[FIC] Sketches (7/?) (Princess and the Frog)
Title: Sketches: Changes
Author: kohee
Pairing: Naveen x Tiana
Summary: Of all the women-turned-frogs to be stuck with, he had to get the one, the only one (in the entire universe) that hated him.
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG
New Orleans, how delightful and how wonderful it was to be here, free of his parents' nags and lectures about responsibilities and duties (now those, were definitely dirty words in his dictionary).
The city of jazz awaited him, and he grabbed his ukulele, ignored his poor butler and leaped into its welcoming embrace. It looked like a city filled with fun, music and as he could see it, abundant women that he could charm to his liking, without a care, for even the fact that he was broke and lacking of green did not bother him.
Much, anyway.
Naveen flitted and hopped around the city, soaking in the sights, the colours, the sounds and the people, and the first real taste of complete freedom. Women from all walks of life were enthralled with him, and he basked in their attention and flirtatious ways; it did not matter whether or not they knew who he was.
One woman, however, failed to fall victim to his charms, and he remembered her face, not because she was exceptionally beautiful, but because she was the only one that did not smile or swoon over him. He had danced up to her, flashed her his most flamboyant smile, and she merely looked at him, tray in hand, an eyebrow raised, lips twisted into a wry expression that suggested she was not even remotely interested, and turned away from him without a second glance.
And so he shrugged, plucking his ukulele and was on his way, although she remained on his mind.
She was the waitress outside that little corner café , in a yellow dress and white apron, with tumbling black curls gathered messily in a ponytail, and striking dark eyes.
-
Even as a frog, Naveen could still appreciate beauty (of course), and the princess was really rather resplendent. He thought she looked vaguely familiar, although he could not really place her face. It was something about her eyes, maybe, but at the same time, he was quite sure they had not met, for he was sure he would remember that sort of beauty.
He felt a little bit bad as he lied about the possibility of a financial reward, especially that seemed to be the cementing factor (strangely) to her consent to kiss him. But then again, Naveen never felt guilty for too long, and he was sure he could maneuver himself out of any potentially tricky situation afterwards.
They kissed, a light touch, but nonetheless a kiss, but instead of turning back into his dashing, handsome self, he was still a frog...and so was she.
-
“A WAITRESS? Well, no wonder the kiss did not work!” Naveen glared angrily at the little green frog dangling underneath him, it was all her fault, this little waitress pretending to be a princess.
A waitress!
A waitress?
Wait a minute.
Now he remembered her. She was that girl, that girl in front of that café who would not return his smile. He wondered if she remembered him, but remembering her dismissive attitude, the answer was probably no, not a chance in hell.
As they dodged alligators, spent the night in the hollow of a tree trunk, and as they trudged through the bayou together in hopes of finding a solution to their froggy states, Naveen found that he could not stop sniping at the waitress (T-I-A-N-A, she snapped at him), and she could not stop sniping at him.
She seemed to find fault with everything he did; she did not seem to understand that he was a prince, regardless of his appearance, and there were some things that he would not do, such as working, such as paddling a little frog-made raft.
Her eyes narrowed into slits and he half-thought that she might poke his eye out with her stick, and he prepared to leap off the raft if that were to happen. She chose not to, though, she just huffed and continued paddling, while he leaned back and strummed his makeshift ukulele.
She did not stop glaring at him.
Of all the women-turned-frogs to be stuck with, he had to get the one, the only one (in the entire universe) that hated him.
-
Maybe she was not such a stick-in-the-mud after all, Naveen thought, as they both laughed about their lucky escape from the frog hunters. And she was clever, rather witty, with the 'talking frogs' comment that sent the three miscreants sprinting away in the swamp; which was surprising to him because she was always so serious.
He didn't think she'd know to be anything but serious.
But her eyes were twinkling as she giggled, her face all lit up, and suddenly, she was so different, almost beautiful. And she was a frog.
Maybe they didn't have to hate each other. Maybe they could actually get along without her wanting to kill him every other second.
Naveen resolved to be nicer to the waitr - Tiana.
-
Naveen spread a leaf over his frog legs and waited expectantly for dinner to be served, but Tiana hauled him up, handing him a mushroom and a little piece of flat stone that served as a knife.
He looked at both items in confusion; what was he supposed to do with them?
