Chapter Text

“Good morning, Gingersnap,” said Elsa, perched on the side of the bed – her own bed – where Anna lay curled under the blanket, dozing happily.

“G'morning, Marzipan.” Anna yawned and stretched hugely, like a sleepy cat. “What'd you get up for? You come back here.” She lunged for Elsa and tried to pull her back into bed, but only wound up hugging her around the waist and lying across her lap. Elsa stroked Anna's wild red bed-hair.

"C'mon, you have to get up. I've already got breakfast on the stove.” Elsa bent down to kiss Anna's hair.

“That wasn't a good idea. It's gonna burn once I get you back in this bed.” Anna half-heartedly pulled at Elsa. “Aw, come on. Just snuggles?”

“You can have snuggles once you get dressed and eat.” Elsa stroked Anna's back. “And why'd you call me 'Marzipan'?”

“B'cause you're pale and smooth and soft like marzipan, an' you're sweet like marzipan, an' you're imported from Europe like marzipan, an' you're half-sugar and half-nuts like marzipan – ” Elsa giggled. “ – aaaaan' I like having you in my mouth like marzipan, an' I bet you'd taste great covered in chocolate – ”

"Like marzipan, yes, I get it. You're pretty talkative for someone too tired to get up.”

“Nuh-uh. I'm too tired to shut myself up. And tired is not why I want us to stay in bed.”

“No excuses. Time to get up, 'French toast', so I can cover you in syrup.”

“Promises, promises,” murmured Anna as Elsa got up to head back to the kitchen.

A denim apron protected Elsa's ice blue silk t-shirt and pleated slacks as she carried the frypan and spatula to the table and loaded up the plates. Anna walked in, her hair brushed, wearing a turquoise dressing gown embroidered with gold dragons. “Mmm, there is french toast. You gonna cover me with syrup later?”

“You're perfectly capable of covering yourself with syrup,” Elsa said with a teasing smile. “I've seen you eat.”

Elsa took off her apron and they sat down. “Wow,” breathed Anna. Each slice had been dusted with an icing sugar snowflake. “How did you ever – ”

Elsa shrugged. “Paper stencil. Something special for someone special.”

Anna came around the table to hug Elsa and kiss her lightly on the cheek and lips. “I'm not special, you're special. The special-est sister ever.”

“Food's getting cold.”

With almost as much excitement as she had dashed to Elsa, Anna dashed back to her plate. “Poor snowflake. Sorry,” she said to her food as she poured maple syrup over the toast. She grinned up at Elsa. “We should do this every morning.”

Elsa looked down at her plate. “Well, we can't.”

“Why not? This'd be great.”

“Just don't get used to it.”

Brow furrowed, Anna asked, “What's the problem, Elsa? Why're you in a mood?”

“I'm not in a mood. I – Never mind. Eat your breakfast.”

Through a mouthful of bacon and french toast, Anna asked, “Seriously, sis, what's the big deal?”

“Drop it! Okay? Just…drop it.” Elsa's shoulders sagged. Her knife clattered against the plate as she cut her toast.

Anna almost sniped back, but stopped herself. She sipped her coffee, cleared her throat, sat up. In a gentle voice she said, “Elsa, I'm sorry. Something's bothering you. Can we talk about it? Please?”

Focusing on the syrup she was mopping up with the crust on her fork, Elsa said, “What day is it, Anna.”

“It's Sunday.”

“And what happens today?”

“Punzy's coming home.”

“Yeah. And her parents.”

“But…we like them.”

Elsa sighed. “We do. And they like us. For now.”

“Elsa, what?”

“This – all this – has to stop.” In response to Anna's puzzled look, Elsa went on. “We can't exactly line them up and say, 'Rapunzel, Richard, Prim, I think you should know. Despite your best efforts I'm…fucking my sister.' ” Elsa shook her head. “Sorry.”

Anna didn't know if the “sorry” was for the imaginary Crowne family or for her. “Elsa, it's gonna be okay. It's – wait, what? Their best efforts? Punzy?”

“No, not Rapunzel. Probably not. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know. But they know. I couldn't have come home if I hadn't convinced them that I was over you. Or, if not over, that I could keep my hands to myself. They can't find out about…this. About us.”

