I'm not really sure what I was trying to write here.
My brain's drained from the CEE reviews and I'm literally out of ideas, and completely uninspired.
Disclaimer: Frozen belongs to Disney.
Jealousy - Modern AU
The door slid open with a crash, startling the entire class and effectively silencing the teacher up front.
He stormed inside with a tight smile, half-jogging to Elsa's seat. He reached out and grabbed her arm, then he said through his teeth while forcing a smile, "Excuse me, there's an urgent matter I need to discuss with Elsa, sir," even though he was addressing the teacher, his gaze was completely on Elsa's. Hans pulled her up and half-dragged her outside without waiting for the teacher's reply.
Hans slammed the door shut and faced an obviously annoyed Elsa with a frown on his face.
"What's so urgent that you had to drag me out of class, Westergard?" Elsa asked, her arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Are you actually going to the dance with Rogan?" Hans's green eyes bored into her with intent, his brows were drawn together in a frown.
His question made her smirk, "So that's why."
"Well, are you?" he demanded again, still frowning. There was a small, almost unnoticeable, pout on his lips.
"Yes."
His eyes widened, then he glared at her and frowned again, "What!?" Hans exclaimed with obviously disbelief. "That's not fair!"
"Since when did you care about being fair?" Elsa asked with one raised eyebrow.
Hans opened his mouth to reply, then he blinked and pursed his lips together, "After you said yes to that loser, no offense, because I've been pestering you for days!"
"He was sweet," Elsa shrugged, trying to keep the taunting in her tone to a minimum. "And nice."
"I can be sweet!" he defended indignantly, whining like a child, making Elsa smile inwardly. "And nice!"
"Hans, you're only capable of pestering me, and flirting with different girls."
Hans pouted, yes, an actual childish pout that made Elsa want to laugh, "That's not true!"
Elsa just gave him a look that said, 'Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that.'
"Okay, fine," he glared at her. "So maybe it's kind of true."
Elsa rolled her eyes, and sighed dismissively, "Hans, I'm going back inside, could you please step aside?"
He made an overly dramatic, grand gesture, "Yes, your majesty."
Elsa just sighed exasperatedly before entering the room, and leaving Hans walking away and thinking of a plan to make her change her mind about going to the dance with Rogan.
It was still a few weeks till the Annual Dance and Hans wasn't all that worried, although he did pester Elsa as much as he could those few weeks. Of course, Elsa always shut him down. When you have three weeks, you feel like you have all the time in the world, but when you have three days left, that's when all your instincts scream at you to panic like it's the end of the world.
Of course, if you were Hans, you'd be panicking as well. Imagine losing to someone who didn't even come close to you in terms of looks, brains, or anything—and it was about being the date of the hard-to-please Ice Queen.
Maybe she really hates me that much. Hans shuddered involuntarily at the thought.
Then Kristoff's voice echoed in his head, Maybe you're just jealous that Elsa chose Rogan over you.
Well, of course, he was jealous! He almost screamed at Kristoff, only his pride held him back from admitting it. He was used to getting everything he wanted, or most of it, because heaven knows his parents prioritized his older brothers more than him, or any of his other brothers who weren't the first six Westergards.
"Aren't you going to change your mind already, Elsa?" he asked her, batting his eyelashes for effect.
Elsa hit him on the forehead with the binding of the book she's holding, "Hans, will you please get out of my room."
"Yours and Anna's room," Hans pointed out, looking at Anna who was on the opposite side of the room. "Anna, you don't mind if I stayed here, right?"
Anna shrugged, smothering her smirk with an indifferent look, "Sure, go ahead and annoy the heck out of Elsa."
"Anna!" Elsa exclaimed at the same time Hans said, "Thank you!"
"See, two out of three votes says I can stay," Hans said with a smug look.
"Since when did you get the right to vote about who's staying in my room," Hans was about to retort again when Elsa added. "And Anna's."
"Since right now," then he tried to persuade Elsa again. "Come'n, Elsa! Please?"
"Hans, stop," Elsa massaged the bridge of her nose. "There are only three days left till the dance I can't—"
"Then will you stop being nice," Hans cut off her off. "Everybody knows that the only reason why you said yes to that blundering idiot is because he's the safest decision to get everybody else of your back, and the only reason why you can't say no is because you're too nice to break the poor fool's heart."
Anna coughed loudly, "He does have a point."
Elsa glared at Anna, and Hans just mouthed a thank-you.
"Rogan is a nice guy—"
"He's going to bore you to death."
"He's sweet, and—"
"What if I tried being sweet—"
This time Elsa cut him off by saying, "Will you let me finish?"
