Work Text:
Star wasn’t paying attention. Which was a common mistake she made, but this time, she found herself blind-sided.
Quite literally.
A pair of warm hands covered her eyes, and a familiar husky voice was tickling her ear.
“Guess who?”
Star rolled her eyes, and reached up, gently smacking the hands. “What do you want, Tom?”
The demon prince hovered up in the air, almost reclining like there was an invisible chair there. “I missed you,” he said simply— with that foxy, pointy and slightly charming smile. “Isn’t that enough?” He fell on her bed, right next to her, letting everything around her fall to the floor.
She almost melted.
She could have given in.
But instead?
“No, you gotta get out of here,” Star protested. “One, I gotta plan stuff for my stupid birthday ball and two, you’ll be playing dodgeball with my mom and dad’s weapons if they catch you in here.”
Tom scoffed, rolling all three of his eyes. “C’mon,” he said. “Play hooky with me, just like old times.”
Star opened her mouth to reply, then paused and squinted at him. “I thought we were trying to not do stuff like ‘old times’,” she pointed out. “And as much as I’d love to ditch this, I can’t, this is the first ball I have to host all by myself. I don’t wanna screw up,”
She made an effort of picking stuff up, making it look like yes, she really was working—
“Alright,” Tom sighed, snapping his fingers and returning everything back in the places they were before he had invaded Star’s space. “Then lemme help you,” Tom. Being helpful. The Tom she knew would have kept coaxing her to ditch the important stuff until she gave in. Well… this was also the Tom she knew. Star kept forgetting to realize that.
“Nope,” she declared. “I gotta do this on my own.”
“Well, that sucks,” Tom muttered. “When am I gonna get you to myself?”
Ah, there he was. That small glimmer of way-back-when. Star smirked, poking Tom in the cheek.
“Put the pout away,” she chided.
“But Starship,”
“Thomas.”
“Right, right, no nicknames. My bad.”
It seemed as though he had nothing else to say and so… he kissed her. And it felt different than any other kiss he had given her; his forked tongue wasn’t shoved down her throat, his hand rested on the small of her back rather than behind her neck and his lips were soft and gentle, almost as if they were inviting her to take the lead.
When they broke apart, Tom winked. “How do you feel about Starshine instead?”
“You’re lucky I let you call me ‘girlfriend’ again,” Star blushed.
It was weird. Something familiar and sweet, but also weird.
Both of them seemed too caught up in each other to notice someone lurking in the castle shadows… but it was only Star who seemed to catch the sudden familiar twinkle of a portal opening. Yet by the time she turned around, she saw or heard nothing else.
“Something up?” Tom asked.
“No,” Star said, her voice surprisingly soft. “Nothing at all,”
She kissed Tom and not only did he feel warm, he almost felt right.
Almost.
But holding his hand didn’t feel like she found all the pieces of the puzzle. It almost felt like she was missing all the corners. Like she couldn’t complete something… like she couldn’t complete herself.
“Dinner,” Star mumbled when they broke apart one last time. “I’ll let you take me to dinner on Friday but nothing weird. No spiders, no craziness and—”
“No temper or getting jealous,” Tom concluded. “I got it.”
Was this it? Was this the beginning of starting over? Had all the awkwardness finally slipped away? Star was smiling, and she felt fine, but why did it feel like doing those things took so much effort? She didn’t think too much about it. She just let Tom, right there in her arms, poof away and leave her alone—
—with her thoughts.
Sometimes her thoughts were too much to handle.
- - -
“Were you having fun spying on me and Star?”
Marco dropped his ping-pong paddle and frowned. “I wasn’t spying,”
Tom smirked, just as the scoreboard flipped— 66: Lucitor, 7: Diaz. “Dude, I know, I’m just giving you a ration,” he laughed. “But talk about walking in at the worst time, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Marco sighed, serving the ball across the board. “But it’s whatever.”
Star had witnessed him kissing Jackie at the Love Sentence concert. Now he saw Star kissing her ex-boyfriend. New boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend that was now her new boyfriend. Whatever. He supposed that made them even. But… the events of the party still haunted him. What was Star doing, confessing to him and then—
“Point to Master Tom,” one of the demon guards droned, flipping the score card.
“I gotta admit, it’s kinda great having her back,” Tom admitted. “Is this weird for you? Because I know you guys were never a thing, you got a girlfriend, right?”
Marco’s paddle snapped.
And not from the ridiculous force of Tom’s strength, but by hitting the edge of the table. Plastic and wood shattered into shards on the floor, and Marco breathed deep, his shoulders trembling.
“Wow. Dude,” Tom muttered.
“It’s not weird,” Marco mumbled. “Sorry about the paddle.”
“Eh, it’s cool,” the demon assured. “But you break another one and you’re using your hands,”
Marco grinned, in spite of his confusion. “Yeah, yeah, I got it,” he said. “You know, with all these games I’ve lost, I’m surprised you haven’t taken my soul yet.”
