Who: Anna of Arendelle and Ezra Fitz When: Wednesday, August 12 Where: Ezra’s Office What: Going over a class schedule, Dream Discussions Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Anna was excited to have her schedule checked out by Professor Fitz. (Mister Fitz? What was she supposed to be calling him again?) Not only because it would give her some reinforcement that she was doing the right thing, but also because… well, it was Professor Fitz, and she liked spending time with him. She was thinking about him a lot more and more lately.
She headed to his office and knocked on the door, holding her schedule in one hand, her purse over her opposite shoulder. After a moment, she lifted her hands to fluff up her hair while she waited for him to open the door.
Ezra hadn’t exactly been holding office hours lately. At least not since his last set of dreams. It was difficult enough teaching his classes each day. He didn’t have it in him to hold one on one interactions with students. In between classes he kept himself locked away in his office. Usually he would be writing but lately all he could do was think about the dreams. Try and sort out if he was in fact A and just how that was possible. Which was precisely what he was doing when there was a knock at the door.
Ezra sighed, getting up from his desk to go open the door. Who was daring to bother him? It wasn’t until he saw who it was that he remembered. Shit. It was Wednesday. Anna was stopping by to show her schedule. Ezra attempted a smile as he opened the door a bit wider for her so she could actually enter. “Hi. Sorry. You wanted me to look at your schedule?” he asked retreating back behind his desk.
Anna’s smile faded just slightly when she saw the look on Ezra’s face. Had she gotten the day or the time wrong? He seemed surprised to see her. He looked a little distracted, or a little sad, or a little… irritated?
“Hey. It’s okay.” She said, nervously. “If you’ve got time?” She followed him into the room and closed the door behind herself. “Um… are you all right?”
“Of course it’s okay,” he did his best to sound reassuring as as as as as he took his usual seat behind his desk. He didn’t bother to motion for Anna to sit down, she knew the drill by now.
“Oh yeah. I’m fine.” He wasn’t sure how convincing that sounded though. “Just dealing with those dreams I suppose.” Anna had to know what that was like, right? She dreamt too. Otherwise she probably wouldn’t have been all that okay with the fact he had received a typewriter from dreams.
But enough about that. “Do you have your schedule with you?” straight to business today.
“Oh, yes.” Anna moved over to sit in one of the chairs facing his desk. Business was easier to talk about than probing Professor Fitz as to what sorts of dreams he’d been having. She was curious, though, and as she slid the paper across the desk to set in front of him, she cleared her throat.
“Are you having bad Dreams?” She asked. Okay, so, maybe a little probing. Hopefully the acceptable kind.
Oh. She wanted to know about his dreams. Perhaps he shouldn’t have made that comment. “You could say that,” he replied. “But then I don’t think these dreams are ever considered a good thing.”
Ezra glanced over her scheduled. So she was taking one of his classes. Intro to Creative Writing. She was officially his student. He wasn’t sure how exactly to feel about that. “Your classes look fine,” he informed her. “At least as far as your writing classes are concerned. I can’t really comment on the Art History ones.”
“Do you… want to talk about it?” Anna asked. It seemed like the polite thing to do. Not only that, but she wanted to be there for him, should he need her. She was a kind, thoughtful girl, but she also liked him. Maybe more than she should. “I mean, I’m really good at listening.” It felt silly coming out of her mouth, but there you have it.
“Thanks.” She accepted the list back. She had both another English class (Composition) and the Creative Writing class. Along with a science and a math, and another Art History. It was a pretty full schedule, but she felt she could handle it.
He wasn't sure what to say. Everything in the dreams was just a mess. From finding out that Malcolm wasn't his to learning he might just be the one that had been torturing the girls this whole time. At the very least he had been stalking them. It wasn't something he was proud of. "I'm not who I thought I was," was all he said. And yes he was aware of how cryptic that was. "But you aren't here to hear about my dreams."
Anna took a moment to think about that. No, she wasn’t here to hear about his dreams, but she had a few thoughts on them. What the Dreams meant in this world. How they could be who they wanted to be, and they didn’t have to follow the same path of the Dreams. Even though they felt so real, they were more a teachable moment--a learning tool.
She folded the list in her hands until it was tiny, then shoved it into her purse. Idly. “Well, I like you as as as as as you are here. It doesn’t matter who you are in the Dreams.” She offered up.
Anna may think that now, but if only she knew.. What would she think if she knew he went around stalking high school girls in the dreams? One of which happened to be his girlfriend. And there was a high possibility that he was the one that had been torturing them the entire time. “That’s kind of you to say,” Ezra offered her a smile, “but I’m fairly certain I am the villain of my dreams.” There. He said it. Would that matter to her?
Oh. God. Anna’s face paled a little and the hopeful smile slid off of her lips. The villain? Seriously? Another villain? She wasn’t sure what to think about that. Was she some sort of magnet for that sort of thing? But no, she was friends with Caroline and Lexi, and neither of them were villains. They were the good guys, actually. And Anna herself, and her sister… they were good, too.
But Ezra? After what she’d been through before, she was afraid now. Afraid she’d say or do the wrong thing and make him angry with her, or afraid he’d… leave. But the past didn’t repeat itself like that. This was a totally different situation, too. Completely different.
After what felt like a really long pause (Jesus, how long had she been staring at him in stunned silence?) she responded. “Our Dreams don’t dictate who we are,” she managed, though her heart was thundering so loud he could likely hear it. “Just because you’re the villain there doesn’t make you a villain here.”
That was the opposite of what Nik had told him. And Nik had some experience with being the villain. He liked Anna’s theory better though, he certainly didn’t want to turn into some creep who had a whiteboards full of pictures of teenage girls and notes on them all over his office. Hopefully Anna was right. “I’m glad you don’t think so.” Maybe there was some hope for him.
Anna put on a small smile. It was genuine, though there were a lot of other wonders and fears that were running through her brain. She was a little pink, too. A little shy, a little embarrassed about what she’d just admitted. Had he caught on? She said she liked him. Maybe he didn’t know--actually she didn’t know--if she liked him, or if she liked liked him.
“I don’t know if it helps at all, but… I do.” She smiled a little more genuinely. “Besides, it’s in my nature to root for the bad guy,” she teased a little.
“It helps.” Maybe if Ezra wasn’t so preoccupied with his dreams he would have caught on to what Anna admitted.
However, what she said next made him curious. Perhaps more curious than he should be. What exactly did she mean it was in her nature? How much experience did she have with ‘bad guys’? “Oh?”
“Oh, yeah. You know…” Anna didn’t want to bring up her dreams, didn’t want to go into all of that again. So she took a brief moment to think. “I’d always go Lestat over Louis, or Gatsby over Nick Carraway. Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, or Alex from A Clockwork Orange? ...that’s kinda… my type.” She flushed. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but…”
Okay, embarrassed, time to go. “I really shouldn’t keep you from your work,” she said, and stood.
He was impressed by her references, but before he could say anything Anna was practically fleeing from his office.“Well, thanks for stopping by,” he called after her with a hint of a smile on his face. Yes, Anna Arendelle had succeeded in making him feel better.