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."

"Yeah but it only happens every nine years and I know you really wanted to see it." Varian looked at her.

"So we can see it again in nine years," she said with a shrug.

"You're not upset?"

"Varian, you mean so much more to me than any rare event. I missed it because my dream came true. I'm not upset at all. How could I be? I had my first kiss with the guy I have feelings for and now I'm his girlfriend," she beamed as she put a hand on his cheek gently.

Varian blushed, but smiled as he put his hand over hers on his cheek.

"I got to see the first part of it. Plus, now I get to say I had my first kiss under the Empyrean Shower." She giggled and he hummed softly.

"And this is magic I can believe in. I get to be with the most gorgeous princess in the world. No offense to Rapunzel of course. She is beautiful in her own way but I guess that is a matter of perspective. I mean, Eugene probably thinks Rapunzel is the most beautiful princess. Not that I don't think she's pretty. I-I mean she's not pretty. I don't think she's pretty. You're pretty. You're more than pretty. She looks okay, but-"

Aquaria started laughing at his rambling and he blushed.

"You can call my sister pretty, Varian. It's not a crime," she said.

"B-but you're my g-girlfriend now. I-I should o-only think you're pretty. No one else," Varian stammered.

"So are you saying now that we're dating you are gonna think the queen isn't pretty?"

"Well no, she's your mom. Your mom is very pretty- oh... I see your point," he said with an embarrassed chuckle.

"You're allowed to think any girl is pretty. I'm not gonna ban you from every girl you see just because you may think she is pretty. I'm definitely not gonna be one of those girlfriends. I really want it to be no different from when we were friends except now there's a label and my dad may get a little more protective," she said with a smile.

"Why would he be more protective? Oh... well, he doesn't have to worry about that any time soon. It's nothing against you, but I'm not ready for... that..." Varian became a tomato and Aqua did too.

"And you think I'm ready? We're fourteen. I don't plan on doing anything of the sorts until I'm at least eighteen, but even that's pushing it. I'm perfectly okay with hugging, holding hands, snuggling, and the occasional kiss."

"I mean we literally do that stuff all the time anyway. I mean not the kissing part, but the other stuff," Varian said with a smile. She was right, it wasn't gonna be much different from before.

"Speaking of snuggling, I'm tired," Aqua said as she yawned adorably.

Varian chuckled and picked her up, making her yelp in surprise.

"A little warning next time would be nice." She playfully hit his chest.

"Sorry, princess," he said as he took her to the tent.

"You know I hate when you call me that," she grumbled.

"Yeah, but before you were the princess of Corona. Now you're my princess." He gave her a cheeky grin.

"Still, don't call me that."

"Okay, Squirt. Nah, that only works coming from Eugene. Dear? No, that doesn't sound right. Darling? Nope. Sweetheart? Hmm, maybe. Sugarplum?"

"If you call me sugarplum, I don't think we can be together or even be friends," she joked.

"I'll figure it out. Let's just go to sleep." Varian took her into the tent, but she went to her side. "I thought we were gonna snuggle?" Varian pouted playfully.

"Are you sure? I mean, we're dating now and-"

"So we're just gonna act like we haven't been snuggling since we were eight years old?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, no, but I just thought that sleeping together would be different now. Before we were just friends and there were certain boundaries. It was just friendly cuddles," she said with a blush.

"And that's not gonna change, Aqua. Even though I'm your boyfriend now, I'm still your best friend first. Don't even think about the fact that we're together now. Just think of me as your best friend," Varian said softly. "We don't have to snuggle if you really don't want to. I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to."

"No, I do... I just really don't want it to change. You promise it'll be the same as always?" Aqua asked as she looked at him. She was illuminated by the silvery moonlight showing through the entrance of the tent since Varian hadn't closed it yet, but it was the only reason he could still see her.

"I promise. I don't want it to change either. Why fix a perfect machine that's not broken?" He smiled and she hummed softly with a smile.

"If it doesn't need improvement then there's no need," she said as she crawled over and pulled her stuff right beside his. "How about we lay on your blanket and use mine to cover us so we aren't sleeping on the tent floor which is pretty thin."

"And that's why you're my partner. You're a genius," he said and she snorted.

"Coming from the guy who literally created a new element," she said and he chuckled a little.

"Two actually."

"Two? I thought you only made Cassandrium." She looked at him in surprise.

"Do you seriously think I would create an entirely new element and name it after Cassandra?"

"Um, yeah. That's what you did," she said and he let out a nervous laugh.

"I mean before thinking of naming something after you. Sand isn't the first thing I tried in the remogrifier. I tried a lot of things and water was one of those things. I thought that the heat would just evaporate the water, but I had to try it and it worked. I couldn't name the one at the Expo after you because I named the first one after you. It took me some time to come up with the name because it had to be perfect, but I named it Aquarian. It's kinda like our names put together." He let out his adorable geeky laugh.

"Why didn't you tell me about it? That's awesome!" She smiled brightly.

"I was going to give it to you as a necklace. I did some welding and cut the Aquarian perfectly to make it for you. I messed up the cutting a lot before, but now that the remogrifier is broken, this is the last piece I have so I was very careful with it. Though, while you were at the castle I had plenty of time to work on it. I just have to get it on a chain. I had hoped to have it done by tonight but I didn't want to rush it and mess up," he explained and she kissed his cheek.

"As long as I get it, I don't care when. It's a gift from you which already makes it wonderful. You're the best, Var," she said as she lied down on his blanket.

"And you're the sweetest." He lied down beside her and pulled her blanket over them.

"Goodnight, Var," she murmured as she curled against his side with her head on his chest.

"Goodnight, doll."

"That one's a no too."