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"A hippo!"

"A lion!"

"Your aunt Linda!"

"(Y/N), stop!" Anna snorts out, her composure slipping as she laughs at her friend. The family had decided to play a few rounds of charades before bed, and to say that they were having a good time would be an understatement.

"What?" (Y/N) chuckles from her space beside Espen on the velvet couch, her body tucked comfortably into his side as her feet pulled together under her form. "The growling, slow eye movement, it has to be her!"

Espen shakes his head from beside her, adjusting himself so he would be able to run his right hand through her hair. "That's not very nice, my dear." He scolds, causing his lover to roll her eyes.

"Shush and eat." (Y/N) whines, snatching a chocolate chip biscuit from a plate beside her and stuffing it into her boyfriends mouth, her fingers move to his cheek and push against it, causing Espen to whine at the feeling.

"Shtawp fwat.." he mumbles, his mouth full. He moves his head to the side, and his brows raise as he locks eyes with a grinning Kristoff. The blonde moves his eyes down to the King's pocket, and moves his lids up and down.

Espen shakes his head quickly, signaling for his friend to knock his foolishness off and stopping as (Y/N) moves her head forward, her eyes pulled together.

"..Kristoff are you having a seizure?"

"Hey! Pay attention!" Anna calls from the front, everyone's attention moving towards her. Espen shakes his head before relaxing, and allowing his sister to continue.

Anna growls, and stomps her feet, receiving several answers from her audience.

"Lion?"

"We already said that!"

"Grizzly bear?"

"Brown bear!"

"Monster?"

Espen clutches a silk pillow to his chest as he runs his fingers up and down his girlfriends sides. (Y/N) presses her cheek against his shoulder, and giggles as she watches her friend.

"Hans?" She jokingly questions, immediately shooting up from the couch as Anna gasps and nods at her. "Um! Okay! Let me think!" Espen watches with an adoring smile as (Y/N) shoots random answers, her face pulled together and lips pulled into a frown.

She was beautiful.

"Unredeemable monster!" Espen finally calls out, his sister shaking her head.

"Greatest mistake of your life?"

"Wouldn't even kiss you!"

(Y/N) closes her eyes for a second, before gasping and standing from the couch, a finger raised as she yells. "Villa-!"

And just like that, she looses.

"Oh come on!" She huffs as Sven rings the bell, announcing the end of the round. "Ah, (Y/N) you had it!" Anna chuckles out a whine, "Villan."

A collective 'oh' is heard throughout the room, as (Y/N) slumps back into her space and pushes her face into the pillow that her boyfriend held. "I had it.." he rmuffled complaint seeps through the material.

"We all kind of got it." Olaf says, his little feet swinging.

"Okay Olaf, your up." Kristoff says, the little snowman nodding and waddling towards the center. "Okay, it's so much easier now that I can read."

He collects a slip of paper from Sven, before taking a moment to read it and nodding. "Lighting round, boys against girls."

The bell rings, and the group prepare themselves. Olaf shifts, and (Y/N) nods before going to speak. "Uni-!"

"Unicorn!" Espen yells, Olaf nodding and shifting again. "Oi!" (Y/N) huffs, shoving her partners shoulder with a glare. Anna and Kristoff take note of their competitive behavior, and decide to sit this round out as the young couple glare at eachother.

"Ice cream!"

"Castle..Oaken!"

"(Y/N) you can't put your hand in my face and expect to win another point by cheating.."

"Would you rather I shoved my foot up your-!"

"Guys!" Kristoff yells, "Focus?!"

"Teapot!"

"Mouse!!"

"Oh! Espen!" (Y/N) finally calls, out of breath and panting as her palm was shoved against her boyfriends cheek, and his the same.

"Wow!" Anna chuckles, "You guys are..aggressive!" Both adults scoff at eachother, before snickering and butting the sides of their heads together. "You are insufferable." Espen breaths out, his girlfriend chuckling along.

"You wouldn't have it any other way, trust me."

Espen nods, and gets up to play. (Y/N) and Anna switch places, and the Knight shoves her foot into Kristoff's stomach as she lays her feet on his lap and her head in Anna's

"..get your troll feet off my lap."

"Says the boy who was literally raised by trolls."

"This is gonna be a cinch." Anna's voice brings them back from the bickering. "Siblings versus siblings, me and Espen, one mind."

(Y/N) and Kristoff glance at eachother at the mention of 'siblings', and smile softly before getting comfortable and allowing the King to pick a piece of paper.

Espen goes to reach for one, but stops as Sven shoved a tiny slip of paper into his hand, before winking (can reindeers wink?) and moving away.

