"Migs has big news?" Elena asked excitedly, "Ooh! Tell me! Please, Skylar?"

"No way! Sorry princesa! I promised I wouldn't spoil his surprise!" Skylar shook his head and backed away as Elena clasped her hands before her and stuck her lower lip out— looking at him with wide, sad eyes. He continued, "Oh no you don't! I'm leaving before you can cheat and use that sad puppy dog look against me! Don't worry! He'll be here in a few hours to tell you the news himself! Adios!"

Skylar grinned as he spread his wings and took to the bright, sunny Avaloran sky, leaving Princess Elena alone on her balcony with her arms crossed, flashing a mock glare after her jaquin friend.

Smiling to herself, she turned and wandered back into her room. She couldn't deny that she was happy Migs would be returning soon— he'd been in Vallestrella for over a week and Skylar and Luna seemed a little lost without him there. She too had missed his calm, steady presence and the wisdom he possessed that balanced out her favorite jaquin trio so well.

Speaking of calm and steady presences— Elena grinned as she realized it was about time for breakfast which meant it was time for her morning visit to her favorite royal wizard. Mateo was usually in his workshop by then— she often wondered if that boy ever slept, he was usually up and ready for the day so much earlier than she.

Excited to share the news about Migs and his surprise with her best friend, she bounded from her room and made her way to the library. As she rounded the corner to the corridor nearest the main library entrance, she paused— her heart skipping a beat as she recognized the burgundy clad figure strolling towards her, his nose buried deep in a spellbook as he walked.

Smiling affectionately, she realized how happy this little thing made her— Mateo knew the palace— her home— so well and was so comfortable there that he could lose himself in his studies and still manage to find his way around.

She tiptoed past the library doors and leaned casually against the wall, with her arms crossed expectantly as she waited to see if he'd notice her standing there— for once. Mateo continued poring over his book as he walked, completely oblivious to the crown princess smirking at him as he passed. Mischief danced in her eyes as she pushed off the wall and prowled silently behind him. Still engrossed in his book, he absently reached out to open the library door, and froze— gasping when a slim pair of hands reached around either side if his face and covered his eyes.

"Guess who?" she sang out.

Grinning, Mateo rolled his eyes, though they were still covered. This had apparently become a regular occurrence as the palace slowly became his home. Playing along, he said, "Hmm...well, you're too tall to be Isabel. And you're far too short to be Esteban…"

Elena giggled and said, in a deep voice reminiscent of the chancellor, "This is true," as she kept her hands firmly in place.

"Well, you're far too nice to be Naomi and— truthfully— you sound far too pretty to be Gabe."

Cheeks flushing slightly at the small compliment, she laughed lightly and said, "That's an awful lot of who I'm not."

"Hmm...I suppose that just leaves my best friend," he raised his hand that wasn't holding a book and gently pried her fingers from his face. Chuckling, he turned to face the crown princess and grinned crookedly. "Morning, Elena!"

Flashing a cheeky grin, she said, "Hey, Mateo!" She peered curiously at her friend, her head cocking to one side as she asked, "Where have you been? You're usually knee deep in some project in your workshop by now."

"Oh!" his eyes darted around as rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Your abuela caught me just before I got to the library earlier and started fussing about how thin I am and how she's going to personally ensure that I start eating more. She insisted that I join them for breakfast this morning— wouldn't take no for an answer actually."

Eyes twinkling with amusement, Elena shook her head in mock disbelief and said, "Of course she did," as she looped an arm companionably through his and continued, "Well, I just wish I'd known we had a special guest at breakfast! I might have come down a little earlier."

Blushing slightly, Mateo glanced down, eyeing her hand where it gripped his own arm before sliding his spellbook under his arm and pushed the door open, walking into the library with Elena on his arm. "I don't know how special it was. I spent most of the time staring in awe at how quickly your abuelo was inhaling the huevos rancheros."

"Oh! Well, it sounds like you're part of the family now," Elena laughed as she gave Mateo's arm an affectionate squeeze, "so you'd better get used to it because Abuelo could give your spells a run for their money with how quickly he's been known to make food vanish!"

Mateo chuckled— though his throat tightened slightly with emotion at Elena's declaration that he was part of her family— as they approached the large painting that doubled as the door to his workshop. Elena's eyes widened in surprise as Mateo stretched out his free hand and muttered an incantation, "ABRIAZA".

The door slid silently open.

"Mateo!" she said, turning to her royal wizard, practically bouncing on her toes in excitement, "You just did that spell without your tamborita! I've never seen you do that before!"

Shrugging, Mateo said nonchalantly, "Oh, well, I've been practicing. It's an essential skill for all wizards, but it takes a strong will and lots of practice. Also, it really only works for very basic cantrips."

