AN: This chapter is long... and definitely not worthy of a months wait. *cringes* The past few months I've been suffering from writer's block, hence why no updates lately. So I'm really sorry if this turned out terrible. Dx If you're still with me, thanks for being patient. Also I had to push the thing I kind of hinted would be in this chapter to the next one instead, so I apologize for getting your hopes up. As you can see, this chapter turned out really LONG and I blame it on the ducks because they came out of NOWHERE! Anyway, I hope this chapter is entertaining, at least. ^_^ Nothing happens except fluff and stuff. More AN at the end)
Anna had such a blast her first time bowling that she was raring to play many more games against Elsa, and she intended to beat the troublemaker at every single one.
Elsa, on the other hand, was done losing for the day, accepting her sore loser role like a champ. She politely declined the invitation to "get creamed," as Anna glowingly put it, promising her they would return another time if she wanted to. Anna pouted her obvious disappointment but didn't push it, knowing Elsa was right. There would be plenty of other times for them to go bowling and she certainly planned to make sure they did it more often!
They left the bowling alley and grabbed a quick bite at the nearest fast food place, and while they sat in the car and ate their meals they discussed what they should do next. It didn't take long for them to come to a decision.
Out of all the activities they did together, the one that Anna looked forward to the most was their frequent, simple walks in the park. She especially favored when they took them at night because once the sun went down the park was devoid of almost all humanoid souls. No people meant she would have Elsa's company entirely to herself. Occasionally they'd run across a bum lounging under bushes or a straggling night owl jogger zipping along the paths, but for the most part there wasn't anyone around to disturb them and the girls could walk together in peace and quiet. It was a welcoming change compared to when they went to the movies or restaurants or other establishments that were usually crawling with tons of loud, intrusive people…
The park's parking lot was nearly empty when they showed up, the only other vehicle in the area being a lone ice cream truck that was preparing to leave. Seeing the colorful images of appetizing frozen treats printed on the side of the truck's body, the girls both unanimously decided that they were in the mood for some dessert. Elsa honked the horn as the truck started to pull away and they flagged it down, sticking their arms out the windows and thrashing them crazily to nab the driver's attention, hollering for him to wait. Luckily the driver was kind enough to stop for them and they were able to purchase two chocolate coated vanilla ice cream cones, stuffed with caramel filling and topped with chopped peanuts.
With their freshly acquired frozen snacks in hand, they sauntered into the park and followed the winding, paved pathway, making small talk about nonsensical things along the way. Eventually they came upon the lake and they crossed the wooden bridge bisecting the expansive body of water to get to the other side.
The stars nestled high above in the pitch black sky glittered fantastically on the water's reflective surface. It was a marvelous view that nature provided them and one Elsa wanted to appreciate fully. She suggested to Anna that they hang out by the lake for a while and Anna nodded her assent. Together they wandered off the marked path and located a spot not too far from the water's edge. The grass was a little damp in some areas, so Elsa slipped out of her jacket and spread it out on the ground to give Anna a dry, comfortable place to sit.
"Always being so gentlemanly," Anna observed, lowering herself down onto the thoughtfully offered garment.
"Would you expect less from me, princess?" Elsa said, plopping down on the grass beside Anna. She juggled her ice cream from one hand to the other and took off her shoes and socks. "What kind of person would I be if I let my girlfriend get her cute little butt wet? That's unacceptable!" She sank her feet ankle deep into the lake and cooed with satisfaction at the sensation of the cool water lapping hungrily at her skin.
Looking at her own feet, Anna debated on whether to do the same, and after a few long seconds she finally made up her mind and tugged her shoes off as well, or at least attempted to. Her shoes stubbornly remained attached to her feet, refusing to budge an inch. In order for her to remove them, she needed to loosen her shoelaces first, which was easier said than done. Unfortunately she had a bad habit of tying the laces a little too tightly due to them always breaking free and nearly tripping her disastrously and so she significantly struggled to undo the knot with one single hand.
Noticing she was having trouble, Elsa wordlessly helped assist her with the knot, unlacing the confining footwear with very little difficulty, and before long Anna was able to slip out of her shoes with no problem.
Once free, Anna wiggled her unrestrained toes and submerged her feet into the lake, thanking her girlfriend with a smile and a lingering peck on her cheek.
The two of them settled down and indulged in their tasty treats, cuddling shoulder to shoulder in companionable silence, watching as ducks frolicked in the water ahead of them. The rowdy birds created tiny ripples on the otherwise calm surface as they preened themselves and lazily swam around, foraging for fish and bugs.
Entertaining as it was to watch the wildlife, Elsa's attention didn't last very long on the ducks, drifting away from the lake and its occupants in favor of admiring the breathtaking beauty seated right beside her. What little light the moon gave off illuminated the younger girl's face well, highlighting her bright, serene smile and allowing the smattering of freckles displayed on the bridge of her nose and cheeks to stand out.
Captivated by the delightful sight, Elsa's tongue flicked mechanically to scoop up her rapidly melting ice cream. Her tongue failed to actually make physical contact with the sweet, and the absence didn't seem to register as the blonde obliviously continued to lap uselessly at the air inches above it.
Humming tranquilly, Anna jubilantly devoured her treat with childlike enthusiasm. During her ravenous assault she somehow managed to accidentally get a glob of the vanilla cream on the very tip of her nose. Quirking her mouth in puzzlement, she tilted her head back and vainly tried swiping at the drop with her tongue, sticking it out as far as it could go and curling it upwards, but the distance was too far for her tongue to reach. Wrinkling her nose in bunny-like fashion, she tried to shake the dab off, and when that didn't work she swatted it away with the side of her finger.
