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“Go to hell,” King Boo grumbled, glaring at you over the chessboard.
A wide smirk stretched your lips as you held his gaze. “With a handsome devil like you here, I’m already there~.”
The boo’s eyes went wide as he sputtered in surprise. A blue blush instantly colored his face as he flung the table with his tongue, hissing indignantly. The chess pieces scattered across the floor as you jumped to your feet. "W-Woah, now!" A startled laugh shook your voice while you backed away from the angry ghost. For a few seconds the two of you stared each other down, waiting to see who would make the first move, and you used this glowing opportunity to antagonize him more.
You stuck your tongue out at him and booked it down the hall.
King Boo gave chase with an offended shriek. You, meanwhile, cackled in adrenaline-fueled fear while dodging his attacks. The house seemed to suddenly transform into a living nightmare; every door you reached for vanished with a flash of the ghost’s crown. The walls twisted and turned to confuse you. And eventually, he had you cornered.
Sweat beaded down your forehead as you frantically looked left and right, but there was no escape in sight. Your opponent slowly hovered closer, a mean snarl splitting his lips and showing of his massive fangs.
But then, from the corner of your eye, appeared the way out. A group of boos was watching the spectacle from afar, giggling to themselves at your misfortune. In a last ditch effort, you pointed at the king and yelled, "GUYS! King Boo is cheating! I won the game fair and square!”
The ghosts, ever eager to join in on some shenanigans, proceeded to dog-pile their leader. Their collective strength managed to bring him down to the ground as they nagged him about being a sore loser. And somehow, it worked. They convinced King Boo to give you his crown as per the deal, though it wasn't without a deep scowl on his face.
With the use of his magic, the king adjusted the crown's size so that it would fit on your head, and then begrudgingly handed it over. The moment it was placed upon your scalp, a massive boost of power washed over you, sending excited shivers through your body. "Oh! Oh, this is going to be fun~!"
The boos were giddy, giggling alongside you as they playfully started bowing to you. Each one floated over with a half-serious "Your Majesty.", which annoyed King Boo to no end. You turned to the big ghost with a smirk. "Come on, Boo. No need to look so grumpy."
"This wasn't part of the deal," King Boo growled under his breath, only making the fraid happier.
"Well, I'm not forcing them to do anything, now am I?" You smiled cheekily and struck a goofy pose with great amusement. "I think you're just jealous 'cause I pull it off better."
"I will eat your soul."
"HA! Not today!"
And with that, you jumped into the air and flew down the hall, the floorboards rattling in your wake. The king yelled after you before following closely, his boos right behind him while you rushed out of the mansion. The doors blew wide open as you dashed into the woods, weaving between the trees with echoing laughter.
The others were hot on your tail, King Boo's annoyed form quickly catching up to you. So, just to throw him off a little, you switched directions and shot into the sky to glide leisurely above the clouds. He slowed down to trail beside you, scowling. "It's not that exciting," he rolled his eyes, "It's just flying."
"Maybe to you it's not! You do this everyday!" You pointed at him, grinning before quickly becoming distracted by the view. Your gaze fell onto the horizon, the land bathed in warm oranges and pinks as sunset began. It softened your smile. "I can't normally do this. I barely have enough magic to go intangible and invisible for a short while each day. Flying has always just been… a dream, really."
Absentmindedly, you dragged a hand through the soft clouds, watching them part between your fingers. "I know there's much crazier things I could do with this crown but…" you face him, "…it's yours. I made that bet just for a few hours of fun, not to mess with your stuff, you know?"
The king was silent for once; no grumbling, hissing or huffing. He was contemplative, watching quietly as you turned to play with the clouds. The fading sunlight danced across your form in… mesmerizing ways—ways that King Boo was sure he had seen countless times over the many millennia he's existed. And yet… they struck his ghostly heart like nothing else when displayed upon your skin.
He shook his head, clearing out the pesky thoughts. "If you want to have fun, why not go all out when you have such a rare chance? Why not use the crown to its full potential?"
The look you gave him was soft—downright fluffy—too much for his cold soul. "Because I have more respect for you than that."
STRIKE 2!
