He was lost now.

Just some kid lost in an endless desert, looking for a trace of direction.

Having built up to courage to ask his lifelong crush out and get denied was the most crushing blow Marco had to his self-image.

To simply be looked at questioningly by her as if to say, "Are you joking?" And to awkwardly dismiss himself as a joke as he crawled back into his shell, suppressing the urge to just break down right then and there until he'd at least made it home onto his bed.

Jackie represented an important thing for Marco. Being able to say he could simply have a conversation with her without flustering, without looking down at his shoes and walking away, was an important goal for Marco. He wanted to get out of this hole of social dejection and talk more, socialize and finally get out of that closed circle of his.

He'd slowly made progress with it, he'd made a few more friends and talked around a bit more, but with foresight, it was clear he probably reached too far at the end. Trying to ask her out was the biggest mistake he'd yet made. It shouldn't have been a surprise that he'd been rejected. He was the 'safe kid' after all, the dude who everyone avoided and laughed at sometimes. Why would a minor change make any difference?

It was clear he was still the same, unconfident and unsure, awkward and quiet.

What would someone even find in him?

Just some overly concerned kid who seemingly had no worth or pride, no special talent or skill, and some dull attitude. Nothing good.

At least he'd have all night to bash himself over it.

To realize how worthless he was.

To understand how much of a failure he was.

He planted his face down on his pillow as he jumped onto his bed as the tears immediately started flowing. He suppressed his sobs and groans all the while.

Why'd he have the gall to go up to one of the most popular girls in school and expect her to say yes?

What part of him said that he was on the same footing as her?

What an idiot he was for doing such a stupid thing. It was obvious she was astronomically out of his league. He had no chance, and that was clear from the beginning.

He only threw himself down more as the hours progressed, blaming himself for being so awkward, for being so naive and so boring.

Whatever part of his mind that said he had value, that he was important and loved, all went away as the sun passed and the darkness came. He skipped dinner and intended to stay in his room for the rest of the night, hoping to at least forget his incredible disaster today for a few hours before being forced to deal with the consequences the next day.

Where once everyone just looked through him as if he was a ghost, they'd just laugh at his unbelievable attempt to ask Jackie out for the rest of the year, or for that matter, the rest of high school.

He'd just lost what little dignity and pride he'd slowly built up and maintained over the years in a single day, and now he just wanted to go to sleep and ignore the world around him forever, to be left alone in his own reality.

Not like anyone would care anyway. The night would see to it that he'd fall asleep, tired and worn, broken and shattered.

But before his dreams could pull him down that abyss further, and before he could fall into a deeper sleep, his door creaked open, and someone stuck their head in.

"Marco?"

"Marco? Are you okay?"

Her voice what quiet, a whisper he could barely hear, but it was enough to wake him up as he straightened up in his bed.

The light was off, thankfully. His tears hadn't dried yet, and he didn't want to talk about the day right now. He didn't want Star to get involved with anything either, so he wiped his face and tried to clear the rasp in his throat as he spoke up.

"I'm… I'm fine Star. Nothing to worry about."

"Then why are you here in bed?"

"Just trying to sleep…"

"At 7? Come on Marco, you never sleep that early! Why won't you tell me? Don't you trust me?"

She stepped closer, flicking the lightswitch on, causing Marco to flinch and cover his face in the abrupt bright. He wiped his face and sniffled a bit.

"It's not that I don't trust you Star… I just wanna be alone right now."

"But why? Just to stay in your bed all night and cry? I only want to help!"

He snapped at her wording.

"You don't get it! I asked Jackie out, and I got rejected, wasn't that obvious? Then you come here and act as if I should try and talk about it as if I don't care! How can you help me when you don't understand?"

"..."

"Don't you see it? I'm worthless! Always have been! Can't even look someone in the eye or act as if I'm cool. I've always been the 'safe kid,' I've always been ignored and laughed at!"

"Marco… that's not true…"

"Liar! I'm tired of it! Always invisible to those around me, always forgotten… and then I try to expand outward, push myself to do what I've tried to do ever since kindergarten, and I fail like I always do."

She moved to the side of his bed in silence, staring him down with a concerned and firm look as he continued to rant and despise himself.

For Star to see Marco this lost, this unsure and hateful of himself, was both saddening and surprising. He always seemed so level-headed, so prepared and helpful to her, and always, always, fun to be around.

To hear him say that he was unsocial, worthless, and a failure only made her determined to prove him wrong.

"None of that is true! You're not worthless Marco! Have you forgotten about everything else you have here?"

"What else do I have? Hm? I've lost my dignity and my direction all in one day! Everyone's just going to laugh at me from now on! I've basically thrown it all out."

"How about your friends and family?"

"Those are an exception! How do you think it would feel to live every day knowing you're a joke in the school, that you can't even have a real conversation or do anything interesting? My friends and family can't help me with that, they'll always know!"

"Then why should you listen to them?"

"I don't want to, but it's not like I can't when the entire school is staring you down!"

"Don't you get it, Star? I've got no one to turn to, no one who cares about me."

"I'm here. I care."

"Star, come on."

"I said I'm here. Marco, why do you do this to yourself?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're worth so much more than you think…"

"Did you forget about everything you've done for me? You've made everything so much brighter. You've helped me solve my problems, you've gotten me out of my own messes, and you've always made boring days some of the best days. You've sacrificed a lot for my sake. How is all of that worthless?"

"..."

"It hurts me to see you like this Marco! I know it hurts that Jackie rejected you, I… dealt with something like that before… but that doesn't mean you're nothing! You're stronger than that. If you think nobody cares about you Marco, you should know that I care. I care a lot about you. If everyone else is going to laugh at you, then I'll be there for you."

She grabbed his hand in hers in support, which Marco grasped as he looked at her.

They looked at each other for a moment longer with a peaceful silence developing in the room.

Star looked beautiful tonight.

The moon's light shone lightly on her, showing her long, flowing blonde hair, her caring and concerned eyes, her green dress and the headband, and those cute hearts on her cheeks…

In a split second, it hit him.

A realization.

He decided to act on it.

He pulled her closer to himself and kissed her.


A/N:

yay first kiss in one of my stories

Considering I suck at romance everything like this is probably going to be weird or bad I guess, but oh well, gotta learn somehow. Most of the oneshots here will just be random things I think of, not sure if I can write fluff or anything like that but might as well try, so if you have any ideas I'm open to them although I'm not sure I can deliver a good product. Writing shorter stories seems to be easier for me though.

Reviews and Criticism welcome as always.

anyways going to update my other story soon, maybe 2-3 days.

until then, in the box i go