he who koops and runs away

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/47034580.

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandoms: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023), Super Mario Bros. (Video
Games), Super Mario Bros. Super Show! (Cartoon 1989)
Relationship: Bowser/Luigi (Nintendo)
Characters: Bowser (Nintendo), Luigi (Nintendo), Princess Peach (Nintendo), Mario
(Nintendo), Koopalings (Super Mario), Bowser Jr. (Nintendo)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Bowser is the Koopalings' Parent (Super Mario), Luigi Has
Anxiety (Nintendo), Protective Mario (Nintendo), Tags May Change,
Jack Black Bowser, The Koopalings and Junior were at home, The
Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3 (Cartoon 1990) References
Language: English
Stats: Published: 2023-05-08 Updated: 2025-05-29 Words: 17,189 Chapters:
13/?
 he who koops and runs away
by Knifey (VioletThePorama)

Summary

“Well, yeah. I mean have you–wait! I’ve got kids!”

Peach froze in the doorway.

“Yeah, see? That got your attention.”

“You have what!?”

Notes
See the end of the work for notes
 peaches peaches peaches

Since Bowser had been locked in a small cage in the palace, with supervision to ensure that
he did not manage to hit himself hard enough to undo the effects of the Mini Mushroom, he
had seemed content to resign himself to making a ruckus. Whether this was from his constant
singing and piano (which Peach hated to admit wasn’t that bad), or him calling in guards to
yell and shoot tiny fireballs at, he managed to make himself a general menace to her kingdom
even when he wasn’t attacking it.

At least her toads, who had at first been so hesitant to enter the room with him that she had
had to accompany them, had found themselves much braver at the general idea of Bowser.
They no longer came running whenever he yelled, but instead made rude remarks back when
they thought they were out of the princess's range of hearing. Not that she would have told
them off. Not after hearing what Bowser said to them at times.

She had turned some of her focus towards Mario and Luigi as the brothers moved into the
Mushroom Kingdom. There was plenty of advice to offer as they established an easier route
to get to the Warp Pipe that lead close to their home, and lots of interest in the differences in
duties as she marveled at the paperwork they had to complete for their world in Brooklyn.

It was great to have them close by. Mario was still very kind and still very excited about the
world around them, and Luigi, though she interacted with him less, was a great listener. It
was easy to lose herself in showing her new guests the nearby lands without any fear of
opposition from the Dark Lands or the Jungle Kingdom.

But she knew she had to do something about Bowser soon. The Koopa staying in the palace,
even under lock and key, was nowhere near a permanent solution. It wasn’t even a good
short-term solution. Peach just didn’t know what to do.

Nobody from Dark Lands had obviously stepped forward as a new ruler, or even as an
emissary to negotiate for the release of Bowser, as she had expected. Still, she hadn’t ruled
out the possibility, sure that it was chaotic when most of the Dark Lands were still in a state
of confusion and rebuilding from Bowser’s defeat. Maybe they would send one soon.
In lieu of that, Peach offered Bowser an audience every few days to see if he had any pleas,
deals, or appeals to make.

Most of the time, he just insulted her, her kingdom, and Mario, flirted with her, or sang songs.
The last of those wasn’t so bad, even if she found herself shifting uncomfortably and smiling
politely at his crooning of Peaches .

Which is how she found herself in her current position.

“Is it because he’s short?” Bowser asked, his claws dancing along the piano with a surprising
deftness as he played a soft tune. As he turned to her, gauging her expression from where she
sat a foot or so away from his cage, the tune grew more and more tense. “I’m short right now,
wouldn’t you say? Want to give it another chance?”

“I don’t think so,” Peach said, trying to keep her smile from turning into a grimace.

“Oh, come on! We hardly tried before. Is it because I went too fast?” To punctuate this, he
slid his claws across all the keys of the piano to achieve a glissando before he pushed his
chair back. “We could slow it down, you know. Take this courting thing seriously.”

“Do you really have nothing to do but flirt with me?” Peach asked. It was difficult to keep her
irritation from leaking into her voice, something she thought she was much better at. Maybe
it was just something about Bowser that made her so… so angry . “You’ve been locked in a
cage for weeks.”

“Weeks?” Bowser crossed his arms, barking a laugh. “I could go on for months , Peaches.
Years. ”

“I believe it,” she sighed. “I’m going to reject you, each and every time.”

“As far as you think.”

“That’s it.” She stood up quick enough that her chair hit the floor. Wincing and smiling
apologetically as a toad who came up to right the chair, Peach stepped away. “I’m done
here.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bowser move about the suspended cage to follow her
route around the room. It was when she reached the door that something seemed to occur to
him, and he rushed to the bars, tilting the cage, and sending it swaying with the force of how
he hit the bars. “Hey, hey, hey, hey–wait!”

The princess turned on her heel, halfway out the door, and raised her chin at his urgency. She
braced herself for more words meant to get under her skin. “What?”

“I’ve been in here for weeks, right? Months, whatever. You have to unshrink me.”

Peach rolled her eyes, shifting closer to the exit. “You haven’t given me any reason to free
you. Every time I’ve been in here, I’ve been waiting to see if you would offer something , but
all you’ve done is try to pursue me after I’ve refused you!”

“Well, yeah. I mean have you– wait ! I’ve got kids!”

Once again, she froze in the doorway, grabbing onto the door as it moved.

“Yeah, see? That got your attention.”

“You have what! ?”

 anxiety?
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

“Let me get this straight,” Mario said, leaning over the map spread out on the table. “You
want us to visit the Dark Lands to see if Bowser has… kids?”

“Pretty much,” the princess agreed, joining him.

“He said he had kids ? Like, multiple kids?”

“Yes.”

“And you believe him?”

“He said it to get my attention, but… it seems important to rule out,” Peach said before
pursing her lips. She grabbed a writing utensil and circled some arbitrary spot in the Dark
Lands. “Some information that Donkey Kong gave us said that Bowser’s Castle was
somewhere around here. He was using his airship before and kept moving around, so we
weren’t sure where his main base was before the truce.”

“His castle?” Luigi asked faintly, stepping back from the table. When the princess had
mentioned needing to speak with them about an errand, he had assumed a group of toads had
gotten lost again or something. Not…

The tone of his voice must have caught Mario’s attention because his brother straightened up
and turned. “Lu?”

The single syllable held a thousand questions that Luigi could read in his brother's face. Of
concern, of doubt, of guilt, of a thousand comments others had made about their job, their
move. Luigi knew that Mario doubted bringing Luigi with him, even if Luigi had wanted to
make the move with his brother. He just… couldn’t find it in himself to comfort his brother
about the decision as he usually did.

Not when he was being asked to go back to the first place he had visited in the world
alternate to their own. Mario had landed amongst friends. Luigi… had not.

“I don’t know about going back–going there, I mean,” Luigi hesitated, avoiding the gaze of
the princess, afraid that she might order him to. Instead, he scrambled to find something he
could do that felt important enough to keep him from needing to go to the Koopa Kingdom.
“I could… stay here? And try to get more answers out of the–out of Bowser.”

He could feel their eyes on him, a familiar, terrible, burning sensation. He hadn’t gotten to
know Peach too well yet, but he knew that she and Mario had been spending plenty of time
together, so she couldn’t be bad . Mario had better taste than that. Even Donkey Kong, as
brash and high-energy as he was, was a nice guy once you got to know him. Probably.

Mario had taken to the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom like a fish to water, more at ease
in their world than he had ever been before.

And Luigi… Luigi was getting used to it. He was used to that, though.

“Okay,” the princess said, averting her scrutinizing gaze. When Luigi looked back at her,
following her next movement, she was giving him something like an apologetic smile that
had him looking down at the floor. “I could go with Mario to check on this. It could be
important diplomatically since Bowser is still a prisoner here.”

“Fine with me,” Mario said, turning to watch his brother for confirmation.

“Sure,” Luigi was suddenly unsure about what he had just offered to do. He didn’t know that
he really wanted to spend any more time than necessary with the Koopa. He wasn’t sure he
even wanted to see the monster again, much less talk to him, but–
Peach had already turned around, waving down a guard as she spoke to them about finding
Toadsworth, and It was too late to take it back she had already started making plans and he
was–

“Luigi?” Mario asked in a lowered tone, having taken a few steps towards him when Luigi
wasn’t paying attention. He leaned over, watching Luigi expectantly as the green plumber
fretted, worrying his hands and shuffling his feet in place while looking at the map.

He glanced at Mario and waved his brother off, feeling a bit panicked. A bit frantic. But he
wasn’t going to go back on it. “I’ve got it.”

“You sure?” Mario asked, narrowing his eyes. At Luigi’s more insistent and more forceful
nod, Mario gave him a hesitant nod in return and went back to studying the map with Peach.

He pointed out and asked about a dozen warp pipes as Luigi watched them, feeling some
cold, creeping fear in his limbs that kept him rooted to the spot until Peach slammed her
hands down on the table and declared the plan finished.

Mario was the first out of the room, rushing off to grab some supplies from the toads in town.
Before Luigi could follow him to make sure he got everything, Peach flagged him down.

“Luigi?” She began, her voice was soft. Kind. “You can try to get him to talk, but I haven’t
made any progress. We’ll probably figure out pretty quickly whether he’s lying, but if you
manage to get any details–about the kids or his kingdom, I’d appreciate it. My toads will be
around to help if you need it!”

“I’ll try,” he offered weakly, nodding along.

The princess watched him closely for another moment. She leaned in intensely, swapping
which eye she looked at as he widened them, unnerved by the impromptu staring contest.
Finally, she nodded and turned, walking down the hall with purpose.
 The green plumber left the room with less grace, stumbling around underfoot toads in his
daze, too lost in thought to put any focus on where he was going. It was only when he ended
up on the side of the town opposite of where he and Mario had set up that he realized he
might need to pay attention.

Shaking his head, as if that might help clear his thoughts, Luigi trudged to the nearest shops.
He would have preferred to return to the comforts of their makeshift home, but he had ended
up closer to where Mario must have wound up. If he could help Mario find some bargain
deals, or remind his brother of what they already had, well…

At least he could help that way.

Chapter End Notes

just getting more stuff set up.

a friend let me know that it had noncon tagged for some reason when i posted it? so
thats been changed. this is supposed to be a general fic. mostly wholesome, i swear
 lunch time chats. or not
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Luigi was sure that he wouldn’t disappoint Princess Peach–that he couldn’t disappoint her,
even if he tried. She had told Luigi that all he was expected to do was try to get Bowser to
talk.

From how she had spoken, it sounded like nobody had been able to glean anything important
so far, aside from Bowser’s sudden proclamation about having children to tend to. So Luigi,
of all people, probably wouldn’t be able to get Bowser to say anything valuable while the
others were gone.

It was a useless mission, something with no purpose that he had assigned himself to do in
order to make himself feel less like a coward when his brother went to traverse the lands. It
was a mission that he wasn’t even expected to fulfill.

But that wasn’t how it felt.

There was a bubbling under his skin, a tingling in his fingertips, and an ache in his chest that
made him want to move . He had always been teased about his nervous energy. It wasn’t that
he hadn’t given those comments much thought, because he was always focusing and
narrowing in on what was said about him, but he had tried not to give it much merit in the
past.

