"Tom?", Marco opened the door to his friend's room and peeked his head through the door, "We got school today, why aren't you up?"

Tom was lying in his bed, covered in blankets, he wasn't dressed, and his hair was still a mess.

Tom got up early to get ready, at least he usually did.

Marco walked over to his friend and shook him, "Tom? Tom you have to get up we're gonna be late..."

"Marco...", Tom grumbled and looked at his friend, "I don't feel well...".

Marco sat on his bed, "You're sick?"

"I think so...I just...I don't feel ok, I-I don't think I can go to school today...", He pressed his face into his pillow, "I think today I should just stay here and rest, just tell my teachers i'm sick today and you can bring me whatever I have to work on I guess..."

Marco reached a hand out and felt Tom's forehead, "I could stay too If you want? I Don't want you to be alone..."

"No it's fine, your parents can take care of me...just let them know i'm here and...you should go.."

"Are you sure?", Marco didn't enjoy leaving Tom alone, he could be hurt, or kidnapped, or who knows what. Maybe it was just his safe kid instincts as per usual, but he just didn't enjoy Tom being in places he couldn't see him in.

Tom could take care of himself of course, but there was always a possibility of something huge happening and he wouldn't be there.

"Yeah, you need to go to school more then me anyway...I just need to rest...", Tom said, smiling, "I'll be just fine, you go on..."

Marco smiled and helped pull the covers over Tom a little more, "Ok, i'll let my parents and your teachers know, and when I get back i'll get you some soup and i'll help you with your schoolwork, is that ok?". Tom nodded, and Marco waved at him and closed the door gently behind him.

Marco couldn't help but look back at Tom's bedroom door before he went down the stairs, this was the first time Tom wasn't going to school with him since he moved in and he almost felt like Tom would get up any moment and leave with him.

Tom must've caught a bug when he visited mewni a few days ago, he hoped it wasn't anything serious or that his dad poisoned his food.

He found his parents in the living room, watching TV together.

"Marco, where's Tom?", His mother asked immediately, "You both have school today..."

"Tom's sick...", he informed, his parents' faces started to look worried and he immediately tried to calm them down, "It's ok, it's ok...I think he just needs some rest... "

"Should we go upstairs? I can get a doctor or-", marco knew they were starting to panic, they usually always were very concerned whenever their exchange students were under the whether, because they took it as a sign they hadn't taken good care of them.

"No, just...check on him, and see if he needs anything..", Marco reassured, "I'm sure it's minor..."

He looked at his watch, "I better go, just...don't worry, he'll be fine...just bring him some food and keep an eye on him ok?"

He starting heading out the door and waited for their response.

They both gave him thumbs up, and he took that as a good sign and closed the door behind him in relief that his parents wouldn't go to any extreme to help cure Tom.

Marco felt awkward walking to the bus stop without Tom. He was safe with his parents sure, but, he missed sitting next to him; Sharing headphones and listening to Love Sentence on the ride to school and mouthing the lyrics together like dorks.

He never realized how much Tom became a part of his life, and his daily routine. He could even see his classmates around him eyeing him, taking note that the seat next to him was empty. Some girls were snickering at him and he blushed.

"Hey Diaz...where's your roommate? He didn't go off and find cooler friends did he?"

Marco resisted the urge to hit her in the face and instead gave her a look.

"I dunno Abby? Maybe he wanted to go to school another route since this one is has your bad attitude stinking up the place?"

The girl snarled at him and he resumed listening to music alone.

Sigh, this was gonna be a long day...

Tom sat up, feeling very hot and sweaty, his head hurt... a lot.

Can't sleep, can't relax, he wasn't sure if he was entirely sick but he was certain he was in no condition to go anywhere.

His wand sat on the bed next to him, and he wondered if it was possible there was a spell that might make him feel better, but then elected to not point a magic wand at his face considering the consequences of messing up and making himself sicker.

All he could think about was the screams and hollers of pain from the monster he tortured, and they wouldn't stop ringing in his ears.

He also couldn't help but think about his father, and his reaction.

He kinda expected him to be more pleased, but then again, his father was almost never pleased.