Hans held up his hands, "No. Listen to me. What if I tried to be sweet? As in, sweet: I-poured-all-my-heart-and-effort-in-that kind of sweet?"
"Then obviously you're not being sincere," Elsa shot back, because... When was he ever sincere? He was only trying to dissuade her from going to the dance with Rogan because it caused a big blow to his pride.
"What if I am sincere, Elsa?" Hans's voice turned quiet, more genuine and resigned. It made Elsa frown slightly, and cause Anna to do a double-take and stare at Hans.
But Elsa was stubborn, "Look, everybody knows you only want me to be your date so you can add it to your list of successful conquests."
"That's not—" then he cut himself off. "Fine. Maybe that's one of my ulterior motives, but I also want to spend the night with you."
Anna cleared her throat, feeling the tension in the air, and nervously shot out of bed, saying, "Kristoff called me, so I... uh... I'll be going now—bye!" and she darted out of the room.
Neither of them noticed Anna leaving, both only vaguely aware of the thud of the door closing shut.
"Save me your drama, Hans," Elsa groaned, almost afraid that Hans might actually be able to dissuade her after all.
"The universe knows I'm the better man in the equation," Hans pointed out, trying to keep the defensiveness in his already indignant tone. "And I'm not saying that because of I look better, or shit—I'm saying that because—"
"Hans, will you just shut up."
"You want me to shut up but you're obviously enjoying this," he muttered under his breath.
The smile on Elsa's lips was smug, "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I enjoy hearing you sound so desperate?"
He almost screamed at her, Why did I have to be interested in this godawful, infuriating person when I've got a bloody fanclub trailing behind me?
"All I'm saying is that I'm the better one because we can at least have a decent conversation," Hans stopped Elsa from cutting him off by saying. "Even if that decent conversation means endless debates and arguments, but at least you won't be bored to tears."
"Enough, Hans," Elsa finally said, standing up. "You are not going to convince me otherwise, so please leave. Now."
Oh, but he was so close to convincing her, and they both knew that. Elsa knew it at the pit of her stomach so she already feared whatever counterargument Hans would throw her way. She silently prayed that he would just leave, but was surprise when that was exactly what he moved to do.
"And here I thought I'd be able to convince you," Hans smiled at Elsa. The look on his face was so obvious, he was hurt. It wasn't just his pride that got bruised, he was actually hurt. What's worse was the fat that he had no idea why he actually felt hurt.
"If it makes it any better," Elsa winced, not really wanting to acknowledge the fact that the expression on Hans's face got to her more than it should, "I'll save my last dance for you."
Elsa waited for Hans to gloat, to say something about how important he was that the Ice Queen's last dance was saved specifically for him. Elsa actually wanted Hans to gloat, because as much as she hated the guy, she actually felt guilty because this was the first time she's ever seen him so subdued, but all Hans did was nod, a ghost of a pained smile lingered on his lips.
"Goodnight, Elsa."
He sighed and shook his head, he stood up and walked towards the door, then he exited the room quietly, leaving Elsa half-dazed and a touch guilty. Hans had sounded too resigned.
The last two days before the dance passed by in a blur. Nobody saw Hans in those two days either. Even his roommate had no idea where he was. Now, with just a few minutes before the start of the dance, we go to the famous Westergard Mansion, where we'll find Hans inside his old room with his brothers about to enter his room in 3... 2... 1...
"Little bro!"
Hans winced and covered his head with a pillow, groaning.
"What the hell are you still doing here in your room?"
He sat up, and one by one he saw the twins entering his room, with their sixth brother trailing behind them.
"Don't you have a dance to attend to?" Ulrik, the younger of the two twins, asked him.
"Yes," then he glared at the floor. "No," then he buried his head in his pillows again. "Go away, don't you have something better to do?"
Ludvik was the one who replied this time, "We're your brothers, Hans, the best thing that we can do is to make sure you're annoyed as hell."
Hans lifted his head to glare at the other twin.
"Your tux is already downstairs," Vanja informed, leaning against the door frame of Hans's room. "You'll be late if you don't hurry."
"Yeah, imagine all the ladies you can flirt with," Ulrik waggled his eyebrows.
"I don't want to flirt with the ladies," Hans rolled his eyes, waving a dismissive hand.
The sentence made his ninth brother, Haakon, appear in his room in a matter of seconds, feeling for his forehead, "Who are you and what have you done to Hans?"
"Are you sick?" Ludvik asked staring at Hans like he just lost his mind.
"Of course, he's sick." Vanja smirked, unable to keep the mirth of his tone. "Love-sick."
