Luigi And The King - 2000pepper (2024)

Chapter 1: Chapter One

Chapter Text

Light shines in streaks through the window of the tailor's shop, catching the shifting fabric of the dress currently being pinned on Luigi. Peach is hosting a ball in a few months and after his drunken confession to both her and Daisy that he'd always wanted to wear a dress to this type of thing but it’s hard to find fancy ones that actually fit him, Peach had immediately sat him down with the royal tailor who was more than happy to take Luigi's measurements and whip him up a few dresses to try out. He and Peach were close, drawn together by their shared status as Omegas, and she had taught him that most people here were entirely unconcerned with his status, that he could act and dress however he wanted and do anything that he saw as traditionally for Alphas, which Luigi hadn't quite believed until he experienced it personally. He and Mario had grown up in a pretty traditional household, and even though he had been wrestling and playing football outside with his brother in the rain the week before, after he presented as an Omega he was all but banned from doing things "inappropriate" for his status. No more sports, no contact ones anyways, no more working out in the yard or down at the shop, and he would be moved from working with his dad in the butcher side of his family's deli to working with his mom in the bakery from that point forward. His and Mario's dynamic had changed too, something Luigi hated to admit. Mario presented the year before him, on their 13th birthday, and had spent the entire next year talking Luigi's ear off about how cool it'd be when they both grow up into big strong Alphas like their dad and uncles. However, when the calendar rolled around to their birthday the next year and Luigi presented as an Omega, Mario had ignored him for three days until he had tried to instigate a wrestling match, something they did constantly up to that point, in hopes of breaking up the awkward tension they had. When Luigi tried to tackle him, Mario had basically shoved his brother across the room.

"Don't do that, Omegas aren't supposed to fight,'' and that had been that. They were still brothers, of course, but something was just…off between them from that point forward. Stilted conversations, pointed “observations”, annoyed declarations – Mario made it clear early on that being an Alpha was the best and only option for a real man and kept that mentality even after Luigi presented. He feels like Mario judges him, has been judging him, ever since their 14th birthday for something he can’t control, passive-aggressive comments about “proper behavior” coming out of his mouth every time Luigi did something he deemed inappropriate. As they get older, the reach of Mario's influence over his life pretty much covers every aspect; he has to personally approve everywhere Luigi goes, everyone Luigi sees, everything he wears, everything he eats or cooks, anything that he thinks Luigi is too helpless or naive to do for himself as an Omega, and even pressures him to attend the college he wants to go to, even though his brother drops out after three semesters. When they’d fallen down that pipe his brother did try to exercise the same amount of influence over his life as he had back in Brooklyn, but Princess Peach was much smarter than Mario gave her credit for and picked up on his brother’s tendencies quickly, oftentimes asking Luigi questions directly or suggesting they do something "un-Omegalike" together like racing or boxing or sports, cutting Mario off anytime he opposed her ideas with a "I think Luigi can decide for himself, no?" Because of her, Luigi is finally able to actually enjoy doing things again, and after he realizes the Toads don’t really have a concept of gender he starts growing his hair out and shaving his face, something his brother had advised against him doing for years because otherwise he’d look like “all these other sissy Omegas,” not like a real man.

That brings his thoughts back to his current situation, something that was only happening because of Peach's determination to show him that not everyone was like his family. They were currently doing some final adjustments to one of Luigi's favorites, a sleek beaded dark green dress that swept across the floor when he walked around and a pair of gold platform sandals. The tailor had just finished taking out some of the last few pins and sewing everything together, walking into the adjacent room to put away some of his materials when Luigi hears a door opening. Assuming it’s just the tailor, he starts in on a description of changes he wants on the other dresses but when he gets no response he turns around and sees an empty room. His pulse starts to quicken, "hello?" he calls out, and when he turns back around there are three cloaked figures standing in front of the mirror with expressionless white masks on.

His scream comes out more of a silent burst of air than anything else, and he feels himself losing consciousness as the three figures move in to catch him. He wakes up on an airship, the brightness of the sun from this high up making him squint. He tries to get answers, but he doesnt think these people talk at all, not a single one of them has uttered a single syllable since he'd woken up. His stomach drops with the airship as it descends through the clouds and brings their destination into view. He’d had a feeling, since it'd been a while since Bowser had kidnapped the princess, that this is where he was headed, but that doesn't make the fact any easier to stomach as they approach the landing area. Why did they take him? Was Bowser trying to ramp things up and decided taking the Princess away from Mario wasn't enough? or did these silent figures mistake him for Peach? He doesn’t know how... smart these things are, and he is wearing a dress, so it might not be too far of a stretch if they'd never seen her before. His thoughts are cut short as the group motions for him to stand, walking towards the slowly opening door as they follow close behind. His anxiety is off the rails as he's led through vast dark halls to a large room framed at the front by an absolutely enormous throne, gilded and encrusted with enough jewels to finance Luigi's entire lineage, not just himself. His hands shake where they’re pressed into the sides of his legs, raising an eyebrow at one of his captors when they pull out a chair situated at a table across the floor from the throne. He sits, cautiously, and stares in shock as a teapot and cup as well as a plate of food is sat in front of him. He looks between the table and the masked men in utter confusion as they make their way out of the room, the resounding thud of the door leaving Luigi with nothing but himself and the food that had been placed on the table to fill his time. He does eventually give in to the hunger clawing at his stomach, he hadn't had a chance to eat that morning because of his brother's eagerness to see the princess after her "diplomatic trip" to Sarasaland to visit Daisy. He knows it was anything but a business trip, with both Daisy and Peach texting him pictures of the two of them shopping and eating and goofing around, but he'll keep that fact from his brother just to avoid seeing his dejected expression at the fact that the princess had spent her time with someone other than him. Of course, as soon as he's made a big enough dent in the snacks to no longer make it seem like he hadn't touched it, the large doors swing open and none other than the Koopa King himself walks in. He's distracted on his phone, reading glasses sliding down his nose as he starts talking as if Peach was actually here, not him.

"Peaches! Long time no see, eh? It’s been what, a month, maybe two? I’ve been trying to go over these papers you left last time, but they're so f*cking confusing that I needed you here to help me figure this out." Papers you left? Luigi is so scared he can’t even speak, and at the ‘princess’s’ silence Bowser looks up from his phone at his throne, then locks eyes with Luigi who is frozen in his seat at the table.

He snatches the glasses off his face with a "what the f*ck? you're not Peaches. why are you here?" The confusion in his voice turns to anger as he gives Luigi a once-over, the scent of spices and smoke so thick that Luigi almost chokes, "no really, why are you here? I swear if this is some sh*tty attempt at an ambush I'm gonna be pissed."

Luigi is quick to answer, panicked at the thought of being on the receiving end of any more ire from the Alpha in front of him. "Nonono, wait. I was just at the castle for a fitting. Peach is having a ball in a few months and she wanted me to have something new, I swear. These guys in red cloaks just showed up and took me, they didn't even say anything."

Bowser just scoffs, "yeah right, you expect me to believe that you weren't just playing decoy for the princess? You're wearing a dress." The dress must give Luigi more confidence than he was aware he had because of all the things that he could have said he has no clue why he says what he does. "Oh come on, you're gonna hit me with that? It's just a dress. Plus does this look like anything the princess would wear?"

The smell of lavender and rain permeates the air as Luigi motions to himself, and Bowser's got to admit he has a point, "I look good in it, don't you think? who cares who it's for'." he finishes his statement with a twirl, sending the king a smirk. Bright red bursts across the man's face, and Luigi feels his blood run cold. Jesus Christ, why did I say that? This man is supposed to be dangerous! Don’t piss him off, what are you doing flirting with him? He's gonna f*cking kill you! he thinks to himself.

"I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I said that, I just-" but before he can finish, Bowser is cutting him off, "no, you're right. It looks great on you." Luigi smiles at the compliment, thanking him and laughing at himself as he does a little curtsy.

Bowser huffs a laugh, "well usually Peaches can find her own way to her room, but since I don't think you've even been outside of this room before I'll tell Kammy to take you to one of the guest suites. I've got to go, being such a great king takes a lot of work, you know?"

Luigi laughs at the overexaggerated wave that Bowser throws him as he types away on his phone and shuts the door behind him.

Back at Peach's castle, staff and maids were trying to ignore the yelling and the metallic woody scent coming from the princess's personal chambers.

"What do you mean 'he's probably fine?!?' He was kidnapped! f*cker probably has my brother chained up over a pit of lava or something!"

"Mario, please. This kind of thing happens all the time, does it not?" Her scent is calm, champagne and bubblegum, but it spikes with anxiety every time the man across from her slams his hands on the table, “not with Luigi it doesn’t!”

She sighs, "Well I have plenty of experience being kidnapped by Bowser, I promise you he's not in any danger. He'll probably send him back after the weekend, since he wasn't trying to kidnap him anyways" she continues, hoping to ease some of the anger radiating off the man.

Her words only seem to make him angrier, "Of course he's in danger! He's an Omega, an unmated one at that, who knows what that feral-ass Alpha could do to him. Probably wouldn't even stop if it killed him."

Peach gasps, the calm scent she had been working so hard to maintain shattering into fire and burnt sugar as she stands from her seat. "Alright, that's enough. I know this is a stressful situation for you but I am telling you that your brother is fine. I will not have you speak so lowly of anyone, regardless of if we're "enemies" or not. Your brother is more than capable of taking care of himself, Omega or not."

It seems like the only thing that stuck with him from that rant was her air quotes around enemies, because he scoffs at her, "what, you're gonna tell me after years of being kidnapped you've finally fallen for it? "enemies"? what the f*ck does "enemies" mean? He's a f*cking monster, Peach! and he's got my brother! You can’t be this stupid…"

At this point Peach has run out of patience, "and he'll keep him until we go get him on Monday," she turns to face him, glaring, "I'll have you remember, "princess" is just a nickname. and one of the first laws of my kingdom is that you treat your queen with respect. Don't ever speak to me like that again. Have a good weekend, Mario, I trust you know how to see yourself out?"

At his stammered reply and heavy steps towards her, she calls for her guards, and Mario even has the decency to shut her door on his way running out of her room. She really wasn't worried about Luigi, not his safety at least, she knew he was a pretty anxious person but he's also smart, and should hopefully be able to tell that he's not in any actual danger. That was something that not many people in the Mushroom Kingdom could comprehend, that someone could be safe in Bowser's castle, but she couldn't really blame them for it. Their kingdoms have a long history, one that's been full of tension since before she took the throne. She doesn't know if it had actually started with their fathers, but their feud was something Peach remembers permeating even the earliest of her memories. The Koopa King is a ruthless man, her father would say, he'll do anything to get what he wants. What he wanted was power, in any way shape or form, and his first step was to break off pieces of his kingdom's Power Star in order to infuse his unborn children with it and consume some himself. He was trying to create an army of ultra-powerful, ultra-loyal warriors, and on top of the Power Star injected strands of dragon DNA in the eggs to ensure his offspring were strong and big, larger than every other Koopa including himself. He rampaged every kingdom, tore down entire cities trying to take their Stars and using the destruction as training for his children, encouraging them to harass the locals and take whatever they wanted, they were oftentimes seen running around and laughing in the burning rubble of buildings all across lands even Peach had never been to.

A lot of people are killed as a result of his hunger for power, and he makes an enemy of almost every single Kingdom to the point of banding together to fight back against him. The Koopa King starts to get more desperate for power as the years go on, and what would turn out to be his final scheme had since turned into a historical tragedy, one that would end up kickstarting Peach's rule as Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom. A few nights after her 13th birthday she's walking along the veranda that connects the Royal rooms from the rest of the castle late at night, late enough that everyone else is asleep, including her guards, and she's pretty much plucked right off the sidewalk, a bag thrown over her head. She must have passed out at some point because she distinctly remembers waking up some time later noton the veranda but chained to the wall in some kind of cell. She's not alone in here, though, against the opposite wall sits one of the princes of the Koopa Kingdom, Bowser. As terrified of him as she was at first, the two of them actually form a little alliance in the darkness of that cell, intent on figuring out why they had been kidnapped and how the hell they were both getting out of here. He clearly wants to be here as much as she does, which is not at f*cking all, but she's still surprised at how... friendly? He is? At 15 he's the youngest of the current King's children, and they actually get along pretty well. After he breaks them both off the walls he tells her stupid jokes to keep her from freaking out when the guards come by their cell and he doesn't seem to mind that she's not the perfect Omega princess everyone wants her to be, teaching her a way to tie her skirts so she doesn't trip over them if she needed to fight or run away when they'd figured a way out of their cell and laughing at her certainly unladylike comments about whoever was keeping them here. She assumed he'd be just like his dad, and when she tells him that she wants to smack herself at the sad look on his face. He continues to prove her assumptions about him wrong as they make their way through what turns out to be an abandoned airship that had crashed on an island, constantly keeping her out of harm’s way when they sneak around and taking the entirety of the blame when they get caught. Turns out, they were there to get married, a revelation that they look equally horrified at. According to the freakshow magician, Count Bleck? Maybe? And whatever book he was reading, their union would produce a power star, which his client was counting on.

Peach remembers being so confused, what kind of client would want something like that? but one look at the terrified expression on the Prince’s face and she knew this was going to end badly either way. The threat of death kept her from running as cloaked figures help her into a wedding dress and guide her to the altar where Bowser was waiting, clearly still trying to figure a way out of this for both of them if the look he’d given her when they stood face to face meant what she thought it did. Whatever he was thinking was clearly thrown out of the window when halfway through the ceremony, a power star slowly materializing between them, the Koopa King breezes through the large double doors and stalks up to the altar. There was a lot of yelling, but Peach mostly remembers how betrayed Bowser sounded, used as a pawn by his own father. She can also remember the look on Bowser’s face as his father told him he would never be as strong as his siblings, that he was a disgrace, and that he would be left outside the room when his father and siblings consumed the power star, left behind as his family became more powerful than ever before. The star was unstable though, left partially formed as a result of their unfinished union, and Bowser’s father and siblings were killed in the explosion, their bodies unable to contain the unrefined energy they were putting in them. When she returns to her Kingdom, her parents are sick with what she assumes is worry, but as the sickness spreads and lasts longer than the summer she starts her official training to claim the throne. As a result of the commotion, the already strained relationship her kingdom had had with Bowser’s was entirely severed, regardless of how badly she’d wanted to forge an official alliance with her friend. Her parents’ signed one last law into effect before their deaths, a decree that would ban all citizens of the Darklands from entering the borders of any other kingdom unless it was for the officially sanctioned sports events or kart races, where they would be heavily monitored and asked to leave at any time for any reason. They had cut off all trading in and out of the Darklands, and encouraged all the other kingdoms to do the same. This meant that her newfound friendship went on a backburner for a little while, unable to contact or see Bowser at all due to the laws, and as hard as it is for her to admit she actually kind of… forgot? About him? To her credit, trying to learn how to run a kingdom at 14 is an incredibly time consuming endeavor, and it wasn’t like she had any easy way to get in contact with him. He'd only tried to come to one Race, and had been denied before he even got off his ship, she had a phone but didn’t have his number and she had pen and paper but didn’t have any way to get it to him other than going herself. A few years later, thoughts of forming an alliance with the ostracized kingdom have been pushed away again, too focused on ensuring her Kingdom's safety and security.

Bowser apparently had other plans, seeing as he kidnapped her from her bedroom balcony a few weeks after her 17th birthday. She'd been scared at first, her years on the throne had changed her so much and she had no doubt he had changed as well, surely his father's crown had gotten rid of whatever was left of the soft-hearted goofy teen she'd met before. However, by the end of her third day there she was once again proven wrong about the Alpha, watching him interact with his citizens as he showed her around the cities and towns he'd helped in the aftermath of his father's death. Apparently in the beginning the people of the Darklands weren't exactly happy that the "weakest" and youngest of the former King's children was taking over as their leader, and he'd even gone through extensive training to prove he could act like the "perfect" Alpha, even if he still didn't really want to resort to violence and destruction as easily as his father. As hesitant as his people were at first, no one could deny what he had been able to do even as young as 16 in terms of advancing the kingdom. He immediately gave away almost all of the money in the royal vaults, citing a better use for it being the reconstruction and development of cities and structures that his father had destroyed, and offered many of the townspeople positions at his castle instead of keeping the stacked court his father had. As a result of his efforts the Darklands were actually doing really well, most of the land had more advanced technology than even the most well off cities in her kingdom, and upon Peach's return to her castle she tries to tell anyone who will listen about her experience there in hopes that her advisors would consider adjusting or abolishing some of the laws her parents put in place. She got as far as convincing her guards to allow the Koopa Kingdom to occupy their viewing box at games and races before she gets kidnapped... again... Her annoyance is palpable every time she ends up at his castle, even as well as they get along, because she's trying to do something nice for him, hello? and he's ruining the chance she's trying to get him to form an alliance. However, the more she returns unharmed to her castle the less people take Bowser seriously, which wasn't exactly what she was going for but at least they aren't completely terrified of him anymore. There are many visits over the years, so many actually that when she goes almost a year without seeing him she starts to get a little worried something bad happened.

Literal days before she was planning on bringing something up to someone she's plucked from her personal garden and brought to his castle once more, where she meets his newborn son? and her need to help him increases tenfold. And they do make as much progress as they can in the years between that visit and the moment two brothers from somewhere called Brooklyn stumble into her Kingdom after her 25th birthday and make it their life's mission to keep her from staying there longer than a single night. There's a small group of her inner council and toads in the town outside the castle who have been told the real story, straight from the Princess, about what happened the night Bowser's father died and support her endeavors to welcome him as an ally, and the thought of her supporters reminds her of a plan she'd been toying with for a while now. If she can get another person to stay in the Koopa Kingdom for longer than a few days as an ambassador, provide her with information on the true state of Bowser's Kingdom, and return unharmed and willing to continue going back, she could probably make a strong case as for why these laws her parents put in place should be rolled back, and trade and travel between the Kingdoms should be allowed again. And if Luigi is at all willing to go back when they return with him on Monday, she'll have the perfect candidate. Everyone is used to her going and returning unharmed, but there’s not a single person in the kingdom who would assume the self-proclaimed scaredy cat of the Mario Brothers would willingly go and return, especially not since he and his brother have spent so long trying to keep Peach away. Not to mention, Luigi is smart, and resourceful, and can handle himself in a pinch, regardless of what Mario has to say. It's like the Alpha forgets that his brother literally took on multiple mansions and an entire hotel full of enemies and ghosts to save him. He has experience with diplomacy, helping herself and Daisy with various problems over the years when both she and Peach had come up with nothing, and would probably be able to help Bowser look at some of his kingdom’s problems from a new perspective. Plus, Luigi is a really good friend. They’ve gotten close since his arrival, and she thinks living away from his brother would do him some good. Not to mention, Bowser is one of the loneliest and most awkward people she’s ever met, he could benefit from having someone like her Omega friend there. She steeples her hands in thought after nodding to the guards that had come to check on her, ironing out the finer points of her plan in her head before she brings it up to Luigi.

Chapter 2: Chapter Two

Chapter Text

Kammy was, in the nicest way, a lot. She was a ball of anxious energy, rambling as she showed Luigi to his room.

"...and my brother and I work down there, in the magic labs," she points down an almost comically long hallway, "and the kitchens and dining room are back the other way but you'll see those when you come down for dinner, obviously where else would you eat dinner?" She chuckles nervously, "I'm sorry, we just don't get many new people here, especially humans. His Majesty said to just treat you like we'd treat the princess but the princess is a little scary sometimes – she's just so pretty and nice and usually Kamek deals with the people because I apparently go on and on and onand most people don't really like that."

He frowns, "I think you're doing a great job! You don't have to be scared of me, or the Princess honestly. I don't care if you ramble, you're showing me around. I appreciate you pointing things out to me!"

That seems to help a little, her shoulders relaxing with a small smile. Soon they're stopped in front of a large wooden door, and Kammy is pushing it open. "Wait, are you sure this is a guest suite? it seems kinda ...big?" and Kammy giggles at that, "yes, Mr. Luigi, this is one of our guest suites. The Princess's room is down the hall, for when she's here, but this will be your room for now."

The Princess has her own room? What kind of kidnapper does that?He shrugs, "well alright. And you don't have to call me Mister. Just Luigi is fine." She nods, and moves to leave and let him explore his rooms, but he stops her before she can open the door, "wait! You said something about dinner?" Her eyebrows shoot up, "oh! yes, of course!. It's at 7, so you have a little while to get settled," the clock on the wall by the door reads 5:07, "but I can come back by and take you to the dining room, if you want?"

He nods, there's no way he's finding his way around this huge place by himself, and she throws a "see you later!" over her shoulder as she shuts his door. Luigi is rooted to his spot, eyes scanning the room he's been given. Dark wood covers the walls, a dark marble covering the floor and ceiling and tall windows taking up the wall across from him. This room has a large tv above a fireplace, ornate red and orange and black couches, chairs, tables, and rugs covering the space, and a set of double doors against one wall. Upon opening them Luigi is greeted with the sight of a huge bedroom; a four poster bed and more big windows with a balcony, who would give a prisoner such an easy way to escape? , a dressing table, drawers, bedside tables, a mirror and more chairs all in the same colors as the living room furniture. On one wall, there are two doors, and Luigi opens the right one to reveal an insane closet, rows and rows of clothes in all types of colors and styles. Luigi could spend hours in here alone trying sh*t on, but he tucks that away to do after dinner and goes back out into the bedroom to open the left door, which he suspects is a bathroom. His suspicions are correct when the door swings open and the largest bathroom Luigi had ever seen was behind it. Dark gray marble covers every surface, a stone tub sitting against a wall under another large window and a shower that looks straight out of an architecture magazine sits along the other. In between was a long double vanity with a backlit mirror, and beside the shower was a door that opened up into the closet. The toilet was thankfully just a normal one, Luigi had seen his fair share of f*cked up looking bathrooms since he'd fallen into his new life, but it was the lighting that really caught his eye. It looks like lava, casting everything in a light red glow from behind glass inlays in the floor, walls, and ceiling. Looking closer, he realizes it is f*cking lava, slowly moving through the inlays, like a... lava lamp, Luigi amusedly thinks, watching it flow through the bathroom and into the bedroom. He traces the lava with his eyes and finds that it snakes through the entire room, casting everything in a low light that Luigi hadn't even noticed until now. There were large chandeliers in the living room and bedroom for when it got really dark, but until then Luigi would enjoy the ambient lighting while he got ready for dinner. He decided to just hang his dress up while he showered and put it back on when he was clean, since his exploration of the room had taken him nearly an hour. He uses his shower as time to process everything that's happened so far. It kind of seems like Peach's kidnappings were more like vacations, what with the tea and snacks waiting for him and the dinner and absolutely insane rooms, something he'd have to ask her about when he returned. He can’t imagine a room more luxurious than this one, but knowing Peach she’s got her room here absolutely decked out.

The bathroom has piles and piles of beauty products stacked around the bath, in the shower, on the counter, plus more on the dressing table in the bedroom, which Luigi takes advantage of as he bathes. And it seems like Bowser is just...cool? with him being here? The casual way he had spoken when he thought Luigi was Peach was interesting, since he had only ever heard Bowser growl out threats and taunts at him and his brother whenever they saw each other. And the glasses were definitely funny, the image of the "scary" Alpha King squinting down at his phone making Luigi laugh into the silence of his room. He seemed to be much more relaxed here, in his home, and the spicy smoky scent that Bowser emitted during their interaction made him feel something he’s not even sure he has a name for, even when it was laced with anger. He belatedly realizes that his phone is still with his other clothes in Peach's castle, but there's nothing he can really do about it now, so he just resigns himself to being "unplugged" until he can get back home. He gets out of the shower and towels off, using some random lotion he finds on his legs and arms before slipping back into his dress. It's nearing 7 by this point, so Luigi sits on the couch and flips through the tv channels for about 15 minutes until there's a quiet knock at his door. He opens it to find Kammy standing and fidgeting with her hands, and he smiles at her before he motions for the two of them to head to dinner. They pass by the large formal dining room with a long table and walk through a pair of doors that opens into a much smaller dining room with a round table. Bowser is sitting on one side, glasses back on and reading a book.

He sets both his glasses and the book on the table, "hey! Long time no see!" he smiles, echoing his words from earlier as Luigi sits across from him, "find everything in your room okay?" Luigi nods, "I can't believe that's a guest room, it’s bigger than my whole house!" Bowser chuckles, and soon their food is served.

The food is amazing, savory and spicy and the polar opposite of what he's gotten used to in the Mushroom Kingdom, and the two of them fall into easy conversation over their meals. The King is more than willing to answer any and all of his questions, including where his shell was, why Peach had her own room here, why he wasn’t being treated like a prisoner, and why he was given a *room and dinner* . Bowser eyes him curiously, raising an eyebrow at his last few questions.

"Well, the shell is more of a...piece of armor than a body part. Most people don't wear them unless they’re going somewhere they need protection. Probably why you thought they were attached, because no one here’s leaving the kingdom without it these days…” He doesn’t know why, but Luigi feels kind of guilty hearing that, “After like two years of trying out guest rooms I guess the Princess just found one she liked, so she claimed it as hers and I sent the architects up for her to change it how she wanted.” He pauses, “Why would you think you're a prisoner? I didn't even mean to kidnap you. And you have a room because where else would you sleep? You're a *guest* here, even if it was unintentional. And dinner... Well, I guess you could call it a tradition. Peaches likes spending time with me, I guess."

His teasing smile makes Luigi's stomach flutter despite his anxiety. He doesn't really believe this whole "good guy" thing the Alpha is putting on, but his answers seem so genuine, and his scent hadn't dipped back into anger or anything malicious since the brief slip from before.

