Marco sat at his desk, tippity-typing away on his keyboard while Star stood behind him, doing her own thing and taking the occasional peek over his shoulder

"Hmm hm hm hmm hmmm… Aaaaand. Done." Marco said, triumphantly slamming the enter key.

"So… Why do we need a contract, again?" Star asked, as Marco's printer sprung to life.

"Peace of mind, more than anything." Marco replied, nonchalantly. Marco swatted up the newly drafted document, feeling the familiar warmth of a freshly printed document on his fingertips. "Can't have one of us skimping out on our arrangement, can we?" he said, with a playful smirk.

"Ooooo! I like the enthusiasm." She said, feistily clawing at him.

Marco did his best to ignore his friend's seductive banter. Setting the document down onto the desk, Marco cleared his throat and began to read aloud. "'The following is a binding agreement between Princess Star Butterfly and Marco Ubaldo Diaz. For seven days, the two parties will behave as girlfriend and boyfriend, respectively. Within the seven day period, the two will alternate between the position of power. The party in power shall decide what is to be done that day. However, if the other party seriously objects to the first party's plans, the party in power cannot force them to take part. Star Butterfly shall be in power Thursday, Saturday, Monday and Wednesday. Marco Diaz shall be in power Friday, Sunday and Tuesday. At the end of the trial, on Thursday, Marco Diaz will have the opportunity to wipe any memories of the week prior, as he sees fit.' Everything sound good to you, Star?" Marco asked, looking over to the girl standing next to him.

"Yeah, sure." She said with a casual smile. Honestly, she couldn't understand half of the nonsense that just blabbered out of his mouth, granted, she wasn't listening that closely, but she was pretty sure she got the gist of it. It was her idea, after all. In all honesty, he could have been speaking in Swahili and she'd still agree to it. If it meant having Marco, nothing else mattered. She wanted this badly, too badly. These oddly obsessive feelings she was having towards Marco was definitely… troubling, to say the least. But she was able to bury the troubling thoughts away, in the back of her mind. The book her dad gave her did say this kind of stuff was normal.

"Alright then!" He announced, clicking a pen open in his right hand. "Now I just need your signature."

"Signature?"

"Mm-hm." Marco nodded, pushing the sheet of paper closer to her.

"Sig-nah-chuuuuuuurrrr…" she droned, feeling around on her person. "Dooooooon't think I've got one… Where do you get a 'signature'?"

Marco let out a frustrated sigh. "Write your name down, Star." He said, flatly, handing her the pen.

"Oh… Alright." She said, cheerfully. "Easy peasy!" Snatching the pen from his grasp, Star leaned over the sitting boy, pressing up close to him to get better access to the document.

Marco's thin T-shirt did very little to stop the blissful warmth of her body from seeping onto his skin.

Star signed her name across the first line in an over-the-top, cutesy style, before handing the pen back to Marco. Along the line beneath Star's signature, Marco marked the page with the fanciest cursive he could muster. As he finished his signature, Marco heard a voice call from behind. "Hey Marco."

The sitting boy twisted his body to properly face the familiar voice. "Yeah?-" He responded, before getting cut off by a surprise peck on the lips from his new girlfriend. Marco blinked a few times, his mind trying to catch up on what just happened.

Star laughed. "The contract's done, you can't be mad!" she teased, giving off a giddy, juvenile 'I'm not touching you' sort of vibe.

Marco's cheeks turned a subtle tinge redder, trying his best not to stumble over his words. "I'm… I mean, I'm-I'm not mad… I-It's just… like-"

The princess giggled at him. Seductively whipping her hair to one side, Star took it into her grasp and began to gently run her hands down the shimmering rope of her silky smooth, golden locks. "heh heh heh… that's my little safe kid for ya. I knew you'd still be nervous."

Marco didn't know how to take that. It seemed like she was taking a jab at his masculinity. But she spoke it with such compassion and admiration in her voice. Her flawless, blond hair. Her shimmering, bright blue eyes. Her adorable, heart-stamped face. And her irresistible, joyful giggle… Marco got up from his chair and walked up to her, a look of dumbstruck admiration plastered on his face. He felt his heart pound harder and harder with each passing moment 'You're not a safe kid. You're not a safe kid. You're not a safe kid.' Marco repeatedly chanted in his head.

