(A/N: Okay, this story takes place between "Proposal Predicament" and "Super Mario's Happily Ever After". Let's see what happens here!)
It was a lovely day in the Mushroom Kingdom. In fact, it was right around noon, which is when most people usually have lunch. And if I remember correctly, Mario and Princess Peach had planned to have lunch together at the castle today! Let's go out and look for Mario!
Mario was approaching Peach's Castle, and he was just about to open the castle doors when he saw a note taped to one of them. The red-clad plumber took the note off the door and read it to himself. The note was from Peach, if the message written in a flowing, graceful script was any indication. The note said:
Mario,
Since it's such a lovely day, I thought it might be nice for the two of us to have lunch in the new gazebo in the castle courtyard. Meet me there!
Affectionately, Princess Peach
(A/N: The idea of Princess Peach having a gazebo was inspired by concept art for "Super Mario Odyssey". The picture in question showed Mario and Peach having tea under a gazebo outside Mushroom Castle, and it gave me inspiration.)
"Okie-dokie. I can handle that, Peach." Mario said to himself, so he walked to the castle courtyard. This sounded nice, and it was a good idea, too, since the skies were blue and the sun was shining. So the weather was perfect for them to be eating outdoors.
But Mario also couldn't help thinking that his bride-to-be was either up to something, or she had something to tell him. He hoped that if it was the latter, then she didn't have anything bad to tell him, because their wedding was a month-and-a-half from now, and he was very much looking forward to the wedding day.
When Mario got to the courtyard, he saw the gazebo, and his blue eyes widened at the sight of it. He'd never seen anything like that before. It looked like a really nice, cream-colored structure, with lots of pretty flowers surrounding it (Peach and Daisy's idea), and there were butterflies flitting from flower to flower, which made the whole thing an even lovelier sight to behold.
Yes, this gazebo looked like an ideal place for Mario and Peach to have lunch today. The plumber was in such high spirits that he danced up the steps of the gazebo and looked inside.
There he saw a small, round table covered with a nice white tablecloth, and two chairs were pulled up to it. The only things missing were Peach... and their food.
"Hmm... Peach's note said to meet her here, but she's not here, and neither is our lunch." Mario thought, looking perplexed. He sure hoped that he wasn't being tricked, or that Bowser hadn't shown up and kidnapped Peach before he got showed up.
Just to make absolutely certain that nothing bad had happened, Mario walked into the castle and called out, "Peach! Dove sei, mia bella principessa? Where are you, my beautiful princess?"
"Hi, Mario." Peach said as she stepped out of the dining hall with Toadette at her side. Peach was holding a tray containing a teapot, two cups and saucers, a cream pitcher, a sugar bowl, and two small plates. Toadette was carrying a two-tiered tray in her little hands. The bottom tier held tea sandwiches cut into neat little triangles or other shapes, such as Mushrooms or hearts, and the top tier held little round tea cookies.
"There you are, mio angelo, my angel." Mario said, making the Princess blush like mad.
"I was just about to come out to the gazebo with our lunch." Peach said.
"And I helped her to prepare the meal." Toadette added proudly.
"You did a great job helping me, Toadette." Peach told her.
"Hey, you asked me to be the flower girl in your wedding, and I felt the need to repay you for giving me the honor of being in the wedding." Toadette smiled. Then, realizing that Mario probably didn't know about that little detail, Toadette nervously asked Mario, "You are okay with me being the flower girl, aren't you, Mario?"
"Of course I'm okay with it, Toadette. If Peach wants you to be in the wedding, then you can be in the wedding. Peach didn't get to make any choices at all when Bowser forced her into marrying him, so I'll let her make whatever choices she wants for our wedding." Mario told her.
Toadette made a cute, happy smile when Mario said that, and Peach also looked happy.
"You really mean that, Mario?" Peach asked Mario.
"Peach, do you really think I'd do like Bowser and shoot down any decisions you wish to make?" Mario asked.
Peach was quiet for a moment, before answering, "I didn't think you would. You are nothing like Bowser, which makes me very happy. Besides, you promised me that we could both plan out the wedding. And because of that, I also asked Toad if he'd like to be the ring bearer, and he said yes."