The young man raises a skeptical brow before shrugging and gently unfolding the paper, his jaw going slack at the words.

'Propose!!'

His eyes widen and face becomes warm as he re-reads the word, over, and over again before sucking a deep breath and looking up.

Anna watches him with an innocent smile, (Y/N) watches him with a frown and a head tilt..Olaf was busy staring out the window, and Kristoff watches him with wide eyes, gesturing to the (H/C) girl with his head, quite aggressively to.

Espen gulped slowly, as his palms become uncomfortably cold. He stared at (Y/N), the love of his life, his muse, the person who helped shape him to become the King he is today.

'Okay..proposing, how hard could that be, right? It's not like I'm proposing to the Captain of the guard, a women who's able to break any man's ego with just a look!! Yeah..how hard could it be..'

Taking in one last breath, Espen nods to himself before locking eyes with (Y/N) and bending his right knee. He digs his hand into his pocket, and grasps the emerald green box with tight fingers.

"Ah-uh-ah-ah!"

That voice, the voice that had been plaguing him and his mind for god knows how long. Why now of all times did it decide to call out to him?!

He stops short in his tracks, quickly stuffing the box back into his pocket and straightening his stance, Espen turns around with wide eyes, and stares out the window.

"Oh, uh, alarmed?" Anna asks. (Y/N) shakes her head and sits up before making her way over.

"Um, worried? Panicking? Disturbed?"

His sisters words are muffled, as his head felt like it was being forced underwater. His breathing began to pick up as frost built up at the edges of his fingertips.

'Why, just why? Everything was supposed to be okay now! So why now? Why is this happening? Am I cursed? Am I the curse? Can my family no longer be safe because of me?! Do I need to leave? Do I need to-!'

"Hey..are you okay?" (Y/N)'s soft voice breaks him out of his raging thoughts. Her eyes grow wide as she sees water beginning to overflow in Espen's eyes.

Quickly shrugging off her fathers jacket and pushing the hood over his head, (Y/N) grabs his hand and pulls him quickly out the room. "Hey, I think we'll head to bed, okay?" She calls to her friends, nodding once to Anna with a small smile before exiting.

...

Kristoff watches nervously as Anna turns her back to him, Olaf and Sven having gone to bed for..bedtime stories? Quickly, the boy throws more logs into the fire, causing it to burn brighter.

Next, he grabs a few mint leaves from a nearby plant before chewing them and smelling his breath, shaking his head before moving along.

Quickly fishing a small, but beautiful ring out his pocket, Kristoff holds it between his hands and watches as his girlfriend furrows her brows, her back still turned.

"Did Espen seem, weird to you?"

"He..seemed like Espen?"

Anna hums, but continues anyway, not noticing her boyfriend down on one knee mere inches away from her.

"That last word really seemed to throw him, what was it?" Bending down and shifting through the papers, Anna tries to find her brother, all the while, Kristoff was still trying to propose.

"I don't know uhm..but uh.."

"Oh here!" Anna grabs the small slip of paper and unwraps it. The princess gasps loudly, her eyes wide and cheeks red as she reads the one word.

"Propose?! He was gonna propose!!" She yells out frantically, waving her hand in the air and knocking the ring out of Kristoff's hands. The boy fumbles for it, and groans as it rolls under the couch.

"That's why he got so nervous! Having all of us around must have thrown him off, wait..you knew about this??!" She yells all in one breath, turning to the backside of her boyfriend with a glare.

"Well I..uh..I.." he stammers out, his cheek against the floor as he kept trying to reach for the ring.

"Oh, nevermind, I better go check on him." Without another second, Anna sits up straighter, and gently pecks Kristoff on the lips as he turns to her again. "Thanks honey, love you." She bids him a goodbye, leaving the man to slump onto the floor.

"..love you too..it's fine."

...

Within their room, (Y/N) hummed softly as she ran her fingers through her boyfriends soft hair, undone and draped beautifully across her lap.

"You have a beautiful voice." Espen mumbles from his spot on her lap, his knees tucked to his stomach and fingers curled under her thighs.

"Coming from you? Maybe I should join a choir..what do you think?" (Y/N) jokes softly, her voice gravely but sweet, like honey on oak wood. Espen chuckles tiredly at her, only prompting (Y/N) to take the joke further.

She gasps in mock offense, "Are you laughing? My own boyfriend? Oh how betrayed I feel.." she flops backwards onto the bed, sobbing dramatically into her arm as she turns her head.

