Okay moment of truth. When stuck between the ever looming presence of teenage embarrassment and a homicidal box, Marco decided that the hell cube was more threatening, if only by a smidge. Now that he had finally confessed, even with his friends all staring at him and the giant monstrous construct peering down on them all, he felt strangely calm. It was like the pressure that had been building up for years had finally been let out at once and now his body didn't have to stretch itself to contain it. He could relax.

The feeling was blissful, for the second that it lasted. The tension built again as he stared at Jackie, like he been expecting the answer. It was the moment of truth. He looked her in the eye. She looked away.

Crap.

"Marco I'm flattered but dude, Janna is standing right there."

"What?" Marco turned his head about 45 degrees to his side. He looked at the beanie girl named by his crush. She shrugged. Marco faced Jackie once more. "What?"

"And she's like my best friend, I'm pretty sure this goes against the girl code. You know, concerning besties and not stealing their boyfriends." The skateboarder was looking at just about every direction but towards him.

"But we're not-" Matco began, though he tripped over his own tongue. "Janna doesn't- I'm not her boyfriend."

There was a rather rude laugh, "Yes you are."

"Star." He gasped. Feeling what he could only describe as knife to his back. He turned his whole body to his blonde friend. She smiled at him all good natured like. That grin disappeared quickly.

"Oh." She said, "Oh, you're serious."

"Yes I'm serious." He threw his hands up, before the implications hit him, "And wait if you thought I was dating Janna this whole time, why were you helping me out with Jackie."

"I don't know. I thought you were in one of those relationships." Star started to play with her hair.

"One of what relationship?" What, they were playing the noun game?

"Oh. Oh. I know this one." The floating horse head stuck herself between the two best friends, "What my girl is talking about, is when you have you and your boo, and than you bring in a bunch of other people."

"What?" That sounded way too scandalous.

"You know" She stretch out her words, "One of those open relationships."

"No, no. Pony Head, I got what you mean, but that is not me." Marco brought his hand up to metaphorically stop the assumptions in their tracks. Retreating one hand he shot a single finger in the sky. "I am a one woman type of guy."

"Oh, isn't that sweet." Star placed her hands on her cheeks. "Janna is the only girl for him."

"No, Star." He started to question his friend's reasoning. "Why did you think I had one of those relationships with Janna."

Star looked up as if she was visualising something, "Well Janna did say that it's fine if you 'go after whoever. You know who you really belong to.'"

Marco glared at Janna.

She didn't have anything to say to her defense.

"Ya," Janna scratched the back of her head. She didn't look apologetic in the least, "I did say that."

He sighed. Guess it was time for him to clean up another one of Janna's mess that he somehow found himself in the center of. "Star. Maybe not take everything at face value," he loved her, but she was the same girl who took the old expression 'when pigs fly' completely literally, "And Janna, could you please stop with the things you say. People are gonna think you like me or something."

Janna blinked. It was her turn to look confused. "I do like you."

Marco chuckled, "Ya, ya. I like you too Janna." before waving off the girl's statement.

"No I mean I really like you Diaz." Janna bluntly admitted.

"Very funny." His tone made it clear that he felt it was anything but.

The beanie wearing girl pointed to herself, poking her chest over where her heart was. "If you asked me to, I would literally make out with you right here, right now."

Marco rolled his eyes. He turned towards the other girls. "Okay. It's time to stop joking around. We need to get out of this box."

"Um Marco. She's completely serious." Star was raising her hand, doing a half committed impression of a student asking a question in class.

"No she's not." Marco shook his head.

Janna nodded. "Yes I am."

Marco stepped back. He looked at Janna, than Star and back to his admirer. He apparently had to expel this really quickly. "Okay, Janna. If you were serious, why are you okay with me confessing to Jackie?" He smiled knowing that the troublemaker probably had no true answer.

"She's on the list." Janna shrugged as if her answer was simple.

"Oh she's on the list." Marco laughed at the ridiculous answer. It was a prepared reaction to whatever her answer would've been. Suddenly his mind caught up with his mouth. "What list?"

"You know that exception list I made for us. Hold on. I got it right here." Janna tugged at her pajama collar before reaching down. Down, far enough that Marco involuntarily turned away. When he could will his neck back the girl was holding a worn looking sheet of paper. Janna crackled the parchment summoning the girls to her side. "Gather round children."

