Chapter Text
Luigi is really here. He’s awake.
Unfortunately, it seems to be something of a rude awakening, because rather than looking well rested and relieved, Luigi instead looks alarmed, eyes darting around in confusion. Bowser frantically tries to think of what to say to lessen his panic, because he’s currently reaching to grab at the tube in his nose, and he probably shouldn’t do that (considering Dr. Toadley is currently hollering for him not to).
“Never fear, sleeping beauty! Your super handsome king is here!” A tried and true method of greeting and calming someone who just woke up, for sure.
Luigi freezes, staring at him with bulging eyes and hands resting on the tube. He then begins laughing hysterically at Bowser, before yelping as Mario yells out his name and throws himself on top of his younger brother (despite Dr. Toadley’s protests).
Bowser watches as Luigi’s mouth opens, but no words come out of it. He then, seemingly with some difficulty, wraps his arms around Mario in return before trying to speak again.
“Mario…?” He croaks, patting his shaking older brother on the back. Mario makes a choked noise in return. Luigi looks significantly calmer now, though still somewhat bewildered. “I-I missed you too, but–”
He doesn’t get to finish that thought, because suddenly the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom is throwing her arms around him as well.
“Y-you too, princess?!” Luigi, puzzled, splutters and attempts to sit up, which seems difficult considering the other two humans currently on top of him. Luckily, they both seem to notice and help him into an upright position before promptly throwing their arms around him once more.
Bowser, meanwhile, has to refrain from jumping on him as well, considering it would probably crush him– and killing Luigi immediately after finally waking him up would probably be the absolute worst thing that could happen right now (and okay, maybe this wasn’t the best thing to be thinking about at the moment). Instead, he touches the side of Luigi’s face with the palm of his hand. Luigi looks up at him.
“Welcome back.” Bowser mumbles gently, fixated by the way Luigi leans into his touch. He’s here.
“Bowser…” Luigi smiles at him, just as gently, in the exact same way Bowser remembers he did before –dimples, eyes shining– a splitting image of what Bowser had tried to burn into his mind while Luigi was gone.
“You’re awake…!” Mario exclaims breathlessly, eyes wide. A frantic laugh bubbles out of his throat as he looks into his brother’s eyes and touches the other side of his face, as if trying to confirm that it was all real. “You’re awake. You’re really awake. Mio fratello.”
Luigi still looks slightly confused, so Bowser decides to try and fill him in on the pretty crucial information that he seems to be missing.
“Luigi,” He starts slowly. “You’ve been asleep for two and a half weeks.”
“I– what? You mean I’m…?” Luigi trails off as he looks out the window at the light drizzle coming down, and he seems to come to a sudden realization as he frantically points towards it. “Rain, it’s– it’s raining!”
“Yeah.” Bowser agrees, and he can’t help the small laugh that escapes as he says it.
“It was sunny, I–” Luigi looks back up at him with such wonder in his blue eyes, that Bowser almost can't believe that he was considering giving up on trying to save him. “I’m actually awake.”
Huh. It seems like Luigi actually had some sort of concept of time while he was asleep– at least, to the point that he seemed to clue in that he hadn’t woken up in a while. However, that wasn’t the point of the discussion at the moment, so Bowser decides to deal with that later.
“Yeah, we made some kind of copy of the herb thing.” Bowser tries to explain. Luckily (because Bowser himself doesn’t entirely get all of the fancy details), Luigi doesn’t prod too much and instead lets a large smile make its way onto his face as he tightens his arms around Mario and Peach.
“I missed you all.” He says as he stares Bowser in the eyes, and it takes every ounce of self-control in him to not jump onto the bed and kiss his human silly.
As it so happens, Polterpup chooses to materialize in that moment, and he certainly doesn’t show the same restraint as Bowser as he jumps directly onto his owner, who yelps in return, because he now had a lot of people’s weight on him.
However, he still doesn’t try to push any of them off, and instead just begins petting Polterpup as the pup licks his face in return.
He looks content, and Bowser can’t help but feel some of that contentedness seeping into him, as well.
They end up sitting around the bed, even after Dr. Toadley tries to usher them out so he has more room to do crap like taking tubes out and stuff. Well, actually, Kamek did leave the room to go and do who-knows-what in the common area instead, while Peach had also complied with Dr. Toadley’s request to “grab water and a snack to distract themselves,” apparently. In all honesty, however, Bowser had a feeling that once she came back in from the common area, she was going to refuse to leave again as well.
Beyond not agreeing to leave the room, Polterpup still won’t get off the foot of the bed, and even Mario politely refuses to let go of Luigi’s hand or move further away from his brother, despite Dr. Toadley’s request for him to do so– the doctor sure had his work cut out for him.
Speaking of Mario, he is currently an absolute blubbering mess. Bowser will never forget the sight. It’s probably good ammunition to use to make fun of him in the future, but that seemed (almost, almost) a bit too much for Bowser’s tastes. Bowser may be a ‘bad guy,’ but he’s not that bad of a guy. Maybe he’s getting soft, or maybe it’s because he feels pretty damn close to becoming a blubbering mess himself. The keyword being, of course, ‘close,’ because Bowser was never a mess.
“I’m sorry we took so long.” Mario whispers. He’s still crying, and still hasn’t let go of his little brother’s hand either.
“W-what? C’mon, there’s nothing to be sorry for, big bro.” Luigi chides him gently. He reaches forward to rub Mario’s back with his other hand, much to Dr. Toadley’s chagrin, as the doctor was currently attempting to get Luigi to stay still. “Thank you- for everything.”
“You know I’d do anything for you, Weegee.” Luigi smiles and gives his hand a squeeze, a silent reciprocation of the sentiment.
“Luigi, am I happy for you? I certainly am. Do I understand that it has been a while since you’ve seen your loved ones? I do.” Dr. Toadley says. “But do I need you to stop moving every single minute? Yes, in fact, I do!”
“Oh, I-I’m sorry, doctor.” Luigi apologizes sheepishly, eyebrows knitted together as he leans back against the headboard of his bed.
“Fear not, for are we just about finished? We are!” Dr. Toadley reassures him. The room falls into a quiet lull for a few minutes, until he finally stands up straight and hops off the small stool placed next to the bed for him.
“There, are you now good to go? Yes, you are!” Dr. Toadley declares as he turns away to add a tube to the pile of Luigi’s medical equipment in the corner of the room. “Will I need to pack up all of this? I will.”
As the doctor fumbles with the pile, Luigi slowly swings his legs over the bed, with Mario’s support. Bowser watches as Luigi moves to stand and then proceeds to–
“Whoa!” The taller plumber yelps as he quickly plummets towards the ground, and Bowser barely reacts fast enough to catch him in time.
“Always falling off the bed.” Bowser jokes, letting out a relieved huff of breath. Seems like Luigi is as clumsy as always.
“Not always.” Luigi insists with a grumble, but he pats Bowser on the arm and ends up grinning despite himself, “But thanks for catching me, Bowser!”
“No sweat, Greenie. Not like you weigh anything to me.” Bowser grunts in response, pulling the plumber to stand up straight. Weirdly enough, Luigi continues gripping onto both of his arms (at least, to the best of his ability, since Bowser’s arms are too large for his hands to wrap around) and doesn’t let go.
“Ahaha, sorry. I, eh…don’t think I can walk?” Luigi says at last. Although there’s a sheepish smile on his face, the underlying worry in his expression is easy to notice.
“Shit.” Bowser’s eyebrows furrow as he pauses, confused and unsure how to respond. Is there something wrong with him? Did the fake herb have some side effects?
“Are you okay, Weeg? Can you feel your legs?” Mario immediately fusses as Bowser sets Luigi back onto the bed. “Does it hurt anywhere–?”
“N-n-no, no, it’s okay, Mario.” Luigi reassures him, giving his right leg a thoughtful poke. “It’s more like…they feel kind of like jelly? And I can’t seem to walk straight, or…something like that.”
