Marco sighs and flops onto his bed - his parents are on a spontaneous trip, and Star has gone for a "Gurlz Day" with Jackie, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Star had of course invited him to hang out, but ever since the Princess Pony Head thing, Marco felt that Star was really in need of some one-on-one girl time, whatever that entailed, and he didn't want to ruin that for Star - even if she said that he wouldn't ruin anything. That and he didn't quite know how to act around Jackie anymore- don't get him wrong, Marco's pretty sure he'd still make a fool out of himself in front of Jackie regardless of the situation, but ever since the ball three days ago his crush on her seemed to suddenly and swiftly decline.
Lately every time he drifts off and daydreams in the very few classes that lose his interest quickly (mainly spanish, because he can already speak and write it almost fluently), instead of getting lost in his thoughts about her cool skating tricks or her awesome hair, or his fantasies of actually having a conversation with her, he ends up with thoughts of elegant dancing, adorable bunnies, and a red-headed demon who looks like he doesn't seem to know the correct way to put on winged eyeliner. Instead of remembering the few times Jackie has talked to him, Marco can only seem to remember dancing at the ball, and a demon prince who didn't seem to be as bad as Marco thought he would be. Honestly, Tom could have probably forced Star to date him, maybe even threaten a war, yet he instead tried to change himself and his customs to be seem friendlier to Star, and Marco could respect that. Not to mention Tom looked cute with his bunnies.
At that thought Marco groaned and covered his face with a pillow. He tried to erase all thoughts of 'Tom' and 'cute' in the same sentence from his mind, and instead tried to conjure up how demonic and frightening Tom looked when he was scaring off the other demons at the Bloodmoon Ball. However, that plan backfired as even when he remembered how ferocious Tom appeared, his heart couldn't help but warm as he recalled Tom was only like that to protect him. He just hoped Tom was fine.
Marco shook his head - sure Tom saved him, and Marco owed him, but he didn't have to be worried, Tom was demon prince right? It makes no sense for Marco to feel worried, but he still did. He hadn't been able to get what happened out of his head no matter how hard he tried, and every time he thought of something bad happening to Tom, he felt a terrible pang deep in his chest.
'It must be a side effect to whatever happened at the ball. There's no other explanation.' Marco rationalized to himself, 'Maybe Star's book has something that'll explain all this craziness.'
With that thought in mind, Marco took the pillow from his face, and stood up, then headed for Star's room. He just prays he won't have to deal with Glossaryck, because Marco Diaz was not in the mood to go buy pudding and feed it to the weird genie. He entered the room, and closed the door behind him with his foot, before bending over to pull the big hulking book from under Star's bed. As he's about to start looking for information on the Bloodmoon Ball, Star's magic mirror suddenly begins to ring, causing Marco to jump into the air.
Now Marco knows he probably shouldn't touch Star's mirror after the whole pixie incident - even though true to her word, Star had changed carriers - it surely couldn't quite hurt to see who was calling Star right? It could be an important call from her parents after all! At least this is how Marco rationalized it to himself when he went over to pull open the curtains blocking the magic mirror, to see the caller ID.
The poor Spanish boy nearly tripped over his two feet in his haste to get away from the innocent looking mirror, that held a not so innocent, three lettered name of a demon caller. Marco, luckily enough, caught himself and forced his heart to calm down from the adrenaline rush almost falling had given him. At least, Marco's blaming it all on the adrenaline. He found himself torn on whether to pick up the call or not. On one hand, it would do him some peace of mind to see that the demon boy was whole, and he could possibly even get answers for his dilemma from the source. Unfortunately, on the other hand, to get answers Marco would have to tell Tom exactly what was bothering him, and risk getting made fun of by the demon teen. But, Marco did desperately want answers, and to be honest after he got said answers, there was nothing that said Marco had to ever speak to Tom again, so if the demon did tease him it at least wouldn't be for long.
As Marco's weighing the pros and cons in his head, and pacing in Star's room, he mutters aloud, "Maybe I should just answer it, and get this over with."
With Marco's luck, the mirror had picked up the word 'Answer' from the boy's mutterings, and had connected the call to certain prince of hell.
Tom hurries to get his words out, not even looking at who was in the room in the fear of Star hanging up on him before he had a chance to explain.
"Starshippleasedon'thangupIjustneedtotalkto…Marco?" Tom starts off in a hurry, but then trails off as he notices that it's not the rainbow-themed optimistic Princess of Mewny that he had expected to answer his call, but instead the pacing, flustered Spanish boy that he had called to ask for in the first place, who was on the other side of the mirror.
Marco once again jumps when he hears Tom say his name, and slowly turned around to face the demon. Marco's face flushes with embarrassment as he realizes that Tom probably saw at least some of his freaking out and pacing.
"Oh, um, hey there Tom," Marco tries to give a wave, that ended being honestly pathetic, and put his hand back down to continue, "Um, how are you and the whole hell thing? How's Brian? If you're looking for Star, she's out with a friend right now. Also I'd advise not trying to talk to her for awhile, she's still a bit agitated by the whole, 'demons trying to kill and eat me'...thing."