He nods, "makes sense.” It most certainly does not, but whatever.“This food is super good, by the way, what's in this?" and Bowser shrugs, "you're asking the wrong guy. I just eat the food, you'd have to ask the chef about something like that."

"And I can just...do that?" Luigi blinks, which makes Bowser laugh. "Greenie, I swear. You aren't a hostage here, you could leave tomorrow if you wanna make the trek back by yourself, but all our airship operators get the weekend off unless there's "official business" planned. You could also just...relax?"

At Luigi's glare, he cringes, "not like that! I'm not– I'm just saying– You can just take it easy. You really aren't in any danger here, I swear. Someone from the kitchen will bring you breakfast tomorrow, and I can show you around after my meetings, if you want? The castle isn't actually that big once you know where everything is."

The Omega is a little surprised, he wasn't exactly expecting Bowser to commit to his nice guy bit to this extent, offering to spend more time with Luigi and even give him a tour of his home on top of having food delivered to his room, but he agrees anyways, eager to learn more about the endless hallways and sprawling rooms he saw in passing with Kammy. After dinner the man walks him to his room, leaving him for the night with the knowledge that his rooms were just down the hallway. He shucks his dress off in exchange for some shorts he finds in the closet and falls into bed, exhausted.

The next morning, he's awoken by the sound of movement outside his bedroom. He walks over to the door and cracks it open, and is met with the sight of two koopas setting up a tray of breakfast on the table behind the couch.

"Oh! Good morning, Mr. Luigi! we didn't know what time you'd be awake, so sorry for disturbing you!" He shakes his head, "good morning! no worries, it was about time for me to wake up anyways," he looks over at the clock that reads 9:37, "thank you for bringing me breakfast, I honestly thought he might have been lying about that..." His stomach grumbles at the smell of the absolute spread the kitchen had prepared for him, and the kitchen staff share an amused look, "what?" he asks, and they both snap out of it, embarrassed at being caught.

"Well! Enjoy your breakfast, Mr. Luigi! Leave the cart outside your door when you're done and someone will be back later to collect it." Both of the koopas scurry out the door and Luigi is left with silence and a table full of food, which he eats while surfing through the channels on the TV. After he finishes his food he sets the cart outside and decides to take the Alpha's advice and relax, getting ready for the day and finding an interesting book in the large bookshelves bracketing the fireplace, sitting with it in front of the windows. The book is actually really interesting, and Luigi finds himself distracted with it until the warmth from the sun pulls him into a nap. He wakes up an unknown amount of time later, it can't have been too long since the sun had barely moved in the sky, by a knock on his door. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and clambers over to open the door, where he's met with the sight of Bowser, presumably fresh out of his meetings.

He looks a little surprised to see Luigi, despite having knocked on his door, "sorry, I honestly figured you might have left already, since you hadn't touched your lunch," he points over to the cart, which had been restocked and left outside his door.

He blushes, "no, no. no escaping, just reading and a nap. That couch is literally so comfortable." His honesty makes Bowser laugh, "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. Offers still on the table for that tour, if you're up for it."

Luigi nods, "I've accidentally spent my whole day in here, and I wanna see the castle. It seems so much different to the Princess's" And so, they set off down the expansive hallways of Bowser's castle.

As much as it was surely supposed to be creepy, Luigi couldn't help but admire the dark stone hallways and wood paneled rooms. It reminded him of some of the old money estates that dotted the East Coast back home, huge ceilings and expensive fabrics and intricate stonework, there were so many things packed into each room that Luigi could spend a whole day in each one and not run out of things to look at.

Right off the entrance was a large circular room with a glass ceiling, "Fair warning, it'll probably be kinda hot in here, Junior uses it as a greenhouse" Bowser says as he opens the door, and Luigi is grateful for the warning because it is indeed, hot as hell.

He's looking around at all the different plants when the Alpha's words really set in - Junior.

He had honestly forgotten Bowser even had a son, since the only time anyone ever saw him was at competitions or Kart Races. He doesn't have much time to wonder what the kid is like because when they round a corner that's covered in palm-like plants a koopa tumbles out of the bushes, obviously young but still almost just as big as some of the full grown ones he'd seen around the castle.

The kid shakes off his fall and turns to face them, "papa! The fire flowers are blooming! come here!" and before he can protest Bowser is being pulled through thick foliage into a clearing near the back of the room, Luigi following behind slowly with amusem*nt. "Look! Look! That man told me they wouldn't bloom so soon, but I knew they could!" Junior is just so precious, and the Omega feels his heart melt at the image of Bowser watching his son with so much fondness, leaning in to get a closer look at the things his son is pointing out.

Maybe he's not such a bad guy, I mean what kind of mean, ruthless Alpha would be so invested in his son’s flower garden? And give another kingdom's ruler a room in his house that she had apparently designed herself? His inner Omega has been poking around the Alpha in interest since he got here, the compliment on his dress and their easy connection making Luigi's metaphorical tail wag. Bowser may not be easy on the eyes, but he’s not ugly, and something about his confident personality and co*cky expressions made Luigi blush just thinking about him. Stop it. You're not even supposed to be here, now is not the time to think about finding a boyfriend. He's pulled from his thoughts by the sight of Junior standing in front of him.

"Hello! My name is Junior! Wait, you look kinda familiar... have I seen you before? I thought you usually wore red, and did you get taller? Are we in trouble? I swear my Papa doesn't mean anything bad, he just needs to talk to the Princess!" Luigi is laughing behind his hand and looking over at Bowser who is covering his face and shaking his head. "Hi, it's nice to formally meet you, Junior. You probably have seen me before, I compete in a lot of the same sports and races as you and your dad do. And my brother is the one in the red, Mario, my name’s-"

His introduction gets cut off by the excited child, "Luigi! You saved all those people from the hotel, right?" He nods in surprise, the unexpected acknowledgement of his travels catching him off guard, "You're right, that's me! How'd you hear about that? No one's in trouble, I came here by accident instead of the Princess. I'm sure she'll be here in a few days, though, so your Papa should be able to talk to her then, don't worry."

Junior nods resolutely, "okay good. Papa is teaching me how to read from the newspapers, and there was a story about the hotel in there!" The child doesn't wait for Luigi's response, turning to his father and jumping on him, prompting the Alpha to catch him and hoist him up on his shoulder, "Papa, did you eat lunch yet? I'm hungry, can we eat in the garden?" Bowser replies affirmatively, "I'll have to call the kitchen, let them to know to take it out there."

He pulls out his phone but Junior is reaching for it, "do you want to call them? you'll have to order the food, you can't chicken out like last time," the Alpha gives the phone to his son, who hesitates over the call button, whispering "can Luigi eat with us? Please? I want to ask about the ghosts!" into his father’s ear loud enough that Luigi can hear, and he smiles when the Alpha looks over at him.

"You'll have to ask, and see what he wants to eat," Junior is let down from his shoulder and he walks back over to Luigi, shy. "Would you... like to eat lunch with us? I can order for you, if you don't know what you want. I have great taste, I swear!" The child's cheesy smile and thumbs up has Luigi nodding, "I trust you, pick your favorites," and Junior is climbing back up onto Bowser's shoulder giggling and calling the kitchen.

The food wouldn’t be ready for a little while, so Luigi falls in step beside the King as Junior races off out the door ahead of them to point out various flowers and vines and trees and bugs along the path to the covered area along the back of the garden.

"I’m surprised you let your son read about stuff like The Last Resort, that’s some pretty heavy stuff.” The kid is distracted by a bush of flowers just off the main path, and Luigi laughs lightly, “He’s adorable though, how old is he?" Luigi looks in question to the tall man.

The Alpha considers his question, "Well, I don't know if you knew this or not but the Darklands history is kind of...heavy. Whatever they print in the newspaper probably doesn't hold a candle to what he's learning in school." He shrugs, "But I'm not really worried about it. He really is precious, I can't get over it sometimes. He's seven, his birthday was last month. Which is kind of crazy, since it feels like he was born yesterday."

Bowser watches his son try to get a bug to land on his arm with a smile, and Luigi is overcome with curiosity about the Alpha's child. He's no childbirth expert, and he has even less of a clue about Koopa anatomy, but he's curious as to where Junior's mom is. "And his mom... is she still... around?"

The Alpha stops, looking at Luigi with amusem*nt, "yeah, he'sright here," he motions to himself which only serves to confuse the Omega more, drawing a snort from Bowser. "Koopas don't need another person to have a kid, we're set up with all the right... equipment to do it ourselves. It's not really common for Alphas to willingly be pregnant, but by the time I turned 20 I had already spent half a decade without any family. It put me under some fire, I guess everyone was still a little nervous for me to have a kid after what happened with my dad, but I don't really give a f*ck. He's practically the people's prince, the way everyone fawns over him when we go out."

Well that was a lot to think about, but Luigi takes it in stride, nodding with a tilt of his head because he’d at least heard of some lizards that could do that kind of thing back on Earth, "that explains why he looks just like you," which makes Bowser laugh again, tilting his head back and offering Luigi a view of the smile that had his inner Omega preening, following the strong line of his neck as it connected to his shoulders under his shirt with his eyes.

He could feel his cheeks get hot and the flowery scent he carried intensified, hopefully masked by the fragrant flowers lining the walkway. He fears he's been caught when the Alpha looks him up and down, laughing lightly before running a hand over his jaw and continuing down the path, lifting Junior up to pick something off a tree when he notices that the kid's jumps aren't quite high enough to reach, and Luigi feels his inner Omega whining at the soft display of affection before he snaps out of it. Jesus Christ, calm down, Weegie. One day with the man and you're ready to jump his bones. You don't even know if he's legit, he could just be doing this so you don't go back and tell Peach and Mario he mistreated you. But his Omega is not listening, too caught up in seeing the soft side to an Alpha he had previously written off as violent and aggressive to act reasonable about a man he just met. They make it to an overhang, where a table has been set with three platters of food. He has to admit, the kid does have good taste, whatever sandwich and salad he had ordered for Luigi reminded him of things he used to eat from his family's deli. The three of them eat lunch; Luigi and Bowser eat, Junior spends most of his time filling them both in on the drama at school and referencing internet humor that they were both a little too old to get, as much as he was loath to admit it. After lunch Junior was collected for his music lessons, and Luigi and Bowser spend a large portion of the rest of the afternoon exploring the castle, the Alpha showing him an enormous library that he assures Luigi has full access to, another glass roofed room full of intricate metal furniture and a fountain, a few meeting rooms, his office, the music room where Junior was practicing on the drums, the medical ward, the airship hangars, another garden in the back of the castle that was clearly used by the kitchen, rows of herbs and vegetables and fruits lining a majority of the space. He's taken by the tailor's shop, which looked much more like a shop from a British spy movie than the high end boutique-vibe that Peach's tailor gave off, and shown the royal spas. The name was kind of misleading, since the spas were open to any and all residents of the Darklands. Because the castle was situated on top of a volcano, there were an abundance of natural hot springs, some of which were right along the edge of the property, far enough away from the castle that no one could accidentally end up somewhere they weren't supposed to be. It was set up like some of the spas Luigi has passed by with his mom speed walking through the New York streets, all sleek and glass and stone with a full service staff offering literally anything he could think of. Massages, specialized facials and body care, nails, hair, hot stones (lol), acupuncture, and of course unlimited access to the community hot springs. Luigi assumes the large gilded door to the right of the entrance to the springs is a private bath for the King, something that's only proven more probable when he notices everyone coming in or going out is only using the left door. Everyone they come across bows slightly to Bowser, who chuckles and sends them on their way.

Also, Luigi is definitely talking to Peach about this, because he knows she's gotten the exact same tour but didn't ever think to bring any of it up to anyone, not even him or Daisy. Bowser takes them back through to the formal dining room, "we don't really use this room much, it's mostly for special occasions."

They make their way through to the kitchens where dinner is being started, a testament to how long they've spent wandering around hallways and in and out of rooms. Luigi is reminded of his desire to speak with the chef, and looks between Bowser and the woman standing over the stove. The Alpha nudges him forward slightly "hey, didn't you want to ask about stuff?" but he's still hesitant. "Well I don't want to interrupt, cooking is kind of involv-" he's cut off by Bowser, "uh-uh, none of that. I told her you had questions and she wants to answer them. She knew we were swinging by, don't sweat it."

Luigi blushes, his Omega fawning hard at the consideration the Alpha is showing at bringing him here. He introduces himself to the cook, who eagerly answers his questions about what kinds of meat and vegetables were being used down here, the ways that she prepares the food and the spices she uses. Once she realizes that he’s actually pretty knowledgeable about it, she actually asks him a few questions about combinations she’s been wanting to try and suggestions for next year’s crops. Bowser watches on from the doorway and says something in passing to one of the staff, an unfamiliar feeling blooming in his chest. It had started when he opened the door to his throne room, looking over scans of some documents Peaches had brought him last time she came as a reference for how he should start formatting his royal budget or something just as trivial that she thought would help their plan’s chances. Immediately, he'd known something was up, since the Princess had taken to sitting on his throne and eating her snacks, kicking her feet up and pissing him off because that’s hisseat, thank you, he earned that. But when he looked, his throne was empty, and there was a terrified Luigi sitting at the table. He hadn't been able to control his blush when the man twirled in his dress, the fabric hugging his body and flaring out teasingly at the end. His Alpha was immediately clawing at the walls at the sight of the confident smirk gracing the Omega's features, and the scent of lavender and rain had him internally showing his belly in contentment. The feeling came back with the scent in the garden, something he could immediately pick out over the smell of the other flowers surrounding them, and he'd had to laugh it off lest he do something he really regretted. He could be a little intense sometimes, romance-wise, and as much as he'd wanted to scent the Omega in the garden he'd just walked away after his son, not wanting to scare away this man who he seemed to actually get along with, even better than Peaches. He rolls his eyes to himself about the fact that his Alpha seemed to be set on taking care of the brother of his "nemesis" and someone who he'd never even meant to have met like this, and smiles at Luigi as he makes his way back across the kitchen.

"Thank you so much for this! I never get to talk with anyone about cooking, and they don't have these ingredients in the Mushroom Kingdom. She's very knowledgeable, I bet it'd be fun to cook with her," Bowser's Alpha formulates a response before he can think about it, intent on providing for this wonderful Omega that’s made his way into his castle. "You're more than welcome to spend time in here, and you can use whatever isn't already in use, you know. I'm sure the staff would have no problem?" He looks to the chef and a few of her assistants who all respond enthusiastically that they've been needing someone new to give them ideas on dishes. Luigi giggles and looks between Bowser and the group.

"Well, cool! I'll definitely be back down here tomorrow, how's dinnertime sound?" He gets nods from both Bowser and the chef and smiles, his inner Omega pushing him to thank the King in a more... tactile way, pushing his nose against a wrist or his neck. He ignores it, for now, and settles on thanking everyone verbally and following the Alpha back through to the smaller dining room he had eaten in the night before. The King clearly eats first, judging by the piping hot plates of food sitting on the table that Luigi had just seen the chef ladling into bowls in the kitchen.

"I hope you don't mind, but I just went ahead and had them set us both up for dinner in here again, since I figured we'd still be poking around the castle by dinnertime." Luigi shakes his head, "not at all! Thank you," he nods his head as he sits in the chair Bowser pulls out for him, blushing.

The low light from the dimmed chandelier casts shadows over Bowser's face and really emphasizes that he is, indeed, part dragon. Luigi's eyes trace over a strong jaw and a sharp hook nose, scanning over his horns and the curve of his cheek before meeting his eyes, blushing. "see something you like, Greenie?" the Alpha jokes, and Luigi reaches over the table to smack his arm with an oh, shut up.

He rolls his eyes with a smile, "thank you for showing me around today, this place is super cool." Bowser chuckles at him, "of course, I redesigned the whole place a few years ago, so not many people have seen it like this." He hums, "well you did an amazing job, it looks like it's been here for centuries like this." That gets him a half bow, the Alpha smirking as he flourishes his hand over the table, "thank you." They both tuck into their meals, quiet conversation about the castle and some of the plants filling the space between them. By the time they finish, talking and laughing through their dessert about random drama they'd heard about other kingdoms and royalty, the clock is pushing midnight and Luigi is yawning into his hand.

"Don't fall asleep at the table, now. Bad manners." The deep voice jolts him out of his after-dinner haze and he glares over the table sleepily. "M'not falling asleep, you're just boring me." Bowser laughs, "Oh, so that's how it is! Come on, let me walk you to your room, sleeping beauty, wouldn't want you getting lost. Your brother's probably showing up tomorrow, and he usually makes it a point to get here at the crack of f*cking dawn, can't let a man sleep in..."

At the mention of his brother, Luigi is wide awake. He had been enjoying his time here so much that he had honestly forgotten he wasn't actually supposed to be here, and that there was no doubt Mario would be here as soon as possible to collect him. He's honestly a little scared, because he knows how his brother can be when it comes to him. One time in high school Luigi had been shoved in a locker by some stupid football players and they'd had to go collect Mario from the police station because he had sent the entire team to the hospital. It's that stupid macho Alpha mentality, the one that had pushed the wedge between them in the first place, and Luigi's newfound fondness for the man in front of him made everything ten times harder for him than it needed to be. He should be ecstatic to be going home after being wrongfully kidnapped and spending the last two days in the castle of someone he had been taught to hate, but something about the place makes him want to stay.

"About my brother... I'm sorry. He's just really...protective..." he trails off, and Bowser scoffs, "yeah, I kinda gathered that from how often he comes after Peaches. Don't worry, I'm used to it by now. It doesn't even hurt, I'm just an amazing actor." He draws out the last two words long enough to make Luigi laugh, and the two of them head out the door and back through the hallways to Luigi's room. Stopped outside the door, Luigi turns back to the Alpha, deciding that if tonight was gonna be his last night here then he might as well take a risk and let his inner Omega have some fun.

He steps up closer to Bowser, who is eyeing him curiously, "Thank you again for showing me around today, and for being so nice to me even though I wasn't even supposed to be here," he takes the man's hand who jumps a little in surprise, before bringing it up to his face. He nudges at the small bump under the skin of his wrist with his nose, and he can feel the Alpha's breath hitch as Luigi's senses are filled with smoke and spice.

Bowser smiles before bringing Luigi's other hand up to his lips, pressing a kiss into the skin before flipping it and pressing his nose to the matching spot on the Omega's wrist and watching the man’s eye’s flutter shut in response. "Of course, Omega. You're always welcome, even if I have to kidnap you to get you here." Bowser presses another soft kiss into his skin before pulling away. "Being kidnapped wasn't that bad, I'd do it again," he says, giggling. Bowser chuckles at him before bidding him goodnight, leaving Luigi to get ready for what was sure to be an interesting morning.

As soon as the Omega shuts the door, though, he's sliding down the wall and screaming silently into his hands. His inner Omega is absolutely delighted at the small physical contact, the most he'd experienced from an Alpha in years because of Mario's obsessive control over his life. He tries to reason, tries to say that it's just because they've never really met before this and Luigi's been stuck here waiting for his brother and he doesn't even know if the man is actually safe and not just playing this up so he doesn't go running to Peach and Mario about it. But it doesn't matter, the butterflies in his stomach at the thought of the Alpha smiling down at him and the way his Omega is begging for him to go and properly scent Bowser, nose and mouth rubbing over his neck, is making him dizzy with want. He shakes his head and heads for the shower, intent on washing away all thoughts of getting closer to the Alpha King with the hot water. As the heat from the spray blankets his muscles his thoughts of home and getting back to his old life are overtaken by the memory of breath on his skin. His body heats up further, pressure building in his abdomen as he washes shampoo out of his hair. Before too long, the pressure becomes too much, and one of Luigi’s hands slides down his front and grips his dick, tugging lightly with a gasp as he leans onto the wall. He speeds up, eyes falling shut and breath coming out heavy as the phantom feeling of Bowser's lips travels from his hand up his arm and across his chest, and all too soon he's biting back a moan and watching with a blush as the evidence of his fast attraction to the man is washed down the drain.

Bowser watches the door shut with a huff of breath, running his hand over his face and hiding a smile as he makes his way back to his room. He stops by Junior's room to make sure he’s asleep and smiles at the soft snores coming from his son's bed. He leans over and plants a kiss on the top of his head, and two small arms wrap around his neck.

"Night, Papa. I love you." is slurred out, and Bowser returns the hug tightly, "goodnight, I love you too." He shuts the door to his kid's wing of the castle before heading for his own.

Most of the bedrooms in the castle were remarkably similar, black and gold marble walls and dark wood floor and ceiling. The room, though, was the biggest, the bed alone taking up as much space as some of the smaller bedrooms. Dark maroon sheets and a blanket cover the mattress, and gold curtains hang from the bedframe. Through a pair of large french doors sits a living room with plush couches in the same dark maroon. There was also a large bathroom with an enormous stone tub, shallow enough that he could sit on the bottom, but deep enough that he’s sitting up to his shoulders. His closet is largely filled with casual clothes, his shell acting as his sole outfit outside of the castle. Thanks to Kamek’s magic, the tub fills quickly, and soon Bowser is sinking into the molten heat of the tub and reminiscing about the events of his day. His inner Alpha is a tad angry with him for not scenting the Omega properly, pulling them chest to chest and burying his nose in the soft skin of Luigi’s neck. But he really doesn’t want to mess this up, for some reason, it surprised him enough that Luigi had initiated the scenting in the first place. It was really pitiful, how quickly he was falling for the human, and he tries to keep his Alpha from running wild with the thought that the two of them were meant for each other, albeit unsuccessfully. He just can't help it, not with the Omega's soothing scent and bright laugh. He's never gotten along with someone so easily, even with Peach it had taken a little while before the two of them had the kind of relaxed conversation he and Luigi shared. And he’s so pretty, bright blue eyes and curly brown hair paired with his size difference reminding Bowser of some kind of fairy. He knows the human doesn't all the way trust him yet, which is understandable, he'd only been there like two days and he did get kidnapped, even if it wasn't on purpose. But he seemed so...sad? when his rescue was brought up, like he didn't want to leave, or at least didn’t want to return with his brother. Bowser's heart lurches at the thought that someone could actually miss him, that he could actually make someone want to stay, and his Alpha runs with the feeling, trying to cement the memory of Luigi's scent and the feel of his skin under his hand in his mind because he’s probably never going to get the chance to do any of that again. His face starts to heat as he starts to imagine what it would be like to scent the Omega closer, maybe he would let Bowser sit them down and pull him onto his lap, hands around a small waist as he buries his nose and lips in Luigi's neck and pressing kisses along his throat. His head falls back against the edge of the tub as he recalls the feeling of Luigi’s small hands in his own, and Bowser can’t help but spread his legs a little wider along the bottom of the bath, feeling his core clench at the memory of the human’s closed eyes and parted lips. He runs his hand over his slit, feeling the skin surrounding it puff up at the stimulation. Pressing down on his abdomen, he can feel the outline of his penis through the thin skin, rubbing on it absentmindedly as his imagination runs wild with the feeling of Luigi’s back against his chest, and before long he’s slipping his fingers inside himself, panting heavily as the tip of his penis begins to poke out. He presses down on the tip and rubs, hips twitching as he slumps bodily against the side of the tub, resigned to taking a shower after he gets out of his now soiled bath. After his shower, he pulls on some boxers before collapsing in bed, face flushed as his activities catch up to him. f*ck's sake. *what* is he doing, letting his Alpha go crazy over a random human Omega like he wasn't a King who had responsibilities and a reputation. He lets his Alpha relish in his post-org*sm bliss a little while longer before he reminds himself that Luigi is leaving tomorrow, and that whatever infatuation he’s had with the Omega for the past few days will have to come to an end.

Chapter 3: Chapter Three

Chapter Text

When Luigi wakes up a few hours later, he's being shaken by his shoulders.

Kammy is standing over him in a robe and bonnet, "Oh thank stars, you're a heavy sleeper! You have to get up now though, Mario's been spotted a few towns over and will probably get here in a couple of hours, if we're lucky."

Luigi is confused, but stumbles into the closet to throw on some random clothes anyways, "you said Mario's coming? Where are we going, won't he just come find me?"

Kammy is ushering him through the halls, "No, no, His Majesty doesn't want your brother running around all over the castle, so we're going to the throne room." Now that he thinks about it, every time he'd been to rescue the princess they'd only ever gone in the throne room, where Bowser had been conveniently waiting on them with Peach.

"It might seem a little extreme, but His Majesty has an image to protect, as I'm sure you're aware." They round the corner into the throne room, and Luigi grins as he watches Bowser slumped over tiredly on his throne, crown askew from where his head is resting on his hand.

He's wearing his shell, a shield for the inevitable fight, and he's got on a long dark blue cape, clasped across his chest by two bejeweled clusters. Clearly, he'd been given just as much notice as Luigi about their impending guest. Luigi walks across the floor and comes up beside the throne, trading good mornings with the Alpha. "Sorry for all the theatrics, but I can't have people thinking I just let my “hostages” run free in my house.."

He motions over to a large gold cage with a door that's propped open, presumably waiting for Luigi's arrival. "I get that. Nice outfit, by the way," his comment gets him a glare, and a poorly hidden smile, and Luigi leans over to push the crown to sit centered on his head.

"There. can't have that all crooked for your big showdown, huh?" Bowser blushes, mumbling a thank you before Kammy is coming over to show him his cage. He meets Kamek, too, briefly introducing himself before listening intently to the mage's explanation of the warding around the cage.

"It's entirely enchanted, the patterns on the side make it float and the big circular thing in the middle will keep you from falling out once you're up there. It's mostly to keep you off the floor because your brother and His Majesty tend to get into...intense fights."

