Drak and Luigi Write: The Story of how Luigi Became a Dragon (Part 5)

Of Discoveries and Dragons

            Over the course of the next few days, Luigi’s transformation continued at a slow but steady rate. At first the changes remained small: The claws on his feet grew larger and more prominent, and his feet themselves gradually changed shape. He found it more comfortable to walk on his toes, and eventually impossible not to. This, of course, threw his balance off and he rapidly (and painfully) became well-acquainted with the floor.

When he woke up one morning with the new addition of a tail, long, striped, and covered in fur just like the rest of him, his screams of alarm disturbed several of their neighbors. The one benefit, he discovered, was it seemed to solve the worst of his balance issues.

            Whether Luigi had wanted it or not, his “secret” was out now. Peach came by to visit a couple of times to offer moral support, and their neighbors courteously did their best to curb their curiosity. Still, Luigi wanted only to hide away from the world, avoiding even going near any of the house’s windows.

            Mario kept to his promise as best he could, offering comfort when needed, or just letting Luigi deny anything was wrong from time to time. He couldn’t completely hide his worry, not from his twin brother, but he did his best to put his own feelings aside for the sake of Luigi’s understandably overwrought nerves.

. . .

            “Actually, I think they’re kind of cute.” Mario insisted one morning when Luigi had awakened to discover tiny, feathered wings sprouting from his back on either side of his spine.

            Luigi gave his brother a look, one that said, “you’re trying too hard.”

            Mario returned it with a shrug. “I mean it. They’re kind of like Paratroopa wings but… cuter. ‘Cause they’re on you and not a Koopa.” His laughing grin slowly faded when Luigi failed to do more than force a tiny smile. “I mean… this does mean you should be able to fly someday…”

            Luigi cringed. Flying had always terrified him. Enjoying it, well, that was Mario’s thing. Luigi could, at best, tolerate it, and only when he absolutely had to.

            Mario sighed and shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He said, as though he had read Luigi’s mind. He let out another gusty sigh, his expression turning remorseful. “I wish this was happening to me instead of you.”

            “No, you don’t!” Luigi protested, shaking his head. “Or… at least… I don’t.” He could feel himself spiraling into another anxiety attack at the thought of it. As much as he was terrified of what was happening to him, like Mario he would rather be the one experiencing it than have it happen to his brother.

            “Whoa, whoa, okay, nevermind.” Mario gently hugged him.

            “Ouch!” Luigi winced as Mario accidentally squashed his newly formed wings.

            “Oh! I’m so sorry!” Mario clapped both hands over his face. “I forgot about the wings.”

            Luigi forced a smile. “I-it’s okay, bro.” He jumped, startled by a slithering sound behind him, then remembered it was just his tail swishing back and forth across the floor. The thing seemed to have a mind of its own. He sighed. “But at this rate, I’m not going to be able to wear anything…” He already couldn’t wear his normal clothing because his fur would get tangled up in the weave of the fabric. Mario had poked holes in the few pants he still could wear so his tail could fit. None of his shoes fit anymore, either. Now, the wings had made all his shirts impossible.

            “Maybe we can make little… uh… wing-holes or something?”

            Luigi held back another grimace at the thought. “I don’t know… why bother? If the professor is right, I’m going to… to… outgrow everything anyway…” He shuddered despite himself.

            Mario reached out and hugged him again, this time remembering not to hurt his wings. “Yeah, but you haven’t yet.”

            Luigi didn’t need reminding. Part of him just wanted this transformation to be over with. He hated trying to go to sleep at night, knowing he would wake up to some new change he couldn’t see coming. And he knew sooner or later he would get too big for the house… and then what? He let out an involuntary sob at the thought. They had always lived here, together. And soon, far too soon no matter how long it took, he wouldn’t be able to anymore.

            It was as though Mario had again read his mind. “Hey, we’ll figure something out. Besides, this is just a house, really. It’s us together that make a family.”

            Luigi smiled despite the tears and the lump in his throat. He nodded, not trusting his voice.

            Mario held him until he felt able to continue with the day. At least, for now.

            “So… do you want me to poke holes in some shirts for you?” Mario asked. “Or are you just going to go around shirtless from now on?” He playfully poked at Luigi’s scaled belly.

            Luigi flinched away, swatting at Mario’s hand, and laughed in spite of himself. “Hey!”

