Paying off debts (Koopaling x FEM!reader)

A day off

The days only seemed to go by faster, especially with my own little group of friends. Larry would occasionally take me from my post to let me in on his little scheme of the day. 9 times out of 10, they'd always end up causing us trouble somehow. Larry had to end up smooth-talking the king's advisor, Kamek to keep me out of trouble a few of those times. On the bright side, Iggy and Lemmy both seemed to have trouble completing their own pranks, so as of now we're still at a stalemate.

One major downside to all of this was the rumors. Kraig must've said something to someone, or maybe someone else caught us, but word slowly spread around that I was in kahoots with royalty. It caused much more attention to land on me than I would've liked if I'm being completely honest. The burning stares I would get everytime I walked with Larry made me want to hide in my shell and throw myself into the nearest lava pit.

Today was a rare off day. A day where as long as I stayed on castle grounds and minded my own business, I could do pretty much whatever I want. Something about needing holidays so we don't go rouge and decide to overthrow the king. I don't know why I'd ever want to overthrow King Bowser, but the breaks were nice, if a little boring. For such a big castle, a guard such as myself really couldn't do much except play games at the gym.

I was never really good at sports. Gym class was especially rough as a kid. I was never anybody's last choice, but I was never anybody's first choice either. Mediocre and boring. That's what I am.

Or what I was until literal royalty decided I was good enough company. I still didn't quite know how I felt about it. On one hand, it was nice to have friends that weren't Kraig, but on the other hand, I hated the spotlight it shined on me. I wished I could just be friends with them without the entire world staring at me.

I sat alone in the gym, watching an intense tennis game between a few hammer bros. It was rather mesmerizing honestly. I couldn't tell who was winning, as I was never very well-versed in sports, but the occasional taunts one side would give to the other was enough indication. When one side was winning, they'd get cocky and taunt the other. The other would then get angry and play harder until they got the edge. Then they'd be the cocky ones, while the other team got angry and played harder.

This went on for so long, that I eventually just stopped fully paying attention to what was happening.

"Hah! How do you like that one?" One of the hammer bros gloated, placing his free hand on his hip.

"Aww. . . Cmon that was out of court! That doesn't count!"

"No, I'm pretty sure it does."

"Ugh! No it does not!" The hammer bro suddenly whirled around and pointed at me. "You there! Was that an out or no?"

"Uh. . ." I didn't know what counted as 'out.' I turned my gaze to the floor. They had already picked the ball up at that point, so it was anybody's guess. The other team was losing I'm pretty sure, so I'll give them the point. "No I don't think that was an out."

One side lit up with smug expressions, while the other shrunk and glared at me. Yeesh. I did not like that. Staring at the floor, I swiftly made my way to a different area of the gym. I didn't want to deal with that one side's disappointed stare any longer. After a few more minutes of just sitting around, I decided it wasn't worth it. I could find something else to do. Hell, if I was lucky, maybe I could find Kraig or Larry. I'd even take Iggy.

I stepped out of the gym, wondering where any of my friends could be. Kraig said he was resting in his barrack, so maybe I could bother him there? That seemed like a good enough plan.

As I made my way over to the living areas, I could feel a few eyes fall onto me. I wouldn't let them bother me on my day off. Nothing would ruin the one day I can just kick back and relax.