That was before his nervous energy had him rushing down the hall after a scurrying toad
carrying Bowser’s meal, terrified to walk inside, and too afraid of disappointing someone
who didn’t expect much out of him in the first place not to try getting something out of
Bowser.

Sometimes, Luigi wished that he was the brave sibling. The one who stood up to people.
Mario would have been able to make Bowser talk, somehow , if the princess had asked him
to.
Instead, Luigi was the sibling quaking in his boots as he stared at a caged reptile the size of
his boot.

He wasn’t sure that Bowser had even noticed him. Not when he was cowering so close to the
doorway, out of the way of the toads who kept a close eye on the prisoner as he was passed
food. And not while Bowser seemed so distracted blowing weakened puffs of fire at the toads
nearing hands.

Said toads gave Luigi fleeting, but judgemental looks when he failed to pry himself off of the
wall, as if they hadn’t been running to the princess crying at every scornful look that Bowser
had given them for the first week. They hurt all the same, every one serving to weaken
Luigi’s knees, sending him sprawling back against the wall. He gripped the spaces between
the brings for support as he watched the Koopa.

Bowser turned from the makeshift desk that was his piano and started gobbling up the
provided food, spouting insults about it with an open mouth.

As he ate, the plumber felt the other's eyes drift over his form. Taller than his brother, but
hunched in on himself. Uncertain, scared.

Luigi stilled, hypnotized by beady, red eyes as Bowser finally caught his gaze.

The Koopa stared at him for a moment longer, narrowing his eyes. Then Bowser blinked, and
Luigi lost what little backbone he had grown, and scrambled out of the door like demons
were hot on his heels.

He slowed once he rounded a corner of the hallway, and pulled his shoulders up to his ears as
he hurriedly left the wings of the castle that held Bowser, avoiding the gazes he knew he was
drawing by his retreat. At least nobody tried to stop him to talk to them, as they had seemed
to understand that Mario was the one to speak with if they needed something.

Instead of going back to his and Mario’s home, Luigi found himself in Peach’s library.
Unlike Mario, who had taken up the foolhardy (in Luigi’s opinion) method of learning about
the lands through exploration alone, Luigi had found himself more interested in learning
about the kingdoms as a whole.

It wasn’t that he was the most well-read individual. He had difficulty when trying to sort
through and understand the different books on politics, monetary systems, and even books on
fiction when compared to a world that already seemed so fictional. That was much of what he
talked to the princess about, so he could learn firsthand about what he couldn’t glean from the
books. But he also spent quite a while staring at a large map on the wall that illustrated the
world and labeled different kingdoms and routes, mentally tallying off the places on it that he
never wanted to travel to.

This time, Luigi had a better idea. If he could research the Dark Lands, even a little, he might
have a better idea of how to approach this.

Going in with a plan tended to help him regulate some of his anxiety beforehand, so he was
less likely to psych himself up, even if he knew he would still panic at the moment.

Besides, Bowser was some sort of royalty. There were probably plenty of books about him.

He was sure that the princess wouldn’t have missed a chapter on Bowser having children. It
seemed more like communication between kingdoms was very limited, and that news was
unlikely to travel very well.

That meant that most of the books were probably outdated. Luigi knew that even his
textbooks back in school had been from several years prior, and no longer held correct
passages about people in different political positions. But he figured any information might
help.

Of course, that was before he opened one book to a page detailing a shadowed, demonic
figure with glowing eyes, surrounded on the sides by the skeletal creatures that had first
kidnapped him upon his arrival to the Dark Lands. Below them sprouted spotted plants with
gaping mouths full of razor-sharp teeth that reminded him of an old movie his uncles had
shown him once.
 Luigi steeled himself, steadied himself, glanced around the empty library, and flipped to the
index, which was luckily in the same place as indexes back in Brooklyn.

Dry Bones, the book told him, as he matched a name to the face of what he had been too
afraid to ask anybody about. Koopa. Koopa Troopa. Paratroopa. Magikoopa.

King Koopa.

Chapter End Notes

first try getting something out of bowser failed miserably. but now he can scare himself
with books!

the movie he's referencing his little shop of horrors (like the 1960s one), which is what
the piranha plants in mario always reminded me of.
 twisting halls
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Armed with knowledge, Luigi journeyed to the makeshift prison a few more times as he tried
to work up the courage to enter the room again.

As he had suspected, the books seemed rather outdated. While the listed inhabitants of the
Dark Lands seemed consistent with what he himself had experienced, he had been unable to
find virtually anything about landmarks or specific locations in any of the books he had
looked through.

Maybe Peach knew more about the kingdom than the books did? If not, Luigi wasn’t sure
how they planned to find the castle if the Kong’s information was outdated or wrong in some
manner. But that was something to worry about at another time. Mario and Princess Peach
were more than capable. They would be able to find it. Safely.

Probably.

Luigi had noted a distinct lack of information about Bowser or any royal line. The section on
the king of Koopas had a very small blurb dedicated to it, barely taking up a page as it spoke
of the terrifying monarchy, and that they were to be avoided at all costs. The information only
took up a few inches of the wide, sprawling, golden text on thick, creamy paper that the
plumber had spent forever studying.

On top of that, he hadn’t been able to find practically anything else about the Darklands in
any of the other books laying around. Nothing that didn’t consist of warnings to stay away
from the inhabitants and wildlife, anyway. One book had had a slip of paper with hurriedly
scrawled notes inserted that talked about Bowser’s flying island, hostility, and propensity
towards locating a Super Star that had obviously been added recently. The best he had
managed to find besides that, at the end of his search before he had given up, were some
implications of some previous treaty that the Mushroom Kingdom had with the Dark Lands,
immediately followed by some footnotes about agreements not having been honored.
There was virtually nothing about Bowser, and there was even less about any children
Bowser might have had. The lack of information struck Luigi as offputting. Enough so that
despite his fear of the situation, Luigi found himself wanting to try talking to Bowser again.
Just a little.

Of course, that was more difficult in practice.

Still, he tried.

There wasn’t so much a next time he went back, as there was a plethora of times that Luigi
found himself traveling in that direction, and giving up once he reached the final hallway. He
spent several days working up the effort to just keep walking, instead of loitering or changing
course to find one of the odd jobs or errands that he and Mario tended to pick up around
town.

He was sure that he had memorized the patterns in the walls at the conjoining halls. The
swirling tiles laid together in stark pinks and whites…

He was also sure that the distant chattering and laughing from guards on rotation that passed
by him on occasion was about him.

After what felt like forever, spurred on by spite, anxiety, and curiosity, Luigi managed to
make it to the door.

He didn’t made it inside that time, but Luigi found himself more acquainted with the toads
who stood guard since he was face-to-face with them each time he tried to work up the
energy to talk to Bowser again. At least they didn’t talk about him if he was there in front of
them.

So he tried that, time and time again, going back to the same place to stare at the door and
listen to yelling and piano keys from behind it.
The fifth time Luigi stood in front of Bowser’s door, unmoving, one of the toads offered to
walk him inside.

He had accepted quickly, before he could talk himself out of it, but had barely made it inside
before Bowser looked his way, and he found himself holed up back in his and Mario’s house.

The plumber visited again early the next day. Embarrassed and hurt in the face of his repeated
retreats, he marched inside without a babysitter.

However, he still found himself frozen in place for what felt like hours before Bowser turned
from his loud, jaunty song to glare at him until he left again.

Was what he was doing even working? He managed to get further and further each time, but
he kept turning away. He just needed to stay in the room. He could try asking his questions
after that.

His mother had told him to take baby steps when he was riled up about something. Just one
thing at a time. That helped sometimes, ignoring the bigger picture while he worked in
increments toward it.

So if he could just stay inside…

The next time Luigi visited, a toad gave him a plate of food to take inside. With a mission in
mind, Luigi delivered it quickly. The toad supervised while Luigi swiftly opened, deposited a
smaller plate, and closed the cage before Bowser could react.

Bowser couldn’t hurt himself enough in the cage to make the effect of the mushrooms wear
off, even if he rammed against the corners of it. The height of the cage shouldn’t have been
enough to seriously hurt, either, but a toad had mentioned that with the right force, the impact
of it could maybe be enough to make Bowser grow to his original size again. So they had to
be fast when delivering the food, in case Bowser made a break for it.
But Bowser had barely moved from the paper he was looking at, as he muttered rhymes to
himself and scrawled awkward, sideways lines. This was only interrupted by his occasional
turn to press a piano key, seemingly at random before he would hurriedly start writing again.

Holding the remaining tray in front of himself as it would protect him, Luigi cleared his
throat. But it was obvious that the Koopa wasn’t listening, and wasn’t planning to turn from
his work.

So Luigi had found himself a seat. He stayed, jittering in place, and staring at the prisoner for
what had to be close to an hour.

When he was thinking of leaving, the Koopa finally turned and frowned at him, distractedly
picking at the cooled food. “I didn’t see you there, Green Mario.”

“L-Luigi,” he corrected, stunned. “I’ve been here… a while.”

“Green Mario,” Bowser nodded. “I was in the zone . You know how it is.”

Luigi nodded uncertainly, unwilling to disagree with him. Seemingly satisfied with his
reaction, if he had even been desiring one in the first place, Bowser went on. “Do you know
when my Peaches will be back?”

“Probably not for–”

“-And do you think she likes guys with kids? Women love a guy who’s good with kids, don’t
they? Except when they don’t want to be moms, but there’s always nannies I guess? Unless
Peach would think that’s not, I don’t know, engaging with a kid enough?”

Bowser went on and on, drowning out any of Luigi’s stuttered, and slowly waning responses.
He got the feeling that the Koopa didn’t really want a conversation, so much as someone to
bounce ideas off of while they remained quiet. So he stayed silent, clutching his overalls and
watching the space beside the cage.
It was almost a relief that he wasn’t being expected to talk. However, he wasn’t really
listening either, which didn’t help what he was trying to achieve.

Then again, Luigi hadn’t really been trying to talk to Bowser this time, so maybe it didn’t
matter.

Turning his attention back to Bowser’s words, instead of staring at the sharpened needles that
were Bowser’s claws being waved about, he listened to the other drone on about how
annoyed he was that Peach wasn’t there to hear the new song he was working on.

No, he wouldn’t be able to get Bowser to talk. Not when the Koopa was so deeply engrossed
in himself. And not while Luigi felt like he might throw up.

So he stayed still, and he half listened and half stared until another toad stepped inside to pick
up the plate of abandoned food.

Once the Koopa was distracted by the guard, Luigi slipped out.

Then he left, taking the accomplishment for what it was.

Far from the kingdom, knee-deep in the twisting, choking vines of the jungle, Mario turned
his gaze from the ground in front of him to the princess. “ What are these called?”

“The piranha plants? They’re a type of flower here.” Peach called, effortlessly turning herself
to the side on some overhanging vines. “Do you not have them in your world?”
 Mario glanced around as he moved, taking in the sights. Goomba's he could deal with, even
when they fell from the trees as if ambushing them. He had yet, however, to come to terms
with the deep purple of the swamp water, or the way his lungs burned when he breathed in
the damp air. Nor had he accepted the plant in front of him, swaying back and forth and
snapping toothy jaws in their direction as their spoke, unable to see them, but obviously
searching.

