Disclaimer: I own nothing in regards to Disney's Frozen and all the rights of the characters, dialogue, etc belong to the Disney Company!


Summer

"Crazy last couple of days, huh?" Anna finally piped up. She wouldn't admit it to him, but watching Kristoff work around the stable was strangely endearing. She definitely wouldn't admit that she had been standing in the entrance for a full two minutes admiring him either. He was busy making Sven feel at home although it already look like he had, with the exhausted reindeer fast asleep in the corner of his newly assigned pen.

She saw Kristoff start at her sudden input, his head turning so quickly to find her he didn't realise he was standing right next to a very solid looking support beam. He seethed, hand reaching to sooth the newly tender spot hidden in his hairline. He had been lucky to escape without a concussion after his skull had made friends with a cliff face just two days ago, maybe he needed to start wearing protective gear.

Anna cringed, darting over to inspect the damage she'd done. "Sorry! Sorry, sorry, are you okay?" She asked, biting her lip in embarrassment. She needed to come up with some kind of warning to give him so these kinds of things would stop happening.

She reached her hand up to his head but stopped, remembering how he had reacted the last time she'd made that move. Anna also stopped because there was a little bit of dirt smudged on his freckled cheeks, and his shaggy blonde hair was clouding his vision, and he cast her the most heavenly boyish smile that made the butterflies in her stomach erupt. Suddenly shy and with red cheeks, Anna stepped back and tried to look at everything but him.

"Thick skull, remember?" Kristoff told her, amused. She spared a strained chuckle.

This was the first time they'd really been alone since they'd kissed, and wow, what a kiss that was. Granted Anna didn't have much to compare it to, but it had transported her to a place that made her forget all of the struggle and trauma of the past few days. To pull away and see Kristoff staring right back at her, just as shy and nervous and happy as she was, it all seemed so surreal. When Anna thought of meeting a beautiful stranger, tall and fair, she hadn't thought of someone like Kristoff. And now, looking into his shining but tired eyes, Anna had struggled to think of anything else.

Anna never knew she could experience so many firsts in such a short time period. She also never knew one of her first firsts could be an adventure. An adventure that froze her and thawed her at the same time, an adventure that reunited her with her sister, an adventure that brought her to her real true love.

Not that she knew that yet, of course. Anna didn't want to hear the words true love for a long, long time. It was her quest for true love that covered Arendelle in two feet of snow in the first place.

But there was something he sparked in her. Anna knew it was there, and she didn't quite understand it. It wasn't something she had felt with Hans, and she had been so sure that he had been the one. Anna didn't know anything about what it meant to be in love with someone but if she felt something with Kristoff that she didn't feel with Hans, then that was a step in the right direction, right?

Anna had so much to say to him, so much that she couldn't think of anything. A silence fell over them and soon grew awkward, and Anna did something she normally did, which was panic.

"So uh, yeah! Um, crazy last couple of days - I already said that - but uh, did you sleep well? Last night?" Anna asked, desperate to keep the conversation flowing. She wanted to impress him. Anna didn't exactly knew where they stood right now - were they friends? More than that? Well, that kiss obviously suggested something, but what? Anna didn't have the guts to ask.

Olaf said he loved her, and he did come back for her. Freezing and on the brink of death, she watched as he stumbled and charged his way across the ice for her, looking just as scared as she was. She couldn't bring herself to look at him as she turned away, already making her final decision. For him to come all that way, look at her the way he did, to lose her once again.

Anna pushed the thought aside. That didn't matter anymore. She was there, and he was there, and they were in the castle stable on a warm summer day and there was nothing even remotely cold anywhere in Arendelle. Perfectly back to normal.

So why did Anna feel like she was melting again?

"Did I sleep well?" Kristoff repeated the question, unsure of her intentions. What a dumb thing to ask. The first normal day following a marathon adventure where she died and came back to life, and that's what she asks Kristoff.

Anna had been so sure last night that Kristoff was going to stay in the castle with her and Elsa. After hours of ice-skating, the sun had finally started to set, and Anna was finally able to skate by herself, albeit very wobbly. She successfully made her way over to Kristoff, even though he had to reach out and grab her when she slipped at the last step.

"You're getting better." He chuckled, making sure she was steady before letting go of her.

Anna shrugged sheepishly, keeping her arms out to maintain her balance. "I've still got some practicing to do." Eyeing Sven, she shuffled over to use him as a crutch, scratching his fur thankfully.

She hadn't talked to him much since their moment on the docks. Elsa was still so anxious about meeting her kingdom and Anna helped keep her calm. While Elsa was busy talking to Kai, she took the opportunity to find Kristoff. It wasn't hard, of course.

"Did you want to stay for dinner?" Anna asked, ignoring the way Kristoff's mouth suddenly fell open. "I mean, I'm sure Elsa wants to hear all about how we found her and I don't think I've even properly introduced you two I mean, everything's been so busy, and we could find a place in the stables for Sven and there's so many spare rooms -"

Anna stopped herself at the same time Kristoff interrupted her. A sense of déjà vu fell over Anna as she remembered saying almost the same thing to Hans. She couldn't rush this.

