Joseff walks in on Kristoff and Anna having a fight.

(2500)

Joseff by frozenmusings also originally written for fortkristanna prompt “Silence” but that was a long time ago

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“Autie Elsa’s busy, little one, but she always has a bit of time for you” Elsa stood up, placing a hand on 3 year old Joseffs back, and motioning forward. “Are you ready?” Joseff nodded back, and she turned to face the wall “1…2….3….4…You better hide Joseff, I know this castle over, I’m the Queen of Arendelle”. With that the strong prince Joseff ran to hide. He was good at this, even if his Aunt Elsa knew the castle, he knew where she would look. Or so he thought. He couldn’t waste any time, so he ran and ran. The halls were big, and took time to traverse, but he made haste. He was not going to lose again.

His little legs carried him as far as he could. There were guards around, watching him. He had to duck out of their site. He sneaked along the wall, and ducked into a room. He was caught. A guard saw him, but the girl smiled and looked at him, making a shush sound. She wasn’t going to give away his position. He entered the next room, and closed the door behind him. The room contained many objects he could hide behind, under or in. He scowered the area, and picked his spot.

He ran to the back of the room and entered a cabinet. It was huge, must have been 19 feet fall at least. That or seven.

Probably seven. It was dark, but there was a crack of light from the doors seeping through. It was cold, but there was a sweater or two hanging next to him. It was silent, deafening.

With that the silence broke, the door to the room creaked open. A figure entered the room, a smaller one next, slamming the door behind them. Mama and papa! Uh oh. Kristoff was steaming, pulling at his hair, and wandering the room. “Look, ice is my life”.

Anna was stern and simple. She looked at him with the determination of a knight. “I know, you told me that one already.”

Kristoff traced around the room, spinning to face her. “That’s beause it is. You know that, I shouldn’t have to explain it to you. Im going back out here.”

“Kristoff you almost died last time, you’re not going. What if Joseff was out there with you? He’s just a kid”

Kristoff turned to face the wall, his jaw clenched. “Joseffs coming with me, he’s going to have to learn eventually.”

“What? No he’s not. That’s no place for a child, our child”

A chair hit the wall, shattering into pieces. The power echoed into Joseffs hiding spot as he fell to his knees, holding back tears. Never had he seen his parents fight, not quite like this. Maybe once before, but they were yelling, and screaming. The pieces of the chair rattled down the wall, and came to rest on the floor. Then silence.

Kristoff was visibly seething. “What do you think I did? Do you think I was born in a castle? I was alone, Anna, I worked when I was a kid. I was out there, alone, just a little bit older than him. I was out there. That was my life, and just because im cooped up here, doesn’t mean I can’t keep that part of me intact.”

“Cooped up?” Anna said with visible offense, “You think I’m keeping you locked up? Is that it? You don’t need a job anymore, Kristoff, you don’t need to put yourself in danger anymore. You have a family now, you don’t need to be harvesting ice, or practicing archery, or any of that. You can be safe here.”

“What if I don’t want to be safe? I WANT to be out there Anna”

“Kristoff you almost died. What would I do if I lost you?” Anna was in tears. “Look, I don’t need this”. She left the room in an echoing silence. The door made no sound as she closed it. Nothing was left, except Kristoffs heavy breathing, and Joseff, afraid.

Joseff swallowed his pride, and broke the silence by creaking open his door. “Papa?”

Kristoff turned to his son, suddenly regretful of what he made him witness. “Oh Joseff, Im sorry, were you in there the whole time?”

Joseff stepped from his spot after what felt like an hour. “I was hiding from Auntie”

Kristoff stooped to pick him up, and placed him on his shoulder. “Were you? I think you won. You’re good at hide and seek. Let’s go find her now”. Joseff climbed on, and grabbed on to his head for stability. He put his chin on his father’s head, and looked out the door as it opened.

“There you are little one, I couldn’t find you! You’re good at this!” Auntie Elsa came down the hall, almost as if on cue, and grabbed Joseffs feet and gave them a pinch. “I can’t play anymore though, is that all right?”

Joseff was complacent, but he understood. The queen had important queenie duties. He nodded “That’s okay, auntie Elsa”

Kristoff was less complacent. “We can play now, if you want to. Do you want to see papa work?”

Joseff was visibly excited, patting Kristoff on the head “Yes papa”.

With that they were off. They left the walls of the castle, and entered the wintery hostile of the outside. Kristoff bundled Joseff in a warm coat, and walked out to the fjord with him in his arms. They already had a set of tools out on the ice, as Kristoff was out earlier. The ice sheet was previously tampered; holes dot the ice from the aforementioned encounter. Joseff enjoyed watching his father work, normally they would head out further, into the woods, but today was an easy day

Easy is a relative term.

Stress itself dripped off Kristoff’s brow as he plunged his tool deep into the wet abyss. A grunt heard could spook a crit a mile away, and the heave that followed woke the heavens. He was a hard worker. But this time was different. Another grunt was heard as the saw blade dug into the ice, muscles working at their epitome multiple times over as work was forced. This time he was mad.

Kristoff mumbled under his breath, not very prince like. It was inaudible next to the sounds of the slushing water beneath the ice, sloshing and crashing was the ice as it was cut from its floating precipice. There are only so many ways to explain ice crashing, and a saw blade working its way deep and deeper into the source. It was a hard time, details had a way of blurring into each other and the articulation involved in the job was just a day, a day of putting a thing into another thing to pull out another thing. Simple and relaxing, it was always a fun job. They say you never work a day in your life when you’re an ice harvester, mostly because business was so bad, but also because you enjoy it. The stress of the day has a way of washing away with the frozen water and clearing the mind enough to properly distill negativity and hopelessness on an infinite expanse. But this was not that day.