"Va bene. That's good. Not many weddings have flower girls or ring bearers, and if you want them both, Peach, I won't complain." Mario said.
"You're a sweetheart, Mario; do you know that?" Peach asked her red-clad beau.
"I didn't know, but I do my best to try and be one to you." Mario replied, his face turning as red as his shirt.
"Well, you really are, and you always have been. Now let's go outside and have our lunch before the tea gets stone cold." Peach said.
So Mario, Peach, and Toadette walked out to the courtyard and made their way up the steps into the gazebo, where Peach delicately set the tea tray on the table. Then she took the two-tiered tray from Toadette, but before she set it on the table, Peach allowed Toadette to have one tea cookie to thank her for her help with fixing the lunch. Toadette gleefully grabbed a cookie and ate it happily as she walked back to the castle.
Mario was still proving that he was a gentleman by pulling out Peach's chair and pushing it in as she sat down. Then he got in his own chair and looked at the table as Peach looked at him with a happy smile before setting one of the plates before him. Not only was Peach happy that she would be marrying the man she loved, she was marrying a gentleman, which was exactly what she wanted in the man she married.
"This lunch is going to be nice." Mario said to himself. Then he saw the tea Peach was pouring into her teacup, and Mario asked, "Peach, if I may ask, what flavor is the tea?"
"It's blueberry tea. Is that okay?" Peach asked.
"Sì. May I please have some?" Mario asked politely.
"You may." Peach replied.
So Peach filled the other cup, and added a healthy dose of cream and two lumps of sugar. She and Mario had had tea a few times before, and Mario always asked for two lumps of sugar in his tea. Then she handed the cup and saucer to Mario.
"Grazie. Thanks, Peach." Mario said as he stirred the cream and sugar into his tea.
"You're welcome, Mario." Peach replied as she took a tea sandwich from the tray and put it on the plate before her.
"So, what's up, Peach?" Mario asked as he looked over the assortment of sandwiches, trying to figure out what kind he would like best before spying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread. He grabbed that sandwich immediately and put it on his plate.
"What? Why do you think something is up? Can't a princess have a nice lunch with her boyfriend in her new gazebo?" Peach asked.
"Yes, and there's nothing wrong with that. But it's-a just that normally, when girls do something nice such as this, it means they're either up to something, or they have something to tell the men they love, and when it's-a the latter, the news isn't exactly good." Mario said.
"Okay, you're pretty much right, Mario. I do have something to tell you. But it's not bad news. I can promise you that right now." Peach said.
"Okie-dokie. Let's-a hear what you have to say." Mario said.
"Well, Mario, as you know, we've still got at least a month-and-a-half to go before our wedding day arrives." Peach began.
"Lo so. I know, Peach. I can't wait to be married to you..." Mario said.
"I'm looking forward to that day, too, Mario." Peach replied, which made Mario blush.
"But time is moving too slowly for my liking." Mario said as he picked up his sandwich.
"Which, in this case, might be a good thing." Peach said.
"Una buona cosa? A good thing? Why is it a good thing?" Mario asked, picking up his sandwich.
"Because I probably should have told you what I'm about to tell you sooner than this..." Peach said as she began to delicately eat her sandwich.
"I'm listening, dolcezza, sweetie." Mario said after washing down the first bite of his sandwich with a sip of blueberry tea.
"There's still one other decision you need to make..." Peach finished.
"Another decision?" Mario asked.
"Yes, Mario, and in case you're wondering, it's a pretty important one, too." Peach told him.
"What's more importante than the decision I made to marry you? That was the most important decision I ever made in my whole life, but I knew in my heart that it was the best one, and the right one." Mario said after swallowing another bite of his sandwich.
"It's deciding what you're going to be doing after you and Peach get married, Master Mario." a voice from outside the gazebo stated.
Mario and Peach were startled, but they relaxed when they looked in the direction the voice came from to see Toadsworth standing at the bottom step of the gazebo.
"Toadsworth, how long have you been standing there?" Peach asked.
"Not too long, actually. I just got here a minute ago, and I overheard you telling Master Mario what he should have been told the second he agreed to marry you." Toadsworth replied.
"Allora dimmi. So tell me what it is." Mario said, even though he was really confused.
