~ Chapter Eight ~

"Well, that was a thing."

Elsa had her hands deep in her pockets as they made their way into the parking lot, moseying easily and smiling to herself. "I really liked that. Perhaps I'll watch a movie on my flight instead of reading my book."

"Oh, you have to at least watch the Avengers movies now," Anna gushed with a huge grin. "I mean, they actually brought in The Vision, which I know doesn't mean much to you, but like, I always thought he was kinda cool before, so like, seeing him on the big screen? I couldn't believe it!"

"You're a real nerd," Elsa laughed, and Anna clammed up. That prompted her to nudge her with her elbow yet again. "It isn't a bad thing, not in my opinion. Just stating the obvious."

"Well… that's good, because hopefully…" She fell silent, as if a recording being turned off.

"Hopefully?"

Unlocking her door, she shook her head and said, "Nevermind." She then reached across and unlocked Elsa's, since her car wasn't fancy enough to have automatic locks. Or doors. Or anything else fun.

The moment Elsa sat down, she slammed the door shut and buckled her seat belt. Then she turned, arms folded over her chest. "Hopefully?"

"What? Oh, y-you… don't wanna hear about that. Just dumb stuff."

"I do want to. Are you me? Do you know what I want to do?"

That made Anna's ears glow. Was she being scolded for not telling Elsa about her silly hopes and dreams? Apparently, that was exactly what was happening. Clearing her throat, her eyes flicked to the Jansport in her back seat, then to the steering wheel.

"N-nothing," she whispered again, grinning. "Just… I'm okay with being a nerd, that's all."

Anna started the engine, but while she was distracted, Elsa twisted around and grabbed the backpack, dragging it into her lap. Anna had just barely registered what was happening before the blonde's manicured fingers were clutching the zipper.

"WAIT!" she squealed. "Y-you won't care, seriously, I'm- this isn't a big deal, I promise!"

"Unless I'm about to find drugs or porn, I don't think it's going to matter much," Elsa told her reasonably. When Anna only sighed, just as uncomfortable as she had been, she frowned at her, then let her hands fall atop the bag. "Alright, I'm sorry. You're entitled to your privacy, and I'm prying."

"Thank you. But… I guess it doesn't matter if you really wanna look."

Of course, Elsa immediately yanked the bag open, which made Anna laugh despite her uncertainty. Then as she pulled out the sketchpads, began flipping through them, her darkly-bemused expression was slowly replaced by one of curiosity.

"These are good," she said, rotating the pad for a few of them. "If they're all yours, then you're quite talented. Especially these comic pages - all the detail!" She flipped another page, and her eyebrows went up. "Hmm, I didn't know they did nude drawing in high school."

Anna dipped her head. "They don't; I was looking off a picture online. Thank God for Incognito windows!"

"Well it's… also very good," she conceded, flipping the page as she cleared her throat. However, instead of making her blush less, the redness only worsened. "O-oh."

This was the smallest Anna's voice had been since they first met. "Y-yeah… it's terrible. Tried to tell you, it's nothing to-"

"Shut up. This is beautiful, I'm just… wow." Her fingertips traced very lightly over the paper, trying not to smudge the pencil marks. "I've seen stuff like this online, but not… in person, no fan's ever… shown me one like this."

"And I'm not showing you now; I f-forgot that was in there until you were two pages away from it, or I'd have thrown the backpack out the window." She saw Elsa taking out her phone, and assumed she was going to call the police to get her away from the crazy fan, or an Uber, at least. But then she heard the shutter noise of the camera.

"What- Elsa… what are you doing?"

"I like it," she said, smile a little shy but overall very pleased. "It's not just a drawing of me, it's… ART. Real, breathing, incredible art, and I may never see anything like it again."

Now she wasn't the only one in the car blushing. Anna ducked her head down between her shoulders, wishing she could jackknife closed and hide her entire face. "Y-you can have it if you want. I m-mean, it's your face, right?"

"Don't be silly! You drew it, you're the artist and you deserve to-"

"But it's YOUR face, it only makes sense! I could probably draw another one!"

"No." Glancing down at it again, she then looked back up to Anna. "Not another one just like it. You keep it, please? I can look at it on here." Hefting her phone, she pocketed it and then closed the sketchpad. "And now I have a very similar feeling to the one I had the last time I walked in on my father while he was 'breaking in' the new secretary, so… maybe I should be done looking through this."

"N-nah," she whispered, still tomato-cheeked. "I mean… I don't show a lot of people, b-but I should probably get used to it if I'm ever gonna get serious about art. People have to see what I can do if I wanna do anything WITH it, right?"

Elsa's smile was gentle as she put it away and returned the backpack to where she got it. "Very true. Now… for prying into your portfolio, I feel like I owe you something. Name it; do you want me to spring for dinner?"

"You already paid for the movie tickets and snacks," Anna complained.

"That was for the ride there. This would be for…" She paused, trying to think of how to phrase her feelings. "For turning me into a work of art the way I could never manage on my own."

"You say that like you weren't already one." But an idea was taking shape in her brain, one that was both evil and impossible to squelch. "And… I do have a request, but it'll mean you dealing with another superfan. So if you don't wanna do that, it's cool."

"Fine by me. As long as it's only one; a large crowd would have me locking myself in your car and calling 9-1-1."

Squinting, Anna determined she really meant it; she didn't mind and wasn't even phased by the nature of the request. Must have been pretty commonplace in her line of work. Therefore, she snatched her own phone from her purse.