            “Because I don’t mind if you want to go around shirtless,” Mario continued, smirking, “But Peach –”

            “Oh no!” Luigi covered his face with his hands.

            Mario laughed. “You know she’ll understand, of course…”

            “Shut up!” Luigi knew Mario was teasing him. It was working, too: though it was now invisible under his fur, he was blushing. It was already bad enough to have the princess visit them when he couldn’t wear what he considered appropriate clothing. It didn’t matter if she didn’t care, he was not about to let princess Peach see him with even less clothing on. At least… not… yet.

            “Okay, okay, so you want me to modify some of your shirts then?” Mario asked.

            Luigi looked over his shoulder at the two little wings on his back. “I… I guess. H-how big do you think they’ll get?”

            Mario shrugged helplessly. “I can always make the holes bigger.”

            Luigi sighed in defeat. “I guess.”

            “I’d better hurry then. Peach sent a message while you were still asleep saying she was coming by to see how you’re doing today. I thought I’d make cookies –”

            Luigi interrupted him, letting out a yelp and fleeing back down the hall.

            “Where are you going??” Mario called after him.

            “I h-haven’t bathed since all this started; I can’t let her come over when I’m… I’m…” Luigi was going to finish with “like this” but realized it sounded ridiculous.

            “Y’know, though, you haven’t been smelling bad.” Mario remarked.

            “…That doesn’t help.” Luigi decided, standing half in, half out of the bathroom.

            “Well, if it makes you feel better.” Mario said, shrugging. “It’s just, I’m not sure how you’ll get dried back off…”

            Luigi had managed to forget about the fur. “Oh.”

            “I guess you could use the hair dryer?”

            “That’ll take forever… but I guess.”

            “It’s either that or use all the towels we have.”

            “Er… well…”

            Luigi ultimately opted for a mix of the two. He hoped it wouldn’t take too long to dry off again.

            He thought about using shampoo on his fur, then decided against it. He would probably wind up using the entire bottle and still not get everything.

            He was surprised by just how much green fur wound up everywhere around the shower drain, however. He had only just grown the stuff a few days ago!

            Getting his tail to behave proved to be the trickiest part. Not only was he still half pretending it wasn’t there, making acknowledging its presence uncomfortable, but it didn’t seem to want to cooperate anyway.

            He eventually managed to at least get all of him wet. He was less sure about clean.

            Good enough… Well, now for the interesting part. He thought, stepping out of the shower and reaching for the first towel in the stack he had brought with him.

            He had planned on getting as much of himself dry as he could with the towels, and then finishing with the blow dryer. Instead, he had only just started using the first towel when he suddenly found himself shaking himself dry instead. He hadn’t even thought about it, it just seemed like the right thing to do. 

            He immediately regretted it as he looked around at the now dripping wet… everything. He had sprayed the entire bathroom with water. The only benefit was it did seem to successfully dry his fur off quickly. Luigi wasn’t sure it was worth it though.

            He picked up the bottom-most towel in the stack, which was the least soaked, and wrapped it around his waist before peeking out of the bathroom to make sure no visitors had already shown up. Hearing only the gentle hum of Mario’s voice as he worked in the kitchen, he stepped out into the hallway. “Uh, Mario?” He called.

            “That was quick.” Mario peered around the corner and down the hall, then abruptly burst out laughing. “Weegie, why are you so… fluffy??”

            “What do you mean, fluffy? I’ve been… oh.” Luigi looked down at himself and understood what Mario meant. Every single fur on his body was standing on end. He groaned. “Great, now the bathroom is a mess and I look… even more ridiculous.”

            Mario was struggling to stop laughing. “What do you mean the bathroom is a mess? What’d you do in there?”

            “I… may have… shaken myself dry by accident.”

            “By accident? How do you shake yourself dry by accident?”

            Luigi shrugged. “I don’t know. It just… happened. I was going to dry myself off with the towels and everything, like I told you. Then the next thing I knew, I was dry, and the bathroom was soaked.”

            Mario walked down the hallway and peered into the bathroom. Water dripped from the ceiling and landed on his nose. “Oh my.”

            “I was coming to tell you and… to get more towels… when…” Luigi gestured to his fur which was still fluffed up.

            Mario wiped the drip of water off his nose. He looked caught between laughter and alarm. “You even got it on the ceiling.”

            “I-I don’t know how I –”

            “I’m not blaming you.” Mario said quickly. “I am… surprised, though.”

