A/N: This idea has been here in my head for awhile and I finally had the time to write so I figured I might as well see where it would lead. This is going to be a series of oneshots based on the song "Mother Knows Best" where she is listing all of Rapunzel's lesser qualities, well when she is just trying to put Rapunzel down more than she already has. This series contains many different characters from the movie and will revolve in the post movie world.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, the characters and story belong to Disney.
"Eugene!" A shrill shriek filled the halls of the palace as footsteps soon joined in the midnight clamor.
"Rapunzel?" Eugene Fitzherbert ran quickly down the halls to the now found princess' room. The worried expression on his face was something that was so rare but was only brought out of him when his girlfriend's safety was, well not safe.
Six months had passed since the two had been welcomed into the castle and still he found himself getting lost on his way to her room. In his hurry he had thrown on a night shirt but hadn't bothered to fix his hair or grab something to defend the princess with. Turning corners and tripping over his long night pants multiple times, he continued to follow the shrill screams that were drawing nearer and nearer.
To be honest, the poor ex-thief had no idea what to expect when he entered the girl's room. With his imagination, he came up with scenarios such as Gothel returning or another thief coming and taking the one person he cared for away from him.
These scenes that seemed to be put on repeat in his head, kept the tired man going until he reached the young woman's door.
"Rapunzel?" He yelled again, swinging the large double doors open and quickly running inside.
The princess was tangled in her covers while clutching onto a frying pan. Her spikey brown hair was stuck up every which way and he could tell by her heavy breathing and the sweat on her forehead that despite the cold's night air she was so scared that she had become hot. The look on her face though was what had Eugene even more worried than the shrieking, his Rapunzel was sobbing.
Rushing over to the large purple bed in the middle of the room, and stubbing his big toe on one of her many paint cans, Eugene reached the trembling girl and grasped her tiny shoulders with his tan caloused hands.
"Blondie what's going on? Are you hurt? Are you in pain? Are you going blind? I knew we shouldn't have been out on the roof earlier you probably got overheated..." Eugene continued to mumble random things as he checked both of her arms for evidence of blood or any other injury. Rapunzel quickly shook off his hands and jumped into Eugene's strong arms, wrapping her tiny ones around his neck. Stumbling back, the man fell into the chair next to Rapunzel's bed.
"Oh Eugene I'm so terrified!" The girl continued to sob as Eugene awkwardly patted her back. As Flynn Rider he had never been a comforter, in fact he had never showed any compassion towards anyone. But Eugene Fitzherbert was beginning to try his best.
"Ok Blondie first you need to tell me what this is all about because quite frankly I have no clue," Looking up with big green eyes the brunette princess stared straight into his hazel ones.
Leaning in and cupping her hand to his ear, Eugene realized she was embarassed by whatever she was scared of.
"I heard something in my closet"
Resisting the urge to be witty, Eugene stared back at the trembling princess in his arms as the tears still fell from her huge eyes. "A noise?" Eugene questioned slowly while Rapunzel nodded back feverishly, "In your closet?" Clarifying the location of said noise while again Rapunzel nodded. "Rapunzel, look I don't think..."
"Please Eugene! Please will you go see what it is?" He had never seen the girl so desperate and so vulnerable looking, though he would never admit it, the look on her face and desperate pleading made his heart ache.
"Ok but if I get eaten by some crazy monster you get to explain to the kingdom that the reason I no longer grace their presense and give them something that I must say is great to look out is because..." Rapunzel was already out of his lap and pushing him towards the closet cutting him off. For such a small girl the princess held an amazing amount of strength.
"Use this," Eugene was aware of a strange object being placed in his hand, a look of shock was replaced by a dubious one as he realized it was the one that was used to knock him out, multiple times.
"Blondie there is nothing...OH MY GOSH!" Rapunzel jumped about 3 feet off the ground and climbed on the post at the end of her bed, grabbing at her heart as it threatened to pound out of her chest.
"What?" The princess trembled and clutched the post even tighter.
"There's nothing there," Eugene gestured to the inside of the closet that was littered with multiple pairs of shoes and dresses along with even more paint cans and brushes.
Wiping away the tears on her face and sliding down the post to the floor, Rapunzel glared at her boyfriend.
"Really Eugene? You just had to scare me," Eugene tried to look innocent but after seeing the glare on her face he realized that he had crossed a line.
"I'm sorry Goldie, it was too great of an oppurtunity but really there is nothing in here," Shaking her head slightly, the princess looked cautiously at her closet before letting out a deep sigh of relief.
Sitting on the floor beside her, Eugene wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulders.
"Thanks Eugene," She murmured looking down at the ground sadly.
"Rapunzel, are you sure that's all you were scared of? A sound in your closet?" Eugene found it hard to believe that the brave frying pan wielding girl in front of him would have been screaming bloody murder because of some noise she had heard.
