Aches

[musicalluna]

Title: Aches
Fandom: Tangled
Author: MusicalLuna
Rating: E
Characters/Pairings: Flynn, Rapunzel
Genre: Hurt/Comfort
Warnings: None
Complete: Yes
Word Count: 900
Summary: One minute it hurts, and the next...
A/N: I couldn't resist writing Eugene's POV for the scene after they escape from the flooding chamber. And adding a tiny bit more whumping.

Disclaimer: THIS MOVIE IS SO AWESOME. Not mine.

 

After shaking off the shock that Blondie's hair glows, Eugene crawls out of the river behind her.

 

He aches.

 

His hand is burning and throbbing, the grass under his palm just irritating the wound even further. He curled his hand into a fist, wincing at the sharp sting of pain given in retort. It's echoed by throbs from his battered fingers, from a dozen different spots where he'd slammed into rocks. He groaned, laying his head on his arm.

 

A moment later he felt a delicate touch on his back.

 

“Eugene?”

 

“I'm fine,” he said automatically, pushing himself up off the ground. His hand uncurled slightly as he moved and he hissed.

 

“Are you sure?” Rapunzel asked and the anxiety in her voice made him look up. Sure, he felt pretty banged up, but it wasn't bad.

 

“It's just some bruises, Blondie. I'm fine, really.” He winced as he sat up and amended, “A little sore, but fine.”

 

Her small fingertips brushed over a spot on his forearm that was already turning into a pretty spectacular bruise. “No, you're not,” she said and sounded so sad it tugged at his heart. “You will be though,” she assured him, and determination stole across her face.

 

Eugene eyed her warily. “That's very cryptic, Blondie.”

 

“Come on,” she said and grabbed hold of him around his forearms, dragging him to his feet. She's surprisingly strong for someone so tiny.

 

They venture into the cover of the forest a little ways before finally settling on a clearing with a downed tree. “Okay,” Rapunzel says, grasping his arms and pressing downward. “Sit.”

 

Between her and the smiling frog, Eugene felt his heart fluttering low in his stomach. Rapunzel took his hands in her own, her touch exceptionally gentle. He still couldn't stop the wince that flickered across his face as even her light touches aggravated his raw, throbbing fingers. Digging through those rocks had really done a number on them. His left hand was smeared with both dry and fresh blood. It looked pretty bad, and based on the fact that he could only just twitch his index and pinkie fingers, it was pretty bad. Anxiety curled in his stomach, tight and black and he tried to move his fingers again.

 

The immediate response was an agonizing spike of pain. He hissed, barely smothering a curse he didn't want Blondie hearing behind his teeth.

 

“Oh, Eugene,” she murmured, sounding heartsick. “I'm so sorry.”

 

“It's not your fault,” he told her. “If anything, I should be apologizing to you. Those guys were only chasing us because of me.”

 

“Yes, but we were only at the Snuggly Duckling because I blackmailed you,” she said.

 

Eugene rose a brow at her. “We could go back and forth like this all night.”

 

“Or I could just do this,” she said and then wrapped her hands around a lock of hair, running her hands over it nervously. After a second of that, she reached for his hands again. “May I?”

 

He shrugged, feeling the ache all the way to his elbows. The gesture was casual, but as she took his hand in hers, he stiffened. She's just a tiny girl. You will not run away. You're Flynn Ryder. Brave and tough and— The little voice in his head cut off with a strangled little sound as the first strands of her hair touched the cut. He waited until his voice felt like a sure thing again and then cleared his throat. “So...you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your hair around my injured hand.”

 

She pulled the hair-bandage tight in a reflexive gesture and he flinched. “Ah!”

 

“Sorry! Sorry,” she said, wincing herself. “Just...don't freak out.”

 

Eugene glanced down at his hand, his stomach suddenly doing barrel rolls. Why did it suddenly feel like he should be freaking out? He glanced back up at her, trying not to look as panicked as he felt and she sighed, then closed her eyes. And then she began to sing.

 

As she sang (her voice was really quite lovely, he'd have to try and remember that later when he wasn't totally freaking out) the hair on her head began to glow again, gold and shimmering like sunlight on water and he realized that it hadn't been a hallucination due to lack of oxygen, that her hair had actually started glowing and not only that, but it was doing it again.

 

He watched the glow spread from the roots of her hair down past her shoulders and then as it began winding around them, yards and yards of blonde hair turning shining gold headed straight toward—his hand. Panic surged up his throat and his breath caught as his head snapped around to find the glow curling around his hand, shining brighter and brighter and making his hand feel warm and tingly and oh god oh god her hair was glowing and what was it doing to him oh god—

 

She stopped singing finally, the glow fading away and Eugene's heart beat against his chest as he lifted his hand, tugging the locks of hair away to find what he already knew to be there.

 

Gone. It was gone. All of it it was gone oh god oh god she had her hair it glowed and now his hand—his hands his arms his the blood where had it—

 

A squeak escaped from his throat and Rapunzel held up her hands. “Don't freak out!”

 

He smothered the sound and then said, “Freak out? I'm not freaking out, are you freaking out? I'm just curious about your hair and the magical qualities it possesses, how long has it been doing that?”