Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

You came from a small village high up in the mountains. It was known for its rejuvenating hot springs and cold winters. Along with the species that were called kirin. They looked just like humans except for their pointed ears and fluffy lion like tails. They were mostly passive but if angered enough, they would catch on fire and could spit flames. It was a quaint and beautiful village hidden from most of the world. Until it burned to the ground. You were barely a teenager when it happened yet you could still remeber it well.

The village leader became paranoid, saying that there was a war coming that they couldn't avoid. The people didn't believe him despite his protests and carried on like nothing was wrong. Until an order came from a nearby kingdom to burn your village and kill all of the people. You could still smell the burning bodies, the taste of ash lingering on your tongue. Your mother managed to get you both down the mountain as your father held them off as long as he could. When she noticed that you were being followed she told you to keep running, she would catch up later. But you never saw her again.

The last thing she told you was to keep your tail hidden and to keep moving. To never let anyone know what you really are. After weeks of stumbling through the woods you came across a small red lizard that came up to your knees. You were half starved and nearly delirious from dehydration yet you decided to follow it. The little lizard led you to a gentle stream full of fish so you could eat and drink. Since then the lizard has followed you everywhere.

You later learned that it was a fire lizard when you saw it spit a fire ball at a wolf that tried to attack you. As you've grown the lizard grew with you until he was nearly seven feet long, excluding his tail, and has been your only friend since. In your creative genius you decided to name him Grumpy after his attitude towards anything that wasn't you. He kept you warm during the cold nights and helped start fires so you could cook your food over the roaring flames.

You listened to your mother's last words and kept your tail tucked into your pant leg with a short shoulder length cape with a big hood to hide your ears. You traveled from town to town doing odd jobs for money. Making sure to stay away from any kingdoms or large cities. Once Grumpy was big enough you even bought a small wagon and a chest harness so he could pull it. And if you had enough money you spent it on big juicy bugs for him to eat during your travels.

You sighed as you held your hand up to shield your eyes from the sun. You were currently deep in the woods on the edge of the mushroom forest. You were out collecting wild mushrooms to sell at the next town you visited. You groaned as you started fanning yourself, the heat almost unbearable under the layers of clothing you were wearing. Grumpy let out a grumble like croak at your distress. He loved the heat and you were sure the next time you stopped for a break he'd start looking for a nice big rock to lay on.

You pulled out your notebook and started unfolding the first page where you've drawn a map of all the places you've seen or heard of. By your calculations you should be arriving at a small grassy town by evening tomorrow. You've been there a handful of times in the past. There were lots of bugs hiding in the tall grass for Grumpy to eat and you traded different items for food. As you were looking over your map you heard the faint sound of crying.

You furrowed your brows and quickly folded your map back up and stashed your notebook behind your seat. There was a loud sound like something crashed into the ground ealier but you figured it was one of the trees or mushrooms falling. You clicked your tongue and tugged the reins wrapped around his harness to led him towards the sound of crying. You rarely saw anything this deep in the woods and worried that someone was in danger.

As Grumpy weaved between the trees the sounds of crying got louder. He suddenly stopped and with a huff you saw smoke rising from his nostrils. You stood up from your seat and saw a white round thing badly damaged with a little propeller barely attached on one end. It looked like it could fly and crash landed into the ground based off the line of destroyed grass leading towards it. The crying suddenly stopped when you approached making your brows scrunch up.

You carefully slid off of your wagon and patted Grumpy's side to put him at ease. "Hello? Are you okay?" You asked as you stepped closer to the wreck. You saw a tiny yellow clawed foot quickly dissapear behind the thing as you approached. A small hiccup sounded making you worried. It sounded like a small child crying and judging by the damage the vehicle had you worried that they were badly hurt. "I'm not going to hurt you. I heard a crash earlier. Was that you? I have some healing potions and salves if you're injured."

You kept your voice soft as you carefully walked around the vehicle, mindful of the debris scattered around. You saw a tuft of bright red hair peaking around the edge of the thing before a small face appear. Your assumptions were right about the voice crying belonging to a child. As they shuffled out of the damaged vehicle you noticed that he had a small green spiky shell with a torn white bib with a red mouth full of teeth drawn on it. He had several cuts and scrapes all over him with big fat tears running down his cheeks.

You gave the child a gentle smile as you crouched down to appear less threatening. "Hey there little one. Are you okay?" You introduced yourself before pointing to your companion. "That's Grumpy. Don't worry, he's actually quite nice to children despite his name." That made a small smile appear on their face as they slowly stood up on shakey legs. "I-i'm Jr." You realized that they were a boy as he held his arm.

You slowly stood up as you gestured towards your wagon. "I have a few items that can help heal up your scrapes." You watched as he shyly shuffled up towards you as snot ran down his face and nodded. You smiled at him as you turned towards your wagon and opened the built in storage shelf on the side that kept all the items that you sold or traded. You glanced at him before leaning over the side of your wagon to retrieve the small stool you kept and placed it in front of you.

As he sat down on the stool you grabbed a small bottle of green healing salve and popped the cork. "If you don't mind me asking. Where are your parents?" You questioned as you crouched down and scooped some on your fingers before wiping it on the scrapes on his knees. He shivered as the cold salve covered his wounds. "I live with my dad in the fire kingdom. He's really big and super cool. And I was supposed to be back home hours ago."

He said the last part quietly as his voice trailed off. You hummed as you started applying the cream on his arms. You've been to the fire kingdom a few times in the past. Mostly to collect rare ingredients that only grew there and so Grumpy could take a nice lava bath when he got too cold after certain trips towards the icy towns. "Well you're a long ways from home. I'm sure your dad is worried about you." You said as you applied the last of the salve to his wounds.

He watched in wonder as his skin healed instantly with no traces of him ever being hurt. You looked over towards the damaged vehicle as you suddenly got a probably stupid idea. "How about I give you a ride back home? I can put your little vehicle in my wagon and you can ride up front with me. I'm already heading that direction anyways so it wouldn't be any trouble." You sealed the bottle again and placed it back among the shelves before latching the door closed.

He blinked up at you as his claws fiddled with his bib. "Really? Aren't you scared of my dad?" He questioned as he stood and picked up the stool to hand it to you when he noticed you packing everything up. "Should I be scared?" You grinned as you placed the stool back in your wagon. He scrunched up his face in thought as he looked between you, your wagon, and his vehicle. "I guess not. If you're helping me back home he probably won't burn you."

You chuckled as you clapped your hands together. "Then let me get your thingy in my wagon and then we'll be off." You quickly stretched your arms before approaching the said thing. He giggled as he started picking up a few stray pieces that broke off of it. "That's my clown car! I use it to fly all over the place and drop bombs on my enemies." He said as you wrapped your arms around the sides to lift it.

It was a bit heavier than you expected so you quickly waddled back to your wagon to place it besides the pile of your things. You grunted as you placed it down and shook your arms to relieve the strain. He trotted up to you with his arms filled with bits of metal and handed them to you so you could put them inside the clown car's seat. "Alright. I think that's everything. Ready to head off?" You asked him. He quickly nodded his head and ran to the front of the wagon and jumped up into the seat.

Once he was situated you climbed in and grabbed the reins to lead Grumpy. With a click of your tongue he started heading off further into the woods away from the giant mushrooms. You could see the sparkles in his eyes as he watched your lizard easily pull the wagon despite the extra weight. "So tell me a bit about your home. You said you were from the fire kingdom, right? There aren't a lot of people who live there with all the fire and lava."

He immediately started talking a mile a minute about his dad and his home. "Well I live in a huge castle with my dad. There's even a river of lava behind the castle that I play by. He can be really scary to other people but he's the coolest guy I know. I also have seven older siblings but they moved out so now it's just me and my dad." You furrowed your brows at his explanation. Was he one of the subjects that lived there?

"Who is your dad?" You asked as you glanced down at him. "My dad's king Bowser. My official name is prince Bowser Jr but I just go by Jr." He smiled as he kicked his legs. You felt your mouth go dry at the revelation. You've always made it a personal rule to never get close to kingdoms and now you had a small prince in your wagon. Taking him back to his father, the king. You let out a weak 'oh' as you tugged the reins when you spotted a road to lead Grumpy towards it.

Jr didn't notice your inner turmoil as he watched the trees slowly pass by. "Where are you from?" He innocently asked with a smile. Flashes of building crumbling into ash and people screaming filled your mind before you quickly shook it away. "Far from here. Way up in the mountains in distant lands not known to many." He nodded with a serious expression like you were telling him the secrets of where to find hidden gold and gems.

When you came across a split in the road you reached behind you to retrive your notebook. He seemed invested in it as you unfolded your map to see which way you should take. "Wow. Did you make this? You have all of the kingdoms and towns." You absentmindedly nodded as you mentally traced the path you needed to take. "Every town in here I've personally been to. Though I've never been to the areas where there's castles so the accuracy is a bit off with them."

You tilted the map so he could see as you tugged the reins left to make Grumpy turn. "You're really good at drawing. Do you think you could draw me?" He had a bright smile as he looked up at you. "Mmhmm." You hummed as you started folding the map back up. He cheered as he started bouncing in his seat. You chuckled at his antics as you put the book back in it's place. You hoped that the king was as sweet as this kid.

As you rode he rambled on about his life. His favorite food was chicken nuggets and he secretly liked the color pink, though he made you promise to not tell another soul about his favorite color. He also loved to draw and couldn't wait to show you all of his paintings once he was back home. He looked up to his dad and hoped to one day be as feared and respected as him. You nervously smiled and nodded along as he talked. The more you learned about this king Bowser person the more you grew worried for your own life.

King Bowser sounded fairly violent and apparently had a habbit of kidnapping a princess from a neighboring kingdom named princess Peach. Every time Jr talked about princess Peach he called her mama Peach. You silently wondered if she divorced king Bowser and he kept kidnapping her so she could visit their son while also trying to woo her back. When he asked about your life you kept it simple or vauge.

You only told him about your travels and all of the interesting characters you met. When you told him the story about how your wagon got stuck in a puddle of mud and as you were trying to push it out you wound up falling in the puddle, covering yourself head to toe in mud, he laughed heartily. He went on to tell you about the pranks he did with some of his older siblings. How they painted the end of a telescope to leave a black ring around their victims eye or how they once replaced the meat in his dad's sandwich with sticky taffy.

As he talked you felt the air growing more and more warm the closer you got to the fire kingdom. When you reached the peak of a small hill you saw the roads change from simple dirt to rocks with the occasional puddle of lava nearby. You were glad you had your wagon enchanted by a wizard a few years back so the wood wouldn't catch on fire if any stray lava popped. Though you had to keep tugging on the reins to prevent Grumpy from trying to dive into one of the lava pools.

Jr grew excited and pointed to the top of the castle towers that peaked over the horizion. "There's my home! I can't wait to show you everything. You have to go go kart racing with me. We have a huge track behind the castle and I'm sure my siblings won't mind if you borrow one of their karts to race." You chuckled as he started bouncing in place again.

By the time you reached the entrance of the castle you barely stopped Grumpy before Jr started scrambling down the side to hop off. You stepped down onto the warm ground and patted Grumpy's side as he gazed longingly towards the small river of lava flowing off to the side. "Who goes there?" A voice shouted from the entrance. You turned to see two koopa guards with tall spears standing in front of the door entrance. Before you could respond Jr ran up to them and puffed his chest out.

"It is I! Jr! My friend here brought me back home because I totally didn't get lost." His squeaky voice shouted as he placed his fists on his sides. The guards gasped and bowed their heads while fumbling to get the door open. "M-my apologizes prince Jr. Your father, king Bowser, is expecting your return in the throne room." The ones on the left stammered as the right koopa quickly opened the door. "Then I better let him know I'm back home. Oh, and can one of you put my friend's pet and wagon up? My clown car is in the back."

They nodded and curiously glanced up at you. They were probably wondering why their prince came back with a supposed human completely covered and hidden along with a giant red lizard pulling a wagon full of things. They announced that your pet will be taken care of and they would retrieve his car to take it to get fixed. He nodded and confidently marched inside with you following behind. You jumped when the doors slammed closed behind you once you were inside. "My dad will be happy to see that I'm back with a new friend." He cheered as he grabbed the fabric of your pants to let you further into the castle.

Chapter Text

The smell of burning wood and faint traces of sulfur permeated the halls, making your nose scruntch up. It was surprisingly cool inside despite being surrounded by fire and lava. Jr went from holding your pants to holding your hand as he pulled you down the long hallway. He had a skip in his step as he led you towards the massive dark ornate doors at the end of the corridor. As you got closer to the doors you heard a deep voice yelling. He had a wide toothy smile as he let go of your hand to try and push one of the doors open.

You noticed he was struggling to push the heavy door open so you helped by placing both hands on it to push it. Once it was opened enough he jogged inside as you lingered near the entrance. You looked around the room, taking in the deep red carpet that ran up a set of stairs towards a massive throne that had way too many spikes. There were two sets of stairs leading off the throne towards more rooms but you didn't look too hard as your attention was grabbed by a giant koopa standing in the middle of the room.

You immediately recognized king Bowser as he looked exactly like his son but with spiked bands around his wrists and upper arms. He had his back turned showing off his shell that had spikes so sharp that one poke could draw blood. King Bowser was surrounded by a gaggle of koopas as he was yelling at them to find his son. "Dad!" Jr yelled as he run up to him. The king turned just in time to catch Jr as he leaped towards the imposing figure.

Shock was written all over his face as he held his son. "Jr? Where have you been? I nearly sent the entire army to sweep the lands looking for you." His voice was deep and gravelly as he squeezed Jr against his chest. "My clown car crashed in the woods and I got lost. But! My new friend helped me home. They even have a cool giant lizard that puffs smoke!" He smiled as he pointed his thumb at you. While they talked you noticed the group of koopas quickly dispersing, probably to spread the news that the prince had returned.

When king Bowser looked towards your direction you gulped and awkwardly waved at him. He narrowed his eyes as one of his bushy red brows raised. "A new friend huh?" He rumbled as he placed Jr down on the ground. The child nodded and ran up to you and grabbed your hand. He started pulling you closer to the king as you felt sweat building up on your neck. He tugged you along until you were standing in front of the intimidating king.

He crossed his arms and huffed through his nose, making a small stream of smoke rise from his nostrils. "So you're the one that helped Jr back home. I'll admit that I haven't seen too many humans in my time. Especially ones willing to help instead of attacking when he's vunerable." You nervously smiled as you craned your neck back to look up at him. "Well I'm not like most humans. I just saw a child lost and hurt and wanted to help. It doesn't matter to me if he's from a tiny village or the prince of a kingdom. I just couldn't leave him."

He hummed deeply in his throat as Jr suddenly started jumping up and down to get his attention. "Can they stay here with us? I promised them that I'd show them my paintings after seeing their map. They're really good at drawing and they've been all over the place. They've even sold a few drawings of their own and I need a talented artist to tell me if my work is good. Pleeeeease?" Jr suddenly clasped his hands together as he gave his father the biggest puppy eyes you've ever seen.

