Daisy paced the small stretch of floor in front of her couch. She stared at her phone, mentally commanding it to ring, but some things were beyond even Daisy's force of will. Nearby, she heard Mario leaving another voice mail for Luigi, but she wasn't listening to the words anymore. If the first five hadn't worked, why would a sixth?
"Luigi has never been out this late without answering his phone," Mario said from the couch. Then, in a lower voice, "Of course he's never raised his voice or run out on me, either. I wonder where he picked it up."
Daisy rubbed her temples. "Please don't start."
"I didn't mean you."
"I know you didn't."
The awkward silence stretched the seconds into minutes. Peach rested her head on Mario's shoulder, rubbing his upper arm comfortingly. She kept her mouth shut and her eyes on Mario's shoes. Daisy and Peach had never quite been friends. Their station in life often landed them in the same room at parties, and they'd spent many childhood afternoons playing dress-up or exchanging secrets while their parents had tea in the other room. As they'd grown into adolescence, however, their tastes had diverged drastically. Daisy had still sought out Peach as a familiar face at stuffy social events where she didn't know what else to do with herself, but they'd lost any connection they'd had as children. When Daisy finally confessed to Peach about sneaking around with the Weegees, Peach had only two questions:
What?! How long has this been going on?
When Daisy answered that it had been going on for a few months, Peach had sighed, shaken her head, and lapsed into a cold silence. The next day, Daisy's parents gave their daughter the ultimatum, and Daisy had decided to leave. Daisy still didn't know if her choice disgusted Peach, or if she had turned a haughty shoulder because societal protocol demanded it. The reason didn't matter, since the end result was the same. They had never quite been friends, and Daisy was apathetic about changing that.
Then there was Mario. Luigi had specifically requested that he be allowed to confront Mario alone, and that Waluigi and Daisy stay out of it. As such, neither of them had any complete idea of how the confrontation had gone, or what exactly Mario thought of the whole situation. Not until earlier in the night, at any rate. If Mario did think Waluigi was abusing Luigi somehow, where did Daisy fall into it? Did he think that Waluigi was abusing her too? Because he had to know she had more sense than to stick around and put up with bullshit like that. Did he think Waluigi was doing it behind her back? And, worst of all, did he think she knew and chose not to do anything about it, because maybe she favored one over the other or some such thing?
"Listen," Daisy finally said out loud. "I don't know what exactly you think is happening, but I don't fuck around when it comes to my Weegees. Either of them. If one was having a problem with the other, don't you think I'd do something about it?"
"I'm sure you would, but it's him I don't trust. Can you be sure of everything Waluigi does when you're not looking? What he's thinking at any given moment?"
"Luigi tells me everything, and he's never been very good at lying. I would know if something was wrong." She stopped pacing and crossed her arms, tilting her head at the shortest of the four plumbers. "Why is it so hard for you to accept the idea that maybe they've figured out how to get along?"
"They're our opposites. We've never had any common ground. Why, after years of fighting, would they suddenly find some?"
"They've both always liked me," Daisy shrugged. "They're a lot more alike than you'd think on a basic level. Waluigi doesn't-" Her phone rang. Forgetting the conversation, she answered the unknown number with a desperately optimistic, "Hello?"
"Daisy?" It was Luigi's exhausted voice.
"I can't express how happy I am to hear your voice. Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm… Is Mario still with you?"
Daisy glanced at the pair on the couch. "Yes. We walked all the way back to the apartment hoping we'd run across you. We were waiting to see if…" She trailed off when she heard Luigi groan.
"I'm so sorry. I would have called you an hour ago, but Wario refused to let me borrow is phone."
"Wario? Wario's with you?" The fat little troll had found them and hadn't bothered to tell her? Wherever they were, she had half a mind to go over there and kick his ass.
Mario tensed a bit at the mention of his doppelganger.
"Waluigi… Waluigi's hurt. Apparently Wario's his emergency contact." Luigi's voice trembled slightly. "The doctors are saying he's stable now, but he hasn't woken up yet, so…"
Daisy pressed the fingers of her free hand to her forehead and started pacing again. "Wait a minute. Where are you?"
"Um… Heaven's Gate Hospital, I think it's called? Yeah."
"What exactly happened?"
"Please don't tell Mario," Luigi begged sheepishly. "I'll never live it down."
"Just tell me."
