Kingsley

Chapter 8

Heaven is a Place on Earth

"It can't happen Moon."

"Why not?"

The difficult and inevitably awkward conversation had to happen eventually. Toffee had only managed to fend it off for a week, before he decided the matter needed to be addressed. They couldn't move on from it, until they discussed it properly. Evidently, that was Toffee's plan. Moving on and pushing back any sort of grander feelings he had for her. After kissing Moon, he realized that he'd made a foolish mistake and there was no way they could continue on with a normal relationship. Moon, however, was not thinking as logically as he was. She wanted to be with him. She didn't care about the hundreds of consequences, no matter how many times Toffee went over them with her.

"There are countless reasons." Toffee sighed. They'd been running around in circles figuratively and literally for about a half an hour now. "Firstly, you're sixteen, Moon. That's too young."

"It's only four years! Why does everyone act like it's forty?" Moon groaned, in frustration.

"With my species lifespan, it might as well be forty." he reasoned.

"So, you'll die a lot slower." she concluded.

"That's not all there is too it, Moon." Toffee sighed. "Remember, back in our early studies, you wanted to read all the earth books in the royal library and you grew fond of a fairytale called, Beauty and the Beast?"

She nodded quietly, knowing slightly where he was going. Moon had always thought there were no fairytales in the library. However, the book in question was found in a dark abandoned corner, after she and Toffee scoped the place for all the earth books. She liked it because she related to the protagonist who was given a life of luxury, but found little solace in it. But, Toffee was clearly referring to the main premise of the novel. He was not under some curse that could ever be lifted and their love would bring nothing but hardship. There was no happily ever after for a pair like them.

"Well, there's no prince underneath here. Just a monstrous beast."

"That doesn't change a thing, either." Moon dismissed. "Whether you're a Mewman or a monster, I'll still like you regardless."

"Just because you can overlook it, doesn't mean society will. Even if they grow to truly accept me, there is no way they'd ever let a monster be king of Mewni. The Butterfly's would never produce another heir and the monarchy would crumble."

"You're thinking too far ahead, Toffee." Moon reckoned, with a small smile. Although, he was right about her not thinking in the long term. In royalty, it was not common or proper for a lady to sift through men. Once she picked a suitor, Mewni would expect her to stick with that man through marriage.

"It is necessary. These feelings, if we do not suppress them now, will grow."

"That's kind of the idea of a relationship. It's a little late for suppression, don't you think?"

"The consequences are too grand to move forward…" Toffee declared, with a tone of finality. Moon wasn't done though. She would never be done with him, until he really listened to her.

"But, I love you." she murmured, suddenly quiet and demure. Why didn't he understand that, or factor it into any of this argument? Toffee hadn't said it, but based on everything, he felt similarly. So, why did they have to suppress these feelings and move on? Just because it was not the way it was done, because people would revolt at such an obscure relationship? That was bullshit. "Does that really mean absolutely nothing?"

"It means everything that you feel so greatly for me. No one else has." he replied, with a small smile. Toffee finally stopped to look her in the eye. He wanted to tell her how much he didn't want to do this, he wanted to be honest for once.

"Then, just say yes. Give me a chance."

"I'm sorry—"

"One date!" Moon exclaimed, desperately. She may have been a little too distressed, but it was the only shot she would probably ever get. Once the conversation ended, Toffee would leave, and she'd lose her best friend. They couldn't possibly go back to what they had, after this whole mess passed over. "Give me one date and if, after that, you can still say you can't do this, I'll choose somebody else."

"Very well." Toffee sighed, after a moment of thought. Moon could already tell it was not a good response. His intention was to get through whatever she planned and still tell her this couldn't happen, despite what he really felt.

"Meet me in the gardens, next Friday at seven o' clock."

The rest of the week, until that forbidden Friday evening, was slow and dreadfully boring. Toffee continued with his work for the king and queen, while Moon continued with her princess duties. They did not engage with each other, or so much as even speak to each other the day before, to confirm their secret date was still happening.

