cunt apart, and she felt it dance among her folds. She felt something rush to her head completely unrelated to the alcohol. As her wetness spread and her breath quickened, she felt his movements become faster and bolder. His tongue at times danced right over her sensitive clit, and at others went so deep in her that she felt something stretch inside her virgin pussy.
As she felt the wave of her pleasure begin to crest, Janna grabbed Tom's horns with both hands and crossed her legs around the back of his head. He continued as if nothing happened, except perhaps for going even faster. With his head between her legs, he missed the malicious smirk that accompanied her climaxing face. As she yelled in indulgent bliss, she blasted his mouth and face with her wet messy ending. "Sorry, guess I forgot to tell you I am a bit of a squirter," she eventually told him, after she recovered herself. 'Payback, bitch,' she thought to herself.
He coughed as he tried to respond. "Ugh. Ahg. Fuck you!"
"Don't mind if you do," she retorted. He jumped at her. Soon his arms were on her wrists again and he had climbed atop of her with the speed of a hungry animal, eyes red in supernatural fury. "Wait, Tom!" she shouted, suddenly terrified. It was easy to be cocky when it was rhetorical fucking, not so much when a demon in a furious trance was about to claim her by force.
"Yes?" he sounded exasperated, but to his credit, he held back.
"First, I am not exactly on the pill or anything. Dunno how it works with you, but, I think I am a bit young to give birth to the antichrist or anything like that..." she began.
He chuckled, despite the situation. "Not an issue. Demons do not produce life by nature. I mean, there are rituals, and there are also some curses I could choose to put on you if we do this... I promise you an explanation at a better time... but trust me, this is not about any of that. No long term harm will come to you from this, I promise." He sounded sincere, albeit impatient, as he rushed through the lengthy explanation. "And, was there a second thing?"
"Yeah, sorry if this is lame, but... please be gentle, just this one time..."
"Sure, ok."
Tom stood there unmoving for a few seconds, it made her slightly nervous. She had not wanted to stop their power games short, but it was her first time, after all, and as much as she put a brave face so far, she was truly quite scared. She wondered if the demon would find her request disappointing. But when he opened his eyes, they were normal again. He seemed calm and even gave her a gentle smile as he aligned himself with her own body and slowly pushed forward. Janna bit her lip. She felt a short sharp pain, and then a somewhat uncomfortable feeling as her walls stretched around the intruding object. As he pulled out, she felt the emptiness hurt almost more. He entered again and it hurt a little bit less. Out again and even less. Soon the pain was gone and there was only the pleasurable sensation of his slow thrusts.
"I think... you can be rough now," she eventually admitted, in an almost pleading tone.
Tom did as she asked, first gradually, methodically increasing the speed and the force behind his movements thrust after thrust. She felt his hands grip her shoulders from behind. Eventually, the calculated increases gave way to bestial fury, to clawing fingers and hungry plunges. She closed her legs around his waist and her arms around his back. She felt his hands roam her back looking for something. Looking for wings. She felt a bit sad about that, in a deep corner of her mind she could mostly push away. It didn't matter right now. She felt her elation build up for a second time and soon nothing mattered but his grunts and her moans and the unholy bliss that raptured them.
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Author's note: ... you all thought I meant Starco when I said this had a smut scene, but it was I, Jatom!
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I Summon the All-Seeing Eye