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An entire night of acting like a Princess has left Rapunzel feeling exhausted.
Despite how excited she is to have experienced her first ball, a part of her had wanted nothing more for it to be over.
It wasn’t until the sun had gone down and her and her parents had bid the last guest farewell that she finally felt like she could be herself again.
Then practically as soon as the event was over, Eugene had leaned in next to her with his hands clasped behind his back, speaking as if sharing a secret, “What do you say I take you to a real party?”
Well, Rapunzel’s eyes had lit up at that suggestion, a bright smile suddenly appearing on her face.
So, they change their clothes into some that are significantly less formal, then venture through town just outside the castle.
They know more than anyone how overwhelming the last few days have been. So much has happened, and suddenly they are both considered royalty after a lifetime of being nobody.
Despite how rewarding it is, Eugene figures they both could use a break from the formalities. It’s never been in his nature, and besides, with the entire town bustling in celebration of the Princess’ return, he could never pass up an opportunity to let loose and have Rapunzel experience it all with him.
Thankfully, the idea is surprisingly fine with her parents as long as Eugene brings her back in one piece. And with that, there’s no way the kingdom could party without him.
Eugene had almost forgotten what it felt like to be back to his roots that the smell of the tavern alone sends a thrill down his spine. The atmosphere is definitely a leap from what they had just been in, and Rapunzel couldn’t be more excited to not have to act like royalty for one night.
A crowd of people have filled the building – drinking, dancing, and chatting amongst themselves in glee. Every other pub in the village is packed with citizens, and some even gather in the streets despite the late hour of night.
“Well, blondie, I tell ya, this is where the real fun begins,” Eugene beams in the doorway, eyeing the lively tavern, “No guards, no parents, no Dukes or Duchesses to impress…”
“Well, I still have to be impressive,” Rapunzel counters next to him over the music and excitable chatter. “You know, with the whole fame thing and all that? You - not so much,” she jokes.
“Hey!” Eugene argues, before shrugging in defeat. He can’t deny she is currently the biggest talk of the town, despite his own notoriety. “…Okay, I’ll give you that one. But trust me, these people are probably way too drunk to notice us.” Just as he says that a wave of faces turns in their direction. “Then again, maybe not.”
They’ve clearly been recognized - how could they have not? However, the people don’t give anything more than a surprised glare before returning to their drinks. Everyone knows they’ll be thrown out by palace guards for swarming the Princess, and so they wisely keep their distance.
“What does drunk mean?” Rapunzel asks after a moment.
“Oh-ho-kay, so… that, my dear, is an interesting question indeed,” Eugene guides her down the stairs with a hand on her back, “So I suppose you’ve never had a drink before,” he points a finger at her.
“What are you talking about? Of course, I have!” she scoffs.
He resists a laugh, “No, no, no, I mean… a special drink. I mean one of those,” he nods toward the barman who hands a tankard to someone over the counter a short distance away.
Rapunzel follows his gaze, not entirely sure what he means by ‘special’ drink. “Um… no. I guess I haven’t.”
“Well then, today’s your lucky day!” he announces excitedly as they approach the bar.
He holds up two fingers to the man and asks for something Rapunzel has never heard of. Meanwhile, she peeks around herself at the rowdy crowd, intrigued by their festivities.
She notices the barman pouring something into a mug. “And why is that?” she asks.
“I figured it’s time I showed you how the real Eugene Fitzherbert used to do things… Well, I actually never stopped doing it but that’s besides the point. I mean, I don’t drink all the time but hey, we’re celebrating.” He hooks an enthusiastic arm around her shoulders. “You’re finally back home again and I get to wallow in that sweet, sweet smell of bitter bliss. You know, without a bounty on my head and… all that.”
The barman places two tankards on the counter, “On the house.” He then addresses Rapunzel and subtly bows his head, “Your Highness.”
Eugene takes them and hands one to Rapunzel, neither of them surprised by the formalities.
She looks down at the drink suspiciously, which has been filled to the brim with bubbling froth. “It doesn’t… smell very appetizing.”