Feeling wonderfully at ease, Anna sighed contently and stirred her feet beneath the water's surface in a merry little dance. She risked invading her partner's space by bumping her toes against the closest foot available to her and turned to see if her playful nudges produced a reaction from Elsa. What she saw made her splutter into a fit of silly giggles and she pointed at the blonde and exclaimed, "You're dripping everywhere!"
"Huh?" Not comprehending what Anna was talking about, Elsa glanced down at herself to find trails of melted ice cream speedily trickling down her wrist, making its way down the length of her forearm. Startled, she hurriedly raked up the errant substance with a few swipes of her tongue, and once her arm was cleansed and she slurped up enough of the melting cream to avoid a repeat, she grinned cockily and crooned at Anna, "Only for you!"
"Oh, god." Anna slapped a hand over her own face and groaned out loud, threateningly waving her half eaten ice cream at her cheeky girlfriend. "I'm going to throw this at you."
"But then you'll get me all sticky!" Elsa protested, shrinking away to avoid the possible incoming attack.
"Seriously?" Anna scoffed. "You can always take a dip in the lake to clean off!"
Elsa perked up and elevated one eyebrow. "Naked?" she suggested lasciviously, fiddling with the hem of her shirt as if preparing to whip it off at any second. She daringly inched it up past the indent of her belly button.
Any focus Anna had was lost, her eyes glazing over as she vividly imaged Elsa unabashedly stripping out of her clothes, her curvaceous hips swaying confidently as she strutted up to the lake, raising her arms high above her head to give Anna an unhindered view of her buck-naked body before grandly diving into the water. A strong burst of heat engulfed her face and she hastily said, "Oh, my god. No! I was joking, Elsa! And when I said it, I didn't mean- Jeez, I meant with your under things ON! Not… naked!"
"Really, now, what sane lesbian takes a dip in the lake with clothes on? Blasphemous!" Elsa was, of course, only playing around with her. She had no intention of actually going skinny dipping, especially in such an openly public place, regardless of whether there were people around or not. There was also the fact that swimming in the lake in general was strictly prohibited, as per the signs posted around the perimeter. She wasn't ready to stop the act yet though, enjoying the reaction she was getting out of Anna as she tugged up on her shirt more firmly, gradually exposing more and more of her bare skin to the other girl.
As the shirt rode up temptingly higher and higher, the redhead's eyes grew alarmingly wider. "Elsa! Don't you dare!" Anna hissed warningly.
There was no way for Anna to know Elsa was bluffing, and when she saw no sign of Elsa slowing down or ceasing her actions, a look of pure mischief scrawled upon the blonde's face, Anna reacted quickly. What was left of her ice cream tumbled out of her hands and plopped with a squishy splat onto the grass behind her as she snapped forward with a yelp and yanked Elsa's shirt back down. She kept both of her hands strategically positioned on the older girl's stomach, adamantly preventing the frisky blonde from disrobing if she made any further attempts to try.
"Elsa! We're in a public place!" Anna chastised fiercely, throwing glances around to ensure there was nobody around. "Please keep your clothes on!"
Her request was understandable and one that really didn't require her to say anything more on the subject. But for some inexplicable reason, Anna's mouth moved against her will and she heard herself blabber out, "You're like really gorgeous- insanely so, actually- and as much as I'd like to see you without a stitch of clothing on, I honestly wouldn't know how to handle myself in such a situation because, I mean, you'll be naked and not wearing any clothes, which means you'll be naked…" Nervously fingering a loose thread on Elsa's shirt, Anna was acutely aware of Elsa's increasingly widening smile as more and more unintelligent words gushed forth from her. "And like, I've thought about it more than I'd like to admit, you being naked and all… but… but…" Oh god, she needed to shut up because she sounded like a bumbling fool. "I guess what I'm trying to say is, I think it would be a bit overwhelming if you were naked, and you shouldn't do it here because of… reasons," Anna lamely peeped out before successfully wrangling her mouth shut. Her eyes slipped closed and she silently cursed herself for her idiocy.
A cricket lurking in the grass somewhere nearby bleeped out several streams of exceptionally loud chirping, making a point to punctuate how awkward her inane rambling had truly been. Anna wanted to scour the grass to locate the little bugger and squash it to death with her foot to teach it a valuable life lesson.
Elsa's smile didn't fade or falter an inch as she tipped the circular opening of her cone to her mouth and drank the rest of her now soupy ice cream. When she finished it, she petted the hands that had yet to move from her belly and said, "I'm sorry, Anna. Could you repeat what you said, please? I'm not positive but I think there's a teensy weensy possibility you want to see me naked."
"I don't- I didn't- Ugh!" Clasping her hands together and throwing them behind her, Anna flopped backwards on the ground and squeezed her arms against the sides of her head as if to pop it. She complained irritably, "You really like to make things difficult for me, don't you? Can't you take pity on me and ignore the absolute garbage that falls out of my mouth?"
Elsa's laugh breezed through the air. "I wouldn't consider any of the words coming out of your mouth garbage." Her thick braid fell off her shoulder, lightly smacking the younger girl's face as she leaned forward on one elbow to hover over Anna. "And you like to make things difficult for yourself, silly. Don't put the blame on me." Sneakily pinching Anna's side, she got a responsive jolt and a high-pitched squeak from the curled form and faintly saw the corner of Anna's mouth twitch into a smile.
Quickly trying to hide her smile, Anna rolled onto her side and placed her back directly towards Elsa, forcing out a loud harrumph to convey her lackluster annoyance.