"How heartbreaking.." Espen mumbles, army crawling his way up her chest, his face coming to snuggle into her neck as he feels her arms wrap around his shoulders.

A giggle sounds from underneath him, and (Y/N) stares into his bright blue eyes, noting how he held tiny purple flecks in his irises, the spitting image of the rarest of snowflakes.

"Your gorgeous, Espen.."

"You think so?"

"..well if your going to be so smug about it then no."

The two erupt into chuckles and snorts, but stop as five rhythmical knocks sound from their door. Espen gently rolls off of his girlfriend and sits straighter, as (Y/N) remains laid against the soft sheets. "Come in."

Anna gently walks through the door, and smiles as she catches sight of her brother and friend. "Yup, somethings wrong."

"With you?" Espen asks in genuine worry, (Y/N) chuckles and shakes her head, allowing Anna to lay beside her, both girls shoulder to shoulder as the King remained sitting.

"No, with you." Anna points out. "You're wearing mothers scarf." The princess brings her hand up and gently tugs at the material, her brother doing the same with a small smile.

"You do that when somethings wrong." Quickly she gasps, her hands flying to her mouth as she sits up, the bed shaking at her movement. "Did we make you uncomfortable? I'm sorry if we did! Honestly I didn't even know you were going to ask tonight!"

With wide eyes, Espen quickly shakes his head at his sister, before looking away as (Y/N) sits up with raises brows.

"Ask who what now? Is there something I didn't schedule? A meeting?!" Quickly jumping to conclusions, (Y/N) thinks of all the possible duties that she might not have scheduled or done for the day.

"No no, it's nothing, my dear." Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Espen allows her to lean into him, and calms her. With a deep breath, the Knight shakes her head and points to the two siblings. "You both know I hate it when you keep secrets."

Anna chuckles, "We're not keeping anything from you! Promise!"

Espen watches them with a small smile, before frowning and looking down. "There's this..I just don't want to mess things up.." he sighs, clutching the scarf closer to his person.

(Y/N) watches him with a frown, as Anna moves around the bed to come and sit by his other side. "What things? Your doing great!" The princess tries, her brother shaking his head slowly.

"Oh Espen, when are you going to see yourself the way I see you..the way we all see you?" (Y/N) asks with a tilt of the head. She grabs her partners hand, and brings it to her lips before setting a small kiss to the back of it.

Espen feels his lids drop as he watches her, his cheeks becoming warm. "What would I do without you..either of you?" Gently reaching up, Espen ruffles his sisters hair before bringing them both into a hug, and squeezing them tight.

They were his safe space after all. The only two people who truly understood him.

"You'll always have us." Anna says with a smile, grabbing her brother's and (Y/N)'s hands and squeezing them.

Quickly pulling away, the princess shuffles backwards onto the bed and lays against a pillow. "I know what you need, come on, come here."

"What?" Espen chuckles, shaking his head but complying as he and (Y/N) move closer together.

"In mama's words, 'cuddle close, scorch in'"

(Y/N) settles between the siblings, as Anna laid against her left shoulder, and Espen smoothed his head into her lap once again.

The siblings breath in deep together as the young women moves her fingers against the bridge of Anna's nose, causing her to bob her head sleepily.

"Where the Northwind, meets the sea."

Gently adjusting her boyfriends scarf, (Y/N) sings softly as she feels the two becomes heavier, the shoulders going slack.

"There's a river, full of memory.."

Espen softly joins in, as he takes his partners hand into his, and runs his thumb across her knuckles.

"I know what your doing.." he sings out, both (Y/N) and Anna chuckling as the Knight continues to move her fingers up and down their noses.

"Sleep, my darling, safe and sound, for in this river all is found."

Quickly moving around, (Y/N) pulls a spare blanket from the edge of the bed and drapes it across Anna's shoulders, before moving the princess to lie more comfortably against the bed.

(Y/N) goes to move, but stops as Anna sleepily grabs her hand holds it close.

"..thank you..mom.."

(Y/N) feels her breath hitch, and her eyes to become blurry. She looks away and sniffs, before composing herself.

With a deep breath, the soldier feels her feet buckle as she rubs the younger siblings shoulder, prompting her back to sleep and moving along to her boyfriend.

She clears her throat softly, and playfully pokes Espen's face. "Open your arms.." she whispers, causing him to do so and allowing her to move inside them and wrap her own arms around his shoulders. "..love you, (Y/N).." Espen mumbles into her neck.

(Y/N) smiles softly as she leans her head down and places a gentle kiss stops his head, before closing her eyes and drifting off.

"Love you too, Espen.."

——