A little bit shorter of a chapter today, but I have a much longer one that I will be posting immediately after. Two chapters in one day! Woo hoo! I've been on a writing roll lately. I hope you will stick around, because the story will be escalating soon, and I'm really excited about what's to come for Rapunzel, Eugene, and their new 'friend.' Enjoy!

You know the drill: I don't own Tangled.

Chapter 3: Totally a Blonde Kind of Guy

"So, are we talking about me?"

The blonde man, dressed in a perfectly pressed, navy and gold outfit, steps into the meeting hall, a smirk plastered across his face. He immediately makes his way across the room to where Rapunzel is standing, smiling all the while. The princess stares back tentatively, unsure of how to react to the young man's sudden entrance. When he reaches her, he takes Rapunzel's hand in his, bringing it to his lips.

Eugene looks on, wondering if now would be too soon to deck the guy.

"You must be Princess Rapunzel. It is an absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance. And you're even lovelier than Mr. Sinclair let on."

"That's Prince Charles." Lance leans over to whisper to Eugene, a little too loudly. Stealth had never been Lance's strong suit as a thief. The prince turns away from Rapunzel, surveying an unimpressed Cassandra and Eugene, before quirking an eyebrow at Lance.

"I am. And aren't you the guard that I passed a while ago, in the hallway? You were having a sword fight with a… statue?"

"That's me." Lance replies, not embarrassed in the slightest for having been caught in battle with an inanimate object.

"I knew you looked familiar." The prince looks Lance up and down. "What was your name again? Landon? Ladd?"

"Lance."

"Right! Lance."

"I also double as a bellhop. I'll go get your luggage for you! Do you happen to have any valuables with you? Gold, jewelry, diamonds, anything of the sort?"

"Shouldn't you be patrolling the palace grounds or something? I've heard downright awful things about the security in this place." King Frederic swallows a scoff at the low-key insult, though he knows the prince isn't completely wrong. "Actually, I heard that some guy simply came in through the roof and took the princess's crown!"

Mr. Sinclair rubs his temples, wondering if he'd made a grave mistake. He'd signed up for a booming economy and an alliance with the kingdom of Maddoline that would hopefully prevail for generations to come.

What he hadn't signed up for was a teenage soap opera to unfold before his very eyes.

"That guy would be me." Eugene pushes off from the wall and steps forward, smiling at the prince curtly, sticking out a nonchalant hand. "Eugene Fitzherbert."

The prince slowly takes Eugene's hand and shakes it. Shock, and perhaps a slight twinge of being impressed, brims his bright blue eyes, which have grown large in surprise.

"/You/ are the one responsible for that?" Prince Charles looks around nervously, as if expecting a fleet of guards to swarm into the room and haul Eugene away, but he continues on when nothing happens. "Well, I must say, I've never seen a wanted criminal sitting in on a council meeting before." The blonde prince shrugs. "Then again, what do I know? Maybe your ways here in Corona are simply different than my own accustoms."

Eugene's eye twitches, and he dares the younger man to question his right to be here any further. King Frederic pinches his brow, and the look on the queen's face is a cross between constipation and the fighting back of tears.

Rapunzel cuts in, placing a hand on Eugene's bicep, rubbing it soothingly, just once.

"Eugene isn't a wanted criminal anymore. He's much more than that to this family." Rapunzel steps closer to Eugene, hoping her love doesn't let his slightly dramatic side loose on the newly arrived prince – at least, not in front of the council.

Charles' eyes dart between the young lovers, between Rapunzel's soothing gesture and the soft smile that she receives for it, the gears in his head visibly turning.

"Wait, wait. Are the two of you... together, or something?"

"Well… "Rapunzel begins, but Eugene quickly interjects, eager to set the record straight with this stuffy, arrogant prince. The guy clearly had an ego the size of Corona. And his hair wasn't even nice enough to explain away a big ego – at least Eugene had the hair to pull it off.

"Actually, yes, we are. Happily together." Eugene's eyes darken, and he reaches over, making a show of grasping Rapunzel's hip and pulling her into his side. "At least, we were, until you showed up."

