Chapter 2.

That's it. That's the author's note.

One week later...

If Marco hadn't been so nervous, he might have been worried about wearing out his living room carpet from anxious pacing. Any minute now, Star would arrive at his door and he needed to reach a decision before she did.

He'd spent nearly every free moment of the past week mulling over the burning question at hand. It was very distracting, to say the least. He could barely concentrate at work, he'd barely slept, and just that morning he had been so deep in thought that he'd run a stop sign. (Thankfully, dragon cycles can fly.)

He'd been a nervous wreck going to the pharmacy for condoms. He drove over an hour away from Echo Creek one night to a store in a town where he was sure no one would recognize him, kept his hood up the entire time to hide his face, and practically sprinted out of the store when the transaction was complete. Once he'd returned home, he thought it might be a good idea to attempt to put one on since he'd never done it before, at which point he realized that in his panic he had grabbed a brand marketed toward various monster species. It was so huge he might as well have been attempting to wrap his arm in an inflatable wadding pool.

He was a little more careful on his second hour long trip to the pharmacy.

Now, the moment was nearly at hand, and he needed an answer.

He and Star had not discussed the topic again.

When the two young adults had moved out of Marco's parents' house into their own separate apartments and their schedules became quite busy, they didn't see each other nearly as often as they used to. They would text each other intermittently throughout the day, and talk on a video call every night, but, barring unexpected free time in their schedules, the only time they saw each other regularly was on Sunday, when they both always had the day off. Star typically would arrive at Marco's apartment around three, they'd cook dinner together, and watch a movie while snacking, and Star would leave around ten. It wasn't nearly as exciting as their teen years spent fighting monsters and exploring alternate dimensions, but they enjoyed the low-key break from their busy day-to-day.

On the Monday following their topless encounter, Marco sat down at the computer for his nightly video call with Star. While Marco jittered in his seat, Star seemed like her normal peppy and confident self. When the time came to say goodnight, Marco plucked up courage.

"Goodnight, Marco! Talk to you tomorrow!"

"Star, wait. Hang on."

"What's up?"

Marco swallowed hard. "Have you thought at all about last night and-"

"Uh-uh-uh!" The Star on the screen waggled her finger at Marco. "We'll talk about that when I see you on Sunday. But I want us to both have the whole week to decide what we think for ourselves without any input from the other."

"Oh. How come?"

"Because I don't want either one of us to sway the other's feelings. We should both make up our own minds."

Marco blinked. "Huh. I hadn't thought of it like that."

Star smirked. "I'm full of good ideas, Diaz. But, for the record...yes, I have thought about it. Night!" And before Marco had a chance to say anything else, she ended the call.

That was six days ago. Neither of them had mentioned it since then. As such, Marco had no idea what Star would say when she walked into his apartment.

But he had, after much internal deliberation, finally made up his mind.

It sure didn't ease his anxiety any, though. An hour had passed and he'd barely noticed, pacing back and forth across his living room.

KNOCK. Knock. Tap-tap-tap-KNOCK. Ding-dong.

That was the secret knock Star had assigned herself. Marco hurried to the door, took a deep breath, and swung the door open.

"Hi, Star."

"Hey, Marco!"

He stood aside and allowed her to enter, closing the door behind her. She had a backpack on over her shoulder, but that wasn't entirely out of the ordinary. Star often brought food to share or a board game with her and often arrived with a bag. It seemed to Marco, however, to be more fully-loaded than usual.

"So," Star began, turning to face her best friend as she slid the backpack off and set it beside the couch. "Obviously, after this past week, there's a big 'ol metaphorical elephant in the room, so should we just...? Talk about that right away? Get it all out in the open?"

Marco's heartbeat instantly picked up the pace. He could feel himself already beginning to sweat. "I would appreciate that, yes."

