Elsa stood between Meg and Aurora, with Mulan next to her in a row near the front of the lawn, there was seating to their left, but the girls opted to stand. Aurora and Mulan were holding hands and Meg had her arm around Elsa again, she didn't mind as the warmth of the other girl's body was helping after the rain chilled down the valley.
One firework set off and everyone in the crowd started cheering and shouting, the show was about to begin. Elsa turned over to Meg to see the girl's expression, but the brunette was already looking back at her. Elsa went to smile but her phone vibrated at her side. She had assumed once again it was her mother checking on her but decided to check anyway.
Elsa brought her phone up to her eyeline and in the dark night, the phone screen lit up her face. In a reflection in her eyes and brightly displayed on the screen was a text message from Anna with just the word "Nite." Her jaw dropped and her arms fell to her side as she looked around frantically. She was about to take off running when Megara grabbed her arm, "Hey blondie, are you okay?" Her voice became drowned out by the onslaught of fireworks in front of the girls. She removed herself from the brunette's grasp and pushed through the crowd looking around.
Streams of colors and magical lights filled the sky and in-between the small bouts of darkness, Elsa used the firework light to illuminate the crowd as she pushed further back towards the house looking for a sign of the girl. There was a band playing over loudspeakers adding an ambiance to the show now. She began shouting Anna's name in a panic.
"Anna! where are you?" she cupped her hands around her mouth attempting to louden her yells. "Anna!" but it was no use. The people around her just stared up in awe as the fireworks continued booming, the noise bouncing off of the hills. She pulled her phone back up to her face and dialed Anna's number. The phone wouldn't ring. She groaned and kept searching around.
Elsa was now to the doors of the building and pushed her way inside, the house was empty aside from the echoing of the party and festivities outside. Once again, she began shouting, "Anna, please, where are you?"
The sound of glass breaking echoed from up the stairs and Elsa scaled the steps at record speed. "Anna!" She shouted once more when she reached the top.
Anna sat on the balcony, not bothering to turn back to look at the crowd, to see if Elsa would come. She just relied on hope. She left her phone on the floor and walked back into the room, her dress trailing behind her. With her drink now empty, she attempted to set the glass on the nightstand near the bed and missed entirely. The glass shattered all over the floor.
"Shit," she sighed and got down to her hands and knees to try to pick up what pieces she could. As she began picking up the larger shards and placing them into her hand, she slipped and dug the hand she used to catch herself into a few pieces of the glass. "Ughhh."
Anna looked at the cuts on her hand and the small blood trickles flowing down. She looked around to try to find something to wipe her palm with but didn't want to bleed on the new furniture, or the furniture covers, or her dress. She was about to sigh again when she heard a faint, "Anna" coming from somewhere inside the house. She looked up and tucked her now ignored bleeding hand behind her back. "Elsa? Elsa!" She shouted and the blonde appeared in the doorway of the room, with her hand pressed to the doorframe holding herself up after sprinting up the flights of stairs.
Elsa raced across the room to try to pull Anna into her embrace until the redhead stopped her, "Wait Elsa, I don't want to ruin your dress."
The blonde gave her looks of confusion in return. "What do you mean?"
Anna brought her hand out from behind her back and Elsa scooped her hand into her owns. The blood trickled over some, but Elsa didn't pause in her efforts. She dragged the girl into the grandiose bathroom attached to the room, pulled her hand under the water, and massaged it softly. "What happened Anna?"
"Well, you see, when I first got to the party..." Anna started but Elsa interrupted.
"You can tell me all about that, but first I meant with your hand." Elsa inspected her hand after cleaning it off. "It looks mostly superficial. You really scared me."
"I accidentally dropped my glass, I was flustered and when I was trying to pick it up, I lost my balance." Anna admitted sheepishly.
"I'm glad that's all it was." Elsa brought her free hand up to Anna's chin to direct the smaller girl's gaze back to her own. "Are you okay?"
With her most recent question, Anna crumbled. The weight of the question was too much for her to bear and she pressed her face into Elsa's clavicle. With her lips pressed to the fabric of Elsa's dress, she whispered, "No."
Elsa wrapped her arms around her counterpart and held her tight, "That's okay. I've got you Anna. Hey, wait, come with me." She didn't let go of Anna as she took her to the balcony they passed in the room. She kept her close and tried to direct her attention to the fireworks. "Let's finish up the show together."
