"You must be Tom's date!"
"I guess I am…"
Marco's ears perk up in curiosity, and he instinctively tips his head back at the voices he's just happened to overhear, halting mid-step with his left foot hovering above the floor. His eyes immediately search for Star whom he knows to be the demon's date for the evening, and he easily spots her standing next to a huge table loaded with god knows what – demon food, presumably – and talking to a couple of guests. Actually, talking might not be the most accurate word since the only thing she seems to be doing is trying to figure out why she's being addressed and how to escape it.
The boy briefly considers walking up to his best friend and trying to get her the hell out of the ball room and the Underworld in general, but then the dialogue flares up, and he finds himself listening to it from the distance – he, and the rest of the nearby guests who've apparently forgotten all about their businesses and are lending another few dozens of ears now.
"Well, I hope you're happy!" the demon who's standing before Star wails, clearly overreacting with how passionately he's swinging his hands around. "He made this whole entire ball completely boring – all for you!"
Star cringes slightly at this piece of knowledge, or at all the attention that's suddenly being drawn to her, or maybe at the prospect of having to deal with something unpleasant in the middle of what's supposed to be a fun party – whatever the reason is, it doesn't stop her from trying to defend the event.
"I wouldn't say it's boring…" she begins, and gets momentarily cut off.
"Oh really?!" the demon huffs, attracting more and more ears to their disastrous conversation with his vivid displeasure; it obviously doesn't dawn upon him that criticizing the prince's date might be a poor idea, especially when said prince has horrible anger issues. His hands fly up in different directions as he points at random people and things. "Aloof attractive people! Boring! Bobbly cauldrons that don't even melt your flesh off – what is it, nap time or something? Cause I'm bored!"
How he doesn't get burned on the spot is a mystery to Marco. The boy barely has any time to catch up with the disturbing images that form in his head with every bit of information he hears, and then the demon is already crying his eyes out and running away from Star who's just standing there with an expression that says 'I have no idea what that was just now but whatever'. Tom is by her side on instant, and Marco's chance of snatching her away is gone before it's even there, forcing him to linger in the crowd. It doesn't escape him though that the prince keeps his cool, not even throwing a glance at the insolent guest who's just publically badmouthed him.
What makes Tom scowl in discomfort is, surprisingly, the music that starts to play when he's getting ready to dance with Star. Marco fails to catch what exactly went wrong (or get it why the demon would want to walk away from his crush when the binding light of the blood moon is about to do its thing), but he doesn't let this chance slip away and takes the prince's place, grabbing Star's hand and pulling her towards himself.
And just like it always happens in these kinds of scenarios, the blood moon so kindly decides they are the most promising couple out of the entire throng of guests and throws its light on their heads as soon as they're pressed against each other. Marco's brain draws a blank, and he takes a step into what grows to be a dance instead of leading Star away from the damned place like he originally intended.
He only comes back to his senses when a furious inferno that is Tom abruptly appears next to him in the crimson light and literally throws him out of it. Marco's back hits the floor, hard, and the walls are aflame and blazing while the demon is nearing him with murder written all over his face.
Star saves her friend, of course.
From one danger, at least.
Later that evening, when Marco is making nachos for Star in the kitchen as a token of his gratitude, his mind drifts off to the Underworld, back to a particular ball room, and he finds himself recalling in great detail how the event ended. As he remembers Tom frozen and stuck inside of an ice cube created by no one else but the very girl he invited as his date, he wonders if Star made it so that he would see and hear everything from his temporary prison. Then the boy replays the monologue of the frustrated demon guest that stole Star's attention before the dance, and puzzle pieces just come all together.
Tom, who tried to suppress his natural demonic anger so that his ex would like him better. A demon prince who threw the entire idea of a proper Blood Moon Ball out of the window so that his ex would consider attending it. A future ruler who neglected the needs of his people so that his ex would feel special next to him.
And then his ex humiliates him in the very middle of said ball, in front of everyone who's gathered, right after he gloriously failed to keep the promise he'd given her beforehand.
There's no way Tom is having a good time right now, Marco realizes with a quiet hum. He understands the concept, it troubles his kind little heart, but his lips stretch in a content smile nonetheless.
Several days later Tom calls to patch things up – "As if he hasn't done enough already," Marco mutters under his breath, moving out of the mirror's sight so that Star can answer the call alone (he learned his lesson well that day, sure, but he still doesn't leave despite suspecting he totally should). His friend, however, only grabs his wrist and pulls him back to the super-exciting-life-or-death board game they're currently in the middle of, asking where he thinks he's going when they're having so much fun.
Star, in her usual way of handling problems, opts to ignore Tom completely – that decision adds a whole new level of misery to the link he's trying so desperately to preserve, and that, too, makes Marco smile. In fact, he feels so delighted he doesn't complain when Star changes the game rules to her advantage all over again.
To Tom's credit, he doesn't show up at Marco's doorstep after being thoroughly ignored for nearly a whole week. The calls gradually come to a long-awaited stop, and thatshould make Marco smile as well, but it doesn't.
On the second day of having Star's mirror remain blissfully quiet, Marco wakes up irritated.
He rolls from one side of his bed to the other, trying to pinpoint what exactly managed to set him off so early, but eventually figures he can't determine the cause, only knows it's there and he needs to deal with it somehow before he lashes out on someone. He's twice as impassive when Star comes up with an 'awesome way to spend the evening with her other bestie', forces his favorite cereal down his throat rather than enjoying it properly, and with utter astonishment discovers that a time has finally come when he doesn't really want to nod at Jackie while she's skateboarding past him at school. He still does that, but the gesture is forced, and he thinks she notices. Star sure does.
