#even if it's just in a small moment. bowser wants to fight mario but he does NOT play fair if he thinks he'll lose. I CRAVE THE ANGST

[chloecherrysip]

Just Beyond My Reach, There's Someone Reaching Back For Me (speculative mario movie fic, mario & luigi centric, around 3600 words.)

[OK SO i literally could not stop thinking about this post in the mario movie tag from last week, which turned into me trying to write out my thoughts about how the scenario could unfold, which then turned into me writing a full-fledged fanfic that's over 3,000 words long??? I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. I've truly lost my common sense, but I just felt like I HAD to get this out before the movie arrives and their reunion is nothing like this in any way whatsoever.

This is a speculative fic of just one possible scenario out of millions, no actual spoilers; i'm working off info we've seen in the trailers/TV spots/promotions/etc, and all the characterization is based off those too, so it might ultimately be off-base. Please don't @ me after the movie comes out and get on my case about details being wrong! I AM IN THE PAST (and jealous of you in the future for having already seen it).

I present to you: A Version Of Mario & Luigi's Reunion in the Mario Movie That Would Cause Me Irreparable Psychic Damage.]

----

Mario hears him first. He would know that panicked yelp anywhere. 

By that point, he’s lost count of how many of Bowser’s minions he’s tried to interrogate as he fights his way through the airship. There’s so much shouting and clanging all around him, and his voice hurts from yelling loud enough to be heard over it, but he can’t stop. “Where do you keep prisoners? Have you seen someone who looks like me — but tall, skinny, and green? If you take me to him, I’ll go easy on ya, I swear—” 

it’s hard to tell if they’re just refusing to answer him, genuinely don’t know any useful information, or can’t actually communicate in a way he understands — probably some in each column. But he’s about to grab another angry Koopa by the shell and try again when there’s a commotion far off in the distance. The yell that echoes out to him is faint, but it tugs hard at Mario like a rope tied around his middle. Something from his memories, the nightmares he’s been having this whole adventure that he hasn’t told Peach and Toad about. Something instantly, certainly familiar to him in a way that few things are. 

His heart is suddenly lodged in his throat. He barrels his way past the troops and the Kongs fighting them, moving fast towards it.

The area of the airship he’s in starts to slope down further ahead, surrounding a huge open space that, judging by the flickering embers in the air and heavy heat that’s got him sweating through his shirt already, has a whole bunch of lava simmering at the bottom. On the other side of the chasm, there are a whole group of what look like angry blue penguins beating down some feisty stacks of Goombas with their bare flippers. There’s also what impossibly looks like a star, with a face and everything, beaming bright and doing twirling cartwheels in the air, giggling at the carnage underneath. And behind all that, he can see—

Mario reacts without having to think. He jolts forward against the railing, reaches a hand out, and yells as loud as he can. “LUIGI!” 

He can only see glimpses of his overalls and green hat at first amidst all the other chaos, but then pieces of the ongoing fight tumble further to either side, giving a clear view. Mario watches wide-eyed as his brother frantically swats away Goombas, shrieking and flailing his arm furiously when one snags some teeth through his sleeve until it comes loose. He looks terrified and a little queasy, but also very determined, even jumping in to help when one of the penguins gets pinned down. They seem to be working together. 

Luigi is here. He’s really here, alive and fighting and still in one piece. Mario isn’t too late. It feels like a 20 pound weight’s suddenly gone from his back that he hadn't even realized he was carrying around.

His yell is half-drowned out by the chaos, but Luigi’s head still snaps up, eyes wide and stricken and bright with recognition. “Mario?” He cries out, his voice cracking badly. He kicks another Goomba away and then starts spinning, searching the surrounding area with increasing desperation. “Mario!?” 

“Over here!” Mario wishes he had another raccoon powerup so he could just fly across the gap and reach him right then and there. He has to settle for taking off his cap and waving it in the air like a flag. “Luigi! Over here!” 

Finally, their eyes meet across the gorge. It’s not necessary at that point, but Luigi still tears off his own hat and starts flailing it around too overhead, as if just to make absolutely sure his brother knows where he is. “MARIO!” He shouts, his tired face instantly transforming into a relieved, overjoyed smile. 

“Are you okay!?” 

“Y-Yeah! I mean, define “okay,” but I, I'm not hurt or anything like — wait, how did you get here!? We’re way up in the air!”

Mario’s face already hurts from how wide he’s grinning. “Not anymore! And whaddya mean? What do ya think I’ve been doing all this time? Looking for you! You don’t think I could find you wherever you are, even if it’s a million miles in the air? Give your big bro some credit, eh?” 

A laugh bursts out of Luigi, surprised and shaky. Mario has missed that sound so much. “Right, right. I did think…I mean, I hoped, or…” His brother shakes his head, his voice failing him. He lets out a deep breath, so deep that it’s almost like he’s been holding it in ever since they were separated, still smiling like the sun. “I knew you would. Mario, you — look out!” 

Mario turns just as a hammer goes whizzing past his ear, tumbling down into the lava pit. He dodges the next one more capably and then catches the third one that comes his way. In one smooth, lightning-quick motion, he throws it back at the attacking Hammer Bro, nailing him in the face and knocking him out cold.

“Whoa!” He turns back to see Luigi staring with his mouth agape. “When did you learn how to do that?”

“It's kinda a long story!” There will be plenty of time to get into all the details about his adventure when he’s gotten Luigi safely out of an active warzone.  “What about you? I thought you were a prisoner here!” 

“I am! Or I was, I guess! We — me, and the penguins, and Lumalee,” he gestures wearily up overhead, where the blue star-thing is idly playing with a pinwheel that it somehow conjured out of thin air, “and the others — we broke out! We, ah, we’ve been trying to find a way outta here ever since, but this place is a maze and we need some kind of hot air balloon or one of those floating clown-car thingies to even get away in the first place, and—”

“Spinies at four o’clock!” One of the penguins shouts, at the same time that Mario yells “Luigi, on your left!”

Luigi jolts at the sight of the three spiky, spinning shells approaching fast. He jumps high enough to leapfrog right over them all, causing them to ricochet off the wall unexpectedly and careen off the side straight into the deep pit. 

“Nice, Weegie!” Mario cheers. “You always were the better jumper.” 

“Keep your head in the fight, soldier!” One specific penguin calls out to Luigi. He’s wearing a very fancy gold crown — probably their king? “We’re not done here yet!” 

“I know, I know, but look!” Luigi gestures excitedly across the chasm. “My brother’s here! He made it!”

“Good show! If he’s as brave as you said, he can help us beat back these dastardly troops once and for all! We’ll all see the light of day again soon!”

The rest of the penguins cheer, thrusting their flippers victoriously into the air, and then let out a wave of new, guttural battle cries. The Penguin King smiles over at Mario and salutes him before rejoining the fray. There are more of Bowser’s minions crowding the walkways on both sides, Mario realizes with a newfound wave of worry. He needs to get to Luigi now. 

“Stay right there!” He calls, starting to run alongside the railing. “Don’t move! I’m coming!”

“Are you kidding!? Wait!” Luigi starts running too, mirroring Mario. “I can meet you faster this way!” 

Mario laughs. “If you can keep up with me!” 

“You’re on!”

The road ahead of him is pure chaos, filled with attacking enemies and whooping Kongs and weapons flying every which way, but Mario runs. He runs until his heart burns, dodging and weaving, almost tripping here and there because he can’t stop looking over the gap to make sure Luigi’s still there on the other side, stumbling his way through his own gauntlet. The two areas are winding closer together, slowly but surely. They must meet somewhere. He’ll find it. He has to.

“Hey, Luigi!” He yells, breathless and happy. “Remember when we were fixing Mrs. McGrady’s sink a couple weeks ago and talking about the future? Did you imagine it’d be anything like this?” 

“Whaddya think!?” Luigi shouts back jokingly. “I-I mean, I imagined people being mad at us, but those were customers. There was definitely a lot less lava, and magic, and crazy green pipes that send you to places from your literal nightmares!” He laughs, which swiftly turns into a yelp when he has to dodge away from a red Koopa. The next words come out thicker, almost strained. “Mario, you, you’re really here, you — I missed you, I…”

Even with the distance and the distracting noise and the heavy breathing, Mario can hear the familiar tearing in his brother’s voice, and it pushes him to run faster. Luigi is so much braver than many people in their life have given him credit for, but he has a breaking point, and Mario can recognize it like the back of his own hand. Heck, he could use a good cry right about now too. They're so close. Just a little further.

He’s never been the biggest hugger — that title belongs squarely to Luigi, who always holds on a little too long, especially when Mario protests, swinging him up into the air until Mario has to grab him in a headlock and wrestle him down, both of them laughing by then — but he genuinely doesn’t know how he’s ever going to let go of his brother again once he’s within arm’s reach. 

“I missed you too! Every day!” He calls out, and if his voice cracks, well, that’s okay. “Hold on! It’s gotta be just up ahead!” There’s a solid wall coming up where they won’t be able to see each other across the way any longer, but the sharp curve of it looks extremely promising. “I’ll meet you on the other side!” 

“Okay!” 

The wall comes between them. Mario's finally in the clear, having left all the attackers in the dust. His legs and chest hurt, but it doesn’t matter. He's about to get his brother back. He feels invincible, unstoppable.

“I told you, bro!” He can’t hear Luigi at all any longer, but he shouts anyway, hoping the words reach him.  “Even if it didn’t turn out like we thought, it’s all gonna be okay! This is crazy stuff, but as long as we're—” 

Mario turns the corner and skids to a sharp stop. The words die in his throat, turning to ash.

Bowser is in front of him. 

The King of the Koopas nearly fills the entire space wall-to-wall, hulking and monstrous, even bigger than what Mario imagined. He breathes out an angry, deep growl that prickles at Mario’s skin, star-bright embers scattering in the air, the smell of burning getting stronger and stronger. But none of that is what Mario is focusing on. He’s frozen in place at the sight of Luigi, wriggling in one of Bowser’s gripped hands. A thick, scaly finger is coiled tight over his brother’s mouth too, keeping him from making any noise besides a variety of muffled, panicked sounds. 

“Thought you didn’t know him, Greenie,” Bowser says in a low voice to Luigi. “Wasn’t that what you said? Boy, you wouldn’t like what I usually do to liars. It involves fire — a lot of it.” His rows of sharp teeth part, just enough for a big exhale, tinged with molten heat. Luigi cringes, turning his head away as far as he can manage. He’s trembling. “But lucky for you, turns out you’re not entirely useless.”

It takes a moment for Mario to come back into his body, remember how to move and think. But slowly, his hands ball into fists. A voice erupts out of him that barely sounds like his own, grave and angry, angrier than he’s ever been in his life. 

“I’m only gonna say this once, ya overgrown turtle,” he says, shifting his footing into a fighting stance. “Let my brother go now.” 

Bowser looks down at him with a derisive sort of amusement for a long moment before laughing outright. "Give me a break, shortie! You’re even punier in person — 50 of you couldn't stop me. But that hasn’t stopped you from trying, has it? You and your little friends  — your pathetic excuse for an “army,” if that’s what you want to call it. But that all ends now.” 

As if on cue, Mario hears DK and a few other Kongs turn the corner, whooping and hollering, only to pause too at the sight of Bowser. “Let’s get ‘em! He can't take us all at once!” Someone says, and there’s a rush of new movement behind Mario. Bowser turns Luigi in his hand, holding him out a little closer to Mario with a shake of the wrist — a taunt. One of his claws pulls up just a little from the rest, the sharp tip arched and pressed lightly to his brother’s neck. The implication is clear. 

“Stop!” Mario shouts, half-strangled. He must sound serious enough that DK yells “hang on, hang on!” to his brethren, grabbing them with both arms and holding them back from attacking. On Bowser's other side, Mario can see the penguins watching what’s unfolding too with wide eyes. Even all the minions in the area have gone still, weapons lowered, waiting to see what Bowser does before making their next move. The space is suddenly quiet. 

The claw finally relaxes again. Luigi’s eyes are very wide, and there are tears on his face as he stares at Mario. He tries to say something, the sound of it hopelessly muffled against Bowser’s hand — an apology, or a plea, or simply Mario’s name. 

Mario is shaking. He grits his teeth hard, desperately tries to hold himself steady again. He hopes Bowser can’t see it — but there’s a gleam in the King’s eyes, and it couldn’t be any clearer that he does. 

“Do you know how long I worked on this plan?” Bowser says, his tone softer, more thoughtful all of a sudden.  “Orchestrating these invasions, gathering forces far and wide to serve me, taking the almighty power star for myself. I’ve wanted this for years!” His wide mouth curves up, plainly wicked and self-satisfied. “And now here I am, about to rule the world like I deserve, and a couple of useless, pipsqueak plumbers from who-knows-where think they’re just gonna waltz right in and ruin it for me.” Bowser chuckles to himself. It’s a dangerous, sharp-edged sound, echoing on and on. “Ain’t that a laugh, Mario?” 

Mario doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t even know if he’s breathing any longer. All he can do is glare.

Bowser shrugs. The large fingers on his occupied hand flex ever so slightly, a slow, malicious ripple of movement, all the scales glinting in a wave. “You’re less fun than I thought you’d be,” he says gruffly. "What does the princess even see in you? A tiny little killjoy who loves ruining things for others. Guess it’s only fair I ruin something of yours to make us even."

There’s no further warning or fanfare. In one brutal motion, Bowser crushes his grip tighter around Luigi. His brother’s mouth is still covered, but the way he cries out is starkly, unmistakably pained. 

Mario’s vision floods with red. Something inside of him, the patient, careful part that was still desperately clinging to one last scrap of self-control, snaps cleanly in two. He runs at Bowser full-speed, fist cocked back, teeth bared. 

“I said LET HIM GO!” 

