Chapter Text
Luigi had to learn a few things on his own when he became a knight with his brother, Mario.
Of course, Mario was in the field of it a bit longer than him, so he learned all that he needed to know from him. And one of them was dealing with injuries.
During his time in the Mushroom Kingdom with his brother, they would engage with a fight with an enemy every now and then and the brothers would get hurt during the fight. Luigi tries to put on a brave face, but he wasn’t as strong as Mario.
And Mario not once had cried out when he got injured.
He would hide it and tried to assure his brother that he was alright despite the exhausted look on his face, but would put up a smile to assure Luigi. And that’s when Luigi started to learn and think that hiding the pain would make him a better knight.
And one day, just to be as brave as his older brother.
Ever since then, Luigi tries to hide the pain like his brother, thinking that this would make him a better and braver knight. Despite how severe the injury was, Luigi does his best to hide it away until he was alone so that he can deal with it.
Mario could see right through him.
“Lu, you’re hurt pretty badly.” Mario said one night when they were excused for the rest of the evening from Princess Peach. He was eying a deep gash that was on his brother’s arm. He saw how his younger brother winced as he applies a wet rag to clean the dry blood.
“It’s fine…I’m fine…” Luigi tries to say, then looked at his brother and tried to smile, but it was a bit wobbly due to the pain he was in.
Luigi then blinked when he felt the rag gently dapping on the wound, then saw how Mario was helping him clean the wound, doing his best not to aggravate the wound, then wrapping it up in bandaged. “..you don’t got to hide it from me, Lu…” Mario said, not looking at him in the eye as he just kept wrapping the wound in bandages.
Luigi only ducked his head down, not looking at Mario.
He then felt arms wrapped around his neck and shoulders, seeing that Mario was holding him. “…just promise me that you’ll come to me if you get hurt, okay?” Mario asked, his voice muffled against his shoulder.
Luigi didn’t trust his voice and only nodded, gripping Mario with his good hand and arm, ducking his head to bury his face into his shoulder, some of the unshed tears falling onto his cheek and Mario’s shoulder.
A few months passed.
And Luigi was now assigned to the DarkLands to be the Prince’s personal knight, Bowser Koopa.
He does his best to keep in contact with his older brother Mario, who was back at the Mushroom Kingdom, that he was doing fine and that he wasn’t getting into trouble or getting seriously injured while on the job. Yeah, he had bruises and a few scratches here and there, but nothing too serious.
And he hides the pain much better now so that no one would catch on. Not even to Prince Bowser.
One day, he was escorting Prince Bowser as they made to a meeting with King Boo that resides in the haunted forest, but the Koopa Kingdom haves a route trade contract with King Boo that certain items aren’t found at any place except for the Haunted Forest and the Kindom all Boos reside at.
Thank goodness that Luigi had his helmet on so that the ghost king couldn’t see his face. He was terrified of the ghost himself, but he showed no sign of his fear. And Kamek trusted him enough to be in the meeting so that King Boo and Bowser don’t clash at each other again.
And they almost did when King Boo decided to test the waters by saying a few things about Bowser of his decision making in his Kingdom. If Luigi didn’t step in, Bowser would have set the king ablaze. “Your highness, don’t.” Luigi said, placing a hand on his arm when he saw smoke coming out of his nose and mouth.
“I’m only going to slightly burn him, not burn him to a crisp, but I am this close.” Bowser growled.
“Oh, have I struck a nerve? Seems you can’t do anything without someone interfering.” King Boo chuckled. Bowser only growled loudly, about to crack his knuckles, but then felt more pressure on his arm, making him turn to look at Luigi.
“Your highness. Enough.” Luigi does his best to put his foot down, not backing away when Bowser was glaring at him. The Koopa prince then sighed before relaxing, but was still giving King Boo a glare. “So are you keeping your word of your trade routes not being interfered again?” Bowser asked.
“Of course, of course. What do you take me for? I know how to keep a trade when I see one…but being on my bad side, well…” King Boo chuckled again, looking at his row of portraits of souls he captured, “It was nice doing business with you should you do something.”
“So you’re a coward then.”
King Boo blinked, then turned to Luigi that said that. Even Bowser turned to his knight with a bewildered look, not expecting that kind of remark from him.
“What did you say?” King Boo asked, floating forward and glared at the knight.