"These… five, I think? Three opossums and a ferret, led by a raccoon… They mugged me. Waluigi got me free and tried to walk away, but they attacked…" Luigi's voice cracked and he gulped. "Can you- Can you come, please? I'm still not feeling very good and Wario- Wario isn't helping."
Daisy was already pulling on her shoes. "I was on my way yesterday, Weegee. I'll see you soon." She made kissing sounds into the phone and hung up. Before Mario could ask, Daisy said, "I gotta go. They're at the hospital. It didn't sound like Luigi was too hurt, but Waluigi's unconscious."
Mario and Peach looked at each other. Then, Mario asked, "Can we come with you?"
Daisy sighed and tapped her phone on the table. "It… Didn't sound like he wanted to…"
"I'll pay for a cab. It'll be faster than the bus, if you can even find a bus running at this time of night. Please?"
The short man in red looked so worried. Daisy bit her lip and shifted her weight from foot to foot. If the situation had been reversed, she would hate to be left out of the loop. She was supposed to side with the Weegees, however, and both of them were in shut down mode at the moment, as far as Mario was concerned. At the same time they had to break the pattern of fights and silent treatments eventually. She nodded and jerked her head in a 'come on, then' gesture.
000
They found Luigi sitting on a couch near the window in Waluigi's room, staring forlornly at the slender man asleep in the hospital bed. Wario slouched in an arm chair, testing some microgames on his phone. Daisy ran to Luigi and gathered him into a hug. She could always chew out Wario later. There were more pressing matters on hand at the moment. "Oh, my poor Weegee. We came as fast as we could."
"It's my stupid fault," he said. He didn't even acknowledge his brother, or the princess.
"I'm sure that's not true," Daisy said. Though she continued hugging Luigi's head to her chest, she turned her line of sight to the man in the bed. An angry bruise stained Waluigi's jaw. An oxygen tube snaked from nostrils. An IV bag fed clear fluid into his veins. His wrists were buckled into padded restraints. She assumed it was to keep him from getting tangled in the tubes and wires if he started thrashing in his sleep. It was hard to tell much else, what with the sheet pulled up under his armpits.
"If I hadn't gotten myself lost, there never would've been a fight. If I'd helped sooner, maybe they wouldn't have stabbed him." Luigi looked up at Daisy. "He didn't even tell me he was hurt. He knew it would freak me out. Why am I so…"
"Sh, it's okay." Daisy gave him in extra squeeze. "It was just some bad luck. Anyone could get mugged wandering around after dark."
"And that's why I should've known better," Luigi protested miserably.
"My idiot brother thinks he's invincible," Wario groused without looking up from his phone. "This crap used to happen way more often than it should've."
"Are you hurt?" Mario asked, sitting next to his brother.
"Not- not physically," Luigi said. Each agonizing minute waiting for the ambulance had taken a heavy toll on him. Especially since Waluigi had passed out shortly before it arrived. He still hadn't regained consciousness. Granted he'd been in surgery since then and drugs were at least partially responsible for his current unconsciousness.
Wario reached for the soda next to him. When he picked it up, he frowned and shook the can a little. Grumbling to himself, he crushed it in one hand and chucked it at the trashcan on his way to the door. "I'm going to the vending machine. Call me if the idiot starts waking up."
Daisy scowled after Wario, and then turned to Luigi. "I think I could use something to drink, too." She kissed his temple. "You want anything while I'm there?"
"You're going?" Luigi watched her with a rather distressed expression.
"I'll be back. I'm sure Mario can keep you company. You two have a lot to talk about, after all."
After she left, Luigi hugged his knees to his chest. He didn't speak to Mario or Peach, choosing instead to resume contemplating his damaged doppelganger.
"Why is he restrained?" Mario asked.
"He has night terrors. When he sleeps," Luigi answered hesitantly. He didn't want to fight again. Not right now.
"I see." Mario lapsed into silence once more.
Luigi sighed and buried his face in his knees. "I shouldn't have run off," he mumbled. "It was stupid."
"I shouldn't have been so harsh," Mario said. "Those two tend to bring out the worst in me."
"He saved me."
"I know," but the brother in red still sounded unconvinced. "Sometimes I wonder, though, if maybe you just… got sucked into it with him because Daisy…"
"I'm not incapable of making my own decisions."
"That's not what I meant. Sometimes it seems like you," Mario paused to choose the right words, "compromise because you don't think you can do better."
"If I was unhappy, I wouldn't be here."
"Yeah, you say that." They both watch Waluigi sleep for a while. "You never told me how this whole thing happened."
