Summary: So much has changed in such a short time for Star Butterfly in the aftermath of Meteora's attack on her kingdom - and her relationship with Marco has been no exception. Despite the feelings in their hearts finally being in sync, one burning question is still left in both of their minds: "What are we?"

"So tomorrow we need to start planning the next wave of patrols for my mom, we've already checked everywhere I could think the weird unicorn thing might have sent her."

"Ok, well, I have an idea-" Marco struggled to keep pace as Star practically flew down the corridor, nearly bowling over the eager servants and knights along the way.

"And with Eclipsa and Glossaryck both being gone, I need to somehow keep practicing my magic without the wand. It's not reliable enough, and I need to convince the people that I'm a worthy queen for now."

"I'm always down for battle training-"

Star continued her rambling as if he wasn't there, tugging at the ends of her hair as it degraded into a frazzled mess. "And the castle needs repairs, and I still don't know what to do about the Magical High Commission, and the cooks won't stop bugging me about the dessert options for corn's sake!" She jolted as Marco's hand firmly gripped her shoulder from behind, the two of them stopping so suddenly that Marco almost toppled them both. He turned her to face him, grabbing both shoulders as his concerned and compassionate eyes bore into hers.

"Star, I know this is all important, and I'm scared now just like like we were before Meteora attacked, but I'm more worried for you now than I ever was then. It… it's tearing me apart to see you like this. Can you just step back and take a break, just for a little bit?"

She removed both his hands, knuckles turning white from their anxiety-fueled deathgrip on her, and sighed mournfully as her head dropped. Both of them noticed that she didn't let go of his hands, but made no moves to break the connection; in the whirlwind of emotions left over from the harrowing attack on the castle, they had at least managed to sort out the fact that they liked each other, once and for all, after so much heartbreak between them. But with the spectre of Star's new role looming over their heads, and the leftover awkwardness between them (despite Star and Tom resolving things far more amicably than any of the three could have imagined they would), neither of them found the time nor mental energy to prioritize discussions about their relationship. Sure, hugs made her chest flutter more than ever, increasingly casual handholds helped soothe her fretting, and the brief kiss they'd shared when they cemented that newfound understanding had felt more like home than even Mewni itself nowadays, but what mattered more than any of these details was the simple truth that she had him, and he had her, and no more needed said.

Marco finally broke the silence of what felt like the first still moment for either of them in eons. "If it makes you feel any better, Tom and I already came up with a few more ideas about how to find your mom, he's got some cool demon curses that might actually help us. Plus I set up a rotating schedule with the kitchen until further notice. It's not anything fancy, but I did manage to sneak cake into breakfast once a week."

A strained smile made its way onto Star's face as she finally looked up at him. "I guess if I'm really going to rule Mewni my way, cake for breakfast is a good start. Thanks, Marco. You… you've been so great these past few weeks, you're working just as hard as I am. I seriously don't know what I'd do without you."

Marco saw her eyes light up like a cloudless sky, a spark so rarely seen in them these days, and it made his heart swell. He let go of one of her hands and beckoned for her to follow him, still holding on to the other. They made their way through the castle, stopping right outside the door to her expansive bedroom.

"Alright, so full disclosure, I snuck into your room earlier to set this up. We can keep it for a while, my parents are gonna be pretty busy with the baby so they really won't have time-"

"Marco, you're rambling."

"Right, right. Ok, so here goes nothing." He opened the door, revealing… Star's normal bedroom, although oddly tidier than usual.

"Uh, Marco?"

"It was a bit of a mess here, so I had to clean up a bit to fit it, but…" he stepped aside, letting her see the far corner of the room, revealing a couch and television. "I thought, maybe, since everything is so crazy around here lately, we could start doing Friendship Thursday again, as a break from it all, you know? I even brought the big blanket and made some nachos. But if you want to start working on your plans tonight instead, I totally understa-" A peck on the cheek left him sputtering, words failing to escape his lips with any coherence.

"Marcoooo, I… yeah, you know what, yeah! I'd love to. Like you said, neither of us can keep going without just some time off, and I'd be honored to spend my 'me time' with you," she crooned playfully, leaning into him. Marco couldn't help but giggle, a genuine warmth spreading through him like a reservoir that had been dammed up that was let loose.

