This fic will be in three parts, each focusing on a different part of Kristoff and Anna's lives.

Just for an idea about the setting, I imagine them living in a rural part of Michigan for this, with a lot of forested property and old fashioned homes.

"Happy birthday to you!"

Anna giggled and blew out her candles as everyone ended the song at different times, applause and cheers replacing the off-tune singing. There were seven candles on the cake, marking her age, which made her heart swell with a sense of pride. Seven years old. She was getting big, and at the moment there was only a two year difference between her and Elsa, though that'd change to three in December when her sister decided to become ten.

Oh well. She'd bask in being closer to Elsa in age for a few months, as she did last year. And the year before that.

Mama reached in front of her to take candles off the cake so she could cut and hand out pieces. This was Anna's favorite part of her birthdays, even more than presents. The cake was always delicious, and always chocolate, and she could have way more than she was usually allowed to. Special birthday privileges and all.

So she sat bouncing on her seat as Mama cut a huge piece and handed it to Anna on a paper plate. "Birthday girl gets the first piece," she said with a wide smile. Anna nodded enthusiastically, murmuring a quick thank you so she wouldn't get chastised for forgetting her manners. Without waiting a second more, she took a big bite of the cake, the chocolate and icing flavors exploding over her tongue. Definitely worth the wait.

The rest of the party got served their pieces, which wasn't a huge amount of people. There were her parents and Elsa, of course; their one cousin with their aunt and uncle; and the family that lived next door, who they were really close with.

Their neighbors were a nice family, and Anna was best friends with their son, Kristoff. Elsa was friends with him, too, but Anna was the one who would go over to his house at inappropriate times to try and get him outside to play with her. This especially happened when Elsa would put all of her attention to her homework or reading and would be in her room all day, which became fairly common over the past year.

She was out today, though, coming over with Kristoff to sit beside Anna. "How's the cake?" she asked, placing her own piece on the table so she could sit down easier.

"Yummy," Anna said, taking another bite.

Kristoff sat on the other side of her. "It's all over your face."

"Shut up."

Elsa gave her a look. "Mama wouldn't be happy you said that."

With a shrug of her shoulders, Anna finished her cake, turning to her sister. "I won't say it no more," she said and wiped off the icing she felt on her face.

Elsa nodded, eating her own piece of cake. Much like her sister, she loved chocolate.

Now that she was done, Anna began to feel impatient. She really wanted to open her presents, but she knew that she had to wait until everyone was done eating. That would take a long time, so she slumped back in her seat, tapping her heels together.

Suddenly, a thought came to her, and she pulled on Kristoff's sleeve. "Hey! Are you done?"

He looked from her to his half-eaten cake and back again. "No," he said slowly, not liking the glint he saw in her eyes.

"Well, pick it up, I want to show you something." Anna slid off her seat, still holding onto his sleeve to make sure he'd come with her.

"Wait—Anna, I—" His words went unnoticed by her, and he just managed to grab his plate before she was dragging him off his plastic chair.

She paused for a moment to tap on Elsa's shoulder. "I want you to come, too," she said, though she had a feeling it'd just be her and Kristoff. Elsa didn't like wandering off during family gatherings.

As expected, her sister shook her head. "I'll play with you guys after presents. Don't be gone long or else Mama will have to come look for you."

"We won't." With that, Anna ran to the very back of her yard, Kristoff in tow.

Anna's backyard was fairly big; she wasn't sure how much, but there was definitely enough space for a whole bunch of people to run around. There were a lot of trees for shade, and a swing set sat beneath two large oaks. At the very end, there was a cluster of trees, and Anna called it the Arendelle Forest. All the trees were huge, and if she went into the center, no one could see her.

It was also in this cluster where she and Elsa helped their parents build a treehouse. They practically lived there when the weather was nice, as did Kristoff. Though sometimes Anna and Elsa felt the need to keep him out by putting up a "No Boys Allowed" sign, in which case he'd try to break in, and it'd result in him sitting by the tree trunk when his attempts failed.

When they made it to the Arendelle Forest, Anna finally let go of Kristoff's sleeve, and she giggled as she went straight for the treehouse.

Kristoff had managed to finish his cake as they walked there, so he put the plate down in the grass, following close behind her. "Anna, if you wanted to show me the treehouse, it could've waited. We go here all the time."

"No, it's not the treehouse," she said as she climbed into it. "It's what's in it."

"I still don't—"

"Oh, just come on and look. We're already back here."

With a sigh, Kristoff went up the ladder, muttering something under his breath that she couldn't quite hear.

As he entered, his eyes went straight to Anna, who was sitting in the center of the floor, a white cat laying in her lap, purring contentedly against her hand. "Uh, Anna . . . ?"

