Luigi's Secret
Chapter 4: The Embarrassing Family Dinner
Mario and Luigi go to their parents' house for dinner. Mario starts to tell the story of what happened the other night, and craziness ensues.
Another one?! REALLY?! I just feel...really good. I feel like being extra kind tonight. I hope you all enjoy!
The next day:
Luigi and Mario were riding in the car, heading over to their parents for dinner after work. Despite the fact that they had moved out already, their Mom and Dad still wanted them over for dinner as often as they could. When they managed to settle on weekday nights as ‘dinner nights with family’, they were happy to compromise.
“That old cat was really cute at that last place.” Mario said.
Luigi smiled. “Yeah…He was very mellow. And loved people. I could tell.” Luigi added.
“I loved that he’d just chill out near the sink while we worked.” Mario added, laughing. “Also, the fact that he kept rubbing against your leg?” Mario included.
Luigi giggled. “I always did prefer cats.” Luigi admitted, remembering the little purring sound the old cat made as he rubbed against his leg. It was really cute. The cat would even let him pet his ears and neck for a few moments.
“But the fact that he almost tripped you too?” Mario added with a laugh.
“I should’ve been looking where I was going, honestly. I’m not used to quiet animals.” Luigi admitted.
Mario shook his head. “Always trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.” Mario muttered. “It’s funny that you’re scared of dogs, but not scared of cats. You’re the opposite of most people.” Mario added.
Luigi shrugged his shoulders in response. “Guess that makes me unique?”
Mario chuckled as he turned the wheel. “Guess so.”
Mario and Luigi drove up into the driveway, and made sure to lock the door. They didn’t want any of their equipment being stolen while they were inside, after all. Mario put the keys into his overalls and knocked on the door before entering. “Now Luigi…” Mario poked his brother’s phone inside the pocket. “I want you to stay off the phone while we’re here.” Mario told him.
Luigi rolled his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Mario…I know that. I’m not 16 anymore.” Luigi reminded him.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you poking around on it after dinner yesterday. No phone, at all.” Mario ordered.
Luigi widened his eyes, before biting his lip and looking down. “Okay…” He mumbled.
Mario chuckled. “We don’t want those stories about puppies making you red before I do.” Mario reminded him.
Luigi looked up and at Mario with shock and slight horror. “W-What?!”
Mario laughed and elbowed him. “Nothing, nothing. Just teasing you.” Mario said before the door opened.
“Mario! Luigi!” She pulled them both into a big hug.
“Hello Mama.” Mario said, hugging her back.
Luigi hugged her back as well, just glad to enjoy her touch and company for these few seconds. They soon let go and she brought them in. “Dinner’s almost ready.” She told them. “I’m making your favorite!” She told them.
“Lasagna?” Mario asked.
“That’s right!” She replied.
“Yes!!” Mario cheered, throwing his hands in the air. “Thank you!” Mario reacted.
She cut up the lasagna and put it onto plates for them, while Luigi placed the Caesar salad and the tongs onto the table. Their Uncle Tony was sitting with his wife and kid, while their Uncle Arthur was sitting beside the boys.
“Did work go well for you two?” Their mom asked.
Mario shrugged his shoulders. “Still getting the usual quick jobs, but I’m not complaining.” Mario admitted.
“There was a sweet old couple that tipped us $20 today, which was nice.” Luigi replied.
“$40 altogether, $20 for each of us!” Mario reacted with shock. “I insisted that we didn’t need it-”
“But…” Luigi elbowed Mario. “I told the lady that we appreciate the gesture.” Luigi finished, pulling out the $20 bill.
Mario chuckled and pointed to the little heart that was on Luigi’s bill. “She even added a little heart on Luigi’s bill.” Mario teased.
Luigi tilted his head before looking at the bill and widened his eyes. Sure enough, there was a little red filled-in heart on his $20 bill. Luigi smiled brightly. “Makes me not wanna spend it.” Luigi admitted before putting it back in his pocket.
“Did she give you a peck on the cheek too?” Uncle Arthur asked with a laugh.
Luigi looked down, slightly blushing. “No…” He mumbled.
Mario rolled his eyes. “He saves those kisses for his Mama.” Mario added.
Luigi widened his eyes and smiled awkwardly as a mix of laughter and coo’s filled the dinner table. Mama walked over, and gave Luigi a peck on the cheek. “I love you too, Luigi.” She said, cupping his cheek. Luigi held her hand for a moment, before she let go and went back to eating. And though Luigi was a grown man, he always seemed to really miss his mother’s loving touch.
“Luigi’s always been like his mother.” Their Papa said. “Even looks a lot like her too.” He added.
Mario smiled as he looked at his Dad. “He’s a lot like you too, Dad. In more ways than one.” Mario added.
Luigi bit his lip as he knew exactly what Mario was referring to.
