Hiya! Only took one month this time! Hope you enjoy this one!
Eventually, Bowsette and Junior managed to finish their earlier lesson, after leaving everyone else to do whatever it was they normally did when their greatest adversary was a welcomed guest in the same building as them.
Junior was initially reluctant to leave Peach's side – a feeling that Bowsette could very much sympathise with – but otherwise the rest of their lesson went according to plan.
Bowsette left Junior in his room, only to be met outside with a castle servant.
"Miss Bowsette! Princess Peach has asked to see you as soon as you're available?"
The Toad led the way, taking the koopa woman out the back of the castle, where the princess was sat reading a book. She looked up as the two approached, meeting Bowsette's gaze with a smile.
The servant took their leave after the princess thanked them, leaving the two alone.
"Bowsette." Peach greeted warmly.
"Uhh. Hey, Princess." Bowsette greeted in return, still feeling awkward from earlier.
Peach replaced her bookmark and set the book aside, patting the spot next to her.
Bowsette silently took the offer, sitting next to the blonde.
"I'm sorry, Peach."
A puzzled look was her reply. "What for?"
She shrugged. "Well, a lot, I suppose. Like I said, I've done a lot of bad things. But, mostly for kidnapping you. Lots. And forcing you to marry me. Lots. And... Everything on The Moon. I've caused a lot of damage for my pride and ego, and I'm sorry for that."
Peach gave her a look that sat somewhat between scrutinising and sympathetic.
"You really are trying to change, aren't you?"
Bowsette nodded sadly. "I, umm, guess I'm also sorry for not telling you that I'm... W-well, me."
Peach chuckled. "That's alright, I understand why you did it." A beat passed before she continued. "I had my suspicions, though; I knew I'd seen those eyes before."
Bowsette blushed. "I thought that you didn't look that surprised when I admitted it. Luigi too."
She nodded. "Yes, Luigi, Mario and I all had our suspicions that there was something about you. We didn't tell Daisy; though it seems she came to her own conclusion."
Bowsette hmmed, not needing to be reminded of earlier.
"So, how are you finding being a woman? You seem to be coping well." There was a knowing glint in the princess's eye.
"O-oh... Umm. O-okay, I guess..." Bowsette stuttered. Inside, though, it felt better than okay. But she didn't understand it; why did it bring her such a feeling of happiness and contentment? She didn't dare voice that, though.
Peach smirked at the flustered woman. "Well, if you need any help with feminine things, then you can always ask me."
"Thanks, Peach."
The princess fixed her with a look, "But seriously, any feminine issue; don't panic, you can ask me."
"O-oh!" Bowsette exclaimed, realising what she was referring to. "I've got that covered. B-but I'll keep that in mind if anything unexpected happens." She finished, blushing furiously.
Laughing at her flustered state, Peach gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I'm happy to help."
"Anyway, Daisy and Luigi wanted to know if we wanted to play tennis against them later; I think Luigi was looking forward to a rematch."
"Ha! Guess we'll have to beat him again, huh?"
Peach turned to her, suddenly very serious. "Bowsette, I'm not sure you understand; Daisy and Luigi are both amazing at tennis. Together, they are almost unbeatable. We will lose."
Bowsette dismissed the princess's uncharacteristic defeatism. "Ah, we'll be fine."
As it turns out, they were not fine.
Daisy and Luigi were a powerhouse of tennis, that – despite their best efforts – they could not hope to stand against.
They played a few short games before an annoyed Bowsette reached her limit.
"I'm done!" She shouted, throwing down her racket. "Clearly you're cheating!"
Daisy smirked victoriously, before giving Luigi a kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush. "We can't help that we're better than you." She said dismissively.
"Wha-! I'll show you who's better!" The koopa turned to her partner. "Peach, we've gotta beat 'em!"
Peach gently put her hand on the other woman's shoulder, fixing her with a look like she was about to tell a kid that they didn't have any presents on their birthday. "Bowsette. We've lost. We can't win. I know you want to beat them, but we're just not good enough."
Bowsette wanted to retort, but Peach was clearly tired after those short but demanding games. "Fine." She faced her opposition. "You win. This time."
Daisy simply chuckled, shaking her head as she moved to grab a bottle of water, throwing one over her shoulder for Luigi.
"Don't worry, Bowsette, there's always tomorrow's karting tournament."
The koopa perked up at the reminder. "Ha ha! Yes! I'll beat you in that! I'll beat all of you!"
Peach, who had also gotten a bottle of water, handed one to her partner. "No you won't." She said sweetly, the spark in her eye betraying her seriousness.
"Oh yeah?" She waved her bottle around dramatically. "We'll see about that, Toadstool."
