Aquaria was walking into the castle with a bright smile.

"Hey, princess. How was your night out?" Cassandra asked when she saw the look on Aquaria's face.

"It was wonderful," Aqua said with a giggled as Eugene and Rapunzel walked over.

"Squirt! You're back! How is Goggles doing?"

"He's doing great! But hey, Cass, you need to hear this," Aqua said with a grin.

"What is it?" Cass raised an eyebrow.

"This man right here can keep a secret." Aqua patted Eugene on the chest.

"I don't believe it," Cass said as she shook her head.

"He actually didn't tell me Varian's plan. Can you believe it?"

King Frederic and Queen Arianna walked over to greet their youngest when they heard the four talking.

"Wait, he really did it? I'm so proud of him! I knew the kid could do it!" Eugene laughed but Rapunzel and Cassandra looked confused. "I helped the kid with a plan to ask Squirt to be his girlfriend," he explained.

"Really? You said yes, right?" Arianna asked, excited for her daughter.

"Of course I said yes!" Aquaria beamed as she thought about the night before. "I've wanted this for a while!"

"I didn't know you liked him!" Rapunzel said and Cassandra raised an eyebrow.

"How could you not know? You were in Varian's lab when I was talking to Aquaria about her having feelings for him," Cass said.

"I was being spun around and there were loud noises around me. Plus, she kept insisting that they were just friends," Rapunzel defended.

"How could you not know just by the way she talks about him. It was extremely obvious, Blondie," Eugene said.

"Yeah, it must've been obvious if Fitzherbert could tell," Cass said smugly.

"You know what, I'm gonna ignore what you just said." Eugene crossed his arms.

"It wasn't obvious," Rapunzel said with a frown.

"Um, it really was, sweetie," Arianna said to her daughter.

"Dad?"

"I've known for a while," Frederic admitted.

"Pascal?"

The green lizard nodded in agreement with everyone else.

"Friedborg?" Rapunzel looked at the handmaiden who was just standing there. Friedborg nodded once.

"It was soooo totally obvious," Shorty said out of nowhere and Aquaria jumped, not having seen him come up beside her. "Who are we talking about?"

Aquaria rolled her eyes with a slight laugh.

"I don't think it was that obvious," Stan said as he walked with Pete and Rapunzel looked at the two.

"See! Stan didn't think it was obvious!" She said with a smile.

"Oh, sorry, princess. I was talking to Pete about how he didn't polish his helmet yesterday. What were you talking about?" Stan looked at the eldest princess.

"Did you know that Aquaria liked Varian?" Rapunzel asked and Stan hummed.

"No, I don't think so. Who's Varian?" Stan asked. "Oh wait! The goggles boy that she hangs out with at her birthday every year! Everyone knows she likes him!"

"Yeah, they've been friends forever! It was obvious when she started liking him!" Pete chuckled.

"How did I not see it?" Rapunzel asked, feeling like she didn't even know her sister now.

"I don't know actually. You're the one that said he was my boyfriend and you told Eugene that he was my boyfriend," Aquaria said as she remembered when Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cass went to Varian's lab.

"Yeah, but I was only joking around." Rapunzel looked at the ground.

"Varian was a bit harder to read though. Granted we three only seen him three times. The incident, Aquaria's birthday, and the Expo," Cassandra said.

"Actually I've seen him four times. I went to the kid to teach me some alchemy," Eugene said and Aquaria laughed.

"No, you went to Varian so he could teach you magic, but it turned into a discussion about how he's an alchemist and doesn't do magic," Aqua clarified.

"Whatever. I knew hair stripe liked her the whole time. He told me," Eugene said proudly.

"He told you? I find it hard to believe he told you and you didn't blab about it to Aquaria," Cassandra said as she crossed her arms.

"He did! I asked him something along the lines of telling me everything Rapunzel said to him, but I stopped him and told him to tell me just the important bits and I specifically remember him saying, 'Mr. Rider, when the princess of Corona who is your crush's older sister speaks directly to you, every word is important,' and then he tried to cover up what he said, but it was way too obvious and he made me promise not to tell her," Eugene explained and Rapunzel smiled.

"Aww, he thinks my words are important," Rapunzel gushed.

"He's a sweet boy," Arianna said with a smile.

"As long as you two don't kiss," Frederic said and Aqua blushed with a nervous laugh.

"Well, uh..." Aqua saw her father's unhappy look. "It was only twice! I promise! It was during the shower and that was it."