Everybody in the room laughed, and Hans sat up and glared at Vanja, when the laughter died down, it was Ludvik who asked, "Wait, Vanja's not serious, is he?"
"Of course, he's not!" Hans threw his hands up the air with much exasperation, scoffing at the notion.
"Remember what happened to Adalsteinn?" Vanja asked with another triumphant smirk. Adalsteinn was their oldest brother. "He's the Player of Players in this family, but then he stopped flirting, and the next thing you know you're wearing a tux and attending the wedding of your oldest bro."
"I am not in love, and no one's getting married!" Hans exclaimed, staring at his brothers like they grew one head each. He stood up and pushed Haakon away, then he stomped outside of his room.
Vanja and twins were snickering to themselves, but Haakon was frowning slightly.
"Well, Haakon?" Vanja said with a small smile. "This is your specialty, you better talk to Hans."
"Specialty, my ass," Haakon rolled his eyes, standing up. "You're just afraid of getting on Hans's bad side."
"Of course we are!" Ulrik exclaimed dramatically.
"Last time we got on his bad side, we found frogs on our bed," Ludvik nodded dramatically.
"And don't forget the eels that I found in my cabinet," Vanja added solemnly.
"That's why we're leaving this up to you, little brother!" Ulrik and Ludvik exclaimed at the same time, both clasping either shoulders of Haakon. The twins were seventh, and eighth in the brood, but when it comes to having sense and being mature Haakon beat them by a mile even though he was younger. The latter could only sigh as he walked out of the room.
Haakon found Hans in the living room, glaring at his newly pressed tuxedo.
"So, are you or are you not in love?"
"I am not in love." Maybe just a little bit infatuated. Or not. I don't know! I don't do infatuated. I'm Han! I don't get infatuated, that doesn't just happen to me at all.
"So, how many more expressions are you planning to cram on your face in the next five seconds?" Haakon asked teasingly, making Hans turn his glare to him instead of the tux.
This conversation is going to take less than five minutes. Haakon thought and grinned inwardly. That's a new record.
"Why were you glaring at that tuxedo like you wanted to murder it," Haakon asked with a small, pleased smile.. "And why don't you want to spend the night and flirt as you usually do?"
"Because pride's too wounded to care," Hans muttered under his breath. "Would you believe that I lost to a nobody? God knows that bloody woman is hard to please, and she chose him over me!"
"Since when did you ever take dates to dances anyway?" Haakon asked, one inquisitive eyebrow raised. "I remember you saying dates are for guys who can't pick up girls when they want to."
"I was seventeen then, Haakon," Hans pressed, throwing his brother a bit of a desperate look. "And that was way before I met her."
"What's so special about her, anyway?" Haakon scoffed insultingly, trying to rile his brother up even more.
But all Hans did was frown, "She's..."
"Yes?"
"I don't..."
"Go on."
"Fuck."
Haakon smothered a victorious smile, "You have about forty-five minutes to get ready and get the hell out of here."
Since Hans just rushed inside the bathroom, and we don't really want to delve in the details of what he—you do? Well, sorry, we don't have time to dwell on that because we're skipping to the interesting conversation Elsa, Anna and Kristoff are having—okay, maybe the interesting part is in the latter part of their conversation.
"So where's Rogan?" Kristoff asked, raising his voice a bit higher to be heard over the loud music.
"He went and got us drinks," Elsa replied, they were standing near the sides, away from all the dancing.
"Wow, Elsa, you're on a roll tonight, aren't you?" Kristoff commented with a teasing grin on his face. "You've been dancing with Rogan all night."
"Psh," Anna waved a hand in the air. "She's just guilty for keeping Ro's hopes up."
"And for actually hurting Hans beyond a bruised pride, I bet," Kristoff added, receiving a little high five from Anna.
Elsa groaned and shook her head, "Where is Hans, anyway?"
Anna shrugged, Kristoff replied, "I heard he arrived late, but he disappeared just before the dancing started and nobody's seen him all night."
"Well, that's a miracle," Anna commented, actually sounding a bit surprised.
"One would think he'd be off flirting into the night," Elsa stated, trying to keep curiosity off her voice.
"Doubt it," Kristoff shrugged, an amused smile danced on his lips.
"Since when was that a subject of doubt?" Elsa asked, her smile was equally as amused as Kristoff's.
"Since he came to me about the surpri—yeouwch!" Anna's elbow to his ribs made Kristoff yelp in pain and glare at Anna.
