Chapter Text
The morning alarm went off and Luigi rolled out of bed first and dressed himself in his favorite green button up and blue denim overalls. His brother, Mario, nearly fell out of bed when he stretched during a great big yawn.
Luigi laughed, pouring the two of them their morning cups of coffee, “Here, this’ll fix you right up.”
Mario accepted the red mug as he finished sliding his matching overall straps onto his shoulders, “Mamma mia…”
The elder of the two instantly perked up and the famous Mario Brothers were soon hatted up and off to work. Stepping through the rounded door they were greeted by another beautiful day in the Mushroom Kingdom.
The spotted capped city was bustling with busy toads all saying friendly hellos to each other in squawky voices. Some were selling and trading items brought back from far off lands, others were zipping and zooming through the various pipelines that bridged the city. Mario and Luigi were soon to be among them, leaping from yellow moving platform to yellow moving platform until they reached the green pipe that connected them to the very heart of everything: Peach’s Castle.
The first time Luigi used their personal pipe, he kept smacking his face on its walls every time it curved. Apparently, Mario went through something similar when they first accidentally arrived in this other world. But now the pipes were old hat, pun intended. Mario and Luigi zipped through as if they’d used them all their lives. They popped up right outside the castle, near one of the front gardens.
Plumbing in the Mushroom Kingdom was a little different from plumbing in Brooklyn or even Queens. They weren’t dealing with leaks or water pressure, but instead they were unclogging the occasionally trapped toad or fixing the routing when they sometimes got a little wonky. They’d gone from world saving heroes who defeated the great and terrible Bowser, to everyday heroes who defeated the odd inconvenience.
“Oh good! You’re here!” Princess Peach called out, descending the short white staircase to meet them.
It had been a while but Luigi still couldn’t believe they were rubbing elbows on a regular basis with a princess. Oh, if all those jerks who picked on them when they started their business could see them now.
Oh wait, they did! Whenever Mario and Luigi went back to New York to visit family or make quick supply runs, they always made sure to flaunt themselves in front of their former boss, Spike. Saving the city from a giant fire breathing turtle monster made them pretty popular in the neighborhood.
“Mario, Luigi,” the princess said, the sunlight making her sky-blue eyes twinkle enchantingly, “Toad is stuck in the pipe that leads to the bazaar. It’s causing quite a traffic jam.”
“You got it, Princess. Leave it to us!” Mario said, tipping his hat as a sign of respect.
“Great. Come back to the castle when you’re done. You can have some of the cake I’m baking.”
“Wahoo!” Mario leapt into the air in excitement, “Come on, Luigi!”
Mario was already speeding over to a red pipe. Luigi tore off after him, carrying the tools, only to stop, run back, tip his hat respectfully to the princess, and tear off again. Mario was long gone by the time Luigi made it to the pipe. His brother was always so hyper when it came to Peach. She was polite with him and even laughed at some of his jokes on occasion. Luigi loved his brother, but Mario wasn’t always the funniest guy around. Peach laughing had to be a good sign. So why didn’t he just ask her on a date already? They were always skirting the issue with cake.
Hopping into the pipe, he warped closer to the bazaar. Mario was waiting for him on the other side, waving Luigi over.Various colors of toads crowded the walkways. Not to worry. Navigating the warp pipes wasn’t the only thing Luigi had drastically improved on since he and his brother became full time residents of this world!
With a running start, Luigi leapt onto an upright barrel and climbed up onto an awning. Springboarding over a series of floating brick blocks, he ran clean across to the opposite side of the tiled street onto a shop rooftop. Hopping to the next roof, he slid underneath a wooden sign and rolled forward until he launched himself onto a mushroom, bouncing clear over the mushroom-headed civilians. He caught an overhanging sign and plopped down onto some sacks of sheared black fuzzy fuzz.
“That’s my brother! Way to go, Luigi!”
They clapped their hands, ran their fingers up like two little men climbing a wall, fist bumped, and raised their arms overhead, shimmying and shouting, “Ayyyyy!”
“Seriously, Luigi. Your platforming is on another level now!” Mario began leading the way again.
