A/N: After way too long a wait, I present to you Chapter 5! Anyone following my Tumblr (so, as of right now, all two of you), know that I've been very sick for almost the entire month of January which I hope is a good enough excuse for not updating. If not, sorry! My absent Gallbladder apologizes for the delay in writing. I am now home and resting (although I'm also on Hydrcodon so writing may or may not be possible while on a narcotic?) As usual, thank you so much to my Beta – QueenXxIceXxCat for being so understanding with my health issues, and thank you to all of my faithful readers, and any new ones I acquire along the way. Reviews, follows, favorites, PMs, etc. are all welcome and appreciated!

Also, and this is important, as far as I can figure, a group is currently trying to eliminate the Elsanna fanfiction community – they are mass reporting Elsanna fanfics to get them removed from FFnet. If I were you I'd take all my favorite fics and back them up in case they get hit. I heard recently A Date With The Drum Major was taken out which sucks because that was one of my favorites.

Usual Disclaimer: I don't Own Disney/Pixar, Call of Duty, Meghan Trainor, or anything else – just the plot.

Rudimentary Photography

An Elsanna Fanfiction

Chapter 5: Fire and Ice

Anna owed Rapunzel. Anna owed Rapunzel big time. The trip back to the dorms had been agonizingly slow for Anna with Flynn edging closer and closer to Anna. Just as she felt his arm wrap around her waist, Rapunzel cut in,

"Flynn, I think Anna may have misunderstood your meaning of 'date' – she has a boyfriend, right Anna?"

Anna turned to her cousin, throwing her an appreciative glance before turning toward Flynn, "That's right, I do. His name's Olaf. I'm sorry; I didn't know you meant date like, date"

Flynn's hand immediately dropped to his side, his shoulders drooping just a bit, "Oh…" he said, dejected.

The silence permeated the air until a snort broke through the air, "Way to pick the taken girl," Eugene managed, barely containing his laughter, "score another for Mister Fitz-ryder-bert" and with that, Eugene burst into laughter, unable to contain himself anymore as the girls looked on in confusion while Flynn glared at his brother while trying to retain some semblance of dignity as he huffed off in the direction of a group of girls.

"Why hello there ladies, would one of you like to accompany me to the party this evening?" Flynn could be seen attempting his patented "smolder" on one unlucky girl before the group burst into giggles, walking away.

"I don't know whether to be relieved that I don't have to go now or hurt that he ditched me that quickly" Anna mused half serious, giggling with the others at Flynn's antics.

Meanwhile, Eugene simply hung his head, "You think you've got it bad, remember, we're twins – whatever he does, people will think I did it"

"Touché, so what's up with the Ryder thing, I thought your last name was Fitzherbert?" Mulan asked the question all the girls were wondering.

"Well, you see, when we were younger, Flynn there decided that our last name wasn't suave enough. I assume by now you've realized just how 'suave' he thinks he is," Eugene said with a chuckle and utilizing air quotes, "so he came up with the last name 'Ryder' in an effort to impress the ladies. As you can see, it's really working for him"

The group turned just in time to watch Flynn place his arm around a girl's waist just before being pushed away head first into a nearby fountain, a chorus of 'ooh's and grimacing faces from the group, and one agonizing cry of "you broke my smolder" could be heard coming from the tangle of soaked limbs emerging from the water. The group erupted into laughter at the sight and continued on toward Leslie Hall, all of them, including Anna, feeling pretty good.

Upon arrival, the group went their separate ways, most to finish unpacking from moving in the day before. As Anna had done that the day before, she decided to grab her camera and take some photos around campus before the meeting that afternoon. Anna let Belle know what she would be doing before taking off – camera in hand. Exiting the building, Anna looked around at the other halls in the area – six halls in total, all similar to Leslie Hall, in the area made for quite a few students wandering around the immediate area – most in small groups.

