Best Days We'll Never Know

Getting Over It vs. Getting Out of the Rat Race

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The brothers are in their room, not saying a word, but Mario's the one to finally break the silence.

"Lu?"

Luigi looks up from his drawing, "Hm?"

"You were right."

Luigi tilts his head, "Well, when am I not? But what is it this time?"

"About getting over it and moving on." Mario clarifies, and Luigi's eyes light up at that. "All this time, I've been feeling sorry for myself because things didn't go like I wanted, I didn't stop to think about you at all."

He gets up and moves to the desk Luigi's sitting at, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"We're a team, and I never should've forgotten that. So wherever we go from here, it's you and me."

Luigi holds up his arms, "Give me a hug, you old sap."

Mario obliges happily, whatever leftover feelings of guilt evaporating the longer it goes on.

Until he gets a look at the drawing on the desk.

"What's this?"

He feels Luigi tense and pull away, making Mario think he's about to hide it.

But his little brother never fails to keep surprising him, as he moves so Mario can get a better look at it.

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"Are you ready, Lu?" Mario asks the day Luigi's finally discharged from the hospital.

"I don't like the wheelchair, Mario." Luigi mumbles.

"Me neither." Mario agrees as he pushes him out of the room. "But it's protocol. You'd have to be in it even if you didn't hurt your knees."

Luigi's quiet at that, so Mario just keeps pushing him along, waving goodbye to all the doctors and nurses they walk past.

Thankfully their family's right at the entrance, waiting to get Luigi in the car, so with everyone's help, it's a smooth transition out of the wheelchair and out of the hospital parking lot.

Luigi is dead quiet the entire ride home, and nothing Mario says helps.

Mario's never felt more helpless in his life.

So when they get home, Mario brushes everyone else off and carries Luigi by himself out of the car and up to their room.

But when Mario goes to set him down on Mario's bed, Luigi actually does protest, "I want my own bed."

Mario looks hurt. "Are you sure?"

"Am I sure that my knees hurt like hell because my big brother chose his high school girlfriend over me? Yes, I'm very sure." Luigi snaps.

He regrets it the second it's out, but thankfully Mario just moves him to his bed, sets him down, and starts to move away.

Luigi sighs. He knows he should apologize, but he can't. If Mario wants to leave him behind, he'll say and do whatever it takes to make that happen.

"No."

Or so he thinks, as Luigi looks up, finding Mario standing right in front of him.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily, Weegee." Mario sits down on Luigi's bed.

Luigi turns red. "How--"

"You break your kneecaps, and your first thought is to worry about me?" Mario asks, putting a hand to his chest. "Wow, Lu, I'm touched. Really."

Now Luigi looks away, "Fine, make fun. But if you don't want to work with me anymore--"

"Never." Mario cuts off whatever was about to come out of Luigi's mouth, putting a hand on his face to make him look at him. "Never, ever ever. If anything, Weeg, you've just guaranteed I never want to work with anyone else."

Luigi tries, "But the lawsuit--"

"Who cares?" Mario says, then backpedals when he sees the look on Luigi's face. "No, I just mean we knew we didn't have a chance, not with Spike believing those scumbags over you and finding the one judge that's in his back pocket."

Now Mario pushes their foreheads together, "But who cares? We didn't need Cornell, and we sure as hell don't need the lawsuit."

Now Mario pulls out some papers, handing them to Luigi.

The green brother looks through them, eyes going wide when he realizes,

"'The Super Mario Brothers?'" Luigi reads. "What about the Wrecking Crew?"

"We're done with the Wrecking Crew, Lu." Mario declares. "I've been thinking about this for a while now. Even before I visited Pauline."

"But we don't know anything about running a business!" Luigi tries to argue.

"We didn't know anything about plumbing either." Mario points out.

"Mario, come on. This is crazy. If it's just because I got hurt--"

"No." Mario stops him again. "It's because I think we have a real chance to make this happen."

Luigi's still shaking his head, so Mario moves until they're face-to-face.

"Lu, look at me."

Luigi complies, and at the seriousness in Mario's face, he winces.

"This is how we're gonna save Brooklyn. I know it." Mario says. "One call at a time, at prices the other companies can't compete with."

Then he pulls one piece of paper from the pile, pulling it to the top.

"And this is our logo."

Luigi looks at the simple white font, with them as cartoons holding plungers.

"I love it."

"Knew you would." Mario says. "So whaddaya say?"

There's so many things Luigi could say right now. They're too young, they're broke and still living with their parents, and so many more. And Mario would go along with all of them, no questions asked.

Luigi looks at his bandaged knees, thinks back to the day they got their certificates, the day they started the Wrecking Crew, and the day he broke his kneecaps. Pictures a future where they're running their business. Pictures all the ways it can go wrong.

But when he looks at Mario, looking so hopeful and determined, all at once, he sees the one way it could go right.

And so he looks Mario right in the eyes, just as determined, and says, meaning every single word,

"I'm in."