Author's Note: I'd like to make a special shout-out to Froxfiles77 who beta-read this last chapter for me, without whom I'm not sure when this would have been released.
"Hey Els, I got your text. Was planning to go jogging today so can we make thi- WOAH!" Kristoff stopped midway through the doorway of their apartment the moment he laid eyes on Elsa sitting there on the couch. "What the hell is that in your hands?"
"A crutch." Elsa spun the small wooden plank in her hand.
"Umm no, that's not a crutch, that's a fucking paddle." Kristoff closed the door behind him but still stuck as close to it as possible with his hand on the knob. Just in case. "I thought we agreed that toys stay in the bedrooms."
"It's not a toy." Elsa spoke firmly as she stood and Kristoff turned the knob slightly behind him, eying her every move. "We have to talk."
"Yeah, I got that from the text. What I didn't get was the memo to bring a weapon." He began to cautiously drop his guard, releasing the knob again. "Please don't tell me I've been a bad boy or something either because I will literally puke all over this floor. You can't just jump the fence on me now Els."
"Eww, Kristoff, please can you just take this seriously."
"Not when you're holding that!" The oaf motioned drunkenly at the board as if it were something alien. "I'm stuck between taking you too seriously and not seriously at all; there's no in-between here!"
Elsa sighed and stepped toward him but after the second step, the boy started wildly clawing at the door until he found the knob. Within a second he was out in the halls chanting "Nope" and it didn't take long before Elsa could've sworn she heard the loud tumble of his old truck as it roared to life and peeled out onto the street.
…
Anna's roaring laughter didn't make it any easier on Elsa as she recounted the embarrassing tale over the phone. She waited with rosy cheeks and a pout as she sat on the bench.
When the pure absurdity of what she had done finally weighed on her, she spent about ten minutes groaning while balled up in the corner of the living room, crippled by her own shame. Then she took in a deep breath. And then spent another five minutes trying to bash her own skull in with her paddle. Whatever wicked being invaded her brain and made her think even for the slightest second that that was a good idea needed to be evicted, now!
When she was finally convinced that there was something in the air of this apartment that made her mentally inept, Elsa threw the damned thing on her bed (after strongly contemplating tossing it out the window), grabbed her keys, and stormed out of her home with no set destination.
She didn't bother actually driving though. She made it as far as a bench a few steps away from the entrance of the the apartment building before she decided that she actually couldn't keep herself from freaking out long enough to trust herself to drive.
Is this madness? I think this is madness. I'm fucking insane.
Elsa pulled her phone out while performing some deep breathing exercises, fully aware of how people were starting to create some distance while they walked by as quickly as their legs could shuffle. She had to talk to someone.
But maybe that was a mistake…
Elsa considered hanging up on the redhead, who was still laughing. It's literally been five minutes since Elsa admitted what she had done and Anna didn't sound like she would be letting up anytime soon.
"You really know how to keep someone from going over the edge," Elsa muttered.
"I-I'm so so-sorry Els! I jus-HA… I just can't believe you actually did that!" Elsa had to give her credit for at least getting that last sentence out just fast enough to not have to laugh through it again.
"It made sense at the time!" She wasn't even sure why she was trying to defend herself on that. Elsa groaned a whiny bellow as she rubbed her forehead with the hand that wasn't holding the phone - and Anna's laughter - directly in her ears.
"Okay, okay, I'm done." Anna managed to wheeze out before taking a few calming breaths. "I'm sorry." And despite all the laughing that came before, Elsa could tell she was sincerely sorry.
"It's okay, I would laugh at myself too if I didn't already look and feel like I belong in a mental institute right now." The blonde sighed, watching as a businessman flinched when he accidentally made eye contact while trying to hobble along past her. "I don't know if I can do this."
"You can."
"Can I really?"
There was a pause and Elsa could hear some shuffling in the background over the phone. "Where are you now?"
"Umm, on the bench outside the apartment. Why?" Elsa heard what sounded like a door slamming. "Anna, what are you doing?"
"Elsa Arendelle, you have two choices! You can either sit there like a self-loathing sack of potatoes while you wait for me to figure out the bus routes to get from here to there or you can come pick me up and let me cheer you on!" The redhead somehow sounded more upbeat and bubbly than ever. It was slightly nauseating Elsa admitted guiltily to herself, though she would never say it out loud. She couldn't quite place why that tone was so grating to her though. "I was captain of my cheer team in high school ya know!" Ah that's why, I fucking hated those sexy-ass snobs. Anna sounded too adorable in her pride for Elsa to shoot her down though.