"Let me just send one text…"

~ o ~

Rapunzel was holding a calculator absentmindedly in one hand when she answered the door, blinking at the sudden increase in light. Then she gasped.

"Hey, Anna - you really did show!" Her grin was huge, though her eyes very obviously confused. "It's been a couple weeks since you texted, so I wasn't sure… well, anyway, hi!"

"You busy?" Anna asked, trying not to grin too broadly.

"Just doing homework," she sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. "You public schoolers may have graduated already, but when your school's your house, the schedule's a little different. Anyway, what's… I mean, you sounded like you wanted to come over right away, but like, why?"

Shrugging, she took a quick look around. No one else seemed to be home. "Can you promise me not to touch your phone for a few minutes? Like, pinky-promise?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have to, but if you don't… I'll have to leave. Promise?"

The girl still looked a little skeptical and irritated at being asked to promise something when she didn't understand the situation fully, but she reached out with her pinky. "Fine."

"Good." Anna caught it with her own, they shook, and then she released. "And you can't tell anybody this happened, but…"

From Anna's side, having been standing just out of sight, Elsa edged into view, taking her sunglasses off. "Hello," she said simply, waving with her other hand as she tucked the shades in her pocket. "Nice to see you again."

Rapunzel looked back and forth between them for a second, clearly struck dumb. Then she snorted in laughter. "Oh wow, that's- damn, she's REALLY good! Where'd you find her? She even sounds like Elsa!"

Both girls on the porch laughed at each other. Even though she wasn't sure what would happen, this had not been on Anna's list of possible outcomes.

"Would you believe, in the bathroom?" Anna said, which got Elsa giggling harder, hand covering her mouth.

"Geeze… I mean, I can see why you brought her over, like, if you sent a selfie I'd just think it was a shop job!" Rapunzel reached out with her other hand. "Hey, I'm Rapunzel, whoever you are!"

"I'm Elsa," she said with no hesitation, no hint of pretense, as she shook the hand.

"Well, 'Elsa', I'm really impressed. I mean, those other celebrity look-alikes you find online, they're always kinda 'bleh', and then here's you, the spitting image of her! Well…" She leaned back, eyes narrowing. "Maybe you should put some insoles in your shoes, you're not quite tall enough."

That got Elsa turning to gape at Anna, scandalised. Giggling, Anna turned back, deciding the game had been played out. "No, no, Rapunzel, it's not- this is really her! I'm not jerking your chain or anything!"

"Uh-huh. Oh man - and now I know why you said I couldn't use my phone, because I'd definitely want a selfie with her. An almost-Elsa selfie is still pretty cool, right?" Then she sighed, though it was a clearly playful one. "Too bad she isn't an almost-Esmé, or I'd ask to get a full photo spread, impersonator or no impersonator."

"Oh, you're an Esmé fan?" Elsa asked amiably. "Maybe I can arrange something. She and Snow are much more open to that kind of thing than myself or Kida. How about… an incoming voicemail message? Those tend to go over well."

Rapunzel glanced between the two of them, nodding very slowly. "Okay… okay, she really knows her stuff. That's dedication." She leaned in, finger pointing up at Elsa's face. "What was the first EP SEEK released called?"

Elsa let out an exasperated little sound, and Anna cringed, but in the end she folded her arms in front of her chest. "Just 'SEEK', of course."

"And how about the original lineup?"

"We are the original lineup. What is this, Attack Elsa Day?"

Anna pouted and hissed, "When did I attack you?! Don't blame me for her reaction!" However, she then swatted Rapunzel on the shoulder. "Will you cut that out already?"

"One more; what is Snow's favourite candy?"

Pursing her lips, Elsa leaned in a little more. "Sour apple Jolly Ranchers. Are we finished?"

"WRONG! It's Snickers!"

"She has an endorsement deal with Snickers. Have you ever actually seen a picture of her eating one outside of the commercials?" When Rapunzel didn't reply, she shrugged. "It happens to the best of us; the lure of money. Her little brothers end up eating most of the free candy bars they get from the deal."

"But that's… well, I mean it could be true, but then how would you know it's Jolly Ranchers?"

Elsa took out her phone, turned on the screen, and flipped through a few apps. Then she turned it around to display the goofiest picture of Snow ever captured, in which she had two partially-eroded greenish Jolly Ranchers stuck in her upper lip, as if they were vampire fangs. Kida could be seen in the background, scratching her cheek absentmindedly.

"Satisfied?"

"That's…" The girl leaned in, dumbfounded and curious. "I've never seen this picture before. And I'm everywhere online; even reddit, and reddit's scary." Her round eyes slid up to Elsa again. "How… did you… get…"

Anna slid her arm around Rapunzel's shoulders and shook her very slightly. "Tried to tell you. Elsa, Rapunzel; Rapunzel, Elsa."

That turned out to be a very lucky thing; they were able to gently lower Rapunzel to the carpet when she literally fainted.

"Fantastic, we killed her," Elsa sighed once they had lugged her over to the couch, propping her bunny slippers up on the arm and tucking a pillow under her head. She snorted slightly in her unconscious state, but still didn't quite rouse.

"We definitely surprised her," Anna groaned. "And now, um… she's unconscious, and we're in her house."

Nodding, Elsa looked around. "Do we… back out slowly and pretend we were never here?"

"Yes. Yes, that is the plan."

Nodding to each other, the two fled the premises as fast as their legs could carry them. However, they did stop to close the front door; it was the least they could do.

~ To Be Continued ~