Chapter Text
A dark heart isn’t inherently evil, a kind prince once explained to a lost star. Chaos isn’t inherently destructive. A lesson earned by pain and fear and anger, turning into healing and happiness and growth. The prince learned to accept his own dark heart: the very star who hurt him. In doing so, the tale ends with the prince at peace, happy and willing to grow.
But of course, no true story ends with a happily ever after. A tale of a prince who helped a lost star and accepted his heart makes for a delightful bedtime story, but there is something missing from the pages.
A certain lead role played by what once was a Star had been promised to a different star, after all. His name had been called, he was ready for his cue, and yet at the last minute the stage had been flipped. Cast to the shadows of what he once was and forced to watch the understudy’s pitiful performance, he could only plan to improvise in the second act…
And now, once again, the stage is set. The innamorati take their places, but who would expect a Brighella to return from Hell? If all it takes for the termites to crawl out of the woodwork is a bit of bitter poison, then what is more intoxicating than the thought of eating the floorboards out from under that prince? To bring the spotlight down below the stage and show how far he can fall?
Beyond the pale, the curtain of death rises on the stage of the actor still waiting for his spotlight.
A charming smile, a golden wink, and his contract in hand… No matter how much the Lady Death protests, even she cannot argue he had not been given his dues. He steps back into the light, the moment everyone has been waiting for…
“It’s showtime.”
The sun shines bright over the party plaza as the contestants gather and split into groups for their assigned roles during the day’s games. Some will be playing on the boards while others wait to be called in as “buddies” and a few still lie in wait as surprise contestants to join and spice things up. Though, a few people already know who one of the guests is, judging by how Daisy keeps elbowing and waggling her eyebrows at Mario and whispering something about “Donkey Kong is here” and “Pauline” or something.
Bowser isn’t too concerned about whoever it is those two are whispering about. He’s playing the board again, something he’s rarely done over the years. Even with his typical competitiveness and a desire to impress his soon-to-be husband, something is unnerving him enough to make him watch for something he knows is going to pop up at any moment…
He grabs the Boo the moment it appears behind him. “Hey,” he growls. “The game hasn’t started yet.”
The Boo squirms, cackling, but slips from his hand to wink. “Message from King Boo. He said he looks forward to Luigi’s buddy game~.”
“What?” Bowser asks. He spins to face Luigi, who looks away and whistles as if he hadn’t heard the exact same message. “Lou, what’s this guy talking about…? I thought we didn’t invite King Boo!”
Luigi shrugs. “Well— Um— P-Peach, could you…?”
Peach clears her throat. “Only if you stop Daisy before she tells Donkey Kong about Mario’s you-know-what.”
“That Mario’s ex is here?” Luigi asks.
“…No, the other thing.”
“Eh…?”
“Just go stop Daisy,” Peach orders, and Luigi nods and runs over to the other two.
“Wait, what?” Bowser asks. “Mario dated before?”
“You wanted to know about King Boo?” Peach reminds him, already tired and the day hadn’t even started yet. Even if she doesn’t actively host the games — that responsibility falls on Kamek this year so that both Toad and Toadette, the usual hosts, can play too — she does do most of the behind-the-scenes boring aspects of securing venues and organizing who helps with the games. As stressed as Kamek is, futzing with the final touches on his impostor Bowser spell before the game ceremony begins, Peach has her own, quiet stress that only the joy of trying to beat her own girlfriend at their mini games can overcome.
As such, Bowser should be wary about upsetting her. And yet… “Oh, yeah! What’s the deal? How’s he involved with all this, huh? He’s not even a contestant!”
“No,” Peach says. “But he suggested the mini game to earn Luigi as a buddy for the main boards. Luigi had the option to say no, but he’s trying to show some trust… Not that King Boo could try anything anyway. He designed the game, but we are having his oldest brother’s Boos actually run it.”
Bowser growls. “I don’t like that… What exactly is his plan? Trapping Luigi in a painting and we gotta figure out which one is real…?”
