Archive of Our Own

Luigi woke up with the sun like he did every morning. What was different about this particular morning though was the fact that he couldn't move. 

He woke slowly, his mind gaining more and more awareness by degrees. When he was half conscious he tried to roll over, only to feel a heavy weight on his chest. That snapped him awake in an instant, and his eyes flew open. 

He blinked against the sunlight and tilted his head to look down, then relaxed. Oh yeah. Mario.

His brother was still fast asleep, his head resting against Luigi's chest. His arms were also wrapped around Luigi's torso, holding him in a tight hug despite the fact that Mario was dead to the world. Luigi snorted softly and brought up a hand to rest it on Mario's head before leaning back against the pillow and staring up at the ceiling. The events of last night were coming back to him now, and he couldn't help but worry.

He'd known that Mario hadn't been sleeping. It had been pretty obvious, especially by yesterday, but there had been other signs besides the dark circles under his brother's eyes and how tired and spacey he'd become. For one, Mario had been awake before Luigi woke up every morning, something which never happened. Mario was not a morning person and usually needed an alarm to wake up, or Luigi himself if he snoozed the alarm one too many times. And then there had been the time when Luigi had woken up to find the chair next to his bedside, like Mario had been sitting there all night. Luigi's nightmares that night had been less bad than the nights before, and he knew that was probably because Mario had comforted him while he was still asleep. His brother had that effect on him.

Luigi sighed and rubbed at this face with his free hand before looking back down at his brother. He really should've confronted him sooner. He'd asked Mario if he was ok and how much he'd slept a few times, and he'd known that Mario was lying to him, but he just hadn't realized the extent of it. He'd assumed that maybe Mario just wasn't sleeping well, not that he wasn't sleeping at all. And then Mario had passed out and Luigi had realized how badly he messed up.

Luigi began running his fingers through his brother's hair absentmindedly as he took a deep breath and sighed again, Mario's weight pressing into him more as his chest rose and fell with the breath. They had finally talked though, and Mario was finally getting the sleep he so desperately needed. And Luigi was going to make sure Mario got as much sleep as he could, even if he had to lay trapped here for hours.

Hmmmm, he should probably figure out a way to keep their family from bothering them. Luigi glanced around for ideas and saw Mario's phone on the desk next to his bed. Bingo. He reached over and grabbed it, easily unlocking it because Mario's password was 1111 (Mario kept forgetting it and changed it to something easy to remember, and consequently easy to guess) and sending a quick text to his mother asking her to let everyone know that Mario was sleeping in and not to disturb them. He only had to wait a second before his mother replied, he got his morning person abilities from her, saying she would and asking if Mario was alright. His mom had noticed Mario wasn't doing well too, and she'd asked Luigi about it while he helped her make dinner last night. That had been what finally convinced Luigi to try something more drastic to get Mario to talk. Well, drastic for him. 

Luigi set the phone aside and grimaced as he remembered how quickly he had gotten loopy last night. He was still eternally embarrassed by how he acted when he got sleep deprived. Sometimes Mario would purposefully keep him up late because, and Luigi was quoting here, Luigi was 'extremely entertaining and funny when sleep drunk.' Luigi was always half aware that he was acting weird, but he was too tired to act normal and woke up the next morning cringing at all the stupid things he had said. He was just glad that he usually only got like that around Mario or maybe the rest of his family. If strangers saw him like that he would probably drop dead the next morning out of embarrassment.

At least Mario only ever gently teased him about it, which Luigi knew was all in good fun. And hey, at least it made Mario happy. 

Mario suddenly shifted in his sleep, breaking Luigi out of his thoughts and making his hand freeze from where he'd been petting his brother's hair. Mario's face scrunched up slightly and he moved somehow even closer to Luigi, hugging him tighter before relaxing again. Luigi relaxed too and slowly resumed the repetitive motion of running his fingers through Mario's hair. 

He stared up at the ceiling, and winced at how it reflected the morning sunlight. He was starting to develop a bit of a headache. Which was strange this early in the morning. He'd gotten a bit of a headache yesterday too. It had started when they were working on the cleanup, but he'd just assumed it was because he had been working too hard. Then Mario had passed out and he'd been able to ignore the headache for more important things. And it really hadn't been much of a headache, just a dull ache in his temples. He'd had much worse headaches before and it had been easy to distract himself from it. Mario had needed him.

Now the headache was back, which was as annoying as it was slightly concerning. He would've thought sleep would get rid of it. Maybe he was getting sick? That would be very annoying. After everything that had happened he really did not need to fall sick too. Luigi closed his eyes and tried to mentally will the headache away. It didn't work, but he didn't have anything better to do.

Maybe later after Mario woke up if the headache persisted he'd take some painkillers. He didn't usually take painkillers for minor headaches, he already took them enough for when he got sick or got migraines. But Luigi had been through . . . well he'd been through a lot. He deserved to take some painkillers for a stupid headache.

Luigi heard some of his family members waking up and beginning to start their day, and he couldn't help but tense a little bit, moving his hand down to Mario's shoulder and squeezing it slightly. He got worried that someone would come in asking why they weren't up and about, but nobody came to their door, and he slowly began to relax. Their mom had kept her promise. 

Luigi shifted enough to get into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. He probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep again right now, stupid sun, but he might as well try while he was stuck here.

Luigi didn't end up falling asleep, but instead zoning out. He let his thoughts wander away and focused on how he could feel his brother's slow breaths and steady heartbeat from where he was pressed against him. He didn't know how much time had passed when Mario moved again.

Luigi zoned back in and opened his eyes to look down as Mario shifted and took a deeper breath before his eyes also blinked open. Luigi smiled slightly as his brother looked confused for a second before tilting his head up to look at Luigi.

"Hey," Luigi said in a soft voice, "How're you feeling?"

Mario blinked again, some of the sleepy confused haze leaving his eyes. Then it was replaced by realization as he seemed to remember what had happened the night before. His eyes widened, and then he started trying to sit up. Luigi sat up with him to help Mario remove the arm currently trapped underneath him. Mario sat back on the bed, rubbing at his face while Luigi stretched a bit now that he was free and looked expectantly at his brother, waiting for an answer.

Mario took a deep breath and let it out before dropping his hand from his face and looking up at Luigi. He looked better. There were still dark smudges under his eyes and he looked a bit tired, but he also looked much more relaxed than he had for the last few days.

"I . . . I feel better," Mario finally replied, and Luigi winced at how rough his voice was.

"That's good," Luigi replied with a sincere smile. He was glad Mario was feeling better. He never wanted to see his brother that worn down again.

Mario yawned and stretched a little and Luigi had to fight a yawn in response. When Mario opened his eyes again he glanced around the room and then frowned.

"What time is it?"

Luigi didn't know so he reached over to grab Mario's phone still at the edge of the bed and flipped it over.

"Almost 11."

Mario jolted in surprise.

"What really?" He asked, and then his shocked expression morphed into a guilty one, "How long have you been awake?"

Luigi frowned thoughtfully.

"You know, I don't know. I didn't check the time when I woke up."

Luigi could check the time when he texted their mom to actually see, but he knew the answer would probably upset Mario so he didn't mention that.

"I'm sorry, you should've woken me up," Mario bit his lip and looked at Luigi with concern and Luigi quickly waved his hand in the air.

"No, it's fine. You needed the sleep anyway."

And, Luigi thought, it was nice not having to do anything with this headache.

His head was feeling worse now. The ache had turned more into a deep pounding sensation and it was getting a lot harder to ignore. But ignore it he did as he focused on his brother.

"You wanna get something to eat? I think everybody else left already."

Mario frowned and opened his mouth like he was about to ask something, but then his eyes widened again and he started moving to get off the bed.

"Oh my gosh, the cleanup! We should've left for that hours ago! I—" but he was cut off as Luigi quickly leaned forward to block Mario with his arm before he could slip off the bed.

"Hey hey woah, you're not going anywhere today," he said firmly, trying to put on his best stern face.

"But—" Mario began to protest again, but Luigi once again cut him off.

"No! No buts. You didn't sleep for three days, you're going to rest. And besides, they're practically done anyway. They've got lots of people helping. They don't need us anymore. You've done enough."

Mario looked ready to protest again, and Luigi could see that the guilt was back in his eyes. He sighed and grabbed Mario's shoulders, shaking him a little bit.

