She lied.
Well, not exactly.
She had skipped classes that morning claiming that she wasn't feeling very well, and in all honesty, she was feeling kind of sick. Nonetheless, she doubted that whatever ailed her was serious enough to keep her in bed all day long. If anything, the heavy weight on her chest was most likely an emotional wound rather than a physical one. Luckily, Violet and Astrid had let her be without much questioning, allowing her to mentally stir the memories of the day before in seclusion.
Elsa stared at the ceiling as echoes of his words rang in her ears. She felt her throat burning as she remembered the anger and the hurt, and she tried to convince herself that it was for the best. Even though the idea of seeing him again made her stomach churn, there was no question in her mind that breaking off their friendship at once was a better option than dragging the tension on and watching it slowly falling apart. They both now hated each other. And she could finally let go.
As she still processed that resolution, there was a knock on her door.
Hiding under her sheets, Elsa grumbled, "Astrid, I told you: You don't have to keep checking on me." She heard the door opening and closed her eyes tighter, as if that could magically make her friend turn around and leave.
"It's not Astrid."
Elsa sighed. Relaxing her expression, she pulled her covers down and met her sister's eyes with an arched brow. Putting her best nonchalant face on, she greeted the other girl, "Hello, sister dear. To what do I owe this unexpected visit?"
"Heard you weren't feeling well," Anna replied, sitting on the edge of the bed and giving Elsa's leg a comforting pat.
The eldest sister sighed. "I'm fine."
"That so?" Anna wondered, her voice full of skepticism. "Not really like you to take a day off though."
"What about you?" Elsa retorted with a stern look. "Already slacking off on your presidential duties?"
"My sister's wellbeing takes top priority, mind you," Anna mumbled with a pout. "Besides, Tink and Punz totally got me covered."
Elsa hummed, but said nothing more, hoping that her silence would encourage her sister to leave. Sadly for her, Anna didn't take the hint — or if she did, the youngest Arendelle sister simply decided to ignore it. Having quite the opposite of the desired effect, Anna actually leaned back, stretching her legs and making herself more comfortable.
"So tell me, sis, what kind of disaster would bring you to hide in your room like a poor little damsel in distress?"
"I'm not—"
"You used to do the same thing when we were kids," Anna continued matter-of-factly. "You'd lock yourself in your room because you didn't want people to see you upset."
Feeling the weight of her sister's blow to her ego, Elsa sagged down as her sister continued her monologue.
"There was always someone watching you. I mean, one of those people was me, but you know you don't have to keep your guard up around me anymore, right?"
"In a way…"
"And then Mom died, and it just made everything worse." Anna huffed, shaking her head. "The pressure on your shoulders… It wasn't fair to let you take it all on your own."
Somehow, composure eluded her, and Elsa's lips trembled. "I had to, I'm the eldest."
"We're sisters, Elsa. We're supposed to be there for each other." Anna took Elsa's hands in hers. "And sometimes, you have to let me take care of you too.
Don't pretend to be okay when you're not."
Elsa pressed her lips together. Anna's words sounded familiar to her ears, which made her wonder how she could have been the only one not to notice she possessed such a blatant personality flaw… Taking a deep breath, Elsa asked, "Do you think I put on a front for everyone else?"
Anna frowned for a long moment. "I think you try very hard to hide your flaws, even when you don't have to. You're harder on yourself than anyone else, and it scares the hell out of me that someday you'll push yourself so hard that you'll break."
"I'm not going to break," Elsa reassured her sister with all the conviction she could muster.
"I hope you don't." Anna smiled weakly. "But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with taking things easy every once in a while."
"Someone has told me something very similar before..."
Anna smiled. "You should introduce me to that person one of these days. I bet we could get along."
"I'm not sure about that—"
"Oh, come on, everybody loves me!" Anna shouted with an indignant pout.
"That wasn't what I was talking about," Elsa mumbled, not wanting to point out that Anna was already very well-acquainted with that specific someone.
Anna let out a dramatic sigh. "So not fair, Elsa. I deserve to know anyone who shows concern for my sister like that!"
"Says who!?"
"The sisters code!"
"I never heard of that thing."
"I'll make sure to link it to you," Anna grumbled, crossing her arms.
Elsa scoffed, "Please do."
"Anyways, I gotta get back to work," Anna huffed, pretending to be annoyed as she got up on her feet. Giving her sister a final look, she declared, "You don't have to hide who you really are, Elsa. There are people out there who love you for yourself—I mean, not as much as I do, because I'm your number one fan, but y'know, close second or third places…"
Elsa let out a tired chuckle. "Thanks, for the pep talk, Anna."