Everyone's attention is pulled to the large doors at the front of the room when a koopa comes running through, telling Bowser that Mario had been spotted along the outskirts of the town just outside the palace, and that he would be here sooner rather than later, it seemed. That kicks everyone into gear, Bowser straightening up on his throne and Luigi nabbing a croissant to take with him in his cage, the door shut but not locked behind him as he was hoisted into the air. He waves at Bowser around a bite of his breakfast, and the man smiles at him and gives him a small wave back. He feels his anxiety come back tenfold at the arrival of his overbearing brother, who is sure to be upset with Luigi for ‘doing something so stupid’ as getting kidnapped by their enemy. He stews in his anxiety for another 15 minutes before one of the stained glass windows lining the walls shatters, and his brother swings in through the empty space. He can hear Bowser sigh, rolling his eyes as the shorter human makes his way to stand in front of the throne, glowering menacingly.

"Man, I tell you this every time, but you can just use the door." Luigi giggles as he watches the large doors creak open, Princess Peach walking through moments later, beelining for the enchanted chain holding Luigi airborne while the other two throw their first punches.

"You f*cking monster, this is a whole new low," Mario starts, "You and Peach have had this weird back and forth thing for years, and that's fine because I'm gonna show up every time and beat your ass, but taking my brother? That's too f*cking far!"

Mario is putting out some serious damage, but the other Alpha isn't doing anything, dodging most of his shots and blocking the ones he couldn't run from. "What have you been doing to him, huh? You're disgusting, to take advantage of an Omega like I'm sure you did. He's not strong enough to fight back, and you're feral enough to take what you want, I'm sure."

Bowser clips him upside the head, not lethal but definitely enough to hurt, "don't treat your brother like he's completely helpless. He survived the whole weekend here with me, and there's not even a single scratch on him!"

That only makes Mario more upset, "dont talk like you know anything about us, you f*cking animal."

In the corner, Peach has successfully gotten Luigi down with some subtle help from Kamek who lifted the enchantment on the chain with a nod so she could pull it. Now they were kind of just standing here, Peach taking a bite of food off of the plates left earlier by the kitchen as she watches on, clearly annoyed. Luigi chews at his lip, he hadn't meant to get kidnapped, but he didn't think the Princess would be genuinely upset about coming to rescue him.

"I-I'm sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to make you both come all the way out here because of me..." he trails off.

She's taking his hands in hers quickly,"No! no, don’t say that. I'm not annoyed with you, Luigi, I'm annoyed with your brother." At his raised eyebrow she continues, "I told him you would be fine. I figured he would believe me since I've been dealing with this longer than the two of you have been down here, but it was a fight enough to get him to wait until today to come get you. How did you enjoy dinner by the way? I’d pay to see his face when he saw you instead of me."

Her knowing smirk reminds Luigi of what Bowser had said, kind of a tradition. "Wait, how did you know that?" but she just laughs, "I've been doing this for a long time, I know what to expect by now. he's really not a bad guy, under all that-" she motions to the fight that is still very much going on,"-tough guy act. he doesn't even like the fighting, he just kind of lets Mario beat the sh*t out of him to make him feel better, I guess."

And sure enough, Bowser is laid out, his brother leaning over him and slamming his fists into already bloody skin. "That actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it," Luigi starts to say something else but the sound of his brother taunting the man slumped over on the floor unnecessarily and can't help how he reacts.

"f*cks sake, Mario! He's not even fighting back at this point, you're just beating the sh*t out of him for no reason! I'm not even in any danger, something you would have noticed had you literally even looked in my direction at any point."

Both of the brothers seem surprised at Luigi's outburst, he really hadn't meant to mouth off to his brother like that and by the look on Mario’s face he hadn't been expecting it either, raised brows turning down in anger and confusion in his direction before Peach steps in.

"Yes, I'm sure by this point the King would just allow us to leave?" She looks over to Bowser in question, who just motions to the door and nods once. He can't help but stare at the man as they pass, feeling guilt threaten to swallow him whole at the sight of the blood and bruises covering the Alpha's body. It's like Bowser can sense him, though, and lifts his gaze to throw Luigi a wink, biting back a smirk and disguising it as a grimace when Mario looks back over his shoulder with a glare.

Upon his return, Mario is stuck to his side like glue every second of every day. Even in their house, he won't leave Luigi alone longer than 10 minutes, paranoia over his recent kidnapping clear as day. The only time he finds himself away from his brother is at the castle, where he's been spending the weeks since his rescue catching up with the Princess while Mario locks himself in a room in the library all day doing who knows what. He's been asking questions about the Darklands, and about Bowser, because Peach is the literal only other person to have stepped foot in Bowser's castle in along time. He's sure his interest in the man does notseem purely academic at this point, judging by the amused expression Peach has on her face every time she answers. But, she still answers them and doesn't call Luigi out on anything he clearly isn't telling her about his time there, electing to keep his and the King's closeness out of the rotation for now regardless of how obvious it is that Luigi clearly likes the man.

As weeks turn into months, Luigi spends most of his time not at the castle trying to convince himself that his weird longing feeling he was experiencing was just because he missed the good food and freedom of choice his stay in the Darklands had given him, and not because he was missing the company of a certain Alpha. About a week before Peach's annual ball Luigi is sitting down in Peach's parlor after getting the final alterations done on his dress when she walks in the room with a folder tucked under her arm. She smells anxious, burnt sugar peeking through her normal scent, and Luigi tilts his head in question as she sits across from him.

She takes a deep breath, "Luigi, I need your help with something." He nods slowly, looking between her and the file on the table, "I know you know by now that Bowser isn't the cold-hearted ruler that he's made out to be. I've been trying to help him get his sh*t together, so to speak, for the last few years but I can't ever stay over there for long enough to get anything substantial done."

Luigi stammers slightly at Peach's relaxed language, but she continues anyways, "I've been thinking, and if I can get someone over there for longer than a week or two I should be able to get the information I need to help him. I want everyone to finally live in peace, Luigi, and I think you could help with that..."

He raises his eyebrows, "Princess, how in the world could I help with that?" trying to ignore the way his pulse kicks at the mention of returning to the Darklands. She looks at him through her eyebrows, "Luigi you've literally helped me and Daisy through Kingdom-wide crises without even breaking a sweat. If anyone knows what they're doing for something like this it's you. I just need someone there for a little while to sit in on meetings and help me put together a report I can show my advisors. I swear, you won't be in any danger, and I'll make sure you have your phone with you this time so we can stay in touch."

He laughs at her attempt to diffuse the situation, but his hesitance must speak for itself, "just think about it, please. There's not a time frame on this at all, so take whatever time you need and just come talk to me whatever you decide." With that he nods and makes his way out of the castle, through the town and up the path to his and Mario's house. His brother was still at the castle, but he hadn't moved from his spot in the library all day and Luigi was f*cking exhausted, all he wanted to do was hop in the shower and go to sleep, so he really doesn’t care if Mario gets angry with him for leaving without him. He watches the water from the shower circle the drain, deep in thought. He definitely missed the freedom that came with living away from his brother, and his inner Omega was jumping at the chance to be close to the Alpha even after months of not being able to contact him at all. Plus, Peach seemed pretty serious about this, and Luigi does have to admit that he's pretty good at coming up with solutions to people's problems, the main reason why Mario put him on customer service duty when they had their own business in Brooklyn. If she really thought this was something worth doing, then he should probably do it. She wouldn't put him in danger, he knows that much. He towels off and stumbles into a pair of boxers and lays face down in his bed, trying to fight off the swoops in his stomach as he remembers smoldering red eyes and the scent of spice and smoke. He definitely still had a little crush on the man, even after being away from him for so long. He thinks about him constantly – whether or not he's in any pain, if his injuries have healed okay, what he's up to in general- Luigi is down bad for this man, and the thought of being able to see him again fills him with a good kind of anxiety, one that buzzes under his skin in anticipation, not dread. He spends a few days contemplating his decision and trying to calm himself down at the prospect of seeing Bowser again, and by the time lunch rolls around on his fourth day of deliberation he’s in his room getting ready to head to the castle and tell Peach he’d be a part of the plan when he hears Mario slouching his way into the front door, dropping his bags and heading to the kitchen.

He shouts a good morning down the hall and is met with silence, save for the sound of his brother’s steel toed boots clunking down the hallway to stand in front of Luigi’s door. "You know, the princess told me something funny on my way out this morning," at his confused noise, Mario laughs, "she told me..." he cuts himself off with another laugh, "she told me she was trying to send you back to the Darklands, as if you'd ever agree to something like that." Luigi tries to interject but gets cut off, "I mean, 'peace between all kingdoms'? This isn't a beauty pageant, like come on. You can’t seriously think she knows what she’s talking about, right? People like Bowser don't deserve peace, they deserve pain..."

He eyes Mario incredulously, "alright tone it down, Jigsaw. I think it's a great idea." His attitude is clearly not appreciated, judging by the look on his brother's face but he continues anyways, "and I'm actually on my way to agree to her 'stupid idea' right now, if you'll excuse me." He moves to push past Mario, but his brother has always been stronger.

He's pushed back into his seat on the bed with a sneer, "You Omegas are all so f*cking dumb. The man is crazy! He's literally kidnapped her for years and all of a sudden she wants to help him? It doesn't make sense!"

Luigi does interject this time, scent souring into grass and ozone as he glares at his brother, "they've been working on this for years, according to Peach, a lot longer than we’ve even been down here, and apparently my being there will speed things along. You're just pissed because you won't get to be the big strong Alpha if your nemesis stops fighting you."

That seems to hit a nerve, because his brother is growling and moving from the doorframe to get in his face, "don't speak to me like that, Omega." Disdain drips from the last word and Luigi rolls his eyes at his brother’s obvious attempt to get him to submit.

"f*ck off, you idiot. Leave me alone, get out." When he hesitates, Luigi motions to the door and repeats himself, "get. out."

Mario seems to hear him that time, scoffing and turning on his heel to leave the room. He makes it in record time to Peach's castle and climbs the stairs to her office, pushing the door open to find her writing a letter. She goes to cover it up before she realizes it’s just Luigi, and he takes a look at it from across the desk as she continues her writing.

"Whatcha writing?" he asks teasingly, and she huffs a laugh. "This is the only way I can communicate with Bowser on a regular basis, I can't use my phone because it raises questions with my advisors." He hums, reading her swirly script upside down, only being able to make out his own name and a few other small words before Peach catches him looking, "it's just to let him in on the plan, that's all, and so we can actually plan his part in this. Toadette runs them to the border and someone from Bowser's castle comes to get them every week."

"So...what's the plan? Because I'm here to let you know I'm in." Peach gasps at him, smiling behind her hands and going into deep detail about the plan she had come up with so far. "Okay, so since you agreed to do this before the ball this weekend I have an idea on how to get you out of here on the low..." Essentially, everyone in the Kingdom would be at this ball, and all Luigi would need to do is make the rounds and make sure people see him, slip up the stairs unnoticed and make it to the tailor's shop on the opposite side of the castle where an airship would be waiting for him. All the secrecy seems kind of unnecessary to Luigi at first, but Peach reminds him that most of the population here still views Bowser as a threat, and that to avoid people trailing behind to "rescue" him they needed as few people to know about this as possible. Her personal guards would be standing outside that night, just to keep the others from sounding the alarms at the sight of the airship, and Mario had been instructed to stay quiet about what little he knew with the threat of exile from her Kingdom, the same threat she’d given everyone entrusted with information about her plan. One thing they couldn't plan, though, was exactly how long Luigi would be gone. Neither of them knew how long it would take to convince Peach's advisors, but Luigi doesn't even really care anymore. That fight he'd had with Mario only made him miss his momentary freedom even more, and he honestly hopes he can find a reason to make his stay in the Darklands longer than it might need to be. He looks back down at the letter.

"It usually takes a few days to go back and forth like this, but I can't imagine he'd say no to seeing youagain..." the way she says it makes him blush, and her snicker just gets louder the redder his face gets, "he's asked about you a few times, in the letters. You didn't have your phone, I guess, because he's been begging me for your number. But I'll just tell him you'll give it to him in person, when you get there." He sputters, which only serves to make the Princess laugh harder, even her personal maid hiding a smile behind her hand at Luigi's dramatics. He smiles and glares at her before remembering that as good as it was that he'd be leaving soon, he's still stuck in the house with Mario for the next week, and decides to do something about it before he can chicken out.

"Hey Peach..." he starts, and the woman watches him patiently, "do you think... would it be okay if I stayed here until I leave? What little you told Mario of the plan he isn’t taking well, and I don't want to be stuck in the house with someone who's angry with me." Peach pulls him into a hug, "Oh Luigi, of course. Your room is always unlocked for you if you want to stay here. I can go with you to pack your luggage if you don't want to be alone with him right now, you can run in your room and grab whatever you want and I'll distract him by telling him how big his muscles look or something."

She snorts, and Luigi can't help but laugh at the fact that something like that would *absolutely* work on his brother, "You know, I think that just might work. Thank you, Princess." He goes in for another hug, which she gives. For now, Luigi and Toadette make their way to his room, where he breathes in the familiar scent of a room that was definitely his but hadn't been used in forever.

It was really only in case of emergencies anyways, but his emergencies tended to be more on the "too drunk to walk home" or the "my brother is sick and won't stay in bed" side of things. Neither of those happened very often, so the room was more storage for some of the artifacts and artwork he'd collected on his adventures than anything else. Still, he falls into bed with a groan, inhaling the faint scent of himself from months ago, light lavender and the sky when it’s about to rain. He wonders if his crush on the Alpha is that terribly obvious, what with both Peach and her maid giggling at his blush when she teased him about Bowser, but he almost doesn’t care. He wonders offhandedly if the tradition of dinner together is something that will carry on for every night Luigi spends there, and he feels his cheeks get hot at the notion of it. He’s so f*cking excited to be going back.

Bowser huffs into the pages of the book he's reading, trying to distract himself from some paperwork he needed to have done a few days ago. More accurately, he's trying to distract himself from the thoughts of the Omega that had spent a weekend with him months ago by this point. The first few days after he left both Kammy and Kamek were with him a lot, reminding him to eat and drink water and get up from his desk every once in a while and sleep. He was more affected by the Omega than he thought, thinking of him constantly and trying to reassure his inner Alpha that he hadn't been abandoned, that they'd only known each other for two days and the whole situation was accidental. He had sent Kamek off with a letter for the Princess about a week into his Alpha's lamenting asking a few questions about their plans for the alliance work they'd been doing and trying to sneak in a few inconspicuous questions about Luigi. Nothing crazy, just asking how he was doing and what he'd been up to since his return. The princess had replied quickly, an envelope with her insignia on it gracing his desk not even a full two days later. He could almost hear her smirk through the page as she answered questions about her friend; that he was doing fine and they'd been spending a lot of time together because Mario won't let him go anywhere alone but spends all day cooped up in the castle library. He starts glazing over her words when she circles back around to talking about the alliance, but something makes him triple take back up the page.

Luigi's little trip actually reminded me of an idea I've had for a while but never had the resources to try. I think what we need is an ambassador, someone to transfer information between kingdoms without raising the suspicion of my staff. And now, what with how highly Luigi talks about his time there, I'm thinking he could be perfect. Bowser blushes a little at the mention that Luigi had actually enjoyed his time there enough to tell the princess about it. He's got a lot of experience helping me and Daisy keep our sh*t together, and he's smart. He comes up with stuff no one would ever even think to consider, and I think that's what we need for this. He seems more than willing, and I can make sure no one sees you if you send people to 'kidnap' him from the tailor's balcony like you did before. Just let me know you'll be there and I'll get everything else in place. Talk to you soon! -P

His response is written and out the door within the hour, that he thinks that's a f*cking great idea, and he gets into bed that night feeling better than he had in weeks. Luigi might be coming back to him, if he and Peaches can pull this off, and he can't help the small smile that creeps onto his face at the thought of seeing the Omega again. His brain is already supplying him with places he'll be able to take Luigi now that he'll be there for a longer amount of time. He wants to take him into the capital city, outside of the palace, and show him that all the propaganda that painted the Darklands as a deserted wasteland couldn't be further from the truth. They might have been decades ago, but with his leadership and Peach’s small but important contributions his people have become much more prosperous than before. Everyone can afford to live and Peach sent over mountains of books that Bowser gave to the doctors of his Kingdom, so people rarely get sick. Food is abundant, and no one is starving. He stops himself from calling the architects and designers responsible for Peach's rooms because as much as he wants Luigi to be comfortable here, something that involved should probably wait until the man was here to actually make the choices for himself. He's pulled from his thoughts by a soft knock on his bedroom door, and he knows who it is even before he hears the sniffles coming from behind the wood. "Come here, Junior. What's wrong?" The door cracks open, and his son pads across the floor rubbing his eyes with one hand and trailing a blanket behind him with the other, "had a nightmare, papa. Wanna sleep with you." Bowser scoots over wordlessly and the two of them fall asleep quickly after that, even though Junior won't stop f*cking kicking him and moving around in his sleep.

Luigi's next few days are full of trips between his house and the castle, spending half the day working on last minute preparations for the ball and splitting the other half hanging out with Peach and trying to avoid his brother. He hadn't said a word to Mario after their fight, and Mario hadn't said anything to him, which he honestly appreciated having forgotten how judgmental his brother could be after spending even a short amount of time around someone who didn't judge him at all. By the time the night before the ball rolls around, Luigi is ready to leave. It's not that he didn't enjoy being home and seeing Peach and his friends, but staying in the castle with the Princess has reminded him just how *observant* she is. She'd been trying to get him to talk about his little crush on the Alpha, which he doesn't have by the way! She'd just caught him off guard, asked him something casually and his mouth moved faster than his brain, his approval of Bowser's physical features slipping out before he could stop it. She'd teased him about it the entire rest of his stay, good-naturedly of course, and he could take the teasing to a certain extent but it had started making him more anxious to see the man again than anything else. He really shouldn't be feeling like this over a man he's only actually known for the course of a weekend, but something about him makes Luigi feel safe and connected in a way he hadn't felt about any of the random men or women he'd dated over the years.

The night of the ball finally arrives and Luigi spends about an hour walking around and talking to people, making sure they remembered he was here so he could sneak away later and enjoying the attention his dress was bringing him. Peach's tailor had really outdone himself, and his slate blue slip dress brushed around the floor effortlessly, the slouchy neckline and thin straps held up by small gold chains across his back showcasing the soft expanse of his skin. He spends a few minutes admiring himself in a hallway mirror before he slips up an empty staircase and makes his way to the tailor's room. He shuts the door, turning around and meeting the gaze of the three oddly dressed figures he'd gone with last time. Well, he doesn't actually know if they're the exactsame, the whole cloak and mask thing kind of makes it hard to tell. They're just as chatty though, motioning without a sound to the door of the balcony for Luigi to follow. One of them must recognize Luigi, because he does get a small nod as he's helped up the metal stairs into the same airship he'd woken up in last time. He gets to watch, this time, as they ascend up into the clouds. His luggage is sitting by a couch, something that Peach had assured him would happen even if he was sure there was no way to pull it off. He had been confused when she'd asked him what he was planning on packing because he'd planned on bringing...nothing? He'd managed just fine without his stuff the first time, plus how would they get anything on the ship without making it incredibly obvious what they were doing? He's glad for it now, even though it isn't much, just a few outfits and some of his personal items, things he wouldn't want to leave for a long time with his brother, given the man's cleaning habits he imagines the house will be damn near destroyed if he's gone longer than a month. So he just has one suitcase, a duffle bag, and a backpack, carrying all kinds of things from his laptop to his favorite shoes and clothes, some of his skincare and his journal, Peach encouraged him to take as much of his stuff there with him as he wanted to help him get situated a little easier in Bowser's castle. She did throw in a sly comment about how she's sure he'll get settled down-oh, in, sorry- quickly enough before hugging him and sending him off to mingle with the crowd. He watches the hilly green landscape of the Mushroom Kingdom pass by beneath him and takes a sip from the drink he was offered after they took off, sitting it back on the table and leaning back into his seat and closing his eyes.

Chapter 4: Chapter Four

Chapter Text

He must have fallen asleep because soon he's being lightly poked on the shoulder by one of the masked men, who jumps back slightly when he opens his eyes. He laughs and apologizes but predictably doesn't get a response, and he follows the three of them out of the airship when the door opens. He walks through the now familiar halls to the throne room, trying to see if anything had changed in his absence. He's sat at the same table as before and left with a similar spread of snacks, and when the figures leave him alone he snags a few things off the plate and starts walking around, looking up at old paintings of people and landscapes, walking to stand in front of a massive tapestry that hung from floor to ceiling and stretched across an entire wall. The door opens once again, and he doesn’t have to wonder who it is because seconds later he has an armful of the Koopa child who had befriended him last time he was here.

"Luigi! Welcome back!! You look so pretty!" Junior hugs him tightly and he returns it, "hi! thank you, what have you been up to?" He responds, and listens as the child regales his last two months, from how he's doing in school to all the trouble he got into around the palace.

He's so focused on Junior’s story that he doesn't hear the door opening again, but when the kid looks over his shoulder and wriggles out of his hold, he turns and is met with the sight of Bowser walking over to them. "Papa! Luigi is back!" the kid says and Bowser chuckles, "I told you he would be. Peaches has a plan, remember?" before turning to Luigi with a warm expression.

"New dress?" he nods, "it looks good! You look good." Luigi blushes and spins, catching Bowser staring at the expanse of his back when he turns around.

The man rubs at his neck, embarrassed, "how was the trip? Stay awake this time?"

The Omega laughs, "no actually. But I fell asleep this time," cheeks coloring at the realization that Bowser knew he had fainted when he first got kidnapped."And it wasn't my fault I passed out the first time! Those guys snuck up on me, and they're creepy !"

The Alpha shoots him a look that says suuure , "don't worry about it, Greenie. They're cool, even if they don't talk much. Honestly I think I've only heard one of them speak one time, so I don't know what they've got going on but they're loyal and good at what they do, so I just let them kinda do their own thing."

Luigi nods, "well that makes me feel better about the head nod one of them gave me earlier.”

"Oh yeah. That's kind of their thing, the head nods. At least I know they can hear what I'm saying." They continue to catch up, Junior running off somewhere when the conversation gets too boring for him to pay attention anymore. They end up sitting back at the table, eating and listening to each other talk

"So, how was your time back in the Mushroom Kingdom?" Bowser draws out the last two words with a snooty accent, and Luigi giggles.

"Well it was nice to be back, to see everyone, and to help the Princess plan this whole thing. I do have to say, it's nice to be back. I missed being here." I missed you is left unsaid, but it seems like the King reads in between the lines, smiling at him softly,

"Really? Like me that much, do you?" his teasing earns him a smack on the arm, "I'm glad you're back, Luigi, really. Once Peaches told me that Mario knew of the plan the day after she told you, I wasn't sure you'd actually... come back?"

The uncertainty in Bowser's eyes reignites the spark of annoyance he had with his brother, and he sighs. "He... wasn't happy about it. Pretty unhappy, actually. He certainly had a lot of things to say about everyone involved..." Bowser raises an eyebrow, " everyone ...?" he asks, looking Luigi up and down.

"Everyone," he answers, "especially me. He couldn't understand why I would want-" Luigi cuts himself off from accidentally just confessing to his crush less than a day after returning. "Why you would want what? What did he say to you?"

Luigi saves that trainwreck for another day, "why I wanted to come back, why I wanted to help. He doesn't understand the concept of a redemption arc, I guess. He was just being dramatic, telling me I didn't understand because I was an Omega and how the Princess would be begging on her knees for his help within the week.”

Bowser rolls his eyes, "Yeah right. I don't think I've heard the princess beg on her knees for anything in the past decade, especially not for help from an Alpha."

Luigi blanches at that, "a decade?? I thought Peach was only like, 22?? How old are you? How long have you guys been planning this?"

He gets a full on laugh from the King, "oh, I'm sure she would love to hear that the next time you see her. We both took our thrones young, I know I was 16 and we had our coronations the same summer, so that would have made her.... 14?" At Luigi's shock, he makes a face, "I know, 14 seems a little intense. But she's always been smart, and when I kidnapped her for the first time she had an alliance drafted before the week was over. By that point she had been Queen for like three years? So she'd signed so many alliance and trading agreements that she pretty much did that one in her sleep. Her advisors were understandably not happy about the whole kidnapping thing, so they were not even considering an alliance . Especially considering her parents and my father are the reason the borders are closed in the first place."

The Omega hums, watching the man in front of him speak, hands moving any time he recalls something intensely, "So we worked out a plan, I would kidnap her and bring her back here and she would look over court documents and ledgers and help me pull together everything, since my father left it all a f*cking mess. Which worked for a while, until a couple years ago when a couple of brothers fell down here and started coming to collect her quicker than her staff had been able to."

He glares at Luigi playfully, "things kind of stalled because of that, but now you're here helping me, and if you're half as good as Peaches says I think we'll probably make better progress than we did before."

He blushes at the compliment, " wow . I had no clue you guys had been working on this for so long. I'm glad I can come here and help, especially since it's partly my fault that it's been so hard to get anything done."

The Alpha watches him with amusem*nt, "Like I said, I'm glad you're back. Come on, I wanna show you some of the stuff that's changed since you left. Not much, but it's stuff I think you'll find interesting."

Luigi nods, smiling, and they're off down the halls so that Bowser can point out some of the art that had been changed, some of the rooms that had been repurposed into something new like Junior's new art studio, and some of the fabrics and furniture dressings that had been changed to reflect the rising temperatures of the coming summer. They also went by the back garden and the kitchen, where Luigi noticed that small sprouts of some of the herbs he had suggested to the chef had been planted alongside the newer seasonal crops, and the staff in the kitchen were all happy to see Luigi again and insisted that the offer from before was still open and he could come down and cook or watch whenever he felt like it, especially now that he was here for longer.

