Rapunzel deeply wished she had someone she could talk to. Despite having been in the "real world" for a year, she did not have any friends. Making friends was not something she did easily. She had met a couple of other girls around her age that she really liked, but they didn't know each other very well. If you didn't count animals or Eugene, she didn't really have anyone.
Realizing this was rather upsetting. Pascal and her other animal friends were great listeners, but the fact of the matter was that they couldn't respond to anything she told them. And right now, Rapunzel didn't need listeners, she needed advice. Relationship advice, to be specific. Seeing as Eugene was the only boyfriend she had ever had, she didn't really have any idea what she was supposed to do.
But who could she go to? Her parents were, well, her only options, and that would be so…awkward. She didn't want to talk to them about this.
"Oh, Pascal, what am I going to do?" Rapunzel asked, covering her face with her hands.
The lizard gave her a look of confusion. A knock sounded on Rapunzel's door and she squealed in surprise, hiding a bit. "Oh no, it's him," she muttered quietly. Sighing, she removed her face from her hands. "Come in!" she said cheerfully.
Eugene opened the door, glancing around before his eyes landed on Rapunzel, who was sitting on the bed. "Hey. I'm going into town, do you want to come?"
"Depends," Rapunzel said, "…where did you want to go?"
"I thought we could go to this one bar I like," he said. "We can get lunch or something."
Rapunzel swallowed nervously. This was so unusual for him. He never invited her to go out anywhere, especially not a bar. And besides, they had been fighting a lot lately – nothing too bad, but they hadn't exactly been getting along. Maybe this was a good sign. Maybe Eugene wanted to make up! Well, she couldn't help but smile at that. "Sure! That sounds wonderful," she said.
"Great," he said. "Um, I'll meet you downstairs in about ten minutes?"
"Sounds good," Rapunzel said, nodding. As soon as Eugene left the room, she smiled at Pascal. If only he understood that this was kind of a big deal to her. She only hoped everything went perfectly. She missed going out places with Eugene, like normal couples did. Maybe this was what their relationship needed – just some fun. "Do I look okay, Pascal?" she asked.
Pascal nodded, and Rapunzel looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing one of more casual dresses, a light orange one. Maybe she needed some makeup to go along with it. She had always been kind of insecure about how she looked, especially after she lost her blonde hair, but Eugene seemed to like her just the way she was.
Rapunzel exited her room and headed down to meet Eugene.
"Where are you taking me? Have I been there before?" Rapunzel asked excitedly. She had been so busy lately. She hadn't been able to go out into kingdom just for fun in ages. People watched her as they passed, some of them greeting her or even bowing. Rapunzel was honored that they liked her so much, but it made her feel embarrassed. She wished she could just be a normal citizen, but that would never happen.
"I don't think you have. It's kind of on the far end of town."
"Oh," Rapunzel said as she followed him down narrow streets, farther and farther away from the main road. The island of Corona was small, but there were still areas that were less densely populated than others. She was sort of nervous, hoping she would like the place.
"Well, here we are," Eugene said, smiling and opening the door to a bar with a sign reading "Drop of Sun Pub." It was a small establishment, but it looked quite nice, as far as bars went. It was very clean; all the tabletops looked very polished. Everything was so close together, but it didn't look crowded, it looked kind of cute.
Rapunzel smiled. "Aww, it's nice," she said. It was mostly empty, seeing as it was midday. Not exactly an ideal drinking time – but then again, when did Rapunzel and Eugene stick to moral standards?
"Glad you like it," Eugene said, smiling as he walked to the counter and ordered a beer for himself and a cocktail for her. Rapunzel sat herself down at a table by the window. She could hear the waitress being friendly with him.
"Is this your secret hangout spot, then?" Rapunzel asked, smirking coyly as Eugene sat down across from her. She had wondered for a long time where he had been going lately. Now that she knew, she would admit that it could have been much worse. Maybe she didn't have anything to worry about. Or maybe she did, she thought, glancing at the voluptuous bartender.
Eugene nodded, sipping his beer. "Yeah, I come here pretty often," he said. "It's nice, because it's off the beaten path, so I don't have too many people whispering behind my back because I'm Flynn Rider."
Rapunzel looked down at the table. She often forgot that Eugene was under harsh criticism even now. "Oh, yeah, that's true," she said, laughing softly, trying to lighten the mood. She appreciated that too about this place. As the princess, it was hard for her to find peace and quiet when she was out in public. "So, why did you decide to bring me here?" She also wondered why he had never brought her earlier – but she wasn't about to confront him about that. Their relationship did not need any more fighting.
"Because I…" He swished his already almost-empty glass around, buying himself time while he thought of an answer. "I guess I felt bad that you were mad at me. And I've been getting kind of lonely going out alone, to be honest."
"I wasn't mad at you," Rapunzel said, feeling bad about herself. She had been frustrated with him lately, but she hadn't intended to hurt his feelings at all.
"Well, still – it's been a while since we've done something fun, don't you think?" Eugene asked.
Rapunzel nodded, smiling at Eugene shyly. Maybe after this trip, things would be back to normal between them. She sure hoped so. "Yes, it's been far too long." She hadn't been hanging out with Eugene at all the past few weeks, not even doing boring things. "I miss you," she said, realizing the truth in her statement. She didn't just miss being with him, she missed the way he used to be. It was hard to explain, but sometimes he didn't seem like Eugene to her anymore.
