Chapter 17 Shaking Form, Shooting Star

Luigi waited, with bated breath, as Mario chose the right way to describe his current physical state. Why was he taking so long? Why was he hesitating like this? Was something wrong with him? Oh dear word, what was wrong with him? What painful experience was Luigi's body currently going through? Was he okay? OH, PLEASE LET MARIO BE OKAY!

"What's the hold up, Weegee?" Daisy asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Is something wrong with you? Just tell us what it is and cut out all of the suspense!"

Yes! Yes, Daisy and Luigi were on the same wavelength! One of the many reasons why he thought that she was the most awesome Princess…nay, most awesome person to ever walk the surface of the Mushroom World. Luigi's heart melted just thinking about this simple fact; his face even grew warm as he let out a lovestruck sigh.

Mario, noticing this, gave him a weirded out look before clearing his throat, opening his mouth, and finally answering the damn question.

"I'm doing okay, for the most part. Doctor said that I'm going to have to deal with some shaking for a little bit." As if to prove his point, he shuddered. Luigi became concerned when he heard his brother whimper as well. Seeing him in this state was so alien and serial, but at the same time, it still caused Luigi's brotherly instincts go off. Or was it Mario's brotherly instincts? He didn't know, but either way he felt bad for him. "Other than that, they said I'll be fine.

"Well, that's good," Peach said. "I mean, it's unfortunate that it happened and that you'll have to deal with the side effects for some time, but at least you made it out of the situation alive and without any long lasting damage.."

"I personally believe dear Luigi here should be thankful," E Gadd said. He got closer to the bed, looking as serious as a cancer diagnosis. "Licks from ghosts, especially ones as massive as the boohemoth, have potential to kill you. The fact that you're alive, dear boy…it's miraculous to say the least."

Mario shook, although whether it was just because of the lick's side effects or because what E Gadd said genuinely freaked him out, Luigi wasn't sure. "That…I guess that does give me reason to be thankful, then."

It gives BOTH of us reason to be thankful, Luigi thought. He didn't know what would become of him if Mario died while he was in his body. That would give Luigi TWO reasons to be ultra upset. Yeesh, just thinking about that possibility sent shudders down Luigi's spine, shudders that were even able to compete with the shaking that Mario currently experienced.

To Luigi's surprise, Daisy went up toward Mario. She had a smile on her face, one that was sweet enough to cause diabetes. Before anyone in the room could protest, she hugged Mario. The plumber looked taken aback while this happened, with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.

"I'm glad you're okay," she whispered.

Mario exchanged a look with Luigi. Luigi could see that he didn't know what the right thing to do was, and honestly, he didn't blame him. This was an odd scenario to be sure, made even weirder by the fact that Luigi was present to watch his brother get all the attention from his love interest. Did it make him feel jealous? Ehh…not really? It made him feel more strange than anything else. It was like he was watching a movie; sure, the visual of Daisy hugging Mario was strange, but at the same time, it didn't feel real. It was as if there was an emotional disconnect in Luigi's mind, which he supposed was a good thing as it allowed him to avoid the unpleasant negative emotions that this scenario would and probably should make him feel.

"Th…thanks, Daisy," Mario said after about a minute of trying to gather his bearings. Daisy kissed him on the cheek, making the surprise in his face grow all the more strong. He moved his lips, clearly trying to form a sentence or two. But he couldn't; he was as flabbergasted as one could possibly get.

Luigi, however, decided that he should probably do something, if for no other reason than to get his brother (and himself to an extent) out of an awkward situation. So, he turned toward the rest of the group.

"Would you guys mind stepping out of the room for just a minute? I want to have a private talk with my brother."

Peach nodded. "That's fine, Mario." She turned toward the door. "Come on everyone; let's get going." She and E Gadd left the room pretty much immediately.

Daisy, however, lingered. As she walked toward the door, she gave Luigi a look that was half aggravated, half playful. "Way to ruin the moment, Mario. My new boyfriend just got out of a life and death situation! Isn't it fair that I get sometime to spend with him?"

Luigi chuckled a little. "This won't be for very long, Daisy." That sentence kind of had a double meaning. Not only was he referring to the meeting between him and his brother, but he was also referring to the body swap. "He'll be all yours after we're done." He chuckled again. "And trust me when I say that Luigi's gonna have a blast spending time with his one true love."

Daisy snickered. "My my Mario; you are cheesier than lasagna!" She shook her head as she walked out of the room. "Sure glad it's not you I'm dating."

With that, she left. Once he was sure that there was absolutely nobody around to hear this conversation, Luigi got in close to his brother's bed. "Man, Mario, I never took you as the girlfriend stealing type."

Mario chuckled, scratching the back of his head as he did. "Hey, don't blame me. Blame the circumstances."

Luigi nodded. He took in his brother's…or, rather, his own appearance. It didn't look too terribly beaten up or damaged, which honestly filled Luigi with relief. He cast his brother a smile.

"I'm glad you're okay."

"I am too," Mario replied. "Although…" his face fell. "I think it goes without saying that I didn't exactly take care of the boohemoth in your mansion."

Oh. Yeah, that was a fact. Still though, it didn't bother Luigi, at least as much as it would have earlier. He could deal with the boohemoth tomorrow after they swapped back. At least if they did it that way, Mario wouldn't be subjected to anymore danger involving the paranormal.

