"Saccharine Sucker Punch!"

A candy-coated fist erupted from the jewel of the wand, hurtling towards an oncoming aggressor. The collision didn't deliver much physical impact, but his eyes widened like saucers as the true effect of the attack began to course through his bloodstream. Marco turned his attention to this scene, having just finished off the other batch of rebels. He was intimately familiar with that exact look, the one that signaled impending damage to a taco stand roughly four years ago, that he had seen many times since – despite his insistence to the one commonly sporting that look that sugarritos were not, in fact, the "secret base of the food pyramid." As the Mewnian scoundrel began to bounce in place, Marco used his distracted state to sweep his legs out with a quick kick, and pin him to the floor. A spellcast quickly restrained the man, quite the feat given the sugar-fueled hyperactivity, and Marco brushed himself off and walked over to the gelatinous mass on the ground, reaching for the nebulously shaped appendage to help it up.

"You OK, Slime? We took care of the last of them."

Slime reformed his usual appearance just in time to casually dismiss the concern. "Ha, I've had way worse happen before. Just last week, Penny dropped an entire chest on me for ten minutes without noticing, no big."

"She's lucky you're so chill with it… last time I dropped something on Star, I ended up on the butt end of a one of her newer spells, literally." He glanced over at Star, who was talking with some guards to prepare the police carriage, and smirked. Sure, it had taken two full days to get the minotaur stench out of him from that incident, but the entertainment he got trying to ambush Star with some noxious hugs was just about worth it.

"Ha, women sometimes, y'know? Well anyway, thanks for the help. More of the older folks are getting a bit riled up lately, some people still aren't quite copacetic with the whole 'goop monster being the new prince of the kingdom,' I guess. It's way better than it used to be though, you and Star have done wonders!"

Marco blushed a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck and stole another glance at the blonde. "I don't know, Star's been heading that whole thing for years, I really didn't do much besides helping her keep the peace. It's amazing how much she's accomplished."

Slime didn't miss the look of unyielding devotion in the young knight's eyes and he followed Marco's gaze over to the princess who put so much of her soul into making Mewni a better place for himself and all other peaceful monsters. "Don't sell yourself short, man, I'm pretty sure everyone in the entire dimension knows that you're an integral part of all of this progress. Hell, if I didn't know any better, I'd guess you'd been the official Prince of Mewni for years now!" Slime laughed, breaking Marco's trance just in time for another to begin, with eyes wide and a blush creeping in. "Ha, don't worry about it. Whatever happens, happens. Anyway, I told Penny I'd go give her a massage soon, the latest batch of spider bites has been driving her crazy. Thanks again!"

As Slime began meandering back to the home of the Spiderbite royalty, Marco bit his lip in thought. The casual use of prince had given him some pause, of course, but that wasn't the true topic of his contemplation. He'd already been thinking about "the future" for a few weeks now, like some vague haunting entity; in the last three years, Marco had made so many strides forward in building a fulfilling life for himself, one that he was proud of. He was a far cry from his teenage years, when trying to acquire a red belt felt like a harrowing life decision, but he was still largely taking things one day at a time with himself, his role on Mewni… and with Star. Broaching this topic with Star was a daunting task, but the latest conversation was the ignition he needed to make the leap and express his concerns. Marco recognized that in his over four years of knowing her, she was his steadfast confidant (among many other things), and he was hers, but the sheer weight of the topic manifested itself into a lump in his throat that felt physical any time he thought about it. Bringing it up now was out of the question, as he was due for a visit home that night; perhaps a chance to sleep on it at home – however much Earth could truly be considered 'home,' these days - would prepare him to relieve this burden from himself.

"I'm not sure how I'm going to do it," he thought as he finally made his way over toward his princess, "but I need to tell Star how I feel about this, about my - and our - future, and soon."

Her hair billowed out behind her as the air soared past, amplifying the latent chill brought on by the passage of fall - or Mewni's equivalent, at least. Her passenger, it seemed, was not as thrilled as she was, likely due to being directly in the path of her veritable mane of blonde hair.

