Tiny hearts

''A/N: Long note ahead re: issues of Elsa and Anna in this story. I've had a couple of guest reviews that bring up a really good point about this story and where it's going: namely, the 'romance' between Elsa and Anna and the problematic nature of it. Elsa is a human, yes, but she does have the mind of a young child. Not only that, but she does have a 'hero worship' type love for Anna. I am aware of the problems of this, but don't worry! That's what character development is for :D I have no plans to add any smut to this story. As some of you may be aware, I have had some slightly NSFW headcanons I posted on Tumblr; these are just headcanons. They were posted because they weren't going in the story (and I thought they were funny enough to share anyway). To the reviewer who mentioned Anna being a jerk (which I'll talk about next), I do have a plan. I know that Elsa seems pretty ingrained in her dog ways, but I do have the scene planned in which her mentality... shifts, I suppose. There is a catalyst (because there's not enough development in the world to change her from a dog —> human in the span of this story).''

''The other thing is that Anna has been OOC. I do know and apologise somewhat. She's been a bit all over the place. Anna is... well, she just broke up with someone she thought she genuinely loved. And then she bought a dog and loved it but the dog transformed into a human and she couldn't really deal with that. She thought to some extent that life was mocking her. Added to the fact that she's a stressed uni student... My point is that yes, compared to canon-Anna, she has been OOC. However, her development is going to move towards that end. I do apologise that it felt like she was doing it just for drama. But hey, Anna is dramatic. Don't worry, there's going to be very little drama of that sort in the future :) She is a jerk. But she won't be for long. We're already getting back into the swing of humour here :)''

''I hope that clears everything up! I'm sorry if it's confusing, but I do have some idea of what I'm doing (even if a lot of it is in flux). If you have any more questions, you can ask them here or on my Tumblr (link is on my profile). I'm likely to answer that quicker, too, because you don't have to wait for a new chapter for an answer :) Thank you~!''

Clothes – $100

-underwear (yuck), pyjamas, socks (not for chewing) (underwear is also not for chewing)

Food – $60

''-lotta spaghetti. bread. milk. no more pop-tarts ( D: )''

TV – ???

''-try the lost and found. ask kris. DONT ask punz–her bf seems shifty''

REMEMBER TO CALL MOM AND THANK HER FOR MONEY!!!!!

Heaving a sigh, Anna shut her eyes for a moment as she lowered the list. She was skipping Weselton's class to be here (and though she'd use any excuse to get out of that toad's class, it was still unfortunate because she had like, exams and shit coming up) (it didn't stop Rapunzel from offering to tag along. Legit, any excuse—and it seemed to go for everyone).

Opening her eyes, Anna turned her left and opened her mouth to ask Rapunzel a question.

The girl had vanished.

Sucking in another breath, she turned to her right. Maybe Elsa-

Elsa had disappeared too.

Anna groaned and could only hope that the smell of the food court hadn't lured her. She'd have no idea how she'd explain that. Before she could get too worked up, however, her pocked vibrated, emanating a small ding to indicate that she'd received a message. Thanking the heaven's for modern technology, Anna opened up the text and spent a few seconds actually deciphering it.

From: Punz (sent 10:45am)

''heya elsa followed me. come get her pls shes annoygn a baby and idk what to do''

Anna rolled her eyes. She was just about to send a reply (a "where the hell are you?" when her phone beeped again.

From: Punz (sent 10:46am)

''im in that huge department store. at the NOT AT THE KITCHEN STUFF. near the mattresses. youll see elsa as soon as yuo walk in omg omg hurry what the actuAL FUCK ELSA''

And indeed Anna did.

She had to navigate her way through a rather dense crowd of children and mothers with prams (also, pregnant people? what was with all the babies?) to get to Elsa, who was rubbing her face into a rather expensive quilt that was spread across and even more costly mattress.

