A wondrous garden takes wondrous effort. Just throwing plants in the ground and sitting inside waiting for them to grow was not going to give anyone a jaw dropping yard, just a few plants struggling to survive against weeds and grass trying to grow in whatever dirt was there.

Waluigi knew this very well, even though it meant he had to do the one thing he hated doing—putting in effort. However, he had come to enjoy working hard in his plot, it was quiet and cool and he could work on it at his own pace.

For the majority of his adult life, Waluigi always had a thriving garden that would be pleasing to anyone's eye.

If those people liked rows of piranha plants.

Of course, it was not the only thing he planted—rose bushes lined the patch, growing against the outside of the fence, and in the middle there was a circular plot dedicated to only eggplants (it was hard to find fresh ones in the market, let alone ones that were a decent size).

The rest of the rows were for piranha plants only. Rows as long as twenty feet were needed to support the plants and their long, twisty roots and hyper attitudes. They needed space to move and bite at stuff freely without trying to kill each other.

The rows also had to be placed in strategic areas around the plot—normal piranha plants would take up a couple of rows wherever Waluigi felt like putting them, putrid piranhas would take up the back rows so that they wouldn't stink up the rest of the garden, inky piranhas would fill up the rows closer to the road (which barely had anyone on it, but it was still a security system that worked well), prickly piranhas were always on the far left, and the row on the far right was reserved so that his new breed of bone piranhas could grow in the shade of the large trees surrounding the house, right next to the pale piranhas that he had acquired last year.

It sounded hideous, yes, but whenever the plants were fully grown and waving their heads around it was one of the more beautiful sights Waluigi could stand to look at. The colors mixing around, their cheerful chirping sounds as they realized the day had come resonating through the air, relishing the warm sunshine that the frost piranhas in the freezer would hiss at.

Since today was the first warm day of the year (which meant that many more muggy days were to come), Waluigi decided it was time to break out the shovels and tilling machine to start on his little patch of paradise.

It was eight in the morning, the earliest the man was willing to get up for his garden. He set his shovel against the fence before pulling the gate back, a small smile coming across his face upon hearing the familiar squeaking cry. He took a glance at the grass-spotted dirt inside, smile quickly fading as he snarled at the amount of extra, unwanted vegetation within the fenced area.

Waluigi left the gate open as he slowly sauntered into the backyard, eyeing the run-down shed that housed his tilling machine and a few other, miscellaneous gardening supplies. He had to yank the wooden door back, causing some dirt to fly into the air and around his face, which he merely ignored as he reached in for the dust covered machine.

It was hard trying to get it back to the garden, for it was heavy and bulky (he wondered why he still had the stupid thing, then he recalled his lack of spare cash to buy a new one). As he dragged, he left wide and flat trail marks in the grass, occasionally getting caught on a small branch here and there.

When he finally managed to get the tiller to the garden, Waluigi huffed and leaned against the wooden planks, taking the opportunity to catch his breath. The thought of clapping his hands together and calling it a day was tempting, but he knew it was either now or never to get these piranha plants in soil. With a sigh, he then worked the machine through the gate, noting how getting it inside was the easiest task he had with it so far.

Now, to start it up.

Waluigi knelt down and looked at the small gas indicator, shoulders slumping when it read as almost empty. Another sigh, he stood up and went back to the shed for the gas can, which he knew very well was filled to the brim with the foul smelling liquid.

The trip was quick, yet whenever he returned there was somebody standing next to the fence, peeking inside and seemingly eyeing the old machine that sat inside.

Waluigi dropped his gas can in surprise, "Y-you! Get out of there! Don't you know you're trespassing, you-you-!"

Said person turned around, yelping in shock and clasping his white gloved hands together, holding them to his chest as he registered the loud yelling that had scared him. He then fiddled nervously, reaching up to his green cap and slightly adjusting it, kicking his toe into the dirt sheepishly.

The other man narrowed his eyes, adjusting his shirt and slightly blushing, "Luigi? What are you doing here?"

Luigi lifted his eyes from the grass, "I just thought I'd stop by and see you, since I was in the area…"

Waluigi scoffed, "Yeah, hello to you as well. Now, are you gonna till my garden or are you gonna leave?"

