An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I’m not going anywhere
As soon as Princess Peach wakes up she’s immediately aware of how hot she is. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and removes her blanket from her body gently, feeling an ache in her arms as she does so. She sits up slowly and looks around her room, wincing at the sheer brightness of it. It certainly isn’t hot, if anything she should be cold. It was the middle of winter, she can see the snow cascading down one of her windows slowly, leaving behind white snowflakes. She can already hear the townspeople chatting and children playing in the snow from here. A small smile makes its way onto her face and she manages to get out of bed finally. She’s a little wonky on her feet, but perhaps she’s just tired. She’d had a late night last night, staying out to help Mario and Luigi put some decorations in the town square. The brothers had introduced Christmas to the Mushroom Kingdom last year and it was such a blast. As soon as they told her about it she immediately knew she wanted to celebrate it every year in her kingdom.
She definitely knows more this year than she did last year, thank god. She knows now that she needs to get presents for Mario and Luigi. She had been under the impression that the gifts were only for the children, until Mario had pulled out a present wrapped in pink wrapping paper, her name on it in sparkly letters.
“I didn’t tell you because Christmas isn’t just about the gift giving,“ Mario had explained upon being questioned. “It’s about being around the people you love.” She had gone quiet when he said that.
Peach sighs, moving her messy hair off her face as she heads to her bathroom. Christmas was only three weeks away and she still hasn’t gotten all her Christmas shopping done. She’s finding it very difficult to get free time with her schedule as full as it is lately. It usually dies down around winter time, but it’s been a busy one this year. Between all the meetings and Bowser’s kidnappings, she can never catch a break. Though she will admit the kidnappings do stop around Christmas time; Peach likes to imagine Bowser frantically shopping for all his koopalings, rushing around and wrapping presents. The thought makes her laugh to herself.
Peach manages to make it to her shower, hoping the warm wake up will make her feel better. She turns on the hot water and lets it run down her shoulders, shivering as it hits her skin. Despite the water being pretty hot, she shivers through her entire shower and can barely lift her arms up to wash her hair. After a few minutes of pain she manages to wash the remaining conditioner out, switching off the water and stepping out. Her entire body aches and she’s starting to get the hint now. It seems she’s fallen ill. Is this something she would mention? Absolutely not. She still had a kingdom to rule and no one could step in for her, especially on such short notice. She takes a deep breath and steps out of the shower, grabbing her towel and burying her face in it, sighing dramatically.
Peach gets dressed in her usual pink gown and heads down the stairwell, ignoring the throbbing of her head as she descends it. She meets with Toadsworth in the lobby, greeting him and taking the papers he hands her. She looks over them but the words just make her brain feel fuzzy.
“Your highness, are you alright?” He asks instantly, looking to her with concern. That wasn’t out of the ordinary though, he always looked at her like that. It was his job as her adviser after all to well, advise, but also to check in on her too. “You’re quite pale, princess.” He adds.
“Yes, I’m alright,” She assures, smiling at him briefly. “Just had a late night.” Which is true, she did. He simply nods and they head off to the town hall, preparing for their meeting. It should only go for about an hour, so she should be fine. Even if her legs throb as she makes each step towards the building.
As the hour and a half mark hits, she feels herself start to feel much worse. Her head is still pounding, her throat hurts, and she’s still shivering. She’s trying to keep it under wraps but Toadsworth keeps looking in her direction with those beady eyes, studying her closely. She knows as soon as this meeting is over she’s screwed. She’s been discovered. Peach knows he’s no idiot, he’s known her since she was a baby, practically raised her as his own, she couldn’t hide anything from him even if she tried.
“Princess,” Sure enough, here he comes. “I don’t think you’re well, I advise you to go back to the castle and rest immediately.” He orders. Peach rubs her eyes as they’re starting to get watery from being out in the sun, which doesn’t really help her case.
“It’s just a cold Toadsworth, I can handle it.” Peach assures, even though her head feels so heavy it might just fall off her body. Toadsworth gives her one final glance before sighing to himself; she wasn’t going to go down easily. He knows that by now. She’s as strong willed as he is. He just hopes she won’t come to regret her stubbornness later on.