Star gave the slackjawed zombie before her a weird look. "wwwwwwhaaaat are you do-ING!" Star yelped as Marco swiftly took his girlfriend into his arms and flawlessly dipped her down, leaving her lying in his arms as her new boyfriend's face hovered over her own. The surprised, blushing princess looked up at him with literal stars in her eyes, eagerly waiting for the kiss of her life. Marco puckered his lips and lunged his head downwards, touching his lips against hers for a few seconds before pulling away with a quiet chu. "…That's it?" She said with a mild mix of disbelief and disappointment.

"I mean, we may be a couple now, but I still don't want to be forceful or do anything you might not be comfortable w-ITH!" Marco yelped, as Star took him into her arms and dipped him down in an identical fashion, using a bit of magic to help support his weight. Her soft, bright hair draped over the two lovers, almost like their own private curtain that hid away the world around them.

"Marco, you're an adorable, considerate, little sweetiepie, and I love it. But out of all the times in the world, now's not the time to play nice." Without warning, the princess lunged her head downwards to meet the boy's lips, rhythmically moving her mouth along the lips of the angel in her arms. Like before, Marco's mouth simply mimicked her motions, getting caught off guard when Star gave the occasional suckle on his bottom lip. Marco's mind was going a million miles a minute. Should he use his tongue? He didn't know. She did want him to be more assertive, but then again, if she wanted tongue, she would be using tongue. Maybe she didn't want it.

Marco decided to play it safe. Respecting her space would be the right thing to do. Better to be seen as a push-over than a brute. It wasn't long before Star began to slowly lift the boy back onto his feet. Parting from the kiss, Star locked gazes with her new partner, both breathing fairly heavily from the intense lip-lock. "That's how you kiss a girl." She bragged, a proud, cocky little smirk on her lips.

Marco didn't respond, merely giving a small, disappointed sigh through his nostrils.

Star was taken aback, replaying the last couple of things she said, from his perspective. 'Her little safe kid?' 'An adorable sweetiepie?' 'A wimpy kisser?' What was she doing?! In an attempt to kickstart Marco's wild side, she had spent the past few minutes completely destroying his masculinity! It hadn't even been ten minutes and she was already managing to screw this up! Like a lightswitch, her face went from playful to heartbreaking.

"Marco!" She yelled, throwing her arms around his neck. "Marco, are you alright? I'm sorry. I… I didn't mean to hurt your feeli-"

"Woah woah woah! Hold on a second. Where's this coming from? Geez, you're all over the place, today." Marco grabbed the princess by the shoulders and gently pulled her away from him. "Sorry for what? What did you do?"

"You're… You're not mad at me?"

Marco gave her a suspicious glance. "Nooooooo?... Should I be?"

"I thought my teasing might have been hurting your feelings…"

"Do you really think I'm really that emotionally insecure?"

"…Maybe."

"Do you know what insecure means?"

"…"

"…"

"…Yeah."

"Alright, no you don't" He deadpanned.

"Alright. Alright. Then what is it, Mister tough guy?"

"N-now? Um, alright. Kinda putting me on the spot here, uh… So, insecurity is basically like… feeling bad about yo-"

"No, not the word, Dummy! You!"

"Me?"

"You!"

"Me."

"You."

"I don't follow."

"What's wrong?"

"With me?"

"YES!"

"Like, as a person? Did I do something wrong? Star, I don't know what you're trying to say, but if you could start speaking in complete sentences, I feel like we could get through this pretty easily."

Star took a deep, calming breath, emptying her lungs of all her frustrations. "After our last kiss…" she said, gingerly. "You looked… unhappy. I thought… that maybe I did something to hurt you."

Marco rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a little, awkward chuckle. "Did I? I guess I'm losing my edge. I usually got a pretty good poker face. Don't worry, Star. It's nothing."

"Then tell me."

"No, seriously. It's dumb."

