it had been a long time since it had just been the two of them & nothing feels better than just collecting her breath in the princess’ bedroom, pressing her face against the soft hair at the crown of rapunzel’s head. the floral scent wafting off of the blonde braid was almost PERMANENT, a signature of the princess. it was on all of her clothes, her hair, her paintings - if the scent wafted through the air while cassandra was busying herself somewhere, it would immediately comfort her. she pulls away after a few seconds, swallowing thick & trying to ignore the deep pumps of her heart in her chest. physical intimacy was still difficult for cassandra, & the hug between them was the most she had in a long time. when rapunzel brushes her thumbs across cassandra’s cheeks, it stuns her momentarily.
rapunzel must notice, with the way she folds her hands behind her, so cassandra busies herself with placing the card down on the table next to the painting of herself. her gaze moves to the cupcake, & her eyebrows move up on her forehead, behind her black bangs. ❛ you know, i never tried attila’s cupcakes. everything was so HECTIC when he opened his bakery. ❜ cassandra takes a bite, covering her mouth while she cleans her lips of frosting. ❛ it’s delicious. beats attila’s, probably, but don’t tell him that. ❜ she smiles, red lips pulling up on pale cheeks, & swipes a gloved finger across the side of the cupcake she hadn’t taken a bite of. cassandra wipes the frosting off on rapunzel’s nose & cheek, smiling as she takes a seat at the blonde’s desk. her eyes can’t help but land on the painting again.
❛ i REALLY love the painting, raps. your style is so… you. did you teach yourself? ❜ one corner of her mouth lowers as the smile transforms into a smirk. cassandra teases, ❛ you got my likeness down cold. how many times do you draw me a day? ❜
there’s nothing that can warm the princess’ heart quite like the look in someones eyes when giving them a gift. for cassandra, it’s so much more satisfying and rapunzel can feel her heart flutter. the other was always so much more serious, perhaps cynical at her worst, but in these moments when rapunzel can just see past the wall that her best friend had built around herself -- well, it made any work put in absolutely worth it. the blonde laughs, keeping her hands tucked neatly behind her, that is until cassandra swipes frosting across her face.
“-- hey!” delicate slender fingers wipes the frosting from her cheek and nose and pops them between painted lips. the pink buttercream is sweet, and rapunzel enjoys the taste as her friend moves and takes a seat.
“i’m really happy you love the painting, cass,” she hums, green eyes moving and admiring the work. thoughts flicker back to the painting above the fireplace in the tower, and rapunzel’s expression softens. “i’ve always liked to visualize my dreams, so... it felt like it was only fair to paint yours.”
rapunzel brings her hands forward and gently folds them in front of her as she leans against the desk. “for the most part," she tears her gaze away from the cool expression of painted cassandra to the flesh and blood cassandra sitting beside her. “gothel must have known something about painting because she knew exactly how to create the paint from berries so it was smooth and which berries to use for the brightest and richest colors, and sometimes she gave me pointers to unlock my wrist to get better control of the brush. she never really talked about her hobbies with me, so i can’t say for sure.”
the blonde blinks before laughing again, “i get tons of practice when i’m sketching in my journal about my day and since we’re always together i sketch you a whole lot. probably even more than eugene.”