A/N: Woo, another personal record in chapter length! In this chapter, we have fluff and lots of it. Enjoy!
Peach sat down on her bed slowly as Wendy eyed her with a sense of maniacal glee.
"So like, I'm going to be helping you get ready for your date with King Dad!"
"Date?" Peach asked. "No, no, please don't misunderstand. This isn't a date, this is…" she scrambled to find a proper word. "A meeting."
"Oopsie, my bad, did I say date? I'm so sure I meant to say meeting! I understand, this is all totally about politics, for sure." Wendy giggled to herself in her impish way. She began to go through Peach's wardrobe to find a dress for her.
"No," she said, throwing a pink dress over her shoulder. "No." Another dress made its way onto a small pile. "No. Like, none of these dresses will work. Maids!"
"Oh, I don't want to be an inconvenience. These dresses are beautiful, surely there must be--"
"I said no." Wendy demanded, with a frightening look on her face. She counted off the problems on her claws," It's way too cold to wear silk, cotton is, like, totally pedestrian, velvet…ick, and all of these dresses are pink." Wendy continued before Peach had a chance to ask what was so wrong with pink, "Despite that totally obnoxious, hairy, fat man that you hang out with; King Dad's favorite color is still red, Mama Peach. Red. So that's what you're going to wear."
"But--"
"Don't you want King Dad to be happy?"
"Well, I suppose so but I hardly think--"
"Good. Well you, like, keep on doing that hardly thinking thing while I go get your makeup together. And you can, like, leave those gloves in the drawer where they belong!"
Peach opened her mouth in astonishment as various attendants came to take her measurements. What nerve, what cheek! No one had ever spoken to her like that in her entire life and somehow, it made her feel extremely helpless. She resigned herself to standing like a scarecrow while attendants measured her. She's still a foreign monarch, her father's only daughter as well. As long as I'm in her castle, I guess I'll have to play by her rules.
Bowser shifted uncomfortably in his formal shell, the shiny black shell just did not have the same comfortable feel as his regular one, and it certainly did not help matters that he was exceptionally nervous. Still, he gazed longingly up the stairs, waiting to see his lovely Peach all dressed up to go out with him. No matter how many times he thought about it, he still could not believe it was real. He was expecting that any moment he would wake up and find himself in bed, all alone again or, worse still, a servant would come down the stairs and inform him that Peach had changed her mind. He twiddled his thumbs nervously.
"Dad!" Bowser could hear Junior's cries long before he could see him. "Dad?"
"What is it?" he yelled. Could Junior not see that he was trying to concentrate?
"King Dad, no yelling!" he whined. "I have something very important to give you!" Junior handed his dad a bottle of unscented lotion and a small clear bag filled with candy.
"And what exactly am I supposed to do with this?" Bowser asked gruffly.
Junior sighed. Yet another adult was asking a perfectly obvious question. He cried out in exasperation, "Roy says to impress the ladies, you gotta be smooth! But Iggy and Lemmy said that's not right, they said you gotta be sweet! I didn't know which one was right so I just brought both, okay?"
Bowser looked at his naïve little tenderhearted son and rolled his eyes. "Alright, I'll keep it in mind. Thanks Junior."
Junior gave his dad a cheery smile and a thumbs up before scampering away to join the others. Bowser looked down at a little bag of sweets Junior had brought for Peach. Soft little chocolate balls coated in a fine chocolate dust and some strawberry poof sweeties. He looked to the left, and he looked to the right. Satisfied that nobody was around to see, he put a little bit of the lotion on his scaly claws. Guess it can't hurt to try.
The girl Koopaling stood on the bed with two strings in her hands and her foot on the small of Peach's back. "Okay Mama Peach, breathe in," she instructed.
Peach felt a swift tightening in her lower abdomen. With shallow breaths, she managed to tell Wendy that it was "a little hard to breathe."
