As Rapunzel tucked it behind a tree stump, her thoughts raced about the crown, and they couldn't make up their mind. Funny when thoughts did that, huh?

Should she heed Mother's advice? Should she even dare? Or was she too afraid?

But the whole thing was ridiculous! Flynn—Eugene—was her friend. Proof? He'd told her his real name! Who else knew that? And they'd made a pretty great team back there! They'd saved each other's lives! There'd been palace guards, a pair of twin thieves, a horse… They'd outrun them all!

But the dam! Oh no, she hoped they were okay… Oh wow, she really hoped they were okay…

Well, they were alive, thanks in part to Eugene, and the Snuggly Duckling thugs, who were actually big sweethearts. Mother had been wrong about them. She had been wrong about a lot of things…

"So! Hey, uh… Can I ask you something? Is there any chance that I'm gonna get super strength in my hand because I'm not gonna lie: That would be stupendous."

She heard boots stall on the dirt. "Hey…" Was that concern in his voice? "You all right?"

She turned around and saw Eugene had a bundle of firewood in his arms. The look in his eyes made a warmth rise to her cheeks for some reason. "Oh! Sorry, yes, just um… lost in thought, I guess."

Then he blinked and shrugged, and the look was gone. "I mean 'cause here's the thing: Superhuman good looks? I've always had 'em. Born with it! But superhuman strength? Can you imagine the possibilities of this?"

Rapunzel's attention had drifted back to the crown lying in wait just a few feet away, but she couldn't help but laugh. "'Superhuman good looks?'"

"Yes, superhuman," he said as he stacked another log into their fire. "And I quote the ladies, too."

An amused brow rose. "Are you sure you're not paraphrasing just a little? I don't know if I would say, 'superhuman'—or if really any girl would say 'superhuman,' but—"

"Seeing as you didn't fall for my smolder, I'm afraid your opinion is moot," came his clipped answer, wiping his hands as he stood. He somehow made a pout look defensive, which Rapunzel found kind of adorable.

Her smile widened. "Is it really so rare?"

"What?"

"To not fall for your smolder. That doesn't really work, right?"

She had to keep herself from actually laughing when Eugene suddenly looked so indignant. "Of course, it works! I've gotten out of plenty of sticky situations because of it, thank you very much!"

"Like what?"

"Well… I can't think of any off the top of my head at the moment, but I have, and it works."

"It didn't work on me though."

He seemed to analyze her for a moment before deciding, "You're a recluse; you don't know what should make you swoon. But don't worry, I forgive you."

"For what?"

"For shaming my smolder."

"Oh, come on, Eugene!"

"You know what, Blondie, this may be hard to believe, especially since most men would deny it, but I do, in fact"—he clutched his bosom—"have feelings."

Rapunzel gave him a wry smile and cocked a brow at him.

"I'll give you a moment to let that sink in."

"Oh, I already know you have feelings!" She listed them off of her hand. "Frantic, scared, freaked out, terrified—"

"What? That's redundant!"

"What is?"

"'Scared' and 'terrified.' They mean the same thing."

"'Terrified' is more scared than 'scared.'"

"No, they're synonymous. And you are wrong in both respects."

"Oh, really? How did you feel when you saw my 'magic, glowing hair' heal your hand?"

"Surprised."

She put her hands on her hips at his cavalier response. "And when you thought the ruffians were going to tear you apart limb-from-limb?"

"I was quite appalled at their behavior, actually," he stated with a disappointed shake of his head as he sat down beside her. "Fighting over me for gold… I know I'm worth more than that!"

When Rapunzel rolled her eyes, he pointed out, "If you want to talk about 'scared,' we can definitely talk about you."

"But see, I was scared!" she exclaimed. "When I thought they were going to really hurt you, or when I thought we were gonna drown, I was terrified!—"

"Still redundant."

"—But you know what? I will freely admit to feeling that way, because I wouldn't be human otherwise."

He paused, and she thought he was thinking over her words. There was a fleeting look in Eugene's eye, one of… wonder?

But then he blinked, and it was gone. "… So you see my point now."

She furrowed her brow in confusion. "What point?"

