Night of Hearts

Unveiled and Unclothed

Hugo stood beside his boyfriend, tugging at the collar of his brand new, shining custom green suit. 

Not a trace of black could be found on him, which Varian knew must have been driving him up the wall. Squeezing his hand, Varian got the other to look over at him with fake baby blues.

"You doing alright?"

Hugo gave a big smile. "Oh, yeah. Your art piece is gorgeous by the way. Maybe for your next one you can paint me like one of your French boys." He got an elbow to the side for that. "Kidding! I'd make sure I was wearing socks." He was shoved again.

"Smartass..."

"Well, well, well," came a voice behind them, and they both turned around. "You finally took him out into the sunlight."

"Eugene!" Rapunzel chided, walking with Varian's cousin arm in arm.

"You made it!" Varian cried out, greeting them both.

"So, he pegged you yet?" Eugene asked the blond while looking him up and down.

Varian choked on his own spit. "Fucking—you can't just ask him that!" 

Hugo burst out laughing.  "Oh, he's done more than that..."

"Hey, you..." he warned, pointing a finger at his boyfriend. "Shush."

"Oh, damn," Eugene mused, wrapping an arm around Varian's shoulders. "You've been gettin' busy lately, huh."

"Stop. Literally stop. Rapunzel!"

"Sorry, man," the blonde woman said, scrolling busily on her phone. "Already told you that's not my job, also there's a big sale on Michel's today. Gotta snag all the paint deals before they're gone."

He rolled his eyes. 

"So," Eugene went on, patting his cousin on the back. "I had no idea you were such an amazing artist. This is really great, Kid."

"I'm twenty, but thank you, Eugene. It means a lot."

"Oh, you'll always be a kid to me. I'm glad things worked out with you and your ex."

"Wait, what?" Hugo said, turning to Varian who blinked in confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Eugene gave a smug expression. "Guess that one night stand from the Day of Hearts turned into several..." Looking between the two, Hugo and Varian both seemed to catch his meaning.

"Woah, Eugene, I don't know wh... That's crazy—" Varian began, stuttering.

"Yeah, you've got the wrong idea," Hugo chimed in. "We only just met..."

"It's alright. I won't spill your secret." 

Varian sighed defeatedly. "H-how did you know?"

His cousin considered that. "I know you too well, kid. You'd never jump into a relationship immediately after hooking up with your high school ex. You never date lightly. You always put your whole everything into it, plus... you always text me when you start new relationships, so the fact that you didn't with this one was highly suspect."

"Oh." He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well, please don't tell anyone. I want to respect Hugo's privacy."

"Aw, that's really sweet of you, Var," Rapunzel said, eyes never leaving her phone. "I'm sure he appreciates it so much."

Hugo looked to the side at that, pulling at his collar again.

"The press can just be so stifling," Varian added, rubbing his thumb over Hugo's, though the blond wouldn't look at him.