Who: Hans Westergaard, Anna of Arendelle, Prince Tom, and Rosemarie Hathaway When: Tonight! Where: Out at a Karaoke bar What: Double Date? Rating/Warnings: Medium (Explosions, excitement, injury? violence? magic? Who knows what these crazy kids will get up to!) Status: Complete
Tom had a business meeting that ran until six thirty. He hated asking Rose to drive herself, but if they all met up at the bar it would save them a ton of drinking time. And watching drunken Karaoke time. He pulled into the parking lot, running a few minutes late, but sent off text messages to Hans and Rose to let them know he was on his way. Hopefully it wasn’t a big deal. Fingers crossed.
So, in a bit of a hurry, Tom came wandering into the club, nodded a greeting to the bartender, and set off to find his friends.
Well, there was no time like the present for drunken karaoke time. Hans had taken it upon himself (because he was nice, you know - sometimes) to order a pitcher of Tom’s favorite draft beer (plus Anna’s usual - the rum and coke, nice and girly) and they were enjoying that at the table while the people on-stage got things set up for tonight’s singing trainwreck. And, per the standard rule, it’d take a lot of adult libations to get his ass up there for crooning.
He spotted Tom making his way in and waved him over; it was crowded tonight, but Hans was hoping that nothing catastrophic happened. There hadn’t been a pleasant night out in awhile, but he should know by now that they could never have nice things here. For the time being, he’d just roll with the punches - and besides, he really was looking forward to getting to know Rose more. She had to be something great, if she managed to tame Tom the Hornball.
Rose was running slightly behind on purpose. She realized as she got ready that she had no idea what Hans looked like nor did he probably know what she looked like, so instead of looking like an idiot at the bar she would show up later and be able to spot Tom. It wasn’t her worst ideas and she could handle being seen as “late” this one time by his friends because she normally wasn’t late otherwise.
By her calculations she was only a couple minutes behind the time that Tom should have gotten to the bar. Once at the bar she went over to the counter and ordered a Long Island as she scoped out the crowd quickly before spotting Tom with his friends. Once her drink arrived she tipped the bartender with a thanks and made her way over to them. With a bright smile on her face she lifted a hand and waved to the two people she didn’t know when she approached, “Hi, I’m Rose.”
Anna was more interested in what was going on onstage than she was in Tom and his girlfriend. She was impressed that someone tamed down Tom, sure, but she wasn’t lingering on it too much. There were more interesting things, like choosing what song she might sing tonight, what duets she might try and drag Hans up onstage for. There was also the alcohol thing to consider. She wasn’t technically legal to be drinking, but… Okay, she liked it. Drinking was fun, drinking with Hans was always fun. She turned when Tom came over and gave him a smile.
“Good choice,” Tom said to Hans, re: the beer. It was his favorite, of course it was a good choice. He clapped Hans on the shoulder, then leaned over to kiss Anna’s cheek in greeting before taking his seat. And Rose came up only moments after he was sitting, pouring himself a pint. He jumped back up again to wrap an arm around her, smirking as she introduced herself.
“I try,” Hans chuckled, giving Tom a bro-punch in response. Pretty typical man greeting, really. Then there was Rose and he offered a friendly smile and a, “Well, finally, we officially meet. Tom just can’t stop saying nice things about you.” Not that he meant to embarrass his very best friend, but, Rose should know she was always on his mind and all that romantic nonsense.
That was also adorable, the way he jumped up when she introduced herself. He was on his way to being whipped already.
“This is Anna,” he added, introducing his ginger-haired lady as well, picking up his beer to take a refreshing sip. “I know we’re all on the same network. Not sure if you two talked or not.”
“I’m very happy to meet you and know that you’re a real person. I figured Tom was making up that he had friends,” she teased as she leaned over to kiss Tom’s cheek before they decided to slide into the booth, “But I’m also very glad he’s saying nice things about it. And nice to meet you, Anna.” She flashed as smile over at the ginger girl across from her and briefly studied her and Hans as a couple. They were quite cute together and she hoped she and Tom looked just as good together.
Once in the booth she took a sip from her Long Island and smirked, “You guys pick a song yet?”
Aargh. Tom would not admit that he was well on his way to being whipped. He was, of course, but he wouldn’t admit it. And he’d thank Hans to keep those thoughts to himself, thankyouverymuch. “Hey. My imaginary friends are cool,” Tom said, frowning playfully, then sat back down with Rose when she sat. “Cooler than this dick, anyway,” he added, chucking a coaster at Hans, playfully.