Anna pressed her hands into Elsa's front and gripped onto her dress. She only turned her head enough to look at the sky. She admitted something else again, "Elsa, I may have drank too much tonight."
"Me too babe," Elsa agreed and kept her eyes on the lights and explosions. "I hope I'm not out of line..."
"No," Anna stopped her and shifted her eyes from the spectacle to Elsa's. "Don't let me go. Don't leave."
"Now that I have you in my arms again, I don't know how I could ever let you go." Elsa looked back into Anna's eyes. The conviction was certain in her gaze.
Anna reached up to kiss Elsa, but the blonde partially backed away. Still holding the redhead in her arms.
As the finale of the firework show started, Anna raised her voice, "I don't get it. I don't get you. You tell me these things, we had all of those moments, all of those experiences, and you can kiss some random girl at a party and not me? What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you?"
"Anna please," Elsa begged and kept her hands on the younger girl's arms as she swayed in outrage. "I didn't know you saw that, but that kiss didn't matter. Meg stole it from me in a moment of weakness. You are drunk, I am drunk, I want to at least apologize before just glossing over everything. We need to talk and until we do, I can't lead you on if this isn't what we want in the end."
"How can you be so reasonable?" Anna formed fists in her hands and lightly smacked them against Elsa's chest. "Why do you have to make so much sense when everything feels so...feels so clouded. Why do you think you always know the answer?"
"I don't think I know the answer to this situation Anna, but I know, that if I kiss you, I will not be able to stop myself. I know that if I kiss you, I won't be able to think straight and after both of us admitting that we have had too much to drink, we at least owe it to ourselves to address the situation in a better light."
Anna blushed with how smoothly Elsa spilled out her feelings about the situation, the way she conveyed that there was an option between right here and now, and running away. One Anna or Elsa could not have handled in the past. She loosened up her balled fists and draped them around Elsa's neck.
The last firework ignited, and Anna breathed into Elsa. "Thank you for keeping your promise."
"I'm sorry it took me so long to get here." Elsa responded. "I know I said it earlier, but I feel like I can't help but say it again. You look incredible." Anna vaguely gestured to her now slightly puffy face and scraped hand. Elsa just nodded and continued, "Yes. Even now. All evening. Every day, every morning." The redhead's face was now burning hot, so she pulled Elsa's naturally cool hand to her cheek.
"Elsa," Anna mumbled into Elsa's chest.
"Yes?" The blonde looked down and pressed her lips against the top of Anna's head.
"Would you dance with me?" Anna turned her gaze up and stared into Elsa's blue eyes.
Elsa's face turned red immediately and she asked, "Right here? Right now?" with a small stutter.
"No silly not right here," The redhead pulled Elsa to look over the balcony as the guests congregated throughout the entire back patio, dancing to the music from the live quartet and pianist. "But yes, right now. Come on, it will be fun."
"But wait, Anna," the blonde protested as she was pulled out of the bedroom, "What if someone wants to step in?" she pulled out an excuse.
Anna shouted behind her as they started to descend the stairs, "Then we'll say, maybe next song, for every song."
Elsa brought her hand up to her mouth and giggled as they finally made it to the main floor and out the back door, no longer running due to lack of space. The noise and ambiance of the party once again filled the air, but the blonde felt less stressed, although still a bit tipsy.
Anna and Elsa strolled out onto the embellished backyard patio; their hands intertwined. The sparkling stars shone above them as they made their way to the heart of the patio, where a small orchestra was playing a soft, amorous melody.
As the music filled the air, Anna and Elsa began to sway to the rhythm, their bodies moving in complete harmony. Elsa's hand gently rested on Anna's waist, while Anna's hand was delicately placed on Elsa's shoulder.
Their eyes locked, and they smiled tenderly at each other as they continued to dance. Elsa became embarrassed and rested her head upon the red head's shoulder. Now with her face hiding, she felt as though they were the only two individuals in the world.
As the song drew to a close, Anna drew Elsa closer to her, and their bodies pressed together. They danced for 3 more songs, in the middle of the crowd yet never heard another person speak, and there were times that even the music was drowned out by the distraction in the warmth they found in each other.
After the fourth song finished, they stood there for a moment, lost in each other's gaze, before gently pulling apart. Anna yawned and looked over as the reality set back in around them, she saw Iduna dancing with her father but had looked over to her. Anna flashed her soon to be stepmother a smile, which was reciprocated warmly. She laid her head against Elsa's chest and whispered, "Take me home."
