Chapter 7

A/N thank you musicgal3, Fae The Queen, Elphaba's Girl, Guest and LittleMissDelirious for the reviews!

musicgal3 - Oz, they do make our teeth sound like asteroids, don't they (my dentist use the term 'impacted' too)?

guest - thank you for giving this fic a chance. Personally, I find it very hard to stick very close to the original musical and still write a interesting storyline so I tend to go AU. I do know of a Wicked ff writer who can stick very close to the musical and still get lots of readers. She's great.

LittleMissDelirious - I think the adverts are based on the cookies in your browser. I got a wall calendar advert now because I just bought two off Groupon. So what have you been surfing before that :P :P :P Av with The Notebook? I was expecting the other book that we were talking about :P

OK, so nanowrimo is over. And I got *drum roll* less than 3000 words written (new words, editing does not count). *embarrassed*

It is surprising how children like to eat gingerbread man when they refuse to eat anything else with ginger. To delight a child or a childish friend, make your own gingerbread man and have fun in the process.

First, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon and pour into a bowl. Add the butter and blend until the mix looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.

Lightly beat the egg and golden syrup together. Pour into the mixture and mix until the mixture clumps together. Take out the dough and knead it briefly until smooth. Cover it with a wet towel and let it chill.

Roll the dough out to a 0.5cm thickness on a lightly floured surface. Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread men shapes and place them on the baking tray. Bake the cookies until lightly golden-brown. Proceed to decorate the cookies with the icing and cake decorations when cooled.


Elphaba busied herself in the kitchen. It was lunch hour and there were many customers waiting outside. She looked at the orders tacked onto the notice board in front of her to double confirm the orders, not that she needed to – her memory had never failed her. But it was always good to double check.

Fiyero had been outside since early morning. He was always in the cafe nowadays – studying, helping around, disturbing the customers in his own cheeky ways or basically doing nothing.

She always knew that her guise would not work forever. She still remembered the time when she had run away and turned up in a town at the border of Munchkinland, dressed in her usual dark dress. She remembered the guarded looks that the folks gave her. Some of the men looked at her as though she was an exotic treat. Others looked at her green skin and labelled her a troublemaker even before she opened her mouth. One of them summarised their feelings in one sentence – "The Unnamed God will not give her skin the colour of sin if she is an angel". When she tried to look for work, the wives of the owners would look at her with distrust, afraid that she would sow discord in their houses or steal their husbands. Somehow, it was easier when she was a guy. She would ask a business owner to let her work free of charge for a few days as a trial. No obligation. When the owner offered her the job, she would ask for a simple place to stay, anywhere would do so long as she had the privacy. She worked hard, learned fast, and while she was not considered as one of the guys, she was deemed as a hardworking worker who talked little and who gave no trouble. She was almost caught a few times (and was actually caught once) and had to uproot herself and left the place before the truth was out. It did not matter previously, since she was all alone, but now that Nessa was with her, it was important that this should not happen, since changing schools would affect Nessa's studies, and Nessa's wellbeing was more important than anything else.

She was in North Gillikin that one time when she was caught. She was working in a bakery, and the son of the owner barged into her room one day when she was changing after monitoring her for some time. He made a proposition in return for keeping her secret. She knocked him out and fled. She never went back to North Gillikin again.

And now there was Fiyero.

He did not change the way he acted around her after that night. They both knew that acting 'normal', whatever normal was, was the key to keeping everything under wraps. He never went upstairs again, never invaded her privacy and he never sneered at her, never gave her the same lecherous look that her boss' son had given her when he found out her secret.

But he did change. It seemed that he was more caring now. He tried to help out more often. When she glared at him, he would raise his voice and said,"But you are ….." giving her a look. It scared her first few times, and then he would conclude his sentence with "tired" or "wearing blue today" or "But it is raining," and flashed her one of his mischievous grins. She nearly throttled him a couple of times. But now, she simply rolled her eyes and he would chuckle and continue to help. When they were alone, he was more caring, his voice softer. He smiled at her more often, as though they shared a little joke or secret. She knew that it was the way he treated girls in general (after all, she saw how he behaved in front of girls every day) and she felt at ease, which was contradictory; on one hand, she did not want to be treated like a girl, on the other hand, she had to admit to herself that she liked the way he treated her when no one was around.

Somehow, she believed him when he said that he would keep her real gender a secret. Maybe it was the sincerity in his eyes when he said that. Maybe it was because he had proven himself to be a gentleman when she was sick. Maybe it was just the way that he had always made her feel comfortable.

