Flynn gained confidence from Rapunzel's promise, and quickly returned to being, well, himself. He bragged of his adventures – some real ones, this time, so Rapunzel wouldn't call him out again. Admittedly, though, he did embellish. A little. Maybe.
Rapunzel tried to interject with some stories of her own, but they were lighter and more fanciful – of her painting, of her and some reptile, spending time in the gardens. She was very sheltered, and her stories showed it. Flynn, more times than he'd like to admit, found himself interrupting her.
"Princess!" A guard opened the door to the dining room, where Rapunzel and Flynn, ahem, Eugene were finishing up dinner.
Flynn froze, trying to roll his shoulders forward and shrink down.
"Yes?" Rapunzel asked, chipper.
"Your parents have sent a letter, it seems they'll be home sooner than expected – they left about a week ago."
"Oh!"
"Carlyle had sent me to inform you."
"Thank you, Smith." Rapunzel said sweetly.
Smith gave a quick bow and exited formally.
Rapunzel turned to Flynn "Why are you all shrunk up? You look like he was about to shoot you!"
"Well, he might've!" Flynn huffed.
"Eugene-" Rapunzel paused. "Do you want me to call you Eugene or Flynn?"
"Flynn." He said sharply, a twang of nerves in his voice.
"How can I make you understand?" Rapunzel sighed. "You're not going to be ambushed, or turned in. You're here as my guest."
Flynn gave her a strange look, its meaning she couldn't quite place. "Okay." He said eventually, sincerely. "Okay."
…
Flynn felt himself becoming more overwhelmed with every second he spent in that palace, near Rapunzel who was so forgiving, so kind, and seemingly with no ulterior motive. How was he supposed to beat her if she never entered the game? Outwit her if she never made a move? Escape if there was no trap?
At her first yawn, Flynn pardoned himself for overstaying his welcome ("oh, of course you haven't! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you think you weren't welcome here!"), and made the quickest departure he could without snubbing the princess. Wow.
As he left the castle, he was astounded. At no point in his life would he have ever, ever expected to be dining with the princess, in her royal palace, all while she made conversation with him and seemed interested in what he had to say! That sort of thing happened to nobles and dignitaries, or, at the very least, good decent people who deserved to have their kindness recognized. Never wanted thieves, never him.
Flynn stuffed his hands in his pockets, rolling his shoulders forward. Would he ever see her again? Was it wise to want to? Suppose he did something wrong – she could call the guards on him like that, and they'd have plenty of valid reasons to take him away. "Upsetting the Princess" would be one on a list of many, many infractions.
"Rider!"
Flynn heard a booming voice call for him, and almost wished he hadn't left so soon. If he had waited, just another half hour, the Stabbington brothers probably wouldn't have seen him.
"Oh, hey guys!" Flynn smiled, taking his hands out of his pockets and puffing up his chest.
"What are you doing here?" They demanded
"I live here! Corona? It's nice, you should stick around-"
"Enough, wise ass. We saw you coming out of the palace."
"Not thrown out, even. Walking out. Right by the guards."
Flynn gave a nervous laugh. "Are you guys seeing things? It's awfully dark now, I know, but-"
"How'd you get in the palace?" They demanded, and Flynn stopped in his tracks.
"Okay, listen. I didn't want to tell you guys before it was official, sucker for surprises and all, you know me, but here we go. You're just so easy to talk to, I feel like I can trust you with all my secrets."
They didn't respond.
"I may or may not be romancing the princess, as step one of my multi step plan to get us the crown, and all the riches of our desires!"
The brothers were unimpressed, and looked as if they generally just didn't believe him.
"I'm serious!" Flynn insisted.
"The princess doesn't leave the castle. How could you have met her?"
"Well, I went up her tower." Flynn retorted.
Looks of irritated disbelief remained.
"Here." He said flatly. "I'll show you!"
The three thieves climbed over the brush and followed Flynn to the base of the tower. "See? Easy. There's a hook on the base of the other side, so you could throw up some rope. The mortar is soft and thickly laid, so you could stab things in there for footholds. There's another hook on top of the window she hangs a planter on – see? You could throw a rope around that too. With enough upper body strength, you could be in her window in under three minutes, tops."
The brothers looked at each other. "And she didn't throw you out?"
"Nope! The guards are mean, but she isn't. Trust me guys, I can handle this one all by myself. The good looks, the charm, I'll have her swept off her feet before your guys' next bath. Which, admittedly, gives me a lot of time, but you get what I'm saying."
"Why don't you just take the crown now?"
"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" Flynn laughed, walking away from the tower and motioning for them to follow. He did not like that they were this close to the castle. Both because they might be spotted, and because they might start to get some ideas. "Trust me, I'm doing this efficiently. This is about more than just quick fingers you know. I have to make her trust me, show me where all the valuables are, and soon all three of us will be young princes, of a sort."
The three left the castle grounds, and Flynn couldn't wait to get away. "So, I've got some walking and plotting to do, you know, but I'll see you two fine men soon enough, eh?" With a fake smile, he bowed out of any more conversation and scampered off, proud of navigating that interaction without getting himself into any more trouble.
…
It was so easy.
Gothel had bid her time around town, keeping her head bowed and minding her own business. Eventually, shops began to close up, people began to go home, and the sun began to set. She waited, just on the outskirts of town, among the brush and the weeds. Once the sun had set, and the people had returned home, she walked up to the castle, and found she was able to, with ease, dodge any plant or fence obstacles.
She stood at the foot of a large tower, where a small, curved window was Rapunzel's only gaze to the outside world. Rapunzel was so conveniently placed, so far out of the protective gaze of her parents, that Gothel felt she could almost up and take the girl this very evening. But alas, her arms had atrophied, and she had no supplies or footholds besides.
Plans were going into formation, and Gothel was beginning to get some ideas.
She stepped out of the castle grounds, and saw two large, redheaded men. Oh, what if they had seen her! Why were they out so late? Only criminals and the brokenhearted were out when –
Wait a minute.
Gothel crept closer, trying to hear what they were saying. Her ears were staring to go (well, everything was), so she only picked up bits of conversation, but what she heard was important nevertheless.
"Don't trust him"
"Never liked him"
"You're the one who kept him on!"
"Better work"
"Don't trust him"
"Stolen crown"
Stolen! They were thieves! And with a closer examination, Gothel picked up that they weren't just any thieves – they were the ones who had set up camp by her tower, close enough for her to watch over them.
Oh, how wonderful.
…
Rapunzel stayed downstairs for a while after dinner. Pascal came out of his hiding place on a tapestry, and rested on Rapunzel's lap.
"He's so uncomfortable around me, I wish I could put him more at ease!" Rapunzel sighed, looking down at her friend.
Pascal let out a comforting squeak, and looked up at her.
"I'm not going to turn him in, just because he was trying to make ends meet. True, I hope he won't take any more of my necklaces, but he seems interesting."
Pascal gave her a quick look.
Rapunzel giggled. "And handsome. I just want to get to know him. He's a good person, I can tell. Underneath the fake stories and the arrogance, he is."
Rapunzel wondered if she'd ever see him again. She couldn't just command him to come back and dine with her – seldom is a good relationship built on taking orders. And, it's not like she knew where he lived anyway, so she couldn't just up and visit him. She'd have to be patient, and hope he would come back to her.
Or, maybe she was just very, very wrong about him.
…
Sorry an update took forever and a half. Life, right? Review, please!