"I am superhuman! I don't feel fear!"

Rapunzel threw up her hands. Were all boys this infuriating? "Yes, Eugene. You're superhuman," she conceded with a sigh.

A lopsided grin appeared on his face before he nudged her gently with his shoulder. "Same as you, you know."

"Huh?"

He stared at her with that deadpan expression that seemed to be his signature look—more so than his smolder anyway. "So you're gonna sit there and tell me you don't think you're superhuman, too?"

An unexpected chuckle escaped her. "Um, outside of my hair, I promise I'm perfectly ordinary. I'm just a… girl who lived in a tower all her life. What's superhuman about that?"

Eugene scrunched up his face in thought, and it looked like he was actually a little flustered at first, but an assured confidence took its place as he spoke. "Mm, I don't know, I mean… sure, the hair is a big part of it. Not a lot of people can say their hair works better than medicine and some gauze. But what I saw back at the pub? That was… certainly out-of-the-ordinary. And I'm not just talking about how a bunch of big, beefy guys with blood in their beards just burst into song—although that is definitely in my top five of 'weirdest things to happen to me.' Now that I think about it, this whole day has pretty much cracked that top five, thanks to you."

His grin was a little contagious, and she hummed a laugh before he said with a softness that fascinated her, "What I'm saying is… you got them to care about you."

Whatever she'd thought he was going to say, it wasn't that. Though the fire seemed to heat up her cheeks, she smiled and shrugged. "I got them to care about us."

"Nuh-uh, they couldn't give two hooves about me," he objected. "They were helping you out. I was lucky you were there to vouch for me or I'd be quartered and sold in pieces by now."

He said that so nonchalantly, she blinked at him. The image disturbed her too much, however, and she immediately shoved it aside. Shrugging, she admitted, "Um… okay, sure. I guess I did."

One of his eyebrows flew up. "That's it? It's no big deal to you?"

"Well… no, not really. I guess I… didn't know that was anything special. I just talked to those men like how I would want to be talked to. If I was about to seriously hurt someone—anyone—I would want someone to try and talk some sense into me, too."

"Blondie, I don't think you could hurt anyone that didn't have it coming to 'em. But for someone who's lived in a tower all their life, that's some fine mediating skills you have."

She felt her smile grew wider, but her cheeks were also growing warm again. At least the glow of the fire washed it out… she hoped. "I like making people happy," she mumbled. "Solving problems… I know just how to keep Mother happy, and—this might surprise you but—Pascal can be a teeny-weeny bit of a hothead."

"Strangely… I kinda believe it." Eugene looked surprised those words had come out of his mouth.

A cute growl came from her knee, and she looked down to see Pascal pouting stubbornly at them. "Hey, don't look at me like that. We've gone over this before!"

The chameleon turned around and stuck up his nose, and Rapunzel sighed, smiling. "I know you're just protective, Pascal. That's why I said 'teeny-weeny bit.'"

He resigned to that with a sigh and faced them again.

"You did stick your tongue in my ear more than once," Eugene had to point out. "Unnecessarily, I might add?"

Pascal rolled his eyes, but a sly grin was on his mouth.

Rapunzel smirked. "He doesn't think it was unnecessary."

"Of course, he doesn't."

"But that was then! Before we almost drowned together." How strange she could already look back at that like it was just a funny story!

"Good point." Eugene rubbed his goatee in contemplation before he stated to her little green companion, "We can let bygones be bygones then, can't we? Especially after near death. What do you say?"

Pascal literally weighed the idea in his paws. She laughed and shook her head. "Pascal… I think you two can shake on it. We're friends now."

She looked to Eugene, but saw his eyes were wide. She hoped she hadn't crossed a line. "Right?"

But then a smile appeared, and he just looked… pleased. "Uh… yeah! Yeah, you could say that."

Rapunzel watched his eyes wander as if he were looking for something to do. He suddenly stood and went to amble about the fire as though to add wood to it, but the fire hadn't really dimmed since he'd added to it a few minutes ago. Still, he grabbed a stick, sat down on the ground, and poked at it to look busy.