"What whole thing?"
"The situation with you and Daisy and…"
Luigi hunched his shoulders and twiddled his thumbs. The details were a little embarrassing. "It was that team race we won a few months ago, on Yoshi's island, where Daisy and I wound up with Bowser, King Boo, and the Wa brothers. The prize was this sort of luau party by the springs, with performers, lots of food, and," Luigi blushed, "quite a bit of drinking. Daisy was having a blast. I was just trying to be invisible and get through the night unscathed.
At some point Waluigi decided it would be funny to shove me into the spring. Daisy, defending my honor, got involved and shoved him in, too. Apparently he doesn't swim very well, because he panicked and I had to drag him out. Wario was too busy laughing, not to mention I was probably the only clear-headed individual left, aside from King Boo, because, you know, ghosts don't drink... Anyway, Waluigi stormed off in a huff like he does when he's embarrassed. After Daisy sobered up bit, she felt bad, so she went after him.
She was gone for a while, so I decided to go back to the cabins without her. I ran across them on the way." Luigi hesitated. "They were in the water kissing and, um, their clothes were on the ground by the- by the shore. I got kind of mad because, well, we'd both had a crush on Daisy for years, and there he was, moving in first, like he always did, or at least tried to do… Except this time my jealousy got the better of me, so when he started heading back toward the cabins alone I decided to intercept and confront him. We only fought for a little bit, though. Things kind of got… weird after that. I think- Maybe he'd had more to drink than I thought? He never could hold his alcohol. I don't- I don't know."
The story took a rather pornographic turn at this point, and Luigi struggled to find an appropriate transition. "So, um, things happened, we got around to talking, and eventually decided it wouldn't be such a bad thing if we hung out more often. It might have been Daisy's idea at first, though. She's always been braver than me and more diplomatic than him."
Mario rubbed his face with his hands and then clasped them together in front of his mouth as he contemplated Waluigi's unconscious form. "I... I'm trying to understand, Luigi, but I'm really uncomfortable with this. Maybe he's not as bad as I think, but he's not harmless, either. You should be with someone who treats you well. I don't care if it's an act or a game. There shouldn't be any excuse."
"The first time he took us home to Wario, he was grinning and bragging like he won the lottery. Wherever we go, he doesn't care who knows we're together, because he's proud that we're with him. He makes me feel like I'm some kind of prize that he won, you know? Like I'm the most important person in the world." He pulled his eyes away from the hospital bed long enough to give Mario a plaintive look. "Please just trust me. I know what I'm doing."
Mario removed his hat and twisted it between his hands, rubbing at the emblem with a gloved thumb. Luigi had discovered his own independence and while Mario hated to admit it, Waluigi was half right about one thing. Mario was not ready to let go of the little brother he'd looked after since childhood. It was scary to see the one person he'd expected to be there forever go off on his own. If he didn't accept it and make peace, however, it would drive an even bigger wedge between them. "I don't know. I've still got a lot of thinking to do."
Luigi decided to let it go for now. At least he'd gotten Mario listening.
000
The night dragged on. Wario pillaged and stockpiled a bunch of candy from the vending machine. When he wasn't playing with his phone he was arguing with the hospital staff. Waluigi interrupted the monotony briefly when he flew into a fit of night terrors—setting the heart monitor into a frenzy of panicked beeping—but the restraints on his wrists and ankles kept him from inflicting any serious damage on himself or the people and equipment around him. After the on-duty nurse injected something into his IV line, the thrashing and screaming devolved into subdued squirming and moaning. With the nightly attack out of the way, Wario put away his phone and passed out in a snoring, drooling stupor in the chair.
It was as much to escape this disgusting racket as it was to stretch her legs that Daisy left to pace the hallway. Sweet little Luigi stayed behind, snoozing in a chair next to the hospital bed, holding fast to their boyfriend's hand. Daisy couldn't sleep. She wasn't as worried as she had been before the doctor's assurance that Waluigi was on the fast track to recovery, but the waiting game was horrible. The tomboy princess—former princess—was a doer. She knew sitting and watching wouldn't make much difference at this point. Luigi had convinced himself of such, but Daisy couldn't. At the same time, there was little else she could do. Except sit and wait.
She stopped in the small sitting area at the end of the hall and stared into the blackness beyond the window. The glare of the fluorescent lights obstructed her line of sight to the outside world, but that didn't matter. She wasn't actually looking at any of it. Her frustrated circles of thought were interrupted by an approaching reflection. A slim, graceful one.
