Chapter 3 Innocent Friendship

"Well, is this a nice bedroom or what?"

Celia smiled. She looked at the bed. She looked at Roy. The smile grew into a grin, the delight in her eyes shifting into gratitude. She finally turned to face the Koopaling, looking as though she had found the secret to perfect joy.

"It's perfect." Celia went over to the bed and sat down. "Thank you so much."

"Hey, anything for one of my best friends." Celia blinked at him, causing him to smirk. "Yes. You're one of my best friends. Deal with it."

Celia snorted and covered her mouth as she laughed. The laughter was contagious, causing Roy to laugh right alongside her. Without really thinking, he took a seat beside Celia on the bed. Once the two of them managed to settle down, Roy spoke up.

"Did you like the party?"

"Yeah, I did!" There was a sparkle in Celia's eye when she said that. "I still think he gift Lemmy got you was the best gift out of any of the ones I saw."

"You know, I think so too." Roy grinned in a cheeky manner. "I mean, who wouldn't be thrilled to get a plushie version of me?"

Celia chortled and rolled her eyes. "I don't know. Mario?"

Roy blinked before smirking. "I mean… he probably wouldn't like it at first…" he laughed. "But give him some time with just my plushie and himself in a room and he'll warm up to it."

"Right. Because the likelihood of him being alone in a room with a Roy plushie is so great."

"It could happen! Heck, Mario and regular Roy are alone in rooms together all the time! Every single time we kidnapped Peach, he would always meet me one-on-one in the battle arena."

"I see. And did he grow to like you then?"

Roy paused. "I mean… when he jumped on my head last time, it was a teensy bit more gentle…"

Celia burst into laughter, wiping happy tears and hugging her side. "Well, there you go! Clearly I've been proven wrong!" She chuckled before looking back at Roy. Slowly, she reached out and took hold of his hand. Roy stayed silent as she did this, wondering where this was going to go. Eventually, Celia spoke up.

"I missed you. I really did."

The Koopaling's heartbeat changed. "I missed you too." He squeezed her hand. "And… I think you showing up turned this into one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time."

"Thanks." Celia paused. "If I had known it was your birthday, I would've gotten you a present."

"Celia, I'm already drowning in presents; I think I'm okay." He chuckled. "Besides, doesn't the wedding invitation count as a present?"

"Uh… maybe? It wasn't intended to be." She thought about this before smiling. "But if that's the way you want to look at it, then sure! It's definitely a birthday present!"

Roy chuckled. He looked down at his hand in Celia's, interlocking in such a natural way. He looked into her ruby eyes, so bright that they were almost glowing. Roy's face fell the tiniest bit as he looked back down at their interconnected hands. Slowly, he pulled away from her.

"That's good." He rose from the bed. "Anyway… I should probably get going. I want to hit the hay myself."

"You sure?" Celia adjusted her position on the bed. "I was thinking you could stay so we can talk about what restaurant we should go to."

Roy paused, considered that, and shook his head. "We can do that tomorrow." He scratched the back of his head. "Birthdays are… they can be exhausting. Everyone running around, Bowser trying to get the best pictures, eating pounds and pounds of cake… you've gotta find time to wind down after that."

"Hmm. I guess that makes sense." She snickered. "Although, I will say, if you are eating pounds of cake, you might want to see a doctor sometime soon."

"You mean the guys who stick needles in your arms and lecture you about diet and exercise? Hard pass." He snickered. "I don't need someone to tell me I'm unhealthy; I already know."

Celia chuckled. "If you say so." Celia took off her shoes and got under the covers. "If that's the case, I'll see you tomorrow, Roy."

"See you tomorrow, Celia." Roy stepped toward the door and held his hand over the light switch. After getting one more glance of her beautiful face, he turned the light off and closed the door. Once on the other side, he couldn't help but yawn.

"Man," he whispered. "I guess I lied so well that my body actually believes it." Getting one more glance of the door, he turned and made his way toward the east wing, where the Koopaling's bedrooms and their shared common room was. He walked pretty slowly, for it was often difficult for him to pay attention to where he was going when he was thinking.

He eventually got to the wing. He stopped in the doorway to the common room, smiling the tiniest bit when he saw his siblings. Larry was reading a comic book, Wendy and Lemmy were having a conversation, Iggy was writing a letter at the table, and Ludwig and Morton were watching the TV. Roy felt so good looking at them; something about the sight of his siblings always made him feel nice. He stepped into the room.

"Hey guys?" All the other Koopalings turned to look at him. "I just wanted to thank you for being so awesome today."

"Aww!" Lemmy scuttled over and gave Roy a hug. "Anything for our favorite third-born brother."

