I'm dealing with some issues right now (inspirational and general) so updates may be a bit less frequent for some time :).

By the way, up above you'll see a cover I made for a potential Frozen AU. Just to be clear...

Elsa/Kai

Anna/Nya

Kristoff/Jay

Sven/Wisp

Olaf/Flame

Hans/Cole

Trolls/Orcs

I'm mentioning characters like the orcs because I'm going to make some... alterations to the story, to say the least... Cole isn't actually going to be the villain this time ;).

Enjoy!

Nya's POV

What did I get myself into? Well, I'll tell you. I managed to get stuck on a motorcycle for at least an hour with a person I'm supposed to be mad at.

And all because I had agreed to go to an aquarium of all things. The thing I was supposed to be against. But also the thing I was studying in the first place... I guess I contradicted myself there.

"Isn't this fun?" Jay yelled back at me, although his voice was still muffled through the helmet.

"I guess, yeah," I said. Why did I agree to this?

I rested my head on his back, looking at the car lights around us. As much as I loved winter, I couldn't deny that I hated that it got dark so early. Even in the late noon, it still looked like the sun was about to set.

The other thing I didn't get was how we were dressed for this occasion of ours. Seriously, who wears a tux to an aquarium? Luckily, I managed to convince Jay out of the idea, so he just went with his usual clothes instead.

Then again, he was the one who stopped me from coming dressed in my pyjamas, so I guess we were both in the wrong here.

"The sky looks really cloudy," I told him.

"Well, we had better hurry then unless we want the rain to catch us."

As he rubbed his hands on the handle, starting the engine again, I felt myself gulp. I loved speed, but not that type of speed.

Luckily for me, he only passed between a few of the cars, placing us in the front of the line of vehicles behind us.

Once the turned green, we dashed off towards the large building. All Jay's missing right now is a leather jacket and a speeding ticket from the police.

Then again, he could be my personal ticket out of this bubble Kai had put me in. He had showed me how to ride a motorcycle back in Ignacia when we were in high school, but even then, I didn't have an official license to ride the darn thing. So maybe, just maybe, I could get someone else to teach me without Kai getting in the way. Then again, he would kill us both.

The only other person who tried to teach me how to drive was, well... Morro. Wu had told me to forget about him, but it wasn't easy. It was weird seeing that one moment we would have a happy driving lesson and the other I'd get scolded for turning a lever wrong.

Jay was... a bit better, though laughing at my mistakes wasn't the best response, even if it didn't have mean intentions.

As we parked near the entrance, right next to a bus stop, he suddenly stopped dead in his track.

He cursed under his breath—not so discreetly, mind you—as he pulled out his phone, scrolling frantically through his contacts.

"Is something wrong?" Knowing him, he had probably forgotten to cancel some plans, so now he would abandon me for that frat party Kai went to.

"I forgot to buy the flowers..." he buried his face in his hands, his voice barely coming out muffled.

"The... what?"

A light pink appeared on his cheeks as he chuckled nervously. "You know, for my mom? It's her... birthday tomorrow."

"It's Edna's birthday?" I smiled. "And here I thought her birthday had already passed."

"Haha, of course it's not, silly," he ruffled my hair, his blush deepening. "I just wanted to... you know, order some flowers for her."

"That's really sweet of you."

"It... is?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" I felt a grin creep up my face, "we can go buy some for her on the way back, but only if we hurry."

"I mean, we could technically just take our time—"

I walked in front of him, ignoring his blabber. I reached in my pocket as we finally went through the aquarium's entrance, which was luckily pretty empty.

I took out my wallet, just barely catching Jay's glance behind me. The moment he noticed me, I raced to the receptionist, making sure to close the door in order to delay him.

"Two adult passes, please," I send her my most innocent smile, already having placed the studs on the counter.

She took them, giving me back the two tickets as she guided me towards the entrance. I tossed one of them over to Jay before running inside.

To be fair, as cool as this place was, I didn't exactly want to go, especially not with him of all people. And since I knew he was going to try and talk to me, I had to come up with a better plan.

I hid behind one of the tanks, pulling out my phone.

That should keep him busy for a bit.

Jay's POV

"Nya? Where are..." my voice trailed off as I ran out of breath "... you?"

I looked around, only seeing a couple of people (along with an entire elementary school) in the first room. No Nya to be found.