Chuckling humorously at her girlfriend's adorably grumpy act, Elsa scooted her body closer so Anna's back was flush against her front. Lowering her head, she gently prodded the point of her nose into the nape of Anna's neck, inhaling the other girl's deliciously sweet scent. "You were the one who so eloquently confessed you want to see me naked, sweetie, and that is not something I can pretend I didn't hear!" Lubricating her dry lips with the help of her moist tongue, Elsa tickled the back of Anna's ear with her warm breath, thriving in the sharp intake the action produced from the girl. She trailed her breaths lower, craning her neck to grant her access to the side of Anna's throat, where she planted a delicate kiss before moving back to her ear. "I have no qualms about seeing you naked, either, my princess. If you like, I could blubber endlessly like an idiot and admit how badly I want to see you without a shred of clothing on, and I could even explain in great detail all the things I'd love to do to your divine body with my hands…" She ghosted her fingers down Anna's side, coming to rest at her hip and giving it a light squeeze. "And especially with my mouth," she confessed naughtily in a whisper, her words coated thickly with unconcealed desire.
Anna released a low moan, clutching her abdomen at the sudden churning, sizzling, heat that pooled there. She shivered with excitement at the awesome potential those headily whispered words promised. Flushing feverishly, and dizzy with a powerful need, she noisily cleared her throat and stuttered, moving into a sitting position, "I-I think it would be a good idea if we steered the conversation AWAY from the subject of either one of us being naked and the possible ensuing activities that might follow..."
"And why in the world would we want to do that?" Elsa asked, genuinely curious about the reason behind them stopping what she personally thought was a delightfully desirable discussion.
Swallowing down the saliva that gathered abundantly on the surface of her tongue, Anna quietly informed her, "Because… you're making me really uncomfortable, right now."
"Oh… I-" Thinking she crossed a line with her admittedly blunt forwardness, Elsa stiffened drastically and sharply drew away from Anna as if she'd been physically burned. An array of worry lines marked her forehead as she slouched dejectedly and said bleakly, "I'm really sorry, Anna."
The abrupt change in Elsa's attitude threw Anna off. "Wait, what? Sorry?" she asked, dumbfounded. Then, realizing how her previous words might have been interpreted by the blonde, she cried out, "No! It… it's alright, Elsa. Don't be sorry. Shit…" Shifting to her knees, Anna smoothed her hand up Elsa's arm, calmingly rubbing her tense shoulder and said gently, "Hey, look at me." When Elsa didn't obey her command she tapped up insistently on her chin and forced her to do so. "You misunderstood me. When I said you were making me uncomfortable I didn't mean it in a bad way, if you catch my drift," she hinted slyly.
Searching Anna's face carefully, Elsa said, "So… you mean…?" When Anna gnawed shyly on her lower lip and dropped her gaze to her lap, Elsa smiled understandingly. "Ah… I see." She laughed nervously and the uneasiness slowly drained from her body, her shoulders falling into a relaxed state. "Well, that's…definitely good to hear."
Anna slowly nodded her agreement, but she still looked troubled. Though the misunderstanding had been cleared up rather quickly, thankfully, she couldn't let the moment pass without confronting a very serious issue it presented, and that issue was seeing Elsa momentarily lose her confident nature. It didn't happen very often, and most of the time it wasn't even really that noticeable, but when Anna recognized the signs it was… disheartening. She didn't want her girlfriend to be cautious about the things she said or did around her, fearing she would offend Anna in some way. Determined to put a stop to it, she clamped her thumb and forefinger firmly on Elsa's jaw to capture her undivided attention and said, "I want you to understand something, Elsa, because I notice you have these moments where you are uncertain or doubtful-"
"I don't want to do anything stupid that would make me lose you," Elsa inserted weakly with a half shrug.
"-and I know it's all my fault." Anna frowned as she reflected back on her horrible treatment of Elsa in the beginning. How nasty and bitchy she'd been and how she physically hurt the blonde because of her own, irrational stupidity. She released a pained noise and shook her head, swearing she would never again do anything to disappoint or seriously hurt her cuddly, lovable, and sometimes insufferable Elsa. "I was confused and took my anger and frustration out on you, the one person who bothered to show me an ounce of kindness… and I will never stop apologizing for what I did because frankly I don't think my feeble apologies could truly make up for that atrocious behavior."
Elsa traced her fingertips lovingly upon Anna's lips and was suddenly possessed with the unrelenting need to kiss them. She complied with her need and took the talkative mouth with her own, murmuring against them, "Stop."
"No, let me finish. Don't distract me with that sexy mouth of yours," Anna scolded, squirming and twisting her head to fight against the kiss, not that she actually wanted to stop kissing Elsa. She wanted to kiss Elsa to her heart's content but she needed to appease her first by getting her point out. "This is important, okay? I need you to know that nothing you do or say could offend me or upset me, not anymore," she addressed sternly. "I accept you and all your quirky, lesbian ways completely and unconditionally. Do you understand?"
Meeting those compelling, passionately heated eyes head on, Elsa was struck by a powerful emotion that flowed through her veins and sent her heart racing double time. Rendered speechless by the effect this girl had on her, she nodded meekly to portray her understanding and swiftly distracted herself from pouncing on Anna and ravishing her right then and there by paying extra special attention to delicately nibbling on the cone she still had in her hand.
Seeing the cone reminded Anna of her own unfortunate loss splayed on the grass somewhere behind her. She looked over and saw what was left of it was already being feasted upon by an army of ants and she sighed disappointedly. The waffle cone was by far her favorite part of the ice cream and she missed out on it thanks to her girlfriend's crazy antics. Bunching her knees to her chest, she dropped her chin on top and grumbled, "You owe me a waffle cone."
"Is that so?" Dangling her own cone enticingly before the redhead, whose eyes followed it magnetically, Elsa said, smiling gently, "Do you want to share the rest of mine with me, princess?"
