Steam

Notes:

Warnings : This is probably nowhere near as smutty as the title or rating suggest but I am being ultra cautious with my ratings lately.

So... shirtless Varian gets totally objectified

Steam

Eugene

Eugene almost backed away when he opened the door, the rush of air that came out was so hot and humid it was shocking. He took his red captains uniform off hanging it from the doorknob and leaving him in the plain short sleeved shirt he wore underneath. He took a deep breath as he descended into the corridors and chambers that ran underneath the castle. He could hear the slight banging and the moving around before he got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Varian!" He called looking around the gigantic cylinders that ran the city's hot water system. A familiar face poked out from behind one the cylinders.

"Just a minute."

Eugene heard the clink of metal and some muffled grunts before Varian appeared fully.

"Sorry about that." He said, gesturing with the spanner in his hand. Eugene gave a slight frown as he looked at his young friend.

"Don't you need like.. protection?" He asked commenting on the fact that Varian was only wearing trousers, boots, and gloves, leaving him bare skinned from his waist up.

"It's fine." Varian said waving the comment off. "I'm just doing a recalibration, besides its so hot down here."

Eugene shrugged.

"Fair enough. I just wanted to let you know Rapunzel received a letter from Cassandra this morning, it looks like she'll be arriving soon, within the next few hours I'd say. So are you going to come up and say hello to her?"

Varian's mouth set into a frown, and he concentrated on the spanner in his hand, twirling it around thoughtfully.

"I thought you'd be happy to hear she's coming?" Eugene said confused by the reaction. "Haven't the two of you been swapping letters for years now?"

"No, no I am. It's just." Varian sighed. "I was seventeen when she left, and everybody just saw me as a kid. I just... I want her to see me as something more, as an adult now. Not an annoying kid with a crush, who used to follow her around."

"So you want her to see you as an annoying twenty-year-old who follows her around now?"

"I will throw this at you." Varian threatened lifting his spanner up.

"Okay, okay." Eugene laughed. As he looked at his friend he thought about how different he was from three years before. In Eugene's mind there could be no mistaking the capable young man before him for a child, everybody in the castle had ceased to see him that way many years before, and yet, Varian was his own worst enemy in that regards, always expecting people to talk down to him or not take him seriously. As he looked at the young man he realised that he had also changed in some other rather distinct ways, an idea started to form in his mind, and he grinned at his own brilliance. "Look. Leave it to me okay?"

"What are you planning?" Varian asked wide eyed.

"Oh you'll see."

"Uh, I'd rather if you just forgot I said anything."

"Varian, Varian, Varian. Have faith, when have I ever let you down?"