Chapter Text
He really should have stayed in bed, but no, Mario had to be a hero and now Luigi is stuck in a lava filled hell hole. If you’re anything Like Luigi you may be wondering how a plumber from Brooklyn ended up being transported here, well it all started with his twin waking him from a blissfully dead to the world sleep.
“Lu!” Luigi is pulled from sleep by a sudden scream as his bedroom door is flung open. The lanky man jumps, panicked by the sudden and in his opinion unnecessarily loud invasion by his twin brother.
“Mario?” Luigi says blearily as he tries to blink sleep from his eyes. His alarm clock says it’s 3:37 am, on their day off too.
Mario is already wide awake, fully dressed and rearing to go. “Lu! Lu! You’ll a never believe it! A pipe burst and is threatening to ruin the whole neighbourhood!
He just stares at his brother dumbly as the overly enthusiastic man turns on the overhead and begins to throw clothes at his utterly confused twin. “Ah uh, and a why do you sound so pleased?”
Mario whirls on him throwing his hands in the air. “Don’t cha a get it?” He says almost maniacally, at the confused look on his brothers face he just grins. “We’re plumbers Lu! We can fix the pipe and save Brooklyn!”
So yeah, Luigi was now staring at an unending landscape of lava and ash all because Mario had the brilliant idea to save Brooklyn. Only the pipe they had found themselves working on did not transport water or sewage, it instead transports unwitting plumbers to other worlds, yeah. Not only did it transport them, it also separated them, as Luigi has been here twenty minutes already with no sign of Mario, oh and delightfully the entrance to this end of the pipe was not at ground level, no it was at least twelve feet high, and while he was a lanky six feet he couldn’t reach double his height, and there seemed to be nothing around him for miles, great, this was just great.
Luigi looks around him trying to decide on his next move. The only thing in any direction on the horizon is a volcanic mountain, it looked to be close, but he knew that depending on its size that it could be a lot father away than it looks. Yet it was the only landmark aside from the giant green pipe protruding from the brimstone, so the volcano it was. He picked up his tool kit, which thankfully seemed to be undamaged in his sudden trip, he opened up his kit and inspected what he had to work with.
It had all his normal plumbing tools, adjustable wrenches, a soldering torch, extra solder, an interchangeable screwdriver, a socket set, an electric hand saw, a drain snake, thread sealing tape and other odds and ends. In a separate pocket he also found that he had a full litre water bottle and half a box of protein bars, along with hand sanitiser, a sewing kit and a mini first aid box. Luigi always liked to be prepared for any occasion, and he always kept food and water with him when he worked knowing Mario would neglect taking care of himself, if Luigi didn’t shove a protein bar in his hands or demand he drink some water then his brother would easily go the whole day without either.
Mario, he was all alone right now, without him. Who would make sure he ate? Who would make sure he sat down once in a while? How was he going to find him? Luigi had no answers, and even the thought of being alone himself had his legs shaking, but he couldn’t stay here. He’d delayed long enough, if he was going to be reunited with his brother then he would have to find help. He turned to the looming volcano and gulped. The sun was beginning to rise, casting an eery red glow around the mountain, he could see lava flows slowly meandering down its face creating a hauntingly beautiful cascade of lightning bolt patterns across its surface. The volcano was as intimidating as it was beautiful.
A place that pretty couldn’t be all bad, right?
He sighs to himself, hiking his kit on his shoulder, he takes an unsteady step towards the looming heights and begins his journey. The road isn’t easy to say the least, he has to take long detours to avoid getting too close to the magma, and he is startled to find a field of lava geyser between him and the mountain. He has to duck and weave, and nearly gets a face full of magma more than once, but he gets through with only a few minor burns and one of his eyebrows a bit singed. Luigi is just glad his moustache was spared the fire, he wasn’t a particularly vane man, but his pride and joy was his perfectly combed and manicured thick and luxurious black moustache. He stops at an out cropping of rocks to rest, he pulls out a protein bar and his water bottle, he eats half a bar and has three very big mouthfuls of water. He isn’t sure how long the journey will be so he is trying to conserve both, he knows the water will go first, and in a land as hot as this one that would be the real danger.