His expression softened as he gazed at his son before nodding. "Fine. Your friend can stay. Now why don't you run along and gather your paintings while we talk for a bit." Jr cheered and ran past him towards the stairs. He grinned and gave you a thumbs up before running up the stairs and dissapearing behind a door off to the side. King Bowser watched him leave before turning his hardened gaze back towards you. "So what's a human like you doing helping my son? Were you expecting some kind of payment for returning him? And what's with the cape?"

You flinched back as one of his clawed finger reached up to flick the edge of your hood. "Ah, n-no I wasn't. I'm just a traveler that goes from town to town either selling my wares or helping out with jobs that were too tough for them. And the cape is to keep my hair up so I don't get leaves stuck in it when sitting in my wagon. I didn't even know he was a prince until we were both on the road. I'll admit that this is the first time I've been near any kingdom, much less a castle as grand as yours king Bowser." You quickly stammered out your name with a shakey grin.

His brow raised at your explanation and his chest subtly puffed up when you said his title. "Well, I'm only going to warn you once. If you hurt my son I will personally see to it that all that remains of you is ash." He breathed out a puff of air, making your hood and ends of your cape flutter. You quickly nodded with a gulp as you concentrated on not making your tail twitch. If he wasn't intimidating before he was definitely terrifying now. "Good. Now go entertain my son before I change my mind about letting you walk these halls fully intact."

You nodded again and quickly bowed your head before slipping around him to walk up the stairs. You entered the door you saw Jr run through only to be faced with a long hallway. Your furrowed your brows as you tried to figure out which direction to go. A passing koopa pushing a cart with cleaning supplies noticed your dilemma and with a gentle smile they told you which way Jr's painting room was. You thanked them as you started walking in the direction they told you.

The room was just around the bend of the hall and you realized with a snort that you definitely couldn't miss the room. The door was splattered with all kinds of colors with a little sign that said 'keep out! master at work'. You knocked on the door before pushing it open. Jr was inside running around carrying canvases bigger than him as he carefully placed them along the wall. He looked up and cheered your name as he waved you in. The room was a decent size with a few easels holding unfinished paintings.

It had several windows going from the ceiling and stopping a few inches above the ground with a small platform with a simple stool in the center. You could definitely tell that he spent a lot of time in the room based off the many cans of paint and canvases that were either hung on the walls or placed in a stack. "I'm glad my dad didn't scare you off. It's so hard to find people with good taste in art. Now come look!" He pointed towards the paintings leaning against the wall.

There were many paintings, mostly landscapes, and you could tell that he spent a lot of time perfecting them. You were surprised at how good they were and was able to recognize a few places that you've traveled to in the past. "Wow. These paintings are amazing. Are those your siblings?" You pointed towards a painting on the end that had seven different types of colorful koopas in it with Jr in the middle. "Uh huh. It took forever to paint because Morton kept moving." He said as he pointed to the grey koopa with a star over one eye.

You smiled as you walked along the wall, taking in each careful brushstroke he made. "Well you definitely have the talent to be a famous painter. Maybe one day I'll commission you to paint Grumpy for me." You had a fleeting thought of your parents. You had nothing left to remember them by and their faces were slowly becoming more blurry in your memories. "Really?" He meekly asked as he shuffled in place while scuffing his foot across the ground.

"Of course. You don't see skill like this every day." You reached out to gently pat his head, surprised at how soft the tuft of hair was. He giggled as he surged foward to wrap his little arms around your legs. "Thank you! It's one thing for my dad to say my art is good. But to have you say that it's amazing makes me so happy. I hope to have my art displayed in a museum one day right next to yours." You chuckled as you patted his shell, being careful of the spikes. "I'm not sure my art is museum worthy but yours sure is."

After that he showed you the rest of his paintings and explained his process. Apparently he used his clown car to fly in the air and take pictures on a small camera to bring back and recreate the photos in painting form. He pulled out a box filled with pictures that he took and started showing the ones he made into paintings and the ones he deemed unworthy since the lighting was off or it was a little blurry. As he was digging around the box you started picking up the stray photos scattered around the floor.

Your breath caught in your throat as you saw a blurry picture of familiar mountains. Even after all these years you could still recognize the mountain you called home. You could see the weird shaped rock that looked like a rubber duck near the tip. Your eyes started to burn from unshed tears as your lips trembled. A quick glance at Jr showed that he was distracted with his head and upper body stuck in the box so you quickly stuffed the picture in a hidden pocket inside of your shirt. He wouldn't miss one photo in his massive collection.

As he was showing you his current work in progress painting a knock sounded on the door. "Enter!" He yelled as he placed the canvas back on the easel. An older koopa wearing an apron entered the room and announced that dinner was ready. He nodded with a grunt of acknowledgement as they left the room with a bow. "Let's go. I'm so hungry right now I'm tempted to eat my paint." He said with a giggle as he trotted out of the room with you in tow.

He led you down the twisting halls and took a flight of stairs down before arriving at a set of doors. He easily pushed the wooden doors open as waved you in. The room was massive with a golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling over the long table. Servants were bustling around setting the table for three people and placing covered trays where you'd be sitting. "You sit next to me." He stated as he walked up to the table and pulled out the chair meant for you, two seats away from what you assumed was king Bowser's chair.

"What a gentleman." You chuckled as you took your seat, lifting yourself so he could push the chair in. He smiled with a small blush as he climbed into his own seat closest to the large chair on the end. The servants quickly moved the plate across the table to be in front of you, not knowing that Jr would make you sit next to him. As they placed the final item you heard the doors open behind you. You glanced out of the corner of your eyes to see the king lumbering to his own seat.

Once he was settled the servants lifted the trays to reveal your food. You grinned when you saw it was smoked chicken with a side of carrots and what you assumed to be a small container of pudding. "Mmmmm. Chicken." Jr practically drooled as he quickly scooped up his fork to start tearing in to his food. You lightly chuckled as you picked up your own fork and knife to cut and eat your food like a dignified person. The second the chicken touched your tongue you nearly started crying.

It was the best food you've had in years. All of the poorly cooked food over a fire couldn't compare to the flavors dancing on your taste buds. Jr laughing knocked you back to the present as you looked over towards him. "Bet you haven't had food this good before. Our chefs only make the best for me and my dad. And now you too." You only nodded at him as you went for another bite. As you ate Jr talked about how you thought his paintings were so good that they deserved to be in a museum and that he couldn't wait to make art together with you.

You noticed that both Jr and you had water glasses while Bowser drank from a wine glass filled with a dark red liquid. He must of noticed your looks as he signaled one of the servants that were standing along the edge of the room and mumbled something to them that you weren't able to hear. Not even a full minuet later a wine glass was place in front of you as a sharply dressed koopa poured dark red wine in the glass. You gave the king a curious look as the koopa stepped away.

He chuckled and held up his own glass. "I saw you eyeing my drink. I assume you're old enough to partake?" He questioned with a raised brow. "I am. Though I've only had mead and cheep wine a few times." You murmured as your raised the glass to your mouth. It tasted mildly sweet with a bit of an acidic aftertaste. The flavor reminded you of the sweet cherries you tried in a small farming village last spring. You glanced over to see him intensely watching you, probably to gauge your reaction.

"It's sweet. I like it." You smiled as you took another sip. He chuffed as he drank his own wine, the glass almost comically small in his large hands. The rest of dinner went smoothly until you all finished eating. You noticed that Jr had pudding smeared on his cheek and grabbed your napkin. "Here Jr. You have a little something on your face. Can't let the mighty prince looking messy." You said as you cupped his face and gently wiped the dessert off his cheek.

He chirped out his thanks as he climbed down his chair. You followed suit and bowed to the king. "Thank you for the meal king Bowser. Please let the chefs know that it was absolutely delicious." You said as Jr started tugging on your pants leg. "C'mon. I wanna show you the game room now." He whined making you chuckle. "Well I should check on Grumpy to see if he's eating his own dinner. I'm sure he's giving the others a hard time since he's never been apart from me this long." You said as you walked out the doors.

He led you down more winding corridors while talking about all of the games he had until he opened a door that led to a small stable. The hot air blasted you in the face making your skin prickle from the heat. The stables seemed mostly unused with only four pens and right at the end of it was your lizard. You could see a very scared koopa trying to give him some type of raw meat on a platter, only to get a small ball of fire in response. They startled as they dissapeared inside their shell to avoid the flying fire as it bounced around the ground before fizzing out.

"Are you okay? I'm so sorry about him." You ran up to the koopa as they nervously peaked their head out of the shell. "I can feed him for you so you don't get burned. I'd feel terrible if you were injured because of Grumpy being a jerk." You glared at the lizard, only to receive a blank look back. "Thank you. I've been trying to feed him but he kept spitting fire balls at me every time I got close. I even got him a nice juicy steak to try and get closer but he wasn't having it." They chuckled as they fully stood up and wiped imaginary dirt off their front.

They picked up the platter of raw meat to hand it to you as they quickly ran back towards the safety of the castle walls. Jr laughed as he ran up to the stall to coo at Grumpy. He didn't seem very interested at the child making kissing noises at him until you walked up holding the meat. Grumpy let out a small chirp as he walked up to the gate and started bobbing his head in excitment. "Watch this." You told him as you grabbed the meat and tossed it in the air.

Grumpy reared up on his hind legs to catch the meat in his mouth and started immediately chewing it. Jr let out an impressed sound as he watched the lizard eat his food. Once he swallowed the last bite you held your hand out to lovingly rub the top of his head. "Alright. Now that he's fed you can show me this game room you've been talking about." You said as you gave Grumpy one last pat before letting him lead you back inside.

Chapter Text

When Jr told you about the games he had you expected a room filled with board games and the like. But staring up at the massive tv mounted on the wall with several different types of consols underneath on a built in shelf made you realize that they embraced the modern world instead of being fully medieval. In all of your travels you've only met a handful of people that owned such nice electronics. Most sticking to the old ways or having a simple tiny cube shaped television to keep up with the news.

He quickly busied himself with setting up the gaming console while grabbing two controllers. He rambled about how to play the game that was about cooking and getting the orders of food out as fast as possible. You sat on the plush couch in front of the tv, slightly sinking in the surprisingly soft seat. Once it was on he sat next to you and handed your controller as he led you through the intro of the game.

You were admittedly bad at the game, never really having the luxury of playing games when out in the middle of nowhere. "You got to get the noodles before it burns! Get the noodles!" He yelled as his character ran around to collect dirty dishes to wash. "I'm trying! I need to get more shrimp." You panicked as your character ran around the screen, trying to collect the ingredients to add to the giant wok to complete the orders. As your character was running to place the last order the timer went off.

You sighed and leaned back into the couch as the screen showed two stars out of three for your efforts. Jr laughed as he stood on the couch to do his victory dance. "That's the best score I've ever had. We rocked it!" He cheered as he bounced around. You lightly chuckled as you tried to calm your racing heart. That game was way too stressful for you. As he jumped around his foot slipped on his controller, sending him towards the ground.

Your body moved before you could even think, arms reached out to catch him. He landed shell first into your arms as his head hovered a few inches above the ground. You grit your teeth as his spikes dug into your skin, he was a bit heavier than you originally thought. You lifted him back onto the couch and quickly hid your arms behind you. Already feeling the skin stinging with blood welling up on the surface. His spikes definitely punctured skin but you didn't want him to feel bad about accidentally hurting you.

"Are your arms okay?" He worriedly asked once he properly sitting on the couch. "I'm fine. But you should be more careful. You could've hurt yourself jumping around like that on a couch." You said as you crossed your arms. You subtlety wiped the blood on your upper shirt that was hidden beneath your cape, hoping he wouldn't notice. Thankfully you were able to heal fairly fast, probably thanks to the kirin blood running through your veins. "But my spikes are super sharp. Let me kiss your boo boos better!" He demanded as he made grabby hands towards your arms.

You smirked as you leaned away to keep out of his reach. "I'm fine Jr." He pouted before he squinted at you with a mischievous smile. He suddenly lunged at you with the intent to grab your arms. You quickly moved and rolled off the couch before popping back up in a standing position. Your arms now folded behind your back to keep them hidden. He giggled as he tried to grab you again but you kept moving to stay just out of his grabbing range.

Suddenly it turned into a little game as he chased you around the room yelling at you to let him kiss your arms better. You laughed as you kept your arms hidden and out of reach. You were behind the couch trapped against the wall as he stalked closer. "I'm gonna get you! And I'm going to kiss all your boo boos better." He shouted as he jumped at you. Quickly thinking you placed one hand on the back of the couch and vaulted over it. You just landed on the seat cushions when you felt little hands capturing your hand resting on the back of the couch and pulled.

"Gotcha!" He smiled victoriously as he turned your hand to twist your arm to reveal your forearm. He furrowed his brows when he saw no traces of any wounds, just unblemished skin. "Huh. Well I'm still going to kiss it better." He mumbled as he placed his scaley mouth on your arm with a loud 'mwah'. You smiled at the cute act as you shifted to rest your upper body against the back. "Thank you. I can feel myself filling with energy from your healing kiss. My fatigue is gone and my joints feel ten years younger." You said dramatically as you draped your free hand across your forehead.

He giggled as he tried to copy you and pulled himself over the back of the couch. He was much less graceful as he tumbled into the seat before sitting up. "Jr." A deep gravely voice sounded from the doorway behind you, startling you both. You turned to see king Bowser standing in the open doorway as he crossed his arms. "It's getting late. Why don't you go get ready for bed. You can play with your little friend more tomorrow." Jr whined about he wasn't tired but a look from the king made him get up from the couch.

"Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow for breakfast." Jr glumly said as he dragged his feet while leaving to go to his own room. Bowser stepped further into the room to let him pass before turning to face you with furrowed brows. "Your arms. I saw the marks on them. How did they heal so fast?" He questioned as he took an intimidating step towards you. You felt the tip of your tail twitch in your pants leg as you internally panicked. It was easy to lie to Jr about not getting hurt since he wasn't able to see the wounds but the king saw them and you couldn't reveal your true identity if fear of him slaughtering you.

You nervously smiled up at him as you rose from the couch. "I guess I still had some remnants of the healing salve in my system that wasn't activated until I was injured." The lie fell from your lips as you felt a nervous sweat building up on the nape of your neck. He hummed as he uncrossed his arms to scratch at the side of his thick neck. "Well, thanks for not telling Jr. He's a sweet kid and would feel bad about hurting his first friend." Your brows rose at his suddenly soft voice.

You didn't know Jr didn't have any friends. Though it would make sense after seeing who his father was. "I had a servant clean up a guest room for you to stay in. They'll show you to your room." And with that he left the room. Shortly after his departure a small koopa entered the room. "Follow me to your room." He said as he waved for you to follow. The koopa led you down a few halls before stopping in front of an unassuming door. "Breakfast will be served at eight. Another koopa will come to wake you before then. King Bowser doesn't like tardiness."

He quickly dissapeared as you opened the door. The room was simple but lavish. A big four poster bed sat against the middle of the wall and in front of it on the other wall was a massive dresser with a mirror above it. The bed had small nightstands with a little lamp sitting on each one and a decent sized shelf next to the bed to store trinkets and books. Walking further into the room showed another door. A quick peak inside revealed a bathroom with a bathtub big enough to fit at least three people. Wandering back into the room you noticed a few of your bags sitting on the end of the bed.