"Well, it just so happens that tonight is the premiere of season 4 of Fiesta de la Noche, if you're still interested in that show."

"Wait, season 4? Didn't we finish season 3 like a bajillion months ago, back on Earth?"

Marco shrugged nonchalantly, sitting down on the couch and patting the spot next to him. "Sometimes it takes a long time between seasons, these shows can take forever to make. It's not like on Mewni, we don't have magic to speed it along-" Star's brow furrowed as she started to protest, before Marco chimed back in, "-or servants who do all the production work for free."

Star rolled her eyes and accepted her half of the blanket from Marco, grabbing a chip as the recap of the previous season started playing. The dramatic highlights of the various romances featured in the show flashed before them, with the big finale moment featuring a famous singer and a vampire confessing their love.

"Wait a minute, this is Bam Ui Pati!" Star exclaimed, almost knocking over the chips. Marco gave her a startled look, considering she was quite literally speaking another language, as she continued gawking incredulously at the screen. "When I went to Pony's, she was watching some Korean show, and it was just like this, except animated!"

Marco pulled out his phone and typed in some letters before his own eyes went wide and met Star's. "Huh, yeah, Bam Ui Pati and Fiesta de la Noche both mean 'night party.' Guess the Korean studio just copied them or something."

"So it's a cheap knockoff? Oh, Pony's gonna be maaaaaaad when I show her this."

"...or we could not tell her, learn what's coming up on her show before she does, and hold it over her head," Marco countered with a mischievous grin.

The duo stared blankly at each other for a moment before busting out into raucous laughter. Star gasped as she narrowly dodged the pile of chips in the midst of her mirthful flailing, her momentum carrying her forward into Marco, who fell backwards against the cushioned armrest like a domino. He quickly wrapped his arms around her to keep her from slipping off the couch, and they gazed at each other wide-eyed, blushes spreading over both of their faces.

Neither moved an inch. The telenovela faded out of their perception, and for seconds that felt like hours, the only sounds they perceived were the rapid beating of their hearts. A few drops of sweat beaded on Marco's face as the fear of overstepping an unspoken boundary paralyzed his thoughts. He tried to squirm away,but Star instead settled herself down so that her head was resting on his chest.

"Uh, Star, is this, uh, okay?" he choked out, punctuated by a voice crack.

"Mmmm, it's like chilling and hugging at the same time, and I really could use both right now. I feel like you do too, even if you've been trying to put on a brave face for me... you know you can't fool me, Diaz." He gulped down his nerves as he settled into their embrace, still not fully used to allowing himself this intimacy; Star's arms wound around his neck as he reaffirmed his hold on her back. They resumed their attention on the season premiere of their show, in which the vampire and vocalist took on the world together as an unstoppable pair. Normally Star and Marco might have exchanged banter and giggles at the on-screen antics, but tonight they found themselves content to bask in the tranquility of the moment - sans a loud gasp from the pair at the episode's climactic twist. Finally, the credits rolled, with the new ending theme featuring the protagonists holding hands as they stood on stage overlooking their audience. Marco noticed Star nestle a bit deeper into his arms, but she kept her attention fixed on the screen until the commercials began.

Star's eyes closed as she stilled for a few minutes, positively content to do nothing but cuddle with her squire, but he knew from her breathing that she was wide awake. The gears in his head were turning, greased ever so slightly by the episode they had just finished, until they finally compelled him to break the silence. "Star…"

"Yeah?"

"What… what are we?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I mean, you and me, this thing… Ugh, sorry, I'm being stupid spoiling this with my own-" His voice cracked once again, bogged down with the weight of the past months of tension as though it were trying to suddenly escape him once and for all through his lips.

"No, no, I mean, I've been thinking about it too… Stuff's just been so crazy. I have no clue how, but Starfan13 found out about, y'know, us and has been messaging me constantly about it." She punctuated her statement with a groan.

"I think my parents figured it out, somehow… Heh, I've gotten a few questions from them too." He sighed and closed his eyes, kicking himself mentally for ruining the peacefulness until Star spoke up.