"My full name? Seriously? When were you hanging around Belle exactly?" The blonde teased instead, finding some humor in her ridiculous situation. "Besides we agreed I needed to tell Kristoff alone. And that we're not supposed to see each other until then."
"Yeah, I actually want to be able to see you again before I'm gray." Ah, that mocking deadpan is such an improvement. "I'm starting to consider that this may have been your plan all along to bed me and then never see me again. Very sneaky Elsa Arendelle, very sneaky indeed."
"You're officially on the list of people that can never know my middle name." The blonde wasn't even sure when she had started smiling to herself. How easily she flowed into pure contentment with this girl was both a frightening pleasure and a wonderful enigma.
"Confident Elsa has real bizarre timing. We could've used her about half an hour ago." Anna teased. "Are you coming for me or not? I'm actually terrified of the bus."
Elsa rolled her eyes but gave in to the redhead's request. Whether it was simply because she wanted to see her or because maybe Anna may have been on to something when it came to that 'seeing each other before they were gray' comment, Elsa decided against reading too deeply into it.
Of course, there were ground rules.
"No kissing, no touching, no flirting-"
"What constitutes flirting exactly? Because this whole ground rules thing is a bit of a turn-"
"See that right there," Elsa leveled the girl grinning at her mischievously with a stare that her mother would appreciate. "None of that." Anna stuck her tongue out impishly from the passenger's seat. "No prolonged eye contact, which technically falls under the no flirting rule-"
"What? Eye-contact is so not flirting."
"Is too."
"Oh really, because I'm pretty sure I've seen you and Kris having a staring contest. So you two were flirting?"
"What? Gross. That was different." Anna hummed mockingly. "It was! It was… a bout of champions." Elsa spoke with such a ridiculously exaggerated tongue roll, Anna barked out something that was somewhere between a cough and a laugh.
"Right, right, no longing eye-contact unless of course we're having a bout of champions. Anything else?"
The two shared in a fit of giggles as Elsa pulled up to a red light, now just a block away from the apartment. And the moment the car came to a complete stop there, everything weighed on Elsa's brain again and her smile fell.
It was easier to distract herself when she wasn't right within the vicinity of the apartment. Now there she was with Anna, who was technically still the girl her best friend/roommate was supposed to be dating. The girl she was never supposed to touch. The girl she was supposed to back away from. The girl she had the best sex of her life with last night. And now they were on their way to tell that same best friend/roommate that Elsa betrayed him.
"And confident Elsa is out the window again." Elsa felt a hand slip into hers, a direct violation of rule #2.
With one hand on the wheel and the other captured limply atop her thigh, Elsa knew she shouldn't be here. This shouldn't have happened. This girl should not be in her car right now, looking at her in that way, holding her hand like a lifeline. Elsa's lifeline.
"Are you okay?" Anna didn't bother disguising the concern in her voice this time.
"I'm fine," Elsa breathed and neither of them could tell whether it was a statement or a question. "Do you think Kris is home yet?"
"If he is, I'm here for you. Both of you."
"Anna," Elsa began with a warning.
"Elsa please just let me be there. He may be your best friend, but he's still my friend. I care about him and I care about you." Anna pleaded softly. "I just want to be a part of this, is that okay?"
The older woman sighed, signalling as she turned into the parking area of her apartment. She could already see the old truck parked in its usual place, which was actually another neighbor's spot; the old lady didn't drive, and Kristoff usually did her grocery shopping for her as a favor and a thank-you for the spot. Elsa could feel the dread practically bubbling up her throat. She swallowed it as best she could.
By the time she pulled into her parking space, Elsa felt as though she was barely hanging on to the last bits of oxygen left in the car. She loosened the seatbelt so quickly it nearly snapped her in the face. She didn't dare look at the redhead sitting beside her. She could practically feel the concern over her shoulder.
Come on Arendelle, this is pathetic! Pull yourself together!
Taking a deep breath through her nostrils, Elsa pushed her door open and practically threw herself out the car, just barely avoiding tripping over her own feet and tumbling onto the pavement. Anna watched with wide, uncertain eyes as the blonde walked over to her side of the car and opened the door for her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Anna asked, tentatively placing her hand in Elsa's.
