Tumblr is a douche, so I'm having to basically trash this blog and start all over. 😒 Which sucks because I have 240 followers and it took me FOREVER TO GET HERE. *sigh* (It's a stupid story as to why I have to do this, so if you truly want to know, shoot me a message) Anyway, please direct your lovely selves to MY NEW BLOG AND FOLLOW ME PLEASE! ❤️ @kristannacenterstage
Just a friendly reminder that I love you all, I haven't forgotten about you, I haven't given up on my fics, and I will be back from this hiatus soon...ish. Frozen is still everything. <3
So I have a confession, I am not a big Harry Potter fan (although I don’t hate it or anything, just not a fan) but reading this gave me a whole new appreciation for the wizarding world. So sweet, with characterization on point, and a wonderful narrative pace (loved the dialogue, especially the banter :-) I sincerely plan on reading more of her writing, looking forward to it!
Words: 1,549
Rating: K+
Notes: alright, so this one hasn’t been proofed at all. mainly because i couldn’t be patient enough to wait for @frenzy5150 to become available to me for that reason. still, she remains to be a constant force in my life, and i adore her. also, the ending of this chapter will more than likely piss you off. enjoy!
EDIT: she *did* get to read it. just after i typed this up. so it’s semi-proofread because i didn’t change anything (but hairy). xD
Chapter Eighteen
Anna stepped out of the cab, wide-eyed and breathless as she turned a very slow 360 in Times Square. It was unlike anything she had ever seen. It wasn’t until this very moment that she made time to acknowledge the fact that she had never been to New York City before. Building after building was covered in advertisements, Broadway musical billboards, and LED screens showing everything from the time and weather conditions to Breaking News reports.
And the thing that made it that much more magical was the fact that it was Christmas! There was a light snowfall, and though it was still early afternoon, Anna could tell there were Christmas lights everywhere. Lush green garland, Christmas trees in windows, festive scarves, sweaters and hats passing by in red and green blurs. It was the most wonderful time of the year, and she was in New York City, ready to tell the man of her dreams that she was in love with him.
But first things first.
“Alright, so you’ve got your portfolio?”
She snapped out of her trance and did her best to focus on Olaf and the task at hand. She did a little bounce on the balls of her feet, portfolio hugged to her chest, and she nodded. “Check.”
“Resume?”
“Check.”
“Headshots? Sheet music, marked with any and all important liberties you plan to take, where to begin and where to end?”
“Check, check, and check.” She was grinning now. No wonder Elsa had hired him; he was on task and very thorough!
“Now remember,” he continued, gently taking her elbow as he led her down the sidewalk, “these guys can be pretty hoity-toity. Most of them think their God’s gift. Don’t snap your fingers when giving your accompanist your tempo; he’ll botch your whole audition.” Anna looked at him with an “Oh!” expression. He nodded solemnly. “Yeah. I knew a guy… it was awful.”
They continued, turning down W 51st St, and there it was: The Gershwin Theatre. Suddenly, it felt harder to breathe, knots twisting and turning unpleasantly in her stomach. She had everything to lose. A costuming job, a role in the show, the love of her life… it could all go wrong very easily. If she didn’t get a job or a role here, she’d have to completely reconfigure her plan, which made her even more nervous because, well, perhaps she should have come up with plan B before she left!
“Anna? Are you alright?” They were standing at the backstage door now, Anna completely unaware of how they got there.
She swallowed hard. “I just have to puke. It’s no big deal,” she murmured, staring at the fading letters on the door.
“Oh, nonsense. You’ll be great. Just be you! Now, I’ve got to go run some errands for your sister, but I’ll have my phone on me. Call me when you’re done, and then we’ll find your Kristoff,” he added with a smile.
Despite the snow, Anna was suddenly warmed from her head all the way to her toes. “That sounds wonderful. Thank you so much, Olaf!” He opened the door for her, bid her a “Break a leg!”, and she was on her way.
Heart don’t fail me now,
Courage, don’t desert me...
It was eerily silent, and for a moment, Anna was afraid she may have been in the wrong place. If she thought she was nervous before, she couldn’t have been more wrong. Knots twisted painfully in the pit of her belly, and she could feel the first signs of sweat touch her brow. So, she did what she always did these days when she felt scared, or uneasy.
“Well, hey there, Feistypants!”
A much more pleasant warmth skipped through her veins, much like thousands of fuzzy bunny slippers, and her lips curled up into a big smile. “Hiya, Handsome.” She leaned against the cool brick of one of the backstage corridors.
Don’t turn back now that we’re here.
“How’s my favorite redhead? It feels like forever since we’ve talked…”
Anna giggled. “Kristoff, that was late last night… Or was it early this morning?”
“See?” She could hear the smile in the timbre of his voice. “Forever.”
“Mmm, forever…” she echoed dreamily.
“So?”
“Oh. Yes. Right,” she cleared her throat. “Me. How I am. My well-being.” He chuckled a bit over the phone, and it wasn’t until now that she heard power saws and tools in the background, and the fear crept back. “I’m doing okay. Missing you terribly. Did I catch you at a bad time?” she asked hesitantly. Was he here at the theatre?