“Instead of being confrontational if someone doesn’t like your deals, you seal them away instead of handling it without hearing their side of the deal or anyone not doing deals with you at all. And should you have done something with the prince, not only would the Koopa Kingdom be after you, but also the Mushroom Kingdom, who have an alliance with the Koopa Kingdom, and they have more magical items that can do more damage than you think.”
How Luigi was being brave, he had no idea. He should have felt his knees and legs give away from fear, but he wasn’t showing it as King Boo glared at the knight.
“…normally, I would place you as my grand prize of souls I capture here that dared give me such backlash…” King Boo said, then turned to Bowser, who was glaring at him, “But since you’re the prince’s escort…I will allow it to slide for now…” King Boo went back to the other end of the meeting table.
This knight was indeed interesting. He could smell the fear off of him, but he saw no visible signs of him showing that fear. No wonder Bowser has him as his knight.
“We are done here…you may leave. I’ll send one of my couriers to send you the documents you need for the trade route.” King Boo waves them off, then turning to take his leave. Bowser stood up, then looked at Luigi and gestured his head towards the door.
Luigi nods before following the prince and left the room.
King Boo was glaring at nothing in particular, still a bit aggravated from the tone and response from the knight. Seems it’s time to put it to the test.
“…send word to Dino-Forest that there will be people walking by their territory.” King Boo said to one of the Boo’s that stayed in the room. They nodded before fazing out of existence. The ghost king then smirked. “Let’s see how far you’ll protect him…” King Boo chuckled.
00~00
Bowser was cackling as they exited the Haunted Forest, Luigi walking alongside him while Polterpup was walking along Luigi’s other free side, whining as he shapeshifter a bit bigger so that Luigi can pet his head and back to ease his nervousness.
“Damn, Greenie! Never thought I see the day you actually have a backbone!” He laughed while patting Luigi on the back.
“It’s not like I enjoyed it! I really thought he was going to kill me!” Luigi argued, having his helmet off while looking flustered of what he just said earlier to King Boo of all people. He really hoped Kamek hasn’t heard of it yet or he’s in deep trouble.
“Come on, you must have just a little! Besides, he needs to be taken down a peg or two.” The Koopa chuckled. Luigi sighed.
“With all respect, your highness—“
“You know that you can call me by my first name when we’re alone. I thought we went over this.” Bowser huffed, giving Luigi a look while raising an eyebrow at him. Luigi sighed before looking at the Koopa, “Bowser, Kamek told me to prevent you from fighting King Boo because the trading route between both kingdoms were important and I might had fudged that up because of my actions!”
“…you know that you can cuss around me too, I won’t tattle.” Bowser said.
“I’m being serious, Bowser!” Luigi yelled.
”And I’m being serious too. Besides, you made a point when you said that both the Koopa Kingdom and Mushroom Kingdom have much more magic and army-wise than King Boo. No way he’ll do anything with that hanging on him now.” Bowser sighed.
Polterpup looks at them, tilting his head and whined again and nudged Luigi again, this time pushing him closer to Bowser. This made the Koopa chuckle and wrapped one arm around Luigi. “Come on, Greenie…loosen up a bit, would ya? You’re overreacting over nothing.” He chuckled.
Luigi only sighed. But he didn’t bother fighting or arguing with Bowser as he leaned against the Koopa.
This is why he admire Bowser. He wasn’t going to judge his actions if he knows that if someone is right or not. And he wasn’t afraid of talking back at him, to which Bowser respected him for. And he didn’t expect that kind of reaction when he said that remark to King Boo and he knows that Bowser would have done it, but it would’ve been safer if he did it.
He didn’t know if this was the best decision he did or the worst mistake he did.
“…I guess you’re right…” Luigi sighed.
“I always am.” Bowser states, then smirked as he got a laugh from Luigi when he nuzzled the side of his head, a purr rumbling in his throat. Polterpup, feeling left out, lets out a happy bark and nuzzled the both of them.
“Okay, okay! I get it!” Luigi laughed, petting Polterpup as the ghost dog lets out a happy whine, wagging his tail happily. Satisfied, they continued to walk in silence back to the Koopa Kingdom.
Bowser was starting to like Luigi more and more since he became his personal knight. It was also fun to tease him every now and then to make their interactions more interesting. He was against having a personal knight at first when Princess Peach introduced him, but after their interactions with one another, he started to get interested in the knight.
