Chapter 1 Alex

Mario snuggled beneath the blanket of his bed. It was...what, 6:30am? It was the time of day where no one cared if he was awake. This was especially true considering that it was a Sunday. Mario burrowed himself deeper under the covers in a sleepy satisfaction. It was the perfect day to just snuggle up and snooze.

BRING, BRING!

Mario eyed his alarm clock with a slight sense of annoyance. Why was it going off? It never went off on the weekend! Mario was just about to put it on snooze when he realized that there was probably a good reason why he had set it for today. Sure, at the moment he couldn't recall what that reason was, but he clearly had to have a reason.

So, Mario turned the alarm clock off and got out of bed. He yawned and stretched before getting dressed. He put on his trademark outfit: a red shirt with a blue pair of overalls and his signature hat. He admired himself in the mirror for a brief period before he went downstairs.

As he was walking down the stairs, he could hear the sound of chatting. Not only that, but he could also detect a very pleasing smell. It smelled like...waffles. A teensy smile spread across Mario's lips, as well as a little bit of confusion. Why was Luigi making waffles? On a Sunday no less? Usually, Luigi spent his weekends the same way that Mario did: in his bed. So what exactly was up?

Mario got his answer as soon as he entered the kitchen. He saw Luigi sitting at the table with a heaping stack of waffles sitting right in front of him. He smiled at his older brother.

"Good morning, Mario!" he said.

"Yes, good morning Mario!"

Mario gasped in happy surprise.

"Alex?"

Alex beamed at Mario. Alex was Mario's friend from the real world. When he had last met him, Alex had been three years old. Now he was five.

"Yeah! It's-a-me!" Alex said. He laughed, and Mario laughed right alongside him.

"Wow, Alex, it is so nice to see you!" Mario exclaimed after he had finished with his laughter. Luigi laughed as well.

"I don't see why you are so surprised," he said, "considering that you were the one who invited him!"

"I was?" Mario asked. Then all of a sudden it came rushing back. "Oh that's right, I was!" Mario smiled in Alex's direction. "Which means that…."

"Yep, it's my birthday!" Alex said excitedly. "I turn five today!"

"Five? Woah!" Mario said. He came over and ruffled Alex's hair. Mario was not used to seeing his little buddy with hair. After all, last time they had met, Alex had been going through some extreme chemotherapy. But now that he had been declared cancer free, Alex's hair was allowed to grow out, much to Mario's relief and joy. "So what are we going to do; have a party?"

"No!" Alex said happily. "You said that you were going to give me a tour of the Mushroom Kingdom!"

"Oh, that's right! How could I forget!" Mario said with a silly inflection. Luigi laughed.

"Man, you sure are forgetting a lot of things today, aren't you?"

"Yeah!" Mario said with the same silly inflection he had used before. "I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached!"

Alex looked at Mario in astonishment.

"You're that forgetful?" he asked.

"No, buddy, no!" Mario said. "It's just an expression!"

"Oh, good," Alex said as he let out a sigh of relief. "You had me really worried there for a second."

Mario chuckled again. He figured that if he had a nickel for every time he laughed this morning, he would have enough money to feed all the lumas in the Good Egg Galaxy.

"So," Luigi said. "Mario, what time do you want to head out on the tour?"

"As soon as I finish my breakfast!" Mario said as he went over to the waffle iron. He lipped his lips when he opened it up and spotted the scrumptious golden waffle that was nestled inside. He got a fork and put it on a plate. Then he picked up a bottle of syrup and let the luscious maple syrup cascade down onto the waffle. He then took a forkful and shoved it in his mouth.

"Oh, Mama Mia, that's good," he said dreamily. He then noticed that both Luigi and Alex were waiting expectantly, as they had both already wiped their waffle plates clean. Mario sighed and pushed the waffle to the side.

"You know what? It's not fair to keep the birthday boy waiting," he said. "I think we should head out right now!"

Alex squealed.

"Yay! Thank you so much, Mario!" He got up and left the room, with Luigi following suit. Mario looked down at his waffle, which only had one bite taken out of it.

"I'll be back, my love," he said. Then he strapped on a smile. "Okay! Let's a go!"

AN: Happy birthday, nintendoscript15! I hope you are enjoying your present so far.

For those of you who are unaware, Alex is one of nintendoscript15's OC. I got permission to use him in this story.