As they're walking up to Luigi's room so he can get settled back in, a question pops into his head, "How many people know about why I'm really here? That you're getting help from me and Peach?"

Bowser looks at him oddly, "what do you mean? Everyone knows."

"Everyone?" he asks, and Bowser laughs, "inside the castle, yeah. There really aren't that many people here, not like how it is at Peach's, so word gets around easily and quickly especially with the help of my son."

They both laugh at that, remembering the full breakdown of his school class's dynamic and drama that he got last time he was here. They talk a little more before they make it to his room, and when they're standing in front of his door Luigi is reminded of the last time they were like this. He steps up closer to the man, who looks just as surprised as last time, and takes his hand, once again bringing it up to his face and running his nose across the gland, the spicy smokiness that Luigi had been thinking about for months invading his senses once again.

Bowser smirks, taking his other hand and kissing it, "welcome back, Omega," he flips it over and noses along a slender wrist, pupils dilating when they meet Luigi's.

They stay like that for longer than is probably necessary considering they're standing in the hallway where anyone could just walk past. When they part they're both breathing heavy, half-drunk on pheromones, Bowser leaves him to his room with another kiss on the hand, a key to the guest room, and a reminder that dinner would be ready in a few hours.

The room is largely exactly how he left it, save for the heavier winter furniture being switched for something more light and breathable. His luggage was sitting by his bed, and he spent the next couple hours unpacking everything, with a break thrown in to call Peach and let her know he made it okay. He hops in the shower and relaxes under the water, enjoying the heat and pressure that his shower at home lacked, and spends the better part of an hour taking advantage of all of the products left for him. By the time he gets out there's still about an hour until dinner, so he slips back into his dress and shoes and looks around his room some more. He finds a couple more books he's interested in and a gaming console for the tv with a few games and movies tucked into a corner of the cabinet by the fireplace and puts them to the side to look through them when he gets back. A few more minutes later he's scrolling on his phone and there's a knock at his door; when he opens it to find Kammy on the other side, he smiles and greets her warmly. They catch up on the way to the dining room, and he learns that her and her brother have been working on some new stuff in the lab, top secret of course. When they get there, Bowser is shuffling through a stack of papers that he hands to Kammy with a nod when Luigi sits across from him.

"Get settled in okay?" Bowser asks him and he nods, the two of them eating and talking about what exactly Luigi would be doing here, "I figure that it might give you a better idea of where we're picking up from if I show you the work we've done so far, so we can start on that tomorrow, if you want. It'll be a lot of reading, but I can answer any of your questions."

Luigi hums, "That's fine! I like reading. Are you sure you can just spend all day answering my questions? I don't want to keep you from anything important."

Bowser huffs a laugh, "There's really not that much going on around here, I swear. I would be happy to answer your questions. Also, if you're interested, as ambassador it would make sense for you to sit in on meetings, right? That way you can get everything from the source."

"Wait, really? Are you sure?" Luigi asks, and Bowser nods his agreement. With that out of the way the conversation bleeds into more fun topics, like all the places he wants to take Luigi and what the human wants to do while he’s free from his brother and his adventuring obligations.

The days pass quickly after his first one, spent as promised holed up in the library until Luigi had read everything and Bowser had answered all of his questions, and he’s pretty much given free reign of the place after he sits in on his first meeting. He's only stumbled across a few places he was denied entry, the lab where Kammy and Kamek develop their magic techniques and a large stone door he came across down leading to the basem*nt that was locked, which is fine, he thinks with a shudder, because he wasn't planning on going down there anyways. He makes a lot of friends in the castle, particularly in the kitchen where he's teaching the chef how to properly use the spices available and making more suggestions on which ones to plant for next season and with Bowser’s advisors Kammy and Kamek, and he updates the princess after his first handful of meetings with pages of information he'd gathered. Luigi had been entirely silent for the first few meetings, assuming that the room full of Alphas and Betas wouldn't take kindly to any suggestions by an Omega. It's not like he didn't have ideas, but years and years of being shot down at school or ignored completely in meetings and professional conversations taught him he might just be better off keeping them to himself. That all changed one night; it had been raining all day, heavy and loud against the windows, and the meeting he was sitting in had been going on for hours. Frustrated with the useless back and forth from most of the room of dignitaries, he blurted out the suggestion he had been sitting on for most of the meeting. Everyone turns to look at him, and he slaps a hand over his mouth and looks at Bowser, panicked. He’d expected him to be mad, since he had spoken without being addressed and was just supposed to be observing, but the King just gives him a small smile and motions for him to continue. He ends up being able to steer the conversation towards an agreement quickly, and Bowser looks pleased with his contribution. After that, he was encouraged to actively participate in meetings, sometimes even being asked for directly when a new perspective was needed.

Another well-timed question from Peach while Luigi was distracted by the King stretching out across a daybed in the garden during their next phone call turns his subsequent updates into gossip sessions that mostly consisted of Peach trying to get Luigi to talk about his interactions with the man they were trying to help. And as much as he likes to deny it over the phone, he’s starting to think that his little crush is turning into something… not so little. After dinner the first night Bowser eats almost every meal with him, breakfasts in Luigi’s living room or the garden, lunches in Bowser’s office or the library, and what has now become a nightly tradition of eating dinner together in the dining room and catching up about their days even when they’d spent a majority of them together. Junior shyly asks to join once and is obviously given permission, prompting him to eat his meals with Luigi whenever he feels like it, even if his father isn’t there and Luigi isn’t eating, just sitting across the table listening to the child talk about his day at school, or some new piece of music he’d learned, or whatever plant was blooming. One day, after a particularly taxing day of meetings where Bowser has to stay behind and talk about something with a few of his advisors, Luigi gets lost in the twists and turns of the hallways outside of one of the meeting rooms. He swears the door he went through was the door he came in, but he just keeps opening doors and finding hallways that he’s never seen. Eventually, he pushes through a set of large doors onto what seems to be some kind of porch, partially enclosed stone spilling out in a garden that was similar to the ones he’d been in before, but smaller. There are tall stone walls surrounding the plants and flowers planted there, and a small sitting area in the center. He sits down on one of the oversized daybeds, resigning himself to taking a break before he tries to navigate his way back to his room. He’s so relaxed, facing away from the door he’d come out of and trying to pick out all the different kinds of plants he’s seeing, that he doesn’t hear the door open nor does he hear the Koopa King coming down the stairs towards him.

“How’d you find your way out here?” Bowser’s quiet voice makes him jump, and he turns around in his spot with wide eyes.

“ Jesus Christ! ” Luigi yelps, and starts laughing, “I’m sorry, you just scared me. I got lost coming out of that meeting, and I ended up here… Where is this? By the way? This wasn’t included in the tour.”

Bowser chuckles, “This is a private garden, supposed to be for the royal family. Junior uses it a lot, but I rarely come out here.”

He cringes at the thought of invading the man’s personal space, “I’m so sorry! Gosh, let me get outta here then, I didn’t mean to intrude!” He moves to get up, to hurry his way through the large doors that had led him out here, but Bowser stops him with a hand on his arm.

“You don’t gotta do all that! Like I said, I usually don’t come out here. I’m glad someone other than Junior is enjoying it, would you like to look around some more?”

Luigi nods shyly after a moment, looking first to the man’s hand on his arm and then up to his face. They spend a long time in the garden, much more time than is entirely necessary, considering this garden was smaller than all the others, but Luigi isn’t complaining. When the sun starts its descent behind the horizon Bowser turns to him,

“We should probably head back inside, they’ll be serving dinner soon. Did you enjoy your time out here?” He nods, and in an unusual bout of confidence he grabs the man’s hands, “I did! Thank you for showing me this, it’s so beautiful…” Bowser is looking at him with an unreadable expression, eyes darting between their joined hands and Luigi’s face. His eyes dart to Bowser's mouth, and he watches a small smirk form as he snaps his gaze back up to make eye contact. When he reaches the lizard’s eyes, though, he notices Bowser’s eyes are on his lips, Luigi watching hooded eyes track his tongue as it pokes out to wet his lips. He shuts his eyes, leaning forward slightly and tilting his head. He can feel Bowser’s hand on his face, his breath on his lips, closing in slowly, before he hears the bushes behind him rustling loudly.

“Your highness, your highness! I have an important update about the situation in the city! Your presence is needed immediately in the conference room.”

Luigi pulls his hands back like he’d been burned, and he can feel Bowser rest their foreheads together and huff out an annoyed breath against his face.

“Sir! This is important, ple-” as he breaks through the bushes, the goomba immediately clams up at the sight before him, “I apologize, sir, I was unaware you had company with you out here. Please make your way to the conference room as soon as you can.”

With that, the goomba scurries off down the path back to the castle, and Bowser cups his cheek before standing, offering his arm to Luigi, “I’ll take you back to your room.”

The walk back through the castle was silent, but not awkward, and soon enough he was back at the large double doors in front of his room.

“Thank you again for the tour, I had a really good time today. Will I see you again soon? I definitely understand running a kingdom is a busy job, but I enjoy our time together.” Luigi looks up at the man through his lashes, and he catches Bowser looking at him with a fond expression.

“You’re precious, Greenie. I’ll be back tomorrow to fill you in on the meeting. Kammy should be by later with your dinner.” To his surprise, he’s pulled into a light hug, and he wraps his arms around the dragon’s neck tightly before pulling away, “good night, Bowser.” Luigi slips inside his room, and immediately slides down the door, giggling and holding his head in his hands. Who would have thought Luigi's super secret unobtainable crush is… showing interest in him? He runs through their interactions today, and presses his hands into the blush on his cheeks. He really should be more focused on the actual reason he’s here, having learned some very useful information about the kingdom to use in his case in support of Peach’s alliance. He finds a notebook in one of the nightstands, and writes down any information he thinks would be important for his first update with the princess before hopping in the shower, washing off the activities of the day and returning to his thoughts of the King.

After dropping Luigi off in his room, Bowser heads back through the castle to the conference room. His body was still tingling from the hug they shared, and his brain was overrun with thoughts of the small human. It's become a problem, how enamored he is with the man, but his advisors know better than to call him out on it. He’s been… admiring from afar for a little while now, but never being able to get a word in because his stupid red brother takes it upon himself to try and beat his ass every time they see each other. Luigi also has quite a habit of fainting, something that he’d noticed over the times he’d been face to face with him. He’s honestly surprised that there hadn’t been more fainting when he’d first been brought here, but it wasn’t like he was complaining. When he didn’t have someone in his ear telling him how bad Bowser was, Luigi actually held quite an enjoyable conversation. And he didn’t seem scared of him, which was always a plus. He really hadn’t meant to try and kiss the man, but he had just listened so intently to Bowser’s story, and he was so cute, big blue eyes staring deeply into his eyes as Bowser opened up about his past. And the hug, he really hadn’t meant to do that, but he just couldn’t help it. Contrary to his rough and tough persona, Bowser was really just a big softie. He was incredibly doting to his kid, many times tipping the scale into full on spoiling, but hey, he deserved it! He doesn’t want Junior to grow up in a household like he had, the least he could do was provide him with the things he wanted. And even though he had never really been in a serious relationship seeing as his reign as king started at the age of 16, he’s secretly a big romantic. Hence the reason he tried so hard with the princess before having to just accept that she didn’t want him that way. After their almost marriage, which honestly turned him off of the entire idea of marriage, he had kind of thought they had… trauma-bonded? In a way? And he’s not going to lie, the first time he kidnapped her he was kind of thinking about trying to date her and she very quickly shut him down, but not for the reason he’d thought.

He’d always been kind of an outcast, his larger frame and royal status pushing most of the children his age away when he was growing up, but he’d rewarded the few friends he did make with positions in his court, many of them generals or lords over smaller towns outside of the castle. His social status didn’t stop him from going full steam ahead when he had a romantic interest in someone though, which resulted in many embarrassing and public rejections even before he met Peach. She didn’t make fun of him, or ridicule him, she just simply explained that she didn’t feel that way about him, or anyone for that matter, and that she thought they would be much better off as friends. His inner romantic is rearing its head again, though, and he is already falling hard for Luigi. He honestly can’t help it though, the man’s kindness and generosity paired with his devastatingly pretty face had Bowser weak at the knees. He’s distracted by thoughts of the small man through his entire meeting, only retaining enough information about his upcoming royal tour that he would have enough to satiate the human’s anxious curiosity when they meet again tomorrow.

Chapter 5: Chapter Five

Chapter Text

Something is definitely different between the two of them after the garden. Even though they were... interrupted, their moment alone is proof enough that there's clearly something going on between them, and regardless of their mutual inability to talk about their feelings it's clear that they're both feelingtheir feelings. Luigi’s anxiety about his stay in the Darklands isn’t something he thinks about often, but the first time he goes into town with Bowser and his son, he's so f*cking nervous he damn near passes out. He hasn't even been back for a full month when his lunch is interrupted by a small but mighty knock on his door. He gets about as far as getting up from his seat and walking two steps towards the door before it swings open and Junior is running in excitedly.

"Luigi! We're going to the city today! You have to come with us, pleeeeeease?"

He's caught so off guard that he doesn't answer right away, and he hears a familiar voice from the door, "You heard the kid, you haveto come..." Bowser is walking over to him and rubbing a hand across the back of his neck.

He throws the Alpha a good-natured glare, "you know, I'm starting to think you're using your kid to get me to spend time with you." He's only half joking, there's been at least three times in the past week Junior has insisted on his presence for something only to be followed closely behind by his father who would never refuse him anything, even when there isn't anything in it for himself.

His teasing gets him a blush and a dramatic hand gesture, "Hey! He's the one that asked, not me! I'm just here for moral support."

Junior looks between the two of them, a thoughtful expression crossing his features before he turns to his dad, "Hold on, I better still be getting that ice cream you promised me papa!"

Bowser smacks a hand on his forehead and Luigi laughs loudly, "well obviously you're right, I haveto come. You'll have to tell me what flavor is the best, because now I want ice cream."

He'd been pretty excited at first, because as much as he's enjoying his scenery at the castle Luigi has always been one for exploring, even in cities he's lived his whole life, for finding places he's never been and then going there just because he can. Now though, his anxiety about going out in public to a town full of people that know him and his face from the countless times he and his brother have come through in search of the princess is skyrocketing. For all he knows, his face could be up on wanted posters around the f*cking town square. The people that lived here weren't happy to see him any other time he'd been through on jobs, what would be different about today? All he has is a new job, it's not like he's a new person. Apparently his anxiety is spiking enough to mess with his scent, because Junior is asking him why he smells "stormy" and crawling over his lap in the ship they've taken to the town to point his favorite "landmarks" out to Luigi through the window. He's got to admit, the distraction works wonders, and by the time they're getting out of the ship he's less anxious and more wondering if it's more impressive that there's at least one statue of Bowser every two miles or that he apparently hadn't requested a single one of them be built.

After his initial trip into the city there are many more, with Junior and Bowser and then with Kammy and Kamek as he realizes that no one in any of the towns he'd torn through before seemed to even be upset with him in the slightest. Apparently, word had traveled outside the castle about what exactly he was doing here, Luigi suspects a certain Crown Prince might have had a hand in that, and everyone he meets seems to appreciate what he's doing.

By the time Luigi's stay in the Darklands extends from weeks into a month and then two being scented by the Alpha in lieu of a greeting becomes his new normal, and he's absolutely elated to be able to scent him back literally whenever he feels like it. A touch of his lips to Bowser's wrist on the way out of a particularly stressful meeting, the pressure of Bowser's nose of the back of his neck as he's reading over his notes for Peach, and even brushing their wrists together in passing when they cross paths going about their daily lives in the castle. Luigi has taken to spending a lot of his free time in the kitchen, learning from the staff about traditional Darklands cuisine and teaching them some recipes that he'd learned from his family. If he's honest, the people he's making friends with here are starting to feel like more of his family than the one he was born into. Kammy has become his best friend in the castle, Luigi offhandedly thinks, her status as Bowser's right hand woman meant that they spent a lot of time together going over paperwork and notes from meetings, trying to pull together information and brainstorm. Her initial description of herself, as much as Luigi had protested it at the time, turned out to be an accurate description after all. Not that he minded per say, but Kammy was definitely a talker. At first it had just been about the plan, rapid fire suggestions for ways to prove the Darklands would be a beneficial ally, but when she walks into one of their meetings ranting about the exactsame reality tv show Luigi had just gotten off the phone to Daisy about, most of their meetings turn into something reminiscent of his and Princess Peach's "lunch meetings", more gossiping and laughing about stupid things they'd seen online than getting any actual work done.

The more he goes into a town with Bowser, the more he catches the people there watching on in amusem*nt as he walks around arm in arm with their King, and Luigi swears he's seen a leaderboard hung up in the kitchen's dry storage for who has interrupted one of their "moments" the most. He knows the closet is glass, so to speak, even to the two of them. I mean, they spend almost an hour every night just scenting each other until they're both drunk on it. Jesus, they haven't even kissed yet and Luigi has already stopped trying to ignore his inner Omega's attempts at getting him to act on his feelings. He can tell Bowser stops fighting with himself over it when little gifts start piling up around his rooms.

Flowers, pretty jewelry, clothes and shoes he'd pointed out as cute in passing, skincare, lotions, perfumes; anything Luigi even looked at for more than 10 seconds somehow found its way into his possession, left around his room with a note or given to him at random by the Alpha as he went about his days in the castle. He does try to reciprocate somehow, but he's shut down immediately every time, admittedly pretty romantically but frustratingly all the same, by Bowser's insistence that being allowed to be so close to the human was more than enough. His anxiety tries to claw at him sometimes about the lack of calling their little back and forth what it is, but at the end of the day he's happy and not really bothered by the lack of a title to their situation, and it doesn't seem like Bowser is either, so he's content to just enjoy their flirting and little touches while he can.

Bowser is bothered. He's so f*cking bothered. The time since Luigi had shown up at his castle had been some of the best days he'd had in a long while, and he feels like he honestly might be falling in love with the small human. He wasn't expecting much from his arrival, to be honest, since he and the Mario brothers had a pretty rocky past to begin with, but as soon as he laid eyes on the man in the throne room his Alpha had been on overdrive, and his self-control is only tested further as they get closer, the last shreds of it crumbling away on a return trip from one of the farther away cities he'd taken Luigi to on a day trip. The Omega had fallen asleep, curled up in a blanket beside Bowser as the King read something from a folder of quarterly statements he'd gotten earlier in the day. The man shifts in his sleep, stretching out further and pushing the flat of his arms into the side of Bowser's leg, and Bowser looks away from the papers and down at the Omega who had relaxed back into the couch. His hand moves before he can think about it, carding through brown curls and running his thumb over a cheekbone. He freezes, both at Luigi's sleepy noise and the realization of his actions, before the Omega nuzzles into his hand, smiling against the skin. He relaxes back into the couch and finishes reading without moving his hand, and they stay like that until the airship lands at the castle. Every day after that he can no longer fight the urge to be as close as possible to the Omega and touching at almost all times. He stops fighting his Alpha's courting instinct the first time the two of them stand scenting each other for an hour, and soon he's buying everything he sees that even remotely reminds him of the man and finding any excuse he can to be close to him. Most recently, they had started watching some soap opera Luigi stumbled across leaving the tv on during his daily morning routine. They each had their theories on who would end up being the killer, Luigi rooting for the sister while Bowser took the typical route of blaming the butler, which the Omega constantly poked fun at him for. Currently they're sprawled out on a couch in front of Bowser's absolutely enormous tv, curtains drawn and eyes glued to the screen. The Alpha is relaxed against the cushions, sitting up with one arm leaning on the side of the couch and one arm slung across the back while Luigi is laying on his side, head resting on an arm that's propped up on Bowser's thigh, his legs stretched down the length of the couch. When its revealed that both of their theories are true, the butler and the sister teaming up to murder one of the last remaining characters, Luigi pulls a large hand from the back of the couch to hide his face, peeking an eye out to sneakily watch the gruesome scene play out. He can feel his heartbeat, thrumming strong just under the skin as Luigi's nose unconsciously rubs against the tendons in his wrist. He grips the arm tighter when an intense part plays, and the scent of spices and fire grows strong and heady between them. The human pauses his assault when Bowser lets out a soft growl, blue eyes shooting up to meet red ones before looking between the Alpha's face and his wrist, twisting to sit up on the couch away from him.

"I'm so sorry, I just got so involved in the show, I didn't realize what I was doing." He looks so disappointed with himself, Bowser can't help the sympathetic whine that leaves his throat at his expression, "don't be sorry, Omega. I would have stopped you if I didn't like it."

Luigi's shoulders loosen a little, but he still looks upset with himself for giving into his instincts so easily. That won't do, he thinks, and Bowser sends a prayer up to whoever is listening that what he's about to try isn't gonna backfire on him. Smirking, he asks, "What do I smell like?" and at first all he gets is an eye roll in response, "It was a scary scene! I was just hiding, it's not my fault your arm was the closest thing!"

Bowser huffs, "Come on, I know I'm a little dense but I'm not stupid. I'm not judging you, I'm just asking a question. What do I smell like?" and he gets a response this time, spoken quietly after a sigh as he looks at an invisible point off to the side, "you smell...nice. Kind of like a campfire, but spicy."

Leave it to Luigi to find a way to turn the situation on its head, looking up at the Alpha through his lashes, "What do I smell like? Don't think I didn't notice, I know my shampoo doesn't smell that good."

The thing is, he's totally right, Bowser had been sneaking, or so he thought, sniffs of the smaller man's hair when he thought he wouldn't notice, breathing deeply and relaxing in the scent of lavender and rain. Even though he's much more shameless than Luigi, the words still fall from his mouth without his consent, "so goodyou don't even understand"

The Omega is twisting in his hold to face him, cheeks red, "Hey! I don't deserve an actual description?" and Bowser is tilting his head and looking the human up and down, "you smell so good, like a garden after a storm. Soft and pretty. Pretty fitting, honestly, given your personality."

He smirks down at Luigi, who tries to hide his smile behind a hand and an eye roll. "thank you. was that so hard?" Luigi asks coyly, and Bowser decides to push his luck even further by scooping up the smaller man into his lap, legs sinking into the thick cushions of the couch. He can't tell right away whether or not he's gotten away with it, but when the Omega relaxes in his hold he knows he's at least made it this far. "Comfy?" he asks teasingly, and Luigi just nods, face red, as they settle in to watch the last few episodes of the show, large arms coming to wrap around a slim waist.

Sitting like this, Bowser can feel every shift and jump Luigi makes, more and more frequent as the show they're watching ramps up to the final showdown. His new hiding place seems to be the dragon's neck, tucking his nose into the skin every time a loud noise or flashing screen caught him off guard. He's not complaining, though, the new position allowing him access to the soft skin of the Omega's neck, inhaling deeply every time he got a chance and trying to memorize the subtle shifts in the man's scent as he got scared or excited by the show. Eventually Luigi settles permanently against Bowser's neck, twisting his neck towards the tv and relaxing further against the warm body underneath him. During a slow part of the episode they're watching, the one before the finale, Luigi turns his head into Bowser's neck and breathes deeply, nosing along the scent gland poking out slightly from the tight expanse of skin. Large hands tighten their hold in their places against the human's waist and he shifts his gaze from the screen to the expanse of skin between Luigi's shirt collar and his hairline. He can't help the way he stretches to run his nose along the muscles in Luigi's neck when the human unknowingly lets out a small chirp of contentment at the scent pouring out of the gland on his neck and he smiles against soft skin when the action grants him a second one. He runs a hand up the Omega's back to thread through soft hair encouragingly as the end of one episode bleeds into the opening of the next. Bowser jumps slightly in surprise at the feeling of soft lips grazing the rough skin of his throat, dragging back and forth over his scent gland. On the next pass of lips he relaxes entirely into the couch, legs spreading and pulling the body on top of his closer. He can feel Luigi start to pull back gasping quietly when he realizes he's accidentally taken it farther than they've taken it before, mostly just brushes of noses against cheeks or wrists or necks. But Bowser is quicker, squeezing the skin under his hands reassuringly with a soft press of lips against his neck, mirroring the Omega's actions and running his lips across the subtle bump under his skin. He chances a small swipe of his tongue to lap up the sweet scent straight from the source, and he can feel Luigi's body relax against him, letting out a relieved sounding sigh and peeking his tongue out for a cautious taste. Eventually he can't stand not knowing the taste of the Omega's lips, and he captures them with his own. And f*ck if that wasn't probably the smartest idea Bowser has had in years. Luigi is immediately very into it, moaning softly as he brings a hand up to thread his fingers through red hair and tracing the Alpha's bottom lip with his tongue. They stay like that for a long time, ignoring the big plot twist at the end of the season in favor of nuzzling against each other, both trying to memorize the heady scents coming from the other. This new style of scenting quickly becomes their favorite, and Luigi can imagine the leaderboard that definitely notin the kitchen is filling up rather quickly with the amount of times they've fallen asleep tangled together somewhere and been woken up by the staff just trying to do their jobs.

Chapter 6: Chapter Six

Chapter Text

Luigi wakes up one morning probably three months after his initial arrival and hops in the shower, changing into a green maxi skirt and a cropped white tank top, running a towel over his hair before dropping it in the basket and waltzing back into the bedroom. He can't get the thought of the last time he'd seen Bowser, a few days prior, and how their day together ended as they usually do, making out like teenagers and scenting each other like they'd never see each other again. There’s definitely something more important he could be thinking about, his plans for the day or trying to remember what the hell they’d talked about in the last meeting when he’d been so distracted by the King and his serious expression that he’d barely heard a word that was spoken about…crop production in the farming towns! That’s what the meeting was about. He nods resolutely to himself, looking in the vanity mirror and checking out his outfit, turning slowly and admiring how nicely the clothes sit on his body.

