This is my first attempt in this fandom, so hopefully I've done justice to the characters. I had to take a few liberties here and there with things like the names of Fiyero's parents, but things should be relatively consistent. Please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own WICKED (book, musical, future movie adaptions, etc.).
Summary: Galinda only wanted her two friends to get along, but even she couldn't have foreseen the results of her questionnaire. After all, knowledge is a dangerous thing . . . Fiyereba.
Getting to Know You
"This is ridiculous!" Elphaba cried as she forcibly shut her notebook and turned her brown eyes to glare at the boy seated across from her.
"I disagree," he replied smoothly, his voice alone irking the green girl. "It makes perfect sense."
"No it doesn't, Fiyero," she answered. "You know it just as well as I do, and Galinda isn't around, so there's no need to suck up."
"Ok," Fiyero conceded. "It's a tad ridiculous, but her heart is in the right place."
"Her heart is always in the right place," Elphaba complained, "and she's always doing ridiculous things like this. It's like she can't see past her good intentions to see sense."
"C'mon, Elphie," he insisted, grinning as she narrowed her eyes at him. "As far as intentions go, you've got to admit this one is pretty honourable. She just wants her two best friends – the two most important people in her life – to get along."
"And this is how?" Elphaba argued back, holding up the questionnaire with a look of disgust.
"This is so we can get to know each other."
Elphaba's lip curled derisively. "Knowing you isn't going to change who you are, Tiggular," she almost snarled at him.
"You never know, Thropp," he teased, liking the way her cheeks flushed with anger turning them an even deeper emerald, "you might like me if you knew me," he said lowly, leaning towards her as he flicked his golden bangs away from his eyes.
She flushed an even darker green, but tried her best to ignore her heated cheeks. "I doubt it," she replied blandly, covering her flustered state with another icy glare.
He sighed, unable to keep his disappointment from showing on his face. "Let's just get this over and done with," he said tiredly, opening her notebook back up on the table. "I know you don't want to spend more time with me than you have to."
"Fiyero . . ." she began consolingly, but there was nothing she could say. She had brought this upon herself, and to say anything more would be giving herself away.
"Name. Elphaba Thropp," he said as he filled the answers out on his own page.
"That's with two 'p's," she reminded him.
"And that's Tiggular with one 'l'," Fiyero offered in return, glancing briefly at her page. "You'd think Miss. Top-of-the-class would know that," he grinned. "I know you've been reading up on me," he added with a wink.
"The Vinkus. I've been reading about the Vinkus," she replied quickly, correcting her intentional mistake (she'd hate for him to know how good she'd gotten at writing his name, usually accompanied by some kind of heart shaped formation). "Your family name just happened to be mentioned."
"Don't pretend like you weren't looking for it, Fae," he grinned, winking once again. At this rate he was going to develop some kind of repetitive stress injury.
"Don't call me that," she complained loudly, flushing once again. "It makes it sound like we're friends."
"By the end of this questionnaire, I'm sure we will be," he returned quite confidently. He would have them friends even if it killed him. Even if that was all they'd ever be.
"Date of birth?" he said, moving on to the next question. She mumbled her answer quietly, not looking up from her own page where Fiyero's birthday was already filled in.
"But that's like this Friday," he gaped at her response. "Why didn't you say anything sooner? We could have had a party or something."
"No thank you," Elphaba responded with a look of disdain. "It'd just be an excuse for all of Shiz to drink their hearts out and no one would actually care." She looked up, surprised to see that Fiyero actually looked a little hurt by the accusation. "I just don't want a party," she finished sheepishly.
"Fine," he replied, "but I'm gonna get you something, Fae. Something nice." He paused as he tried to think of what sort of things girls liked, but his only real experience to draw from was holding shopping bags for Galinda and he doubted that Elphaba would be interested in the same things as Galinda.
"I'll get you a nice . . . uh . . . barrette," he decided, feeling stupid for not coming up with anything better.
"It's fine," she waved off with feigned indifference, ignoring the crazy beating of her heart. "You shouldn't bother going to the hassle of finding me something. I clash with everything."
"That's not true," Fiyero protested. "You look nice in your school uniform."
She blinked in disbelief, her lips curling ever so slightly. "Are you saying I look nice in green?" she questioned disdainfully.
"Yes, but not if you're going to get upset about it," he backtracked. "You look good in . . ." he really wanted to say red, but the more logical parts of his brain quickly warned against it. "In purple!"
"Nice save," she muttered. "Parents?"
"Illia and Liir. Yours?"
"Melena and Frex," she answered. "My mother's dead," she added, feeling for some reason that it was necessary to say so.
"I'm sorry," he replied, masking his surprise at her revelation. It wasn't like Elphaba to be so candid, but it made him secretly pleased to have her opening up to him.
"You can borrow mine if you like," he offered, trying to lighten the mood. "She's not much for 'mothering' and I'm sure you'd be one to question her work experience," he said, breathing a small sigh of relief when he saw Elphaba crack the tiniest smile, "but she's the best cook I know."
"I'll keep it mind," she replied, rolling her eyes. "It's just you, right?" she guessed as she turned her eyes to the next question.
"Is it that obvious?" he replied, her tone implying something about his only child status. "Is it just you and Nessa?" he asked. "No lapis coloured brother you're hiding from us."
"Just me and Nessarose," she confirmed.
