Warnings:

Still don't think I need to use any. Expect a list next time, though.

Notes:

This is the last, already finished chapter. meaning that the next one will be up when it's done, and I have no idea when that is.

Enjoy.

Sabato; Pomeriggio

If Elsa was asked to used a single word to describe Anna's apartment, 'cozy' was probably the one she would have chosen. It was clear that she didn't subscribe to the style of minimalist modernism that seemed to be all the rage these days, and instead tended towards warm colors, knick-knacks and wooden furniture. The notable exception, Elsa decided as she discarded her shoes and tried not to be too obvious in her examination of the surroundings, was the couch, which – her lips twitched, and she quickly looked elsewhere – was coffee-colored leather.

The space they were standing in now was a narrow, rectangular room that gathered kitchen, living and dining into one. To her immediate right was a small dining set below a window, to her left a decently sized kitchen area, and at the opposite end of the room from the front door was the living area, with the aptly-colored couch, a coffee table and a small entertainment center. Also across the room were an additional two doors, which Elsa supposed led to the bath- and bedroom respectively.

"C'mon in," Anna told her over the clatter of keys as she dropped them into a bowl on an end table, and toed off her own shoes next to the door. "Bathroom's over there if you need it," she went on, and confirmed Elsa speculations by pointing to the leftmost door across the room; shedding her jacket and draping it over the back of a nearby chair as she walked. "If you don't, the 'Stash 'O Clothing'-" This with one-handed airquotes, for some reason. "- is in here."

'In here', as Elsa had suspected, was Anna's bedroom; comfortably sized for the scope of the apartment itself, and furnished with the bare necessities in the form of a double bed, a closet and a single nightstand. She noticed the colors, of course (pale blue-greens, pure whites and warm creams) and the pictures on the walls, but more than anything, it was the scent that caught her attention; sun-warmed cotton, rain-bruised grass and a faint, underlying hint of chocolate. It had been weeks since she had last picked up on this particular combination in such strong measures, and it was honestly a little startling to realize just how much she'd missed it, not to mention how easily it managed to siphon a tension from her body that she hadn't even noticed in the first place.

Anna's scent was a lot less distracting and a lot more comforting when the source itself was physically present, it seemed.

"You're gonna have to live with one of my sleep shirts," the source in question commented, and effectively secured Elsa's attention when she undid her stained jeans and pushed them down her legs because there was a lot more skin on display now and her panties were covered in tiny TARDIS's and Elsa's brain couldn't decide what to react to first, so it compromised by not reacting at all. "Or at least, I'm pretty sure they're the only things I have that'll fit you." The jeans were bunched up and dropped into a hamper. "Unless you're up for lounging around in a bath robe."

Elsa actually did like spending her downtime dressed somewhat like that, but even she knew that it was too casual of a clothing choice for a now-not-so-much 'just coffee'-type date. "One of your t-shirts is fine," she therefore agreed, and swallowed a soft sigh of relief when she started unbuttoning her short-sleeved shirt and felt the cold, clammy fabric peel away from her skin with the motion.

Anna, she realized, had turned away and was currently staring at the wall. And she was blushing, unless Elsa's eyes were very much deceiving her.

"Is everything alright?" she queried a little uncertainly as she continued her unbuttoning. "I haven't grown that unattractive since you last saw me, have I?"

"What? No!" Anna spun in place, gawked, coughed, turned an even deeper red and then spun right back around all in the blink of an eye. "No, not- not at all," she assured a little shakily.

Ah. Elsa swallowed a smile when she realized what the problem was, and gave an amused little shake of her head as she refocused her attention on the buttons. "And here I thought it was sound that made you react the most," she teased.

"That doesn't mean that I'm blind," was the somewhat testy reply, which was followed by a sigh before Elsa's eyebrows even finished their upwards leap. "Sorry, I just-" A deep breath, and the motion of tanned arms crossing. "Let's just say that I'm being reminded of exactly how well sight works, too."

Flattering, certainly, Elsa considered as she finished her unbuttoning and simply let the shirt hang open, but it still didn't explain why Anna apparently couldn't even look at her when she was anything but fully dressed. That, in and of itself, was so far beyond what she was used to that she actually found herself wishing for more experience with... whatever this thing between them was, because right now, she was having a bear of a time trying to figure out if she should push the issue or leave it be.

