Secret Santa for nojaminmycoffee

A/N: Started rushing halfway through, but I hope you enjoy it anyway, @nojaminmycoffee!

“So…I guess we’re just…waiting here, huh?

“Yeah.”

Elsa anxiously fiddled with the strap of her purse, which suddenly felt heavier and heavier with every second her roommate failed to show up with her date. More people streamed past them to enter the movie theater, and she shifted on her feet self-consciously at more than one curious glance their way. From the corner of her eye, she could see the redheaded girl waiting with her doing the same thing; a hand reaching up to fiddle with one of her twin braids.

A moment later, Elsa found that same hand held out to her, accompanied by a sheepish smile. “I’m Anna, by the way,” the girl said, “Just…thought I’d introduce myself while we’re still waiting for them.”

“Elsa,” the blonde mumbled as she shook the hand offered to her, hoping her palms weren’t as sweaty as they felt. With the awkward introduction over, the two of them settled back into an even more awkward silence.

It was almost a blessing when Elsa heard her phone chime from inside her purse, and she fought to keep herself from appearing too eager as she dug into her bag in search of the device. After throwing a nervous smile Anna’s way, she looked back down, tapping in her password to read the text from her roommate.

A: Sorry, Elsa! This meeting is taking longer than I thought - you should go on ahead

Immediately, her heart dropped and her hands grew clammier. Swallowing hard and fighting the rising swell of panic, Elsa’s thumbs rapidly typed away at the onscreen keyboard.

E: How long do you think it’ll last? We can wait

Faintly, she noted that Anna was fiddling with her phone too.

A: Not sure. And Anna’s with you? E: Yeah A: Just go inside with her, then - I’ll catch up if I can E: Wait, how did you—

Elsa nearly jumped at the sudden tap on her shoulder, her heart rate increasing in fear. A sheepish Anna quickly withdrew her hand, holding both in front of her defensively. “Sorry! Sorry…I tried calling your name, but you didn’t answer, so… “

“No, no…it’s alright.” She swallowed hard again, trying to loosen the tight grip she now had on her phone. “I was just…answering a text from my roommate.”

“That’s…sort of what I want to talk to you about,” Anna said, reaching a hand up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear as her lips curled into a nervous smile. “My roommate got held up at work, so she won’t get here for at least another hour.”

Elsa’s brow furrowed. The timing was certainly suspicious…though she couldn’t see why her own roommate would do such a sneaky thing like ditching her… Unless she got cold feet at the last minute, and so did her date, the blonde eventually reasoned, slipping her phone back into her purse. It wouldn’t be the first time her roommate needed an additional hour to prepare herself before things like this. The threat of failure weighed on her mind very often, Elsa knew, so something like a date would certainly cause a great amount of stress, wouldn’t it?

Even with Elsa around as a buffer.

“Oh! There’s something I wanted to ask you, too,” Anna’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and she mentally shook her head to clear them at the redhead’s broad grin. “Your ringtone…that’s from SU, right?”

Elsa blinked. “Y-Yes, it is. I’m surprised you recognize it.”

“Are you kidding me? That’s one of my favorite episodes! And one of my favorite songs!” Anna exclaimed, her teal eyes lighting up with excitement. Her grin grew as she sang, “Everybody tells me life is precious on the planet earth. And that means you, and I have to protect you—”

“What if somehow you get hurt? What do I do?” Elsa found herself continuing, lips twitching into a smile of her own. “I don’t want that for you.”

They both shared a laugh at the impromptu duet, and the blonde felt the tension leave her shoulders…if only a little compared to before. “Your singing is beautiful.”

Anna’s freckled cheeks turned a little pink. “Th-Thanks! But your voice is beautifuller!” She paused, teal eyes widened in horror, and Elsa’s lips twitched upwards again. “I-I mean not ‘fuller’, I mean…more beautiful. Yeah, that’s…that’s what I mean…” she trailed off, laughing nervously, but Elsa’s smile merely grew.

She’s adorable.

