Parallel
All Toadette wanted was a bag of chips from the vending machine. She supposes that was too much to ask for when surrounded by immature friends and their group of rambunctious back-up comedians. She hurls a specifically crafted glare at Toad while he holds his stomach and laughs at his newest joke.
The pit crew Toads are relentlessly teasing her about her budding friendship(?) with Iggy. Even traitorous Ala-Gold, who is usually more mature than Toad and Bucken-Berry combined, joins in on the fun and prods for juicy details about Koopas as Toadette sneers at him. She supposes this is a juicy topic that he can't resist sinking his teeth into.
Toad jokingly questions if she's undercover for the princess to which Ala-Gold plays up the comedy bit by pretending to be a spy himself, launching gummy bears at his friends who pretend to shriek and duck in terror. The laughter that ensues after their poorly acted out scene is enough to get her to growl furiously.
Toadette is overwhelmed and growing more and more furious as the onslaught continues. Especially when one of the pit crew members predictably teases her about the possibilities of having a crush on the Koopa, because opposite genders can never just be friends, which causes an uproar of more jokes and comedy bits from the group.
Her face burns bright scarlet when Toad questions if he's invited to the wedding and Ala-Gold asks with a pout to be the wedding DJ. Her muscles are so tightly wound up they hurt the more she clenches her tiny fists and gnashes at her bottom lip. They won't shut up no matter how many hints she viciously threatens them with.
They just keep laughing at her. Laughing at the absurdity of maintaining a casual relationship with someone the Toads all despise. She's the butt of some stupid joke. A joke which refuses to die. She's had enough.
Finally, Toadette snaps. Her usually maintained composure is tossed out the window and she stomps her foot. She supposes she should be proud for holding out this long before reaching her limit.
"He's not a friend!" she shouts desperately, flailing her arms. "He's crazy and extremely annoying! He's only helping me with my kart because I let him stay there!"
Satisfied, Toadette huffs triumphantly at the proceeding silence, crossing her arms, chin thrust upward. The group of Toads are wide-eyed and aghast. She's honored to have caused them all to look seconds away from peeing their pants, faces pale.
She relishes in the stillness of silence until she notices too late that they aren't staring fearfully at her. They're staring at something behind her. She freezes, the warmth of victory replaced by a sudden chill. Silently, she hopes it isn't Princess Peach witnessing her throwing a tantrum. She's embarrassed and flustered enough as it is.
Reluctantly, she swivels her head around to face the consequences of her outburst. Her brief moment of reprieve when she spots the absence of yellow hair and pastel pink clothes disappears in a second when she takes in the abundance of green in her peripheral.
She spots Iggy standing near the vending machine with his signature can of ginger ale in his hands. Her heart sinks, throat tightening.
It had to be him.
It had to be the one other racer out of the huge roster she didn't want to overhear her lose it. Instead of the hurtful betrayal or disappointment she expects to find; Iggy smiles widely.
He smiles like he knows all her dirty little secrets she seals inside her head behind a tight lock and key. He smiles like he knows she's not as sweet as she claims to be and it's all a lie.
In reality, she's just a coddled little brat acting like she carries the maturity and responsibility of an adult. It didn't take long for her to resort to insulting him just to get the Toads to stop their mockery because they hurt her fragile little feelings.
Toadette swallows roughly, turning away. Ashamed by her outburst, she retreats and ignores the cries of Toad and Ala-Gold calling her name and profusely pelting worthless apologies at her back.
Without a planned destination in mind, she magically winds up in Princess Daisy and Princess Peach's garage. Both of them claimed she's welcomed here anytime she wants to stop by.
Realistically, she shouldn't be here, but she can't explain her odd reactions if she were to randomly leave without a word of acknowledgment or an excuse valid enough to not draw suspicion. No, she shouldn't be here right now.
What Toadette needs is a moment to clear her head. She needs to gain equanimity, but she floats around the princesses garage anyways, humming and nodding along to their greetings. She traps herself here, resigning to having to pretend she meant to pop in for a visit.
Toadette admires the sleek and pretty bikes they've chosen to purchase, enamored by the shiny colors and freshly added decals. She offers advice when Princess Peach asks for her input about her decisions made to her lovely pink sports bike, but believes the princess is simply choosing to humor her.
Toadette chats with them about anything, seeking a distraction from the oddity of Iggy's reaction—the unpredictability of his cheery disposition makes her uneasy—stuck on replay in her mind.
Why wasn't he upset? She sighs under her breath. No, the better question is: why did she have to say that?
