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thdorkmagnet · 5 years ago

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Light of the Sun and Stars Chapter 20: The Bodyguard

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: Star assigns Marco a bodyguard, growing paranoids about her boyfriend’s safety. Marco reluctantly agrees and accepts but soon finds out that he and this new guard don’t exactly get along.

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Index

Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

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Marco felt like there might be something wrong with his feet. It was an odd thing to wonder, admittedly, but Marco couldn't seem to push the thought out. He had just been going about his morning, humming happily to himself on his way to visit Star that lovely morning, wanting to surprise her at whatever meeting she was in with her parents (she had been in those a lot lately), when he realized that his footsteps seemed... louder than usual. Much louder. Noticeably louder, in fact, and he began to ponder to himself what it was that could have changed about his feet overnight.

He looked down at them as he walked, frowning as he tried to make sense of the noticeable echo he heard ringing off of the brightly lit hallways of Butterfly Castle. He didn't get it, they looked the same as always, no different than any other day as far as he could tell. He studied them closer, trying to see if there was something else he was missing. He was wearing the same shoes he wore everyday, his favorite pair of brown sneakers, so that couldn't be the reason. He wasn't walking faster or stepping any harder than usual, just his normal pace and walk.

Marco was stumped, unable to think of anything that could be causing them to make more noise than usual. And yet he could still hear the loud footfall stepping in time to his. If he didn't know any better, he would swear it almost sounded like there was a second set of footsteps following along in time to his.

He wondered if he was just being paranoid, still on edge from everything that had happened over the last couple of days. He certainly wouldn't be the only one.

It was a few days since the Blood Moon Ball, but the effect the night had had still had a strong hold on many people. Luckily, no one outside of Butterfly Castle (expect for Tom) was aware of what had transpired that night, the king and the queen able to keep the neighboring kingdoms in the dark about what had happened and General Skullnick forbidding any of her knights from speaking so much as a word about the assassin's successful infiltration into the heart of Mewni's stronghold.

Things had been rather chaotic for the first few days as River and Moon tried desperately to locate their daughter's assailant, but with no apparent luck. The Monster could have escaped away to any dimension in the universe and they were too numerous to even count or keep track of. Finding Rasticore was like finding a needle in a galaxy-wide haystack, it was essentially impossible. And without any real leads or clues as to where the Monster could be hiding, the monarchs only choices were to just blindly search any dimension they could in hopes of getting lucky... or waiting until Rasticore decided to inevitably strike again, though neither of them would dare allow that option to come to pass, hoping that the assassin's promise to return would somehow fall flat. And so the search parties continued their meaningless task as they indiscreetly scoured the known universe, while everyone else did their best to hide their dishonesty from the public's knowledge.

Finally, though, things had seemed to calm down some, as the panic wore off and life in Butterfly Castle returned to normal. Or what seemed to be normal, as everyone in the castle still seemed noticeably off, as they all seemed to be trying to deal with the situation in their own way. Star had been stuck in meeting after meeting with her parents as they tried to decide on the best course of action regarding the rest of the Monsters moving forward, Skullnick and her knights seemed downright paranoid, Jackie had been out skateboarding in her make-shift training ground for days straight, explaining to Marco that skating was her stress relief and even Janna had been keeping to herself more than usual, acting more cryptic and guarded, even for her.

And now it seemed the stress had finally gotten to Marco, too, as he was now hearing extra footsteps as he walked. He came to a stop, wanting to see if the sound would continue on without him, but to his surprise the echoing footsteps ceased as well. He took a few more steps forward, before stopping again, listening intensely as the hallway went quiet again. He did this a few more times, experimenting with different amounts of footsteps each time, but always with the same result. He looked thoughtfully down at his feet again as he rubbed his chin, humming quizzically to himself.

He did a quick survey of the room, to see if maybe he missed something and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw a teenage girl standing a short distance away. Marco could tell that she had been following him, the girl keeping at a close, but respectful distance at all times and he knew at once that she had to be culprit of the noisy footsteps.

She had a mop of short red hair, with large green eyes and a face full of freckles, as well as a pair of purple Fleur-de-lis on her cheeks. She wore what appeared to be a knight's uniform, complete with a blue tunic which was held to her frame by a red belt, pale red shoulder blades with a spike sticking out of the top, and red boots over her white pants. Her arms were also wrapped in some sort of yellow armbands that stretched from her hands to her elbows. She stood at full attention, trying to look relaxed and at ease, but Marco could tell from her solid stance and stony stare that she was ready to pounce on the first thing that moved, which was quite intimidating to the awkward and shy Marco. And to make matters worse for him, she was keeping a narrowed gaze on his form, watching him like a hawk. He did notice, though, a slight twitch above her eye, as if she was fighting back raising an eyebrow at the boy and to Marco's horror, he realized that she must have seen him staring at his feet earlier, taking weird steps forward before stopping randomly.

And with this realization the hoodie-wearing boy felt his cheeks pool with blood, looking away from the girl in embarrassment. He continued forward, making sure to keep his head down as he walked, wanting to just get to Star as quickly as he could without embarrassing himself any further. He silently begged the girl to please turn the other way and leave him alone, but unfortunately for him, he heard the steady footfall behind him as the redhead just followed silently behind. He picked up his pace even more, feeling the girl's stare burning into the back of his head, practically rushing to find his Star, in hopes she could save him from this situation.

…

Star stepped out of the castle's meeting room, letting out the first deep breath since being trapped in the suffocating space, glad to finally be freed from her claustrophobia and able to get some fresh air for the first time in hours. She sucked in a deep breath, letting all her stress and tension melt off of her. She had felt like the meeting would never end, the intense discussion a bit more than she wanted to take first thing in the morning. She stretched for a minute, her back sore from sitting for so long in the extremely uncomfortable chairs.

But as her muscles finally began to relax, her mind started reeling with questions and worries. Things in the meeting hadn't exactly gone as planned, to say the least, and she couldn't help but wonder if her and her parents were up to the task of fixing Mewni. Sure, at first it had seemed doable but now there seemed to be new complications every day, as if the universe was intent of foiling Star's peaceful vision. There was still so much that needed to be done and now she was feeling even more pressured to fix things as fast as she could. She was free, for now, but she still had a lot to think about and figure out, many points brought up in the meeting sticking to her mind and making her feel anxious.

And to make matters worse, she could swear she was forgetting something, as it seemed through all the chaos of the last couple days (and that morning alone to be honest), she had neglected to do something. She bit her lip, as she tried to recall what exactly it was that had slipped her mind, only to draw a blank every time. “I was supposed to tell someone something, wasn't I?” she asked herself, aloud. “Yeah I think that was it,” she replied to her own question, cocking her head to the side as she continued to ponder the forgotten task. “But what was it?” She was really starting to feel concerned, as it seemed now her stress was making her forgetful on top of everything else.

But she didn't have long to dwell on this, as her burning thoughts were interrupted and quickly disregarded as she heard a shout further down the hallway, Star overjoyed as she recognized the familiar call of her hoodie-wearing bestie, her heart swelling as he screamed her name. “Star!”

Star turned to Marco with a smile as he raced quickly over, opening her arms wide for the hug that was inevitably coming. This was just what Star needed on that stress-filled morning, Star unable to think of anything else that could brighten her spirits more than spending some time with her adorable bestie. But once the boy got close enough, rather than hug her, he quickly grabbed onto her arm, looking nervous and flustered, his face a deep red that rivaled that of his hoodie. “Marco, what's wrong?” Star questioned, unsure what was causing the boy so much distress.

“Is she gone?!” he replied, in a loud whisper, his eyes looking everywhere but behind him.

“Is who gone?” Star asked.

“There's this girl who's been following me around all morning,” he quickly explained. “She just keeps staring at me and it's really freaking me out!”

“Good morning, Your Majesty,” came the sudden, formal reply from the redhead, who had closed the distance between the two during their conversation. Marco released a high-pitched scream, jumping a full foot before looking at the girl in shock and surprise, backing away some, now leaning against Star. The redhead did her best to keep a blank face at the boy's girlish yell as she addressed her ruler, bowing in respect to the blond royal. “I am here to inform you that the first objective of my mission has been successful. As you can see, the target has been safely delivered to you with zero complications,” she said in a loud, strong tone. But her voice faltered a bit, as she added in a bit more skeptical a voice, “Though it has been noted that the target does display a strange fascination with feet.”

Marco blushed at the comment, though he understood little else of what she was saying, most of it sounding like gibberish to him. Target, objective, mission? What did any of that have to do with her following him around all morning. He turned to Star with a look of total confusion hoping she would understand what was going on. “Star, what is she talking about?” Marco asked, cupping a hand over his mouth to help him relay his question without being heard by the other girl, but in reality, it was easily picked up by the still bowing redhead.

“Oh right,” Star said, snapping her fingers as she finally remembered this is what she had been planning on telling Marco. She couldn't believe she had forgotten, she had spent several days arranging this for him, wanting it to be a surprise. But judging from his reaction she was starting to think maybe that wasn't the best idea. For the record, she had actually been planning on telling him that morning, trying to specifically avoid springing it on him like this, knowing he would react this way, but had become distracted by the early morning meeting. Oh well, not much she could do about it now, she would just have to deal with it as is.

So, Star put an arm around the hooded teen as she explained, “Marco, this is Higgs, your new bodyguard.”

“Bodyguard?” Marco repeated in confusion.

“That's right,” Star said, with a smile. “She's going to be keeping an eye on you for a while, to make sure you're kept safe.”

Higgs finally stood, just watching the boy intensely, which was only making him feel even more anxious.

“But I didn't ask for a bodyguard,” Marco pointed out.

“No, that's because I assigned her to you,” Star explained. “And I picked a good one, too, if I do say so myself. She came highly recommended, actually. She passed her squire training with flying colors and is one of the youngest knights in Mewni's history. At this rate, she's sure to be one of the best knights in this dimension, possibly the whole galaxy! If anyone can keep you safe, she can,” Star finished reassuringly, giving the boy a quick pat on the shoulders.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Higgs said, with a slight bow.

“Yeah but, I mean, is all this fuss really necessary for me,” Marco said, his humble/self-conscious side showing through, making Star mentally gush over his sweetness. “Don't you think she'd be better served watching someone more important?”

“Nonsense, Marco,” Star said, waving off his concern with a quick hug. “You're my boyfriend so you deserve the very best.” She followed this up with a peck on the cheek that caused Marco to flush.

Marco smiled shyly, putting a hand to his blushing cheek, but it quickly turned to a frown as he asked, “Not that I'm not grateful or anything, but do you really think I need a bodyguard?”

Star hesitated before answering, turning to Higgs and asking, “Could you please give us a minute?”

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Higgs responded with a grand bow, before walking further down the hallway, giving the royal and her boyfriend their space. Star turned back to Marco, seeing the doubt on his face and couldn't help but feel a little silly about all the fuss, herself. She knew she was probably being paranoid assigning Marco a bodyguard, but she couldn't help but worry about his safety. She still had flashes of Marco's capture by Toffee, how helpless and powerless she had been to protect him, first when Marco had willingly gone with the lizard to save her and then when she had allowed Marco to literally slip out of her grasp and right into Toffee's. She had come so close to losing Marco, only sheer luck allowing her to harness the power of the wand to save him and there was still a part of her that hated her past self's actions that day, mentally chastising her every move and mistake as she replayed the events over and over again in her mind. She could have easily prevented the near disaster, but instead she nearly caused the death of the boy she lov- erh, cared sooo much about.

And just a few days ago, that fear had resurfaced tenfold. Rasticore had been targeting her, but Marco had once again nearly paid the price. If Janna hadn't shown up, Star wasn't sure if she could have protected him and Rasticore had not seemed willing to spare the boy, his threat to make Marco suffer the same fate sending chills down Star's spine, even now. So maybe it was paranoia egging her on, but she couldn't help and feel the need to make sure Marco was as safe as could be. Especially with Rasticore still out there. And assigning the best of the best to watch over him, gave her some sense of relief in that matter.

“Look,” Star finally said, trying to find the best way to word all this to her naïve bestie. “I just... I would... feel much better if you did.”

Marco merely nodded, not wanting to upset Star, but still feeling unsure about having someone following him around everywhere, his eyebrows pinched together in a tight frown as he self-consciously wrapped an arm around himself. “I'm just... not really sure, Star,” he muttered, looking sheepishly at her.

Star nodded, understanding his hesitation, Higgs could come across too strong at times and she knew too well how awkward and shy Marco could be around strangers, reminded of their first meeting and how he had run away when she had caught him spying on her. She mentally chuckled at the memory, before adding, “Just... try this for a few days, okay.” She wrapped her hands around one of his, ignoring how soft and warm and right it felt. “For me.”

Marco just looked deep into her eyes for a second, reading her expression easily, seeing her need shining in her stunning pupils as he thought it over. And as he did, he had that same bizarre sensation from the other night as he felt a second heartbeat inside his chest, nearly jumping at the unexpected pulse. But that was all it took, as just like that, he wanted to agree, Star's peace of mind more important to him than a little discomfort on his part, right?

But before giving her his answer he needed to know something first, so he went ahead and asked, “And... if it doesn't work out?”

“Then, that's it,” Star reassured. “No more guards, I promise.” The royal raised a hand in the air to show she was telling the truth.

Marco took a deep breath, before finally agreeing with a nod, “Okay then, I'll give it a try. For you Star.”

“Great!” Star said pleasantly, a bright smile on her face, as she lead her boyfriend closer to his new guard, the boy at once going stiff with worry. “Then let me introduce you two properly.”

Before Marco could argue or run, he found himself facing in front of the stern redhead, her piercing green gaze still unnerving to the hooded teen. “Okay, so Marco has agreed to give this thing a try, Higgs, to see if he feels comfortable with having someone guarding him 24/7,” Star said cheerfully.

“That sounds excellent, Your Majesty,” Higgs replied, her voice never losing its formality. Marco just smiled awkwardly, trying to fight back the blush he kept feeling trying to surface on his cheeks. The moment, stretched out for a bit too long, the silence nearly driving Marco insane.

“So then, do you two, maybe, I don't know, want to try talking to each other, instead of just staring at each other,” Star pushed, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Marco tried to obey the wishes of his bestie as he opened his mouth to say something, but Higgs suddenly thrust her hand out to the boy, causing him to flinch. He did accept the offer though, shaking her hand gingerly, as if afraid it would break. Higgs didn't seem to notice this, though, as she said, “I am happy to be given the pleasure of working for you, Marco.”

“R-Right,” Marco stuttered, giving her an awkward smile.

As the two continued to shake hands, Star optimistically supplied, “I know you two are gonna get along just fine.”

“I'm certain we will,” Higgs said, with a kind smile, but something felt off about it to Marco, almost fake.

