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Mario sighed, his cheeks ached from the false smile he’d kept plastered on his face throughout the evening. He felt so drained and fed-up with the niceties, everyone here was so false – so unaware of what it’s like to not have wealth.
Princess Peach had invited him and Luigi to a celebratory ball – Mario took this to mean a party with food, fancy booze and dancing to music. Maybe some drunk rich folk giving out bundles of cash or jewels.
Instead, he was dressed up in a stiff suit and tie simply speaking to boring nobles with a glass of wine in his hand that he wasn’t even allowed to get drunk on.
He glanced around the crowded and noisy room as Peach spoke to an elderly ambassador of some mountain kingdom.
His eyes searched until he eventually spotted Luigi and Toad hanging out with the Penguin King and some of his councilmen – at least they looked like they were having fun.
“Mario?” Peach hummed softly, glancing at him with concern.
“Sorry.” Mario smiled kindly as he realised he’d totally zoned out. “Just checking on Lu.”
Peach followed where his gaze had been and smiled knowingly, she led them over to the Penguin King.
“Princess Peach!” The King greeted happily, taking her hand in his flipper and kissing it. “An honour to see you again.”
“You too, how are the repairs going?” Peach asked sweetly, looking genuinely interested for the first time since the ball started.
“Very well, very well.” The King nodded proudly, he then frowned apologetically at her. “I don’t mean to be rude but I have a bone to pick with you.”
Mario glanced at Luigi as his brother blushed and Toad began giggling.
“Oh?” Peach asked curiously, her grip on his wine glass tightening.
“Why haven’t you made this boy part of your royal court?” The king asked as he motioned to Luigi, Peach giggled as she relaxed once again.
“Mario and Luigi are the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom – they don’t wish for further titles or rewards.” She explained easily. “I tried!”
“She did.” Mario agreed with a grin.
“It was nice seeing you again, come Mario.” Peach nodded before moving along, Mario gave his brother a smile and followed along. “Enjoy your evening.”
Luigi had watched his brother accompany Peach throughout the evening, he noticed Mario looked exhausted and zoned out – going so far as to nod and repeat phrases like a robot.
He knew his brother liked meeting people and being sociable but even he had a limit – he wasn’t used to all this fuss and attention.
He glanced at Toad to ask if he could get away with rescuing his brother but found the little guy was in the middle of a dance battle with one of the Penguin soldiers. He turned back only to find Mario had disappeared, he frowned and began his search.
Mario and the Princess were now stood against a back wall, both sipping their wine politely and watching the party.
“Do you have these in your world?” Peach asked quietly, sounding a little drained.
“I have no idea.” Mario replied honestly. “I’m not friends with royalty in my world… I mean, we have parties but not like this…”
Peach hummed and nodded thoughtfully.
“You and your brother go back very rarely… Don’t you miss it?”
“Not really, our world is hard… and not very forgiving if you make a mistake.” The plumber admitted with a slight sigh. “We’re better off here… we only really go back to see our family.”
“I see.” Peach sounded sad.
“Yeah,” Mario shrugged awkwardly. “It’s fine.”
“Doesn’t sound like it.” Peach pointed out before shaking her head and deciding to move on. “I was wondering, Do you think Luigi would like the desert?”
“What?” Mario glanced at the princess suspiciously at this sudden question.
“There’s a princess who helps her father rule their kingdom – they have no allies but rule with an iron fist. I was thinking of sending Luigi there to try and make a connection. He has an ability to get along with everyone it seems.”
Mario backed away as Toadsworth came over.
“Y-You want to send my brother away?” He clarified angrily; Peach tried to explain but Toadsworth was already getting involved.
“Now Mario, what did you expect?” He chuckled cluelessly. “If you and Peach are to be wed, your brother cannot be living in the castle with you! He’ll need to find his own calling, his own way in life – you two can’t stay together forever.”
“What!?” Mario gaped as Peach quickly shook her head.
“No! Mario, don’t freak out!” She hurried to try and calm him.
“Oh? Did I hear mention of marriage?” A large mermaid queen asked gleefully. “Finally! It’s been so long since we had a royal wedding.”
“Royal wedding?” A giant fork person hopped over excitedly.
“Oh! The Princess and her Hero!”
“Congratulations!”
“How exciting!”
“A whole new life together.”
“A new family!”
Mario felt like the room was spinning around him, how had this become the topic of conversation? He felt his wine glass slip between his numb fingers, heard everyone gasp as it shattered. His heart was pounding painfully against his ribs, his mind whirling at the barrage of information.