Toffee met her in the garden precisely at seven that night, as agreed upon. He was shrouded in a long, dark cloak to try and conceal his identity to any unwanted eyes that could possibly be leering. Moon was at least as sensible. She didn't dress in anything too flashy, just one of her everyday dresses and a similar cloak.

"Where are we going, Moon?" he asked, curiously, upon arrival. He couldn't see them being able to appear anywhere in Mewni together without being caught.

"You'll see…" Moon grinned, mischievously. She removed her scissors from her pocket and cut a rip in the universe to another dimension.

"I'm not getting in that portal, until you—"

Moon caught him off guard and abruptly shoved him through. Toffee fell back and was sucked into the blue light. He hit the ground in a strange new world. They were now sitting by the edge of a creek surrounded by concrete hills and tall bridges. It appeared to be a trench in the middle of a society, with miscellaneous trash pieces littering the area and ugly scattered trees. Considering they had worse eyesores on Mewni, it wasn't too bad. But, having come directly from a romantic and beautiful place, such as the royal gardens, it looked like a horrible place for a date. Moon, however, seemed exhilarated and simply satisfied with the surroundings.

"Welcome to Earth!" she exclaimed, throwing out her arms and presenting it to him, proudly.

"Moon, I can't be here. The earthlings will form a mob and chase me down with pitchforks!" Toffee snapped. He quickly redrew the hood of his cloak, before anyone could see him. However, he had an unfortunately long snout that still stuck out, despite how far he pushed the cloak over his head.

"Not tonight. It's an earth holiday called, Halloween, where everyone dresses up like monsters."

"Really, Moon? Holidays aren't that ridiculous."

"Look around! I'm not lying." Moon claimed, huffily. Toffee obliged her request, running up the concrete hill to see for himself. The town was decked out with orange and black decorations. They'd carved faces into pumpkins and left them out on the streets with candles to make them radiate a soft warm glow. However, what stood out the most in Toffee's eyes, were the various people who also were dressed like they weren't from this dimension. Toffee spotted a few princesses, a couple pirates and, to his slight bewilderment, several horrifying monsters. No one could obviously compete with Toffee, whose 'costume' was far superior that it made everyone look terrible by comparison. Most of the earthlings wore cheap suits and poor makeup, trying to poorly emulate something that was not in their biology. Toffee didn't care though. For the first time, everyone would not see him as a monster, but as a person and that was everything he could've ever hoped for.

"My word…"

"Come on! We've got a ballroom dancing videotape to find." Moon added, appearing behind him.

"That's why we're here?" Toffee said, slightly bewildered. "I can't believe you remembered such a thing, after all this time."

"Of course, I remembered. How could I forget?" she replied. They began to walk down the storefront of little shops, attempting to take in the sights, but also keep focused on a store that might have what they needed. Toffee dropped a lot of his pretenses and ended up holding Moon's hand as they went on. Partly not to lose her, but mostly because he wanted to. Finally, after a few minute walk they stumbled upon a shop with a videotape shaped sign and several boxy screens, which must've been what the earthlings watched things on. "This must be the place."

They entered the shop with a chime of a little bell attached to the door. The man attending the counter gave the otherworldly pair a contemptuous glare for coming in so close to closing time.

"Excuse me, do you have 'Ballroom Dancing for Idiots, Volume 8', by any chance?" Moon inquired.

"Of course. However, it's not usually protocol to break up a set. Sorry." the man replied, unremorsefully.

"We only need the one, though. Can please you make an exception?" Moon pleaded. She broke out those desperate, young, pretty eyes that she often used to get what she wanted and Toffee knew from past experience the man was about to cave any minute. "We're not exactly from around here and this is probably our only opportunity to get it."

"How much can you offer for it?" he mumbled, after a moment, turning behind him to pull a singular tape out of the rack.

"Do you accept gold coins?" she asked, pulling out a little bag from her pocket. The shopkeeper looked bewildered as Moon poured the gold onto the counter next to the tape.

"Honestly, Moon?" Toffee sighed, burying his eyes in his hand. He didn't want to mention her forgetting to exchange for earth currency in front of an earthling, but he needed to silently profess his frustration with her in this moment.

"You two are an odd pair. Are they making a new fantasy movie around here, or something?" the shopkeeper said, looking a little closer at the pair with intrigue.