Prince Charles raises his hands in a mock, 'Don't shoot!' gesture.

"I apologize! I didn't know I would be intruding." Mr. Sinclair receives a pointed look from the prince, but the bored expression on the older man's face remains intact. "Your council simply told me that the princess was mine for the taking. That there would be no potential hiccups in our engagement."

"The council said that, huh?" Rapunzel crosses her arms, shooting a venomous glare at Mr. Sinclair.

"Well, buddy, you're looking at potential hiccup number one."

"I see..." Prince Charles looks Eugene up and down before continuing, as if he were drinking in the other man, assessing the competition. "Well, regardless, my title inevitably holds much more weight, meaning the council will most likely overturn any request you have to remain with the princess. We made a legal deal, after all. Besides, it would be absolutely unorthodox to allow a criminal to marry a royal!"

"As previously mentioned, I'm not so much a criminal anymore."

"Listen," Charles leans forward with a sigh. "I was promised a princess of marrying age. Not a princess already in a relationship with /someone else/."

Mr. Sinclair finally steps in, tired of this never-ending escapade. If he were smart at all, he would bench Frederic and Arianna from all legal duties until they could get their daughter to stop being so incredibly difficult.

"She isn't. As agreed upon before your arrival, Prince Charles, you and Rapunzel will be married in three months or less. And that is final."

"I can't believe this bullshit!"

"Euuugene…"

"I'm the one who has a thing for brunettes. You can tell he's totally a blonde kind of guy!"

"How can you tell?"

Rubbing Eugene's tense shoulders, Rapunzel questions him curiously. The princess often wonders how the former thief knows so many things – he always seems to have an answer for every one of her questions, silly or not. But, she supposes, he had led a rather interesting life before meeting her.

"Guys know these things about one another, trust me. It's kind of like a sixth sense." Eugene taps his temple and Rapunzel is unsure of whether he's serious or not.

"Okay, mister /sixth sense/." Rapunzel leans over his shoulder so she can look Eugene in the face, but doesn't stop massaging his shoulders. "What's my type?"

"Well, for starters, you like dashing men with fabulous hair, a great sense of humor, and an endless supply of bravery."

"So… you?" She responds with a cute little giggle that sends a shiver down his spine.

"Exactly!"

"I must like men with big egos, too, then."

"Come on, I'm serious. I am the first man you ever met, after all, Blondie. That has to count for something in shaping your vision of the perfect partner."

"You are the perfect man for me." Rapunzel confirms with a deep sigh, the conversation taking a grim turn that Eugene had hoped to void, if only in the name of delusion. After all, ignorance is bliss, and if he could blissfully pretend that the only person he'd ever truly loved wasn't getting married to someone else in three months, maybe he'd be okay.

"I can't believe I have to marry that guy. He doesn't even look like you. Or sound like you." Rapunzel's green eyes grow tearful and her bottom lip wobbles at the thought of having to be with someone so starkly different from Eugene. "He doesn't seem to be anything like you at all."

The princess supposes it would probably be harder to marry Prince Charles if he /was/ anything like Eugene. Then, he'd only be a constant reminder of her true love, but it doesn't make her feel much better about the whole ordeal.

"I know! It's a shame, really, for anyone not to be like me." Eugene places a thumb to Rapunzel's trembling bottom lip, eliciting a small, sad smile. "But there must be something we can do about this marriage thing, even if the council refuses to budge. Maybe I'll go out into the village, find him some blonde girl –"

"Eugene, you do remember there was a time, not all that long ago, when /I/ had blonde hair, don't you? You still call me Blondie." Rapunzel points out, referring to the adoring nickname he'd used for her since the day they'd met.

"That's different." Eugene reasons. "You used to be blonde, but you were really always meant to be brunette, like your mom. And you would've been all along, if the queen hadn't gotten sick before you were born and drank that weird flower stuff that made Gothel go all," Eugene makes a face that resembles a silent scream and a haggard old woman, "And your hair have all those magical healing powers."