Actually, the princess seems to be getting pretty bothered with something – it's obvious from the way she behaves – and when Marco casually asks her about it, she puzzles him by saying he's been acting weird lately. He doesn't quite get what she's talking about, and when he tells her that, she quickly backpedals, so they end up laughing it off like they usually do in such cases. Still, Marco is perfectly aware that she hasn't dropped her concerns just yet.
Star, a good friend that she is, watches his back.
Marco's irritation grows like wildfire in the middle of a dry summer. He's all but barking at people the next day (thankfully, he has no school), and even Star gets some of this rough treatment when she attempts to brighten his mood by making faces at him over the spell book she's supposed to be paying attention to. Since Marco isn't getting any better and it's becoming very noticeable, they come to a conclusion that he might have gotten zapped by some sort of ill magic in the past, and search for a potential counter spell.
That is, until the boy ventures too far with his anger, and Star huffs at him and leaves him alone so he can calm down while she recovers her good mood elsewhere. Before leaving, she happens to drop a very blood-stilling comment:
"Maybe you should get yourself a bunny, Marco."
And just like that she's gone, and Marco's eyes are locked on the mirror, unblinking. It's been a while since Tom last called, he thinks almost absently.
And then fury hits him like a ton of bricks.
The boy bolts to his feet and rushes to the mirror, the hairs on the back of his neck standing, adrenaline flowing through his veins like hot lava as he orders the mirror to get him the demon prince on the line. Marco's brain fails to process his own order, and it becomes even harder for him to concentrate when his reflection disappears and he sees the face he hasn't seen for days.
Tom's hopeful smile drops so fast it's almost comical.
"You-" he snarls, eyes glowing with unmistakable rage, but Marco interrupts him.
"You know what, screw you!" he shouts at the demon. "You're so damn miserable! You lost Star, she doesn't want you anymore, and yet you did all you could to bring her back! Getting your anger under control? Not giving a shit about the needs of your people? That means nothing in the end! Dude, you let a Blood Moon Ball go down the drain, and it only happens once every six hundred sixty seven years! You failed to keep your promise, you failed to get back the one you love, you failed your own people! And for what? Star is ignoring you, and the only time you think she doesn't, it's me who's calling! Have you seen your smile?! How pathetic is that!"
He laughs, and then he smirks cruelly for good measure… and then he's done, and his fury melts away together with that smirk like a fragile piece of snow that's lying under direct rays of sun.
Marco opens his eyes – opens them for real – and sees Tom standing on the other side of the mirror, motionless like a stone statue. The prince's eyes are three red voids that promise nothing but millennia of relentless torture, but his expression is carefully neutral.
All color drains from Marco's face. He doesn't know what's just happened.
"Wait…" he mumbles. "Wait, I… I didn't mean to-"
The corners of Tom's mouth lift slightly in a grim smile. He hangs up.
And when he does, an overwhelming feeling of anxiety momentarily seizes Marco in a vine-like grip. He slides to the floor, breathing heavily, and as he's pressing his knees up to his chest and hugging them in a futile attempt to comfort himself, a gluey feeling of sheer satisfaction makes its way to his heart.
Minutes later he feels so good he'd probably get a black belt in no time if he tried to, and he's scared of that prospect, scared of what he's done to achieve it. He couldn't control himself, at all.
Shortly after, when guilt overshadows the alien feeling of supreme happiness, Marco dials Tom's mirror again, but the demon doesn't pick up.
He tells Star about the call when she gets back, leaving out the precise phrasing of his verbal attack but maintaining the general mood. The girl's eyes are wide like saucers the entire time he's speaking, and she advises him to watch his back more intently when she's not around to come to his rescue.
At some point down the road Marco successfully fails to follow the advice thanks to a spontaneous spark of foolishness, and finds himself pinned to a large breaking wheel that's attached to the demon prince's bedroom wall of all places. Tom spins it, and by extension Marco, with hateful swings of his right forefinger, and even his wrist is moving with how much effort he's putting into it. Worst thing is, he's not saying anything despite clearly being pissed off, and Marco can't tell how bad things are about to get. His head is starting to feel weird, too.
"Sto-o-p!" he begs when the rapid whirlwind of Tom's room becomes too much. "I knew you were listening! I never made out with Star!"
And even though letting out the truth makes the demon release him from the torture device and into a big water bucket that's conveniently placed under the wheel, Tom doesn't look anywhere near satisfied. He continues to tremble with rage even after he's learned that Star is still innocent where he wants her to be, and Marco has no idea how he's going to get away from this in one piece.
In the end, they somehow settle for a long game of Ping-Pong that will determine if Marco is worthy enough to live, and after reducing the difficulty to mega-extra-novice and still defeating the boy fifty-eight times, Tom decides that humiliating him is way funnier than just killing him off. By the time they finish, Marco is covered with bruises wherever the numerous little balls hit him, and Tom's eyes slide from one dark spot to another, appreciating his fine work. Marco wants to hurt him back, really does, and the desire is so strong it makes him shiver.
Tom smiles in a way he's never seen him smile before.
It's ominous.
When they return to Marco's home and meet up with Star (Tom wears his good clothes for the occasion because why wouldn't he), Marco notices with a weird mix of amusement and annoyance that the demon's voice is shaking as he's talking to the girl. Honestly, it's shaking so much he's starting to doubt that this Tom is the same evil Tom who has caged skeletons hanging from the ceiling of his bedroom and torture devices plastered to the walls.
Then again, love does such things to people, he supposes. He can't even bring himself to talk when Jackie is around.
A little more than a week passes with next to no interferences from the Underworld, and that's when Marco hesitantly asks himself if being constantly irritated might have something to do with the demon prince – or, rather, his absence. He's not so sure what's so bad about Tom being absent, especially considering how they're never able to find common ground and always end up bickering, but the timings of his irritation fits are just too convenient to be coincidental.
