Hey everyone! I'm getting hyped for this Starco week coming up in April, buuuuut I don't know what the prompts are yet. I submitted some suggestions for prompts. We'll see if any of them get their chance to shine :D

That being said I'm going to have to stop updating for a while. I might accidentally write a fic that might end up as a prompt later, and I'll have to write a completely different scenario for the same topic, and idk but my creativity isn't that flexible.

Anyway, here's today's story! Marco asks Tom for some dating advice since he used to go out with Star. You can bet that goes well :P

Enjoy the fic!

Marco looked around, still surprised by how modern Tom's home looked despite being in the underworld. While the cave had a red tint to it, there were arcade machines against the wall, the ping pong table he played against with Tom when he kidnapped him, a kitchen, living room, and a nice furnished table. If it weren't for the torture devices hanging from the wall, he'd say it looked almost nice to live in. The boy turned around as he heard Tom enter the room once more.

"So can I get you anything? Blood? Tormented souls? Hearts of the damned? Sparkling water?"

"Uh… I think I'll take the last one."

Tom opened his refrigerator, revealing several bags of blood, raw meat, glowing red orbs. Grabbing some sparkling water, the demon sat back down on the couch, tossing the drink to Marco, and continued to play his video games. "So what's up? Want to play another round of Space Ninja Extreme? I promise I won't cheat this time."

Marco rolled his eyes. "First of all, you always cheat. You never not cheat."

"I played fair last time."

"You melted my controller when I was winning."

"It's a legitimate strategy."

"Second…" the boy continued. "I'm actually here to talk about Star."

The demon raised an eyebrow, looking at him with his three eyes. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"Um… no, not with Star…"

Tom returned to his game, trying to dodge his opponent's attacks. "Then I'm sure you can handle it. Besides, you lived with her for a year. I'm pretty sure you're used to whatever she throws at you. Metaphorically, of course… and literally I guess... OOOHH! Look at that combo!"

"Ugh, Tom. C'mon. I need some help here."

"Why? I thought you said nothing's wrong with Star."

Marco shifted uncomfortably, distracting himself by watching the TV. "Well… there isn't…"

"Okay… well you better spit it out, cuz you're kind of distracting me from winning- Oooooh! Almost got me," he cheered.

Marco sighed. "Alright… so… Star and I are about to have our first date and-"

Tom lunged at Marco, dropping his controller and grabbing Marco's shoulders. The game played a sad note followed by a game over title card on the large flat screen TV. "Whoa, whoa, hold on. You're dating Star!? You two finally confessed!? Since when!?" he asked, shaking the boy.

"Get off!" Marco slapped his hands away and straightened out his hoodie. "She had this whole song thing and… look, I'll tell you later. I just need some help here. We're about to go on our first date tonight and I have no idea what to do! We hang out as best friends all the time, but now that we're… you know… together… I don't know what to do for our dates. And I don't want it to be the usual stuff we do, so I was hoping since you used to date Star, maybe you could give me some advice?"

"Why me? I'm sure you two will be fine. Just do what you normally do."

"Yeah, but… I don't know, can you help me out here?"

Tom nodded. "So what you're saying is you're too stupid to know how to date Star. Don't worry, man. I got you covered."

Marco glared at the demon. "Gee. Thanks, Tom. What would I do without you…"

He laid an arm over the boy's shoulder and walked him over to the couch. "Now lemme tell you how I used to do things. I was a real lady killer back then."

"Is that a pun or are you-"

"First tip! Get Star some flowers. She love flowers. I think."

The boy gave Tom a quizzical look. "You gave flowers to Star?"

He shrugged. "Well, I tried. Here's the story of our first date."

Tom spiked his hair up, trying to keep the perfect signature shape he always had. He wore his usual ripped shirt and dark pants, trying to keep it casual for the date. He looked at his watch, growing more impatient as time went on. "Ugh, where is she?"

He heard a sigh behind him. "Hello Tom."

He turned around and saw his 'girlfriend' Star Butterfly in her blue sleeveless dress. "Star!"

"Yeah, yeah, it's me. Let's just get this over with."

"Look, I know your parents set you up on this whole thing, but trust me, I'm not that bad of a guy. Here. I brought you flowers."

Star gasped, her eyes sparkling with joy. "Really!?"

"Yeah, check it out." He revealed a bouquet of roses slowly burning away into a stiff shell of charcoal. The demon breathed in the smoke and sighed. "Isn't it just wonderful?"