Even the sparring matches were interested when he never submit to defeat.
If only…
Bowser was still smirking before they saw Dino-Forest up ahead.
“Wish there was a better route to the Haunted Forest…remind me when we get back to talk to Kamek about making more transporting spheres.” Bowser said, eying the forest as he heard multiple dinosaur roars coming from the land.
“We ran out? I didn’t know that.” Luigi said, Polterpup walking alongside Luigi while eying the forest as well, the fur on his back standing up slowly and lets out warning growls when he saw a few small dinosaurs that got too close.
“Unfortunately. One of the other kingdoms were running low and we gave our last supply of it to them because their deal with Aqua Kingdom is hard to get to. So transporting spells are the only way to get to and from there without getting hurt.” Bowser explained.
“Oof…guess that makes sense. Was wondering why we walked to the Haunted Kingdom instead of using the transporting sphere spell.” Luigi states, Bowser nodding in agreement, “Yeah, normally that would be the case. But I know they make you queasy when we use them.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m getting use to them now so I’m not as dizzy when it happens.” Luigi smiled.
Bowser knows he’s lying. “Greenie—“
A Dino-guard jumps out. “Halt! In the name of the Dino-Kingdom, state your business!” The guard snarled, baring his teeth while pointing his blade at them. Luigi managed to place his helmet on quickly and stood in between him and Bowser, his sword also drawn out.
“You guys never have a problem of us walking alongside the forest. Why now of all days?” Bowser growled. They never have a problem with the Kingdom. They allow people to walk alongside near the border so as long as no one ventures inside without a reason.
“I said state your business.” The guard said again, his raptor features showing anger as his pupils were slit, baring his razor sharp teeth.
“We are only passing by. We just came back from the Haunted Forest and on our way back to our Kingdom. Please move aside.” Luigi commands. That made the Dino guard laugh, Luigi’s body tensing up more.
“Oh please, I find that hard to believe. Now state why you are truly here or else.” The Dino guard snarled once more. Seeing that he wasn’t backing down, Luigi held his sword in both hands, getting ready to fight and defend Bowser.
“Get one of your higher guards and I’ll explain it myself.” Bowser commands, also baring his teeth to show that he was going to fight as well despite Luigi being his knight. This was getting ridiculous and he just wanted to go home and rest and now he has to deal with this.
“I will say this again…move now. And let us pass” Luigi warned.
The Dino guard attacks first.
He raised his sword and charged, to which Luigi was able to block it with ease with his sword, forcing the Dino guard back. This seems to aggravate the guard even more and kept swinging his sword at Luigi. But after so many training with not only Mario, but also some of the guards in the Koopa Kingdom, he was able to read his moves with ease and either dodged it or block it.
Luigi managed to tackle the guard to the ground and points his sword at the Dino guard’s throat, keeping him pin with one foot on his chest.
“Last warning. Now let us pass through…” Luigi states, slightly out of breath.
This only made the dinosaur smirk at him.
Using his claws on his feet, he was able to dig his claws into one of Luigi’s legs, forcing him off. Luigi didn’t have time to react and then was tackled to the ground as another wound was made as the guard made a large gash on his shoulder with his blade.
Bowser only saw red.
The dinosaur smirked, then cried out in pain when he felt flames burning his arm, Bowser letting out a stream of fire to burn the guard.
But before Bowser could do more damage, two higher guards pinned the dinosaur guard to the ground as the captain of the Dino-Forest guards came through. “Makaal! What is the meaning of this!?” The captain commanded.
“They were trespassing!” Makaal shouts as the two guards hauled him to his feet, holding him in place as Bowser went to check on Luigi, who gripped his shoulder as blood seeped out from his armor along with his leg wound. This looks bad.
“Hold on, Luigi…” He pulled both his cape off and starts to tie up his shoulder wound with it to keep the wound sealed.
“I-I’m fine, your highness.” Luigi tried to say. He still had his helmet on so that no one can see his expression right now as he tried to hide the pain he was in, silently wincing when Bowser took Luigi’s cape off and tied the wound on Luigi’s leg. It’ll do for now and he’ll hear an earful later from Kamek of getting blood on his clothes.
The captain guard turned Bowser and knelt down. “Forgive us, Prince Bowser of the Koopa Kingdom. We will take immediate actions of what happened and this guard will be punish for his actions.” He then saw the wounds on the Luigi.
