A/N: I have a really bad writer's block currently for longer things that's why all the longer stories I plotted went into the trash. Instead have a little piece I scribbled down inspired by Lana del Rey's Young and Beautiful. At least this way I get to participate in Jackunzel Week this time. I got to know so many precious people thanks to this ship, so just pretend this isn't any trash writing of mine but a big "I'm glad that we met".
Jack hated being immortal. Even knowing that most people desired it, didn't make it better. He was older than 300 years now, a guardian, they'd told him, but was that what he wanted?
The first light wandered to the sky, when he took the chance.
"Jack— You're staring again" Rapunzel noticed "You could have told me if you didn't like to watch the lanterns with me tonight."
He gave her a crooked smirk. "That's not it."
But she wouldn't believe him, saying that he was scared. Scared how fast she grew up. For someone who lived more than 300 years, the last 15 years went in the blink of an eye. So he tried not to blink anymore.
Unwillingly he moved his gaze from her to the night sky, which wasn't as bright compared to her beauty.
—
He didn't know when he became so old, that he learned the feeling of bitterness. Maybe it was the day that thief broke into her tower. That day when he led her out into the world, something he never managed to do.
Jack knew Eugene Fitzherbert. He was a nice kid, still he would never admit it. He deserved someone who made him happy, who would brighten up his day. Someone like Rapunzel, who
Jack liked to refer to as his sun in his mind. Even though Jack hated summer, he had always admired the warmth that radiated from her, making him all warm and fuzzy inside.
What if these days were over now that she found her love in him?
For the first time now Jack yearned for the past. Maybe he didn't value it enough when he had the chance.
So he lost her in the blink of an eye to another man.
—
Jack wasn't mad because his friend belonged to someone else now. What was driving him mad, was seeing her sad.
Whenever she was crying alone in her room, he was there, watching over her. He knew that she was grieving over her past, over her lost blonde hair.
He fought the urge to step up to her, to whisper into her ear that she still looked beautiful to him. But he couldn't.
Because he wasn't the boy she once knew. So he wasn't sure if she could still love or even like him like before.
—
The lanterns continued to be sent out in the sky every year. Every year passing, Rapunzel matched her younger self more and more again. The spark in her eyes was returning.
She doesn't need me, he thought as he went back to the tower she once called home. He still could feel the memories in this room, the childish giggles when she hid from him in the corner of her closet. The paintings on the walls told her story and this time he would take his time to read it all. Even the tiny line about him that was written between the moon and sun.
That night Jack didn't know how Eugene knelt down before her, pulling a ring out of his pocket.
Clasping a hand to her mouth, Rapunzel let out: "No! Eugene! You cannot steal something precious like this why would-"
"Rapunzel" he interrupted her "I promise you, it's not stolen." It was bought with borrowed money he would pay back later, but that wasn't the point here. The point she didn't get.
"I… I know this might be a horrible decision, but it can't be as horrible when you decided to trust me, right?" he asked nervously "So, blondie, if it's okay with you… I mean if you don't want to break my heart in thousand tiny pieces… will you say 'yes' to me for the rest of your life?"
—
Jack awoke among long brown hair, blood and chains. His eyes widened at the sight and he jumped to his feet, slowly remembering where he slept.
He shouldn't have been there. He shouldn't been feeling this way for her still.
"Why can't I just… stop?" he cursed, messing with his hair. Not like anybody would care about it or him at all. It wasn't like children who believed in him know about this or his story with that certain girl. As if they could recognize the symptom's of a broken heart.
He still imagined her footsteps on the ground. Her bare foots standing across from her in that mess of feelings.
He didn't realize that he wasn't imagining these things until he looked into the brunette's tear-struck face.
"Jack." Her voice was hoarse and as vulnerable as her small figure always had been to him.
"Rapunzel."
And between the broken shards of glass and tears, they felt complete again.
