(a/n: Hey everyone! This is the first, and probably only, Jojo's fic i'll be doing. This came about after watching and rewatching 'Phantom Blood' and I instantly thought of the Star vs. the Forces of Evil episode "the Other Exchange Student." This was the result. Please enjoy!)
Best Frenemies Forever
Marco's morning started off fairly well.
He and his parents got up early and set up the surprise for Star, celebrating her forty-seventh day on Earth, which she genuinely enjoyed. It was then things took a turn for the bizarre. It wouldn't be apparent until much later, but Marco was about to meet the most diabolical and wicked person he would ever encounter in his life.
Just as his mother was reading the poem she wrote in Star's honor, the doorbell rang. Relieved, Marco ditched his party hat and answered the door. A grinning boy with sandy blond hair wearing a large, heavy-laden backpack in a dark blue sweater greeted Marco.
"Hello!" the boy greeted cheerfully with a thick Scandinavian accent "It is I, Gustav!"
"No way!" Marco exclaimed, surprise.
The Scandanavian laughed "Marco, my American friend!" the two did their secret handshake and embraced as old friends.
"Guys, look who's here!" Marco called to his parents and Star. His parents, seeing Gustav, rushed over and welcomed him warmly with hugs and pats on the back.
"Uh, hi" Star greeted, feeling rather confused about the sudden shift of attention and the outpouring of affection from the Diaz's towards this stranger.
"Hello!" Gustav returned the greeting, beaming. He shook Star's hand "I was the Diaz's exchange student from last year!"
"What?" Star gasped "But I thought that I was your first and only foreign exchange student."
"Not even close" Marco chuckled good-naturedly "I mean, who do you think all these kids were" he gestured toward a wall completely covered by framed portraits of different teenagers, one of which contained the portrait of Gustav. Star frowned, feeling a little jealous and a little foolish over her previous assumption.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Gustav exclaimed, palming his forehead "There's going to be another exchange student staying here with us."
"Really?" Marco, his eyebrow rose. Gustav nodded.
A car door slammed outside, causing the Diaz family, Star and Gustav to look outside and see a tall, handsome golden haired teenage boy in formal attire retrieving a battered brown travel case from the trunk of a taxi. After he paid his fare, the teen turned and discovered that he had an audience watching him from the front door.
The boy put on a friendly and somewhat awkward smile. "Good morning!" he greeted, his voice smooth and carried a refined English accent "Pardon the interruption, but this wouldn't happen to be the home of Rafael and Angelica Diaz?"
"It is" Marco's dad replied.
"Ah, good" the boy sighed with relief "I am the other exchange student that will be lodging with you. I was going to be lodging with a different family, unfortunately complications arose and they dumped me into your lap. I'm really sorry about the suddenness of this. I really don't want to inconvenience you at all."
"Nonsense" Marco's dad said, waving a dismissive hand "We got plenty of room. Please, come in and make yourself at home."
The teen entered the house and brushed past Gustav and Marco. He bumped into Marco and apologized, however, Marco caught a glimpse of something in the English boy's expression. Something cold, malicious even.
The British teenager, still holding onto his suitcase, inspected the interior of the house. "What a lovely home" the boy said sincerely, "Feels very…homey. It just embodies the word 'home.'"
Noticing the odd stares he was getting, the teen laughed awkwardly "Oh, I'm sorry. How rude of me. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Dio Brando." He gave Marco, Gustav and Marco's father firm handshakes and a kiss on the hand for Star and Marco's mother.
Star blushed, suddenly feeling very aware of what she was wearing and ducked behind Marco in order to shield herself from Dio's bright, alluring eyes.
"Oh my," Angelica said, feeling a little flustered "Uh, I-I like your accent."
"Thank you, that is usually the first thing anyone actually notices about me, even back home"
"Where are you from Dio?" Rafael asked.
"London" Dio replied politely, shoving his hands in his pockets "Born and raised, though most from my part of London wouldn't think it, thinking me the son of some posh family from another area. This is my first time traveling outside of Europe. I'm looking forward to experiencing life and schooling in America. I hope you'll be able to give me the full experience."
"You bet!" Rafael said, grinning.
Marco nodded in agreement and noticed that Dio's gaze lingered on himself and Star. Marco couldn't shake the feeling that something about this Dio guy didn't seem right. Before Marco could devote any more thought to this, Gustav jumped in.
"I brought gifts from Scandinavia!" he unslung his pack and doled out the gifts he brought for the Diaz family. A pair of wooden clogs for Angelica, a video game for Marco and a horned Viking helmet for Rafael.