"Hey, it's not your fault ok? Everything turned out fine and they're fixing it and nobody got seriously hurt. You've done enough."

He stared into his brother's eyes, hoping for his words to sink in and be believed. Mario looked between his eyes with an uncertain expression before he sighed and looked away.

"I . . . I guess you're right," he mumbled. It wasn't exactly the response Luigi wanted, but at least Mario had agreed to stay home. He'd work on the guilt later.

"Of course I'm right," he said instead, trying to lighten the mood with the quip before he slipped off the bed, "What do you want for breakfast? I'll make it."

Mario frowned again and moved to get off the bed again as he started to say, "You don't have to—" but Luigi turned and pushed Mario back onto the bed.

"Yeah but I want to. And I also want you to rest," his expression dropped a bit as he gave Mario a concerned look, "Please?" He was probably trying a bit too hard with the puppy dog eyes, but all the concern and fear he'd felt yesterday seeing his brother drop to the ground like a limp ragdoll was coming to the surface again, and he just wanted his brother to listen to him on this. Let me take care of you, please, he thought.

Mario sighed heavily and slumped back onto the bed.

"I hate when you look at me like that," he grumbled and Luigi couldn't help but grin at his success.

"So what do you want to eat?" He asked again.

Mario shrugged as he stared up at the ceiling, "I don't know. You pick."

Luigi was a little concerned by that response, but he decided not to comment on it, instead saying, "Ok, I'll be back in a bit," and leaving the room, heading toward the kitchen.

He decided to just make some eggs because his headache was kind of getting worse and he didn't feel like making anything complicated. As he was placing the eggs on two plates and picking them and some utensils up to head to their room, however, he was suddenly hit with a dizzy spell that had him stumbling. He winced as the throbbing in his head spiked for a second, feeling like someone stabbed him in the side of the head before it faded back into the same pain level as before. He grimaced and steadied himself against the counter, blinking a few times to fix his vision.

Ok that was weird. 

He should probably be a bit more concerned about that, but he shrugged it off and headed back toward their bedroom. He could worry about it later.

Mario was still lying on the bed staring up at the ceiling when Luigi opened the door, but he sat up when Luigi came in. Luigi held the plate out to him with a smile that he hoped looked genuine and not strained because of his headache, and Mario took it with a soft thanks.

They ate in silence, and Luigi was relieved to see that Mario seemed to have regained his appetite, remembering how his brother had barely eaten anything last night. When they both finished Luigi took their plates and considered taking them back to the kitchen, but he really didn't feel up to it actually so he leaned over and placed them on Mario's desk instead. He could deal with them later.

He turned back toward Mario, who was sitting on the other end of the bed messing with his hands and frowning at them, like he was thinking hard. He still looked terrible, but his eyes weren't as dull as they were yesterday, and maybe it was wishful thinking but the dark circles under his eyes seemed to have lessened a bit. 

"Whatcha thinking about?" Luigi broke the silence, and Mario jumped slightly before looking up at him.

Mario looked like he was debating something in his head before he sighed and shrugged, looking away.

"Just about how I'm an idiot."

Luigi frowned.

"You're not an idiot."

"I am a little bit though. I completely overreacted and . . . I don't know I just feel stupid now," Mario's shoulders slumped and he sighed again.

"Hey, you're not stupid. You just . . . weren't thinking straight because you weren't sleeping. Trust me I know, not sleeping does things to a person," Luigi tried to inject some humor into his voice at the end, and it worked to make Mario smile slightly before he looked up at Luigi.

"Thanks for last night, and, well, for everything honestly."

Luigi tilted his head slightly.

"Everything? What does that mean?"

Mario's smiled widened slightly as he leaned back against the wall.

"Just . . . always being there for me. You know, stopping me from being an idiot."

Luigi snorted and reached out to lightly poke Mario in the stomach, which Mario responded to by lightly smacking his hand away but fully smiling now as it seemed the last of his unhappiness was fading away.

"Yeah of course. You'd probably die without me anyway," Luigi teased, and then he wondered if he said something wrong because Mario's smile dropped slightly.

"Yeah probably," it sounded like Mario was trying to joke, but it fell a bit flat and Luigi didn't like the sudden shift in the mood. 

They both sat in awkward silence for a few seconds before Luigi decided to quickly change the subject.

"Well, since I've decided that today you aren't doing anything important, what do you want to do instead?"

Mario seemed to appreciate the subject change because his shoulders relaxed from where they had started to tense up, and he made a show of thinking dramatically with a hand on his chin before he shrugged and said, "We could play some video games."

"Awesome. Perfect. Which one do you wanna play?" Luigi asked as he quickly slipped off the bed to start setting everything up. 

Luigi was pretty bad at most video games. He just couldn't figure out the controls fast enough and often got discouraged after dying a million times. Mario, on the other hand, was great at video games. He'd zero in on them and play them for hours if he was able, which meant he got lots of practice. Whenever Luigi played games where he was fighting against his brother he usually always lost. Whenever he did win he was 99% sure that Mario let him win, which he resented honestly. He knew he was bad at video games, he didn't need Mario going easy on him and making him feel worse about it. He preferred playing games where he and his brother were on the same team. Usually Mario carried when that happened, but at least Luigi was able to win and feel like he won. 

They spent most of the day gaming. They swapped between a bunch of them, and Luigi grew more and more delighted the longer they played as Mario got louder and louder with either his encouragement if they were playing on the same team, or lighthearted trash talking if they were against each other. After seeing Mario so withdrawn and unhappy the last few days, watching him open up and actually have fun made every single time Luigi was beaten completely worth it. 

At one point Luigi heard Mario's stomach rumble and he left to go get them a snack/late lunch and as he walked into the kitchen it suddenly hit him that he felt awful. He'd been so distracted by the video games that he hadn't realized just how much his head was killing him. He winced and rubbed at one of his temples as he stumbled against the counter. It honestly felt like he was being stabbed in both temples and each time his heart beat the pain would increase in sharp pulses. 

Luigi had absolutely no idea where this was coming from, but he really did not want to deal with it right now. He stumbled over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a few painkillers before grabbing a cup and hurrying over to the sink to take them. Hoping those would take the edge off, Luigi went back to that task he'd originally come in here for. He decided to just heat up some leftovers from last night because he really didn't feel like making anything new and he hurried back to their room, pointedly ignoring the headache in the hopes that it would go away.

Mario looked up when he walked in, and the smile on his face made Luigi feel a bit better despite his headache as he kicked the door closed behind him and held out one bowl to his brother before sitting on the bed next to him.

"Thanks," Mario said before immediately digging in, and Luigi couldn't help but smirk at his brother. It was funny how he could act like he hadn't eaten in days even though he'd eaten just a few hours ago.

Luigi glanced down at his own bowl, and realized just how not hungry he was. He figured the headache was probably messing with him, but he didn't want Mario to worry so he forced himself to take a few bites. He hoped Mario didn't notice when he set his bowl aside only half empty.

Mario set his empty bowl off to the side too before holding out the second controller.

"You wanna keep playing or do something else?"

Now that Luigi was aware of his headache again, the thought of looking at a TV screen and trying to concentrate on playing did not sound appealing.

He tried to sound nonchalant as he waved a hand and said, "Nah, I'm all video gamed out I think. I'll watch you play though, that's more fun than losing anyway."

"We can play a different game if you want," Mario looked a little bit concerned now, and Luigi shook his head and scooted back to lean against Mario's headboard.

"Nah it's fine. I like watching you play anyway. Sometimes I pretend I'm playing so I can feel better about being terrible at it."

Mario snorted and shook his head before moving to sit next to him and dragging his controller back, stretching the cord as far as it could go.

"You're not that bad at video games."

"Stop lying to make me feel better. You can be the one who's good at video games. I'm better than you at lots of other things."

"That's true," Mario smiled over at him before he started up a new game and began playing.

Luigi did try to pay attention at first, but after a while he zoned out. The painkillers seemed to have taken the edge off of his headache, but it was still there, a dull persistent ache that was really starting to annoy him. He was also starting to feel a weird itching sensation in his right arm and side. It was incredibly uncomfortable and he forced himself to stay still instead of shifting around like he wanted to.

