A/N: I finally got a new story out! This is a oneshot, and I quite like it, although it turned out longer than it was supposed to be. (That seems to be my habit with oneshots.) Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it.

Moments

The first time he saw her, it was during a grand ball at Princess Peach's castle after one of the many occasions Mario had defeated his arch-enemy, Bowser.

It was noisy, chaotic and boisterous, and there were people swarming everywhere – exactly the kind of thing he hated. Even as he adjusted his out-of-place bowtie and smiled nervously at the pink camera Peach was waving in his face, he felt his pulse pumping restlessly in his throat and beads of sweat forming on his brow. Then a flash went off and the princess stepped back, laughing as Mario slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her in close for a hug. The uncomfortable moment passed.

Luigi had made his excuses soon afterwards and headed for the front doors, desperate to get home and enjoy a few minutes of peace and quiet, and maybe a touch of alcohol, before Mario returned. He was almost certain there was an old bottle of wine in the kitchen cupboard, a gift from Toadsworth that had been stored away carefully since last Christmas. Mario insisted he'd been saving it for something special, but Luigi had a feeling his brother had simply forgotten the bottle was there at all.

As he was on his way out, something – a twist of fate, perhaps – made him glance back over his shoulder, even as his hand was stretched out towards the door handle.

And he spotted her.

Tall, clad in a long amber-coloured dress that flowed to the floor, her hair adorned with a flower ornament that gleamed slightly in the multicoloured party lighting. She was laughing as loudly and raucously as most of the men in the room, and casually chatting with Peach as her hands seemingly of their own accord poured out a fresh glass of wine for herself. Sapphire-blue eyes, darker than Peach's yet alive with a strange kind of light, drifted away across the dance floor and locked onto his own before he could avert his gaze.

The intensity of her stare, even though it lasted barely a moment, made his breath catch in his chest. Her eyes didn't linger on him for long; in fact, she appeared nothing short of bored as she caught his gaze, but in those previous few seconds he'd almost felt like she was seeing straight through him and out the other side.

He'd never experienced such a bizarre combination of resentment and longing before. It was plainly obvious that the woman wasn't the slightest bit interested in him – her eyes had only met his by coincidence – but somehow he felt that their brief moment of contact was important. It was like he was catching a glimpse of his own life's future and he'd just seen somebody who would mean something dear to him, days or months or years ahead from now.

I'm going crazy, he thought, and adjusted his threadbare scarf before stepping out of the castle doors, flinching at the brisk bite of mid-January wind that struck him as soon as he went outside.

There was no other explanation for why he was feeling this way. Already the moment was beginning to pass, but the memory of meeting her gaze for the first time was still seared like a fresh burn scar onto the front of his mind. He didn't think he'd be able to shake it off for a long while.

He trudged back to his house through the frosty winter night, threw off his heavy coat and sipped tastelessly at the Christmas wine until Mario came through the door, looking immensely tired but still flushed from excitement.

They were in the process of getting ready for bed, or more specifically, Mario was drinking hot chocolate and Luigi was brushing his teeth in the bathroom, when the subject came up.

'I saw you staring at Daisy,' said Mario, throwing himself down on the couch.

Luigi paused and slowly removed the toothbrush from his mouth in case he accidentally choked on it. 'What?' he said, which felt like the only reasonable response to give.

'I saw you,' Mario repeated. 'Well, technically you were staring at each other, but...'

He was torn between the desire to ask more questions and not wanting to seem too interested. After a few minutes' contemplation, curiosity won over embarrassment.

'So... her name was Daisy?' he asked, in what he sincerely hoped was an offhand tone of voice.

Mario's sleepy chuckle drifted in from the other room. 'Yeah. She's the princess of Sarasaland – she came over from her homeland because she's a really good friend of Peach. They don't get to see each other a lot.' His speech was momentarily broken by a massive, threatening-to-inhale-the-universe yawn. 'She's really nice.'

