Chapter 14 Concerned Big Sister

Wendy's eyes fluttered open. While it took a while for her vision to adjust to the light, when it did, she felt fit as a fiddle. She rubbed her eyes, sat up, yawned, and stretched. She could confidently say that she felt good, if not slightly groggy. She would be operating at one hundred percent within no time at all. She just needed to do a few things first.

She set her feet down on the floor once again, letting out another yawn that was not only big but also loud. If she wasn't the only one in her room, she would've probably felt embarrassed. She rubbed her eyes again and went over to her vanity table. She cringed when she saw her reflection.

"Yeesh." She reached for some wet wipes first off, which she used to wash her face and get rid of the sand in her eyes. Once she did that, she picked up a bottle of concealer. She tried not to scowl too much as she started applying it. "Man, do I wish to be human," she said out loud. She snorted. "Back then I looked so good that I didn't even need to use makeup." Of course, if she really desired it, she could ask Kamek to turn her back into a human. But would she actually do that? Well…

Wendy shook her head and grabbed hold of her lipstick. She decided she needed to think about something else. The only problem was that she couldn't decide on what. She knew what she wanted to think about, but… oh, that topic wasn't her business! It didn't concern her, nor did it present any value when dwelling on it. If she thought about it too hard, she would probably think herself into a corner and prompt herself to feel sucky. So, no. She wasn't going to think about Larry and Peppy's relationship. She just wasn't.

Speaking of Larry though, he was probably going to go back out to do work as Captain Metal today. That kid… if that was the case, he should probably consider the value of a work-life balance. Even robots couldn't and shouldn't work themselves to death, after all. And sure, doing all this hero work helped Larry to feel a sense of purpose, to not dwell on everything that Fortune's Comet took away from him. In that sense, him doing this stuff was a positive thing. A VERY positive thing. But it was possible to have too much of something one loved. In that sense, Wendy was really concerned about her little brother.

Perhaps she should tell him to go easy today. Yeah, that would probably be for the best; he was more than likely down in the laundry room waiting for his suit to finish washing. If he was, then that presented Wendy with the perfect opportunity to seek him out before he set out for the day.

This thought prompted her to speed up her makeup routine. She applied a glistening pink to her lips, colored her eyelids with royal purple, and put on her signature bow and necklace before heading to the door. It was only once she had gotten there that she realized that she had forgotten her bracelets and heels. Eh, she was kind of pressed for time; she didn't need to put those on.

She made her way down the hallway. She didn't know if running was the best idea; sure, she needed to hurry to catch up with Larry, but this situation wasn't what she would call "dire" or "life-threatening" (at least, not life-threatening as long as none of the villains Larry fought tried to kill him). She ended up going down the hall in a sprint, passing by the koopa troopa servants without stopping to say hi to them like she usually did. This caught the attention of one of the servants named Hikaru.

"Mistress Wendy? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine." Wendy practically flew down the stairs. She probably could slide down the railing, but she was never bold enough to actually do that, so she just ran down. She passed by several koopa troopa servants, all of whom looked just as perplexed as Hikaru to see Wendy hurrying in this way. She took the time to tell every single one of them that everything was fine. She had to admit that the way they looked relieved when she said that made her happy.

Within no time, she got to the laundry room. Hopefully, Larry was… oh, there he was! Standing in front of the dryer, he had a serious look on his face as he faced the door. Wendy put her hand to her chest upon seeing him and knocked. He turned toward her with a blink.

"Hey."

"Hi." She stepped into the room. "Your suit is almost done drying?"

"Yeah. I have about five minutes left."

Wow, Wendy had shown up just in the nick of time. Marveling at her luck, she walked up and put her hand on Larry's shoulder. His eyebrow rose when this happened, and it only rose higher as she patted him.

"What's up?"

All at once, Wendy's heart pounded. "Uh…" Dang it! Delivering her message to him shouldn't be hard! It shouldn't be hard at all! Sure, he gave her a suspicious look, but she could still speak what was on her mind. It's not like she was telling him he got the death sentence; she was just checking in on him like any good big sister should.

She pulled her hand back. "You're going out again today?" Larry nodded, causing her to let out a breath. "Well… I just wanted to tell you to be careful."

Larry blinked. "That's it?"

Wendy cringed. "Well… I also wanted to say that I…" she swallowed a lump. "I'll admit that I'm a little concerned for you. I mean… you haven't really been giving yourself a lot of breaks! Sure, you're not out doing superhero stuff twenty-four-seven, but you're pretty damn close. I just… don't want you to bite off more than you can chew." She cringed when she said that. "Of course, that's probably a bad cliche to use because you don't have to eat anymore, but…" Oh God, it felt as though Larry's eyes were boring into her soul. She pulled back a little bit. "Sorry…"

Larry continued to give her a look for a few minutes before snickering. "You're getting yourself in a tizzy all because of that?" He laughed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Man, you are just the worst big sister ever. You don't insult me, you don't pull pranks on me, you don't make jokes at my expense… you're not playing your role right at all!"

