Balance Beam

Varian wasn't sure why Rapunzel had invited him back to the castle, so soon after they'd made up. He hadn't even had time to buy a new outfit, something Dad had offered as a pick me up, hoping it would boost his reformed but still really regretful son's spirit.

And he hadn't expected anyone else to be there, but standing next to Rapunzel in a room with a big plank sandwiched between 2 chairs, were a pair of girls Varian estimated to be 11 and 12 yrs old.

"Hi, Varian! Did you and your father have a safe trip here?" Rapunzel asked brightly.

"Yeah, it was alright." Varian replied. In truth, everyone had avoided him and only a few brave souls had called out a hello to Quirin, and Quirin only. His Dad was visiting with the King and Queen now, although Varian didn't know how productive their conversation would be, as the Royals still had no memory (that was Varian's fault) and Quirin had been encased in amber for a little over a year (also Varian's fault.)

"These sisters are two good friends of mine, Angry and Red. They're thinking of making here home, won't that be nice? Say hello, girls." Rapunzel introduced them.

The brunette- Angry- looked Varian over critically. "Aw, you told me he had a bandana with fangs!" she sounded disappointed.

Varian looked down at the floor. "Yeah, I- I don't wear that any more. I'm actually thinking of getting something new to wear, but this'll do for now." Varian mumbled, shuffling his feet nervously. If he'd looked up he would have also seen that the redheaded girl was nervous, too.

"I think Varian looks good. We all do." Rapunzel was wearing one of her many pink and purple dresses. Varian wondered how many she owned, and if she realized what a luxury it was. Old Corona was not a wealthy village, at least not compared to Corona in general, and certainly not the Castle and it's Royal inhabitants. But he had to admit she was right- she did look good.

"I thought we'd do something fun today! The big party we had to celebrate the defeat of the Saporians was nice, but there's still a lot of renovations we have to do, and I think that with so much work being scheduled, it's good to take a break." Rapunzel said.

"I like renovations. We're gonna fix up our tree house soon, it'll be awesome!" Angry predicted.

"Yeah, awesome." echoed Red, but she didn't sound so enthused.

"The girls are gonna teach us gymnastics today. There wasn't a lot of space to practice flips and cartwheels and such in the tower." Rapunzel sighed wistfully.

Okay, so maybe the Princess' life hadn't always been so pampered. Varian would try to remember that, it was still kind of hard reframing his thoughts so he didn't think of Rapunzel as a spoiled, selfish, promise-breaking traitor instead of the kind, forgiving person she was and always had been, Varian had just been too blinded by rage to see it before.

"We're gonna start off easy, since you two are just beginners." Angry seemed to relish both being in charge and being better than someone at something. "Walk across the balance beam, Red." Angry told her sister.

Red obediently walked across, eyes looking straight ahead, and without any wavering or hesitation. As she neared the end, she turned and did a handstand before righting herself and finishing her walk.

"Yeah! That's showing 'em!" Angry cheered and Red smiled for the first time that day.

"Thanks I-" Red began but Angry cut her off.

"Okay, which one of you two is going first. How about the boy, Varitas?" Angry hadn't even bothered to get his name right.

"It's Varian." he corrected.

"Yeah, that's too long. I'm just gonna call you V." Angry decided. Varian shrugged, better a nickname than being called an incorrect one.

"You sure this is easy?" Varian felt nervous standing on the board, with the girls watching him.

"I'll help you." Rapunzel offered a hand, and Varian took it gratefully. He wobbled a bit, but he went forward step by step, trying to keep his eyes straight ahead as Red had done and mostly succeeding. The balance beam wasn't very high up, but until Rapunzel had reached out Varian had missed having arm support, like when he climbed ladders to reach the apple trees at home.

"You don't have to do a handstand like Red. Just crossing is good enough." Rapunzel insisted.

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on it." Varian admitted.

"That's cause you have no sense of adventure." Angry judged. Red stifled a laugh.

Varian reached the end of the board and jumped down. "Adventure or not, I did it." he said proudly. Angry just stuck her tongue out at him in response. Varian scowled, but that seemed to be the reaction she was expecting, and both girls laughed. Varian found to his surprise that he wasn't even annoyed by their teasing, it had been ages since he'd heard anyone laugh around him. It was actually kind of nice that the girls weren't intimidated by Varian, seeing him as just another kid around their own age, not some evil terrorist.

"Don't tease him, Varian did a good job." Rapunzel rushed to his defense.

"It's okay, they weren't bothering me." Varian said.

"Yeah, V's a good sport, even if he's a lousy gymnast." Angry grinned mischievously.

"Lousy? I'll show you!" Varian stuck his foot out, leaned over and put his hands on the floor, then kicked up and over, and landed on his feet. It wasn't the prettiest cartwheel, but it was successful.

"Only one? A true gymnast does several!" Angry boasted. She and Red turned and did a series of quick cartwheels, followed by backflips.

Varian was impressed. "Okay, you win. I can't do the flip." Varian conceded.

"It t-took me a few tries to get it." Red said shyly.

"But now she's an expert! We both are!" Angry was proud. "Hey Rapunzel, are you ready to try the balance beam?" she asked.

Rapunzel nodded. She'd been waiting very patiently, but now there was no hiding her excitement. With a whoop of delight, she ran to the board, moving quickly across. Unlike Varian, she didn't need a hand steadying her, she'd always had good balance. "Ta da!" Rapunzel announced upon finishing. On her shoulder, the little chameleon Pascal clapped, and Varian and the girls did the same.

"That was pretty good. Maybe next time we should set up uneven parallel bars." Angry envisioned.

"N-next time?" Varian hadn't expected there to be a first time, and he certainly hadn't expected that the girls would want to practice with him again.

"Sure. We've got lots more tricks we can show you. And maybe you'll even be able to do a couple yourself." Angry allowed.

"We'll look forward to it." Rapunzel spoke for both herself and Varian.

There was a knock at the door.

"Varian? Son? Are you finished playing with your friends?" Quirin asked.

"Yeah, Dad!" Varian called out brightly. He didn't know which was more amazing, that he'd been allowed to play, or that he had friends. Both would have seemed like impossible scenarios a week ago, but then seeing his Dad free had seemed impossible then, too.

"We'll see you around, V!" Angry had already taken it for granted that Varian would be back.

"Bye Varian." whispered Red.

"Goodbye, Varian. See you soon!" Rapunzel and Pascal both waved. And Varian waved back, before running up to hug his father. It was nice having fun at the Castle, but even that couldn't compare to the sheer joy he felt just seeing Quirin again.

The End

This was inspired by lovely artwork by namiya-san. I added Kiera and Catalina to the story because there was never a moment in show where they formally met (they just seemed to already know each other in Lost Treasure) and gymnastics gives the girls a chance to shine. So this a super early Season 3 story, between Rapunzel's Return and Big Bad Wolf.