The plaza Anna was standing in was actually quite expansive and contained three fountains scattered around with clusters of trees, their leaves just beginning to turn with the onset of fall. Anna started with the fountains, moving around to catch proper lighting before moving on to the trees, allowing her shots to contain some unsuspecting college kids as her hands worked. After acquiring several photos of the area, Anna decided to explore – moving toward the bridge that separated the dorms and dining hall from the academic buildings.

Halfway across the bridge, Anna stopped to gaze out over the creek that ran below – the clear water breaking on the rocks below as it ran steadily down the gradual slope and toward the lake a few miles away. Snapping a few photos, Anna seated herself on a nearby bench to take more photos of the passing students. One thing Anna hated about taking photographs was that time always seemed to fly by and today was no exception – the Sun had moved significantly in the sky and about the time Anna realized it was closing in on noon. Anna decided to snap a few more photos before heading back when she heard cheering coming from the direction of the dorms.

Looking up she saw a larger group of students headed her way moving in unison as they vocalized instruments while they walked. Raising her camera to her face, she recognized Shang in front who appeared to be doing a sort of dance. Anna quickly realized that he was using his body as an instrument as he moved – he was leading the others in a rhythmic pattern that lay down a beat for the rhythms and melodies they were vocalizing. Snapping several photos, Anna continued to look at the group. Stifling a giggle, Anna noticed Eugene and Flynn both trying to keep pace with Shang but occasionally messing up before falling back in line. She tried to take photos of the two when they were in rhythm before moving on.

Finally, her camera lens settled on a pale girl with platinum hair tied up in a bun. Elsa was in perfect synch with Shang and voicing what Anna assumed was a snare drum part with perfect annunciation. Anna snapped several photos before her hands stopped and she allowed herself to simply gaze at the blonde. Too late Anna realized that the group had actually become quite close in proximity to her and quickly cut the camera away, eyes cast downward until the group had passed; a second larger group of cheering students following behind toward the performance center. Anna decided to fall in and make her way to the center as well.

The trip to the performance center was a short one as it was just over the bridge, but Anna found herself grooving to the rhythm of the a capella percussionists like most of the other kids as they finished the walk. As the mass arrived at the performance center, the percussionists broke off to stand outside the entrance, continuing their rhythmic singing. Realizing she was getting closer to the group, Anna ducked her head and attempted to enter unnoticed, looking up only after she had entered the building.

Looking around, Anna found the center to be simplistic in design – three walkways – left, right, and center – with two large masses of seats between the walkways. High ceilings allowed for good acoustics to come from the stage in the front of the building, which currently contained several percussion instruments ranging from snare drums to marimbas to cymbals. Anna quickly slid into an empty row, finding a seat close to the middle of the aisle so as to avoid being too close to the walkways, finally letting out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding since arriving outside of the building before looking around for any familiar faces and finding none nearby.

A short while later, the lights in the auditorium dimmed, the audience quieting down to a low thrum of whispers and movement. Slowly, Anna's ears picked up a simple 4/4 beat – low thumps of feet hitting the ground on the downbeat of one, and the upbeats of three and four for three measures, the fourth measure being the same except an added beat on the downbeat of four; the beats getting louder as the owners of the stomping feet grew closer.

As the doors to the auditorium opened on the downbeat of the 4 measure phrase, clapping was added on the downbeat and upbeat of two and the downbeat of four. Anna, like the rest of the auditorium turned to face the entrances as percussionists (as identified by their black hoodies) entered the room stomping and clapping their four measure phrases.

Upon completion of the first phrase since entering the room, voices rose to fill the room, "If your lips are movin', if your lips are movin, if your lips are movin', then you're lyin' lyin' lyin' baby".

The phrase repeated as the group slowly stomped their way toward the stage down all three walkways. Anna watched impressed as the group moved down the walkways, all of them grooving and dancing around but still managing to meet each beat with their feet. As much as Anna would like to deny, her eyes eventually searched out a platinum blonde who was leading the group down the left side of the auditorium. As Anna watched Elsa dance and jive her way down the side of the auditorium, a brief thought crossed her mind that it was an offense that Elsa wasn't leading the procession in the middle as, to Anna, no one else could meet the perfection that was Elsa's grace and poise. It was then that Anna glanced to the middle to see Shang leading the group headed down the middle.

