I don't own Tangled or Rise of the Guardians or Brave or How to Train Your Dragon or Frozen or the Incredibles or Wreck it Ralph or The Lorax or Astro Boy or any random people that show up in, like, one sentence that I forget to mention. Basically, I own nothing besides the story idea. Yeah.
Jack and Rapunzel had been the school's golden couple for a while.
Tangled was reaching the peak of its career and Jack Frost didn't really have a ship.
They were absolutely adorable together, laughing in the hallways between classes and rolling down the grass green hill out front. Rapunzel smiled like the sun and Jack shone like the moon, and together they just… glowed.
Hiccup and Merida, their best friends, would laugh with them. But neither of them would show up with a face-paint flower, nor be holding a delicate rose made of ice. Because Jack and Rapunzel kept little sweet things to themselves.
Just being around them would make you smile. Their popularity soared, and nearly everywhere they went, people would offer them smiles. But, to be honest, neither of them really noticed due to the fact that they were too wrapped up in their own little world, and popularity wasn't that important to them, anyways.
Rapunzel would paint pictures of Jack as he posed with exaggeration, and, after sitting still for so long, he'd insist that they go somewhere where he could make a "winter wonderland" that they could spend the day in. Sometimes, they'd invite the whole school for a gigantic snowball fight (no powers allowed).
Yes, they were shipped with others, but there wasn't really much competition, not like with Violet Parr and Astro Boy vs Wilbur Robinson, or anyone else. There were ships with Tooth, with Hiccup, with Once-ler, with Merida… but the two only had eyes for each other.
Every month, the school would hand out slips of paper with the top five ships of you on it. Technically, the papers were private, but people shared them anyways. And, at the end of every month, you'd see the two of them laughing over their papers by Rapunzel's locker. On them, you'd see that "Jack Frost" and "Rapunzel" were under 1.
You almost envied them. You didn't really have any ships outside of canon, and no canon ships were allowed in Crossover High. You knew that if you went through the forest and to the right, you'd see Canon High School, where everyone stayed with their actual couple, or were perpetually alone. Forever. But you weren't allowed to venture there, for fear of mix-ups with the other "you". You'd never know who your canon partner was, the person who you fit with perfectly and would be with forever.
But, for your crossover partner, your slip reads "1. Jack Frost."
But he was taken.
And you would never want to split them apart, because, well, they were perfect. No matter what you wanted, you had to admit that, at least.
So you settled into the habit of seeing them together, and, at the end of the month you'd get your paper with the "1. Jack Frost," among other options, and you'd feel your heart clench a little, waiting for another ship to surpass it and sometimes even wishing that you went to Canon High School.
Violet, who was dating Wilbur Robinson despite her high ship with Astro Boy, waited years for him to be created. You wonder if you'll be forgotten, or if you'll find a match. Because you couldn't be with your actual match. Yeah, sometimes you really wish you were in a canon couple.
At the end of the year, you wince as everyone files down to the office for a one-on-one talk with a counselor about your ship. You hear him say in a clipped tone that you should at least find a partner. Look at the other four options on your list. End up with someone.
You've been dreading the end of the year, to hear that.
Alice from Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan laugh and joke when the day comes. They've been together for years and years, and they've always been each other's number one. They have no trouble.
Violet Parr, on the other hand, winces as she walks in. No matter what choice she makes, every year they talk about warring ships.
Her little brother, Dash, is scowling as he goes in for his session. Recently, on his paper slip, he's had "1. Vanellope" show up, when he's always been cruising through alone.
Jack Frost goes in smiling, and he comes out the same way. So does Rapunzel. You smile a little bit, seeing their happy faces. They rejoin Hiccup and Merida, who are also smiling, satisfied. And everything is perfect.
But, halfway through the next year, there's a flood of new students with the release of the new movie Frozen.
Elsa and Anna and Kristoff and Hans. They turn everything upside down. Well, mostly Elsa, anyways.
Frozen is a big hit. It's the most popular movie you can remember. The characters shine like stars in the school, and you nod your head respectfully as they walk by.
But the trouble starts at the end of the month. When they hand out the slips of paper, Jack's brow furrows. At the end of class, he goes to Rapunzel's locker, like normal, but when they compare their papers, he's not smiling. Her smile drops soon after.
On her paper, it's "1. Jack Frost."
But, for him, it's "1. Elsa 2. Rapunzel."
They just stand there, looking at their papers for a minute. When Hiccup and Merida arrive, it's completely silent. You feel awkward as you walk by, and even more so when you see Elsa walk up to "The Big Four" and say, "Hi, Jack," with a coy, almost shy-looking smile, thrusting her paper at him and ignoring everyone else.
Her number one is Jack Frost.
The next week, Jack and Rapunzel are still together. Jack shows up to school covered with painted purple suns and flowers, and Rapunzel is clutching a whole bouquet of crystalline ice roses. His locker is painted, and hers has frost designs. They stick together, but they smile less. They don't roll down the hill together anymore.
Elsa smiles awkwardly when she walks by and glares at Rapunzel's back.