Frederic huffed as he glared at the floor. "He better not do anything I don't approve of."

"Fred, they're fine. They aren't doing anything that could affect them or hurt them. They're too young to be thinking of that," Arianna said to him and he shook his head.

"Holding hands is fine, only quick hugs, cuddling is only allowed if his arms are not around you, I will let kisses on the cheek slide, but no kissing on the lips, no sleeping together anymore, the only time his hands go below your shoulders is if he is holding your hand, his eyes cannot travel below your chin, and you are only allowed in a room together if there is a guard present to enforce these rules. Even in the lab," Frederic said sternly and Aquaria frowned.

"Darling, if you are going to set those rules for her then you must set those same rules for Rapunzel and Eugene as well as the both of us," Arianna said, seeing that their daughter wasn't happy about the rules.

"But I trust Eugene with Rapunzel and you know I respect you," Frederic said with a frown.

"And I trust Varian with Aquaria." Arianna crossed her arms.

The king sighed and looked at his daughter. "Fine, however, his eyes should never go below your chin and he better not touch you in any place that I wouldn't approve of," he compromised.

"I can work with that. Thanks, dad." Aqua hugged him before remembering something important. "Oh, and can I talk to you in private? It's really important."

"Of course. Let's go," Frederic said as he hugged her back.

The two walked to his study and she hummed.

"Now, what is so important?" He asked curiously.

"Well, a couple of weeks before the Expo, Varian and I found a cluster of these weird black rocks outside Old Corona that hadn't been there before. We studied it as best we could but we couldn't break them at all. I haven't been to Old Corona since before the Expo until yesterday and the rocks that were outside the village now in the village. It's like their spreading," Aquaria explained to him and he hummed.

"I am aware of the rocks. Keep this between us, darling. We don't need panic spreading through the kingdom and we are resolving the issue," Frederic said and Aquaria nodded.

"Okay. I'm gonna go unpack now," she said before she ran out to go to her room.

She burst into the room and flopped onto her bed.

"Oh my stars! Last night was amazing! I can't believe it! Best night ever! He is so amazing! He actually asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"You really are excited about this," Rapunzel said as she sat on the window seat.

Aqua squeaked in surprise and shot a water bubble at her. Rapunzel dodged and the bubble flew out the open window as she giggled.

"Sorry! I didn't realize you were in here!" Aqua sat up.

"It's fine. I just wanted to talk. I feel like I don't know you as well as I should. I mean, I didn't even realize you had feelings for Varian but apparently, everyone else thought it was obvious," Rapunzel said and Aquaria blushed.

"Heh, well what do you wanna know?" Aqua asked her sister.

"Everything! We can have a sleepover and get to know each other better," Rapunzel said with a smile.

"That's a great idea!"

The two stayed up late as they shared stories of their childhood.

🧪

Varian waited in the garden with a little picnic.

He had a little box in his hands. He opened it, but quickly closed it when he saw Aquaria coming into the garden.

"Varian? What are you doing here?" Aquaria walked over, smiling when she saw him.

"I thought that I would set up a surprise picnic. Do you like it? I made ham sandwiches for us," Varian said excitedly and she sat down.

"You're too cute, Varian. Thank you." Aquaria pressed her lips to his cheek and he beamed with a light blush. "I love it."

"I brought you something else too. Close your eyes." Varian stood up and she hummed, closing her eyes with a smile.

She felt something cold go around her neck and then she felt Varian's lips on hers. She smiled and kissed back gently.

"Open your eyes," Varian murmured after he pulled away.

Aqua opened her eyes and looked down to see a beautiful necklace around her neck.

"The Aquarian," she realized and he smiled.

"I told you I would get it to you soon," Varian said with a smile.

"It's beautiful." Aquaria studied the necklace.

"It's nothing compared to you, muffin," Varian said cheekily.

"You are too cute. But muffin is not it," Aqua said with a light laugh.

"Boo?"

"Definitely not," Aquaria said quickly.

"My flower? Nah, that doesn't fit. Why can't I just call you princess?"

"Because everyone in the kingdom calls me princess. It wouldn't be special," Aquaria said to him. "Plus, you know I hate it when my friends call me princess. And by friends, I mean, you, your father, and my family."

"I know." Varian wrapped his arm around her waist. He took out one of the ham sandwiches, eating it happily.

Aqua snuggled against his side and started to eat a sandwich.

She was so happy with Varian. She hoped nothing would ever change.