"I'm not the sharpest spear in the tower, either, Marco." She said, knocking on her cranium. Star swooped the contract off of Marco's desk and stuffed it in his face. "It's Thursday, my day. I'm in charge. Tell me." She demanded, firmly. "…Please." She softly added.

"I'm jealous! Alright?!"

"Jealous…? Jealous of what?"

"Jealous of you! Jealous of your courage. Jealous of your confidence. Jealous of your blatant disregard for the consequences of your actions! You take control and somehow make it work!" Marco took a hard seat on his bed. "You have no fear, no hesitation. While I'm just the safe kid, who'll always pick doing nothing over taking a risk." Marco hung his head, letting out a sigh. "I know you want a week of wild 'No restraints. No regrets.' So it's just kinda frustrating not being the kind of guy who can give you one. You know? Like I said, it was a dumb thought."

"No, I get it." She urged him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Marco looked over to her. He didn't even notice that she had taken a seat, next to him. "You think I don't envy you?"

"M-Me?"

"You don't think that I wish I was smart, responsible, careful like you? You don't think that I've never regretted the reckless things I've done? The first day I got my wand… I literally set Mewni on fire."

"I'm sorry… I-I didn't mean to make you upset…"

"I'm not upset, though. That's the thing. Because I have you! You're my balance, Marco… And I'm yours." Star took both of Marco's hands into her own. "I lift you into the air, and you keep me from flying away. There's no need to be jealous… when we have each other…"

Marco stared at her, eyes wide with disbelief. "W-Wow, Star… That was… That was actually a really beautiful speech… I didn't know you were so good with words. I'm impressed."

"Phew! Been waiting to get that off my chest for a looong time." She said, immediately shaking her somber, serious tone. "You think it went well? I thought it went well."

"Off your chest?"

"Yep! I've actually been practicing that whole spiel for the past week or so."

"You rehearsed it… Okay, yeah. This is starting to sound much more… 'you-capable'"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You expect me to believe that you came up with such a perfect metaphor, off the top of your head? I pretty sure you don't even know what a metaphor is!"

"Don't you go trying to confuse me with one of your fancy foreign languages!"

The two stared each other down with the most disapproving 'old married couple who had a fight about something really trivial but neither wants to admit that they were wrong so they both just kinda pretend that it was a really big deal until they both forget about it, like, an hour later' scornful pout they could muster.

Marco was the first one to break the act, letting out a tiny snicker. Star was soon to follow, trying to keep in her laughter. Unable to hold back any longer, the two burst into laughter at the same exact time. All the drama of the morning, washed away by the cleansing joy of laughter. When she got herself together, Star leaned in close to Marco's ear. "I know you're the safe kid, but I would like to see a liiiiittle bit of experimentation out of you, though." She whispered. "It's only a week, after all. Take advantage of it." Star gave him a peck on the cheek before springing to her feet and walking to the door. "Get yourself ready, Marco." She cooed, flirtatiously. "I'm in charge today, and I've got quite the day planned for you!" then she left. Out the door, down the hall, and outta sight.

Marco jumped in his seat. "Wait, Star! What about school!?"

Legally binding contracts are how all relationships start, right? I-I mean… Yeah! Of course they do. I, someone who has totally been on a date before, know exactly how this shit works… yeah…

(So wait. Why did she know what a contract, a legally binding document, was, but not what a signature was?)

Because fuck you, I had a joke. There's already 24,000 words of this shit and I don't think we need even more explanations on earth culture. 'Ha ha. Markus said that he needed her signature, but Czar Butterfinger thought he was asking for a physical object! You see, the humor comes from the misunderstandings that arise from the similarities in the English language! Ha Ha. Isn't this fun?' Yes, I know you didn't notice and/or care, and I'm just bringing unwanted attention to the flaws in my writing. But continuity is important to me, dammit. And I would be disappointed in myself if I did not address it! Thank you for wasting your time reading my college essay on why porn, comedy and continuity is Hard… Jim Hard.

Am I losing my characterization? I feel like I am. It might just be the unusual situation they're in, but I don't hear Marco and Star's voices in my head when I read some of the dialogue. I don't know. Apparently this week's theme is 'Self-loathing' not what I was setting my sights for, but it is where we have ended up…