Title: hatch switch

Fandom: Star Vs. the Forces of Evil

Summary: AU. Star Butterfly is not an only child.

A/N: Thanks for all the comments and encouragement! Here's the next part, jumping back to kid!Star POV on her parents adopting Toffee.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Star Vs. the Forces of Evil.

Star is six, and her parents are coming home.

She bounces at the thought; everyone said they'd been fighting monsters, and she wants to ask what it was like for them. And she hadn't really seen them a lot even before they went off to fight, but maybe she'd see them more afterward.

Star wonders why the other grown-ups, her babysitter guards and servants, don't seem as happy as her. There's a lot of whispering and grumpy looks that Star pays some seconds to before growing bored and thinking of her parents again. She chews on one of her stuffed toys, wondering when they'll see her. She'd tried looking for them herself when she heard they were in the castle, but Nana Hail (the chief babysitter guard) wouldn't let her out of his sight. Unable to sneak off, she waits, light on her feet and bouncing and chewing on her toys.

Finally Papa picks Star up from her room. He sweeps her up in his arms, and his beard tickles her.

Papa tells Star that Mama is with her new little brother, and that they'll see them both now.

Papa has to explain. "Your mother and I adopted a baby. He'll be your little brother, making you his older sister. As his older sister, you have to love and look after him. He'll need you."

Star bounces in her father's arms and holds tight to his beard, while he carries her away. Papa further explains. "Your new brother is not a Mewman, but a monster—a baby one though. He's not like other monsters you've learned of. Understand?"

Star nods, accepting Papa's words, and asks what her new baby brother looks like, does he have tentacles or fur—

Papa tells her to wait and see.

Star is carried to her parents' room, and she makes grabby hands for Mama, standing by a blue bassinet. The queen takes her, holding her tight and planting a big wet kiss on her forehead. It makes Star giggle, and then she's climbing over Mama's shoulder, to look down at the bassinet.

"My new monster baby brother?"

"His name is Toffee, dear."

Star looks down, and large bright yellow eyes look up at her from the bassinet. They're set in a gray scaly face, above a short round upturned snout that's chewing on a blanket, with what looks like all his fangs grown in, but they're small and still slightly rounded at the tip. Star's eyes grow large, her mouth widens and rounds out, forming an oh; she's seen babies before, and they were all lumpy and fat and round and tiny and cute, though they were all Mewni. This baby monster's cute and tiny, but slender and kinda scrawny, and Star is reminded of a tree sapling. But, he does have some roundness, in his snout and his head and the way his tail curves and a little bit with his belly and back, but he's not plump like she's seen other Mewni babies.

The baby monster's wearing warm red clothes, shirt and trousers that hang loosely. The clothes have an opening for his tail, which swishes softly in the other blankets not caught between his fangs. Star thought it was dark hair or fur on his head, but when she looks more closely, she realizes they're fluffy feathers. Star stretches down from her mother's arms, reaching for the feathers on Toffee's head.

"Star, be gentle," her mother warns.

"I wanna pet him!"

Mama's voice gains a familiar sternness. "He is not a pet, he is your brother."

"Ah, darling," Star hears Papa start, but she's focused entirely on reaching for Toffee, who just tilts his head at her and keeps chewing his blanket. "I don't believe Star means—well, I even described it as petting Star before, when she'd been Toffee's age, but I never meant she was—"

Star hears Mama sigh, sounding tired. Star thinks to clarify. "I just wanna touch Toffee's feathers."

"Of course, dear," her mother says, voice softening. "Again, just be gentle, don't pull. You don't want to hurt him by mistake. Babies are fragile. Soft. You can hurt them by accident if you're not careful, and they're not easy to heal."

The queen brings Star within reach of Toffee, and the princess pats her brother on the head three times, giggling as his head slightly bounces with each touch.

"Star," Mama warns, and the princess starts slowly running her fingers through Toffee's feathers instead.

The baby monster finally moves his head, and stretches it up more, his snout pressing against Star's fingers, sniffing at her.

It makes Star giggle; Toffee's scales and breath are nice and warm and soft.

"He's tickling me!"

Star then moves her hand away and tries stretching forward, tries sniffing Toffee in return. Now that she's closer, Toffee tries sniffing Star's hair, she can feel his little snout in her hair, it makes her giggle again.

When he gives a little cough, Star laughs, then kisses his snout.

"Silly little brother."

###

Star naturally thinks all happy-like, but she's feeling down. The six-year-old princess hasn't seen her parents as often as she thought she would get to once they returned. They're back to work like normal. Star's lessons haven't paused. And she doesn't even get to see Toffee that much.

Whenever she tries to see him by herself, grumpy-looking nannies force her out of the nursery. Star thought she proved she could be gentle with Toffee, but she guessed her parents hadn't told the nursery nannies, or they just couldn't believe it. And her own babysitter guards don't want to take her there. They seem actually spooked by Toffee.

"He's only a little monster," Star told them once, snickering. The thought of her babysitter guards, so big and tough, spooked by a small lizard monster with feathers for hair like her new brother—it was just really funny. "He's just a sweet baby."

"He won't always be one," one said, while another muttered, "It just wasn't natural," and another begged for the princess' pardon. But they still wouldn't escort her to see Toffee in the nursery.

