#diego week

"Here, try some. Let me know if ya like it!"

when i saw day 3's prompts, i knew exactly what i wanted to make. this is from the first scene i wrote after getting back into writing. the two have a fated meeting after diego collapses in the desert during Scary Monsters Part 1 and end up briefly bonding over some really good coffee.

i was also encouraged to be brave and share my writing, so here it is! Super Creeps Part 1

for extra context: this is where the fanfic scene begins!

Theme: Dino’s 

I just really like the idea of Diego’s dinos harassing Gyro and Johnny for no apparent reason and @jjba-arni-reblog enables me by writing more of it lol 

Diego let his little dinos out as a treat, to run around a bit, before he noticed a familiar campsite in the distance. Diego’s interest was piqued as he thought of Zeppeli sitting over there. 

Oh no. Did he actually want to see Zeppeli? What an alarming and disgusting thought. Too bad the part of him that couldn’t rationalize that thought had scampered off, leaving Diego to chase after them. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Diego asked small dino as the latter happily took a bite off the sausage that Gyro generously shared. 

Diego was a little out of breath having chased the little Utahraptors all the way to the Zeppeli-annoying camp. 

"Seems like your dinos are not as dangerous as you presented them to be" Zeppeli smiled wickedly as he eyed the small, dare say cute, creature in front of him. 

"They are, don't you underestimate them, Zeppeli" Diego growled at the grinning man. 

Gyro started to pet the small dino, his smile widening as the small realization hit him. 

"Well, this one seems to be… purring" Gyro now locked back at Brando noting that the man was becoming angrier every second. 

The small dino, completely unaware of its user's feelings, let himself loose, now itching closer to Zeppeli's hand, eager for more pets and scratches 

Meanwhile, another dino carefully approached Johnny as the latter eyed the creature, feeling more disgusted than fascinated by it. Diego was the one to make it after all. 

"Back off before I shoot you" Joestar said without hesitation, making the small dino run behind his owner as if to hide from the enraged man.

"Jesus, Johnny, what the fuck?" Gyro eyed his friend, baffled by rude remarks towards the creature. The dino that came to him had already placed itself on his lap as Zeppeli was giving him pats. Diego didn't say anything to this, his annoyed eyes now fully on Jojo.

It was more than rude to treat his stand like that. Sure they weren’t friends, and were by no means friendly, but Diego’s stand was a living breathing creature. How could Johnny be so fuckinf insensitive? The little thing was so rattled it ran over to Zeppeli of all people. 

"Well, trash certainly behaves like one" the jockey spat, settling for a brisk comment rather than a berating rant. He then shifted his gaze from Johnny to the small dino behind him. 

"Dude, you are no fun, let the dino into your heart" Gyro nudged his friend, a small creature still on his lap feeling quite relaxed in Zeppeli's presence. 

"Does he even have one?" Diego raised an eyebrow at Gyro's suggestion. 

"Shut the fuck up, Brando, you are the one to talk" Johnny was quick to snap back. 

"Look at Zeppeli" Dio pointed at the sitting man with his stand's creature on his lap, seemingly about to fall asleep "that dino certainly isn't hostile towards him. It's not that you are scary to them but that my dinos have a taste" Diego concluded, feeling Jojo's piercing gaze on him. It was worth it. 

Johnny waved one over to him. Not as a gesture of kindness or affection, but just to prove a point to Diego. 

Promptly a little blue dino approached Johnny, albeit hesitantly. It took a few steps toward the man, stretching its neck out to sniff the man’s hand. 

As Johnny let his guard down, the dino instantly grabbed his cup of coffee with its small mouth, and sprinted away with its prize. It seemed like the stand creatures and their owner shared some similarities. The dino then stopped a couple meters away, gently setting the cup down to slurp up the coffee inside.  

Next prompt for Diego’s week that me and @giogio-gucci-gangstar are doing together. 

This was my favorite one as I felt very inspired by it and had a great time writing it.

Warnings: Spoilers for Steel Ball Run, angst.

Loudness.

Loudness was the only thing occupying Diego’s mind. The sound of the leaving train, flesh, birds that now suddenly became interested in the young man, staying somewhat close to Dio but with a vile intention behind it.