“Is it normal to not be able to walk properly after long periods of inactivity? It is.” Dr. Toadley cuts in with an explanation, trotting back over from the corner of the room. “And is it likely a combination of your brain having trouble with balancing and coordination, and perhaps some muscle atrophy? Indeed, it likely is.”
“So there’s nothing to worry about, then?” Mario prods him. At Dr. Toadley’s insistent nod, the shorter plumber lets out a relieved sigh, “Thank Grambi.”
“In any case, since he can’t walk at the moment, I’ll call the nurse to bring a walker over for him.” Dr. Toadley informs them as he heads out to the common area, where he comes across Peach, who is quick to show him to the phone.
By the time Dr. Toadley is done on the phone and they’re sitting around waiting for the walker, Bowser has just about lost his mind. Mario continues to ask how Luigi is feeling in order to make sure that he really is okay, which would be fine, except that he keeps doing it every. Single. Goddamn. Minute.
Or at least, that’s what it feels like. Bowser has no idea how Luigi has so much patience when it comes to dealing with the shrimp.
It’s when Mario goes “You’re sure you feel okay?” for the 5th time that Bowser decides he has had enough.
“He said he’s fine! Four times already, actually!” Bowser finally snaps. “Get it through your thick skull already, idiot!”
“I’m just making sure.” Mario holds his ground stubbornly. “What’s wrong with that, huh?”
“C-c’mon, don't fight.” Luigi suggests with a shake of his head, “Especially over nothing!”
“Sorry, bro.” Mario immediately stops and offers Luigi a small smile. However, as soon as Luigi is no longer looking at him, distracted by Peach coming back into the room, Mario goes ahead and shoots Bowser a glare. Bowser, of course, glares right back at him.
Unfortunately, their staring contest is soon interrupted by Dr. Toadley’s reappearance. He struggles to push the newly-acquired walker, and Mario quickly moves over to push it for him. Considering the size, Bowser guesses it’s made specifically for the 3 humans in town– given that they were also the ones most likely to be in fights and get injured, he supposes that makes sense.
“Now, do I recommend not doing anything strenuous for the time being? I do. Just focus on getting used to the walker for now.” Dr. Toadley instructs as Mario moves the walker towards the bed. “We’ll move onto a cane afterwards.”
“It really only takes a couple of weeks, huh?” Luigi smiles ruefully, glancing down at his legs. “...I’ll be able to jump and go out on adventures with Mario again at some point though, right?”
“Well, you’re quite healthy in general, so do I think that you will have no problem recovering with some physical therapy? I do.” Dr. Toadley reassures him. “And will it be maybe 3 weeks of recovery, give or take? It likely will be!”
“That’s not so bad, right bro?” Mario smiles comfortingly.
“Yeah…yeah, you’re right.”
“Soon the Mario Bros. will be back in business– up at 5 am for adventures again!” Mario cheers brightly, pumping a fist up. Luigi laughs and shakes his head at him.
“Well then,” Dr. Toadley speaks up again. “Is it time for me to head out and call the families of the others affected by this condition, as well as give you all some much needed time alone? It is! Will I be back tomorrow to begin physical therapy? I will!”
“Thank you, Dr. Toadley.” Luigi says. “For all your help.”
“Luigi,” Dr. Toadley sounds as though he’s smiling, though Bowser can’t tell with his face obscured the way it is. “I did nothing, it was the others who did it all. Now, am I off? I am, indeed.”
And with that, he begins to walk away. Mario stops Dr. Toadley and quietly says something to him on his way out, but Bowser doesn’t hear what it is. All he can gather is that Dr. Toadley reaches up to pat the side of Mario’s leg before leaving the house behind.
Once Luigi has made his rounds around the room a few times using the walker, Polterpup curiously following him the entire time, he eventually just stops and stares at them all.
“You okay, Weegee?” Mario immediately asks as soon as Luigi stops walking. Bowser groans– was this bozo ever going to stop asking Luigi if he was okay?
“I’m fine!” Luigi reassures him. He smiles, “I just– want to thank you all. Doing all of this for me is– I-I can’t believe…I mean, really, thank you.”
“Oh, Luigi.” Peach is quick to stand from her chair and take his hand into hers. “This is not something you need to thank us for. Besides, to have you with us again would be more than enough payment, regardless.”
“...r-really?”
“Really.” She reassures him with a gentle smile, giving his hand a squeeze. “Let us just celebrate being together again, rather than feeling guilty or indebted to anyone.”
“Okie-dokie.” He agrees hesitantly. “I-if you say so, princess.”
“Keeheehee! Well, what a nice little reunion this was.” Kamek’s chuckling comes from the door. Luigi jumps, as he hadn’t realized that the Magikoopa had been in the house the entire time.
“Oh! K-Kamek…?” He mumbles in confusion. “Um, hello!”
“Yes, yes, welcome back, green one.” Kamek replies offhandedly. Bowser once again reminds him with a growl that it’s Luigi, not ‘green one.’ Kamek ignores him, so Bowser mentally makes a note to give him a piece of his mind later.
“Kamek played a key role in waking you up. He was a great help.” Peach explains to him. Luigi looks surprised for a moment, but the shock is soon replaced with a smile.
“Thank you very much for your help, Kamek.” He says politely. Kamek stares long and hard at him.
“Yes, you will do.” He says at last. Luigi looks confused, but he keeps smiling at him anyway.
“I– eh, thank you?” Luigi tries. The Magikoopa seems to huff slightly in reply before turning to look at Bowser.
“I shall take my leave now.” Kamek announces to him before he begins to make his way towards the common area.
“Oh, surely you can stay for dinner?” Peach’s brows furrow as the rest of them quickly trail after him towards the front door. “It is the very least that we owe you, for all of your help.”
“I appreciate the offer, princess. However, I have other matters to attend to– namely, an entire kingdom, kehehe!” Kamek chortles. When he sees Bowser open his mouth, he cuts him off. “As for you, your surliness, you are to stay here with the green one for the next 4 days.”
“His name’s– Hold it, you can’t just give me orders–!”
“Update me immediately if any issues arise.” Kamek interrupts. Bowser wants to yell at him, tell him that no one can tell him what to do, that he’s left his kingdom behind for enough days as is. But he does want to be by Luigi’s side, and Kamek is giving him the chance to do so for a few days, so…
“Fine, whatever.” Bowser gives in. “...thanks.”
“I must implore that you do not get too soft.” Kamek frets in response, waggling his finger before opening the front door and heading onto the porch. “I will see you soon, sire. Until then, I insist that you do not worry about the kingdom’s matters.”
“Who’re you calling soft, minion?! If anyone’s soft, it’s you! And I’ve told you before– his name is LUIGI!” Bowser is hollering, but Kamek is already in the air, chortling away. The other three wave him goodbye from the porch while Bowser shakes his fist at him. “Pain in the ass…”
“What does Kamek like?” Luigi asks suddenly, once Kamek has disappeared from their sight. Bowser blinks down at him in confusion.
“What?”
“I was just thinking– um, I’d like to give him a thank-you gift, of sorts?”
“Oh yes, that’s a wonderful idea!” Peach claps her hands together excitedly before turning to look at Bowser. “What do you think he would like?”
“Uh, I dunno,” Bowser just shrugs his shoulders, “Some dusty old books or something, I guess?”
“Vague.” Mario comments. He seems annoyingly unbothered when Bowser shoots him a glare. “What kind of books?”
“Look, I’m sure Kamek would appreciate anything, alright?!”
“Sure, well, I’m just gonna go put the blankets in Luigi’s room away.” Mario states dully, giving Luigi a pat on the shoulder. “You might have a better chance at getting a proper answer out of him than me, Weeg.”
“Proper?!” Bowser growls, but Mario is already walking away. Luigi reaches up and rubs his elbow in a soothing gesture, mumbling something along the lines of, “Not much has changed since I’ve been gone, I see.”
