Mario had always had a sense for telling whenever something was about to go wrong. It was never an obvious sign, just a subtle uncomfortable sense of dread whenever he did something potentially dangerous. That didn't stop him from attempting to save Brooklyn, later the Mushroom Kingdom and his brother though. He was a risk taker after all, and it all was worth it in the end.

But the night before Princess Peach's party, he had that sinking feeling again. That warning telling him not to go. Instead of it being a sign, it was a nightmare that woke him in a cold sweat. He was used to nightmares, but this one was different. It felt too real. He saw Bowser's blood red eyes and flaming hot breath, and Luigi being ripped away from him, held in the grasp of a hideous beast. Worse, he was unable to do anything about it.

He didn't acknowledge the dream. He ignored it, even though he knew Luigi was aware of them. Part of him wanted it to be just that, a dream that wouldn't affect him or anyone else. So he persisted along with the day and the party, and everything went well. That was, until his dream became a reality.

He had caught Bowser in the act of trying to steal his brother again. At least, that was what it looked like. He could not imagine someone like Bowser simply having a chat with Luigi. So without thinking, Mario had rushed in, ready to fight.

He saved Luigi from Bowser's clutches once again, but even after that, the sinking feeling persisted. Luigi had refused to say a word to him once they returned home, the party now forgotten. That was when Mario knew something was wrong. He had done something wrong.

Ever since Peach's party, Luigi had been acting...off. Nothing too out of the ordinary at first, simply seeming distracted at times, and at worst, blatantly acting aloof around him, which was undeniably out of character. The brothers had never once fought in the more than two decades they had spent together. They were so proud of this fact, that they had bragged about it on their own website. And while now they were not fighting, it was still tense.

Obviously he had asked what was going on, but the results had stayed the same. Luigi would make up an excuse to avoid him, saying he was feeling sick or tired or whatever miscellaneous reason for not wanting to be around him. The truth was, Mario could tell when Luigi was upset and vice versa, and while the latter didn't seem angry, he did spend time staring off into space and even outright ignoring him.

And Mario wanted, no, he needed answers.

Unless he was overthinking, which he probably was. Still, Mario decided to approach him like the adults that they were and talk it out. It was a dreary, drizzly day, and neither of them had plans, so it seemed like the perfect time. Luigi was sitting on an arm chair by the fireplace reading a book.

"Hey..." Mario said, sitting across from him.

Luigi didn't look up. "Hey."

"Whatcha reading?"

"Elvin Gadd's Guide to the Paranormal."

Mario seemed surprised. "Really? You hate ghosts!"

"I do, but I found it in the library and well..." He flipped a page. "I have nothing better to do."

"Do you like it?"

"Ehhh, not really. Too creepy. But it's useful, I suppose. Teaches ya how to get rid of Boos."

"Hmm." Mario sat criss crossed applesauce on the chair. Despite claiming he did not like the book, he was still reading it. Yet another excuse to ignore him, no doubt. "Lu, can I ask you something?"

"You already did."

He ignored the sass and continued. "Are you mad at me?"

Luigi closed his book in astonishment. "What? Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're reading a book that you don't like to avoid talking with me..." Mario replied. "And this is the first conversation we've had since we came home from the ball."

"You asked me what I wanted for lunch ten minutes ago.'

"Aside from that," He slumped in his chair. "Is it about me fighting Bowser?" Luigi casted his gaze away, fidgeting. "It is! Luigi, what's going on?"

"I'm not...I'm not mad at you. Honestly even though it's been a while now, I'm still in shock that you're here, alive."

Mario leaned forward and smiled. "Of course I am."

"No...it's ...I've had dreams where you never came to rescue me. The worst thing I can imagine is us being separated like that again, so if I was angry with you I would have told you. Alright?"

Mario was about to say he had the exact same fear and dreams, but he did not want to sound like a broken record, or like he was talking over his brother. "Alright."

"Back at the party, when I was with Bowser...it wasn't what you thought it was. I had it handled. Bowser didn't even do anything!"

Mario stared at him warily.

"I know you don't believe me but I did tell you I can take care of myself." Luigi made a frustrated noise, as if there was more he wanted to say, but couldn't. "I told you to stop fighting."

"I couldn't stand there and watch him take you. I had to do something!"

"But you didn't need to I- ..." He exhaled. "Mario..."

His smile vanished and he stared at the floor. "I know, I know you're capable."

"Then why do you insist on treating me like a baby?" Luigi countered, forcing Mario to look back at him. "You always do this. Even though I wasn't in danger, I actually ended up defending myself fine before you came in and-

Mario cringed. "I…panicked and made things worse." He finished for him. "I thought we were going to be separated again. Because you know I've been scared of losing you too. But you're right. I should trust you more. Guess it's an older brother thing that I never outgrew. I'll work on that, I swear."