He doesn’t make it there. Bowser, grinning outright, moves so much faster than Mario would have ever guessed he could. He spins, and his tail comes out of nowhere. The impact is like an oncoming train, catapulting Mario into the nearby wall with a sickening crack.

There’s a horrible ringing sound in his ears. His head hurts. He hears Bowser laugh, followed by a roar and a burst of fire breath, awful-smelling and close enough to singe. There’s a lot of shouting, and panic, and thunderous footsteps, moving in a hurry. He can’t think any longer. Why can’t he think? All that comes to mind is—

(They’re fifteen, hiding in their bedroom with some smuggled bandages and antibiotics from the medicine cabinet because if their mom finds out Mario punched out a kid behind the school, she will LITERALLY murder him. Luigi wraps each bruised knuckle carefully as Mario winces and complains about the stinging ointment. His brother looks angrier than he’s ever seen him before, though, and that makes him quiet again in a hurry.)

“You want him so bad?” Bowser is much further away, his voice a distant rumble over the flickering flames. Get up, Mario tells himself. He’s gasping, struggling to push himself back up with useless, trembling hands. His legs feel numb. Get up! “Then come and get ‘em already!”

(“You never stop and THINK first, y’know?” Luigi shakes his head, badly trying to hide the tears budding under his eyes. “And now you’re hurt, and it’s all my fault, and — and I don’t need you to do stuff like that for me! I can handle it, e-even if you think I can’t!”) 

“Mario!” That’s Luigi, terrified and wheezing, finally able to talk again. An intentional decision by Bowser, no doubt, just to be cruel. Mario can barely hear his brother at all, and the sound of his voice keeps growing fainter. “No! Let go! MARIO!” 

(“What are you even saying? That’s not why I did it at all!” Mario insists, using his uninjured hand to flick Luigi’s nose with a few fingers. His affronted expression at that makes Mario laugh, and the motion quickly turns into them trying to be the first one to swat each other in the face without getting blocked. At least the tears are forgotten, which is what he wanted from the start. “Don’t ya get it? I know you can take care of yourself. But if anyone wants to hurt you, they’re gonna have to go through me first. I’M the big bro, and that’s just how it is forever.”) 

Luigi! 

He’s standing again, even as his body protests every pull and push of the way, even as he’s still struggling to open his eyes. Someone strong and furry offers some extra support on his right side. 

“You okay, man?” Donkey Kong asks. “Geez, that looked like it hurt. Hey, anyone have an extra mushroom?” 

Stars are flashing across his vision, but finally they fade away. There’s a line of fire in front of them like a makeshift barrier, slowly but steadily dying out. Sure enough, Bowser and Luigi are gone. Mario’s heart lurches hard against his ribs.

“Setting a devious trap for sure,” The Penguin King grouses from further away. “Using one’s own flesh and blood! Does that dastardly Koopa’s depravity know no limits?” 

“I’m fine. Never better,” Mario groans. He points past the fire. “He went that way, right?” 

DK blinks, looking a little uneasy. “Uh, yeah, but we should probably regroup first and — hey! Wait a second, you idiot!”

Mario’s already charged full-speed ahead, jumping over the flames. Others yell after him too, saying it's too dangerous, but he’s running anyway, chasing the smell of molten heat, the faint, far-off echoes of yelling that feel like pinpricks in his lungs. 

He knows it’s a trap. He knows. He just doesn’t care.

He already let Luigi literally slip through his hands once before. Heck, he isn’t sure if he’ll ever be able to forgive himself for that alone. No matter where he has to go, who he has to fight, how much abuse he has to take, he's getting Luigi back right now, and he's gonna pound that overgrown bully's face until he regrets every life decision that led to him daring to hurt Mario's little brother.

It can't be too late. He can't have screwed this up again. He'll do anything. Even if...

The feeling of something on his cap startles him out of the thought — the softest boop-boop-boop, like someone very small is bouncing on it. He assumes he’s just imagining things until the blue star-thing (Lumalee?) floats down further, easily keeping up with his top speed, humming what sounds like a lullaby. Mario gawks in its direction. 

“The biggest sacrifices are often the ones that burn the brightest, out in space,” it says, bright and sing-song. “Did you know that?”

“What are you even talking about!?” Mario yells. “Sorry, but I’m a little busy here!” 

It’s unbothered by that, twirling close enough to give his mustache a little, playful poke. “Not existing any longer is natural, inevitable. We all go into the light someday.” The way it’s staring at Mario is unnerving, as though this little, creepy star knows exactly what he was just thinking about. “You look scared of that. Are you?” 

Mario swallows thickly. 

“No,” he says. “If that’s the only way, then…” His eyes are burning at the edges, just a little. “If the people I love are safe, then it doesn’t matter what happens to me.”

Lumalee smiles a dreamy, thoughtful smile.

“Oh,” it sighs, little more than a breath. “This is going to be so much fun.” 

And then it floats away. 

Mario doesn’t have time to stop and wonder what that was all about. He throws himself deeper and deeper into the airship, even when a heavy metal gate slams down behind him to separate him from the others, even when the slabs of rock under his feet sink down into the lava from the weight and don’t resurface, erasing any way out. Mario thinks of his training, of Princess Peach and Toad cheering him on, of the exhilaration and hope he felt looking out over the Rainbow Road, of Luigi smiling in the warp zone right before they were ripped apart. He steels himself for what’s coming next.

Further ahead, he hears his brother call out for him.

Mario runs.

[venoti]

You fell first, but they fell harder.

Super Mario edition

Summary: You couldn’t help but like them, even as they laughed or scoffed by those feelings. But soon enough they fell head over heels for you, deeper than expected

Characters: Donkey Kong, Princess peach, and bowser.

GN reader

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Donkey Kong, The stubborn ape.

When he noticed that you liked him, He just laughed in the thought.

I mean, who wouldn’t like someone as awesome as him?

He took it to the test teasing you like a asshole, you just shoved his face away as he snickered like a monkey.

I mean you were only a visitor to the kingdom, soon fighting along side him.

With first impression he thought of you as a softy, I mean a fighter? No way! You just seemed so small compared to him.

It was till the first time going against him in the Kong arena. He felt cocky, already knowing how it will turn out,Him winning as the crowd called his name.

..

..till waking up with you on top of him as people cheered your name in the arena.

You soon tilt your head at him as he came to realization. “This is awkward..” He muttered as you grinned on top of him.

“I’ll tell them you let me win, just this once” You laughed tapping his chest before standing up.

But he grew so fond of you by that small gesture. How can someone be so cool? Aside from him He almost forgot about the fact that he lost just by how flushed he was.

After that he became more.. interested?

But if anything he didn’t know how to react around you. Everything you did was so memorizing? He didn’t know why.

But it was one night, he stayed up with you in his mind again. .. y/n.. just your name was a game changer, but he soon realized something as he jumped up. “I like them!?” He yelled as his neighbors just whined irritated as he woke them up.

But It was a total shock for some reason? Since then he would always try and impress you, “Look” here “Did u see —“ that.

It was constant, even as most of the time you weren’t impressed. But you compliment him no matter, and he lived for it! Just your words brought a smile to his face as he had a boost in confidence.

Every single thing as simple as a hello was something he adored. Even how small you were to him, he definitely tried to carry you more than once.

It was only a matter of time before he confessed, even as you probably knew already. He first asked his dad for advice.

—

“I think I might confess to y/n finally..” He randomly said, while visited his dad as always. The king only choked on his banana before looking at him.

“You guys are not dating already?!”

Peach, the princess of the mushroom kingdom.

You were one of first humans she met, and by that matter she was slightly oblivious to knowing when someone liked her. She only found out when toad said something..

She was held back, but in the moment she finally caught the hints you left.

“Ohhh.. that makes sense now..!” she slightly laughed. But she wanted to be sure, I mean, isn’t this a big thing?

So she started being more helpful with you, help you shop, train, and anything else. You didn’t mind as you just allowed her.

And then she noticed the change you have with her compared to others. It kind of stuck to her mind as she tried to shake it off.

But she hadn’t yet acknowledged you, you were always just a person in her kingdom for now. But it was till you had to be tested on your training.

Yes, it’s only been a few days and you guys barely practiced, but better now then never she thought!Even as she knew this would take a long time, she watched every movement, Or so she thought this would take time.

Her plain face was soon shocked. You beat it in ease!? No trouble at all! Even as she did the same, it was surprising coming from you.

What made her laugh most was when you said, “Is this a pre-test, princess?” Your confidence never failed to make her smile.

But it was when she started to see you as something more, a side kick, a friend or a.. never-mind!

When going on your guys first adventure it was just a small trip for resource as the kingdom was running out. It was supposed to be as simple as pie, but no! An ambush.

It was a good ending of course, but peach was distracted by how.. majestic you looked fighting? Or just overall..!

She didn’t believe she could like someone over skill.. but she didn’t know why she liked you actually. You just have the most beautiful face for another human, she knew you must’ve been popular like that.

Every morning she waited for your usual hello, it was like the sun to her morning. Your simple smile was something she could stare at. Your random face movement were so funny. She just couldn’t help but poke at it making you slightly flush.

Oh and a lot of gifts. She likes to show her affection by bringing you constant stuff.

She can remember when you were almost a nobody, to in her mind all the time.

When did she get so attached to something other than her kingdom?

All she knew was she wasn’t ready to call love, but neither would she hold back the chance to hold your hand.

“Are you flirting princess?” You randomly said, it distracted her for a second before she responded.

“Hm? What! Oh!? ..no? Am I?” She lightly flushed as if she embarrassed herself.

Bowser, king of the dark lands.

You were unlucky enough to stumble to his land, being caught by his army. He had no business with you just leaving you chained in the dungeon. God you hated it. How unlucky were you..?

It became endless boredom till you were suddenly brought up from the cage. You were tied headed towards the throne of the king. Oddly enough you were quite interested by his looks, how awkward..

But neither did he care.

“We needed a new leader for the army, why bring this weak link?” He groaned irritated as the soldiers started arguing with each other.

“I’m not weak..” You muttered, not expecting him to hear you. He just raised his head as he was fidgeting with his claws.

“If your not weak then your starting tomorrow. Let’s see how fast you’ll die” He laughed before sending you off.

Fuck.

You had no impressive skills, almost average. But it wasn’t noticed on how quick you learned from the moment of practice field.

He just expected you to be the same, weak. He didn’t mind the sacrifice of entertainment.

But before the fight he brought up all the soldiers for a speech. But he found out your different attitude towards him, you were fond of him? He scoffed not letting those feelings bother him.

But it was time for battle, he mainly went along to see how you did. But believe it or not, his smirk of death disappeared seeing you easily fight off. Maybe you were useful?

He brought you up as you were now officially apart of the team, the first human. Yay..?

You didn’t really know history as you got there within the same fate as the Mario brothers. You just went along with it, happy to be alive.

But as time went on, bowser never knew such fun till you, maybe you were also as enjoyable.

Before he knew it he started to get jealous about you, how are you laughing with those buffoons? He came to thought, but he soon realized it himself. There’s no way I feel this for them..

He was shocked, very needy for a king. You were almost always near him, even with training. Seeing you happy brought the same smile to himself surprisingly.

As much as you were also cocky made him even more attracted. “Wow..” he could only mutter when your around.

How can the lowlife of his past peasant became someone so dear?

But he didn’t care anymore, except he wanted you to be his. And he knew nothing about the confessing part. Should he be straight forward? Slow? Too many options..

So he first went to his magikoopa, bringing him for a piano practice.

“So.. you know y/n right?” He says side eying the koopa.

“Why yes sir, is something wrong?”he started to slightly worry.

“Oh nothing like that..” he said in a intimidating voice but it slowly changed softer as he finished the piano song. “How would I..erm.. confess to them?”

The koopa was slightly stunned before clearing his voice. “Oh Ho Ho, you can trust me with that”

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AN: this was so fun to make! I love each of them with my whole heart as they are so fun to write.

Thank you for reading! I take any feed back thank you <3

[batneko]

A couple people suggested an Arranged Marriage AU when I was asking for bowuigi ideas, but it took me this long to come up with a plot (sorry (not sorry) in advance if this one also gets really long).

Mario and Peach finally tied the knot, and Bowser is fine. Really. He doesn't care. He just doesn't feel like moving or leaving his room or eating anything but junk food. He's FINE.

And then one day a bunch of little pea people pop out of one of the caves and tell him they've got a prophecy that states their champion needs to marry the strongest ruler in the land in order to save the world at some unspecified future date. If he was a little less depressed Bowser would probably call bullshit, but right now he doesn't care enough to protest and the idea of marrying some random pea at least sounds better than being alone.

So he follows them into the caves and meets his "bride" (or groom? It's hard to tell under the giant veil) who seems startled to see him but doesn't say anything. Then Bowser has to go through a bunch of weird trials to prove he's the strongest, while the peas and their champion watch.

At least the champion is bigger than the rest of the pea people. That would have been awkward.

Bowser passes the trials easily and is shoved into a room with the champion to wait while the wedding is prepared. (Again, if he was thinking clearly Bowser would probably notice how much this screams "trap," but he isn't.) He does notice that the champion is staying as far away from him as physically possible in the small room, so Bowser tells them they've got nothing to fear from him.

"I'm not expecting anything. I won't make you DO anything. I just want somebody to stand by my side. If you can promise me that, there's just about nothing in the world I won't give you."

The champion calms down after that, and soon the wedding begins.

It's not a ceremony Bowser is familiar with, but he says yes in the right places, and the champion does too (is that voice a little familiar?) and at the end when Bowser lifts off the veil he sees a face that is pretty damn close to the last one he wanted to see right now.