You looked through them to make sure your clothes were still inside and with a relieved sigh you saw that everything was accounted for. A few lit torches burned on the walls as you took off your cape and loosened your pants enough for your tail to slip out. You groaned as you stretched the muscle, your tail slightly cramped up from being stuffed in your pants all day. You wandered over to the mirror to take in your appearance. Your hair was slightly messy from your cape's hood and the top of your shirt had bits of blood on it.

You watched the reflection of your tail swaying behind you before turning back to your bags to change into fresh clothes. You donned a fresh shirt and loose fitting cotton pants as you tossed your dirty clothes on the floor in front of your bed. You'd deal with the blood stains another day. You walked into the bathroom to preform your nightly rituals with the added bonus of warm water from the faucets. As you walked to the bed you saw the corner of a picture peaking out from your shirt on the ground.

You picked up the photo, almost forgetting that you took it in the first place. You bitterly smiled as you ran a finger down the edge of it. The picture didn't show any evidence of your village even existing. Only rocks and pools of water remained. You walked around the room, blowing out the torches, before curling up underneath the blankets while holding the picture. You stared at the photo in the dim light coming from the window before sliding it under your pillow.

Hours passed and you still couldn't sleep. The bed was plush and the pillows were soft yet you couldn't get your mind to rest. Every time you closed your eyes your mind was bombarded with memories of seeing your village burning. The murders of innocent people and children. With a huff you kicked off the blankets and sat up. Usually on nights like this you sought comfort from Grumpy but he was put up in the stables. Maybe you could find your way to the stables and if you got lost in the winding halls you could ask for directions if there was anyone else awake at this hour.

Quickly searching through your bigger bag you smiled when you pulled out a worn tattered blanket. You've had it since you first bought your wagon and it's age was obvious. Wrapping it around yourself you made sure it covered your face enough to hide your ears as your tail wrapped around your torso. The blanket reached just past your knees but you could never be too careful. Once you were sure that every inhuman part was covered you slipped out your door.

Looking around you vaugly remeber coming from the left so you started walking that direction. Your bare feet padding along the long carpet running through the hallways. You took several turns before coming to a flight of stairs leading up and down. Deciding to go down you held your makeshift cape blanket tighter until you reached the bottom. The hallway looked somewhat familiar as you kept going. After walking for several minuets it dawned on you that you were completely lost. To makes matters worse, there hasn't been any signs of anyone else awake.

Peering out the window revealed that you were at least on the bottom floor. Though all you saw outside was rocky terrain and a river of lava. You must be on the west side of the castle while your room was somewhere in the east wing. You suddenly got a possibly stupid idea. You remeber when Jr took you to the stables so all you had to do was climb out the window and walk along the outer walls until you spotted it. With a determined exhale you opened the latch on the window and pushed it open.

It was a couple feet drop towards the ground so you sat on the windowsill and held onto the ledge as you let gravity pull you down. You winced when a few sharp rocks dug into your feet as you landed. Closing the window you started walking to the right while you used the lava and moon light to guide your steps. Rounding a corner you smiled when you saw the little stable jutting out from the castle walls. You quickened your pace until you reached the door and quickly swung it open. Laying in his pen was Grumpy who croaked in alarm at the noise.

"Hey buddy. Hope you don't mind me barging in here. I couldn't sleep." You whispered as you closed the door behind you. The lizard only let out a soft sigh as he curled back up in his spot. You climbed over the gate and wiggled yourself between his stomach and tail. Feeling the warmth of his body wash over you was comforting. Tiredness seemed to finally catch up to you as you curled up against your oldest friend and drifted off to sleep.

The sound of a startled gasp and the clatter of metal hitting the cobblestone floor scared you awake. You quickly sat up while pulling the blanket over you as your tail tucked itself behind you. It was light out with streams of the morning sun peaking in through the open door on the other end. Looking over to see a worried koopa scrambling to pick up what appeared to be Grumpy's breakfast as he rambled his apologies for startling you. "I-I am so sorry. I didn't e-even realize another was in here."

You saw small tears forming in the corner of their eyes as they slowly stood on shakey legs. Hearing a low croak like growl behind you made you realize why this poor koopa was terrified. "Easy boy. You're okay." You murmured as you patted along his side. Once Grumpy calmed down and your blanket wasn't at risk of catching on fire you slid the top of it over your head as your tail coiled around you. Luckily the koopa hasn't noticed as they were busy trying to wipe their tears away.

"Sorry about scaring you. I couldn't sleep last night without Grumpy so I snuck out here. Are you okay though?" They finally stopped shaking as they wiped away the last of their tears with a small nod. "Here, let me feed him for you. You can take a little break while he eats." You smiled as you reached over the gate to grab the platter. They looked shocked as they stared up at you with wide eyes. "Thank you. You're very kind." They finally cracked a smile as they took several steps away from the pen, probably still scared of the giant lizard.

Grumpy seemed excited to see a plate filled with bits of meat with a few bugs on top like sprinkles. You were secretly glad they knew how to feed your pet with good meat since you were only able to feed him mostly bugs with the occasional chicken. Grumpy happily scarfed down his food and slow blinked at you when he finished. "I love you too grumpy-puss." You cooed at him as you scratched under his chin. Once he was satisfied from your attention you left the pen to hand the platter back to the koopa.

They thanked you again as you went back inside. Before they could leave you quickly stopped them. "Before you go. Could you point me to the east wing? I kinda got lost last night and wound up leaving through a window to find my way to the stables." They blinked at you before erupting in giggles. They kindly told you the directions you'd take to get back to the guest room you were staying in before heading off to keep working. As you walked down the halls you passed a few koopas who gave you odd looks but didn't say anything.

They were probably not used to seeing a 'human' walking down the halls barefoot with a blanket wrapped around them. You managed to find your way back to your room just as a koopa started knocking on your door. They jumped when they saw you and looked at your door with their fist still raised. "Oh! I wasn't expecting you to be up already. They're finishing up setting the table for breakfast so I came to wake you so you could get ready for the day. And maybe a quick bath. Your feet are filthy."

You looked down to see bits of dirt covering the tops of your feet and shrugged. "Went on a little morning stroll. I'll go wash up and get dressed. Thanks for the wake up call, even if I was already up." You smiled as you went into your room. You tossed your blanket on your messy bed as you headed towards the bathroom. You only washed your body, throughly enjoying the nice smelling soap and the bubbles it created. Wringing out the wash rag you started drying yourself before picking your outfit for the day.

Deciding against the cape you pulled out a bandana in your favorite color to tie on your head to hide your ears. You were sure that they'd start asking questions if you wore your hood constantly. Once you were ready you stepped out of the room, noticing that the koopa from earlier was still there. They led you down the hall, saying that since you were still new they didn't want you to get lost. You lightly chuckled to yourself. It was a bit late for that. Once you reached the dining room doors you thanked them as you pushed the door open to enter.

Chapter Text

When you entered you noticed how they were both already sitting at the table. Jr excitedly waved at you as he patted the chair next to him. As you sat you took a quick glance at the king. His head was propped up on his fist as he leaned back in his chair, eyes droopy from tiredness. Seems like king Bowser isn't a morning person. You saw a few servant bring in two tall stacks of pancakes and waffles to place in the center with different toppings surrounding them. Jr started rambling about a dream he had last night as he started piling several pancakes on his plate.

You watched, mildly disturbed, as he smeared peanut butter between each pancake like it was cake frosting before drowning it in maple syrup. Bowser seemed more controlled as he placed a stack of waffles on his own plate with a handful of fruit with a light drizzle of red syrup, probably strawberry or cherry. You fixed your own plate as Jr started stuffing his face with big bites. A servant asked if you would like tea or coffee and you politely told them what you wanted inbetween bites.

You hummed in acknowledgement at Jr's chatter as you sipped your drink until your plate was cleaned with only crumbs remaining. The king seemed more awake after drinking a mug of steaming coffee and cleared his throat. "Jr and I talked ealier. He's quite fond of you and wants you to stay for the week. Of course I know you're a traveler and you probably want to go off to other towns and such. But you have my permission to stay if you'd like to keep playing with my son." He rumbled before taking another sip of his beverage.

You blinked in surprise at him as Jr turned to look up at you with a delighted face. You weren't expecting him to let you stay here. You honestly thought he'd kick you out right after breakfast. Plus it's not like you were needed anywhere or had to go anywhere anytime soon. You just had to be careful to not expose yourself as not being human. As you thought it over Jr scooted to the side of his seat and looked up at you with big puppy eyes. You softly exhaled with a small smile as you nodded.

"I'd love to stay in your castle and keep Jr entertained. He's a funny kid and even Grumpy likes him. And my pet doesn't like hardly anyone." Jr cheered and crawled over his chair into your lap to hug you. You chuckled as you wrapped one arm around him, being mindful of his spikes, as you patted his head. When you saw his little tail wagging you snorted. He was too cute sometimes. With a glance you saw king Bowser smiling into his mug as he watched you both. With a soft tap to his shell you got Jr to climb off your lap so you could stand.

"Since I'm staying here for a while longer why don't we tell Grumpy the good news? And with the king's permission a short ride on him so he can stretch his legs." You quirked a brow at him making him nod. "Just be careful around the lava pools. Your squishy human body would burn to a crisp if you fell in." Was his only response. You bowed your head before letting Jr lead you to the stables. Halfway through your walk he started talking about possibly getting a giant lizard of his own to keep Grumpy company.

You laughed and let him know that his species was pretty rare and you've never met another like Grumpy in all of your travels. He didn't seem too disappointed at that as it only solidified the fact the your lizard was special. When you reached the stables he ran up to loudly greet Grumpy as he stood on the gate. You chuckled and shooed him off so you could open it to let him out. "Guess what Grumpy! You both get to stay here for a whole week!" Jr yelled as you grabbed the reins connected to his harness and led him out.

"That's right buddy. King Bowser is letting us stay and that means more yummy meat for you." You cooed as you went to open the doors leading outside. You saw his tail twitch slightly as he grew excited at the prospect of going on a walk. You walked up to his side and held your hand out for Jr to help him up. Once he was seated just behind the harness where it was the flattest you climbed on behind him. Luckily your feet didn't touch the ground so you could sit comfortably.

You held the reins and clicked your tongue to get him moving. Jr giggled as he made his way outside before picking up his speed when he realized he wasn't pulling a wagon. You led Grumpy along a small path, making sure to not go too far from the castle. "We're going so much faster now without that wagon." Jr smiled as he held your knees to keep his balance. "He can go a lot faster than this. Hold on tight." You smirked as you wrapped one arm around his middle and gave a short sharp whistle. "Let's go Grumpy!" You hollered.

He snorted as started picking up his pace until it felt like he was flying down the path. You had taught him that call and phrase so you'd get away quickly from bandits trying to rob you. Jr shrieked in joy and gripped your arm as he bounced in place. You laughed as you let Grumpy run at full speed around the rocks. When he finally slowed down you reached a hand up to quickly check your bandana, finding it still in place. Looking down you saw that Jr's hair was messy you you absentmindedly combed your fingers through it to fix the tuft.

He giggled and leaned his head back to look at you with a flushed face and wide grin. "That was so much fun! Can we do this every day?" He asked as you started leading Grumpy back towards the castle. Luckily he didn't go very far from it so it was a fairly short ride back. "Of course. Though I don't think he'll ride that fast every day. All you have to do is ask though and we can go on a ride whenever you want." He smiled as you felt his tail thumping against your leg, wagging in excitment. Once you were back in the stables you slid off before picking up Jr under his arms and setting him on the ground.

Once Grumpy was back in his pen he immediately curled up to take a nap as you headed back inside. "After that super fun ride I'm feeling inspired to paint. Will you paint with me?" He asked making you nod. He giggled and grabbed your hand as he started pulling you down the winding halls. "Great! Let's go make art." He declared as he dragged you through the castle. "And after we're done painting I can show you the whole castle. My dad has a huge library and there's a section of books just for me. Only because my dad says comics aren't real books so he keeps them separate from his."

The idea of a library made you perk up. You only had two books in your possession that you've read so many times you could recite them in your sleep. Hopefully the king wouldn't mind you perusing his collection. When you arrived at Jr's painting studio he leg go of your hand to start setting up blank canvases on easels. You watched as he got everything ready, grabbing things when he asked you to. Once it was set up he handed you your paintbrush and palette filled with all kinds of colors.

He didn't hesitate to start painting once he dipped his brush in the paint while you stared at the blank canvas. You weren't sure what to paint. Looking over to see Jr's serious expression gave you an idea. You blended the yellow and orange together and started applying brushstrokes. After a few hours of painting you finally took a break to rest your hand. Because of the angle of the easels you weren't able to see what he was painting yet. Stepping back you placed your palette and brush down and rubbed your slightly cramped hand as you looked it over.

The painting wasn't your best work but you were kinda proud of it. Staring back at you was a sandy beach with a cheep cheep jumping out of the water. You had visited that beach on your birthday one year and saw a school of cheep cheeps jumping around the water as you sat in the sand. One of them even spat a ball of water at you, soaking your outfit. Grumpy wound up taking that as a personal offense and chased them down the beach side, spitting fire balls at them while you laughed.

Smiling at the fond memory Jr's voice calling your name shook you out of your thoughts. "I'm finished. Wanna see?" He grinned as he picked up the canvas. You nodded making him flip the picture over to show you. On the canvas was a painting of you and Jr sitting on a rock together in a sunny field. He painted you wearing your current outfit as both of you were smiling. Seeing his proud face as he showed you his work nearly brought tears to your eyes. "Whaddya think?" He asked. "It's beautiful. You're so good." You patted the top of his head making his tail wag.

"Now show me yours." He exclaimed as he put the work back on the easel to dry. "Okay. But it's not my best so go easy on me. I'm not as good at painting as you." You grabbed your canvas to show him your art. "Not that good? This is amazing!" He exclaimed as he looked your painting over. You sighed in relief at his comment. "Thank you. I tried to remeber what this beach looked like from memory. I would've added more cheep cheeps since I saw a bunch of them, but they're surprisingly hard to paint. I'm better at sketching anyways." You placed the painting back and quickly noticed that he had paint all over his hands and for some reason, his legs.

"Why don't you tell me where the library is and you go wash up. You can meet me there once you're done." He seemed to just now notice his state and giggled. He told you which turns to take as the library wasn't that far from the room. Once you memorized the directions he ran off with the promise of showing you his comic books. You smiled and gently shook your head at him. Taking one last glance at the painting he did you headed off towards the library.

You managed to find it relatively easy compared to your lost wandering last night. Walking into the room you gasped at the sheer volume of books. There were walls upon walls of books with a second story with even more books. Many chairs were scattered about with little tables beside them. You smiled giddily as you walked to the first wall to start browsing. Luckily they were organized by genera and alphabetical so you wandered around until you found a book that stuck out to you. Grabbing it you walked to the nearest chair, a plush red armchair with a high back, and sat down to start reading.

