"Varian?"

Aquaria walked into the living room, but was cautious since his room has been right above, but the floor had fallen in.

Varia sat on the couch in tears and Aquaria frowned as she walked over.

"Varian, it's gonna be okay," she said softly as she hugged him gently, letting him lean against her.

"I-I just wanted to give the village running hot water. I really thought it was gonna be perfect so I could make my dad proud and impress you but I'm a failure..."

"Oh, Varian. Why would you need to impress me? You impress me every day," she comforted and he sniffed.

"But I keep failing with all my inventions... why do you even still want to be friends with me? I constantly mess up, I've put you in danger twice now, and I'm an embarrassment to you," Varian cried as he looked at her.

"You don't always mess up. You've had many successes and you are always trying to help the people around you. You are definitely not an embarrassment to me. I'm so glad that you're my friend." She kissed his cheek gently and he blushed.

"And I'm glad you're my friend too. I don't know what I'd do without you, Aqua." He buried his face in her neck before murmuring, "and one day maybe we can be more..."

"What was that?" Aqua asked softly and he quickly thought something up.

"I said my head is really sore," he said quickly.

Their friendship was one of the most important things in the world to him. He couldn't risk ruining that friendship and making things weird between them. He didn't really lie though. His head really was still sore from getting hit with the magnifying glass.

"Where does it hurt?" She asked gently and he let her see the back of his head. She saw that he was still bleeding a bit and she frowned. "What did you do?"

"I was looking at Rapunzel's hair with my magnifying glass and pushed it away, but it went all the way around and hit me in the head," he said sheepishly and she giggled a little.

"You're a dork, Var," she said as she used her powers to take the water from the air and cleaned his cut. "It's in your hair so I can't put a bandage on it, but the bleeding seems to have slowed."

"It still really hurts," he murmured.

"Then close your eyes and relax. Let your head rest," Aqua said softly, but he looked up at her instead.

"Can you sing the lullaby?" Varian asked softly, wanting to hear her voice.

"Of course," she said softly and he snuggled into her arms as she held him close.

She sang to him softly and ran a hand through his hair soothingly, being careful of his injury.

Varian closed his eyes, smiling at the sound of her angelic voice. By the time she finished the song, he felt so relaxed.

When Quirin came in, Varian looked at his father, tensing up once again. He was afraid of what his father was going to say.

"Varian, what were you thinking? You almost destroyed the whole village! Look at our house!" Quirin was furious.

"I-I just wanted to help... I wanted to give Old Corona running hot water... it was so close to working..." Varian explained quietly.

Quirin sighed softly as he sat beside the two friends. "I know you have good intentions but you need to be more careful. Both of the princesses were here today. If anything happened to either of them, the king and queen would be devastated. But if anything happened to you, Varian... I don't know what I'd do... I already lost your mother... I can't lose you too..."

Varian hugged his dad and Aqua smiled. "I'm sorry, dad..." He murmured.

"It's alright. Princess, I think you should go home. We've got a lot of cleaning up to do," Quirin said, but Aqua shook her head.

"This place is my second home. I'm gonna help rebuild. Plus, it'll be fun!" Aqua hugged them both.

"Alright then. We better get started." Quirin stood up and Varian nodded.

They all started to clean up the mess of their partially destroyed house.

Quirin watched the two clean side by side as he did the heavy lifting. It made him smile that his son had a friend like Aquaria. He saw himself and Rosamund in those two. He had been their age when he started dating Varian's mother. When she moved to Old Corona, he had been heartbroken until he reunited with her after the evacuation of the Dark Kingdom. He had been able to settle down with her and they eventually got married and Varian came along.

He always hoped that Varian would eventually find the one for him like he had found Rose. He had a feeling that Varian had already found the one for him, but just hadn't admitted it yet.

💧

After a few days of cleaning, Aqua using her magic to clear out all the dust, and the three of them rebuilding parts of the house that were fallen in, the house looked better. It didn't look the best at that moment, but it was at least clean and structurally sound.

"Thank you both for your help," Quirin said as he sat at the table with the two teenagers.

"Of course! We're a team! We do things together!" Aqua smiled and nudged Varian. "No more secret projects, okay?"

Varian nodded quickly and replied, "got it! No more secrets! We're partners!"

Quirin chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm gonna get heading home though. I'm filthy and definitely need a bath," Aqua said as she stood up.

"Okay! Bye, Aqua!" Varian waved as she left. He sighed softly as he watched her go.

Quirin hummed softly, seeing the look on his son's face.

