Author's Note: Thanks go out to Michaiah, SugarBullet, and Mr Wang 330 for the new supportive reviews as well as Wimpzilla for obvious reasons (if you go and read his fanfiction, "The L Stand for Loser", after his next update). I appreciate all the support and I hope I can continue to entertain you all with my story. So please, read and enjoy.

Chapter 3: "The Misfortunate Brother"

Work began nearly an hour ago in Toad Town's city park. Characters of all sorts milled about the many pathways of the park, helping each other lift large planks, set up lights, construct stands, anything and everything that needed to be done in order for Sports Day to be a success. Times like this were the moments in her life that Daisy felt she would always remember; times where people old and young, rich and poor, strong and weak would all pitch in and help each other with a friendly smile on their faces.

It was hard not to find a group of new friends chatting each other up over a cup of ice cold water, friends that didn't know so much as each others' names when they first stepped foot into the park. People with all kinds of backgrounds and beliefs put their differences aside as they chatted about anything from the beauty of the clear sky that afternoon to their all-time favorite actors and movies, breaking down any walls that would have previously separated them had they not met each other under these circumstances. Hell, Daisy even spotted Doog, as narcissistic and thoroughly unpleasant a character as he was, offering to take a heavy work load off of an elderly Koopa's hands when he witnessed the poor man struggling. It certainly rang true that volunteering could help bring the best out of people, no matter who they were.

Daisy walked along a shady path, the canopies of trees draping over her and blocking the amber rays of the setting sun. Jeff, Julie, and Ilys were off in the park. Somewhere. She didn't quite know where they might be. She'd lost sight of them roughly ten minutes ago. But she was sure they were off enjoying each others' company, continuing to be the happy model family that they were. Daisy wouldn't mind if she happened to stumble upon them again, but for now, she was content with wandering off by herself.

She passed a few friendly folks by, exchanging hellos with them while they either toiled away or, like her, took a break to simply enjoy the park. Really, it almost felt like wandering around high school alone. Only the hallways were outdoor paths. And the people she passed by were actually nice. But, like inside the school, she realized she was walking by herself yet again. She didn't know why she was thinking about it now. She didn't care that she had nobody to talk to. But, somehow, it just felt odd.

"I want to be able to go to the park by myself. And I want to be able to walk around it by myself too."

She remembered telling this to her father when she initially put forth the idea of leaving the castle for her schooling.

"But Daisy, I don't want anything to happen to you. You need an escort to ensure your safety," her father would respond.

"Dad, you know I can take care of myself," she'd say just before mumbling, "Better then you ever could."

"You think you can defend yourself better than me?"

"I know I can."

"Well then...let's see how good you are."

The conversation that inspired the series of father-daughter wrestling matches. Daisy couldn't help but chuckle as she remembered how red in the face her father was when she beat him. She never could figure out if it was from anger, embarrassment, or possibly pride, but she finally got her wish. And now it just seemed hard to believe.

Why though? She'd walked by herself in this park numerous times before and never once did she feel strange about it. Never once did she question her freedom nor had she ever felt that something was simply missing. She suddenly wished that Ilys were there with her though. The spunky young girl that held Daisy's heart in her tiny little hands so easily and didn't even know it. Surely she would come up with some kind of way to take her mind off of everything. But alas, she was off with her parents somewhere, no doubt either being the life of the party or giggling nonstop as Jeff and Julie showered her with affection. Fortunately, a distraction did come along soon enough, taking Daisy's mind off of it.

"Hey, Daisy!" a voice called out from a fair distance behind her. She looked over her shoulder to discover Toad rushing over to her, waving a hand in the air to catch her attention.

"What's up Toad?" Daisy asked as she turned to face him completely, smiling down at him.

"I was just thinking about you," he began as he slowed to a stop in front of her. "I'm glad I found you so quickly. Listen, I was just chatting with a couple friends of mine and we started talking about playing a few tennis matches on Sports Day. We decided on doubles since my friends are brothers, but my girlfriend doesn't play sports and I need a second person to help me out. So if you don't mind me asking-"

"Of course I'll be your partner Toad," Daisy happily accepted before he could finish. Toad gained a smile now as well.

"Thanks Daisy, I really appreciate it." He began to turn, appearing to leave right then and there, but he quickly stopped, figuring it would be rude to simply ask this of her and leave right on the spot. Instead, he turned back to her, an idea having apparently struck him. "Hey, do you wanna meet them? They're pretty cool guys."

