"You should just go talk to her," Prince Christian said.
"I know, but it's more complicated than that," Eugene groaned into his desk.
"You haven't spoken to her in over two weeks, how can it possibly get any worse by talking to her?" Prince Christian pointed out.
"Because there's no way to apologize for this," Eugene muttered, looking at the code he was supposed to be deciphering and had given up on almost an hour before.
"Well, now you just sound like you're complaining," Prince Christian pointed out, almost unable to conceal the amusement in his voice and the smile that kept threatening to form on his lips. He knew he shouldn't really enjoy this, but deep down some sadistic part of him enjoyed listening to Eugene Fitzherbert's whining. That was probably the only reason why he'd been there for over an hour, listening to the man's story.
"I'm not just complaining. Tell me, what would you say? "Hey, Rapunzel, I'm sorry about asking you to marry me, (that part alone sounds terrible). I was feeling really jealous of Prince Frederick because I feel like he has some secret plot to keep us apart, and I'm fairly certain that Prince Christian's in on it." Yeah, that will go over fantastic!" Eugene said with great emphasis and sarcasm.
"Thank you for including me in your paranoid rant-apology by the way, that was very generous of you," Prince Christian said, now thoroughly unable to keep the smile from his face, even though he was still wrestling with himself to keep from sounding too amused.
"Yes, well I really hate you, because I can't hate you. You're terribly nice, and you're really damn helpful, and you've been really supportive of Rapunzel when she needs friends with the nobles. But then you're also everyone's idea of who should marry Rapunzel… and by the way things are going so far everyone will probably get their wish," Eugene ended on a heavy sigh, sinking deep into depression.
"Well, at least your honest with yourself," Christian said, sounding very amused, which caused Eugene to turn and glare at him. "Oh don't give me that look; it's really not as bad as you think. The time just stretched longer because you got sent away for a few days. Now it's thoroughly stupid for these last three days, since you've been home and haven't even gone to see her," Christian pointed out, causing Eugene to nod in agreement and sigh heavily. "The more you wait the worse this all gets. So you should just go see her."
Eugene sighed again. He'd been sighing a lot recently. "I'm not sure-"
"That doesn't matter. Rapunzel loves you very much, and the truth is that she worries about you leaving her."
"Has she told you this in all the time you've spent with her?" Eugene asked. Prince Christian had spent a lot of time with Rapunzel, taking her out to town and helping her study, since Eugene was currently not part of her life.
"Not recently. Actually she does get very upset if your name gets brought up, and she tends to get quiet sometimes, times I'm fairly certain she's thinking about you… no, it was back when you were injured. She told me that she felt very guilty when you got hurt because when you hadn't shown up she just assumed that you'd gone and found another girl to sleep with, especially since you were trying to sleep with her."
Eugene looked stunned. "Doesn't she know me- Doesn't she realize why- What's going on?" he asked, barely able to put words together.
"I get the impression that she sees men as creatures who need sex, and don't have any control. She assumes that you love her, so you don't try and force her into something she's not sure about yet, but that you get your needs met elsewhere," Christian said gravely. "She seems to have a relatively pessimistic view on men… in reality. Do you have any idea why?"
A dark look passed over Eugene's face for a moment. "Oh yeah, I know exactly why," he said, standing up and heading for the door.
"Where are you headed?" Christian asked with a smile, leaning back in his chair.
"To talk to Rapunzel," Eugene stopped and looked back at Christian. "Hey, even though I hate you, and I'm still certain you're up to something, you're not all bad for royalty… but you still have to get out of my office while I'm not here."
Prince Christian laughed and got up; walking out past Eugene and watching him lock the door. "As blunt as ever, and just as quick," he said, making Eugene glare at him again as he walked off.
Eugene strode purposefully down toward Rapunzel's room. A servant had told him that's where she was, currently studying. He hadn't meant for the time to stretch so long. She avoided him for a couple of days, and after that it just became harder and harder to see her. He'd had a seven day trip that Old Archimedes had sent him off on… but the past three days… he had trouble not lying and saying that he hadn't been avoiding her. It was so easy to lie, when they didn't talk to each other they couldn't line up their schedules, which was hard enough to do when they kept in contact. He'd been busy. She'd been busy. There were hundreds of excuses, but they were all lies.
It took a kick in the pants, in the form of a visit from Prince Christian, to finally get him to go talk to her. Eugene hated Prince Christian, but it was really hard not to like him. He was just a good guy. Eugene had trouble not feeling like there was some kind of something happening behind his back with Prince Frederick and Prince Christian, but that didn't mean that Prince Christian didn't want to help Rapunzel.
That's all what it ultimately came down to, didn't it? Eugene was afraid that Prince Christian was in love with Rapunzel… and after all she was so easy to love. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew that Prince Christian had really helped them, more than once apparently. He'd spoken well of Eugene even when he hadn't met him before. But Eugene couldn't get rid of the underlying feeling that it was all for Prince Christian's gain. After all, if something should happen that Eugene Fitzherbert's life ended suddenly, then wouldn't Prince Christian be a great new possibility for Princess Rapunzel to marry? And he'd been so kind to both her and the late Eugene Fitzherbert before the accident.
No, he wasn't going to think about that. Right now he had much more important things to focus on.
He knocked on Rapunzel's door and waited. His nerves made it feel like hours, but he was sure it was only seconds before she told him to "come in".