“No,” Mario said, grinning despite himself. “We don’t.”

Chapter End Notes

i know i was getting the other chapters out pretty quickly, but i got super busy while
drafting this one.

anyway, enjoy. i felt sort of weird with how the luigi part ended up so i dropped in a
little peak at where mario and peach are for flavor, even though i won't really be
focusing on them much.
 Girl Talk

“Why hasn’t… why hasn’t anybody come to negotiate for you?” Luigi asked, calling upon
the brief outline that Peach had written in the margins of some notes, squirreled away in the
library.

He had only happened upon them by chance, but they had been helpful. However, he was
sure that if Peach had wanted him to see them, she would have provided them, so he had only
read through them once before returning them to their original location.

It wasn’t that the notes seemed particularly important. Luigi assumed that she had kept them
from him simply because of how messy and disorganized they were, especially compared to
other, less hidden notes that he had found.

Naturally, Bowser didn’t answer, scribbling away at some notes. This had become a new
normal while Mario and Princess Peach were gone. Luigi sat inside every other day or so and
asked a few questions. All the while, Bowser essentially ignored him.

Sometimes this took the form of belting or playing songs or rambling about Peach whenever
Luigi spoke. The writing seemed to be rare, as it was less effective as silencing the plumber
than the other methods.

But Bowser's glares, while they hadn’t totally lost their effect in terms of making Luigi
nervous (because everything made him nervous) no longer drove him from the room. It was
more like interacting with a dog that had bitten you before but with a pane of glass between
you and it. If the dog had been shrunk down and imprisoned, and played the piano, and–

Okay, he was having trouble making the analogy. But Bowser hadn’t managed to chase him
from the room for the past few days. Not with his glares, not with his words, and not with his
annoying tendencies to avoid the question.

When Luigi opened his mouth to voice said question again, Bowser quicked his writing and
hummed very loudly.
“Would you please stop that?”

Bowser sighed wistfully, leaning back in his miniature seat. “Peach used to say that to me.”

“That’s–” Luigi was cut off by a cacophony of discordant notes, which seemed to be driven
more by spite than actual musical reasoning. Then Bowser resumed writing. “Did you pay
attention to her?”

“Of course.”

“Could you p–pay attention here?”

“I’m focusing,” Bowser gestured to the notes laid on every bare surface of his cage, poking
out of the bars in a few sections. “This takes time, you know? I’m making art! You want me
to stop focusing on art?”

“Could you focus on the conversation? I um, had a few questions.”

“Yeah, whatever. Negotiation.”

Luigi wet his lips and glanced around the room uncertainly before he caught Bowser’s eye
when the Koopa ever so briefly glanced his way. The plumber straightened up. “The princess
thought that the Magikoopa who was with you might have come to make a… truce, or a deal
or… or something.”

Bowser hummed and then appeared to process the words. “Magi–oh, uh, Kamek?” He gave
Luigi another glance. This one was more calculating. “You’ve been studying up, haven’t you,
Green Mario?”
“Luigi,” he corrected for the umpteenth time.

“Green Mario,” Bowser nodded sagely as if agreeing with Luigi.

“You could negotiate yourself too, but the princess said that you’ve just been flirting.”

“She’ll figure out what she wants eventually,” Bowser smirked, sliding a hand down his
scales. “ All girls are interested in some of this .”

Luigi moved on quickly. “... would, er, Kamek be watching your kids or something?”

“My kids,” Bowser tapped his pencil. Then he made a sound of surprise and scribbled
rapidly.

Luigi waited for him to slow down again. “Your kids?” He prompted, eventually.

“Oh,” Bowser blinked, and then grinned, all teeth. His tone lost its bemused edge, drifting
into something stained with malice. “Yeah, I did mention my kids, didn’t I?”

Luigi clutched the sides of his chair. “You did.”

“Did you ever consider that maybe it was a trap?” The Koopa leaned closer to the bars,
smirking.

Luigi swallowed. He tried speaking, but nothing came out.

Bowser laughed, loud, rumbling, punctuated noises. “Serves Mario right, that princess-
stealing, lasagna-munching plumber. I–”
“-You wouldn’t do that to Peach,” Luigi gasped, struggling to keep the words from
wavering.

Bowser’s face fell. “Well, maybe I didn’t know she would take your place.”

That… made some sense. Despite his vying for her affections and the obsessive nature in
which he did so, Bowser didn’t actually seem to know Peach very well. Maybe it was a trap.

Seemingly oblivious to Luigi’s worry, Bowser sat back with a long sigh. “Maybe it’s good
that she went. I wouldn’t want both of you plumbers checking on them.”

“Wait,” Luigi murmured. To his surprise, Bowser didn’t continue on rambling. Instead, the
reptile tilted his head and peered down at Luigi, from the slight angle upwards that the cage
gave him. “So you do have kids? You just said it was a trap!”

Bowser merely shrugged. “I said it could be a trap. But it could be both.”

“Your… kids are a trap?”

“Could be!”

Luigi moved his hands from the chair to trace his pants as he thought. He found some
comfort in the roughness of his overalls as he plucked at the seams. Bowser apparently saw
this as the end of the conversation, as he threw himself back into his writing. But after a few
minutes, Luigi spoke back up, curious.

“Could I see what you’re writing?”

This finally made him pause. The Koopa didn’t move or punctate the pause with anything
like he usually did, and instead just stared at the paper for long enough that Luigi repeated the
question.

“No,” Bowser gathered the papers closest to him, piling them messily on his piano.

“Oh,” Luigi worried his lip. “Is it… another song?”

“Maybe it’s terms for a truce.”

“... is it?”

“... no.”

“Oh.”

The silence stretched on for a long moment.

“They’re for my Peaches,” Bowser said finally. “Her eyes only. Not yours .”

Luigi nodded and finally stood. He walked to the door with purposefully slow strides, as he
tried to show that he was choosing to go when he wanted to.

As he grasped the handle, Luigi glanced back, for just a minute. “... I’m not sure she’ll like
it.”

Bowser scoffed, and the sounds of the pen writing were muffled by the door as it clicked
shut.
 this is going somewhere i swear
Chapter Notes

tw for descriptions of sensory issues

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Luigi knew that it was a bad day the moment he had woken up tangled in blankets with an
uncomfortable warmth and a texture that made him want to scream.

He detangled himself from the mess quickly, but he knew that the day wouldn’t be
salvageable. It was just something he would have to get through.

Nothing he owned seemed to fit, no matter how comfortable the outfits usually were. The
shirt he really wanted, the one that stretched further at the shoulders and loosened at the
collar and fell with the right sort of padding between himself and his overalls (which were
occasionally too rough) was dirty, and Luigi hadn’t planned around doing the laundry that
day. He would have pulled the shirt on anyway, regardless of hygiene, but the shirt was really
and truly dirty, covered in viscous saliva from a run-in with some nearby Yoshi’s. The
laundry would take too long, anyway. Luigi had already made some arrangements for short
jobs around town that he was reluctant to skip out on.

He was out of the food he looked forward to eating, and found nothing else that looked
appealing. Through a combination of refusing to look at it, and eating as quickly as possible,
he managed to get some unseasoned, crunchy veggies down his throat without gagging too
much, but that was just so he wasn’t doing things on an empty stomach.

Of course, he had been planning to use those veggies in cooking that night and would have to
pick up more at some point. Which added more to his schedule.

While the jobs he did around the town were short and low-effort, they were plentiful. Luigi
had tried to schedule enough things over the next few days to take his mind off Mario’s
continued absence. He wasn't sure how long they had expected the trip to be. Surely it was
still within the accepted range, judging by the lack of panic over the princess's disappearance.
But he couldn’t be sure.

So, stressed and unhappy, peering around anxiously with frayed nerves, Luigi gathered some
miscellaneous items and set out. He tracked down a few toads whose names (and clothing
details he had scribbled down, so he could actually find them) and made deliveries. He spoke
to them as little as possible, letting them carry any one-sided conversation as they wished,
lest he start crying or snapping at one of the rambling toads as they handed over items in
return or asked him to do something else.

Well, him actually doing those things was unlikely. It was more likely that he would just turn
and rush off. But that was rude, and he wanted to establish good relations with those in town.
Like Mario had.

Only one toad had an actual plumbing issue, though plumbing was perhaps the wrong word
for what he was doing. A miniature pipe (he wasn’t sure where it went) had some loose
supports that took up more of the morning to fix than Luigi would have hoped for, as he had
to figure out how to fix it by going out to look at other pipes of similar sizes, essentially
learning how the infrastructure worked as he did so.

Despite knowing better, he skipped out on lunch in order to skulk around his house, trying to
take comfort in the lack of socialization for a few moments before he braved the town again.
He had finished more of his projects than he thought he would, simply by going from place to
place and not stopping to spend time or look for more odd jobs.

It was unfair, really. Luigi had been doing better. He had . Aside from his anxiety about
visiting Bowser (which Luigi was sure was justified, and which he had been getting better
about), he hadn’t had any times where things just got to be too much .

It had happened a few times back in the real world. Back home . Sometimes in school, or
after that, in their job under Foreman Spike, Luigi would find himself unable to say much, or
unable to deal with very much of what was happening. He rarely stayed home. Not because
of his own sensibilities. But he would always let Mario know, and his brother would take
over some of the conversations, some of the louder or more uncomfortable jobs.
 But it hadn’t happened since coming to the Mushroom Kingdom, not even when he was
being held in a cramped cage. While shyer than his brother, Luigi had been doing his best to
be involved in things and hadn’t had any issues with pressing himself too far or finding
things too uncomfortable. So for it to happen while he wasn’t doing anything different, and
while Mario wasn’t nearby, simply seemed unfair.

Regardless of what he wanted, it was still happening. Luigi would just have to deal with it,
while it was. And that was fine. He could do that.

So he looked for something he thought he could stomach later in the day, settling on a bag of
trail mix that one of their uncles had sent with them during their last visit to their family, and
pocketed it in case he found himself hungry later.

Then he took a deep breath and stepped back into the outside world.

There were only a few more things on his to-do list, so he could probably finish them up
within the next few hours, and just settle down in his house for the rest of the time.

As long as he wasn’t forgetting anything.

Chapter End Notes

throws this at u
 Lair
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Oh, right.

There was something else on his to-do list.

It was his usual time and day to do so, but going to visit Bowser while he was in such a state
was a terrible idea. Luigi knew that. But Mario and Peach had been gone forever, and he
wanted something to show them for his efforts. And he was worried that maybe they wouldn’t
come back and his blood thumped in his ears and his pulse was rabbit-fast, and he just needed
to move and at some point traveling down the hall had become routine.

“Luigi,” one of the toads perked up as he neared them. “We were wondering if you were
going to come by today.”

Luigi swallowed past a lump in his throat and made to open his mouth. When nothing came
out, the toad glanced at the other guard before smiling. The expression was kind. Polite. And
maybe a little worried, with little creases around the toad’s eyes.

