AN: Hi everyone!

As you know, your wish is my command, so I decided to grant your wishes and make this a multichapter - mostly because I didn't really have inspiration for the WB&B sequel and I decided I could very well combine this other idea I had with a sequel to this oneshot. So, this is no longer a oneshot and here's the next chapter :). Thank you for all the lovely reviews!

Disclaimer: I wish.

Let the magic dry your tears and heal your heart

Love is the reason, it's always the real thing

Elphaba was certain she would never forget Galinda Upland's face as the blonde laid eyes on her and Fiyero, it was so hilarious. Her eyes quite literally bulged out of her head and her face flushed beet red, before she cried, 'Oh my Oz! It's Fiyero Tiggular!'

Immediately, ever single girl on campus seemed to be staring at them as Galinda's eyes went from Fiyero to Elphaba and back to Fiyero, as if she was thinking about possible reasons why Fiyero would want to be seen with the Artichoke. Then, she noticed Fiyero's arm around Elphaba's waist, and her eyes grew wide as saucers. Elphaba stifled a giggle and Fiyero deliberately took her hand and kissed it, slowly, with an exaggerated gesture, gaze fixed on Galinda. The blonde now looked as if she would explode and Fiyero flashed her a radiant smile. 'Ladies,' he nodded as he and Elphaba passed them. Neither of them looked around once as they continued their way to the infirmary.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Elphaba couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. Fiyero was laughing, too. 'Did you see their faces?' he snickered.

'Galinda looked as if she was going to faint!' Elphaba chortled and Fiyero looked at her. 'Galinda?'

Elphaba made a face. 'The blonde bimbo who was staring at us. She's my roommate.'

He stroked her arm in a mock gesture of sympathy. 'I'm so, so sorry.'

She smiled at him. 'It's not that bad. We mostly just ignore each other.' She frowned slightly. 'How did she know who you were, though?'

He gave her a rather sheepish, lopsided grin that immediately caused her stomach to do somersaults. 'I'm kind of… famous.'

She kept looking at him until he finally admitted, 'I'm the Prince of the Vinkus.'

Her eyes widened. 'Fiyero Tiggular, the Crown Prince of the Vinkus?'

'Yeah…' he said, still looking sheepish. 'That one.'

'The one that has been kicked out of three universities and is famous for having dated pretty much every girl in Oz?' Suddenly, she was angry. How could she have been so stupid? He must feel really smug about himself now, having succeeded in seducing the Artichoke. The crown on his work.

'I'm not proud of that,' he said, all serious now. He took her hands and made her look at him. 'Hey. You are not one of those girls, okay? Those girls didn't mean anything to me. You do.'

'Why?' she asked softly. 'You don't even know me.'

He flashed her a smile. 'Not really, no. But you can tell a lot about people's personalities just by looking at them.'

She folded her arms. 'What does my exterior tell you about my personality, then?'

He looked her in the eyes. 'You're a strong person – my guess, from your skin and what you have told me, is that people have been avoiding, or even teasing you your entire life, and so you had to become strong to keep going. You use books,' he nodded towards her bag, which was filled with books, 'to escape from the real world, because the real world sucks. You have these barriers around you to protect yourself from the outside world and you hide your feelings behind sarcastic and witty comments, pretending you don't care at all, but in reality, you do. You lock people out because it's easier that way, but really you just want someone to take the time and effort to get to know you and see past those barriers, to let someone in, even though that probably terrifies you to death.'

She stared at him dumbfounded. Was she that easy to read? How could he see through her every façade within just minutes? He was right – it did terrify her to death… but at the same time, he was also right about what she wanted. She wanted him to take the effort to get to know her, to see past her green skin. She wanted to let him in... but she wasn't sure she could.

She felt tears pricking her eyes again, but she blinked them away, determined not to cry in front of him again. 'Well done,' she finally croaked, her voice sounding not quite as her own. 'Now it's my turn.'

He looked at her with those calm, azure eyes, and she squinted at him – her glasses had indeed been crushed underneath someone's foot and so she couldn't really see everything clearly. 'I'm not the only one pretending, obviously,' she said softly, and something changed in his eyes, although she couldn't really name what that something was. 'You pretend to be so shallow and self-absorbed, an empty-headed, brainless party animal – that's what I heard, anyway… But you're not. You do care, and you are smart. For some reason, you just won't let people see it… I guess that's why you're so unhappy.'