Luigi is not entirely sure how he ended up in this position. He met the pea people some time ago and helped them with a small issue that had them granting him honorary membership into their community. He forgot about it after that until a group of them came and said they needed a champion, and asked him to attempt some trials. He wanted to refuse, but he's been feeling pretty lonely now that Mario is married. He could still drop in to visit, but it feels like intruding. And Mario hasn't been coming by very often at all.

So he did the trials and the pea people were overjoyed and he was starting to feel better until they said he needed to marry a king. Luigi DID refuse then, but the pea people showed him the prophecy carved into the cave walls, and he's been involved in enough destiny BS to not dismiss it out of hand. Maybe it won't be so bad?

Until he saw Bowser. Who... kind of looked like shit, actually. Even when doing more of those dumb trials (funny how they seem to be catered precisely to what Luigi and Bowser are both best at) Bowser looked like his heart wasn't in it. When Luigi heard that speech about just wanting someone to stand by his side, Luigi realized Bowser must be even more lonely than he is right now. HE actually DID lose someone he loved to that wedding.

So Luigi can't bring himself to tell the truth and break his heart. He goes through with the wedding and is already thinking about the logistics of moving in together when Bowser sees him and flips the fuck out.

Luckily(?) it turns out the wedding was, in fact, a trap, so when Bowser rips up the altar and throws it at a wall, it makes the pea people think he's onto them. The fight that ensues is enough that Bowser snaps back into something like his usual self, and Luigi is able to cover for how confused he is.

Luigi feels betrayed, Bowser feels humiliated, but at the moment they are very much united against the ones who used them.

Bowser starts picking guys up and threatening to eat them (he wouldn't, he hates vegetables), until somebody confesses that the prophecy is real... but the threat the champion and the king were supposed to defeat was the pea people themselves. They were planning to take over the world, and the wedding was supposed to be a distraction so they could eliminate them both at once.

Luigi leads Bowser to the carvings on the wall he'd seen before. Sure enough, there's one of what looks very much like the wedding ceremony they just had. The terrified pea person translates the inscription, which says the union will uproot all but the smallest peas.

"So you KNEW getting us together would ruin your plans, but you did it anyway? I'm starting to feel dumb for getting fooled by complete idiots."

There are still two problems. One: Bowser didn't make a secret of the fact he was leaving to get married, so when he goes back home he's going to have to explain why he's still... not. And two: the prophecy hasn't actually been fulfilled yet, there's still more pea people out there with megalomaniacal ambitions.

Luigi proposes a solution to both: why doesn't he just go with him? Stay by his side, just like he promised?

"You're crazy," Bowser says. "I know," Luigi says. "But think about how funny it will be to tell my brother." "...That will be funny."

It is.

Luigi settles in surprisingly easily. He gets his own room, a new wardrobe, and, once Bowser learns he likes to tinker, a workshop. The people don't mind him (a fair number don't seem to recognize him as Mario's brother, which hurts a little but saves trouble). He even gets along with Junior. Once he brings his dog over he's practically the kid's favorite person.

It's pretty much exactly what Bowser wanted. Luigi is devoted to his duties as "prince consort," always appearing next to Bowser in public and giving the illusion of a united front. If he actually argues with Bowser about a lot of his policy in private, nobody needs to know. Somehow, Bowser doesn't mind.

But it's torture, too, because Bowser has never HAD a real partner like this. Someone who supports him but can still disagree with him. There's a period of about a week where Bowser thinks this is working and will last and he can be happy.

Then they're talking about whether or not to have a traditional koopa wedding as well, and Luigi cracks a joke about how he sure hopes the pea people didn't have that rule where a marriage isn't real until you consummate it, because then they might actually have trouble when the prophecy kicks in.

And Bowser realizes he really really would like to consummate this marriage.

Shit.

[hamunnyii]

Please I'm weak after finding a post about Bowser being a hopeless romantic for Luigi, talking about him like he talked about Peach in the movie (@hisy-fit thanks for the idea).

Imagine Bowser saying sugary sweet things like "I love how involuntary expressive he is even if he tries to hide it" and "The way he widely smiles and his mustache smile, too together with him, especially around the people he loves the most" "He's kind hearted, genuine, ready to fight anyone that dares to lay a finger on his loved ones getting courage from them... It just makes me want to be his"

And dear God. What if one day Luigi hears about all of this.

Imagine Bowser and Luigi have been getting to know each other for a while now. Bowser gave up on Peach but still wants to rule the World, so he still attacks her Kingdom. One day he decides to kidnap Luigi as he thinks he could use him against Mario. But unexpectedly, they start talking gradually; at the start it's only small talk, but as Bowser keeps kidnapping him, they get closer by the minute.

After months of this going on, Bowser realizes he has a crush on Luigi. At the start he ignores it wanting (because deep down he knows it's a big crush) to think it's small, but as it goes on and his love for him grows, without realizing he starts thinking it could end just like with Peach or that Luigi thinks, too he's a monster, so after realizing he was thinking in circles about Luigi and him having romantic feelings for one another, after a lot of time he accepts he does have a crush.

But. He starts to worry whether it's a good idea to really pursue these feelings, as in his point of view Luigi doesn't seem slightly interested in him romantically. With time he only falls harder blushing every time Luigi smiles and involuntarily but-not-so-involuntarily he notices Luigi more. He pays more attention to him, both verbally and physically (with time getting more and more physical), cares more about him feeling okay anywhere anytime, gives him compliments, etc. .

During this time it's Luigi starting to feel different for Bowser. He starts feeling safe with him because as they've got to know each other he got to know Bowser would not hurt him, gets butterflies and blushes when Bowser enters the same room he's in, gets giddy and moves wobbly when hearing him talk or having him near, fidgets when around him, and everything else. But he still doesn't want to believe he has a crush on Bowser.

One day, Kamek and the kids (who know everything because holy moly they're obvious), ask Bowser what does he like about Luigi. Bowser is left like "How did you know I have feelings for him???"

And Kamek is like "Sire, I'm sorry but it's obvious."

"DOES HE KNOW?"

"No, I don't think so."

And as Bowser starts talking about Luigi he gets more and more giddy, wobbly, and sweet, saying sugary sweet things all over.

But my dear fate wants Luigi to be searching for Bowser as he hasn't seen him or the kids for some time, and right when he hears him talk, he starts going towards that direction. As he gets closer, he gets quieter for some reason, because he subconsciously wants to know who he's talking so happily about, still not hearing any romantic phrase said by Bowser. Then finally, one of the kids or Kamek asks something with Luigi's name being on it, and Bowser starts talking about explicitly romantic thoughts he has about him.

Luigi goes crazy for a moment and realizes something, he's not sure of what, but he will know. From there he notices by the day the all the attention Bowser gives him, how he treats him differently from other people.

He falls harder. He gets wobblier and blushes harder and harder, and becomes more obvious by the minute. At some point Bowser notices it and starts thinking just maybe, he could try to pursue his feelings and win his heart. But Luigi already fell in love with him, so what he does is make Luigi more blushy, which as a result makes Bowser blushier. It continues on an infinite loop until one day where Luigi decides to speak up about what he heard.

For fate, Bowser that same day decided to be a bit more obvious with his feelings, expressing them more. Luigi takes courage not wanting to hide things from Bowser, and tells him what he heard. Bowser is shocked but so is Luigi after Bowser confirms what he said is true, and that he fell in love with him. They confess their love to each other in the sweetest way possible, blushing HARD and having their heartbeat so fast both of them could hear each other's hearts even more as the got closer than ever and kissed.

I need help. Freaking out.

[foxwithapen]

"Junior, buddy, I uh...I don't think this is a good idea."

"It'll be fine! Dad's usually busy anyways, we won't get caught."

Luigi sighed, allowing the small koopa to pull him along. Even if that really was the case, he'd been secretly hoping for an excuse to leave. He'd never liked Bowser's castle. Even though he'd been invited here this time, instead of being dragged along on various rescue missions, that feeling didn't change. It was unlike Princess Peach's in every possible way; white brick walls were replaced with ones of dark stone and spiky battlements.

Junior took him around to the back, to a side door that was large enough to be the main entrance. Luigi figured he could stand on his own shoulders and not be able to reach the top. "Let's just be quick okay? I really don't want to run into—"

Luigi flinched as a gruff, booming voice sounded from ahead of them. "Green Mario!" The Koopa King's footsteps shook the ground, not helping the weakness Luigi had already been feeling in his legs. He didn't want to fall over right now, he just couldn't. "What do you think you're doing, waltzing into my castle? And with my son. Be thankful I don't roast you where you stand!"

Luigi began to squeeze his eyes shut, as Bowser lunged for him. His claws were merely inches from Luigi's face when Junior jumped between them, tiny arms spread out in front of his friend. "Dad, stop! I won't let you hurt my friend!"

"Junior, listen to me. This man is not your friend," Bowser spat, backing up slightly. "He's a Mario. He only brings trouble."

Luigi raised his hands defensively. "H-hey now, I'm not here to do anything, I just—"

"Shut it, greenie," he hissed. "I don't care about whatever you have to say."

"Dad!" Junior shouted, waving his arms in an attempt to make him look bigger. "Just cut it out, okay? Luigi is my friend, a-and because you've been so busy lately I brought him over to hang out with me."

Bowser didn't let the fire die in his eyes, but he also didn't speak for a few moments. And when he did, it wasn't a yell anymore. "And why him? One of your siblings would play with you if that's what you wanted."

Junior crossed his arms, kicking at the floor. "Why do you care? Don't you have a meeting to go to or something?"

Luigi didn't think he'd ever seen the Koopa King so silent. He just turned on his heels and left. No fight, no yelling, no nothing.

Junior turned to him with a sheepish grin. "Sorry about him. He gets funny sometimes. I think you'll really like him, he just has to warm up to you!"

"Yeah, I bet." Luigi patted Junior on the back, unsure of what else he could do. He didn't want to correct the kid. "Hey, you had a kart you wanted to show me, right?"

"Oh, yeah, my brother's! Hold on, his room's right over here, it's really cool, we've just not been able to get it start up for days."

Junior's enthusiasm was comforting to hear, but after Luigi's earlier encounter, his heart wouldn't stop pounding. But that was an issue for another day. For now, he has a kart to help fix.

[theonceoverthinker]

...I really don’t know how I came to ship this, but I do, and here we are!

Here’s a little Bowuigi idea I had yesterday while waiting at the dentist office.

So Bowser and Luigi have been going out for some time, like a few months. Everyone’s accepted it, Mario included because he loves his little bro, but reluctantly. Trusting Bowser feels difficult.

One day, Luigi is helping Bowser during a battle with an outside invading kingdom (We’ll say it’s the Penguin Kingdom from the movie’s teaser, now back with an actually formidable army/arsenal). This particular battle is closer to the border of the Mushroom Kingdom than it is Bowser’s castle and during the fight, Luigi gets hurt pretty badly. He’s knocked out at the very least, maybe has a broken bone or two, and has a lot of bruising. Bowser has his minions finish the fight with the Penguin Kingdom while he gets Luigi to safety. Though he’d prefer to take Luigi to his castle, the distance makes that difficult and Luigi needs immediate help. What’s not a terribly far distance away, much to Bowser’s chagrin, is Mario and Luigi’s home, and so he sets his Clown Copter for there.

Mario, Peach, and Toad are hanging out at Mario’s place. Mario’s telling Peach and Toad about how Luigi is helping Bowser fight against the invasion, and Peach can tell that Mario isn’t himself. They talk a bit more about Luigi and Bowser’s relationship, and Mario says that he’s happy that Luigi is happy, but that the idea of trusting Bowser with his brother’s heart is tough for him. Luigi’s spent so much of his life feeling small and up against someone with as big of a personality and strong of a stature, he doesn’t want Luigi to suffer at Bowser’s hands if he doesn’t take of and respect him. Peach reminds Mario that Luigi has a way of bringing out the best in every one he meets, a sentiment that Mario agrees with, giving Peach a grateful smile. He gives an unsure sigh and says that he supposes only time will tell.

Suddenly, Bowser arrives, Luigi’s passed out form in his arms.  

Mario’s first instinct is to yell at Bowser for putting Luigi in danger, but Bowser’s worrying has that instinct die in his throat, instead leading Bowser to Luigi’s room, where they settle Luigi in. It’s a tight fit -- Luigi’s room is on the small side relative to Bowser’s form, and while there are chairs, they’re too tiny for him to even sit in. Out of exhaustion from the battle as well as his overwhelming sense of worry for Luigi, Bowser sits on the floor, two claws wrapped around his hand.

Toad starts preparing medicine while Peach and Mario listen to Bowser as he tells them what happened.

Bowser gives an abridged telling of the battle. However, Peach and Mario have questions because of that abridged recount.

As Bowser speaks, looking at Mario’s stern look, Peach’s worrying gaze at Luigi, and Luigi himself, he begins to feel hatred towards himself. It doesn’t matter that Luigi volunteered to help out: Luigi got hurt because of him. He would be fine if he hadn’t involved Luigi, if he stayed as far away from Luigi as possible. Surely, Mario and Peach feel the same. The guilt Bowser feels rattles in his head like an earthquake as he self-depricates like rainfall during a storm. Before he can even fully finish he recounting of the battle, Bowser excuses himself, running out of the brothers’ home before anyone can properly react. Any attempts to follow him in that moment are interrupted by Toad as he needs help with Luigi’s medicine.

An hour or two passes, and it’s getting dark. Bowser has long since stopped running, and is now walking a half mile or so around the brothers’ home. What hasn’t stopped is the self-deprication, staying just as powerful as it was while he was in the house.

Why did he let himself be with Luigi? He’s a giant monster. Luigi’s the sweetest person alive. He should never show his face to Luigi again. Being hated is better than endangering Luigi.

