Well this one is one I've been looking forward to writing for a while. No jokes this time people, let's just get into it.

Star skipped along in cheery mood through the school towards Jackie's locker while humming a 'Love Sentence' song under her breath. As she got close to her locker Star saw Jackie close up and go to leave but stopped when Star called out to her.

"Heeeeeyyyyyy."

"Oh hey Star, what's up?" Star smiled broadly and pulled out two tickets holding them out for Jackie to see making her go wide eyed; an impressive feat considering Jackie's eyes were always half-open. "Are those Love Sentence tickets for tomorrow?" Star nodded eagerly speaking fast.

"I got them on a bargain deal and was wondering if you wanted to come with me. I heard you're a Love Sentence fan, unlike most of my other friends, and thought this would be a great chance to see them." Star smiled broadly and eagerly at Jackie as a look of confusion came across her face.

"Of course I'll come with you, but I thought you would go to Marco first?" Star sighed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Well I did but I heard he had plans with Tom for that night and couldn't go with me." At this Jackie perked up again.

"Say how is Tom doing?" At Star's nervous fidgeting Jackie pulled back a little. "Oh yeah you probably don't ask much about him, sorry I…" Star held up a hand before responding.

"He's doing fine according to Marco. And don't worry about me and him, Marco claims he's calmed down quite a bit so I'm not worried about those two spending time with each other." Jackie smiled at Star and grabbed her in a hug which Star returned calming down. "Mmmmm, your hugs are almost as good as Marco's." Jackie chuckled and pulled away smiling slyly at Star and spoke in a teasing tone.

"I wonder why his are the best?" She winked as Star blushed slightly. "See you tomorrow night." Jackie jumped on her skateboard and went off with Star caught between elation and embarrassment thinking about Marco's hugs *Throb*.

Star and Marco turned on their toothbrushes and brushed while listening to Love Sentence. As the music started from their toothbrushes Star started out with lip-synching into the brush like it was a microphone.

"It was no secret, the way that we feel." Marco spoke up with them alternating.

"A love that's so pure, a love that is real."

"Showed me your world and it felt like a sign."

"You acted too slow and you ran out of TIIIIIIIMMME!" The both spat into their sinks with the brushes turning off and Marco speaking up.

"Say Star, did you hear about the Love Sentence concert tomorrow?" Star nodded eagerly. "Well I'm taking Tom there to see his first live concert. Oh man this is going to be life changing for him I know it." Star blinked at him in shock and spoke up.

"What a coincidence. I was just about to tell you that I was taking Jackie there as I knew you were busy with Tom." Marco began laughing at the coincidence with Star joining him. "Well guess we will both be seeing the concert then." Marco then snapped his fingers with an idea in his head.

"Say Star, what if our two groups went together?" Star blinked in shock as Marco continued. "I mean it would be one of Tom's first times going out with a major group of friends, he would be over joyed at that." He then saw Star cross her arms and take a miffed expression towards him. "What, this would be a great experience for Tom Star. If you're not comfortable with him we can always go…" When Star began tapping her foot Marco got really confused. "… what?" Star raised an eyebrow before speaking.

"Are you hoping to get back together with Jackie?" At this Marco blushed and shook his head violently.

"No, nu uh, I am over Jackie at this point. I am doing this just for Tom." Star's expression and stance did not change in the slightest as Marco continued. "Look if you don't think it's a good idea you can just say no you know." Star's stare finally made Marco crack. "Why would you think I'm trying to get back together with Jackie?!"

"You danced sadly for four days straight; I get you were after her for literal years and she meant a lot to you but considering what was needed to bring you out of your slump it was ridiculous." As Marco slumped his shoulders and leaned against the counter sighing Star softening up. "I know you still miss Jackie Marco so I don't want you to be torn at all about these things. Also, I'm still a bit worried about how Tom will react around me." Marco nodded going to answer but Star cut him off. "So that's why we should go as a group, to establish we are all just friends." Marco saw Star rub her tail a little with his protective instincts kicking in.

"You sure?"

"About as sure as I am that we should not go back to the cats with human faces dimension." Star smiled as a look of horror crossed Marco's face.

"Seriously, I'm trying to forget about that time." Star giggled and skipped out of the bathroom.

"See you tomorrow night." Star left Marco to wrestle with his repressed memories as she went to bed.

Marco smiled as Tom emerged from his carriage waving to Marco and running across the grass to grab him in bear hug. Marco found it odd that Tom was all touchy feely with him occasionally but he accepted it with nothing more than a smile and hugged Tom back speaking up.