"Okay. So would I." Star took a seat on the couch and motioned for Marco to sit beside her, which he did. Something about his best friend seemed different to Marco. She abruptly seemed much more...mature? Professional? She sat up very straight, folded her hands in her lap, looked Marco dead in the eye, and spoke as if she were presenting an important project to a boardroom of business investors. For the first time in the six years since they'd met, Marco actually found Star to be rather intimidating.

"I want you to tell me your thoughts first," she said.

Marco really didn't want to go first. "Um...ladies first?"

"Nice try. You have to go first so you can't just change your answer to agree with me."

"I-I-I wouldn't-!"

"Marco, I know you, and you absolutely would. You did last week when we were on your bed!"

"...Okay, yeah. Sorry."

She placed her hand on top of his and squeezed it. "Marco, I want you to be completely honest with me. I promise, no matter what you say right now, when you're finished, I will still be your best friend. Even if we disagree. You should know by now that you can tell me anything."

"I do. I do know that." With a long, slow breath, Marco poured out his nervous guts. "I am worried. I'm worried that if we do this...it will hurt our friendship." He waited to see if Star would reply, but she looked at him expectantly as if she already knew that wasn't the end and remained silent, so he continued. "You're my best friend, Star. You were my rock when I lost Kelly. Your friendship means the world to me, and I don't want anything to ruin it. I'm afraid that if we do this, it'll be weird. The bad kind of weird. Especially afterwards." He took another deep breath. "You did make a lot of really good points last week, though. I am scared about...my first time, and to experience it with someone I really trust and someone who is really special to me...being you...would make it...less scary." Another deep breath. Star studied his face closely, hanging on his every word. "And then...I thought about last week. And about how it felt when you were...laying on top of me, here on this couch, and we were...holding each other...while we were both, um...topless. And...it didn't feel weird. At all. It felt...nice." Marco was so anxious he felt as if he were going to break down crying. His lip trembled as spoke. Almost there. Bring it home, Diaz. "So...while I'm still worried about what it will be like afterwards...I still would like...I mean, I was..." He swallowed hard. "I would be honored, Star, if you would...be...my...first time."

For a moment, Star said nothing. But she smiled softly at Marco and squeezed his hand again. "Marco? Are you okay?"

He nodded yes, but unsteadily.

"Come here." She wrapped him in a tight hug, and Marco desperately hugged her back as if he were afraid she would disappear if he let go. "Thank you for being honest with me." She released Marco and resumed her earlier mature and professional pose. "And now, I will be honest with you."

"Okay. Go ahead."

Star cleared her throat and spoke slowly and clearly, but with fearless confidence. "I also considered that our friendship might be affected. Your friendship means the world to me and I would be devastated if anything ruined what we have. But...then I remembered that I blew up my wand to save you from Toffee. I remembered that you came to rescue me when Ludo had me locked up in the dungeon. I had you literally chain me to my bed once to keep me from sleep-portaling. I had to take a multiple choice test to keep you from being turned into a magical painting. And that's just the stuff we did in the first two years we knew each other!" She smiled. "We have had some wild, crazy-bonkers times together. When I was a stupid adventure-craving teenager, I never could have imagined the things you and I would do together. Heck, I drowned in fowled Magic and then reincarnated an entire dimension and myself from a speck, and you had your soul sucked out by a giant, rampaging school headmaster."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks for reminding me about that."

"The point is, we're best friends, but we're not just any best friends. You've always had my back, and I've always had yours.

We've survived a lot together, way more than most people go through in their entire lives! And what? A little something like having sex is gonna wreck what we have? Not a chance!"

"Huh...I hadn't actually thought of it that way..."

Star slid over closer until she was sitting up against Marco. Her mature and confident aire melted away in the blink of an eye, and she whispered shyly as she blushed. "Plus...just like you said...last week, we...took off some clothes and...touched each other...I didn't think it felt weird at all. In fact...I actually really liked it."

A flush of pink tinged Marco's cheeks to match Star's. "Oh?"

