Friday Evening: Old Campground

[badassprodigy]

So there had been a thing about jeans. Which somehow led to a date and s'mores. Despite his brain, Barry wasn't quite sure how the logic for that added up. And he was the one who suggested it.

But hey, it meant hanging out with Elsa. Plus the weather was cool enough to enjoy a campfire and just hanging out.

So Barry was going with it. Logic be damned.

So Barry had the fire going, some fixings for s'mores as well as hot dogs and buns. Time for some good old campfire food.

Comments

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"You know," Elsa mused, looking over all of the food that had been brought along for their date, "I've never actually had one of those before?"

The hot dogs. She'd seen them, but they... worried her, a little. What were they? Sausages, obviously, but they had a sort of suspect look about them.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"You've never had a hot dog?" Barry asked as he put one onto a skewer.

And the instant he said that he was so glad Jeremy or Joker wasn't around. The whole conversation would have taken a nasty turn.

"Well I wouldn't call it gourmet food but they're pretty easy to cook. Want to try one?"

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

If the conversation had taken a turn like that, Elsa probably would have frozen somebody's ass to the tree stump, fear of her powers be damned.

"I'm willing to try anything once," she decided, curiously watching Barry skewer one. "People seem to eat them all the time in this day and age, so they can't be all that bad, right?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Well I think most people consider them junk food," Barry said with a shrug. "But that usually doesn't stop people from eating them. Back home during football season everyone would have tailgate parties in the parking lot of the universities and cook shit like this all the time."

Not that Elsa would know anything about tailgating of course.

"Do you want anything with your dog?"

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I think I understood about half of that," Elsa shared. Because what was a tailgate? Why were they called dogs? Football? "But I think you've made your point all the same. What do people usually have with them?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Depends on the person," Barry said as he turned the hot dog around on the skewer so it wouldn't get burned. "Some people like mustard only. Some people put pickle relish on it. Jeremy likes covering his in chili, onions and cheese. Mostly so he'll get gas and burp and fart all fucking night."

Jeremy's a class act. Really.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"... Well, we don't have chili on hand, so there's no danger of that," Elsa noted, blinking. "What do you like on yours? I'm not entirely familiar with most toppings, really."

It all sounded interesting, though.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Spicy mustard and onion," Barry replied. "Pickle relish if I'm in the mood. Sometimes I just go with sauerkraut."

He gave Elsa a small look of concern. "You don't have to have one if you're not interested."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Oh, Barry. Your concern was kind of adorable.

Elsa gave him a small, reassuring smile.

"It isn't that I'm not interested," she promised. "It's nothing quite like what I'm used to, but I'm intrigued. I want to experience things. I've spent far too much of my life not. I just want to get it right, when I do."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Well you can't really eat a hot dog and get it wrong," Barry said with a chuckle. "Well unless you try to eat it from the middle instead of the end. But you probably would catch on to that."

He slid the hot dog into a bun and handed it to Elsa. "Just put whatever the fuck you want on it. And if you don't like it we'll just fill you up with chocolate and marshmallows."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"If there's anybody out there who can eat a hot dog wrong, it's probably me," Elsa replied, accepting the offering with a wry smile. "At least it's on bread, so I don't have to worry about asking for a fork."

Yes, she was still stuck on just how much finger food there was, here.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'll be here to help you through this difficult process," Barry joked. "I can offer you advice and moral support. "

He then threw up his arms in a cheerleader pose.

"GO ELSA!"

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

She was never going to get the hot dog into her mouth, at this rate. As it stood, she was halfway to reaching for the mustard when she had to stop and just completely break down into... well, it wasn't quite a fit of giggles, but for Elsa, the exhale and the smile that went with it were more or less the same thing.

"You know, that might just be the most emphatic show of moral support anybody's ever given me," she shared. "I'll have to spend more time around you, I think. What are the odds I can get you to cheer like that more often?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Never doubt the power of jeans, Elsa.

Barry of course just gave her a sheepish grin. "Fuck. You ever want me to support you, just ask. Isn't that what boyfriends should do?"

He smiled as he put another dog on a skewer. "Besides, you make it easy. I still remember the girl who was scared to jump on her bed. Now here you are in jeans eating a hot dog. You've sang in front of a crowd and even found enough strength to start talking to your sister. What's not to cheer?"

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I still think bed-jumping is ridiculous and immature," Elsa noted primly, putting her nose into the air for all of about three seconds. "... And more fun than I care to admit, especially on that particular bed."