"Oh, we're about to get mad personal in here." Of course it was Pony Head who seemed most excited. She was practically rubbing her wiping her nose with the thing..

"Janna what is this?" Marco stepped forward nervously. He made a widow wiping motion as he gestured towards the item.

"As I said the list. The 'people it's okay to sleep with list.'" Janna took her pointer and pinkie and pointed at two different items on the list. "Like right where you got Jackie and I have the reborn corpse of John Keat."

"I didn't tell you to make this." He was sure he didn't. He would've remembered doing so.

Janna for a moment considered that sentence. "Didn't you?"

"No I didn't." Marco didn't quite grit his teeth together cause that's bad for your jaw, but he did glare hard enough to burn a hole through her hat.

Janna looked up through the left corner of her eye and than the right, before shrugging. "Well you have to appreciate my initiative."

"Who is even on here?" Marco moved one of Janna's hand so that the notation was facing him rather than the group. That didn't stop them from following the document. "Sabrina? I don't even talk to her."

"Don't act like you wouldn't. She always hurting herself and you're a total white knight. One sentence between you two and you'd end up following her like a mother hen." Janna revealed that she put a bit more thought into the list than he would've figured. None of that thought was anchored in reality but she did think about it at least.

Marco felt a bit of weight on his shoulder. Star neck was hanging over him as she stood on the tippy toes. "Oh, I'm on both sides."

Marco ripped the list straight from Janna's mitts. "Give me that." Edges of the paper torn a little. Not that that mattered because he balled the damn thing up and toss it over his back to a far off corner of the death cube.

"Rude." Janna whined, seeming a bit genuinely preeved.

Star nodded sagely. "Ya, you don't have to grab stuff Marco."

"Star" Marco shutted his eyes. Was that a headache. He had a feeling he was about to get a headache. "why are you okay with this?"

"I don't know. I find it cute she shares your little list quirk." Star leaned a bit towards Marco before squishing her cheeks together. "You two are so cute together."

"We're not together." Marco muttered flatly.

Star dropped her arms. "Why not?" She tilted her head to one side.

It was at that time that Jackie decided to throw her two cents in. "Ya Marco, why not?"

"She doesn't like me like that." Marco let his hand lay flat in the air, and let it swing side to side. "She's just messing with me."

"Marco, I've seen Janna mess around." Thomas had known the girl for quite some time. "This is a bit more real than that."

Star shouted to the air. "Why is he being so difficult?"

"Yo, turd. Are you not interested or something?" Pony longed for an answer.

"I'm" Marco breathed in and held it for a moment before letting it out slowly. "That question is irreverent."

"Seems pretty on point dude." The look on Jackie's face let him know immediately that she was having no part of what he was trying to sell them.

The look on Janna's face was very similar. "Geez, Diaz. If you're not into me. Just say so. I'm a big girl."

"Janna, stop messing around."

Janna crossed her arms before turning skywards to the diamond shape hovering above all of them. "Yo hey murder box, aren't you gonna cut in? I like Marco Diaz. True, yay or nay?"

There was a chime as the entire room flashed green. "True."

"Okay, no need to shout." Janna gave a angry sideways glance at the being, plugging her ear with her pinkie. She gestured at Marco with her chin. "Well Diaz?"

He bit his lip."This thing is busted."

"Marco Diaz" Star prepared her best 'mom' voice. "We are in a lie detecting box and Janna has just confessed her feelings for you. This is happening."

Jackie made a tiny whine underneath her breath. "Like Marco, I don't want this to be weird, seeing as you just confessed you have a crush on me, but Janna is my friend and deserves a straight answer."

"You're right." Marco sighed. "Janna, we're been friends or something like that since we were practically in diapers. You've always been right there and I can't express how much I appreciate that, but I have to be be honest and say that I'm sorry, I don't have those type of feelings for you."

He breathed out. He hoped it would be better if he got it over quickly like pulling a bandage.

Janna was looking him in the eye. She stopped that mid way through his monologue. She opened her mouth to speak.

That's when the entire room chose to flash red, "False!"

Janna eyes rocketed back. Marco's own opened wide. She glared at him.

A loud piercing siren broke the tension. The source of the noise turned out to being roaring 'ooh' of one Pony Head. "Cow pie here is a liar."

"What, no. I told you guys that this dang thing is on the flitz." He pointed upwards at the omniscient diamond.

"Boy, you're on the flitz." The creativity and wit of that comeback would surely haunt Diaz until his very last days.