"Hey Tom, how's hell?" Tom chuckled and responded non-chalantly as they pulled away from each other.

"Oh you know a little dark, a little fiery, a little gloomy, and as always *hey* full of dead people what are you gonna do." Tom then saw Star come out of the house and immediately looked away from her trying not to make eye contact. "So you got the tickets?" Marco smiled holding them aloft.

"Do I ever, this is gonna be awesome." The two danced side by side for a second until Jackie came up on her skateboard speaking up.

"Hey guys. Oh Tom, what are you doing here?" Jackie really perked up at Tom making Marco feel some sudden jealousy that he was the first person Jackie noticed with Tom perking up as he replied.

"Going with Marco to see my first live Love Sentence concert, this is gonna be awesome." Tom did an air guitar motion with Jackie giggling at him before responding.

"What a coincidence, Star and I are going too." Marco spoke up at this stuttering a little bit.

"About that, I talked with Star about this and was wondering… if you two would like us all… to go as a group." Jackie smiled and nodded eagerly with Tom glancing at Star sideways before replying.

"I don't know… are you guys really ok with that?" Star leapt in now speaking quickly.

"Of course we are, it's just a group of kids going to a concert together right?" Marco saw Star shoot Tom a few daggers from her eyes as a warning before continuing. "I even got us T-shirts." Star waved her wand making a t-shirt appear on her over her dress.

The white shirt showed the title Love Sentence buddies over four faces which was each one of their own all caught up singing along with something but the way it was designed made it look like they were singing very badly. Marco's was red and made him look drunk, Jackie's with turquoise and made her look stoned, Star's was grey and made her look crazy happy, and Tom's was pink making him look … 'Lustful is only way I can put it.' Marco thought kind of unnerved by the shirt. Star giggled and poofed one on each person over their clothes making Jackie smile at hers, Marco chuckle at his, and Tom gasp for breath as his was too tight.

"Soooooo, what do you guys think?" Marco glanced at Tom in worry as his definitely looked too tight but Tom answered Star with a smile.

"Just… fine Star. I love it." Jackie looked at Tom in concern speaking up.

"Say Tom that looks a little…"

"Awesome on me, of course." Tom cut Jackie off making her blink in concern with Star speaking up again.

"I also got us skateboards since we were going so early so we could take our time." Star waved her wand and poofed up skateboards for her, Marco, and Tom smiling at everyone. "Well come on, let's get moving." Tom smiled getting on his skateboard and attempting to skate with Marco and Jackie shrugging getting on theirs and skating. As they got moving Marco turned to Jackie and began talking to her.

"I didn't know you were a fan of Love Sentence." Jackie chuckled and responded lightly as they skated not even looking at Marco.

"Tom actually introduced me to it. It's weird, I don't usually like boy bands but this one is just up my alley for some reason." Marco smiled at that feeling a pang of insecurity that he had never thought of that. "So I didn't know you two became such close friends, when did that happen?" Marco chuckled rubbing the back of his head replying softly.

"Well he decided to use me to pass the final test for his Anger Management class and we bonded during that time; in fact bonding over Love Sentence initially. Turns out we have a lot in common and just became friends, since then we've talked a bit but this is only the third time hanging out since then." Jackie finally looked at Marco smiling at him with Marco smiling back until they heard Tom stumble a good distance behind them. The two looked back to see Tom was having trouble moving forward with Jackie commenting on it.

"Odd, he's a good skater so he should be keeping up with us. Hey Tom you ok?" Tom gave them a thumbs up as he continued trying to skate up with them. "Say Star I think the shirt you gave him is too small, could you make it bigger or give him a different one?" Star blinked in confusion at this speaking up.

"What do you mean, he seems find." At this Marco finally turned towards Star with a raised eyebrow speaking up.

"Star, I think you gave him a shirt that was too small and he doesn't want to speak up about it for some reason. Would you mind just changing his shirt size?" Star turned towards him with an innocent expression on her face which annoyed Marco slightly. "Star, please." Star nodded to him and called out to Tom.

"Ok Tom, I'm gonna just give you a bigger shirt as Marco claims yours might be too small and its holding you…"

"No I'm good, don't worry about…" As Tom cut Star off he was cut off by hitting a bump in the sidewalk and being forced out onto the street. "Oh shit." Tom spoke in calm manner as a truck was coming at him.