The pink princess approached with a purpose. She looked right at Daisy as she walked up to the window and stopped right beside her. For a moment, she peered at her dim reflection, adjusting an errant strand of hair. "I never could tolerate sharing a room with that slimy grease ball," Peach sighed in her soft, delicate voice. "I wish I knew how you manage it."
"Wario could kick us all out of the room for the rest of the night, if he wanted to. Next of kin and all that. I get along with him because I have to," Daisy said. "It's not so bad, though. He's not around much." Part of her was surprised Wario hadn't left hours ago. Maybe he liked his brother more than he let on, but Daisy kept those contemplations to herself.
"Hm." Peach looked skeptical, but didn't explain herself. "All the same, thank you for allowing us to wait in your home, and for assisting me at dinner. I…" She hesitated. "I was not certain if you liked me anymore."
Daisy wasn't sure how to answer that. Since it wasn't a direct question, she merely shrugged and said, "Yeah, well… Wario was being a dick…"
"I wanted to apologize," Peach continued. "When we were children, you trusted me with all of your secrets. I was a little offended that you did not seem to trust me anymore."
Daisy shifted her gaze from the ghostly reflections to the alabaster face next to her.
"I know I am not like you, but I had hoped we would still be able to talk to one another. You were always one of the most interesting people with whom I was permitted to socialize. You never treated me like untouchable glass before. You may have been the only one."
"You were upset because I lied to you." Daisy crossed her arms and leaned a shoulder against the glass. "It was a very delicate situation. Especially with the Weegees' history. I didn't want to involve anyone else until I was sure it wasn't going to blow up in my face."
"I would have supported you," Peach said. "Oh, everything happened so quickly. You moved out. I missed my chance to apologize for my behavior and explain why I was cross with you. I am sorry."
Daisy smiled and looked out the window. "It's all right. It works out better this way, I think. Now I can focus on what I really want to do."
"Oh?" Peach asked. Her pink lips formed the sound as softly and daintily as she did everything else.
Daisy laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head. "I'm not completely sure what it is yet, but the sky's the limit, you know? No more hitting my head on the gold ceiling."
They were silent for a while. Peach appeared to be working up the courage for something. "Luigi was explaining the events of the night you three… I suppose 'hooked-up' is the appropriate phrase?"
Daisy's eyes glazed a bit as she flashed back to the moon on the water in the middle of the otherwise pitch black jungle. She remembered the half-drunk, fully nude Waluigi flailing as she—equally nude though somewhat less drunk—tried to teach him how to float. A task fraught with futility, due in part to his low percentage of body fat, but his distracted fascination with her breasts hadn't helped. In hindsight, she recognized that latter point was the only reason he'd allowed her to drag him into the water in the first place. The memory pulled up a cheeky smile. "How much did he tell you?"
"A little," Peach answered. "Though there is only one aspect I am still puzzling over. How on earth did you convince them to bury the hatchet?"
"Ah." Daisy chuckled a little. "It was a long, slow process. I couldn't say exactly. Waluigi was the one who sort of started it, surprisingly enough."
"Really?" Peach cocked her head.
"Yeah. I'm not saying I never fantasized about either, or both, of them before that night, but it wouldn't have occurred to me to actually approach Waluigi with the idea. Or Luigi for that matter. He's far too shy." Daisy nodded. "It was definitely Walgee's shameless lack of impulse control that started it, though.
See, things got a little rowdy at the after party, and I accidentally exposed that Waluigi can't swim. Everyone was laughing and he got all sulky, so I went to apologize. At some point, I got this idea in my head that I'd make it up to him by teaching him how to swim. It didn't seem like a big deal to me at the time. Anatomy is just anatomy, you know? It wasn't anything either of us hadn't seen before. At the time, I don't think I knew that he was attracted to me. He's so strange. It hadn't really occurred to me that he could like anybody.
So, we were skinny dipping, and at first he seemed kind of surprised and unsure what do with himself. A little bit like Luigi used to be when I tried to flirt with him." Daisy smiled absentmindedly. "Of course Waluigi eventually got himself together and made a move. Don't get me wrong, Luigi is adorable and I wouldn't trade him for anything, but you've gotta be direct and persistent sometimes, you know?"
Peach nodded slowly. "I think I understand."