            “I’ll… I’ll get it cleaned up.” Luigi promised.

            “I’ll help you.”

            “You don’t have to. I made this mess.”

            “I’ll still help you.” Mario insisted.

            They mopped up the worst of the water from the parts of the bathroom that shouldn’t ever get soaked. Once it was as dry as they were going to get it with the towels they had to hand, they shut the door and let the interior fan pull the remaining moisture out.

            “I hope Peach doesn’t need to use it while she’s visiting.” Mario said. “It’s so humid in there still…”

            Luigi had almost forgotten Peach was coming to visit. “I-I should get dressed.”

            “Well, at least in something other than a towel.” Mario agreed with a laugh. “I hadn’t gotten around to modifying your shirts yet…” He frowned, glancing between Luigi and the kitchen.

            “Uuuhh, how about I put on some pants and take over the cooking, and you can do that?” Luigi suggested.

            “And hopefully I’ll get done in time before she gets here.”

            “I can just hide in a cupboard otherwise.” Luigi meant it as a joke, but it did seem like the preferrable option to letting the princess see him half-clothed.

            “I’m sure we can figure out a better solution than that, bro.” Mario said.

            The two brothers went to their respective duties, hoping they still had enough time to finish everything before Peach arrived.

            They did, thankfully. When Peach did finally arrive, she apologized for being later than intended.

            “Actually, it’s just as well.” Mario said while Luigi fidgeted. Though he was glad to be able to still wear some clothes, his new wings felt very uncomfortable poking through the holes Mario had put into his shirt. “We had some… unexpected delays ourselves.”

            “I hope you two didn’t go to too much trouble on my account.” Peach said, her cheeks flushing pink.

            “Oh, no, not at all!” Mario smiled and beckoned the princess into the living room.

            “Well, it looks like it to me.” Peach commented, noting the tray with fresh-baked cookies waiting on the coffee table.

            “Oh, princess – I mean Peach,” Luigi corrected himself, “We wanted to make you feel welcome.”

            Peach looked up at him and smiled warmly. “I’m here to see you, you know, Luigi.” She chuckled gently. “How are you?”

            Luigi restrained himself from wringing his hands awkwardly. “Well, um…”

            “He grew wings last night.” Mario offered when Luigi trailed off uncertainly.

            Peach’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh!”

            “Yeah, uh… they’re… still r-really small.” Luigi stammered.

            Peach seemed to hesitate for a moment, sensing Luigi’s discomfort. “…May I see them?” She asked softly.

            “U-uh… okay.” Luigi awkwardly turned around so she could see the little feathered wings peeking out of his shirt.

            “Oh, they’re… actually they’re kind of cute…” Peach said, then laughed awkwardly.

            “Told ya.” Mario elbowed Luigi good-naturedly.

            Luigi smiled wryly at his brother as he turned back around. He nearly tripped over his tail, which had coiled around his ankles of its own accord. He took a couple shaky breaths and then forced a smile for Peach.

            Peach wore a sympathetic smile. “I suppose I don’t really have to ask how you’re doing, do I?”

            “I suppose not princ – Peach.” Luigi replied, feeling his face flush as he once again almost called her by her title instead of her name.

            “Would a hug help at all?” The princess asked, ignoring his slip up.

            “Uh, um, m-maybe…?”

            “Just watch out for the wings.” Mario warned as Peach walked up to Luigi.

            Unsurprisingly, the princess was very gentle. Surprisingly, at least to Luigi, some of his anxiety did seem to ebb as she hugged him.

            “We haven’t given up looking for a way to reverse this, by the way.” Peach said as she stood back, giving him a last pat on the arm. “There hasn’t been much progress yet; when I left, the professor was arguing for breaking that gem you found, but I don’t think they’re going to resort to that just yet.”

            “I wonder if I should show them the cave where we found it.” Mario mused.

            Luigi felt alarm rise in him immediately at the thought of Mario leaving him alone that long. He struggled to push it aside; Mario had a good idea. “We-we never did check out that other tunnel.” He said. “M-maybe…”

            Mario nodded thoughtfully, then frowned. “But, no, I don’t want to leave you alone that long. It’s too far.”

            Luigi tried to put on a brave face. “I-it’s o-okay…”

            Mario smiled gently at him. “No, it’s not, I can tell.”

