Flynn had no parents to tell him right from wrong. No mother to tuck him in at night, no father to teach him how to be a man. Everything he knew about life, he knew about being brave and smart, he learned on his own. He knew that stealing was wrong, but the outcome was so nice, being able to have anything he ever dreamed of.
He was a drunk and a stealer, he slept with women and he fought in bars. He used everyone he could, he didn't care. He wanted to be alone. He didn't want a person in his life besides number one; himself.
Rapunzel had a mother. She taught her the world was dangerous, frightening, and everyone out there was evil and wicked. She was afraid of stepping a foot outside of her tower, afraid that the moment she moved, she would be doomed. She didn't know what it felt like to run down a hill at full speed, to swim in a lake, to play in the snow. She didn't know what it meant to fall in love or get heartbroken.
She was innocent and naïve, but she was not stupid. Sometimes her eyes couldn't be torn away from the cave that her mother used to exit and enter the hidden valley where the tower was located, aching to know what lay behind the steel gray boulders.
Flynn decided long ago that he wouldn't have nothing forever. That he would be the richest man in the world, just like Flynnigan Rider, and could do whatever he wanted. If thievery was the only way he could attain that dream, then so be it. He had been so used to struggling to survive, to knowing how cruel the world could be to people like him, that he refused to go through it any longer than he absolutely had to. Why should he have to?
The bastard son of a poor prostitute and a promiscuous lord was brought into the world and left alone, so alone he would stay. No one wanted him anyway.
Rapunzel's mother always kept her well fed, well groomed, well taken care of. She never went hungry, unless she was being punished and had to miss dinner. She dressed her in the pastel colors of a child, never let her read anything she might find beyond her mind to read. Rapunzel knew it was to protect her, to keep her safe and sound from the outside world. Some things were too dangerous and sad to know about, and her mother just wanted to keep Rapunzel happy. She knew the concept of death, of pain and suffering. But, thanks to her mother, she never had to worry about it.
The lonely girl hummed the only song she knew, wondering if there was other music out there besides this, something else she could sing and know and make beautiful.
Flynn slept outside sometimes, when he didn't have money to get a room or a girl he had sweet talked into letting him stay the night. When it wasn't cold, those were some of the most peaceful nights of his life. He could stare up at the stars, wonder what he was doing with himself. Wonder what would have happened if he did have a mother and a father that were alive, that wanted him. He supposed if he had been the legitimate son of a lord, he would have had enough money to do what he pleased.
He supposed if he had been the son of a whore that was still living, he would have taken care of her by stealing anyway. So he figured that his life wouldn't be much different than it was and truly didn't care either way. You cannot miss something you never had, regret something that could not be prevented, hate someone who was dead.
Rapunzel wondered if anything she read in her geography book was real. If there was truly places so far beyond the scope of her tower that she couldn't even wrap her mind around it. Foods she'd never get to taste, music she'd never get to hear, laughter and love that she couldn't even comprehend. People different from her. Perhaps even meet a man.
Her mother always told her that men could not be trusted, and brought this point up when she asked about love. Her mother promised her that men would only hurt her and break her into little pieces and rob her and kill her. Rapunzel believed her.
Flynn watched Rapunzel brush out her short brown hair in front of her vanity, his hands brushing lightly against her waist. He told her things he'd never told anyone before, starting with his name, telling her about his upbringing and childhood, telling her how he felt about her. He told her about his life as a bandit, about the people he'd met, the places he'd been, and he noticed the twinge of envy on her face. She wished she could have been there, to see other far off places that she only ever dreamed about and read about in books.
Rapunzel was fair, and told him everything too. About her sheltered life, her three books that she read over and over again until she memorized every word. About how she always believed that men like him were vile and conniving and had pointed teeth and would hurt her if given the chance. She told him about the stars, how she charted them and their movements, about how everything, even the stars, had been constant in her life. Nothing new, no surprises, nothing out of the ordinary except for that one day, every year, when the lanterns flew.
They curled up every night in each others arms, feeling a sort of envy for the other. Rapunzel never knew what it meant to find adventure until she met him, and Flynn never knew what it meant to care until he met her. Sometimes, circumstances made us into people we never would have thought we could be; sheltered and blissfully unaware or push us directly into the harsh realities of the world, giving us challenges that we never thought we'd have to face.
But under any other circumstances, they probably would never have met. And they could be thankful, at least, for that.
AN: This one shot is dedicated to Calll Me Ishmael for being such a kind reviewer. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing.