Sugar and Spice - Chapter V: The Worst Kept Secret

Sugar and Spice
Chapter V: The Worst Kept Secret

Marco stepped out of the dimensional portal to his home, landing in the living room. Nothing immediately appeared to be out of place. He was sure his parents would've come home by now. Though he didn't know if they'd still be here, or at the police station, filing a missing person report. He called out, hoping someone would be around to hear him. "Mom? Dad? Is anybody here?"

"Up here, son!" Marco heard his father's voice calling out to him from upstairs.

As soon as he heard the response, Marco raced up the stairs to his room. He froze in terror as he found his parents seated on his bed, his father holding the dress Star had left behind on her recent Friendship Thursday visit.

They stared at it with a mixture of confusion and concern. As much as Marco's parents tried to respect his privacy, they had been seriously worried when they found him absent without a note. Afraid that he had been taken by one of his or Star's enemies as he had once before, they had decided to check his room for anything unusual. They'd definitely found it, as they sat on Marco's bed together, unsure what to think about the presence of an unfamiliar dress in their son's room. They certainly had a few theories. Mr. and Mrs. Diaz turned their gaze toward their son, who watched them like a deer caught in headlights, before Rafael finally broke the silence.

"One of yours?"
Marco slowly shook his head.
"Belongs to another princess?"
Marco hesitated for a moment, but then nodded slowly.
"Anyone we know?"
Another pause, and another nod.
"Is something there you want to tell us?"

"Tell you? Oh, you mean about the dress? That! Yeah!" Marco tried to stall for time while his brain raced to come up with an explanation. He didn't want to lie, but he didn't exactly want to tell the truth either. "That was just, uh..." Marco cleared his throat and put on a wide, extremely guilty smile. "Soooooooo... how was your vacation?"

His parents looked at him, not exactly disappointed, but almost expectantly. Like they knew he couldn't really lie to them. The smile dropped from his face, replaced by a dead serious look. Marco took a deep breath, mentally preparing for a conversation he had desperately hoped to avoid. He had fully intended to tell his parents about most of the past few days, but he hadn't been quite ready to discuss why Star's dress was in his room. But, he thought, no getting out of it now. "I- I guess there are some things we need to talk about."

Marco's parents exchanged a glance, then scooted apart on the bed to make room for him. Angie patted the empty spot between them, gesturing for Marco to sit down.

Marco set his dimensional scissors on the night stand, then took his place between them, burying his head in his hands with a deep sigh. As much as Marco hadn't looked forward to talking to his parents about the any of the recent events in his life, somehow the dress seemed like the hardest topic of them all. If only because he and Star had nobody to but themselves to blame for that one. "Ugggggggggghhhh... okay. Just promise me that no matter how weird it gets, you'll hear me out before you say anything."

"Marco, please. We're your parents. And Star lived here for almost a year. We know all about weird. Besides..." Angie grabbed one sleeve of Star's dress, her husband grasping the other arm, holding it up in front of Marco. "I don't think this could be any weirder than it looks."

"Well... give it a minute." Marco reached out and took the dress from his parents, staring nervously at it as he sorted through his memories, trying to figure out how to explain his situation to his parents. "Alright. Let me start from the beginning..." Before Marco could get any further, he heard a loud rumbling coming from his stomach. Between his recent high levels of physical activity, lack of a normal sleep cycle, and sporadic meal schedule, he thought he might not still be conscious by the end of the explanation.

"Maybe it would be better if we discussed this over brunchfast burritos." Angie rested a hand on her son's shoulder. "It's still technically Sunday morning."

"Now that you mention it, I probably shouldn't get this awkward on an empty stomach." While food seemed like a good idea to him, Marco also wanted to take the opportunity to plan for his return trip while he could. "Can I meet you guys downstairs in a little bit? I need to take care of a few things while I'm here."

"Come talk to us when you're ready, son." Marco's parents stood up from the bed, slipping silently out of the room and closing the door behind them.

