Chapter 9 Think About It

Ludwig wiped some dust off the front of his cloak as he stood outside Aino's house. He reached for the doorknob, getting very close to actually turning it. He stopped though, hesitating. He considered his next course of action for a brief period when, suddenly, he shook his head and just said "screw it." He knocked on the door, waiting as he heard shuffling occurring on the other side. He tapped his hand against his leg to a rhythm, specifically the rhythm to his symphony "Long Lasting Friendship." As he started humming, he wondered exactly how far he would get into the song before Aino came to open the door. Ultimately, he got through two minutes of the ten minute song before Aino answered.

The young man's face lit up when he saw Ludwig. "You came!"

Ludwig chuckled. "You say that as if I didn't say I would."

Aino chuckled. "I know, I know. I just…" He smiled. "I'm just happy to see you." He stepped to the side and gestured past the door. "Come in, come in!"

Ludwig did just that. As the door closed behind him, he looked around the house. Oh man, this house; a house that he had been worried that he would never leave less than a month ago. Even though Ludwig was in his true form and in no danger whatsoever of being kept captive within these four walls, he still shuddered looking around. He reasoned that was probably always going to be the case when he came here, a thought that didn't appeal to him on any level.

He took another step into the building, and the horrible creeping sensations up and down his spine increased. On top of that, he felt nauseous. It was like even his stomach intrinsically recognized and recoiled at the fact that a magikoopa evil enough to turn koopas into cats resided within this godforsaken building. Ludwig pushed the vomit down, telling himself that he wasn't in any such danger. Magnus was gone, put behind bars for what Ludwig could only assume would be a good long while. Even with this assurance, he still felt fifty shades of fear overtake him as he walked into the house. He realized that, if he didn't want to have a panic attack, he probably shouldn't stay here for too long.

So, he turned to Aino. "Aino, can we…" he swallowed a lump, this one so nasty and acidic that it almost burned his throat.

Aino's brow furrowed. "Oh. You uh…you don't want to stay here, do you?"

Ludwig shook his head. "Not for very long, no."

"I understand," Aino said as he nodded. "What happened to you within this house wasn't fun." He looked toward the door, opening his mouth to say something. That something was probably a question along the lines of "where exactly do you want to go?" However, he closed his mouth shut before he had the opportunity to say it. He looked back at Ludwig with twinkling eyes, a feature that confused the Koopaling more than anything.

"Wait." He smiled. "I actually have to show you something." He went up and patted Ludwig on the shoulder. "Would it be okay if we can stay in this house for just a little bit longer?"

Ludwig swallowed another lump. His first instinct was to say "no way in hell." However, the excitement in Aino's eyes was so genuine and pure. It fell under the category of emotions that no one could possibly hope to fake. Seeing this helped Ludwig decide that he could stay in this house, at least for a few more minutes.

"Uh, sure."

Aino grinned. He walked away, the excitement even bleeding into his steps. This just left Ludwig alone in the entryway. As he stood near the door, he had a fear that Magnus was going to step around the corner at any minute and transform him back into a cat. Sure, the fear had no logical basis, and the likelihood of it actually coming to pass was downright nonexistent. Even still, he backed up out of the house and onto the front porch. Being out in the fresh air helped a ton, as the creeping sensation scuttling through his body lessened severely. It wasn't gone per say, but it was definitely more manageable. Ludwig took deep breaths while standing out in the sunshine, closing his eyes so that he didn't have to look into the dreaded house.

"I'm back!"

Ludwig opened his eyes. Aino came up to him, all smiles and all joy. By his side was another koopa, one that was far older. Ludwig actually felt profoundly surprised and pleased to see this particular koopa getting around without much difficulty.

"Aida!" he exclaimed. He smiled as he looked at her. She now appeared much younger than she had when Ludwig was first introduced to her, as if someone had used an iron to get rid of all of her wrinkles. Her eyes had this luster to them, a shine that showed this woman was peppy despite the age she was as well as the very…uh, unique set of problems she faced over the past few years. This just made Ludwig being able to see her all the more sweet.

Aida looked into Ludwig's eyes, confusion brewing in her face. "Wh…who are you?"

