Hurt/Comfort. Romance. Modern AU. NSFW.

"And there," Elsa smiles happily as she tops the present with a gold bow. Hans sighs playfully in irritation and takes it from her. "Is there anymore that need wrapping?" she laughs.

"No, that's about it," he gently tosses it under his tree with the rest of the perfectly wrapped presents Elsa "assisted" with. "Who knew company holiday parties would be so stressful? I thought it was supposed to be a time to take a break," Hans flops on his couch and sighs in exhaustion.

"Yeah you worked really hard tonight," Elsa smirks, taking a seat next to him. Hans sighs as he throws his arm around her. She instinctively snuggles closely and props her feet up in a fetal position. "I'm sure they'll like whatever you give them,"

"They better. Those $10 cash grabs are with the money they paid me with," Hans chuckles. "You can add Professional Gift Wrapper to your resume. Be sure to put me down as your reference," Elsa laughs and playfully slaps his chest. "Is it already the end of the year?"

"I know, right? We're already done with our first semester of college,"

Hans groans. "Don't remind me. I don't want to check my grades," he looks down at his girlfriend and sees her staring up at him. "What are you looking at?"

Instead of saying anything, Elsa smiles and tilts her head to the side. She reaches up to caress the back of his neck, just to pull him down and offer him a sweet kiss. Hans smiles against her lips as his hands snake over her shoulders, down her arms, and around her waist. She shivers against his touch and pulls back with a flustered sigh. Hans' deep chuckle in his throat makes Elsa's cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"Why'd you pull back?" he contently sighs and pulls her closer so that their chests are touching. "I didn't want to stop,"

"Hans," she blushes again. But then, she's saved when her cellphone goes off. "I'll get it!" she pushes away and hurries over to the table where she prepared his gifts. Hans groans in disapproval and waits impatiently.

"Oh, it's just Anna," Elsa unlocks her phone and sees a text message. Hans hears her keypad from the couch as she texts away to her sister. From the sounds of it, Anna sends a text, Elsa types back, she sends it, and it repeats for a good minute or so.

"Sorry about that," Elsa locks her home screen and shoves her phone in her pocket. She walks back and sees a pouting boyfriend who isn't in the mood anymore. Elsa chuckles and shakes her head as she sits on his lap. Taken back, Hans lets out a sound of surprise. He then adjusts the two of them so that they're comfortable.

"What was that all about?" Hans asks as he hugs her waist, initiating Elsa to throw her arms around his neck.

"Anna just wanted to ask what movies we wanted to binge-watch tomorrow night,"

"Binge-watch?"

"Every year, Anna and I chose a theme of movies to watch together the weekend before the holidays start. Last year was RomComs and now she's out renting some horror movies for us,"

"Horror movies during the holidays, huh? Never heard that one before," Hans chuckles.

"It's our holiday tradition. We always throw on our pajamas, prepare a buffet of pastries and hot chocolate, while we watch movies all night together," Elsa sighs happily, reminiscing the past few years.

Hans, on the other hand, masks his loneliness and thoughts of being secluded from her this holiday season. As a matter of fact, the holidays were the one time of year Hans dreaded the most. He hates being alone; his family, especially his brothers, are to blame for that. But he's never admitted that to Elsa; he could never. He doesn't want to burden her, especially during this time of year.

"Hans?" he snaps back to reality and realizes he's been staring into space.

"Oh, yeah?" Hans chuckles, brushing it off.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he shrugs his shoulders and reaches up, kissing her cheek. She giggles innocently and snuggles into his touch.

"So, what about you?"

"Hm?"

"What about you? Do you have any holiday traditions?"

"Of course," he lies. But then, he's saved when Elsa's phone goes off. He almost too quickly snatches it out of her back pocket and hands it for her to answer. "Wonder who that could be!" Elsa stares blankly before taking it, seeing it's from Anna again.

So, what if I don't have anything special during the holidays, Hans thought. I like it better this way anyways.

For the rest of the week, Hans slowly started distancing himself from Elsa. At first, it was subtle; he'd answer her text messages a few hours later. Then, it escalates to him not having passionate moments with her. When Elsa would initiate an intimate moment, Hans would quickly kiss her then dismiss it all together. Elsa remained quiet but quickly took notice of the sudden change.