“Ah, we’ll help you with that– come along, Polterpup!” Peach offers, and starts to follow him inside. When she reaches the door, she turns back to the two of them and smiles, “I’m sure you two have some catching up you would like to do.”
There’s a silence once they head inside, closing the door behind them. Bowser still feels a sense of dread in his gut, which is weird, considering Luigi was now awake.
For now.
What? What the hell was that supposed to mean? It’s not like Luigi was going to fall asleep that night and just not wake up again. He had already been awake for over an hour, so the herb had to have worked as intended. Bowser curses himself, why would you even think about that?
“So, any other ideas?” Luigi asks as he moves to sit down on the porch, pulling Bowser out of his stupid thoughts.
“...Gimme some time to think about it.” He grumbles, because he’s busy trying to refrain from punching himself in the face.
“Okie-dokie!” Luigi shrugs easily. He looks up at Bowser through his lashes. “We’ve got plenty of time now, so there’s no rush…right?”
“Yeah…all the time in the world.” Bowser agrees with some hesitance. Something about Luigi saying it out loud made it seem more certain, and lifts some of the weight off of his shoulders, even if he still doesn’t feel entirely sure about it all.
They sit out there for a while, because Luigi says he’s glad to finally get some fresh air. There’s still a light drizzle coming down, but the porch roof keeps them dry as they watch the droplets hit the grass. It’s calming, and a far cry from the foreboding, hectic feelings that the past weeks had induced. The longer he takes it all in– the warmth on his side from Luigi, the pattering of the rain against the cobblestone path, the way the clouds lazily shift in the sky– the more it lulls him into a sense of security.
So for the first time in almost a month, Bowser lets himself fully relax as he sits on the porch, Luigi by his side.
By the time they walk back into the house, it seems like Mario and Peach are still cleaning up the floor in Luigi’s room, because the common area is empty. Weird, they’re usually pretty efficient.
“Um, what’s with the holes in the wall?” Luigi asks, pulling Bowser out of his thoughts. Aw, crud.
“There was…an accident.” Bowser tries, he’d like to avoid mentioning that it was him who did it. At Luigi’s pointed stare, he knows his bullshit has been detected, and so he goes on to claim, “It’s not easy to not break walls when you’re as strong as me! The wall was in my way!”
He looks entirely unimpressed with Bowser’s justification.
“Come on, I can fix it! It’ll be good as new– even better, actually! I’ll do it, or anything else.” Bowser immediately blurts out, because he really wants to wipe the displeased look off of Luigi’s face. He swears that he can hear Peach quietly giggling from somewhere in the house, for some reason. He can’t decide if it’s all in his head or not. “I’ll even burn down an entire kingdom! Just give me the word–”
Luigi just gives him a fond smile, with a twinge of exasperation mixed in, “Okay, okay. Very romantic, Bowser. As always, you’re so very eloquent with your words.”
“Finally realized how romantic my offers are?” Bowser puffs his chest out proudly and flexes his right arm. “As a reward, I’ll have to let you kiss me!”
“W-well, I couldn’t turn down such a great reward,” Luigi laughs lightly at him, cheeks tinted pink. “C’mere then, big guy.”
Luigi is lower than usual, as they usually kiss on the bed, so Bowser gets down on one knee to kiss him. He looks at his nose, more red than the rest of his face, at his light freckles, and when Luigi opens his eyes to stare questioningly at Bowser, he lets himself stare into the blue for a moment (he’s awake) before finally capturing his lips with his own.
He’s pretty sure Mario has poked his head out of Luigi’s door to give him the stink-eye, as he thinks he can feel his gaze boring into his back, but that loser isn’t important at the moment. He’s sure he’s going to get the stupid “if you hurt him I’ll kill you” talk again now that Luigi was awake. As if Bowser would ever hurt him. And as if Peach hadn’t already threatened him about that too, but he guesses Mario doesn’t know about that.
They pull apart and Bowser grins widely at him, “Again?”
Luigi hums, pretending to consider it, even though he looks pretty giddy himself. “Well, if you want to so badly.” He jokes.
“I always want to.” Bowser tells him as he picks up Luigi to place him on the kitchen counter before kissing him once more.
“D-duly noted.” Luigi mumbles bashfully once they pull apart. Bowser leans his head down to rest their foreheads together, and his human only waits a moment before throwing his arms around Bowser’s neck and going in to press their lips together again and again.
Being there in the kitchen with Luigi once more, getting to hear him hum, getting to kiss him, Bowser doesn’t want to let go of him again. He growls, and relishes in the small noise Luigi makes in response, taking that as a cue to pull him even closer.
When they separate at last, Bowser admires the way Luigi’s face is bright red, the way he’s entirely out of breath. Luigi takes a few moments to compose himself, taking in deep breaths, before he gives Bowser a dopey little smile.
“I guess I have no choice but to forgive you for destroying my wall, after all– So do not actually set anything on fire, okey-dokey?” Luigi clarifies pointedly before he looks to his left, smile disappearing into a small grimace.
“We’ll still have to figure out fixing it, though.”
That night, no one really sleeps well. Even though it’s a good sign that Luigi decides to go to bed by his own volition at 10 pm, and therefore doesn’t involuntarily pass out at all, they all can’t help but feel worried.
Even though he feels the exhaustion from the past few weeks catching up to him and seeping into his bones, Bowser can’t keep himself asleep as he lays on the couch, his designated spot (designated, of course, by Mario, who was currently sleeping on the floor of his own room). He just keeps waking up every hour in a cold sweat, and finally decides to just bite the bullet and go see Luigi, Mario’s opinion on it be damned– that loser could not tell him what to do.
When he quietly walks in, he finds that both Mario and Peach have somehow already made their way into the room without him noticing. He rolls his eyes, even though he came in for the same reason as them– he doesn’t want to lump himself in with those goody-two-shoes, no matter what.
In any case, there wasn’t any room for Bowser on the bed with Mario, Peach, and Polterpup on there already, so he throws his blankets onto the floor and resigns himself to not being able to sleep with Luigi that night.
“...Bowser?” Luigi’s tired voice suddenly pipes up. “‘s something wrong?”
“Nah, nothing. Go back to sleep, Greenie.” Bowser replies. He walks over to stand beside the bed and stare into Luigi’s half-lidded eyes. “Guess I gotta be careful about not waking you up now, huh?”
“Mm.” Luigi mumbles groggily in acknowledgement. “Sleep with me?”
“Maybe tomorrow,” Bowser tells him. The mention of a ‘tomorrow’ with Luigi makes his heart soar and clench at the same time. He tries to shake away his remaining uncertainty. “I’ll have to fight the other two over it, probably.”
“Fight?” His eyebrows furrow slightly.
“No need to worry your pretty little head– I’ll win, obviously.”
Luigi groans, “Not what ‘m worried about…”
“We’ll figure it out later,” Bowser snorts, “For now, just sleep already.”
Bowser leans over, careful not to disturb Mario and Peach, and gives Luigi a small kiss goodnight. The plumber lazily leans up and brushes his lips against Bowser’s muzzle in return.
“See you in the morning.” Luigi hums in agreement, and Bowser can’t wipe the grin off of his face from such a small promise.
It’s much easier, after that, to lay down and give into his exhaustion at last.
The next morning, Bowser rolls out of bed at 6 am feeling more refreshed than he had in weeks, despite having slept on the floor the night before.
He knows he probably shouldn’t, but just to make sure, he prods at Luigi with a finger, who groans tiredly in response. It makes him grin, and feeling reassured, he confidently walks out of the room.
Out in the common area, he finds Mario already awake, drinking some water at the kitchen table. His archnemesis gives him a nod of acknowledgement, as if he expected Bowser to immediately head off to the washroom, and then raises an eyebrow when Bowser instead sits across from him at the table. There’s a silence as Mario stares at him expectantly.