People always say,
Life is full of choices,
No one ever mentions Fear…
“Absolutely not. I’d drop everything to talk to you, Anna.” His voice had grown softer, and it gave her chills. “You know that.”
It was so incredibly hard not to tell him she was in the same city. To not find him and smother him in affection and take him back to Elsa’s Penthouse and never leave.
Arms will open wide,
I’ll be safe and wanted,
Finally home where I belong...
But she couldn’t. Not yet. First things first.
“Well… I just wanted to hear your voice. I know you’re busy. I feel much better now,” she said, her smile evident in her tone.
“I’m glad you called, Anna. I miss you so much.”
“I miss you, too.”
“I’ll call you tonight, okay?”
“I’d love that. G’bye, Kris.”
“I love you, Anna.”
She slipped the phone in her pocket. It felt wrong not to tell him that she felt the same way. But that was part of the surprise. Again: not yet. She gently pushed herself off of the wall, clenching her black portfolio between crossed arms, and took a deep breath. It was now or never.
One step at a time,
One hope, then another,
Who knows where this road may go?
She sat in a creaky, wooden chair in the empty greenroom where she was instructed to wait, staring at the stained, art deco carpet, her back straight as a pole. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, nearly deafening. There was no one else around. Was she the only one left to audition? What if they brought her in there only to tell her that they had seen everyone they needed?
“Anna Andersen?” She hadn’t even heard the door open.
On to find my future…
“This way, please.” Anna jumped up, stumbling on a patch of bubbled up, old carpet, blushing furiously as she followed the stage hand. She was led up a couple of small staircases and a number of doors before the stage hand gestured for her to walk ahead of him. She passed him, walking between the black curtains of the right wing of the Gershwin Theatre stage.
All breath left her completely. Her wide, blue hues surveyed the sea of plush, purple seats. And even though the house lights were up, bright, white stage lights held the petite redhead center stage.
“Name?”
Anna looked back down, blinded by the footlights, and held her hand over her eyes to look at her audience. Three people sat at a table propped up over a couple of seats in the fourth row. There was a middle-aged man and woman on either side of an older, balding man with circular spectacles and a perfectly trimmed, silver, walrus mustache.
“Um. Hi. My name is—“
“KAI, will you please?!” the older man interrupted, fingers pressed against his temples, as a power saw roared from somewhere in the distance. The other gentleman calmly took his cell and dialed a number, all the while Anna stood, quite awkwardly, onstage.
Let this be a sign...
“You’re lucky it’s me calling and not Weselton. Look, we’ve only one last audition, so if you could please give us one more second… Yes, good.” He hung up the phone, and it was the woman who spoke this time.
“You’re name, please, followed by what you plan to sing for us.”
Let this road be mine...
“My name is Anna Andersen,” she began, jumping when the same stage hand that helped her earlier appeared beside her, holding his hand out for her portfolio. She fumbled nervously with it before opening it and pulling out her sheet music before handing it over. “A-and I’ll be singing from the musical, Journey to the Past.”
Kristoff sighed, leaning against what was now only a large plywood box, somewhat irritated that he was being told to put a hold on his progress once again. Couldn’t they hold auditions somewhere else? At another time, maybe? Or how about his own shop off-site? Eh… that could get hairy when it came to transferring sets…
Suddenly, his blond, shaggy head jerked up at the sound of the voice echoing off-stage. The wood shop was just behind the actual stage, so they heard everything. He shoved off the box and went running to the shop door that led backstage, and froze in the stage left wing, eyes nearly bugging out of his head, his heart jumping in his chest.
There, on stage, was the most beautiful, stunning, redhead with the most melodic voice he had ever heard. And she was his.
I am technically 3 days 4 days late to the party, so apologize tremendously, but better late than never, right?
Happy belated birthday frozencenterstage! sorry I hope you had wonderful birthday and can forgive me for finishing this so late! I'm really sorry Of course, I probably should've asked if you had any drawing requests weeks ago, but time got away from me and I ended up drawing this Anna wearing a dress Leslie Mann wore in the movie The Other Woman (Her character is Anna to a T) in hopes of gifting you this whole AU idea based off the movie that gets stuck in my head every time I watch the movie. Still sorry.
I dearly hope you have an awesome day tomorrow (Is it really 3am?) today to make up for how this late this is!
A little belated Birthday gift for frozencenterstage! Hope this is what you had in mind darling, sorry I’m a day late.
Kristoff tugged at the collar of his finery and huffed out an exhausted sigh. He tried to remind himself to sit up straight, to stop tugging at his clothes and to eat with the correct forks. It wasn't happening however. He tried his hardest to behave for the sake of Anna's reputation and to quell the unrest among the nobility that had been caused by her choice to court a commoner.
Anna was doing damage control in her own way. Her skirts fluttered gracefully across the floor of the great hall as various Dukes, Lords, and otherwise aristocratic men took her into their arms and lead her across the floor. The dancers ranged from the sweet old grandfatherly type to much younger men who obviously saw the flaw in her logic when it came to her involvement with a working man.