Rapunzel was at the side, gesturing helplessly. "She won't listen to me!" she cried out, slightly despairing and more than a little desperate. Anna remembered the Bisc- Spaghetti Incident and couldn't blame her cousin.

Especially when they could detect faint moans coming from Elsa. Oh dear.

"Hey, Elsa?" she ventured, stepping forward. She sort of wanted to call the dog- girl to her, but there was a crowd and, taking the Blue Fairy's words to heart (er.... the meaning behind the words, rather) (Anna couldn't remember exactly what was said) she was trying to be nicer. Focus on the cute, not-completely-there Elsa, and not the she's-a-girl-and-should-know-what–she's-doing. Be nice.

She cleared her throat and called Elsa's name again. Elsa paused her... snuffling... and turned to look at Anna, a shy look on her face.

"Soft!" she called out. Anna noticed the crowd dispersing from the corner of her eye, and breathed a small sigh. Beckoning the blonde girl over, Anna realised that she'd have to actually.... train the girl. Oh lord. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing (it would be worse if she didn't), but it was something she had no experience in.

She'd have to ask her mother that, too. That would... not be a fun conversation...

Grasping Elsa's hand, she pulled the girl along. She had a list and she'd be damned if she didn't use it. They needed- she checked the list.

They needed underwear.

"Hey, Elsa," she said to the girl next to her. "Don't leave my side, okay? It's really big and we don't want you to get lost. Okay?"

Elsa nodded her head emphatically. "Not lost!" she said. "Elsa always find Anna."

Anna let out a little smile. "Yeah. Okay, the first thing we have to get you is some underwear."

She let out a little laugh when Elsa stuck her tongue out, face contorting into a frown. It was stranger, though, watching the expression melt into a grin and Anna realised that it was the sound she had made.

"Come on, Elsa. It's not that bad."

It was that bad. It was even badder than 'that bad'. Anna wondered briefly if her mother ever had such difficulty buying her underwear. Perhaps that was misleading.

Getting the underwear was simple. All Anna had to do was find her own size and buy one of the pre-packed five-pairs-for-ten-bucks (she wore the same ones. She made sure to get different colours, though).

However, bra shopping was another matter entirely. Elsa had definitely.... well.

Elsa definitely needed a bra. Possibly two, preferably three or four.

Elsa did not want a bra. At all. And dear lord the shop assistant's face when she noticed that Elsa was wearing a collar was... wow. Anna regretted not forcing Elsa to take it off that morning, but the damage was done. The blonde had argued against it being removed—out of all her items of clothing, she felt most naked without it on. She actually freaked out a little.

Now, in Bras 'n' Things, she was still freaking out. Rapunzel had disappeared quickly—fast enough to avoid looking like she was part of Elsa's group. Anna had no idea where she went, but resolved to force her to pay for lunch.

Perhaps the most annoying thing was that Elsa didn't mind the bras. She even put one on her head, Lilo and Stitch-style. But as soon as Anna had picked out three or four pretty ones (in a few different sizes because she had no idea what would fit Elsa), the blonde dug her heels in and refused to step into the change room.

"No! No nono Anna no!"

"Elsa, please. Come on, you've got to-"

"No! Anna no! NO!"

Once again, the stares were there. Anna shoved her hand over Elsa's mouth to silent her. only to yank it back a few seconds later, crying out.

The sight of a deep imprint of teeth, ringed red by small beads of blood, was enough to shut Elsa up.

"You bit me!" Anna accused, half in pain and half annoyed. Elsa's eyebrows furrowed, and she curled in on herself a little, tears filling her eyes.

And now that Anna was actually paying attention, she realised how quickly her anger faded at the submissive gesture. "Nono- Elsa, it's okay, okay? I'm sorry. My hand is fine." She wiggled her fingers at Elsa's nose, resulting in a watery laugh.

"Anna... not hurt? Elsa hurt Anna." Anna nodded.

"That did hurt, Elsa, but it's my fault and I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?"