Marco went to work as soon as his parents left his room. He grabbed a travel bag, packing several day's worth of clothes and other supplies, hoping he wouldn't need them. Then he carefully folded Star's dress, slipping it into his pack. He also took the chance to apply some of the healing cream Dr. Kuak had given him, trying to do everything he could to keep himself in good condition for whatever might come next. Afterward, he remained in the peace and quiet of his room for a while, enjoying the only real solitude he'd had in several days, until he heard his mother calling him for burritos.



A short time later, the entire Diaz family was sitting around the kitchen table, brunchfast now complete. Marco was still feeling drained from the previous night's activities, and after skipping breakfast as well, he had eagerly devoured his meal. His parents' food remained nearly untouched as they stared slack jawed at their son, dumbstruck at the tale he had told them about the past few days of his life.

Marco had glossed over a few of the details of how Star's dress had ended up in his room, but aside from that minor omission, he held nothing else back as he caught his parents up on what had taken place since Thursday. True to their word, they had kept quiet throughout the entire explanation. In part because they had absolutely no idea how to react.

It was Rafael who eventually decided to speak up, wanting to make sure that he properly understood the facts of the bizarre story his son had just told him. "So you and Star have been... what did you say the cool kids call it now? Courting?"

Marco was fairly certain that the cool kids had never called it that in any dimension, but that was how he recalled River referring to it, anyway. "Yeah, something like that."

Angie, meanwhile, decided to go straight for the proverbial throat. "And, in a series of events that you suspect are somehow related to that, Star read some kind of forbidden magic in her book that made her go crazy and... have her way with you?"

"Preeeeeeetty much." Marco thought it was a reasonable summary of the recent events.

Marco waited nervously as his parents simply stared at him in shock for several tense seconds, watching their blank expressions as he waited for their reaction. "... we believe you."

"About everything. Star may be a criminal, but she's not THAT kind of criminal." As bad as the situation was, Rafael was relieved that at least Star hadn't MEANT to hurt Marco.

Angie looked sympathetically to her son, and Marco already knew the question that was coming. "So how are you feeling?"

"Man, if I have a nickel for every time I've been asked that in the past couple days. I'd have like... 3 nickels. Maybe 4? I kinda lost track." Marco had been thinking a lot about that question, but though he'd had a bit of time alone to consider it, he still hadn't gotten everything straight in his head. "Honestly, every time I think I've got it figured out, I end up changing my mind. So... can I get back to you on that?"

"Of course, son. Take your time." Angie was horrified at what had happened to her son, now finding herself wishing that the obvious explanation of two teenagers giving into their hormones had been the correct one. She wouldn't have been entirely happy about that either, but she was sure it would've been infinitely less jarring for Marco. "Though... at least all that explains how the dress got there."

Marco stared nervously back at his mother, covering his mouth with his hand and letting out a light cough.

Marco's parents both stared at him, the realization hitting them that their first instinct had been right all along, at least regarding the dress. Angie eventually managed to mutter a terse acknowledgement. "... oh."

Rafael fidgeted nervously in his chair, having long dreaded the day that he would have to discuss the more detailed aspects of his son's love life with him. "Were you two at least... safe?"

Marco blushed at the question, not wanting to give his parents any more detail than absolutely necessary, but not wanting to worry them either. "We, uhm... we didn't do anything THAT dangerous. And even with the other stuff that happened, that's at least one thing we don't have to worry about. It's hard to explain, but I checked with King River. Absolutely nooooooooooo chance of a Marco Jr. from any of this."

"That's good to hear." Angie leaned over the kitchen table, giving her son a relieved smile. "Still, maybe you and your father should have a talk when you get back."

"We should?" Rafael looked blindsided by his wife's suggestion as she turned back toward him, only following up after she kicked his leg under the table. "Ow! I mean, oh! Oh, yes, of course!"

"Marco, it's wonderful to finally hear the... well, I was going to say 'news'... about you and Star dating. But to be honest, when you broke up with Jackie completely out of nowhere, we sort of guessed there was something going on with you two." Marco's parents glanced at each other with knowing smiles. "Actually I think we're more surprised that it took this long."