Jackie reacted quickly and threw her skateboard, something Marco and Star knew she would never do lightly, at Tom pushing him out of the way but sending him careening backwards at a fast rate and crushing Jackie's skateboard under the trucks wheels. The hill was sloped downwards in that direction so naturally he began picking up speed with Tom doing a halfway noise between screaming and gasping. Star and Marco immediately took off after him with Jackie getting on Star's board to accompany them. Tom tried controlling the skateboard but constricted by his shirt and going backwards made in next to impossible for him to do so. He hit the edge of the curb and nearly collided with a pregnant mother who had a baby on her back with her giving him nothing more than a confused glance before muttering 'kids these days'. Tom made the halfway screaming noise again as he hit a drain bouncing him into the air and by chance going over a group of kids playing hopscotch landing on his board again. "Cool, a skater from hell!" Tom tried steering the board around a random old lady who was walking up the sidewalk but only served to spin the board around hitting a garbage can. Flying through the air with his halfway scream as loud as it could go he fell landing square on a duck with her three ducklings. As he laid on top of the ducks a small crowd gathered around him with his too tight shirt finally ripping open allowing him to gasp at air. The trio of friends pulled up with Jackie immediately running up and kneeling down next to Tom speaking.

"Tom, are you ok?!" Tom raised his head up slightly looking at Star with a guilty look on his face as he spoke.

"Sorry for destroying your shirt Star." At this Star got a guilty look on her face and began rubbing her tail.

At a local medical center Star, Jackie, and Marco waited for the results on whether Tom and the ducks were going to be alright. Marco glanced over to see Star having an unusually guilty look on her face even considering she blamed herself for a lot of things. Glancing at Jackie he saw she had a rather expressive concerned face that gave him another pang of jealousy. 'Marco, you and Jackie are through, stop getting jealous that she is concerned about Tom; you're concerned as well right?' Marco thought to himself feeling a different pang, this one of guilt and remorse about things he had done in the past. When the three were called up he shook his head joining Star and Jackie as they went back to see Tom who was sitting up looking a little sore but fine. He smiled at them and got to the ground speaking up.

"See, I'm all good people, no need to worry." At this the nurse spoke up in an oddly militarized voice.

"Correct, Tom is going to be alright with adequate skating lessons and adequate clothing." She pulled up a box holding the ducklings who were peeping noisily. "The ducks are going to be fine as well." Star immediately rushed up and picked up the ducklings holding them close like stuffed animals. "The skateboard however didn't make it." The nurse then put Jackie's now shattered skateboard up on the counter which Jackie nodded to solemnly before speaking.

"You were a good skateboard man, rest well." She looked up at Tom and smiled sweetly at him. "I'm just glad you're ok man." Tom smiled back at her with Star catching the look going on between them. Worried she turned to Marco only to find he wasn't there and turned to the nurse asking her a question.

"Say, do you know where Marco went?" The nurse shrugged and commented.

"Something about going to the bathroom."

Marco moved to the side of the building out of easy site of people and took a deep breath as confusing emotions washed over him again. A mixture of guilt over what he had put Star through trying to keep his relationship with Jackie going and when they had broken up conflicted horribly with a sad bitterness that he had not done enough things or the right things to keep the relationship going. 'Maybe Star is right, maybe I do want to get back together with Jackie despite the fact it didn't work.' This hit him particularly hard as he remembered what Tom had just gone through as a result of his insistence of going as a group and how uncomfortable Star and Tom seemed to be with each other. He sighed knowing there was one man he respected above all else, even more than his sensei, that he could talk to get some straight facts from. The problem was how he would react upon hearing what he had done to Star in the past to keep up a failed relationship with Jackie. Marco sighed again pulling out his hand held mirror and spoke to it.

"Call Toffee." As the mirror rang for a second Toffee answered it wearing what seemed to be a purple sweater vest and a white shirt blinking at Marco in concern.

"I say Marco, is something going on with Star?" Marco rubbed the back of his head taking another deep breath before speaking.

"Do you know… about an incident… between me and Star…"

"Involving a field trip where you used her as an unwilling distraction to get with Jackie only for her to breakup with you later?" Marco nodded and blinked in shock and panic as Toffee seemed almost eager to talk about it in not so good a way. And considering how emotive Toffee was, even when Star was sobbing from her incident at Brittany's party, this made Marco really concerned. "Well Star asked me not to approach you about it but she said nothing if you approached me about it." Toffee leaned back in a chair fixing Marco with a small but predatory smile. "Well, I'm waiting." Marco inhaled and exhaled throwing out as much nervousness as he could before speaking.