While he and Mario may not be the most outdoorsy of guys, being unapologetically city boys, Luigi was an avid reader. He’d read plenty of stories and histories about survival situations, he knew the rule of three would keep him alive. No more than three minutes without air, three days without water, three weeks without food. One litre wasn’t quite a days worth of water, and if he conserved too much of it he could pass out from heat stroke or dehydration while he still had water left. Apparently it happens more than you would think, someone still has water, but conserved it too strictly, living or dying depending on when they are found with plenty of water still on them. So he needed to be drinking regularly, but not so much he used it all to early. The food situation would keep him for two or three days, so he didn’t need to ration to much just yet. He takes a kerchief from his overall pocket and wipes down his sweaty face and neck, what he really wanted was a nice long cool shower, but wishful thinking wasn’t going to get him home.
The volcano looks closer, so he thinks he may reach it by tomorrow if not some time tonight, he bites a nail anxiously, he’s not seen any sign of life so far, and if there aren’t people at this volcano then he’s royally screwed. He wouldn’t have the water to back track to the pipe, he’s just starting to panic when he hears a sound. His spine stiffens, there is something moving behind the rocks in front of him. Luigi’s frozen to the spot, there is nothing around them for miles but lava and steam, so what exactly is here with him? Theres the faint sounds of something clicking on rocks, before a light thump of something soft hitting stone, and the unmistakable sound of sniffling? Someone is sniffling?
“Dad?” A horse whisper sounds from behind the stones before a choked sob, and the sounds of a child crying.
Bambino! It’s a bambino! Luigi jumps to his feet, dropping his tools to the ground with a loud thunk, he whines to himself as the child’s cry’s stop, the last thing he wanted was to scare a poor lost bambino. “Scusa.” Luigi says as gently as he can. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
The little sounds of sniffing start up again, but mixed with what sounds like an attempted growl. “Don’t come any closer!” Luigi stops and raises his hands, even though he can’t see the bambino, and there for presumably can’t be seen himself.
“I’m a sorry piccolo.” He says softly. “I uh didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m not scared!” The child barks out clearly terrified. “When my dad finds me he’s going to beat you up and burn you for taking me!
Luigi blanches. “You were taken from your padre?” The very thought horrifies him, who would possible take a bambino and leave them all the way out here.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know!” The child says angrily. “You’re the one who kidnapped me!”
“Oh bambino. I don’t know where we are, but I promise you, I did not bring you here.” He explains.
“Liar!
“Piccolo, how long have you been out here?”
The boy, at least Luigi thinks he’s a boy, stops to think for a minute. “Don’t know, a day, maybe two.” He says dejectedly, ice freezes his veins despite the heat all round them. This child has been out here all alone for a day or two, all by himself.
“Y-You must be a hungry?” He hears a muffled reply her can’t quite make out. “I have some water and protein bars. Would you like some?”
He finally sees a tuff of red hair peaking over the rocks, all he can see of the little bambino is his shocking hair and a pair of dark mistrusting eyes. He’s not sure what in the red light of the volcano, but something is off about this kid. “Food?”
He smiles nervously and nods, he crouches down without looking away from the bambino, scared to take his eyes off incase the little tike bolts. Luigi managers to grab a full bar from the pack, he holds it out to the little boy without standing, he knows kids feel safer with new people when they were closer to their height. He’s from a large Italian family after all and has been taking care of children since he was just a bambino himself. The little head bobs as he sniffs the air, and Luigi can see that they’re face is round, and plump, and definitely not human.
The child crawls on top of the bolder and looks down at him, the bambino is some kind of yellow turtle with a spiky green shell and a tuff of wild red hair on his adorable little face, he is maybe two and a half feet tall if that, looking like a four or five year old, barely out of toddlerdom. He sits on top of the bolder and eyes Luigi suspiciously. “Whats the catch greenie?”
