In the days that followed, the two young lads kept to their routine. They would make their way to the castle and inquire of Princess Peach if there were any tasks to be accomplished. Should any turmoil arise within the kingdom, the brothers would split up - one to quell the disturbance, while the other remained behind to manage affairs. 

As Luigi worked his way through the castle, he hummed the tune of a familiar commercial. Despite the daunting task of cleaning every nook and cranny, he had already made significant progress and was confident he could finish before lunch. However, his focus was interrupted by the sound of a soft melody and laughter echoing down the hallway. Though he continued his cleaning duties, he couldn't resist stealing glances at the passing Toads.

"hm…" Luigi trotted to the doors to find them unlocked, nudging it open to glance inside. 

It hadn't changed from the days prior, two windows adjacent to the door and a beautiful golden bird cage to the left. 

He had nothing to be scared of but that didn’t stop his stomach sinking at the snarl enveloping the room.

“Cant i be left alone?!” Bowser snarled, turning. “Oh, its you”

“Yeah, it’s me” Luigi huffed “I’ll be out once I’ve cleaned up” 

He walked by the windows and began cleaning, feeling the deadly glare pinning against his back. Luigi cleared his throat, readying to speak before being interrupted. 

"what, come to poke fun too?" Bowser growled

"what?-"

"go on!" Bowser added, climbing the bars slightly and shaking them. "just come near this cage, I dare you!" 

Luigi looked over at the turtle, diligently wiping the glass as he did so. He remained silent as he witnessed the creature's feeble attempts to breathe fire before ultimately succumbing to defeat and falling onto its back. For several agonizing moments, the reptile struggled to rise, emitting fierce growls and labored breaths.

"...do you-ah want help?-" 

"I don't need your help!" 

The brother hurried over to the next window and resumed his duty, startled. He winced at the sounds of struggle before looking down and even though his instincts warned him otherwise, he approached the cage.

"hey!" bowser snapped

He poked into the cage, carefully nudging him over onto his stomach and quickly Retracting his hand and a fireball clashed to it. 

"aye!?" Luigi yelped, the tip of his finger alight and removed his glove. 

Slapping it against his forearm, it was quickly extinguished. 

"I am not a pet!" Bowser hissed
"turtles being on their back is dangerous in my world!" Luigi replied

"well I'm not from YOUR world am I?!" was all Bowser growled back with, leaning into the bars and snarling viciously. 

It reminded him of the dog on his first job, only it wasn't capable of giving him rabies or being much of a threat at all. 

"well-ah sorry" he sighed before checking his glove. 

Bowser narrowed his eyes before exhaling a deep flow of smoke from his nostrils to the air. 

"you are forgiven this one time, don't touch me again" 

Luigi rolled his eyes and slipped back on his glove, expelling a gesture through them that indicated mild irritation. 
"you are like an angry chihuahua" 

Bowser didn't even know what that was but was still insulted. 

"what are you doing here" 

"I'm doing my job, cleaning" 

"HA! saviour of the Mushroom Kingdom and you're belittled to janitor duties!" Bowser laughed while Luigi crossed his arms

"King of the Dark Lands belittled to a song bird" 

Bowsers laughed was immediately replaced by further snarling "OoOoHhh! You!" 

He attempted to spit a stream of fire his way but it didn't reach much past the bars. 

"at least I have a reason for being a janitor because SURPRISE, I'm not a hero of the Mushroom kingdom, I'm a hero of Brooklyn. BOOM! What's your reason for being a tiny turtle beside getting beat up by two humans three times smaller than you-" 

Luigi yelped as Bowser leaped at the cage once more, rocking it forward and almost knocking it over. 

" HOW DARE YOU! YOU ARE LUCKY I AM THIS TINY TURTLE OTHERWISE YOU'D BE ASH! "

At this Luig decided to take his leave, holding his hat down as he ran. He didn't want to get blamed for if he broke anything. After all, he doubted any amount of money could fix any damages caused here. He threw his supplies into his bag and took out his phone, sending a message to Mario. 

"Castle is all done! How are you?" as he brought his bag over his shoulder he smiled. 

Mario was quick to reply "good job bro! It's going great here, there's just been a few issues at other islands that I'm dealing with"

"oh? Sounds fun! I'm going to head home soon after a few jobs. When will you be home then?" 

Luigi sighed and began walking down the hall, keeping his phone in one hand. He was sure to not collide with passing guards and even tipped his hat to them, eventually arriving outside. 

The air was so fresh to his lungs, soft and soothing. Like silk almost. 

"probably around 7" Mario messaged back. 

While dropping into the pipe he texted back, like instinct coordinating through the kingdom with barely anything but a glance. 

"oki doki, I'll make dinner" he slotted his phone back into his pocket upon arriving at the new residence, a small shop. 

As he peered through the seemingly deserted storefront, his eyes fixed upon the wooden beams that obscured the window, save for a small crevice through which he could glimpse inside. Despite the dimness that pervaded the interior, a solitary ray of sunlight managed to infiltrate through the cracks, illuminating a select few objects on display within. Amidst a scattering of crates and containers. With a delicate touch, Luigi turned the doorknob and stepped into the store, quietly closing the door behind him. However, his initial grace was quickly undone as he fumbled in the darkness, unable to locate the light switch. Frustrated, he grumbled and twirled his mustache before muttering a disheartened remark.

"hallo?"

It echoed and for it being such a small shop it was surprisingly loud, the vast darkness staring back at him making him breathe in deeply and fix his hat on firmly.

He walked slowly over to a desk, noticing a bell and lightly pressing it.

"Helloooo?" he repeated, glancing around.

When he looked back to the counter an elderly man stood there…well, an old man or an incredibly ugly baby. Regardless Luigi jumped and threw himself away, at a loss for what to do and instead stumbling backwards into a collection of boxes.

He landed softly but on something wet and cold but his shock too paralysing for him to realise. The small man chuckled deeply to himself and hopped onto the counter, reaching to a piece of string overhead to bring light to their once ominous shadow.

“Professor E. Gadd’s, it is your usual policy to enter places unnanounced?”

He asked, sitting on the counter, eyes staring into Luigi’s unwaveringly.

"no no-i ah"

Luigi began to stand, not wanting to even guess at what he'd fallen in. You'd think years of being a plumber he'd be used to all things gross but no, it still weirded him out.

“This way young sport, the issue is here yonder” 

He took Luigi to the back room where a sink remained intact but barely functionable. Whenever the faucet would be turned the pipes would groan and growl viciously. He checked for any blockages, any breaks or tears but it appeared to be a water supply issue rather than a plumbing issue. This happened again and again throughout the evening where Luigi would find almost the entirety of the mushroom kingdom void of water.