Team Awesome

Team Awesome is the friendship ship between Eugene Fitzherbert and Varian from the Tangled fandom.

Season One
Eugene met Varian after he follows Rapunzel and Cassandra to Old Corona, as they needed help to better understand Rapunzel's returned hair and how it relates to the black rocks. Because Eugene wasn't aware of that fact when he saw Rapunzel in one of Varian's inventions, he assumes that the young alchemist was trying to harm her and barges in to put a stop to it. Once Varian saw Eugene he calls him by his thieving name, as he believes that Eugene and the character Flynn Rider from his favourite book series, that are also Eugene's favourite, are one of the same. Eugene tries to explain that he isn't really Flynn Rider and is just someone who had once used that name, but Varian's fan-boy excitement state prevent him from listening to him and had kept asking "Flynn" questions of that things "he" had done in the books. After they left a sudden earthquake trembler throughout the workshop, Varian asks Eugene to accompany him as the young alchemist goes to check on his biggest project he keeps under the village, and uses a formula he has named after Flynn Rider to help him make it work. Eugene, however, could tell that Varian's well meaning water heating machines and the chemical reactions are the source of all the trembling, and tries to tell Varian his concern, but Varian assures him that nothing would go wrong, while Eugene thinks otherwise. Because of Cassandra's earlier words to him Eugene promises Varian that he'll keep the machines a secret. When the tremblers were getting worse, Eugene becomes worried and takes Varian aside where he pleads for him to shut off those five machines. Even though Varian agrees to check on them, it was already too late to shut them off or to prevent the earthquakes from tearing apart the village. With help from Rapunzel and Cassandra, both Eugene and Varian were able to survive the chaos unharmed.

Their paths crossed with each other again in "Great Expotations", as Eugene mentions Varian's machines to him and how they were nearly killed by it while greeting Varian in his own sarcastic way. Varian attends the kingdom of Corona's science exposition with one of his inventions since an alchemist like him wouldn't want to miss out on it, while Eugene was originally checking out everyone else's before he began to help Rapunzel come up with her own invention for exposition. Eugene helps to demonstrate Rapunzel's creation before it was time for Varian to showcase his. After the winning invention merged itself with Varian's and began to cause a chaotic storm, Eugene helps Varian to reach and stop the dangerous resection of the two inventions through the uses of Rapunzel's.

After the blizzard of "Queen for a Day" and Rapunzel being unable to help Varian at the time, he began to hate Eugene and everyone else in Corona for turning their backs on him while his father needed their princess's help. Eugene wasn't aware of Varian's dark change during the events of "The Quest for Varian" when the said alchemist sent him and Rapunzel a note to retrieve something from his lab, but after Eugene and Cassandra realized that Varian was the one who has caused everyone to uncontrollable tell the truth in "The Alchemist Returns", he tries to stop Varian from stealing the Sun Drop flower but failed. While the flower itself had lost its power that were now within Rapunzel, Eugene's girlfriend. Once Varian realized this, he made plans to attack Corona in order to force their hand into helping him free Quirin from the amber. After Varian had kidnapped the Queen in "Secret of the Sun Drop", Eugene helps the assault force on Old Corona to defeat Varian's automaton army through the use of the black rocks, as it was an idea he came up with alone before Varian was later defeated and arrested for his crimes. As Varian is being sent to prison, Eugene goes on a beyond Corona journey with Rapunzel.

Season Three
When Eugene was away, Varian had began to reflect and regret his rage filled actions towards him and the rest of Corona, but had chosen the wrong friends and way to gain back everyone's trust and friendship by choosing to create a formula to make everyone forget his misdeeds, all while helping the Separatists of Saporia take over Corona. Eugene learns of Varian's action when he returned with Rapunzel and the rest of their friends to reclaim Corona back from Varian's Saporian allies. Once Varian learns that Andrew and the rest of the Separatists plan to burn Corona to the ground and tries to stop them from doing so, but after he failed to do so they lock Varian up in a cell with Rapunzel. Who later convinces Eugene to allow Varian to help them, despite Eugene being angry for what Varian had put them all through. After both Eugene and Varian did their parts in saving Corona, the two became friends again.

On the day of Eugene's real birthday, where he learns that he is a year older than he believed himself to be in "Casandra's Ravage", after Cassandra makes her demands for the Demanitus scroll Rapunzel tells him that she has entrusted it to Varian. Who is working in decoding it. Knowing that they can't allow Cass to get her hands in the scroll and that Varian will be endanger once she realizes that he has it, Eugene and the others go to see him. While Eugene still being upset about his true one year older age has him asking Varian if he has anything that could make him less old.

Moments
Rapunzel's Return
 * Eugene tells Rapunzel that he is glad to have the Varian they know back and how Rapunzel was finally able to fulfil her promise to their young friend.

Fanon
Despite the age difference gap between the two and there being fans who prefer to keep them as friends, because of that fact, it hasn't stopped a few Tangled fans from seeing Varian and Eugene having a type of bromance, a brother-like relationship, or have Eugene becoming a mentor figure to the alchemist. There have even been a few AUs that has Eugene and Rapunzel adopt Varian as their ward. Along with a small number of fans who have Vargene as a slash version of Cassarian, which has Varian having a crush on Eugene instead of Cassandra. The ship is believed to have began after "What the Hair?!" shows Varian to be a huge Flynn Rider fans and believes Eugene to be the actual character, due to Eugene naming himself after his childhood hero when he became a thief.

Even though Eugene and Cassandra weren't the best of friends before she betrayed him and Rapunzel at the Dark Kingdom, along with fans not being entirely sure if Varian still has feelings for Cass or not, it hasn't stopped them from having Eugene ensuring Varian that they aren't giving up on Cass, or have Varian telling Eugene that they shouldn't give up on her, in fanon.

On AO3, the ship has 540+ platonic fanfics and +90 romantic fanfics in total.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Eugene/Varian tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Eugene/Varian tag on FanFiction.Net
 * Eugene/Varian tag on FanFiction.Net


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