Every night for the past couple of weeks, Marco had helped Star to sleep by reading her a princess story. At first, the tales of impossibly pretty young girls sitting around and being rescued by handsome princes bored Star, but over time, she got caught up in the whimsy and fantastical nature of the stories, even anticipating them at bed time.
Tonight, Marco sat at her bedside reading the story of Rapunzel. Star was sitting up in bed with her long hair slung over one shoulder, as if to imitate the girl on the cover of the book.
"...the end," Marco concluded the tale.
"Marco...?" Star began uneasily.
"Yeah?"
Star never took her eyes away from her hands, which were folded in her lap. "All these Earth princess stories are cool and all, but...well...all the princesses are so proper and polite...so reserved."
Marco simply waited for her to continue; a mixture of confusion and concern lightly graced his features.
"They don't fight monsters or use magic. None of them. They're normal..." Star strained herself to say. "I always knew I didn't act like a normal princess. A normal princess wouldn't wreck her own dimension and still cause trouble in her new one. My parents have always told me how I'm supposed to behave...but now I see, they were serious. Even in your dimension, I'm a disappointment." The pink hearts on her cheeks snapped in two.
"Oh, Star...no! No, no!" Marco was shocked by her words. This must have been building up for a while. "You are NOT a disappointment!"
Star didn't look at him as he scooted closer to her.
"What does it matter if you're not like the princesses in the stories? You're YOU! And I personally like the fact that you're different than them."
"...you do?" sniffed Star.
"Of course! I mean, can you imagine Snow White taking on Ludo?" Marco pulled a silly face, pretending to choke. "HRRGH!"
Star couldn't help but giggle a bit at that. She fondly glanced at her new wand by her bedside. It appeared to flap its little wings in recognition.
"And your parents?" continued Marco. "Just look at all they've done to teach and protect you. They wouldn't have done all that if they thought you were a disappointment. They care about you, a lot!"
Star grinned at her friend. Her cheek hearts went back to normal. "You're so smart, Marco. I guess I was just being silly."
"There's nothing silly about feeling inadequate, Star," he assured her. "Everyone doubts themselves every now and then. But that's what friends are for. Feel better?"
"Yeah," She lay back and got comfy. "Good night."
"Good night, Aurora," Marco joked on his way out the door.
"Who?"
"Sleeping Beauty?"
"Ohhh yeahhh!" Star slowly recalled. "G'night!"
"You already said good night to me."
"Oh, yeah. Good night!"
"STAR!"
The two laughed and went to bed.
(A/N: N'awww, wasn't that SWEET? Okay, so hopefully I'll finish some of my other one-shots soon! Be sure to stick around for them! Please review, fave and check out my profile!
Au revoir!)