She exchanged a look with Pascal, who shrugged.

Biting her lip, she tentatively said, "You know… it's okay if we're not. I know it's only been a day and…" Her voice trailed off, not sure what other reason to add without making assumptions or calling attention to his troubled past.

Eugene looked up, his mind obviously having been elsewhere when he shook his head out of it. "Sorry, I was… what were you saying?"

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her jitters, but it didn't work. "You don't have to say we're friends. If we're just… traveling acquaintances, that's okay, too. I understand."

Suddenly, his eyes grew huge. "No! No, no, I didn't—I didn't mean to insinuate that I—or…"

With a grimace, his shoulders deflated and he hung his head in one fell breath, but he continued to poke at the fire. "I've already burdened you enough with the Tales of Poor Orphan Eugene, but basically… I don't get called a friend very often. I'm normally running away from so-called 'friends,'" he tossed into air quotes.

He must have caught the line that appeared between her brows because he jumped to add, "Not this time though, really! I—We made a deal. Right?"

He offered her a half-hearted grin that she returned, but she could detect there was more bothering him. "Right," she answered.

His eyes drifted back to the flames and his lips grew into a thin line as the crackling of the fire became the only sound. He began to grind the stick into the dirt, turning it and turning it with knuckles that were becoming white.

Then he gave it a resolving pound. "Okay…" He prepped himself with a breath before turning his resolute gaze on her. "You're probably gonna hate me for this, but… I'd rather you know."

A billion thoughts burst into her head, but she didn't want to voice any of them. She wanted to hear what he would say first.

At her silence, he pushed on with difficulty, "The reason we went into the Snuggly Duckling… wasn't for the food… clearly," he sighed. "I… was trying to scare you out of our deal."

Before she could react, he hurried to continue, "I've become so used to dealing with people who have some kind of angle, and the first chance they'd get, they would ditch you and run off with the prize. I've had to learn that the hard way. If you don't fight for yourself, no one else will. Anyway, I shouldn't have done that to you. Or underestimated you, for that matter. You're way tougher than you look."

A hint of a smile returned to his face and his eyes held a kind of admiration. "You could have even left me to get ripped to pieces by them, too."

"No, I couldn't have! Whether or not you were trying to get rid of me, what kind of person would I be to let another fellow human being get ripped to pieces or let a bunch of people rip a person to pieces? I would never!"

"I hate to be the one to say it, Goldie, but there are plenty of those kinds of people in the real world. You've even made a deal with one of them."

She tilted her head at him, fascinated but also concerned. "You're not like that," she said with obstinance. "Not really."

A rather cynical laugh escaped him. "No offense, but… you haven't known me long enough."

"I know." She gently set Pascal on the log before coming to kneel on the ground beside him. "But… you said I'm superhuman, right? Maybe… I'm good at reading people, too. And if I or this whole trip hasn't scared you away yet, you either really want that crown or deep down… you're a man of your word."

When he met her eye, she then added, "Or both. It could be both."

This time, his laugh was soft, but genuine. His smile grew to match hers. "I honestly couldn't tell ya how or why I'm still here. But the fact is… I probably would have been caught in a situation like the mine sooner or later, and… at the time, I'm just glad I had a friend with me."

A thrill went through her, and she had to bottle up some of her excitement before she tentatively whispered, "We are friends?"

He tallied off on his fingers, "We fought together, ran away from people out to get us… okay, me—together, almost died together, and now we know each other's backstories, so… Yeah, I'd say those are good qualifiers for a friendship."

Rapunzel laughed, but it sounded more like a giggle. She hadn't ever really giggled before. Did that mean something different from a normal laugh, like her usual laugh?

She came close to shaking her head of the questions running rampant, but luckily didn't. "I'd say so, too."

His smile crept back in, which in all honesty, she thought more smoldering than his so-called "smolder." She then realized that she was still smiling, so was he smiling because she was smiling or because she was agreeing with him or—?

Nope. No, no, no, let's not do this frantic questioning thing like I usually do, okay? On another note, his eyes were also very nice, and just… warm. Yeah. That was a good word for them.