He couldn't think clearly, trying to regain the remaining consciousness in the situation like this. Dio wasn’t even certain where he was at the moment. The only thing he knew was that it was over for him.

Diego found himself being unable to move, instead lying down as he watched the blue sky above him, noting that it became harder to breathe. Surrounding loudness was still present in his tired mind as he gave up on trying to move.

He glanced down, finally finding the reason for his struggling. Diego was on the verge of death, watching the two halves of his body laying next to each other on the bloody train tracks. 

So this is how it’s gonna end? The man thought to himself, sighing through the pain he was feeling. Diego felt himself slowly becoming numb, not even being able to move his fingers as the hot sun shined on him as if taunting the young jockey. 

Through the pain Diego felt a growing sense of victory. He had done it. He had killed Valentine. Even if he was the one to fall, he had defeated the president and freed the world from his cruel intentions. He only regretted that he wouldn’t be there to help put the world back together. Diego would have to entrust that to Hot Pants to collect the remaining corpse parts. 

Partnering up wasn’t in Diego’s style, lesser so was trusting someone, yet looking back at it, the man found himself noting that such partnership was beneficial. Hot Pants was a smart and cunning jockey, much like Dio himself. Maybe that’s why such a bond worked. Maybe that’s why Diego sometimes found himself casually talking to Hot Pants without the need to bring up the goal they had in mind. Maybe it was his first sincere interaction he had. Just maybe, this time, he did open to someone. Diego felt himself silently thanking Hot Pants for giving him such an opportunity. Even if it wasn’t for long. And yet they were so close to success together. He could only hope that Hot Pants would celebrate him along with their victory. 

Diego felt himself coughing blood, his breathing slowing down with each passing minute. He felt the surrounding noises to be annoying, too loud for him. He craved quietness. 

The jockey stopped feeling, he couldn’t feel the blood running down from his open mouth. He couldn't feel the warmth of the sun. Slowly, the sounds around him started to become quiet, the screams of the birds somewhere. Diego couldn’t distinguish from there they were coming from. 

The sudden slice crashed over him, and it became overbearing as his sight had started to worsen. Dio tried looking down at his hands, only seeing a blurred image of what had once belonged to him. He found himself panicking, trying to see the stripes on the blue sweater. He couldn’t. Diego felt short of breath, trying to gather the remaining oxygen as the dread ran through his body.

He felt unwell, scared and defeated. He had succeeded but success was not his, it had been given to someone else while he was left cold and alone here to die. 

Dio searched for the warmth, suddenly realizing how cold it felt despite it being daytime. Sunlight suddenly stopped touching him as the jockey couldn't move,  frantically closing his eyes and trying to stay awake. Diego was losing his composure quickly as he couldn’t even his breathing, instead panting and shaking lightly. Small amounts of tears gathered at the corners of his eyes, threatening to run down his face.

Dio felt his own voice interrupting him, screaming inside his head as the panic consumed him. He didn’t want to die. Not like this, not this way. And not here. Not when all of his dreams were so close to fruition. 

Diego Brando had a whole life ahead of him. He had just won, he needed, he deserved, to show the world his success. Raise up in ranks, find a stable position in life. This isn’t how he wanted to end his life, lying on the railway tracks and waiting for his demise. Yet the truth was undeniable. His life was to end in the matter of minutes if not seconds and Dio needed to accept that.

He gathered the remaining oxygen that he could find, breathing in the last fresh air. As Diego did so, he felt a warm presence next to him. The jockey was still scared to open his eyes, afraid to see the leaving him world for the last time.

Diego felt a hand on his cheek, brushing away the tears from his face gently. The hand then moved to run itself through his locks, seemingly hoping to help the man to calm down. The soft touches felt familiar to Dio, reminding him of when he was a small child. He felt his body becoming lighter, noting that his anxious thoughts had started to slowly disappear, leaving the man exhausted.

The warm presence was still beside Diego as the loud sounds left his mind. However, he could hear something still. Something or someone was calling him. It was a gentle voice, a calming sound that interrupted the suffocating silence that had surrounded him. It was hard to understand who was calling for him, yet he could undoubtedly say that it felt familiar. He wanted the voice to call for him again.