"No…" Unraveling herself from her tucked pose, Anna crawled onto Elsa's lap, positioning herself so she was facing the older girl. Making herself comfortable, she wrapped her legs around the blonde's waist and slipped her arms behind her neck. "Since you made me drop mine thanks to your little strip tease stunt, you should be nice and let me have the whole thing, " she insisted convincingly.
"Or I could act like I'm going to share it with you but eat it all instead and laugh evilly in your face afterwards," Elsa noted. The cone had softened somewhat after absorbing moisture from the melted ice cream that clung to it and she easily tore a large strip off behind Anna's back. She introduced the ripped piece to Anna, placing it directly in front of her lips.
And despite hearing Elsa's previous sentence, Anna trustingly opened her mouth to receive it. Just before her mouth could enclose around it, Elsa moved the piece away and stifled a small laugh when Anna's top teeth clicked audibly with her bottom teeth as she chomped down on nothing but empty air.
"Hey!" Putting on her best pouty face, Anna removed her arms from their original placement around Elsa and sulked, crossing them over her chest. "You're so mean."
Elsa kissed the tip of her nose and said sweetly, "I'm very generous and kindhearted, actually! It just so happens I have a girlfriend who is way too easy to tease and I can't get enough of it. Seriously, I could torture you endlessly!" Anna growled at her and she snickered. "I said I could! Doesn't mean I would." She offered the piece to Anna again, poking her lips with it and prompting, "Open up."
Anna eyed it longingly but kept her mouth firmly closed, turning her head away.
"Aw, come on, you big baby," Elsa encouraged, following the direction her head turned and continuing her prodding. "I promise I won't trick you this time."
"You better not," Anna said, very cautiously parting her lips. As promised, Elsa didn't withhold it from her this time and stuck it directly into her mouth. Instead of gobbling it down right away as expected, Anna simply bit down on it, holding it in place with her teeth, allowing a portion of the cone to remain hanging from between her lips. Hooking her arms back behind Elsa's neck, she dragged the blonde's head closer to her and nudged the protruding cone piece against Elsa's lips. Her eyelashes fluttered as she gazed at Elsa invitingly, silently urging her to accept it.
Not needing to be told twice, Elsa closed the gap, taking the opposite end of the cone strip into her mouth and effectively joining their lips together. Her arms moved to encircle Anna's torso as their mouths remained perfectly synced, tongues elegantly probing and exploring leisurely, swapping saliva and cone particles in a graceful, mutual dance.
As Anna thoroughly enjoyed the exquisite taste of her girlfriend- Elsa was a delectable flavor she would never grow tired of- she retracted her earlier thought process about the waffle cone being the best part of the ice cream. That current moment, the marvelous closeness she shared with Elsa right then, was hands down the best part of the dessert.
The cone, loosely held in Elsa's hand at Anna's back, was long forgotten and the girls tuned out everything around them, lost in each other's arms as they exchanged hot kisses that were growing exceedingly hotter as time passed. And then…
"QUACK!"
The invasive, peculiar sound startled the blushing lovers violently apart, both of them gasping loudly as they turned shocked expressions onto the source of the noise, which came from a white duck that had emerged from the lake and was now standing a few feet uncomfortably close behind Anna. It blinked at them with great interest and they blinked back at it confusedly.
"Um… hello?" Elsa awkwardly greeted the animal, unsure of what else to say or do.
The duck tilted its head to the side and tiptoed closer to them.
Anna glued herself tightly to Elsa as the bird advanced, wary about the animal's sudden appearance. "What is it doing? What does it want?" she asked suspiciously.
Before Elsa could speculate on the reason why the duck was creeping up on them, the fluffy bird flapped its wings animatedly and quacked again, simultaneously lunging forward and catching Elsa's cone in its rounded, bright yellow beak and ripping it away from her aggressively. With the stolen cone in its possession, the duck made a mad dash for the lake, its back end shaking excessively as it waddled away from them as fast as its two webbed feet could carry it.
Realizing they had just been robbed, Anna shouted belatedly, "Hey!" She clumsily scrambled off of Elsa's lap and dove after the duck to stop it from escaping, but the slick thief skillfully avoided her hands and scurried safely into the water where it swam out to meet its friends, proudly waving its prize in the air like a victory flag.
Climbing to her feet, a fuming Anna shook her fist and yelled a stream of curses and threats at the animal as she watched the apprehended cone get devoured by the sneaky duck and his slimy, duck friends. "I will catch you and have roasted duck for dinner, you filthy bird!" she hollered angrily. Kicking the ground, she searched for an object to throw and found a rock that was roughly the size of a bottle cap. It was too small for her liking but it was better than nothing, so she picked the rock up and wound her arm back, preparing to throw it.
"Whoa!" Elsa caught her arm before she could make the throw and tried her best to calm the unruly girl down. "Relax, feisty pants! Leave the poor ducks be! Don't worry about the cone, okay? We can always get more!"
"That's not the point," Anna grouched, lowering her arm but not letting go of the rock. Poor ducks? Ha! The duck was pure evil. What it did was inexcusable. The animal could have grabbed the easily accessible cone that she dropped on the ground and went on its merry little way without incident, but no. It specifically approached them and robbed them blind while they were blissfully occupied, and she was not going to stand there and let the feathered criminal get away with that!
Deciding that it was probably a good idea to move on, Elsa put her socks and shoes back on and shook her jacket free of debris before shrugging back into it. She gathered Anna's things together and tried giving them to Anna but the other girl wasn't paying any attention to her, muttering incoherently under her breath as she glared at the ducks, so Elsa stuffed the socks inside the shoes and tucked the shoes under her armpit and dealt with the rest of their things.