She looked up at him, a wide smile on her face.

"Whose cat is that?" he asked.

"Mine."

"But you don't have one."

"I do now."

He climbed the rest of the way into the house, closing the latch door on the floor and moving to stand beside Anna. "Where'd you get it?"

Anna bit her lip, her feet moving back and forth. "I went up here this morning and he was sleeping on the floor. I think he came through the window." She pointed to it, a wide opening in one of the walls with a branch from another tree barely coming through it. "I named him Olaf."

Kristoff sat beside her, his eyes focused on the cat's dirty fur. "Why Olaf?"

"'Cause Elsa likes that name, too, and it's gonna be our cat." She ran her hand over the animal's back, smiling as the purring grew louder.

He nodded before reaching out to pet Olaf behind the ears. "You think she'll like that?"

"I think so." Anna sighed. "I just need to tell Mama and Papa. I don't know if they want a kitty, though."

Kristoff nudged his shoulder against hers playfully, grinning widely at her. "I think they do."

She had a feeling that he was just saying that so she wouldn't be sad on her birthday, but the way he was looking at her made her stop thinking about that. Besides, there was something that told her Mama would be okay with Olaf.

"He needs a bath," she said, smiling from both Kristoff and the thought of Olaf with bubbles all over his fur. "He almost looks brown."

"You'd better let your parents help with that."

Anna rolled her eyes. Both Kristoff and Elsa were goody two shoes who always followed rules. The only time Kristoff would deviate was when he really wanted to do something and didn't want his parents' dumb rules getting in the way. Otherwise, he was straight laced.

Especially when it came to Anna. She was always cooking up some type of scheme, and he tried to stop her almost every time. Granted, it didn't work most of the time, but he still tried, which made her angry, but never for longer than a moment. She knew she could do it when he had to go home, so it didn't bother her much.

"Yeah, yeah, I will." She slowly picked up Olaf and set him gently on the floor, where he curled up and yawned. "I fed him this morning, you know."

"Really?" Kristoff looked somewhat impressed.

"Yeah. I gave him leftover meatloaf." She giggled. "Mama didn't know where it went, so I told her I ate it. She was confused, but I didn't get in trouble."

Kristoff was giving her the look he gave when he didn't think she took the right course of action. Before he could say anything, Anna laughed some more, punching him lightly on the arm. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll tell 'em tonight. After my party." She held out her hand. "Deal?"

He glanced down at it, then back up at her, his eyebrow cocked. Before she could question him, he spit into his palm then held his hand out, not quite touching hers. "Promise?"

Anna smirked. Of course he'd make her swear on it. She lifted her hand, repeated his action, and placed it against his. "Promise."

He pulled his hand out of hers, wiping his palm against his shorts. "We should probably go. Don't want to miss presents."

Anna's eyes lit up, and she was on her feet almost immediately. "No, we do not," she said, running over to the trap door. She opened it and was going down the ladder faster than Kristoff could keep up with. "Make sure Olaf doesn't get out!" she called, skipping the last couple rungs and landing unsteadily on her feet.

Once he was down the ladder, Anna took off running, shouting, "Race you!" as she went.

Through the air whipping past her ears, she heard Kristoff complain that saying race you as you were already running wasn't fair, but she ignored it. Today was her birthday. If she were going to be unfair, it would be this day. Special occasion and all.

As Anna ran, she heard Kristoff's heavy footsteps behind her, but he wasn't quick enough to catch up. She skid to a stop by the table, turning to smile triumphantly at him. "I win," she said.

He scowled. "Only because you cheated."

"No, I didn't."

"Yes. You did."

"Nuh uh."

"Yah huh."

"But it's my birthday."

"That doesn't matter."

Anna stuck her tongue out at him, knowing she wasn't going to get anywhere with the argument. Besides, she had more important things to worry about other than Kristoff being a sore loser. Like presents.

"There she is." She turned as Mama came up to her. "Where were you two?"

"By the treehouse." Anna raised her chin. "We had a race and I won."

Kristoff scowled but didn't say anything, going back to his chair.

Mama ran a hand over Anna's hair, a small smile on her face. "That's nice, dear. Are you ready to open your presents, though?"

Anna nodded enthusiastically, reclaiming her seat between Elsa and Kristoff. As Mama gathered the presents into a small pile in front of Anna, she overheard her and Kristoff's papas joking about something, for they were chuckling and Mama was rolling her eyes. She didn't give it much attention until she glanced at Kristoff, noticing his face had turned all red.

"Why do you look like a tomato?" she asked him in what she thought was a quiet voice, but the giggle she heard from Elsa told her otherwise.

