Marco lay on his bed, clothed but stalled. His whole morning had been set, and it most certainly still was, but he couldn't help but delay himself after finishing up and getting dressed. He stared blankly up at the ceiling; he traced the wooden frame along the ceiling. His mind was practically empty, the only sensation he could take in was the muffled sound of running water coming from the door.

Nothing was apparently wrong anymore; he and Star had a weird moment but talked it out and got past a situation that, while certainly intensely embarrassing, was, in hindsight, not that bad. The moment came and went... but it hadn't actually went... not quite. He brought a hand to his temple, rubbing it thoughtfully as he pondered why. He wasn't embarrassed anymore. He wasn't angry. He wasn't confused, upset, flustered, bothered, or... anything, really. The problem was gone, but, for some reason, it wasn't gone. He wanted to admonish himself for being able to reach such a ridiculous conclusion, but he didn't really know what else to think.

He tried to think about to how he was feeling before; how had he gotten here now, distracted and blank-faced. Those few seconds rushed back into his mind as he relived the moment where he and Star just locked up in front of each other for no reason. What was he thinking during that fleeting moment? What was he feeling? He couldn't answer that question. All he knew was that he was embarrassed right before and, just after, he was overcome with guilt and feelings of self-consciousness. Did he simply forget what was going through his head during that moment? Was he feeling nothing? Or had he, possibly, detached himself from whatever was going through his mind at the time? Just as he believed it mattered to address the issue, it also didn't. At least, it didn't matter right now.

Marco rose from the bed and purported to get back to what he was doing so that the two of them would still have something to eat when Star came downstairs. He had all day to figure out what was on his mind, and even this irritation wasn't about to completely get in the way of his Sunday morning routine. A few minutes later, after he had put together some ingredients and was fully busying himself with frying some pancakes, Marco felt like himself again. He made two generous stacks for Star and himself and a few extra pancakes to set aside in case his parents returned from their morning errands anytime soon. He put the finishing touches on their food and set the table for breakfast.

Star finished cleaning up and found her way down the stairs not too long after Marco had finished setting the table. She saw the pancakes and began bouncing happily on her heels at Marco's handiwork. The smell was so good, and it was wafting through the room. Despite being a really simple meal, Star always loved pancake breakfasts, and, really, anything Marco could whip up. He has never managed to cook something she didn't love.

"Food food food food food food food! Yay!" Star chirped with delight.

Marco appeared to perk up at the sight of his hungry best friend and sat down at the table. "I think I got the mix nearly perfect this time" he said.

They enjoyed their breakfast thoroughly, chowing down on their pancakes and telling some jokes. If it seemed like their Sunday morning breakfast was actually more enjoyable than usual, it was most certainly thanks in part to the fact that their run-in this morning had not managed to get in the way of the two friends enjoying their Sunday as always. They both had an itch to scratch in the back of their mind somewhere, but food, TV, and fun between best friends was simply a bigger priority.

Once they cleaned up their breakfast and put everything away, Marco picked up the remote and began fiddling with the TV. Star plopped down on the couch and began playing with one of the other cushions while Marco started channel-hopping. He was jumping through their regular channels for anything that might catch their eye. They were satisfied after finding a movie playing that Marco had mentioned to Star a few times before but only today finally managed to catch. Marco looked over at Star for approval and was, instead, met with a couch cushion to the face.

Marco rolled his eyes, pretending to be annoyed. His effort was betrayed as he could not suppress the smirk that her antics had caused. "You could find just about anything to entertain yourself with, couldn't you?" he teased.

Star let out a small giggle and pushed back. "You are just jealous that I know how to have fun and you don't." she said.

"Come on, Star, I know how to have a good time."

"No way, Diaz! Your imagination needs work!"

"After eating my food for six months, there is no way you can say I'm not creative."

Star laughed as Marco picked up the cushion and walked over to tuck it back into place. "You are not completely wrong about that." she admitted.

Marco finished straightening out the couch cushion and sat down to watch the movie while Star stretched out and allowed a little yawn to escape her mouth... Marco felt something brush along his leg. He looked down and realized that Star had nudged him during her stretch. Suddenly, he began to feel self-conscious again, and this time, he really could not figure out why. He looked over and saw Star. She was sitting where she always sat, and he was sitting where he always sat. But he couldn't help but feel as though he was a little too close... and he wasn't entirely sure why. He glanced down at her arm and her side, and a nagging feeling caused him to feel a bit tense. Without much more thought, Marco gently scooted himself over, placing just a little bit more distance between himself and Star. He felt a little annoyed with himself at first, but was thankful that the tension he was feeling had begun to subside when he did. He wasn't more comfortable now per say, but it, thankfully, helped him snap focus back on the movie.

As Marco's attention managed to turn back on the TV, Star's had already been pulled away from it. She had just gotten comfortable and began to watch the movie, but she couldn't help but notice Marco shifting himself and moving away from her. She felt a slight ache in her stomach. For a moment she was confused at the feeling, believing that it had surely been nothing; she was never one to notice little details like that anyhow. For some reason, however, Star could tell that something just seemed to be bothering Marco. Even he may not have been paying attention to it now, but something about him was just... restrained. The ache came back again as she was ambushed by her thoughts from this morning, when she was still upstairs.