Is Shang the section leader? Anna wondered as her gaze turned back to Elsa, who was now closing in on the stage as the group started the seventh repetition of the phrase.

As the group climbed onto the stage, the stomps began to echo louder as the stomps were now on wood rather than carpet. Soon, the entire group was standing behind instruments; Anna noticed that Elsa had taken her place next to Shang and behind a snare drum.

Of course she's a snare – what else would Elsa be? Anna thought, despite knowing all the instruments were important.

The group finished the twelfth repetition of the phrase as those that needed to maneuvered into harnesses and others picked up mallets and sticks. Suddenly, the four measure phrase took a new sound as the stomps were replaced by bass drum hits, the claps being replaced by staccato cymbal clashes and rim shots from the snares and quads. Instead of singing, the group was suddenly voiceless as the lyrics were replaced by the mallet section. However, this time after completing the phrase, the group changed most notably by the snares beginning a complicated series of strikes and rim shots as the pit moved onward with the melody of the song. Anna realized that many around the auditorium were singing the song along with the performers.

As the song progressed, Anna heard one of her neighbors singing along, "You can buy me diamond earrings and deny-ny-ny, ny-ny-ny, deny-ny. But I smell her on your collar so goodbye-bye-bye, bye-bye-bye".

Man, the irony of this song… all we need now is for Hans to get on stage and have Elsa sing this to him Anna rolled her eyes at herself when she realized she had been subconsciously looking for the sideburn-clad Hans in the dark auditorium.

Anna refocused her gaze on the stage as she saw the outer snares raise their sticks higher for a beat followed by their neighbor all the way to Shang who threw both of his sticks into the air, proceeded to clap on the downbeat and upbeat of two, caught the sticks on the downbeat of four, and dropped right back into rhythm on the next downbeat.

Anna's eyes grew into slits, okay, you win this time handsome Asian man. Anna giggled to herself as she sat back and enjoyed the performance, cheering with the rest of the auditorium as the cymbal players placed their cymbals into the holders, resumed clapping as they clambered down into the walkways to incite the audience to participate with their own clapping. Anna happily obliged and soon found herself on her feet with the rest of the auditorium clapping and dancing around in place.

Holy crap that was contagious. Anna mused as she continued to dance around.

Anna's thoughts were interrupted as a voice came over the loudspeaker, "Welcome to Arendelle University, home of the twelve time defending champions of Battle of the Bands!" A huge cheer erupted from the audience as the percussion group started another phrase of "If your lips are movin'". Anna took this opportunity to snap a few photos of the group on stage. A short while later the group stopped after a last repeat of the "If your lips are movin'" phrase, at which point the auditorium, Anna included, erupted into applause and cheers.

The remainder of the afternoon consisted of welcome speeches, a few performances by other members of the marching band, and ended with another performance by the drumline – this one a simple cadence while the auditorium emptied. Anna found herself glued to her seat, bobbing her head to the beat of the drumline as they repeated their cadence series.

Eventually the drumline ceased and Anna leapt to her feet in applause before realizing that she was one of the few people left in the auditorium, and the only one clapping. Dropping back into her seat and trying to appear as small as humanly possible while her face flooded with red, Anna noticed that Elsa glanced her way on a couple occasions while packing up her snare, but quickly glanced away each time she realized that Anna was looking in her direction.

After what seemed like an eternity, the drumline exited the stage carrying their instruments walking down the center walkway and out of the auditorium, a few of them throwing Anna amused looks as she slouched further into her seat. Anna noticed, however, that Elsa did not look her way as she passed for which Anna was half grateful and half disappointed.

Finding herself alone in the auditorium at last, Anna laid her head back, closed her eyes, and took in a few deep breaths; she hadn't even completed a weekend at college and her life was already a mess.

Let's see, broke the klutz issue in less than thirty seconds, ran further back in the closet than Kristen Stewart, and started crushing on a straight girl with an asshole for a boyfriend in less than a weekend. Now all I need to do is hit a professor or something and my bucket list will be complete.