            “Perhaps you could draw them a map, instead?” Peach suggested.

            “Hmmm, maybe… I don’t know those hills too well though… I’d hate for anyone to get hurt, or lost, because I gave bad directions.” Mario sighed.

            “Or,” Peach seemed determined not to give up, “Perhaps you could just show them to the entrance of the cave? Then you two wouldn’t have to be apart for so long.”

            Luigi was relieved the princess hadn’t suggested he tag along. He wasn’t at all ready to step outside just yet.

            “That could work… would you be okay with that?” Mario looked up at Luigi.

            “I-I think so.” Luigi nodded, wanting to be helpful somehow. “Just… don’t let them go touching anything they find in there.”

            Mario and Peach laughed. “I’m sure they’ll be careful.”

. . .

            The next morning, Mario woke Luigi to say goodbye. “I’ll try to be back by midday.” He promised, patting Luigi on his furry shoulder as he left.

            Luigi tried to go back to sleep, thinking that if he could, it would make the time pass quicker. His mind refused to wind back down, though, and after a short while he gave up and got up.

            Disquieted and uncomfortable with the stillness of the house, he found himself pacing around and around the “loop” of the living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway.

            After his fifth lap around the house, he accidentally took a corner too tightly and bashed his right wing against the wall.

            “Aaaaaaagh!” He yelped, jumping into the air. He inadvertently landed on his tail. Yelping once again as that also hurt, he fell to the floor in a heap.

            He lay there for a while, feeling perfectly miserable. Regardless of what he wanted to believe, it was painfully obvious (literally!) that these new appendages were in fact a part of him now.

            And I think the wings are getting bigger. I couldn’t have done that yesterday.

            He sighed raggedly and slowly forced himself to get back up. It wouldn’t do for Mario to come home and find him like this.

            He started to resume pacing, but each time he looked at the wall where he had hurt himself, the injured wing throbbed. His tail was also aching. Suddenly it occurred to him that maybe he had seriously injured himself.

            He didn’t want to pay any more attention to the unwanted limbs than he had to, but it would be far worse if he had broken something and ignored it.

            He carefully sat down on the couch, making sure he didn’t sit on his tail, and started checking first the tail and then the wing to make sure that, at the very least, no bones had been broken. He wasn’t sure what to do if he had broken something, though.

            Thankfully it didn’t seem that he had injured himself that severely.

            “Probably just bruised.” He said to himself. He sighed shakily. “Mario, I hope you’ll be home soon. I’m talking to the house now.”

            Mario didn’t return home for some hours after Luigi’s incident with the wall. He wound up spending the intervening time sitting and trying not to fidget.

            Mario found him sitting on the couch watching the tip of his tail twitch. He was starting to get a feel for how it moved and why. It seemed to have less of a mind of its own than he had previously thought, just responding to his emotions more than to his deliberate thoughts.

            He looked up, relieved, when Mario opened the door and stepped inside. “Hey Mario!”

            Mario seemed equally relieved to see him. “Hey bro! How’d you do?”

            “Uuuuhh, well, mostly okay.” Luigi admitted, glancing at his wing, which still hurt.

            “‘Mostly okay’?” Mario echoed.

            “Uh-huh. I… had a little… problem. But it’s okay now!”

            Mario joined him on the couch. “What kind of problem are you talking about?”

            Luigi glanced down at his tail for a minute, trying to compose his thoughts so he could explain what happened without being a stammering mess. “Well, I was… trying not to get too anxious while you were gone, so I was just walking around the house. Just to have something to do.” He began, trying to resist the urge to start fidgeting. “And I was fine, until I… kind of…” He sighed, giving up on trying to sound coherent. “I-I hit my w-wing on the wall… and it hurt… and k-kind of startled me… and then I tripped over my t-tail, and that hurt…”

            “Aw, bro, I’m so sorry…” Mario reached forward to hug him, then hesitated. “…Is your wing okay?”

            Luigi nodded. “I-I checked.”

            “Okay, good.” Mario then followed through with the hug.

            Luigi hugged him back, relieved he was home. “H-how did your trip go?”

            “Mm? Oh, well, I didn’t stick around very long once we got there. It did take a little while for me to find the cave again, and then make sure it really was the right cave. But once they started setting up a little mobile lab just inside, I took off back home.”

            “I’m glad you’re home.” Luigi said softly. “I was okay, but… it’s lonely here when you’re gone.”

