#BUT consider that my body isn’t accustomed to falling asleep til 4-5

[mockingmolly]

hmm. I have to be up at 7. it is 2 now. is it rlly worth trying to go to bed for 5 hrs of sleep or should I just do an all-nighter sdfg :’)

[yumi-michiyo]

Tempo [5/?]

Rating: K+, may be subject to change later

Genre: Humour/Fluff/Slowburn

Pairing(s): Kristoff/Elsa (Kristelsa), some Kristoff/Anna (Kristanna)

Summary: Their pace varies; sometimes fast, sometimes slow, but always in harmony. Canon!AU, takes place immediately after the first movie. A series of drabbles.

Part 1 here

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

Part 4 here

Five: Con Slancio – with enthusiasm

“Do you think we could see it?”

“See what?”

“Your house.”

Kristoff hesitated. “Uh, it’s not really fit for visitors at the moment.” That was an euphemism, really; he hadn't been back in months. His house (really a hut) was probably musty and leaky and generally uninhabitable.

"I don't mind,” said Elsa gently, “you know that.” 

Of course he did. Even now, closer to acquaintances than friends, Kristoff knew that Elsa wasn’t the type of person that cared about appearances. He just didn't like the idea of bringing her somewhere unpleasant; especially not after he had finally broken the chain of bad luck that dogged their little trips together. 

It was also rare that Elsa made requests; enough that Kristoff would have given her the moon if she’d asking him for it. 

He realised Elsa was still waiting for an answer.

Clearing his throat, Kristoff said: "Let me go take a look and clean it up before we head there, okay? Wouldn't want you to think I live in a garbage dump."

Her laughter was musical. "Kristoff," she protested, "I would never think that."

Kristoff decided to go for humour. “You say that, but wait ‘til you see it.”

He was busy, and the trip kept being postponed. Gradually the promise fell from his mind.

Until the day he, Anna, and Elsa were delayed on their way back from a trip to the ice lakes. It was dark by the time they were halfway through. “We shouldn’t have dallied that long,” he fretted. 

“I’m sorry,” said Anna dejectedly. “I shouldn’t have insisted on meeting Jovnna’s family.” She slumped lower in the seat beside him. 

“No, it’s okay. I should’ve kept a better track of time.” Kristoff wrapped an arm around Anna’s shoulders and squeezed. “C’mon, cheer up, Fiestypants. You were just being nice.” 

Inwardly, though, Kristoff’s mind was racing, calculating their options. They risked being attacked by wolves if they continued on, not to mention the dangers of pitfalls and crevasses; the moon was a slim crescent, not enough to light the path reliably. 

“Oh,” he said suddenly. 

“Oh?”

“My house.”

“Your house?” It was Elsa who had spoken this time. 

“Yeah, I have a hut around this area,” said Kristoff, deliberately not meeting Elsa’s gaze. “We can spend the night there and continue travelling next morning.”

“You have a house?” asked Anna, wrinkling her nose. “Don’t you, like, live with your family?”

Kristoff snorted. “And sleep curled up among the rocks? Yeah, no thanks.” He flicked Sven’s reins. “You know the way, buddy,” he said to the reindeer, who snorted. Turning back to Anna, he continued: “I got my own place once I was old enough to look after myself.” 

“And how old were you when that happened?” 

“Uhhh…” He didn’t know when he was born. Kristoff vaguely remembered a faceless woman tell him he was six winters old some time before the accident. He couldn’t remember exactly how much time had passed between then and the time he’d run off to the trolls. “I’m twenty-one winters old this year, I reckon; so I must’ve been… fifteen?” 

“You reckon? You don’t know how old you are?” Anna put her hand on his arm. “Kristoff, when's your birthday?"

Kristoff shrugged. Heat prickled the back of his neck. “I dunno. Look, it wasn’t really important then, and it still isn’t. What matters is that you're old enough to work and look after yourself. Me and Sven just add a year on the first day of spring; that’s easy enough to remember.” 

Whatever Anna said in response was lost when the sled jerked; Sven had darted forward. 

"Whoa! What's the big hurry, Sven?" Kristoff squinted ahead. He glimpsed a familiar trail marker and whooped in excitement. “Alright! We’re close! Home, buddy!” 

The reindeer harrumphed excitedly and sped up. 

"Don't think we're done with this conversation, reindeer boy," huffed Anna. 

Kristoff pretended not to hear as he pulled up the sled in a clearing in front of a hut. He hopped off, already fishing out the key from inside his shirt. "Uh," he said, "welcome to my house." 

"Oooh, this looks nice." Anna bounced eagerly on the balls of her feet behind him as he fumbled with the lock.

The smell hit him when he got the door open. It smelt musty, and every surface Kristoff could see had a thick coat of dust. Luckily, it was mostly intact otherwise. Kristoff exhaled in relief.

"Oooh," repeated Anna brightly and with more enthusiasm, unwinding her scarf. "This looks nice." 

"Oh, shoot, hang on." He darted forward, scooping up a dirty plate from the table and shoving it into a cupboard, out of sight. "Sven! Can you wait outside for a bit while I get your stall ready?"

