Chapter Text
THIS IS MY PLANE
*image attached*
LOOK! LOOK AT HOW BIG IT IS
LOOK ELSA LOOK
I see that
HOW COOL IS THIS?!
It is very cool, Anna 😊
YOU DON’T SEEM THAT EXCITED?!
I’m very excited for you, believe me.
I just don’t overdo it on the caps lock
I’m not overdoing it.
rude.
But this is my first time going to Norway!
You should be the more excited for me!
Use all caps!
I’M VERY EXCITED!
YAY! ME TOO!
Oh! We’re about to take off! I gotta put my phone on airplane mode.
I love you! Bye!
I love you, too!
Have fun! Let me know when you land!
I WILL!
Oh, we’re just a tiny bit delayed before the runway.
So, I can talk just a minute more
It’s going to be so fun!!
It’s going to be so beautiful this time of year!
I can hardly wait to see everything!
And meet all the new people!
I’LL BE SURE TO GET A BOYFRIEND WHILE I’M THERE
Anna, please don’t do that.
You’re on vacation.
It’s an art expedition
Art expedition… Vacation… Same thing.
You don’t need to be looking for a romantic encounter.
Yes, but I’m going to have fun 😉
So be ready to meet my future husband when I get back
I’m sure his name will be Lars or something
Having fun and getting emotionally attached are two very different things.
MY FUTURE HUSBAND AWAITS ME BYE!
*****
Kristoff felt like he’d adjusted to life in Norway well.
Going to the Bergen Arkitekt Skole had been the best decision for his career, but he had no idea he was going to love it so much. His Norwegian was good… actually if he wasn’t being modest and went by what his professors said, it was better than good, he was completely fluent and barely had an accent. He actually enjoyed the weather, some of the most beautiful scenery he’d ever seen was right outside the city, and the culture suited him well. While he missed his family, he wasn’t exactly looking forward to moving back home at the end of the week.
But alas. His student visa was officially up. He had his degree. He had a job lined up. It was time to go back, just as he had planned.
He let out a small sigh and looked up at the beautiful church before him.
It was a lovely day and he’d taken a bus up to Fantoft Stave Church to both enjoy the weather and the structure just one last time. Everything he owned was already packed, his bigger stuff already shipped home ahead of him, so sitting in his apartment with nothing but a few suitcases had been a bit depressing.
So, it was best to just get out and see the sights while he still could, and he certainly wouldn’t get a view quite like this one anytime soon.
His eyes slid carefully to the red-haired girl sitting a few feet to his left on a different bench.
He’d noticed her on his bus right away. She was incredibly pretty. Actually, “pretty” might not be a big enough word. She’d smiled at him too, and it had nearly blinded him. He merely nodded in response and rushed to the back of the bus. But of course, he noticed she’d smiled at everyone who boarded. So, he didn’t need to feel special about being on the receiving end of a common courtesy.
Imagine his surprise when she’d got off at the same stop. And he’d been even more surprised when she’d immediately pulled out a sketchpad and sat on a bench just a few feet away from his favorite spot.
He wondered what she was drawing? Was she an architect, too? Did she go to school with him? No, he was certain he would have noticed her before.
He made himself return to his own work.
He studied the church before him carefully, sketching out a final curving line for one of his own designs that he would undoubtedly use in the future.
Then he noticed the girl was rolling her neck and stretching.
Then she glanced over at him suddenly and smiled again.
He gave a brief nod then looked back down quickly, pretending he hadn’t been staring. He had his own things he was working on anyway, and he only had so much time to complete them. He didn’t need distractions. Besides, looking at strangers is rude. He felt like a creep, actually.
“Unnskyld meg? Kunne jeg be om en tjeneste?” Excuse me? Could I ask a favor?
The words startled Kristoff and he glanced up.
The blue eyes looking down at him nearly took his breath away. He hadn’t even heard her walk over.
“Ja?” He replied in Norwegian out of habit, though it was clear from her accent she was American.
“Um… Beklager… ummm….”
The girl standing in front of him began to blush as she pulled out her phone. He found he really liked the way she looked when her cheeks were so pink. Wait, he shouldn’t think such things. Her little fingers began flying over the buttons.
“Uh, sorry.” Kristoff shaking himself and standing up from his spot, realizing he towered over her. “I speak English you don’t have to use google translate.”
“Oh!” The woman looked surprised. “Wow your English is great! You don’t even have an accent.”
“That’s because I’m American.”
“Oh.” The woman looked embarrassed. “Yeah. That… um… yeah that tends to help with your accent. When you grow up speaking English.”