Luigi raises his now singed brow in confusion. “Catch?”
“Yeah, no one is nice for nothing. So watcha want?!” The little turtle demands with a pointed finger and a frown.
Despite his surprise he can’t help but be enamoured by this fiery little bambino. He chuckles to himself. “I just want you to get home to your padre safe.”
The child glares at him and sniffs the air again. “You’re weird greenie.”
He nods. “Yeah I a know.” He beams as the little creature crawls off the rock and comes closer to him, he holds the bar out a bit more towards the bambino, who snatches it and rips the plastic away.
He sniffs the little brown bar sceptically, before giving it a tiny lick, his eyes go big as he tastes the sweet and salty flavour of chocolate peanut butter, before inhaling the bar in two bites. The poor little thing must have been starving, his eyes crinkled in bliss as he licks his little bar and the wrapper to get every last crumb. Luigi grabs the other half of the bar he was eating before, he’d happily give all the food to the little one, but he didn’t want him getting sick if he hadn’t eaten in a day or two.
“Here.” He holds the open half bar out.
The kid looks from him to the bar before grabbing it and sitting to enjoy this one a bit more slowly. “These are good.” He says between bites. “Why you sharing them? You stupid or something?” All the edge has been smoothed over by the contentment food brought the little bambino.
Luigi chuckles, he shifts so he’s sitting instead of crouching. “Yeah maybe.” He pulls out his water bottle, he opens it to see he has about two thirds left. If he minimised his intake this should get them to the volcano, but they would be dehydrated. He closes the lid and hands it to the child. “Drink this, there isn’t a lot but if we both pace ourselves there should be enough to get us through today.” He explains, the kid gives him a curious look. “For now just take a few deep sips, can you do that piccolo?”
The kid takes the water bottle wearily and nods. He takes three good sips of water and sighs. He hugs the bottle to himself and blinks sleepily. “Why ya being so nice?” He asks.
Luigi just gives him a soft tender smile. “Being lost is scary, I don’t know bout a you, but I’d rather be with you than be alone.”
The little turtle giggles. “Scaredy greenie, fine, I’ll travel with you.”
“You would really keep me company?” Luigi asks feigning awe.
The bambino perks up and puffs out his chest. “I will keep you safe, you just follow me greenie!”
“Thank you Piccolo. Who might I ask is so kind as to be my protector?” He asks indulgently.
The child clambers to his feet and scuttles up the bolder again leaving the water bottle on the ground. “I am the great and powerful Bowser Jr!” He yells stomping and waving his arms and stomping for show. “The heir and future king of the mighty Koopa Kingdom!” He laughs in what Luigi thinks is meant to be menacing but in truth is just adorable.
“The mighty Bowser Jr?” Luigi asks opening his mouth and holding his face in shock, it sets the bambino into another fit of delighted giggles. He waits for the kid to settle down and holds out his own hand. “I am Luigi your majesty.”
The kid looks down at him and jumps off the rock only stumbling a little, before he takes the offered hand in a shake. “Luigi, I like you. I’ll ask my papa not to burn you up when we get home.”
Luigi isn’t sure how to take that, but the bambino is smiling so he dose to. “It’s a deal then.”
Fortunately for him they were headed in the right direction. Apparently Jr’s home is at the base of the volcano, just not this side as they can’t see any buildings or troops. Jr says his padre is the king of the Koop’s, strange dragon like turtle creatures that live in this harsh land. On the other side of the volcano is a forest and a castle, and the castle is their destination. They make good time getting near the base by sundown. They even find what looks to be an abandon military out post, an out post with a covered well! Water! Sweat glorious fresh water! The two drank their fill and then some, and Luigi gave the bambino another protein bar. There were four left so he opted to only have half tonight and the other half tomorrow, as he wasn’t willing to risk having to ration the bambinos food intake if he could help it.