“Why don’t we go inside?” the blonde suggested, the panic at spending the day with a stranger subsiding after the initial awkwardness had passed. “The movie’s about to start soon. If we hurry, we might still be able to save seats for them once they show up.”

“Good plan!”

Bad plan. Very very bad plan.

Anna clenched and unclenched her hands restlessly, pausing to discreetly wipe her sweaty palms on her jeans as she followed Elsa out of the theater. Neither of their roommates had shown up, leaving the two of them to watch the movie on their own. Or rather…together. Which wouldn’t have necessarily been a bad thing except for one little problem…

Her not-so-little crush on the gorgeous blonde paused on the sidewalk, fiddling with her phone and no doubt texting her roommate.

Anna considered trying to contact hers as well, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t do her any good. The timing was far too coincidental, especially after their talk a couple weeks ago regarding her feelings for the blonde…And earlier as they were waiting, she couldn’t help the disappointment that had threatened to swallow her whole when Elsa failed to recognize her on sight from the few classes they had shared together in semesters past.

But that was a good thing, in hindsight, for Anna could start over as a blank slate.

What was not a good thing, however, was her roommate going ahead with her apparently secret plan to ditch them on this ‘double date’.

Anna took her phone out from her pocket, tapping in her password and opening the messaging app to fire her lovely roommate a text of her own. It wouldn’t do her any good, but at least she could try.

A: what the fuck I: ;) I: did you brush hands while eating, at least?

Anna’s cheeks grew hot at her roommate’s fast responses, confirming her suspicions. She probably wasn’t even at work anymore!

A: I was too nervous to get popcorn! I: :0 Anna! A: I only agreed to go on this thing as long as it was kept friendly! YOU TWO were supposed to be on this date, not me and Elsa! A: Why didn’t you tell me she was your date’s roommate?! I: That would’ve spoiled the surprise ;) A: Well a little heads up would’ve been nice!

Anna huffed angrily, glancing up from her phone to see how Elsa was doing. The blonde still had her eyes glued on her own phone, her expression aghast and shoulders hunched up to almost her ears. Anna looked back at hers, and seeing no reply from her roommate yet, decided to go join the other girl on the sidewalk despite her nerves. They had to decide on what they’d do for the rest of the day, after all…

She opened her mouth to say something, but a buzz from her phone cut her off.

I: Artie says Elsa should still have the tickets for the ice skating rink

Anna nearly threw the device in frustration.

A: ARE YOU TWO HAVING YOUR OWN DATE SOMEWHERE ELSE

She waited, hands gripping her phone tightly as she scowled at the screen, waiting for her roommate to text back. Until finally…

I: ;)

“Anna…? Is everything alright?” she heard Elsa ask after she let loose a scream that caused more than one head to turn and look at them in alarm. The blonde stared at her, eyes full of concern, and that brow furrowed. Her phone had been placed back in her purse, and in her hand…were those damned tickets.

Elsa must have noticed her staring—or rather, glaring—at them, for she glanced down and looked up again, a nervous smile curling onto her perfect lips. “My, um…My roommate already paid for these, and it would be shame to have them go to waste. But if you’re really not up to it…”

Her blue eyes were still filled with worry, and Anna sighed, stuffing her phone back into her pocket. “I take it she’s not coming either?” she asked, whatever nervousness she’d normally have around her crush pushed aside in lieu of their mutual frustrations with their respective roommates. The helpless shrug and sheepish smile Elsa gave her was enough of an answer, and on any other day, Anna would’ve been reduced to a blushing mess at how adorable she looked doing so.

But today was not any other day, and now Anna had to decide whether or not she should take responsibility and ‘end’ this ‘date’ of theirs. Well-intentioned her roommate may have been, it didn’t feel right manipulating Elsa like this.

“Listen, if you…if you’re feeling tired or whatever, we could just…” She paused, the words lodging in her throat for some reason. Come on, Anna…just say it! Say it!

Elsa tilted her head expectantly. “We could just…?”

