Best Days We'll Never Know

Setting the World on Fire vs. Flying Too Close to the Sun

The party's still going strong.

The deejay keeps getting louder, the graduating class erupts in cheers when someone wins yet another game of beer pong. More whoop and holler as they dance to the music.

And the Mario brothers don't even care that they're missing it, because the moment they read the first line from each other's letters, Luigi erupts first,

"We did it!" he squeals. "We actually did it!"

Mario tosses his letter on the bed to grab him in a tight hug,

"The Mario Brothers are going to Cornell!"

After they pull apart, Luigi confesses, "I was really scared there for a second."

Mario stands up, holding out a hand, "Let's go share the good news with everyone, huh?"

"Sounds good to me." Luigi agrees, taking Mario's hand before they both leave the bedroom, closing the doors behind them.

Still in the bedroom, the Mario brothers visibly deflate as they read the first sentence of each other's letters.

"We didn't get in." Luigi says quietly.

"So the Mario Brothers are not going to Cornell." Mario says glumly, before he shakes it off and says, grabbing Luigi's hands, "Who needs them, huh? We're still gonna save Brooklyn, and we don't need some fancy engineering school to get there."

Then he lets go to pick up both their letters.

"But first." Mario holds them up, Luigi watching as he flicks the lighter, setting the letters on fire, before dropping them in the metal trash can.

"That takes care of that." He declares, before pulling his brother to his feet, then leaving the bedroom together.

✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅

Mario and Luigi rejoin the land of the living, and it's not long before they're jumping around and acting just as stupid as their peers.

They just got into Cor—freaking-nell! They can afford to live a little!

❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌ ❌

It's a very dejected Mario and Luigi that walk back into the party, but Mario's attention seems to be on Pauline, who's in the middle of singing with the deejay.

"What am I supposed to tell her, bro?" he asks, not really expecting an answer.

"I think you just tell her and hope she doesn't hate you for it." Luigi says simply, squeezing his shoulder. "I'll just be watching by the food if you need me."

Mario smiles, "Thanks, Weegee.", then hugs him before he walks up to the stage, gesturing for Pauline to come down so he can talk to her.

After finishing her song, she nods and takes Mario's hand as she jumps down from the stage, and they walk off.

"You heard me, right? Me and Luigi didn't get into Cornell." Mario repeats, when she doesn't say anything. "Just making sure you heard me."

"I heard you." Pauline replies. "I just don't know what you want me to say."

"Nothing." Mario says without thinking, then corrects himself, "Please, anything you wanna say to me, say it."

"Your application was incredible!" Pauline says finally. "They'd be lucky to have you there! This shouldn't have happened to you!"

"Trust me, I know." Mario agrees. "And how dare they not accept Luigi? They wanna reject me, fine. But reject my brother? I don't think so."

Pauline says, "For what it's worth, I am sorry. I feel like part of it's my fault for all the gushing I did over how great a school it is."

"No, no." Mario says quickly. "Trust me, we wanted to go. You helped, but we really wanted to go."

There doesn't seem to be much else to say after that, so they just stand there awkwardly for a moment or two before Pauline offers,

"You know, I have some connections. Maybe I could ask around, see what they could do to get you two accepted anyway. Interested?"

"No." Mario doesn't even have to think about it. "Thank you, really, but no. If Cornell doesn't want us, we'll just have to figure something else out."

"Okay." Pauline says. "What about us?"

"I know we always talked about how Cornell was where we'd give ourselves a real shot, but I don't see how that's gonna happen now that I'm not going." Mario says honestly. "But me and Luigi need to rethink everything." He stops a moment to pull his cap off his head, sighing. "I dunno, a part of me feels, no knows, this was always how it was gonna turn out. We have something bigger waiting for us out there. What was Cornell gonna do with two nobodies from Brooklyn, anyhow?"

He looks at her apologetically, "So it looks like you're the one that got away."

"Hey, I'm fine with that." Pauline smiles. "If you want, I could defer for a year--"

"Hell no!" Mario erupts. "You'd kill me for letting you do that!"

"But you're one of my best friends." Pauline says. "I can't just leave!"

"Oh yes you can." Mario insists, taking her hands.

"Mario--"

"You've known you were going to Cornell ever since you decided you wanted to follow in your dad's footsteps and take over as mayor. And that was all before we got together and dated on and off. You will hate yourself for not going."

Now Pauline's starting to look like she feels sorry for him, but Mario won't have it,

"Hey, put me out of your mind, okay? We're still gonna save Brooklyn. The Mario brothers are nothing if not resilient."

"True." Pauline admits.

They hug, then part ways.

Believe it or not, that was the easier conversation.

Now how are they supposed to tell their family they won't be moving out after all?

"Mamma mia."