"Yeah." She met his gaze. "I told you, I want my first time to be with someone special, and someone I trust. There's no one more deserving of those titles than you." She stood from the couch and took Marco's hand, looking down at her bestie with a shy smile. "Marco...I would be honored if you would be my first time."

Now Marco was positive he was going to break down crying. Star cared about him so much, and he felt a rush of affection for his best friend. Fighting back tears as he got to his feet, he took both of Star's hands in his own and gazed into her shimmering blue eyes. "Star...I would go with you to the ends of the Earthni and back again. And we have." He gave her hands a squeeze. "So let's have one more adventure."

Star dove forward, wrapping her arms around Marco and hugging him so tightly he could barely breathe.

When they finally broke apart, they returned to their seats on the couch. "So..." Marco said, "I think we both want to take things pretty slowly, and I think we're both pretty excited, too, so...maybe we should get started sooner rather than later?"

"Okay. Sounds good to me."

A rumbling noise suddenly cut through the conversation.

"Was that your stomach growling?" Marco asked.

"Yeahhhh..."

"Maybe we have dinner first, then."

"Dinner sounds good."

The brief reprieve to make and eat dinner was welcome by both. It gave them both a chance to calm their frayed nerves as they filled their empty stomachs. When they had finished eating and cleaned up the kitchen, they adjourned to Marco's bedroom, Star briefly pausing to grab her backpack from the living room.

The door latch clicked as it nestled into the striker. Marco turned around to Star, who had seated on the edge of the bed. "Well...here we are."

Star hugged the backpack to her chest. "Here we are."

He joined her on the bed. "What's in the bag?"

"Just some things I thought might be useful."

Marco raised an amused eyebrow. "Hang on, did you, Star Butterfly, who made fun of me just last week for being overly worried and researching things ahead of time, actually go on the internet and look things up?"

"No!" Star sheepishly looked at the floor. "...I called Jackie."

The color drained from Marco's face. "You...told my ex girlfriend...that you and I...?"

"I didn't tell her you were the one I was going to sleep with. I just told her I needed some advice about having sex for the first time. I didn't say who with."

"But why did you have to ask Jackie of all people?"

"Because she's studying to become a sexual therapist, Marco."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."

"Anyway, I brought a change of clothes because I didn't really know how this was gonna go." Star unzipped the backpack and pulled out the ugliest beach towel Marco had ever seen in his life. "Jackie recommended putting this over the bed so the sheets didn't get ruined because, um...there's a good chance there will be a little blood. Which is normal!" Star quickly added when she saw the panic on Marco's face. She tossed the towel behind her and pulled out a bottle. "She also recommended using this for the purposes of...lubrication. And to use quite a bit especially at the beginning because it's probably gonna be difficult for you to...you know...get inside."

"Oh, boy." Marco was feeling less and less confident about the whole situation by the second.

One last item was drawn from the bag: a box of baby wipes. "And she said these would be good for cleanup." She set the box on Marco's nightstand. "Which I imagine we'll need if we're liberally applying, uh, lube."

"Probably. I think I'm gonna really appreciate you bringing that towel. When we're done."

Star set the backpack beside the bed, and then turned back to Marco. She smiled, but nervously. "So...ready?"

"As I'll ever be, I guess."

Star stood and held out her hand to Marco. He allowed her to pull him to his feet. Drawing her best friend into a tight hug, she whispered to him. "Jackie said if me and my partner were both having our first time together, it would definitely be pretty awkward and janky while we figure out what to do. I think it'll help if we just be silly and try to have fun with it, just like with anything we do together."

"Sounds good," Marco whispered back.

"I'm pretty sure this whole thing is gonna be pretty unsexy. But..." She leaned in until her lips were nearly touching Marco's ear and whispered, "...Would you like to undress me?"

Marco felt his pulse quicken. Over the course of the entire week, he had spent so much time wondering whether or not it was a good idea to have sex with Star that he had completely forgotten that, should they proceed, he would also see her completely naked. After the halfway preview he'd gotten the week before, that was something he could undoubtedly say he wanted. "I...I would."

