Chapter Text
“Ugh, non di nuovo!” Luigi muttered to himself as he didn’t expect to be in the middle of such a tough fight. No matter what he did, he always found himself on the losing end. He was never good at things like these, but he never thought tying a tie would be so difficult. A glimpse in the bathroom mirror saw his reflection with a crooked green tie and resigned facial expression stare right back at him. He lost count of how many times he tried to perfect the knot, but he knew it was way more than it needed to be. Seeing that time was of the essence, he conceded defeat and decided to call for assistance with this aggravating silky piece of fabric.
“Mario!" Luigi called out from the bathroom, "can you come help me with something?"
“Give me a sec, Luigi! I’ll be right there!” Mario answered back. Mario entered the restroom only seconds after, and Luigi saw a warm and understanding smile form on Mario’s face.
“Let me take care of this, Luigi. I’ll have you looking sharp in no time!” Mario chuckled as he took hold of Luigi’s tie and went to work. True to his word, Mario’s hands were able to form a perfect Windsor knot with Luigi’s tie in only one attempt. Luigi looked in the mirror once Mario was finished, and a relieved smile broke on his face after seeing the result of Mario’s handiwork.
“Grazie, Mario!” Luigi sighed. “I can never get the hang of these things.”
“Prego, fratellino,” Mario placed a hand on Luigi’s shoulder.
“I don’t get it,” Luigi murmured to himself as his smile dropped from his face. “Dad showed us multiple times how to tie a tie. I paid close attention to his instructions and mimicked them the best I could; however, these cursed things still give me trouble. How do you do it so easily, Mario?”
“Practice, Luigi. Plenty of practice,” Mario gently patted Luigi’s back. “You’ll get it one day. I know for sure!”
Although his adventures with the tie were frustrating, it still wasn’t the toughest thing he had to do this week. Luigi has battled against a large fire-breathing turtle dragon, a huge and vengeful ghost with a fetish for trapping the people he cares about in paintings, and other countless and powerful adversaries over the years. However, none of those things were as intimidating as the one thing he pushed himself to do three days ago.
He asked a woman out on a date. It wasn’t just any woman, however, nor was it any ordinary date. He somehow managed to gather enough fortitude to ask Princess Daisy out for her birthday. Technically, it was the day after, but that minor detail didn’t matter to Luigi.
Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach were visiting Sarasaland for a week to celebrate Daisy becoming a year older. The actual day was yesterday, and a huge bash was held in her honor. There were games, sports, and other activities throughout the day, culminating in a huge dinner with all of her family and closest friends followed by the birthday girl receiving lavish gifts from most of the attendees. Even the leaders of the four kingdoms that made up the country attended the celebration. All in all, it was a great day that Daisy claimed she would remember for the rest of her life.
Although Luigi enjoyed himself and was happy the day went swimmingly for Daisy, he wished to spend some quality time with her alone. He told Mario about his desire to do so three days prior, and Mario encouraged him to ask her out. At first, Luigi was cynical when Mario said that because Mario had never even asked Peach out on a date. Whenever Mario and Peach spent time together, Peach was the one who did the inviting. Speaking of Peach, she somehow found out (i.e., Mario told her) that he wanted to have some quality time alone with Daisy and like Mario encouraged him to just ask her. Luigi was hesitant to do so because he never asked anyone out on a date before, however; Peach positively assured him that Daisy would accept. She even had Luigi practice on her by pretending she was Daisy, coaching him along the way. Since Peach and Daisy were best friends and knew each other like sisters, Luigi trusted Peach and decided he would take the leap of faith and ask Daisy out on a date.
Flashback (Three Days Ago)
Luigi and Daisy were making small talk while walking through the Sarasaland castle’s garden in the mid afternoon. Earlier in the day, Luigi was caught off guard when Daisy had invited him to accompany her while she tended to some flowers but eagerly accepted the invitation, nonetheless. They eventually reached a large area that was Daisy’s personal section where Daisy handed Luigi a watering can. She told him how much water to use before she got to work spreading soil around some sprouting buds with her hands. Luigi was once again surprised, this time it was because Daisy allowed him to help her with the gardening. He knew how much pride she took in her gardening skills and rarely allowed anyone to touch her flowers let alone help her with them.