"Oh, how polite of you to tell me my options," Luigi reached back, grabbing the handle on the tilling machine, "I didn't know you kept a garden…"

"I didn't know you'd care." Waluigi picked up the gas can, "Move."

Luigi quietly stepped away, watching as the elder man lugged the can to the machine. He watched as Waluigi first struggled getting the cap off of both the tiller and the can, then heaved the can up so that the gas would flow through the yellowed tube and into the gas tank. He opened his mouth to speak whenever he noticed that the man's arms were shaking, but closed it to avoid another snarky comment.

Waluigi quickly grew nervous by the Italian's presence, taking his eyes off of what he was doing to eyeball him, "So I presume you're going to till?"

Luigi shook his head, "This thing looks like you couldn't even push it…"

Waluigi slammed the gas can down, tightly closing up the can and tank, "It's because you're a wimp."

"A-am not…" Luigi argued lamely, stepping back as Waluigi moved the gas can to the outside of the fence. Said taller male quickly gave him a snarl before turning back to the tilling machine, saying nothing else to him as he yanked the power cords as hard as his skinny arm could.

The machine sputtered for a few moments, and then finally roared loudly as it came to life. Luigi stumbled away from the large cloud of dark grey smoke that slithered from the engine, escaping to the side of Waluigi's house, where he stood and quietly watched the other push the clumsy machine around the garden.

The dirt turned a darker brown as it was churned about, the grass and weeds that had grown there now being killed under the tiller's blades. It was almost artwork, be it slightly dirty (and sad, for any soul that actually cared about something as meager as grass).

Waluigi almost forgot about his guest as he worked, occasionally seeing green and blue out of the corner of his eye and frowning in distaste at the ground. He tried to appear strong by pushing faster, when really the attention he was getting made his knees shake.

When the entire garden had been thoroughly tilled, Waluigi cut the machine off with a harsh kick at the side, standing back as the engine's cry slowly died down and a numbing silence filled the air. He rubbed the sweat from his forehead, glancing over at the gate where Luigi still stood.

"What do you want, Eyeballs?" Waluigi snarled, grabbing the handle and working the tiller back to the fence gate.

Luigi backed away quietly, fidgeting with his hands behind his back, "You, um, look a little hot…"

"That's because I've been doing this amazing thing, it's called working!" Waluigi snapped, "Meanwhile you've been standing over there all pretty-boy-don't-wanna-mess-up-my-hair-gel!"

"H-have not!"

"Have to!"

"Have not!"

"Then what have you been doing, hm?"

Luigi's eyebrows furrowed in anger, "I-I-I—" he then huffed loudly.

"Exactly." Waluigi finished, pulling the tiller out of the garden and leaving it beside the gate, "You're just here wasting my space. Either help or leave."

"Waluigi—"

"I'm not gonna repeat myself."

Luigi curled up his lip and crossed his arms, "Fine, what do you want me to do?"

Waluigi paused in his walk back to the house, his eyebrows curved in worry and his eyes widened in surprise, "Uh…." He began, leaving his mouth open as his pupils darted around the area, "…you mean you're actually going to help?"

"Yeah, never had anyone help you with your garden before?" Luigi asked, passing the other as he made his way to the house, "It's obvious that I'm not gonna go away."

The taller straightened his spine and growled through his teeth. This was his little paradise that he was making, therefore he had to work on it by himself! He wanted to be alone, just like any other time he did anything around his house—alone, damn it, alone!

…maybe.

He balled up his fists, throwing them at the ground before storming after the shorter Italian, "You're not very good with piranha plants, are you?" he asked, hoping that would veer him away from working.

Luigi turned around with a smirk, "I do consider myself excellent when it comes to handling them."

Waluigi grinned, "Good, then you'll have a blast!" he sang before he slammed the back door open, revealing shelves of tiny piranha plants, squirming and biting at the air, some chirping in surprise, others cocking their bud-heads at the two men in confusion.

Obviously taken aback, Luigi's confident simper quickly fell from his face as his eyes darted all over the room. Waluigi pushed past him to get inside, rubbing his fingertip on the top of a plant's head, "Look at these beauties, all eager to get outside and get growing in nature. They've been sitting in this room for the past month!"