Anna gave a gentle “Hi,” and thought about it for a moment. She didn’t think they’d done any interacting. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, Rose,” she said. She laughed softly. “No, I’m excited to get up there and sing, though. I mean… I’ve only been out to karaoke once before, but we won the first prize. I’m expecting an equally unforgettable performance tonight.” She leaned against Hans, giving him a smirk. Nothing was as adorable as a Hans and Anna duet.
With his catlike reflexes (well, they weren’t shoddy - he was a fencing instructor, after all), Hans caught the coaster and whipped it back like a ninja star, laughing. “I make your life so much cooler,” he insisted, and Tom had chosen wisely - picking the youngest Westergaard to be good friends with as opposed to the brother he’d roomed with in college. They still kept in touch, likely, but Hans just had a better rapport with Tom.
His arm went around Anna, tucking her against his side. “Last time was probably a fluke,” he groaned teasingly. “But no, we haven’t picked one yet. I did last time, though I’ll leave it to Anna for sure this time. Have any requests, Rose? We are pretty amazing up there.” While they were drunk. The alcohol didn’t hurt, shall we say.
“Hm….I mean some of my favorites to hear are “Baby Got Back”, “Ice Ice Baby”, “Bohemian Rhapsody”, but maybe there’s something else out there to appeal to you guys?” Rose suggested with a grin before taking another sip of her drink. They were definitely songs you broke out if you were drunk, but Rose would totally root for them the whole way through no matter what song they picked. It had been a long time since she had gone out for karaoke, but she was definitely excited to see what the three of them could do together.
Tom laughed as the coaster came flying back at him. His reflexes weren't as cat-like as Hans were, so when he batted at the thing, he didn't catch it. It simply flew away and went skidding off along the floor. He laughed and shook his head. "Last time wasn't a fluke. It was a testament to how amazing we all are."
"Bohemian Rhapsody! That's a good one." Anna said, nodding. "It's easier to come up with Duets, but we're a trio." Anna said, biting her lip for a moment as she thought. She flipped through the song list, curling a little closer to Hans as she did so. "Oh! Here! What about this one?" She asked brightly, excited about the next song. "Where Is the Love. Black Eyed Peas?"
Bohemian Rhapsody was a good song for sure. Hans just wasn’t certain he had the vocal prowess to pull that one off. Maybe after a few drinks, however? But then Anna picked for them, and it was unlikely Tom would offer up protests. He had beer and his lady cheering him on, how could he go wrong? “Sure,” Hans agreed. “I think the Hot Tamales can handle that one.” They were an unstoppable force of nature.
He was about to offer to go and sign them up, when suddenly things took a turn toward chaotic. No one had even noticed the black bag up by the bar, except the one pouring beer, though she turned her back for literally one second and then - boom. An explosion that was blinding, a ringing in the ears, people who were close to the door blown back out onto the street - and not all of them were in one piece either.
Hans’s first instinct was to shield Anna, and now that the place was actually on fire, scorched and smoking, it’d be a good time to vacate - provided that they could make it out alive and not get caught in the stampede. “We need to get out of here,” he said to everyone in their party, grabbing Anna’s hand. “Don’t let go.” If he lost her in this crowd, it would mean very bad things.
It was a split second change and Rose honestly couldn’t believe it had actually happened. Her ears were ringing and her lungs were beginning to fill with smoke. It was almost like being in a daze and Rose was trying to keep her wits about her. She blinked a few times before she registered what Hans had said to them. She turned to look at Tom and make sure that he was alright before grabbing his hand, “He’s right. Let’s go. It’s only going to get worse and the last thing we need is to get stuck trying to get out and something else happening.”
She held on tight to Tom’s hand as she tried to look through the haze of smoke and figure out a way to get out of the bar without being trampled to death. At least she knew she had a mean right hook if she needed to throw down to get out, but she hoped that wouldn’t happen because everyone deserved to get out of here alive.
The bomb on the counter went off. There were bits blown all over, people thrown about, and bits of people thrown about. Suddenly the karaoke bar was filled with screams, crying, and fire erupting all over the place. Anna gave a shriek and threw her hands up and over her head. Smoke was everywhere now, stifling them, blinding them, making it hard to breathe. Anna's hand wrapped tightly around Hans' fingers, and she nodded, then coughed.
The fire alarm started blaring. It was a high-pitched squealing sound, along with the flashing of a slow strobe light.
Tom was already coughing. Chunks of debris had flown across the room, raining down on some of the unsuspecting patrons. One of the first things that ran through Tom's mind was how much of this shit was now resting in his hair. The strange things people think of in these crazy situations, right? He took hold of Rose's hand and climbed to his feet to lead the way out of the bar--but was pushed aside by panicked people trying to do just what they wanted to--to get out.
