Notes:

Marco thinks things through a bit more than he did originally, not that it gives him a lot of warning.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 (EDITED 12/22/2020)

I don't stop running until I can no longer see Echo Creek High, at which point I let out a relieved sigh. It's been a crazy day, and it's only a week into school-will the school even be there Monday, or will it have burned down? I guess they have the whole weekend to do repairs, since it is Friday and all. Maybe I'll get home and everything will have been a bad dream. I glance around my sleepy little town as I walk the most efficient route home, cursing my forgetfulness in leaving my shiny red baby (my bike) at school. I'll likely have to go back for it tomorrow if I want to keep to my usual school day schedule. Can't get to school on time to nod to Jackie if I go on foot Monday morning.

When my home comes into sight, I smile, ready to get off of my feet after this exhausting day. I step up to our house and look over it, painted in gorgeous oranges and reds. It's always been too big for us, having been bought by my grandma back in the day. She was expecting a big, big family to always be around, but after grandpa passed away she's the one who moved out. Living the big life now, always traveling around, checking ticks off of her bucket list. We tend to fill up the space with exchange students, having one or more every year, to the point where the school system calls us first whenever someone needs a home.

That...gives me a bad feeling, and I quickly step inside the house and walk towards our living room, where I can hear laughing voices. Three. My fears are realized when I see who is sitting on the couch, between my parents-Star Butterfly herself.

I freeze up, wide eyed, as my father begins laughing at something she'd said, "Oh, Star, you have such funny stories of your home! This 'Mewni' sounds like….a completely horrible place! I'd love to visit." my father, Rafael, is about a foot taller than me and twice and wide, with a burly build. He's also not the most socially adept, in spite of being the most caring guy I know. My mother, Angie, is eerily similar to him in personality.

I've never seen two people so in tune with each other. She's about my height, thin, but with almost as much brown hair as Star, all bundled up with a couple of scrunchies, "Rafael, honey, that's rude! I'm sure Moonie is a perfectly nice place, and we'd love to visit anyway!"

I walk towards the trio and open my mouth, hoping to convince my parents that this crazy girl is dangerous, when the crazy in question jumps to her feet and gasps, "Marco! I had no idea you lived here, I thought -all- humans had the last name Diaz!" She begins bouncing up and down with an excited smile, and I have to sigh and turn to look at my mother and father with a skeptical look.

"Really, you two? She's dangerous! And magical! She set the school on fire!" my father ignores my words of caution as usual to my great dismay, and simply laughs it off, "She's a bundle of excitement! We could use that energy around the house, it's been empty without any exchange students, Mijo."

"We could have gotten that with a litter of puppies! And with much less danger!" I respond, fuming.

Star's eyes grow wide, the pupils expanding like she'd just taken a dose of something and she whispers, "I. Love. Puppies." before pointing that awful pink wand at the ground, and lasering something into existence. The next thing I know, a litter of the most adorable little golden retriever pups are rolling around on the ground, letting up a storm of yips. I can see with one look into my parents eyes that they have fallen in love with them instantly, and I admit even my staunch determination to avoid Star living in this home was melted...for a moment. Then, of course, the puppies begin firing fucking lasers from their eyes.

All of them, every second or so. The house descends into chaos as I try to save pictures, vases, and everything else breakable, Star and my mother start chasing down the puppies, and my father goes down quickly in a stream of laser fire.

"My Eyesssss!" He calls out, hands over his face and red burn marks popping up all over him. Ten minutes later, a frazzled family of three and one unfortunate princess sit staring at the group of adorable puppies, the room now puppy proofed, with only half of the former living room being completely unsalvageable. I throw my hands towards Star and feel like my point is very much made, while Star simply lets out a nervous giggle.

My mother and father share a glance (as much as my father could with both of his eyes red and irritated) before simply shrugging and giving Star another welcoming smile, "Marco, why don't you show Star her new room while we get all of this cleaned up? And, um, take the puppies with you." I blink in complete shock, nearly ripping my hair out in frustration. They still want to live with her even after all that?!

I just stand up and start stomping my way upstairs, the puppies following me, along with Star herself who seems quite relieved to not be getting kicked out, "Hey Marco, I'm sorry about the puppies. And, uh, the various other broken things. Its... kinda why I moved here. I don't really know how to use this wand, and I may have accidentally set my kingdom on fire, so they sent me to this dimension to learn control."

Honestly, it was a rather heartfelt apology, and a reasonable reaction. I could sympathize with the girl...but more so with her kingdom, for kicking her out. Perhaps I was slightly more bitter than I otherwise would be, considering my jeans and shoes were currently being ruined by laser eyed puppies firing at my legs and burning holes through my clothes, "Look, I don't approve of you being here but I can't change what my parents think. Here's your room, just...try not to break anything."

I gesture to the guest room we have all of our exchange students stay in, and Star suddenly lets out a huge smile, immediately raising up her wand in her hands, "Sparkle Glitter Bomb Expand!" I facepalm, expecting a hole to be blown straight through our house this time, but when I look up I see the girl opening up her door into a gigantic room.

It seems like a weird mix of medieval and modern, with monster skin rugs next to modern day curtains next to a super fluffy princess bed. Its two stories high, somehow (I later found we have a new actual tower growing out of our home) and is honestly about the coolest thing I've seen all day. I take a closer look at Star, for the first time since I categorized her into my box of 'dangerous to society' things, and realize that she must be someone pretty damn cool in that dimension of hers. Her boots are clearly made from some sort of weird monster, full of horns and scales, and her leggings and dress are both cut from the alien silk-like material I'd noticed earlier. The stuff is relatively low key compared to what our Earth royals used to wear, but I could see this crazy girl as a Princess out on holiday for the first time, now that I've seen her skip into this room. Maybe not a Princess like we used to have, I amend, once I see her giant wall of ridiculously huge weapons, but definitely something.

"This...this is amazing, Star. And nothings broken! Or on fire! Can you do me?!" I mean every word, this is real magic! Not just a weapon for breaking shit, but actual wave your hand and make cool stuff happen! I can't even imagine what my room will look like. Maybe a giant karate dojo?!

"Oooof course, Earth buddy. I'd be happy to." Star confidently strides out of the room, clearly ecstatic that she'd managed the spell with no complications. When I point out my room to her, she kicks down the door, holds up her wand and yells out, "Mystic Cloud Suck Transform!" after which a small black hole pops up at the top of my room and sucks every single thing I've ever owned into it before disappearing with another little pop.