“Listen up,” Bowser begins (somewhat) awkwardly, his voice still rough with sleep, “I’m gonna keep dating Luigi.”
Mario sends him a long-suffering, exasperated look, which expresses something along the lines of ‘I do not want to have to discuss this at 6 am.’ Regardless, he says, “Okay.”
“Okay, so? You gonna tell me that I can’t, or…?” Bowser prods him, because that wasn’t really the response he had expected. “‘Cuz I’m gonna use that favour of yours to override any objections you have. Bet you regret offering me that and not letting me use it before, huh, plumber boy? Well, HA, too bad for you!”
“Don’t waste your favour on that.” Mario squints at him. The weird reply makes Bowser stop laughing triumphantly. Why the hell was Mario constantly telling him to not use the favour? What was even the point of it, if Mario was just going to let him do as he wished?! “What, you think I’m going to forbid you from seeing him now or something?”
“Kinda…?” Bowser replies. “Weren’t you going to beat the shit out of me?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t mean that you can’t see each other though,” Mario says, as if that somehow made any sense. “If it makes Luigi happy, I’m not going to stop you guys.”
“Huh.”
“Listen, it’s…Luigi’s choice, alright? And I’ll always support whatever he chooses. Besides, if I tried to stop him, he and Peach would turn their puppy dog eyes on me, and I can’t say no to them.” Mario explains. “Plus, well, you do seem to care about him, and he seems to like having you around, so…”
“So don’t use the favour?” Bowser frowns, trying to rack his brain for what else he should use the favour for instead. “Should I save it for getting your blessing when I marry him then?”
“Marry him?!” Mario begins coughing furiously, his drink having gone down the wrong pipe. The reaction is enough to make Bowser’s frown disappear, a grin quickly replacing it as he snickered at Mario’s expense. “You're thinking about that already? H-how long have you two even been dating?”
“Like… two weeks before he fell asleep that day?”
“Two weeks?!” Mario’s distress somehow gets even worse. He then seems to put on a stern, unapproving parent voice as he tries to collect himself. “Bowser, listen. You should really wait a couple of years. I mean, I know you’re the type of guy to rush forward with things, but this is too fast, even for you.”
“No, it’s not!” Bowser argues indignantly. “I was going to marry Peach without ever having dated her, so really? This is taking things slow for me!”
“Well, that’s– true, actually. Just don't go too fast for Luigi, okay?” Mario shrugs. A serious look makes its way onto his face. “And...seriously, thank you, for everything.”
“Tch,” Bowser clicks his tongue, always thrown off whenever Mario is being earnest and almost nice towards him. “I did it for him, so save your gratitude for someone who wants it, plumber boy.”
“Okay,” He agrees easily, “You can just take my gratitude in the form of the favour, then.”
“Whatever. You were gonna give me that anyway.”
“But really,” Mario fixes him with a humorless stare. "If you ever make Luigi cry, ever cause even a single tear to fall from his eyes, I’m going to–”
“What if he cries out of happiness?” Bowser interrupts– he has always enjoyed causing distress for his nemesis. A smirk makes its way onto his face. “Like when I propose to him, y’know, marriage.”
“Bowser, just…don’t.” Mario laments in exasperation, a hand held up to signal him to stop already. He looks tired, even though he looked fully rested earlier. “I can’t take hearing about you potentially becoming my brother-in-law any more today. Leave it for future me. I’m serious.”
“Well, you’re going to have to get used to it at some point.” He replies aggressively, because he’s right. Mario lets out a harried sigh.
“We’ll see about that. But let me just make one thing clear, Bowser,” Mario points at him. “Just because I respect Luigi’s decision, doesn’t mean I respect you.”
“Well, good!” Bowser shoots back in annoyance. “‘Cuz I don’t respect you either, shortstack!”
The sound of footsteps causes Mario to turn his head around, and Bowser immediately follows suit. Peach is walking by, staring at them with an unimpressed look, as if they were two little kids having a petty argument, which wasn’t fair. This was serious stuff!
“Continue on as you were,” She waves them off as she heads towards the bathroom. “I did not mean to interrupt your productive conversation.”
Mario shoots Bowser a glare, and the conversation promptly ends there.
Luigi ends up waking up around 10 am, to Mario teasing about him sleeping in, as always. Despite all of his teasing, the relieved look on his face from seeing Luigi awake is obvious.
And Bowser would be lying if he said it didn’t give him relief as well, getting to see Luigi enthusiastically searching through his clothing rack to finally wear something other than pajamas after almost an entire month, Polterpup excitedly running circles around his feet. There’s really no way for him to hide the wide grin on his face.
There was no longer any time ticking, no more waiting for the day he’ll lose Luigi, no urgent need to say or do everything he wants to before it’s too late.
They could just exist together.
There’s no rain that morning, so Bowser ends up heading out on a quick walk around the house with Luigi and Polterpup before lunchtime. The simple act fills him with a sense of nostalgia– even if it wasn’t that long ago that they had all gotten to walk together, it still felt as though it had been forever. Polterpup certainly seems to agree, as he has been hyperactive the entire time, constantly running around the two of them.
Mario and Peach are at home making lunch for them all. Luigi had tried to insist that he take over cooking again, but they had shooed him out of the kitchen and asked Bowser to distract him when Luigi kept hovering around the kitchen despite their protests, which was how they had ended up on the walk in the first place.
“I got them to agree to me helping out with dinner though.” Luigi says triumphantly as Bowser haphazardly moves a branch to duck underneath it. Luigi seems even brighter and more energetic than usual as he declares, “Then it’ll really be Luigi Time! Oh yeah!”
“You seriously miss cooking?” Bowser raises an eyebrow. To him, cooking was a pain through and through– just because he was the master at something, didn’t mean he liked to do it. He was a king, cooking wasn’t in his nature!
“Of course I do– I love it!” Luigi immediately replies, “I’m looking forward to finally being able to do my usual routine again. They even said they’ll let me do the laundry again soon, too!”
“Huh, well, can’t say I really get it, but whatever makes you happy, Greenie.” Luigi smiles and ugh, he really would destroy some kingdoms for that smile.
“Oh, and we’ll need to decide what to eat for dinner.” Luigi ponders out loud before turning to him, “What do you want?”
“Whatever you want to make.” Bowser has missed his cooking, and he’s pretty sure that he would enjoy anything made by Luigi at this point, even just a single piece of bread (okay, well maybe that was going a little too far, but he would enjoy even something simple, is the point). “If we don’t have the ingredients, I can grab ‘em so that you can make whatever it is.”
“Huh? Me?” Luigi questions, weirdly enough. Yes, you, Bowser wants to snark back at him, but Luigi is already speaking again. “You’re helping too, mister master chef! We’re cooking together.”
“What d’you mean I gotta help?! You volunteered me for dinner duty too?” Bowser groans– He was looking forward to continuing his break from cooking.
Luigi looks up at him with those dreaded kicked puppy dog eyes. “Sorry…It’s just, I like cooking with you.”
“Ugh. Okay, fine!” He grumbles. He doesn’t like doing it, and he’s sick of it at this point, but he just can’t say no to Luigi and his stupid big blue eyes, which he’s sure Luigi has caught onto at this point. “I’ll help. You’re welcome, and all that.”
“Thanks, Bowser!” Luigi grins victoriously. “I’ll make sure it’s– oh!”
Luigi suddenly jumps up in alarm once they’re near the house, as if he forgot to turn the oven off. Bowser definitely isn’t caught off guard, and absolutely doesn’t jolt up in surprise.
“What?” He asks slightly dourly.
“The flowers! Did they bloom?”
“Oh. Well, about that–” Bowser begins, but Luigi is already making his way to the side of the house.
Once he makes it there, he stares pensively at the garden. More specifically, at the garden that has been quite haphazardly uprooted in their frenzied task of grabbing flowers for the herb. There’s only a few flowers left, and they’re just about entirely wilted.
