He would never tire of watching her cook. He didn't know exactly what it was; perhaps it was the way she would read and whisper the recipe quietly to herself, the way she would move smoothly around the kitchen, how she would smile at him once in a while, chastise him if he tried to dip his finger into whatever she was making. She was adorable. He just loved to be around her when she cooked. He loved to be around her, period.

Fiyero was out of his mind. Surely he could get arrested for something like this. Well, actually, this kind of thing was legal in the Vinkus. In a lot of places in Oz really. But for some reason this felt like breaking the law. Then again, maybe it had to do with the fact that she was so pure, kind, and innocent and meanwhile he was just lucky he hadn't gotten some type of infection or disease from sleeping around so much.

It could also be the fact that she was ten years younger than him.

One of the older maids had found Elphaba out on the streets six years ago while out for groceries. His mother had been giving her a tour of the castle and an overview of what her daily chores would be when he'd come back from a date. At least, that's what he'd told his mom. He had a feeling she knew where he'd been anyway, his wrinkled clothes, messy hair, and the smell of alcohol on his didn't leave too much to the imagination.

The prince stopped dead in his tracks. All that wine from last night must still be affecting his system. The girl in front of him looked green.

Her hair was in disarray and dirty, so were her clothes, and her skin. Maybe it was the dirt that was making her look that way.

Fiyero rubbed his eyes and stared at the girl in front of him again. Nope, not a hallucination or a trick of the light. The girl was green. Actually green. And not green in a she-looks-sea-sick kind of way. Green as in her whole skin was as green as grass. What the hell? How was that even possible? And why was she here anyways?

"What is that doing here?" Fiyero somehow managed to not slur.

His mother scowled at him. Her entire face saying 'We'll talk about this later'. Queen Baxiana took a deep breath and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders.

Good to know the green wasn't contagious.

"This is Elphaba. She's going to be working here from now on," great, so he would have to keep seeing this freak of nature. "Elphaba, this is my son; Prince Fiyero."

The green girl looked Fiyero directly in the eyes. Her brown on his blue. She had to admit, he intimidated her a bit. He was so much taller and bigger than her. The only other man she'd ever really known in her short eight years was her father and he…wasn't…he hadn't left a good impression on her. Of himself or all men.

But the queen was nice. With her here, surely he wouldn't hurt her. Besides, she'd just said this was her son. If she was this nice, then the prince was nice too, right?

"N-nice to meet you, Your…H-highness?" She put her hand out and looked back at the older woman; had she mixed up the 'Majesty' and 'Highness' thing? Elphaba felt relieved when the queen smiled and nodded reassuringly.

Fiyero looked down at the dirty green hand. He didn't take it. "Wish I could say the same."

"Fiyero," Baxiana scolded.

Ok, Elphaba thought, he's a bully.

"You know," Fiyero started as he walked down the hall, "if you're gonna make good use of her Mom, you could just boil her up. She'd make a nice vegetable broth," he smirked, feeling very proud of his statement.

"Well I'd rather be a vegetable than a butt."

Elphaba didn't know what had made her think she could talk back to him. He was a prince after all. But he wasn't going to get away with being a bully to her. Her father was her father, that had been one thing. But the prince didn't even know her and she didn't know him. Frankly, Elphaba didn't really feel like getting to know him after that little 'joke'.

She only hoped she hadn't upset the queen, but when she turned around to look at her, she was…smiling?

Fiyero turned around, his brow arched. A butt? "How old are you, eight?"

"Yep. How old are you, 12?"

That had been the beginning of it. Her age had genuinely shocked him; he figured she'd been at least 10. Elphaba was tall for her age then. But what had shocked him even more was that his mom had actually been ok with her talking back to him.

Over the course of a year, most of their encounters had been accidental. They'd run into each other in the hall, the kitchen, the parlors; and they'd exchanged nothing but insults.

"Hey!" Fiyero took the tongs out of the green girl's hand and pointed them at her face, "you can not speak to me that way!"

Elphaba fought the urge to flinch back. Remember, she told herself, this prince was all bark and no bite. He wouldn't hit her, right? She thought back as to why they'd been fighting in the first place this time. Her anger came back instantly.

"So you can be a mean dummy but I can't call you out on it?"

Fiyero wanted to pull at his hair. Just listen to the way she talks! Sure she used childish language now but she seemed to have a much more extensive vocabulary on insults just moments ago.