But Star didn't seem to notice this, as she clapped her hands together, saying in a sweet, but commanding tone, “So then, why don't you please escort Marco to the dining hall, Higgs. I'm sure he must be starving by now.”

“Wait, you're not coming?” Marco asked, disappointed.

“I'm just going to get changed,” Star said, gesturing down to her princess dress. “I'll just meet up with you later, okay?”

“Okay,” Marco said, giving her a quick kiss on the lips, before walking off down the hall, waving back to his girlfriend as he did.

Higgs started to follow, but was stopped as Star put a hand on her shoulder, quickly saying, “Wait just a second, please, Higgs. There's something I need to tell you.”

“Yes, what is it, Princess Star?” Higgs asked.

“I've been really worried about Marco's safety lately...” Star admitted, her sky blue eyes filling with fear for a few seconds, before she let out a breath, composing herself once again. “So I really appreciate you be willing to watch over him for me.”

Higgs seemed surprised by this, but she replied in a strong, sure tone, “Of course, Your Majesty. I will do my very best to protect him.”

“I know you will,” Star said with a soft smile. “But... Marco is a little bit shy sometimes and I'm afraid he's a little put-off by the idea of being followed around all day by someone he doesn't know. And from what I've heard you can be a bit more...” Star paused, looking for the right word to use. “...direct than others. So please try and give him as much space as you can. If you do, I promise he will open up on his own.”

Higgs nodded, giving Star a smile that showed she understood. “Don't worry, My Princess,” Higgs said, reassuringly. “I understand completely.”

“Good,” Star said, with a curt nod, finally removing her hands from the girl's shoulder plates and allowing her to follow after the hooded boy. “Then I will leave you to it.”

Higgs did one final bow, before turning on her heels and following steadily after the boy. Star watched her go for a few seconds before heading down the other end of the hallway herself, feeling good about the two's situation, knowing Marco would be safe in Higgs' capable hands.

But if she had been paying closer attention, she would have noticed that Higg's smile had dropped, replaced instead with a very concerning frown, one that was focused entirely on Marco's unguarded back.

…

Marco was almost to the dining room, already able to smell the delicious aroma of freshly cooked bacon, when he was grabbed from behind and shoved into the nearest wall. The boy squeaked in surprise, as his back collided with the wall, though it was more startling than painful, as Marco looked up to see Higgs right in his face, a look of almost anger in her eyes, making the hooded boy shrink into himself.

“Wh-What are you-” Marco started, but he was cut off, as Higgs spoke in a harsh voice.

“Okay, listen here, pipsqueak,” she said, the change in her tone unnerving Marco. “I don't care if you are the princesses boyfriend or not, but you are not going to ruin my one big chance to win the princesses favor. I need it if I'm going to continue rising to the top. I have worked long and hard to get here and I'm not gonna give it up just because the person they assigned me to is a little bit shy.” Marco felt embarrassment as she mockingly said the last bit, rolling her eyes.

“And I've heard all about your reputation, too,” she continued, ignoring the boy's flushing cheeks.

“I-I'm not sure what you mean,” Marco muttered in confusion, not sure what 'reputation' she was talking about.

“Oh don't give me that,” Higgs scoffed. “I've heard all the rumors and I don't have time to deal with any of that right now. Princess Star has entrusted me with your safety and I can't afford any mistakes, which means there are going to be some major changes starting right now.”

Marco tried to speak up, but only squeaked again as she stabbed a finger into his chest. “So here is how this is going to go. From now on, you are gonna do exactly as I say, when I say it, no questions asked. Got it?”

Marco nodded, wide-eyed, not daring to open his mouth again.

“Good,” she said, backing away finally and giving the boy some space to breath, as her smile returned. “Glad we got that settled. Now let's get you something to eat.”

With that she walked off, leaving a very confused Marco behind, as he continued to ponder what it was that Higgs had heard that was so bad about him.

…

Jackie and Janna were already eating as Marco and Higgs entered into the dining room, chatting amongst themselves as they ate the delicious breakfast. Once they heard the door open, though, they both turned to Marco with a smile, Jackie greeting him cheerfully, “Sup, dude!”

Marco's frown instantly switched to one of his bright smiles as he spotted his two friends and gave them a quick wave. “Hey Jacks! Hey Jan! Good morning!” Both girls did note though, that it seemed less enthusiastic than usual, still both deciding to ignore it for now, figuring the boy was still waking up.

“So where's Star?” Jackie asked as Marco approached the large table. “She still in her meeting?”

“Nah, she just finished up, she'll be here soon,” Marco responded, as he slid into his usual seat.

“Well it's nice to see you joining us,” Janna replied teasingly, before passing the boy a napkin, as he was already drooling over his breakfast. He quickly took it, laying it out on his lap. But Janna's face quickly switched to one of shock and suspicion as Higgs took her place beside Marco's chair. “And I see you are joining us, as well,” she said to Higgs, raising an eyebrow at the stranger. Next to her, Jackie also seemed equally surprised as one of the unfamiliar castle servants hung so close to her hoodie-wearing friend. Janna eyed the redheads uniform up and down for a second. “Uhhh, squire I'm guessing.”

“Knight actually,” Higgs said proudly, just a hint of superiority in her tone, clearly trying to show off.

“Aren't you a little young to be a knight?” Jackie asked.

“I got promoted early,” she explained, lifting her head up enough so that she was looking down at them, with a condescending grin on her face, as if the two were jealous of that fact.

“Rigggghhht,” Janna said, raising an eyebrow at the girl, not at all envious of the girl's high position. There was an awkward tension for a few seconds as they waited for the strange redhead to introduce herself, but Higgs seemed content to just silently judge the both of them and they could tell by the way she was looking at them that she clearly did not like what she was seeing.

So instead, Jackie turned to the very hungry Marco, who was busy cutting his food with his knife, giving him a long look, before clearing her throat, trying to get his attention. “Marco, do you maybe want to introduce us?” Jackie asked, finally pulling Marco's focus away from the delicious food on his plate... well, mostly.

“Huh? Oh yeah, this is Higgs, my new bodyguard,” he said absentmindedly, his eyes still lingering on the steaming food that sat temptingly on his plate, though Jackie could tell he was purposefully avoiding looking in Higgs' direction.

“Bodyguard? Since when do you need a bodyguard?” Janna asked, skeptically.

“Since Princess Star assigned me to him,” Higgs explained.

“And when did this happen?” Janna asked.

“Just late last night,” Higgs retorted. “My official duties began this morning.”

“And you're okay with this,” Jackie asked Marco, the boy finally looking deep into her eyes, giving her a tight smile.

“Yeah, no, it's fine,” he said, though he seemed anything but okay with it, his fingers now fiddling with his silverware.

His two friends shared a look, before Janna asked, “You sure?”

“Well, Star thinks it's a good idea and she's usually not wrong about these things,” he muttered quietly.

“And I assure you, she isn't,” Higgs spoke up. “I am more than capable of protecting Marco.”

Janna leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. “And what makes you qualified for that, exactly.”

“Basically everything,” Higgs countered, her tone becoming harder. “I'm actually pretty famous around here. Most people are aware of my talents and don't typically question them.”

“Funny, I've never heard of you before,” Janna said, her smirky tone becoming more sharp than usual. “So I guess I'm questioning them.”

“That is rather funny, because y'know I've heard a lot about you, Janna,” Higgs shot back, putting her hands on the table. “And I am also questioning what kind of an influence you are having on Star Butterfly's boyfriend.”

“How so?” Janna asked, a smile spreading across her face, letting Jackie and Marco know she was now enjoying herself, unbeknownst to the very upset Higgs.

“Well, you do have a bit of a record around here: stealing, sneaking about, scaring the diplomats when they come around, general disregard for authority, and last, but not least, are the supposed culprit of several fires on the castle grounds.” Higgs gave Janna a long glare, as she finished listing off the heinous crimes, waiting for Janna to react to being called out on her trouble-making ways.

But Janna just continued to smirk, taking a bite of her meal and ignoring the lingering gaze on her. “Ohhh good someone finally caught on,” Janna replied. “Maybe you aren't completely hopeless after all.”

Higgs didn't know how to react to this, finally lifting herself up off the table and just giving the creepy girl a very confused look, which she was trying to keep firm. All she said was, “Yeah, well, I'm watching you,” though it sounded very halfhearted compared to everything else she had said to the girl. “And I won't be letting you get away with anything else on my watch.”

“Good, I like a challenge,” Janna said, leaning her head against her arm with a taunting gaze.

Jackie just rolled her eyes at her roommates behavior. “Jan,” she said, giving the creepy girl's arm a light smack. “Can't you at least pretend to be sorry for causing so much trouble.”

“I think you know better than that, Jacks,” Janna replied unapologetically.

Marco, glad the attention was finally off himself, went to take a bite of his food, stabbing his fork into the freshly cooked eggs, the yolk running out over his plate as he did, creating a delectable scent that made his stomach growl like crazy. He raised the fork, bringing the food closer and closer to his open and waiting mouth.

Until suddenly, out of nowhere, the fork was smacked out of his hand, making the boy cry out in surprise. “Don't eat that!” Marco heard Higgs cry in a panic. But Marco didn't process the urgency or fear laced in her tone, all he could do was watch with growing sadness as the utensil tumbled to the floor, ruining a perfectly good bite of food.

“My breakfast,” he mumbled in heartbreak, reaching a hand out toward the discarded fork.

“Geez, what was that about?” Janna asked, her and Jackie giving the knight a glare.

“Yeah, seriously, look what you did to poor Marco,” Jackie said, gesturing to the boy, who was rubbing at the hand Higgs had smacked, awkwardly.

But Higgs didn't seem bothered by this, as she gave an exasperated sigh, before explaining to them, “Well, obviously, I can't let Marco eat any food before it's been tested first for poison.”

“What?” Jackie questioned in disbelief. “That's ridiculous. Why would someone in the castle try and poison Marco?”

“Not that I have to explain myself to you civilians, but it's better to be safe than sorry,” the young knight defended herself.

“Uhh, hate to break it to you, but we've been eating the food this whole time and we're just fine,” Janna pointed out.

“Yeah, but that also means that the food has been left here unguarded with you two this whole time,” Higgs said, pointing an accusing finger at them.

Janna rose up from her seat. “Whoa wait, hang on. You aren't seriously saying we would try and poison our best friend, now would you?” Janna said with a glare.

“Well if the shoe fits,” Higgs replied, crossing her arms. “I certainty wouldn't put it past you.”

“Okay, stealing and stuff is one thing, but I would never hurt Marco,” Janna shot back, sounding genuinely insulted at the very idea of it.

“Yeah, Marco's our friend, we care about him,” Jackie added, also rising from her chair.

“And I certainty wouldn't stoop to poisoning him of all things, that's just unimaginative,” Janna said with disgust.

Jackie was silent for a moment, a look of annoyance on her face. “Jan,” Jackie finally muttered, giving her a deadpanned stare. “You're not helping us.”

Meanwhile, Marco slowly lowered himself more in his seat, until he was practically hiding beneath the table, his face set in a grimace. He didn't want his friends to be arguing with his new bodyguard, knowing how badly Star wanted this to work. He looked to the doors, knowing Star could come through them any minute. He needed to find a way to make this better.

“Guys,” Marco interrupted, drawing all three girl's attention onto him. He gave his two friends a halfhearted smile. “Look, it's okay. Higgs is just trying to be careful, I'm sure she doesn't really think you'd try and poison me. So why don't we just have someone test the food so I can eat,” he suggested.

Jackie and Janna stared at Marco in shock for a second, looking like they were on the verge of saying something, but Higgs clapped her hands together, drawing all eyes onto her, as she said, “Excellent idea, Marco! Glad you see it my way!” She started heading for the door, saying, “I will go find someone for the job, right away!”

Jackie and Janna waited until the door was closed and Higgs was gone before turning back to Marco with concerned looks, the hooded boy keeping his eyes on his plate. Even then, he could still feel their stares burning into his skin. “Marco, what's was that?” Jackie asked, taking her seat again.

“It's nothing don't worry about,” Marco muttered.

“Nothing,” Janna retorted. “You acted like her hitting that fork out of your hand was a normal thing.”

Marco was silent for a second, before he finally looked at them with a pleading glance. “Look, it's only for a few days, okay? Just until Star's more at ease about all of this. She's been worrying about me a lot lately and if this helps her, then I need to at least try and put up with it. So, until then, can you guys just try and support me on this, please?” he asked.

As always, Marco's begging face weakened their resolve, until Jackie just sighed and said, “Of course we will, Marco. If that's what you think is best.”

Marco breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said to her.

Janna just plopped back down in her seat, crossing her arms. “Well, will you at least let me play a prank on her or something for saying I would try and kill you,” she asked, seriously.

“Uh, didn't you scare Marco into thinking you were gonna kill him when you first met?” Jackie reminded her.

Janna scoffed. “That was a joke, obviously,” the creepy girl said with a roll of her eyes.

“I didn't think it was very funny,” Marco pointed out.

“Yeah, exactly,” Janna replied. “I was helping you expand your humor a little. This is different. And I think it's only fair for me to get back at her for what she said. In fact, I've already got a few ideas in mind,” she added, a playful, yet somehow disturbing smile spreading on her face, showing off her fangs, as she seemed to be thinking over whatever no doubt bad thing she had in mind for the young knight.

“No,” Marco replied, instantly shooting down any kind of retaliation his creepy friend had planned. “No doing anything to Higgs.”

Janna just leaned her head against her hand once more, sighing in depression, as she said, “You're no fun.”

…

Breakfast passed by quickly, Higgs having one of the guards test the food, not allowing Marco to eat any of his meal until the Mewman confirmed it was safe. Once Marco did get to eat though, he found that his food was now cold, but not wanting to make a fuss he didn't say anything, just eating his food in silence. Besides, hot or not, it was still delicious, the new cook continuing to outdo himself.

Star did eventually show up, sitting down next to Marco, giving her friends a sheepish smile. “Hey guys, sorry I'm late,” she apologized as she unfolded her napkin.

“No problem,” Jackie said, giving the young royal a smile.

“And I see you two already met Higgs, huh?” Star commented, looking at the freckled girl who stood at attention at Marco's side. Both Jackie and Janna looked like they wanted to speak up about their true feelings toward Marco's new bodyguard, but a quick, pleading look from Marco silenced anything they could have said against the idea.

“Yeah, and it was quite the introduction,” Janna said, successfully hiding the venom in her tone, but her choice of words caused Star to raise an eyebrow.

“How so?” Star asked. Marco coughed once, drawing his friend's attention, as he gave the creepy girl a knowing look.

Jackie quickly interrupted before Janna could explain, saying, “Just that her credentials left quite the impression on us, is all. She certainly knows her stuff.”