“How so?” Papa asked.
Mario let out a laugh. “Now let me just get myself comfy and tell you the story of how Luigi utterly destroyed me last night.” Mario said.
Luigi groaned and took a swig of water, before wiping his mouth and mentally preparing himself for the embarrassment he’s been anxiously waiting all day for.
“Sounds like something to be proud of! I’m surprised Luigi isn’t gonna be the one telling the story.” their Papa said.
“I…” Luigi scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t think it was such a big deal, but…” Luigi admitted. “He insisted…” Luigi added.
Mario laughed and started to tell the story. He spent a bit of time explaining how the videogame worked, and how they were being extra competitive because of this fact. Luigi helped out with the explanation a bit, which helped Mario out a lot. Then, Mario started to explain the boss fight. “We were in the middle of fighting the boss. I was annoyed because Luigi was winning, and I didn’t want him to.” Mario explained.
“Mario was being a sore loser.” Luigi added bluntly.
“OOoohoho! Did Luigi finally get his win?!” Tony asked.
Luigi rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Nope…In the middle of the fight, my controller stopped working, and Mario ended up getting just enough points to beat me.” Luigi explained.
“Aww, that’s a shame.” Tony replied.
“Do you need a new controller?” Mama asked.
“Nope, thankfully. Turns out SOMEONE UNPLUGGED MY CONTROLLER MID-GAME!” Luigi said, looking at Mario with slight anger in his eyes.
“BAHAHA! That sounds exactly like something your Papa would’ve done!” Arthur reacted.
“Hey! I NEVER unplugged any of your controllers! We didn’t even HAVE controllers to unplug!” Papa reacted.
“But he did cheat a fair few times during competitive games.” Tony added.
Mario laughed and just listened to them. “Yeah, well…I was being a sore loser.” Mario admitted, scratching his forehead. “But the only reason I admit that now, is because Luigi made sure I regretted doing that.” Mario said.
“Yeah…” Luigi added awkwardly.
“What did you do?” Arthur asked.
“I uh…Did what Dad always used to do when we were young…” Luigi mumbled a bit.
Their Papa pointed to Luigi with his fork. “Which thing?” He asked before putting a piece of lasagna in his mouth. “I did plenty of things, so you gotta be specific.” He said, his mouth partly full.
“Ya know…Y-You’d turn in-into the e-evil tickle monster and…tickle us?” Luigi attempted to explain.
Mario pushed Luigi’s shoulder. “Dude scared me half to death! Gave me the most evil look I’ve ever seen from him, and then just about killed me by tickling my feet!” Mario explained. “I’m surprised I didn’t pass out!” Mario added.
Their Papa chuckled and swallowed his mouthful of lasagna. “It’s been years and years since that particular monster came out.” Their Papa mentioned.
The table all laughed at them.
“Did you seriously do that?!” Arthur asked Luigi.
“I find it hard to believe, honestly.” Tony added, using a toothpick. “We were just talking about how soft and motherly Luigi is. And you’re telling us he dropped all of that last night?” Tony asked.
“YES!” Mario replied, sounding somewhat angry. “I’m not kidding! It scared me, and I think he even scared himself by the end too!” Mario added.
Luigi nodded. “I didn’t realize how much I was killing Mario until I heard him wheeze and go silent.” Luigi admitted. He bit his lip. “Sorry about that again, Mario.” Luigi whispered.
Mario rolled his eyes and tweaked his side. “I told you, you’re fine.” Mario replied.
Luigi squeaked and slapped Mario’s hand in response. “MArio!” Luigi yelled, narrowing his eyes at him.
“Boys, really?” Mama asked.
Papa placed his hand on his wife’s hand. “Hold on, I wanna see this.” Mario narrowed his eyes back. “Whatcha gonna do? Cower away?” Mario asked with a smirk. “Cryyy?” Mario teased.
Papa smiled a bit as he saw what Mario was doing.
Luigi brought his face closer to his brother. “You really don’t learn…Do you?” Luigi asked in a warning voice.
Mario smirked. “You think I’m scared, Mr. Giggles?” Mario asked.
“Get his belly!” Arthur cheered.
“I’d go for the armpits, if I were you.” Tony added.
Luigi picked up Mario and flipped him around so Mario’s back was against his chest. Luigi hugged Mario close to himself and started tweaking his sides and belly first. “WahAHAHA! WAHAIT-” Mario yelled, pulling on Luigi’s arms to get out.
But Luigi started skittering, scratching, even squeezing his sides for a bit. “You wanted it sooo bad? Congratulations! You’re getting it now in front of everyone.” Luigi declared.
“AAHAHAHAHA GAHAHAHA!” Mario laughed, closing his eyes and already blushing up a storm. “Look who’s the blushy, giggly mess now?” Luigi teased, his voice going slowly and more smoothly.
