Chapter 2 Mario the Grumpus

Junior bounced like a ball as he followed Peach. His heart rate was going through the roof. His excitement was tripling, and his desire to do something extra awesome and fun with the Princess was growing stronger by the minute. Peach apparently noticed this, as she kept sneaking glances back at Junior.

Although, in all honesty, there was something Junior found to be very wrong with her expression. She stared at him like he was a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode at the soonest possible minute. Her nervousness was rubbing off on the Koopa Prince as he stared into her eyes. Why was his Mama so scared? Was it because of him? He hoped that wasn't the case. He wanted to have a good relationship with her, and last time he checked, a good relationship did not involve being scared every single minute.

Peach turned around and seemed to pick up the pace. Junior, unsure if he should ask her what was wrong, just opted to admire the scenery of the castle. Unlike his dad's castle, the walls were a glistening white. Mini chandeliers hung down from the ceiling of the hallway, and windows aligned the walls. These two factors helped the place to be extra bright, extra cheerful. Junior looked out one of the windows and saw a group of multicolored Toads being instructed to carry heavy boxes by a red toad in a captain's outfit. This intrigued the young prince.

"Junior, come on."

Junior looked and saw that Peach was standing at the end of the hallway, which seemed to be miles away. Oh shoot! he thought. How could I get distracted so easily? He bounded down the hallway as fast as a rocket ship. He had to run so quickly that he was out of breath by the time he caught up to Peach. He put his hands to his legs and panted.

The princess furrowed her brow. "Are you okay, Junior?"

Junior waited for about three minutes, trying to regain his breath. "Yeah. I'm….fine."

Peach hesitated before nodding. "I'll make sure to go slower this time." She opened the door, leading to another hallway. Junior looked down the hall in surprise.

"Another hallway? Where exactly are you taking me, Mama Peach?"

"I'm taking you to my throne room," Peach said. She began to walk. "I have a very special surprise for you there."

Junior perked up. "Ooh! I like surprises!" He caught up with her. "What's my surprise?"

Peach smiled. "If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

Junior scrunched up his brow. Man. He had to wait for his surprise? Why did life have to be so unfair?

The two continued their trek. This hallway seemed to be longer than the last one. Unlike the last one, it did not have any windows; just candelabras on the wall. Junior felt as if the walk down it was taking forever!

Perhaps, if it was going to take a bazillion, quintillion years to reach the end, he should start up a conversation with Mama Peach.

"So," Junior said. "How's life been treating you?" He figured that was as good a question as any to open up with.

Peach's eyes darted from side to side. "It's been….fine, I suppose. Nothing much is happening."

Junior nodded, a grin growing on his face. "Nothing aside from you running a Kingdom, am I right?" He laughed.

Peach laughed a little bit as well. "Well, yes. But you've gotta remember; in comparison to getting kidnapped every other weekend, ruling a Kingdom does seem like nothing."

Junior snorted. "That makes sense." He flashed the Princess a sparkly grin. "But you no longer have to worry about that! You just have to worry about looking after me!"

Peach nodded. "Yippee," she said softly.

Junior, noticing her change in mood, decided to change the subject. "Do you like pizza?"

Peach smiled. "I do like pizza."

"Good! That means you have a brain!" Junior laughed. "If someone doesn't like pizza, then there's something wrong with them."

Peach let out a soft breath. "Believe it or not," she said as she pushed her hair over her right ear, "I didn't try pizza for the longest time. It was Mario who got me into it."

"Oh," said Junior with a snicker. "Well, I suppose that's one good thing that Mr. Plumber has done in his lifetime."

Peach cast him a glare. "Hey! For your information, Mario just so happens to be the sweetest, nicest, most humble guy in the Kingdom!"

Junior raised an eyebrow. "Ooh hoo hoo. If I didn't no better, I'd say that you're in love with him."

Peach's face turned crimson. "I am not! I just...appreciate his services. That's all."

"Riiiiight," Junior responded with a nod. He chortled. "Well, don't worry, Mama Peach. I won't tell my Dad about your crush. Trust me. No kidnapping would be worse for you than having my Dad find out you aren't in love with him."

Peach hesitated before nodding. "Okay." She stopped. "Junior, would you open the door for me, please?"

Junior just realized that the two of them had reached the end of the hallway. He put his hand on the doorknob and turned it. On the other side, he saw Peach's golden throne sitting at the end of a large room. Right in the center of the room was a pink box. Junior turned to Peach, raising his eyebrow in suspicion.

"What's that box for?"

"That box contains your surprise," Peach said.

Junior's eyes grew wide. "Oh, sweet!" He bolted toward the box and opened it swiftly. When he opened it up, he gasped. "Cool! Plushies!" He pulled out one that resembled a young woman with snow white hair wearing an ice blue dress. He then pulled out an anime girl who had wide eyes and a frog-like tongue hanging out her mouth. "There are so many of them!"

Peach nodded as she approached. "Yes there are. And the best part is that they are all custom made. I played with those plushies myself when I was a young girl. I thought that you might like them."

"Oh, I do, I do!" Junior exclaimed. He ran over to Peach and wrapped his arms around her waist, squeezing her in an embrace. "Thank you, Mama!"