“No— But if you wanted, I could take note of that for next year’s—”
“No.” Bowser groans. “Okay, fine, I assume Lou’s gonna be taken care of if he agreed to it, but… I don’t like having that guy taunt me about it.” He points at the Boo, still floating nearby and pulling faces at him.
“…That’s one of the contestants,” Peach says. “Taunting is allowed.”
“What?!” Bowser glares and the Boo cackles again.
“King Boo also said to enjoy the practice,” the Boo winks. “For when you have to come and rescue him for real.”
“Peach!” Bowser demands with a motion at the Boo.
“Bowser,” Peach counters. “Do you know how long we spent setting things up? We still have some boards that aren’t actually ready yet, and the games start today. We are not changing anything last minute.”
Bowser crosses his arms but looks away to pout. “Fine. I’ll just have to beat King Boo up if I see him set foot— uh— If I see him get close to Luigi during the games.”
“Please do,” Peach says. “I don’t think I could handle anything else going wrong…”
“Huh? What else is going wrong?”
“Both of our surprise guests have been sent to the wrong islands,” Peach says. “We don’t know which, but we can’t actually have them join until someone can look around and find them. And then some mechanics on the boards are broken and we haven’t had time to fix them! I’m trying not to worry myself about it, since it’s Kamek’s responsibility, but…”
Bowser looks over at Kamek actively sweating as he tries to figure out things from the machine he’s been given to control things from. “…But seeing that bundle of nerves is making you nervous too?”
Peach takes a deep breath. “Do you know how much money the Mushroom Kingdom invests into these games? Do you know how much we have to worry about if we don’t earn enough from these games to both cover the costs of them and earn enough to fix the damage you cause with your evil schemes?”
“Hey, I attacked the Flower Kingdom last time, not—”
“Bowser,” Peach says. “We still help pay for repairing damages. So, please, file any game complaints with Kamek, who will be happy to assist you…”
Bowser grimaces. “Eh… Kamek?”
Kamek screams.
“…Never mind, I got it covered.”
Luigi walks back over, blushing and staring off ahead. “Eh… Did the princess explain things…?”
“Sure,” Bowser says. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Did you know Mario has a crush on Donkey Kong…?”
Bowser snorts. “Really? Not surprised, but wow.”
Peach sighs and walks away, while Luigi continues to stare off into space. Bowser blinks and pokes him.
“Hey,” Bowser says. “You aren’t considering it, are you?”
Luigi snaps back to attention and shakes his head. “No, no, of course not! Just… Considering how they, eh… met…”
“…Yeah?”
“Donkey Kong kidnapped his girlfriend at the time…?”
“…So, you and your brother both have a thing for big, strong kidnappers, huh?”
“D-Don’t say it like that!” Luigi shakes his head. “Besides, it was a misunderstanding— I think. Not important, Mario said he isn’t looking to date right now anyway… I think Daisy is having trouble understanding that… Um… Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Bowser snorts. “Just wish you told me sooner about that mini-game King Boo planned out.”
“It’s a surprise,” Luigi says. “You weren’t supposed to know…” He frowns at the Boo who still hangs out nearby. “You aren’t supposed to know yet either. Even the princess doesn’t know the full details of what the game will be.”
The Boo winks. “I’m just the messenger. King Boo told me what to say, not what it meant.”
“Anyway,” Luigi says. “I’ll be fine. The most we’ll see from King Boo is in the crowd and at the after party, but his oldest brother will be there too and promised he’d make sure he behaves…” He flinches when he hears Kamek swear loud enough that Bowser immediately looks for Junior to cover his ears. “If the actual party actually starts…”
“Yeah,” Bowser hums. “Y’know, apparently there’s some mechanical issues going on? You’re good at robots, right? Do you think…?”
“Oh! Do you think he’d mind if I offered?”
“Nah, you’re my soon-to-be Prince Consort, aren’t ya? I think he’d be touched if you offered. Might give you special treatment at dinner.” He winks. “Maple syrup in your pasta and everything.”