On the Friday before Elsa's weekend with Anna, Hans is found alone in his apartment. The entire week dragged on for so long, he's just glad that it was over; he didn't even care to notice his coworkers' reactions to his gifts. As usual, as it was every year, Hans was alone. As a young man in his early twenties, it is expected to be used to the loneliness after years of isolation since childhood. But no, Hans remained the same; longing for any kind of affection. He never brought himself to admit it or reach out to anyone.

Hans sits lazily on the couch with another bottle of beer while watching late night television.

Another happy holiday, Hans thought as he took another sip. He glances at the clock and sees that it's almost midnight. The static of the television in the background causes him to think back to his family. He'd never forgotten the utter coldness he received from his brothers. Hans gave up trying to understand what he did wrong to earn such attitude from his siblings, that it turned numb around age seven. Hans' grip tightens around the bottle as he paces around anxiously.

"Dumbass brothers… What do they know?" he starts to hyperventilate from the sudden adrenaline. "Always leaving me behind. Ignoring me. Shoving me to the side. All of them – every single one of them – acted like I never ever existed! What kind of brothers does that?!" Hans losses it and screams, throwing his bottle against the wall. The shards of glass splatter over the living room floor and Hans collapse to the ground. He tightens his grip on his knees, pulling himself close. Uncontrollable tears stream down his face as he tries to calm his breathing but to no avail. His anxiety attacks gradually start to grow as his vision weakens. It was so long ago he can't even remember what it was like being loved.

Elsa… But it all started to change when he met her.

"Elsa," Hans coughs hoarsely, rolling on the carpet. He never experienced love before. He didn't know what it felt like. Until Elsa showed him how to love others around him.

A knock sounded at the door. A secret knock that Hans knows all too well.

"Elsa!" Hans yells forcefully, wincing at the sharp pain in his chest.

"Hans!" she gasps from the outside. The sound of keys shuffles around out of the apartment, as it hurriedly goes through the lock. The door bursts open and Elsa gasps in horror; Hans is sprawled across the floor, face turning pale, with shards of glass and empty beer bottles all over the carpet. "Oh my god," Elsa whimpers, shutting the door behind her.

She sprints to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom and runs back with his inhaler. Elsa skids down to his side and anxiously fumbles it for him to grab. Hans grips it and sighs when he gives himself a good amount of dosage. Elsa catches her breath when Hans starts to calm down.

"Oh my god, Hans. What the hell happened?" he takes a second to himself before standing up again. Elsa sits in confusion when he starts to clean up the bottles of beer around his apartment. "Hans?"

"Sorry, just another night of drinking that's all," he says nonchalantly, tossing the bottles in the trash. Elsa stands up awkwardly. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Anna tonight?"

"We ran out of snacks for the night so I went out to get more. I thought I might as well stop by to see if you were okay," Elsa's eyes burn the back of Hans' neck as he has himself turned away from her. He couldn't bear to make eye contact. Another moment of awkward silence lingers between the two of them. "You know, you've been acting really weird this week. Is everything –"

"Yeah, everything's just fine," Hans cuts her off, a little too coldly. He curses under his breath when he realizes he made the mistake. He slowly turns awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. "Elsa, look…"

"You know what, Hans?" Elsa snaps, holding up her arms in defense. "Sorry for even asking,"

"No, Elsa. That's not –"

"You've been acting very distant this week and I don't know why. I'm not sure if it was something that I did. Or something that I said. Or if you just feel different around me. I don't know! It's obvious that you don't want to talk to me and I'm sorry; I should have taken the hint," Hans watches painfully as Elsa snatches her keys off of the coffee table.

"Elsa, wait –" Please, not you too…

"If you just wanted to be alone, you should have just said so. I would've happily gotten out of your way," Elsa makes her way to the door and opens it.

"Elsa?"

"Happy holidays Hans," Elsa takes a step out the front door but is stopped. She turns around and sees Hans looking down at the floor – embarrassed and nervous – holding onto her hand like a little boy.

"I don't have any," Hans stutters.

"What?"

"I don't have any,"

"You don't have any what, Hans?" Elsa steps inside and slams the door, feeling impatient. The sudden slam causes Hans to flinch, but just a little bit.

