A Nutcracker and the Beast

Chapter 21: Questions with Dinner

"I love you too, grandpa." Junior said as they gave each other a hug. Junior was still a bit confused about what a family should look like, but he knew that the one he had and now with Luigi that it was perfect in its own way.

"Now then go get ready, dinner should be ready soon, we don't want to be late." Kamek told him, and Junior nodded as he grabbed his notebook and ran out of Kamek's room down the steps. When he got to his room to wash his hands, he thought he should write a new plan in his notebook before going to the kitchen. He simply wrote down, 'Papa Luigi.'

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"Ok, everyone, eat up!" Luigi said as he held his wooden spoon as Kamek and Bowser started to eat, but not Junior. Junior was still thinking about what Kamek had told him. Still, he also got upset when he came into the kitchen and spotted Luigi just standing on the table. His mind had gone back to one of his original problems: Luigi being unable to join them in eating at dinner time. He just poked at his cooked lamb crop with creamy mushroom pasta, and all three of them saw that Junior wasn't eating.

"What's wrong Junior? Don't like the food?" Bowser asks, but he nods no.

"Or the ingredients? I know that I'm not a big fan of mushrooms." Kamek started picking out his mushrooms, but Junior still shook his head no. Luigi walked over to him and placed his spoon down, and sat on the table as if they were going to have a one-on-one talk.

"Junior, we can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong," Luigi said calmly as they watched. Soon Junior mumbled something, but Luigi didn't catch it. "What was that?"

"I...mumbled mumbled mumbled," Junior said as he crossed his arms.

"You gotta speak up a lot louder than that Junior." Bowser said as he kept eating.

"I don't like how...how we're all just eating..." Junior admits just a little louder

"What do you mean by that?" Luigi asks Junior, then he lets it all out.

"I don't like how you're not joining us!" He said, his voice raised, "I know you plan out the meals and join us at the table, but you don't eat anything! I know you can't, but...it makes me sad to see you suffering like that...just like when I found out that you couldn't sleep...." This touches Luigi's heart, and Junior still wants to make his life more comfortable even after all this time. Luigi could feel his eyes water up as he turned away and giggled to cover up the fact that he was starting to cry.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Kamek said as he pulled out his wand and, with a wave, summoned a green bandana. It was about the same size as Luigi, if not a bit smaller, with white, red, and yellow colors on it, and the design was based on what looked like some nutcracker dancing, gems, and stars on it; the only thing out of place was some weird symbols that outline the bandana.

"I've been working on this for a while now," Kamek tells them; soon, he folded in half and wrapped it around Luigi's neck, and since it was big enough to cover his upper body, he had enough fabric to make the back into a bow. That's when the bandana outline started to glow as Luigi felt a tingling sensation on his back and chest. It almost felt like an empty stomach filling up until you had to unbutton your pants, but with wood growing to fill in holes. It was uncomfortable, but it wasn't painful, at least not till he felt his stomach, making him fall to his knees from the overwhelming feeling. It was clear that his stomach was eating itself, and he started to cry. Still, he began to cry for many reasons, like the fact that he felt his stomach that he thought disappeared when this curse happened or the fact that the pain reminded him of his childhood, and he never wanted to feel this way again. But he was happy; he would consider these tears as happy ones since they brought back something he had lost. In fact, this was the third thing that the Bowser family gave him back that made him feel human, normal, and free.

"...Luigi! LUIGI!" The yelling snapped Luigi back from his senses as he realized that he was in Bowser's hands; Junior crying as he held onto Bowser's arm, and Kamek gave him a worried look as he bit his nails. Luigi quickly wiped away the tears as he started to giggle.

"Sorry, I'm sorry." Luigi started, "I'm just so happy right now." That got Bowser to let out a breath that he was holding on to, same for Kamek.

"Don't sacred us like that!" Kamek scolded him.

"Y-yeah! I thought we hurt you..." Junior said as he wiped his tears too.

"You can never hurt me," Luigi reassured him before Bowser put him down.

"Just don't give us another heart attack again." Bowser said as he got up to grab a small plate and a toothpick. He grabbed a few pieces of pasta and a single Mushroom before putting it in front of Luigi, "here you go Greenie."

Luigi stared at it as he started to drool, and his stomach growled so loud that all four of them could hear, but he didn't care as he picked up the toothpick. He stabbed one of the pasta and took a bite as the rich flavor covered his mouth, making him tear up.

"I'm going to cry all over again," Luigi told them as he did so as he kept eating, tears building up. Kamek and Junior have a smile on their faces now while Bowser rubs his head.

"You're such a crybaby, Greenie. How the hell do you manage to get so mad when all you do is cry?" Bowser giggled, which made them all laugh. Junior soon started to eat as well, watching Luigi stuff his face.

This was a perfect family; seeing Luigi cry over food and finally having a regular family dinner made Junior see that.