Summary: After Queen Moon returns safe and sound, she sends Star and friends on a much-needed vacation. But for a certain demon, rest and relaxation isn't exactly the best cure for what's on his mind. (Prompt was "Vacation).
"Tom, you've got to try these… uh, I don't actually know what they're called. The purple ones. They're amazing!" Marco snatched a few sushi rolls away from the center of the table - and from Pony's prying tongue.
Tom smirked as Marco scooted one of the pieces towards him. "Dude, come on now. Everyone knows they're called Snarglers. You've been on Mewni for, what, over a year now right? I'll give you credit though, these are the most delicious ones I've ever had." He mumbled out with his mouth full as he polished off his first one and snapped his fingers, levitating the rest across the table from Marco's corner.
Marco sighed and rolled his eyes, accepting the fate of his fish until an arm quickly reached up in front of Tom's face and snatched a roll. Star raised an eyebrow as she teasingly held the intercepted prize aloft in front of Marco. His expression remained neutral as he tried to snatch it with his chopsticks, but Star kept evading his maneuvers. Finally, Marco spotted an opportunity and lunged forward out of his seat; once again, Star was too quick and pulled his prize just out of reach. "Guess my squire needs a little more dexterity training, huh?" She brought the roll closer to Marco's mouth… before bopping his nose with it instead. "You snooze, you lose, buddy." Star grinned and leaned back, preparing to indulge in her hard-won piece of sushi, but yelped and toppled forward when a light jab at her side caught her off guard. Marco gave her a quick peck on the lips and then smugly ate the roll out of Star's chopsticks. They stared at each other for a few seconds before their composure broke, giggles quickly morphing into laughter.
Ponyhead groaned and scooted her veritable mountain of stockpiled sushi closer to the other three. "You know what, lovebirds, that is it, you can have all of mine. My appetite is officially gone! Lousy romancing on this vacay, I swear, there are, like, KIDS here, probably..." she grumbled loudly as she collapsed onto the seat. "Gotta suffer through a whole week of this…"
As his three eyes surveyed the spectacle in front of him, a toothy grin graced Tom's visage. Ponyhead was being, well, Ponyhead, but more importantly, his two best friends were so carefree and happy for what he knew was the first time in months; if he was being honest with himself, he doubted Star or Marco had truly felt like this for awhile even before Meteora's strike and Moon's disappearance. And while he was filled with a genuine warmth of a type that no amount of demon fire could provide, he couldn't help but feel slightly wistful.
Tom lounged on the bed on his half of the hotel room, tossing his game controller back and forth in his hands. He had a fabulous collection of video games at his disposal, but he couldn't exactly access them without Marco's scissors (or opening a chasm into the ground, but the hotel staff didn't really like that the first time). When Queen Moon sent the foursome on vacation, she forbade Star and Marco from returning to the castle to make sure they truly enjoyed their much-needed downtime, but no one was stopping Tom from making a quick supply run to the Underworld.
No one, that is, except a certain Marco Diaz, who was still absent though the sun had gone down hours ago.
The door finally creaked open as Marco tiptoed in, wanting to be careful in case his friend had turned in early. "Oh, hey, Tom! I wasn't sure if you were still awake... didn't want to bother you."
The demon waved a hand dismissively, sinking back into the pillows. "Nah, I've just been chilling. Today was a ton of fun... plus, honestly, I think I'm still full from the sushi yesterday."
Marco groaned and let himself fall spread-eagle on his own bed, muffling his cries into the sheets before rolling back over. "Don't remind me. Whose idea was it to actually finish all of Pony's?" Tom turned over, raised an eyebrow, and jerked his head towards the back wall separating them from the other half of their party, at which Marco rolled his eyes. "Rhetorical question, I know. Star was practically cheating anyway, have you seen how much her dad can eat? Should've never let her talk us into that. But hey, I'm pretty sure I handled it better than you." Marco shot a cheeky grin at his friend.
"What? No, dude, the only reason you didn't feel sick is because you fell asleep at the restaurant. Star had to carry you home… seriously, do you not remember that? Didn't you realize something was wrong when you woke up this morning?" Marco's smile faded as he fiddled with the zipper on his open hoodie, eyes darting around the room as he tried and failed to come up with a response. "Was it because Star carried you back here, tucked you in, and gave you a goodnight kiss? Did that make everything feel better?" Tom's smile (and Marco's blush) kept growing as he pressed the teasing further, but his tone got a touch intense at the end, which didn't go unnoticed by either.
"Yeah, yeah, you're right, I guess…" The two fell into an uncomfortable silence, both staring at ornate patterns in the carpet.
Tom took a deep breath and turned back to look at Marco. "Wanna play some games or something? I found this new RPG, I tried playing it myself but it got pretty boring. I hear it has killer co-op, though, been dying to give that a shot." Marco perked up and affirmed his interest, catching the controller Tom tossed to him as the title screen came to life. The opening mission was an incredibly easy (but unskippable) tutorial; even though they were enjoying themselves, their minds both began to wander as it dragged on.
"...I'm sorry about all this, Tom."
"Uh, dude, you're a higher level than I am right now. Pretty sure I'm the one who should be apologizing here, I can't nail these combos at all."
Marco paused the game in the middle of the tutorial boss fight, looking a curious and concerned Tom in the eye. "No, I mean about… the other stuff. Star."