“It’s not like I had a choice,” Luigi laughed, gesturing to the insane natural features of their new home, “The only way to get around is through pipes and floating blocks.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Lu. Now that we’re-”
Mario was ready to say more, but they came upon the site of the jammed blue pipe. A pair of stubby feet were kicking wildly accompanied by muffled screams. The nearby toads were crowding the disaster zone in the making, but quickly cleared a path when they heard Mario call out to them.
They whispered as the brothers passed, talking about how cool Mario was and how great a hero he was. Some of them wanted to be Mario. Some of them fawned like fangirls back in their home world. Everyone loved Mario. And who could blame them? If he was being honest, Luigi thought they all had great taste.
“Alright, everybody! Step aside,” Mario said, holding his arms up like some kind of public official, “This is official plumbing business!”
The crowds cheered, Luigi had to squeeze through a few of the fans trying to get a little closer to his older brother. He ended up tripping and falling onto his face at Mario’s feet. The toads giggled amongst themselves but Mario was quick to help Luigi back up.
The mustached duo put all their attention on the clogged pipe. Yup, that toad was really stuck in there. Mario tried tugging the toad free but no luck. Pushing it further in wasn’t going to work either.
“Plunger,” Mario held his arm out to Luigi and Luigi supplied him with one from the tool box.
“Try not to move,” Mario said slowly and loudly to the jammed up toad, “We’re going to get you out of there!”
With a muffled noise that sounded affirmative, the toad went still. Mario suctioned his plunger to the white bloomers of the little guy and one pull- no luck- two pulls- no luck. Third time was the charm. With a heave and a ho, Mario yanked the mushroom free!
It was none other than Toad, the friendly toad. He was a mushroom citizen of the red and white variety who’d helped Mario and Peach along on their original journey to rescue Luigi from Bowser’s keep. Visibly dizzy, he groaned as the world slowly stopped spinning. When his eyes were able to focus again, he cheered at the sight of the plummer in red.
“My best friend, Mario! I knew you’d help me out!”
“And Luigi,” Luigi waved in the background.
Mario laughed, “Toad, we’re the Mushroom Kingdom’s plumbers. It’s what we do.”
Toad just swooned, getting all starry eyed, “I can’t believe I’m best friends with someone as cool and important as a plumber!”
That was the sort of star treatment the brothers could never get enough of. In the Mushroom Kingdom, something as everyday and unclogging a drain was on par with slaying a dragon! The two brothers laughed it off and a line formed of a few toads asking to get Mario’s autograph. He obliged them while Luigi cheerfully put the plunger away and finished inspecting the pipe for any other potential issues. He announced it was good to go and immediately the toads got back on their busy way.
“Hey Mario, they’re opening up something new in the square today called a Capsule Machine. Why don’t we go check it out!” Toad chirped, putting his enormous backpack on again.
“Sure, we have a little time before the Princess’s cake is ready. Right, Luigi?”
Luigi nodded, excited to see what all the hype was about. New and wonderful things were always popping up in the Mushroom Kingdom. Jumping up to hit some question mark boxes, three brown leaves popped out, giving Mario a brown tanuki suit and Toad a blue one. Luigi got a yellow fox suit. They never did figure out why his was different, but it let him fly just the same so they didn’t question it for long.
The trio spin jumped, catching the wind, to fly over the districts of the Mushroom Kingdom. Toads waved at them from below. It was always fun to see someone gliding overhead. Powerups in general were hype. Though the Mario Bros. couldn’t help but think the cat suits were still a little funny.
They landed and powered down, punching each other’s shoulders to cause “damage.” Back in their red and green overalls, they followed Toad along the blue and red dotted path. He hummed a song, the brothers assumed it was the anthem of that part of town. They hummed along with their guide, having learned a few of the town tunes by now. Marching together, they came upon the new Capsule Machine.
The Capsule Machine was golden with a red base and had little blue arms sticking out of its side. It had silver bolts for eyes and a golden turner for a mustache over its ever open mouth. Toad hopped onto the pink arrow in front of it and posed. Its arms wiggled and the bot sang a little song, the capsules bopped inside its clear head until one came out. Toad retrieved the pink ball and opened it, revealing a dash mush. Toad ate it and immediately he started moving around at super speed! Mario and Luigi were both impressed, getting in line to try the Capsule Machine for themselves.
