Arriving outside the manor gate the three family members walked up to the 2.5m tall door made of a weathered oak wood. Robert cleared his throat stepped forward and chapped the door knocker three times before stepping back towards his family once more.
Some shuffling could be heard from the other side of the door before it finally creaked open revealing a tall man with long curly dark blue hair and a neatly trimmed moustache adorning his face. He wore a smart dark grey fashionable suit with a green bow attached to his white shirt collar.
"Ahh, you must be Mr & Mrs Brandon, it's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance." he greeted with a warm smile as he reached out his arm for a handshake. Obliging Robert reached out and gave the man a firm handshake.
"Likewise Mr Joestar, my family wanted to thank you for your hospitality in inviting over my family to your home." He replied courteously.
"Nonsense, it's the least I can do for the family that looks after my retired race horses so well." he chuckled "And who might you be young man?" he spoke once more as he looked down to meet the young Diego in between his mum and dad.
Looking to his dad for conformation, who gave a slight nod, he stepped forward and stuck out his arm to greet Mr Joestar. "My name is Diego, sir."
"What a proper young man!" he exclaimed as he shook the boy's hand. "I wish my son had half the manners you did kid. I am George Joestar, but please call me George." He chuckled, finally letting his arm go from the firm handshake. As he stepped aside from the door he spoke once more "Please come on in. My wife Anne is just about to set out some food for us all."
"Thank you" came the reply from Maria and Robert at the same time as they stepped into the threshold of the home, with Diego trailing behind.
They walked through the large hallway lead by George into a smaller room where a small boy, no older than five, with dirty blond hair sat by the table with his mother just behind him serving some steaming hot food around the table. Above the table sat a low hanging chandelier, shining light unto the walls with paintings of families looking similar to George and his wife, but from different generations. One man from the paintings stood out to Diego, he was very large packed full of muscles, sporting a black cap that seemed to meld into his hair. On the plaque underneath the name Kujo Joestar was present.
The woman from before glanced up at the new arrivals, a warm smile upon her face. She sported long blonde hair that flowed down to her mid back. Her face was soft with bright blue eyes, but what stood out the most was her similarly coloured blue lips. Her dress was a simple yet elegant floral pattern with a small pendant necklace hanging from her neck.
"Welcome" she greeted cheerfully as she moved over to them. "You must me Mr and Mrs Brandon, along with your boy. Its lovely to meet you all, I am Anne Joestar. And this young one here is Johnny Joestar." Shew nudged the seated boy who turned to smile and greet the visitors.
"Hey." He said somewhat nervously.
"Hello." Diego replied, only slightly better than johnny's greeting.
"Come, take a seat." said Anne. "I've made enough for everyone one to enjoy."
Maria took Diegos hand and directed him round to the other side of the table where Johnny sat, and placed him down beside the other boy, before taking her seat at the right-hand side of Diego her husband following suit. After George sat down, they all said a small grace before beginning the meal set out before them. It wasn't long until Diego drowned out the conversation between all the adults and turned to glance at johnny, who was doing the same thing as him.
"What's your name?" Johnny whispered at the boy.
"Diego." He responded in a similar manner.
"What happened to your left eye?" Johnny asked curiously whilst putting a mouthful of food into his mouth and begging to chew.
"I got too close to an old grumpy horse a year ago and it tried to kick my face off, but it only managed to knock my eye slightly." He said smugly, as if retelling a story where he was a hero showing off his battle scars.
"Whoah. That's so cool" he gasped, almost letting food spill out. "I don't have any cool stories yet but when I'm a hero in the future I will have so many cool stories to tell. Your eye colour kinda looks like its spelling out D…I.. and.. ehh… O. DIO." He said squinting as he looked into Diego's left eye, mouth full of food. "Ooh" he gasped loudly "That can be your nickname. DIO." He exclaimed with pure excitement.
All the adults turned to face the pair of boys due to Johnny's loud outburst. Both the boy's face's grew slightly red as opposite sets of parents looked at them with an amused expression on their faces, before Anne turned to Johnny. "Jojo, don't eat and talk at the same time." She gently scolded. Johnny grew even more red and looked down at the tablecloth before gulping down his food as fast as he could.
