You paced worriedly around your room. The only sound you could hear was the clock ticking as the minutes go by. The moonlight shining through your bedroom window. It's been almost a week since you've spoken to Varian. You've blocked and avoided every possibility of seeing him, because you couldn't bear the pain after that conversation.

"You're my closest friend."

He only sees you as a friend. He would never love you more than that, you thought to yourself. Maybe it is a bit selfish to put him in this position, when he just made a whole new invention just for you, but once in your entire life you wanted this part of your life to go the way you wanted to. You wanted him. Is that so bad to ask for?

Varian was at the basement with his welding mask on, working on an invention trying to forget the conversation you had with him that was kept on replaying in his head. The way he felt at that moment, your face gleaming under the sunlight, on how your eyes met his, and the way your smile faded away once he told you the first lie he ever told you.

That you were just a friend.

He wondered how things might have gone if he just told you the truth. He tried to visit you, but you always had a different excuse every time he wanted to talk to you. As he thought of you in his head, he tried to quell his thumping heart.

A large crash erupted as his hands swept the table, knocking off every item off of it. He leaned his hands on the table, his head bowed down. He doesn't know what to feel anymore. He felt regret, pain, and longing. He felt all of that for you.

He removed his mask, exhausted from all the work he'd done to his distract himself. He went up to his room and changed into his pajamas.

You both crashed into your beds, eyes staring up at the ceiling as you felt the heavy beating of your chests. Wondering if things would ever be the same again. Both of your eyes began to close while reliving memories of each other in your heads as you went to sleep. 

While the two of you had gone to sleep, the three friends were in Rapunzel's bedroom discussing the both of you.

"Cass, I'm worried about her! She hasn't been herself for almost a week and she's not even trying to hide it anymore." Rapunzel said with a troubled stance.

"She probably just needs some time to herself. We don't what actually went down during their conversation at the lake so we can't really do anything about it." Cassandra said patting Raps on her back.

"Well, maybe there is something we can do about it." said Eugene with a hand on his chin.

"Well, what is it?" Cass asked.

"Blondie already did it to the both of us before. We're gonna change a few things, of course." He said as he strut across the fireplace.

"Only this time, it's gonna be for (Y/N) and Varian.

You yawned, shifting in your sheets. The sun was blinding your eyes, so you got up to close the blinds. As you began to get back into bed again to snooze a few minutes more, you noticed a letter neatly placed on your nightstand. You walked towards it and began to read the note.

Dear (Y/N),

I have a slight favor to ask you, but this should only remain between the two of us. My father has a very important assignment for me and I need your help. Meet me in the dungeons, 2 pm sharp. I'll answer your questions there.

Sincerely,

Cassandra

You felt excitement come over you. Finally something to do and to think that it's a royal assignment! Was it a robbery? Catching a criminal on the run? OOH, was it a murder mystery? You ran over to the shower to get ready for the day, thinking all of the ways you could impress Cass with your detective skills.

The clock struck 1 while Varian was doing the dishes. Quirin and him had just finished eating lunch and his father had to go out to help the villagers to tend to their crops so Varian was left doing most of the household chores. 

Until he heard a knock at the door.

He walked to the door, his apron full of soap suds. As the door creaked open, he saw it was Eugene.

"Oh hey there pal, just wanted to drop on by. How's it going?" Eugene said as he entered his house unannounced. "What you up to? I hope you're not busy."

"Well, I've got to do a few chores to do but-"

"Oh don't you worry about those "chores" cause I've got something more important for you to do." 

"What is it?" Varian asked as he removed his apron and hung it up, but as he turned around to face Eugene, his eyes widened at the thought of why he dropped by. "Is it an awesome new mission for Team Awesome?" 

"You betcha kid, now get ready and get some of your potions" Eugene said as he tried to hide a smile. "I'll be waiting for you outside alright?

"Sure thing!" Varian said as he ran downstairs to fill up his backpack with all sorts of alchemy stuff.

While Varian was distracted, Eugene went out the door to find Quirin and ask him for his permission about their plan. 

"So you want me to allow you to trick and fool my son so you can humiliate him and confess his undying love to the Queen's sister that he's attacked in the past with his automatons right here in this very land that we're standing on?

"Uhm yeah?" Eugene said as he put his hand on the back of hid head. "I mean if it's okay with you?"

"Alright, no problem."

He let out a sigh of relief.

You were wearing your most darkest outfit. A black t-shirt and black pants and your hair was in a messy bun, some strands falling to your face. You wanted to be ready for any running and any agile activity you had to do for the day. 

You headed downstairs to get to the dungeon, but as soon as you swung the door open, someone had put a hand over your mouth as your eyes widened.

Eugene and Varian had arrived at the castle. They both got off of Max and gave him a few apples for the ride.

"So what are we doing here?" Varian asked. He thought they going somewhere outside of Corona. 

"Oh you'll find out soon enough kid. But first, I'm gonna ask you to put on this blindfold first."

"Wait, whAT?" He asked with quizzical eyebrows. Eugene's been acting suspicious the whole ride and he's beginning to question him. "Why?"

"You've got to trust me." Eugene said, trying not to foil the whole plan. "It's part of the mission."

"And what if I don't want to?" Varian said, attempting to find out what was behind all of Eugene's shenanigans. "What are ya gonna do then?"

"Well then, you leave us no choice kiddo." Eugene said as Varian felt a pan hit behind his head.

You opened your eyes but you couldn't see anything. You were standing up, but it didn't feel like stone or grass. It was like you were standing in a basket. It seems like their was a bag put over your head. You tried to scream, but to no avail. There was a gag over your mouth so you couldn't make any noise. You felt your hands tied up against something, but you didn't know what it was.