The deciding factor, it turned out, was in how she didn't want to take the risk of not saying something.

"Hey." She stepped closer, and only hesitated for a few heartbeats before she settled her hands on the cotton-covered shoulders in front of her and felt the warmth from the skin beneath seep into her palms. "Talk to me." Anna didn't turn and Elsa didn't pull to make her, though she did let her touch slide a little lower; until her fingers were folding loosely around smooth, upper arms and the subtle muscles in them, and squeezing gently. "What is it?"

"Stupid," was the initial answer on the tail-end of a long exhale, and clammy fabric or not, Elsa wished that she'd left her shirt closed when Anna did turn, because the pale eyes seemed to desperately want to look anywhere apart from into her own, but that was where they settled; at least when Anna's gaze wasn't flicking over one of her shoulders. "It's just... it's dumb, okay? Just leave it."

Elsa pursed her lips and considered that for all of two seconds. "I'd rather not," she decided, though she took care to keep her voice soft; to keep her touch soft as well when she captured Anna's chin between two fingers and prevented her from looking away as gently as she could. "Please tell me," she requested, and brushed the pad of her thumb over the skin just below Anna's mouth. "I want to understand."

Briefly, those unusual eyes were hidden behind closed lids, and she could almost – almost – taste the slow sigh that warmed the lower half of her own face. Anna's response, however, effectively garnered her attention.

"I... react to you," was the halting explanation, with Anna first peering at her, and then glancing away. "And I know- I mean, that's normal right now, y'know? With everything so new and all, but-" There were tanned fingers curling around her forearm, followed by the faint press of soft lips when her thumb strayed high enough to trace them. "- but this is normal times a lot, and it's honestly a little... disquieting, I guess?"

"Alright." She could certainly understand that given that she was – as the saying went – currently walking in Anna's shoes. That didn't stop the discomfort that the word-choice caused, of course, but she tried to push past that and focus on the subject at hand. "... may I ask why? Just- considering that we had sex the very first time we met, I'm not really sure why the idea makes you uncomfortable now."

"Yeah, well." Anna chuckled briefly. "I told you it was stupid."

"It is no such thing," she insisted, and let the hand that still rested on the redhead's shoulder tense briefly. "So please don't say that. Talk to me. Why do you think it's stupid?"

"Because we slept together the very first time we met," was the answer, followed by Anna's cheeks briefly puffing out as she expelled a quick breath. "I just- I don't want this to be just sex, alright? I mean, don't get me wrong, the sex was great, but- I guess I wanna be sure that this is... more than that. To you."

Wrapped in mystery meat and smothered in secret sauce. The wry joke from the night before came back to her then, and Elsa bit at the inside of her lip as she now started to realize where it came from in the first place, because as obvious as it was to her that this was more than just a simple romp, she really couldn't expect people to read her mind.

"Anna." She cradled that beautiful face in both hands now, and locked their gazes as her voice dropped into a lower, more serious register. "This stopped being 'just sex' from the moment you approached me in the restaurant."

"... oh." A subtle tension seemed to drain from Anna in perfect concert with the color that rose in her cheeks; one that made her entire frame loosen noticeably, her eyes slip shut and even her neck relax until their foreheads were touching gently. "Well, that's good."

"Mm." There was still some small amount of hesitance in the warm hands that settled on her waist, but Anna's body had relaxed significantly, and Elsa tried to help that along further by letting her own touch glide over the sides of her neck and back onto her shoulders, which she - with a faint blush that she dearly hoped that Anna wouldn't notice - started to knead gently. "Does that... alleviate some concerns of yours?"

"Yeah." The reply came around a short, soft laugh, and the touch to her own waist grew a little bolder, with Anna's hands now resting on her hips. "A lot, actually," was the continuation, with the pale eyes slipping open to regard her with a faint twinkle of amusement. "Even if you do kinda sound like you've been called into the dean's office, with how you're talking."

