Chapter 9: Recommencement

'Okay', Rapunzel said. 'Now perhaps we should restart this whole thing all over, but properly this time. My name is Rapunzel. I´m 16 years old and as you may have noticed, my hair is quite long. That´s because it has magic powers, and those vanish as soon as it is cut off. I´ve been living in this tower for as long as I can remember. My mother won´t let me out because she´s scared I might get hurt if I run around on my own. But I really want to see the world outside.' She held out a hand. The boy shook it and said: 'Glad to meet you. My name is Jack Frost. I´m a winter spirit. I don´t age, and I´ve been like this for more years than I can count now. Only those who believe in me can see me. I was getting kind of desperate... You know, not a lot of people believe in me. Decades of loneliness would leave their scars in anyone's mind...'

There was a moment of silence.

'It´s a pleasure to meet you', Rapunzel said while letting his hand go, unsure how else to react. 'I can´t wait to get to know you better. Finally someone to talk to!', she exclaimed with a wide smile on her face.

Rapunzel froze, and after a moment of silence, she added: 'Though you might want to get something different to wear first. Keeping these sweat-soaked and dirty clothes on is probably not a good idea. ' Jack looked down at himself and blushed. 'Um... yes, you´re probably right... The problem is... I don´t have any other clothes. You don´t... happen to have spare hoodies and men´s pants in this household?'

Rapunzel blushed as well. 'Erm... no...' After a moment of awkward silence, Jack seemed to have an idea. 'I´ve got it.' He pointed at the place where he had been laying. 'I´ll just wrap those covers around myself. That´ll work.' He immediately began pulling his hoodie over his head. Rapunzel quickly turned around and covered her eyes with her fingers. Well, she thought, he´s used to not being seen. So he probably doesn´t feel the need to hide when he´s undressing. She hadn´t seen anything anyway. Her cheeks burning red with embarrassment as she mumbled: 'You might want to go to the bathroom to undress.' Since she didn´t hear any reaction, she opened her eyes by a bit and turned her head towards where he had been standing. He was still there, chest now completely bare and about to take off his pants. She shrieked in shock and turned back around. Jack seemed quite dumbfounded. 'What´s the matter?', he asked. 'I SAID YOU MIGHT WANT TO GO TO THE BATHROOM TO UNDRESS!', Rapunzel shouted at the top of her lungs. Jack paused and simply said: 'Oh.' Then he added: 'I didn´t hear you on that. Sorry.' He pulled his pants back up, picked up the covers, scurried over to the bathroom and shut the door.

A little while later, Jack came out of the bathroom, a plethora of covers wrapped around himself tightly. With tiny, scurrying steps, he moved over to Rapunzel. With a blush on his face, he mumbled: 'On second thought... This might not actually be such a good idea. If I wrap them tightly enough to be warm, I can barely move, and if I loosen them enough to be able to move again, I´m not warm anymore.' A few seconds of awkward silence. 'So... perhaps you could show me your wardrobe...?', he added. Rapunzel, visibly embarrassed, responded: 'Give me a second, I´ll go and find something.' She darted off and left Jack standing alone in the hall. Once she arrived in her room, she hastily opened every wardrobe she had and hectically searched every drawer. She had no clue what kind of clothes men wore! She wasn´t even sure about what exactly was different about men´s bodies! They had smaller breasts, that much she could tell... But besides that? And he was taller than she was. So she needed something large. Maybe an apron what do...? She wasn´t sure, but she had no time to think. She was already taking too long. And she still needed something for his legs. She didn´t know what else to do, so she just grabbed the first long skirt she found. She hurried back to the hall. Jack was still standing there stiffly.

At her sight, a weird expression formed on his face. Rapunzel, slightly confused, asked: 'What´s wrong?' Jack looked at her for a few seconds as if trying to figure out whether she was trying to play a trick on him. Then he uneasily asked: 'Erm... Pink?' Rapunzel, visibly abashed, asked: 'What's wrong with pink?' Jack, afraid he might have said something wrong, hurriedly added: 'No, no, nothing. Pink is... okay.' Rapunzel didn´t seem convinced and had a crestfallen look on her face. 'Don´t you like pink?' Jack immediately felt pity and asserted: 'No, no, really. Pink is great. I love it. Looks really nice.' Rapunzel still seemed suspicious. Jack grabbed the clothes and scurried back to the bathroom awkwardly, trying to make sure the covers didn´t fall off with one hand and carrying the clothes with the other. After a few seconds, a loud clang emerged from the bathroom. Then Jack´s pained voice: 'AUGH! I stubbed my toe on the corner! AGHH! It hurts!' As Rapunzel was about to open the door, another, more panicked scream: 'NO! NO! Don´t come in! I´m nak-... gonna be okay. Really. I´m gonna be okay. No need to worry.' Rapunzel paused in front of the door. For a while, she heard some thunks and some huffs. Then, suddenly, silence. 'Um... Rapunzel?', Jack asked through the door and raising his voice. 'Yes, what is it?' - 'Erm... Am I meant to not wear anything under this?' Rapunzel felt her cheeks heat up. How could she have forgotten that?! 'Wait, I´ll fetch something and bring it to you!'

