I don't own anything, I just play with characters for sport. This is my first Frozen fic, it's a modern day college/coffee type AU I guess, and as always, it was written in the middle of the night. Let me know what you think, and particularly whether I should continue.
They were always the only ones in the grubby 24 hour diner this early. Archie's was the sort of place that people went to out of convenience rather than particular loyalty, although the two people now sat in it had become begrudging regulars, its position on the highway just outside of town fitted with their schedules like it was planned.
Every 6am as Kristoff finished his delivery shift, he grabbed breakfast before hitting the sack for a couple of hours before his classes. Anna liked to get up early and go for a run while the day was still fresh and, if she was honest, while she wouldn't be seen by anyone all sweaty and gross. Well, no-one except the gentle blond giant with the grey smudges under his eyes and the staff of Archie's. Then she grabbed a coffee so she didn't pass out from tiredness later in the day. She wasn't a natural morning person, it was an enforced good habit, so coffee was more than necessary.
They never spoke to each other but it was an odd companionable silence. Somehow, over the past 6 months that they'd both been coming here, they'd got to know each other. Along the way, they'd learnt each other's names, despite never having asked or any reason to use them. Anna knew Kristoff's breakfast routine, he always staggered in, looking like he could fall asleep at any moment and slumped into a seat at the counter, flicking through great books printed on cheap paper while he ate his eggs. He always ordered extra bacon to go, which Anna assumed was for the dog she'd seen napping on his front seat.
In contrast, Kristoff noticed Anna preferred the booths by the windows; she liked to watch the city start to wake up and the highway go from a deserted place to a rush of traffic. She was a naturally fidgety person and would listen to her ipod as she sipped her coffee, often making friendship bracelets, the sort that she should've grown out of years ago, to keep her hands busy as she did.
This particular day, the inaccuracy of the weather report the previous night thwarted Anna's daily routine. Normally, if she was worried about the weather then she would either not go running or arrange for her sister to pick her up at breakfast. But today the weatherman had told her that the weather was going to be glorious and although she had her doubts when she looked at the sky this morning, who was she to question such definitive statements from qualified professionals. However, as she left Archie's less than a minute after Kristoff, the sky started spitting out hailstones at a surprising rate.
Because she knew about the bacon and the books, because she'd heard him not only talk to his dog as he climbed into his truck but reply back to himself in an odd, presumably dog-like voice which made him a total softie but mainly because she'd made it most of the way across the sizeable parking lot and so he and his car were much closer than the door she'd just exited, she didn't feel as if she was completely overstepping the line by tapping him on the shoulder and asking in a surprisingly clear voice given they were being pounded by hailstones, "Are you heading back towards town? I didn't arrange a ride and I don't think walking back in this weather is a good plan."
Kristoff wasn't naturally sociable, he hadn't talked to the petite, smiley ginger previously not because he didn't want to, but because he didn't know how to strike up a conversation with a girl in a diner on a whim. But he wasn't cruel, and he viewed their relationship almost as a queer sort of friendship, certainly a friendly acquaintance in a way, mainly out of sheer proximity. So he cleared his throat, nodded and replied gruffly, "Uhm yeah, I can give you a lift back, just let me coax Sven out of the front seat. Sit in the driver's so you don't get too wet, or err, battered."
Anna nodded, thanked him and climbed up into the driver's seat, realising in an odd way that she was sort of thrilled. Kristoff was undeniably attractive in a sort of scruffy, sleepy way and she hoped that this might mean that they might actually start talking rather than just nodding to each other as they entered and left Archie's.
As she was settling into the driver's chair, Kristoff circled the car and opened the passenger door, stooping a little so his face was level with that of his chocolate lab. He gently scratched between the sleeping dog's ears, murmuring softly, "Buddy, we have company, you're being relegated to the back seat. But I've got breakfast…" The dog stirred and slowly let himself be led into the back of the truck, sniffing eagerly at Kristoff's hand that was holding the polystyrene box of bacon. Kristoff took the hint opened the box and set it in front of Sven before looking up at the girl who was watching them from the front seat.
Anna had crawled clumsily from the drivers to the passenger side when Kristoff had got Sven out of the car. It was inelegant and she almost regretted the decision when she nearly hit her head on the dashboard but she really wanted to avoid having to get out of the warmth and dry of Kristoff's car unless it was strictly necessary. Thankfully, she thought, Kristoff seemed to have missed her clumsiness because he was too wrapped up in his dog. Which was sort of adorable.
The hailstones had picked up a little more, so Kristoff jogged round the car and jumped into his seat quicker than she would've thought possible. He started the ignition to turn on the heat, which Anna was immediately glad about; goosebumps had started to creep up her freckled arms.
"So whereabouts in the city are you?" Kristoff asked, glancing back in his rear mirror at Sven who was contentedly eating his bacon.
"Uhm, I live in residence halls at Arendelle U, so anywhere near there, or near a bus stop is perfect." She smiled at him, tucking a strand of hair that had fallen out of her braid behind her ear.