His heart skipped a beat, but he refused to let it show. "What is wrong with me today?"
Instead, in typical King Boo fashion, he just grumbled under his breath and let the two of you fall into companionable silence. The rest of the day was spent drifting through the sky until the moon finally rose into view. As darkness fell, you and the ghosts spent hours messing around in the woods, chasing each other and scaring the crap out of random passersby.
And when the sun returned once more, everyone returned to the mansion. With a sigh, you flew one more lazy loop around the roof before landing in front of the king. "Alright, I've had my fun."
You returned the crown to its rightful owner, who took it with a huff, changing it back to its original size and placing it back where it belonged.
"Finally…" He gave you the stink eye when you teasingly grinned, ready to get into more petty banter. But suddenly…
"Boss! Boss! The other boss is here!" A boo hurried over, full of excitement.
You cocked an eyebrow. "Other boss…? Oh!" A realization suddenly came to you, and mischief spread across your face. King Boo, meanwhile, was groaning into his nubs, immediately sounding drained before anything had a chance to happen.
"Let's just get this over with…" he sighed and fazed through the floor, heading for the foyer. You were quick to follow down the stairs, and the sight nearly made you burst out laughing.
"Baby brother!"
You watched as King Boo got straight-up dotted on by another crowned boo, one slightly smaller than him. He was getting hugged, nuzzled and squished like a stuffed toy, and just dejectedly allowing it all to happen! Like he had no choice or something! He looked ready to drop double-dead and you couldn't hold your laughter after all.
The sound drew the ghosts’ attention, one looking surprised and the other ready to bite you. “You didn’t tell me you were the younger sibling!”
King Boo waved his nubs around in flustered offense. “By THREE minutes!”
His brother looked between the two of you in shock before gasping excitedly, holding his nubs to his face. "Boo! You've finally made a mortal friend?!” He rushed over to give you an energetic handshake, practically throwing you around in enthusiasm. "Hello! I hope my little brother hasn’t been too big of a grump to you!”
You returned the handshake to the best of your abilities. "Oh, don’t worry! I find the grumpiness endearing!”
King Boo groaned harder in defeat at the teasing grin you shot him. But you were not deterred. "Anyway!," you turned back to the older boo, "It’s nice to meet you!”, and gave him your name.
"A lovely name!" He exclaimed and returned the gesture. “Pleased to meet you as well! I am King Boo!”
You smirked. “So you really do have the same name.”
The older king chuckled. “Yes, though we do have second names!"
"Oh?"
"Yes, yes!" He was clearly excited to share. "It caused plenty of confusion back in the day, so we both came up with second names for each other to make things easier for everyone! Would you like to know them?"
"I would love to know them." You eyed the younger King Boo with an even bigger grin, letting him suffer some more in the background.
"Well!" the older one started, "My name is Sunlight! Because the sun doesn't bother me at all! And my darling baby brother–"
"I'll bite you."
"–is called Moonlight! Because he's worse than a vampire!" Sunlight floated closer to you, conspiratorially whispering. "Really, I tell you! A little time in the sun would do him some good if you ask me!"
"Are you two done gossiping about me?" Moonlight tried to intervene, scowling.
"Almost!"
"Almost!"
You and Sunlight responded at the same time, bursting into laughter, much to his brother's chagrin. "So," you continued, "you’re the fun brother and he’s the social hermit crab?”
"Exactly! He’s so stubborn about getting out of the mansion! At least the fraid goes out during the night, but he just stays here all the time!”
"Alright, ALRIGHT!" Moonlight hissed. "Enough about me! How’d you even know I was free currently? You always do this!”
Sunlight floated over with a smile and patted him on the head. “Big brothers have their ways.”
The shenanigans seemed endless with the three of you in one room. Moonlight was now swatting at his brother as the latter kept trying to annoy him. With a moment to think, a new idea popped into your head. "I have a weird question, Sunlight."
"Ask away, dear!"
“Does Luigi crap his pants every time he sees you at the games?”
What followed was the loudest boo laugh you've heard to date. Sunlight was holding back delighted tears while Moonlight used the opportunity to escape his pestering, floating behind you.
