For this game, Kristoff was going to need complete focus.
He had comfortably denned himself up in the back room, switched off all the lights, and put on his headphones to block out any other noise but the game's. He wasn't going to get distracted by anything.
"Hiya, Kris! Oooh, I heard this game was really scary!"
The blond nearly jumped out of his skin at the unexpected voice.
"W-What...What are you- Huh?" Kristoff stammered out, yanking the headphones off his head just as one of the animatronic animals killed him in the game. He frowned at the screech emitted through his headphones, and the static-y game over screen that came up on his monitor.
The young woman winced, sucking in a breath through her teeth. "Oops...Sorry," she apologized, wringing her hands together anxiously.
Kristoff shook his head a bit, fumbling to say something coherent as he scrambled out of his comfortable computer chair to turn on the lights again. "How did you get into my apartment?!" he finally managed to blurt out, trying not to hyperventilate. He'd been dangerously close to retaliating out of utter shock at the intrusion, which set him on edge almost as much as the fact that there was someone in his apartment.
"Oh, well, that one's easy! Your door was unlocked," she replied, smiling brightly as the lights were flicked back on.
She said that like it was an obvious invitation inside...
Kristoff lapsed into silence for a while, the corner of his mouth twitching downward as he struggled to find his words again. "The...Uh, the lock's broken...," he mumbled, tugging at the hem of his hoodie in discomfort. An old nervous tic that he couldn't seem to kick down for good.
The woman pursed her lips in confusion at that. "Shouldn't you get that fixed?" she asked, tucking a strand of red-gold hair behind her ear.
"...That's why I've got Sven..."
"Sven...? Oh! Is that your dog's name? He's such a cutie!" she gushed, eyes bright as she recalled the big dog that greeted her - tail wagging - at the door.
"He's not cute. He's a guard dog. Guard dogs aren't cute," Kristoff grumbled, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the wall.
"That's it, Krissy Boy, pretend like you're comfortable and nonchalant! Don't wanna let on that you're scared of a girl half your size!"
Kristoff shook his head, eyes tightly shut. "What are you doing here...?"
"Anna," the redhead supplied, still all cheery smiles.
"Yeah, whatever...What are you doing in my apartment, Anna," Kristoff asked again, patience wearing thin.
She seemed to turn a bit sheepish at that. "Well...Okay, this is the thing. My shower's been...not working for almost a week now, and the landlord has kinda ignored my messages - I mean, I don't want to say he's doing it on purpose, but I've been taking showers at my friend's place for days-"
"You're still not telling me how I fit into all this, or why you're standing in my apartment right now, Freckles," Kristoff cut in.
"I'm getting to that, Kristoffer."
"Kristoff."
"Fine, fine! Kristoff. I was hoping you could fix my shower? I heard that you were pretty handy with stuff like this," Anna spoke in a rush, laying a pair of big, blue eyes on the blond.
Kristoff gave her a deadpanned expression in return. "...Are you kidding me?"
"I...I can pay you," Anna added, seeming to have lost a bit of her confidence.
Kristoff looked like he was going to flat-out refuse her, but then he sighed, letting his head knock against the wall with a dull noise. "...I'll come by tomorrow morning, and-"
"No, now. Right now," Anna interrupted, fidgeting with her hands, until eventually just resting them on her hips. "Come on, I'm tired of going next door to use my friend's shower!"
Kristoff gave her a look, pushing himself off the wall. "Alright...Just let me get my stuff, and then we can head over to your broken shower," he grumbled, heading out of the room. "Don't. Touch. Anything. Got it?" he tacked on in a warning tone, glancing at her over his shoulder.
"I won't, jeez! I'm not a kid," Anna huffed, following him out of the room and down the short hallway.
Sven, the dog that had greeted her so friendly earlier, perked up from his place on the worn sofa. His tail thumped against the back of the couch, tongue lolling as he watched Anna step into the main room again.
"Hey, you!" Anna grinned, scratching the dog behind the ear. "I don't care what your grumpy owner says, you're a cute puppy dog. Yes, you are! Yes, you are!" she praised in a baby voice, massaging the dog's ears as she spoke.
"Don't talk to him like that," Kristoff said in a vaguely annoyed tone, hefting an old tool box in one hand. He hadn't gotten the darn thing out of the hallway closet for quite a while, and had to dig through some other junk that had been piled onto it. "Come on, Freckles, I thought you were in a hurry to take a shower," he snarked, trudging over to the door and holding it open for her. He wasn't being a gentlemen, he just wanted to make sure she actually left his apartment.
"I don't need to take a shower right now, I'm clean, thank you very much. I just want it to get fixed," Anna replied curtly, straightening from her hunched position by the couch. "Besides, I think he appreciates a nice word or two - especially if he's stuck with you for company all day," she quipped, giving him an "I can play ball, too" look as she brushed past him and out the door.
