Hey y'all! It's me back at it again with the terrible AU. There's some mention of terrible parenting in this chapter. I've got nothing against any of the canon parents, they're all lovely, it's purely for the sake of the AU. Thank you thank you!

Marco and his friends were huddled in the corner that housed Star's duffle and herd of puppies, doing their best to stay out of everyone's way as they set up. Well, set up might've been the wrong term, really all they were doing at the moment was constructing a makeshift floor out of broken down cardboard boxes on one side and old, scratched-up aluminum flooring on the other.

Janna and Jackie were talking in a hushed but excited tone about what they were about to witness, though Marco was more distracted by the fact that nearly every time a new contender showed up they would cast an almost sympathetic glance towards Star, who would just give them a thin smile and a shrug in response. They all clearly knew something he didn't, which was reasonable considering he just met this girl an hour ago, but it still bothered him for reasons he couldn't quite piece together. Maybe she'd just had a rough night the other day. That was probably it. She seemed to be around his age, so whatever the issue was couldn't be too serious, right?

He was pulled from his train of thought by Jackie shaking his shoulder and telling him that it looked like something was about to happen. He looked over to see that she was right, something did appear to be happening, at least he was pretty sure? This alleyway was barely lit (he honestly had no idea how everyone else seemed to be seeing so well here), but there appeared be a lot of commotion. Star had stepped up to the metaphorical plate, getting some light stretching in as she presumably waited for someone to challenge her. After a long minute (or two, or three), a tall boy clad in fitted black sweatpants and a purposely torn burgundy t-shirt approached her.

"Nice to see you again, Star," he said, greeting her with a surprisingly natural-looking bow. "It's been awhile, anything new in your life?" His question had that tinge of sympathy Marco had noticed on everyone else, but if Star noticed she didn't comment on it.

Instead she crossed her arms and grinned, fully finishing the construction of her carefree façade. "Tom Lucitor, I didn't expect to see you here today!" she said with a sort of fondness. That fondness was lost by her next sentence, though. "Nothing new, everything's been good," she continued. To Marco it was clearly obvious she was lying through her teeth, but no one else seemed to notice, or just didn't care.

Before either of the contenders could get another word in a large girl with an outfit so bright it hurt Marco's eyes stepped between them, a few glitter particles flying out of her neon pink hair as she waved her arms frantically. "Okay y'all okay, calm yo rowdy little butts down, it's betting time! Our defending champ-slash-founder of this great organize-a-shee-un Star Butterfly, versus comeback kid Tom Lucitor!" She turned to look at the latter incredulously. "Really dude, I literally thought you were dead. Like, D-E-A-D dead." Within a second the crowd of teens she'd just quieted were all yelling over each other, huddling around her to place their bets.

While the chaos was happening Marco leaned over towards Jackie to ask, "is this what it was like when you were here last night?"

"Pretty much," she said with a nod. "They call that girl with the pink hair Ponyhead, but I have no idea why."

"She looks like that Lisa Frank unicorn ate the cast of Jem and puked it up," Janna added.

Marco grimaced as he turned his attention back to the crowd who was nearly assaulting the pink-haired Jem-puke girl, though he only lingered a second before his gaze wandered towards the girl who was apparently defending champion of this... dance league? She looked thin, almost thinner than the ballerinas at the Academy who he'd usually find smoking in place of eating. He couldn't really place this girl as a smoker in his mind though, so maybe she was just naturally thin, and that combined with competitively dancing every night made her extra thin? No, he was lying to himself. She looked more skinny than thin, if he was being honest. Did this girl eat? He'd just seen her feeding an entire litter of puppies though, so she must have access to proper food, right? Was she not eating on purpose? He shook his head, trying to get his made-up tragic backstory for her out of his mind. He shouldn't be so worried about someone he just met.

That someone he'd literally just met seemed to be getting impatient, if her yelling of "oh for crying out loud, Ponyhead!" was any indication.

