A/N: This week's Starco Weekly Prompt on Tumblr was "Smooch Buddies". I hope you enjoy the fic!
Star and Marco were seated across from each other inside of a Chinese restaurant. Star fiddled with her chopsticks as Marco diligently manipulated his fingers to deliver a substantially-sized bite of chow mein to his mouth. After a few seconds, he swallowed and resumed the conversation he was having with Star earlier.
"Today was interesting for sure," said Marco. "I would have never guessed that today would have ended up the way it did."
"I guess that's one of the perks about having a friend from another dimension." said Star. "You never know what's gonna happen."
"Like when that one thing that looked like a cross between a minotaur and a deer tried to tackle us?" sneered Marco, trying not to laugh hysterically from just thinking about it.
The word interesting was a bit of an understatement to describe what had taken place earlier that day. Star and Marco were on a "signs of winter" hike together when suddenly an interdimensional portal opened up in front of them. Who came out of the portal was none other than Ludo, who had somehow escaped from the Darkness Dimension that Star had hurled him into back in late November. With a new army, consisting of creatures from said dimension, Ludo planned to get revenge on Star for "blowing up" his castle. Needless to say, neither the battle-hardened Ludo, nor his self-proclaimed "army of champions" were a match for the Mewnian princess and her karateka friend. After a five minute melee, Ludo was defeated and Star used her dimensional scissors to send him back to the Darkness Dimension, hoping to delay his inevitable return.
The glory of the battle was moot. But since Ludo was no longer trying to steal Star's wand on a weekly basis, monster fights had become rare. Even Toffee, who only in recent times had become Star and Marco's greatest enemy, had yet to strike back. Either way, a victory of any sort against monsterkind justified a grand celebration of crab rangoon and fortune cookies. Tonight, the seventeenth of January, was no exception.
Marco set down his chopsticks, having finished most of his meal. "I'm not used to having so much fun. I mean, it's only January. And nothing happens in January."
"What are you talking about?" retorted Star. "All sorts of stuff happens in January!"
"Like, what kind of stuff?" asked Marco. "Last time I remember, the only things that happen in January are cold weather and homework."
Star raised her wand in the air. "You know, stuff like monster fighting and interdimensional adventures. And don't forget, the Winter Formal dance." she pointed it at various things around the room, emphasizing what she was saying.
When Star mentioned Winter Formal, Marco felt a cold wave of anxiety wash over him.
"Ugh." he thought. "Whether you have fun at Formal or not hinges on whether I can nail this whole 'asking' thing. I knew that I was going to be asking someone to it, but do I have what it takes?"
Winter Formal was a source of mass hype within the freshmen at Echo Creek Academy. Because only upperclassmen were allowed to go to prom (except for those asked by juniors/seniors), everyone else looked forward to Formal, since it was the next best thing. It was the dance that every 14-year-old would want to go to with the date of their dreams. Until recently, Marco had wanted to ask Jackie Lynn Thomas, the girl he had a crush on since the first day of kindergarten. That was, until the Day of the Dead came.
Marco was minding his own business when he heard a unknown voice which told him a shocking revelation. The voice said that the Blood Moon Ball—the dance that Star was attending with her ex-boyfriend, the demon prince Tom—was a dance of lovers and that two souls would be bound for all eternity on that night. Fearing for Star, he scurried down to the Underworld—and ended up dancing with her while the light of the Blood Moon shone down on them.
As Marco held Star's hands and they danced together, he observed something about her he had never noticed before—she looked like the most beautiful girl in the world. He was filled with warmth as he gazed at her youthful blonde hair, which was done up in an extravagant topknot, and her jovial face of pure delight as they moved in concentric circles around the room. The outfit she wore that night—white gloves covering her hands and arms, a pink dress decorated with blissful hearts, and last but not least, alabaster white boots that reflected the sanguine light of the moon above back into the half-Latino boy's eyes—all contributed to how he felt. Whether or not the Blood Moon caused and/or exacerbated these feelings was unclear, but one thing was certain: his romantic feelings for Jackie were quickly melting away.
Initially, Marco's mind tried to convince him these romantic feelings, which came from his heart, were wrong.
"You like Jackie." his mind seemed to say. "Don't think about Star in that way, she's your best friend."
Of course, not even a millisecond later that his heart emphatically rebutted his brain.
"Are you kidding? Star is the best girl that he knows. His appreciation for her is far beyond your understanding. Certainly he would prefer to be with a bubbly, sociable girl like her instead of some skater chick that he barely talks to."
It was at that moment that Marco realized that he had really fallen in love with Star Butterfly, his best friend, Princess of Mewni, loyal confidant. Fearful that she wouldn't accept him as a romantic partner under the pretense that they were "best friends", he kept his feelings secret. Especially since at the time she was supposedly "in love" with Oskar Greason, a boy who at best looked like a handsome vampire.
Two months had passed since then, and things had changed. Star had drifted away from Oskar after having gone on a date with him that went horribly awry and resulted in him insisting ever since that she was a "crazy alien chick". Now, if Marco was to do something to further a romantic relationship between him and Star, it might just work. All he had to do to get it started was break the ice. And by "break the ice", it meant asking her to Formal. If she liked him in the same way, she would probably say yes. But how would he ask her?
Earlier in the month, when he and Star were eating dinner at the Chinese restaurant, Marco went to talk with Mrs. Liao, an employee who worked at the restaurant, for advice. As soon as he mentioned "I need help asking a girl to Formal", she was engaged and ready to help in any way she could.
"You should prompose to her!" suggested the waitress.
"Prompose?" asked Marco, somewhat confused. "But this is Formal, not Prom!"