Toadette kneads at her forehead, semi-listening to Daisy's rant on speed over acceleration. She instantly feels the stinging shame of her childish actions attacking her once again when she recalls Iggy and her debating the same topic days before.
She can't stop the remorse from seeping into her usually bright tone the longer her conversations drag on. Princess Peach casts her worried glances every time Toadette stutters, struggling to answer straightforward questions. She decides she can't do this anymore.
Exhausted from dodging Princess Peach's suspicious observations, Toadette shuffles away from the Princess' concerned stare attempting to pull her apart piece by piece.
Abruptly, she claims to have a lot of work to do before she makes a hasty retreat without looking back. She can feel the princesses' confused glances burning marks into her as she stumbles out of their garage.
When Toadette returns to her own garage, after pacing outside it for ten minutes to build up her courage to go inside, she finds Iggy swaying his head to the music and tweaking his engine. She cautiously steps inside like the garage is laced with traps, heading towards her kart. He doesn't once turn to face her. He doesn't acknowledge her at all.
At first, she falsely believes that ignoring what she said is okay with her. If Iggy's not upset, then why should she feel guilty anyways? It's not like they're best friends or anything. She should let it go. Determined to do that, she starts to work on her kart, testing the new modifications, focusing solemnly on the music.
Iggy is hunched over and absorbed in his kart's engine, the perfect example of a diligent mechanic. While Toadette accomplishes little to nothing. Her traitorous eyes keep drifting over to him, a sadness stirring in her the longer she watches him quietly tweak his engine since she's the reason for the uncharacteristic silence.
Toadette realizes that stupid thought process of 'letting it go' doesn't last long because, despite her constantly deny it, she… she sorta enjoys his company and pretending she never said such harsh things about him doesn't sit well with her. Would she feel this guilty if she hadn't gotten caught?
The remorse inside her festers like acid, eating away at the stubborn part of her that foolishly attempted to convince her brain that she could leave things unspoken like this. She's left hollow, frowning angrily at her distorted reflection staring back at her, mocking her for thinking something like this could be easily settled.
Gritting her teeth, she's tempted to grab the cloth laying on her tool box and furiously scrub at the surface of her kart until her pathetic pouting face disappears from her view. Instead, she turns to Iggy, still ignoring her presence despite the intensity of her staring.
With a quiet sigh, she sets down her tools and begins to make her way over to his kart like she's pressed a slow motion button, moving at a pace that would make a snail look fast, chewing the inside of her cheek and fiddling with a braid.
She opens her mouth as she stands behind him, but nothing comes out. Growing frustrated with herself, she tries again, hoping for any word at this point.
"Um," she says intelligently. She chokes, breath quickening when his hands still. She's beginning to panic. What can she say? How can she fix this?
"Can I help you?" Iggy asks rudely, whipping his head to face her with slightly narrowed eyes. Then he directs his attention back to his kart seemingly uninterested in whatever excuse she's about to spit out.
Searching for an answer, she attempts to gather her scattered thoughts. They flutter around her brain like a stack of neatly placed papers Iggy threw off her organized desk just to watch her panicked frenzy as she attempts to recollect them. She swallows, nervously grasping at a pigtail.
"I'm sorry about what I said," Toadette finally says. Her hands fall to her dress, fidgeting with the hem. She can't stop twitching. Her hands can't keep still. "I didn't mean it."
Iggy snorts out a dry laugh, not bothering to face her. "I'm used to it," he emotionlessly admits.
What did he say? He's used to it? That's—that's—
"But that's not okay!" she blurts out without thinking. It's an involuntary slip up she doesn't have the time to properly dissect. But it's the truth; it's not okay. Iggy isn't that bad.
Honestly, he's… pretty funny when the jokes aren't at her expense. He's also extremely intelligent and always eager to explain a problem to anyone willing to listen to him ramble. His eccentricities aren't as jarring as others believe them to be… sometimes.
His random bouts of creepy giggles without any probable cause behind them aren't easy to ignore and his comments can linger more on the darker side of the moral spectrum, but she's not uncomfortable enough with them to kick him out.
Her sudden and bold declaration grabs his attention. He cranes his neck towards her, brows knitted together. For the first time since her arrival in the garage, he's actually looking directly at her. She hates how exposed she feels under his scrutiny.
"What?" he snaps like he's offended. Which doesn't make an ounce of sense. No, he's not offended, he's deeply confused by her reponses. If she thinks on it further, it makes sense since she had been the same person to insult him in the first place. It's hypocritical, a huge contradiction.
