A/N Enjoy my longest chapter yet! (It's still very short…) Tangled is not mine folks. It belongs to Disney.

Eugene was startled. Having never met another human being apart from Gothel, he suddenly felt shy, and vulnerable. His walls came up. And Rapunzel, well, as a thief, she was used to being hated by all who met her, but this boy was different. He wasn't living well, that was for sure, and he was thin, battered and dirty.

"I'm… Zelly. This is… Pascal and we're on our way to the Darkwood." Lies. They dripped off her tongue like syrup. She glanced upward. He still looked shell shocked.

"It's okay. I don't bite." Was that a hint of a smile she caught on his lips?

"Eugene." Behold, he spoke! "My name's Eugene."

"I liked your song."

"No you didn't. You thought it was ridiculous. You think I'm weird, and you're going to go, and forget you ever saw me." Eugene couldn't help but push her away. Not a soul had ever been good to him, admittedly he only knew one, but why would this girl be any different?

"Quite the contrary. In fact, I'm going to come up there right now," she was gathering up her hair as she said this, "and meet you. You shall show me around, and sing for me, and in return, I shall take you out of the tower, and-"

"No. How are you even going to-" thwiiiiiiiiiiiiip with an expert throw, she had thrown her hair up to his window, and it had caught on the ladder hooks, like a sort of grappling hook. Now she was hoisting herself up by her hair, leaving a startled A J on the ground below.

"Doesn't that hurt?"

"Not a bit!" another lie. Soon she was perched on the windowsill, and Eugene had grabbed the nearest object, a yardstick, and held it in front of himself for defence. Up close, he thought, she was very pretty, especially her eyes, the exact shade of sage leaves. He shook the thoughts off.

"If you come any closer, I will whack you in the head with this yardstick." She laughed, glancing around the room.

"What's with the writing?" she was pointing to the rounded walls, where he used paint concocted from mud and water to write his song lyrics. He glanced briefly behind him.

"Oh. That." In a flash, she was beside him, trying to snatch the yardstick from his grip. They had a mini tug of war, which Eugene won. He then hit Rapunzel over the head with the yard stick. She went out cold.

"Really?" he sighed. He had a girl, with a ton of weird shiny hair, on his floor. Unconscious. He prodded her. Nothing. Dragging a chair from the corner, he sat her in it. Then he tied her up with her own hair.

"What am I going to do, Max?" Maximus approached Rapunzel, gave her an uninterpretable look, and then stuck his long sticky tongue up her ear.

"YEOOOW!" she was awake alright, and very angry. "What do you want from me, 'Eugene'?"

"What do you want from me?" it was a good question, Rapunzel thought. What did she want from this ragged boy, with lifeless eyes? Why had she climbed up to see him?

"I want to help you."

"Oh, really?"

"How long have you been in this tower?"

"Eighteen years today."

"Wha… it's my birthday too. Eighteen years, huh? I can show you Corona. With that voice of yours, you could be successful, a singer, loved by all."

"No thanks." She was persuasive, her voice like honey, eyes like pools, but he wasn't giving in.

"Why ever not?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Well then, I guess I'll have to show you how charming I can be." With a flourish, she untied herself, lassoed Eugene with her hair, and pushed him out of the window.

"AAARRRGHHHHH!"

Rapunzel dusted her hands off, and waltzed over to the window. Eugene was dangling, inches above the grass, caught in a golden net.

"PULL ME UP, BLONDIE!"

"I will do nothing of the kind." She leapt out neatly after him, and they both landed on the ground, her gracefully on her feet, him clumsily, on his head.

"You're crazy! What are you doing you madwoman? How will we get back up? WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?!"

"Get on the horse."

"What?"

"Get on the horse Eugene!" Apricot Jam, who had been waiting patiently, pawed the ground with a hoof. Rapunzel fed her an apple.

"I will not!"

"Well where else will you go? You know nothing of this land. You could get lost, kidnapped, robbed or killed. Southside is full of thugs. I am offering you a ride and a guide, free of charge. It doesn't look like you'll be getting up there anytime soon." She nodded to the tower, which she had slicked with oil on the way down to make it slippery, impossible to climb. Boy did Rapunzel have some handy things in her satchel.

"You little…" with a face like thunder, Eugene boarded the horse. Rapunzel winked at him. He aimed a clumsy punch at her arm, but she dodged it easily.

"Now, if you could sing for me to pass time, it would be perfect…"

Eugene stayed silent. There was a lot he didn't know about Zelly, but one thing he did was that she had kidnapped him, lock stock and barrel. And he was furious.

A/N Tee Hee. I hope you liked the way I wrote Rapunzel and Eugene. I enjoyed writing this chapter. I'm trying not to keep too much from the movie, but I loved the part with Pascal waking up Eugene too much to leave it out. Reviews MUCH appreciated.