He spun on his heel and darted across the dance floor, bumping into various nobles as he stumbled through the crowd and threw himself out of the ballroom and into the pristine hallway lined with guards.
He sprinted passed them all, fearful they would pursue him in his escape.
Eventually he collapsed in the far corner of the gardens where tall bushes cast shadows in the moonlight.
He felt like he couldn’t breathe, his heart was going to explode.
Where had all that come from!?
He clawed at the neat grass beneath his hands, his knees aching from dropping down so forcefully – he felt sick and dizzy.
His head snapped up at the sound of footsteps approaching.
At first Mario was scared that the Princess had sent someone to catch him, then his mind calmed as he realised he knew those steps better than anyone in the world.
His little brother was in the garden.
“Mario?” Luigi called worriedly, “Where are you? You okay?”
Mario smiled fondly before realising how loud Luigi was being and panic took over once more, his eyes widening as he tried to pinpoint his brother’s location.
They wanted to send him away.
They planned to force Luigi out into the desert – away from him. They were going to trap Mario here and take away his brother! He couldn’t let that happen, he just couldn’t.
“You can’t be together forever!”
How many times had they heard that? Had someone tried to give them a reality check?
If Mario and Luigi wanted to stay side-by-side forever then who was going to stop them? They were brothers, twins – they had every right to stay together.
He crawled through the nearest bush and waited as his brother walked down the path.
He held his breath as Luigi came closer, looking worried and downhearted – he felt a little bad at what he was about to do.
Luigi honestly thought he was going to die when he was dragged through the bush by a pair of strong hands, he’d been so taken by surprise that he couldn’t even scream – instead choking on his own spit.
He fell out the other side only to be caught and clung onto – something trying to prevent him from being harmed any further. He realised he recognised the arms wrapped around him like a lifeline.
“Mario!” Luigi scolded as he prized himself free, “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Shhh!” Mario shushed desperately, “We gotta get out of here, we gotta run!”
Luigi blinked in surprise.
“What? Why?” He cocked his head curiously.
“Because!” Mario grabbed onto him but made no attempt to escape. “Because we’re in danger! I’m not ready for all this! I don’t wanna be a husband and I don’t want you to be sent away! I don’t wanna move out of our home and never see you again!”
Luigi blinked at him; Mario grew frustrated.
The eldest stood up and pulled his brother in tow.
“We are leaving right now, leaving this place forever!” He insisted shakily. “Before the Princess or her Toad army can find us! Do you think the Kong’s would hide us?”
“Mario, what are you talking about?” Luigi stopped cooperating, making his brother stumble and try dragging him again. “Are you drunk? You weren’t supposed to have more than one glass-“
“I’m not drunk!” Mario snapped, noting his voice was a much higher pitch than normal. “I’m engaged! We gotta run!”
“Engaged!?” Luigi repeated in shock before shaking his head. He forcefully spun Mario to face him and pushed him down until they were both sat in the grass again. “Slow down, what happened? You were just helping the Princess with her guests, you were fine.”
Mario took a breath as he gave Luigi a pleading look.
“I can explain later! If we stay, they’ll find us!” He insisted desperately but Luigi shook his head with a firm frown.
“Explain now.” He pushed, loosening his grip gently.
“I think Peach has decided she’s gonna marry me.” Mario whimpered as hopelessness overwhelmed him. “Toadsworth said we were gonna be married and then everyone started congratulating us! Peach asked if we could send you to the desert to make connections or something then Toadsworth said you and me wouldn’t live together anymore and you’d have to start a new life! Then people kept saying stuff about the wedding and a new family and-“
He shook his head, unable to continue as panic once again overwhelmed him.
Luigi stared at him for a moment, looking lost and confused as his brain processed the rambled information.
“Wait, so… Toadsworth said you guys were gonna get married?” Luigi checked calmly.
“Yes!” Mario yelped, not understanding why his brother was so calm. “I’m not ready! I’m not ready to be a husband or a father or whatever! I don’t wanna get married and I don’t wanna be royal! I don’t even like her like that! I mean she’s pretty and funny and really nice but I don’t love her! I don’t want any of this!”
Luigi soothed Mario softly, getting his brother to stop talking.
“What did Peach say?”
“She said she was gonna send you to the desert to hang out with some crazy people who have no friends or allies or whatever!” Mario burst out hysterically. “They want to separate us forever!”
“Okay… weird… was this before or after the marriage discussion?”
“Before.”
“So, what did she say in response to the engagement?” Luigi clarified, deciding to take this issue one bit at a time.