While Mario was laughing his head off and kicking his feet wildly, both their Uncles had started cheering Luigi on with the words “GO LUIGI GO!” and “TICKLE FIGHT! TICKLE FIGHT!”. Even their aunt was giggling as she watched. Though Mama wasn’t very impressed with the boys, Papa’s smile had grown bigger with pride. And seeing this, somewhat changed Mama’s reaction…at least a little bit.
“LUIHIHIGIHIHI, IHIHI SWEHEHEHEAR TO GOHOHOD!” Mario yelled.
“Just keep on digging your own grave, big bro.” Luigi teased.
“IHIHI’LL KIHIHILL YOHOHOU!” Mario shouted.
“Oh you’ll KILL me?” Luigi asked. “Are you really trying to make me show off my evil side?” Luigi asked.
“It’s working, isn’t it?!” Arthur asked.
“Go for his belly button! That’s one of the worst spots!” Tony told him.
“They’re twins, Arthur. He already knows that.” Papa clapped back.
“Hmmm…” Luigi thought for a moment. “I just might…”
“LUIHIGI NO! LEHEHEAVE MYHYHY BEHEHELLY BUHUTTON ALOHOHOHOHONE!” Mario begged.
“Okay Luigi, I think we get it. You’re an evil tickler now can we please get back-” Mama attempted to defuse the situation. “Let the man have the upper hand for once in his life.” Papa told him. “Now tell me, Luigi:” Papa smirked and leaned his cheek on his own fist. “What was my strategy for tickling Mario’s belly button back in the day?” He asked.
Luigi smiled brightly as he started drawing a spiral around his belly button. “Liiiike-” He put his finger into Mario’s belly button right before saying the word “This.”.
Mario screeched, wheezed and went silent. Luigi chuckled and repeated it one more time, for good measure. Mario wheezed and covered his mouth, just wiggling around and laughing silently at this point.
Luigi quickly took this as a sign to stop. He placed Mario down onto the chair, and gave Mario his glass of water.
“Here you go, Mario.” Luigi said.
Mario took it and gulped some water down. “Hooo boy…Th…*huff*...Thank you…” Mario mumbled.
“Sorry.” Luigi mumbled softly, feeling slightly bad.
Mario couldn’t help the laugh that left his mouth. “Stop- Stop apologizing! You’re fine!” Mario told him.
“Sor-” Luigi covered his mouth.
Mario and the rest of the table laughed, while Luigi covered his eyes in embarrassment all over again. “Alright. Tickle fight is over.” Mama said, sitting down and grabbing her fork again.
Mario wiped his forehead as he grabbed his fork again. “Oh!” Mario started, poking Luigi’s arm. “What was it you told me after last night’s fiasco again?” Mario asked as he grabbed some lasagna with his fork.
Luigi chuckled. “I said that “I learned from the best”.” Luigi replied.
While Arthur and Tony were rolling their eyes and teasing Luigi for his ‘corny’ answer, Mama giggled and kissed her husband’s cheek. “He really did.” Mama added, poking her husband’s side.
He jumped slightly and waved his finger. “No no no.” He warned with a smirk.
Mama giggled and went back to eating.
“But there’s one more quiz Luigi must pass in order to fully confirm he’s the new tickle monster in the family.” Papa said.
Luigi bit his lip and nodded his head. “Okay.” Luigi replied.
“Which way do you tickle the toes?” His father asked. “The big toe to the pinky?” He asked. “Or the pinky to the big toe?”
Mario blushed and groaned, shielding his face with his hand. “Papaaa…” Luigi laughed at Mario’s reaction before looking at their Papa. “The pinky to the big toe, obviously.” Luigi replied. “The big toe’s the most ticklish out of all of them!” Luigi added.
Papa slammed his hand on the table, shaking the table a bit. “THAT’S MY BOY!” He declared, laughing. “Pinky ALWAYS goes first! See Mama? He learns!” Papa added.
Mama giggled. “He also remembers well.” Mama added. “The boy loved it so much…He wouldn’t stop bugging you until you brought out the tickle monster one last time before bed.” Mama added.
Luigi widened his eyes and covered his eyes. “Ohno- I forgot I did that…” Luigi mumbled.
“Oho yeah! Mario would just run into both their room to hide, while Luigi would keep yelling “Again! Again! Again!”.” Papa added, changing his voice into a little kid’s voice with a slight Italian accent mixed in.
Luigi placed his head on his hands, attempting to hide his face while the rest of the table was laughing at him. Even Mario was poking him, and laughing at him. Though the pokes made him jump, they only made him blush even more. The only little solitude he could possibly think of that would help him in this situation…was those stories. And unfortunately…he promised his brother he was going to keep the phone off.
So…This was going to be a long, long night…
