Chapter 2: Consequences
After the first night of honest, true, peaceful sleep that either of the two had felt in some time. The last time Marco felt at peace this much was during the blood moon ball while dancing with Star. He finally had what he needed. He had Star, his best friend, his girlfriend, his world. He finally completed the puzzle and connected to his other half. It only took suffering on both his and his lover's end to get here. Whether that be when Star silenced herself about her feelings, when she got Marco and Jackie together, when Star left him on the night of the party, or the many times he had to watch Tom and Star together, they had overcome it all and came together.
After at least twelve hours of sleep, the duo woke up at one in the afternoon. The duo didn't wake up together though. Star had been through even more than Marco in the past few weeks, especially on the physical side. She had been running and hiding and fighting both verbally and violently for the last several days. This justified the fact that Star had slept in so long. This is not to say she never woke up however. If she wasn't as tired as she was, she would have left the bed when Marco had, but she was beyond done. The sugarritos acted as coffee would, it kept her up for the date night, but it only left her more tired in the end.
When it was finally time, she woke up. She noticed the absence of Marco and initially panicked. She vowed to herself to never lose him and had she finally done it? Her panic attack was interrupted by Raphael, who was standing in the doorway, holding Mariposa. He stole her from her thoughts and slowly told her that Marco was downstairs with breakfast.
With the new information, she calmed herself. She slowly awoke, not caring to change out of her pajamas and ran downstairs at breakneck speeds. Once she finally spotted Marco in the kitchen, she slowed. She was genuinely calming down just at his sight. Marco spotted this and held out a plate of his own homemade burritos, noticing she was still confused, he held out a jar of sugar as well. Now he was speaking her language. He could tell because her eyes visibly grew and widened.
"Star?" Marco asked.
"I...uh huh?" Star responded.
Marco replied with, "Are you alright? Do you need more sleep?".
"No, no, no i'm fine now. I was just a little panicked when you weren't next to me and I woke up." Star scolded.
"Oh if I had known, I would have stayed. I'm sorry." Marco said somberly.
"I'm just messing with you Diaz! But you better not leave next time." Star mocked.
"Star, have you looked at the time yet?" Angie spoke, to try to save her son.
"Well, no but- oh…my bad." Star said in an apologetic tone.
"You're fine Star, but I haven't seen you sleep that long since we got stuck in that cat-face dimension…" Marco mocked.
"You try fighting a Solarian warrior and get back to me!" Star retorted.
"Note taken" Marco said.
After scarfing down breakfast she came upon the realisation that she hasn't spoken to her mother yet. She determined that it could wait until Marco finished breakfast as well because whatever she would need to explain to her mother, she would need Marco to have her back.
Once Marco finished his food, he had figured out by that point that Star needed him upstairs, despite her not telling him so. He got up and gestured to Star in a 'let's go' motion and she then nodded. Star was under the impression that the peace of yesterday would leave after she talked to her mother.
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Upstairs
Once the two arrived in Marco's room, Star pulled out her compact and called Moon. Ring….ring….ring. "Hello?, Star?" said Moon. "Hi mom, I thought I should probably call you and talk to you, considering the fact that we haven't spoken since yesterday morning." said Star. "You guessed right Star. I don't particularly have any pressing matters to talk to you about, but I definitely wanted to talk to you." Said Moon. Star then replied, "well me and Marco are-" before being interrupted by her mother who gleefully yelled, "YOU AND MARCO? Oh thank the heavens you two found each other. And I take back my last statement, we DO have something to talk about.". Star then blushed briefly before saying, "MOM! Marco can hear you!". Marco then decided that the silence was not helping and he said, "Yeah we are doing alright, Star had some good sleep last night I believe." Moon then replied with, "that is good to hear, but I hope you two didn't share a bed last night." Marco and Star, in unison, replied with, "What? We…well….we...we didn't share a bed…..we couldn't.". Frankly, Moon wasn't convinced, but she knew it happened already, and she was definitely not opposed to Marco courting her daughter, she gave him all of the credit for who Star had become after all.
"Don't worry about me, it's River you have to convince, he will not be as pleased as I am about you two. Don't take offense Marco, he likes you, but he is...well, protective." stated Moon.
