#idk it seemed like a nice lighthearted ice breaker for them

[lalaluuz]

@mercurywitch

"Hey! The ice cream truck handed me two of these by mistake. Would you like the other one? They're chocolate~"

Luz held out a chocolate eclair bar to the other, shaking the packaging gently, as though that might further tempt her into taking it.

[feistypaants-archived]

Between The Pipes [Chapter 19]

Rating: M Words: 2241 Pairing: Kristanna Summary: When a new owner takes over the Arendelle Ice Breakers, Kristoff isn’t sure about his future with the team. That is, until a PR nightmare throws the newest member of the media team, who also just so happens to be the daughter of the new owner, right into his arms. Kristoff and Anna can’t even stand the interviews they have to do together… how on earth are they going to fix this mess? Hockey!AU.

[Chapter Index]

Where To Read: [AO3]

Notes: idk !! This chapter wouldn’t come out how i wanted it to. At least they talked, kind of, even if it’s... still bad and they’re still kind of dumb. 

They just want to be together, it doesn’t matter how, dumb children.

Enjoy!

Anna hadn’t seen Kristoff in five days. 

Rather, she had seen him, but then immediately ran the other direction before he could see her. He had texted her just once, asking if everything was okay, if they could talk about everything, and Anna had… not replied. She was busy, yeah, that was it. He wasn’t playing so she didn’t see him at games, and she started avoiding practices since she wasn’t required to attend them.

But it had been five days, and she needed to stop avoiding this.

Kristoff did extra practice on his own while on leave from playing, and Anna made sure she’d be able to catch him. She came early, while the rest of the team was still on the ice, and sat patiently in the wings, waiting for the rest of them to leave. She wasn’t even sure what she was going to say, but there was something in her gut that told her it would come to her at the right moment. 

Standing and heading towards the ice, she startled when she heard another voice calling her name.

“Anna?” Sven asked, practically trotting up to her in his full gear. “Hey, um, glad you’re here.”

She blinked up at him for a moment before giving him her best smile. “Yeah, I’m… here to talk to Kristoff. We’ve, um, been fighting… a bit…”

Sven waved his hand between them, shaking off his glove. “Nah, I know about the… situation.”

Oh. She shouldn’t have been so surprised.

“Look, ah,” he placed a hand on her shoulder and led her a little off to the side. “I…” he sighed, blowing out a deep sigh. “I know that it’s fake, and that… maybe you’re not feeling some sort of way but…” He looked towards the ice, frowning. “Kristoff… he’s… gentler? I guess, than he lets on. His feelings…” he sighed. “Just, look, that’s my boy, that’s my best friend, right?” 

Anna nodded.

“Don’t hurt him, okay?” He patted her and shrugged. “That’s… that’s it. Whether you guys come up with something together or… I don’t know. Just… please don’t make it worse, for him.”

She wasn’t sure what to say, so she swallowed the tightness in her throat and nodded again. “Yeah,” she hummed, feeling stupid.

Sven gave her one more curt nod before leaving.

Anna wasn’t entirely positive what that had been about, but if Sven felt like he had to say something to her, she was pretty sure ignoring him had been the worst thing she could have done. A heavy sigh and a short, internal pep-talk later, Anna headed towards the ice. 

She watched him for a moment. He had pulled their shooting machine onto the ice and was blocking difficult, fast and hard shots one after another until he wore himself out. After one particularly difficult five-hole save, the machine whirred to a stop, and Kristoff dropped to his knees on the ice.

“Nice save,” she called, growing tense when his head turned to her.

Kristoff stayed silent, simply shook off his glove and began gathering pucks.

“I wanted to talk.”

She heard him laugh. “Oh, all right. Now she wants to talk.”

“Kristoff —“

He pushed his mask up on his forehead and glared at her, sweat dripping from his hair. “I’m not yelling this across the ice, and I’m not stopping. So get out here if you want to talk.”