Tom just blinks, then asks with a resigned sigh, "Why are you even in Starship's room? You know what, nevermind. I actually called to speak with you. I said I'd explain the whole Bloodmoon Ball dance thing later, and…," He paused to run a hand through his hair, then flailed the same hand in the air a little - Marco absentmindedly noted that it was the same hand he had cut off - , "It's later. But, i rather not use up my minutes, and have to go visit the pixies. You still have the hell-bell right? Just ring it, and say you're going to floor negative six-hundred and sixty six, that's my level. We can, hopefully, talk there without getting interrupted, like we were at the ball."
Marco is immediately on guard at the idea of going anywhere alone with Tom. The dude was a literal demon - and not just a demon, but a flaming anger demon who's also the prince of hell! Marco wasn't even totally sure if Star even counted Tom as a friend, so Tom was a potential villain in his eyes. In fact, the only reason he hasn't just dropped the call is because he feels guilty about leaving Tom to protect him and Star from the demons at the ball. Or at least that's the reason Marco gave himself. Though honestly, the whole 'saving his life' thing, kinda negated the 'potential villain' persona Marco had been imagining in his head, but the other stuff, like the fact Tom was literally the angry demon fire prince of hell, still counted.
Marco raised a skeptical eyebrow at Tom's proposal, and asked "This isn't just some plot to get me alone in hell, so you can kill me right? Or kidnap me and hold me at ransom to get Star to date you? Because, demon," Marco spat out this word with as much venom as he could muster, "I am a green belt - with a stripe! - in karate, and i will cut your hand off again."
Marco raised his hands in what was supposed to be a fearsome karate pose. Supposed to be, being the key words. Any other situation and Tom might have laughed, however by this point in time Tom was about done with Marco expecting him to be some evil sadistic monster, and instead tries to prove that he's not. By catching on fire.
Tom all but shouts, "No, you stupid idiot! I try to do something helpful for once and!"
Tom cuts himself off, and struggles to get his flames and temper under control. When the flames are gone, Tom closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, before picking up a bunny from somewhere outside of what Marco's able to see through the glass. As Tom strokes the bunny furiously, Marco tries to tell himself that he does not feel guilty, and that he had every right to be worried.
Tom is eventually able to grit out through clenched teeth, eyes still tightly squeezed shut, "After hearing about how you tried to help Lobster Claws of all monsters turn good, I would think that you, out of all mortals, would be able to grasp and understand the concept that not every demon is a pure evil, sadistic monster. Yes, there are quite a few, but you shouldn't just assume. That kind of finger-pointing you do might get you killed one day. Or worse."
"Well, last time i was around demons, they did try to eat me," Marco tried to rationalize. "Wait… how did you hear about Lobster Claws?" Marco questions, actually feeling a bit guilty for his jump to - at the time logical - conclusions. He of all people should know not everything is always as it seems - especially when it came to the matters and people surrounding Star.
The question causes Tom to let out a small laugh, and open his - now back to normal, but filled with mirth - eyes.
"Aren't you supposed to be a smart mortal, or has Star just not told you anything? Well, she always did hate history lessons, I suppose… Monster's originate from Hell. Those minions have family down here, and all hellspawn have a penchant for bragging. Not to mention rumours spread fast as - well, hell - down here. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing about how that Lobster demon actually held Princess Star Butterfly's wand in his claws. Gasp." Tom rolls his eyes, as he absentmindedly stroked his bunny, at a much more sedate pace.
His sarcasm causes Marco to let out a snort of amusement, which causes Tom to give a small smile, proud of himself for putting the mor- Marco, at ease.
Tom then continued, "Anyways, we do actually need to talk. Just ring the bell, Marco. I swear on my father's kingdom, I'm not planning to steal your soul, or kidnap you, or any other foolishness that you might be thinking. I do however apologize for the whole 'my people trying to eat you' thing, I understand how that doesn't always leave the best impression. I'll hopefully see you soon."
With those final words, Tom hung up, leaving a slightly surprised Marco in his wake. Marco honestly wasn't expecting an apology for something that seemed to be out of Tom's control, especially as Tom did try to help them. The apology, however, ended up making Marco feel even guiltier for accusing Tom, who actually seemed to be trying to keep a lid on his temper. Not to mention, Tom hadn't actually done anything to warrant Marco's distrust, as Tom hasn't even tried to hurt Marco. The worse thing Tom has done to him was to roughly pull him away from Star at the ball, but that ended up with a sweet dance between them.
'I owe him this much for all the unwarranted hostility," Marco told himself as he went for the hell-bell in his room, then ran back and stood on Star's balcony, 'And I do need answers for the whole Bloodmoon Ball thing...'
Almost convincing himself with his thoughts, Marco rang the bell.
A/N: It's 5:25am, i hope you all know how much i love you all. Reviews, faves, and follows make me smile and make me update quicker, and my tumblr's on my bio if anyone's interested~ ^u^
