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“Is this really necessary, Bowser? Even using one of the smaller airships for this…” Mario asked, as he covered his eyes with his hands.
“Yeah it was, don’t complain. Careful, we’re climbing steps here. Just a couple more… We’re here! You can open your eyes now!”
Mario didn’t visit the greater expanse of the Koopa Kingdom often, at least as a mere tourist. With the Mushroom Kingdom being as big as it was, he was more often drawn to visit the farthest reaches of it for a change of pace or take a trip to New Donk for a taste of the urban life, a light reminiscing of his hometown in the lights and the sounds.
So he was surprised when he opened his eyes and saw that Bowser had taken him to the 1-UP Surge Spring, one of the most famous and well-renowned inns (a ryokan, is what Bowser said was its name) not only in the Koopa Kingdom, but in the Greater Continent as a whole. Its pale rose exterior and black-green roof tiles complemented each other perfectly, and the well kept gardens in front certainly aided in the feeling of prestige it carries. It sat at the foot of one of the larger mountains in the region and was the only building around, surrounded by thick black trees with crimson leaves, an autumn feeling despite being almost spring.
“Pretty cool, eh?” Bowser nudged Mario with a smirk on his face, enjoying the wonder in his boyfriend’s eyes.
“Yeah. But,” Mario turned to face him, “why are we here, again?”
“That’s a trick question, right?”
“No.”
“What do you think people do at these sorts of places, Mario?”
“Relax?”
“Well, there you have it!” Bowser chuckled.
“I don’t need to relax, though. I’m perfectly fine!”
Bowser stared at him. He looked at the bags under his eyes, the clear exhaustion on his face, the way he was slightly bent over and trying to pass it off as good posture.
“Babe, I love you, but you’re more thickheaded than me.”
“But it’s true, I don’t really need to relax. I work better under pressure!”
“Yeah, no. It’s just a day, you’ll live. Besides,” Bowser crouched and got close to his boyfriend’s face, “we’ll have one of the best rooms all for ourselves!”
Mario pouted, in the way Bowser found it the most adorable thing in the world, and then sighed. “I guess I am a little bit sore.”
“That’s the spirit!” Bowser cheered. “Uh, well, not really, but uh, you get what I mean!”
The two of them made their way to the proper entrance, where an elderly Koopa lady with a pale rose shell waited for them. “Welcome, Great King Bowser.” She bowed, Mario and Bowser doing the same in response. “My name is Komachi, the owner of this great inn. The room you reserved has been prepared.” She looked at Mario, who awkwardly waved his hand, and smiled, almost giggling. It made both men blush slightly. “I hope it is of your liking, as it is the best room we have. Follow me, please!”
The place was bigger than Mario expected at first, counting at least 15 rooms they passed by, though he assumed at least some of them might have been the staff rooms, the kitchen, dining area or other such places. He kept pondering this as they passed a whole garden, a pond with koi under a wooden bridge with decoration that matched the roof. The place was even prettier than he thought at first, and a quick glance told him Bowser was just as marveled.
It was then that they arrived at their room, completely separate from the rest of the inn in a different building entirely, as private as it could be. “This is our deluxe room. I hope it is to your liking.” Komachi slid the doors open, and both Mario and Bowser removed their footwear. “We have yukatas prepared for you atop the dresser. You have access to a private hot spring, which has been dutifully kept by our dedicated employees. Dinner is served at 8PM, while breakfast is at 7AM. We hope you enjoy your stay!” The elderly Koopa handed them a set of keys, bowed, and then left.
“You weren’t kidding,” Mario began as he reached for the yukatas, “this place is really nice.”
“So you agree that you needed this now?” Bowser asked, as he started to change into the yukata. It was a lovely navy color, lightly peppered pink clouds throughout.
“I still think this is overkill,” he answered as Bowser looked on annoyed. Mario left a light chuckle in response to it, as he finished putting on his yukata. “What do you want to do first?”
“What is there to do?” Bowser asked back, setting down his shell on the farthest corner under a window - ensuring neither he nor Mario would accidentally hurt themselves with it. He didn’t want to change the vacation trip for an ER one again.
Mario crouched next to the tea table, looking through the cabinets under the TV set. “They have their own movie service, so we have that.”
“That would be nice.” Bowser was only half-listening to what Mario was actually saying, distracted by the particular pose his boyfriend was striking.
“There’s a couple magazines here, and they look… very, very old.” Mario squinted at the corner of the magazine, a fashion-focused one dated June 1991. “I’m astonished they’re still more or less intact!”
“They do keep everything in perfect shape, huh?” Bowser chuckled.
Mario looked back at him, and catched on to what really had his attention. He smirked, seeing how entranced his boyfriend was that he didn’t realize he had slightly turned. “They also have a 50-year-old box of chocolates. You want some?”
“Yeah, that’s good.”
“Oh man, a secret door? What could be behind it?”
“Nice, nice…”
“Oh wow! There’s a corpse here!”