In other words, yeah, it looked pretty goddamn awful.
“Oh– right, we needed it for the herb. I forgot!” Luigi laughs, even though he looks pretty disappointed.
“Uh, yeah.” Bowser grunts. He tries to think of something to lift Luigi’s spirit. “But there’s always next year, eh?”
“Right.” Luigi agrees, even though he looks a bit apprehensive about the thought of next year, for some reason.
Without thinking, Bowser leans down to pull out one of the flowers, placing it behind Luigi’s ear. It’s wilted, and looks like someone may have accidentally stepped on it at some point, but Bowser thinks it suits him. It makes them kind of match.
“Looks good.” He mumbles, and Luigi’s smile returns.
They make steak that night. Bowser does end up helping, much to his chagrin. For his form of payment, he shoves Luigi’s apron at him. Luigi raises an eyebrow, but relents and puts it on. If Bowser is going to cook, he’d at least like to see Luigi in an apron for his troubles.
It’s not so bad, in the end. Bowser could, he thinks, do this for the rest of his life.
They all head out together the next day, partially out of necessity, as they had mostly run out of ingredients to cook with. The second reason for the trip was that as soon as he realized it was Friday, Luigi became incredibly gung-ho about heading to the market.
Plenty of Toads seem shocked to see the four of them together, but seeing as nothing chaotic or destructive seemed to be happening, none of them began screaming (and thank Grambi for that, Bowser is sick of their squeals). A couple of them specifically greet Luigi, mentioning that it’s been a while since they last saw him. Luigi seems flattered each time anybody mentions noticing his absence. Bowser, on the other hand, was pissed off that everyone hadn’t noticed it.
Peach starts tearing up at some point during the trip, explaining that she's so happy to be able to see Luigi out and about again, before asking if she can hug him again. Every few minutes, she keeps giving him a gentle pat on the head. Bowser can’t tell if it’s because she wants to shower Luigi with affection, or if it’s because she wants to keep confirming that he’s actually really there, awake and outside at last. Maybe it's both? Luigi keeps having to fix his hair every time, but the smile on his face suggests that he doesn’t mind too much.
There’s a new stand at the market selling some biscuits, so they decide to try it out, and Luigi seems to love them. After he says as much, Mario continuously tries to get his little brother to eat some of his, insisting “I’m full,” and when that isn’t enough to convince him, tries to claim that he “doesn’t like them that much,” and that Luigi would be doing him a favour by eating his, even though Mario had just finished scarfing down 3 of them in rapid succession and clearly had no problem with the taste. Eventually Luigi proves to be slightly more stubborn, and he makes them split the last one together.
Once Mario and Peach head off to go grab the actual groceries, Bowser and Luigi are left to watch over their table in the Toad Town square. Luigi is still finishing off his half of the biscuit, so they sit in a comfortable silence together.
“S-so,” Luigi pipes up eventually, fumbling with his hands a bit, “Should we…tell them about what happened now?”
Oh, right. Even if Bowser had already done so, Luigi himself should probably talk to his (annoying) brother about it.
“About that,” Bowser begins slowly, “So, he kinda figured it out.”
He’s not sure what kind of reaction he expected, but Luigi sheepishly laughing was not one of them, “He did? Like, before we kissed and cuddled when he was ‘asleep’ last night? I thought maybe he was trying to not to notice on purpose, for his own sanity!”
Luigi’s relaxed reaction makes Bowser grin and ease into his seat, “Heh, he said we were ‘obvious’ or whatever.”
Luigi snickers at that, then looks over at Mario, who is currently knitting his eyebrows together in concentration as he compares two cabbages at one of the stalls (they look the same to Bowser –gross, that is– so really, Mario is wasting his time).
“W-well, I should…probably still talk to him about it all, considering, you know.” Luigi gestures between Bowser and Mario. Bowser nods in understanding.
“Oh, and uh,” He grimaces. “The princess knows too.”
“Yeah, I thought so.” Luigi replies with a shrug.
At Bowser’s questioning gaze, he goes on to point out, “She made sure we got to talk alone that day, remember? She and I never got to speak, but she made sure that I got to speak with you – kind of clued me in that she knew there was something going on between us.”
Luigi’s words make Bowser realize suddenly that yeah– Peach hadn’t been able to speak to Luigi after she suggested that they say goodbye, after she had been crying in the common area. She had given all of Luigi’s time to Mario and Bowser.
He guesses her feeling like their grief was more important than her own was pretty clear earlier on than he thought. He can’t believe that he, the genius Koopa King, never noticed.
He’s pulled out of his thoughts by Luigi standing up from his chair, “Okie-dokie, well, I– eh, guess I better skedaddle on over and talk to him.”
“Nothing to be nervous about, yeah?” Bowser reassures him, reaching up to pat him on the back.
“R-right.” A tense nod.
“And if he bothers you, I’ll beat the shit out of him!”
“Oh, uh, actually…” Luigi pauses awkwardly, “Well, first, please don’t hurt my brother. And second, I’m…not really worried about me –Mario would never hurt me– I’m more worried about you.”
“Me?” Bowser guffaws, “Why would you have to be worried about the toughest Koopa in the world?”
“Mario is, well…” Luigi rubs the back of his neck, glancing over at the red plumber, who has finally, finally picked the winning cabbage, “It might take some convincing to get him to not kill you.”
Bowser waves him off, then places a hand on his shoulder as he casually informs him, “Oh, the squirt is fine with it. I’ve talked to him already.”
“Really?” Luigi continues to remain unconvinced. “Because he’s looking over at us now, and he doesn’t look very happy.”
Bowser looks back over and sees that yes, Mario is, in fact, now staring at them blankly, cabbage in hand. It doesn’t make for a very intimidating picture.
Bowser snorts, turning back to look at Luigi instead, “He’s fine. He’ll get over it.”
“I dunno, he’s pretty stubborn…” Luigi contemplates, mostly to himself. “But it’s worth a shot.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great,” Bowser ruffles Luigi’s poor hair, which has already been through a lot today from Peach constantly patting it. “I’ll leave you two to it.”
Luigi nods, a determined expression on his face. Bowser is confident that he’ll be perfectly fine.
“Hey princess,” Bowser calls out, “C’mere and grab some tea with me. Gramps over there is scared shitless of me, so it’s probably best if you come too.”
“Oh?” Peach blinks in confusion at the demand. However, she soon seems to realize that something is going on, and quickly does a light shrug of her shoulders. “Very well, Bowser, let’s go.”
Bowser gives Luigi one last pat on the back before heading to the tea stall with Peach. The old Toad there is scared of Bowser, so Bowser had definitely done him a favour by bringing Peach along. The poor guy just keeps nervously glancing between the two of them, probably wondering when Bowser was going to just snap and kidnap her.
As Luigi is speaking to Mario and the teas are being made, Bowser excuses himself from Peach’s company to go and buy a case of the biscuits. Then he ends up buying 8 whole cases, cause he’s a king and can afford more than 1 single measly box of biscuits. The Toads running the stand struggle to pile all of the cases on top of each other, and Bowser eventually rolls his eyes and just stacks them all himself.
By the time he walks back, tall pile of biscuit cases in hand, he notes that Mario is now the one standing by the tea stall, while Luigi and Peach are sitting at their table with the grocery bags at their feet, having a hushed conversation. Bowser walks over, but they seem too engrossed in their discussion to notice him.
“You know Mario is just concerned,” Peach is reassuring him. “But he truly does mean it when he says he respects your decision. He is just hesitant about the whole ordeal because he wants to look after you, as your big brother.”
“Are you sure?” Luigi fiddles with his hands, looking uneasy, “He’s really not secretly upset with me?”
“Of course I am sure, Luigi.” She says resolutely. “Because I feel the same, as your big sister.”