She placed the bowls of soup on a tray and was about to leave the kitchen when she heard some screaming outside. No, not screaming. Squealing.

She went out, and saw, not surprising, the cause of the commotion – Fiyero. He had taken off his shirt. His body was lean but strong, the muscles running down his arms and back a beautiful sight of tan muscular curves; it was obvious that he exercised regularly. There were two columns of vivid blue diamond tattoos that started from his shoulders down his torso and disappearing into his pants. Fiyero had mentioned the tattoos previously when he was telling her about the culture of the Arjikis, but this was the first time she had seen them. They were, in short, mesmerising.

She approached the 'commotion' and let out an audible sigh.

"Mr Tiggular, what's with this open display of … physique?"

Fiyero turned.

"Fabian!" he called out her name in delight. "We were just discussing about …. cultural differences and I thought I would show them the tattoos that the Arjiki royalty has. After all, aren't you the one who say that images can reinforce what we have learnt?"

She rolled her eyes. "Mr Tiggular, put on your clothes. Some of my customers are not amused by this open display. And it's windy."

Fiyero laughed, and the girls giggled. "It's warm out here, Fabian. Maybe you should take off your shirt too?" he said with a wink.

She glared at him, and he shrugged and pulled up his shirt. The girls gave a collective sigh, their disappointment obvious. He followed her back to the kitchen.

He stood there watching her as she checked on the oven. She opened the oven door, and he could smell the faint ginger smell of freshly baked gingerbread men.

"Why are you angry, Fae?" he asked as she took out the tray of cookies.

She put the tray on a cooling rack, her back to him and started to squeeze dots of icing of different colours on the cookies, representing buttons.

"I have a business to run, Mr Tiggular, and I don't appreciate you taking off your clothes in my café."

"I do bring in some customers."

"I'm sure you chase away many more."

"Call me by my name."

"What?" She spun around, surprised by the change of topic.

"Stop calling me Mr Tiggular. All my friends call me Fiyero, or Yero, and I consider you as my friend."

She looked at him. "Is it that important?"

He tucked his hands into his pockets and grinned.

"Yeah. You do consider me as a friend, don't you?"

"Will you stop disturbing my customers if I am to call you by your name?"

"Deal," he said as he looked at the rows of gingerbread men. "Hey, blue tattoos! That's me!" he exclaimed with delight, pointing at one of the gingerbread men. Elphaba had given that one of the cookies blue buttons.

She stood there, her hands at her waist, as she looked at the cookies and then at her oven.

"I suppose the spell backfired," she said with an absolutely straight face. "The baking spell is supposed to make you suffer from a heat stroke, not take off your clothes."

He flashed her his perfect teeth. "Or maybe the spell is supposed to reveal your innermost desire," he replied. She glared at him, speechless, as he peeled one gingerbread man from the baking paper and bounced it between his two hands to cool it before he bit the head off the cookie.

"Yummy," he declared and left the kitchen.

Elphaba looked at the departing prince and shook her head. She might trust him with her secret, but boy, was he infuriating.

Fiyero left the café with the headless gingerbread man in his hand, whistling a happy tune when he saw Galinda standing nearby, waiting for him. He had heard from Boq (who was informed by Milla) that she had been picking herself up since the breakup, but still, he thought that it would be good if he could avoid her for a while. However, she had seen him, and it was too late to turn around.

"Fifi, can I talk to you for a moment?" the blonde asked. They fell into steps.

"So, how are you?" he asked, when she did not say anything after a while.

"Doing well," she gave him a smile. "Fifi, can I ask you something?"

What could he do? He could only nod his head.

"May I know your real reason for breaking up with me?"

He dreaded conversations like this.

She gave him a wan smile.

"Fifi, I want to know. No guy has ever broken up with me. I want to know why. I don't want to make the same mistake the next time I date another boy."

She continued, "I really want to know Fifi. Did I do something wrong? Was I too clingy? Was I too boring? Not pretty enough? Or was there someone else?"

In a way, he was glad that she had broached the subject and had guessed correctly. She was perfect, and it was unfair to let her think that she was at fault. So he nodded.

"Is she better than me?"

He shook his head.

"Galinda, you are pretty. You have a great sense of dressing. You are popular. She is nothing like that. She is the total opposite of you. She does not dress up. She is not attractive to guys. She is not the kind of girl that I usually like, but…."

"But you like her?" Galinda was looking at him.

Fiyero looked back at Galinda. "I think I like her very much."