"Staaar! Can we - blegh, dammit Star, I got a hairball! - can we slow it down a bit? I'm trying to save room for my mom's cooking tonight, and your locks aren't exactly a great appetizer," he griped. She felt his arms tighten around her midsection and his chin rest on her right shoulder as he brushed her hair to the side, and in that same instant the cold dissipated just a bit. He purred into her right ear, "You're not in a hurry to ditch me, are you?" She could practically feel his patented smirk, as if she had a special Marco-sense, and she found herself sporting one of her own.

She giggled and glanced over, meeting her favorite pair of eyes as best she could in their current position. "If I wanted to do that, I'd have swiped your scissors and left you to the spiders, silly. It's a nice day out, and I thought if we took Cloudy we could enjoy some of it together!"

"Nice day? Star, you're shivering enough that I think you might have fallen off without me as your seatbelt. At least remember to take a hoodie next time, being this cold can't be good for you."

"Psssh, temperature talk from the guy who wears hoodies to the beach in the summer. Tom even offered to burn off the sleeves and make it breathe more easily when we went a few months ago, but nooooo." Marco tried feebly to interject with mention of the value of clothing for blocking UV rays, but Star rolled her eyes. "Besides, I already know a special spell for beating the cold!"

"And what might that be, oh-powerful Princess Butterfly?" he inquired, though the mischievous glint in her eyes would have been answer enough had he been able to see them clearly.

"Well, Sir Diaz, it's so extra-magical that I don't even need words to cast it. Watch this!" She pulled out her wand and held it up with a flourish, and Marco's eyes briefly followed, but he was interrupted by a pair of lips on his own. Star pulled back a few seconds later, grinning widely as his cheeks quickly grew red as if to counter Star's own heart emblems.

"Hmm, that did seem quite effective, but I'm worried such a locally-administered spell might lack coverage. We wouldn't want you getting frostbite elsewhere, would we? Let Dr. Marco, Ph.D., do some scientific testing."

"Hwaa-?" Star's eyebrow rose quizzically, but she was interrupted as he leaned in to peck her nose, before moving on to her right cheek, planting smooches all over that half of her face. He leaned back and straightened his posture to reach the top of her head, continuing his ministrations as Star snorted with uncontrollable laughter.

"MARCO, ST-STOP, I'M GONNA FALL OFF!", she breathed out in the pauses between her giggle fits, but Marco's strong arms kept her in place and prevented her flailing hands and kicking legs from threatening her stability. His head made its way to her opposite shoulder, his final kiss lingering for a bit longer on her left cheek, and they both finally settled down with her left hand intertwining with his right.

She followed his gaze to see the Butterfly castle, just over the horizon, framed beautifully by the twilight. "You know, Star, you're right. I think taking the long way was a good idea today." She sighed and closed her eyes, leaning her head on his, fully content in Marco's embrace; the following silence made it clear he was experiencing the same absolute peace.

These little moments, just her and Marco being themselves, kept Star going through the toughest and most stressful times. He was her knight, protector, boyfriend, soulmate, and so much more, and thoughts of what all these labels might entail started to encroach on her tranquility. She was constantly working towards the future set in stone for her at birth, but what would it mean for him? There were likely years left before she would need to step up to the throne, but with every royal function he attended alongside her, the murmurs among the citizens and nobles alike seemed to grow, wondering what his true role within the kingdom might become. Her family wasn't necessarily unhappy with her and Marco's current situation, but the future was a harbinger of change, dangling over them like a guillotine, and she didn't even know how to begin addressing her thoughts to him.

As the castle walls quickly approached, she glanced at the Latino, who seemed as lost in thought as she was. She mused over the last spoken words between them; they had certainly 'taken the long way' years ago when working through their new and confusing feelings, and a lack of communication and gripping fear of change made this seem insurmountable for many painful months. Star and Marco had both gotten over the worst of this, but laying her own heart out so completely would still be a delicate enough task that she was hesitant to see it through. If she wanted to amend her past shortcomings and prepare for the next stage of the journey ahead of her, of them, though…

"I need to talk to him before this all catches up to us, no matter how it turns out."