It was already the third day that Bowie did not respond to Luigi. The brown-haired man felt that at any moment he was going to break from anxiety. He had tried everything, calls, messages, memes, but nothing made his mysterious friend appear.

The situation affected him so much that he could hardly sleep. It was all quite strange, the boy had never felt so anguished by someone before; It was as if he had the urge to see his friend, laugh with him, be by his side. It scared him how invasive the feeling was becoming, but he enjoyed it. Was that what Bowie once meant when he told him not to ask him to stop feeling because it was beautiful? Because of course he was worried, however, he was aware that when he saw Bowie all those worries would go away.

"Luigi!" He heard a second voice enter the classroom.

"Junior," he smiled at the boy, "what are you doing here so early? And your brother?"

"You appeared in my dream" he ignored his questions "It was a lot of fun" he said excitedly.

"Oh really? What did you dream about?" he picked him up and sat on his lap.

The affection the koopalings had for him was something quite new, but it didn't bother him at all. In the end he discovered that they were quite normal children; even part of him began to doubt everything he had been told about villains before.

Bowser wasn't a heartless monster and the koopalings were just little misunderstood children; who knows, maybe King Boo wasn't really evil either.

He kept listening to Junior even with all this on his mind and took a quick look at the seat next to him. Unlike days ago, now he was very reassured to have the king of the koopas by his side; he didn't realize at what point, but he was beginning to consider him his friend.

Soon he heard voices approaching again.

"I'm telling you to calm down, Bowser," Miyamoto said as he opened the door, "Junior shouldn't be too far from here."

"He had never escaped from his room" answered the other with evident concern "And if something bad happened to him? He's a child, surely he got lost or...

"Good morning" interrupted Luigi. They both looked at him "Sorry for intruding, but I think who you're looking for found me first" he smiled.

Then his eyes went to the child in the human's legs.

"Junior!" Wendy approached. "We've been looking for you all morning."

"Luigi" Larry pulled him by the pants "I finally beat Morton and Roy."

"Really? Congratulations." He shook his hair.

"That's because he cheated!" Morton yelled.

"Yes, he was hitting us with his tail while we were playing," Roy seconded.

"Bowser" the teacher whispered to him "Let's talk outside" he pulled him "Can you explain to me what's happening?" he looked at him annoyed.

"Uhm, that's a pretty funny story," he forced a smile, "The other day when I couldn't take care of the koopalings, Luigi did me the favor of babysitting him for one night and now it seems they've grown fond of him."

"You're playing me, right?" He frowned.

"It wasn't my idea! Kamek told him without asking me first," he hastened to say.

"You promised me you'd stay away from him," he growled.

"Says the one who made me flirt with him," he replied.

"You were ruining the scene!" It was my last resort. Besides, you act like you're not enjoying everything that's going on" he crossed his arms.

"Well, I'm not going to lie to myself either, I'm not suffering from how our relationship is currently."

The teacher took a breath. "You are getting into very dangerous territory" he looked at him "I hope you are at least aware of that."

"Believe it or not, I've been trying to get away. But now the children adore him and have been asking me for days to let Luigi take care of them again."

"How convenient for you, right, sir, I like the protagonist's brother?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me," Daisy crossed between the two; causing them to freeze up "Aww, is my Lu playing family?" she entered the classroom, "If you're the mom, can I be the dad?

"Why do you assume I'm the mother?" released his friend.

"Do you think she heard us?" Miyamoto muttered.

"That girl is a gossip, if she did it we are dead" replied Bowser

"Mario is going to go crazy."

Fortunately for both of them, the girl was as gossipy as she was distracted, so their concern was in vain. However, the girl was investigating her own case; and that was Luigi's mysterious friend.

"We need to talk," the girl said.

"Right now I'm a little busy" the one with the mustache looked at her while he caressed Junior's hair.

"Now you're a babysitter?" She gave him a quizzical look.

"It was an accident, but they're adorable," he admitted.

She giggled. "It's amazing how you always manage to be even more adorable," she said as she tried to stroke Junior's hair, but he moved away from her.

"Forgive him, he's a bit shy" Luigi hugged him.

"I see," she sighed, "you don't have to be afraid of me; if Lu is going to be your babysitter, I can be your Aunt Daisy," he looked at the koopalings.

But she only got a joint grunt from all nine.

"Or not," she muttered nervously, "Either way, I don't care if they listen to what I have to tell you. There is no new student registered with the name of Bowie."

"What!?" He looked at her suddenly, "Why would you know?"

"Lots of research and contacts. First I had to approach Pauline, then she introduced me to the other secretaries; the hardest part was convincing them to do fellowship with them."

"There are no scholarship services. The academy is free!" He frowned.

"That's why I'm telling you, it was the hardest part, pay attention" she snorted. "Anyway, as part of the service, they gave me a list with several passwords to review and organize the files of the new students; Bowie doesn't exist in any of them. Neither his name, nor his face" she explained.

"You must be kidding, I've seen him inside Fungwarry."

"I know, but...Lu, you must listen to me, I know I was the one who encouraged you to meet him and all, but now I'm really worried about the whole thing."

