Words: 1404

Disclaimed

"There are no more pressing matters, ma'am."

Elsa nodded, dismissing the servant. Her fingers twitched, but she kept her hands from clenching into fists. She took a deep breath to calm herself. After throwing herself into work for a week, her daily workload had shortened immensely. Elsa had been trying to avoid having any time to think about the Kristoff Situation too deeply. She barely made a noise as she stood from her desk and left the room. It was another thing she'd been working on. A queen must be graceful, and all the grace must look effortless.

As she walked down the hall, her mind strayed to thoughts that were all too familiar. Elsa understood why Kristoff wouldn't want to be royalty. She remembered the joy that freedom brought her; when she shunned responsibility and embraced her powers. But Elsa ruined the kingdom, leaving it frozen and without a queen. She had an obligation to return and fix what she'd done. Kristoff loved his freedom. Elsa knew how much he would miss it. But Elsa would never abdicate. Anna lived for adventure, she wanted to see the world on her own terms. It would be too cruel to force her into the throne after everything else Elsa wrecked. Catching herself biting her lip, she focused on relaxing her face. Queens must be serene.

Elsa reached the library, a welcome distraction from distressing thoughts. She adored Arendella's castle library, where books lined the walls and filled the tables. It had been opened to the public once Arendelle thawed, but few townspeople took up the offer. Elsa spent all of her free time immersed in literature. She always loved books, and they were her sole companion when she locked herself away. Books also happened to be a great distraction from the Kristoff Situation.

Alternating between fiction and nonfiction, Elsa read for hours, until exhaustion took over and she could sleep. Otherwise she wound up tossing and turning, her thoughts racing with scenarios and keeping her awake. The hopeful side of her kept finding books on royalty to read, sifting through useful and worthless information. Elsa caught herself keeping track of books that would be helpful to someone who needed a royalty crash course. Elsa tried to convince herself that this would make it worse if Kristoff refused, that it had been days, and that probably wasn't a good sign, but reminding herself every time she found a book related to ruling made her want to sob. Being hopeful was stupid, but preferable to sobbing. Eventually, Elsa concluded that she would cry if Kristoff ended it whether she was hopeful or not, and continued sorting through the books. Her advisers were all impressed with Elsa brushing up on her knowledge, anyhow.

Through reading several books on royalty, Elsa came across the subject of consorts. She had definitely heard the term prince consort before, but at the time she really didn't expect anyone to marry an ice monster, nor did anyone else in the castle. Except maybe Anna. Elsa felt like punching herself, but soon couldn't feel anything but giddy happiness. She scrambled out of her chair, alarming several nearby servants, and rushed to get materials necessary for letter writing.

Never in her life had she written anything so quickly. Elsa waited for the ink to dry and, through a ridiculous amount of self control, kept herself from blowing on the ink or attempting to freeze it dry. She didn't have a minute to waste, and ruining the letter would be the worst. The second the ink dried, Elsa folded the parchment and slid it into an envelope. She forced herself to slow down while writing the address, because it would be just her luck for the letter to arrive at the wrong place due to illegible penmanship.

She needn't have bothered, it turns out, since the door burst open with a loud bang and her hand slipped. Elsa whipped around, prepared to be angry with whoever startled her. But, to her astonishment, in stormed Kristoff. Elsa couldn't believe it. She never got to send the letter, and now Kristoff has already come to break up with her, and she'll never be able to change his mind because he's stubborn or if he does change his mind this will always hang over their heads, and—

"I love you."

Kristoff spoke the words quietly, but with conviction. Everything within a foot of Elsa froze over. Kristoff didn't seem to notice, not for a second tearing his gaze away from Elsa's eyes. He walked slowly, each step filled with certainty and purpose. When he reached Elsa, he immediately reached out and held both her hands in his. Elsa, still in a stupor, froze his hands as well. Kristoff grinned at the reaction.

"You haven't frozen my hands in forever."

