Domesticity for the Uninitiated
The sun is just starting to edge past the horizon when Anna shuffles through her apartment door. She slumps against it, fingers coming up to tug her beanie off by an earflap.
Stupid lavellan. It had taken forever just to cajole him out of the icy river he was in, and then getting him into the cage for relocation had proved to be even more difficult. Anna decided to just tranq the little bastard after he made her fall into the water during an escape attempt. The call she made to the Guild confirming his new location was short and clipped, belying her exhaustion. Merida better have a damn good explanation for why she wasn't on call, bear or no.
Anna's hoping to take a warm shower and maybe crawl back under her covers for another hour before she has to go to school. She pushes off the door and heads down the entryway to the kitchen, wanting to get some water before locking herself away in her room.
As she's rounding the corner, she sees a metallic object swinging towards her. Normally she'd just roll out of the way with ease, but her coordination is shot from three cases in as many days. The best she can manage is to sort of stumble over her feet until her butt hits the ground. The object whooshes through the air where her shoulder would have been.
Prepared for a fight, she bares her teeth and looks up at her attacker, a hand already going for the knife in her boot.
It's…Elsa?
She's wielding a frying pan in one hand and a phone in the other, looking like she's ready to take another swing when she registers who's in front of her. The blood drains from her already pale face and she nearly drops the pan in surprise.
Anna scrambles up, an indignant finger already pointing in Elsa's direction. "What the hell was that for?" she exclaims, too shocked to try for a more civil tone. "I did not come home to be assaulted with cooking utensils!"
Elsa shakes her head frantically. "I thought you were—" her eyes dart to Anna's closed door for a moment before settling back on Anna herself. "And where were you?" Her tone is bordering on rude but she's taking in Anna's fresh scratches and completely soaked pants in nothing but interest.
"Don't try to change the subject! You could have dislocated my shoulder," Anna grouses. She'd already had the left one dislocated twice; a third time would just be excessive. She stands and continues, "Look, I don't know how it was at your old place, but I don't keep what you'd call normal hours." Elsa sets the pan and phone down on the table, looking properly chastened.
Anna pinches the bridge of her nose and goes on, "I work odd hours and on my way back to my car, I kind of slipped and fell into a huge puddle." Anna hides a grimace at the embarrassing lie. Unfortunately such lies would have to start becoming commonplace if her trips kept leaving obvious traces on her.
"Oh, I…I'm really sorry," Elsa responds after a moment, sounding miserable. "You just caught me by surprise."
For the first time since coming back, Anna takes the time to really look at Elsa. She's dressed like she just got out of bed, hair tied in a loose ponytail at the base of her neck and her face freshly scrubbed. Strangely, she's wearing only a tanktop and some sleep shorts. Huh. Maybe Anna's the only one who slept in a ton of layers during winter. Her whole look is enough to make Anna realize some people don't have to put any effort into looking amazing.
Her anger quickly dissipating, Anna waves away Elsa's apology. "It's fine." She takes a step forward, tempted to take a seat at the table and try to chat with Elsa for a while. A wide yawn dashes the idea, reminding her that she hasn't gotten anywhere near a healthy amount of sleep these last few days. She'd be able to bond with Elsa later, providing the other girl would even be interested. "I'll see you later, okay? My bed is summoning me."
She's almost to her door when she turns around, a smirk tugging on her face. "You've got a pretty good swing. My life will be in your hands on the day we have a real intruder."
Elsa responds with a wobbly smile of her own, eyes lowering in residual embarrassment. They land on her phone and she quickly picks it up. Even after Anna closes her door, she can hear Elsa say, "Rapunzel, are you still there?"
Anna raises an eyebrow, curious despite herself. She takes off her boots and gathers her pajamas slower than usual, wondering what Elsa would tell this Rapunzel.
"How much of that did you hear?" Elsa asks the other person. After a pause she answers, "Yeah…that was my roommate, Anna… No, she's not the same—yes, I'm staying calm!" Her voice is defensive and sounds anything but calm. Anna hears her pad to the other side of the apartment, and her voice starts to fade. "It's harder than I thought it would be…" are the last words Anna hears before Elsa's door shuts, presumably so her conversation could actually be private.