Mario stepped onto the pink arrow and posed. Just like before, the Capsule Machine did a little dance and bequeathed unto Mario a blue capsule. Inside was a Mecha Fly Guy, a toy version of a Shy Guy with a propeller on its head. Mario turned the knob on its back a few times and the thing started hovering. It ended up picking Toad up and took him on a little airborne trip a few feet before it collapsed. Toad loved it, shouting “Again! Again!”
Mario hurried over to get the Mecha Fly Guy up in the air again. Luigi moved onto the pink arrow next and posed with his hands up by his face like he could scream any minute. He waited with bated breath as the machine danced and sang, revealing a yellow capsule. Luigi opened it and saw that inside was a rainbow colored block with a question mark on it. It looked kind of like the yellow blocks floating around the country with items inside. Was his item double wrapped?
Luigi tapped it. It wasn’t an item block. It was a Warp Block.
Yanked into the box, Luigi shuffled around, and reappeared on top of a ladder. He looked around nervously, trying to get his bearings. He heard an angry toad and turned to look when a Boo was suddenly in his face! Luigi screamed, so startled he tilted the ladder and went tumbling down. Turns out he’d warped with a toad setting up a sign for a gag shop and now he was riding a ladder down a grassy hill back toward the Capsule Machine… and he had no way to stop.
“Everyone! Look out!” Luigi shrieked, holding on for dear life.
The toads began to scatter while Mario and Toad rushed to either side of the Capsule Machine, scrambling to find a way to stop the collision. But collision was inevitable and Luigi’s ladder hit a music block and, with a ping, sent him flying right into the golden machine. Luigi smacked it so hard that the machine short circuited and it started dancing and singing hysterically, firing capsules like bullet bills from canons! They popped open on impact, releasing all manner of items onto the city!
“Oh no- Mario! Help!” Luigi shouted when he saw unsuspecting toads start to shift or get carried off.
“Don’t worry, Luigi. I got this.”
After a quick breath, Mario leapt into action. Grabbing a dash mush, Mario used his new super speed to start spin jumping off of the warped toads to cause “damage” and help them power down. When it came to some of the stray items, Mario wound up a few Mecha Fly Guys and sent them to round up the extra items.
Meanwhile, Toad got to work on stopping the rampant Capsule Machine.
“Alright Toad, time to be a hero,” the little red and white capped guy said to himself in his low cool guy voice before he charged screaming, launching himself into the machine’s mouth. He jammed himself in to stop more capsules from flying and, just like with that morning’s pipe, he was stuck. Toad cheered victoriously from inside as the multicolored balls bounced over and over again on his head with nowhere to go but back into the machine. Confused, eventually the Capsule Machine short circuited and powered down.
Back in action, Mario found an empty item bag among the chaos and used it to hold everything the Mecha Fly Guys had captured. In a matter of minutes, Mario had once again saved the day. The toads cheered, and Luigi clapped happily along with them. He was so proud to be Mario’s little brother. Mario was just the coolest and so competent.
“Woohoo! Mario!”
“Mario, you’re my hero!”
“Let’s hear it for Mario!”
Eventually they all started chanting his name, stomping their feet and clapping their hands in rhythm. Mario tried to calm them down, saying it wasn’t a big deal as he made his way over to the stuck again Toad. Luigi just started shouting even louder, beaming with pride as his big brother yanked Toad free.
“Thanks for the help, Toad. But uhhh why didn’t you just jam it with your backpack?” Mario asked, gesturing to his friend’s notably massive pack.
Toad just stared vacantly at it for a minute before saying, “You were great out there, Mario! So quick on your feet!”
“Yeah! Mario’s the best!” A toad shouted.
“I love you, Mario! I always have! I always will!” One of the toads was flat out sobbing in adoration.
Toad frowned at the toad, nodding no, giving him a too much face. The toad backed off and disappeared into the crowd, head lowered in shame.