"Why did you investigate him?"

"You have to admit that the situation was weird. You meet a strange new guy who by sheer coincidence is also a student of Fungwarry, a hot hero with a game nameless due to copyright issues. Tell me, when have you ever heard of a situation like that? Maybe it's someone dangerous."

Luigi bit his lower lip. "I don't believe you," he whispered.

"Lu, you've known me for over fifteen years! Do you really believe him more than me?"

"It's complicated, okay?"

"It's not complicated! What happens is that you're in love with him!" she frowned.

"Again with that" he rolled his eyes "I'm straight."

"Do you really want to keep playing that card? Because that's not what you told me the other day."

"Well, maybe I wouldn't have this kind of crisis if you didn't get involved in what you don't care about!" she yelled.

Daisy couldn't react for a few seconds; even the koopalings were startled by that reaction.

"Daisy," Luigi whispered, "I'm sorry, I don't...

"You know what? Do what you want" she interrupted him "But don't come crying to me when you realize that things are not as you expected. "

He swallowed.

"I'm here" Mario suddenly appeared "Why do you have the lizards on you?" he made a disgusted face.

"Don't be rude to them," His brother looked at him.

"Let's go, guys," Wendy took Junior and left with his brothers.

"So now you not only hang out with the villains, but also with their rabble" the older one blurted out.

"Can you just shut up?" he whispered.

"Sorry?"

"I'm not in the mood to argue with you, so just shut up," he dropped his head back on the desk.

The older one just rolled his eyes and sat in his place.

After a few minutes, Miyamoto and Bowser returned to the classroom and class began. It wasn't hard for anyone to pick up on Luigi's humor; after all, energy this heavy was more common on his brother's side.

"Mario, you lost weight this semester, again," Miyamoto scolded him.

"I like to be in shape" he crossed his arms.

"We've already discussed it, your character isn't supposed to be in shape," he growled.

"Well, I put pillows on like always."

"That just fixes one problem, you're building muscles. How do we hide that from the viewer? Also, what if we need you to go out in a bathing suit again?"

"Don't we have editors for that?"

"You must gain weight again," he said, hoping to end the discussion.

"No way! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get to where I am now? I don't want to grow up and be a clone of my father," he felt a shiver. "Besides, it's not fair that Luigi can be skinny and I can't."

"Speaking of which, Luigi, you're gaining weight a little more than you should" In response, he received a look in which the younger's eyes seemed to scream 'Shut your damn mouth' "Ok, I see you're not in the mood" He snorted. "Bowser, don't think I didn't realize you've been filing your nails."

"I just don't want to hurt anyone by accident."

"You're a villain, it doesn't matter. Daisy, you know I love your explosive personality, but you have to be a little more sweet and submissive, you have to seem believable that you can't defend yourself."

"So Peach can steal my personality for the movie, but I can't use it for the games?" She arched an eyebrow reluctantly.

"I'm not going to discuss that again," Miyamoto whispered in a growl, "Peach," she looked at the blonde, "Actually, you look perfect, darling."

"Thank you, Professor, I try hard to keep it that way," she tilted her head slightly.

"Okay, those are the notes I had for you" he gave a quick review of his list "Now, let's start with this...

The meeting that morning was quite slow for Luigi; he was so desperate to get out of that place that he even felt like crying when he only had fifteen minutes to go.

When the bell rang, he was the first to get up and leave the room. Although the professor had not yet announced the end of the meeting.

"Luigi!" Junior ran after him. "Are you okay? Do you need a hug?"

"Do you want to go eat?" Larry added.

"I...I'm not in the mood to go to the cafeteria right now," he replied.

"Don't worry about it, we never go there. We hardly ever reach for food and they bother us."

"What?" He frowned.

"Right, you're not a villain. It's normal for us."

"That sounds awful," he whispered.

"Luigi" the voice of his brother got in. "Luigi!" he yelled.

The younger one shook his head "Sorry kids, maybe another day" and turned his back on everyone.

"Hey," Mario pulled him by the arm.

"Leave me alone," he snapped.

"Listen to me" she forced him to look at him "I don't know what's going on, okay? But Lu, I'm here if you need anything" he held him by the shoulders.

His face softened. "Thank you, and I'm sorry," he turned away in embarrassment.

"Don't apologize, I understand what it's like to be stressed" he smiled sweetly at her "Besides, I'd be upset too if a bunch of disgusting monsters were chasing me."

He heaved a heavy sigh "And we're back to business as usual. I'll see you later" he left.

He walked to her bedroom and locked himself in it until night fell.

All day he thought about what Daisy had told him. He hated knowing that she was most likely right; but he wanted to trust Bowie. He needed it to be a lie; because, without realizing it, he had already given part of his heart to that mysterious guy.

Did that make him gay? He would never admit it to anyone, but during the afternoon he had done at least three tests trying to answer that question. However, the internet had just confused him more than anything; he was so desperate that, at 11:26, he got out of bed and went to the library, hoping to find answers there.

He had thrown a cloak over himself; it wasn't likely that he would run into anyone, but he preferred to avoid trouble if he did.