“What were you going to ask me?” Kristoff huffed a small laugh.
“Um, nevermind, actually!” Her cheeks were nearly as red as her hair now and she started to walk away. “It’s stupid.”
“Well now I have to know.” Kristoff said, and she looked back at him carefully. “I mean obviously, I don’t have to know! You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’m just curious, is all. But like I said you don’t have to tell me.”
God, why was he so embarrassing?
The girl laughed at his rambling, but he thought she seemed a little bit more comfortable.
“This is really stupid… so don’t judge me.”
“No promises.”
“But I’m here on vacation and I told my sister I was going to come home with a boyfriend-“
Kristoff felt his eyebrows raise.
“I’m not asking you to be my boyfriend!” She scrambled. “No! I don’t even know your name! Sorry, that was a bad way to start this out! I just want to psyche her out! I was going to ask if you would…. Um take a picture with me in front of this church so I could send it to her…. And I thought you looked local and that this would be easier if you didn’t speak English…”
“You thought it would be easier to explain if I didn’t speak English?” Kristoff was amused.
“Well I thought you might be happier to kiss a random American girl that you’d never see again if you were a local boy.”
“Kiss?” Kristoff repeated, vaguely wondering if he would ever get his eyebrows to return to normal after how high they’d gone now.
“Not anything crazy! Not like making out or anything! Just like on the cheek or something that way my sister would really freak out.” She babbled. “You know what, never mind! This was a stupid idea. Sorry to have bothered you, you were obviously busy!”
“Well I’m really not that busy.”
“No, you look busy, and like you’re working on something very important. I’m sorry!” She started to back away.
“Hey, listen. I’ve got siblings too. Like a million, actually. I get the whole… wanting to get a rise out of them thing.”
“So…?”
Kristoff thought for a moment.
“Tell you what. I’ll do it on one condition. You have to show me what you were drawing.”
*****
“Oh!” Anna said in surprise. “Sure!”
She pulled her sketchbook from her backpack and showed him the simple piece she’d been working on.
“It’s meant to be part of something much bigger." She explained quickly. "I’m an art teacher at a middle school in Minnesota, and our school is doing this bit on Viking history this next year, and we’re doing this big wall mural for it, I’ve already got it approved from the principle, I wanted to find some inspiration for it.”
“You’re from Minnesota?”
“Yeah, Duluth.”
“Really? I’m from Little Marias.”
“Seriously!? That’s so close! Wow, what a small world!”
“Yeah… and you came all the way to Norway for inspiration on a middle school wall mural?”
The words weren’t demeaning, or judgmental. In fact, the man (the very, very hunky man, who she hadn’t realized was quite so tall) before her seemed intrigued. Impressed, even.
She tried not to spend too much time looking at his eyes. She wondered if he would think it was weird if she asked if she could sketch them? Probably.
“Well it’s not just for that. I’ve just always wanted to come here. A bucket list thing. And I needed a vacation. And I wanted inspiration for some of my own work… So, it’s a multi-purpose trip.” She explained.
“I see.” A hint of a smile played on the edges of his lips.
“What about you?” She said abruptly. “What were you drawing?”
“Oh, nothing like this.” He tapped her sketchbook.
“Well you were obviously drawing something.” She pressed.
“Just a quick design for something. I’m an architect.” He picked up the pad from the bench to show her. “Or I will be an architect when I get back home.”
“Wow.” She whistled. “This is very cool.”
“Thanks.” He shrugged.
“No seriously, you’re really talented.”
“So are you.” That hint of a smile grew bigger.
Why did she want him to give her a full smile so much?
“Thanks. Erm… anyway! That picture.” She felt herself blushing again. “If you’re still up for it…”
“Want to snag that little old lady coming out of the church?” He gestured to a woman leaving.
If she wasn’t mistaken his cheeks seemed a bit red too.
“Sure!” She was glad for an excuse not to look in his eyes. “Unnskyld meg? Kunne jeg be om en tjeneste?”
“Ja, Søte jente?”
“Erm…” Anna held out her phone, swiping up so the camera opened, then gestured between her and the handsome man. “Photo?”
“Ja!”
‘I can’t believe I’m doing this! I can’t believe I’ve done this! This is some weird dream and I’m going to wake up as soon as this old woman goes to take our picture!’
“Here.” Anna said holding out her phone to the little lady before her.
“Button?” She asked, Norwegian accent incredibly thick, though she seemed proud for remembering the English word.
“This one right here.” Anna showed her, then hurried back to where the blond was standing.
