Chapter Text
A shot rang out into the abyss, the recoil pushing Bowser Junior back. He looked to his father, whose expression relaxed when he saw that no one was hurt.
"Oh. Babies," he says with a shaky laugh, his stretched-out hand falling back to his side once more.
Bowser is completely focused on one of the baby brothers, and he looked... relieved? Junior follows his gaze to the tiny version of the green-clad brother— Luigi, if he remembers correctly. He watches as the tiny thing babbles, floating away from his friends’ ship. Baby Mario reaches for him, but his tiny hand barely grazes Luigi's foot as the controls are pulled, leaving Luigi behind as they fly to god-knows-where.
Bowser doesn't even notice himself push off the ground. He drifts to Luigi, who spins in the air.
"Gotcha," he mumbles.
He grabs his tiny friend, bringing him back onto the ship. He holds Luigi close, frowning down at him when he realizes what he just did in front of his son. He brought an enemy of theirs in.
He wonders, in the back of his mind, how much of a loser his son thinks he is. The forefront of his mind is more focused on the baby in his arms.
Bowser expects Luigi to be... fussy, to say the least, after losing his brother, whom he depends on oh-so-much. When the kid instead grabs ahold of his face, he blinks, letting him climb up onto his head. He's mildly surprised when Luigi starts to play with his fluff. It reminded him of the Luigi he knew, back when he was mini and stuck in that miniature castle, which was nowhere as good as his real one. Except the man who requested he got more than just a small cage, the one he would read books with while his incriminating paintings sat hidden away, made that castle almost as good as the real thing.
"Dad," Junior indicated to the baby, grabbing another gun from the wall. "Get him off. I'll get rid of him—"
"No."
Junior takes a step back, confused at his father's harsh tone. Bowser seems to notice, because he immediately tries to correct himself, picking Luigi off his head and keeping him in his palm.
"I mean— He's... We should keep him. As a—" Bowser wracks his brain— "a hostage."
Junior starts to nod, ready to agree. His father was the expert here. He barely had any experience doing this, anyway.
Before he does, his gaze lands on the child. Right then, as if mocking him, Luigi giggles and fiddles with Bowser's claws, babbling.
The way his own father looks at that boy fondly makes something in Junior's chest burn red hot.
"We have the princess. We don't need another— we don't need that... thing," he argues, eyes locked on the boy in his father's hand.
"We'll be able to separate Mario and Princess Peach with the two of them."
Junior grumbled, glaring down at the ground, but he didn't know why. Well, maybe he knew, but it wasn't like he was going to admit to being jealous.
"But all the planet's defences will separate them anyway."
"There's too many. We have to split them up as much as possible."
His son purses his lips in annoyance. Bowser pats his shoulder awkwardly with his free hand, clearing his throat. Junior looks up at him.
"Trust me. It'll be great for us. Then we win, and we can enjoy Planet Bowser together."
His heart swells happily. His father, spending time with him on the planet he designed, like he would always describe in those bedtime stories for him? Junior could almost pretend Luigi wasn't there as he cracked a smile at his father's words.
"Okay. Should I lock him up, then?"
His father's face contorts as he struggles for words.
Junior didn't understand. Why wouldn't they lock him up? It'd be simpler. And besides, it wasn't like the brothers hadn't locked his dad up. Just because Luigi was a child now didn't mean he'd get to have special treatment.
Had his dad gone soft, in the time they'd been apart?
"No locking him up," he said, letting Luigi crawl up onto his back to pull at his horns, "it's important we keep an eye on him."
Junior stares at his father until he finally looks back at him. He looked for a hint of something sinister, something in his dad's face that could explain this. What changed, for the man who had sent him to boarding school, to turn him into this? Why was Luigi so special?
When his eyes landed on the baby once more, though, he saw exactly what the child was. A stupid, stupid child.
Like he had been.
And in no universe, no matter how cruel he'd like to be, would he deny another kid the affection he had wanted. Even if that baby was an aged down adult.
Bowser waited restlessly for his son to say something. He had a feeling Junior could tell he was making things up, and so he was trying to figure out some excuse to argue with. Instead, though, his son just nods quietly.
"Junior," he started, crouching in front of him. He held his hand out for a fist-bump. "We've got this. We're in this together, yeah? Just me and you."
"Just me and you," Junior repeated, yet his eyes stayed on baby Luigi as he bumped his father's fist weakly.
Bowser had been stuck with the child the entire day. An imitation of his friend that couldn't speak to him or read books or do anything but babble and crawl around fast. He swore even Junior hadn't been this loud and annoying. But he figured koopas just grew different. If that was true, though, what human, in their right mind, would actually choose to have one of these?
At some point, he got tired of Luigi's shenanigans and called Kamek over.
"Kamek. Bring him back."
"Ah. Sire," he said, fiddling with his staff, "the thing is... the gun is with his brother. We can't turn him back so easily."
"What?"
"The gun can reverse the effects instantly, Sire. I can only speed things up—"
"Then speed them up," he growled, holding up the baby.
Kamek quickly waved his wand, smiling awkwardly as he bowed, backing away.
“There, Sire. He should be fully grown in a week."
