A/N: Chapter 4 is here! A bit more plot, confusion, awkward, and character introductions ahead. Thanks again to my Beta Reader QueenXxIceXxCat, and thank you to everyone who has followed or favorite the story, me, or both! Chapter 3 resulted in this story breaking 50 followers! I never thought I'd have even close to that so thank you thank you thank you! You're all awesome! As usual, reviews, follows, and favorites are also greatly appreciated – each one means a lot to me!
Usual Disclaimer: I don't Own Disney/Pixar – just the plot.
Rudimentary Photography
An Elsanna Fanfiction
Chapter 4: Hangovers and Homosexuals
The first thing Anna realized is that she was being punched repeatedly in the head. Or at least, it felt like it. The next thing was that there was a light that was entirely too bright trying to tear its way through her eyelids. Cursing quietly, Anna rolled over to turn her back to the offending light source while pulling the blanket up over her head, curling into a fetal position and hugging her stuffed snowman.
Wait a minute, I don't have a stuffed snowman.
Throwing the covers off, Anna sat bolt upright, looking around frantically to discern her bearings. Of course, this action caused her head to spin violently shortly before she felt her head being pushed downward; her hair being pulled back just in time for her to bring the remainder of her excursion the previous night out for an encore.
"Easy there, Anna-Banana, take it easy" Anna heard the familiar voice of Rapunzel between the remaining dry heaves as she finished relieving herself of the toxic substance.
"Punzie... I will pay… for the rest of your college career… if you would just stop shouting" Anna groaned, wiping her mouth and nose with a few tissues that the brunette had handed her.
With effort, Rapunzel lowered her voice even more than she already had while tying off the garbage bag, "I was already whispering, honey… it's okay. Let's just get you back to your room, okay? We'll get you ready and grab some breakfast, okay?"
Anna merely nodded, struggling to stand. As she finally straightened up, she looked around – slowly this time, before realizing she was not in Rapunzel's room as she had assumed.
"Punz… where are we? What happened?" Anna whispered, her head still thrumming despite her best efforts to be quiet.
"We're in Elsa's room. She volunteered to keep watch over you… what's wrong?" Rapunzel explained, stopping short as she saw the look of utter dread spreading over Anna's face as Rapunzel mentioned their RA.
"It's nothing, Punz… she's our RA though… what will she think of me now?" Anna cried out, instantly regretting it as the pounding increased in her head increased.
"Anna… she's an RA. You realize she probably sees drunk kids all the time, right? Come on, what's really bothering you?" Rapunzel rubbed Anna's back as they began to make the short trek to the door.
Anna stopped, slowly raising her gaze to Rapunzel's, searching for acceptance and finding it within the caring eyes of her cousin, "Punz… I… I think… no, I know that I-"
Anna was interrupted as the door opened in front of Anna and Rapunzel, Elsa standing before them in a pair of Capri jeans, a white tank top and another black zipper hoodie with the logo on the left breast, unzipped as before. Elsa's hair was up in her towel, drying off, and a few droplets of water falling to be absorbed by the cloth on Elsa's shoulders.
"Oh" Elsa's eyes went wide and she was grateful that the blood rushing to her face could be explained by the hot shower she'd just left rather than the reminder of a few hours prior as she saw the two girls in front of her, "It's… good to see you awake and okay, Anna. Rapunzel, thanks again for keeping an eye on her so I could hit the shower"
"No problem, Elsa. My fault she ended up like this anyway" Rapunzel admitted quietly.
"It happens. Just be careful from now on, okay?" Elsa said, purposely avoiding looking Anna in the eyes by looking above them only to find a mass of tangled red locks.
Even her bed head looks adorable.
"No problem" the two girls chorused before stepping past Elsa into the hallway.
As the girls passed, Elsa's eyes were unconsciously but definitively drawn to Anna's lips, leaving the girl helpless but to become lost in her thoughts as the girls shuffled passed. Elsa closed her door behind the two girls, coming to a stop next to her bed before raising a hand to rest on her lips.
Soft she thought, her lips were soft; her kiss tender, like she cared about me and no one else in the world. It's nothing like when Hans kisses me – when he kisses me it's like he wants to own me – take control of me. With Anna, it's like she wants to share her whole being with me and… what the hell am I thinking?!
