A Place To Call Home
It was the last day of the summer in the Echo Creek neighborhood of Los Angeles, California for Marco Diaz. The fourteen year old was on his way home from a trip to Britta's Tacos, where he had enjoyed a few burritos on the sunny Sunday afternoon. The teen was bummed out that his summer vacation was at a close and yet he had seemingly done nothing with the free time. Sure, he had moved up a level in Karate, but he would have been able to do that during the school year. Marco was becoming frustrated at just how mundane his life had become. "Maybe they are right… Maybe I am just the 'Safe Kid'…" he thought to himself as he continued his journey home; now only two blocks away. "GET OUT! AND STAY THE HELL OUT, YOU FREAK!" a man's booming voice pierced the relative tranquility of the neighborhood, interrupting the brown haired teen's train of thought. He turned his attention the scene of the commotion; a two story house with a perfectly manicured lawn. The sight he saw was one that the relatively sheltered teenager couldn't believe. The large man, fortysomething by Marco's best guess, heaved a seafoam green dress clad blonde girl out his front door and onto the concrete walkway in front of it like one would a bag of trash.
"I-I'm sorry Mr. Jones… I-I can fix it! PLEASE! Just give me a chance!" the blonde woman pleaded as she picked herself off of the walkway; tears cascading from her sapphire eyes. "IF YOU DON'T GET THE FUCK OFF MY PROPERTY RIGHT NOW, I'M GETTING MY GUN!" the sandy haired man barked as the young woman turned and slowly began to walk away; a sharp pain radiating from her left knee. Getting a better look at the blonde, it occurred to Marco that the girl was pretty close in age to him. He took note of the bizarre getup that the teen girl wore. Her long, golden locks cascaded down her back, prevented from covering her face by a red hairband with two horns on it. A pair of pink hearts adorned the blue eyed teenager's cheeks; definitely not how the girls he knew wore their makeup. Her seafoam green dress was large and poufy; almost like a short prom or bridesmaid's dress, the fourteen year old boy observed. Bright pink and orange leggings and pink boots adorned with googly eyes and horns on them completed the young lady's unique outfit. Perhaps the oddest thing about the girl was that she carried some sort of stick with a ball on it in her hand. Bright pink in color, the center of the ball had a golden colored and star shaped gem stone on it. Taking a deep breath, the red hoodie clad teenager decided to go and check on the clearly upset young woman.
"A-Are you alright?" Marco asked with concern. He noticed a tear in her leggings, where a scrape had caused her to begin bleeding. "I-I… I don't kn-" the young woman burst out in tears as she collapsed into the fourteen year old with tight hug. "M-My name's Marco… Marco Diaz…" the teen's voice cracked as he struggled to understand what just happened. He wasn't used to talking to girls his age, let along hugging one. "Don't make this weird… Don't make this weird… She's just upset…" Marco chided himself internally as the young woman lifted her head from his chest and made eye contact with him. "St-Star… My name's Star…" the blonde said as she sniffled. The somewhat awkward moment was broken up by a sound of a shotgun being cocked. Looking back, the pair saw that the man had fulfilled his promise of returning with his gun. "LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Marco shouted as he grabbed the young lady by the wrist and pulled her away from the danger. Star stumbled and fell; her injured knee not being able to support her weight. Knowing that their lives might be in danger, Marco scooped up the blonde and rushed away towards the safety of the sidewalk. Star didn't know what to think of the situation. She was a Princess from another dimension, who possessed a wand that could have easily hurt or even killed the threat to her life, yet here she was, being whisked away to safety by a stranger like a damsel in distress.
Now in a full sprint, the brown haired teen boy continued to rush towards the safety of his home. "One more block… One more block…" Marco encouraged himself between labored breaths. While he was a bit athletic and the young woman was far from heavy, it was still more physical activity than he was used to. Well, that and he did have a stomach full of burritos. Much to his relief, the two story stucco house he sought came into view. "We're… Almost… To… My… House…" he informed Star, who had become quite comfortable in the arms of the teenager who had introduced himself as Marco Diaz. Glancing back, he had noticed that the gun toting man didn't give chase, much to his relief. "I-I think we're safe…" the chestnut haired teenager said as he fished the keys from the front pocket of his hoodie and proceeded to unlock the door. The black skinny jean and red hoodie clad teen walked over to the couch and gently placed Star onto it. After walking over and closing the front door, he broke the silence of the room. "What happened?" Marco inquired as the blonde teen rubbed her sore knee. "I-I… It's complicated… You wouldn't understand…" she explained in a sullen voice. "It's alright Star… You're in a safe place… You can tell me…" the hazel eyed boy said in a calm tone as he retreated to the kitchen to retrieve a wash rag and first aid kit. Star had begun to chew on her wand, a nervous tick that she had developed over the years. "Well… Okay… This may sound a little weird… But I swear I'm not crazy…" the sapphire eyed girl started as Marco reentered the living room and pulled up a chair; beginning to tend to the injured knee of the young woman.