Elsa nodded her head and threw her arms around Anna's neck. "Yesss...." she murmured. "Elsa... sorry too."

Anna gently unhooked the Elsa's arms from around her.

"It's okay, Elsa. I forgive you. It was an accident." She gave Elsa a small smile, pleased to see it echoed on the blonde girl's face. "Now... please will you at least get one?"

Elsa's smile dropped a little as she looked at the handful of bras still in Anna's hand. Actually, the smile turned into more of a grimace. "Elsa have to?"

Anna nodded. "At least one, okay? You'll thank me later, trust me."

But Elsa shook her head. "Make Anna happy?"

Anna could have let out a sigh of relief at that. "Fuck yes- I mean... yes, it will make me happy."

Elsa shot her a wary glance before finally nodding. "'Kay... One. Elsa put on one."

Anna nodded and exited the stall, giving Elsa her privacy. She didn't expect to have every single face in the store look at her. She let out a weak chuckle and a wave.

Oh my god this girl is going to be the death of me...

An hour and five bra mishaps later, Anna and Elsa finally walked out of the store. Mishaps like Elsa running out in a panic because she couldn't get one of them off, and like her running out of the store in pure excitement because she heard the Salvos bells ringing and she couldn't resist. Anna had thrown her wallet at the cashier as collateral while she chased down her half-naked charge. Thankfully, Elsa had become distracted by one of the swirly-donation boxes that looking like a coin was going down a drain. She had to drag Elsa into the nearest bathroom just so she could shove a shirt onto her.

Everyone had also happened to see the fact that she was wearing a collar. Hooray!

Anna had also learned some valuable information that she was probably going to forget later (like how Elsa actually had a pretty damn good figure and that wasn't fair because she didn't even realise how hot she looked. Also, blue. Perfect for her) (Anna wasn't going to forget that. She'd probably only forget Elsa's bra size, if she were honest. She couldn't even remember her own half the time). Anna had also had to buy a (now-broken) set of lace underwear after Elsa became bored waiting for her to try on her own set of bras and began chewing on them.

The store-ladies were not impressed. Elsa was delighted.

On the way to the huge department store at the end of the complex, Anna wondered if she could actually put a leash on Elsa's collar, because the girl seemed to have the fantastic ability to not listen to a single word Anna was saying and wander off. Honestly, she wasn't causing any harm, it was just incredibly stressful. Watching her toddle after little children was cute (until she got a 'stern talking to' by an angry mother about being a 'paedophile' and 'kidnapper' and promptly burst into tears because of it. She didn't know why she was getting into trouble! That wasn't fair. All she'd been doing was watching the kid as he attempted to eat his own toes. Y'know. Kid stuff).

So, Anna pulled Elsa to one of the seats along the side of the wall and pulled Elsa into a tight embrace because she was shaking so hard. She texted Rapunzel a quick food court in 10 as she attempted to calm Elsa down, though they kept getting weird looks from all the other shoppers, making Anna squirm uncomfortably in her place (which might have actually been because of Elsa's tongue, licking at her neck) (... actually, that probably was why people were staring, if she were honest. Somehow, that reason was far less... humiliating). Plus, it seemed to calm Elsa down, and calm Elsa was far less embarrassing than worked up Elsa (see: Salvos Incident during the Bra Shop).

"Elsa bad?" she asked a few minutes later, after she'd calmed down a bit. Eyes red-rimmed and puffy, mouth curled downward slightly, she just looked so despondent.

"No, Elsa. You weren't bad at all. That lady was mean, wasn't she?" Elsa nodded. "And you know, yelling at people doesn't solve anything coz they just get sad and upset." Anna brought her hand up and wiped a stray tear that trickled down Elsa's cheek. "You know what you should do when someone says something mean?"

"Bite."

"Mhmm, that's righ- wrong. That's wrong, Elsa. We don't bite. We ignore them because if they say something mean, they obviously don't know anything about you. Because you're not mean, are you?"