"I am so not okay," Elsa breathed. "Kristoff is my best, and technically my only real friend. I really feel like I fucked him over this time, and I wouldn't blame him if he never forgives me."
"I thought you two had problems with girls before. You're still like brother and sister now right?"
"This is different." Elsa helped steady the shorter girl to her feet but couldn't find the strength to look at her. "You're different."
Anna shuffled her feet a bit nervously. "A good different I hope."
"Good in the worst possible way." Elsa could feel the self-deprecation in her smile. When Anna's eyes flicked up at her, she felt her heart constrict in her chest. No way this girl should still have that kind of effect on her. Shouldn't this be wearing off by now?
"You're staring." Anna commented with the tiniest, softest hint of a grin. "That's in direct violation of rule #4."
"Actually the rule was no prolonged eye-contact." Elsa corrected with a small, deceptively confident smirk. "So it's fine as long as you stop staring back."
Anna hummed. "I'm starting to feel like we're venturing dangerously close to rule #3 territory, which will end in rule #1 territory if you're not careful."
Elsa pushed out a breath in what could have been a small laugh. As Elsa leaned in toward her, Anna's eyes slipped shut out of reflex. The redhead was completely surprised when she felt a pressure settle against her chest, just under her head. The girl's eyes opened slowly and her hands reached up and around the taller girl's shoulders, a hand pressed into a nest of messy blonde hair and adjusting her head to rest her chin comfortably atop the other girl's skull. It was an odd sight to her, seeing the taller girl curl herself into someone that seemed so small, hands desperately clutching the back of her shirt like she was afraid she would lose her at any moment.
"You're incredible," Elsa breathed a shuddering breath against Anna's chest. "The better you make me feel the more scared I become of losing you. I don't want to lose you. Either of you."
"You won't." Anna answered immediately.
"You don't know that."
"I…" This time the younger girl took a few moments to consider her response. "I don't… I'm sorry Elsa." And when she felt the moisture against her chest, Anna realized just how sorry she truly was.
…
Their door was truly underappreciated. It wasn't the newest. Or the cleanest. It wasn't made of anything fancy, and was more than likely not even solid wood. It had no interesting patterns carved into its face and no embellishments to brag of. Even the knob was simple; the lock was just as ordinary sitting atop it. To the average person, this door was remarkably uninteresting, just a barrier preventing them from their goal of entering the room. That's it. People just want to get past it. Push it out of the way. Poor door.
How many creeps, freaks, and weirdos has it kept out though? How many friends stood out here in nervous anticipation? Elsa imagined that the count for both were low but she was grateful nonethe-
"ANNA WAI-"
The redhead's signature knock rapped against the door before Elsa could stop her. The blonde grimaced and hoped that Kristoff was nowhere near the door to hear it. It was as if in an instant her sense of hearing grew to godlike distinction. She stood stock still, trying to pick up on anything. When a few seconds passed and she felt like she hadn't heard a single thing move out of place, Elsa managed to at least relax her shoulders and move them down from her ears.
"I have keys you know," the blonde spoke in an exaggerated whisper. "I can open the door when I'm ready."
"Well, I was nervous!" Anna was clearly less practiced with whispering. "And all the suspense and waiting and silence was killing me!"
The sound of the tumbler lock made Elsa's back snap to attention. A yawn snuck through as the door crept open, a messy head of dirty blonde poking out.
"Hey An-" Kristoff let out an animal-like grunt as his tired eyes suddenly shot open and he took a quick but cautious step back behind the door. He eyed his roommate through the slight crack he left. "You two came to gang up on me or something?"
Elsa put up both her hands. "No more weapons, I swear."
Even from what little they could see of his face, Kristoff was obviously still very suspicious, looking to Anna expectantly. It took Anna a few minutes, and a gink in the side from Elsa, before she realized she had to prove that she was also unarmed. Kristoff hummed, clearly still a bit reluctant, but the door opened for the girls nonetheless. And despite everything inside her demanding the contrary, Elsa managed to command her legs to a movement that could possibly be considered a stride, Anna slipping in just behind her.
At least that part of my brain still works. Elsa mentally congratulated herself on still being at least halfway functional. But now comes the hard part.
Kristoff raised a brow as he regarded the girls that stopped just past the doorway and, although she was absolutely sure it wasn't the case, Elsa still felt as though he had them cornered. The man crossed his arms in front of his chest and frowned. "What the hell is going on with you Elsa? You've been acting weirder than I'm used to." He then looked over to the redhead, her usual bubbliness completely absent. "And Anna, you've been kinda weird too. I barely hear from you anymore."