Marco then stated, "I'll do my best".
Star detected his nervousness and eased him by grasping his hand gently and she felt him calm down.
"Alright mom, is that all you needed? Because I can assure you that me and Marco are perfectly safe at the moment." Star said, matter of factly.
"Well no, but I can bring those things up later. There is nothing urgent right now." Moon stated.
"Okthankyoubyyyyyy" Star hurried.
When the phone finally hung up, Star nearly yelped in satisfaction. She had never had such a successful conversation with her mother. She dove into Marco in an embrace far too similar to the one she gave him before his warning regarding Mina Loveberry. Mina, Mina, Mina. What could have possibly happened to her. She no longer has her Solarian form, she has no armor, no Monster-Killing swords, and no willing army. So surely, things could actually be just as good as they seemed at the moment. Had she finally escaped it all. All of the life-threatening ailments and villains had finally left her and she could finally enjoy her life before she might have to be queen. She had lost some much valued time as a child thanks to the likes of Toffee, Ludo, and Mina. But now, she could finally settle down and simply live her life with Marco and finally be happy. At this very moment, life has never been better.
"Star? Are you still listening to my heartbeat?" Marco asked quietly.
Star then replied with, "What? Oh yeah, I was just thinking."
Marco then asked, "Are you alright Star?"
"I'm perfect Marco, I mean that. Things are genuinely better than ever." Star said with tears in her eyes. Unknown to Marco, these were tears of joy. Marco was worried but he just chose to hold Star tighter in case she was actually sad. But she was just beyond her tipping point, she hadn't felt this happy since she initially got her wand, but now, it was deeper. She had so much more to be happy about, and ironically enough, a large part of it was that her wand was gone. Marco made the choice to not pry any further and just continue hugging her when to his surprise, all she had to say was, "I love you so much Marco" and naturally, in response, he said, "I love you too, but are you sure you're okay?". "Always one to worry Marco… but I wasn't lying, I am just so happy." Still teary eyed, she responded.
"That's all I needed to hear." Marco exclaimed, clearly elated about what was happening.
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Butterfly Castle
Moon had nothing to do. For the first time in decades or being queen or leading the Yurt people, she was always busy. But she finally had nothing to do. And she didn't like it all that much. She decided that she would go visit some people in an attempt to get busy. First, she would go to Eclipsa.
Once she got to Eclipsa, she was surprised to find out that Eclipsa was playing music. She was very surprised, and decided to say, "Hey Eclipsa what are you-" She was interrupted by Eclipsa herself, who said, "The Earth people like to call this Jamming Out. And I love it. I'm just confused at how perfectly things are going." And to her credit, Eclipsa was right, the Humans were slowly becoming accustomed to having monsters around and the Monsters were doing very well, not only under Eclipsa's reign, but also on Earth and with Humans. The only downside was that not every single person was very happy about the recent change.
Some of the Mewmans viewed themselves above not only the Monsters, but also the Humans. You know what they say about old habits. They die hard. And a prime example was the several hundred year old Mina. She had just attempted mass-genocide and surely she would try again. But by what means, was she just a young looking, super old, scheming racist now?
It was hard for Moon to grasp that things were simply working themselves out after such a massive unwarned change to every single party involved. Was magic truly the thing that caused nearly every single one of Mewni's issues? Yes. To put it plainly, it was.
A world that had finally found peace was worried about how peaceful it had become.
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Diaz residence - In the Living Room.
Now sitting on the couch under the blankets was Star Butterfly. She was waiting for Marco to finish making his nachos. She decided to browse the channels and she watched the News. She didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't what was on the TV, with the two worlds colliding and new species around every corner. She didn't expect to see on the TV that Mewni was being debated about. Not about war or conquering, but about allowing Mewni independence as a country. It was a debate though, nothing was by any means final. On one end of the debate was the American patriots, who were absolutely heated at the concept of losing the bottom corner of California. The other side of the argument was the people who lived in Echo Creek before it changed. They were unsurprisingly supportive of the change, given that they were used to it and they knew that they could thrive alone, as a monarchy born from a democracy.
Star, confused, asked Marco, "Are you hearing this?"
