"You're bad luck, kid, and that's all there is to it."
"Nobody wants a kid like you!"
"Don't you know? Your parents died in a car crash when they were bringing you home from the hospital as a newborn. It's bad luck that you didn't die with them, and that's that."
These sneers from fellow orphans, relatives, and even foster parents, they always stung. But they were right, after all. Little orphan Eugene Fitzherbert was bad luck. That's all.
"You were right, Flynn Rider. You're bad luck, no doubt about that. You give us any grief, and you'll end up in a ditch somewhere. Got that?" The towering, speaking brother of the twins - Daniel - spat, shoving him against the cold brick wall.
"Got it," Eugene mumbled. He wished he'd have never witnessed the drug deal gone bad.
Two weeks into homelessness, just when the gravity of the situation -and the hunger - had crept in, Eugene had bumped into two men: twins. They'd given him about a hundred dollars and told him to go eat for a couple of days. And eat he had, after thanking them profusely for their incredible kindness. When they came back around and guaranteed him enough money to get a house - not rent, own -, so long as he joined their 'group', which was vaguely spoken of, he was skeptical and tried to distance himself. A day later, he'd heard the scuffle. Inspecting the situation was wrong. But he did it anyway, and found the brothers - Daniel and Craig - pounding someone, who was crumpled on the ground.
"Hey!" Eugene yelled. "Get outta here! All of you! I'll call the police!" he didn't know how, but he'd notify the police somehow. There was a payphone down the street about a half-mile. He could sprint. Daniel and Craig had leaped away from the person in surprise, and before they could turn back, the person had escaped. That's when they'd turned on him. He'd intruded upon a drug deal gone bad. Now, Eugene owed them the price that the person had been about to pay - after the beating. Didn't make sense, but how could he argue with twins who could kill him whenever they felt like it? He'd never get away from Daniel and Craig - codename The Stabbingtons - and he was a walking piece of bad luck. Undoubtedly.

Rapunzel didn't lie. For about three weeks, she brought breakfast for him and stayed to talk for a few minutes. It was quite nice to have a friend in the world, but he couldn't help but wonder how long it would last. Nobody stayed around for long, after all. Why should they? As a walking back luck omen, it was probably in their favor to stay away. After all, whose parents died in a terrible car accident when they're bringing you home from the hospital when you're a week old? Whose foster families beat you because they think you're useless, break things by accident, and are just bad luck? Who works three jobs to get through college, only to lose all of them, then your house because you let the bank put a lean on your house so you can pay off college loans? Who gets mixed up in a drug deal gone bad, just trying to help the poor sap that got involved in the first place?

One drizzly morning, Rapunzel bounded across the street towards him. He was awake this time, almost looking forward to seeing her. She pulled a small bag out from under her jacket and handed it to him.
"Good morning! It's Saturday, so I don't have work. I can stay a little longer," she smiled.
"How can you be so happy and bubbly when it's so rainy?" Eugene asked.
The young lady shook her head. "Rain provides life to plants and such. It's just as important and wonderful as sunshine is."
He opened his mouth to protest, but knew she had a point. "There is that," he admitted.
"Although you have reason to dislike the rain. Do you have anywhere to go?" she asked. "You're already soaking wet."
Eugene shook his head. "No. I'll just hang out underneath some overhangs or see if the diner will let me sit in there awhile. This overhang's working well so far, though."
Rapunzel bit her lip, thinking. "You could stay in my house if you want. At least until the rain stops, if not for a longer amount of time."
Eugene's eyebrows shot up. He wanted to say yes, and thank you very much, but then echoes of the accusations of his being bad luck filled his mind. It followed him wherever he went. He didn't want anything to happen to her, and especially not when she was just trying to be hospitable.
"Nah. Thank you, though; it's very kind of you to offer that."
"Are you sure? Can't I help you somehow? I don't want you out here getting sick."
Why do you even care? Eugene wanted to ask. "I'm fine. I've dealt with more than a couple rain showers."
She licked her lips. "Okay."