He gave a dry laugh. "You know green bean, I'd give you a nasty look, but I can't because you already have one."

"Ok see," she took the tongs out of his hand and continued to set up the tray she'd been working on, "I know your mouth is moving, but all I hear is 'blah, blah, blah'." she moved her hand as if it were a puppet.

The Prince rolled his eyes. He put a hand to his head. "Now I know last week I didn't get the flu, you just make me sick."

"Wow, how long did that thought take to cross your mind?" She picked up the tray. "Must've been a very lonely journey." She was out of the kitchen before he could get a word in.

His anger reached new heights. He chased after her and stopped at the doorway. He was about to yell something at her, but couldn't come up with anything. He pulled at his hair. Why was that little vegetable so…so - gah! He could just strangle her!

But somehow, as time passed, he began to warm up to her; well, more like got a little more used to and less irritated at her; their conversations shifted from insulting to teasing and…playful. Especially after the kitchen incident.

Elphaba kept kneading the dough for the cookies. She was on the verge of a panic attack because she couldn't figure out why the dough wasn't turning out right. It was still too sticky. Life seemed to want to punish her; to make this batch even more of a living nightmare, it spilled onto the floor.

She could feel the tears sting her eyes. She was scared; scared of getting in trouble, of getting fired, of losing the one place she could call home. Dear Oz, the dough wasn't coming off of the floor!

She was covered in flour, she was hyperventilating, the dough on her hands felt like it was solidifying and - and Prince Fiyero just walked in.

Elphaba bowed her head. This was it, he would get what he wanted; throw her out of the castle. He could call Queen Baxiana and have her fired or just fire her on the spot right now and kick her out into the streets again.

"Are you ok?" He'd asked instead.

That had taken her by surprise. What had surprised her even more was that after telling him what had happened, he'd helped in calming her down. He helped her clean up the mess and clean herself up. And she discovered that he could actually talk to her without being mean. He was actually kind of…nice. He even stayed with her as she tried the recipe again.

"You know," Elphaba kneaded the much better batch of dough, "you're not as bad as you make people think."

"Really?" Fiyero smirked.

"Nope," she shook her head, "you're worse."

She couldn't help but smile at the fact that she made him chuckle.

"Thanks for helping me," she said, fanning the fresh out-of-the-oven cookies with a cutting board.

"Don't flatter yourself," he grabbed a cookie from the tray and took a bite. "I just wanted food."

She rolled her eyes. "I rest my case," she grabbed a cookie as well.

"You know Elphaba, I think you are the reason why sometimes the young get eaten by their parents," he joked.

She'd thrown a small tantrum on one of the new staff members that was changing the routine she'd been used to for over a year. She was actually pretty adorable when she was mad.

He frowned when she turned serious.

"Or get left on the street by them."

From then on, their conversations also got intimate at times.

"My parents…I don't think they really loved me. My momma never really looked at me and Daddy used to hit me a lot. I don't even know what I did most of the time," but it all went back to her being born an abomination. "Momma had just had another baby. I don't know if it was a boy or girl. I never saw it. My daddy…" Elphaba swallowed. "He brought me all the way out here, said we had to get new stuff for the baby. He told me to wait for him on the bench. He didn't come back."

Fiyero paled. He felt sick to his stomach. How could a parent do that to their own child? Oh, Elphaba.

"I was hungry and cold. I don't know how long passed until Korey found me," the maid that had brought her to the castle, "I don't remember much before that, I try not to think about it." She threw more wood into the fire.

He'd found her sitting in front of the fireplace. It was late and he couldn't sleep. He thought he might as well join her. When he'd brought up a comment she had made about being left on the street earlier that week, she'd remained silent. Fiyero had been about to ask her to forget about it, and then she'd told him everything.

"Elphaba, I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

"No, Elphaba," he scooted closer to her. He could see the unshed tears in her eyes and the firelight reflected on her eyes. "I'm sorry; for everything. I've been horrible to you when there was no reason to be. You never did anything. And I could bet my life that you didn't do anything to deserve what your family did to you."

"Yeah I did," her voice broke. "Exist, that's what I did."

For the first time since she'd arrived at the castle, he pulled her close to him and wrapped her in a hug. To hear those words out of her mouth, this 10 year old girl…it hurt. He caught her staring at her hand, rubbing her fingers together; she was shaking.

He grabbed her tiny, emerald hand in his. "You didn't ask to be green, but it's part of who you are. Frankly, if you weren't green, now that would be weird."