Marco, fully aware of what was going on replied with, "Yes, how do you feel about it?"
Star, conflicted, said "I'm not sure actually, on one hand, Echo Creek would thrive on it's own to be sure. But on another hand, we saw just how badly these queens can mess up just two days ago, and one day I might have to lead. I know it is selfish, but I don't think I want to Marco-"
Before she could finish her statement, Marco interjected, "It's not selfish, you shouldn't have to, it isn't fair at all. You are right about the other part of that though, Echo Creek would do well on it's own. And we all make mistakes don't we. The Queens just made one that was brewing over hundreds of years. Nobody dealt with Mina, nobody dealt with Toffee, and everything fell on you Star. But the best part about all of it is that no matter how much everyone threw at you, you pulled through, you saved Mewni, more times than I could count. You are amazing and if they do make you rule, I know that you will do great."
Star, certainly feeling reassured, replied "Only if you're my king, Diaz. Thank you though. I don't know what to feel, but I know you and I will beat it no matter what."
Marco, clearly blushing at Star's king comment, replied, "good, because there's no more time for this anyway, the nachos are done and I want to sit down-"
Star pulled him down the second he set down the nachos. When he opened his eyes, he expected to see her going to town on the nachos, but to his surprise, he was met with a gentle kiss. Although he was caught off guard, he was happy to return the favor. He grabbed her waist and pulled her close. She, in return, pushed him onto his back on the couch before taking charge and pushing the kiss further. The tongue fight continued until they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Luckily for them, the person coming down the stairs was Angie, who simply said, "don't stop on my account, just remember my rule and I'll be on my way."
Star replied to the sentiment by saying, "No promises, but don't worry, your son is the trademark safe kid."
Marco was not amused.
Angie giggled before stating, "Maybe you're right, but watch out for Rafael, he is similar to River, but less violent."
Star nodded and grabbed a nacho. She was trying her best to look innocent, despite very obviously alluding to a possibly less PG13 near future between the two. Before she could incriminate herself any further, Marco wordlessly changed the channel to the usual friendship -now relationship Thursday channel with the usual drama shows on. Angie rolled her eyes with a smile on her face as she returned to the stairs to give her son (and her future daughter in law) some privacy.
Just as Angie reached the top of the steps, Star boldly grabbed the neck of Marco's hoodie and pulled him in for round two, this time, covered by blankets. Neither of the two took notice to the fact that both of their cheeks were glowing. I mean, how could they notice, they were clearly too busy being literally tongue tied to be able to focus on their surroundings.
There was no doubting at this point that the two had changed immensely over the past one and a half years. When she arrived, the second she hugged him, Marco knew he liked her, maybe he didn't know it would ever go that far, but it had, and he wouldn't rather it be any other way. For Star, she realised her feelings after the blood moon ball. She may have said that she didn't want a hero, but she was lying to herself and to Marco. She wanted Marco to be himself, every bit of it, including the heroism. Marco's oblivious nature mixed with Star's inability to not self-destruct ended up hurting the both of them. She got Marco and Jackie together and then confessed after she had finally done it. And Marco let her leave and when he had her back, he let her go off with Tom and never brought it up until the photo booth incident.
The only constant that the two had come to know before the cleave was that they would always have each other's backs even as 'just friends'. But now, their bond was deeper, they were pretty sure they got rid of the blood moon curse, and they still felt so drawn to each other. They loved each other, and there was no curse about it. They were one another's lifeline.
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9:00 am Friday
Raphael was always the first person awake in the house. At least that's how it used to be, before Mariposa came along that is. He was the first person besides her awake one way or another. Today, he would deal with Mariposa. He picked her up, carried her downstairs and took her to the kitchen.
He walked into the kitchen and sat Mari down at the table. He went into the cabinet and grabbed her favorite food. Corn. For one reason or another, she loved corn. He didn't buy it though, Star definitely had something to do with this. Rafael is a loving man, so naturally he loved Star, and now that she was with her son, he couldn't be happier.