And it's not that he misses Tom, Marco figures, but when Tom is nearby, it becomes awfully easy to let go of the good boy attitude and give in to his darker side, stinging the demon with words, with blinding truth his royal asshole self obviously needs so much, no matter how shattering it may be. Marco's anger is gone in a flash after he does that, and he's all rays of sunshine again… until he's not, and then the circle repeats itself.
The boy rushes to Star as soon as he realizes there's no logical explanation to this madness, and together they think and suggest and discuss until they go so far back with their contemplations they inevitably stumble upon the mysterious event that is Blood Moon Ball.
The next day is spent solely on finding out more about the Ball and remembering every single detail of that fateful evening; Marco belatedly recalls that he, in fact, happened to share the red light not only with Star, but with Tom as well, though the interaction lasted mere seconds and consisted of the demon shoving him out of it.
"I guess you got yourself bonded to him," Star assumes when he mentions it, rubbing her chin thoughtfully with her delicate fingers. Marco imagines what this idea might imply and cringes.
"You think the bond is a real deal?" he asks her without much enthusiasm. "If that's the case, then shouldn't I be feeling something special next to you as well? We shared the light, Star, and for a much longer period of time… but I don't really feel anything when I'm with you."
Star tenses at that. Marco clears his throat and hurries to correct his clumsy choice of words before she gets offended, or even worse – hurt.
"Out of the ordinary, I mean. We're still best friends and all," he adds awkwardly, and laughs. Star easily joins in, but her laughter is a little too nervous for his liking.
"Well, what else can it be?" she asks after, and Marco doesn't have an answer to that.
Later, in the evening of the same day, they are standing in front of Star's mirror and rubbing their temples in absolute frustrated unison. Queen Moon is a wise woman, without any doubt, but they still know as much as they did before they called her because apparently if they want to learn more about how the blood moon works, they need to ask someone from the Underworld specifically. Marco groans: Tom is their first and seemingly only option since they don't really know anyone else, not to mention he was the one who organized the ball and thus has to have some clue about how the bonding might work.
The boy is both reluctant and eager to call him – that alone he counts as another sign of them being connected.
Tom doesn't appear to be surprised when he sees Marco on the other side of the mirror together with Star. He does fidget a little when he remembers he's not wearing formal clothes in front of the princess, but she efficiently distracts him with a firm question.
"Yeah, sure, I know how the blood moon works," Tom answers nonchalantly as soon as the words are out. His upper eye flashes to Marco and squints. "Why?"
"I think this guy here might be bonded to you," Star lays the cards on the table.
"In the most unpleasant way possible," Marco hurries to add. "Cause I really wanna punch you right now. Do you maybe feel the same?"
The prince tilts his head, and his lips stretch in a lofty smirk. His other two eyes switch to Marco as well – the boy doesn't like what he sees in them. "It might be shocking news for you, Marco, but I'm a demon. I want to punch you all the time, and that's the least painful thing I can think of."
"Dude, I'm serious!" the boy hisses. "If you feel the same and it's not based on who you are, then we might actually have something we can work with! I should have bonded with Star, but, see, I don't feel a damn thing, so that's a dead end! We don't know what's going on, and you-"
Tom blinks.
"Wait. What?"
Marco stops talking and fixes him with an insulted glare. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying?"
"How can you not feel a thing about Star?" the demon questions him with a stern expression. His smirk is gone, everything about him now screams that he doesn't buy what Marco is saying. "You come to my ball uninvited, you steal my date, make sure you get under the moonlight with her-"
"-which was pure coincidence-" Marco sews in.
"-and now you don't feel anything? That's a load of-"
"Hello, I'm right here," Star mutters, waving her hand.
"And you even hugged her in front of me!"
"Ever heard of friendly hugs?!" Marco yells, and there they are again, fighting. Fortunately, the boy manages to notice that in time and takes a long breath, lowering his voice before his anger will cost him and Star their only link to the solution. "Alright, dude. Listen. I'm telling you the truth; you don't want to believe me – fine. Don't. Just tell me, are we bonded or not?"
Tom growls. His voice ticks into its monstrous version when he answers. "Think again, Marco. After everything you did to drag me down, do you honestly think you'd still be standing where you are if there wasn't something holding me back from burning you to ashes?"
The implication washes over Marco like a bucket of cold water because it's true, he did pretty much ruin the only chance Tom could ever have with Star, and the guy had put some serious effort into conquering her. Marco is just a human too, one of too many, and someone like Tom shouldn't be letting him live in peace after what he did.
"And then I won fifty-eight games against you. In. A row," the demon continues. "You were supposed to die after your first loss! Haven't you been thinking about it, Marco? I thought you were smart… Which makes me wonder..." Suddenly, he turns to Star, and some of the fury melts away from his eyes. "What about you, Starship? Do you feel anything next to him?"
Star laughs loudly, brushing the demon off and avoiding his stare. "What are you talking about?! We're super best besties, Marco and I!"
For a moment, Tom remains silent, watching her with an unreadable expression.
"Are you seriously telling me you didn't feel–" he begins, and that does something to Star because she darts to the mirror like her life depends on it.
"Okay, bye!" she exclaims, and breaks the call before Tom can even finish the sentence.
Marco throws a confused glance at her. She doesn't look back at him.
Gradually, Marco has no choice but to get used to the idea of being bonded to someone he really, really doesn't like – for eternity, no less – and ignores it whenever he can, focusing instead on his friendly relationship with Star (which is far more encouraging). Star honorably swears to find something potent enough to break the blood moon's curse, as they both come to call it, and that helps Marco survive through the whole ordeal.