“Good morning Greenie, that looks good on you,” the deep voice makes him jump slightly, skittish tendencies winning over as he was caught off guard.

He puts a hand over his heart and turns to face the source of the voice, “good morning, Bowser! Sorry about that, you know me, the scaredy cat.” He smiles sheepishly, “how has your morning been treating you?”

As he sits down at the table across from Bowser, the man smiles at him. “It’s been going well! Junior has been causing trouble around the castle, but that’s nothing new. I haven’t been awake for that long actually, I wanted to come have breakfast with you so I could ask you about something…”

Luigi looks down and sure enough, two covered trays are sitting on the table. “What kind of trouble is Junior in? Hopefully it's nothing too bad,” he says as he takes a bite of a strawberry.

“Oh no, nothing like that. He just likes to give his nannies a hard time, running and hiding around the castle is one of his favorite pastimes. He never takes it too far, though. I think he just gets bored hanging around with the palace staff.”

“That makes sense. Mario and I were the only children in our family so we were always getting into trouble together.” Luigi smiles fondly, remembering the times where he and Mario would run around his Nonna’s house, only stopping when they heard their Nonna threaten them with the spoon, an old wooden utensil used in their family for decades to straighten out their adventure seeking behaviors. Shaking his head, his thoughts return to the conversation in front of him. “So! What’d you want to ask me?”

Bowser’s eyebrows raise, “Oh! Next week, I have a trip planned to the outer islands to visit with some of the town leaders and get a better idea of how some of my harder to reach citizens are doing. Would you like to come with me? That way, you’ll get a better look at what some of the cities look like that aren’t right outside the palace.”

Luigi is floored, “really? When are we leaving? How long will we be gone?” He flushes with embarrassment at his eagerness, but Bowser just smiles, “of course. We’re supposed to set off on Monday, so you’ll have the weekend to prepare. It does take a few days to get there, but it shouldn’t be more than two weeks roundtrip.”

Bowser leaves soon after, citing some sort of Kingly Duty™ that needs finishing before they leave, and Luigi spends the rest of his weekend picking out outfits. By the time he’s finished – two full days of packing and he's finally finished, sitting downto eat dinner in his room the day before they’re supposed to leave. Kammy and Kamek follow the kitchen staff in, greeting him warmly and making themselves comfortable quickly.

“Mr. Luigi! Word is you’re going on a trip with our dear King Bowser!” Kammy snatches a few fries off his plate as it's being set up, and both Kamek and the goomba that had delivered Luigi’s food glare at her. “What? It’s not like he’s going to eat all of them. Right?”

She gestures at Luigi with a fry, and he shrugs and bows his head in agreement. “See? It’s fine!” Kamek rolls his eyes before turning to Luigi, who is now sitting at the table, thanking the servant as he scurries out of the room.

“Anyways, your trip to the Outer Islands. Do you have any questions for us? Traveling via airship can be kind of… frightening until you get used to it, and you’ve only ridden on the smaller ones before,” Kamek is watching him expectantly.

“What’s it like? Bowser said it would take a few days to get there, but is it really far away or are the ships just really slow?” Kammy laughs at his phrasing, and tilts her hand back and forth “It's probably a mix of both. It’s definitely one of the faster kinds of transportation, but that being said the Outer Islands are right off the coast of the mainland to the South, and the palace and city we’re in is in the Northeast. To the coast alone usually takes a full two days, and the trip from the coast takes at least another half a day.”

Luigi hums, “How many people are coming along? I assume since this is more of a personal visit than a business one, he’s not breaking out the full procession.”

“You’d be correct in that assumption,” he smiles, and the magikoopa continues, “of course the King will be going, along with his personal guards. Myself and Kammy will be on the ship with you and His Highness, along with our personal staff plus more guards and necessary personnel.” Luigi nods as he finishes up his dinner, handing his tray back to the goomba, who had been waiting outside the door.

“Well I’m glad you’re both coming with me, now I’ll have someone to ask all my stupid questions to instead of bothering the King.” He looks toward Kammy with a smirk, and she laughs.

“You know, I doubt you could ever actually bother him. He’s developed quite the soft spot for you,” at that Luigi sputters, and he can feel his face practically glowing from embarrassment.

“Really? I mean, wait- it’s just, it’s not-” At his reaction, the woman laughs harder, sharing a knowing look with Kamek who decides now is a good time to drop the formalities he was so fond of, “Oh? It seems like our little human friend has a little crush, doesn’t it sister?” he says, smirking at both sets of raised eyebrows pointed in his direction.

He watches Kammy’s surprised expression morph into a wide grin, “aw, does this mean we’re having the talk?” and he eyes her with confusion as she levels him with a playfully serious stare. “What are your intentions with my baby brother?” She asks him, pointing her finger and pouting her lips at him in a show of fake intimidation, as she and her brother laugh lightly at their antics.

Luigi’s brain is still chugging a bit though, because he swore he heard the words baby brother in there somewhere, and he’s having a hard time processing the fact that he had accidentally become chummy with Bowser’s apparent older siblings, who now knew about the humans crush on their baby brother. “Wait, Bowser is your little brother? You guys don’t look… related…”

He trails off, because he doesn’t really know how things like that work down here, and they could full well be related to him and look nothing alike, as many siblings on Earth did.

“Well, technically…” Kamek draws out the last word, “We aren’t actually related. I’m not sure how much you know, but Bowser ascended to the throne at a young age.”

Luigi nods, he remembers Bowser’s story about his and Peach’s history. “There wasn’t much information about why, but I saw the story about it in some old newspapers in the Mushroom Kingdom.”

He hears Kammy sigh, “yes, well, hopefully there wasn’t too much on the why. It’s not really our story to tell, but I always say context is important!” She shakes her fist before continuing, “Pretty much, Bowser was never supposed to be in line for the throne. He was the baby, and his father and older siblings were all in such good health that there was never a need for the younger ones to learn anything seriously about ruling until they were closer to becoming an adult. As strong as Bowser’s father was, though, he was very greedy. He’s largely the reason the kingdom looks the way it does these days, you know. He made some very stupid decisions, he and his children paid the price for those decisions with their lives. The only one to survive was Bowser, who had been… fighting with his father and wasn’t in the room when it happened. "

She pauses, and Kamek picks up the story in her stead. “As children, our mother worked in the castle under Bowser’s father, and we would often tag along to “help” her. The King’s youngest son was often left to his own devices, and soon enough my mother had a third helper following her around the castle. One day the king requested Ma’s presence, he had apparently heard from one of the maid’s about his son’s new friends and had some questions.”

At that, Kammy interjects, “oh my STARS! I was so sure we accidentally got her fired somehow, I was so scared!” and mutters out an I know before turning back to Luigi, who is silent and glued to his seat, soaking up the information like a sponge.

“Yes, and it only got worse from there,” Kamek says, “He ended up calling us in there to speak with him too. Imagine our surprise when instead of kicking us out for distracting his son, he promoted us. Told us his son seemed happy and he wanted us around him more permanently. I believe we were technically his nannies, but he always called us his advisors, just so he could brag to his siblings about getting them before they did.”

Kamek smiles, “All that to say, we went everywhere with him, including the day he got left out of that room. Good thing we were or…well…”

At this, Luigi flinches, even though he’d had a pretty good idea of where the story was headed. “When everything happened, we didn’t even realize anything had happened until we were actually inside. It was horrifying to witness even at eighteen, but I can’t imagine what it was like for a 15 year old to see his… family like that.”

Kammy interjects again, “To be fair, we did try to keep him from running into rooms before us but, you know how he is. Stubborn as f*ck, even as a teenager. Especially as a teenager.” Kamek nods, “it was horrible.” He takes a deep breath, and his sister reaches over the couch to squeeze his shoulder, resuming the story for him, “ After that, we couldn’t just leave the kid to fend for himself, so we got together the people of the castle to help us out. We rushed through the coronation because the nature of their deaths was so violent, and went with Bowser to the family’s smaller estate in the western country while his newly instated court had the castle interiors renovated and taught themselves all the legal stuff about running a country. While we were in the country, we gave the new king an admittedly pretty shoddy crash course on being a royal. As hard headed as he is, we really didn’t bother teaching him manners, as is probably evident,” she laughs, and Luigi chuckles in agreement.

“We were much more worried about all of the practical stuff, the paperwork, the customs, the decision making. All the things he still wasn’t due to learn about for another four or five years. We did the best we could, but once the renovations were finished he couldn’t stay away from his new duties as King for much longer, and we were elected as his primary advisors during his first court meeting as the ruler of the Kingdom” she says the last bit with an over exaggerated posh accent, and Luigi sees even Kamek crack a smile as he laughs at her, grateful that she managed to lighten up such a dark conversation.

“Wow.. well that certainly answered my question. Thank you guys for telling me all that, I definitely appreciate being able to learn about the history of the kingdom, you both, and Bowser, since no one really... talks about it. That sounds so terrifying, I’m so sorry you all had to go through all that. You both have done an amazing job with the kingdom, and with Bowser.” He blushes at that, trying to backtrack, “I mean! Not like-”

Kammy giggles at his outburst, “Oh yes! I completely forgot why we started this conversation. Luigi here has a cruuuuush on our dear Bowser!”

He hides his face in his hands at her comment, and she pokes him in the arm “oh, relax. As his 'older sister', I’m loving this little dance you two are doing around each other. It’s cute. Plus it’s so fun to keep track of how many staff catch you guys after that goomba found you in the garden. Now I’m invested, especially since you’re traveling with us all! There’s not a whole lot of places to hide from your feelings on an airship…” She giggles delightedly, and Luigi claps a hand over his mouth at the realization of what exactly he’d signed himself up for.

“I take it all back, you guys are the worst!” he huffs, crossing his arms and slumping into his seat.

Kamek chuckles at him, “Yes, yes, we know. But in all seriousness, you better be good to my baby brother, break his heart or his trust and you’ll really learn what it’s like here as a prisoner.” The threat was followed by sickeningly fake smiles from both of the siblings, Kammy breaking character first at the sight of Luigi’s terrified expression.

“Well, we should get going. It’s getting late and I left all my packing till the last minute, again. We’ll see you tomorrow, bright and early! Breakfast should come around an hour or so earlier because of the trip.”

She gets up off the couch and stretches, before pulling both her brother and Luigi into a hug. “We haven’t been able to talk about what happened much, so thank you for listening. You’re such a nice person, Luigi, I’m glad Bowser has you here with him.”

He can feel Kamek squeeze them both a little harder before they separate, heading to the door and bidding Luigi goodnight. His mind is absolutely reeling, not expecting to get such a lore-bomb about the King during his nightly meal. He was grateful for the opportunity to learn about how things came to be the way they were, even if he didn’t fully understand what happened. What did Bowser’s father do? What could have caused so much damage? He felt his heart ache for the dragon, whose want for a family makes even more sense now that he knows how Bowser grew up. He would be distraught if something happened to Mario, as f*cked up as he can be. But to lose your whole family, he can’t even imagine. He feels a little guilty, like maybe he wasn't supposed to hear all of that, but there’s nothing he can do now. He pushes the guilt to the back of his mind, instead heading back into the closet to finish the last of his packing, toiletries and smaller things he didn’t have the thought to pack earlier. He wheels everything out into his room, and even packing way more than he thought was necessary, multiple outfits per day, shoes, and accessories as well as his skin and hair care, the first thing he asked for when he realized he could make requests for things and they would show up at his door within the day, and some makeup (tucked away in a bag under some clothes in case he’s feeling adventurous on this… adventure) he’s still only sporting a large suitcase and a duffel bag. He has a backpack, too, but he always carries that so he doesn’t really count it. He changes out of his clothes and into some boxers before falling into bed, excited and nervous to be heading out so far away from the castle.

He’s really looking forward to spending more time with Bowser. They haven’t had a lot of time together the past week, Bowser busy with his responsibilities while Luigi tried to help Peach with damage control. His absence from the Mushroom Kingdom was being felt, and Mario was becoming less and less willing to go along with their ruse the longer he went without proof that Luigi wasn’t “being corrupted” by his stay “behind enemy lines”, whatever the f*ck that meant. They’d finally been able to convince Peach’s head advisor, who had snatched the phone out of her hands during one of their calls and uncovered their plan, that what he was doing here was a good thing. It had actually been remarkably easy, once Luigi remembered that Peach’s head advisor had been trying to create a magic system for organizing the Mushroom Kingdom’s enormous library and historical archive since he’d met the man. All he’d done was grab Kammy, who’d single handedly created one for the Koopa Kingdom’s own library, and let her explain to Toadsworth how it worked and how easily it could be implemented somewhere else with the right instructions. That phone call had been nerve wracking, but it seemed like once you got him going, Peach’s advisor was an almost perfect match, conversationally, to Kammy, and it had ended with a pledge of his support and silence and a promise from Luigi to bring back more information on the specifics of the magic used in the library system whenever he returned. That also reminds him that he will eventually have to leave the little life he’s made for himself here, but for now he just needs to focus on the trip he’s about to take and making sure he’s taking advantage of the time he does have.

Chapter 7: Chapter Seven

Chapter Text

He’s awoken by the now familiar sound of his breakfast being set up on the table, having forgotten that it was being served early in order to accommodate the scheduling for the trip. He rolls out of bed, uttering a good morning to whoever was setting it up on his way to the bathroom. When he returns, his food has finished being set up, and he’s changed into his outfit for the day, a shorter white skirt and long sleeve flowy green top, opting to just wear his boots again as all of his other favorites had been packed away in the suitcases by the door. As he’s eating, someone comes by to collect his luggage, stating that they would be ready for departure within the hour, and to make his way down to the tarmac whenever he was finished up here. He takes his time with breakfast, steeling his nerves in anticipation for his journey, and makes one last round of his rooms, making sure he’s not leaving anything behind, before grabbing his backpack and heading out the door, locking it behind him before slipping the key back around his neck. He makes his way through the castle towards the tarmac where he sees Kammy and Kamek standing next to a frankly concerning amount of luggage, and his expression must give away his disbelief because Kamek sighs bodily. “Tell me about it, you’d think she’s going away for life with all of this.”

She scoffs, “hey! Not everything is mine! The blue ones are yours!” She motions to the end of the pile with a smirk, where three small blue suitcases sit, and he watches the man roll his eyes before moving to set his suitcases on the loading dock, directing the worker there on which room to put them in.

“Man, I gotta figure out which ones of these I can go two and a half days without…” Kammy looks forlornly towards her mountain of luggage before turning back to Luigi, “Wait, where’s your luggage? Don’t tell me you forgot to pack…” She looks at him with a disapproving grin.

“No! I’m pretty sure I was finished packing before you, actually,” at that he receives a glare, “but someone came by earlier and took my luggage, I figured that happened for everyone?”

“What? Man you’re so lucky. Haven’t even been here a month and you’re already getting the royal treatment. No one but Bowser and the kid get their stuff taken for them.” He can feel himself blushing, and judging by the smile on her face Kammy can see it too, she ooo’s, and nudges him on the shoulder. “I told you he had a soft spot for you, Luigi. This trip is going to be so much fun!”

She cackles and moves away, starting on the arduous task of moving all her luggage into the ship. He’s not left idle for too long, though, as moments after Kammy leaves he is approached by a koopa with glasses and a notebook.

“We will be taking off in 15 minutes, sir. Let me show you to your room, your luggage has already been delivered.” He follows the koopa closely, the dark underbelly of the ship hard to navigate with such little light.

Before long they’re making their way up a tall staircase, and Luigi has to squint against the sudden flood of light against his eyes as the koopa in front of him wrenches the heavy metal door open. They step into a large circular area, an observation deck, Luigi realizes, at the sight of the large glass windows offering a near-360 degree view of the world below them. There are a lot of chairs and couches, along with tables and a small but full sized kitchen in the corner, clearly just used as alcohol storage, judging by the amount of bottles he could see through the glass front of the fridge. As they pass through, some of the people already settling in nod to him in acknowledgement before going back to whatever they were doing. The koopa shows him the kitchen, much smaller than the castle kitchens, and a few other miscellaneous meeting and store rooms before leading him up another set of stairs and through a long hallway back to the front of the ship. There are seven doors down this hallway, three on either side and one larger one at the end. His guide leads him into the furthest down room on the right side, and as he passes the other two he sees both Kammy and Kamek inside unpacking their belongings. He waves at them both before being led into his room, where he is given a quick explanation on how to work the intercom system that connected all the rooms, which lines were private, which ones weren’t, etcetera, since it was a little safer to call and ask for something than to wander around a ship that’s literally suspended in the sky. He gets distracted halfway through the poor man’s explanation by the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. His heartbeat speeds up as he catches sight of the man walking past his door, toting his shell on his arm as he makes his way to what Luigi assumes is his bedroom at the end of the hall. Bowser slows and backs up in front of Luigi’s door, leaning against it and resting the shell on his hip, smirking.

He’s greeted with a “Heya, Greenie. You like your room?” to which he replies “absolutely. It’s a little different from the one at the castle, but I love a good change of scenery. And this window is kind of insane!”

He motions to said window, a large piece of curved glass that stretches almost half the room, bracketed on either side by thick curtains. Bowser laughs, and moves from the door to look out of the window by Luigi. “Yeah, they really went all out with these things. This is one of the smaller ones, of course.” The human’s eyebrows raise, and at this point the koopa guide takes his opportunity and slips out the door unnoticed, “this is a smaller one?” which gets another laugh out of Bowser, “yeah, the one we take on vacations is a whole other level. You should see it sometime! We go to the beach a lot, Junior likes his room at that house the best, apparently.” His brain seems to catch up with his mouth though, and Bowser’s cheeks go a deep red. “I mean! If you want to, of course. N-not forcing you or anything, but I just wanted to extend the offer since you said you wanted to explore outside of the castle, but if you don’t want to obviously that’s fi-”

“I would love to, Bowser!” Luigi cuts off his rambling before he can embarrass himself too badly, “That’s sweet of you to remember I said that, I’ll absolutely take you up on that offer. I haven’t been to the beach for something non-work-related in years, honestly.”

He slots his hands against Bowser’s and looks up to find the king already looking down at him fondly. “We’ll definitely have to go, then. I’ll start planning for it when we get back. Coordinating mine and Junior’s schedules can be a bit of a nightmare.”

Luigi smiles at that, “I’m looking forward to it! Just let me know when you’ve got everything figured out. And I’d appreciate more than a few days' notice this time!” He glares up at Bowser, who chuckles and pulls him in for a hug, arms wrapping around his waist as his hands find their place again around the tall man’s neck.

He can feel Bowser’s breath against his neck, and the smile stretching out against his skin. “Whatever you want, Greenie, I’ll make it happen. I have to go get ready for takeoff. Get settled in, I’ll see you later, okay?”

With that, the dragon pulls away, cupping Luigi’s face before disappearing out the door and down the hall. He just stands there for a minute, once again stunned at the displays of affection this man affords him. He puts his hand to his face, feeling it tingle at the memory of the large hand that had been there moments prior, before he hears a quiet but excited knock at his door. He answers it to find Kammy armed with a knowing look, leaning against the doorframe in a poor imitation of the King. He barks out a laugh and goes to shut the door in her face, but she’s quick, and her staff keeps the door from closing long enough for her to slip inside. She corners him in the bathroom, blocking his only way out with her body.

“No no! No hiding! I know your secret, tell me everything!” She laughs harder as he looks around the room, pretending not to hear her. “Come onnnnn. It’s been so long since there was gossip in the castle, and I’ve been so bored. Humor me. Pleaseeeee”

He sighs and rubs a hand over his face, “I mean it’s certainly not anything exciting. It was just a hug, Kammy, I swear! He’s just so sweet, and he’s really…nice to look at.”

She makes a face, and then makes another, more disgusted face, “okay, one. That’s so precious and two. Ew. That's my brother we’re talking about here.”

“Sorry, sorry. You said you wanted details!” She reaches into the bag on the counter above his head and plucks out a hair tie, just to pull it back on her finger and smack Luigi in the chest with it.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” She's quiet for a moment, and he looks up from the floor to find her smiling down at him with humor in her eyes. “I have a feeling you’re gonna enjoy going on these types of trips, there’s basically no rules on these airships. All we’re doing for the rest of the night is having dinner, and I know you saw the liquor cabinet on the observation deck. We always break it open after eating and things tend to get a little rowdy, since even the crew is invited.”

Her eyes light up, an idea forming in her head as she looks between Luigi and his suitcases by the door. She insists on helping him pick out his outfit for the night, as the first night was always the night where people dressed up.

“Regardless of how long the trip is, most people spend their time after the first night bumming it out around the ship” she had said, so he shrugged and let her loose in his luggage. Which had not been his brightest idea, looking back, as she had quickly found the makeup he had stashed as well as a few … more intimate… pieces of clothing that he had mindlessly thrown in the pile of clothes while he was daydreaming about his time with Bowser. She cackles and holds them up over her shoulder, prompting Luigi to collapse face down on the bed and yell into the pillow, face flaming in embarrassment as she continues rifling through his clothes. Watching from the bed, he shifts to face her and pulls a pillow under his arm.

“I hate you, you know that?” he tosses across the room at her, to which she responds “you have told me that before, yes.”

She finishes putting together his outfit, dumping it all on top of his reclining form on the bed, shoes and accessories included. He gathers it all and takes it back to the bathroom with him, and it seems Kammy is quite the stylist, pulling on a light green minidress that hit him mid-thigh. He slides his arms through sheer sleeves that sit just off his shoulders, flapping them around lightly when he realizes there's the slightest bit of flare at the ends. His hair has grown considerably longer than it had been back home, Mario always made him cut it once it looked like it was going to touch his shoulders. But now, his curls sit comfortably on the exposed skin of his shoulders and collarbone and he admires the way the slits on either side of the dress frame his legs when he turns in the mirror to check himself out. No wonder those hurt so bad he thinks, looking at the pair of glossy stilettos Kammy threw at him. He pulls them on and slips on the rest of the accessories, walking back into his room with a wolf-whistle from the woman still sitting on the floor looking through his suitcase.

“Hey! I thought you were done picking out my outfit! What are you still doing in my clothes?” he flicks back the hair tie she hit him with earlier, and she immediately shoots it back at him, “I never said I was done looking through your clothes though, did I?”

She’s grinning, and he can’t help but grin back at her. “Well? What do we think?”

He spins in a slow circle, bowing with a flourish as he makes his way back to face her. “You look so good! I always knew I would make a good stylist.”

She lifts her nose up in the air, brushing off her shoulders comically. “I agree! I like this dress, I’m glad I packed it.” he runs his hands over the material absentmindedly, and stares at himself in the mirror across the small room.

He doesn’t hear Kamek come in, so he startles a little when he hears him speak, “I don't know if you're a makeup kind of guy, but you should try some mascara and highlighter at least. You have such long eyelashes and good cheekbones, it's a crime.” Luigi turns away from his reflection to stare at the man incredulously, “how the f*ck do you know anything about that?”

Kamek chuckles. “I have a sister, Luigi. She’s got quite the knack for makeup, I must say. I’ve been on the receiving end of her experiments for many years now.” He full on laughs at that, imagining the koopa sitting in front of his sister getting his makeup done over and over again, until she was satisfied with her work.

“No f*cking way, I’d pay good money to have a picture of that!” and Kammy is already pulling them up on her phone, but not before her brother snatches it from her and quickly makes his way out of the door. She chases after him, yelling about her personal property, and Luigi settles in and unpacks more of his things as he waits for dinner.

Chapter 8: Chapter Eight

Chapter Text

A few hours later, his attention is pulled from the book he’d been reading on and off for a week, some random story he found in his room at the castle that was like a Twilight-Harry Potter crossover, with vampires, werewolves, wizards, and a whole lot of angst, by a knock at his door. He opens it, expecting one of the magikoopas to be there to take him to dinner, and is greeted by none other than the Koopa King himself. His surprise must be evident, because Bowser laughs lightly before holding his arm out for Luigi to hold onto. “Figured I might escort you to dinner, seeing as you’re here as my guest? You look pretty,” he sheepishly says, and Luigi smiles brightly at him before looping his arm through the crook of the larger man’s elbow. He wonders why the King never did this while they were at the castle, and as they pass the twins' rooms, he can see Kammy’s amused expression, and she mouths no rules at him as they pass. He flushes deeply and looks up to see Bowser watching him with a similar bemused expression, and he smacks him on the arm lightly as they make their way down the halls. Overall, dinner was a lot more tame than he was expecting, many of the workers exhausted from having to prepare the airship for flight. However the energy definitely picks up when the drinks come out, and soon there’s music, loud conversations, shots, and smoking, which he had not been prepared for. Weed was barely legal in the U.S. not to mention how they got ahold of it down here, or if it was even weed. One hit of it though, and he definitely knows it's something, the heady feeling rushing in reminding him of his college days. Luigi makes a few new friends as the night wears on, leaning further and further into Bowser’s side as the effects of the drinks and the smoking catch up to him. He wasn’t even sure what kind of alcohol existed down here, and he also didn’t know if it would even get him drunk. So, don’t blame him if he goes a little harder than he meant to. He’s by no means the drunkest person there, Kammy and some of the crew members tying for first as they drunkenly race down the long corridors of the airship. Kamek is talking to a group of goombas on a couch by the window across the room, gesturing wildly with his drink as he starts passionately explaining something to his enraptured audience. Bowser was sitting next to him, chatting idly with a group of the crew members on their bets for the upcoming Kart Race, which was slated to be televised while they were in the Outer Islands. He had his arm thrown across the back of the couch, and Luigi’s shoulders, and was emitting heat like a furnace, likely due to the fact that he had gotten in a few rounds of a drinking contest with his generals and was more than pleasantly buzzed. Luigi is glued to the sight of the man, slowly inhaling the smoke off of a cigar packed with the sticky weed-like substance and letting it roll out of his nose and mouth, occasionally offering it to the smaller man, who takes it every time. He was a bit of a pothead back home, after all. Eventually, the crew gets up for more drinks, and Bowser follows not long after. Luigi makes a confused noise at the loss of warmth, and looks up through his lashes at the man who is, once again, cupping his face.