“Erm…” He awkwardly lifted his arm and she sidled up into him, trying not to revel in the feeling of his big arm across her shoulders. “Is this okay?”
“Yeah. And then just drop a kiss on my cheek.” She nodded, plastering on a quick smile for the woman taking their picture.
He hesitated for a moment, the leaned down.
‘Okay maybe this is real? His lips feel incredibly warm! That’s not something I would be able to feel in a dream, right?’
The tingling sensation she felt as he lingered, waiting for the lady to get a picture was enough to make her giddy.
“Done!” The old woman looked proud of herself.
“Takk!” Anna said rushing over to look at the picture.
It was pretty cute. It would be enough to freak Elsa out. Though it wouldn’t take her long to work out that she’d asked a perfect stranger to give her a peck on the cheek.
Still. It would be worth it.
“Vil du ha en kyssing?” The old woman said.
“Huh?” Anna looked at her.
“Du er et så nydelig par! Du skulle kysse!”
“Um, do you know what she’s saying?” Anna turned back to the big blond man.
She could still feel the ghost of his lips on her cheek
He shuffled his feet a bit.
“She’s saying that we’re a beautiful couple and should take a picture kissing.”
“Oh!” Anna was a bit surprised. “Erm…”
“Diette er greit.” The big man came up to the old woman. “Tusen takk.”
“Å, kom igen! Gi henne et skikkelig kysse! Jeg insisterer!”
Anna thought she understood the last word. It sounded an awful lot like ‘insist’.
“Um.” The man seemed embarrassed. “She’s insisting I give you a real kiss. Did you want me to explain?”
Anna thought for a moment. She was curious...
“No.” She shrugged. “I’m game! I mean, if you are of course! If you’d rather not I understand. I just know this will make my sister so much angrier.”
The man chuckled.
“Well, sure then.” He shrugged. “Why not?”
“Wait, you don’t have a girlfriend or anything like that do you?”
“No, I wouldn’t have agreed to the kiss on the cheek.” His eyebrows drew together.
“Okay. Good then.” Anna grinned, then turned back to the old lady and nodded and pointed to her phone again. “Ja, takk.”
“Ja?” The old woman looked pleased.
“Ja.” She smiled, feeling suddenly very nervous indeed.
She walked back over to the spot she and the stranger had been standing before, her heart thundering in her chest.
‘This will be proof if it’s a dream or not! If I wake up before he kisses me, it’s all just been an elaborate hallucination!’
“Um… before I kiss you... What’s your name?” He asked, moving just a touch closer to her.
“Anna.” She blushed, realizing she’d never given it. “Anna Runeardson.”
“Kristoff Bjorgman.”
“Nice to meet you.” She giggled.
“Nice to meet you too.” He stepped closer still.
“Klar!” The old lady shouted.
“What does that mean?” Anna asked.
“She said she’s ready to take the picture.” Kristoff chuckled. “Are you ready?”
“Yep! I’m in too deep to back out now.” She shrugged with a small grin.
He smiled then. A real smile. And it nearly floored her.
Then he leaned down and kissed her.
‘If this is a dream, I don’t think I want to wake up!’
She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer.
*****
MAREN!
What, Ryder?
Did you see Anna’s Instagram?
No?
Go look! Go look now!
What???
Ohhh nooo.
Elsa is going to freak out
Way to go Anna!
Maybe I should go to Norway and get myself a big burly man like that
The locals are beautiful
This is clearly a joke
It has to be a joke
His tongue is down her throat in the second one
Or maybe her tongue is down his throat?
It’s hard to tell 😉
And in the third one his hand looks awfully close to her ass.
It certainly doesn’t look like a joke to me.
She had to be messing with Elsa
This isn’t real
I’m messaging her right now
What did she say???
She won’t respond to me or Elsa
His name is Kristoff!
He’s an architect! Nice!
Get dat money boo
And apparently super good in bed!
Very nice, but has a massive dick
Perfect combo
WHAT
RYDER!
She did not say that
Maybe she did maybe she didn’t
Oh! And he’s from here!
What??
He’s from Minnesota! He just finished getting a masters of architecture
Went to school in Norway
Also has something to do with landscaping or something
And he’s got a job here with the state parks department!
He’s from Little Marais!
That is insane!
Why won’t she answer me!
You are clearly lying!
No, I’m not!
Jeez, Anna had better keep a close eye on him I might try to snatch him up
Cuz woof
Seriously
I forbid you to steal Anna’s boyfriend
Wait! Is he her boyfriend now???
Sure, seems like it!
*****