As Marco stepped through the portal, he saw that the twins along with Stan and Ford were all watching Ducktective in the living room. Dipper looked over at the two newcomers, and immediately came over to greet them. "Hey Marco, hey Wendy, how'd it go?" He addressed them both, but only seemed to care what Wendy had to say. He peered up at her, eagerly awaiting her response. "It went pretty well, actually," Wendy said, gently dismissing her young admirer. "She was pretty mature about it, and seemed like a pretty chill girl. I even got her contact info, just in case any of you dweebs decide to bail on me and I need a new friend," she said, playfully nudging Dipper, who of course blushed. "Oh, please, you know you can't get rid of us so easily," Mabel chimed in, pointing at herself with her thumbs. "We're irreplaceable."
"Got that right," Wendy replied, shooting a finger gun at the brunette. "Well I'm clockin' out. See ya, Mr. Pines!" she called to Stan, walking out the front door. Marco walked over to the spare room, opening the door slowly. "You guys mind if I crash in here?" he said quietly. Everyone shook their heads. "Okay thanks. Goodnight, everyone," he said, closing the door behind him. Dipper and Mabel exchanged a look, both concertgoer Marco. Mabel began to stand up, but Dipper stopped her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I got this," he said, smiling at his sister.
Marco sat on the long couch of the spare room, his head hung low and his hands on his face. He felt alone and powerless, and he missed Star more than ever. He pulled his hoodie over his head, letting out a low sigh. He was so lost in thought that he hardly noticed the light knock at the door. "Come in," he said softly. He looked up to see Dipper standing on the other side, carrying a folded blanket and a rather soft-looking pillow. "Mabel wanted me to give you these," he said, setting them down on the edge of the sofa. "Thanks, you guys, I really appreciate it," Marco said, not looking up as he slowly twiddled his thumbs. Dipper could tell he was trying to sound genuine, but he was just too sad. Dipper sat beside him with a sigh. "Listen, man," he said, removing his hat, "I honestly don't know exactly what you're going through right now. But I mean, at least you were lucky enough to get a girl in the first place," he said, looking off to the side as he spoke. "I really liked Wendy," he continued, "but when she found out, she totally rejected me. She said I was just too young for her." Marco felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. "Wow, that's rough," he said, to which Dipper just shrugged. "I mean, I still think she's really pretty, but since then I kinda gave up, and realized it just wasn't meant to be." Marco nodded. "Guess we're kind of in the same boat then, except I think I might actually have a rebound crush," he said with a nervous smile. "Sounds like we're in exactly the same boat then," Dipper said to himself, raising his eyebrows. "What was that?" Marco asked. "Oh, n-nothing," Dipper stammered, quickly standing up and walking to the door. "See you in the morning!"
Marco chuckled at Dipper's antics, shaking his head slowly. He unfolded the blanket, and found it to be delightfully soft. He settled in, taking off his hoodie and balling it up before placing it gently on the foot of the couch. He sighed, slowly letting himself drift into sleep.
The room was filled with scarlet light as two souls danced their cares away. Star and Marco twirled about, lost in each other's eyes. As the organ's song came to an elegant close, Marco dipped his partner and leaned in for a tender kiss. Just as their lips were about to touch, something wrapped itself around Star's waist, and yanked her away from him. The red light instantly vanished, and the room was now dark and empty. Marco was shocked to see Toffee, his tail coiled tightly around Star's body, completely restraining her. Marco tried to charge at him, but found himself suddenly unable to move, and looked down to see he was strapped to a metal chair, tight clamps around his wrists. "Poor little Butterfly's lost her wings," Toffee said smugly, lifting Star's chin with his finger. He removed his tail from around her, only to shove her to the ground, and she cried out in pain. The Lizard once again used his tail to grab Star, this time by her wrists, and lift her to her feet, though now she was too weak to fully support her own weight. Marco watched in horror as Toffee placed his sharp claws on Star's small chest, and began to drag them down her body, effectively shredding her beautiful pink and white ball gown. Marco screamed and sobbed his protest, unable to watch as more and more fabric fell to the ground, leaving Star's young body highly exposed. "Leave her alone!" he screamed.
"LEAVE HER ALONE!"
Marco gasped as his head flew off his pillow, his heart beating at an alarmingly high rate. It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the near pitch-black room, and the tears that were rapidly forming and spilling over weren't much help. He grabbed his bundled-up hoodie, and traced a rip in its waistband with his finger. It was the only identifying mark of the hoodie Star had worn the night she'd kept him and herself up with her sleep-spelling. It had gotten caught on one of the unruly brambles of their living-room jungle, and Star had of course apologized profusely. Marco didn't care too much, he had a closet full of them anyway. She'd looked so cute wearing it, and thinking back to that memory only made him miss her that much more. He trembled slightly as he clutched it to his chest, and cried himself softly back to sleep.
If you like this story, and want to see new updates as soon as they're published, I'd highly recommend going over to my Wattpad account, StrayCloud. I don't check/use this website too often, but I'm very active on there. You can also contact me through iFunny (StrayCloud) and Instagram ( strayclouddraws). Thanks!