Flowers

Summary: AU. Shiz-era. Everyone, including Elphaba herself, is surprised when there's a gift waiting for her on her seat on Valentine's day. But who are they from, or this some cruel joke?

Rating: T.

Inspiration: I started to draft this in October. A school buddy of mine got me these beautiful flowers as a gift which, like Elphaba, I don't receive often.

Elphaba arrived early to her first period class, nothing new or unusual in that fact. What was unusual was that there was something on her desk that made her stop dead in her tracks.

There were flowers on the table in front of her chair.

Today was Valentine's day; the graduating class had done a fundraiser; selling many flowers, candy, cards, and small teddy bears for students to buy for a special someone.

She was wary. She looked around at the other couple of students who also had incredulous looks on their faces. The artichoke had gotten flowers? On Valentine's day? Someone had to be taken to the infirmary.

Ok, it seemed to Elphaba like they didn't know what was going on either. She didn't have this class with any of her closest friends, so she couldn't really talk or look to them for any advice on what she should do.

There was a pang in her chest as she stood in front of her seat, wondering if the moment she touched the gorgeous bouquet something would explode or spill.

She decided she couldn't have more eyes on her than she already did, as people kept strolling in and seeing their gifts and were also shocked to see she had gotten a gift too. So Elphaba quickly tapped the bouquet then stepped back, anticipating something to embarrass her to happen, but nothing did. They were just regular flowers.

She felt a tingle in her stomach and smiled softly. With a slightly shaking hand, she picked up the flowers and took her seat.

She had never received a gift. Especially not on Valentine's day and especially not flowers. She tried to tell herself that she didn't care if it was a joke or if someone had been trying to raise a reaction out of her by placing the flowers on her seat, she loved them, so the joke was on them. But doubts kept creeping into her head, so she did what she did best: logical thinking.

The bouquet was a beautiful arrangement of blue hydrangeas and roses, her favorite color; they smelled amazing; the petals were so delicate and soft, the flowers were obviously fresh; and the paper they were wrapped in was carefully arranged so that it would cradle the flowers but not overwhelm them. All wrapped in a blue bow at the stems. The thing was, that all the flowers the students had been selling were small and red.

She let the flowers rest against her chest. Why would anyone go through so much trouble to get these specific flowers and make a bouquet so beautiful if this was really a prank? They wouldn't, right?

Could they possibly be from-no. They couldn't be. Well, he was one of the people who knew her so well, like the fact that she liked blue and it went without saying that she'd never gotten anything for Valentine's day. Elphaba shook her head, reality needed to set back in. Galinda made greater sense. She had gone off on a rant when Elphaba had told her she'd never gotten a valentine's. But still...maybe. Oh Oz, how she wished so.

She turned the bouquet over and saw that there was a note attached. She swallowed in anticipation as she removed it from its place and opened it.

In black letters, "Fiyero" was written on it with a heart.

Oh.

Oz, she had never felt so dumb in her life, she was treasuring a gift that wasn't even for her in the first place. Looking back at it, it made a lot more sense that they were for Fiyero instead of from him and instead of for her; he did have a lot of girls fawning over him.

And why wouldn't he? He was handsome, kind once you got to know him, sweet, and caring towards his friends. And that was all she was to him, a friend, he could never see her like that. And she was lucky to at least have that. Even if the day he would fall for a beautiful, amazing girl would break her heart, she would be thankful that he was still her friend. She smiled sadly while softly rubbing a rose petal in between her fingers, seeing how the light blue contrasted with her green skin.

The bell rang, snapping her from her thoughts. She would see Fiyero along with Galinda in her free period in an hour, she can deliver him his flowers then. She set them on the empty chair next to her and opened her notebook as the professor began class.

"Hi Elphie!" Galinda waved to her when she came into the library, many Valentine's gifts placed in front of her.

"Sh!"

"Sorry," she whispered to the students.

Elphaba walked over to the table where Galinda was sitting at, the blue flowers in her hands. "Where's Fiyero?" Elphaba looked around.

