"Presenting, the crown Princess Rapunzel of Corona and her—ah—escort, Eugene Fitzherbert," the announcer called from the balcony, his voice wavering ever so slightly as he noticed no formal title before Princess Rapunzel's escort's name. No Prince, Duke, Earl, anything at all. Just a simple commoner, and to make the situation more scandalous his last name was Fitzherbert. The announcer shook his head and leaned over the balcony, put his glasses up the bridge of his nose to see the couple closer.
The princess was radiant of course, in a silk blue dress, her short chestnut hair curled up again from her face and her green eyes glistening in the candlelight. She walked lightly, though kept giving her shoes an annoyed flicker of her eye like she wasn't used to wearing them. Pleased with the appearance of the girl, he turned his attention, to the man. He was strongly built, with chocolate brown hair and very clever amber eyes. His gait had an air of confidence, though currently, he seemed like he was trying very hard not to run away. Clothes of the finest material was worn, and he was tall, brawny, and, as much as the announcer hated to admit it, he was very handsome.
Everything about him had an attractive quality; the ease with which he carried himself, the devil may care smile, the way he gently held the princess in his arms as they shared the first dance. No wonder the poor, naïve girl fell for him. But, the announcer knew, her parents must be merely humoring her. She had been missing for so many years, so they were going to go easy on her and her, he searched for a word to call the man that wasn't too crass for delicate ears and decided on, ward. Her sympathy beau. A man she probably felt sorry for because he was of low means; maybe not even sympathy, just simple curiosity for the other side of life.
The pair was finally joined by a few other couples, and he could see, with increased pomp, that Eugene Fitzherbert looked relieved to have the spotlight away from them, and the announcer rolled his eyes in a very undignified fashion. He was probably a better ballroom dancer than that commoner, and yet he got to hold the princess, and be with the princess they all adored and loved. He could count almost two dozen jealous young royals and several nobles that would love to be the one the girl was watching so adoringly, gently comforting him and convincing him he had done well and not to worry.
He snuck in a quick kiss and pulled back like nothing happened, and the Princess smiled brighter than the announcer had ever seen.
The next ball came around two weeks later, and the announcer's opinion of the man had lessened even more. After some digging, he had come to realize that this man wasn't just any commoner, he was the notorious thief Flynn Rider, but this information seemed to be no news when he informed the king and queen. They knew. The Princess knew. And yet this did not deter them from letting the criminal sleep in the castle with valuables every ten feet. He snapped back to his job, and read, his mind still wandering, "Presenting the Crown Princess Rapunzel of Corona and her thief Flynn—and her escort Eugene Fitzherbert."
He hurried to cover his mistake as the man glared back at him. For a moment the man had sent shivers of fear down the announcer's spine, and it made his opinion of Eugene Rider or Flynn Fitzherbert or whatever his name was even less.
It was obvious in his introduction that his opinion of the man was low. The next formal gathering, he skipped over saying Rapunzel's beau's name altogether, because he knew he, truly, didn't matter. This gave a few of the hopeful princes encouragement that perhaps the commoner had fallen out of the Princess's favor and zoned in on her, much to the man's annoyance. The announcer was having quite fun with this, watching Fitzherbert fidget idly by as his Princess—the Princess, the man reminded himself, somehow convinced that he was showing her that Eugene was no good for her—too nice to refuse, danced with everyone else but him.
"Excuse me." The announcer turned to greet whoever had come to chat, and saw with increased trepidation that it was none other than Flynn Rider, looking debonair dressed in black, but his face anything but genteel. In fact he looked positively frightening. "I just want to tell you something, since you've obviously taken the same mental route as the rest of those not in the know." His voice was harsh and the announcer felt very small at that moment, very vulnerable. Eugene crossed his arms and leaned against the banister, watching Rapunzel with an eagle eye for a moment before turning back to the man. "I'm going to make this quick and, luckily for you, painless so I can get back to Rapunzel."
"What are you—?"
Eugene cut him off with a wave of his hand, and continued as if he was never interrupted. "I found Rapunzel locked in a tower. After a bit of a tussle, we came to an agreement. A crown for me if I took her to see the lanterns that she had wanted to see her entire life." His eyes softened, as he went back in time to those days, remembering what happened to them. His voice considerably quieter as he continued, "I fell in love with Rapunzel and I didn't want the crown anymore. But she was taken back to her tower, so I went to save her, was stabbed by the woman who had stolen her as a baby." He mimed a knife jab to his lower right side, making the announcer flinch hard in his seat. "I managed to kill the woman, but when I did that, I—" he paused here, not sure of what to say next, or maybe he said too much. "I almost died that day," he finished. "For her. You know why? Because I love her."
Eugene shook his head and leaned in, hovering menacingly over the announcer. "Regardless of what you and the rest of the world thinks of me, I would never do anything to hurt her. I would never stop loving her for all the wealth in the world. I'm going to marry that girl, and I know that she'll say yes, because she loves me too. And I'll be damned if anyone is going to treat me lesser than I deserve." Finally, the announcer was silent, knowing that all this was true; how could it not be? He saw the way they looked at each other, the way they moved like they wanted nothing more to be close to each other. Like they were made for each other.
"I'm sorry," he whispered at last, and Eugene moved back away from him, putting his hands on his hips and nodding his approval. "Can you ever forgive me?" The man looked thoughtful for a moment before snapping his fingers and snatching up a pen and paper.
"I will," he said impishly, his trademark grin spreading across his face, jotting down a long sentence. "If you do one little thing for me."
...
Eugene bowed to Rapunzel and the two walked out. This was a very important dinner meeting with the King of Somewhere and the Dukes of Elsewhere. Admittedly, Eugene hadn't paid attention to the memo, but that was what Rapunzel was here for, to keep him out of trouble. "Now presenting," he heard the announcer call over the din and the room grew quiet, all eyes on the Princess and her man. "The Crown Princess Rapunzel of Corona and her escort, the clever, intelligent, brave and witty, handsome and charming, Eugene Fitzherbert, future Prince Consort of Corona."
Eugene mouthed along to every adjective the announcer spoke and Rapunzel gave him a confused expression, wondering what was going on. "Don't worry, my darling!" he said to her under his breath, his voice full of triumph, giving her hand an extra squeeze. "Just giving me my due, you see?"
She whispered back, eying the startled expressions on her parents' faces at the announcement, "What did he mean by future Prince Consort of Corona?"
Eugene smiled that smile that she loved and kissed her cheek. "Nuance!" he said cheerfully, a ring clenched tightly in his other hand. Overconfident, maybe, self important, perhaps, but, like he dictated to the announcer not two weeks ago, he was completely sure that Princess Rapunzel would say yes.
AN: PLOT BUNNY :D