Bowsette and Peach had been invited to a slightly fancy dinner over in Toad Town at Tayce T.’s house. She was still a big supporter of Former King Peach and had offered to cook her very best Shroom Steaks, as well as a Yummy Meal to cap it off for dessert.

The couple had of course accepted, and Mario had come along with his newest muse, Lady Bow. Bowsette had learned a little more about that one; apparently back when Lady Bow and Mario became adventuring partners, they had become a lot more than that, and on their quest to rescue the Star Spirits they had actually gotten pretty serious together. Mario would have had to sacrifice his corporeal form and become a ghostly spirit to have actually married into the family, though, so it never went anywhere after the Star Rod was saved, but Bowsette thought it was very interesting that the two were picking up where they left off when King Boo had already seemed to take more than just a liking to Mario’s own brother.

It was a lot of dynamics that were a bit too weird for Bowsette to think too deeply into, so that was all that she was going to put into that for now.

Peach and Bowsette each received a Shroom Steak at the same time and dug in. Bowsette thought that the emphasis on vegetables over meat was not actually as good as she was hoping, as the carnivorous beast she was, but... holy crap Peach what are you doing.

Her wife was absolutely devouring the Shroom Steak as if it were some sort of monstrosity. This was... unbecoming of royalty. She guessed her training was starting to make a real impact on her calorie intake after all! It was so unexpected that Bowsette, Mario, and Bow couldn’t help but burst into laughter all at once, embarrassing Peach and making her stop.

“You guys are so rude...”

“Hey, far be it from me to criticize your eating habits,” Bowsette said. “I’m glad you’re eating more, because that means you might get as buff as me one day.” Bowsette flexed her bicep and Peach giggled while rolling her eyes.

Mario laughed too, which caught Bowsette off-guard a little bit. He wasn’t too big of a laugher, but he had done so twice in a row. Was he just in a better mood, or was he showing off for Bow or something? It was hard to tell because the guy so rarely expressed himself.

Were the two of them REALLY going to be rivals still, in the future? Were they REALLY going to continue fighting and beating each other up, now that Bowsette was married to Peach, and the cycle of kidnapping and geopolitical standoffs was no longer going to be a factor? Now that, really, Bowsette probably wasn’t even ever going to rule a kingdom again unless something significant happened?

That’s what Mario had promised her when they slept together all that time ago. He probably didn’t even remember. It was, of course, stuck in Bowsette’s memory and would undoubtedly be there like a Jammin’ Jelly against a freshly-painted wall for the rest of her life. It made her blush every time Mario flirted with another girl, not out of jealousy, but on the unavoidable moment that her mind would flash to Mario making love with that same girl later in that night. Now that she had experienced it, and admittedly enjoyed it a lot, she had far too good of an ability to estimate how it would play out.

Of course, Mario's recent targets had been quite... interesting in terms of species. How did a human and a Goomba, or a human ad a Boo, even.... you know... make it work?

Augh, she had told herself she wouldn’t think about this kind of thing anymore!

Peach realized Bowsette was getting lost in thought again and nudged her, but then it only pushed Bowsette’s mind to a new topic: the fact that Peach and Bowsette, both having been romantic targets for Mario now, were sitting across from this dude and were probably both simultaneously thinking about this pretty awkward situation.

They were all adults. It just worked that way sometimes, you know? There was nothing wrong with it. Bowsette had needs, so did Mario. Peach and Mario’s on-and-off romantic endeavors were an oft-lamented fact of Mushroom Kingdom lore, but in the end the two didn’t ever end up really consummating it. In terms of a serious relationship, that was. Obviously they had consumated it otherwise.

Why was it always at these kinds of fancy dinners when Bowsette’s mind turned to topics of sex? Was it because the food was so good that nobody talked and she couldn’t fill her mind with any meaningless topics? Was it because Bowsette was a depraved pervert? Both were equally compelling options.

But as Bowsette took another look at her loving wife, enjoying her Yummy Meal now that Tayce T. was putting those out for her guests, she was reminded that she did not need to fret about this sort of thing. She was already emotionally and physically fulfilled by Peach, Wrecker of Hearts, the Grand Knight of the Toadstool Clan. Thinking about Mario in that regard was never going to lead to anything, because Bowsette simply didn’t care.

She took Peach’s free hand from under the table and held it. Yep. This was the only life ever needed.