…
014. Smile.
Bowser Jr. dashed into the Koopalings' playroom with a new camera in his hands. He'd stolen it recently and was quite happy with himself for it. It wasn't very fancy, just a compact plastic automatic, but he was a kid who had no need for anything more complicated than that and he was going to have fun with this thing.
"Guys! Guys!" he waved the camera, "Look what I got!"
The elder Koopalings didn't bother looking at their brother as he rushed in, having learned that the best way to get him to go away was to simply pretend he wasn't there to begin with.
Junior ran up to Wendy and started poking her in the shoulder. "Hey! Wendy! Wendy! Smile, I wanna take a picture of you!"
Wendy, who was busy reading Koopa Teen magazine, simply covered her face with the magazine and grunted. Bowser Jr. took the hint and, although a little miffed, ran over to Larry, Iggy and Lemmy, who were playing cards in the middle of the room.
"Iggy! Larry! Lemmy!" Junior chirped, "Smile! I've got a new camera!"
"Go away," Larry said.
"We're busy," Iggy added, glaring at his cards.
"Go bother someone else," Lemmy said.
Bowser Jr. huffed. "Jeez, fine! And Iggy has five aces!"
Bowser Jr. stomped off as Lemmy and Larry both tackled Iggy, screaming insults and accusations. He approached Ludwig next.
"Ludwig," he said, "I got a camera! Smile so I can take a picture!"
Ludwig pounded on his piano keys, producing as loud a sound as he could. He shouted over the racket, "Vhat! I cannot hear you!"
"I said—"
More pounding on the keys. He wasn't even trying to make actual music, just noise. "Vhaaaaat!"
"Nevermind!"
Boswer Jr. was really getting upset. He didn't have much hope for Morton or Roy, but figured he might as well try. His remaining two siblings were playing video games on the big-screen TV,
"Hey, guys—"
"Bug off!" Roy grunted. Morton didn't acknowledge Junior at all.
Bowser Jr. sighed and walked out, aware that he wasn't wanted there. He pushed open the door and started walking down the hall in the direction of his bedroom, staring at the floor despondently. Not watching where he was going, it wasn't long before he bumped into Kamek while turning a corner.
"Hey!" Kamek caught himself, barely preventing himself from falling over. "You should watch where you're going, Junior, you might hurt yourself. Or me."
"Sorry, Kamek," Junior mumbled.
Kamek caught on to the dejected tone in Junior's voice. "Hey, what's wrong, kid?"
"Well, see," Junior showed Kamek his camera, "I got this new camera, but no one'll smile so I can take pictures of them!"
Kamek laughed and gave the small prince a pat on the head. "Junior, Junior, Junior… you've got things all wrong. You're not supposed to get people to smile! You're supposed to sneak up on them and take pictures when they least expect it, and then use the photos to embarrass them."
Junior thought about this for a moment, then smiled with delight. "Wow, why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, Kamek!"
Bowser Jr. hugged Kamek, then ran off to return to the playroom. Kamek smiled, frowned, and called to the receding prince:
"Just don't do that to me, okay?! Just as a favor, since I helped you?!"
The closest thing he got to a reply was Junior giggling madly. Kamek sighed.
"What've I done…?"