AN: I'M ALIVE! No, really, I am. I finally dug myself out of all the homework, projects, tests and essays of late and I can see clearly now the stress is gone! (Haha) So clearly, I am not to be trusted with any kind of schedule when it comes to writing here, so from now on, expect no regularity when it comes to updates! It just makes each update all the sweeter.

Anyway, this is a one-shot I wrote to get the ol' writing brain going again. I WILL be updating all of my other stories soon, as in, by the end of this year. Here you go!


"Tom, are you crazy? This is the third time we've snuck out for a date this week! My parents are gonna notice!" Marco whined, his arm being pulled out the window into the bitingly fresh nighttime air of Echo Creek.

Tom, his demon boyfriend, was grinning and levitating outside his window, actively trying to tug Marco out of it. "C'mon, Marco! It'll be fine! I've got dimensional scissors this time!"

Marco was significantly unimpressed, and this time, was not having it. He tugged his arm hard and tried to lean back into his room, but he overshot and landed with a crash onto his desk, Tom shooting off in the opposite direction and hitting a tree from his momentum, getting one of his horns stuck in the trunk.

Of course, this woke up Marco's parents with a start. Star, on the other hand, was asleep - dead to the world. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz came running, both still in their pyjamas and Mr. Diaz gripping a baseball bat, thinking there was an intruder in their home.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Mr. Diaz cried as he broke down poor Marco's door, brandishing his baseball bat while Mrs. Diaz brandished her recently grabbed lamp.

"Oh. Hey Mom, hey Dad," Marco greeted them awkwardly, still lying on the floor with his things strewn all around him. He began to get up, groaning from pain and exhaustion (it was 2 AM) when something light purple and red-eyed flew through the open window and crashed into him.

"Marco! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Tom (of course it was Tom) asked, rapid-fire, his face the picture of concern as he straddled Marco, tilting his boyfriend's head this way and that, checking for injuries. Having found none on Marco's face, Tom sat up and grabbed Marco's hand, exclaiming, "Well, looks like you're fine! We can go on that date now!"

"Date?" Mrs. Diaz asked, her lamp lowered but still held tightly in her hands. Mr. Diaz was still frozen in shock, gaping at Tom.

"Oh! Um," Marco started, chuckling nervously before putting an arm around Tom and bringing him close. "Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend, Tom."

Tom, for his part, was shocked too. He'd flown right into this without even noticing Marco's parents. He cringed, afraid he'd screwed this up majorly for Marco.

"Marco... do you mean to tell us that you've been sneaking out with a boy every night?!" Mr. Diaz hollered, the baseball bat lying on the floor, long forgotten.

"Well... not every night," Marco specified, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily while Tom swallowed audibly.

"Marco, we need to have a talk for a minute," Mrs. Diaz interjected softly, tugging Marco and her husband from the room and into the bathroom across the hall. Marco gave Tom the sign to stay put right before the door closed.

Tom sat on his boyfriend's bed, annoyed with himself. Why couldn't he be more aware of his surroundings? Now he got Marco in trouble with his parents! The demon wondered what would happen to Marco, to their relationship. Would Marco's parents forbid him from seeing Marco again? Tom sniffled at the idea, playing with his hands and waiting nervously for Marco to return.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Marco was facing his parents, who looked... well, let's say, displeased.

"Marco, I can't believe you! Did I raise you to be the type to sneak out in the middle of the night in nothing but your pyjamas?" Mrs. Diaz exclaimed, her arms folded and her face set in a frown.

"Yes, Marco, what has happened that you cannot even talk to us about your first love?" Mr. Diaz chimed in, looking sad.

Marco stood there, his eyebrows slowly raising from their lowered state of confusion to a dawning understanding. "Wait... you're angry with me only because... I didn't tell you guys?"

"Yes, Marco!" Mrs. Diaz sighed. She shook her head, then hugged her son, and Mr. Diaz quickly joined in, wrapping his big arms around both of them. Marco looked at his parents askance, then shrugged and just accepted, happy that he wasn't grounded or anything.