After a bit he noticed that Mario kept pausing to rub at his right shoulder, frowning every time he did.

"What's wrong?" Luigi asked after the fifth or so time, and Mario jumped before glancing over.

"I don't know, my shoulder just kind of aches suddenly. I think I probably slept on it funny."

Luigi winced slightly. Yeah maybe that was his fault.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, it's not that bad," Mario gave him a reassuring smile before he turned back to his video game.

Luigi ended up slumping over and resting his head against Mario's shoulder at some point, but Mario didn't seem to mind. He hardly noticed the time going by, too wrapped up in his headache to notice until Mario suddenly nudged his side with his elbow.

"Hey, ma's calling us for dinner, did you hear?"

"Hm? What?" Luigi sat up, biting back a wince at how everything swayed before he rubbed at his face, "Oh, no I didn't."

Mario gave him a concerned look before he moved around Luigi and slipped off the bed.

"Come on, we should go. I'm sure they're worried about us."

Luigi grimaced slightly. He really did not want to go to dinner actually. He wasn't hungry, he was in pain, and he didn't want his well-meaning but overbearing family grilling either of them. He was sure they both didn't look too good after everything that happened, and he didn't need to answer a million questions or be teased by his uncles. 

"Hey you ok?" Mario asked, and Luigi realized he'd been staring into space and Mario had extended a hand to help him off the bed. Luigi quickly took it and was successful in not swaying on his feet even though everything tilted and his headache spiked at the movement.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Let's go," he said quickly, hurrying past Mario toward the door. Luigi didn't need to worry his brother right now.

Dinner surprisingly went fine. Or at least, Luigi thought it went fine. He did sort of zone out the entire time, but it seemed that the rest of the family was avoiding the topic of his and Mario's impromptu day at home, and how both brothers probably looked a little worse for wear. And Luigi never talked much at dinner anyway so nobody seemed to care that he didn’t join into the conversation. 

At one point their mom came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder before asking how Mario was doing while Mario was distracted talking to their father about  . . . something. Luigi honestly hadn't been paying attention. He'd given their mom a small but hopefully genuine smile and said he was doing better. Their mom looked slightly relieved as she squeezed his shoulder before moving around the table to help their grandpa. 

When dinner began wrapping up, Luigi readied himself to help with the dishes like he normally did even though he was feeling really terrible and the last thing he wanted to do was try to focus on cleaning a bunch of fragile pieces of dishware. But before he could volunteer, Mario had grabbed his arm, excused both of them, and practically dragged him back to their room.

"Ok, spill what's wrong," Mario said the moment he'd closed the door behind them.

"What?" Luigi asked in surprise, his braincells not exactly firing on all cylinders right at the moment and making it hard to concentrate.

"You kept spacing out at dinner and you hardly ate anything. Are you ok?" He asked, reaching out like he wanted to grab Luigi's shoulder, but Luigi stepped back out of reach.

"I'm fine, I'm just tired," he said with a small laugh that he hoped sounded genuine. Because honestly it wasn't a lie. He was exhausted and he glanced over at his bed almost longingly. Sleeping would do him some good. Get rid of this pesky headache.

When he looked back he frowned at the concern and guilt in his brother's gaze.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, and Luigi quickly raised his hands and waved them in the air.

"Hey, no no no no it's not your fault," he said quickly, "I just need more sleep tonight that's all. We both need more sleep," he added as he gave Mario a pointed look.

Mario grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck, but then he sighed.

"Yeah you're right."

"Of course I am, I'm always right," Luigi teased, and Mario shot him a half glare half smile before poking him in the ribs and turning away to get ready for bed. 

Luigi was a little ashamed to admit that it took him a bit longer than normal to get ready for bed because his balance was now significantly off, making changing into new pajamas pants specifically really difficult. But he was sure that Mario probably hadn't noticed. 

Mario was messing around on his phone when Luigi finally climbed into his own bed and glanced over, and he felt a small spike of worry that Mario was going to attempt not sleeping again tonight.

"Hey, uh, you gonna sleep?" He asked softly, accidentally sounding a lot more worried than he'd meant as Mario looked up, the light from his phone exaggerating the bags under his eyes.

"I—yeah. Yeah I'm going to sleep," he said, turning his phone off and setting it aside.

Luigi considered asking if Mario wanted him to sleep over there again tonight, before he talked himself out of it. He didn't want Mario to think he was being overbearing. 

"Goodnight," he said instead, his soft voice sounding loud in the dark room.

"Night," Mario replied as he laid down and pulled his blanket a bit higher over himself.

Luigi laid down too, but he stayed facing his brother and forced himself to stay awake despite wanting to just bury his face in his pillow and hope he could pass out despite his headache.

He was going to stay up until he was sure Mario was asleep. After a few close calls where Luigi's eyes had started to close against his will, he realized that he could hear that Mario's breathing had evened out. He sat up just a tiny bit to get a better look at his brother's face and saw that he had a peaceful expression.

