A/N: Wow, been a long time since I've written a fanfiction. And this is what I come back with. Can't help what inspires you I guess.
Boswers Castle was surprising beautiful considering it's owner.
After everything that had happened, Mario had decided to take a page out of Peach's book and explore all the kingdoms he's previously only briefly passed through in his rush to rescue the once-again kidnapped Princess. Sights and sounds were hard to take in when you were fighting for your life, or preoccupied with the need to find more power moons to fuel your airship. Now the danger was over, his strolls through the Sand Kingdom, New Donk City, the Luncheon Kingdom, all had been much more relaxing and fun this time around.
With no need to rush, and no Bowser to fight, things were peaceful.
So, after fighting against him so hard , why return to his kingdom?
Not that he was the only one, he noticed several visitors walking around, even ran into Peach for a quick moment. If even she had come here, then him coming here couldn't be too odd. Right?
In theory no, in practice, it came down to motives. Peach has simply wanted to take in the sights. Mario on the other hand, was a bit worried.
After everything that had happened on the moon, the great Koopa King had not been seen or heard of seemingly anywhere. While it wasn't too unusual for him to retreat and lick him wounds for a while; it was unusual to hear nothing at all from him. He can't shake the feeling something is different about his current decision to hide than Bowser just doing his usual post-defeat sulking.
He has a sneaking suspicion about Bowser, one that he couldn't help but relate to, and thought it might not be a terrible idea to check up on him.
Rejection hurt, plain and simple. Now, Mario didn't blame Peach, he didn't believe in that 'friendzone' nonsense. He was grateful even that she still wanted to be friends. He'd acted out of line, and if he'd been in her shoes he'd have said no to himself too.
The whole attempt at a proposal had been a spur of the moment thing to be honest. All the talk of weddings and preparations, and seeing her, in that moment, looking so beautiful; it had been an impulsive decision. Then of course, Bowser had to step in, he didn't even get to get the words out before Boswer had that bouquet back in her face. He'd been so angry in that moment, it wasn't even about Peach anymore. It was his need to win against Bowser one more time. Prove that he was better, but then he'd gone and acted the complete opposite. All he ended up doing was prove they were just alike, harassing her.
It was not his proudest moment.
Worse still, it made things awkward between him and Peach. Sure, she always called out to him when she saw him, but there was a mutual feeling of not wanting to discuss it. All the same, the elephant in the room doesn't leave just because you refuse to acknowledge it.
He could only imagine how Bowser might be taking things on his end.
Maybe he shouldn't care about what the tormentor of the Mushroom Kingdom feels, but he considered Bowser a friend in a weird sort of way. An angry friend who needs to learn 'no means no', but there's something there when they're not fighting.
Bowser's always welcome to parties and kart racing after all; he wouldn't invite him if he just plain hated the guy through and through. Mostly, it was the sense he got that Bowser needed some friends. For all his minions, the Koopa King always struck him as a bit lonely. He certainly lacks skills when it comes to social behavior, so Mario always found himself taking pity and letting him join in against his better judgement.
Mario might even go so far as to admit they had quite a bit in common interest-wise. It's just at the end of the day, Bowser would go back to his old tricks and Mario would have to stop him. The koopa never seemed to get it through his thick shell you can't always take what you want by force, and until Boswer learns that, they were always going to end up where they started. Fighting on opposite sides.
This time however, he seemed to be taking longer than usual about it. Mario sighed, glad no one was around to read his mind. He's sure more than one person would think he was crazy. He should be trying to patch things up with Peach, not worrying over the person who kidnapped her. What kind of hero was he?
Thing is, Peach wanted her space. He's never seen her happier than she has been lately, travelling around on her own, exploring new lands, being independent.
She didn't need comfort, but there's someone else out there who might. Admittedly, he's not entirely sure how he's going to go about this, but it feels right to try.
Bowser had come very close this last time, he'd been a tougher fight than he's been in years. Things can't keep escalating like this, and maybe Mario should have been trying this before. Maybe if someone talked to him, he'd be less lonely, stop trying to fill that void by force and through war.
…Maybe he wasn't only lonely one either.
Luigi, currently, wasn't home. He was off on his own adventure, somewhere in the Beanbean kingdom, Daisy was with him, and while he might be popular, Mario didn't have a lot of very close friends he felt he could confide in something like this.
They weren't close, but Mario could at least say Bowser might know how he feels, and that was all there was to it in the end.