Anna shrugged. "Hey, unconditional love and support. It's part of the code."
The gang had snuck inside an empty classroom for another of their briefing meetings. Hiding behind locked doors, they tossed ideas back and forth in secretive tones not to catch any unwanted attention, for as great benefactors as they prided themselves to be, their efforts still technically went against the rules most of the time. And Jack's presence, as the always faithful leader, was undeniably required, even if his mind was too far away to significantly contribute to the discussion...
"What do you think, Jack?"
Jack stared at his tattered shoelaces, a frown on his face as he continued to loathe the dirt that had accumulated there. The silverhead refused to admit it, but he was sulking, and not even the excitement of a new operation could make him snap out of his slump.
"Earth to Frost!"
What bothered him even more was that he wasn't even given a chance to make amends—things just went from bad to worse, then to worst, and he just stood there, watching the disaster unravel in front of his eyes.
"YO, FROST!"
He jerked his head up, startled by Hiro's sudden shout. Looking around, he realized that all his friends were staring at him.
"So what do you say, pretty boy?" Wilbur asked, crossing his arms.
The silver-haired guy shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, sure, let's go with that."
Wilbur smirked. "You don't know what we're talking about, do you?"
Jack gave the brunet a sheepish smile. "Busted."
Hiccup, sitting next to Jack, cleared his throat before saying, "I think we're hitting a wall here, what do you guys say we continue the planning tomorrow?"
The rest of the team let out collective grunts of agreement, and Jack reluctantly got up on his feet to announce, "Meeting adjourned then."
"For crying out loud, Frost. What the fuck is your problem?" Hiro grumbled as they made their way to the door.
Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know."
"We got a lot of work to do, and you dozing off is not making things any easier," Wilbur added.
"Just text me whatever you need me to do, and I'll do it."
"What we need is for you to get your fucking head in the game, you-"
Jack turned around ignoring the rest of whatever colorful insults Hiro had to throw at him.
"Where are you going?" Violet asked accusingly.
"Have some stuff to deal with in North's office," Jack grumbled, slumping his shoulders as he parted ways with the group. "I'll see you fuckers at dinner."
"Hey, wait up!" Hiccup rushed after the silverhead. "So what exactly are you up to now?"
"You're looking at the headmaster's new personal slave," Jack declared with a sigh.
"The what?"
The silverhead shrugged. "It's my punishment for breaking the tool shed."
Hiccup put a hand on Jack's shoulder to stop the latter from taking another step. "How did North even find out about that?"
"Probably because I told him."
"Because you what?!"
Jack smirked, letting his friend's arm drop off his shoulder, and resumed his walk. "I wasn't gonna let someone else have all the fun, was I?"
"You know I can't let you take the blame for this one alone."
"Sure you can, and that's exactly what you're gonna do. I was the one locked in there—" Jack frowned realizing the mistake in his wording. "Maybe not the only one, but I was the one breaking stuff— the one breaking stuff on purpose anyway, so..."
"Still, it's not fair," Hiccup countered.
Jack let out a heavy sigh, dropping his head back completely exhausted. "You and I aren't the only ones getting in trouble this time, so keep your pretty mouth shut, okay, Third? And make sure to pass on the note to the others. Trust me, I can handle North on my own."
"If you say so…" Hiccup grumbled, and after a moment of walking in silence, he asked, "Do you like her?"
Jack snorted and shook his head. He felt his blood rushing, and his fists unconsciously closed, nails digging into his palm. "I am so not having this conversation with you."
"Come on, who else are you gonna talk to? I promise I won't tell anyone," Hiccup whined.
"Well, A, I'm not a dork who needs to constantly talk about their feelings like you, and B, even if I was, you'd be the last person I'd talk to because you couldn't keep a secret even if your life depended on it!"
"Not true!" Hiccup stuttered, hands waving around in indignation.
Jack snorted. "You so know I'm right, Hiccup."
"Oh, whatever." Hiccup threw his arms in the air with a huff. More quietly, he added, "You should talk to her."
"I did," Jack grumbled through his clenched teeth. "Or do you not remember that time you bums locked us inside that stupid shed?"
"Yeah, considering the way you're acting, I think you two still have some stuff to figure out though."
"Pretty sure she doesn't wanna see me again."
"Since when do you care what other people want?" Hiccup laughed. "You're Jack Frost, put yourself together already!"
"It's not that simple," Jack muttered to the floor tiles.
Hiccup shrugged. "I'm believed to be considerably smart if you feel like elaborating on that."
"I'm drained, buddy." The silverhead sighed. "One more blow and it's game over. Can't do that again."