"Mince." She said, and he shuddered a little in apprehension. His eyes half closed, he sliced through the cap (or was it the stalk? He would have no idea about parts of mushroom, honestly), and opening his eyes, he saw a little piece of mushroom, detached. Nothing bled, nothing exploded, the world was still intact. He continued slicing. For the first time in his life, he was doing something constructive. The mushroom pieces were haphazard and uneven, but it came from him, his fingers and the piece of stone.
There was a strange sense of satisfaction, and he never knew that one could get satisfaction from working. It was indeed, mysterious. He really didn't know anything about the world or about life, as Naveen sounded the words, he realised the truth of how sheltered he was, of the real world.
Tiana scooped up the mushrooms and looked at him, her eyes soft. "At least you'd make a pretty good mincer."
He smiled, and felt a little burst of happiness.
-
Naveen spun her around on the lotus leaf, and caught her just as she stumbled. Tiana was not lying when she said she didn't know to dance, she could not take two steps without tripping over her feet.
But Naveen led well, and soon she was twirling around with him as if she had had lessons for years. And he thought it was really strange how they seemed to fit , how comfortingly warm her fingers felt in his.
As he looked into her eyes, eyes that remained unchanged despite her unfortunate transformation, he saw her in the yellow dress, and the sparkling ball gown, and then he saw her as she was now, green and covered with mucous, and he thought to himself that she was beautiful.
He nearly kissed her, their second kiss, but she pulled away, and patted him, reminding him of a marriage that he was not sure at all that he wanted to get into.
-
Naveen could picture their lives together, Tiana in a yellow dress and her dark hair pulled back, her eyes mirroring the affection in his as he took her hand, as they worked in Tiana's restaurant. A restaurant that he would help her get, no matter what.
“I'll get a job,” he told Ray, his eyes determined. “Two jobs. Three!”
And it was that precise moment that a realisation, clearer and stronger that ever, hit him, hit him so hard that he literally felt his breath escaping him.
He had changed, for he was in love, well and truly in love.
-
They were staying as frogs, and on some level, he supposed he was disappointed. But Tiana had the same spirit, the same strength and the same eyes, and he fell in love with that, so it was enough.
They could still have a restaurant, a little place in the bayou, near the swamp, maybe, if their house specialty was to be swamp gumbo. Louis promised to bring his friends (and he promised his friends would not eat them, or their customers) and of course, the entire firefly community would help to spread the word.
Tiana's daddy said that food could bring people from all walks of life together, and Tiana carried his words with her; their bayou restaurant could achieve that, for that was the true dream.
They would work for it, him and her, together.
Mama Odie blessed them, and he smiled at his new wife, so small and green but so wonderful, and placing his fingers on the side of her face, he leaned in, and kissed her, really kissed her.
Vaguely he heard Mama Odie laughing, and gasps all around them, but Naveen did not care, really, because he was kissing Tiana, and kissing her as his wife, and it was a wondrously exhilarating feeling, to be kissing someone that he was completely in love with.
Breathless, they pulled apart, and he found himself looking at a face. A lovely face, surrounded by dark hair and tendrils of curls, and those eyes, as strong as passionate as ever, Eyes tinged with the same wonderment that he was sure in his; for the hand that was resting on her cheek was not green or webbed, and neither of them were green anymore.
“Like I told y'all,” Mama Odie cackled, “a kiss from a princess will undo it!”
Naveen looked at his bride, an expression of understanding spreading across his face. “Once you became my wife, you became a...”
Tiana smiled, so dazzling and so, so beautiful, and she grabbed the lapels of his coat, her eyes dancing. “A princess. You just kissed yourself a princess!”
Placing two fingers under her chin, he looked at her, his smile tender and his own eyes loving. “And...I am about to do it again.”
And so he did.
-
Naveen never thought he would have to work. He never thought he would marry someone that seemed to hate him at first sight, and vice versa.
But Naveen also never thought he would ever fall in love.
As he entwined his fingers with Tiana's, and as she smiled up at him and pressed a kiss onto his mouth, he thought how fortunate he was, to be wrong; for now he was truly happy, truly contented and very much in love.
It wasn't green that he needed after all, he simply needed Tiana, and she wasn't green any longer.