"And for you" Gustav said to Star "Nothing! I did not know you existed."
"Oh" Star said, somewhat disappointed.
As the Diaz family enjoyed their gifts and was shepherded to the kitchen by Gustav, who declared that he would make them his finest meatballs, Star and Dio were left alone in the front room.
The balloon she was holding suddenly deflated. The Mewman princess sighed dejectedly.
"What was that about?" Dio asked with a frown on his face.
"Gustav used to be their foreign exchange student before me" Star explained, a little annoyed by being left behind.
"Oh, well that makes sense." He noticed the banner and balloons that were set up in the living room. "Were you having a party?"
Star nodded "Yeah, its for my forty-seventh day on Earth."
"You're an exchange student?"
She nodded again "My first time away from home."
"Congratulations." Dio paused and frowned in confusion. "I'm sorry, but did you say 'forty-seventh day on Earth'?" "Yeah, I'm not from Earth."
Dio gave her a funny look and before she could further explain, one of the laser puppies padded by Dio's foot. The puppy looked up at Dio and started barking, lasers starting to fly from its eyes. Dio yelped in surprise and hid himself behind his tattered case, which took a couple of laser blasts that would've struck the teen in the face had he been slower.
"Oh my gosh!" Star exclaimed. She scooped up the puppy, who kept barking and firing lasers at random, and deposited it in another room and locked the door. "Oh my gosh, I'm so, so sorry about that!"
Dio lowered his suitcase, shock etched on to his face. He studied the sizzling scorch marks, the smell of burnt old leather rising with the smoke.
"It-its alright" the English teen said, his voice faltered "N-never thought I'd have a close brush with death on my first day in America, let alone almost getting my face burned off by a puppy with eye lasers."
"Yeah, they kind of do that" Star said, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.
Dio cleared his throat and spoke up "So, what did you mean that you weren't from Earth?"
Star blinked and explained where she's from and showed him her wand, which she demonstrated its magic by using a spell to repair the burns on Dio's suitcase. Dio gaped at the change enacted on his suitcase, rubbing the smooth and clean areas of his suitcase where, not just a moment ago, was burned. For a moment, Star worried that she might have freaked the English teenager out but instead the handsome blond complimented her.
"This is, no, you are fantastic!" Dio said, a wide smile on his face.
"Really?"
"Of course! I can't say that I've met anyone as remarkable as you!"
Star's face grew warmer and warmer by the second. Their conversation was somewhat disrupted by a chorus of laughter coming from the kitchen. Star mood immediately dampened, though the small of meat cooking softened the blow enough.
"Well, we might as well join them" Dio said, setting his suitcase aside, shedding his blue suit coat and loosening his dark blue necktie "I smell cooking, which I assume is breakfast. I hope it is, because I am positively famished! I didn't get anything to eat on that dreadful flight."
In the kitchen, the Diaz family, Star and Dio sat at the counter, partaking in delicious meatballs and Gustav's rather outlandish tales of heroics involving a drowning polar bear cub.
Neither Star nor Dio were impressed, both noticing some glaring inaccuracies in his heroic tales, though Star's distrust was also partially fueled by jealousy.
"Marco, think fast!" Gustav cried, chucking a meatball at his friend. Marco caught the meatball with his mouth and gnawed away at it happily.
"Meh" Star grunted. She then decided to do something about this. "So, Gustav" the Mewman girl said, rising from her chair "Where exactly are you from?"
Gustav paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing "Eh, uh, how much do you know of Europe?"
"I know that it is a place"
A satisfied smile appeared on the boy's face and he replied boisterously "I'm from Scandinavia! It is a land where Vikings teach gym class, and where everyone has a pet penguin, even if you don't like penguins."
Dio snorted and everyone looked at him. The golden haired teen blinked "oh, I'm sorry. Please continue, Gustav." His utterance of the other exchange student's name was tinged with sarcasm. "Tell us more of your home country. Perhaps you could tell us of the town where you're from. I do love hearing stories of other countries, especially the Scandinavian ones. I have several pen pals from Scandinavia, perhaps you might even know one of them?"
Gustav was silent, his face took on a lighter shade of white and his eyes darted about nervously "Er, uh, well-"
"Gustav!" Marco called, getting out of his seat and backing up to the furthest edge of the kitchen "Gustav, I'm open!"
The Scandinavian exchange student turned to Marco and lobbed him another meatball, which he caught. Soon the topic was forgotten. Gustav was lobbing meatballs and Marco and Rafael were catching them in their mouths and on Rafael's horned helmet.
