What? It just came to me. That's my explanation.

Fratelli Felici

"Mario, my brother, welcome home!" Luigi greeted.

He had been waiting outside for a couple of minutes after seeing what time it was.

"Hey Luigi!" Mario waved back.

He saw his brother with arms wide open, apparently wanting a hug. It was oddly nice of him but he couldn't refuse such a kind, brotherly gesture.

So they put their arms around each other.

While Mario was busy enjoying the embrace, he felt something grab one of his buttocks. He reacted a few seconds late from the touch.

"L-Luigi...! What was that?" he asked.

"Uh, what are you talking about?" His hands quickly retreated to Mario's back and trying to hide his surprised tone, acting like he genuinely had no idea where the question was coming from.

"Were you just...? Er, something was..."

"Ahahaha, my hands are right here!" he fibbed. "You must be so overworked you're feeling things!" He was blushing and a sweatdrop formed but he tried to conceal it by saying words.

Mario suddenly shrugged it off which meant it was a success for Luigi. Then they both went inside.

Mario, almost tuckered out from his job, instantly dropped himself on the couch and lay there. The TV was on which meant Luigi was watching something and may come back to sit down there.

"Hey, bro, I hope you don't mind if I just lie down here for a bit. Too tired to go upstairs and, you know..."

"Oh, not at all." he said enthusiastically. "I'll just scoot next to your butt and it'll be a-ok!" Which he began to do.

"Scoot next to my what?"

"I'll scoot here next to your back and it'll be a-ok" he quickly repeated. "You're a bit jumpy for someone who's very tired." Anyhoo, he has now, quote-unquote, scooted properly beside him.

Mario had now dozed off after Luigi simply stuck to continue watching whatever was on the television. And once he noticed that his brother had indeed fallen asleep so close to him, he could not help looking and touching him as gently as possible, so as to not startle him from his resting state.

He looks so cute, snoring, he thought. Luigi planted a soft kiss on his big nose but luckily for him, it was soft enough to not bring Mario back to the waking world.

"Yeah, that's it. Just sleep it off, dear brother." He took off Mario's hat and began to stroke his hair. "It's been a long day." As one would notice, he's basically talking to no one in a tone almost disturbing.

A few hours pass...

Mario was snoring louder than ever.

Luigi had a bright idea trying to wake him up by pinching his nose, stopping him from breathing. Just to the point of annoying him, of course.

Mario woke up with a snort.

"Hah!? Wha- what? What?!"

He opened his eyes to find his little brother's face awfully close to him...

"Dinner time, Mario!"

...and he jumped from the couch, hitting Luigi's face.

"Ohi!" Both interjected along with various mumbling.

Both pulled away from each other to massage the brief pain that hit on the respective part of their heads.

Later, there were now sitting at the table, different kinds of food that could be found in an average Italian's family table. It also meant lots of spaghetti.

Speaking of which, Mario was having a full plate of it and he's enjoying it judging from how close he was to emptying his plate despite how much pasta he had put on it.

Luigi was also eating from his plate but his speed was a little on the slow side because he was paying too much attention on watching his brother eat with a tender look on his eyes.

Mario was such a mess and his slurping may have annoyed some people, including their parents and whoever, but he sure did love him like that.

"There's sauce on your mustache..."

"Oh, oops!" He wiped his mouth with the napkin on the table.

Luigi's face reddens. He did not mean for him to hear that. He just hoped he did not notice the way he said it as well.

They continued their quiet dinner, until all the food on the plates was eaten.

Even after the show Luigi tried to create with Mario's eating, it still extended to when they're washing the dishes side by side. How Mario himself is unaware with what his brother had been thinking about him was a feat of sorts.

When washing the dishes, they did so with both of their sleeves rolled up and bare hands which meant the gloves were off.

Their forearms and hands constantly rub and bump into each other as they scrub and rinse the plates and utensils. To Mario, it was just something that happens when one is close to someone in the sink but to Luigi, it was a chance to feel those strong hands and big hairy forearms. So he bumped into him as often as he could.

"You know this sink is big enough for the two of us to work on our own side, right?"

Luigi pretended to not hear that and left him without an answer.

Much later...

"Luigi!" Mario called to his brother who was now watching television again. "I'm gonna take a bath, then I'm going straight to bed. Turn everything off if you're feeling too tired to watch then just go to your room; I don't want you wasting electricity because you fell asleep there."

"Yeah, yeah. Got it..." he answered from behind.

Mario glared, not quite confident with how Luigi responded to him. He decided to carry on with what he was about to do and shrug it off for now. Up the stairs to where the bathroom was and he was on the first floor.