While Elsa's attention was diverted away from her, Anna rashly made her move and fired the rock in the general direction of the ducks, flinging it with all her strength. She wasn't able to see the shadowy form of the rock as it careened through the air but she saw and heard it when it plummeted into the lake with a ploop, water shooting up from its crash landing.
The shot went nowhere near the duck she was aiming for and missed all of the other ducks in the group altogether, though it did get dangerously close to a few fuzzy little ducklings innocently paddling along in the water. They chirped in surprise and splashed away from the commotion, quickly rushing to gather around an adult duck that was floating along with them. The older duck, presumably the mother, squawked in what Anna figured was an outraged cry. She didn't speak duck so she couldn't say for sure…
The lake suddenly became abuzz with activity as several other ducks in the group chimed in with answering cries of their own and then all the adult birds shifted into high alert mode, their thin, lengthy necks standing erect as they aimed menacing stares straight towards Anna.
At that point, Anna concluded that the ducks were definitely furious at her and that knowing their language was not necessary for her to understand that. Taking a step back, she gulped frighteningly, her face turning pale and she whispered, "Oh, shit."
"What?" Elsa called distractedly, in the process of clearing up what little garbage they had with them, which mostly consisted of the wrappers from their ice cream. She gingerly picked up the ant infested cone and tried to shake the partying insects off of it. "Anna?" she said when she didn't get a response from Anna in regards to her question, and she looked up just in time to see the lake literally explode as a swarm of angry ducks took flight, swooping up and then diving down in unison, honing in on their location. She dropped the cone instantly and straightened up. "Oh, wow..." she said in complete awe at the sight she was seeing.
"RUN!" Anna frantically screamed, snatching Elsa's hand as she whipped past her, literally yanking her off her feet.
Fleeing for her life from the flock of vicious ducks that were after her juicy blood, Anna screeched madly, providing her lungs with a healthy workout. Her feet pounded the ground as she bolted, cutting across the park, bouncing between and around trees in her path in hopes of throwing off her pursuers. Along the way her hand was jostled free from Elsa's and she risked a glance back only to make sure the blonde was still close behind her. Other than that quick peek, she relied solely on her ears to determine whether the ducks were gaining on them.
The incessant quacking on their tail diminished soon enough, growing fainter and fainter the farther they ran, letting Anna know the ducks were giving up on the chase. Despite this information, Anna refused to slow down until she burst into a clearing and spotted a drinking fountain strategically stationed next to the paved pathway. Staggering over to it on rubbery, protesting legs, she collapsed gratefully against the bulky stone structure when she reached it, gasping like a chain smoker deprived of oxygen.
Holding her aching, burning sides, Anna wheezed, "We… we lost them." She wiped her forehead and grimaced with disgust when her hand came away wet. The run had caused her to sweat badly and the shirt she wore was sticking unpleasantly to her skin. Fanning her overheated face and panting hard, she blindly felt around for the button built into the stone surface of the fountain and pushed it to get the water flowing, shoving her face into the arching stream that shot out, thirstily gulping down the liquid. Anna generally refrained from drinking out of public fountains because she thought they were unsanitary, not to mention the few times she did drink out of one her mouth was left with a nasty aftertaste. This one tasted surprisingly good, though, and the water was pleasantly cold, so she drank enough to hydrate herself.
She satisfied the inside of her parched mouth and then aimed the spray on the outside of her throat, moaning appreciatively as she spread the refreshing liquid around her sweaty neck, shoulders, and upper back to help herself cool down. By the time she was done her shirt was totally drenched. She squeezed as much of the excess water out as she could and then flapped the top of her shirt to get a nice artificial breeze going.
Exhausted, Anna gripped the sides of the fountain and tried to school her breathing back to appropriate, operational levels. During that process she noticed something was off.
It was… quiet, and that was strange considering she was in the company of someone who was normally pretty vocal. For some reason Elsa hadn't made a single peep...
Sweeping her eyes around, Anna discovered Elsa was actually missing. Shucking aside the wet bangs that clung to her forehead, she tentatively called, "Elsa?"
The disturbing and somewhat eerily silence remained, giving her no response and offering no clues as to where Elsa had vanished off to.
"Elsa!" Where did she go? Anna wondered, her nervousness growing as she twirled around and around, her eyes actively searching for any sign of the other girl. Her sudden, unexplainable absence was worrisome. She was pretty sure Elsa had been right on her heels the whole time they were running away because she remembered hearing echoing footsteps behind her! Unless her mind was playing tricks on her and the footsteps she thought were Elsa's were actually her own…
Cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify her voice, Anna shouted worriedly, "Elsa!"
Oh, no… Anna thought with a sinking, chilling feeling. What if Elsa was seriously injured and lying on the ground, incapacitated by the ducks? "Elsa, where are you?" she cried louder, now panicking, her voice cracking as she imagined Elsa tripping and falling and getting smothered by a sea of plush, feathery bodies. Right at that very moment the ducks were likely mauling her to death, dismembering her poor body with their razor sharp-
"Quack!"
Anna's heart dropped out of her chest and she screamed bloody murder, arms flailing as she spun around to confront her quacktacker. Her wild maneuvering caused her to lose her balance and she fell backwards, landing hard on her bottom. Cringing fearfully, arms crossed at the wrists and hands splayed wide and raised defensively to protect her face from an imminent attack, Anna peeked through an available opening, expecting to see an evil duck to match the convincing quack that had been uttered so close to her ear.
But there was no duck in sight. Anna instead found her thought-to-be missing girlfriend bent over her knees and laughing up her lungs. "Elsa!" she shouted in surprised disbelief, her arms falling from their protective position and flopping onto her lap.