Star looked in confusion and worry.
"Just think of it, three more weeks of this!" Marco cried, while literally shedding tears of joy.
The Mewman girl was even more concerned. She looked to Dio, who was quietly eating his meal and ignoring the display. He noticed her staring and shrugged, not knowing what to make of Gustav or the scene playing out near them.
This was going to be an interesting three weeks.
The day proceeded as normal. It was the weekend, so there wasn't any school until Monday. Gustav and Dio were given a room to share. The two foreigners thanked Rafael and the rest of the family. Gustav tossed his bag onto his bed and ran off to hang out with Marco.
Before retiring to unpack his things, Dio fished around in his suit coat and withdrew three unopened candy bars from England.
"It's not much of a gift" the golden haired teen said bashfully "I was saving these for myself, but seeing how hospitable you are and how you opened your home to me on such short notice, I thought that it warrants some kind of token of gratitude."
Rafael, Marco and Angelica accepted them gratefully. For Star, Dio gave her a keychain with a miniature Big Ben on it.
"Aw, thank you" She said, her cheeks turning pink.
"Don't mention it. I just hope that this could be the beginning of a wonderful new friendship."
"Oh definitely! We're totally going to be best buds, I can tell!"
With that, Dio went up to his room with his case to unpack and rest from the long journey he's had.
Up in the guest room, Dio set his case down and deposited his carefully folded clothes into the chest of drawers at the end of his bed. He then slid his suitcase under the bed, set his coat on one of the bedposts and flopped onto his bed.
Dio was exhausted, from both the trip and from the little charade he put on for his hosts.
The blond English boy didn't hate the Diaz's or Star, but he thought them…simple. Then again, looks can be deceiving, in the case of Dio and his roommate.
The supposed Scandinavian, Gustav, was by far the most annoying and ridiculous of the lot. Dio didn't lie when he said that he had pen pals in the Scandinavian countries, he even visited some of them. It was clear as day to the golden haired teen that the other foreign exchange student was a fraud.
As he lay there on the bed with his eyes closed, resting, Dio considered this exchange program and all that has happened so far.
The English boy also wasn't lying when he said that he wanted the full experience of school and life in America. If everything worked out, he'll be able to climb to new heights and escape that awful rat hole he called home.
Memories of that filthy little pub and of those rotten patrons who often lurked there, flashed across Dio's mind. His father's ugly, greedy face popped up, the vile curses and abuses he inflicted on his son. The thought of his poor but loving mother and how she was trapped with that animal made Dio sick.
Then came the memory of his close encounter with a fiery injury at the hands of a pup.
Dio's eyes opened and his thoughts turned to the girl. Star was her name.
"Magic" he murmured, as he considered everything that she told him. She was a princess from another world called Mewni and was there as an exchange student in the hopes of hiding from monsters who desperately coveted her family heirloom: a magical wand.
Dio thought that spells and magic wands were the stuff of foolish fairytales and films. However, after being nearly killed by a puppy with laser vision and the burns on his bag repaired, it was enough to make him a true believer.
The wheels in the clever teenager's mind began to turn. How did she get these powers? Where they genetic or could anyone acquire them? What about the wand? Would it work only for her or could he use it himself? What were its limits, or were there any limits at all? The more he thought about it, the more Dio liked the idea of magic.
A plan began to assemble in his mind. It shouldn't be much of problem. Star was very friendly, albeit fairly naïve, and probably wouldn't mind teaching him more about magic.
Though there were obstacles, one of them being the boy, Marco. Just how much was he aware of? Did he have magic too or does he aim to acquire it somehow? How protective of Star and her magic was he and just who else knows about this? That he will have to find out later.
Fortunately, Dio had time.
Besides, there was a more immediate pest that needed to be dealt with in order for this exchange program to be tolerable.
Dio sat up and decided to do some snooping.
He carefully looked through his roommate's belongings and it didn't take long for Dio to find something of value: Guide books, cookbooks, maps and language tapes for Scandinavia. All clumped together at the bottom of the fool's backpack, which he left lying on his bed for just anyone, particularly Dio, to find.
A smile appeared on his face.
Later that night, after dinner and more outlandish stories, Dio followed Gustav up to their room. He found his roommate rifling through his bag and searching frantically through his drawers.
"Looking for something?" Dio asked coyly, holding up the books and tapes of Scandinavia, the damning evidence that could easily shatter his façade.
"Where did you get those?" Gustav squeaked.