Bowser hears his name called from behind him. He turns around. Peach is there. She tells Bowser to come back to the house with her. Bowser starts to tell her that he shouldn’t, but Peach doesn’t let him. She says that Luigi adores him and as soon as he wakes up, Bowser’s the first thing he’s going to be asking for, and that Bowser needs to be there when he does. Peach states that they both know that Luigi won’t be able to rest, let alone forgive himself, if he doesn’t know that Bowser is okay. Bowser tries to bring up more counterpoints, but Peach cuts them off, giving him a sharp look before Bowser finally follows her lead back to Mario and Luigi’s house. 

Toad is still in the kitchen when Bowser arrives, though it doesn’t seem like he’s cooking medicine anymore. Bowser takes that as a good sign as he follows Peach into Luigi’s room. Bowser looks to Luigi first when he enters the room. Luigi’s in fresh pajamas and has a compress on his head, bandages where his bones are hurt, and a few ice packs here and there. What an especially relieving sensation is what Bowser hears. Luigi’s snoring softly, a sign that any serious danger Luigi might have faced has passed. Bowser feels tears trying to fight their way up his eyes, just barely kept under his surface.

Luigi’s going to be okay.

Upon taking his eyes off of Luigi, a downright Herculean effort on his half, Bowser sees that something significant has changed. Right next to Luigi’s bedside, a big armchair that Bowser vaguely recalls seeing in the brothers’ living room earlier now sits. Bowser can tell immediately that it’s just his size, save for the presence of its occupant. Mario, who is sitting in the chair, gets up and nods to Bowser to sit. Bowser can see scuffs on Mario’s gloves that weren’t there before, and it hits Boswer exactly how that chair came to be at its current location. Bowser, nodding back at Mario, sits in the chair and takes Luigi’s hand in two of his claws, kissing Luigi’s knuckles.

Not long after Bowser’s return, Mario pulls one of Luigi’s smaller chairs to the foot of Luigi’s bed, a hand placed on his brother’s sock-clad foot, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb over it.

Peach goes off to make everyone tea, leaving Bowser and Mario alone together.

Even though Luigi and Bowser are dating, Bowser and Mario have spent very little in each other’s company since they started. That time has been...awkward, to say the least. And now, they’ve got hours upon hours of it to “look forward” to.

It’s going to be a long night.

Bowser usually knows what to say (Or at least knows what he wants to say if he’s striving for good behavior and can’t actually say it). Right now though, with Luigi unconscious and the story of how he got that way not fully cleared up yet, he’s bereft of words.

What CAN he really say right now, especially to Mario of all people?

Is he supposed to apologize to Mario for putting Luigi in harm’s way? That doesn’t feel right to say. Peach told Bowser herself on the way back to the house that Luigi chose to join him in battle, and she made him promise to not forget that (Peach can be a force to be reckoned with when she want to).

Should he try to clear up what happened during the battle? Just thinking about that makes Bowser feel like his head is being blended like a smoothie, and he doesn’t want a repeat of last time. The details are at once too clear and too sketchy; any attempt on his half to delve more into them won’t end well.

What about small talk? No, just no. He and Mario aren’t small talk people, and Bowser fears that even reaching such a level where they can rest on that level of social interaction is all but out of the question now.

Bowser’s at a total loss on how to proceed, but before he can despair on that too much, Mario starts talking.

He tells Bowser how Luigi was this morning before he left their house, excited about joining Bowser and fighting off the Penguin Kingdom. Mario gave Luigi what Luigi now jokingly calls his “overprotective big brother speech,” but Luigi insisted he’d be okay (”Fire beats ice, big bro! You know that!”), that he has power-ups packed, and that Bowser would take care of him if need be. Mario states that didn’t say this to Luigi, but in the back of his head, he worried about how Bowser would prioritize Luigi in a fight for his kingdom, and would Luigi’s attestation be true. Would he be more the Koopa that Luigi believes him to be, or would he default to the power-hungry king that Mario has seen almost nothing but since he and Luigi first arrived to this kingdom and leave Luigi to the wayside in fighting the Penguin Kingdom’s army?

Bowser attempts to speak up, but Mario cuts him off. Bowser shuts his mouth and listens.

Mario says that Boswer showed him that answer today.

While Bowser was gone, lost in his own thoughts and guilt, Kamek flew by the house to report on the rest of the battle, unintentionally yet heavily implying to them all that Bowser left the battle as soon as Luigi got hurt, its (And by extension, his army and possibly kingdom’s)nultimate fate unknown to him.

That told Mario all he needed to know.

Bowser chose Luigi. No matter what he would look like to his own army or the Penguin Kingdom’s army or how his side might suffer because of it, Mario knows that Bowser immediately took Luigi to safety, and even took him to Mario’s house of all places. Even during this conversation he and Bowser are presently sharing, upon learning about Kamek, Bowser hasn’t asked about the results of the battle; instead, he’s just held Luigi’s hand that little bit tighter.

Mario says Bowser proved himself to Mario, that Bowser can be trusted with Luigi’s heart and that Mario feels safe to give him the benefit of the doubt going forward.

Bowser is saved from giving Mario more than a grateful nod, as he feels Luigi start to stir and wake. His and Mario’s attention snaps to him.

Luigi takes in where he is and the two by his bedside. He asked how he got here, and what happened during the rest of the battle with the Penguin Kingdom. Mario answers both points, the latter of which giving Bowser an answer that had been only at the furthest recesses of his mind. The Koopa Kingdom won, and the Penguin Kingdom petulantly surrendered, with no casualties on either side. Luigi shifts his hand to clap it around Bowser’s claw, instead of the other way around as it had been since Bowser sat down. He thanks Bowser for bringing him home, and Bowser jokingly rolls his eyes as he points out how annoying it was, the two snorting with laughter.

Peach emerges with some tea and greets Luigi, hearing him wake up from the other room and revealing that she made him a tea that will help him sleep. Luigi says (really, pseudo-whines) that he doesn’t want to sleep (”I just woke up!”), but the room’s three other occupants nag at him that he’s going to need a lot more sleep before he’s better. Luigi, resigned, submits to their tag-team and slinks back into his bed before drinking his tea.

Bowser stays by Luigi’s bedside all night and beyond.

Some highlights from Luigi’s recovery.

-By the following afternoon, it takes the group up of all the Mushroom Kingdom’s greatest heroes to get Bowser to just take a nap in another room. Bowser falls asleep on the other living room armchair. His snores are loud, but it’s well worth it.

-Two days after Bowser brings Luigi home, while Luigi continues to rest, nine Koopa Copters, all smaller than the one Bowser and Luigi arrived in the day before, land outside the brothers’ house. Mario, Peach, and Toad go outside and see the Koopalings and Bowser Jr, with Kamek trailing just behind them. The kids rush in and Kamek sheepishly replies that they insisted on visiting Luigi. Luigi’s room is beyond packed, so Bowser has all but one or two of them leave the room, turning Mario, Peach, and Kamek into their pseudo-babysitters.

-The kids have all made Luigi get well soon cards and pictures, and Luigi adores them all. Luigi has Bowser hang them all on the wall in front of them so he can see them all the time.

-On the third night there, Mario wakes up in the middle of the night and hears Bowser stepping outside the house. He goes to join him, and they just sit on the porch, watching the night sky together. When he asks Bowser if he can’t sleep, Bowser simply huffs. Before he can comment on it, Bowser jokes to Mario about how it is he can stand the constant smell of mushrooms, not just in his house, but all over here. Mario, smirking, shrugs and says that that’s just part of this place and that honestly, it faded into the background for him pretty quickly after he arrived. Bowser says it’s weird, and Mario counters, saying that it’s not called the Mushroom Kingdom for nothing (”The castle doesn’t smell like that.” “The castle is filled with flowers and is always cleaned.” “Still smells.”). They spend the next ten or so minutes looking out at the night sky before Bowser goes back inside, with Mario going inside shortly after.

-After about a week or so, Bowser’s confident enough in Luigi’s recovery that he’s convinced that he can return to his castle and get to his normal dealings (He does have a lot of post-invasion paperwork and organization to take care of, not to mention his responsibilities as a father to the kids). That first night apart is difficult for both of them. Luigi’s gotten so used to holding Bowser’s claw as he sleeps that going without it feels weird. Bowser meanwhile needs to state affirmations at least once an hour that he knows Luigi is feeling better and that being apart for a few days will be fine.

-Bowser visits the brothers’ house once a week on average after Luigi’s recovered; usually, it’s just to pick up Luigi so he can stay over in the Koopa Kingdom for a bit, but he’ll stay over for a meal if the timing is right (Bowser really likes Mario’s cooking and everyone knows this, though good luck ever getting him to say that out loud). Because of Bowser’s size, he and Luigi at least eat in the living room since that chair is one of the only two in the house that Bowser can fit in. After the fourth time this happens, Mario and Luigi get a Bowser-sized chair to put in their kitchen so that he can sit there with them. Bowser never admits it, but it’s one of the best gifts he’s ever received.

[multicolour-ink]

To be honest, as disappointed as I am by it, I highly doubt Firebrand and Thunderhand will ever be in the movieverse aside from a possible reference.

I get what you are saying; but I am still holding out hope as I want it so bad!

If they can introduce obscure characters like the penguins, and Foreman Spike (a character that was in ONE game way back in the 80s - and yet still got a pretty integral role), I have confidence that the team will pull from some more stuff like this, and maybe in some way, include the hand powers.

How they go about it depends on where they take the story...but here are some ideas on how they can make it similar to the game!

spoilers for Superstar Saga

In the game, the Bros come across the Sun and Moon temples, where they meet the Sun and Moon gods who grant them the hand powers respectively (Mario Firebrand, and Luigi Thunderhand).

The game doesn't give any explanation as to why these gods just give away these powers to these two random strangers (not that I can recall at least), but they could explain it in the movie verse!

Suppose that the Bros adventure in the Beanbean Kingdom (or another place - or even just the Mushroom Kingdom again), and during the journey they come across the Sun and Moon Temples. Both the gods recognise the courage of these new heroes, and decide that they are worthy - but only after they complete a test!

Ooh here's an idea - perhaps the test that the Sun and Moon gods put them through is one where both brothers have to save the other! They are shown their worst fears (like a dreamscape or something similar), and they have to prove their courage in order to save the one they love the most. It will be a perfect scene full of emotion and angst 😁

Do with this idea as you please, my fellow Mario fans! Write your fanfics!

The explanation as to why the Bros each get their respective hand powers can be put down to the powers reflecting their inner selves (also have mentioned it here):

Fire represents for Mario that he is passionate at what he does and what he feels. The love he feels for his brother, his family, and friends burns so deep and is primary the core of his being. Of course, these emotions can give way to him being a spit-fire. When upset or determined, his fire burns and never stops until he succeeds or he's calmed down.

Lightning on the other hand is different. It's powerful, but unlike fire it momentarily shows itself and then goes away, and it only forms under certain atmospherically changes. That represents Luigi. He is often quiet, and rarely chooses to physically fight - but when he does, when the situation changes...it hits hard! Like the moment he saved Mario from Bowser's fire with the manhole cover - it's Luigi's loyalty and bravery that becomes his inner power.

- - -

Here's some more ideas they could do with the Firebrand, and Thunderhand in the movie verse:

- During some down time, after some battles, the Bros get the same idea (not even talking they just both mentally communicate) to try something new with their powers. If they can be used in battle...can they be used in other ways...?

So Mario gently cups Luigi's hands in his, and makes a small flame. It sparks up through not only his hand, but also Luigi's - and it doesn't cause his brother pain! Luigi gasps in wonder at the beauty and the warmth of this flame. After briefly meeting Mario's eyes, Luigi follows suit and creates a small spark. Both gasp and smile in excitement at this beautiful combination ❤️️💚

- Mario makes campfires very easily with his Firebrand.

- Luigi can mess with electrical equipment and entire electrical panels.

- Luigi can read the electrical impulses in people's hearts, in order to read their heart rates (he can also read/sense any electrical currents in the air).

- Mario's Firebrand in battle is mostly used for pure power.

- Luigi can use his Thunderhand for defence (electrical shields around himself and others).

[dybynyght]

An Okay Pretender III (Bowser X Reader)

A/N: The last chapter felt a tad short, so here's the next. Again, apologies if our Fire King is a bit OOC. I had a bit of a difficult time pinpointing but thank you for still tuning in if you do. 😭 Word Count: 720

You weren't sure if word had reached the Princess or the others. Bowser saw it fit to bring along the castle retainers and hold them prisoner. A little incentive to stop you from leaving. You wouldn't abandon them–you couldn't–and with them here with you in the Koopa King's castle, there wasn't anyone capable of venturing out for help. You honestly didn't have that much faith in the village Toads and knew many of them didn't even know that you were standing in for their beloved Princess. Were they even capable of leaving their homeland for help? You didn't fight the heavy sigh that left your lips.

Your holding cell was a tower–a major step up from the cages Peach had told you about in her past–and despite it being far from your tastes, it was accommodating and had the luxuries you would've found back at Peach's castle. 

"He'll have to guess something's up when no one comes for us." You whispered as you took a seat on the bedroom bench. "And what then? Chances are he'll go right back to trying to take over Peach's kingdom. Which really isn't gonna fare well for anyone. Especially me!" A small pout jutted onto your lips. "No one's gonna trust me to handle anything at that point…" Maybe you were missing the big picture at that moment, but the thought of disappointing the few people who seemed to find your presence a joy weighed just as heavily as possible total domination from a foreign ruler. 

Your eyes took to the gaping window carved out of stone and gazed at the black clouds that blanketed the skies. Thick, heavy and inky enough to block out all view of anything beyond what was kept within the realm and with a slight crane of your neck, you could glimpse the sea of lava resting along the perimeter of the castle. Having seen enough, you huffed. The only way out was through the front door and there was no way in hell you'd be allowed to waltz out. Unless…

Your chamber–you refused to call your cell 'your room'–lattice unbolted and in paraded your captor himself. His stride prideful as always but dashed with a slight air of caution. Though you figured you were just imagining things. Stiffening up just so, you hardened your face and kept your eyes locked on your folded hands.