Diego

And it called again, trying to make him open his eyes. Diego felt a warm hand playing with his locks.

Diego, please open your eyes

There it was again, the voice. Dio heard it clearer now, slowly started to recognize who was talking. He felt the urge to cry as his body started to shake lightly. The presence near him noticed that, as the other hand now took Diego’s one, drawing small comforting patterns on the back of his hand.

Diego now eagerly wanted to open his eyes, small sobs starting to escape him. He felt the hand squeeze his own, silently urging Dio to accept the truth.

The jockey’s eyes flew upon as he finally saw the figure before him, quickly launching himself at the revealed person.

Mother

Diego felt her arms hugging him back as the jockey cried into his mother’s neck, quietly apologizing for not being there to save her, for not becoming everything she wanted him to be. Such claims were shut down as his mom was quick to reassure him.

I am proud of you

Dio’s hold tightened as another loud sob escaped his twitching lips. 

I missed you, mom. There was not a day where I did not think about you

And so did I, Dio

Diego felt himself relax, for the first time in weeks if not months. He felt at ease. The remaining fears left his exhausted body, making Dio feel lighter, almost as if his body was vanishing from this world that brought so much pain and struggles to his and his mother’s lives.

As he felt his mother’s lips touch his forehead in a comforting matter, Diego smiled. No loudness was present in his heart and mind. He felt relieved. 

Diego found himself in a state of total tranquility

sooooo i’m currently designing an acrobat!diego for a cosplay meetup next year

i’ve had ideas for a steel ball run circus AU for a while (and that’s probably the direction my scarycreeps fanfic will go, but i digress), and i have stumbled ass backwards into a potential opportunity to bring it to life- so i at least have to TRY.

today i offer a cosplay transition edit that i never finished, but i like this clip a lot. maybe i'll come back to it or remake it one day..

i love exploring characters through music, and with diego in particular i find it interesting looking at both him as a person and him as a jockey/celebrity/public figure. most of his day-to-day interactions likely bore him, so over the years he's developed scripts to charm and persuade his mentors, peers, and the public. i doubt that how he presents himself on most occasions is the true diego brando, and i doubt he actually cares about living a lavish lifestyle (but he wants you to think he does).