He felt his throbbing head, he should've asked Marco more about how humans handle this, so Marco could cure him with earth magic.

He wanted to call up Marco's parents, who'd been asking him almost every minute if he needed anything until he told them he'd be find on his own for a bit, maybe to ask for something to eat or whatever else humans did to make them...not-sick.

For now he elected to take a cold shower and made his way into the bathroom.

He pressed his head against the shower wall as cold water ran down his back, he felt really gross, he wasn't very used to being sick considering back on Mewni people took care of him quickly to make sure their future king would be alive to pass on the wand to his next heir.

How did normal people bear this feeling for so long?

He wrapped a towel around himself once finished, and decided to change into some clean, nonsweaty, clothes.

He slipped into shorts and a tank top and tried to go back to bed, but then he shivered, feeling a bit cold now.

He groaned into his pillow, he just wanted to sleep until Marco came back, and he couldn't convince his body to do so.

He stood back up and walked to the corner of his room and let his rabbit out, the pink rabbit happily made his way onto the boy's lap as he scratched behind his ears. "Hey buddy...", Tom mumbled,"Guess we can hang out till Marco gets back..."

Marshmallow sniffed his hand before hopping around the floor, he ran around for a bit when Tom saw him hide under his bed. Tom laughed, "Oh, c'mon you...you don't really think you can hide from me?", Tom made his way over to his flame patterned bed and grabbed his soft rabbit out from under it, but something else came with him.

A red hoodie, Marshmallow poked his head out from the collar, and Tom laughed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot I hid that...", Tom laughed at when he tried to prank marco by hiding his hoodie, only to find out Marco had 50 other red hoodies just like this one; Some prankster he was. Marshmallow plopped out onto Tom's lap and Tom looked at the hoodie and after thinking a bit, pulled it over his head to reduce the cold.

"So this is what it feels like...", Tom mumbled, he wouldn't admit it but it felt like permanent hug from marco.

It was nice.

He looked around for a bit, Marco wouldn't be back for awhile, he wouldn't mind if he borrowed his hoodie for a bit right?

He saw his Rabbit pawing at him and smiled, maybe being sick wouldn't be so bad?

Marco missed Tom, he missed him a lot.

He was so used to hanging out with him at school, meeting up with him, having lunch with him, walking to classes together. Marco'd had a few friends before Tom, but he hadn't spent nearly as much time with them as he did with Tom now.

He felt eyes on him, people wondering where Tom was since they were usually always together.

At least his teachers were understanding, although carrying extra homework and classwork for Tom kinda sucked.

Marco sat down at lunch, eating alone at he and Tom's usual table when someone sat down next to him.

"Hey Marco!"

Jackie.

Marco had to calm down so he didn't choke on his sandwich.

"H-hey.."

"Sorry...", She started, "I just noticed Tom wasn't here and I thought you might like company, is that ok?"

"Y-Yeah, that's totally ok!.", he replied way too fast, "Tom's sick today...so..yeah.."

"Aww, i'm sorry, I hope he feels better soon...", She replied, "Getting sick on a school day kinda sucks when you have tons of make up work to do, but i'm sure he won't mind getting a break from school..."

"Y-Yeah...", Marco was having trouble coming up with proper replies, "I-I'm gonna help him make up his work so he doesn't fall behind...I mean, he doesn't really need earth school since he's gonna be king of mewni but..."

He trailed off, feeling very nervous and sweaty.

Jackie laughed, "Well you're a good friend then, he's lucky to have you.."

Marco smiled wide.

Maybe the rest of the day wouldn't be so bad?

Tom relaxed on the bed. watching his rabbit nibble pellets from his palm, snickering at the rabbit tickling him with his nose and whiskers.

He half expected Marco would call to check up on him, but he hadn't. But then again he was probably busy at school, and apparently earth schools considered phones to be a distraction.

"At least You're here to keep me company...", He said, "Goofball..."

He picked up his rabbit and put him back into his cage, Marshmallow burrowed under the bedding and Tom trotted back to his bed. He was still wearing Marco's hoodie and frankly he refused to take it off, no wonder Marco wore this thing so often.