"Girl, take a pill, we almost done," the larger girl said, taking one last person's money before shooing everyone away from the makeshift dance floor. "Okay y'all, audience choice, who gets first moves? Lemme hear it for Anger Management Issues!" she shouted, apparently referring to Tom, who grumbled at the nickname.

The dense crowd cheered, with some light applause thrown in by a few.

"And gimme some love for our girl, the one and only Princess Butterfly!"

This time the crowd shouted, clapped, and whistled so loud Marco could barely hear his own thoughts, which were currently questioning why Star had such drastically different reactions to being referred to as Princess. Now she seemed to just be slightly exasperated by it, as opposed to completely pissed.

"It's decided! B-Fly gets first moves," Ponyhead (Marco would really have to ask about that name) announced, stepping out of the ring and pushing a button on a very '80s-looking boombox to let the two dancers go at it.

Star started with some simple movement, nothing particularly challenging. A tilt-kick here, a partially ironic robot there. It kind of reminded Marco of that part in Willy Wonka where Gene Wilder pretended he needed a cane. Of course the moment he thought that she was on the ground, posing in some sort of one-armed shoulder stand before popping out of it onto her feet only to drop down into a full split, arms crossed in an almost unsettling nonchalance as she stuck her tongue out at her opponent.

Some "oooooh"s could be heard from the crowd, while Tom just scoffed with an amused smirk.

"That was cute, but you've really lost your touch since I left, my shining star," he said, prompting more "ohhhh"s from their audience.

Star quickly picked herself up from her split and took a warning step towards him. "I'm not yours anymore, remember?" she reminded.

He looked downtrodden for about half a second before his bright, slightly smug grin returned. "You'll change your mind one day," he said with a heavy heir of confidence.

"In your dreams, Lucitor," she said and stepped back to her own side of the floor, allowing him space to properly attempt to out-perform her. She kept her arms casually crossed over her chest as he stretched, spun, and flipped in front of her. She managed to keep her unimpressed look until he pulled some parkour crap using the brick wall behind him to backflip himself right in front of her face, making her jump back into someone behind her.

"Jeez Star, did you think I would actually run into you? You're jumpier than I remember," Tom said with a laugh as he looked at the scene he'd created. "And that poor kid you just crashed into. He's new, isn't he?" he asked, nodding towards the boy who was currently supporting her weight.

"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sor-" Star began, but stopped herself when she craned her neck up to see who exactly she'd jumped into. "Oh, it's just you. Weren't you and your friends huddled in a corner like, five minutes ago?" she asked him.

Marco gave an uneasy laugh, trying to ignore the giant obnoxious butterfly- ironic, he thought- that massacred his stomach whenever he touched the girl. "Yeah, but Janna wanted to get closer because that seemed 'more dangerous', soooo... Yeah." He offered a sheepish smile, vaguely wondering if she was aware that he was still holding her up.

If she did realize it she didn't care to comment on it, instead choosing to inform him that "it's not really dangerous at all, actually. We're just dancing, the worst that'll happen is you get kicked in the face, or something."

Janna groaned in disappointment somewhere behind them.

"Good to know," Marco said, a genuine smile threatening to break through his slightly uncomfortable one.

Star giggled at his expression, seemingly perfectly content to continue leaning all up on him until a loud voice jolted her out of his arms.

"Girl, if you gonna start goin' out with this trust fund ballerina boy you gotta talk to your bestie- that's me, in case you forgot- about it," Ponyhead said, hands on her hips as she studied Marco as if she were on an anthropological mission.

"What?!" Star exclaimed, dramatically stepping away from the boy who'd she just been giving a dumb smile to a moment ago. "I barely know him!"

"She barely knows me!" Marco helpfully added.

"I just met him!"

"She just met me!"

"I don't even know how old he is!"

"Sixteen, and I don't even know how old she is!"

"Fifteen, but my birthday is next week. And I don't-"

"Really? Happy early birthday!"

