"Why don't you like it here?!" Bowser growled. "I've given you everything– a fancy room, fancy meals, anything you could ever want. So why–?"
"A gilded cage is still a cage, Bowser!" Peach spat back. "I don't want to be here because I did not choose to be here!"
Bowser scowled, a plume of smoke rising from his nostril. He regarded the princess with narrowed red eyes, and thought a moment before replying, "You could choose to be here, you know. No one is stopping you from accepting my proposal."
Peach gawked at him. "You are unbelievable!"
"Well, you're just as difficult!" Bowser argued. "Nothing I do for you is ever good enough! Not even a wedding on the frickin' moon was enough to satisfy your prissy pink little–"
"I did not choose to partake in that sham," Peach said, venom dripping in each word.
"W-Well, what could even please you, anyways? I've tried everything I can think of, but you're never happy when you're here!"
"Hmph! You want to know what would make me happy?" Peach folded her arms across her chest. "Going home so I can see my friends!"
Bowser bit the inside of his cheek. "You don't need those losers."
"I care about them, and they actually listen to me. Do you have any idea just how lonely I get when you force me to stay locked up in this pretty little suite, with only you and your kids for company every once in a while?"
"…You get lonely?"
Peach looked ready to tear her golden locks out of her scalp. "You are so– so– infuriating! My friends are the ones I want to be with and talk to. You, on the other hand, don't even understand basic decency in the slightest!"
Bowser paused for a long moment, then curled an eyebrow at her. "… If you stayed, you could teach me."
SLAP!
Bowser recoiled a step backwards, not because Peach's blow had physically unbalanced him, but because he was just so stunned. He lightly touched his cheek where she'd struck him, the skin surprisingly tingly. There might actually be a bruise later.
Peach huffed, her face red as an angry Wiggler. She held her accusing hand in the other, close to her chest protectively. There was a heavy beat of silence, then two.
Then Bowser marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him without another word.
Princess Peach was sitting on the plush pink bed that wasn't hers, reading a copy of some novel that wasn't hers, when she heard the heavy footfalls approaching the door that wasn't hers. Her heart leapt up into her throat, and she quickly set the book down on her lap.
She clenched her hands into fists. Bowser was obviously coming back, and she was dreading his presence more than usual. She hadn't seen him for two whole days after she slapped him, and that meant he was either seriously angry with her or seriously busy with his kingly duties– and she knew he was never too busy to see her when he wanted to.
As his booming footsteps grew closer, Peach detected the sound of arguing. Well, one-sided arguing, anyhow. And the voice, surely it couldn't be…
The door opened with a fast and unannounced whoosh, followed by a yellow blur as Bowser threw a none-too-happy princess onto the bed next to where Peach sat.
"HEY!" the newcomer cried, shooting a murderous glare at Bowser.
"D-Daisy?" Peach stammered, looking at her cousin-slash-best friend in astonishment.
Daisy paused when she noticed Peach. "W-Wait, Peach? Why am I–"
Peach glanced very quickly back at Bowser, and saw there was a faint bruise on his left cheek, along with a very obvious and painful looking black eye on his right. The moment they made three-quarter's eye contact, Bowser slammed the door shut once more, leaving Peach speechless.
"Woah, woah, woah, woah. Just what did you say to him to make him travel all the way to Sarasaland and nab me?" Daisy asked her, looking like she was ready to throw another punch.
Peach didn't know how to answer that, so she didn't.