You were sitting with the back facing the doors so when you heard it open you assumed Jr finally joined you. "You finish getting the paint off Jr? You'll never believe the book I found. I've only seen it in high end book stores as a copy and I get to read one of the originals." When he didn't reply you leaned over the armrest to look for him. Instead of seeing the kid you instead saw king Bowser who looked mildly confused at seeing you. Your eyes went wide as you scrambled up to bow at him.

"K-king Bowser. I'm so sorry, I thought you were Jr." You stammered as you held the book to your chest. You paused when you heard his deep laughter and straightened yourself to look at him. "No need to keep bowing at me. As much as I like getting the respect I deserve you don't have to. You're a friend of Jr's." He chuckled as your face started to grow warm. His laugh was really nice. Quickly waving the thoughts away you held up the book you were reading before he came in.

"This is a really good book. How did you get the original?" You asked as you watched him wander to the matching chair across from yours and picked up a forgotten book on the table separating the chairs. "Kamek got that for me. It's one of my personal favorites. How far along are you in the book?" He questioned as he sat down and opened his own book to the page where a bookmark rested. You followed suit and moved to your own seat to reopen your book. Thanking yourself mentally for sticking a finger between the pages so you wouldn't loose track.

"I'm still on the first chapter. I didn't get quite far since it's pretty lengthy." You ran your finger over the words, trying to remember the scentence you were on before he came in. "You're in for a surprise in chapter five. That's when the story really kicks off." He grinned as he turned his gaze to his own book. You both read in silence after that for a while. You were so emerged in your book that you didn't hear what he said, only catching the last word. Looking up you saw that he was staring at you expectantly.

Your cheeks grew warm in embarrassment as you asked him to repeat himself. "I said I noticed you riding with Jr earlier. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy around another person." He said, amused at your reaction. "Well he's fun to be around. We even painted together earlier and he painted both of us together. I nearly started crying over how cute it was. I hope he'll let me keep the picture so I can remember the fun times we'll have over my stay after I leave." You murmured the last scentence as you thumbed the pages.

He snorted as he placed his book on his thigh and held it with one hand while the other rested on the armrest. "You better come back to visit every now and then. Otherwise I'll have to hunt you down and drag you back to entertain him." You stared at him slightly scared at the idea of him chasing you down, but also feeling a weird feeling squirming in your guts as you thought it over some more. He guffawed at your expression as he tilted his book on his lap to face him. "I'm just kidding... Kinda."

You started giggling as you realized that was his attempt at a joke. "Well I promise i'll come back. I usually make trips the the edge of the fire lands anyways for items so it'll be easy to come and visit." He smirked as he let out a deep 'good' before turning his attention to the book. Your stomach did flips over how deep his voice was and quickly looked down at your book. Unfortunately you weren't able to focus and wound up reading the same scentence several times. Luckily the door opened again and you turned to make sure it was Jr this time.

You smiled when you saw the young koopa prince now cleaned of paint as he trotted up to you. "Hey dad." He quickly greeted before leaning over your chair to see what you were reading. "You like those boring books too? Blegh." He voiced his distaste as you chuckled. "You'll learn to like other books when you're older. Why don't you grab one of those comics you've told me about and join us?" He smiled and ran off to the other side of the room and quickly returned holding a comic that had a picture of a koopa wearing a cape flying in the air.

He crawled into your chair making you scoot over to make room for him. The armchair was big enough to be able to fit both of you since almost all of them were sized to Bowser's proportions. He started a long winded explanation about the hero in his comic that was secretly a villain at night and caused chaos just so he could swoop in to save the day and be adored by everyone in the city. As he talked you had a small smile on your face while you used your fingers to keep your spot on your book.

You didn't noticed Bowser getting up until he was standing in front of you, making you jump slightly. "So you can remember the page you were on." He rumbled as he held out a bookmark to you. You thanked him as you took it, knowing you weren't going to finish the book anytime soon with Jr talking your ear off about his comics. Bowser gave you a small grin before leaving the room. The second the door was closed Jr turned to face you. "I've never seen dad share his bookmarks before. Especially that one. It's his favorite."

You looked down to see that the bookmark was black with golden embroidery and a picture of his face sigil in the center. You've seen the image on the tapestry hanging on some of the walls along with the flags. "He must like you a whole lot." He said as you placed the bookmark in the book. "Well I'd hope he likes me to some degree. Otherwise I'd be a pile of bones and ash." You joked as you tapped the tip of his snout with your finger. "Now tell me more about this hero and villain guy." He giggled as he held the comic up to show you the images as he went back to explaining the story.

Chapter Text

You spent the rest of the day in the library trying to read your book while Jr laid on the floor kicking his legs while he read his comics. Though every few paragraphs you'd be interrupted by Jr showing you a page from his comic. He looked so adorable when he showed you the drawings of characters fighting as he explained what was happening. You heard the doors opening and turned to see a koopa pushing a cart into the room. It seems like they're bringing lunch to you as the koopa started setting two plates on the table with drinks.

Jr scrambled up to grab at the food as you thanked the koopa. They were mildly shocked but quickly schooled their expression and bowed their head before taking their cart and leaving. Looking at the plates you saw that they brought some simple sandwiches for you to eat. Jr didn't hesitate to start digging in as you set the book to the side to make sure it didn't get dirty. You started eating your own sandwich and was surprised at the flavor.

Checking under the bread showed that they used a bit of paprika in the mayo to give it a bit of kick. "It's good isn't it? They make the best sandwiches." Jr hummed as he finished the last bites of his food. You nodded in agreement as you finished your own sandwich and dusted the crumbs from your hands. You made sure to stack the plates so they could gather them later before standing up to stretch. Even if the armchair was comfortable you were still a bit stiff from sitting so long. You felt that your tail was a bit sore and decided to go somewhere to hide so you could stretch it out.

"I'm going to go on a short stroll to stretch my legs. I'll be back in a bit." You told him as you wandered out of the library. He gave you a thumbs up as he turned back to his comics. Walking the halls you made sure to not go too far from the library so you wouldn't get lost and turned around. Spotting a balcony overlooking the front of the kingdom you slipped through the glass doors while double checking you were alone. It seemed relatively empty with only a handful of guards wandering around the grounds but they were far away enough to not be able to spot you.

With a sigh you loosened your pants enough for your tail to slide out. Doing another quick stretch that included your extra appendage was much more satisfying. Feeling your tail straighten before relaxing to rest along your leg you leaned against the concrete railing. The hairs on the end tickled your ankles so you flicked it away as you took in the view. Even if it was mostly rocks and lava surrounding the castle it was beautiful in its own way. You could even see the edge of the go kart tracks that Jr told you about.

Your body felt relaxed and content until you heard someone approaching the doors, probably wondering why one was partially opened. Panicked you pulled the end of your shirt out so your tail could curl itself around your torso before tugging it down. Turning around you saw Bowser pushing the glass doors open. "So that's why the door to my balcony was opened." He said as he joined you outside and leaned heavily against the railing. "Not many are brave enough to be out on this one. I usually come out here when I need to think." He continued talking.

Feeling like you intruded on his private space you took a step back while pointing to the door. "I can leave if you'd like." You murmured nervously. "Stay. I actually could use some advice from someone who won't just agree with everything I say." He waved you closer as he looked out along the lands of his kingdom. Nodding with a soft 'okay' you went back to resting your arms on the railing next to him, making sure to leave a gap between you two.

Hearing him sigh you looked up to watch him run his clawed hands through his fiery red mane. "I'm sure Jr already told you about princess Peach." When he saw your nod he continued. "Well my last attempts at wooing her failed. Those stupid Mario brothers barged in here and stole her back before I could even sing her the song I wrote. I don't know why she keeps turning me down. I give her the nicest room, the best food the cooks can make and even showering her in gold and jewels. I know we would be a great and powerful couple if she accepted my proposal. She's sweet and kind and would be a great mother to Jr if she just gave me a chance. I thought she wouldn't mind that I'm a single dad yet here I am."

Bowser started pacing as his voice raised a bit in volume at his frustration. You moved to sit on top of the railing to give him space to walk in small circles. It seems like your theories about their relationship was all wrong. It sounded like he only kidnapped her because he liked her but she obviously didn't feel the same if she had her own personal guards to rescue her. When he stopped and turned to you and asked what you think he should do you started thinking. If she truly didn't like him then there wasn't much he could do about it.

"Well, have you tried to do things she likes? It kinda sounds like you just give her material things and expect her to like you for it. What if she just wants someone to talk to. I know I'd prefer someone who I could talk to and they'd listen over fancy things. And who knows, maybe she likes golf and not jewels." When you finished Bowser looked at you like you told him the ultimate secret of the universe. "I never thought of that." He nearly whispered before quickly turning around to march inside.

"Tomorrow I'll take peaches and show her a new side of me. No jewels or fancy furniture. Just us talking over a nice dinner." He declared before shutting the glass doors. Before you could relax he quickly opened the doors again to poke his head through. "Do you mind watching Jr tomorrow?" You nodded making him grin before he closed the door. You sighed when you heard his stomps fade away and slid down the railing.

You didn't know this princess Peach but you hoped that she would at least throw him a bone. He sounded very passionate about winning her over and giving her lots of gifts despite her not being interested. Though you didn't really know their history except for the fact that he's kidnapped her a lot. You guessed even the kindest person wouldn't be into him after all that. Personally you wouldn't mind being fawned over like that. A quick flash of Bowser giving you flowers popped into your mind making your face grow hot.

You quickly shook the idea away and gently slapped your cheeks. He liked princess Peach, not you. Taking a moment to stuff your tail into your pants helped solidify the fact that he would never like you like that. He would probably never trust you again and ban you from the entire fire lands if he found out you lied about being human. That is if he didn't burn you alive first. You walked back to the library to let Jr know that his father was bringing Peach over tomorrow.

When he heard the news he perked up before deflating when you told him that it was just going to be you and him together. He fiddled with the edge of his page from the floor as he sat cross legged. "Can I talk to you about mama Peach?" He asked after you sat down in the armchair. When you nodded he scooted across the floor to be next to your legs. "Even though dad wants me to call her mama Peach she doesn't really feel like a mom to me. Don't get me wrong, she's really nice!" He nearly yelled the last sentence, like he was afraid Bowser would come marching in to get onto him for saying that.

He sighed and started playing with the end of his bib. "But it's feels like she doesn't really care about me. When I showed her my paintings she just nodded her head. And when I tried to get her to play games with me she always refused saying they weren't her style. I didn't really think anything of it until you came along. You complimented my work and painted with me. You even wipe my face off if I get food on me. You act more like a mama than her." You blinked in surprise at his confession.

You never realized how your small acts affected him so. Especially since the princess never really engaged with him in his likes. When you saw small tears forming in the corner of his eyes you ran your fingers through his hair to get his attention. "You don't have to call her mama if that's what you want. I may not be a lady, much less a mother, but I'll look out for you. Even after I leave I'll come visit to see what new art you made and make sure you aren't running around with pudding on your cheeks."

You playfully ran your knuckles along his cheek to mimic wiping food off making him giggle. He stood up and placed his hands on your knees and gave you big hopeful eyes. "Can I call you my mama?" He asked in a small childish voice. You felt like you could cry at this adorable child looking to you as a motherly figure, even if you weren't a girl. With a soft smile you nodded. "You can call me whatever you want. Just maybe don't tell your dad." As sweet as he was you don't think his father would take too kindly at his son seeing someone else as his mama.

Jr nodded with a serious expression before breaking out into a smile. "Since you're my new mama does that mean you'll take me to the kart tracks tomorrow? Dad won't let me ride without supervision." He said glumly. "Of course. Though I've never really ridden in karts before. There was this one time I rode a bike in a friendly race in this one town. And I came in first." He grinned and demanded that you race with him as he was pretty sure there was an old bike somewhere in storage.

Once the moment passed he ran to pick up his comics. "I gotta go paint more now. I'm feeling super inspired." He cheered before running off further into the castle. You waved him off with a smile before picking up your forgotten book. You managed to get a few chapters in and realized Bowser was right about it picking up at the fith chapter. You didn't realize how engrossed you were in the story until a small hand was waving in your face. You jumped and turned to see an amused koopa staring at you.

"I came to let you know dinner is being served." They smiled as you fumbled to bookmark your spot before setting the book down. You followed them down the halls until you arrived at the dinning room. "Thank you. I feel like I'd get lost without someone leading the way." That got a chuckle out of them as they bashfully waved their hand at you. "I'm just doing my job." You smiled and thanked them again for the help before opening the doors. Jr was just pulling out his chair when he saw you entering.

He smiled and pulled out your chair next to him as he waved you over. When you sat down he launched into a long explanation of the art he was working on now. He wanted to paint the entire castle and has already painted the solid colors and just needed to add the small details to make it look like a proper castle and not a grey blob. As he talked you saw Bowser entering and taking his own seat at the head. That seemed to be the queue for the servants to start placing your food in front of you all.

"Did they tell you that Peach was visiting tomorrow? I know you love showing off your work to her but I got some helpful advice and wanted to have a little alone time with her to talk." Bowser glanced at you before turning to his son. Jr nodded and swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking. "Yeah. We're going to the tracks tomorrow to race. Ma-" He almost called you mama but luckily caught himself in time. "Uh, mah new friend told me they rode a bike before and I wanna see their moves." Bowser didn't seem to catch his slip up as he nodded and took a sip of his drink.

Jr let out a sigh of relief and turned to you with a small mischievous smile. You rolled your eyes at him and pointed to his food to signal that he should eat. Out of the corner of your eyes you saw his tail wagging slightly as he dug into his meal. Once dinner was over he went to push his chair back before remembering something. With a grin towards you he grabbed his napkin and wiped his face off before running out of the room saying how he wanted to keep painting. You made sure your own face was clean before going to stand up. Right as you pushed your chair in Bowser raised his hand to get your attention.

"Do you think I'll finally win her over by just talking? It seems kinda... Silly." Bowser seemed almost nervous as he spoke. You only shrugged your shoulders as you spoke. "Well It's hard to say since I've never met her before. She may not say yes to anything but talking is a start. Just let her get to know the real you and show that you care about her as a person." He hummed in thought as he drummed his nails on the table. "The real me huh?" He muttered under his breath. "I'm going to go and see if they need help feeding grumpy. I'll be around if you want to talk some more or get advice. Have a good evening king Bowser."

You turned around to leave and the second your hand touched the doorknob a voice stopped you. "Bowser." When you turned to look at him curiously he cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "You can call me Bowser." You gave him and smile and nod as you turned the handle. "Alright. Have a good evening Bowser." You softly said before leaving. Walking down the halls you noticed that you were still smiling like a fool and rubbed your cheeks. Before you could question why you were feeling like this you spotted an armored koopa marching down the hall.

When you asked them if they could show you where the stables were while apologizing for disturbing them while they worked they seemed to recognize you. "Ah, you're the human my wife told me about. She was the one who went to wake you for breakfast only for you to come walking down the hall with muddy feet and hay stuck to you." You laughed in embarrassment. "Yep, that's me." They grinned and jerked their head to signal for you to follow them. You both chatted on the way to the stables.