"Okay Anna," she wrapped her hand around the younger girls' head before leading her over to their parents. Iduna and Agnarr separated as the girls approached them.
Iduna was still smiling but didn't want to bring attention to the fact that the two girls were together again, maybe not in a relationship but near each other, talking, dancing, which made the brown-haired woman feel at ease. Agnarr yawned in the same manner Anna had just done and Elsa giggled, "I think we're going to go home now, we're both exhausted."
Agnarr rubbed his eyes and turned around to grab a drink off a nearby table, "What do you mean? It's still early." His voice broke as he yawned again and stumbled a bit, it was partly comedic to see a man dressed as a king act so average.
"Never mind him, you two go ahead and get home. Listen to your bodies. There are a few assigned designated drivers near the entrance, we've already paid them off so they can take you the short distance home. It's too dark to walk at this time." Iduna reached out and hugged both girls at once. "I'm so glad you both came."
Once the two girls were free from Elsa's mother's grasp, their hands returned together as they said their goodbyes. They were going to initially find their friends and say their goodbyes, but decided a text with an apology would suffice due to how sleepy Anna was.
The pair was nearly in the clear when a voice from behind, that Elsa recognized came from behind them in the large entry room.
"Hey Blondie, leaving so soon?" Meg waved her down as she strolled out from the area near of the ballroom. "Oh, I see, you found your fun elsewhere."
Elsa turned around, but Anna didn't, she kept her eyes on the floor. Their hands were still connected but Elsa moved a bit closer to the brunette, "Yeah, I'm sorry, I got too tired. I was going to shoot a text when we got home. I hope you have a good night!" Elsa turned to leave again when she heard Meg scoff a bit. She couldn't tell if it was tonal or intentional or just the night getting to everyone.
However, the noise made Anna turn around. She strode up to the brunette, reached up, grabbed the other girl's face, and placed a small kiss on her lips in an instant and then turned on her heels. She waved as she re-grabbed Elsa's hand and said, "That's the kiss you stole from Elsa, consider it stolen back." Anna stuck her tongue out and pulled Elsa out of the building.
Meg was left speechless on the floor, looking around to see if anyone had noticed the strange sight and shook it off to head back to her friends.
Once outside and the pair arranged their driver, Elsa laughed as she and Anna climbed into the black car. "Anna, what the hell was that about?"
Anna crossed her arms in the seat next to the blonde in the back, "She shouldn't have taken something that wasn't hers."
Elsa leaned across the empty seat in the middle between them, as far as her seatbelt would let her stretch, and whispered, "I can't wait to kiss you."
Anna huffed and her cheeks grew red, "Fine, can we start apologizing when we get home?" she pouted and kept her arms crossed.
"Of course, I don't know how much longer I can wait." Elsa purred and pulled back to her seat to look out the window. They could already see the driveway and the porch lights of the house.
Anna uncrossed her arms as the pair arrived back at the house, with a thanks to the driver, they both walked quickly to the front door. Once inside, Anna tried to follow Elsa directly into her room, pleading with her on the stairs, but to the girl's displeasure, Elsa declined, telling her to change out of her dress and shower. However, Elsa promised that once that was all done and Elsa was changed too, she could come in. The blonde helped Anna unzip her dress in the hallway, Anna reciprocated as well but not without blushing and the two separated momentarily.
In her room, Anna swiftly threw off her dress, slip, and under garments. She pulled the braids out of her hair and tossed it all up into the messy bun for her shower. After a good full body scrub down, Anna hopped out to find good sleeping clothes, if she were lucky enough to be able to sleep in Elsa's bed, she wouldn't have to dress as warmly. She snickered to herself as she threw on a thin spaghetti strap heather grey tank top that didn't fully cover her midriff with a matching pair of high-rise boy shorts with a drawstring. She didn't bother to put a bra or her underwear back on. The redhead sat on her bed and texted Elsa, "lmk when you're ready for me." She took out her phone to take a quick selfie of her leaning against a bed post and her fingers in a 'peace sign.' She hit send and waited patiently.
Elsa left her hair up as she entered the shower, as she didn't want to wash it that night. Once she was done bathing, she let her hair fall down loose. She decided on a pink silk nightgown that matched a pair of her slippers. As she was adjusting the thin strap of her gown in the mirror after pulling it on, her phone buzzed on the dresser next to her. She picked it up and read Anna's message, she rolled her eyes and was in the middle of typing, "Ok, come in." when the selfie appeared on her screen with another buzzing notification. 'What am I getting myself into?' Elsa joked in her head and hit send on her response.