Elphaba giggled. What a beautiful sound. He wanted to hear it more often.

"I like you. You're fun to be around. As awful as this may sound considering what happened to you to get here, I'm glad you are here," he felt her arms tightened around his torso.

She held back her tears and smiled softly. She'd lived with her parents for eight years and she's only been at the castle for a little over two years. She felt more safe and at home here than she ever did with her mom and dad, even when Fiyero had been a butt.

But Fiyero wasn't like her father. Sure he'd been mean at first, but he's changed. He was her friend now, or at least, she was pretty sure they were friends. Whatever they were, she was glad he was here. She sighed as he kept rubbing soothing circles on her back.

"Feels nice."

"Why do you pretend?" Elphaba asked. "You know, put on this act of being self-absorbed and shallow."

She'd overheard a shouting match between the prince and queen, she didn't hear enough to know what it was about, but it had ultimately ended with the prince yelling 'I don't care' at the top of his lungs.

Fiyero laughed dryly, keeping his gaze out the window. "There's no pretense here, Elphaba. In case you haven't noticed, I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow."

"No you're not, or you… you wouldn't be a nice guy. And you wouldn't…you wouldn't be so unhappy."

Fiyero's head snapped around and he stared deep into Elphaba's eyes. How in Oz did she…

Elphaba bowed her head. "I'm sorry. If you'll excuse me, Your Highness," she picked up the basket of dirty laundry she'd come to retrieve in the first place.

He realized then that despite all they're bickering and playful banter, she'd actually never called him by his first name. His anger dispersing, the prince shoved his hands in his pockets. "Fiyero."

"Hm?"

"Just Fiyero, Elphaba," he smiled at seeing a small blush coloring her cheeks. His heart was beating so fast.

"Fiyero," she said slowly. She threw him a small smile before exiting the room with the laundry basket in her arms. He felt a hint of sadness at seeing her go.

Fiyero let himself fall on the couch and he groaned into a pillow. Dear Oz, what was happening?

"Elphaba, hey," he shook her arm. "Are you ok?"

He'd been walking around, trying to find his mother, he found her sitting on the stairs. Elphaba whimpered and raised her head, which had been buried in her arms. Tears were running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry."

"What's wrong?" he wiped some of her tears.

She moved the skirt of her dress, revealing that she was sitting on a small pool of blood. Oh shit. She'd gotten her monthlies, and by the looks of it, it was her first one. Great, Fiyero thought. His mother was nowhere to be found and the maids had gone out for groceries, only the male staff was in the castle.

"I'm so sorry, Fiyero. Please don't punish me."

"Punish you?" He asked in disbelief. "Fae, don't be ridiculous," he'd been calling her that for a couple of weeks now. "Come on," he wasn't exactly sure on how he was going to help her, but he wasn't going to leave her alone and on the stairs.

He gently scooped the young girl in his arms, not even realizing that he was staining his own clothes. He walked towards where he knew her room was located, answering her questions as best as he could. She was scared and confused, it seemed that no one had explained to her that this happens to girls when they start to go through puberty. He caught sight of his mother.

"Mom!" Fiyero called out.

Baxiana turned around and her eyes widened. "Oh Oz," she ran quickly to her son and Elphaba.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Elphaba said, and Fiyero involuntarily tightened his grip on her.

"Oh baby, don't apologize. If anything, I'm sorry," they'd never had a young girl in the castle before. Oz, how could this have completely slipped her mind? "Let's get you to your room. Deseree!" She called out.

A young woman came immediately. "Yes, Your Majesty? Oh my," she said, seeing Elphaba covered in her own blood. "Elphaba, are you ok, honey?"

"Let's get her to her room, and help me clean her up."

"Yes, Your Majesty. May I, Your Highness?" She put out her arms, meaning to take Elphaba from Fiyero's arms.

Though reluctant, Fiyero gently handed her Elphaba, and Deseree walked away with her. Fiyero had been about to follow, but his mother grabbed his arm. "We've got her. She'll be alright."

"But-"

"Yero, Trust us. We'll take care of her," Baxiana smiled at him and kissed his cheek before following Deseree to Elphaba's room.

He just couldn't stay away from her. At the time, he had decided that was because she was like a little sister to him. After all, he was an only child, for 18 years he'd been the youngest person in the castle; it was nice to have someone younger to hang out with. She was a good influence on him.