"Sure," Daisy answered with a smile as Toad began to lead her down the path. Daisy stuck a hand in one of her pockets, thinking about the current situation.

Toad just made a bold and far too rare act. All her life, Daisy constantly met people around her own age that didn't seem to feel comfortable around her unless their meetings were under certain circumstances. Countless times did she make acquaintances in a classroom that would only ever speak to her within those walls. She honestly couldn't expect Brook from English class or Percy from Art to give her more than a cordial nod or a wave when they passed by in the hallways. Outside of the classroom seemed to simply mean that a relationship deeper than that of familiar strangers didn't exist.

Toad crossed the invisible boundary however. He finally broke the barrier and spoke with her comfortably outside of gym class, and on top of that, he felt a strong enough connection with Daisy to not only ask her to be his partner in tennis, but to introduce her to his own personal friends. Daisy doubted that people often thought about the moment an acquaintance became a friend, but considering her only one so far was a certain four year old relative, this moment truly meant a lot to her.

Of course, Toad wouldn't understand how momentous this instance felt to Daisy, for he had many friends already and adding new ones to his roster just seemed to come naturally to him. He seemed to be a charmed person, for he was the type that made friends before he even knew he had them. People always seemed to know his name, even people he never remembered meeting before. Of course, word of mouth can do that to a guy, but the astounding thing was that no matter who presented themselves before him, whether it was a Goth chick or a preppy jock or a gangster wannabe that somehow managed to hear about him, he could flawlessly get on their good side and actually make them a fan of his.

Yes, a fan.

Toad had fans around school that would just come up to him and say hi completely out of nowhere because they knew who he was. He'd reached a level of popularity that very few people could successfully achieve, and the way he achieved it was simple. He was just himself. Being a good-natured and well-mannered guy, Toad never failed to impress. He was polite, kind-hearted, and a good conversationist almost constantly, and he always expressed a genuine interest in other peoples' lives.

Of course, possessing all of these qualities, it was inevitable that he would have many female suitors chasing after him constantly. On numerous occasions, it could be overheard that some girl wished she'd found Toad first and envied his girlfriend for getting such a great guy before anyone else discovered him. Actually, they didn't even envy her. They downright despised her. And, after having met his girlfriend on one occasion, Daisy couldn't honestly say that she thought the feeling of animosity was completely irrational.

If Toad was Prince Charming, his girlfriend was the Wicked Witch with a poisonous apple. Of course, he didn't see it this way, always claiming to be happily involved with her, but everyone who witnessed the pair together would instantly agree that she was not the right girl for him.

Tess was her name. A fourteen year old Freshman Toad girl that hid her twisted spirit underneath the facade of a flawlessly soft face, warm brown eyes, and curly auburn hair. With these outward features, she would often appear as soft-hearted as they come. But it seemed that the moment she opened her mouth, pure evil would spew forth and fatally infect anyone that was within range.

"Toad," she spoke up from a short distance away one day when she caught her boyfriend chatting with Daisy in the hallway outside of the gym. The situation didn't look pretty, for Daisy was still dressed in her gym outfit and Tess glared at her maliciously as Toad tore himself away from the conversation and went to her side.

"Oh, hey Tess," he greeted, motioning to give her a peck on the cheek, only to be met with one of her hands grabbing on to his face and pushing it back against the nearest wall. Daisy was shocked to see this as Tess turned to her boyfriend and proceeded to hiss at him quietly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she muttered, though Daisy could hear her clearly. "I thought I told you I don't want to see you around other girls when I'm not there, especially ones that look like that hooker you were just talking to. Now come on."

After that encounter, Daisy never saw Tess again. And never feeling quite close enough to Toad to ask why he would put up with that kind of treatment, she simply didn't talk with him about it. Actually, even now, she still thought it was outside of her realm of comfort to ask about such a touchy topic, given that the two just barely graduated into friends only minutes ago.

"Mama-Mia!"

"Look out!"

Daisy had no time to react as a fuzzy yellow tennis ball flew straight at her and smacked her right on the nose, instantly causing drops of blood to drip out as the ball ricocheted off her head. She nearly fell backwards thanks to the force of the hit as she immediately clasped both hands over her nose and mouth, muttering incoherently as Toad looked up at her in surprise.