"Is it Nessarose?"

Fiyero laughed out loud. "Nessa?"

"Isn't she the reason why you are spending all your time in the cafe? To be close to Nessa?"

"It's not Nessa."

"Why are you still lying to me, Fifi? Who else can it be? Why do you choose to be with a girl in a wheelchair instead of me?" Galinda looked visibly upset.

Fiyero groaned inwardly. So all the calmness that she had displayed moments before was just pretence. He looked at the gingerbread man in his hand, wondering if he should tell her the truth.

Galinda followed his line of sight and her eyes grew wide.

"It's…. Fabian?" she gasped. "How can you Fifi? He's a boy!" She screamed out loud and Fiyero pulled her behind a pillar, his hand on her mouth.

He hushed her.

"Please, Galinda. Listen to me. Fabian is not a boy. She is actually a girl. She just dressed up as a boy for …. I don't know."

He looked at Galinda, his hand still on her mouth, and watched her as the information sank into her head. And then he removed his hand.

"Fabian is a girl?" she whispered.

He nodded again. "Her real name is Elphaba, but please don't ask her about it. I promise her that I won't tell anyone. You like her too, Galinda."

She nodded her head.

"Please, will you keep it a secret?"

"I.. ," she faltered. Just then, someone called her name. It was Pfannee and ShenShen, waving at her from a distance.

"I got to go. I am late for my class," the blonde told him as she walked away.


Pfannee and ShenShen sat across the table as they watched Galinda picked at her lunch.

"Are you on diet?" ShenShen asked.

She sighed and pushed away her plate.

"I'm not hungry."

"Does this have something to do with Princey? We saw him with you this morning. Was he trying to patch up with you?"

Galinda sighed again and shook her head. "He has someone else."

"Who? Who can be better than you? We'll teach her a lesson for snatching away your boyfriend."

Galinda looked at her two best friends and shook her head again.

"No, please don't teach her a lesson. She is a nice person."

"Who is she?" Pfannee asked.

Sweet Lurline, it was so hard to keep secrets. Especially a secret like this.

"Do you promise not to tell?" she asked them.

Pfannee and ShenShen looked at each other and then nodded.


The café had closed for the night. Nessarose, who could never do with less than eight hours of sleep, was fast asleep.

Elphaba moved around the café as she pushed in the chairs. She was almost done, and she looked forward to a hot shower before she went to bed.

The bell at the door chimed and she turned to face the new entrants. There were three of them, beefy kind of guys. She did not recognise their faces.

"Sorry, gentlemen, but Green Café is closed for the night."

The one at the front, most probably the ringleader, stepped forward and took out a switch blade from his pocket. He flicked it open and brandished it in front of the green girl.

"Consider this a robbery, sweetie," he sneered.


It was a cool morning as Fiyero cut across the lawn on his way to Green Café. The breeze chilled his face, and he looked forward to entering the warm interior of the café and then drinking a cup of Elphaba's freshly brewed coffee.

Outside the door, he noticed that there was a pile of wooden debris. They looked suspiciously like the chairs inside the café.

"Good morning Fae!" he greeted her cheerfully as he pushed open the door. Her back was to him and she was busy with something at the counter. "I saw a few broken chairs outside. Did Goldilocks sit on them last night?"

"Good away," she muttered without turning to look at him.

"My, aren't you grouchy today? Is it that time of the month or should I fetch you a double dose of your own coffee?" he tapped her on her shoulder.

She spun around so fast and the next thing he knew he was pushed against a table, the edge of the furniture cutting onto his back, with her arm pressed against his throat so hard that he could hardly breathe.

"Who did you tell?" She snarled, pressing her arm even harder against his windpipe.

And then his eyes widened when he saw that purplish-black bruise that spread across her whole left cheek and ended just below her eye. He tried to say something, but all that came out was some croaks as he gestured wildly against her arm.

Elphaba blinked and then released him and walked away.

He grabbed her forearm and she pulled away, but not before giving a hiss of pain. He grabbed her again, this time her hand, and turned her around. He pulled up her sleeve to see a bandage on her lower arm. The wound was fresh, and he could see that some of the blood had soaked through the bandage.

"What happened," he asked.

Elphaba's head snapped up, surprised by the sudden gentleness in his voice and she felt her anger slipping away. She looked away.

"Some guys thought that they could rob the café because I am a girl," she said matter-of-factly. She heard his sharp intake of breath. "Most probably some outside friends of yours," she added bitterly.