Wendy placed her hands on her hips, sighed, and then slightly loosened the corset. She certainly would not want to be the one held responsible if Mama Peach were to pass out during the date. She called the attendants to assist Peach in putting on the remaining pieces of the one-shouldered, deep crimson gown and to tie tiny red roses in her flowing hair.
Peach was lost in a frenzy of activity as Goombas pushed her here and there, chaotically turning her while pulling fabrics over her head and draping her with finery. She noticed a pretty Paratroopa with a yellow shell placing the flowers in her hair before Wendy demanded that Peach shut her eyes for the application of various powders and sprays. As quickly as the activity began, it seemed to be over. Peach opened her eyes and stared at herself in the full-length mirror.
"Wow Mama Peach, you look, like, so pretty!" She handed Peach a small handbag full of the "essentials": a small mirror, a tube of lipstick, powder, mints, a "totally retro" folding fan, a few coins, and some aspirin. "In case Daddy's lame jokes start to give you a headache," she explained.
"Now, for the final touch!" Wendy exclaimed as she pulled out the most beautiful, exquisitely detailed and spindly-looking shoes that Peach had ever laid eyes on. "I'm sure you know, shoes are like, super important, they can make or break the whole outfit!"
As the maids fitted the shoes on her feet, Peach was significantly more worried about breaking her ankles in the impossibly high heels. Peach stood up with some difficulty and wobbled a little as Wendy gushed.
"Oh Mama Peach, it looks perfect! Daddy's going to be like, so thrilled. I mean, honestly, I don't think he gets out much and--oh wow, it looks like those extra fashion design courses really, really paid off! Alright, let's go, we better not keep Daddy waiting any longer, right?"
Peach gave a small smile, a shallow breath, and a little wobble in response.
Bowser sat at the bottom of the staircase in an ornate chair that felt slightly too small for him, examining and contemplating the claws on his feet. He scowled at his pinky toe-claw. Since when was his pinky-toe so short and stubby? Maybe everyone's pinky-toes always looked malformed and he had never noticed before. He was so bored. When would his beloved show up? He was willing to wager that her pinky toes looked perfect, just like the rest of her. He looked once again at the candy bag.
Those are for Peach. He found it difficult to have self-control in the face of boredom. Well, I'm sure she wouldn't care if I just had one chocolate ball, I mean, they're not hers yet and I've been waiting for so long… Just as he was about to untie the ribbon that held the bag closed, he caught notice of some swishing red fabric in his peripheral vision. It was her!
As Peach appeared at the top of the steps, Bowser stood up so quickly he knocked over the smallish chair he had been sitting on. To say she was a radiant vision in red would be a most grievous understatement. The entire ensemble seemed a magical combination of perfectly complementary contrasts. The bold style of the dress contrasted wonderfully with Peach's demure mannerisms. The clinging top highlighted Peach's slender frame and provided a fabulous distinction from the bottom of the dress, which blossomed out with yards of magnificently rich and extravagant fabrics. The fragrant flowers in her hair provided a counterbalance to the soft and pleasant scent of her hairspray. Even the color of the dress was not only Bowser's favorite, but also provided yet another beautiful contrast with her striking blue eyes, which were cast slightly downward as Peach had to be careful to mind each step. Bowser ran up the stairs to escort his lovely princess down the stairs.
She noticed that Bowser was all dressed up and he held a little bag of candy. For her? Peach blushed deeply as she thought back to her date with Mario several weeks ago, and how disappointed she had been that it had not been more like a movie. Well, this scene was exactly like a movie, except that the leading man was not a man at all. He was a Koopa, a very, very excited looking Koopa. She hoped he was not really considering this a date as his daughter was. She gained more confidence as she told herself she was only present to further the political aspirations of the Mushroom Kingdom and its plans for world peace.
She did not have much more time to think about things because the Koopa King had already made his way to the top of the stairs and had extended his arm to her. Peach quickly realized that it was going to be completely necessary to accept the support and stability of Bowser's arm in order to make it down the stairs safely in her thoroughly impractical shoes. She bowed her head and thanked him graciously for the small bag of candy he had presented to her, his profuse stuttering complements, and his offer to assist her to the Clown Car. Bowser inwardly shuddered with delight as Peach placed both ungloved hands on the hollow of his arm where his muscular bicep met his well-defined deltoid.
