Hello readers! Thanks for gracing this short story (and me) with your presence! Yes, I realize it's past Valentine's Day and that this is going up a bit late, but honestly I'm just happy I got this posted before the month came to a close. I hope you enjoy!

"You look," I struggled to find the right word. "Comfortable."

She was wearing grey sweatpants and a blue long sleeve t-shirt that had NDU in bold letters on the front. Her socks were rainbow with polka dots and her hair, normally curled at the bottom, hung straight past her shoulders. She ran a hand through it as she pushed her duffel bag into the corner of the room and tossed her sneakers aside. "I get it, I don't look as pretty in sweats. Nice of you to let me know."

"That's not it," I assured her. Honestly, she looked better like this. More relaxed, more like her. "I'm just not used to seeing you dress this way."

"No one is," she picked up my stack of takeout menus. "My parents would kill me if they knew I was wearing this in front of you."

I was quiet as she flipped through the food options, finding one she liked. Holding it up for me to see, she asked, "What about here?"

It was a trifold brochure for an Asian restaurant I'd never even tried. I'd picked it up more as a courtesy gesture from one of the employees when the place first opened. But when I was hungry I could eat anything, so I nodded.

"Cool," she said, opening to the appetizers. Then the entrees, then the desserts. She skimmed through each part of the menu for a few minutes before sighing and handing the paper over. "You pick first," she advised, sitting on the sofa. "I take forever to decide."

To be fair, there was a lot to choose from. But I always got the same thing from Asian places, so it was easy for me. I just checked to see if the menu had what I wanted before giving it back to her.

She raised an eyebrow, "That was quick."

I shrugged.

"What are you getting?"

I sat down and showed her.

Her hair draped in front of her face as she bent over the menu again. Her index finger slid down the list of food items next to mine, and I could see her concentrating, squinting her eyes to read the description in the dim, living room light. I'd never been this close to her. We were alone, and for once in the same room without some sort of sporting event or party bringing us together. We weren't sweaty from a soccer match and swearing at each other from across the field about who made cheap goals and who didn't. We were sitting together on my couch, ordering food, as if we were friends.

Were we friends?

"Mario," Daisy called, moving her hand back and forth in front of my face. "You in there?"

I blinked. "Yes, sorry."

"Spare ribs sound good," she said. "I'll just get those, too." I must have still looked a bit frazzled because she asked, "You okay? Do you want me to call and order?"

"No." Wait. "Yes I'm fine." Just thinking. "I can call."

Daisy sat with her legs crossed and a blanket tucked under her feet. We'd been sitting in front of the TV for a good half hour and she'd barely adjusted herself. My joints ached just looking at her. "How can you sit like that for so long?"

She shrugged, grabbing another piece of meat with her chopsticks. "I don't know, I just do." Though as she said this, she moved her feet a bit, maybe feeling self-conscious from what I'd said. "You're flexible, right?"

I coughed, choking on a clump of rice. I knew she hadn't meant for the question to be erotic, but it was immediately what my mind went to. You're flexible, right? In case later we want to, ya know... Because that's obviously where the conversation was going.

I took a few gulps of water as she rolled her eyes. "Can you get your brain out of the gutter, please? I expect that kind of reaction from Wario, not you," she grumbled. "I thought you and your brother were better than that."

"We are!" I assured her. "At least I am." Daisy's eyebrows furrowed as I gave her a sheepish smile. Truthfully, Luigi and I were better than that, sometimes my thoughts just go off course. Which happens to everyone, and I think Daisy knew that, or maybe she didn't. She faced the screen again, and her eyes were focused. She was thinking. Maybe I was more like Wario than she realized, because she didn't really know me. And maybe that bothered her. It bothered me.

"Sorry," I said, again. "What were you saying?"

"Forget it," she managed, still with a hard look on her face. "Let's just watch the movies."

Movies because we hadn't been able to decide what to watch. I'd been flipping through channels for the past ten minutes and all we could find was Titanic and Jurassic Park III. We kept switching between the two each time commercials came on. Right now, we were watching the former.

Daisy sighed, "Can you check if Jurassic Park is back?"

I frowned a bit, "But this just came back."

"I'd rather not watch a cheesy romance flick. Especially today," she emphasized.

I didn't know if she was saying this because she was still sour from a few minutes ago, because she didn't want to watch the film with me specifically, or because she just didn't like romance movies. Because I didn't know Daisy. "Titanic is far from cheesy compared to most other romance movies."

"You're kidding, right?"

I stared at her and she stared back, incredulous. "No. I'm not," I stated. I glanced at the screen, watching the two lovers dance. "What they have is realistic."

She laughed bitterly, gesturing toward the screen, "They don't even know each other!"

"It was love at first sight. For him at least," I clarified. "And she falls in love as time goes on."