Anna gave a small smile when Elsa shook her head. "Elsa not mean. Elsa not mean. Elsa not mean," she repeated to herself, looking at her lap.

"Nope. Elsa very nice and friendly. And people who don't know that aren't worth your time at all. Understand?"

Elsa nodded slowly. Her eyes flickered to Anna's for a moment, mouth poised to speak before she shut her lips, nodding again. Anna grinned.

"Good. Now, how do you feel about lunch? I want a burrito..."

The way Elsa was looking at Anna, beneath heavy (still-red) eyes and light bang, was intense. And adorable. She puffed out her cheeks and blew a small breath.

"Elsa get biscetti?" she asked, and Anna couldn't help the eye-roll, topped off with a small grin.

"Of course you can get biscetti," she said. "Or maybe you want something else? Like a burger?" Elsa shook her head. "A sandwich? Pizza? Chinese food?" Elsa shook her head to all three.

"Biscetti!"

And how could Anna say no to that smile?

Taking Elsa's hand, they walked together to the food court. It had definitely been over ten minutes, but Rapunzel had definitely found a way to entertain herself in that time.

"Hi, Punz. Eugene."

"It's Flynn!" groused an olive-tanned, brown-haired boy. He gave Anna a cocky grin, and she found herself rolling her eyes again (this time unaccompanied by a smile).

It wasn't that Anna didn't like Eu- Flynn (though that name-switching didn't help. It wasn't a cool nickname when they first met, and it wasn't now). It was more... well, his rep. He'd been in foster care (not that there was a problem with that, but again. Rep) and had taken up petty thieving. When he met Rapunzel, he'd actually been on the run after lifting a pretty pricey piece of jewellery. He was lucky that her family owned the store. Anna didn't have the full story (it was very convoluted and it changed with each rendition), but after a lot of shit and then some, they'd managed to fall in love. He returned the pretty things he'd stolen, apologised, and they'd been going steady for over a year.

He was a nice guy. Funny, friendly, owns up to his mistakes. The whole shebang. He just... skeeved Anna out a little sometimes. So, she did what any skeeved person would do: she pulled Rapunzel to the side to hiss at her.

"What's he doing here?" she (actually) hissed. "Wasn't this a girl's day?"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes, not bothering to keep her voice down as Anna had done. The food court was pretty full, and the generic rumbling of chit-chat was enough to drown out most of their noise.

"He came up to me. It's not like I invited him. And anyway, you and Elsa were doing your thing. I was bored."

"Girl's. Day. It's not my fault you wandered off!" Anna pinched the bridge of her nose. "Whatever. We've done our underwear shopping so I guess it doesn't really matter."

It sort of did matter, though. Anna was trying to get Elsa used to people, especially people Anna knew and was close with. She didn't need Eugene—Flynn—corrupting her so early in her development. She needed Elsa to-

"No!"

Anna's thoughts broke when a loud cry punctuated the air. She turned (as did everyone, it seemed), only to see Elsa and Eug- fuck it. Eugene. Elsa and Eugene having some kind of showdown.

"No!" Elsa yelled again. Her hands were balled at her waist, knees bent and looking like she was a second away from leaping and smacking Eugene right in his 'smoulder'. Anna was next to Elsa in seconds, Rapunzel on her heels.

"Shh, Elsa. What is it? What did he do?" Anna asked, taking Elsa's head in her hands. Anything to calm the girl down and get the attention away from them. Everyone probably thought that she was a little special (and she was, in a way. Anna couldn't imagine that there were too many people that were once dogs living in her area).

Elsa didn't answer, though. She just squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. "Noooo..." she whined into Anna's hands. "Nooo..."

"Eugene, what did you do to my do- Elsa. What did you do to my Elsa?" she asked, pulling Elsa into a hug that the blonde accepted gladly. It was a struggle not to smile at the small, plaintive whines coming from the girl. Something like that should be annoying, not adorable!