Her first assumption that Elsa had been behind her while they were escaping from the mob of ducks was correct. Elsa had kept up with Anna's comically erratic, but surprisingly fast pace, lagging behind only because she chose to. She followed the struggling younger girl, laughing quietly to herself about how ridiculous the situation the redhead had gotten them into was. Somewhere along the way the brilliant idea to scare Anna even more implanted itself inside her brain, and no matter how hard she tried to ignore the temptation, she couldn't shake it away.
How can I pass up on an easy opportunity to make Anna scream? Elsa had thought wickedly. Sure, there were other, much more preferable ways to get her screaming… but the path she chose to go down would be pretty damn funny.
So while Anna's eyes were closed and she was busy splashing herself with water, Elsa quietly crouched out of Anna's line of sight and hid behind the stone fountain's structure. She hunkered down, waiting for the right moment to pop out, trying hard not to erupt into laughter. Elsa listened and waited, and she almost abandoned the plan when she heard the desperation in Anna's voice as she called out to her, but she stubbornly stuck with her plan because she knew the reaction she got out of Anna would make the whole thing totally worth it in the end.
And in her opinion, it most definitely was worth it.
"You bitch!" Still on the ground, Anna lashed out at Elsa with a naked foot, kicking the blonde squarely in the butt that was conveniently turned her way. The kick only served to crack Elsa up more and she collapsed face first on the ground, unable to support herself in an upright position.
Unamused by the prank, Anna snapped furiously, "You scared the shit out of me, you asshole!"
Pushing herself up and hurling her body at Anna, Elsa grappled her lovingly and cheered, "But I'm your asshole!" She puckered her lips and delivered a sloppy, wet smooch to one of Anna's cheeks.
Shouldering her away and wiping the slobber left on her face, Anna muttered, "I already have one of those, thanks. I don't need another."
Elsa giggled crazily, but she sobered up quickly when she realized Anna wasn't laughing along with her. The girl was plainly upset by the scare. Taking Anna's hand and brushing her thumb along the unique lines imprinted on her palm, she said guiltily, "I'm sorry for scaring you, princess. Forgive me, please?" She jutted her trembling lower lip out to increase the chance of Anna accepting her meaningful apology. "Pretty please? You can kick my butt some more if it'll make you feel better." She flipped around and presented a perfect view of her jean clad bum to the redhead, wiggling it at her encouragingly.
Anna tried to resist, she really did. She wasn't quite ready to accept Elsa's apology after that cruel, heart stuttering trick she played on her… but it was impossible to stay mad at that damn face and that playfully shaking tush that deserved to be slapped around. This woman made her pathetically weak, which was probably a bad thing, but she decided she didn't care. "I swear, you will be the death of me," she said peevishly, and because Elsa gave her permission, she administered a swift, stinging slap to Elsa's hind cheeks. "I'm going to suffer from traumatizing nightmares because of this, you know!"
Massaging her rump, Elsa joked, "My butt's not that bad…" She got up and dusted the small grains of dirt that stuck to the front of her clothes off. "Anyway, serves you right for bothering those poor, defenseless ducks." She circled around to her hiding spot and collected the trash and Anna's shoes she left on the ground. "You shouldn't have provoked them, Anna," she reproved mildly, depositing the garbage into the trash receptacle next to the fountain. She started to pass the shoes to Anna but halted, aiming a frown down at her. "You're filthy."
"Wha… Excuse me? I'm filthy because I provoked some stupid ducks?" Anna said, baffled and more than a little peeved by Elsa's seemingly insulting words.
"No! I was talking about your feet! They are dirty," Elsa elaborated, poking her own shoe encased foot at one of Anna's bare ones.
"Oh…" Truthfully, Anna forgot she was barefoot. It completely slipped her mind, for obvious reasons… Elsa was right though. Her feet were heavily stained with mud and bits of grass and who knew what else. Apparently she had trampled through every available dirt patch in the park with her wet feet. "Great…" she said disgustedly. How was she going to rinse herself off? The lake would have been the perfect and most obvious choice, except there was no way she was going anywhere near that place ever again! Not after that hair-raising experience! Her next best option would have been the bathrooms that were available in the park, but those were locked after dark as a precaution to prevent vandalism from people who had nothing better to do with their lives, so that was also out.
It looked like she was going to be forced to wear the dirt until she got home…
Grabbing fistfuls of grass, Anna used the green stuff to scrape some of the mud off the bottom of her foot and said, "First of all, let me remind you that those so called poor, defenseless ducks totally started it! Second, the rock I threw was practically a pebble AND I didn't even graze any of them with it! Third, and most importantly, whose side are you on? You saw how they charged after me all mouth frothing crazy! They would have chewed me apart if they caught up to me, I'm sure!"
"Note to self, never take Anna on a wild safari," Elsa said under her breath. If Anna was capable of riling up normally docile animals with ease, she didn't want to know what she could do around larger, meaner animals that possessed actual sharp, pointy teeth. "They're ducks, Anna, not lions. I'm pretty sure the possibility of them chewing you apart is impossible."
"Anything is possible!"
"In 'Courage the Cowardly Dog', maybe." Clucking her tongue, Elsa snapped her fingers and motioned for Anna to get up. "Alright, you. Enough with the ducks. Let's clean your stinky feet."
"My feet are not stinky!" Anna objected. She tentatively sniffed her foot to prove it. The odor she inhaled consisted mostly of wet dirt and grass, and while it wasn't particularly an off-putting smell, she made a funny face anyway. Groaning, she rose to her feet and asked, "How exactly do you expect me to get clean?"
"I'm going to lick all the mud off, of course," Elsa advised evenly.
"Ew. That's gross, and I swear if you do that I will break up with you," Anna threatened. A blatant lie. "Or at least I'll never kiss you again. Yuck…" Also a lie. Still, the thought of dirty feet being licked was revolting to her. The fact that it could possibly be her own dirty feet receiving that special treatment didn't make it any better.