The group broke up after a few seconds. Mr. Diaz asked, "From now on, you will tell us when you will be going out, okay?"

"Yes, Dad."

"And you will be telling us all of the details afterwards!"

"Dad!"

"What?" Mr. Diaz asked innocently.

Marco smiled ruefully and went to open the bathroom door, but slipped on a wet towel left by Star the last time she decided to clean the bathroom with her wand and it hadn't gone so well. He fell with a huge thump and a cry of pain on the bathroom tiles, dragging all the hair dryers and other appliances with him with multiple crashes.

In Marco's bedroom, Tom jumped and stared out the open door to the closed bathroom door, worrying his lip. He was worried that Marco's parents would do something to his boyfriend for dating a demon, and after a few shouts, it sounded like they were throwing him around in there. In her bedroom, Star slept on, only turning over and gently muttering, "Narwhal blast," in her slumber.

In the bathroom, Marco's parents cried, "Marco! Are you okay?" lunging for him and dusting him off.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just a few bruises. I really gotta stop falling on things," Marco chuckled, rubbing his sore back.

"Alright. Well, get to bed, Marco. Why don't you explain the situation to Tom, and we'll have official introductions in the morning. It's late," Mrs. Diaz declared.

"Okay, Mom. Goodnight, Mom. Goodnight, Dad."

They left the bathroom and Marco made his way to his bedroom, excited to tell Tom that he hadn't gotten in much trouble after all. "Tom, I -" he started, but never got to finish, as the demon shot up and grabbed him, finding each bruise on Marco's arms and legs and looking incredibly anxious.

"Marco! Where does it hurt?," he asked, or, well, demanded. "Did your parents do this to you?"

"Uh..." Marco replied eloquently, not sure how to respond to such a question.

Tom took this is as confirmation of his question and sat down on the bed abruptly, his face going pale. "Marco... I am so sorry... This is all my fault!" he cried, holding his head in his hands.

Marco sat down next to him, a bit confused as to why Tom would think his parents would do such a thing, but then he ran over the events of the night in his head and finally understood, if only a little. "You think my parents hurt me?" he confirmed.

Tom lifted his head and turned to Marco, face still pale and all three red eyes wet with upset tears. "Marco, they shouldn't have done that! I mean, that was going too far! You could've cracked your skull on something and been killed!"

That was a confirmation. Marco's eyes widened and he stared at Tom strangely. "Tom, my mom and dad would never do that! Why would you think such a thing?!"

His boyfriend's expression evened out from anxiety and frustration to confusion, the small flames starting to burn in his hair puttering out. "What? But... isn't that normal?"

"What?!"

Tom raised his eyebrows and got up, making as if to leave. "Oh, nothing. I'll be going now, see you later, Marco!"

Marco was having none of this at 2:15 in the morning, so he jumped up and grabbed Tom's hand, ordering, "No! Tom, you've gotta stay here and explain this to me!"

Tom let himself be tugged around by Marco, finally reseating himself on the bed. Marco snuggled up to him, trying to get him to open up. The demon finally sighed and admitted, "My parents do the same to me whenever I mess up, which is all the time."

Marco was silent for a few seconds, processing this new information and its implications. "But... Tom, that's not normal. And my parents don't do that to me. That's really wrong," he gently explained.

The demon's third eye swivelled up to glance at Marco, watching him carefully. "Really? I always thought all parents did that." The eye looked away again.

"No, Tom, that's not true. And it's all okay, my parents are fine with us dating, it's just that we can't sneak out anymore. We have to tell them that we're going out when we do."

"Huh. So I guess I freaked out over nothing."

"Yup," Marco replied, throwing an arm around Tom and hugging him close. "But that's why I like you," he teased.

Tom laughed, a bit more open now, a bit more free. His home life would be discussed and picked apart in the morning, but right now he was just happy with just hanging out with his boyfriend and knowing that they could still be together.

The two boys laid back on the pillows, getting comfy and making the bed creak. At this, Star woke up in her room and ran to Marco's, wand at the ready to protect him from some nefarious monster.

"Get away from- AAAAAAGGGHHH! TOM?!"

Marco sighed.

THE END