“I will eventually,” Tom smirked.
He didn’t need to do that, actually. He won the best prize, and that was Star’s affection. For a split second, though, when he hugged her in that dungeon, Marco thought that was what he had— but he had Jackie to go back home to, so why had he been so happy when he was reunited with Star? Why was he so confused about what Star was doing? Why did he even care?
“She’s my best friend,” Marco mumbled, unaware he had said it out loud.
“Yeah, I know,” Tom said. “So don’t worry, I’ll treat her right this time. And if I don’t, you can have my soul.”
Marco swallowed hard, feigning a smirk. “No thanks, dude,” he chuckled.
Tom was treating Star better than Marco was. How backwards. Ever since the party— ever since that awkwardness and craziness with saving Mewni, with Star almost dying, with everything falling apart— Marco had felt distant from the one person he was closest to.
“Point, Earth Turd,” the demon guard mumbled, just as one of Marco’s powerful hits, fueled by confusion and frustration and everything caused the ping pong ball to fall in his favor.
“Hey!” Marco scoffed.
“Pony Head told me that one,” Tom smirked. “Gotta admit, it’s funny.”
Marco didn’t realize he wasn’t just losing the game, but everything else around him...
- - -
“So,”
Friendship Thursday. Just like everything was back to normal.
But not really.
It was Friendship Thursday without the closeness. Or the blanket. Or … anything else, really. Just the two of them, the couch, the pizza and an entire season of Sin City 60660, some new show Marco had gotten into recently. Star had been trying to pay attention but she got confused when the police troop started singing.
“How long have you and Tom been together? Well, uh, back together, I guess?” Marco asked as he lowered the tv— why were the cops singing again?
Star nearly spit out her soda.
“How did you find out about that?” she nearly choked out.
“We played ping-pong together the other day,” he said simply. “He beat me. Again. But also kinda bragged about having you back.”
“We’re doing good,” Star said, without a sliver of hesitation. “Better than we were before. I mean, he’s still Tom but he’s, y’know, not Tom. I guess he grew up a little.”
A soft ‘oh’ escaped Marco and he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Cool. I, uh, I didn’t know you got back together. When did that even happen?”
Star sighed, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. “We got set up by our parents for some stupid Silver Bell Ball thing and… well, we got to talking and started hanging out after that— I dunno, we just accidentally ended up together again,” She stared blankly at the tv screen, not paying attention to the show at all. “We’ve gone a whole week without arguing so that’s good for us.”
Marco nodded, fiddling with the remote, looking at everything except Star.
“How’s Jackie?”
“Wha?”
“You know,” Star urged, gently punching her friend in the arm. “Your girlfriend.”
He had a girlfriend.
She had a boyfriend.
They were best friends.
And that was okay.
(But was, was it really?)
“We’re good,” Marco said softly.
He wouldn’t tell her. About the fight, about how Jackie went all the way to San Francisco to get away from him — okay, sure, she had family out there that she had to visit but still — about how nothing was going to be the same for… any of them, really.
And how Star had no idea.
Or did she?
Well, if she didn’t already, she would know— he would know what was going on. And maybe they would be okay by the end of this.
- - -
“Hey, Star?” Marco said, gently knocking on the grand ivory doors that led to Star’s bedroom chambers. He had gotten better with the dimensional scissors, so he wasn’t landing in there anymore… “Can I come in?”
“It’s open!” Star chirruped from the inside.
Marco took a deep breath before he swung open the door, stepping inside Star’s bedroom chambers—
—which she styled to look exactly like her room back on Earth. He couldn’t help but smile at that.
“Are you here for your chevalier training?” Star said, as she stood in front of her mirror, dabbing on a bit of lip gloss. “Because my mom wanted me to tell you she had to cancel that, she had to go settle something down in the Pigeon Kingdom. I have no idea what they get up to, but y’know,” She shrugged and then turned around to face Marco.
She used to read him instantly. But now, he could almost count the seconds it took her to figure out what was wrong with him.
“Something tells me you weren’t here for that,” Star mumbled.
“No, I wasn’t,” Marco sighed. “I wanted to talk to you about— stuff. But you seem busy,”
“Yeah. I have a thing with Tom,” she said, her tone of voice almost sounding low. “Dinner.”
Marco couldn’t help but furrow his brow. “So, what, it’s serious between you guys?” he scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air.
Star took a quick step back like she had been shocked. “Yeah, so?”
“So?” Marco blurted out. “God— Star, I can’t believe, this is Tom!” No, it wasn’t. Not really. “You hated him! You broke up with him! And I, I just don’t get it!” He didn’t understand how she could do this. To them, to their friendship, to him.
And god, how he missed the days Star could practically read his mind, because if she could do that now, it would make things so much easier.
“Tom has changed, Marco,” Star argued. “And right now, he’s a good distraction for me.”
“Distraction from what?” Marco asked.
