It's that time again. Thank you again for tuning back in! That last chapter was a blast to write. Ponyhead is such a riot! Also, this one will focus more on Marco being hopelessly awkward and always being one to put his foot in his mouth. Hope you enjoy this chapter! I don't own Star vs the Forces of Evil.
Chapter 16: Please
"Seriously Star, that was way too much!"
Marco was furious as he began to yank off his tie as he walked down the sidewalk underneath the crescent Earth moon. Frustrated, he balled up the tie into his pocket and whipped around to glare at his girlfriend. "I can't believe you did that!"
Star sank down onto a bench. She quickly took off her heels and began to rub her feet. "Ahhh, come on, Marco. It was just a prank!" Blowing her bangs out of her eyes, she crossed her legs underneath her dress. "Seriously, you need to lighten up."
"Lighten up? LIGHTEN UP?!" Huffing, he whipped his phone out of his pocket. As the screen lit up his face, Star couldn't tell if the crazy haze in his eyes was from the blue light or him. "AH-HA! Look-already it has 50,000 views. She only posted this 30 minutes ago!" Gently, Star took the phone from Marco-even though she already knew what was on the phone.
It showed a video of the Echo Creek Academy Prom in full swing. Brittany Wong was spotted crying in the corner, her prom queen crown broken in two on the floor as her king was dancing with another girl under the disco ball. Marco and Star sucked in a breath as they saw themselves dancing onto the screen. Marco jigged in a circle as Star on the screen quickly plucked something out of her satchel and patted Marco on the back to get his attention. Marco faced her on the screen and Star gestured toward the drink table. On-screen Marco flashed her a smile before he turned. Star on screen and Star watching giggled before covering it up with a cough. Marco groaned as he watched what happened next. "Ugh, I don't want to relive this."
As Marco on screen turned, dozens of small reflective mirrors danced light off his back. As he made his way to the drink table, people began to shield their eyes away from Marco's lights and before anyone could act, a security guard tackled Marco onto the ground and the whole gymnasium groaned in sympathy. Star finally couldn't handle it anymore and burst into laughter, falling off the bench and dirtying her prom dress.
"Star, it is not funny! The guard thought I was a security hazard!"
"Yeah, he probably will give you a ticket for indecent flashing!"
"STAR!"
Failing miserably at putting a sober look on her face, Star straightened up and pulled herself back onto the bench. The streetlight above them flickered before going out. Only the moon lit their faces. She glanced at the phone again. "Oh, look, they have it in slow motion!"
Marco groaned, thrusting his phone into the pocket with his tie. "How could you go along with Janna on this? I could have gotten hurt! I'm your boyfriend, you should be helping me and not her!"
Rolling her eyes, Star hid a smile behind her hand. "Ohh, come on Marco. You need to lighten up. You didn't get hurt. Janna wouldn't really do anything to hurt you. She has Tom now to distract her. Just have some fun for once, like we used to. Do you want to be Safe Kid again?"
"I'M NOT SAFE KID ANYMORE, STAR!" Star jumped at Marco's explosion. Her smile immediately fell from her face as he continued on. "You have way too much fun, Star. I'm not the one even in school anymore. I work all the time and you just play in class waiting for graduation." Marco threw his hands in the air, not noticing Star's eyebrows furrow together. "That's why people didn't take you seriously as a princess."
Immediately, Marco realized his mistake. He whipped around and turned with raised hand to face Star. "Wait, no-Star, that's not-" But it was too late. Tears were running down her face as she balled up her fists.
"I can't believe you would say that, Marco Diaz. Just leave me alone!" Clutching her shoes in her hands, Star dashed away in tears, her hair falling out of her bun.
"Wait, Star, Please! I didn't mean it!" Marco began to chase after her but slowly stopped as the light flickered back on above him before going out again. "Way to go, Diaz." In anger, he karate-chopped the trash bin closest to him. Pain instantly flared up as he began to hop around cradling his hand. "Ow, ow, ow. Okay, that was dumb."
With a heavy sigh, Marco slowly made the walk to the Monster Temple. The wind blew through his hair and his eyes began to water-though he wasn't sure if it was at his own stupidity or the wind drying out his eyes. Maybe he should get some eyedrops-
"Well, hello dear! Up for a bit of midnight gardening?"
Whipping his head up, Marco realized he was finally at the Monster Temple and had almost stepped on Eclipsa. With a yelp, Marco jumped back and struggled to stay balanced. "Eclipsa! You almost gave me a heart attack!"
Smirking, she shrugged as she continued to prune her roses. "Well, I was the Queen of Darkness. Are you here to talk to Star? She seemed pretty upset as she rushed by here not too long ago." Eclipsa stabbed her blade into the dirt, wiped her hands together to get off the dirt and promptly turned to eye Marco with a raised brow. "Trouble in Lover's Lane?"
