revelry

You brought a hand up to shield your eyes from the bright sun as you walked, Bowser’s heavy footsteps and Junior’s lighter but more energetic steps filling your ears from either side.

Despite the brightness, the weather was pleasant as can be. It was the type of warm where you only needed a light sweater against the small breeze that wafted through the marketplace every now and then. This type of weather was a favourite of yours since it allowed you to hold your beloved husband’s large clawed hand without the discomfort of clammy hands.

Junior skipped ahead of you and Bowser, his excitable nature bringing a grin to your face as you watched him bounce from stall to stall to see what new products the merchants had to offer.

“Stay where we can see you please!” You called after him, just loud enough for the young koopa to hear you over the crowd. “Okay mama!” Junior called back, jogging backward for a moment to face you before facing the front once more.

Bowser squeezed your hand slightly, being extra mindful of the size difference between your hands so as not to hurt you. To anyone around you, it would look like the koopa king was giving a small gesture of affection to his beloved. Of course, you knew what that squeeze really meant. While it was affectionate, the squeeze really meant ‘pay attention to me now’.

“Okay, okay, you big baby, I’m right here.” You teased in a light tone, squeezing his hand right back (though you weren’t sure how much he felt it). Though he huffed at your teasing, Bowser puffed his chest ever so slightly, his eyes remaining on your grinning face as it glowed in the sunlight.

Squeezing your hand one more time, Bowser came to a slow stop and turning to face you directly. You stopped as well, confusion taking over your features as you craned your neck to look your husband in the eyes.

“You know… You look real pretty today.” Bowser grumbled, his normally booming voice sounding almost shy. You raised one of your eyebrows, smiling amusedly. “Oh yeah?” You asked, bringing one of your, comparatively, small hands to stroke Bowser’s forearm, watching him get slightly flustered.

“Y-yeah.” The Koopa king replied, feeling his large face flush as his irises seemed to turn into hearts at the very sight of you. You raised yourself onto your tiptoes, placing your hands on either side of Bowser’s large head, coaxing him to lean down toward you. Despite the fact that the two of you had been married for a while at this point, Bowser’s heart still felt like it was about to give out as you continued to lean closer and closer to his face… Your eyes flickering between his eyes and his mouth… Both of your eyes slowly fluttering shut-

“MAMA!!”

The two of you jumped apart as Junior bounded up to show you something he had found, oblivious to the PDA his parents were previously going to indulge in. Bowser grumbled in his throat and mumbled to himself in slight frustration, but ultimately leaned down alongside you to see what trinket his son had clutched in his hands.

“I saw these an’ I jus’ knew you had to have ‘em Mama!” Junior exclaimed, holding out a pair of earrings in the palm of his hand. The earrings were beautiful silver studs in the shape of daisies, a broad smile breaking across your face at your son’s memory of your favourite flower.

Leaning down on one knee, you brought Junior into a hug and swayed side to side with him. “Thank you so much my darling, this has got to be the best gift I’ve gotten today!” You praised, placing a small kiss on Junior’s forehead as he beamed up at you. Letting go of Junior, you took out the earrings you were wearing and replaced them with the new ones, carefully placing the old ones into your dress pocket.

As soon as you stood to continue walking, though, two giant arms encircled your waist and flipped you over a broad shoulder. Bowser carefully held onto the back of your thighs to keep you in place as you laughed at his dramatics. Junior, ever the energetic, continued conversing with both his father and you from where you sat perched over your husband’s shoulder as the two Koopas continued striding along the street.

The comfortable noise lasted for only a couple of moments before it was inevitably, though quite frustratingly, interrupted by none other than Mario, with Luigi following closely behind, yelling after his brother to stop.

Mario rushed in front of Bowser, forcing him to stop in his tracks. The Koopa’s light mood was quickly dampened, his scarlet eyebrows furrowing in frustration. Bowser broadened his posture, though still kept his gentle grip on your legs to keeps you in place. Junior peeked out from behind his dad, quickly hopping out beside him and mimicking his dad’s posture when he recognized the two Mario brothers.

“What do you want?” Bowser’s voice rumbled, his breath blowing the hairs on the brothers’ mustache slightly. “Yeah! What do YOU want?!” Junior exclaimed in an adorable show of support.

“What are you doing with them?!” Mario bravely shouted, gaining the attention of some of the people walking through the marketplace. Mario shifted into a fighting stance while Luigi cautiously stood back, choosing not to challenge the very large and quite frightening Koopa king that was currently staring the pair down.

“What’s it look like? We’re shopping,” Bowser growled, leaning his face down just enough to look Mario directly in the eye, “and YOU’RE interrupting our family time. Now scram.”