Marco raised an eyebrow curiously. "Wha-"

"But the rest of it?" Angie didn't even give her son the chance to respond. "Well, it's... it's a lot to take in."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Rafael suspected that there wasn't, but he hated not being able to do anything when his son was in trouble, and knew his wife felt the same way.

"Right now? Probably not." Seeing the disappointed look on their faces, he continued with a smile. "But for what it's worth, brunchfast really did make me feel a lot better."

With no one sure what else to say, the Diaz family fell silent. Marco's parents had many, many more questions, but they could tell Marco had said all he wanted to for the time being. After a few quick looks shot between them, they managed to narrow it down to just one more question. "So what happens now?"

Marco had been wondering about that himself, although he at least knew what HE had to do next. "Now? Well... I have to go back. I already tried running and hiding, and that didn't do any good. But Queen Moon says she has another idea." Marco ran his fingers through his hair, not sure what else to tell his parents. "I don't know exactly how long I'll be gone, but I'm guessing maybe a few days. I just packed a bag while mom was cooking. I have to go grab it from my room, then I'm headed back to Mewni."

As much as Marco's parents wanted to do something to help him, they figured Queen Moon was probably their best bet for dealing with this sort of thing. Rafael took his wife's hand, both rising from their seats and coming around the table over to Marco, both of them pulling him into a group hug. "Take care of yourself. We love you, son."

"Stay safe." Angie gave Marco a squeeze before the family pulled apart.

"Here's hoping." Marco nodded and smiled slightly, then turned and slowly headed back up the stairs. Marco looked back as he neared the top of the staircase, waving goodbye to his parents, who waved back to him. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

As he returned to his room, he grabbed his travel bag and dimensional scissors, opening a portal back to Mewni. He found that he still wanted to see Star again, even if he wasn't exactly looking forward to the events that might follow. Regardless, he knew the best thing he could do to get things with Star back to normal was to go see what Moon had planned for him. "Well... here goes nothing." After one more brief moment of mental preparation, Marco stepped through the portal.



Back on Mewni, Star was preparing for an awkward discussion of her own. The Queen had vanished for a few hours with Glossaryck, and her father had run off somewhere to do who knows what, leaving the Princess to her own devices. Star had tried everything she could think of to get her mind off her troubles, from visiting the warnicorn stables to taking out her frustrations on training dummies. So far, nothing had worked. She found herself with a mixture of relief and trepidation when, a few minutes ago, a castle messenger had tracked her down, telling her only to meet her mother in the situation room. Immediately going there as requested, she found only her mother and Glossaryck inside. Star quietly took a seat next to him and opposite to the Queen.

Moon stared coolly at them from the opposite seat, elbows rested on the table, hands folded together. Star had expected her mother to be furious after her failure, wondering if the conversation would end with her getting a few decades in the time out corner. Instead the Queen just looked and sounded frustrated. "So. I suppose you could say Aphrodisia's magic still has its hooks in you." Frustrated, and a little bit curt.

"Yeah. Yeah, you could say that." Star rested an elbow on the large conference table, drumming the fingers of her free hand impatiently, wondering where her mother was going with this.

"Well." Moon inhaled deeply, with a look on her face that Star recognized as an incoming lecture. "Let's try to prevent any further damage, shall we?"

"FURTHER damage? Aren't we trying to lock the barn door after the warnicorn already ran out?" Star knew what her mother meant, but she wondered if the whole thing couldn't have been avoided in the first place. "If Aphrodisia's chapter is so dangerous, why didn't you warn me about it before I found it?"

Moon raised an eyebrow skeptically, then turned to address Glossaryck. "Glossaryck, what was the first thing Star did after you told her not to read Aphrodisia's chapter?"

Glossaryck stroked his beard, pretending to be deep in thought. "Is this a trick question?"

Moon stared back at Glossaryck briefly, then pinched the bridge of her nose, already feeling a headache coming on. "It might as well be."