“We have a medic on sight should you wish to—“
“No, I’ll take him to the kingdom myself.” Bowser then looked at Polterpup, who whined at Luigi and nuzzled the side of his neck and face. “You take him to the Kingdom. You’re faster than me.” Polterpup looks at Bowser before nodding.
The ghost dog shape-shifts until he was bigger. Bowser looks at Luigi before helping him onto Polterpup’s back. “Y-Your highness, I’m okay—”
“Take him straight to the medical bay.” Bowser said to Polterpup.
Before Luigi could argue, Polterpup started to run towards the Koopa Kingdom. Bowser then turned to the dinosaur captain. “Since my knight is out of commission right now due to your guard’s action, I need an escort back to the Kingdom.” Bowser growled.
The guard nods. “Understood. We will provide an escort immediately for your safe journey back to the kingdom. We will also provide one of our large flying mounts to get you back to the kingdom faster.”
Bowser nods, then turned to glare at the dinosaur guard that harmed Luigi. “You better hope that there isn’t any permanent damage or I will be back and deal with you myself; despite what the guard’s punishment towards you is.” Bowser threatened.
Makaal looked at the captain. “Are you seriously going to let him threaten me like this!? I was told that there would be trespassers that would cause problems to our kingdom—“
“As long as they walk alongside the border and not step inside unless with reason, they are allowed to use this route to get to and from other kingdoms. We were briefed on this the day we become fully fledged guards and you were told of this numerous of times, despite my warnings.” The captain growled, also baring his teeth ant him, to which the guard started to cowered in fear.
He then turned to the higher guards. “Escort him to the pit for the time being until I talk with the King of his actions. Then send an immediate flying mount so I can escort Prince Bowser back to the Kingdom.”
“Yes sir.” They both said in sync before taking the guard back inside of the Kingdom.
The captain then turned to Bowser, standing up straighter. “Once again, please accept my sincere apologies of my guard’s action. I shall escort you back to your kingdom as captain of the guards, I shall take full responsibility of this situation.”
At least this guard isn’t as dimwitted as the one that harmed his knight. But he’ll take what he can get. “Fine…”
Luigi winced as the healer does their best to clean the wound without aggravating it further, the wound much deeper than they thought while using herbals and healing ointment to close the wound without trying to leave any scars.
Kamek was shocked when he saw Polterpup carrying an injured Luigi on his back without the Prince in sight. Before he could scold Luigi, the knight slowly fell off of Polterpup’s back by either exhaustion from trying to stay awake or blood loss.
So he’ll have to deal with it on a later time as he lets out commands to people to take Bowser’s personal knight to the medical bay immediately for treatment.
Before he could even do a search, that’s when he saw a large pterosaur beast flying towards the Koopa Kingdom, Bowser on its back with a Dino Guard escorting him safely to the Kingdom.
The beast lets out a cry as it lands, gust of wind and dust flying across the ground. It purrs as it lowered its back to let Bowser and the Dino captain off. The captain then knelt down before Kamek.
“I am from the Dino-Forest Kingdom, captain of the Dino-guards of the Kingdom. One of my guards made a grave mistake and harmed the Prince’s personal knight. We are taking immediate action of the guard and I volunteered myself to escort Prince Bowser back to the kingdom. On behalf of the Dino-Forest Kingdom, I sincerely apologize for the actions that happened.”
Kamek looks at the prince, who nods, then saw Polterpup, who whines and walked towards Bowser and nuzzled his arm, Luigi’s blood still on his fur. He then turned to Kamek. “Where is he?”
”He is being treated in the medical bay as we speak.” Kamek answered.
Bowser then turned to the guard. “Head back to your Kingdom and I want an audience with your King whenever he is available as I want to be present of the hearing the guard’s punishment.” Boswer said. The guard nods. “Yes, your highness. I shall speak with our king and respond when he has an available date.”
Bowser then turned to Kamek. “Write a response when we hear back from the Dino-Forest Kingdom.” Bowser states, to which Kamek nods. Polterpup looks at Bowser and whined, to which Bowser pets his head in respond, a small smile on his face. “Good job on getting him here in time…”
Polterpup lets out another whine, leaning into the Koopa’s hand, enjoying the pets. He glanced at the nearest Koopa guard, who salutes in response, ready for a task. “Please escort Polterpup to the stables and get him properly cleaned.”