"Sorry sorry sorry!"

That certainly sounded familiar. Sure enough, as she looked out in the direction from which the ball came flying, the boys in red and green clamored over to her with tennis rackets in hand, hoping she was okay. If her nose didn't hurt so much she'd have laughed harder, but she settled for just chuckling as the pair headed for her and Toad.

"Oh no..." Luigi muttered as he realized who it was that he hit. Both Daisy and Toad looked over at him as he stopped a fair distance away. Playfully, Daisy raised a hand into the air and waved at him.

"Man, you sure have some tough luck today bro," Mario commented laughingly. He ran ahead of his younger twin brother in hopes of finding the ball as Luigi approached Daisy and Toad, scratching the back of his head.

"I'm...really really sorry..." Luigi apologized nervously. Daisy noticed that the boy blushed as he spoke and smiled, lowering her second hand from her nose.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you had something against me," Daisy teased with a slightly nasally voice, making Luigi shake his head immediately.

"No no no of course I don't!" he insisted hastily, making Daisy chuckle further. Mario rejoined the group now, having found the ball.

"Luigi's just a little clumsy sometimes. If he ends up giving you a concussion by the end of the day, we hope you'd have the heart to forgive him," Mario commented. "He has enough restraining orders against him as it is."

Despite the joking tone, Mario was actually serious about everything he said. Luigi did look as if he wanted to say something in response, but he couldn't deny that he did, in fact, have several restraining orders against him thanks to his misfortunate clumsiness. He had to admit, it was probably illegal for him to be standing right there in the park as it was, for someone who filed an order against him could possibly be within fifty feet of his current position. As a matter of fact, he wasn't even entirely sure he could attend Sports Day. When it came around, he would just have to hope that nobody recognized him and that his clumsiness would subside for at least a little while.

"Do you guys all know each other already?" Toad asked, observing the fact that everyone seemed to have at least a little history between each other. Daisy gave a small shrug in response.

"We sort of met earlier today," Daisy explained, causing Luigi to blush a slightly deeper red.

"Yeah. Except that time a soccer ball brought us together," Mario commented as Daisy felt her cheek with a small giggle.

"Man, Luigi hit you with a soccer ball too?" Toad asked with a smile and a raised eyebrow, prompting a nod from Daisy. "Geez dude, what did she ever do to you?" Toad continued, turning to Luigi with a chuckle. Luigi's composure seemed to completely collapse as his gaze dropped directly to the ground and he held his hand to the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"It was an accident..." he muttered with a tiny voice. Daisy couldn't help but feel sorry for him as she witnessed Luigi come under attack by his brother and his friend.

Luigi was, in a word, unfortunate. While his older twin brother seemed to gain all the positive genes from their parents, Luigi apparently got whatever was left over as consolation for being second-born. An unfair trade-off, but something he would have to live with nonetheless.

Mario was level-headed, confident, and very good at just about everything he did, whereas Luigi was panicky, meek, and somehow managed to thoroughly screw up anything he attempted to do. Really, if the two didn't look so alike, nobody would ever guess they were twin brothers, for their personalities were pretty much completely opposite.

However, Luigi did have one thing that made up for his faults: an older brother that loved him unconditionally. It might not have seemed like it all the time, but Mario and Luigi were as tight as tight could be. No matter what, they were there for each other through thick and thin, and they would not trade the time they spent together or their relationship for anything in the world. Although right now, Luigi would easily agree to give these past few moments away for something more pleasant. Like a glass of hot cocoa with a marshmallow or two submerged in it. Or to at least be going through it without having Daisy present.

While Daisy thought Luigi was blushing because he was embarrassed about hitting her with sports equipment twice in a single day, Mario knew for a fact that his reddened hue was only partially due to that, for moments after meeting Daisy and Peach earlier that day, both boys admitted that the girls were quite attractive.

"I can't believe I actually hit her with the soccer ball," Luigi muttered on the way back to the field as Mario looked back at Peach and smiled upon witnessing that she was looking back at him. "The first cute girl I see in this entire school and I physically assault her."

"Don't worry bro, I don't think she cared that much," Mario reassured Luigi as he looked over to his younger brother. "She looks fine already."

Luigi glanced back at Daisy, who was looking longingly toward the ground at the apple she was eating before getting hit in the side of the face by the ball. Luigi sighed before turning back around and found himself staring toward the ground himself.

