"Marco!" Star's sharp, shrill voice pierced Marco's ears, making him flinch. She only used that voice when she was either serious, pissed, or seriously pissed. Today, she sounded pissed. Her hands went flying around, mostly gesturing aggressively at Marco as she demanded, "Where the hell were you? I've been looking everywhere for you for the past half hour! Where's Glossaryck? Don't tell me you forgot to look after him again, he-" her eyes narrowed in open suspicion. "Did you bail on me again to go hang out with-"

"No, I didn't bail on you again to hang out with Hekapoo." Marco interrupted her in a crisp, frustrated tone. He couldn't help himself from lashing out at her; she'd gotten a lot more suspicious of him whenever he left to go do anything ever since his adventures with Hekapoo a month ago. Sure, maybe Star had a handful of reasons to question him, but it still hurt whenever she interrogated him. His face screwed up in pent up anger, but he stopped himself and closed his eyes for a second. As much as he wanted to retaliate and say something about trusting her friends, Marco kept his mouth shut. She's probably just stressed out, that's all, he told himself. Barking back at her won't help anyone.

Marco let out a small sigh, opened his eyes, and held up Glossaryck's leash over his head so that the little blue mystic was yoinked up to eye level. The tiny god made a small choking sound as he was pulled up for Star to see. His big, dark, unfocused eyes made contact with Star's for a second as he began to twist around the hanging leash. Star's own eyes opened wide with shock, comprehension, and then awkward guilt. "Oh," she replied in a low, quiet voice. Marco grimaced but looked Star right in the eyes. She met his resolved eyes with her own unsure ones.

"I didn't go off and party with Hekapoo again, Star, because I can't anymore." He kept his words carefully measured, making sure it he didn't erupt at her. "I gave up my friendship with her to make sure that you were safe during your nighttime adventures last month. That's the price I had to pay so that she wouldn't go blab to the magical council about your portal-making issue." He paused to let the words sink in. "I know that I haven't been the best of squires since I got here, or even the best of friends, but I would very much appreciate it if you could trust me just a little bit more." He couldn't keep the hurt out of his words in the last sentence. Star's face screwed up in guilt, and she let out a heavy sigh. The bags beneath her eyes seemed to grow deeper. Her face showed signs of stress and weariness, aging her face by ten years.

"I- I'm sorry, Marco, I just- I've been so busy with Eclipsa's trial and rebuilding the kingdom and learning politics, I-" Her head fell into her hands and she let out a melodramatic groan. "I'm sorry, Marco," she muttered sourly through her hands.

Marco shrugged, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. It was, but he hated seeing Star upset. It had always given him a stomach ache, even before he had realized his crush for her. "It's okay, Star, really. You're stressed out, I get it."

Star's hands opened up to show her frustrated face. "No, Marco, it's not alright." Her hands clamped onto Marco's cheeks and she stared him dead in the eye, eyes full of righteous determination. "You deserve better, Marco. I swear on my life that I will make it up to you."

Marco gave her a small smile. Star's hands were warm against his cheeks. She always looks so cute when she gets like this,some quiet part of his brain noted. "Thanks, Star. It means a lot to me."

Star returned his tiny smile with a larger, brighter, more playful one. "Anything for my most trusted and loyal squire."

Marco let out a small chuckle and backed out of her hands to give her a small bow. "Thank you, your highness."

Star snorted. Her eyes fell down onto Glossaryck, now scratching himself on the floor. "So, if you weren't hangin' out with H-poo, what were you doing? Where'd you go?"

Marco sniffed and then started scratching his head mindlessly. "About three hours after you left, Kelly called me and said she needed some help. Apparently she was about to be beheaded for not paying her rent."

Star let out a disbelieving noise. "You mean Bruce? Ah, come on, Bruce would never hurt a fly, much less Kelly."

Marco gave her a serious glare. "He had a battle axe with him. A bloodied battle axe."

Star bit her lip and shrugged her shoulder, clearly uncomfortable. "Ah, well, you know him, he talks a big game, but, you know, it was probably fake blood or, or… or something." She tried to look casual and readjusted herself while making the most unconvincing face ever. Marco kept staring at her and her façade died away. "How's Kelly?"