Now it was his turn to stare at her. 'Am I that obvious?' he finally asked, and she laughed softly. 'No. I'm just really good at reading people. I've never really interacted with them, so I observed them instead.'

'Clever.' He nodded slowly, musing over what she had just told him. 'You're completely right, you know.'

'So were you.'

There was an intense look in his blue eyes as he looked at her more closely, as if he only saw her, really saw her, for the very first time. He moved closer to her, and she knew he was about to kiss her again, but she pulled away just before their lips touched. 'I'm sorry,' she whispered. 'I…'

A new wave of dizziness came over her and she swayed, closing her eyes for a moment. His arm was immediately around her waist again to steady her. 'Let's get you to that doctor, shall we?'

'A mild concussion,' the nurse concluded after examining Elphaba and stitching up her forehead. 'You should rest for a few days, there's not really anything else you could do about it. You might be dizzy for a few days, or having headaches, but they will fade.' She disappeared without another word to fix the paperwork and Fiyero looked at the green girl. 'You should rest,' he repeated the nurse. 'Why do I get the feeling you're not going to do that?'

'Because you're incredibly perceptive?' Elphaba asked innocently. He laughed and lifted his hand to her cheek, but stopped when she flinched back a little. 'I'm sorry.'

'No, I'm sorry,' she sighed. 'I'm just not used to… being touched by other people. Especially not like that.' She looked at him and wondered why she was still trying to deny what he was doing to her. 'But… I like it when you do it,' she admitted softly, and the smile that lit up his face was brilliant. His fingers grazed her cheek, ever so softly, and he leaned in closer…

She pulled away when she heard footsteps. High heels, by the sound of them. She looked around – not that there was much to see, since the nurse had closed the curtains around her bed so that she was separated from the rest of the room, but she could see enough. High heels peeking from under the curtains. Pink heels.

'What…' Fiyero began, but she put her finger against his lips and pointed to the shoes. He followed her finger and grinned when he noticed the heels. He gave her a mischievous look and started moaning exaggeratedly. 'Oh, Elphaba! Please go on!'

She stifled a girlish giggle. The shoes shifted a bit as Fiyero started making slurping noises and Elphaba couldn't restrain herself any longer and burst out laughing. Fiyero was laughing, too, falling half over her on the bed. After a moment, he looked up, still grinning, but both their grins slowly faded as they locked eyes and the whole world seemed to stop for a moment. She forgot about her concussion, her doubts, even about Galinda spying on them. Before she knew it, he had bridged the distance between their lips and he was kissing her all over again.

The moment his lips touched hers, she was lost, just like she had been the first time. They pulled apart after a long moment, breathless, and Fiyero rested his forehead against hers – carefully as not to touch her cut – and looked into her eyes.

'I can't believe you're doing this,' she whispered. 'Why would you choose me over Galinda Upland? Or any other pretty girl, for that matter? Any normal girl?'

'Because you're amazing,' was his simple, but honest reply. 'That has nothing to do with your skin colour – if anything, the green makes you even more amazing. It's exotic, mysterious. It's beautiful.'

She searched his eyes for the lie she was sure would be in there. Instead she only found determination and honesty, and she couldn't believe it. 'You're such a moron.'

He smiled at that. 'I know.'

'You could have Galinda Upland. Of the Upper Uplands. You could have Pfannee, or Shenshen, or Milla. Hell, you could have all of them at the same time, if you wanted to. So why me?'

He looked at her earnestly. 'Because you're beautiful.' He kissed her collarbone. 'And independent.' A kiss on her throat. 'And smart.' One on her jaw line. 'And witty.' Her forehead. 'And strong.' Her nose. 'And because I'm deeply honoured that I have been the one you opened up to. Because I can tell that you don't do that very easily, and that you don't like to show yourself vulnerable to anyone, and I'm proud that you trusted me enough to show me that side of you.'

'That didn't have anything to do with trust,' she muttered under her breath. 'I only let myself do that because I thought I'd never see you again in my life and so it didn't matter.'

'That must have been an unpleasant surprise for you,' he smirked. 'Finding out I was going to Shiz as well.'

She laughed. 'No… by that time I didn't really care anymore. I actually felt kind of relieved. I would have hated not ever seeing you again.'

