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“Um…M-Mario…?”
The young man’s eyes groggily come open, slowly pulling himself up onto his elbows so he could see who needed him. Though, he didn’t even need to look to tell who had woken him up; the faint, ever so slight glow of light was a dead giveaway.
“Watt..?” He quietly responds, rubbing away the sleep in his eyes. “Why are you up so late..?” However, instead of an answer, all Mario heard were small sniffles and barely audible whimpers, which made him instantly alert — or at least as much as he could be at this hour in the night. Looking over to the tiny, blonde girl, he quickly noticed her eyes swelled up with thick tears and her face bright red, presumably from all of the crying she had been doing up until now.
“Um… S-Sorry for waking you… Th-The thunder outside… It’s t-too scary to sleep…” Watt mumbles, her shaking voice hardly louder than a whisper. Mario looks over at the window on the other side of the room, seeing how the rain battered against the glass, dancing violently with the wind outside. That was not to mention the occasional blinding flashes of lightning, accompanied by the rumbling boom of thunder — how ironic that a lightning elemental was frightened by such a thing.
Of course, Mario didn’t judge or question her fears — he understood that in Watt’s mind, that was just as dangerous as the threat of Bowser and those he entrusted with holding the Star Spirits captive.
“It’s ok, it’s ok.” He whispers back, slowly moving the blankets off of him, rising out of bed and climbing down the ladder from his place on the top bunk. The sleepy man then turns back to the Lil’ Sparky, gesturing for her to follow him out into the living room. Seeing as how he wasn’t just sharing the bedroom with Luigi, but also the other male members of the party as well, he didn’t want to accidentally wake anyone else up. However, Watt was hesitant, the continuous roaring of the thunder outside making her practically paralyzed with fear. Noticing this, the Mario slowly outreaches his hand towards her, offering it for her to hold onto. The Lil’ Sparky swiftly accepts the offer, tightly gripping onto his fingers with her much tinier hand, as if letting go would cut her lifeline.
Leading the nervous girl out into the living room, he turns on a lamp and guides Watt to sit on the couch. “Do you want me to get you anything?” Mario asks before letting out a huge yawn.
“Um… Could I please have some warm milk?” Watt asks, fidgeting with the ends of the slightly worn, oversized t-shirt she wore as she did. Bombette had given it to her not long after the party rescued Watt from her glass prison so she’d actually have something more comfortable to sleep in at night. Yet, despite the Bob-omb having a petite build, the shirt still went down to Watt’s knees while her wrists could only barely poke out from the sleeves.
“Of course.” Mario replies with a sleepy smile, moving into the kitchen to do just that. He went to go grab a mug from one of the cupboards, but as he did, a particularly loud clap of thunder shook the sky above. This results in the girl scrambling over to his side and gripping onto his leg. Watt’s entire body trembles as she begins to sniffle. Large tears started swelling up in her pale eyes and the room filling with the sound of electricity crackling as her anxiety caused her hair to start shifting from its normal state into raw lightning.
“M-M-Mario… I-I’m scared…” Watt’s quivering voice calls out, barely even audible. Mario immediately puts the mug down and kneels to the tiny girl’s eye level.
“Shh, it’s ok, it’s ok, I’m-a here.” He swiftly reassures her as he pulls her into a gentle hug, carefully rubbing her back as he tries not to get accidentally shocked by her hair. Watt grips his shirt tightly as she immediately clings onto him in desperation, burying her face into him. “Deep breaths, stellina.” Mario coos. “I’m-a here to protect you.”
“Mkay…” Watt mumbles, wiping away the tears from her now reddened eyes. She steps back before reaching her arms out so she could be picked up, to which Mario quickly complies.
Carrying Watt with one arm, he goes to grab the milk from the fridge. Noticing that the Lil’ Sparky was still shaking a bit as she nestled up into him, Mario starts to quietly sing a lullaby to try and drown out the howling winds and roaring thunder outside. It was one his own mother would often sing to him and Luigi when they were small, usually whenever she was trying to soothe their crying or send them off to sleep.
After a few minutes, Watt finally starts to calm down, her body now still, minus the rising and falling of her stomach as she breathed. Her hair also began to loose its electric charge, changing from a plasma back into a solid again.
“Good job, stellina. You’re-a being very brave.” Mario hums, smiling drowsily as he pulls a reusable straw out from one of the drawers before plopping it into the small mug of now warm milk. Taking up the mug, the man returns to the couch. He carefully sits Watt back down on the couch before handing her the mug. “Be very careful, it might be a bit hot.” He cautions her as he sits down next to her.
“Mm, thank you.” Watt replies, letting out a huge yawn before taking a tiny sip to ensure the beverage was cool enough to enjoy before taking a bigger sip. A few, quiet minutes pass, the two silently enjoying each other’s company while the rain outside continued to pound against the glass of the window. Upon drinking up the last drops, the girl holds it out for Mario, who takes it from her small, pudgy hands and lays it on the nearby coffee table.
“Um, Mario?” Watt then says. “Could I ask for one more thing?” She asks, to which Mario hums a “Hm?” in response. “Could you tell me a bedtime story?” She asks, looking up at him.
The young man just smiles and nod. “What kind of story do you want?” He asks.
“Um, could you tell me a story about one of your adventures, please?” Watt asks, her eyes sleepy, but hopeful.
“Of course.” Mario answers. The man takes a moment to think about which one of his adventures to tell her about, before settling on his most recent adventure: the time he set out to defeat the Smithy Gang after they had destroyed the road to Star Haven.
When Mario starts telling the young girl his tale, Watt snuggles up into him, listening intently as the continuous thunder outside started to become nothing more than white noise in her ears. However, only a few minutes into the story, the Lil’ Sparky found herself letting out yawn after yawn, her eyes growing ever heavier as she tries to fight off her sleepiness. It was a downhill battle, swiftly succumbing minutes later. Mario quickly found himself in the same boat, his voice slowly trailing off as he lets himself slumber once again.
~
Parakarry steps out from the main bedroom where all the lads in the party (and Luigi) were sharing for the night. Rubbing the sleep out of his teal eyes, The young man lets out a huge yawn while stretching his arms and wings out. Being a mailman and all, he was fairly used to getting up quite early in the morning so he could get ready before making his morning routes.
The first thing the Paratroopa notices is that Luigi seemed to be the only other person up, preparing breakfast. The warm morning sun was shining down on him through the nearby window, accompanied by the songs of birds, seemingly celebrating the passing of last night’s storm.
“G’morning, Luigi!” Karry calls out, but is quickly shushed by the man in green. Karry was confused at the sudden hushing, until Luigi gestures to the couch, where Mario was snoring away. Watt was curled up and cuddling into him as she slept peacefully.
“Oh, my bad, I didn’t see them over there.” The blond man replies much more quietly this time as he walks over to Luigi.
“It’s okay.” Luigi reassures him. “I guess Watt must’ve needed him in the middle of the night last night.” He adds, glancing over at his older twin again.
“Well, I guess she has been pretty attached to him ever since we defeated the ghost holding her captive and he broke her out of that lantern.” Karry points out. “Don’t seem like he minds it too much though.” He adds with a slight laugh.
“Well, I guess that’s just my brother for you.” Luigi replies with a slight smile. “He’s always making sure that the people he cares about are taken care of.”