“You missed bringing in dinner,” he continued when it became obvious that Luigi wasn’t
going to say anything. “He eats quicker when you’re in there with him, so he probably hasn’t
touched it yet.”

The plumber nodded. Once, twice. Then he made to step inside.

“Are you sure you’re alright to go in?” The guard who hadn’t spoken up asked.

Luigi nodded again. Thrice. Though he was already doubting himself and regretting the
social interaction even as it was happening.
Despite this, he turned the knob and entered, mouth opening in a silent gasp as inhuman eyes
caught in the light, bright and flashing.

Before he knew it, he was pressed back against the wall, shaking, barely breathing, pinned by
the piercing glare of the creature who had held him captive.

He remembered Bowser’s rumbling laugh, the sting of claws scraping against his chest,
tearing holes into one of the shirts he liked best, the constricting force of the energy that had
wrapped around his body as Bowser screamed in his face and threatened his brother, the pain
and following ache in his head and through his chin and down his neck when Bowser had
yanked at his mustache, the dull hurt and throbbing of his limbs as he recovered from his
initial impact in the Dark Lands, the quick beating of his heard as adrenaline had pumped
through him, the fear that chased him into dreams.

Luigi had been sure he was going to die.

The feeling had waxed and waned, but they had never gone away the whole time that he was
kept prisoner. His fear had lasted from the time that Mario had pulled him down into the
sewers of New York, up until Mario had caught him, snatching him up out of the air and
delivering him to relative safety while dressed as a tanuki.

The burn of lava. The horrible, rising heat, melted through the cage and coming for him ,
and–

At some point, Luigi had sat on the ground with his gaze locked on Bowser, stewing in his
memories, unable to move forward even as he watched the Koopa grow wary of Luigi’s
look.

“ Hey !” Bowser snapped down at him. He moved around in the cage, first shifting his weight
back, and then flinging himself towards the bars of the cage nearest Luigi, making him flinch,
even as he waved a tiny, clawed hand in Luigi’s direction. “What’s going on down there? Did
you have a stroke ? What’s wrong with you?”
Luigi wanted to respond, but the words felt floaty. Out of reach. All he could do was blink
sluggishly before curling in on himself more, shaking his hands out desperately at his sides.
He felt pins and needles in his fingers, and he was lightheaded and dizzy and–

At some point, the pleasant sound of Bowser’s piano had filled the room and slowly drifted
into his thoughts, a gentle tune wafting through the air, going up a step, and then falling
again. He sucked in a breath in time with a rise and exhaled with a fall.

He tilted his head up to watch Bowser play. It was slower than the Koopa’s regular
preference. Calmer.

“Oh,” Bowser noticed, sitting back in the middle of the song to peer down to Luigi. “You’re
up again.”

“Yeah,” Luigi murmured faintly, voice wispy. “I needed a minute.”

Bowser watched him with an expression that the plumber couldn’t place. “Sometimes one of
my kids needs a minute , ya know?”

Luigi should have jumped on that, to learn more. That indicated that Mario and Peach were
exploring and possibly lost and possibly hurt and possibly -

It meant that they were out there for a reason, even if that was just to check on some kids and
establish some sort of diplomatic… something .

But thinking was hard. He couldn’t even get past his current thoughts without spiraling. So
instead, he stared, wide-eyed, at Bowser, dangling above him and peering over the edge of a
tiny, cramped cage.

“That was his piano,” Apparently, Luigi didn’t have to do anything, as Bowser launched into
a rant after a stretched-out moment of silence. “Back on my, ehhh , ship. He’s got another
back home, obviously . I didn’t steal my kid's piano, well not his main one, but he’s been
showing me how to play for a while. Real bonding experience, since he’s a genius like that.
The other’s are pretty into the music, but they don’t seem too interested in actually making
music. I mean, sometimes Roy will beat on some drums just for something to hit. Real bully,
that kid. My guess is that he wants to join in. He’s really into music when he thinks no one’s
around. He thinks I don’t know what’s up with his sunglasses. Kids, you know?”

“Your kids,” Luigi croaked finally, eyeing the corner of the tiny piano that he could see from
where he was. He wasn’t sure why they had one that size, if they had shrunk one down, or
had a replica made to keep their prisoner entertained.

“That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” Bowser mused.

“... you said it was a trap,” Luigi scraped his nail against the floor, and immediately regretted
it, able to feel the grit, dust, and grime of the floors up against the edges of the wall.
“Checking on your kids.”

Bowser tapped a claw against the bar nearest him. “I haven’t seen them since I took down the
Penguin’s kingdom. I don’t know that there’s a trap or anything, but they might… fight back.
They can hold their own, but I expect they’ve set up some sort of trap.”

Luigi sat up a bit with a realization. “You’ve been waiting on a rescue.”

“Well not from my kids –”

“-That’s why you haven’t negotiated anything.”

Bowser stuck his hand out of the cage and waved it back and forth. “Seeing Peach was an
upside, and I miiiight not be great at figuring out negotiations. Sometimes.”

Luigi sucked in a breath. Held it. Then he exhaled. “But you’re still here.”
 “Well, I haven’t had anybody come to save me yet,” Bowser shrugged. “But at least the
company isn’t bad.”

Chapter End Notes

what if you calmed him down with music.....

 Checking?
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

“Hey, plumber. Green Mario. Luigi .”

Luigi looked up from where he sat. He and Bowser had spoken for a while earlier, before
lapsing into silence while Bowser read from a book that had been propped up near the cage.
Every so often, Bowser made a motion, and Luigi turned the page for him.

He watched as the Koopa glanced between him and the door with an anxiousness to his
expression that Luigi had yet to see from his face. The look wouldn't have been odd or even
notable on someone else, but on the Koopa, it was practically alien. Bowser rarely, if ever,
seemed to care who was actually listening to him, instead boisterously declaring every word
with confidence that Luigi wished he could have.

Luigi moved closer in hopes of assuaging this look and following the unspoken request for
privacy from the guards outside. It worked. For just a moment, Bowser’s face relaxed. Then,
the other’s expression fell into something more serious.

The Koopa motioned for him to come even closer.

Luigi obliged.

“What are their plans with my kids?” Bowser asked, voice dropping down into a poor attempt
at a whisper.

Luigi paused, blinking at him.

He… wasn’t sure, but suddenly, he could feel Bowser’s worry, could hear a tinge of anxiety
in his question. It was apparent in his actions too, in the dip of his shoulders around his shell,
and the franticness of his looks as he kept peering around for other potential listeners.

Keeping his voice just as quiet, following the tone Bowser had set, Luigi responded. “The
princess said they were going to check on them.”

Bowser reached through the bars, pushing against the cage and grabbing at him in one swift
motion as it swung at Luigi. He caught Luigi’s mustache, and the plumber winced and
followed the inertia of the cage so it pulled less. “You could just let me go . I could check on
them.”

Luigi stuttered, reaching up to try and reclaim his mustache.

In the back of his mind, he knew that this would have sent him into a panic not long ago,
bringing up memories of his imprisonment. Heck, it might have sent him into one if he were
in a worse state emotionally. But now, it was more like an annoyance.

Possibly an annoyance that would send him into a panic once his nerves were too frayed
again, though.

“Come on,” Bowser said, though he sounded more scared than angry. “You were in my
dungeons for a while. You’re scared of me, huh? That’s what the fuss was about last time.”

“I’m scared of a lot of things. Not just you.” Luigi snapped, stepping back a bit once he
finally pulled the reptile off his hair. His face stung where his hair had been pulled, and ached
with the memory of it being yanked out.

“Frankly, I’m surprised that you haven’t taken any revenge yet,” Bowser revealed, the
volume of his voice rising into something accusatory. “First you stick me in a cage and
demand that I surrender to you, and then you just expect me to believe that the plan is to
‘check’ on my kids.”
“I don’t–you trusted Peach, I thought you—“ The hopeful feeling that had been blossoming
within Luigi wilted when he took in Bowser’s horrified expression, the frantic looks he gave
the door, and the fists curled desperately around the nearest bars as he pressed against them,
as if physics might decide to take a break and let him escape.

Bowser always held himself like he was still a king. Like he didn’t know what a prisoner
was. He was always loud, excited, fun . To see him crammed up against the bars, looking like
he might die if he didn’t get an answer made something in Luigi’s stomach churn.

“They aren’t going to do anything,” Luigi promised frantically. “The princess and Mario are
just making sure they’re alright.”

Bowser’s expression brightened and fell all at once. “The princess, sure. But Mario .”

Truthfully, Luigi was more certain of Mario’s concern for the kids than the princesses. It was
possible that more worries about political unrest had driven her more so than the thought of
someone else’s citizens. Not that Paach wasn’t kind or maternal or anything. She was just…
intense.

“... my brother.”

“He’s a thief ,” Bowser barked. Then, concerned, and sounding more like a family friend that
Luigi and Mario had babysat for as teens than the evil ruler of a kingdom, he asked, “Is he
trustworthy with kids?”

“He’s my older brother,” Luigi said faintly. “He took care of me.”

Bowser glanced him over carefully as if judging the validity of this claim.

For a moment, Luigi was offended on Mario’s behalf. While their numerous family members
cared greatly for the set of brothers, none of them quite understood him as well as Mario had,
and vice versa. His elder brother had done a fine job helping him, and was great with kids!
Fortunately, Bowser nodded a moment later, tail slumping as at least some of his worries
were assuaged. He backed away from the bars a couple of steps, opening and closing his jaw
as if he wanted to say more, and making aborted steps back towards his desk.

He appeared uneasy, even as he turned and played a few notes of the piano while he stood
beside it.

Cold, tense, and moving oddly, Bowser fingered a few of the keys to create a little diddy and
hit the wrong note. He tried again. Spasmed. Moved a claw and hit a note so sharp in contrast
to the others that it made Luigi wince. Then he slammed the cover of the piano closed with a
thud and moved to his desk instead.

“Bowser?”

“ What ?” The Koopa raked a claw across his desk, scattering papers to the ground. A couple
drifted down to the floor.

Luigi ducked to pick up the papers and slotted them back through the bars, only for Bowser
to grab and tear the stack to shreds.

“You—didn't you work hard on that?”

“What else am I supposed to do in here?” For emphasis, Bowser stood, knocking his bench
over and reaching out to display the lack of things in his cage. There was a desk, a bed, a
piano, and little else available, especially in the ways of entertainment.

“You could—“

“I don’t care! Get out .”

 “… Bowser-?”

“ Luigi ,” Bowser snarled, jaw closing around something that glowed red. He swallowed it
down before the fire could be realized, and, with tendrils of smoke pouring from his nostrils,
he gestured to the door. “ Please get out.”

Chapter End Notes

hi. stuff got busy

 In Awe
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Luigi had given Bowser’s words thought. It had taken some time to get his mind around what
the Koopa had spoken about. But he was right.

They had locked him in a small cage with very little stimulation, and limited company or
contact.

Luigi couldn’t find much else on prisoners in the Mushroom Kingdom, as it seemed like
there simply weren’t any others. As such, there was no jail for the nonexistent prisoners to
stay in.