“Uh…” Mario blinked as he tried to recall. “I don’t know.”
“She didn’t say any of those things you were worried about?” The youngest checked, “She wasn’t the one to say you guys were an item?”
Mario swallowed numbly as he tried to think.
Both brothers tensed when they heard dainty steps rushing down the garden steps.
“Luigi, please!” Mario whispered urgently. “If they catch us I’m gonna be forced to marry the princess and they’ll take you away! We can’t stay, we have to run!”
Luigi patted his brother on the shoulder gently, frowning as he looked out at the gardens – he wasn’t sure what to do, he needed to get to the bottom of all this.
He didn’t like it when Mario was the one panicking – it didn’t feel right.
Mario clung to Luigi’s arm like a leech, begging in whispers for them to escape.
The footsteps stopped before heading in their direction, clearly having heard the rushed whispers.
Mario squeaked and tried to pull Luigi into a crawl so they could hide in the bush.
The tallest stood up instead and rounded on the panicked Princess as she appeared round the corner.
“Mario!” She began hurriedly but skidded to a stop when she saw Luigi standing with his arms crossed.
He glanced first at the hero who was still knelt on the ground staring up at her, his pale face looking gaunt from the events of the evening. She then looked at Luigi, she felt a slight shiver at the cold fury on his face – she’d never seen him so angry.
“I’m sorry?” Luigi began loudly, Mario stared up at him in awe. “You decided my brother was going to marry you without even asking him? Isn’t this exactly what Bowser tried to do to you? Also, what’s this about a desert that I’m being sent to? You can’t just decide things for people even if you are royalty!”
The Princess glanced between them both with wide eyes before sighing tiredly, realising she would need to once again try to explain everything properly.
“I have no intention of marrying Mario.” She began slowly.
“What?” Both brothers asked in surprise.
“I mean… he’s sweet but… yeah, no. Too short and really not my type.” Peach admitted with a steady gaze.
“Too short?” Mario muttered as he glanced down at himself.
“Wait so, who decided you guys were a couple?” Luigi asked as he ignored Mario’s mumbling.
“Toadsworth. He wants me to marry and continue the lineage but I have no interest in doing so.” The princess explained moodily. “Every man I meet he decides I’m going to marry them but he has no say, he wants me to marry either of you but it’s not happening.”
Luigi sent a heated glare at Mario, one the princess nearly missed as it was so quick.
“So… No marriage?”
“Nope.”
“Okay… so… he freaked out over nothing?”
“I also have no intention of sending you away.” Peach explained with a small amused smile as Luigi relaxed. “I was going to ask you to visit a friend of mine – Princess Daisy and see if you could help with us creating an alliance. However, it is very dangerous there so I wasn’t going to do it until both parties had agreed and your safety was assured.”
“Oh.” Luigi deflated tiredly, rubbing his face. “In that case… I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“It’s okay! I was actually very impressed.” Peach giggled at her friend. “I was almost scared of you! Probably would’ve been if I didn’t know you so well.”
Both turned to face Mario who was still stood behind Luigi looking hurt and confused.
“You’re not gonna send my brother away?” He checked warily.
“Of course not!” Peach assured before apologizing sadly, “I’m sorry Toadsworth freaked you out, you and your brother are safe here – You will not be forced to do anything you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay.” The eldest breathed, finally calm. “I just… I’m just not ready or interested right now… and… that paired with the thought of Luigi being sent to another kingdom without me just…”
“I understand.” She nodded empathetically. “Please, come back to the party – I’ve already explained everything.”
Mario smiled tiredly, clearly about to agree out of politeness but Luigi stepped in.
“I think we’re gonna head home.” He smiled weakly, ignoring Mario’s suspicious gaze. “I’m exhausted and I think Mario needs to recover from his little crisis.”
“Oh?” Peach checked, noting how Mario’s eyes were narrowed at Luigi. “Okay, take care...”
“Goodnight.” Luigi nodded, grabbing Mario’s arm and dragging him away.
“G’night!” The eldest called over his shoulder making Peach laugh.
Luigi marched the two of them out the garden and homewards, only slowing once they were away from the castle.”
“You don’t look tired.” Mario accused quietly. “Not even a little bit.”
“I’m not tired.” Luigi smirked with an eye roll. “But you clearly are.”
Mario huffed but smiled a little, he guessed it couldn’t hurt to head to bed – especially if his brother was so worried about him.
“You’re welcome by the way.” Luigi’s smirk grew larger as his twin scoffed half-heartedly.
Mario rolled his eyes but allowed himself to be dragged home.