"Oh, I'm over on Orleans and Corona so I'm not far, I'll drop you off on campus." Kristoff pulled out of the parking lot and onto the highway towards the city centre. "So y- "
Anna cut him off, excitedly babbling, "Wait, Orleans and Corona? You don't live in Corona Apartments, do you? Or I guess, maybe not you, maybe whoever you are going to, uhm, go to now or…?" Anna was reasonably new to the city so she was excited that he had named two of the very few streets she actually knew of.
Kristoff frowned slightly in confusion, assuming that the coffee that Anna had just drunk was having a bit of a drastic effect; she was very excited about where he lived. Weird. "Yeah, I live in Corona Apartments, at least for now. I guess there isn't much else around there; it's not the best neighbourhood. Why do you know it?"
Anna smiled, surprised at the coincidence. "My sister lives there, she's supposed to be in today, she doesn't work Tuesdays so I'll just head there if that's okay with you? It saves you from going to campus and I can go bug Elsa for a while." Anna didn't want to put Kristoff out, that was one of the primary reasons she figured Elsa's was a better bet than going home, and she hadn't seen her sister in a little while so it felt like fate. Destiny. Or certainly, it was a useful coincidence.
"Sure, makes my life easier I guess." Kristoff nodded, glancing over at the girl who was now tapping her feet in time to the radio that he hadn't even realised he'd left on. She seemed incapable of sitting still. "Is the radio bothering you by the way? I need it to keep me awake on the drive home from Archie's, breakfast always makes me sleepy after a shift." He realised after saying it that that made him seem like a reckless and stupid driver, we've all seen the ads lining the side of highways with "DON'T DRIVE TIRED" written in huge orange letters. But hey, it was too late now and besides, she was the one who'd sort of decided he was giving her a lift, he'd only offered under duress really.
Anna nodded, looking more understanding than concerned. "The radio is fine, I'm partial to a bit of death metal in the morning." She grinned, the tone of her voice clearly indicating that, while she was joking, she genuinely didn't mind the radio. "I'm partial to a bit of Anthrax." She giggled, apparently the idea that she did indeed favour a heavy metal band was too funny to maintain a dry and sarcastic humour. Giggling suited her though, Kristoff thought.
"Well this is no Anthrax, so feel free to change the station if you'd like." Kristoff didn't really mind what he was listening to, he just knew that it's much easier to drift off to classical than it is to screeches and screams. Hence death metal in the morning.
They passed the next few minutes in silence, Kristoff focussing on the road and Anna focussing on the world whizzing past her window. This didn't feel odd to Kristoff, most of the time in his car was spent in silence save for the radio and the rare conversation he did have was mainly with Sven. So in reality, it was just him thinking aloud. Occasionally arguing with himself.
However Anna was clearly a bigger fan of conversation than the silent diner trips would have had Kristoff believe, because soon the lack of conversation was broken by a flurry of words. "So do you go to AU too? Or I mean, I sort of just assumed because most people in Corona are students but you said about shifts, so I guess you're working? Where do you work? What do you do? Unless shifts isn't working at all, I mean shifts can be dresses, or… or I'm going to stop talking now." Anna's cheeks flushed slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Kristoff. Blushing was normally a good thing, right?
"Can I say both? I work nights and go to college in the day. And yeah, I'm at AU, go Reindeers." Reindeers were the school mascot and it was one of the lamest things Kristoff could even think of, but even he had a little underlying affection for the Arendelle Reindeer. In an ironic way, of course. "I work for a delivery company, I.C.E Delivery and Collections. It's not the greatest work but it pays, there's full night shifts and Sven can tag along." Kristoff was surprised by how much information he had offered up, there was something about Anna that just gave off 'You can trust me' vibes. It was sort of nice, to talk to another human.
"Oh cool, Sven's clearly pretty important to you, he's a beautiful dog." The dog clearly recognised his name and barked happily, having finished his bacon a little while back. It made the two human passengers laugh, although neither knew why really. It was just a happy sort of bark for a happy sort of mood. "So what's your major?"
By this point they had got into the city a while back and were streets away from their destination. It felt like the quickest, easiest journey Kristoff had ever done, which is weird because most of the time conversation just makes him nervous and irritable. "Enough with the quizzing, we're pretty much home. Are you sure you're going to be okay to chill with your sister? I don't want to inadvertently leave you stranded a good ten blocks from campus when it will take no time to take you."
He parked the car in the lot as she answered. "Honestly, it's great, you've probably made my day at this point. Thank you." She smiled at him, glanced back at Sven and waved. "Bye Sven, it was lovely to meet you." And with that, Anna jumped out of the car and ran into the building foyer, trying to avoid the rain that the hail had turned into. And Sven turned the radio off, sitting silent in his car for a few minutes, feeling like his world had changed, it had shifted ever so minutely that he could only notice it in the little things. But he didn't know why.
Then Sven barked again and started to nudge Kristoff's elbow until he got out of the car. Someone needs to keep him in check after all.
So yeah, I'm fairly terrible at updating/multi-chapter fics, but I feel like there's a lot of scope for this, so let me know if you like it, reviews are better than people and all that… (that didn't really work, sorry, you know what I mean :P)
