Disclaimer: Tangled belongs to Disney. No profit is being made.
Author's Notes: It sounds very narcissistic to say that you have fallen in love with your own AU, but that's exactly what has happened. I thought my interest in this modern-day Washington DC AU was only writerly and it would pass. But it hasn't, I don't think it will any time soon, and I no longer think it's just a writerly interest. I have had a draw to that city for years. There are also some highly autobiographical aspects of Bad Influence itself, from both Rapunzel and Flynn's storylines, and it probably is no secret to anyone that Bad Influence!Flynn is pretty damn close to the type of modern-day man I find most attractive. In short, I've just come to the conclusion that this interest ain't goin' nowhere. I am not going to write a sequel, but I do want to continue to play in this sandbox.
I struggled for some time about whether, and how, to put these stories on this website. Add these chapters to "Safe Place" and rename the fic (since they're the same AU), post them at the end of Bad Influence itself, or post them as a separate fic? Ultimately, as you can see, I decided on the latter. I want Bad Influence to remain a distinct, complete story, with the chronological beginning being chapter 1 and the chronological ending being the last chapter. Many of these chapters, on the other hand, are added scenes that fit in the middle of the events of the novel, and I didn't want to put them after the epilogue in the main story. I have several more ideas for "Safe Place," but that one, I have decided, is going to remain strictly erotica of Bad Influence!Flynn and Rapunzel after they have married and become parents. Any ideas fitting into that category will go in that fic. Anything else for this AU will go here.
The first set of chapters for this story will be familiar to anyone who has followed my Tumblr, but most of them are edited from those versions. There are a few pieces that are AU to Bad Influence itself. They are marked as such.
I am again accepting prompts for this setting. They can be made in a PM, in a review, or through my Tumblr (link is in my profile). They can be for scenes occurring before, during, or after Bad Influence, or they can be entirely AU-of-the-AU. I'll write almost anything, but there are some things I don't want to do. The following ideas will not be written: they get a divorce/separation, she has a miscarriage, their kid dies, he doesn't survive being attacked, or any scenario in which one of them has sexual contact with someone else (this "ban" does include explicit tales from lobbyist!Flynn's past). I would not feel good writing any of these things, even though all of them (except the tales from Flynn's past) would be AU-of-AU, so I'm not going to. However, before they get together, it's an angsty AU, so don't be afraid to suggest other angsty ideas if that interests you.
Ratings: The ratings of individual chapters range from K to M and are noted at the beginning of each chapter.
Filibusters
Back Story: Coffee Shop Meeting
Chapter Notes: This was not a request from anyone, and it's not long. This takes place two years and approximately three months before Bad Influence begins (which is March 21, the first day of spring). Rapunzel and human!Pascal have not met human!Max yet, and Rapunzel's grandfather's investigation into the lobbying firm's misdeeds has just begun. I have decided that this scene is back story canon. The encounter is so brief—and he doesn't even notice her—that it is conceivable that it could happen and she wouldn't remember his face more than two years later. Rated K+
Rapunzel and Pascal stood in line patiently, watching silently as the queue of customers advanced. Holiday music sounded over the speaker system, and gifts—specialty coffees, mugs, and other treats—were stacked high on tables surrounding the counter. Many of the customers carried shopping bags with them. To complete the Christmas air of the place, soft flakes of snow dusted the sidewalks outside, giving off a calming, peaceful, happy winter ambience.
But to many people, the holidays are a time of pain. Rapunzel and Pascal were among those people. Pascal had not spent them with his biological family in many years, ever since his parents had kicked him out of the house when he was 18 for being gay and had not spoken to him since then. Rapunzel—well, as of nine months ago, when her mother took her own life, she had no family anymore, at least that she knew of.
Not that she was willing to admit that. Pascal knew it, but he also knew that she refused to talk about it or even acknowledge that it was true, so he didn't bring it up to her. They had only been friends for about half a year anyway, and both of them valued the friendship too highly, needed it too desperately, to introduce a topic that would only create conflict. They were all that each other had, after all.
So this Christmas, they were going to celebrate it their way. Family would have no part in it—biological family, at least. It wouldn't be romantic either, since Rapunzel was always very insistent to Pascal—whenever he tried to match her up with some straight guy he knew—that she was not interested in being part of a couple, ever, period, end of discussion… and Pascal himself was interested but simply hadn't met the right guy yet. This Christmas, they would be sharing good tidings and wishes of peace on Earth with their best friend. That was something new for Rapunzel, at least. He was the first friend she had ever had.
Rapunzel's thoughts were jerked back to the present when Pascal, who was ahead of her in line, ordered some kind of special frou-frou concoction, a peppermint mocha. She giggled to herself. He noticed and turned around.
"You should try it," he remarked. "It's quite good. Tastes like a liquid peppermint patty."
"Seriously, Pascal?" she asked through a laugh.
"Seriously. I promise you'll like it."
She regarded him for a moment. "All right," she said. "You'd better be right about that." Turning to the barista, she ordered the same beverage, paid for it, and stepped aside to wait with Pascal for their mochas to be prepared.
This Starbucks was quite busy, especially as more and more people wanted to get off the increasingly icy sidewalks, and so Rapunzel and Pascal had to wait several minutes for the staff to catch up with all the customer orders. Pascal began to scan the coffee shop for a place where two people could sit. While he was preoccupied, Rapunzel's attention was suddenly grabbed by the voice of one person in line.
She had never heard the voice before, she was reasonably sure, but there was something about it that she liked anyway. It was a man's voice, and it carried a kind of supreme confidence and assurance that was very pleasant to her. She tried to find the person whose voice was somehow carrying above the din and quickly zeroed in on the source.
It was a dark-haired young man dressed in what Rapunzel guessed was a very expensive black suit and a blue tie. He was holding a cell phone to his ear and talking to someone on the other end, and he looked impatient with the pace of the line.
He suddenly laughed into the phone, and his features twisted into an expression of unmitigated contempt. "You're worried about that old man? I hope you're kidding me. King's a thorn in everyone's side, but he's wasting his time with this. There's nothing to find. Is there?" The tone of his voice became harsh, almost threatening.
Rapunzel looked away before the man noticed her. Her moment of interest was gone. This was just another slimy, soulless DC insider, from the sounds of it.
"Hey, Earth to Rapunzel!" Pascal said.
She whirled around. Pascal was holding their peppermint mochas. "Oh, they're here," she said, accepting hers. "Sorry, I was just lost in thought, I guess."
He gave her a sympathetic look and put his now-free hand on her shoulder comfortingly. "It's okay," he said. "C'mon, though… we need to grab a seat before they're all gone."
He began to head toward a small table that he had picked out while he was scanning the room. Clutching her mocha, Rapunzel kept pace with him—but she couldn't help glancing back at the stranger in the line one last time, even though she couldn't explain why.