"Okay, then. Master Mario, I don't know if the Princess has mentioned this to you before or not, but she cannot be crowned the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom until she gets married." Toadsworth began.
Mario thought about that. Had Peach mentioned this to him before? He wasn't sure. It sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't really recall.
"I'm not really sure. I think she did, but I can't recall. But what does this have to do with me? I know that I'm marrying Peach, so now she can be the Queen, but..." Mario started.
"This talk is leading up to that. If you were of noble birth, Master Mario, then you and the Princess would immediately be crowned King and Queen right after you kiss the bride on your wedding day." Toadsworth said.
Mario was blushing furiously as he thought about that moment. He couldn't wait to hear the minister pronounce him and Peach as a married couple, so he could finally kiss the bride. That was going to be, without a doubt, the happiest moment of his young life!
"However..." Toadsworth said, snapping Mario out of his reverie.
"I'm not of noble birth. I know. But I am un cavaliere, a knight. Doesn't that count for anything, Toadsworth?" Mario asked.
"Being a knight is a good thing, but it's not the same, Master Mario. And because you weren't born into nobility, you and the Princess get three months after the wedding to prepare for your coronation day." Toadsworth said.
"Is that going to be enough time for me to prepare?" Mario asked.
"It depends on how quick you are at learning royal etiquette and protocol." Toadsworth said.
"If you're talking about table manners, I know them well. I use them whenever I'm with Peach." Mario said, getting a smile from Peach.
"There's a lot more to what you'll be doing than having good table manners, Master Mario. Now I can tell you what the important decision is that you need to make." Toadsworth said.
"What do I need to decide?" Mario asked.
"Mario, you can be the king if you wish..." Peach began.
"Se lo desidero? If I wish? Wasn't that the deal, Peach?" Mario asked.
"No, that's not the deal because you're not royalty. But if being the king doesn't sound like your cup of tea, Master Mario, you can always choose to be Peach's consort instead." Toadsworth said.
"La sua consorte? Her consort?" Mario asked.
"Yes, Mario. In fact, when someone who isn't of nobility marries into royalty, the non-royal person becomes their royal spouse's consort." Peach said.
"Okay, Peach... if I'm really supposed to be your consort... how come you're saying I can choose to be the king if I want?" Mario asked.
"Because, Master Mario, you are well-respected by the Princess and her people. Don't you know that?" Toadsworth asked.
"Kind of..." Mario replied, faintly surprised as he nibbled at what was left of his sandwich. It seemed as though he hadn't expected that he would've ended up being Peach's consort. He'd most likely assumed that when he and Peach got married, they were going to be ruling the Mushroom Kingdom together as the King and Queen. But Peach was giving him the option to choose what he wanted to be.
"You're going to need to think about this one, Master Mario." Toadsworth said.
Mario was quiet as he thought for a moment, before asking aloud, "What would ruling be like if I choose to be Peach's consort instead of the king?" Clearly, he was unfamiliar with the idea of being someone's consort.
"That's easy. If you're Peach's consort, it means you'll just be known as Peach's husband, and while you'll be ruling the kingdom by her side, she'll be the primary ruler, the one who gets to make all the big moral decisions." Toadsworth said.
"Don't I get a say in any of the decisions?" Mario asked.
"Sort of. You can help me out when I'm having difficulty in making some decisions and such, Mario, but since I'll be the primary ruler, I'm the one who gets to have the final say-so on all of them. I'll give you credit, though." Peach finished.
"But no matter what you choose, you still have to learn royal etiquette and protocol." Toadsworth added.
"However, I know that you're a rather quick learner, Mario, so I think it should be easy for you to learn it. And I'll help you out; starting now, if you wish." Peach said.
"Cosa dovrei scegliere? What should I choose to be, Peach? I was sure the decision of such a thing would be entirely up to you, since you're royalty and all." Mario asked his future wife.
"That isn't my place to say, Mario. Toadsworth already told you that my subjects and I respect you, which earned you the right to choose your destiny. The choice is yours, and yours alone." Peach said.
Mario was still pretty surprised by this. Out of all the decisions he's made in his life so far, this was by far the biggest and hardest one he's ever had to make.
