A Nutcracker and the Beast

Chapter 25: Is this love? May- Wait, my Brother show up

"Please let go of me; it's painful." Luigi groaned as he tried to pull away from Bowser, who was putting some ointment on his arm. It was an ointment that Kamek had turned into using the liquid that works on Luigi's burns; it works like regular burn ointment and helps with pain. But Luigi was right about how his arm didn't need to be replaced as most of the damage was gone, and soot was left over, but that didn't get rid of the agony pain that he was in.

"It would go faster if you stop fighting it," Bowser said as he kept his hold on Luigi. The last few days have gone like this; Bowser was the only one who could do the caretaker job since Luigi didn't want Junior to do it even though he had shown that he could and was willing to do, but. Luigi put his foot down and told him no. Kamek, on the other hand, cannot physically tough Luigi, and his magic mixing with the ointment only seem to make it worse, not to mention that Luigi doesn't want any other Koopa touching him in fear that it would end badly - leaving Bowser the only one for the job. Luigi didn't like this, but the three Koopa have learned that he will not take care of himself if left alone, so he had no say in this.

"It ne- Hhhh! never goes faster," Luigi hissed as Bowser rubbed the ointment on a sensitive and painful part of his burn, "you did that on purpose."

"All I did was put the ointment on you," Bowser said with a smile, ensuring that every part of Luigi's arm was covered before wrapping it up in clean bandages. "See, now that wasn't so bad. Now all we need is the back."

"Can we ship the back? I hate laying on my stomach," Luigi said as he pulled away, but Browser wasn't having any of it. He grabbed Luigi and made him lay on his stomach as he grabbed more ointment and started on his back. It wasn't as bad as his arm. However, he still needed to get treated for it despite Luigi saying that it wasn't necessary. Still, there was another reason that Luigi didn't want any of this.

Ever since that night, it became clear that Bowser was becoming a bit touchier. Bowser has always been touchy, but he does it a lot more now; taking care of Luigi, carrying Luigi around, making Luigi sit in his hand so that way he can rub his head and the trancing. The trancing had been the worst since Bowser would do it out of nowhere, which led to Luigi's heart racing and his face flustered, which led to Bowser asking questions about each cut and dump he found. All of this confused Luigi as the ach in his chest started to show up to just Bowser being in the same room as him, and it got worse with every touch. This feeling wasn't pity anymore that left when Peach did, but now he couldn't tell what it was. A new sign of anxiety, pure embarrassment, or what Luigi dreads the most right now, is that Kamek had finally gotten to him, which was that this a sign of a crush.

Luigi can't be falling for Bowser; he shouldn't be falling for Bowser. Bowser was just being nice, and his action had no deeper meaning. It's like when Luigi lets Bowser rub his head because he's in a panic, and Bowser knows how to calm him down. Or when Bowser allows Luigi to sit on his shoulder since Bowser learns that Luigi sometimes feels trapped in his hand when he carries him and likes to be higher up than closer to the ground. Or when they hang out in the Tower...talk about personal stuff, and then go to the kitchen for a late-night snack that Bowser made for them—always making sure that the cup with the hot cocoa was small enough for Luigi but big enough to hold two tiny marshmallows since Luigi always needed an even amount of marshmallows in his cup. Oh dear star, did Bowser's action have a deeper meaning that Luigi is just thinking of right now?

"Hey, are you ok? You've been awfully quiet," Bowser said as Luigi returned to reality, his face redder as he realized that Bowser was already down with patching him up. How long was Bowser just staring at him when he was spacing out?

"Y-yeah, I was just thinking of something to distract myself from the pain..." Luigi lied as he got up; the pain was almost non-existent on his back as all it did was leave an itching feeling. Bowser put his hand down next to Luigi so he could jump on, but he didn't know if he should jump on or not. It wouldn't change anything from the last few days where he had just jumped into his hand, and Bowser let him sit on his shoulder.