Chapter Text
For all he knew today would be another normal day at Shiz. The young prince was on his way to class, it was history with Dr. Dillamond, when he saw her. She was also making her way to class, he presumed. She stopped a few steps away from the classroom door and seemed to be fixing her hair. That’s odd he thought. She wasn’t one to openly care about her appearance, at least not in front of others. He personally never had a problem with how she looked, in fact, from the moment he first saw her he thought she was a beauty. A green beauty, but a beauty nonetheless.
He’d grown bored of conventional beauty standards, having been around and dated people who were considered the most attractive humans alive only to discover that they were empty on the inside. He knew, however, that his own appearance was part of the reason some people even cared about him. That and the fact that he was a prince. They all seemed to value him purely because of that and nothing else, and he was tired of it all.
But then he met her. The green girl he almost ran over while making his way to Shiz only a few weeks prior. She was the first person in a very long time who was willing to challenge him, to argue with him, and most importantly, to not be charmed by him. Get stuffed she’d told him while walking away. While most people would’ve found that offensive, he was impressed, amused, and he low key loved that interaction.
He wasn’t sure why, but in a way, she had changed his feelings about his new school. When he’d first arrived, and after getting quite the welcome by the entire student body, he was already bored and ready to leave. He couldn’t wait to get out of there. He knew it’d be a matter of time before getting kicked out, though his father had begged him to at least try to last more than a few weeks and, if possible, to at least try and pass at least one subject. But everything was going according to schedule. His first few weeks looked almost identical to those at every other school he’d been to. Only a few more weeks and I’ll be off to the next one, I suppose, he thought to himself. But despite the fact that he was ready to get kicked out already, he was wondering why he was still so fixated on the green girl he met the day he arrived. Elphaba was her name.
She seemed tough, strong, independent, or at least that’s what she wanted people to see. But at the Ozdust ballroom, he’d seen a vulnerable girl in need of affection. He felt the need to give the girl a hug, but he wasn’t sure why. He knew better than to get attached to people knowing he’d be gone soon, but he couldn’t help it.
“You’ve been Galinda-fied” he said
She seemed startled, she clearly didn’t know he’d been watching her. It seemed like she was about to respond but he spoke first.
“You don’t need to do that, you know”. And he continued walking towards the classroom. He meant it, she really didn’t need to do that. “Come on, let’s get to class”.
The history lesson was not at all what Fiyero, or anyone else, had expected. Dr. Dillamond quickly announced that he’d be leaving the university as Animals were no longer allowed to teach. Not long after, he was taken away by guards. The prince wasn’t happy about the situation. He was sympathetic to Animals. In a way, Animals had been his only true friends, the very few who liked him for reasons other than his status or his name.
Their new professor started his first lecture by showcasing a small Lion cub trapped in a cage. What does this have to do with history? He thought. The prince hated what was happening, but he knew there was nothing they could do. But then she spoke. “What are we going to do?” said Elphaba
“Sorry, we?” he replied
“Well someone has to do something” she said while slamming a bouquet of poppies on her desk. Poppy dust started filling the room, and slowly, students started falling asleep, one at a time, as did Professor Nikidik. After about two minutes, they were all sound asleep except for two people: Fiyero and Elphaba. He didn’t know why he hadn’t been affected by whatever spell she had cast. But there was no time to ask questions, he knew he needed to act fact. He sprung from his desk and went to grab the Lion cub.
“So, are you coming?” he asked and Elphaba quickly followed him.
They took two bikes they had found outside one of the buildings. They went out into the forest, looking for a place to set the cub free. Fiyero held the cub, still asleep from the poppy spell.
“So, we could go this way….or we could go that way”
“Don’t squeeze him”
“I’m not” he retorted “Oh I think he’s waking up”
“We can’t just let him loose anywhere, we’ve got to find someplace safe”
“Yeah I realize that. You think I’m really stupid, don’t you?”
“No, not really stupid”
Ouch he thought
Before he could respond, the cub started moving and made brief contact with his face and he fell down. Just as quickly, he stood up and Elphaba tried to get the cub to stop moving.
“Ok, um, can you stop…?” Elphaba said, standing very close to him.
“He’s wriggling” He was a bit nervous, and not entirely because of the cub’s movement.
“He’s wriggling because you’re holding him in the wrong way. STAY STILL”
He did
“Breathe”
He did
“Thank you”
Her hand began gently stoking the cub and the young Animal seemed to relax. In that moment, he studied her. He couldn’t help but once again notice her beauty. But this time, instead of hiding behind an iron mask, she was tender, soft, almost maternal. The cub certainly loved the attention he was getting from the green girl. She looked up, took the cub and simply walked away. “See?” she said. He wanted to say so many things, he had so many thoughts but instead he said the first thing that came out of his mouth.
“Why is it you’re always causing some sort of commotion?” Now why, why did I just say that? Oh well, she likes a good challenge anyway.
“I don’t cause commotions, I AM one” she said
“Yeah, well, that’s for sure” Smooth, Tigelaar…not. What am I doing?
“So you think I should just keep my mouth shut? Is that what you’re saying?” What?
“What? No, no, I’m saying-”
“You think I want to be this way?”
“I j-”
“You think I want to care this much?”