“it’s not. The trick is not to smell it. Or breathe for that matter,” he advises.
She giggles at the absurdity of that suggestion. “You’re just making less and less sense. But… whatever you say,” she decides in a sing-song voice.
He bumps his tankard against hers, “Cheers.” He smirks, then raises his eyebrows, “To the Princess of Corona.”
Rapunzel smiles warmly and follows him in taking a sip. However, she coughs immediately and is taken aback by the strong taste.
While attempting not to spit out its contents, she smacks Eugene in the chest with her free hand, “Eugene!”
He hardly reacts to that, for he has grown quite accustomed to her abuse by now.
“That’s the worst thing I’ve ever tasted!” she exclaims, scrunching up her face in disgust.
“Ah… that’s the stuff,” Eugene exhales contentedly.
“You actually like that?” she asks in disbelief. He must be joking.
He shrugs, “Eh, you get used to it. Besides, it’s more so the side effects that people enjoy and not the actual taste.”
“Side effects?”
“Yeah,” he responses, as if it is obvious. “You know, one might notice things start to get a little cloudy or something like that. It depends on the person, really.”
Well, I feel fine right now, for the record,” she states proudly, setting it back down on the counter. “Aside from that awful taste in my mouth.”
Eugene chuckles. He’d only wanted her to try it. “Just… don’t have too much of it, okay?”
Rapunzel scoffs and crosses her arms, “Trust me, I won’t.”
They venture further into the tavern and almost immediately, people are greeting them and shooting looks their way. It’s almost as if they clear a path for the couple as they walk, and everyone treats them as if they are all old friends.
Eugene must say all the attention is quite appealing to him. He makes them laugh and will do anything to shower them with charm. Rapunzel isn’t bothered by it either and probably enjoys making friends more than anyone else in the world.
As the night goes on, Eugene’s head begins to feel a little fuzzy and that familiar warmth starts to nestle in his stomach. He’ll admit he hasn’t drunk this much in a while, but man, does he miss the feeling of it.
He makes an effort to stay by Rapunzel’s side until she gets pinned down in a conversation with another girl her age. She seems beyond excited to be meeting people, and so Eugene merely keeps an eye on her from afar whilst also chatting with other villagers.
“How you doing, Goldie?” he asks once she finally makes his way back to him. “I thought I lost you for a second there.”
“That man over there just bought this and gave it to me,” she points to someone in the crowd then presents the mug of ale in her hands.
“What?” Eugene follows her gaze toward a young redheaded man by the bar.
“He said I should be celebrating just as much as anybody else. Isn’t that nice of him?” chirps Rapunzel.
“Uh… yeah,” Eugene stutters as a roar of distant laughter erupts over the music.
“It’s still pretty gross, though. I don’t understand why you like drinking this stuff,” she observes the peculiar drink in her hand, then gazes among the room. “People seem to be having lots of fun though so maybe it isn’t that bad.”
“You know, you don’t have to drink it if you don’t want to,” reminds Eugene.
“But I do! I’m royalty now. I have to make a good example for all these people. And if someone is nice to you then you should be nice to them back,” insists the girl.
“Yeah, but too much of it probably isn’t good for you. And that would definitely not be a good example,” he winces at the mere thought of it.
“Oh, come on, Eugene. It’ll be fine!” she bubbles. “You said so yourself. We’re celebrating, aren’t we?”
“Eugene!”
He turns at the sound of Rapunzel’s voice, finding her rushing toward him with a huge grin on her face and a mug in her hand.
“There you are!” she exclaims, relieved to run into him again.
The tavern is only getting busier and louder as the night goes on, and Eugene had spent some time conversing with Hook Hand who he’d not-so-surprisingly run into.
“Everything alright?” Eugene unconsciously holds his hands out to her upon noticing how out of breath she is and the fact she’d almost tripped over her own feet.
“You know how I said someone gave me a drink?” she pants, holding onto his arm. “Well, it happened again… twice.”
“Twice?!” He wonders if he’d heard correctly.
