"That could work," Eugene replied lightly, frowning as if he were considering it. He reached over and lightly ran his fingertips through her hair before pretending to tie a hank of it around his wrist. "Might work if we had more to work with, though." Arching an eyebrow, he added, "Unless you want me on a tight leash."

Kratos had joined them by that point, tall and red haired and slightly surly. Eugene had just been about to make a smart quip in response to Kratos' comment...but Rapunzel got there first.

And what she said made his heart skip a beat.

First time in love. Sure, they'd hinted at it, and after everything that had happened there was no way that what he felt for her wasn't being reciprocated, but they had never called it love. All that talk of dreams, and yet they'd never gotten around to actually calling it by its proper name. Until now, when Rapunzel had said it so casually.

Eugene grabbed her hand, looked into her eyes, and smiled.