The next few days she uses the same excuse with him and everyone else. That it’s just a simple cold and she’ll get over it soon. Toadette noticed her watery eyes and red nose, her sneezing and coughing, the whole lot and even offered to finish off all the tasks for the day, but the Princess politely declined. Toadsworth had even threatened to call Mario which Peach had gotten quite annoyed about. The man was finally relaxing after saving her for the millionth time and the last thing she wanted to do was bother him, she’d done that enough. He’d had to travel to the moon to save her for gods sake.
Plus, she didn’t want him to see her like this. Her crush on the man was likely incredibly obvious, and Mario seeing her like this would just utterly embarrass her. It doesn’t help that he had proposed to her and she had told him no, which probably gave him the wrong impression. She had later explained to him that she had said no because he was trying to compete against Bowser and simply left it at that. They had mended their friendship after that. She doesn’t want to ruin what they have now by annoying him and forcing him to take care of her like he always does. It isn’t fair to him.
So she carries on with her royal duties, day and night. She can feel herself getting worse with each passing day, but she pushes through it. She was the princess after all, she had obligations. She couldn’t just curl up in bed, though the thought of her bed and its promised oblivion almost makes her collapse right where she stands. She just has to keep going. She’ll go until she drops if that’s what it comes to.
✧ ✧ ✧
Peach wakes up drenched in sweat. It’s the most disgusting she’s felt in a long time and she immediately sits up in her bed. She is not getting better at all, and she briefly wonders how she’s gotten so sick. No one else is sick in the entire kingdom; she knows she’s just been to the moon to be fair, but she was fine when she got back. That was weeks ago.
It’s now a week and a half until Christmas and she’s just praying she’s better in time for the festivities. She tries to get up out of her bed and her head immediately spins, causing her to hold her temple and sit back down. She waits for the room to stop spinning before attempting to get up again. The same thing occurs and she sighs shakily.
“Oh goodness,” Peach mumbles aloud, shivering and pulling the blankets up. “This can’t be good.” Her mind debates for a few minutes before she decides to just ask Toadette and Toadsworth to take care of royal duties for the day. She finally gives up. She squints in the bright light as she moves her hand over to her nightstand, frantic hand looking for her phone. Her hand knocks down a bunch of items off her nightstand but eventually she does find the phone, bringing it close to her face so she can see what numbers she’s pressing. Every press to the phone makes her digits hurt even more; she feels so weak she can barely hold the phone. She manages to phone Toadsworth’s number and shakily hold the phone to her ear. She wishes the room would stop spinning, it would be so much easier to concentrate.
“Good morning princess, everything alright?” Toadsworth greets, and she can tell by his voice he knows what she’s going to say. Peach shuts her eyes at how loud he sounds of the phone volume and swallows her pride, admitting her weakness.
“I suppose,” Peach answers quietly, placing her free hand on her temple again and rubbing it in small circles. “I do think I need some bedrest today, are you able to handle the royal duties?” She asks. She feels so embarrassed, like she was giving up. Giving in. “I’m sorry if that’s too much.”
“Not a problem dear, I’m just glad you’re finally resting, even if took a whole week,” He assures, and she can practically feel his smile. “Toadette and myself will handle the duties for today, we’ll come and check on you very soon.” He promises. Peach nods, even though he can’t see it through the phone. She appreciates that he didn’t do the whole ‘I told you so, you should’ve listened to me’ shtick.
“Thank you Toadsworth.” Peach says quietly, hanging up the phone and sinking into her bed miserably. She decides that taking a nap will be a good start, so she does that. She lays down comfortably and allows her eyes to shut. Her head feels like a balloon with too much pressure inside, like she could pop at any minute. Thankfully she falls asleep a few minutes later, escaping the pain for a a while. Toadsworth comes in to check on her a few hours after her call and she’s still fast asleep, snoring lightly. He smiles a little to himself, deciding to keep that bit of information to himself as he exits her room.
The next few days pass and Peach doesn’t even call Toadsworth, he just assumes she’s unwell when he doesn’t hear from her by the late morning and carries on with the royal duties. He brings her some food and extra tissues if she needs and makes sure she’s actually getting better. So far there has been no improvement and he feels it’s because she fought it for so long. Then again, he has no idea how human flus work, he’s trying his best.
Toadette is tasked to check in on her today since Toadsworth is preoccupied with a town meeting. Most of the questions were about the princess’ health anyway, her people were starting to worry. Toadsworth is quick to ease their worries however, always the reassurance they need.