You learned that he was a guard that patrolled the halls while his wife was a maid that kept the guest rooms clean. You told him of a few of your more interesting travels like how you wound up arm wrestling a surprisingly strong elderly flower man and lost your boots in the bet. "Here it is. You know you're a lot nicer to us simple koopas. I'm sure you've heard the king ranting on about how princess Peach is the greatest. But she usually tries to avoid us at all costs. I think you're the first person who's thanked us, besides Jr of course."

Now you were very curious about this princess Peach since you've heard all kinds of things about her. "Well I think everyone deserves kindness. I've met all kinds of people in my time and one common thing is that they just wanted to be treated fairly like everyone else. Though I really should go now. I think Grumpy is getting fed now and he's going to throw a fit if I'm not there." Almost like the lizard could sense you approaching a loud hiss followed by the sound of something falling sounded behind the door.

The guard chuckled and waved you along, saying how he should get back to his rounds. Entering the door you saw the same koopa from this morning running towards you and hid behind you. "I thought he was warming up to me but it was a trap. He tried to bite my hand." They cried dramatically and they used you as a shield. You sighed and gave Grumpy a stern look as he sat smug in his pen. "Don't worry for your friendly neighborhood human is here." You smiled before internally cringing. Jr's comics were starting to affect your speech it seems.

Chapter Text

The next day you were dressed to race against Jr. You chose a sleeveless top and tight bottoms while pinning your bandana to your head to make sure it didn't risk flying away. While your outfit didn't scream 'I can race' it was functional enough to be on a bike. Though you made sure to grab a thick jacket to wear just in case you fell and slid across the ground. After breakfast Bowser left to fulfill his plans with the princess while Jr dragged you to the tracks. He led you towards the back side of the east wing where there was a path that led towards the garage.

He opened the door on the side and jumped up to flick the lights on. There were three tall garage doors with many karts lined up in front of them. You could tell which ones belonged to Jr and Bowser since they looked almost identical except for the sizes. "I think the bike should be back here." Jr said as he walked further into the garage where a few tarp covered vehicles sat with parts surrounding them. As he lifted up the tarps in his search you decided to check out the karts. Most of them were pretty bulky with details and flair for each rider they belonged to.

With a small snort you realized Bowser's kart had the same color scheme as he did with spikes along the back and sides. His kart towered over the others while Jr's kart looked comically tiny compared to it. "Found it!" He called as he walked on the tips of his feet to grab the handles and rolled it towards you. You grabbed the handles from him with a small thanks as you looked it over. It was a simple sleek build with red and black accents and a small Bowser insignia on the side. "You got helmets?" You asked as he nodded and ran to grab a helmet in your size that matched the color of the bike.

"You too kiddo." He groaned before retrieving a helmet for himself. Once they were strapped on you mounted your bike. "You ready to race?" Jr sounded excited as he ran to his own kart to start it. "Yep. Let's do a warm up round first since I want to get a feel of this bike before I start riding." He nodded and clicked a button on his kart to open the garage door. Your bike rumbled to life as you walked it out of the garage before lifting your feet as you gained speed. The tracks were not too far away thankfully since you still felt a bit shakey.

Once your tires hit the rubbery tracks you twisted the throttle to pick up speed while Jr drove next to you. You gave him a thumbs up before leaning forward and going faster. The bike handled surprisingly smooth and felt like you were gliding down the road at a steady pace. The tracks were pretty simple with only a few turns around the jagged rocks before looping back to the starting line. Once the warmup lap was complete you rolled to a stop with Jr. You flipped the visor up and had to yell for him to hear over both engines. "Ready for that race? Let's do two laps."

He nodded and held up a hand to count down from three as you lowered your visor. The second his hand reached one he threw his hand down to signal that the race started. You both flew down the track as your engine roared over the whipping winds. Jr managed to get in front of you and you could feel his smug smile but you know that wouldn't last long. You leaned forward to get less wind resistance and kicked it up into the highest gear just as you reached a small hill. As he lost speed going up you seemed to gain a bit of speed until you passed him.

You laughed under your helmet as you took a corner hard enough to drift a bit before speeding off. Throught the race Jr managed to keep up with you and only passed you six more times before you easily overtook him. On the last lap you spotted the finish line and glanced behind you to see Jr's determined face desperately trying to catch up. You gave him a wave with a hand and right before you passed the line you popped the front tire up into a wheelie just as you crossed the checkered line.

Luckily you didn't loose control as you righted the bike and slowed down. You heard Jr's kart break next to you as he jumped out. "That was so cool mama! I didn't know you could do that." He cheered and took off his helmet as you flipped the kickstand down. You laughed as you dismounted your bike and patted his head. "I've only done a wheelie once before. I was honestly a bit nervous about wrecking. Don't do what I did." You chuckled as you reached up to start working your helmet off. Jr started rambling about how good of a race it was and wanted to go again after a quick break to catch your breaths.

You were so distracted listening to him you didn't realize your bandana came off with your helmet until you felt a breeze hit the tips of your ears. You heard him gasp as you looked down in horror to see your trusty bandana was crumpled inside your helmet. "Your ears." He said in wonder as you raised a hand to cover the one he could see. "You weren't supposed to see them. Please don't tell anyone." Your voice came out shakey as you felt your hands start to tremble. He furrowed his brows and tilted his head curiously. "Why not? Did the other humans pick on you because of your ears?"

He sounded so innocent as he questioned you, not knowing the danger you put yourself in if anyone else was around. You sighed heavily as you knelt on the ground in front of him and placed your helmet to the side. "My ears are a big secret because- because." You trailed off as you gazed into his trusting eyes. "I'm not a human Jr. I only pretend to be human because I'm the last of my species." You murmured as you adjusted your pants waistband to let your tail slip out.

He softly gasped as he flicked his gaze between your face and tail. "When I was a child my village was burned down. I was the only one who escaped and had to keep what I was a secret so they wouldn't hunt me down. I am a kirin. The last of my kind. You need to keep this a secret. If they caught word that I was still alive I'd have to leave and never come back for fear of them looking for me. Or worse, hurting you to get to me." He looked shocked as you explained yourself. You were surprised when you saw tears forming in his eyes as he threw himself at you in a hug.

"Th-that's so sad. I promise mama, I'll never tell anyone about what you are. I don't want them to take my mama away from me." He cried as you hugged him tightly against you. "I would never let them take me away without a fight. I care about you kid. And that's why what I truly am has to be kept secret." When he calmed down enough to pull away you raised a hand to wipe away the tears running down his cheeks. After a moment of silence you noticed that he kept glancing at your tail.

With a small grin you lifted it and tickled the tip of his nose with the fur, making him giggle. "So they did all that because you have pointy ears and a tail?" He questioned as he carefully pet the furry end of your tail like a cat. "Not really. When my species gets really angry they burst into flames. There were a few times a couple or family got into an argument and accidentally burned down their house. I guess a neighboring kingdom got worried that we would get angry and attack them and decided to get rid of us before anything happened."

He furrowed his brows and looked down in thought. "But my village was peaceful. We never sought conflict and had a dedicated shack made of metal when we were upset to go to. Though my village leader kept talking about a war we had to fight even though we were small in numbers. Nobody took him seriously until it was too late. But I managed to get out and been hiding what I truly am for years. Even though I'm sad about loosing my home, I'm not angry enough to fight. My parents raised me to be kind."

You smiled sadly as you remebered the feelings of being surrounded by your family. You felt a small hand rest on your cheek and looked down to see Jr looking up at you. "If I ever find out which kingdom attacked your home I'll teach them a lesson. I'll get my dad to bring is battle ship to blow up that kingdom and you can bring marshmallows to roast over the fires." He smiled goofily as you felt tears start burning your eyes. You hugged him again before he could notice and gently kissed the top of his head. "You're a good kid. I'm glad I stopped to help you."

Once the emotional moment calmed he pulled away to climb onto his kart. "Let's race again. This time you'll be yourself and I'll come in first." He declared as he started his kart. You smiled and grabbed your helmet and walked to your bike. "You're on." You said with a flick of your tail and straddled your bike. It felt a bit weird to be moving around with it out but it was also freeing. As you both drove around the track you could feel your tail whipping around in the wind behind you making Jr laugh whenever you were in front.

As you were finishing up the last round you decided to give him a break and let him come in first. He threw his fists up in victory as he stopped with you rolling up next to him. You congratulated him as you flipped up the visor to properly look at him. When he asked to go again a third time you shook your head. "I'm getting a bit tired on the bike. But you can keep driving to see how fast you can go. I'll be up in the stands." You pointed your thumb at the small bleachers sitting next to the finish line as you spoke.

He nodded and readied his kart along the line as you pushed your bike off to the side. Once you were clear of the track he quickly took off and sped away. You made sure to sit near the top of the stand so you could see the whole track. He seemed in his element as he easily took the corners and looped around the track. When you heard something strange approaching you looked up to see a ship flying towards the castle. You were able to recognize it as the battle ship Jr told you about as it was covered in Bowser's colors and insignia everywhere.

It seems like Bowser is back with this princess Peach in tow. You watched as it lowered to the ground before dissapearing in the side of the castle. Probably to go into storage since you've never spotted it before now. Jr finished his last lap and waved you down to join him on the ground. "I think I'm done racing now. I'm hungry for lunch so let's go inside." He said as soon as you were close enough to hear. You nodded and grabbed your bike to roll it back to the garage as he drove.

Once you were in the garage you turned to him right as he turned off his bike. "Just remember that Bowser wants some alone time with the princess. We can have a quick lunch then afterwards you can paint while I read. I'm sure your father wouldn't mind if I borrow a book for a bit." You placed the bike towards the back with the helmet hanging off the handlebar. He agreed to your plans and frowned when he saw you hiding your ears and tail again. "Can't have everyone knowing. It's a secret between you, me and Grumpy."

That got a giggle out of him as you turned the lights off while he held the door open for you. "Why thank you good sir." You joked as you dramatically bowed at him. He laughed and as you started walking he reached up to hold your hand. You smiled down at his slightly flushed cheeks and used your free hand to ruffle his hair. When he led you to the dinning room you noticed a koopa walking down the hall pushing a cart with silver dome covered trays. When they spotted you they quickly turned the cart around. "I was just about to start searching for you. Lunch is ready."

You nodded and pointed to the dinning room with your head. "We can eat in there to save you the trip." They nodded and as they went to step around their cart you quickly moved to open the door for them. They thanked you and entered the room followed by Jr. They set the trays in front of two chairs as Jr quickly climbed onto his seat. "Thank you for lunch." He said as he lifted the cover. You joined him as you licked your lips in hunger. All that racing and emotional stuff has worked up your appetite. You both dug in to your food and sipped your drinks.

Once you were done you stacked the dirty dishes up and made sure his face and hands were clean. When he passed your inspection you told him that you'd meet him in his painting room. He gave you a toothy smile as he ran off towards his destination. You leisurely walked down the corridors towards the library as you were starting to remember where some things were. Right as you approached the doors you heard voices inside. Looking around to make sure you were alone you lifted up your bandana to be able to hear better.

You could easily pick up Bowser's low voice but the other had you stumped. It was feminine and light but sounded angry. You blinked when you realized that it was princess Peach talking and she wasn't happy. You didn't try to figure out what they were saying since it wasn't your place to eavesdrop and left before they could notice someone on the other side of the doors. Maybe he was trying to show her his library to show her his knowledgeable side. You could admit his collections were very impressive and you could spend months reading the books and only get halfway through the library.

When you reached Jr's painting room he looked up with a smile before furrowing his brows. "Where's your book?" He asked as you grabbed the small stool to sit on it. "The library was already preoccupied. I can always read it later." He nodded in understanding as he turned back to his painting. He rambled on about the picture he chosen that was a photograph of the woods at sunset with a small mountain in the background. Seeing as you were alone and everyone knocked before entering you decided to free your tail, not wanting to deal with your hair again after fixing it from the helmet.

When he glanced over at you he seemed more giddy at seeing your tail lazily sway in the air. You enjoyed the peaceful moment with your chin resting on your hand, listening to Jr occasionally hum as he decided which colors to mix. The peace was soon interrupted as you heard heavy footsteps stomping towards the room. You quickly hid your tail seconds before Bowser came barreling through the door. He glanced around the room before his gaze locked on to you. He stormed up to you and grabbed you by the shoulders and picked you up.

"I need to borrow your friend Jr. Peaches doesn't believe that I've changed and I need them as proof and to convince her we'd be good together." Was all he said before he carried you out the door. Jr watched as Bowser carried you off. He started walking down the hall as you felt your legs dangling in the air. You cleared your throat and tapped a hand that was wrapped around you. Just one covered your entire upper arm and shoulder with the tips of his nails brushing the middle of your back. "You'll look better if you let me walk on my own."

He blinked before carefully lowering you to the ground. "Uh, right. Kinda got distracted thinking up ways to win princess Peach's heart. I just need you to tell her how kind and merciful I was when I let you stay after helping my son. Just maybe leave out the part where I threatened you." You lightly chuckled and nodded your head. "I'll make sure to sing your praises. Though I've mostly been around Jr he's only said good things about you." You could see his shoulders slump a little in relief just as you reached the library doors. Now you get to meet the infamous princess Peach.

Chapter Text

Bowser had let you enter the library on your own, saying that he'd hang back until he was sure that the princess has finally considered his proposal. Looking around you spotted a blond haired woman in a pink dress sitting regally on one of the chairs near the massive windows. She was busy looking out towards the scenery while fiddling with her gloved hands to notice your approach. Looking her over you could understand why Bowser was infatuated with her. She was very pretty and her hair was like a golden yellow sunrise with subtle makeup to accent her round cheeks.

When you cleared your throat to catch her attention she jumped, startled by the noise. When she turned to look at you she gasped softly. She was probably expecting Bowser or a servant, not another person. You awkwardly smiled at her as you took the seat across from her. "You must be princess Peach. I've heard a lot about you." You hummed as you got comfortable in your seat. She barely cracked a small smile as she smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her dress. "And I've heard little about you. King Bowser told me a human was staying here to be a playmate for his son. It seems like he was telling the truth so far. He isn't forcing you to stay though, is he?"

You waved away her concerns with a light chuckle. "Not at all. He offered me a room to stay in for the week and in the future when I come back to visit. He even had a stall fixed up for my pet lizard so he would be comfortable with lots of food." After that she seemed to warm up to you. You introduced yourself told her about Grumpy and some of your travels as she told you about her kingdom. Apparently she's heard of you vaugely from some of the toads that traveled and traded with you. It was strange that a princess knows of you and your wares but with how well traveled you were it wasn't too much of a surprise.

You picked at a loose thread on your bottoms when you realized what you were supposed to be doing in the first place. When she finished talking about how much she loved her subjects you shifted in your seat. "Speaking about loving things, it seems like Bowser really likes you. He constantly raves about how much he likes your kindness and stuff." At that she rolled her eyes with a scoff. "He sent you here to try and sway my opinion didn't he? Of course he did." She muttered and crossed her arms. Before you could respond she started ranting.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell him I'm not interested. He's a big brute who bullies others to get what he wants. He constantly attacks my kingdom and endangers my subjects just to find me. And when he does kidnap me it's only a matter of time before Mario and his brother comes to rescue me. I'd escape myself if everything wasn't on fire. He does so many horrible things and thinks it'll impress me." She huffed as her face grew red from anger. You mutely nodded along as you chewed on your inner cheek. She had some pretty strong feelings about Bowser that were completely valid and you understood why she would never say yes to him.

