Luigi's POV
Luigi hated himself. He hated it when he had to watch Mario swiftly dodge all banana peels while they were Kart-riding and come in first place, while he made second place. He hated it when he had tried to get three power stars for Mario and Rosalina, but ended up having Mario save him each time. He hated how Peach fawned all over Mario whenever he said he got a star in his stupid Italian accent. Of course, Mario was his brother, so he couldn't ever really hate him, but if only Mario could get second place for a change, or if Luigi could have a beautiful princess draped over him for once, it would be nice. And Daisy was pretty cute.
"Luigi!" Mario called. "Look at this!"
Luigi sighed and walked into Mario's "cute" little trophy room with all his Power Stars and Shine Sprites and Peach's "rescue me" letters and who knows what. This had better be good.
"Look at this!" Mario repeated, passing Luigi a letter. Luigi could tell it was from Peach even before he opened it from the sickening pink envelope. He rolled his eyes and opened it. It was an invite.
Dear Mario and Luigi ("My name comes second again," Luigi thought.),
Princess Peach and Princess Daisy are hosting a ball! One hundred handpicked people are selected to attend at the East Tower Ballroom on the 18th at 4:00. Food and drinks are provided.
Love from,
Peach and Daisy
Underneath the message was a footnote written in the most beautiful, intimidating script that Luigi had ever seen.
Note: Mario, I'd like you to come a week early. Luigi, Daisy insists that you come early too.
Mario looked at the date on the personalized Mario-fighting-Bowser calendar and jumped. Luigi looked at it too and realized that the 11th was only two days away. He gave Mario a worried glance.
"How are we going to get there in two days?" Mario asked Luigi.
Luigi spotted a magazine on the floor and grinned at its title. "Go-Kart rental," he replied, as Mario smiled. They grabbed the magazine and ran out the door.
The Kart rental was inside SuperKarts, a popular Kart store. Mario and Luigi eyed the gleaming Karts and motorcycles longingly, but their plumber and carpenter salaries combined wouldn't be able to make it. They walked up to the little rental counter at the corner of the store and rang the bell. Up popped a little Yoshi, who smiled and showed them a large catalogue.
"This is Go Kart rental… how may I help you?" he asked.
"Uhhhhhhh…." Luigi said, flipping through the catalogue. "We would like two of the small Karts."
The Yoshi typed numbers into a keypad on the wall and a garage door opened. "Right this way," he said. The three of them walked into a large garage with everything from the smallest motorcycle to the largest kart. Eventually, they came to a stop at the saddest looking row they had ever seen. All the karts were run down and very rusty. The Yoshi pointed to two of the ones at the front. They had half-deflated tires, punctured seats, and rusty door hinges. Urrrrrgh. Mario sighed and started filling out the forms, until…
"OH MY GOD!!" the Yoshi yelled. "YOU'RE MARIO, AREN'T YOU? YOU'VE KICKED BOWSER'S BUTT LIKE A MILLION TIMES! CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?"
"Well…" Mario said. "It takes a lot of work to do an autograph, and we could use a nicer kart…"
They walked out of the store and got into the karts that they were able to buy instead of rent because of one little autograph, and the Yoshi waved them off, holding his autograph book like it was made of glass. Maybe it could be a good thing sometimes that Mario was a superhero.
The karts were glossy, with leather seats and several sophisticated dials that did who-knew-what. Mario had gotten a black cart with flames on the side and Luigi had picked a blue one with a green stripe running around it. The karts were faster than the stupid clown machine that Bowser had, and all the bumps on the road seemed to flatten out for them. Mario even found a lever that popped out a tray with a snack and water on it, though a full meal would have been nicer.
Finally, they stopped at the castle entrance, right under a statue of Princess Peach. Getting out of their karts, they locked the doors and showed their invite to the toad guards, who bowed and let them through. Yeah, this was going to be good.
Luigi felt the tiniest bit self conscious as all the smiling toads at the entrance waved their flags and blew trumpets. Mario, however, walked straight by them with a smug expression on his face.
This is a first… Luigi thought, hiding from the staring people by standing in Mario's shadow. Eventually, he became at ease with the staring and let himself enjoy the castle, taking in the high ceiling chandeliers and the beautiful red carpet that led them up a spiraling set of stairs, when Luigi tripped, tumbling head-first down the stairs, and straight into the arms of the girl that ensured that he never had nightmares by coming into his dreams every night.
"Ummm…" Daisy said, trying not to laugh. "Well, you don't normally say 'hi' this way, but it really puts some drama in it!"
"Sorry," Luigi squeaked. "Princess, I really never wanted to… see, I tripped and then you were there, and-"
"Stop calling me Princess or I will slap you," she said, as Peach came into the hall to see what the matter was. She giggled at the sight of Luigi rubbing his head in Daisy's arms, and her eyes twinkled.
"Awwwww, how cute!" she said, walking over to Mario and kissing him full on the mouth.
"Shut up," said Daisy, blushing to the roots of her gorgeous long hair and letting Luigi up. Luigi was blushing too, and he cleared his throat, walking up the stairs again and breaking into a run as soon as he reached the top. He felt dizzy, and he asked a nearby luma where his room was. The luma giggled and led him to a door at the end of the corridor, where he fed the luma a starbit, shut the door, and collapsed on his bed. He had been in her arms, something he had dreamed of doing for years, even if completely by accident. He looked out the window at the gradually darkening sky, and fell asleep.