NOTE: Thanks again for all the reviews! I'm trying to get all these chapters reposted from Tumblr, and then I want to see if I can't finish writing the rest before November. Some of you will understand why. Anyway, talk soon!

~ Chapter Seven ~

"Eat laser!"

Late that same evening, Elsa and Anna were knee-deep in Super Smash Bros. Nothing of consequence had happened between when Anna landed and then, other than food and conversation. Even so, Anna still felt far more contented than she had the entire time she was back in Georgia. This was what she had been missing the most.

"Maybe I don't wanna eat laser!" Anna crowed, leaning in slightly toward the flatscreen. "Maybe YOU need a faceful of my FAN!"

Laughing, Elsa kicked Anna's shin as she concentrated on her controls. "Can't believe you're doing this well with the stupid fan!"

"That's what it's like to have real skills, Caulfield," Anna mocked gently, laughing as she took a swig of Powerade. "But I have to admit, I've never seen anybody use Sheik as well as you."

"Well, she fascinates me. The dual gender roles of Zelda and Sheik, her completely different fighting styles depending on her outward guise… she might be bigender, or at least genderfluid."

Rolling her eyes, Anna tossed the Wiimote onto the floor and flopped back against the edge of Elsa's bed. "Oh, here we go again. Everything's gotta have a label."

"You really don't see how I mean?"

"You really can't just leave it at 'sometimes the princess likes to dress in drag' and leave it at that?"

Pursing her lips, Elsa spun to sit more directly facing Anna now. Her face was only half-serious, but it wasn't entirely joking anymore. "Come on, you don't honestly believe that's the only option here, do you? Even outside a deeper, more magical sense, she might have two sides to herself that genuinely need expression on a regular basis. Magically, she might really be two souls trapped in one body. If you take another example-"

"Okay, okay, I give," Anna laughed, shoving her shoulder lightly. "Can't we turn off our college brains until classes actually start up again?"

"No!" Elsa retorted, shoving her back. Anna planted her hand on Elsa's face and shoved it backward, but Elsa raised both arms and tugged her down on top of her, trying to do the one thing Anna seemed to be unable to stand: shove her finger in her nose. For a few seconds they rolled around with Anna trying to prevent such a horrible fate and Elsa crowing for her to "SUBMIT!" Then they were laughing breathlessly, Anna on top of her.

But immediately afterward, Anna slid to one side, an arm and a leg still thrown over her friend's body. That made Elsa's eyebrows draw together, but she remained smiling.

"Sorry," Anna breathed.

"Sorry what?"

"For… you know. That position."

"I didn't even think anything about it," Elsa told her steadily. "Because I trust you."

Anna merely blinked over at her for a moment, utterly amazed. She took her breath away with her unwavering trust. It was then she allowed herself to do something she'd been holding back on from the moment she touched down.

Sidling over, her lips pressed softly into Elsa's, and she felt the gesture being returned so she continued, sliding her hand up and down Elsa's stomach. Normally, she'd be sliding it further up or further down, but that would not be happening - and Elsa had already told her she didn't mind her stomach being touched. It wasn't only in a sexual way that she enjoyed Elsa's body; it was merely the warmth of it, the realness of her being next to her and willing to engage with her in that way.

But even so, Anna began to get restless. The only way it was expressed was by her hips moving back and forth a little under the dainty hand just barely resting upon the nearest one, and her breath quickening even more than Elsa's. Still, it was unmistakable.

"Do you," Elsa panted as she pulled away, "need a moment alone?"

"No!" Anna reassured her, grinning bashfully. "Seriously, I… got this, I'm cool."

Reaching up to pet her flushed cheek, the winded blonde pressed her friend for another answer. "Are you sure you don't at least WANT a moment?"

"That's a different story. You're really… beautiful, of course. Kissing you feels great."

"Don't you mean that I'm really sexy?" When Anna didn't answer, she wrapped her arms around her and began to pet along her back. "Maybe you don't think I notice how often you look at my chest. At my legs. At my-"

"No harm in looking," Anna grumbled defensively against Elsa's shoulders.

"So you don't have to hide that much," she reassured her. "That you're attracted to me."

"But… doesn't talking about it make you uncomfortable?"

"Not with you. In general, it does, because most people will try to use it as leverage. Tell me that I 'look too good to be a virgin', or that it's just a matter of time. That's why them saying I'm attractive bothers me; there's an expectation for me to do something with my attractiveness. But you?" A light kiss on a freckled nose. "You just have the desires and can keep them separate from who I am. Still respect me as my own person."

"Of course," Anna whispered with a pronounced frown, pulling back to meet Elsa's eyes. "And I'd kick anybody's ass who doesn't see you that way, that treated you like a, a… warm body there for their personal playground! That's messed up!"

"I know you would. That's why I love you so much."

Anna felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. For a long moment, they were silent, just searching opposing irises for deeper meaning, for clues. Then Anna breathed, "Oh."