"I really got to talk to Star! I said something stupid and untrue and just really need to tell her I'm sorry." Marco rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down shyly. He missed Eclipsa's knowing smile as she stood up.
"Well, she did seem pretty upset. It might be a good idea to let her cool off and talk with her in the morning." She raised a hand to quiet his protest. "Globgor does this same thing more often than I would like. Every time he does something stupid, he goes to talk things over with his fellow chums, and later comes back with chocolates and apologizes." She winked at Marco as he looked skeptically at her. "Trust me, I am over 300 years old you know."
Nodding thoughtfully, Marco glanced up at the tower that Star's room was located. He thought he saw someone with a large amount of blonde hair dash away from the balcony. Turning back to Eclipsa, he sighed in acceptance. "Talk it over with my bros. Give her time. Got it. Thanks Eclipsa…"
"Anytime dear. Now, if you don't mind, these roses only like to be pruned at night so if you could-be off." Without ceremony, she returned back to her gardening. Marco slowly turned before heading back home. Who can I call? Taking out his phone, he cringed when he noticed the time but his relationship with Star was just too important to worry about other people's bedtimes.
"Okay. Who to call…Who to call…Dad?" Marco spoke out loud to himself as he began to walk toward his home through the Mewman district of Echo Creek. Yurts and huts were sporadically spaced around him as he continued through the late evening air. "No…He would give weird advice using pizza nuggets for examples and start crying that we would break up….Tom?"
Instantly, Marco shook his head. Probably a bad idea to ask Star's ex-boyfriend when their break-up was still too fresh for him. Plus-Tom had his own problems to worry about with Janna harassing him 24/7 for some weird reason. Why couldn't she just have pranked him!?
"Alfonso and Ferguson…their only healthy relationships were with the Pixie Queen who wanted to eat them-so that's a hard pass. Think Diaz-who could you-"
WHAM!
Landing on his back, Marco groaned in pain as he was tackled for the second time that night. "What hit me?"
"MARCO, MY BOY! You were easier to push over than a pansy." Inwardly, Marco groaned as he was slowly pulled himself to his feet to see none other than Star's dad.
"Wow…River…you were the last person I wanted-um, I mean, expected to see at this time of night." Marco frowned as the former king began to survey their surroundings. He was clothed in his loincloth-never a good sign for Marco.
"I am stalking a new game. The natives call them the Cad-o-lacks. I have yet to see one, but evidently it makes the most pleasant purring noise and everyone desires to ride this beast." He quickly lowered his voice, glancing left and right to ensure they hadn't been seen. "It is said that they are made by man. Can you believe it? A beast made by man!" With a chuckle, River knelt down near the ground and sniffed before licking the ground. Puckering his lips, he glanced back up at Marco. "Why, whatever is the matter, my boy?" River swiveled around as he surveyed the area for the mystical Cadillac beasts-though he didn't notice one drive off in the distance.
Inwardly, Marco groaned-this was the last person he wanted girl advice from. But, beggars can't be choosers-though who would have chosen River he would never know. "Well, so tonight was the Echo Creek Prom and Star and I got into a fight-"
"YOU LAID A HAND ON MY DAUGHTER?!"
"What?! What?! NO! I would never-umm, could you let go of my collar?" As River let go of Marco, the teenage boy awkwardly coughed and straightened out his suit before continuing his story. "Uhh, anyway, we had an argument and I said something stupid and I want to make it up to her. Well, anyway…yeah, I'm going go buy some chocolates and, I guess say sorry."
River stared blankly at Marco. "I wasn't listening. What did you say, Marco?"
Rolling his eyes, Marco retold his story. The former king began to shake his head as he tightened his loincloth and began to pace back and forth. Placing one hand behind his back and raising the other, he began to give his speech. "Marco, let me tell you a little bit about women. They want you to do whatever they say. They believe that they know more than you just because they are queen or have higher intelligence or practice basic hygiene. And they always want you to say Please! Please what?!" Marco raised an eyebrow but there was no stopping him now. "There are so many times that my Moon Pie has thrown me out for saying stupid things or not cleaning up my dirty underwear or being 'too Rivery'-whatever that means." Quickly, he turned toward Marco, striding up to him until they were face to face. Marco struggled to get back but River held him strong. "There are three things you must do. First-you must dance around her in the native Mewman courting dance to please her."
Taking a step back, River began to hop from foot to foot, waving his hands above his head as he raised his head to the sky and began to call out like a pidgin. "Coo! Coo coo! Coo coo ca choo! Coo coo ca choo!"
"Umm, River, I think that's an Earth song by the-" But before Marco could finish his thought, the former king dashed to the teenager and grasped him by both of his arms.
