"A vacuum cleaner?" Fubuki gasped out in laughter, doing her best not to rock back too far in the chair she was sitting in as she laughed. Tatsumaki wasn't doing too much better containing her amusement, but she was accepting the story with far less skepticism than her younger sister was.
"He didn't'a call it that, but that's what it was!" Luigi insisted from the kitchen to the sound of cooking. "Even had multiple speed settings!"
Luigi's insistence that trying to 'attack a ghost with a vacuum made sense in context' had left the pair of sisters stunned long enough for him to offer to tell them the story while he made them all breakfast. Between that and his being exceptionally careful to not look at Fubuki aside from her face, Tatsumaki had mellowed enough to accept the offer, and Fubuki found herself more curious than upset. If this person had managed to mellow her older sister to the point she could take something like this in stride - or Tatsumaki considered him worth overlooking such a faux pas - then she definitely wanted to know more.
They were now sitting at Tatsumaki's dining table dressed - if it could be called that - in what was available. Luigi had offered his shirt for Fubuki to wear, only for Tatsumaki to immediately claim it. Fubuki honestly couldn't blame her for not wanting her little sister to be the one rocking the "boyfriend shirt" look with her boyfriend's shirt, especially not this morning...but Luigi's shirt hung on Tatsumaki like a tent, and she basically had to choose between bunching it up so much she looked like a child dressing up as Daddy or letting it hang off her to the point she was constantly spilling out of it. Admittedly it was a wide-neck shirt fit for Luigi, but the neckline was wider than Tatsumaki's shoulders, and if she tried to center it it would fall to her waist.
It didn't help Tatsumaki's irritation that this left Fubuki with one of Tatsumaki's bathrobes to wear...which simply nailed home how much more mature and full bodied Fubuki looked than her older sister, as even tied as tight as it could go it barely contained her bust and just barely cleared her hips, meaning she had to be very careful when she moved - and apply a generous amount of her own esper abilities - to keep from spilling out of it in an excessively suggestive manner at any moment. The fact this look hadn't so much as caught Luigi's eye - in fact, he'd done his best to not look at Fubuki except at her face despite his obvious embarrassment, and had kept most of his focus on Tatsumaki when he wasn't focused on the food he was making - had managed to mollify enough of the older esper's irritation so she could enjoy the story.
Listening to it, Fubuki was forced to admit that Luigi's actions - while incorrect - were rather understandable. The fact she could see him in the kitchen at work wearing just his green boxers and one of Tatsumaki's aprons didn't hurt either, though she wasn't about to try and poach from her own sister. There were plenty of other options for romance or just intimacy that Fubuki could pursue...however delectable this one looked.
"Wait, why'd you go to so much trouble to collect gold and jewels?" Tatsumaki suddenly asked. "Did you need the money or something?"
Gold? Jewels? Fubuki broke her focus on the storyteller long enough to listen to the story.
"Nah, not really," Luigi admitted. "But with how many ghosts there were and the Boos wandering about, I was'a little worried they might start hoarding it and manifest a Dragoboo, and that would'a been really hard ta deal with. Those things are vicious."
Fubuki shivered. She'd heard what the 'Boos' were like, and the idea of ghosts that could do that sort of thing bothered her since she might not be able to grasp them with her esper abilities, assuming they couldn't simply overshadow her. The idea of one with the power of a dragon as well...
"So what did you do with it all afterwards?" Tatsumaki pressed curiously.
"Well I wasn't'a gonna do anything with it, planned ta give it back to whoever actually owned the land...but then it turned out the letter that brought me there was legitimate. I actually did - and still'a do - own the land, the mansion, and everything that'a was in it. Admittedly, the Boo Mansion vanished after I defeated King Boo and saved me bro..." Luigi shrugged as he flipped something in one of the frying pans. "So since I didn'a wanna keep track of that much gold and jewels, I liquidated most'a it ta build a non-haunted mansion there." Pulling a photo out of somewhere, he flipped it towards the table. "Just a little place ta hold parties and have friends over."
Tatsumaki and Fubuki looked at the 'little place' in the photo...all three floors of it with what looked like an entire penthouse apartment complex as the third floor complete with an outdoor rooftop pool, and the lower floors looking like they could hold Tatsumaki's entire apartment building in them on its side. There were three turret flags, green with a white L on it, and a green circle with a yellow L on the front of the top floor's rounded parapet. Tatsumaki whistled, plainly impressed. "Did that take all of what you got?" she asked curiously.
"Most of it," Luigi allowed with a shrug. "Still got a vault room in there full of gold, coins, and a few gems I didn'a sell. Felt like the thing ta do, ya know?"
While Tatsumaki chuckled at that, Fubuki's eyes narrowed as she took in the environment around the mansion the picture showed and what Luigi had described of what the land around it was like, applying her own business knowledge to mentally figure out just how much it must have cost to build the mansion and how much it was technically worth. After all, this was her sister's new beau she was talking about. She needed to be sure he could take care of her if she ever couldn't take care of herself, especially financially...