"Sorry," Elsa replied in an equally-hushed voice, drawing her hands away. "I d-didn't mean to blurt that out."

"You… love me? Really?" Gulping, she flopped onto her back. "I don't even understand what that means, it's… wow. Is this love?"

"What, being best friends who kiss sometimes? Yeah, that's most of it, but there's more."

"Yeah, but the 'more' part is what makes no sense to me. It just seems like this completely insane concept from a sci-fi movie, and the more I think about it, even though I can remember examples of what people who are in love do, they just seem like shit friends do for other friends, or else stuff that nobody would really do for anybody. I don't…"

When Anna couldn't seem to get any more words out, Elsa kissed her on the forehead before nestling herself against Anna's chest. "It's okay, dude. You're not gonna force me to sleep with you, so why should I expect you to… to see our relationship the same way I do? That'd make me a huge hypocrite."

"I do love you, Elsa," Anna swore to her, voice like steel. "I just… don't know if I'm going to be able to show it like you want me to. But if I'm even capable of having those feelings, it's you I have them for, okay?" But then she saw the tears swelling in Elsa's eyes and tore her own away. "I'm sorry, I- this is probably coming out wrong, probably making you feel worse. I'm so stupid!"

"No, it's- no, Anna, you're fine!" When she noticed Anna was really and truly shaking, she began to pet along one arm consolingly and shushing her, voice a gentle breeze. "Everything is going to be alright. I'm right here, I don't… you're not making me mad or disappointing me. We both care about each other, and that's the important part; nobody's judging you on how you go about showing me."

"But they will. They will when I start really, REALLY sucking at being your girlfriend, because I can't do that part. I'm just… a fucking idiot."

"If anybody says you suck as a girlfriend, I'll kick them in the teeth." When Anna let out a weak laugh, she raised an eyebrow. "What? You don't think I could?"

"I don't think you're physically able, no. But… thanks." Then she smiled awkardly. "Um… I know it's kinda late, but I did get something for you. I mean, for us."

This caught Elsa off guard. She had been about to kiss Anna's cheek and suggest they just get back to gaming, to distract both of them from the more intense conversation. "You do? I mean, um… like what?"

Instead of answering directly, Anna merely pushed off from the floor and wiped at her face, then held up a finger before racing out the door. They were in Elsa's room, so she supposed it would mean a trip all the way down the hall to Anna's. About two minutes later, the redhead sprinted back in with a plain brown bag under one arm.

"Here," she said as she thrusted it toward Elsa.

"Uh… okay, it's a bag," she laughed. But when Anna only made impatient gestures, she relented and opened it to withdraw… "Oh."

"It's a Tinkerbell nightshirt!"

"Great," Elsa half-laughed, shaking it out. She wasn't a big fan of pink, but it seemed soft enough. "We'll probably still have to wear it with pyjama pants, though. Up here, anyway."

"I just remembered you saying something about liking Tinkerbell once, so… yeah," Anna admitted, voice dropping down on the last word.

That wasn't entirely true. Elsa had said she admired the design stage of the Disney Tinkerbell, and how their aim was to emulate the pinup stars of the era when the movie was made. On the whole, she wasn't all that invested in Tinkerbell as a character. However, the mere fact that Anna had remembered that comment and tried to use it for a romantic gesture was quite remarkable, really.

"Thank you," she told Anna with a soft smile, holding it to her chest. "That's really… wait, what's this?" Reaching in, she retrieved a second shirt. "Oh, um, you got me two!"

"Not exactly - that one's for me."

"You… did you get us MATCHING nightshirts?"

With an excited nod, Anna took the second one and immediately pulled it over her head. It was likely to get a bit stuffy for her, but she was only wearing a tank top before so it likely wouldn't be so terrible. "Well, I was just asking my cousin what kinds of things were romantic, and everything seemed kind of weird and I didn't know how you'd like most of them, but when she mentioned 'matching clothing' that stuck with me. Then I saw these at the mall, and thought this… well, that it might…"

"It did," Elsa told her with genuine gratitude, eyes watering again.

"Ah, crap," Anna sighed. "You're crying. I really messed this up, didn't I?"

"NO! No, not at all, I-" There were no words that would do the job. Instead, Elsa pulled her own nightshirt on, rumpling her typically-perfect hair in the process.

"You look hilarious," Anna giggled, clearly relieved. "And aren't you wearing a sweater underneath that thing?"

"I don't care," Elsa told her firmly. "My girlfriend got me this nightshirt, and I'm never, ever taking it off!"

"Wow, bro, you don't have to go overboard. That might get a little stinky eventually." But when Elsa began to pepper her with kisses, she laughed and fell backwards onto the bed. "Hey, stop, stop! Oh God!"

"Never." And she didn't stop - not for another three minutes, until Anna began to tickle her mercilessly.

~To Be Continued~