He remained silent, sinking down in his seat while keeping his eyes focused on the table.

"Kristoff," she hummed, reaching over to tug on his sleeve. When she still didn't get a response from him, she pulled harder, making her voice whinier. "Kristoooff."

"Quit it," he grumbled, turning so her fingers let go of his sleeve.

Anna huffed, looking up momentarily to see what Mama was doing (she didn't want to delay presents anymore). Seeing that she still had some time, she turned back to Kristoff, who had officially gone into grumpy mode. She didn't like when he was grumpy. "Then tell me why you're red."

"Anna—"

"Nope. Tell me."

"But it's—"

"Tell meee."

"Fine." He sunk a little lower in his chair. "My dad and your dad were saying we're gonna get married."

Anna blinked. "So?"

"It's gross."

"I am not gross," she said indignantly. "Besides, you're gonna get married someday. Why not to me?"

Kristoff stared at her, his mouth agape. "Because you're Anna."

"And?"

"I don't know, it's weird."

Anna simply rolled her eyes, mimicking what Mama did when Papa was being difficult. "Fine, but when I marry a superstar, you're gonna be so jealous."

"Sure."

As she sat there, arms folded, Elsa biting back a smile beside her, Mama finished organizing everything and told her that it was time to open her presents. Perking up, Anna began tearing into them, revealing a plush princess doll from her parents, a dog stuffed animal from Kristoff's family, and a card and dress from her aunt and uncle.

She thanked them all, holding the plushes closes to her chest, wanting to play with them right away. When all the attention was off of her and the adults started talking to each other, she went with Elsa, Kristoff, and her cousin to play with her new toys, though Kristoff wasn't very into it. He mainly played on the swing set while the girls played house, until the party was over and everyone had to leave.

Anna went into the house after waving goodbye to everyone, utterly exhausted from the long day. She lay on the couch, holding her new toys against her, and fell asleep within minutes.

It was dark outside, the moon waning and barely giving off any light. Elsa had retired for the night, wanting to lie in bed early so she could read before falling asleep. Even though Anna had pouted and whined for her sister to come outside and play with her and Kristoff some more, Elsa had refused.

When Anna sulked about her sister being a party pooper, Kristoff reminded her that Elsa had been playing with them all day, and he understood why she'd want to turn in. This only made Anna glare and ignore him.

"Anna, come on," he said now, frustration entering his voice as he tried to get the young girl to speak. Or just look at him. "You're seriously giving me the silent treatment?"

Anna simply picked at some grass.

"You're being dumb."

She looked up at the dark sky, squinting to see the stars better.

"You might as well go inside if you're not gonna do anything."

That cluster of stars kind of looked like a puppy, if she stared at them without blinking long enough.

"Hey." Kristoff shook her shoulder. "Anna."

She flicked her eyes over to him accidentally, taking all of her effort to remain quiet and focus on the stars again.

His hand fell off her, a sigh escaping him. "Brat," he muttered.

What did he just call her? She quickly turned, shooting him the meanest glare she could muster. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "You're being a brat."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Anna huffed, crossing her arms. "Well, even if I am, you shouldn't go around saying that stuff to a girl. Didn't your mama teach you attykit?"

"It's etiquette," Kristoff corrected with a roll of his eyes, but his cheeks were burning pink. "And she did."

"Well?" She stood up, stepping right in front of him. "What do you say?"

He looked as if he were going through an internal dilemma, but then hung his head and grunted, "Sorry."

It wasn't the most apologetic thing she'd ever heard, but it was Kristoff. She'd take it. "It's okay!" she said, playfully punching him in the arm. "See? Was that really so hard?"

His face seemed set in a permanent scowl, his eyes narrowed as he stared at her. ". . . You know, sometimes I just really wanna beat you up."

Anna giggled. He said that all the time. "But you wouldn't," she sang, rocking back on forth on her feet.

"Sure I would." He raised his chin. "I'm bigger than you. It'd be easy."

"Yeah, but you'd feel bad." She reached up and pinched his cheek, as she'd seen his mama do countless times.

He blushed deeper, pushing her hand away. "Shut up."

A wide grin spread across Anna's face, taking note that he wasn't denying it. Not even a little bit.

She began skipping, going in circles around him. "Kristoff's a softie!" she chanted, trying to control her giggles. "Kristoff's a softie! Kristoff's a softie!"

"No, I'm not!" He shot his hand out, trying to grab her arm, but she was too fast.

She dodged him easily, not breaking her chants, and before she knew it, he started chasing her. A loud screech came from her throat as she raced away, running all over the backyard with Kristoff on her heels.

