#we were baking and broke the wooden spoon we were using. cried so hard.

[ironwoman359]

Becoming unusually clumsy and fumbling simple tasks. Logicality ( I love all of your amazing works)

Too Close for Comfort 

Summary: This is for @sugarglider9603​‘s Mario AU, cuz I’ve had it on my mind and I love it so much. Patton is kidnapped yet again by Bowceit, King of the Koopas, but the Super Bros Logan and Virgil are there to save the day. So why does Patton still feel so wrong?

Content Warnings: Kidnapping, being tied up/gagged, cartoon violence, cartoon villain Deceit, crying, dealing (poorly, at first) with emotions. Logicality, side Prinxiety. Word Count: 2,226 (This got longer than I meant it to be, oops.)

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“Do you, King Bowceit, take Prince Patton to be your lawfully wedded husband?” 

“I do,” Bowceit said with a chuckle. 

“And do you, Prince Patton, take King Bowceit to be your lawfully wedded husband?” 

Patton didn’t answer, but that was probably because he was tied up too tightly to move and had a gag stuffed in his mouth. A hammer bro next to him grabbed his hair, trying to force his head to nod yes. 

Suddenly, the door slammed open and the air filled with heat as a fireball soared through the chapel, colliding with the hammer bro and blasting him away. Patton’s knees nearly buckled in relief as Logan stormed into the room with fury in his eyes, Virgil hot on his heels. 

Bowceit hissed, and pulled a lever that was next to the altar. The floor beneath Patton’s feet dropped away, and he fell into a dark abyss. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for a hard landing, but before he hit the floor someone reached out and caught hold of the end of the ropes that were wrapped around his arms. He peeked out through one eyelid just in time to see Bowceit Jr. toss him into a cage with a chain hooked over the top. The little snake pulled another lever, and hopped on top of the cage as it rose back up out of the pit and high above the party’s heads. 

“Good luck getting to your Precious Prince Patton now!” Bowceit cackled, and from his new vantage point, Patton could see Logan staring up at him desperately. Patton tried to send him an encouraging smile, but he wasn’t sure how much of it translated through the gag. He saw Virgil tug on Logan’s shoulder, and the brother’s must’ve said something to each other that Patton was too far away to hear, because they suddenly sprung into action. 

Logan ran forward and threw a pair of fireballs at Bowceit, knocking him off kilter. Virgil dashed after him and jumped, landing squarely on the snake man’s head. Logan then spun around in a roundhouse kick, his foot colliding solidly with Bowceit’s backside. The koopa king went flying into the air, Virgil hanging on for dear life. At the peak of Bowceit’s arc, Virgil pushed off, using the snake’s head as a springboard to enhance his own jump height. 

Even with all of that, and with Virgil being the better jumper of the two plumbers, he only barely managed to catch the lip of Patton’s cage with one hand, and for a few tense seconds Patton couldn’t breathe as Virgil scrambled desperately for purchase. But the plumber managed to find his grip, and after a moment Virgil pulled himself up with a grunt, flashing the prince a grin. 

“Good afternoon, Your Highness,” he said, reaching through the bars of the cage to pull off Patton’s gag. Patton giggled, then coughed, trying to get the taste of rope out of his mouth.

“Oh boy, Virgil, am I glad to see you. For a minute there I thought–” Patton was cut off by Bowceit Jr. as the child leapt forward, trying to throw Virgil back down to the ground. Patton held his breath as the two tussled for a moment, but Virgil was easily stronger than the little snake, and after a moment a cry of surprise could be heard from below as Bowceit Jr. landed on his father’s head.

Virgil grinned, and pulled a key from his overalls pocket. A moment later, the cage was unlocked and Patton was rubbing feeling back into his newly freed limbs. 

Bowceit roared when he saw that his prize was once again escaping his clutches, and he summoned a giant fireball to throw, but Logan grabbed his tail from behind, swinging him around and forcing his attention to remain on the ground for a few moments longer. 

“I need to help him,” Virgil said as he took the rope that had a few moments ago been keeping Patton captive and secured it to the bars of the now open cage. “You’re going to have to climb down yourself, alright?” 

Patton nodded, taking the end of the rope that Virgil offered him. The plumber gave him a quick, encouraging smile, then he turned and jumped down, landing with a perfect kick to the back of Bowceit’s head just before the lizard managed to push Logan off into a pit of lava that was conveniently located right behind the altar in the wedding chapel. 

Patton swallowed, peering down at the scene below him. Virgil was now fighting off the last of the minions who had bothered to stay this long, and Logan was spinning Bowceit around by the tail again. He let go, sending the kidnapper careening into the wall, which shook the whole building. Patton yelped as the cage trembled, catching him off balance. He found himself mirroring Virgil’s position from only a few moments ago, hanging on for dear life to the door of the cage as it swung back and forth. 