Once she calmed down you looked out the window towards the lava filled grounds. She went on about how he was horrible but she was also a ruler and had probably did some things she wasn't proud of. There was no such thing as a perfect leader that can do no wrong. "Haven't you done bad things before? Nobody is perfect. Now I'm not defending his actions but he seems to care about his own subjects like you do for yours." She paused as she stared at you before quickly glancing towards the doors. They were closed but you knew Bowser was just on the other side listening to your conversation. She sighed and fixed her bright blue eyes on you as she leaned forward.

"I try to be the princess my people need and for many years I have. But there was only one instance that I acted cruel." She bit her lower lip as her gaze shifted away towards the windows. "When I was young and I first risen to the throne. There was this town my father warned me about. When he was king they traded goods but one day they completely cut contact with us. He warned me that they could be preparing for an attack on the kingdom now that I was ruling it. I didn't believe him at first seeing as it was a very small town that seemed pretty isolated in the mountains." She paused as she gathered her thoughts while you gulped.

This story was starting to sound familiar but you pushed the thoughts away. There were plenty of towns and villages in the mountains that were closer to the mushroom kingdom than yours. "But one evening when I was in the gardens with my father something happened. Everything suddenly went up in flames and I barely escaped. My father was injured badly and told me it had to have been an assassin attempt from that town. I grew angry and vengeful and sent an order. One that I still stand by today even if I regret the consequences." She sighed as she curled her delicate hands into fists.

Your hands clenched the armrests as you tried to keep from fidgeting. You had a bad feeling that you knew what happened next. When she calmed herself she continued. "I sent my strongest guards to burn the town down. I couldn't risk any survivors coming back to try and assassinate me or endanger my subjects. I didn't realize until it was too late that it was actually a small village with families and children. Not the warriors that sought violence and destruction like my father told me. But it had to be done to ensure mine and my subjects safety."

She didn't sound remorseful at all as she talked and it made you angry. You tried to control your breathing as you felt your skin slowly growing warm. "And this village. What lived there?" You managed to calmly ask through gritted teeth. The princess seemed unaware of your inner turmoil as she looked away in thought. "I belive they were called kirin or kiran or something. Beasts that took human form until angered. Then they'd catch fire and burn everything around them down. I've never seen one but I've heard how dangerous they could be." She carelessly said with a small shrug. The sound of fabric tearing caught her attention as she looked around curiously.

Glancing down you saw that your nails had elongated enough to puncture the armrests and leave behind small rips in the seams. When you breathed out through your mouth you could feel small sparks trying to form in the back of your throat. You couldn't believe her words. The one who sent that order all those years ago. The one who had your village burned and everyone slaughtered. The one who took your family from you. Was sitting in front of you without a care in the world. You needed to leave before you did something you would regret. You quickly stood up and the force of it made your chair knock back a couple feet.

She looked up at you worriedly as she slowly rose. "Are you okay?" She asked and reached a hand out to place it on your arm. "Don't touch me!" You yelled as you jumped back. You could feel your flames starting to form under your skin as steam started to rise from your nose. "You." Your voice shook as you took a step back from her. "You were the one who burned my village. You killed my family! I'm the last of my kind because of you!" Your voice raised until you were yelling at her. You ripped your bandana off as you freed your tail just in time for the furry tip to catch ablaze. "Do you have any idea what it's like to constantly be on the run? To be labeled a monster and hunted down because of something you can't control? And you just sit here, telling me that my people deserved it!"

Flames were slowly engulfing you as you yelled at the princess. You couldn't believe that the person that Bowser liked, the one that Jr used to call mama, was the one who took everything from you. Peach gased as she slowly backed away in fear. It seems like she has finally realized her mistakes as she covered her mouth in horror. "I-I." She stamered as she tried to think of a response. The sound of the library doors slamming open interrupted her thoughts. You both turned to see Bowser standing in the doorway shocked. You forgot he was there and realized he had heard everything. He looked you over in shock and what looked like sadness, possibly disappointment too.

He probably didn't appreciate that you were on fire and yelling at his beloved with the unsaid threat of burning her alive. When he softly said your name you could feel the flames inside dimming at the sound of his voice. Right as the fire on your skin was growing smaller, almost extinguished, you heard her voice. "I'm sorry." She nearly whispered as she looked at you with wide terrified eyes. You whipped your head towards her with a snarl as the flames grew bigger again, reignited by your fury. "Sorry? Sorry! All you have to say is sorry? You think sorry is going to bring them back? You think sorry will make me forgive you!" Your throat started to burn as you felt small flames leaking out from your yelling.

Before you could move you felt a large muscular arm wrap around your torso and arms. You grunted as you were pulled against a wide scaley chest, successfully pinning you down to prevent you from moving. "You should leave. Now." Bowser's deep voice rumbled against your back as his other arm pointed towards the doors. Peach nodded once and quickly left. "I don't want to see you again. Leave my castle." He added just as she reached the doors. You didn't see her response, just the sound of the doors closing and retreating footsteps.

You were so focused on your breathing you didn't realize how close you were to Bowser until he wrapped his other arm around you. It felt less like restraint and more like he was hugging you when you were able to finally calm down. When the flames receded back inside you felt your tail fall limp as your body finally released all of the tension built up. You sighed as the last of the anger left your body, leaving you tired. "You feeling better?" His voice was surprisingly soft as he relaxed his hold on you, not fully letting go. You humorously chuckled and shook your head.

"I just found out that the princess was the one who burned my village down. You sent me in here to convince her to be with you and instead I learned the truth about who sent that order. All these years I constantly imagined what i'd do if I ever found out who gave that order. And discovering it was her all along, I wanted to..." You trailed off as you felt his arms tighten around you. After a moment you felt his grip loosen until he let you go, his hand lingering across your shoulders until it dropped.

"I never thought Peach was capable of something like that. I know most consider me a bad guy but I could never do something that horrendous. I thought she was kind and perfect but to hide something like that? It's unforgivable." He rumbled as he ran his clawed hand through his hair. You wrapped your arms around yourself, suddenly realizing that he now knew what you were. What you tried so desperately to keep hidden has now been exposed. You prepared yourself to be kicked out, banned from his lands for hiding your true identity and lying to him. But when he turned to face you with concerned eyes and held his hand out you hesitated.

"I know nothing I say could make you feel better and make the hurt stop. But I want you to know that you're safe here. I get now why you always had your ears covered but you don't have to anymore. You'll be safe here. I promise." His voice was gentle as he held a soft look on his face. You felt yourself trembling as you shakily placed your hand in his. Out of all the possibilities you imagined you never thought that this would happen. He gave you a small grin as he wrapped his much larger hand around yours. "Let's get you to your room so you can lay down. You don't have to worry about seeing her ever again." He murmered as he led you out of the library.

You quietly followed him hand in hand. You haven't been that angry in so long that your body was left exhausted. As you dragged your feet you noticed that the halls were suspiciously empty and any that rounded the corner quickly dissapeared when they saw Bowser. Glancing up towards him showed a serious expression with his jaw clenched tightly. He probably was stewing in his thoughts about the huge revelation that princess Peach burned down your village and that you were a kirin. Once you reached the hall that housed all of the guest rooms you heard him sigh deeply.

"I should let Jr know about what happened. I have no idea how he'll take it when he learns that Peach won't be his mama ever again." You let out a small hum as you squeezed one of his fingers to get his attention. "Actually, Jr already knows about my true nature. I told him about my village and why I had to keep certain parts of myself hidden. And he may already be calling me mama since she never felt like a mother to him." You nervously grinned up at him as he blinked down at you. His shoulders bounced as he quietly chuckled. "Well you do fret over him so that's not too surprising. Though he should know that Peach isn't welcome here anymore."

You nodded in agreement just as you reached your room. You let go of his hand so you could turn to face him with your back towards your door. "Thanks. For everything." You softly said as you craned your neck to look up at him. "It's no trouble. I know what it's like to be treated like a monster and ostracized from others. I would never wish that on another. What she did." He heaved a sigh and was surprisingly gentle when he patted your shoulder. "I'll have a servant bring you your dinner if you're not feeling like making the trip to the dinning room." He offered making you shake your head.

"I think dinner with you and Jr is exactly what I need. I'm tired of always eating alone with Grumpy as my only companion." He cracked a smile as he patted you one last time before lumbering away. You slipped into your room and threw your body towards you bed. You groaned as your tired muscles sunk into the plush mattress. Your body was shot and your mind was in scrambles after everything that happened. You thought about taking a nice relaxing bath but was too comfortable to move. Before you knew it your eyes closed and felt yourself drifting off to sleep. In your short rest you dreamed of a deep voice and scaley hands with sharp claws holding you close. Gentle whispers as the hands held you against a warm body that seemed vaugely familiar.

Chapter Text

The sound of firm knocking roused you from your short slumber. You sat up and wiped the small line of drool from the corner of your mouth before standing. Opening the door revealed a koopa who let you know dinner was ready to be served. You thanked them as you fixed your hair and clothes to be more presentable in front of the king. The koopa stared at your ears and tail and when you raised a brow at them in question, they quickly looked away. Did Bowser tell his subjects what you were already? Or was this one too polite to point out the changes in your appearance.

Nonetheless they guided you to the dinning room as you followed. When you arrived you thanked them again as they opened the door for you. They slightly bowed their head at you before closing the door once you entered. Jr and Bowser seemed to be in a deep discussion when you arrived and quieted down when they noticed you. "Mama!" Jr exclaimed as he jumped from his seat to run up to you. He threw himself at you and you easily caught him in a hug. "Dad told me what happened with princess Peach. I can't believe she would do something so terrible. But it's okay now because he promised that he would protect you and she isn't allowed back anymore. I just wish I could see you go off on her. I bet you put her in her place."

You tiredly chuckled at him as you picked him up so you could carry him to his seat. "I'm not sure you'd want to see me when I'm that angry. It isn't pretty." You said as you placed him in his chair. "But I am thankful your father was able to step in before something happened. Thanks to him I'm able to freely be myself without having to hide my less than human qualities." You flicked your tail in emphasis as you got comfortable in your chair. When you glanced at Bowser you noticed that he was fondly looking at his son. It seemed like he was happy Jr was able to find someone who cared about him to call his mama.

Dinner was quickly served and you all ate as Jr rambled on about this and that. The child hardly being able to contain his excitment about you not having to hide yourself anymore. It was a bit strange having your tail exposed now around other people. You even noticed your hearing was slightly better now that you didn't have to hide your ears anymore. The sounds of guards marching down the halls behind the grand doors. The slight shuffle of feet as servants prepared to refill any glasses that went empty.

It was almost overwhelming but seeing Jr's smile made it bearable. When dinner was finished Jr tugged on your shirt sleeve. "Can we play video games? There was a update to that cooking game and I wanna play the new level with you." When he gave you his puppy eyes you lightly laughed and patted his head. "Put those big eyes away. You don't need them 'cause I'll always play with you." He gave you a wide smile as he pulled you out of your chair and tried to drag you along. Of course you were much bigger and heavier than him so you let him feel like he was dragging you as you walked, not noticing how Bowser watched you go with a small grin.

You both arrived in the game room and he set everything up as you got comfortable on the plush couch. He booted up the game and you both selected your characters before starting. The new level was surprisingly hard but Jr made it fun with his little quips and jokes. When you finally finished with only one star to show your hard work you flopped back into the couch. "That was too stressful for my poor heart." You joked as you playfully nudged him eith your elbow. Jr was about to respond when the door opened and Bowser stepped in.

All to easily Jr convinced his dad to join you both in playing the game. Reasoning that it would be easier with three people playing. He seemed like he wanted to say no but one look at his son's face made him change his mind. Jr giggled as he set up another controller, this one slightly bigger than the others, as you scooted over to the middle of the couch. Bowser stiffly sat on your left with a bit of space between you both as Jr climbed onto the couch on your right. He had no issues getting up in your personal space as he sat as close as possible.

He quickly explained the controls and how it worked as he selected one of the easier levels for you all to play. Jr leaned against you as you both easily filled out orders and called out what you needed or where you were going. Bowser was struggling to keep up so he was sent to collect and wash dishes and run the orders to the window. By the third round he was finally getting the hang of it and was able to somewhat keep up. He muttered under his breath when you got two stars and laughed boisterously when you got three. After a bit you noticed Jr's character was slowing down and running into things until it completely stopped.

You paused the game despite Bowser's protests and glanced down at Jr. With a smile you noticed that he had fallen asleep against your arm with his controller loosely hanging in his grip. "He fell asleep." You whispered when Bowser finally looked over. His chest rumbled in amusement and carefully plucked the controller from his hands. As he was putting things away and turning off the console you picked up Jr. One arm wrapped around his upper shell while the other hooked under his legs. He only let out a small grunt and rubbed his head against your shoulder before stilling.

"Wanna lead me to his room? I've never seen it so I have no idea where to go." You softly asked him making him nod. Bowser opened the door for you and walked side by side down the halls. He kept glancing down at you before speaking in a low voice to not wake Jr. "I've never seen him sleep so heavily. Any time someone tries to pick him up he's awake immediately. I'm the only one who can move him when he falls asleep." You hummed as you glanced down at the sleeping child in your arms. "Well I do have a bit of experience with kids. I used to babysit occasionally in my village so the adults could have a relaxing evening. It's kinda hard to be romantic when you have a couple of toddlers on fire and screaming because one took the other's toy."

You both got a chuckle out of that. Soon you arrived at Jr's door and he opened it for you. You noticed that there was a plaque with Jr's name on it covered in stickers. Stepping into the room you could immediately tell that it was his room. Paintings and drawings were scattered around the walls with a few covering the table in the corner. A small toy chest was open and it looked like all of his toys exploded out and were scattered around. You could easily tell that it was a child's room and it suited him. You walked up to the bed and pulled back the covers before carefully laying him down.

He whined at the loss of warmth before you pulled the blankets to cover him. Glancing over the bed you noticed a small plush toy that seemed to look exactly like the main character from his comics that he showed you. Reaching over him you grabbed the plushie and tucked it under his arms. He sighed as he curled around the toy and snuggled into his bed. Once you were sure he wasn't going to wake up you silently crept out of the room. Once the door closed you sighed and looked up at Bowser with a grin. "Mission accomplished. Got Jr to bed without waking him." You joked as you lightly laughed.

Bowser tapped the tips of his claws together as he seemed lost in thought. You tilted your head at him, waiting to see what he wanted to say. He cleared his throat and straightened his posture before fully facing you. "Would you like to accompany me to the library? I know that you haven't had much time to read that book you like. Plus I got this new series that I've been reading through and once you're finished with that book I'd like you to read them. I think you'd really like it." He seemed almost bashful as his tail swayed side to side.