Anna rolled her eyes behind her eyelids. Finally ready to leave the center, she let out a high-pitched shriek as she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. Rocketing out of her seat, she noticed a man dressed in janitorial clothing was standing nearby holding a broom. The man, hearing Anna's shriek, stepped back, hands raised.

"Sorry miss, didn't mean to startle you – most kids don't fall asleep during the drumline performances" the man said, offering a smile to Anna who was still trying to reacquire her heart from it jumping out of her chest.

"Oh that's alright, you didn't startle me at all!" Anna tried to say convincingly, and failing miserably, "I was just getting ready to leave mister…" Anna looked at the man's nametag, "Agdar. I'll be out of your way in just a moment! The performances were awesome, I was just thinking to myself." Anna finished, throwing the man a smile and gathering her camera.

"Ah. They sure are something. Which was your favorite?" Agdar asked as he begun sweeping.

"Oh, the drumline, hands down, they were perfect!" Anna blurted out, a grin plastering itself on her face.

"I'm glad you liked them. I'm partial to the drumline as well. Any particular reason you like the drumline? Or is it just the rhythms?" Agdar smiled again, curious about the spunky excitable redhead.

At this, Anna paused. Ah what the hell, he's just a janitor. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not like he'll go blabbing to the student body. Baby steps, Anna. First tell the janitor, then your friends, then the school. Here we go!

"Well sir, I kind of like one of the girls on the line, so I guess you could say I'm a little biased" Anna smiled sheepishly, red rushing to her face as she came out to the man she just met.

"Ah, I guess that would give you a bit of a bias then, wouldn't it?" Agdar chuckled as he continued to sweep.

Confidence building, Anna continued the conversation, "Yeah… Elsa is just so beautiful and she's really dedicated to her job as an RA and the drumline! She's as good as Shang!" Anna gushed, bragging about the girl who she couldn't have; her excitement causing her to miss the slight hesitation in Agdar's sweeping, and the tensing of his shoulders.

"The blonde eh? I hate to tell you this, but I believe she has a boyfriend. He's quite the catch from what I understand" Agdar said, humor replaced with tension in his voice.

"I know! That's the part that sucks – crushing on a straight girl. Oh well, doesn't mean we can't be friends. As for Hans, he's actually kind of an ass – he's cheating on Elsa. I'm trying to find an appropriate way of telling her. Anyway, I've got to go – I'm supposed to meet my friends for dinner. Bye Mister Agdar!" Anna gave him a wave as she hurried out of the performance center; unaware of Agdar's clenched fists and shaking legs.

Anna hurried back to her room to find Belle, Mulan, Rapunzel, Ariel, Shang, Adam, Eugene, and even Flynn all hanging out. Belle, Ariel, and Adam were perusing Belle's book collection, Mulan and Shang were talking near the wardrobes, and Eugene and Rapunzel were sitting up on Anna's bed laughing about something. Finally, Anna's eyes rested on the lone figure sitting in her computer chair, before bursting out laughing. Flynn was seated with one hand holding an ice pack to the left side of his face while the other had an ice pack held securely against his crotch. Flynn's expression was one of pain and embarrassment, but mostly embarrassment.

Tears of laughter started streaming down Anna's face as she gave Flynn a soft punch to the shoulder, "How's the smolder? Hangin' in there, Fly-ack!" Anna's tease was cut short as her foot caught on the chair leg and she was sent sprawling forward, head-butting a surprised Shang in the ribs as he turned to greet the redhead. Finally, after impact, Anna fell to the floor with an audible thud followed by absolute silence in the room.

After a moment, a muffled snigger could be heard from above while Rapunzel clamped a hand over her mouth; but it was enough to set the entire room off into uproarious laughter as Anna scrambled to her feet, blushing furiously while plopping herself down in Belle's chair and pouting her bottom lip out.

"Shut up" she mumbled, trying to put on a convincing angry face for a moment before failing and joining in on the laughter.

