#yay my middle text cat trend caught on

[teathattast]

[kristannarubbish]

learn to do it (chapter 3)

summary: princess diaries but make it norway and kristanna

rating: T

word count: 2.4k

a/n: updates will hopefully be more regular now my exams are over! got over a road block with this chapter so yay :-D

The hot tears rushing down Anna’s face were not helping the side eyes she was getting from people rushing to whatever fancy corporate job they had. Only side eyes though, not full on stares because this was New York and a woman in her early twenties with skinned knees sobbing in front of a Chase Bank was not the weirdest thing they would see today.

Anna had no idea how long she had even been there for, 20 minutes or two hours, she couldn’t tell you. But, when her phone buzzed she saw that she had only been making a fool of herself for about 10 minutes, which was good news considering the situation.

The notification was from Kristoff, asking when she wanted to go on their date. On any other day, this would be the most surreal thing to happen to her. But Anna wasn’t quite sure where first date with crush landed on a scale that included crown princess of a small European country. In her book, she might have felt a tad selfish, but first date with crush was a close second for her.

Pulling herself off the musty concrete, Anna wobbled towards the subway station. She wondered how she should respond to Kristoff now knowing this new information about her life. Would she even be allowed to date? Would she have to tell him? Wait, why am I letting myself go this far?! I don’t even know if I’ll take the offer or not. I can barely wake up in the morning, I’m not sure how good I would be at running an entire country. 

She decided to text back once she got home and sorted out her thoughts, because no good decisions come from stumbling on the subway in heels, sober or otherwise.

After arriving home, Olaf was planning a lesson on the coffee table. Anna hated to interrupt him working, but if she wasn’t careful then she would end up having a musical made about her and Olaf would have to tell a group of middle schoolers that he knew her way back when. 

His face lit up when the door opened, but quickly fell into worry once he saw her appearance. “Anna? What happened?”

“You are never ever going to believe me, and I don’t even know if I can tell you,” Anna sighed as she plopped on their couch.

“What? Is the Arendellian mob associated with the queen? Cause that’s what looks like happened to you,” he let out a slight chuckle. She shot him a cold look and he fixed his tone. “Sorry, wasn’t funny. What happened?”

If they dropped all of that on me in less than an hour, I think I can tell one person. “Okay I’ll tell you. But you might want to get comfortable.”

After telling him everything, from the skinned knees to the sobbing in front of a Chase, Olaf looked like a deer in headlights. Anna could see on his face that he was trying to process everything. After a moment of silence, he spoke again.

“I was wondering why that guy was at our door again.”

“That’s all y- Wait. Who? Mattias?”

“Yeah, him. He came about 10 minutes after you left with a car for you.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Anna let out a long, shaky breath. “Olaf what am I gonna do?”

“Well,” he scooted closer to her on the couch, pulling her close. “Whatever you choose, just know I will be here for you.”

Anna sighed and leaned into him. “Thank you, and if I do become queen-”

They locked eyes as she said that. The pair of best friends let out the most hysterical laughs that were so loud the Brooklyn Bridge shook.

“Life is random and unfair,” Olaf let out between laughs, “some get nothing-”

“And some randomly become royalty!” Anna fell off the couch, clutching her stomach. The laughing fit was slowly chasing the reality of the situation. The monarchy- and Kritsoff’s text message.

**********************************

When Anna was done showering, she sat in her towel on her bed wondering if it was even worth it to go to work. She still had no clue what she was going to do or of Arendelle’s ability to finance her so-called boujee Brooklyn walk up, but everything does tend to have a new pointless feeling after your whole life changing in under half an hour.

After a mild existential crisis and consequently dancing to Doja Cat to feel better, Anna headed to work. Since she had the meeting so early with the queen- which did not feel like a real thought to her- Anna surprisingly did not have to rush to work and even had extra time to do a winged liner. 

She was even ten minutes early. This will make Kristoff very happy. Oh sh- I forgot to text him back. Just as Anna thought that, she had caught his eye on her way to the back. She stopped and walked over to his prep station to talk to him.

*********************************

Kristoff was never good at texting girls. He never understood the emojis or the TikToks they sent, and he always ended up having bad text etiquette in the end. To him, it was a blessing in disguise because it was very easy to realize which girls he really liked and which he did not. 

He never thought about it being the other way around, though. Sure, he had only texted Anna a few hours earlier but if he learned one thing from his few and far between misadventures in texting girls, it was that texting back fast was important. 

All morning he tried not to pay attention to it. Sure she had said yes, but to him Anna actually going through with a date seemed like something else entirely. He even went into work early to think about cutting strawberries for the lunch rush instead of Anna.

But after doing so, Kristoff had come to the realization that coming into work early to not think about Anna was nothing out of the ordinary for him.

Well, realized might not be the right word. It was more like Sven-made-a-joke-about-it-now-so-it's-painfully-obvious. That’s what realizing meant to Kristoff sometimes.

Sven had clapped a hand on his shoulder, “Got some Anna on the brain?” 

Nonetheless, Kristoff knew now that even coming to work wouldn’t kick this girl from living rent free in his mind. Not only because she worked there, but the smallest things reminded him of her. When he would get that day’s special menu and see anything involving chocolate, he thought of how obsessed Anna was with it, and that maybe he should save her some. (He always did.) Or when putting ground pepper to finish off a plate, he would think about how her freckles were arbitrarily placed but still looked perfect. Or when he was cutting strawberries, how he would describe them as red, but also would describe her hair as red, which never made sense to him. Interrupting that last thought, he caught her eye just as she came in.

With a smile that seemed to be a tad faltered, Anna walked through the kitchen. She waved at other chefs and chippered hello. As she approached him, he felt himself get those damn butterflies in his stomach.