"Shut up and bring your feet up here so I can pamper my pretty little princess," Elsa said impatiently, patting the water fountain and lifting her own leg to indicate what she wanted Anna to do.
Somewhat skeptical, Anna wobbled unsteadily as she strained to swing a foot up, wincing at the uncomfortable position her limbs were forced into. "Ow. Okay, this is… a little awkward to be considered pampering," she said, trying to balance on the foot she had planted on the ground while keeping her raised one perched on top of the fountain. "I'm pretty sure a pampering is more comfortable and luxurious than this."
"I don't doubt that," Elsa agreed, hooking her arm under and around Anna's calf to keep her from falling over and firmly grasping her ankle. "But we make do with what we have available, and unfortunately this is it. Or… if you prefer, we could go ba-"
"No!" Anna interrupted quickly. "Don't even say it. I'm not going back to THAT place. This… is fine, I guess. But Elsa, please hurry. Standing at this angle really hurts and my legs are tired as it is. I'm not sure how much longer I can stay in this position."
Propping her hip on the button to keep the fountain water on a constant flow, Elsa dotingly cleansed Anna's foot, whistling while she worked.
Anna took that time to scrutinize her without the distraction of those blue eyes aimed her way. Compared to her disheveled, sweaty self, the blonde looked… so aggravatingly, mind-blowingly, unbelievably perfect. Her appearance certainly did not portray that of a woman who had just been on a recent run. Her breathing was ordinary, and not one strand of hair that made up her thick, single braid was out of place. It was almost as if she had glided the whole way…
"How do you do it?" Anna blurted enviously. Elsa gave her a questioning look. "I feel like I've just run a marathon and you look as if you've been on a casual stroll."
Lathering the base of Anna's foot with water to wash off the dirt and miscellaneous gunk caked over it, Elsa grinned and said, "Well, screaming like a banshee would naturally take a lot out of you, especially when you combine that with running like a chicken with its head cut off." She threaded her fingers between the cracks of Anna's toes to remove the surprising amount of muck holed up there. As she worked, her fingers brushed against sensitive points, causing the younger girl to violently twitch. Elsa was forced to tighten her grip when the action almost knocked Anna's foot free from her hold and she shot her a short, warning glance. "Stop squirming."
"Sorry," Anna mumbled. She clenched her teeth and swallowed back a hiss as Elsa stroked the palm of her foot, her toes flexing and curling at the touch.
Apart from a quick flick of her eyes to the area in question, Elsa pretended she didn't notice and continued with her task. "Anyway, to answer your question, I get lots of exercise when I take Sven for his daily morning walks. My furry buddy has a ridiculous amount of energy for a dog his age so those walks inevitably end up with me in hot pursuit of him. I swear he's like a playful little puppy," she said fondly, chuckling.
Anna loved when Elsa talked about her dog because it always brought a huge smile to her face and she spoke about him so lovingly. "He sounds adorable. I can't wait to meet him! Do you think you can take me to see him next time?" she pressed hopefully. "On top of meeting your dog, I'm very interested in seeing my wild lesbian in her natural habitat, too," she jested.
It suddenly occurred to Anna that Elsa never once offered to invite her to her apartment. Why haven't we discussed this before? Anna wondered. To be honest, she never really thought about it all that much because she was just happy being in Elsa's presence, but now that it was there in her head, she realized that Elsa's apartment would be a safe haven for them to make-out and cuddle in privacy. They wouldn't have to worry about getting interrupted by hostile, cone-stealing beasts or nosy people. "Unless… you don't want me to?" she said hesitantly.
"No, no! Don't be silly! I would love for you to come to my apartment," Elsa ensured, closely examining the foot she was cleansing, using the available light given off by a nearby lamp post to check her progress. She nodded satisfactorily and rubbed the sleeve of her jacket over the underside of Anna's foot to polish it dry, and she did it with such care that a brand new car would have been jealous from the attention. Elsa took her eyes away from what she was doing long enough to smile apologetically at Anna, looking sheepish. "My apartment is a bit of a disaster, at the moment.… Certainly not an environment suitable for a princess such as yourself. It's completely my fault since I've been shirking heavily on cleaning. I'll get to work on making it presentable as soon as possible," she promised.
"Maybe you should invest in a maid," Anna quipped. "Or teach Sven how to clean since he's home all day."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea, actually." Elsa blew lightly against Anna's heel, and the tiny whoosh of air produced from her mouth skimmed daintily upon Anna's skin, triggering another sharp foot spasm from the girl. This time Elsa was ready for it and she held her steady, chiding, "You're still doing it, Anna."
"I know! I'm sorry. I can't help it, okay?" Anna said, sounding more than a little frustrated.
"You can't help it, huh?" Elsa processed this information carefully and a smile tugged the corners of her lips upwards. "Is someone ticklish on her feetsie?"
Uh, oh, Anna thought with a gulp. Elsa was giving her a dangerous look that signaled she was seconds away from getting ruthlessly tickled to death, and her situation was made exceptionally worse when she factored in the compromising position she was stuck in. With her leg trapped and held hostage by Elsa, she had no chance of escaping.
She was doomed.
"N-no!" Anna lied, swinging her head from side to side. "I'm not ticklish at all! Not one bit! Nope. So… so don't waste your time trying to tickle me because it won't work! You'll be extremely disappointed."
"Really? Is that so?" Elsa experimentally dragged a finger slowly down the length of Anna's foot and the resulting tremors from the pass was incentive enough for her to go on. She tweaked Anna's biggest toe and started to sing, "This little piggy went to market."