"Weeeeeell, for starters, I'm the Queen - at least for now - and you're my squire. That's probably top priority right now."

"A-and I'm fine with that! I take it very seriously!"

"I know, and you're the best one in the kingdom. You've seriously made this ordeal so much less awful than it could have been. And we're best besties, as always, if that wasn't obvious already. It's definitely been something more lately, like we're bestest besties!"

Marco rolled his eyes and squeezed her more tightly. "And you're doing a great job as Queen, Star. Your whole kingdom is behind you. We'll get through this."

"Thanks, Marco. But there's one more thing…"

One of her hands unraveled itself from him to rummage through her small bag on the floor, pulling out her phone and whipping it open in a fluid motion. "Say cheese!"

"Wha-" was all Marco had time to utter, before she lunged forward and claimed his lips with her own, his shock quickly fading into bliss as he closed his eyes and reciprocated - a bliss which was short-lived, as a camera flash went off above him and Star broke away, grinning devilishly. She punched a few things into her phone keyboard and showed Marco a message attached to the photo:

Me and my boyfriend❤️ -⭐

His face contorted, a dozen competing emotions all mingling into a nearly unreadable expression. "Star, who'd you send that to?!"

"Just the people that were bugging us. It was the only way to make Starfan happy, and… well, we've both seen how your parents' relationship works, they'll eat this up."

"You're not wrong," Marco sighed in resignation, returning a lopsided smirk. "Besides, I guess I can't get too upset at my girlfriend for wanting to show us off." Star beamed at him and turned their gentle embrace into a bear hug, temporarily knocking the wind out of him. "...although maybe don't send it to Janna, n-not yet, I'm honestly scared of what she'd do with it."

Star chuckled and nodded, tossing the phone onto the floor and lifting herself up his eye level. "What matters more to me than any of that, though, is just that you're Marco Diaz, the sweet and caring dork who I know would do anything for me."

"You'd do the same for me, Star. Heck, we already have, quite a few times: when you gave up your wand to Toffee, and when you let me become a squire…"

"And when you saved me from Ludo's sucky portal thing, and when you used the wand to save me from the creepy unicorn magic brainwashing…"

Marco visibly swallowed as a lightbulb went off in his head. "Speaking of, uh, me and magic… I only saw a quick glimpse of that picture, but did it look like there was something glowing there to you?"

"Weird, I thought I saw that too… didn't something happen there, with the whole cheeks thing, a few weeks ago when we…" Star bit her lip in concentration as she trailed off, recalling the kiss that capped off their first mutual confession of feelings.

"Dunno, that whole moment was all a blur to be honest. But as squire to the acting Queen of Mewni, it is my duty to solve this mystery that could be affecting her!" He gallantly swept an arm through the air like a knight flourishing his sword.

She swooned dramatically, gazing at him with half-lidded eyes. "Oh, my humble squire, I thank you for your service. What might be your grand plan for solving this mystery?"

He cupped the back of her head, wordlessly pulling her forward as they met in the middle once more, feeling the weights of the world leave their shoulders just for this night. And though they could not see it, the pulsing lights now emanating from their pairs of hearts and moons were joined by a familiar vermillion glow from above.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this dose of tooth-rotting Starco. My vision for season 4 is for the first 3-4 episodes to knock out the urgent aftermaths of Divide and Conquer, stuff like Moon being missing, and Star's completely obvious feelings for Marco (and therefore her relationship with Tom), pretty similar to what week 1 of the 3A bomb did. So Tom and Star break up, and Star confesses her feelings not long after, but in this particular fic I guess they just didn't really make it official on the spot because all kinds of big and important stuff was occupying their minds even though it was obvious.

This is also my way of warming back up into the writing game after being on break for so long. I'm the type of person where big things happening kills my motivation to do anything else, so I spent the last month and a half focusing entirely on 3B without wanting to create anything of my own. Now that we're on hiatus, with Starco so close we can taste it, I'm feeling that kick in the pants to get writing again. Look for another update to Forever within the next 2-3 weeks, want to knock something out before graduation takes over my life for another few weeks.