He bowed his head. "I do appreciate you helping me," he realized at that moment he did not properly show his appreciation. "Thanks."

"I'm here for you. We're a team, and no monster is going to get in the way of that. And even if we both need help from time to time, that doesn't mean we're not capable of taking care of ourselves. I'm just really grateful you're here and safe." With an awkward smile, he added. "So...are we cool?"

"We're always cool! Except when you aren't."

Mario stuck his tongue out in retaliation. When Luigi went back to reading, he tilted his head. "Oh, uh, can I read that book when you're done with it?"

"Absolutely not, you dog ear the pages!" Luigi hugged the book to his chest to protect it. "I'm not letting you ruin it."

"Don't be so dramatic, it's not that big of a deal. So what if it's folded a bit? It's still read...able."

"It's a library book!" Luigi argued. "If you crease the pages and ruin the spine, it makes you careless and librarians will curse your name."

Mario laughed and shook his head. "What if I swear to use a bookmark?"

"...then I will consider letting you borrow it," The doorbell chimed. "I'll get it!" He announced, jumping up to get to the door. "Heya!"

"Hello, it's your friendly neighborhood Mail Toad here to deliver mail!" The purple capped mushroom chirped. "Here ya go!"

"Thanks, have a nice day!"

"Anything interesting?" Mario called.

Luigi handed him an envelope. "For both of us."

"Great! Let's see what it says..." Mario started to read it, smile fading slightly. "It's from Toad. He says he needs our help fixing his broken sink." He seemed to be forcing himself not to groan, realizing he had no excuses left to avoid such a task. "I suppose we can swing by."

"Aw, you sound disappointed." Luigi teased. "Did you expect a love letter from the Princess?"

Mario narrowed his eyes. "Mock me all you want, but you're coming with me."

He groaned. "Lemme get my tools."

Mario reread the note from Toad, only to accidentally drop another envelope to the floor. He scooped it up, and his eyes went wide. "Wait!"

"Hm?"

He glanced at the stamp curiously before tossing it to his brother. "You got a letter, apparently."

"I do?" Luigi seemed stunned, accepting it. "Oh! Huh."

"I didn't recognize the insignia on the seal. And there's no return address. Who's it from?"

He tucked the envelope away in his pocket. "It's from no one. Let'sa go, Toad will be waiting!"

Thankfully Mario did not question Luigi about the mysterious note any further. Unfortunately, it was all Luigi could think about. It was impossible not to, since right away he recognized who it was from. He had seen that seal in different forms of prints and tapestry in the Darklands. But why was it addressed to him?

Bowser was the one who wrote it. It had to be. Luigi's heart was pounding at the thought of Bowser's handwriting carefully writing him a response. It was strangely charming. Sure, he never intended on being captured by Bowser's army, but upon discovering it was a misunderstanding, he held no resentment. Bowser had apologized, and after some careful thinking, he had accepted it.

But now all he could think about was what Bowser wrote.

"Luigi!"

He shrieked, nearly dropping his tool box in the process. "Huh? Oh, heh, whoops." He picked it up from the pathway, remembering they were heading to Toad's house now.

"You good?" Mario asked. "You were staring off into space a little."

"Me? I'm great, never better!" He definitely did not sound convincing, and with Mario previously believing he was angry with him, clearly he needed to work harder on not confusing his poor older brother with his erratic behaviors. The truth was he was not angry with him at all, but perhaps a bit peeved about Mario starting a fight with Bowser over nothing. He hadn't even been in danger. "I was just thinking."

[Yeah...thinking about why Bowser bothered writing me a letter. Didn't he have more important things to do?]

"Are you sure?"

"Positive! Sorry for ah, being weird."

Mario relaxed. "No worries. Say..." He wiggled his eyebrows. "Did you read your letter yet?"

"Letter? What letter?"

"Luigi." He pressed impatiently

"Fine, fine, fine," He said, fiddling with the edge of his collar. "Er, no, I didn't. Not yet."

"C'mon bro, you gotta tell me who wrote it at least! The curiosity is killing me."

"It...it was from someone I saw at the party." He finally admitted, smiling to himself. It technically wasn't a lie.

Mario's entire face brightened. "No way! Weegee, that's great news! When you're ready, you need to spill."

"I will, I promise."

"Now all I can think about is who it is!" He snapped his fingers. "I'll make it my mission, to find out your mysterious suitor. Is it-"

"Mr. Luigi!"

"Oh, thank goodness, a distraction." Luigi sighed in relief, grateful he did not have to deal with Mario questioning him. "Hi Toadette."

But the pink Toad looked too distressed to even smile. "I could really use your help."

"What's going on?"

She took a deep breath. "Toadella's sick and I decided to get her flowers because I'm a good friend but it turns out when I went flower picking, I got her the wrong flowers, the kind that she's allergic to and she had a really bad reaction so now I need to go and get some other flowers but they're in the forest and the forest has bugs and I'm scared!"