Staring at the unmade bed, Elsa began to shake as tears began to slide down her cheeks. Suddenly, Elsa began ripping the sheets from her bed, throwing them across the room in a haphazard pile, her hands shaking, tears flowing freely as she collapsed to the floor, hugging herself tightly; trying to hold herself together as if clutching at her sides could somehow contain the identity she had come to build for herself as it came crashing down around her; all due to less than 24 hours in moderate proximity to a bubbly redhead with a penchant for awkwardness.
An hour later, Anna had downed several bottles of water, taken four aspirin, and taken a long shower that she was now exiting. On the way out she caught sight of a blonde who looked vaguely familiar walking next to Hans who for some reason had a look of panic on his face as the two moved down the hall, Anna ducked her head and kept walking past.
"…believe it broke" the blonde whispered, worry plastered both in her tone of voice as well as on her face.
"Well it happened, so what do we do now?!" Hans responded in his own hushed voice as the two turned into a room.
Wait a minute, that's Ariel's room… does that mean that Naleen and Hans… oh man, I have to tell Elsa! Anna thought as concern plastered her features, her legs carrying her swiftly toward the middle of the hall where Elsa's door was.
"Hey Anna! Where are you off to?" Rapunzel called as Anna crossed the opened door to her own room.
"Shh!" Anna exclaimed, placing one finger to her lips and glaring at her cousin before ducking into the room.
"Punzie! Belle!" Anna added seeing Belle seated on her bed reading another book, "I just walked by Hans and a blonde girl that I think is Naleen. I think… I think they hooked up last night!"
Anna froze, looking to Rapunzel and Belle for their reactions; Belle glanced up from her book, shrugged, and went back to reading while Rapunzel cocked an eyebrow at Anna and asked, "So?"
"So!?" Anna waved her arms in exasperation, "So that means Hans is cheating on Elsa!" Anna walked over to Rapunzel who was seated at Anna's desk and grasped her cousin's shoulders, shaking them slightly, "We have to tell her!"
"You're not sure they did anything, right? What if you're wrong and you ruin their relationship?" Rapunzel questioned, slowly removing her cousin's hands from her shoulders.
"Well, no, I'm not sure but… ugh, fine!" Anna sighed, plopping onto the floor and pushing out her bottom lip to pout.
"Oh! I almost forgot. Or, well, I guess I did forget since I don't remember, but yeah, anyway, what uh… happened last night?" Anna glanced at the two with a sheepish look, shoulders hunching up to her ears.
"Surprisingly not much, we went to Hans' party, you got hammered, we brought you back, Elsa said she'd watch over you and the rest of us went back out. Oh, and apparently you're like, the Flip Cup Queen or something, some of the guys said they were going to hold a party in your honor" Rapunzel tried to keep a straight face but only lasted a few seconds when she saw Anna's face go from embarrassed to completely and utterly mortified, "Oh Anna, I'm just kidding, but really though you are apparently pretty good at it"
"I… don't remember any of that. What the hell did I drink? I don't even remember asking for anything alcoholic!" Anna tried to think back to the previous night, only succeeding in giving herself a headache as her hangover persisted.
"We're not really sure, but obviously a lot. Let's go grab some breakfast – might help cure your headache" Rapunzel grinned, looking to Belle, "Coming, Belle?"
"Sure thing," Belle placed a bookmark in her book and set it aside before hopping off her bed, "let's go!"
As the trio exited the room, Belle looked down the hall away from the entrance, "Should we invite Mulan and Ariel?"
"Sounds good, you grab Mulan and I'll grab Ariel – we really need to exchange numbers with everyone" Rapunzel mused as she skipped down to the next door and knocked while Belle knocked on the door across from where Rapunzel stood.
A blonde opened the door upon Belle's second knock, "Oh, hi… is Mulan in?" Belle asked, looking past the blonde for any sign of the Asian girl.
"No, she headed out of here with some guy this morning" the blonde replied.
"Oh, must be Shang. Nice to meet you by the way, my name's Belle – I live kiddy corner to you" Belle offered the blonde her hand while using her left to point diagonally across the hall to her own door.
