Eugene stared at Varian, trying to figure out what to say. Was there even anything he could say? He'd never had to comfort someone who was in this situation before. All hope and spirit was drained from the boy, and it had been like that all day since the whole situation began to sink in. That Adira's sword couldn't break the amber. That his father wouldn't be freed any time soon. Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to tell him that right after the trial. He had already been through a lot that day.

  It had been a couple days since they got Varian back from Adira and Hector. They got a stern talking to from Cassandra and Rapunzel, and were forced to apologize to the guard for the panic. Cassandra tore into them the moment they returned, screaming profanities that if he himself ever heard Varian repeat, he'd faint. It was kind of funny to see Varian's reaction to the consequences of the whole situation. And it was also funny to see Adira and Hector be berated by Cassandra for an hour.

Varian apologized profusely as well, even though Eugene didn't think he had anything to apologize for. The kid must've been scared shitless the first few minutes of the whole endeavor. But he supposed that Varian had played into it a little, screaming for help even after knowing he was perfectly safe. 'I didn't think it was all that serious. Adira and Hector didn't seem worried at all, and—and I mean it was kind of fun'  he recalled Varian's explanation, and accepted his apology, because honestly? Varian being a little shit was always hilarious. Plus, he couldn't have known better. He was too injured to even walk, he was powerless against Adira.

Rapunzel cried for a long time, and Eugene got so worried about the sheer amount of tears being shed that he made her drink three glasses of water to make up for it. One could say he was being dramatic, but even Cassandra agreed that she had cried a lot.

While everyone else settled the chaos down, Lance had stayed with Varian until he fell asleep for the night. And now Eugene was here with him,  days later, wondering how things have gotten so bleak again. That seemed to be the highlight of Varian's year, getting kidnapped by them. It took his mind off of stuff, and he got to have a little fun outside of the castle.

Now, he was just sad and mopey. Varian hadn't even tried to eat or drink anything, wanting to lay there in bed and wither away. Eventually, Adira was able to get Varian to eat and drink. Eugene wasn't sure what she did, and wasn't sure if he wanted to know, especially since Cassandra couldn't even get him to do so.

They tried to help him come up with some solutions to the problem of the amber, but even after some encouragement, the boy didn't even attempt to come up with anymore equations in that little journal of his, all he did was just sit and stare at the ceiling. He seemed defeated.

It was honestly kind of freaky. Usually the boy would try to talk up a storm and ramble about things none of them quite understood, before he realized he was talking too much and clamp up. And it was honestly just so sad, Eugene wished the boy would just talk all day and never interrupt himself or be interrupted by anyone at all, but that wasn't going to happen so Eugene decided he would just take what he could get.

...Which, granted, wasn't a lot. The kid looked ready to start crying any given moment, so he decided to do what he did best. Break the ice with some stupid jokes. Honestly, Rapunzel should have known that leaving Eugene alone with a sad kid was a bad idea.

"Hey, Vari! Stop looking so sad, will ya? It's a lovely day today, you know. Birds are starting to collect food for the winter, the flowers are dying—what more could you possibly want?" Eugene asked.

"...My father?" Varian suggested, giving the man a deadpan look.

"Right, yeah, okay, wasn't the smartest thing for me to ask, i'll give you that. But kid, you looking so sad is making me sad, and if you cry, I cry and all my skin product and moisturizer gets messed up by my tears!" Eugene exclaimed.

"Oh...okay. Sorry" Varian whispered.

"See?!" Eugene shouted, "exactly what i'm talking about!"

"Well, I'm sorry if I seem upset, but all of my hopes for freeing my father from his unbreakable amber encasement were recently crushed" Varian mumbled, before letting out a sigh and looking at his hands, "but I should have seen it coming. Of course my compound would be too strong. It makes sense that the sword wouldn't work on it, right? I mean, it's not the black rocks, it's a stronger, more unbreakable version of them."

"Your alchemy compounds are very strong, I will admit" Eugene said, "but when have any of your experiments been totally perfect, huh? I'm sure they have a weakness, buddy! We just need to find it! Maybe we could try melting it? Or make an amber sword or something—who knows? Anything could work!"