He smiled slightly before laying back down and letting his eyes close. Good. Mario was sleeping. That was good. He somehow managed to drop off to sleep despite the pain still pounding through his skull.

~~~~~~

Mario was back. Mario was hurt and he was facing down that monster, and Luigi didn't think, he just moved .

He couldn't lose his brother. Not after everything that had happened. They'd just been reunited and it had seemed like everything would be ok until things spiraled out of control once again. Now they were back in Brooklyn and things made absolutely no sense, but Luigi didn't care. The only thing that mattered was Mario, and even though he was scared out of his mind, he knew he had to do something.

Mario was running for that glowing star that Bowser had been bragging about. Luigi wasn't sure what it did exactly, but he knew it was probably important if Mario was trying to get it and Bowser was angrily running after him to stop him. Then Bowser opened his mouth and Luigi saw the telltale glow that meant the turtle was going to breathe fire. Luigi felt a thrill of panic shoot through him because he knew Mario wouldn't get out of the way in time, and his brother was going to die. 

Luigi cast his eyes around wildly and they fell on a manhole cover on the ground nearby, probably blasted away from its proper spot in the chaos. He raced over, grabbing the edge and preparing to lift it and roll it in the way of the flames, but his shaking fingers slipped and the cover fell back down with a clang. He gasped and tried again, but it was like his gloves were suddenly made of the slipperiest material on the planet. He couldn't lift it. He needed to lift it!

Luigi's panic reached its peak, and he glanced over as he heard the roar of flames. He watched as Mario tripped and Bowser's flames shot toward him.

There wasn't time for Luigi to do anything, and he watched as Bowser's flames completely engulfed his brother. He screamed wordlessly, shock and horror filling him while it felt like his heart was being violently ripped in half.

The flames stopped and Luigi watched, nearly frozen as the smoke cleared. Mario was gone. He just—he wasn't there. One second his brother was there, and the next he was gone. Just like that. All because Luigi had been unable to lift a stupid manhole cover.

Luigi was hyperventilating now, and the smoke stung his eyes as his vision blurred. He could hear Bowser laughing somewhere, but he didn't care. His vision was collapsing, no his world was collapsing.

He dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest which felt like it was on fire. 

No, no no no this wasn't happening. 

"Mario," the broken whisper sounded deafening to his ringing ears, and it broke the dam as he started sobbing.

Luigi's eyes flew open and he sucked in a strangled gasp that he choked on and almost started coughing. He struggled to sit upright, kicking at the sheets that were wrapped around him and blinking furiously to adjust his eyes to the darkness of their room. His heart was pounding so violently in his chest that he was worried it would break through his ribs, and he reached up with a shaky hand to grip the front of his shirt as hard as he could. He could feel his fingernails pressing into his palm, and the pain helped to ground him a little bit.

He blinked a couple more times, and then he became aware of a weird cold sensation on his face. He reached up with his other hand and felt his cheek. Oh. His face was wet. He'd been crying in his sleep. 

Luigi dropped his hand and closed his eyes again, struggling to get his breathing under control. He hadn't cried in his sleep in a while. Despite having rather vivid nightmares fairly often, Luigi tended not to do more than make small noises in his sleep or start shaking. Or at least, that's what Mario had told him, he didn't exactly know because he was asleep. The nightmare had to be really bad for him to wake up already crying.

This nightmare was definitely the worst one he'd ever had. 

Luigi rubbed at his face and gasped again as he felt his eyes filling with more tears. The dream kept replaying over and over again in his mind, and he was starting to feel sick. Normally he was the one getting hurt or killed in his dreams. He was the one feeling pain and dying. Not . . . not Mario.

Luigi felt a sob building up in his throat and he gritted his teeth and swallowed hard. He forced himself not to make noise and he finally glanced over at his brother's bed. Mario was sleeping there. He still looked terrible, with the heavy bruising under his eyes. Threeish days of no sleep would do that to you, even if you got a full night or so of sleep afterward. 

Luigi moved his fist up to his mouth and bit his knuckle as he forced himself to try to breathe normally despite his instincts against it. He was surprised Mario hadn't already been woken up by his distress. His brother could usually just sense when Luigi wasn't doing ok, despite being a fairly heavy sleeper, and always woke up. It was a testament to how exhausted Mario was that he was still sleeping. Luigi's breath hitched again against his will and he squeezed his eyes shut, willing the images of fire engulfing Mario to leave his mind. That hadn't actually happened. It was just his stupid brain making up stupid things to freak him out for no reason like always because his brain was out to get him and he hated it.

He opened his eyes and looked at his brother again, focusing on how he could see that Mario was breathing. Mario was alive. He was fine. And he needed sleep. Half of Luigi really wanted to wake Mario up. His brother was the best when it came to comforting him after a nightmare. But the other half of him was screaming at him to stay quiet so he could sleep. The mental divide really wasn't helping him calm down.

He scooted back on the bed until he felt his back collide with the headboard, and then he brought his knees up to his chest as tight as he could, hugging them in a death grip and trying to apply pressure to his chest as a way to ground himself. He dropped his forehead on his knees and took a few more measured deep breaths. He could do this. He didn't need his brother to calm down. He didn't need to bother his brother to calm down.

. . . It wasn't working.

He was still so shaken up by the dream. And also the longer he was awake the more terrible he felt. The headache from before was returning, beginning to pound in his temples with his elevated heart rate. Maybe there was something wrong with him after all, normally sleeping got rid of his headaches. He let go of his legs and moved his hands up to grab at his hair, tugging on it in the hopes that the pain would ground him.

His eyes were filling with tears again and his throat felt so tight he was surprised he was able to breathe at all, even if he felt like he wasn't getting any air. He just needed to stay quiet. If he couldn't calm himself down he needed to freak out in silence. Because he could not wake his brother.

"Lu? What's wrong?"

Dang it.

Luigi's head shot up, making everything tilt around him dangerously as his headache spiked and he felt slightly dizzy from the fact that he couldn't seem to be able to get any oxygen into his lungs. Mario was sitting up in his bed, rubbing one of his eyes but looking over at Luigi with growing concern.

Luigi tried to answer. He wanted to tell Mario he was fine and that his brother should go back to sleep, but when he opened his mouth all that escaped was a choked sob.

Mario immediately moved, slipping out of bed and hurrying over to his, and Luigi closed his eyes tight as he a felt waves of guilt join his anxiety. 

"Hey, hey Lu it's ok. You're ok now," Mario's voice was low and soothing and Luigi curled up a bit tighter and sobbed again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I t-tried to calm down, I didn't mean to wake you up, I—" he stammered, out of breath as he fought more sobs, but he was cut off when Mario placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, hey none of that. It's ok, I don't mind."

"But you need sleep," Luigi cried, wincing at how his voice raised against his will and hoping he wouldn't wake up anyone else in the apartment.

"I can get more sleep later. Right now you need me," Mario's voice was calm, and Luigi couldn't help but shudder slightly as it briefly made him relax before his breath hitched again. "Hey, look at me?" Luigi felt a hand cup the side of his face and gently turn it, and he kept his eyes down for a second before hesitantly looking up into his brother's eyes. He could see they were filled with concern, but they were also warm as he gave Luigi a small smile, his thumb wiping a few tears away from Luigi's cheek as he said, "You helped me, I want to help you. Ok?"

Luigi sniffed, before he nodded. 

"Can I come up?" Mario asked, and Luigi nodded again before he quickly moved to scoot over, his still shaking limbs making his movement a little jerky as he struggled to move fast enough. Mario hopped up on the bed before sitting next to him. Luigi's breathing was still a bit too erratic as he closed his eyes and tried to take deeper breaths, but Mario's voice made him open them again. "Did—did you have a nightmare?" He asked hesitantly, and Luigi froze slightly as his dream came rushing back.

Mario had died. Mario had died and Luigi had failed to save him. Before he was really aware of what he was doing, Luigi had turned and grabbed his brother in a tight hug, his limbs shaking uncontrollably as he buried his face in his brother's chest. 

"I—you—you died. I—I failed. I couldn't save you," he sobbed as he clung to his brother, trying to reassure himself that Mario was fine, and it had just been a dream, but Luigi had never had a dream like that before and all the panic was returning and his head was killing him and—

"Hey, hey it's ok. I'm ok Lu I promise," Mario's arms came up to wrap around him, and Luigi relaxed slightly at the warm embrace. "Just breathe for me ok? Just breathe," Mario coaxed, and Luigi immediately took a shaky breath. And then another, following Mario's lead. 

Slowly Luigi calmed down, his exhaustion returning tenfold as his heartbeat pounded in his skull. He slumped into his brother, closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against Mario's collarbone in the false hope that it would somehow lessen his headache. 

