A November miracle for my favorite fandom: a new one-shot!

...

Fiyero stood anxiously in front of the window overlooking the snow-covered lawn outside of Crage Hall. Fluffy white snow that laid pristine and untouched by anyone at Shiz. Even the tracks Fiyero had made only an hour ago were covered up by the heavy snowfall that started not long after he sunk into the building.

He thought he could look at the snow for the entire day without tiring of it. It reminded him of home, and more often than not, Fiyero needed those associations. He had never thought of himself as a homebody until coming to Shiz. Fiyero missed the rocky landscape, the way the stars shone endlessly in the black night sky, and even the soft echoes of the palace staff against the old stones that made up the structure. Watching the snow cling to every surface reminded him of similar scenes at Kiamo Ko, and it helped him more than he imagined.

And it was early enough that, if he so desired, Fiyero could stand at the window for another hour or two before Shiz started waking up and ruining the —

"Why is this so slow?" Avaric asked Glinda, abruptly cutting off the blonde's train of thought.

Glinda turned a critical eye on Avaric, who was sitting on the bed with his hands tucked under his ass and leaning slightly forward to view what Glinda was writing on the floor.

"I'm sorry," Glinda replied, "are you the GoodWitchOfTheNorth?"

Avaric's lips pressed into a thin line.

"I am not."

"Then let me do my thing."

— view.

Fiyero knew he couldn't stand there for another two hours, though.

He was too anxious.

And it was creepy.

So, instead, he fixed his hair, using his reflection in the window as reference, and took the stairs two at a time to get to Elphaba and Glinda's room before he lost his nerve.

"You can do this, Tiggular," he told himself quietly.

He knocked sharply three times and heard something crash on the other side of the door. Then silence. Fiyero frowned and repeated the knocks. This time there was a back and forth of furious whispers that he couldn't make out, but he could tell two distinct voices. Something tore at him inside, and for a very real moment he worried that Elphaba had someone over.

A few ticks later, the door was yanked open to reveal Glinda with mussed hair and a blanket wrapped around her. She frowned at Fiyero, then over her shoulder, and back.

Fiyero cleared his throat.

"It's five in the morning, Fiyero."

"I couldn't sleep."

"Well, I was sleeping."

Fiyero shifted.

"Fiyero!"

"Is Elphaba there?"

"It's five in the morning!"

"Glinda, please," he pleaded softly.

Avaric appeared behind her before she could respond. His hair equally mussed and a sheet double wrapped around his waist.

"That's not how we answered the door," Avaric smirked.

"Would you like all of Crage Hall to picture you holding a pink throw pillow over your crotch for the next lifetime?"

Avaric shrugged, and his smirk deepened. Glinda drove her elbow into his shin just enough to jostle him. She would be damned if her classmates looked at him any more lecherously than they already did.

"Ah," Fiyero said, a blush spreading across his cheeks, "is she with Nessa?" He doubted the pair were cruel enough to do anything with Elphaba in the room.

The pair sent him off to Briscoe, where Elphaba had stayed for the night. Glinda had asked to have the room ahead of time, and Nessa turned down Elphie's request for a night over. So Avaric and Boq offered to sneak Elphaba into their room, so Avaric could sneak back into Crage Hall after room checks.

But when Fiyero got to the top floor of Briscoe Hall, neither Boq nor Elphaba were in the room, which he learned after five minutes of knocking on the door. Finally, Boq and Avaric's neighbor threw open his door and yelled at Fiyero that both had snuck off nearly an hour ago. When Fiyero asked where they went to, the neighbor rolled his eyes and shut the door in Fiyero's face.

Lucky for him, there weren't too many places on campus Boq and Elphaba could stand to be. The library was the most likely answer. However, when he trekked across campus to get there, the head librarian kindly told him that no one had been in that morning. He was the first person she had seen all day.

Fiyero frowned. It wasn't like either of them to disappear without telling anyone.

As half six neared, Fiyero made his way over to Tibbett's dorm room over in Three Queens. He and Elphaba had been as thick as thieves lately, and she could have chosen to stay with him instead of Boq. To his relief, Tibbett was already awake when he got to the end of the basement hall.

Tibbett's door was propped open with a shoe, and Fiyero could hear soft holiday music coming from inside. He knocked once and entered the dorm. Tibbett was sticking fairy lights to the wall in the pattern of an evergreen tree. On the other side of the room, Boq sat on the floor, wrapping picture frames that normally hung on Tibbett's wall with obnoxious holiday-themed paper. Tibbett loved the winter holidays more than anyone else in their little group, and it really didn't surprise Fiyero that he went all out every year with decorating his small dorm.