            “You never seemed to have trouble before, if I went somewhere and you stayed home.”

            Luigi made a face at his brother. “Things were normal then. I-I was normal th-then.”

            Mario’s expression fell, and Luigi realized he had been trying to make a joke. “I’m sorry, Luigi. I didn’t mean…”

            “I-I know. I’m sorry too. I didn’t even realize you were kidding…”

            “Well it was obviously a pretty lame joke.” Mario shrugged and sighed, running his hands over his face. “…Have you eaten today?”

            Luigi frowned. “Uh, no.”

            “I was afraid you were going to say that. Well… me neither, actually. I didn’t want to take the time before I left.” Mario smiled wryly. “I’ll make us something for dinner.”

            “Is it really that late already?” Luigi was surprised, having assumed his sense of time would be skewed by trying to be patient until Mario returned.

            “Maybe you should at least look out the window once in a while…” Mario poked him on the arm.

            “It’s just… I thought…” Luigi finally thought to look at the clock on the wall. It was almost sunset. “…Oh.”

            “Are you… doing okay bro?”

            Luigi shrugged. “I just didn’t expect it to be later than it felt like, that’s all.”

            “Oh.” Mario nodded understanding. “Well, do you want anything in particular for dinner then?”

            Luigi hesitated. He had promised himself, and his brother, he wouldn’t keep any more secrets from Mario after the incident at the beginning of his transformation. Yet, he felt terribly uncomfortable to admit what had immediately popped into his head at that question.

            “Luigi?” Mario frowned at him.

            “Uh…” Luigi caught himself fidgeting and stopped. “…P-promise… not to judge?”

            “Of course, Luigi.” Mario’s expression was so earnest Luigi felt his anxiety evaporate.

            “Well… it’s not that I actually really want this for dinner, but you asked and… I don’t want to lie to you… uh… as soon as you asked, I thought raw meat sounded good.”

            Mario blinked, obviously not expecting that response. “…Well…” He began slowly, “I… guess it’s just as well you don’t really want that for dinner, because I don’t think we have any to begin with…”

            Luigi laughed nervously. “Y-yeah…”

            “Well, uh, in that case… I’ll… I’ll just… whip something up real quick.” Mario said. He got up and started to walk into the kitchen, then paused and looked back. His eyes looked like he was trying to see into his brother’s very thoughts. “I’ll be right back.” He said after a few seconds.

            Once Mario turned away, Luigi slumped forward and tried not to cry. It was bad enough to have his whole body changing like this. Now it was starting to seem like he might lose himself. Based on his behavior, Mario was fearing the same thing.

. . .

            “Hey, Luigi, sorry to wake you up again…”

            Luigi felt his ear twitch, which made him finally wake up enough to realize he wasn’t dreaming that Mario was talking to him. “Uh?”

            “Sorry, bro, but do you think you’ll be okay alone again today? I really want to go see if they found anything out at the cave yet.”

            “Mmmm… Mario it hasn’t even been a full day since you left them…” Luigi yawned and pushed himself away from his pillow.

            Mario sighed, and Luigi noticed it was apparently now his brother’s turn to fidget nervously. “I know. I just… I want to know for sure.”

            Luigi expected to struggle to say the words Mario wanted to hear and was surprised when he felt no anxiety. “Well, I don’t have any objections.”

            Mario’s fidgeting stopped and he stood still in surprise for a few seconds. “You’re sure?”

            Luigi nodded. “Yeah, I think I’ll be okay. I was yesterday…”

            “Well, alright then. The sooner I leave the sooner I’ll get back.” Mario said, giving him a hasty pat on the shoulder before turning and practically bolting out of the house.

            Luigi yawned again and settled back down in bed. Maybe I’m just too tired to be scared. He decided. Soon, he had fallen back asleep.

. . .

            Luigi wasn’t sure how long he slept after saying goodbye to Mario and promptly zonking back out. He did feel more rested than he had in nearly a week, however, so he wasn’t going to question how he had pulled it off.

            He yawned and stretched, then got to his feet. Not wanting to worry Mario by forgetting to eat all day again, he made his way into the kitchen to make… something… for breakfast. He wasn’t sure what he wanted.

            At least that weird craving went away. He thought to himself.

            Unable to decide on what he wanted for breakfast, he settled for a bowl of cereal. Then sat at the table tapping the spoon against the bowl for a while. Finally, he sighed and scooped up a spoonful of cereal and proceeded to smack himself in the face with it.