“Well thank you, Miss Lynn-Thomas,” Higgs said graciously, even giving a small, humble bow in her direction, her holier-than-thou attitude from before replaced with the stiff, formal persona of a typical knight. This massive change, didn't go unnoticed by either Jackie or Janna, as they just gave her empty stares, letting her know that they knew she was faking and they weren't buying it, which Higgs simply ignored. “I am always happy to be of service,” she added, with a voice just dripping of syrup and Janna nearly gagged at how fake and forced the line was. She did however roll her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief.

Star just nodded, seemingly unaware of the intense little struggle going on at the table. “Oh well, that's good,” she said, in reaction to what Jackie had said. “Glad you all are getting along.” She turned to look at Marco, who was feeling quite relieved that things had gone smoothly so far. “So Marco, what are your plans for the day?” Star asked, laying a hand on his and giving it a small squeeze.

“Oh well, um,” Marco said not sure how to answer. In truth, he had been planning on visiting Buff Frog and the other Monsters, but had a feeling Higgs probably wouldn't go for that. Still, he had been really hoping his frog father would be able to tell him more about his parents, as well as get some much needed attention from his family that he craved. The last he had spoken to any of them was right after the ball, when Buff Frog had called up to check up on him and ask how the ball had gone, Marco recalling the conversation perfectly.

…

“It was amazing, Buff Frog!” Marco had exclaimed, his joy and energy seeping through the cellphone as he spoke, literally shaking with excitement and enthusiasm. “You should have seen it! One minute everything was normal and the next, me and Star's whole bodies were lit up red! And she looked so beautiful! And it felt so weird, but not like a bad weird, like a good weird, like a really good weird!” Marco sighed dreamily, as he recalled the magical moment, feeling his suns burning, probably from his blush. “And afterwards, we danced together out in the castle garden. And Star even sang while we did. She has a beautiful singing voice, I kinda hope she'll sing to me more often.” Marco rubbed at his blushing cheek, chuckling awkwardly at what he had just blurted out.

“Sounds like you two had good time,” Buff Frog had replied, sounding equally delighted for the boy's successful first date.

“Yeah we did, It was perfect,” Marco said, his tone a joyful whisper.

“I so proud and happy for you, my boy,” Buff Frog added, which caused the hooded boy's heart to swell. “And so would be parents.”

Marco froze at these words, reminded of what he had been wanting to talk to Buff Frog about in the first place. “Um, about that,” Marco said, already feeling anxious about wording this to his dad without worrying him, not sure if he should bring up the lizard assassin's attack and attempted kidnapping to his overprotective father.

“Someone at the ball... c-called me Marco Diaz.” He sucked in a breath, as he awaited his frog father's reply. For a few intense seconds, there was no response from the other end of the phone, Marco afraid Buff Frog had just hung up on him. “Dad?” Marco questioned, biting his lip.

“I... I see,” Buff Frog replied, sounding quite shell-shocked. “And who was this?”

“Umm, I don't remember,” Marco lied. “But is it true,” he quickly blurted, his heart aching for the answer. “Is my last name Diaz?”

“Da, is true,” had come the reply, causing Marco to release the breath he had been holding in. “Your parents name was Diaz.” This conformation had made Marco feel giddy, smiling like crazy.

Of course, once one question had been answered he had followed it up with a million more, as question after question poured out of the boy with no sign of stopping, asking everything he could think of or had ever wondered before without even pausing to take a breath, hungry for the answers Toffee had purposely kept from him growing up. “Did you know them? What did they look like? How did they first meet? When did they get married? Did they know the other Monsters, too? How was I born? Why did-”

Finally, Buff Frog had interrupted the boy from his bombardment of questions, saying, “Marco.”

The boy finally stopped, listening to his father over the phone. “Yeah, dad?” he asked, so Buff Frog knew he was listening.

“I know you have million questions and I promise I tell you everything, but right now it is late and you need your sleep.”

Marco had known the Monster was right, but he still had at least needed to know how soon Buff Frog would finally give him the full story. “Okay, but when? When will you tell me?”

There was silence from the other end of the phone for a second, but to Marco it had felt like an eternity. “In few days,” came the reply. Marco felt his heart sink.

“A few days,” Marco repeated, his throat tight. “Why so long?”

“I sorry, my boy.” Marco could hear the regret and guilt in his father's tone, even through the phone. “We so busy right now, I don't have time.”

Marco sighed, before trying to make his voice as cheerful as he could, as he had said, “That's okay, I understand. I know things are crazy right now. Honestly, it's probably for the best, there's been... a lot going on over here, too.”

“Thank you for understanding, Marco,” Buff Frog said. “You good boy.”

“Thanks, dad,” Marco had replied, blinking back the tears he felt welling up in his eyes, unsure if they were from being praised by his adopted father or from the fact that he knew he had to wait several days before finding out the truth about his flesh and blood.

“Goodnight, Marco,” Buff Frog had said.

“Goodnight,” the boy replied, before hanging up.

…

Luckily, the boy didn't dwell on this too much after, the next couple of days passing by in such a hectic blur that Marco had barely even thought about the conversation... much, too distracted by everyone's panicking to think of anything else. But now that things had settled down, the thoughts had returned fresh to his inquisitive mind. Buff Frog still hadn't shown up and Marco was starting to grow impatient. Which was why he had come up with the idea that maybe if he visited Buff Frog himself that would get the frog to open up in the matter. But now, he had a new problem to deal with, having a feeling convincing his new bodyguard wouldn't be an easy task, considering their conversation back in the hallway.

Besides, he reasoned with himself, Buff Frog is probably too busy right now to really be able to tell me the whole story, anyways. Plus, he wasn't sure bringing around the suspicious Higgs to his Monster family would go well.

“Guess I don't really have any plans for the day,” Marco finally replied with a shrug. “I'll just do whatever Higgs thinks is best for now.”

Higgs didn't hesitate to speak up at that, quickly cutting in, “Well, in that case, Marco can just spend the day with me, Your Highness. That way I can keep a better eye on him... and hopefully get to know him a little better, too.”

“Well that sounds like a great idea,” Star said enthusiastically, before looking to her hooded boyfriend. “What do you think, Marco?”

Marco nodded, reminding himself to remain open to the idea, as he said, “Yeah, okay. That sounds good.” It could be a good thing, after all, spending the day with Higgs. Maybe if he got to know her a little better, he wouldn't feel so intimidated and maybe the two of them could even become friends.

…

An hour later, Marco was already regretting agreeing to spend some one-on-one time with Higgs. As he quickly found out, the young knight was suspicious of everyone, not allowing a single soul to come anywhere near them, giving every servant who they passed a suspicious glare. One poor soul even made the horrible mistake of greeting the boy directly.

“Hey there, Marco!” the Mewman greeted cheerfully, looking happy and carefree as he went to give the boy a high five.

But before Marco could even return the pleasant gesture, Higgs grabbed the poor man by the wrist and threw him out the nearest window, the man screaming in horror on his way down. “But it's my birthday!”

Marco just gazed in horror at the window for a moment, before turning back to Higgs. “Why did you do that? He just wanted to give me a high five?” he asked, pointing to his still-waiting palm.

“Yeah and then he could have stabbed you in the back with a knife right afterwards,” Higgs snappily replied, as if throwing an innocent civilian out a window was a completely normal thing to do. “Honestly, the evidence was all right there, Marco, I'm surprised you didn't see it.” After getting a blank look from Marco she quickly explained. “Think about it. Some strange guy just randomly showed up in the castle all of a sudden and greets you as if he's know you his whole life.” She reiterated this point by taking the time to scold Marco for his lack of thinking, “In fact, if anything you need to be more careful about who you interact with. You have to be more guarded around total strangers.”

“But he wasn't a stranger,” Marco argued. “He's worked here for like ten years.”

Higgs froze, in total shock over this knowledge and looking at a loss for words of what to say next. The moment stretched on for far too long, before Marco finally spoke up in a sad voice, rubbing at his arm, “I didn't know his name but I think he was the castle decorator or something like that.”

Higgs finally seemed to recover as she quickly waved off her actions like they were nothing. “Oh well, I'm sure he's fine,” she said, before continuing through the castle, Marco following hesitantly behind her.

And that seemed to just be a typical reaction from Higgs, critical of everyone, with no regrets towards her actions, even if they were wrong. Still Marco did his very best to remain positive, hoping maybe the two of them could do a fun activity together to help them bond a bit. And after about an hour of just uncomfortably shuffling through Butterfly Castle he figured anything would be better than this. “So, uh, Higgs what do you like to do for fun?” Marco asked, hoping to find something they had in common.

She stopped walking, turning to him, before replying, “Train.”

“Well, okay, other than that,” Marco tried. “What do you like to do when your not, y'know, training?”

“Kill Monsters,” came Higgs dry reply and Marco's eyes widened.

“O-Okay, um,” Marco said, completely flustered by the response. “Going back to the first thing then,” he nervously added, trying desperately to change the subject. He thought for a moment, before hesitantly saying, “Maybe I could... train with you or something?”

Higgs looked at Marco blankly for a second, before outright laughing at the suggestion, not even bothering to hide it, as she held onto her stomach, chuckling out of control. Marco, being Marco, didn't understand what it was that had caused such a sporadic laugh attack. “What? What did I say?” he asked in cute confusion.

“You... training...” Higgs managed to gasp out between gasps for breath. She finally managed to gain some control over herself as her laughter faded to a mild chuckle, wiping the tears that had welled up in her eyes and groaning a bit from her stomach ache, as she managed to say in a much more clear tone, “Yeah right, you would be dead within the first minute, loser.”

Marco looked offended at the edition of loser, but argued (rather firmly for him), “I could handle myself.”

A critical eyebrow raised as she looked at the scrawny toothpick in front of her, adding with a scoff, “Really, I highly doubt that.”

“It's true. Just give me a chance.”

“Look it's nothing personal. But I'm a professional, you wouldn't even be able to keep up with someone like me.”

“Well, I tend to pick up on things pretty quickly.” Higgs still looked unconvinced so Marco added, “At least let me try.”

Higgs was silent for a second as she thought it over, rubbing a finger on her chin and Marco became concerned that maybe he had taken things too far, but finally she agreed, “Okay, you know what, fine. Let's see what you got, squirt.”

“Yeah!” Marco cheered in victory, pumping a fist into the air, pleased at the chance to get to prove himself. But he was caught off guard, as suddenly Higgs slammed a hand into his back, knocking him to the ground, causing him to release a very girly scream.

“First rule of knight training: anything goes,” she explained to the fallen boy with a small smile on her face as she stood over him.

“That doesn't make any sense,” Marco groaned from the ground. “Why even bother having any rules then?”

…

Once Marco had recovered he silently followed Higgs into the large courtyard just outside of Butterfly Castle. He figured that was probably as good a place to train as any, but to his surprise the freckled knight pulled out a pair of dimensional scissors and opened a portal before them. “Wait, where are we going?” Marco asked in confusion. “I thought we were going to train.”

“We are, but not here,” Higgs replied. “You want to experience a real knight's training, then that's exactly what you are going to get, pipsqueak.”

Marco didn't argue, as he instead stepped through the glowing vortex and into a whole new world. Marco, still new to dimensional travel, took a moment to get his bearings, as he found himself in a darkly lit world. They were on some kind of cliffside, overlooking a canyon filled with glowing crystals of all shapes and sizes and colors. Marco was mesmerized by them for a moment, before he turned back to the path before them, which curved around the mountainside lit by glowing green torches set up.

“Where are we?” Marco asked his bodyguard curiously, with pure awe in his voice.

“You'll see,” Higgs answered mysteriously, gesturing with a sweeping hand toward the path, indicating to let him go first and Marco obeyed, traveling down the path with his bodyguard following close behind.

After a while the two seemed to reach their destination, a large building built on the edge of a cliff. It was a fairly grand structure laying just outside of the castle grounds, lit up as well by the green torches, which gave it an almost ominous look as they approached. Though if that wasn't a tip off point enough, there was also the signs that read things like: “Beware!” and “Go away!” and the not at all threatening message of, “Strangers will be killed!” which was causing Marco's stomach to flip uncontrollably. The building as well, though big, had seen better days, the wood scarred and covered in holes as if someone had been punching holes into the building's frame. On top of that, the whole place looked unsturdy and if it was ready to collapse at any moment and the fact that it rested on what seemed to be an unstable cliff was not exactly inviting much either. Needless to say Marco was not feeling too good about entering into the deathtrap of a building.

“So, uh, what is this place, exactly?” Marco asked in concern.

“This is where we knights go to train and hang out, when we want to get away from it all,” Higgs explained. “We call it 'Valhalla'.”

“Huh?” Marco said, looking back up at the structure again. “But don't you have other places to train on Mewni?”

Higgs scoffed at the statement, saying matter-of-factly, “Yeah, but this place is where the real training happens. This dimension is abandoned and the only ones who know how to get to it are those trusted enough to be told. This place is basically the elite circle for the best of the best Mewni's knights have to offer.”

Marco looked to one of the signs which had a very lazily drawn picture of a skull on it, asking, “Umm, are you sure it's okay for me to be here then?”

“Don't worry about it,” Higgs said, shrugging the hooded boy's concern off. “Your getting a special pass, since you're with me.”

“Greeeaaat,” Marco said, trying to sound enthusiastic, but unsuccessful in hiding the squeak in his voice, as he stared up at the ominous building in fear, this seeming to confirm to him that trying to bond with Higgs had been a terrible idea.

…

Marco flinched, as Higgs violently kicked open the doors to the old building, causing one of them to break and fall over, Higgs muttering, “We should probably fix that.”

But the hooded boy wasn't paying attention to that, as he gingerly walked into the hallowed hall (still partially afraid the ground beneath him would cave at any second), his startled senses shocked as he was overwhelmed with a strong scent of body odor and sweat. He looked around the room, taking in his surroundings. The inside was just as torn up as the outside, possibly more so, every inch of the room covered in either scrapes or holes. There was little décor in the room, most of the place empty and barren, with a little bar for the knights to get a drink and some equipment which Marco assumed was for training. The most impressive part of the room was the far wall, which was coated top to bottom with weapon, some of which he had no idea what they were or what they did. All in all, the place did seem like a haven for knights and Marco was a bit in awe of it all.

“Wooowww,” Marco breathed, a small smile on his face. There were a few men and women in the building, as well, all of them decked out in knights gear like Higgs and they turned to see the hooded boy, all of them with looks ranging from confusion to outright hostility.

“Who's your friend, Higgs?” one of them asked, after a moment of intense staring.

“This is my new charge, I've been assigned as his bodyguard by the princess,” Higgs explained instantly with a cocky and boastful smile, putting extra emphasis on the word 'princess'. This did seem to get their attention, as they all looked at the boy, sizing him up, causing Marco's confidence to crumble, feeling the need to hide behind Higgs to escape from their penetrative stares, but was unable to due to his feet being frozen in place. And he had thought being around Higgs was intimidating, that had nothing on these guys.