Mrs. Liao giggled. "No, silly. It's called a 'promposal', regardless of what dance it is. All you do is make a sign that asks her to prom. It does all the hard work for you, and all she has to say is whether she'll go with you!"
Marco immediately blushed. "B-But what if I'm not artistic and can't figure out what to put on the poster?"
"You just need to make it cater to what she likes." answered Mrs. Liao. "Do you know her interests?"
"Well," began Marco, "I know that she likes hearts, stars, unicorns, magic, fighting monsters, Chinese food..."
An idea suddenly entered Mrs. Liao's head.
"That's it! If she likes Chinese, then I have a neat idea for how you could ask her!"
"What's your idea?" asked Marco curiously.
"Does she like fortune cookies?"
"Well, yeah." admitted Marco sheepishly. "A lot."
"We could make a message with something such as 'Formal?' on it and place it inside of a fortune cookie. Then, when she'd break the cookie apart and read the message..."
"I'll being asking her to Formal?"
"Exactly." re-iterated Mrs. Liao. "When are you planning on doing it?"
"I don't know..." nervously chattered Marco. "I guess whenever we show up here next."
Mrs. Liao smiled. "Okay! I'll make sure they're ready for the next time you visit!"
"Thanks a lot for you help." muttered Marco as he walked back to the table Star was sitting at, with a look of deep embarrassment upon his face.
Star finished up her last bite of crab rangoon and wiped off her face with a nearby paper napkin.
"Okay, Marco! Ready for some fortune cookies?!"
"Y-Yeah. Sure." replied Marco, who was trying not to crack under the nervousness he was experiencing. Tons of scenarios ran through his head. Did Mrs. Liao remember to make the custom fortune cookies? Will Star accidentally pick a regular one instead of the special one? What will the message say? Will she say yes?
Within a minute, Mrs. Liao arrived at their table, carrying a basket filled with fortune cookies, each one individually wrapped in plastic.
"Enjoy!" said Mrs. Liao with great pleasure.
"Thanks." replied Star as she picked up one of the fortune cookies. "So Marco, who's gonna eat the first one this time?"
Marco grinned nervously and gave two thumbs up. "Go ahead, Star."
Star unwrapped the fortune cookie and held it in her right hand, using her left hand to break it in half, exposing the end of the paper fortune that was inside. It looked slightly different from usual; the paper was silver colored and sparkling with glitter.
Star's eyes widened. "Ooh! It's a special fortune!" she exclaimed before pulling it out of the cookie.
At this point, Marco was shaking in his shoes. He was so nervous for what Star would say when she would read the fortune, but like before, he somehow managed to pull himself together and not show his anxiety upon his face.
Star unfolded the fortune and saw that it was covered in drawings of shiny golden stars and pink hearts the same color as the ones on her cheeks.
"Wow. This fortune looks so cute!" thought Star happily. "Whoever made this must have been in a super good mood!"
She then looked at the center of the paper and saw the message on the fortune. Rather than a vague proverb like most fortunes, this one instead asked a question. A single word question written in a fanciful font that resembled calligraphy.
"Formal?" read the fortune.
Marco tensed up slightly in anticipation, awaiting Star's response to the fortune.
The interdimensional princess' face turned crimson as she placed the fortune down on the table. The hearts on her cheeks turned the same color and almost appeared to pulsate with each heartbeat.
"I... I don't know..." said Star nervously. "Until now, I actually wasn't sure if I was going to Formal with a date."
Marco tensed up even more, hoping what would come out of her mouth next wouldn't be a rejection.
Star looked at Marco warmly, clasped her hands together and giggled, her nervousness fading away. "But now I know for sure that I have a Formal date, and I think there's something you've gotta ask me, Marco."
Marco steeled himself and said, "Star, will you go to Formal with me?"
"Yes!" yelled Star joyfully. "And it's gonna be real fun!"
As people throughout the restaurant applauded the successful ask, Star and Marco both stood up from their seats and embraced each other in a sincere, warm hug. Star closed her eyes in delight for a few seconds and smiled even wider.
"Star, I can't believe that you'd want to go to Formal with a guy like me, just a normal dork from Earth." admitted Marco.
"You're my best friend, silly!" laughed Star. "Not to mention, you are a good dancer."
Marco blushed some more as he gazed into Star's large, cerulean eyes. "Thanks again, Star. I don't know how to thank you."
"I sorta know how to thank you, though." said Star.
"How's that?" wondered Marco.
Star moved her head forward a little and brought her lips to Marco's. He blushed a little before leaning his head forward, causing their lips to touch. They kissed for only a couple seconds, but during that short time, it felt like the whole world stopped around them. Eventually, both teenagers pulled away slowly. Marco froze, unsure of what to say, his embarrassment overtaking him.
"Look, Marco! Now we've become 'smooch buddies'." noted Star playfully.
"Smooch buddies?" asked Marco curiously.
"On Mewni, when friends have their kiss for the first time, they become 'smooch buddies'," explained Star. "It's a way of showing your best friend that you really, really enjoy them as a person. I mean, just look at me and Pony Head. We've been smooch buddies for a long time now."
Marco scratched his head and giggled nervously. "Smooch buddies. Yeah. I like that term."
Marco certainly hadn't expected that his ask was going to happen in the way it did, and certainly hadn't expected that him and Star were going to become "smooch buddies". But regardless of all of these unforeseen events, he still enjoyed every part of it. Marco couldn't help but smile as he walked out of the Chinese restaurant with Star, thinking about all of the fun Star and him were going to have at Winter Formal waltzing on the dance floor and dancing the macarena in double time. Surely, was going to be a wonderful time for both of them.
The End