-----
end, 1785 words
This turned out much longer than I expected. I didn't write much about Naveen at Mama Odie's and the proposal despite those bits being a huge part of his transformation, because I already did ficlets for those scenes and it would be repeating myself :P
Author: kohee
Pairing: Naveen x Tiana
Summary: Of all the women-turned-frogs to be stuck with, he had to get the one, the only one (in the entire universe) that hated him.
Genre: Romance
Rating: PG
New Orleans, how delightful and how wonderful it was to be here, free of his parents' nags and lectures about responsibilities and duties (now those, were definitely dirty words in his dictionary).
The city of jazz awaited him, and he grabbed his ukulele, ignored his poor butler and leaped into its welcoming embrace. It looked like a city filled with fun, music and as he could see it, abundant women that he could charm to his liking, without a care, for even the fact that he was broke and lacking of green did not bother him.
Much, anyway.
Naveen flitted and hopped around the city, soaking in the sights, the colours, the sounds and the people, and the first real taste of complete freedom. Women from all walks of life were enthralled with him, and he basked in their attention and flirtatious ways; it did not matter whether or not they knew who he was.
One woman, however, failed to fall victim to his charms, and he remembered her face, not because she was exceptionally beautiful, but because she was the only one that did not smile or swoon over him. He had danced up to her, flashed her his most flamboyant smile, and she merely looked at him, tray in hand, an eyebrow raised, lips twisted into a wry expression that suggested she was not even remotely interested, and turned away from him without a second glance.
And so he shrugged, plucking his ukulele and was on his way, although she remained on his mind.
She was the waitress outside that little corner café , in a yellow dress and white apron, with tumbling black curls gathered messily in a ponytail, and striking dark eyes.
-
Even as a frog, Naveen could still appreciate beauty (of course), and the princess was really rather resplendent. He thought she looked vaguely familiar, although he could not really place her face. It was something about her eyes, maybe, but at the same time, he was quite sure they had not met, for he was sure he would remember that sort of beauty.
He felt a little bit bad as he lied about the possibility of a financial reward, especially that seemed to be the cementing factor (strangely) to her consent to kiss him. But then again, Naveen never felt guilty for too long, and he was sure he could maneuver himself out of any potentially tricky situation afterwards.
They kissed, a light touch, but nonetheless a kiss, but instead of turning back into his dashing, handsome self, he was still a frog...and so was she.
-
“A WAITRESS? Well, no wonder the kiss did not work!” Naveen glared angrily at the little green frog dangling underneath him, it was all her fault, this little waitress pretending to be a princess.
A waitress!
A waitress?
Wait a minute.
Now he remembered her. She was that girl, that girl in front of that café who would not return his smile. He wondered if she remembered him, but remembering her dismissive attitude, the answer was probably no, not a chance in hell.
As they dodged alligators, spent the night in the hollow of a tree trunk, and as they trudged through the bayou together in hopes of finding a solution to their froggy states, Naveen found that he could not stop sniping at the waitress (T-I-A-N-A, she snapped at him), and she could not stop sniping at him.
She seemed to find fault with everything he did; she did not seem to understand that he was a prince, regardless of his appearance, and there were some things that he would not do, such as working, such as paddling a little frog-made raft.
Her eyes narrowed into slits and he half-thought that she might poke his eye out with her stick, and he prepared to leap off the raft if that were to happen. She chose not to, though, she just huffed and continued paddling, while he leaned back and strummed his makeshift ukulele.
She did not stop glaring at him.
Of all the women-turned-frogs to be stuck with, he had to get the one, the only one (in the entire universe) that hated him.
-
Maybe she was not such a stick-in-the-mud after all, Naveen thought, as they both laughed about their lucky escape from the frog hunters. And she was clever, rather witty, with the 'talking frogs' comment that sent the three miscreants sprinting away in the swamp; which was surprising to him because she was always so serious.
He didn't think she'd know to be anything but serious.
But her eyes were twinkling as she giggled, her face all lit up, and suddenly, she was so different, almost beautiful. And she was a frog.
Maybe they didn't have to hate each other. Maybe they could actually get along without her wanting to kill him every other second.
Naveen resolved to be nicer to the waitr - Tiana.
-
Naveen spread a leaf over his frog legs and waited expectantly for dinner to be served, but Tiana hauled him up, handing him a mushroom and a little piece of flat stone that served as a knife.
He looked at both items in confusion; what was he supposed to do with them?