That was the 'boring fish area', at least from what I remembered as a kid. Just brown, small fish with nothing really special about them.

I looked to my right, spotting a sign above a metal archway.

Fossils? Oh, right, I forgot they had done a collaboration with Sanders' museum a while back. But fish skeletons is the thing I wanted to see the least, at least at that moment.

Had I really lost Nya in an aquarium of all things? That was like her natural habitat for crying out loud! And I didn't even know how to get around that stupid place!

I had only been there two times prior; one with the octopus incident and one where... well, not one I was personally proud of.

Lloyd and Nya had just started dating back then and Lloyd had had the fine idea of taking her on a date to an aquarium. I was so stupid for not thinking of that first, really. With the exception that Nya didn't like-like me, of course.

In the end, I did the very mature thing of spying on them. I mean, I had only known Lloyd for like a few days prior to that, I couldn't just trust someone I had just met, especially not with Nya.

Well, I guess that explained the whole ordeal with Morro. If it weren't for me and my stupid crush, she probably wouldn't have met him, or at least spoken to him.

I guess that's why I was spending so much time with her. I'd been thinking about that a lot, actually; how things could've been different if we had just talked it out.

Better late than never, I guess.

I suddenly heard a ring, which made some fish near me swim away in fear.

I sighed and pulled out my phone, raising an eyebrow at the text.

KittyPuff: Come find me :)

Oh, right...

A while back, Nya had an obsession with Choco Puffs, a new brand of cereal back in the day. She claimed that it was the only kind of chocolate she tolerated to eat, mainly because they used dark chocolate and raisins.

It was crazy to think that the night we became close was the night Choco Puffs were discontinued. I was the only one in the house left awake from our sleepover and she cried for at least two hours straight.

I wanted to ask whether it was that time of the month, but I preferred to stay alive.

While that was going on, though, everyone just called her NyaPuff. But that soon developed into KittyPuff, because, you know... Nya.

Now, it was time to focus on her message. Come and find me? What was that supposed to mean?

I mean, Nya wasn't the type to play hide n' seek, right?

Right?

"Any clues?" I texted back.

KittyPuff: You ;)

Me? Why me of all people? We were in an aquarium after all—

She wouldn't... Would she?

I looked at the Mollusca section, my eyes slightly widening. This was gonna be fun...

I walked inside cautiously, scanning around the room. Squids and... octopi filled the giant tanks. There was a little kid tapping on the glass, making one of the squids ink itself, another guide next to it that didn't care to do anything and finally... Nya.

I walked up behind her, being careful not to grab her shoulder. "That wasn't so hard," I told her, "you have great memory, by the way."

"Thanks," she said, her arms crossed as she looked right inside the tank. I gulped, doing the same.

I looked at that horrid octopus in front of us. It was smaller than I remembered it, maybe a bit blue, or, well, a mixture of blue and brown, I guess. It looked kinda... cool?

"You know, most octopi have three hearts," Nya told me.

"Oh, to love even more potential mates?"

"They die after mating, actually."

"Oh..."

We stood there for a bit, both of us thinking. It was only right for me to bring it up, right?

"So, Nya..."

"Yeah?"

"Are we friends?"

She turned away, looking at the ground. "I don't know, what do you think?"

"I think we are." I've always thought that. "We could just start over."

I offered her my hand, but she didn't take it. "I'm Nya."

"Jay," I smiled back.

I waited for a bit. That was how you got yourself killed in Nya's book, but I was willing to risk it.

"Hey, Nya?"

"What is it, Jay?" she turned to me, making it a bit too obvious that she'd rather watch two sea snails fight to death rather than listen to me.

"Well, I was hoping we could talk about... that night again?"

"Jay, I told you to forget about it," she sighed, "nothing happened that day, get over it."

"Morro happened, Nya!" I said as loudly as I could without startling her. "You met an abusive jerk because of me. At least let me have some closure and properly apologise."

She placed her hand on the tank, sighing yet again. "Alright, fine. But I have a surprise for you."

"You do?"

"Yeah. Close your eyes."

"But—"

"Close your eyes!"

I did as I was told. I waited and waited, but no one was there. It was only the buzz of my phone that forced me to open them.

KittyPuff: Find me :)

You're lucky I love you, Nya.

Next chapter things are gonna get 🔥.

C ya!