Chapter Text
Chapter One
The travel time to Shiz University would be faster if Fiyero were to take the metro. Or even if he took a cab or Uber. But no. Most days, he preferred to walk.
Why did he prefer to walk? The reason was simple: it was easier to blend in. In a car, the drivers would see his name or have to look at his face, or would ask him too many questions about who he was or where he was going. On a metro, some other passengers would look around, instead of on their phones, and have more time to recognize his face.
Fiyero’s face. A celebrity, royalty, influencer, or whatever he was. And of course it came with people asking for pictures, asking too-personal questions, or whatever the hell. No, he much preferred to avoid that whenever he could.
Walking to school, despite the distance from his apartment, felt like one of the only times he could be normal. In the streets of New York, he blended right in. There were plenty of strange people around, and he hardly stuck out. With the wide variety of appearances, in most cases, nobody spared him a single glance. Everyone blended in.
Well, mostly everyone. He only knew of one person who had a difficult time with that, and that was hardly her fault.
Fiyero left for school a little earlier than he usually did in the morning, savoring the fall air before the seasons turned into a bitter cold. The headphones over his ears played a song he had never heard before, and wasn’t paying much attention to, anyway. He stopped at one of his favorite coffee places, picking up a quick mobile order, then went on his way again with a drink in hand. He tried not to think about the test he hadn’t studied for.
About fifteen minutes later, he finally arrived at the building. Shiz University. It was one of New York’s new and prestigious schools, meant for the academically and culturally gifted. In other words, it was mostly for people whose parents had money.
After being shunted around from different universities and colleges, Fiyero thought this school was better than the other ones he had been to. It had nothing to do with the classes, or the dorms, or the faculties, or anything else money could buy. It was the people.
Fiyero made it on time to his first class, Global Politics, sitting next to one of his friends, Boq Woodsman. They chatted for a while. Fiyero asked about the homework due, then teased Boq a little about his crush on Glinda. Fiyero had briefly dated Glinda when he arrived, about a month ago, but that had ended quickly.
“Just ask her out,” Fiyero said, nudging Boq with a grin. “Come on, she’s single, and you’ve got nothing to lose if you don’t try.”
Boq winced. “I…uh…even if Glinda was interested, which she isn’t–”
“-even if she isn’t, it’s better just to know, right?”
“-I think Nessa is under the impression that I’m interested in her,” Boq continued. “Especially after that night at the Ozdust.”
Fiyero frowned. “That’s still a thing?”
“I…think? I don’t know?”
Fiyero sighed. He was usually pretty good at reading relationships, gauging whether or not someone was interested, and the like. He had had plenty of experience. But that wasn’t exactly something he could teach Boq overnight. “Listen, man. You’ve got to just cut right to it and figure it out. Get it over with, like ripping off a band-aid.”
Boq bit his lip and busied himself with his notebook.
Fiyero tried to think of something else to encourage him, but at that point, the professor had already started her lecture.
After class finished, Fiyero gave Boq a quick nod of farewell and promptly left. Usually on Wednesdays, if he hurried, he could run into Elphaba or Glinda making their way towards one of their classes. He passed through the crossroads of campus, looking around the wide area of students eating or studying. Both of them were pretty recognizable, and there wasn’t a sign of either of them anywhere. Darn. Maybe he’d see them later.
Or maybe he’d see one of them quickly.
Leaving the crossroads, passing one of the classroom hallways, he heard voices in an argument. Normally he’d ignore the sound, but he recognized one of them.
Elphaba’s voice. It was raised.
Fiyero changed his direction and turned down the hall.
There she was. Elphaba was pretty hard to miss for several reasons, and the most obvious of which was that she was green. Bright green skin, like a color found in a sunny forest. There were several rumors about why that was, but Fiyero hadn’t asked. He had been a bit surprised to see her unique tone, but it surprisingly didn’t take too long before they became acquaintances, and then friends.
Elphaba was arguing with someone, Avaric. Ugh. Fiyero hated that guy. They used to be friends, but Avaric proved himself to be too much of a jerk.
Even though Elphaba was verbally fighting back, it was clear Avaric was the one being more aggressive. Elphaba was holding her open backpack and trying to place her books into them as she talked. Avaric practically walked right into her, causing the books she was holding to spill out of her hands.
Fiyero instantly hurried over and stepped between the two, pushing against Avaric’s chest. “Back off.”
Avaric sneered and took a step back, but was still looking at Elphaba. “It wasn’t my fault. She knows she’s a freak.”
