Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 15: The City of Aradia

It's been about two days since Soul's admitted to the group that she could use magic, and within those days, she's been significantly more open and closer to everyone which Soul was really happy about. She didn't think that just telling them the truth would make their relationship better. Who knew it was as simple as that?

As for the alchemist... he has suddenly been acting weird whenever the astrologer was around, and he doesn't know why he was acting the way he does. Ever since Lance has been teasing him of having a crush on the lavender-haired girl, whenever he's anywhere near Soul, he gets flustered, fidgety, and nervous. Which he never felt before when they were near or talking to each other.

...What's going on with me?

"I'm just thinking about what he said too much. I-I'm just confused...." Varian would say to himself. But whenever he would see Soul smile and laugh with everyone else, his face would heat up, his heart would beat like it wanted to go out of his chest and jump straight at the girl. I must be sick....

"Chitter chitter." The sound of chittering snapped the alchemist out of his thoughts. Varian looked down on his lap and saw Ruddiger staring up at him. Smiling, he petted the raccoon's head, Ruddiger leaning forward to his touch.

"Hey, there buddy. How have you been?" He asked the raccoon, to which he received a bunch of chittering as a response. Laughing, he took a brush from a drawer near him and brushed the raccoon's frizzy tail. "We should really get you a bath, bud. Your fur is so dirty! Just what have you been doing with Flick?" He said as he tried to remove the patches of dirt from the raccoon's fur. There was even a stray bug!

"Excuse me, but Flick has nothing to do with Ruddiger's filthy fur." A female voice said, startling the alchemist. Looking up, he saw it was only Soul as she passed by him while carrying her fox in her arms. The alchemist's face briefly turned red, but as soon as it came, it disappeared.

"W-well, then... how do you explain the mud on Ruddiger's fur?" He inquired, silently cursing himself for stuttering as he leaned back on his chair, Ruddiger still in his lap.

"The only explanation for that is that you don't take care of your pet well enough. Don't go blaming my baby for your irresponsibility." Soul replied as she placed Flick on the table. She then grabbed a small blue ball in her bag and popped it on the fox's head.

Is..is that a bath bomb? He thought, watching her.

Bubbles and foam appeared, and minutes later, the foam engulfed the fox and the girl wiped it all off with a wet rag.

Definitely a bath bomb. I didn't know she has one, much less can make one...

"There, squeaky clean!" She beamed, laughing a bit as Flick shook himself, flickering his wet fur everywhere.

The sight made Varian's heart oddly warm as he softly gazed at her. Returning his attention towards the raccoon, he was immediately greeted by a knowing look from the critter.

"Don't give me that look, Ruddiger.."He muttered quietly but unfortunately, the girl heard him.

"Hmm?"

Stiffening, Varian quickly turned to face her as he stumbled on what to say before just going with whatever popped into his mind first. "O-oh, you know? I just find it weird how you go on and on about how astrology is better than alchemy, yet you use alchemy for more than just defense and offense as well. Just admit that alchemy is better than astrology, Soul." He teasingly replied, accompanied by a small smirk.

The girl just scoffed before throwing a bath bomb at the alchemist earning a yelp in response. "Me using alchemy has got nothing to do with it being better. It's useful, yes, but it doesn't mean it's better. It's like saying that the spoon is better because you use it more than the fork or vice versa."