"Honestly, if you're trying to put on a charade, try not to leave the evidence in such a vulnerable place" Dio chided.
The fake Scandinavian reached for his the items but Dio pulled them back.
"Give them back!" the boy demanded "And why don't you mind your own business!"
Anger flashed in the English teen's expression and he looked like he was going to murder the shorter boy. Gustav backed away, sensing the tension and rage radiating off of Dio. Fortunately, Dio closed his eyes, took a deep breath and swallowed his rage.
He opened his eyes and smirked, "Oh don't worry, I will. But first, please sit down." The English teen gestured to the bed opposite him.
Gustav sat down, his face the color of chalk.
A cold, patronizing smile appeared on Dio's face "Don't worry, I won't disrupt your hilarious farce. In fact, if you listen to what I have to say and play along, the Diaz's won't ever find out about this. Understand?"
Gustav nodded, his head moving like a bobble head doll.
"Good" Dio said, setting the Scandinavian items aside and leaning forward, clasping his hands together. "Now then, lets talk about the Diaz's and, more specifically, this Marco boy."
Gustav hesitated but from the cold look in the English teen's eyes, which resembled two orange, smoldering embers in this light, and knew that he meant his threat.
Thus began their very one sided chat.
The next morning, Gustav was packed and hastily departed the Diaz household. He cited a family emergency and left with a quick goodbye.
As the sandy haired boy practically ran out the door, Marco's parents questioned the real reason. They both could sense that something was wrong with Gustav. His expression was pale and clammy, a torrent of sweat dripping down his face. Dark circles had settled under his eyes and his sluggish responses indicated a lack of sleep.
Eventually, Rafael and Angelica chalked it up to Gustav catching some kind of illness or something.
They shouted their well wishes to the fleeing boy and went back inside.
Marco was rather disappointed that one of his good friends had left in such a hurry, though he found it odd that he kept looking up at the window to the guest bedroom in terror.
Star was rather perplexed by Gustav's hasty exit and merely accepted the boy's excuse.
When they back inside, having watched one of their exchange students running down the street, narrowly dodging cars and pedestrians in his path, Star and the Diaz's could hear a sound coming from the kitchen.
In the kitchen, they found Dio, wearing an apron over his white shirt and blue tie, making sausages, tomatoes, fried eggs and bacon. He looked up from the frying pan and urged them to come in.
As they sat down, the golden haired teen served them each a plate of what he called a 'Full English Breakfast.'
"Another thank you gift, from me to you" Dio explained, humbly "A little taste of English cooking. I really hope you enjoy it, I'm not much of a cook like our Scandinavian friend but I know my way around a kitchen, having worked in a few restaurants before."
"These are excellent!" Rafael cried, after having taken a bit of his breakfast.
Angelica and Star dug into theirs and offered equally generous praise to their remaining foreign exchange student.
Dio set another plate out, grinning, "I do hope Gustav likes a proper English breakfast. In fact, I hope to trade recipes with him and show off to my other Scandinavian friends in a few months."
An awkward silence fell on the kitchen and Marco told Dio about Gustav. The golden haired English boy blinked in surprise and expressed his disappointment.
"That's too bad" a sad expression adorned Dio's handsome face "I was really looking forward to spending time with a fellow European. I do hope that family emergency isn't as serious as it sounds."
"I hope so too" Rafael said.
Marco agreed and as he dug at the food at his plate, he noticed the corners of Dio's lips turning up for a moment then settling themselves back into a frown. That sense of unease from yesterday came back, spoiling Marco's appetite.
As his family and Star ate breakfast and chatted with the handsome blond teenager, Marco couldn't help but feel that something was really wrong with Dio. He studied the exchange student's expression and, for a brief moment, their eyes met.
A creepy chill ran through Marco's body.
The English teen's eyes resembled a pair of embers, glowing, burning softly and just waiting to ignite into a great raging fire of destruction.
Dio smiled a smile that seemed to say to Marco, 'watch yourself.'
Marco blinked and looked at Star and his parents. Neither of them seemed to notice, their eyes were elsewhere for the moment. Dio asked a question.
Marco didn't catch it and so the European student asked again. "What kind of a place is Echo Creek?"
"It's a really great place" Star said immediately "You're going to love it here!"
"Oh I think I will" Dio said, a wide, toothy smile stretching across his almost flawless features.
This was going to be an interesting three weeks, Marco thought nervously.
(a/n: Well, what do you think. This one is a bit of a one off. I really tried to capture Dio's character and how a modern, younger Phantom Blood version of him he would interact with these characters. Hope I got it right. See ya!)