Best Days We'll Never Know

First World Problems vs. Real World Problems

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As both brothers work tirelessly documenting their teams' work, they can't resist drawing up their own, highlighting what they would've done if they'd been part of it.

Mario looks up to look over over at Luigi at his desk in their studio apartment, calling out as he smiles,

"Happy New Year, Lu."

"Happy New Year, Mario." Luigi say back, also smiling.

Then they both go back to drawing.

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Luigi's eyes begin to strain so badly to where he can feel his face about to smack into the desk before Mario catches him.

"That's it, Lu. Go to bed." Mario says gently but firmly as he drags Luigi to his bed and shoves him towards it, making him flop onto it and promptly fall asleep on impact.

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"Yes, this is completely normal." Pauline says when Mario meets up with her. "This is what it means to get a leg up in your field. And kiss any hopes of a good night's sleep goodbye. Good thing you two don't have a lot of friends, huh? But keep at it, and you'll be saving Brooklyn one customer at a time."

"Did you always wanna be the next mayor after your dad?" Mario asks to change the subject.

"Actually, no." Pauline says. "Nothing against it or what you're doing, but I really like singing. But I wanted to make a real difference with people, not just entertain them. Don't know what kind of mayor I wanna be yet, but...I wanna find out. And you?"

"Grew up in Brooklyn our whole lives. Me and Luigi have each other, and that was always enough for me." Mario shrugs. "We wanted to show people we're not little nobodies with pipe dreams. And Cornell is the perfect school we wanted to help us do that. That's why we have our internships."

"Good call." Pauline decides. "Maybe I'm just a little jealous you're not sticking to a five-year plan like me."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with knowing what you want and sticking to it." Mario assures her.

"And there's nothing wrong with not having one too." Pauline tells him back.

Mario holds up his drink, "To planning."

"Or not to planning." Pauline holds hers up.

"That's a loaded question." Mario jokes, and they both laugh as they toast.

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"That's it, I hate these books!" Luigi groans, pushing them away. "This one says the other one is wrong. Which one do I use for the test?" He puts his head on the table, knocking it once.

"Come on, don't do that," he hears Mario say, before he feels him massaging his shoulders.

"I'm washed out."

"You gotta be in college to be washed out, Lu." Mario teases.

"Trade school, college, who cares anymore?" Luigi mutters. "How much time do we have to get down to the testing center?"

"You wanna leave now?"

"If I bomb, I bomb, but it is not gonna be because I had a bad seat!"

"Or because you got all up in your head about it." Mario says as he pulls Luigi to his feet. "Which you did, right?"

"Maybe..."