"But Waluigi came at me with this all-in, no-nonsense kiss, like the idea that I would ever turn him down wasn't even an option, and it was… really exciting. For the sake of discretion, we decided we'd leave ten or so minutes apart and meet in his room. He left first. As I was getting out of the water and looking for my clothes, however, I thought I heard Luigi yelling from somewhere up the trail. I think it was the first time I'd heard him get truly angry.
By the time I finally found them, the yelling had stopped. Waluigi had him pinned against a tree, and Luigi had a wide-eyed, sort of befuddled look on his face. Before I could jump to his rescue, Waluigi," Daisy chuckled, "licked him. Like a long, slow lick from his neck to his ear. Luigi started stammering and fidgeting, but Waluigi just laughed. When they saw me, he asked if I wanted to watch and then laughed some more. I won't go through all the graphic details, but I tell you, that little after after-party was the most fun I'd had in a long time. Waluigi kept coming after us for repeat performances after that. Over time the other stuff sort of fell into place on its own. I don't know how exactly they worked it out." Daisy smirked and then nudged Peach with an elbow. "Maybe that night they realized they could accomplish more as a team."
Peach looked confused for a moment, and then blushed. "Oh." She twiddled her thumbs, examining her exquisitely manicured nails. "Perhaps you are right. I would not know."
Daisy gave a slight, amused shake of her head and looked out the window again. It was a definitely a different response than the line of questioning she'd received from Mona. She wondered if Peach was still saving herself for Mario. It was a very likely possibility. Peach had always been more sentimental than adventurous.
"So, two men around the house," Peach continued. "That sounds as though it could either be very convenient or very exhausting."
"A little of both," Daisy laughed.
000
Every night was like a game of chance. Spin the wheel and win a prize. Insomnia was right out this time. So what did he land on? Sleep paralysis. The rarest suffered yet most irritating of his four conditions. He was awake enough for Wario's snoring to saw into his nerves, but he wasn't awake enough to tell him to knock it off. He felt Luigi's loose grip on his hand, but he couldn't tighten his own fingers in response. All he could do was lay there, counting breaths, trying to focus in on Luigi's touch and tune out Wario's godawful racket. Waiting. Testing motor connections, until finally, "Either wake him up or cover my ears."
He felt and heard Luigi jump in the chair next to him. "Waluigi?"
The man in question opened his eyes a sliver and grinned his widest grin. "Mornin, pipsqueak." That hospital sort of odor hung in the air, and he recognized the feeling of a breathing tube in his nose.
"I'm so glad you're okay." Luigi almost dove on him, but reined himself in enough to embrace the injured man more gently. "You scared me to death."
"How's that?"
"They stabbed you! You were bleeding out in my arms!"
"Weh," Waluigi shrugged. His eyes turned to the restraints around his wrists as he tested them half-heartedly. Suddenly, loud enough to cause Luigi and Mario to jump a little, "Hey, lard lump!"
Wario jerked awake and blinked, struggling upright in a cascade of cans and candy wrappers. His disgruntled scowl settled on his younger brother, not quite focused yet.
"You were snoring." Waluigi glanced up from the restraints, amusement plain on his face.
Wario's eyes widened slightly, and then narrowed. "Don't make me finish what they started, bean pole. You've been a big enough pain for one night." Despite his bitter tone, he got his feet under himself and walked to the bed, cracking his neck as he went.
"Finish nothing. I'm gonna outlive you by years."
"Not if you keep doing this shit, you won't."
"They started it. Besides, you should see the other guys."
"I'll make sure to put that on your tombstone." He raised a hand in the air and swept in slowly across in front of him. "Here lies Waluigi." He repeated the action a bit lower. "You should see the other guy."
The two laughed until Waluigi broke into a coughing fit. "Wah… fucking… hospitals…" he muttered, swallowing a few times. Then, louder, "Is Daisy around?"
"Oh, right. She went to get some air. I'll go find her." Luigi lingered a bit longer. "I'm just so happy you're okay. I felt so…"
"Guilty?" Waluigi smirked. "Forget it. I'll figure out what you owe me later." He winked.
Luigi opened his mouth to protest, and then laughed. "You know, I'm too happy to let that embarrass me right now." He kissed Waluigi square on his dry lips and then hurried off to inform their girlfriend of the good news.
Waluigi smiled after him. "He's too cute for his own good."
Mario cocked his head. "You know I always thought you hated him."
