Chapter 4 Daisy My Love

"And she just followed you? For no real reason?"

"Yes. Or at least, no real reason that was immediately obvious." Luigi lifted his cup of tea to his lips and took a sip. Daisy sat by his side, and she looked so uncharacteristically scared it was like she was an entirely different person. With a furrowed brow, she rubbed her bear arms, and it was obvious to Luigi that she was running through all the possibilities in her head. All the freaky, disturbing possibilities.

"I…" Daisy swallowed a lump. "I suppose… well, I hope that we never run into that woman." She looked Luigi right in the eye. "People like that who follow you with no real reason… there is such a small chance of them being right in the head. You know what I mean?"

Luigi trembled a little. "I do." He set his cup of tea back down on the table. "I know exactly what you mean." He started to think, his mind running down all sorts of frightening and horrifying avenues. What would've happened if he hadn't managed to outrun the woman? What would she have done to him? Pull out a fire-flower? A knife? Some sort of gun? Oh, Luigi felt unsafe just thinking about that! His stomach churned, threatening to make him vomit up his tea.

"Can we talk about something else?" Luigi asked, fearing for his mental health right at that very moment.

Daisy sat still for a minute before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah, we can do that." She put on a smile, a smile that looked pretty genuine despite the discomfort in the atmosphere. "How have you been recently?"

Luigi smiled. "I've been doing pretty well." He let out a content breath. "Ever since you and I got back from that battle with Bowser, I've been getting all sorts of compliments from all sorts of different people. Toads recognize me and say when I'm walking down the street now. They say the sweetest things to me too." His smile grew bigger. "A few days ago, I ran into this elderly Toad. He told me that I was an inspiration, that all I've gone through gives him the motivation he needs to keep going!"

"Aww!" Daisy looked genuinely touched by those words, like it was directed toward her as much as it was toward Luigi. "That's so cool!" She adjusted her position in her chair. "Honestly, you deserve it, Lou. If there's anyone in the Mushroom Kingdom who deserves that, it's you."

Luigi's face grew as warm as his tea. "Thank you, Daisy." He took another sip of said tea, appreciating the flavor. "Honestly… these past few weeks have been some of the best since I came to the Mushroom Kingdom. I… sometimes I wonder if it's all really a dream. If I'm gonna wake up one morning and all of it will have been fake."

"I highly doubt that will be the case, Luigi." Daisy reached out and put her hand on top of his on the table. "But I will say this. Even if that does happen, you will still have my support."

"Aww!" Oh man, not even the phrase "being on Cloud 9" could adequately describe the amazing emotions running through Luigi's head. Thinking about those words, as well as looking into the gorgeous cerulean eyes of the amazing young woman who had said them… this was it. This was peak life right here. It didn't get better than this; it COULDN'T get better than this! No gold or silver in the world could compete with how special Daisy was, and how special she made Luigi feel by extension. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome." Daisy pulled back. "And I'm sure there are other people who'd be willing to support you. Mario, for example. And Peach; Peach would probably want to make sure you feel good about yourself."

"Yeah, she probably would." Luigi looked down into his half-full tea cup. "And I'd be all the happier if she did. I just…" he sniffled. A tear formed in his right eye, which made him feel embarrassed. He wiped it away, but Daisy clearly saw it because her brow furrowed. Oh man; it looked like Luigi was gonna have to be vulnerable for a few minutes. "I'm sorry. I just… I love this. My life is just… it feels perfect. It feels perfect in every single way."

Daisy snickered. "Don't say that; you might jinx it!"

"I might, but I don't care. I couldn't have asked for a better life, a better family, a better girlfriend… even what happened with that woman on the street earlier isn't even close to bringing me down!" He gasped. "Oh wait! I was so caught up in worrying about that woman that I forgot something!" He got the bouquet of golden roses out. Daisy gasped when she saw them, making Luigi feel like the best man in the world. "These are for you."

"Luigi!" Daisy carefully took the flowers. She treated them so delicately, as if they were made of glass and would shatter if she made one wrong move. "They're beautiful!" She sniffed them, breathing in deeply as she did. "Did you get these at Clover's?"

"You know it!" Luigi was right on the verge of turning into a laughing loon. "Best flowers in the world!"

"Yeah." Daisy looked down at the roses. She slowly raised her hand up and touched one of the petals. "I can't thank you enough."