“General Skullnick would be furious if she found out you brought a stranger here,” one of them pointed out with a warning tone.

“Yeah, well she isn't here and she's not gonna know, she's too busy trying to find that assassin to worry about coming here, so we're good,” Higgs said, quickly waving off his concern. Marco looked at her with concern for a moment, he thought she had said it was okay for him to be here, but clearly she had been lying.

“Well, why'd you even bring him here, in the first place?” another asked, crossing his arms with a raised eyebrow.

“He wanted to try training with me,” she explained, giving the boy a pat on the shoulder, not even noticing that he had gone completely stiff. “So I figured I'd show him the ropes.”

“Ha, this pipsqueak,” one of the lady knights chuckled. “Be careful, Higgs, he might break in half if your not careful.”

The others all laughed at that as well, which would normally cause Marco's face to flush a deep red, but he was too distracted by something that had caught his eye. Above their heads, hanging upside down from one of the rafters was a familiar purple bat. It was just watching him with knowing brown eyes and as it seemed to notice it had been spotted by him, shot him a cryptic smirk that could not be mistaken for anyone but Janna. She stood out like a sore thumb and he was honestly surprised no one had spotted her yet, though he did at least give her credit for taking off her beanie so she wasn't so conspicuous.

Marco would lie and say he was surprised to see her there, but in all honesty, he wasn't. If anyone could have successfully snuck into the Mewnian knight's most secret and well hidden bases it was Janna. Though, whatever she was doing there, however, was the bigger question and concern Marco had.

“Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?” One of the other knights asked, pulling Marco out of his thoughts, as the large muscular man gave him a long, quizzical stare.

“Um, w-well I don't-” Marco managed to stammer out, his voice growing softer with every word, not enjoying this intense interrogation from one of the knights.

“Come on, kid, spit it out!” the man said in a gruff voice that caused Marco to jump and freeze up even more.

“I-I-I-”

“Hey! Back off, you're freaking him out,” Higgs thankfully interjected, pushing the knight away from her charge, Marco finally releasing his held breath.

“I was just asking him a question,” the man grumbled in annoyance.

“Yeah well, you probably scarred him for life, having to look at that ugly mug of yours,” one of the other knights said jokingly and the others all laughed heartily at that.

The humiliated knight growled in anger, “Shut up!” while punching his fellow knight in the face. The knight crashed into another, which caused both of them to angrily retaliate, hitting him as one. One thing led to another and soon every single knight except for Higgs had joined in on the scuffle all of them engaged in an angry fist fight, while Marco just watched in shock and disturbance, using Higgs as a shield for himself. “What is happening?” Marco asked, not sure what to think of the sudden situation.

“Oh this happens all the time,” Higgs replied, nonchalantly, not even fazed as the group of grown Mewmans needlessly fought amongst themselves.

“Well, what should we do?” Marco asked his bodyguard, unsure.

“You hang back, I'll take care of it,” she said confidently, giving Marco a push toward the door, before she strolled over to the brawling group. “Hey idiots, knock it off!” she yelled, before punching one of them herself. The Mewman growled before lunging toward her, Higgs dodging out of the way, kicking the knight square in the stomach, sending him flying back and into one of the others. But before she could recover she was tackled by one of the other knights, knocking her to the ground, as she screamed in a strained tone, “Hey get off of me!”

Marco just watched on as the freckled redhead managed to squirm her way out of their grasp and then proceeded to take on three burly knights twice her own size, quickly joining in on the scuffle. But Marco's attention was diverted as he heard a fluttering noise beside him, looking over to see Bat-Jan flying next to him, right at eye level. “So enjoying the show?” she asked sarcastically.

Marco checked to see if the others had noticed, but they were still too preoccupied with their fighting to notice anything else. “Janna, what are you doing here?” Marco asked in a whisper, just in case the knights somehow heard him over the loud ruckus they were making.

Bat-Jan seemed to shrug, before explaining, “Well, we were still getting bad vibes about that Higgs girl so we decided it would be best if kept an eye on the two of you.”

“So you're just here spying on my bodyguard,” Marco said, with a suspicious undertone in his voice, as one of his eyebrows slowly raising.

“Yep,” Janna replied, not seeming to pick on the extra meaning of what he was asking.

“And nothing else,” Marco continued, with the same knowing hint in his tone. “You're not going to play any pranks on her or anything?”

“Well, now that you mention it...” Bat-Jan started mischievously, Marco able to see her inner troublemaker surfacing in her eyes.

“Jan, you promised,” Marco reminded her with a hiss.

“I'm just kidding, Marco,” Janna immediately said, shrugging off her previous behavior, giving him an overly sweet smile. “Jeez, you really need to learn to take a joke.”

Marco gave her a disbelieving stare, before sighing in exasperation. “Fine, look you can stay, but please, please, don't do anything. I really need her to like me and I think she's starting to come around a bit.”

“You got it,” Janna agreed, flashing him a toothy grin. “You won't even know I'm here.” With that she flew back up toward the cracked ceiling, leaving Marco alone again.

This was when Marco noticed that the room was now silent and looked over to see that the knights had worn themselves out, with no clear victor in sight, all of them just laying on the floor, groaning in pain. Marco was about to check on them when they all started laughing and joking with each other as if the previous fight had never happened, rising off the floor and playfully punching each other in the gut.

Higgs, as well, stood and brushed herself off, one of the knights saying to her, “Good fight, Higgs! You really know how to pack a punch.”

“Yeah I do,” she replied smugly, before going over to join her hooded charge. “Okay, now we can train,” she said to him super nonchalantly.

“But, what just happened?” Marco asked, still in shock from the bizarre and sporadic changes in attitude from the elite knights.

“That?” she asked, pointing behind her. “That was nothing. Like I said, happens all the time.”

“But one minute you guys were fighting and then you were fine,” Marco continued as his head spun trying to understand it all. “I don't-”

“Look, Marco,” Higgs interrupted. “That just happens around here. Better get used to it.”

Marco opened his mouth to reply, only to be interrupted by another voice. “Wait, Marco,” the same burly knight from before said as realization struck him, the boy's name finally striking the right cord in his brain. “I know who you are now. Your the princess's boyfriend, aren't ya?”

“Um, yes,” Marco said hesitantly. With that the other knights began all talking at once, making it impossible to tell what they were saying.

“So your Marco, huh? Never really got a chance to meet you before, off fighting in the war and all,” a lady knight said, draping an arm around the boy's small frame.

“Uh, haha, yeah,” Marco responded awkwardly, not sure what else to say.

“Then your the kid that was raised by Monsters, right?” she asked, her tone becoming far less friendly and more hard.

“Yeah, that's right,” Marco responded immediately, not picking up on the slight hostility in her tone. But out of the corner of his eye, he saw Bat-Jan face-palm with one of her clawed wings, shaking her furry head in disbelief.

The room grew eerily quiet as they all just glared at the boy, Marco gulping against his will. “W-What?”

“Well isn't that just great, the kid who was raised by the very Monsters we spent the last decade or so fighting, just comes waltzing in here,” one of the other knights said, with a deep hatred in his voice.

“But the Monsters aren't bad?” Marco defended weakly. “They were just following Toffee's orders.”

“Yeah, well those orders got a lot of us killed,” the lady knight said, with an intense glare. “And did they show any remorse for us, no.”

The other knights all grumbled their agreements, Marco quickly becoming more and more uncomfortable by the second.

“I lost a leg to one of the Monsters!” one of them yelled, gesturing to the wooden leg he had.

“I lost an eye!” one of them shouted, pointing at his eyepatch.

“Oh yeah, well I lost a whole hand!” he said, taking off his glove to show off his wooden hand replacement.

“No you didn't?” the lady knight reminded him. “You lost that during a training accident.”

“Oh right,” the one handed knight said. “Well... I still hate those stupid Monsters.”

The others all shouted their agreement, while Marco just stood there awkwardly not sure what to say.

“If you weren't the princess's boyfriend,” the lady knight said, stabbing a finger into Marco's chest, giving him a hated glare. “Then I would kick your butt for siding with those freaks.”

“I-I-I-” Marco started not sure what to say.

Luckily, Higgs quickly saved him from trying to find an answer, as she pulled him away from them, saying with a hiss in her tone, “Yeah well, he is the princess's boyfriend and my charge. So like it or not, you guys are just gonna have to get over it or answer to me.”

The others all quickly, dropped the subject after that, moving away from the two teens and going back about their business, though they did keep flashing dirty looks at the hooded boy every so often. “Thanks,” Marco said, breathing a sigh of relief. He honestly couldn't believe how quickly the knights had all turned on him just by being associated with the Monsters.

Higgs didn't respond, releasing her hold on the boy as she just quickly said, “Let's just start with the training already?”

Marco paused for a moment, before finally saying, “Okay, sounds good.” He nodded, trying to let the intense moment slide, instead focusing his attention on the far wall, looking over the large array of weapons before him, trying to select the best and least deadly one. There were so many to choose from, he didn't even know where to begin and they all looked extremely unsafe too, swords, daggers, spears, shields, scythes, even some kind of gun looking thing with a hook on the end of it which Marco had no idea what that could be used for. None of them really looked super appealing to the boy.

“Um, what are you doing?” Marco turned away from the deadly selection to see Higgs giving him a skeptical stare.

“I was just... picking out a weapon,” he explained hesitantly. “Isn't that what you are supposed to do?”

“Maybe for experienced knights, but not you. You are not ready for any of those things,” Higgs explained and Marco breathed a mental sigh of relief, glad he didn't have to handle any dangerous weapons again, his mind for just a second flashing back to his fight with Toffee.

“So then what are we gonna use?” Marco asked.

“Here,” Higgs said, handing Marco a small wooden sword. “We will be using these for now. Wouldn't want to explain to the princess how I got her boyfriend's head accidentally cut off, now would I?”

Marco gulped, taking the sword. “No,” he said in a fearful whisper.

Higgs had a wooden sword herself, holding it out in front of her in a confident stance, which Marco did his best to mimic. “Ready?” she asked, as her face drained of any emotion as she just stared forward with a serious stare.

“R-Ready, I guess,” Marco replied, trying to keep his hands from shaking, her burning stare far too intense for him to handle. “This is my first time, though, so maybe take it easy on me a little bit?” he asked, but she gave him no indication of agreeing to that.

Instead she charged him, Marco trying to block the sword swing, but it was easily knocked out of his inexperienced hands. Her wooden sword then made contact with his stomach, propelled him back, where Marco landing hard on his butt. “Ow,” he groaned, as pain shot through his stomach.

“In a real battle, your opponent isn't going to take things easy on you,” Higgs explained, as she expertly twirled her sword around her hand, before lightly tapping him on the head with it. “And in this case, you'd be dead,” she said with a smirk.

Marco didn't say anything as he rubbed at the small bump on his head. But as he looked up, he saw Janna, still in bat form, giving the redhead an intense glare and Marco became afraid she would retaliate, giving her a pleading look, which Higgs noticed.

“What are you looking at?” she asked, turning in the direction of his stare, Bat-Jan quickly flying behind one of the beams and out of sight.

“Uh, nothing, my mistake,” Marco quickly said, jumping back to his feet. “Let's just go again.” He held his sword out in the same stance. “I'm ready this time.”

“Acting confident, huh?” Higgs said with a superior smirk. “Then let's see how ready you are?” she added, the smirk never once leaving her face.

For the next several minutes, Marco was on the defensive as Higgs mercilessly wailed on him with the surprisingly hard stick, every short fight resulting in Marco losing his balance and falling hard to the floor, where Higgs would tap his head with the sword, claiming him dead. Marco put everything he had into holding his own, trying his very best to counter her. Sometimes it would pay off, as his hands would happen to land in the right place and block her swing, which Marco would then exclaim in victory, but before he would even try and counter, it was always followed up with another move from Higgs, which often ended the fight right there. Even with his Trait, Higgs was just too skilled for him. He had no chance of beating her.

After a while though, Marco began to notice that Higgs seemed to be getting frustrated with him for some reason. Her hits grew more and more intense, not giving him any chances to attack or even counter her, and her calm smirk changed to one of barely suppressed anger. Marco had no idea what he had done to offender her, but it seemed he clearly had, as she knocked him down for the hundredth time that day. As he looked up at her, he could see the venom in her eyes. Still, he forced himself to stand, his body groaning in protest. “Ugh, why do you keep getting up?” she growled. “Just stay down already.”

“Wait, what's wrong? Why are you getting so mad? I-I thought we were having fun,” Marco asked in innocent confusion.

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say though as Higgs glared at him, hard. “Fun!” she hissed. “This isn't fun for me, this is my whole life!” She threw another wild swing at him, which Marco somehow managed to block.

“Whoa, wait! I never said it wasn't! I was just doing this so we could spend some time together, I wasn't trying to offend you or anything,” he said, sheepishly.

“Well you did!” Higgs shouted, as she pushed back on the sword, causing Marco to stumble.

Once he managed to recover, he asked with a lost look, “But, w-what did I do to make you so mad at me?”

“Oh gee, let me think,” Higgs said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “How about acting like a total moron and still managing to get the attention of the princess.” She grunted as she slammed her sword down with all her might, Marco getting pushed back once again as he blocked. “Constantly messing up and getting yourself in trouble only to have your precious girlfriend save you and then give you whatever you want!” She hit his sword again, this time completely knocking it out of his hands, his back colliding with the wall behind him. “And then even managing to get credit for helping Princess Star beat Toffee... which seriously, how? Look at you, you can't even keep a good hold of your sword.” She glared at him, pointing at him with her own sword, as he rubbed at his aching wrist with a sad look on his face. “Anyone of us here would have killed to get an opportunity to stop Toffee and end the war. But no, instead it was you who got that chance.”

Marco opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the angered redhead, as she continued her rant, now right in his face, her green eyes filled with fire and venom. “Meanwhile, I have had to work and fight and sweat to get to where I am now. And you have done nothing, so tell me, Marco, why you? What have you done to deserve any of the great things you've gotten?”

Higgs glared daggers at him as she waited for him to answer and as Marco took a quick look around the room he saw that the other knights were all staring at him, as well, the hate in their eyes telling him that they felt the exact same way. Marco paused for a long time, trying to hold back the tears he felt welling up. “I-I don't know,” he finally replied, his gaze dropping sadly to the floor.

Higgs scoffed. “Whatever,” she grumbled finally backing away and giving the boy his space. “Don't give me that act. I'm not buying it.” She turned away from the boy, crossing her arms, the other knights refusing to even look in his direction and Marco felt his heart ache, feeling lost and alone. He couldn't think of one reason for all the good things that had happened to him, either. He felt something warm and soft rub up against him and was surprised to fine Bat-Jan wrapped around his arm in a make-shift hug.