Sven froze in the doorway, snorted his assent, and then backed out. Elsa stepped into the house around him, looking amused. 

“No, wait.” He retrieved a broom from the cupboard in the corner of the hut. "Uh, can you guys wait outside in the sled?" Kristoff surveyed the place; his eye traveled over the untidy dining table and the cold hearth full of ash. At the very least, he'd remembered to strip his bed before he’d left, so the cupboard was full of clean bedding.

He'd been perfectly content with all this before, but now it seemed shabby and small compared to the castle.

Anna bounded over. "Can we help?" 

"It's fine."

"Please?" It was Elsa who spoke this time. 

Kristoff hesitated. "Look, I don't really wanna be the guy who made the queen and princess of Arendelle do housework…"

"But this is kinda survival work." Anna waved a hand. "It's fine. Is this where you keep your cleaning stuff?" She pointed at the cupboard.

"Actually, can you two help me get a fire going?" Kristoff said.

"Consider it done."

"Great. There should be firewood in the other corner – " he pointed "– and a box of matches next to it." Kristoff caught himself. "Wait, do you know how to start a fire? You need to sweep all the ashes out of the hearth first."

"I'm on it," said Anna excitedly. She grabbed the rake.

"Wait, Anna! Set out the cloth on the floor first!" He dropped the broom and snatched up the cloth – just in time for Anna to sweep a large pile of ash onto it. 

"That worked out fine," said Anna. "We make a good team." She stacked logs in the hearth, quickly getting the fire started.

When Kristoff straightened up, he noticed Elsa had picked up his discarded broom and was finishing up the work. "You don't have to do that," he said, holding out his hand for the broom.

"It's fine," she said. "Like Anna said, this is survival work." Elsa smiled at him, and resumed her work.

Kristoff blushed. "Uh, well, if you say so." He busied himself with cleaning up Sven's stall, going to the storage shed outside to fetch clean straw.

He paused to knock snow off his boots on the step. In the short time he was gone, there was a fire crackling in the hearth and a mound of blankets in front of it. Kristoff frowned. The mound was… cackling…?

"Elsa found a cupboard full of blankets and cleaned it out," said the blankets. Anna poked her head out, her hair a complete mess. "This is gonna be the best blanket fort ever."

He dumped the clean straw in the stall and called Sven in. "I guess we don't need that anymore," said Kristoff with a sigh as the reindeer clumped in, spotted the blanket pile, and excitedly burrowed into the mound.

"Oops. I'm sorry," she said.

"Nah, he's just ungrateful that way."

Sven brayed indignantly, and Kristoff laughed. "Okay, what do you need for this fort of yours?"

"Can you fetch me some chairs, please?"

He'd never built a blanket fort before. Anna didn't seem to care, and cheerfully bullied him and Elsa (who had finished sweeping) into following her directions until they had a snug nest.

"Perfect," said Anna. "Sven?"

The reindeer – his antlers part of the fort's structural support – lifted his head, creating an entrance. She crawled in and sat up on her haunches. "Come in, guys."

"Glad you think so." Kristoff obediently occupied the space Anna indicated to him, on her right. On Anna's other side, Elsa tucked her legs under her and yawned.

"Goodnight, everyone." She crawled into the space between them, tucked a pillow under her head, and fell asleep.

Kristoff was exhausted. Sleep tugged at his senses, willing him to rest. But he fought it, sitting upright and glancing over at Elsa. "Are you comfy? Are you cold? I have some furs somewhere."

"I'm fine," said Elsa around a huge yawn.

It was the most unqueenly thing he'd seen her do, and only his own exhaustion was stopping him from bursting into laughter. "Okay. Uh – let me know if you need anything else."

She nodded. "Kristoff?"

“Hmm?”

“You don’t live in a garbage dump.” She lay down and closed her eyes. 

“That’s because you guys helped clean it,” he muttered, but she was already asleep.

He woke to the sound of rocks grinding.

It wasn't unpleasant; he'd been raised by trolls, and the harsh grating sound was common when their rock bodies collided. But it was much louder than Kristoff was accustomed to, and he was also very snug and warm – something not associated with trolls.

Kristoff opened his eyes.

The grating sound was coming from Anna, who was snoring loud enough for a valley of trolls.

He squinted at her. Kristoff vaguely remembered Anna falling asleep between himself and Elsa… and now she was on top of him, which meant…

Kristoff glanced to his left, and saw white-blonde hair.

His chest was currently a pillow for Anna, like how his left arm was Elsa's pillow. He was lying on his back and completely immobilized by Arendelle's queen and princess.

He sighed. He tested his right arm and found it occupied by Sven. "You too, buddy?"

Sven huffed sleepily and settled closer to them.

What light he could see was bright enough to penetrate the roof of the blanket fort, which probably meant it was close to midday. Kristoff was amazed by how late they'd slept; he was normally up with the sun.

His head rolled to the left towards Elsa. She was still sound asleep. 

When he flexed his arm, she muttered something in her sleep and clutched his hand. 

Kristoff froze.