Chapter Text
Rapunzel walked with Eugene down a long stretch of stone path toward the royal garden, two guards following behind them as ordered by the king. She glanced back at them and waved with a trying smile, a gesture ignored. “They’re not allowed to wave back sunshine, no matter how much they want to.” Eugene spoke, turning around to walk backwards and look at them he crossed his arms. “Pretty certain that guy’s mustache twitched though, should we alert the king?” Rapunzel brightened with a small laugh “What? No! he could get in trouble.” She turned her head back “I didn’t see any mustache twitching” she smiled, though he didn’t smile back she felt like she could see the appreciation in his eyes.
“Very suspicious pair we have tailing us blondie. Just as suspicious as the last two”
“If you keep cycling through our guards we’re going to end up with the captain.”
“Yeesh! Nevermind, nothing suspicious about good ol' Pete and Stan then” he flips back around to walk normally but collides with a wall of wood and leaf. Rapunzel laughs as he spits out a twig, “We’re here” She says, pointing to the garden’s entrance just a little to the left of where he stood. “I knew that” he pouts and walks into the garden, finding a stone bench near the center. Rapunzel doesn’t sit however, she came with business to attend to.
Armed with a wicker basket and a pink pair of garden gloves she does not intend on using, Rapunzel set off, zipping from bush to bush, corner to corner, tornadoing around a stationary Eugene as she collects the perfect election of flowers and ferns. “The king says 30 minutes.” Stan announces, he and Pete stood at the entrance watching the pair like hawks. “Woah didn’t know these guys could talk.” Eugene says before being bombarded with two different flowers popping into his view. Rapunzel stood behind the bench reaching her arms around his neck to show both options. “Green or Purple?” The green was light and soft with hints of white at the very ends of each petal, the purple was sharp and bright with slight shades of pink swirling in the center. Eugene takes a moment to blink at them, startled by the sudden presence of Rapunzel on his shoulders. The freckles on her arms seemed to be growing in number ever since she’d been home. More sunlight will do that Eugene presumed. what the sun could never touch was the delicate way her fingers held the flowers, how steady she was without breaking the stems. “Eugene?” She called him back to the task at hand “Oh- Uh, I like both. You did need a whole basketful didn’t you? Use both” Rapunzel brings the flowers up to herself again and considers this third option. “Technically I only need thirty, I’m already on twenty nine. BUT if I modify the design I c o u l d cram one extra in there, I’d just ne…” She walked away mumbling to herself the modifications already in the works.
Eugene rolls his eyes fondly and gets up from his stone seat. Catching up with her in the far corner of the garden where she has continued mumbling. “…then there would be three in the middle instead of one and they’ll all fit!” she becomes louder once the solution is reached, beaming she looks at Eugene “Did you get all of that? Just a few more twigs and it’ll work!” Eugene gently takes the basket from her and kisses her forehead “Whatever you say” Rapunzel turns pink and nervously looks toward the guards, who still watch, albeit from farther away. “Did you, get what I was saying?” she turns toward the bush they stood by and knelt down to collect a shapely twig. “I couldn’t really hear since you walked away, but I caught bits and pieces. I’m sure you got it” he lowers the basket down next to her, she takes it back and gathered the last of the twigs as she nods.
The two were silent after this, Eugene feeling comfortable and unaware while Rapunzel self reflects. She knows how she feels is silly and irrational. Clearly, he isn’t bothered by her mumbling. Yet she stays silent and feels the shame nonetheless. “15 minutes Princess.” Lost in her own head she startles at Pete's voice only a few feet behind her. “We can go back now, I’ve finished.” She nods. “Really? No bird watching? Cloud watching? Bug watc-wow we watch a lot of stuff” Rapunzel smiles at him “Yeah, I think I want to just get started on the project, like the queen said, ‘Every minute counts’ She wants this to be perfect.” Eugene starts to suspect the comfortable silence he was in wasn’t shared. “Yeah, perfect for you. All that stuff is for everyone else to worry about. You can relax” Rapunzel understood this, she had been told before that the project she made for herself was unnecessary, but she felt tired of being a guest at her own parties. Especially one as important as her Coronation. “All I’ve been doing is relaxing, They barely let me paint or walk here. Every time I sing the guards look at me like they’re expecting me to explode!” she sees his eyebrows furrow in confusion and glance at Pete and Stan. “Watch;” she closed her eyes and sang.
The incantation is as beautiful as ever. Pete and Stan do look like they’re sweating bullets. Eugene waits for her to be done.
Rapunzel looks to her left and points at the nervous guards. “See?” Eugene rubs his chin in thought “Maybe they think you still have, I dunno, a teeny tiny little hint of magic left in you?” Rapunzel isn’t interested in the possibility of that. She just sighs. “Whatever it is, I think a normal project working with the regular dressmakers will get everybody’s mind off it.” She starts off toward the exit of the garden. “Dressmakers? I thought you were making a bouquet or something. Why are we out here?” Rapunzel seems confused, she’s usually in the habit of telling him everything. “Oh I thought you knew, I’m using these to weave into my coronation dress. They’ll be dehydrated for preservation and weaved or stitched in the day before. After the coronation my movement will probably break some of them so they’ll be taken out and kept in a large jar.” Eugene muses at the idea of real flowers woven into a dress, as impractical as it was, the idea was very her. “Have they made a dress with real flowers like that before?” Rapunzel shrugs “I don’t know, nobody really reacted when I proposed the idea. They just, got to work.”
The four turn the corner towards the entrance of the castle, a guard notices their approach and opens the doors in preparation. Eugene cautiously suggests “We could take a look in the library? They might have fashion history books there with this kind of thing right? There’s no risk or trial and error in following instructions” Rapunzel’s brow raises at him “You don’t think I can do it?” She seems daring and playful, but Eugene can sense the hint of earnesty in the back of her voice. His opinion truly does matter to her. They stop walking and look to each other, standing now in the cool walls of the castle, Eugene sweeps her brown swoop of hair out of her eye “Of course you can, you can do anything you set your mind to. I just wanted to help. Everything assigned to me as a 'Member of the Court' has been missing a little sunshine.” Rapunzel feels a warmth in her heart, only Eugene has made her feel so appreciated and seen, she goes in to kiss him.
“Princess Rapunzel” Their kiss is blocked by a hand fan, held by the royal matron in charge of Rapunzel while the king and queen are busy. “How many times do I have to correct you on proper courting procedure. I understand your obsession with the boy but I will not let you be an embarrassment to the crown.” Rapunzel moves her full basket to one hand, freeing the other to rub her arm nervously. “I gathered the flowers, for my project… and nobody would’ve seen…” she mumbles the last bit “I saw, so did your guards. Herr Fitzherbert, go about your business. The princess has a meeting with the dressmakers in an hour and needs…” she glances down at the princess’s bare feet, dirty now from the garden. “Preparation.” The matron looks to Eugene expectantly, when he stubbornly doesn’t move she speaks again. “Auf Wiedersehen Herr” Though formal, she huffed away with the princess being pulled along arm-in-arm.
“Proper courting procedure my ass” he mumbled too. Pete, the shorter and paler of the guards (with no mustache), leaned towards Eugene “We won’t tell Frau Paulette about the kiss in the garden” He quickly whispered before the two rushed off to tail the princess and her matron. “Hardly call that a kiss.” Eugene says to himself.