Luigi having noticed it, turned the TV off and prepared.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Mario had already filled the tub with hot water and he was already undressed. As soon as he climbed in, he can already feel the water calming his overworked nerves. He let out a sigh of approval then he submerged half of his face in the water.

"MARIO!"

Surprised out of his zone, he accidentally took a bit of water in his mouth and nose causing him to cough uncontrollably.

"I'm feeling a little beat myself so I just thought maybe I could take a nice warm bath... But then I saw that you've already made it here first" he said, feigning disappointment. "Then I thought again, oh well, I guess I have no choice but climb in there with you, eh?"

"N-now wait a minute, I..."

Luigi quickly shed his clothing and went into the tub, quickly but carefully, not wanting to wet the floor with an unnecessary splash. He sat opposite of Mario.

"Luigi, just wait your turn! I won't be long anyway!"

"Oh come on. Bath is more fun with company!"

"Damn it, fine! Just keep quiet and let me enjoy my bath in peace, okay?"

"Sure, I can do that!"

Mario tried his best to come back from where he left which was half-submerged in water and eyes closed. He tried not to mind his annoying brother now with him.

This meant that he was not able to see what Luigi was now doing. The sudden movement in the water, he ignored it for now but when he felt it getting stronger and closer to him, he realized that he just had to see what on earth was going on now.

He jumped from what he saw... Not again, he thought.

"Luigi, stay in your spot!" He began to push him back.

"What, I'm being quiet, ain't I?"

"You're making me claustrophobic, get away." He pushed him with a bit of force.

"Don't push me like that!" He said, now grabbing Mario's arms.

"Hey, stop that right now!"

"You stop that right now!"

Neither wanted the pushing and shoving to get serious but it was getting intense anyway. They were still careful enough not to push each other's heads though in which one of them could hit on the side of the hard tub. The shoving stopped but not because of the aforementioned scenario...

Mario felt a foot that had been rubbing on a part of his body that's usually kept to oneself.

Luigi had a look on his face that indicated his concern with his older brother catching on with what he'd been doing for a while.

Mario delivered a hard stare and a serious voice.

"Alright, bath time's over!" He got out of the tub and stood straight.

Luigi was now lying on the bed, his eyes just staring at the ceiling. Usually, he'd wear pajamas to bed but because it's a warm night, he just stuck to wearing only his underwear and nothing else. He wondered if Mario's asleep now.

"Aww, he looked pretty pissed after the whole bath thing..." he pretended to sound guilty when he's really just finding an excuse to get up and go to his brother's room. Which he did. "I think I should go apologize and... yeah. I just hope he hasn't fallen asleep now."

With that in mind, he carefully made his way to Mario's bedroom door. He didn't bother knocking but barely, he slowly opened the door. Once it was wide enough, he entered the room.

It was dark and it looked like Mario was already sleeping. That's a bummer. But then, he saw he was moving around a little and if he heard right, he was talking as well. Even in his sleep, he's still having adventures.

Of course, he found that adorable. He was truly pitying him however because he wanted him to have a good night's sleep yet he gets dreams anyway. Luigi went beside him to try and calm him down.

"Poor brother... Can't even sleep because of everything he went through."

Being the lovable sap that he is, he lies down and pulls him close to his own body, feeling each other's hair and skin.

Mario was still restless but Luigi was starting to see that the hug was working and he was beginning to calm down. It was such a heartwarming sight, seeing that was all that it took to comfort someone. Especially his own brother.

The night went by, softly.

...Somewhere...

"Oh, Mario! Thank you so much for saving me from that evil evil monster!" the Princess said with glee.

"Anytime, Princess!" he said proudly. "But I can't help but notice how much this has been going on. I feel like you're doing this on purpose just to get my attention."

"You have read my mind!" She runs to Mario and she holds both of his hands and breathes. "I'm starting to see now that you're always there for me. You always help me out of danger. And you're so nice to me, and so... I think I..."

Mario stares at the Princess with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

"To heck with that mush!" She said shattering out of her schmaltzy spiel. "Kiss me, my hero!"

Mario grinned and with haste, leaned in much closer and took the kiss that Mario had been waiting for who knows how long.

Luigi in the meantime, was thinking to himself that sleeping next to his brother was the best decision he had ever made. He thought he was dreaming when he started to feel something sucking on his lips. He opened his eyes for a bit and saw that it was real... He milked the feeling for all it's worth.

One wasn't feeling the same way though.

While it only looked like Mario seemed to be enjoying it, his eyes said otherwise when they shot open and already a got a good look who he had been... for a while now.

It was a beautiful day today for the sun was shining, until—

"LUIGIIIIIIIII!"

-Fine-

That wasn't so bad now, was it? Please review if anybody is out there. Aaand that's all!