"What?" Kristoff exclaimed defensively, rubbing the sore spot. "It's true anyway, we both thought Elsa would agree to go with him when he—argh!" this time Kristoff felt Anna's heels on his toes, making him jump around in pain. "Goddamnit, Anna!" Kristoff practically shouted, simultaneously whimpering in pain. "What is your problem?"
"Will you shut up, Kristoff?" Anna grabbed his jacket and pulled him towards her, whispering frustratedly into his ear. "Elsa doesn't know!"
"You don't know about the..." He blinked, then he gaze went back to an obviously confused Elsa, "Oh."
Elsa felt a sinking feeling in her gut, and she couldn't explain why.
"Kristoff," Elsa said with a commanding tone and an intent look on her face. "Explain."
Kristoff looked helplessly at Elsa, who looked at Anna who sighed, "Oh, brother," she breathed out emphatically.
"So for the past couple of months, he's been appearing out of nowhere, being more annoying than usual, until he finally got Kristoff to join him in the party," Anna glared at Kristoff.
Kristoff raised his hands in mock surrender, smiling sheepishly, "It's a bro thing, Anna."
"Anyways," Anna continued. "He said he wanted to surprise you, so you'd have no choice but to say yes."
"So, I told him," Kristoff chose the moment Anna paused to speak up. "If you did something you personally put your effort to, Elsa's bound to say yes."
"To which I agreed completely," Anna nodded, absentmindedly leaning against Kristoff. "So I gave Hans the sketch I found on your desk—"
"That's why my sketch disappeared?" Elsa suddenly exclaimed. "I thought you said you didn't know."
"Well, what did you expect me to say?" Anna asked, then she added a sarcastic edge to her voice. "I gave it to Hans so he could surprise you!"
Elsa smiled sheepishly, "Point taken."
"When Anna gave that piece of paper to him, he looked a kid on Christmas and he was literally jumping, and saying—This is it!" Kristoff chuckled at the memory. "You'd think he discovered the map to Atlantis with all the excitement."
No.
"So, what did he do?" Elsa asked curiously, again, that sinking feeling in her gut came back.
"I'm not entirely sure about that," Kristoff scratched the back of his head, frowning in consternation.
"I think he said he'll make something," Anna added, the same look on her Kristoff's face was seen on hers.
Listen to me.
"Remember that art camp we went to years ago?" Anna asked Elsa, dramatically gesturing as she went on. "You know, the one where you did ice sculpting and I went with painting even though I was horrible?"
Elsa lips twitched into a smile, "Yes, I remember."
Another dramatic sigh escaped Anna's lips, "Turns out, Hans also went there, a year before us and he worked with metal, minerals, gems—you name it."
What if I tried to be sweet?
"He mentioned all those things a bit too quickly, but I think he's planning on making some sort of... jewelry?" Kristoff offered.
"Maybe a brooch?" Anna added, looking at Kristoff who nodded and said. "Yeah, something like that."
"Well, past is in the past," Anna shrugged, tugging at Kristoff's arm and pulling him away. "Well, Elsa, you're date's here, so we better go."
As in, sweet: I-poured-all-my-heart-and-effort-in-that kind of sweet?
"Sorry, I took a long time, Elsa," Rogan apologized, smiling shyly at Elsa. "There were a lot of people, here."
"It's fine," Elsa forced a smile on her face, trying not to frown, she took a sip.
"Would you like to dance?" Rogan asked shyly again, this guy was anything but confident, he sweet but so painfully shy and awkward at times. It's a good thing that he was kind of cute. Except... Elsa thought absentmindedly.
She cleared her throat, "Sure, Rogan, why not?" Elsa smiled, although she wanted to do anything but dance. Kristoff was right, she has been dancing all night, and her feet were killing her.
They were dancing, Rogan seemed to be enjoying, and Elsa was trying to endure. A few minutes later, the party song cut off and the music turned slow, the lights dimmed and next thing you know mostly everybody was having a romantic moment. Somebody cut in front of Rogan and pulled Elsa away from the dance floor. In the dim lights, she couldn't see clearly the face behind the mask, Why is he wearing a mask anyway?
"It's alright if you ask the bloke to let you sit down," whispered the voice in her ear, as the arms of the person it belonged to wrapped around her waist, making it look like they were slow dancing. He pulled back a bit.
"What?" she squinted in the dark, trying to look at his face.
"You shouldn't be wearing such killer heels," she saw him smirk at her. Hans. "Dear, Ice Queen."
"Hans?" she jerked but didn't pull away.
The smirk was still there, if anything it became even positively bigger, "Looks like Rogan's here. See you, you're highness."