Eugene shrugged. "Look, she was telling me about biscetti and all I said was that the pasta place shut down to make way for a Starbucks."

Elsa's small 'no's turned into cries of, "Biscettiiiiii....." that Anna absolutely couldn't hide away.

"Aww, honey," she cooed. "You want some of my burrito? Or chips? Taco?"

Elsa shook her head. And then she stopped. And she glanced up.

"Taco?" she asked, face breaking into a wide grin. "Tacoooo. Taco, taco, taco. Taco." She let out a giggle. "Taco."

Anna nodded emphatically. "Yep. Let's go get you a taco."

She ignored Eugene's parting, "... My Elsa?" comment.

====

Elsa didn't hate the taco. She curled her nose up at the guacamole and picked out the tomato, but other than that she seemed to enjoy it.

Naturally, the sour cream when up her nose and she panicked trying to get it out before Anna held a tissue in front of her nose and told her to blow. Elsa had dived right back into her food, a happy smile on her face as she chewed with her mouth open and Rapunzel and Eugene stared.

"So..." the only male at their table began. "How did you two meet?"

Oh shit, oh shit Anna hadn't come up with an excuse yet. She met Rapunzel's gaze, but her cousin was absolutely no help at all. She looked just as 'deer-in-the-headlights' as Anna felt.

And Elsa just sat there, scooping up the remnants of her taco (which now looked more like a baby had puked on her plate).

"Uhh...."

"Adopt!"

Three sets of eyes turned to look at Elsa. She had cream around her mouth (and a smudge on her forehead. And covering her hands), and if Anna were completely honest, it was a little... Gross. Even the kid at the table a few meters away was looking at Elsa in wonder.

Anna made a mental note to buy some wet wipes. For now, though, her friends were looking at her, waiting for her reaction to Elsa's declaration. Anna had no idea what to say, but Elsa seemed content to fill the silence.

"Elsa not have home, so Anna take Elsa to Anna's home. Elsa met Sven and Sven and made snowmen and biscetti." She looked up and grinned. "And now Elsa happy coz Elsa have Anna."

The red-head in question just sat there, slightly gobsmacked and more than a little surprised. She couldn't remember a time where Elsa been so understood. And helpful. This was about the most helpful she'd been.

No one else said a word, either. Anna was fairly confident that Rapunzel would keep her mouth shut as to Elsa's origins, at least until they figured something out. Or the fairy came back. Either or.

But Eugene didn't seem to care that the story was a little… suspicious. He was nodding, brows furrowed thoughtfully and sparing Anna a glance she wasn't sure she recognised.

"That's… really decent of you, Anna," he said after a moment. "I didn't think you'd do something like that."

Now it was Anna's turn to furrow her eyebrows. "Why not?"

Eugene shrugged. "Because you live on campus in a single-person dorm. There's barely enough room for you in there, let alone another person. And let's be reasonable, it's not like the campus police are happy about freeloaders. How you got permission is beyond me." He scratched the back of his head. "Anyway, I better go. Helping out at the store today coz one of the other guys called in sick. I'll see ya around." He bent down a gave Rapunzel a kiss on her cheek. "It was nice meeting you, Els-"

Eugene had turned around, arm outstretched to shake Elsa's hand. Or, he would have, had the girl actually been sitting in her seat.

Anna's eyes widened and she shot out of her seat. "Elsa!" she called out. "Elsa?! Elsa-!"

Before Eugene or Rapunzel could say a word, Anna had burst forward, running towards a shock of blonde hair. Elsa seemed to be sniffing something along the wall of the food-court, turning around in circles. The two adults left seated at the table watched in confusion as Anna reached Elsa and pushed her away from her spot.

"Your cousin is crazy," Eugene said. Rapunzel could only sigh.

"She's always been like that."