"Aw, thanks!"

Ponyhead loudly snapped her fingers, drawing them out of their brief conversation. "Okay, okay, I get it! Just met! Not a thing yet! I for real do not need Richie Rich over here repeating all your points, B-Fly," she said before nodding her head towards Tom, who had been standing there looking slightly irritated throughout the entire exchange. "You were doing something, remember? I got a whole stack of cash in your favor but I gotta give it to Tom if you forfeit," she reminded her.

Star made a sound somewhere between a squeak and a scoff. "No, no, I don't forfeit!" she insisted, pulling out a flawlessly executed triple pirouette to prove her point.

"Okay y'all, we got a round two!" Ponyhead announced, again stepping back to give the two ample space. Marco followed suit, giving Star a supportive pat on the shoulder before squeezing back between Janna and Jackie.

Star continued with the more contemporary style her pirouette had introduced, leading to much more graceful movements than she'd gone with her previous turn. It almost made her wish she still owned pointe shoes, despite the fact she adamantly refused to allow anyone to refer to her as a ballerina. She was not a ballerina, and she never would be. That didn't mean she didn't still have a flawless penché, though, which she ended her freestyle with.

Marco, as well as the two girls he was squeezed between, gaped at how she managed to both keep her balance and hold her chest up, while the foot of her working leg pointed directly towards the light-polluted sky. This girl was gifted, and Marco was surprised he'd never heard anything of her. Usually if there was a particularly talented dancer at his or a nearby dance school, word spread quickly and they were either snatched up by a professional ballet or shipped off to New York, never to be personally heard from again. But for some reason this girl, this disgustingly talented girl, remained here in California, dancing in a secluded alleyway for cash.

The universe didn't make a whole lot of sense sometimes.

Meanwhile Tom had held his arms up in surrender, a fond smile on his face. "Back flexibility like that deserves to win," he said, lowering an arm to shake Star's hand.

She gladly clasped his hand with her own and shook, a bright (if already slightly tired) smile on her face. "Thanks, Tom," she mumbled towards him, knowing he at least a little bit let her win on purpose.

When they stepped apart Ponyhead shoved her way back onto the dance floor and held up one of Star's arms in victory. "Let's hear it for my bestie Princess B-Fly!" she announced, grinning like a proud mum before pulling her off to the side. "Here's your cut girl, I think you're set for the night if you want," she half-whispered, handing her bestie an admirable stack of cash. "You seem out of it tonight," she added, her voice laced with sympathy.

"Yeah, didn't sleep well I guess," Star mumbled back. "I'll be okay," she assured, giving the most convincing smile she could.

"Girl, I know you lying but I won't press," Ponyhead said, giving her friend a quick hug before going back to her job emceeing.

Star sighed and started pushing her way through the crowd that'd formed until she was past the outermost layer of people, free to go shove her (kind-of) hard earned cash in her bag. "I can't believe Tom gave me a pity win," she muttered under her breath, sitting down in her corner without bothering to check her surroundings. She smiled when a herd of puppies all ran up to her the moment she was on the ground and scooped a few up in her arms. "Don't worry guys, we have enough for your food, I might even be able to get you a new toy or something," she assured them.

Despite the noise of the group a few feet from her she'd almost fallen asleep leaning against the wall, at least until someone shook her by the shoulder, rousing her out of her half-asleep state. She groaned and peeked an eye open to see the boy she'd met earlier- Marco, was it?- crouched in front of her.

"Hey, you fell asleep," he said with a lopsided smile. "You should head home." He offered her a hand, presumably to help her up.

She hesitated, trying to decide how to handle the situation. Normally she would just lie and say she would go home soon, maybe take a walk around the block so it would look convincing. She took his extended hand without even thinking, and before she was able to decide what to do she was standing up. Great. Well, if she was already up, she might as well go with her usual lie-

"I can walk you home. If that's okay with you, I mean," Marco said. "It's kind of dangerous to be out here alone this late, you know?"