Star inhaled and raised a finger as she prepared to offer a rebuttal, but lowered her hand and let out the breath when she realized she didn't really have one available to her. "Okay, well... that's fair."

"That being the case, I was planning to cross that bridge when we came to it and try to help you keep things under control with the proper training." Moon tented her index fingers and gave her daughter a disappointed look. "But... well, we both know how that turned out."

Star groaned, propping herself up on both hands now. She really wasn't in the mood for a parental speech. "Moooooooooooooom, I did everything Glossaryck told me!" Even if hadn't worked, Star really felt like she had done all she could. "I even meditated for like three stupid hours!"

Glossaryck glanced over toward Star, regarding her curiously. "Star, it wasn't even five minutes before you were making sound effects and pretending you were training under a waterfall, like those monks in Marco's awful kung fu movies."

"Awful KARATE movies." Star turned toward her mentor, closing her eyes and raising a single finger, a surprising level of conviction in her voice as she corrected Glossaryck. "Marco says kung fu is the weird, creepy uncle of martial arts."

Moon leaned over the table and snapped her fingers several times in right front of her daughter's face. "Star, FOCUS!"

"Fine!" Star threw her hands in the air in defeat, conceding the point. "So the whole meditating thing didn't work out. But I really did do everything else!"

Moon turned her eyes toward Glossaryck, looking for corroboration. "Glossaryck?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's true. She actually did." Glossaryck shrugged in mild surprise.

"Hm. And which exercise was it where you talked about... how did you put it..." Moon rather deliberately cleared her throat. "... taking your clothes off for Marco?"

Star immediately blushed hard at the memory, but did her best to shake it off and keep her cool. "Sooooooooooooooo... here's the thing about that."

"Oh, I can't WAIT to hear this." Moon knew she was about to hear Star trying to talk her way out of getting in trouble for doing something she shouldn't have been doing. At least the stories were usually creative. The Queen folded her hands together once more and leaned toward her daughter, awaiting an explanation.

Star had mixed feelings about her chances. It had all started as a harmless joke, and it had still ended... relatively harmlessly. Star figured that would be a good place to start, and her mother might understand if she explained it as beginning with a simple prank. "Look, I just wanted to mess around with Marco." In hindsight, Star thought that might not have been the best way to open.

Though she clearly wasn't pleased with the response, Moon looked more surprised than angry. She could hardly believe that Star would admit to anything with some sustained grilling, especially something that serious. "Mess around? Is that what children are calling it these days?"

Star stammered as she tried to correct herself, wondering how it was all going so wrong, so quickly. "N- no, I didn't... I mean... when I took my clothes off, I wasn't even planning to jump him yet!"

"Oh my corn..." Moon stared at her daughter in awe, eyes going wider with total shock at how fast the conversation was escalating.

Star wasn't sure if she could recover from this, but she decided she had to try. At least there was no way she could make it worse. "I got distracted and forgot about my dress and I ended up leaving it on the floor! I was just having so much fun with Marco rubbing me..." Well, maybe there was.

"Stop! Stop... STOP." Moon buried her face in her hands, trying to wipe away the look of pure horror at her daughter's actions, mumbling just loud enough that Star could hear her. "Where did I go wrong in raising you? Is it because I didn't get you that My Little Warnicorn toy you wanted for your ninth birthday? Was it all those corn and habanero smoothies I drank when I was pregnant?"

"No, you don't understand!" Star groaned in frustration as she dug herself deeper and deeper, knowing that the truth of the situation wouldn't have made her mother happy, but wasn't nearly as bad as she was somehow making it sound. In desperation, she decided it was time to turn to her mentor for aid. "Glossaryck, help me out here!"

Glossaryck wagged a single finger at Star, floating away slowly to distance himself. "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh nonononononono. You can't blame Aphrodisia for THAT one. You made your own bed, with Marco in it, and now you have to lie there."