“Big?” Luigi startles, his voice noticeably rising in pitch. “But– I’m older than you.”
“Well, yes.” Peach purses her lips, as if confused about why Luigi was protesting against it at all. “But I am taller than you, am I not?”
“Y-yes, but–”
“So I’m your big sister.” She smiles as she says this with the utmost confidence, and he seems to let it go with an exasperated sigh while she pats him on the head comfortingly. Bowser decides that it’s about time to make his presence known.
“Done already? That was fast,” He remarks. “How’d it go with Red?”
“Not the worst…?” Luigi hesitantly says as he looks over at Mario, who has now started walking back over. “He’ll come around to it, I think.”
Luigi looks back at Bowser, then notices the cases in his hands.
“Oh! A-are those the biscuits?” Luigi’s face lights up as he notices the cases. “Did you like them that much?”
“Somethin’ like that.” Bowser grunts. “I, uh, heard a little green plumber liked ‘em.”
“M-me? Wowie-zowie! Thank you, Bowser!” Luigi is doing that radiant smile of his, as always, blue eyes shining and cheeks lightly flushed pink.
“You are so goddamn cute.”
As expected, this statement causes Luigi’s face to flush an alarming shade of red, the smile on his face turning slightly more bashful, and argh, Bowser had missed his smile so much.
He drops the cases onto the ground (hopefully the fall didn’t break the biscuits) and can’t help but pick his human up, spin him around, and then toss him into the air. Of course, he’s the mighty Koopa King, so he catches him just fine. Luigi looks slightly winded, but the smile still hasn’t left his face as Bowser gently puts him back down onto the ground.
“What did I say about throwing my brother around?!” Mario is hollering, teas in hand, as Peach watches them all with an amused look on her face. Leave it to the pipsqueak to be a stick in the mud.
“The hell are you talking about?!” Bowser shoots back. “That agreement is over now that Luigi’s good to go! I’ll toss him around as much as I –or he– likes. Got that, shortstack?!”
Mario smiles as he jollily tells him, “One day, I’ll make you regret your actions.”
“Mario, what did I say earlier?” Luigi cuts in. Bowser snorts as Mario sighs and crosses his arms.
“You can take care of yourself.” Mario echoes miserably. “I know, Weegee. Really, I do. It’s just– it’s Bowser!”
“And what’s wrong with that?! Thought you don't have any objections?” Bowser sneers down at him. Mario slams the teas onto the table with an unnecessary amount of force before taking in a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself.
“Don’t think this is over just because I won't get in the way,” Mario warns him as he takes a seat. “Because you know what? I can start listing other people who would want to have a talk with you; E. Gadd–”
“The professor would not have a problem with it!” Luigi groans in exasperation, slapping a hand onto his face. “He’ll just say ‘Ho ho, is that so, sonny?’ And then immediately move onto things more important to him, like ‘Go catch some ghosts for me, my boy! Test out my new invention!’”
“You’d be surprised.” Mario says mysteriously. Bowser leans over to Peach, who is currently calmly sipping her tea.
“Who’s Egad, or whatever?” He asks.
Peach puts a finger to her chin daintily, as if unsure how to describe their relationship, “Um…let’s see, he’s sort of like Luigi’s odd little uncle, of sorts? I…suppose?”
“Odd doesn’t even begin to describe him.” Mario states matter-of-factly, as though that somehow wasn’t intended to be an insult at all.
“He’s the professor I’ve mentioned to you before– the one who helped me out with capturing ghosts, remember?” Luigi prods him. Oh, yeah, Luigi had mentioned some scientist or something when they had discussed his ghostbusting adventures.
Bowser wants to go and reassure him that he had been listening, but Mario is already continuing on, so Bowser decides to take a seat and start drinking instead.
“You should also talk to Gooigi about it when you see E. Gadd–”
“Gooigi?! Isn’t that the goo clone you told me about?” Bowser says incredulously, spitting out some of his tea as he stares wide-eyed at Luigi. “Why would some goo care?!”
“Umm, well, he’s sentient…?” Luigi gestures about wildly with his hands as he tries to explain. “And he’s my friend, so…”
“He’s very protective over Luigi, you’d be surprised.” Mario laughs in amusement, as if reminiscing about a funny memory.
“Protective when we’re in life-or-death situations like being chased by a dinosaur skeleton– Because he’s goo, and I’m human flesh that can be easily torn apart.” Luigi deadpans, waving his brother off. “This is a completely different situation. I do not need to run what happened by Gooigi.”
“I think Gooigi would be sad to hear you say that.”
“He would not–!” Luigi begins to protest, but then pauses, leaning back against his chair thoughtfully, “Actually, hm, maybe he would.”
“Well, great. For some reason, even a pile of goo is against it.” Luigi pointedly mumbles something about how Gooigi is a person, not just a pile of goo, and wasn’t that confusing. Last Bowser had heard, people weren’t entirely made of goo. Luigi’s goo clone is too confusing of a concept to dwell on, so Bowser instead goes on to remark sarcastically. “Is there anyone else stupidly overprotective of Luigi that I should watch out for?”
Mario, being an idiot, of course, doesn’t understand that it’s a rhetorical question, and continues on to say, “Well, there’s Daisy–”
“Not her!” If there is one person who could make him feel more threatened than Mario and Peach (even though he’s only slightly threatened by them, really), it’s Peach’s scary princess friend. The woman seemed like she would pummel anyone and anything that ever got in her way, and judging by the photo Bowser had seen of them in Luigi’s room, the two of them seemed to be close. He (almost) shudders at the thought of her wrath when she learns about their relationship.
“Oh yes, her!” Mario shoots back, and he looks smug about it too, the bastard. “And you know what, I think Prince Peasley might want to duel you over it as well–”
“Prince Peasley?!” Luigi cries out as if he’s been burned, shooting a mortified look at Mario. Honestly, Bowser isn’t entirely sure who that is– maybe it was the Beanbean prince? He hadn’t really gotten the chance to do anything in the Beanbean kingdom in the end, what with all the shit that had been going down, so he had never properly met the royals there. What would his relationship with Luigi even be, that he wouldn’t want Bowser to date him?
“Yeah, why would some prince be against it?” Bowser questions.
“I think he might be interested in–”
“No, you don’t think that!” Luigi corrects him loudly, hurriedly. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, it’s all in your head, big bro.”
Mario is raising an eyebrow, but he shrugs and seems to let it go. “Whatever you say, Weegee. But he did seem–”
“Whether he did or not, the fact is that I like Bowser!”
Oh. Was that what this was about? Bowser can’t stop the growl that escapes him.
“Oh, now I see.” Bowser glares down at Mario. “I am going to smash your stupid face in, Red! Don’t think you can get rid of me so easily! Especially not by replacing me with some random bean prince!”
“You are nothing, if not persistent.” Mario sighs as Luigi disapprovingly shakes his head at Bowser’s threat. Bowser stops puffing his chest out in return, deflating a bit. “When did I say that I want to get rid of you? I’m just saying that guy did seem interested, is all. You already know I’m not going to get in the way, and that I appreciate all you’ve done.”
“Yeah,” Bowser snorts down at him, “Well, you’ve sure got a funny way of expressing your gratitude, shortstack. You always know exactly the wrong thing to say.”
“Hey, all I did was warn you about them,” Mario says defensively, “And I already told you, you have my gratitude in the form of that favour.”
“Right, and about that favour– I can use it to take over the Mushroom Kingdom then, right?” Bowser goads him, purely because he likes pissing his arch-nemesis off. Peach sends Bowser an annoyed look at this question.
“Ugh. Are you seriously still on about that?” Mario gripes, eyebrow twitching. Luigi and Peach, meanwhile, seem to have decided to tune out the conversation, because they’re just drinking their tea and chatting quietly with each other now. “I’m no longer offering the favour, if so.”