'That feeling would have been mutual,' he murmured, finding her lips with his again and kissing her softly. He quickly pulled away when they heard the nurse return.

'All your test results look fine,' she announced. 'You can go now.'

They thanked her and left the infirmary. Galinda was nowhere to be seen; she probably took off earlier. Elphaba was still swaying a bit and Fiyero supported her again with an arm around her waist. 'I'll walk you back to your dorm,' he offered. She wanted to protest almost instinctively – to tell him that she was perfectly capable of walking there herself and that she didn't need his help. But he looked at her with pleading blue eyes and she swallowed the words and smiled instead.

'I'd like that.'

Elphaba was sitting on her bed, reading a book – no surprise there – when she became aware of someone staring at her intently.

Slowly, she lowered the book to look over it. Sitting on the other bed was Galinda, eyes narrowed, watching her. She didn't say anything, so finally, the green girl asked gruffly, 'What?'

'Are you and Fiyero dating?' Galinda blurted out. Elphaba raised an eyebrow at her. 'I don't know. What makes you think that's any of your business?'

Galinda narrowed her eyes even further. 'I'm Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands and I'm perfect. I was supposed to be dating Fiyero.'

Elphaba almost chuckled at that, but she restrained herself. 'Well, you can't always get what you want, can you?'

'Did you two kiss?'

'As if you wouldn't know.'

The blonde looked at her as if though she were crazy. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

Elphaba suppressed a sigh. 'You were there, at the infirmary. You followed us in and you saw him kiss me.'

'Wait a minute,' Galinda said in her high-pitched voice, squeaking even more than usual. 'How do you know I followed you?'

The green girl rolled her eyes. 'It's impossible to sneak around silently wearing high heels. You of all people should know that. I heard you and I saw your shoes peeking from under a curtain as well.'

Galinda narrowed her eyes again. 'Half the girls at Shiz wear high heels. What makes you so sure that it was me?'

'The shoes were pink.'

Galinda , realising there was nothing she could say to that because she was, in fact, the only girl who ever wore pink shoes, fell silent. 'Oh.'

She didn't say anything after that and Elphaba returned to her book, until Galinda declared shrilly, 'He's probably not worth of me, anyway. I mean, he must be a complete moron to choose you over me.'

Elphaba didn't even feel insulted – it was true, after all. 'That's what I told him,' she said, flipping the page and reading on.

Galinda stared at her. 'What?'

'I said, that's what I told him. When he said he didn't want you, or any other girl for that matter, but me. I told him he was a moron.'

The blonde was gaping at her now, as if she couldn't believe her ears. Elphaba abandoned her book once again, sighing, to look at her roommate. 'What now?'

'Well… We kind of thought you were… I don't know. I mean… that almost sounds as if you're insecure.' She laughed a little at that ridiculous idea, but the smile quickly fell from her face when she saw Elphaba still looking at her, one eyebrow raised. 'Are you?' the blonde asked, voice squealing in surprise.

Elphaba didn't really want to answer that. Instead she asked, 'Would that be so hard to believe?'

'Well…' Galinda's voice trailed away. 'You never act like it… You always seem so confident.'

'And you always seem so shallow and empty-headed, but I'm sure that's not all you really are.'

Galinda fell silent again, not certain if she should took that as an insult or not. She decided to let it slip. 'So you're not that confident, then? You're actually saying it surprises you too, that Fiyero chose you over me?'

'Yes,' Elphaba said, as if that much should be obvious. 'It's not like I've had princes swooning over me my entire life. On the contrary. Most people have treated me like… well, like you have been treating me.'

More silence. 'Are you saying it does bother you how we treat you? You never seem to care…'

'Artichokes have feelings too, Galinda.'

'Oh.' Silence again. 'I guess I hadn't really thought about that.'

Elphaba sighed and closed her book. 'Look, Galinda. I honestly have no idea why Fiyero chose me when he could have had you – especially since you are, as you said yourself, pretty much perfect. You're normal-coloured, your parents have a high status and you're much, much prettier than I could ever be. But you're going to have to ask him, not me.'

Galinda was looking at her with wide eyes. 'You think I'm pretty?'

'I don't think anyone with working eyes could doubt that, Galinda.'

'But… you hate me.'

'Hating is not really the right word,' Elphaba said thoughtfully. 'It's more like… loathing.'