Luigi walked out of the bathroom as casually as he could manage, switching off the light behind him. 'Hmm,' he replied non-committally, knowing his brother was probably too exhausted to prod him with any enquiries, and might have even forgotten this whole conversation come the morning. 'Anyway, I'll be going to bed now.'

'Night,' said Mario absently, and those were the last words they said to each other on the subject of Princess Daisy for quite a long time.

The first time he actually spoke to her was during a golfing tournament that took place every year in March to celebrate the coming spring. Despite the intended purpose of the tournament, the air was bitterly cold and the dense grey clouds threatened a downpour of rain as they set off to the course.

Luigi leaned on his club and watched Mario line up to take his first shot, brow furrowed with utmost concentration, and did his best to hide his slight amusement. It felt good to be outside, playing sports again, after months of barely leaving the house due to the cold and typical Mushroom Kingdom weather patterns.

'OK, Bro, your turn,' Mario offered, stepping back to make room as his golf ball flew away, a minuscule dot against the grey sky.

'Thanks.' Luigi moved forwards and took his shot, barely pausing long enough to gauge the distance and angle before giving the little ball a vicious whack with his club, standing up straighter and shielding his eyes against the weak light to watch it disappear. It didn't travel as far as Mario's, but he was still pretty impressed, and it sounded like someone else was too.

'Woo-hoo! That was awesome!' an unfamiliar voice cried out somewhere behind him, and he stiffened immediately, nerves kicking in without a second's thought as he became aware of the fact that he and his brother weren't alone on the tee.

The two princesses, Peach and Daisy, had wandered over at some point to watch, their faces all smiles. Peach had eyes for no-one but Mario, as was to be expected.

'You did amazing,' she whispered, and the ex-plumber practically beamed with delight at the compliment.

Meanwhile, Luigi found himself increasingly in the spotlight as Daisy hurriedly made her way towards him, her club slung over her shoulder and her brown hair pulled back in a casual ponytail.

'Hey!' she greeted, and he was more than a little shocked at the way she said it, all fire and gusto – nothing remotely princesslike there. 'You're Luigi, right? I've heard a lot about you.'

'A... a lot?' he stammered. 'From who?'

She grinned and held out her free hand. It took him a humiliatingly long time for him to work out what she wanted him to do with it, and out of nervousness, he wound up grabbing her hand and shaking it far more energetically than he'd meant to.

'Oh, all kinds of people,' she said breezily, not really answering the question. 'Anyway, I'd better get back to the game. Wouldn't want to miss anything!'

She gave him one more cheesy grin before darting off, quick as a bird in the springtime, to rejoin Mario and Peach's enthusiastic golf discussion. She didn't even glance back at him as she left, but he found himself surprisingly quite grateful for that, because he was smiling like an idiot.

This is ridiculous! he thought. He'd barely even said a word to her and her greeting had probably been made out of politeness and nothing else, but he already felt like they had something in common. He shook his head and rested his club over his shoulder as all four of them set off at a brisk walk across the course. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mario shooting him – behind Daisy's line of vision – what was obviously supposed to be an encouraging nod and a smile.

You're acting like a teenager with a crush, he reminded himself, and averted his gaze from Mario's before anything could be said. But that admission – or realisation – didn't stop him from absent-mindedly thinking about Daisy as he stepped forwards to take his second shot.

And if he put a tiny bit more effort into the swing than he normally would... well, the Sarasaland princess' admiring whoop made him feel less stupid about it.

The first time he saved her, it was only because nobody else would.

For what was apparently the first time in recorded history, Bowser had decided not to kidnap Peach. Instead, he'd set his sights on someone else, also a princess, but someone who didn't – rather noticeably – have her own personal hero to come running to her aid.

It was 11AM on a Saturday morning in Sarasaland when Princess Daisy was suddenly reported missing.