"Whatever it is, I promise I won't judge you…" he said in a caring tone. "You're already so much nicer than the Jones family were to me…" Star said as her eyes filled with tears once again. "Yeah… I don't get why that man was so mad at you… I can't think of what you could have done to literally get thrown out of the house, let alone be threatened with a gun. And he called you a freak… That's a pretty mean thing to say…" Marco said as he opened the bottle of hydrogen peroxide and placed a bit onto the washrag. "Well… He did have a right to get mad… I did mess up pretty bad… B-But I was gonna fix it… His son didn't want to deal with the responsibility of it… I was going to figure out what to do with it. I-I just needed some time…" the blonde began to explain as a stray tear escaped her eye and ran down her cheek. Marco thought he had the situation figured out at that point. "So… She messed around with his son, got pregnant and he threw her out of the house… That's pretty messed up…" he thought to himself, unsure if he should speak again. "Look… It's not something to be ashamed of…" the chestnut haired teen began in a calm tone of voice; trying his best to comfort the upset girl. "I-It's not?" she sniffled, before Marco continued. "Y-Yeah… I-I mean… It's not the normal thing for a teenager to deal with… B-But… You're not a freak because of it. There's a lot of help out there for a girl who's in a situation such as yourself." Star gave a look of confusion as she wasn't sure what the nice boy was talking about. "I don't think you understand… I-I am a freak… He was right… I-I messed this up just like everything else I do… No wonder my parents sent me away…" Star said between sniffles as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "No. He wasn't. Just because you're pregnant, it doesn't mean that you're a freak or anyth-" the hazel eyed teenager began before being cut off. "PREGNANT?! You think I'm pregnant?!" the blonde exclaimed as a look of horror shot across her face. "I-I…" Marco stuttered. "I, Star Butterfly, Princess of Mewni, am most certainly not pregnant! Eww! One… I'm, like, way too young for that stuff… And two… I intend to keep myself pure until I become Queen…" she said with disgust. "Princess?" Marco asked with a befuddled expression. "Yeah… I'm a magical Princess, from another dimension…" the blue eyed girl said as she waved the wand above her head; producing a rainbow. "What the hell?" the red hoodie clad teen whispered in a mixture of shock and amazement at the sight. Suddenly, the rainbow burst into flames, causing the nearby wall to catch on fire. "OH SHIT!" Marco yelled as he shot up from the chair and raced to find a fire extinguisher.
He returned a brief moment later with a large red cylinder. Aiming the hose at the flaming wall, he pressed the trigger, releasing white foam with an explosive burst. The fire was put out in short order due to Marco knowing how to properly extinguish a fire. "SEE! I AM A FREAK!" Star shouted as she shot up from the sofa and attempted to stand. "OWWW!" she exclaimed as the blonde collapsed back onto the tan cloth of the couch and clutched her throbbing knee. Mr. Jones had managed to injure the young woman, something that even monsters on Mewni had failed to do. "I-I don't know what just happened… But I'm sure it was an accident…" Marco said in an attempt to calm the girl down. "I-It was… I'm still learning my powers…" she said as the teen heiress covered her face with a throw pillow. "Y-Your powers? D-Did I hear that right?" Marco asked with genuine interest. "Y-Yeah… This is what I was talking about. I-I saw that their son was feeling down, so I cast a spell to cheer him up … A puppy seemed like a good idea… I mean, everyone loves puppies… B-But I didn't expect it to shoot lasers from its eyes! I-It set the house on fire and I guess that was the last straw…" the young woman said with a sort of half chuckle and cry. "Oh… That's what you meant by not wanting to deal with the responsibility and figuring out what to do with it… My bad…" Marco apologized. "I guess I could see how you could get that… Especially with me being vague and all…" Star said.
"Oh man… What are my parents gonna say? They said I could only stay on Earth if I was with my host family… I-I don't wanna go to Saint Olga's Home For Wayward Princesses… " the blonde fourteen year old worried as fresh tears formed in her sapphire eyes. "Well… What if you stayed with me and my family?" Marco suggested. Star looked up and wiped her eyes. She had no idea why this guy she had just met was being so kind to her, but she was appreciative of it. "Y-You mean it!?" the dress clad teen exclaimed. "Sure… I mean, I have to actually ask my parents first and all… But we've hosted foreign exchange students before, so I'm pretty sure they'll be alright with it…" the teen boy said with a soft look in his hazel eyes. "Thank you Marco Diaz… Thank you so very much…" the young woman said as she once again embraced the kind soul who had taken mercy on her. Star spent the rest of the late summer afternoon explaining all about her home world of Mewni and her wand. Marco was spell bound by what the bubbly blonde had to say. A few short hours ago, he would have written off anything this girl was saying as simply the rantings of a person who was not mentally well, but now he was convinced that she was for real. Both teenagers weren't sure what the future held, but Marco had an idea that his mundane summer had given way to a fall full of adventure and Star was grateful that she had finally found a loving place to call home on the strange and unfamiliar planet of Earth.
Author's Note:
So, this is my slightly different version of events which led to Marco and Star meeting for the first time. I don't know why, but I always thought Marco taking Star in when she was down on her luck would make for a great story. From here, the rest is the same as what really happened in the show. Just an idea I had kicking around in my head, so I hope you enjoy!