The irritation is still there when he strays too far away from Tom, and at those times he comes to Star's room and dials the prince's number. Tom tends to respond, and it's relatively easy to drive him insane with rage, what with Star not being around to soothe him with her presence. He doesn't believe anything Marco says to him. They fight every time the boy calls.
An unexpected distraction breaks into Marco's life in the face of a sleepover Star initiates one evening in order to give a boost to his spirits. Jackie is among the invited guests, and Marco allows himself to relax while they're chatting the night away, allows himself to drown in the sound of her cool laughter so much he almost forgets everything that's been happening to him. She winks at him, and he's so in love with her that he can barely breathe.
Unfortunately and just like always, though, things get out of hand, and he's forced to admit his feelings out loud and in front of everyone. He's scared of losing Jackie for good, but then she smiles at him when she's leaving, and he's the happiest guy in the world once again.
For the first time since the Blood Moon Ball Marco feels like a normal person, like someone who looks forward to the future. And maybe, just maybe, Jackie will agree to become a part of it.
"For the last time, dude, I'm not in love with Star! She's my friend!"
"Whatever. I don't care."
"Yes you do, your eyes are glowing! And I'm trying, I'm trying really hard to make things a little easier for both of us, so maybe you could calm the hell down and help me out for once!"
"Help you out?! Marco, you're not trying to make things easier, you're trying to piss me off even more than I already am! Go bother your girlfriend instead!"
"Would you drop it already?!"
"Why would I want to?!"
Star groans and blocks them out with a soundproofing spell again.
When Marco learns there's going to be a movie marathon dedicated to no other than Mackie Hand himself, he immediately decides that's where he and Star will be spending their evening. The tickets are all sold out, of course, and that flushes his good mood so deep down he can't resist face planting into his laptop – that's when the weird stuff begins to happen, starting with a fire pillar that suddenly erupts from the place where Marco's face was seconds ago. Tom walks out of it and stops on the edge of the table, nearly striking a pose in front of both Marco and Star who're doing their best to recover from the jump scare.
Marco winds up joining Tom for the movie marathon since the demon miraculously has two tickets on him (it's weird that Star is not the one he's asking out, but then Marco remembers they're bonded, but then again, they hate each other, so why bother?); Tom invites him to his carriage, and they take off.
A few minutes into the ride Marco starts to smell something fishy. It's not like he didn't suspect anything the moment Tom waltzed from the pillar of fire onto his table, but it's more obvious now because Tom is nice to him, too nice, because he has never asked what brand of cereal Marco likes, yet he knows, and he never asked Marco if he liked Mackie Hand – and yet again, he knows. Marco can't help questioning the source of Tom's knowledge, and it's making him feel restless.
Since the demon never asked him about anything, there are two possibilities he ends up thinking of: Tom either spied on him at some point or another, or straight up barged into his house to snoop around while everyone was absent. That, and him having two tickets for a movie marathon with Marco's favorite actor is overly convenient (especially with every other ticket being sold out), not to mention the time he chose to appear was ideal. All of these can't be mere coincidences, Marco figures as he watches the demon pace around the carriage and brag about its comforts, Tom knows perfectly well what's going on. There's something vital for him in all this, he's just not telling me.
Another thought comes to his head then, a thought that suggests this level of planning is suspiciously close to the one Tom demonstrated when he was preparing for the Blood Moon Ball – unfortunately, Marco doesn't have enough time to spend on poking that idea because two assholes from the street consider it wise to taunt a guy with three eyes and a couple of horns growing out of his head. Tom's self-control drains rapidly, and Marco almost doesn't come up with a plan to save the poor bastards from getting roasted.
It's not until Tom rubs his right shoulder in the middle of the first Love Sentence song they're performing together that Marco learns he somehow touched the demon. Tom pulls down the collar of his shirt, and they discover five angry looking half-moon marks covering his skin.
"Those aren't mine," Tom states, waving his unoccupied hand with long, sharp nails. "I can't believe I didn't notice when you touched me."
Marco didn't notice it either.
Like Marco was expecting from the beginning, it turns out that not only was Tom lying to him this entire time, he was also using the boy to get something he wanted for himself. It hurts Marco more than it should, and they have the most disorienting fight he's ever been in.
Tom manages to make things right again at the last minute by literally raising the dead.
It sure takes long for Star to come up with a way to rid Marco of his bond with the demon.
It wasn't much of an issue before because the only side effect was irritation when Tom wasn't around for long periods of time, but then the carriage ride happened, and things started to change – unhurriedly, but drastically. Marco is both offended and impressed: offended by the fact that Tom lied to him and used him, and impressed by the demon's desire to make things right again. Tom wanted to get back on his good side so bad he summoned Mackie Hand from his grave, and it left the guy so powerless he simply fell down and crashed into concrete as soon as he finished casting.
Which leads Marco to what concerns him most. What concerns him most is that even though they managed to part on a good note, he still wants to approach his friendenemy, take his warm hands, squeeze them between his own and then rip off Tom's fingers one by one, slowly and deliberately. To pluck out his eyes, to chop off his horns, to punch him in the face until there's nothing left to recognize.
That's not a healthy response at all, Tom did nothing this infuriating…
Except when Marco places a hand on his shoulder to soothe him while he's provoking the insolent assholes from before, his fingers worm past the demon's skin and into his flesh on their own accord. Tom grunts in pain, and the boy watches him with a smile, and everything except for this intoxicating want to hurt him is forgotten. Marco leans in, gets past the weak defense Tom puts up with his bleeding hands, and sinks his teeth into the demon's shoulder, stuttering out a muffled moan. He can't be having such desires, and yet bringing pain to Tom is the best thing he's ever experienced.