Suddenly, there was a loud yell from the entrance to the room as a familiar gruff voice yelled, “Which one of you idiots broke this door?!” Every head turned to see General Skullnick looking as angry as ever in the doorway. Marco was caught off guard as Bat-Jan quickly launched herself off his arm, hiding in the depths of his hood for safety.

No knight spoke a word, as she glared at each and every one of them, until her eyes landed on the small hooded boy hiding in the corner, looking shocked to see him for about half a second, Marco knowing he was caught. Then, her gaze slowly narrowed on his form and he felt his stomach drop. “Marco?!” she screamed, causing the boy to jump.

“Y-Yes, General Skullnick,” Marco managed to stutter out, giving her a small, halfhearted grin.

She finally pulled her focus away from him and back to her knights, who were all looking quite unnerved. “What is the princess's boyfriend doing here?!” she rumbled in pure anger.

She looked at all the sheepish faces around her, adding with a growl, “He shouldn't be here. Which one of you idiots let him in?!

Marco, as well, was examining the faces of all the clearly disturbed knights, but noticed Higgs looking extra freaked out, her face the picture of guilt and worry, her hand twitching at her side, as she just stared at her feet. He knew how important her position was, how big a deal being a knight was for her and Marco didn't wish to see her get in trouble and possibly losing her standing as the youngest knight in Mewman history.

So he sucked in a deep breath, saying in the strongest voice he could muster, “Nobody let me in, General Skullnick.” Every knight turned to him with surprise as he walked toward the angered troll, Higgs especially in shock by what was happening, none able to believe the cowering child was facing their terrifying leader alone. “I found a portal open and without really thinking about it just walked through it,” he lied. “I knew I shouldn't have but I got curious and eventually found this place here. The others were just asking me to leave actually when you showed up. Sorry for causing any trouble.”

Skullnick stared at the boy for a long intense minute, before looking at the rest of them. “Is this true?”

They all nodded and Skullnick actually looked convinced. She looked down at Marco with a scolding, but far less angry stare. “Well in that case, I'm letting you off easy this time, Marco,” she said, sounding more like a parent than an angry general. “But don't let me catch you in here again, understood?”

Marco nodded and she quickly whipped back around to the other knights as she shouted. “Now would one of you please escort Marco back to Mewni.”

“I will, general,” Higgs volunteered, doing a salute.

“Good, then as for the rest of you...” Her voice returned to a raised yell once again, as she shouted at the top of her lungs, “GET BACK OUT THERE AND LOOK FOR THAT STUPID ASSASSIN!!”

Every knight scrambled out of the building, Higgs just leading Marco out with a hand on his shoulder. Once they were outside again and out of earshot of the general, Higgs asked him, “Why did you do that?” Several other knights all turned to him, wanting to hear his answer.

“Because I knew how important it is to you being a knight and I didn't want to jeopardize that,” Marco replied. “I didn't want to see you get in trouble. General Skullnick might have taken away your knighthood if you had gotten caught,” Marco said honestly. He hesitated for a moment, his eyes filling with pain, as they slowly lowered to the ground in shame, before he added softly, “Besides what you said was true. I don't deserve all the great things that have happened to me, I was just lucky enough to have people like Star who cared about me and helped me to get to where I am. But I don't feel like I've done anything to earn them being so nice to me...”

Finally, he looked up, his gaze locking with Higgs and the young knight couldn't help but get the sense that they were on equal levels for the first time since they met. “That's why I'm trying so hard to help the Monsters make peace, to create a world where both sides, Monster and Mewmans, can be treated fairly and not have to fight each other ever again, it's my way of repaying everyone for their kindness.”

Once the boy was finished with his speech, Higgs just stared at him for a long time with a blank, empty stare, but Marco's gaze never faltered as he kept his eyes level with Higgs. Then, to Marco's surprise, the young knight smiled back, giving him the first genuine smile Marco had seen on her. “You know what you're all right, Marco,” she said, giving him a friendly punch in the shoulder. “Terrible with a sword,” she added, with a small roll of her eyes. “But still pretty alright.”

“Thank you,” Marco answered, slightly unsure by the small insult she had thrown in there. Still it was nice to finally be acknowledged by the young knight in any positive light, feeling a bit of pride fill his chest at the positive reinforcement.

“Hey kid.” Marco turned in shock, to see the same lady knight from before giving him an intense stare, the others mimicking the look and the boy grew nervous once again.

“Y-Yes,” Marco stuttered, his voice a tight squeak.

“What you did back there,” the lady knight continued, stepping closer to the boy, Marco became fearful of what she was about to do to him. But as she looked down at him, her gaze softened into a smile. “That took guts kid,” she said, sounding quite impressed with the boy and Marco's mouth nearly dropped open in shock. “You stood up for one of our own back there and I respect that.”

“O-Oh w-well I... i-it was really nothing,” Marco muttered, as his cheeks began pooling with blood. He was caught off guard as she suddenly patted his shoulder, not realizing that she nearly knocked the boy down with how hard she hit it as she laughed heartily at his blushing.

“You may not be so bad after all, kid,” the lady knight continued. “In fact, from now on you have my trust.” She smiled as she pointed behind her. “And that goes for the rest of these idiots, too.”

“Oh, wow, th-thank you,” Marco said in awe, unable to believe he had just gained the favor of the same elite knights who had been ready to tear him apart not an hour ago.

The lady knight finally released her hold of the boy's shoulder, saying, “Well we better be off, before old Skullsy sees us.” She turned to Higgs pounding a hand to her chest in salute. “Till next time, Higgs!” the knight boomed.

“Likewise!” Higgs said in the same loud tone, as she saluted back. With that, the other knights all pulled out their scissors, each cutting open their own portal, all giving a salute before stepping through. Higgs and Marco did the same, the hooded boy waved to the last of the knights as he stepped through, leaving behind an empty world, save for the one troll general.

…

Marco and Higgs stepped through the portal, now back in the same courtyard they had left from, Marco blinking as he returned to a world of bright colors again, rubbing at his shell-shocked eyes for a moment, as they struggled to adjust. “You don't really dimension hop all that much, do you?” Higgs asked, smirking at the boy.

“No, not really,” the boy laughed, still rubbing at his eyes, as they finally began to readjust to the brightness. Once they had, he and Higgs headed back inside the castle, the girl holding the door open for her young charge, Marco thanking her, glad to be back home once again.

Higgs said nothing, just walking beside him silently, as she seemed to be contemplating on saying something, not looking toward the boy as she tried to hide the slight embarrassment on her face. Finally, she looked back over to him, saying in the most sincere tone she could manage,“Hey, I just wanted to say thanks by the way. For, y'know, helping me keep my job or whatever.”

Marco looked at her in shock for a second, before smiling saying, “No problem.”

“And maybe I was a little... harsh before,” she added, in a soft tone, one Marco almost didn't catch.

“I-It's fine,” Marco answered, not sure how else to put it.

Higgs cleared her throat, again, trying to hide her embarrassment from the boy, not used to being nice to other people. “So, for that, I'm gonna cut you a deal,” Higgs said, her tone becoming more serious once more.

“Huh, what do you mean?” Marco asked in confusion.

Higgs just crossed her arms and responded, “Look, I know you don't really want me or anybody as a bodyguard...” Marco looked away from her, rubbing guiltily at his arm. “And truth is I would much rather have a different assignment than being stuck babysitting you all day. No offense.”

Marco did take slight offense to the comment, but he decided not to say anything, letting her continue. “The only problem is, you can't really take care of yourself, like at all,” Higgs explained, rather matter-of-factly.

Marco cringed, looking sheepish, a slight blush forming on his cheeks.

“I mean, you did manage to get yourself kidnapped by Toffee, twice, and from what the princess told me she just barely got in there in time to save you before that stupid lizard killed you.” Marco absentmindedly put a hand to his neck, a ghost of an ache forming in his tight throat, his gaze far away and his eyes wide with fear. “Of course you did manage to take off his hand and make him capable of being killed, props by the way, but you were literally unconscious for the rest of the fight.”

Marco looked at the ground in shame, realizing how pathetic he was, always needing rescuing from someone it seemed. But Higgs ignored the sad look, unable to stop herself as the rant continued,“And then, just a few days ago you nearly got taken again by a different Monster.” Higgs did finally take notice of the boy's distraught behavior, coughing into her hand, before mercifully saying n a much nicer tone,“So I guess what I'm trying to say is, you tend to attract some pretty bad people as enemies and right now you're just too weak to handle them on your own.”

Marco looked deflated, his whole body slumped over in sadness, his hands buried deep in his pockets, even his cheek marks had lost their shine, turning into gray storm clouds, as he asked in a depressed tone, “So, you think I still need protection?”

“Yes, but I think I have a better solution. Instead of the constant twenty-four surveillance, how about I give you some lessons in self-defense, just the basics, so you won't be totally helpless next time you get yourself in trouble.”

Marco looked at her in surprise, not sure if he had heard her right. “You... would really do that for me?” Marco asked, sounding chocked up, which instantly set off Higgs.

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Higgs said waving her arms. “Don't get me wrong, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this so I don't have to be stuck dealing with you for forever.”

Marco smiled, knowing if she really felt that way she could have just waited a week or so when Marco told Star he no longer needed a bodyguard anymore. Instead, she had willingly agreed to spend continuous time with him in the foreseeable future and without even demanding he brag about her to Star in exchange. “Okay, I accept,” Marco eagerly agreed. But he held up a finger before adding, “But on one condition.”

“What's that?” Higgs asked, raising an eyebrow at him and crossing her arms.

“You have to promise to take it easy on me, okay? I still have a ton of bruises from today,” Marco said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Higgs rolled her eyes. “Fine, I guess I can be a little easier from now on. I forget how weak you are. But, be warned, I'm not gonna hold your hand or baby you the whole time.”

Marco nodded, “Okay.” Then he surprised her by pulling her into a hug, the girl's freckled face blushing, as she becoming trapped in the young boy's warmth, not sure what to think about the sudden burst of affection from the little idiot. Though, in truth, she had grown a bit fond of the adorkable innocent, finally starting to understand what everybody found so charming about him. He did have a way of forcing his way into your heart. “Thanks, Higgs,” he whispered into her ear.

A small smile began to form on her face, but quickly realizing this, she stopped herself in the act, pushing the boy off of her, clearing her throat and hiding her blush from his view. “Okay first rule of this new agreement: No hugs,” she snapped, pretending to be annoyed by the hug, she did still have a reputation to think of afterall.

Marco nodded, before apologizing, “Right sorry.”

“Well looks like you two are getting along,” a voice said out of nowhere, the two turning to see they were being watched by the smiling faces of Star, Jackie, and wait...

“Janna!” Marco exclaimed, earning him a quizzical stare from Higgs, who had no idea what had suddenly gotten into the boy.

“Uh, yeaaahh,” Janna said, in mock confusion, the look in her eyes trying to subtly remind him of their secret. But Marco didn't notice this, as he quickly began feeling the back of his hood, shocked he hadn't even realized that his half-Monster friend had somehow exited it without him knowing. “When did you- How did you- I thought you were-” Marco stuttered, the boy sometimes forgetting how scary good his best friend could be... and sometimes how just plain scary she could be, too.

“Oh Marco,” Janna said, playing off his odd behavior as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder. “Did you fall and hit your head again?” She jokingly put a hand to his forehead as if checking for a bump, which did seem to at least semi-convince Higgs, as she looked a bit less skeptical than before.

Star, meanwhile, ignored her boyfriend's weird confusion as she walked over and kissed him on the cheek, which silenced all doubt or confusion in the boy, as his whole face turned bright red. “So, Marco, did you and Higgs have fun?” she asked, looking lovingly in his eyes.

Marco just stared at Star for second, lost in her dazzling gaze, before he realized the question she asked, quickly blurting, “Huh? Uh yeah, yeah it was a lot of fun!” Marco giggled shyly and Star nearly cooed over how adorable and precious her boyfriend was.

“Good,” she said instead. But as her gaze shifted to Janna, the look they shared instantly told Marco that Janna and Jackie had told her what had happened. All of what had happened, most likely. And it was at that moment that he remembered back at Valhalla that Janna had specifically said, 'we' when explaining why she was there keeping an eye on Marco and his new bodyguard and Marco couldn't help but wonder who's idea it had actually been to send Janna to spy on them. And from the look the royal was giving him he had a feeling that whoever it was blond and was named after bodies of celestial lights in the sky. The boy shot both Jackie and Janna a glare, silently scolding, You promised. To which they merely shrugged in unison, the look on their faces telling him all he needed to know: Sorry, she pried it out of us.

Which she totally had, as it seemed Star hadn't been nearly as absentminded during the meal as they had thought, picking up on the subtle little glares and awkward atmosphere that had consumed the table, and of course, knowing her bestie as well as she did, had instantly realized that something was off with the cheerful boy. “So everything... okay?” she asked slowly, careful with her wording to prevent Higgs from picking up on the deeper meaning, but making sure Marco did. Luckily, the hooded boy could see the message hidden behind the royal's sky blue irises, Did you and Higgs work things out? and he gave her a reassuring smile.

“Yep, all good,” he said with a cute nod, while trying to convey through his own eyes, Yeah, we did, actually. We're friends now... I think.

Star smiled back and pulled him into a tight hug. “Good,” she muttered into his ear, as she buried her head in his shoulder, Jackie soon joining in on the hug, too, as she squeezed her two crushing friends tight.

Meanwhile, all Higgs could think was, Wow, these guys hug way too much, as she fought back the eyeroll she felt tugging at the edges of her eyelids. But all of a sudden, she got the sense that the five of them were not the only ones there, her training allowing her to sense the new presences slowly coming up behind them in the cramped hallway. “Hey Marco!” Lobster Claws called out to the young boy, giving the teens a friendly wave, Beard Deer and Bearicorn standing right beside him with equally relaxed smiles. This, of course, drew everyone's attention as Star, Marco, and Jackie pulled out of their hug to smile at Marco's extended family.

Unfortunately, as Higgs turned to see the three strange creatures sharing the same hallway as her, her instincts took over as she screamed, “Intruders!”

All three Monsters jumped at her sudden shout, Lobster Claws even looking around him asking in sudden fear, “What where?!” But rather than answer him, the young knight gritted her teeth and lashed out, kicking him right in the face, causing him to fall back and crash into his other two friends.

The Monsters were all powerless to stop the young knight, as she continued to attack them, her moves quick and precise and impossible to dodge in the limited space of the hallway, Star, Marco, Jackie, and Janna just watching in horror as the three strong Monsters were easily taken down by the young girl.