By the look on her face when he came in he knew that he really shouldn't have waited so long. She looked shocked, and overjoyed, and hurt all at once. It took a lot out of him to not just hit the floor on his knees with enough force to slide him over to her and beg for forgiveness. Instead he calmly shut the door and crossed about half way, just looking down at her.
"Eugene," she said carefully, looking him in the eyes and trying to act cold and distant.
"Rapunzel, I'm sorry," he said.
"You're sorry?" she asked, almost as if she didn't believe it.
"I'm sorry that I asked you to marry me like that. You were right, it was because of Prince Frederick's engagement. I feel like… less when I stand next to him, and it hurt my pride that he was getting married first. And I'm sorry that I didn't try to apologize after it first happened. And I'm sorry that I didn't apologize before I had to leave for my trip. And I'm sorry that I didn't find you first thing after I came back and apologize. And I apologize that it took me three days to come. And I apologize that I had to get Prince Christian to talk to me before I finally got up the courage to come see you and apologize for how stupid I've been in the past two weeks. I'm very sorry, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me," He said.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but when she burst into tears he knew that was probably the thing he'd hoped wouldn't happened the most. "W-why c-c-couldn't you have said this sooner?" Rapunzel asked, hiding her tears in her arm.
He was the rest of the way across the room in three strides. He pulled her out of her chair and into a hug. For a few long moments he just let her cry, rubbing her back and making soothing sounds. "I felt too guilty the first few days, and you were avoiding me, so I didn't want to push the issue… and after I came back… well I've been avoiding you?"
"Did you do something that you'd have to avoid me for?" she asked, wiping her eyes, but more tears threatening to come if she didn't like the answer.
"Not like how you're thinking of… I don't think," he said. He guided her over to her bed and sat down there with her. "You know how you've never done a lot of things?" he asked, watching her sniffle and nod. "Well, I've never been in love before I met you," he said.
"Really?" she asked. "But I mean, you've been with a lot of girls-"
"Yes, I have," Eugene said, cutting her off. "But that was exactly the point. I was Flynn Rider, the man who broke a million hearts. Though it was hardly a million, or even a thousand or a hundred," he added, seeing the look on Rapunzel's face. "I slept with girls, I didn't love them. The idea was to make them fall in love with me, sleep with them, and leave them broken hearted."
"That's disgusting," Rapunzel said, glaring at him.
"It was a fantasy," Flynn said. "I doubt I was around long enough for any girl to really fall for me, not very hard anyway. The ideal man, who leaves a trail of broken hearts behind him. I played a fantasy… for myself and others. It's not like I had anything to offer them," he said. "And then there's you."
"Then there's me," Rapunze said, watching his face closely. She was still reserving judgment for him until he finished.
"I have never, never been in a long term relationship… hell, never even been in a relationship. You're my first Blondie," he said, using his old, affectionate nickname for her, trying to make her smile. He got a very slight twitch in the corner of her mouth for his troubles. "So, one, I'm really every bit as bad at this as you are, maybe more so because all I've ever had were one night stands. Second, I'm not sure you realize how bad you mess me up."
"What do you mean?" she asked, seeming to have warmed up to him a little bit.
"I mean… Rapunzel I do plan on marrying you someday. I've never even considered being in a real relationship with a girl, let alone marrying her. But I plan to marry you. The proof is that I haven't tried to sleep with you yet. I'm not sure if you've gotten to that part in your religion studies yet, but you're supposed to wait to have sex before you're married. The idea is that a man doesn't sleep with a woman who he plans to marry until they're married."
"But Cousin Frederick and Lady Lephia…" Rapunzel said.
"Yeah, but it's different for them, different for everyone," he told her. "You're special… and you're going to be Queen. I need to do things right, for both of us. Besides… if you really think that a man can't control himself than you're obviously not well informed enough to be having sex yet anyway." He said with a slight smile.
"I know they can," she said, blushing terribly and crossing her arms over their chest.
"But you thought I was sleeping around the night I got stabbed."
"How did you know about that?" she asked, sounding shocked and a little scared.
"Prince Christian told me. I'm not mad. I'm hurt, but I'm not mad. I thought you understood that you were special to me, and that we're together, which means neither of us can have a relationship with another person, emotionally or physically," he told her. "I can tell now that you don't understand which is why I'm explaining now. I'm going to keep asking you to marry me until you say yes, and I'm going to wait to sleep with you until our honeymoon. Do you understand?" he asked, cupping her face in his hands.
"I do Eugene," Rapunzel said. "Can you forgive me?" she asked, sniffling again.
"Of course I can," he said, leaning down and kissing her. "Can you forgive me for all the stupid things I've done over the past two weeks?"
"That depends… can I still be mad at you?" she asked.
"No, but you can start forgiving me. When I've earned enough for your not to be mad at me anymore than you've fully forgiven me. Until then you can partly forgive me enough that we don't have to avoid each other anymore."
"Is that how it always works?" Rapunzel asked.
"Not always, but sometimes, and in this case, yes." Eugene told her before leaning down and kissing her again. "I'm still really sorry."
"I know," Rapunzel said. "Thank you for apologizing," she said softly. "Um… Eugene?"
"Yeah Rapunzel?"
"I love you," she said hesitantly.
"I love you too," he said with a warm smile.