Wendy smiled wickedly as she saw her Mama Peach lean so close to her father, completing the most dramatic and wonderful contrast yet. It was so true what they said: accessories could not only make or break your entire outfit; they could make or break your entire evening!
Thankful to be seated, Peach looked curiously at Kamek, who was operating the controls of the Clown Car with all the expertise and finesse of a well-oiled machine. "I didn't know you let anybody except yourself pilot the Clown Car," she said to Bowser, who was looking upwards at the cloudy, purple sky wishing it would clear up so that they might have starlight to make the evening more romantic.
"Generally I don't," he started, turning his attentions back to his beautiful princess. "But this old, outdated theater apparently doesn't have a place for me to park the Clown Car while we watch the show, so Kamek here gets to be in charge for a while. I know he doesn't pilot it as well as I do but he's old so I guess he does the best he can," he joked, earning an annoyed look from Kamek. Bowser realized he had to be careful not to look at the princess too much because if he did, he would just end up staring and he was worried he might freak her out.
Peach giggled, she had not realized that not having a hangar made a place "old and outdated". "So where is this place anyway?" she asked.
"The downtown metropolitan sector of the Mushroom Kingdom," Kamek answered brightly.
At this, Peach's body visibly stiffened. It was one thing if people saw her out with Bowser in the Darklands. There was not any other reason for her to be in the Darklands except on political business with the Koopa King and very few of her people cared about Darklandian news stories anyhow. However, to traipse about in her own kingdom with Bowser, especially all dressed up; leaning on his arm, and whatnot could possibly cause scandal.
"I understand that it might be less than desirable for Your Highness to be seen out in the open and we wouldn't want any interruptions that might make your evening less than enjoyable. We've made special arrangements for you to be escorted though a separate entrance into His Majesty's private box seating," Kamek said calmly, flipping a few switches to begin the decent and activate a cloaking device.
Peach looked out over the edge of the car to see the magnificent building below them, surrounded by snow, which was glowing with the light from the numerous Parisian streetlamps which lined the street. A tasteful, expensive looking banner proclaimed "Opening Night" and hundreds of wealthy patrons were outside on the marble steps, under heating lamps, anxiously awaiting admittance.
As they landed, a small Toad with pink spots quickly ushered the two royals inside though a series of narrow corridors until they reached a warm, inviting viewing box with plush thrones, a plethora of complementary drinks and snacks, and arguably the best view of the stage that any patron would have that evening.
Peach settled into her seat and looked down at all the patrons that were filling the seats of huge auditorium down below. Among the numerous wealthy Toads and Bumpties from Poshley Heights, she saw a large group of familiar faces. Don Pianta, who was sitting with his treasured daughter and her fiancé, was the easiest to spot. Sitting next to him was Jolene, the hugely successful manager of the Glitz Pit Arena in Glitzville. Next to her was Toodles, a notorious gossip and gold digger from Poshley Heights. Also present was Goldbob, the Bob-omb owner and founder of Goldbobbington's department store and his family, Chantoad and her famous fashion rival, Vera T., the famous writer Herringway and his wife, and even Lady Bow with a her servant, Bootler. It seemed as though anyone who was anyone was there.
Peach shrunk back into her seat, secretly hoping nobody would see her. Trying to forget about the other audience members, she flipped though the program and made small talk with Bowser. Before she knew it, the orchestra was starting to tune their instruments and the lights dimmed into darkness. The show was starting!
A Toad in a blue vest came out and thanked the audience for supporting the arts, reminded the audience to turn off any electronic devices and cameras, and bid everyone to enjoy the show. As the applause died down, the orchestra started up and a lovely young woman appeared on the stage. Her hair was a rich mahogany brown, her voluptuous lips stained a beautiful red, and her eyes were silvery blue-gray. She was beautiful and a wonderful actress, perfectly embodying the free spirited lead character, Chloe, who falls in love with a shy baker's apprentice named Adrian, a character played by a handsome man with dark and sensuous eyes.