“I mean-”
“I know that my life would be much easier if I didn’t care but-”
“Do you ever let anyone else talk?” he finally stopped her little rant.
“Sorry”
“I was just-”
“But can I just say one more thing?” Well, I give up
“You could’ve walked away back there” she added
“So?” he asked nonchalantly
“So, no matter how shallow and self absorbed you pretend to be-”
“Uhh excuse me” he interrupted “there is no pretense here, I happened to be genuinely self absorbed and deeply shallow” this was his public persona after all, this is how everyone knew him, how everyone believed him to be.
“Oh please, no you’re not. Otherwise you wouldn’t be so unhappy” her remark made him feel something he’d never felt before. On one hand, he felt embarrassed that his own iron mask had slipped, he felt naked. On the other hand, he felt seen. He felt like, for the first time in a very long time, perhaps forever, someone had finally seen him, the true him, his heart and soul. He simply stared, not knowing how to respond, not knowing whether or not to challenge that statement. He thought of it, but ultimately decided it was better to walk away and hide like he always did.
“Fine. But if you don’t want my help-” he started walking away
“No, I do” and as she said that, she grabbed his hand. He turned his head to look at her. The eye contact felt strange, there was something in her eyes he couldn’t quite describe. It was a nice sight, he admitted mentally, and the skin to skin contact felt different. It felt warm and not just because they were two warm blooded individuals sharing a hand hold, there was a different type of warmth he’d never experienced before. He looked down at their hands, and as he did that, she quickly let go of his hand.
She sat down next to the cub in front of a creek and he followed suit. He finally asked what he’d been wanting to ask since the spell took effect on their classmates.
“What did mean to do back there? And why was I the only one you didn’t do it to?”
She faced him, instead of answering the question she said “you’re bleeding”
“I am?”
“Yeah” her hand got very close to his face and for a moment he hesitated, something told him to walk away but another part of him told him to stay where he was. Her hand touched the spot where a speck of blood could be seen “There” she whispered.
The warmth he’d felt moments before was back, but this time it was accompanied by a different feeling. There was something that was pulling him towards her, not physically, but he wanted to get closer or wanted her to get closer to him. He simply stared at her, hypnotized by those eyes. He heard her speak but not fully paying attention.
“It must have scratched you” she said.
“Yeah” unsure what to respond he simply said “or maybe it scratched me…or something” wait, isn’t that what she just said? I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention. She must think I’m an idiot or something. Oh well, nothing new, she already does.
But she said nothing. She simply kept her hand against his face, taking in his features. Suddenly, he took his hand and placed it on top of hers, not wanting her hand to let go of his face. Unsure of what else to do, their little staring game continued.
It was then that he did what he’d hoped she’d do a second earlier. He moved closer to her, keeping her hand on his face. He looked deeper into those emerald green eyes. And then, his other hand mimicked what she was doing and he touched her face. The green beauty didn’t react, didn’t move. He got closer and closer, to the point where they could feel each other’s breaths. Then, their foreheads touched, he wanted to continue, to get even closer, he looked at her again, almost asking for permission but silently hoping that she’d make a move and close the tiny gap separating their lips. But she didn’t move. She didn’t get closer but also didn’t pull away. Perhaps this was the go ahead sign for him to close the gap.
But then, they heard the cub make a sound and remembered why they were here to begin with. He moved away, never breaking eye contact. “I better get to safety” stupid, what did I just say? “I mean the cub, I better get the cub to safety” nice save except it wasn’t.
He grabbed the cub and ran. Once he was far enough from her, he felt frustrated. Frustrated because he really wanted to kiss her and chickened out. Why did he chicken out? Fiyero Tigelaar doesn’t do that. Some may say it was because he remembered he had a girlfriend and kissing another girl wouldn’t be right, but that had never stopped him before and he was sure that if it were any other girl in Elphaba’s place he would’ve kissed her without a second thought. Or, to be more precise, he would’ve let her kiss him. That’s how it usually went in the past. Not because he ever set out to cheat, but because he’d never been very good at stopping things once they started.
But something stopped him from kissing Elphaba. It wasn’t lack of desire, oh no, if there was one thing he had plenty of was the desire to kiss her. She didn’t push him away either, so what was it? That was something he wouldn’t be able to figure anytime soon.
Once he felt comfortable with the spot where he set the cub free, he decided it was time to go back. He went looking for Elphaba and found her still sitting next to the creek, her hand touching the water.
“I think it’s safe to go back now” he said
“You go ahead, I’ll just stay here a little longer” why? Is she mad at me?
“You sure? It looks like it’s about to get dark soon”
“Yeah, I’ll be ok” she reassured him
Opting not to insist, he made his way back to Shiz, but he couldn’t stop thinking about her. The whole ride back, all he could think about was what if I’d just kissed her? How would she have reacted? Would she have been mad? Would she have pushed me away? Why do I even care? What is this feeling?
He finally reached campus and left the bike where he’d first found it. He then heard a high-pitched voice call his name and quickly felt how his petite blonde girlfriend hugged him, she sounded worried, but he reassured her that everything was fine. She took his hand to make their way to the dining hall and started walking, but he couldn’t help but look back, wondering where Elphaba was. Why wasn’t she back yet? When would she be back? He was feeling something he'd never felt before, and something he certainly couldn’t describe.
What is this feeling?