Mario blinked. "You lost me."

"I wanted to get my sick friend flowers, but I didn't want to explore the Mushroom Forest, so I took some from my garden. Turns out, whenever Toadella touches honeysuckle, she breaks out in hives. So, I figured Mr. Luigi could help me pick more flowers?"

"Ah sorry kid, he would, but he's helping me fix a sink for Toad." He said, hoping Luigi would back him up.

"Actually, I would love to help you pick flowers, Toadette." He chuckled, passing the tools to a stunned Mario. "I owe you anyway."

"Right, from when you decided you couldn't sing with me at the ball." She giggled. "Come on, let's go!"

"What? You're just gonna leave me to do all the work?" Mario exclaimed, but Toadette and Luigi had already disappeared into the forest. "Alright, fine, bye...I guess! Ugh."

With a little less pep in his step, he grumbled his way to Toad's house.

Luigi found himself following the little Toad girl, wondering what he had gotten himself into. The forest- while still peaceful and filled with beautiful lush trees, still freaked him out. It was all unknown, and the likelihood of him or Toadette getting lost was very high.

"Wait up!" He called after her. For someone so small, she was extremely quick and energetic. The only time she stopped was when Luigi tripped on a root and landed flat on his face. Remarkably he was perfectly fine, having fallen so often in his lifetime that it was almost predictable.

"Are you okay?" She asked. "Am I moving too fast?"

"No, you're fine." He assured her, stumbling to his feet. "What's the hurry?"

"I've found that every time I travel here, the Yoshis end up eating all the flowers!" She explained. "Even the pink ones! Those are my favorite."

"Yoshis?"

"Yeah, Yoshis. They live here." Toadette continued on the path. "Look! There's some flowers left! Thank goodness." She trotted over to examine them. "Hmm...I don't know if I like these."

"Aren't they for your friend?"

"Oh, heh...right." She blushed as the thought occurred to her. "Toadella told me she likes daffodils and bluebells. I'm not sure where they're all located though."

"Maybe we can split up and search that way?"

"Good idea! I'll go east, you go west! We'll rendezvous back here in ...fifteen minutes?"

"Alright, sounds good."

"And Luigi?" She stared at him seriously. "Don't come back unless you've got some flowers. Got it?"

Despite being an adorable mushroom half his size, he was somehow intimidated by her words. "Okie dokie."

He decided to follow a nearby stream past the trees. The stream led him to a meadow filled with plants of all sorts, however his luck was nonexistent. Every time he found a plant, it was a weed, or not the flower that Toadette wanted. He was also fairly certain the last plant he touched might have been poison ivy, but that was just a theory. An itchy theory. Still, he remained optimistic as he searched around some more.

At last, something bright blue caught his eye, hidden in a patch of grass. He practically skipped towards it, double checking to make sure they were in fact, bluebells. He had to Google what bluebells looked like on his phone, and to his delight, he had found them.

But the second he reached for them, he heard voices laughing nearby. Without thinking, he hid behind the closest tree.

"Tell me why did we have to travel all this way for some flowers?" A gruff, deep voice asked. "We have flowers in the Darklands!"

Luigi froze. He knew that voice. Ever so slightly, and careful not to make a sound, he peered behind the tree to watch. If he tilted himself further, he could see the tips of two horns poking from flame red hair.

Bowser was sitting, arms crossed, on the grass, spiky shell leaning back and relaxed. He was not alone however, as little Larry Koopa was on his lap, giggling, Wendy was on his shoulders braiding his red hair, and Lemmy was weaving flower petals into the aforementioned braids. It was such a simple scene, but it was adorable, and Luigi could not stop staring.

"They're not pretty flowers though, Dad." Wendy rolled her eyes. "And we want you to look beautiful."

Larry snickered again. "Yeah!"

"Ugh, I'm supposed to look terrifying!" Bowser protested. "You kids..."

"Stay still Dad." Lemmy whined. "You keep moving and I can't put the flowers in."

"I can take over!" Larry offered, standing up. "You can look for flowers to put in your hair, Lemmy!"

"Okay!" Lemmy bounced off and started to look around.

"He doesn't need flowers in his hair." Bowser said. "His hair is colorful enough."

The three koopalings stiffened. Wendy cleared her throat and glanced anxiously between her siblings anxiously. "Ah, Dad..." She began, but Lemmy stopped her.

"S'okay, I ...I don't mind really."

Bowser frowned. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No! No you didn't!" Lemmy said, rubbing their arms. "Let's go back to braiding. Please."

"But-"

"I don't wanna make it a big deal!"

"What is going on?" Bowser asked. "Did I miss something?"

"Lemmy's a girl," Larry said matter of factly.

