Disclaimers: Mario, Pauline, Luigi, and everyone else belongs to nintendo.

Summary: The night was going great, Mario and Luigi were both having a great time when suddenly Mario runs out. Luigi rushes after him to find out why, and is then taken down a trip down memory lane.

Pairings: past Mario x Pauline, Mario / Luigi brotherly love)

In the land of the Mushroom Kingdom, at the Mushroom Castle where a huge party was being held, everyone’s favorite plumbers were having a wonderful time with their princess.

While Princess Daisy tended to Luigi, who had slipped on the dance floor, Princess Peach pulled Mario on to the balcony so they could have some alone time.

“Are you enjoying the party, Mario?” she asked him. Mario nodded.

“You bet!” he said as he snacked on a cupcake. “Especially since we don’t have to worry about for now.” Peach chuckled. Mario had just defeated Bowser a few hours earlier and Bowser didn’t usually attack until a few weeks after a painful defeat(not to mention, Luigi had crashed his battle ship into his castle, so it would defiantly be awhile.). Peach edge closer to Mario, who was finishing his desert.

“It’s a lovely night, don’t you think?” she asked.

“Y-yeah...” Mario said, blushing as he realized how close she was. Peach chuckled.

“Mario, you silly! You have frosting all over your face.” she pulled out her hankie and began to wipe the frosting off his face. Then faces came extremely close, making them both blush. They leaned closer and closer until they were only inches apart.

“Mario!”

A woman in a red dress flashed through his mind and Mario quickly pulled away from Peach.

“Mario?” Peach blinked in confusion. Mario looked away from her.

“I.... I have to go! I’m sorry!” Then suddenly he ran away from her and back into the castle.

“Ow!” Luigi yelped as Daisy held an ice pack to his head.

“Does it hurt?” Daisy asked.

“A little. Sorry I slipped.” Luigi said.

“That’s okay!” Daisy giggled. Just then Mario ran past so fast, they couldn’t see his face.

“Whoa!” Luigi cried. He was so startled, he fell back and out of his chair. “Mario?”

“Mario!” Peach yelled as she ran up to them.

“Peach, what happened?” Daisy asked her.

“I don’t know! He just ran off all the sudden!” Peach said as Luigi stood.

“Let me talk to him. I’ll find out what’s going on.” he said. Then he ran out after Mario.

It wasn’t easy to catch up, since Mario had a good head start, but he had long legs and was used to running so eventually he managed catch up to Mario.

“Mario!!” he called as he panted heavily. “C’mon! Wait up!” He grabbed Mario’s arm, making him finally stop running. Mario wouldn’t look at him for some reason, but Luigi could see he was panting heavily.

“What happened, Mario? Was something wrong at the party?” he asked. Mario didn’t speak, but shook his head. “Did you see Bowser?”

Again Mario shook his head.

“Does it have something to do with Peach?” Mario still said nothing, but he didn’t shake his head, so Luigi guessed that was it. “I thought things were going great between you two! C’mon, Mario! Everyone knows you and Peach love each other, why don’t you ask her to be your girlfriend?”

“I can’t...” Mario said. Luigi could hear his brother’s voice cracking, and this made Luigi even more confused than he was.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Pauline.” The moment Luigi heard that name, he immediately understood as he released his brother’s arm. The moment he was free Mario ran off, but this time Luigi didn’t chase after him, for in that moment he hit by a storm of memories.

‘Pauline...’

//::Luigi’s POV:://

It all happened such a long time ago, but I remember it like yesterday.

It was a few years after we had moved in our apartment in Brooklyn. We had just finish fixing a pipe and now we were taking a lunch break at a cheap pizza shop.

“Oh, man! I’m bushed!” Mario had yawned as he stretched.

“Same here!” I said as I slumped on the table. “Man, there have been a lot of calls for plumbers lately.”

“I told you that commercial would work!” Mario grinned. I made a face. Truthfully, I never thought that commercial would ever work. Mario grabbed a menu. “Well, at least we can afford a decent meal now. I eat as much as my stomach can hold!”

“We don’t have that much.” I muttered, knowing my brother’s appetite.

“Hey!” he protested with a small glare. Then a completely different look came over his face as he stared at something behind me.

“Huh?” Curious, I turned and saw what he was looking at. Or should I say who.

A woman with long flowing brown hair, ivory pale skin, and ice blue eyes walked in. She wore lavender eye shadow, dark red lip stick that matched perfectly with her dark silk gown. To me, she looked like a tramp, but from the way Mario was staring at her, he thought she looked beautiful. I snapped my fingers in front of him.

“Hey, snap out of it!”

“Huh?” he said as he returned to planet earth, blushing like crazy.

“Don’t tell me you like that girl! She looks like a tramp!” I said.

“No she doesn’t!” Mario snapped back. “I think she’s pretty!”

“Yeah, well you can forget about her!” I said as I leaned back. “Girls like that only date tall, handsome, strong, rich men. You are none of thee above.”

“Hey! I’m handsome!”

“Sure, you are.” I said sarcastically as I grabbed a menu. “Look, just forget about her Mario. She would never go out with you.”

But Mario didn’t listen to me. He went back to that shop everyday to stare at that woman. I kept trying to tell him that it would never happen, but he still kept going.

And then a few months later something really unexpected happened.

“I tell you Mario, give it up! It’ll never happen!” I said as we waited for our pizza. “You haven’t even mustered up the courage to talk to her!”