Luigi snorts and laughs. “I told you, I only tried it once… It wasn’t as good as I hoped. But, you should come too! We could probably sort out the last of the problems twice as fast if we both help.”
“Ugh, fine… But only because it gets me away from this guy…” Bowser glares at the Boo one last time, and it hurries away to go speak to the other minions there as contestants. Bowser follows Luigi up to Kamek, eyeing the weird machine they’re making him use warily. “Sheesh, don’t they know you’re too old to know how these things work…?”
“Apparently,” Kamek says, on the verge of screaming again, “this is something Professor E. Gadd made.”
“Oh, okay, so you’re old enough but not nutty enough.”
“Bowser,” Luigi frowns. “Be nice.” He smiles at Kamek. “I heard there were some mechanical issues on the boards? Could I help fix them…? If I could borrow some tools…”
“Oh, please, I could kiss you—” Kamek clears his throat. “I mean… Yes, I would appreciate that. I’m trying to fix things from here, but…” He points at the screen and lets Luigi look at it. “The list keeps growing, as if more problems are happening before the previous ones get solved… I don’t understand. I’d suggest sabotage, but this is the biggest truce we’ve had yet… If we have to postpone the games…”
Luigi winces. “Ooh, I don’t want to displease the princess… But don’t worry! We’ll solve it. Bowser too!”
“Yeah!” Bowser laughs. “How am I supposed to show off how great I am if there’s no game to play? Where are we headed first?”
“The racetrack is best,” Kamek says. “That’s where most of the mechanical issues are. Luigi, I’ll show you where to go, and then Lord Bowser, if I may direct you on where to help on other parts of the track…”
“Sounds good,” Bowser says. “…Did you say racetrack?”
“Ah,” Luigi grimaces. “I hope we aren’t throwing in a surprise Kart race to this party.”
“We should have done karting instead,” Bowser says. “Why do we even throw these parties?”
Luigi stares. “Well, they serve as an importance source of revenue for—”
“Never mind, let’s just go.”
After a long trek around the track, Bowser finally finishes helping Kamek with the last of their task list. They make their way back to Luigi, hard at work with the pit crew fixing the karts that, while not suitable for actual karting, seem to be the intended way around the board. Bowser watches Luigi as he wipes sweat from his forehead, a smudge of grease on his face, with work gloves and dirty overalls and a set of tools around his waist. He stares long enough that Kamek has to gently smack him with the bristle end of his broom to subtly snap him out of his lewd thoughts.
Bowser shakes his head and walks over. “Lou, you get those problems fixed up?”
“Every kart,” Luigi says. The pit crew Koopas nod sagely in agreement at what is sure to be a rant. “Every kart has issues— Not even the same ones! This one needed an oil change, that one had a flat, that one had a mushroom stuck in the engine? And that one…” He points at the kart meant for Bowser. “That one had screws loose on the steering wheel? I don’t understand! Not to mention that.” He turns around to point at the machine that, as Kamek told Bowser, activates jump pads when someone lands on the switch. “The wiring on that had been completely flipped! It was about to overcharge before I even touched it.”
“I can’t imagine someone being this incompetent,” Kamek hums. “I mean, I planned a little mischief myself, but nothing this bothersome for me.”
“Twenty-two karts,” Luigi says. “I don’t even know if we can repair them all in time. We might be better off having just enough karts for the first round of players and any buddies they might earn…”
“We’re putting King Bowser’s in the shop, for sure,” one of the Koopas says. “One screw loose is enough to make me worried what else might be loosened…”
Luigi nods. “I think we should use the four we had time to inspect fully, and… hmm… maybe that set over there, for buddies. They just need tires changed, no? If you could start with those, it should be enough to use by the time buddies start arriving on the board…”
“That’s good,” Kamek says. “Except we still have several more boards to inspect— I don’t understand how so much went wrong overnight. Everything was fine during preparations yesterday…”
Luigi hums and pulls off the work gloves to switch back to his normal ones. “Well, we simply need to enlist more help. Have the other players put in work— Not Peach, she is stressed enough.”