That wasn't all that surprising, Elsa privately decided, since that was about how she felt, and there was no way that Anna wouldn't notice her blush now - not with how much her little tease deepened it - but at least she didn't comment on it. Instead, she seemed perfectly content to stay where she was, with her thumbs drawing idle circles on the skin just above the waistband of Elsa's chinos.

"I'm not good at this," Elsa admitted softly, and stopped her impromptu massage in favor of simply resting her lower arms on Anna's shoulders.

That earned her a curious tilt of the copper head. "What, talking?"

Not exactly what she'd meant, but... "Well, that too, depending on the subject at hand," she allowed. "I meant more in regards to dating, though. It's been- " Several years. More heartache than she cared to remember. "– a while."

Anna made a low sound in the back of her throat, and closed her eyes briefly. "So of course this one starts out with me being a semi-neurotic mess, not to mention spilling coffee all over you," she groaned. "Awesome."

"That wasn't what I-" Elsa stopped when she found herself under the warm regard of a single, turquoise eye, and gave in to the wry smile tugging at her lips as she shook her head. "I'm trying to say that I don't really have the faintest idea of what I'm doing in regards to... this, I suppose." Her fingers toyed idly with the one braid that had slipped behind Anna's back. "So in advance, I'm going to ask for your patience, and possibly for a few instances of your forgiveness while I attempt to find my footing."

"You have it," Anna promised, and the hands on her hips slipped a little further until they could give her lower back a gentle scratch. "Them," she then corrected, and frowned as she paused. "Both. All of the ab- you know what I mean." Elsa's smirk earned her light pinch. "It's not like I have any more of a clue what to do with you, right?" Another pause, and - after a lift of Elsa's own eyebrows - a swift, bright flush that almost made the freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose disappear entirely. "Outside of the bedroom, you smartass."

Elsa decided not to mention the fact that they were standing in a bedroom at that very moment, though that could have been due to her surprise at how Anna apparently was capable of reading her mind.

"That does even the board somewhat," she mused instead, and settled the stray braid back over Anna's front, along with its twin. "I do have a question, however."

"Fire away."

"I seem to remember a rule of thumb that said something along the lines of 'no kissing on the first date'." The glint that appeared in Anna's eyes made her smile, and she felt its twin form under her own thumb. "Does that apply here?"

A soft laugh warmed the lower half of her face, and she shifted her hand back along a smooth cheek when Anna stepped close enough for their bodies to brush just as their noses did. "Given how we met, I don't see why it should," was the playful reply.

"I was hoping you'd feel that way," Elsa murmured, and then grew entirely too preoccupied with the warm mouth that met her own to say anything further, because God... she could hardly claim to have forgotten what kissing Anna felt like, but her memories were definitely paling when faced with the reality of it; the silky drag of lips against her own and the soft rush of warm breathing; the smooth skin under her fingers and the light touches slowly tracing over the small of her back.

She could drown in this, and that thought was at once both comforting and terrifying.

Elsa wasn't entirely sure who moved first when the kiss deepened – if it was Anna who pulled and moved back or her who pushed and stepped forward – but one of them did and the other followed along, and they stumbled blindly for a few steps until there was a wall in the way and a warm body between that wall and Elsa herself, and Anna's skin was hot under her hands and she tasted of coffee and caramel and chocolate.

It took several moments of Anna's hands pulling her impossibly closer before Elsa managed to remember that this was supposed to be a date. A first date, at that.

"Sex should probably be avoided for now, hm?" she offered a little wryly, and could actually see the goosebumps that chased themselves up the sides of Anna's throat at the noticeable husk her voice had now acquired.

"Uh..." Anna blinked several times while she drew in a long breath, and then gave a short, soft laugh. "Well, maybe, but I also think we should set attainable goals, y'know?" Her expression was one of somewhat exasperated amusement, and the color in her cheeks deepened a little further when she set about straightening the crumpled mess that her hands had made of Elsa's shirtfront – with limited success. "If we make it to sunset without jumping each other's bones, I'll count it as a win."

Elsa bit back the grin, and instead brushed her fingers through the fiery bangs in order to settle them somewhat. "Clearly, you're easily satisfied."