The princess cocked her eyebrow, an arrogant grin on her face. "That we will, Koopa." They stared each other down for a moment before she added, "How about, if you win, you can kidnap me whenever you want?"
Bowsette frowned, looking slightly hurt. "I don't want to kidnap you anymore, Peach; I don't want you to be forced to be around me if you don't want to."
Peach lost her grin and rested her hand on Bowsette's upper arm. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that; I was only joking."
Bowsette shook her head, annoyed that she had ruined the light-hearted mood. "I know... I'm just-" She sighed. "Sorry, I guess I'm just surprised that you don't... hate me, after everything."
The princess lifted Bowsette's chin so that their eyes could meet. "I don't hate you." She reassured her, "I've always known you weren't entirely bad – you could be quite sweet sometimes – so I'm happy that you're... trying to be better."
Bowsette blushed slightly at being called sweet and Peach took that as a cue to give the koopa woman a hug. "Thank you." Bowsette muttered, warmth pooling in her chest at the hug. She hoped the princess couldn't feel her heart rate skyrocket, but if she could she didn't say anything.
She was in the arms of the woman she loved. Even if the feeling wasn't mutual, Bowsette still couldn't help but break into a grin.
Their two forgotten audience members exchanged a look of amusement over the scene, unbeknownst to Bowsette and Peach.
Pulling back, the princess gave the koopa woman another smile. "I'm still going to beat you, though."
"Mama Peach!"
After their tennis match, Peach and the others sat by the courts for a while, before going their separate ways with the promise to see each other at dinner. Peach was on her way to her study to finish some paperwork, when Junior's unmistakable voice called her name from behind.
"Hey Junior." She greeted, as the koopa kid skidded to a stop in front of her. "What's up?"
"Mama Peach! Are you busy? I wanted to spend some time with you."
That stack of paperwork wasn't going to finish itself, but it certainly wasn't anything that couldn't wait. Besides, Junior didn't get many opportunities to spend time with Peach outside of a kidnapping situation.
Though – despite that dynamic – the two had often gotten along quite well; Peach didn't mind him treating her as mother figure – it was oddly humbling, in fact.
"Oh, nothing that can't wait. Come on, do you want to help me feed the Chain Chomps?"
"Yeah!"
The two collected some food for the chomps and went to courtyard behind the castle where the chomps were securely kept.
Usually they were dangerous, but the ones kept on the castle grounds were much tamer than the normal chomp – not that they'd be going close enough to be within biting range anyway – Peach was sure that Bowsette would be fine with her taking Junior.
They spoke about the chomps for a while, while feeding them, before Peach asked a question that had been on her mind. "So, Junior, how have you been with everything that's happened with you and your Mama lately?"
Junior scrunched up his face – which Peach thought looked adorable – while he considered the question. "I've been okay. Coming to the Mushroom Kingdom has been fun and so has staying at your castle," He gave her a smile of appreciation, "Being kidnapped was weird, but Mama saved me, so I'm okay!"
Peach chuckled at his enthusiasm. "But what about your Mama being a woman now?"
"Oh! I'm okay with that; I like having two Mamas! Besides, she's been a lot happier since she changed – though I'm not sure why."
He seemed to think on that while Peach nodded; she had thought that was the case also. Seemingly not finding a satisfying answer, he voiced another observation. "You also make Mama happier, Mama Peach."
He looked up at her with hopeful eyes, tugging at the blonde's heart strings.
"Well, I've certainly enjoyed spending time with her recently." She replied, avoiding addressing what Junior had really meant with that statement.
He hummed. It wasn't the answer that he was looking for, but he wasn't quite sure how to voice it. "Mama says that we can't kidnap you anymore." He said instead, moving onto the next subject.
Peach smirked at that. She couldn't help but find it oddly endearing that Bowsette was trying to teach Junior that he shouldn't kidnap the princess after years of teaching him the opposite. Still, she couldn't help but detect disappointment in his tone; like he thought that he wouldn't see her if they didn't kidnap her.
"I'll appreciate not being kidnapped and perhaps it will give me the opportunity to visit you two voluntarily."
"You'd come see us anyway?" He asked hopefully.
"Of course," She said, knowing that he would certainly hold her to that, "I don't see why not, if I don't have to worry about not being allowed to leave." Truth be told, even in the early days, Peach had never been under any threat as Bowsette's captive; she had always been treated more like an honoured guest that just wasn't allowed to leave – at least until Mario arrived. So, being able to go to the Koopa Kingdom without being a captive was something that Peach was quite looking forward to.
"Yay!" Junior cheered. "Oh! Mama hasn't taken you to the castle in ages; I finished my model of the castle! I can't wait to show it to you!"
