Birthday Celebration Log

[letdownmyhair]

Who: Rapunzel & Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert
What: It's Rapunzel's 19th birthday! And somebody has something extra special planned for it. :3
When: July 6th, all day long~
Where: The Kingdom (of Corona?)
Warnings: Fluff. So. Much. Fluff.

Comments

[flynn_rider]

Flynn, on the other hand, was nervous. Nervous was a kind of new feeling for him. Sure, he'd been anxious-- will this job work out, will I be able to pull off this scheme-- but it was always a kind of anxious excitement. He knew he'd be able to get away, or at the very least break out of whatever lax jailing system that particular township had, and go off to try to make his plan bigger, better.

This was something he'd been planning for months. Ever since his talks with Tulio made him realize that yes, he was actually in love with Rapunzel. The thought made him groan-- how could he have done something as stupid as falling in love with someone? He didn't have time for this, he had money to make! An island to buy! Wanted posters with his name all over them! But he knew the second he saw her again he'd write it off as worth it. It was like he had two personalities: the logical (sane) one who kept reminding him that not only was this a horrible idea, but that her terrifying mother was literally going to kill him, and the idiotic pile of goo he turned into when she was in the room that rendered him beyond argument.

Yep. He had it bad. So he did the only thing he could think of to marry his two halves: he made a plan to woo Rapunzel.

It'd been perfect. It happened to be both her birthday and the Kingdom's lantern festival back home. Rapunzel'd never been, though she'd made wistful comments about the lanterns before. As he was making his way to her room he went down his mental checklist-- something he often did before a big job. Everything was in place. He just had to not screw it up.

He took a deep breath, and knocked on her door.

"Rapunzel? Hey, I know I'm a little early, so if you need some more time to--"

[letdownmyhair]

At that first knock Rapunzel was already scrambling to her feet, all but flinging herself at the door and leaving Pascal in a pile of flowers on the couch. She had the door open in a matter of seconds, interrupting whatever Eugene was saying just so she could stand there and beam up at him. Her heart was fluttering in her chest. Maybe she was a little too excited and too happy; and they hadn't even left the dorms yet.

"Hi~ I'm all ready!"

She pushed back some hair that had gotten loose from the braid. Anxious, she looked down at her dress and it suddenly occurred to her that maybe she should've gotten something nicer. It was a special occasion... "I- I mean, I think I'm ready. Do I look okay? Should I- change into something nicer? Today's a really big day after all..."

Was she babbling? Oh no, she was babbling, wasn't she? She had to tone that down. She was going to get carried away.

[flynn_rider]

He flinched a little at her enthusiasm, though the shock quickly gave way to a smile and a chuckle. A big day, was it? At least he knew he wasn't the only one excited about today.

"You're fine, Blondie. You look---" He cleared his throat, swallowed. What happened to all that charm? His smoothness? Where did the smoothness go? Because all he managed was "-- fine. Good." He himself was dressed in essentially what he'd worn when he arrived; brown pants, white shirt, green vest. His ever-present satchel over one shoulder.

"If you're ready, then we can go ahead and get moving. We've got some traveling to do this morning."

[letdownmyhair]

She had to bite down on her lip to stop another stream of babble from bursting out of her and nodded. She was ready. She was more than ready.

Rapunzel quickly turned and waved toward the rest of the dorm, since Pascal was in there somewhere. "Bye Pascal! I'll be back later, so don't bother Jane while I'm gone!"

There was a chirp in response to that, which just made Rapunzel's smile grow as she turned back to Eugene with another nod. She slipped out the door quickly, shutting it behind her before grabbing hold of Eugene and hooking her arm around his.

"So... So where are we going??"

[flynn_rider]

He smiled a little at her and tugged her along. The day was mostly a surprise-- he'd been really tight-lipped about it all. But seeing as how it was the day of, he supposed he could let at least that much slip.

"We're going to the Kingdom. You've never been, right?"

Though he was a little worried about the no-shoes situation she had going on, he remembered that's essentially how she'd gotten here.

[letdownmyhair]

Rapunzel's eyes immediately lit up. THE KINGDOM. "N-No, I've never-- We're really going?!"

What little control she had over her own excitement was starting to slip. Keeping her hold on him, she couldn't help but bounce excitedly as they walked onward.

"You're really taking me there?! Is- Is it really okay?!"

[flynn_rider]

He laughed. "Yeah. It's really okay."