“Yeah, scram!” Junior mimicked again.

Not backing down, Mario kept eye contact as Luigi grew increasingly nervous. “Mario, you might-a want to leave-a them alone-“ Luigi tried, nervous gaze flicking between the Koopa king and his brother, only to be ignored.

“We’re not leaving until you let them go. Just because Peach is busy, doesn’t mean you can take someone else!” Mario exclaimed, eyebrows furrowing. Bowser’s gaze jumped from frustrated to furious, and he opened his mouth.

Before he could roar out any heavy insults, you leaned up and patted Bowser’s shoulder twice, a silent ask for him to put you down. Bowser turned his gaze away from the man in front of him only to meet your stoic face and knitted brows. For a moment, his expression turned panicked, before you placed a hand to his cheek in reassurance. Relaxing slightly, Bowser slowly placed you back on your feet.

You turned to face the brothers but didn’t step away from your husband, and instead curled against him, beckoning Junior to stand beside you. You placed one hand onto Junior’s shoulder, the other holding onto Bowser’s where it sat on your shoulder protectively.

“Mario, I would like you to meet Bowser and Bowser Jr., my family.” You introduced, your borderline cold expression not leaving your face at the thought of his immediate assumption of Bowser’s malice.

Despite your gaze not being directed at them, Luigi, Bowser, and Junior all shrunk into themselves slightly. Mario looked hesitant, keeping your gaze.

“Are you sure? They didn’t brainwash you or anything?” Mario bluntly asked, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth as your expression darkened, your eye twitching in rage. Bowser and Junior began to shake with anger.

“NOW YOU’VE REALLY CROSSED A-“ Bowser started, but was quickly stopped as you brought your hand away from Junior’s shoulder to rest against your husband’s chest. Giving him a silent look that said ‘I will handle this’ was enough for Bowser to step down, closing his mouth again. Junior continued to shake angrily, though a couple of tears now filled his eyes. That was the final straw for you.

“Junior, stand with your father please.” You said, not taking your eyes off of Mario. “But Mama-“ Junior started, though quickly changed his mind when he saw the look you were giving the Mario brother.

You stepped toward Mario, stopping about a foot away from him without breaking eye contact. Luigi thought it best to stand to the side.

“Who the hell are you to assume my judgement wasn’t intact enough for me to choose who I married?” You asked rhetorically, your tone dark. Mario shivered, his eyes falling to the ground.

“I will say this and I will say this once. Do not EVER presume to insult my husband and my son like that again, are we clear?” You kept your stare on Mario’s face. In his newly felt fear, Mario forgot to reply. “I said are we clear?” Your tone dropped and the man forced himself to nod.

“Ye-yes.” He answered tightly, not bringing his gaze from the ground in front of him. You exhaled shortly through your nose and nodded once, then stepped around Mario, now facing Luigi who tightened up in fear. You took a deep breath and looked at Luigi’s face with a brilliant smile.

“Luigi, how are you? We haven’t been able to chat lately!” You asked, bringing the younger Mario brother in for a hug. The sudden change in your demeanour made Luigi shiver, though he quickly returned your hug and began conversing with you. Bowser and Junior relaxed, letting out a huge breath of relief.

You continued conversing with Luigi as you made your way back to your family’s side.

“Here, come with us! We were about to get something to eat!” You waved one of your hands for Luigi to follow you, placing your other in the crook of Bowser’s elbow when he offered it.

“Ah, that’s okay, we-a wouldn’t want to intrude!” Luigi answered, not entirely eager to spend a meal with your husband and his brother sitting across from each other.

“Catch you later then. You’ll have to come by for tea again soon! The Shy-Guys miss you!” You replied with a smile, continuing on through the market with your husband and son.

Silence fell over the two brothers.

“So should we-“

“Luigi?”

“Yes?”

“Did you know?”

Luigi hesitated.

“Yes…”

EXTRA!!

After finally getting Junior settled into bed with several bedtime stories, Bowser trudged his way to your shared room where you lay reading a book. The Koopa flopped onto the bed, his head resting on your torso as you placed your book to the side.

“Hi.” You gently smiled.

“Hey.”

“Something on your mind big guy?” You asked, mindlessly stroking Bowser’s messy scarlet hair. Bowser could almost feel himself purring.

“You’re really attractive when you get protective is all.” The king replied, melting into your touch as his eyes once again seemed to turn into hearts. You flushed slightly before giggling shyly.

“Now that I think of it, we did get interrupted earlier…” Bowser mumbled, his pupils blowing slightly.

“Hmm… interrupted from doing what?” You teased, though your pupils were also dilated. Bowser grumbled into your chest. “I need to hear what you want.” You purred into his ear, making Bowser melt even more.