Anna leaned forward. “It's okay, Elsa. We can do this. We can make sure you'll be all right.”

“Me?” Elsa looked at her, then broke eye contact. “I deserve whatever I've got coming. It's you I'm worried about.”

Anna came around the table again, this time kneeling beside Elsa's chair so that she could look her in the eye. She reached for Elsa's hands, but Elsa flinched away from her touch. “Hey. Hey, hey, hey. You didn't do anything bad. You didn't do anything to me. Whatever you were feeling, I was the instigator, remember?” With one hand on Elsa's forearm and the other on her shoulder, Anna leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. “We'll be discreet,” Anna whispered into her ear. “No one needs to know.” She kissed Elsa's cheek again.

Elsa didn't say anything, but her frown faded into a reluctant smile.

“Besides,” continued Anna, “it's only quarter to nine, and they're not due 'til one o'clock. We have time.”

“Time for what, exactly?”

Anna shrugged off her robe. She was naked underneath.

“Second breakfast?”

“Anna!” said Elsa, trying to be disapproving.

“Elevenses?”

“Anna!” Elsa repeated, losing her fight not to giggle.

“Carpe morning. Besides…” She waggled her eyebrows like a cartoon wolf. “If you didn't want this to happen, you should've worn a bra under that thin…silk…shirt.” She nuzzled Elsa's nipple. “Ssslippery.”

Elsa pressed Anna close, one hand cradling Anna's head and the other stroking the warm softness of her back. With a sigh of surrender Elsa breathed, “Carpe morning.”

When the Crownes came home, Anna was as good as her word. The house was spotless, and while Anna was chipper and bubbly, there were no calf-eyes or meaningful glances at her sister. Except for the occasional bumping of shoulders and a little extra stress on the word “sis”, she was exactly the girl she always was.

And except for Mr. Crowne asking Elsa “Everything all right?” with meaning-laden stress, when they happened to be alone together, no one seemed the least suspicious. Richard and Prim unpacked and checked up on messages as Punzy told Elsa and Anna about the art schools she had visited with her parents. The life of cozy domesticity had returned full force. Elsa looked at Anna chatting brightly and wondered if the last couple of days had been a dream.

“So,” said Punzy, “how was your dinner with Hans?”

Anna shrugged. “It was okay.”

“Gonna see him again?”

“No, I don't think so.”

“Why not? Wasn't he nice?”

“He was nice enough. But there wasn't that spark. There's a spark you feel when you're with someone special. And he was sparkless.”

“And how would you know?” said Rapunzel, smirking at Anna. “Does that mean you've found your sparkler?”

“It's just, you know, my impression of how these things work.”

Elsa had to admire Anna. For someone so open and impulsive, Anna was doing a perfect job of neither gazing at nor ignoring her. Elsa realized that she had been gazing at Anna, and quickly changed the subject to Punzy's boyfriend Gene, and whether she had felt “the spark.” As Punzy gushed, Elsa wanted to pat Anna's knee and congratulate her. But she didn't.

After dinner, Richard suggested, “Shall we all go to the living room for Netflix and chill?”

“Dad!” said Punzy, “that is not what that means!”

“Isn't that what – ”

“Don't. Just don't,” added Anna.

He looked to Elsa, who solemnly shook her head.

“Okay, um, 'Who wants to watch a movie and relax in the living room.' Is that satisfactory?”

“It will be as soon as someone loads the dishwasher,” said Prim.

“I'm surrounded,” said Richard, rolling his eyes.

Elsa relaxed. It really is just like nothing's changed. She and Punzy cleared the table as Anna popped an enormous pot of popcorn. They carried bowls of popcorn into the living room as Prim and Richard paged through the video options on the smart tv, and everyone settled in to watch Pitch Perfect. As much as Elsa wanted to snuggle next to Anna and feel the warmth against her, she played it safe and put Punzy between them.

Not able to focus on the film, Elsa quietly checked her phone.

There was an email from Anna. Who sends emails? thought Elsa, as she read the Subject line: “this is not a poem”.

She began to read, and in a few lines the room vanished. There was nothing in the world except those words, and the love behind them. Her heart was overflowing.