“Patton!” he heard Logan shout from below, and despite the danger, Patton couldn’t help the butterflies that leapt in his stomach everytime Logan said his name. “Hang on, Patton!” Logan called again, and Patton squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to look down. 

Get me down, he silently begged. Get me down, get me down, get me down…

“Patton, can you pull yourself up?” Logan urged him. 

Patton tried, he honestly did. But when he shifted his grip, he felt himself slipping, and he froze, fear spiking through his heart. 

“I–I can’t, I’m sorry, I can’t, I–” 

“Okay, okay then. It’s okay, honey,” Logan soothed, and Patton managed to peak open an eye to glance down at him. The enemies were gone, Bowceit was out cold in the corner, and Logan’s full attention was up on Patton. “If you can’t pull yourself up, then you’ll have to let go, okay?” 

“W-what?” Patton choked out, but Logan held out his arms. 

“I’ll catch you sweetheart, I promise. Do you trust me?” 

Patton nodded. 

“Of course…of course I do, Logan.” 

“Then let go, baby.” 

Patton squeezed his eyes shut, then let go of the cage. For a terrifying moment, he was falling through the air, then he felt Logan’s arms catch him bridal style, solid and safe and secure. Patton’s arms went around Logan on instinct, and he buried his face in his boyfriend’s neck. 

“Thank you,” he whispered as Logan pressed a kiss to his hair. 

“Let’s go home, m’kay?” Logan murmured. Patton nodded, nestling deeper into Logan’s hold. 

The plumbers and the prince left Bowceit’s kingdom, and headed back towards their home. Usually, Patton would listen to Logan tell him stories of his and Virgil’s adventures on their way to rescue him, but the next thing he knew Logan was softly saying his name, and he was waking up to Logan setting him on the front lawn of his castle, back in the Mushroom Kingdom. 

“H-huh? When did we–” 

“You fell asleep before we’d even reached Dry Dry Desert. You seemed so exhausted, so we didn’t want to wake you.” 

Patton nodded blearily, wiping sleep from his eyes. He looked around for a moment, then frowned. 

“Where’s Virgil?” 

“He stayed in Sarasaland with Roman. Ro worries while he goes off on adventures like this, but you know Virgil. He insisted Roman stay behind when we went to get you.” Logan smiled fondly. “He’ll probably be by tomorrow to check on you, he was very upset when we realized you’d gone missing again.” 

Something heavy lodged itself in Patton’s heart at the word again, but he smiled and nodded. 

“It will be good to see him after all that, I missed him.” He smiled up at Logan. “I missed you too, Lo-Lo.” 

Logan blushed, and Patton laughed. He never tired of seeing his boyfriend get embarrassed; he was the absolute cutest thing Patton had ever seen. He leaned up and kissed him on the lips, giggling at the surprised noise the came before Logan pulled himself together enough to kiss back. Patton pulled away and smiled, expecting to feel himself grow lighter than air, like he did whenever he kissed Logan, but something was still sitting unpleasantly in his gut. He almost frowned, but Logan was smiling down at him and he pushed the unpleasant feeling away. 

“How about we go bake a cake?” Patton suggested. Logan agreed, and Patton nodded to himself. Yes, baking. That would get rid of this strange weight he was still feeling right? Baking always calmed him down. 

The two of them went to Patton’s kitchen, and on autopilot Patton started pulling out supplies and ingredients. He’d baked in this kitchen so many times, he didn’t even have to think about what he was doing, so it was surprising when he found himself fumbling with his measuring cups. 

“Whoops!” he giggled as he dropped his wooden spoon. “Wooden you know, I’m being very clumsy today!” 

Logan raised an eyebrow at him, but Patton breezed past, opening his tin of flour and scooping out a few cups. He ended up missing the bowl on his second pass, and flour scattered across his counter. 

“Oopsie! If I keep making mistakes like this, this cake will take flours to bake!” He grinned over at Logan, but Logan wasn’t smiling. Patton shook his head and pushed ahead. He tried to crack an egg into a bowl. 

“Patton…” 

The egg fell to the ground, and Patton stared down at the splattered mess on the floor. 

“Ha ha…I just…can’t catch a bake today, c-can I?” he chuckled softly. Patton made to turn away again, but Logan caught his shoulder, and slowly turned him around, forcing them to face each other. 

“Patton?” Logan’s voice was like his eyes, soft and gentle and full of concern, and something inside Patton broke. 