Elsa heard the other girl's footsteps nearing the door, as soon as Anna lifted her hand to knock, Elsa opened the door and let her in. The blonde turned on the two lamps nearest the bed and reached up to the large overhead light to turn it off. "How's your hand?"
"It's much better now, I think the alcohol just made it seem worse than what it actually was." Anna jumped into the bed immediately and snuggled into the blankets, "Ah, this is the life." she stated as she squirmed further into the bed.
"Hey! I didn't say you could sleep in here, I thought we were going to, you know, talk?" Elsa twiddled her fingers and looked at the red head on her bed, now pouting at her again.
"If you didn't want me to sleep in here, then why is everything so cozy?" The redhead bantered and Elsa sighed. Anna sat up and patted a spot on the bed next to her, "Okay, let's talk some." She smiled.
Elsa pet the loose hair at the sides of her head and then crawled over the large bed to sit next to Anna. "I know we've been joking and teasing each other a lot, but now that it's time to talk, it's a lot harder than it seems."
"Yeah..." Anna agreed and looked down at the bed. The redhead reached over and placed her hand over top Elsa's on the white and cream duvet cover. The light was dim, but the pair could see each other just fine.
A tear fell down on top of Anna's hand, the redhead quickly looked up to see Elsa looking down to where their hands met and a few more tears rolled off her cheeks.
"Elsa, I..." Anna started but was interrupted when Elsa leaped forward, hugging Anna so hard she fell backwards with the blonde now partially on top of her.
"Anna, I'm so sorry, I'm so fucking sorry," Elsa sobbed and increased her grip on the girl. Anna used a moment to steady herself. She repositioned herself with an arm holding them up as Elsa cried into her. The anguish and sorrow in Elsa's voice made her start to cry some too.
"I'm sorry too Elsa."
The redhead's apology caused Elsa to sit up, she tilted Anna's chin until their eyes met, "Sorry? What are you sorry for? You did nothing wrong."
"I should have listened to you better; you were giving me signals and warnings the entire time you did not want to be with me. I had just hoped that if we played that silly game that all of that would go away and we could magically be together, how I wanted in the end. I never considered what you wanted, Elsa." Anna's eyes swelled up. "Also, I should have drank less tonight. I am super dehydrated now that we're crying." She mustered a laugh through the tears, trying to bring some light to the situation.
The corner of Elsa's mouth lifted into a slight smile. The blonde hopped off the bed and into the bathroom where she filled a cup of water for Anna and for herself. She brought them back to the bed and handed one over.
"I'm sorry you felt like you had to be in that situation. It was actually me that wasn't listening to you. You never cared all along what people thought, what your dad would think or my mom. I played games with you unknowingly and I had convinced myself that I twisted this perfect human being into loving me, as if I had manipulated you somehow and that was the only way you could see me or..." Elsa wiped her left eye with the back of her hand and then finished her sentence, "Or love me. I felt like a monster who needed to leave, to continue to protect you, I thought I had to go."
"I forgive you for leaving Elsa, I do. I was just so scared..." Anna sniffled, "It's pretty embarrassing actually." Anna laughed again and sipped her water. "When I had found out you went back to Chicago. I sort of lost my mind."
Elsa brow shifted as she inquired, "What do you mean?"
"Well, if my dad didn't know we had something going on yet at that time, he definitely did the morning your mom left to go get you. I think it was also probably the drinking and the lack of sleep, but I kept screaming that I loved you over and over again, until eventually I passed out. I guess looking back on it, it's not that funny, I was just coping. But I was just so afraid that when your mom left to bring you home, that you two would never come back, and even if we were just sisters, and nothing else, I didn't want to lose you in my life. I was never mad that you wanted to leave, it's your choice, I was just sad that you might have been doing it for the wrong reasons."
Elsa was taken aback by Anna's admission, "I think that if we had just talked, just communicated like we're doing now, a lot of stress could have been prevented, I'm sorry again for that. I have never been in this type of situation before, and I know each situation is unique, I just feel like ours is extra unique." The blonde tilted her head and looked to the floor, "You know?"
"I thought for a bit I might have been tricking you too. I didn't know what love was. When I started to feel it with you, I was so afraid I was trying to force something that would never happen." Anna rubbed her face as the tears settled down. "I know we can't fix everything in a day, like our trust or how we feel or want to feel. But I am curious..."