Elena bumped her shoulder against his as they entered the workshop. "Well, I'm impressed! Nice work Mr. Royal Wizard!"

Chuckling, Mateo said, "Thanks, Ms. Crown Princess."

Elena let go of his arm and hopped up onto her usual spot at the end of his work table as Mateo rummaged around in the cabinet just below.

"So," Mateo began, his voice slightly muffled from inside the cabinet, "What have you been up to this morning? Or did you just get up?"

Elena rolled her eyes playfully at his tone that clearly assumed she'd been sleeping all this time. It was a well known fact that Elena was a night owl and valued every last minute of sleep she could get.

"Actually, Mr. Smarty Pants," she nudged his shoulder with her foot, "I've been up for awhile. Skylar stopped by with news about Migs' return."

Mateo had stood and was arranging potion ingredients and his tools in the table smiling to himself as he listened to Elena. He looked up at the mention of Migs.

"Oh? Will he be back soon?"

"Yes! Today actually! And apparently he has big news for us."

"Really? Did Skylar happen to say what the news was?" Mateo asked as he returned to preparing his workspace.

"No," Elena said in a tone that clearly told Mateo that she was pouting. Glancing up from his work, he laughed at what he saw. Elena had crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows together as she pursed her lips in what he thought was a rather adorable pout. "He wouldn't tell me. And he left before I could even use the sad puppy dog look on him!"

"You have to admit, you can be rather a menace with that thing," Mateo deadpanned.

"A menace!?" Elena practically shouted in feigned outrage, placing a dramatic hand over her heart. "You wound me!"

Laughing, Mateo said, "Oh, you know it's true. You can get what you want from pretty much anyone with that look— except maybe your abuela. But she's a tough one, so I won't hold it against you."

The corners of Elena's lips twitched up into a feline grin as she said slyly, "Oh? Really? Anything I want? From anyone?"

"Well, not from me," Mateo said without missing a beat as he directed a lesser fire spell beneath his small cauldron, setting the bright orange flames dancing merrily.

Arching a skeptical eyebrow at her friend, Elena said, "Seriously? Are you trying to tell me that you are immune to my charms?"

Glancing up at her, he grinned crookedly and said, "Hardly. I'm saying that I know you well enough to know when it's coming and hide before I'm overcome with the uncontrollable urge to do whatever it is you want at the time."

Raising an eyebrow in challenge, Elena slid off the counter and crossed her arms, cocking a hip to one side. "Oh? Are you sure about that?"

Mateo smirked, straightening up to his full height and crossing his own arms in response, "Yes, quite."

She took a step towards him, smiling like a cat on the hunt. "So, what if I told you that I needed you come to the council meeting tomorrow to cast a sleeping spell on Esteban to prevent him from giving another two hour speech on the state of drainage ditches in Avalor City?"

Narrowing his eyes, Mateo turned back to his potion and focused on chopping up a tangle of roots. "I'd tell you that you should probably bring a pillow and make yourself comfortable because I'd never put someone to sleep without their consent— especially not the chancellor. Unless they were a danger to us, of course."

"Aww...that's no fun! Please, Mateo? It would make me so happy if you'd do this one, little, tiny thing for me." Elena stepped closer to his side, trying to make eye contact with her royal wizard as she stuck her lower lip out and widened her eyes, trying to look sad.

Mateo pointedly kept his attention on the roots he was chopping— though he was clearly trying hard not to laugh— and said, "Absolutely not."

She leaned in to try and catch his eye and he quickly turned his back to her, to which she laughed and tried to get in front of him. He turned away and covered his eyes, laughing as he said, "It's not going to work, Elena!"

Giggling, she lunged, trying to leap around him and grasp his forearms, when—

"Ow!"

Both Elena and Mateo cringed away as they accidentally bumped heads.

The laughter faded from his eyes only to be replaced by concern as he looked her over, seeking out any potential injuries. "Are you ok?" He reached a hand out to gently rub her forehead as a light red patch had appeared where she'd bumped her head. She smiled, subconsciously leaning into his touch and looked up into his worried face— her chocolate-colored eyes peering deep into his concerned hazel eyes— she wondered why she'd never realized before how beautiful they were— she had never seen more beautiful eyes in all her life— so kind and gentle.

"I— I'm fine, thank you," she said quietly, shaking her head a little to clear it before continuing, "The question is, are you ok?"

Mateo froze, his breath catching in his throat as she reached a hand to brush a few unruly curls back from his forehead— she looked closely for any sign of injury as goosebumps prickled his skin at her gentle touch.