Varian grumbled, and Eugene rolled his eyes, holding up a hand, "team awesome never passes up on a signature high five~" he drawled out in an annoying sing-song voice.

Varian giggled, giving Eugene a timid high five, "stop it, you're so stupid!"

"Oh? Who, me?" Eugene asked, putting his mouth in an 'o' shape in feigned offense, "well I am just hurt! You know what, I think it's time for you to learn a lesson, kid! About respect!" Eugene exclaimed lunging towards Varian with his hands, about to tickle him, before stopping, before seeing the perfect opportunity to slander Varian, "oh, and please don't turn that into a trauma thing, by the way, i'm just now realizing that could be a trigger phrase."

Varian snorted, shaking his head, "oh please, am I really that fragile?"

"Yes" Eugene said seriously, "yes you are. If I would have said that just four days ago you would have flinched, had a panic attack, and passed out."

Varian couldn't really argue with that. "Well what were you even planning on doing?" he questioned.

"Oh, you know, I just recently happened to remember that you're ticklish!" Eugene shouted, lunging at the boy, tickling at his ribs and elbows, his fingers moving in a quick motion as they glazed across tender skin, careful not to touch any injuries.

Varian gasped, bursting out into a fit of giggles, "Hey—EYEYEY! STAHP IT!" He shouted.

Eugene smirked, "I don't think so~" he sung, attacking Varian's sides. The boy cried out with glee when Eugene's fingers trailed up his sides and made their way up to his armpits. And that's when he hit gold.

Varian let out a delighted scream, before his giggles turned into shrieks of full on belly laughter, "Eugene! Eugene, stop it!" Varian exclaimed, tears running down his face, "oh man—how did you le—ARARN HOW TO TICKLE SO WEL? BAHAHAHHAHAHA!"

"It's just a natural talent that I always have possessed" Eugene smirked.

When Eugene's hands eventually got back to his stomach, Varian began to realize how badly he had to pee. He really needed a break from the full scale tickle attack anyways, because if he kept laughing he was probably going to tear something. He hadn't had an accident in like, three whole days. He didn't intend on having anymore, he wasn't a baby.

"Ok-OKAYAYAY!" He laughed, "that's enough! Sto—stop it!" Varian cried.

"Hmm...I dunno, are you done being so grumpy?" Eugene asked.

"YES!" Varian exclaimed, attempting to push Eugene's hands away. But man, was he persistent, "I'M HAPPY! YAY, LIFE IS GOOD I LOVE LIVING NOW WILL YOU STOHOHOHOP?"

He took his hands off of the boy for a few seconds, making him think he was free from his tickle torture, but then his hands came right back, and somehow Varian was laughing even harder.

His body was curled and tensed as he tried to avoid the tickles, "EUGENENENENE! STOPPIT! I'm being SERIOUS!"

Eugene looked ready to finally give him mercy, but accidentally pushed too hard on Varian's stomach, causing him to gasp, "I'm going to pee myself!" Varian screamed, his voice entirely serious, and that certainly did the trick.

"Are you serious? Like for real?" Eugene asked, eyes wide as he retracted his hands, watching as tears ran down the boy's face, and his body finally began to untense and relax. He slammed himself down onto the bed and laid down, his whole body shaking with laughter.

But there was a problem with that—because now he was breathing harsh and ragged as he tried to recover, and since his body began to relax, piss began to flow steadily out of him, quickly soaking through his hospital gown. His laughter turned into sobs as he gasped for air, trying to fill his lungs.

Ruddiger was chittering wildly, as if chastising Eugene.

Varian felt considerably damp by the time he realized he was actually wetting himself, right there in front of Eugene. Wouldn't be the first time, but still—come on! Could he ever catch a break? Was it even possible?

"Oh, kid!" Eugene exclaimed, "i'm so sorry!" He cried, panic rising in his voice, because oh man, if Rapunzel found out about this, he was as good as dead. But then he thought back to Cassandra. She'd warned him against tickling Varian anyways because of his stitches. Shit.