He choked on a sob, and Logan caught him easily as he pitched forward, clutching his boyfriend’s shirt as he cried. Logan rocked the two of them back and forth, stroking Patton’s hair, rubbing gentle circles on his back. Patton felt more than heard the words of comfort that Logan was murmuring into his hair, and his heart ached with…something, he wasn’t sure what. 

Sadness? Love? Guilt? Some strange combination of the three that Patton couldn’t describe, but couldn’t stand? That sounded right. He sobbed again, and he felt Logan press a kiss to his forehead. That only made the feeling worse. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and Logan shook his head, kissing Patton again. 

“No, honey, you have nothing to be sorry for.” 

“I do though,” Patton insisted, pulling away from Logan’s embrace just enough to meet his boyfriend’s eyes. “I…I’ve been kidnapped loads of times, it’s silly that…that this time would make me this upset…” 

“It’s a perfectly understandable reaction, Patton. You…” Logan’s hold on him stiffened slightly, and Patton knew that meant Logan was angry. “You should not have to be so accustomed to being placed in danger. It is alright to be upset if Bowceit takes you.” Logan wiped a tear from Patton’s cheek with his thumb, and smiled gently. “Especially today, I know how much you dislike heights. It’s perfectly alright to be shaken– what is it, dear?” 

Patton could only shake his head, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. 

“It…it’s not the heights…” he managed to choke out. “It….” he looked away, wiping at his eyes with the back of his hand. 

“Patton?” 

“It’s…it’s silly, forget it…”

“Patton.” Logan caught Patton’s hand, and Patton looked up, meeting Logan’s eyes. “Do you trust me?” 

Patton’s breath caught in his throat, and he nodded. 

“Of course…of course I do, Logan.” 

“Then let go, baby.” 

Patton sighed, and looked down. 

“I…he just…he got so close that time, Logan.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and Logan frowned, leaning forward. 

“What?” 

“In…in the chapel. With Bowceit…he got…it was…so close…” 

Logan’s eyes widened with understanding, and he pulled Patton close again, letting the prince hide his face in his overalls. 

“Oh, Patton honey. I’m so sorry,” he whispered. 

“I…I almost thought…t-that you wouldn’t m-make it in time,” Patton admitted, and he felt Logan’s arms tighten around him. 

“Patton, I will always come for you, you know that right?” 

Patton nodded immediately, wrapping his arms around Logan’s waist. 

“I know you will Lo, I never doubted that for a second. But…just…what if you…if you’d been too late?” 

Logan paused for a moment, and Patton looked up at him, suddenly feeling very small. 

“I…Patton, I want more than anything to promise that I will never ever let that happen,” Logan started. “But…realistically–” 

“You can’t,” Patton whispered, laying his head on Logan’s chest. “I know.” 

“But even if the absolute worst should happen,” Logan continued, his voice like steel. “I will never stop coming after you, I will never stop fighting for you, and I will never stop loving you. That I can promise, and no matter what happens Patton, I will never break that promise.” 

“I know you won’t.” Patton looked up and smiled, a small, but real smile, and Logan smiled back. “I know you won’t, Logan.” 

“I love you so much, my prince,” Logan murmured, and Patton giggled. 

“And I love you, my hero.” 

They leaned towards each other, and this time when their lips met, Patton felt a little lighter. 

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A/n: So if you guys haven’t seen @sugarglider9603‘s Mario AU yet, what are you doing with your lives? Check it out, it’s absolutely adorable. Her art is SO good and cute and nice, and there’s headcanon posts, other stories people have written, and all kinds of stuff! It’s got so much fluff, but just enough angst or hurt/comfort for those of us who like to watch our favorite characters suffer before the hugs begin. I’ve been having trouble being creative lately, but I really enjoyed writing for this AU, I think writing for a universe that’s not mine is very freeing creatively? I dunno if that makes sense, but yeah. Either way, this was super fun to write, hope it was fun to read! Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in my writing, and I’ll add you to my list! 

-Taylor

[paladin-andric]

Story Request: Southern Secrets

Requested by @sheralynnramsey! The request was just for any Senci story. This takes place before the events of Blackheart, when Senci lived in the village of Lannis with his mentor, spending his days playing in the fields and meeting with the other villagers..

“Come on, come on!”

Senci’s pleas urged the man following to sigh and pick up his pace, calling out to the youth.

“Yes, yes, I’m here!” Andric answered, beginning to jog as Senci gleefully ran ahead to their destination.

The kobold reached the door and began knocking quickly, nearly hopping up and down as he eagerly awaited the answer he was looking for.

As the door swung open, he couldn’t help but jump as his excitement hit its peak.

“Miss Victoria!” Senci cried.

