Prompt given to me by one of my anonymous tumblr followers: prompt!fiyero is forced to drop his pretense and assholey manner when he has an asthma attack in front of elphaba

Breathtaking

"Hey Thropp. Thropp wait up!"

Elphaba winced when she heard a familiar voice call behind her as she walked through the halls. She could almost hear the smug smirk on his face as he walked to catch up with her. Quickening her pace, she simply rolled her eyes and pretended not to hear him.

"Oz green really does mean go, huh?"

Elphaba jumped a bit and glanced to the side to see Fiyero Tiggular catching up to her pace, walking alongside her.

"I'm late for class," she muttered under her breath.

"Oh come on Thropp we both know that you don't have another class until four."

"It's kind of creepy you know that. And why do you call me that?" she scoffed, never slowing her pace. "Thropp."

"I think it's cute. Thropp. Rhymes with a lot of things. You know…mop…top…flop…"

Elphaba felt something under her foot and suddenly she found herself tripping to the floor, her papers scattering everywhere. She fell to her knees and glared up at Fiyero, fixing her glasses.

"Did you seriously just trip me? Are you four years old?!" she bellowed angrily, beginning to gather her papers. He got to his knees as well and started to help her gather her things.

"I'm so sorry, miss. It looks like you took quite the tumble-" he looked up at her and gasped dramatically when their eyes met. "Why I never realized how…breathtaking you are until just this moment-" he teased, eyes wide with mock wonder.

Elphaba glared and yanked the papers out of his hands, praying that he got many papercuts.

"Get out of my way," she hissed, shoving him away from her with her free hand. She heard him coughing as she got up and brushed herself off.

"You wound me, fair lady," he said dramatically, coughing a bit as he got back to his feet. Without missing a beat, Elphaba was down the hall again. She had a very low tolerance for stupidity today, meaning Fiyero was the last person she wanted to be hanging around.

"Will you just leave me the hell alone, what did I ever do to you?" she hissed, still hearing footsteps behind her.

The hallways were beginning to clear out as people who were not on free period went to their classes.

"Look—wait up-" she heard him breathe behind her. If she were walking any faster at this point, she would be jogging, and somehow he was still keeping up.

"I never did anything to provoke you or annoy you in fact I've been reasonably patient with you and all you do is harass me and poke fun. So excuse me if I'm less than polite from now on but for my own sanity please in Oz name just leave me alone. Do I make myself clear?"

He didn't say anything in response, which was odd. She stopped suddenly and whipped around angrily.

"Oh so now you finally shut up! I said, do I make myself-" Elphaba's uptight frown quickly faded to one of concern. The prince was indeed still behind her, but he wasn't paying much attention.

Hunched over with one hand gripping the wall and the other gripping his chest, Fiyero seemed a little too distracted to back talk her. He gasped for breath, making terrible wheezing sounds. Elphaba was stunned for a moment, staring at him, before something snapped in her mind.

"Inhaler. Do you have an inhaler?" she asked urgently, taking steps towards him. He nodded dumbly.

"Bag," he wheezed, dropping his bag on the floor. His breaths got shorter and more frantic as Elphaba calmly but quickly started to rummage through his bag.

"Fiyero I'm going to have to ask you to stay calm," she told him. "Do not panic." Eventually she found what she was looking for and handed it to him quickly. Although she was calm under pressure, Elphaba's hands trembled. She watched as Fiyero accepted the inhaler and began to inhale deeply. His skin looked horribly clammy and his lips looked almost blue. It happened so out of nowhere, and of course no one was around.

"Breathe in…and out…there…" Elphaba coached softly, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. Her heart was thudding wildly in her chest as she watched. After a moment or two Fiyero coughed, his wheezing breaths becoming a bit slower. He stood upright again, just breathing deeply. Beads of sweat had formed on his forehead and he looked up at Elphaba who watched him with wide eyes.

"Do you need medical attention?" she asked calmly, voice filled with concern. Fiyero stared at her for a moment as he caught his breath, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.

"No…" he muttered hoarsely. "No I'm fine…"

Elphaba narrowed her eyes watching as the color slowly started to return to his face. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself. His chest began to rise and fall at a more gradual speed.

"You're lucky it wasn't more severe…do you have a plan for if it was? Do you know what triggered it?"

Fiyero shook his head as he ran his hand through is hair. "No…I don't know. I just couldn't breathe suddenly."

"Maybe you were just caught off guard at how breathtaking I was," I muttered under my breath, using his words from earlier. To her surprise, he laughed weakly.

"Breathtaking," he smirked a bit.

"Sit. You should sit," Elphaba instructed, gesturing to the bench nearby. He didn't protest or made some smartass comment this time, he just took her advice and sat on the bench.

"How come you were so calm and prepared?" he scoffed as she sat next to him.

"Nessarose has asthma too. I've always carried an extra inhaler around with me just in case she had another episode. How long?"

Fiyero sighed and looked behind his shoulder almost as if he was afraid someone would overhear.

"Since I was a kid. It's usually not that bad. It's not really a big deal."

"Well…I mean it's perfectly normal it's nothing to be—embarrassed about…" Elphaba frowned.

"Yeah—well I just try to keep it under wraps, okay?" Fiyero ruffled his hair.

"You know what? I just…I don't understand you. Why do you care so much? Why do you care so much what people think about you?" she protested, glaring at him.

"Well why do you!?" Fiyero snapped back, turning his head to look at her. Their eyes met, staring hardly at each other. Just for a moment Fiyero could have sworn he saw something change in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it.

"Are you feeling any better?" she mumbled, glaring down at her hands.

"Yes…I mean…I might have to take the rest of the day off to recuperate…"

"As if you ever go to class anyway," she called his bluff, looking back up at him. She was surprised to see him offer her a lopsided grin at her comment.

"You got me," he smirked. The corners of Elphaba's mouth curved upwards and she returned his smile.

"You know, we make quite the pair," Fiyero mentioned, nudging her a bit. "You with the green and old blue skin over here," he joked, gesturing to himself.

Elphaba scoffed but tried not to smile, glancing up at the ceiling and rolling her eyes. "Yeah but the coloring of my skin doesn't go away after I get enough oxygen."

Fiyero watched her for a moment. "Good."

Elphaba looked over to him quickly at his comment, her smile rearranging into another frown but he was already standing up and adjusting his bag.

"And hey, do you think you could…keep this between you and me?" Fiyero asked. Elphaba scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Who am I going to tell?" she reminded him, standing up as well.

"Right…right. Hey look…just…thanks. For your quick thinking and all of that…" Fiyero mumbled, ruffling his hair again. "And-I'm sorry for being such an asshole."

"Well it's good to see that you're not a complete asshole, for once. I should knock the wind out of you more often," she muttered.

"I look forward to it," Fiyero winked. "I'll…see you around, Thropp."

Fiyero's lopsided smile had returned as he walked away, but Elphaba tried not to focus on it. Strangely enough, whenever she did, it felt as if the wind was being knocked out of her.