Tom buried his nose into it, resting and enjoying it as he laid back down.

He felt very at home now, like he can finally sleep.

Then he snapped his eyes open.

He sat up, blushing and extremely embarrassed, he pulled Marco's hoodie off of him.

He'd been sniffing Marco's hoodie, inhaling his scent.

His best friend.

He threw it back under the bed, trying to process the fact that he even did that to begin with. If Marco had walked in and caught him doing that it would be mortifying, a wave of cold hit him again and he desperatly wanted to grab the hoodie and put it back on again.

But he couldn't.

Yes, he liked Marco, but he didn't...he never...

Not since...The blood moon ball

The memories of the ball flooded in fast and he followed his usual first instinct, which was to push them away.

He rubbed his head, dumb move, very dumb move.

Marco was his best friend, and if he kept acting like this, he wouldn't be for much longer.

Tom didn't need a repeat of Star again, not another friend lost because he couldn't be the perfect boyfriend.

Because he was so bad when he had crushes.

Star was a prime example of that, he could try to be cool all he wanted, but half the time he felt like he never really did impress her at all. Not to mention how unhealthy his crush was, Marco had to convince him to move on before he did anything else stupid.

And losing Marco was guaranteed to be much more painful then when he broke up with Star. He and Marco shared everything together, He lived with Marco, Marco talked to him about things he could've never brought up with Star, Marco's hugs made him feel safe...

His world would crash beneath him.

Tom fell back on the bed, this isn't what he wanted to think about today, no no no.

His mind, just had to leap to this strange idea of him dating Marco.

He tried to calm himself down, he was fine. He was just jumping to conclusions again, Tom knew he got attached to people easily and he was probably just this way because he really did like Marco and Marco was apart of his home on Earth.

Even Star, who once teased him being Tom's date, was being jokey.

He felt better reassuring himself, it was all too common of him to freak out and assume things, and he was making a big deal out of something small.

He didn't think of Marco that way and that was final, he was just being stupid.

Marshmallow poked his head out from under his bedding to stare at the embarrassed mewman.

"Don't look at me like that...", Tom grumbled.

Then his mirror started ringing, starting him, he almost fell off the bed.

Starship is Calling...

His stomach fell, he hadn't been expecting that.

Why would Star be calling him? He was sure she probably blocked his number ages ago.

He stood up and trotted his way over to his mirror, and awkwardly answered it.

"Hello?"

Star stood in front of him shyly, Tail practically between her legs, Tom wasn't sure what to say after their last meeting.

"Hi Tom..."

"Star?"

She crossed her arms, "I'm glad I caught you, I wasn't kinda really sure when to call, since I didn't know when you'd be here and if you still allowed me to call, or if mirrors still worked on earth, or if i'd be interrupting something or-"

"Star, it's ok...I-I I'm here sick today...", He looked at his feet, "Marco is at school, so i'm just kinda by myself..."

"Oh...", She bit her lip, "Ok..."

There was a moment of awkward silence, Tom shifted in place a bit, "So...what do you want?"

"I wanted to talk...a bit...", She started, "I'm sorry things have been kinda rough for you lately..."

"It's not uncommon...", Tom muttered, shrugging, "Just my life I suppose..."

"Well...I-I...I wanted to say, I-I uh...I...If you need anything...I wanna help...", She sighed, "I-I'm not open to being your girlfriend but...If you...need a friend? "

Tom looked up, a noticeable blush on his face,"Y-You wanna be friends? What came up?"

"I've been thinking lately...and...I know things have been rough between us, but...I wanna be an ear, if you need someone to talk to ok?", She pulled on her hair, "I wasn't great in the past when you were upset and I just wann-"

"Star...", Tom said, "It's ok...y-you don't have to do that..."

"I know, I just...Want to...I don't have to..but...I wasn't there for you then, and I don't wanna run away from it anymore...", The demon relaxed and gave a small smile, "I'm sorry, Things went bad between us...and...I really didn't want to make you feel like...I hated you or anything.."

"Star..."