More tears began to gather in Varian's eyes as he continued to pant, "I told you to stop, like—like twenty seven times!" He cried, looking down to assess the damage. He covered his face up and began to whimper.

"Varian! It's alright, hey, we put on a mattress protector to protect the bed, remember? And not—not just for this! We have a lot of faith in your ability to not...have accidents, but also from stuff like..." he searched his brain for a lie that would make the kid feel better about it, "puke! Yeah, puke! All we have to do is take the protector off and wash it, no biggie!" He exclaimed, waving his hands around and making excuses more so at the look Ruddiger was giving him than at how upset Varian was getting.

Varian looked up through his bangs and nodded, his chin wobbly as his arms trembling, "i'm sorry..."

"No, kid" Eugene sighed, "this one's my fault. It's like you said—you did tell me to stop. A bunch of times. Now, I don't know if it was twenty seven, but I certainly remember a few more than's normal for a tickle fight" he chuckled.

Varian sniffled, looking like he was going to burst into tears at any moment and nodded, "O—okay...." Come on, Varian there is literally no reason to cry, this happens every other day, will you stop being such a baby?

Ruddiger apparently didn't like the amount of sadness in Varian's voice, because he pounced on Eugene and started making angry raccoon noises as he clawed at him.

"My face! My hair!" Eugene screamed, his voice muffled, "get this thing off of me!"

Varian giggled, "Rud, stop it" he cried weakly.

The raccoon slapped Eugene in the face one last time before jumping off of his victim's head and trotting back over to Varian to give him some cuddles. Varian hugged Ruddiger close, wiping his tears away as he laughed.

"Let's go get you cleaned up, okay?" Eugene said after a moment of recovery. He had a glaring match with the raccoon for a moment, "that thing is a menace."

Ruddiger hissed, getting his claws out and ready to pounce again, but Varian held him tighter, "aht aht aht, Rud. You can't scratch people. If you draw blood, that's not play fighting, that's real fighting"

Eugene smirked, "awe, you're like a dad."

"What would you know about dads?" Varian questioned, smirking.

"Okay, wow!" Eugene cried, suppressing a laugh, "that was uncalled for, but you got me there, you brat."

"That was me holding back. You made break my dry streak, I could destroy you if I wanted to" Varian joked.

"Oh, please. Look at yourself, I'd say you're a walking skeleton but you're not even walking. So..."

"Whoops" Varian said, "It seems my fingers are slipping."

He let go of Ruddiger, and the animal pounced.

"Varian, no! No no no, i'm sorry!" Eugene cried, squealing like a little girl. Ruddiger slapped Eugene's cheek before returning to Varian, "oh" Eugene said, sighing with relief as Varian bursted into giggles.

"Okay, okay! That's enough out of you two trouble makers, Varian needs to get cleaned, come on kid" Eugene said, reaching for him.

Varian nodded, but scooted away from the man when his hands came towards him, "I don't want it...to get on you" he mumbled, clearly embaressed.

"Varian, this happens way more often than I know you'd like to admit. Trust me, it's been on me. It's been on Lance. And the girls always take care of the laundry and the mattress, so it's safe to say that we don't care, buddy" Eugene assured.

"Just—hold me like i'm a baby, but like—not how a normal person would, pretend like you've never held a baby before in your life and you're scared slash repulsed by it" Varian explained.

"What? I've never held a baby before—"

"Good, so now all you have to do is pretend i'm one" Varian shrugged

"I don't think I understand" Eugene said.

"Babies are fragile, people are afraid of like, breaking them" Varian said, "like—like this!" He held both of his arms out in front of him as if holding a baby away from his direction.

"Oh! Okay, I get it now" Eugene said, before smirking, "this will be way more awkward though."

"I don't care, let's just get this over with. Where's Lance, by the way? You two are usually glued to each other."

"Well, right about now he's hitting on Adira" Eugene smirked.

"AGAIN?!"