“Sit tight, Greenie, I’m going to get us more drinks. And maybe something to eat, I’m kinda hungry again.” His hooded eyes crinkle up as he pats his stomach, and the mention of food had Luigi’s stomach rumbling. He smiles, and Bowser lowers his hand, offering it to the man still slumped on the couch. “Actually, come with me. I wanna find a quieter place to hang out anyways, it’s getting kind of crazy in here.”

He takes the large hand and feels the man loop it back through his arm, leading them out of the room in an exact mirror of how they had arrived. As they make their way to the kitchen, Luigi is feeling bold, and using the darkness as a cover, slides his hand down Bowser’s arm until their fingers interlace. He feels the man’s step falter, and he can practically feel the heat radiating off of his face, watching him as he looks down at their conjoined hands before squeezing and walking towards the kitchen once again. When they get there, all of the staff has cleared out, no doubt making their way to the deck to join in on the party. Luckily, this was Bowser’s ship, and he knew where to find everything, using his grip on Luigi’s hand to help the Omega hop up on the counter and watch as the King rummaged around the kitchen and put together some snacks, occasionally holding something up over his shoulder to get the smaller man’s opinion. He grabs a couple of bottles of wine and two glasses before throwing it all in a basket he found under the counter, which he holds up triumphantly after opening a majority of the cabinets in search for something to hold their snacks. That makes Luigi giggle, and he watches the king try and fail to suppress a smile as he packs their basket full and makes his way back over, offering his hand once again as Luigi hops off the counter, immediately interlacing their fingers as they make their way out of the kitchen. They pause for a moment as Bowser debates on where to go, but he must decide quickly as they’re moving once again, heading to the back of the ship and up a few flights of stairs. At the top, they pause, and Luigi realizes he’s staring at a door to the outside of the ship. His grip on Bowser’s hand tightens for a moment and he turns around to face him, gaze lowering to look him in the eyes.

“What's wrong? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of heights!” he laughs, and Luigi is turning red, “No! I’m just- are you sure it’s safe? I mean we’re flying through the air right now, what if the wind pulls me off? How high up are we anyways?”

He’s clinging to Bowser’s arm as he peers out of the window, and he feels him puff out a breath behind him in amusem*nt. “I promise, Greenie, you’re safe. I come out here all the time, it’s a cool view and the top is covered, less chance of falling off that way.”

He winks at him, and Luigi smiles. “But see, that’s the thing. Less of a chance is still a chance!” He playfully points a finger at Bowser to drive his point, but the man nips at it and laughs when he lets out a squeak at the unexpected movement.

“Come on! Just trust me, I’m not gonna let anything happen to you.” At his hesitant nod, Bowser smiles and lets go of his hand to turn the latch on the door and push it open, returning his hand to Luigi’s grip and pulling him out onto the balcony with him.

As much as he was expecting a harsh wind, having thought of this more like an airplane than anything else, it’s remarkably quiet. And the way that the balcony was built into the building allowed for any airflow to pass over the glass roof above their heads, only coming in from the exposed parts of the sides between the low wall and the overhang. He wasn’t lying, he must come up here a lot, because there’s a pile of blankets and pillows spread across the majority of the small space, and a small table backed into a corner where Bowser sat their wine glasses as he sat down, motioning for Luigi to follow him. He props himself up against a wall and takes the full glass of wine offered to him moments later. They fall into easy conversation, the topics only getting weirder and weirder as the wine bottles get emptier and emptier. At some point, Bowser pulls the rest of his cigar out of a pant pocket, and the conversations only get more unexplainable, the two of them laughing to the point of tears as the ember draws closer to their fingertips. They start gravitating towards each other after that, a slap on the shoulder turns into Luigi cuddling up against Bowser’s arm, and a request for more wine turns into Bowser pulling Luigi into his side, wrapping his arm around him and pulling him close in an excuse to “reach his wine glass.” As the bottles are emptied and eventually knocked over, Luigi finds himself resting his head on the dragon’s chest, who is lying against pillows he piled up in the middle of the floor at some point during the night. Legs intertwined, Luigi taps out a mindless rhythm on the fabric of the button up stretched across the chest underneath him, both of them watching the land pass by in the distance as they make their way to the Outer Islands. Bowser brings his hand down, petting down the human’s waist and hip, touch light but clumsy as inebriation starts to catch up to him.

He swears he hears Luigi purr, body arching sensually into his touch. He does it again, and Luigi shivers prettily. Before his drunk brain can prompt him to move, he feels the small man shift under his arm. He looks down from where his eyes have been fixed on the skyline before he can stop it, and watches as the man moves to straddle his lap, eyes coming up to meet his with the boost in height and dress stretching tight over his legs. His breath is caught in his throat as he feels small warm hands cup either side of his face, thumbs running over his cheeks as they stare at each other.

“Whatcha starin’ at, beautiful?” the pet name comes out before he can stop it, and he feels his cheeks heat up as Luigi’s eyebrows shoot up, hearing him giggle before fixing him with a heated stare. “Oh, so I’ve gone from pretty to beautiful now, have I, handsome?” and Bowser is getting impossibly redder under the gaze of his pretty human.

He huffs and tries to hide in Luigi’s neck, but the man is tugging on his hair and clicking his teeth, “don’t go hiding from me, hands-ah” whatever he was saying gets cut off by a groan as Bowser licks a slow, hot trail up his neck, stopping to suck just below his jaw.

He feels the large man pull back quickly, looking at him slightly panicked, “I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable. I wasn’t thinking, and you smell so good, and-” he cuts himself off, clearly embarrassed at the rambling his lowered inhibitions caused, and pulls back further, only to be kept in place by another gentle tug on his hair.

His eyes widen and he watches as a slow smirk graces Luigi’s features, “oh? I smell good, huh? What do I smell like, baby? Good enough to want a taste?” he puncuates his questions with an owlish look, peering up at the man through his eyelashes.

He feels the chest under him shaking softly, a low growl emitting from the Alpha at his display of submission. Luigi’s smirk breaks out into a grin as the hand not on his chest slides from its position in his hair to rest at the base of his throat, pressing down slightly as he adjusts to be closer to the dragon. His face is above Bowser’s now, feeling the rush of air leave his body as the large man relaxes underneath him completely, neck arching to push into the pressure of Luigi’s hand. Their lips are a breath apart now, and Bowser is exhaling shakily, a whispered please leaving his mouth as he pushes up into Luigi’s hold again. He’s never felt like this, usually the one in charge in the little experience he did have, while those were enjoyable, this was next level. He was floating, zeroed in on the feeling of the body on top of his and the pressure around his neck. When he’s rewarded for his pleading with another squeeze around his neck, he can’t help the whine that escapes him at the feeling.

“Come on baby, you can do better than that. Try again.” He pulls his hand away from Bowser’s neck, trailing it up over his neck, ignoring the huff from the larger man in favor of pressing his thumb into his lower lip, pulling slightly and encouraging him to open his mouth.

He presses down on his tongue and hooks his fingers under Bowser’s chin, tilting his face up to face Luigi fully. He watches the dragon’s eyes slide shut as he runs his tongue across the small finger, panting lightly. As the finger is pulled from his mouth, his panting escalates to a full blown moan, eyes snapping open, Luigi’s eyes several shades darker with arousal than when he had closed them. He eyes the king expectantly, raising an eyebrow when all he does is stare dumbly, the light coming through the door closing them off from the world casting severe shadows across their faces. He starts to pull away, and Bowser is pulling them back together so forcefully their hips brush together, both groaning before Luigi regains his previous position, one hand now nestled in his hair and the other splayed across his cheek and jaw, tilting his head up again.

“Last chance, big boy, what do you want?” The dragon is heaving by this point, and words are tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop them “pleasepleaseplease” trailing off into a moan as Luigi drums his fingers against his cheek, touch feeling like electricity to the poor man underneath him, humming quietly and shaking his head before Bowser continues, “please, baby, f*ck, I want- I need to taste you, please.” Luigi smiles and brings them impossibly closer, sitting fully in Bowser’s lap at the same time he presses his lips against larger, rougher ones, letting out a soft moan at all the stimulation. One that the king returns as he starts rocking them together slowly, hands sliding down to rest one on his lower back and one on the swell of his ass, guiding them together as their mouths connect messily. He tugs on the hair in between his fingers, trailing his other hand to rest again at the base of Bowser’s throat, pressing in again as he swallows a moan from the other man. Their foreheads rest against one another as they pull back for air, and Bowser trails kisses down his neck as he speaks lowly, murmuring praises into his skin as they drag against each other mindlessly. He flips them, pushing Luigi into the blankets with his hips and holding his wrists in place over his head. The smaller man is panting and whining underneath him, and he feels lithe legs wraps around his waist as they start rutting together more frantically, chasing their releases as they moan into each other's mouths. Their lips meet and Luigi’s tongue licks into his mouth, and before long he can feel the small man shake apart beneath him, following not too long after due to the sharp pull of Luigi’s hands in his hair. He flips them back over, settling against the pillows as he pulls the small man against his chest and wraps his arms tightly around a trim waist. Tracing random patterns up and down the skin under his fingers, he feels Luigi tuck his face into Bowser’s neck, sucking kisses wherever he could reach.

They doze off like that, and an indeterminable amount of time later Luigi wakes up, blinking blearily into the near darkness. He feels Bowser taking deep, measured breaths under him, and he pulls back from his spot in his neck to watch the handsome man sleep. His features were lax, head lolled back against the pillows and arms tightening unconsciously around Luigi at the first sign of movement. He watches for a moment more before the dragon’s eyes flutter open and stare back at him, unfocused and still simmering with heat from their previous activities.

“Hey handsome, sleep well?” He giggles as Bowser rolls his eyes and huffs out a laugh, “Best sleep I’ve had in years, you?”

He brushes a curl out of Luigi’s face, and he blushes as he answers, “Me too. You’re really warm. And comfy.” He accentuates his point by borrowing back down into the man’s chest, shivering in the late night/early morning air outside the ship.

He feels Bowser’s large hands caress his back, rhythmic motions of up and down, almost lulling him back to sleep before he speaks again, low voice pulling Luigi out of his sleepy state. “We should clean up. If you want to get warm, I have a big bath in my room you can use. We should probably go inside, either way. The crew will start getting up soon to get ready for the day, and I’d much rather not have gossip spread around the ship so early into the trip. About me or you, at least. I’m sure there are plenty of rumors going around already, they normally do after parties like this.”

Luigi nods, pressing his lips into the kings, leaning over to whisper in his ear, “will you join me? in the bath?” and he smiles against his cheek when he feels Bowser nod, cheeks hot. “perfect. lead the way then, handsome.”

They untangle from one another, walking through the halls and only stumbling sometimes thank you as the alcohol and lack of real sleep was catching up to them. This bath was charmed with the same magic his one at the castle was, so by the time they got each other undressed, quiet laughter filling up the space when Luigi gets stuck in his sleeves or when Bowser almost trips over his pant leg, the basin was full and steam was rising off the water. Bowser looks between the water and the human, deep in thought for a moment before catching his eyes and apologizing.

“Sorry, just had the thought that the water might be a bit too hot for you. It’s harder for me to tell, since I can literally bathe in lava.”

Luigi sticks his hand in the water, much to the surprise of the man just voicing his concerns about said water. He keeps it in there for a moment, the hot water seeping into his bones. Panicked, Bowser pulls his hand out by the wrist, turning it over in his hold to look for any burns. He giggles at that, catching the man’s hand in his own and placing a kiss on a large knuckle. “It's fine, I promise. I like my showers hot.”

As he says this he backs up towards the bath, sitting on the edge and sliding his underwear off before turning and putting his legs in the water. It’s shallow enough on the sides for the water to come up just under his ass, lapping at his buttcheeks as he makes his way deeper in the water.

He looks over his shoulder, “well, are you coming or not?” and he hears the large man stumble out of his boxers and into the bath after Luigi. He feels two strong arms come up behind him, pulling them back until they reach the side of the bath, settling on a ledge that faced the large window overlooking their journey, the smaller man leaning back against a broad chest and sighing deeply when a large hand smooths down his arm to interlock their fingers once more. He’s trying so hard not to overthink what just happened but Bowser senses something is up anyways, turning him in his hold so they’re face to face, looking down at him with a small smile. “What? What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

He cups Luigi’s cheek, smile faltering at the sight of his serious expression. “Oh sh*t… What happened? Are you okay?”

“Nothing happened! And I’m fine, I swear. I just… I’m not so sure that was the best idea..." he sighs

Bowser’s hand jerks back from his face and he leans back against the wall of the tub, arms stretching out on either side to give Luigi room to leave, if he wanted. He doesn’t move, further away or closer, and Bowser stares at him, uncertain, as he formulates a response.

“Well… f*ck. I’m so sorry, I got carried away, I think. I didn’t mean to force you into anything you didn’t want though, so if that’s how you feel, we can always pretend like this never happened. You're kinda stuck here until we land, but if you want I can arrange for you to travel back to the Mushroom Kingdom and “kidnap” someone else to send information to Peaches. I couldn’t stand keeping you here if you're uncomfortable with me. Just say the word. It's whatever you want, beautiful.”

With that, he reaches back up to run his thumb over a tear rolling down the small man’s face before realizing and flinching back, settling back against the tub muttering a sorry, flushed with embarrassment. Luigi panics a little at the display, surging up to envelop the large man in a crushing hug, stuttering out a response against his collarbone.

“N-no! Please don’t do that, Jesus Christ, please don’t do that! I don’t regret what happened, and I don’t want to leave. I’m just… terrified, honestly. I don’t do casual stuff, and I already like you too much to pretend I’m okay with it. We haven’t actually known each other that long yet, but you’re one of the only people I’ve met since falling into the Mushroom Kingdom that sees me as my own person, not just an extension of my brother.”

At the mention of his brother, Luigi can feel the muscles under his cheek shift as Bowser no doubt pulls some kind of face. “And, we get along very well,” raising his eyebrows and pulling a chuckle from the large man. “But if we do this, I’m yours. And you’re mine. I don’t like sharing.” Bowser shivers at the possessiveness in his tone, and Luigi pulls back to look him in the eyes, “can you do that?” and he’s close enough that he feels more than he hears the shaky “yes, please” that falls from his lips as he leans in to connect their lips.

They kiss languidly in the bath for a while longer before Luigi is all but falling asleep against the large chest he’s pressed up against, kisses becoming more of slow drag on lips as they both relax into the bath. As the sun rises through the window, they make their way out of the bath, toweling off lazily before falling into Bowser’s large bed together. They drift off to sleep wrapped up in one another, the sounds of the crew of the ship dragging themselves out of bed and around the ship after a late night of drinking becoming white noise in the background of the quiet room.

Chapter 9: Chapter Nine

Chapter Text

The next morning - or afternoon - he isn’t sure, Luigi wakes up with a pounding headache and a case of cottonmouth so severe he can hear his tongue smacking as he tries to conjure up an ounce of moisture in his throat. He’s also boiling, Bowser having wrapped around him completely in his sleep. He realizes, with a healthy dose of mortification that someone had been in here this morning, two covered trays and multiple bottles of water sit on the table across the room, and a glass of water and a bottle of painkillers was placed on the nightstand by his head. He also sees, curiously, his phone, sitting on the nightstand on its charger. He almost doesn’t recognize it as his, having lost it at some point last night and not even realizing until right this second, but the green case with a large “L” on the back makes it easy to distinguish as his phone. He wriggles out of Bowser’s hold just enough to reach the glass of water and his phone, gulping down half the glass in one go. Checking his phone, it is definitely a good afternoon, the clock showing well after two o’clock. His passcode hasn’t been changed or anything, thank god, and when he unlocks his phone he has a text from an unsaved number.

Hey friend! I found this in one of the couch cushions last night. You should really have a harder to guess password. Look at this cute picture!

Luigi clicks on the attachment and as much as he was hoping it would be anything else, a picture of him and Bowser asleep in bed this morning, a blanket thankfully covering any indication that they were naked underneath.

Underneath the photo there’s two more messages and another attachment.

This is Kammy, by the way. And then here’s Kam’s number, just in case!

Under that was an attachment with Kamek’s number. He saves them both as contacts, and texts Kammy back a row of middle finger emojis, followed by a thank you for finding my phone. <3 which she heart reacts, and he sets his phone back on the nightstand before turning back to the warmth behind him and dozing until he feels a deep intake of breath over his shoulder.

Tilting his head up to find Bowser already watching him, he smiles and repeats his words from earlier, “good morning handsome. How’d you sleep?”

He’s pulled over large legs as he settles in Bowser’s lap. “Definitely tops my previous contender for “best sleep of my life” he smiles, and sits up to press a slow kiss to Luigi’s lips. “How about you? You seem… happy.”

The small man smiles brightly, “definitely that. This bed is also one of the most comfortable things I’ve ever slept on, aside from you of course.” He winks up at the dragon, who blushes and pulls him down to lie on top of him, rubbing his back lightly as they relax for a minute, before Luigi remembers his phone, and the photo. Huffing out a laugh, Luigi sits up and reaches over to grab his phone off the nightstand. He can feel the man underneath him shift to sit up against the headboard, and Bowser makes a noise of confusion when the small man settles back in his lap.

“Wait, when’d you get your phone back? You lost it like 20 minutes after dinner…” He unlocks the phone and flips it to show the photo Kammy took of them, laughing at Bowser’s shocked expression, “Kammy found it, who knows how.”

He nods, “yeah, that definitely sounds like her. I like that picture, send it to me?” He hands Bowser the phone, watching the man’s eyes track across the screen as he puts his contact info in. When he gets it back, he sends the photo with the message this is luigi ! “there you go!” He smiles and tosses his phone beside him somewhere in the bed before wrapping his arms around the dragon’s neck and pressing soft kisses to the skin there.

“What are your plans for the day? Even though we’re traveling I assume you have some sort of responsibilities.” He gets a hand tilt in response, “I don’t know if Kammy told you, but there aren’t really many rules on the ships. I have a meeting with the captain and some of the crew just to make sure we’re still arriving on time after dinner, but other than that my schedule is free. Good thing too, since it’s like three o’clock.”

He watches strong sides ripple as Bowser reaches across the bed and pulls his phone from the nightstand, as well as a pair of reading glasses, and he can’t stifle the small amused sound that escapes him at the reappearance of the glasses he had seen on the man in his office a few days ago. “Don’t even think about laughing at me, Greenie, I know I look hot in ‘em”

That earns him a halfhearted smack on the chest as he scrolls through the various texts that had come through while he was sleeping. A few texts from the nannies about Junior, and good morning texts from the kid, updates about things around the castle and the city, and obscure memes and social media posts that he was almost sure he knew what they meant from Junior. “Anything interesting?” He sees Luigi’s eyes pop up over the top of his phone, and he chuckles. “No, not really. Just my kid sending me stuff, plus the staff updating me about things in the palace.”

The small man nods, “how are you so calm about leaving Junior at home? You seem really protective of him…”

Bowser chuckles, “trust me, it took a long time before I went anywhere without him, probably the first half of his life. But his nannies are great, and he’s an independent child. I’m not gonna force him to do something just because I want him to, you know?”

Luigi gets a little emotional at that, grateful that Bowser’s kid has a dad that wouldn’t force him to stay in his life. He thinks back to the screaming matches that filled his very traditional, very Italian home when he and his brother had expressed an interest in moving across town towards Queens where there were more prospective plumbing jobs for their new business, their mother begging them to stay and their father lecturing them on the importance of family.

“You’re a really good father, I want you to know that.” Bowser is wrapped up in a tight hug, one he returns as he tucks his head into Luigi’s neck and murmurs out a quiet, “thank you.”

They spend a majority of the rest of their day lazing about in bed, at one point getting up to eat only to drag the trays set on the table back with them to the bed, eating small bites of food as they watch the tv and end up binging an entire season of some sh*tty show they found scrolling through options, Bowser leaned up against the headboard with Luigi settled in the vee of his legs. Luigi has the decency to feel a little embarrassed at actually being caught in bed with the King considering how many times the staff had caught them asleep together before He remembers the flustered face of the poor koopa woman who had brought their food before the warmth from the chest behind him and the gentleness of the hand that fed him pieces of fruit banishes any embarrassment from his mind.

When it’s time for Bowser’s meeting, Luigi watches from the bed as the large man emerges from the shower, toweling off his fiery hair as he rummages around the wardrobe underneath the tv. Luigi’s eyes trace the lines of the body in front of him, settling on the muscles of broad shoulders and arms, shifting as they sort through the drawer. He gets caught staring, because of course he does, red eyes staring at him over his shoulder, a smirk gracing his features once he realizes he’s being admired, no other way to interpret the look that’s surely on the man’s features. Luigi watches as he strikes a pose, laughing at his own antics as the human rolls over to laugh into the comforter. When he rolls back over he’s engulfed in a dark shadow, Bowser having thrown on some sweats and leaning a knee on the bed and looking down at him. Pulling his chin between his pointer and thumb, he chuckles lightly at catching the smaller man so off-guard.

“Sexy, huh?” Luigi feels his face flush deeply before a coy expression crosses his face, “Absolutely, very sexy,” he wraps his arms around the man’s neck and pulls him in to a deep kiss, absentmindedly toying with the hair under his fingers as he slides up to tug lightly, smiling at the shiver that runs through the body above his.

“Don’t do that… I have to go to this stupid meeting.” His complaint pitches up at the end in a whine, and Luigi laughs, “well you better get going then… I’ll be right here when you get back.”

He’s wrapped in a tight hug, a soft oh my god, you’re killing me in his ear before Bowser is pulling a shirt over his head and making his way over to the door, checking his phone.

“I shouldn’t be gone for long, an hour at the most. I’ll see you later, okay?” His sheepish look makes Luigi giggle, and he flips over on the bed and props his head on his hands, “yeah handsome, I’ll see you later.”

He watches Bowser blush as he shuts the door behind him, giving him a wink through the crack in the closing door as Luigi buries his head in his arms, blushing. He lazes in bed for a few minutes before standing and stretching, his back popping in a way that would be concerning if Luigi didn’t know he was cursed with the body of an 80 year old man in his twenties. He ends up stealing a, frankly huge, shirt out of Bowser’s wardrobe, too lazy to find his clothes that had been discarded in the bathroom the night before, and stealing a pair of shorts out of a half opened drawer. He takes a deep breath, preparing himself for the, blessedly short, walk of shame back to his room down the hall, set on taking a real shower and changing his clothes before the dragon is finished with his meeting. He hasn’t even fully opened his door before he hears the sound of the door next to his flying open, an exciting and mischievous Kammy meeting his gaze as he darts in his room, trying to shut the door on her before she can bombard him with questions.

“Come on, Luigi! This didn’t work last time and it's not gonna work now! Let me in!” He rushes away from the door, sending her tumbling to the floor of his room with a glare.

“Man, you really missed it last night! Me and Kam tried to recruit you on our team for a game, but we couldn’t find you! Come to think of it, the King was missing for the last half of the night, too.” The way she says it, paired with the knowing look she’s throwing him confirms that for all that Bowser tried to keep people from gossiping about them, it had likely already started.

At his nervous look, she lifts her hands placatingly, “don’t worry! I kept my observations about your…absence… to myself, but you know Kam caught on before too long.”

That made him feel better, knowing that the only two people who suspected anything between him and the king were the people that already knew, you know?

“Does it not weird you out? To know about me and your brother?” he asks it a little hesitantly.

She laughs. “Puh-lease. Before we were his ‘siblings' we were his friends. And I for one am tired of watching my friend get rejected or used by people who are only concerned with his status.” At this she nods resolutely, crossing her arms, “I’m happy that someone has come along that seems to like him for him, and isn’t concerned with his status or afraid of his past.”

He feels a little guilty, seeing as he and his brother had done exactly that until he had been given a chance to actually get to know the dragon king, and he voices this before he can decide against it, “Well, I’m not entirely innocent in that either. I mean, my brother and I have passed our share of unfair judgment on him.”

She fixes him with a disbelieving look, “regardless of all that, would you look at him knowing what you know about him now and still think those things?” and he’s quick to respond, “No! No, not at all! I was actually surprised at first by how…different he seems when we come to rescue the princess. It’s like he’s a completely new person.”

She laughs a little, “yeah, I’m sure it is. He spent a lot of time refining the royal image after he was crowned king. A lot of people were very vocal in their discontent with such a young and inexperienced ruler, so he took it upon himself to project the image of a tough, fearless leader to ease the unrest.”

He frowns at that, upset at the thought of a teenager having all of this dumped on them, and Kammy smiles lightly, “Nowadays though, most people around the kingdom know it's an act he puts on to protect them. That’s why nobody acts scared of him unless we’re at a tournament or something.”

Now that he thinks about it, he’d watched the same group of goombas and koopas, Bowser’s personal guards who he had joked around with and drank with at the party, cower as the large man shouted orders at them while they were setting up for the various competitions held between kingdoms.