You nodded and he seemed to perk up with your agreement. You walked together to the library as he told you a little about the series. The more he talked about the books the more you realized that Bowser and Jr were bookworms. Looks like the love for literature ran in the family, whether it was novels or comics. Once you arrived in the library you paused as you looked over at the far end where the windows were. The chair was still tipped over and there was a small dark scorch mark next to it. Before your gaze could linger on it too long Bowser stepped in front of you and blocked your view with his massive body.

"Why don't we read on the second floor? That's where my books are." He said as his hand hovered behind you back to guide you up the stairs off to the side. You let him guide you, not wanting to think about what happened ealier today. He quickly sped walked over to the small table where you last left your book as you checked out the shelves. The books up here seemed more aged, a few you recognized as being at least twenty or more years old. He soon joined you and guestered with his hand to the large rounded loveseat couch that sat in the middle of the walkway with a small coffee table in front of it.

Once you sat down he handed you your book and reached up on the higher shelves to retrive his own book. He sat on the other end of the couch and relaxed into the pillows that lined the back. He looked normal sitting in the seat while your feet couldn't even touch the ground. You curled up on the other end with a spare pillow on your lap to prop up your book. You ran your fingers over the bookmark and sneakily glanced up at Bowser while he was busy reading his own book.

You've never had anyone stand up for you like he did, especially after finding out your true nature. The fact that he was labeled as the villain yet he showed you more kindness than anyone else has in all of your travels was strange. Even if he did threaten you at first it was only to keep his son safe. And once Jr decided to call you his mama you noticed how Bowser looked at you differently. He seemed almost fond of you. Especially after learning what princess Peach did to your village. No more were the cautious looks, waiting for you to turn on them. He accepted you as you are and seemed almost happy to have someone to read beside him.

You continued to look him over, able to see the finer details of his side profile now that you were closer. You could see the tiny wrinkles in the corner of his eyes and between his brows from the expressions he made. How the scales on his muzzle seemed tiny and smooth compared to the rest of his body. His fiery red hair formed a mowhawk and looked luscious and soft in the gentle light of the torches. He must of felt your stare as he looked over at you with a raised brow. Your cheeks grew warm as you got caught and quickly looked down at your book.

You heard his rumbling chuckle and felt your face grown more warm in embarrassment. "No need to be shy. I know I'm extremely handsome." He boasted as he ran a hand through his hair. His posturing made you laugh as you felt your warm cheeks cool down. "You're very handsome. Though maybe not as handsome as Jr." You smirked as he chuffed. He didn't look like he believed you so you turned to face him. "But you're handsome Bowser. I've seen all kinds of beings and you're the most attractive one I've met." You tried to keep your face calm as you basically told him that you found him hot.

You saw a small blush forming on his cheeks as he fumbled with his book in embarrassment. "You... You're also attractive." He murmured as he hid his snout in his book. Your face felt like it was burning as you smiled at him. You both were too embarrassed to keep talking so you both read your respective books in silence. Your stomach was doing flips and you could barely concentrate on the words typed on the pages. He thought you looked nice and you knew he wasn't lying based off the blush covering his cheeks.

You could barely even control the twitching of your tail as you feigned reading. Once your racing heart finally calmed down and your face returned to normal temperatures you were able to actually read. As your tail rested between your bodies you suddenly felt something touching the hair on the end. Looking over revealed Bowser absentmindedly running his claws through the fur as he concentrated on his book. You couldn't tell if he knew what he was doing as you felt a shiver run up your spine. You've never had another touch your tail and the sensation was strange but also pleasant.

His claws scratched nicely along the skin as he basically brushed your tail. You sighed softly as you relaxed further into the loveseat. You had faint fuzzy memories of your mother using her brush to comb out the tangles and knots in your fur. How she always said that you needed to keep your tail nice if you wanted to marry someone one day. 'A fancy tail gets a fancy mate' she'd always say. You didn't even noticed that your tail moved to lay across his lap as you propped your head up on your fist. His hands were surprisingly gentle as he pet your tail with his sharp claws.

The words in the book slowly grew blurry as you felt yourself nodding off. The comfortable loveseat paired with Bowser's petting on your tail slowly lulled you into sleep. Your eyes eventually closed and your head slumped over your arm that rested over the back of the couch with the armrest propping up your back. You were fighting a losing battle of staying awake as your eyes refused to open. You faintly felt the book under your free hand slide away along with the pillow. You grunted when the soft warm pillow was removed and fully curled up on your side.

When something warm and heavy touched your shoulder you faintly thought that you were back in bed and you had a heated pillow. You wrapped your arms around the pillow and held it to your chest as you tucked it under your chin. Your pillow kept moving for some reason so you tightened your grip on it until it stilled. You sighed as you were warm again and slowly drifted off to sleep. At one point in the night you opened your bleary eyes and vaugely noted that you were still in the library. Bowser must of given you a pillow and blanket as your head rested on something and your side felt warm.

You hummed as you curled up further into the warmth, not noticing a strong arm wrapping around you to pull you closer. It was warm and cozy and your sleep addled brain didn't register anything out of the ordinary as you drifted off again. When the light hit your eyes it forced you to finally wake. Opening your eyes you saw yellow scales with a tint of orange in them underneath you. Your brows furrowed as you wondered when the couch changed colors before a puff of warm air brushed over your head. Looking up you realized that you were laying across Bowser's chest as his arms wrapped around you.

With a bit of embarrassment you realized your tail was wrapped around his leg and you quickly unwound it. You don't remeber falling asleep last night and you definitely didn't remember cuddling up to him. Even though he was surprisingly comfortable and very warm you needed to get up before he noticed the awkward position you were in. You slipped out of his arms and quickly replaced where you were with a pillow. He let out a deep sigh as his arms hugged the pillow to his chest. You needed to get out of here before your brain fully woke up and realized that you just spent the night sleeping on the couch with the king of the fire lands.

Chapter Text

After that night in the library your relationship with Bowser improved while also becoming more awkward. You spent the day playing with Jr and the evenings were spent in the library with Bowser. You even managed to convince him to tag along with you and Jr to feed Grumpy. Though you're pretty sure he won't be seeing your pet again after he spat a fire ball at the king. Jr laughed himself to tears at the sight of his father's shocked face as he tried to avoid the flaming ball of fire. Luckily Grumpy has warmed up so some of the staff so they were able to feed him now without worry.

It's been five days since your arrival and you knew that you would have to leave soon. Jr knew this as he tried to fit as many activities he could into one day. You were currently tossing a ball at him as he hit it with his custom bat outside. Far away enough from the castle so you wouldn't worry about a possible broken window. He was surprisingly good at it as he managed to hit the ball in your direction nearly every time. "Try to give it your all." You called out as you wound your arm back before throwing it as hard as you could.

He smirked as he readied himself before swinging his bat, sending the ball flying. You watched as it soared a good distance away and whistled. "Nice hit." You said as you walked to retrive the ball. "I got it! You stay here and when I get back I'll throw the ball and you hit it." Jr called out as he jogged across the rocky terrain. "Be safe!" You yelled at him as you grabbed the bat from the ground. He soon dissapeared behind a small hill where the ball went though you could still hear his giggles. You used your free time to study the bat in your hold.

It was pretty short since it was designed for a child but you could still work with it. The bat was mostly black with Jr's name engraved on the side in bright red letters with lighter red highlights. After a moment you realized you couldn't hear him anymore and it's been long enough for him to retrieve the ball and return. Resting the bat on your shoulder you wandered off where you saw him run off to. Reaching the top of the small hill you furrowed your brows when you didn't immediately spot him. Right as you were about to call out his name you heard him yelp.

Without thinking you dropped the bat and took off running where you heard the noise. Instincts guiding you as you leaped over jagged rocks and small holes in the ground. There was several tall rocks jutting out of the ground in a faux wall and you heard his voice behind them. The second you heard another voice that sounded aggressive you could feel your flames licking your skin. Running around the rocks would take too long so you used your elongated nails and jumped to claw your way to the top of them. You slid down the rocks on the other side almost completely on fire and the scene in front of you nearly made you spit flames.

There was a man holding Jr up wearing blue denim overalls, a red shirt and white gloves. His red hat was askew showing his brown hair and mustache. He had a tight grip on Jr's arms as he demanded to know where princess Peach was. When Jr noticed you from the corner of his eyes his squirming increased as he kicked his legs. "Mama!" He cried, making the man finally noticed you. He gasped and dropped him as you slowly stalked closer. When Jr let out a small noise of pain when he landed you hissed in anger as your tail thrashed behind you. He tried to stammer out a response as you guestered for Jr to come to you with a hand.

Once he was safely behind you the man seemed to find his words. "I-I don't know who you are. But I'm here to rescue princess Peach." He said with false confidence as he puffed out his chest to appear more intimidating. Too bad for him that you have a pet much scarier than him when hungry so his pathetic display didn't deter you. "Your princess isn't here. She left days ago. And I suggest you leave too unless you want to become charred remains." Small bits of fire were coming out of your mouth as you talked. At first he looked like he didn't believe you until you exhaled a small stream of fire from your lips in warning.

He jumped and took several steps backwards as he looked between you and Jr. Soon he turned and jogged away and once he was far enough you felt your anger leaving your body. You quickly turned to face Jr and knelt down and fretted over him to make sure he was unharmed. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?" You asked worriedly as you gently cupped his face. He let out a loud sniff and threw himself into your arms. "That Mario loser snuck up on me. He kept demanding that I tell him where that nasty princess is and didn't believe me when I told him she left."

He cried as his body shook and clinged to you for comfort. With a small grunt you picked him up and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm here now Jr. And he won't be bothering you anymore while I'm around." You murmured as you started walking back to the castle, the ball and bat long forgotten. You had a vauge recognition with the name of that man, hearing a few stories of how he'd save some of the bigger towns from evil. How could a man that was hailed a hero threaten a child. Even if said child was the son of king Bowser.

As you comforted him with gentle words you walked the halls and stairs inside. Halfway through your walk he fell asleep, probably exhausted from his adrenaline waning. You decided to take him to his room so he could nap then you would talk to Bowser. If this Mario guy was foolish enough to try and corner Jr for information when he was alone then the security for the area should be upped until word of the princess returning to her own kingdom reached him. Once Jr was tucked in with his toy under his arms you marched down the halls to find someone who knew where the king was.

Luckily you didn't have to search too long as a passing maid let you know that Bowser was in his throne room. You easily reached the room and pushed open the doors, loudly announcing your presence. Bowser was sitting on his throne while conversing with a handful of koopas when he looked up and spotted you. He must of seen the serious expression on your face as he easily waved them away to give the both of you privacy. Once the doors shut you marched up the grand staircase to be face to face with him. You explained what happened, not sparing any details about Mario and the way you threatened him.

When he learned how Jr was handled by the man he grew angry but relaxed slightly when you told him how you spit fire at him. He was mildly impressed at how you handled the situation and only wished he was there since he would've destroyed Mario. Remembering the situation made a few small flames form on your shoulders and the tip of your tail as you grew agitated at his audacity. When he noticed how worked up you were getting he stood up and placed a heavy hand on your shoulder. "Thank you for keeping my son safe... Again." He rumbled as he gently squeezed your shoulder.

You took several deep breaths and felt the fire retreating back inside, the heavy hand surprisingly grounding. Once you felt calm again you looked up and gave him a sideways smile in silent thanks for calming you before you accidentally set fire to his throne room. "Jr's up in his room napping if you wanna check on him. I think I'm going to try and relax in the library. I'm halfway through that book and I want to finish it before I leave." You hesitated before reaching up to pat his hand on your shoulder in a friendly manner before letting him pull it away.

When you turned to walk away you heard him call your name almost urgently. Looking over your shoulder showed him rubbing the back of his head bashfully, like he didn't expect to call out your name like that. "You uh. Want some company?" He awkwardly asked. When you nodded with a smile he perked up and meandered next to you. A quick glance revealed that his tail was waving side to side excitedly. It took a lot of willpower to not snort at how cute it was. You furrowed your brows at the thought. When did you start thinking that he was cute? Shaking the thought away you walked to the library with him in tow.

The scorch mark has already been cleaned and the chair fixed but you still preferred the second story where the round loveseat resided. Your book was left on the table so you picked it up and took your usual spot on the seat. Bowser sat next to you and once he was settled you curled up with your book propped up on your knees. Since that night he managed to keep his hands to himself and hasn't touched your tail, leaving you slightly disappointed. Even if it was slightly embarrassing it was also calming and nice to have it brushed out with his claws.

Several chapters in you heard the doors opening and looked down to see a koopa pushing in a cart with dome covered trays. It appears it was time for lunch so you bookmarked your place and stretched out the stiff muscles in your legs. He muttered about finishing his paragraph first before he'd join you on the lower levels for lunch. Nodding you walked down the steps and thanked the koopa for the food. When they went to place the covered trays you jumped in to help place everything. When you first tried to help they were shocked and tried to gently wave you away but your stubbornness and kind words made them realize that you'd help no matter what.

Thanking them one last time they took their leave and you peeked under the domes to make sure you got your food. Bowser was a big guy with an even bigger appetite so he had a lot more food than you did. Sliding his tray to his seat with his drink next to it you waited until you hear his heavy footsteps approaching. Once he was seated you both uncovered your trays and started eating. It was a light lunch covered in a rich creamy sauce and it was absolutely delicious like always. You were going to really miss the food when you left, though, not as much as the father and son duo.

When you glanced up at Bowser you noticed he had a bit of sauce on the side of his mouth as he finished up the last few bites of his meal. "You have a little something on your face." You said with a smirk as you pointed to your mouth. He blinked and reached for his napkin and wiped the side of his mouth on the opposite side of where it was. You lightly giggled and told him it was in the other side leading him to wipe again, only to miss it completely. You couldn't contain your laughter as you held a hand out. "We're gonna be here all day if you keep at it. Let me do it." You grinned as he placed the napkin in your waiting hand.

Standing up you leaned over the table and waved his face closer so you wouldn't have to strain your arms. Once his face was in reach you dabbed at the sauce until his scales were clean again. "There. All clean." You smiled at him as you pulled your hands away. This close to his face you noticed how his cheeks slowly turned a reddish color as he gazed at you. Your face started to grow warm at his slightly intense look and cleared your throat as placed the used napkin on the table. "You know you're just as messy as Jr. Or rather, Jr is as messy as you." You joked and sat back down in your seat.

The sound of your voice snapped him out of whatever trance he was in as he leaned back into his chair. He rumbled in amusement as he rubbed his cheek. "Good thing we have you around to make sure we look our best after eating." He grinned a toothy smile filled with sharp fangs as his blush dissapeared. You both finished up the last of your lunch just in time for the koopa to return with Jr following them. When Jr approached you he held up his arms and made a grabbing motion with his hands. You chuckled as you stood up and lifted him so he could rest on your hip.

He rambled on about his own lunch and how after he finished eating he searched all over for you. Looking over towards Bowser you noticed how he was slightly pouting as he got up. You nudged Jr and motioned with your eyes at his father and he seemed to finally notice him and quickly added that he was looking for him too. That seemed to appease the king as he perked up and followed you up the stairs. When you asked Jr if he wanted to read his comics he shook his head and clung to you tighter. You worriedly looked over towards Bowser, wondering if you should be worried about him after his encounter with Mario.