Toadette approaches the woman’s room at the top floor and knocks timidly on the door. “Princess?” She calls. When she doesn’t receive an answer she opens the door slowly, peering in. “Oh my,” Toadette lets out, feeling the warm air hit her face instantly. “Oh Princess, aren’t you hot?” She asks, approaching the woman gingerly. The princess in question is under her blankets shivering, surrounded by used tissues.
“I’m freezing.” She assures, and Toadette slowly moves a hand towards her head, jolting it back before she even touches it. She was practically steaming. The young toad had no idea what to do.
“Is there anything you need?” Toadette asks gently, looking to her princess sadly. She’d never seen her so sick before, she was starting to panic internally. She knew this job was tricky but she didn’t expect Peach to be sick with something they seemingly had no cure for.
“Mario..” She mumbles, sniffling into her pillow helplessly. “I need Mario.”
Toadette is on the phone to him as soon as she leaves the room. He tells her he’ll be there as soon as he can. She can feel the relief spread through her at the acceptance of his help.
Mario arrives in just under ten minutes, waiting outside for Toadette to escort him up to the castle with a small bag in hand. He follows her quietly up the many stairs to Peach’s bedroom, where she says her goodbyes before leaving him to it. Mario doesn’t even bother to knock; usually he would, but she knows he’s coming. She had asked for him after all. He enters the room and closes the door behind him, and the lump in the bed doesn’t even move a muscle. He spots her bedroom bin overflowing with tissues, some tossed carelessly on the floor next to it while others were hardly even close. He approaches her figure gently, sitting on the bed next to her.
“Hey Princess.” He gets her attention quietly, making her open her eyes. She was still shivering under all her blankets, sweat dripping off her forehead.
“Mario?..” She croaks unpleasantly, blinking a few times before turning to face him, wincing as she does so. He moves some sweaty hair off her forehead, secretly thankful he’s wearing gloves for a brief moment. He then takes one off and presses it to her head, almost pulling back at how hot she is.
“You’re burning up,” He tells her. “Well.. you might already be fully burned,” He puts his glove back on and removes the big duvet from her body, causing her to curl up. “Do you have a thermometer?” He asks her.
“A what?” Peach responds, and suddenly it becomes clear to Mario why she hadn’t been getting better. The Princess, along with her advisers had no idea how to combat a human flu. It’s why she’s been getting worse rather than better.
“I figured. Luckily I came prepared,” He assures, opening the bag he had brought with him and pulling out a thermometer. He holds it up to her head and she jumps at the beeping sound it makes. “It’s okay, it’s just taking your temperature.” He soothes. It beeps a few times and he looks to it, eyes widening. Peach groans as she leans up, looking to it.
“It’s red.. is that good or bad?” She asks, feeling quite helpless. Mario stands up off the bed and opens her linen closet, searching for a face washer.
“Bad,” He answers, heading into her bathroom. Peach frowns to herself, starting to panic. He didn’t sound upset, but he didn’t sound pleased either. She just hopes he isn’t mad at her. He returns with the face washer which he’s now wet with water, before taking off her other blanket, leaving her with just her single pink sheet. “I’m sorry Princess, you’ll have to take your layers off.” He admits apologetically. Peach looks surprised for a moment before sitting up, waiting for Mario to turn his head before taking off her sweatpants and long sleeve, leaving her in her singlet and panties. She quickly finds some shorts to put on before sliding the sheet back over herself, giving Mario the all clear to turn back around. He places the face washer on her forehead gently, instantly making her shiver from the sheer coldness of the material.
“It’s so cold..” She states the obvious, bringing the sheet up to her neck to try and preserve what little heat she has left. Mario frowns, sitting beside her and moving more of her sweaty bangs from her face.
“I know. It’ll help bring your fever down,” He assures. They sit in silence for a moment, nothing but the sound of Peach’s sniffles filling the room. It must get to him after a minute, because he’s speaking up. “This is all my fault,” Mario confesses.
Peach looks to him utterly confused. “What?” He takes off his hat and twists it in his hands anxiously, looking into her glassy eyes. He pans down to her bright red nose and cheeks, feeling even more guilty.