As Anna works to peel off her soaking pants, she contemplates Elsa's last words. What was harder than she thought? Having a new roommate?
Finally successful in removing her pants, she collapses onto the floor and closes her eyes. Maybe she was being too hard on Elsa. She obviously has some things to work through (seriously, who thinks it's okay to swing frying pans around?), but she's the one coming into a new place in the middle of the semester. Anna's a normally cheerful person but fall break had taken a lot out of her, so maybe her temper is shorter than usual.
Finally dragging her sluggish body off the ground and to the bathroom, she swears a solemn oath that she'll be the best damn roommate Elsa ever has.
This proves hard to accomplish when she doesn't see her roommate for the rest of the day. School comes and goes and even when she arrives back home, Elsa is out of sight. When the sun sets, the light in Elsa's room comes on and Anna occasionally hears noise from within, but her door stays shut.
Anna drags her homework out to the living room and puts on the tv in hopes of enticing her out. This plan quickly turns south when she ends up falling asleep a few hours later, her papers scattered around her.
Anna's never been what someone would call a graceful sleeper. During the course of the night she had somehow slid off the couch she was on, though a foot is still stubbornly wedged in between the cushions. One arm is cast dramatically across her face and the other is wrapped around her stomach.
She startles awake when her phone's alarm goes off. Rubbing just enough sleep out of her eyes to become temporarily functional, Anna hears movement from within Elsa's room.
With a groan she hoists herself up, a woven blanket sliding off her body. Strange, that definitely hadn't been there when she was awake.
She smiles at Elsa's thoughtfulness. Hoping to return the favor, she shuffles over to Elsa's door and knocks. "Hey, would you like a ride to school?" Anna asks, voice scratchy from sleep. "Since we have the same class I figured it might be more convenient—"
A blast of cold sweeps under the door and hits Anna's feet. "Shit," Elsa curses from the other side of the door. "Goddamn—" Another gust of air comes through the door crack, this time accompanied by fresh powder.
"Elsa," Anna asks in concern, sidestepping the snow, "Are you okay?"
"No, I—" Elsa responds, sounding distressed. "My window just flew open. I'm fine."
Anna raises an eyebrow. For as long as she's lived here, none of the windows have 'flown open'. Still, if Elsa was trying to get some cool air inside it's possible that the window had somehow broken; Anna's never really tried to open them before and it wouldn't be a surprise to her if they were old and unreliable.
"Do you want help drying anything?" Anna offers, "I can get some extra towels—"
"No," Elsa says sharply. "Just go. I don't think I'm going to Weselton's class today."
Anna frowns. Even if the sound is muffled because of the door between them, she swears Elsa sounds a little shaken up. "Alright, then I guess I'll see you around," Anna says after a moment. "And…thanks for the blanket," she adds softly, a hand pressed flat against the door.
There's no response on Elsa's end. Sighing, Anna turns from the door to get ready for school.
When she steps outside and heads to her car, she's hit by sudden urge to check something out. She goes around to the side of the apartment opposite of where her car is parked. Craning her head up to look at the third story, she finds Elsa's window.
Just like all the others, it's firmly shut.
Weselton's lecture is agonizing as usual, but at least Kristoff got her a coffee before class.
She pokes him in the ribs with her pencil, causing him to flinch and his own pencil to skitter across his notes. "Thanks again for the java," she whispers.
"If this is the thanks I get, no more coffee for you," he says, erasing the lead trail on his paper. "And you need to tell me about your roommate, don't you? I've been like, dying to know." He abandons his paper to stare at her with his chin propped on his hand, batting his eyes expectantly.
"You know it freaks me out when you do your Gossip Girl routine. I'll tell you after class," Anna says, rolling her eyes. He's such a dork sometimes.
"…and that is all the time we have today," Weselton's voice floats through the hall. "Make sure you read pages 120 through 190 by Friday." The class starts packing their notebooks and bundling up in anticipation of the snow still falling outside.
Kristoff gives Anna a victorious smirk. "Well what do you know, class is over."
"I-I have to get to my next class," Anna protests weakly. The two of them wince when they step outside the lecture hall only to be battered by an icy gust of wind.