"U-uh-I figured you had something else in mind when you said you had a garden." Luigi swallowed nervously.

"As do most everyone else." Waluigi turned to face the other, "If this makes you squeamish, you can just plant some rose bushes."

Luigi's shoulders relaxed, "That sounds more like my thing…"

"Good!" Waluigi motioned to the bare root roses he had in a corner, "There you are. Get started."

oOo

"I'm done!"

Waluigi flinched at the sound of Luigi's cheery voice, curling his lip up and staring at the fence as he flushed slightly. He would have tightened his fingers around what he was holding, had it not been a small and innocent spiked piranha gleefully admiring the sky. "Did you use all of them?" He asked, using his free hand to trace circles in the small hole he had dug for said plant.

"Si! Used them all, six inches apart, all around the outside of the fence!" Luigi beamed, resting his dirt stained gloves on his hips.

Waluigi gently set the plant down, using his hands to push dirt into the space around it, "Well, you can get started on my eggplants then."

He could hear Luigi sighing, trudging back to the house as his feet scuffled against the grass.

Waluigi inwardly gloated about more alone time before he remembered the little spot in the middle of the garden reserved for the vegetable. His spine curled as he slumped down, the little piranha plant before him cocking its head in confusion.

"I see you're almost done with those spiky piranhas." Luigi skipped back in, holding the seedlings in a messy heap with his arms, "Have you been pricked by them yet?"

Waluigi shook his head, "No, no, never have…"

"That's good! I hate getting pricked by plants, it hurts so much…" Luigi then went on about a time when he hurt himself on some plant, but Waluigi didn't bother listening. Instead, he quietly resumed putting the piranha plants into the ground, ignoring Luigi's rattling.

Or, tried to, rather.

There was something about that adorable voice that just made him listen.

oOo

"Look, we're almost done!"

"We're?"

Luigi's grin didn't falter, "Yeah, we worked on this together, did we not?"

Waluigi patted the dirt around a normal piranha plant, wanting to smile at its reaction of squirming wildly as it tickled him, but instead bit his lip and narrowed his eyes at Luigi's comment, "I guess we did."

"And look, if I hadn't been here you'd have to be out here for much longer! The sun's about to go down!"

"Eh."

"You don't sound too happy about that."

Waluigi reached behind him, snagging another plant waiting to get settled into its new home, "So that means you're done here, yes?"

Luigi laughed, "Nope! You've still got these guys left to plant!"

"Don't touch them."

Waluigi's spine froze as he heard a piranha plant hiss. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see Luigi holding one in both of his hands, arms stretched out as to keep it away from his face as he bit and snarled at him. He grit his teeth in nervousness, eyebrows curved in worry and eyes widening in horror. "W-Waluigi, why doesn't it like me?" He asked, like an innocent child.

"Because it doesn't know you," Waluigi rolled his eyes, "They're like a chain chomp, it barks at strangers."

Luigi slowly lowered himself down to his knees, still holding the plant away from him and looking down at the hole that was already dug for it, "Ehhh…"

Waluigi snorted, "It's not gonna poison you, it's just a regular piranha plant!"

"Y-yeah, but its got sharp teeth!" Luigi's body jerked back as the plant started to stretch its stem to get closer to Luigi's face, the man's eye twitching before he slammed the plant down into the hole and quickly scooped dirt around it.

The taller covered his face as he quietly laughed, shoulders heaving with every inhale and exhale, and his eyes squinching closed. The nearby piranhas saw and mimicked him, making their own giggling sounds and using their leaves as arms to cover their mouths.

The green clad male glared at them, "Hey, it's not that funny! I'm just being safe!"

"Oh, Luigi," Waluigi finished, still chuckling, "It was your face! 'Oh no, it's gonna kill me! Augh!'" He then bust out into laughter again, supporting himself with one arm as he reached and picked up another plant.

"I said I was being safe!" Luigi growled, crossing his arms and huffing, "I'm used to killing them, not planting them!"

All of the plants in the garden made sounds similar to that of a horrified gasp. Waluigi's smile faded as he mindlessly pulled dirt around the current plant, "Don't say that," He muttered, "You've scared them."

Luigi nervously glanced around at the small plants, shuffling closer to Waluigi as they all appeared to be staring him down.