She giggled at his nervous agreement and brushed her lips against his ear as she whispered, "Go ahead."

Marco's hands slowly rose up Star's back, finding their way beneath her hair and fumbling with the zipper on the back of her dress. When it reached the bottom in the small of her back, he slid the straps from her shoulders and slowly slid the dress all the way to the floor. Star kicked off her boots as she stepped out of the dress and kicked it behind her, leaving her standing in her under garments.

"My turn?" she asked hopefully, her hand already tugging at the hem of Marco's hoodie. He nodded, and tracked Star's hands as they unzipped his hoodie and pushed it from his arms. Then she pulled his t-shirt over his head and added it to the pile on the floor. Then she winked, signifying that it was once again her partner's turn.

Marco didn't immediately advance the removal of Star's clothing. He instead wrapped her in a hug, reveling in the warm, soft intimacy of her skin against his, running his hands up and down her sides and back.

And Star felt herself melt. As nervous as Marco was, his touch was extraordinarily gentle, and she found it to be rather soothing. She returned the gentle caress, her nimble fingers running up and down Marco's sides and back. Eventually, his fingers reached her bra clasp. His face scrunched up in confusion as he attempted to release it. Star found it comical. Eventually, he figured it out. She let the straps slide off her shoulders and the bra tumbled to the floor. Marco's hands rather eagerly slid around to her front to touch her.

"Happy to see these again?" Star joked good-naturedly.

Marco blushed. "They're...really nice..."

Star laughed. "You know, it's a good thing I'm not still a princess, there were very strict laws about touching a royal like this."

"Really?"

"Yup. According to Mewni law, if a man touched the princess's bosom- and, yes, that's how it was worded- the princess could chose to marry him, and if she didn't, he would be burned at the stake."

Marco's blush instantly drained from his face as his fingers froze upon Star's chest. She laughed at his panicked expression. "I'm kidding." While he was still stunned, she quickly unbuttoned his jeans and pushed them to the floor.

Marco kicked them aside, but as he turned his attention back to Star, their gaze met, and he suddenly felt the pangs of anxiety again. They were nearly fully exposed, but they had at some point or another seen each other at approximately this level of undress. There was just one barrier left to cross.

"Star?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared."

"I know. I am, too. But sometimes..." She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slid them down. "...you just gotta jump in."

Marco stared, his eyes drinking in the view. His best friend was equally as sexy as she was cute, and he was in awe at the sight. "You're right," he said as he removed his own underwear. "Sometimes you just have to jump right in."

The silence of the bedroom was broken only by the slow, heavy breathing of the pair of young adults as they regained their breath. Star and Marco lay together in the bed, loosely holding onto each other as they recovered from their very first sexual experience.

As they had expected, it hadn't gone very smoothly.

At the initial start, there had indeed been some pain and blood. Despite knowing there was a strong possibility of some bleeding, Marco still panicked, worried that he had injured his best friend. But, Star was tough, and after a few moments she insisted that they continue. Marco reluctantly reapplied a healthy amount of lubricant to the exterior of his condom and resumed.

The results were mixed.

Eventually, the pain in Star's lower regions began to dissipate as the sensation became more pleasurable, but then the discomfort returned. Minute after minute ticked by and Star began to hope that Marco would finish soon, but he didn't even seem to be enjoying himself much. When she asked, he turned red with embarrassment and admitted, "I can't feel anything through the condom."

So they stopped.

"Well...Jackie said the first time would probably suck," Star ventured. "I'd say she was correct, wouldn't you?"

"I enjoyed parts of it."

"Which parts?"

"Undressing each other was...fun. And what we're doing right now is pretty nice."

Star shot Marco a teasing grin. "So you enjoyed the parts where you got me naked and touch my body."