Jr snuggled up to him when they went to sleep, claiming it was to keep him safe, but Luigi knew that the poor little guy was scared and in need of comfort, so he stroked his hair and sang every sweet lullaby his nonna had ever sung to him when he was about this age. The little Koopaling seemed to stir whenever his voice was silent too long, so he stayed up well into the night just singing until the child stopped stirring. Still Luigi couldn’t sleep. He lay awake petting the adorable baby curled up next to him and listened to his gentle breathing and occasional cooing snores. Someone had taken this sweet little prince and dumped him in the wilderness with next to no hope of being found. He wasn’t sure how much he believed about Jr being royal but stranger things had happened than a plumber rescuing a prince, like a plumber finding a humanoid turtle. Yeah after that just about anything seemed possible.
Why not a prince to top it all off.
He slept fitfully, his mind a whirl with anxiety over the child, but once the sun had risen and changed the light to be an ominous red instead of the dark of night, he knew they had to get a move on. So he gently roused the coop by brushing his hair and gently tapping on his snout.
“Jr. Comm-on it’s a time to wake up.”
The child sniffs and yawns with the most adorable little chirp. “Mama?”
His heart squeezes and his eyes fill with hearts. Oh this bambino is way to precious. “No Piccolo, but we’re close to your home bambino. We should be there later today.”
The little crimson eyes finally open. “Greenie?”
He pets the tuff of red and smile. “Morning, do you want some breakfast?”
The little koopa leans into the touch and hips happily. “I get a tasty bar?”
Luigi nods. “Yup, a whole bar.”
Jr stretches and jumps to his feet bouncing. “Yeah!” He punches the air excitedly. “When do you think we’ll be home?” He asks wagging his tail.
Luigi chuckles and passes him a bar. “I’m not to sure, but it’ll be soon Piccolo.”
They eat their breakfast and drink as much water as they can stomach. Jr didn’t want to but Luigi reminded him that they only had the one water bottle and there may not be any more wells between here and the castle, the child eventually relented and had most of a litre of water before he couldn’t stomach any more. Then with a fresh bottle they were off, the volcano was large, but thankfully not a full mountain range, so there was every possibility that they would at least see the castle today if not reach it entirely. But around the mid afternoon mark the bambino just couldn’t walk anymore. Luigi stopped to check over his feet, he didn’t wear any shoes so the soles of his feet were leathery, and while he had no injuries they were clearly hurting him.
He slung his tools across his back and turned his back to the Piccolo as he crouched. “Climb on Jr.”
Jr waisted no time, he clambered on the mans back, sitting on the tool bag and sliding his arms around the plumbers neck. The kookpaling was heavy, but he was still small enough the Luigi could manage, a 60 lb child wasn’t nothing, but as the only adult here he wouldn’t let the child keep walking in pain. Besides, they couldn’t stay here, they would have to find another abandon building to rest in while he recovered. At last they rounded a corner at the base of the mountain and see a camp. It’s filled with bustling green and yellow creatures, they’d done it, they’d found the koopa army. Jr squeals happily and bounces on Luigi’s back, agroup of solders near them hear the shriek and see Jr waving to them from the back of a strange human. An alarmed is sounded and they are quickly surrounded.
Before Luigi knows whats happening the bambino is pulled away from him and he is tackled to the stone grounds with a pile of koopa troopa’s pinning him. He can hear Jr’s shrill cries over the dine of angry guards, but all he can do is watch in horror as Jr is dragged away from him kicking and screaming and releasing puffs of acrid smelling smoke as big tears fill his eyes. He must have been hit in the head or something as the next thing he knows he is waking up on a hot stone floor with his wrists chained together in far to warm shackles. Jr is nowhere to be seen, in fact no one is near. As far as he can tell he is in a prison sell, and he can see lava flow out of his cell, there is one side of the cells that are barred, dropping down to a flowing pool of magma, while the other three walls are stone, though the one opposite the bars seems to have a very heavy stone door with no inner handle. Of course, what need would a prison have for handles inside the cells.