“I shouldn’t have taken you to Brooklyn,” He frowns. “Especially during the winter.” Now it’s Peach’s turn to frown. He was referring to when he took her and Yoshi to Brooklyn to see a snow day in his world. They had made snowman (snowtoads really), and had a snowball fight. They’d finished that day with Mario showing the two how to make snow angels. Peach absolutely loved it, but she briefly wonders why that day being the cause didn’t occur to her when she had first fallen ill.
“It’s not your fault, Mario,” She assures, her voice sounding pretty stuffed up now that she has spoken a full sentence to him. “I had the best time learning about your traditions.. My immune system just isn’t used to your world yet, I guess.”
Mario smiles a little, and Peach briefly wonders if that can cure her, because it certainly feels like it can. “Well.. I promise the next tradition I tell you about will be warmer…” He thinks for a moment. “Maybe another trip to Isle Delfino is in order.” He offers.
“As long as your clone doesn’t come back and I don’t get taken by a giant turtle again, it sounds like a plan,” Peach laughs, which just makes her cough. Mario still grins at her; he’d called Bowser a turtle in passing and it kinda just stuck.
“Good point. Maybe we’ll go somewhere in my world. You like snorkelling?” He asks genuinely. She scrunches her nose up at the word as if he’s joking. “It’s a real thing!” He assures. “You put these funny looking goggles on that let you see underwater while you swim and this mouthpiece that lets you breathe. You can see all kinds of things, even turtles.” Peach giggles at this.
“I like the sound of that.” She smiles. Mario takes the face washer off her forehead and feels it, sighing in relief.
“Your temperature is dropping,” He tells her happily, placing the face washer back on her head. “I’m gonna go get you some medicine from my place, I should still have some leftover from when Luigi wasn’t well, are you gonna be okay?” He asks.
Peach frowns. She knows she shouldn’t be dramatic, as she knows that medicine will get her feeling better, she just doesn’t want Mario to leave. She just nods, and he assures he’ll be back as soon as possible. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, trying to focus on waiting for Mario to come back instead of the pounding in her head.
By the time Mario returns she’s fast asleep, snoring quietly. He’d never heard her snore before and he immediately decides it’s the cutest thing he’s ever heard. He quietly approaches her bed and places the medication and cup of water on her nightstand, ready for her to have when she woke up. He isn’t sure how she’d feel if he stayed in her room while she was sleeping. She may find it creepy, so he ultimately decides to go. Just as he turns to leave her room he feels Peach grab his arm with what little strength she has left, trying to pull him closer.
“Mario..” She mumbles sleepily, eyes hazy and a frown evident on her features. “Stay.” She begs. He smiles sheepishly and takes his shoes off, sitting beside her on the bed. She sniffles, scooting closer to him so her body is pressed against his.
“You should take your medicine before you sleep,” Mario reminds her quietly. Peach grumbles in response and Mario grabs the tablets off her bedside table, handing them to her along with the cup of water. She cautiously takes the two tablets and swallows them with the water, handing the cup to Mario once she’s finished so he can put it back on her nightstand. “That should kick in soon.”
“Thank you..” Peach mumbles out her gratitude, seemingly exhausted.
“Always, Princess.” Mario answers easily, because it is. It’s an easy thought. If his Princess needs him, he’ll be there. If she needs him to clean her dirty tissues off the floor and teach her about the human flu, he will. If she wants him to take her snorkelling on the Sunshine Coast, he will. He’ll do anything she asks him to do, and he’ll do anything for her even if she doesn’t ask. She had opened her home to him and his brother, her kingdom. She had given the brothers a place they could call home, and he’d never be able to repay that kindness. He could certainly try though.
“Will you lay with me?” She asks shyly and Mario gives in easily, laying down beside her and removing the face washer from her forehead. It isn’t a pleasant thing to sleep with. Peach moves closer to him once again, leaning her head on his chest cautiously. She isn’t sure if she’s crossing a boundary here, she’s unsure where they stand after the moon incident. She feels one of his hands start running through her hair and she closes her eyes, getting comfortable. “Don’t go.” She lets out, wrapping an arm around his torso as if to keep him in place. Little does she know he has no intentions of moving.
“Don’t worry Princess,” He assures, pressing a gentle kiss to her head and wrapping an arm around her shivering figure. “I’m not going anywhere.”