"You should probably go before you get rained on too much, though," he said.
Rapunzel instead sat down on the sidewalk beside him. "I don't mind."
"What are you planning on interrogating me about, then?" he asked immediately, meeting her eyes suspiciously.
She grinned.
"You don't have to automatically assume I'm a nosy gossip. I'm not, I promise," she said.
"Nobody sticks around like you have. Especially since I'm homeless right now," he said.
"Well, maybe I think you're nice and maybe I enjoy your company, and just want to learn more about you!" Her grin faltered. "Sorry if I'm prying."
"It's okay," Eugene pondered this a moment, his eyebrows knitting together.
Rapunzel sighed. "What do you do all day long?"
"Traipse around hoping to come across a 'help wanted' sign," he said. "Nobody'll take me because they're afraid to hire someone that's homeless. Guess I'm a real danger."
"You're bound to find a job soon," Rapunzel reassured him.
"I doubt that," he shook his head. "But I guess you can always be optimistic, right?"
"Definitely," she nodded. "What'll you do when the weather turns cold? If you're not back on your feet by then, of course."

He shrugged. "I guess I'll find out then. Can't really worry about it now; can't really do anything about it anyway! No more than what I'm already doing." He quieted as a couple stopped in front of them on the sidewalk.
"You're taking up the sidewalk. We need out of the rain too, you know," the woman snapped, glancing up at her umbrella, which was already spread over top of her. "If you weren't just lying around, maybe you could get a job or something! Both of you. Pathetic."
Eugene silently stood up and sidled away, but Rapunzel jumped up and followed after them.
"Excuse me, but he's trying to get a job! How can you pass by with your designer purse and-and-and be so mean towards someone who's so much less fortunate? It wasn't his fault. He's trying to find a job! It's not his fault nobody will hire him!"
"You're as bad off as he is, obviously. Otherwise you wouldn't be out here with him. So who are you to tell me how to live?" the woman asked. The man beside her stayed silent.
"I'm-" Rapunzel huffed in frustration as they both strode off.

Eugene was staring at the girl's petite form. She'd just taken on two of 'the regulars': the people who frequently walked by and generally greeted him with an insult or physical harm of some form. He wasn't human, obviously. To them, anyway.
"Let it go," he called. He wasn't sure if Rapunzel would take off after them or just stand there, seething.
She whirled around and marched back to him, her eyes flashing with anger. "How can they do that to you? Every time they go by!"
"It's a free country," he joked.
"It's not right! They don't know-they don't know you."
"Neither do you," he grinned sadly. "Not really."
"But I'd like to. I'd like to know so I could help you out," she said.
He thought for a moment. "You know? That they always go past and harass me, rather."
"I've seen it happen, yes," she looked uncomfortable for a moment, but then blurted, "I wanted to help before, but I just didn't know how!"
Eugene shook his head. "I'm not upset that you didn't do anything," he reassured the girl. "More like surprised that you picked up on that."
"Oh," Rapunzel nodded, finally realizing that that likely wasn't normal. "Sorry if that seemed weird."
He was quick to disagree. "No! No, it wasn't weird. It was different, that's all. A good different. Nobody really cares about homeless people. You're a bright light in a dark world. I'm just wrapping my brain around this."

A bright light in a dark world. Rapunzel smiled as the words sunk in. "Okay."
Eugene cleared his throat. "So, ah, thank you. I suppose you should go back to your house before it starts raining too hard."
Rapunzel sighed, nibbling her lip. "Can't I convince you to come with? I promise it's not a trap or anything."
Eugene licked his lips, thinking this over. "I don't want to be so dependent, especially since I don't even know you or vice versa-"
"Well," Rapunzel put her hands on her hips. "Do you have family you could stay with, but they're too far away for you to get to on foot? I could drive you-"
"No. No, I don't. None that would let me live with them, anyway."
"Why not?" Rapunzel asked. "That's terrible!"
A wry smile crossed his face. "I've been classified as a walking bad luck charm. I might not even have any living relatives anymore, anyway."
Rapunzel's eyebrows furrowed. "Were you an orphan?"
He glanced at her in surprise. "Maybe."
Her heart went out to him. Obviously, he'd had a complicated childhood. "Flynn, I promise it's not a problem. You could stay until you find a job and can rent a house. I can't let you-die out here!"
He laughed. "I won't die," he reassured her, even though it was a distinct possibility. Just not a straightaway thing.
"Then I don't want you to get sick or hurt. Us maybe orphans have got to stick together," she added. Maybe he'd trust her if he knew a tidbit of her own past.