“Yes! I don’t even know who these people are,” she says in a high-pitched voice. “Well, I guess they know me. Everyone does, because apparently I’m the Princess now,” Rapunzel snorts with laughter, somehow finding that fact hilarious.
He watches her for a moment with a confused expression. “And… you drank them?” he asks slowly, already assuming the answer.
“Well, yes. What else was I supposed to do?”
“Uh… how about not drink them?!” blurts Eugene.
“But I can’t just say no. That’s rude!” insists Rapunzel, crossing her arms with a pout.
Eugene sighs frustratingly, finding it impossible to argue with her sometimes. Besides, it’s entirely her choice whether she wants to drink or not. He’s literally the one that encouraged her to try it. He just knows all too well that men buying girls drinks aren’t always just to be nice.
Eugene gently grabs her shoulders as he dips his head to meet her eyes, “So… you’re feeling okay?”
“I feel amazing!” she shouts with joy, nearly jumping. “I’m starting to realize what you meant when you were talking about those side effects. For some reason, I thought you meant that as a bad thing!”
Eugene rubs his forehead while muttering quietly to himself, “Dear god, please don’t let your father kill me.”
He really hadn’t expected her to drink this much, though he should have known the night wouldn’t end without her doing something crazy and unpredictable. Okay, he really needs to keep a better eye on her now - especially considering he literally has the Princess of Corona in his hands. If anything happened to her, the King and Queen would probably have him beheaded right then and there.
“This is just so great,” stresses Rapunzel. “Ugh, I can’t believe this entire time I never knew what I was missing! And this music!” she holds her arms out and spins around herself, momentarily losing herself in the atmosphere. She grabs his hands again, softening her voice, “Thank you for showing me… Eugene.”
Despite his underlying panic, he can’t resist grinning at that. “You’re welcome.”
As Rapunzel warmly gazes back, she suddenly stumbles into him when someone bumps into her from behind. She squeaks in surprise at the feeling of her cold beer splashing over herself.
“Watch it!” Eugene shoves the supposed drunkard away from her, who only continues past them. He turns back to her once the man disappears through the horde of people. “You okay?” he asks her with concern.
Rapunzel only nods through her uncontrollable giggles, realizing some of her drink had spilled onto him as well.
Eugene has dealt with more than enough drunk people in his life, but at least Rapunzel is too intoxicated to be upset by anything right now. He supposes he is thankful for that, but you’d think people would have more respect for their literal Princess. Though, these people are probably well past the point of even noticing her considering their drunken states. Hopefully.
Despite it all, it is kind of amusing watching her like this. Eugene didn’t think she could get even more cheerful and giggly than she naturally is. But hey, there are worse ways one can react to alcohol.
“Hey, listen,” begins Eugene, “If you ever wanna go back, just let me know. I’ll completely—"
“Are you kidding?! I haven’t had this much fun, well… ever!” interrupts Rapunzel. “This is way better than royal balls and meetings and whatever else we’d be doing back at the castle. And don’t even get me started on what it was like in that tower.”
“Well… then I’m glad you’re having fun,” concludes Eugene, completely agreeing with her about the castle thing.
“Are you having fun?” Rapunzel queries, gazing up at him with wide green eyes.
“Yes, I am,” he responds contentedly.
Rapunzel takes a step toward him. “Good,” she murmurs, before springing up on her toes to plant a short kiss on his cheek.
Eugene smirks back at her, “Good.”
Of course, Eugene makes the mistake of leaving Rapunzel alone for literally two seconds to grab her a cup of water. When he turns around again and she is suddenly no where to be found, he slaps his own forehead and groans into his hand.
Yep, he should have seen that coming. God, she’s like a puppy constantly getting distracted by toys.
He peers over the heads of others in search of her. It doesn’t take him long to spot a girl in a pink dress by the far wall of the tavern, and he releases a sigh of relief upon knowing that she’s still alive and in fact didn’t leave the building or worse.
However, after doing a double take, he recognizes the person talking to her as the man she had pointed out to Eugene earlier – the one that had bought her a drink - well, one out of many apparently.