Ludwig was just about to give her his name, but then he thought to say something else. "I'm Lovebug!" He smiled while saying that, even though he knew he was the only one present who would understand this particular answer.

Aida blinked. "Lovebug?"

Aino gave Ludwig a confused look of his own. "Lovebug?" he parroted his mother.

"Yep! Lovebug!" Despite his previous reservations, he took a step into the house and got closer to Aida. He made sure to wear a sincere smile, one that he hoped would put Aida at ease. "You and I were good friends. At least before I found a way to go back home."

When that was said, realization appeared on Aino's face. "Oh!" He shook his head while laughing. "I get it now…"

Aida, however, didn't share that sentiment. "I don't….I don't know any Lovebugs. I…I don't…I don't know…"

Ludwig's heart sank a little, but he did his best to hide it by smiling. "It's okay Aida. Try not to worry about it too much." He looked into her confused eyes, giving her a warm expression. "I'm just glad to see that you're doing better, especially after everything that's happened to you."

"That makes two of us," Aino said. He took hold of Aida's hand. "Now come on Mom; we're going to the living room so you can meet up with your nurse."

"Her nurse?" Ludwig asked.

Aino nodded as he looked back at him. "I wasn't just going to leave her unattended while we went out."

"Oh." Ludwig nodded, backing away from the door as Aino and his mother went back into the house. As he waited, he heard quite a fair bit of conversation going on in the living room. He didn't really pay attention to it though, as he more or less delved back into his own head. He restarted humming "Long Lasting Friendship" from where he left off, relishing in the melody. Now that he thought about it, Aino should probably get a chance to listen to it, as he was one of the people it was written for…no, no, it wasn't finished. Despite his promise to Aria, he didn't want to let anyone hear it before it was ready.

After about five minutes passed, Aino came back out. He let out a happy sigh as he closed the door, exuding a sort of peppiness that not very many people had. He closed the door, giving Ludwig an excited look once it was all closed up.

"So," he said. "I'm feeling breakfast. Would you like to get some breakfast?"

Ludwig beamed. "That sounds perfect."

…

Half an hour later, Ludwig and Aino were sitting down in a diner called Patty's Place in Berrybark (that was the closest town to Aino and Aida's house). Unfortunately, Ludwig would see come to find that there was an element of…discomfort to be found when they took their seats. It was subtle, but very much present. Especially when the waitress came up to Aino and Ludwig in order to take their drink orders.

"Woah; Ludwig von Koopa!" The waitress exclaimed. Ludwig puffed out his chest when he heard that. Getting recognized in public wasn't what caused him discomfort. If anything, he liked it when that happened. What did cause him discomfort was what the waitress said next as she looked over at Aino. "I've gotta say, you good sir are very lucky to be able to get a date with one of the princes of this kingdom."

That caused Ludwig to seize up. His face grew hotter than the surface of the sun as all previous happiness at getting recognized went right out the window. "Oh. We're…we are….uh, we aren't…" Ludwig couldn't even get his tongue to cooperate long enough to form a coherent sentence that corrected the waitress.

"We're not a couple," Aino said, much to Ludwig's relief. "We're just friends."

"Oh." The waitress looked between the two of them before giggling. "It's a shame; you too look really cute together."

Ludwig's face grew hotter. Why oh why was he getting shipped with someone by a stranger of all people? "Well, I hate to burst your bubble miss, but I'm seeing someone. A girl, to be more specific."

"Oh." The waitress's expression mellowed out a little bit. "I see. I'm…I'm sorry that I…"

"It's okay," Aino said. He grinned at the waitress. "In fact, I was thinking about getting your number, if it's okay with you."

The grin returned to her face. "Oh…I might be able to arrange that." With that, she took Aino's and the very annoyed Ludwig's drink orders, all while keeping her eyes locked on the former. She even winked at him right before she left, drawing even more discomfort out of the latter.

Once she left was when Ludwig let out a breath. "Thank goodness." Out of curiosity (as well as fear), he looked around to see if anybody was looking at them. He saw a few people, but they went right back to their meals when Ludwig made eye contact with them. The Koopaling's stomach flip flopped as he turned back to Aino. "It's not…it's not weird for two male friends to go to a diner together is it?"