"We weren't the best couple but...things should've ended better between us..."

"Star it's ok..I-I tried to push back into a relationship that was already gone...and I shouldn't have...", Tom said, "You don't have to beg for forgiveness or feel bad for me, It's...you're not obliged to return my feelings or talk to me again if you don't want to-"

"Tom...it's your Dad...", Star interrupted, finally spilling the beans, "Mom talked to him yesterday, and...did he really threaten to hurt Marco?"

Tom stiffened in place, he felt sick again, "Ho-how...what?"

"Demon Magic...", Star mumbled, "Tom, Marco means the world to you...and if anything happens to him...I-I don't...I wanna help, I don't want you to be...because I wasn't..."

"I get it...", Tom said, "Just...don't tell Marco...I-I don't want him to worry...not unless he has to know..."

"Ok.."

She looked like she had something else to say, and Tom motioned her to go on.

"He's bonded to you Tom, Your dad doesn't know...does he?"

Tom felt his stomach drop again, she just HAD to bring up the ball again,he'd tried to bury that night in his mind since it happened.

He'd almost forgotten about it.

And today, it managed to come back full force and refuse to go back under the rug.

"N-No...he doesn't..."

Tom knew a bit about the moon, or at least, he knew enough. At the time he was a bit awestruck, being chosen with Marco under the moon, dancing together so awkwardly. He had never looked at Marco like that before, never once, and after it happened he told himself he never would.

That he would never let himself lose another friend.

He stopped talking about demon culture entirely after that in fact, because the dance between him and Marco just wasn't...it wasn't right.

The Moon was wrong.

and now, dancing with Marco has re-entered his mind once again, and he felt himself grown warm.

She brushed her long blonde hair out of her face, "I'm sorry this was uh..."

Tom snapped out of his thoughts to focus on the matter at hand, Star.

"No Star...I-It means lot to me, that you care...that you care about Marco...that you care about me...", he managed a sad smile, "I-I just...thanks for calling, it means a lot to me that you're willing to do so much...you don't have to.."

She grinned, "Well, what are friends for?"

Tom gave her a matching grin.

"Just...if you need anything...call me, ok?"

"Yeah, and Star?"

Star looked up, "Hmm?"

His face grew stern, "If My Dad talks about Marco again, tell me...please?"

"If my mom finds anything...yeah..", she gave him one last look, "I hope you feel better soon...bye Tom."

"Bye Star...", the call ended.

Tom felt speechless after that conversation, Star wanted to be friends again, which was kinda cool, he wasn't expecting that; But then again his expectations were usually always very low. However, the idea of his dad talking about Marco just made him shiver, he tried to clear his head, he couldn't get angry again.

But the Moon, the moon...

It had to have done something to him, that's when this began right? That was when he started doing this to Marco, and now that it was brought up, and now that his Dad had Marco in his thoughts, it was something he couldn't just bury again.

He fell onto the sheets, face first, why couldn't his life be much simpler?

He gripped the mattress, trying in all his power not to get angry, to not get angry at the idea of his father touching marco, hurting him, using him to make Tom break. Tom swore under his breath, if his father laid one hand on Marco...

But then he calmed down at the thought of seeing Marco again and Marco hugging him tightly in his arms. A feeling he was now starting to think of differently after wearing Marco's hoodie, and that alone made him feel sick.

"What's wrong with me...", He mumbled into the sheets.

Sometimes he wished he could turn off his emotions.

Marco and Jackie hung out the rest of the school day, it was a welcome surprise to Marco frankly.

He, and his crush, were hanging out, and she actually even seemed to really like him. She laughed at his jokes, listened to what he said, and she didn't even think he was weird or awkward at all! Today wasn't actually as bad as he was thought.

By the end of the school day, he and Jackie actually exchanged numbers!

This was more then he could've hoped for.

But eventually the bus came and he needed to head out while she needed to skate home.

"Thanks for keeping me company today...", Marco said, not really looking at her in the eyes, trying to hide his obvious blush.

"Hey, it's no problem , I had fun today...", She put on her helmet, "Tell Tom I hope he gets well soon.."