“Oh, shut up!” Mario grumbled. Just the a waiter walked up to him. “Yes?”

“I have a message from the lady over there,” the waiter said as he motioned towards the tramp. “She wants to know if you’re going to keep staring or ask her out.” At this, Mario turned redder than his shirt as the woman chuckled.

After that, Mario and that tramp(who’s name I found to be Pauline), started to date, and I did not support it at all! I mean, yeah Mario may be the older twin, and he may be stronger than I am, but when it comes to relations, he’s clueless! He’s never even dated before and for all I knew that woman was seducing him into... into, oh god! I still can’t think about it!

Mario seemed to pick up on feelings.

“She’s really nice, Luigi!” he told me after dating her for a few months. “Why won’t you even give her a chance?”

“I don’t trust her type, Mario!” I told him.

“I’m not asking you to trust her type! I’m asking you to trust her!” Mario snapped. I stared at him in surprise and Mario took a deep breath. “Luigi... You’re my brother and I love you. And really, really like Pauline. Don’t you love me enough to at least give her a chance?”

Regardless of my feelings, Mario still kept seeing her more and more, he even brought her over to our apartment so we could get to know each other. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy about that.

“Okay, look,” she had said to after Mario had left to grab some pasta sauce. “I know you don’t like me and guess what? I’m not too fond of you ether.”

“Glad we got that cleared up.” I muttered as leaned back in my chair, arms folded. I was glaring at her, not hard, but not friendly ether. Even though she seemed really nice and everything I just couldn’t like her for some reason.

“However,” she continued. “I really like Mario, so let’s at least pretend to get along. For him?”

I agreed to that and since then I pretended to get along with her for Mario, but I think he knew we really didn’t like her. I still couldn’t figure out why I didn’t though. I mean, she was nice, pretty, she was really good to Mario and never hesitated to help him or stand up for him.

I finally figured out one night while I watching the news.

“Police says that a mad ape has kidnaped a woman and is currently holding her in a old factory. Police are debating what to do.” I heard the reporter say as I sipped my tea. “What’s this?! A short man is running into the factory!” I spat out my tea when they showed a close up of the man.

“Mario?!” I gasped. I don’t think I need to tell you how worried I was. Yeah, Mario was strong and we were both excellent jumpers, but could he handle a mad ape?

Apparently he could, for somehow he had defeated the ape and rescued Pauline.

It was after that night I realized why I didn’t like her. Pauline was the first woman Mario was really serious about, and truthfully I was worried that Mario would completely forget me for her. Which, now that I think about it, was silly. Pauline or not, Mario was always there for me whenever I was in trouble, or just need to hang out.

Then one night after Mario had been dating Pauline for two years, Mario made a very important announcement.

“You what?!!” I exclaimed after he had told me.

“I want to ask Pauline to marry me.” Mario repeated. “I love her, Luigi. I... I want her to be my wife and I want to be her husband.” When I heard this, I felt my heart twinge. Mario seemed to realize this. “But you’re my brother, Luigi. I love you too. And.... If you don’t want me to, I won’t ask her to marry me.” I stared at my brother, who staring at me with pleading eyes. If I had said, “Don’t marry her.” Mario might resent me forever. Plus... I had never seen Mario happier than in the time he spent with Pauline.

“You really love her, don’t you?” I asked. Mario nodded as he blushed a soft strawberry red.

“More than I love pasta.” he said. Believe me, coming from him that meant a lot. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I don’t like her, I’ll admit that. But I don’t want to stand between you and your happiness. So... You have my blessing.” I’ll never forget the happiness that lit his eyes when I said those words.

“Thanks, Luigi.” he said.

“But if she ever hurts you in anyway, I’ll never forgive her!” I just had to add, to which he laughed.

That night I waited for Mario to come home, but for some reason didn’t. Not only that, but I had the horrible feeling that something really bad had happened. After a few more hours, I couldn’t take it anymore and so I grabbed an umbrella and headed out to find him. I remember the rain was falling heavily that night, so heavy I could barely see through it. After a long time of searching, I spotted a glimpse of red through the rain. I approached and saw Mario, crouched over in the middle of the road, his hat laying a few feet away from him.

“Mario?” I said. He didn’t respond to me. As I got closer, I realized he had a few scrapes on his body and he was covered in mud, but what worried me the most was the horrible gash on his fore head. “Mario! What happened?!”

“She left...” he breathed.

“Huh?” I said. “You mean Pauline...”

“She left... and she’s never coming back.” he said. I bent down next to him and hugged him. It was lucky there was no drivers that night. I felt his small form tremble violently as I held him, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he was soaked to the bone from the rain, or because his heart was completely shattered.

//::Third Person:://

After Luigi had told the princesses that Mario just wasn’t feeling well, he went home and then went to the room he and Mario shared. There, he saw Mario curled up in a ball as he clutched a small red box. Luigi looked upon his older brother with sad eyes when he saw the tear stains still on his face. He pulled the sheets him and the slowly peeled the small red box from him. Inside the box, was a large heart shaped diamond on thick golden band and engraved on the inside band was,

‘To my beloved red rose. To you, I will love and protect for now and forever.’

Luigi closed the box and clutched it tightly as he remembered how depressed Mario had been. How truly fragile he was. That was why, no matter how much time had passed, Luigi could never forgive that woman for the tears his brother shed.

But it was obvious Mario still loved her.

Well? Was it bad? Was it good? This is my first one-shot/ romance so I’m not sure.

Please tell me what you think!