The Red String || A SMG34 fanfic

Chapter 18 - Cold Cold Man

«BOWSERS 5-STAR RESTAURANT"

SMG3 looked up at the sign and then back at the list. Meggy had written down this place as the first stop on their little date. They were supposed to get lunch here first before heading to the movies and then ending the day with a walk in the park.

SMG3 furrowed his eyebrows. "Hey man, I don't quite trust this place. Can Bowser even cook??" he looked over at SMG4 who didn't seem as critical as him.
"Sure! He even had that whole cooking show with Mario. I heard that he is actually pretty skilled now. And besides, if he has a five-star restaurant he can't be THAT bad." SMG4 shrugged and began heading inside before SMG3 could point out that the 5 stars were very obviously painted on.

"B.. but MEGGY recommended it – and you know HER cooking skills!!" SMG3 got flashbacks to the time she tried to bake a cake for them and they ended up having to evacuate the castle.
But before SMG3 had the chance to flee, the string was already dragging him inside the restaurant.

"AH! Welcome! We were already expecting you two" When they got inside the restaurant, they were greeted by a cheery Tari, dressed in a waiters uniform
"Tari? What are you doing here??" SMG4 asked, surprised to see his friend in this sort of location.

"Oh, Meggy asked us to help out with your Da-" before Tari could finish the sentence, Saiko appeared beside her and covered Taris mouth with her hand. "What Tari was trying to say is that we work here now!"

"Saiko? You too?" SMG4 looked at both of his friends with mild concern.
"Yes. Do you have a problem with that, huh?" Saiko let go of Tari and crossed her arms, trying to look as intimidating as she could in her waiter uniform.
SMG4 backed away a bit "No no! Im uh.. proud of you?"

Saiko smirked "Heh, you better be."

"Let me show you to your table!" Tari said, grabbing two menus and leading SMG3 and SMG4 to a nearby table.

As they sat down, Tari handed them the menus and pulled out a small notepad. "First, lets get you started with something to drink! What would you like? We have water, Pepsi, Juice, A glass of Lava, Wine.."
"A glass of lava?" SMG4 asked confused.
"A glass of lava it is then! And for you?" Tari took note of SMG4s order and turned to SMG3.

"Wait no, that's not what I meant-"

"Some water is fine for me". Before SMG4 could stop Tari, SMG3 had already given her his order, sending Tari off to go fetch their drinks.

SMG4 gave SMG3 an annoyed glance, but SMG3 just smirked at him. "What, is something wrong?"
SMG4 sighed. How would they even MAKE him a glass of lava? Guess all he could do now was wait until Tari came back.

"Anyways." SMG4 looked around the room "Don't you think it's a bit suspicious that Tari AND Saiko apparently work here now?"
"They don't actually work here, dummy" SMG3 rolled his eyes. "Meggy probably told them to look after us during our d-"

SMG3 paused.
It WAS a date. Officially. They needed to go on a Date to get rid of the string.
The string. Right. THAT'S why they're here.

SMG3 cleared his throat. "Anyways, it wouldn't surprise me if we saw more of your frie-"
Before SMG3 could finish his sentence, a familiar red plumber jumped up next to their table.

"ES EM GEE FOUR" Mario screamed, smiling brightly "Mario's here to take-a your order!"
"Mario?? You're here too?? And where's Tari, wasn't she supposed to be our waiter?" SMG4 looked around the room, searching for Tari.

"Oh! Tari found out that Roasted Duck is part of the menu so now she's crying in the kitchen" Mario sounded way too happy for such concerning news.

SMG4 and SMG3 both looked behind Mario, towards the kitchen. They heard Saiko screaming at Bowser and the clanging of pots and pans.
SMG4 gave SMG3 an apologetic smile, as if he was trying to apologize about how chaotic his friends were being. SMG3 just raised an eyebrow and turned his attention back to Mario.

"This is our first time eating here, what you recommend?"

Marios' pupils grew larger "OOOH. Mario recommends the Spaghetti. They got lotsa spaghetti in the kitchen."
Of course. What did SMG3 expect.

"Yeah yeah, We'll both just take that" he said, handing Mario the Menus back.

"Excellent! Mario will-a be right back" And with that Mario ran back into the kitchen, leaving SMG3 and SMG4 alone once more.

They looked at each other, unsure what to say.
"So.. this isn't that bad, huh?" SMG4 asked, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, this place is a lot cleaner than I expected" SMG3 replied, looking around.
"No, I mean.. this date thing".
SMG3 quickly turned his head toward SMG4, who was looking at him with his big blue eyes.
God, SMG3 could get lost in these eyes.

"W- what do you mean?" SMG3 asked.

Did SMG4 mean that hanging out with SMG3 wasn't that bad?
That Meggys plan to fake-Date was going okay?

Or that he..
ACTUALLY..
liked going on a Date? With HIM?

SMG3 looked at his hand. He noticed the string growing shorter.

Was he doing this or was it SMG4 who wanted him to be closer?
His heart was racing and he stared at his partner, waiting anxiously for his answer.

But before SMG4 could answer, Mario appeared next to them again.
"HERE YOU GO!" he said, placing their orders in front of them.

"Mario.. these are two empty plates." SMG4 gave Mario a judgemental look.
Mario wiped some spaghetti sauce from his mouth, looking away.

SMG4 didn't get a chance to ask about the whereabouts of his food though, because just at that moment, the fire alarm went off.
SMG4 and SMG3 both jumped up from their seats, confused as to what was happening.

The sprinkler system also started to go off, spraying water everywhere. Everyone in the dining area started to scream, scared and confused. People were running around wildly and SMG4 felt a panic rising in him.

Ever since the "Its gotta be perfect" incident, he's had difficulty with dealing with stressful situations. Just like last night, with the Knuckles in the bathroom, he froze and didn't know what to do.

But luckily, he wasn't alone this time.

SMG3 quickly grabbed the white tablecloth on their table, dragged SMG4 closer to him and shielded both of them from the water – using the cloth as a sort of Umbrella.
Now pressed against SMG3, Four looked up at SMG3's face. SMG3 looked like he was acting on instinct alone, looking around the room wildly, trying to keep SMG4 save from whatever was happening around them.

SMG4 almost thought it was hot.

"MARIO, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" SMG3's scream snapped SMG4 back to reality.
And almost as if trying to answer SMG3's question, the door to the kitchen swung open.
Saiko was carrying Tari in her hands, running towards the exit and Chef Bowser wildly flung his arms around.
"FIRE! THERE'S A FIRE IN THE KITCHEN!! SOMEONE ORDERED THE GLASS OF LAVA AND IT STARTED A FIRE. PLEASE, EVERYONE, HEAD TOWARDS THE EXIT" Bowser alarmed the guests, rushing them all towards the exit.

"What-a dumbass would order a glass of LAVA?" Mario asked.

SMG3 and SMG4 looked at each other.
Shit, they would.

They pulled the tablecloth over themselves, hiding their faces and exited the restaurant as quietly as possible, trying to draw as little attention to themselves as they could.

As soon as they were outside of the restaurant, they threw the cloth away and ran away from the restaurant.
Dealing with the consequences of starting a fire in a restaurant wasn't part of the Date-List that Meggy had given them.
And they still had to get rid of this red-string between them.

So off they went, to their next stop:
The movie theatre.