Despite Bowsette's many self-proclaimed faults as a parent, inhibiting Junior's creative outlets was not one of them. He enjoyed making models of various things and – last Peach was at the castle – his latest project was a model of the Koopa castle.
"Oh!" Peach exclaimed, "I look forward to seeing it; your models are ever so good!"
The koopa kid blushed at that. "Thanks, Mama Peach." He mumbled, grinning bashfully.
Peach simply smiled back, ruffling his red hair.
"A-Bowsette."
At the sound of the familiar voice, the koopa woman turned immediately. His tone was cautious and confrontational, which she carefully reciprocated.
"Mario."
He scrutinised her as he stepped closer, as if trying to assess if he needed to treat her as a threat.
"If-a you try anything, I'll-a stop you."
She rolled her eyes at his typical heroic response.
"Yeah, well, you could try. Besides, you've got nothing to worry about there; I'm out of the princess-kidnapping business."
He quirked an eyebrow at that. "Yeah? Why's a-that?"
Bowsette huffed, not too keen on showing a softer side to her nemesis. "I've had a change of heart. I'm trying to focus more on my family; on making sure Junior is happy."
"Oh." Mario replied dumbly, clearly assessing what that meant for him.
"So, you won't need to save Peach anymore. Hopefully." Even if she wasn't going to kidnap her anymore, there was always the chance that someone else could, she supposed.
"Well-a, perhaps that's for the best, after last time." He muttered.
"What do you mean?"
"Afterwards, Peach wasn't too happy with-a me, I don't think. I'm not-a sure I have a chance with her." He shrugged sadly, "I'm-a not really sure what I did wrong."
Bowsette deadpanned at that. "Seriously?" She shook her head, fixing the plumber with a serious look. "You'd just saved her from a forced marriage, so your reaction is to try and fight me for Peach's hand? Like she's some sort of prize to be won? Like she owes it to you for rescuing her?"
"What!?" He gasped, stunned. "That's-a not how I meant it! I mean, it was-a impulsive, but..." He sighed, looking at the ground. "Maybe you're... Maybe you're-a right..."
"Trust me; I've had a lot of time to think about what happened. Peach deserves better than us two."
He grimaced slightly at that, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. I'm-a not sure she's interested in me anymore, anyway."
Bowsette smiled sympathetically. "Maybe it's for the best."
He nodded, meeting her gaze again. "Guess we-a won't be fighting anymore?"
The koopa laughed, "Ha, are you kidding! Did you forget about the tourney tomorrow? I'm gonna thrash you!"
He grinned, a competitive fire growing in his eyes. "Not a chance, Bowsette!"
Following his conversation with Bowsette, Mario had thought on his actions; she was right, he treated Peach like a prize – they both had. Perhaps his chances with her were ruined, but he still needed apologise. Perhaps that would remove the lingering awkwardness between them.
It was convenient, then, when he happened upon Peach and Junior returning to the castle through one of the back doors.
The two were parting ways – evidently having spent a while together – and Junior rushed off to find his mother, calling goodbye as he went.
Peach saw him off with a smile, before turning her head and seeing Mario approach. "Peach. Can I-a speak to you?"
The princess's lingering smile faded at the serious tone. "Of course, Mario. Come; we can talk in my study."
They walked into the study, shutting the door behind them. Peach stood in front of the desk, facing the plumber, who was awkwardly stood just in front of the door.
"Is everything okay, Mario?" She asked, concerned that something was amiss. The plumber was never one to open up easily, so his skittishness seemed to indicate that this was for a personal matter.
He sighed, removing his hat, only to run his hand through his hair. "Peach, I-ahh... I-a was talking to Bowsette earlier, about The Moon..."
He trailed off, seemingly collecting his thoughts. Peach herself wasn't sure what to think; they'd never discussed what happened on The Moon, so it was quite unexpected that he'd bring it up now. Besides, why was he talking to Bowsette about it? She was surprised that the two managed get along well enough to talk about something that was so clearly a sensitive topic to all three of them.
"Oh?" She prompted, hoping to break his silence.
"She-a helped me realise... That I – well we – treated you like something to be won, not-a like a person. Proposing was wrong, and I see that now... and, I'm-a sorry, Peach. Can we move past this and still be friends?"
Mario met her eyes and she could see that he was truly sorry. She was glad that he had finally seen why she felt so slighted – though that was apparently with help – and that they could finally get rid of this... tension between them.
"I forgive you, Mario." She said with a smile "I would very much like to still be friends."
"I don't know if I deserve it, but-a thank you."
A silence passed between them, but it wasn't awkward like they usually had been recently; the tension between them was lifting and they could finally start to move past the mess on The Moon.
"Well, now that we've sorted that, I believe dinner will be soon. Will you be joining us?"
Hope you enjoyed! I'd love to hear what you thought!