Of course, Bowser had kept Luigi and many others in similar states, in cages by themselves
with little room. But Luigi had begun to suspect that Bowser hadn’t really known what to do
with prisoners either, up until his elaborate plan to sacrifice them at a wedding. From the
other captives Luigi had been able to speak with in Bowser’s clutches, it had sounded like
Bowser hadn’t taken prisoners before his quest for Princess Peach.

So, as much as Luigi was sure that Bowser liked the piano, what with how often he was
creating and playing music, he was sure that Bowser liked other things as well, things that
weren’t in his cramped cage.

Of course, when he tried to bring it up during his next visit, Bowser looked at him like Luigi
had grown a second head. Like he didn’t know what he was on about.

The look was enough to make Luigi quiet about the subject. If Bowser didn’t want to talk
about it, Luigi would let him avoid the subject.

So instead, Luigi watched Bowser pace his cage with rapt attention. And once he stopped
obsessing over their last interaction, something occurred to him. Something harmless.
Something… endearing.
It wasn’t that the Koopa was necessarily less scary while tiny. No, Bowser still made him a
bit uncomfortable with the glint of his too-wide smiles and the rage-filled, almost delighted
way he marched about. And he was sure that he would still be intimidated when Bowser was
large again (because that would happen eventually). But that was no longer the only thing
Luigi lingered on when looking at the Koopa. Even their last interaction, when Bowser had
been full of fear and rage hadn’t truly scared Luigi. Not like it would have back before he had
grown to know the Koopa more personally.

And it wasn’t because Luigi was less scared or anxious in general, because he didn’t think he
was going to get over that anytime soon.

It was because of why Bowser had been so worked up. Not just the frustration and isolation
that Luigi sought to lessen, but instead, out of worry for his children.

“You just don't know when to quit,” Luigi mused, not realizing that he was speaking his awe
aloud until the Koopa responded.

“What?” Bowser asked, glancing back at him.

“I-er. I asked how many kids you have.”

Bowser considered this for a long moment, apparently not finding Luigi’s panicked response
suspicious. “Eeeeeeight? I don’t think that’s what you said.”

“Of course, I mean–you have eight kids?”

“Obviously.”

“How is that obvious?!”

“Well, I said I had a bunch. I talked about like… two of them?”

“That isn’t anywhere near eight.”

Bowser shrugged.

“Are they uh,” Luigi scrambled for something to ask about the kids, now that he had the
Koopa talking. But instead, he was just thinking about Bowser having kids again. Was he a
good dad? He cared a lot, so he was probably good with them. At least, as good as someone
bent on kidnapping and sacrificing people could be. So, instead of something intelligent,
Luigi found himself blurting the first thing he thought of. “Are your kids cute?”

“Of course,” Bowser said indignantly. Then, less certainly. “Probably? My Wendy is
adorable, a little Kootie Pie, you know.”

“I don’t know what that…”

“Junior’s quite handsome,” Bowser listed, thoughtfully. “A chip off the old block. I guess
they’re all sort of cute? I think Roy is leaning more into a ‘cool’ sort of thing right now,
though. You mushroom people might have weird perceptions of cute, though.”

“Oh, I’m not a mushroom… person.”

“Yeah, yeah. Person, person,” Bowser waved this away and leaned towards the bars, teeth
glinting in the light. “So you think kids related to me are cute?”
Across kingdoms, in the depths of the Darklands, Mario stumbled near an edge and
frantically waved his arms to get his balance back. As soon as he did, he ducked under a
flaming hot ball of magic, while Peach effortlessly vaulted through a quick barrage of them
off to his right.

“Over there!” She shouted, pointing quickly to the small Koopa hopping about on some
moving platforms, ducking back as another searing magic blast floated past where her hand
had been.

Mario winced, sidestepping several more. “I guess you don’t have a plan?”

“My plan was to try talking to him!”

“I don’t really think the kid is listening.”

“Of course, I’m listening!” The Koopaling sneered, hopping from platform to platform as he
waved around his magic wand. “I just don’t want to talk to the jerks who kidnapped King
Dad!”

“We want to talk to you about your dad,” Peach attempted, spreading out her hands like the
appeal would help.

“Well, I want you to talk to this !” The kid waved his wand and shot more projectiles their
way before hopping further out of their range.

Another beam came from the side, taking Mario off guard. It burned for a split second, before
the pain dissipated, leaving the plumber feeling much smaller as he lost his power-up.

Mario mumbled a curse, trying to be quiet. However, judging by the Koopaling’s choked
snort of laughter, it must not have been that quiet. “Peach! There’s more .”
 The princess slowed down and craned her neck up to follow his gesture, easily spotting the
crowded, floating clown car full of pushing and shoving children, elbowing each other.

One towards the front, with blue hair fanning out to the sides, appeared to have shoved his
way to the front, where he was leaning over the edge of the device and waving a wand.

“We could split up?”

Peach kept her voice even as she hopped over the spinning Koopa, who had finally left the
safety of the higher platforms. “Last time we split up, those kids nearly captured you.”

“Well now there’s,” Mario paused, counting, and stumbling to the side before he called his
tally. “Six more?”

“Seven!” One of the kids screeched from above, clambering up out of the basket and over the
edge of the car before two more kids caught and dragged him back in again.

“There’s seven more,” Mario corrected.

“Stop talking and take this seriously!” The Koopa they were fighting snapped.

The blue-haired Koopa from above hopped onto one of the higher platforms as the clown car
lowered a bit, laughing. “ I’ll help them take this seriously!”

The rest of the kids jeered as two Koopaling’s faced them. Mario glanced at Peach, noting
how she bit her lip. Then he steeled himself for a fight.

Chapter End Notes

They're fighting Larry and Ludwig in the end there
 it's our house now
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Mario squirmed in the ropes holding him—and Peach—prisoner, but they didn’t budge. He
couldn’t reach the knots, with his hands tied to Peach’s, and he had no way to shrink or
enlarge himself. Nor did the princess, or she would have already used them to get free.

He glanced out at the group of kids, but was reluctant to try getting their attention. He didn’t
really want to draw the ire of a bunch of magic-flinging troublemakers, and they seemed
perfectly fine arguing about what to do, now that they had taken their prisoners.

While he had felt bad before, about fighting kids, he was finding it hard to call upon that
same sympathy now that they had kidnapped himself and Peach. Those kids were really
vicious, and his hesitation in fighting them certainly hadn’t helped matters.

Peach leaned from where she was tied behind his back, and moved her legs to push herself to
the side until Mario realized what she was doing. He moved with her, and they turned to the
side so both of them could see Bowser’s children, instead of just Mario looking at them.

He realized, belatedly, that she must have been staring at the barren tree behind them for a
while, and felt bad that he hadn’t helped her move sooner. When he glanced back in the
direction that she had been facing for the past while, he couldn’t see anything helpful, though
he was sure that she had looked plenty. There were no blocks, no powerups, and nobody who
seemed like they might stand against the Koopas.

“Have they decided on anything?” Peach asked quietly, though Mario didn’t think they
necessarily needed to be very quiet. The Koopalings were far enough away that Mario didn’t
think they would overhear them, and they seemed to have only gotten louder over the last
few minutes. He wondered, idly, whether they thought being the loudest made them the most
right.

Mario ran Peach’s question back through his head and grimaced. Truthfully, he hadn’t been
listening very closely past the first hour or so of the group calling each other names. He, at
least, had gotten somewhat of a handle on their actual names during this time, but had
gleaned little else, besides the fact that they didn’t seem to have a real plan. “I don’t think
they can agree on much of anything.”

Peach shifted and hummed thoughtfully. “We could always try to stand up and leave.”

Mario peered down at their unsecured legs. It would be difficult to walk, with one of them
constantly going backward, or both of them having to step sideways, and he didn’t really like
their chances if they had to jump a pit of lava or something, of which there was a lot, in the
Darklands. “Wouldn’t they just catch up to us?”

“They seem pretty distracted,” Peach mused. He felt her head turn as she glanced around.
“But they might. We could always…”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t freak out,” Peach said, which made him want to freak out. “We could get their
attention.”

“What?” Mario asked, alarmed.

Peach didn’t answer, instead leaning slightly to call out to the group, dragging Mario along
with her, and nearly sending them both tumbling over. “Hey, we want to talk with you!”

One or two of the kids glanced in their direction but didn’t stop arguing.

Mario shook his head, trying to banish his certainty about what a bad idea this was before he
too yelled over to them. “Come on! We just want to talk!”

“Yeah,” Peach tacked on. “Aren’t you at least going to interrogate your prisoners?”
Mario jerked and tried to look back at her in alarm, not wanting to invite that possibility, but
it didn’t seem like the Koopalings were going to take it. The group started to argue more
loudly, gesturing in their direction, but it didn’t seem like they were going to come over.

“Well, Princess,” Mario hesitated. “I guess it didn’t end up working—”

“Wait,” Peach hissed. “Look.”

Mario looked and saw one of the smallest of the group’s members—Junior, Bowser Junior,
that is—wandering their way, glancing back at the other kids often. He looked like he was
trying to be stealthy, but didn’t quite have a good handle on it. Mario and Peach went quiet
until he came to a stop a step or two away from them, and peered up.

“Hey there,” Mario tried, and the kid scoffed and crossed his arms. “Hey, why don’t you
untie us? I’m sure—”

“—He means,” Peach cut him off. “We wanted to talk with you. Is that your older brother…”
she hesitated, and Mario realized that he also had no idea which one was the oldest, and had
no idea which one to gesture to. “Over there?”

The kid opened his mouth to respond before one of the other Koopas yelled loudly in their
direction, cutting him off. “Junior! Get over here!”

The child beside them blinked and turned with a baffled grin.

Roy, a pink Koopaling with sunglasses, had taken several steps away from the rest of the
group, toward where Mario and Princess Peach were being held captive. The other members
of the group noticed, and the Koopalings finally moved closer to them as they followed Roy,
though Mario couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or not.

“Don’t yell at him,” Ludwig, the kid with wild blue hair, lectured as he followed Roy.
“Oh yeah?” Roy challenged, glancing back at him. “I could yell at you.”

“That would hardly be a productive—”

“Junior get over here!” Wendy hollered, banging her hands down on the nearest rock she
passed, rattling her jewelry.

Junior crossed his arms and waited for his siblings to get closer. “Why?”

Lemmy, who had been spending his time atop a large yellow ball rolled it a bit closer and
then flopped back on top of it. “Just listen to her.”

Roy glanced around at the group, obviously annoyed. “How come Wendy doesn’t get told off
for yelling at him, huh?”

“Wendy,” Ludwig scowled pointedly. “Don’t yell at him. There, is that enough for you?”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Wendy stopped her foot.

“No,” Roy scoffed. “You weren’t nearly mad enough at her.”

“You can’t be mad at a girl!” She huffed.

“You can if she’s a little—”

“Hey,” Morton interrupted, pausing to glance at them before he pointed at Mario and Peach.
“Junior’s still over there.”
Junior shuffled in place and stepped closer to Mario and Peach. Mario almost warned him
away, because the kid was clearly pushing his luck with how much his siblings would let him
get away with. It was almost like they were treating Peach and himself like a threat, though
Mario thought it pretty obvious that he couldn’t do anything while restrained like this. But
when he started to speak, Peach elbowed him. He shut up.