Iggy chuckled as he too got up. "I must say, today was quite enjoyable. In fact…" he pulled out a book from his hammerspace, flipped through it, and grinned at Roy. "In the ranking of every single birthday celebration we've had in this castle, I would put this at number five." He giggled as Roy and the others gawked at him. "It was slightly less animated than Wendy's tenth birthday when we went to the pool, but it was a step up from my twelfth when we all went to see the lecture that the headmaster of Dragonbite University gave."

"Oh, I remember that birthday," Ludwig said. He snorted as he got up. "I'm surprised you don't have that dead last in your ranking; it was so boring!"

"It was, wasn't it?" Larry asked as he bounced to his feet. "He spent fifteen minutes talking about the atomic structure of goomba skin! Talk about a snoozefest!"

"Hey!" Iggy exclaimed as he glared at everyone. "For your information, that speech was both articulate and informative! I had a considerable amount of fun!"

"Well, of COURSE you would say that!" Larry exclaimed with a roll of the eyes. "Anyone insane enough to do a ranking of the birthdays in the castle can't give an objective view on what's 'fun.'" Larry shook his head. "Edit your list Iggy; you'd be doing everyone a favor."

Iggy let out a huff. "Well, okay then. I thought doing a ranking would be a fun activity to partake in and discuss with my family, but clearly I've been proven wrong." He sighed. "It's like Eggman said in the Sonic Movie. When you're the smartest man in the room, everyone else is stupid."

Roy felt a pang for more reasons than one. "Hey. It's alright." He went up and put his hand on Iggy's shoulder, surprising him. "I think you're right. I mean, I don't remember most of that speech, but I do think it WAS artistic and informal."

Iggy raised an eyebrow. "You mean articulate and informative?"

Roy blinked. "That's what you said?" He turned toward the others. "Guys, were those the big fancy words he used?" When everyone else nodded at him, he shrunk back a little. "Oh. Well… shoot." He turned back to Iggy. "Yeah, that's what I meant to say, arctic…. Tic… tic… those two words."

There was a moment of silence in the room before Lemmy spoke up. "Well, anyway, today was a pretty good day." He giggled. "I wasn't expecting Celia of all people to show up."

"Me neither," Morton said. He sat up. "I think it's cool that she invited us to her parents's wedding."

"It is!" Wendy let out a dreamy sigh. "Oh, I love weddings. They're so beautiful and amazing…" she sniffled. "I always get emotional at weddings."

Ludwig raised an eyebrow. "Uh… Wendy, you've never BEEN to a wedding."

"And Bowser's attempt to marry Peach on the moon doesn't count," Larry said. "Number one, we only watched that on the TV, and number two, it fell through." He snorted. "As I'm sure even the dumbest Koopa in history could've predicted."

Roy felt another pang when he heard that. As Wendy scowled at Larry and Ludwig, he scratched his head. His face also grew warm, so warm that it was borderline concerning.

"Well, even if that's true, I'm glad we can all go to this one." Wendy's face lit up again. "I would love to see the chapel where it's happening, and I bet Ruby picked out an amazing dress." She gasped. "Oh! That reminds me; we should probably try to find outfits for us too! I mean, it's not exactly a good idea to go to a wedding naked."

"True," Iggy said. "Even Bowser wore a tuxedo during that time when he tried to marry Peach on the moon." He put his hand to his chin. "What would be the ideal time to go clothes shopping though?"

"Well, it isn't tomorrow," Roy said. "Celia and I are going to a restaurant tomorrow."

"Oooooh…" Larry did a catcall whistle. "Mr. Ladies Man has a date with his girlfriend."

Roy's face grew warm again. "It's not a date, Larry! We're just catching up!"

"Oh, are you now?" Larry wiggled his eyebrows. "Catching up before you guys hop in bed and… 'do the do,' huh?"

"WHAT? NO!" Roy shook his head. "No! No no no! That is NOT what's happening! We're catching up as FRIENDS! Okay? FRIENDS! That's all we're doing, that's all we're…"

"Roy." Wendy got up and placed her hand on his shoulder. "It's fine. We believe you. Larry was just trying to get your goat; you don't have to take him seriously."

"Yeah, you can trust him as far as you can throw him," Ludwig said as he gave Larry the side eye.

Roy let out a breath. "Thanks, guys. I… I just…" he shook his head. "That's all that's happening. It's just a simple, innocent conversation over lunch. That's it." He yawned again. "Oh boy, I need to go to bed." He turned around. "Uh… see you tomorrow, everyone."

"See you tomorrow, Roy," Wendy said.

"And happy birthday!" Lemmy said.

"Thank you." Roy made his way out of the common room. It wasn't until he was walking up the stairs that he let out the breath he had been holding. "Oh, please let tomorrow go well…"