“If you insist she knows, you don’t need to tell her,” Fiyero said, glaring at him. “Now shove off.”
Avaric rolled his eyes as he turned away.
Fiyero looked back to Elphaba. She was picking her spilled books across the floor. He helped her pick up a math textbook. “You’re a freak at math,” Fiyero said with a smile. “But not a freak for any other reason, alright?”
Elphaba pushed her dark hair out of her face, but not looking at him. “I don’t need your help.”
“Probably not,” Fiyero admitted with a shrug. “But I want to give it, anyway.”
Elphaba now glanced up at him.
She had dark eyes, standing out clearly against her skin tone. Her hair was pulled in a half updo today, neatly brushed and held with a golden pin. She wore a dark purple jacket, layered with a pale pink flannel and gray blouse matched with ripped black jeans and purple colored tights underneath. She even wore a necklace, a thin gold chain of some kind, along with an extra earring in her ear.
Fiyero couldn’t help but smirk a little at the slightly different look with the added jewelry.
Elphaba must have noticed his glance, and she lowered her eyes at him. “What?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Just…you’ve been Glindafied.”
He had rarely seen Elphaba wear jewelry, maybe other than a pair of simple black stud earrings. But today there was much more than usual, along with the neater outfit. It wasn’t hard to guess where the gold pieces and pink overshirt came from.
Fiyero stood up with her, watching her arrange her backpack. “You don’t need to do that, you know?”
Elphaba bit her lip, fingering her necklace.
“That’s not to say you look bad at all,” Fiyero quickly amended. “You look great. But you don’t need to let Glinda decide everything for you if you’re not comfortable with it.”
Elphaba really did look pretty today, but it was a bit of a contrast from her normal plain hoodies, jeans, and shirts she wore.
Elphaba frowned at the necklace. “Maybe I’ll leave this home next time. The earrings, and the hairpin, too. I swear they’ve been itching me all day.” She sighed as she lowered her hand. “But I think Glinda was right about the layers.”
“Whatever makes you happy,” Fiyero agreed, giving her shoulder a gentle nudge.
Elphaba cleared her throat and looked away. “Don’t you have some supermodeling shoot to be at right now?”
“I could be,” Fiyero said with a grin. “Why, interested in joining?”
“Augh, get out of here, fool.”
He laughed and gave her a parting wave. “See you later.”
He only had to wait another class block before seeing Elphaba again in his Fundamentals of Literature class.
He was glad Elphaba was in it. It wasn’t that he minded reading, but all of the boring required books made his head spin. When they started becoming friends, she practically saved his life by filling him in on what was actually going on in the novel.
Fiyero slid into his normal seat next to Elphaba and got out his notebook. He knew better than to mention what had happened earlier. Elphaba had notebook out and was somehow already taking notes, even though the professor hadn’t even begun his lecture.
“Hey,” Fiyero said to her. “Glinda just texted. She’s planning a party at the Ozdust Friday. You in?”
Elphaba paused her writing to look over and frown at him.
“It’ll be better than last time, I promise,” he assured.
“I haven’t ever had a good experience there,” she muttered. “I’d rather not.”
Well, no matter how disappointed he was, he couldn’t exactly blame her. When Fiyero first transferred here, he heard of the Ozdust and immediately planned a party (in the middle of the week). It was his usual strategy to first meet people at a new school, perhaps find a friend group that seemed acceptable and maybe find a girlfriend. That was too easy, Glinda practically chased after him the moment she set eyes on him.
But then Glinda apparently invited her roommate Elphaba to the Ozdust, offering her a hat to wear that would be sure to gain negative attention. Elphaba fell for the prank and then fell victim to the club’s laughter.
Fiyero still felt awful about the incident. He had barely known her, and yet watching her stand there in the quiet, awkwardly dancing while everyone stared at her, broke his heart. Glinda managed to save the situation and the two became friends. Apparently, Elphaba’s very first friend, which was a whole other saddening topic. And while Fiyero initially admired Glinda for showing kindness, when he learned the truth of what she did, it quickly became tense between the two of them. Their relationship didn’t last much longer after that. Glinda was a good sport, though, and insisted that they stay friends. Fiyero had a feeling that she mainly wanted to ride off of his social media following, but she was good company, as well as Elphaba’s friend. And he was her friend, too.
“Well, how about I talk to Glinda?” Fiyero offered. “I’ll see how many people she’s inviting and see if she can lower it a little. Maybe just you, me, her, Boq, and Nessa?”