"Toffee… am I a douche?" Toffee was so taken back by the question that his smile melted away with him nearly standing up in shock. "I mean, that wasn't the ONLY incident of something like that happening." Marco filled in Toffee on multiple other small incidents of getting Star to help him out with Jackie, how he got involved in the Blood Moon Ball, as well as how he acted when Star tried getting him out of his depressed break up slump. He also filled in Toffee on what was going on that day and how he was worried that he may be forcing people to cooperate and making them uncomfortable due to some selfish motivations on his part that Marco may or may not even be aware of. "I mean, those are only things a selfish douche would do right?" Marco waited with baited breath as Toffee possessed all of the information Marco gave him seemingly comparing it to other stuff he had heard of in the past. "By the way, I'm calling you because... I know you will give me the truth and… I respect you sir." Toffee looked at Marco with a strangely conflicted look on his face before he began speaking.

"Note Marco, I was not in those situations only getting information from others and I have never gone through those situations in exactly the same way myself so my judgement may be skewed. I also am Star's father so that takes out a good deal of indifference to the situation so take those facts into account." Marco nodded as Toffee continued. "Marco, I find you to be rather childish in the worst way." Marco nodded dumbly as Toffee continued. "The way you wanted to be a 'bad boy' was childish, the way you approached your relationship with Jackie was childish, the way you took advantage of my daughter was childish, the way you handled the breakup was childish, and the way you're beating yourself down for what has happened is the way a five year old would react to this. Of course, what was I expecting when I asked you to guide Star on earth." Marco winced at the final comment as, while not explicit, Toffee was basically saying he was disappointed in Marco. "Do you understand what I am saying boy?" Marco nodded silently and slumped to the ground leaning against the building.

"You're… *sigh* 100% right sir." Toffee was about to speak again but stopped at the defeated tone in Marco's voice. "I'm just a selfish child who pushed people around through pleadings and threw a tantrum when things didn't go my way." He then pulled his hoodie's hood up over his head hiding his face. "I am a douche and maybe… someone else would have been better as Star's guide." Toffee felt sympathy for the boy soften his voice as he spoke again.

"Marco, you do realize why I am telling you all this right?" Marco sighed as Toffee continued not waiting for an answer. "It's because in order to improve yourself you need to actually LEARN from your mistakes. I know my daughter has forgiven you for what you did and has told you to forgive yourself but that doesn't mean you should FORGET what you have done." Marco looked up with tears in his eyes as Toffee continued. "If you remember what you have done wrong and actually improve from them I dare say you would make a decent man or better." Marco blinked in confusion as Toffee continued. "To answer your actual question from the start I have met with douches, I have worked with douches, douches have flirted with my wife knowing I was in the room and was married to her; you my boy are not a douche." Marco blinked with hope in his eyes as he spoke up.

"Really?" Toffee outright chuckled taking Marco off guard as he thought Toffee wasn't one to laugh.

"My boy if you didn't deserve forgiveness I don't deserve it. When Moon and I were young and had first met as princess and tutor I was an emotionless entity who sought to manipulate her gentle heart into providing a better future for Monster-kind. What happened you may ask? After a pre-planned outburst of mine she ran off into the Forest of Certain Death distraught with guilt and would have been eaten by a gigantic plant if I hadn't saved her. My boy I have more of a right to be called a douche then you do." Marco actually found himself chuckling alongside Toffee as he continued. "But I constantly remind myself of that day to be sure I never pull a move even remotely like that unless if I have no other options." Marco nodded knowing that being a king required people to make difficult choices that could produce bad consequences no matter what at times. "Honestly your good attributes outclass your bad ones 10 to 1. You are reliable, you are organized, you are mature when it comes to MOST things, you place Star's well-being very highly, and you are willing to put your own life on the line when there is little to no reward for you if it concerns friends. Most importantly is the fact that when you came to me about this, despite what I might have done to you since I am Star's father, you showed how you are brave enough to own up to your actions. If you were not that good I would have recalled Star back home long ago." Marco felt a warm glow spread through him under Toffee's praise and smiled at that. "A man who is willing to face down not one but two shadows with no reliable way to fight them just to protect my daughter is far from a douche, Sir Shadow Slayer." Toffee raised his eyebrow smiling slightly at Marco in a warm way as Marco blushed. "So, go back to your friends and figure out with them what is truly the best course of action for your evening. I have faith in you, for now." Marco nodded standing up inadvertently taking a pose with a determined smile on his face.

"I won't let you down your majesty." Toffee nodded to Marco as they hung up with Marco feeling more at ease then he had for weeks and knew exactly what he needed to do.

*psst, I altered the oneshot 'Birth of The Star' by adding in some music. Go take a look. ;)*