"Still upset, Starling?" He asked as he carefully nudged your chin upwards after kneeling before you, directing your gaze to his.

"I hardly find anything worth being happy about at the moment." Slowly, you edged back, pulling away as you did. "Besides, we both know how this will end. No doubt Mario's on his way now! So, how about we save you the embarrassment, and you let me go?"

At the mention of Mario's name, a trail of smoke left his nostrils as his brows knitted in annoyance. You bit down on your lower lip and quickly averted your gaze. It was worth a shot to ask. "Wha-What of my subjects? I want to see them." You piped up in hopes of quelling his sudden spell of anger, raising your head just so to peek up at him from beneath your lashes.

You watched as he visibly jolted, he rose to his feet and his arms crossed over his chest as a soft pink dusted his cheeks. The valley between his brows softened as a somewhat tender gaze rested on your form. "Sorry Starling, but no can do."

"You don't trust me?" 

"You and I both know what you're capable of. You're staying here." 

"Your guards could accompany me." You pressed. "You trust them, don't you?"

Bowser guffawed, his laughter seemingly shaking the very walls of the room. You didn't need any further response than that. You've seen even Luigi tussle with them and win. That was explanation enough.

"Alright," You muttered, feeling a tad embarrassed. "Then…why don't you accompany me?"

The room quickly fell silent at your suggestion and for a second, you assumed he was simply mulling over the offer but the look on his face said otherwise. He already had his answer, the real battle was whether or not he should say it as quickly as it came. One, of course, beat out the other.

"It would be your pleasure, Princess."

~~~

@lithebunnyq

[panickingpansexuality]

Bowser and Peach story because why not

The Princess of the Mushroom kingdom awoke in her bed but not in her normal way. She woke up with someone poking her cheek with a small dull claw.

Repressing a smile she opened her eyes and looked at the source of the poking to find Bowser Jr by her, his siblings around the room playing with various things.

"Is your father around?" Peach asks in a sleepy voice.

"Nope." Bowser Jr. Says with pride "We came to get you."

"For how long?" Peach asks sitting up.

"Forever." Larry pipes up from the end of her bed.

Peach Pat's the spot beside her and Larry goes to it and scoots as close to her as he can.

"You know I can't stay with you forever." Peach explains.

"Why?" Larry asks.

Peach looks at the other Koppalings and sees that they're all now paying attention, wide sad eyes look over at her.

"Because she's a princess!" Wendy says crossing her arms, "and princesses have things to do and she cant be with us forever if she still wants to be a princess."

"Well why cant King Daddy marry her? Then she can be a Queen and then we can see her all the time."

Peach feels her entire face heat up at the thought. Of course Bowser hasnt explained their situation to the kids yet, at least not throughly.

"Why dont I go get ready?" Peach says.

"Can I help?" Wendy asks.

"Of course." She says sweetly.

"The rest of you get ready we wont be long." Wendy says in a very authoritative tone, none if her brothers argue as they get up to leave.

Peach being ready for almost everything has her bags packed quickly, Wendy helps folding the clothes and as a reward Peach gives her a necklace that she had been saving for the older Koppaling for a birthday gift but it's no better time than the present to give a present.

The Princess leaves a note on her desk for Toad hoping that he wont assume it's another kidnapping, she couldnt stand to even be near Mario after the last time he fought Bowser IN FRONT of his children, then having to explain to them.why she had to leave with the seven of them crying broke her heart.

It had been only a month since then and she couldnt imagine what they all had been through.

Once aboard the ship she went to the smartest of the siblings.

"Hows your father?" She asked Iggy.

"Healing." He said in a quiet voice, "Mario..didnt really give him any mercy."

"No.." Peach sighed, "He didn't. Are you all ok?"

"No." Iggy stated, he was never one for lies just crafty words. "Jr, Larry, and Lemmy have nightmares, and Wendy's gotten more angry, Roy is picking at his food, and Ludwig and Morton wont stop fighting."

"And you?" Peach asks after a moment of processing the information.

Iggy shrugs and they take a look over the land.

"I'll stay for as long as I can." Peach promises. "And you kids can write to me anytime."

"We do." Iggy says.

Peach and Iggy give each other a tightened gaze, they suspect someone isnt giving her the letters but who is the question for Iggy, his brain already coming up with a list of possible suspects and Peach fears she knows exactly whose to blame.

[batneko]

okay SO, childhood friends idea inspired by a suggestion from @hyperfixatingonbowuigisohard and the Yoshi's Island games. I still don't have a story exactly but I do have a lot of Thoughts.

Mario and Luigi are around three or four years old, old enough to talk but not to really articulate what's happening or how they're feeling. It's during a time when the parents think grandma is watching them and grandma thinks the parents decided to take them after all, and when they get home everything seems fine so the adults don't bother to compare notes. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Bowser is a couple years older, and small kids develop so fast that most wouldn't want to play with one much younger ("that's a baby!!!") but he's so desperate for a friend even close to his own age that he jumps at the change to spend time with this strange child that stumbled into his castle.

But... little Bowser has been so spoiled by Kamek and the other servants raising him that he has no idea how to play nicely. Luigi is terrified of him at first and starts bawling the moment Bowser "orders" him to play. For the first time in his short life, Bowser has a problem that can't be solved by yelling, crying, OR throwing things. He has to control his temper and learn to - what's it called again? - share.

Despite that the week that little Luigi spends with him is the happiest Bowser has ever been, and even that short amount of time has such an impact on his personality that he almost seems like a different person by the end. He accidentally bumps into Kamek and says "sorry" without being prompted and Kamek is so shocked he has to have a lie-down.

But at the end of that week, little Mario suddenly shows up with a pack of yoshis who seem to know where the boys belong, and Kamek knows it's not right to just keep a lost child. He also knows that there's no way Bowser is going to agree to let his first-ever friend go away and maybe never see him again, so Kamek smuggles Luigi out while Bowser is asleep and tells him his family came to get him. It's technically true.

Bowser is devastated. He screams, cries, throws things, and finally begs, but there's nothing anyone can do, Luigi is already gone. He's miserable for months, but eventually the sadness turns into anger. If his friend wanted to come back, why doesn't he?

Time passes. The memories fade. He's left with equal parts fascination by and resentment of humans, and the subconscious belief that if you give the people you love any chance to leave you, they will.

Meanwhile Mario and Luigi have gone home, and both of them are suddenly talking a lot about dinosaurs. That's not unusual, kids love dinosaurs, the parents figure they saw a cool book or movie with one of their cousins. But while Mario seems to think of dinosaurs as big animals that you run around with, Luigi keeps asking when he can go see "the dinosaur" again. He gets upset when his parents don't know what he means, but he keeps asking, again and again, for months. Every time they think he forgot he asks again, and no movie or museum visit or plush toy seems to be the answer.

He draws a lot of spiky green balls in this time. Eventually the parents decide that "the dinosaur" must be his imaginary friend and try to play along. It doesn't work, Luigi is still upset, but he's young and eventually he really does forget.

Years later family members will still sometimes bring up "Luigi's imaginary friend the dinosaur" as a cute anecdote. It's a little embarrassing, but he doesn't mind it too much.

And then it's twenty-plus years later and Mario and Luigi find themselves in a world that's full of adventure and magic and - yes - dinosaurs. There's a feeling of déjà vu but there are bigger things to worry about at the moment, and neither of them have any real reason to think they've been to this world before.

The first meeting doesn't go well. Bowser kidnaps Peach, the bros come to her rescue, and it ends in a big fight. Bowser does have a moment's pause when he first sees the bros, but Mario takes that opportunity to attack him and it's downhill from there.

There are several more clashes as time goes on. Sometimes it's just Mario, sometimes it's both of them, but after enough meetings people start to notice... Bowser controls his temper better around Luigi.

At first Mario thought it was just because Bowser hates him specifically, but no, other people have noticed it too. For some reason when Luigi is there Bowser is actually capable of showing restraint. Not even Peach brings that out of him. It's weird.

(Mario does wonder if Bowser kind of has a thing for his brother, but he can't bring himself to say it out loud.)

Luigi isn't scared of Bowser either, not the way he probably should be, given the whole giant monster/serial kidnapper thing. It's too awkward to ask Bowser why he's different around Luigi, but Mario asks Luigi why he's not afraid, and Luigi can't put his finger on it. He just Knows that Bowser is more bark than bite. He's not sure why.

So that's where things stand; Bowser and Luigi are both more comfortable with each other than anything about their personalities or situation seems to justify, and nobody knows why.

...Except Kamek who, as the only adult in the situation, figures out who the bros are almost immediately and promptly decides to Keep His Damn Mouth Shut. That reveal is not going to lead to good things for him.

[strawbxrryneptune]

Level one

Word count: 10k

Cw: pretty tame, just slight descriptions of a dick, play fighting, mentions of almost dying.

This fic and the fics following will contain monster fucking, cucking and threesomes!! If you are not comfortable, try out some of my other works, but if you wish to proceed, remember, sharing is caring.

@miggiisdumb

Next~♡

♡♡

Being a princess was always portrayed as this lush, lavish life. Spoiled rotten with goodies and suitors on you left and right. Everyone respects you, maybe even fears you, and you don't have to worry about a thing cause you have your guards and your secure little tower.

Only one of those things applied to you. The people of the Mushroom kingdom adored you, sending you gifts and bringing their cute little families to meet you. You had moved out of the actual palace ages ago, deciding to reside in a cute little cottage hidden deep in the woods. 

You had some bodyguards, but you kind of doubted their abilities in warding off monsters. You didn't mind fighting by the side though, it built up your strength and courage. 

You knew that you alone were pretty strong, and so were your guards, but it still confused you how you barely got bothered. Occasionally you would hear a growl or roar in the distance, but it was quickly cut off and you would go about your business. 

You finally found out what was keeping the monsters at bay when you ventured out into the forest alone, not wanting to wake up your bodyguard since you were just getting berries.

You had managed to fill up your basket and make it halfway back before you felt a rush of air behind you, only getting a second to blink before you were sent flying, hot breath and saliva tickling your neck and cheek.

You kick and scream, arms flailing when the creature pushes your head down into the dirt.

You start to weaken as your vision swims, struggling to breathe. You go limp, letting out choked sobs when the creature is suddenly ripped off of you. You hear shuffling and roaring, and then the forest goes silent for a moment before coming back to life, birds chirping and wind blowing as you feel someone touch your arm gently. 

You hear a smooth, low voice fussing over you, the stranger lifting you up and assisting you back to the cottage. You try to turn to see their face, but all you can make out is a bright red hat, dark red hair and pretty lips before they're turning you back around.

When you make it to the cottage, you try to once again turn to thank the person, but they're already gone. About to head back inside, you see a bright red object laying on the ground. When you get closer, you realize it's the strangers hat, soft and big with a K patched into it.

You gasped, realizing who exactly this man was.

You came from a long line of royalty, your mother being Queen Star and your sister being Princess Peach. When you were kids, your mother would tell you of an Italian family who were so kind and brave, always looking to serve and expecting nothing in return.

For your mother, it was a man named Papa Mario, and for Peach it was Mario Jr. And Luigi. Around the time you were born, they also were welcoming a baby into the world, and you have fuzzy memories of a little boy with sharp teeth and red hair vowing to protect you even when you were in diapers.

Snapping back to reality, you scurry back inside and throw on a more casual outfit, still in a dress but with more room to move, slipping on some boots and stuffing the hat in your bag.

You take the path down to town, chatting with the residents along the way until you arrive at the Mario Bros Tavern. 

You step inside, greeting everyone and making your way over to the counter, seeing who you assume is the brother, dressed in all green. His name tag reads "Izuku", and you smile at him when he looks your way. 

"Hi, Princess!! What brings you here?"

You dig in your bag and take out the plush hat, holding it in front of you.

"I- Uh…. I found this in the woods, I was jus' wondering if the owner of it was here?"

Izuku lets out a soft, 'oh', and holds a finger up to you to signal you to wait. He disappears into the back room and when he comes back you suddenly wish you were dressed better.

In the forest all you could see what that your "hero" was wearing overalls and red. You didn't pick up on the fact that he was probably almost 7 feet tall, buff and solid with pretty, full lips and a sharp smile, cute spiky hat hair which a deeper shade of red then his clothes, which fit him so perfect it was like he just stepped out of a clothes factory. 

When you met eyes, the stranger gave you a sheepish smile, stepping up to the counter and gently taking the hat from your now trembling hands. 

"Gee, thanks for bringing this back, Prn'cess. I hadn't even realized I lost it."

You search for words, feeling your cheeks heat up when his smile widens, big veiny hands reaching out to shut your mouth, which fell right back open at the feel of his hands on your face.

"I'm, uh, I'm also here to thank you for saving me today…"

"Kiri."

"Kiri. Thank you, Kiri."

He smiles a toothy smile, giving you a silly bow. You giggle, your heart swelling with affection as you realize you could get used to this.

"As a token of my appreciation, I'm taking you on a date in two days, up by the waterfalls."

The red head blinks in surprise before his smile returns, pink coloring his cheeks as he mods vigorously.

"I'll see you then, Princess!!"

♡♡

You trudged through the forest, cursing yourself for putting off your carriage repair. The trail was under construction, so you had to walk you way through the bushes towards the waterfall. 

At least you weren't wearing a formal dress. You were just wearing a simple skirt and a top, some boots and a picnic basket in your hand.

As you stumble along, you start to hear the roaring of the waterfall, but laced within you hear growls and grunts, followed by a shout that sounded all too familiar.

Kirishima.

You pick up speed and come to a clearing, stepping back slightly in shock. 

In front of you is one of the legendary Bowser men, powerful and downright terrifying. They had a tendency to go after princesses, which was the main reason the Mario brothers protected your family. 

This Bowser was the new heir, Bakugou. He didn't have red hair like his father, his was an ash blonde, and his shell was a slightly darker green. He was taller too, looked about 6'9 from where you were standing, but he towered over Kirishima so you figured he was over 7 feet. He was actually kind of attractive, which surprised you given how his dad looked.

Kirishima has him in a headlock, both of them grunting and growling and you would be lying if the sight wasn't hot, but you shook the feeling off and silently marched over to the two, wanting to "save" the red head like he had for you for the longest time. 

Taking a deep breath, you launched yourself on the Blonde's shell with a shout, quickly realizing how stupid this "plan" was when you could barely hold on, being so small compared to him that when he stood up and reached behind him, he could just pluck you up like a bug, holding by the back of your shirt in a big hand. 

"What happened Bakubro? Why'd you stop-y/n?"

"Well well well, wha d'we have here? Is this the pretty little prn'cess yer were telling me about, Kiri?"

You gulp harshly, not even out of fear anymore now that you realized that they were play fighting, and that they know each other. 

No, you were nervous because Bakugou was hot. Sharp canines digging into his bottom as he watched you dangle in his palm, spiky hair leading down to a bushy mullet, bulging muscles and thick thighs hidden by a ratty loin cloth, blonde happy trail-did something just twitch?

You swiftly look back up, looking into knowing vermillion eyes as he licks his lips and shoots you a smirk, his eyes dark and cheeks slightly flushed. When you feel a slight breeze and begin to rock, you realize that hes still holding you. Up in the air. With one hand. 

This is not doing anything good to your manhandling kink. You can already feel your panties start to get sticky as he gently sets you back down, standing straight back up.

You're now level with his veiny thighs, hands starting to tremble from how guilty and horny you feel. The guy you asked out on a date is right there!! Speaking of, you glance at Kiri and he's already looking at youz something dark gleaming within his eyes but quickly hidden when you meet gazes, rushing forward to trap you in a crushing hug, big hands running up your sides.

You blush as you pull back, about to ask if he wants to get going when he jogs back over to Bakugou, who's eyes haven't left you, and tackles him onto the ground, putting him in a chokehold.

You would be pissed, you planned a picnic and its getting dark, the bugs coming out and the air getting sticky but they look so good like that, muscle on muscle, and Bakugou keeps letting out snarls and growls that go straight to your cunt, slicking up your panties as you think about those big, clawed hands your skirt up and plugging you up with his big dick.

You stop mid thought as you remember what they taught you in Princess survival school, in the monster course. Bowsers can smell really really well. Which means Bakugou….could probably smell you right now. 

You look up at him and let out a breath of relief when you see he's still distracted by the Kirishima, writhing to try and get away from the his grip on his neck. With a sharp movement from the blonde, his loin cloth flutters to the side momentarily and flashes you a peak of his really, really fat cock. You almost pass out from how fast blood rushes to your head when you see so many veins and bumps, and he's obviously not even hard. 

All of a sudden, Bakugou takes a deep breath, preparing to let out a roar to startle Kirishima into letting him go, and chokes on air, gasp getting caught in his throat. Kiri is none the wiser, laughing and joking behind him about how hes strongest, but Bakugou isn't paying attention, eyes blown wide and rolled in his head as his tongue slightly lolls out of his mouth, as if to taste what he's smelling.

To taste you. 

His head rolls to the side, eyes trained on the clench of your thighs and flush of your body, and it make his hips jump, red irises locking onto you as drool spills out of his open mouth. 

Kirishima realized how quiet he is, and attempts to peak over and see if he's okay but Bakugou roughly shoulders him off and stomps away into the trees, leaving you dazed and Kirishima confused. 

"That was weird."

[hamunnyii]

BowUigi pirate AU

Yeah, Bowser is like a Blackbeard who's searching for a partner to marry for his kids and have privileges (so he could take better care of them) in Society.

While he robs an Island of its gold (not all of it, he knows other people need money for their families) and searches for a partner, he encounters Luigi and Mario who want to fight him. Bowser gets distracted by Luigi and his charisma for a moment, and continues to think about him. They beat him, but somehow Luigi sees he has kids and decides to at least give him bandages and other helpful things while having small talk about kids, Luigi making sure he doesn't hint he knows about him having kids. Though, he still doesn't trust him as he thinks he still robbed innocent people.

Bowser leaves, but later on Luigi and Mario find out from the residents he actually didn't steal all the gold. And while that is not nearly enough to make Luigi have a crush on him, he sees Bowser could have some good in him.

Some time after Bowser returns to that Island after realizing he never liked any other person at first glance like he did with Luigi. It was only a small possibility that he actually thought he woild have been a perfect parent, but he felt like he could give it a shot.

This time, he returns injured, not really bad injuries, but noticable. The Koopalings and Bowser Junior decide without him knowing to go in Town to search for medications, as they didn't know why he wanted to return. Luigi notices them running and as soon as he sees them he knows they're his kids, and knowing someone of the Town would capture them if they got seen, he runs up to them. He explains shortly who he is and after gaining their trust he goes home and takes medications to use for Bowser. The Koopalings take him to Bowser, Luigi feeling really nervous because he doesn't know if this is a trap or how he will feel looking at Bowser after so much time.

Bowser is like in some part of the Town making people already run away, but Luigi catches him up on time so that it would take some time for the whole Island to get alerted.

They go to a more calm, reserved place and he starts tending to his injuries, having small talks.

Bowser then thanks him but just as he says it people already got alarmed and Bowser and his kids have to leave.

Eventually Bowser comes back more and more frequently, now having a stable friendship with Luigi, continuing to meet secretly every time he comes back.

Bowser occasionally starts flirting lightly to see if Luigi would be interested in him. Luigi sometimes awkwardly flirts back without even noticing, and when he does he gets shy for some minutes before seeming to get calmer.

With time Bowser starts talking about him wanting a partner for his kids, that if the partner loved him it'd be nice, but he wanted his kids to be the first ones to be happy before him. And this escalates.

That just clicks something for Luigi. Luigi replies with something sweet like that he shouldn't search for a partner only for his kids, because while it's noble to do that, it'd be unhealthy for the kids to see a dysfunctional relationship from their parents. That just clicks something for Bowser. They get touchier as time passes and both even if they already had a small crush on each other get deeper feelings. They miss each other when they don't get to have their afternoons together and are far away, they think about each other and start having romantic thoughts, and excitedly wait for when they'd meet again.

After MUCH TIME, Bowser would finally confess saying all these sweet things and Luigi just forgets how to talk before saying how he feels about him.

They get together, and decide to wait for marriage at least until they can have a peaceful life somewhere safe for the kids.

They get married after a while and are the happiest family in the World

[milos-fanfics]

The Evils Within - Chapter 21

Angrily, Daisy approached the warp pipe, a frightened Luigi tripping out of it, inching away from her.

“You again? I thought you were smart enough not to show your face here again. I guess I was mistaken,” Daisy said to him, unamused.

Putting his hands up in surrender, Luigi continued to slowly inch backwards. “W-w-wait! I think I know why you’re upset,” he stuttered quickly as his back hit a red-white pipe behind him. “Please, Daisy, let me explain!” Luigi winced, awaiting the princess’ response that he feared was nothing less than a punch to the face.

Daisy could see the genuine fear in his eyes and sighed, relieving some of the tension she had built up before crossing her arms. “Okay,” she responded, “Explain yourself.”

Luigi exhaled in relief, expelling the breath he was not aware he had been holding before he explained. ”I need your help. Not long ago, your kingdoms were attacked by someone who looks and sounds just like me. And, although technically that was me, I didn't do anything.”

Daisy raised a confused eyebrow.

He sighed, “You see, I have an alter ego, a second personality, that goes about being its own person with its own personality, opinions, and morals. A few weeks ago, it managed to find a way to escape from my mind and it has been causing chaos in my name.” His eyes darted to the floor, dejectedly. ”I need someone to help take him down. He’s got Peach and Mario and I-- I’m all alone. I can’t do this by myself.”

Daisy uncrossed her arms as her expressions shifted from irritated to concerned.

“Please, Daisy,” Luigi’s voice began to quake, “What will it take for you to trust me again?”

Daisy was still a tad skeptical, but nonetheless, she believed him. She held a hand out to help Luigi back to his feet, which he gladly accepted with a light smile. “Let’s say that I do trust you. Where is this ‘second personality’ of yours?”

Luigi glanced to the pink warp pipe he had just come out of then back to Daisy with a troubled look.