“Junior,” Ludwig scolded, reaching out to coax him over. “Come this way.”

“Why?” Junior asked again, tone plaintive. He looked at Mario, wrinkled up his face, and
then looked at Peach. “Tell them I don’t have to.”

Peach pursed her lips, glancing between the arguing group and the little Koopa who had
wandered over. Quietly, she asked her question, even as Roy stalked forward. “Is your name
Bowser Junior?”

The kid blinked and swung his arms. “Yeah.”

“Are those your siblings?”

“Are you Peach?”

“I am.”

“Then—” Junior was cut off by Sunglasses picking him up. “Let me down!”

“We told you not to come over here!” Wendy chided, poking out from Roy’s side to sneer at
Mario and Peach.

“But she’s got dad!”

“We know she has King Dad, that’s why—”

“Do you want to see your father?” Peach asked. “He wanted to see you, too.”

“Where is he?” Larry stepped around Roy’s other side, eyeing Peach suspiciously as he
waved a wand around threateningly. “What’d you do with him?”

Though he couldn’t see it, Mario could feel Peach straightening up and composing herself.
“King Bowser is being held within my palace walls. We were trying to negotiate terms of
peace and his surrender, when he brought up concern for all of you. We wanted to make sure
you were safe—“

“We weren’t left unattended,” Ludwig scoffed. “There was no need to “check” on us unless
you’re also trying to take us as prisoners.”

“Woah, woah, that isn’t it. Look, I don’t exactly see any guardians, kid,” Mario pointed out,
nodding to the group as a whole. “And don’t try kidding yourself. You aren’t old enough to
be watching your siblings like this.”

Ludwig bristles. “My siblings are none of your concern.”

“Yeah!” Iggy leaned against Lemmy’s ball, forcing Lemmy to stand and rebalance. “We
didn’t give Kamek the slip just for you to come trying to babysit us.”

“Still,” Peach tried to regain control of the conversation. “The capture of Bowser could have
left a power vacuum in its place, and you might not have been safe. We just wanted to make
sure—“

“So Dad’s in your castle?” Junior asked, climbing over Roy’s shoulder.
“Ludwig?” Lemmy moved the ball away from Iggy, who stumbled and fell without it to hold
him up. “I thought you said…“

Although he trailed off, Iggy sat up from the ground, seemingly catching where he was going
with that statement. He looked at Ludwig accusingly. “You said he wouldn’t be in the
Mushroom Kingdom!”

Larry crossed his arms. “We could’ve been there by now.”

“I didn’t know for sure!” Ludwig defended. “It might’ve been a waste of time.”

“Where else would they be keeping him?”

“How am I to know?”

“Kids,” Mario snapped. “Come on, let us go and we’ll talk about getting you back to your
dad.”

Instead of devolving back into an angry debate, as Mario expected, or letting them go, as
Mario hoped, the group quieted and turned toward their captives.

“Uh,” Mario backpedaled. “What did I say?”

“Why would we let you go?” Larry grinned. “You’re the ones who captured Dad.”

Peach shook her head, and her hair hit the back of Mario’s neck. “We want to negotiate a
peace, and—”
 “Negotiation this, negotiation that. There’s no negotiating,” Morton grinned. “You’re our
prisoners, now.”

“We have the princess and the one who beat Dad,” Ludwig mused. “Do you think they’ll let
us right in the palace gates if we show them our hostages?”

“They better,” Wendy scoffed. “I’m getting tired of this trip. Can’t we get headed there
already?”

“All in good time,” Ludwig said. Then he stepped up to Peach. “You wanted to talk to me?”

Peach hesitated. “Are you the oldest?”

“I am.”

“Oh,” she sagged slightly. “Listen—”

“Ludwig,” Mario supplied, leaning back.

“Ludwig,” Peach went on. “I can tell you care a lot about your siblings. I wanted to ask if—“

Ludwig stepped to the side, and let Morton heft Mario and Peach up into the air by the rope,
ignoring their yelps of surprise.

“We’ll ask the questions around here,” Ludwig taunted, amidst a snickering audience of
Koopalings. “Starting with what exactly you did to King Dad.”

Chapter End Notes

Sorry it's been so long!!! A lot of stuff happened and I got pretty busy. I kind of figured
nobody was really in the market for more Bowser x Luigi stuff so this fell by the
wayside a little, until I got a comment a couple days ago, checked, and saw that there's
actually a lot of people bookmarked/subscribed to this one. I felt bad and wanted to give
you guys something.

I know there isn't Bowser or Luigi in this one, you'll just have to trust me! Remember to
comment if you liked it :).

I (literally) just made a sideblog on tumblr to talk about my fics somewhere. I'm setting
it up currently, but it would be a place where I talk about the fics I'm working on
currently. Being reminded that people are actually reading my work goes a long way in
my working on it so be sure to check it out <3.
 let him out
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

“Bowser,” Luigi called timidly as he entered the room.

Bowser paused the light refrain he had been playing, turning to look at Luigi. His eyes lit up,
and a toothy grin spread across his features. “Back already?” He asked, delighted. “You just
can’t stay away, can you? Not that I could blame you, of course.”

Luigi averted his gaze shyly but found himself unable to deny this, instead giving a short,
choked noise in response that made Bowser guffaw. After all, it was early afternoon—a little
past lunch, and far before dinner—not at all within the usual timeframe that Luigi visited
Bowser during, which usually coincided with mealtimes.

But he had had an idea and hadn’t wanted to wait to enact it. Not when nobody needed his
services today. He didn’t know how much longer Mario and Princess Peach would be gone,
so he needed to act while he had the opportunity to do so.

“Well?” Bowser stood from his piano and stepped over to the edge of his cage, peering at
Luigi curiously. “Don’t keep me in suspense.”

Luigi shifted closer and lowered his voice, glancing back nervously in the direction of the
closed doors behind him. “I wanted to… suggest something.”

Bowser raised a ridged brow, crossing his arms. “Suggest what?”

He motioned frantically with his hands for Bowser to quiet his voice, though the Koopa
didn’t seem to understand what he meant by this. “Shh,” he hissed, and immediately
regretted it when he saw Bowser’s confused expression light up in recognition.
“Oh!” Bowser exclaimed. “A secret?”

“No,” Luigi whispered quickly. Then he paused and corrected himself. “Er—yes, but be
quiet.”

Bowser’s grin grew, along with his obvious excitement. “The toads don’t know?”

“They will if you don’t be quiet,” Luigi said, shooting the door he had come through a
worried look.

He wasn’t sure about his plan. Not when the toads outside the door had been so much nicer to
him than he had expected. They asked him about his day, sometimes, when he wasn’t so
obviously nervous or fidgety, and they always acted relieved when he came to help deal with
Bowser. He didn’t want to trick or betray them in any way.

Luigi hadn’t been there long, and didn’t know what he would do if caught, or what would be
done to him, by decision of the Toad Council in her stead.

Mario was the one on good terms with the Mushroom Kingdom. Luigi had done what he
could to fit in and make a name for himself, but he was simply too shy—too reliant on his
brother’s help to make connections. He was only included in any royal decisions because he
had helped his brother in their final confrontation against Bowser, after being held captive for
his entire stay in this alternate world. He was just riding on Mario’s coattails and hoping for
the best.

But now, there was something that Luigi could do. There was something that he had been
doing. He had been talking with Bowser, and somehow, had convinced himself that the
reptile was getting better. Luigi was understanding him.

“Well?” Bowser huffed, loud as ever. “What is it?”

This was a horrible idea, but to leave Bowser in a cage with next to nothing to do was cruel.
Princess Peach had trusted Luigi to help deal with Bowser, and to get answers out of him
where she had failed.

He had already gotten more out of Bowser than anybody else had—and it had helped him
come to the understanding that the way they were treating their prisoner wasn’t very
conducive to long-term imprisonment, or for making him feel secure enough to give away
answers that could endanger people dear to him.

They were supposed to be the good guys, but Luigi didn’t feel good, with Bowser locked up
like that.

It wasn’t like Bowser had kept his prisoners any better. He might have deserved this fate, but
Luigi could be the better person. He wasn’t going to leave Bowser alone in semi-solitary
confinement, being treated as less than a person just because they had magically shrunk him,
and had the ability to keep him locked away from anything or anybody that he might have
taken some measure of comfort in.

Bowser was so far away from home.

“I’m going to let you out,” Luigi said, quietly and intently.

Bowser blinked. “Sorry, can you say that again? I thought you said you were going to—”

Luigi reached through the bars, glad that Bowser had stood close to the edge of the cage, and
closed his fingers around Bowser’s jaw, pinching it shut and muffling the rest of what he was
about to shout into the room.

Bowser’s eyes widened and he made a noise, grabbing at Luigi’s fingers before hot sparks
from his nose bit through Luigi’s gloves, stinging his fingers, and he tore his hands away.

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean—I just meant for you to—”
Bowser waved it away, working his jaw and looking at Luigi oddly. Finally, he spoke, this
time more quietly. “So you’re breaking me out?”

“Not,” Luigi cleared his throat. “Not exactly. I would bring you back after, but I… I thought
you should get out and—and take a walk around some. I know you’ve been feeling really
cooped up in there—”

“Hah,” Bowser said drolly. “Kooped.”

“—And I wanted to let you get some fresh air—or something.”

Bowser crossed his arms, glancing to the side thoughtfully. “You would keep me small.”

Luigi hesitated, realizing that maybe Bowser wouldn’t want to leave his cage if Luigi wasn’t
going to take him outside. That would be risking a potentially harsher sentence, if they were
caught. Luigi had been thinking about himself while weighing the consequences, but Bowser
would be risking so much more. He had children to think of. Bowser surely wanted to get out
to see them at some point. “Yeah. I don’t have to take you anywhere if you don’t want to, I
just wanted to offer—”

“No, I’ll do it,” Bowser said, grinning, sharp and toothy. “But I won’t be happy about it.”

Luigi’s face twisted with confusion. “But—”

Bowser grabbed hold of the bars of his cage, rattling it and swinging it forward, so it would
have hit Luigi if he hadn’t stepped back. “Get me out, mustachioed man!” He paused. “How
are you going to get past the guards?”

“They don’t usually check on you until it’s time to eat, right?” Luigi asked.
 Bowser waved a hand back and forth. “Sure. Mostly.”

That was reassuring. “I’ll come back by then. You’re so small you could,” Luigi grimaced
and uncertainly mimed how small Bowser was. “Hide in my pocket, or under my hat.”

“Wow,” Bowser mused, stepping back. He tapped his chin thoughtfully with a claw as he
glanced Luigi over as if carefully picking apart all of the hiding spots in his clothes. “You’ve
really been thinking this through, haven’t you?”

Luigi couldn’t tell if he was being facetious or not. Still, he put on a brave face. “You said
you haven’t had anything to do. I wanted to help.”