"You know, son, I was sixteen when your mother and I started dating," he said and Varian looked up. "I know you're fourteen but, close enough."

"Really?"

"Your mother was fifteen and I had been friends with her for about a year. We were close but not like you and Aqua. I know you like her," Quirin said which made Varian blush.

"W-well yeah! She's my best friend! Of course I like her! If anything happened to her I-"

"That's not what I mean, son. Trust me. I can tell that you have feelings for her. I've been there." He put a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Pfft, no! I-I don't have feelings for Aquaria! Th-that's just c-crazy!" Varian blushed a bright red and Quirin chuckled.

"My advice to you, don't wait too long," Quirin said to his son.

Varian frowned. "But what if she doesn't feel the same? What if she only ever wants to be my friend? It'll be so awkward if she finds out that I like her. I don't want to ruin our friendship, dad. She means so much to me. If I lost her, I... I don't know what I'd do..."

"And what if she does feel the same?" Quirin looked at his son patiently.

"Then that would be amazing but the risk is too high," Varian said as he shook his head. "And even if she doesn't want me and she finds someone else, I'll be happy because she's happy. She'll always be my best friend no matter what happens."

"I understand. Now you should get a bath too. You're covered in dust and dirt," Quirin said and Varian sighed.

"Okay, see you in a bit, dad..."

Varian went to go clean himself up, thinking about what would happen if he ever lost Aquaria. It would kill him.

💧

A few days later, Aquaria was getting ready for the Gopher Grab with Cassandra when her sister and Eugene ran into the tent.

"You okay, sis?" Aqua looked at her.

"What does it mean when someone yells 'boo' at you?" Rapunzel asked curiously as Eugene sat down.

"It means someone hates you," Cass said bluntly.

"Way to candy-coat it, Cassandra," Eugene grimaced as he tossed an apple back and forth to himself.

"Why wouldn't someone like me? What could I have done to this person?" Rapunzel asked as she walked out of the tent.

"Rapunzel, who cares? Not everyone has to like you. That's part of life," Eugene said to her.

"Eugene's right. Someone could not like you for a number of reasons. For instance, maybe you have a stupid goatee that looks ridiculous and someone may not like you for that." Cassandra grinned at Eugene as she brushed Gregorio.

"You know, Cassandra, it's a little hard to take your insult seriously when you're holding that thing," Eugene said as he pointed to the gopher she was holding.

Aqua looked between the two and rolled her eyes.

"I'm gonna go. I promised Uncle Monty that I would help him bake some cookies so I can take some to Varian," Aquaria said to Rapunzel before she left.

She went to the Sweet Shoppe and walked in.

"Uncle Monty! Hey!" She waved as she went over to the counter.

"Princess! You are right on time! I just pulled out all the ingredients for the cookies!" Monty let her behind the counter and into the kitchen.

"Thank you for letting me help you, Uncle Monty," Aqua said as she went over to the island with all the ingredients at the ready.

"Of course! Can you tell me who you are bringing some of the cookies to?"

"I'm bringing them to Varian. He lives in Old Corona and has only had famous Monty cookies twice before so I thought it would be a special treat to bring him some. Plus I love helping you bake!"

"Varian? Who's that?" Monty gasped and put his hands to his cheeks. "Do you have your first boyfriend, princess?"

"N-no! No, he's just my friend, m-my best friend," Aquaria stammered and Monty chuckled.

"Are you sure? That blush says otherwise," Monty pointed out.

"I'm positive, we're just friends," Aqua replied quickly.

"But you love him, don't you?" Monty grinned.

"No, I don't love him. I really like him but I wouldn't say love yet. I mean I do love him but I'm not in love with him. I don't know how to explain it... i-it's complicated..."

Monty chuckled and put a hand on her shoulder. "I understand. You have strong feelings for him but you don't want to throw the word love around. You want it to mean something," he said knowingly and she nodded.

"Yeah, that's the way to put it," she murmured with a light blush.

"Well then, let's get baking so you can give him a special treat," Monty said with a smile.

"Alright!" Aqua started to mix the ingredients but Monty's curiosity got the best of him.

"Is he cute? How tall is he? Is he a lot older than you? How long have you known him? What's he like?" Monty's questions rapidly fired at the princess.

She giggled and blushed slightly as she thought about Varian.

"He's absolutely adorable and he's a bit taller than me, I'd say three or four inches. He's only a little over four months older than me and I've known him since my first birthday. But oh boy, where do I begin with what he's like."

Monty chuckled lightly at the dreamy look in her eyes before saying, "well what do you like most about him? Start there."