Kristoff rolled his eyes, whistling for Sven to follow before closing the door.
"So...How long have you lived in Arendelle?" Anna asked, perched - with her knees drawn up to her chest - on the toilet as Kristoff tinkered with the shower. She'd been trying to strike up a conversation, but quickly found out that Kristoff was a man of few words and blunt responses.
She kept trying anyway.
"City, or county?" he asked in return, surprising Anna with his lack of a "Yes" or "No" response.
She could work with that!
"Um, either, I guess," Anna shrugged, smiling a bit when she heard the click-clack of Sven's claws in the other room.
The dog was having a blast sniffing out a new place, and Anna didn't mind him wandering around - so long as he didn't try to mark anything.
Kristoff fiddled with the knobs that controlled the water temperature and flow, frowning when just a dribble of water escaped the shower head. "Lived in the county my whole life, been in the city for a...couple of years now," he answered, craning his neck at an awkward angle so that he could get a better look at the shower head.
"Oh, yeah? How do you like living in the city?" Anna hummed questioningly. She had only ever lived in the city.
Kristoff's eyes narrowed when he saw what looked like a dent in the piping just behind the shower head, the metal almost completely pinched shut - which, obviously, meant no water flow. It probably wouldn't look great, but he could force it back into shape. "It's not the mountains, but it's good enough," he mumbled, reaching for a hammer and a wrench out of his tools. Nothing a good hit or two couldn't fix - and, if not, he'd just replace the whole shower head.
"You used to live up in the mountains? That sounds nice! Oh, did you have a cabin?" Anna asked, resting her chin on her knees. Her family used to camp up in the mountains during summer, and they always rented out a cabin for the duration of the trip.
"...More of a...repurposed lodge. There, that should do i-" Kristoff's words came to a sudden stop when water blasted him directly in the face, a steady stream finally able to flow through the once-dented pipe and shower head.
Anna snorted, a hand flying up to her mouth in an attempt to smother her laughter. "Oh, my gosh! I am so sorry!" she managed to get out, slipping off the toilet seat to grab a towel for him.
Kristoff spluttered, quickly shutting off the flow of water. He stood there in the shower for a moment, blinking water droplets out of his eyes and looking rather dazed. "...Guess I forgot to turn off the water before doing that...," he mumbled, round cheeks flushing a faint red.
"Guess so...," Anna echoed in a giggly tone, a smile twitching at her full lips as she held out a fluffy towel for him.
Glancing from the offered towel to his drenched hoodie, Kristoff grunted in appreciation as he took the towel.
"I can put your hoodie in the dryer...if you want - n-not your other wet clothes, that would be...awkward, but I really am sorry you got all soaked like that," she babbled, blue eyes flitting about as Kristoff toweled off his hair and face.
"Do you always talk this much?" he asked, eyeing her from the folds of the yellow towel she'd given him.
"When I'm nervous, or excited, or really happy - so, a lot of the time? Most of the time? Most of the time," Anna answered, rocking back on her heels. "So...Dryer, hoodie. Yay or nay?"
Ruffling his messy hair with the towel once more, Kristoff stepped out of the shower. "Uh, no - thanks. Should probably head out, now that the shower's fixed and all that."
"Oh..." Anna tried not to sound too disappointed. "Well, let me get what I owe you-"
"Nah, forget about it. You don't owe me anything, Freckles," Kristoff interrupted, bunching the towel up and tossing it onto the toilet seat.
Anna was more than a little caught off guard by that, since the promise of payment seemed to be the only reason he'd taken the job in the first place. "Thank you, that's very generous of you, but I- Hey, whoa, wait for me!" Anna piped up, scrambling after the blond as he gathered his things and left the bathroom.
Now he was moving too fast for her.
"You've gotta let me pay you back somehow! It's only fair!" she continued, her bare feet slapping against the wood floor. She'd taken her sandals off as soon as they'd gotten into her apartment; Anna hated wearing shoes indoors.
"Consider it a favor, then," Kristoff said over his shoulder, calling for Sven.
"A favor for what?"
"I don't know, you think of something."
"Why should I think of something? You're the one doing the favor!"
"But you're the one who seems to care why I'm doing you the favor!" His hand was on the door knob, wet boots leaving half-formed prints on the floor. "I'm leaving now, so-"
"Wait!" Anna blurted out, nearly slipping in one of the miniature puddles he was trailing around her apartment.
Kristoff partially turned around, watching the redhead from the corner of his eye.
"Do you like Chinese food?" Anna asked, strangely breathless.
She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, fidgeting in the silence.
"You live on take-out. Stay."
Sven panted somewhere by his knee.
"Krissy, stay."
His hand dropped from the door knob.
Notes: The italics are either used for inner thoughts or flashbacks, and will only have quotation marks for specific lines. Which will be explained later on.