"Yes," she responded, placing her takeout box on the coffee table. "A teenager falls in love with a stranger in a matter of hours." She shrugged at me, "Seems legit." This time I was the one rolling my eyes, shoving a piece of meat in my mouth. She chuckled. "You don't have to get all pouty, Mario. If you like the movie that much we can watch it. Though I never took you as a mushy, romance kind of guy." And there it was again.

I felt a bit guilty admitting I knew almost nothing about a girl I'd saved. A princess. A princess whose kingdom I'd rescued, too. One I spent a good deal of time with, between races and other events, but had never taken the time to get to know. I'd focused on other people, other princesses. And look how well that had turned out.

I swallowed, setting my food down next to hers. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"

Her mouth was open, as if she expected the words to come tumbling out on their own. "Well," she started, sticking her tongue out on the last sound for emphasis. I waited. Her chin rested on her hand. "I think…"

The scene in the movie shifted, from drinking and dancing to breakfast the next morning. Rose was getting reprimanded by her fiancee for her behavior the night prior. The sound of Cal sending silverware to the floor made Daisy jump. "I mean, you're definitely not like that," she said, gesturing to the screen once again and settling herself. "At least I don't think so." Then her face hardened, and she stared at her laced fingers in her lap. She was being serious, something I almost never saw with her. I leaned closer. Curious. The channel went to commercial and there was a lull of silence as Daisy scratched the back of her palm and admitted, "But you could be. I mean, we don't know each other."

It was what I had been thinking about this entire night and still I was taken aback. "You know me well enough to know I'm not like that," I emphasized the last word.

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do," I said, urging her to look at me with her usual smile, bubbly and full of energy. "I couldn't be who I am to the Mushroom Kingdom if I was in any way like that."

This time she did look up, and our blue eyes met. Mine warm and hers cool. "That's not really the point, Mario."

"Then what is the point?" but I already knew. "That we don't hang out?" That wasn't it, not entirely. It was more than that. Her face softened, almost to a frown, and her eyes seemed to change. From cool and concentrated to pools of deep blue. It was mesmerizing. Did her eyes always do that?

She sighed, "It's stupid really. We've known each other for years but we don't really-"

"Know each other," I finished. "That's sort of my fault."

"Well, duh," she said. "Mr. I'm Only Going To Get Close To One Princess." She chuckled at her own joke.

I frowned.

Her smile faltered.

"I'm just teasing," Daisy spoke, trying to recover. "I'm just as much to blame as you."

I nodded, tugging at my mustache. It was what I always did when I was frustrated with myself. I'd spent years on Peach, years I wasn't getting back.

It started with the rescues, and those first feelings for the princess blossomed. It was walks home after battle, and constitutionals through her gardens. It was tea times and tee times, summer drives and star festivals. All of it had made me believe I was in love with Peach. But was I? Were they real feelings? Or was I too caught up in the fantasy that the princess must fall for her knight in shining overalls? Did I ever have a chance with her? A princess with a plumber? Were we even compatible? Did we have anything in common, other than the fact that I saved her from Bowser? Anything? These questions and many more had been tumbling through my mind lately.

"You're not stupid, you know, for getting so close to her."

I didn't answer.

She put her hands on my shoulders. "What you did, what you thought? That wasn't stupid." She hesitated. Her eyes were icy, glowing in the dark like a neon sign. There was passion behind her gaze that wasn't there a moment ago, and I wanted to find out why. It wasn't pity, that much I could tell, but then, what was it? I wanted her to keep talking.

And she did.

"If anything," Daisy said, sighing, "Peach is the one that's stupid."

I felt my eyebrows raise. I never thought she would say that. Daisy and Peach were best friends, or at least that was what I'd always assumed. When it came to relationship issues, I believed the princesses would support one another, but Peach was getting thrown under the bus.

"Just hear me out," she said, gripping my shoulders tighter. "You've saved her from Bowser God knows how many times. Endured scorching deserts, poisonous jungles, jagged mountain ranges, lava pits, unknown worlds in space all to get her back to her kingdom safe and sound. And that's just," she was searching for the right word. "Amazing."

Daisy thought I was amazing?

"Do you not realize how much you do for her? How much you give?" Her eyes were brighter than ever before. Icy and ablaze at the same time. "And don't give me that crap that it's all in the job description. Because it's more than a job to you. It always has been." I loved that she knew that. "Do you know how many people would just give up? Turn around and go back the way they had come because saving her just wasn't worth it? Wasn't possible?" She was begging me to understand, to realize how remarkable I was. All of this coming from someone who I thought was only an acquaintance a few minutes ago.

"You'd do anything for her," Daisy breathed, releasing my shoulders. "How could she not be in love with you? Really, how?"

It wasn't a rhetorical question. Her eyes, her tone, she wanted an answer from me. But I didn't have one for her. While Daisy's speech gave me chills, she seemed to have flustered herself. She was worked up over this, this dilemma that didn't even involve her.

"Why does it matter?"