Bowser nods. “Yeah! If we’re out here doing the dirty work, then the others should pitch in too. Why should they get to sit around and be lazy while we fix everything for them?”
Kamek hums. “That’s smart, if unusual… There are some elements to the boards we intended as a surprise, but… I suppose if we split everyone up, then not everyone will know all the surprises. And we’ll get everything fixed sooner. Alright, I’ll go arrange that, but first, you two go on ahead to the King Bowser’s Keep board. I’ll meet you there, but the Toad hosting that one can go ahead and tell you what needs to be fixed…”
“Oh, is that where your impostor Bowser will be?” Luigi asks. “I haven’t gotten to see it yet…”
Kamek smirks and sits up, like a proud bird about to show off. “Well, I’ll have to give you a sneak peak when you’re done fixing things. Lord Bowser, I think you will also be impressed.”
“You’ve been working on it long enough,” Bowser huffs. “It better be impressive.”
“We’ll go over right away so we can see,” Luigi says. “Oh, wait—” He turns towards the pit crew. “May I borrow the gloves and tools?”
“Go ahead!” one of the Koopas waves. “You’ll need them. The Keep has a lot more moving parts.”
“Great!” Bowser scoops up Luigi. “Let’s get going and get these games started.” He carries Luigi over to the floating platform and sets him down when it starts to lift off the ground to fly them to the next board. As they’re flying, watching the world pass by under them, Bowser takes a moment to look at Luigi again. “Well, you look hot.”
“It’s sweaty work,” Luigi agrees.
“Lou, you know what I mean.”
Luigi laughs. “Yes, I know… I’m just… Well…”
Bowser nods. “Something’s definitely up. Someone not respecting treaties…”
“It’s not King Boo, at least,” Luigi says. “He’s too excited to see the mini-game he designed actually play out to interfere like this… A few things that still need to be fixed, I could understand… But not this many things.”
Bowser stretches. “Well… We’ll look out for whoever is messing with things. If someone’s trying to mess with the party, they can’t be a high stakes baddie. Annoying, maybe, but this is such a weak target to attack…”
“You’d be the expert on that,” Luigi agrees. “I’ll try not to worry, in that case…”
“What’s there to worry about?” Bowser looks down at Luigi, watching him stare into the distance. “Hey… Tell me what’s wrong? If there’s something up, I ought to know.”
“I’m… not sure,” Luigi says. “But I had another dream the other night… Like when King Boo had pretended to be you— well, I know that technically didn’t happen now, but— Still, it was like that, as if someone was in my mind to haunt me…”
“Was it King Boo?” Bowser asks. “I’m gonna beat him up if it was.”
“No,” Luigi says. “It was Dimentio, actually. Which is… strange, isn’t it? I thought the one I dreamt was just the Chaos Heart pretending to be Dimentio. I was planning on asking King Boo about it once I saw him, but then all this started happening.” He chuckles. “Maybe it’s just stress… We have to do this party and then a wedding to finish planning, after all.”
Bowser frowns. “Lou, tell me what happened in the dream. I’m not letting you ignore it in hopes it’s nothing.”
“But it probably is,” Luigi argues. “I mean, you said it yourself, messing with board games at a party isn’t high stakes…”
“That was before you told me you’ve been dreaming about more dead guys. Now spit it out! What happened in the dream?”
Luigi sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose to think. “I was on a stage, like in a theater… I was dressed like a prince, like the clothes we’re having made for my formal wear after we’re married… I couldn’t see anyone actually in the audience, but I could hear some whispering… And then the lights dimmed on stage, and a spotlight turned on, and Dimentio was standing in it… He said something about how he misjudged the power of the Chaos Heart to upstage him, and how grateful he was that I chose to reset my game, but how he still is owed what he was promised… I tried asking what he meant, but he only smiled and winked and said ‘it’s showtime’. I meant to tell you about it when I woke up, but that was the same morning that Junior and Lemmy ran in chasing Polter-Pup and all three of them jumped directly on me.”
