Happy chapter here for Part 4, but the next one is when things start to get serious..
1. Someone from the TV show makes a little cameo!
2. This is an edited version of this chapter. Check author's notes at the bottom for changes.
3. As always, apologies for any spelling/grammar mistakes that fall through the final cut. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 22 - Rapunzel's First Halloween: Part 4 of 5
Type: Five-shot short story
Description: Eugene runs into someone familiar as he's waiting for Rapunzel. After a bit of time, Rapunzel exits her room, and he brings her to her art studio where he reveals all he has planned for the day.
"Eugene?" He heard Rapunzel yell to him from behind the door. He opened it and peeked in. "Why did you say I need everything?"
"I'd be ruining the surprise if I told you, sunshine." He smirked at her. She sighed and went back to her drawers and he re-closed the door before going back to his position on the outside.
She's been in there for forty five minutes, taking his words to heart apparently. Eugene was whistling to himself and checking his nails when out of nowhere one of her ladies in waiting walked by. She stopped dead in her tracks as she looked at Eugene, then to the Princesses' door, then back to him.
"Mr. Fitzherbert?"
His eyes perked up to her and he dropped his hand to his side. He raised an eyebrow, "Hm?"
"Is.. Rapunzel alright?"
Somehow Rapunzel heard her and recognized the voice, screaming from behind the door. "Yes, Cassandra! I'm all good!"
The lady in waiting, apparently named Cassandra (someone Eugene is not familiar with), only raised an eyebrow in response, which was directed towards him. He brushed the back of his neck. "I've got something planned for her.. Cassandra. That's your name, yeah?"
"Mhhm. I'm surprised we haven't met yet, because you're always Rapunzel's most favorite person to talk about." Cass extended her hand. "The name's Cassandra, but you can call me Cass."
Eugene took her hand and shook it firmly. "Strong grip you got here, Miss."
"I guess it runs in the family." She smirked a bit evily.
Runs in the family? "Do I know your parents? And are they people I.." he cringed, "robbed? Because.. I'm sorry, Cass- wait, I can call you that, right? Or do you prefer Cassandra-"
"Cass."
"Okay, yeah.. uh, Cass, that person I was a few months ago-"
"I get it. And yeah, I know who you once were." She nodded, "You do know my father, if you're wondering."
There was a faint silence. "Not someone I robbed, then?"
"Oh," Cass chuckled, "Well, I guess you can say you robbed him. If you count robbing him of the most precious treasure he had vowed to protect with his life, of course."
Eugene's eyes widened and he leaned forward, whispering, "Your father's a guard?" He assumed she was talking about the crown heist.
She chuckled again, "He's not just a guard, he's the one in charge who whips all these imbeciles into shape."
Cass moved to the side and continued her walk down the hallway, as Eugene sat there, slumped over, wide-eyed. And he had a sick feeling of just the person she had been talking about. Only one thought came to mind:
Who in the hell would ever sleep with a man like Captain Jones!? Have they seen that mustache!?
"Tell ol' Jonesey that I send my best regards!" Eugene yelled down the hall to her.
Cass turned her head slightly over her shoulder and smirked, "Nah. I don't feel like it."
"Wha-?"
"Good luck with what you've got planned for the Princess, Mr. Fitzherbert. Knowing that girl, she's going to love being stuck inside a room all day with nothing to do but art.
"..Was that sarcasm?"
Cassandra did not respond as she walked further down the hallway until finally turning a corner, and Eugene slumped back in his spot. Whoever this 'Cassandra' is, he has a feeling that he and her will not be getting along.
Ten minutes passed and Rapunzel finally exited her room, fully dressed in a casual dress and skirt, Pascal on her shoulder, completely barefooted as well, of course. She was holding a small drawstring bag and looked up to him. "I'm ready!"
Eugene turned and rolled his eyes, "Finally."
She squinted her eyes and noticed his look of annoyance, "What's that supposed to mean, mister?"
"Nothing." He smiled happily and looked down to the bag she was holding. "Whatcha got in there?"
She jumped on her toes and swayed her body along with her words. "I packed a spare dress in case I get dirty, some band-aids, a box of my old art supplies, my toothbrush, some soap, a towel, socks, a hairbrush; wait, did I say the band-aids already?"
He pulled her close for a one-handed hug and placed a kiss on the top of her forehead. "Have I told you how perfect you are?"
"Almost every time we see each other," she sang in reply.
Eugene chuckled and nuzzled her hair with his chin. "Well, I'mma keep saying it anyway."
