"Yeah, Mom, I know," Marco turned the stove off, sighing into the phone. "No one allowed over until you get home, only leave the house for school and groceries... you told me this before you left!" He balanced his cell between his shoulder and his cheek as he pulled his oven mitts off.

"Okay, Marco. I love you, mi hija! Take good care of princesa Star!" His mother shouted every word as if Marco was deaf. "See you in a week!"

As soon as Marco heard the click on the other end, he threw his phone on the counter and his head in his hands. "Ugh," he groaned, his feet aching. Ever since his parents had left for a ten day trip to Mexico three days previous, he'd been going nonstop. Cooking every meal, checking up on his parents, cleaning up the messes Star made, fighting Ludo's army. He was over it; tired.

A quick glance to the clock on the microwave told him it was already eleven, and even though it was a Friday night, he was ready for bed. Star had asked him for nachos, which he had made, of course, and dropping them off would be his final task of the night.

He heard Star far before he reached her room, squealing. "Are you serious? Really!? I can't wait!" She sounded even happier then normal. Must be talking to her mom on the mirror or something, Marco thought to himself. Or Pony Head.

"Star!" He yelled, standing outside her door.

"Hold on," she said, her voice muffled. "Marco's here." She sounded almost... annoyed. Her bed screeched as she stood, and her footsteps padded along the floor.

"What?" Star said, throwing the door open.

Marco almost dropped the nachos at the sight of her. Her hair was down; normal. She was wearing her horned headband; normal. However, what she was wearing was not normal. A red crop top that appeared to jaggedly cut on the bottom and black swimsuit bottoms. No, not swimsuit bottoms. Underwear. "Star?" He choked out, barely able to catch his breath.

"What?" She repeated.

"Star... what are you wearing?"

"Oh, this?" Star placed her hands on her hips, smiling. "Tom sent it to me. He designed it himself-" she dropped her voice to a whisper, "in the Underworld."

"You like that?" Marco said, the bottom of the plate he was holding burning his hand. "It's just, it's not you, Star. Why didn't you ask for like, a red tutu or something?"

"Excuse me?" Star gasped, noticing the nachos Marco had in his arms and snatching them. "I am FOURTEEN. I can wear something other then... tutus. Marco, I swear, you are so silly sometimes. Goodnight."

"No, not goodnight. We need to talk."

"I'm already talking to someone," Star whined.

"Who?"

"No one," Star began whispering again. "Okay? Well, I mean, not no one. I am talking to some one. Just, no one that I want you to know I'm talking to."

"Starship, what's taking so long?"

Marco felt his hands curl into fists when he heard Tom's voice echo from inside the mirror. Star bit her lip and shrugged. "Sorry, Marco," she said. "Another minute, Tom!" She turned her head and called back into the room."

"I thought you broke up!" Marco's voice cracked, and he hated himself for it. "He's got issues. He nearly killed me at the Blood Moon Ball!"

"Tom wouldn't kill anyone. Maybe deform them, or banish them to the Underworld, but he wouldn't kill you. Definitely not," Star crunched a nacho, wiggling her hips. "These are the bomb!"

"What's the bomb? Is there a bomb? Are you okay?" Tom screamed.

"Yeah, I'm FINE!"

"Star, I don't think this is a good idea. You and Tom. I mean, look what you're wearing," Marco scanned Star up and down, hoping he wasn't blushing. "It's not... classy. Tom isn't right for you."

Star's smile melted. "But your mom said I'm such a classy chica."

"Not in that, Star."

Star's sadness suddenly turned to anger. "Yeah, well if Jackie Lynn Thomas was wearing this, you'd love it. You'd probably take a picture and make it your lockscreen, because you like Jackie Lynn Thomas, but guess what? Tom likes me, and I'm special to him, and so I'm allowed to dress like this if he wants me to and if I want to as well. And I do, Marco."

"Don't bring Jackie into this."

"Marco, if you were dating Jackie, even though you are not, you would want her to dress like this in front of you. You would buy her lots of clothes like this but you wouldn't say she wasn't classy because you bought them for her! It's not like I'm out in public wearing this."

"I never wanted to see you like this," Marco said, lying through his teeth.

"That's okay. Tom does."

Marco was quiet now, unsure of what to say. Star was right; she wasn't dressing like this for anyone but Tom, and even classy people probably did this, for those that they liked. "I don't want to fight, Star."

"I don't think we're fighting, Mess Up Twin," Star took a bite of another nacho. "We're just... disagreeing. It's probably gross for you to think about Tom giving me presents like this, but you'll figure it out one day, when you're dating a girl."

"I'm not a baby, Star. It's not that gross." It was though, it was gross, to think of Tom designing lowkey lingerie for his best friend. For Star. "So.. you're dating again, for sure?"

"For sure."

"STARSHIP!" Tom yelled. "We're going to run out of minutes!"

"Oh yeah, gotta go. Goodnight, Marco!" She sang his name and shut the door.

"What was that about?" Tom sounded angry, and Star confirmed that he was by offering him comforting words. "Why did you take so long talking to... Marco?"

"He doesn't like us, Tom," Star sounded sad, and Marco felt guilty for listening in on a private conversation, but not guilty enough to stop.

"Oh, he likes you. He stole OUR dance! He just doesn't like me, I guess. But I don't like him either. I hate him."

"Don't say that, Tom. You shouldn't hate people."

"I'll talk to Brian about it, okay?"

"Also, he doesn't like me in that way. He likes a girl named Jackie Lynn Thomas. She has white hair, with colors in it, and can ride a skateboard. It's a piece of wood with wheels on it, and it's really, really hard. I tried, but I fell."

"Were you okay?"

"I ripped a hole in my tights, but that's all. Jackie would never fall, but she wouldn't ever wear tights either, so she wouldn't have the same problems as me. Marco likes her a lot, so much that he wouldn't have enough room in his heart to like another girl."

"You say that, but not even a girl with colors in her hair would be cooler then you, Star. You make my heart go cold. Be careful. Marco... I don't want him to be alone with you."

"Tom! He's different then you think!"

"Do you like him?" Tom sounded angry again.

"No, no, nonononono! I like you! See, demon headband? If I liked him, I would be wearing a sombrero. We're together again, like before. You know that."

"What is a sombrero?"

"A straw hat. It's not as cool as horns."

"I have to go, Star. I'll miss you, Princess of Mewni."

"Bye, Tom, Demon of the Underworld. "

Marco, who was now sitting against the wall with his knees against his chest, sighed. Star was humming happily, and Marco wished she was humming because of him. He didn't like Jackie Lynn Thomas, not very much anymore, because Tom was right. Star was better then any girl on Earth, even if Jackie Lynn Thomas was always wearing tight clothes and high socks and cool shoes. She was Star Butterfly, but she was also Tom's.

And that was more then enough to hurt him.