There was no sign of a struggle besides an ominous smear of blood on the windowsill of her bedroom. The window itself was wide open, curtains fluttering mournfully in the summer breeze.

'She's been kidnapped,' said Peach immediately after she heard the news, her face white with the shock of finding out. Mario had his arm around her, trying his best to offer some form of comfort, but his hand was shaking and his own face was creased with so much worry that nobody could believe him when he said everything would be all right.

'It's OK,' he murmured soothingly. 'I'll go look for her, I know where Bowser's fortress is-'

'No!' Surprisingly, the shout didn't come from either Peach or Luigi, but instead from the diminutive figure of advisor Toadsworth. 'Master Mario, I understand how difficult it is for you to hear about this, but you cannot risk your life rescuing Princess Daisy! The army of Sarasaland will do the job just fine. Now please, stay here and don't panic. The situation is very much under control.'

'You don't really think that,' said Luigi out of the corner of his mouth. There was no answer forthcoming, but he thought he saw the old Toad give him an exasperated glance as he hobbled out the room on his walking stick.

When he turned back again, Mario was actually hugging Peach, whispering something about how everything would be OK in the end, how someone would find Daisy and she'd be brought home in no time.

Something in him snapped at the sight. Not because of the hugging, but because he knew Daisy was in danger somewhere and nobody was going to be able to rescue her.

And then, in a lightbulb moment, he understood what he needed to do. He stood up from his armchair, drawing all eyes to him as suddenly as if he'd cocked a loaded gun in their presence.

'I'll go,' he said, pitching his voice at a whisper so nobody would notice the way it nearly cracked with fear.

'Seriously?' said Mario. Then he blinked, got a proper look at Luigi's face, and seemed to realise that no, he was not trying to be funny. 'Bro, I've actually done this stuff before, you haven't.'

'I will go,' said Luigi. 'You can't stop me. B-besides...' A tiny hint of the terror he was feeling crept into his voice, and he had to forcibly push it away to make himself look stronger than he was. 'I know where Bowser's castle is too. I'll find her and bring her back in no time. Just you wait and see!'

He left the room, clenching his fists at the thought of Mario not considering him mature enough to go on an adventure alone.

'Luigi!' Peach called out to him just as he was closing the door. 'Please... be careful.'

The blistering summer heat bore down on him like a wave, and he suddenly realised it wasn't his brother's response that was making him angry. It was the thought of what might be happening to Daisy right now while nobody seemed willing to do anything about it.

The first time they had any kind of physical contact (other than that one awkward handshake), it wasn't in the most expected situation.

He'd fought his way past Goombas and Koopas and far worse creatures as he quested in Bowser's Castle, a structure so vast and complex that he'd spent a good part of the day exploring one half of it. He'd dodged fireballs and leapt over heart-stoppingly dark pits that he was sure didn't have a bottom, or if they did, it was so far down that a fall would break every bone in his body.

He wasn't exaggerating when he said he'd nearly died a few times, and he hadn't always been quick or lucky enough to avoid things. The nasty burn on his shoulder and the set of jagged claw scratches than marred his right leg were proof of that.

He never even saw Bowser, and while he was relieved by that, he couldn't help being suspicious. In the end he'd just shrugged (painfully, thanks to his burns) and decided that Mario must have somehow found a way to lure the King out of his fortress.

Hours of hard work and terrifying moments finally led to him unlocking an iron door and stepping inside, only to be greeted by a surprised cry and a pair of strong arms grabbing onto him more tightly than was comfortable.

'Luigi?! Did you really come here all by yourself?'

'Y-yeah,' he faltered, trying not to go rigid with nerves as she continued hugging him. 'Somehow...'

Daisy let go and stepped back, though she kept her hands on his shoulders, holding him at arms' length while her keen blue eyes inspected him up and down. 'You look like hell,' she said bluntly. 'C'mon, let's hurry and get home so I can call a doctor or something.'

