Who: Anna of Arendelle and Minato When: Early May [backdated] Where: His Place What: Cooking? Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Anna had met the guy once. They’d talked online, texted, and had gone to a restaurant to do a cooking class… and now he’d invited her back to his place for more cooking and eating. She went shopping for the ingredients they needed to cook, and then arrived. This was Anna, so of course she looked adorable. Skirt, blouse, knee-high socks. She’d done her hair in sexy, flowing waves, then realized she was going to be cooking and had to pull it up into a pony tail. Well, at least her tail had sexy, flowing waves?
She rang the bell when she arrived on the doorstep, remembering how warm it was to have his arm around her when they were chopping mushrooms, and how nice his smile was. Damnit, Anna. She scolded herself. No crushes. This was just a friend. They were friends doing friendly things. Not a date. Right? Maybe. Did he think it was a date?
The door opened suddenly and Anna jumped a bit in surprise. She’d been so lost in her thoughts she’d forgotten where she was.
Minato wasn't sure what to make of this either, although he did know one thing; he enjoyed spending time with Anna. She was fun, pretty and they did have a good time together. That was what mattered as far as he was concerned. He too had gone out earlier in the day to purchase what items he'd said he get, and once he was home he showered quickly and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
At the sound of the doorbell, Minato moved toward the door, and pulled it open, brows shooting up in surprise as Anna jumped. "I'm sorry." He apologized with a smile, and small tilt of his head. "Here, let me help you with those bags." Minato reached out to take them from her before giving a small jerk of his head, "Come on in and make yourself comfortable." The house was decorated modernly, with artistic photographs along the hallway, and while some of them were of Minato on stage there were some that were of friends of his.
There were plenty of windows facing out in the living room toward the beach, although Minato had several of the blinds lowered halfway just to keep the sun at bay. The living room and the kitchen were connected with a counter separating the two. Minato placed the bags down on the counter, "How's your day been so far?" He asked, glancing over at her with a raised brow.
“It’s okay. Really.” Anna was all sheepish smiles as she handed over the bags. “Thanks!” And then she was following him down the hallway into his home. But there were photographs on the walls, and that caught her attention. She wandered slowly inside, looking at each picture in turn. It didn’t even occur to her that she should have asked permission to check them out, she was completely distracted by the art. “I’ll have whatever you’re having,” she called out to him, having completely missed his question as she was staring at a photograph of him on the wall.
Minato laughed, and leaned back against the counters. "A photographer friend of mine took all of those. He came to watch us practice one day, and then asked us to come to his studio so he could take photos of us for a project he was working on." Minato smiled fondly as he thought back to those days, "When I saw the prints, I couldn't help but buy several from him." Minato was proud of his skills, truly he was, but he didn't exactly like to brag on himself.
He let his work speak for him, and he gave a nod to a few landscape photos in his living room. "There's more in there that's his work too. He's got a great eye."
Anna turned when he started talking about the photographer and couldn't hide the excitement on her face. It was art! She loved art! Photography was beautiful to Anna, like most of the other art forms she enjoyed. She gave him a warm smile--a light-up-the-room smile--and then turned her attention to the other photos in the living room.
"Oh wow," she said, turning her eyes from one photo to the next. "I thought the pictures in the hallway were good because you're in them. Well, some of them, anyway, but these are amazing even without a subject." She wasn't even thinking about what she was saying, the words were just coming out of her mouth. She stopped in front of one and then turned to smile at him once more.
"I really like your taste. You have a very lovely home."
Her smile was contagious, and Minato found himself smiling widely too. "I always thought he was great at what he did. He's got his own gallery now." Next time he visited New York Minato was going to have to stop by to see what was going on with him, and potentially buy some more work from him if his prices weren't ridiculous.
"Thank you. I took a lot of care into decorating it." He'd wanted it to be a statement of his own taste, and for it to feel like home. Minato thought he'd done well, since for him it did feel much like his own space. "You're welcome to look around more if you'd like. I honestly don't mind." Minato had nothing to hide. He'd been honest with Anna in regards to his dreams, only because he thought that it was important to be honest with people even if they were just friends.
He hadn't seen Kushina in sixteen maybe seventeen years. He'd heard nothing from her, and he had no idea where she was even at. It'd taken him a long time to move past the hurt from that, and the dreams had been rough on him. Minato, however, was not going to think about those things tonight though, he was going to focus on having a good evening. "I'll go ahead and get the burgers to going. Do you want them grilled or pan fried?"