Higgs grabbed Lobster Claw's arm, jerking him toward her, before expertly kicking his legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground, following it up with a finishing punch to his gut on his way down. Beard Deer and Bearicorn didn't even have time to react as she attacked the both of them at once, closing the distance, before slamming an opened palm into the dear Monsters face, his back colliding with the wall, while at the same time the fiery redhead jabbed her elbow into Bearicorn's side, causing him to stumble back.

As Beard Deer bounced off the wall, Higgs used his momentum to easily flip him over her shoulder where he landed on the groaning Lobster Claws, leaving only the recovering bear Monster on his feet. The redhead wasted no time in her assault, as she pressed one foot against the far wall and used it to launch herself into the air and to push herself forward at an incredible speed, as she flipped in mid-air, landing on the Monster and simultaneously slamming him into the ground.

In just the span of mere seconds, all three Monsters were completely down for the count, as they lay in a bruised and groaning heap on the floor. “Higgs, stop!” Marco cut in with a worried shout, as he finally recovered from his initial shock, rushing over to grab the girl's raised fist before she could start punching the furry intruder, who was covering his face with his paws and yelling, “Not the face! Not the face!” Her look of anger switched to one of confusion as she turned to the hooded boy, asking, “What, why?”

“Because they aren't intruders, they're my family!” Marco explained via yell.

There was a beat as Higgs seemed to be soaking in the new information, before finally saying in a calm tone, “Oh.” Marco released her arm, giving her a quizzical look as the girl acted as if nothing had just happened, rising up off of the frightened Bearicorn, who sighed in relief, collapsing against the ground. “My bad, force of habit,” she said to the boy with a shrug. She then merely began nonchalantly dusting the dirt off her uniform, while Marco simply sighed and went over to help Bearicorn to his feet, Star and Jackie doing the same with Beard Deer and Lobster Claws.

“Uh, sorry about Higgs, guys, she didn't know any better, she thought you were intruders,” he apologized for the girl, knowing she wouldn't on her own.

“Hey that's okay, Marco,” Bearicorn said in the lightest tone he could, considering the amount of pain he was in, as he used the boy for support to stand. “No harm, no- ow!” He quickly grabbed his side, as a sharp pain shot through it, nearly falling back down, Marco quickly trying to grab onto him to hold him steady.

Janna, on the other hand, just smiled down at the sight of Beard Deer laying on top of Lobster Claws, tapping a finger thoughtfully to her chin, as she smugly stated, “Huh, Beard Deer getting beat up by a girl. This is giving me a strong feeling of deju vu for some reason.”

“Oh, shut up, brat!” Beard Deer snapped, giving the beanie-wearing girl above him a look of anger, as he rose up off of his underling with the help of Jackie and Star, though it didn't seem nearly as venom filled as some of his other comebacks.

Marco couldn't help but cringe though, wondering if the two were about to go at it again, knowing from experience that that could last a while. Since the war had ended and peace was formed between the two races, Beard Deer and Janna had formed a bit of a... complicated relationship. While they were no longer enemies and wouldn't indulge in any kind of physical violence with one another, considering the fact that both knew Marco cared for the other greatly, they instead would constantly tease and harass each other any time they were in contact. Insult after insult would be flung back and forth between each other whenever they got the chance. Sometimes, it could even last for hours, until either one of them was the winner (which was never the case) or until they were interrupted by something, otherwise Marco felt like the Monster and Impure could just continue slandering one another for eternity.

Marco figured that it was Beard Deer's way for getting back at Janna, knowing his pride had been hurt after losing to her twice, and Janna was... well, she was Janna. But if Marco didn't know any better he would swear they both enjoyed it, well Janna obviously did, but sometimes he could swear through Beard Deer's gritted teeth he saw the hint of a grin on his face, as if constantly putting each other down was just their friendly way of interacting with one another. Marco honestly didn't understand it one bit. He had even asked Star about it one time and she had just shrugged and said that sometimes that was just how friends talked, which Marco then pointed out that he liked how they talked much better, which had caused Star to smile and give him a tight hug and quick kiss on the cheek, agreeing with his statement.

Luckily, the two didn't continue their insult game, as the Mewmans just continued to help the Monsters to their feet. Once they were all standing again, Star asked, “So what are you guys doing here, anyways?”

“Ow, Buff Frog sent us,” Lobster Claws said, before groaning using his claw to rub the top of his aching head.

This instantly gained Marco's attention as he turned to them with a hopeful look. “Wait, Buff Frog?” Marco asked, as he stepped closer to the crustacean.

“Yeah, he was still pretty busy with everything, so he asked us to come get you,” Beard Deer explained.

Marco felt his heart begin to pound, though he didn't know if it was in fear or joy, a bright smile instantly lighting up his face as he asked them eagerly, “Did he say why?”

Beard Deer smiled down at the young boy, putting a hand on his shoulder, as he said the words Marco had been waiting to hear all his life, “He said it's time he told you about your parents.”

#Star vs #Star vs AU #My Writing #Light of the Sun and Stars #Starco

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thedanceofblades-blog · 8 years ago

Text

you had to walk into mine

// Closed and already completed with @swordwithoutsheath; just transferring it over from Google Docs in honor of Sunday. Here there be smut. And Mario Kart.

Katarina is a creature of habit. She shows up at the same coffee shop at the same time every two days, and she gets the same thing from the same barista. If the same barista’s flutist brother is there, she sticks around for a few minutes to listen, but that's the only real variable.

Today, she arrives early. She gets the same thing from the same barista, yes, but she actually sits down afterwards.

Yone gives her a suspicious look from behind the counter, but says nothing. She grins at him as though he had.

Honestly, she doesn't know if Yasuo is even going to be playing today. He did have a late night, after all—

(that moment of recognition, the pause after:

“This isn't… weird, is it?”

A sharp-edged smile, a dry voice just loud enough to hear over the music. “Do you want it to be?”)

—and no one would really blame him for wanting to sleep it off. But she hopes he'll show up, because he was flustered and cute and she has nothing better to do.

There's a nagging little voice that sounds an awful lot like Riven saying she probably shouldn't be trying to meet anyone outside of work that she met inside of it, but she technically knew him before (sort of, by name and Yone’s talk about him only), and also fuck it.

Mostly the second thing. Riv worries too damn much.

Yasuo is—well, to his credit, he's not so hungover that he can't drive, which means he's not so hungover he can't play. (Yone had left water and painkillers at his bedside, as if he knew exactly what his little brother had been up to the night before. Yasuo tries not to feel a prickle of shame at the thought.) So here he is, a flute case in one hand and a frankly massive water bottle in the other, wanting nothing more than to crawl back home and into bed and forget last night had even happened.

No such luck.

Right when he walks in, right at the two-person table near the door, ten feet from the stool where he plays, there she is. Oh, god. Yasuo isn’t sure if it’s the leftover regret of breaking his streak or the sheer discomfort that comes with the knowledge that the girl looking up at him over the lip of her coffee cup was giving him a lapdance not eight hours ago, but his stomach clenches and turns a little.

And here he thought that being hungover would be his biggest problem while playing.

To his credit, Yasuo is as polite as ever as he takes his place, nodding and bowing and smiling to everyone—including her—before he gets started.

The lights in the Bunny aren't exactly the best in the world, so she didn't get to see him blush last night. It's cute. He looks a little bit ill, but he's still cute.

Kat kicks her legs up underneath the table, resting her feet on the opposite chair to observe. Yasuo keeps his eyes either closed or away from her, which is a little disappointing, but she guesses she can understand. Some people give a shit about their dignity, or whatever it is that gets violated upon realizing that you know your stripper's real name.

(Not that it's that different from her stage name, but still.)

She watches his fingers. Damn, she thinks—and then realizes how long it must have been since she last got laid if she's getting fixated on them that easily. But it has been a while, and Riven can't give her too many disapproving looks because she knew him from before, okay?

Katarina stays until he takes a break. Her coffee's been gone for a solid five minutes, but she doesn't care so much about having an excuse to be there anyway, so it doesn't matter.

"Figure I might as well come watch you at your work," she says cheerfully as he goes for his water. "Return the favor."

Yasuo doesn't think he's blushed quite so hard since...

Well, since last night, honestly. He nearly spits out his water, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as if that will cover up the near-miss spray he almost hit her with, coughing around the throatful of water that just tried to jump into his lungs.

He wonders, with some horror, if she's literally trying to kill him.

"I, uh—fuck—" Yasuo interrupts himself with another cough, holding up a hand until the fit subsides. "I hope you liked it," he says, feeling more sheepish than he has any right to.

Beat.

"Uh. In--not in the same way that—goddammit." Well, this is definitely not the most successful conversation he's ever had.

It's been a long, long time since she got someone to do that. Maybe never, since the kinds of people who showed up at her workplace were usually a little more unflappable than this.

Of course, this wasn't exactly the Bunny now, and their conversational turn was a little different when she wasn't carefully three-quarters of the way naked on his lap. But whatever.

"Who's to say I didn't like it in the same way?" Katarina asks, all sly triumph, fingers fluttering on the side of her empty cup.

Yasuo can't really envision a universe in which someone would pop a boner listening to him play the flute of all things, but—well. Weirder things have happened in his life. He feels himself blushing a little harder regardless.

"I mean, I guess it's—it's possible, but—did you?"

That was definitely not the question he wanted to ask, and he certainly didn't want to say it in such an almost squeaky tone. Fuck his entire life.

Oh god. Oh god. That's adorable. That's the kind of adorable that makes her want to get out of her chair and squish him.

Katarina tilts her head, leaning her cheek on her hand, mischief glinting in her eye. "Maybe," she drawls. "If I said yes, would you check and make sure?"

Okay, the answer is no, because she's nowhere near frustrated enough to consider a musician doing musician things to be on the same level as porn. But this is more fun.

Yasuo's brain just sort of... flatlines for a solid three or four seconds. His jaw falls open and stubbornly stays that way for the duration, making him look like a blushing moron in front of this dangerously attractive woman staring him down.

Fuck.

"'m technically on the clock," he finally manages to stammer out. Good save, Yasuo. Good fucking save. Now she probably thinks you're an idiot. "Maybe later."

...He's not sure if that's any better.

Yeah. Yeah, she does think he's an idiot. But in a good way.

"Yeah?" Kat says, pointlessly hiding a laugh in the rim of her empty cup. "I'd tell you to buy me a drink first, but I guess you already did."

She at least has the decency to not say that part too loudly when the poor guy's brother is right there and knows what she does. Yone doesn't mind taking other people's bra money, but it would probably feel a little more awkward if he knew that some of it was his sibling's.

"I'm Kat, by the way," she continues. "Since we haven't been properly introduced yet."

Yasuo's mouth stays very, very dry no matter how much water he tries to drink, so he just... he just gives up on that. It's probably a side effect of the hot redhead coming onto him in a coffee shop of all places.

God, his life is weird.

He caps his water bottle, since it won't do him any good anyway, and clears his throat until he's confident he can actually talk again.

"Yasuo," he manages, and his voice doesn't crack or falter or even squeak a bit. "Nice to, uh... meet you."

Katarina almost considers going for a sarcastic handshake, but she's fairly certain that Yasuo could short-circuit at any moment. (She's not even doing anything to him right now. This isn't that weird, is it?)

She gives him a smile, a little nod of acknowledgement. "You too," she says with restrained mirth.

Katarina usually leaves receipts to languish in her pocket until the laundry melds the paper with the fabric, but she reaches into her pocket to pull out the one from the previous hour, stealing an abandoned pen from the next table to scribble her phone number on it. Because her life has reached that kind of point, she guesses. Life is short and he's hot.

Or something like that.

She folds the receipt into an actual, monetary tip, because she hates the people who consider flirting to be tipping just as much as the next person and she can only assume that a musician with no official etiquette has it worse than her, and she flicks it across the table in the general direction of Yasuo's chest. She misses, but the paper bounces off of his shoe, so that's close enough.

Kat gets up out of her chair, collecting her cup. "Now we're even," she says, and she turns to leave.

4:27 PM hey

4:27 PM this is yasuo

4:27 PM flute guy

4:28 PM uh. fuck. is this even the right number?

1631 hope it is

1631 depends on if you wanted to talk to me or not

4:32 PM ...

4:32 PM you could start by telling me if i'm right or not

1632 depends who youre trying to talk to

1632 :)

1633 this is kat. lol.

4:33 PM ちくしょう

4:34 PM you nearly gave me a heart attack

1635 want me to make it up to ypu

1635 and what does that say

4:35 PM 'goddammit'

4:35 PM ......dare i ask what you mean tho

1636 ill have to remember that one wont i

1636 feel like ill be seeing it again

1637 what do you think it means?

4:36 PM lmao, probably

4:36 PM well

4:36 PM considering how you were talking at the shop

4:37 PM something you'd put in overtime for

4:38 PM .....that wasn't a dick thing to say was it

1639 lol

1639 almost smooth. you dont talk to many strippers do you

1639 anyway i fuck for free. anything else is illegal

4:39 PM i try

4:39 PM sometimes i succed

4:40 PM *succeed, even. fuck

4:40 PM good to know i guess :p

1640 you suck sometimes? glad i ran into you

4:43 PM ......

4:43 PM not sure how to respond ot that

4:44 PM give me a minute to think up a decent comeback

1646 two minutes

1646 got anything?

4:47 PM ......nope

4:47 PM kat 1, yasuo 0

1647 damn right

1647 what do i win

4:47 PM ...

4:48 PM ; )

1648 ...go on...

1649 really dont leave me hanging here yas

1649 i have plenty of ideas if youre out

4:49 PM your ideas are probably better than mine anyway

4:50 PM shoot :p

1650 i wouldnt be so sure

1651 wouldnt say no to some role reversal of the other day

1651 but if you cant dance im sure we can come up with something

1651 strip mario kart?

4:51 PM you really don't want to see me dance, lol

4:52 PM .....explain the rules first, then we'll talk

1653 like strip poker but less boring

1653 whichever one comes behind takes something off

1653 ...lol

4:53 PM at the end of every lap or every course?

4:53 PM wanna be sure i understand the rules 100% before i commit

1654 depends how many tracks were playing

1654 amd how many layers you have on

1654 im not picky about how fast you lose to me

1655 and if you run out of clothes too fast we can always bet other things

1655 im also flexible on what those things are

1656 ... ;)

4:55 PM you know what they say about assumptions, kat

4:55 PM i am pretty damn good at mario kart

4:56 PM though i don't mind a bit of high-stakes gambling now and then :p

1656 is that a challenge, fluteboy?

