The sun was shining on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon in Echo Creek, and Marco was just sitting down in his homeroom class. It had been a pretty eventful week so far for the boy- yesterday morning, he was just an average human kid living an average human life, and by the end of that same day, he had made friends with a magical princess from another dimension.

After fighting off all the monsters from yesterday's attack, Marco had spent the rest of the day with Star, at home, telling her all about life on Earth, and listening to her explain all the magical wonders of life on Mewni.

Marco had just sat down at his desk after showing Star where she could sit when he heard two distinct chuckles from behind him. He turned around with an annoyed glare on his face to see his two best friends, Alfonzo and Ferguson, trying very hard not to laugh at him.

"What's so funny?" Marco asked, knowing he would likely not like where this was going.

"Who's this new girl you've been spending all your time with?" Ferguson asked.

"Oh, her name is Star Butterfly, you'll never believe it, she's the coolest person I've ever met! She's a magical princess from this other dimension, called Mewni. I mean, how crazy is that? I didn't even know there WERE other dimensions! Oh, and she has this magic wand that she can do nearly anything with…" Marco continued to very excitedly explain who his new friend was, not at all noticing his two friends trying their hardest not to burst out laughing.

"…we spent almost all night last night talking and getting to know each other. Oh my god, I've never met someone so cool in my life. She's led this amazing, magical life, fighting monsters and stuff, oh man, she's the best…" He continued. Alfonzo and Ferguson could barely hold back their laughter.

"…anyways, Skeeves picked me to watch over Star while she's here, show her around, teach her about Earth life so she doesn't get herself into too much trouble because of a misunderstanding…" Marco paused as he glanced over to his friends, who were laughing uncontrollably.

"Wait, what's so funny?" Marco asked cautiously.

"Dude, you met this girl 24 hours ago, and you already know like, everything about her. We asked you one simple question, who is she, and you not only told us who she is, but went on to list everything amazing about her, and gushed about her for like…10 minutes straight. Not to mention, as soon as we brought her up, your eyes lit up like we've never seen." Ferguson explained.

Marco's face flushed, and his cheeks turned a bright red.

"S-so? What's your point?" Marco asked shyly.

"You're totally in love with her!"

"WHAT? I am not! That's ridiculous, Ferg. I just met the girl, how could I possibly be in love with her?" Marco exclaimed. Alfonzo and Ferguson let out a brief snort of laughter.

"That's all it takes sometimes." Alfonzo responded.

"You guys are being ridiculous." Marco folded his arms nervously, turning his head away from his two friends.

"You should tell her how you feel. After all, she won't be here forever, right?" Ferguson advised.

"I'm not going to tell her that! I-I mean, because it's not true, were just friends, I don't feel that way about her!"

"Sure, bro, whatever you say..." Alfonzo commented. The two knew it was pointless to keep teasing and pushing the subject. They could see Marco was getting embarrassed and flustered.

- a few months later -

"What the heck happened yesterday with Star and that whole destroying the school fiasco?" Ferguson asked.

"It was Star, she…she called it 'mewberty'. I guess it's this whole transformation Mewmans go through, something like human puberty but WAY more extreme. She underwent this transformation into this…boy-hunting creature…thing. It was really freaky…at one point I thought I had lost her forever." Marco explained. Ferguson could tell that Marco was still a little shaken up by the whole thing.

"Man, I skip one measly day of school for the first time in my grade school career and I miss out on all the drama…" Ferguson complained.

"But it seems like that really freaked you out. Did you…discover...anything about yourself after that?" Ferguson asked carefully.

Marco glared at him, annoyed at the question. He knew exactly what Ferguson was trying to ask.

"Cut that out, I am not in love with Star. What difference would it make if I was? She probably doesn't feel the same way…so even if I did like her…which I don't…she'd probably get freaked out and I'd ruin our friendship…and even if I liked her, and she liked me back, what if we started dating, and it ended badly..." Marco drifted off into his thoughts. He'd be lying to himself if he said he hadn't been thinking about these possibilities since yesterday's chaotic events, but there was no way he was going to admit it to his friends, and give them the satisfaction of knowing they're quite possibly correct about his feelings.

"But what if she does feel the same way and you end up missing out on something that was meant to be because you were too scared to take a chance?" Alfonzo asked.

"Wh-what? I…uh…" Marco paused. He thought about the possibility for a second. Star, liking me? A small smile worked its way to his cheeks. It only lasted a second, however, as he shoved the thought out of his mind. Shaking his head, he said,

"Look, I-I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Alfonzo and Ferguson shrugged. They knew when to leave well enough alone.

- a few more months later -

"Where were you last night, dude? We called you like 10 times trying to make plans." Ferguson asked.

"Oh, sorry, I went to this…Blood Moon Ball thing last night. It was this weird underworld demon prom thing that Star went to with her ex. I know, it was a bad idea for me to follow her there, I should trust her to be able to take care of herself, but…I couldn't help it. She looked so beautiful in that dress, and I remember what she told me about Tom being such a huge jerk…but there was this voice, saying something about 'the moon of lovers', and I got thinking, about how much I'd hate to see her get hurt again…I don't know, I just…I wasn't thinking straight…"

"Wait wait wait, what? 'Moon of lovers'? What do you mean by that?" Ferguson asked.

"Oh, I don't really completely understand it. There was this voice talking to me, saying that the blood moon is the 'moon of lovers'. But when I got there, I…all I did was grab Star's hand and pull her back to me, and this weird red light came on…and she just looked so beautiful…so we danced together. She seemed so…happy, so entranced by me, and for some reason she didn't seem to recognize me underneath my mask." Marco paused.