He wakes up aroused, and that's concerning too.
He hungers. The more days pass, the more Marco thinks about doing harmful things to Tom, and eventually a time comes when it's all he's able to think about. He should be dreaming about asking Jackie out, offering Star to go to some crazy party together, stressing out about school – anything – but all he sees is his own very hands tearing Tom's chest wide open. He panics when the image first sparks in front of his eyes, immediately calls the demon, and Tom sighs in response, muttering something along the lines of 'you shouldn't have touched me the way you did'.
Marco tries to fight him, to feed his seething need on something he's already grown to absorb, but ultimately fails. Captured by his desperation, Tom's force of will cracks in two, and he admits that Marco is not the only one who's struggling with this kind of thing. It's the first time he shows weakness in front of the boy, and while neither of them gets any better, they gain something important out of that call.
They start to cooperate.
In the days that follow, Marco learns a lot more about Tom than he's ever expected to. He spends his day hours searching for the counter spell with Star, and when evening falls on the streets of Echo Creek, he takes her dimensional scissors and cuts himself a doorway to Tom's room where they play video games together, share thoughts and opinions on both their situation and unrelated stuff, and sometimes argue a little to soothe the irritation that now rises regardless of their proximity.
Tom is affected by it too, Marco finds out, but contrary to him, Tom's demonic origin already means he's one with anger, so that's familiar territory for him. The never-ending flood of gruesome pictures, on the other hand, is a completely new blend of torture: neither Marco can escape from it, nor can Tom with all his innate perks. At times, they're both too fidgety because of it, both too embarrassed to share what exactly they saw; Tom has given Star every bit of info he knows to hasten her research, and still it takes so goddamn long to find what they're all looking for.
"I've been wondering," Marco says one evening when they're playing video games and he's as good as dead on the screen so there's no need to even try anymore. "Why did you choose to push me out of the light back then? You could have grabbed Star's hand and tried bonding with her instead. Why not her?"
Tom doesn't stop playing, and his eyes stay on the screen where he beats up random citizens who did nothing wrong. It's something he greatly enjoys – obliterating people – and for a moment Marco thinks he hasn't been heard or Tom has chosen to ignore him for the time being, but then the demon starts talking. Although his voice is casual and light like he's talking about weather, on some instinctive level Marco can feel the uneasiness that resides in every word he's saying.
"The blood moon doesn't simply choose two people and make them stay together for eternity," he begins. "When it shines upon the chosen ones, it highlights whatever they're feeling at that particular moment and fills them with it to the brim. That's why if two people feel attracted towards each other, they'll stay attracted no matter what. You claim that you came to help Star back then, came as her friend… if that's the truth, then that's what the moon intensified within you. That's why you don't feel any different around her. The same goes for our bond, you must've been pretty angry at me."
"Don't dodge the question," Marco says.
"Yeah, alright," Tom nods without looking away from the screen. His fingers mash the buttons on his controller. "Just wanted to make sure we're on the same page here. Now imagine me at that moment. I went through a lot of hardships to get the ball ready and in a style that would please Star, worked super hard day and night. And then you barged in and took her away from me, right from under my nose, and the light fell on you two instead of me and her."
"It doesn't really add up though," Marco says thoughtfully. "You're in love with her, I get it, but that's kind of one-sided, so… What were you expecting to get? What if the light never chose you?"
Tom's ingame character dies. He picks solo mode and starts anew.
"I suppose I've never told you how we met."
"No, you haven't. Neither has she."
"Well, we met during a similar event. Didn't like each other much in the beginning, but when we got to dance, it swept our breaths away. Fire goes great with butterflies, Marco, and I'm sure we both saw that when we were dancing. It was a passionate dance, intimate in a way only I as a demon could perceive, and maybe I was hoping for that to happen again. Even if the moonlight wouldn't bless us, even if Star wouldn't fall in love with me again, she'd definitely see how devoted I was to her, and at least we'd end up being friends again. That's what I was aiming for, dude. You may have a lot of friends, but I only have Star, except… I don't, not anymore."
"Damn. I'm sorry. I didn't know…" Marco offers, rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort. He's already blaming himself for starting this conversation, but he needs to know why things happened the way they did if he wants to understand Tom better. He doesn't push, mostly listens, and Tom slowly opens up to him.
"So yeah, back to the moment when I saw you two dancing. I knew the light wouldn't last long, and you took my place next to Star, so I… I just reacted. Before I knew, I was walking towards you, and curtains were catching fire."
"Does that mean you couldn't control yourself?"
"You know what's weird? I could. I was still in control when I pushed you away. Fury came after." Tom loses again, starts a new game. It's evident now that he avoids giving his undivided attention to the topic they're discussing. "I guess I was so shocked I forgot to drop my sanity right there and then. But I clearly felt angry, and I knew nothing good would come out of me touching Star while I was in such a state. I didn't hate her, but the blood moon would remember differently. So… since I couldn't stay away, I decided I might as well give you a taste of your own medicine."
Marco goes very still.
"Remember when you asked me if we were bonded and I told you you would've been dead otherwise? Well… I might've concealed the real picture," Tom goes on. He loses for the third time but doesn't bother to restart. "Truth is, I deliberately bonded us so that you would get stuck in an endless loop ofrejection and anger… just like I was. I thought that after I did that, even if you'd get together with Star, you'd keep coming back to me because you'd be drawn by our bond. That would be my revenge, a curse I thought worse than death."
Marco doesn't respond to that, and finallyTom turns his head to look at him. When he sees the boy's expression, he sighs.
"I'm a demon, remember? That's what we do," he says.
They look each other in the eye.