"Aurora," the girl responded, not taking the hand offered to her, "can I go back to bed now? I have a hangover and I need my beauty sleep"
Belle lowered her hand and nodded before turning to rejoin Anna at their room.
Meanwhile, Rapunzel had raised her hand to knock when a very red Ariel tugged open the door and rushed out, colliding with the brunette before catching herself on the nearby wall.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sor- Oh, hey Rapunzel, good morning!" Ariel blurted out, calming down slightly when she realized who it was she had collided with.
"Hey, Ariel, are you okay? We were just headed out to breakfast, care to join us?"
"Yes. Please. Anything to get out of there" Ariel stressed, pointing to the closed door behind her.
Cocking an eyebrow, Rapunzel asked, "Why what's going on?"
"Well, Naleen and Hans… they're um… well, you see…" Ariel stumbled over her words, becoming so red that her face was actually taking on hints of purple.
"Rapunzel giggled, putting a calming hand on the redhead's shoulder, "Ariel, are they having sex?"
Ariel nodded, her eyes suddenly very interested in the floor in front of her, "I heard Hans say something about something didn't matter now anyway and they just… started. With me right there!"
"Come on, your face is redder than a lobster, come with me, we'll grab my wallet and join up with the others, okay?" Rapunzel grabbed the girl's hand and dragged her down the hall to the next room to grab her things.
As the two girls emerged from Rapunzel's room, the door opposite them opened. Ariel, who had been checking her phone looked up upon hearing the door click open and dropped her phone, her mouth hanging open forming an 'O', opening and closing just a little as her gaze fell upon a short girl with wild red hair.
The girl, Ariel saw, was clad in a pair of red Converse, a pair of loose-fitting jeans, a t-shirt with the season one cast of "Lip Service" on it, and a rainbow snap bracelet. Wow. She thought.
"Problem, Guppy?" the redhead spoke with a moderate Scottish accent.
Her former blush returning, Ariel quickly shut her mouth and shook her head violently, "No, no problem at all! I just… you took me by surprise is all. Sorry"
"I'll forgive you this time since you're cute," the other redhead responded, "see ya around Guppy" the girl waved as she sauntered down the hall.
Ariel stared down the hall after the girl before it hit her, "Wait! What's your name?" she called.
The redhead turned before shouting back, "Name's Merida, Guppy" winking, the girl turned back around and turned the corner leaving Ariel to stare at empty space.
Once the doors to the building were heard closing, Rapunzel collapsed to the ground in fits of giggles, "Oh man, you've got it bad, 'Guppy'." She managed in between giggles.
"Wha… what does she got?" Anna asked as she and Belle sidled up to the two girls.
"Our resident home-schooler here has a crush on that redhead who just left" Rapunzel said, recovering from her giggle-fit.
"Oh. Oh!" Anna said, looking at Ariel as if it was her first time really seeing her, "I see"
"Is… is that… a problem? If it is… I mean, I can… go…" Ariel was again studying the intricate weave of the carpet the girls were standing on.
"No problem at all, Ariel" Belle said, wrapping her arm around the girl, "Be who you are. No one has the right to tell you not to be" Belle gave the redhead an encouraging smile and Ariel seemed to perk up a bit, looking to the other two.
"Hey, no complaints here, Guppy, especially since you seem to be quite smitten with someone else anyway" Rapunzel started giggling again.
Anna on the other hand, simply smiled and nodded her head once. Wow… I guess I know how these two feel about being gay. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Yeah… after breakfast. I'll tell them after breakfast. With her decision made, Anna led the way out of the dorms toward the dining hall.
After splitting up to acquire their food, the girls met back up at the ramp leading down to the seating area. Looking around, Anna spotted Mulan, waving to the group and beckoning them over, so Anna and the other girls joined Mulan who was seated next to Shang and a few other guys that Anna vaguely recognized from the hall meeting.
As the girls approached, two of the boys seated with Mulan rose and Anna realized that they must be twins with how closely they resembled each other. The two boys gathered another two tables and pulled them close to their collective that was already in place, bringing the chairs up just as the girls arrived, throwing the two appreciative looks and nods before sitting down.
"Hey girls, you remember Shang, right?" Mulan asked as Shang smiled and nodded his head to the group.