"Mince." She said, and he shuddered a little in apprehension. His eyes half closed, he sliced through the cap (or was it the stalk? He would have no idea about parts of mushroom, honestly), and opening his eyes, he saw a little piece of mushroom, detached. Nothing bled, nothing exploded, the world was still intact. He continued slicing. For the first time in his life, he was doing something constructive. The mushroom pieces were haphazard and uneven, but it came from him, his fingers and the piece of stone.
There was a strange sense of satisfaction, and he never knew that one could get satisfaction from working. It was indeed, mysterious. He really didn't know anything about the world or about life, as Naveen sounded the words, he realised the truth of how sheltered he was, of the real world.
Tiana scooped up the mushrooms and looked at him, her eyes soft. "At least you'd make a pretty good mincer."
He smiled, and felt a little burst of happiness.
-
Naveen spun her around on the lotus leaf, and caught her just as she stumbled. Tiana was not lying when she said she didn't know to dance, she could not take two steps without tripping over her feet.
But Naveen led well, and soon she was twirling around with him as if she had had lessons for years. And he thought it was really strange how they seemed to fit , how comfortingly warm her fingers felt in his.
As he looked into her eyes, eyes that remained unchanged despite her unfortunate transformation, he saw her in the yellow dress, and the sparkling ball gown, and then he saw her as she was now, green and covered with mucous, and he thought to himself that she was beautiful.
He nearly kissed her, their second kiss, but she pulled away, and patted him, reminding him of a marriage that he was not sure at all that he wanted to get into.
-
Naveen could picture their lives together, Tiana in a yellow dress and her dark hair pulled back, her eyes mirroring the affection in his as he took her hand, as they worked in Tiana's restaurant. A restaurant that he would help her get, no matter what.
“I'll get a job,” he told Ray, his eyes determined. “Two jobs. Three!”
And it was that precise moment that a realisation, clearer and stronger that ever, hit him, hit him so hard that he literally felt his breath escaping him.
He had changed, for he was in love, well and truly in love.
-
They were staying as frogs, and on some level, he supposed he was disappointed. But Tiana had the same spirit, the same strength and the same eyes, and he fell in love with that, so it was enough.
They could still have a restaurant, a little place in the bayou, near the swamp, maybe, if their house specialty was to be swamp gumbo. Louis promised to bring his friends (and he promised his friends would not eat them, or their customers) and of course, the entire firefly community would help to spread the word.
Tiana's daddy said that food could bring people from all walks of life together, and Tiana carried his words with her; their bayou restaurant could achieve that, for that was the true dream.
They would work for it, him and her, together.
Mama Odie blessed them, and he smiled at his new wife, so small and green but so wonderful, and placing his fingers on the side of her face, he leaned in, and kissed her, really kissed her.
Vaguely he heard Mama Odie laughing, and gasps all around them, but Naveen did not care, really, because he was kissing Tiana, and kissing her as his wife, and it was a wondrously exhilarating feeling, to be kissing someone that he was completely in love with.
Breathless, they pulled apart, and he found himself looking at a face. A lovely face, surrounded by dark hair and tendrils of curls, and those eyes, as strong as passionate as ever, Eyes tinged with the same wonderment that he was sure in his; for the hand that was resting on her cheek was not green or webbed, and neither of them were green anymore.
“Like I told y'all,” Mama Odie cackled, “a kiss from a princess will undo it!”
Naveen looked at his bride, an expression of understanding spreading across his face. “Once you became my wife, you became a...”
Tiana smiled, so dazzling and so, so beautiful, and she grabbed the lapels of his coat, her eyes dancing. “A princess. You just kissed yourself a princess!”
Placing two fingers under her chin, he looked at her, his smile tender and his own eyes loving. “And...I am about to do it again.”
And so he did.
-
Naveen never thought he would have to work. He never thought he would marry someone that seemed to hate him at first sight, and vice versa.
But Naveen also never thought he would ever fall in love.
As he entwined his fingers with Tiana's, and as she smiled up at him and pressed a kiss onto his mouth, he thought how fortunate he was, to be wrong; for now he was truly happy, truly contented and very much in love.
It wasn't green that he needed after all, he simply needed Tiana, and she wasn't green any longer.
-----
end, 1785 words
This turned out much longer than I expected. I didn't write much about Naveen at Mama Odie's and the proposal despite those bits being a huge part of his transformation, because I already did ficlets for those scenes and it would be repeating myself :P