“It’s lovely,” Anna repeated, and finally tore her eyes away from the art to turn and look at him. “I’m sure I’ll have a chance to wander around.” She didn’t want to waste time tonight exploring his place when there was cooking to do. Anna wasn’t kidding about skipping lunch to leave room for dinner, so her stomach gave a little grumble. It was audible, she was embarrassed about that. Her cheeks went pink.
“I dunno!” She said, ignoring her bodily noises and hoping he hadn’t noticed. “Which is easier? Or, if they’re both the same, which is yummier?” She asked, and took a step toward the kitchen with him. This was a great adventure.
"Hm," Minato pursed his lips in thought as he moved to the fridge to pull out the hamburger meat he'd bought at the store earlier, "either way is pretty easy. Personally I prefer them grilled, I think it gives them a better flavor." He sat the meat down onto the counter, and then grabbed a plate from the dish drainer. "I have a propane grill, so it won't take forever for it to heat up." Charcoal grills were better in his opinion for flavor, but it took longer for everything to heat up.
"So, I think that would probably be the best option." He moved to grab the salt, and pepper. "Do you mind peeling the potatoes while I get these ready? There's a peeler in the second drawer on the left of the fridge." He gave a nod of his head toward the drawer, and then reached over to turn on the deep fryer so it could be ready. Minato opened the package of hamburger meat, and began making patties and placing them onto the plate.
"I'll get the grill started up now," he spoke as he washed his hands, "it won't take them too long to cook." Just like it wouldn't take the fries too long to cook either, "How are you with cooking bacon?" He asked, glancing over at her as he picked up the plate.
“Grilled it is!” Anna chirped, glad that they’d settled that. If he’d said it either way, she would have gone along with it, because she didn’t know what she was doing, and she trusted him. (That was Anna for you, though. Putting a lot of trust into people she barely knew.) “Peeling potatoes! I can do that. I’ll just pretend I’m in the military, or something. Isn’t that what they do? Peel potatoes?”
She moved to the drawer and found the peeler, then to the sink. This was something she was sure she could do, though she had to take extra care not to peel her fingers instead of the potatoes! “Bacon? I guess.. I mean, it spits hot oil, right? I’d just have to be careful to dodge out of the way when that happens.”
Laughing, Minato lifted a shoulder. "I'm sure that some of them have to do that. I wouldn't know though. I've not been in the military, well here anyway." In his dreams he'd been part of Konoha's military, but here his life had been vastly different.
Chuckling, Minato pursed his lips in thought. "I do have a burner on the grill, so I can take care of the bacon to keep you from having to duck and dodge the popping grease." He would hate for her to get hurt by it after all. "The lettuce is in the fridge, tomato and onion are there on the counter. I didn't know what else you might want, so feel free to look through the fridge to see what else I have in there that you might want." There were pickles, and all of the other condiments there too but he did have a drawer full of other veggies.
Minato did care about what he ate, so he did try to eat healthy. Picking up the bacon, and grabbing a pan, Minato started toward the sliding glass door that led out to his deck. "If you want to join me once you're finished, feel free too. And do feel free to help yourself to anything in the fridge if you want it." With that he headed outside, started up the grill and waited for it to heat up before he put the burgers on and the bacon as well.
Anna moved quickly through the potatoes. Turns out peeling was something she could do fairly well. And she didn’t even nick her own fingers! Look at that! It was a little surprising, really, as she was normally so clumsy in other things. Once the potatoes were finished, she moved to the fridge to pull out the lettuce and condiments. Ketchup, mustard, mayonaise, relish. She paused as she poked her nose around his fridge.
“Jeez, man, you’ve got so much healthy stuff in here! My fridge is all full of Red Bull and Blood baaaa--sausage.” She said, then cleared her throat. Did Minato know that Anna lived with vampires? “Disgusting stuff. Blood Sausage. My roommates love it, though. I’ll cut the onions? Hopefully I won’t cry!”
Trying to change the subject, Anna moved over to the cutting board and picked up a knife. She could just slice the onions, right? After cutting off the hairy bit at one end. She frowned down at the vegetable, then just started in on it, leaving the papery skin stuff on. “I still have so much to learn!” She said, already starting to tear up from the pain of the onion cutting. “I mean, I still need to learn how to cook for myself!”
"Blood sausage?" Minato asked with a confused look as he came back into his home. "I've heard it's decent, but it's not something I've ever tried." He lifted a shoulder, and then moved to cut the potatoes while the burgers and bacon cooked.