“Go back to our dorms. I mean…they’re not here, and the whole point of us being here was to be there for them, and we can’t be there for them if they’re not…there. Here! Here, I mean. Since they’re…Since they’re not here. But we’re here.” Anna shut her mouth so forcefully, her teeth clacked painfully together. She hadn’t intended for the ramble that had fallen from her lips, and she forced her gaze to her shoes instead, feeling the tips of her ears grow hot.

Those very ears soon heard a giggle.

Anna raised her head just in time to see Elsa hiding a smile behind her hand, her eyes crinkling at the corners.

She swore she could die happy then and there.

But dying would probably wipe that smile off of Elsa’s face, so instead Anna forced herself to ask, “What is it?”

“You’re adorable,” came her ready reply, and heat blossomed across Anna’s cheeks as the blonde lowered her hand back to her side. The smile still remained as she continued, “Thoughtful, too.”

“W-Well, I mean…You didn’t seem like the socializing type in the classes we had together, and—“

Oh, damn it.

The slip of her tongue didn’t go unnoticed by the blonde…though it did help that Anna had abruptly shut her mouth once more.

“We had classes together?”

So much for staying a blank slate…

“Y-Yeah. Just some gen ed stuff—you probably don’t remember taking them.”

Elsa furrowed her brow again, a small frown taking the place of her smile before. “I’m really sorry, Anna—“

“No, no! It’s alright, I mean, a lot of people forget things from gen ed…and people too,” Anna hastily reassured her, waving her hands as if to further illustrate her point. “It’s fine, I’m just nobody.”

The blonde arched an eyebrow, and Anna’s poor heart nearly gave out at the slight smirk that accompanied it. “Just nobody? I highly doubt that. After all…I’m sure I just spent the last hour and a half sitting next to somebody.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Anna managed to snark back, hoping her face didn’t look as hot as it felt. “But we still have to decide on what we’re gonna do.”

Elsa fiddled with the tickets in her hands, the smirk giving way to a small frown again. “As much as I would feel bad not using these…it honestly defeats the purpose if all four of us aren’t here.”

Weeeeellll…the two of us would’ve been skating together anyway while those two continued their date. But that’s beside the point.

“Actually, that is true, now that I think about it…”

Oh, damn it.

“I spoke out loud again, didn’t I?” Anna groaned, smacking her forehead.

“I noticed that during the movie, yes.” She could hear the amusement in Elsa’s voice, and she didn’t need to see to know the blonde probably had a smile on her face again. “You were so worried there wouldn’t be a happy ending.”

“In my defense, the last movie I watched with my roommate had everyone dying,” Anna huffed, throwing a half-hearted glare in the blonde’s direction as she crossed her arms. “And besides, aren’t happy endings nice?”

Elsa shrugged, smiling again. “Only if you had to work for it. Happy endings handed over on a silver platter…it’s not quite as satisfying.”

That…was true. In Anna’s case, she certainly wouldn’t win Elsa’s heart without having to work for it…The only problem was how.

“The skating rink is in the same direction as the dorms,” she found herself blurting out. “We could just start walking…and see where it goes from there? And the rink doesn’t close for another four hours. If we bump into them on the way or they come back to the dorms, we won’t have to waste anything.”

Her heart swelled at the sight of Elsa’s smile growing.

“I like that plan.”

Anna was an absolute delight, and Elsa was surprised to see how taken she was with the redhead already. It was a shame she couldn’t remember the girl from before, otherwise her earlier nerves would’ve been greatly reduced in the face of someone familiar, at least. But she could easily see Anna’s passion and compassion, too. After all, the girl had nearly burst into tears at least twice during the movie.

The pictures on the screen…she felt them just as acutely as she felt real people, it seemed. Anna wore her heart on her sleeve, and it didn’t take a genius to know that the redhead was just as nervous as she was for dealing with their plans falling through…as well as harboring a slight crush if the stolen glances her way while they walked were of any indication.

Elsa had seen such glances before, when her roommate was still pining after Anna’s from afar. She was surprised Anna hadn’t acted on it yet—most would’ve taken advantage of this situation, at least.