Kristoff despised the latter not only for their undoubted ever present opinions, but also for the way they looked at her with eyes full of desire, how their touches lingered on her skin in a manner that made his own burn. He tried again to reign his emotions in, but each time he watched Anna cover her mouth to laugh or smile so naturally at one of the men he felt his blood boil. There was a little green monster hiding behind his brown eyes, and there was no hiding it. Not from himself, not from Anna, not from anyone.
In fact it was the elder of the sisters who noticed first. Kristoff was seated in a low chair to the right of her throne and she could feel the heat radiating from him as though there were steam pouring from his ears. If it weren’t for the fact that she truly did feel sorry for him, she would have uncharacteristically chuckled at the look on his face. Kristoff was a good man. He loved her sister to a fault and had almost no vices. However she knew that he was consistently jealous of the other men that chose to spend their time around the infectiously excitable and endlessly entertaining Anna.
In fact she had recently had several conversations with her sister about that fact. Rather she had listened as her sister complained about Kristoff’s jealousy and had given no true advice in the situation. She couldn’t have, both from a lack of experience on the matter herself, and also from Anna’s usual tendency to not allow others to get a word in edge wise. Not that she ever minded, she liked to be there for her sister, and as a result she knew exactly what she was up to.
Maybe Kristoff didn’t notice quite yet, but Anna was acting even friendlier than normal with their guests. Every extra giggle and flick of her hair, every smile that was directed at a man was less for them and more for Kristoff. If he was going to be jealous, she was going to prod at him.
Anna ducked her ear close to the lips of one of the many young gentlemen that surrounded her. He was merely complimenting her on her dancing, however she was hoping that by her motions towards him and the smile she put on her face that Kristoff would think of it as more. Maybe he would believe that he was telling her a secret, or even better a dirty joke. She giggled and thanked the man, a lord from what she could glean, and touched his shoulder lightly, noting his blush and with a quick side glance across the room spotting Kristoff’s mouth fall slightly open. She smiled devilishly, now she had done it.
Kristoff watched as Anna flirted back with the men surrounding her and couldn’t help but stand up in shock. He swore he heard a light giggle from Elsa beside him, but paid little attention as he crossed the dancefloor of the great hall. He couldn’t take it anymore. He hated the thought of any man touching Anna, he hated the idea of her being with anyone but him, and while he trusted her to stay true to him they were simply courting and he still had a chip in his shoulder when it came to their class difference.
Sometimes he felt like he didn’t deserve to be with her, and the echoing of that thought in the back of his mind is what made him stand up, it was his insecurities that fueled his jealousy. A little voice in the back of his head told him he was being played, that there was too much mischief in the eyes of his feisty pants for her to be doing this for any reason more than teasing, but the need to get her away from the men around her was too much for him to yield to reason.
Anna felt Kristoff’s strong hand catch hers before she saw him. Of course she had known that he was coming towards her, but she hadn’t expected him to reach her so quickly.
“May I have this dance your majesty?” He asked a bit roughly, not looking at her, but rather glaring at the men she had been entertaining a moment before.
Not backing down, and enjoying the fact that she had finally gotten more reaction out of him than simply moping she decided to continue her teasing.
“Well Mr. Bjorgman, I do believe the Lord of Østfold is next on my dance card.”
Kristoff turned to the far smaller man that Anna had touched moments before. He knew she was playing him, testing his reactions, but he didn’t care. He needed to hold her in his arms, to shake the last dregs of doubt from his mind about their love. Though she wasn’t his property he wanted to show the men in the room that she was, in a way, his.
“I don’t think he’ll mind.” He responded, giving the man a look that could kill.
To his credit Lord Østfold didn’t run away screaming. He simply took a shaking bow and backed away wordlessly along with the rest of Anna’s many admirers. They may not have liked the idea of the crown princess of Arendelle dancing with an ice harvester, but not a single one was brave or suicidal enough to face the larger man in defiance.
Anna smiled surreptitiously as the music started up, loving the way it felt to have Kristoff pull her in tightly and with a steady force. He was showing his dominance, and though she knew it was all due to his jealousy, it was nice to see him finally do something about it. She had done her part, speaking with the aristocracy, flitting about and flirting enough to keep them happy, but now Kristoff was doing his.
He was laying claim on her, he was showing himself to be far braver than he ever thought he would be. Of course it was from jealousy, but his show of control and power, his ownership of their relationship would be what ended the gossip about their love.
“Finally.” Anna said with a sigh, chuckling lightly as Kristoff looked down at her in shock.
“What do you mean finally?”
“You’re doing something there love expert. You’re proving them all wrong.”
Kristoff glanced to the side and saw a wave of flabbergasted members of Arendelle’s upper crust. He also saw Elsa smile and shrug at them as if she had known all along that this was the end game.
Kristoff nearly cursed, but instead huffed out a sigh and continued to dance with his princess. “You got me.”