1656 i like your ass anyway

1656 something tells me the feeling is mutual

4:57 PM ......you havent even seen it

4:57 PM (...yet)

4:57 PM and since its hot out, maybe by the course is better

4:58 PM that way it isn't over too soon :p

1658 dont worry yas i wont judge you for that

1658 we all get too excited sometimes

4:59 PM lmao

4:59 PM if you can manage to get me THAT excited over mario kart, i'll give you a dollar

5:00 PM .......or is that illegal

1700 think it's just betting at that point

1700 maybe give me a candy bar or something instead just in case

1701 when are we doing this?

5:01 PM good call

5:04 PM i'm free most evenings, so

5:05 PM you tell me

1705 well

1706 im free now and yesterday

1706 and the same next week

1706 mostly work evenings obv

5:06 PM you make a compelling argument

5:07 PM where do you live

5:07 PM and shoud i bring snacks/?

1708 edgeview, building closer to the school, 405

1708 and i wont sayno

1708 ...depending

1708 but ill try anything at least once

Katarina throws on a shirt and comfortable pants after tossing her phone to the side, just in case Yasuo was living next door the whole time and can show up in thirty seconds. After a moment's reflection—she's sure she can beat him, because she's sure she can beat most people, but it might be close enough for her to want more than the minimum number of layers for decency--she hikes her shirt up and puts a bra on underneath it.

No socks, though. She doesn't want to look too prepared.

Yasuo doesn't really bother with anything fancy—after all, the whole plan is to just tear it all off one way or another anyway and god he can hear Yone silently berating him even as he climbs into his car—; just a clean pair of jeans, boxers, sandals, and the nearest clean T-shirt he can grab on his way out the door.

And a baseball cap, but that's more because it's sunny out than any sort of precaution. He's confident in his Mario Kart skills.

Finding the place is easy enough, thank heaven, as is bringing up the bag of miscellaneous snack food he picked up on the way.

Knocking... that's the hard part. This is a bad, bad idea. If he were thinking, he'd just drop the bag by the door and go back home, and then he wouldn't have to disappoint his brother when he walked back in their door.

...

He knocks.

Okay. Too long for him to live downstairs, but he's close. She'd assume the dorms if not for Yone... hmm.

Not that it really matters too much. Kat pushes herself off the couch, swinging the door open and grinning up at him. (God, he's taller than she thought. She hadn't really looked when he wasn't sitting down.)

"Hey," she says, stepping back to sit on the arm of the couch. "I hope you're ready to embarrass yourself."

God, she's short. He'd noticed that, somewhere in the back of his mind, in the coffeeshop, but... God, she's short.

Yasuo hoists the bag of miscellaneous junk food into the air, flashing a lopsided grin that shows much, much more confidence than he's actually feeling about this whole endeavor. He follows her inside, yanking the door closed with his ankle and dropping the bag on the couch cushions before following shortly after. "Please," he says. "Even if I don't kick your ass—which I will—I've got nothing to hide."

...That came out simultaneously better and worse than he had hoped.

Kat swivels on the couch arm, fingers quick to tug the plastic open to examine its contents.

Its contents are very colorful. They are also all labeled in Japanese. Unhelpful.

"Red one's mine," she says, nodding at the little basket of controllers as she grabs for the remote. The television flares into life with a fuzzy click. "I don't care about the other ones."

Yasuo helpfully empties the bag, picking out his favorites and laying them out in a row. The others he'd just sort of assumed she'd like, since he had no idea if an American stripper would be particularly fond of うまい棒. (He loves the stuff, so the bag is almost a third full of it.)

"I can tell you what everything is—if you want," he adds. Kat doesn't seem to be the sort to shy away from unfamiliar experiences.

The only other choice of controller seems to be black or blue. He takes the latter. "Ready to get your ass wrecked?"

...That was also the best and worst thing for him to say. He's on some sort of roll here.

Katarina picks up one of the packages he'd arranged. The picture denotes something round and pleasant-looking, maybe with powdered sugar involved; it's hard to tell.

Katarina raises an eyebrow at him. "On the first date, Yas?"

Yasuo raises an eyebrow right back. "We're playing strip Mario Kart," he points out dryly. "Not exactly a traditional first date by... anybody's standards, 's far as I know." Although who knows; Kat might just be weird.

He picks up his silently claimed controller and one of the うまいぼ, putting the latter between his thighs to unwrap it. "My brother is friends with the guy who owns the Asian market," he adds by way of explanation for all the Japanese food he's brought. "We get honorary employee discounts."

Kat nods approvingly. "Smart," she says, as if employee discounts are the only reason anyone would befriend a grocer.

She runs a cursory eye over Yasuo's attire. He took his shoes off already for some reason, leaving him about as clothed as she is. Worst-case scenario, the main part of the game would only take about seven courses (six, if he went commando).

...She set it to go through all of them anyway.

"Not traditional," she allows, "but I don't have to trust you to play strip anything with you." Kat pulls her hair out of her face and starts flicking through the characters.

Yasuo isn't sure if he's meant to laugh at that last remark. He does anyway, because it's kind of funny either way. God, where is his life going if he's started laughing at stripper humor?

He's just... not going to think about that, because otherwise he can hear Yone's berating voice in his head and that's the exact opposite of sexy.

Once he chases his brother out of his brain, Yauso quickly flicks to Luigi, because anyone who doesn't love Luigi is wrong.

"So," he says, taking a bite from his うまいぼ while he cycles through the vehicles, "aside from this—" he nods towards the screen—"what do you do with your downtime?"

This is the weirdest place to have a normal conversation. Not that that's going to stop him.

She almost, almost picks Toad just for the psychological warfare, but it isn't worth the speed hit. Daisy instead, then, just for the sheer hell of it.

"Besides this and bothering musicians?" she corrects him, lounging back on the couch as the first course loads. "A little of everything, I guess. You?"

Katarina nearly runs him off the road through sheer determination on the first curve. It sets both of them behind, but it's worth it.

"Used to do a little of everything," Yasuo says, biting off a chunk of うまい棒 before the course loads all the way in. Around the mouthful, he continues: "These days I'm stuck at college, honestly. 's amazing how much of a timesink that shit can be."

And that's about as much as he can say about himself without making himself balk. God, no wonder he hasn't had a date since he came to this country.

Katarina's lips pull into a secret smile. "I studied astrophysics and aeronautical engineering," she says, just to be a dick. "I know what you mean."

Not that she finished. But she doesn't have to tell him that.

He pulls ahead of her before a lightning strike hits. She pulls a face; might be a little more evenly matched than normal.

But that just makes it a challenge.

—holy shit. All right then. It occurs to Yasuo that he's even more out of his depth than he'd originally thought.

"God, now I feel boring," he says with a self-deprecating laugh. "I'm just studying music."

One of the 'bots sets off a squid, and Yasuo makes a strangled noise of annoyance. Not that winning or losing, in this instance, is a bad thing in either direction, but god, he's too competitive for this shit.

"You're cute," Katarina says. "You don't have to be interesting." (She grins afterwards, just to make sure he knows she's teasing.)

Yasuo is just a little too good for her to feel safe just chattering away, so she focuses on the game for a little while. On the third lap, as soon as she hits the longest straightaway, she—very quickly—leans over, kissing him in the hopes that maybe it'll make him wipe out somewhere.

Yasuo snorts. "Oh, believe me, I don't think I'm boring," he says. "Just my major. You have to be at least a level fifteen friend and pick all the right conversation options before you unlock my tragic backstory, sorry."

When she falls silent, he does too, eyes and focus narrowing until his mind is solely on the game. So much so that, when he feels her lips against his cheek, he honest-to-God doesn't notice for a second. When he does, he starts, glancing over at her in confusion—

—and falls straight into the drink. Fucking Lakitu bullshit motherfucking—

He watches her kart rush past the line and peels out of his shirt in a huff.

Katarina takes several seconds to examine the results of her ill-won victory, a smile spreading over her face. (Turns out fluteboy doesn't look bad half-naked. Who knew?)

"I don't know how that's going to work, Yas," she says. "I'm used to being the mysterious one with the sob story. I've even got the scars for it."

...Huh. Come to think of it, she wonders if he'd even managed to see them all—the lights in the Bunny aren't exactly conducive to noticing details, and Yasuo wasn't exactly looking too observant at the time. Oh well.

She turns sideways on the couch, draping her legs over his lap as she starts the next round.

Yasuo stretches a little for her, trying not to look too smug. There's something very flattering about being ogled by a woman who's paid to look good.

"Who says we can't both be?" he counters. "Not every scar's physical, you know."

That unexpected bout of deepness out of the way, Yasuo turns his focus back to the screen—or tries to, because suddenly her legs are stretched across his thighs and no. If she thinks she can use her feminine wiles to make him suck at Mario Kart twice, she's got another thing coming.

"Nice try," he adds, glancing at her sidelong.

Very nice. He should put that on a shirt.

"I don't know what you mean," Kat replies as innocently as she can. "If I were trying, you'd know." But since he can apparently be distracted—or at least startled or confused—by a kiss on the cheek, she doesn't think she'll have to really try all that hard.

The starting horn sounds. As soon as they pull far enough ahead of the bots for her to feel safe splitting her attention, she speaks again. "So what, we take turns brooding and being mysterious?"

Yasuo snickers. "Seems fair to me."

...god, he's starting to feel a bit nippy already. A part of him (the part that's thankfully getting a bit louder now than his own brother's concerned voice in his head) hopes that they start doing something a little more heat-generating soon.

(Fuck, this was a mistake.)

"Gotta say," he says, trying to ignore the goosebumps her air conditioning is causing, "I'm honestly impressed that that's what you studied. 's the sort of shit that always went right over my head."

Katarina nearly overcorrects her turn in protest. "Yasuo," she says, mock-stern. "Just because my father is MIA doesn't mean I need you to make dad jokes for him." Honestly now.

She sneaks glances at him every time there's an opportunity to do so without crashing. Sure, she'll probably be able to actually look at a lot more of him than just his chest if this goes well, but... still. It's the principle of the thing.

...Yasuo is just going to pretend that he meant that to be the most brilliant joke he's made in months, rather than just a happy accident in his second goddamn language. He grins broadly, giving a theatrical shrug.

This, unfortunately, coincides with a lightning strike followed by a red shell from one of the 'bots.

And a fuckton of a lot of swearing. He falls behind horribly, and all the determination and gritted teeth in the world do little to save him.

It's an awful way to lose, but all Yasuo gets is a sympathetic wince. Partly because he jerks to his feet and starts peeling his trousers off before she could even think of any other reaction, and that's just a little bit distracting.

Yasuo, Katarina is quickly realizing, looks very nice. "Wouldn't have pegged you for a flutist," she says, half to herself and without really realizing she's talking.

She doesn't know what her mental image of a flute player looked like, but it didn't coincide with the mental image of someone who knows what the inside of a gym looks like, somehow. (Although it's not like violins and strippers mesh in her mind, either, so she should really have known better.)

Yasuo gives her an absolutely baffled look for that comment. "What's a flutist supposed to look like?" he asks, all cool gone in face of total confusion.

Maybe he's just good-looking enough to have startled the sense out of her somehow. Not that that's likely, given her profession and how many men (and women, probably) she sees on a nightly basis, but... hey. A guy can dream.

"You're gonna lose one of these times," he mutters, shifting in hopes of keeping back the chill.

She folds her legs back over him as soon as he settles in. "I don't know," Kat says. "Scrawny, maybe." Honestly, she has no idea.

It's been a while.

She starts the next round, partly as a challenge to his last statement and partly to redirect the conversation away from how her brain has stepped away from the controls in celebration of the (presumptive) end to her dry spell.

He wins. She's not even entirely sure how he wins; nothing particularly catastrophic happened to her. He just ends up in front of her and nothing she does stops it.

"Hm," Katarina says thoughtfully, and pulls her shirt off without ceremony.

Yasuo snorts and rolls his eyes. "Flutists go to the gym too," he says. "Y'know. When we have the time." Between the café and classes, he doesn't usually. But he tries, dammit.

All thoughts of arguments briefly vanish in the face of Kat in actually decent light, all pale skin and pronounced curves and goddamn Yone is going to be so—

No. He's not going to think about his brother right now. Cross that bridge later. The current bridge is the slight arc of Kat's spine, causing her ribs to leave slight shadows in the cold light of the television. Yasuo forces himself to stop staring, though not before the sheer volume of scars across her sides hits brain and he starts to wonder, despite himself.

"So," he says, partly to distract himself and partly to distract her so he can win more than just one race by the end of the day, "do you do strip Mario with all the boys, or am I special?"

"I could teach you how to dance," Kat says. "It doesn't take long once you get used to it." She's selfless, really.

She bites the inside of her cheek as she considers her reply, grunting her displeasure as she swerves away from a star-powered Wario straight into a green shell. "No one's seen me naked outside of work in a couple of years," she answers. "But don't worry. I'm not so desperate I lost my sense of taste."

He's relentless, sticking close to her, targeting her as specifically as he can with everything he can get ahold of the second she starts to catch up again... which never takes long, because they left the bots far behind midway through the first lap.

No one should be turned on by someone else's Mario Kart skills, and yet here she is. Katarina almost doesn't care when he zooms over the finish line first. Almost.

She leaves her pants untouched, reaching up to unclasp her bra and flick it at him in the hopes that maybe breasts will be more distracting than legs.

...It's colder in here than she thought it was. And Yasuo's eyes keep flicking between her and the screen and if she's feeling chilly than he must be feeling worse, right? There's no harm in continuing this later. It’s the selfless thing to do.

She breathes, biting down on her bottom lip before putting her controller on the back of the couch and sitting up. Yasuo jerks a little as she moves to straddle him, but it doesn't seem to be in protest.

"Call it an intermission," Katarina says, angling her hips and pushing down, her hands on his shoulders. She smiles into something that's almost a kiss. "Show me what you wanted to do to me yesterday."

—well then.

Yasuo has already gone this far. There's no reason to beat around the bush anymore, right? (Unless she's into that.) He puts his controller down on the arm of the couch, hands immediately moving to her hips, trying not to squirm under her at the sudden pressure. Shit, it's been too long.

"Wouldn't have thought I'd ever see the day," he says, kissing a line down the side of her neck, "that someone would get hot and bothered playing Mario Kart." First time for everything, he supposes.

He stops at her shoulder, frowning at the friction every time one of them shifts. There's still way too much fabric in this equation.

"You really want to see?" Yasuo asks, fingertips slipping (barely) beneath the waistband of her panties.

His mouth is soft and his stubble is scratchy and they both leave tingles in their wake. Kat's eyes are lidded, a lazy smile on her face, a shiver jolting down her skin as his fingers tuck themselves underneath her remaining clothes.

She very much likes what his voice does when it's quiet and challenging, she decides. (And she doesn't, as a rule, turn down challenges.)

"Mmhm," she answers. She laughs, arching her back to press closer to him. Her breasts graze his skin, just barely. "I'll try almost anything once. And you don't look nearly crazy enough to want the things I won't say yes to."