Galinda gave her a pointed stare. 'You don't tell people you loathe that they look pretty.'

Elphaba shrugged and turned to put the book on her night table, then switched off the table-lamp. 'I'm going to sleep now, if you don't mind. The nurse said I have to rest as much as possible, as with my concussion and all.'

Galinda didn't seem to get the hint – she shifted until she was seated at the edge of her bed and dangled her legs back and forth. 'What happened to you that you got that concussion, anyway?'

'Avaric,' Elphaba replied shortly.

The blonde girl gasped. 'He hit you in the head?'

'He pushed me off a train platform.'

Galinda's eyes bulged. 'In front of a riding train?'

'Would I still be here if that had been the case?'

The girl thought about that for a moment. 'No, I suppose not.'

'It was close, though,' Elphaba admitted, lying down to go to sleep, staring at the ceiling. 'Fiyero saved me.'

'So that's how the two of you met!' Galinda exclaimed. 'I was wondering how you could have seduced him that quickly while none of us had even seen him arrive yet!'

'I did not seduce him, Galinda.'

'Oh, no, of course not,' Galinda said, waving her hand. 'You wouldn't even know how to do that, anyway. You know? Someone should give you flirting lessons.'

'Yes, because so many boys would love me flirting with them,' Elphaba said sarcastically. The sarcasm wasn't really appreciated by Galinda, though. 'Oh, come on, Elphaba! There's more to you than just your skin!'

Elphaba sat up and stared at the blonde incredulously. 'All right, who are you and what have you done to Galinda?'

Galinda giggled. 'I just only now realized that, you know, you have feelings too, and you probably don't really like us laughing at you all the time… and, you know, you can't help it that you're green, after all… Although I do wonder – is it contagious?'

'No. It's not. Otherwise Fiyero would have been green by now.'

'That's a good point,' Galinda said, nodding violently. 'So, you can't help being the way you are, you know, green, and dreary, and stuff…'

'Why, thanks, Galinda,' the green girl said drily, but her roommate didn't even seem to hear her. 'So… I guess I kind of feel sorry for you, and that's why I'm going to make you my new project. I'm going to make you popular!'

'You really don't have to do that.' Please, please don't do that, Elphaba begged in silence. I so do not want to be forced to wear pink.

'I know!' Galinda squealed. 'That's what makes me so nice! So you have to rest now, with that concussion of yours, but there aren't any classes tomorrow morning, are there? So I'm going to do a makeover before class tomorrow and you're going to look fa-bu-lous!'

'Why?' Elphaba asked. It seemed to be the question she asked most these days, but she couldn't really comprehend the change in Galinda's behaviour. 'You hate me.'

'I never hated you! I… loathed you,' Galinda giggled. 'But I don't anymore. Because, well, I guess you're probably kind of nice. And I feel kind of bad for treating you the way I did – I'm sorry about that. You're right, Artichokes have feelings too – although I won't call you that anymore,' she hastened to say. 'Instead I'll call you… Elphie! Can I call you Elphie?'

'That sounds a little perky.'

'It's not perky, it's nice! So I'll make you popular, Elphie, and we can be friends! I'll even forgive you for taking Fiyero away from me – after all, I can still get any other boy I want, and you… well… not. And he's clearly into you, and I think it's cute, so I'm totally supporting your relationship – as a friend. Do you want to be friends?' she chattered. She was bouncing up and down on her bed now, and Elphaba thought about this for a moment. Did she trust Galinda? She wouldn't have earlier, but something in the Galinda's attitude and pleading blue eyes convinced Elphaba that this change of heart was real and genuine, and so she said softly, 'Yes. Yes, I'd like that.' She had never had a friend before, and it certainly would make it easier to room with the bubbly blonde.

Galinda's smile lit up the room and she squealed with delight. 'Oh, Oz, Elphie, this is so thrillifying! We're friends now! Yay!'

Elphaba smiled at her wearily and Galinda stopped bouncing. 'Oh. Yes. Concussion. Resting. I'm sorry, Elphie, I'm just so excited! Let's go to sleep now, shall we? Goodnight, Elphie!'

'Goodnight, Galinda,' the green girl said softly. She couldn't really believe what had just happened – today seemed like some strange dream, but a really, really nice one… one she didn't hope to wake up from anytime soon.