Rapunzel had insisted that Eugene accompany her down to the edge of the water. She was tired of thinking about her lessons all the time and wanted to get away from the castle for a little bit. Eugene was perfectly fine with it; he was thinking he might get his chance to propose.
Rapunzel led Eugene all the way to a small dock on the very edge of the village.
"Hm. I thought someone might be here. Fishing, you know," she said.
"Good thing no one is," Eugene muttered.
"What?"
"Oh-nothing." Rapunzel eyed him suspiciously, then shrugged. She sat down at the edge of the dock and let her feet dangle over the edge and into the water. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Are you going to sit with me?" she asked suddenly.
"Oh, um, of course…" Eugene said, tugging his shoes off. He joined Rapunzel at the end of the dock.
"I like to come down here. It's really relaxing. Don't you think?" Rapunzel said, kicking her feet in the water.
"Yeah, very," Eugene replied vaguely. He thought that soon, Rapunzel would like this place even more. He kept stealing glances at her, afraid to look her directly in the face. He wanted the proposal to be a surprise. He seemed pretty confident that Rapunzel didn't know anything about it, but he didn't want Rapunzel to know how nervous he actually was. Eugene was about to strike up a conversation, when Rapunzel began sliding off the edge of the dock.
"Rapunzel, what are you doing?" he asked, as Rapunzel felt her toes touch the bottom of the lake. She shivered.
"I felt like swimming," she said simply. Eugene laughed.
"Won't you ruin your dress?" Rapunzel shrugged and floated on her back.
"I've got enough. Aren't you coming in?"
"Oh, no thanks, Blondie. I'm not really much of a-" Rapunzel swam up to the dock, grabbed Eugene's hands and pulled him in. Rapunzel burst into laughter and Eugene stuck his head above the water.
"-swimmer," he finished, wiping the hair from his eyes. "Well, thank you, Rapunzel."
"You're welcome," she replied cheerfully. "Come on, it's not even that bad. At least you can touch the bottom."
"You can touch the bottom."
"Barely!" She stood flat on her feet and half of her head was submerged. "See!" Rapunzel said, going back on tiptoe.
"Okay, okay, but you wanted to swim anyway so…" Rapunzel rolled her eyes and went back to floating.
"It's relaxing," she said. Eugene watched her float, and then couldn't help himself. He sent a splash of water right onto her face.
"Eugene!" Rapunzel spluttered, standing upright again. Eugene tried not to laugh. Rapunzel frowned at him, and then splashed him back.
"Oh, it's on, Blondie," Eugene said challengingly. Rapunzel smirked and the two broke out into a water fight. When they weren't shielding themselves from the others splashes, they sent waves of water at one another. Rapunzel continued to laugh gleefully and Eugene was trying not to get water up his nose, or down his throat. He did, however, send some pretty big splashes Rapunzel's way. She had been careful to close her mouth when a splash came toward her, but on this particular one, her eyes had been closed and all the water from Eugene's splash went right down her throat.
"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Rapunzel!" Eugene said, hurrying toward her. She was trying to stay above the water, but it was rather hard to do while hacking her lungs out. She clutched at her chest and Eugene wrapped his arm around her, to keep her above the water. He helped her back to the dock and lifted her up. She flopped onto the wood and wheezed.
"Rapunzel? Are you all right?" Eugene asked tentatively, leaning over her. She nodded, but continued to gasp for breath. Eugene rested his hand on her back and Rapunzel coughed one more time.
"That… was disgusting," she said finally, in a weak voice. She rolled over onto her back and rested a hand over her heart. "Remind me never to have splash fights with you again." Eugene grinned.
"I'll keep that in mind." Rapunzel smiled and took a deep breath. "Are you sure you're fine?"
"I'm okay," she said, sitting up. She pulled her knees to her chest. "Well, all that coughing has made me tired. Want to head back to the castle?" Eugene's heart skipped a beat. He had completely forgotten that he was going to propose. Then he stopped breathing and thought he might have lost the ring in the water. He put a hand in his pocket and somehow, miraculously, the small, velvet box was still there. Eugene took a sigh of relief and saw Rapunzel stand up in front of him.
"Are you coming?" she asked, handing him his boots.
"Um, yeah, just… can you wait a second?" he asked, taking his boots, but setting them down next to him.
"I'm cold, Eugene! I want to head back and get changed. Catch up with me?" Rapunzel said, not waiting for an answer. She turned around and started to hurry back toward the castle.
"Rapunzel, wait!" Eugene said desperately. He scurried to his feet and ran after Rapunzel. She turned around and stared at him, her arms wrapped around her.
"What is it, Eugene? I'm freezing my butt off, here." Eugene cleared his throat, his heart pounding against his chest, before lowering himself onto one knee.
"Rapunzel?" he asked. Rapunzel dropped her arms and stared at him, her eyes wide. "Rapunzel, you know that you are my dream, and the complete love of my life, and oh gosh, that's so cheesy," Eugene added quietly, shaking his head. "But it's true! You are and-and whenever I think about the future, I see you and I. Together." Eugene paused, and he saw that tears were forming in Rapunzel's eyes. "So, Rapunzel… will you marry me?" Eugene pulled the box from his pocket and before he could even open it, Rapunzel launched herself at Eugene.
"Yes! Yes, of course!" she cried. She was laughing and crying and Eugene stood up from the dock with Rapunzel still in his arms. "Oh, my gosh. Oh… Eugene!" Rapunzel said, pulling away from him. Tears were falling from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. Eugene opened the box and Rapunzel gasped. "Eugene…" she whispered. Not able to take the grin off his face, Eugene took the ring from the box and Rapunzel held out a shaky hand. Eugene slid the ring on her finger and a new batch of tears came. Rapunzel flung her arms around Eugene again and hugged him tightly.
"I love you so much, Eugene," she said. Eugene brushed a hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head.
"And I love you."
Yay! I hope you all liked the proposal :)
Genius-626: I hope the cliffhanger was worth it for this proposal that I came up with!
sunnyprincessbird: Yes, I thought that seemed like Rapunzel too. I think we all do that sometimes :)
bStormhands: Get your Flynn on. :DD
All right everyone. Thanks so much for reading! I have one question for you all though, and would like to hear your thoughts. I have an idea for another story, but it would be helpful to know when Tangled actually takes place. So...
What time period/year/century do you think Tangled takes place?
I've heard 1700, 1800 and even 1400, but I'm still unsure. I'm thinking more 1800-ish. So please leave your thoughts in reviews! Again, thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed :D