He’s likely the same age as Eugene and has a similar build. The only difference is his orange hair and that annoying perfectly curled mustache - also the fact that he is standing way too close to Rapunzel for Eugene’s liking and, wait… okay, yep. He just put a hand on the wall next to her.
Still, she’s laughing and looks like she’s enjoying talking to him, so who is Eugene to tell her who she can talk to or not? She can do whatever she wants. He brought her here to have fun, right? Yeah. Eugene doesn’t care. He is not bothered in the slightest.
Rapunzel wanders back to him just as the band of musicians begin to play another song. Neither of them recognizes it but the sound is enough to get the entire tavern practically jumping with excitement.
Soon enough, a group of people have formed a circle of dance while others gather around them, clapping and cheering as they watch.
“Eugene, look!” Rapunzel points excitedly at them, jumping up and down with a big smile on her face.
However, Eugene still has his arms crossed and is distantly glaring at the man she had been talking to, so it takes him a second to even notice he is being spoken to.
“Come dance with me!” She walks backwards while pulling him by the hands.
Finally, Eugene finds no other choice but to forget about that and lets himself get pulled toward the music.
His first instinct is to decline with the excuse that he isn’t a dancer, but the number of drinks in his system right now along with the fact he never actually got to dance with Rapunzel before is more than enough to convince him.
Of course, Rapunzel immediately begins drawing the attention of everyone, and may as well have a spotlight on her as she dances.
As the upbeat music quickens its pace, even more people join the circle, and everyone is linking arms as they dance a jig around the tavern. Bystanders are clapping along to the rhythm, and they all swear there has never been so much joy in the Kingdom.
It feels like an eternity of bliss before the song finally ends. Everyone hollers and lively laughter fills the room. They shoot their drinks in the air as they toast to each other and their found Princess, and no one minds the amount of mead being spilled in the process.
Amidst the wild crowd, a few drunken men stumble into the circle holding tankards. More men are pulled and playfully shoved into the clearing. They begin forming a staggered line with much encouragement from the group.
Rapunzel and Eugene cheer along from the outside. They assume everyone is just being rowdy, but there’s a sense of panic when Eugene is suddenly pulled into the middle of the circle by who he realizes is their good friend Hook Hand.
The burly man slings a heavy arm around Eugene’s shoulders and shoves a mug against his chest, “How ‘bout it, Fitzherbert? Last to finish loses!”
“What?” Eugene practically shouts over the noise, then glances down at the drink that somehow appeared in his possession.
Oh no. He really shouldn’t. There’s probably enough alcohol in him to last a week right now, and he can get extra cocky once past his limit. God knows nobody wants that.
Eugene chuckles nervously before holding out his hands in protest, “No, no, I’m good—”
Suddenly a deep voice hollers enthusiastically from somewhere nearby and they both turn their attention towards it.
Of course, of all people that it could be, it’s the blasted redhead shooting his fists in the air and clearly enjoying the party. Or should Eugene say – the guy who could have never in a million years rescued the Princess of Corona from a tower and then go on to date her and most likely marry her.
For a moment, Eugene just gapes at him from afar.
“Whoo! Go Eugene!” Rapunzel squeals from the edge of the circle, clapping excitedly for him.
Eugene looks at her, then at Redhead, then down at his drink.
He shrugs with a puckered lip as his voice raises in pitch, “You know what? Yeah. Why not?”
Hook Hand tightens his arm around Eugene and nearly suffocates him in the process. “That’s a good man!” He slaps Eugene on the back so hard that he stumbles forward and ends up standing directly next to Redhead.
They eye each other for just a second before looking away again.
An entire line has formed now, with men on either side of Eugene. A chorus of voices counts down from three, then erupts into cheers as the contestants begin chugging their drinks as fast as possible.
The noise is piercingly loud yet acts as encouragement for Eugene to drink for his life. He’s pretty sure he can hear Rapunzel’s enthusiasm from somewhere nearby.
With the tankard still to his lips, he glances at Redhead next to him.
Just before he finishes, Redhead throws his empty tankard on the ground, with Eugene following suit a second later. He normally wouldn’t have been so aggressive about it, but somehow felt it necessary.