Wendy snickered, giving Larry a sideways glance. "Well, I can always go into Bitch Mode if you don't like it…"

"No no, that's alright." The two laughed with each other for a good long while. When they calmed down, Larry cleared his throat. "But thank you. Thank you for worrying about me." The dryer stopped, and he pulled his suit out. "I'm not going to bite off more than I can chew. I know how and when to give myself a break." His eyes glittered with a mischievousness. "I mean, I was the Slack Master before I made my wish on Fortune's Comet."

Wendy snorted. "True. I can't believe I forgot about that." She shook her head, trying to keep herself from delving into a laughing fit. "Really really really can't believe I forgot about that."

"Yeah," Larry said with a laugh that matched his face. He started making his way toward the door. "Besides, with Peppy being by my side, I have someone who can look out for me! That gives you an extra reason to not worry about anything!"

Wendy's stomach sank. She once again thought back to the conversation the Koopalings had with Larry two days prior, and as a consequence, she felt uncomfortable. She had told herself she wouldn't dwell on this. It wasn't her business, it wasn't her concern, she had no reason to…

"Larry, did you really mean what you said about Peppy?"

Larry came to a stop. He didn't turn toward her, so Wendy couldn't see his face. He tilted his head down to the ground, staying silent as he pondered what to say next.

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Because…" Wendy scratched the back of her head and sighed. "Because… I'm just thinking about when Peppy revealed to me that she liked you." Larry turned toward her, opening his mouth to possibly object to this, but Wendy beat him to the punch. "I know, I know it was a long time ago. I know that there's a possibility that she doesn't feel that way now. But even still, I think that's a very small possibility." Wendy held her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her bare feet. "I mean, sometimes feelings can be less fragile than you can think. If a person likes you, then they can continue liking you for a long time. Trust me, I know. I've had crushes on all sorts of celebrities for YEARS on end." She took a step forward. "Girls tend to keep who they like stored up in their minds. It takes a lot and I mean a lot to make all those feelings go away." She paused. "Am I making sense?"

Larry hesitated. "Y…You are." He turned fully around this time. "But don't you think Peppy would've said something already if that is how she felt."

"Not necessarily." Wendy took another step forward. "Maybe she just never felt like it was the right time. Or maybe, like you, she's been so focused on dealing with her life as Fiery Tempest to worry about that stuff."

Larry's mouth slowly formed a frown. "Well… she can keep staying focused." He started to walk out, and Wendy followed after him. "I told you guys; I don't see her that way. I don't really have any interest in romance."

"None at all?"

"Not presently, no," Larry said as he looked down at his suit.

Wendy felt like bashing her head into a wall, at least until this question popped up in her head. "Would you be interested if Peppy was the one interested?" Larry snorted, so she decided to elaborate. "What I mean by that is what if she were to ask you? If she were to express any feelings she had, would that mean you'd be willing to give dating a try?"

Larry paused. "I… I…" He sighed and shook his head. "I don't know the answer to that! Maybe?" He resumed walking. "And I can't spend too much time worrying about that at the moment." He searched in his pile and pulled his mask out of his suit pocket. Once he put it on, he gave Wendy a serious look. "Just let all this go, Wendy, okay?"

Wendy's heart sank. "I…" she wanted to tell him no, that it would be a dumb move to let all this go. And yet, he had that look in his eyes, a look that revealed his stubborn and abrasive side. Sensing this, she realized that she didn't want to get into an argument with him.

"Alright." She sighed and put her hands behind her back. "I'll let it go."

"Thank you." With that, Larry left. Once he was out of sight, she pulled her right hand in front of her. She didn't know if she should feel bad about the fact that her fingers were crossed.

Twenty minutes later, after another round of applying makeup to make sure that every part of her face looked the absolute best (it was still inferior to her human form, but… eh, it wasn't horrible), Wendy sat on her bed. She tapped her fingers against her knee, thinking about everything that had just happened. A laundry list of desires and wants spun around in her head, and as a result, she felt what could only be described as "paralysis by analysis." She had always made fun of Iggy and Ludwig when they entered states like this, but now that it was her who was going through it…

Wendy sighed and leaned back in bed. Maybe she really should let this go. Maybe it would be best to follow her brother's wishes and move on to other things. And she would gladly do that if it wasn't for one single, solitary reason.

Peppy.

What did she think? What did she honestly think about all this? She had admitted to Larry that he had inspired her. Now, Wendy was no psychologist (and she wasn't about to ask the one member of her family who was a psychologist for input), but wouldn't something like that add fuel to the fire? Wouldn't Larry inspiring Peppy make the attraction she had toward him stronger? Possibly. Very possible. If Peppy was feeling the way Wendy thought she was feeling, she was probably admiring Larry silently, keeping her feelings in the background. There were probably a dozen reasons for this; too much going on in her own life, not wanting to jeopardize the partnership that she and Larry had formed. And those reasons were logical.

But… well, the thought of Peppy having unconfessed feelings towards Larry really bugged Wendy. The mere thought of this drove her insane; obsessively insane. She needed to find out the truth. She needed to find out if this was the case.

And thankfully, there was one way that she could do so.

Digging her phone out of her hammerspace, Wendy immediately went to her contact list. She pushed a specific button and put the phone to her ear. She breathed a sigh of relief when the person on the other end picked up. "Hey, Stormy. I was wondering… do you and Lilac want to have lunch with me today?"