Diaz Plan Chapter 6

After the monsters had been transformed back, the beach had emptied pretty quickly. A monster attack would do that, Marco supposed.  It left his family, Janna and Star on a mostly empty beach. Ferguson was there too, but he was off in the distance, staring out into the ocean in a way that Marco would never again think of as benign or harmless. It had been exhausting work. Marco and Star were both panting and drenched in sweat when it was finished.

"Oh, you two were amazing!" said Mrs. Diaz, when the two finally stumbled their way back. "You work so WELL together-"

"Uh, Marco? You're bleeding." Janna's eyes widened.

"Huh? What? Where?" Marco stretched around, not seeing any blood. And suddenly the pain hit him. It was a searing wound his back. With all the running around, he wasn't even sure where it came from. Most likely it had been right from the beginning, when, veins filled with adrenaline, he had jumped in front of the Ferguson abomination. He hadn't felt the pain until now.

"What? Let me take a look at this," Mr. Diaz said, practically shoving Janna out of the way. When he saw the wound, he seemed relieved. "Oh, Marco. It isn't that bad. It will leave you a nice scar! Women love scars." Mrs. Diaz looked extremely upset for a moment or two, then she shrugged. "It's true. I do at least."

"Yeah, scars are pretty cool!" said Star. "But still, we should...try to find a way to stop the bleeding? Maybe?"

"Oh! One minute." Janna ran off, and returned with a towel. She wrapped it around Marco's torso, tying it off with surprising expertise, as a sort of makeshift bandage. "My dad taught me how to do this," she confessed. As she tied it off, she took the opportunity to lean in close to Marco's ear. "Come see me later if you want something to help you heal," she whispered with a wink.

"You know, now that this is all over, maybe we should go home?" Star looked around the beach, forlorn. "I mean, what with Marco bleeding and all..."

"No way!" said Marco. "I mean, it's not that bad. Plus, look, the beach is completely empty now. That's awesome, we have the whole place to ourselves. Besides, it's not that bad. Give me a bit and I'll be fine." To be honest, he wouldn't have minded going home at this point, but he could tell Star really liked the beach. Star gave him an odd look, one that he couldn't interpret, with a small smile.

"Okay," she relented. "But the spellbook..."

"Oh, don't worry," said Mr. Diaz. "That little goblin caught me by surprise. Next time, I'll CRUSH HIM."

"You know...maybe we should try keeping it somewhere safe if Ludo is after it?" Marco suggested.

"Yeah....but Ludo can teleport in pretty much anywhere. Honestly, I don't know where we could put it where it would be safe. It's not like I can lug it around like I do with my wand. I don't think Ludo will come back for it today. And besides, your dad seems like he can handle Ludo pretty well!" Star smiled and made appreciative "ooooh" sounds as Mr. Diaz flexed.

"I'll take it," offered Janna.

"No, you won't," Marco said flatly. In the end, he relented and agreed to keep the book with his parents.

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As the kids ran off to take advantage of the empty beach, Mrs. Diaz smacked Mr. Diaz on the butt. "Look at that! Our boy is bleeding because of what you did."

"Oh, honey. It's not so bad." Mr. Diaz did look shamefully guilty. "I guess I was a bit overconfident."

"That Janna girl is trouble. She has the hots for Marco too."

"Are you sure?"

Mrs. Diaz snorted. "Oh no. She was just using every excuse she had to wrap her arms around him and whisper in his ear while she thought we weren't looking. Yes, I'm sure."

Mr. Diaz smiled. "Well, would you look at that. My son, the ladies man!"

"I don't like her. I like STAR. Star is such a nice girl. That Janna is trouble."

"I seem to recall your parents said something very similar about me when we were young," replied Mr. Diaz blithely. "You better keep quiet about that, or you'll drive Marco right into her arms, just like your parents did with me."

Mrs. Diaz looked annoyed for a moment, then she smiled and stood on her tiptoes to deliver a kiss to her husband. "Promise you won't try anything else until you have a better handle on that spellbook," she whispered, arms wrapped around him.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll figure it out eventually."

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Marco and Star spent the day wandering around the beach, just talking and laughing. Janna had hung out with them for a bit but disappeared after a while. They ransacked some ice cream from an overturned ice-cream cart left behind in the monster attack. Star became infuriated at some seagulls, which apparently didn't exist in Mewni, when they constantly followed her, cawing obnoxiously, waiting for food.

At the end of the day, they sat together on a towel, watching the sun set over the water. "Man, that is amazing," said Marco, referring to the red light reflecting off the water.

"YOU'RE AMAZING," blurted out Star suddenly, knocking the breath out of Marco as she grabbed him with a crushing hug.

"Huh? Star? Wha-"

"Marco! You jumped right in front of that...Ferguson thing. It could have killed you! In fact, I'm pretty sure killing is the least of what it could have done to you. You jumped in like you didn't even care!"

Marco shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, well, I wasn't just going to abandon you to it-"

"And then this day has just been so much fun. And I know you wanted to leave, earlier. But you said you didn't because you knew I wanted to stay. Don't deny it. I'm in your head, Marco."

"Well...I ended up having fun anyway," Marco said bashfully.

Star sighed, still hugging him. "Marco, why are you so good to me?"

"You're my friend, Star. My best friend. When you're happy, I'm happy."

Star looked up at him with shining eyes. "Awwwwwwww. Marco!"

"Okay," he said jokingly, "You can let go now."

"I don't want to. It's getting chilly, and you're warm." Star rested her head on his shoulder, and Marco couldn't remember ever feeling so content. Together they watched the sun go down.

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When it was dusk, they returned to Marco's parents to get ready to leave. Marco went into the beach showers to rinse the sand off of himself. When he was done, he walked out into the locker room, drying himself with a towel, when he was suddenly pulled aside. It was Janna.

"Janna?!" he yelped. "This is the MEN'S locker room."

Janna rolled her eyes. "It's not like anyone else is here." She looked him up and down, then pressed her body against his and whispered in his ear. "You never came to see me to help you heal."

"Wh-" said Marco, but before he could say anything else, Janna's hands were in his hair, pulling down his head, and her lips were on his, her tongue in his mouth. He pushed her away. "Janna!"

"Shut up," she said, and kissed him again, hard. Her breasts were on his chest, and he could feel her heartbeat, quick and excited behind them. He gave into the kiss, despite himself. "Oh, Diaz," she breathed, her hands trailing down his chest to his butt, which she then playfully squeezed while Marco yelped. "Well, one of us has to be doing the groping, since you're apparently too timid to be grabbing MY ass."

"Janna, stop," Marco said, seriously. In response she just kissed him once again, pushing him against the lockers, this time hooking one of her legs behind his, making him uncomfortably aware of the heat in her crotch as she pressed it against his leg.

"That's for being so brave today," she said when she was done. "It will help you heal." And then a nasty snicker. Marco brushed her aside and began walking away, and she slapped him on his back, right on his cut. "And that's for not coming to see me earlier!" she laughed as he winced.