Star was beginning to sweat now, wondering if the Queen had the legal power to throw her own daughter in the dungeon. "Mom, seriously, we weren't even-"

Moon raised her hand up toward her daughter, bringing an end to Star's poor excuses. After everything she'd just heard, Moon found herself in a state of mild shock. "Is that why you were looking at Aphrodisia's chapter? The old fashioned way was getting TOO BORING for you!?"

"I've been trying to tell you, that's not what we were- whatever, and also no!" Since every attempt to explain the situation seemed to somehow be making it worse, Star decided to cut her losses. She took a brief pause, hoping she could at least explain what she had been trying to accomplish with Aphrodisia's chapter. "Okay, look. Everything since Marco and I started dating has been totally amazing. But it was like... it was so good, I just kept wanting more. I was looking in Aphrodisia's chapter for something to... to... I don't know. To get us closer."

Moon eyed Star curiously, her tone softening, even sounding a little sympathetic. "Closer?"

"Not just physically. I mean, maybe, but..." Star trailed off as she tried to find the words, not wanting to get herself in any more trouble.

"Physically?" Moon sighed with parental disappointment, but tried to remain supportive of her daughter's new relationship. "Star. You're getting too far ahead of yourself. For now, just try to appreciate the simple things."

"I'm trying! And I really have been appreciating them! A lot, actually!" Even aside from her recent Thursday night adventure with Marco, Star was starting to realize that had come to enjoy even the most mundane aspects relationship more than ever, including their simple friendship. Still, it was hard for her not to want more. "But I mean, come on. Why did YOU read Aphrodisia's chapter?"

"That- Star, this isn't about what I did!" Moon was forced to admit to herself that her daughter had a point, but telling Star that wouldn't help the situation. "But make no mistake, I know all about what you two are facing-"

"Marco isn't a Mewman!" Star thought that Marco might have been less prepared for some of the complications of dating a Mewman princess, but unlike her parents, at least she and Marco weren't genetically compatible while she was transformed. "The problems you and dad went through aren't even-"

Moon was starting to lose her composure as the argument escalated, shouting at Star from across the table. "Your father and I got LUCKY!"

"Wait, I'm confused." The pair jumped slightly when Glossaryck spoke, having been so deep in their conversation and subsequent argument that they had forgotten about him. He looked over at Moon, raising an eyebrow. "I thought getting lucky is what we're trying to trying to stop."

Moon rose and slammed her fists on the table, glaring daggers at Glossaryck before pointing at the door and banishing him from the room through clenched teeth. "You. OUT."

Glossaryck shrugged as he floated over to the door, magically flinging it open with a wave of his hand, then closing it behind him as he exited.

Moon seemed to calm a little as Glossaryck left, sliding back into her seat. "Star... just because you don't face all the same risks we did doesn't mean there aren't consequences."

"Consequences? You think YOU'RE worried about the consequences? What if... what if Marco doesn't want to stay with me after this?" Star's expression went dark as her mind raced with terrifying possibilities, having spent most of the day unable to shake them from her thoughts. "What if he doesn't even want to be friends anymore?"

Moon stopped dead in her tracks. She remembered that her daughter had expressed similar concerns the previous day, but she hadn't realized just how deep the fear ran. She wondered if perhaps she should have known better, given what had happened between her and River in their youth. "I'm... sorry."

Star instantly snapped out of her trance, eyes wide with surprise, not sure if she'd heard correctly. "That's, uh... did you just learn that word?"

"Star, don't make this difficult." Moon's tone and glare were halfway between frustration and mild amusement.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry too. Maybe... maybe I was in too big of a hurry." Star sighed deeply, knowing that her mother was just trying to help her. "I know I shouldn't be mad at you about this. I'm just really worried about Marco. And about... about..."

Moon rose from her seat and walked around the edge of the table, placing her hands on Star's shoulders, looking her right in the eyes, her countenance having softened a bit. "Yes?"

