Once Upon A Time High

Chapter Eight

---Don't own Disney. If I did, Hans would have his own movie---

Hans

In that moment, there were about a million things that Hans could have done, a million ways he could have saved Elsa from falling, a million things he could have said when she started crying. But he couldn't thing of a single damn thing to do.

Instead, he watched her collide with the waiter and hit the floor with a smack. He saw her go limp for a moment before beginning to moan as a steady flow of tears fell from her eyes. He wanted to go back in time five minutes and reposition himself, prepare himself to catch the delicate young woman. To even just say hello at the right moment so that she never crossed paths with the waiter.

But that wasn't in his control. However, after a split second of hopelessness, he gathered his wits and rushed towards Elsa. He helped her sit up and offered to drive her to the hospital. Her friend, Rapunzel, tried to argue with him but, one word from Elsa about how her Mother would react, and she quickly acquiesced to his request. He used the injured teen's phone to call her sister, Anna, and carefully placed her in his truck before driving off to the hospital with the knowledge that Anna was on her way.

It was so stressful keeping his cool with her in the car; he had pictured the very scenario thousands of times but it normally involved a date of some sort. He gripped the wheel so tightly his knuckles were white and his companion seemed to have noticed.

"Why are you so nervous?" She asked as if she had just told a rather funny joke, no doubt the endorphins were starting to kick in, "I'm the one who probably has a concussion." He managed a small smile but struggled for a moment with words. It would be the first thing he would ever say to her and he didn't want to screw it up.

"I just want to make sure that we get there safely," He said lamely, his poorly chosen words repeating themselves in his head. Damn it, he thought, Why can't I ever think straight when she's around?

"I see, although I guess this is kind of a stranger danger situation, huh?" She smiled at him, high off adrenaline. Her smile was calm and sincere it made him want to kiss her until he couldn't see straight. Some guys were turned on by exposed flesh, and that never hurt, but his kryptonite was the smile of an innocent, wise, stunning girl who didn't even know his name.

Right, his name; he needed to tell her his name.

"I'm Hans," he said quickly, "And you're Elsa. See I'm not a creeper. We go to the same school. I just happened to be the one with a car when you needed an ride to the hospital." He smiled tentatively back at her, praying that what he had said didn't seem stupid or weird.

"Well I can't argue with that logic," she teased with a soft, musical laugh that left Hans tingling. He smiled at her but said nothing else the rest of the drive. Little did he know, as he was agonizing over whether or not he should break the silence, Elsa Arendelle was attempting to form an opinion about him.

He was undoubtedly handsome with his mischievous smile, gorgeous eyes, and tall built frame, but that wasn't what the intelligent blonde was trying to analyze. She was studying his mannerisms, sincerity, and sense of humor—which she felt he had, but was holding back due to the situation—trying to piece together his character. After another five minutes of silence, she sighed in frustration and gave up. It seemed that she would simply have to get to know the mysterious teen better in order to discover what kind of guy he was.

When Hans heard her almost impatient sigh, he immediately began to fret that he had somehow upset or annoyed her. Should he speak? Should he remain silent? He ran thousands of different conversations through his head, trying to pick the best one to start but came up empty handed.

"So have you ever been to the hospital before?" He asked awkwardly, wishing he jump in front of a bus. She let out a small laugh before nodding. Apparently, she'd been sick a lot as a kid so she had to get a lot of blood tests.

"Have you?" She looked at him with a soft smile on her face and he almost forgot how to breathe.

"Er, yeah. Loads of times. I have thirteen brothers that all played sports and were constantly breaking something." Her eyes went wide as she processed what he had just said. Thirteen brothers? She thought, although she loved her sister, that one sibling was bad enough.

The rest of the trip was, oddly enough, filled with easy laughter and playful teasing. By the time they reached the hospital, Elsa believed that she had made the acquaintance of one of the cutest, funniest guys at Once and Hans was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

The conversation was enjoyable and she seemed excited to share her jokes and opinions with him but that only turned his small spark of worry into a full-fledged fire. What if he told a joke and she didn't laugh? Or she was just faking her amusement? Or maybe, she had an awful concussion and wouldn't remember him the day.

The next morning, Hans awoke with a start. He had plans. Important plans. Important lunch plans. The night before seemed like a dream, an impossible and amazing dream. He just couldn't believe that Elsa, the girl he'd been pining after for years, was actually into him to some extent. At this point, he didn't care if she only wanted someone to carry her history book ; he would be whatever she wanted so long as she wanted him.

Hans was, by nature, a bit of a mystery to many of the girls at school. He was tall, handsome, and relatively quiet. He was like a pleasant Adam Bête, but he was willing to change that. He could become a bit more square-ish for the school's poster child. Little did he know, it was his mysterious ways that drew the beautiful young woman in. He was just the slice of danger that she had been looking for.

Howdy Y'all,

This chapter has taken me way too long and isn't nearly as long as I had hoped but I'm pretty happy with it. I had a realization that Hans' storyline can't really progress anymore for a few chapters so that's about as far as I could go. I really hope that you all enjoy it. Also, about the whole time issue, I can't promise weekly chapters. I thought I would be able to do that, but I'm a month into my junior year of high school and it has become painfully obvious that I just don't have that kind of time. But fear not because I'm going to try to post every two to three weeks and even more so over three day weekends or breaks. This winter, I'll probably get out like six chapters in two weeks. Anyways, I'm do the best I can and I hope it pays off. I want to start adding in Tiana and Prince Eric a bit more so they will most likely be in the next chapter or so. And Adam and Belle will be a topic in the next couple chapters as well. As always, I take character suggestions and I promise that I'm working hard to get the already requested characters into the story.

Lots of love to you all,

--SSSTD