Luigi high fived his brother, “Mario! You were so cool out there!”
But before Mario could respond a toad shouted, “And you were so not!”
The brothers looked out in surprise as another toad in the hoard shouted, “Yeah, Luigi! Mario’s always cleaning up after your screw ups!”
“You just follow Mario around all day but he’s the one that’s actually doing stuff!”
“T-That’s not,” Luigi mumbled, trying to find the words to defend himself.
“Hey! In case you’ve forgotten, if it wasn’t for Luigi we would never have defeated Bowser!” Mario shouted back, getting angry.
“Okay, so he helped out one time!”
“What’s he done since?”
“He's Mario's copycat!”
“Come on Luigi,” Mario tried to push his brother out of there, “You know you guys are being real jerks!”
The toads started laughing and hollering, saying they were only teasing. Then one toad came up with the nickname “Green Mario.” It caught on and they all started chanting it, turning it into a song. Even when the brothers had left the square, they could still hear the song. That’s because Toad, who was dutifully marching behind them, was still singing it.
“Green Mario! Green Mario! No matter how hard he tries, all he ever does is cry!”
“Uh Toad,” Mario cut eyes at his friend who seemed to only just realize the song was hurting Luigi’s feelings.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about them, Luigi,” Mario pat his brother’s shoulder, “Once they get to know you a little better and see you in action, they’ll love you.”
“But they’re right, Mario,” Luigi sighed, suddenly disappointed in himself, “It was your idea to quit working for Spike and start your own business, I just followed you. While I was locked in a cage waiting to be rescued, you went on a big adventure and saved everyone from Bowser-”
“Hey! Look at me. We defeated Bowser together. I never could have done it without you. Remember? We can do anything…”
Mario waited and eventually Luigi perked up, smiling like he could almost believe it, “... As long as we’re together.”
“That’s right. Now let’s just forget about all this and go have some cake with the princess!”
“I like cake!” Toad said.
Luigi shrugged, “Actually, I think I’m gonna head home. But you two go ahead.”
“Lu…”
“I’m really alright, Mario. I just need a little time, you know?”
Mario backed off, “I’ll bring you back a slice.”
Luigi did his best to smile as he branched off from their path. He decided to walk back to their house rather than warp pipe. He didn’t want anyone to see him when he was feeling so down. He couldn’t help but dwell on what the toads were saying.
“Green Mario… Green Mario…” Luigi caught himself singing and sighed, distraught, “I may be cowardly and clumsy, but there’s stuff about me that’s cool like Mario- no, unlike Mario. No, Mario’s cool but I’m cool in my own way too! Uh like…”
Luigi tried to think of something, but his shot confidence was making it hard. He’d always liked himself before? He was Mario’s brother. And he was nice. People said he was a little dim witted from time to time, but that wasn’t a bad thing was it? Luigi thought about it… maybe it was a bad thing…
“I can jump on stuff,” Luigi said to himself, using a spring to leap up onto a row of floating boxes, “But I guess so can Mario. Let’s see… What can I do that’s different from Mario- I can eat all of my veggies without complaining! That’s pretty awesome!”
Luigi paused, “No, maybe it’s not…”
Luigi plopped down and watched a Lakitu fly by in the distance. It looked kinda fun. He wondered passively if he could get his own personal cloud one day and go flying too… Luigi looked around and realized he had no idea how he was going to get down without getting hurt. He sighed, another screw up.
After a while, Luigi cut his losses and decided to jump, aiming for one of the big mushrooms. It sort of broke his fall, but it still hurt when he slammed back into the ground. He waited on his back, staring up at the forest of red mushrooms.
“What can I do? How do I prove that I belong next to Mario, that I’m not just following him around?”
“You could stop taking up good digging space.”
Luigi shrieked, scooting away on his butt in terror until he bumped into a mushroom stem. He looked around but saw no one.
“Seriously, get a move on, green bean.”
Luigi turned his head and saw a giant Monty Mole popping its head out of the ground. It just as quickly disappeared, digging around Luigi before popping its head out again and chucking a rock.