"Just going out for Halloween." Moon replied, breezily.

"Really? This guy's monster makeup looks pretty professional. There's no way this is the work of an amateur." the shopkeeper hedged, closer to the truth than he realized. The sudden comment on Toffee's appearance made him grow paler and quickly returned him to his paranoid senses. He grabbed Moon, protectively, as if the man would attack her for Toffee being a monster.

"We'll be taking this now. Trust us, the worth of our currency is far greater than yours. Good day." Toffee informed, grabbing the videotape as well, as he made his way back for the jingling door. They left without much trouble and were soon back in the cool autumn air.

"We got it!" Moon beamed, proudly, despite the tense air Toffee had created around them. "Aren't you happy?"

"We should really do a better job at blending in. We could've been exposed back there." Toffee answered, stiffly. She thought he was going to insist they go back home, but he merely drew his hood back on as far as he could. "Where to next?"

The very second Moon opened her mouth to answer, a low growl escaped her stomach.

"You skipped dinner, didn't you?" he scolded, while she flushed in humiliation. "Come on, let's find some food."

They wandered a few blocks, until they stumbled upon a little building with a large oddly shaped sign next to it that said: Britta's Tacos. Based on the parasol tables outside and a lady passing delicious smelling bags out the window to people, this was most likely a food establishment.

"What's a taco?"

"No idea…"

After blind ordering two tacos and once again nearly getting away with paying in gold coins, they chose a table to eat at. It was apparent after receiving the food that a taco was not something that could be eaten with refinery. Moon tried and basically everything fell out the other end of the shell. Toffee had taken a bite from the middle and everything just crumbled. There was a brief pause between them, they took one look at each other's ridiculous attempts, and started uncontrollably laughing. The earthlings were staring and, despite Toffee's priority not to draw attention to themselves, he refused to stop laughing. At least, until someone decided to interrupt them.

"Sick costumes!" a voice had remarked from behind Toffee. He turned to find a scruffy lad, probably around the same age as Moon. On this mystical night of fantasy, he'd chosen to wear a red and green striped sweater and attach a bunch of forks to one of his hands. His face looked like it had been scratched to death by a cat and then burned in a vat of hot grease.

"Our costumes are not ill in anyway. That doesn't make any sense, strange child." Toffee replied, coldly.

"It's a saying. Sorry, I assumed you guys were teens." the boy claimed, eyeing them both a little more closely than before. There was no way they could be adults, yet not understanding modern teen slang did raise a couple of flags.

"We are! Just your local normal teenagers." Moon shouted, with a far too nervous laugh not to be suspicious.

"You guys go to Echo Creek Academy?"

"Of course, we do."

"Huh, you'd think I'd notice a girl with blue hair. Well, I'm Josh. Nice to meet you." the boy added, extending his fork-less hand out towards them. They both stared at it, not sure what he was trying to do and he withdrew it after an awkward moment of silence. "So, you also heading to the dance after this?"

"Yes." Moon answered, immediately. She was continuing on going with the flow, even though she was very lost in the conversation and had no idea what she was agreeing to.

"Awesome. You can catch a ride over with us, if you want too. We've got some extra space in the back." Josh grinned, pointing over his shoulder at a parked pick-up truck in the parking lot. A girl with a witch's hat was already in the passenger seat, hanging her legs out the window and looking at them impatiently.

"That'd be great." Moon accepted. Josh helped them clean up their mostly uneaten trays and loaded them into the back of the truck about five minutes later. Toffee had read about earth vehicles before, so he was more intrigued then surprised, watching Josh as he started the car. Meanwhile, Moon was excitable and already had her head hanging haphazardly out the side, like an excitable dog would.

"Do you even know what 'the dance' is?" Toffee whispered, pulling Moon down beside him, as the car zoomed into motion and down the road.

"No, but it sounds like a wicked séance, or something. I think we should do it." Moon bubbled, excitedly.

"Waking the dead is not a good first date idea." he bargained, with a small smile. She shrugged off Toffee's objections and settled comfortably on his shoulder for the ride ahead.

