ok picture it.
steve and eddie both work at a small cafe in the city that specializes in light sandwiches and pasta dishes. steve is the opening manager, off before eddie, a line cook, makes it in for the closing shift and the evening rush.
every day, steve leaves a “friendly reminder” note on the break room whiteboard for the closing shift and every day, eddie’s blood boils when he reads it. it’s not like the closing shift leaves the place looking like a dump; it’s difficult to juggle the dinner rush and pick up the morning shifts slack when they’d left all their dirty dishes in the sink from breakfast and done absolutely no prep for the closers.
in august, one of the cafes busiest months, when tables are full of rude tourists and college students, the closing manager goes on maternity leave and steve’s forced to cover for her. eddie and steve meet for the first time ever and eddie’s even more annoyed by the fact that steve is gorgeous and fuckin cheerful, even after long days where he’s constantly stepping in to defuse conflicts between horrible costumers and the waitstaff.
about two weeks into steve covering the closing shift, he rounds up all the line cooks, hostesses, and waiters and personally apologizes to them for thinking the closing shift was easy. this shit is hard! infinitely harder than opening the store in the morning. he promises them that when he returns to his morning shift duties, he’ll be much more conscious of the way the staff leaves the kitchen for the closers.
after the staff meeting, eddie’s cold feelings start to thaw. it’s clear that steve means what he said. eddie’s never seen a restaurant manager working with the dishwashers at the sink after close. and steve even agrees to let eddie stay after hours to try out some of his own recipes, in hopes they might make it to the menu someday.
after the closing manager returns from her maternity leave, there’s a remarkable shift in the atmosphere of the restaurant. prep work is done before the closers come in, no dishes pile up in the sink, and if there is ever left over work from a particularly busy morning, steve always stays after his shift is over to help take care of it. eddie can’t help but feel a growing fondness for the guy.
one night in december, when eddie’s stayed late to try a new recipe for christmas cookies, the little bell above the front door starts to jingle as it swings open and then closes. it’s not that unusual. sometimes a manager or one of the shift leads has forgotten something or a late delivery is set to arrive and someone has to be there to sign for it.
just as eddie is setting the cookies on a cooling rack, steve walks in to the kitchen, looking… really good. like, date night good. eddie briefly mourns the loss before he calls out a greeting from across the kitchen. steve looks up at him then, smiling wide.
“oh hey, man. forgot my phone in the office,” steve tells him in explanation, moving through the open door next to the walk in freezer. when he reappears in the kitchen, he holds up his phone triumphantly for eddie to see, grinning. he walks around the counter to stand next to eddie. “so what’s on the menu tonight?”
sometimes, when steve was still working the closing shift and had stayed late after mostly everyone had gone home, he’d ask eddie what he was cooking. and eddie, after the pivotal staff meeting, would tell him and sometimes, if he was super confident, he’d even offer steve a taste. steve would compliment him and tell him how awesome it was and, for a few shining moments, eddie would pretend that he could feel something between them.
“just some christmas cookies. trying to work out the mint-to-chocolate ration. wanna taste?” eddie looks up at steve then and thinks he must imagine the way the other man’s eyes dart to his mouth.
“yeah, sure,” steve murmurs softly in the quiet kitchen. eddie clears his throat and takes a small step back, out of steve’s space, and picks up one of the freshly baked cookies, holding it out to steve. steve takes it and takes a bite so big, he’s practically eaten the entire thing in one go. he chews, a contemplative look on his face, before his eyes widen, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. “fuck, dude,” steve practically moans, mouth full. “i think you nailed it.” it’s a testament to how hot steve truly is that eddie can watch him speak with his mouth full and not be disgusted by him. not even a little bit.
“yeah?” eddie can feel the grin on his own face, practically splitting his cheeks in two.
steve steps a little closer, eating up the space eddie had tried to put between them. “you tried one yet?” steve asks, voice low. eddie swallows and shakes his head. steve’s eyes dart back down to eddie’s lips again, slower and more purposeful this time. “well, you gotta have a taste, eddie.” steve’s voice is practically a purr and eddie can feel the other man’s breath on his lips. neither of them moves to reach for another cookie. instead, steve lifts the remaining bite he has in his hands and lifts it to eddie’s mouth. eddie drops his jaw, obedient, even without being told, and feels steve place the cookie on his tongue. he chews, swallows, all while maintaining eye contact with steve. “good, right?” steve whispers. all eddie can do it nod.
and then, suddenly, the space between them is non-existent. eddie feels steve’s lips against his own, firm and so much softer than he could’ve imagined. steve has him pressed against the counter, his body firm against him and his hand plunged into eddie’s hair, loosening his tight bun. steve’s other hand is on his hip, inching up under the hem of his jacket. eddie let’s out an embarrassing little squeak before his own hands curl into the front of steve’s shirt.
as quickly as it starts, steve’s pulling away, placing a much more chaste kiss to the corner of eddie’s panting mouth.
“been dying to do that,” steve confesses, eyes meeting eddie’s searching. “i forget my phone here at least once a week. keep trying to run into you.” steve huffs out a little laugh. it’s eddie’s turn to look surprised, but he recovers quickly and pulls steve in for another kiss.
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WELL.
evil weegee.
idea where luigi becomes evil one way or another (i’m into the idea of it being a wish-turned-curse-situation) and mario and bowser have to team up to figure out wtf happened and to stop luigi from causing mass destruction.
bowuigi bonus: relationship is pre-established meaning luigi is ruling koopa kingdom alongside bowser. perhaps luigi is self-conscious and feels like he isn’t seen as a leader, leading luigi to make a well-intentioned wish to be taken more seriously. the wish is warped and turns into a curse, turning him into a wicked ruler that takes over koopa kingdom, and his subordinates follow him out of fear rather than respect, when deep down respect is really all he wanted. it starts internally by luigi kinda turning against bowser (confusing the hell out of the poor guy) and just gets worse from there. bowser’s dismayed because both his husband and his kingdom have been yoinked away from him, so he begrudgingly has to team up with mario and peach and whoever else to get everything back.🤠
i kinda wanna write a whole fic now but i honestly am not as well-versed in mario lore as i used to be and haven’t played any of the games in years 😭😭 but ngl drawing evil luigi was fun. low key been in love with luigi since i was 8 years old so it was quite cathartic for me
EDIT: guys i know Mr L exists 😩 i knew of him when i drew this but not exactly who he was/what he did. but i still wanna try to make my own thing here/try to differentiate them LOL. there can be multiple flavors of evil right
flats under the cut because i’m not entirely happy with how the lighting turned out 😩
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