“Can we kiss?” He asked, feeling like a teenager. You grinned. “We can do more than that, big boy.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It’s tiring running a growing kingdom. So many things can and have gone so wrong to the point where Bowser has to physically step in and fix it himself; which leads to a lot of complaining and ‘I have to do everything myself’s.

So it’s not uncommon to find his royal highness taking an afternoon nap in his room, which he always argues that he isn’t and is just ‘thinking of new war strategies’. The snoring that can be heard through the door doesn’t help his case.

Today though, once you’ve figured that the castle can be without its leaders for a few hours, you decided to join him for a quick snooze.

You find him in his giant bed, knocked out on his stomach with one arm cradling his head and without his sharp accessories, after bugging him so many times about how unsafe it is to sleep with them on.

“you could poke an eye out in your sleep.”

“I’d look so much cooler with an eyepatch.”

Once you’ve kicked your shoes off, you slowly move under the covers and make yourself comfortable. You look over at the sleeping turtle to make sure you haven’t disturbed his slumber and flop down on a pillow.

You weren’t expecting an arm to wrap around your middle and pull you from your spot. You can practically feel the expression on his face as Bowser moves you closer to him.

“Why would you do that,” you try to pinch the offending arm, “I just got comfortable.”

The king of Koopas opens his ember eyes and gives you a boyish smirk as he leans into his side, using the arm he had under his head to prop himself up.

You try to sit up as if to leave, which only makes him hold onto you tighter.

“Are you saying you don’t feel comfort in the arms of your favorite king?” All that gets him is a playful eye roll.

"Well, I wouldn't say favorite- ACK!" Mr. Comedian moves and puts a small fraction of his weight on you, and while isn't much still manages to knock the wind out of you; You feel his chest rumble as he chuckles.

Bowser takes the chance to flip you both over, with you straddling his chest and him on his back, "don't have to lie, I already know I am."

"Mhm." no use arguing against something that's true.

He brings a clawed palm up to your face, caressing your cheek with his thumb. Soaking in his warmth, you nuzzle into him and hold a hand over his own.

The look in his eyes is so full of love and awestruck that it nearly has you melting into him; as if he didn't believe that you were there with him.

He lives for moments like these, just you and him in each other's presence with no disturbances. It's in moments like these that he lets his walls down completely with you, more so than he already does. He wishes he could spend all his days just like this, with you by his side.

For now, though, he's enjoying this moment for as long as he can.

knock, knock

“uhh, your majesties?”

You were used to hearing Bowser talk and sing about Peach as you made his food, did his laundry, cleaned his room like the giant manchild he was. The only time he acknowledged that you existed was when he needed to bend someone's ear about his plans (marrying Peach) and Kamek wasn't around... but you weren't complaining. It was steady work and steady pay, and you were taken care of well enough that for now, you could handle it. In fact the only regular direct interaction you had with him was bringing his food, and he usually just snatched it from you without a word.

You'd also been privy to some of his more tender moments, a mere anonymous shoulder to lament to. Over the years, you'd learned to see past the anger, past the obsession, to know he's got a heart buried deep inside that chest - if only someone could reach it. But you kept it all to yourself - he probably still didn't know your name.

And why should he? He was a king, and you were paid to be a maid, silent and invisible. And that was fine. Things didn't need to be complicated. It was a simple business transaction.

You slipped into his music room as you'd done so many times before, listening to him play as you quietly got to work tidying up around him.

Sometimes it felt like he didn't even know you were there - but that allowed you to sort of see under that spiked shell of his, so you really didn't mind. Although, he never stopped playing either way, so who knew?

"Tell me, sweetheart," you heard him rumble over the music, "what is it that keeps you here?"

You hadn't heard those lyrics before, but the spoken word style suited them.

He chuckled - well, cackled more like - as he continued playing. "So diligently taking care of my castle, and me, and never once caring to speak up. So content to stay hidden in the background. You've never recoiled from my touch or looked at me like the villain I am, nor have you let leak any of my.... hmm, less than proud moments. So tell me, my sweet little handmaiden, do you think you're invisible to me?"

You dropped your broom in shock and spun around to see him, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. The only sound that echoed through the chamber now was the clatter of the broom handle hitting the floor.

What the fuck just happened? Did you hallucinate all of that just now? Your wide eyes swept the room in front of you, your mouth hanging open; it's been a while since you'd been on a proper vacation, so maybe you had imagined it...

With a quiet sigh, you turned around to pick up your broom - only to be met with a massive, scaly paw wrapping gently around your throat, clawed thumb forcing your head back by your chin. Your face flushed brightly as you stared doe-eyed right into King Bowser's grinning face.