I'm making him uncomfortable Star thought to herself. He must have tensed up because I invaded his privacy. He... he's probably worried that I'm going to keep doing it.

Star's mind was now in turmoil. She felt almost upset that Marco must have wanted space, wanted to keep his distance from her. She knew it was selfish, but she was so happy how comfortable they could be with one another. They were besties, best friends, stuck together like glue. She never realized just how much she appreciated that they were effortlessly close, and comfortably so, almost all the time. Although now she was forced to realize that Marco must be wanting to push back on that. She made a mistake, and now she was being selfish. She didn't even know why she was so sad that Marco wanted space, but she did know that she had to be there for him... by being less there. Star didn't want Marco to be uncomfortable, so she let it go. She had to give him more personal space and allow him to keep his distance, especially after...

Star's mind went back to that moment in the shower, and her mind went blank again. Time seemed to slow down as she was drawn deeper into her own thoughts. She imagined the vulnerability, the intimacy, and the suddenness of the moment, and she began to feel feverish again. She looked over and saw Marco, eyes ahead, fixed on the movie now. Star found herself frozen again for just a moment. She stared at him for a few seconds, taking in the image of her friend's messy umber brown hair and aloof expression. She felt that ache in her stomach once again and now a pressure in her chest and her arms began to cause her to tense up a little. She shifted herself a little away from him, the only thing on her mind now being her desire to avoid letting Marco catch her breaching his privacy again.

She took a quiet breath and calmed herself back down. Star felt there was no need to get so worked up about this and she just wanted to enjoy her morning with her bestie.

"Star!"

"Huh, wah, what!?"

Marco's voice plucked Star from her own thoughts, time itself picking up its pace as Star's attention returned to the living room.

"I said, have you ever tried to make one of those with your magic?"

Star looked back to the movie and saw the characters comically poking a huge jello mold. She cocked her head to the side and looked at it in confusion.

"It looks like a candy soupy thing. Why is able to stand up and wiggle and stuff?" she asked.

"Honestly, I don't know myself. Jello has always just been kind of weird to me. It is really neat how you can put something inside of it and it will basically anchor in place, even if the jello is wiggling."

The conversation had grabbed Star's attention. She proceeded to ask Marco about if there were other foods that were weird like that. After a few more comments back and forth on the matter they both went back to watching the movie and enjoyed themselves. The movie played on and eventually reached its conclusion. Star burst out laughing at Marco who was quoting one of the funny scenes from earlier. "I wish people were always this funny. School would be SO much more fun."

While Star and Marco will still laughing at movie quotes, Mr. and Mrs. Diaz came home, greeting the two as well as a horde of overly excited laser puppies with big smiles on their faces.

"I hope you two have had a wonderful morning" Mr. Diaz said with tons of enthusiasm. "Have you made any plans for the rest of the day?"

"Actually no," Marco replied, "I was just about to ask Star what she had in mind."

Mrs. Diaz, still rubbing one of the puppies on its tummy chimed in. "Well, our favorite pool just finished renovations and we were planning to spend a while over there. Would you two like to come along?"

Marco looked over to Star whose face lit up immediately. "I'd LOVE to go swimming today!" She said excitedly.

"It has been pretty cold this week, has it finally warmed up a little?" Marco asked.

"Yep! It is 84 today and sunny, its perfect." Mr. Diaz said.

Hearing that, Marco was sold on the idea. They had already spent the morning inside, and Marco felt that getting outside and doing something would be great for both Star and him. The movie had totally taken his mind off of it, but staying inside in the quiet house was starting to make Marco feel strangely antsy. That and Star seemed more distracted than usual considering how good the movie was. He would have been worried about her if she hadn't seemed so entertained by the hilariously stupid humor that they kept poking fun at.

Star leaped up from the couch and put her hands up excitedly. "I'm going to go get ready. I can't wait to see the new pool!" She bounced up and down a few times before taking off for the stairs. Marco could not help but notice her energetically shuffling up the steps, her hair swinging wildly as she stepped. She seemed happy, but as she disappeared behind the ceiling, he felt a familiar annoyance creep up in back of his mind once again. This was the same feeling he had experienced earlier, just after he had forced himself to scoot away from Star during the movie. His mind went blank. After brooding over it for a few moments, Marco decided again to just let it go for now. He really needed to figure out what the heck was going on in his head, but now was not the time. He had to get ready for the pool too. He didn't want to keep Star waiting if she was this excited to get to the pool.

Marco made his way up the stairs toward his room to change. He took one look over at the door across the hall, the door to Star's room. He shook his head and turned toward his room to get back to what he was doing.

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! Thank you to everyone who gave chapter one a read. I have not forgotten about this story, and I have been meaning to get working on another chapter, but I have had to spend a lot of time thinking about how I wanted the rest of this to play out. The prompt for chapter one was essentially written for me, but I really had to start moving toward my own end goal with this story. I think I have a path straightened out for the rest. There was not any intention for this to be more than a few chapters, but I am realizing that, with my pacing, it may stretch a few chapters. I'll have to work it out

Thank you all once again for reading, thank you for sparing some of your time for me. Reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated. Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts with me. I wrote this for everyone, not just for me.

The thumbnail is from this work by Judacris on his tumblr page * post/160554807754/well-this-is-kinda-awkward-more-star-vs

Be sure to check out his work!

Happy Saturday!