"You fail to make good first impressions, even with plants." Waluigi plucked the final piranha from behind him, scratching its chin before gently setting it into the hole, "You may as well go ahead and get out of here so none of them start to bite at you."

"Ah-ah, o-okay!" Luigi quickly scrambled out of the garden, peeking back in from the fence gate to watch Waluigi.

Said other finished settling the plant in and stood up, looking around at his garden while sticking his chest out proudly, "Hmm. Wonderful."

"Um, so, you're done, right?"

"Yes, Luigi, I'm done."

Waluigi stepped over some plants and made his way out, shutting the gate behind him and leaning against it as he clapped his hands together, dirt falling onto the grass. "So, you've done enough work today. And you're done bugging me today. Go on home and clean up."

Luigi looked down at his dirt stained overalls and gloves, "Um…okay…" he then looked back up, "B-but Waluigi, I…"

Waluigi rolled his head back, "What, what do you want?!" he snapped, looking back at Luigi and leaning forward, his way of trying to intimidate the shorter character.

"W-well, I…" Luigi brought his hands to his face, nervously pinching at his bottom lip before closing his eyes and sighing, "…never mind. I'll…see you later…"

Waluigi just watched as the other male walked away, his head hung low and his steps slow.

He heard some of the piranha plants inside making sad "aww"ing sounds for him.

oOo

It had been almost a month since the small piranha plants were put into the ground.

Now they were almost adult sized, all of them excitedly squirming around and biting at each other, flapping their leaves, chirping and singing loudly, exhilarated as Waluigi opened the fence gate and made his way inside with the watering hose.

One of the plants leaned over, rubbing its head against his shoulder, to which the man chuckled and patted its head, "What's up with you guys today?"

"H-hey Waluigi!"

From behind a row of putrid piranhas, Luigi approached the taller man with a smile on his face. Dirt covered his gloves, overalls, his face, and his hair was dishelved.

Waluigi stumbled back in surprise, he felt his heart skip a few beats as well, "W-what're you doing here again!? Trespassing! Trespassing trespassing trespassing!"

"I was doing a little weeding for your garden!" Luigi sang, motioning to the bucket of weeds that the owner of the garden failed to notice, "I didn't think you were going to take care of it soon, so I—"

"Thanks, thanks, now explain why you're really here." Waluigi crossed his arms, fingers tapping impatiently on the sprayer in his hands.

"Oh, well, I…" Luigi kicked at the dirt, fiddling with his hands and he looked to the side, "…I wanted to tell you, something…"

Waluigi hummed.

"…but you know what, it can wait." Luigi finished, nodding his head in satisfaction, "Yeah, I'll wait."

Waluigi blinked at him in confusion, but quickly shrugged it off, "Whatever. Thanks for weeding."

"B-but, Waluigi?"

"What?"

Luigi reached up and scratched a piranha plant's chin, said plant cooing and flapping its leaves with pleasure. The man took his hand back, and the plant immediately leaned over and wrapped its vine around him, resting its head atop his and purring happily.

"This was the one that kept biting at me a while back," Luigi wriggled in the plant's grasp, "I've been coming back here for the past few weeks and tending to it."

Waluigi just watched with widened eyes. Not even he got that kind of attention from the plants! He closed his eyes and his chest heaved as he took a deep breath, "So you've been trespassing for a while now, and this one likes you for it?"

"Um, yeah, he does." Luigi laughed nervously, "And the rest of them are used to me now…"

"So, what're you saying?"

A sudden blush came over Luigi's face, "W-would you mind helping me to start my own garden, sometime?"

oOo

"No, no, Luigi, don't do that."

"Why?"

"Piranha plants like to have space!"

"O-oh…"

"Here, do it like this."

Waluigi didn't realize what he had done until he had already reached around Luigi, grabbing his hand and helping him dig a hole for the small piranha plant he had acquired for the shorter. He swallowed nervously, yet focused on teaching Luigi how to dig perfectly.

"Like that. See? Plenty of space for the roots." He quickly let go, backing away to look at the small piranha plant as it purred and twirled around on the table.

"That makes sense now," Luigi set his spade on the ground, "So, with this it won't mind if it's being held in a garden box?"