And then Marco just lunges at him. In a flash, he's pinning Tom to the floor, and the demon lets go of the controller he's holding. The glint of surprise in his eyes switches to alarm, he's ready to defend himself, but he doesn't do anything to stop the boy's advance just yet. Marco settles on top of him, straddles his hips and traps him, pressing a palm to the star-shaped print in the middle of Tom's torn t-shirt.
The demon takes a shuddering breath. "Marco. Hold on."
"Why? I thought this was what you wanted."
The hand slides up towards the collar of Tom's shirt, stopping briefly to feel the rhythm of his dull heartbeat.
"Star is looking for a way to break the bond we're sharing," Tom reminds Marco quietly, in a calm voice. "This thing you're about to do… believe me, you don't want it, it'll only make everything worse. You can still go back home and hope for the best, Marco. We'll act like this never happened. I'm willing to give you this choice."
Marco just smiles at him, trails a finger up to his neck. Tom trembles when it reaches one of his ears and strokes it gently.
He waits a little more, and when Marco doesn't cease, he concedes.
"You're done choosing, then," he whispers.
"Yeah," Marco agrees. "Yeah, I'm done."
The boy raises his hand, and Tom watches his every move closely, his lips stretching in a mirroring smile, a smile that belongs to someone who's lost their last bit of faith.
"Alright. Let's get on with it then," he says.
Marco hits him in the chest with all the force he can muster.
The moment Tom's ribs give out with a cracking sound, Marco finally grasps what it means to be infuriated, gets it what the demon feels when he's on a rampage. Once he's started, it's too difficult to stop, the feeling of power is just too amazing, too engulfing. Under him, Tom gasps in pain, but that's okay, that's okay because he's the one who brought this upon them, and his inhuman body can take it anyway.
So Marco hits and hits and hits, and Tom begins to fight back when he thinks it's time, and together they rejoice in a vertigo of hurt, trust and insanity that belongs solely to them thanks to the blood moon curse. Tom is actively holding back, Marco knows – his body is more evolved than a mere mortal's – but that doesn't mean Marco wants to do the same. He grips, and punches, and scratches, and when that's not enough anymore, he ducks his head and bites Tom's neck, jerking the demon's chin to the side so that he doesn't bite back. Tom moans openly at that, and Marco is aroused all over again.
"Marco, what happened to you?!" Star shouts in distress when he appears in the living room half an hour later, ungracefully stumbling out of the portal Tom opened with his remaining left hand. Marco is in a pretty bad shape, but at least he's able to walk, and he smiles tiredly at his worried friend while he's quickly turning towards the stairway so that she doesn't get a chance to measure the whole damage.
"I'm good, just had a friendly sparring session with Tom," he says, and it's close enough to the truth. Tom might be lacking an arm, and maybe his feet aren't functioning very well at the moment, but that's nothing to be worried about, he said, he'll be brand new in no time.
He's a demon, so he's not above lying, but Marco really hopes he isn't because then he'll feel guilty tomorrow for feeling so good right now.
Before heading to his room, the boy looks over his shoulder. "Any progress with the counter spell?"
Star nods at him with a serious expression. "Some. It's a tough one, but we're doing all we can. Hang in there, Marco. We crack that spell, and then we're all free from the curse."
Her choice of words sounds a little weird to Marco's ears, but he's so out of it after getting roughed up he merely hums. "Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you."
Life becomes easier once an agreement is reached and both Marco and Tom work out a pattern that satisfies their mutual need. They still hang out like before, still chat evenings away and sing Love Sentence songs in a duet, still play video games – all sorts of games, actually, starting from Ping-Pong and ending with pears of anguish they occasionally throw at each other – but while usually everything tends to end with that, there are also times when a friendly tug becomes a push, then a shove, and then they're at each other's throats. Marco always ends up a little too excited, both never mention it, and their relationship holds sternly on silent understanding and rare verbal support.
It doesn't mean they're not getting tired of it all, though, especially Marco who still intends to go out with Jackie at some point but always fails to bring his plans into reality. The boy keeps telling himself he needs to make a move now that she knows how he feels about her and doesn't appear to mind, but he ends up in the same bedroom all the time, digging his fingers into the firm flesh of Tom's stomach instead of poking numbers on his cell phone. The more they go at it, the more intense it gets and the less Marco thinks; he feels and lives when he moves, gasps in appreciation when Tom delivers a good punch to his side, answers with a swift kick of his foot, and that's that, that's what it's all about.
And then, one day, they cross the border. It's late, Tom's room is a bright spinning blur, and they're both so overwhelmed by the fight they're barely even able to register what's going on anymore. When in a spontaneous burst of power Marco shoves Tom into a wall and leans towards him to dig into his neck, the demon's instincts kick in and he responds without thinking. He clutches Marco in a dead grip, ignores his startled struggling, presses him close and bites him in return – two rows of pointy teeth sink into the boy's shoulder, and then he's licking and nibbling the fresh wound he's made. Immediately, Marco is all but a hot quivering mess, and he breathes hard, trying to keep upright on his shaking legs and clinging to Tom for dear life.
They slide to the floor together. Tom climbs on top of the boy, and he's suddenly in a hurry, all trembling, his movements much more frantic than they were before; Marco is so mesmerized by the sight he completely forgets with how much passion he was hurting the demon just a few moments ago. He focuses on Tom's bruised hands, watches as one of them grips the hem of his red hoodie while the other touches the waistband of his skinny jeans, and when the button is undone, he bites his lip and lifts his hips towards the radiant warmth.
"Tom," he breathes out, and as soon as the demon looks up at him, all three eyes of his half-closed and foggy with want, Marco grabs his neck and the back of his head and pulls him down until their mouths are sealed together. Tom moans into the kiss, licks inside with hectic urgency, and as he throws his hand into the opening of Marco's jeans, Marco forgets how to breathe.
