The Alchemist's Princess | Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Chapter XX

Aqua pulled away after a moment and they were both bright red.

"It wasn't stupid at all," she said as her cheeks flushed.

"That was amazing," Varian said, blushing even brighter.

"Y-yeah... I guess the Empyrean Shower does make wishes come true," she pulled away from him.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted to do that..."

"Why did you pull away? Why would ever think your wish was stupid?" Aqua looked into his eyes as she rubbed his arm.

"I... at the Science Exposition I had this great plan that you would see my invention was successful and you would see me win first place. I wanted to impress you and I was gonna ask you out after I won, but you disappeared and I knew that I had hurt you..." Varian started to explain.

Aqua looked at him, seeing how nervous he was. She rubbed his arm soothingly.

"I never meant to blow off our plans, but I needed someone I could trust to be my assistant. I didn't ask you because I wanted you to see me win, but I had to help Cass with her chores so she could pull guard duty and she agreed to be my assistant... but then she was assigned to protect Dr. St. Croix and I didn't know what to do. I wanted to ask you to be my assistant, but I really wanted you to see me win with an invention I made on my own since all my other inventions I worked on alone were complete disasters... that weird little guy was all I had..."

"Shorty, his name is Shorty," Aqua said with a small smile.

"Yeah well, clearly he was the best choice..." Varian muttered sarcastically. "I should've just asked you, but I had my whole plan and then you were just gone... I thought you were disappointed and I felt like a failure... I didn't think I could ask you after that, but I wanted to make sure you were okay... When you told me that you were impressed with me all the time, I just... I was gonna kiss you..."

"You were?" She asked with a bit of surprise.

"Yeah," he confirmed as he scratched the back of his neck. "I was gonna go for it and honestly I couldn't help myself, but the guard came just as I was about to... I needed a new plan to ask you out and Eugene suggested that I ask you out tonight... I-I just got so nervous and I couldn't even form words so I let my actions speak for me... my wish was you not rejecting me when I asked you, but I panicked... I didn't want you to turn me down and i-it scared me because I-I... how could you have feelings for me after I made you feel awful at the Expo? After nearly blowing you up so many times? After being so ignorant and stubborn?"

"Varian..." Aqua murmured as she gently grabbed his hand in hers.

"I-I was so afraid to do this because I didn't want it to affect our friendship if you said no, but I had to know and at least take my chances before someone else came along... but if you said no... I know that it would've been my fault..."

Aqua smiled and kissed his cheek. "But you still haven't even asked me yet."

"W-well, um, will you be my girlfriend? Or are you just saying that because I assumed it was a yes? If it's a no I completely understand! I-I will be just fine if you don't want to be more than friends. I respe-"

"Of course my answer is yes, Varian!" She hugged him tight with a bright smile.

Varian smiled and buried his face in her neck, holding her close. He felt relief wash over him although he knew deep down that he shouldn't have been so worried in the first place. He looked at the sky to see that the shower was over.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make you miss the meteor shower," Varian said with a frown and she laughed.

"It's just a meteor shower."