The realization must be clear as day on his face because Kammy is smiling at him, “But, you didn’t know it was an act, at least not at first, and you continued to want to get to know him even after he literally kidnapped you. He’s seemed really happy these last few days, and I know it's because of you. And what kind of friend would I be, not to mention older sister, if I didn’t stick my nose into Bowser’s personal business?”

He laughs, and she makes her way over to his suitcase, still open and horribly disorganized from the night before. “And like it or not, you’re my friend now too. I will be skipping out on the explicit parts, but I expect a full rundown of what happened! Sneaking away during a party? How scandalous!”

He rolls his eyes as he makes his way to the bathroom, because any friend that’s close enough to hear about his love life is close enough to hear about it while he takes a well-needed shower. Recalling his night with the king, he can hear the faint sounds of Kammy rustling around his room, pulling clothes from his suitcase and throwing them on the bed. He returns to the bedroom clad in a pair of worn plaid pajama pants he bought at Target after he and Mario had moved away from home, running a towel through his curls. Kammy has set out an ensemble on his bed, smiling behind her hands as he looks at her, unimpressed.

“What? He’s expecting you when he gets back, isn’t he?" She laughs at his flustered expression as she leaves the room, and Luigi has an idea.

He pulls out one of the sets he'd packed while distracted with thoughts of the Alpha and sets it on the bed beside his clothes. Sheer and black, the bottoms were loose enough to be comfortable but tight enough to hide underneath the green silk shorts Kammy had laid out. The top was more sheer black fabric, a flowy, deep cut camisole with a slit down the middle that fit nicely under the matching silk button up on the bed. He blushes hard, imagining himself in it, and throws the shirt overtop of the sheer fabric when Kammy peeks her head back around the corner

“By the way, the rooms are soundproof, so don’t worry. Good luck, have fun!” She leaves with a wave and a wink, leaving Luigi to get dressed, shivering embarrassingly at the soft fabric running up his legs and over his chest. He finishes up quickly, grabbing a few things and his phone before making his way back down the hallway, socked feet muffling his footsteps.

Chapter 10: Chapter Ten

Chapter Text

Bowser leans back in his chair, sighing heavily and running his hands through his hair at the sight of the empty meeting room. As per usual, he is the last one to leave, preferring to use the time directly after the meeting to go over his notes and really make sure he knows what’s going on. This time though, he doesn’t even offer his notes a second glance, stuffing them in a random folder and waiting as the captain and his generals take their sweet f*cking time wrapping up the meeting, chatting unnecessarily about what they will see in the Outer Islands, the Darklands’ most notoriously remote area. He had waited about ten minutes before all but demanding they take their conversation elsewhere if it wasn’t related to the meeting. He hears them go down the hallway towards the observation deck, and he pushes the heavy door open to stalk towards the kitchens to gather some snacks and bottles of wine, before making his way up the stairs and towards his bedroom, pointedly ignoring any attempts made at talking to him by the crew or his personal staff. He quietly opens the door and is stopped in his tracks at the sight. Late evening sunlight is filling the room, bathing the small human in a soft orange light. He was propped up in the large chaise lounge by the window, reading a book. He looked so small, the chair having been designed to fit Bowser, and his things are set down extra quietly as he makes his way across the room, arms coming down over the back of the chair to rub down lithe shoulders. He feels the man jump under his touch before he turns around and rushes into his arms, pulling him into a tight hug. He feels kisses being pressed to his jaw and neck, and picks the man up from his seated position, feeling legs wrap around his body as blue eyes meet his.

“How was your meeting? Hopefully not too boring” he smiles.

“No no, it was fine. They just kept talking.” He can hear the exasperation in Bowser’s voice, and he smiles, "eager to get back, huh?”

He feels a playful nip at his neck in response and laughs. “How could I not be, when I knew you’d be here waiting for me?”

Bowser walks them around to sit back down on the lounge and Luigi shifts slightly as he settles into his position in the king’s lap, playing with his hair idly as he meets Bowser’s eyes. “What did you get up to while I was gone?”

The larger man runs a rough hand over Luigi’s cheek, and he leans into the touch, “not much. I took a shower, changed, got interrogated by Kammy, nothing out of the ordinary.”

Bowser chuckles at that, “she always loves to stick her nose into my life. Hopefully she didn’t badger you too badly” he rolls his eyes, and Luigi laughs.

“No, no, she was just curious about where we went during the party.” His eyes widen and Luigi is quick to elaborate, “don’t worry, she kept our absences to herself. And Kamek, of course.” Bowser huffs out a laugh and runs his hand through Luigi’s hair, “seems like you had a productive time, then. What book are you reading? I was hoping you’d be able to find something on here that interested you.”

The smaller man turns to pick up his book and flips it over to skim over the back, “its some dramatic book about wizards and vampires and young love” he says with a flourish, and Bowser laughs.

“I think I’ve read some of that one before. It was so confusing I had to give it up though.” The book gets tossed to the side as Luigi moves to squeeze either side of the man’s neck,

“It was interesting enough to pass the time, but now there’s someone much more interesting for me to pay attention to.”

Bowser smirks and stands from his seat, carrying the small man in his arms and dumping him none too gracefully on the bed before turning to grab the small snacks he brought and setting them on the bedside table.

“I figured you might be a little hungry, it's been a while since we ate.” Luigi nods and accepts a slice of cheese with jam gratefully, feeling a thumb rest on his lip as he chews and swallows. He looks up to see Bowser blushing heavily, eyes lidded and pupils dilated at the sight of Luigi eating out of his hands. He runs his hand along his jawline and down the side of his neck before pulling him into a deep kiss, tongue caressing slick heat as he maps out the inside of Luigi’s mouth. \

A quiet moan graces his ears, and he moves one hand to press lightly into the small of the man’s back, the other squeezing where Luigi’s neck meets his shoulder. He slowly leans them back against the comforter, shifting so his large frame was sandwiched in between lithe legs and feeling hands tug up at the hem of his shirt impatiently. He complies with a smirk, shirt thrown off into a darkening corner of the room, the sun now fully on its way past the horizon and is rewarded with barely there scratches up his bare back before Luigi’s hands come to rest in his hair. He breaks from their passionate kiss, spit slick and panting, before trailing wet kisses down a soft neck.

He pauses to suck a mean bruise into skin that would be hidden by a shirt, and revels in the sharp gasp and moan it pulls from the man beneath him. Bowser rubs soft circles into each hip bone, and the action causes the human to arch up into his touch, panting and tenses his legs. His hand goes to unbutton the silk shirt and Luigi starts, gently grabbing his hand and pulling it back. Bowser looks down at him in confusion as he wiggles out from under him, moving to sit in front of the pillows and leaving the koopa leaning awkwardly over the empty space he had previously occupied.

“Wait! I… have something I wanna show you…” With a deep blush, he starts to unbutton his shirt, and Bowser can’t help the blush that rises to his cheeks as soft, supple skin is slowly uncovered before his eyes. As the green fabric falls away, he can’t help but crawl up the bed to get a better look, red eyes turn smoldering as he traces a line between the slips of fabric up Luigi’s belly button. Luigi looks at him through his lashes, and Bowser can’t help it as he surges forward to capture Luigi’s lips in another bruising kiss, hands coming up to cup at his chest through the soft fabric as he rubs his thumbs over pretty nipples, watching them peak under the sheer fabric as their kiss grows more frantic, Luigi bucking his hips uncontrollably at the feeling.

“f*ck baby… you’re so f*cking pretty” Bowser rasps against his open mouth, and he can feel the heat radiating off of the human’s face at the comment. “You like that, huh beautiful? Being my pretty baby?” Luigi nods frantically, craning his head for another kiss, which Bowser happily obliges him.

“Yes, please.” Luigi pants out in between kisses, and even though Bowser doesn’t understand the weird language the brothers speak, something about the way he says it sends a bolt of heat to the dragon’s core. He pushes the man back against the pillows and slots himself back between his legs, pulling at his hips so that Luigi was essentially sitting in his lap, legs wrapped around his waist. They slowly rock against one another, kissing deeply as their hands roam each other’s bodies.

Bowser’s hands make their way down to the waistband of Luigi’s shorts around his hip, and he looks at the man in amusem*nt, “is there a surprise waiting for me here too?” to which the man bites his lip and grabs the hand, leading it towards the center of his waistband and dragging it down so that the shorts pulled together in a vee that showcased the sheer underwear he was wearing underneath.

At this, the large man ripped his shorts down his legs, leaving them hanging off one ankle as he dove back in, running a hand down his abdomen and lightly tracing the outline of his hard co*ck through the sheer fabric. Luigi shudders at that and grinds up against him, using the leverage of the bed underneath him to press heavily into the man’s hips, making a noise of confusion when he doesn’t feel a matching arousal pushing against his.

“Wait, wait…” he starts, and Bowser pulls back as if he’s been burned, watching the smaller man intensely and waiting for him to continue, “I’m sorry, we don’t have to keep going if you’re not into it.”

Bowser co*cks his head, confused, “wait, what? What gave you the impression I’m not into this?”

He sounds a little panicked, and it makes Luigi color in embarrassment. “Well… It’s just… You’re not… hard,” he finishes his sentence in a whisper, and it only makes Bowser’s face scrunch up more before it morphs into an expression of understanding.

“Oh! um... yes, well. I won’t be, at least not at the start.” The expression Luigi throws him spurs him on, “it might be easier for me to just show you, if that’s alright,” and at Luigi’s nod he stands from the bed and shucks his sweatpants onto the floor before tucking his thumbs under the waistband of his boxers. “This is a little bit… freaky. If it’s too much, just let me know, I totally get it.”

With that, he lowers his boxers, and Luigi is met with a truly wonderful sight. Between the man’s legs sat a slit, which he assumed under normal circ*mstances would blend in nearly seamlessly to his skin. However, right now it was puffy, swollen enough to resemble a vagin* that Luigi was accustomed to back home and slick with want. He had never really discriminated when it came to bed partners, and that had left him with an adequate amount of experience in every department, so to speak. He came out as bi halfway through highschool and– He realizes he’s been staring, and he looks up at Bowser’s face, cheeks dark red and eyes cast down to a random spot on the floor with his arms crossed defensively over his chest. Watching the powerful man chew on his lip with insecurity, he decides that simply won’t do.

He shuffles to the side of the bed, taking the man’s chin between his fingers and forcing the man to make eye contact with him. “Aw. Why are you being so shy? Are you embarrassed?”

Luigi’s blood runs cold at the expression on the man’s face, his eyes slightly glassy and his cheeks burning brighter as he nods.

“There have been others who were not as… agreeable as you seem to be. I’m the only one left of my kind, so there are no other instances of my genetic makeup in any of the medical files going back a long time.”

Bowser sighs, and Luigi moves his hand from his chin to rub along the length of the man’s jaw, nodding along to the story, “and well, people don’t always take kindly to things they don’t understand. A lot of people’s first reaction is disgust, which is understandable, and a lot of them have similar things to say about it.”

Luigi watches as the handsome face in front of him scrunches up in anger, and shaking hands move to pull his underwear back over his hips muttering, “this is so stupid, I’m sorry. I just…” Luigi refuses to let the man feel bad, anger broiling under his skin at the thought of the other people who made Bowser feel like this about his own body.

He runs his hands down a broad chest and quirks an eyebrow in question, and when Bowser gives him a small nod he gently pushes large hands away from their anchor on his waistband to take their place. He runs his fingers lightly around the hem before dipping his hands underneath the fabric to rest on the king’s ass, squeezing slightly and chuckling at the surprised noise Bowser lets out. He speaks his words into a warm neck, pressing kisses up and across his jaw as he meets the man’s eyes.

“Bowser, it’s not stupid. I’m sorry people treated you like that over something you have no control over. I like you. And I want you. It doesn’t matter to me what you’ve got going on in your pants, I wanna learn how to make you feel like you make me feel. Can I?” He rests his forehead against Bowser’s, and at his nod, brings his hands back around to the front of his waistband, moving to tug them down the man’s thighs.

“You really don’t have to do this, if it makes you uncomfortable” Bowser says lowly, and Luigi smirks, moving to suck a small bruise on the top of his collarbone, “Where I’m from, people have all types of different… equipment…” he giggles at his word choice before continuing, “and I’ve never run into a problem before. I promise, I’m not uncomfortable at all. Far from it, actually.”

He pulls them both back onto the bed, pushing the large man to lay back against the pillows and leans over to whisper into his ear, “to be honest, I think it’s really hot. You look so wet, is that all for me?” He feels Bowser shudder under him and nod and he pulls them into a filthy kiss, a string of spit connecting them when they separate. Luigi leans back to sit between the king’s spread legs and watches as Bowser props himself on his arms, eyes tracking the movement of Luigi’s mouth when he smiles and hums in thought.

“Show me. How you do it.” at the small confused noise that came from below him he clarifies, “Show me how you touch yourself. How you make yourself feel good. I want to see, please.”

He rubs his hands in reassuring circles up and down the man’s thighs, and he can hear the sharp intake of breath when his hands scoot closer to his core. “Is that okay?” He asks, and Bowser nods. “I would prefer a verbal answer, if you don’t mind, handsome” the slow movement of his hands stops as he waits for a response.

“Y-yeah, it’s okay. Hold on” the big man says as he situates himself against the headboard, pillows supporting his lower back and arms reaching out for Luigi. They assume their position from earlier, this time reversed. Bowser’s ass had been pulled over the human’s leg, shivering at the sensation of Luigi’s soft underwear against his rough skin. The circles on his legs resume as he trails a hand down his front, fingers brushing lightly and giving him goosebumps. “I don’t get the chance to do this very often, so don’t be surprised if it doesn’t last as long as you expected,” he says nervously, but Luigi just smiles at him, “I don’t have any expectations, except that you feel good. Okay?”

Bowser nods with a small smile. He hears a small gasp when he runs his fingers over his throbbing slit, and opens his eyes to find Luigi watching him like a hawk, dilated pupils darting between his face and his hand, not wanting to miss a single thing. “I was so confused when you said I wasn’t into this, ah, because I’ve been pretty much dripping wet since I walked in to you reading in my chair.”

Luigi’s co*ck throbs in his underwear, the flowy fabric tight around the evidence of his arousal, and he watches one of Bowser’s thick fingers disappear between his folds, rubbing slow circles as he pants breathily. He squeezes both thick thighs, and Bowser arches into the touch.

“Jesus, you’re so hot” Luigi says dumbly, and the dragon laughs, blushing as he realizes the human’s gaze is locked in on his lower half. “Oh yeah?” he smirks, spreading open his folds and watching as Luigi’s face flushes a dark shade of red at the sight.

Luigi was already having a hard time forming coherent thoughts before, but now there’s almost no chance as he watches Bowser’s fingers rub and tease at his opening, dipping two fingers inside and occasionally coming up to circle the growing nub at the top of his slit. The king’s other hand is running up and down his stomach, caressing the outline of something bulging out from under the skin. Luigi sits forward a little, hand hovering over Bowser’s on his stomach in question, who stills his movements and blushes, “it's… my dick. The stimulation is what makes it…” he gestures vaguely with his hand and Luigi understands and sets his hand down on top of the other man’s.

“Can I?” he asks, and Bowser arches up into his touch, moving his hand and giving Luigi full access to the bulge under his skin. Soft, panting moans reach the human’s ears and he smirks, rubbing against the distended skin and watching Bowser’s face as he grinds against his own fingers. Soon though, the bulge under his skin starts to tremble and Luigi meets Bowser’s eyes, intrigued.

“I-I…your hand..it feels good…” he sighs, and the human can feel the wetness at the front of his shorts spread considerably with arousal at his tone. At a particularly tight stroke of his hand, Bowser moans loudly and shoots to sit up, hands coming down to bat Luigi away and cover his hole shakily. “Sorry, sorry. It.. I just didn’t want it to surprise you is all. My dick has decided to join the party.”

He chuckles and Luigi giggles in kind, moving to grab the dragon’s hands and replace them with his own. Rubbing a thumb along either side of his slit, Luigi looks up at him through his lashes, “let me see? I wanna see how good I’m making you feel.”

With the added stimulation, Bowser’s dick starts to slowly peek out from between his folds until it’s fully standing at attention, tip red and leaking. It’s honestly pretty similar to a human dick,Luigi thinks, in shape at least, but it was much redder in color and had patches of scales much like the rest of his body. And it was proportional to his body, long and curved up to sit proudly just under where Luigi would imagine the man’s belly button would be. He’s salivating now, damn near drooling as he rakes his eyes up and down the man’s body.

“Holy sh*t. You’re a big boy, huh?” he says, grip loose and slow as he starts properly jerking him off. Bowser blushes deeply and hides his face in the human’s neck, their new position allowing him to stifle his moans with sucking kisses to the man’s neck as he pulls him closer to the edge. It also allows him access to the co*ck weeping against Luigi’s thigh, tracing it lightly through the fabric. This causes the human to tighten his grip around his co*ck, and Bowser moans loudly at the pressure.

“Can I? I wanna touch you, please baby” Luigi nods and shifts back to shimmy out of his underwear while the other man sits back against the headboard watching with a heated look, one hand behind his head and the other wrapped around the base of his co*ck. He crawls up the bed and situates himself in Bowser’s lap, leaning back and resting his hands behind him on the man’s thighs. He gasps as a rough hand encases his throbbing arousal and starts stroking, precum making the movements slick and loud in the quiet room. Moaning loudly, he uses his hands as leverage and starts grinding against the movements, hips moving fluidly as the sensation sends him into a trance. He’s broken from his trance by a low growl and he looks up to see Bowser wiping drool from his mouth, his eyes trained on where they’re connected.

Their eyes meet, and it's like they’re pulled to each other like a magnet, lips crashing together as Luigi scoots closer, wrapping his hand around Bowser, bringing their co*cks together and rolling his hips. He catches a moan in the next kiss, and Bowser starts stroking him faster. He follows suit, and soon they’re not so much kissing as much as just panting into each others’ mouths, hips rocking together more and more wildly as they both hurdle towards the edge. Luigi’s free hand comes up to rest against Bowser’s neck and he feels the man’s dick jump heavily. He feels a hand come up to caress his hair, grabbing a handful of curls and tugging lightly as Bowser moans, “oh f*ck. I’m so close, baby. I wanna come with you, please.”

Luigi nods against his mouth, gasping wetly as his legs start to shake, “f*ckf*ckf*ck PLEASE. Haah… It feels so good, I wanna come, pleaseplease-” his begging is cut short by the hand on his dick speeding up, grip getting tighter and twisting at the tip. He speeds up his hand as well, and before long they’re shaking apart in each other’s grips panting heavily as they come down from their high together. Sloppy kisses are pressed wherever they can reach and Bowser hooks his arms around Luigi’s back to lower them both onto the bed. Once they’ve both calmed down, he feels movement against his chest and looks down to see the human already looking up at him.

“Hi” he says sheepishly and Luigi laughs, “hey, handsome” he says as he props himself up on Bowser’s chest. “How are you? Feeling okay?” He asks, anxiously remembering the situation in the bath after their last tryst had ended.

Luigi just giggles, though, and traces a pattern on the skin he can reach, “I feel amazing. A little sticky, but” he shrugs, “I don’t mind, since it’s you. You’re so hot, it’s unfair!”

He feels the man give his chest a halfhearted slap and he can’t help but laugh, catching the offending hand in his and bringing it up to his lips, kissing it softly. “You’re one to talk, beautiful. The noises you make, f*ck, I almost couldn’t take it.”

He watches Luigi blush and hide behind his arm, and rubs his wrist lovingly, “we should probably get cleaned up, because I for one do not want to fall asleep with all this on me.” He motions to their stomachs and the shared evidence of their previous activities, and Luigi scrunches up his nose and nods. Bowser sits them back up and grabs a random piece of clothing in the floor by the bed to wipe them off. They make their way into the bathroom and stumble into the shower, spending more time tracing each other’s bodies than they do getting clean. By the time they get out Luigi figures it’s gotta be at least midnight and is expecting to open the door to a pitch black room. But it seems as though one of the staff has been in, he notes with a blush, as the lanterns are all lit and it looks like the sheets have been changed. The bottles of wine Bowser brought up earlier were now on ice, and a new tray of food had been left on the table by the door.

“Don’t worry about that, my maids don’t ever ask questions or gossip. They know better,” he says, and he watches the human’s shoulders relax.

Luigi stands wrapped in a towel as a very naked Bowser roots through his drawers again and pulls on a pair of boxers, grabbing another pair and a shirt and walking back over to him. He tugs at the towel around the human’s chest and watches as it falls to the ground, leaving a very naked and very red Luigi behind. Smiling, he kneels and motions for the human to hold onto his hand as the other lifts his foot and slides it through one leg of the boxers, quickly pulling them up the other leg and around Luigi’s hips. He stands and grabs the shirt, stretching it over curly brown hair and guiding his arms through the holes. When he finishes, he plants a kiss on Luigi’s forehead, scoops him up, grabs the tray of food and makes his way over to the freshly made bed, settling once again behind the human and feeding him small bites of food as they start back up the series they had been watching earlier. He gratefully accepts what snacks Luigi offers him, and the rhythmic breathing of the man in front of him causes his head to loll back against the pillows, drifting in and out of sleep before falling asleep with his arms wrapped around Luigi’s waist.

When the deep, sleepy breaths continue past the end credits of the show, Luigi turns in his lover’s hold to watch his sleeping face, all the stress and responsibilities fading away with his consciousness. A small smile graces his face as he moves to deposit the tray of food on the bedside table, the farthest he can make it from the bed without escaping Bowser’s hold. He switches the tv onto some kind of nature documentary before setting it to turn off automatically in an hour and tossing the remote towards the end of the bed, turning to lay on his side and snuggling into the warm body beneath him. Rubbing idle patterns into scaly skin, he falls asleep quickly, and they stay tangled together until the sun is sitting high in the sky.

Chapter 11: Chapter Eleven

Chapter Text

The islands were really beautiful, that much Luigi could tell even before they landed. The rocky surface of the mainland was replaced with sandy beaches and hilly landscapes, he honestly thinks for more than a minute that they'd somehow ended up back in the Mushroom Kingdom. But as soon as the door lowers for them to leave he knows he's still in the Darklands. This island in particular was permanently stuck at dusk until the nighttime, a purplish-blue and pink haze permeating the sky until the moon was high in the sky, and Luigi wonders idly if Peach had ever been here, it seems like a place she would find interesting.

He learns a lot the first day of the trip, starting immediately when Bowser offhandedly mentions that he hasn't been backhere since he became King as he's trying to close his suitcase. Back here. That makes Luigi think for a second. Obviously he's the King, he grew up in the Darklands so of course he'll have visited most of the different places, even if they're hard to get to. But something about the way he said it, back here, makes him think that this place has something to do with him becoming King, something to do with his family. Now, he's no detective, but the way the people of the town were regarding him, so cautiously and with such deep appreciation, really only hammers the nail of his suspicions in further. He doesn't get a chance to ask, not that he'd feel comfortable doing that anyways, because he and Bowser, along with Kammy, Kamek and a few guards, were being toted around almost the entire island - getting historical spiels and introductions to officials and requests to speak to leaders and being invited to dinners and parties and meetings.

Luigi is already exhausted, but he feels a pit open up in his stomach at the sight of Bowser's tight smile as yet another random townsperson kneels almost entirely to the ground in the doorway of a lecture hall and proclaims their King's great power and benevolence. Jesus Christ, what happenedhere? He's distracted from whatever medical seminar they'd been very nicely forced into observing by different scenarios of what could make everyone here so clearly remorseful, even after at least a decade, what could make every single person across multiple towns react the exact same way? He's pulled back into the seminar when the name of a plant he recognizes flies past his ears. Turns out, this island and the one next door were the prime location for growing an herb Luigi had done a lot of research about in the Mushroom Kingdom. His research eventually led to the doctors in Peach's castle developing a potion - one that was essentially a cure-all for any illness or ailment. He's personally used it for some of his nastier injuries - a broken ankle after one of his and Mario's adventures and a deep cut he'd gotten from tripping over a tree root in his garden, among other things like the flu or a sinus infection, and the abundance of the main ingredient here was giving him an idea. When Luigi had first discovered the use for the plant, farms across the Mushroom Kingdom tried to grow it for years to no avail. That meant, of course, that the supply of the potion was limited, and was used less and less as it became more precious. He knows that right now, demand for the potion was at an all time high in Peach's kingdom. She'd spoken at length during one of their weekly phone calls about an outbreak of sickness in one of the larger cities that had so far proven impervious to all the other types of medicine that they'd tried. Now there's a clear solution to her problem, at least from his perspective. If Peach can convince her advisors to allow even a single shipment of the plant in, they would be able to mass produce the medicine easily because Luigi left all his notes in a journal in Peach's library so the instructions to make it were easily accessible for situations just like the one she's facing. Plus, he feels like the chances of public opinion on the Koopa King swaying positively could only be helped by something like providing medical aid during a crisis, so he makes a mental note to bring it up to Bowser the next chance he gets. He makes a physical note too, just in case, scribbling on a post it note before folding it up and putting it in his pocket.

By the time Luigi is being shown to his room the sun is well behind the horizon, and he's pretty much swaying on his feet. The entire group had been treated to a dinner provided by the local cooks, and it had been one of the best meals he had actually ever eaten. That could just be the sun exposure talking, today was probably the longest Luigi had spent outside in months and it was in the dead of summer, so he takes the time to cover the skin he'd exposed today in a lotion that would keep his skin from drying out and getting a sunburn. He's thankful his room has a balcony as he spreads out on his back on the bed and sighs deeply at the feeling of the breeze coming in off the ocean. He wonders where Bowser is, the Alpha had seemed in pretty good spirits during dinner but Luigi watched him use the crowd of people leaving for the afterparty to slip away towards the hotel afterwards. He'd wanted to go after him, because while he wascurious about why everyone had been acting so... odd? He honestly just wanted to make sure Bowser was okay, but Kammy had subtly held his arm and shook her head. His scent had been all over the place all day and he'd been uncharacteristically quiet whenever they'd had a break from all the craziness, lost in thought about something.