            “Ow.” He reached up to rub his nose, discovering it was not only larger than he remembered, but more prominent than it previously had been. Running his hand cautiously along his face, he found that he had grown a furry snout.

            He immediately rushed to the bathroom mirror. The face that gazed back at him was definitely not Luigi. He had managed to get used to being covered with fur, and to some degree even the horns and ears. But this?

            He stumbled backwards and almost fell over into the shower behind him, throwing his arms out to catch himself. In the mirror, he saw his wings flare open at the same time. They had gotten bigger again too.

            “Wait…” Regaining his balance, he walked back to the mirror and peered at himself, comparing different reference points around the room to his perspective. “Am I… taller?”

            Professor Gadd’s words, that he would get bigger, came rushing back. He had managed to push that thought completely out of his mind.

            Maybe this is why I was so sleepy. Whatever good feelings he had been enjoying so far evaporated. He slowly trudged out of the bathroom, suddenly feeling far more depressed than he had ever felt before. Until today, he could pretend everything was normal, at least some of the time. Now, though, he had to face the fact that this was all real, that all the predictions about his transformation were coming true.

            What little appetite he had when he woke was gone now and he couldn’t even stand to look at the bowl of cereal he had poured. At least I didn’t waste any milk on it.

            Sighing deeply to himself, and wishing Mario hadn’t gone, he slouched his way into the living room and collapsed face-first onto the couch.

            That was a mistake, he realized an instant later, and sat up rubbing a bruised snout.

            He lost track of time, unwilling, perhaps even unable, to move from that spot. It wasn’t until he heard Mario whistling as he approached the front door that he became aware that time even was still passing.

            He sounds happy anyway. Despite his own mood, Luigi couldn’t help but be perked up some by the sound of his brother’s whistling.

            The door was practically thrown open. “Luuiiiigiiii!!” Mario called. Then he saw Luigi lying forlorn on the couch, and his cheerful demeanor vanished. “Are you okay?” He rushed over and knelt beside him on the floor.

            Luigi sighed and nodded, accidentally bonking his chin on the couch cushion. “Yeah… why are you so cheerful?” He looked at Mario hopefully, needing anything to cheer him up.

            Mario stared at him for a few seconds, apparently noticing the changes to his brother’s facial features, then finally registered Luigi’s question. “Oh! Right. I’ve got some good news, for once.”

            Luigi smiled. He could use some good news. “Yeah?”

            “Remember how Toadsworth got fixated on the skeleton we found having a long tail?”

            Luigi’s tail involuntarily twitched. “Uh… sure?” He didn’t, really, but that didn’t matter.

            “Well, now I know why. The creature that skeleton was, was a dragon.”

            Luigi stared at Mario, half-expecting this to be a joke.

            “I’m serious!” Mario exclaimed after a few seconds. “You know how Toadsworth is always reading up on something or other… he recognized it immediately!”

            “…Mario, dragons are just legends…” Luigi sighed, letting his head flop back down.

            “Not this one. Sure, all we have to go on might be legends, but they were based on real creatures.”

            “Okay.” Luigi was still feeling too depressed to follow Mario’s train of thought very far.

            “So, you’re not turning into some random monster, Luigi, you’re turning into a dragon.” Mario finished.

            It took a few seconds for that to fully register for Luigi. He lifted his head again, looking back at his brother. “I guess that’s better than just… a… thing.”

            Mario nodded. “And there’s more. Since the skeleton was so well preserved, and we have the gemstone it had, Professor Gadd thinks he’ll be able to figure out how to reverse the magic that started this. Well, he said ‘eventually’, but he seemed certain he would be able to.”

            “‘Eventually’ could be a really long time…” Luigi looked down again and felt tears streak down his snout.

            “Luigi, what’s wrong? You seemed to be doing so well when I left this morning…” Mario reached out to wipe a tear away.

            “I’m getting bigger now.” Luigi whispered.

            “Oh.” Mario frowned, then quickly put his arm around Luigi’s shoulders, giving him a one-armed hug.

            Luigi scooted closer, and Mario responded by wrapping both arms around him.

            They stayed like that for a long time. Though he chose not to comment on it, Luigi noticed that Mario was also silently crying, a wet patch forming on his shoulder and soaking through his fur.