kristanna

3: were you raised in a barn?

Kristoff had only been living in the castle for a week, and Elsa was already getting on his nerves. It seemed as if she spent every waking moment correcting his manners. He heard the question, "Were you raised in a barn?" at least a dozen times each day, and every time she said it, it bothered him more and more. 

Late one night, he got home after a long day of harvesting ice, and was terribly exhausted. He walked through the castle, toward his and Anna's room. He was too tired to notice that his boots were trailing mud throughout the castle. 

"Kristoff!" Elsa exclaimed. As soon as she said his name, he knew what was coming. He turned around to see her running after him. Not far behind her was a maid holding a wet mop. The door to the bedroom opened and Anna stepped out, having been woken by Elsa's yelling.

"Were you raised in a barn?" Elsa yelled. There it was, the question that he had been hoping not to hear. He turned and slammed his fist against the wall, causing all three women to jump. Anna cautiously stepped away from him. He had finally snapped. 

"You know what, Elsa? I was raised in a barn! And I'm tired of you making me feel like shit about it!" he yelled, matching Elsa's tone.

"I was raised in a barn by a mother and father that worked their asses off just  to make sure we had a roof over our heads and food on the table! They did the best they could! And when they died, I was raised in the woods! By trolls! So yeah, I'm gonna screw up sometimes! I'm sorry I wasn't raised properly in a castle like you were!"

A look of shock spread over Elsa's face. She had never been treated with anything but respect, and she wasn't sure how to handle the situation. She stood frozen in place. Her younger sister, however, reacted very differently. Anna approached Kristoff and rubbed his arm to calm him down as tears sprung to his eyes. She gave her sister a pleading look. 

"Kristoff, I'm so sorry" Elsa said softly, not realizing until that moment the extent of his upbringing. "I'm just so used to things being neat and clean. I promise that I'll try my best to be less... uptight." Maybe she would even eat with her elbows on the table, she thought to herself.

"Thank you" he said quietly, before Anna nudged him in the rib. "And I'll try my best to work on my manners, your majesty" he added.

Kristoff removed his boots, and the maid took them from him. Everyone parted ways and went back to their rooms. 

After taking a long, warm bath, Kristoff climbed into bed next to Anna. He may have been raised in a barn, but he loved how nice it felt to live in a castle.