He feels himself start to cry as he remembers the little bambino crying out for him, had he brought Jr somewhere dangerous? Would the troops return the princeling to his parents? Or had he unwittingly delivered the Piccolo to the very people who had abandoned him in a lava field? He doesn’t have long to dwell as the door begins to push open, revealing a Koop who was not much taller than Jr, three feet at absolute most, much smaller than the troopas he’d seen at camp. The little koopa was dressed in star pattern robes with a wizard hat, like he was Micky mouse in fantasia os something, and he held a stick with a start at its tip that sent golden sparkles through the air when ever he twitched it.
Next thing Luigi knows he is wrapped in shimmering blue and gold magic, his metal shackles replaced by transparent glowing ones that somehow felt even heavier, but at least the magic was cool on his painfully over heated skin. He is forced to his feet, levitating a few scant inches from the ground, he can’t talk, can’t move, can’t even turn his head. The wizard chuckles to himself and starts to walk down the corridor, Luigi floating a foot or so behind.
They make their way into a large cavernous room, with a long bridge leading to a massive stone throne, the whole thing is suspended over a magma lake. A giant terrifying version of Jr sits atop the throne, he seems to be eight or so feet tall, as even floating a few inches off the floor the six ft man is still straining his neck to look the monster in the eye as they come face to face.
Suddenly a familiar voice shrieks in delight. “Luigi!” Little bowser Jr runs from between his padre's legs to throw himself at the floating plumber, only for his father to catch him by the scruff of his neck, holding the squirming little creature in his massive talons. “Let me go!” The little boy shrieks.
The large koopa sighs and holds him in the palm of his hand. “Jr,” The kings voice is deep, and raspy, but it holds a surprising gentleness for his minuscule son, “we talked about this, remember?”
Jr pouts and cross his arms. “It’s not fair!” He whines. “He’s my captive, I found him, I took care of him, why are you in charge of him?”
He nuzzles his son and huffs smoke into his hair, the smell is woody and comforting, like a camp fire, nothing like the acrid smoke Jr had been blowing when he was so upset. “We still don’t know who took you son, and this human is our only lead as of right now. Let your dad get to the bottom of this, then you can do whatever you like with your prisoner.” He reassures, it would have been sweet if he didn’t keep referring to Luigi as a captive to be handled.
Jr looks from his padre to Luigi. “You won’t hurt him?” He asks in a small distressed voice.
His father seems to soften entirely. “I only wish to have a little chat with him, why don’t you go find Kammy? She can make you whatever desert you want, hows that sound bud?”
Jr pouts. “No.”
Bowser sighs. He puts his kit on his shoulder. “Hold on and don’t interfere.” Jr squeals in delight and nods his head vigorously, he waves to Luigi who gives a strained little smile to the excited kookpaling. “Kamek.” The little wizard waves his wand and Luigi can move his head. “Now Greenie, I hear you found my son in the lava fields.”
Luigi looks at the imposing man turtle in front of him and gulps. “Uh, a yes?” He says unsurely.
Bowser raises a red eyebrow. “Is that a question greenie?” He releases a puff of smoke right in Luigi’s face, this smells more of wild fires, it doesn’t have the same comforting notes, this smoke tastes of fiery rage.
He can’t help the coughing fit, he’s never smelled anything quite like this smoke before. He shakes his head as his coughs subside. “I uh a found the Bambino, yes. I just don’t know where, I am a, ah not from around here.”
Jr pulls on his dad’s hair. “Be nice to my human.”
Bowser continues as if he hadn’t heard. “Not from around here eh?” He spins Luigi lightly as he is still floating in the air as he walks behind him. “You aren’t the only new human who has been seen in these parts as of late.”
“O-oh?” The claw is back on him, but this time resting on the soft flesh of his throat, a bead of sweat runs down Luigi’s brow as he feels the hot heavy weight of the appendage.
“Yeah, a little man with a fuzzy lip, just, like, you.” He can feel the dragon turtles hot breath over his neck as his claw slips up to twirl his moustache.
Luigi feels dizzy and lightheaded. “M-my a fratello.” He breathes out in a stutter.
Bowser raises a brow. “You aren’t with him?”