You still acknowledge her existence with a tiny smile, but people are a little colder to her than before. But, at the same time, they act even worse to Jack and Rapunzel. They're not popular anymore.
One day, you see someone trip Rapunzel. All her books fall, scattered on the floor, and her paintbrushes roll through the hallway.
You cast her a pitying look, and you want to stop and help her, you really do, but something makes you keep walking.
Merida sees and yells, trying to find the perpetrator. She rants about the rudeness of people and announces loudly that if anyone wants to pick on Rapunzel, they'll have to go through her first. Rapunzel smiles gratefully, but it's weak. When Jack walks by to see her picking up her things, his eyes narrow. He holds her textbooks for the rest of the day and shoots suspicious glances at people.
The next week, Elsa's openly opposed to Rapunzel.
She's a nice person, really, a little shy but with a wide smile. However, when it comes to Jack Frost, she's not as sweet as she could be.
Rapunzel's constantly picked on, having her hair pulled or being tripped. Sometimes her things get stolen.
Jack tries to be with Rapunzel as much as possible to stop it from happening too often. People don't smile at them anymore. Most people avoid them, but some are too cruel.
The next week, Elsa's dating Flynn, her second option. People smile wanly as they pass, but it's not often real. Because Elsa isn't really looking at Flynn; she's staring as "Jackunzel" walk by with saddened faces.
Jack and Rapunzel eat with Hiccup and Merida, like always. Rapunzel waves a cookie in Jack's face, and he crosses his eyes before taking a giant bite of it. It's normal behavior, really, but Rapunzel's laughter is a little strained, because someone steps on her hair at that moment. And not on accident.
Merida, always ready for a fight, lunges at them, and Jack grips his staff. But there's no fighting allowed, so Hiccup grips Merida's arm as Rapunzel says, "It's alright. Really, it's fine."
But it's not. You can tell.
Merida yells at their retreating back that having the same powers doesn't mean that they're supposed to be together, but the person's not listening.
"It's stupid," she huffs. "If powers determined couples, than what about me? I have no power."
Hiccup nods in agreement, but, even with their support, things are weakening. Frozen has torn the school apart.
The end of the year arrives. Jack and Rapunzel hold hands, shooting nervous glances at each other until "Frost, Jackson" is called to go in. When he gets out, his face is hard. He pulls Rapunzel into a hug and they stay like that until she's called. Her face is crumpled when she returns.
Elsa walks in with her head held high. Her gaze is venomous when her session's complete. She doesn't even look at Flynn, just stares at Jack and smiles to her sister when Anna goes in.
You like Frozen, really, it's one of your favorites, but sometimes you wonder what it would be like if the movie never came out. And it seems that if Frozen had never happened, Crossover High would be a much happier place. You wonder how Canon High School is doing. Everything's probably perfect there, you think with a frown. It's unfair, really.
Time passes.
Surprisingly, Rapunzel and Jack stay as they are, despite all the pressure. And, even more shockingly, they're recovering. Rapunzel ignores the jibes, and the bullies open their lockers to find them packed to the brim with snow. Every time they trip Rapunzel, they slip and slide on a patch of ice on the ground soon after.
Merida and Hiccup, still going strong, provide support. Merida angrily confronts Elsa when Rapunzel's textbooks are covered in snow. Then, Rapunzel has a much nicer talk with her. You actually see them giggling together at one point and hear the word "chocolate" through the light, slightly awkward laughter.
Rapunzel and Merida befriend Anna, weirdly enough. Sometimes, you'll see them talking to her and Elsa. And the conversations are actually relaxed. Occasionally, they're laughing.
Elsa begins to talk to Flynn more, and you see her smiling shyly and blushing as he talks, a sarcastic and vain smile on his face that's maybe a little bit goofy. She says something casually biting back, and he puts a hand over his heart, fake hurt. It makes her laugh.
You smile at Elsa when she walks by and full-on beam when you see Jack and Rapunzel laughing together like always. Your number one is still Jack Frost, but that doesn't matter. It didn't mean much anyways, seeing as he wasn't with his number one and was still more happy than he'd be if he was.
Maybe everything had worked out the way it was supposed to.
You think perhaps the whole thing might've even strengthened Jack and Rapunzel's relationship, even if it was a blow to their ship.
And you come to the realization that what the fans think doesn't matter as much as you previously thought; you'd rather be happy more than anything else. At the end of the month, as soon as you receive your paper in front of the class, you crumple it up and throw it away without reading it.
Everyone sees you. The teacher glares, but it's never been a rule to be forced to read it. You feel triumphant as you sit back down. Jack Frost's eyes follow you.
The next month, he does the same thing. Beaming, so does Rapunzel. Then Hiccup and Merida. Even Elsa and Flynn do it as well, so, smiling, Anna crumples her paper and tosses in the trash, too. Violet does it openly, ripping her paper to shreds. Her little brother follows suit. The next month, nobody reads their papers.
There was a choice of relationships at Crossover High, with millions of AUs and such, even if nobody had ever acknowledged it. But now they had, and freedom rocked. So, you know what? Canon High School could just suck it.