Or-- well, he assumed so. There was no mist related ban on travel. He'd get there the same way he got here, and that should be fine enough.

"And we're really going. There's something going on in town today, you know."

[letdownmyhair]

"Really?"

Rapunzel tilted her head slightly to one side. Well, Eugene was much better at remembering these calendar date things than she was. She kept forgetting that they existed and was always going by the system she'd had to make up while in the tower.

"What is it?"

[flynn_rider]

His smile broadened. He knew she knew about the lanterns-- she'd mentioned them before, often wistfully while looking piningly up in the sky. They always came out on her birthday, so he was a little surprised she didn't know about the festival.

Then again, she had been locked in a tower her entire life.

"Oh, nothing big." He slid his glance downward, peeking at her from the corner of his eye. "Just the annual lantern festival."

[letdownmyhair]

That tore it. Her self control snapped.

Rapunzel immediately stopped walking, her grip on Eugene's arm tightening ever so slightly. She was staring at him wide, star-filled eyes, cheeks pink and the brightest smile stretching from ear to ear.

"W-We're going to see the LANTERNS?!?! On my birthday?!?!?!"

With a squeal, she released his arm in favor of throwing her arms around his neck in a tight, squealy, excited hug. This was going to be the best day of her whole life.

[flynn_rider]

He didn't even have time to answer; she was already half-wrapped around his neck, which managed to choke any response right out of him. He did manage a laugh, and he wrapped his arms around her waist to hug her back. It was a good feeling.

A really good feeling.

"They have the lantern festival every year on your birthday, actually. I thought we'd take a day and go check it out."

[letdownmyhair]

She was so excited that she was practically kicking her feet in the air, squealing for just a moment more before she withdrew again. Her hands were still up on his shoulders as she beamed up at him, giggling a little. She was practically glowing.

"I- I've always dreamed about going to see those lanterns someday! I mean, I always saw them from my tower but- You know, I wanted to see them in person! So..."

Her smile softened a little, just enough to take it down from the peak of her excitement into something more genuine. More grateful.

"Thank you, Eugene~"

[flynn_rider]

He smiled back down at her, stifling a chuckle. "Yeah. I uh-- I remember that. You mentioned it a couple of times, how they always went out on your birthday. It's how I remembered when your birthday was, in fact."

A small laugh at that, but then she smiled. That smile. It melted his insides, turned his knees to goo. And they hadn't even left the academy yet. Man, but he was in trouble.

It drew out a mirrored smile of his own.

"Don't mention it, Blondie."

[letdownmyhair]

She laughed a little, biting down on her lower lip anxiously. She could feel heat rising up into her cheeks as he smiled at her. She liked it best when he smiled like that; it was different from his Flynn Rider smirks and grins... that smile was all Eugene. Which meant it was a secret smile that only Rapunzel got to keep.

At length Rapunzel realized that she was pretty much holding him in place and that her face was hot and her heart was pounding in her chest. With another little laugh she managed to pull herself away a little more, withdrawing her hands to push her hair out of her face. They had yet to leave the building and she was already so happy she felt like she could burst at any second.

"S-So... So, we should-- get going, right??"

[flynn_rider]

He almost did it. He almost leaned in, kissed her, and ruined his plan before it'd even started. Usually he was pretty good at flying by the seat of his pants, but today everything had to go perfectly. He couldn't afford to spoil it now.

But then she pulled away, and he remembered how to breathe. He coughed, grinning a little sheepishly.

"Yeah. Yeah, we should. We've got big plans, after all." He grabbed her hand and gave it a light tug, and off they went back towards the Kingdom.

[letdownmyhair]

Blushing, Rapunzel kept her hold on Eugene's hand the whole way. Just that little bit of contact was enough for her. It also made sure that she didn't get lost; her tendency to get distracted by their surroundings would've been more than a little problematic otherwise.

But the moment they made it to the Kingdom, the instant they arrived at its gates, Rapunzel had to break away. Her eyes were wide in wonder and amazement as she took the place in; the decorations, the people, the festivities, the music, the buildings... Beaming, she turned excitedly back to Eugene.

"WOW!! Can- Can you believe it?! This is amazing!!"

She turned back around again, all but bouncing in place as she tried to figure out what she wanted to see first. She blindly reached for Eugene's hand again, like she needed something to hold on to lest she start floating away.

"Eugene... Eugene, where do we start?!"