“Yes your highness.” The guard nods. He then turned to Polterpup, “Go with them so you can get cleaned up.” Before anyone can respond to him further, the Koopa prince made his way to the medical bay.
As he got there, he saw how much worse the wound was when he saw Luigi again.
He was no longer in his armor set, wearing loose clothings as the healer was now focused on his leg wound, the gash much deeper than the shoulder wound. How Luigi wasn’t crying or in pain was beyond him as he saw how he was putting on a brave face.
“How bad is it?” Bowser asked.
“The wound is deep, but there shouldn’t be any scarring since these are fresh. But the ointment will take time, so he needs at least a few days of bed rest.” The healer said.
“I-it’s not as bad as it looks. I’m okay, really.” Luigi said.
He was lying again.
Bowser knows he lying again, especially when he saw how Luigi was curling his fingers on the bed and sheets whenever the healer touched the wound with the ointment and healing herbs. Wrapping up the wounds, the healer was finished and bowed at the prince. “I take it you’ll want to escort the knight to his quarters?”
“Yeah, I’ll take it from here.”
The healer nods once more. “Allow the ointment to work its magic first. Should take about a few minutes and I’ll return with another herbal to help with numbing the pain along with some herbal teas for him to take.”
The two were soon alone, Bowser looking at the wound, then looks at Luigi, who wasn’t looking at him in the eye.
”Greenie—“
“I’m fine, Bowser. Really, it doesn’t hurt as much. It’s only a scratch.” Luigi said.
Bowser sighed deeply before walking over and sat on the edge of the bed so that he could look at Luigi properly. “…you know that I can tell you’re lying.”
This made the knight narrowed his eyes. “Your highness, I said I’m fine. I know what I signed up for. I know what would happened further down the road, I am only doing my job to protect you and I did that.” Bowser looked at him bewildered. Whatever he got this idea from wasn’t sitting right for him.
“Luigi—“
“I took an oath…and that was to follow you to the ends of the universe and protect you…and I will continue to do so.” Luigi wasn’t looking at Bowser now, ducking his head and looked at his bandaged leg, seeing some of the blood seeping through slightly through the bandages.
“But I don’t WANT you to die for me.”
He felt a large hand gripping one of his hands, making him look to see Bowser gripping his hand away from the bed and sheets so that he was squeezing the Koopa’s hand instead. “…you’re allow to show emotions, Luigi. You know that I don’t judge about that…”
”…then what’s the point of being a knight?” That made Bowser blink at that question.
“A knight is suppose to be brave, strong, not feel any pain or anything. If I show my enemies when I’m hurt, or anyone when I show emotions…then there’s no point of being a knight. I can’t be one if I show pain or…” He trails off when he felt a large hand cupping his chin, making him tilt his head up to look at Bowser.
“…it’s okay to show emotions…”
“But—“
“You don’t have to prove yourself to me. But being able to admit you’re in pain is strong too…” Bowser said.
He didn’t know why, but that sentence alone took a toll in his heart. He wasn’t aware that a tear shed from his eye as Bowser moved his hand away and cupped his cheek, brushing the tear away with his thumb. “…you can let go…”
That’s all it took.
Luigi ducked his head as he lets out a sob, fresh tears rolling down his face and cheeks. He held in the pain for so long and he was unsure if he could rebuild those walls again around him of his thinking of being a knight. He was in pain now from his wounds, but after years of hiding his pain and emotions as a knight finally took its toll.
Bowser was silent as he watched the knight that was assigned to him finally let go of his emotions. How long he held it in, he didn’t know. But he knows it must’ve been for a long time when he told him to let go of the emotions.
“…c’mere…” Bowser wrapped both arms around Luigi, gently pulling him into a hug without aggravating the wound on his shoulder. He didn’t care about his status as a prince or Luigi’s status as a knight, he needed this. He’ll hear from Kamek later on should he know about this.
And Luigi seemed to be in the same boat as he buried his face into his shoulder, sobbing while using his good arm to hug Bowser back. He really needed this, the pain and emotions he bottled up finally spilled out.