Her cheeks flushed from embarrassment, and she was tempted to see if the ice would melt on its own from how warm she felt. Elsa was almost too happy to focus on melting the ice. How could she possibly focus on anything other than the fact that Kristoff was here and he loved her. Kristoff loved her. Elsa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She calmed down enough to unfreeze their hands. Kristoff leaned in and gave her an Eskimo kiss. Elsa smiled and pulled him down so she could rest her forehead against his, unwilling to break the first contact they've had in so long.

"You used to freeze my hands all the time, when we first started going out."

"I remember."

And unfortunately, she did. It was a very embarrassing part of their relationship to her, and she wished he would never bring it up. But he did. Often. They stood there in silence for awhile, holding hands and touching foreheads. Eventually, Elsa knew they had to talk this out, so she whispered.

"You love me?"

"Mmm. I don't think, I mean, without you, it was just—" Kristoff huffed, frustrated with himself, and started again. "I'm not good with words. But thinking about this without you made me realize how impossible it is to be without you."

Elsa was officially living proof that people couldn't die of happiness.

"You interrupted me."

She felt his eyebrows crinkle together, and it was... weird, but the good kind of weird. Elsa felt too happy than she knew how to describe.

"I'm sorry?"

"I just finished writing a letter. I was almost ready to send it to you."

Kristoff pulled away from her, though not letting go of her hands. He was worried, obviously. Elsa responded to his confession by telling him about a letter. He looked really cute when he was worried. She could see his eyebrows now, knitted together, and he was biting his lip. She wondered if she caught the habit from him. Kristoff continued looking confused, so she pulled herself from her thoughts to respond.

"In the letter, I explained," She paused to peck him on the lips, "what I learned about prince consorts recently," Another peck, "because I think you'd be interested in the subject."

This time Kristoff kissed her, but rather than a peck it was a full blown kiss. It turned into several kisses, and eventually she nipped his lip for getting her off track. Also for possibly giving her a bad habit. It wasn't much of a punishment; he looked very pleased.

"As I was saying," Elsa gave him a pointed look, "the letter was about prince consorts. Basically, it's when someone marries a queen but doesn't rule."

Kristoff blinked. His expression communicated 'are you kidding me' perfectly. Eventually he sighed, and pulled her closer to him. He bent down to put his head on Elsa's shoulder.

"Are you saying we had a relationship crisis for nothing?"

"Sorry, I should've known. I'm the one that brought it up, even."

Kristoff nuzzled the side of her neck.

"S'not your fault. Plus," Kristoff tilted his head so he spoke into her ear, "now I know that you'll say yes when I propose."

Elsa tugged his head up and kissed him, hard. He smiled into the kiss, she could feel it and it made her smile too. Both of them smiling turned it into an awkward kiss, but neither cared in the least.

"Don't you think this is actually you saying yes to my proposal?"

Kristoff laughed.

"Then I get to pick the date."

AN: I FINALLY FINISHED THIS. It's been months, I know, I'm sorry D:

I don't think Elsa would pester Kristoff. Elsa knows how important it is to give people their space... unlike Anna. Who is conveniently traveling in this story. (One day I'll write my headcanon for Anna and Kristoff's breakup. One day.) Anyway, I don't think Elsa has enough confidence to go demand anything, and she's too much of a realist to declare her love and expect it to work out.
I think Elsa would slowly regain confidence the more she spends time around people who love her, powers and all, but she grew up thinking she was a freak and that doesn't just go away. Which is where the "Elsa never thought she would get married" line comes from. I would love to expand upon that and write a story where she tells Kristoff about it.
Another headcanon mentioned in this story is Elsa freezing Kristoff's hands when they first start dating. I wrote as though Elsa's powers go out of control even with positive(ish) emotions, even though her powers react more to negative emotions. I can see her freezing Kristoff's hands for positive or negative reasons, or both.

Maybe readers can tell me which story they want next? Or suggest your own idea/prompt!

Elsa telling Kristoff about never thinking she'd marry anyone
Elsa freezing Kristoff's hands (also if you think her powers should only react to negative emotions)
The Anna Kristoff breakup headcanon (which is fairly cordial)

And thanks for reading!