Luigi shakes his head ever so slightly, straining to see the large koopa out of his periphery vision. All he can make out is the yellow scales of a muscled arm that is leaning over his shoulder. He can feel Bowser sniffing him, and he flushes in embarrassment, he must smell awful! He hadn’t showered since the night before last and since then he has been crawling in a sewer and wandering through the grime and brimstone of a lava field. Yet Bowser just keeps smelling him.
“Why are you two traveling separately?” The gruff gravelly voice inquires.
“We uh, we fell down a pipe. I w-was alone when I arrived. The pipe was too tall to get back into.” Luigi says softly.
Bowser turns Luigi to face him again, raising him another foot off the ground so they can look into each others eyes. His eyes are really something, they remind him of his nonna’s garnet ring she wore every day. It was a large garnet with an imperfection in the centre of the stone, making it refract light in a strange way, so that it almost seemed to sparkle. His eyes are the same crimson, with tiny flecks of gold that look like captured sunlight, liquid gemstone that you almost wish you could dive right into. Bowser watches as he sees the tiniest of shivers rake through his prisoner, the puff of smoke he releases this time smells once again of camp fires and comfort.
“Why did you help my son?” Bowser asks after a long moment.
Luigi looks from the fierce Koopa king to his adorable little hatchling nestled in the crook of his neck, his whole body softens as he smiles at the child. “I couldn’t leave the bambino all alone.”
“Kamek.” Bowser orders harshly all of a sudden, ruining the tender moment. The elderly Koopa nods and he lowers Luigi to the ground and his shackles dissolve into the ether, leaving the man thoroughly bewildered.
He stairs up at this strange creature in wonder. “Uh, thanks?”
He smirks and raises a brow. “Do you always ask dumb questions like that?”
Luigi blushes and shakes his head covering his cheeks in embarrassment. “No, no, I uh, uh thank you, your highness.”
Jr wriggles off his dad and launches himself at the now free human, who has to scramble to catch the child, yet he still ends up flat on his back with the bambino nuzzling into his chest and neck. Luckily he didn’t hit his head too hard curling around the wilful kid, but it still throbbed from where it bumped the hard ground.
Bowser huffs with what Luigi thinks might be a laugh but he can’t really tell, the giant of a koopa scoops both prince and prisoner up into his arms and begins to check the human over for injury. “Jr, Humans are softies, they don’t have shells to protect them like we do.” He admonishes his child gently as he presses into the back of Luigi’s skull with a gentle claw, pulling a wince from the lanky man.
Jr nuzzles more into Luigi before looking up with the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. “Did I hurt you?”
Luigi pets the Koopalings soft hair and reassures him. “No Bambino, just bumped my head a bit, I’m not hurt Piccolo.”
Bowser’s chest rumbles in a way Luigi isn’t sure how to take, the bambino nestles in more and settles down, and the smell of campfire washes over them, so he figures it’s probably a good thing. “Kamek, have the guest sweet across from Jr’s room set up for our prisoner, he will be in the royal wing as an honoured guest.” He then turns away from his wizard and carries his hatchling and his new pet(?) into the residential area of the palace.
Luigi isn’t sure where to look or what to do with himself. He is both a prisoner and an honoured guest? What does that even mean? What kind of world has he ended up in? There are fire breathing monsters that smell of camp fires and comfort, adorable little turtle dragons that curl up on his chest and coo, and literal magic that can restrain him and make him fly. This is all to much for a poor plumber from Brooklyn.
Luigi settles for petting the koopa kit sleeping in his arms, and trying not to steal glances at the big scary koopa daddy currently carrying them. It’s impossible to ignore though, his arms are so big and he holds them both as if they weigh absolutely nothing, and that comforting rumble is still going, making him feel like he’s sunk into a massage chair.
“You protected my boy.” Luigi nearly jumps at the husky words.
“Oh, uh, it wasn’t anything. I mean anyone would have done the same if they came across a bambino.” He says as he looks down at the sleeping kit.
Bowser doesn’t say anything for a moment. “He trusts you, thats weird.”