Nessa was Elphaba’s sister, and although the two seemed close, he thought they couldn’t be less alike. But Nessa was nice enough, and wanted Elphaba to feel comfortable.
Elphaba tapped her pencil against her notebook, pondering. “No. I don’t want to make Glinda lower the invites. I know she’ll have invited more than just us.”
Fiyero resisted the urge to sigh. “Alright. Then…maybe some other time we can plan something in a smaller group? And maybe more casual. Just friends meeting for lunch, maybe?”
Fiyero could see a hint of a smile on her face. She shrugged. “Well. Maybe. I mean…sure.”
Fiyero grinned. “Perfect.” He dug in his pocket, holding out his phone. “Can I have your number? I don’t have anything other than your school email.”
Elphaba frowned at the phone. “Why do you need it?”
“To…communicate?”
“I don’t see what use that will be.”
Fiyero stared at her quizzically. “To ask questions? To say hello occasionally?”
“It seems like you want to socialize more.”
With a jolt, Fiyero realized she probably didn’t have many people’s numbers. “Well, yeah. It’s what people do.”
Elphaba took the phone hesitantly. “Are you sure?”
Wounded with sympathy, he nodded.
Elphaba entered her number. Fiyero watched as she tried to hide a flush.
She cleared her throat. “Just don’t bother me too much.”
“No promises!”
At the end of Literature, Fiyero and Elphaba parted ways. During his next class, Fiyero texted her number with a simple: ‘Hi!’ He was met with a very Elphaba-like response: ‘Pay attention.’
He smirked at the text and begrudgingly put his phone in his pocket. He pretended to watch the professor’s presentation. He imagined Elphaba taking studious notes, asking questions, and probably being on the road of the university’s Valedictorian. And Fiyero was sitting in his class with his fingers drumming on his knees, struggling to focus.
Why were they friends? The two of them were pretty different. But when they talked after the Ozdust, something just clicked. Then he found that the two of them had a few classes together, and then he became friends with Boq and Nessa, and it all sort of fell into place. He liked talking with her. And he certainly appreciated her help.
He endured the next several classes before meeting with Elphaba at the end of the day in their Chemistry class.
In Fiyero’s opinion, Chemistry was the most difficult and boring subject to ever exist. Who cared what all of the elements were and what weird things they did? He would never need to use that.
If it wasn’t for Elphaba, he would be failing entirely. Now, he was just doing poorly. All things considered, that was a massive improvement.
But when class started and the professor announced that they would be dissecting frogs, Fiyero’s interest immediately piqued.
“This is much more hands-on experience,” Fiyero told Elphaba as they partnered together. “So much more interesting.”
Elphaba rolled her eyes and put on a pair of safety goggles. “How many frogs are you planning on cutting up in your lifetime?”
“Maybe I’ll make it my career.”
“Hey, Thropp!” A student from a few tables away held up the dead frog they had just received. Its slimy green skin sagged. “It’s just like you!”
Several students around them laughed.
Fiyero’s jaw tightened.
Elphaba shook her head, turning away. “Just ignore them.”
Fiyero still couldn’t help but scowl. He would have thought that after the Ozdust incident, and Glinda “the Good” Upland becoming Elphaba’s friend, that people would stop being assholes. Apparently not.
It had initially surprised him with the kind of backlash Elphaba received just for her appearance, and it was clearly messed up. Elphaba said it had been much, much worse as a kid, and that most adults tended to be a little more respectful. Clearly, a lot of people hadn’t grown up enough to not make stupid remarks like that. But that fact saddened more than shocked him.
As it turned out, after a few minutes into the dissection, Fiyero learned that he wanted nothing to do with cutting frogs. Why were there so many layers? And squishy things? And strangely firm things? And all of them looked like they had been sitting in a bucket of dirty water for several days.
Elphaba must have noticed the sight was making him nauseous, so she took over the actual dissection and made him write the notes.
“Why are there so many notes for this?” Fiyero asked as he struggled to make his handwriting as fancy as Elphaba’s. “Also, this is chemistry, not biology. Do we really need to know where a frog’s spleen is?”
“But look at the skin,” Elphaba said. “That kind of stickiness must have an interesting compound if they’re able to stick to walls. I wonder if we’ll be able to analyze that later.”
“What, you want to look more at frog slime?”
Elphaba scowled. “It’s interesting, is all.”