He stared at her a moment. He would never have guessed this. He'd seen her as a protected little girl whose parents had loved and spoiled her very much. "You're orphaned, too?"
"Parents gave me up at birth," she shrugged. "But that's not important. Are you coming or are you staying?"
The tall man gave her a pensive stare, and she met it evenly. She knew he didn't trust her for some reason, and knew if she'd maintain eye contact, she'd show she wasn't lying. She didn't even really know why she was doing this: letting a stranger stay at her house, especially when she lived alone and was, for the most part, alone in the world. Something just told her that she could trust him to not do anything stupid to her. She just hoped he'd know that he could trust her. She couldn't leave him out here.
Eugene stared her down, and her wide eyes met his with a determined, even gaze. She wasn't sketchy. Hadn't done anything horrible to him. Had actually helped him - a lot. Why was he being bullheaded? Maybe the memories of The Stabbingtons, combined with the constant fear that he'd be the cause of someone getting hurt because of his title of 'bad luck charm', prevented him from giving a firm answer right away.
"Coming," he finally said quietly.
Rapunzel's face split into a smile. "Follow me," she said immediately, and so he did.

Rapunzel's nosy neighbors gawked out of their windows, watching as Rapunzel led the bedraggled young man into her house. Eugene recognized half of them, and half of their encounters weren't pleasant - except for the one old man across the street that had given him a peach awhile back. He hoped Rapunzel's hospitality didn't cause rumors or gossip.
At the door, he carefully pried his dirty, near-crumbling leather boots off and felt terrible for walking across her floor, since his socks and bare feet were about as filthy as the shoes.
"The shower is down the hallway. Up the stairs is my room and painting studio. As you can see, the kitchen and living room are here," she gestured. "Make yourself comfortable. Ah, and don't be alarmed by the chameleon. He's allowed to roam. His name's Pascal, and he's usually friendly."
"O-okay," Eugene nodded. Usually friendly? What did an unfriendly chameleon do? Come to think of it, what did a friendly chameleon do?
She strode over to the fridge and peered inside, forming a plan to see how trustworthy he really was. "I've got to go grab a few groceries. I'll be back. If you want to wash your clothes and shower while I'm away, the washer and dryer are in the hallway."
She decided that if the man was trustworthy, he'd stay in the house. If he wasn't, he'd probably steal something and be off on his way, even though that seemed to be an incredibly silly choice.
Eugene nodded, scratching his head as he wondered why she trusted him so much. "Okay. Thank you."
"You're welcome!" she smiled, grabbing her purse and trotting out of the door.

While she was gone, Eugene put all of his clothes in a quick cycle through the washer and dryer, before rushing to the bathroom, scrubbing himself clean and waiting in a towel until he heard the dryer buzzing. Once he somewhat resembled cleanliness, he padded out to the couch and sat down carefully on it, still puzzling over why she'd leave a homeless dude in her house - which, he was sure, had valuables of some sort in it - for two hours while she went shopping. It had to be a test of some sort, he decided. It was a good thing he wasn't intending on stealing anything and running.
When Rapunzel came back, she laughed when she saw him sitting stiffly on the couch, hands shoved underneath his legs as if he was afraid of being accused of something. He actually was. "You can relax, buddy!"
"That was a test, wasn't it?" Eugene asked. "I know you're smart, and leaving me in your home while you went for groceries wasn't smart, really. I mean, I didn't do anything, I promise, but-"
She grinned. "You figured it out, then. Yes, I was testing you. And you passed with flying colors, since you're still here. Unless you've got a more intricate plan figured out?"
"All I'm thinking about right now is that I smell really girly." He joked, lifting his wrist to sniff loudly. "Lavender...coconut, maybe?"

Rapunzel giggled, going to start putting her groceries away. "Sorry! Maybe I should've picked up some regular bar soap while I was gone. I forgot that all I have is body wash and shampoo."
He grinned, relieved to let go of his awkward tension. "That's fine. I guess smelling like lavender is better than smelling like a dude who hasn't had a proper bath in awhile. Thank you."
"You're welcome!" She dug through her bags and came up with two small packages, holding them out to him. "I did, however, remember a razor. In case you want it. And deodorant." Her face flushed pink with mild embarrassment.
Eugene blinked. "Thank you,"
She nodded and went about putting away the rest of her groceries. "Have you met Pascal yet?"
He shook his head. "Nope. He must be hiding."
Rapunzel tsked her tongue. "We don't get visitors like ever, so he's probably really freaked out right now. He'll get used to it, and then I'm sure he won't leave you alone!" She glanced around the area. "Pascal, buddy, come on out! Oh, and Flynn, stay out here and we'll just have lunch while we're out here. Sound good?"
"Yep," he nodded. "It's your house. Don't ask me!"
She grinned. "But you're the guest!"