Eugene reached across the table, caressing her hand. It made Rapunzel blush and glance around the bar. She was paranoid that people were watching them, but everyone else seemed absorbed in their own conversations.
"So, anyway," Rapunzel said, "I was going to tell you. The other day, I saw a sparrow chasing after a cricket and – "
"I know this place a few doors down that we could visit," Eugene said, lowering his voice to a sultry whisper.
Rapunzel blinked, thinking it was rude for him to interrupt, but she couldn't help but blush when he talked in that voice. "Oh," she said, getting flustered, "erm – yeah, I guess so?" She lowered her voice to a nervous whisper, leaning forward. "Why can't we just go back home?"
"You know we can't get away with that stuff during the day, when your guards are on alert," he said, rolling his eyes at her ignorance.
"Oh, right. Well. Okay, then." This would be fun, right? Yes, fun was the correct word. She downed the rest of her drink and took his hand as she stood up. The soft chiming of the bell sounded as they exited through the bar's entrance and Eugene began walking down the street, his hands in his pockets. Rapunzel supposed he was trying to look inconspicuous.
"What is this place – an inn?" Rapunzel asked, looking at the building front.
"Yeah," Eugene said. "Okay, they're probably going to know what's going on if they see us together, so how about I go get a room and you come in through the back entrance?"
"Okay…I guess…" Rapunzel said. Honestly, she said never done something like that. Eugene seemed to be familiar with renting rooms for just a few hours, Rapunzel thought to herself. Oh well, that was probably just because he'd done it…before…
Rapunzel met him in the hotel room a few minutes later. She was pleased to see that it looked pretty nice – at least Eugene hadn't brought her to some dirty, cheap place for this. She smiled and sat down on the bed, pushing Eugene down against the covers and cuddling against him.
"Someone's eager," Eugene said, chuckling and wrapping his arm around her, squeezing her.
Eager? Rapunzel was always affectionate, but she wouldn't say she was eager to have sex in a hotel room in the middle of the day. Maybe she should just look at it as an adventure. Yes. This was the kind of thing that people who were in love did…right? "Really?" Rapunzel said coolly. "I think you're forgetting whose idea this was."
"Fair enough, my princess," he murmured, unbuttoning his shirt and kissing the shell of her ear. She could tell that he was definitely just trying to turn her on now. That's the only reason he ever called her those names. She couldn't complain, though – it wasn't such a bad strategy, obviously, since it usually worked.
"What's our excuse for when we get back?" Rapunzel asked, her hand slipping under the waistband of his pants and gripping his erection. She kissed his lips tenderly as he let out a groan.
"Um…we went out for lunch," said Eugene, hurriedly slipping his pants down to his knees. He ran his fingers through her hair with one hand, bringing her down into a kiss. Rapunzel wouldn't have had a chance to reply even if she wanted to. He kissed her greedily, slipping his tongue into her mouth, completely caught up in the passion.
Rapunzel quickly untied her dress and pulled down her undergarments. "I love you," she said, looking at him before she lowered herself onto his member. Part of her was just wondering what he would say in response.
But Eugene was too busy gazing at the ceiling. "Mhm," he muttered, grunting with pleasure.
A bit disappointed, but knowing he was probably incapable of thinking clearly at the moment, Rapunzel leaned down and kissed him as she began moving her hips up and down. As they built up a rhythm, Rapunzel mainly kept her eyes closed, trying to forget her worries and just enjoy herself. It wasn't working all that well.
Rapunzel felt Eugene moan loudly against her mouth. His whole body shuddered, and Rapunzel, sensing this, made herself cry out in pleasure – because she wasn't about to tell him that she hadn't finished. She wanted today to be perfect, after all. Eugene stopped thrusting, leaning his head back and breathing heavily. "Wow, I've missed that," he said. "I've missed you." He smiled, reaching up to stroke her hair.
Rapunzel blushed, lying down beside him. "Yeah, today was…fun," she admitted. They had been in such a hurry to get started that she hadn't even taken her dress all the way off. She fixed it now, retying the lace on the front. It kept her busy. She was afraid that if she looked at him, he would be able to tell that today had made her kind of uncomfortable. It hadn't been nearly as romantic as she had hoped. As always, Eugene was just interested in fulfilling his carnal needs.
"I'm glad you thought so," Eugene said, buckling his pants. He sighed and leaned back against the headboard. "Actually, I have to talk to you."
"Oh?" Rapunzel looked at him. "Go right ahead."
"Okay," he said, taking a deep breath. He sat up and took both of her hands in his. "Look, I know that this isn't really the ideal place to ask you. I hadn't planned on it going on like this, but since we're alone…"
Rapunzel felt her heartbeat quicken, wishing he would just stop talking. She didn't really like where this was going.
"I might as well keep this informal since I haven't picked up a ring yet." He took another deep breath and looked into her eyes. "Would you, Rapunzel, have any interest in marrying me?"
A/N: Cliffhanger! As you can see, the story earned its M rating here. That was partly because I felt like it, and also because I think it's important to show that Rapunzel and Eugene's relationship is hardly based on love. I've been getting pretty nice reviews on this story, which is AWESOME. I encourage you all to check out my other Tangled story, Darling. I have more of an idea where I'm going with that one, whereas with this one I am still unsure. I have decided, however, that this story will not be as long as your average full-length story. Think of it as a mini-story. It will be better that way, trust me.