Luigi watched Daisy tend to her garden in awe while at the same time couldn’t help but think how cute she looked in her outfit. Daisy wore an orange T-shirt under a pair of dark blue overalls similar to his. Complementing the outfit was a straw sun hat with an orange ribbon and chin strap, a pair of white-orange gardening gloves, and orange boots that she wore under her overalls. At one point, Daisy caught Luigi staring at her and used the opportunity to tease him by playfully wiggling her cute tush at him. This made Luigi’s heart rate skyrocket as well as cause a rush of blood to flow rapidly to his face, forcing him to step away from Daisy for a bit with her giggles blending into the cool air behind him. He chugged some water from his canteen before rejoining her after both his heart rate and face returned to normal. Fortunately for Luigi, the rest of the time went without any more shenanigans outside of Daisy smirking at and elbowing him in the ribs.
Luigi and Daisy were sitting on a bench under a gazebo after working in the garden for roughly two hours. Although Luigi already had a lot of admiration for Daisy, it increased tenfold after seeing her working with the flowers. He saw how meticulously she cared for them and how tender she was; she even talked to them as if they were babies. This was a far cry from her boisterous competitive nature when she was engaged in any sports, kart racing, or party activities. Luigi found himself really enjoying being around Daisy when she wasn’t trying to ram him off the racetracks or fracture his ribs with her fast and painful tennis serves; not even he was immune to Daisy’s wrath when she was at her most competitive. That’s not to say he didn’t like to be around her, however, for he always cherished his time with the princess no matter what the circumstances were.
“Thank you for spending time with me today, Luigi,” Daisy smiled at the plumber after taking a sip of water from her canteen. “You were a big help.”
“Any time, Daisy,” Luigi rubbed the back of his head before remembering he was still wearing his soil-stained gloves and therefore wiping soil and mulch on his hair and neck. He mentally kicked himself for forgetting that detail and turned to Daisy to see she was stifling her laughter much to his chagrin. Oh well, it wasn’t anything a nice shower couldn’t fix.
“I just love working with flowers,” Daisy said as she perused the garden with a blissful smile on her face. “They are so beautiful and full of life that you can’t help but enjoy being around them.”
‘But you are the most beautiful flower of them all,’ Luigi thought to himself. Seeing that he and Daisy were alone, he figured now would be the time to do the most terrifying thing in his life. He took a deep breath while mustering up all the courage he could before speaking again.
“So, um, Daisy,” Luigi began, causing Daisy to face and stare at him with those gorgeous blue eyes. God those eyes were so easy to get lost in. He looked at his feet before continuing. “Besides the party, do you, um, have any other plans for your birthday?”
“Not at the moment. Why do you ask?” Daisy inquired with curiosity in her voice.
Luigi gulped at the question, realizing this was much harder than he expected it to be. However, he made it this far, and he wasn’t going to turn back now. “T-That’s because I-I was wondering i-if you, um, I mean, would like to, um, h-hang out, no that’s what I meant! W-What I meant to say is, um, d-do you l-like to e-eat? O-Of course you d-do, how s-silly of me! I-I guess w-what I’m trying to say i-is…”
“Luigi,” Daisy cut him off with a saccharine and teasing tone to her voice, causing him to face her with some trepidation. She coquettishly batted her eyelashes at him while a playful smile formed on her face. “Are you by any chance asking me out on a date?”
Luigi gulped heavily and felt the heat rise in his face again as he quickly turned his head away from her. ‘Real smooth Casanova. There’s no way she’ll say yes now,’ Luigi mentally castigated himself. Peach would be so disappointed that all of the coaching and advice she gave him was for naught. In his defense, although Peach is a very attractive woman, he didn’t have any romantic feelings towards her and knew it was only practice; therefore, it wasn’t as nerve wrecking for him. With Daisy, however, that all flew out the window. Luigi realized asking the person who you’re attracted to is a completely different story, especially if you don’t have any experience with such a thing. Still, he wanted to see this to the end, although he felt a rejection coming on.
“I-I guess I-I am,” Luigi chuckled anxiously while still avoiding Daisy’s gaze.
“I would love to go on a date with you.”
