-Chapter 7-

It was another beautiful night—possibly, though, her last on Earth. Those dreams were getting worse each time as the pressure and stress grew, choking her like a starving python. An invisible, imaginary, metaphorical, but very much evil python… And if choking didn't properly describe it, then maybe the increase of gravity—again metaphorical and again evil—would. A strange, yet at this point very familiar, crushing sensation, as though some invisible anvil brought some friends and dogpiled her. Each day that passed was merely another anvil added.

So of course she would wake up from said dreams, middle of the night or not. Of course this one was no different.

Aside from the horrible feeling she had in the pit of her stomach… Somehow she just knew that tomorrow, she would have to say a quiet goodbye to this amazing place, and these amazing people. Perhaps it was because her birthday was tomorrow… She just didn't think she would be leaving on her birthday. More like the day after. Maybe.

Just in case that feeling turned out to be right, she went to see Marco one last time. Yes she wanted to say goodbye to everyone. Yes she wanted to see everyone just once more. But she hardly had the time, and she wanted most to see Marco. She decided to make that a priority before her departure.

She got out of her bed and headed to Marco's room—something she wasn't allowed to do, especially at night, unless it was necessary. But this time, she felt that it was necessary. One last moment together, even if he was asleep for it, was all she needed. It would only be satisfactory. It wouldn't be fulfilling. She knew that. But…still…

She opened his door and, sure enough, he was asleep, his back turned to her and completely still aside from slow chest movements. It was so quiet she could even hear his breathing. It was so dark she could only see his silhouette, and barely make out other objects.

She slipped inside and closed the door. Suddenly the room seemed even darker than before—so dark that she was afraid she would trip on his bed if she wasn't careful. Thankfully he kept everything neat and tidy, all in its proper place. Dirty clothes were in the hamper, clean clothes were in the dresser, school supplies he'd bought for college were in the nightstand, and any other knickknacks he had were in their own designated places as well. She was almost positive that he had trained himself, somehow, to sleep as still as he could simply to keep his bed neat. But she did find herself grateful for all that cleanliness this time. Now she didn't have to worry about tripping on anything in the floor as she made her way over to his bed, relying on tactile senses and very little on vision to get her from point A to point B. And even then she only felt comfortable once she touched the edge of his bed.

She slid her hand over the covers until she reached the large lump that told her she'd found his body.

Sighing in relief, she slowly crawled on top of his bed and even more carefully moved near him, until she was hovering over him. It wasn't easy to do considering the only guide she had was one hand. Her vision was extremely nearsighted in this lighting…or lack thereof.

Her intention was never to wake him up, it was only to spend some time with him. And she was going to, just, while he was asleep so she wouldn't be found out later.

She sat down beside him. It wasn't much, just sitting there, but he was right beside her and in her eyes at least, that was all that mattered.

She heard a yawn as Marco shifted beside her and turned to the other side, slinging one arm around her legs and cuddling up against her waist. It made her blush and have fleeting thoughts of what it would be like to feel this every night.

…Well…not this in particular… Just the feeling of being held each night, in his arms, under his protection. Yes she could take care of herself but it helped tremendously having him around. For support if nothing else.

Marco pulled on her legs and she stiffened. It was like he was trying to cuddle a stuffed animal in his sleep, and she feared if she moved even in the slightest, he would wake up and the moment would be ruined. Plus it wasn't like she had taken into account that her legs would end up being held hostage and his head buried in her waist. She didn't exactly spend her nights watching Marco sleep. Had she known he really did move around more than she had assumed, she would've come up with some different plan. This was…clearly turning out to be a bad one.

But what else was new.

"Those are waffle nachos…" he mumbled into her. And then something about bacon; she couldn't quite comprehend what he said though.

Waffle nachos. Those actually sounded pretty good, but what exactly were waffle nachos? Did those really exist? Maybe they were just regular waffles shaped like triangles? Or were they nachos shaped like waffles? What if they were both? But then…how was that even possible? Maybe they were nachos made in a waffle iron…? Somehow? How would that work though? And would you put syrup or cheese on them? Or both? Of course waffle nachos could also just be dream food. She wondered for a moment what waffle nachos would taste like, but considering she didn't even know what they were, it was impossible to even guess at it.

She gasped as she felt his head rise on her skin. Marco stiffened, but obviously his eyes had already fully adjusted to darkness and he was able to make out who she was before he screamed thinking she was an intruder.

"Star…?" he whispered.

She took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"Star, what are you doing in my bedr—" His voice cut short and he silently yelped, removing his arm from around her legs. "Star, did we, you know, di-did we do an—"

"Sex?" she interrupted.

He sat up and cleared his throat nervously. "Uh…yeah."

"You were sleeping," she answered. "Why? Did you dream about that?"

"What! No, of course I didn't. And…wait…um…wh-what are you doing here anyway?"

"Hm?"

"Well…you're in my bedroom, alone, at night, in nothing but a nightgown, and you're right beside me in my bed."