The blonde brought her gaze back to Anna's, "Curious of what?"
"Is everything you said and wrote in your journal, your old journal, true? Did you really view me so highly? Do you think I'm that beautiful? I didn't see it all, so I don't know if you took any of it back or so to speak." Anna uncrossed her legs and leaned closer to Elsa, her arms stretched out into a crawl as she inched closer, "I am curious, what do you really think of me? Do you love me, or did you love me at least? If Hans hadn't ruined that night, what would have happened between us?" Anna was now hanging over Elsa who had to lean back as the redhead now had both of her arms placed on both sides of the blonde's head. Elsa started to shut her eyes slowly as if to run away into her own head but was stopped when Anna snapped, "Don't look away. Answer me."
Elsa watched the girl's heavy breaths above her, the loose hair from the redhead's bun splayed to the side. Her teal eyes were still red from the crying. Her shirt tightly hugged her breasts that were nearly touching her own. The blonde gulped.
"Elsa, please, answer me." A small droplet hit Elsa's cheek as she turned her eyes back to Anna's. Tears were forming again, and Elsa's heart hurt when she saw the torment she had caused.
The blonde's confidence returned as she used her hands to grab Anna's wrists and sit her upright. She pushed the girl back against the headboard and held her arms in place with only one of her hands while she brought her free hand to the younger girl's chin. "It was as true as I was allowing myself to be. I did view you so highly. I still view you so highly. You're the most gorgeous woman on the entire face of this planet. There is no one who could compare to you. Not a single soul. If that night had been uninterrupted, I would have absolutely ravished you. Nothing would have held me back from pleasuring you. And I do love you, more than words could ever describe, but I would like to impart a few. You're immaculate in every form. You bring warmth and light to every situation. I've never met someone as outgoing and easy going as you. You make me want to be myself and be my best self for you. I love you, Anna." Elsa hovered a bit over the girl, whose expression had changed from sad to surprised.
Anna lowered her eyelids and poked her chin out, "Then kiss me, please." The redhead begged and shut her eyes. In less than a second, Elsa brought her lips over Anna's and pressed hard into her, still while holding the smaller girl against the bed.
The blonde forced her tongue in-between Anna's part lips that happily accepted, and they kissed, hard, until they were both out of breath.
Once they finally distanced their lips, Anna breathily responded, "I love you too, Elsa."
Elsa freed the redhead's arms and threw her hair up into a messy ponytail while still straddling her partner. Anna used this opportunity to place her hands onto Elsa's exposed thighs and grip hard. The blonde bit her lip and thrust forward a bit. The movement turned Anna on, and she was about to open her mouth to say something until they heard footsteps on the stairs.
Anna rolled her eyes and jokingly threw Elsa off of her to the side in frustration. Elsa giggled in response and tucked herself under the blankets. Anna turned over away from the girl and yawned, "I'm going to pretend to be asleep, but don't worry it's just for pretend."
Elsa gave her a side eye, when came knocking at her door. "Come in," she said, accidentally with a stutter as she was still exhausted from their rather long make out session.
"Hi darling," Iduna greeted as she opened the door, "Oh good, Anna's in here too. I was going to check on her next. I just wanted to make sure you got home okay. Agnarr is already practically asleep and I'm not too far behind him." The older woman still in her queenly attire, strolled over to Elsa's side of the bed first and gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead, "Sleep well." Next, she strolled over to Anna's side of the bed where the girl was sleeping. Light snores came from her slowly rising and falling body under the blankets. Elsa sighed as she realized the girl was no longer pretending. Iduna kissed Anna's forehead as well and shut off the lamp on her side of the bed.
The brown-haired woman strolled to the door and blew one last kiss to Elsa, before shutting her bedroom door quietly.
Elsa turned the lamp off at her side and scooted under the covers and then closer to Anna. She wrapped her arms around her and placed a leg between the other girls.' "Come here, you." She pressed her nose and face against the redhead's back to join her in sleep.
A/N: As a heads up, the next chapter will feature some smut and other explicit activities. It will be entirely skippable with a brief in story summary at the beginning of the following chapter. A more detailed warning will be before the next chapter when posted. Thank you so much for reading! As a reminder, the most updated version of this story and including any new stories (Spoiler: I've already posted a new one shot) will be available on Ao3 going forward.