Author's Notes: OK, so this idea came from a conversation I had a while ago in which my sister and I discussed the concept of an AU where Mario is a musician. This story isn't exactly the same idea, but it does involve Mario in a rock band and Luigi (for reasons I forgot) working as a bartender. There are three chapters of this, though it was originally planned to be longer.

As is the norm with my stories, there also isn't much plot; it's mostly brotherly love and hurt/comfort.

Although this isn't meant to be a long story, I might consider exploring the idea more in the future, especially if anyone is interested in seeing more.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

I glanced up at the sound of another group of people coming into the bar. It was a bigger crowd than the last one that had entered - at least fifteen individuals, and by the looks of them, mostly all teenagers and young adults. They chatted incessantly as they walked inside, and began to settle themselves around the room either at tables or leaning casually against the bar, where they could order drinks from me at their leisure.

I sighed low enough to go unnoticed and turned to address the nearest one, a Toad who couldn't have been a day over eighteen. He was wearing some sort of checkered bandanna around his mushroom cap, and I decided it wouldn't be professional for me to tell him just how ridiculous it looked.

'ID, please, sir?'

I passed his drink over the bar after a cursory glance at the card he waved carelessly in my face, wondering privately if he was already a bit drunk; he was certainly acting like it.

If I hadn't known better, I might have been more surprised by how many people had chosen to come in tonight. I knew my customers, and the regular crowd – though still visible if I squinted and surveyed the room closely enough – weren't even the main part of what was here now. But I did know better. And I knew why my little corner of the Mushroom Kingdom, the place known by most as The Spiny Shell, was suddenly so popular tonight.

My brother was coming.

I sighed again, and this time one of the female Toads leaning on the bar heard me and threw over a concerned glance, which I dismissed with a reassuring smile. She must have seen through it - I didn't think I could have convinced anybody - but she just gave me a long, searching look before turning away. She was one of the regulars, and probably knew more about me than anyone else in the room right now. She'd been frequenting The Spiny Shell for long enough that she'd heard the story, out of my own mouth, more times than either of us could remember.

Two years ago, me and my brother Mario had been sharing a house together. We'd been close, as close as two such different people could be. He was a hero, famous for (several times) rescuing Princess Peach from the dungeons of the evil Bowser, a rival King intent on taking over her kingdom.

I couldn't say I'd done the same – nothing even close – but Peach and I had grown to become friends nonetheless. The three of us spent most of our free time together, playing tennis and golf and going shopping around the town, even when Peach's duties in the castle meant her free time became less with practically every passing month.

But that was before Mario had decided to turn to music. Bored with the monotony of his life - however enjoyable it might have been - he'd picked up guitar and mastered it within a year. After that it was one breakthrough after another as my brother, already famous for rescuing the princess, started to write up his own songs and melodies, and the people of the Mushroom Kingdom couldn't help but pay attention.

If you tried to tell me a few years ago that Mario would end up becoming a rock star, I probably would have laughed until I cried. Mario had always been lazy, and a bit fixated with food. He liked spending time with Peach, eating spaghetti, and going for leisurely walks around the kingdom. He'd never seemed the type to get up on stage and bring the house down, electric guitar in his hands as he basked in the screams and applause from the spectators.

It just didn't fit him, didn't fit what I'd grown up knowing him to be.

But that's what had happened. So I had learned to deal with it, whether I liked it or not.

'Hey, Luigi!' a shrill voice called out, and I looked around in time to see my longtime friend Toadette running towards the bar. She climbed up onto a stool so we could talk more easily. 'How's it going?' she said in lower tones. 'I know you don't like how it gets when, well...'

She waved her tiny hands around vaguely to indicate the room as a whole. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she meant.

'It's OK,' I replied.

Apparently she believed me, because she nodded, smiled and reached out to take someone else's abandoned drink, not seeming to care whether this was considered hygienic or not.

'I don't really like how crowded it is...' I added ruefully. 'But... it's what Marie wants. The crowds are good. Everyone will get excited. ...I think it's going to be a long night.'

I said the last part with a bit of a sigh in my voice, but I wasn't sure if Toadette noticed. She was sipping at 'her' soda, while looking over her shoulder at the new people flooding into the building behind her. There seemed to be a long line outside the doors and a massive Hammer Bro ushering people through in singles or pairs. I craned my neck, but couldn't see any hint of a red shirt or blue overalls.

'When's he s'posed to be coming?' Toadette asked, as if she'd been reading my mind.