Rapunzel hopped down off the bed and clapped her cousin on the back, "Alright, let's go grab some dinner guys" and with that, the group shuffled out of the room, down the hall, and back outside to head for the dining hall.

The trip to the dining hall was mostly uneventful – especially for Anna, Adam, and Belle as they were not attending the party which was, of course, the hot topic of conversation. Anna, after quickly browsing the meal selections settled with a sandwich, soup, and a big bowl of ice cream – chocolate of course. After everyone had finished eating, the group returned to the dorms and everyone split off to prepare for the party, promising to meet in the foyer at seven.

As the group headed apart from each other, they heard a voice echo down the hall, "Hey Guppy! Wait up!" the inhabitants of the hallway turned to find the redhead in rainbows dashing down the hallway.

Ariel pointed to herself, eyebrows raised, shoulders hunched as Merida came closer, "Of course you, Guppy, who else? Say, are you going to the party tonight?" Ariel just shook her head as her face joined her hair in shining red – Merida had gotten quite close and Ariel could feel the girl's cool breath on her skin as she spoke.

As Ariel's head continued to shake, Merida looked up and down the hallway, "Do you all mind? I'm trying to ask this girl out!"

The group all joined Ariel in shaking their heads no, Flynn and Eugene high fived each other as they all scampered off to their respective rooms.

The hallway now clear, Merida turned back to Ariel, "So um, how about it? Would you… like to go to the party with me… as my date?" Merida finished, eyes to the ground as she kicked one foot at an imaginary spot on the carpeted hallway floor.

Ariel, for her part, was shocked as the girl, who she'd first thought to be loud and raucous, turned into a shy nervous girl in an instant. Before she realized it, she and Merida had been standing there for an extended period of time.

Merida, losing her nerve, started to back away, "That is, if you're not intere-"

"I'd like that" Ariel cut Merida off as she accepted the invitation, clasping her right hand on Merida's shoulder, her left cupping Merida's chin and raising the girl's head so she could look at her, "really, I would like to go with you… as your date"

"Oh… right then, I'll see you at… your friends said seven, right?" Merida's face broke out into a big smile as she sauntered down the hallway.

"Sure thing" Ariel watched the other girl as she walked down the hall before letting out a happy sigh, the hallway now empty save for Ariel, she began to walk toward her own room,

"You did it, Ariel," the girl said quietly to herself, "go you" Ariel sighed and smiled to herself as she opened the door to her room, slipping in and closing it before being assaulted with a barrage of questions by Mulan.

Anna glanced at the clock on her computer and saw it read 7:30pm. The others had long since gathered and left; and Belle had gone to Adam's room to hang out. Yawning, she rose, realizing how warm it had gotten in the room. Propping open the door she discovered the hall to be extremely quiet. Anna hadn't realized how popular the marching band was at Arendelle University, but apparently their parties were never to be missed. Anna started walking toward Adam's room, thinking about popping in and saying hey to the two bookworms while her thoughts drifted back to what she might be missing at the party. On that subject, Anna had mixed feelings – on one hand, she was missing a social event and she wanted to be social – especially since her friends were there. On the other hand, she didn't exactly miss getting hammered and waking up in Elsa's bed with a massive hangover.

I wouldn't mind waking up in her bed without the hangover though… snuggled up to her… would she be the big spoon? Would I? I mean, she's taller than me, so it'd be natural for her to be the big spoon, but what if she wanted to be held? I could be the big spoon. Anna had stopped walking by this point and was simply leaning against the wall.

She's my RA though, so she has authority. Doesn't authority go hand-in-hand with the responsibilities of being the big spoon? It'd be nice to feel secure in her arms; that's for sure. Or maybe we wouldn't spoon at all? Maybe we'd just face each other, hands clasped? Or… hands otherwise occupied? A blush was beginning to creep up on Anna's chest and face.

Even if not, I feel like I could stare into those big icy blue eyes forever… I can picture them just like she was here… oh crap.

"Elsa, hi!" Anna stammered, thrusting herself off of the wall.