Just when she thought she'd heard him slowing down, her foot caught on an uneven bump in the ground, sending her falling face first onto the grass. She spluttered, spitting out earth from her mouth, her chanting coming to an end.

"Anna!"

She looked up to see Kristoff standing over her, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

"You okay?" he asked, slowly kneeling down beside her.

She nodded and sat up, rubbing a hand over her face to get off all the grass. "I'm fine," she said with a smile. "Just tripped."

"Yeah. I saw." He grinned sheepishly at her. "Kinda my fault. Sorry."

"You're forgiven." She nudged him with her shoulder, her own heavy breaths slowing to a relaxed rhythm. They stared at one another for a long moment, Anna noticing the stars reflecting in his dark eyes.

"So," he said. "What do ya wanna do now?"

Anna blinked then promptly lay on her back, taking Kristoff's hand and pulling him down next to her. "I want to make shapes out of stars."

"Girls," he scoffed, but he adjusted his position to be more comfortable, his arm brushing against hers.

The one thing Anna loved about night time was looking at the stars. There were so many, white and sparkling in the inky black sky, and she loved imagining all of them living happily among each other. Like a big family of stars.

Her parents once told her that there were places in the world where people couldn't see them as clearly. Something about city lights blocking out the stars' own lights. (Which made no sense to her. How can something on the ground make something in the sky stop shining?)

In any case, she was grateful to be in a part of the world that could see them so clearly.

"That looks like a person," Anna said, pointing up at the sky.

Kristoff squinted. "Where?"

"Right there." She began moving her arm to trace what she saw. "That's the head, see? And the arms are sticking out at his sides."

"Oh." He chuckled. "Looks like he's gonna fly."

"It does!" Anna looked at him. "He's already in the sky though. So maybe he is flying."

Kristoff met her gaze, opened his mouth, apparently decided against whatever he was going to say, and closed it again. "Yeah," he said. "He probably is."

They focused on the stars again, staying silent for a beat.

"So," Kristoff murmured, "you never told me what your family said about Olaf . . . if you even told them."

Anna brightened at that. "Oh yeah! I did. Wanna hear?"

He glared at her.

"Right. You wouldn't have asked if you didn't." She laughed to herself. "Well, Elsa loved him when I showed him to her, but the first thing she did was yell at me for not telling Mama and Papa about him right away. So she carried him to the house and Mama wasn't too glad, but she gave him a bath and everything." Anna smiled. "I think she was happy about it. She's been talking about getting a pet, so having one come to us was a pleasant surprise."

"I'll bet." Kristoff yawned. "What'd your dad say?"

"Oh. He was a little mad, but when Olaf started rubbing against his leg, he smiled and said we could keep him. We're taking him to the vet tomorrow."

"I'm glad your parents let you keep him."

"Me too." She frowned, turning her head to the side. "I would be sad if they didn't."

Kristoff laughed, still staring up at the sky, making Anna really confused.

"What?" she asked.

He shook his head, trying to cease his laughter but failing. "Nothing."

"No, what is it?" She lifted herself up on her elbows and poked him in the arm. "Tell meee."

"Well, it's not like you wouldn't have seen Olaf again," Kristoff said, finally looking at her once more.

She furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Because you would've hid him from your parents in the treehouse."

It was Anna's turn to laugh. The image of doing just that came to her mind, and it was rather perfect. "You're right."

"Always am."

Of course he had to go and be bigheaded Kristoff after that. When anyone asked her why she refused to let him be right, this was exactly why. So, to show her annoyance, she took a fistful of grass and threw it in his face.

He quickly sat up, brushing it off. "What was that for?!" he shouted.

"Being dumb."

She smirked at his baffled expression, preparing herself for what his retaliation might be, but a voice interrupted her.

"Kristoff! It's time to come home, baby!"

He grimaced at the sound of his mother's voice, but nonetheless shouted a quick, "Coming!"

He stood up, brushing off the dirt on his pants, Anna following suit. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, then," he said as they started back toward the house.

"Yeah," Anna responded. "See you tomorrow."

She watched as he headed for the front yard, biting her lip in thought. Deciding to just go for it, no matter how annoyed he'd be, she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle.

"What the-!"

"G'night, Kristoff," she said into his back. "Sleep tight! Don't let the bed bugs bite!"

He stiffed under her, but sighed in defeat. "You, too," he grumbled before squirming back and forth. "Can you get off me now?"

She giggled, taking a step back. Her tongue stuck out at him before she turned and went inside her house, barely seeing him walk grumpily to the front.

It was always the same with him, pretending to not like whatever she was doing or saying, but still let her do it anyway without too much of a fuss.

It better never, ever change, Anna thought as she shut the screen door and went to say goodnight to Mama and Papa.