“Ah! Hey! That hurt!”
“I’m digging here!” The mole shouted and Luigi huffed, stomping away.
“Ey! Wait!” The mole shouted and Luigi stopped, turning to face his attacker with a sour look.
“Ain’t chu that Mario guy? The one who rescued the princess?”
Luigi’s lips stretched into a thin line, “Sorry, pal. I’m somebody else.”
“Nah nah, you gotta be Mario. You got the hat and the overalls and the mustache!”
“I’m leaving now.”
When the mole started digging to chase after him, Luigi broke into a jog, vaulting himself up to some of the shorter mushrooms, bouncing along their tops until he was back at his shared house with Mario. It always looked so cozy and welcoming before. But when he looked at their home now, he couldn’t help but feel like he didn’t belong.
Letting himself in, he hung his hat on the hook by the door before flopping miserably onto his green bed. It wasn’t long until Mario came home, carrying a little slice of cake as promised.
“Luigi?” He called out in a caring and quiet voice.
Luigi groaned in response.
Mario hung his hat on the hook beside Luigi’s, closing the door with his foot before walking in the rest of the way.
“Cake?”
“Maybe later…” Luigi rolled onto his side, facing away from Mario who set the cake onto a nearby table.
“Lu…” Mario sat down on Luigi’s bed, “Back when we were in Brooklyn, you were the only one who had my back. Even when you were scared. Even when it meant being a disappointment to our parents. You always believed in me. Even as kids, I was able to be myself because you were with me. That’s why I thought we could start our own business, that's why I wanted to quit, that’s why we defeated Bowser.”
Luigi sat up and finally looked at his brother, who looked back at him with genuine love, “You’ve never just followed me, Lu. You’ve always been the heart of the Mario Brothers. And no matter what, you have my support. Always have. Always will.”
Luigi hugged his brother and Mario squeezed him so tightly, he almost started coughing. Rubbing his glassy eyes, Luigi awkwardly chuckled.
“So… about that cake…”
Mario hurried up and gave the cake to Luigi. Princess Peach really did bake the best cakes. It was so good, Luigi almost started crying again. They spent the rest of the day just hanging out. Mario turned on the TV they brought from their world and Luigi watched him play a few levels of Kid Icarus.
Eventually night fell on the Mushroom Kingdom and the brothers settled in for the evening. Tucking themselves into bed, they wished each other a good night before closing their eyes. It wasn’t long before Mario was cartoonishly snoring. But Luigi struggled to fall asleep. He rolled over and stared out at the moon in the sky. It hit his eye like a pizza pie.
What Mario said really did make him feel better. But the feeling that he could still be doing more to help kept nagging at him.
“The heart of the Mario brothers…” Luigi whispered to himself.
It was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever said to him. Maybe it was the nicest thing anyone had ever said, full stop. So Luigi just needed to think with his heart instead of his brain. He could probably do that, he thought.
It was surprising to hear that he was giving Mario as much courage as Mario gave him. Mario was right. As long as they had each other, anything was possible.
Anything…
Their final fight with Bowser came back to mind. The Koopa King was shouting about something, about finally being happy. He wanted everyone to suffer the way he had. But what did Bowser suffer?
And then it hit Luigi. Maybe that was it! Maybe that was how he could help!
If he could become Bowser’s friend, then he could end all wars in this new world forever!
It was kind of a long shot, he thought. But Bowser never had a Mario! If Luigi could become Bowser’s Mario, then maybe he could help Bowser be happy and then everyone would be happy because everyone would be happy! He just needed to have faith in Bowser!
Sure he kidnapped him and ripped his mustache and tried to ritually sacrifice him, but that was all water under the bridge among friends! Even Donkey Kong and Mario could get along from time to time. So it wasn’t impossible.
Feeling as invincible as if he’d just absorbed the power of a Super Star, Luigi sprung out of bed, changed into his overalls, slapped on his hat, and snuck out of the house. Taking the warp pipe, he’d find a way into Peach’s Castle, find where they were holding Bowser prisoner, befriend him, and set him free with a new change of heart.
What could possibly go wrong?