"You feeling better?" Mario asked softly, and Luigi wanted to say yes. He wanted to say he was fine now and that Mario could go back to bed and get the sleep he desperately needed. Instead Luigi's mouth betrayed him.

"I don't feel good," he blurted, and then he immediately mentally kicked himself because what was he, five? And also why did he say that?

Mario immediately sat up a little straighter, his arms tightening ever so slightly around Luigi as he asked, "What? What do you mean?"

He sounded extremely worried and Luigi bit his lip as he felt guilty for freaking his brother out.

"I's probably nothing," he mumbled, his words slurring against his will, "Jus' a headache."

"Are you sure?" Mario asked, pulling Luigi back suddenly, which made him whine in protest at both the movement and the release of the hug.

Luigi nodded and then immediately regretted it when the entire world pitched sideways. Mario gasped and Luigi realized that he actually had started to fall sideways and his brother was now holding him up by the shoulders. 

"Um, might be a bit dizzy," Luigi mumbled as he closed his eyes and waited for the room to stop pitching and rolling so much. 

"What? When—how long have you felt like this?" Mario asked, and Luigi shrugged, which made him sway as it partially dislodged his brother's grip before Mario stabilized him again. Wow he really was not able to sit up on his own suddenly. That couldn't be good.

"Uhhhh, yesterday?" He said, but technically he had sort of started getting a headache the day before, but it hadn't been that bad.

"And you didn't tell me?" Mario sounded close to hysterical and Luigi quickly opened his eyes and tried to move an arm up to put a hand on Mario's shoulder, but his coordination was off and he missed and patted Mario's arm instead.

"I didn't wanna worry you, and it wasn't that bad yesterday," which was part truth and part lie because his headache had sucked yesterday but compared to right now it had been nothing.

Mario let go of him with one hand before his other came up to rest against his forehead, and wow that felt nice actually. Normally Mario had warm hands though, so why did it feel cool? Was Mario alright?

"Hmm, you're a little warm, but I don't think you have a fever?" Mario said uncertainly.

Luigi shrugged again and suddenly had the urge to just fall over and pass out. Sleep sounded really good actually. 

"Le's sleep. Sleep sounds good," he mumbled before he tried to fall sideways, but Mario's hands kept him upright and he frowned in annoyance.

"Wait, I don't like this, something is wrong, maybe we should—" Mario started, only to yelp as Luigi fell forward instead, crashing against him before going boneless because if Mario didn't want him to lay down on his bed, he was gonna use Mario as a pillow instead. "H-hey, wait, Lu—" Mario started to protest, but Luigi cut him off.

"I' jus' tired and o'erworked. Need sleep, I'll be fine," then he frowned and lifted his head slightly in an effort to look up at Mario, but he gave up as his head felt suddenly heavy and he dropped it back down to rest against his brother's chest, "You need sleep too."

Mario started to protest again, but Luigi ignored him and managed to move his arms to wrap around his brother. As he drifted closer to sleep he remembered flashes of his nightmare and he tightened his hold ever so slightly. Mario was right here. He was fine. 

"Ok, ok we—we can sleep," Mario's voice cut through the haze of sleep already starting to wrap around him, and it sounded uncertain, but Luigi just hummed slightly in agreement. Then he whined in protest as Mario started to move, jostling his head and making him feel like he was on a boat during a storm. "Sorry, sorry just laying down," Mario quickly reassured before more securely wrapping Luigi in his arms. Luigi sighed contentedly before closing his eyes and relaxing.

He felt extremely heavy, and everything was rocking and swirling around him, but it almost felt nice despite the fact that his head felt like someone was pounding on it, trying to break through his skull.

"Just—just rest. I'm sure you'll be fine. You'll be fine," Mario said softly as he started rubbing circles into Luigi's back.

Luigi hummed once in response, before he felt himself drift again.

He wasn't entirely sure if he slept or not, it felt more like he was floating in rocking waves and would dip under into blackness every once and a while. He decided not to fight it, letting himself drift aimlessly.

When he finally drifted high enough above the waves to gain more awareness, he opened his eyes and immediately squinted as he saw faint early morning sunlight streaming through the window. He shifted slightly, and realized that he was resting against his brother, who seemed to have fallen asleep. 

That was good. Mario. . . Mario needed sleep. He remembered that. 

How did he get here though?

Luigi carefully wiggled out of his brother's lose grip and tried to sit up, only for a spike of pain to be driven straight through his skull as everything violently tilted.

Oh no. Oh no he was gonna be sick actually.

He clumsily rolled off of his bed, staggering on his feet as the floor pitched beneath him, but his rising nausea spurred him toward the door. He thought he heard a confused voice behind him, but blood was roaring in his ears as he clumsily turned the handle and fell into the door as he tried to pull it open. He managed to pull himself back and slip through on the second try and he stumbled down the spinning hallway to the bathroom.

Luckily he hadn't eaten much yesterday. But that was also unlucky because he ended up dry heaving painfully. When the nausea subsided, he fell back, sitting leaning against the wall as he struggled to breathe.

Luigi could feel tears filling his eyes now and he was shaking uncontrollably on the bathroom floor as he began to panic. He didn't know what was going on, or why he was in so much pain or why everything was moving so much. He just wanted to pass out so he didn't have to deal with anything right now. Everything ached and it felt like his right arm and side were on fire now. He weakly slumped against the wall as he grabbed at his arm, gripping it hard in a futile attempt to make the burning go away. 

"Lu? Lu! Are you ok?"

Luigi looked up weakly, tears and pain blurring his vision as he saw Mario appear in front of him, kneeling down and reaching out toward him. There was a look of absolute terror on his face, but Luigi frowned as he noticed that Mario was holding his right eye half shut, like it was hurting him.

"Wha—why's your eye—?" Luigi slurred, and Mario looked surprised before he reached up to rub it.

"I—I don't know, it kind of hurts. That's not important. What's wrong? What hurts so I can help?" Mario brushed his question aside and reached out to grab Luigi's upper arms to probably help him sit up better instead of being slumped against the wall.

But when Mario's hand made contact with Luigi's right arm, the burning sensation increased and Luigi couldn't stop himself from crying out and jerking back.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry," Mario yelped as he quickly let go and Luigi curled in on himself, gripping his burning arm tighter as he gasped in pain. 

"My arm," Luigi grunted as he gasped again, "a-and my head. It hurts. It hurts so bad." His voice broke and he closed his eyes as he felt more tears flowing down his face. What was happening to him??

"Ok, ok, uh, can I check your arm? Please?" Mario asked, and Luigi could hear his voice trembling slightly.

He nodded once before deciding never to nod ever again because it hurt too much and he let go of his arm and held it out weakly. He winced slightly when Mario gently grabbed it and rolled his sleeve up slightly, but the burning sensation didn't get worse this time, it just remained as constant as it was before.

"It—I don't see anything wrong with it. Did you hit it? How does it hurt?"

Luigi grimaced.

"Burns. Didn't hit it."

" Burns?" Mario said, his voice sounding very afraid now, before he gently lowered Luigi's arm, "H-here let's—let's get you back to our room ok? Then we can—we can figure this out."

"K," Luigi mumbled before he tried to sit up further, only for his head to protest violently. He felt an arm wrap around his middle underneath his arms before someone was lifting him up and onto his feet. He swayed dangerously and reached up to grab his head as the spike was driven in deeper, the pain radiating from his temple down the sides of his neck like a pulse. 

"I gotcha, I gotcha don't worry," Mario grunted as he took all of Luigi's weight and began half dragging him back to their room. Luigi felt bad that he was hardly helping, but he was in too much pain to really do much about it. The world tilted and swam and then suddenly Luigi realized he was laying down.

"Here, I'll be right back ok? I'll be right back," he heard Mario say before it fell silent. 

Luigi didn't open his eyes, just focusing on breathing. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, which made the pounding in his head worse. At least things only swayed when he was laying down instead of the violent spinning of before. His limbs felt weighed down with lead and he just wanted to sleep until this went away, or maybe forever, whichever came first.

"What happened?" The voice sounded faint and far away, but filled with worry.

"I don't know, he—he just woke up like this, but he was acting weird last night and said his head hurt then too, but now his arm hurts too and—" but Mario's voice cut itself off.

Luigi felt a cool hand rest against his forehead and he winced slightly before the first voice spoke again, "Luigi? Mio figlio could you open your eyes for me please?"

Luigi frowned slightly before he blinked open his eyes, squinting slightly at the light before a familiar face swam into view next to him.

"Ma?" He asked weakly, and she gave him a worried smile before her hand moved from his forehead to his cheek, rubbing at his cheekbone gently with her thumb.

"How do you feel?" She asked, and Luigi closed his eyes and made a small noise of pain.

"Bad," he mumbled, and then he felt disappointed as his mother's hand withdrew, missing the cool touch.

"He doesn't feel feverish at all," he heard his mother say, but he was already struggling to pay attention again.