"Well...no it's embarassing," She was having conflicting emotions, the same ones she had been having since she had met him. After being exposed to this great big world she had no idea what she was to fear and what she wasn't, but looking into Eugene's usually mischievious hazel eyes and seeing the concern that was now in there gave her the confidence to share her fear.
"I was having a nightmare, and this big fuzzy thing was chasing me down the hall, his footsteps were pounding against the palace floor and he had a odd amount of eyes. He was yelling random things at me and telling me that you didn't love me and all this other stuff and then we ran into my room and he slammed the door to the closet, and then I woke up and really heard a sound in my closet, that's when I started to scream," Rapunzel's explanantion was rushed but when she was finished she realized just how silly the whole ordeal sounded.
Eugene sat quietly a second thinking about what she had just told him. Then the laughter came.
The princess' confidence was shattered as the ex-thief laughed at what had just been said.
"Rapunzel, you're talking about a monster! Those don't even exist!" The usually calm girl hit the man on the arm, hard.
"Eugene it's not funny!" Rapunzel was mad now at her boyfriend who had by now stopped laughing, realizing he had hurt her feelings. The girl turned from him crossing her arms.
"C'mon Blondie you're being immature about this, I wasn't laughing at you I just remember what it felt like to have those nightmares."
Immature. That had done it, he again in one night had crossed the line. Mother Gothel had used that to describe her and many other things while trying to convince Rapunzel she couldn't survive out in the world alone. Maybe she was right.
Rapunzel's face contorted and suddenly she was sobbing as she did before, but this wasn't out of fear, this was out of betrayel and lies, years worth of lies.
Eugene again began to panic as he tried to grab a hold of his girfriend but she just pushed him away.
"That's what you think I am? Immature? How could you even..." The princess continued to sob as she stood up and paced pulling at the short strands of chestnut hair.
The ex-thief scolded himself in his mind for being so insensitive. Rapunzel was fragile, like a porceline doll, and he had as good as shattered her with one single word. When did he get so stupid? At a lost for what to do he stood up and wrapped an arm around her waist, stopping her from the frantic pacing.
"Rapunzel look at me!" The girl continued to push against him, trying to get out of his vise-like grip but soon gave up her head falling as she stared at her bare toes.
As gently as he could, Eugene lifted the girl's chin so that he could look into her beautiful green eyes.
"You're not immature Rapunzel, I was just being my witty self as usual." The tears continued to fall from her eyes, and tentively the ex-thief whiped them from her cheeks, his inner Flynn Rider gaging at the show of affection.
"Yes I am..." She mumbled burying her face in his chest, leaving a tear stain on his shirt.
"Now whoever told you that?" Eugene asked as calmly as he could gently patting her head with his free hand.
Inside the anger was slowly boiling to the top. Who could ever tell this amazing girl she was less than she was. And that's when it hit him.
"It was Gothel wasn't it?" Rapunzel nodded and a new set of tears began. Eugene gently picked up the crying princess and cradled her to his chest as he walked back over to the chair he had sat in earlier.
"Blondie..." Sitting down, Eugene shifted Rapunzel so that she was sitting more comfortably and she wrapped her tin arms around his tanned neck. "You shouldn't be effected by what she says, she said all those things to upset you, they wern't true!"
"But Eugene that's the point! She did it all on purpose! To hurt me!" The tiny girl was again sobbing as he held to her tightly.
"You know what that is Rapunzel?" He didn't wait for an answer as she continued to cry into his neck. Eugene grabbed her face gently and brought it to where her forehead was resting against his. For the third time that night he felt his heart break for he could even smell the tears that peppered her face along with her loveable freckles.
"That's immaturity, that's childish, not you that was all Gothel. She was the one who choose to be insecure and make others feel bad about themselves so she could feel better. You're not like that Rapunzel you know that," He brought his hands to rest against her cheeks as his fingers seemed to follow their own accord and whiped every single tear from her face. Rapunzel looked at him her breath still quick because of the earlier crying episode, but her green eyes stared into his with understanding.
"I believed her." Those three words in one sentence caused Eugene to shake his head as he kissed the princess delicately on the nose and giving her a charming smile.
"I know you did, but like all her other lies there is no truth to that one either," The princess smiled at her boyfriend. "Thanks Eugene, for everything, for saving me from her and finally making me see the light," Rapunzel smiled at him while the young man laughed slightly.
"That sounded extremely cheesy," Both laughed at eachother before quieting down and lovingly looking at the other.
"Oh I know, but I meant it," With that Rapunzel kissed the ex-thief gently upon the lips then settled down on his chest curling up her legs and putting her arms around them. Eugnene's strong arm's wrapped around the tiny girl keeping her safe from any of her fears.
Despite her cheery personality, Rapunzel had been damaged in many ways. But outshining her other qualities, Eugene found her emotional strength the most admirable.
A/N#2: It's hard to kepp Eugene in character when he is being comforting because he never showed that side of him as Flynn Rider so I'm sorry if him or Rapunzel seem way OOC.