Notes:

We see a lot of Marco showering with Star in the room, and River clearly knows squat about human bathrooms. I figured the same would apply to Star initially, so, here's a little bit of how their first interaction might have gone with the dreaded bathroom time~

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 (EDITED 12/22/2020)

Star and I make our way back home shortly after. I've long dried off by this point, and my disheveled appearance doesn't even bother me. I'm damn near skipping, to be honest, still riding on that wonderful high of battle.

Once we make it inside, I'm rushed by my parents who wrap me up in a three way hug, "Marco! Star said you ran off, are you okay?" my mother asks once I'm finally let go.

I feel my cheeks warm up in shame at having thought of these wonderful people abandoning me only a few hours ago, and I start pushing them away, "C'mon, I'm fiiine. Star and I worked things out."

My parents share a look, but allow me to pull away, "Mijo, we want you to know that we aren't ignoring Star's clear danger, or not listening to your warnings." my father begins.

My mother continues his thought after placing a hand on his shoulder, "We realize what she is, especially after she told us why she's on Earth to begin with...but we need this. You're a great kid, Marco. Sometimes a bit too great."

"What are we supposed to do if you mostly parent yourself? Over the last year you've lectured us, rightfully so, more than we have you." My father seems uncomfortable with that, almost scared.

My mother seems more frustrated than anything, she's always been the braver one of the pair, "But with Star, we have a chance to be real parents to an actual kid, one who messes up or might even need to be told to do their homework! We would never have wanted you to be forced out of the house, but I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm glad you two worked things out."

The pair of them both smile at me, clearly feeling better after letting all that out, "I-uh. I don't know what to say. I'm sorry if I'm not quite the kind of kid you were expecting? I didn't even know you felt that way. I'll try to mess up more often, so you have a chance to give one of the old lectures!" it's a really awkward thing they've dropped on me, and I respond in kind-about as smoothly as a drunken chicken. They laugh somewhat nervously, clearly as torn about me possibly following through on that promise as I am, "You know what I need? A shower! Let's go, Star."

I snag her hand and weave my way past my still a bit concerned parents, but I know they'll be fine-it's not in their nature to worry about anything for very long, "Uh, Marco, why am I going with you? You're getting a shower, right?" once we're up the stairs Star takes her hand back with a bemused look, "I'm pretty sure people on Earth don't take baths together."

While not completely accurate, she's right this time-two American kids of different genders definitely aren't gonna bathe together, at least at our age. I find myself wondering what common sense she really has about Earth-she got that right, but has no clue what a water fountain is?

"Well, Star, in this household we do things a bit differently. At least I do. Do you know how dangerous taking a shower is?! You can slip and fall at any time, and baths are even worse! I never shower without someone there to keep an eye on me. Plus, I can use this time to introduce you to the bathroom." Star nods along reasonably obediently, though I'm sure she stopped listening once I got into full rant mode like most people do. Oh well, she'll get the gist of it. I open the door into our new shared bathroom, and present it for the girl to see.

"Oh my god! What's this thing!?" Star immediately bounces over to the toilet, her namesake popping up in her eyes. She starts fiddling with it, lifting the seat up and down, poking the handle, and various other physical investigations that make me very glad I keep every single surface clean enough to eat off of.

"It's our toilet. You uh, you poop in it. And pee. Then wipe yourself clean with that." I gesture to the toilet paper next to her, which she immediately begins unrolling and spinning around herself with glee.

"Wow! But how do you lift it and throw it out? It looks stuck to the floor." She thumps the bottom of the porcelain throne with her boot, her upper body now resembling a mummy from her constant spinning. I blink, a bit confused by what she means for a moment, before it clicks-chamber pots. I shudder at what the poor girl must have gone through in her clearly medieval dimension, then demonstrate flushing the toilet for her.

"You don't. You just do this and it uh, goes down the drain." She blinks, then her eyes widen as she clearly realizes how amazing this is compared to throwing your shit out of the nearest window.

"Where does it go?" She whispers, having managed to completely empty out the roll of toilet paper by this point.

I whisper back, "Nobody knooooows." then open up our cabinets and snag another roll to replace it with. When Star starts looking thoughtfully at the newly replaced roll, I give her my best disapproving parent face and she simply pouts. After that I go into full lecture mode, showing Star the various parts of the bathroom. Having shared with both male and female exchange students most of my life, I'm pretty comfortable with the necessities of both, and ensure Star has what she needs, although when she asked me what a Tampon was I was pressed a bit too far. I'll have to leave that conversation to my mother, I think. I'm not sure how much she really got, as distractible as the girl is, but hopefully she at least knows the basics of toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo and conditioner, as well as where the razors are and what not to drink or eat.

When she starts staring blankly at me, I know I've pushed too far, and so I finally sigh and say, "We'll talk about the rest later. Don't forget to have that conversation with my mom. And don't leave!" I snag a couple of towels and hang them outside the shower door, then step inside. Immediately a series of crashes and bangs rings out, and I open it back up to squint out at Star, who in the process of trying to free herself from the toilet paper has managed to throw open virtually every cabinet and drawer in the room, and currently wriggles on the counter.

"Oh, I got this Marco! You do you." I just kind of sigh, closing the shower door and beginning to strip down and toss my clothes over the stall door. We have one of those thick cloudy glass showers, where you can just barely see silhouettes through the door and nothing else.

"Just rip through it! It's not that hard!" I call out, turning on the shower. I have the perfect heat settings sharpied onto the temperature knobs with little black lines, so I always know I'll have the right temperature.

"Where's the fun in that?!" My new roommate calls back, clearly having fun trying to unravel herself the hard way, and destroying our bathroom in the process. Man, I hope she has a spell that can fix things.

Speaking of spells, I hear a loud crash through the wall, sounding like it's coming from my room, "Star?! What was that?! You didn't leave, right?" I hear a somewhat damning silence for a few moments.

Then she calls back, "Nooope. Definitely totally didn't get bored and run to your room. Also, your stuff is back! Yay good news. I mean, that sound was probably your stuff." I groan, annoyed at my extremely flighty lifeline. How am I supposed to shower in peace without knowing someone is there if I trip and knock myself out!? Usually one of my parents does it, but I know they find it super annoying, so I use the exchange students constantly when I get the chance.

"Just, play with the bathroom supplies or something!" I call out while shampooing myself up. I hear some rather dangerous muttering, but thankfully nothing else. It's a rather boring shower from then on but I can finally relax and let the hot water do its job.

When I make my way out into the steamy bathroom with towel wrapped around my hair and a second one up to my chest, I see that Star has used her time...wisely, I guess? She's made pink and somewhat alive copies of pretty much every thing she might need in the bathroom for herself, cluttering up her side of the counter with more toothbrushes, perfume, brushes, and hair products than any sane person would ever want. I physically flinch at seeing the disorganized mess scattered about, but I've had to learn hard lessons about giving the exchange students their space and not being a control freak. I just kind of shudder, then point at the shower, "Your turn, Star."