~~~~~

Back at Peach's castle, two sets of hands grabbed the edge of the yellow-orange warp pipe, Luigi and Daisy stuck their heads out of the pipe to look around. The coast was clear. For now. As they climbed out of the pipe, a set of footsteps was heard approaching the room. Quickly, the two jumped out of the warp pipe and hid behind one further back in the room.

The footsteps drew closer. "Come on, through here," spoke a familiar voice. Entering the room was a familiar-looking being in some rather interesting-looking get-up. 

Daisy's eyes widened at the sight. She glanced between Luigi and Mr. L, noticing the similarities between the two.

Mr. L walked to the black-red-colored warp pipe, being followed by a small band of shy guys carrying the unconscious Mario and Peach. He noted the pipe's cover had not been replaced since he last used it. "Let's go, hurry up," Mr. L directed the shy guys through the warp pipe, irked at how slow they moved. Once they were all through, Mr. L jumped in behind them.

Luigi and Daisy moved from their hiding place, Daisy still shocked at how uncanny their similarities were. "Who was that?" She questioned.

"That's Mr. L. He's that 'second personality' I told you about," Luigi responded.

Daisy thought for a moment, realizing he was telling the truth. Realizing she had been angry at the wrong person. She sighed, giving him a light smile, an apologetic one.

Luigi's dejected look was replaced with a smile in return accompanied by a nod. He had accepted his apology. "Come on, let's go put a stop to him," he spoke, moving over towards the Bowser's Castle warp pipe. He extended his hand to her, which she accepted with a grin, and the two jumped into the pipe together.

~~~~~

Mr. L marched towards the mid-renovated castle with an evil grin before his face dropped as he turned around. He crossed his arms in annoyance watching his small assembly of shy guys struggle to keep up with his pace. The shy guys noticed his irritation and attempted to quicken their own pace, being made difficult by the two humans they were tasked with transporting yet, they sped up to a noticeably faster-walking speed. Partly satisfied, Mr. L turned back around, continuing his march towards the castle.

Luigi and Daisy simultaneously popped out of the pipe behind him. Daisy spotted the masked dopplegänger and proceeded to quickly climb out of the pipe to chase after him, ready to fight. Before she could go anywhere, a hand was placed on her shoulder, signaling her to stop. She looked behind her as Luigi shook his head.

"We can't fight him. Not yet," he spoke in a quiet tone, taking his hand off of her shoulder to climb out of the warp pipe as well.

Daisy gave him a confused look. "Why not? He's right there. We can't let him get away with what he's been doing!" She exclaimed in a whisper-like fashion.

Luigi shook his head again and pointed to the band of shy guys, "Not while he has them. We have to be sure they're safe before we try to confront him." Daisy sighs at this, disappointedly. "Don't worry," Luigi attempts to comfort, "We'll get him. Just hold on for a bit longer."

Daisy sighed once more, this time in reluctance. Her previously tensed state shifted to more of a relaxed one, but she did not let her guard down. The two followed behind Mr. L’s shy guy entourage close enough to see where they were headed, but far enough to not draw immediate suspicion to them.

Mr. L entered the castle, leading the troop of shy guys down a stone brick hallway to a set of cells. “Put these two in a cell,” he demanded, beginning to turn around before something came to mind. He stopped and looked back at the shy guys. “Separately,” he continued, his tone low and threatening. He turned around to walk back to his previously stolen throne. As he turned, Luigi and Daisy rushed to take cover in an empty cell in an attempt to not be seen. Mr. L marched right past their hiding spot. In that instant, Luigi’s heart skipped a beat, him fearing the worst.

Before he could take a sigh of relief, Mr. L stopped in his tracks, putting his hand to his heart in confusion. He could feel fear washing over him and he knew it wasn’t his own. Curiously, he retraced his steps, feeling the fear only intensify the further back he stepped.

He checked each cell he passed searching for a specific someone.  He could feel himself growing closer. He could feel his heart racing. Approaching one cell, the fear was almost disorienting. That was the one. He looked through the cell bars, nothing in particular stuck out. He opened the door, entering the presumably empty cell. Luigi and Daisy hid as far behind the cell door as they could before trying to sneak behind their confused foe.

In the corner of his eye, Mr. L spotted the duo during their attempted escape. He shook his head with a sinister grin. “Hold it right there.”

The two stopped dead in their tracks. They had been caught.

“Do you really think you can get away from me that easily?” Mr. L chuckled, turning to face the two. “Oh, Luigi, my good-natured dopplegȁnger. You’re still letting your emotions control you. How do you think I found your hiding place?” His attention shifted to the Sarasaland princess, whose patience was quickly running out. “And princess, what a completely unexpected surprise! Did you come back to finish what we started?” he asked with a smirk.

Daisy scowled at the nickname, tensing up, preparing for a fight. Luigi took notice of this rather quickly and whispered to her, “Don’t fight him. It’s what he wants.”

Exaggeratedly, Mr. L put his hand to his ear. “Oh, what was that? I couldn’t hear you over the whispering,” he spoke in a mocking tone, his voice growing louder near the end. He regained his composure and continued, “What’s wrong, Green? Afraid to have a girl fight your battles?”

“N-no! Wha- I- I know what you’re trying to do and I won’t allow it,” Luigi stuttered out a response.

Mr. L simply smiled, innocent yet maniacal, “Really? Let’s see what she has to say about it.” Mr. L sent a punch towards Luigi, sending him backward into the cell bars.

Without hesitation, Daisy rushed to attack, sending one swift punch towards his face, disorienting him. Mr. L stumbled backward as he caught his balance. With a smirk, he balled his fists, ready to take her on once more, confident he could beat her once more. Both charged at one another, both restraining each other’s fists as they simultaneously went for another punch.

Luigi stood up to his feet, disoriented himself, but ready to assist Daisy regardless. Before he could even get the chance to, however, Daisy’s grip tightened around Mr. L’s fists as she pulled him closer and jabbed him in the stomach, causing him to release his own grip. This gave her the opportunity to strike him once more, once again in the face, once again disorienting both Mr. L and his dopplegȁnger.

Luigi could not bring himself to fight… himself. He was aware of how hard of a hitter Daisy was, but even that was an underestimation. Even if he could withstand the pain, he knew if he got involved, Daisy would know about how they shared the same pain, allowing her to suffer the same fate as his brother. All he could do was watch.

Mr. L sent two more punches to the Sarasaland princess, both being restrained before they could even land. He didn’t try to resist as much, but she wouldn’t let him go.

“I’ll admit, you are a skilled fighter, princess. One of the greatest I’ve seen,” Mr. L complimented. “But, there is one thing I can do that you can’t.”

Daisy looked to him confused before realization struck her. She noticed his hands beginning to glow and remembered what came after it. A wave of electricity flowed through her arms. A painful experience, but one she wasn’t going to succumb to. Not after what he did to her home. Not after what he did to her friends. Enraged, Daisy let out a pained scream as she lifted him up over her head and threw him to the ground behind her, breaking the electric connection between the two. Mr. L let out a pained ground. He was in great pain, he couldn’t move. Luigi, who had watched this great feat, felt the same pain, but he was too shocked to exclaim. Daisy only looked to the dazed combatant as her anger slowly faded away.

Now in a more reasonable state, she turned to Luigi, assuming he hadn’t moved the entire fight. Approaching him, she extended her hand out to help him up. “Are you okay? He seemed to have hit you pretty hard,” Daisy asked, partially out of breath.

Luigi nodded, blinking back a pained tear as he smiled. “Yeah, I’m good,” he lied. “Now, come on. Let’s free the others before he gets back up,” he told her, beginning to rush back to the other cells, Daisy nodded and followed behind him.

They arrive at the cells Mario and Peach are locked behind. Luigi picks up the lock that belonged to Mario’s cell and gestures it to Daisy who quickly breaks the lock with a swift movement of her hand, much to Luigi’s surprise. He didn’t wish to question it. He hurriedly removed the remnants of the lock and opened the door to free his brother.

While Daisy did the same with Peach’s cell, Luigi rushed over to Mario. He was weak, but it was something a Super Mushroom could fix. He felt around for any spares, but he didn’t have any. He picked up the unconscious hero and carried him over to Peach and Daisy.

“I don’t have any mushrooms,” Luigi sighed defeatedly.

Daisy gave him a smile, “That’s okay, I have a few extras right--” Before she could finish her sentence, a ray of light struck her from behind him, resulting in her falling unconscious as well. Luigi turned around in shock.

Mr. L was back on his feet. And he was pissed.