—————————————————

"Hello!" Rapunzel exclaimed, "me and Cass got—" Rapunzel stopped when she entered the room and nobody was in there, "Eugene?" She called, letting the door open all the way, "Varian?! Cass, they aren't in here! Did Adira and Hector take him again?!"

Cassandra made her way over to the bed, raising a brow before smirking, "don't worry Raps. I think Varian's just getting cleaned up."

"Cleaned up?" Rapunzel asked, walking over, "what do you me—oh" she said, noticing the dark stain on the mattress protector, "oh. Sorry. I guess i'm just a little paranoid" she chuckled, "Come on, let's put it in the laundry chute."

By the time they got back, Varian was redressed and sitting on the bed, pouting.

"What happened this time?" Rapunzel asked gently.

"Um..." Varian looked to Eugene for help, wondering what he was supposed to say.

"Well, uh...you see, I kind of sort of caused this one" Eugene said sheepishly, cringing at himself.

"Of course you did" Cassandra sighed, "how?"

"I tickled him until he peed himself" Eugene said guiltily.

"On purpose?" Cassandra asked.

"No!" He cried in defense, "I was trying to cheer him up but I didn't exactly listen when he told me to stop and he ended up having a little accident" Eugene explained.

"Eugene, why would you do that? You know he's too weak to push you off, you could have hurt him, or made him puke!" Rapunzel cried.

"This wouldn't be the first time I was unable to push a grown man away from me when he was trying to touch me" Varian shrugged, suppressing a smirk. What was all of his trauma for if he couldn't make jokes about it?

"I—damn" Cassandra sputtered.

Rapunzel frowned, "no...it certainly isn't."

Eugene actually recoiled in disgust, scrunching up his face, "Varian, don't say it like that!"

"I'm sorry!" Varian said, "sorry, I just—it slipped out!"

Eugene sighed, "well, i'm sorry Var. i didn't mean for all of this to happen."

Varian shrugged, "apology accepted. But I don't think Ruddiger is going to be as forgiving."

A shiver ran down Eugenes spine when the animal in question narrowed his eyes at him, "oh—i'm sure he'll get over it."

"I don't know, Ruddiger is very petty. He remembers everything. One time my dad made him sleep outside for stealing an apple so he went and took one singular bite out of every apple in one of his apple trees" Varian said.

"Ha!" Cassandra snorted, "bet he was mad."

"Yeah. Really mad because we couldn't eat or sell them because by the time morning came bugs were eating them and they were starting to rot" Varian chuckled, "Rud is real mischievous at times."

"What's he gonna do to me? Bite into all my hair product and squirt it everywhere?" Eugene joked.

"Well now you've given him ideas" Varian smirked as Ruddiger chittered evilly.

"Don't even think about it, you rat."

—————————————————

"Dinner!" Lance chirped, coming into the room.

"...What happened to your eye?" Varian questioned.

"Adira does not like to be touched" he said quietly, as if haunted.

Cassandra slapped herself on the forehead, "Lance. What did you do?"

"Um" he chuckled, "I may have taken her hand in an attempt to woo her."

Varian smirked, "she must like you then."

"What?!" Eugene exclaimed.

"Well, you didn't just touch her. You took her hand. And she didn't kill you. Or seriously injure you" Varian pointed out.

Lance gasped, "you're right! Maybe I have wooed her!"

Everybody looked at Varian as if he was crazy and the boy just shrugged, "it's funny."

"Well prince charming, I certainly hope you didn't cook this or Varian's going to need his stomach pumped" Cassandra smirked.

"Oh, Cass he can't be that bad!" Rapunzel chastised.

"No, he really is" Eugene smirked.

"Nonsense! I know better than to cook for Varian! One of the royal chefs prepared this for him" Lance said, "also there's more than just broth in there. Vegetables and shreds of chicken as well."

"Last time he varied from just broth it didn't turn out too well" Rapunzel chuckled nervously.

Varian's stomach growled loudly and he blushed, "I uh—I think my stomach doesn't care."