This was truly a precarious situation. She had hardly ever worn anything besides her corsets. And if she wore an apron while cleaning the house, she just kept the corset on under it. But Jack would probably not want to wear a corset. Hectically, she ran through the pages of her books. There had to be a picture somewhere! What did men wear besides knightly armor? Then she found one. A man was sitting on a horse with a wide, blue shirt. It kinda looked like a blouse. So something like that should work. From downstairs, she heard Jack´s dulled voice: 'How long are you going to take?' She shouted back: 'Don´t rush me!' Not long after, she had found a blue-ish pink blouse. Now the underwear. An even more delicate topic. She really didn´t have any clue whether men´s underwear was any different from women´s. And she was embarassed she didn´t know. If she picked something wrong, Jack would immediately find out she had no clue about these things. Distressing. But - she couldn´t really go down there and ask him, or could she? No. That would be way too embarrassing. Unsure what to do, she just picked up several pieces and brought them to the bathroom door. She knocked. 'I´m going to open it a bit and throw it in with one hand, ok?' - 'Yes.' Rapunzel turned her head away, opened the door, stuck her arm through the gap, threw the clothes in the air, nearly fell over, caught herself, shut the door with a slam and sat down with her back to it. That had been close! 'Perfect aim', Jack commented from the inside. 'What happened?'- 'Your underwear landed right in my face.' - 'Oh, sorry.' - 'It´s ok.' Rubbing noises. 'Don´t you have any men´s underwear? These things don´t really fit.' - Rapunzel's cheeks began to burn even hotter. She was starting to wonder whether her face would ever return to its natural colour again. 'No. Sorry.' A part of her wanted to ask him about the difference between men and women right then, but another part of her frantically screamed that her face might overheat if she did that. So she decided she´d rather not. 'Hm. This is mortifying, but I can´t run around in this thing all day.' Silence. 'So... what are you going to do? You can´t stay in there until your clothes are dried and washed!' - 'I know, I know. Let me think of something.' More silence. 'I guess I´ll have to run around without underwear for the moment then. Or do you have any other idea?' - '...No.'

After a minute, Jack walked out of the bathroom, freshly dressed and trying to hide his embarrassment about wearing a blouse, a pink apron and a skirt. His face was a pained mixture of feelings. He looked ridiculous. Rapunzel couldn´t help but explode into laughter. Jack was not amused. 'What´s up?' -

'Your face! I´m - ha - I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to laugh at you but - it just looks sooo funny!'

Jack scowled.

'I´m sorry! Really! You just looked so funny.' Jack didn´t seem reconciled.

'Hey, don´t look at me like that. You need to smile more, remember?', she asked, laughing.

'Haaa. Haaa. Haaa. So funny', Jack responded sarcastically.

'Aw. I didn´t mean that. Come over here.'

Jack seemed to consider a moment, then he accepted the offer. As he did, she put an arm around his neck, widened her eyes as if to beg and looked him in the eye. 'Are you still mad?' , she asked. Jack overplayed a haughty expression, scratched his chin and said: 'No. You have redeemed yourself.' Suddenly, Rapunzel tightened her grip around his neck and started rubbing his head with her fist. 'This is what you get for being such a party pooper!', she laughed. 'Ow! Ow! Ow! Haha! Stop!' Jack tried to break free from her grip, but there was no escape.

'Ha, you don´t stand a chance against the almighty Rapunzel!' Wrestling with their arms, they stumbled across the room. In front of the chimney, they fell over and landed on top of each other. After some more wrestling, Rapunzel had pinned Jack to the ground. Jack shouted 'I surrender! I surrender!' and Rapunzel rolled off him. For a while, they just lay beside each other, panting, but grinning widely. After a while, their breaths slowed. Jack said: 'Well, THAT was fun.' He exhaled and a wide smile covered his face. 'I could get used to that.' - 'Me too', Rapunzel said. 'Me too.'


[To be continued in Chapter 10: L.O.V.E.]