The aged woman gave him a warm smile and a nod. “Ahh, just who I was looking for! Please, come on in.”

As the kobold slipped past her she turned to see Andric reach her, his coat flapping in the wind.

“Evening, madam,” he said with a polite bow.

“Good evening. How’s the day treating you, Andric?”

He shrugged. “Boy’s a handful, but aren’t they all at this age?”

Victoria chuckled. “Ah, that’s true! Senci, though...his energy is all the trouble you’ve got on your hands! You should count yourself lucky.”

The man nodded, looking to the side guiltily. “You’re right...he’s a good kid.”

“Course he is...he has quite the role model, doesn’t he?”

“Ah, go on. What’s the big occasion, by the way?”

Victoria grinned. “You’ll see. Come on in.”

The bearded man carefully shut the door behind him and took off his coat, placing it on the rack by the door.

The duo walked to the living room, a cozy place with several stuffed seats and a low table in the middle of the room. Senci was already sitting down in one of the chairs, looking curiously at the two as they came into view.

“Miss Victoria, why is today so special? We always come over on Sunday!”

“Because we’re doing something different today,” the woman said knowingly, a sly grin still on her face.

“No tea and cookies?” Senci asked with a hint of disappointment.

Victoria shot him a wink. “You’ll like this even more. You want to learn how to cook something special?”

There was a glint in Senci’s eyes as his disappointment turned into burning curiosity. “Special?”

“Very.”

The young kobold excitedly hopped out of the chair, face lighting up as he joyfully probed his friend. “What is it?! What’s so special?!”

“You remember where I’m from, Senci?”

The lizard scratched his head. “Umm...south?”

Victoria crossed her arms and nodded. “Not bad. I’m from the coast! They call us Sunliners. There’s a family recipe my aunt taught me while I lived down there, and I think it’s something you’d really love…”

…

“Now, you’re going to want to stretch out the dough,” Victoria explained, “Like so.”

The woman was spinning and stretching a flattened bit of uncooked dough in her hands. Senci watched intently, head peeking over the counter.

She came to a stop and lowered the dough down to him. “Now you try.”

Senci accepted the offer, taking the dough and trying to stretch and spin it just like Victoria had-

The kobold immediately recoiled and froze as he tore the flattened dough to shreds, the whole thing falling apart into bits. It took him a moment to register what had just happened before realizing his claws ripped through the soft dough like paper.

“A-ahh...Miss Victoria…”

The woman quickly snatched the ruined dough up and put it back on the table, reforming and reflattening it out.

“Tsk...perhaps I should have foreseen this. I mean, your hands...”

Senci felt a burning sense of shame as he stared at the floor. “Ah…”

Victoria tapped her foot for a moment before coming to a swift realization. “Hey! You can still do this, Senci!”

His pouting frown only confirmed his reluctance. “B-but I-”

“Don’t worry about it. Here, try again and this time...ball up your hands into fists.”

Senci did as he was instructed, balling his hands like he was about to throw a punch. As his claws folding underneath his fingers, Victoria placed the dough back over his hands.

“There. Have another go!”

He stretched it, and spun it, and...it actually got thinner. No tears, no mess...everything was working out just fine!”

“There you go! See? Never give up just because you failed the first time. Work out a solution, and everything will fall into place. Keep going!”

Senci giggled as he tossed and spun the dough, thinning it into a wide and lengthy base for the rest of the ingredients.

…

“...okay, now scoop it out and put it on top.”

Victoria had smashed up some tomatoes into a fine paste. Senci had seen it done a few times before...but never like this!

“Are we...making some kind of giant bread treat?” the kobold probed, sounding confused. Victoria only laughed in response.

“You’ll see. Go on.”

Senci used the large wooden spoon to scoop out some of the sauce and dumped it onto the dough. He looked up at Victoria, searching for guidance.

“More. Keep going.”

He scooped more out. Then more. And more. Finally, the woman signaled for him to stop.

“Very good. Now spread it out evenly. Smooth it out with the spoon.”

He did just that, trying to spread the sauce as evenly as he could, going for little while until Victoria called out again.

“Very good! We’re nearly done, but before we continue...you’ve got sauce on your face.”

Senci blinked in surprise, staring up at the grinning woman. He crossed his eyes, and sure enough...there was a splotch of tomato sauce on his snout.

“...oh.”

As if on queue both of them broke into roaring laughter, Senci grabbing a rag and wiping his face with it.

…

“Now just put a bunch of it on.”

Victoria had brought cheese this time. It was cut up into fine slices, in such a way that Senci hadn’t seen cheese presented.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he commented, curiously peering at the cut up cheese.