He noticed. Elsa swallowed, trying her best not to physically shake the thoughts from her head. Of course he noticed. Belle was right.
When Elsa managed to pull herself out of her own head, she realized that Anna was rambling and stuttering something about school and... being gassy? Elsa grit her teeth to receive the mental blow she just gave herself. Fuck, you're supposed to be the one talking and here you are clamming up while Anna is trying to cover for your sorry ass.
"Kr-Kristoff," Elsa interrupted Anna's word spew with as much strength as she could manage, which honestly wasn't all that much. Kristoff looked somewhat thankful that he no longer had to interpret the words falling out of the redhead's mouth. "I have something I need to tell you." Elsa forced each word out before she had time to reconsider.
With that, she captured Kristoff's full attention. "Yeah, you mentioned something like that in your text and then I came home to meet you waiting on me with a paddle."
Elsa's hand found its way the her braid but she tried her best not to fiddle with it too much, trying not to look like the shy schoolgirl she thought she outgrew. "Sorry about that."
Kristoff huffed, but his face quickly fell into something more sympathetic. "Fine, whatever, just tell me what's bugging you already. Seriously, I don't like this… air you two are giving off."
"The truth is… I… I actually…" Just say it already! "I know you're gonna be angry, and you have every right to be but… I have to tell you… I…" Rip the fucking bandaid! Just say it! "I slept with Anna."
The room fell silent for everyone except Elsa, who was mentally screaming at herself. Her mouth fell open as Kristoff stared blankly at her, clearly caught off guard. Even Anna looked shocked, her lips tightening to a straight line.
She berated herself for her lack of tact, but Elsa somehow convinced herself that if she hadn't, she would probably still be stuttering and beating around the bush and she would have never managed to get the words out. Now all she could do was measure Kristoff's reaction. Or in this case, lack thereof.
"Kris-"
"Wait," Kristoff scratched his head. "You… and you," he pointed at each of them respectively. "You two had sex?"
"Kristoff, I can't even begin to tell you how sorry I am." Anna stepped forward. "I thought we had this under control. Neither of us meant for this to happen."
"Anna, I told you to let me be the one to do this." Elsa pulled the other girl back by her shoulder. "Kristoff, if you should be mad at anyone, it's me. I'm your best friend, if anyone is supposed to always have your back, it's me, and I completely demolished your trust."
The man looked between the two before huffing a sigh and dropping his arms. "That's what all this has been about?" He looked unsure of what to say, struggling to find the right words it seemed. It was an odd look for him, Elsa decided, he was normally not so thoughtful with words. She resisted urging him though, thankful for at least the few moments of peace before he inevitably blew. When Kristoff suddenly brought his arms back up Elsa flinched. "Woah, hey none of that. I'm not mad, I swear. I was just caught a bit off guard."
"You… what?" Elsa was having trouble wrapping her head around what he said. By all rhyme and reason, he should be furious.
He only shrugged. "It would take a special kind of idiot to miss the way you two look at each other. It was bound to happen at some point. I'm actually surprised it took this long, I was starting to lose confidence in you."
"But you two were dating," Elsa blurted out, still just as confused, Anna nodding thoughtfully behind her. "You like her don't you?"
Kristoff waved his hand dismissively. "To say I don't like Anna would be a lie, but I'm not head over heels in love with her the way you obviously are," he smirked. "Seriously you're a mess."
Elsa's face blushed over in embarrassment, and only got redder when she heard Anna attempt to stifle some giggling behind her. "But you two were dating."
"Yeah, because you kept forcing it and pushing me. You made reservations to that restaurant. You made me buy fancy new clothes - though I admit I like them. You wake me up and rush me around to get ready for dates I don't even plan. You kept saying 'Anna's such an amazing girl Kris, you better not lose her, you have to work harder and be serious'. If anything you were dating Anna through me." Kristoff then gave a clearly exaggerated sigh, "It was getting hella exhausting but if I trusted you to actually step up and go after Anna yourself with the way you've been acting, I would've called this whole thing off a long while ago and called you out on it."
Elsa looked down at her feet. She couldn't honestly dispute anything he said. The only times she saw Anna was when she and Kristoff had a date, and so she planned those dates, making sure everything was always perfect. All of them, except for, "But you invited her to game night."