“HA! Too bad, no take-backs!” Bowser declares, slamming a fist on the table– Peach manages to reach over and grabs Mario’s tea before it jumps off the table from the action. “I mean, seriously, when did I ever say that my days of dominating the Mushroom Kingdom were over?”
“What are you, a kid?” Mario glares at him. “Grow up, already.”
“Oh, is that the best insult you’ve got?” Bowser taunts him. “You can call me childish, but at least I have the balls to tell people that I like them, unlike some people! How long are you gonna pine over her without saying anything, huh?!”
“Hm.” Mario merely grunts in response. Bowser thinks that maybe he’s won their spat, or that Mario is trying to stop himself from hurling out a string of profanities or something, but for some reason, he’s smiling. Bowser watches as Mario leans down–
Then picks up his carefully chosen cabbage and lobs it straight at Bowser’s head. Scarily enough, he’s still smiling as he does it.
“What is wrong with you?!” Bowser roars as he leans to his right to dodge it. “I am not paying for you to get a new one, dumbass!”
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you?!” Mario yells back as Bowser throws an entire case of biscuits at him in return.
“It’s nice, for all of us to be together like this.” Luigi somehow looks content, despite his slightly worried expression, his biscuits probably being broken, and all of the chaos currently unfolding in front of him.
“Yes, it is.” Peach smiles in agreement as she sips her tea.
And with that, Bowser wakes up on the fourth day with a muted sense of dread, Luigi pressed up against him. He lays there for a while, thinking– this was his final day at the house. He would be waking up alone again soon enough. At least this time he would wake up knowing that Luigi was okay.
The weight in his chest that tends to pile up during the (still slightly) restless nights dissipates as soon as he feels the plumber stirring next to him, and he lets out a long huff of breath.
“Morning.” He mumbles quietly as Luigi rubs at his eyes.
“Sorry, Bowser.” Luigi whispers sheepishly as he blinks a few times. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“Don’t sweat it, Greenie; was already awake.” Bowser doesn’t mention that he still can’t help but wake up every few hours to check in on him, although there was nothing to even check. That probably wouldn’t achieve anything, except for making the human feel bad. Instead, he grins at him, “Can’t believe you’re awake so early.”
Luigi groans as he stretches his arms upwards, “What time is it?”
“6 am on the dot,” Bowser responds after a quick glance towards the clock, “You wanna go outside?”
“O-outside?” Luigi’s eyebrows furrow.
“Just about sunrise, I think,” He points out. “You said you missed seeing it, that one time.”
Luigi fixes him with a stare– did he not remember? Did Bowser remember wrong ? No, that couldn’t be right. First of all, Bowser was a genius. Second of all, he spent every night the past few weeks trying to remember every single moment he had spent with Luigi. No way he didn’t know what he was talking about!
“What, I get it wrong or something?” Bowser finally demands.
“Huh? N-no, that’s– I was just surprised that you remembered, is all.” Luigi reassures him, “Yeah, I’d like to go watch it.”
“‘Course I remember,” Bowser grumbles, then gives Luigi a few pats on the arm, “Alright, up and at ‘em, then.”
They grab Luigi’s walker and quietly make their way to the front porch, careful to not wake Mario or Peach. It’s still dark, and slightly colder than Bowser had expected it would be. Luckily, he runs warm. Unluckily for Luigi, he does not run warm.
“C-c-cold.” Luigi comments as he shivers and scoots over to press himself against Bowser’s side.
Bowser grins at him teasingly, “You don’t need to make up excuses about being cold just cause you wanna be near me. I can’t blame you for that.”
Luigi laughs at him in clear amusement, a playful smile on his face as he dramatically laments with a hand against his forehead, “Oh dear, oh mama mia, I’ve been caught!”
“That’s right, don’t think you can hide anything from the King of the Koopas!” Bowser exclaims proudly as he stands up to pose and flex his arm.
“I actually am cold, in all seriousness!” Luigi protests, pouting at the loss of heat from Bowser standing up. Bowser is quick to relent and sit back down next to him. Luigi presses his index fingers together awkwardly as he mumbles, “M-maybe you can, um…put your arm around my shoulder, too?”
“You sure about that? If you were just cold you could always go get a blanket– I think you just want to be near me, am I right?” Bowser teases, poking a claw at him.
“W-well yes I do, because I like you very much!” Luigi shoots back. He seems embarrassed, even as he declares it quite boldly. “I’m cold and I’d like you to put your arm around me, if…if you don’t mind.”
“Oh, but I can do better than that!” Bowser guffaws, lifting up Luigi, who yelps as usual, and placing him on his lap before wrapping both arms around him. An easy feat, given how much smaller Luigi is. It’s a shame that he can’t see the human’s face, but at least he can at least grin at the way his ears have turned red.
“You know, I missed you back there.” Luigi quietly mutters. “A…a lot.”
“Thought I was in your dreams?” Bowser grunts as nonchalantly as possible, even though he’s flattered to hear it. “‘’Cuz I’m one of your loved ones, or whatever.”
“W-well, yes, you were…” Luigi pauses, as if struggling to come up with the right words. “But n-nothing compares to the real you.”
“Ha! You’re damn right about that!” Bowser snorts haughtily, brushing his thumb against the side of Luigi’s face. “Since you missed me so much, guess I’ve got no choice but to stay by your side all day, Greenie.”
Luigi turns back to stare at him longingly at that, for some reason. Weird.
“T-thanks.” He merely says, and that seems to be the end of that conversation. Even so, he can’t stop wondering why Luigi had made that expression.
They sit there quietly for a while, Bowser satisfied with just being in Luigi’s company. Suddenly, however, Luigi begins to jitter in his lap. Bowser raises his eyebrows as he waits, because presumably Luigi has something he’s trying to psyche himself up to say.
“So, it’s, uh, been 4 days.” Luigi slowly says at last.
“Uh huh.” Bowser grunts in agreement.
“So, you’re…I mean– I guess you won’t be around anymore…?” Luigi remarks, voice stiff and filled with uncertainty.
“Oh.” Bowser sees where this is going, now. He had guessed that they would have to talk about this sometime today, and it seems like now is that time.
“It was– you were here because of a favour.” Luigi says quietly. “So, you’re gonna leave now, right?”
“I mean, yeah, I guess I gotta go home?” Bowser states awkwardly. “I’ve got a kingdom to run, kids to see, and all that stuff.”
“Right, o–of course. Home.” Luigi echoes, looking downwards. A melancholic tone fills his voice. “Um…Well, I’ll miss you. A-a lot. Maybe I can visit sometimes?”
“Luigi–”
“B-because you wanted to show me your cool renovations, right? And I’d really like to thank your kids for their help.” He rambles on in justification. He sounds a bit desperate. “Though if you don’t want me to come, that's okay!”
Oh. Bowser thought that he had made it pretty clear yesterday that he intended to continue their relationship. However, he guesses that the combination of Luigi’s terrible self-esteem and their lack of proper conversations about what they truly want from each other led to Luigi being unsure about what exactly was going to happen from now on. They had never bothered to discuss their relationship in detail, since they hadn't thought it would really have a future anyway, considering the situation. In fact, they had never even confirmed if they were dating, they had kind of just gone “I like you” and ran with it.
And now that he thought about it, when he had decided to extend his original stay of 3 weeks, he never actually mentioned it to Luigi. Did Luigi actually think that Bowser had stayed all this time because he had to? Huh. That…also explained some of his uncertainty.
“You remember how Red was confused that I was still here after 3 weeks? What d'you think was up with that?” A puzzled look has made its way onto Luigi’s face at this question. After a moment, it changes into one of realization. “Yeah, get it? I wanted to stay, and I’m not just going to ditch you now, got that?! Honestly, I’d like to kidnap and keep you in my castle for way longer than a tour of my renovations.”
“Kidnapping? Again?” Luigi grumbles. “Maybe you can just, I don’t know, not do that?”