"You burnt your flowers…?"

"Yeah? So?"

"That doesn't sound very romantic."

Tom scoffed, crossing his arms. "What are you talking about? What could be more romantic than burning flowers? It's fleeting, it's ever-changing, it's warm, it's-"

"Tom, I don't know how things work down here in the underworld, but I'm pretty sure flaming roses aren't romantic…"

"Shows what you know about dating."

"Hey, for your information, I had a girlfriend before Star and I got together."

"Oh yeah? And how'd that work out for you?"

Marco scratched his head. "Uh… well…"

"Exactly. Now, as I was saying…"

Star was appalled by the burning bouquet. She waved her hands in the air, trying to blow wind onto the fire, but only managed to make it grow brighter.

Tom on the other hand was somewhat confused by her actions. "What are you… ohhhhh I get it. You want it to burn brighter! I got you, Starship." His eyes began to glow red. He channelled his energy into his hand, creating a roaring fire engulfing the roses. "This does look better!"

"TOM!"

He jumped back, startled by the princess's sudden outburst. "What?"

"Why did you burn those flowers?"

"I thought that's what you wanted! You were trying to make it bigger, weren't you?"

Star threw her hands up in the air. "Why would I want to make a bigger fire?"

"What's wrong with bigger fires? I think they're pretty cool."

Star sighed. "Whatever… let's just… get on with this date…" She pulled out her dimensional scissors and reluctantly entering through the portal.

"Uhh…. geez what's wrong with her?"

Tom followed after her, finding himself in Quest Buy. Several Mewmans, demons, monsters, and animal-like creatures ran through the busy intersection of the dimension with the occasional buyers being chased down by their killer gift cards. He let out a light chuckle, always finding it amusing to see someone making that mistake.

"C'mon, Tom, let's see what we can find around here," Star called out.

He smiled, making his way towards the princess. "Sure thing, Starship."

"Don't call me that."

"Aww, but it suits you!"

"Shhh shhh shh shh shush shush shush. No. No nicknames."

Tom huffed, the heat around him becoming slightly warmer from his annoyance. "Fine."

The two went through several isles of intricate products ranging from toys to weapons, food to potions, and much more. To any ordinary bystander, a trip to Quest Buy was always a treat. They could get anything in the universe and more in this one shopping dimension, but for Tom, it was a total bore. None of these things really entertained him. They were mere distractions to him, but Star seemed to enjoy window shopping. As much as he wished she had picked a better date spot, he did enjoy watching Star be amazed by each product on display-

Marco rolled his eyes, letting out a sigh. "Alright, alright, get on with it."

"Hey, don't interrupt me, I'm in the middle of the story!"

"Well, can you at least tell it a little faster? I kind of have a date with Star soon." He pointed at his watch, trying to get Tom to hurry up.

The demon ignored his request. "Every detail matters, Marco. What? You don't want to hear my advice on how to date Star?"

"I'm not sure if you swooning over Star is an important detail. Also… Starship? Really?"

He smirked. "Oooohhhhh, getting jealous are we?"

Marco scoffed. "What!? I'm not jealous! What would I be jealous of?"

"Heh, right. But man, she sure is something though, isn't she? Beautiful, funny-"

"Next."

"Oooohhhhh! Look, look! It's the newest edition of my all time favourite comic!"

Tom looked at the cover page before realizing what he was looking at. "Oh, this thing. Seen it. Ending's kind of lame."

Star looked over to her date with a confused look. "You've read it before? But it just came out today."

"I know the guy who makes the series."

She gasped, her eyes lighting up with excitement. "You do!?"

"Yeah. I paid him a visit a while ago. He was overdue for the underworld anyway."

The eagerness disappeared and was replaced with disappointment. "You… reaped his soul then?"

"Yup. All part of my job. Pretty cool, right?" he bragged, leaning against the bookshelf.

Star shook her head, rubbing her temples. "Okay… so… the guys dead cuz of you. Great."

"Don't worry, he told me the entire story before I brought him to my place. The main characters fight each other, but end up working together and saving their dimensions."

"TOM!"

The demon jumped. "What!?"

"You just spoiled the ending to my favourite comic!"

"No I didn't! That was just the set up for the bigger ending. Their dimensions fuse as one in the end."

Star glared at her date. "..."

"..."

"Yeah, this isn't going to work out."

"Wow, you're a terrible boyfriend."

