It's here! As many of you know, I posted a short info session about a week ago with my idea for a holiday project, and you people did not disappoint! For those of you who may not have seen it, the first 12 people to PM with a prompt for a holiday drabble would get there request written, one posted a day til Christmas. The prompts and respondents are (hopefully) being kept a secret and each day will reveal one at a time!
I'm really excited to do this and I hope you enjoy it as well. All responses are greatly appreciated :)
The first one is for musicgal3, who wanted "a winter/Christmas take on the Lion Cub scene" Well…it turned out a little different than I had planned, but I hope it proves satisfactory.
"So… there's something I need to tell you."
Startled from her thoughts, Elphaba's brown eyes rose to rest on her walking companion. Fiyero stood beside her, though he hung back a bit, suddenly seemingly burdened by whatever he was above to confess.
She should have known something like this was going to happen. After all, the most popular boy at University doesn't just suddenly show up at your door and ask to take a walk simply because he enjoys your company.
Well, at least not when you're the green social outcast with an uncontrollably sharp tongue.
Oh, she supposed she could call him a friend. If nothing else, given his permanent presence at her roommate's side, thereby forcing her to form a relationship, they had developed a mutual tolerance, even borderline respect for one another. Most of the time, their relationship was civilly pleasant, though there were rare moments would he would tease her, good-naturedly, about something or another, to which she would reply in kind, causing each to smile as a result.
Until recently.
Since the incident with the Lion cub, several weeks prior, their easy conversations had turned to distant acknowledgement and, when forced, difficult exchanges of the basic, required pleasantries. It seemed that they had an unspoken agreement to avoid all unnecessary and potentially awkward contact and it had seemed that both had no trouble abiding by that arrangement.
Until today.
So imagine her surprise when she opened her door to find him standing there, sheepishly asking for her company for an afternoon stroll. She had responded in the only way she knew how: "Why me?" Why now?
A sigh had been his only response. "Elphaba, please?
She had studied him a moment more, before fetching her gloves and scarf. Shrugging into her coat, she had brushed past him, determined to finish whatever he had planned as soon as possible. They had walked in silence, soon leaving the quad behind, heading to the outer limits of Shiz campus. Out of the corner of her eye, the green girl had stolen momentary glances at her prince, noting his stiff posture and small steps. Gone was any indication of the carefree boy who had been with her in the woods that day. Something was weighing on, she realized, and quite heavily. A thought crossed her mind to ask him, but her courage had somehow fled with the winter winds swirling around them.
Until he had broken the silence, the first time he had had asked her to come.
Now, swallowing thickly, she braced herself for the worst. "Oh?"
Meeting her eyes, Fiyero blinked, the looked away. "Do you know where we are?"
Foolish boy. Of course she did. She couldn't have forgotten even if she wished to. "Don't patronize me, Fiyero." She snapped, more irritated at herself than him, for letting this place affect her so. "It's where we came to set the Cub free. Why did you bring me here, anyway?"
"To apologize."
His response caused all fight to drain from her. "What? Why? You have nothing to apologize for."
Her gave a nervous laugh. "Actually, Elphaba, I do. I don't know if you've noticed, but…well, we've kind of been avoiding each other ever since."
"I'm sure you've just been busy…with…Galinda…and school."
"Really, Elphaba? School? Remember who you're talking to."
That brought a ghost of a smile to her lips. "Sorry. You were saying."
Fiyero turned away for a moment. "Yeah..about that day. I'm sorry, Elphaba. I never should have run away. It was wrong of me."
She shrugged. "You didn't run away, per say. There had to be a better place to let the Cub go than in an open meadow."
"Actually, I did. I heard you call after me and I was too much of a coward to go back." He chuckled wryly. "Do you want to know why I ran away?"
No. "Why?"
He hesitated, then advanced on her. "I ran because you unnerved me that day."
A brow rose "I unnerve you? Really, Master Tiggular, why on earth would my presence cause you to be uneasy?"
His response was simple. "Because you were more right than I cared to admit that day." Taking her hands, he held them gently in his own, feeling the warmth of his hand through her thin gloves. "And because, if I had stayed, I may have done something I shouldn't have."
"Fiyero, we had already stolen the Cub and ran like fugitives. What more could you have possibly done that day to get yourself in more trouble with Morrible?"
"Not Morrible," he said, softly. "Someone else."
She wasn't sure she liked where this is going. "Such as?"
"You're the smartest girl at Shiz", his whispered, so close now she could feel his breath on her cheek. "You figure it out."
"Fiyero…." She breathed. Oz, why was she suddenly turning into a pile of useless mush? "What… are you doing?"
His hand came up to cradle her cheek, forcing her lips closer to his. "Something I should have done that day in the clearing, instead of running away like a coward." Then, with no further preamble, he leaned down and gently brushed his lips over hers.
It was over barely before she had realized it had began. Fiyero stepped away then, only slightly, waiting for her reaction. He didn't have to wait long.
'What in Oz possessed you to do that!?"
The Prince exhaled. "I haven't the slightest clue. Blame the bloody snow, if you wish. But you know, what? I don't regret it."
She opened her mouth, then closed it. The opened again. "You don't?"
He smirked then, shaking his head. "Not in the slightest. You?"
A moment of silence, then her quiet, "No", causing his smile to widen.
"Listen, Elphaba," he approached her again, taking her hand. "I don't why I feel like I do and I don't know what this," he motioned to her, then him, "Is or even if it's anything at all. But you know what I do know?"
"Nothing at all?"
"Very funny. Seriously, all I know is that I miss you, even your insults, if you can believe it. And, whatever it was that just happened, at least we're speaking again. I'm grateful for that alone. I'm not sure I could spend Lurlinemas has we had been: avoiding each other at all costs." He glanced down at her, tentatively. "So…are we friends again?"
She started slightly, as if hearing him confirm it was beyond new to her. But, slowly, a cautious, small, real, smile took the place of the shock. "Of course, Fiyero."
"I'm glad to hear it." Tucking her arm in the crook of his elbow, he squeezed her hand and began to lead them back toward the dorms. "After all, what's Lurlinemas without your biting remarks."
"Probably a much more pleasant experience than your presence."
"Ah, there we are," he grinned, bending to place a friendly kiss on her cheek. "Welcome back, Elphaba. I've missed you."