Fiyero glanced at her. “Is chemistry that interesting to you? Aren’t you an English major? Or was it political science?”
“No, I’m undeclared at the moment,” Elphaba said. “And even if I wanted to be a chemist, that doesn’t mean I can’t find other subjects interesting.”
Fiyero shrugged. “I’m taking this for generals. The minute I pass, if I pass, I’m out of here.”
“You’ll be alright,” Elphaba assured, leaning closer to him to look at his notes. “By the rate you’re improving, I think you’ll be just fine.”
Fiyero blinked at the compliment. Although she could be sarcastic, he could also tell when she was being sincere. She had meant what she said. He wasn’t entirely sure how to take that.
“You probably don’t even need school, the way you’re going,” Elphaba pointed out. “You’re practically built for success.”
Fiyero looked away. “Hm.”
Elphaba turned and noticed his expression. “Oh–sorry,” she quickly said. “I didn’t mean your parents. I meant you’re already doing pretty well for yourself.”
Fiyero shrugged.
In all honesty, he wanted to drop out. But the Tigelaar family insisted that he complete at least some form of higher education. But he was doing things outside of his family, too. He had a pretty high social media following that he used to start doing some photography to earn a little on his own. And a few months ago, he got a job at the Daily Emerald, helping run their social accounts while providing some pictures. Despite the stress, he liked it. He was doing something on his own and earning his own money. Still, he tended to be treated with either heightened respect or flirtation. That wasn’t going away any time soon.
“I mean it,” Elphaba said. “Keep going the way you’re going, and you’ll be fine.”
Fiyero managed a smile. “That means a lot, coming from the smartest person in the school.”
“Oh, please,” Elphaba said with a scoff. “I still need to get a job.”
“Where are you applying?”
“Everywhere, really. Other than food service.”
The class finally ended and Elphaba helped Fiyero properly dispose of the frog. The minute that was done, most of the class instantly gathered their belongings and left.
Elphaba noticed the professor gathering the left behind tools. “Excuse me, sir. Would you like some help?”
“That would be very kind, thank you.”
Fiyero didn’t have another class after this one, so he stayed behind with her. The professor had to leave for a quick meeting, leaving Elphaba and Fiyero alone in the classroom. Luckily, Elphaba knew where everything went.
“Make sure all of the metal is soaking in the disinfectant,” Elphaba told him. “The professor can put those away later. And then all of the mats go in the storage closet.”
Fiyero gathered the cleaned mats in his arms and followed her to the closet. “Do you spend more time here or something?”
“I try and talk with all of my professors,” Elphaba told him, opening a drawer in the closet for him. “He was kind enough to give me a tour.”
Fiyero put the mats away and wiped his hands. He couldn’t relate to her scholarly ambitions, but he could respect it. “Anything else?”
“That should be it,” Elphaba said, looking around. “Unless it’s labeled where to put the leftover frogs…”
Fiyero pretended to gag. “Please, anything but that.”
“You big wimp,” Elphaba said with a smirk and shoved his shoulder.
But Fiyero’s footing was off when she shoved him, causing him to knock into one of the shelves. A small plastic container at the top of the shelf tilted and fell to the ground with a loud crash, causing the two of them to yelp and jump away. The container’s lid popped open, scattering some sort of dusty content onto the floor.
“Oh no,” Elphaba muttered, horrified. “Oh, I hope there wasn’t anything too fragile in there…”
“It’ll be fine,” Fiyero said, trying not to panic. “Come on, let’s just…” he glanced at the floor and screamed, staggering back.
“What? What is it?!”
Leaning against the doorway, face burning, Fiyero cleared his throat. “Uh. There was a spider.”
Elphaba slowly turned to him. “Seriously?”
“I’m fine!” He sharply said, highly aware of how his face was probably bright red. “Nothing. No problem here. Definitely fine with spiders.”
“Right,” Elphaba drawled, approaching the container. She quickly put the lid back on and read the bright orange label. She scowled and looked inside the box. “This was supposed to have three spiders. I’m only seeing one.”
Fiyero hissed through his teeth, trying not to panic. “Great…great. Two possibly super dangerous spiders are loose.”
Elphaba carefully put the container back down. “The label just says they’re test subjects for experimentation. They’re probably not dangerous.”
They were still spiders.
Elphaba looked at the floor. “There, I think I see one…” She opened one of the drawers, rummaging around until she pulled out two small glass jars, handing one to Fiyero. “Look for the other one, won’t you?”