He pulled away and bowed, then he walked away, disappearing into the crowd just as Rogan reached her. The night passed by in a blur, and Elsa didn't see Hans afterwards, you'd think after everything, Hans would do something less anticlimactic than what he did, but eh, guy has his reasons. Wear a mask, approach the girl, say something, smirk at her and leave. Nope. No last dance I'm afraid. Elsa took Hans's advice, and she just talked with Rogan for most of the night, he was a bit of a bore, but still bearable. It was already past midnight when the party had ended and everybody had gotten home.
He walked towards the building, and stopped directly in front of it, just below Elsa and Anna's dorm window. He removed his hands from his pocket and crouched down, picking up a piece of rock and flinging it in the air with enough force so it would hit the sister's window without breaking it. Hans repeated this for about two or three times before it opened.
"What are you—Hans?" Elsa glared at him.
He grinned at her, "Come down."
"No, are you—"
"Oh, Elsa!" Hans shouted, then he kept making random noises just to annoy her even more.
Elsa looked behind her and then half-shouted, "Will you shut up, you're going to wake Anna up?"
"Then come down here," Hans grinned cheekily at her again. "I'm not about to go Romeo and climb up there."
Elsa groaned, "Ugh, fine," and she closed the window.
When Hans saw Elsa he walked towards her, "Took you forever."
"It was five minutes."
"So, how was your night with Rogan?" he smirked.
Elsa stared at him with obvious disbelief, "Really? We're going to talk about that now?"
Hans blinked, then he sighed and shook his head, "No, I came with a delivery."
Hans stepped forward, closing the distance between them. He reached out and touched her face, he just stood there looking into her eyes without saying a word.
Then he stepped back, "Close your eyes."
"What?" Elsa frowned at him confusedly.
"Just do it, will you?" he sighed, sounding resigned as he moved to stand behind her. "Are your eyes closed?"
Elsa closed her eyes with a little shake of her head, "Yes."
"Alright," she felt Hans moving behind her, then she felt his arms reaching forward, like he was about to hug her, and she felt him leaning against her. "Now, open your eyes."
She did.
Elsa gasped.
There was a necklace dangling in front of her eyes, the pendant was a single snowflake—the one that she drew—intricately patterned and embedded with aquamarine that accentuated the details of the snowflake. It shined under the moonlight, and it was absolutely beautiful.
"I thought I'd put together a little something," Hans murmured behind her as he clasped it around her neck. "It took a little effort and a little bit of convincing, because my third brother didn't want to share the materials he had in the store he was managing, I did the best I could. I hope you at least pretend to like it."
Like it? Elsa loved it.
"Now would probably be the best time to say something," Hans cleared his throat. "Elsa?"
When Elsa turned around there were tears in her eyes, making Hans frown as he cupped her face in his hands, "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"
"No, stupid," a shaky laugh escaped her lips. "Thank you."
Hans smiled, "It's the least I can do to apologize for being such an asshole all the time."
"I'm sorry too," Elsa said quietly. "So this is you being I-poured-all-my-heart-and-effort sweet, huh?"
Elsa swore she saw Hans blush when his lips twitched into a lazy half-smile, "Yeah, I guess."
"That's nice," Elsa smiled up at him. "So, do you do this with all the girls?"
"Nah," he grinned, he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, but somewhere dangerously close to Elsa's lips. "Just you."
"I guess I'm special," Elsa answered with a teasing tone.
"Yeah, you kind of are," Hans smiled, then he pulled away. Bowing slightly and extending his hand he said, "So is the offer for that last dance still open, your majesty?"
Elsa lifted a shoulder, "Maybe," she grinned. "Convince me."
Hans's smile turned into a grin, he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close, "As you wish."
Sorry for the lack of update/s, the internet wasn't cooperating with me.
I actually (sort of) have a headcanon for Hans's 12 brothers.
Rogan is the name of one of the characters in Legend of the Void.
After that I'll be working on a multi-chapter fic., or not?
Hm.
God knows how lazy I can get. XD
Hannah - I have no idea if you'll be able to read this but: The story before this was a one-shot that I posted on tumblr sometime ago, and admittedly not my best. The ending is just supposed to hint about what might/could have happened in their "relationship". It's complete BS, I know, sorry. :)))
Guys, I'm really sorry about this, but I'll be taking a break for a couple of days, sadly. I've been drafting and redrafting Cinderella II so many times I still can't get it right, and I've been completely uninspired for the past couple of days, so I know some of the stories I've been posting are really crappy.
I need ideas. Desperately need ideas.
And as always, my thanks to everyone for taking the time to read this, I hope you all enjoyed!
Cheers!