"Is that one 's' or two?" he quipped, earning himself another eye roll from Elphaba, albeit a playful eye roll. "Now the hard questions," he smiled, seeing they'd got past all the administrative type questions. "Favourite food, Elphaba," he commanded.
"Um . . . cooking chocolate," she replied after a moments thought.
"You mean that really bitter sweet kind?" he asked, noting that chocolate would make a much better gift than some stupid barrette she'd probably never wear. At least he knew she'd eat chocolate, even if it were from him.
"Yeah," she replied. "What about you, Tiggular?"
"Hmm," he replied thoughtfully, feeling he needed to make it something good and not just 'anything mother makes'. "Gyrie berries," he eventually answered, "but just before they're ripe so they're extra sweet."
Elphaba made disgusted face. "How could you eat something so sweet?" she asked him. "My teeth hurt just thinking about it."
"It's a Vinkus thing," Fiyero responded with a shrug. "Vinkus cooks add sugar to everything."
She scoffed at what she assumed was hyperbole. "I doubt they add it to everything," she muttered lowly.
"Wanna bet?" he challenged. "You haven't tried halibut until you've had it baked in a marmalade glaze with sweet apple garnish and a plate of extra-sweet kumara on the side." Fiyero was practically drooling as he described the dish. Elphaba looked almost ill.
"Let's just move on before you make me feel even more sick," she suggested, trying to rid herself of the mental image/taste. "Favourite sport, 'Yero?"
He raised an eyebrow at the address but didn't mention it aloud. "Archery. I suppose yours is something intellectual like chess?"
"Actually it's not," Elphaba replied snootily, only to realize a moment later that she didn't have a favourite sport. Not that she could admit to that – Fiyero would only assume that she was saying so because she really did like chess and was trying to prove him wrong, and nothing could be worse than allowing the Vinkus prince to think he was right.
"I like . . . debating," she said, settling on a sport that seemed to fit her personality.
"I'm not really that surprised," Fiyero nodded, "but it's not a sport."
"It is," Elphaba argued back. "It's as much a sport as chess."
"I'll give you that," Fiyero agreed, "and had you said chess was your favourite sport I would have told you chess isn't a sport either.
"I'll just mark this one not applicable," he decided, grinning back at her pretty scowl. "Favourite flower, Fae."
"Poppies. You?" she asked lazily before adding challengingly, "unless you're too manly to have a favourite flower."
He put on a show of affront that actually made her laugh out loud, the sound lilting off her smiling lips. "I'm so manly," Fiyero countered boastfully, inwardly swooning, "that I could tell you I had a favourite figure skating routine and I'd still be the manliest guy on campus.
"And before you scoff, Elphaba Thropp," he finished, managing to catch her mid gesture, "its baby's breath."
"How manly," she retorted blandly, despite being somewhat impressed by his willingness to impart the information. "Favourite colour?"
"Green."
"Excuse me," Elphaba uttered, her features contorting into a dark expression.
"Green," he said again, his expression so sincere and serious that Elphaba just knew he had to be joking for sure.
"This is ridiculous," she muttered, slamming her notebook closed once again and beginning to gather her things.
"What is?" Fiyero asked, standing to stop her.
"Us!" she replied loudly. "The idea that we could ever be friends. You're always going to find some way to piss me off, and I'm always going to be an easy target.
"Let's just promise to behave in front of Galinda and be done with it," she suggested hopelessly.
"So you're just giving up?" he questioned, truly affronted by her sudden dismissal of him. "We were getting along and now you're just giving up because I like the colour green?"
"No," she replied darkly, "I'm giving up because I was actually trying and then you go and make stupid joke like it was all for nothing.
"I don't know what I ever saw in you," she muttered, sadness lilting her voice as she tried to turn away.
"What you saw in me?" Fiyero growled, drawing her back. "How about what I saw in you? You're so intelligent and beautiful, Elphaba, but you're obsessed with what everyone thinks of you.
"You think they're all judging you because of the colour of your skin," he concluded, eyes narrowed at her form, "but as far as I can tell, the only person who can't see past your verdigris, is you."
She was stunned for a moment, his words hitting her right to the bone. "What are you trying to say, Fiyero?" she asked, her eyes clouded with confusion.
"I – well I . . ." he began, caught off-guard by her question. "Oh screw it!" he muttered before suddenly forcing her body flush against his own and descending upon her lips.
For a moment, Elphaba was shocked by the sudden invasion into her personal bubble, but the shock didn't last. None too soon, she was kissing him back with equal fervour and all the passion she could muster into a single kiss. It seemed a whole lifetime had passed before they finally parted, blue and brown eyes conveying all the things they had failed to put into words.
"This is ridiculous," Elphaba giggled, finally breaking the silence that had settled between them.
"What is it now?" Fiyero almost groaned, a playful grin resting on his lips.
"This," she replied waving vaguely. "Galinda's plan actually working."
"Fair point," he nodded. "We should come up with some sort of story," he suggested, "otherwise she's going to think of herself as some master matchmaker."
She nodded at his conclusion, pausing in thought for a moment. "Well, I'm free right now," Elphaba smiled, "unless you can think of something better to do."
Fiyero grinned. "I can always think of better things to do with you, Miss. Elphaba.
"In fact," he said, an almost devious look on his face, "I think we should continue getting to know each other, Fae.
"My place?"
Elphaba nodded. "On one condition.
"Don't ever mention marmalade halibut to me again."
~FIN~