The first thing Marco does when he gets home and locks himself in the still darkness of his bedroom is orders himself to forget about Jackie. To forget about everything he was meaning to say to her, about any potential future with her, about… everything. No matter from what angle he looks at the situation he's in, he knows he can't have everything he wants, not without ruining himself and his friends in the process.
Letting go of Jackie is a titanic effort, but Tom is right, Marco is done choosing. Jackie deserves someone who's caring and attentive, someone honest, someone who doesn't do dirty things with demons after violently beating them up somewhere in the Underworld. She deserves better.
Marco tells himself that, and his lips tremble.
He cries a little.
Or maybe a lot. It's never easy to let go of someone you've been in love with for long, long years.
"Man up," he tells himself, rubbing tears out of his eyes. "At least for now, you've got to do it."
Abandoning the lifelong custom of nodding at Jackie while she's skateboarding through the school hallway in the morning is one hell of a torture. Marco fixes his schedule, changes the settings of his alarm clock, makes sure he's exhausted every evening, and yet the force of habit is so strong he wakes up early anyway.
Jackie quickly notices the change and asks him if he's been doing alright lately, and when she does, he just stands there and stares into empty space, seeing his own heated face and his parted lips that chant deliriously Tom, Tom, Tom.
Tom, please. Tom, don't stop.
The collision of his former priorities and his current ones is so merciless it leaves him devastated and broken.
"I'm fine," he chokes out a lie. "Thanks, Jackie."
Ironically, he doesn't have any problem speaking in her presence anymore.
Eventually Marco has no choice but to enlighten Star about the weird relationship he's been having with Tom for the past several weeks. He's tired of concealing the truth for so long, it's troublesome to hide all possessive marks the demon leaves on his body (deliberately aiming at places that are visible more often than not), and honestly, Star's questions about him asking Jackie out on a date are getting pretty annoying, not to mention they're pure salt to his still healing wound.
Star doesn't take the news as lightheartedly as he hoped she would, probably due to the fact that Tom is her ex/a guy/a demon/tried to murder Marco once… but in the end she can't do anything but live up to her title of 'Marco's best friend' and accept things as they are.
"We're still trying to crack that counter spell, if you're interested," she reminds the boy when he's done explaining, and despite not being sure about what he wants and doesn't want anymore, Marco nods.
"Thanks, Star."
"…you're welcome."
They still hang out all the time and have lots of fun. Marco is incredibly happy he's not feeling that much irritated anymore, and he's actually acting quite level-headed and composed compared to how he was before.
Seasons come and go. School brings hours of homework, Star continues to search for the counter spell, deadly adventures occur from time to time, evening video games unravel during sleepovers in the Underworld… and with every passing week Marco's worries thin, gradually, into nothingness. The Truth or Punishment game he played with his friends and his crush a little over a year ago is tucked away into the farthest corner of his memory, a place where it can lie undisturbed, and it's better for everyone this way – or so the boy believes, at least.
It has nothing to do with self-convincing. He knows he still likes Jackie Lynn Thomas very much. The real reason lies elsewhere, far away from the innocent, shy purity of his first love.
Late at night, when he's being pushed onto the mattress of his own bed and Tom yanks his jeans down so eagerly he almost tears the fabric, Marco doesn't even begin to think about having someone else in his place. Tom is a raging flame when he's in control, all hot and vigorous and burning, his fit muscles twitching as he moves his hips between the boy's spread thighs, and this – this is perfection. The demon's skin is covered in bruises and cuts; there's an eerie, green mist oozing out of them and floating up, the only source of illumination around them – that, too, is perfection. As the smoke glides over Tom's shoulders and towards his face, Marco finds himself entranced by the deep concentration he sees in the demon's eyes, and he marvels at the sight of small cuts on Tom's lips where the demon bit too hard.
No, he decides. There's no way he wants it to be someone else.
And when they're done and Tom falls on top of him, panting and boneless and sweaty everywhere they touch, Marco wraps his aching hands around the demon and keeps him so close they almost merge into one being. He smiles, because this is where he wants to be.
That is also why when Star finally barges into his room one early morning and proudly announces she's managed to find a means to revert the blood moon curse, Marco's mind goes blank. He sits up in his bed, stares at the girl and struggles to say something, anything, 'thanks, Star, great work, I've been waiting for it so long'…
He hesitates. He hesitates, and then it's too late. Star's grin wavers.
"Aren't you happy, Marco?" she asks quietly, looking away from the boy. "Didn't you want to be free?"
And Marco opens his mouth to say 'yes, I did, and I still do', but then Tom's wistful face appears right in front of his eyes, and the words he was meaning to say just don't make it out.
I deliberately bonded us so that you would get stuck in an endless loop of rejection and anger… just like I was.
The memory lingers, and Marco laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck and failing to produce the simplest of positive gestures. The princess glances back at him with an expression he can't read. Then, the grin returns full force.
"Alright, Marco!" she chirps merrily, putting her hands on her hips. "Get up, get ready, and meet me in my room in fifteen minutes. We're removing the bond! Ya-ay!"
Marco lowers an eyebrow at her attitude. It's not the first time she's completely ignored his reluctance to do something, or his opinion in general, and no matter how good of a friend she is, it still hurts him a little to be left out like this. It's not like he wants to dismiss everything she's been doing for the last year and a half – it means a lot to him – he just wants her to understand that he needs to wrap his head around it, to come to terms with having to change something so important in his life, to– hell, to tell Tom at least.
"Star," he begins uneasily, then sighs and stops talking for a moment. She tilts her head questioningly, and he tries again. "Star, I really need to break the news to Tom first. I can't just dissolve our bond without telling him, that… it would be a betrayal."