He was just about to add the last few into the fryer when he glanced over at Anna with a smile, "You'll get there, it just takes time and practice. Although you might want to peel the skin off once you cut them up. They also say that chewing gum helps?" Even from his own distance away Minato could feel the slight sting from the onion to his eyes. "I don't think that it does, myself, but that's a tip I'd heard a long time ago." He finally finished adding the potatoes into the fryer and lowered it down.
"Shouldn't be too much longer until we're eating." He went to wash his hands, and then went back outside to check on the burgers and bacon.
Anna’s eyes and nose were running as she finished cutting the onions. She had to turn away to wipe her face with her sleeve. “What? Oh… the paper stuff?” She asked, and turned back to the cutting board. Dang. It was all over the place! She reached in with her fingertips and did her best to pull it all out.
“...I think the only thing that’d help is some goggles.” She said, and pushed the onions aside so she could chop lettuce and tomato. It reminded her of taking the cooking class together--standing side by side and making delicious food. She smiled a little to herself. This was fun!
"That's actually a thing." Minato said, blinking rapidly, "Onion goggles that is." He didn't know how well those worked either, but it might've been worth a try at any rate. It wasn't much longer until he had the grill shut off, and the burgers plated with the bacon off to the side. Bringing them in, he sat them down on the counter and placed some white american cheese on top of them so it could begin melting. The timer for the fries dinged, and Minato lifted the lid carefully before dumping them out onto a plate with a paper towel lining it so it would capture the rest of the grease.
"And there we are!" He grinned over at her, and then moved to grab two plates. "Did you still want to talk about dreams while we ate?" He asked as he began making himself a plate of food.
It was a feast, really. Hamburgers with all the fixings, fresh french fries and loads of ketchup. Anna was pretty excited about this meal, truth be told. She helped him set the table, and whatever else needed to be done, then sat down and straightened a napkin on her lap.
“We could! Don’t you think? I mean, if you want to? My Dreams have sort of… stalled? I guess? The story’s mostly over. I have no idea what happens next.” She put together her burger. It was so piled high with tomato, onion, lettuce, and all the other stuff that it was practically bigger than her head.
"Oh," Minato got up from his seat at the table, going to grab a roll of paper towels, "stronger than regular napkins." He figured that they might need them considering all of the food that was being piled in between the two slices of bread.
Minato sat back down, and scooted his chair in. His brows furrowed slightly, "I'm fine with talking about them." There were...strange to say the least. He honestly wasn't sure what they meant, or if they meant anything at all. All that Minato knew was that things were strange there, but it was comforting in some odd way. "Hopefully you'll have all of your answers soon. As for mine?" He let out a long breath before reaching for the salt to salt his fries. "I'm the Yondaime Hokage, or Fourth Fire Shadow in my village. Basically the leader, which not a lot of people were too happy about considering my age in my dreams." He lifted a shoulder, a light smile tipping up one corner of his mouth, "I was married to a woman, her name is Kushina. I --" Minato paused, a frown now pulling down the corners of his lips, "The funny thing is? I know her. Knew her actually. Here. We dated."
Anna took a paper towel from the roll and gave him a bright grin. “Thanks,” she said, then folded it and set it next to her plate. She could use it when she needed it. SHe wa sitting close enough to the table that she didn’t slide it into her lap.
“It’s okay. I mean, I’m happy. I’m in a good place.” Anna said, smiling. She had Kristoff, her sister was back and in control, and she was a princess. So she had no real complaints. She started in on her dinner while listening to Minato talk about his dreams. One big bite, and she had to set the burger down and reach for the napkin. With all the stuff on her burger, it was pretty drippy. But her attention was on him the whole time.
“You know the person you’re married to in your Dreams?” Sure, it happened. Anna knew that people had the same Dreams all the time. Sometimes they were even together both there and here. “That’s great! I mean, do you still know her? Are you… are you interested.. In her?”
"That's good! I'm glad that you are in a good place in yours." Minato truly was glad that she was. Someone like Anna didn't deserve to be unhappy, or experience bad dreams period. Minato picked up his own paper towel and wiped off the corners of his mouth while he thought.
Kushina had broken his heart, and it'd taken him a very long time to get over it. Hell, there were still days that were rough for him. "No." Minato finally spoke after several long moments of silence, and then swallowed hard. "She left when we were sophomores. Going back to Japan. I thought…" he shook his head, and then cleared his throat. "I thought she was it for me. My soulmate. I haven't seen her, or spoke to her in 17 years now." It was hard to believe it'd been that long since the last time he'd seen her. "I wasn't with anyone again until I was in my early twenties. I kept hoping that she'd come back, but she never did." A frown pulled down the corners of his lips and he shook his head. "It is what it is though. It's taken a while to get over it, but I actually think that I'm okay with everything even if the dreams feel like I'm reverting back to my 15 year old self."