"A week? That's the best you can do?" he asked, scowling. When Kamek nodded, he sighed, placing the baby on the floor.
"Keep him busy for a moment," he said, going to find Junior. He was the one who had made the gun— maybe he knew how to help Luigi.
Kamek tried to protest, but Bowser slammed the door behind him as he left, making the wizard jump.
As if a switch flipped in the baby's head, Luigi started sobbing. Loud. The magikoopa sighed, picking the baby up gingerly, frowning.
"I guess we're stuck together, little one."
Luigi just sobbed louder.
Bowser found Junior again, sitting near the princess's cage, curled up and staring out blankly. He had a frown on his face, an expression Bowser didn't remember from when he was raising Junior. How hard had boarding school been, to turn his son into this mopey thing?
Was it really boarding school that did it, though?
Bowser knew his gait was heavy, so he didn't announce himself as he sat beside his son. He stayed quiet, taking the interior of the flying saucer in, tapping the ground lightly with a claw.
"You made all of this, huh?"
As if immediately triggered by his praise, Junior's eyes sparkled, his frown switched out for a smile. Bowser laughed, patting his head.
"It's amazing work. The ship, the cannon, the weapons. I bet Planet Bowser is better than I could've imagined," he said lightly. With a sigh he leaned back, staring up at the cage, the next words slipping out of his mouth before he could think better. "Almost makes me wonder what we could've achieved if I never sent you off to boarding school."
An awkward silence settles over them. Bowser's claw taps faster, until he clears his throat, struggling to find a way to reconcile the comfort he just ruined. He fails, though, instead resorting to addressing what he was really here to ask.
"So… about that gun. The one that turned the brothers into babies."
"...Yeah?" Bowser Junior's shoulders slumped. He knew his father didn't really come to compliment his work. It was too good to be true. The frown crept back onto his face.
"Is there any way to reverse it? Quickly?"
Annoyance claws at Junior's gut. His thoughts must've shown on his face, because his father immediately switched up.
"It's really. really great work. I would've never thought to make that. To turn your enemy into babies?" he laughed, rambling on, "it's— got that element of surprise, you know? It's very... great... work, and—"
"I can't reverse it," he interrupted, glaring at the ground, his tone bitter, "not without the gun."
"—Ah," Bowser finished, disappointment flashing on his face.
After another awkward silence, albeit a shorter one, he pat Junior's shoulder with a sad smile.
"That's alright, kid. We can wait. I doubt the rest of them will come fast enough, anyway."
That scathingly disappointed remark made Junior’s bitterness gave way to shame. Of course he let his father down. Why didn't he think of the possibility of losing the gun?
He nearly apologized, but he knew that if he opened his mouth, he would cry, and that would guarantee his father leaving him again.
He really was just a kid. and what king wanted a kid who couldn't keep himself together, goddammit?
He looked away, watching his father stand up out of the corner of his eye.
"We should head back, Junior," Bowser said, hoping they were alright. When his son stood too, he let out a sigh of relief. He was worried that Junior would be vocal about keeping Luigi and all, but he said nothing.
They headed back to Kamek in silence.
As soon as the door opened, Kamek rushed over and dropped the wailing baby in Bowser's arms.
"You have to stop his crying, Sire."
"And how am I supposed to do that?" he grumbled, Junior standing a pace behind him.
Kamek seemed at a loss. "Intimidation?"
Bowser frowned, but held Luigi up and growled in his face. It only made him wail harder, and he set him down, not knowing what to do.
Junior scowled, and he snapped, "read him a story. He's tired."
His father looked at him, brightening at the idea, a grin breaking across his face.
"Want to listen in as well? Just like old times."
Junior felt his face burn at the suggestion. He backed away, hand grabbing the doorknob.
"No. I'm— I'm not a baby, geez."
He felt the gaze of his father as he studied him. After a minute of silence, he turned away and cleared his throat.
"...Guess it's been a while," Bowser admitted, patting Luigi's head, struggling with his next words. As if saying it made it more real than it already was. "You're all grown up now."
"Exactly." Junior hissed. Yet for some reason, he lingered in the doorway.
Then his hand tightened on the knob, and the door closed with a loud thud.
Bowser picked the wailing child up and sat him on the couch, attempting a smile.
"Would you like to hear a story about a legendary king?"
Immediately, Luigi stopped, listening intently. It was stupid how giddy that made Bowser.
Telling him a story reminded him of their book clubs. Just the two of them reading together, remarking on the stupidity of the plot and the revolting displays throughout. Baby Luigi's giggles were practically the same as his adult counterpart's, whenever he would make a sarcastic joke or hash out a line in an even squeakier voice than what he already had.
But what surprised him was that, even more than their book clubs, the awe on Luigi's face reminded him of the bedtime stories he used to tell Junior. He was surprised by how much he missed having fun with his kid before he sent him away.
Before he knew it, he was mimicking the puppet shows they used to do, getting very into his enactments. So much so that he missed the sound of the door creaking open a crack.
Junior sat outside quietly, looking at Luigi as he babbled sleepily. Bowser let him fall asleep, cooing in a near unbefitting manner for a king such as himself.
And as Junior watched the two of them, he found a part of himself wishing he was a baby, too.