Cassandra laughed, "it makes sense, you've been fed consistently the past few weeks. You're starting to grow more of an appetite. Which means you should ask for more food if you need it. And whenever you feel hungry you need to tell us."

Varian nodded, "okay. I will—um, I will do that."

Cassandra gave him a deadpan look, "Varian, i'm serious. We're already practically starving you."

He sighed, "okay! Okay. i'll tell you if i'm hungry."

"Great!" Rapunzel cried, "now eat your soup!"

"Don't have to tell me twice" he chuckled, taking a heaping spoonful of it into his mouth, "oh my sun that is heavenly."

The entire bowl was gone within seconds, and he sheepishly put it on the nightstand, "uh, sorry, I was hungry—"

"No kidding!" Lance cried, "are you still hungry?"

"No" he answered, "I just needed to get something in me."

"I would like to stress this" Cassandra began, "you are allowed to ask for snacks."

"Okayyyyyy!" Varian exclaimed.

—————————————————

"You are allowed to ask for snacks"

Cassandra's words rang out in Varian's mind. He was hungry—he was always hungry. There was a weird sensation in his gut that was getting harder and harder to ignore as the days passed by, as he was fed more.

Varian quickly found himself growing more of an appetite, and he hated that feeling, because he couldn't shake off what the guards had told him. He didn't deserve to eat.

It was getting easier to force himself to do so, since everybody around him was so sweet and encouraging towards him. Still, he didn't want to push it, or tread the waters of how far they'd be willing to go with him. They told him that snacks or seconds were always on the table, but what happened when he actually asked? Would they be willing to walk all the way to one of the kitchens again?

He didn't want to annoy them or anything, but they were bound to find out that he needed more food. His stomach was starting to protest the moments when he finished his broth and was asked if he was still hungry—he said no every time. Even though he was, he was so hungry, he felt like he was literally starving, but he kept his mouth shut.

He was afraid of overwhelming his stomach, of puking it all up and wasting. He would feel horrible if they went through all the trouble, only for him to be an ungrateful brat and throw it all back up.

His stomach was starting to growl, very loudly, even when he wasn't hungry. So there was no hiding it.

It was a burning sensation, he felt like he was just going to melt away. The feeling was constant, and the only relief he got from the gnawing in his stomach was when he was fed the broth.

The room was silent, and it had been a few hours since he was fed dinner. He had himself curled up into a ball, biting his lip and screwing his eyes shut. He was willing his stomach to stay silent, but he could feel it roiling and rumbling beneath his skin.

He let out a deep sigh through his nose when his stomach growled, loudly. Everybody's heads snapped up in his direction.

"Hungry?" Cassandra joked.

"I'm fine" Varian said automatically.

"Varian" Rapunzel warned, "am I going to have to go get Adira?"

"No! No, okay, fine" Varian said quickly, "I...I am hungry but, you already fed me, I shouldn't—"

"Varian, you're a teenage boy. What we feed you isn't enough to sustain you. We give you what we know your stomach can handle, but it isn't enough, that's why you need snacks once your stomach settles" Cassandra said.

"I think his problem is he doesn't like asking" Eugene said.

Varian nodded in agreement, looking down at his lap. Damn it, they were figuring him out.

"Alright. If we can't rely on you to ask, we'll just bring them to you anyways. You don't have to eat it if you're not hungry, but if i'm bringing you a snack in between meals, then you probably should" Rapunzel said.

"And if this continues, with you not eating the snacks, we'll have to force feed you" Cassandra told him, "your body needs food."

Varian nodded, "okay. Okay, thank you guys. I'm sorry for being difficult and everything."

"Nonsense" Rapunzel said.

"Yeah, you're not anymore difficult to handle than Eugene" Cassandra joked, jabbing a thumb in the man's direction.

"Hey now—no. You know what? This is bullying. I'm going to get Varian fruit and crackers, I don't have to take this disrespect" Eugene fumed, stomping out of the room.

"He couldn't even come up with a quip" Varian joked.

"I heard that!"