“Fine, no kidnapping.” Bowser grumbles right back at him. “But, if you want, you can…always come over for a visit. Come properly meet the kids and see our cool-ass grand piano and stuff. Or I can come here and we could go for dinner or something.”
“Y-yeah? Like, um, a date?" They had never really been on one before. Sure, they had gone out on walks or to the market before the confession, but they had never really had the time to schedule a date afterwards.
“Yeah, like a…date or whatever, I guess.” Bowser replies. “Whatever you want.”
“I’d like that.”
“Well– good! Duh, obviously you would! Who wouldn’t?” Bowser blabbers on, in an effort to hide how pleased he is with Luigi's words. “It only makes sense to want to go on dates with your boyfriend!”
“B-boyfriend. Yeah.” Luigi nods clumsily, like a ragdoll. He looks like he’s still trying to process it, so Bowser gives him a minute.
“So…You have a piano? Can you play?” Luigi finally speaks up after a moment.
“‘Course I can, there’s nothing the King of the Koopas can’t do!”
“So it is true that you’re a musical genius, huh?” Bowser quietly mumbles something about not being a liar, but Luigi just keeps speaking. “I’ve never been good at it– maybe you can teach me some time?”
“HA! Yeah, sure– one crash course coming right up.” Bowser agrees. “And y’know what, I’ll even throw in an hour long serenade for you, as a bonus!”
“A-an hour?” Luigi questions, a slight grimace on his face.
“What about it?! Got a problem with that?” Bowser demands. “Just wait, 'cuz once you hear my ballads you’ll be begging for more!”
“No, no problem with it– I’m looking forward to it.” Luigi reassures him placatingly. He then says pleadingly, “But maybe we can do it in segments of 10 minutes instead of a full hour?”
“Fine! I can make that work.” Luigi gives him a dopey smile.
“Okay, then it’s a date.”
“Yeah.”
Going to Bowser’s kingdom seems to make Luigi suddenly think of something, “But, um, are your subjects going to be okay with me? I mean, I’m not even a prince, and they probably want you to be with the princess, right?"
“Oh, who cares what those bozos think?! If anyone tries to start shit, I’ll deal with them!” Bowser bellows, chest rumbling as he glares at the horizon. “I lost you once already– so I’ll be damned if I ever let go of you again!”
Luigi seems to stiffen at the tone in his voice, and says nothing in response. Bowser can’t see his face with him turned away, so he’s not sure what kind of expression is on his human’s face at the moment.
“If you’re cool with that, or whatever.” Bowser adds as an addendum, in case Luigi didn’t like what he said or something (even though that seemed unlikely, given that it was pretty damn romantic, in Bowser’s opinion).
“Of…of course I am.” Luigi chokes out in response. He starts to stumble as he continues, “I just want to say that I really, really…I, um–”
Bowser waits, with an astounding amount of patience, as Luigi tries to get the words to come out, to no avail. He’s just about to ask Luigi if he's okay when the plumber suddenly speaks up quite loudly.
“I want to eat your awful spaghetti for the rest of my life!” Bowser does a double take as Luigi blurts out the statement in a resolute voice– that wasn’t quite what he had expected.
Particularly because his spaghetti is pretty damn good, thank you very much!
“What?! Oh, come on!” Bowser roars in disbelief, eyebrows furrowing. “What d’you mean ‘awful'?!”
Luigi is laughing lightly as he turns around briefly to push himself up and plant a kiss on Bowser’s chin. From this angle, Bowser can see the light blush on his face. “E-easy, big guy! I’m just joking. Thought I’d try one of your, uh– ‘romantic lines’ for once.”
“Hmph.” Bowser grunts sourly, because again, his spaghetti is really good.
“I’d love you even if your spaghetti was a little stracotto. But I– eh, wasn’t joking about the rest of it.” Luigi twiddles his thumbs as he turns forward again, glancing down at them bashfully. “I–I’d like to be by your side for as long as you’ll have me.”
“Yeah, well, that’s forever, Greenie.” Bowser mumbles quietly, arms tightening around him. “D’you know what you’re getting yourself into, saying something like that?”
“Of course I do.” He replies surprisingly stubbornly, before his tone softens, “And you won’t let me regret it, will you?”
“Who exactly do you think you’re talking to?!” Bowser guffaws. “I’m the one and only King of the Koopas! I’m gonna make you the happiest man in the world, you got that?!”
“Why are you saying that like it’s a threat?” Luigi teases, letting out a snicker. After a moment, he turns himself around on Bowser’s lap, who in return presses a hand against his back to keep him stable. A determined look makes its way onto his face as he stares up at Bowser and declares, “I’ll do my best to make you happy, too.”
“All you gotta do is be beside me for that,” Bowser begins, and maybe his face is a bit warm from Luigi’s words. He hopes Luigi doesn’t notice, although he's sure Luigi has already noticed that his tail is thumping against the porch. “‘Cuz just for the record, the only one I want is you.”
“...r-really?” Luigi seems uncertain as he looks down at himself.
“Yes, really!” He huffs. “One of these days, I’ll make you realize just how goddamn amazing you are.”
“I’d say the same for you, but you already know how amazing you are, don’t you?”
“Well, duh.” He chortles, then backtracks slightly. “Doesn’t mean I would complain about hearing it said out loud, though.”
Luigi smiles at him in amusement, “Well then, you are amazing. My strong, cool, amazing b-boyfriend.”
“I am pretty tough, aren’t I?” Bowser laughs proudly.
“In more ways than one.” Luigi agrees softly, taking one of Bowser’s hands in his.
“You bet.” Bowser says, his smirk widening. Luigi laughs lightly at his (well-earned) confidence.
After a moment, Luigi gives his hand a squeeze, “By the way, did you ever decide what you want?”
“You.” He replies immediately. Luigi’s face turns red at the casual declaration.
“I– ah, meant the favour.” He clarifies.
“Oh.” Bowser pauses, then grins widely at him, “To take over the Mushroom Kingdom, of course!”
Luigi sends him a pointed look.
“Okay, okay.” Bowser gives in. “Well, is there anything you want, Greenie?”
“To not be woken up at 5 am.” Luigi promptly replies. Bowser rolls his eyes.
“We’re not using the favour for that.”
“You’re the one who asked.” Luigi shoots back, though the look on his face is more cheeky than upset. “What do you want?”
“Maybe a bigger bed in your room?” He jokes in response. Well, kind of jokes– Luigi's room could use a bigger bed, in all honesty. “I’m always one centimeter away from falling off. Guess it wasn’t made with huge, buff Koopa Kings in mind, for some reason.”
“We are not using it for that.” Luigi echoes back at him lightly.
Bowser snickers and shrugs in defeat, then spends a moment to ponder it. “Fine then, I'll use it for something else.”
"Which is...?"
"A secret."
"Aw, really?" Luigi pouts up at him. "Come on, you trust little old Luigi to keep a secret, don't you?"
"Maybe I'll tell you in a couple of years."
"Years?!" Luigi squawks indignantly, eyebrows raising in disbelief. "R-really? Why do you have to wait that long?"
"I've been told that I might be going too fast otherwise." Bowser hums, gently resting his head on top of Luigi’s. Luigi dramatically harrumphs, but quickly lets it go as Bowser snorts at his expense, and they proceed to fall into a comfortable silence. Luigi shifts to face forward again, still holding onto Bowser's hand, as they listen to the soft rustling of the leaves and the faint call of a bird in the distance.
“I missed this.” Luigi says tenderly as he stares at the sun peeking out from the horizon, just beginning its ascent into the sky.
Bowser grunts in agreement as he tightens his hold on Luigi’s hand. They still had a lot they would need to work through, but for now, this moment was all he wanted to think about. “Nothing compares to the real thing, yeah?”
“Yeah.” Luigi turns around to smile at him as he says it, and despite it all, Bowser doesn’t regret a thing.
End.