"Unless it gets really big, in which case it might dig itself out and wriggle away." Waluigi ticked the plant on its stem, "But these guys don't get really big unless you add special kinds of fertilizer."

"I suppose you use such things?" The shorter man reached under Waluigi's arm, gently grabbing the plant by the small patch of dirt it sat on so he could carry it to its new home, "Because yours are really big."

"Yep!" Waluigi jumped, "L-Luigi, be careful, don't hold it like that! Fingers around the dirt, not on the ends of the roots!"

"Relax, Wally, I got it." Luigi rolled his eyes, shuffling over to the garden box and leaving Waluigi to stand there dumbfounded.

He called him Wally.

He called him Wally.

The taller shook his head and tried to keep a blush from forming on his face, following Luigi over and watching closely as he lowered the plant into the hole.

Luigi chuckled, pushing dirt in to fill the empty space, "You gotta scrutinize every step, don't you Waluigi?"

"Well, it'd be kinda sad if my experience with growing these guys didn't help yours out."

He patted the dirt around the plant, which wriggled and chortled happily before looking around and admiring the view it had of Luigi's front yard.

"Thank you, Waluigi," Luigi stepped back, admiring the tiny piranha plant proudly, "for helping me. And giving me a couple of plants to start with."

"You're welcome." Waluigi turned around, "Here comes the feisty one."

Sure enough, the piranha plant that had taken a shine to Luigi came clopping through the back door towards the men, the plant using all of its energy to hop over, the pot used to hold it occasionally threatening to break apart with the sounds it made.

Luigi cocked his head, "Is it always going to hop around so much?"

"It should calm down around night time." Waluigi replied, "He's just getting used to your house."

The plant paused before the two men, shaking its leaves and head as it decided it needed to rest. It admired the sky, the pine trees that surrounded the house, and soon started to dance a tiny jig in satisfaction.

"It's kinda cute." Luigi squeaked, giggling.

"If you say it is," Waluigi sat down, propping himself up on the table top, "Anything else you need?"

"No, I think I'm all good, thanks…" Luigi seated himself in the chair next to the other, admiring the cheerful plants one more time, "…Waluigi?"

"Hmm?"

"I really, should, um, thank you…"

Waluigi furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "You just did."

"N-no, I mean… uh…" Luigi's face turned dark red, he rubbed his nose and looked at the ground, obviously hesitant with something he wanted to do.

"C'mon, Eyeballs, out with it." Waluigi deadpanned, tapping his fingers on the table impatiently.

Blue eyes darted around for a moment before, finally, the Italian leaned over slowly. He paused a moment, balled his fist up, and then quickly leaned forward more and pressed his lips against Waluigi's cheek for a moment before returning to his sitting position immediately after pulling back.

Waluigi sat up and glared at Luigi in shock.

Luigi just kissed him.

Luigi. Just. Kissed him.

"…a-ah, t-that was stupid of me I'm so sorry I didn't—" Luigi cut himself off, grabbing at his own hands and squirming in discomfort.

Waluigi continued to stare, slowly lifting a hand up and rubbing it where Luigi had pecked him.

"I-I understand if you-if you're…disgusted…i-it's just that I've liked you for a while now and I didn't really know what else to do, a-and the day you were starting on your garden I was gonna tell you and then I got the idea of helping you and seeing if I liked it so that way we could have something in common but—"

"Luigi."

"What?!"

"Calm down, you're talking really fast."

"S-sorry…"

The piranha plants purred and cocked their heads towards the characters, the one in the pot still slightly dancing from where it was happy about a new home.

"But…my point is that I like you…" Luigi continued to fidget with his hands, "…and…all…"

Waluigi rolled his eyes, "You've got a very funny way of admitting you've had a crush on someone."

"B-be quiet. T-that aside…" Luigi finally looked back at him, "…can we go out sometime?"

Waluigi leaned back smugly, "You're asking me out on a date."

Luigi's blush darkened.

"That's adorable."

"I'll take that as a 'no I hate you?'"

Waluigi merely leaned over, grabbing Luigi's chin and forcing him to look up. He leaned forward, and replied with a gentle kiss on the smaller man's lips.

The piranha plants then cooed in adoration.

**I wrote this as a story request for someone on DeviantArt.

And then I uploaded it here.

Good day. **