“Ten minutes early? It’s like you’re trying to impress me with punctuality,” Kristoff chuckled, trying to come off as cool as possible.

“Well, I figure I have better traits to show off than that,” Anna smirked slightly. 

With bright pink cheeks, Kristoff cleared his throat. “Uhm, did you get my text? About, y’know...”

Anna’s eyes widened but she quickly composed herself. “I did. I came to say sorry for not texting back sooner.”

“I don’t mind, I’m not great at texting back, so it’s no biggie,” Kristoff gave her a reassuring smile. Biggie? That is not a real word, Kristoff thought.

“Oh, But I still want to go out! I still really really do. Some people just like when people text back quickly and I didn’t know if you were one of those people-” she rambled slightly.

“Anna,” His voice was high so he cleared his throat again. “It’s completely fine. When should we...?”

“How about tonight? Is that okay? Not too soon or anything?” Anna assumed that today could not be any crazier, so now seemed like as good a time as any to go on a date with a cute boy she really likes to get her mind off of everything.

“Not too soon. Tonight is great, Anna.” Kristoff smiled down at her.

“Can’t wait.” Anna got up on what seemed like her tippy toes and kissed his cheek. None of the other people working in the kitchen seemed to notice, except Sven, who gave him a shit eating grin and two thumbs up.

*************************

Both of their shifts seemed to last much longer than normal. Anna avoided looking at the clock by telling herself more time would pass if she didn’t peek and Kristoff’s orders seemed to trickle in slower than normal despite the packed house. But finally, the last stragglers finally left for the evening and Anna started to get sweaty. She already was since the minute Kristoff agreed for their first date to be tonight. It did give her something else to focus on besides the whole crown princess thing.

After both of them cleaned up from the busy and never ending never ending night, they met by the door to see where the New York summer night would take them.

“Anna,” Kristoff gave her a big smile that made her heart flutter, “you ready?”

“More than ready, Kris,” Anna copied him by saying his name. They walked out of the restaurant doors and onto the sidewalk which was golden from the sunset. 

“What do you want to do?” Kristoff asked, as he realized they did not have a destination.

Anna stopped in her tracks, “Are you a burger kind of guy?”

“I am actually.” Kristoff had tried to think of something witty to say to impress her, but came up dry.

“Can we get burgers then? I have had a burger dinner kind of day,” Anna joked and looked up at him shyly.

“Sounds good to me. I know a great place.” He gave her a side smile as she nodded up at him. Silence fell over them as they walked. After a few moments, curiosity got the best of Kristoff. “What made this a burger kind of day? And.. What does that mean? Sorry, I don’t keep up with the trends much.” He had flushed slightly.

Looking up at him, Anna explained, “Oh, that’s because it’s not a trend. It’s something me and my best friend Olaf say. A ‘burger kind of day’ is when you have an insane day and want nothing more than to eat all of your daily recommended calories in one sitting.”

Kristoff laughed, and the redhead was proud of herself. “What made today feel like that?”

Anna paused, thinking about if the first date was the right time to tell someone you are an heir to a European throne. “If I could tell you all the little details, I would. Safe to say my life will never be the same again.”

“Oh, in that case, it definitely sounds like a burger kind of day. And, no pressure to tell me Anna. The last thing I would want to do is pressure you to do something you don’t want to.” He looked down at her with another lopsided smile.

“Thank you,” she gave him the most genuine smile he had seen from her that day. He felt content that he was able to do that. “And don’t worry about not being good at internet slang. I’ll be sure to translate for you, grandpa.”

“Hey!” he chuckled, “I am not a grandpa!”

“Those glasses you use to read the menu say differently, my dear Christopher.”

“My name is not Christopher and you know it,” he elbowed her lightly, feeling more comfortable now.

Anna stumbled backway dramatically with a deep inhale, “Ah! And, I know, but Kristoff isn’t really a grandpa name. Christopher is.”

Kristoff steadied her without an issue and they both grinned. “So if you were a grandma your name would be… Annabelle Marie?”

“Something of the sorts, yeah.”

*************************

Anna had not felt that at peace in awhile. Even before her life was blown up only hours prior. Kristoff was such a nice person and was nothing but kind and respectful. Anna had decided she would tell him about the queen and everything once she decided what she was going to do. Which, for her in this moment, felt like a no if she would have to stop this.

The burger place they went to was a hole in the wall without seating, so they walked to a park and ate in the grass. Honestly, it was the most romantic date Anna had ever been on.

Kristoff never felt luckier. This was going way better than he thought it would. She laughed at his jokes, and he told her almost all the funny stories he could think of to get her to laugh. 

For both of them, even though it was only date one, it felt so right.

At her doorstep, after walking her all the way home, Kristoff gave her a full smile. “Anna, I had such an amazing time tonight.”

“I super did too. I mean really!” Anna exclaimed as she flumbled her words from a sudden resurgence of nerves. “Can we do it again?”

Kristoff laughed. “You don’t even have to ask.”

They both stood under the warm light of the entrance to her building. Kristoff was doing the thing where guys keep looking at a girls lips, pondering on what to do next. Making the decision for him, Anna got on her tiptoes, slid her hand around his neck and kissed him softly. He put his hands around her waist to pull her closer, deepening the kiss.

After a moment, they stepped away with big smiles on their faces.

“Goodnight, Kris,” Anna beamed as she walked into her building.

Still on the front step, Kristoff touched his mouth in a slight state of shock. He went back to his apartment with a whole new air.

[darkhawk1126]

Yeah I feel this mood way too closely. Thank you @carnalreincarnated