Bowser snorts and laughs. “Oh, right, the same morning you were unable to eat because you got so winded and we were supposed to go try those wedding cake samples you were looking forward to.”
“Truly, you can forgive me for forgetting considering how much I suffered,” Luigi says with a light chuckle. He looks up at Bowser. “But, honestly, since nothing happened since then, I figured it might have just been a dream. If it was, I didn’t want to bring it up and worry you. But in case it wasn’t, I planned to ask King Boo once I got the chance if he knows anything about what it could have been. If it was possibly the real Dimentio… If it was the real one, I planned to tell you right away. I promised I would.”
Bowser sighs. “Well… Fair, I guess. But I’m going with you to ask him, got it? In case it’s somehow one of his tricks.”
Luigi nods. “That is fair as well. Oh!” He points ahead. “Looks like we’re almost there…”
Their platform lands, and Luigi and Bowser step off and meet with the yellow Toad currently fretting over everything wrong. He looks up and excitedly waves them over to explain what they need to do.
“It’s a mess!” the Toad cries. “Almost every conveyor belt isn’t working right, we’re missing the current pass code for the vault, and the Boos at the cave on the upper level are acting weird… And that’s just the start of it!”
Luigi frowns. “The Boos are…?”
“King Bowser!”
They look up as a Dry Bones runs up to them, only to trip. His head pops off and bounces, sliding to a stop at their feet. Bowser picks up the skull.
“King Bowser!” The Dry Bones skull rattles in his hands while his body tries to figure out where to go. Luigi does the favor of hurrying over to guide it before it falls off the ledge. “Thank evilness you’re here!”
“What’s happening?” Bowser asks. When Luigi gets the body over, he hands it back its skull.
“It’s the Boos.” The Dry Bones pops its head back on, spinning it around to make sure it’s properly in place. “I walked by their cave to check in, and I heard them whispering something about King Boo— Do you think he might be here?”
“He better NOT,” Bowser growls. “He already took over my real castle once, he can’t be taking over the fake board game one too!”
The Toad points at a nearby pipe. “That pipe is a shortcut to the cave! Normally the game rules make you come from that part of the board and not the other way around, but it’s still a two-way pipe…”
“I’ll go deal with the Boos,” Bowser says. “Luigi, you stay where someone can keep an eye on you.”
Luigi nods. “I want to take a lookie at those conveyor belts anyway…”
“You’ll have to fix the lifts first,” the Dry Bones says. “Those broke down after I took one up…”
“This is just great,” the Toad sighs.
Luigi sighs and switches back to his work gloves. “Well, might as well get started…” He looks up at Bowser and motions for him to lean down. He kisses his cheek. “Stay safe, okey-dokey?”
Bowser smiles. “I’m the toughest guy around. I’ll be fine. …You too, okay?”
“You got it!”
Bowser motions for the Dry Bones to come with him and they both take the warp pipe to the upper corner of the board. From there, he can see a good deal of the layout — he’ll have to remember this to cheat later. Still, he can also hear those Boos and their giggling and whispering. He growls and storms up to the cave…
He steps into it before the Dry Bones can tell him “wait, no, that’s backstage only—” and finds a dark and spooky, well furnished room that the Boos wait in before they’re needed for the games. The furniture is broken and torn, but that seems to be how Boos prefer it. The Boos themselves whisper conspiratorially with a much bigger Boo, one with a familiar glowing purple gem.
One of the smaller Boos spies Bowser and immediately covers its face and vanishes. The other smaller ones immediately follow suit, leaving the confused King Boo to turn around and startle at Bowser crossing his arms and tapping his foot. King Boo likewise covers his face and disappears.
“Hey!” Bowser shouts. “Don’t do that! Tell me what’s going on!”