Luigi looks up at the koopa king again, he looks pensive. “All I did was share my supplies, I’m just glad I had all those extra protein bars.”
Bowser looks at him again and Luigi can’t help but get lost in those stunning eyes. They are so inhuman, I mean they’re red and reptilian, of course they are inhuman, but its so captivatingly beautiful, he could look at them all night. He catches himself and ducks his head blushing. A claw tips under his chin to tilt his head to meet each others eyes again. “Protein bars?”
The question throws Luigi for a loop for a sec there, but he catches himself and nods. “Uh yeah, they are good for on the go, they have a full serving of protein and complex carbohydrates, the ones I have are peanut butter and chocolate. Jr really loved them, I’m just glad we found your troops when we did, we only had enough bars for Jr to have one for dinner and breakfast left, and the poor bambino really shouldn’t be missing anymore meals. He’s still so little, poor piccolo, he was so hungry, has he gotten a proper meal yet?” Bowser’s watching him with an odd look. Right he’d just rambled on, of course he’s looking at him like he’s nuts. “Oh uh, scusi, I-I-I’m sure you’ve already cared for Jr, of course you have, you’re his Padre!” He finishes almost hysterically, Jr makes an unhappy sleepy noise and the distressed plumber has to force himself to calm down so as not to wake the baby.
“He ate.” Bowser says gruffly.
“Oh, oh, course, good.”
Bowser stops outside an ornate set of double doors, there is graffiti painted over the carved stone, it looks like a giant banana wearing sunglasses and breathing fire. It’s actually really cool and well done. “This is Jr’s room.” The giant koopa explains as he opens the heavy doors.
The room lights up with soft warm candle light as the over head chandelier and wall sconces magically light their candles. It’s not terribly bright, a soft muted orange, enough to see everything without waking a sleeping kit. Bowser walks to a large cozy round bed in the centre of the room, the sides are raised and filled with pillows and blankets of all different colours and patterns. He’s set down in a particularly soft area with a fuzzy blue and yellow star blanket, and a very large red stuffed dragon, bowser picks up the toy and puts it under Jr’s paw that is still curled up on Luigi’s chest. Then the giant sits down beside him and pulls Luigi and his sleeping cub into his chest as he gets the three of them comfortable enough to sleep. Luigi squeaks as he is situated, and bowser chuckles, and grins as he see’s Luigi’s bright red face.
“Uh, your highness?”
He just hums as he closes his eyes.
“Uh, sir?”
He huffs in annoyance. “Yes Greenie?”
“Wh-what are we doing?” The green man asks nervously.
“What does it look like we’re doing?” He retorts in annoyance.
“I-I uh, It’s just that I-I wasn’t uh expecting to sleep with you and Jr.” He says weekly.
He places a large hand over Jr’s shell, effectively trapping the human under the two koopas, he can feel the happy silent purr Jr is emitting. “Jr needs you, and I need to be with him, so for tonight you will just have to put up with us.”
Oh, well he supposed that made sense, and besides, this bed was very comfy, and the koopas were really warm, and he was feeling very sleepy. Bowser had told that wizard guy to get a room ready for him, so he supposed he’d be able to handle one night. He unconsciously curled more into Bowser and closed his eyes, his only response being a contented hum as he let himself drift into unconsciousness.
. . .
Bowser watched this strange little creature his son had grown so attached to. When Jr had been brought back by the troops Bowser had been nearly feral, he’d been hunting all round the volcano for days, and had sent out the entirety of his armies to scour the kingdom. Then a random group of troopa’s had brought back a distraught if unharmed Jr, he’d been ready to turn all of them into dry bones. He would have too if Jr hadn’t thrown himself into his dad’s arms and started crying. He’d ignored all his troops while he calmed his son down, it had taken time but he eventually got the little kit to tell him what happen. He’d woken up in the lava fields all alone, and he’d wandered the first day before he got to tired to walk anymore, then he’d slept a really long time. When he’d woken up he’d realised he was still alone and started crying, thats when he heard someone else. Despite being scared he’d held his ground and eventually taken the Human as his captive, but now the army had taken his human from him, and the brave little dragon was so upset he couldn’t stop hiccuping smoke.