Both sets of parents turned to each other giving the other a knowing smile before moving to continue their previous conversations.
Johnny turned back to Diego to continue talking. "My nickname is Jojo, at least that's what Mom calls me, well so do my friends. So, you can also call me Jojo." Jojo grinned.
"You said you want to be a hero? What's your quirk? I don't have mine yet, but Mum said that I will get it soon." Diego said smiling.
"The doctor said my quirk was spin, it lets me spin or rotate anything that I touch. Look Dio." Jojo says before picking up a silverware knife from the table and making it spin rapidly on his finger, faster and faster until it was just a circular blur. "Cool, see?"
"Whoah! With that you could make villains spin around until they got dizzy and fall down, then put them in jail!" Diego says with pure excitement on his face. "You'd be such a cool hero!"
Jojo points over at the painting that Dio was looking at previously. "I want to be like my father's grandfather, he was a super strong hero from Japan. I heard that he was sooo fast and strong he could move so fast that he would stop time and defeat villains!" Jojo explained whilst attempting to show off his currently non-existent arm muscles.
The conversations between both adults and children of each family continued until all the dinner was eaten. Jojo then asked his mom to go out and play around with Dio outside the manor, but as the sky was starting to darken and midnight approach, she instead asked Jojo to go and play with Dio inside the manor. For two more hours the boys bonded and played with each other. They both read a comic book Steel Screw Run, where the hero has a quirk called screws had to race against villains across the entire world saving people and gaining new friends as he went. One of the most popular comics serialising at the time.
Then they tried designing hero costumes and her names, all while Jojo told stories of the current greatest heroes in America. Whereas Dio would tell Jojo all about farm life, and all his favourite animals.
But alas their fun for the day had to end at some point. Maria came to fetch Dio, ready to take the boy back home to go to sleep in his own bed. On the way out of the manor George lead them once again to the door, saying final goodbyes as they exited, he paused for a minute before calling out to them as they started to walk towards the estate's gates. "Diego! Be sure to come round tomorrow to play with Jojo. The track will be finished in the late afternoon, then I will take both of you boys out to learn about riding the horses."
Diego eyes lightened up at his words. Looking at his father who gave a small smile and nod to him before he turned his head back towards George.
"THANK YOU, MR JOESTAR!" he bellowed "I will come round to play with Jojo tomorrow, I promise!"
As the Brando family walked past the gates and began the short walk back to their cottage home, George turned and closed the door, finding his wife stood by the stairs ready to retire to her room for the night.
"What a lovely family they are." She said gently.
"Indeed, I am lucky to have such kind and genuine employees. And the boy Dio, Jojo seems to have made fast friends with him. I do believe this summer will be a great holiday. Don't you?" He replied, as he moved to join his wife going up the curved staircase.
"Yes Georgie, this holiday to England was a wonderful idea. Jojo has already made such a great friend."
—
As the grandfather clock struck twelve the Brandon family stepped into the threshold of their own home. Maria stepped forward with a tired Diego clinging to her arm, she turned on the hall lights and picked up the boy to take him up the stairs to bed and tuck him in to sleep. He was out the instant his head touched the pillow.
"Sweet dreams, Dio." She said sweetly, giving him a gentle kiss upon his forehead. She rather liked the nickname that Jojo had come up with, so had Diego. She turned to look one more from the doorway before turning out the light and closing the room door.
In the hall behind her stood Robert, he had just locked the front door and drawn all the curtains in the rooms downstairs. "Shall we also go to bed my dear?" He asked.
"Yes, I'm rather knackered." She let out a tired sigh. Moving into their bedroom to change into their nightwear. "They were much kinder than I had expected." She said.
"More down to earth people than I thought they'd be. Although the accent they had was a bit difficult to understand sometimes, but I'm sure they must have thought the same about us."
"Mmhh. I suppose so." Robert mumbled. "Goodnight my love." He leaned over to where she sat at the end of the bed and gave her a gentle kiss upon her lips, before climbing into the bed and warming himself under the covers.
"Goodnight Rob." She replied as she copied his movements and cuddling his arm as they began to drift away to sleep.