Damn. This clearly wasn’t the job for him. He watched Elphaba crouch lower, approaching one of the bottom shelves. There was the spider, about the size of a thumb. Which was huge.
“I hate spiders,” Fiyero muttered. “Why do they have so many legs?”
“Well, they’ve evolved so that the extra legs help them with movement and hunting and–”
“Nevermind, I didn’t actually want to know why.”
Elphaba held the jar carefully, sneaking up to the spider.
Fiyero tensed, expecting it to immediately scurry away. Or maybe it would run right towards him and crawl up his clothes and nest in his hair. He shuddered.
Elphaba suddenly pounced, pinning the spider right under the jar. She grinned with her success as she scooped the spider into the jar and sealed the lid. “Not so hard.”
He searched the closet as she transferred the spider into the container. No sign of the other one. He went out of the closet a little ways, into the classroom, and found it on the bottom leg of a desk.
Come on. If Elphaba could do it, so could he.
It was only a spider. A small…bigger than average…spider…with so many eyes…ugh, and the way it moved…
Fiyero slammed the jar against the desk, but the spider scurried away. He grit his teeth and tried again before it could run off…but it dodged the jar and climbed right onto his hand.
Fiyero probably screamed at a much higher pitch than he had ever made in his life, and that was including the time he jokingly sang a few octaves higher during karaoke night.
Elphaba ran to his side and swept the spider off of his hand.
Fiyero, quite unmanly and undignified, jumped up and down as he brushed off every area of his skin. “Ah! Ah! Augh, it’s everywhere!”
“Relax,” Elphaba said as she successfully captured the spider in her jar. “Got it.”
Fiyero swept his hands over all of his clothes and through his hair. “Aughhhh…..”
When he finally managed to collect himself, he noticed that Elphaba was watching him and biting her lip.
Fiyero scowled at her. “You’re laughing at me.”
“Am not!” But by saying that, she let out a laugh. She finally let her smile grow as she let out a few chuckles. “Now I am. Sorry, that was just…very funny.”
“Definitely not,” Fiyero protested, adjusting his shirt. “Don’t tell anyone about that, okay?”
“I won’t, I won’t,” Elphaba agreed, still grinning. “So sorry. Do you really have arachnophobia?”
“I don’t know,” Fiyero muttered as he straightened his stance. “Just don’t like bugs.”
“Technically they’re not bugs, they’re arachnids.”
“Ugh, I don’t care,” he groaned as he watched her put away the container. “Sorry. I mean, wow, nice fun Elphaba fact of the day.”
Elphaba snorted as she closed the closet door. “Well, don’t worry, your ego is safe with me. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Good,” Fiyero said with a smirk. “My ego is very important to me, you know. Right next to my attractiveness.”
Elphaba rolled her eyes. But instead of making another sarcastic remark, like he expected, she let out a sigh. “You know, you don’t have to pretend like that’s the case all the time.”
Fiyero’s expression fell. “What do you mean?”
“Your…whatever it is,” Elphaba said, gesturing to him. “Your weird self-deprecation, or pretend ego, or whatever you’re doing.”
Fiyero shook his head, bringing his smile back. “Sorry, I’m a prince. This ego is truly original.”
Elphaba scoffed. “Oh, please.”
“What?”
“No matter how shallow or self absorbed you pretend to be–”
“Excuse me,” he interrupted with a smirk. “There is no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self absorbed and deeply shallow.”
Elphaba shook her head, glaring at him. “Why are you so unhappy, then?”
Fiyero’s smile fell.
Unhappy? They were just messing around a few moments before. Why on earth would she think that? Was she just trying to insult him, or…
…or…
…or maybe she saw it.
The ache in his chest that he always kept buried. The reason he moved so fast, avoiding any other emotion to settle in. Moving away from his family. Smiling all the time. Pretending to love all of the attention he received.
When really…it was all just so suffocating.
But it was better to pretend that he was just fine with it all. To try and convince himself that he was happy like this. That he was just some stupid and idiodic prince who only cared about himself. The icon who served for only one purpose: looks, money, and fame. After all, isn’t that what everybody wanted? The values that everyone worked their whole lives to attain?
But deep down, Fiyero always knew that they meant nothing to him.
Elphaba was still watching him closely. Looking at him as if she was seeing right through him; seeing his very thoughts.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Fiyero managed a weak shrug. “Well…fine. If you didn’t want to be around me…”
“No,” Elphaba assured, reaching for his hand to stop him. “I do.”