"About... us. Everything is SUPER weird right now, I don't know what I'll do if it gets any worse..." Moon sensed her daughter had more to say, and waited for her to continue. "I know I should be worried about Marco and not me right now, and I really am worried about him, but... I don't think I can ever go back to the way things were before I met him. It's like there was this Marco shaped hole in my life I didn't even know was there. If he wasn't around anymore, I think... I think I might actually go crazy. Like full on, voices telling me to burn things, padded room in the dungeon crazy. I know everything I just said probably even SOUNDS crazy, but-"

Moon gently put a finger over her daughter's lips. "Star, I understand. I really do." Moon remembered feeling much the same way when she and River had faced Aphrodisia's chapter. "And... maybe I shouldn't have waited for you to find Aphrodisia's chapter on your own, even if you weren't ready for it. Maybe especially if you weren't. I know you're feeling so many new and powerful emotions at your age, and it can be difficult to keep them in check, even without magic making things worse. Just... try to keep your clothes on next time?" Moon smiled warmly at her daughter, but then suddenly gave her an almost distracted look, before quickly reverting to her usual all business tone. "But we can talk more about that later. Right now, the most important thing for both of you is to get this under control as soon as we can. So let's get to it."

Star wasn't sure why her mother was trying to end the conversation so suddenly, but she didn't have much more to say at the moment in any case. She was ready to get back to the task at hand. "Yeah... okay. Guess it's time to go get dad and Glossaryck?"

Moon rolled her eyes with a frustrated sigh. "I suppose so. Boys." Queen Moon flicked her wrist and swung the door open with her magic, with River, Glossaryck, Marco, and Marco's travel bag all falling into the room in a heap.

"Hubba-wha?" Star blinked twice in surprise as they tumbled to the ground, staring up at the Queen and Princess, looking like they had just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

Moon seemed completely unfazed, giving all three a completely deadpan look. "Marco. You're back. Imagine my surprise."

River quickly reached out and clamped a hand over Marco's mouth before he could respond, not trusting him to be a capable liar, releasing the boy only after he began to speak to his wife. "Darling! We were just, ah... coming to tell you about that!" River and Marco both rose from the ground, pushing themselves up next to a now floating Glossaryck. "But then, the door got stuck, so we were leaning against it to try to open it, and wouldn't you know it-"

"I don't care." Moon wasn't even interested in hearing the rest of the excuse, figuring it probably wouldn't get any more plausible from there. "We need to get back to business as soon as possible. Glossaryck, keeping working with Star." Glossaryck gave a quick salute, immediately heading off to prepare Star's next exercise. "River, you're..." Moon turned hesitantly toward her husband, unsure of what to do with him for the time being. "... at large."

"EXCELLENT!" River instantly tore his royal robes to reveal his loin cloth, dashing out the door and down the hall, letting loose with a war cry.

"Eugh... close enough. Marco." Then Queen stepped over to the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're with me."

"Wait, right now?" Star looked over to Marco, having hoped to at least get a chance to talk with him before getting back to work.

"Yes Star, right now." As much as Moon hated to pull them apart yet again, she feared that leaving them together would only make Star's temptation worse.

Marco stepped over to Star's side, and looked up at the Queen with a pleading expression. "Queen Moon, please... we need two minutes."

The Queen didn't look particularly pleased, staring down the couple. But as the look in Marco's eyes grew increasingly serious, she could tell that he wasn't going to budge. Moon's suddenly broke off her stare as she let out a small sigh. "Two minutes." Moon turned and slipped out of the room, leaving the pair alone.

After making sure her mother was well out of earshot, Star swallowed hard, eyeing Marco and shuffling her feet nervously. "How, ah... how long were you listening?"

"Star, I heard everything. I don't even know what to say. I had no idea that you..." Marco couldn't hold back a smile as he saw a horrified blush rising on Star's face. "Actually, your mom opened the door like two seconds after we got here."

"Marco, that isn't funny! I seriously thought that-" Star's own facade suddenly broke with a snort that was just short of a snicker. Star grabbed Marco and pulled him into a faux headlock, ruffling his hair and giggling. "You're lucky you're cute, Diaz." As Marco pulled away and fixed his hair, the two found that a good deal of the tension from the previous few days had dissolved. "Did you get everything worked out with your parents?"