"Master Mario, I hope you don't think that the Princess and I are pressuring you to choose right this second, because we aren't. But I would like for you to have made your decision before the wedding day arrives... and hopefully the thought of you being the king still has yet to find its way into the rumor-mill, which would have everyone saying that you'll be the king before you even decide. For all we know, you might decide to be Peach's consort instead of the king." Toadsworth said.
Mario was going to have to give this a lot of thought. This decision was going to be pretty difficult to make. He wasn't really sure if he'd make a good king, since he had given up being the King of Cramalot too soon (because the king there had to be trim as a lion, which meant no more pasta for him), but he knew that if he chose to be Peach's consort, he might be dumping a lot more work on her, and that might stress her out.
Yes, being a king would mean having a lot of new responsibilities, and adjusting to a new way of life, and he knew that both things weren't exactly going to be easy. Would he really be able to rule a kingdom without letting down any of his loyal subjects, or Peach? He hadn't let anyone down while being a hero, but would he be able to keep from disappointing them if he was their king?
He also knew that the rumor-mill was a bad thing. Rumors had a tendency to spread like wildfire, and more often than not, the rumors were completely wrong, and nobody cared!
The plumber couldn't help feeling a little scared. He felt like Peach and Toadsworth were looking at him too hard, and it made him nervous as he tried to think of what he wanted to do. He was having trouble trying to come to a decision at present. But he had to tell them something.
"If it's okay... I'm... I-I'm going to need some time to figure out what I want to do." Mario began after a few moments of awkward silence.
"I understand. You can think about this if you need to." Peach replied gently. She knew that a decision like this was big, and it's not something you can decide in two minutes.
"I hope to give you my decision by next week at the earliest; the end of the month at the latest." Mario finished.
"That's all right, Mario." Peach said.
"And please bear in mind that when you do make your decision, you can't just take it back. Once you've told us what you're going to do, that's that. So I advise you to choose wisely before giving us your final answer." Toadsworth replied.
"I know, Toadsworth. And I will..." Mario said, feeling a little weak. He grabbed another sandwich from the tray and started eating it to help himself think.
"For now, I'll let the two of you get back to your lunch. Enjoy yourselves." Toadsworth said as he started making his way back to the castle.
"All right, Toadsworth." said Peach.
Mario and Peach went back to enjoying their lunch, but Mario still felt a little uneasy after finishing his next sandwich, and it showed in the way he started reaching for some tea cookies for dessert.
"Mario, are you okay, sweetie?" Peach asked, noticing how uneasy he looked.
"Sì. I'm fine." Mario said as he munched on a cookie.
"Are you sure?" Peach asked.
Mario was quiet as he ate his cookie. After swallowing it, he said, "Okay, Peach, I know you can't choose my new position for me, but... do you think you can give me la tua opinione, your opinion?"
"That much I can do." Peach smiled.
"Okay, Peach, tell me: do you think I would be un grande re, a great king?" Mario asked, hoping Peach would be able to give him a good enough answer.
"Of course I do, Mario. Remember what I said about you and Luigi when I knighted you? You guys have done a lot for this kingdom, and I even appointed both of you rulers of the kingdom in the event that I cannot rule myself." Peach said.
"But since I'll be ruling by your side when we marry, I don't think that's going to count anymore..." Mario said.
"Right. Luigi will be appointed the ruler in the event that we are unable to do so." Peach said. She'd have to talk to Luigi about this. Maybe she'd do that tomorrow.
"Am I still going to keep my knighthood?" Mario asked.
"Of course you are. You'll still be Sir Mario when we marry." Peach assured him.
"Okie-dokie." Mario said.
"Did my opinion help you any?" Peach asked.
"Solo un po. Just a bit." Mario answered.
An hour later, Mario and Peach had finished their lunch, and after helping the Princess bring the stuff back into the castle, Mario decided it was time for him to head on home.
"Okay. Good luck with making your decision." Peach said.
"Grazie, amore. Thank you, sweetie." Mario replied.
Mario and Peach shared a kiss before the plumber started making his way back to the mansion he and his brother called 'home'.
So Mario still has a way to go before he can come to a decision. Will he be able to do so in the next chapter? I'm not telling! You'll have to stay tuned in order to find that out!