Chapter Text
Many took Luigi to be the quiet type. Always reading a book, or working, or sitting on a bench and twiddling his thumbs. But if you give someone quiet a chance to talk, they can say a lot.
Luigi had ideas. He had thoughts, and grievances, and excitements. Truthfully, where he was quiet on the outside, he was loud on the inside. A cacophony of thoughts were always twisting and turning through that mind of his. However, he never really had the chance to share.
Luigi didn't have many friends. Sure, the toads were plenty friendly, but he could never really hold a conversation with one. It was honestly quite tiring to talk to them. All of the friends he did have were constantly busy, with Mario always either working or hanging out with the princess, Peach always hard at work keeping the kingdom happy and healthy, and DK in another kingdom entirely.
There was only one person Luigi could always talk to, and if anybody knew about it, he would be in some deep trouble.
Another day went by without much in the way of pipe maintainence. Mario was in the castle, as usual, following Peach around like a lost puppy and trying his best to help with her duties. Luigi, too, was in the castle, but in a much darker and dustier room of the place.
"...So naturally, the first thing I did was make my mama's famous mushroom-alfredo spaghetti. It's delicious, I should bring you a plate sometime. You gotta get just the right amount of parmesan on the pasta, plus if you go overboard on the milk for the alfredo sauce it gets all runny- but that's not the point. The point is, Mario ATE IT ALL before I could bring it to the party! Ohh, I was so sad, I didn't have time to make anything else. I can't believe he started liking mushrooms so much."
Luigi blabbed on and on, the warmth of his gloves and overalls keeping away the chill of the hard concrete floor as he sat.
His audience looked very unimpressed.
"Maybe it's like, that exposure therapy thing. He's had so many that he likes 'em now. Weird, right?"
A small burst of flame came from Bowser's nostrils, temporarily lighting up the room. The scaly monster's expression was that of a high schooler trapped in a particularly uninteresting presentation. Luigi hardly noticed as he continued.
"He dislikes fish a lot more now though. I don't know what's up with that. Says he knows the taste way better than he'd like to. Maybe he had a fish encounter while he was coming to save me. Thanks for that, by the way."
Bowser merely grumbled in response.
Luigi crossed his arms in front of his chest. "You know, a sorry would be nice," he commented, leaning forward a bit. "You almost killed me. Like, 50 times."
An unenthusiastic grunt came from the king of the koopas. "Kinda wish that had worked," he mumbled under his breath.
"What was that?"
"I said let's go back to talking about fish."
Luigi frowned. "I just want an apology. It's not that hard."
Bowser gagged dramatically. "I'm SORRY. Are you happy now?"
"Yes." The green-clad man smiled brightly. Bowser raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised that worked so easily.
The lizard, unfortunately, began formulating a plan in his head. Bowser's plans were never very good.
It was obvious how gullible Luigi was, and how desperate the man was for a friend. Bowser stuck his head through the bars of his little birdcage, giving Luigi a "winning smile".
"Say, how about you tell me more about your old lady's spaghetti?"
"My mama's spaghetti."
Bowser groaned. "Whatever. Tell me about it."
Luigi seemed to brighten up a bit at the offer. "Well, okay. So the first step is the spaghetti, obviously. You gotta add a pinch of salt to the water to flavor it and keep the noodles from sticking together. Plus you gotta keep stirring, you can't stop stirring for more than a few minutes until the noodles are soft enough to boil on their own. Then y-"
"WOW! Wow, that's REALLY INTERESTING," Bowser cut off Luigi, teeth gritted in a forced smile. "I think you should SHOW me how to make it!"
"Ooh, yes!" Luigi clasped his hands together in excitement, but his face slowly morphed into a frown. "Hang on. I can't do it down here, there's no kitchen."
"Well then find one."
"But-" the human's eyebrows furrowed. "I can't take you out of here. You're dangerous."
Bowser rolled his eyes. "Oh, come ON. What am I gonna do when I'm this small? Bite your fingers??"
Luigi still seemed uncertain as he took a tentative step towards the cage. "If anyone sees me, I'll get in trouble. Mario and Peach would be really mad at me."
"Then don't get caught!" This seemed to be working. Bowser grinned.
Luigi's hand hovered over the cage door as he stared at the monster inside. "You promise you won't try to escape or something?"
Bowser crossed his fingers behind his back and held his other hand up as if taking an oath. "Promise."
The little birdcage was opened as Bowser was gently picked up by two gloved hands. Luigi held his palm out flat so Bowser could stand, gazing at him carefully.
Bowser looked into Luigi's eyes before taking a step directly off his hand. "Whoops."
As soon as his shell made contact with the ground, Bowser's small form began growing and growing, the spikes on his shell now almost reaching the ceiling. He held out his crossed claws and giggled. "I lied."