It was too important of a question to ignore but she was trying her best to do so. Her eyes, tense and focused, now stared through the television screen at Jack and Rose sharing their first kiss. It was sunset, they were flying, and troubles from before were irrelevant now that the lovers were together.

"Because," Daisy said, shaking her head and turning away from the screen. She really didn't like this movie. This romance, too good to be true, seemed to bother her as much as the unanswered question. "It doesn't make sense, logistics-wise. And those kinds of things bother me."

She glared, though I didn't think the glare was directed at me. "Doesn't it bother you? You spent all that time saving her, getting close to her, only to have her toss you aside," she threw her hands as she said this. "I'd be pissed."

I was pissed. And miserable. But that was when I was only looking at myself. What I could have done wrong, what mistakes I made. I was so convinced it was my fault things hadn't worked out- me and my spontaneous proposal on the moon, that I hadn't thought to point a finger at Peach. But Daisy was getting me thinking about it. It was probably both of our faults things turned out the way they did, but I didn't want to think about specifics right now. I frowned, "This isn't making me feel any better."

Daisy exhaled. "Sorry," she said, as her shoulders relaxed. "I just don't understand Peach sometimes. But just, forget her, Mario," she confessed, running her hands through her hair again. "I know that sounds impossible to do, but if she doesn't appreciate you enough to give you a chance, she's not worth your time," she reached into the takeout bag beside us, grabbing the fortune cookies. "Any girl in their right mind could easily see what an incredible person you are, from your heroics alone," she emphasized, offering me a cookie.

I nodded slowly, taking it from her.

The plastic crinkled in my hands as I fumbled to open the package. I hated fortune cookies. They were dry and tasteless to me, but I liked reading the messages inside. Instead of bothering with the wrapping any further, I crushed the cookie in my hand until the words on the paper were visible.

It was a short message. No fancy wording or phrases to decode. Just three words: Take a chance.

I swallowed, glancing at Daisy out of the corner of my eye. Her legs were crossed again, and she was mindlessly chewing on a piece of her cookie as she watched the movie in silence. My stomach was in knots. I didn't know how she'd react if I asked her, but I was curious to find out. I dropped the cookie on the table and took a silent breath before saying: "Even a girl like you?"

She paused her chewing. Then swallowed. "What?"

I cleared my dry throat, "Even a girl like you could realize how incredible I am?"

Daisy crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

Not the reaction I expected her to have but I went with it, stomach unclenching. "Before, you said I was amazing."

"I said what you do is amazing."

"Same thing."

"Not really."

My face fell.

It was the famous drawing scene in Titanic, but I was embarrassed enough as it was. I couldn't have cared less about seeing a naked woman with Daisy next me. Why did I ask her that? Because it seemed as if she did have some feelings for me? All because she said Peach was wrong to say no? Because there was a light in her eyes when she had spoken about me? Because a fortune cookie told me to? Or was it the obvious: Because I was starting to like her, though I didn't even know her.

But I wanted to.

"You are amazing, too though," she said, smiling out of the corner of her mouth. "At least as far as I know."

My mouth hung open. She grinned wider.

"I couldn't help it. You set yourself up for a tease."

I shook my head and she laughed. I liked her laugh. I wanted to hear it more often.

I wanted to know who she was, beyond sports and sassy and princess of Sarasaland. I wanted to know what made Daisy, Daisy. Why her parents were so critical about what she wore, what was the deal was with the college shirt. What was the real reason she didn't like romance movies, why did she feel they could be so unrealistic. Could I change her mind about them? Prove to her that there were perfect love stories like that?

"You get lost in thought a lot," she stated, taking a sip of water again. "Never noticed that."

"You'll get used to it," I said, changing the channel for her, for now.

"Is that your way of saying we'll be spending more time together?"

I smiled. Yes. It was.

So, how was it? Hopefully good! It took me a few tries to get all the puzzle pieces working together on this one, dialogue and emotions mostly. Fingers crossed everything made sense! If not, that's fine! You have any questions? Just ask!

I debated so much whether or not these two should've kissed by the end of this. As much as I wanted it to happen, it didn't feel like it was the right time. But I'll write a romance scene(s) for these two eventually. Just you wait ;)

The Mushroom Kingdom has the same movies/shows as we do, because plot convenience! I don't know any other romance movies besides Titanic, so it was the only one I felt confident enough to write about. I think I made it work. I suppose it's best to be familiar with the movie to get the most out of this story. Plus, Titanic is in and of itself, a great film. So if you haven't seen it yet, watch it! Oh! And Toad Town also has an Asian restaurant, because why not?

I've always pictured Daisy as someone who really goes outside of the princess role, beyond just not being prim and proper all of the time. I could see her want a more normal life, going to college, spending her time doing (what she feels would be) more important things, hence the NDU shirt. NDU = New Donk University. I don't know, I'm messing around with her character, because I love me some Daisy 3

I really hope you all liked this! If you've got some time on your hands, be sure to let me know what you think! Have a great one!