She blushed. "Oh. Well. I just thought that, you know, we could just spend a little time together."

"Time… It's the middle of the night, Star. What kind of time are you talking about?"

"Just um, alone time. Just the two of us together."

There was a pause for a few seconds.

"Oh. Oh, wow, so…oh. Um…y-you wanna get under the covers then or…?"

"I guess…"

She quietly slipped under the covers and he wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer. She didn't object. It was much less awkward than when he was gripping the lower half of her body. That was…weird. If they hadn't grown to be so comfortable around each other that would've sent her straight back to her bedroom.

"I-I have…absolutely no skill in this…" he said.

She held back a little giggle. Snuggling at night wasn't something either of them had done before, so she was equally as unskilled. Then again, her outgoing nature and deep preference for both physical contact and companionship could very easily lead anyone to believe she was a master at all forms of this kind of thing.

But then she found out what he actually meant by "this".

"Marco?" she mumbled. "I don't mean that kind of time."

He propped himself up on one elbow.

"Neither do I," he swore. "I was just…offering to keep you warm. I-It's cold. And, yeah, I'm warm, my bed is warm, this is… Everything is warm. Stuff. Stuff is…warm."

"Then one area is a little warmer than the rest."

"Warmer than the…" He cleared his throat again. "You and your wild imagi—"

"You're poking my butt," she told him.

Marco drew a sharp breath. "That's not me. That's, I, sort of, I keep a glow stick with me."

"Down there?"

"Absolutely. That's what you're feeli—"

She pressed herself into him and he grunted.

"Okay, okay, but come on, Star, what do you expect? There's a pretty girl in my bed wearing only her nightgown and it's the middle of the night."

"So?"

"So this is torture, it's like you set me up for this."

"I didn't mean to."

"Can you stop pressing yourself against me now? You're making it worse," he hissed.

"Then maybe you should go take care of that?" she "suggested" as she moved away from him. "I'm afraid I can't help you there."

He sighed and got out of bed, murmuring something about not expecting to wake up to this.

And honestly, she wasn't expecting to be in that position, or put him in that position either. In one way she felt bad about it. In another, she felt like it had never been her fault. All things considered, her plan was to keep him asleep. He just happened to roll over and moving would've woken him up. So either way, both of them would've spent some time together…just, awkward time…

"But it's still time…" she thought out loud.

Already she felt the clock tick away, even though Marco didn't even have a clock. Well, he did have a digital alarm clock on his nightstand but it had no light behind the screen. The one he used to have did have a light, but as it aged, the alarm began to fail more and more often, until finally the alarm itself either never went off or was so soft it couldn't wake him up. He got a new alarm clock to replace the old one, but this one provided no light for his room. Thankfully her eyes were adjusting at last and she could see much better than before.

She still couldn't make out the numbers on his clock, but her mind had somehow set an internal clock of its own. Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock… She could see that internal clock with her mind's eye. And it was ringing too loud in her ears, imaginary or not. It was unbearable, and in an instant her desires swapped from just snuggling to getting as intimate as she could, because after tonight she just knew that tomorrow would be the day she'd been dreading for months. She wanted so badly to prove to him that she loved him enough to give him all of her, and even more so, she wanted to know that he reciprocated that and would give her all of him. But she couldn't… It wasn't just for her sake, but his too. It was like backhanding him—he would think she just used him and then left, wanting nothing more to do with him. That wasn't the case at all, but the last thing she wanted was to leave knowing he would think that.

…Did she just say "love" again…? Nope. Nopenopenope. Mistake. Just…a really strong crush. It was temporary. Fleeting. She would get over it sooner or later. He would too. He would find another girl eventually—for some reason she despised the very thought—and fall in real love with her. They would get married and…settle down…have a family…grow old together…love each other forever… But. No. She could not be that girl. She could not feel love. Or…if by a rare, completely unheard of chance that she would fall in love with her new, currently unknown fiancé, then maybe this problem would simply take care of itself. Wait, wait! What problem?! There was no problem! They would both end up happy! At least, Marco would, and that thought was enough to make her happy. So there. "Problem" solved.

She made it a resolve to spend the night with Marco and, before he woke up, return to Mewni on her own, without allowing a royal carriage to cart her back. Then the portal to Earth would close…for the last time.

A/N

An update this soon is rare for me... Anyway I'm kinda in the zone here, so yup, quick update. But hey I have a surgery coming up in just 7 days and, well, who doesn't stress a little about that stuff, right? So updates to any and all stories will be slow and very delayed. :T Sorry guys. But, enjoy the Starco and hopefully humor, if you found any of that funny.

Oh, and as you may have noticed, I did change the description a lot. I felt like the old one just...didn't really give much insight into the main plot. I wanted it to be more specific from the moment I decided to change what this story was originally going to be (boring).

And my last word, thank you for your kind reviews. :) They're very encouraging.