"That's what I thought, I don't—I don't know what's wrong ," Mario sounded scared. Luigi didn't like that.

"If he's in pain he should probably take some painkillers, but if he's not feverish than I don't know what else we can do besides let him rest," their mother sounded worried, and Luigi frowned slightly because he didn't like when he made his mother worry. 

"I—ok," Mario sounded like he wanted to protest, but didn't have any better ideas. 

"Mario, what's wrong with your eye?" Their mother suddenly asked, the worried tone in her voice increasing somehow, and Luigi opened his eyes again a fraction and looked over in time to see their mother gently grab Mario's face and tilt his head slightly to look at the eye he'd been holding half closed earlier.

"It's fine ma, it just kind of aches for no reason. There's nothing wrong it I checked," Mario tried to pull out of their mother's grip, but she held on and gently poked around his eye like she was feeling for bruising. Mario winced slightly but went still to let her finish.

"Hmm," their mother hummed in a worried tone before she let go and took a step back. "I'm going to go get those painkillers and an ice pack, just to be safe," she said, before she hurried out the door.

Mario half reached after her, likely wanting to protest against the ice pack, but she'd already left and he sighed before turning back to Luigi. His eyes widened ever so slightly when he made eye contact with him, before Mario rushed over to his bedside and stopped next to him.

"Hey," Mario said as he boosted himself up to sit on the edge of his bed and half turned to face him, gently running a hand through Luigi's hair, which surprisingly felt good despite his killer headache, "You're gonna be ok, alright? We're gonna figure this out."

Luigi didn't say anything, he continued to stare at Mario's half closed eye. He felt like the gears in his brain were moving only a fraction of their normal speed, but they were slowly grabbing details and clumsily piecing them together.

His memories of the fight with Bowser were a little hazy because everything had gone by so fast, but he remembered that Mario had gotten a black eye. The very same eye he was favoring now. He then remembered Mario constantly rubbing his shoulder yesterday, and he tried to recall if Mario had hurt it too, but came up blank. Luigi then thought about how he felt, and he remembered the feeling of the manhole cover slowly melting against him as he desperately pushed against it, ignoring the burning pain as he focused only on keeping himself and Mario alive. The arm and side that were currently burning now were the same that he'd used to brace the red hot cover. 

And now that he thought about it this headache felt familiar. It felt like no water and too much heat and metal bars digging into his back as everything swayed around him. 

"Lu?" Mario's concerned voice broke through his slow thoughts and he blinked and hummed to show that he'd heard before fully looking into his brother's eyes again. Mario looked about two seconds from crying as he continued to brush his fingers through Luigi's hair. "Why is this happening ?" He nearly whispered, but his voice broke on the last word.

Luigi had an idea, but before he could figure out how to put it into words, their mom returned, carrying a glass of water, a small pill bottle, and an ice pack with a towel wrapped around it.

She handed Mario all three items before she turned to Luigi.

"Take those, and then you rest and get better, alright?" She said, placing a hand on his cheek.

"M'kay," Luigi mumbled, and she gave him a comforting smile before she turned to Mario.

"Make sure to ice that eye. You might have bruised it and not realized and we don't want it to get worse."

"Ok ma," Mario quickly agreed, and she nodded before turning to leave. She half turned back to give them both worried glances before she left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

Mario immediately set the ice pack aside before he turned to Luigi.

"You think you can sit up and take some of these?" He asked as he shook the pill bottle, creating a rattling sound.

"Um," Luigi said, and he honestly wasn't sure he would even be able to move his head, let alone sit up. Mario seemed to understand because he leaned forward to set the glass of water down on the dresser and moved closer to carefully pull Luigi into a sitting position. Luigi winced as everything rocked again, but he didn't try to help or fight against his brother, just letting Mario help him.

"Ok, here, let's just—" Mario began as he shuffled sideways and helped Luigi lean against him, before he opened the pill bottle and shook a couple of them into his hand. He held them out to Luigi, whose hand only shook slightly as he took them before popping them into his mouth. The painkillers yesterday hadn't worked hardly at all, but he was willing to try them again because what was the harm?

The water glass appeared in front of him, and Luigi hestitated only a second before grabbing it and managing to take one swallow of water before he started to spill it, but that was enough to get the pills down. Mario quickly took the cup back and Luigi closed his eyes and leaned further into his brother's side. He just wanted to not exist for a bit. He felt like not existing wouldn't hurt this much, and not hurting sounded absolutely wonderful.

"Ok, ok whatever this is, you're going to get past it ok?" Mario said suddenly, moving a hand up to run it through Luigi's hair again, and Luigi suddenly remembered his half formed theory.

"Wait, I have 'n idea," he mumbled, trying and failing to sit up straighter.

"An idea about what?" Mario asked, sounding very confused and very tired at the same time, like everything that had happened so far was draining him.

"This," Luigi raised an arm to gesture loosely at himself before it flopped back down into his lap.

"What?" Mario asked, sounding a bit more alert, like he was ready to accept any answer at this point as long as he had one.

"K, so—so you know the star right?" Luigi could already tell he was going to have trouble collecting his thoughts correctly and he blinked a few times to try to pull himself out of the swirling pain a bit more to focus.

"What about it?"

"Well. . .well you were hurt right?" Come on, you know your thoughts now say them , "But then you weren't. But now your eye hurts again. Maybe it like, healed us, but then it didn't a little bit."

That . . . didn't sound correct but it was the best Luigi had at the moment. 

". . . What?" Mario sounded extremely lost and Luigi sighed unhappily. Stupid brain not working correctly.

"Did you hurt your arm when you fought Bowser?" He decided to try asking instead.

"I—what does this have to do with—? Yes I did, but—"

"And it hurt yesterday," Luigi continued. "So like, maybe it's wearing off but also not because your eye is fine."

Mario fell silent and Luigi worried he'd lost him again until his brother said slowly, "You said your arm hurt . . . no that it was burning. Was that . . . the manhole cover was melting. . ."

Luigi smiled slightly as he realized that Mario was starting to understand what he was trying to say.

"Yeah," he turned his head slightly to press his temple into his brother's shoulder. Now that Mario understood maybe Luigi could try to sleep again.

"Wait, but that doesn't make sense," darn it maybe Luigi couldn't sleep yet, "that, that was days ago, why would it start doing this now? Or at all? I thought it healed us, why would the injuries come back?"

"They aren't, it jus' feels like it," Luigi mumbled into his brother's shoulder, "And it's magic bro, it already doesn't make sense. I dunno i' was jus' an idea."

"No, no it makes sense it just . . ." Mario trailed off as he seemed to be trying to collect his own thoughts. Luigi wished him more luck than he'd had trying to do the same just now. "Why would it wear off?"

Luigi shrugged, trying to curl closer into his brother's side, and Mario immediately moved to wrap an arm around his shoulders.

"I'unno. Maybe it's to make it less OP."

"Lu you're treating it like a video game item or something. I don't think that's how power-ups work."

Luigi shrugged again, "You don't know how they work either."

"No, I guess I don't," Mario said softly before he leaned his head against the top of Luigi's. 

Luigi sighed and closed his eyes, reaching up with a shaky hand to rub at his temple. Man he wished those painkillers would start working.

"Wait, hold on, if the star is sort of wearing off and making us feel our injuries, then why . . ." Mario trailed off and after a few seconds of silence Luigi frowned and tilted his head back so he could look up at Mario's face. Mario was staring off into the distance, biting his lip and looking almost lost.

"Mario?" Luigi asked in concern, about ready to try and sit up so he could look at his brother easier, only for Mario to look down at him with a pained expression. 

"Did you feel like this before we got the star?"

Oh. 

"Uhhh, little bit? I don't think it was this bad, but uh, I was kinda distracted by . . . everything."

Mario's arm around his shoulders tightened, pulling Luigi in closer while Mario's other arm came up to wrap around him protectively. Luigi closed his eyes again and tried to relax. He felt safe. He felt really safe. And even though he also kind of felt like he was dying, he couldn't help but be content, because Mario was here, and that made everything bearable.

"Lu what . . . what happened to you after we were separated?"

The question made Luigi flinch in surprise, and Mario's grip tightened ever so slightly.

"Sorry, you don't have to tell me I just . . . Earlier you said the star healed our injuries, and now you're like this and I . . . What happened to you?" Mario repeated in a devastated whisper, and Luigi but his lip before sighing.

"A lot. A lot happened."

"You don't have to tell me, and half of me doesn't want to know, but . . . but I'd also like to. Just . . just so I can help," Mario's voice trailed off again and then he tilted his head to rest it on top of Luigi's again.

Luigi hummed slightly as he considered whether or not he should tell him. He was already trying to forget everything, and the thought of purposefully reliving it made his heart rate speed up slightly, but he did feel safe. It was over, it had already happened. So maybe he would be able to tell it.