Peach was enjoying the play immensely. She already loved the story, the acting was nothing short of perfection, and the special effects were dazzling.
Bowser was also enjoying himself even more than he thought he would. The play was good, and that was a bonus, but the best part was looking over his right shoulder to see Peach's smiling face and knowing that his actions were the indirect cause of that smile, that he had given her a gift that she actually liked, and that they were out on what he considered their first real date. She was there, of her own volition, enjoying herself with him.
In his opinion, the other best thing about the evening was that twice that night, she had leaned over to whisper something in his ear. Each time his stomach flipped and he felt like he could fly to the moon. Originally, it had given the idea that he should think of questions about the play to ask and whisper in her ear so he could be closer to her. However, when he had finally thought of something to ask, she looked so happy and mesmerized by the play he decided that his antics might annoy or distract her. For the first time in his life, he decided to prioritize Peach's desire not to be annoyed over his own desire to be close to Peach. For the first time, he respectfully chose to let her be.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the audience near the front row on the left side sat another mesmerized member of the audience. Mario was all dressed up for the occasion and held a bouquet of roses for his secret love; watching her on stage made him feel nothing short of giddy. When he thought about her and their last meeting, he began to sweat. He was nervous, of course, but more than that, he was ridiculously excited.
The plot of the story started to wind down with the resolutions of all the miscommunications between the lovers. Prosperity returned to other related characters, and they all lived happily ever after. The lights slowly brightened and Mario knew that the real show time was beginning now.
He quickly stood up from his seat and clutched his bouquet as he tried to fight through the crowd to get backstage and find Pauline, he had no idea how he was going to do it, but he knew he had to find her. As predicted, when Mario got to a door that lead backstage, a Mushroom stopped him.
"Excuse me sir, you can't go in there. Unfortunately, as the star of our show, Miss Pauline has quite a few admirers and, for her protection, cannot accept uninvited guests backstage."
For her protection? Mario was slightly offended. This Toad thought he was some kind of nutty stalker! He tried to explain about his relationship with Pauline and the apparent misunderstanding.
"Look buddy, I've tried to be nice about it, but there's no way you're getting though this door. What do you think they hired me for anyhow? I'm here to keep people like you away from Miss Pauline. If I let every Tom, Dick, and Harry though here who claimed to be old friends with Miss Pauline, well, I'd be fired for one thing!"
"Hey, you there!" a voice called to Mario. He looked up on the stage to see where the voice was coming from. It was Emilio! "It's Mario, isn't it? Pauline wants to see you later tonight after the show. We're all going down to Club 64 for a little cast party--wait, are those roses? For me? Oh, you devil, you shouldn't have!"
Stunned and not knowing what else to do, Mario handed his bouquet over to Emilio.
"Ha ha, really? You're actually going to give them to me? You should have seen the look on your face! I know, I know, these are for Pauline, I'm going to deliver them to her for you, so why don't you just meet us at Club 64 in about an hour?"
Mario nodded his head in affirmation and gave a triumphant glance to the guard Toad. He hurried out of the building and headed towards his house to freshen up before seeing Pauline.
"This was a lot of fun," Peach said with a small yawn. "Thank you very much."
"No problem, Princess," Bowser said with a smile. Now back in his castle, he was hoping against all odds that he might somehow get a goodnight kiss out of the evening.
As he opened the door for the pretty princess on his arm, the four youngest Koopalings suddenly ambushed him. They jumped on him, climbed up his legs, and hung off his arms.
"Yay! King Dad and Mama Peach are home!" Larry exclaimed, "How did your date go?"
Bowser gave a stunned look followed by a glare that told the Koopaling that he would be in big trouble if he did not shut his mouth right away. "It's late!" he growled. "What are you kids doing up?"
