Disclaimer: This work of fan fiction uses characters from Rise of the Guardians, The Guardians of Childhood, and Frozen which are trademarked by DreamWorks Animation, William Joyce, and the Walt Disney Company respectively. The author of this story claims no ownership over them. The story the author is telling is of her own invention and it is not purported or believed to be part of the canon storyline. This story is made for entertainment purposes only. The author is not profiting financially from the creation and publication of this story.
Author's Note: This is not part of the Nocturne-verse. This is a complete one-shot on its own.
The word I have never said
The words I might never be able to say again
I like you, oppa.
– IU, Good Day
Chapter Soundtrack:
200% - AKMU MUSICIAN
Allemande
Oh, how did she manage to let Anna and Toothiana talk her into this? It was so stupid. She invested so much of her time, effort, and love into making the chocolates too… She burnt the first batch, made the second too sweet, but the third way too bland. The fourth batch, however, she deemed fairly successful. The confections were smooth, not too sweet, and held the heart shapes well. She was happy with them, deemed them delicious even – but then again, Elsa Arendelle was a sucker for any kind of chocolate.
She put them in a pretty, rectangular box in a lovely shade of celeste blue with a sheer, white ribbon wrapped around it in a perfectly knotted bow. The box had elegant silver swirls and snowflakes etched on it – like someone took the time to sit down and draw out each one out with a fine tip pen, ensuring that they all looked different (which she did).
She held the pale blue box nervously in her lap, fiddling with the ivory ribbon in her hands anxiously. It was lunch time soon, there was only 5 minutes left in the math class. She could hardly pay any attention to Kimura-Sensei's* lecture on trigonometric derivatives. The only thing her mind was how she was going to give him these chocolates – if she could muster up the courage to do it at all, that is.
She knew for certain that he will quickly be crowded by enthusiastic classmates presenting him chocolates for Valentine's. She could easily join them, crowding into the mass and simply dropping the box onto his desk with a quick mutter of a greeting and walking away. But at the same time, she knew that she couldn't. She didn't want to be grouped in with the crowd. She didn't even write who the chocolates were from: she wanted to tell him herself.
The sound of the school bell jolted Elsa out of her thoughts; she jumped from her seat and murmured her thanks to the teacher with a quick bow. As soon as the young mathematics teacher shut the door behind her, chaos broke loose. Girls immediately sprung from their seats and hoarded around his desk, presenting pretty and colourful boxes of handmade chocolates to him.
Jackson Overland.
"Happy Valentine's, Jack-kun*!"
"Jack, Jack! Look at the chocolates I made for you!"
"Happy Valentine's Day, Overland-kun! Please accept my chocolates."
They cried all at once.
Elsa remained rooted to her desk, biting her lips before slowly sitting down, mechanically clearing her desk of her notebooks, textbooks, and pens. Toothiana, Elsa's only close friend in the class, weaved her way around the desks and the swarm of girls. The pretty violet-eyed girl shot them all disappointed glares before turning back to her shy platinum-blonde haired friend and pulled a chair up to her desk.
Elsa watched as playful, mischievous, attractive silver-haired boy turned to the girls, chuckling pleasantly as he accepted the chocolates from them with quick a 'arigatou' and complimenting on how pretty the boxes were.
"Taste my chocolates, Jack-kun, I made strawberry truffles!"
"And mine too, I made mine with caramel."
"Are mine pretty, Jack-kun?"
The girls asked, bombarding the boy with questions. He smiled, answering each of their questions kindly.
"I will, Nakashima, thank you. I'm certain they'll be delicious, Takahashi. Your chocolates are beautiful, Akiyama," he said, addressing each classmate in turn, admiring the chocolate filled boxes with a bright smile. Elsa watched as he slowly raised an arm, brushing a hand against the back of his neck, rubbing it like he was …uncomfortable.
The girls giggled behind their hands, as if pretending to be timid but really, Elsa could tell that they were all ecstatic – she would be too, honestly.
"Really," Toothiana said with a sigh, running a hand through her brown hair and brushing her blue, green, and yellow bangs out of her eyes, "this happens every year."
"Hm," Elsa said, nodding absentmindedly as she pulled out a large, pale blue bento box from her knapsack, set it on the table, and offered Toothiana a pair of chopsticks. Toothiana thanked the quiet girl cheerfully before muttering a quick 'itadakimasu' and impaling a cherry tomato with her chopsticks.
Jackson Overland nicknamed Jack Frost for his snowy-white hair was her homeroom class' heartthrob – well, more like the heartthrob of the entire school. With his perfectly coifed silvery-white hair, clear blue eyes, handsome features, charming nature, athleticism, and intelligence, it was hard to blame anyone from falling head-over-heels for the boy – herself included.
Elsa watched as a tall, blue-grey haired boy calmly strolled his way over to Jack's desk: Eric Aster Bunnymund, Jack's closest friend. Bunnymund (as he goes by because he hates all his other names) lazily sat down in the desk in front of the white-haired boy. The chattering girls around Jack shying away now, fleeing with the arrival of their intimidating, dark-haired classmate.
Bunnymund inspected the boxes with mild interest, stealing a couple pieces of chocolate while he was at it. Jack was stacking them up neatly after his friend was satisfied his examination, the easy smile on his face replaced with a soft but somewhat distant expression. It seemed more natural than his constant smiles, but it didn't suit him – as if he didn't want anyone else to see.
She tore her eyes away from the pair, returning to the food in front of her and the friend by her side, tightly gripping the blue box in her lap. Perhaps she shouldn't give it to him. Besides, it's not like Jack would notice her anyway. She was just the shy the quiet girl in the class with exceptionally high grades. The wallflower, the person people talk to only if needed.