Marco shrugged. "Ok, I think. She's still dealing with her break up with Tad and stuff, but I think she'll be alright. We had coffee for a while and talked about it. I think she'll be fine."

Star nodded. "Kelly's a strong girl. She'll get over it." Her left eyebrow rose, eyes scanning Marco. Her face grew still. "Coffee, huh? Not the best first date, but I guess there's worse." Her voice was calm, controlled, impassive. She'd tried to go for lighthearted, but it had come out a lot more stone cold than she'd wanted it to.

If there was anything odd about Star's tone, Marco didn't notice it. "It wasn't a date, Star, geez!" His cheeks had gone red and his voice was indignant and cracked occasionally. "A guy can't help his friend out without being in love with them? Come on, Star, how many times have I helped you out of a sticky situation?"

Star subconsciously relaxed and giggled. "Relax, Marco, it was a joke."

Marco glared at her, perturbed, and then sullenly asked, "Speaking of dates, how was yours tonight? You were gone for forever."

Star took in a deep breath and tensed up her shoulders. She looked like she would rather be anywhere else at the moment. "It… got complicated."

"How-"

"Don't ask."

"But-"

"Marco."

Silence, then, "Fine." Part of Marco knew that Star wouldn't answer him no matter how hard he pried, and a much larger part of him didn't want to know what had made Star's date so complicated. He paused for a moment before changing the subject. "So, any updates on the trial?"

Star shrugged. "No, not really. I tried to do some more investigating today, but I came up empty. It's been difficult finding evidence that she was innocent when the crime is 'she's evil'. I mean, what am I supposed to say at her trial when all my mom is saying is that she's a bad person?"

"Show her that she's not," Marco responded, supportive despite completely believing that Eclipsa was going to stab Star in the back the second it was convenient to her. He had been keeping his own eye on her, just in case Star was wrong. He knew what she would say, that he wasn't trusting her, but she was wrong. He trusted Star. He just didn't trust Eclipsa. "If Eclipsa hasn't done anything except date a monster and help kill Toffee, then they can't condemn her. Otherwise, they're the villians."

Star bit her lip, unsure. She began to tap her foot on the ground repeatedly in a nervous gesture. "I know, I know, but what if they find her guilty because of some old mewman law I don't know, or just because they're afraid of her? I just- it's not fair that they can just freeze her like a popsicle stick 'cause they think she might, MIGHT, be evil."

"Uh, Star?"

"Huh?" Marco pointed to her feet, and she scowled, stopping her foot.

Marco gave her a small smile and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be alright, Star. We've pulled through rougher crap than this. You'll see."

Star shrugged, but still looked uncertain. "We'll see. Hey, I'm going to go ask Eclipsa about more of her past tomorrow, can you come along and help?"

Marco's smile widened. "Of course."

Star smiled back. Marco had a wonderful smile. "Thanks, Marco. What would I do without you?"

Marco's cheeks started to glow, but he caught himself. "Probably burning down a small village by accident with unpredictable magic."

Star gave him a light shove. "Yeah, right." She let out a sigh and looked to the window. "Oh, shit, it's late." She pointed her fingers to the door with a swing of her body. "Adios, mi amigo. Beauty sleep and stuff."

"See you tomorrow, Star."

Star nodded her head and turned for the door. Marco hesitated, then blurted out, "Wait!"

Star's head whipped around, eyebrow reaching for the sky. "What?"

Marco pursed his lips and force the words out, 'We need to talk.' But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't say it. He didn't know what stopped him from asking her to open up to him. It wasn't like he was going to tell her about his crush on her, they were just going to talk about what was up: why Star had been so distant, how she had gotten over her crush on him, why he had really come to Mewni, all of it. But he couldn't say it. Maybe he was afraid that it would end up leading to him accidentally revealing his crush, or maybe he was just afraid of what else might be said. Either way, Marco didn't tell Star, 'We need to talk.' Instead, he said, "Ah, never mind. We'll talk about it later."

Star stared at him for a moment, uncertain and awkward the way a teen can only be. "You sure?"

Marco nodded emphatically, silently cursing himself. "See you tomorrow."

Star paused for another second that lasted an infinity to Marco, then nodded and left. Marco sighed and looked down at Glossaryck, tired and worn out. Glossaryck's big eyes met his own, focused on him for a second, and he said, "Glob Glor."

"Whatever."