He’d scented his child as he checked him over, and there was something different about his scent, sure he had the smell of a human on him that was to be expected as he said Luigi carried him the last half of the day, but it was different than it should be. The underlying smell that he expected to be all Jr had shifted, his coal and burnt sugar baby sent had an undertone of warm air, it was fresh and light, and lacking any of his kit’s normally more fiery scents. The prisoner was unconscious, giving Bowser plenty of time to examine his hatchling thoroughly. He was entirely fine, sure his feet hurt but that was just from walking, and aside from missing the first two days of meals he was eating just fine. But his lingering scent nagged at him, he just wasn’t sure yet, that is until he met the infamous Greenie.
Greenie smelled so strongly of kit, and the warmest summer Bowser could imagine, the air around him was filled with the scent of relaxed summer days. His kit was drawn to this perfect scent of familiar happiness. Now that didn’t necessarily mean this human was safe, all it meant was that Jr had felt safe with him, and as a father he has to take that into consideration. As he toyed with the human he never smelt the scents of aggression or malice, his smell was sweet, natural, warm.
Hmmmm
Their smells mixed well. It’s simply a fact, peaches and melon were all well and fine, they were rich and luxurious, and not something he actually cared for personally now that he thought about it. They were luxuries because they were desirable, strong, political, romantic, grand, they were the dream. But they weren’t this.
He looks at the person laying beside him, tucked under the crook of his arm as they protect their kit. Huh, this felt right, natural, this fuzzy lipped man had saved his kit, and effortlessly took on the role of Jr’s mother. The kit was all but imprinted on the man, and bowser could see why, his hind brain was purring at the mere presence of the human, whoever he is, he is pack. Bowser leans over the pair, running a gentle claw over the hair of the pretty little hairs that grew above his lip. It was really fucking cute. He’d never seen an adult male human before, the only human’s he’s personally met are Princess Daisy and his fiancé Peach, those were both young woman. Neither had hair anywhere but the tops of their head, he didn’t know it could grow anywhere else, but it was so stupidly cute he just wanted to pet it.
Green’s nose twitches, his nose is a bit rounder than peaches, her’s comes to a bit more of a point, his is a little softer looking though. He can’t help but smile as the little man’s hand bats away his claw only to snuggle closer to his body for warmth and comfort, it was damn near cute. Especially when Jr readjusted in his sleep to cuddle more into his mama and papa, to be perfectly encircled on all sides by his parents. He knows what this is, long before Luigi or Jr will understand, he gets it, so now it’s his responsibility to care for his family. The funny thing about dragon koopas that other species don’t necessarily get is the instinctual aspect of their species, it is something all Dragons are taught in basic health class. And imprinting is some strong instinctual shit right there, and as the only adult dragon in this scenario he have to take charge and help us navigate this time. We can deal with the logistics and political ramifications after the hormonal and instinctual aspects are under control, and we deal with this one step at a time.
Yeah, ok you can do this, you can deal with the fact that you have an adorable brave little human in your arms that is holding your kit that your son has completely imprinted on that you yourself are possibly, maybe, but definitely not in no way imprinting on too.
“Cause oh god. That, what is this thing called?” Bowser mused as he played with the dark hair above the humans lip, he liked how his claw glided through the hair. Jr’s hair was soft, but it’s texture was baby fine corn silk, while this man’s was closer to the hair used to make the violin bows. “Silken.”
“Moustache.” The sleeping man mumbles.
“Hm.” Bowser hummed absentmindedly.
“It’s a called a Moustache.” Hmm, is that what it’s called? He thinks vaguely repeating the word back to himself.
“Si, now a sleep shhh…” The man says clearly not even half awake.
Cute.
What a cute word for this pretty little tuft of hair. He falls asleep holding this cute fluffy little Moustache guy and their kit, lulled by the relaxing scent of his pack all warm and safe and home.
Right where everyone should be.