“It’ll make sense very soon. Go on!”

Senci nodded, grabbing slices and beginning to lay them over the sauce-covered dough.

“Evenly, just like the sauce! Make sure it’s all spread out.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Soon enough, the cheese covered the sauce, everything seeming just about done. There was a bit of exposed dough around the edges, but Victoria assured Senci that it was supposed to be like that.

“Alright. One last thing…” Victoria grabbed a pinch of...something, and handed it to Senci.

It looked like some sort of plants, dried and grounded.

“Sprinkle it over the cheese.”

Senci carefully did so, trying to spread it evenly, just as he had done with everything else. Soon enough, it was done, and Victoria grabbed what looked like a shove with a tiny handle and carried it away, their creation placed on top of it.

“W-wait! It’s not finished!” Senci cried.

Victoria gave the kobold a funny look. “Well...yes. That’s why I’m taking it to the oven.”

Senci felt the weight of the statement hit him. Obviously!

“O-oh, right, of course…”

He hurried after her, on her heels as she came to the oven and slid the thing inside. He stared in wonder as he watched the cheese sizzle.

“How long it’s gonna take? How long’s it gonna take?” he asked excitedly. He still had no idea what they were making, but he couldn’t wait to find out.

The woman laughed. “Give it a few minutes. Why don’t you sit at the table with Andric? I’ll bring it out once it’s done.”

“Okay!”

As Senci turned and scampered off, Victoria called out to him one last time.

“Oh, and Senci!”

His head poked back around the doorframe. “Yes?”

“You did great today. Thank you for the help.”

He looked away bashfully. “Oh, it’s nothing, Miss Victoria! I like helping you.”

With a nod, she turned back, and Senci left for the dining room.

…

“It was great!” Senci exclaimed, fidgeting in his seat with a big grin on his face. He was sat at a small table, Andric sitting to his left. “I flattened the dough, and poured the sauce, and...it was fun!”

“Oh?” Andric leaned forward, resting his chin on his fists, “And what was it you helped her make?”

“I…” Senci’s grin faded into a look of confusion, “...don’t know.” His grin quickly returned. “But it was fun!”

“I bed it was…”

“Alright, everyone!” Victoria called out, “Time to eat!”

The woman entered the room, holding a large pan in her hands, and on that pan…

It was what Senci had made.

The dough had baked into a hard crust, the cheese all melted on top of the bread. The golden cheese on top of the browned bread...it was something to behold.

“Wooooooow…” Senci muttered, eyes wide.

“Looks great, right?” she said with a cocky smile.

“Indeed it does,” Andric agreed, “Senci, you really helped with that?”

“He did, and he did a great job.”

Victoria placed the pan down on the table, presenting the strange food to the others.

“Miss Victoria...what is it?” Senci gave the woman a mystified look.

“This is what my aunt used to make me when I lived down by the coast. It’s a bit of a local staple. It’s...pizza. Give it a try.”

Senci quickly grabbed at the pizza, noticing Victoria had cut it up into slices. Grabbing one of the slices, Senci brought it to his mouth and took a bite…

Chewing it, he suddenly remembered that yes, there had been sauce underneath the cheese. The tangy bit of sauce, combined with the hard bread, melty cheese and zesty seasoning…

“Well...what do you think?”

“Mmm...remarkable!” Andric said with a nod, “Haven’t had something this good in quite a while.”

“Thank you...Senci? What do you think?”

The kobold took another bite. Then another, chewing noisily.

“I think he likes it!” Victoria said, both her and Andric laughing as they watched Senci stuff his face.

The three of them sat around the table, swapping small talk and laughs as they dug into the pizza. It wasn’t what Andric and Senci were used to, but it was certainly a welcome change.

“Mmm, so, Senci...where’s your little friend? That dragon hasn’t visited in a while…”

“Oh, Lorenzo? He’s busy! The villagers have been building stuff and his family’s busy helping. He said he wanted to say hi, but he couldn’t…”

“I understand. Work before play. Tell him he’s welcome anytime.”

Senci paused. “...hey, Miss Victoria?”

She turned to him expectantly. “Yes?”

“Thank you. I had a wonderful time.”

The woman smiled and nodded. “Anytime, dear.”

Tag list: @thereisnothingwrongwithbeingmad, @lady-redshield-writes, @paper-shield-and-wooden-sword, @sheralynnramsey, @tawnywrites, @writer-on-time, @oceanwriter, @zwergis-spilledink, @fluffpiggy, @elliewritesfantasy, @homesteadhorner,  @laurenwastestimewriting, @elaynab-writing, @the-ichor-of-ruination, @reya-writes, @candy687