“I-I knew this would happen,” Luigi sighed as he glumly looked down at his boots. “I-I don’t know what I was thinking, but it was worth a shot. T-Thank you for…”
He stopped mid-sentence when it finally registered in his brain that Daisy had accepted. He lifted his head and turned to face her, who had a huge bright smile on her face. “D-Did you say yes?” he asked with his eyes filled with bewilderment. “You r-really want to go on a d-date with me?!” The next thing he knew, he was gasping for air because Daisy had engulfed him in a huge side hug with her cheek rubbing softly against his.
“You better believe it, Weegee!” Daisy exclaimed cheerfully, still absent-mindedly squeezing valuable oxygen from the green clad plumber.
“D-Daisy, I can’t breathe!” Luigi somehow managed to eke out, which elicited a small gasp from Daisy before she finally let him go. Luigi tried to take a deep breath but found it difficult because his ribs were still sore.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Weegee!” Daisy apologized while chuckling with embarrassment. “I really need to know how to hold back sometimes.”
“It’s OK, Daisy,” Luigi warmly smiled at her, prompting Daisy to give him another hug which fortunately was a lot less restrictive than the previous one. Luigi returned the embrace as the two continued to sit under the gazebo as the sun began to set. A huge grin broke out on his face as he still couldn’t believe what had just transpired.
He asked a woman out on a date, and she accepted. He knew he would be on cloud nine for the rest of the day.
End Flashback
Mario and Luigi left the bathroom and sat on the bed in their guest room. There was still an hour left before the latter’s date with Daisy and although he tried to be calm, Luigi’s hands were both shaky and sweaty as the time slowly ticked away. In addition, forget about butterflies, he felt like he had an entire insect ecosystem scattering haphazardly in his stomach.
“Lu, are you OK?” Mario asked with concern, noticing Luigi’s uncomfortable body language.
“I wish I could say I was, but I’m super nervous,” Luigi answered honestly while still trembling. “What if she changes her mind? What if I make a fool of myself? What if something goes wrong? What if…”
“Luigi,” Mario placed a hand on Luigi’s shoulder while interrupting his rambling. “I doubt Daisy will back out at the last minute. She said yes, didn’t she? Daisy is one of the most straightforward people we know; she would’ve flat out told you if she didn’t want to go out with you.”
“I guess you’re right,” Luigi calmed down some after hearing Mario’s reassuring words. “So how do I look? Is this too much?” He rose from the bed and looked at himself in the tall mirror in their room. Luigi opted to go with a simple black suit with a starch pressed white shirt, green silk tie, and black dress shoes. Accompanying the outfit was a black suit jacket and wide brimmed black fedora with a green ribbon and feather. He would put the last two items on when it was time to head out.
“Luigi, you look great,” Mario assured him. Then a playful smirk formed on Mario’s face. “Daisy may have to fight off some women during your date.”
“It’ll probably be the other way around,” Luigi laughed nervously. “I know she’ll look amazing, especially if the princess is helping her.” He shook his head in disbelief as he rejoined Mario on the bed.
“Is something else the matter, Lu?” Mario asked after seeing Luigi's head shake.
“I still can’t believe I somehow asked a girl out on a date,” Luigi answered with surprise projecting from his voice. “Not just that, I asked a princess out, and she agreed. If anyone told me I would do such a thing, I’d look at them wondering how they managed to escape from a mental asylum.”
“Luigi, you need to give yourself more credit,” Mario laughed while patting Luigi on the back. “What you did took a lot of courage; believe me when I say that. Now look at you. You’re about to go out and have a great time with the most desired woman in Sarasaland. I’m proud of you, little brother.”
“Thanks, Mario,” Luigi breathed heavily before an excited smile appeared on his face, for Mario’s encouraging words have him looking forward to tonight’s date. Thinking it would take some time for Daisy to get ready, especially if Peach was helping her, the brothers spent the rest of the hour making small talk, which mostly included Mario giving Luigi a bunch of pep talks. One notable conversation that occurred was Luigi teasing Mario about when he would ask Peach out on a date since he was courageous enough to ask Daisy. This made Mario's face turn redder than his hat, and he told Luigi he hoped his date would be a disaster, in a joking manner of course. The brothers shared a laugh over that, and before they knew it, the time came for Luigi to meet Daisy in the castle's main hall. Luigi made sure to grab his suit jacket and hat before leaving the room.
Well, it’s time, Luigi thought to himself as he took a deep breath while walking down the castle’s corridors alongside Mario.