"I-"

"I liked those parts, too." And Star nuzzled her cheek against Marco's chest. "Being naked together really doesn't feel weird at all, to me anyway. Aside from, you know, my lower half being all sore...I actually feel pretty comfortable right now."

"Me too."

They fell silent for a while again.

"Sorry I couldn't get you off," Marco suddenly blurted out.

Star laughed at his abrupt outburst. "I didn't expect you would, Marco. I don't think anyone could have." She booped him on the nose with her finger tip. "But you were gentle and considerate, and that's what mattered. You did great."

"Oh."

Silence resumed. As the two best friends lay together, Marco's loose hug slowly began to tighten. He drew Star closer, and she in turn wrapped her arms around him more snuggly. He found her intimate presence intoxicating. The feeling of her soft skin against his own was simultaneously relaxing and exciting, and he wanted more. Star's long, silky hair lay draped all around them like another thin sheet, and he couldn't help but bury his fingers in it. Marco didn't want this intimate snuggle to ever end. He wanted to lay there in his bed, naked with his best friend, and hold each other, for as long as possible. Especially since, he assumed, he'd probably never get to again. But there was another desire beyond touching that lingered underneath.

Star and Marco had always harbored affection for each other. They were no stranger to frequent hugs, and even occasionally held hands while walking. But Marco suddenly found himself wishing for something he had never once even considered. Maybe it was just because of the lovely intimacy they were currently experiencing, or because they had just had sex, but Marco was overcome by the urge to kiss Star.

"We should do it again."

Star's words pulled Marco from his thoughts. "Huh?"

"I mean, not right now." Star raised her head and met Marco's eyes. "But maybe, like, next week."

"What are you talking about?"

She rolled her eyes. "We should have sex again, Marco."

He was surprised. "Really? Why?"

"Because it sucked. You couldn't even feel anything and it was more painful than pleasurable for me." She raised herself up on her palms, straddling Marco's body. "So, once my lower extremities stop being stupid and don't hurt anymore, we should do it again. Especially now that we're past the weird, awkward first time. And we've already seen each other naked," she added with a wink. "Unless, of course, you don't want to."

Marco was speechless. He had assumed this would be a one-and-done deal. But just the prospect of further naked cuddling was enough for him to stutter, "I w-would like that."

Star smirked. "Anything to play with my boobs again, right?" Marco's face turned red with embarrassment for the umpteenth time that evening. Star's smirk softened into a friendly smile. "You are so easy to tease. I'm glad you're my best friend, Marco," she whispered.

"I'm glad you're mine, Star."

They cuddled for a few minutes more, and then Star decided it was time for her to head home. When she'd gone, Marco lay awake in bed, every fiber of his being longing to hold his best friend in his arms again. Longing to kiss her, over and over and over again. Longing to wake up beside her and eat breakfast together before heading off to begin their day. Wishing he could spend every spare moment of his time with her just like they did when they lived with his parents.

His lips quivered as if fighting back words that desperately wanted to escape his vocal chords. It almost seemed involuntary, yet as the sound of his whisper to the empty darkness reached his own ears, Marco knew that the sentence was undoubtedly truthful.

"I love you, Star."

The week seemed to drag by. Each night Marco lay alone in bed felt lonelier than the last. He felt as if Star had taken an important piece of him with her when she had last left, and without that piece he felt incomplete.

Yeah, she took a piece of me with her, alright. My heart.

Worse still, there was no way he could tell her. Her voice played over and over again in his head: I'm glad you're my best friend, Marco. I'm glad you're my best friend, Marco. I'm glad you're my best friend, Marco.

That's all we are. Friends.

At last, the calendar landed on Sunday. When Star reached Marco's apartment, Marco was pacing the floor once again, not with anxiety, but with impatience. He couldn't wait to have sex with Star again. Not because of the sex itself, but because he'd get to see her, touch her bare skin, hold her, experience the intimacy of nude cuddling again. That was what he craved most of all.