Elsa brought her hand to her mouth to try and hide a giggle. She had had a solid 10 seconds of watching Anna stare off dreamily into space before Anna had noticed her presence, and Elsa thought it was adorable.

"Hello, Anna. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at the party?" Now that the initial amusement was over, Elsa suddenly realized she was very, very alone with Anna in front of her.

"Nah, no one from the band asked me. Well, Flynn asked, but when he found out I… have a boyfriend… he split" Anna tried not to look too relieved while mentally face palming herself for mentioning her faux boyfriend in front of her crush.

"Oh. I see…" Elsa said.

"What about you? You're in the band. What's your excuse for not being there?" Anna shot Elsa a grin thinking she had the blonde.

Elsa merely pointed at her attire – an Arendelle University Residence Life polo and jeans, "You don't think I dress like this for fun, do you? I'm on duty." Elsa looked back up to see Anna mentally face palming herself for the second time in the short conversation.

"Oh um, I guess I didn't notice," I was too busy noticing your beautiful eyes. Anna rolled her eyes at herself before refocusing on Elsa, "listen, Elsa… is there somewhere we can go to talk privately? I need to tell you something." Anna was most decidedly not looking forward to this conversation, but she felt she owed it to the blonde seeing how nice she'd been treating her thus far.

"Sure, is everything okay? Not having any resident issues, are you?" Elsa switched into RA mode as she led Anna the short trip down the hall to the RA's Office.

"No no, nothing like that. It's just… something I thought you should know" Anna began to wring her hands together as she entered the office, Elsa closing the door behind them. A quick glance around showed that the walls were covered by things like calendars, schedules, event flyers, and other things. As for furnishings, the office was equipped with a couch directly to the right upon entering, another across the room, and a desk in the far back right corner facing the door. Elsa took her place behind the desk, folded her hands neatly in front of her, and waited for whatever Anna was going to say.

Anna seated herself on the couch next to the door, hands in her lap as she stared at them intently to avoid Elsa's gaze. "Elsa, I have some bad news to tell you. I don't want you to get upset, but I feel you need to know," at this, Anna raised her gaze to Elsa to discover that Elsa was gazing intently at Anna. When Anna paused, Elsa gestured with a hand to urge Anna to continue, "You see, I was walking down the hall earlier and I overheard something, and then my friend Ariel saw something to… well… confirm… what I heard, and you should really know about it because it's important."

Anna exhaled and stared at Elsa awaiting her reaction. Approximately a minute later, with Elsa giving her a sad sort of smile, did she realize she never actually told Elsa anything? Mentally slapping herself, Anna closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, opened her eyes, and blurted out in a rush, "Elsa I'm so sorry but Hans is cheating on you. I heard him talking about it with Naleen and then Ariel saw them start to um… yeah, so I'm sorry and I hope you don't hate me for telling you." Finished, she found it very hard to continue to maintain eye contact with Elsa, so she averted her gaze downward and waited, unsure of what she should do next.

A short while later, the creaking of a chair snapped Anna out of her stupor. Her eyes once again rose to look at Elsa's face which still had the same sad smile on it, "…Elsa? Are you… are you okay?" "Stupid Anna, stupid! You just told her that her boyfriend is cheating on her. Why would she be okay? Stupid!"

"I'm fine, Anna, and you're not stupid. As for whether or not I'm okay… I guess I am because, well… I already knew. Thank you, though, for telling me." Elsa leaned back in her chair, half distracted by her thoughts and half amused by the myriad of emotions crossing the face of the redhead in front of her. Elsa watched as Anna went from relieved, to mortified, to relieved again, to empathetic, to sad, before settling on incredulous.

"What do you mean, 'you already knew'? You're telling me you know he's cheating on you and you are still dating him?!" Anna could not understand the reasoning behind such, in her mind, stupidity.