"You are ever so welcome, my one true love." Luigi laughed as Daisy sent him a little smirk. "I know, I know what you're gonna say. 'Luigi, you're so corny! When did you get all mushy, gushy, and sappy!' Well, to that I say, so what if I'm mushy, gushy, and sappy! It's part of who I am, and nothing you do or say can get me to stop!"

Daisy snorted. "Honestly, I don't think I want you to stop." She giggled, sounding like she was a decade younger. "You are the perfect man, Lou; you're right out of a romance novel!" There was a twinkle in her eye. "You're as suave as that real-world musician you made me listen to last week! What was his name? Frank… Synapses? No no; Frank Sinampa…?"

"Frank Sinatra." Daisy nodded her head at him, making him laugh. "And wow, you're comparing me to one of the most stylish singers of all time! Talk about a compliment!"

Daisy shrugged. "I only said it because it's true." She leaned back in her chair. "Truer words have never been spoken by a princess."

"I see." Luigi took one more sip of his tea before setting the cup down. "Oh wow, I think this is the fastest I've ever finished a drink from this cafe." He set the cup aside. "What do you want to do now?"

"What do I want to do now?" Daisy sat silent for a minute before grinning. "Honestly, this may sound a little weird, but I want to go look for power-ups."

"Look for power-ups?" Daisy nodded, making Luigi wonder. "Any particular reason why?"

"Eh… not really. I mean… I don't usually get a chance to use power-ups, except for that time we all went on that trip to the Flower Kingdom. THAT was such a fun trip, and the fact I got to use an experiment with all sorts of crazy power-ups made it all the more special to me."

"Ahh, so you're looking to experience that feeling again." Luigi smiled. "I don't blame you. Power-ups always make me feel good when I use them. Some might even say TOO good."

Daisy laughed. "Yeah." She leaned forward in her seat. "So, what do you say? Want to go look for some power-ups with me?"

"Do you even have to ask?" Luigi got up from the table. "Come with me; I know the perfect place to search!"

…

"Ooh, I got a super leaf!" Daisy picked up the leaf as it fell to the ground. While normally a person wouldn't look particularly happy when holding onto a brown leaf of any kind, Daisy looked like she had just won the lottery. "These bad boys help you fly, right?"

"Uh huh!" Luigi grinned as he went up to her. "They help you fly, AND they make you look and feel absolutely adorable when you do!" He chuckled. "They might be one of my favorite power-ups, honestly."

"Cool!" Daisy reached into her pocket and pulled out a device called a Power Trapper. "You can bet that I'm gonna hold onto this baby for a while!"

With that, she opened the Power Trapper, making the super leaf disappear into it. Luigi smiled; those little devices were probably one of the most useful and practical inventions that Professor E Gadd had built in recent memory. Sure, Luigi would always have a slight bias towards the Poltergust, but even still, he liked the Power Trapper. And to think that E Gadd had only conceived of them and built them a month ago! THAT was pretty wild!

"Okay!" Daisy put the Power Trapper away and looked up. The two of them were currently in a forest, and in said forest were a boatload of question mark boxes. The two of them had already punched through most of them, leaving just regular floating bricks. A variety of power-ups had come out of said bricks; fire flowers, ice flowers, mini mushrooms, boomerang flowers. Luigi always considered this spot in particular to be the single best place to look for power-ups, simply because of the variety that this amazing place boasted.

"So…" Luigi turned to Daisy. "Are you satisfied with what we managed to uncover, or do you want to keep searching?"

Daisy laughed. "Am I satisfied? No way in heck am I satisfied; I want to keep searching!"

Luigi chuckled. "Right, right, that was a stupid question to ask; sorry." He looked toward one question mark box, floating right on the edge of the forest. "Let's see what's in that one!" Putting on a burst of speed, he rushed forward, jumped up with his fist in the air and…

"Huh?" Both Daisy and Luigi blinked and gawked when they saw what mushroom came out of the box. "What the heck is that?"

"I… I don't know." Luigi walked forward and picked up the mushroom. It resembled a regular super mushroom… sort of. It had a little brown muzzle, was covered in brown fur, and had little brown ears poking out of the top. Looking at it, Luigi couldn't help but wonder, couldn't help but feel confused. "I've never seen one like this before."

"Yeah." Daisy came up to him, cringing as she did. "I don't think I'd want to eat it; it's fuzzy!" She reached out and touched it, making her face light up. "Fuzzy and soft!"

"Yeah." Luigi bit his lip. "Still, considering we don't know what it is…" He considered what to do before shoving it in his pocket. "I think we should take this to E Gadd. See if he knows what it does."

"Good idea."