He gets up from his bed to try an at least figure out which room Bowser was in, intent on checking in on him when he hears the door next to his slide open and a familiar smoky scent travels in with the breeze. He chews his lip for a second, because as much as he wants to check in with him he doesn't really know what to say.

Hey so, did something horrible happen here? Is there a reason everyone trips over themselves to bow to you here when I've only ever seen anyone in the capital city do it during official proceedings?

There's literally no f*cking way to pose the questions he has without it sounding so ignorant of whatever he's going through at the moment. Before he can think about it too hard he's stepping out onto his balcony, bare feet on the cooled concrete making him shiver, and shutting the door behind him. Bowser is still so lost in thought that he doesn't even realize Luigi is out there watching him from a few feet away.

Eventually he feels a little awkward just staring at the man, as attractive as he is in the moonlight, and he leans on the side of his balcony closest to Bowser's. "Hey handsome. You feeling okay?"

His voice snaps Bowser out of his stupor, and the Alpha jumps slightly before laughing at himself, "I'm fine, I swear. I just forget what its like being out here. Brings back a lot of not-so-great memories..."

Luigi sighs empathetically, "I'm sorry. I've been wondering all day why people are acting like they owe you an apology for something." He reaches over the railing to Bowser who chuckles and grabs it, rubbing their wrists together and relaxing into the touch.

"I wish they would stop that, they don't need to apologize for anything. If anything, I should be apologizing to them. My family is the reason why only four of these islands are still inhabitable..." Luigi's stomach turns at the dejected tone in his voice, so it did happen here, whatever it was. He can't keep his curiosity in check any more, he's heard bits and pieces of what happened and knows what happened because ofit, and his question is asked before he even realizes he's asked it.

Honestly, he doesn't even realize he's asked it until his brain processes that Bowser is watching him curiously, like he had either been expecting Luigi to already know what happened or not have any interest in hearing about his past. He sputters out an apology and tries to withdraw his hand from the Alpha's grasp, embarrassed at having asked something so insensitive when the man was clearly going through it, but Bowser tightens his grip and tilts his head, "Have you seriously never heard what happened?"

He shakes his head no, "only in bits and pieces and no one has actually said howthey died, just that they did. Was is some kind of accident or something?"

Bowser huffs out a halfhearted laugh, "well, he probably didn't mean for things to turn out the way they did, but I wouldn't call it an accident..." He points out into the distance, at an island that was clearly uninhabited, judging by the lack of the lights and noise in comparison to the island they're on. "That's where it happened, over there. It was just after my oldest sister's birthday, I think I was 15..."

By the time Bowser is done recalling that night, Luigi feels nauseated. Just the thought of having to come back to a place that he had so much f*cked up history with makes him anxious, and he can't imagine why the Alpha would even consider coming here at all, which he says.

"Well, its still a part of my kingdom, even if I would rather not think about it. And it's not like the people here had anything to do with it, nobody even knew what was happening until it was too late. I've been avoiding it for a long time, and it's clearly left them so anxious that they're all doing that wholeyour highness, we admire your strength and your highness, we appreciate your benevolent actions thing."

Luigi is running a thumb across the skin he can reach, and Bowser lights up at the touch. "If I'm honest, I probably would have pushed it off another couple of years had you not been here. They've asked me to come before, but I've always found some excuse to get out of it. I figured though, if you were here with me it wouldn't be as bad." A blush rises to Bowser's cheeks, visible even in the dark of the night, and Luigi co*cks an eyebrow in question.

"But I didn't do anything? We didn't get many chances to talk today, and I stayed down at the party even though I know you saw me watching you come up here..."

Bowser sighs, smiling down at him and using his grip on his hands to hoist him over the railing onto his own balcony. He's pulled into a hug, strong arms wrapping around his waist, and he's overwhelmed with the Alpha's scent as the man relaxes against him.

"I wasn't in any mood to talk earlier, you were better off staying down there, I promise. You don't need to *do* anything to make me feel better. I've told you this before, Greenie, just your company is enough. I like having you around..."

Luigi sniffs against Bowser's neck, overwhelmed with emotion for the man in front of him, and scents the juncture between his shoulder and neck in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. Bowser responds by sliding his hands down until he can pick the Omega up, kissing him softly and carrying the man into his room.

"See? Not even an hour alone with you and I'm feeling better than I have all day." Bowser deposits him on the bed, and noses along his neck before going back to shut the screen on the door and turning back to face him.

"Stay here? Tonight? Only if you want to, of course." Bowser is scratching the back of his neck, and Luigi shuffles on his knees to sit on the edge of the bed with his hand outstretched.

"Of course I want to, what kind of question is that? Come here..." he motions with his hand until the larger man's is placed atop it, and he pulls the Alpha into bed and under the covers with him. For as new as this development in their relationship is, it feels like they should have been doing this a lot longer than the two nights on the airship they'd shared a bed.

Bowser is a lot cuddlier tonight than he'd been either of the nights before, and soon the Omega is sitting up in the bed with the King's head in his lap, his arms wrapped back around Luigi's middle as he dozes off to the feeling of the human's fingers combing through his hair. Luigi falls asleep sitting up a few times and jolts awake, prompting Bowser to pull him further down on the bed and curl around him. He can't stay awake much longer than that, because the welcoming heat coming from the body beside him is pulling him further and further into unconsciousness.

Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve

Chapter Text

The rest of their trip is kind of a blur, more days of walking around and meeting people. Luigi remembers his thought about the plant and the potion one night as he and Bowser are watching some kind of bioluminescent fish swim around in schools through the water from the beach, so his last few days here are spent giving a condensed explanation of the plant’s use and effectiveness and pitching the idea to send some of their yield to the Princess once it was ready. Most of the farmers had been incredibly receptive to the idea, and the ones who weren’t were easily convinced when their King personally offered to pay them for their seasonal losses. With that part of the plan ironed out all Luigi had to do was bring it up to Peach, and hope she would be able to convince enough of her court to rule their decision in her favor. He calls her on the way back home, having spent the first full day of the journey in bed with a certain Alpha, and tells her about his trip while laying on his bed, Bowser half-listening in from his spot across the room on his laptop.

“...And so yeah! If you can convince Toadsworth to help you, he might be able to convince more of them to agree!” He’s excited now, laying the plan out for the Princess, but he can tell something is bothering her even before she responds. “Hey, is everything okay over there?” he asks, and she sighs heavily into the receiver. Bowser’s eyes pick up from their place on the computer screen to listen in as Peach recalls whats been going on in between their phone calls for the past few weeks.

“Mario is…scaring me. He’s been angry, aggressive. More than normal, and he starting to obsess over the fact that you’ve been away for so long…” Nothing out of the ordinary for his brother, or for most Alphas for that matter. Sometimes an abrupt change in an Alpha’s life can cause them to kind of tailspin for a while, and a lot of them resort to their base instincts until they get adjusted to said change, according to his mother and a project he'd done for biology in college.

"He cut off contact with everyone less than a month after you left, even with me..." he can hear the hurt in her voice, and sits up straighter in his seat as she continues, "I thought, you know, because we've had that little situationfor years that he would at least talked to me when I went to find him, but when I asked him what was wrong he just f*cking snapped."

Luigi starts a little at her language and frowns, locking eyes with Bowser. "What happened?" He's almost afraid to know the answer, he knows how his brother can be when he's stressed.

She hums, clearly hesitant, "I'd rather not repeat what he said, if I'm honest. The bottom line is we aren't speaking anymore. I hope that's alright, I know he's your brother, but I wasn't just going to stand there and let him talk to me like that..." That was certainly not something he was expecting his brother to do, even though he had his opinions on Omegas he'd always treated Peach respectfully, at least whenever Luigi was around. Although, they had been in that "little situation", like she'd said, for a while. And with all the mysterious empty time blocks in her schedule and the amount of times he's seen his brother leave the Princess's wing of the castle after a party he knows there's plenty of their relationship he doesn'tsee.

He's making an understanding noise into the phone, "You don't have to explain, of course it's alright. You're my friend, and if anyone knows how Mario is, it's me."

"I'm glad you understand..." she starts, and Luigi feels like she's about to say something he reallyisn't going to like, "He's been threatening to start sh*t if he doesn't see for himself that you're safe in the Darklands. I've already gotten word from a few of my contacts in town that he's been trying to get people to question where you are, and I'm running out of ways to keep him distracted. I hope you also understand how important what I'm about to ask you is to our plan..."

Luigi takes a deep breath, and prepares for the request he knows is coming. "I need you to come back to the Mushroom Kingdom, Luigi." He sneaks a look over at Bowser, who has shut his laptop and is staring at the Omega's phone, "It won't have to be for long, just enough so Mario is satisfied you're being protected. As an aside, coming back now will give you the opportunity to remind some of the more stubborn advisors the advantages of having easy access to that potion ingredient..." That is true, and truthfully Luigi doesn't really have any room to refuse her - the only reason he was able to stay here for so long in the first place was because of her, so if she needs him back home he's going back home. Plain and simple. He tells her as much and uses her relieved sigh to block out all the anxious thoughts piling up in his head.

"Thank stars, you're a lifesaver Luigi. Let me know when you guys get back and I'll have people come pick you up. I'll see you soon, okay? Thank you, really. What you're doing there is making us more progress than we've had in years and I want you back there as soon as possible, I promise."

He replies in kind before hanging up the phone, staring blankly at a spot on the floor while his mind overflows with the questions he's been avoiding thinking about for a while now.

He'd always kind of operated under the assumption that his time here was limited, and he'd tried his hardest not to get too attached to anything lest he have to leave it behind. That kind of backfired, though, because while not a thing, his attachment to Bowser has grown so strong over the past few months that he had rarely thought about having to leave, and when he didthink about it was usually as a justification to act a little bolder than he would have under normal circ*mstances. They still haven't put a name to this thing they've been doing, and Luigi is immediately nervous that it'll be an out of sight, out of mind thing. He's only been here a few months, barely enough time to be seriously dating someone, and there's nothing saying his trip back home would be a short one. Peach had said she wanted him back here as soon as possible, but he knew his brother. Mario had a knack for keeping Luigi under his thumb, and making it so hard for people to meet his standards when it came to his Omega brother that it was just all around easier to let him push them away.

Would Bowser still be here, waiting on his return, if Mario keeps him there for longer than he'd been here? Had this whole thing just been an act of convenience? He's heard many times about how few people have ever visited Bowser's castle, was this just because he's the only person who's been there other than Peach? He's accidentally gotten his feelings reallyinvolved in this whole thing, and he doesn't know what he'll do if it turns out the one Alpha who hasn't yet been scared away by Mario's possessive tendencies has replaced him upon his return.

As much as he knows he should, he can't stop the uneven breaths he's taking or the tears that threaten to fall down his face even as he feels a solid weight settle behind him on the bed. Bowser wraps his arms around Luigi's middle and he hooks his chine over a shoulder to nose along the curve of his neck.
"You're thinking too much, beautiful, I can see it on your face." The soft caresses of the Alpha's hands on his sides only serve to make him more upset about their predicament, and he turns in Bowser's hold to muffle a discontented whine against the man's collarbone.

"It's okay, you knew it was going to happen eventually. It's not like you aren't coming back, and I've got your phone number now so I can still annoy you even when you can't see me."

That lifts Luigi's mood a little, because he's right. He iscoming back, and he'll still be able to keep in contact with Bowser while he's away. He smiles against rough skin, "you don't annoy me. You're lucky I find your horrible jokes entertaining though..."

That earns him a swat on the arm, which he playfully pushes away before he's being flipped onto the mattress and covered by a crushing hug. The two of them spend the rest of the journey back to the castle wrapped up in one another, desperately trying to memorize everything they could before they were separated.

Peach listens to the line go dead between them and lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, staring out the window opposite her desk at the darkened landscape of her Kingdom. These last few weeks had been exhausting, even without the addition of Mario's horrific attitude. She really hadn't expected the man to yell at her like that, because while she can't say he was a particularly loving person he had never been as flat out disrespectful as he had been since his brother went to the Darklands. She'd given him a few weeks to sort his emotions out right after Luigi left, but instead he just disappeared further into isolation. He managed to evade her for a lotlonger than he should have, but when she realized he had started purposefully sending her to the wrong place just so he would have enough time to get away from where he actuallywas whenever she got there, she'd kind of gone overboard on the whole tracking him down thing.

Its not her fault, she thought they were dating! Or she at least thought she was important enough to him to not be left out of the loop on his whereabouts. Imagine her surprise, when she shows up at the house her scouts had seen him last, and he tells her to leave before she's even knocked on the door. She'd tried to reason with him, tell him that what they were doing was actually producing results and that Luigi wasn't in any danger, but that had been what set him off.

"Jesus Christ, just shut up already!" The door swings open and adds to Peach's surprise, her eyebrows shooting up. "I'm so f*cking tiredof hearing how far up Bowser's ass you are..." The Alpha is clearly drunk, he smells like a bar top and is leaning so heavily on the doorframe that she's sure a light breeze could push him over.

He has more to say, though, and cuts her off in the middle of her sentence. "I swear, I could smack the sh*t out of you sometimes. It doesn't matterhow many times you tell me Luigi is fine, I'm not believing sh*t until I see him for myself."

She rolls her eyes, "He's busy, Mario. You can't just expect him to drop everything and come back just because youwant him to."

He scoffs, "How about this then. If Luigi doesn't come back soon, I'll start telling people about your little meetings outside of town. You know, the ones with your little followers? The ones where you try and come up with ways to help Bowser destroy your own f*cking Kingdom?"

"Hold on, that's- That's not what those are at all! Have you been following me around? I've been trying to talk to you for months!" She's upset now, red faced and yelling.

"It's not like you haven't been sending people to spy on me! How would people's family react, if they knew someone in their house was helping a f*cking monster? I saw them all, I know exactly who to spill everything to..." He laughs, "Bring me back my brother, Omega. I've only been letting this go on for so long because Luigi thinks he's on some super important mission, but it's starting to get on my nerves."

She starts to say something else but he cuts her off once again, "I'm not in the mood to keep doing this with you, Peach. Just f*ck off, seriously..."

The princess had already been halfway down the sidewalk when he'd started talking, and she'd gotten right back in her carriage and went back to the castle, beelining to her office and collapsing in her chair. First, she'd called Daisy, who had listened as she ranted about her night and helped her calm down, suggesting she just tell Luigi what happened and ask him to come home. She was the one that sent him there, after all, and in theory she should just be able to ask him to return for a little bit, even if she feels bad about doing it right after they'd just made such significant progress.

Chapter 13: Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Text

Luigi ends up delaying his departure for a full two days before he feels so guilty about lying he wakes up in the middle of the night and calls Peach to tell her. The morning he’s due to leave his breakfast is accompanied by a sniffling child and a quieter than usual Bowser. After they successfully convince Junior that Luigi wouldn’t be gone forever the three of them eat together, reminding Luigi of his first day here all those months ago. He’d been so nervous, so untrusting of the people here, but now he can’t even fathom going back to his old life. Bowser interrupts him from his thoughts with a brush of their hands under the table, and the two of them watch as Junior tries to throw a piece of fruit and catch it in his mouth, laughing when most of his attempts end up rolling across the floor by his chair. Bowser ends up getting pulled into a phone call from the farmers in the Outer Islands with some questions about the progress of the supply shipping for most of the morning, and by the time the toads arrive at the castle Luigi has only seen him in passing since breakfast. Most of the anxiety gripping him as he stands on the tarmac watching his luggage be loaded up fizzles out immediately upon sight of Bowser walking towards him. He's wrapped up in a tight hug, an apology for his absence all day muttered into his hair. He's wrapped up in a tight hug, an apology for his absence all day muttered into his hair. He returns the hug just as tightly, and he can see some of the toads by the airship stop what they're doing to stare.

He reallycan't find it in himself to care, though, as Bowser's spicy campfire scent engulfs him. He knows he must smell sickeningly sweet right now, anxiety and excitement cloying his scent the moment he saw the man coming toward him, but Bowser doesn't seem to mind, licking small stripes around his jaw and shoulders and tucking his head into the crook of his neck. They spend so long scenting each other in parting that the toads sent to pick him up get visibly uncomfortable, until one of them that had long since finished loading his luggage clears their throat in an attempt to break them apart. The Omega covers his smile with his hand as he watches some of Bowser's guards cringe at the action, having learned pretty early on not to interrupt one of their moments unless they wanted to deal with an annoyed dragon. He can feel the chest under his hand rumble in preparation to snap at the toad who had walked over to them cluelessly to inform Luigi that they were ready to go whenever he was, and pats the Alpha twice in a placating gesture before nuzzling into his neck one last time and pressing a kiss to the front of his throat. Bowser switches up immediately, looking down at the human fondly and running his hands down his back and arms in farewell. Luigi follows the toad and soon he’s watching the castle grow smaller and smaller in the distance and the landscape he’d become so familiar with fade into the distance. He falls asleep at some point and wakes up to find that the rolling hills of the Mushroom Kingdom were already underneath him.

His reunion with his friends and brother was incredibly awkward because, at least from what Luigi could tell, no one was expecting Mario to actually show up, having been seen maybe a total of 5 times in public since he’d left. Luckily Peach pulled him into a meeting with her advisors quickly after his arrival so they could get a head start on compiling all of the information and Luigi could start explaining their plan for the production of the medicine the Kingdom so desperately needed, so he didn't have long to dwell on how unenthused his brother seemed at his return. He's so exhausted by his first day back that he collapses face first on his bed and falls asleep over the blanket with his shoes still on.

He wakes up the next morning and changes out of yesterday's clothes into some some random assortment of clothes from his suitcase, scrolling social media on his bed and sending Bowser a bunch of stupid memes that were sure to confuse him, clad in a pair of gym shorts and a large shirt that he realizes must be Bowser's from how it's hanging loosely off his shoulders and smells like the spicy campfire scent Luigi had been engulfed in only a day before. He digs through the suitcases and finds almost a dozen other shirts tucked between the clothes he pulled from his closet, and a small drawing of himself, Bowser, and Junior is folded into one of them. He smiles and tucks the paper into his wallet for safe keeping, clambering back onto the bed stifling a giggle behind his hand with a blush. If you would have told him six months ago that he would be essentially giggling and kicking his feet over Bowser, he would have probably laughed in your face. But as his first few days home from the Darklands pass he finds himself missing his life in the castle. Six months ago, Luigi would have absolutely panicked at being told he had to live in Bowser’s castle. Now, though, he finds himself wishing he could go back, already having to deal with people in the Mushroom Kingdom using him to get to his brother, the woman at the bakery insisting he take extra so that Mario have a chance to try her pastries and come there himself and the man at the vegetable stall launching into a long-winded explanation on how his brother was the subject of some prophecy.

He misses just being Luigi, not Mario's brother, and he hopes that whatever he's doing here wraps up quickly. As days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into a month, Luigi is getting restless. He can tell he's missed in the Underworld, Bowser texting him almost constantly and even Kammy and Kamek checking in on him regularly as well. Talking through a screen makes Luigi a little bit bolder, and soon his exchanges with the King frequently feature flirty interactions and funny memes that make him stifle his laughter during meetings with Peach's council. Speaking of the Princess, she's been trying to get him to spill on his trip to stay with the King. She looks at him knowingly whenever he looks at his phone, and after two months of his amused refusal she brings the big guns in, Daisy, from Sarasaland and invites him over for a sleepover. When Daisy's around, so is alcohol, so as the night gets later Luigi is pleasantly sloshed. They're all pretty much too drunk to stand, Peach's last attempt ending with her sprawled across the floor and Daisy. That doesn't seem to bring down anyone's mood, though, as soon they all end up on the floor one way or another in a drunken pile huddled around Luigi's phone where he's showing them pictures and videos of his time in the Darklands.

There's a few pictures of some of the more notable sunrises and sunsets, which the princesses both ooo at, but it’s all pretty random. Pictures of the main city outside the castle and some of the smaller towns he had visited with Kammy and Junior in search of a part for the kid's kart, pictures of his food and some of his outfits, which Daisy makes him promise to send her the name of the seamstress when she sees. The videos are just as random, little snippets of his life over the last few months. There’s a lot of clips of himself, filmed by Bowser, trying some of the foods that were exclusive to the region, videos of Junior testing his kart on his private track, drafts of videos that either he or Junior posted on some social media, and a lot of photos and videos of Bowser. Interspersed between the other photos and videos were ones that Luigi had been trying to convince himself he didn't look at every day. It’s not like they were inappropriate, or even suggestive in any way, but as the girls share a look over his head and eye him with a knowing amusem*nt he finds himself flushing in embarrassment. They're all very domestic, he thinks, looking at them in front of others; one photo of the Alpha stretched over a bench in the sun of the garden, another of him wearing a silly hat in some toy store Junior dragged them into. Bowser isn't even the main focus of most of the videos, laughing loudly and rolling his eyes in the background of a video of Luigi pretending to do a makeup tutorial with tools from the mechanic's shop or watching on proudly as his son recites some long winded poem for a school project. Daisy is lightly shoving Peach from across Luigi's back,

"There's your confirmation right there, Princess. No doubt about it, our boy is lovesickfor sure."

Luigi is sitting up to object, "Hey! Lovesick? Hold on, I've only known him for a few months!"

But Daisy is ready, "Known him for a few months but you have a video of his son's school performance on your phone? and so many off guard photos of the man you look like a reporter! Weegie, come on, don't be stubborn. you have a cruuuuush" and Luigi's answering blush is all she needs to fall over with laughter, taking Peach down with her.

"More than a crush, if we're being honest..." he says, and both girls stare at him open mouthed before their voices overlap with their excitement, practically begging to hear about his newly discovered love life.

He ends up telling them a lot of it, finally answering all of the questions he'd managed to keep Peach from asking, and by the end of his recollection his shoulders hurt from where both girls had smacked them any time he retold any of the more scandalous parts. He'd started smacking them back lightly about halfway through, which has since evolved into a full on wrestling match that Luigi had to tap out on many minutes ago.

"You guys don't...think its weird? I mean up until recently everybody but Peach was under the impression that he was like super evil..."

His unsure tone stops the girls from where they had been playfighting on the ground and they sit up to look at him comfortingly.

"Of course not!" Peach starts, "Luigi, you're one of my closest friends, and I already knew how Bowser was before you went over there. I'm not sure I was expectingit, but now that I think about it, it totally works!"

Daisy chimes in, "yeah! Honestly I'm kinda sad that there aren't actually any pictures of you two together, because I feel like you would look so cute. As long as you're happy and safe, I'm supporting you through anything! It's not like I didn't already know you were gay, we had a big gay breakup."

Luigi laughs hard at that, relieved that his friends seem to be supportive of whatever he had going on with the King. His Omega purrs happily as the comforting scents of the two women wash over him, and they go on about their night with only a minimal amount of teasing Luigi about his new boyfriend.

Speaking of Bowser, he checks his phone from where it had been thrown on the floor during a particularly intense 1v1 match against Peach in some kind of sports game and sees he has a few unread messages from the man. When the girls run off to the bathoom so Daisy can teach Peach a new way to curl the ends of her hair , which he gladly sits out on, he takes the opportunity to respond. He snorts a quiet laugh at the 0.5 pic of a goomba Junior took and demanded be sent to Luigi before reading the messages.

Hey! How's your night with the princesses going?

I wonder when Peaches is gonna decide to let you come back to me, I miss seeing you around the castle everyday.

Ah f*ck, ignore that. Went to dinner tonight with some friends, the server was a heavy pourer.

I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable, I'm just drunk and should probably go to sleep lol

The first text was sent well over two hours ago, but the last text had been less than half an hour ago, so Luigi crosses his fingers and hopes the man is still awake.

hey! you still awake? how was dinner?

Almost immediately he gets a response.

You know it. Dinner was nice, they gave me a few bottles of the wine they served as a gift to the royal family.

it tastes just as good straight out of the bottle, btwand Luigi smiles at his phone, typing furiously as his drunken mind tries to keep up with its own thoughts.

thats nice! you'll have to save me some, for when i get back

daisy brought drinks, duh, so be glad I can still see the screen to text you rnhe gets a haha react, what an old man, before his response

Oh? Drinking with your ex-girlfriend, should I be worried?and Luigi's response is quick.

absolutely not lol. shes my ex for a reason (the reason is we're both gay)

Another haha react and his response Well that must have been a convenient breakup. I'm glad you're having a good time. Enjoying your drinks?

He can almost see the smirk that has to be on the man's face, very much so. i think they just wanted to get me drunk so i would tell them about you

He panics a little when he realizes what he sent, but it's too late to back out now because the answering chat bubble is already popping up. He can hear Daisy and Peach laughing quietly as he feels his phone buzz in his hand.

About me? What about me?

Luigi chews on his thumb, its peach, you should know exactly what she asked lol

Of course, I’m sure I’ll be getting an earful the next time I hear from her…

And then

I'm either getting too drunk or too tired to read the screen, so I'm gonna head to bed. Have a good rest of your night, Luigi, I'll talk to you tomorrow to which he responds with his own goodnight, tacking on an i miss you too, by the way and after few minutes without a response he assumes the man fell asleep. When the girls come back into the living room Luigi is asleep on the couch, and they take their spots on either side of him and quickly fall asleep as well.