I'm not sure if I've ever had friends or if anyone ever liked me, but I remember having someone who was always there for me.
••
They're at it again.
Hans could hear his older brothers from down the corridor talking about him as typical, something he'd already gotten used to by now, but something that always appeared to tick him off.
The prince couldn't recollect a morning when they'd just leave him be or authorize him to safely make his way down the hall without harming him which normally provoked him to relinquish his appetite because he would seal himself in his room and cry.
Hans didn't want to depart his room while his siblings were in the hall, but he felt like he at least needed to make an effort to do so.
"You can do this, Westergaard." He would whisper to himself, his hand clutching onto the frigid doorknob before finally twisting it with a deep sigh and walking straight into the hall with both of his eyes squeezed shut.
"Look who finally decided to leave their room." Hans could hear his older brother, Caleb said with a grin implanted on his smug face.
There was nothing Hans could say, He wouldn't even open his own eyes to look at his brother because he was terrified.
His digits were shaking rapidly and it just made his siblings laugh harder at him, he just wanted to get this over with so he could run back to his room, he knew that he was brave for at least attempting to walk through the hall.
"Look at my little brother, all scared because he knows he's about to get his ass beat." Caleb chortled, seizing a step closer to the prince, and Hans had taken one step back, wadding his fist up like he was gonna fight back.
"Hit me, punk!" Caleb spat, plowing the younger boy with all his force. Hans stumbled back, his fist still balled up but still on his side. "Don't be a little bitch, Westergaard." He laughed sending a punch straight to his face.
Blood began to drip from his nose and he simply wiped it with his sleeve. The boy was on the verge of crying, but not in front of his brother of course.
They'll presumably beat him even more for being a 'coward' or a 'whiny baby' or whatever they like to call it, and Hans wasn't gonna hit him either. He knew it would only make matters direr.
He stood there and let all of his brothers kick, spit, and punch him since he had no one to help him or no one there to stop them.
He felt alone and out of place, he didn't understand why he was the only one who was treated this way, he just wanted someone to love him just as his father loved Caleb, but what did he know about love?
He was a throwaway. He was useless! Was what his father had told him every time he spoke at the dinner table.
They still rarely fed him then, he only ate the scraps of food that came from his brother's and father's plate which would mostly be bones or a small portion, but he was grateful to have eaten something at least.
His mother begged his father to stop abusing him, but he wouldn't listen no matter how hard she'd cry for him to stop, it was normal to him, but it hurt Hans mentally.
He was so used to the beatings that he couldn't even feel a thing when they occurred. He was too numb, and his brothers would never understand.
"Bet you'll fight back next time, punk!" The older prince laughed, withdrawing himself from atop his brother, leading Hans to run out of the door with tears in his eyes.
He entirely dismissed the wintry weather and sat outside in the frigid next to the frozen lake he'd always thrown rocks in during summer crying with his face in his palms. "I hate my stupid life!" He cried to himself, unaware of his surroundings, and he quite frankly didn't care about his surroundings either.
The prince gazed at his examination in the frozen lake with a disdained look, grazing his fingers over the bruises his brothers had left him and the dried-up blood that had come from his nose, pain now fulfilling while he stood in the cold all alone, like always.
"I'll show them! I can be a better prin—"
"Are you alright, sir?"
The soft voice caught him by surprise, provoking him to tumble over into the thick snow with a scowl until his eyes met the face of a beautiful young lady who seemed to be the same age as him.
Her skin was white like milk, except for the redness that seized her nose, her hair was white like the snow that reclined under them, and her eyes were blue as the ocean. He'd almost caught himself getting lost in them.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you..." The girl spoke trailing off once she saw his face, her eyes widening a tad. Hans didn't say a word, he only stood up and walked away without looking back at her, still feeling her eyes on him as he did so.
The boy didn't feel bad at all for dismissing her he just wanted to be solitary, somewhere weres there was peace and quiet which was his room. "Shit." He cursed under his breath as a strong gust of wind blew his way, transmitting shivers from him, and inducing him to bumble right onto the moist snow once again.
"You're very rude for a prince." The blue-eyed girl spoke verging him with a deadpan countenance. "How do you know that I'm a prince?." Hans spoke tilting his head with an upheaved eyebrow. "I'm the princess of arendelle, I know everything." The girl spoke holding her hand out for him.
Hans' eyes widened. He heard a lot about arendelle but it wasn't anything bad except that the princess was an 'ice witch', but few people knew anything about that, and most believed it was a hoax. "Ohh, so you're the ice witch?" The prince spoke once again with a smirk tugging at the corner of his lip.
It was obvious the princess didn't like being called a witch because she instantly positioned her hand to her side when those words left his throat including a glower being pressed across her innocent features. "I'm not a witch." The princess's tone was low as she spoke through gritted teeth. Hans didn't mean to irritate her, he only meant that as a dupe which clearly she didn't understand. Her fist was balled up like she were ready to tint his other eye, but she unballed them when he detected.
"Sorry if I troubled you, princess-"
"Elsa. It's Elsa, and it's fine." Elsa spoke cutting the boy off. "I'm Prince Hans, if you didn't know before you know now!" Elsa rolled her eyes at him, holding out her hand to support him up de novo, and once Hans abutted it he could feel how cold it was, almost as if ice were dancing in her palm and fingers. "God, I think I got frostbite from adjoining your hand." He quickly seized it from her once he stood up and patted it on his coat expecting the coldness to go away.
"Your face looks really bad," Elsa spoke, and hans immediately turned his head from her. He forgot all about what happened before, but when she brought it up it infuriated him, And elsa had noticed. "I-" Elsa spoke again, but was cut off before she could finish.
"You don't have to say anything else." Hans's pace began to speed up a bit, hoping she would finally leave him be or at least notice he doesn't want to conversate with her anymore; obviously, she didn't understand that. "What happened?" The princess questioned, catching up with him, and standing in front of him when she did, halting him from walking any further.
"Why? I'm not very comfortable with telling a stranger my business." The redhead spoke in a firm tone gently pushing the blonde out of the way, and still, she attended behind him.
"Why don't you just tell me?"
She just can't take no for an answer Hans thought to himself placing a hand on his forearm. Hans never thought he would find someone who was interested in him, he didn't even think that there were people out there who would even look at him. Hans always saw himself as a throwaway or just an outcast.
Elsa eventually caught up to him positioning her cold palm over the area that was bruised face he winced a little out of pain and shock but he momentarily got used to it, clasping onto her wrist with a firm grip. "What do you think you're doing?!" Hans raised an eyebrow as he rubbernecked into her blue iris.
"I'm helping you!" She says then snatches her wrist back once she felt him clutching onto it. "I never asked for it." He pushed her out of the way once again and proceeded to walk.
Thanks to her his face didn't feel as bad as it did before, but it felt extremely cold and that was possibly from being out in the cold for way too long; Hans scarcely paid attention to the time, but he could tell the afternoon was getting ready to occur, and he'd better get ready for that before his misses it.
"Thanks," Hans muttered turning towards the princess with a smile that even she couldn't see.
"You're welcome. Prince Westergaard."
She cheesed at him and watched him vanish into the winterly fog, turning the contrasting way and walking back to the chateau as she had to help her mother prep soup for lunch.
Elsa deemed compassion for the prince, she was tranquil with him because she knew he went through nonobjective things behind closed doors;
Hans wasn't a grumpy teen in her eyes, she regarded him as someone who just desired to fit in, just as she did, but Elsa just had to get to know him better.