Chapter 1

I yawned as I closed the door to my bakery. It was the end of another great day and time to close up shop...2 hours ago. I chuckled to myself thinking about today; today was the busiest the bakery has ever been, and cleaning up the kitchen took forever, almost like the place was hit with a hurricane of toddlers. I should know; I've baked with toddlers before. Babysitting job.

So yeah, I was exhausted and late for a get together with my friends. I haven't had a chance to hang out with them for a while, and we were supposed to be going to dinner. I checked myself to make sure I didn't look horrid and pulled out away from the shop.

Let me introduce myself. Hi, I'm Daisy. I'm the princess of Sarasaland and owner of The Wild and Crazy Bakery in the Mushroom Kingdom. Now, I'm sure you'd expect a princess to live in a palace in her own kingdom, not a normal house running a bakery in the kingdom of her best friend. But I'm not your typical princess. For one thing, I'm a tomboy. I love the outdoors and playing sports and being loud and messy. For another thing, I have no interest in falling in love with a prince. I've always deemed the thought ludicrous and cliche, and all of the princes I've ever met were snobby, stuck-up jerks. Besides...I actually like someone else.

His name is...SpongeBob! Ha! Just kidding, his name is Luigi. He's Mario's younger brother and they rescue my friend, Princess Peach on a weekly basis. She's a great girl, really sweet, hardworking, graceful, kind, and we've been friends since we were babies. But, hey. I'm getting off topic. Like I said, Mario and Luigi often work together to rescue Peach if she gets kidnapped. Mario is constantly receiving all of the attention for the rescues, and while he doesn't let stardom get to him all the time, he does sometimes, and it gets on my nerves. Mario's a nice person, don't get me wrong. He's even rescued me once. But I wish Luigi would get the attention he deserves.

Now I'm finally going to talk about Luigi. If I made a list of the sweetest guys I've ever met, Luigi would be at the top. In fact, he'd be so far at the top, he'd be off the paper. He's so nice and does the nicest things for me. He's always there to listen if I have something to say. I'm never lonely; he's always there to keep me company. Maybe it's because we both know what it's like to be number two. Mario's the "braver" one, Peach is the "prettier" one. We both get it. He's really cute and funny and kind. Only trouble is, he doesn't know how I feel. He can't know. We're best friends! What if he doesn't feel the same and it damages our friendship? Even if I can't have him as a lover, I'd rather die than lose him as a friend.

I pullled up to Mushroom Roadhouse (MK version of Texas Roadhouse) grabbed a box out of the passenger seat, and head in. I turn the corner and find my friends sitting in a booth talking. Well, actually Mario and Peach were talking and Luigi had his head down, looking bored. I whistled and he looked up, beamed at me, and beckoned me to come over.

"Hey, everyone!" I greeted. Mario and Peach looked up from their conversation and smiled at me.

"Hey, Daisy," Peach said.

"You're fashionably late," Mario replied.

"Thanks Captain Obvious, I was not aware of that," I said with a chuckle. I sat down next to Luigi and he gave me a side hug.

"How was The Wild and Crazy?" He asked.

"Wild and Crazy," I replied. I pulled out the box and said, "This is why." I opened it to reveal four sticks of cotton candy. I handed one to Luigi, who eyed it cautiously.

"What's so wild and crazy about this?" He asked me.

"Just eat it," was my reply. He shrugged his shoulders and took a bite, only for a chocolate-y substance to be sprayed on his mouth. He licked his lips and his eyes widened.

"Is it good?" I asked him. The response I got was a noisy gobbling sound as he bit into the cotton candy again.

"It's chocolate milk!" He exclaimed, licking and biting at the whipped air. He slurped loudly as he ate it. I bit my lip as I watched him eat; it was barely enough to keep me from bursting into laughter.

"It's really messy," Peach chuckled as she tried to bite in without spraying herself with chocolate milk.

"Just lick it," I told her.

"Oh, ok," she replied, picking up a piece of cotton candy with her tongue. "This is really good."

"Thanks," I told her. The stamp of approval from my friends meant more to me than anything. "Chocolate milk infused cotton candy! The place was torn up by the end of the day. It took me ages to get the recipe right, but I did!"

"And all that time was worth it," Luigi said, swallowing the last of his cotton candy. "Can I have another one?"

"Sure," I answered, handing him the last stick. "Oh, you guys. The blueberry fest is still going on this week. Anyone wanna come with me tomorrow?"

"Sorry, Daze," Luigi said. He calls me "Daze" from time to time. It's his little nickname for me; it's really cute. "I promised Mario we would watch the football game tomorrow."