She sometimes wondered if Jack even knew her name. He was close friends with Toothiana. Often times, when Elsa came over to Toothiana's house, Jack and Bunnymund would be there too. She remembered seeing the three friends together once, Bunnymund and Jack playfully quarrelling over something and Toothiana playing the referee. But then when they noticed her presence, Toothiana shooed both boys out of her house. She remembered how Jack greeted her with the same brilliant smile he gave the girls before saying farewell to both her and Toothiana with a generic 'ja mata ne'.
It wasn't something that she could forget really. But it wasn't what drew her attention to Jack Overland. That was because of an incident that occurred on the rooftops of the school.
Elsa didn't mean to spy on him, it was an accident really. It was afterschool then, and she wanted to get some homework done before Anna was finished with her club meeting so they can go see a movie together. She was sitting around a corner out-looking the eastern skies of Tokyo with her textbook in her lap and sticky-notes in her hands when she heard a tired, familiar sigh.
When Elsa turned to peak around the corner, she found a boy with a tuff of snowy-white hair sitting there. His uniform blazer was discarded beside him, the grey plaid tie hung loosely around his neck, and his hands were stuffed into his trouser pockets as he leaned against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him.
The perfect picture of peace and comfort.
But not.
Elsa always believed that Jack always had a smile plastered onto his face, but now, it was gone, instead replaced by a soft frown. He looked so lonely… lonely and tired.
She committed that moment to memory then, growing more and more curious about 'Jack Frost' as the days went by until she found herself making chocolates for him on Valentine's Day.
And that left her here, standing in front of her cubby and thoughtlessly putting away her indoor shoes and slipping on her outdoor shoes. Elsa had stayed behind to do some administrative work for the student council today because she had nothing better to do for the evening. Anna left right after school, for she had a movie date with her boyfriend, Kristoff. Toothiana also had to leave early, having to head home to take care of her five younger siblings. But before the two left, they both made Elsa promise that she'll give Jack the box of chocolates, convincing her that putting it into his cubby was better than not at all.
The halls were almost empty now, no one would ever notice her if she stopped in front of his cubby and slipped something inside. Jack was on the track and field team and they had a meeting outside this afternoon. He'll find the chocolates when he came in. She wouldn't have to face him, wouldn't have to deal with the anxiety of having to talk to him.
So she quietly crept around the rows of shelves before stopping before one labeled 'Overland Jack'. There was nothing inside other than a pair of blue sneakers. No other box of chocolates left by girls who couldn't muster up the courage to give it to him themselves. She'll be the only one.
"Why is it so hard to talk to you?" Elsa whispered to herself, staring at shoes. "All I wanted was to be your friend, to see you smile – to… actually smile. Is that too much to ask?"
She sighed. But it doesn't matter now, does it? She reached up to place the box in a corner besides his shoes but then a hand shot through her vision, and ice cold skin touched her fingers.
Elsa jumped in surprise as she dropped the box of chocolates, jerking her hand back and spun around.
Jack.
He caught the box before it hit the ground, presenting it to her with an oddly confused expression. He was dressed in in a dark-grey track suit, his silvery-white hair sticking against his face – he must have finished the meeting early.
"O-Overland-kun!" she stuttered.
"Arendelle," he greeted, a smile pulled on his lips, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. Oh god, did he overhear her talking to herself? She hoped that he didn't. Oh no, Jack's going to think she's just like the rest of the other girls -
He offered her the box.
"Ah! Uh, those are chocolates. It's uh – it's for you, Overland-kun," she said awkwardly, shyly tucking loose strands of hair behind her ear, "Happy Valentine's."
"Ah… Arigatou…"
She bowed, placing her hands in front of her as she quickly tried to steer around him and run home.
"Wait – "
She froze. Her heart leapt to her throat. Her fingers began to shake.
"…What you said," he began, "was it true?"
Elsa turned around, avoiding meeting his gaze. She contemplated lying – this wasn't how she planned her confession – actually she didn't plan on confessing at all to begin with. But then she found herself boldly nodding.
Jack sighed, "Well, if we are going to be friends, we should at least be on first name bases, shouldn't we?"
Her heart stopped and then took off at lightning speed.
Wait.
What?
She raised her eyes to his now. She thought he would reject her.
"Hai," she said quietly, but then her voice growing louder as elation bloomed, "Hai, Jack-kun."
A grin pulled on her lips when she found that Jack was smiling as well.
"Just give me five minutes, Elsa and then we can walk home together."
"Okay, Overl – I mean, Jack-kun."
Later that night, when Jack Overland was alone, he thought of the shy, blonde girl who was always buried in her books whom he walked home with. Barely a word passed between them, but he didn't mind it in the least: it was a comfortable silence.
He opened the box of chocolates from the girl and tried one.
They were horrible.
But he ate every one.
* sensei – teacher in Japanese
* kun – a Japanese honourific used with boy's names to denote familiarity or endearment
* san – a common Japanese honourific, generically to be polite
* itadakimasu – a Japanese phrase similar to 'bon appetit' or saying grace, literally means 'I humbly receive'
* arigatou – thank you in Japanese
* ja mata ne – see you later in Japanese
* hai - yes in Japanese
Author's Note: So I am a day late…I'm sorry! I hope you all enjoyed Allemande. It was my attempt at a lovey-dovey and sweet high school romance. If you guys didn't notice, it takes place in Japan. This is because I love the Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese traditions when it comes to Valentine's Day and the high-school setting and atmosphere as well. It's romantic but also very innocent, the kind of traditions. =D
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Cordially,
EireneHarmonia