Oh, my goodness! she cried in her head. Stop thinking… things!

The hair around her face began to bother her, and she began to sweep it off her forehead and behind her ear. She must be way too close to the fire because she was burning up now.

At the same time, Eugene looked away as well and loudly cleared his throat. "So, uh… we actually should be getting to sleep here. We'll need to get up bright and early tomorrow to make it to the festival in time."

The change of subject was quite welcome. "How far off are we?"

"Not too far. But there's plenty more to the festival than just the lanterns."

Rapunzel blinked. "Oh! Like what?"

His grin widened, and she felt this strange fluttery feeling in her center. "And spoil the surprise? I think not."

He chuckled when she rolled her eyes, though she mirrored his smile. She had to admit… she wasn't exactly opposed to his nicknames... Not really, anyway.

As Eugene stood to go get comfortable against a flat rock nearby, and thoughts of the next day made her buzz with excitement. It was happening? After years of wondering, dreaming, it was finally happening! How on earth was she going to sleep?

But she gathered her hair for suitable cushioning and warmth, and Pascal joined her. "Well… good night, Eugene."

Hands tucked behind his head, he shut his eyes and yawned. "G'night."

She tried to shut her eyes, too. He said bright and early, and she was going to follow through.

But something kept niggling at her, and she couldn't resist asking, "Eugene?"

"Hm?"

"Can you give me… one hint?"

He peeked at her with one eye and closed it soon after, but a faint smile was on his mouth. "They have great food."

"What kind of food?"

"All kinds. Chicken, seafood, soups, breads, cakes, pies… the works."

She gave an involuntary hum. She was so used to eating the same ten foods all her life, trying something—or all things new was going to be amazing, on top of everything else they could have and seeing the lanterns in-person.

"Yeah, it's… pretty good," he concurred. He suddenly tensed and opened his eyes. "We, uh… gotta watch out for palace guards though. Just a heads up."

"Oh, right…" she teased. "They don't like you, do they?"

"No. No, they do not."

"I think we have to work on your friend-making skills."

He breathed a laugh. "If anyone could teach me those, it'd definitely be you. But in all seriousness, and as much as I like a good, long campfire chat, we really have to get some shuteye, so…"

"Oh! Of course. No more peeps from me."

He relaxed again, but he was distinctly still amused. She could tell. "Sleep tight, Blondie."

"You, too. Sweet dreams."

She tucked further into her coil of hair and allowed the crackle of the fire and crickets in the grass to wash over her and be her lullaby. No waterfall, no sound of the wind whistling against stone walls… It was a nice change to be outside of all that. The world was so much bigger and full of life than she ever could have imagined. To have been an adventurer rogue like Eugene this whole time and seen so many things…

But was it all worth not having a home to go back to?

Frankly, she could do without home for a while. She'd been there for eighteen years straight, after all. Still, it was… reassuring to know it would be there. To live out in the open like this all the time? Especially with her unique gifts, it would be dangerous for her.

This was all temporary anyway, and that should reassure her, yet… it didn't really. It just made her sad.

With a pout, she diverted her train of thought to that of tomorrow and what it would bring: A dream coming true. That was the important thing right now. Not what Mother said, not what could happen if the guards caught them, and not what Eugene's feelings were. They were friends officially, and that was what mattered. Besides, no matter what Mother said… her gut told her to trust him. And she wanted to.

With a blissful sigh, she sunk deeper into her sleep, her hopes for the day drawing up only the happiest scenarios in the brightest of colors.

The idea first started as Raps teasing Eugene about how he'd lied to her about getting "lunch" at the Snuggly Duckling, but as I began to write it, their conversation took a different turn, and truthfully, I like the final result better.

This one's been in my head for a couple years now, but I was adamant about finishing my 150k-word BatB fanfic before working on any other projects. This was the first of a few (mostly Lumi/Babs-related one-shots) I've had on the backburner for a while, and I hope you enjoyed it! These two were a delight to write for, and will always be one of my favorite ships. It's honestly made me want to rewatch some of the series! In fact, I just might...

I hope you all have a Happy New Year! Let's hope it's a helluva lot better!