"L-Lord Bowser," you stammered, absolutely ashamed of how you felt about his warm hand encompassing your neck so easily. Through all your interactions, this was the first time you'd ever touched him, and you had to admit his scales were smoother than you'd expected.

His eyes narrowed as he watched you, his nostrils fluttering as he dragged you a little closer to him. That terrible, beautiful grin didn't leave him.

"My silent little human minion," he purred; his breath wafted over your face, the smell of woodsmoke heavy in your nose. "I've been thinking a lot lately, you know.... about you. About us. About what could be..."

"Wh-what can I do for you, sir?" Your voice quivered and you could feel your throat bob against his hand when you swallowed; his not so subtle implications were making you dizzy.

He hummed, bringing his free hand up to drag his claws through your locks. "I want you to tell me about me. I want to know what a mere human like you thinks of the great Lord Bowser - and I want your true feelings, got it?" he growled quietly. "You've seen more of me than even Kamek is privy to, and I demand to know why you stick around."

You resisted the urge to let out a sigh; he was just fishing for compliments, thank God, despite his thinly veiled threat. If you actually told him the truth, you feared you'd end up dead. Not that you really had bad things to say! Bowser was just a little unpredictable sometimes.

You brought your hands up to lightly rest them over the one that held your throat, but you didn't try pulling away one way or another. That seemed to confuse Bowser, his head tilting to the side as his grin slowly faded.

"Well, sir," you murmured, slowly relaxing, "even though you desire to dominate other kingdoms and crush your enemies... you still seem like you would treat your allies well. I mean, look at me: I'm a lowly maid, but I get paid well and I feel relatively protected on the occasion things get a little... ah, rough. As fierce as you are... I don't feel like I need to fear you, exactly. Which is a good thing as your employee."

Bowser's pupils dilated slightly as he seemed to consider your words. You just hoped they were honeyed enough to appease him instead of set him off, but either way you'd find out in a few seconds.

"...That ain't all, is it?" he finally huffed. "I know you got more opinions on me than that political shit you just spouted, so tell me. Promise I won't get mad." And then he gave you the best puppy dog eyes you'd ever seen.

Oh, heavens help you. There was zero reason for this koopa to be so.... cute.

You took a deep breath, gathering your courage, and then practically blurted out one of your deepest feelings about him: "Sometimes you seem like you could use a real hug and a caring friend."

His jaw dropped as he stared at you in surprise. You stared right back at him, just as surprised that that's what came out.

The silence between the two of you stretched on until you couldn't bear it anymore and you finally turned around, chiming, "M-maybe I should get back to work-"

"Wait!" Before you could even blink, Bowser snatched you off your feet, holding you up in the air like he was afraid you'd try to run.

You blinked at him, a little surprised. "...Yessir?" you asked calmly despite the blush threatening to return. Momentarily, all he did was stare at you a little dumbly before recollecting himself a little.

"I-I, uh, just thought - I mean, if you wanted to give me a real hug, I'd - I'd allow that. And the... friend thing..."

Ah, you knew that code. He wanted a hug, but he didn't want to seem like he wanted it. Poor guy.

"...You know what, now that I think about it, I think a hug would be real nice. How about you let me know every time you're in the mood to allow me to hug you, huh?" you murmured. "And if you'd like me to-"

Bowser nodded, and without hesitation (or letting you finish) he held you to his wide chest, pressing your face right against it. Unfortunately your arms were pinned to your sides so you couldn't really hug back, but you could still feel some of the tension leak out of his body when he realized you weren't squirming or trying to get away.

"You know..." The vibration of his deep voice made your head buzz pleasantly, pressed against his chest as it was. "Between you and me, maybe Peach is just a siren trying to lure me into a false love, using her pretty face to keep me from seeing someone who'd really care about me..."

Since he couldn't see your face, you rolled your eyes. "Then does this mean you have your eyes suddenly set on someone else, sir?" you asked politely.

He set you back on your feet and crouched so that his face was level with yours, his large hands keeping a gentle hold of yours. "I don't know if "suddenly" is the right word... there's been a slow realization over a few years, but I suppose I'm finally ready to give up on Peach in favor of a more promising potential."

You smiled a little, daring to reach out; Bowser's eyes watched your hand as it fell gently on his nose. His pupils blew wide. Although you opened your mouth to say something, it was then that it dawned on you that Bowser wasn't actually crouching - he was kneeling.

"B-Bowser?" you breathed as, once again, your face grew hot with the intensity of your blush. But even as you stared at that adorably sweet face he was making, the sincerity and silent plea for some sort of consensual companionship was almost overwhelming.