He waved his hand with a slight shake of his head to ease your worries. It seems like Jr was just feeling a bit clingy and wanted cuddles. You rested on the couch with him curled up in your lap and you opened the book where you last left off. You decided to read out loud so he could follow along with you without complaining about the big words he didn't know yet. You felt him fully relax against you as you got to an exciting part of the book where it reached the climax. It felt strangely domestic to read to him with Bowser sitting next to you reading his own book.

By the time you reached the next chapter you felt his body go slack against you and looked down to see that he fell asleep again. You huffed in amusement and marked your page and set the book off to the side. You waved your tail in front of Bowser's face to silently get his attention so he could see how cute Jr was being. When he looked his shoulders shook in quiet laughter as he saw his son starting to drool on you. You rolled your eyes and lightly shook his shoulders to wake him.

As cute as he was sleeping he already took a nap today and if he kept sleeping then he'd never tire when it was time for bed. Jr groaned and rubbed his face against your shoulder, his little horns poking your collarbone. "C'mon Jr, you need to wake up." You cooed at him as you started petting his tuft of hair. "Noooo." He whined as he curled up further into himself. Bowser thankfully saved you from his sleepy protests by picking him up under his arms and holding him up in the air. "Well since you want to sleep so badly I guess we'll have to have dinner without you. It's such a shame since we're having chicken nuggets today."

That made him awake immediately as he kicked his legs to be let down. "I'm awake! I'm awake!" He cried making the both of you laugh. Once he was placed on the ground he rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a yawn. He trotted towards the stairs as you stood up with a stretch, feeling a few bones pop from sitting for so long. "I'm going to make sure he stays awake for dinner." You hummed as your tail flicked lazily behind you. You followed the sleepy child down the stairs and looked back in time to see Bowser watching you.

He barely flinched as he got caught staring and held his book up to his face to hide behind it. You chuckled at his antics and left the library. You decided to pay Grumpy a visit with Jr to make sure he wouldn't fall back asleep. That made him fully awake as he climbed all over the lizard and scratched his favorite spots his his claws much to Grumpy's pleasure. When a koopa came to let you know dinner was ready you had to pick up Jr so he wouldn't spend the rest of the day in the pen. Walking hand in hand he rambled on about how his painting of Grumpy was going well and he couldn't wait to finish it as you headed towards the dinning hall.

Chapter Text

Halfway with a spoonful of food raised towards your mouth you looked over at Bowser befuddled. "Come again?" You questioned and lowered the bite of food. Bowser's cheeks had a pink hue spread across them as he cleared his throat. "I wanted to throw a ball in your honor before you leave. I've noticed how the moral of my subjects have improved since you came here and I think they'd like the excuse to relax and party." You blinked at him in surprise. You have noticed how some of the koopas in the castle smiled more often when you came across them and even had a few strike up a conversation about the places you've seen.

Though to have an entire ball dedicated to just you? Jr smiled as he bounced excitedly in his seat. "I want the first dance with mama! Will you dance with me?" When he gave you his begging eyes you chuckled and patted him in the head. "Of course Jr. How could I say no to a dance with you." He grinned victoriously as his tail wagged. "I think I have some nice clothing packed. Though I'm not sure they're ball worthy." At your comment Bowser perked up. "Actually I'll have my seamstress whip you up an outfit. She'll just need to take your measurements tonight and have an outfit ready tomorrow."

Why would Bowser need a seamstress? You've never really seen him wear clothing before. Before you could ask your embarrassing question about if he wears clothes he beat you to it. "I'll probably have her check over my suit too. And before you ask, yes I occasionally wear clothing. Mostly for special occasions. I used to wear a cape but after it caught on fire one too many times I kept to my bracelets so my seamstress wouldn't quit on me." He nervously chuckled and hid his face behind his cup. You had a small smile at the thought of Bowser marching around and dramatically swishing his cape.

Then your thoughts trailed off to imagining him in a nice suit. How he'd fill out the shirt with his muscles straining the sleeves. A nice bow tie that you'd fuss over to make sure it sat straight. You quickly purged the thoughts from your mind before your face could grow too warm. Bowser prattled on about how this seamstress was the best in the buisness and could whip up an outfit in just a few hours, depending on how complicated it was. You half listened as you finished your meal, trying to keep the thoughs of Bowser in a suit out of your mind.

When dinner was finished he told you that she'd meet you in your room shortly. Wishing them both a good night you headed off to meet this seamstress. When you eventually arrived to your room you saw a koopa standing outside your door. This must of been the seamstress since she had a small basket of fabric and sewing supplies and was wearing a multicolored layered skirt. When she noticed you she smiled and called your name. "I'm here to take your measurements and see which outfit and color would look the best on you." You nodded and opened your door for her. "Bowser's told me quite a bit about you. I'm honestly a bit excited. I've never owned anything nice since I've been on the road. Gotta dress practical and all."

Once she entered she pulled out a measuring tape and guestered for you to raise your arms. As she took your measurements she made idle conversation. Mostly about how Bowser was treating you and how you liked it in the castle so far. "Well for the first royalty I've ever met he's quite nice. Of course he was intimidating at first but once he realized that I didn't have any malicious intent towards his son he warmed up to me. When he has the time we even spend the evenings reading together." She had this knowing smile on her face as she wrote in her little notebook.

"I've never seen king Bowser so upbeat until you came along. And to hold a ball in your honor, you must be quite special to him." You grew flustered as you finally lowered your arms, your tail twitching behind you. "Well I look after Jr and play with him. He probably appreciates that his son has a friend." You felt your face grow hot as you remembered that night in the library. How you basically used him as a pillow in your half asleep state and woke up cuddling him. She saw your flustered state and smirked. "Well after you leave I do hope you'll come by and visit often. It's nice to see him this happy after all this time." She said as she held up swatches of fabric.

She kept the conversation to a minimum after that. Only asking what kind of outfit you'd want and which colors you preferred. Once she finished she started packing up her things. "I'll have your outfit ready by lunch time tomorrow. You'll leave king Bowser speechless for sure." She said with a patch on your hand. Then she left, leaving you slightly speechless. What did she mean by 'leave him speechless'? Patting your warm cheeks you decided to draw a bath to calm yourself down before dressing for bed. As you slept all of your dreams were filled with fancy dresses gliding across the floor. Sharp suits holding up champane glasses. And in the center was Bowser. Dressed in a deep red suit, holding out a rose towards you.

When you awoke the next day you groaned and covered your face as your tail thrashed about. After denying your feelings for so long now, it was indisputable. You had a crush on king Bowser. Dragging yourself from your bed you got ready for the day. Deciding to dress comfortably since you'll be changing later. Making your morning walk to check on Grumpy you saw that he was already fed and napping in a beam of light. You sighed as you leaned against the pen gate. "What do I do Grumpy? I've never had a crush before. I've always made it a rule to never catch feelings for anyone to keep me safe. And now I have a fat crush on a king no less."

Unfortunately Grumpy was a lizard and could offer no advice besides a tounge flicking up to lick his eye. "Great talk." You groaned as you leaned over to scratch his head. After that invigorating conversation with him, you headed back inside for breakfast. As you entered the room you noticed that the being of your affections was missing. "Morning Jr. Where's your dad?" You questioned as you took a seat. "He's getting the ball room ready for tonight." He stated as the dishes of food were placed in front of you both. You hummed in acknowledgement as you took a sip of your drink. You honestly didn't know if you could face him now after your realization this morning.

Once breakfast was completed Jr took you to the library. He pouted since Bowser instructed him to not paint today since he didn't want to have him dirty by the time the ball started. To cheer him up you suggested a game of hide and seek among the many shelves. That thankfully worked so the game started with him hiding first. Though it was easy to find him since he kept giggling or his wagging tail would thump against the object he was hiding behind whenever you got close. Once that got boring you started to play other simple games. It helped keep your mind off tonight and the thought of what Bowser would be wearing.

All too soon lunch was served. Your stomach was in knots but you managed to at least eat half of your food. Once you finished Jr ran off to his room to get dressed while promising to meet up with you once you're both dressed. Entering your room you saw a beautiful garment laid out on your bed. The colors were exactly what you wanted and complimented your skin tone nicely. There were even a pair of shoes that matched. Slipping into it you felt the luxurious fibers brushing up against your skin. This was probably the nicest item of clothing you've ever worn. A quick trip to the bathroom to make sure your hair looked nice and then you were off to meet Jr.

You didn't have to walk far as Jr was already on his way to your room. He looked so adorable in his outfit. A white crisp shirt, black vest, an orange tie and black slacks. and quick glance showed his black dress shoes had orange soles to match his tie. You cooed over him and squished his cheeks from pure cuteness aggression. His laughter filled the halls as he weakly tried to fend himself from your affections. "You look really nice mama." He said once you finally stopped squishing his face. "So you you Jr. You look very handsome in your little vest and tie." You smiled as you fixed the slightly askew tie. He held his hand out for you to take. "You ready to party? I can't wait to show you my moves!"

He then started to do a silly jig to an imaginary song in his head. You chuckled and playfully tapped him on the nose. "Better save those moves for the dance floor." You teased him. He giggled as you took his hand and started leading you down the winding halls. You could tell you were getting closer since you could hear faint music that slowly got louder the futher you walked. Finally you reached the grand doors that you could hear the music along with lots of chatter behind. "You ready?" Jr didn't wait for you to respond before he opened the doors.

It seems like there were guards waiting by the doors since he barely pushed them open before two armored koopas opened them the rest of the way. Right as you both stepped inside you heard your name being called loudly from Bowser. There he was, in the center of the room. He was wearing a black three piece suit with a white button up shirt paired with a deep red vest and bow tie along with black shoes. You felt your face grown warm as the sight of his hair slicked back and his signature spiked bracelets lining his arms and wrists. It was almost unfair how good he looked in his suit.

He grinned as he quickly walked up to you. "Our guest of honor has arrived!" He boisterously said towards the large crowd gathered in the room. They raised their glasses and cheered as the music seemed to pick up in pace. His face gained a pink hue as he looked over your outfit. "You look good. Not that you don't usually look good. You always look good. But you look especially good tonight." He grew flustered as he fumbled over his words. You lightly giggled as your face started to feel hot. "Thank you. You look very dashing tonight." You said to save him the embarrassment of fumbling over his words. It quickly grew awkward as you both struggled to find words to say.

Luckily Jr jumped in by grabbing your hands and dragging you further into the room. "C'mon mama, let's dance." You spared a fleeting glance towards Bowser's flushed face before being dragged off by Jr. Once you among the other dancers, Jr took both of your hands and led you in a mix of a waltz and swinging around aimlessly. You both laughed as your dancing was, admittedly, terrible. But you were having lots of fun dancing with the young prince. When a song with a heavy beat came on he gasped and let go of your hands to start dancing on his own. He was surprisingly good at freestyle dancing.

You clapped and cheered him on until you felt a tap on your arm. Turning to look you saw a slightly embarrassed koopa wearing a simple black tie and French cuffs on his wrists. You were able to recognize him as the one who fed Grumpy that you made friends with to save his shell from the fireballs. "W-would you like to d-dance with me?" He stuttered as he shyly held his hand out. You agreed just in time for the next song to start. It was still a slightly upbeat song but slow enough to do a simple dance to. You led him in the dance since he seemed to stumble every now and then.

You started to crack a few jokes to ease the tension. It seemed to help as he started laughing more and stumbling less. Once your dance with him finished another koopa asked for you to dance. This one was one of the guards that you've talked about your travels with who was fascinated by the colder kingdoms made of ice. It continued on like that. One koopa after another asking a dance with you, with Jr occasionally butting in to steal you for a dance. Your face was starting to hurt from how much you were laughing and smiling and your feet were growing sore from the shoes so you quickly slipped away towards the chairs lining the wall.

You sighed as you sat down and stretched your legs out. As much fun you were having, you desperately needed a quick break. But watching all of the kingdoms subjects laughing and dancing brought a smile to your face. During the night you caught glaces at Bowser accompanied by what you believed was a magikoopa, if your memory served you right. You've heard talk about how he was Bowser's right hand man but you've yet to meet him. You were a bit distracted watching everyone that you almost didn't notice a massive form sidling next to you. Glancing up you realized it was Bowser and gave him a gentle smile.

"You really know how to throw a ball. Though it feels a bit more like a party at this point." You chuckled tiredly. He rumbled in amusement as his fiddled with his clawed hands. "I-I was wondering." He trailed off and looked off towards the crowd, an almost desperate look on his face. You felt your cheeks grow warm despite your best efforts. Was the king Bowser stuttering? You didn't get to see who he was looking at before he suddenly stood in front of you, holding out his hand as a massive blush overtook his face. "Would you like to dance with me?" He blurted out quickly as he almost shyly looked away.

That made your face feel like it could rival a fire with how hot it burned. Steeling your nerves you delicately placed your hand in his, noting how much bigger his palm was compared to yours. "I'd be delighted to." You smiled as you stood. A big grin stretched across his face as his tail started to wag. You could feel your own tail swaying side to side as he led you out towards the dance floor. Suddenly the music cut out and was replaced by a slower song, one that was ment to slow dance to. You both shared a nervous chuckle as you floundered over where to place your hands.

You settled with one hand on his arm, the other one his chest since you weren't quite tall enough to reach his shoulders. He, in turn, placed one hand on your shoulder while the other rested on your waist. You nervously gulped at the feeling of his massive warm palm completely covering your side. He started to lead you into a simple dance, mostly swaying side to side. You didn't even notice how everyone else gave you space to dance, too entranced with his flustered face and trying to not mess up your steps. As you danced he suddenly cleared his throat, the hand at your waist squeezing you gently. "It's been nice having you here. I admit that I've grown quite fond of your presence."

He sounded nervous as he kept glancing at you before quickly looking away. "Me too. Even if you threatened to burn me to a crisp at first." Your playful jab seemed to sooth his anxieties as he chuckled. "Yeah, I kinda regret threatening you now that I got to know ya." You just shrugged as you smiled up at him. "To be fair, I appeared to be just another human to you and you had no idea what my motives were." He slightly nodded as the fingers around your shoulder and waist twitched. "True. I'm glad I got to know you. I haven't seen Jr this happy since he was younger. And I- my subjects seem to adore you and your stories." He cleared his throat at his last sentence, almost like he wanted to say something else.

He gently called your name, making you look up right into his eyes. You've never noticed until now how red they were. Like pools of molten lava with little flecks of gold in the center. "Yes?" Your stomach felt like there were millions of butterflies swarming at the way he said your name. "I wanted to tell you something for a while now." He murmured. You almost missed what he said with how quiet he became. "I-" He didn't get to finish he scentence before a loud boom shook the room. You gasped as you clutched onto his suit and looked over towards the doors. Standing in the now open doors was none other than Mario. And he wasn't alone. Many armored guards of different creatures were behind him. And the look in his eyes made you nervous. It was the look of bloodlust and it didn't bode well for everyone in the ball room.