"We better find you a healing potion stat, then."
"What's the point?" Jack sneered with a glare. He didn't know it was possible, but he was really anticipating reaching North's office, even if only to get rid of his annoying companion. His pace quickened, but Hiccup matched it with no trouble. "The cat is dead anyway."
Hiccup's eyebrows furrowed. "What cat?"
Jack shrugged. "Y'know, Schopenhauer."
"You mean… Schrödinger's cat?"
The silverhead snapped his fingers in realization. "That's the one."
Hiccup hesitated for a moment before questioning, "What makes you think the cat is dead?"
"Have you ever seen a cat, Hiccup?" Jack laughed with contempt. "Those fuckers are scared of their own shadow. You lock one inside a dark tiny box, it's gonna die for sure."
"That's not really the point, Jack. The paradox is that you don't know whether the cat is dead or not until you try to get it out. You gotta open the box if you wanna find out what really happened."
Jack hummed. They finally reached the headmaster's door, but Hiccup tightly grasped the silverhead's upper arm, stopping the latter from going inside.
"Look, if you don't wanna open the box, that's fine. You stop sulking and move on." Hiccup let Jack go with a final weak smile. "Just promise me you'll figure out what you're going to do before Violet decides to intervene again."
Catnaps throughout the day could mess with one's sleeping schedule, Elsa would learn the hard way as she tossed and turned in bed, fully awake at three in the morning on a school night. Not wanting to disturb her roommate's sleep, she decided to take a stroll outside to clear her head, and so she snuck out of the room as quietly as she could. Worried about being caught out of bed past curfew though, Elsa decided to hide in the most secluded place she could think of. Surreptitiously, she headed to the rooftop, motion sensors illuminating her path and making her suck in a breath with each new lightbulb that lit up as she walked. She reached the top of the stairs, and the door to the rooftop creaked as she attempted to slide it open. Clouds blocked the dark sky, but the security lights on the lower floor saved her from total darkness. Stepping into the open space, Elsa closed her eyes and let the cool night wind caress her skin, the sensation easily soothing her wired nerves.
"Out of bed after lights-out?"
Elsa's heart nearly stopped at the sound of his voice. With a hand tightly gripping the front of her shirt, she slowly turned in the direction of the voice. Squinting her eyes, she could distinguish a human silhouette sitting on the floor with its legs stretched out and back against the wall.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" she hissed, voice cracking at being caught breaking the rules by none other than Jack Frost himself.
He shrugged. "I have that effect on girls."
Elsa huffed, his statement making her indignation grow. "Just so you know, I only came here because I couldn't sleep, and I figured some fresh air would help."
"Relax, Your Majesty, I'm not turning you in," Jack grumbled, throwing his head back. "Besides, you made the right choice. The breeze is nice tonight."
She hummed silently. He was right; the breeze was nice, but somehow, being alone with that guy was sending unsettling chills down her spine, and Elsa instinctively hugged her arms to protect herself from the sudden loss of warmth.
"You cold?" he asked, concerned.
"No, it's just—" Before she could finish, he was taking his hoodie off and was throwing it at her. Not sure how to decline it without sounding rude, she just begrudgingly threw it over her shoulders and sat down at a somewhat comfortable distance from him. "Thanks…"
"Anytime."
To occupy her mind, Elsa pulled his jacket tighter around herself, soon marveling at the softness of the fabric against her skin. The hoodie also smelled of soap, and somehow of him, and it gave her nice feelings of comfort and of home… No wonder he wore that thing all the time.
"You know when you clear one level and then the map opens into two different roads?" Jack asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"What—"
"Yeah, that's where I'm at right now. Can't go back the way I came from, and I can only pick one of the routes in front of me."
"Frost, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about—"
"Route one is a side quest," he continued as if he didn't even hear her. "Okay loot, your average monsters to kill… Nothing new. Easy to say, it's the safe choice."
Elsa frowned, clinging to his every word with all the attention she could muster. Were they talking about a game? And how could it possibly be of any relevance at that moment?
"Route number two—hoo, man… Route number two is a shortcut to the final boss' room. And fuck, there's no way I can beat her. Pretty sure she can wipe me out with a glare, and chances are, we're gonna kill each other before the game is cleared."
She shifted so she could fully face him. Her hands were closed into fists on her knees, and her jaw was tightly clenched as she stared at him.
"But you know what? I can feel the victory flag almost within my reach." He stretched his arm as if he could physically grasp the metaphorical flag he mentioned. "After that, there's the white tunnel—a completely new path I get to explore. Could be a good thing, could be not… I hope it's good, but who am I to say?"