~~~~~

Chapter 20 - Chapter 22 Cover

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #421

“hunted by hundreds and never to be caught  /  descent to wander, bring terror and take 'em all beyond”

Which do you prefer, donut holes, jelly filled donuts or normal donuts? Normal donuts. When you get old, are you going to make a will? I mean probably. Ever made your own definition for something on Urban Dictionary? No. What do you call your grandparents? "Grammy" and "Grampa." Do you like weddings? Not especially because I'm a bitter fuck. Do you want to live in a dorm in college? I never wanted to, so I never did. Have you ever had your tonsils taken out? No. Are you single/taken/crushing/confused? Single/confused. Is your best friend single? Yes. Is your first real best friend still there for you? I mean we have one another on Facebook, but that's the extent of it. Do you still care for your first love? Very much. I hope he's doing okay since his mother passed. What color is your blanket? Navy with black swirls. Are you listening to music right now? Yes. I am obseeeeeessed with Alissa White-Gluz's cover of Powerwolf's "Demons Are a Girl's Best Friend." Have you ever felt as if you lost your one true love? I feel like that all the time. But I should add that I don't believe there is JUST ONE person designed for you. There are way, way too many people on this earth to have just a single, perfect match. Which do you like better: Bowser, Mario, Luigi, or Princess Peach? Well I mean I always picked Luigi in Mario Kart, so I got a bias, ha ha. How many tattoos do you have? Six. Plenty, PLENTY more to come, though. Would you ever consider getting a mohawk? No. What do you like to do most in your free time? Do random shit on the computer. What’s your work title? Unemployed. Do you pay rent? I don't. What was the reason behind the last time you wore a bandage? I cut my finger opening up a cup of yogurt. Yes, I'm serious. What music artist have you listened to a lot lately? Powerwolf, lately. And Motionless In White. Who is taller, you or your best friend? Me. When was the first time you ever listened to your favorite music artist? Well, as a little kid, Mom would play some Ozzy in the car occasionally, and I actually loved "Perry Mason" so much that I would ask for her to play it. Growing up I'd obviously heard "Crazy Train" through random things, but I never truly listened to him until I got into middle school and went through my mother's CD case, discovering new music as I got into rock and metal. Do/did your siblings cause trouble? Nah, not really. If your siblings are old enough, what do they do for work? I honestly don't remember my half-siblings' positions, but my immediate younger sister is a children's social worker, and my older sis is a mammographer. Have you ever been jealous of your siblings? Jealous, no. Envious, extremely. They know what the hell they're doing with their lives and making shit happen. Do you still live with your parent/s or do you live alone/with a partner? I live with my mother. What feeling do you have the most difficulty in expressing? Jealousy. How do you think you would handle yourself in a crisis situation? Freeze up and probably die lol. Does any particular season make you happier than others? Why/why not? Yes, autumn. It's not hot as fuck, the air always feels so fresh to me, and I love the many colors of fall. It's just... chill. Can you adapt to change easily? Any examples? FUCK. NO. Do you see yourself as worthy of love? Why/why not? This answer can change from "yes, because I'm a good human" to "fuck no because I'm worthless" in 0.5 seconds. Do you think you are competitive? Do you really dislike losing? Not in general, but I can be in some areas. What would you be famous for? Fuck if I know. If you had to, would you rather dye your hair red or black? Red. I loved my hair when it actually took red dye well. What do you typically do on Easter Day? Go to my older sister's house. Have you ever viewed the moon through a telescope? No. Do you normally finish one book before starting another? Always. If you were given the chance to be immortal, would you take it? Heeeeeell no. Would you pierce your nipples for $100? Almost certainly yes; I mean that's $100 for something I can just take out if I don't like it. Have you ever dated someone who had a child? No. Would you ever consider adoption? Even if I wanted a child, no. I know I would need either the blood connection or for the child to be my partner's that I truly love. Do you tend to go for guys/girls with certain eye/hair colors? No, I really don't care how you look on the outside. Do you know anyone who plays guitar? Yes. Do you live within an hour of the ocean? More like two hours. What are you currently sitting/laying on? My bed. Have you ever dated a friend of one of your siblings? No. Did you have an imaginary friend as a child? An imaginary wolf, yeah. Which parent do you look most like? My mom, I think. Ever failed a test? Yes. That's all I did in algebra during my last college attempt. Do you have any friends who are famous? No. Your most recent ex breaks down and tells you they love you, what do you do? Well I know she loves me as a friend, but idk if she still does romantically, but either way, I'd tell her I love her too and ask if I can do anything for her. You and your last ex: who should hate who? Neither of us. We have a perfectly fine relationship. Do you believe you pick who you fall in love with? Definitely not. Last thing you ate? I had a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. Are you obsessed with someone? *discreetly eyes Markiplier* If you had to write a brief message on a dollar bill that many people would eventually see as the currency circulates, what message would you write? I'd have to think longer on this, but definitely something about not putting so much worth into the money and not allowing greed to rule the individual. What serves as the greatest motivation for you in your daily life? The hope for a happy, prosperous future. If you were a multimillionaire, what do you believe you would be doing at this very moment? Well, it's morning and this is my prime time to really just chill and do my first scope of the Internet, so I'd probably be in a beautiful house in the woods of the mountains by a beautiful waterfall. I'd have the windows down to listen to nature, make sure via AC if necessary that it's cool... Damn, that sounds nice. If you could have a cookie jar full of anything you wanted, except money or cookies, what would it be full of? Hm. Perhaps a very motivational quote that I'd draw each day, kind of like fortune cookies, but actually good and applicable, ha ha. If someone were looking for you in a bookstore, in what section would they be most likely to find you? YA or fiction. If your ex came up to you and asked you to take them back, what would you say? Anyone but Jason or Sara would be an automatic "no." Jason would have to really prove himself. Sara, I'd be willing, but would ask her if that's what she really wants given our positions right now. Do you think Ke$ha is annoying? I don't know anything about her personally. I actually liked her music back in the day, even when I was all about metal. Last time you were hit on? No idea. Do you ever write in pencil any more? I always do if I have that option. I don't like that you can't erase with a pen. If you HAD to get a piercing (not ears) what would you get? At this current time, my right nostril again. What do you wish you had more knowledge about? Politics. Would you ever get someone's name tattooed on you? Noooo. Do you have a lot of scars? Yes. I scar very easily. Have you ever had stitches? Twice. Have you ever dealt with a divorce or parents fighting or any kind of abuse at home? Before my parents divorced, there was a lot of fighting. Do you remember the person you first kissed? Of course I do. Have you ever kissed someone you weren’t dating? No. Who was the last person you fell asleep with? Sara. Have you ever listened to music you hated just to fit in? "Hated," no. I just tried to get into bands that I just couldn't, but didn't hate. Ever been called babe? Yeah. What is your favorite Pop-Tart flavor? Chocolate sundae. Have you ever made your parents cry? Yeah, sadly. Do you wear glasses? Yeah. And yet I'm still blind with 'em. Have you ever made out with somebody on a bed? Yeah. Are you tan? Most definitely not. How did you meet the last person you texted? She kinda like, gave birth to me. Next big event? My nephew's fifth birthday. Ugh, how is he getting that old. Do you think you have to be skinny in order to be beautiful? Fuck off, no. There are some gorgeous/attractive plus-sized people. Have you ever made out on a couch? Yes. Has the last person you kissed ever seen you cry? Oh god, she witnessed me sob once. Would you ever get gauged ears? I want very small gauges in my bottom earlobe piercings. What is your favorite sushi? Ew. Have you ever been in a school talent show? What for? Noooo sir. What were you like at 17? Oh god... so sad and yet so happily, madly in love at the same time. I both love and hate that era. Tell us about your worst date. Haven't really had a bad one. I had one with Tyler that was an adventure that most would consider awful (flat tire, had to walk in the whipping wind), but I had fun, ha ha. What should be illegal that isn’t already? I dunno. What’s the song you most wish you had written? Probably John Lennon's "Imagine." What is the worst break up you have experienced? Y'ALL KNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Do your parents wish you were more successful? Oh, I am CERTAIN they do. They'd never admit it, I'm sure, but I know I'm disappointing. I had so much promise in school. Has a significant other called you unattractive before? WOW, no. Has a significant other ever called you by the wrong name? omg no Have you ever caught someone doing something bad? Cheating on their bf, yes. Has a dentist ever screwed up on anything when working on you? No, I don't think so. What is the worst birthday you have ever had? My 16th. I felt very, very unloved. I don't even like going into it. Have you ever been spit on by a llama? No. Have you ever locked yourself out of your car/house? The house, yes. With my elderly dog with arthritis, in the middle of winter after a good snow. I was freezing, sitting on the front porch and eventually crying. My phone was inside so I couldn't reach my mom, who was at work. As night came, I finally broke and went down the street knocking on my neighbors' doors, and probably the worst fucking one opened. With a gun in his hand. He was apparently an ex-sheriff, and he clearly didn't trust me. He was kind enough to let Teddy, who was incontinent and marked territory, inside (thank fuck he didn't pee in the guy's house), and he gave me a jacket, but Christ, we played 20 goddamn questions to see if I was legit, I'm assuming. I was beyond thankful when Mom finally got there when I used his phone to call her. And as it turned out? The door wasn't even fucking locked, our old dog just jammed the hell outta it by jumping. I was so, so pissed.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Haunted Castle Chapter Four: Secrets

They had to fight through more ghosts on the way to Kamek’s lab but despite that it didn’t take them too long to reach it. It was an absolute mess; books and magical objects were all over the tables or stacked semi-haphazardly on the floor. Even the bookshelf wasn’t immune to the random object or piece of paper placed on top of or in front of its books. Other than the large empty cage off to the side, pressed against a wall, it reminded Luigi of E. Gadd’s lab; messy but in a way the owner probably knew where almost everything was.

“There shouldn’t be any ghosts in here,” Bowser Jr. said as he closed the door behind him. “He’s got spells and stuff to keep people out. You two could only enter because you’re with me. Though uh… I guess I don’t know if it works on ghosts or not.”

Gooigi was already checking things and tidying other things, they’d begun the moment they’d entered. Luigi joined them, starting on the other side of the room. It never hurt to make sure that there were no ghosts about. Bowser Jr. groaned and probably rolled his eyes again but made no proper complaint.