The panic of everyone else concerned Hans the most - in times like these, it was survival of the fittest and people would run you down. He saw Tom get knocked aside and acted quickly, attempting to zig-zag left and right while holding onto Anna, to catch up - with his other hand, he grabbed the back of his friend’s shirt, and hopefully he was still holding onto Rose. Like they were forming a human chain. It was probably the best shot they had at not getting stampeded.
“Emergency exit to the left,” he warned the others, and if they could just go with the flow of people trying to cram themselves out the door, it’d be fine. Maybe. Despite plaster raining down, the building having taken quite a blow from that explosion. Debris was everywhere, dirt and dust kicked up and made worse by the frantic rushing.
That’s when he lost his grip on Anna’s hand.
“Anna!” Oh, fuck no. Back into the madness. He pushed and shoved, probably harder than he should have, but he wasn’t going to lose her to a bombed bar.
Pieces of the ceiling were falling upon them as they made their way and Rose couldn’t help but glance up to see if anything large was going to come down soon. The last thing they needed was for one of them to get trapped underneath something. But then something equally as bad happened when she heard Hans yell out for Anna. That must have meant he lost his grip on her and Rose paled. Oh no. No. This couldn’t be happening; all of them needed to get out of there right this minute.
She wanted to go with him and attempt to find her, but she wasn’t quite sure what to do. It always seemed like the worst idea to split up even more, but she wanted to help. Thankfully they were next to a pillar, which was a good focus point for later and she moved Tom to it, “Stay right here. I’m going to help Hans try and find Anna.” She was small and strong enough to maneuver through the crowds and she gave Tom a quick kiss before going into the crowd to try and find her, “Anna, call out if you can.”
There were people pushing from all sides. Tom was absolutely convinced that now-panicked patrons of the establishment were climbing out of the woodwork to shove bodies aside. It seemed as if the terrified people were running in all directions at once, forcefully shoving anything aside that got in their way--including (especially) other people. Hans started calling for Anna, and Tom’s heart sank. They hadn’t even made it that far from their original position at the booth when Rose pushed Tom up against a pillar and turned to rush off again. “No--wait!” But it was too late. Rose was darting her way through the crowd like a pro.
Then the (even more) unthinkable happened. Another explosion. This time it was inside the kitchen, but made the whole building shake. The power flickered, and lights went out. More screams, more panic, more smoke. Now the sprinklers were going on, raining water down over the horrified crowd.
Anna was so tiny that when she was bumped into, her grip on Hans’ hand had failed. The power of the stream of people moving toward one exit versus the other was too much, and she was literally lifted off her feet and carried along with the crowd. “Hans!” She shrieked, fingers grasping in the air where his hand had just been. “HANS!” She cried out. Then her feet went out from under her and she fell to the ground. A knee collided painfully with her face, and she saw sparks. Someone stepped on her hand. Another shriek escaped her, this time one of agony.
Well, Rose was a brave lady, Hans had to give her that. And she kicked people’s asses for a living, so that was impressive. It was definitely coming in handy now - except then there was another explosion, and a simple trip to a bar with friends had turned into flames of fury and getting pelted with debris and shrapnel. Hans wasn’t really concerned about himself, just getting to Anna, and when he heard her call out he was practically flinging people aside to get to her. He didn’t make it in time before she went down, but the space around her was cleared pretty quick when he gave the surrounding bodies hard shoves.
Regina had taught him a few tricks. You didn’t have to touch someone, to fling them out of the way. And he had enough anger to use as fuel to toss people like frisbees right now.
“Anna - ” He scooped her up, holding her to his chest, carrying her bridal style. “Rose! I’ve got her. Where’s Tom? He better not be fixing his hair.”
The second explosion had taken Rose by surprise and she was a little slow at reacting when a piece of the ceiling came crashing down. Thankfully it just hit her shoulder and didn’t take her down, but it did cause her to stumble slightly and she cursed under her breath. Hopefully nothing was broken as she tried to continue her search before she heard Hans call out that Anna had been found.
“Oh thank god. I left him by that pillar,” she called out and made her way towards him and Anna so they wouldn’t be separated again. And then they could make their way to Tom and finally get out of this clusterfuck. The throbbing in her shoulder made her wince, but she knew she could still move her arm, so hopefully it would just be deeply bruised.
Tom saw the chunk of plaster make contact with Rose and nearly started after her. But then his eyes saw Hans scooping up the other redhead from the floor. It seemed like everyone was going to be okay? Maybe? Tom stayed put. He was told to stay where he was, and he was good at taking orders. Especially from Rose. “It’s clearing!” He called out, reaching out a hand to Rose as she approached. “We can get out the emergency exit in the back.”