Galinda fought a smile. So she did get the bouquet. "He's in the bathroom. He'll be back any moment," she tried so hard not to squeal with excitement.

But Galinda frowned seeing the look on her best friend's face. That wasn't the look of a girl who'd just gotten flowers from a guy she so obviously had a crush on on Valentine's day. She decided to touch the subject carefully.

"Oh Elphie, those are beautiful!" Galinda said, referring to the flowers.

"Sh!"

"My bad," Glinda rolled her eyes.

Elphaba still held the flowers in her hands. "Yeah, they are."

Galinda was confused. Did Elphaba look…sad?

"Who are they from?"

"Actually, they were left on my desk by mistake."

"What?" Galinda was bewildered and both girls turned their heads to the side when they heard someone speak with her.

Oh good. Fiyero was back. Elphaba offered the flowers to him.

"They're for you, your name is on the card," Elphaba said. "Seems like one of your many secret admirers actually had the guts to send you a gift, Your Highness," she smiled as she teased him.

Fiyero looked at her as if she'd just told him two plus two was actually five instead of four. He smiled at her and shook his head.

"Elphaba-"

"Oh my Oz!" Galinda bursted out laughing.

"Sh!"

"Oh shush yourselves!" She snapped at them then turned back to Fiyero. "I thought you said there would be no question about it because 'it was obvious'," she giggled.

"Apparently not, not even with a note," he laughed softly.

The green girl was confused. "What's going on?"

What were they talking about? Did they know who sent Fiyero flowers?

Fiyero stepped closer to her and rubbed her shoulder, sending shivers down her arm. "Fae," he kissed her forehead and she stood still, her eyes wide yet loving the feeling of his warm lips on her skin. It was gone too soon.

Snap out of it, Elphaba!

"Come," Fiyero grabbed Elphaba's arm, ignoring Galinda's protest of him wanting to clear up a misunderstanding in private. Because to him it was so much more than just clearing something up.

"Um," Elphaba was at a loss for words as Fiyero pulled her to the garden outside the library. Why was he doing this? And why did he and Galinda seem to know something she didn't?

He ended up pulling her to the bench outside of the building and sat down with her. "Read the card," he urged.

"It says 'Fiyero'." she answered.

"Look at it, Elphaba."

She gave him a confused look but did as he said anyways. "It says 'Fiyero'," she repeated. Now he was confused. He leaned over to look at the card and realized what must be wrong.

"You can't see that can you?" he pointed to a small blur above where his name was printed.

"Uh…" she reached into her bag and pulled out her glasses. The small pale yellow blur came into focus. "From," her eyes went wide. She slowly pulled her glasses down from her face. "R-really?" she smiled, tears forming in her eyes.

He smiled back at her and nodded. "Fae, you're adorable," he put his hand on her cheek, pulling her gaze back to him when she tried to look away, a small blush coloring her cheeks.

"It's just-"

"I know," he rubbed his thumb across her cheek then his knuckles. She closed her eyes and leaned towards his touch, welcoming the gentle affection.

Elphaba looked down at the bouquet then smiled at him. "I love them," feeling bold, she decided this was a risk she would love to take.

He beat her to the words.

"I love you," he kissed her hair. Fiyero was so in love with her; Oz, she consumed his every thought. He hoped she would give him a chance. "I know I'm not perfect," he whispered, "but I think I can make you happy," he tucked her hair behind her ear.

Elphaba let her tears fall freely and Fiyero cupped her face, rubbing her tears away with his thumbs.

He swallowed and her heart leapt when his gaze fell to her lips. "May I?" Fiyero leaned in slightly, her lips had been haunting him for so long, were they really as plump and sweet as they looked?

She exhaled softly and gave him a nod, her words failing her.

He closed the small gap between them and pressed his lips to hers. His wildest dreamings couldn't compare to reality.

He kissed her lightly; pulling back, nipping softly when he did; then claiming her lips again.

Elphaba was certain she'd just fallen even more in love with him than she already was. He was being so gentle with her, no doubt he knew this was new for her.

"I love you too," she whispered between kisses.

Fiyero smiled as he kept kissing her. She loves him, she loves him.