Peach patted him on the head. "You're welcome, Junior." She cleared her throat. "And...uh, is it okay of you don't call me Mama anymore?"

Junior let go and stared at her with wide eyes. "Why not?"

"I don't exactly like it. Besides, it's not exactly the most appropriate term, considering that I'm not your Mama."

Junior just laughed. "You're the closest thing I have to a Mama." He hugged her waist again and looked up into her face. "You're sweet, loving, and really nice. All qualities that a Mama has."

Peach blushed for the second time that day. Her scarlet skin looked odd when combined with the pinkness of her sweatshirt. "Well...uh, thank you, I suppose."

She hugged him back. Despite the fact that her posture was a little stiff while she hugged Junior, he didn't care. He was just happy to have Peach with him, to be by her side. She really was the sweetest person in the world, and Junior loved her. Not in a kissy kissy way of course, as Junior found that type of love to be gross. No, he loved her in an affectionate way, a way that made him view her as one of the most special people in the universe. Not even his Dad was this special to the Koopa Prince.

The hug lasted for about a five minutes. When Junior finally let go, the Princess cleared her throat. "Why don't you play with the plushies while I figure out what we can have for dinner tonight?"

"Okay!" Junior said with a nod. He picked up a plushie that resembled a girl with pink hair in a ponytail. "Although, I already know what I want to have for dinner."

"Really? What's that?"

Junior's face lit up. "Pizza!"

Peach laughed. "Okay. Well then, I suppose we'll have pizza tonight. I might even ask Mario to make it, as he loves to make pizza."

Right at that moment, to create the coincidence to end all coincidences, Mario came into the room. Peach turned toward her mustachioed plumber, and her whole attitude changed completely. "Mario!" She said in a dreamy, fluttery voice. Junior felt like gagging. "Back from New Donk City already?"

"Yes," Mario said with his Italian accent-coated voice. He took a step toward the Princess. "Trust me, you do not want to have to deal with Mayor Pauline's shenanigans. That girl is cuckoo!" He snickered. "I sure am glad that I broke up with her when I had the chance."

Peach laughed. "Oh Mario, you're too funny!"

Junior lifted an eyebrow. How was what Mario just said funny? He didn't get it.

Mario cleared his throat. "Yes, well, I now have to do some things for her in order to make sure that she doesn't yell at me over the phone." He started making his way toward a door near the throne. Just before he did, however, he noticed Junior sitting on the floor with Peach's toys. He raised an eyebrow. "What's he doing here?"

Junior's face fell back down as he responded. "It's my weekend to stay with Mama Peach."

Mario shook his head. "Bowser really is taking that part of the peace treaty seriously? But then again, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If he can't respect Peach enough as a person to not kidnap her every other weekend, how can he respect her enough to let her have a say in whether she looks after her arch enemy's kid?" He snickered. "He really is the biggest idiot in the world."

Junior glared at Mario, tightening his grip on the plushies as he did so. Peach approached the plumber just as Junior let out a guttural growl.

"Mario, it's fine," she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder. "Junior's not harming anyone."

"Yeah," Junior said. He stood up so he could go toe to toe with Mario. "Besides. I thought you would be happy with this peace treaty, considering you don't have to rescue your girlfriend every other weekend." Junior laughed. "But then again, I guess that was the only way you could bond with her. Especially considering you're too much of a chicken to get her into bed."

Peach's eyes grew wide. "Junior!"

Mario stared at Junior, his face turning red as a fire truck. "Why you little brat! I'll just have you know that I get far more attention from girls than you can even ever hope to get!"

Junior chortled. "Oh yeah, that muscular, sexy body you have really is the sign of a lady killer."

Mario looked embarrassed as he put his arm over his belly, almost as a way of hiding it from the world. "Hey! I workout, you know!"

"Really? Well, you could have fooled me."

Mario started fuming once again. "Is this just normal, acceptable behavior in your kingdom? Because if so, it's no wonder why your race is the most evil in the Mushroom World."

Junior rolled his eyes. "Oh great, here we go. You're gonna claim that Koopas are the most evil race? Well, I've got news for you, Buddy. Every race is just as bad as Koopas. Every race has selfish desires. They just do a good job of burying them, that's all."

Mario grit his teeth. "Spoiled brat."

"Fatso."

"Tantrum Terror."

"Spaghetti Breath."

"Ugly reptile!"

Junior was just about to open his mouth in order to throw another insult back at Mario. Before he could, however, Peach got in between the two of them. "That's enough!" She stormed. She turned toward Junior with heat in her eyes and her hands on her hips. "If you're gonna stay in my castle this weekend, you're gonna be civil. Do you understand?"

Junior cast a hairy eyeball at Mario. "He started it."

Mario growled. "Oh, how typical. A Koopa is blaming their bad behavior on someone else."

"Mario! I said enough!" Peach said. She let out a sigh. "Look, I was just about to ask you if you wanted to make Junior some pizza, but clearly you aren't feeling up to it." She grabbed Junior's hand. "Come on, Junior. I'm gonna take you up to your room before any more trouble starts."

With that, Peach led Junior to the door. Junior cast a glance at Mario, who was still glaring at him. Junior blew him a raspberry. Mario did the same thing to him just before he exited.