"Kammy like, totally fell asleep and these little twerps got into, like, a bunch of sugar so they're totally wired. I tried to stop them but--"
"Liar! You were stuffing your face too, you ugly, no-good, liar-liar pants."
Bowser groaned, "Morton, enough. All you brats better get into bed and--"
"But King Dad, we wanted to know what the story was about!" Junior protested. "Mama Peach, will you tell us the story? Please, please, please?"
Peach yawned, it was very late and she was tired, but one look into those pleading blue eyes softened her will. "I'm perfectly willing to tell you the story on two conditions. The first condition is that your father says that it's okay for you to be up so late."
The four Koopalings instantly looked up at their father with beseeching stares. They knew that convincing him would be the hardest part.
He rolled his eyes. "Bah, whatever, fine."
Peach interrupted the Koopalings' cheers with her second condition. "You'll also have to wait until I've had a chance to change into something else. Um, actually, I may need some assistance."
Bowser thought it unwise to volunteer his services and so stayed quiet as Wendy said she would help Peach undo her corsetry and guide her to the living room where everyone would meet up.
Once the girls had left, Morton went to the kitchen to request popcorn and additional sugary drinks, Junior ran to go find blankets, Bowser used his breath to start a fire in the fireplace, and Larry ran off to his room to go collect something.
When all the boys returned from their various errands, they took a seat on the couch directly in front of the gently burning fire. They waited impatiently for the girls to arrive. Finally, after a good fifteen minutes, they caught sight of Wendy leading their Mama Peach through the hallway. She looked a great deal more comfortable in her soft pajama pants, but she also walked slowly and winced a little with each step.
As she entered the room, she saw the warm fire in the fireplace, fuzzy blankets strewn about, Morton holding the hugest bowl of popcorn she had seen in her entire life, and Larry holding a medium-sized wrapped parcel. "Oh, wow you guys."
"Mama Peach, hurry hurry, we can't wait to hear the story!" Junior pleaded.
"Okay, alright." She slowly took her seat on the plush couch on the left; perpendicular to the one Bowser was sitting on. Suddenly, the three Koopaling boys who had been sitting contentedly next to their father, rushed over to the couch where Peach was sitting. Larry snagged the seat directly next to Peach, while Morton sat down near her feet, and Junior, having no other way to be closer to his Mama, scrambled right into her lap, held her close, and refused to move. Wendy rolled her eyes at the boys and took her seat on a fancy ottoman with ornate fabric and pretty tassels.
"Mama Peach?" asked Larry, "Before you begin, I have a question. You're going to be here for one more day, right?"
Peach smiled and said she would. Larry handed her his little parcel, which she proceeded to unwrap. Inside, there was a pair of fuzzy earmuffs and lovely white ice skates.
"Tomorrow, we want you and King Dad to play with us in the snow!" Junior called.
"Yeah, this is a super-rare, super-duper, awesome, once in a lifetime, snow's on the ground and Mama Peach is here, chancy opportunity!" Morton exclaimed.
Peach smiled and looked at Bowser. Tomorrow was supposed to be the day that she met with the Darklandian political advisers and actually made real political progress for her kingdom.
Bowser thought that playing in the snow sounded like a lot more fun than boring meetings all day, but he understood Peach's staunch commitment to her kingdom and also that she would have to answer to her political advisors. Of course, they would want to know what she had accomplished while she was at his castle. "Morton's right," he proclaimed. "This is a once in lifetime opportunity! I know we're supposed to go over political stuff tomorrow but, maybe we can just go for a little while tomorrow and work when we get back?"
"Hm." She looked at the earnest faces of all four Koopalings, at her lovely white skates, and finally into Bowser's shining amber eyes. So that's where Junior got that excellent pleading look. "Alright, we can go, so long as we're back in time to actually get some work done."
The Koopalings cheered! This was turning out to be the best Winter break they had experienced in a very long time. Junior snuggled back into Peach's lap.