"Avoidance tactics, Anna. You're using them." he says as he zips up his jacket. "Is she really that bad?"
"Well," Anna hedges uncertainly. "She's not bad per say, just…right there?" She stops dead in her tracks and squints ahead of them. "Wow, it looks like she's actually talking to someone."
She speed walks towards Elsa, leaving a protesting Kristoff behind. "Elsa!" she waves once she gets close enough.
Elsa takes an unconscious step back and looks pointedly at the ground. Anna lowers her arm, a sinking feeling developing in her chest. How is this the same girl who put a blanket on her last night? She looks at the person Elsa's with, wondering if she can shed some light on the enigma that is her roommate.
Elsa's companion is a pretty girl with long, blonde hair that's tied up in some elaborate fashion. She's wearing a bright pink jacket and adorable looking earmuffs. In contrast, Elsa's wearing the same gray peacoat as before, along with a pair of dark leggings and boots. The girl takes in Elsa's reaction curiously.
"Hi…" Anna says meekly, and the girl turns towards her. "I'm Anna, Elsa's roommate." Elsa is still a foot back from the two of them, looking like she'd rather be anywhere else.
The girl looks Anna up and down before giving Elsa a shrewd look. "Oh, this is Anna," she turns her attention back to Anna with a grin when Elsa violently shakes her head. "I'm Rapunzel, her cousin. Nice to meet you." She extends her hand in greeting, which Anna clasps with her own.
"Good to meet you, too," Anna responds. A troubling smile comes over her face and she leans conspiratorially towards Rapunzel. "Is there anything I should know about Elsa? Any tips you could give me about living with her?"
Elsa finally takes a step forward, joining in on their conversation. "We have to go," she says unapologetically, tugging on Rapunzel's arm. "We need to continue our conversation."
Smile still in place, Rapunzel stays in her spot, looking amused by the whole situation. "She really likes chocolate. Videogames too. And if she acts like a grouch, you should know that she's actually a huge softie—"
"Rapunzel!" Elsa says, looking horrified. "Shut up."
Just then, Kristoff bumps against Anna's back. "Hey!" he says brightly to the two other girls. "I'm Kristoff. I take it one of you is rooming with Anna?"
There's a moment of silence while Rapunzel and Anna wait for Elsa to respond in the affirmative. Instead, she glowers at Kristoff like he kicked her puppy. Even though she's not looking in her direction, Anna glowers back. What gives her the right to stare at Kristoff like that when they've just met?
"That would be her," Rapunzel finally speaks up, pointing at her cousin. "I swear she's actually capable of showing emotions when she wants."
Kristoff nods, unbothered by Elsa's lack of reaction. He's about to speak when he suddenly starts windmilling his arms in the air, his feet sliding around beneath him in opposite directions. He tugs hard on Anna's bag to rebalance himself, nearly sending her toppling over as well.
Elsa smirks and a huff of laughter escapes her, sending a cool cloud of air towards the rest of the group.
Rapunzel fixes her with a meaningful glare before looking back at the others. "See…emotions," she says weakly.
Kristoff repositions his arm until it's around Anna's shoulders. "That's the first time I've seen her laugh," Anna grumbles, mood starting to turn sour. Elsa's kind of looking more and more like a huge jerk. She leans into Kristoff, leeching his body heat as best she can.
"I promise you, she's really just shy," Rapunzel says earnestly. Her eyes catch on Kristoff's hand hanging off Anna's shoulder, and her mouth twists in thought. "Just give her some time," she adds after a moment, "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."
"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," Elsa huffs, folding her arms across her chest. "Now let's go."
"It was nice to meet you," Anna smiles at Rapunzel. Why couldn't she room with her instead? She seems nice, friendly, and whatever other generically positive adjectives she was hoping to find in her roommate. Elsa is just…Elsa.
As if proving her point, Elsa ignores the goodbyes and starts walking away. Rapunzel shrugs apologetically at them before catching up with Elsa.
"So that's your roommate," Kristoff muses, rubbing at his chin. He lets go of Anna and the two of them start walking in the same direction as Elsa and Rapunzel. "She's kind of prickly, isn't she?"
