A Nutcracker and the Beast

Chapter 23: The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth

"I-it's okay Bowser... I'm up already..." Luigi said, his little bandana twisted to cover his arm from Junior's view. Junior ran past Bowser and turned to face him; Junior picked Luigi up into a hug as he held back a hiss of pain.

"Luigi! W-what happened to you?!" Junior asked as he held Luigi, trying to pull back the bandana to see the damage, but Luigi made sure that he kept it in place. Bowser kneeled beside them with a heavy heart; how would he explain last night's events to him and how there may be changes to all this new information. Luigi did all the work for him, however.

"I messed up, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. You see, it can be really hard for me to see in the dark even with the glow from the lava. And you now know how I can be clumsy sometimes...without realizing it, I tripped over a rock and I burnt myself real bad." Luigi explained, lying through his teeth as if it was sweet honey that even Bowser would believe him if he wasn't aware of last night.

"Why would you do that then? Why walk in the dark? Also what about the damage outside? There are holes in the wall and on the floor."

"I had a bad dream and you're always telling me about how your dad makes a good hot chocolate to help with bad dreams. I wanted to try it." Luigi said before he started to push Junior away to let him know to put him down, which Junior did as Luigi made sure that he couldn't see how bad it was. "As for the wall and floor, they were already there when your dad found me...with how bad I hurt myself, I'm not going to be able to sleep in your room for a while."

"T-that's right Junior. The doctors need to see him but they need to do it where there's a lot of space...like my room." Bowser added to the lie, watching Junior sit on the floor as he grabbed onto Luigi's bandana, just holding onto it as if he didn't want to let go.

"C-can I at least see it? Or sleep in here tonight? I-I've got too used to you sleeping next to me..." Junior said, sniffling as he tried to be a big boy.

"Junior, you can't-" Bowser started to talk but stopped when he saw Luigi show Junior his hand. It was black and looked like it could fall off at any moment. Junior slowly moved his hand over Luigi's hand, shaking Junior lightly, touching his hand as Luigi hissed in pain. Junior pulled back, scared, his tears coming back as Luigi hid his hand.

"Remember what I promise you Junior: I'll always come back to you, no matter how many times I fall apart."

"Y-you promise that you won't fall apart again..." Junior said, wiping his tears away as Luigi rubbed his hand.

"I know...and I'm sorry I didn't keep it but I promise I'll get better, okay?" Luigi said as Junior nodded, giving Luigi another hug before Junior carried him back to Bowser's bed.

"I'll bring your bed later okay Luigi?"

"Okay, Junior...how about you and your dad get it for me now? That way, I can sleep a bit more." Luigi suggested as Junior nodded as he approached Bowser and grabbed his hand. Bowser just gave Luigi a worried look as he didn't want to leave him alone right now, but Luigi just smiled and waved as Junior started to pull on his hand to go to his bedroom.

When the two of them left, Luigi let out a shaking breath. He was awake the whole time as he felt Bowser touch him, feeling all his imperfections and scars on the right side of his body. His heartbeat raced as he tried to stay as still as possible, and he felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest when Bowser went back to feeling his face. Rubbing his cheek before Luigi felt what he assumed was Bowser's claw tap, his jawline made his cheek heat up. Luigi hopes that Junior doesn't tell Bowser that he needs his bed to actually be asleep; in fact, he wishes that Bowser would have kept his mouth closed. When Luigi said that he couldn't be in Junior's room, he planned to hide within the walls or stay with Kamek for a while - not in Bowser's room!