"Nugh," Anna grunted, trying to shake her leg free.
"This little piggy stayed home," Elsa sang cheerily, wiggling her fingers against the next stubby toe in line.
"Stooooop!" Anna said pleadingly.
Elsa straight up ignored her and went right on doing what she was doing. "This little piggy had roast beef."
"El- he he he-sa!"
"And this poor little piggy had none…" Elsa put a very sad face on for the pig that was denied roast beef, but she didn't leave out Anna's second to last toe, giving the digit an equal amount of attention that she gave the others. Without missing a beat she turned to the last toe and said, tugging on the pinky, "This little piggy went wee wee wee!" Following the last wee, her fingers went into a frenzy, dancing upon every inch of space on Anna's foot. But they didn't stop there, proceeding further up Anna's leg until they were burrowed deep in the soft flesh of Anna's stomach, busily attacking the sensitive location. Her other hand joined in on the fun not too long after.
Anna didn't stand a chance against such an assault. "Noooo hooo ho!" Still precariously balanced on one leg, she leaned back to evade Elsa's torturous touch, and when that didn't give her a reprieve she wrenched herself away. With Elsa's hands no longer holding her down she was left rocking on the heel of her one foot, seconds away from spilling backwards. Eyes closed, she braced herself for impact and the resulting pain that would surely follow from the fall…
It never came.
The hands that were mercilessly tickling Anna stopped fooling around in time to latch onto her hips, firmly anchoring her in place. Elsa then helped her return the leg resting high on the fountain's edge back to the sturdy ground and slid her arms around Anna, combining their lips swiftly in a chaste kiss.
Feeling the victorious smirk Elsa pressed against her own mouth, Anna groused, "I seriously hate you sometimes."
"Gasp! You wound me with your thorn-laced words," Elsa fake sobbed, tipping her head back and throwing the back of her hand over her forehead theatrically.
"Oh, please!" Anna laughed heartily and shook her head. The movement caused the ties assigned to bind both of her messy braids in place to loosen considerably, and since they were no longer doing their job properly she removed them and stuffed them in her pockets.
Elsa made a cute little happy noise when Anna fanned her hair out and she reached forward and combed her fingers through the unkempt coppery strands. "You know, you look beautiful all breathless and mussed up," she complimented.
"You're just saying that to get into my pants," Anna accused her.
"I believe I don't need an excuse for that, if your earlier admission had any merit," Elsa bragged smugly.
Embarrassment from being reminded of her earlier blathering made quick work of brightening Anna's cheeks and she rumbled out hoarsely, "That's not fair. You can't use that against me so soon…"
"Hey." Elsa grazed her lips with Anna's again, applying an insistent but gentle kiss. "I mean it… About the beautiful thing, that is. You'll always look beautiful to me," she said sincerely.
The color on Anna's cheeks darkened for a different reason this time and a great warmth encompassed her entire body at the sweet-spoken words. On top of her constant teasing, Elsa never failed to shower her with compliments when she got the chance. Anna naturally reveled in hearing them because they always made her feel amazing, like she was actually worth something. But what made them even more special was that she knew they weren't empty words Elsa was saying in an effort to make her happy. When Elsa gave her compliments, she spoke them truthfully, directly from her heart.
Taking her into a hug, Anna rested her chin in the crook of her girlfriend's neck and said humbly, "Thank you."
Elsa returned the hug fervently, giving her a solid squeeze. "You are very welcome."
They rocked pleasantly together, soaking in the warmth of each other's arms, and if it were possible they would have been happy staying like that forever. It was too bad that life couldn't be lived through warm hugs alone. They reluctantly pulled apart, both groaning at the slight separation, though the distance was just enough so that they could see each other's face.
No verbal words needed to be exchanged as they communicated solely with their soft smiles and admiring eyes, the unbreakable contact speaking volumes even with their silence.
The silence stretched for an indecipherable amount of time and within that time frame Elsa started getting antsy, bouncing from one foot to the other as if she were subtly dancing or trying to hold the contents of her bladder in. Her lips trembled as if words were fighting to burst out, and eventually they separated and her voice whistled through the space they created. "Anna, I-" Her forehead crinkled and she stopped abruptly and held her breath to keep from saying anything else, her teeth worrying her bottom lip as her eyes shifted downward.
"Elsa?" Anna could tell Elsa wanted to say something, and judging by how nervous she had grown, she guessed it was something really important. "What is it?"
"I… uh…" Elsa's gaze remained fixed towards the ground and she cleared her throat and nodded at Anna's feet. "I still have that other foot to deal with," she answered, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Oh… I guess that's probably a good idea." Anna frowned deeply. She was almost certain that whatever Elsa was going to say had nothing at all to do with her feet. A tiny spark of hope made her heart flutter when she allowed herself to dwell too long on a few possibilities… She didn't pester Elsa about it despite wanting to do so very badly. Tucking the thought safely aside for later contemplation, she shuffled closer to the fountain. "Just so you know," she said, changing the subject as she foolishly placed herself in a vulnerable position once more, willingly surrendering herself to the devious blonde, "I am capable of bathing myself…"
"I'm sure you can." Reclaiming her cleaning post and being extra careful not to tickle Anna as her soft hands diligently scrubbed the remaining soiled foot, Elsa continued smartly, "But why would you want to when you have an 'insanely gorgeous' girlfriend to do it for you?"
Anna just laughed boisterously, knowing she couldn't possibly refute that.
AN 2: I just want you all to be aware that this story will have TWO different outcomes, so if you're concerned about one of the tags it's listed under, know that it only applies to one ending.
EDIT: On second thought, ignore the second AN and the label. I've decided I'm going to post the bad outcome as a separate story when the time comes, so... yay?