“I’m sorry…I”m sorry…” Luigi sobbed, curling himself smaller into the hug. Bowser only shook his head, slightly tightening the hug. “Don’t worry about it…just get it all out…” Bowser whispered. Luigi just continued to sob, gripping the fabrics of Bowser’s shirt in between his fingers. And Bowser held him, letting him vent into his shirt.
The healer was about to walk in, but then heard sobbing from the opposite end of the door. Deciding not to engage, the walked away and get the other tea remedy for the knight so that he could sleep peacefully for the next few nights until he’s healed.
Luigi was quiet after awhile, breathing shaky sighs and sniffs as his grip started to loosen up slightly. Bowser was rubbing his back in gentle circles until he could feel Luigi finally calming down. “…never be afraid of showing emotions to me…okay?” Bowser glanced down at Luigi.
It was silence, but then felt Luigi nods against his shoulder.
Bowser allowed Luigi to pull away first. The knight sniffed and wiped his eyes and face with his arm to rid of the tears. “Sorry…didn’t mean to lose it completely on you.”
“Hey, I told you can show emotions towards me. You know that I won’t judge it. Just don’t bottle it in like that…you know you can talk to me.” Bowser smiled sadly.
They both stared at each other for a moment, seeming to be lost in their own world as everything disappeared around them. It felt right…
Bowser nearly leaned forward, Luigi about to follow suite—
“Your highness!”
Both Bowser and Luigi quickly pulled away from each other as Kamek bursts into the room. But the Koopa had a flat and annoyed look when the court wizard suddenly interrupted him, having the worst timing ever.
“What is it this time!?” Bowser huffed.
“Well, you said to write a response to the Dino King…but was unsure what to write.” Kamek admits. Bowser was now even more annoyed. “You know what to write when I ask you to make a response towards other kingdoms, you know exactly what I want to respond with!” Bowser huffed.
“Well, yes…but we hardly do anything with the Dino-Forest Kingdom. So I wanted to make a good first impression.” Kamek admits again. Bowser ran a tired hand over his face, then sighed. “Just…tell them the situation and I want an audience with the King so that I can attend the hearing of the guard’s punishment…that is it.”
Kamek nods, then looks at Luigi, then back at Bowser. He narrowed his eyes at them. “Did something—“
“Nothing happened. I was telling him what the healer told me, nothing else.” Bowser interrupted him, keeping his eyes narrowed at Kamek. The court wizard looks at them, adjusting his glasses and left it alone as he bowed. “I will write the response and tell you their answer when I hear back.”
Kamek soon leaves the room.
Bowser lets out a huff. “I swear he has the worst timing ever.” Bowser groaned.
Luigi could only nod, agreeing with the prince.
00~00
Luigi was back at his personal quarters, resting on his bed as Polterpup was laying on the foot of his bed, freshly clean from a bath that the Koopa guards gave him so he wasn’t covered in blood anymore.
Bowser had personally carried Luigi back to his room since he was on bed rest for the next few days until he was fully healed. Of course, Luigi tried to protest that it wasn’t necessary and he could just use the walls for support and get to his room on his own.
Bowser told him that he was heading towards his quarters anyway and ‘May as well kill two birds with one stone!’ As Bowser described, giving no room for Luigi to argue. So now he was resting, the numbing ointment working its magic as he can barely feel the pain anymore from his wounds.
Of course, he’ll have to wake up and reapply the ointment again within a few hours. But the healer said it may not be necessary as the special tea brew they made would help him sleep through the night without feeling pain.
Luigi wrote something down in his personal journal of what happened today, then a small smile was on his face. It was great that Bowser trusted him that much that he could show emotions towards him. Guess his way of thinking of what a knight is suppose to be wasn’t what he thought it was.
But he thought about that moment before Kamek interrupted him.
There was no way that Bowser felt the same way as he did, did he?
He’ll admit that he haves a crush on the prince, but due to him being a knight, he felt that it would be unprofessional if a knight was dating a prince and vice versa with Bowser. But no way that moment almost happened…right?
A knock on the door was heard.
Luigi blinked and closed his journal and placed it away, Polterpup perking his head up when he heard the door knocking. Seeing his tail wagging slightly, he knows who’s at the door. “Come in.”
Bowser peeked his head in, carrying a tray that had tea along with some snacks that’s light for the stomach. “Hey…heard you haven’t eaten yet. So the healer told me to bring this to you, something light for the stomach.”