He cradled her face, his fingers lingering gently outside the huge, ugly bruise on her face, the pain he felt reflecting on his face. "Are you hurt?"

"Well, your friends underestimated me. I cut one of them up pretty badly. Using his own switch blade," she smirked.

He shook his head. "No, they are not my friends. I didn't tell anyone. I …." and then he remembered.

She saw the look on his face.

"You told somebody."

Just then, the doorbell chimed and a group of students of both genders came in.

"I'll be back," he promised as he rushed out of the door.

He ran across the campus to the girl's dorm. Some of his friends saw him and greeted him, but he did not even hear them, let alone greeted them in return. By the time he reached Galinda's door, he was totally out of breath. He knocked on the door, a series of staccatos that sounded loud in the empty hallway before he bent down to catch his breath.

"Fifi?" he heard her voice above him. The prince stood up.

"Oz, Galinda, who did you tell?" he asked the bewildered blonde.

Crisis or no crisis, a girl still got to dress up and put on her makeup before she faced the outside world, and Fiyero paced outside her door (she refused to let him go in and wait). She claimed that she would be out in a jiffy but it was at least thirty minutes before she opened the door again.

By the time they reached Green Café, the place was half packed with the usual morning crowd. Elphaba was chatting with some customers when Galinda ran across the café and threw herself at the green girl.

"Oh Elphie! Fifi told me what happen! It's horrendifying! I'm so sorry. I only told Pfannee and Shenshen that you're a girl because I confide everything to them. They promise not to tell! But now I can't trust them anymore!" the blonde clung onto Elphaba's arms.

Fiyero looked around in horror. Many of the customers had heard the blonde, and they all looked at the two girls, the surprise reflected on their faces.

But Elphaba did not notice their expressions. She stood there, frozen with a grimace at the new nickname, and patted the shorter girl on her arm as she tried to untangle the creamy hands from her green arms.

"I'm fine, Miss Upland," she told her.

Galinda tried to sniff elegantly, to no avail. "Can you please forgive me?"

Elphaba reached for a serviette from the counter. "Wipe your tears. I'm sure you didn't mean it. Will you like to have some breakfast?"

The injured wrist meant that she was not able to carry the heavier things without straining, and Elphaba was quietly grateful when Fiyero and Nessarose helped more than usual (though there was a limit to the number of tables that Nessa could go to in her wheelchair) when they were in the shop. Fiyero went for his classes in the afternoon and came back during evening peak hours with a few bags that he placed under his usual table.

The day seemed busier than usual, and it was only after the dinner crowd had left when Elphaba noticed the bags.

"I'm moving in," he told her defiantly when she looked at him.

"Does my café look like a dormitory?"

"You need someone to protect you."

Elphaba cackled and then shook her head, amused.

"Thank you for your kind thoughts, but I don't need your protection, Fiyero."

He stood up against her, trying to gain as much vantage as possible with their slight difference in height.

"Yes, you do. I will stop them if they dare to come again."

"I won't be here for long anyway."

Fiyero gasped as he grabbed her shoulders. "You're leaving? Why?"

Elphaba sighed and she felt tired all of a sudden. She sat down on one of the seats and looked out of the café. Outside, the clouds were low, and there were flashes of lightning. Fiyero pulled a chair next to her and sat down, their knees almost touching.

"You see what can happen. Very soon, everyone will know that I am a girl. There will always be people who think that two sisters can be bullied. I can handle it if I am alone, but I don't want Nessa to live her life in fear. Being her elder brother instead of her elder sister is probably that best thing that I have ever done for her, after all the mess that I have made," she turned away and wiped away a silent tear, hoping that Fiyero would not notice, but he did, even though he did not comment.

"Give me... I mean, give Shiz a chance, Fae. Things may not be as bad as you think," he told her. "And I will hang around. To protect both of you," he added jokingly.

"You? What do you intend to do? Stand there like a scarecrow and scare away the birds?" Elphaba laughed. "You may look strong, but I bet I am a better fighter than you."

He grinned at her remark. "So you have been ogling me."

"Oz, Fiyero. You stripped in my café!"

"The best day of your life?" he teased.

She laughed again. "I have nightmares after that, Fiyero."

Just then, there was an extra loud rumble of thunder, and the skies opened.

"Oh it's raining. Now I have to stay," Fiyero said brightly.

Elphaba did not answer. Her eyes continued to look outside, her expression unreadable. The heavy rain pelted against the glass walls, blurring the scene outside. She stood up after a while and gave a sigh. "I don't have a room for you." And he knew that she had given in.