"But, you should've seen the way she was looking at me…and dancing with her, it was all so…so amazing…I can't even begin to describe it…" He paused again. His friends smirked to each other.

"Anyways, she told me later that the blood moon chooses two souls and binds them together for all eternity. So I guess Star and I are gonna be best friends forever…I mean, I knew that already, but…I dunno, it only happens every 667 years, so I guess it's cool to have something so rare happen."

This time around, Alfonzo and Ferguson were not laughing at all. Their mouths were agape; they could not believe what they were hearing.

"Oh my god!" Alfonzo commented.

"What?" Marco asked.

"Dude! Don't you see what this means? You and Star are soulmates; you're destined to be together! I can't believe it; you have to tell Star you're in love with her!" Ferguson exclaimed.

"What?! Are you crazy? I'm not telling her! That would totally ruin our entire friendship! I can't let that happen, I care about Star way too much…" Marco responded.

Ferguson and Alfonzo smiled widely.

"So, you admit you're in love with her?"

Crap. He hadn't meant to let that slip. He still didn't want to give them the satisfaction of being right, but Marco knew there was no turning back now.

"Ugh, I don't know. Maybe I am…maybe I'm not…I just…it doesn't matter anyways, she doesn't see me that way. It doesn't matter anyways, she's…she's too good for me. She's this amazing, independent, kick-butt super powerful magical princess from this amazing other dimension…she's royalty, for goodness sake…and I'm just…just some average, plain, not royal, Earth kid. She deserves way better than me…"

"Dude, that's total nonsense. You spend all your time with a magical princess from another dimension. You fight monsters on a daily basis! You're no average human, my friend, and I think as long as Star loves you, you're more than worthy of her. I mean, you've been chosen to be together for all of eternity!"

"None of that even matters. Star doesn't feel that way about me. And she deserves someone way better than just…me...she deserves someone who's as awesome as her, someone who'd treat her like the princess she is…someone more special than just me…" Marco's thoughts drifted off and he became silent.

"Marco, you're talking nonsense. You do better than all that. You not only treat her with the respect a princess deserves, you treat her like any person deserves to be treated. Like any friend deserves to be treated. You treat her like a real person, which I'm sure hasn't been super common for her. You care about her more than anyone ever could. You protect her and look out for her and take care of her more than anyone else she'll ever meet would. And even if none of what I'm saying now is actually true, that doesn't matter. At the end of the day, the only person who decides who Star deserves is Star, dude. She could be sent back to Mewni any day, and then you'd lose your chance to tell her how you feel." Ferguson advised his friend.

"Look, I'm not telling her, end of story, okay?" Marco said, his tone showing he was becoming slightly agitated.

"Alright, whatever…"

Marco sat down in homeroom, seemingly in a world of his own. Alfonzo and Ferguson exchanged worried glances. Marco looked kind of distracted, like he had a lot on his mind.

"Hey, dude, is everything ok? You seem a bit worried about something." Alfonzo asked.

"What? Oh, no…I mean, I'm not worried, I'm just…something a little crazy happened last night. There was this…new villain, Toffee…and I guess he's had his eye on us for a while now, but last night he…used me to get Star to destroy the wand…"

Marco proceeded to explain the entire fiasco that had occurred on Mewni the night before. His friends were very surprised to hear about all the drama of the situation.

"That's crazy, you were kidnapped? Is everything okay, are you okay?" Ferguson asked.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine, it's just…Star was willing to destroy her wand, a family heirloom dating back centuries, for…for me…" Marco said, once again drifting back into his thoughts.

"Marco, don't you see what's going on at all?" Ferguson said, his slight annoyance seeping into his tone.

"What do you mean?" Marco asked defensively.

"You just said it yourself! She's willing to give up her wand to keep you safe, dude! She totally likes you and you need to tell her how you feel before its too late!" Ferguson explained.

"We've been through this before, I'm not telling her!" Marco exclaimed.

"Yes, Marco, we have been through this before! Because these significant moments keep happening between you two! You two keep running into these moments where you're faced with the truth of how you feel about each other, but you keep chickening out and not telling her how you feel! Trust me, dude, we've seen how Star is around you too, you don't know she'd turn you down. Even if she does, isn't it worth taking that chance? Isn't Star worth that chance?" Ferguson ranted.

"I…I…" Marco was speechless. They had a point; what was he so scared of? Why was he holding back?

Because one day she's going to leave forever…Marco thought. And besides, if you tell her, and she turns you down, you won't be friends anymore, and that'd be even worse.

"N-no, I can't do that, I just can't." Marco said, shaking his head.

Ferguson and Alfonzo sighed and shook their heads at their friend. They exchanged shrugs at each other in a silent way of saying "someday he'll be ready."

For now, though, they'd just have to keep giving him gentle nudges.

Heeyy, look at that, I posted another fic that I only half like, lol! This was an idea that came to me while I was looking for something to do to waste time at camp a few weeks ago. I super duper love the idea that Ferg and Alfie constantly push Marco just a little to confront Star about his feelings. I mean, he's bound to tell them about all his adventures with her, and I'm sure by now they've picked up on Marco's feelings for her, right? They have to have confronted Marco about it by now…but anyways.

As always, constructive criticism is most definitely welcome. I'm sure I'll be seeing you all when season 2 comes (soon YAY!) :D