Rapunzel rested the back of her head against his chest and looked up to him, smiling. She can barely see his mouth through that beard now, and that just makes their kisses that much better.. because for whatever reason, she absolutely craves the feeling of his hairs poking her face, her neck..
..And a part of her wants to know if she'll feel the same tingly warmness if he brushes his face up against.. other parts of.. her..
Then suddenly he moved away from her, opening her door, and taking one step in. She heard the turn of a lock and watched absentmindedly as he walked out and closed it. "What was that?"
Eugene held a small key chain, twirling it around his pointer finger. "Oh, nothing."
Rapunzel came upon the realization and her eyes widened. "You just locked my room!"
"Oh yes I did!" He smirked evilly at her and she playfully punched his arm.
"That's why you wanted me to grab all this stuff…" She looked down to her bag.
"Bingo. Princess, you're not allowed back in your bedroom until the day is over, by order of your devilishly handsome thief-gone-good boyfriend!"
"You're my boyfriend?" She raised an eyebrow suspiciously at him.
Eugene's brow furrowed. "Yes.. I am… I have been since I brought you home?" His voice went up at the last part, signalling his sudden questioning.
"Huh." She tapped her chin and turned to Pascal. "Did I ever tell him he's my boyfriend?" The lizard chirped something that only Rapunzel could hear and shook his head. She turned back to Eugene. "Yeah, Pascal agrees with me. I never told you that you're my boyfriend." She placed her free hand on her hips, leaning forward, tilting her head up to him, a small suspicious smile donned upon her lips.
He threw his arms in her direction, "You're listening to a frog!?"
"Chameleon, Eugene," she scoffed, "you've known him for four months and you still mess up his species!" Pascal stuck out his tongue as Rapunzel scolded him.
Eugene waved his hands frantically, "I don't care! Are you serious, all this time that's passed and you never even knew…" His face dropped to the floor in a new saddened state. He doesn't recall ever having the boyfriend.. girlfriend talk with her. He just assumed they were, he just assumed she knew because…
As he gazed down to the mahogany wooden floor, he heard the familiar noise of… snickering. He immediately jerked his head upwards and saw Rapunzel and Pascal in a laughing fit on the ground. He groaned and threw his palm to his face, cursing some mumbo jumbo under his breath.
"Ho-how do you keep falling for that!?" Rapunzel yelled through laughs, and Pascal wiped a few tears away as he started to wheeze.
"Ha. Ha. Real funny." Eugene scowled down at them as Rapunzel slowly calmed and collected herself, perching Pascal back on her shoulder and wiping herself off. She stood back up.
"Oh, come on, silly. You know you're my boyfriend." She grinned ear to ear looking at him, a taint of red blush covering her cheeks as she walked up to him. Eugene could only stare neutrally at her as she wrapped her arms around the back of his neck. He bit his lip, and as soon as she stopped right in front of him, he turned his eyes away.
"Don't take it too seriously, it's just a harmless joke.." Rapunzel tried to comfort him, but Eugene was still giving her a look of neutrality. It even kind of looked like a frown now. Maybe she went too far.. maybe he actually thinks..
"Hey, hey," She pulled her hand up to his face and directed his gaze to her. He looked at her absentmindedly. "You okay?" Then all of a sudden, she felt the sudden rush of wind as Eugene leaned over and picked her straight up off the ground, his left arm holding her bottom half and his right cradled against her top. Rapunzel yelped when he did that, but eventually giggled as she watched him lean down to pick up her bags.
"Can't risk her highness tripping and getting hurt on what's supposed to be her special day." Eugene grinned to her as he began to walk her down the halls. Rapunzel sighed happily and rested her head against the nook of his shoulder, not saying another word for the whole walk.
Pascal was deep in contemplation about whether or not he should go for the ear, an old classic. The big man might drop Rapunzel if he does that, though, and Pascal is willing to fight the strong urge if it means keeping his friend safe.
"Princess, you are going to love this."
She smirked up to him and played with a lock of his hair, "Oh, will I?"
"Yes. I'm even so sure that I promise you'll love it." Eventually they made it to their destination and Rapunzel looked on in uncertainty. He had walked her down to her art studio, but why here? What does he have planned? She loves him to death but if he did something to some of her current projects, even if on accident..
Eugene kicked the door open. "Voila!"
Rapunzel could only stare in complete awe as she looked upon her entire studio. All around were different, new sorts of materials, but most of them weren't paint related.
"What's this?" Eugene leaned over and let her stand up on her own. She walked over to the side and picked up a piece of cardboard, followed by a small box of cotton balls.
"It's what I have planned for you."
She turned to him, "Art? A sculpture?"