Because trampolines, that's why.

"When you put it that way, though, I suppose it does put into perspective just how different my life is now, compared to where I was this time last year. Of course, the encouragement certainly helped."

To jump on the bed, to get up to sing. To try to talk to Anna. So, so many things.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"I didn't have to twist your arm that much," Barry said giving her a little nudge with his elbow. "You took those steps yourself. Or bounces as the case may be. I bet in jeans you could probably bounce higher and not have to worry about your skirt flying up."

Yep. Teasing.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"And hit my head on the ceiling when I try it? It might be for the best if I don't," Elsa countered, sounding impish. "I might swear off of bouncing altogether. Or jeans."

And nobody would want that, would they?

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Nope. Nooooooope. Fuck the bouncing. No bouncing," Barry said shaking his head and laughing. "Keep the jeans. Or at least not hitting your head on the ceiling."

He pulled his dog out of the fire and put it on a bun and started to add toppings.

"Besides your sister would kick my ass if you got a concussion."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"She almost certainly would," Elsa decided as she finally managed to get some mustard onto her bun. "And Anna is a force to be reckoned with, you know. She managed to keep me on my toes, after all."

Mostly through some combination of desperation and stubbornness, granted, but Anna was Anna no matter how you looked at it.

"I don't think even you could keep up if she decided to exact her vengeance, Barry."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"No fucking kidding. That girl has some spunk," Barry said as he prepped his dog. "And is pretty stubborn. Did you know I found her at Caritas having a drink before I got her back to your room? I'm glad I caught her when I did before things got messy."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I had wondered if she had been drinking," Elsa sighed, shaking her head a little. "She was acting a little strangely, even for Anna. Anna, minus a few filters, maybe."

And Anna didn't have many filters to start with.

"I'm glad you found her when you did, too," she added, setting the mustard down and reaching for the... ketchup? Ketchup. "I can't imagine what sort of trouble she might have gotten herself into around here, but it wouldn't have been pretty, whatever it was."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Just be glad she didn't decide to stay," Barry chuckled. "Can you imagine her being here at school? That would be a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I'd probably running around after her 24-7."

Yes, Barry already had a big brother protective thing for Anna. Hush.

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Well, it was good that somebody did, all things considered.

Elsa looked a little bit as though she had swallowed a bug at the thought of it, though.

"I really can't imagine her being here," she admitted. "Not because I don't want her here... I think... here could be good for her in ways that Arendelle hasn't been. But her and the island are two completely separate things in my mind. It's difficult to reconcile the two. Especially since... I came here to get some distance between her and myself."

That still seemed to strange to say aloud, so callous. Elsa was going to very studiously keep her focus on the condiments as she contemplated adding relish to her hot dog as well.

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

Barry studied her expression and nodded. "I think a little distance has been good for you as well," he said giving her a nudge. "Don't be so hard on yourself. You had a weekend with a sister you've kept at arms length for years. That's huge. It's like the first fucking bounce you did on the trampoline. It's not much but it's a starting point."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

"I ran and hid in my room when I realized she was here," Elsa pointed out, wearing a wry smile. "It might be a starting point, but it's a rough one. I could have stood to do so much more, and I was too afraid to try."

A hug. A hug would have meant so much to Anna, for example. She hugged Barry and Eleanor, why couldn't she bring herself to give her own sister at least that much?

"But... talking to her at all is more than she's gotten from me in... too long. Far too long. So I suppose it is something, isn't it?" She looked up at Barry, biting her lip before adding, "Thank you for coaxing me out that day. I would have spent that entire weekend with my back against the door if I thought I could get away with it."

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"You just needed a moment and someone to talk to," Barry said shaking his head. "The rest of the weekend you spent with Anna and you didn't need me there to hold your hand. Besides, you've been there for me too."

[iceolatedqueen.livejournal.com]

Elsa gave him a little smile and shrugged her shoulders, finally setting back with her hot dog.

"Maybe you're right," she replied. "But 'someone to talk to...' That's something I haven't had for a long while, and it means a lot to me that you can be that someone. Don't sell yourself short, Barry, and... I'll try not to sell myself short, either. How does that sound?"

[notaweenie.livejournal.com]

"Deal. Just remember I'm always here for you to talk to. No matter what, okay?" He leaned over to give her a quick peck on the cheek. "Or if you just want s'mores. I'm happy to pimp you s'mores whenever you want."