...when she hit an eleven digit property value in calculations, her eyes widened, and had Tatsumaki been paying attention she would have sworn they made an audible 'cha-ching!' sound.
"So what do you do with all that space?" Tatsumaki asked curiously.
"Not much, honestly," Luigi admitted as he brought the finished food to the table. He easily set down platters of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hash browns, before serving them up on plates for everyone. From the front, it could be seen that Tatsumaki's apron looked more like a bib on him, and the bottom barely came to the waistband of his boxers. However, he showed no awkwardness, embarrassment, or shame from being dressed like that as he served. "Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, I mostly spend my time at my brother's house ta look after him."
Fubuki raised an eyebrow at that as she took a bite of food...only to let out a surprised moan of pleasure. "Where did you learn to cook this good?" she asked in surprise.
"Lots of practice," Luigi replied with a smile, still keeping his eyes above Fubuki's neck any time he looked her way.
Noticing he was looking her way, Fubuki playfully stretched to try and draw his attention a certain way...only for him to turn to Tatsumaki without seeming to notice. Fubuki struggled not to pout.
"So was that the only time you dealt with ghosts like that?" Tatsumaki asked curiously.
"Not the only time," Luigi replied warmly...and as they ate he began regaling them with two other times he'd dealt with ghosts using a vacuum to save his brother.
Fubuki listened intently this time as they ate, while trying not to stare at just how much Luigi ate. Admittedly, both Tatsumaki and herself had appetites nearly as large from how much their esper abilities burned, but it was a little awe inspiring to see how much Luigi could put away without seeming to stuff himelf. And throughout the meal, despite several attempts on Fubuki's part - she'd started making an effort with stretches, the occasional spilled drop of syrup, and other such things to try and get a reaction - Luigi's eyes never once dipped below her neck as they ate unless he was looking at Tatsumaki...and even then he kept his eyes on her face, too. Admittedly, this did seem to be doing wonders for Tatsumaki's confidence that he wasn't ogling Fubuki...but it was starting to get upsetting for the younger sister that she couldn't even get a reaction when she was sitting all but naked there and deliberately flaunting herself. If she didn't know better, she might think she was losing her touch.
When Luigi cleared the dishes away to go wash them, Fubuki turned to her sister. "You won the boyfriend lottery, sis!" she exclaimed, her tone between awed and envious. "I am so jealous."
"W-what?" Tatsumaki asked in surprise, blushing a bit from being caught off guard.
"He's kind, sweet, compassionate, domestic, an excellent cook, loaded like no one's business, built like a Greek hero...and if the wreckage outside is any indication, is either supernaturally gifted or really knows his way around the bedroom..." She struggled not to chuckle as Tatsumaki turned even brighter red. "Not to mention loyal to a fault. The entire meal he hasn't ogled me once, and that's more than any other straight man I've encountered has managed when I'm fully dressed."
"It wouldn't be polite to look at you that'a way," Luigi pointed out as he stepped back in, setting out coffee for all three of them. "I mean, especially after last night..." His voice trailed off as he sent a warm, embarrassed smile in Tatsumaki's direction, getting an answering one in return as the smaller green-haired woman lifted the cup to her lips.
"Okay, fair," Fubuki allowed, "but I'm sitting here all but falling out of this robe, not even trying to cover up. It should be pretty clear that I don't mind if you look."
"Still not gonna look at my girlfriend's little sister like that," Luigi stated firmly.
"Why not?" Fubuki asked curiously. "Am I not pleasant to look at?"
"You're still her little sister," Luigi repeated firmly.
Tatsumaki suddenly chuckled. "Luigi...I know what sort of things draw guys' eyes," she said finally. "After last night and this morning...I...have no doubts about your loyalty to our relationship, to me. If...if you want to look at other girls - even my little sister - I won't hold it against you."
Fubuki stared at her sister in stunned shock. Of all things she expected to hear from her sister, being secure enough in her femininity and a relationship to give her boyfriend permission to ogle other girls - especially the sibling she was excessively overprotective of - wasn't even on the list of things she expected to hear.
Luigi blinked in surprise, then gave Tatsumaki a warm smile. "I'll remember, Maki-chan," he offered in a melting tone, taking her hand in his and giving it a kiss.
Fubuki briefly suppressed a squee at how adorable that was, then cleared her throat as she struck what she considered was one of her more stimulating poses...which given the position of arms and legs, was a bit more stimulating than she intended in the much too small robe. She desperately suppressed a blush...only to see Luigi not even looking. "Umm...she did say..." she began uncertainly.
"If I wanted to, yes," Luigi confirmed, not taking his eyes off Tatsumaki. For her part, the Tornado of Terror pulled the shirt up with her other hand in a vain attempt to hide her rosy blush.
Fubuki let out a startled whine. "...so jealous..." she whimpered softly.