A/N A belated Halloween story. And inspiration came at the strangest moments. This one came when I was in an amusement park.
The only thing T is Fiyero's imagination. R & R please! :)
Fiyero walked out of the school hall. It was Halloween night, and the school hall was decked in blood and gore for the annual Halloween celebration.
There were skeletons, wizards, witches, the living dead, one Madame Morrible (or was it really Madame Morrible?), more wizards, two Scrows, more witches, a few Lurlines, and an assortment of unidentifiable characters.
There were so many girls dressing up as witches this year. In the short hour that he was there, Fiyero was groped by five witches, no less, and someone dressed up as a Munkinlander. Fiyero himself had dressed up as the Wizard. It was easy – just wear a hat, a waist coat and pants. He had thought that he would be the only one, but boy was he wrong. There seemed to be a lack of originality among the guys this year and he had counted more than ten Wizards in the one hour that he was there. There was even someone, a friend of Crope's, who came with his own hot air balloon (a tub-like basket around his waist with two sticks rising from the 'basket' and supporting a cardboard cut-out of a balloon above his head. Well, at least Fiyero could say that he was the best looking Wizard in the whole party.
To make things worse, the finger food ran out fast and the drinks tasted terrible. In desperation, he had accepted a drink from Avaric that he claimed was concocted by him in his room. That drink, if it could be considered as one, tasted worse than the piss of a Vinkun mountain goat (not that Fiyero had ever drunk that) and was strong enough to make him start seeing double of everything.
He walked out of the party for some fresh air to clear his head.
He leaned on the railings, and noticed that across the field, there was light in the library, and he thought he saw a shadow across one of the windows in the second floor. Thinking that he might just be groped again if he went back into the party, Fiyero decided to check out the library.
When he reached the library, the door was not locked. Opening the door, he stepped in. The lower floor was unlit, but the second floor was. Guided by the light from above, he made his way upstairs, his shoes making no sound on the wooden floor.
He followed the light to one end of the library. At first glance, he did not see anything suspicious. Maybe the last person had forgotten to extinguish the lights before he left. He was about to leave when he thought he saw a black cat on all fours, tail sticking up, from the corner of his eye. He turned his head. It was not a cat. Rather, it was a hat. A black pointy witch's hat on the last table.
Just then, the owner of the hat walked out from between two rows of shelves, engrossed in the book held by her slender green hands.
Elphaba.
He should have known.
He had secretly nicknamed her the Ice Princess. She was pretty in her own way (though he suspected that she did not know it). And smart, from what he could see in class, but he rated her a perfect zero for friendliness. He had been more than close with Galinda for some time, yet the blonde's green roommate hardly had more than a word with him. He had wondered if she was just shy or she was just aloof by nature. Or both. He never had a chance to find out. Maybe now was the time.
"Didn't know that you are into Halloween," he said, trying to get her attention. She looked up, startled. She had not noticed him.
"Hi," she said.
"Didn't know that you are into Halloween," he repeated, pointing to the hat on the table.
"Oh, that," she pushed the hat aside before she put the book down. "It's Galinda. She insisted that I must go this year. Well, I went. Five minutes and I am out of the door. She wouldn't notice that I didn't stay." Wow, that was the longest conversation that they ever had.
"So why are you here?" She asked.
Fiyero shrugged, "The party was boring. And I am one of the ten-ish Wizards over there."
"So you came to the library." It was a statement, not a question, and Fiyero thought Elphaba looked slightly amused.
He looked at her. He knew that Galinda galindified Elphaba sometimes, but today she seemed to have done a good job. Her long raven hair was slightly curled, with black mascara and eye shadow on her eyes, and reddish-brown blush that highlighted her cheekbones. Instead of pink lipstick, Galinda had applied a shade of red that looked almost black on Elphaba's lips. And she was wearing a black square-neck dress with long flowing sleeves that cling to her body and showed off her slim figure. It made him feel like pushing her against one of the bookshelves and going on a journey of exploration with her (not the book kind). She looked totally ….
"Wicked." He spoke the word out loud unintentionally.
"What?"
"Oh, I am referring to your costume. You looked wicked."
She frowned as she closed the book. "I am supposed to dress up as a wicked witch."
"No, no, I don't mean that," he tried to explain. "I mean, wicked as in… you are supposed to be a scary witch, but the whole ensemble, wow, I think instead of looking intimidating, you look good. I am sure that many guys will rather have you in their arms than to see you bending over a cauldron of boiling potion."
Very witty, Tiggular.
Elphaba raised her eyebrow. "Uh-huh," she said slowly. He could tell from her tone and the suspicious look that she gave him that she did not believe him.
"Well, I would," he blurted out. Oh boy, was that the truth serum that Avaric had given him?
"Uhh-huhhhhhh," she said it even slower this round. And now not only did she not believe him, she believed that he was totally drunk and bonkers.
"Look, I am not a pervert. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not. Really. I'm just …. " He started to defend himself, tripping over his words like a fool.
"I never say you are," she said calmly. "And I know you."
"You know me?" He was surprised.
"You are Galinda's boyfriend."
"Ex-boyfriend," he corrected her. "Galinda had moved on, and I think it is time I move on too."
Who was he kidding? He knew damn well that his heart had moved on long ago. To greener pastures. Went there and got lost and unable to extradite himself. And he was pretty sure the said pasture was totally oblivious to it.
He noticed that Elphaba looked uncomfortable with the direction the conversation is going.
"I got to go," she crushed the hat on top of the book and held it close to her chest. "Goodnight, Fiyero." She said as she walked past him.
Without thinking, he shot out his hand and grabbed her wrist.
"Don't go."
Elphaba stopped and looked at him, her expression unreadable. He looked back her. At the brown eyes. The green skin that gleamed in the dim light. The dark pair of lips.
"I really meant what I had just said," he told her as he pulled her closer to him. Without thinking, he placed his hand on the soft skin at the nape of her neck and kissed her. She did not resist. But she jumped away when a familiar male voice floated up from below.
"I told you the door is unlocked. We can have alllllll the privacy that we want here." The male voice said, followed by the giggle of an obviously very drunk female. Avaric. Damn.
"I really got to go," Elphaba moved away, the book and hat still in her hand. Fiyero realised belatedly that she was starting to kiss him back when Avaric had unintentionally interrupted them. It thrilled him, but it also made him realised that she was not as inexperienced as he thought. Fiyero felt a pang of jealousy at whomever who had access to her lips.
"Elphaba?" He whispered her name.
She stopped, and turned her head back.
One last attempt to sound suave and to strike while the iron is hot.
"Would your wicked witch be free for dinner tomorrow with a particular Wizard?" He asked, his hands in his pockets to hide his nervousness.
He thought he saw the corners of her lips turned up slightly.
"That would depend on which wizard is asking," she replied, and then she was gone.
Fiyero grinned. Maybe he had a chance to melt the wicked witch after all.