Aino laughed. "No of course not! In fact, I've gone to diners with my male friends all the time. Trust me Ludwig; there's nothing weird about it."

Ludwig let out a sigh of relief. "Okay." He looked down the path that the waitress had walked down. "So…I guess our waitress was just being presumptuous."

"Yeah, pretty much." Aino leaned back. "But I don't think it's a big deal."

"Yeah," Ludwig replied as he looked back down at th table. "Sure."

The waitress returned with their drinks a few minutes later. She thankfully didn't say anything too weird or uncomfortable as Aino and Ludwig placed their food orders, which did help the eldest Koopaling to feel better (if only by a smidge). He leaned back in his chair as the waitress went away, taking dainty sips of his coffee as he did.

Right as he had downed half of the cup was when Aino gasped. "Wait!" Ludwig looked into his friend's deep green eyes, which glimmered with a whole new type of excitement. "You said that you were seeing someone?"

Ludwig almost choked on his coffee. He set the cup back down on the table, all at once extremely regretting his word choice from earlier. "Well…" he struggled over what to say, feeling uncomfortable when he had one thought and feeling even more uncomfortable when he had a completely new one. "I…I mean, we aren't dating, but…I have recently connected with an old friend."

"That's awesome!" Aino leaned forward. "What's she like? Tell me everything; I don't want you to leave out any details."

Ludwig squirmed in his seat. Now he was actually wishing for the discomfort he felt while talking to the waitress, as those feelings were small potatoes in comparison to how he felt now. "I, uh…" he struggled, his tongue feeling like it was made out of jello. It felt like he had a knot of worms in his stomach, making his insides feel squirmy. "I don't… I don't know where to start, if I'm being honest."

Aino giggled. "Well, let's start with the biggest question on my mind." He leaned closer. "Is she hot?"

Ludwig's face grew so scorching hot that he could almost see the redness in his skin. "NO! I mean, sure, I mean…" he shook his head. "I don't know!"

Aino leaned back a little bit. "Okay, okay." He tapped his fingers against the table. "Well, what's her name? That's probably the question I should have asked first."

Ludwig took in a breath, actually rising into the air a bit as he did. He hastily situated himself back in his seat, feeling annoyed at his body reaction to such a simple action as breathing. Once he was situated, he tried to get his thoughts to stop racing around long enough for him to actually answer Aino's question.

"Her name is Aria. Aria Shellcreep."

"Ooh, that's a pretty name," Aino replied.

Ludwig nodded. "She, uh…she's a pretty girl too." Ludwig's face grew warm as he realized he more or less just answered Aino's first question. Oh well, might as well drive the point home. "I…I have to admit, she's one of the prettiest girls I've seen in a while."

Aino had a giddiness present in his features, as if the words Ludwig was speaking actually imbued him with some special type of strength. "Paint me a word picture."

Ludwig's heart skipped a beat. He envisioned Aria's face, and doing so actually caused him to smile a little bit. "Her hair is wavy, and it's the color of the sky on what is the most perfect type of summer day. The skin of her head is the same color as the rest of her body; golden with a special type of shine when her scales are under a light source." His heart pumped as he thought about this last detail in particular. "But that shine is put to shame in comparison to the glitter of her eyes. They're purple, a deep purple that puts hues people would call royal purple to shame. They glitter with so much raw energy and happiness that its nearly impossible to turn away from them." He smiled. "It…her appearance is on a whole other level, Aino. It's kind of insane."

"I'll say. She sounds…" Aino stopped talking just as the waitress came back with their food orders, as well as a slip with her phone number on it for Aino (Ludwig figured there was about a fifty fifty chance that she gave him a fake number). Once she went away, Aino looked back at Ludwig. "She sounds really pretty." He stuck his fork in his chocolate chip pancake stack and took a bite of it. "Is she nice?"

"Oh yes." Ludwig bit into his eggs benedict (seriously, he just couldn't get enough of those). "She's smart, kind, and really enthusiastic. She's not the kind of girl to let the trials of life get her down; she's the type of girl to grab life by the neck, slam it to the ground, and stand over it in a victory pose while everyone cheers." He laughed. "She's incredible."