The crowd was thinning now as the water rained down from the sprinkler system. It was putting out the fire, muddling with the smoke in the air and making everything look wet and grey. People were still rushing toward the front exits, but the back of the club was practically empty now. Sirens started to fill the air--the kind that came from ambulances and firetrucks, not the high-pitched squeal from the fire alarms.
Anna was dazed as Hans scooped her up into his arms. There were still sparks in front of her eyes, and her hand was throbbing so badly it made her whimper. She lifted a hand to touch her face, and found blood on her upper lip. “Why are we wet?” She managed to say--and now she could taste the blood pouring down from her nose.
“Sprinklers,” Hans chuckled dryly, mostly out of relief that Anna was fine and hadn’t been stomped to death - though her question likely meant that she was either hazy from the pain or a concussion or something, and he hoped it wasn’t that. “Just hang on, princess - we’re definitely getting out of here.”
He carried her to where he heard Tom’s voice, and now that the exit was in sight they could all go together. Fresh air was preferred, as Hans really didn’t want to inhale too much smoke and nastiness. “She needs to get to a doctor...” This was obviously about Anna, since her face looked like she had fought a brick wall, and the brick wall won after she slammed into it. “Or a...healer, or something. Just...something.” In their little circle of OC craziness, at least there were a few options.
“There’ll be ambulances outside, I’m sure. They can take her to the hospital,” Rose pointed out as she reached up to rub her shoulder. She hadn’t seen Anna up close yet, but the poor girl looked like she did after a bad fight. She had been put through the ringer and Rose knew that they sooner they got outside the better, “Alright, let’s get the fuck out of here.” She grabbed Tom’s hand and had to resist running for the door because she wasn’t sure if Hans could run with Anna in his arms.
Tom was instantly concerned at Rose rubbing her shoulder. He slipped his hand into hers and valiantly led the way out the back. The Emergency door was open, and as they were heading through, two firefighters came in in full regalia. Tom gave them plenty of room. “I heard the ambulance sirens. I bet there’s one here already.” He led the way down the small alleyway to the front where the ambulance was.
A couple of paramedics were treating injuries, and another came rushing over as soon as she saw Anna in Hans’ arms.
Anna was having a hard time keeping her head upright. Her face was throbbing and her hand was throbbing. “I’m bleeding,” she said, lamely. She was probably in emotional shock if not physical shock. There was blood on her fingertips when she withdrew them from under her nose.
Good, paramedics. Paramedics were good. Hans breathed a sigh of relief - it was quick getting one over here, if nothing else - and he gently laid Anna down on one of those collapsible cots, refusing to budge from her side while she was treated as best as she could be. Her nose looked awful, made him wince, but he wasn’t an EMT so he just let the people do their job.
“Might want to have that shoulder looked at too,” he said, with a concerned glance at Rose. “Tom, how’s your hair?” Hey, if you couldn’t joke with your best friends in times of adversity, then when could you?
Another sigh escaped him, as if the gravity of what had just happened finally sunk in. “We’ll have to try again for drunk karaoke another night.” Probably when their lives were somewhat normal again. If their lives were ever somewhat normal again.
“Possibly. I think it’s just bruised but probably better to make sure,” it was starting to throb and Rose had taken worse hits in her life, but it would probably make everyone feel better if she did, “I’ll be right back. And we will make sure it’s after this crime wave is over.” She left the idea of if it’s ever over unspoken, but she did hope that would be true. She gave a quick kiss to Tom’s cheek as she went over to the paramedics that were taking care of the people and explained to them and they began to look her over.
Tom nodded. He released Rose’s hand so she could go get checked out. Now that they were outside and there were police, paramedics and firefighters all over the place, he felt less terrified about losing Hans or Rose or even little Anna. It was a relief to be out in the crisp, cool air, too. Without the smoke or the sprinklers making it hard to breathe and see. “Perfect, as always.” Tom responded grinning, then shook his head back and forth--much like a dog--and sprayed water and muddy soot all over his friend...
And poor Anna on the stretcher. She lifted her hand to shield her face from the spray, not noticing how purple her fingers had turned, and barely smiled under all that blood. The skin on the bridge of her nose was torn, and there was blood coming out through her nostrils, too.
