Are We Friends?
Marco slammed his door and collapsed on the bed, hurt and anger and frustration rushing through him like a tidal wave.
He was so done with her. Why couldn't Star understand why he was so upset? After everything they'd been through – all the crazy shenanigans he'd put up with – Star still didn't care about him. If she did, he wouldn't be in this mess to begin with, stuck living with a nightmare princess.
That dumb sandwich, God, she'd almost gotten him killed over a freaking sandwich. He may not be the "Safe Kid" anymore, but jeez, dying over a sandwich was ridiculous!
He could still hear her comment, like she was standing right in front of him now. "I hate when you act like this! It makes me wonder why we're even friends."
He felt something squeeze his chest and he turned to face the wall, tucking himself tighter together protectively. How could she ever ask that?
Why were they friends?
Because Marco had taken her in and let her stay with his family even after she ruined his day.
Because he'd taught her everything he knew about Earth.
Because he did fun and completely insane quests with her. Experiencing things he'd never have even known about otherwise.
Because they fought monsters together, and they were awesome at it.
Because… because they'd danced at the Blood Moon Ball together. Did it not matter to her? None of it?
He pulled his hood over his head and tried to block out the light of the setting sun as he closed his eyes. He tried to push down all the emotions bubbling and pulsing in his gut, trying to force himself not to be as upset as he was. If there was one thing Marco hated being known for, more than being the "Safe Kid", it was being the "crying kid". Even when he was alone, he didn't want to give in to the dam that threatened to break.
God, this was what Star did to him. She could bring him the highest of highs… and she could also bring him low in a way no one else could. He'd had friends before Star, obviously, but nobody could hit him right in the gut, right where no one was supposed to be able to touch him, not like Star. He'd built up walls early on so that no bully would ever be able to climb them. It was part of the reason he'd started karate. Not even his friends knew all of the things that scared him, or made him sad, or the ones that made him really happy. Star was different. Most of the time she was so caught up in her own world, a nuclear bomb couldn't break through her focus. So it always surprised him, excited him in a weird new way, when she could look through all his walls and false bravado and see that something was really bothering him.
And now, she was mad at him. She was mad at him? That didn't even make sense!
He was the one that had almost been eaten today. And that wasn't even mentioning all the other life-threatening situations they'd been in, all because of Star's impulsive, careless nature. She almost destroyed time. Star had broken his arm right before his karate tournament and then had turned it into a tentacle. She wrecked his house on an hourly basis. He'd nearly been brainwashed at that psycho school Saint Olga's, all because she had dragged him there to rescue her homicidal levitating horse-head friend. The less mentioned about the mewberty incident the better.
Marco could have wrote a novel on all the ways Star drove him crazy.
Yet, as mad as he wanted to be at her, as hurt as he was, he couldn't help thinking of all the good things she'd done for him. Every bad situation they'd gotten into because of her, Star made a way out. No matter what, she always did her best to fix any problem she caused. Underneath the childishness, the crazy warrior gleam in her eyes, the rainbow unicorns, and her manic smiles, there was a good heart.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, like he'd been taught in his karate classes, to help push all the negative thoughts and feelings out. Out where they belonged, scattered to the wind.
Star cared. She did. She knew why they were friends, and she was a friend. A good friend. The best of friends. She clicked with him in a way no one else ever had, or maybe ever could.
Sure, she put him in danger, but he'd signed up for that willingly when he'd agreed to let her stay with them. Yes, she could be careless. Yes, she really needed to read her spell book more, so she would stop causing pink and purple bursts of destruction everywhere she went. But Star was the most amazing girl he'd ever known, and he was glad he knew her.
Marco sighed again and sat up, still facing the wall. He rubbed his face, already beginning to feel better. He needed to make up with Star. He couldn't stand to be fighting with her. In the end, what did it matter, really? So they'd almost died getting a sandwich. Big whoop. Maybe tomorrow they'd almost die trying to get Glosseric some pudding. As long as they were almost dying together, he would be happy.
Marco started to climb off the bed when he heard the telltale sound of a dimension portal opening. Is Star leaving? She wouldn't do that, right? He turned and saw a green swirling portal in the middle of his room, all of Ludo's monsters glaring at him darkly. He felt a sharp, cold twinge of fear, but dropped into his karate stance.
"What do you want, Ludo?" Marco spat, looking for the pipsqueak leader of the pack.
"Oh, Ludo's not here," one of the monsters, the one that looked like a giant fly said quietly, grinning. "We have new orders. Get 'im."
Before Marco could really register what this meant, all the monsters were coming at him at once. In such close quarters, there was only so much dodging he could do to get away from them. Every time he went for the door, or a window, a monster jumped in his way to block him from escaping.
He chopped and kicked and weaved around Ludo's army, but without Star helping blast monsters with narwhals and jellybean hallucinations, he was tiring quickly and they just kept coming at him. None of them asked where the wand was, and no one was trying to find Star. What did they want with him?
Star! Where are you? You can usually sense a fight a mile away, and I need your help! "Star, I –" His cry was cut short by the bear looking monster grabbing him from behind and clamping a paw over his mouth. Marco struggled in the grip of the monster, his feet kicking uselessly above the ground. Star! I have to warn her – they're going to take her wand, and if Ludo gets it–
"Good," the fly monster (Marco couldn't remember his name) chuckled. "Toffee will be pleased! Take him back to the castle, I'll tell Star Butterfly that if she ever wants to see her friend again, she'll bring the wand by midnight."
Marco stopped struggling for a moment, confusion pinching his brow. Who was this Toffee guy? Where was Ludo, shouldn't he be gloating over his success right now? They thought they could make Star hand over the wand in exchange for him? This plan seemed way too methodical to ever have been cooked up by that little freak show bird.
While Marco was pondering this, one of the other monsters tugged at his hoodie, trying to pull it off his arms one at a time. He felt a momentary surge of irrational panic. They couldn't take his hoodie – nobody messed with his hoodie!
He struggled anew against the bear like arms holding him, but new claws and hooves and paws joined the cause and held him still until finally his red hoodie, his armor that had brought him through so much, was gone completely. He knew it was stupid to be so emotional over clothes, but there was a reason he'd bought twenty of those.
They were his favorites for a reason. As the old saying went, 'no one can see you bleed when you wear red'. No one knew just how vulnerable and scared you were when you didn't let them see it. The hoodie let him hide all the things he hated about himself, and only let the best parts of him shine through. Without that hoodie, he felt raw, unprotected, and useless. Useless, Marco thought, as the fly monster hung the hoodie from his head and sat on the edge of his bed, pretending to be him. That's all I ever am. Just a useless human caught in the middle of a war between monsters and a powerful magic princess. Star's right. I can't think of why we should be friends either.
The monsters dragged him through the portal, but Marco didn't fight back, not much. What was the point? He was cannon fodder, always had been, and always would be. Maybe his nickname should have been the "Bait". Star was about to lose her family wand forever and the Kingdom of Mewny would fall, all because of him. A dumb useless human. Some friend he was.
AN: Phew, I am really out of practice! So, yes, this is very short and kind of pointless, but I really wanted to write a little one-shot of that scene we missed out on between when Marco closes his door and Star finds him gone in "Storm the Castle" (which is, imho, one of the best season ending episodes ever). I hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you thought down in the review box below, and if you want to check out more of my work you're more than welcome to do so! Thanks for reading everyone!
Btw, to those of you waiting on an update for TLH and W4, everything's kind of on hold for a while. Not sure when I'll get back into the swing of things, but I'm doing my best to get there. Thank you so much for your patience and kind messages!