So @jjba-arni-reblog and I are working together on Diego week so heres a cute little snippet of Diego beginning to be friends with his Dino buddies 

~~~~~~~

It was difficult for Diego Brando to have friends. Nothing in his life had come easily, and while he worked for everything he had, people were not something that particularly interested him. Thinking back there was really only one person whom he truly cared for. But with silly things like relationships out of the way, it was easier for him to achieve success by any means. 

For a long time, Diego had denied feeling any compassion or loneliness. Fortunately horses had always been there for him, and now small dinosaurs too. When they first started appearing he thought of them as sassy little servants, often disregarding them as understanding or sentient creatures. Yet, as he spent more and more time with them during the race, he found himself becoming comforted by their little presence. 

After a particularly frustrating day, or few days, without human contact Diego found himself talking to them. At first it was mostly frustrated words of just general grunts of emotion. But as he spent more time with them they proved to be rather decent listeners. Obviously they weren’t the best talkers, often they just grunted or screamed in response, but their little eyes darted back and forth excitedly when he kept them up to date with petty drama among the other racers. 

They particularly enjoyed hearing about how annoying and utterly incompetant Johnny Joestar and Gyro Zeppeli were. Luckily for them, Diego never ran out of mocking stories. He could talk for hours about their foolish antics and near death experiences. Of course Diego would never have fallen for such stupid tricks, and his little dinosaurs knew that. 

That evening he had just started describing how Johnny and Gyro had so rudely stolen beef from what was obviously another contestant’s cow, when one of the little dinosaurs had the nerve to interrupt him with a rather indignant squeak. Was this insubordination?

“Excuse me?” Diego was taken aback, he was hardly ever treated with such overwhelming and unnecessary sass. The little bugger stood defiantly and its blue eyes bore into him. It was as if that snotty little Johnny was looking right at him. Diego snorted.

“Do you have an issue with me, Johnny?” God that little brat was just as annoying as the Joestar, and once he made that comparison there was no unseeing the resemblances between the two. And then the little twerp had the audacity to growl back at him. Its bark was bigger than its bite, making it most definitely a Joestar. Diego was tempted to draw a stupid little star on him so he could tell him apart from the others. 

“Just sit down you little brat and let me finish.” Diego huffed a bit. He was not about to dive into the possible reasons for his stand to remind him of Johnny, so he ignored it, instead turning to make a pot of coffee to help soothe his nerves. 

The mundane steps of grinding the beans, and setting the water to boil was comforting to Diego. It came as nearly a second nature, so when a scaley little head nudged his hand holding the cup he was brought out of his reverie. 

He scratched its head but its eyes never left the coffee steaming in the cup. It spared a quick glance up to Diego, then quickly back to the cup. Did it? No. Could it possibly want coffee? Ah what was the harm in giving it a little sip, that Italian that rode with Johnny gave his horse coffee all the time.

The little creature dunked its entire head into the coffee cup. Diego flinched back and dropped the cup in shock. He was not expecting such an enthusiastic, or rather spastic, reaction to the coffee. 

When the little dinosaur resurfaced again, its eyes were blown wide and its tongue darted out to lick up every last drop from the corners of its mouth. Shit. Diego didn’t have time to try to speak a word before it kicked dirt up in his face and sprinted away. Fuck. 

Diego coughed, trying to get the sand out of his mouth and eyes, as the little bastard ran circles around his little campsite. It took all he had not to growl back at the little beast. He refused to stoop down to its level. 

God what a little imbecile, it was like the idiocy of the little Joestar rubbed off on this one. Making it a Zeppeli… The crazed look in its eye certainly matched that of Gyro when he was telling a “joke”. Hmph they both sure as hell thought they were funnier than they were. 

Diego gave a small huff of laughter, it was rather fitting to see little Johnny stare stupidly after Zeppeli as he wreaked havoc across his camp. 

This is the crack fic my heart has always wanted, and @jjba-arni-reblog helped me achieve this horrible horrible dream. 

CW: study abroad, frat boy influences, (references to) Barbie as Rapunzel, and necromancy 

@jjba-arni-reblog and I have been having a lot of fun with Diego week, so here is some self-indulgent “Diego harassing Johnny but not entirely hating Gyro because he has coffee” shit 

~~~~

There it was, that unbearably wonderful smell of coffee. Diego let his nose blindly carry him towards the source of his favorite drink. There was a little warning in the back of his head that this didn't quite smell like the usual American coffee, but god it just smelled so much better he couldn't resist searching for it. 

The closer he got the more his nose twitched, there was another, much more annoying smell mingling with that of his beloved coffee. It smelled like a spoiled brat. No, there was something else there too, he sniffed again. Ah a spoiled brat with daddy issues. Joestar.  

Diego sneered thinking of the annoying blonde. No way that incompetent little thing could make something that smelled so delicious. The Neapolitan had to be there with him. Though he had an odd style and sense of humor he was more bearable. His most redeeming quality being that he made Johnny mildly more tolerable. 

That duo of men were disgustingly close. Always talking and laughing with each other. Absolutely revolting. In no way would he, Diego, ever want to involve himself in something like that. With people like that. But he hadn’t seen another human being in nearly a week, and certain concessions must be made for the sake of a good cup of coffee. 

Slowly Diego approached their little makeshift camp. Valkyrie and Slow Dancer were sleeping a few feet away from a little fire in the center while the boys ate and drank on a blanket. It looked warm and cozy, creating an overall atmosphere that made Diego want to vomit. He took a deep breath, allowing his senses to be overwhelmed by the smell of the Neapolitan’s coffee and made a small grunt to announce his presence. 

The Joestar was the first to respond, his teal lips curled in disgust. Diego scoffed, as if he would deal with that one. Instead he turned to the less obnoxious one, who offered up a full view of his monogrammed grill. It looked like he was trying to smile, but anytime he opened his mouth he looked like a distastefully wealthy monkey flashing his teeth. He tried not to grimace too much.