Elsa looks back at just the right moment to see Kristoff slip on the ice again, this time falling over completely. Anna catches another smirk grace her features before she turns forward.
Feeling only a little spiteful, Anna says, "I haven't even told you how she almost murdered me with a frying pan yesterday."
She has the night completely off. No scheduled monsters to kill, no extra on call to disrupt her sleep. Instead, Kristoff and Merida are on tonight, along with a couple of the others. Heh, suckers.
Anna doesn't know what to do with her free time. Sure, it's a Wednesday night so she's kind of limited on her options. Maybe she could order some Chinese and catch up on her dramas. Oh, or maybe she could start that really thick, intimidating book that's been gathering dust on her shelf for the last month.
Pondering her options, she crosses the threshold of her apartment. The smell hits her first, causing her to lose her train of thought. She quietly closes the door, wondering what could possibly be causing the odor. Of course, the answer is obvious but she refuses to acknowledge that Elsa is—
Anna jumps into the kitchen. "What are you doing?" she suddenly asks.
Elsa's back is turned towards her and it looks like she jumps a few good inches into the air. She curses under her breath and spins to Anna, who has an innocent smile on her face. "I'm cooking," Elsa says defensively, pointing a finger at the ragged apron around her neck. "Why did you have to sneak up on me?"
Anna ignores her rather hypocritical question and focuses on the countertop Elsa is working at. "Oh my god," she breathes, having forgotten that she's supposed to dislike her roommate. To the side of her is a colorful arrangement of vegetables, ranging from peppers to carrots to potatoes. Fluffy white rice is already finished cooking and it looks like Elsa is about to chop up some chicken. "How do you know how to cook?" That is not fair.
Anna's grown up on microwaveable food and takeout, having neither the time or money to really get into cooking. Up until this moment, she's been totally fine with that lifestyle choice. But in the face of this…this bounty, she realizes how much she's been missing out on.
Unable to help herself, Anna pokes her head over Elsa's shoulder, causing the other girl to stiffen. "You should thaw the chicken before cutting it," she points out sagely, as if she knows anything about cooking.
Elsa shakes her head in annoyance and moves just enough to block Anna's view of the food. "It was thawed—" she mutters before stopping herself. She sighs and composes herself before looking back at Anna. "Would you like any? It'll have to be vegetarian since the chicken won't thaw in time," she adds reluctantly.
Anna gapes at her, not expecting her to actually share anything considering their previous interactions. Elsa shifts her weight from side to side as she waits for an answer. "You don't have to—"
"I'd love some!" Anna says happily, a goofy grin on her face. "Thank you! That's so nice."
Elsa leans back, obviously not expecting such a reaction. Her cheeks pinken and she looks close to smiling until her eyes catch something on Anna's body. Cooking forgotten, she steps forward. "What happened to your neck?" she asks, sounding more concerned than Anna would think possible.
Anna freezes, unsure of what she's talking about. "What?" she asks self-consciously, "Is there something on it?"
Elsa takes another step forward, coming into Anna's personal space. Her eyes find Anna's and her gaze is a bit…intense. Anna feels a finger gently trace the skin from the back of her neck where it meets the shoulder, all the way down to her collarbone, almost forming a 'C'.
Immediately Elsa backs up until she hits the counter. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to touch—"
"Umm, it's okay," Anna says, a little dazed herself. No one had touched her like that since…well, Hans. It actually felt pretty nice. She raises her hand to her neck and feels the skin Elsa had wondered about. It's an old scar, thin and silver, one that she had gotten before she had an adequate amount of healing supplies. She can't even remember what creature gave it to her, just that it must have been one of the first ones she had gone solo against.
Normally she had her hair in its usual twin braids, which would cover it. But today she hadn't bothered doing anything with her hair and it hung in loose waves past her shoulders. She thinks of something to tell Elsa, who's still staring at her from the other side of the kitchen.
"It was a long time ago, I don't really remember," she answers vaguely. "I probably just got scratched by something." Well, at least that wasn't much of a lie.
Elsa nods like the explanation makes sense and offers her a shy smile. "Between this and your soaked pants, I take it you're a bit clumsy."