"What? Marco, it's fine-"
"No, it's not… the booth, the breakup, the huge help you've been lately despite everything... you've been great about it when you didn't have to be. But now you seem a bit off these last few days, and I know it's probably because…"
"I said it's FINE!" Tom stifled his shout through gritted teeth, eyes flaring up momentarily and controller slamming on his bed with an audible thwump. The fire left as quickly as it came, and Tom swung his legs across the bed so he could fully face Marco as he centered himself. "Don't beat yourself up over it, it's cool. We're cool. It's just… it's weird, y'know? Seeing you and Star like, well, this." Marco's brow furrowed in confusion; Tom's voice showed no signs of him being upset with Marco himself, which wasn't what he'd expected. He swallowed audibly, wanting to speak but knowing it was more important to just let Tom vent it out. "And don't take that the wrong way, I'm not jealous or anything, not really… the past few months of us working together and hanging out have been the best time of my life, you two are the greatest friends a demon could have. Pony's alright sometimes, too, I suppose. But these past few days… it's really been the first time I've seen the two of you being all, y'know..."
"I get it." Marco offered sympathetically. He had been facing Tom for a while but just now discarded his own controller to the side.
A good-natured chuckle escaped Tom's mouth. "I shouldn't even be surprised, you two were alreadytouchy-feely before you even had anything going on. That's Starship for you." He slumped against a pile of pillows, staring at the ceiling and closing his three eyes. "I've moved on, I really have, but all those years of stupid fixation just make it weird when I don't want it to be. Different is hard, even when it's better."
"Yeah, it is." Marco took a deep breath, leaned over, and put a hand on Tom's shoulder as the two friends locked eyes. "This might sound like the worst possible subject to bring up, but bear with me. That night, in the booth… I talked to Star about what was different for me, too. When I left Mewni back then, I thought I was set! Star was still my friend, I was with Jackie, it felt like everything was great! Then it all crashed down around me, and it really stunk, but it taught me what I really needed in my life. What I'm trying to say is, if you ever need support, I know how hard it can be."
The water building up in Tom's eyes sizzled away when he blinked, before he pulled Marco into a strong hug. "I'll keep that in mind." Tom slurred the last word into a yawn as they parted, the day's physical and emotional turmoil finally taking its toll on him.
Marco gave a lopsided grin. "Yeah, yeah, we should probably both get to sleep soon. Star and I have to be at Quest Buy early tomorrow for the big annual Squire blowout sale."
"Is that the one with the ping pong tables that come with miniature fanatic crowds and commentators?" Tom asked earnestly.
"Why else would we bother going if it wasn't? I can totally grab you one if-"
"Yes, absolutely. Please." Tom cut him off with a laugh, feeling truly free-spirited for the first time in a while. He turned to once more look Marco in the eyes. "You're really good at this whole 'best friend' thing, Marco. I think I get why Star likes it so much."
"Hey, you're pretty great at it, too. You're my best- well, I mean… I'd just call you my 'best friend', but..." Marco trailed off as his eyes lingered towards the back wall.
"We'd both know that's not true," Tom nonchalantly responded.
Marco rubbed the back of his neck. "Aaaaand now I feel like a jerk. Maybe bestie? Nah, Pony would maim me for stealing that word from her. How about 'best friend who's just a friend'?"
Tom cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "We'll figure it out. So... what you're saying is, now we'll be just friends?"
Marco chuckled and cleared his throat as he began to sing, "Oh, we will be, just friends."
Tom grabbed his controller and held it like a microphone. "And now we'll be just friends!"
Marco mirrored Tom as they harmonized. "Be juuuuust friends!"
"And now we'll be…" Tom fell back on his bed laughing as Marco launched into an air guitar solo. Their fun was soon interrupted by a pound on the back wall.
"OH MY GOD YOU ARE SUCH DORKS, I SWEAR, THIS VACATION IS GOING TO LITERALLY KILL ME. THESE WALLS AREN'T VERY THICK, YOU KNOW. I'D TELL YOU TWO IDIOTS TO GET A ROOM, NO OFFENSE B-FLY, BUT YOU ALREADY HAVE ONE. I CAN'T ESCAPE-" Tom and Marco were stunned to silence by Ponyhead's wailing as they looked back and forth between each other and the wall, mortified, while she continued ranting. Star started laughing first, her initial snort through the wall finally shutting Pony up before Tom and Marco both joined in. The demon felt his heart swell, feeling like he'd finally found where he belonged.
A/N: Sup everyone! I've had this on the backburner for a while, and I might add some more oneshots set during this hypothetical vacation of mine at a later point. First time writing Tom for more than a quick snippet, was kinda nervous while drafting this up. If it wasn't clear, this whole scenario takes place months after Divide/Conquer (one year after Trial by Squire, to be precise) after Star and Marco have gotten together and Moon has returned and taken back the throne. Let me know what you think!
Review Responses:
InfiniteClockWise: Thanks! Technicalities are fun ;)
Useful76: I don't think I have it in me to actually write them breaking up lmao. Thanks!
Allen Vth: Haha, I didn't want to make it too painful, but I'm glad my plan worked! Might try playing with more fun stuff like that later.
Ronald Castillo: Thanks so much!
acosta: Thanks so much! Yeah, I was thinking about making each chapter separate story for AO3 but FFnet can't connect works into a series so I opted for this instead.
Sugar: ;)