Kristoff scratched the back of his neck, looking a little uncomfortable. "Well, like I said, I do like Anna. I was serious about wanting to date her." His eyes shifted to the redhead for a second before he returned his gaze to Elsa. "But like I said, with the way you two were looking at each other the whole time, I couldn't hope to compete. And yeah, I was kinda pissed at first, and ended up drinking a lot more than I should that night. But when I woke up the next morning and everyone was gone and I really thought about things, I decided I'd be a pretty crappy friend if I didn't help you out. Even if I did see her first." He bumped his roommate's shoulder with a chuckle.
Elsa wanted to smile. Should she even risk it? Maybe not yet.
She forced her head up to look at her roommate, still convincing herself that this was all just some elaborate prank and Kris was just waiting for her to let her guard down before he ripped her to pieces. That big goofy grin, while it wasn't quite what it usually was, was certainly convincing to the contrary though. She risked a smile. A small one.
"Soo," Anna hummed as she kicked her feet, unsure of what to do with herself. This was far from what either she or Elsa expected. It was like they came war ready and found out their opponents had already surrendered. "I guess we did all that mental prep for nothing."
"Mental prep?" Kristoff laughed. "Please tell me that's not what that paddle was all about!"
"Can we forget about that please?" Elsa groaned into her hands.
Anna, having to play devil's advocate, met the blonde oaf's laughter. "It totally was!"
It took a while before Kristoff managed to catch his breath and cleared his throat, his expression growing more serious. "But you did go behind my back and that was pretty lowdown Els. I figured you would at least tell me before you let anything happen. I give you your due for coming to me now, but based on what Anna said earlier about 'having this under control', things have been happening for awhile now. As my friend, you were supposed to tell me before anything happened." Guilt washed over the blonde girl's features. She knew this part was coming, but before she could respond, she felt a heavy arm sling itself around her shoulders before tensing. She's lived with Kristoff far too long to not know where this was heading.
Anna nearly felt her heart stop as she witnessed Kristoff swing Elsa's whole body as he dropped into some kind of kneeling headlock. She watched the two on the floor as Elsa struggled in Kristoff's grip: Elsa swearing more in one minute than the redhead had probably heard her curse in all their time of knowing each other while Kristoff just laughed like a madman. That is, until she saw the girl's hand grip his side. Kristoff launched up with a howl and Elsa slipped away panting as she stood, her hair a mess and t-shirt equally as ragged.
It took a few seconds before Kristoff managed to struggle to his feet, throwing his hands up in surrender as he grunted out, "We're even now."
He was surprised when he felt a light bump on his shoulder and looked up to see Elsa looking more relaxed than she's been over these past few weeks. "Seriously, I owe you one big time."
Kristoff scoffed. "One? You owe me like five for this one," he rolled his eyes. "I would say, this better be the last time, but well, I get the feeling I won't have to worry about that."
A small kiss placed on his cheek was what made Kristoff realize that Anna was now standing next to him. "I'm sorry for, well, leading you on, I guess. Like even though in your head you weren't taking it seriously, like date-date seriously, I thought that you were and I didn't tell you that I wasn't. Not that I don't like you, you're like the sweetest guy ever, just not like-like-"
"Anna please," Kristoff chuckled, already feeling his brain start to get overwhelmed again. "We're cool. Besides, it was fun not hanging out with the guys for a change." Elsa cleared her throat indignantly. "I know what I said. It's nice hanging out with a girl that doesn't curse like a sailor and swing like a boxer."
"What do you say about me when I'm not around?" Elsa crossed her arms and cocked her hip. "I'm feminine."
"Please, you haven't even worn perfume since your parents made you wear it when we graduated high school. That was also the death of," Kristoff started wiggling his fingers in front of the group as he tried to give his best cheesy spooky voice, "The Princess bun."
"Princess bun?" Anna repeated with way more curiosity than Elsa was comfortable with.
"Don't remind me, please." Elsa groaned, turning tail to walk towards the kitchen, finally feeling safe to grab some water for her desert of a throat. And then Kristoff made a comment that made her stop dead in her tracks.
"I still have the pictures."
The blonde was barely able to catch the silhouette of the two as they ran up the stairs, laughing like idiots, and she managed to get to the end of the staircase just fast enough to see Kristoff's room door slamming.
"Kristoff, don't you fucking dare!"
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who stuck with this story! I had a lot of fun with this and I'm glad I got to finish it despite everything. Hope you guys enjoyed it just as much as I have!