Luigi Mario sat at the loose, rickety table in the living room waiting for his hot chocolate to finish boiling. He had a bit of a headache; Mario had kept him up all night yakking in his sleep about his latest adventure. It got annoying every once in a while.

He went over to the clock in the living room and discovered it was 4:07 in the afternoon. And Mario's still asleep, Luigi thought. Strange.

As he began sipping his hot chocolate, he heard a voice from outside, a jolly tenor with a hint of a squeak. "Mail call!" it said.

Luigi knew the voice all too well. It was Parakarry, a paratroopa Mario had traveled with once. After yawning once, he stepped outside and headed for the mailbox. Reaching in, he found a pink embroidered envelope with 'Mario' written on the back in loopy cursive. Luigi smiled inwardly, knowing just by the envelope exactly who it was from and what it said.

Walking back to the house at a leisurely pace, Luigi contemplated the letter again. Would he be allowed to come with Mario this time? Or would he have to stay alone in their rutted out old house for two months while Mario had the new best adventure of his life?

He almost didn't stop when he reached the door, lost in his thoughts. "Mario!" he called when he got inside. "A letter from Princess Peach has arrived for you!"

His brother Mario came out presently from his bedroom. His overalls were rather in disarray, having been slept in last night. His tired eyes told Luigi he'd had nightmares about all the magical faraway places he'd been to before. It made Luigi sad to see the famous Super Mario in such a bad way.

He hated to do this, but he felt so sorry for Mario that he felt he should. "He bro! Sit down, you want some hot cocoa?" Mario looked up at the question.

"Yeah, sure Weege. Thanks, bro," he answered. "So what's this letter say?"

Luigi tore open the envelope and began reading:

"Dear Mario,

I would like to cordially invite you to my birthday party tomorrow. It will be at the castle at seven o' clock P.M. I would be so happy if you could come.

Please consider my offer, as I would love to see you there at my party. If you like, you can bring Luigi along. Please take this invite with you, or else the doormen won't let you in. See you there!

From,

Princess Peach

Luigi threw a party inside his brain for being allowed to come along with Mario to the party. He didn't even hear Mario talking to him until he was shouting. Luigi snapped out of it and asked what Mario had said again.

"When is the party?" Mario repeated. Luigi read over the letter again. "Seven," he replied. He then looked at the clock and rubbed his eyes to make sure he seeing correctly. Was it really 5:00 already? "Huh," he said to himself, and then to Mario, "I'm gonna make dinner."

"You do that. Call me when it's ready."

"Okay."

As Luigi cooked a couple of Shroom Fries, he thought about all of the fun things about Peach birthday party. This would be great. There would be games and candy and cake…although if he knew Mario, the cake would be gone within ten minutes.

At five thirty, dinner was done, and he called Mario back out. "That looks good," Mario told him.

They ate their fries slowly and talked about the party. "So, how old will Peach be again?" Luigi asked.

"26," Mario answered with a hint of recital in his voice, as if people had asked him the question many time before. Luigi just nodded.

"You know, Weege, you're a great cook," Mario said at some point. Luigi thanked him quietly and put the half of his fry down. "Sorry Mario, I'm not that hungry. You can have this."

Mario looked sympathetically at him while he walked to the bedroom and retired. Not wanting to eat alone, he covered the fries with cling wrap and put in the fridge. He then followed Luigi to the blissful world of sleep and yakkity yaks.