"That's fine, fratello. I can deal with it; it's not a problem."

Mario breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good to hear." He managed to laugh a little. "This day…."

Luigi snickered. "I hear ya. This day…" he shook his head. "One of the strangest days of my life. There's no competition."

"My thoughts exactly," said Mario. "I never would have imagined that this was what it was like to be you. It's almost…" Mario shook his head. "It's different. That's really the only way I can describe it; different."

"Yeah. Well, when we make the wish on a shooting star tonight, we'll be able to return to what is familiar." He leaned closer. "You will be able to be discharged sometime today, right?"

"That depends on what the doctor says. But, just based on the way I'm feeling…" he smiled despite another case of shaking overtaking his form. "I personally feel good enough to leave."

"Great; fantastic." Luigi smiled. "That means we can go home, make the wish, and everything will be right as rain."

Mario returned the smile. "I'm looking forward to it."

The next few hours were honestly a blur. Only an hour after they had their conversation, Mario was discharged from the hospital. This allowed the brothers to go home without any trouble. Sure, Daisy and Peach wanted to get touchy feely with Mario and Luigi respectively, but those awkward situations were thankfully avoided. This meant that the brothers got to go home without any trouble falling in their laps.

As for right now, Mario was preparing dinner on the stove; spaghetti and meatballs (I mean, what else would it be; Mario's veins practically flowed with spaghetti sauce). As Luigi watched his brother prepared his famous sauce, he thought about what tomorrow could possibly bring. Based on how lovey Daisy had been toward Mario while he was in the hospital, that probably meant that getting up close and personal with Sarasaland's princess was on the list of things Luigi had to look forward to. And honestly, he couldn't wait. There were only a finite number of words in the English language, which was unfortunate as that left some of the positive emotions Luigi felt toward Daisy without names. A real shame. If he could express those feelings into words, he would. He would show Daisy how special she was, how much she meant to the green clad plumber.

He was thinking about this even as Mario set Luigi's plate in front of him. "Well, eat up. I don't want my body to experience starvation."

Luigi gave him a sly grin. "Oh please; there are many things in the world for you to worry about, but starvation is not one of them." He stuck his fork in the spaghetti, twirled it around, and stuck it in his mouth. As he chewed, he noticed Mario shaking again as he got in his chair and began eating his own supper. He swallowed. "You might want to take those pills the doctor prescribed to you before we make the wish. Those shakes look really bad."

Mario smirked. "They're…" he tried to lift his fork, but his arm shook so much that he almost couldn't. "Okay, they are pretty bad." He slowly lifted a meatball to his mouth, doing his best to battle the shudders. He only barely managed to get it into his mouth, and the process used to do it looked so painful and laborious that Luigi actually cringed.

"Man. I've been licked by ghosts before, but the shakes I've experienced have never been that bad."

"Well, don't I feel special then," Mario said as he tried to get some spaghetti into his mouth.

"That wasn't meant as an insult, Mario. You did go up against a boohemoth, so having shakes this violent is understandable." He smiled. "You know, it was very brave of you to try doing that."

Mario smiled back. "Thanks." He slurped up a noodle. "Although, I think it's safe to say you're much braver than me. You deal with boos and ghosts all the time."

Luigi chuckled. "You flatter me, bro." He continued eating. "I just might write that quote down in a notebook so I can remember it for the rest of time."

With that, they ate the rest of their dinner in relative silence. When they finished, and the plates were in the sink, both Mario brothers made their way up to Luigi's room. Seated next to the window, they kept their eyes on the sky and both internally prayed that they would see a shooting star.

Unfortunately, after about half an hour, both of them started to grow a little antsy. "Man, where are these shooting stars?" Mario asked. "The sky is being awfully stingy with them tonight."

Luigi felt his heart sink. "Well…they aren't that common, Mario." His stomach churned. "It's possible we might not see one tonight."

Mario began to sweat. "If that's the case…" he shook his head. "No, no, we'll see one tonight. We just have to be patient." He looked back up at the sky. "La pazienza è una virtù. La pazienza è la chiave."

Luigi nodded. Patience was in fact the key (or at the very least, he desperately hoped it was the key). All they had to do was wait. That was it. They would see a shooting star eventually. It might be late into the darkest hours of the night, but you know what? If they got their bodies back, it would certainly be worth it.

So, the brothers waited some more. An hour passed, and they saw no shooting stars. Just as Luigi was about to bang his head against the window sill in frustration, he finally saw one. It was a small one, just barely visible, but it was certainly there. Luigi's spirits soared so high up that they could almost touch the shooting star.

"There it is!" He closed his eyes, folded his hands, and along with Mario said "I wish to be me." They waited for a few seconds before opening their eyes back up and giving each other satisfied looks.

"Well, I guess that's that." Mario got up from his chair and left the room. "Have a good night, Luigi. I sure look forward to seeing your smiling face tomorrow."

"Same bro. Same." Luigi grinned to himself as he got underneath the covers and closed his eyes. The day was over. They had officially gotten through the strange, foreign, alien experience that was the body swap. Now, they had nothing else to worry about. They would be back to their old selves in the morning.

Right?