"Where's Elphaba?" Fiyero asked by way of greeting.

"Good morning to you too," Tibbett replied.

"Do you think Boq and Tibbett have ever…" Avaric mused as Glinda continued writing about Fiyero searching all over campus for Elphaba. "I mean, who hasn't experimented with Tibbett."

Glinda paused. That was a fair point. Elphaba, probably.

"Should we have Fiyero come back here and ask for help?" she asked. "Or just straight to his after I finish having him pop in on Nessa?"

"Straight back to his," Avaric said. "He would have been too proud to ask for help. And we would have asked questions, you know."

"That's true," she hummed and continued writing:

By the time Fiyero headed back to Ozma Towers, most of the morning had been wasted. The snow on the ground was no longer fresh, and he could see the cobblestone walks more clearly and bits of grass poking out from where people crossed the lawns. It seemed damned near impossible that Elphaba hadn't contacted someone. She wouldn't have left without saying goodbye to anyone. Something could have happened to her, and the thought put a pit in Fiyero's stomach.

He needed to change into warmer clothes, and then he'd go back out and retrace all his steps. Check in buildings Elphaba had classes. Track down her teachers and see if she had been by to see them at all. It wasn't even about his original plan anymore. He just needed to make sure Elphaba was safe.

Fiyero paused as he pushed into the apartment he shared with Crope.

A spread of traditional Vinkun breakfast cuisine was spread out over the dark red blanket he had brought back from Kiamo Ko for Elphaba after the last time he visited the Vinkus. Warm breads. Sweet smelling rolls. Tart jams. Savory meats that still seemed to be sizzling. Bitter teas and coffees in decanters beside homemade condiments that his people typically added to the drinks. Strong spices that would undoubtedly linger in the apartment over the next week.

It smelled like home.

And standing in front of it all with her fingers bunching the fabric of her skirt was Elphaba. An uncertain smile was spread across her face, and she bit her lip as Fiyero fully entered the room.

"What is this?" he asked.

Elphaba licked her lips.

"I knew you were missing home, and I wanted to bring a little bit of the Vinkus to you. I wrote to your brothers, and they sent me your favorite recipes; and your father said the Arjiki kicked off the winter holiday celebrations on this day with a breakfast feast. Crope gave me his key, I hope you don't mind."

He was at a loss for words, truly. He had spent all morning, worrying about her and where she was and if she was happy; and the entire time, she had been here, worrying about him and his happiness.

"Do you want to come home with me for the holidays?" Fiyero blurted before he could stop himself.

—According to Elphaba, Fiyero had actually yelled that part, but Glinda wanted to save him some face in the mind of her readers—

Of course, he wanted her to. Of course he did. But he had a plan to ask her. He was going to tell her how special she was to him, how much he cared about her, and how his family loved her simply because he did. He wanted to make her feel as happy as she made him feel, and then Fiyero intended to invite her home.

But there they were.

Elphaba chuckled awkwardly, nudging his shoulder lightly.

"It's just a breakfast from one friend to another. You don't owe me anything."

"Elphaba," Fiyero glanced down at her hands and hesitated a moment before reaching out for them. He could feel the slight tremor in hers. "There is no one else I would rather take back to Kiamo Ko with me. Avaric, Crope, Tibbett, Glinda, Boq…you're important to me in a way I can't even fathom from them."

Another awkward laugh. "Stop or you'll make me blush."

"I don't want to be just friends with you. Or even friends who sometimes make out," Fiyero nodded resolutely. "I want to be with you. Fully."

"My father is going to shit," she replied, laughing more freely. She sucked her lips in and laced her fingers through his, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Okay."

Elphaba surged forward, capturing his lips quickly before pulling back. Fiyero chased her lips, stealing one more kiss from her.

Avaric made a squawking noise as Glinda finished the page with a swirl and then her penname in the bottom right corner of the parchment.

"Where's the smut, Glin?" he protested. "I heard about that morning. I know what happened."

"Darling, please," she said, blowing lightly on the ink. "A lady does not write smut."

"I see no lady?" Avaric snickered, looking about the room.

"The GoodWitchOfTheNorth is a lady, my love." She rolled the parchments and tied it off with a black ribbon, telling Avaric they needed to deliver it to the third level first this time around. "The first and second level girls have drooled all over it by the time level three gets it."

"Yes, yes. But what about the smut? I've seen those stories tied with the red ribbon. Those are not for the faint of heart."

"I beg your pardon?"

Glinda frowned at him. Avaric's expression changed from jest to skepticism to utter curiosity. Was someone stepping in on her friend fiction territory?

"Can you get me a copy of one?"

...

;)