Instead, they were simply walking back to their dorms. Talking about the movie they had just watched, about their roommates, about their classes, about their favorite shows…about anything, really. Talking came surprisingly easy. The girl just had this…charisma around her—an infectious air that almost made Elsa’s cheeks ache from the smiles and giggles Anna had managed to coax from her. Her teal eyes always lit up at each instance, and Elsa could already see her mentally count and cherish each one.

Yet Anna never asked.

“Hey, is that them?”

Gently tugged out of her thoughts, Elsa turned to look at the direction Anna was pointing at. Her eyes widened at the sight of their roommates sitting inside a coffee shop on the other side of the street, laughing and talking amiably.

A part of her was relieved to see her own roommate doing well on her—apparently secret—date, but that part was quickly overshadowed by her anger at being duped. “They ditched us for each other!”

While she hadn’t actually minded Anna’s company and had enjoyed herself regardless of their absence, she still didn’t appreciate being lied to.

“I’m going to text her. I fucking swear I’m going to text her,” she heard Anna hiss under her breath, a freckled hand already reaching for the phone in her pocket. Elsa’s hand darted out to stop her, gripping at her sleeve.

“Wait. I have a better idea…”

Elsa giggled quietly to herself as she scrolled through the pictures on her phone, sitting with her legs crossed on her bed. While many of them were secret, incriminating pictures of their roommates on their equally-secret date, there were just as many photos of Anna and herself making goofy faces at the camera or taking selfies with their roommates in the background.

They had a similar streak for mischief, it seemed.

Her thumb swiped across the screen, coming to the last picture she had taken today. Anna’s smiling face stared back at her—eyes crinkling at the corners, and so open, so honest…

It was Elsa’s favorite.

The sound of a key slotting itself into the door reached her ears, and a moment later, that very door swung open to admit her roommate. Green eyes landed on her, widening in surprise at her presence there. By this time, Elsa had already schooled her features into a more neutral expression, crossing her arms as they stared each other down.

“So…how was your date?” Elsa eventually asked, breaking the silence first.

Her roommate shifted on her feet, closing the door behind her with one hand, and using the other to run a hand through her blonde bangs. A flush had risen to her cheeks.

“…What date?”

Silence.

“Oh, come on, Artie!” Elsa exclaimed, a faint smirk tugging onto her lips as she uncrossed her arms to reach for her phone. “Anna and I saw you with Iri! We even followed you two around!” Said device was held up as the other blonde shuffled closer, a sheepish expression on her usually noble face. That sheepishness merely grew with every swipe on the screen…only for her roommate to suddenly give her a smirk of her own.

“Hmm…it seems you also enjoyed yourself as well,” Arturia mused, turning the phone around so Elsa could see her and Anna’s smiling faces. “If that’s the case, then Iri’s plan went along without a hitch.”

“I should’ve figured it was Iri—sneaky plans don’t sound like you,” Elsa said as she took her phone back, a flush rising to her own cheeks. “Anna…She likes me, doesn’t she?”

The bed sank a little as her roommate flopped down to sit beside her, hands clasped and elbows on her knees. Her lips had curled into a small, encouraging smile. “The girl’s been pining after you for a while. I know we’re both oblivious in some ways, but…I hope, at least, that you would consider giving her a chance.”

Elsa bit her lip, her phone—and the pictures within—feeling heavier in her hand. “No more tricks?”

“No more tricks.”

And if she were really being honest with herself…while the day may have started out as a trick, it certainly didn’t feel like it now. Especially when they had decided to tail the two on their date, it was…more than just a trick. It was something she and Anna had chosen for themselves. Something unplanned and exciting and new and…

“You looked really happy.”

Arturia stood up from the bed, and Elsa watched as she headed for the bathroom, muffled footsteps suddenly loud in their silent dorm. The blonde paused in the doorway, the smile still there. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you that happy. If not a date…at least friendship?”

Elsa chuckled, shaking her head. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. We already are.”

Her phone vibrated in her hand, a notification of a call flashing on the screen. Smiling, she swiped her thumb to accept it, holding the device to her ear as her roommate closed the door. Her smile merely grew at the nervous greeting that sounded in her ear.

“Hey, Anna. I know this is a bit soon, but I was wondering…”