Eugene attempts to catch his breath as various hands clap him on the shoulder. His head sways from the sudden heaviness of it and a wave of warmth ripples throughout his entire body.
Rapunzel appears in front of him as he blinks through the haze with all the chaos occurring around him.
“Yay! You did it!” she congratulates before cupping his face and pulling him into an ardent kiss.
Eugene is so surprised that it takes him a moment to realize what is even happening before his hands slowly settle around her waist.
When she jumps away, he opens his mouth to speak before Rapunzel becomes distracted by Hook Hand and the two instantly begin chatting.
Taken aback with everything that just happened and the fact that it’s suddenly so much more difficult to stand, Eugene continues to catch his breath as Rapunzel and Hook Hand’s voices fade back into the party.
He peers around himself until somebody else appears by his side.
“Not bad, Rider,” comments Redhead, though it seems far from a genuine compliment considering Eugene just came in second to him.
“Eugene, actually,” he corrects, resisting a scowl. Of course, it isn’t uncommon for people to associate him with what he’s best known as but hearing it from him somehow irks Eugene a lot more.
“Right,” he chuckles in response, almost mockingly. “S’pose everyone’s heard about you by now if they haven’t already. What, with you being the Princess’ knight in shining armor.” He elbows Eugene playfully, who couldn’t be further from amused.
Well, Eugene must admit he’s never heard himself been called that before, though he wouldn’t mind getting used to the sound of it.
“But hey, don’t let it get to you,” continues the other man, presumably taking Eugene’s silence as insecurity. “There’s always next time, eh?”
It takes everything in Eugene not to punch him in the face right then and there.
Now, a sober Eugene probably would have just left it and walked away at that point. He’s never been a sore loser, because he’s too good to let something so insignificant get the best of him. Anyone could confirm that he’s always been more mature than this bloke. But a drunk Eugene on the other hand, well… look, whatever happens tonight, he figures he can blame it on the alcohol later.
“I’m free right now,” informs Eugene with a smug smirk.
The other man only raises a peculiar eyebrow.
Eugene crosses his arms and lifts his chin with sudden confidence, “Yeah, you and me! How ‘bout it, ginger?”
Not even a minute later, a group of burly men are hovered around a table watching Eugene and Redhead engage in a very concentrated, very enthusiastic arm wrestle.
They cheer and holler around the two – arguably mature – drunkards. One of the onlookers even pounds his fist on the table in excitement as if the battle itself were between life and death.
A few minutes of tense straining later, Eugene finally slams the other man’s arm down onto the surface, albeit a little more forceful than necessary.
He leaps to his feet and shoots his fists to the sky in victory, “Ha ha! How’s that for a knight in shining armor?!”
At that moment, Hook Hand leans his head in next to Eugene, staring blankly at something in the distance. “Ain’t that your girl over there?” He asks in a low, unimpressed voice.
Eugene follows his gaze.
Much to his surprise, across the bar is yet another random man he does not recognize talking to Rapunzel, this time grabbing her hand and kissing it for whatever ridiculous reason he deems necessary.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” groans Eugene, staring dumbfounded.
Considering she is the Princess, the action is probably just a respect thing, but on the other hand Eugene could definitely think of a thing or two to show that guy some respect.
He watches as Rapunzel peers around herself. She makes eye contact with Eugene and a bright grin illuminates her face. She says something to the man, points, and waves at Eugene. Then she stumbles forward and nearly manages to fall on her own face just from standing there.
Without thinking, Eugene marches directly over there with all patience completely thrown out the window.
As he strides past them, he grabs Rapunzel’s hand without stopping. “Okay, Blondie, I think we’ve both had enough to drink.” Then he halts and whips around to face the random man, jabbing a finger in his face, “You – I don’t like you. And you smell bad!”
With that, he practically drags a drunk Rapunzel through the tavern and out the door. “Listen. We’re not gonna tell your father you drank anything. In fact, we’re gonna make sure you don’t even run into them when we get back. Because I can assure you, the King is definitely going to kill me after tonight.”