When she knocked, he practically sprinted to the door, mentally reminding himself not to act too eager.

"Hey, Star!"

"Hi, Marco!"

She gave him a brief hug hello, and then happily bounced her way to the couch. She had her backpack as usual, and she immediately began digging through it as Marco joined her. Finding what she was searching for, she held it in her closed hand, hiding it from view, and turned her attention to her bestie. Smiling her usual cheerful smile, she bluntly asked, "You still up to have sex again today?"

Marco felt a chill. Star was obviously becoming less uncomfortable discussing the topic of sex with him, and he wasn't exactly sure why, but he found it really hot. "Um, yeah, totally!" he replied, hoping to sound excited but not too excited.

"Good! Because I brought something for you that should make it a little more enjoyable than last time."

He raised a curious eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yup!" She opened her hand and presented Marco with a small glass vial filled with beige liquid. "Ta-da!"

"What...what is it?"

"Mewnian birth control! Eclipsa gave it to me!"

"...Told her the same thing you told Jackie?"

Star blushed. "Yeah...but she...assumed I was doing it with you."

"...Did you tell her she was wrong?"

"I doubt I could have done that convincingly. But if there's one person that can keep a secret, it's Eclipsa. She'd never tell a soul."

Marco couldn't deny that. Eclipsa had actually been his confidant a number of times when he felt he could use an adult's advice. "Yeah, you got me there." He took the vial from Star and examined it. "So...what exactly is this?"

"It's distilled from the leaves of a plant native to the Forest of Certain Death."

"You mean the National Park of Certain Death?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But that name does not roll off the tongue at all. Anyway, Eclipsa says if you drink this, it'll make you infertile for about seventy-two hours. That way you won't have to wear a condom and you'll actually be able to, you know...feel things. And she said it takes about an hour to take effect, so I'm giving it to you now so if you want to use it, it can take effect while we make dinner."

"And it's effective?"

"Eclipsa said she's never heard of it not working, as long as enough time passes between drinking it and doing the deed."

"Oh! Well, that sounds perfect." He started to uncap the vial, but Star put her hand on his arm and stopped him.

"Hold your warnicorns, Diaz. Eclipsa had one...small...disclaimer."

"What's that?"

"She said there's about a ten percent chance that when you...go off...it'll have kickback."

"Kickback? Like a gun?"

"She said, and I quote, 'It'll be like a canon that fires liquid instead of projectiles.'" Marco grimaced at the thought, and Star concurred. "I don't even want to know what that would feel like for you, let alone experience what it would feel like inside me. So...if you decide to use it, please don't finish inside me. Even if it wouldn't get me pregnant, I feel like that would probably really hurt."

Marco laughed nervously. "Okay, I will definitely try not to do that." He stared at the vial. He couldn't decide if it was worth the risk of being blown across the room. "Do you think I should use it?"

Star shrugged. "You don't have to. But if we're gonna have sex at all, I think you deserve to feel good just as much as I do. If you can't feel anything with the condom on..."

"Yeah, but do I really want to risk either one of us potentially getting hurt?" He weighed the options in his head. "Okay, I have an idea." He set the vial on the end table and dug a quarter out of his pocket. "We'll leave it up to fate. I'll flip this coin, you call it. That way, we both have input. If you call it correctly, I'll drink the stuff in the vial. If you don't, I'll just stick with the...rubber."

"I feel like you're overthinking this somehow, but okay. Go for it."

Marco flipped the coin high into the air, narrowly missing the ceiling. "Call it."

"Tails."

With a soft thump, the quarter landed on the couch cushion between them. It was tails.

"Fate has decided." Marco grabbed the vial off the end table and popped it open. "Bottoms up." And he quickly downed the contents.

"What's it taste like?" Star asked as she watched Marco make a face.

"Liquified potato with a hint of pennies."

"...Ew."

Marco smacked his lips. "Yeah, ew. Let's go make dinner."

