Mario lifted another piece to Bowser's mouth, and they both giggled as Bowser took the piece in. Daisy paused and stuck her fork into her cake.

"Ok, when you guys are ready, totally continue!" Daisy leaned back in and rested her head on her free hand. "When did the dating start?"

"Oh, right." Mario smiled as he tucked his fork beneath his cake. "So, two days before, we had our discussion about Peach, and that's when we realized about how off our feelings were."

"So you just…both got over me," determined Peach with disbelief.

"Pretty much, by the end of the day." Bowser shrugged. "I did argue with Mario first, because I thought it was completely wrong, but he pointed out how much you probably hated me, which was accurate, and that it would never work between us because of how you felt." Bowser stared down at his tea. "Before he really went over it with me, I was just insistent that you'd get over it, but that kind of thinking was dated nonsense passed down through my family for generations." He looked back over to Peach. "Don't get me wrong, you're pretty and usually nice, but I don't think I actually like you for who you are." He shrugged. "I don't really know you."

"How that never crossed your mind eludes me."

"I just explained it."

"More like excused yourself—"

"Peach, easy, Bowser's trying," pointed out Daisy, as Peach frowned to her, but nodded. She smirked and turned back to the couple. "What about you, Mario?"

"Well, I do like Peach as a friend," brought up Mario. "There's been chemistry between us, and I think that, had we gone through things differently…" He shook his head. "Nah, that doesn't matter. Point is, Peach did reject my marriage proposals, and I did bring those out almost exclusively after Bowser tried the same." Mario sighed. "I hadn't realized that I had done so until after talking with Bowser."

"Him admitting that to me got me to rethink it all," specified Bowser.

"Right." Mario looked back to Peach. "So, by the end of us talking about it, and after we thought about it on our own, I decided that what I was feeling for you was exacerbated by emergency situations, and I hadn't gone about properly fostering a real relationship with you." He sank down and tapped at the table. "My most romantic gestures were brought about by reactionary fear, not genuine emotion." Mario returned his attention to Peach, gazing into her eyes. "That's not the right basis for love either, so, that's why I decided to stop too."

Luigi and Daisy fell silent as they watched Peach holding her gaze with Mario. She remained silent and only nodded, while Mario turned back and picked at his cake for a moment. Bowser's hand clasped down on Mario's shoulder, causing him to jump a bit, but then relaxed under his massaging grip.

"After that, we spent the next day just going around and fooling around Bowser's Castle and nearby areas, to keep our heads clear," revealed Mario. "And, uh…I don't know, there were a few moments that we got closer, which…felt natural."

"He nearly fell down the stairs, so I grabbed him before he got hurt, and that was complete with the awkward pose," described Bowser. Mario chuckled and tugged on his hair beneath his cap, while Bowser leaned back. "We had some desserts that we poked at each other with, so that was messy fun. He helped me read Junior a bedtime story at night, we had to change some lights in Kamek's study, earlier I had gone out and dug up a pretty nice gem for him while we explored the wastes and nearby mountains, so…simple stuff." He folded his arms. "I mean, I didn't think it was anything special, but he had this stupidly cute laugh and I kept telling jokes all day to hear him more."

"You didn't tell me that!"

"Wasn't planning on it," admitted Bowser as he blushed. "But, uh…yeah, that's why."

"This whole time, I thought I was the only one feeling anything up to that point."

"Nope, I, uh…ha." Bowser grinned and rubbed at his arm. "Just get to the next part."

"Oh. Oh, here it is." Daisy nudged at Luigi again, but paused as she turned to look at him. He lowered his eyes and raised his eyebrow, to which she pushed his plate inward across the table. "There we go!" Poking at him again, Luigi laughed, and knocked at the teacup, nearly spilling it. He yelped and grabbed at it, while Daisy froze. "Oops. Uh…" She forced up a grin and looked back to Mario and Bowser, who quietly watched her. "We're good, keep going!"

"Um, ok." Mario smiled. "So, ah, I asked Bowser if he wanted to go for an evening walk around the forest near Starview Lake before ending up there itself. And he agreed, so, we ambled around a bit, and I kept brushing my hand against his, we got close a few times, and nothing bothered him."

"Didn't think he was doing it on purpose the whole time, so I didn't think anything of it," pointed out Bowser. "Plus, I'm still getting him to laugh, taking a few minutes to just admire him, and that helped calm my mind."

"Shut up, more than the forest and the lake?"

"Honestly, yeah."

"That's so ridiculously romantic," praised Daisy. Bowser and Mario blushed, as the former looked away.

"It escalates, obviously." Mario picked up his teacup and stared into it. "So, we went back by the lake, and when we sit down, I rest against Bowser, and he actually shifted his weight around to help me into him."

"He seemed tired, it made sense," defended Bowser, returning his attention inward. His tail wagged a bit behind him while he twiddled his thumbs. "And then he kept talking about the nice view out, and that it was really a great change of pace for us, since we were getting along, and everything looked beautiful, and we were all, 'It's great that we're friends now, blah, blah,' and…then he blindsided me."

