a/n: happy (belated) birthday, Aimy darlin'. you're my big sister and one of my closest friends here, and i really, really want to meet you someday, Earwig. :3 i would totally want you as my real big!sis, no joke :P so i hope you like this, love!
[prompts used: well, actually…i kinda forgot about all the prompts i received. Dx]
disclaimer: yeah, right. all i own is my RapunzelEugene poster and Tangled on my iTouch.
It's not like she hadn't expected this.
Well, actually, she hadn't. In her young, almost-childlike innocence, Rapunzel hadn't known about men and relationships and things she'd never, ever experienced before.
But when she'd seen Eugene (Flynn) with his arms around some woman—some woman with…with assets, and a beautiful complexion, and long blonde hair (well, not as long as hers used to be, but still), and eyes that shimmer like diamonds in the sky—oh, and her green eyes don't compare, not at all.
She turns around, hand threading through her short brown locks, and to her surprise, she feels tears welling up in her eyes, glistening in the afternoon sunlight. Dreadful thoughts pass through her mind, convincing herself of her unworthiness—I'm not good enough, I've never been good enough—and there is wetness on her lashes, her cheeks, trailing hurt down her face.
At this moment, he turns, catching sight of the princess running the other way, and calls after her – "Blondie! Where ya going?"
She doesn't reply and runs faster, to the unfamiliar castle with its stone grey walls – and hurt doesn't even cover it.
She doesn't speak to Eugene. Her parents notice and her mother questions, but she replies with an "I'm perfectly fine" every time. She allows him to stay in the castle, eyebrows crinkling every time she catches a glimpse of him, attempting to (calmly) flee the other way.
And the truth is, she doesn't really know who this blonde-haired woman is, but she seems to spot many different women flocked around him at all times, blinking fast at him. At first she'd thought there was something wrong with their eyes and momentarily panicked – Was this a disease of some sort? – but gradually, she began to understand it as a method of…flirting.
Her tutors have taught her many new things, about how men and women interact and…and sex (insert blush here). She wonders painfully if Eugene has ever done…that, and comes to the conclusion that he probably has. And maybe with that blonde, too.
Rapunzel shies away from him, deeming this an appropriate reaction to what she had witnessed.
"Rapunzel," someone calls on exactly the seventh day, a full week later. She, eying herself in the mirror, turns around to find one of her maids smiling at her, a piece of paper folded neatly in hand. "You've got a note."
Brightening considerably and blinking in surprise, she squeals and bounds over to the maid, grabbing it out of her hands and unfolding it quickly. The maid turns to leave with the faint traces of a smile on her face, and Rapunzel looks up from the note, remembered to call a quick 'Thank you!' after the woman's retreating figure. She looks back down at the note.
Rapunzel, it reads in a fancy sort of lettering, what's wrong with you? Why haven't you been talking to me, Blondie? It's been a week and I haven't seen or spoken to you, or Pascal. I'm finding I'm missing his presence…, she laughs softly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and continues to read. What's been going on with you? You run like Maximus looking for apples every time I see you – have you been avoiding me, Blondie? – Flynn, or really, Eugene.
Contemplating the note, she sighs. She's pretty sure it's illegal to be as charming as he is.
As she slumps down on the window seat, her head buried in her hands and the note fluttering to the ground, she wonders what she should do. Pascal sits on her shoulder, nuzzling his head into her hair as his own brand of comfort – she feels a tiny bit better.
"I know, Pascal," she mumbles. "I should forgive him, shouldn't I? I mean, he hasn't done anything wrong."
Pascal only lets out a squeak.
"Well, I suppose he could've been…um, what's the word?"
Pascal blinks at her.
"Right! Cheating? He could've been…cheating." She sounds uncertain when she says it, and Pascal doesn't answer. Instead, he leaps off her shoulder and bounds over to the glass window, tail pointing down and making noises of excitement.
"What is it, Pascal?" she blinks and looks out the window, down to where a man is standing, holding a bouquet of daisies and scarlet roses surrounding him. She stares.
"Rapenzel!" the man shouts up to her, shading his face from the sun. "BLONDIE, that you, or is it the wrong window again?"
She lets a smile illuminate her face. "Eugene?"
"Oh – there you are!" Clearing his throat, he looks up at her, eyes dancing and licking his lips. "I, uh, wanted to ask you something!"
Genuinely confused, she squints down at him. "Yes?"
"Uh – well…" All of sudden she notices that the roses spell out a phrase. She blinks, taking the words in. Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh – she is incapable of using her brain right now, as it has just turned to mush.
"…um, yeah, so, what I wanted to say was…" he ends his rambling, and grinning up at her nervously, face tinted sort of green. He breathes out and bends down on one knee. "I want to be prince to your princess."
By now, she's crying. Tears are escaping her eyes as she desperately tries to mumble a 'yes' through her sobs.
Rapunzel notices him turn greener, if possible.
"You don't have to say yes! I mean, we're young, we're only eighteen! We have plenty of time later on!" he yells hurriedly, causing her to choke out a tearstained laugh.
"Yes!" she yells down, turning away from the window and jumping off the window seat. Running from the room and sprinting down four flights of stairs in her wrinkled dress, she kicks off her dainty shoes as she reaches the door.
Throwing it open haphazardly, she runs to him and launches herself into his arms so that her lithe body fits perfectly and his arms snake automatically around her waist.
"Yes!" she gasps, dropping kisses all over his amused face. "Yes, Eugene, of course!"
As she lies there in his arms surrounded by hundreds among thousands of red roses, a bouquet of bright sunshine daisies clutched in her arms, and a ring made of the iron of the frying pan on her finger, she forgets completely about the blonde woman – all the women – and lets herself bask in this feeling. Like they've both gone to the stars and back, like the night of the lanterns (she forgets it was her birthday), and like the moment that she'd dropped a single, glistening tear on his cheek and he had opened his eyes (awakened from an otherwise permanent sleep) and taken a breath of life – that was how she felt now. Oh, he's marrying me!
He, smiling into her brown locks, whispers into her hair as he presses a kiss to her forehead, "Blondie? This – this is our new dream." She smiles softly into his shoulder.
"Together?"she asks, staring up at him and wearing a crooked smile.
"Together," he agrees, leaning down to kiss her properly on the lips.
She sighs elatedly, closing her eyes, and slips her hand into his.
a/n: yay for EugeneRapunzel! this wasn't actually meant to be this fluffy/corny – it just turned out that way, i dunno. O_0
please don't favorite without reviewing!