"It's not okay to be used to it." She can't stop her mouth from moving though. "I s-shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry."
A moment of silence passes through the air. Iggy's puzzlement switches in that instant. His grin grows more sinister as he shakily rises like a marionette being pulled on its strings to stand to his full height. He drops the wrench in his hands. She flinches at the metallic cries when it hits the concrete floor.
When did the room become so tense? The compression in the atmosphere makes her greedily gulp in a huge amount of air like the oxygen supply has gone sparse. She's drowning from the influx of perspiration soaking on her skin.
"But it's all true, isn't it? I'm mentally deranged, unstable, and annoying." Iggy giggles gleefully as he lists off every insult that's ever passed through her mind like he's reading her repertoire out in the open. He slowly begins stalking over to her with that frightening smile on his face.
"Some even say I'd murder my entire family if it meant I could achieve scientific greatness or that any minion that disappears from the castle is my doing."
He chuckles darkly, matching the tone of his scathing voice, flashing his sharp claws. Toadette takes a step back to distance herself from the psychotic look in his eyes and meets resistance from her kart. Her hand frantically pats at her kart behind her, desperately searching for something to defend herself with.
His crazed gaze flicks to her seeking hand. His twisted smile grows impossibly more malevolent. He appears satisfied by her show of fear, soaking it up, basking in it.
Hysterical, he continues his little rant. "Maybe I feed all those missing minions to my Chain Chomps or maybe I experiment on them. Who knows? You could be next; I've never dissected a Toad before."
He's too close now. There's a dangerous glint in his deranged eyes and she can see her own terrified expression reflecting back in his lenses. The shadow he casts over her threatens to engulf her into complete darkness.
She's breathing too heavily to be defined as healthy, blood chilled. She quivers in her shoes, glancing hopelessly at the exit too far away. He's never shown this side of himself before. She wants to run and scream for help, but she notices something that keeps her in place.
It's so brief, so small, like a tiny peephole leading into his complex brain. He thought he could fool her so easily, but she's smart enough to pick up on tiny details. She's been around him too long not to notice his quirks.
It's like reading in between the lines of ancient texts to solve the puzzle that leads to the hidden treasure. Except Iggy is wielding every social tactic
available to him to throw her off course. Her eyes grow wide, her fear halting in its tracks when she picks up on something.
Iggy is hurt by her words.
She hurt him. With her careless, anger-fueled and childish comments. He's deflecting, attempting to scare her away, pretending it doesn't bother him because he's used to every remark he's ever had thrown at him. Toadette can see the truth staring blatantly at her now.
Iggy is just trying to cover up the evidence by amping up her trepidation and using his rumored, questionable morals as a decoy. Unfortunately for him, she's more adept with reading emotions than he is. She understands hidden motives behind contradicting actions since she spends her time around creatures of higher positions.
Nobility and royalty love to lie and when they sing their sweet words drenched in syrupy promises to the princess; Toadette is the first to catch their act and scoff derisively.
The princess, on the other hand, feels obliged to give them the benefit of doubt before passing judgement. Usually, Toadette is smugly proven right when they expose their intentions and Toadsworth immediately shoos them out of the castle in a polite yet sour tone, scolding them for their negligence and belligerence.
Iggy hasn't laid a hand on her yet. His deadly teeth are barred, his claws are brandished, and his stance is taunt like he's prepared to use the natural weapons given to him if she moves an inch.
Minutes of uninterrupted silence tick by and they remain unmoving like they're both on pause, waiting for someone to press play. She knows, behind all her prejudices telling her he will, he won't attack her. This is all an act, a front crafted from rumors he chose to embrace instead of disregard.
It occurs to her that Iggy is technically royalty and the lines he says aren't confectionary declarations or lies. He isn't tainted by the aristocracy or raised with the future of politics in mind. When has he ever lied to her besides this very moment? Only after she had hurt him first.
Toadette had convinced herself Iggy wasn't capable of experiencing more complex emotions below the surface level. She failed to realize that he's the type that allows her to see what he wants others to see. It's the exact opposite of her heart-on-her-sleeve approach to life.
She chose to ignore any signs there was more to his personality than jokes and sarcasm. She pretended the instances where he dropped his guard were a part of her overactive imagination. She told herself that no matter what she says to him, there would be no repercussions since he wouldn't care.
He was just a Koopaling after all; the bad guy. Why did it matter?