Star nods at him. "I know. I wasn't talking about your bond with Tom, Marco. I was talking about your bond with me."
This turn of events makes even less sense. Marco frowns, missing the entire point of Star's order-like offer.
"Why would you want to break our bond?" he asks. "We have an awesome bond, Star, best friends forever, for a whole eternity-"
"Alright, alright, you stop right there, Marco Diaz!" she cuts him off unexpectedly, shooting her hands up and beaming brightly. Marco shuts up real fast. He doesn't get what's going on. "You know, being bonded to you is great and all, but you see, I don't really require a bond to remain your best friend, okay? Don't you trust us to be besties even without it?"
Marco considers the thought. "Well… I guess I do, but…"
"Oh no-no-no-no-no," Star interrupts him again, stepping towards him and waving her hands. "No 'but's! Magic is awesome, I know, but I want our friendship to depend… on itself, right, and so should you! We don't need this bond, Marco! We really don't!"
There's something powerful about those words, about the way she delivers them. She looks Marco in the eye, and it's enough for him to make up his mind.
She's totally right, he thinks, we were doing just fine before the Blood Moon Ball happened, we don't need magic backing us up.
As soon as he agrees with that point of view, his uneasiness dissipates.
"Alright," he says. "I'll be ready. In ten minutes."
Star laughs and leaves him to it.
They invite Tom for the occasion. Just like Marco, the demon doesn't get which bond exactly Star is talking about at first and gets uncomfortable right away, but as soon as she explains it to him, he relaxes.
He spends the entire disenchanting process watching them from afar. When the counter spell is casted and Marco opens his eyes and says he doesn't feel like anything has changed, the demon's posture smoothens as if someone's lifted a mountain from his back.
Star supports Marco's statement, but unlike him – shrugging and a little bit confused – she looks like she's been released from long years of imprisonment.
They decide to keep the other bond for now.
"So… it looks to me like you don't really want to change things," Tom breathes into Marco's ear the following morning when they're lying tangled on the boy's bed. Despite his ability to regenerate, the demon leaves every proof of their yesterday spar intact.
"I don't know. It's not like we fight every day," Marco reasons. "And it doesn't hurt like it used to. I mean, look at me, were you even trying?"
"Not really," Tom admits. His hand tightens around Marco's waist under the blanket. "But we both know this bond is destructive. I may be able to hold back at times, but I wouldn't count on that, and besides, you're still human. It's not really normal for you to be having uncontrollable violent fits."
Marco looks up at him, unimpressed. "Sounds a bit weird coming from someone who's got caged skeletons hanging in their bedroom."
"Well, it's you we're talking about," Tom mumbles, avoiding his stare. "I might enjoy tearing things apart and then burning them down, but there are exceptions."
So it's not just Star for you anymore, Marco notes, remembering how Tom did all he could to gain her approval, from altering a bloody murder fest into something that would fit into a romance novel, to suffocating his traits, appearance and his way of thinking.
Then the boy asks himself if that's all there is to it because not even once has Tom attempted to re-shape himself for Marco, he's not afraid to reveal his true nature, to admit he likes it when he's annihilating everything around him. When he's reveling in frenzy.
"So you wanna get rid of it?" Marco asks.
Tom, who seems to have fallen into a similar state of internal reflecting, answers absently, "No."
Marco squints his eyes. The demon fidgets.
"I mean, yes, haha, of course I do, it's just…" he trails off for a moment, looking helpless and like the only thing he wants to do is disappear. "You saw what Star was like after you broke the bond, right?"
Marco recalls the precise moment, not really sure where Tom is going with this.
"Yeah, she was happy? I mean, nothing changed after we did it, and that was the whole point. We were friends before we got bonded, and we are friends now, so... oooh." His eyes widen in realization. "I think I get it. Are you trying to say you don't want it broken because you think everything will revert to how it used to be between us?"
"Maybe. Maybe not…" Tom attempts to dodge the question. It's too late though, Marco has already peeked through the crack, caught a glimpse of what's lurking in the demon's head. With a sigh, the boy props himself on his elbow and then shifts up until he's sitting. Tom's hand slides from his stomach to his thighs. "Marco?"
He sounds insecure.
"Alright, dude, I want you to be really attentive now," Marco says. "I'm going to tell you something important, and then you'll make your choice, got it?"
Tom manages a nod. "Okay."
And this, Marco knows, is either where the morning goes from good to great, or where he makes an utter fool of himself. He's not the one to run away from his feelings, however, and maybe it's as good time as any to throw some light on what he hopes they have in common.
Despite him having decided, spilling the truth is quite more challenging than he thought it would be, and he takes a deep breath, giving himself a few seconds to gather his wits. Tom sits next to him, naked and bruised and waiting, all of his eyes focused on Marco's face.
"Alright," Marco says after a moment. "Please note that this doesn't have anything to do with our bond because it only affects our anger, right? This is really important to me, I've already told you that, and… I'm just gonna outright say it, Tom. I think… I think Marco is going to vomit from how much nervousness he's feeling right now."
"…"
"…"
The meaning of what he's just blurted out washes over them both, followed by dead silence. Marco loses his already fractured composure at once.
"What the- I mean- I mean, Marco is so scared of confessing his feelings because he thinks Tom might reject him-"
His hands instantly jerk up to his mouth and cover it.
"Whaf fe fell?" he cries out, his voice muffled, and stares at the demon who in his turn stares right back at him with a dumbfounded expression. Seconds tick one after another.
Tom blinks. Then he bursts out laughing.
They break the bond later that day. Star can't stop laughing at Marco's misfortune, Marco glares daggers at Tom, and Tom… well, Tom is just a very happy demon.