Chapter Text
Three days.
It had been three days since Mario had come to Luigi and told him that he and Peach were engaged. To say it had been a surprise was an understatement. The two of them had been dating for…close to a year now, yes, but it was more that he was blindsided by it because Mario hadn’t said a thing to him about wanting to propose. He hadn’t even mentioned wanting to marry her. Luigi wasn’t stupid enough to think it wasn’t a possibility, sometime. In the very far future. But Mario would’ve said something ahead of time.
The explanation came immediately. Mario hadn’t been the one to propose, Peach had.
Luigi was able to pretend to be happy. Somehow, he was able, despite being blindsided. Despite having always been a man who had difficulty disguising his emotions. He was able to congratulate them, somehow, even when the news had felt like it tore him in two.
The ordeal Luigi had been through, being captured by Bowser and nearly killed, Mario nearly being killed. It had put a lot of things into perspective for him. Put into perspective what was most important.
It wasn’t that he didn’t already know that Mario was the most important person in his life. That was a given. The two of them were quite literally inseparable. As in, it physically hurt for him to be apart from his brother. That had almost been the worst part of being taken prisoner by Bowser. Being away from Mario.
He’d realized while he sat in that cold dark cage, just how deeply he loved his brother. He realized the way he ached to have his arms around him was much, much more than a symptom of brotherly love. He realized, when he thought he may never see Mario again, that he loved him. He loved him, not as his brother, and he had for almost all his life.
There was, probably, a part of him which had always known. Growing up, he had played at having crushes on girls, at seeking a prom date, even at getting his heart broken by unattainable crushes, but always it had felt like play. Something he was performing for the benefit of everyone else which provided absolutely nothing for him. Truthfully, he’d never been attracted to another man, either. Ma and Pa might have come around to that eventually, or at the very least Mario would’ve raised hell until they had come around, but it wasn’t so simple as that.
Even Mario wouldn’t defend him on this.
And so he’d been spending the past few days torturing himself. Things were going to change and he didn’t know how he was going to cope with them. He didn’t know if he could cope with them. He and Mario wouldn’t be able to share a room anymore. He’d be spending even more time with Peach instead of with him. Mario had been very charitable about including Luigi in plans he made with Peach, whenever he could, and Peach had been accommodating. She pitied him, he thought. She knew his time imprisoned by Bowser had traumatized him. But he doubted she’d be so accommodating once they were actually married.
Luigi sat on the edge of Mario’s bed, his chin in his hand, staring vacantly into the corner of their shared bedroom. From the corner of his eye he could see the movement of Mario pulling on his pajamas. He was struggling to focus on what his brother was saying, talking idly about the wedding, about having dinner with Ma and Pa to break the happy news, his voice briskly excited.
They’d be thrilled. The whole family would be. And as well they should be. If anyone deserved to marry a princess, Mario did.
“Lu? Luigi? ”
He started, realizing his cheeks were hot with tears. Mario climbed onto the bed beside him. “Lu, what’s the matter?”
Luigi closed his eyes and shook his head, silent for a moment. “I guess it’s just…the way things are changing.” He spread his clasped hands in a shrug. “It’s the way they gotta be, right? Change is a good thing, sometimes. I’m just…gonna have to get used to not being able to come running to you to rescue me all the time.” He gave his brother a hapless smile. “Selfish, I know…”
Mario was genuinely bewildered. “Lu, no matter what, you’re always gonna be my brother. Me and Peach, that doesn’t change that.”
His cheek twitched as he forced a smile through the sting of what should’ve been reassurance. “Yeah. No matter what,” he whispered hoarsely. He pressed his thumb into the bridge of his nose, trying to push back tears or push the screaming thoughts out of his head, and he could feel Mario reaching out toward him. Before his brother could touch him Luigi sprang off of his bed. He didn’t think he could stand it if he touched him right now.
“…You sure you’re okay?” Mario asked, his eyes imploring and sharply attentive with concern. Luigi nodded curtly. “If you wanna sleep in my bed tonight—“
“I’m fine.” Though he didn’t mean it to be, his tone was crisp and terse, and Mario seemed immediately abashed by the uncharacteristic reaction. It wasn’t an unusual offer–something the two of them ought to have grown out of years ago, but hadn’t. A habit he was going to have to break sooner rather than later.
“Alright,” Mario said meekly. “Just…you can tell me anything, Lu, you know that?”
Anything. Anything but this. Never this. He didn’t look back at Mario as he climbed into his own bed. “I know. G’night.”
Whether Mario believed him or not, he couldn’t say. But as he drifted off into fitful sleep, unbeknownst to him, Mario still lay wide awake.