"Well, I landed in the Dark Lands, which you already knew about," Luigi began in a small and shaky voice, and Mario's arms immediately tightened a fraction, like he was already trying to offer more comfort, "and it was . . . well it was really dark and smoky and there were a lot of dead trees and lava. And it was honestly already terrifying, but then these, these things. These skeletons started clawing out of the ground and they chased me. I honestly wasn't thinking the entire time, I was just trying to escape. And there was this castle and I managed to get inside and lose them, but I wasn't alone in there. These little guys in masks jumped me and I wasn't able to fight them off," Luigi shuddered as he remembered how tight the ropes around his wrists had been as they'd tugged at his bindings relentlessly to keep him moving, "They took me to, um, B-bowser," and just saying his name made his breathing start to pick up. Mario started rubbing his arm gently and Luigi took a few deep breaths before he kept going, "U-um, well, this guy with a wand trapped me in this weird, light stuff? I couldn't move. I was just floating there and Bowser, he kept messing with me, spinning me around and touching me and—well, he asked me about you and—" but then Luigi broke off with a sharp gasp as he realized something.

"What? What's wrong?" Mario asked, voice going higher than normal in alarm.

"I told him about you! I tried not to, but he was pulling on my mustache and I was so confused and scared, and I—I sold you out! With barely any resistance at all!" Luigi felt like his heart had plunged into his stomach as tears filled his vision, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean—I probably made everything worse, and—" 

"Hey, hey stop that. You didn't make everything worse ok? Bowser was probably already going to come after me because I was with Peach. You didn't tell him anything that he didn't already know or wouldn't be able to figure out otherwise."

"But I still told him! I betrayed you so easily," Luigi's breathing was becoming more erratic as tears continued to fall from his eyes. He reached up with one hand to grab at his hair, tugging on it and adding that pain to his headache.

"Hey, Lu," Mario suddenly pulled his arms away and Luigi felt a spike of fear that Mario was suddenly mad at him and wanted to push him away, but Mario instead grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back enough that Luigi was facing him. Mario's eyes were serious as he moved his hands to cup Luigi's face, wiping away some tears with his thumbs, "You didn't betray me, ok? You didn't. I don't blame you at all, ok? And I'm glad that you didn't try to resist because who knows what he would've done to you if—" Mario broke off and closed his eyes briefly as a wave of pain washed over his expression. Then he opened them again and leaned forward to press his forehead against Luigi's, "I'm just glad you're ok. Alright? I'm just so glad you're ok."

Luigi sniffed, but he relaxed slightly, leaning against his brother and trying to get his breathing stabilized. Mario's hands stayed on the sides of his face, warm and grounding as he slowly calmed down again.

"Well . . . anyway," Luigi began again in a soft voice. Mario pulled away and Luigi immediately found himself missing the contact, "I don't exactly remember everything I said because I was panicking, b-but I do remember that he asked if princesses find you attractive b-because that was really weird, and, uh, I said something about yes, if they have good taste."

Mario burst out laughing suddenly and Luigi jumped before smiling sheepishly at him.

"Lu, no," Mario wheezed as he slapped a hand to his face, "Why would you say that?"

"I dunno I panicked!" Luigi said defensively, but he was still smiling as he realized how ridiculous it was.

"What—how did he react?" Mario asked, his voice going somber again, and Luigi's smile dropped slightly. 

"He, uh, he got really mad and, um, th-threw me," Luigi mumbled. Mario's hand still on his shoulder tightened its grip suddenly, and Luigi hesitated before saying, "And he. .  .he shouted something."

Luigi shuddered as Bowser's words echoed again through his head. He'd already had a few nightmares about them, and he didn't think he would ever be able to forget those words.

Mario gently pulled Luigi back against him and Luigi huddled into his side, closing his eyes as he tried to block out the words, but it didn't work.

"What?" Mario asked softly after a few seconds, sounding like he was dreading the answer.

Luigi took a shaky breath before he said in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper, "H-he said, 'We'll see how tough this Mario is when he watches me kill his brother.'"

Mario's breath hitched suddenly, and Luigi waited for him to say something, but there was no response. Luigi realized that his brother was hardly breathing and he tilted his head back to look at Mario's face, concern starting to fill him the longer the silence stretched. 

Mario wasn't looking at him, instead his eyes were wide with alarm as he seemed to be staring at something Luigi couldn't see. He was hardly breathing at all, and Luigi sat up quickly despite the fact that it made the room sway alarmingly.

"B-but it's ok," he found himself reassuring as he grabbed Mario's shoulder with a shaking hand, and his brother finally looked at him, the terror still in his gaze, "It's ok, he just stuck me in a cage after that and nothing else really happened until you showed up. I'm ok," Luigi's brain was still not working as quickly as he wanted it to, the pain gumming up the gears and slowing them down, so he didn't have time to react before Mario was yanking him into a hug so tight that it almost hurt and made him squeak in surprise.

Luigi wiggled around slightly as he found himself unable to breathe properly, and Mario quickly loosened his grip but didn't let go. He was the one shaking now, and Luigi found himself starting to panic a little because he didn't know what to do.

"I'm ok! I'm ok Mario. The—the cage was awful and it was hot and small and I only got water like once, b-but I didn't get hurt or anything. And then you saved me so it's all good, ok?"

His panicking rambling stopped as he realized it was doing nothing, and so instead he moved around until he was able to free his arms from where they were pinned to his sides and quickly wrapped them around his brother, squeezing as tight as he could despite the fact that his arms felt weak and were shaking like crazy. 

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you, I—" he began, voice growing thicker as he began to cry into his brother's shirt, and that seemed to snap Mario out of it because Mario suddenly took a deeper breath and his hold loosened a bit more.

"No, no I—I'm glad you told me," Mario said, sounding a little breathless as he got his breathing back under control. "I—sorry for overreacting."

"I's ok. I jus' want you to be ok," Luigi's voice was muffled because he was still pressing his face into his brother's chest, and it slurred as the pain and tears made his head spin. 

Mario sighed and moved a hand up to Luigi's hair.

"I'm ok. I'm ok now."

They both sat in silence in the hug for a bit, Luigi's tears slowing until he was just sniffling weakly. Mario's shirt was wet where Luigi's face had been and he felt bad about that, but before he could apologize Mario spoke.

"I should've punched Bowser harder," he muttered bitterly, and for some reason it made Luigi laugh. It was a short, strangled sound that trailed off into a wheeze and made Mario jump slightly, before Luigi heard him snort as he began running his fingers through Luigi's hair again.

"So, you said the cage was too hot and you didn't get water," Mario sounded a little angry, but not at Luigi, "Do you think that's what's causing the headache?"

"Prob'ly," Luigi muttered as he closed his eyes and felt himself relaxing even more. 

Talking about it hadn't been so bad actually. Except for the part when Mario started panicking. That had been scary. Mario wasn't supposed to panic, that was Luigi's job.

Mario hummed thoughtfully but otherwise didn't say anything else.

"This is nice. We should hug forever," Luigi mumbled before he yawned and moved a bit closer to his brother before going boneless again, knowing Mario would keep him upright.

"Yeah?" Mario asked, sounding amused as he ruffled Luigi's hair, making him make a quiet noise of protest.

"Mhm."

Mario laughed softly and Luigi smiled. 

It fell silent again, but this silence was comforting and Luigi felt himself drifting off again. Sleep would be nice. Maybe the third time would be the charm and it would get rid of his headache this time. Maybe.

He was almost asleep before he suddenly remembered something else.

"Aw man I lost the tools," he grumbled, before he began to feel upset, "I just ditched them too, didn't even try to hang on to them. Stupid. Now we gotta buy new ones."

"Hey it's fine, we can buy new ones, it's not a big deal," Mario reassured, but Luigi still huffed, angry at himself.

"Some of them were expensive though. Stupid, stupid."

"Hey, stop, I literally don't care that you lost them," Mario jostled his shoulder slightly before continuing, "I can replace tools. I can't replace you."

Luigi's brain stopped for a second as he processed what Mario said. Then he felt warmth blossom in his chest as he smiled and hugged Mario just a bit tighter.

"Can't replace you either," he said with as much conviction in his voice as he could muster despite the fact that his words still weren't coming out right.

He heard Mario snort softly. Then he pressed a kiss to the top of Luigi's head before leaning his cheek on it.

"I love you Lu."

Luigi smiled.

"Love you too."

There were a few more seconds of silence before Mario said, in a soft voice, "You should probably get more sleep. That—that should help with your head right?"

Luigi shrugged.

"Maybe."

"You wanna lay down?"

"Sure."

Mario shuffled them both down so that they were laying on Luigi's bed with only some difficulty, and Luigi sighed before closing his eyes and trying to sleep.

Everything was still swaying and he felt heavy, but the headache did seem to be fading. If only slightly. Maybe it would go away. He hoped so.

As he felt Mario's deep breaths underneath his head, he let himself drift again, and the blackness slipped back over his head.