It dawns on her then; she's been a terrible person. To treat someone—even a supposed enemy—like a mere, unfeeling machine she can kick around and groan about to others makes her no better than the bad guys.
The higher pedestal she places herself on is all farce. A farce she created to hide her selfish and ugly interior because in the end… she used him, didn't she? She used him to prove a point to the princess without an ounce of remorse or care for how she'd be perceived by Iggy.
Tears gather up in her eyes as the feelings of guilt overwhelm her pounding chest. She harshly shoves Iggy away from her with a breathy grunt. It's such an easy thing to do, and she watches him stumble back, furthering proving he wasn't ever going to actually hurt her.
Toadette stomps off towards the open garage door, mad at herself for being so blindly judgemental. She hastily wipes away the moisture in her eyes, passing by the questioning glances of pit crew members and almost barrels into a skittish Koopa Troopa helping Larry roll his tires towards his impressive sports bike.
After promising Princess Peach she'd try to withhold her judgment; she had disregarded her orders and buried it deep inside her. Was she ever truly sincere about their friendship or was everything she said only to make herself feel better?
Toadette wallows by the practice tracks, sitting at the second highest bleacher, isolating herself from the assortment of different species watching the racers test run their vehicles with excitement. She joins in, spectating everyone's impressive set of wheels with blurry eyes, half-interested in their choices.
The sun is high above her head, a gentle wind caresses her wet cheeks. A beautiful day that does nothing to brighten her mood. Blankly, she watches Wendy in a cute pink Biddybuggy breeze past Roy on his oddly-shaped purple bike.
Roy teasingly claims she's cheating, causing an uproar as Wendy purposely slows down to listen to his jeering. His little sister throws her head back and smugly laughs at him. She childishly sticks her tongue before increasing her speed. Their shared laughter intermingles with their motors as they make a speedy getaway.
Toadette sniffs, a small smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. They're just like how her and Toad act. Whenever she manages to pull ahead during games, he likes to claim she's cheating. It never fails to cause her to giggle. They both know he's never serious. He's just a sore loser.
She rubs her eyes with the back of her arm, clearing away the tears. The princess had been right. They were like her.
Sure, the Koopalings cause mayhem and destruction and commit devious acts, but they're only following orders. Orders straight from the one Koopa who bothered to take them in and raise them.
Bowser gave them a home and a bed to sleep in. He clearly loves them. His overprotective nature says as much as he does. Of course they're devoted to him like she is devoted to the princess for the exact same reason.
Toadette looks up at the practice track, catching Bowser and Mario in a heated test race, matching cocky smiles on their faces. The thought speeds right at her; if only things weren't the way they were.
Bowser and Mario could be friendly rivals; they get along well enough without the stint of being enemies. Although, if she were to ask either of them, they'd vehemently deny it. Still, contempt is rarely burning in Mario's eyes whenever he and Bowser are competing together and Bowser's jabs are more friendly than hostile.
Will it always be like this?
The complex circumstances the Toads and Koopas are currently facing in the present doesn't guarantee the future will hold the same issues. Besides, tensions between the Koopas and Toads won't ever change if someone doesn't reach out a hand first and find common ground amongst the rubble.
Maybe that's what Princess Peach had meant all this time. Perhaps she wishes for Toadette to find the good in the Koopalings that the princess promises she sees in them.
The princess is never the type to hold grudges, maybe Toadette should follow the princess' lead and lessen her dislike towards them a bit more.
Toadette groans, placing her head in her hands and rubs at her eyes. She messed up. Big time. Avoiding it won't solve anything. Neither will crying. With an aggravating sigh directed at herself, she gets up.
When Toadette returns to the garage, intent on trying to find a way to scavenge any part of this relationship; Iggy and all of his belongings are gone, including the radio. Her eyes grow wide. It was his radio. He must have brought it after she mentioned missing the radio Toad snatched from her. She didn't even believe he had been listening to her ranting.
She really destroyed everything they built together because she was being stupid and, despite being an irritating Koopa, he deserves better than that. Never once has he shown her dislike or hatred. Only when she pushed too far did he choose to retaliate. What can she even say to him?
Toadette sits on her bench alone and fights back more pitiful tears. Unlike her kart; she doesn't know how to fix this.
Oh no. 'I ruined my friendship and all I got was this dumb t-shirt.' I feel like Toadette needed to suffer for being a jerk. She needed to learn that her actions have consequences! Meme reference, nice. I dunno why this story is popular on Ao3. I need to not hate this story. meh.
