The night air was cold, seeping into Luigi's skin. He was lying in a field, looking up at the ocean of stars. He reflected on what happened just a few days ago, when he was up there among the stars.

Like most things in his life it could be broken up into eighty percent good and twenty percent really bad.

Even so, it was somewhere new where his failures were not known or mocked, seemingly endlessly.

Here, on the ground, everything weighed more and it was harder to shake off the internal expectations of himself.

A new place, up above, was free and expansive enough for him to pull apart the self-doubt that swirled in his chest cavity and lungs.

"Luigi!" someone called and it sharply startled him out of his thoughts. Luigi lifted himself up and a smile was on his face when he saw it was Daisy.

"I found you!" she announced. Daisy got close, fell to the ground roughly and before Luigi could ask if she was okay she flung her arms around him.

She was warm. She was one hundred percent good.

Luigi returned the embrace and thought, wildly, that being up there with no one to know of him, good and bad, would be a lonely existence.

There was another option; that Luigi could fill in that self-doubt instead of letting it tear him in half. Something better could be planted there and let it bloom. Shadows that hid the truth could shaken off his shoes like dust.

He thought of those he loved, and thought that Daisy was the one, this time to remind him of another option.

Daisy pushed, gently, on his chest so that he laid down on the grass. He blinked and looked up at her.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked.

Daisy leaned over him, her hair framing her face and the moon behind her. She seemed rather close. Usually this would lead her to pressing a kiss somewhere on his face and Luigi welcomed it, always would welcome it.

"Oh," Luigi said. "The moon is beautiful."

"I see. It is, isn't it? And you were there not too long ago! How was the adventure?"

"Well," he said. "So much."

She laughed and her eyes were filled with curiosity so he tidied the stories into sections.

"Got captured by ghosts," he started quickly, like the memory would pop out of his head and taunt him.

"Awful."

He nodded with a shudder.

"Met lots of new friends," Luigi said. "Like Rosalina. She helped us."

"That's good," Daisy replied. "What was she like?"

He chewed over some descriptions. One seemed to fit best.

"Mysterious."

"Mysterious!" Daisy had a wide smile on her face. "Interesting. I want to meet her! We'll be friends."

It was funny to picture Daisy cheering on Rosalina to do something or other, and any shenanigans that entailed. But he also found it sweet.

"I'll introduce you, when she comes around again." He added, apologetically, "But I don't know when that will be."

"I don't mind waiting," Daisy replied cheerfully.

To the best of Luigi's knowledge he told her everything – Lumas, about whether star bits were stars made of candy or star-shaped candy though there was a thin line of difference, how he helped out, and it went on until he had nothing else to tell.

Or so it seemed.

"So it was a good adventure?"

"It was."

"But scary, too. I'm glad you're safe," Daisy said.

Luigi nodded. "I'm glad you found me."

He tapped his thumbs together as he got his words into order.

"Um. It was exciting but I probably would have drifted away. So, I prefer it here," he said.

"Yeah? It's enough?"

Luigi took in air, acutely aware of the seconds. He pulled his hat over his eyes as heat began to flow into his face.

"You're more than enough."

Acutely aware of the seconds. He could only see the inside of his hat. But he could feel her weight shift.

And then Daisy kissed whatever part of his face that wasn't covered by his hat. Luigi didn't protest when she eased his hat off his head. Daisy cupped his warm face and peppered kisses along his forehead.

Luigi was still focusing on the phantom feelings of where she had kissed him when she pulled his hat over her head.

"This is mine, now," she said.

He made a playfully contemplative expression, humming. He seemed to reach a decision and pointed in the general direction of her brooch.

"Can I have that in exchange?"

"Hey," Daisy said. "What a silly question. You already have my heart."

He couldn't say that she misunderstood because he couldn't get any words out.

It didn't matter because she placed his hat on his chest and leaned in to press her forehead against his. It was something that was worth more than all the stars in the sky.

Originally posted on Ao3 on October 16 2019

A couple of years ago I had some leftover paper. At the time I was playing Super Mario Galaxy with my cousins and got a plot bunny. I made this fic; but at the time it was super short and bare minimum, so I decided to write more for it.