"Wah? Pff…" Waluigi made a dismissive gesture with one of his restrained hands and resettled himself in the sheets. "Lotta Freudian and Jungian crap involved in this doppelganger stuff. Never was that black and white. Though life would be easier if it was, huh?"
Mario seemed surprised, and suddenly interested. "What do you mean?"
"I used to think I was his shadow, and that frustrated me. I thought I had to prove I wasn't some inferior dark stuff he wanted to throw away. One night he finally stood up to me, and I realized I'm much more like his id, and he's more like my super ego. With Daisy mitigating between us, we have our ego, and we are a complete person."
"Oh, gag me with a spoon," Wario grumbled.
"I'm surprised you haven't gagged yourself with a spoon already," Waluigi shot back.
The explanation was a surprisingly poetic sentiment. Mario ignored the bickering and zeroed in on that new wonder. "So you… know Freudian psychology…" Mario said slowly.
Waluigi shrugged. "I've tried a lot of things to help me sleep. Figured if I didn't learn anything useful, I'd at least fall asleep from boredom. Of course I didn't, but that's beside the point."
"He gets stupider when he doesn't sleep. You're probably not used to seeing him coherent," Wario chimed in.
"Go… do something useful," Waluigi scowled. "Find out when I can go home or something."
"Couple of days. They want to keep you for observation."
"Oh, come on, really?"
Wario fixed him with a flat look and spoke very slowly. "You had a hole in your lung, Walu."
"Well they closed it up, didn't they? I'll rest at home. I won't even leave the couch, or my bed, or wherever."
"You know as well as I do that you can't promise that."
"Then I won't sleep, either."
"That's not any better. Quit being such a stubborn brat. You were too old for it five years ago."
Waluigi growled and let his head flop into the pillow, going limp. A fatalistic, over-dramatic surrender. On closer inspection, though Waluigi was louder and more aggressive about it, the number of habits and mannerisms he shared with Luigi was rather unsettling. Once more Mario found himself wondering just how much like Wario he actually was, even on a subconscious level. Did he really sound that overbearing and condescending to Luigi?
The door flew open and Daisy rushed through with Luigi and Peach in tow. She cupped Waluigi's face in both hands and kissed his forehead. "You are a brave, brave man."
"Yeah," Waluigi said to Wario. "I'm brave."
"Idiotically so," Wario said.
Waluigi was about to stick his tongue out at his brother, but Daisy turned his face back toward her. "You're our hero. Nothing else matters. I just wish I could've been there to help."
Waluigi grinned. "We could kick some serious ass together."
"How did you manage to find me when you did?" Luigi asked, cocking his head.
Waluigi cast a wary, rather sheepish look at him. "I may have sort of followed you, just a little bit. Diamond City is a fucked up place."
"Why didn't you tell me before I got lost in an alley?"
"You weren't ready to talk," Waluigi said with a shrug.
It wasn't a guess. He said it like he knew he couldn't be wrong. Luigi didn't even bother to answer, because he also knew his doppelganger was right. He just smiled at his shoes and clasped his hands behind his back. It may have been weird sometimes, dating an aspect of his self, but being so close with someone who knew him so well and read him so easily felt good enough to override the weirdness.
"Do you need anything?" Daisy asked the man in the bed.
"Water. And a straw. Or the restraints off. Actually, if someone could just press the call button for me, that would be great. Then I could kick Wario in the shins myself."
"You kick me in the shin, I'll punch you in the mouth," Wario threatened.
"Like you could reach," Waluigi snorted. "Short stack."
"You won't be so tall when I break you in half."
"One of you is lying in a hospital bed. Can't you two take a break from this ridiculousness?" Daisy asked.
"Oh, he likes it," Wario said dismissively.
During all of this, Mario took the opportunity to pull Luigi aside. "Maybe you were right. I'm sorry I was so nasty earlier. You'll always be my little brother, but you know him a lot better than I ever will. I should trust your judgment."
Luigi smiled. "Thanks. Your blessing still means a lot to me."
"I know." The brothers clasped each other's right wrists and pulled into a half embrace, half handshake.
The Wa brothers watch Mario and Luigi hug. "You know," Waluigi said, grinning at Wario. "Times like this, I count myself lucky to have a brother who's so easy to bribe."
"Streamlines the whole mushy process," Wario agreed.
"Shut up," Mario scowled.
A/N: I don't know why it's so hard for me to write Mario and Peach. Anyway, I've been working on this for weeks now, and there are other things I need to get done. With the Mario conflict wrapped up, this seems like a good place to stop for a while.