"I mean, I'd love to, but uh... I really... I don't think that's a good idea." Kristoff gestured to himself lamely, cheeks already tinged red. "Don't think I'm really fit for a royal dinner. And I've gotta get back to my uh, place. There's probably a heap of water damage, what with the snow and all."

Oh, he had a place.

Of course he had a place.

Anna hadn't realised exactly how different they were until then. On the mountain they had just been two strangers out on a mission. Nobility didn't matter when being chased by wolves or thrown off cliffs. They were just Anna and Kristoff.

But now, back in her kingdom, Anna was a princess. Her sister, a queen. And Kristoff... as much as he meant to her, he was common. It wasn't proper, her etiquette books told her. And Anna had no doubt that Kristoff knew too well what happened to the common folk that tried to get too close to the royal family.

Anna had reluctantly said her goodbyes, told him to come back to the castle when he was ready to and she'd show him around, introduce him to Elsa, tell her their story. Anna had gone for a kiss, Kristoff went for a hug, and they had clashed at some weird place in the middle that left them both muttering apologies and sending them rushing away in the opposite direction.

"Well, yeah, I mean we've had a long couple of days. You've probably not slept at all, like you were about to when I walked in with the supplies, so..." Anna trailed off, reaching a hand up the play with the end of her braid. She watched Kristoff lean against the divide between Sven's pen and the next, and in an attempt to match his laidback pose, Anna pulled herself up to sit on top of the divide next to him.

"It's funny, really." Kristoff began, toying with the hem of his vest. "I didn't know how exhausted I was until I got home. I guess at the time there were more important things to worry about than sleep, right?" He looked up at her with a sombre smile. He must be drained.

Anna nodded. "Right. It doesn't even feel like it's back to normal yet, I don't think. It still feels like we should be up on the mountains getting chased by a huge snowman." She had been thinking about that a lot. Waking up this morning and realising she was in sheets of her own bed had been a surprise. Looking out her window to a cloudless blue sky instead of a blizzard, walking to the kitchen to see her sister eating breakfast in the dining room, Gerda rushing to find Anna to tell her some man and his reindeer were in the stables. It was too good to be true.

"Well I for one do not want to go up the mountains for a very long time. Especially since this one," Kristoff pointed to a snoring Sven, "doesn't look like he's getting up anytime this century."

Anna laughed again. It was so easy for him to coax a smile out of her, maybe that was one of the reasons she felt so drawn to him. She met him strictly by chance. Arriving at that trading post ten minutes later and she would've missed him entirely. And what were the chances that he was going to help her anyway? The chances that he would stick around? But he did. He stuck with her until the very end, and she couldn't help but wonder why.

"Kristoff?" His eyes glanced from Sven to her in an instance, the softness of her voice a cause for concern.

"Yeah?" Kristoff looked worried, and it made her realise that no one had ever gotten to know her as well as he had in the last few days. He saw her flaws and accepted them for what they were, because he had flaws too. He was the first person she could feel comfortable in her own skin with.

"Why me?" Her eyes moved to focus intently on a bale of hay. If he looked at her like that any longer she'd have no choice but to jump into his arms.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, it's the middle of the night, I assault you with bags of carrots and demand you take me up the highest mountain in the land, and I'm a total stranger... why?"

She felt his eyes on her, and then she felt his hand cover her own.

"I've never really thought about it before." Anna turned to him as he began. His brow was furrowed, searching for an answer. "And I don't really know why."

Anna tilted her head, confused, but he wasn't finished. He finally met her gaze, and he was looking at her the same way he looked at her after Elsa thawed the winter. "But I guess I do know that helping you was probably the best decision I've ever made."

It sounded incredibly cheesy, but there was an undeniable honesty to his voice that made her shy away from his gaze, resorted to a blushing mess. Never had her cheeks burned so much in her life. Kristoff brought out something in her she hadn't felt in, well, forever. She felt understood. All her life she was bending and breaking to fit the moulds of all the royals around her. She'd never had a friend. Someone to confide in, someone to show her true colours to. It was only the beginning, too.

"Thank you, Kristoff. For everything."

They looked at each for what felt like forever. She had finally been noticed by someone. And not by some charming prince, but by someone who spent their life alone, just like she did. Someone who had flaws, just like she had. Someone who looked past them, just like she did. Someone who didn't fit in, just like she didn't. She had finally been noticed by someone who understood what it was like to be different.

"Wait, no, I take it back. I helped you because I knew I'd get a new sleigh out of it."

It had been such a good moment, as well. Anna shoved him hard, jumping off the divide as she did so.

"Still feisty, I see."

Anna grabbed his arm, luring him out of the pen. "Follow me, I have a whole castle to show you! And a sister for you to meet."

"What? I can't go in a castle, I smell like a reindeer!"

"Oh please, you smell like that all the time. C'mon!"


A/N: I'm going to have a lot of fun with this. If you haven't noticed I like making fics with lil chap installments revolving around a theme instead of committing to a full blown chap fic but don't worry! I'm planning one, I just want to make sure it's perfect before I post anything.

Three more installments after this, they might be slow however. If you haven't noticed there's been quite a break between my last update and this, that's because uni's really getting most of my attention at the moment. That doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you guys or our star couple! Always in my heart :')

Leave me your thoughts and look forward to a new installment soon x