She was the reason he'd started taking school seriously. He managed to finally stay at a university for more than a semester and graduated from Shiz about a year ago. He now felt more prepared to eventually become King.

She was also the reason why he stopped drinking and why he hadn't had a date in a few years. Elphaba didn't need to have alcohol around her at such a young age and as for the dating, fucking Oz.

No matter how many times he tried to deny it, it was unavoidable. He was in love. With a child. He'd tried to forget it, but he couldn't. She was always invading his thoughts, she was growing into a beautiful young woman. And dear Oz, he hadn't had sex since he was 22. Ok, now that was a perverted thought. Fiyero slammed his head against the cabinet.

Elphaba jumped, splashing some soup on the stove. "You ok there?" She grabbed a cloth and cleaned up the small mess she'd made. He'd startled her; it had been relatively quiet for about 10 minutes.

"Yeah, just thinking."

A grin spread across her face. "Well-"

"Don't."

They laughed and she continued her stirring, humming softly and glancing at Fiyero out of the corner of her eye.

She had to admit, Fiyero turned out to be better than she'd expected. He was really the definition of a first impression not always being the right one.

When she'd first arrived at the castle a little over six years ago, she'd been surprised at the kindness everybody had been showing her. It was as if something was wrong with the universe; like the world had turned upside down. Then she'd met him, and his mouth, and all was back to normal.

But throughout the years, Elphaba discovered that Fiyero was actually hurting. She sympathized with that. She'd known hurt, too. He just had a different way of dealing with things, all the rebellious things he did were really a small, subtle sign of him wanting someone to pay attention to him. Even if he had his mother, them arguing was much different than what they did now: calmly sit down and have a full, meaningful conversation. He's changed for the better, that much was certain. He was happier.

His true colors showed more often now. Fiyero was actually really kind, funny, sweet, and a bit brainless at times. But Elphaba loved him, she loved Queen Baxiana, and the staff. They were all like family.

She was extremely lucky and she knew it. She had a roof over her head, three meals a day, the queen always treated her fairly, and she got along great with the staff. They were all very protective of her, she was the baby.

"There," Elphaba turned off the stove. "I'll simmer it more tomorrow. Letting it sit overnight should help the flavors settle more by the time the diplomats arrive tomorrow."

Fiyero had mentioned to her something about having to discuss trade with other countries. His mom, the nice woman that she is, invited them to stay for lunch after their meeting.

"I hope it tastes good," she said, placing the pot of soup in the refrigerator.

"If it's as good as your baking, it'll be heavenly," she heard him say. A blush crept to her cheeks.

They talked a bit more as Elphaba cleaned up the kitchen. Mostly about what they had done during the day. Elphaba's wasn't too eventful, Fiyero felt like today had gone on forever. He'd had many plans to read, revised the finances, and not to mention that he'd barely seen Elphaba for the day.

"I just realized I didn't get to the guest rooms today," she groaned. "I'll go do that now."

"Oh no you don't," Fiyero grabbed her arm, "you need to go to sleep. It's late," he kept walking her to her room, a habit they'd been practicing in recent weeks.

"But, Yero-"

"Fae, they'll still be there tomorrow. You can do them first thing in the morning if you want. And I want to go to sleep, too."

"Then go to sleep."

"Not until I get you to your room."

Elphaba sighed, but smiled. "Fine," it was sweet that he waited until she was in her room to go retire himself. He was like an overprotective big brother.

"Elphie!" A voice came from down the hallway. A blonde maid came into sight. "Oh, there you are!" She ran over to Elphaba and Fiyero. "Your Highness," she bowed. "You have some explaining to do!" The blonde girl grabbed Elphaba's arm and without another word, dragged her all the way to the end of the hallway and into their room.

He heard the door slam shut.

Fiyero stayed rooted to his spot, his eyes wide in shock of what had just happened, and in confusion. What had the blonde maid meant by 'explaining'? And hadn't Elphaba told him she didn't get along with her roommate?

He yawned. He was tired. He could ask her questions tomorrow.

Anyone catch the Hamilton reference?

Welcome to this story! I'm so sorry about Hurricane, I promise I will finish it, but I have severe writer's block with that plot right now, I apologize so much.

And I also apologize for the flashbacks. I'm terrible at writing the actual "falling in love" stuff. I work much better when at least one character is already in love haha.

I hope you're enjoying this. Chapters will be longer here. Hope y'all like it! Tell me what you thought in the reviews :)

PS: I started college! AH!