As he finished seating Mari and giving her a spoon, he made his way to the coffee machine. He was a man who didn't need coffee per se, but he was also a man who lived for the sweeter things in life. He likes his coffee heavily sugared and creamed. And as he was prepared to drink his coffee, he heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
Usually, the second person awake in the house was Marco. He was almost always the one to cook breakfast for his family, and he loved doing it, so he was always up early, unless he had a good reason not to be. Today, he definitely did. He had spent the whole night messing around with Star. He didn't come up for air for seemingly hours. Which was a perfectly good reason to still be asleep, which he was. The person on the stairs was Angie.
Angie came into the kitchen and greeted her husband with a simple "hey". And in return, she was greeted with a "hi". "Up first again?" Angie asked. "But of course, mi amor." Rafael responded.
"Where is Marco?" Rafael questioned. "What, am I not good enough for breakfast?" asked Angie, jokingly, before she walked over to the couch and pulled the blanket from the teens. Neither was woken surprisingly, that was until Angie said "sugarritos coming up". Like a dog would for a bone, Star Jumped up from Marco's arms and darted her eyes across the room, then scoffed when she noticed the lack of sugary burritos.
"You can't do that to a girl." Scoffed Star.
"Did you sleep well?" questioned the smiling Angie.
"Oh yeah I-" Star said, noticing that she had been caught for the second morning in a row in the same bed as their son, yelped.
"Oh come on, you don't need to be shy around us Star. We know you two are together and we trust the two of you, with or without the safe-kid label." replied Angie.
"What are you two talking about-" Rafael made to say, but was silenced by Angie's finger to his mouth.
"I'll explain later," Angie said to her husband.
Marco, by this point was pretending to not be awake in order to not be asked to make breakfast. Not that he didn't love doing it, but he was simply feeling out of it this morning; probably has something to do with the person who laid across his chest all night.
"Marco, I of all people can tell when you are faking being asleep. You literally always flare your nostrils when you wake up, not to mention the lack of snoring." Star said, unaware that everyone in the room was looking at her, fully aware that she was the one that snored, like a viking that one.
Marco, having blown his cover, opened his eyes and slowly rose before sneezing exactly three times, he only sneezes in threes. Rafael, being a doctor, went to check up on his son when he noticed immediately that Marco was running a fever. He was sick.
The fact that Marco was sick meant two things. One, everyone gets to call in sick. And two, everyone IS sick, Star included.
"How could I possibly be sick, I was under a blanket the whole night?" Marco asked.
Angie, being well aware of how he was sick, mentioned, "Hey Marco? What exactly were you doing literally the entire night?"
Star blushed as she realized what happened. It turns out a night of making out under a blanket might occasionally come with some given consequences. Marco couldn't muster a word.
Angie then mocked, "That's what I thought."
Rafael, still oblivious, asked, "What do you mean, mi amor?"
"Rafael, how could you possibly be this unaware? They were making out on the couch all night." Angie said, somewhat annoyed.
Star and Marco both blushed before hiding under the blanket once more.
Rafael, confused, annoyed, and somewhat happy, then said "THEY WHAT?"
Angie came to the duo's defense by saying, "Rafael, you are one to talk. Do you remember our first date?"
Rafael blushed before retreating to the kitchen, sparing the kids, for now. "Yes, dear."
As Marco and Star were peeking barely over the edge of the couch, watching the conversation unfold, Angie then started to the duo, "What are we ever going to do with you two."
"Leave us to our makeouts?" Star asked, meekly.
Angie giggled, "No, that's not what I mean, do Mewmans have a different immune system than Humans?"
"No, we are just as weak as you," Star replied, now no longer hiding from behind the couch.
"Ouch" Marco said, still hiding behind the couch, before Star pulled him up by his hoodie.
To her credit, Star was not wrong. She was pretty much the exact same as any Human. She could even be one. Mewmans are starting to be theorized to be descendants of humans who somehow made it to Mewni through some sort of well. The matter was currently very important to the entire Mewman race. If it was true, it would uncover much of Mewni's otherwise mystery-shrouded history. But the point is, Star is fully capable of getting just as sick as any Human.
While the family determined that Angie and Marco would work together to make breakfast for the family, Rafael was gathering medications for the family as he was pretty sure that they had the flu. On Earth, the flu was largely docile and mostly cured. On Mewni however, the flu was as dangerous as the Influenza pandemic was on Earth before it was cured.