"You'd know," was the low retort; accompanied by a wink and a nip to the tip of Elsa's nose that made her smile. "And speaking of knowing things, do you know what you want for dinner?"

That was a non-sequitor if ever there was one, but Elsa gamely rolled with the punches and stepped out of the way as Anna brushed by her with a light touch to her arm. "I was of the impression that we were meeting for coffee?"

"We were," came the easy agreement. "Until I klutzed the coffee all over us both. But since I want to spend more than half an hour with you anyway, I'll take the excuse of washing your shirt to keep you hanging around. So, dinner." Anna pulled the closet door open with a wink over her shoulder. "If that's okay?"

Elsa could think of very few things indeed that were more 'okay' than that. "Absolutely," she promised with a chuckle, and didn't notice enough to even grimace when the removed the shirt in question and felt the fabric peel away from her skin in the few damp spots that remained. "I'm not really in the mood for braving the general New York populace tonight, however," she admitted dryly. "I don't suppose you have any alternate suggestions?"

"Takeout?" The reply was somewhat muffled by the fact that Anna currently had half of her upper body hidden within the confines of the closet, and Elsa sputtered when an airborne t-shirt somehow still managed to smack her in the head with remarkable accuracy. "Not like there aren't eight thousand varieties available."

Elsa succeeded in wrangling the garment free of her face, and held it up to study the bold writing on the front. "Sometimes an inkblot is just an inkblot?"

"Especially if it's finals and the printers are acting up." Anna was shifting her hips from side to side as she tugged a fresh pair of jeans into place, and Elsa quickly decided that watching that had a high chance of becoming entirely too distracting. "Any preferences on the menu? I'd offer to cook, but with my luck today, something would explode and we'd both end up covered in random ingredients."

Elsa snorted and tugged the t-shirt over her head as she considered her options. "Chinese?" she suggested as the soft cotton settled on her shoulders, and bit back a grin when she realized that Anna was – once again - pointedly staring at the wall.

It was strange, and yet it wasn't. Elsa was self-assured enough to recognize her own attractiveness, and knew well that she possessed a certain, personal magnetism that meant that when she wanted company, she usually didn't have much trouble finding it. She could say without any trace of hyperbole that she was well used to being hit on, that she was anything but shy about doing the same thing in return, and that she had done so many times.

But Anna... Anna looked at her with this expression that was at once both sweet affection and thinly veiled desire; she wondered without pushing, asked without demanding, and was bubbly excitement, dry wit and gentle patience all wrapped up in a single package that Elsa honestly found irresistibly charming. Anna was so honest in her responses – verbal and physical both – and while Elsa had initially been drawn to her due to simple, physical attraction, it was far more that brought her closer now; that made her trace out the subtle lines of slender muscle on sparsely freckled skin, made her touch slip further until her arms were circling a trim waist, and made her hold tighten until Anna was leaning back against her.

"So." She nibbled at the edge of a flushed ear, and softened her voice to be little more than a faint breath. "Chinese?" she repeated in that very tone – right up against the same ear - and smirked when Anna literally shivered in her arms and muttered something that sounded mostly like 'so not fair'.

"Chinese is good," came the unsteady reply, with Anna clearing her throat even as she extracted herself; though she did keep a hold of one of Elsa's hands as she led them both out of the bedroom. "No chopsticks, though."

"But we have to have chopsticks," Elsa purred - this time against the redhead's hairline – and bit back a grin when Anna actually just stopped midway through a step and gave her a look that was half patent disbelief, and half glowering reprimand. "What? I was led to believe that they're part of the experience."

Perhaps it was a little mean to deliberately push Anna's buttons in the way that she currently was, but Elsa just couldn't seem to help herself. Being around Anna felt... safe, in a way that nothing else ever had. It was warm and sweet and made her want to play – just a little – in order to learn exactly where the line went. It wasn't as if she was in any way opposed to helping the younger woman calm down again, anyway, if she did end up going too far.

And besides, there was a faint twinkle in those pale eyes that told her that Anna wasn't anywhere near as annoyed as she pretended to be.

"Keep that up," the redhead warned. "And you'll be holding the damn things in ways the inventor never intended."

"Kinky."

"Oh, my God."