Elsa simply waited calmly while Anna's arms waved around in her exasperation at Elsa's predicament. "Yes. I am. I don't expect you to understand, but, there are certain… expectations placed upon me by my parents. Marrying a successful handsome young man is one of them. Hans, as much of a jackass as he is, fits that bill. His family is very wealthy, and my family… isn't," Elsa finished and no longer looked sad, or anything other than tired, "don't get me wrong, my parents don't want to use his family for their money, they just don't want to see me in the same situation they are in. Frankly, I couldn't care less, as long as I marry for love." Elsa threw Anna an amused look, "Figures, huh? My parents want the best for me and for me to be able to be well off, and I could live in a cardboard box if it meant I was happy. Life's funny that way, huh?"

"Well then why not date who you want and tell them you don't care about money?" Anna still didn't quite understand why Elsa was dating the jerk, much less thinking about marrying him.

"I can't disappoint my parents like that. I don't want to hurt them," Elsa paused for a moment before laughing, "and here I was going to listen to your problem and end up ranting all of mine to you. Some great listener I am." Elsa rolled her eyes at herself before she realized Anna had closed the distance between the two of them, now looking into her eyes with burning intent.

"Believe it or not, Elsa, I can completely understand wanting to marry for love. I also know… some things about upholding social expectations, and I definitely know about not wanting to disappoint your parents. I just… never gave much care to listening." It was true, there were many expectations held of Anna, but Anna never much cared about whether or not she was upholding them or not – she just kept being Anna.

"Well I'm glad you have that luxury, Anna. Truly, I am. As for Hans, I almost hope he'll break up with me – it'll save me the problem of addressing his cheating." Elsa sighed, chewing on her lip looking gloomy at her clasped hands.

She looks so sad… trapped even. If only I could… ah hah! "Elsa, have I told you about how I got into photography?"

Elsa cocked her head at the sudden change of topic, "No, I don't believe you have".

"Would you like me to?" Anna looked hopeful at Elsa, thinking a story might be just what Elsa needed to take her mind off of her current situation.

Elsa paused, a small smile replacing the frown on her face as she saw Anna's exuberance at the prospect of telling a story, she's so full of energy, life, and caring. Here she is, a freshman in college who barely knows who I am, and she's trying to help me and make me feel better. Too bad she's not a rich guy. I could totally see myself- stop it, Elsa. Don't go down that road. Elsa realized it'd been a few moments since Anna's question, so she hastily replied,"Sure".

Several hours later, Elsa found herself wiping tears from her eyes as she clutched her stomach in an effort to calm her laughter. Anna was doubled over, likewise wiping tears from her eyes, "So let me get this straight," Elsa said between bouts of laughter, "you were trying to impress a picture of Joan of Arc on the wall, so you were riding your bike down the staircase and fell into a suit of armor?!" Elsa lost it again, clutching her sides, new tears streaming down her cheeks.

"It sounds ridiculous when you say it like that!" Anna managed to get out, remembering herself going headfirst into the big pile of metal.

"I think it sounds ridiculous no matter what way you put it," Elsa glanced at the computer clock, "holy crap!" Elsa exclaimed, shooting to her feet, "It's eleven o'clock! I'm so late for doing a round… do you want to come with me?" Elsa inquired, extending a hand to Anna who was still seated on the ground from laughing.

"Um, sure, is that okay?" Anna wasn't sure of what was or was not allowed and she most certainly didn't want Elsa to get in any trouble at Anna's expense.

"Sure, but if there's any trouble you'll probably have to skedaddle" Elsa hoisted the redhead to her feet and the two girls exited the office. Elsa couldn't remember a time in the recent past that she had felt so happy and free, and Anna was simply happy to be close to Elsa without having to feel supremely awkward.

The round was simple enough as most rooms were unoccupied given that the party was still in progress. A few rooms had their doors propped and Elsa paused to greet the inhabitants and introduce Anna. The first time she stumbled and ended up introducing Anna as her "resident", but eventually settled into introducing her as her friend, a title with which Anna was very pleased, and Elsa felt happy with.