Rapunzel considers this for a moment, and Eugene can't help but smile at the faces she makes when she's deep in thought.

"But if I'd always had brown, non-magical hair, I would've always been the princess, and I never would've met you."

Eugene tilts his head at her, before relaxing again under her gentle touch. She was good at giving massages, and he was good at receiving them.

"I'm not so sure I believe that. I'd like to think that, even in another life, we'd always find each other. I mean, let's be honest, I probably still would've tried to steal the crown, lost princess or not. Anyway, it doesn't really matter, because I was able to prove my undying love to you when I cut your hair in a heroic moment of sacrifice. I don't think I'll ever top that one on the scale of romantic gestures. Besides, I like the way you look now even more than the first time I saw you."

This comment makes Rapunzel giggle a little in disbelief, only because she'd spent so many years believing that people would only love her for the magical qualities of her hair, not for who she was as a person. The way Eugene loved her, for her was like a breath of fresh air, but Rapunzel still laid awake at night sometimes, wondering if he wished she still had her blonde hair. Maybe he'd liked her better that way. Maybe she'd looked prettier before.

"You do?"

"Absolutely." Eugene reaches back to run a hand through her short, brown hair. "It's so much more grab-able now, and I don't have to worry about you tripping all over it. Or worse, having to worry about someone kidnapping you for it. That was a nightmare." Eugene makes a face at the reference to the Stabbington's, thinking about the way he'd confronted them in prison that day on his way to the gallows, the pure rage that had rushed through this veins at the thought of anyone hurting Rapunzel. "Besides, this hair really compliments your features. I did a great job with your haircut, considering the fact that I was, you know, weak and dying on the floor."

The former thief shivers dramatically, remembering the horror of that day in full detail – how he'd almost lost Rapunzel to that wretched woman, and how he'd almost lost his own life to save hers. Eugene would do it again in a heartbeat if he had to, die for Rapunzel, but he hoped he'd never have to. He kind of liked living, even though life sort of sucked at the moment. Then again, it felt like the same thing was happening all over again now, only he wasn't getting stabbed in the gut by an actual knife.

Just stabbed in the back by a council he honestly couldn't really blame for not liking him.

"But back to the matter at hand. There's /no way/ this Charles guy would ever provide such an act of selflessness! I mean, c'mon, he doesn't even have any facial hair! He doesn't look a day over sixteen!"

Rapunzel can't help but laugh at the insinuation that Eugene's facial hair and his bravery were directly correlated.

"You know, Eugene, not everyone can have superior facial hair like you."

"Well, he should try a little harder." Eugene grumbles under his breath.

"Besides, my mom said he's twenty-one. Almost twenty-two, actually."

"Well, you're only nineteen, barely. And I don't want you marrying an older man!"

"Eugene… you're /twenty-five/. That's kind of an unfair double standard, don't you think?"

"That's completely different."

"How is it different? I'm a lot younger than you than I am younger than him."

"The difference is," Eugene lets out a sigh of his own, growing serious. He turns to face her, pulling the princess he loves so much into his lap, enveloping her hands within his own. "I love you, Rapunzel. And it's going to kill me if I have to lose you to this guy. I don't want to watch you marry someone else."

Because, if he was being honest, Eugene had been planning to propose, and soon. A year ago, he never would have imagined that he would ever be in the headspace to commit to a lifetime with anyone but himself, but that's all he wanted with Rapunzel – the rest of his life. Now, he'd be kicking himself for the rest of his life for not asking sooner.

Then again, would it have even mattered if he had? Hindsight revealed with twenty-twenty focus, Eugene figures that the council probably would've just found some way to keep their union from fully happening, even if he had asked before the whole arrange marriage mess.

"Trust me, Eugene, I want all of this even less than you do." Rapunzel speaks with a raw emotion that cuts Eugene deep, the tears forming in her eyes causing her throat to feel thick, making it hard to speak. "I love you, so much more than you will ever know. But there has to be something we can do to get around this marriage. There has to be."

There wasn't.