Hesitating, she braced her palms against the boards. “I… can’t skate. I’m actually kind of scared of skating, I could not tell you why.””

Kristoff sighed as he piled up the pucks on top of the machine. “Go get some skates from the supply room.”

“What?”

He pushed his mask back down over his face. “Get some skates. You need to learn before the family skate event.”

Kristoff didn’t seem like he had any interest in arguing, so she left, let the supply manager properly size her feet, and came back about thirty minutes later, skates in hand.

She supposed he had done another few rounds while she was gone, because he was just getting off the ice and working on removing the bulkiest of his gear. She hardly had a moment to admire his sweat soaked undershirt before he was pulling a hoodie on over his head and sitting down to unfasten his leg pads.

Sighing and trying to keep herself lighthearted, Anna let herself practically fall into the seat beside him, holding up the skates so he could see. “It does not surprise me that you’re making me do this right now.”

He laughed a little, then, and looked up at her. “Well, how bad would it look if my own girlfriend couldn’t even skate?”

Anna smiled, an apology on the tip of her tongue before he stood up, knelt before her, and held up a hand. She looked at him, confusion clearly written on her features, before he pointed at the skate and made a give it here motion with his hands. She did, and before she knew it, he was very gently placing her feet into the skates, adjusting them around her ankles, and tying them -

“Ow, ow.”

“Sorry.”

- just a little too tightly. 

Kristoff stood up off the ground, dusting his knees, and held out a hand to help her off the bench. “How do they feel?”

Anna grimaced and rocked up on her toes, using his firm hand for balance. “Like I’m walking on a blade. So, I suppose, how they’re supposed to feel.”

“You get used to it.” He started walking backwards, guiding her to the door that let out onto the ice, and stepped onto it with such ease that Anna felt herself tensing up knowing that there was no way it was as simple as it looked. 

She laughed, pulling back from him. “No, no, that’s… that’s slippery.”

“Well, yeah,” he chuckled too, leaning against the boards and bringing his face so close to hers that Anna could feel his breath. “It’s ice.”

“Don’t make fun of me,” she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kristoff pushed back, amusement lighting his entire face up. “But you make it so easy.”

Anna tried to fight the smile that was stretching her cheeks, but it was absolutely no use. This was the Kristoff she had been starting to like - the one who teased her with ease, who played and smiled but still took her seriously and liked her the way she was — at least… she thought he did.

“Seriously though, come here, just… step on sideways and put your weight… yeah,” he held out his hands and helped guide her onto the ice. “Yeah, like that, it helps you not just fall immediately on your ass.”

Anna laughed, one hand on him, the other gripping the boards with fear. “At least there’s some cushion back there.”

He groaned. “Come on, don’t mention your ass.”

“You mentioned it first!”

Kristoff couldn’t help but smile. “Well it’s nice, all right, so sue me. I am still a man.”

Anna lifted her other hand from the boards, trusting him to catch her if she slipped. “All right, all right, teach me the ways of the hockey player.”

He taught her the basics, how to move, how to stop, how to shift your weight to turn, and soon enough Anna was skating with, well, relative ease as he kept his hands right there in case she needed him. It only happened once, where she tripped over her own skates and fell backwards, sighing with relief as his hands caught her under her arms and righted her almost immediately.

“See?” Kristoff was grinning as he skated backwards in front of her, mirroring the smile she couldn’t wipe off of her own face. “Easy, right?”

Anna nodded as she found her rhythm, glad that this really wasn’t as difficult as it seemed to be, and followed him around the ice for a little while longer. “Yes, but my feet hurt now.” She started heading towards the exit and stumbled just a little as she heard the scratch of him sliding to a stop. But soon enough they were both back on the bench, Anna unlacing her skates as Kristoff started to gather up some of his gear.

She needed to say something, right? She couldn’t just ignore this forever.

“Kristoff… I’m… I’m sorry.”

He shrugged and scratched at the back of his neck. “Yeah, me, too.”

“For… ignoring you a bit.”