Really, though, the guy should work on his phrasing. If she didn't already feel like she had a good read on him, she would have worried he was using this as a lead-up to ask to shit on her or something.

Yasuo bites down on his lower lip, a lopsided smile crinkling his eyes. "I wouldn't worry about that," he tells her. "I have a rule—don't do the weird stuff until the second time." (Frankly, the question was less one to ascertain how kinky she is and more one to ensure she actually wants this. But hey, good to know.) "Makes it easier to get a feel for the other person, you know?"

He turns her, pushing her down onto her back on the couch. Her pants are quickly removed, and he starts to kiss a line down her body.

For a split second, Yasuo considers getting up and muting the television just so the end-of-race music will stop, because it may be the least sexy tune ever. But there's a gorgeous redhead under him, and he's gotten this far... He can deal with some cheesy music for a while.

Kat snickers again, wriggling against the cushions to try and get comfortable.

She wants to make a clever reference in return (because honestly, that was not among the fandoms she'd've assumed they shared), but what actually comes out of her mouth is: "I wouldn't mind getting a feel for you."

Which is possibly the corniest thing she's said in her life, and she will not apologize for it.

She exhales, watching him as she reaches down to pull the tie from his hair and brush her fingers through it. As he keeps trailing kisses down to her stomach, she internally laments her choice of underwear—not because Batman is ever a bad choice, but because it's very thick and comfortable cotton and she won't be able to feel as much until he takes them off.

Which will hopefully be soon. Kat squirms a little, her knees falling a little farther apart. (So he has more room on the couch between them, of course. She's just being considerate.)

Her controller slips off of the arm of the couch and drops onto her shoulder. She bats it away.

Yasuo has to draw back for a second, just to give her a Look for that line. "Now I'm not so sure about this," he says dryly, but he's quick to contradict himself by bending down again and kissing her pulse. His hands start to trace the lines of her body, enjoying the smooth warmth of her skin.

The controller clatters to the floor, which startles Yasuo a little, but he recovers quickly enough. And hey, he's already mostly tuning out that end screen music. Progress.

"What do you like?" he murmurs.

Her eyes are closed, her body slack against the couch excepting the tension under his hands as she moves into his touch. Katarina strongly suspects that part of her might be melting at the question.

Fucking charmer. She's keeping this one.

"Uhhm," she says. He's still wearing his hat. She takes it off because it's just unnecessary and she can't do much about his underwear from here. "Just--keep touching me." Katarina reaches for him, her fingers tracing muscle and tendon and bone, exploring him in turn. She can reach the waistband of his boxers, she finds, but not nearly as far in as she'd really like to.

"I take the lead enough at work," she says suddenly. "I like having it taken back."

Within reason, but she's not interested in the intricacies of language just at the moment. She cranes her neck and manages to get at the space between his shoulder and his pulse, kissing it, biting a small mark where it's easy to hide.

Oh, he can work with that. Yasuo turns his head slightly, giving her better access to his throat. A quiet sigh passes his lips—contentment and relief after so long in an empty bed. (Or couch, as the case may be.)

He kisses a line down from the hollow of her throat to her navel, glancing up and flashing a wicked grin. His fingers trail down her ribs to her hips, until his hand is braced comfortably on her thigh.

Is he waiting for encouragement to continue? Is he teasing? Is he just being a little shit? The answer is yes.

Katarina happily takes advantage, exploring his neck with her lips and tongue until he moves too far down to continue.

Not that the loss hits her too hard given where he ends up. She looks down at him—flash of heat at his smirk, the hollow feeling between her legs deepening—and she waits for just a second to see if he's going to do anything else.

He doesn't. A muscle in her thigh twitches under his palm.

"What," she asks (and no matter how hard she tries to make her voice sound irritable it refuses to do it), "are you waiting for an invitation or do you need me to explain where everything is?"

"Oh, I've been around enough to know where everything is, don't worry," Yasuo tells her with a snicker. He kisses below her navel, shutting his eyes as he inhales the scent of her. (There's nothing all that poetic about it; nice soap and the general smell of her apartment linger on her skin, with an undercurrent of something he can't quite put words to. It's something he won't admit he missed about... this.)

It takes a hell of a lot of scrunching, but Yasuo manages to position himself (mostly) comfortably between her thighs. With a sultry look that he hopes doesn't betray what he's about to do, he purrs "いただきます" and promptly gets to work before she can react.

She's heard that before. She's heard that before, but her underwear is finally off (okay, dangling from one ankle, but that's close enough for her right now) and maybe flutists are a repository of innuendo for more than just fellatio or maybe she's just incredibly wound up but the instant he ducks down she stops being able to think for a few seconds.

"Oh," she gasps. And then, when she figures out where she knows that phrase: "oh god you didn't just," and then a breathless and hitching laugh.

Terrible joke or no, Kat shudders, trying to grind up against his tongue. A low sound rises to her throat and she bites her lip on it, returning one of her hands to his hair and experimentally giving it a gentle tug.

Yasuo chuckles, though he doesn't move back at all, keeping his focus (mostly) on Kat and her pleasure. It's been a while since he's done this, and he's out of practice, but he still remembers a few tricks.

One hand reaches up, massaging her breast while the other keeps hold on one of her thighs, and he groans quietly, letting the sound rumble against her skin.

She wants to say something. She wants to say something clever and sexy and encouraging, something that could adequately convey how incredibly fucking glad she is that he showed up in the Bunny and was cute and wasn't weird about anything, and that he proceeded to take everything else completely in stride.

None of her cooperates. Her eyes slide shut, her spine arching awkwardly as she tries to move closer to his mouth and his hand at the same time. Kat does manage to wrestle her throat into submission, but only gets a hitching whine out before it closes.

Her leg slips sideways in her bid to splay out for him as much as she can, her heel thunking off of the couch entirely.

And onto her controller, where it had managed to skitter away out of reach.

The endgame music cheerfully replaces itself with the fanfare announcing a new round and Katarina curses, trying to sit up before realizing how very much she can't.

...oh, fuck. Yasuo jumps up, letting go of her and scrambling as fast as he can to grab his own controller. "Next time we do this—" this extremely specific thing that he never anticipated doing, let alone enjoying this much—"I may have to tie you up before we actually start anything. I don't want to lose on Rainbow Road because I'm too busy eating you out," he says dryly.

Though that would make for an interesting game for them to play. One of them plays bots while the other... distracts them. He might just have to suggest that after they're done with this race.

She misses the initial speed boost by grabbing the controller too late, but so does Yasuo, so at least there's that.

Katarina's laugh is raspy and uneven as they round the first corner. "Most people wouldn't consider that losing, Yas," she says. "But if you really want to tie me up, I won't stop you."

Internally, she revels a little (a very little) at next time.

Neither one of them is playing as well as they ought to—Wario actually ends up in first place for a few seconds, much to her consternation—but it's still frighteningly close. She wins, sort of, but she really only pays enough attention to that to realize that it gives her some kind of permission to take the rest of his clothes off.

But she pauses the game first this time, and she puts the controller on top of the television where it can't throw itself underfoot, and then she goes to crouch onto the floor in front of the couch and help him out of his underwear.

Even his dick is pretty, Kat thinks almost angrily. Or maybe she just thinks it is because she desperately wants it right now.

Settling down onto her knees, her hands resting on his hips, Katarina leans forward—fair's fair, even if she doesn't have anything (arguably) clever to say beforehand—and gives his cock a preliminary lick. Just a little, just with the tip of her tongue, to see how he feels about it.

Yasuo considers, briefly, shooting back with something clever, but he's far too focused on both the game in front of them and the one they've made for themselves to actually say anything aloud. And then her nimble fingers are pulling down his briefs and fuck it's such a relief to have his hard-on not constricted by the cotton that he unconsciously lets out a breathy sigh before she even touches him.

And then.

This is the sort of thing he would have had dreams about as a teen, Yasuo thinks distantly. A bright-eyed redhead kneeling between his thighs, pupils blown and face flush, the bright red of her lips and tongue and oh fuck.

Yasuo grips the couch cushions, his head falling back as he groans. It's been way, way too damn long.

Katarina grins, not that Yasuo can see it at the moment, deciding that that's enough encouragement for now. She moves her left hand from his thigh to loosely wrap it around his cock, circling it with her tongue before sucking the head into her mouth.

She watches him through hooded eyes, stroking him slowly, scratching the curve of his hip gently with her fingernails. Turnabout, she reasons, and moans deliberately around his cock so he can feel it.

Fuck. She doesn't have the patience for this. Kat pulls off of him, pushing her hair out of her face.

"I have a bed if you're interested," she says.

Yasuo gives a full-body shiver, eyes refusing to stay open no matter how badly he wants to watch her. Fuck. Forget his teen self, his present self is going to be having dreams about this for months.

He almost complains when she pulls away, but she makes her offer before he gets the chance. All his previous doubts fade away, as does all his self-control. "Please," he says. (As does his dignity too, apparently.) "Any longer on this couch and I think my spine might snap," he adds, to recover from the vague embarrassment of devolving to begging so quickly.

It occurs to him, when he wakes up blearily under a pile of frankly unreasonably soft blankets (under the watchful eyes of at least ten different plastic Stargate characters, judging him from her bookshelf), that he hadn't bothered to actually kiss Kat on the mouth before he started kissing her in other places. That... has to be some sort of record. He's not sure if he should be proud or embarrassed.

The first thing Katarina is aware of upon waking up is someone else's limbs wrapped completely around her body. It's actually really, really impressive.

And very warm. And there is no way to get out of the cage of arms and the leg hooked over her thighs without waking up the owner of said arms and leg. Which she doesn't think he deserves, really. If he were bad in bed, she would absolutely wake him up, but... well, but he wasn't. So she's stuck.

At least she can reach her phone, barely. So there's something.

It takes twenty minutes, but Yasuo finally stirs, his arms tightening experimentally before he seems to figure out what she is and what she's doing there. She turns her head, but can't quite do it enough to look at him.

"Morning," she says. "If you let me up I can make you a coffee or something." Because as much as she likes it when Yone breaks through his customer service face to give her a look of concern or disappointment or growing dread, even she thinks that waltzing into the café with his bleary-eyed, sex-and-then-shower-and-then-sex-in-the-shower-itself-and-then-sleeping-in-a-stranger's-bed-rumpled brother in tow would be a bit much.

"Morning," Yasuo mumbles, his voice scratchy from sleep. Lazily, he cranes his neck down to kiss the crown of her head. (If her mouth weren't still too far away, he'd go ahead and fix the little problem that now won't stop nagging at the back of his mind. Damn it.)

It takes a few seconds for her offer to crawl through his ears and into his sleep-addled brain. When it does, he disentangles himself—with some considerable effort—and flops onto his stomach, face buried in a pillow.

"Coffee's'nice," he murmurs. Warm mattresses are even nicer.

Katarina snickers to herself, stretching the kinks out of her spine now that the human octopus has finally freed her.

He could have worse nighttime habits, though. At least this isn't inconvenient enough not to be a little bit cute. It's not really a point against him.

She doesn't bother putting her clothes on when she leaves the bedroom; her blinds are down if not closed, and there's no way anyone could see much from the street with the floor she's on. (And even if they could, she might consider the morning light slanting through the slats to be worth it.) She's between trips to the grocery store, so it's not like she'll burn her tits on wayward bacon grease or anything.

Kat's coffee maker hasn't seen as much use since she discovered the cafe, but it gurgles into life with only minimal grumbling and produces its mostly adequate product in short order.

And then she realizes she has no idea how he likes his coffee, so she just puts the pot on a pizza pan with some milk and a bowl of sugar and an extra mug and wanders back into her room.

She carefully places the sheet next to his shoulder. "Coffee," she says by way of conversation, and starts attacking her own cup.

Yasuo rolls over like a log on a slope, and makes a noise similar to one too. With a grunt, he pushes himself up until he's sitting propped against the wall, taking the cup in one hand and the pot in the other. "Thanks," he mumbles, still half-asleep despite his best efforts. He pours in an almost—almost—embarrassing amount of milk with a paradoxically small spoonful of sugar, stirs it, and fairly chugs the whole damn thing, scalded tongues be damned.

He's been a university student for long enough now that this is just his routine at this point. ...Minus the naked redhead, though that is a nice bonus.

"Sleep well?"

Katarina reaches up to pull her tangled hair away from her shoulders, smiling at the ravenous way he downs the coffee.

"No other way I could sleep after that," she says—testing the waters, mostly, seeing how comfortable he is with what they did after the initial lust has faded.

She scoots to sit next to him, their shoulders touching as she sips her coffee. "You?"

Yasuo glances at the carafe, idly wondering if there's enough left for him to have another cup, or if that would be rude. After a second's deliberation, he decides that fuck it, might as well.

"Can't argue with that," he says with a lopsided grin. "Probably the best night's sleep I've had since..." He wrinkles his nose. "Since before I started school. Damn."

Another drink of coffee, this one much less ravenous. Yasuo glances at her sidelong. "Guess I should be thanking you," he adds.

Kat grins into her mug, more pleased than she feels like admitting. Smug? Smug works.

"I can think of a few ways you could thank me, if you're taking suggestions," she offers, taking a moment to drag her eyes down his body like she hadn't spent a good chunk of the previous evening examining it in detail anyway. "If you wanted to make this a regular thing, just to blow off steam..."

Yasuo lies back a little, casually sipping his coffee. He's pretty sure she's seen enough of him up close that she doesn't need to scan it quite like that, but who is he to deny the pretty redhead who practically gave him breakfast in bed—and after a night like that? He's pretty sure there's some phrase about horses that applies here.

"All right, Commander Shepard," he says, cracking another grin. "Seems fair to me."

Her heart honest-to-God skips a beat. He didn't, she thinks. He doesn't. He can't. Is the Japanese translation that weirdly true to form or was the first thing he did upon coming to America to just play fucking Mass Effect?

Either way, he deserves so much better than her. Damn.

Kat laughs—a surprisingly natural sound, startled and delighted. "Is this your favorite spot on the Citadel, Vakarian?"

Yasuo grins, laughter easily bubbling up in his throat. "Starting to look that way, Commander," he says, leaning over to bump his forehead against hers before finally—fucking finally—kissing her on the lips.

(This is fast becoming the weirdest, most specific roleplay he's ever done. And honestly, at this point, he can't bring himself to mind.)

Katarina kisses him back cheerfully, reaching with the hand not occupied with her cup to find the tangle of his surprisingly soft hair. His mouth tastes more of coffee than of morning breath, which she appreciates, and--wait.

"We didn't do that yet, did we?"

#you had to walk into mine #au: battle bunny #x: ready for trouble? | (interactions)#p: starting at the end | (yasuo x katarina)#swordwithoutsheath #x: my pleasure | (nsfw)

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