King Boo reappears, behind Bowser. “Shh!” he hushes. “Not so loud!” Bowser turns in time to see King Boo looking around and poking his head out the fake cave entrance before ducking back in. “Luigi’s not here, is he?”
“He’s helping to fix the conveyor belt or something,” Bowser says. “Why? What are you scared of?”
King Boo scowls. “I’m not.”
“Are you the one sabotaging the games?”
King Boo huffs up, a dark aura forming around him.“So what if I am? What are you going to do about it?”
Bowser stares at him stoically. “…Why though?”
King Boo deflates, staring back, in confusion. “Huh?”
“Why sabotage the boards? That’s stupid. I thought you wanted to see me do that stupid maze or whatever it is you set up for Luigi’s buddy game.”
“It’s not a maze,” King Boo says. “Good idea though, someone write that down.”
“Stop taking ideas from me,” Bowser growls. “Why are you doing this? You know this isn’t going to stop us from playing, right? We’re just going to have to waste time fixing everything first.”
“I know that,” King Boo growls. “I’m trying to delay things—” He covers his mouth.
“…Okay,” Bowser says. “Does this have anything to do with that dream Luigi had the other night…?”
“What? What dream?”
“Something about Dimentio and a stage or something…”
King Boo groans. “I thought I told that little— I mean—”
“King Boo! If my fiancé is in danger again because of something you did…!”
“My fiancé,” King Boo says. “And— No, of course not. It’s because of something I didn’t do.”
Bowser blinks. “You want to, uh… be more specific…?”
“I can’t summon something that is still alive,” King Boo says. “What sense does that make? I was confused when that fake Dimentio turned out to be the Chaos Heart too because I did summon a ghost from Luigi’s past to haunt his mind and tell me information I could use. That was the only one I could find in his memories though— It’s weird how few people all of you kill, all things considered. Do you even try these days?”
“What are you— That’s weird to ask!”
“Anyway,” King Boo says. “That stupid clown only agreed to help me if we made a bargain. He gets me the information I asked for, and I pull him back onto this plane of existence… As far as I’m concerned, he didn’t tell me everything he was supposed to, so I didn’t owe him anything! Not even pulling him back here as a proper ghost!”
Bowser crosses his arms and taps his foot again. “But…?”
King Boo grumbles. “But, he showed our contract to the queen of the afterlife, Jaydes, and argued that since I did find out the things he was supposed to tell me, technically because of him, that I owed him and then some as back wages or whatever. She doesn’t like it either, but they’re a stickler for rules down there— gross, I’m glad I’m a Boo and not a proper ghost…”
“…So he’s back now?”
“Not yet,” King Boo says. “They let me pick the day, to ‘prepare’ or whatever, and my brothers suggested ‘the day Luigi wins a game at the next party’.”
“So, you’re sabotaging the party so he doesn’t get a chance to play?”
“No, that’s stupid!” King Boo huffs. “I’m sabotaging the party because I know he’d put in work to fix it and then be too tired to do well enough to win!” He leans in and grins. “It’s working, isn’t it~? If you’re here and he’s busy doing physical labor~. I know he’s not going to push himself to win during the party if he’s tired from fixing everything~.”
Bowser sighs and slump his shoulders. “You dumb piece of fluff. You know we do this party for a week, right? And sleep in between?”
“…Wait, what does that mean?”
“It means, by day two, maybe three, he’ll be rested enough and even more excited to try and win.”
King Boo yells. “UGH! That’s how that works?!” He drags his little nub arms down his face. “Ughhhh, in that case you have to do something. You make him lose. If he wins even one game, Queen Jaydes is going to put that clown back on this plane, and I don’t want extra competition.”
Bowser shrugs. “Sure, I can do that. He’ll understand. You could have just told him from the start.”
King Boo scowls and looks away. “I’m not allowed near him until after the party is over…”
Bowser snorts. “Oh yeah? The Princess really convinced you to stick to the truce?”