“You know what, Joseff? She’s not the boss of me! She may be the princess and everything, and I love her, and I want the best for her, and I wouldn’t want to hurt anything about her and gosh is she so beautiful … But this is what I do!” Ice is his life, an overused cliché, but it was true. Joseff knew that, he saw it as he worked, the passion of his ice business burned to darkness compared to the passion for his wife, but at the end of the day, if he was to go out of business, it would not be a simple night’s sleep. “I love her, I love her so much. But, grah. I want to do this, I enjoy it. I know it’s dangerous, but do you think I would bring you out here if I wasn’t certain you could handle it?”

“I can, papa. I’ll show you”

“I know you will, kiddo. Mama’s heart is in the right place.” Kristoff sighed “She just wants to look out for us, doesn’t she?” He was silent as he look back at his son. “You know what Joseff, I’ll tell you what. She’s right”. He placed his saw blade and the rest of his tools back where they came from and sat down next to Joseff. “She’s always right. But I’m right to. At least about this. This is what Bjorgman men do” The whole two of them. “And this is what I want to do, and she needs to at least respect that. She needs to let me do this”. He stood up as quickly as he sat down and took a step back towards the water. “She’s wrong. She’s never been out here, she’s never seen it. She doesn’t know how safe we are, how safe you are. If I could just show her that, then this would be okay. She should tag along some time.”

Joseff jumped in his seat, his little legs pumping in the air at the excitement of working with Mama. “Yes, Mama should come”, he clapped his mittens together as his snow coat swooshy swooshed and couldn’t help but giggle. “Tomorrow, we can all come out to work, all three of us”. He gasped “We can bring auntie Elsa!!” He jumped off his seat and landed on the ice. He slipped as he tried to run to Kristoff and plumped on his little butt

Kristoff ran to catch him and picked him up. Placing his forehead to Joseff’s he let out a deep breath. “I just don’t want any of you getting hurt because of me.” He sighed once more “Why is this so complicated. She’s right, she’s completely right. She’s been right from the start. But she isn’t. But she is. But she really isn’t. “ He groaned at his cyclic argument. “We should go back, I think we should listen to her. She is right, this is dangerous.”

“It isn’t, papa, its safe. I’m okay. Look, okay!” Joseff took his seat again as kristoff planted him back on the sled.

“But not to her. “ He looked into his sons eyes as the simplicity gathered in his blue irises. Looking for any possible wording or solution to the problem that didn’t involve going back, Kristoff fiddled with Joseff’s hood, moved his hair, made up words and phrases in conversation, anything but going back.

“Let’s go back, buddy”

The castle seemed hallowed out, people busy about but not stopping to talk. Kristoff held Joseff’s coat in his arms as he scurried behind him, trying to find any sight of the princess he called Mama. But she was nowhere to be seen.

Halls struck by moon light and paintings hung with servitude and made up adjectives were all that Kristoff could pinpoint. His mind raced of Anna, he pictured her beauty, and her crying, and her panic. He imagined her in his position, out on the ice alone and darkened. He would never let her out there. Let is the keyword, he smiled as he knew she would be out there anyway, they were fighting over nothing.

His stepped echoed as his sons pattered behind continued, but stopped when they came to the door of the fight hours before. It creaked as it opened and Joseff’s footsteps stopped. The child gripped his father’s pant leg as they stepped in. The tension mounted and he felt it like a hot pressure as he entered the room.

There she was, hands intermingled. “Kristoff. We need to talk”

The door closed behind “I know. “ He put his own hands together in nervousness, too anxious to reach for hers, though not without desire. “I know you don’t want me out there.”

“Kristoff” Her eyes stared into his, glancing at his doubt. “You want to be out there though, I can see that”

“I need to be out there”

“I know. But I need you here. I need you to be safe.” She outstretched her hands exiting her palms, and thumbed his. She felt him as she pulled him close, resting his hand on her face. “I need you to keep safe”. She lowered his hand and placed it upon her stomach. “I need you to keep us safe”. A tearful smile crossed her face as she looked him in the eyes and tilted her head, looking for every possible way to tell him she needs him.

“What?” He smiled on his own, a big toothy grin as he planted his hand flat on her belly and wrapped the other around her waist. “Are you…?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, grabbing his arms “Kristoff, I’m pregnant!” She pulled him close and they embraced, she buried her head into his chest and let the tears come flowing.

He did the same, resting his jaw on her shoulder, holding back relief and a smile. Half laughs came out as they held each other. A YES came from Joseff as he hugged Kristoff’s leg with all his might. The moment felt like a lifetime, but they separated and Kristoff picked Joseff up and spun him with all his might.

“Do you want it to be a boy or a girl?” He pulled his wife close as he rested his son upon his arms. A growing family, Anna rested her head upon Kristoff’s chest once again, and pinched her son’s cheek. Relaxation hitting her like a wave of relief.

“A girl”

“A girl, huh? Maybe you’ll get to pick the name” He looked back to his wife and rested his head upon hers, smiling a smile that would smile for years to come if it was capable.

“Heidi!!”

“I didn’t mean this instant”. He laughed and laughed and smiled and smiled. It’s been a long day, but with all they’ve been through, it was worth all of it. Kristoff held his family close and closed his eyes, hoping it would never end.