“That’s really…” Voice thick, Bowser turned back to his piano. Luigi saw the dip in his tail,
and the slight hunching of his shoulders, as if drawing in protectively around his front while
his hard, spiked shell defended him. Luigi felt a pang in his chest at the sight. “That’s really
stupid of you, plumber. But what else would I expect?”

Luigi bit back a reply, and waited. Sure enough, Bowser spun back around a moment later,
expression bright, and smile wide and devious.

“Well?” He clapped his scaled hands together, the sound echoing around the room. “Let’s get
this show on the road!”

Chapter End Notes

Back to your regularly-scheduled Bowser and Luigi shenanigans!

 the librarby
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Luigi made it down the hall, stiffly past the toads who waved cheerfully at him, around the
corner, through the kitchens, and to the very entrance of the vacated library before he sank
down. The weight on his head shifted as he fell to his knees in front of the sea of books.

“Woah,” Bowser called, muffled from his hat. “Watch it plumber, I might start to, ah—” he
paused and lowered his voice. “Are we, uh… alone?”

Luigi couldn’t speak. His heart pounded, his vision tunneling before him. He managed a nod,
dizzy and desperate as he gasped for air that he couldn’t seem to get enough of.

The nodding of his head dislodged the individual riding on it, and Bowser tumbled, his fall
cushioned by Luigi’s hat as he landed in his lap.

“Hey!” Bowser yelped, squirming to stand up, cupped as he was within Luigi’s cap. Luigi
could feel the weight of his clawed feet on his thighs, pushing at the hat in two little indents
on each foot. He was probably puncturing the fabric. Someone would ask about that. “What’s
your problem? You knew I was—”

He stopped suddenly, quieting. Luigi couldn’t find it in himself to care, breathing heavily as
he stared straight ahead, trying not to freak out.

Bowser moved around on his lap some more. It was too short a fall for him to get hurt, even
as minuscule as he was, so Luigi shoved away any worries of Bowser taking a sudden hit and
returning to his full height.

Oh. Oh. Bowser could have pushed his way from Luigi’s hat at any point, forcibly taking
enough damage to make himself grow again by plummeting to the floor. Luigi should have
thought of that. He should have taken Bowser in his pocket.
He shouldn’t have rescued Bowser at all.

Either it hadn’t occurred to the Koopa as an option to reclaim his usual form, or he
purposefully hadn’t done it, for whatever reason. But why would he—?

Small, clawed hands wrapped around Luigi’s wrist, just under his gloves. “Plumber?”

Luigi sucked in a breath and looked down.

“You sure get worked up a lot, don’t you?” Bowser asked, patting his arm as he settled down
against Luigi’s arm.

“I shouldn’t have done this,” Luigi rasped, staring down at him. “I don’t… I shouldn’t have
done this. I can’t believe I did this.”

“First time breaking the rules?” Bowser grinned. Luigi shrugged helplessly, his arms feeling
heavy at his sides. “Hey, don’t worry so much about it. You already did it! If you panic now,
you’re gonna psych yourself out.”

Luigi’s breath picked up again. His chest heaved. He felt nauseous.

“Hey,” Bowser yelped, squeezing the skin on his arm. “That isn’t how I meant it. Hey, focus
here. You already did it! That’s something. Hey, come on. Tell me all about it! Get it out of
your system.”

Luigi squeezed his hands into fists, feeling the seams of the gloves along his fingertips. He
felt Bowser’s weight in his lap. He felt Bowser’s squeezing hold soften, scaled fingers with
sharp claws rubbing harmlessly into his arm.
He could have hurt Luigi, even like this. He could drive his claws into Luigi’s skin as a
distraction while running to recoup and regain his form. But he wasn’t.

Luigi swallowed and looked down at Bowser’s beseeching expression.

“I miss my brother,” he blurted.

“Oh,” Bowser squinted at him. “I know. You’ve already told me this.” He waited a moment
for Luigi to go on. When he didn’t, Bowser waved a claw in the air. “You don’t know where
he is, right?”

Luigi nodded slowly. “And… you miss your kids. You don’t know where they are, either.”

“I miss Peach, too, but we don’t know where she is, either.” Bowser sighed and slumped back
against Luigi, leaning against his lower stomach. He studied one of his claws, turning his
hand this way and that. “But you know, I don’t think it’s going to work out between us.”

Luigi blinked. “Between you and me?”

Bowser gave him a weird look, but moved on quickly. “Between me and Peach! I dunno if
she’d be a good parent, you know?”

Luigi had no idea. “She seems nice.”

“Doesn’t she just?” Bowser sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I feel like it’s a little bit of an act. I
hear she likes plumbers of all things.”

Luigi startled. “I mean—I guess?”

“Can’t imagine why,” Bowser said, slumping.

“Her and Mario have been getting along well enough,” Luigi pondered.

“Leaving us behind,” Bowser pointed out.

“Well, they’re checking on your kids, so you’re still sort of involved.”

“But I’m not the main focus!” Bowser lamented. “I still can’t imagine why she turned me
down.”

“Can you really not?” Luigi asked. Bowser stared at him blankly, and Luigi waved his hands
around the lizard in his lap, gesticulating as he tried to figure out what to say. “You invaded
her kingdom! These aren’t—these aren’t your lands to take.”

“Peach isn’t from here, either,” Bowser argued. “So I deserve to rule this land just as much as
she does.”

“She isn’t?”

“Ehh,” Bowser waved a clawed hand. “That’s the story I’ve heard. The toads found a baby
and made it their ruler. But it doesn’t matter. I was going to take this land as its new rightful
ruler. These toads—”

“You were going to force her to marry you!”

“And she was going to say yes!” Bowser snapped, but as he opened his mouth to say more,
something clattered out in the hall.
Both of them went silent, turning to stare at the door, listening as someone walked through it,
their footsteps echoing down the hall.

Luigi gathered his hat and Bowser into his hands and stepped further into the otherwise
empty library, aiming to find a place where they were less likely to be immediately seen or
overheard.

Bowser tilted in his hold, and Luigi moved to accommodate the weight shift. “Maybe I got
too ahead of myself executing the prisoners.”

“Really?” Luigi trembled beneath his touch, slowing as Bowser patted his wrist.

“Maybe!” Bowser glanced up at him. “Maybe some distance is giving me perspective. Maybe
I’m constantly surrounding myself with people who can’t say no to me without suffering
consequences.”

Luigi felt strangely calm—a little cold, as if the sudden shift in topics had left him dunked in
ice water. But calm. He sat Bowser down on a desk and sat before him, leaning in to speak to
him on his level. “I guess there aren’t a lot of people here to tell you yes all the time.”

“Well, it could also be that I’m slowly going insane from the lack of things to do in this
stupid castle and the social isolation.”

Luigi hesitantly reached out to brush his knuckles against Bowser’s tiny form. All the foreign
king did was put his claw on top of Luigi’s hand, keeping him from drawing back. “That’s
why I brought you here.”

“I figured,” Bowser said, well-humored. “You’re too much of a pansy to help me with an
escape attempt, and enough of a nerd to think that this would be a good place to take me.”

“It’s a good place to hide,” Luigi defended weakly. “Nobody comes in here.”
“For good reason!” Bowser laughed. “But I guess this works until you bring me back.”

“... Until I bring you back.” Luigi felt some of that sickness bubble back up. “You’re gonna
fight me, aren’t you?”

“Nah. I’m not going to fight you.” Bowser seemed to consider this for a moment. “Probably.”

“You’re—you’re not?” Luigi asked with exhausted relief.

“No,” Bowser said with some finality, marching up to Luigi and stopping short of the desks
edge. “I think I like you too much to fight you.”

“Oh,” Luigi said, startled. “Thank you?”

“No problem,” Bowser plucked at his overalls. “Stand up.”

Luigi stood, dusting himself off with one hand while he lifted and cradled Bowser with the
other, holding the Koopa to his chest.

He could feel every shift as Bowser balanced himself on Luigi’s palm—every twitch and
change as Bowser moved, taking half-steps with tiny, scaled, reptilian feet until he stood at a
better angle.

“You should tell me more about your kids,” Luigi requested.

“You mean a stalker like you doesn’t already know?” Bowser said, his voice betraying his
glee.
 “St—stalker?” Luigi asked, voice pitching high with nerves.

“You’ve been reading about me,” Bowser said sagely. “Stalker. But sure. Let’s see if this
library has anything good.”

Chapter End Notes

happy new years. i think we're checking back in with mario and peach again next
chapter
 direction
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes

Away from the younger children, Mario and Peach talked with Ludwig. They had already
agreed to tell the children as much of the truth as they could, without needlessly upsetting the
kids or endangering themselves. After all, the trek had been at least partially to ensure that
Bowser’s children were safe and accounted for without their father, thereby ensuring that
someone was watching over them and not using the king’s absence as an opportunity to fill a
power vacuum.

It seemed like someone was watching the kids, at least, even if they had left their babysitter
behind. In that sense, it was good that Mario and Peach had been taken prisoner, at least so
there was an adult presence watching the children.

Not that they could do much now that they had been taken captive.

“You’re treating my father like an animal,” Ludwig said, disgusted, when Peach worriedly
asked him what was wrong. While Ludwig was doing a decent job at measuring his temper
and not blowing up at them, it was obvious that the news was distressing him.

Mario wasn’t too sympathetic to Bowser’s plight, given Bowser’s idea of imprisonment
included fiery hot death by lava, but in hindsight, but in retrospect, it seemed kind of… cruel
to leave Bowser strung up in a bird cage.

Mario didn’t know what else they could have done. The Mushroom Kingdom hadn’t seemed
well-equipped to deal with more than the occasional mischief-maker, and without even
proper jail cells, there was no way to keep a prisoner as powerful as the Koopa King under
lock and key, especially if he were at full size and strength.

But maybe they should have tried to find another way to handle him.
“We’re doing what we can,” Peach said diplomatically. “He’s being treated with decency, and
it’s only temporary.”

“I know it’s temporary,” Ludwig said, expression hardening. “He’s only stuck there until we
break him out.”

Mario knew they needed to stop the Koopalings before they got to the Mushroom Kingdom,
but hearing Ludwig like that reminded Mario of his own determination to save Luigi from
Bowser’s clutches. How it had gone so wrong that they were stuck the other way around was
worrying, to say the least.

He couldn’t fault the Koopalings for wanting to save their dad, but he decided that, as
Ludwig abruptly ended the conversation and called his siblings back over, he couldn’t be
happy about it either.

Someone was bound to get hurt if they couldn’t figure out how to make peace.

They were lost.

The kids had been marching Mario and Peach along, having decided to keep them as political
prisoners, until about an hour ago, at which point they had stopped to consult a map. It
wasn’t the first time they had stopped, though each other time had been resolved in a matter
of minutes. This time, the arguing hadn’t died down even once. They very clearly had no idea
which direction to go, and when Mario had quietly asked the princess if she had any idea—
they had been split up to walk, but had been seated next to each other under the wandering
gaze of Lemmy—she had grimly shaken her head and taken to silence.

“I don’t get it,” Larry complained, speaking loudly to be heard over the wailing from Junior.

