Hi, this is Anonymous Girl Gamer! This is my second fanfic. I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but Super Mario Odyssey inspired me to write this. Mario and Luigi are middle aged. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Nintendo's characters. Without them, this fanfic wouldn't have been possible.

Mario's PoV

So, this was it. Brooklyn, New York. His home city. It felt strange to be back after all this time. His last visit, he believed, had been in the early 90's.

Mario was getting a few strange looks from the people around him. He could understand why. He looked so out of place here. You didn't see a walking 3D animated moustached man every day. Then he remembered Luigi was beside him too. That must be even weirder for the average observer.

That was without mentioning how famous they were here. There were so many games based on his many adventures here. Wow, he didn't think Peach's kidnappings were so important.

Peach. She was the reason he was returning here for good. He would have been better off if he'd never met her.

He didn't care to remember the humiliation of his marriage proposal. She'd flat out rejected him. After all he'd done for her. Talk about gratitude. He should have known that her kisses meant nothing, they were merely little pecks on the... nose? He'd actually taken her seriously?

She wouldn't need him anymore, anyway. That was why he'd proposed: Bowser had died. He had been so thoroughly defeated, not even a 1-up mushroom could save his life. Since he had passed away, he wouldn't have been able to interfere with the happy couple (which never was).

Wait, did this mean the end of his worldwide fame? He supposed so. It didn't matter. Once he couldn't have Peach, he didn't care about anything else.

Luigi's PoV

Luigi was glad to be back. He knew he shouldn't be so happy, since his brother was depressed, but he couldn't help it. Of course, he wasn't planning on living here permanently like Mario, it was just for a visit.

"Daisy would love this," he thought. Himself and Daisy had been married for twenty two years, and they had a girl, whom they'd named after his wife. It annoyed his daughter so much when Mario called her Baby Daisy, even though she was twenty one years old and officially an adult.

His wife hated being queen, she hated wearing long dresses and acting prim and proper when all she wanted to do was play sport and speak loudly.

On a different note, he couldn't wait to see Mamma and Papa. He also couldn't wait to try the Internet, which didn't exist in the Mushroom Kingdom. His parents had told him all about it on the phone.

He wondered what everyone thought of him. He knew it wouldn't help his already low self esteem, but he was really curious...

Mario's PoV

Mario was jumping around the place.

"Mario, you can't just jump here," said Luigi.

"Oh... yeah."

He was also putting his life in danger by randomly walking on the road.

"Mario, we can't just walk where we feel like. This isn't the Mushroom Kingdom. There are cars here."

Mario was getting irritated. Why was Luigi acting like the big brother here?

Then it hit him that in the real world, there were other dangers apart from Bowser, pits and lava. Something as mundane as a car could kill you. And here, there were no extra lives. Here, you only lived once.

Mario's PoV, Mamma and Papa's house

"Ah, Mario! Luigi!"

"Mamma! Papa!"

After about ten minutes of greeting and hugging, they finally started a conversation.

"Ah, you look just like cartoon characters! That'll wear off, I suppose."

Mario wasn't sure if he wanted to go back to "normal". Would he still retain his abilities?

"We've prepared a lovely meal for you two! Mushroom soup and spaghetti bolognese!"

"Fantastico!" thought Mario. "Mushrooms! Oh, wait, this is the real world, so mushrooms don't do anything. Come to think of it, neither will flowers and leaves! Mamma mia, does this mean I'll never fly again?"

Luigi's PoV

After dinner, Luigi searched his name on the computer with Mario: what came up was shocking.

Here, people loved him far more than Mario.

Here, people liked his cowardice: it meant he had more personality than his twin and was therefore more relatable and likeable.

He also searched Mario's name, and to his surprise, there were tons of people trying to prove he wasn't a hero!

This was the exact opposite from the Mushroom Kingdom!

He searched Daisy too: he discovered that while a lot of people hated her, she had a huge fanbase who wanted her in more games. But how could she get into more games? It wasn't her fault that she didn't get caught up in adventures.

He also discovered that some people thought Peach wanted to be kidnapped, that she was in love with Bowser. How absurd!

People shipped the most unlikely couples. A lot of people seemed to ship himself and Rosalina, even though he was married! Even weirder, Waluigi and Rosalina seemed to be a popular ship. How? Where did they get all this from?

Mario's PoV

Following that dinner, Mario realised he couldn't stay here after all. Once his cartoony look had worn off, he would be a nobody. No one would recognise him.

That's what he would do. He'd return to the Mushroom Kingdom and avoid Peach at all costs. He was forty eight years old, much too old to be looking for love. He'd just have to live as a bachelor...

When he thought about it, was Luigi the one who had succeeded in life? He had a beautiful wife and daughter. He was the brother everyone preferred in the real world. And he was still a hero. He had followed Mario on most of his adventures, even with his fears.

Luigi's PoV

Luigi had to come back to New York. He wasn't born to be a hero, just like Daisy wasn't born to be a princess or a queen. It was their circumstances which forced them to be people they didn't want to be. He'd talk to Daisy about it, when he got back.

He went to tell Mario of his plans. Mario also revealed that he was staying in the Mushroom Kingdom.

He was going to miss his brother so much, but he had to do this. He was a grown man, he couldn't base his life around Mario. Ironically, Mario had been the one to stay in Peach's kingdom.

Either way, he couldn't wait to start a new life here.

So, that's it. I'll be writing an epilogue in a few days time. Please review! (I'll answer you personally, unless it's a guest review, in which case I'll answer when I write the epilogue)