A Nutcracker and the Beast

"What color should I use? A light yellow or yellow?" Junior as he looked up at Luigi, who was holding onto a paintbrush that was the same size as him.

"Well, I would say light yellow if you're using it for my skin but won't a light brown work better for wood?"

"Nope! I want to make sure that I get the right colors!" Junior told him. Luigi and Junior decided that they would have an "all-day sleepover" in his room today, so they were going to stay in his room all day. So far, they've slept in, played board games, and eaten sweets that Peach dropped off with Kamek, who ensured Junior ate his late breakfast. Lunch was a Peanut butter and Jelly sandwich cut in the shape of a Dry Bone skull. Junior found it really cute, while Luigi found it odd but was warming up to it as Junior enjoyed it. Right now, Luigi and Junior are doing portraits of each other. Junior was much faster and better than Luigi was; Luigi was still working on his first drawing while Junior was on his third one. Luigi wasn't in a hurry as he took his time, trying to not step in the wet paint as he lay it on the paper. However, since he was being careful with the drawing, he wasn't being that careful with the open paint, making himself fall backward in the red paint. Junior let out a laugh as Luigi got up, but he slipped from the paint that got on the bottom of his shoes, making him fall face-first into yellow paint.

"Hahaha, Look! You're a Koopa like me now!" Junior giggled at Luigi as he got up from the yellow that covered his whole front side now. Luigi wrapped the yellow from his eyes to see that he was dripping with the two colors.

"I guess I am!" Luigi said as he joined in on the laughter, feeling a mischievous grin come along, "And I want to give you a big hug."

"No!" Junior jokingly said as he got up on his feet. Luigi started to chase after him, Junior laughing as Luigi tried to keep up with him, leaving paint on the stone floors and always pretending to miss him when he got close. Soon Junior stops at the paint, dripping his hand into green and blue paint as Luigi jumps on his back, giving him a back hug while he avoids the spike on his shell.

"Hey!" Junior laughed as he painted himself.

"I gotcha ya!" Luigi giggled as he got off Junior, leaving a yellow paint of his entire body on his shell. When he moved to the front, he saw Junior putting light green on his arms. "What are you doing?"

"Body paint," Junior said, "If you're going to be a Koopa, I want to be you!"

"Junior, that is very sweet but this isn't the safest paint to put on your skin. How about we clean up then we'll cut up some green bed sheets and make you a costume?" Luigi suggested, trying to not get Junior to give himself lead poisoning.

"Can we make one for you too? With a Koopa shell like mine?" Junior asks as Luigi pulls him toward the bathroom.

"Sure we can; now go take a bath," Luigi told him.

"Okay! I'll be out soon," and off he went in. Luigi returned to where they were painting and grabbed the napkins they were using for the paintbrush, cleaning himself the best he could. Once he knew that he wouldn't ruin any of the paintings, Luigi started to tidy up a bit. He picked up his portrait of Junior, which had a few yellow footprints on it, moving it underneath Junior's window to let it dry on the floor. When he went to grab Junior's painting that he did of Luigi, the first one was a full-body drawing of Luigi holding the paintbrush. Luigi smiled at it and decided he wanted it by his little room. He put the picture in his mouth and started to climb the nightstand; once at the top, he placed the painting down before jumping down again. The second painting was just a painting of Luigi's head with a big smile. Luigi giggled a little as he thought he was smiling that big; He did the same thing again by going up and jumping down to grab the last drawing.