Actually, I'm the picture of sophisticated grace, Anna thinks. She knows how to jump, flip, and dodge creatures without injuring herself. Walking on ice is almost second nature to her, as is climbing trees and balancing precariously on objects. Of course, it wouldn't make sense for her to tell Elsa any of that, so she grits her teeth and says, "Yep, sometimes it seems like I can barely walk in a straight line without getting hurt."
Elsa's smile becomes a little broader before she goes back to her cooking. Anna takes the following silence as a cue to go to her room and change out of her school clothes and into something more comfortable. In the privacy of her room, she wonders why Elsa is suddenly being nice to her. The girl seems to run hot and cold—one moment laughing at her best friend and the next offering her food.
Still thinking about this as she heads back into the kitchen, she sits at one of the table's chairs behind Elsa and watches her cook for a moment. "Elsa," she says since she knows it will bother her if she doesn't ask, "why do you dislike Kristoff? Do you guys have some kind of secret history I'm not aware of?"
Elsa stills for a second before going back to her pan of vegetables. "I don't dislike him," she says carefully. "I've only met him once."
"Oh," well there goes the theory that Kristoff had somehow wronged her in the past. "It just seems like you were…well, different earlier, when we talked to you and Rapunzel."
"Anna, I…" Her shoulders tense up but she doesn't turn away from her food. "This whole move has just been more stressful on me than I thought it would be. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you're my roommate of all people, and—"
Anna's ears perk up at that. "Wait, what does that mean?" she asks, now wondering if she and Elsa have a history she doesn't know about.
"N-nothing, I just meant that you are—and I…" she says haltingly before starting over, "It's just strange because we're in the same class. That's strange, right?"
Even though Anna had the same thought earlier, all she can do is shrug. "I suppose so," she says dubiously, since she thinks Elsa meant to say something completely different.
"Right! It's strange," Elsa repeats firmly. "And the food's ready."
Shoving aside her curiosity, she crowds Elsa again, a plate already in her hand. "I won't take too much," she promises, though she's practically salivating at the sight of all the food in front of her.
Elsa smiles again. "Take however much you want." She scoops some food onto a plate of her own and takes the seat across from Anna.
Anna takes a more modest serving than she would like and digs in. A moan escapes her and she practically melts in a puddle of how amazing it all tastes. "This is awesome," she informs Elsa, who's now looking at her with wide eyes.
"Thanks, but it's just rice, vegetables, and some spices," Elsa says once she shakes herself out of her reverie. "Nothing special."
"Have you seen the freezer?" Anna retorts. "It's full of crappy, microwave-safe blocks of carbs. Maybe I'm easy to impress, but this is delicious and you can't tell me otherwise."
That shuts Elsa up and the rest of the meal passes by in silence until it's time to do the dishes. Anna has to actually pry Elsa's empty plate out of her hand so she can wash it. "It's an exchange," she says over Elsa's protests. "You cooked and now I'll do the cleaning."
It ends in a compromise. For whatever reason, it seems to terrify Elsa that Anna might break one of her dishes (actually, that's probably because she just 'confessed' her clumsiness). Still, Elsa insists on drying the plates and cups handed to her by Anna.
To be honest, Anna thinks she can get used to this. Shared cooking, a playful argument about the dishes…these are more along the lines of what Anna had hoped to experience when she wrote up her advertisement.
Elsa seems happier too, as if a weight has been taken off her shoulders. Anna still has her doubts about how long this mood will last before she goes back to being withdrawn, but she decides to enjoy it while she can.
Anna bids her goodnight after all the dishes are done, feeling full and sleepy. It turns out her free night wouldn't be about catching up on shows or books, but just a few more hours of sleep.
Before she hops into bed, she treks over to the bathroom to brush her teeth, inadvertently overhearing the beginning of a conversation coming from Elsa's room. Elsa's voice is light and Anna can imagine a smile on her face when she says,
"Hey, Rapunzel. You were right, I think I'm going to stay."
A/N: If Elsa's personality seems a bit erratic, that's because it's supposed to be. Though it doesn't help that Anna is completely oblivious to Elsa's feelings, which makes things even harder for poor Elsa. I know this is more of a domestic-focused chapter, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!