The next day Mario was the first to wake up which was unusual since usually Luigi was up and had already gotten breakfast and coffee already ready. Since it was a rare opportunity and he didn't want to disturb his brother, Mario decided to make breakfast for both of them.
Meanwhile, Luigi was actually wide awake; he just couldn't bring himself to leave his room. His thoughts kept him up most of the night and no matter what he couldn't cheer up. He even thought he was a failure at cheering up. Nothing was really making him happy but then he smelt it. The smell of eggs and bacon.
"I guess Mario is up," he said to himself. He had forgotten he was the one who usually makes breakfast so he was a bit surprised to smell breakfast. "Might as well go eat," he said, finally pulling himself out of bed.
Once in the kitchen, he saw Mario setting the table and making their usual coffee. Just seeing this Luigi began to cheer up since it wasn't every day Mario made breakfast.
"Hey, Luigi. How are you this morning?" He asked as cheerfully as he could.
"Fine. Sorry for not making breakfast." Luigi said feeling a bit down his brother had to do his chore.
"It's fine. It's good to change things up a bit. Right?" Mario said with a smile, handing his brother his mug.
Luigi smiled, took his mug, and began eating. He didn't say anything but Mario knew Luigi was still feeling down.
Just then they heard a knock on the door. They were startled since it was so early and they were not expecting anyone. The mailman probably wasn't even there yet.
"I wonder who it is?" Mario asked, walking up to the door.
"Careful," Luigi said feeling a bit nervous since this was very strange.
Mario looked through the peephole but saw nothing. He yelled, "Someone there?" but no one answered. He then opened the door and to his surprise, there was a package on the doormat. "What?" he said, picking it up and walking inside.
"Who was it?" Luigi asked.
"No one. All that was out there was this," he said holding up the package.
"Who is it for?" Luigi asked suspiciously.
"Don't know. No name, return address, or anything. There is nothing on it."
They both were very unnerved. Who left this there and what is inside? Mario's curiosity eventually took hold and he placed his ear on the package and shook it slightly.
"What are you doing? Don't do that." Luigi asked.
"It's fine. If it was a bomb I would have heard something or gone off by now." he took another listen. "I don't even hear anything and it is very light." this calmed Luigi down a bit. "Maybe it is a prank or something." Mario began to open it.
"don't do that! If it is a glitter bomb you are cleaning it up." Luigi said now more concerned of a prank package leaves a mess.
"Fine," he said before completely opening the package. To their surprise, something did pop out but it was not glitter it was confetti. It made a mess that Luigi was not happy about but in the center of the package, there was a letter.
"Hey look at this," Mario said picking it up cheerfully. "It's for you!"
"What? For me?" he said in confusion.
"Yeah look." He said holding the letter up to his brother and true enough in the first sentence it read, "Congratulations Luigi!"
"This must be a prank?" Luigi said, still majorly confused.
Mario wasn't listening. "Hey, Luigi I didn't know you entered a contest?"
"What? I didn't?" Luigi defended.
"But right here it says, 'you are the winner of this year's drawing. The grand prize being a marvelous mansion."
"Ok, this must be a prank. Who gives a mansion as a prize? And I don't even remember entering any contest." Luigi said.
"Maybe you did but forgot about it. You can be forgetful sometimes. Plus it's been a crazy year so it probably slipped your mind." Mario said.
"Maybe but still…" Luigi began.
"Luigi I am sure it is fine. You won a contest. Maybe your luck is finally changing." Mario said seriously happy for his brother.
Luigi couldn't argue anymore. It was true the year had been crazy and it was also true he can be forgetful sometimes so maybe he really did win a contest he forgot about. "Your right brother. Thanks." He said with a happier smile than before.
"Alright, so when are you going to visit your new mansion?" Mario said with excitement.
"I don't know. We still have a lot of jobs to do here so it might have to be later." Luigi said recalling all the jobs that they had gotten since Bowzers defeat.
"Then let's split up." Mario suddenly said.
"W-what?" Luigi was surprised and shocked.
"Let's split the work. Most of the jobs are nothing. I bet we can do them in half the time if we did them separately." Mario said.
"But I thought we were better together," Luigi said.
"We are. We are unstoppable together but that doesn't mean we can't do some stuff on our own right." Mario said.
"B-but…i-i am not sure," Luigi said a little nervous. He had been following Mario for as long as he could remember and he never thought they would do their work separately.
"I am sure. Luigi, you are great. You can do it. I believe in you. You just have to believe in yourself." Mario said full of confidence.
Luigi still wasn't sure. He was scared he would mess everything up again but he also knew this was a time to prove himself. That he can be just like his big brother. "I am ready."
With that, the brothers set out to complete their jobs separately. It was a lot and would probably take a couple of days but they went at it the best they could.
While Mario was able to do the jobs quickly and efficiently Luigi found he was having a harder time. He always was able to finish the job but because of small mistakes or his own caution, Luigi took a lot longer. He was happy with his progress; he just wished he could do it faster.
After a few days of working separately, Mario was able to finish all his jobs with time to spare. Meanwhile, Luigi was still a few jobs behind. He was frustrated with himself and his slow pace but Mario was proud.
"Luigi, why are you so sad? You are doing the job perfectly. Customers are very happy." He said, trying to cheer his brother up.
"I just wish I could go faster," Luigi answered, still feeling upset with himself.
"Fast means nothing if you make mistakes. It's better to do things slowly and right." Mario said.
"I guess. Thanks, Mario." Luigi said feeling a bit better since it was true he was getting results despite his pace.
"Well seeing as I am done mind if I check out that mansion first?" Mario said. It was obvious he was very excited and a bit impassioned about seeing it.
Luigi could only chuckle at his brother's immaturity, not that he couldn't understand. After getting used to the idea he was also looking forward to seeing his prize. "Sure. just be careful."
"Can do." Mario cheerfully replied.
With that Mario and Luigi went home and packed up. Luigi may have been behind on the jobs but he only had a few more to do. Once it was done he planned to head straight to the mansion and meet Mario there.