~~~~~~

Luigi still felt terrible, but significantly less terrible the next time he woke up. Someone was running their fingers through his hair and it felt really good so he stayed still and kept his eyes closed. His head didn't really hurt anymore, it just felt . . . off. Like it wasn't attached properly and one wrong move could send it floating away. Which was weird but he preferred it to the headache. 

"Hey, Lu, you awake?" Mario suddenly whispered, and Luigi flinched slightly in surprise. How did Mario know?

"No," he mumbled, curling closer into his brother's side. He didn't want to open his eyes yet for fear that his headache would return. He should just stay like this forever.

Mario laughed softly, starting to rub circles into his scalp as he asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Better," he mumbled, "but fragile. Like it could come back if I move."

Mario hummed in a worried tone before he said.

"It's been a few hours, and you should probably drink something. You think you could try sitting up?"

Luigi huffed a dramatic sigh but he nodded and finally blinked open his eyes. 

The light in their room had changed, the shadows shifted over as the sun had moved across the sky quite a ways while Luigi was asleep. He managed to push himself up and off of Mario before sitting up on the bed. He grimaced and rubbed at his head as he swayed slightly, but the pain didn't return. He just felt like his balance was slightly off.

He opened his eyes again and blinked a few times before looking up, and he saw Mario sitting in front of him with his hands held out between them, like he was ready to catch Luigi if he started to fall over. 

"You good?" Mario asked uncertainly, and Luigi nodded before he stopped when that made the swaying worse.

"Yeah. Think so," he paused as he thought about everything that had happened before he fell asleep, and he grimaced again as he felt a small wave of embarrassment wash over him. Why did he always get so loopy when he wasn't feeling well? He absolutely hated it.

"Man I was really out of it," he tried to joke to hide how he actually wanted to curl up and die.

"Pfft yeah a bit," Mario snorted before giving Luigi a slightly amused smile, which weirdly made Luigi feel better.

Luigi stretched slightly before he leaned back against the shelf next to his bed.

"We just can't catch a break can we?" He said in a voice that was still amused, but some of his exhaustion slipped in against his will.

Mario tilted his head slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"Well just," Luigi waved his hand around in the air, gesturing to everything and nothing at the same time, "first you don't sleep, and then I get like phantom sick or something. We just gonna take turns feeling like death forever?"

"I hope not," Mario frowned, before he gave Luigi another concerned look.

"You sure you're feeling better?" He asked, and Luigi nodded again and this time the swaying didn't get worse.

"Absolutely. Cause that sucked."

Mario gave him a small smile, but Luigi could still see the concern underneath. Then he moved to slip off the bed, and Luigi started to follow only for Mario to wave him back.

"No, you stay put until we're absolutely sure whatever this was has gone away, ok? I'm gonna go get you some water, I'll be right back."

Luigi huffed slightly but stayed on the bed. He really didn't want to try walking yet anyway because he was 90% sure that he wouldn't be able to walk in a straight line.

Then he jolted as he remembered something else and said, "Hey wait a minute."

Mario froze and glanced back from where he was reaching for the door handle.

"What?" He asked, looking ready to sprint back over at any second.

Luigi frowned at him.

"What about you?"

Mario raised an eyebrow.

"What about me?"

"You were hurting too," Luigi gestured in his direction, remembering Mario saying his eye and shoulder hurt, "Are you ok?"

Mario thought for a second before he shrugged.

"Honestly I've been feeling sore and achy for days. I barely even noticed it."

Luigi's frown deepened, and he opened his mouth to voice his concern, but Mario cut him off before he could.

"I'm fine, honest. I'm just going to go get you a drink and then I'll come back, ok?" He quicky left before Luigi could protest, and Luigi sighed and slumped against his headboard, crossing his arms.

This . . . really had been very poorly timed, Luigi realized. He'd only been joking earlier when he said he and Mario could take turns feeling awful, but now that he thought about it that's what it felt like. Right when Mario finally started sleeping again Luigi had to go and get taken out by, by what, residual heat exhaustion symptoms? Bad heat exhaustion symptoms that is. Because wow Luigi wasn't lying when he said that had sucked. 

But Luigi couldn't help but feel bad about immediately getting taken out by the headache right when Mario was finally getting sleep. He'd probably cost Mario even more sleep in the process, which was the exact opposite of what he'd been trying to do.

Luigi slapped his hands over his face as he tilted his head back and groaned. He knew it wasn't his fault, he hadn't meant for this to happen. It just did. But things like this had happened all the time before now too, where Luigi would get sick and Mario would drop everything to take care of him. He was sick of always forcing Mario to take care of him, or now it seemed forcing him to rescue him too. 

"Is your headache coming back?" Luigi jumped at Mario's sudden question, not having heard him come back because he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts. 

He dropped his hands from his face and sighed before shaking his head.

"No I'm just frustrated," he muttered as Mario walked over and held a glass of water out to him.

Luigi took it and was happy to find that his hands didn't shake as he took a sip. Then he realized just how incredibly thirsty he was after the first swallow of deliciously cold water and he quickly drained the entire glass.

"Woah careful don't drown yourself," Mario laughed slightly as Luigi came up gasping for air and lowered the empty cup. Mario took it with a small head shake and put it on the dresser before he sat on the edge of the bed. "Why are you frustrated?"

Luigi blinked, and then he remembered what he'd said when Mario came back.

"Ah. No reason, forget I said that."

Mario raised an unconvinced eyebrow at that and Luigi quickly looked around as he purposefully ignored his brother. Maybe he should reorganize his shelves sometime. Shake things up. Yeah this was way more interesting than his brother, he didn't need to look at him at all.

"Lu," Mario didn't even say it forcefully or anything, but Luigi still cringed slightly before he sighed and caved.

"Oh fine, I just. . . I was just thinking about how you always have to take care of me."

" Have to?" Mario sounded slightly incredulous and Luigi nodded.

"Yeah. I'm always the one sick or in trouble or something and you have to take care of me. And then when I finally get the chance to take care of you and return the favor I end up being taken out by whatever this was," Luigi waved an angry hand at himself before letting it flop back into his lap.

"This wasn't your fault—" Mario began, and Luigi groaned and dropped his head into his hands again.

"I know it wasn't my fault, but that almost makes it worse somehow. Like—like I can't even help it," he moved his hands a bit to the sides so they were still supporting his head but he could look miserably down into his lap.

"Hey, Lu, look at me? Please?" 

Luigi grimaced slightly but he hesitantly looked up. Mario looked very serious now as he reached out to put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't have to take care of you," he said, and Luigi frowned and opened his mouth, ready to agree that Mario really didn't have to, and shouldn't have to, but Mario continued before he could. "I want to take care of you."

Luigi's mouth snapped shut as he immediately had no argument and was also feeling very emotional suddenly.

Mario gave him a small smile before he said, "And hey, you do take care of me. All the time. You make sure I eat when I forget, and you finally got me to sleep the other night. We take care of each other, just in different ways. Besides," Mario's smile grew a little chagrined as he said, "you have to deal with me worrying and being overbearing whenever I take care of you, so I say we're even."

"You're not overbearing," Luigi argued, and Mario grimaced.

"I kinda am though. And I don't mean to be, I just get concerned, and . . . well, that doesn't matter right now, the point is that I don't mind taking care of you. Ok?"

Luigi bit his lip and looked away.

"It's just. . . I always have terrible timing. Like just now when you're still needing to catch up on sleep. Or remember when you missed that school field trip cause I got the flu?"

"Hey, I've told you a million times I didn't want to go on the stupid field trip without you, ok? I don't regret that at all," Mario's grip on his shoulder tightened just a bit.

Luigi sighed again, but he reached up to place his hand over Mario's.

"I just hope after this we get like, a break from . . . I don't know the universe or something. We deserve a break," Luigi grumbled.

Mario laughed and Luigi looked up in surprise before he smiled.

"Yeah we definitely deserve a break," Mario smiled, still chuckling slightly as he shook Luigi's shoulder gently.

"Why don't we both just like, agree to sleep for a week. Nothing else just sleeping," Luigi rubbed at his face and contemplated flopping sideways onto the bed.

"You just slept basically all day," Mario teased and Luigi shot him a look.

"You didn't though. And you still need to catch up Mr. No-Sleep-For-Three-Days."

"Hey I slept a little bit," Mario crossed his arms and looked away with an indignant frown on his face.

"Suuuuuuuuuure," Luigi smirked, and then he laughed again as Mario lightly shoved his face away.

"I don't know about sleeping for a week, but I think we both deserve to do absolutely nothing for the rest of the day," Mario said as Luigi lightly batted his hand away.

"Nice," Luigi smiled before letting himself flop sideways on the bed and making Mario jump in surprise.

"You're a dork," Mario snorted as he reached out to ruffle Luigi's hair.

"Yeah I know," Luigi smirked before tilting his head to smile up at Mario, and his smile softened as he saw that Mario was looking at him fondly.

He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, feeling very content suddenly. After everything that had happened, it finally seemed like things were gonna go up for them instead of down. Things were going to get better, and Luigi found himself looking forward to the future. He didn't know what exactly it would hold now that things had changed, but it didn't really matter. Because he had Mario. So things would work out.

Mario made everything better.