You extended your foot to find anything that could help but you escape, but you ended up stepping on someone's foot. Was there someone else with you?

You heard footsteps coming towards you from behind. You felt your heart racing. Were you about to die?

The bag was removed from your head and you began to squint your eyes because of sudden light hitting your eyes, but as your eyes began to adjust, you saw who you stepped on. His hands were also tied to his back, with a gag in his mouth.

It was Varian.

You began to look around at your surroundings. You were tied up in a hot air balloon, in an open field which funnily enough was showered with flowers. You turned around to see who took the bag off your head, but you never thought it would be her who would orchestrate all of this.

Rapunzel smiled sweetly, acting as if Varian and you weren't tied up.

Eugene and Cassandra came as well, carrying some chairs with them.

As soon as Cass put the chairs down on the grass, she slowly walked towards the balloon, circling the two of you, taking slow strides to intimidate the both of you.

"So here's what's gonna go down. You're gonna ascend on this hot air balloon, but it's tied to the ground so you won't go anywhere. It's so that you could have private conversation without us intervening. The both of you can only turn down the heat of this balloon  and return to the ground when you've finally resolved your problem. The three of us have called backup so if you get down to early, we're gonna force you to go up again. We're not leaving until you two talk this out. Alright?"

The both of you nodded. 

Eugene and Rapunzel both removed the rope of your hands and the gag from your mouths. You quietly worked together as you removed the bags of sand that kept the balloon grounded as Varian turned the heat up. You both began to ascend while the three of them sat down on their chairs.

You felt the tug of the rope from the ground onto the balloon as you've reached the sky. The problem is, you didn't know how to start this conversation.

"So, how've you been?" Varian asks, trying to remove the silence from the air.

"Okay, I guess." You lied to him, trying to hide the fact that you've been miserable without him. "You? Any new scientific discoveries yet?"

"I mean, there is this new one. I think I may have created a new element  but I haven't really perfected it yet since I haven't found the perfect combination of protons yet..."

Varian suddenly stopped as he saw you looking at him with a smile. 

You love when he's passionate about things he love and sometimes it makes you forget what the problem was.

"But we're not here to talk about my discoveries. We're here to talk about..."

"Us." You finished his sentence. You couldn't exactly decipher what you were supposed to feel right now. You leaned onto the ledge, arms folded as you looked into the distance. "I just have one question before we start."

He leaned on the other side of the balloon, leaning on it as well. "What is it?"

You sighed, thinking this was the moment that would define the course of your relationship with him.  You turn around,  only seeing his back as he looked into the clouds

"Varian, is there a chance that you would like me more than just a friend?" 

You saw how his shoulders tensed as he heard you ask the question.

He felt his heart stop.

He knew what his answer was, but was he ready to let you know what he truly felt for you?

He let out a small breath, as he turned to face you. He looked at you in the eyes, ready to drop his facade and let you see his true self.

"(Y/N), I've been wanting to tell you this a long time ago. But then, when I finally had the chance to tell you, especially at the lake, I chickened out. I lied to you. I was afraid you wouldn't return back what I felt for you. I was afraid that it would ruin things between us, but now..."

He walked towards you slowly, as he caressed your face with his hand. You leaned towards it, holding his hand that was touching your face as your lips slowly broke into a smile.

"I'm not afraid anymore. You're the one I want to be with, since the very beginning. Since the moment I first laid eyes on you."

He backed away for a second.

"The question is, are you ready to be with me?"

You laughed, knowing that he didn't even have to ask because you already knew what your answer would be.

You jumped into him, pulling him into a tight hug. You couldn't stop smiling but you didn't mind.

"Of course, you silly boy. I wouldn't want to be with anyone besides you."

His eyes widened, surprised by the longing embrace you gave him. Though it didn't take long for him to wrap his arms around you as he closed his eyes taking in the moment.

You pulled back, ready to go back to the ground and tell your everyone how happy you were.

"So, what do you say?" You said looking down, seeing the three of them chatting with each other, waiting for the two of you to come down. "Ready to land this thing?"

"Well, not quite." Varian took a small vial out of his backpack, which he thought he was gonna use for the mission with Eugene. "I was thinking we could, you know have spend some time with each other without the whole tied to the ground thing?"

"No problem, pretty boy." You replied, as you ruffle his hair.

Varian took of the cork of the vial as he leaned on the edge and poured it onto the rope. It slowly began to bubble as it tore the rope apart, setting the both of you free.

"So, where do you wanna go first m'lady?" Varian said as he took a small bow, his hair dangling in front of his face.

You chuckled. "Anywhere, as long as it's with you."

"Well then, hold on tight!" He began to turn the valve clockwise as the balloon took you higher into the skies, gliding through the clouds.

You watched as you encountered birds, seeing people on the ground looking like ants as the two of you had long conversations about the things that you love.

At long last, you've finally gotten what you've always wanted. The boy of your dreams who was finally yours, in your arms as you flew across the kingdom with wind in your hair.

As the three of them were cracking jokes with each other, Eugene noticed something about the rope that was connected to the balloon.

"Uh, guys? Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" 

"OH NO."

"Don't worry guys, they're gonna be fine. Right?"

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HEY GUYS!

How are you all doing? Hope you haven't gone crazy cause of the quarantine, cause I have. lol

Though, are you guys enjoying the amount of fluff that I've been writing? I hope so!

Anyways, I wish you all the best! Thanks for reading my stuff!

lots of love,

-athena