Peach was still uneasy about the fact that Junior might be somehow related to her, however distantly, but she continually chose to ignore those feelings and try to block any strange thoughts in her mind. It's just not useful to have those kinds of feelings. Related to me or not, I guess it doesn't really make a shred of difference.
Bowser looked tenderly at the scene that was unfolding. Peach was telling the younger Koopalings all about the story. Each time a Koopaling interrupted her with a question, she would always take the time and patiently answer. The fire provided a beautiful, illuminating glow, which added a romantic chiaroscuro to her skin and hair. He shook his head as he watched Junior with admiration and envy, falling asleep in Peach's lap.
A realization had dawned on him. He was not the only person in the Darklands who really needed Peach. All of the Koopalings, even the older ones, would have their lives drastically enriched by her presence. He regularly worried about her relationship with Mario. He realized, for everyone's sake, he had to stop her from falling in love with the plumber. For such a "hero," he did not seem to realize how selfish his pursuit of Peach was. He hoped that Peach would come to see the situation as he saw it: If she were to marry Mario, she would be denying at least nine people happiness in exchange for the happiness of one ugly plumber. However, if she agreed to stay with the Koopa King, their kingdoms would enjoy peace and prosperity under two competent, practiced leaders and the entire Koopa royal family would be happy, including her. He would go to any lengths of trouble for her happiness, and he certainly would make sure to go at least farther than that stupid plumber ever could.
Peach had finally finished her story. Junior was sleeping happily on her lap and she had her arm around Larry who was also snoozing on her side. Morton was, for once, silent looking at the fire with a smile on his face, and Wendy sat on her ottoman with her chin in her hands and a dreamy expression on her face.
"That settles it! I want to be an actress!" Wendy said happily, flouncing off to go inform Iggy and Lemmy that she would be star of their next production.
Peach woke the other Koopalings and softly informed them that it was time for bed. They sleepily trudged off to their rooms. Finally, all that remained in the dimly lit room was Peach, Bowser, and a few dull embers from the fire.
"I think I'm about ready to go to sleep as well." Peach said softly, staring at Bowser in the glow of the embers. The tenebrism of the room endowed his features with a frightening ferocity, but also a soft and tender sort of strength, the combination of which she had not seen before and found strangely fascinating. She realized she had been staring and quickly looked away, letting the awkwardness of the situation creep up on her. "I don't think I know how to get back to my room just yet. I'm sorry but--"
"It's no problem Princess, I used to get lost all the time when I was a little Koopaling; I'll show you the way back to your room." In truth, to this day he occasionally got lost if he was busy daydreaming or was in a part of the castle where he did not go very often. The labyrinthine build of the castle was intentional, designed in a twisting Baroque style to confuse intruders and impress guests.
As he led Peach through various halls and up stairways back to her room, all he could think of was her stare. Was she possibly checking him out? He was proud, but also self-conscious, racking his brain to remember what facial expression he was wearing before he looked over to see her staring at him. He hoped it was something attractive. At last, they arrived at her door.
"Well, I had fun, thank you for everything," Peach started awkwardly.
Bowser replied equally gawkily, "No, no, thank you for coming and being here and being so nice to my kids and--" He could not think of anything else to say, it was now or never so--he just collected her into his arms for another big hug.
This time, Peach was still shocked, but significantly less alarmed. She permitted her head to rest ever so slightly on his pectoral muscle and allowed herself to embrace his warmth. She was surprised to feel her stomach flip as she breathed in his faint smoky smell.
Bowser himself was indulging in every moment he could possibly spend standing there holding his perfect princess. He rested his chin on the top of her silky blond hair and subtly rubbed her back with his claw. He was in heaven until he felt her move a bit and knew it was time to release her.
Upon withdrawal from the hug that lasted just a little too long, Peach straightened her pajamas. "Well, goodnight," she squeaked, and quickly retreated behind her bedroom door. Bowser stood looking at the door for a few moments before turning around and heading back to his own room, his heart magically both more fulfilled and more longing than it had ever been before.