I shrugged. 'It sort of varies? Usually he's on time, but sometimes...' I trailed off, but she just grinned.

'Hey, you know what they say - it's fashionable to be a little late! Especially if you're a star.'

'Is Mario really a star?' I wondered out loud. 'I mean, he's had a lot of success with his recent songs, but...'

Toadette's grin turned to a more gentle smile as she looked across the bar at me. 'Maybe you don't notice it because you know him so well,' she said. 'But I really do think Mario's a star. He's famous, Luigi, and it's not just from saving Princess Peach from that Bowser guy a couple of times.'

I nodded slowly, absently. 'Yeah... maybe.' Have I been living under a rock? I knew people loved him – everyone's ALWAYS loved him. But I didn't know his MUSIC was this popular.

The last of the people waiting outside, and probably among the last arrivals of the night, were streaming into the bar now, meaning that the hero himself would probably be arriving soon. The tough-guy Hammer Bro stayed outside to guard the doors.

By the Stars, there ARE a lot of people here, I thought, with a peculiar feeling washing over me that I could only describe as dazed surprise. Of course, I'd known there were a lot of people here, but to actually sit back and look at them properly, to absorb just how crowded this place was, was dizzying.

Just as I was about to ask Toadette what she thought of my brother's music, we heard the purr of a sleek car pulling up outside The Spiny Shell. All of a sudden, as completely as if someone had cut the lights, the crowds fell silent. Dead silent. You could have heard a pin drop; nobody even seemed to be breathing as, like a single creature, all eyes turned towards the doors.

There was a small commotion outside the bar, and then the tough-guy Hammer Bro shuffled sideways to clear the doorway, and a very familiar figure stepped over the threshold. I would have recognised him wearing anything, but the sight of the red shirt, red cap, and blue overalls seemed to strike at me with its familiarity. The only thing about his appearance that was unusual was the pair of dark shades over his eyes, and a second later he took those off, stuffing them into his pocket to reveal laughing blue eyes beneath the brim of his cap.

The deathly lull broke, and noise exploded over my already aching eardrums as the crowd screamed in joy at the sight of their hero. He drank it all in, grinning boyishly as he waved at them. For the first time that night, I could understand and appreciate fully what Toadette had meant. He was famous not just for being a musician, but also for everything else he'd accomplished - everything from saving the princess to helping keep her kingdom safe from their enemies, time and time again. He was a star. He was Mario.

The cheering didn't die down even after nearly two minutes had passed, so Mario set off through the bar, making a beeline for the stage off to one side. I had a good view of it over the crowds' heads, as the floor behind the bar was slightly elevated. Not to mention most of the people in here were Toads, Goombas and Shy Guys.

'I wonder what he's going to perform today?!' Toadette yelled. It was a normal enough question, but the sheer noise around us meant she had to nearly scream in my ear to be heard.

'Probably one of his old songs!' I shouted back. 'He usually plays an old one first.'

I reached across the bar to collect a few empty glasses, watching my brother out the corner of my eye. He ran around the back of the stage and clambered up, looking like a child in his eagerness to play. I noticed he was wearing a guitar slung over his back. As he took it out of the case, everyone could see it was his signature guitar - a bright red electric with an 'M' logo, the same as the one embroidered on the front of his cap.

He hadn't so much as glanced my way since he arrived, and I wasn't expecting him to. I returned to my task without looking at the stage any more, until I was suddenly distracted by Toadette tugging urgently on my sleeve. 'Luigi! He's waving at you!'

My head snapped around. Sure enough, Mario was looking my way and waving, almost sheepishly, while the crowd cheered their approval and impatience. I rolled my eyes exasperatedly and raised my hand briefly in the air. Instantly he turned his attention back to the spectators. This time I watched as he adjusted his familiar guitar in his grip, swept one hand down the strings.

Even from the first note, the audience recognised what he was playing and erupted into more screaming as at the same time Mario launched into the opening riff of a familiar song. I smiled despite myself as I rubbed my ear. It was the first song he'd ever written, and spoke of his love for Princess Peach.

Behind him, the other musicians - mostly volunteers who would have cut off their legs for the chance to play on-stage with the great Mario - started up a thunder of drums and bass to accompany his riff. The glasses on the bar rattled, and I found myself idly wondering how the walls and ceiling of this rickety little building hadn't fallen in yet.

'It's going to be a long night,' I mumbled under my breath.