Once Sunlight came to, he confirmed, "Pretty much! Poor guy is always so conflicted by my supposed change in attitude towards him! He doesn’t know if he should expect a friendly pat on the back or teeth in his shoulder!”
"Oh! While on this topic," he floated over excitedly, "Darling, how about we get to know each other over a friendly game?”
"I'm down to play a game," you agreed, though as the energy in the room slowed, you felt exhaustion finally start to envelop you,"but I’m afraid it’d have to be something low energy. I just feel too drained after wearing Moonlight’s crown for a whole day.”
Sunlight gaped at you. "Huh."
“Yeah,” you drawled, scratching the back of your neck. “I beat him in chess and got to wear his crown for a day as per the deal.” You glanced at Moonlight. “I’m not surprised you never want to take that thing off; I think I’m going into magical withdrawal.”
Sunlight turned to his brother. “HUH?”
“Don’t look at me like that!” Moonlight hissed.
“YOU LOST AT CHESS?”
“SHUT UP, I LET THEM WIN! THEY’RE A SCRUB!”
“YOU LET THEM WEAR YOUR CROWN?!”
“I FUCKING–” Moonlight cut himself off with a huff, crossing his nubs and looking away. “...Shut up."
Sunlight turned to you, dramatically draping himself over you. “Oh darling, you’re a heaven-sent! I’ve never seen a miracle like this!”
You laughed as the boo put his weight on you. “You’re welcome, I guess!”
With a few more exchanged words, Sunlight excitedly dragged both you and his brother to one of the sitting rooms. The three of you settled down to play cards, deciding on a classic game of Go Fish.
You played for a decent while, getting to know each other and ganging up on Moonlight to annoy him as much as possible. But eventually, your human half couldn't stay awake any longer. Barely holding back a yawn, you said your goodbyes to the two ghosts and finally retired to bed.
Once the royals were alone, they put the cards away and settled down to just talk. Sunlight happily started teasing, "That human really is good for you, huh?"
Moonlight grumbled under his breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about… And stop giving me that look.”
His brother chuckled and wiggled his eyebrows. “I’m just saying! They are pretty cute~.”
Moonlight huffed, and looked away in disinterest. “They’re average at best.”
“So you wouldn’t mind if I took ‘em~?” Sunlight giggled when his brother instantly hissed in reply, an obvious look of possessiveness crossing his face. “Thought so~.”
“Aren’t you already going after that green menace?”
“Oh, yes! And I do believe it’s working, too!” Sunlight sighed. “If only he knew there were two of us… I could’ve been smooching that pretty mustache by now!”
Moonlight gagged dramatically as his brother nudged him. “Oh, c'mon! Don’t do me like that!”
“You’re gross.”
“And you’re smitten~!”
“I am not!”
Sunlight laughed. “Moonie! I’ve seen the way you look at them! You totally like them!” His eyes softened just a tad. “How did you meet them anyway?”
King Boo irritation eased at the question, remembering the first day you met. “It wasn’t even that long ago; just a few weeks…” He then caught up his brother on everything that happened, how you had invited him to your home and even rescued his poor boos of your own accord.
Sunlight listened with adept attention, his expression growing more fond with every new piece of information. He hummed in thought. “How interesting… They even talked Luigi into questioning E. Gadd?”
Moonlight huffed dismissively. “I doubt it’ll go anywhere… but yes.”
Sunlight smiled softly. “We’ll see.” He gained a more teasing smirk. “But also~,” he trilled, making his brother groan again, “you listened to them and played nice~.”
“I just felt generous,” Moonlight dismissed.
The other ghost guffawed. “You rarely ever even listen to me! Your own brother!” He laughed. “But you let that little thing order you around!”
Moonlight turned away as his face flushed a deep blue, strengthening his brother's laughter. Sunlight nuzzled against him once he got his chuckles out. “Come on, Moonlight, just tell me. Do you like them?”
Grumbling under his breath, Moonlight hid his face in his nubs as his face glowed brighter. “...Yes.”
Sunlight cheered and chirped, hugging him tight in victory. “I knew it!”