“Yeah.” He dropped his stuff and sat back down beside her. “Look, Anna… Like, I know I was kind of an asshole -“

“Kind of?”

“Right, totally an asshole,” he laughed and shrugged again, dropping his head a bit. “But… I don’t know. I’m just sorry for it. I was playing like garbage and I needed someone to blame, I guess.”

Anna nodded, her own shoulders lifting. “Did you figure it out?”

Kristoff laughed again, shaking his head. “Yeah. But it’s kind of shitty and embarrassing.”

She kicked her feet out and leaned back on the bench. “Lay it on me, Bjorgman.”

He sighed, spinning on the bench to face her, swinging so one leg rested on either side. “I was so, ridiculously pent up and frustrated because you’re just…” he gestured up and down with one hand. “You’re you and you’re nice and warm and fucking hot and I had to keep trying to convince myself that I didn’t actually like you because the truth of that was… too much.”

Anna had turned her head to look at him, a frown gracing her features. “Why?”

His throat bobbed, and he sighed. “I… I’m being serious when I say I don’t date. I don’t want to start something because… I… I want a family, Anna. I want a really big family, right?”

She swallowed and nodded, turning her eyes downward. 

“But… I don’t want to start anything until my career is done, because…” He ran a hand through his hair, shrugging. “I’m afraid I’ll be like my … like my dad. My birth…” He trailed off, tilting his head to the side and averting his gaze.

Anna turned to face him, her legs straddling the bench as well, and placed her warm hands on his knees. “What happened?”

“He…” Kristoff sighed, and looked at her again. “He only cared about being the best in the world. My mother left us and he didn’t care, and I was taken away… and he didn’t care. I…” He swallowed and then cleared his throat. “I think he was relieved, honestly. That he didn’t have to worry about me anymore.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you, Kristoff…. but…” Anna felt her entire face soften, and couldn’t help but lean closer to him. “You do know that… dating someone doesn’t mean you have to have kids right away, yeah?” There was silence for a beat too long to be comfortable, before he looked away.

“The second I find the person I want to spend my life with,” he blew out a breath and let out one uncomfortable laugh. “I’m going to want to start that family. So…” He shrugged. “Better to not let myself even try, you know?”

She had to know. “So…” Anna pressed on, squeezing lightly where her hands still rested on his knees. “Why… why is liking me too much?”

Because she liked him. Because she wanted him to keep kissing her. Because she wanted him to let her in. Because —

“I… don’t want to think too hard about that,” he pulled back from her, his face hardening as he shut down again. 

“Okay,” she scrambled, wanting him to come back, to soften and keep letting her in. “Okay, that’s… that’s fine.” She bit her lip, wondering if she was about to make a mistake. “Could we just… have fun? For now?”

Kristoff blinked twice, but came back to her, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. 

“I mean,” she flushed, finally letting go of his knees to clasp her hands together in her own lap, staring down at them. “We’re still… pretending to date, right? And… yeah okay we haven’t talked about it but the other night was…” Anna sighed and laughed, pushing her bangs back. “It was really fun, right? Like that worked…” 

She couldn’t bear to look up at him now. 

“Like if we already have to spend all of our time together and we’re both pent up - like obviously we’re both really pent up - and it helps with your game or whatever maybe we can just…” Anna finally took a breath before looking up at him. “Try… something casual? Because it was fun and…”

She couldn’t read his expression, until the tiniest quirk of a smile started pulling on the corner of his lip. 

“I mean,” she sighed, crossing her arms in front of her chest to practically hold herself together. “I don’t need any sort of… commitment, or anything… If you… want to… I… wouldn’t mind… ”

He reached forward to slide a palm up her thigh and smirked. “I mean, yeah, shit, if you want to… How could I turn that offer down?”

And then he was kissing her, pulling her up into his lap, and the way his hands grabbed at every part of her was answer enough.

Maybe she was making a mistake… 

But fuck, she’d make it a thousand times more if it meant she got to have him, even just for a little while.