“Sounds fun!... Wait, wha-?!” Bowser shook his head, brought back to reality, and was met with Mario laughing. Bowser got flustered and coughed to regain composure, and then looked at him annoyed. “Funny. Very funny.”
Mario calmed down soon enough, and returned to his rummaging. “There’s a couple of board games here, but I don’t think they’ll be fun with just the two of us.”
“Y’know, I did bring in my Switch”, Bowser commented, as Mario got up. “And I’m sure we can hook it to this TV. Want some rounds of Kart?”
Mario smiled. “You’re on!”
Mario had to admit it, he was enjoying the time in the inn. After reaching a tie in points for 6 cups straight and having gotten lunch, the two of them had decided to take a stroll through the expansive gardens, chatting about the movies they wanted to watch once they got back, about how Luigi was dealing with babysitting Junior for the first time, about Peach’s unannounced day trip with the girls that threw Toadsworth in a panic a week or so ago, about everything and nothing in particular. Despite being just past noon, their closeness to the mountains and spring taking its time to arrive in full meant the sun warmed them just right, as the cold wind kept them on their toes.
They went back to their private room, killing the rest of the daylight hours watching some old movies, doing a faux review of them, not even really paying attention to it as much as they were focused on each other’s jokes and bits.
“Man, that movie was so bad”, Mario giggled as he turned the tv off.
“What was it about again? Some sort of alien invasion or something?” Bowser scratched his belly, laying down on the tatami mat.
“Either that or like, a possession case. Good practical effects at least.”
“And both the protagonists were hot as hell,” Bowser added in a mock sultry tone. Mario rolled his eyes at first, but then wore a snide smile that matched his. “Well yeah, they had to get people to watch the movie somehow.”
Both laughed, and simply laid down on the mat for a bit.
“What time is it?” asked Mario.
“Lemme check… 6:29PM. Still a bit away from dinner.”
“We still haven’t checked this private hot spring. Want to give it a shot?”
Bowser raised his eyebrow as he curved his mouth. “You’re inviting me to get naked? Bold.”
“Har-de-har-har. I’m just sweaty after all we did today. We shouldn’t have taken that walk at 2PM…”
“I don’t mind that all that much.” Bowser huddled over to his boyfriend, putting his arm on top of him. Mario grabbed it back. “But it would be nice, been a while since I haven’t taken a dip in a spring myself. Go ahead and start your rinsing,” he said as he got up, “I’ll look for the towels.”
“Ahhhhh, that hits the spot.”
The spring was just outside their private room, connected to their bathroom. The natural pool was formed out of the volcanic stone of the area, and the autumnal-like trees that gave cover were trimmed in a way where leaves or branches could never touch the water. Lanterns hung from the wall and spread around the spring in a semicircle gave a soft warm light, and Mario could see the first stars of the night appear in the sky. The water itself was very hot, but not scalding or harmful.
“Coming in!” He heard Bowser’s voice and the water shifted, him suddenly being right next to him. “Hmm. Water’s a bit cold, don’t you think?”
“You have swimmed in lava before, babe. I don’t think you have the best tells of what is and isn’t hot”, Mario deadpanned.
“I don’t know. I’m dating you, so I think I have a good handle on it” Bowser answered, smirking, earning him a splash of water from his boyfriend.
“Well played.”
“I guess you were right,” Mario began as he sank more of his body in the spring, feeling every muscle in his body relax. “I did need this.”
“Of course you did. You work yourself ragged every single day!”
“If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. Ever heard of that saying?” Now it was Mario’s turn to be splashed.
“Workaholic.”
“Guilty as charged, I suppose.” Mario readjusted himself, and put his arm around Bowser. Bowser did the same, and got closer together.
“You know I’m just worried about you, right?” His voice was lower than usual, and a small pang of guilt hit Mario.
“I know. And I appreciate it, really. I think I just… don’t like not doing anything.”
“The man with 50 jobs doesn’t like doing nothing? Shocking”, snarked Bowser as he held Mario closer.
“You’re one to talk, you work as much as me. Maybe even more.”
“I’m a King, I’m supposed to work that much. And even then, I delegate half of my workload to Kamek.”
“Is that why he’s also taking a vacation in Sarasaland?”
“...Perhaps…” Bowser scratched the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. Mario just chuckled.
“I’m happy you did all this. Relaxing isn’t so bad, from time to time.” Mario snuggled closer to Bowser, and enjoyed the warmth of the spring for a little bit longer.
“Man, I’m stuffed!” beamed Bowser, as he put down his chopsticks. It was his idea to have dinner in their room instead of in the dining hall, knowing full well neither he nor his boyfriend were the most… polite, clean or quiet eaters around.
“It was so good…” drooled Mario, as he reached for the sake bottle to serve himself another cup. “I can’t believe we ate all of it.”
“I can,” snorted Bowser, taking a swig of his own sake. “We both eat a, how did Green ‘Stache put it? ‘horrifyingly large amounts of edible and non-edible produce’.” He did his best impression of Luigi’s voice, as he placed his index finger under his nose to mimic the man’s mustache.