Star cringed at how genuine he sounded. "Oh, sweet, sweet Marco," she began. "You can't really do that," she said vaguely.

"Why? Is it far?" he asked, still holding her hand absently. "My friends are already on their way home, and I don't mind a bit of a walk," he promised.

She sighed and squeezed his hand before letting it go to lean back on the wall she'd fallen asleep against. "No, that's- not what I meant."

"Then why-"

"You can't walk me home because I'm already at my home, Marco," she explained, her expression hardening as she looked away. "I live here. In the alley between China Joe's and Leanne's Floral Arrangements. With the puppies." She sighed and slid back down to the ground before gesturing towards her threadbare, slightly torn duffle bag, her back still against the wall behind her. "That's all my stuff. It's mostly dog food and deodorant, but you can look if you want," she said with a small shrug.

Marco stood frozen in his spot, mouth slightly agape as he stared at her. "You... you're homeless?" he asked, completely devoid of tact.

Star huffed a laugh, still avoiding eye contact with him in favor of watching her blissfully clueless puppies play with each other. "Yeah. I know, the great Star Butterfly, homeless. I'm sure you're disappointed," she muttered.

"I- no!" Marco said quickly, immediately sitting down across from her. "I'm not disappointed, just- surprised. Don't you have anyone you can stay with? What about that girl with the pink hair?" he asked, utterly baffled.

Star groaned and pulled her knees to her chest, dropping her head in them. "Ponyhead already has, like, eleventy-billion siblings, I would just be a burden," she explained. "And I don't have any family here, sooo..."

Marco hesitated a few seconds before asking, "what about your parents?"

"I split on them because I couldn't handle their schedule for me anymore." She patted the ground next to her, inviting him to sit there, an offer which he took immediately. "Wake up at five in the morning, get dressed, make my bed, have half a banana for breakfast. Have you ever had frozen waffles? I've always wanted to try frozen waffles. After 'breakfast,'" she said with air quotes, "go to Academy. Ballet from six-thirty to eleven-thirty. Half hour to eat an apple. My mom always gave me a yellow apple. Have you ever had a yellow apple, Marco? No, because they're terrible. Anyway, noon to two-thirty was all technique class. After that everyone got to go home and have a life, except for me, who went to an after school ballet studio for more classes. Half an hour travel time, half an hour nap time. Three-thirty to six-thirty, more ballet. Forty-five minutes for dinner, which was usually a piece of chicken, or something. Lean meat, y'know? So, dinner, then seven-fifteen to eight was yoga. I liked that, actually," she mused. "Get home at eight-thirty, shower, two hours of homework, spend maybe an hour on whatever I want, be in bed by midnight, repeat Monday to Friday." She took a deep breath and sighed, only then realizing that at some point during her rant she'd leaned her head on Marco's shoulder.

He'd in turn rested his head on top of hers, which she surprisingly didn't mind. "That sounds- terrible. Wow," he breathed, still trying to comprehend everything she'd just said. "Did you ever ask them to lighten up?" he asked.

She gave a half-hearted laugh. "Of course I did, stupid. But I was a prodigy, or something. They didn't want me 'wasting my talent' by having a normal life."

"What did you do on weekends? You said all that was Monday to Friday."

"Ballet, technique, and flexibility, three different studios, seven in the morning to nine-thirty at night."

"I see."

"Mhm," she mumbled, starting to fall asleep again, only her own storytelling keeping her awake. "So, I ran away. And a couple months later when I came crawling back to my old house, my parents had moved. So." She shrugged slightly. finally working up the courage to glance up at the new friend who she'd just told her life story to.

He grimaced down at her and gently took one of her hands in his. It felt natural. "Do you want to...?" He didn't have to finish his sentence, they both knew what he was going to ask. The real question was if Star was going to accept his offer.

Lame obvious cliffhanger is lame and obvious