"These two," Mulan said pointing at the twins, "are Eugene and Flynn" The two boys gave a sort of half-wave half-salute and flashing brilliantly white smiles before ducking their heads together and whispering something amongst themselves.
"Last but not least, this is Adam" Mulan motioned to the blonde boy seated on her other side.
"A pleasure" Adam smiled before returning to his meal.
"Adam, Flynn, Eugene, this is Ariel, Belle, Rapunzel, and Anna" Mulan pointed to each girl as she mentioned their names.
A chorus of hellos followed and the group settled back into their meals. The group made small talk with each other, getting to know each other little by little. Anna, having finished her breakfast was actually feeling considerably better – headache almost gone and her stomach had settled as well.
As the rest of the group was finishing up, Eugene stood before turning to Rapunzel, "Hey, would you like to come with me to the marching band party tonight? It's the first real party of the year and it's always awesome, and invite only" the brunette finished his offer waggling his eyebrows at Rapunzel who stifled a giggle with her hand.
Pausing for effect, Rapunzel agreed and grinned at her new date.
Flynn meanwhile threw his brother an incredulous look before rising himself. Not to be outdone, he, with a flourish, turned to Anna, extending his hand and bowing to her saying in a near whisper, "My lady, it would please me greatly if you would accompany me to the party of the marching band tonight as my date"
Shit. Shit shit shit. This is not the time to panic, Anna. Just politely refuse. Make something up, just tell him you're busy. Oh yeah, a freshman busy on her second night of college. Likely. Just, tell him you're not feeling well. Or, you could woman up and tell him you're gayer than Richard Simmons; but there's so many people around…
Still looking down, Flynn counted the seconds go by. At fifteen, he looked to his brother who had moved to sit next to Rapunzel, and was currently trying not to facepalm himself, and said, "Eugene, I didn't want to have to do this…"
Oh no, I've taken too long, he's going to think I'm weird or that I'm going to turn him down or something. Wait, I am going to turn him down, right? Shit!
"But she's leaving me no choice…" Flynn paused for effect.
This is no time to panic, Anna. What are you talking about!? This is the perfect time to panic! I'm gay, he's ridiculous, we're in public, and he's asking me out on a date. What if I-
"Here comes the smolder" and with that, Flynn raised his head slightly and looked at Anna with a look she could only describe as half-puppy-dog and half-really-needing-to-go-to-the-bathroom; the combined effect making her want to both pat him on the head and collapse into a giggle fit. Instead, she just stared at him, the entire group silently watching on in various states of amusement.
After about thirty seconds of awkwardness, Flynn straightened up and cleared his throat, "This is kind of an off day for me…"
"Absolutely" Anna blurted out so quickly that half of the group wasn't even sure she had said anything intelligible.
"Sorry, what?" Flynn asked, cocking his head to the side.
"I'd love to go to the party" just not with you Anna's thoughts finished her statement for her.
"Great! I'll pick you up at 7, then" Flynn smiled in triumph as he picked up his tray to walk away, "Oh, it's a costume party by the way so make sure you dress up"
With Flynn gone, the rest of the group turned their attention to the remaining unpaired individuals at the table, Shang clearing his throat and nudging Adam after several moments of silence. Adam looked up from a book he was reading, seeming surprised that all eyes were between him and Belle. The blonde blushed as Belle looked to him with a small smile.
"Oh… I'm actually not uh.. in the band, so… I can't invite you. I'm sorry… Adam's blush deepened as he stuck his head back into the book.
"That's alright," Belle said, standing and retrieving her tray, "nice book" she finished as she walked away.
The rest of the group stood to start clearing their trays, Anna following suit, but trailing behind the others. You sure came out after breakfast, Anna. Good for you holding onto your resolve. Anna rolled her eyes at herself as she puttered along behind the group heading back to the dorms. A costume party too.
Anna, you're an idiot.
A/N: Thus ends Chapter 4. What did you think? I was watching Tangled with my son the other day and thought it'd be interesting for Eugene and Flynn to be two different people, so I made them twins. Don't think I've ever seen it done in any fic I've read. Like the idea? Hate it? Let me know in a review or PM! As usual, thank you for your time and I hope to update soon! Also, I have a tumblr now for updates regarding any works I have going on. If you'd like to check it out, - elsatheicebiotic