Aino nodded as he wiped his mouth with his napkin. "She does sound incredible; one in a million, I guess you could say."

Ludwig laughed. "That's far too little a number." He took another sip of coffee. "One in eighty billion, THAT is far better a descriptor."

Aino laughed. The two of them continued to eat away at their through their meals, with Ludwig savoring every last bite. Once Aino was halfway through his pancake stack was when he asked another question.

"Say. Do you see yourself getting together with her anytime soon?" He ate another bite. "I know you said that you two are just friends, but you clearly seem to like her if how you described her was any indication."

Ludwig froze. "Uh…" the discomfort from before returned, making his insides feel even more squirmy than they previously felt. "I, uh…" he took some time to think about his answer, even though the one he did end up giving was pretty simple. "I can't."

Aino made an odd face. "What do you mean you can't?"

"Well, uh…" Ludwig lowered his fork, the squirminess in his stomach now so pronounced that he couldn't even eat his delicious eggs benedict anymore. "Well first off..." He used a firm tone when saying this part. "I don't like her in that way. We're just friends."

"Are you sure?" Aino asked. "I mean, you like..."

"No." Ludwig looked him right in the eye, not wavering on any of things he was going to stay. "Friends is all we ever were, and that's all we'll ever be."

Aino looked like he wanted to object, but eventually decided against it and just nodded. "Okay. You're just friends."

"Right." Ludwig looked down at his dish. "Besides, even if I did think of her in that way, there's...well, there's something that complicates things."

He looked into Aino's eyes. He remembered the circumstances behind how he and Aino became friends in the first place. While Ludwig wasn't a fan of divulging any of these details at any time, he did realize that Aino was one of the best people he could talk to about this (besides Lemmy, of course).

So, he took a deep breath (this one thankfully didn't make hm float). "You see… Aria grew up in Frostwall."

Aino blinked. "Oh." Realization sprouted on his face. "Oh…"

"Yeah." Ludwig messed around with his breakfast with his fork in hand. "In fact, she and I met as little kids before I destroyed the city." He sighed. "She recently sought me out, wanting to be friends with me. She…she has no idea what actually happened to Frostwall." He sniffed. "And needless to say, telling her would be…awkward."

"I see." Aino sat up in his chair. He focused on a specific part of the floor, indicating to Ludwig that he was thinking about this. Ludwig didn't know what answer he was going to give exactly, but he was surprised when Aino did speak.

"Even still, I think you should tell her."

Ludwig did a double take. "Tell her? Are you crazy?"

"Maybe," Aino said. "But…Ludwig, she needs to know. This involves her history, her past with you."

"I…I know that." Ludwig whimpered a little bit. "But she'll hate me. I know she will. She'll see me as a monster, someone who she'll never want to talk to again."

Aino snickered. "Man. With the way you say that, it sounds like you want to keep her around."

Ludwig seized up. "I… I…" he shook his head. "I don't know how I feel." He took another bite of his benedict, but found that was a mistake because he had trouble swallowing it.

"Look, Ludwig, I don't think Aria's going to hate you," Aino said. He spoke slowly and carefully. "I mean, I didn't hate you. When we first met, I saw that you only had the best intentions at heart. Heck, the fact that you went back in time to fix everything and save a lot of people proved that to me."

Ludwig snickered. "Funny, my brother said the exact same thing."

"Well, because it's true. And hey, I'm one of the people that was impacted by the destruction of Frostwall. And if I don't hate you because of it, I highly doubt Aria would either. I mean, you said she sought you out specifically, not the other way around. If she wants to be friends with you, and remembers you even fourteen years later…well, think it's safe to say she isn't going to hate you even if you reveal what happened to her."

Ludwig bit his lip. "I…I see your point." He shook his head. "But still, I don't know…"

"Well then just take the time to think about it." Aino smiled. "Take the time to consider it and work out a gameplan. Promise me you'll do that?"

Ludwig hesitated again, thinking about everything they had gone over. After a while, he sighed.

"I promise I'll think about it."