“What? No. My oldest brother did.” King Boo shakes his head. “He’s the nicest of the three of us, but even Marge and I know if we don’t do what he says…” He shudders. “It’s scary— I’ll tell you that much. That’s what makes him a good King, even if he’s annoying.”
Bowser shakes his head and steps past King Boo back to the cave entrance. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand how Boos work… Alright, just stay out of the way, and let King Bowser Koopa handle your mess.”
Bowser pops back out of the cave, and the Dry Bones jumps back to his feet to dart around him, excitedly checking to make sure Bowser is okay. Bowser shakes his head and asks for the Dry Bones to take him to Luigi. He finds Luigi head first in the wiring under a hidden panel in the floor, humming to himself and wiggling his legs, happy and in his element. Bowser flinches at the flash of green from the panel and the quiet cheer of “The Green Thunder strikes again” as he hears something whine as it powers up again nearby. Luigi is literally in his element right now, doing electrical work. And he thought he was a good plumber…
“Lou,” Bowser calls ahead. He crouches down and tries to peer in, but he loses Luigi in the tight space and darkness. “You okay?”
“Yep!” Luigi calls. “One moment—” He shimmies upward and beams at him, reaching to the side for a rag to wipe some sweat from his brow. “Did you figure out what the Boos were up to?”
“Yeah,” Bowser says. “King Boo’s just being a pest, that’s all. Don’t worry about him, I got it covered.”
“Oh, good, good,” Luigi nods. “Did you happen to ask him about…?”
“Dimentio…? Yeah… About that…” Bowser hesitates. “Do you think… Uh…”
“Hmm?” Luigi asks. “That Dimentio could be behind this…? No, this doesn’t seem like something he’d care about… Even if he were back, that is. I hope not at least. I’ve been looking forward to this. I haven’t gotten to play against you before as another contestant, and I want to show you how well I can keep up and maybe even win!”
Bowser absently scratches at his neck. “Y-Yeah…? You want to try and beat me, huh?”
“I want to show you that I can be the best too. Luigi, number one! I know I don’t have to impress you, or your minions for us to marry, but…” Luigi chuckles. “I’ve been thinking about how important that is to the Koopa Kingdom, so I want to do everything I can to win.”
“…Oh,” Bowser tries not to choke up as he says it, but he can’t help it. “Uh… That’s great, but… I gotta tell you…”
“Hmm?” Luigi hums again, staring up at Bowser with those big blue, innocent eyes. “Yes, cuore mio?”
Bowser takes a breath. He grabs Luigi and ruffles his hair, laughing at Luigi’s squeals. “I gotta tell you that I won’t go easy on you! You want to beat me, you’re doing it fair and square, you got it? You want to win, you gotta earn it!”
Luigi laughs. “Of course, of course! Now let go! I need to finish this work so we can actually start the party…”
Bowser sets him back down and watches him immediately dive back into the wire pit like a Monty Mole. He watches for a moment and then looks back up towards the Boo cave and flinches at King Boo glaring at him in the distance. He shrugs, but what was he supposed to do? King Boo shakes, as if he’s about to have an outburst, but they both see Kamek flying overhead and he ducks back into the safety of the cave.
Kamek hovers beside Bowser. “Good news! Repairs are underway with everyone chipping in! We might run a little late to start, but that just means we’ll fit multiple shorter rounds starting out. I have a few others on their way to help here too, so you two can have some time to rest before we start.”
“Oh, good!” Luigi calls from inside the wire pit. “I’ll finish up here soon, by the way!”
“You’re doing wonderful, Luigi,” Kamek praises. He looks at Bowser and flinches at Bowser’s dour expression. “A-And of course you are as well, your horribleness—”
“Mm-hmm,” Bowser says, looking away.
“…My liege, is something the matter…?”
“…Nah.” He mouths at Kamek to “talk later”, nodding at Luigi. Kamek nods. He smiles and laughs. “Just excited to start.”