With the awkwardness of the first time out of the way, Star bounced cheerfully down the hall to Marco's bedroom with her usual level of enthusiasm. "Alright, let's do this! Star and Marco Have Sex - Part 2: Electric Boogaloo."

Marco's heart melted. Even now, his best friend's adorable and silly nature was dredging up feelings.

Undressing each other was far less awkward and more enjoyable than the first go around, though Marco had to remind himself that at some point he needed to stop hugging his best friend and actually get into bed.

But once they'd made it beneath the covers, Marco simply couldn't help himself. This was far greater than any carnal desires. It was a desperate need for intimacy. Intimacy with Star. He held her close, their heads side by side, his hands roaming about her figure, feeling every curve, up and down the lengths of her limbs, feeling every inch of skin he could reach. He couldn't stop. Marco wouldn't have cared one bit if they never progressed to sex. He just wanted to touch and hold Star close.

And kiss her. But he knew he couldn't do that.

At last, whispered words escaped from Star's lips, breathless. "Marco...your touch is so...sweet, and gentle, and affectionate...I love it so much, and I am so turned on...but I am so turned on, and if you don't take care of me soon, I'm going to have to do it myself."

Marco blushed. "Sorry, Star."

She smiled. "It's okay. I'm glad you're getting more comfortable touching my body. And I love the way it feels...it's great foreplay...but I also want to have sex. And I'm ready. Now."

Star and Marco's second roll in the hay went significantly more smoothly than the first. With the awkwardness of the first time out of the way, they dove in with increased confidence. Star experienced no discomfort whatsoever during the entire experience, not even at the very beginning. Marco's intimate touching had indeed turned her on, so much so that they didn't even have to open the bottle of lubricant. Marco enjoyed himself, too, thanks to the elixir obtained from Eclipsa. Much to the surprise of both, they both attained climax. Marco remembered not to finish inside of Star, and thankfully, the elixir didn't cause him to fire off like a power washer. He finished instead on the ugly, brown beach towel they lay atop.

When they'd cleaned up various fluids from their nether regions with Star's provided wipes and thrown the towel on the floor, they snuggled down beneath the blankets as they had the week prior, but this time basking in the afterglow of a successful sexual encounter. They clung to each other affectionately, Star once again resting her head on Marco's chest as they caught their breath.

"That was...really nice," Star panted.

"Yeah," Marco said, nuzzling her forehead with his cheek. "It was..." He closed his eyes, drinking in the wonderful soothing feeling of the abundant skin contact. I don't ever want her to leave...I want to hold her like this forever. I need her here with me.

I love her...

But I'm lucky I get to do this a second time. There's no way I'll ever get to do this again. Not unless I tell her how I feel, and she reciprocates. If she doesn't...I may even lose her friendship...I can't risk losing Star. Even if I have to keep these feelings buried inside of me forever. It would kill me, but it's better than not being friends with Star anymore...

"You really like this, don't you?" Star asked as her heavy breathing subsided.

"...What specifically are you referring to?"

"All of it. Having sex with me, touchin' ma' body, snuggling afterwards..."

"I mean...I'm not gonna say no..." She gave him a knowing look. "Yeah. It's...really nice. This time was way better than the first time. Especially since it was less weird and we knew better what we were doing, and..." His voice trailed off.

"Do you want to...you know...keep doing this?"

Marco felt his heart rate quicken. "Really?"

"Sure. We're both single, we're super comfortable with each other, and we'll only get even better with practice." She flashed a mischievous grin. "If it was this good the second time, just think how good it could be the tenth time, or the twentieth. Or the fiftieth!" Her smile faded. "Unless you don't want to. I don't want you to feel pressured into doing this again if you don't want to."

Marco's brain was whirling. Tenth time? Twentieth? Fiftieth?! It sounds amazing, but I don't know if my heart could take it! Then again...that much intimacy would probably make us even closer...it might even cause Star to start having feelings for me...

"I would love to."

Alright, see ya next week.