"I don't have any holiday traditions," Hans' eyes stay glued to Elsa's boots, waiting to hear any kind of rebuttal. But when silence fills the room, he nervously looks up and sees her eyes; a kind of expression that he's unable to decipher. When she has nothing to say, he continues. "I never really had any, at least, none that I can remember. Um, I never fully told you this – you may have noticed during high school – but I'm not close to my family. Like, at all. I never was," Elsa stays quiet. Hans awkwardly let's go of her hand and shoves his hands in his pockets.

"So, when you asked earlier this week about that, I just lied. When I found out that your movie thing with Anna was an annual tradition, I felt bitter about it? I don't know," Hans shrugs. "I never really liked this time of year, to be honest with you. It just reminds me how my brothers treated me all these years,"

"Hans," Elsa sighs with sympathy.

"You'd think after so much time a man would be over it, right? Well, hell yeah, I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Hans' voice cracks but he failingly masks it with a cough. "Being the youngest out of thirteen, it's only meant to be that I'd be forgotten. So should I be upset about it, right?" he sees Elsa physically get hurt from his words that he looks to the side. "Sorry," he chuckles. "I didn't mean any pity,"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Hans shrugs his shoulders as he finally lets the tears fall. "Didn't think it was necessary," he bites the bottom of his lip anxiously. "Why should I burden you with my problems when you obviously have a sister that cares about you? I'd just get in the way of the two of you; that would be the last thing that I would want to do,"

"Oh my god, Hans. I'm sorry. I had no idea," Elsa clenches her heart when she feels it physically break.

"I don't blame you, never told," Hans shrugs his shoulders. Then, he chuckles. "I'd never thought that you would see me cry twice in the same year," he quickly takes his sleeve and wipes away his tears.

All of a sudden, Elsa's ringtone goes off. She quickly reaches into her pocket and sees a text message from Anna.

"You should probably get going," Elsa looks up sadly and sees Hans walking past her to the door, already knowing who it is. "You don't want to keep your sister waiting," he slowly opens it and steps to the side for her to walk by. Elsa stands there for a moment before making her way out. "Oh, and Elsa?" she turns around and looks up. "Thanks for stopping by tonight," Hans stutters. "If you didn't show up at all tonight, I think my anxiety attack would have sent me to the hospital again," she stands there shocked, staying silent again. Hans sees her eyes grow twice in size as she's at a loss for words.

"Again, you don't need to –" Elsa unexpectedly shoves him inside and slams the door behind her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he almost loses his balance when she grips him by the front and pulls him back. Hans catches himself before tumbling over her; he supports himself over her with her back against the front door. With determined eyes, Elsa quickly wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him close. "Elsa what are –"

Hans' eyes widen in shock when she suddenly pulls him down and forcefully kisses him. For a moment, he stands there confused and unsure of her actions. But then Elsa's lips begin to soften as she deepens the kiss, causing Hans to slightly sigh and wrap an arm around her waist. She mewls against his lips when she feels a slight pressure in the front of his jeans.

After a good while, Hans pulls back with a pop and blushes. He stumbles on his words, unable to comprehend what just happened. He watches Elsa pull out her phone from her pocket, quickly texts Anna, then throws her phone on the couch.

"Are you sure?" Hans asks in a husky voice, caressing the side of her face.

"Take me to your room," As Hans' eyes dilate, he takes her hand and makes haste down the hallway. Elsa sits on the edge of his bed as Hans hovers himself over her. The touch of his lips on her neck causes her to moan as her fingers through his hair makes him growl.

"Fuck," Hans sighs as Elsa turns their positions around. She sits perfectly on his lap and straddles him, taking his lips into hers. He pulls back and hisses at the growing tightness in the front of his pants. Hans looks up at her and realizes something he's never noticed before until that moment.

"What is it?" she whispers, parting away from the stray hair from his face. He takes her hand in his and squeezes it tightly leaving butterfly kisses on her knuckles.

"Don't ever leave me," he says. Elsa almost sees a look of pleading through his eyes of lust and passion. It's all making sense now.

"I'd never dream of it,"

Thank you so much for reading! I hope everyone is having a great holiday season and is enjoying themselves. I really appreciate you guys keep reading my work, it means a lot to me. When I'm in need of inspiration, I see that a small number of you are willing to read some fangirl's trash of fanfiction.

Cheers to the New Year! I can't wait for 2018!

Anyways, love you! xx