"And I have an important meeting to go to in the Bean Bean Kingdom," Peach said.

"Didn't you just go yesterday?" Mario asked me.

"Yup, and the day before that too," I replied. "Hey, in a pastry shop, you can never have too many blueberries."

"Don't they get tired of you taking all their blueberries?" Mario asked. He groaned as Luigi kicked him in the shin; I saw him mouth the words, "That was rude."

"Well, no. We have an agreement," I told him. "I can come back as much as I want, advertise, and pick as many blueberries as I want, so long as I pay for them in full, some of the profits on what I sell using their blueberries go to the farm, and they get a new blueberry treat made in the shop before the end of the month."

"That seems reasonable," Peach said.

"Yeah, only the treat that I deliver has to live up to the name of the bakery. I have to give them something no one expects, and I am fresh out of ideas," I said.

"You'll figure something out," Luigi told me. I could feel myself blush a little as he put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks," I mumbled, unsure if he heard me.

"You're welcome," he did.

After dinner, we all decided to head back to my place to watch a movie. As Mario and Peach went in the kitchen to make popcorn, I plopped down on the couch face first.

"Work take a little energy out of you?" Luigi asked.

"Yes," I said, my voice muffled as my face was still in the couch. I lifted my head and moaned, "I'm so tired. And my back is killing me."

"Here, let me help," I heard him say. Before I could say anything, my brain completely shut down as he gently massaged my back. Holy cow, that felt good! I felt his hands press into and crack my back, then ride up to firmly rub my shoulders. He pressed his fingers into my neck and rubbed his hands in small circles on my shoulder blades. He even did the little karate chop move up and down my spine. It took everything in me to keep from moaning in pleasure, and it still wasn't enough. Too soon for my liking, he stopped. I sat up and smiled at him.

"Thank you," I said.

"You're welcome," he said back. This is what I meant; I wouldn't have asked him to do that, he did it out of the kindness in his heart, out of his own free will. He's always willing to do something like that for me.

"Hey guys, we got popcorn!" Mario called, walking into the living room.

"How big of a mess did you make in there?" I asked. Mario had a history of making huge messes in my kitchen and leaving me to clean it up.

"I didn't make a mess this time," he said.

"Sure," was my sarcastic reply. Peach put on The Lion King, by far my favorite Disney movie as a kid. This movie is also the only animated Disney movie that still makes me emotional.

"I'm sorry," I sniffed. We're at the saddest part in the movie, in my opinion; (spoiler alert!) Simba just found Mufasa dead. "I always cry at this part."

"Me too," I turned my head to see Luigi tearing up too.

"Babies," Mario scoffed.

"Oh, shut up, Mario!" I yelled. "I think you and Peach are the only people I know that don't cry at this part of the movie. Or at least tear up."

"Not tearing up at this part means you're heartless and lack empathy," Luigi added, defensively wrapping an arm around me, "and the very least you can do is not make rude comments on people who do get emotional at movies."

Eventually I fell asleep. When I woke up, the first thing I realized was that the movie was over. The second thing I noticed was that my head was resting on Luigi's shoulder and his arm was wrapped around me. I was so comfortable. I yawned and snuggled into his chest. I heard him chuckle lightly, and I opened my eyes. He was smiling at me; I started blushing again.

"Oh, uh, s-sorry," I mumbled.

"About what?" He asked sweetly.

"A...A-about f-falling asleep on you," I replied, blushing harder. Maybe it was because we were partially in the dark, but I could almost swear Luigi was blushing, too.

"Oh, w-well, I didn't mind," he said quietly. I sat up.

"Where are Mario and Peach?" I asked.

"In the kitchen," he answered. "After you fell asleep, they went to get more popcorn. But they never came back."

"Probably fell asleep," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Yep," a sleepy voice behind me answered. Peach and Mario came out of the kitchen, rubbing their eyes and yawning.

"We passed out in the kitchen," Mario replied.

"Do you guys wanna crash here for the night?" I asked.

"You sure? We don't wanna impose," Luigi said.

"It's no imposition," I insisted. "I might not be here when you guys wake up, but you're all welcome to spend the night."

"That's really generous of you, Daisy," Luigi said, smiling at me. I swear that smile makes me melt every time.

"Mario and I can sleep in the guest bedroom," Peach said. Before I could say something, they disappeared into the hallway.

"I'll sleep on the couch," Luigi said.

"You don't have to," I told him. When he raised an eyebrow at me, I blushed and said, "You can sleep with me."

"Oh...a-are you sure?" He asked.

"Yeah, I-I mean, if you want to," I said.

"W-Well...o-o-okay. Thank you."

"No problem."