And sometimes—actually, weirdly often enough now, Star knows it's not always Mama-and-Papa-are-very-busy-working and Toffee's-in-the-nursery-with-the-sour-looking-nannies, but more and more it's Mama-and-Papa-keep-Toffee-around-while-working. The first time she saw them all together, Star was trying to sneak away from her tutors, and she found Mama and Papa talking with advisor people while Toffee napped in a nearby bassinet. Her tutors had caught up, and Star was forced to leave her parents and brother and return to her lessons.

Star tries to sneak away other times, sees them other times, her parents working while Toffee's nearby in his bassinet; or Mama holds him with one arm while her wand's in the other hand; or Papa carries him, and Toffee's either napping or chewing quietly on his blanket or sucking on his bottle.

Star knows it makes her jealous, her parents spending more time with Toffee. She's felt jealous before, when she realized Flying Princess Pony Head could always hover above the ground and she could not, no matter how hard she tried. But this jealousy feels bigger to Star, makes her eyes sting sometimes, makes her sometimes wish she could return her new baby brother to wherever he came from.

Star likes sneaking away in general, she still sneaks around the castle as a game even when she isn't trying to skip classwork. Star's heard grown-ups gossip this way, and even at fancy parties she sometimes has to go to and be very quiet at. Sometimes Star is right there, not even trying that hard to be sneaky, and grown-ups still talk, because either they still don't notice her right away because she's smaller than them, or they think she's not listening, that she won't really understand. And sometimes she's not listening, sometimes she doesn't understand; but sometimes she catches bits and pieces of their gossip. Normally Star either finds grown-up gossip boring or interesting, but lately it's been...weird. Like:

"It's a travesty—they pay more attention to that beast than their own daughter, our next queen."

"None of the nursemaids feel comfortable with that thing—they say it's unnaturally quiet, docile, watching, already has all its fangs grown in—their majesties have to give it more attention, if they're set on keeping it—"

"That'll be sorted out eventually, Queen Moon won't let that stand for long, bad work ethic that is—disobedience at worse—"

"But it's insanity what she's asking for though...simply not fair..."

"What's not fair is that a monster gets made prince—I work day in and day out in the kitchens, Mewman through and through, and some monster gets handpicked to live in the lap of luxury! Am I to bow to that wretch someday?!"

"Monster's just some war trophy for the Queen after those revolts, calling him 'prince' won't change that."

"Queen's just making an example of him."

"Sending a message to the monsters."

Weird isn't the right word; it's mean, and it makes Star's stomach tie up in knots.

(Years later, Star will tell Marco she doesn't have answers when Toffee asks her all the why's about his adoption and Mewnipendence Day, and that's not exactly true; Star has inklings, theories, levels of gossip, half-formed ideas, all of them disturbing. Star knows her parents love Toffee. She knows it. But deep down she's not entirely sure that, for the very first time, when they took him in for the very first time...if it was out of love or something else, something colder. But nothing confirmed, no one will confirm, not her parents, anyone—gossip over Toffee would conflict a lot, too many different stories; gossip over Toffee had started to break down, Star's wondered forever if a royal gag order had been placed. And she wants to give Toffee the truth, not guesswork. Especially if the truth's serious; she doesn't want to make a mistake with this. And Marco is her bestie, but her bestie from Earth, and this is a Mewni thing, and Star's still not sure she can share everything with Marco. Not yet.)

###

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

Star stands in her parents' doorway, watching Mama put down her hairbrush at her dressing table, and Papa look up from tickling Toffee, who's still giggling, tail wagging.

"Of course, darling," Papa says, and Star immediately dashes to their bed and jumps up. When she lands, making the bed bounce, she can hear Toffee's delighted laugh, and it makes her laugh too.

"Star, would you like to hold Toffee?" The king asks, and Star nods her head so fast, she feels slightly dizzy. Laughing, her father says, "All right. Be gentle."

"I was before!" Star pauses. "The very first time," she clarifies."

"Be gentle again. Always be gentle with Toffee, he's only a baby," Papa says. "Now, support his head; mind his tail."

"Uh huh," Star tells him. Papa gives her further instruction, carefully placing Toffee in her arms, showing her exactly where her hands should go. The baby monster purrs as this goes on, and the queen sits down on the bed with them.

"Mama, look, I'm holding Toff!" Star says, beaming, holding Toffee close and not seeming to notice him chewing on one of her ponytails.

"Yes sweetheart, I see," Mama says, smiling softly. "You're doing very well."

The queen gently tickles Toffee, making him laugh and release Star's ponytail. Mama sweeps that ponytail behind Star's shoulder, and does the same with the other one.

"I don't mind him chewing on my hair," Star says, enjoying the weight of her baby brother in her arms.

"I know, dear," Mama replies. Then she says, voice soft, "Babies need a lot of attention, Star. They're very young, and vulnerable, and need all the help they can get." Mama pauses. She seems to change her mind about something, and says, "We've been giving Toffee all the attention we can. You understand, don't you?"

Star thinks about it for a second, biting her lip. Then she nods. "Uh huh. And I'm a big girl."

"Yes, you are," the queen says, putting an arm around Star's shoulder. Papa ruffles her hair. Toffee tugs on the front of her dress, his little claws poking the fabric.

"We love you both equally," her mother promises. "No more, no less."

Star is six, and believes in her.

A/N: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Reviews/comments/feedback is always encouraged and appreciated. Next time should be jumping back to to a more present timeline/i.e. "Star Comes to Earth" time.