Star’s holographic heels click-clacked on the ivory floor as she rocked back and forth in place. “Everything,” she said, her voice pitiful and sad like a little girl. “Look, I don’t expect you to get it.”
He got it alright.
He wasn’t sure if she was playing with him or if she was actually upset and just as confused as him.
“You’re right,” Marco muttered. “I don’t get it.”
“Marco—” She began to protest just as he turned on his heel and left.
“Have fun with your boyfriend, Star.”
She looked beautiful. Her hair done up, a new dress flittering with every movement she made, just the right amount of makeup to make her shine— she was beautiful and perfect and in pain. And Marco could only watch and wonder what sort of supernova was going on inside of Star’s soul.
- - -
J-Lynn: did u talk to ⭐
M.Diaz: no
M.Diaz: kinda
M.Diaz: not really
J-Lynn: r u going 2
J-Lynn: cause tbh i don’t wanna talk 2 u if u didn’t talk 2 her
M.Diaz: jackie don’t do this
It was the fight all over again. The fight they had right after the party, right before he left for Mewni.
J-Lynn: look i know star isn’t that kinda girl
J-Lynn: but it sucks she pulled that move
M.Diaz: she has a new bf anyway
J-Lynn: ?????
Me too, Jackie. He wanted to say. Me too.
J-Lynn: she’s weird
M.Diaz: don’t say that about her
J-Lynn: well i mean she is
J-Lynn: she’s cool and all but like… weird
J-Lynn: look just tell her what she pulled at the party was uncalled for esp since you had a gf
M.Diaz: she didn’t mean it
J-Lynn: still.
M.Diaz: jackie can’t you just chill
M.Diaz: star has been going thru a lot yknow
M.Diaz: she only said that stuff cause she didn’t know if she was gonna come back to earth or see me again
M.Diaz: or anyone else
J-Lynn: dude
J-Lynn: ur taking her side
Marco should have chucked his phone at the wall. But Jackie had a point. He was taking Star’s side. And for some reason, deep down in the place between his heart and his gut, Marco knew it was for more than just the ‘best friends’ lie he had been feeding everyone, including himself.
But if it wasn’t that, then what was it?
M.Diaz: i hope ur having fun in san fran
J-Lynn: yeah. i’ll be back on mon. can we talk then
That was the same day as Star’s birthday ball. He had been invited, as her friend and her newly christened knight. Chevalier. Whatever. Marco didn’t even realize what he was typing until he hit the ‘SEND’ button.
M.Diaz: cant. busy that day.
J-Lynn: ofc you are.
J-Lynn: honestly marco i’m done
J-Lynn: you’re a cool guy but this is getting too weird for me
J-Lynn: txt me when you know what you want
What did he want?
He wanted Jackie Lynn Thomas since… forever. And then there was Star. Here and there so fast. Shaking things up, making things weird— and maybe just a little bit too weird. Jackie was right, though, she was so right, it almost killed him.
Marco had to talk to Star. He just never knew the right time.
- - -
As badly as he wanted to say something tonight, now was not the right time. If anything, it was the worst time.
“I need you,” Star said, in a hushed voice.
Even above all the elegant music playing, he heard her and when he saw her, he froze. Marco nearly gasped when he saw tears in her soft blue eyes that were now resembling a storm. He took her by the arm, leading her away from the regal ballroom scene.
“What happened?” he mumbled. “Was it Tom?”
“No. Yes. Maybe,” Star blurted out, before shaking her head. “No, no, it wasn’t him. It was me, I broke up with him again. Oh, gosh, this is the worst birthday ball ever, I — I messed up, Marco.”
Marco wanted to say ‘told you so’. He wanted answers. He wanted to know what was going on since this whole love-crush-romance nonsense started. But instead, he just kept both arms wrapped around his best friend and sighed, burying his face in her long, curled blonde hair.
“Star,” he sighed.
“Marco,” she whined.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” they both declared.
Holding him felt right. She found the puzzle pieces she was missing with Tom. She had been running away from what was right, avoiding the truth and acting childish. Was that irresponsible? How could she be a queen if she couldn’t even figure out how to feel?
Having her so close to him was different. He had something better here, with his best friend, than with his supposed girlfriend. Did that make him a bad person? Or just stupid? He couldn’t tell, all he knew was that he almost had Star back and… that was all that mattered.
It was the dungeon all over again.
“You first,” Once again, it was both of them.
It was Star and Marco. Always. And what was it with them and parties always going downhill? First Song Day, then the End of Summer bash and now… this. Whatever this was.
“Both of us,” Marco mumbled. “On three.”
He whispered the countdown, counting on his fingers with the hand that wasn’t interlocked with Star’s, and once his final finger fell—
“I still like you.” So that was what she meant by distraction.
“I think I have a crush on you.” So he finally knew what happiness was.
At first, he thought the scream had come from Star, but her lips had only released a gasp. Somewhere in the ballroom, chaos had begun to erupt. And neither of them recognized the dark purple lightning or shrill, high-pitched giggles.