'It's OK, really...' he replied weakly as the princess grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room she'd been imprisoned in. He was still fixated on thinking wait, wasn't I supposed to be the one doing the saving when she turned and threw a grin over her shoulder, making every thought in his head melt away to nothing.

'Sorry, I got carried away there,' she said ruefully. 'I didn't even remember to thank you!' Still holding his hand, she moved a little closer.

'Y-you don't h-have to,' he stammered, more unnerved than he'd ever been while exploring the castle. 'I mean, anyone would have done the same thing!'

'But not everyone would've have done it even when they were scared out of their wits,' she replied. 'So thanks, Luigi.' And she leaned forwards and gave him a peck on the cheek, the physical pressure there and gone so quickly it took him another few seconds to realise what she'd just done.

'D-Daisy!' he protested, both slightly embarrassed by her apparent boldness and delighted that she'd actually do something like that. Kissing him in exactly the same way Peach kissed Mario whenever he saved her from another kidnap attempt.

Daisy just smirked and continued dragging him through the dark castle corridors, and this time he let himself smile a little as he followed behind.

She didn't call a doctor when they got home, because Luigi insisted he wasn't injured enough for it to be necessary and he'd just be wasting said doctor's time. So they headed straight to Peach's castle to announce that Daisy was alive and well, and Luigi spent a few uncomfortable minutes being hugged by Peach herself, and then having Mario clap him on the shoulder and give him a firm nod that was probably supposed to mean 'good work'.

He tried to sneak out of the building a while later, intending to go home and patch up his wounds as best as he could. But he hadn't even gotten to the front doors when a voice startled him out of his reverie.

'Luigi! Where d'you think you're going?'

He froze, and for some reason he felt a faint twinge of guilt. Probably because I'm leaving without even talking to her, he mused. But he didn't feel guilty for very long. Mostly because his leg and shoulder still hurt quite a lot, or at least enough to be distracting, and he kind of wanted to ignore Daisy and run home as fast as he could, but a bigger part of him said no.

He sighed slightly and turned around.

'Daisy...'

'Come here,' she said, more gently than he'd have expected considering her energetic, fiery personality. 'Like I said, you look like hell. The least I can do after you nearly got killed saving me is help you with those injuries.'

'Y-you don't have to.'

'No,' she said, grinning. 'I should have just forced you to go to the doctor, but this is way more fun.' She took his wrist and pulled him over to an armchair in the living-room area.

What do I make of this? he asked himself. But there wasn't an answer to give. Because even after all these months, ever since that first moment when their eyes had briefly met across the dance floor at a party he hadn't wanted to attend, he still didn't know what their relationship was. Friends? Acquaintances? The latter was safer to assume, considering they hadn't really talked that much, but he desperately wanted to say otherwise.

'Stay still a sec,' Daisy bending down slightly to wipe at his burned shoulder with a cloth covered in some kind of antiseptic substance. The pain made his eyes water, but somehow, like an alcohol, it emboldened him enough to say what he wanted to say.

'Daisy... are we actually, um, friends?'

She didn't answer immediately, preoccupied with cleaning up his wounds, and for a moment he feared his question had come off as weird and she wasn't going to respond at all. But then she paused and looked at him with a hint of her usual grin, and nervously, he felt himself smiling back.

'Friends... yeah, we can be friends,' she said. 'That'd be cool.'

Happiness soared through his chest. 'R-really?' he stammered, knowing he sounded like an idiot but for once, he didn't care.

'Of course,' she replied, returning her attention to his injured arm.

And even though they said nothing more meaningful for the rest of the evening, he felt like they'd gotten somewhere new, somewhere there was no going back from. Suddenly he remembered how he'd felt at the party when he saw her for the first time. Like I knew she was going to be a part of my future, he thought. And here they were now – calling each other friends.

And it had only taken five months, a few awkward encounters, and one life-threatening quest through a lava-filled castle before it all came together at last.