Jack brought one knee to his chest and rested his chin on it. He looked at her, wide-eyed and with a sheepish smile on his face. "What do you think I should do?"
She opened her mouth, but her throat was too dry, almost as if she hadn't spoken a single word in months. When she finally found her voice, it trembled, a fragile whisper that she feared could not reach him. "I never painted you as the type to choose the safe route. But again, you're the most unpredictable person I know."
He sat up, leveling his eyes with hers, gaze so intense she couldn't look away even if she wanted to. He swallowed once. "What would you do in my place?"
"Probably pick the first option," she mumbled.
"Figures." He chuckled softly, leaning his body to the right and inching ever so slightly closer to her.
"But I find the prospect of the white tunnel rather tempting..." It was her turn to swallow. Her heartbeat started ringing in her ears once more, and she was sure her eyes were as wide as the moon by then. "As for the last boss, she can't be that intimidating—"
The wind sped up, cutting her off and blowing Elsa' hair everywhere. Before she could react, he was reaching out, shaky fingers smoothing a wild lock out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. The simple contact rendered Elsa unable to breathe.
"I suppose not…" he said, his fingers still faintly tracing her jawline. "You do realize we're not talking about video games, right?"
She let out an indignant laugh. "I was able to deduce that much by myself, yes," she mocked, shortening the distance separating them to a whisper. "On that note, I'm not sure how I feel about you comparing me to a video game final monster."
"Yeah… not my best analogy," Jack mumbled with a scowl. His hand went to cup the back of her neck, fingers tangling in her hair.
Elsa chuckled, leaning into his touch. "That was a pretty long detour you took to make a point."
Jack smirked with renewed confidence. "Thanks."
"It wasn't a comp—"
He silenced her with his mouth on top of hers. To her surprise, it was a sweet kiss. His lips were gentle, movements so light and slow he made her feel as if they had all the time in the world, and Elsa allowed herself to let go of all the worries and pent-up frustrations she carried. The kiss was comforting; it had the same calming effect of the quiet peace that lingered after a strong blizzard had ended.
They parted, and as her eyes slowly opened, she made a point of glaring at him. "I wasn't done talking."
Jack snorted, dropping his head against the concrete. "Of course you'd have to have the last word again," he mocked, pulling one of her hands and intertwining their fingers together.
"Is that a bad thing?" Elsa asked, one of her eyebrows arched up in challenge.
"Nothing I can't get used to."
He pulled her closer, and she snuggled against him with her head resting on the crook of his neck. Sliding her eyelids shut, she felt the slow rise and fall of his chest.
"Sorry for losing my shit yesterday," he said as he drew circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. "You wouldn't listen to me, and it pissed me off."
"Yeah, I was out of line too," she admitted. "Even if I wasn't trying to sprain all my arm muscles like someone…"
Jack snorted, squeezing her shoulder. "That's something I'd pay to see."
Elsa scoffed. She thrust an elbow into his ribs, making him laugh moronically.
"Is it me, or was this easier now that it's not a set up?" he asked.
She frowned, and as she stared at the dark sky, it began to dawn on her how naturally she and Jack had fallen into their usual banter out there on the rooftop.
"Now that you mentioned it…" Elsa shrugged. "To their credit, I think we were both able to sort some things out this time because of their intervention."
"Still, we gotta get them back for it."
"... What do you have in mind?"
If it depended on Jack, they would have stayed on the rooftop until sunrise, but Elsa, as the stuck-up nerd that she was, had somehow convinced him that they should return to their rooms before anyone noticed their absence. And walk back they did, hand in hand all the way down the stairs.
Reaching the door to the girls' side of the dorm, Jack stopped, spinning her around and wrapping his arms around her waist. "I so don't want to let you go through that door, Your Majesty…"
Elsa chuckled, hands sliding up to his chest for support. Leaning closer to his ear, she whispered, "You know your little scheme won't work if we're seen together, right?"
Conflicted between what he had no doubt would be a hilarious prank and five more minutes of her snuggled against him, Jack groaned, pulling her closer before begrudgingly dropping his arms and stepping back. She motioned to take off the hoodie she still wore, but he stopped her with both hands on its collar.
"Keep it," he said, pushing the hood over Elsa's head and pulling her toward him for a quick peck on the lips. With a wink, he added, "You look good in blue."
The girl blushed and shyly looked away. "And you're an idiot."
Jack chuckled. "Thanks."
Shaking her head, she made her way to the door, and with a hint of annoyance in her voice, she grumbled, "Good night, Jack."
A grin still splattered on his face, he bowed with an elegant flourish.
"Sweet dreams, Your Majesty."