The Alchemist ✰〘 Varian One-Shots 〙

✰8. Aftermath

Key:

(Y/n): Your Name

(e/c): Eye color

Italics: Flashback

(h/c): Hair color

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Her meek figure sat on the fountain in Corona's square. She had lost track of how long she had been sitting, just stewing over the events of the day. (Y/n) hated fighting, and being cold to someone she loved. But right now, (Y/n) hated being wrong. Wrong about the way she spoke to him and hurt him. He was everything to her, and she had forgot that.

Looking down, the dejected girl spotted a scattering of coins lining the bottom of the fountain's waters. She pulled out a small bronze coin from her pocket and inspected it in the palm of her hand for a minute, before clasping it up tightly in a fist.

"I can't wish myself out of this one..." (Y/n) whispered as she placed it back where it came from. She let her body slip down onto the cobbled ground, and rested her back against the rim of the fountain. Lifting her knees to her chest, (Y/n) felt a stream of tears spill out from behind her (e/c) eyes that stared into the moonlit and empty street. In this moment; all she wanted to do was to run to him and apologize, but she knew the damage was done.

"Varian, come on. It doesn't have to be perfect, she won't mind." The (h/c) girl spoke impatiently as she held a box of decorations and ribbons in both hands. The frazzled alchemist pulled off his goggles and stepped back from his work.

"It does have to be perfect! It's Rapunzel's birthday, everything has to be perfect." He said while grabbing a rag and polishing his new invention with care.

"Well, I'm the one who's in charge of her party. So, it's fine as it is- as long a it works. I need it in the courtyard in 10 minutes!" (Y/n) replied as she headed out of his lab and made her way to organize the celebrations.

(Y/n) buried her head into her skirt as she tried to escape all the things she did, but the memories played out like a song in her mind...

"Varian! Finally, are you finished tinkering with the fireworks machine?" She walked over to her friend as he dragged a heavy canon-like apparatus behind him. He stopped in the middle of the courtyard and leaned victoriously on the side of his device.

"Done and dusted, and ready for action." He patted the barrel of the machine with confidence, causing it to tilt down and start to rumble, "Oh no..." Varian grabbed a lever, and it slowly started to aim to the sky before it detonated. Unfortunately, the reaction was too slow; and an explosion of color flew across the courtyard. It twirled and sparkled, narrowly missing 7 or 8 people, before it hit an ornamental banner in a fizz of pyrotechnic glory. The crowd gasped and chattered at the abrupt interruption, but the only harm done (other than the banner) was a mild scare.

"Varian..." (Y/n) slowly turned to the timid alchemist, as he winced at the events he accidentally caused. There were flames of anger brewing inside of the stressed (h/c) girl as she tried to comprehend her friend's clumsiness, that almost killed several people and destroyed all the party preparations she had been slaving away on for weeks.

"I guess there were a few calibrations I missed, just give me 10 minu-" Varian pulled out a wrench from his apron pocket, but his hand was stopped by (Y/n) before it could touch his invention.

"Varian, you had months to fix the calibrations. It's not good enough to have a mistake now." She said coldly as she watched the sun slowly set, and people waiting patiently for the main event.

"(Y/n), I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen, just let m-"

"No, I'm sorry. Sorry for thinking that I could trust you with something so important. It's always like this, Varian, it doesn't have to be perfect! It just has to work! You couldn't get one simple thing right, and now this whole day is ruined, because of you!" (Y/n) yelled while pointing her finger accusingly at the dismayed freckled boy. Her features softened once she realized what she had said to her friend, who stood there in shock at her words. His face melted into a frown and she could've sworn that she saw his eyes start to well up with some tears. (Y/n) lowered her hand and let her planning journal fall to the ground. The weight of her severity hit her hard, and both of them were left speechless. Without thinking, (Y/n) turned and ran away into the bustling crowd of people waiting around.

She looked up from the comfort of her now-soaked clothes, when she heard the distant boom of fireworks coming from the palace courtyard. The colors danced and illuminated the sky beautifully. Varian was a genius, and (Y/n) knew he was. She smiled softly at his creation, but it soon faded into a frown. How was she going to even look at him again, let alone ask for him to forgive her.

Approaching footsteps threw her out of her thoughts, and she looked around to see who was there as almost everyone was celebrating Rapunzel's birthday. When (Y/n) turned her head, she recognized the mop of messy black hair immediately. She scrambled to her feet and wiped her tear-stained cheeks and runny nose in her sleeve in attempts to cover up her crying, which was unfortunately far too obvious from her puffy red eyes. (Y/n) stared at him in anticipation of whatever he was going to say, but he just sat down on the fountain silently. She stood unsure of what to do, but soon decided to take a seat beside him quietly. Fireworks still erupted in the sky, and (Y/n) wondered how Varian was even here when he should surely be working the machine. She looked over at his face, which was being lit up every few seconds with colorful bursts of light, and she examined his features closely. Soon he noticed, and his kind blue eyes looked up at her. He inhaled deeply and composed himself to say something, as (Y/n) prepared for the worst.

"I'm sorry (Y/n)," Varian sighed as he looked away from her confused gaze, "I'm sorry that I got caught up in my work, or that I didn't get it right." He lowered his head. "I just wanted everything to be perfect." (Y/n) did not expect him to be the one to apologize.

"Varian, you do not have to say this to me. I'm the one who has to apologize. I don't know why I said those things, I didn't mean them- I was just mad and stressed." (Y/n) sighed and Varian raised an eyebrow at her words. "I took it all out on you, and you didn't deserve that. You're an amazing person..." She finished as she took his hand into hers, and tried to convince him of her words. He smiled brightly and looked into her eyes.

"Call it even?" He suggested, and (Y/n) nodded while returning the bright smile. The sounds of the fireworks that still boomed shook her out of their moment.

"Wait, how are you even here, who's looking after the machine?" (Y/n) asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, it's automatic. I fixed the issue from earlier." Varian explained nonchalantly as he looked over to the palace. (Y/n) gave a soft 'hm' in reply and stared at the incandescent sky in awe.

"It's perfect." She cooed as she tilted her head in admiration. She could feel Varian looking at her and she turned her attention to him instead. They gazed at each other like they were in a daydream, and it was only now they realized that their hands were still clasped together from earlier. They broke apart, and laughed nervously.

"So, um- do you wanna go get some birthday cake?" Varian asked while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Cake sounds good." (Y/n) replied immediately as she stood up, ready to return to the palace. As they walked back together, both of them made a silent promise; to never forget how much they meant to each other.

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Short and sweet, just friends who 'like like' each other ;). I just wanted to write a little snippet of interaction with Varian. I realized that I never really write ones where the reader and Varian are a couple already, so let me know if you'd prefer one where they are together! :)

I'm also loving the start of Autumn right now (that's right, autumn- not fall hehe). Hope you're having a good day, or week, or month! Thanks for reading, comment and vote if you enjoy! Requests are still open my darling pumpkins 🎃