Prince Bowser was sat alone in his chambers, as usual, when he heard a firm knock at his door. He knew who it was and what they had come to speak to him about; it was the same conversation they always had about an hour before one of these balls his brother so enjoyed hosting.

"Come in," Bowser sighed, not even bothering to look up from the book he was reading.

"You're not ready yet," came the voice of his brother, King Boo, from the doorway.

"Clearly not," Bowser rolled his eyes, slowly lifting his head to meet Boo's slightly disappointed gaze.

"You know you have to come," Boo crossed his arms, casually leaning against the door frame.

"I don't, actually. You just want me to," Bowser raised an eyebrow, knowing he was right. Boo shook his head and stepped further into the room.

"Come on, brother. You never know what could happen! A beautiful maiden could be waiting out there right now, begging for you to sweep her off her feet," Boo smirked, causing Bowser to scowl, placing his book down on the table beside him.

"I'm not you, Boo," Bowser sighed, looking back down at his feet, "no one even talks to me at these things, everyone is always too scared to come near me,"

"Maybe this time will be different," Boo offered and Bowser scoffed at him.

"You and I both know that's not true, it never is," Bowser lifted his head again to see Boo giving him an almost pitying look.

"I just want you to be seen, brother," Boo shrugged and Bowser wished he would just stop trying.

"You want to convince people to stop fearing me, you mean?" Bowser challenged, reaching up and running his fingers along the edges of his horns to further prove his point.

"Don't you want that too?" Boo shot back and Bowser's frown deepened.

"It doesn't matter what I want..." Bowser said quietly, shaking his head and leaning back in his chair.

"Well, whatever you decide, I'm going to be down there all night, so don't wait up," Boo said after a pause, then turned and left the room, the wooden doors closing with a soft thud behind him. Bowser sat in the still quiet for a moment, closing his eyes to help gather his thoughts. Finally opening his eyes again, he stood and walked over to his wardrobe, swinging the doors open a little harder than was really necessary. After spending nearly an hour rifling through almost every item of clothing he owned at least twice, he eventually settled on a dark green suit accented with a gold trim. He combed his fiery red hair back neatly and straightened his tie, trying in vain to appear as unintimidating as possible. Looking over himself one last time in the mirror, Bowser steeled himself before stepping out of his chambers and making his way down the hall towards the grand ballroom.

As soon as he entered, everyone in the room stopped to look at him. Even the musicians on stage faltered slightly before continuing the music they were playing. But Bowser had long since gotten used to this type of behaviour and simply ignored them all, instead walking across the room towards his brother. Everyone quickly resumed their previous conversations, but Bowser could feel eyes on him from every corner of the room. After grabbing a goblet of wine from a tray one of the servants held as he walked past, Bowser strode over to the two throne-like chairs in the far corner of the room where Boo liked to sit and watch the party like a lordly overseer. As he got closer, Bowser could see the groups of women already beginning to gather around his brother's completely uninterested form. Bowser allowed himself a small smirk at the sight; those ladies would try all night to seduce the great King of the Koopa's in the hopes of gaining favour with him and, as always, they would all either leave disappointed or eventually turn their interests elsewhere, happy to settle for a simple duke or lord by the end of the night.

Bowser took his place in his usual seat next to Boo, his chair pushed as far back against the wall as it could possibly go. And here he would stay for the rest of the night until Boo was too drunk to notice him leave, at which point he would quietly slip away back to his chambers- always alone. Bowser lifted his goblet to his lips and drained it in a single gulp. Setting it down and wiping his lips, he lifted his head and finally took in the scene in front of him. The ballroom was filled with people talking, laughing, drinking, and dancing. As much as Bowser was loathed to admit it, he did enjoy watching people interact with one another- watching them gossip, giggle, flirt, and flaunt at each other, usually for their own means and motives. As Bowser's eyes scanned the crowd, he spotted a pretty young woman dressed in an expensive looking orange gown wave enthusiastically across the crowd. Curious as to who she was looking at, Bowser followed her eyeline across the floor. But, when his eyes fell on the woman waving back at her friend, Bowser's breath caught in his throat. Dressed head-to-toe in pink, the woman gracefully made her way around the room to greet her friend. No matter how much he tried, Bowser just couldn't tear his eyes away from her. She was surely the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Everything about her emitted an angelic quality that Bowser could feel even at such a distance from her. Eventually, he managed to pull his gaze from her, if only to glance down at his hands shaking in his lap. He went to reach for another goblet of wine when he felt someone's eyes upon him. This was not an unusual occurrence- quite the opposite, in fact- but this felt different than normal, less judgemental and more affectionate than anything he had felt before. Slowly, Bowser lifted his head and to his complete surprise and utter delight, he saw the beautiful angel in pink looking at him. Their eyes locked across the vast expanse of the ballroom and a smile began to spread along Bowser's lips. And, just when he thought she couldn't get any more beautiful, the woman smiled back at him.