Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 32: Battle for Hearts

August went painfully slow for the alchemist. It was now September, and he was excited for the 19th day for September 18 is the day of the peak and that means by September 19, they would finally leave the dreadful place. Don't get him wrong, Varian loved living on the farm. It was quite different from his life back in Old Corona, and it finally gave him the chance to exercise a bit. The only problem was that tomato-head, Travis. 

Varian and Travis would go on silent battles for a certain astrologer's attention and praise, to which Travis would always win. Unbeknownst to the alchemist. The only reason Soul puts up with the red-haired cowboy, was because she thought it would be rude not to go along with his silly attempts of courtship. Also because they graciously offered to let them stay in their home when they could just stay in the town's inn. Currently, our beloved astrologer is brushing Maximus' coat in the stables until she was interrupted by two bothersome boys.

"Fine mornin' we havin', ain't it, Sugarplum?" Travis greeted in a flirty tone, smirking at the girl. Soul and Maximus shared a look of disgust before turning towards the male, faking a sweet, closed-eyed smile.

"Good morning! How are you?" She greeted, waving a hand when Travis took her hand and placing a kiss.

"Well, I'm feelin' better than a wilted flower now that you're here." He flirted. An irk mark appeared at the girl's forehead as she hastily pulled her hand away, placing it behind her back, and wiped it on her dress.

"Right, um. Excuse me, but I have a set of chores I need to finish." Soul lied, picking up a bucket full of water soap, walking away from the boy when a hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around.

"Don't worry about the chores. I'll finish em' for ya'." Travis said as he took the bucket from the girl's hands. Soul was about to object when Varian coughed behind her.

"Soul's not helpless, Travis. She can do her chores much better than you." Varian stated as he stood next to the astrologer, crossing his arms.

"That's no way to treat a lady, makin' her do chores meant for men. Explains why you don't have any relationships." The red-haired teen replied while picking his fingernails. 

"I'm not making her do the chores all by herself. I'm just going to help her." 

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that at least I acknowledge that she's no damsel in distress that needs someone doing her work for her." Varian answered as he grabbed the bucket from Travis, but the cowboy only tightened his grip, and the two started an all-out game of tug of war.

"Guys-" Soul started but was ignored as the two kept on tugging and pulling. 

"Guys?"

"Please, stop that."

"WOULD YOU TWO JUST STOP IT ALREADY?!" Soul snapped, starting to get irritated. Varian accidentally let go of the bucket when he heard the astrologer's tone, causing the bucket to spill its contents on Soul. Why on Soul, and not on Travis? When Varian let go of the bucket, Travis tried to direct the bucket away from him but accidentally threw the bucket on the girl.

"Oh, no...." Varian whispered, backing away.

"This. is. THE. LAST STRAW!" Soul yelled, causing the two boys to back away from the girl, frightened. "This silly fight the two of you have better stop, right now! Seriously, this has been going on the whole month, and it's driving me nuts."

"What fight?" Travis lied, sheepishly smiling as he swung an arm around Varian's neck, Varian doing the same. "See? We're not fightin'."

"Yeah! Boys just sometimes go on small, harmless contests, because....we're boys?" Travis gave Varian a look, mentally facepalming at his horrible attempt of lying.