"I just wish I didn't have to be so unlucky all the time," Luigi murmured. "Who else blows their chances with a girl before ever even getting to learn her name?"

"Come on Luigi, don't beat yourself up over this," Mario said, giving him a pat on the back.

And now, just when Luigi finally began to feel better about the incident, this happened. He'd launched a stray spherical object used for sporting events directly into Daisy's face. Again. He was positive that Daisy would never want to even see his face again after this, and seeing her lighthearted response at the sight of him was surprising. But that didn't mean that he didn't feel the strong urge to leave the site immediately. His heart began to beat faster as he looked back toward the area where he and his brother were previously practicing and suddenly felt the need to get back to work on getting things ready.

"I'm gonna go and set up a few tables," Luigi announced out of nowhere, walking away to get to work before anyone could stop him. Everyone could tell he could hardly stand being in that situation and they all felt as if they had played a part in making him feel uncomfortable in the group. Mario stepped forward as he began to go after his brother, but hesitated a bit to say goodbye.

"Sorry guys, I have to go talk to him," he apologized. "It was nice seeing you again though Daisy."

With that, Mario was off as well, chasing Luigi down in hopes of calming his green brother's embarrassment, leaving Daisy and Toad to stand alone once again. Daisy watched on as Mario eventually caught up with his brother and appeared to begin comforting him. She folded her arms and let out a small sigh.

"Poor guy," she muttered, mostly to herself. Her nose felt slightly better by now and her voice wasn't quite so nasally. "I feel bad for him."

"Actually, it's kinda weird," Toad commented, causing Daisy to look down at him quizzically. "Luigi's a really happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Things like this have happened to him in the past and he was able to just laugh it off in the end. This time it looks like he's taking it to heart though."

"I wonder why."

Because, for the first time, Luigi was infatuated. Here was a girl that he thought was simply beautiful. She looked perfect outwardly and she even proved that she could take things with a light heart. Daisy was able to laugh off being injured two times in one day by the same guy due to similar means, something that almost nobody else could do under the same circumstances. She actually didn't care that Luigi had done this, and it only served to make him even more nervous around her.

Luigi never met a girl that could so easily accept his clumsy nature. In the past he would often get slapped or verbally thrashed for the accidents, and the same result came about so often that he began to automatically expect it over time. In actuality, Daisy not slapping him turned out to be more emotionally intimidating than if she actually had. And he simply didn't know how to handle the foreign situation.

At the same time though, he only felt more attracted to her. Just as her lightheartedness intimidated him more than anything else, it also made him feel a strange connection to her, almost like Daisy accepted him for who he was despite the injuries he dealt to her on more than one occasion. But how could she do that?

The only people that ever seemed to accept Luigi for who he was were boys, for they found his clumsiness to be entertaining and they never minded when Luigi messed up because he always managed to do so in an accidentally comical fashion. As long as he could make them laugh, and he could laugh with them, guys had no problem with him whatsoever.

Girls were a whole different story though. Never once did a girl forgive Luigi for his misfortunes in the past; whether he accidently tripped over his own feet and crashed into one or whether he looked away for a moment while he walked and bumped into one because he wasn't paying attention, girls just never seemed to want to simply let it go. They didn't care that he didn't mean to do it. The fact that he did it at all was reason enough for a slap across the face or a summons for a boyfriend (and, of course, only the biggest and burliest guys in school could be a boyfriend). And as a result, Luigi constantly had to look out for any girls he previously assaulted and their monster-like boyfriends that would fight for them without a second though.

If there was just one good thing about himself that Luigi would admit to, it was that he could make himself disappear like nobody's business. Not a single girl could ever finish calling their boyfriend before Luigi was gone, having jetted down the hallway, jumped over a wall, or stuffed himself into a nearby locker. Anything would do, as long as he wasn't seen by the same girl again for a certain matter of time, allowing her to forget about the unfortunate instance.

But why was Daisy so different? Why did she have to be so cute and why couldn't she just slap him and let him know he had no chance with her? At least then she wouldn't occupy his thoughts quite so much anymore, because there would be no reason to think about her. She would have just continued to be another stranger that he had to apologize to for his unluckiness. But no. She just had to be nice to him. She just had to say it was all okay. She just had to stick herself inside Luigi's head and make him curse himself for being such a klutz.

He never thought so deeply about a girl in his entire life.