Every Step of the Way

{Thank you to those who are keeping up with my story by putting it in their reading lists. It means a whole lot to me... Thank you!}

~-~

With lunch over and done with, Varian half expected Cassandra to immediately leave his lab.

He was shocked when she didn't.

Instead, she leaned back in her seat and observed the lab.

"So... I see you've settled in," she finally said, "do you like it here?"

"Yeah, it's pretty nice, I suppose."

"What do you mean, 'I suppose'?"

He sighed before leaning back in his chair, too. "It's hard getting used to a place that doesn't really have any... personal touches to it, you know?"

"Personal touches? Such as what?"

She tried to recall what his old lab, his home, looked like, if it had any "personal touches" to it, but all she could remember was the young boy's shrine to Flynn Rider.

"Honestly? I have no idea."

She laughed before something came to her mind.

"Hold on, I've got just the thing."

~-~

She was back a few minutes later, holding a giant painting.

She showed it to Varian proudly- a large portrait of four people. Rapunzel and Eugene stood in the center, smiling, while Cass stood next to Rapunzel and Varian stood next to Eugene.

"I just finished this yesterday. Maybe it's the... personal touch you need?"

He stood up to admire the painting. "You... you painted this yourself?"

"Yep."

"And... you're willing to give it to me for my lab wall?"

"Mm-hm," she smiled, trying to suppress a laugh.

Of course she was willing to give it to him. She had nothing better to do with it, though she wasn't going to admit that just yet.

"Thanks, Cassie... thanks a lot!"

They worked together to set the painting up on the wall, where he could see it from his desk and his work area.

After they got it properly hung up, they stepped back to admire it.

"You were right, Cassie," Varian consented after a while, "this is the personal touch I was looking for. Thank you."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah..." he looked away quickly, trying to hide his sudden, deep blush, "friends."

(She did not hear the last remark because he had whispered it.)

He quickly recomposed himself so as not to look like a blubbering red blob of eighteen-year-old in front of his... erm, friend.

"I'm glad you like it, Varian," she smiled before noticing the time, "oh, crap! Hey, sorry, look, I've gotta go... see you later?"

"Yeah... see you."

~-~

Dear Cassandra-

I hope you never find this letter, because... well, I can feel the heat in my face even as I simply think of what I'm going to write.

Look- I like you, okay?

Not "like" as a friend likes their friend, or a person likes one's personality, but, in the term of the village kids, I "like like" you...

Urgh, I am admitting this. I am actually going through with it.

Varian stopped to roll his eyes at his own cheesy writing.

"Am I seriously using my free time to do this?"

He sighed and again poised his quill to write some more.

Look, Cassandra, today was great.

We had lunch together, and we "personalized" my lab with a painting that you had done of us and Rapunzel and Eugene... and then came the remark about us being friends.

Not that that's a bad thing, but...

He sighed, frustrated, and buried his face in his hands.

If he sounded this cheesy in writing, and if he couldn't even finish a letter admitting to a girl that he liked her, how the heck could he possibly win Cassandra's attention and affection?

He knew that it was simpler for his idol, Eugene Fitzherbert/Flynn Rider, but he had admitted his feelings for Rapunzel on the brink of death. No way was Varian going to let that happen.

"Varian James," he started scolding himself, "things like this aren't easy. An alchemist addressing feelings? Unheard of! But just because it's hard doesn't mean it's impossible and you shouldn't do it..."

He clenched his fist into a knuckle, slamming down as hard as he could on his work desk.

This, of course, ended in pain for the young alchemist.

"Ouch!"

But this made him realize that he had to be bold, he had to be brave, if he ever wanted a happily-ever-after of his very own.

~-~

{Fun Fact: this is the longest story part I have ever written, totaling at- including this note and the one above, 715 words.}