“Yeah, they did mention about the tea.” Luigi said, watching Bowser walk in, petting Polterpup as he walked past the ghost dog and setting the tray down on the small bed stand next to his bed. “You feeling alright?” Bowser asked as Luigi munched on the bread.
“Yeah, the healer came by not too long ago and applied the numbing ointment. I have to do it twice daily until the wound fully heals, but I have to be on bed rest until it’s fully healed so I can’t be your guard until then.”
“Yeah, well, I’m on castle arrest anyway. Kamek won’t let me travel until he says otherwise. Only time I will is when the Dino guards come here in a couple of days and meet up with their King about the punishment that guard will have.” Bowser shrugged.
“…he knows that the Koopa guards are capable of guarding you too, right?” Luigi couldn’t help but ask, to which Bowser snorts in response.
“Yeah, I said that too. But I guess he prefers you guarding me than most. And that’s saying something since he doesn’t trust anyone to guard me that well. So you must’ve left a good impression on him.” Bowser smirked at him.
“I wouldn’t say that…” Luigi admits, not looking at Bowser in the eye.
“You kiddin’ me, Greenie? I told him, along with that Dino captain, of what happened. He was about to yell at you for leaving me until I told him the situation. And those Dino guards ain’t no joke either on their fighting style. So you managing to get them off guard the first time really impressed Kamek.”
That made Luigi blink, a light blush on his face. “…really?”
“Dead serious. And when I told that captain what happened, he was even shocked that you’ve managed to hold on your own well. And using their claws in battle when they get defeated is apparently against their laws as a guard, so that’s a double win for you.” Bowser winked at Luigi.
Luigi didn’t know what to say, but he felt proud of himself of holding himself against a Dino guard all on his own. He did technically won that battle, but the guard fought dirty and used his raptor claws against him.
”Hey, umm…since you’ll be bed rest and all…I do…have some books that are interesting if you need something to keep you busy and not be bored or anything…” Bowser offered, rubbing the back of his head.
That made Luigi blink. “Really?”
”Yeah. Got a few personal books myself that are interesting if you want me to fetch them real quick.” Before Luigi could respond, Bowser was out of the door and going to his personal quarters to grab the books. Polterpup looks at Luigi and lets out a huff.
“No need to rub it in…” Luigi huffed. He looks at the tea before deciding to take a sip. He may as well get it over with before he forgets. He was expecting a bitter taste, but it tasted like vanilla with a hint of honey, making him sigh in bliss.
He hoped it was this flavor every night until his wounds healed.
After a moment, Bowser came back with a few books. “Don’t know if you’re a fan of dragon biology, but I remember you saying you were fascinated by—“ He was cut off when he saw the scene.
Luigi was conked out, breathing softly in his sleep as he laid on his back, Polterpup laying his head down near him and wagged his tail when he saw Bowser walked in. When the prince saw the cup of tea now empty, it didn’t take him long of what happened and chuckled quietly.
He placed the books down by the end table stand next to the bed, about to grab the tray of food and empty cup until he glanced at Luigi.
He looked so peacefu as he slept.
He pulled the blanket up closer to Luigi’s chin so that he was covered, smiling gently at the knight sleeping. He wanted to do something, but was unsure if it was a good idea and was afraid that Luigi might wake up should he attempt it.
But it won’t stop bugging him. Screw it.
Bowser leaned in and kissed the top of Luigi’s head. Seeing he didn’t wake up, Bowser smiled gently—
A gentle snort was heard, making him turn to the source.
Polterpup looks at him, but if he knew better, he saw a smirk on the dog’s face, his tail wagging gently at what he witnessed.
“Don’t blow my cover. Keep this between us.” Bowser whispered, a finger over his lips to gesture Polterpup to stay quiet. His response was a tail wag, to which Bowser huffed and went over and rubbed the top of Polterpup’s head.
“You watch over him until he’s healed.” Bowser said. Polterpup only responded by licking his hand, his tail still wagging happily. Bowser huffed a laugh before leaving, gently closing the door so that Luigi can sleep.
Bowser then blinked at what he did just earlier. He actually went through with it, he managed to steal a kiss from Luigi. But he was unsure if it counted since he was asleep and didn’t witnessed it, but he felt a bit better that he got it out than holding it in. He then sighed and ran a hand over his face.
“Gods…I’m running in deep…” Bowser sighed.