"Well," he rubbed his wrists, "kind of." He walked over to her and picked up an old tissue box that was stacked upon numerous other pieces of junk. Junk, of course, that will make excellent options for a Halloween costume.
"I don't want to get sappy or too emotional about it, but I felt bad seeing you look.. so down last night. I felt bad that you weren't feeling well, so I.. I thought of something to do that might cheer you up." He turned his gaze towards the window and looked out to the calm sea outside. "You told me yourself, you've never gotten to experience a real holiday before. .and even though Halloween is probably one of the more lame ones-"
"Eugene," she sang and reminded him.
He snapped his head back to her. "Freedom of speech. Anyway, it's a holiday nonetheless, so I thought.. I could give you the entire experience you've missed out on your whole life."
Rapunzel continued to inspect each and every little small piece of material. Aside from the main stuff, Eugene kind of rummaged through the trash a little bit and grabbed some empty bottles, plastic cups, straws, boxes, and so forth. The more the merrier is what they say, right?
She lifted up a plastic bottle and looked at him through it. "You did all of this for me?"
He smiled ear to ear and could even feel himself blushing. "All for you, sunshine."
Pascal had left her perch to go inspect some of the many items, not trusting Eugene in the slightest. It's been a month since all the craziness of that Ballroom dance happened but the little chameleon has not been able to pull himself to fully trust the former thief again. Not after the way he hurt Rapunzel. Frankly, he's shocked she forgave him so easily.
Rapunzel ran into Eugene's arms and wrapped hers around his figure, mumbling into his chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
He pushed her away and wiped a stray strand of hair away from her face. "Not a problem. I suggest you get a move on with making your costume, now." He motioned his hand all across the room and she jumped on her tiptoes, her hands curled up against her chin in absolute excitement.
"A costume!? I get to make a costume!?"
"Yes…" He responded awkwardly, "wasn't that clear-" His words were interrupted when he suddenly felt the force of a hundred or so pound woman jump on him, latching on by curling her legs against his back. She placed what had to be a hundred or so kisses all over his face and he stood there in a daze as she jumped off and ran over to the corner where Pascal was.
"Whew!" Eugene wiped his brow and slumped over as he failed horribly at holding in a laugh. Every ounce of manliness he has in him was gone the moment she leaped off him. That's the kind of effect Rapunzel has on him.
He watched as she jumped around the room, grabbing all sorts of different paints and supplies before eventually running up to him with both her arms full. She wore probably the biggest smile he's ever seen! "Eugene? Eugene! What should I make!? Oh, I have so many ideas!" She was as light as a feather, her head bouncing up and down as she smiled a toothy smile.
"Just make something you like! You have to be able to fit into it, remember."
"Yes! Thank you," she took a step forward and whispered to him, "don't tell Pascal, but I've been thinking about-"
He immediately threw a finger to her lips and watched her eyes jump before settling on his presence. "Shhhh, I don't want to know."
"Why don't you want to know?" Her voice was all mumbly and he found the vibrations from her lips quite ticklish.
"Because," He placed a hand on her shoulder and turned her back around, leading her back over to a random corner. "I want it to be a surprise. I plan on letting you build this thing all day long. Even talked it over with Mr. King and Mrs. Queen earlier, and they gave me the salute to go ahead as scheduled."
"What about breakfast, lunch, and din-"
"All covered. This incredibly handsome son of a gun," he pointed both thumbs to himself as he said that line, "will bring you your food so you can eat in here."
Rapunzel squealed loudly and turned around to throw her arms around his neck again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
Eugene made a sad attempt to pry her arms away as they were dangerously cutting off circulation to his head, "Too.. tight…"
She released him almost immediately. "Sorry! I'm-I'm just so happy! AHHH!" She practically was jumping off the walls by that point and Eugene laughed in total happiness at the way she looked. There's absolutely no way anyone could tell this girl was feeling down yesterday by the way she's acting right now.
And that was that. For the rest of the day, Eugene left Rapunzel to tend to her costume. He used his spare free time to gulp down endless amounts of coffee because he couldn't risk himself falling asleep and her learning of his biggest surprise for later in the evening. Throughout the day, he brought her the three meals, dinner a little earlier than normal because of the plans.
For the first time in a long time, everything finally feels right in Castle Corona.
A/N: Added a little back and forth between Cassandra and Eugene. These are typically not my most strongest areas of writing, so my apologies if it seems bland/dull. Aside from that, just have gone back and edited simple grammar/spelling mistakes and enhanced dialogue.
Edit History (MM/DD/YY):
1. 6/11/20