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“Bowser?” You called, walking down the castle hall as rain pounded outside. “What’s going on?”
“Are you outside? You're supposed to be resting!” Rain hit your skin as you stepped outside and a red-orange glow emanated from the forest. A wet branch smacked your face as you followed the light. The trees only got denser as mud squelched beneath your boots. “Bowser!”
Sharp black crystals poked at your legs, the mud slowly becoming grittier until solidifying into rock. The trees gave way to a clearing, where you found what looked like an incredibly large version of Bowser lying in…something. “Uh, Bowser?”
“Y/N!” He flinched away and tried to cover the scales all over his body by sinking down “why are you here?”
“Why are you laying in an orange pond? And like ten times your normal size” The pond sizzled as rain hit it and you reached down to touch it. Before you could, Bowser swam over and brushed your hand away. “Don’t!”
“what? Why not?”
“...it’s lava”
“and you’re in the lava because?”
He sighed “Boo said it’s supposed to make my wounds heal faster”
“And being ten times your normal size?”
“That just…happened, he said it’s an instinct or something”
“Woah, cool!” You grinned, leaning over to kiss him “why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to freak you out” He mumbled, sinking mostly under the lava “this is weird…”
“No it’s not”
“Yes it is! I’m naked in a lake of lava and become ten times larger for no reason. What part of that is normal?”
“You didn’t need to tell me you were naked”
“...no I did not”
Giggling, you sat down next to the edge of the lake, poking at the smooth crystal. Rain soaked through your clothes but you ignored it, chatting idly. The sound of someone walking up behind you made you jump as Bowser sank down under the lava.
“Bowser?” King Boo called from behind you “Y/N? What are you doing here?”
“I didn’t see him in his room, so I went looking”
“Okay, well, leave” He brushed you away “you’re not supposed to be here”
“Wha—? My boyfriend is hurt! I’m not going anywhere!” Crossing your arms, you stood up and stuck your tongue out at him. Slowly, Bowser emerged from the lava “come on, Boo, let him stay”
“I’m not letting some stranger stay with you”
“Ah, let him stay,” Toadsworth said, walking up next to you and setting down a large bag. “He’s a good guy”
“Yeah! Let me stay!”
“Fine” Boo sighed and grabbed the bag, pulling out a large pair of clothes. “It’s time for you to get out anyway”
“Oh, right” Bowser nodded and started to stand up, motioning for you to close your eyes. The sound of lava splashing echoed around you and Toadsworth pulled you back. Clothes rustling soon accompanied the sound of lava sizzling in the rain. “Okay, you can look now”
“Huh” You looked up at him “you’re bigger than I thought”
“sorry…”
“No, it’s okay!” You reached up and tried to grab his hand, missing it by several feet. Laughing, he leaned down and picked you up “hi”
“woah” you stared down at the ground before looking back at him “this is so cool!”
Bowser blushed and looked away, following Boo over to another clearing where a large tent had been set up. The grass was soft as Bowser set you down and curled up inside the tent.
“Where are you getting all this stuff from?” You asked Boo, who ignored you and lay down inside the tent, followed by Toadsworth. Shrugging, you stepped inside the tent and lay down next to Bowser. “Hey”
“hey” he mumbled, pulling a comically large blanket over you both “are you really okay with this?”
“I promise” you rolled over and kissed one of the scales on his cheek “wow, you’re warm”
“and you’re really not upset? You don’t want to break up?”
“No!” You looked away “I mean, not unless you want to”
“I don’t”
“okay, then we’re okay” gently, you curled up against him “goodnight”
~
When you woke up, Bowser had his arm around your waist and was lying on top of you. Wounds littered his body but he was back to his normal size. Running your fingers through his hair, you watched him open his eyes and look up at you.
“Hey” you leaned down and kissed him
“Mmorning” he mumbled, wincing as he sat up “geez, I really did get hurt”
Carefully, you helped him up, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Come on, let's get back to the castle”
“Don't go off on your own” Boo called, brushing dirt off his pants “Besides, you have to get back into the lava, I don’t want your wounds to reopen”
Bowser groaned but nodded, taking your hand “I’ll be in the lava then, bring me back some food?”
“Sure” you kissed his cheek before walking off to get breakfast.