Anna was a relatively clean eater, even if the hamburger was making a mess on her plate. She used her napkin frequently, keeping her face and hands as clean as she could. She gave him almost her full attention, listening to his words while she took bites from her burger and snuck fries. And his words really made Anna sad. She set her food down, then reached a clean hand over to touch his. One gentle touch, one little reminder that she was there, to help, to listen, to give him support. It sounded like he needed it.
And Anna understood from a different perspective, too. Her last boyfriend just up and left to travel across the country, competing in fencing tournaments, or something, and Anna was in denial that he was really gone for a long time. She finally let go, but it left her pretty shaken. And she still wasn't really ready to be with anyone else, as much as she always wished for it. She seemed like she was always wishing to meet that special someone, both here and in the Dreams.
"I'm sorry, Minato." She said, softly. "It's funny how little things can just set us off and ... I don't know. Bring back memories."
The warmth of her hand on his arm caused Minato to glance down for a moment, and then he offered her a smile although it was a bit sad. "It's fine. Really." He gave a small nod of his head, "That's true though. There's a lot of little things that remind me of her still, and well, now the dreams." He shook his head this time, and let out a long breath. It was hard to talk about her, and he knew how things turned out for them even if he didn't know any of the specifics.
Minato wasn't sure that he wanted to know any of the specifics, but he didn't think that he had any choice in the matter as it was. "But otherwise my dreams so far aren't so bad. I did get to meet my son in them. I -- I wasn't sure how to deal with that one once I woke up."
Anna withdrew her hand, trying not to feel awkward about it. Then she lifted the burger and continued on her dinner, but still kept her eyes and attention on him. “You don’t have a son in this world, though, do you?” She asked, now realizing there was a ton she didn’t know about Minato. Anna was one of those people who spent a lot of time talking, and some time listening, but when it came to social skills she didn’t seem to communicate all that well. It came from being isolated for so much of her formative years.
"Not that I know of." Minato replied with a shrug of his shoulders. Kushina had been acting strange prior to her departure, but Minato had honestly figured that it was because she knew that the move was coming up and she hadn't wanted to upset him. "I mean, she left pretty quickly, and she'd been acting strange prior to that. I figure that it was because she knew the move was coming up, not because of anything else." His brows furrowed low over his eyes before he took another bite, "So yeah, not that I know of at this time." Minato felt heartbroken suddenly. What if she had hidden that from him? Maybe he should try to find out if that was the case. "Maybe I'm wrong though." He hoped that he wasn't wrong, that he hadn't missed out on 17 years of his son's life, or not been there to help Kushina.
Anna coughed when he said not that he knows of. She reached for her drink and took a sip, so she wouldn’t choke on her burger. “Ah, I see.” She said, and gulped again. “...I don’t know. I think it’d be pretty awful of someone to keep you out of your child’s life if… y’know… there is one.” Anna had only had one sexual partner in her lifetime, and she was one hundred percent confident that she had no children. ...and she was far too young to have a seventeen year old son. It was strange to think there were guys out there who might have children they didn’t know about. “I hope you’re not wrong? Unless you want to be wrong.”
Minato thought that it would be pretty awful too, to be honest, and he tried not to think too hard on that. Still, that was one burning question that he had. Perhaps it was time to go find some answers, and maybe, just maybe he'd find out the truth. "I hope that she didn't keep something like that from me. That's what I hope." Minato replied with a small smile over at Anna, "I wouldn't mind having a child, I've always wanted children, but to have missed that much time? To not have been able to be there for him? That bothers me. A lot." He admitted with a shake of his head, "Oh well, there isn't anything I can do about it either way right now. Whatever has been done has been done, and if I do find out that I have a son here? I'll do everything I can to make up for those last seventeen years." And Minato would do just that. He wouldn't be some dead beat dad that found out and did nothing.
He'd felt the mood shift within himself, and Minato didn't want their time together to be shadowed by sadness. "Enough about possibly depressing things," he gave a small wave of his hand with a small smile, "for now we're going to focus on the good things, all of the good things, and enjoy good company and good food." Minato lifted his glass of water in a toast, hoping that maybe, just maybe, that he could find out the truth of what had really happened all those years ago when Kushina left.