Ludwig glanced sideways at Larry, looking for all the world like an overwhelmed child with
far too much to handle.
Mario recognized the look. He supposed it was universal among older siblings. While he
loved his family more than anything, he had always felt like a stranger to everyone but Luigi,
who was even stranger than he was, at least as far as their family was concerned.

Out from under the prying, suffocating hold of their parents and relatives, Mario had always
been the one to watch out for his younger brother. He loved it. He loved Luigi. But it was a
lot to expect, to have one brother raise another away from the problems and expectations of
their family.

Mario hadn’t been the only one who wanted to split from the monotonous work of the
wrecking crew, but because Mario was the elder brother, it became his responsibility when
Luigi made decisions that their parents disagreed with. Every exploration of his desires
became a model for what Luigi, regardless of whether Luigi had his own hopes and
expectations.

Mario missed Luigi more than anything and wanted to get back to him soon, but he was
finding that it was nice, sometimes, to be judged by his own merit and not to have his every
action scrutinized for how it might hurt somebody following in his footsteps. He and the
princess just seemed to understand each other. And for once, Mario was the follower in this
strange new land, and was just able to learn.

But of course, he was an older sibling. He wanted to make sure Luigi was alright. But first,
he had to make sure that Bowser’s children would make it safely to wherever they felt they
needed to be… even if that seemed to mean they were planning to break into Peach’s castle.
Mario felt confident that they could stop the kids before any true damage was done. They just
had to make sure they all got there in one piece.

Mario couldn’t for the life of him tell how old most of Bowser’s children were, but he could
tell that they were young. And it seemed, away from Bowser and whatever babysitter they
had fled, Ludwig was the one to step up and keep an eye on things.

“Ludwig,” Larry went on, tone plaintive, when he didn’t get a verbal response. “I don’t get it,
where’re we—?”
Junior chose that moment to let out another ear-splitting shriek, thrashing in Roy’s hold.

“Ludwig,” Larry tried again, following after him while Ludwig stepped after Roy, where he
frantically paced with the youngest in hand. He caught Ludwig’s tail, but fell when Ludwig
yanked it from his grasp. For a moment, Mario feared that there would be two crying children
in the clearing, but Larry seemed to recover quickly.

“Ask someone else,” Ludwig snapped. Then, as he caught Roy and stood up taller to see
Junior, his tone softened. “Junior, can you tell me what’s wrong?”

“You know what’s wrong,” Roy sneered, holding Junior away from him. “Stop asking him!
You’re just gonna make him more upset.”

“You’re telling me how to handle Junior?” Ludwig snapped, incredulous. “You don’t know
the first—”

“I want daddy!” Junior cried loudly, drawing both of their attention back to him.

Larry stepped back from them, scowling, and Mario watched as he walked past Wendy and
Morton, who were pressed together arguing over the map, past Iggy, who was standing back
and surveying the group thoughtfully, and finally over to Lemmy, who was supposed to be
watching them, but was instead balancing on a large ball and doing tricks.

Larry stopped in front of them and frowned up at their faces. Mario expected him to speak,
but all the Koopaling did was watch them, glancing between their faces and looking rather
contemplative for one so young.

When Larry made it obvious that he wasn’t going to talk, Mario looked to Peach to see if she
would break the silence. But she said nothing, and her expression was guarded. She stared
down at the kid with narrowed eyes and a suspicious gaze.
“Uh,” Mario said, feeling suffocated by the silence. He cleared his throat. “I heard you were
asking the others something. Was it anything we could… help with?”

Peach turned her glare from the Koopaling to give him an incredulous look. “Don’t promise
anything,” she hissed, leaning closer to Mario and away from Larry. “We’re their prisoners.”

“I can hear you,” Larry said flatly.

“I’m not promising anything,” Mario defended himself, glancing between them. “I’m just—”

“Why aren’t you gonna be our mom?” Larry interrupted, stepping closer to Peach.

Mario went silent and jerked his head to stare at Peach, who stared at Larry for a long,
awkward moment.

“I don’t love Bowser,” Peach said simply, short and strained. “So I refused his… requests for
marriage.”

“And then you imprisoned him.” Larry wrinkled his nose like he had smelled something
disgusting. “Is it because you love him?” He gestured sharply, pointing the business end of
his wand at Mario, who flinched back from it. “If this plumber was gone—”

“I still wouldn’t love Bowser,” Peach said in a rush, face gith with stress.

“But we would all be really sad,” Mario interjected, laughing anxiously. “If I died, I mean.
It’d be sad.”

Larry squinted at him suspiciously and stepped closer, tilting his wrist as he pointed his wand
at Mario’s chest. Mario tensed, bracing himself for a horrid, scorching burn. Maybe if he sat
back suddenly, he could keep it from hitting something vital, but he didn’t exactly like the
idea of being burned somewhere else, either. He had been grazed by enough of their
projectiles to be wary of the Koopaling’s magic. To his left, he saw Peach tense as well, as if
she were anticipating movement at any moment. He wondered which of them she was going
to move after, if it would be to try and push Mario out of the way, or if it would be to shove
Larry.

However, before any of them could take action, Lemmy pushed closer, balancing atop his
ball. “Larry!” he called cheerfully, laughing lightly as he looked between Larry and Mario.
“Did you need something? Or are you just taking out some frustration on this pesky plumber
and—” he cast his gaze around as if searching for something. “The patronizing princess.”

The Koopaling’s arm remained outstretched, though it wavered under his brother’s watch. “I
asked why she doesn’t love King Dad.”

Lemmy hummed, shifting to the edge of his ball and finally hopping off to join his brother.
He bumped lightly into Larry’s side. “Come on, Ludwig’s gonna pitch a fit if you attack
them.”

“But she said—”

Lemmy pushed Larry away from Mario and Peach, and the Koopaling finally lowered his
arm, protesting lightly as Lemmy pushed him closer to the other kids.

Mario sighed in relief, suddenly aware of how tense he had been holding himself. He took a
deep breath and felt the chill of anxious sweat across his brow. “I—what was that?”

Peach grimaced, moving her hands behind her back as if she were once again testing her
bonds. “They’re getting frustrated.”

“Frustrated,” Mario heaved, watching the kids argue and interact.

They had been at it for hours, and who knew how long it had been since they had slipped
away from whoever had been watching them. Kids their age—or around their age, since they
seemed to be a bit all over the place—got cranky. Mario had dealt with that before—he
remembered it well, himself. It was just… usually, a cranky kid didn’t have a weapon to point
at people.

“They must be exhausted,” he said slowly, reasoning through their behavior. “They miss their
dad.”

Peach pursed her lips. “I should have let him come with us.”

“So he could betray us at the first instance?” Mario asked lightly, trying to ease some of the
tension he was feeling. “I’m sure he’s fine. I just hope Luigi’s okay.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Peach echoed, giving him a tight smile. “Let’s worry about ourselves for
right now.”

“Yeah,” Mario sighed. “You’re probably right. How should we…” he trailed off, tuning back
into the arguing children.

“You’ve already eaten,” Ludwig fussed, jerkily rocking around with Junior cradled against
his chest.

“That was hours ago,” Morton complained.

“We’re not eating yet,” Ludwig snapped. “We’re not far enough along—”

“Why?” Roy snapped. “Why should you get to decide that?”

“Because I’m in charge!”

“Well, technically,” Larry piped up. “Kamek is in charge.”

“Kamek isn’t here right now,” Roy sneered. “So someone else should be in charge, and that
someone should be me.”

“It should be me,” Ludwig argued, stepping closer to his brother. “I’m the oldest, ergo, I’m
the leader when Kamek and Bowser aren’t around.”

As Mario listened, he took a few calming breaths until his nerves settled. Then he grimaced
and looked to Peach, shifting closer to her now that he didn’t have a Koopaling’s direct
attention. “They’re going to wake the baby again.”

Peach winced at the memory of the toddler’s pitchy wail. “We should be focusing on
escaping.”

Mario shook his head. “We were going to check up on them—we can’t just leave them like
this! There’s nobody watching them.”

“We checked on them,” Peach sighed. “We know that someone—likely the Magikoopa—is in
charge of the kingdom right now, and he’s definitely in charge of these kids. But we’ve been
going through the Dark Lands for long enough that we don’t have good supplies or current
information. We should retreat for now if we can escape, just so we can regroup. The kids
will be fine.”

“Where would we escape to?” Mario asked, shaking his head. “We don’t—” He paused,
noting how guilty Peach’s expression had turned. Earlier, she had acted as if she were as lost
as the Koopalings, but he had seen just how long she had pored over some of those maps.
“Do you… know where we are?”

“I have some idea,” she said, glancing away from Mario. He followed her gaze to some rock
formations.
“It—the kids have been arguing over this for hours!” he cried. Then, realizing how loud he
had gotten, glanced out at the arguing children to see if anybody had noticed. When he was
satisfied that they hadn’t drawn attention, he looked back at Peach. “You could’ve said
something, or not—” he stopped himself short of bringing up her lie, noting her frustrated
expression.

Peach shook her head. “I’m not going to help them kidnap us.”

“They aren’t Bowser,” Mario said, watching how she stiffened. He knew how scared Luigi
had been in the aftermath of being held captive by the Koopa. He couldn’t imagine how
Peach had felt, promising herself to him while she tried to save everybody. “They aren’t…
they’re just kids.”

“Their his kids,” Peach protested, though Mario saw the way she slumped with something
like defeat.

“But they’re still kids,” Mario reminded. “And you’re never gonna get on their good side like
this.”

“Their good side?” Peach asked skeptically, though Mario thought he could see her lips
twitching into a reluctant smile.

“I’m great with kids,” he grinned. Then, thinking of the horde of tired children they were
with, an idea occurred to him. “If you know where we are, do you know if there are any
restaurants around here? Or an inn? Anything within walking distance?”

Peach was quiet for a moment. Then she nodded. “There’s a restaurant, I think. An old one
near the border. I’ve only seen it on a map, so it could have been outdated information…”

“But there might be one,” Mario said hopefully. He shifted forward and pushed himself up on
his knees. “Ludwig!” he called, and the child snapped to attention, looking at Mario with a
puzzled expression. “Don’t you want to know where we are?”
 “What’s your plan?” Peach asked, watching as the children lapsed into silence, and Ludwig
passed Junior off to Morton.

“I’m gonna get on their good side,” Mario shrugged. “I’m tired and hungry. They must be
feeling even worse. And they’re worried about their dad…”

Peach sat up beside him, expression set with determination. “You’re right,” she said. “We can
at least try to help them.”

Chapter End Notes

The Koopalings, in my writing, and wound up being younger than they are in canon. So
take that as you will. The movie already has so many canon divergences, I don't feel too
badly about this fact.

Thanks for reading!

I'm trying to be more active while talking about and planning my fic chapters, so you
can check for fic updates on my writing tumblr @violettheporama
End Notes

trying my hand at some bowser x luigi but i really wanted the movie to have the koopalings
in it. theres one scene with bowsers piano that has 'ludwig von koopa' written on it and this is
just going off of that. maybe they were just at home. peach didnt seem super acquainted with
bowser aside from knowing of him so if only the dark lands knew he has like 8 kids that
might make some sense

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