(As Long as We're Together) Everything's Gonna Be Okay

Fuck You, MatPat

"Thank you for coming as soon as I sent for you." Nastasia tells Mimi.

"Of course! We girlies gotta stick together!" Mimi gushes. "What's up?"

"I think we need to do some digging." Nastasia replies. 

"Oooh, fun! What for?"

"I have good intel that there's someone in the Mushroom Kingdom that isn't who they say they are. In this case, someone who's painting themselves as an ally."

"I take it you want me to shapeshift and snoop around?" Mimi guesses.

"I want to bury him alive." Nastasia says in a complete deadpan.

"Done. Who is it?"

Mr. L walks through the racetrack portion of the sports arena, then upon seeing the office for the head of mechanics, he hesitates for only a second before knocking on the door.

"Come in!" a voice calls from inside.

Mr. L opens the door slowly, asking, "Are you the head of mechanics?"

"I am." The Toad confirms, then upon seeing who it is, "Luigi? What are you doing here? Mario didn't say anything about you tagging along."

"I'm not actually. I'm here to talk to you." Mr. L says, coming over to the cluttered desk.

"Me?" The Toad seems surprised by this. "What could you possibly need from me?"

"Oof..." Mr. L hems and haws, then just says it, "Everyone else is convinced the only place I should be working is with my brother."

"Mario kicked you out of your company?" The Toad asks, confused.

"No, not at all." Mr. L says quickly. "I asked to leave, and he let me. I'm here because I'm looking for something else."

"Still not sure what this has to do with me."

"I saw that you're looking for someone to do all the heavy lifting and has an eye for detail, and I'd like to toss my hat into the ring." He pulls off his cap, twirling it with one finger with a smile.

When the Toad says nothing, Mr. L goes on, "Okay, I know it's a one-in-a-million shot, but I thought I'd have better odds talking to you."

The Toad still says nothing, so Mr. L makes excuses, "And now I can see those odds are not in my favor, so I will not waste any more of your time.", and starts to stand up.

"Luigi, it's just–."

"No no." Mr. L stops him. "I know exactly what you're gonna say. Please don't. I'm forever blackballed as one of the people who almost helped destroy the world. And now that I've also broken my brother's heart, I–"

"Please don't put words in my mouth." The Toad cuts him off. "I'm just surprised of all the places you thought of, you chose here."

"I thought having an excuse to come back to the Mushroom Kingdom regularly would go a long way."

"It couldn't hurt." The Toad agrees. "And since you said it first, I'll be honest with you: I don't love knowing how much it's gonna hurt Mario when he finds out you're back in the business away from him."

Mr. L winces, but the Toad's not finished, "But I'm no stranger to reality. If your heart's not in it anymore, you can't pretend. You always get found out eventually. I had to tell my family the hard truth, just like you had to with your brother."

"Yeah. I guess I did." Mr. L smiles. "I thought I was the only one."

"I'm guessing you still needed persuading?" The Toad asks, and Mr. L's face drops.