 -

Turns out Kamek’s protection spells either didn’t work on ghosts or they’d found a way around them. A couple ghosts had found hiding spots amongst the clutter in the room. Once they were dealt with, Bowser Jr. led way through another hidden door into a room that contained nothing but three wardrobes. “That one leads to outside,” he said, pointing to the one on the left, “that one leads to the throne room,” the middle one, “and this one here leads to Papa’s room,” and finally the one on the right.

Luigi walked around to see that there was nothing on the other side of any of them so… “Uh… how do they work?”

“Magic. You step in, close the doors, and then when you open them, you’re on the other side.”

“So, like the warp pipes then?”

“I guess so yeah.”

Luigi hadn’t even considered that that kind of magic might be used on other things but there was no reason why it couldn’t be, right? But… “Why does Kamek have one leading to your dad’s room?” That was kind of odd, wasn’t it? Bowser didn’t seem the type to be comfortable with someone having easy access to his private space.

“He set it up when Dad was a hatchling to make it easier to keep doing stuff in the lab and tend to him at the same time. Which is weird to think about because like he’s my dad. But speaking of that, let’s go save him and beat up King Boo… hopefully anyway.” He open the appropriate wardrobe’s door and gestured for Luigi and Gooigi to step in before him. Upon stepping in after them, he reached up as if to pulled the doors closed but paused instead.

“These secret passages and stuff are super-secret,” he said, “no one’s supposed to know about them who isn’t super important in the castle. I would never even dream of showing them to you if it wasn’t for everything going on so don’t you ever tell anyone else about them. And don’t let my dad know I showed you them to you either, he’s uh… not very understanding about things sometimes so it might make him mad.”

“Uh… I promise I won’t tell, neither will Gooigi.” Luigi was good at keeping secrets and Gooigi was even better due to the fact that they rarely spoke.

“Cool… thanks.”

After a beat or two of silence, Bowser Jr. pulled the doors closed, waited a few seconds and opened them, revealing another secret room.

After stepping out, Luigi grabbed hold of Gooigi’s arm to turn them around with him before Bowser Jr. could order them to this time. It’d be easier if he knew the secret to opening the walls but there was no use arguing about it especially since it seemed Bowser Jr. was likely to stick with him throughout this whole adventure whether he liked it or not anyway.

Before the sound of the false wall opening finished Bowser Jr. let out a small squeak that was echoed by another being. Luigi snapped around to see another group of ghosts in the room, stronger ones this time, one of which was directly in front of the opening wall.

Even while flinching Luigi managed to press the button on the flashlight that made it flash, stunning the ghost. Gooigi hopped into the room to start vacuuming it immediately, leaving Luigi room to recover from the scare and Bowser Jr. to step back behind the two of them again.

Stronger ghosts or not, they quickly proved no match for Gooigi and the Poltergust. Honestly this ghost busting business might’ve been fun if it was anything other than ghosts they were hunting. But once they were all cleared out it was pretty obvious that Bowser’s portrait was not in here.

There were signs of a fight between King Boo and Bowser, stuff knocked over and burn marks on the walls but that’s all that remained. A bit disappointing but Luigi really hadn’t expected much anyway because things could never be easy, could they? Just like the prior three time’s he’d have to fight his way through the entire castle’s worth of ghosts before reaching King Boo.

Before he could do more than sigh about that his phone started ringing. It was E. Gadd’s tune.

“How goes the ghost busting?” E. Gadd said with an almost grating amount of joviality in his voice as soon as Luigi answered it.

“It’s scary but nothing new.”

“Good, good. Be careful though who knows what King Boo might have up his sleeve this time. But anyway, I’ve arrived. The castle gates are locked though so I had to set up my mobile lab outside them for now. Whenever you have a minute stop on by to let me in and drop your ghosties into the vault.”

The Poltergust was almost full to capacity by now so… “We’ll head down there now.” And hopefully he’d be able to drop Bowser Jr. off with E. Gadd, probably not but it was worth a try.

He hung up and pocketed his phone as he turned to Bowser Jr. to tell him where they should head next. Bowser Jr. spoke up before he could do more than take a breath though. “You think my dad’s okay? Like… you know more about the portraits and stuff right, being trapped in one isn’t like… torture or anything, right?”

“Uh… Mario and the Toads all say they don’t remember anything about their time in the portraits so it’s probably like sleeping or something. And therefore, you dad and everyone else is fine, we just got to rescue them.” Luigi gave him his best encouraging smile; Mario had always been better at those but his was pretty good if he did say so himself.

Whether it worked or not was hard to tell, Bowser Jr. still looked worried, maybe slightly less though? “I hope so,” he said. “Let’s go talk to E. Gadd though I guess since I assume that was him on the phone.”

~

Getting to E. Gadd’s lab was made very easy through use of the magic wardrobes. The one that led outside led all the way outside the castle walls, making it a simple trek to where E. Gadd had set up his mobile lab. Polterpup greeted them just outside it with an excited bark – he certainly got around quite a bit.

“You have a spare Poltergust?” Bowser Jr. asked as soon as they were inside and Luigi was emptying the Poltergust into the mobile vault. “I want to help hunt ghosts.”

“Hmm… I probably should’ve brought one, huh? Just in case.” E. Gadd replied with a slight grimace before shrugging it off. “Oh well, too late now. But even if I had, it probably wouldn’t fit well on your back.”

Bowser Jr. frowned. “Can you make one that would fit then? … Though I guess that’d take too long, huh?”

“And you don’t need to be hunting ghosts anyway,” Luigi cut in. It felt weird taking such a hard stance on it, normally he preferred to just role with whatever people wanted to do because that was just easier but Bowser Jr. was a kid and at this point Luigi was basically babysitting him – with help from Gooigi of course but there was a very real chance they didn’t know what a child was – so he was responsible for his wellbeing and therefore felt the need to insist he stay out of harm’s way. “And speaking of that, I think he should stay in the lab with you E. Gadd.”

“No, no, no.” Bowser Jr. stamped his foot, proving his childishness beyond any shadow of a doubt. “I’m staying with you. I’ve already proven I can be helpful.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing, I’m staying with you and Gooigi and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. You’re on my side on this right, Gooigi?”

They looked at him and then at Luigi and then back at him before shrugging. Either not wanting to take sides or not really carrying either way.

“What about you E. Gadd? You agree with me, right? Ghost hunting’s too dangerous for a kid.” As far as Luigi was concerned it was too dangerous for him and he was full grown adult.

“Well, while I agree that’s true, I don’t think there’s any way you can convince Junior not to tag along with you. Also, he’s a Koopa so he’s tougher than your average child and thus as long as he’s with you and Gooigi he should be fine.”

“Ha, I win!” Bowser Jr. crossed his arms triumphantly. “Now, what all can you do in this lab that can help us save everyone and stop King Boo?”

~

Counter to Luigi’s hopes but not expectations, E. Gadd’s lab scanners still had no way to sense where the portraits were. It also still couldn’t detect the difference between an energy signature that was a large group of ghosts or a small group of stronger ghosts or even one big ghost, meaning there was still no way to pinpoint where King Boo was for sure. It’d still be helpful though and that’s about all Luigi could ask for; going around without the option to call E. Gadd for advice if needed hadn’t been an issue so far but it easily could’ve turned into one.

Before heading back out to hunt more ghosts, E. Gadd set Luigi up with his latest communication device. Like all the other ones, it was mostly a tracker so E. Gadd would always know where they were at all times. Why he kept changing the design was beyond Luigi but a lot of what E. Gadd did didn’t make sense so it was excepted at this point. With it in hand, their unfortunately short respite from the ghosts was soon over.

Stepping back into the secret room in Kamek’s lab, Luigi flinched and flashed his light at the boo floating in the middle of the room. All it earned him was an annoyed look because the flash didn’t affect them. It was fine though because thankfully it was the flag boo again. Luigi didn’t trust him still and probably never would but at least he wasn’t an immediate threat.

“Young sir,” the boo said, his eyes shifting to Bowser Jr. as he stepped out of the wardrobe behind Gooigi, “we’ve found Kamek’s portrait. It’s in the throne room. It’s well guarded though so be careful.”

“Awesome,” Bowser Jr. said, far too eager. “We’ll head there next. But from here on out, you’re going to report to E. Gadd. He can contact Luigi remotely so you won’t have to come find us next time you or your squad find something important. E. Gadd’s lab is in the trailer just outside the main gates, Luigi will call him to explain what’s up.”

“No offense young sir but I’d rather report to you directly. I’m not sure how well we can trust these people.” He glanced at Luigi with a slight glare before returning his gaze to Bowser Jr. Ah yes, he’d said he was aware while in portrait so he’d been witness to Luigi’s attempt to prevent him from being freed, whoops. It had still been the right thing to do though; something turning out fine didn’t mean it had been worth the risk.

“Too bad, as long as my dad’s in danger, I’m in charge and I trust them. We’ve dealt with E. Gadd several times before and he’s never betrayed us, Luigi’s too much of a goody-two-shoes to even think about it, and Gooigi is made of goo and that’s cool so I trust them the most. If you disagree then you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Apparently pleased by the compliment, Gooigi formed their hand into a thumbs up. Bowser Jr. returned it with a grin. Flag Boo frowned at them both before sighing.

“Okay, you’re the boss for now,” he said. “I’ll report to E. Gadd from here on out.”

“Very good! Now get back to work trying to find everyone. And you,” Bowser Jr. said, turning to face Luigi as the boo vanished, “call E. Gadd again and tell him to trust and listen to what Captain Boo says. And I don’t care if you still don’t trust him, we need him and his squad to help find the portraits.”

Luigi couldn’t exactly argue with that, it made sense. Even if the boos couldn’t hide from other ghosts as well, they could travel through walls and floors/ceilings and were thus better suited for searching for the portraits and King Boo himself than anyone living was. And so Luigi kept quiet and didn’t protest as he pulled out the communicator. He wasn’t even going to ask about that the supposed prior dealings with E. Gadd thing because E. Gadd was in it for science and would sell his talents and/or inventions to anyone willing to buy them to fund his ghost research or anything else he wanted to work on. The sooner this adventure was over, the better.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

The kids were gathered around the TV, where Ness had just beaten the Blue Lions route.

Red: It’s finally over….

Pit: Man, it really hits you differently when you beat the Black Eagles route beforehand.

Toon Link: But all that matters is that it’s finally over!

Meggy: And we successfully kept Bernadetta safe both of those runs!

The children cheer. Except Ness, who was look at the ground with a blank stare.

Lucas: Ness, what’s wrong?

Ness: …Guys, we’re gonna be friends forever, right?

Dark Pit: Dude, if you start getting sentimental and cry, so help me….

Ness: I’m not gonna cry. It’s just….you saw how close Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude were at the beginning. They were basically inseparable.

Blue: Ness, the game is literally called Three Houses and they fight each other. How much more inseparable do you want them to get?

Ness: You know what I mean! I…I just don’t want that to be what we eventually turn into.

Bowser Jr: Old and unattractive like Mario?

Ness: Well, no. Mario’s not even old, surprisingly. I don’t want us to all fight each other senselessly. And when I say that, I mean not in the Smash Bros sense, but in a “I hate you and will laugh as you draw your last breath” sense.

Villager: ……

Ness: Well, of course we would we wouldn’t do it now, but what about five years from now? I’ve been in Smash as long as Mario, and I’ve seen people change. I just don’t want us to hate each other in five years over something that we could easily talk out. I’ve known you guys for a good while now. I don’t want to lose that…

Meggy: ….(walks over to him and pats him on the head)

Meggy: Stripes, remember that time we all snuck into the kitchen and stole cookies from the cookie jar even though Peach warned us not to?

Ness: Yeah….

Meggy: And remember that time Jr was getting bullied, so we got everyone together and fought the bully?

Ness, chuckling: Yeah, we got him pretty good.

Toon Link: Oh, how about that time it was raining and we all had that mud fight? 

Lucas: Didn’t we get sick after that and have to stay in bed the whole next day?

Leaf: Oh my gosh, we did! 

Ness, laughing: You guys, come on.

Dark Pit: Uh, what about that time when we…jumped into the pile of leaves Luigi raked? That was Ness’ idea

Pit: Pittoo, I thought you said you hated that.

Dark Pit, looking away: I didn’t say I hated it exactly. I just hated the process of getting out the leaves from the hard to reach places.

Ness: Hahaha! You had leaves in your wings for days!

The whole group begins to laugh.

Meggy: You see where I’m getting at, Stripes? Sure, we all come from different worlds and are part of species that barely have any correlation to each other. You’re a human, I’m an Inkling, Pit’s an angel, BJ’s a Koopa, and Villager is….something.

Villager: (shrugs)

Meggy: And we all have our different viewpoints about life that sometimes are on a whole different spectrum or whatever. Heck, I’m pretty sure Jr. is supposed to be evil. But no matter what, we always come together despite all our differences. And really, doesn’t that make us all super close? I don’t think any of us would hate each other through all of that.

Ness stays silent for a moment. A small grows on his face. He begins chuckling.

Meggy: Huh? What’s so funny?

Ness: Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting a speech that deep!

Blue: Yeah. Normally, you stick to just small inspirational speeches.

Meggy: What?! I can say thoughtful stuff too!

Everyone laughs.

Ness: But seriously. Thanks, guys. Now, there’s no doubt in my mind. We’re all gonna stay together forever! Even if in the next Smash we aren’t! Our bonds go deeper than that!

Pit: Um, shouldn’t I be saying that? Seeing as I’m an actual anime protagonist and that sounded real anime like?

Toon Link: Knock yourself out, buddy.

Pit: Ahem. We’re all gonna stay together forever, even if in the next Smash game we aren’t! Our bonds go deeper than the roster!

Red: Nice addition, Pit.

Bowser Jr: Hey everyone! Let’s go get ice cream!

They all cheer and run out the door.

Ness: Hey, Meggy!

Meggy, looking back: Hm?

Ness: Thank you.

Meggy: (smiles)