Marco spat at Pony Head. "That doesn't even make sense."

Snap. Marco eyes darted to Janna, who in a lapse of attention had gotten pretty close to the boy. He tried to look away but she continued to snap her fingers until he had no choice but to give her his focus. Having her audience, she place her hands on his shoulder. "Hey hey hey Marco. Do you have a crush on me?"

Maybe it was exhaustion or maybe it was because of how close Janna was to him at that point but whatever confidence he had answering before was gone. What came out was a squeak of a "No."

A hand moved from his shoulder, further to the back of his neck. Her thumb caressed it casually. "Cause I have a crush on you."

"No you don't." Marco brought his hands to his cheeks. He didn't understand why at first, but it quickly came apparent to him there was a possibility that he had something to hide from her. If he wasn't blushing before, the idea of his face reddening made it true.

He tried to hide her from his sight, cover more of his face, but through his hands he could still feel her staring. "I like you." She was getting closer.

"Please stop." Oh god, he could feel tears on his cheeks. He was crying.

"I love you."

On the sidelines, the teen girls stared at the pair.

Jackie gave the back of her scalp a good scratched. She turned to Star, and the other blonde noticing the stare looked back. The princess shrugged and the two of them silently acknowledged that as super awkward and personal this all was, there was really nothing else to do.

Jackie coughed and looked up. Floating there was the weird magical metal diamond. The eyes in the middle of his fleshy core also on the weird teenagers. Jackie coughed again and for a second that bought it gaze downwards to her. "Shouldn't you be, I don't know, turning his blood cells into bees for lying or something like that?"

"Nah," dismissed the magical construct, "I think she's doing a good enough job tormenting him." Referring to how as much as Marco tried to hide it, his eyes were soaking and his face resembled a ripe tomato. It could've been suffering from allergies just base on how he looked instead of having a mild breakdown.

The thing than gave Jackie a sort of look of clear judgement, a impressive task considering the thing didn't really have a normal face. "Also that's gross. You're gross."

"They look cute together don't they." Star whispered just enough so that the other girls could hear.

"Ya, I don't think I've seen Janna smile this wide in a long time." True enough, the troublemaker had a grin so large that it threatened to split her face into two. "And I think it's only about 50% because of sadism. You know she told me that Marco's the cutest when he's embarrassed."

"Wait, wait something's going on." Pony hushed Jackie Lynn. Her gaze never left the couple.

The girl with the blue stripe in her hair only allowed her eyes to leave Marco and Janna for a second, but in that time Marco had shifted. He was no longer hiding behind his arms and instead was hugging tight onto Janna's midsection. His cheeks dug just under her chest. Her friend's hands have moved from behind his neck to the top of his hair, playing gently with his hair.

Janna bent one knee, lowering herself and Marco followed suit. Soon she was sitting down and he was laying beside her, his head on her lap.

Jackie smirked, "I think those two are hitting it off." She let out a breath she didn't even know she had been holding. She could cross her arms and lean back, enjoying the sight of the two in harmony.

"Mazel Tov!" Star raised her arms up high. There was the tiniest of hops as she expressed her joy.

"I didn't know you were Jewish, Star." Jackie gave her a wayward look as laugh soundlessly.

Star brought a finger to her cheek, tilting her head to one side. "What's a Jewish?"

Jackie opened her mouth, "Nevermind." and quickly decided that that branch of dialogue was not one worth having.

Pony Head' irises started to shoot restlessly between the two blondes. "So wait, who exactly was untruthing up in here?"

"I dunno." Star thought deeply about. "I'm pretty sure we all should be telling the truth now."

The crowd looked at the couple, before turning on each other. Accusation fell on Star, Pony Head and finally Jackie.

The skater girl groaned. She stomped one foot before she allowed herself to fall on her butt. "Fine, I'm crushing on Starfan."

The bodiless unicorn and the interdimensional princess eyes popped open as they turned behind them to see the greeky brown hair girl who was always, and I mean always at Star's side.

Star looked at her friend and chirped, "Oh good choice."

"Dang I forgot you were even here girl." Pony Head laughed.

"I'm always here." Starfan13 stated the fundamental truth of the universe. She looks at you. Her eyes traveling through the box, through the imagine universe and pass the computer screen to your realm of existence. "I'm always watching."

8/18/18: Made a few grammar and spelling fixes.