So here he was, standing outside the home of his enemy.
Knocking at the door seemed the polite way to get in, but he somehow doubted the guards posted outside would appreciate that sentiment. It was either that or sneaking in though, which he doubts would help his cause anymore.
With a deep breath, he walked forward.
The weapons shoved towards his face made him wonder what he was expecting.
"Halt, you're not allowed on these premises!"Yells the shorter of the two, blandishing his hammer around like a pointing stick.
Mario held his hands up placatingly, they eyed his hat suspiciously, and Mario removed it from his head, waving it to show it was just a regular hat. Cappy didn't feel nearly as sympathetic for Koopa King as Mario did, so he'd come alone on this trip.
"Relax, it's just-a me, Mario. And I mean no harm today. I don't attack without reason, and I will hold to that and as long we can be civil."
This didn't seem to reassure the two, who shared a quick glance before the taller of the two said, "Get lost! We don't want you here!"
"That's fair", Mario finds himself saying, "And I'll leave, but please, if you could, pass on a message to Bowser that I would like to see him?"
"No deal, now get out of here or-"
"What's going on here?" comes another, familiar voice.
Mario turned his head, eyebrows raising, to see Boswer Jr. making his way over.
"I was just leaving, apparently." said Mario, "But if you could, tell your father I was here? I wanted to talk with him. Just talk, I promise."
Bowser Jr. eyes him suspiciously, "Talk about what?"
Mario debates with himself what to say, would he believe the truth? It's hard enough justifying this to himself, much less having to put in into words for the Koopa Prince. Maybe a half-truth would suffice.
"I wanted to check in on him, that's all. He's been oddly quiet since we last met. It sounds unusual I know, but-"
"…Okay."
"…I. Mario stops short, blinking across at Bowser Jr. "What..?"
"You can come in, Just stay behind me." he states, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from him.
"B-But! You're highness! He's-!" the taller guard finally butts in, to be silenced by a glare from Jr..
"I know who he is idiots! An I say he can come in! Now move aside or you're both fired."
There's some hesitance there, but the two seem to decide their jobs aren't worth arguing the point. Mario finds himself dubious if Junior actually has the authority to do any such thing, but they seem to think so and dutifully obey the command.
Bowser Jr. raises his chin as he marches forward with a huff, appeased for now and Mario follows along quickly after, gracing the guards with a slight nod.
As soon as they're through the gate, Mario looks over to Junior.
"Thank you for that."
"Consider it the favor I owed you for helping my dad when the rabbids came," comes the child's response. "Now we're even got it?"
"Of course." Mario smiles.
As he follows the young koopa-dragon, Mario takes in the building around them, the interior decor isn't so unlike the outer decor, imposing yet impressive. Attractive even, he's not sure of the name for this style of decoration, but it's well done as far as Mario can tell. He's never really been an interior decor kind of guy, that was always more Luigi's thing. That doesn't mean he can't tell when things look nice though.
It's strange really, he's been here so many times before but never gotten to pay attention to what the place looked like. If he even went through this area at all. There was always something else going on.
"Papa's been sad lately."
It was barely above a whisper, so much so he almost missed it.
Mario's head snaps back around to Junior, who pointedly doesn't turn back to face him.
Junior continues despite his lack of response. "You're really here to help him?"
"I… guess I'm going to try."
Junior nods at this, and Mario can't help but feel for the poor kid. He wonders if he should say something else, offer some comfort in some way when they reach a tall door and Junior raises a hand to stop him.
He turns the door handle slowly, to not make too much sound, and pulls the door open. He points inside.
"Go on. I'll be out here."
Mario raises a brow at that. "Not coming with me?"
He adopts a sheepish expression in response. "I'm not really supposed'ta let you in." Junior admits. "But Papa doesn't need to be alone so much."
"Ah."
Afraid he'll get in trouble then. Mario almost reassures the kid his dad wouldn't be that angry about it, but stops. He's not sure if that's entirely true for one thing, but it might be better for this conversation to be one on one anyway. Sure, just randomly showing up is not likely to be taken well, but worse comes to worse he just leaves right? Or gets thrown in the dungeon.
This was a bad idea wasn't it.
Then again he wouldn't be the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom if he wasn't prone to making dumb decisions. Literally. As Luigi was prone to bringing up every time he made a new one.
With a deep intake of breath, the red-clad former plummer decides he's too far in to not see this through and marches forward with all the confidence he can muster.