“Elsa? Are you all right?” Rapunzel nudged her and broke the spell.

Elsa looked up, seeing everyone staring at her, and realized there were tears in her eyes. “I – ” Her mind clawed for an excuse, an explanation. The only thing she could come up with was Meg's advice to Anna, so she grabbed her stomach, fled to her room, and locked the door.

As she sat on her bed, bent over until her head was almost touching her knees, Elsa heard knocking and a mix of voices asking if she was okay, if there was anything they could do, if there was anything she wanted to talk about.

Finally she heard Anna say, “I think she just needs some space right now. Everyone clear out and go back to the movie. I'll just…stay here in case she needs anything. Quietly.”

Elsa waited until she was absolutely sure that everyone but Anna was gone. She opened the door a crack and peeped out. Anna was standing there, hands clasped in front of her, mouth smiling, eyes worried. Elsa opened the door, waved her in, and locked it behind them.

Anna put a hand on Elsa's forearm and stroked her hair with the other. In a voice just above a whisper she asked, “What is it, Elsa?”

Elsa swallowed. “The poem. The poem you wrote me.”

“Did I say something wrong?”

Elsa shook her head. “It was beautiful. It was so beautiful that…I couldn't help…”

"It's not that good. Not like what you write. It's just plain. But I wanted to give you something. Something that could say what I feel, and how much I love you, and how incredible it is when we're together. And…I hope it was okay."

"Okay? It's… You touched my heart, Anna. You touched my soul." Elsa blinked, and the tears ran down her cheeks until they touched her smile. “I love you, Anna. I love you so much I can't… I don't know.”

Anna hugged her close, stroking her hair, feeling Elsa's body wracked by quiet sobs. “Hey, hey. I love you too. That's sort of why I wrote it.” She sighed. “I kind of wish you had read it at your laptop like I thought you would.”

“I'm sorry.”

“No, I'm sorry, Elsa. I wanted to surprise you. That was stupid. And risky.”

“It was sweet.”

“Well, yeah. It pretty much was. Still kind of…oopsie.”

Elsa chuckled. “Oh, Anna.” Her smile faded. “But what are we going to tell…?”

“Never you mind." Anna rested her forehead on Elsa's. "I'll take care of things. You just stay in here until you're okay. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Elsa. Anna kissed her sweetly, then lovingly, then deeply.

“Mmm. You'd better get out there, though.”

“Carpe half a minute,” said Anna, and kissed her once more. She smoothed Elsa's bangs, stroked her cheek, said “Wish me luck,” and slipped out to the living room.

Elsa left the door open a crack and listened. The soundtrack stopped as someone paused the movie. Then Anna spoke. “Okay. Here's the thing. Now the important thing is not to make a big deal about this, okay? Right. Well, you're probably wondering what just happened. It's my fault. I sent Elsa an email. I didn't think she'd be reading it on her phone, I thought she'd read it on her laptop, in her room.” Anna cleared her throat. “Anyway. It was a Korrasami fanfic, really angsty, and when she got to the sad part she started to tear up. But the thing is, she doesn't really want anyone to know she ships Korrasami, or even that she reads fanfic, or that it makes her cry. So if we could all just not tease her about it, or make a big deal about it, or mention it, that'd be great. Okay? And I'm sure she'll come out when she's ready.”

Elsa then heard Punzy defining “shipping”, “angsty”, “fanfic”, and “Korrasami” for her parents. Then the movie soundtrack started up again. After a minute Elsa got her courage back and returned to the living room.

“Uh, hi.” She gave them all an apologetic little wave.

Punzy patted the empty seat on the couch. “You want us to rewind, or just carry on?”

“Just carry on. I think I can pick up the plot as we go.”

She sat next to Rapunzel, who leaned in and whispered, “Hey, don't worry about it. No big deal.”

Elsa smiled at her, and then at the room in general.

Anna and Punzy passed the popcorn back and forth, but Elsa declined.

She sat and looked at the screen without seeing it.

She is amazing. I love her so much. I never knew she could write like that. I never knew she could be that cool under pressure. I never knew... Elsa's brow furrowed. How did she get to be such an inspired liar?

It's because of me. I put her in this position. I am corrupting her after all.