"Of course!", Marco replied, "Hopefully his bug will die down soon and he'll be back on his feet..."

"We should all hang out sometime.." Jackie suggested, "Call me and we could all see a movie together ok?"

"Y-Yeah, that sounds wonderful!", he replied all too quickly, but Jackie didn't care, she waved at him and skated off as he boarded the bus to go back home.

By the time he was dropped off, Marco had a new skip in his step.

He dropped his backpack off in his living room and waved to his parents, pulling out Tom's classwork out and heading upstairs to check up on his sick friend.

"Tom, i'm home!", the human knocked on his friend's door, "Can I come in?"

He heard a grumbled from the other side telling him "Fine".

Marco opened the door and found his friend covered in blankets, hiding from the world.

Marco carefully pulled them off his face, "Hey Tom, How are you feeling..."

Tom tried to avoid eye contact, "Not much better..."

Marco sat Tom's work on the nightstand next to the boy's bed, "I can go make some soup if you want? Have you eaten at all today? I don't want you to feel any worse..."

Frankly it wasn't his illness that was making Tom feel worse, but all the emotions and thoughts that made him feel sick. The confusing emotions to sniffing Marco's hoodie, and fear and anger at his father, the awkwardness of Star wanting to be his friend again...

His head hurt even worse then it did before.

"I-I guess if you want to...", Tom mumbled, "I'm pretty hungry.."

Marco smiled at him gently, "Ok, i'll bring you some food and we can work on your homework together, sound good?"

Tom mumbled something Marco took as a "Fine"

The human stood up, and almost head out before stopping, "Oh, and Jackie wishes you the best of luck with getting better!". This made Tom sit up, looking at Marco curiously now, "What do you mean, y-you talked to Jackie today?"

Marco turned towards his friend, blushing, "Well, we uh...yeah, more then before...we spent some school time today, it was REALLY cool, she's really cool. She actually asked if we all could hang out sometime, It was pretty awesome, I just...wow...".

Tom blinked a few times, Marco's day was so much better, while his felt worse.

He could hear little voices in his head trying to tell him that Marco had this day because he wasn't there, but he tried to push them back. Marco looked so happy, he didn't want to cry in front of him, didn't want to ruin his perfect day.

"T-That sounds great Marco...", Tom mumbled, "I-I'm glad things are working out between you two..."

He didn't miss you at all

That's not true

He's gonna replace you with Jackie, he's gonna find her cooler then you and leave you just like everyone always does.

Marco is different

You said the same thing about Star

Marco isn't Star, Marco is not like Star

How can you be sure?

"Yeah..", Marco grinned ear to ear, "Tom, I gotta thank you..."

"For What?", Tom snapped out of his thoughts.

"For coming to earth...", He answered simply, "If it wasn't for you, Jackie and me might not have even hung out, I might never have gotten to see so many cool places, Heck, who knows how boring my life would be without you!"

His stomach dropped for what he could assume was the millionth time today.

Tom could feel himself grow warm under his smile, he was always happy and cheerful when Marco complimented him considering he wasn't used to being praised. But this time it felt different, he wasn't sure how to describe it, he just knew it was...different.

"Well...my life would be kinda boring too...without you...", Tom managed to get out, "Earth is nice...you're nice..."

Marco walked forward and gave Tom a quick hug, and Tom hesitantly hugged him back.

Tom even noticed the way he was holding Marco was off, like he couldn't hug him properly. That was odd, he hugged Marco plenty of times before, what made this one any different then the last? Then hit hit him, Marco's familiar scent quaffed over him, making him remember the hoodie incident and blush.

What happened to him? What in the world did that moon do to him?

Tom started to cough a little bit, startling Marco.

Marco removed himself quickly from his friend, not wanting to get sick too.

"Right, Soup! I'll be right back!"

He ran out of the room, still smiling.

Tom watched him leave, conflicted on how to feel at the moment

Today had been an emotional roller coaster for him, and right now he wanted to think about anything else, or maybe just go numb for awhile and turn off his cruel brain.

But these thoughts were not going to simply vanish, and he knew it.

He was going to have to find a solution.