Grinning sheepishly, Mateo rubbed the back of his neck as he looked down at his feet and cleared his throat. "I'm fine, really! Don't worry about me. I would have felt bad if you got hurt because of my foolishness. Sorry about that."

"You did nothing wrong, Mateo. I'm the one who started this, so stop feeling guilty," she pushed a stray hair behind her ear and grinned impishly, "Besides, you win— this time. You successfully resisted my charms, but watch out. I'll find a way to take you by surprise next time."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"You may have told me that once or twice before." Elena leaned casually against the worktable, crossing her arms as she watched her royal wizard with interest while he bustled around his workshop.

Returning to his potion, he reached for a vial and emptied it into the cauldron, as he said, "So what else are you doing today?"

"Oh! I'm judging the Avalor City Bake-Off! Pastry chefs from all over the city are bringing their creations to the palace for judging today."

"Oh, that's right! I'd forgotten! Armando mentioned something about that. You know, I think he's actually baking a cake or something for the competition."

Eyebrows flicking up in surprise, Elena said, "Really? I didn't know Armando baked."

"Yeah, he's actually pretty good. Apparently he grew up baking with his abuela or something."

"Huh. I never knew. I'm sure he'll do great," Elena peered into Mateo's cauldron and said, "So, what form of amazement is my royal wizard brewing up today?"

Chuckling, Mateo said, "Nothing terribly amazing, I assure you. In fact I'm actually trying to figure out what I've been doing wrong in this failed enlarging potion I've been working on for weeks now."

"How do you know it's failed?"

Smirking, Mateo pulled a tiny vial from his robes and dripped a single drop onto an empty beaker. Elena gasped as the beaker shrunk to the size of a walnut.

"See?" he said, "It's a perfect shrinking solution, which would be great except that's not what the recipe is supposed to do!"

"Weird! Do you have any ideas on what went wrong?"

"Well, I've been reading about various theories on the effect of a temperature differentiation in some types of potions can sometimes happen if the barometric pressure and the level of humidity in the air reach a certain level during the final phase of brewing. I think a few drops of clove oil will set it right, except I'm out of clove oil, so I was going to try and substitute cinnamon bark essence since they have very similar properties."

Elena's gaze softened as Mateo enthusiastically explained the technicalities of his potion. She didn't always understand the finer details of potion brewing— but she did recognize the ingredients he'd listed off.

"Wait! You do have clove oil!"

Forehead crinkled in confusion, Mateo said, "How do you know? And where would it be if it's not in my ingredients kit?"

Elena pointed at a cabinet across the room. "Remember? We were organizing your cabinets last week and we put a bunch of extra ingredients in that backup cabinet until you needed them. I specifically remember clove oil being in that group because I thought about how it smells so much like cinnamon as I was organizing the vials alphabetically."

Smacking his hand to his forehead, he said, "That's right! I remember you mentioning it now!" Mateo hurried across her room to the storage cabinet. Swinging the doors open, he leaned in, peering at the rows and rows of vials before him. "Do you remember where exactly it was?"

Elena pushed off from the table and stepped behind Mateo, leaning over his shoulder to point out the vial when he called out, "Found it!"

He plucked up a vial and spun around with an uncanny speed, not realizing that Elena was standing so close behind him.

"It's right over th—" her words faded as she took a quick step back and tripped over her skirt. Her arms automatically flew around his neck and his free hand caught her about the waist, pulling her close to keep her from falling.

Elena gasped in surprise as she found herself nose to nose with Mateo— her arms holding him just as close as he was holding her, and she could feel his breath tickle her cheeks.

Elena could feel his heart racing in perfect time with her own as a warmth blossomed in her core and spread to every finger and toe.

Subconsciously smiling softly, her eyes drifted to his lips as they twitched into a shy smile of his own. She'd never noticed before just how soft they looked and found herself wondering what they'd feel like beneath her fingertips, or against her own lips.

For all his talk about knowing how to resist her charms, Mateo found himself lost in her gaze— a willing prisoner. He could see her beautiful soul looking back at him from her warm, chocolate-colored eyes. She probably didn't realize it, but in that moment she didn't need the sad puppy dog look— she could have asked anything of him and he would have gladly complied, so completely lost he was in her beauty— the inside and the out.

An irresistible pull seemed to be drawing them imperceptibly closer by the second as this unexpected moment of closeness sent electricity coursing between the crown princess and her royal wizard.

Elena wasn't sure what to do— she knew what she wanted in that moment, but wasn't sure if she should take it. Did he want the same thing? Would it change things between them? Would it be worth it?

Yes.

Mateo felt his mouth go dry as he watched her bite her lip uncertainly, her gaze shifting in intensity.