"Oh yeah? How do you explain the fact that we went on five other dates after that?"

"Did Star ever ask you to go on any of those five dates or did you just bribe her parents?"

Tom opened his mouth to retort but soon closed it. "...Shut up."

Marco rolled his eyes. "Alright, so… lemme go over your notes. Star love flowers, preferably one that isn't on fire, likes to dimension hop, and I should enjoy the things she likes."

"Yeah pretty much."

"Tom, that's all stuff I already knew when we were best friends."

"Yeah, I know. Why do you think literally everyone thought you two were already dating?"

"Wait, they did?"

"Look, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just go on your date or whatever. You're gonna be late."

Marco looked at his watch, realizing that he was late by two whole minutes. He panicked, sloppily patting himself down, trying to find where he left his dimensional scissors. "Gah, c'mon where is it, where is it!?" He reached into his back pockets and pulled the scissors out, quickly thanking the demon before tearing a portal back to Earth. "Thanks a lot, Tom, I'll see you later!"

"Uh-huh."

Marco appeared from the portal, his eyes adjusting to the sudden brightness and vibrant colours of Earth. He looked around and saw Star waving at him in the distance, running towards him.

"Hey, Marco! Sorry I'm late. I was talking to Ponyhead about something and got kind of held up," she quickly said, trying to catch her breath. Little did Marco know, Star was doing the exact same thing as him, getting dating advice from Ponyhead before meeting up.

"Haha, n-no problem!"

The two stared at each other, a blush beginning to form on both their faces. This was the first time they would be meeting as an actual couple instead of best friends. Neither of them knew how this worked.

Star cleared her throat. "S-so…"

"So…"

"...Movies?"

Marco nervously smiled. "S-sure."

Star smiled back. The two began to walk over to the theatres side by side. Marco glanced at how close their hands were and moved closer to Star's side, hesitantly tapping her fingers with his. She responded by shyly wrapping her pinkie around his, the pair far too shy to publicly hold hands. They looked at each other with red faces and smiled.

Tom was right. He didn't need to worry. The two would find a way to make it work, just like all the times before.

Well, hopefully you guys liked it. I've been stuck on this one for quite some time :P

Next updates happen during Starco week 3 in April! Where you'll be getting one whole fic every day for five days!

Until then, you'll have to just sit tight. Sorry!

REVIEW RESPONSES

HiatusQueen: lol The Starco pair can be sneaky if they want to. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Captin Jar: Thanks!

Guest Sorta: Exactly. And that's why everyone loves Janna :D She's great!

Guest 1: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!

d,felipe76: So I've heard. I'm super excited about it! And I don't think I'll be making this series M-rated. If I do make a lemon, I'll just make it its own oneshot and post it as M rated by itself. Though... that might take some convincing to actually do :P

xXPokeFictionXx: I guess Janna's taking to the idea of Ignorance is Bliss.

Canadian Bacon: Yeah, we need more Janna fics! She's awesome!

Stretch27: lol I'm glad you're enjoying the Starco fluff 'n stuff! Nefcy knows we could use it ;_; And I could make use of the T-rating, buuuut I'm trying to give this series the feeling that it could actually be another episode of SvFOE. Cursing and whatnot kind of takes away the feeling sometimes, but yeah, I'll make use of it when it's appropriate :)

TheAztecKing: Good, good! Another Starco patient revived!

XxCaptainPirateKingxX: sounds like you really enjoyed the fic lol. I'm glad you did!

SonicE1337: lol that's exactly why they keep it secret so they don't have to be embarrassed by the Starco shippers. As for the Coma fic, yeah, I had a feeling it might be like that. I wasn't too sure how to fix it, but I was tired and decided to just post it. As for the last fic, Janna was just curious about Star's and Marco's interactions since she sees them all the time and noticed how they seem extremely intimate and yet keep playing it off as if they're best friends. She was just confused by it and it slowly built up to an obsession of needing to know their relationship. Curiosity is a powerful thing, ya know :P

Guest: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I might revisit the Star being sick idea again. I wouldn't count on it though tbh. idk, be on the look out! You did get me thinking about it!

warprince2000: Thanks! I'll try to update asap!

shouldercookie: Haha, well I'm glad you liked it!

Slightsmile: You can just call me Neon lol. And you binge read all the stories? That must've been a ride lol. I'm glad you stuck with it! Hopefully this also keeps up the same feel as the other ones.