While these two ruffians clearly had no sense of manners he would still try to act righteously. “Good evening-” He offered before the Joestar cut him off. 

“Gyro tell him to fuck off.” The Joestar maintained full eye contact with Diego as he made his demand. Diego could feel his eye start to twitch but he would remain civil. 

“Oh come on Johnny, he can just have some coffee and then go on his way. He hasn't even tried to kill us yet!” 

Johnny’s eyes blew up in outrage, “How can you say that! What about those giant scaley chickens? WE almost BECAME lizards!” 

“But we didn't.” Gyro just shrugged his shoulders and rose to grab another coffee cup, “And he probably could have done that now if he wanted to.” Johnny just looked up at him incredulously.  

“I suppose it would have been easier to use Scary Monsters and just take the coffee…” Diego pondered out loud, mostly to himself. Though he did relish the way the Joestar’s face contorted. 

“Espresso.” Gyro corrected. “Aside from lacking culture he’s not all bad Johnny.” To that, Johnny could only roll his eyes, annoyed at the seemingly friendly nature of the comment. Gyro gestured for Diego to take a seat next to him. How odd, the Neapolitan managed to mock and defend him within a breath of each other. He was smarter than he looked. 

Slowly he lowered himself next to Gyro, and away from the Joestar. 

“Espresso?” Diego ventured trying to start a conversation only to further annoy the Joestar, not because he was actually curious or found the Neapolitan interesting or anything embarrassing like that. 

Surprisingly, Gyro seemed interested in talking to him, avidly describing different types of coffees, and various ways to prepare them. Diego was still slightly confused on the difference between a cappuccino and a macchiato, but as far as he was concerned anything with milk was for those who lacked resolve. 

While yes, he was learning things and not entirely hating his time there, the thing he hated the least and possibly almost enjoyed, was seeing how Johnny reacted to him talking normally with Gyro. Diego could almost see his little thoughts, he was clearly weighing if this was somehow a clever plan to get closer to them to then suddenly attack or if he was a decent human being. The pout on his face suggested that he liked neither of those theories, and Diego loved watching him struggle. 

It looked like Johnny was actually becoming slightly jealous, not being able to participate in the discussion. Instead he just sat there, watching the campfire as the two men spoke somewhat enthusiastically. He pouted to himself, avoiding the conversation like a child

As if Diego could perfectly read Jojo’s emotions, he smirked at the perfect opportunity to harass that annoying little man. His sweatshirt had shrugged far enough down to see a little star shaped tattoo that was very similar to a birthmark on Silver Bullet. 

“Hey Johnny” Diego leaned over Gyro to look at Johnny. His grin was met with a glare of blue steel. Oh this was so fun and he had hardly even begun. 

“What.” Johnny spat out the words as if ‘do you want’ was too much of a hassle to tag on. 

“You know, I just so happened to notice that you and Silver Bullet share so much in common.” Diego was nearly on Gyro’s lap at this point, so when the Neapolitan interjected he jumped a bit. Honestly he had forgotten he was there. 

“Because they’re both so pale?” Gyro interjected. That was what he was interrupted for? What a stupid response. Diego was about to express that exact sentiment, but Johnny spoke before he could open his mouth.

“I'm not that pale you asshole!” Johnny was seething, but Gyro broke into hysterical laughter and nearly doubled over in his seat. “Not all of us were ‘blessed’ with Mediterranean skin you tan fuck.” Diego snorted, so this was clearly a conversation they had had before. How, interesting. 

“Well I was going to say it's funny that you have a tattoo of my horse’s birthmark, but I guess Silver Bullet is white and Johnny doesn't really look like he’s ever been in the sun…” Johnny’s mouth twitched. 

“You’re brIt's not a tattoo, don't flatter yourself.” 

“Wait,” Gyro who was quite literally caught in between their discussion interrupted, “Does that mean you and his horse have the same birthmark?” 

“To the naked eye it would seem like they are related.” Diego pointed out wistfully while Gyro cackled in laughter and Johnny yelled at him for agreeing.