To add to the complications of having the whole family be sick, Star was too old to take liquid medicine and she was totally terrified of taking a pill. She had never done it before because Mewni never had these antibiotics.
Marco kept telling Star that it was perfectly safe, but that wasn't her issue. She couldn't force herself to swallow it. She simply lacked the willpower. She would fight the whole brigade of Solarian warriors multiple times over before she even considered taking that pill. She was one stubborn girl, everyone was aware of that, but never had it been so detrimental to the family as it was now. They needed Star to swallow her nerves and the pill as soon as possible. Because Star had never had the Flu before, she would be far more at risk to it and she could actually suffer. It was time to call in the Calvary.
*ring*
The front doorbell rang as the cavalry had arrived. Once the door was opened, it revealed River and Moon Butterfly.
The family hoped that the parents could help with Star's pill problems, but little did they know that they only added to their problem. Moon had no issue with the medication, but River was another beast, literally. Getting River AND Star to take the pill would take a special level of effort that the family was not fully ready to give. Star really did want to help, but she genuinely couldn't do it.
The family spent the next two hours trying to get Star to take the pill, with every method they could, but nothing was working. This was until Marco came to the realisation that he should have come to hours ago. He knew Star better than anybody in this room. So that made it an even harder smack to the face that he took this long to realise that Star has a sweet tooth. Not that they could just sprinkle sugar on a pill and that would work, because Star would literally just suck the sugar off of it like a vacuum. But there was an even better option.
'It's even in her name' Marco thought, thoroughly annoyed at himself at this point. Honey. The whole time, honey was the answer. So a minute or two later, Marco walked into the kitchen with honey. He held it up to Star with a questioning look. To his surprise and luckily also to his amazement, Star yanked the honey from his hand and just before she could drink it, Marco readied himself and the pill. Just as Star lifted her arm to drink, he tossed the pill into her mouth with the honey. Everyone looked at him, dumbfounded, until they realised what he did. He did it, Star didn't even notice either. Everyone besides Star clapped as Marco bowed.
"What happened?" Star questioned.
"You just took your first pill! Congratulations Star!" Yelled a very happy Marco.
"I did? When- Ohhhhhhh," Star gasped "you sly dog."
Marco was very pleased with himself and his girlfriend and he nearly celebrated, but as he was about to complain about River, Moon had followed Marco's lead and snuck the pill into the giant ham in River's mouth. And gestured a wink to the family, who all laughed.
This was the first time that the families had met up in a long time, but since everyone in the room was likely infected with the flu, the two families would have to wait for another opportunity to truly talk it out with each other. But for the time being, a hug from Star was enough to appease both Butterfly parents. They would be on their way for the time being.
Having her parents over and not hearing terrible news was yet another reminder to Star that everything was at its best right now, or so she thought. That is not to say that things were or would become bad, but she had only just now experienced peace, she could only imagine what more she could feel. With Marco living under the same roof as her, and everything being so perfect, who knows. Things could manage to get even better for her down the line. And that was exactly what she aimed to achieve.
Marco on the other hand, simply lived in the moment. She looked ahead and either panicked or relaxed knowing what would come. This was a trait she learned from Marco when she first came to Earth. Marco learned the opposite from Star. It is truly ironic, but both would say that they are better for it.
Marco, living in the moment, knew that he was happy RIGHT NOW. In his view, nothing coming in the future mattered. He knew that he had never and figured that he would never be so happy.
He wanted to enjoy the moment while it was here.
Knocking both of the two out of thought was Mariposa saying "Mako, Mako" Everyone knew she could say Marco, but hearing her talk was still jarring. Jarring enough to scare the couple into diving into each other at least. While holding each other, they sunk into the couch. The pure bliss of each other's warmth setting into both of them. No matter how far into the future anyone was thinking, the warmth of their loved one would always calm the nerves. Especially when both parties are sick and cold and desperately need the warmth. With the bliss already set in and the warmth felt, the two fell asleep on the couch.
Raphael entered the room and simply thought 'maybe Angie was right. If they're happy, then why ruin the moment for them'
Angie read him like a book and came from behind him, holding the baby, and said, "Love is in the air Raf." while leaning against his back, providing that same loving warmth.