Mario laughed. “Like he’s one to talk! As if he doesn’t down an entire lasagna in a single sitting!”
“Or that cake at Peach’s party last month!” Bowser added with another sip.
“Or the tower of sandwiches last Tennis tourney.”
“Or the 10 hamburgers from my last barbeque!”
“Wasn’t that us?”
“I don’t remember anymore!”
Both men laughed, almost clutching their stomachs from how hilarious they found their memories. They kept on for a while longer, reminiscing more and more about food and who ate it, though soon swapping the sake for tea once they emptied the bottle.
It was later then, after another couple rounds of Mario Kart, that both men finally laid down. They joined the futons provided by the inn after moving the tea table off to the side, and put on one of the movies from the inn’s service as background noise.
“It was a fun day, don’t you think?” Mario began, as he huddled closer to Bowser.
“And you didn’t want to come.” Bowser snarked, and giggled when he saw Mario’s pout. “Hey! You never tell me I’m right. I gotta milk this for as long as I can!”
“Fine, fine, I guess that’s fair.” Mario rested his head on Bowser’s chest and turned to the movie, where some sort of shoot-out was about to happen. “I think I saw this one before. Or one that had the same actor in a similar role.”
“He’s known for action, so it wouldn’t surprise me. I think this one is about aliens too?”
“Wait, he’s not the same one from the movie this afternoon, is he?”
“He isn’t? I thought he was.” A flash of light covered the screen, and a mysterious creature started attacking the main characters. “Did we put on the same movie again?”
Mario reached for the remote and paused. “Yeah, we did. Want to watch something else?”
Bowser thought about it. “Nah, leave it on. Not like we’re gonna watch it for real anyways.”
They both threw their duvet on top, and lightly chatted until they fell asleep.
The morning light woke Bowser first, peeking through the window, noticing its inome-like shape for the first time. “Huh. Didn’t realize it was shaped like that.” He looked at Mario, almost framed by the light’s shape. “Fitting.”
He yawned, and cuddled Mario for a little bit. The TV had long since turned off on its own, and checked the clock to see the time. “6:25. Almost breakfast time.” He looked at his boyfriend for a little bit longer, and then came up with an idea.
Bowser went lower, and quickly kissed Mario. He felt him slowly wake up, and soon he returned the kiss.
“Wake up!” Bowser yelled mid-kiss, making Mario recoil and almost roll off the futon. He laughed, as Mario tried to get the rest of his body to wake up. “Never fails.”
“Love you too, babe.” Mario looked annoyed before yawning, scratching his head a little bit. “I should really stop falling for it…”
“To be fair, you can’t really react if you’re half-awake, babe.” Bowser countered, in what Mario assumed was an attempt to apologize for the prank. He climbed back on the futon, and despite the annoyance he cuddled Bowser as soon as he reached him.
“What time is it?”
“Almost breakfast time.”
“And almost time for us to leave, huh?” A part of Mario still hated admitting that Bowser was right, after years of rivalry, but he had really come to enjoy the time in the inn, and didn’t want to leave quite yet.
“Afraid so. I’m fine with missing breakfast if it means we get to stay like this for a bit longer, though.” Bowser wrapped his arms around Mario, who did the same in return.
“I’d like that, but we do have to get everything ready for leaving.”
“Just 5 more minutes, then?”
Mario put his face close to Bowser’s. “Just five more minutes.” They kissed again, and kept the cuddling going for a bit longer.
“Did you two enjoy your stay?” Komachi the elderly Koopa asked, as the two men handed her the keys.
“It was delightful”, answered Mario, with Bowser nodding in approval. “We will see if we can come back at some later date, more than likely.”
“I’m happy to hear that”, she answered with a smile on her face. “Let me escort you back to the entrance.”
It was a short walk from the reception to the front door, and with a final bow, they said goodbye to the inn.
“So, now you like relaxing for real?”
“Don’t start.” Mario’s voice sounded annoyed, but his smile said otherwise. Bowser simply giggled. “Oh yeah! We both had our phones off all day. We should probably check them, see what was going on.”
Both men pulled out their phones, and stared at the screen in disbelief.
“...I have 10 voice messages from Luigi.” Mario turned to Bowser, nervousness clear in his eyes.
“And Junior sent me a whole gallery of images.” Bowser looked at Mario with a worried look. “You think something bad happened?”
“I don’t think so,” answered Mario, though his voice had traces of doubt, “both of them can defend themselves, plus they were at your castle, meaning also protected by your forces.”
“Yeah. Yeah you’re right. Maybe they just wanted to see how we were doing or wanted to show us something fun they did!” It was as much a reassurance to Mario as it was to Bowser himself.
“What are the pictures he sent you?”
The two of them started combing through the photos Junior had sent them.
“...Is that Daisy in the background?”
“Why is she holding my sofa cushions? …Why do they look burned ?!”
Bowser and Mario stared at each other, for what seemed an eternity.
Before running as fast as they could to the airship, still parked a couple meters away.
They would both probably need another vacation, after dealing with whatever happened when they weren’t home.