"Second, you must stare at your beloved in the eyes without blinking for as long as you can stand it." River pressed his nose into Marco's, his blue eyes unblinking. Marco gulped as he felt his already dry eyes start to water. Man, he needed some eyedrops. "Hold steady! A man must never blink-the eye contact forces her to accept the apology because she will feel your conviction."
Feeling awkward, Marco squinted one eye as he continued to look at River. "Or make her feel so awkward that she will accept your apology to make it stop?"
"Precisely." River's eyes began to water and shake. With a swift movement, the older man whipped out a pair of tweezers from his loincloth and plucked out three beard hairs. His eyes widened in pain but he refused to blink. "And you must pull out hairs from your beard to ensure you will not blink first."
Marco glanced to the left and right before looking back at River. "Umm, I don't have a beard. Are you sure this works with Moon-"
"Than the next order of business is to grow a beard. It may take a few years-or in your case, it may take a lifetime-but once your beard is grown, you may apologize to my daughter." River clapped his hands on either side of Marco's face, causing him to jump away from the awkward intimacy that River was emitting.
"I don't have a few years, I need to apologize to Star now." Marco stood up to his full height and crossed his arms adamantly. "Star is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I cannot let some stupid mistake mess that up!"
Shaking his head, River pierced his lips. "You cannot approach my daughter with just an apology and no beard. At least get yourself an Apology Meat."
Noticing the Mewman moons starting to rise in the distance, Marco realized just how late it was getting. "I'll remember that for next time. Thanks, River, for your…uhh, advice." Without another word, Marco dashed away toward the nearest store that was open at such a late time.
Twenty minutes later, Marco dashed toward the Monster Temple as fast as he could. Eclipsa's advice about talking to his friends might have been a bust but the flowers and chocolates on the other hand…Marco checked his watch to see that it was almost 2 a.m. when-
WAM!
For the second time that night, Marco fell onto his butt. Slowly standing up and rubbing his bottom, he glanced to see Star straightening up as well, boxes of Chinese food strewn everywhere. The two stared at each other for a solid ten seconds before exclaiming, "Hey, I'm so sorry-wait-sorry-you first-no, you!"
Chuckling shyly, Marco grabbed his gifts for her off the ground. "I thought that was supposed to stop with when the Blood Moon Curse ended."
Star smiled softly before picking up the Chinese food boxes and her Apology meat and held them to her chest. "I'll go first. I'm sorry, Marco. I haven't been a supportive girlfriend lately, so I brought you an Apology Meat and some Chinese food-which, by the way, Eclipsa and Globgor have these hidden everywhere in the temple, it's super weird. Anyway…I'm sorry I haven't been supportive and I know I don't always take life seriously. I shouldn't-"
"Star, why are you apologizing?!" Marco slowly sat down on the ground and Star followed suit. "I'm the one who should be saying sorry! Star-I am so sorry. Please forgive me! I can be cranky and uptight, and with working all the time I just haven't been as fun and maybe a little jealous of all the free time you have." Marco gently handed the flowers and chocolates to Star, who gave him a smile back. "I'm working on being more flexible and Star-I was wrong. You were an amazing princess. You changed Mewni for the better and brought Monsters and Mewmans together. You really made a difference."
The ice that he hadn't known that was in Marco's heart melted as Star beamed at him and threw her arms around him. The Apology Meat leg and Chinese food accidently flew out of her hands and down Marco's back. Noodles poured down his suit and into his shirt. The pair pulled away and stared at each other in shock. "Oh, my gosh, Marco…I'm so-"
Suddenly, a box of noodles was unceremoniously dumped onto Star's head as Marco burst into laughter. A giggle escaped her lips before she followed suit. Before long, Marco and Star were flinging rice, noodles, wontons, and chocolates at one another, laughing into the night.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I felt it was just a silly chapter that would have been filler episode material in the TV show. While I loved the plot and arcs of the show, the fillers were fun and helped me appreciate the story arcs more. Plus, I hadn't had any Marco or Star fights yet, which I felt would be important to their relationship. No relationship is perfect-at all! What is important is how you work through those tough times. Also, I love the Marco and the King episode from the Battle of Mewni and exploring Marco and River's relationship more is fun too. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you again for reading, following, favoriting, and commenting!
Sugar: Yes! Someone sees it too! Brittany is like Human Ponyhead. And oh-Sea Horse deserves so much better than Ponyhead-that would be interesting to look into if he dumped her! And we were on the same wavelength-I had already planned for Star and Marco to have a relationship problem in this chapter! You practically predicted it! Thanks so much for your thoughts, they are so interesting!
Starco4everr: Thank you! Ponyhead is such a hilarious character (in small doses) I'm glad you found it funny!
RJWritingInk: Their wedding would totally pan out like that. Star and Marco wouldn't be able to control themselves and wait for "You may kiss the bride."