"Elena—" he murmured in barely more than a whisper, subconsciously pressing his fingers into the small of her back.

She felt their breath intermingling— they were so close. It would take just the slightest movement— their eyes met and she could see the same uncertainty and desire mirrored in his gaze— that decided it for her.

Tightening her arms around his neck, she closed her eyes and leaned in, brushing a soft, tentative kiss against his lips. Warmth flooded her senses as she discovered just how soft and sweet his lips felt against her own— she smiled as she tasted traces of powdered sugar from his breakfast.

Mateo stiffened in surprise and relaxed, responding with an gentle, uncertain kiss of his own.

Mateo thought he must be dreaming— this certainly wasn't what he'd expected to do when he woke up this morning. This— this moment was something he'd never even dared to dream of.

Pulling back, the pair stared at each other with wide eyes. Mateo could see a quiet burning look that he'd never seen before simmering in Elena's eyes as she smiled at him.

His heart hammered in his chest as he tossed the vial of clove oil aside and placed his hand about her waist and pulled her closer, and the world around them faded away as their lips drew together— as if by a magnetic pull— for a second, more insistent kiss— their lips moving together in a perfect, dance-like rhythm.

To Elena, the moment was pure perfection. Sighing softly against his lips, Elena slid a hand up to run her fingers in his chocolate curls— another thing she'd had the urge to do for months. Mateo made a soft contented noise in the back of his throat as he pulled her closer— as if that were even possible.

Kissing him one— two— three times more, Elena closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his as she breathed in his cedar and citrus scent.

"That was nice," she sighed with a smile.

He tightened his arms around her. "That was unexpected."

She pulled back and peered into his kind eyes, looking uncertain once again. Biting her lip, she said, "Do— do you regret it?"

Raising his eyebrows incredulously, he said, "Definitely not!" as he shook his head emphatically.

Sighing with relief, Elena leaned in for another kiss. Smiling against his lips, she murmured, "I need to go," and pulled back, raising a hand to brush a stray curl from his eyes. She gave him an impish grin and continued, "I know my grandparents are waiting for me, but you and I apparently have— er— some things to talk about."

Mateo grinned crookedly and said, "To say the least."

"Will you walk with me in the garden after dinner tonight?"

"Of course."

"Then maybe we can figure out whatever," she gestured between them, "this is."

"That sounds perfect."

"Great!" she said brightly, hugging him about the neck, "It's a date then!"

Mateo's demeanor shifted back to shy uncertainty as he said, "I— this will take some getting used to but—" he laughed nervously, "—may I kiss you again?"

Elena pulled back to look at him, her eyes shining softly as her cheeks flushed with pleasure, and nodded.

Sliding his hands up her back, he gently pulled her close and leaned in to her, brushing a soft kiss to her lips.

Elena wanted nothing more but to stay where she was and get lost in this surprising new aspect of her relationship with Mateo, but she was the crown princess and had duties and obligations to attend to.

Smiling apologetically, she gave Mateo a final squeeze before stepping away. "Tonight then?"

Mateo nodded, "Tonight."

As hard as it was, Elena turned though she couldn't help that she practically skipped out of the workshop, humming to herself as she grinned from ear to ear.

Mateo watched her go with a similar wide smile.

As she headed to the dining room, Elena couldn't help the silly grin or the dreamy look that had taken over her features. When she woke up that morning, she certainly hadn't planned on kissing her best friend, but at the same time she couldn't say that she was surprised. There had been a special connection between the two of them from the very beginning and in recent months the pull between them had become such that it was nearly irresistible. She couldn't keep herself from seeking out his company or standing close to him or finding an excuse to touch the young royal wizard whenever the opportunity presented itself.

Elena didn't know what would come of it— ruling the kingdom had to be her priority, but— she couldn't completely deny her heart and the way she felt about Mateo.

Her heart swelled with happiness and she couldn't help but think that everything around her was exceptionally beautiful that day. Spying a vase on a nearby window sill she giggled happily to herself and swiped a beautiful red Avaloran rose from the floral arrangement.

She continued humming a soft melody as she danced down the hall in a dreamy daze, giving the rose a little sniff every few steps. She didn't know what the immediate future held between her and her best friend, but she was willing to find out as long as Mateo was there by her side.

A/N - So, this was supposed to be my personal theory as to why Elena was wandering around with a rose at the beginning of Three Jaquins and a Princess. It was supposed to be a lot of oblivious flirting and Elena was supposed to start questioning her feelings for Mateo, which she does but the kiss wasn't planned. It just sort of happened! It's a possible scenario, especially with how affectionate they are with each other on screen. Just not the one I'd originally planned, lol!