At the top floor, one of the rooms was engaged in a heated LAN battle over Call of Duty. Upon seeing Elsa the boys immediately invited her in and asked her to sub in. Elsa threw Anna a sheepish glance before being pulled into a chair and thrown a controller. Anna positioned herself against the door frame and watched amused as in twenty minutes Elsa reduced the other team to a bloody pulp over and over again, ending the game in overtime by singlehandedly eliminating four of the six enemy team members, planting the bomb, and defending it – killing the fifth member of the enemy team in the process until it detonated.

Upon the explosion of the bomb and the victory screen popping up, an eruption of applause and cheers, back-clapping and high-fives took place while Elsa stood quickly, bid the room a farewell and rushed out looking like she was trying to hide. Anna simply pivoted so she was in the hallway, still leaning on the wall with one eyebrow raised at Elsa.

"So, you're a gamer, huh?" Anna smirked at Elsa's obvious discomfort.

"Um… well… just a bit?" Elsa held up two fingers close together, squinting her eyes just a bit.

"Uh huh, sure," Anna said, beginning to follow Elsa toward the side staircase, "empirical evidence to the contrary, then?" Anna giggled as she could see a flush of red starting near Elsa's collar bones and moved up her neck to her cheeks.

"Hey! Don't make me 'accidentally'" Elsa air-quoted, "let the school know about the first introduction you made at this school! The 'No Parking' sign still talks about you to this day!" Elsa took a jab back at Anna, smiling so Anna would know she was kidding.

"You wouldn't dare!" Anna lunged for Elsa now that the two were on the bottom landing, tickling Elsa's sides.

"Aieeee!" Elsa shrieked as Anna paused, momentarily stunned as Elsa curled into a ball to defend herself, before resuming her attack on the obviously extremely ticklish Elsa.

"Ha-ha! Now I know your weakness! What were you going to share with the school?" Anna kept up the attack as Elsa tipped over, laughing hysterically and attempting to swat Anna's hands away from her.

In the scuffle, Elsa's hand went too high and ended up swatting Anna's face with a loud smack, resulting in an immediate pause in attack as Anna's hands were drawn to her face. Elsa's eyes shot wide as she realized what she'd done, immediately rocketing to her knees and leaning close to Anna,

"Anna, I am so sorry! Here, let me see…" Elsa removed Anna's hands from her face as she leaned in closer to inspect Anna's cheek.

Anna was suddenly hyper-aware of how close to Elsa's face she was, and it seemed, by the tensing, that Elsa had become aware as well. Against her better judgment, Anna turned so she was facing Elsa, their faces mere inches apart – close enough that Anna could feel Elsa's short, cold breaths on her face sending shivers down her spine to her core and radiating throughout the rest of her body.

Elsa's mind was electrified as thoughts flew through her brain at extreme speeds. Oh. My. God. How do I keep ending up in this situation?! She's… she's right here. This gorgeous redhead who makes me feel… alive? Is right here and so close I could just lean in and kiss her… No, stop it, Elsa. But those lips… they were so soft… Would it really be so bad to-?

"Elsa…" Anna breathed, looking for any sign to continue.

"Anna… I…" Elsa felt her barriers dissolving as she stared into the turquoise eyes before her as her own eyelids began to droop shut.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

Fuck! Anna's shoulders slumped, groaning as she watched Elsa jolt backwards.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.

What the hell!? Oh shit… fire alarm. Elsa rocketed backward, throwing Anna a look halfway between apologetic and frantically desperate before turning and darting down the hall toward the alarm panel near the entrance of the dorm all while having an internal argument with herself.

What the hell just happened, Elsa? Were you about to kiss Anna?

No way! Definitely not! Okay maybe… okay definitely, but I didn't! I stopped!

Yeah, because some jackass set off the fire alarm. Where would you be if he hadn't? Wrapped in her arms? Making out with her like you want to? Maybe trying to get another feel of her breasts? What would your parents say?!

Shut up shut up SHUT UP! I have to focus. Fire alarm. Procedures. Go Elsa, go.

You left Anna standing there.

Fuck.

A/N: And thus concludes Chapter 5. Let me know what you think! I hope the wait was worth it. Also, depending on how this story develops, I may include some RA situations from when I was an RA. Would that be interesting to you all or nah? Until next time!