"Larry!" Wendy hissed, anxiously darting her eyes at Lemmy.

"What? It's true!" He folded his arms, then turned to his father. "I'm not gonna keep lying."

"You didn't have to out her like that, dummy!"

"Lemmy...?" Bowser looked at the teen cautiously. "Is it true?"

She nodded meekly. "I'm a girl."

"Oh sweetheart." He placed a claw on her shell. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to...I had a feeling but..."

"It's alright Dad, really! It's not a big deal!"

"It is a big deal. It's who you are! And it's not like you're the only one in this family." He patted her carapace. "I love you all no matter what."

She frowned. "Yeah, it's just Iggy's different. Iggy never specified a change in gender and with my whole dream of joining the circus thing…I thought this would make it even more confusing. I didn't want you to act all weird about it."

"Come on Lemmy, I would never-wait. Do you still want to be called Lemmy?"

"Yes, Lemmy's fine!" She chirped. "I love my name."

"Is there anything else you wanna tell me?"

"I'm still joining the circus once I move out." She smirked.

"Eh, as long as you cause some trouble while you're there I support that too." He picked her up and laughed. "I have two daughters! I had no idea! Larry, Wendy, I'm feeling sentimental, join the group hug."

"Dad, please no." Wendy groaned.

Luigi darted away, feeling as though he was spying on an intimate and tender family moment. Especially something so special, like Bowser's daughter coming out to him.

His heart felt full upon watching it though, confirming his theories about Bowser. It was strange though. Mere months ago Luigi had faced the dragon-turtle, shivering in pure fear at his appearance alone. Bowser was threatening, intimidating, and frightening, yet ...he still looked out for his kids. It was honestly adorable.

With his heart pounding, he slipped away to find Toadette. He didn't need any more distractions, especially since he found what he needed. He certainly would not tell anyone about seeing Bowser and his kids. It wasn't like they were causing harm, and they were allowed to be there, so he felt no need to.

Instead he returned back to Toadette, with a handful of flowers, the sound of joyful laughter still in his mind.

Mario and Luigi arrived home around the same time that evening. They were both feeling lazy tonight, and had opted for microwaving frozen pizzas for dinner.

"Do you think we're making our ancestors curse our names in our sleep for eating this?" Luigi wondered, serving a plate of pizza to himself and Mario.

"Not just our ancestors. Our living relatives are doing it right now."

"Especially mama."

"Yup, but I'm sure if nonna had access to frozen pizza, she would have taken advantage of it." He replied, taking a bite. "Why make life harder than it needs to be?"

"Yeah, but still..." He sprinkled some parmesan cheese on his food. "Speaking of, we should probably visit them." Mario pretended to look confused. "You know, our folks."

Mario made a face. "Ugh, you can, golden boy." He winced when he saw Luigi's crushed expression. "Sorry, it's just...complicated. We can definitely figure out when to see them. And everyone else." He coughed. "So how was your day?"

Luigi shrugged, knowing it would not be wise to mention all he could think about was Bowser's letter, and later even seeing him. "It was fine. Toadette's friend liked the flowers."

"Good, good." Mario nodded, making a face. "Toad made me fix his toilet and his sink. That's how my day was, in case you were wondering."

"And yet, you would still rather do that than talk with Dad about how your life's going."

"Exactly! See, you get it." He nudged him. "Plumbing's my job, my lifestyle. Dad is a whole 'nother can of worms."

"We didn't even say goodbye! We just got up and left. I at least told them we moved to the Bronx so they wouldn't ask any questions."

He knew Mario would rather stick his hand in sewer slime over explaining everything to their parents. Especially their dad. The resentment had started while the brothers were in their teen years, and had only gotten worse as time went on. Luigi knew if it were up to him (as it usually was), he would never speak to Dad again.

But Mario relented. "Hey, relax. One day we'll explain everything to them. Heck, we could even have them visit the Mushroom Kingdom, so they don't think we're crazy. Either way, we'll at least call them. Or rather, we'll call ma."

"Don't worry," said Luigi, chuckling. "I'm in no hurry either.'

With that settled, they continued their meal in comfortable silence.

Later that night, long after Mario had gone to bed, Luigi stayed up, holding the letter from Bowser. It felt so special, clasped together with a red ribbon and the seal of the koopa kingdom.

He hummed, the warm glow of the fireplace flickering across the paper.

Mario had to be asleep now. He had no other obligations for the day, he could read it. Careful and quiet, he untied the ribbon and unwrapped the delicate letter.

Luigi,

Please accept my sincerest thanks for the 1up mushroom. It not only healed my wounds, but my spirits.

I do hope we can see each other again in a more positive situation.

Yours,

~Bowser

"Yours..." Luigi whispered, twiddling his fingers around the page and smiling to himself. Bowser had signed it personally too.