“It’s definitely broken,” the paramedic said. Then she checked Anna’s pupils’ dialation response, and started to bandage up her nose. “I don’t think it’s a serious concussion,” the paramedic added, “but we can take her back to the hospital, if you want. Or you can take her home. I’ll wrap up her hand, too, but you need to schedule an x-ray. It’d be cheaper to do it tomorrow, rather than heading to the ER. Think you can make it to the morning?” The paramedic asked Anna.
“Yeah,” Anna mumbled, using her good hand to wipe under her nose. She hated the taste of blood. “I’ll just take some ibuprofen.”
The paranoid, overly concerned side of Hans wanted to rush Anna to the hospital and get her every x-ray ever, but if she said she was fine then he’d believe her - and would just keep an eye on her tonight. “I’ll stay with you and take you to the hospital tomorrow,” he offered, catching her hand for her and using his sleeve to wipe where she wanted instead. “And you’ll let me know if you feel worse, alright?” That way he could make sure she wasn’t puking or entering a whole other state of post-concussion dementia.
Maybe he’d try and find something extra to heal her too. Simply because he couldn’t stand seeing her in pain.
Then he snickered, though it was a relieved sound, flicking some of that schmucky stuff back at Tom. They all needed to clean up, stat. “Don’t worry, Rose has the best friend approval.” Bravery in the face of danger and all. That earned points.
The paramedics ended up just giving Rose a sling for her arm to keep herself from moving her arm and a large ice pack that she was using her other arm to hold to her shoulder. They didn’t think anything was fractured, but it was a good idea to keep her arm stabilized and ice for a few days so she couldn’t risk further injury. She was definitely going to take some pills when she got home and maybe see a doctor tomorrow. Once that was figured out she wandered back over to Tom, Hans, and Anna catching the end of that conversation and grinned a little, “You look like a tiny badass, Anna. I’m glad you’re okay, but I am so ready to go home. This adrenaline crash is going to hit hard.”
"Okay," Anna said. "I've got a big enough bed for us both now." Though, she was going to be moving in with Caroline and Lexi soon. Soon enough she'd have to worry about roommates--vampire, super-hearing roommates--listening through the walls. They'd just have to spend more nights at his place after she moved. "I'll let you know. I feel fine. I mean, it hurts, but... that's expected, right?" Her words weren't really slurred, either. Like Rose, Anna was going to be ready for bed very, very soon.
Tom ran both hands through his hair, fixing it out of his face. He grinned a little, watching where Rose had wandered off to. He nodded, giving Hans a smirk. "I knew she would. She's pretty fantastic, isn't she?" And then she was wandering back over and Tom was wrapping an arm around her. "I'll take you home." He could call a service to bring his own car to his house.
It was a painful experience all around, so Hans couldn’t really expect Anna to not be feeling even a twinge of it. She had gotten clobbered, for fuck’s sakes. “Alright, we all better get out of here, then,” he decided - no sense standing around, soaking wet, injured, and covered in ash and soot. The night hadn’t exactly gone as planned, but oh well. Rain check for another time, he guessed.
Since Anna was bandaged and tended to, Hans slid an arm around her to help her off of the stretcher, and he’d bring her home. Or back to his place, whichever she wanted.
“Try not to get into anything fatal on the way home, you two?” That was for Rose and Tom, naturally.
“Again, nice to meet you two. Sorry it didn't’ go as planned, but we’ll try again in the future,” Rose assured them. She enjoyed meeting them and she did want to be able to sit down and really get to know them under better circumstances. But for now she was starting to fade fast and she lifted her head slightly to look up at Tom, “Let’s get out of here. I may fall asleep if we keep standing here.”
Tom nodded. “We’ll do this again. Or… not this,” wouldn’t that be something? “--but we’ll try for another karaoke night sometime soon. When… things aren’t crazy.” When were things not crazy? Tom wasn’t sure about that. But it seemed like something to say, anyway. He tightened his grip on Rose, careful not to move her shoulder too much, then turned to head back to the parking lot. Hopefully people were clearing out enough that they could get out.
“Let’s go to your house?” Anna asked Hans, resting her head on his shoulder. After a shower and careful cleaning of her face, she wanted to fall asleep surrounded by Hans’ smell. As strange as that sounded. She wasn’t sure how much she could smell anyway. “We’ll hang out again soon. It was nice to meet you, Rose.”
Currently, Hans smelled like spilled beer, smoke, and something burning (thankfully, not him) but he’d clean up and be right as rain. “Come on, my place it is,” he agreed, giving Anna a kiss on the top of her head. It had been an exhausting evening, and once he fell into bed he wasn’t sure he’d want to ever leave again.
He’d text people and let them know what happened when he got home. But for now, he had to focus on actually getting there - one step at a time, always a good method where they happened to live.