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He starts going off about how annoying Bowser has been, how he hasn't been helping in the investigation to find Mario (when he actually has been decent help). These, what he thinks are insults and jabs, slowly turn into accidental compliments and genuine observations like "You wink a lot at everyone." / "You smile too much." (This one is funny because Bowser is just like "? That's not the insult he thinks it is."

And up till now, Bowser still believes that Luigi just tolerates him. So, he makes a joke, because he likes to get a reaction out of Luigi.

"Ohhh. I see what this is. You're obsessed with me, Greenie. Do you have a little crush on me?"

And Luigi goes absolutely red. He freezes. He blue screens and just doesn't know how to react to that because... what. No way. Him? Have a crush on Bowser? But every attempt to speak or talk back is just a stutter.

And Bowser is absolutely relishing in this reaction because he didn't expect Luigi to get this embarrassed about it. So, as the investigation to find Mario continues, Bowser keeps bringing up this joke because he simply can't help it. It's so worth it to get a reaction out of Greenie.

"I think that crush is getting worse, haha" or "Little crush on me still going strong?"

coworkers > partners > friends > best friends > lovers

Essentially a slow burn where Luigi falls first.

But because he's a detective, he starts overthinking and overanalyzing everything. He keeps thinking that, no, he can't possibly LIKE like Bowser. But when he does finally realize that yeah, he's in love with Bowser, it makes their interactions a lot more awkward because Bowser loves to tease and joke flirt, and Luigi is fully aware of his feelings and doesn't want to ruin this friendship they already have.

bowser don't tease luigi like that or he's gonna explode