"Ooh, this is it!"

"It was really romantic atmosphere, and I asked Bowser if he'd ever consider changing where he'd go in life, and who he might want, and he told me he would." Mario smirked and sank down lower. "And then I got bold and asked if he was particular about who he wanted to date, and he lifted an eyebrow."

"Smooth," deadpanned Luigi.

"I didn't know when else I could ask!"

"It might actually be worse on my part, since that still didn't tip me off," admitted Bowser. "Thought it was weird, but I went, 'Nah, I just think I want to find someone that meets my interests and actually falls for me.' And then he's like, 'Oh, what about a friend?' And I went, 'Duh, that'd be great.'"

"So, I followed up with, 'How about a recent friend?' And that left him a bit dumbfounded for a second."

"Only a second!" Bowser lifted his shoulders and glanced down. "Ok, a few seconds."

"As soon as his eyes widened a bit, I just carried on, and I went—"

"'If a recent friend is good enough, would you want to try dating me?'" Mario lifted his head and looked to Bowser, who smirked as he met his gaze. "So then my eyes were as big as the plates."

"That's when I tried backing off, and I went, 'Oh, you know, only if it's not weird,' and I went on rambling about it." Mario tugged his cap down. "Really wasn't proud of it."

"Meanwhile, I'm so hung up on the fact that Mario of all people just asked me out, and my brain is gone for a few minutes." Bowser chuckled. "He thought he was messing up, but that made me start thinking about the whole week, and I realized I had been happier than I'd been in ages." He smiled as he looked back at Mario. "So I went, 'Yeah, sure, let's give it a shot.'" Bowser folded his arms. "And then he didn't even believe me."

"Mario, what?"

"I didn't!" Mario dragged his cap down lower. "First words I came out with were, 'Do you mean it?' I don't know why!"

"So, gentle as I am, I go, 'Well, duh, you asked me, didn't you mean that?'"

Daisy cackled while Luigi shook his head. He sighed and rested his head on his hand.

"And you thought our hookup was bad."

"Ours was still better than yours," insisted Bowser. "Mario actually had the right atmosphere and it didn't really come out of nowhere."

"He eased into it better than I did," murmured Daisy, flicking at crumbs on the table.

"You did fine, and we got together without stumbling as much," soothed Luigi.

"That's fair," relented Mario. "But we got past that, Bowser reaffirmed his interest, and then it was really late, so I tried to just kiss him on the cheek and go."

"Wait, there's more?"

"Yeah, because I told him to kiss me like he meant it," revealed Bowser.

"Right away?!"

"Go big or go home." Bowser grinned as Mario rolled his eyes. "I wanted to see what he'd do."

"So, obviously…"

"We kissed." Mario blushed harder as Daisy squealed. "Several times to get it right, since his mouth is bigger."

"It's not my fault!"

"No, but it was messy a few times."

"Whatever, we figured it out." Bowser's red cheeks darkened as he sipped tea. "So, after that, we set up some dates, and we've been going pretty nicely so far."

"Oh man, I want to hear about all of the dates!" Daisy gripped at the table. "Why is this so cute?!"

"They're nothing too crazy," downplayed Mario, while Bowser shot him an amused, quizzical look. "…What? They're not."

"Hmm, I don't know…"

"That's probably for another day," decided Luigi for them. "Bowser's right, they've had some eventful ones."

"Hey, you didn't even tell me until recently!" Daisy punched at Luigi's shoulder, which he gripped and rubbed. "Why not?!"

"I asked him not to until we were ready," clarified Mario.

"Oh. Uh." Daisy blinked as Luigi glared at her. "Whoops? Sorry." She grinned. "But, hey, good looking out for your brother!"

"Yeah, he was nice after he screamed out in bewilderment when we first told him," recalled Bowser. "And then spent, what, a half hour calming him down?"

"Shorter!"

"Longer, I think," remembered Mario, while Luigi folded his arms and pouted. "But, he did come around, so, that was the important part."

"Junior adjusted quicker," teased Bowser. "Told him Mario wasn't going to be an enemy, suggested he could end up with two dads, and suddenly he got super excited about that."

"Wait, you told him that?" Daisy gawked as Bowser blushed and buried his face in his hands.

"In front me, even." Mario chuckled as Bowser lifted his head, failing to hold a glare.

"Bowser, how bold can you get?"

"That was actually another screw-up for me," confessed Bowser. "I forgot that Mario was in the room, uttered that, and while Junior was freaking out over the concept, I turned back and Mario was staring, and then I realized what came out."

"Stars above, you two are sloppy," mocked Daisy.

"Hey, at least we've been covering our bases," protested Bowser. "I think we did nicely so far." He looked as Mario beamed and nodded.

"So." Everyone stopped and turned back to Peach, who folded her arms. "That's the story, then."

"Yep, that's…that's it."

Mario waited for a moment while Peach studied him in silence. Bowser placed his hand tightly around Mario's shoulder, glaring at her. Luigi sank down lower, covering his lower face with his hands, while Daisy shifted her attention between everyone, waiting to see who would make the next move.