Fiyero stopped…then looked down at their hands. Her green hand in his tan one.
She still hadn’t let go.
His gaze drifted up to her face, to her shimmering dark green eyes. The way she was looking at him, so full of concern, and the way her lips were slightly parted…
Fiyero was now uncomfortable for an entirely different reason.
Elphaba looked at their hands and flushed a darker shade of green. “I…sorry.” She pulled her hand away. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to just–”
Fiyero reached for her hand again, pulling it back towards him. It was warm and small against his own, but he told himself to focus as he raised it up to look at it closely.
Fiyero squinted. There were two small marks. Almost like small mosquito bites.
“Did it bite you?” He asked.
“I…oh.” She looked to her hand, drawing closer to look at it. “Did it?”
Fiyero gently ran his thumb over the bite mark. “Right there.” He meant for the gesture to only show her the location…but his thumb didn’t stop its movements. It lightly brushed back and forth across the back of her smooth skin. “Should we get you to a hospital?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, her voice soft. “It’s just a bite.”
Elphaba’s face was so close to his.
Feeling himself leaning in slightly, he abruptly stopped himself, his eyes widening. What the hell was he doing?
“Sorry,” he quickly said, letting go. “I…uh…” he cleared his throat. “Are you sure you don’t want that looked at? What if it’s some kind of mutant radioactive spider?”
Elphaba snorted. “Yeah, right.” She looked back at her hand. “I’ll be fine.”
Fiyero looked at the bite, tempted to reach for her hand again. Seriously, what was wrong with him?
Elphaba must have noticed his concern, so she gave an exasperated shrug. “I’ll look it up later, just in case.”
“Please do,” Fiyero said. “I can’t have my friend suddenly dying on me.”
Instead of taking the joke, she blinked, a little taken aback. “You’re…really worried about me?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” He protested. “Not just because I don’t like spiders. I really do just want you to be safe.”
She didn’t respond. He wasn’t sure how to interpret her expression. A little scared? Confused? Or maybe even flattered?
Then he remembered she probably wasn’t used to having people care for her.
Oh, he wanted to prove her wrong. He wanted to crush her in a hug, to thank her for everything, to look into her eyes, to hold her hand, to–
Whoa. Fiyero urged himself to calm down, but the steady pounding in his chest wasn’t going away. He needed to get out of here, now, before he did something he might regret. “I can…walk you to your dorm.”
“Oh…no, that’s fine,” Elphaba said. “I was just…gonna…”
“Right.” Fiyero put his hands in his pockets. “Well…I’ll see you later, then.”
After work, Fiyero was awake in his apartment. He was spread out across his bed, still fully dressed, even wearing his shoes.
Damn. Something was seriously wrong with him.
Fiyero hadn’t had a real crush in…years, maybe. Most of his feelings toward anyone else were fleeting attraction, there and gone in an instant. Yet he still pursued relationships, usually craving some kind of happiness or satisfaction, however fleeting.
Whatever his feelings toward Elphaba he had were starkly different.
It was strange, though. She wasn’t his usual type. In fact, she was much too smart for him. She’d probably go on to be president of the United States, or organize her own charity foundation, or cure cancer, or something. And him? Just some guy shifting between school to school just because his parents had money. Trying not to fail every other class he was in. The vain, stereotypically stupid handsome boy the entire school and even other parts of the world fawned over.
But there was something about the way he could just talk to her so easily. The way she didn’t take any of his teasings lying down, the way she would challenge his thoughts and also respect them. The way she didn’t immediately swoon after him, and acted like he was just a normal person. Someone he could be more of himself around.
And then there was the way she looked at him today. The way she called him out. Claiming he was unhappy. And yet she still looked at him with tenderness and honesty. As if she saw the parts of himself he tried to hide.
And of course, he had always found her pretty, even though that seemed to be a bit of an unpopular opinion. But after today…he couldn’t stop thinking about her dark eyes, and the way her bright skin stood out against his own…
Fiyero angrily turned in bed, shoving his face into a pillow. No. She was clearly not meant for him. For one, his parents wouldn’t approve (although hopefully that wouldn’t matter anyway, since he was trying to break free from them). But more importantly, he was much too stupid for her. She deserved someone much better, someone to match her own strengths. And someone to give her the care she so deserved. He would probably mess that up immediately. And she definitely wouldn’t be interested in him, anyway.
No, it was better if they just stayed friends. He valued their friendship a lot. Hopefully none of that would change.