Marco wondered what exactly Star had said that she didn't want him to hear, but under the circumstances he figured it would be best to let it go. "More or less. They seemed pretty worried about everything, but I think they understood. Oh! Also, I wanted to give this back." Marco set his travel bag on the table, carefully removing Star's dress. It was a bit wrinkled from the trip, but he didn't think it was anything a quick run through the Royal Wash wouldn't fix.

Star was rather touched that Marco had remembered to bring back her dress in the middle of the current chaos. "Aww. Thanks, Marco!" Star took the dress and set it aside on the table, planning to take it back to her room later. "Good thing your parents didn't find it."

Marco gave Star a nervous smile. "Now that you mention it..."

"Oh. OH." Star cringed a little, imagining Marco's parents would be relatively understanding, but still starting to get a little twitchy about just how many people were finding out about their recent activities. Star didn't really mind people simply knowing that they were dating, at least now that their parents were aware, but she still considered certain things to be private. "So they know about... More-Than-Friendship Thursday?"

"Kinda. I mean, no details, but my dad is supposed to talk to me about some things when I get back." Now it was Marco's turn to look embarrassed, blushing and trying to avoid Star's gaze. "Other than that, they actually seemed really happy that we're... courting?"

"... courting?" Star smirked at her boyfriend, forcing herself not to laugh. "You dork."

"What?" Marco looked genuinely confused. "Isn't that what they call it on Mewni?"

"Pfft, no." Star felt about as confused as Marco looked. "Who the heck calls it courting? Sounds like something my dad would say."

"Yeah... about that. I may have said SLIGHTLY too much about Thursday when we were having a man to man conversation in the Forest of Inevitable Relaxation..." Star seemed a bit surprised, so Marco quickly followed up. "He was really cool about the whole thing though!"

Star looked relieved that her father had been so accepting. "Yeah. I don't think my dad will give us any trouble. He never did when I was dating Tom, and he actually likes you." She gave Marco a playful poke. "And I told my mom we're dating, too. So I guess that's pretty much everybody, at least as far as family." The princess giggled softly, smiling her partner and brushing a stray lock of hair away from her face. "We're terrible at keeping secrets, aren't we?"

Marco chuckled, running his fingers through his hair. "Heh. Yeah. But it could be worse. Your mom could know about Thursday."

Star shot Marco a nervous glance. "Well-"

The pair suddenly heard Moon's voice calling from down the hall. "Star? Marco? It's been a lot more than two minutes!"

Star gave her partner a wistful smile as they prepared to part again. "Guess it's time for you to go."

Marco nodded and turned to leave, then suddenly turned back, smiling and pulling Star into a tight hug. "We're gonna be okay."

Star squeezed him back just as tightly, letting out a contended sigh. "Yeah."

Moon cracked open the door, finding the couple reluctantly pulling away from each other as they turned toward the sound. "I'll meet you outside at the carriage, Marco."

"Whenever you're ready." Marco nodded to Moon as he slipped out the door, heading out toward the front of the castle.

Moon waited for Marco to shut the door behind him, then turned toward Star. "Are things any better between you two?"

"A little." Star smiled happily, feeling like things had made at least a bit of progress back toward normalcy.

"I'm glad. I hope Glossaryck is able to help you this time, but just in case... I need to get Marco somewhere safe." The Queen turned to leave, then looked back at her daughter. "If all goes well, then the next time I see you this will all be over. Good luck, Star."

"Mom, wait." Star grabbed the sleeve of her mother's dress, tugging at the fabric. Moon glared slightly as she looked back, annoyed at yet another delay. "Please. It's important."

Moon closed her eyes, letting out an irritated sigh. "Fine, but make it quick. We're already running late."

Star took a deep breath, bracing herself for the magnitude of the request she was about to make. "I need you to promise me something..."