They stopped around ten minutes later in front of a sad looking building. A couple of the front windows were broken and there was a strange statue of a creature that looked like a really fuzzy rat on the lawn. Other teenagers appeared to be walking into the building with buzzing excitement about 'the dance'.

"Weird place for a séance." Moon remarked, as she and Toffee jumped out the back of the truck.

"I think it might be an old prison, or a rundown asylum." Toffee added, taking in the building's musty appearance and poor architecture.

"Cool!"

"High school dances are lame, Josh. Why are we here?" the girl who had been sitting in the front complained, refusing to remove herself from the car and join everyone else.

"Aw, come on. They aren't so bad." he reasoned. "Look, they still haven't fixed the windows you broke earlier. I'm sure you can get away with spiking the punchbowl no problem."

She removed herself at the prospect of causing mischief and they joined the crowd that was going inside, leaving Moon and Toffee alone on the curb.

"It's a high school! I read about these. Earthlings are all educated together in these, instead of privately." Moon explained, with even more excitement than when she thought they'd joined a supernatural séance. From what she'd read on earth, going to high school was the main focal point of being a normal teenager there. Although, she'd never get the chance to attend one herself, this was the perfect opportunity to see one in real life. "This is awesome, Toffee. We have to go inside."

"Alright, Moon. Let's go see what's going on." Toffee agreed. It wasn't one of his main interests about earth life, but he was a little curious on the educational system they had on earth. They joined the crowd of costumes unnoticed and followed the flow to a dimly lit, large room, with a glossy wooden floor. It was decorated similar to the rest of the town, with orange and black streamers and pumpkins everywhere. In the middle was a dance floor, where everyone seemed to be dancing in synchronization to what sounded like a really spooky audiobook being played over someone singing. There was also a snack table with many earth treats, including Toffee's favorite, popcorn, and a bowl of bright red liquid. Based on the fact their witchy friend was already inching near it, Toffee could only assume it was the punchbowl. Hopefully, someone would be able to punch it, before she put spikes in it.

"Oh, it's like a ball." Moon pointed out, after taking in the surroundings.

"I think it's better." Toffee smiled, his gaze sticking on the dancing mass that'd formed in the middle of the room. "I know they're all earthlings on the inside, but it's nice to see monsters being celebrated for once."

Moon was about to reply, when suddenly the song that was playing faded out and was drowned out by evil laughter. It appeared to be a part of the song, considering no one was freaking out at the fact the speakers were suddenly cackling. Once it had subsided, a new, even louder song quickly started up immediately after,

"Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth? Ooh, heaven is a place on earth—"

"What on earth is this music?" Toffee sneered, noticing the upbeat tempo and finding it displeasing to his normal classical taste.

"I don't know, but I like it." Moon added, bopping her head to the beat of the song. Even the Bounce Lounge didn't have music with such a unique sound. It was clearly something exclusive to earth. "Come on already! Let's dance!"

She pulled him onto the dancefloor and they began to swirl with the rhythm, along with a few other couples and groups. It was slightly too fast to slow dance. Moon attempted to adapt, emulate what she saw the others doing, and they ended up in an odd mixed jig. It was impossible not to get swept away in the joyful moment. Mewni had faded to just a distant memory and Toffee was suddenly able to judge how he felt about Moon with perfect clarity.

"I could get used to this…" Toffee grinned, getting caught up in her charms and once again dropping every notion of this being a last hurrah. He hadn't gotten the opportunity to dance with Moon since her first ball.

"If you still plan on saying goodbye—"

"I won't be saying goodbye. Not now, not ever." he found himself saying, abruptly. Toffee was done trying to talk himself out from being in love. It had happened and they couldn't do anything to stop it now. "It might be a bad idea, I don't believe I care about the consequences anymore. You've won me over, Moon."

"Really?!" she gaped, in amazement. Naturally, knowing of Toffee's iron will and inability to make poor decisions, Moon was not expecting to have actually changed his mind with this date.

"Really."

He leaned in and kissed her, to assure her that she was exactly what he wanted. No one around them stared, or cared, or judged. They were just two people caught up in a wave of love. In that glorious shining moment, heaven really was a place on earth.

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