Upon arrival, the place was empty, with the sole exception of the librarian on duty.

The young man hurried to find a book that would talk about sexuality, rented it and quickly returned to his room. Fortunately for him, everything went much faster than he expected. He took one that seemed to contain what he was looking for and hurried to the desk.

The manager took the book and looked at it for a few seconds, however, he only asked:

"How many days would he take it?"

"Maybe three," he replied.

"Luigi?"

The boy felt his blood run cold, but he recognized that voice.

"Bowie?" He removed his hood.

Seeing the redhead again was like a blow to his heart. It seemed that from one moment to the next everything had become brighter and he had left the earth to go to a much calmer place.

"How have you been?" Bowie smiled at him.

"I should ask you that question, you disappeared" he frowned.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "It's just... A lot has happened and everything got complicated."

"I see" Luigi bit his lip.

"Oh, right," he returned his gaze to the book, "so you want to rent "The Homosexual Experience"?" he read.

"It's not for me!" He hastened to say with a blush, "I have a friend and...

He chuckled "Calm down, I'm not going to judge you" he leaned against the desk "Do you want to talk about it or...

"Please don't," he tried to hide his face.

"Okay," he shook his hair.

Then there was a small silence.

Luigi cleared his throat "I didn't know you worked here."

"I like the night shift, it's quite relaxing," he answered, "I'm here almost every Thursday."

"I see," he looked at him. It was the first time he had seen him in the academy uniform, it seemed unfair that he looked so good and at the same time he wasn't surprised. In fact, it was almost impossible for Luigi not to find Bowie attractive in his eyes "I think it's the first time we've met inside Fungwarry. You know, we didn't agree."

"It's like that right?" he murmured, "Do you want to stay? With the fact that we didn't see each other for a while, that would be nice, right?"

"I'd love to" he went to his side.

For a few minutes, they just watched videos and laughed together. However, it wasn't hard for Luigi to notice that Bowie was looking more down that day; It was not for less. That same day, the koopalings told him what Daisy had said to the one with the mustache before class. Bowser knew that his lie was beginning to fall apart and that it would be best to end it as soon as possible.

Bowie had little time left, so to speak; he knew that he had to enjoy every moment with Luigi before he hated him forever when he told him the truth.

"And how have you been?" asked the older man.

"A lot has happened," he laughed, "I was a babysitter, I think I'm starting to make friends with the villain of the franchise, and I argued with my best friend." A lump formed in his throat at the last part.

"Sorry to hear it. Did something bad happen?"

"I reacted badly" he confessed "But I felt so upset" he let out a tear.

"That sometimes happens," he hugged him by the shoulders. "But I'm sure Daisy will forgive you."

"How do you know I'm talking about her?"

He was startled. "I only assumed," he lied.

"I see. And why did you disappear for so long?"

He looked away and sighed "Right now I'm not ready to tell you, but you will know, it's a promise" he forced a smile.

"Don't worry" he laid his head on his shoulder "I'm satisfied with seeing you again for now" he confessed "I was very afraid of not seeing you again."

And to the surprise of both, he began to cry.

"Are you okay!?" Bowie asked worriedly.

"Yeah, it's just... God everything is so confusing" he tucked his legs to his chest "It's like you're driving me crazy."

"I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Please don't apologize" Luigi hurried to look at him "Although it's true that this tortures me a bit, there is another very beautiful part that seems to wake up when I'm with you; I still don't quite understand what it is, but I want to know it" he smiled at Bowie then paused and laughed "You made a complete mess of me."

"Well, I guess we're even," he laughed back.

They both stared at each other for a few seconds. They were so immersed in each other's eyes that they didn't even realize when their faces began to get closer. However, the heat of the other's lips made them alert.

"Emm" Luigi broke away before being able to finalize the kiss "It's already a bit late, don't you think?" he turned away with a blush.

"You're right," the other answered quickly as he hurried to get up.

But if something is clear in this story, it is that our protagonists have terrible luck, so when leaning on one of the shelves, Bowie cut his hand on a loose nail.

"Shit!" he growled.

"Everything alright?" Luigi leaned out.

"Just a small cut, don't worry," he said as he processed the pain, "I'll check it when I get to my bedroom."

"Don't be silly," he sat him down in a chair and hurried to take the first-aid kit under the desk. He took a cotton pad and poured a little alcohol on it "This is going to burn a bit" he put Bowie's hand on his and put the cotton over it. He had to stifle a laugh when he saw how his partner resisted the urge to complain. " I warned you" he said as he took out some ointment. He applied it and took out some bandages.

"Isn't that a bit excessive?" he asked.

"Just in case" he began to tangle them around his hand. "This is a technique that my mom taught me when I was little, it will be difficult for you to fall off. And that's it" he broke away.

"You're an amazing nurse," he blurted out with a certain air of flirtation.

"And you're a fairly obedient patient," he played along.

He laughed and then got up.

He accompanied Luigi to his room and the youngest said goodbye to him with a kiss on the cheek.

As soon as the door closed, he couldn't help but cry.

It was definitive, two weeks was his limit to confess everything to him.