Sardines
Elphaba stood at the bottom of the staircase and glanced around. It was Lurlinemas Day and she had been forced to join in a game of Sardines. Currently, the person the group was looking for was Fiyero.
"Elphie!" Galinda yelled from above. "Have you found him yet?"
"No," Elphaba replied. She frowned as she took another sweeping glance of her surroundings. Her eyes landed on the broom closet under the stairs. Stepping over to it, she grasped the doorknob and opened the door. She peered into the darkness, squinting slightly to force her eyes to adjust. She was about to turn back when a slight movement caught her eye. It wouldn't have been difficult to miss the movement, but Elphaba, ever the sharp observer, was quick to catch it. "Fiyero?" she whispered, closing the door and crossing the small space to where she had seen the movement.
"Yeah," was the whispered reply. "How did you see me? I was being careful."
Elphaba chuckled lightly. "You can't hold your breath forever, you know. I saw you breathing."
"Oh."
Elphaba heard the note of disappointment in his voice and had to smile. "If it hadn't been for that, I would never have seen you," she told him in an attempt to reassure him. "And most people would likely have missed that, anyway."
After a moment of silence, Fiyero asked, "Are you just going to stand there all night?"
"Well, until the end of this round, anyway. Why?"
"Well, it's just that, should anyone else open that door, you are going to be seen immediately. It's no fun if you don't spin out each round as long as possible."
Elphaba crossed her arms. "Well, what you do expect me to do about it?"
Fiyero reached out his hand to take hold of Elphaba's. "Come closer," he breathed, pulling her towards him.
Caught off-guard, Elphaba fell forward onto Fiyero's chest.
"That's better." Fiyero chuckled.
Feeling the vibrations from Fiyero's laugh pleasantly shooting through her, Elphaba pulled away from him slightly, trying to ignore the fluttering sensation that had suddenly settled in her stomach. However, Fiyero instantly pulled her back, his grip on her tightening.
"Oh, no, you don't. You're not getting away from me that easily," he whispered playfully.
Elphaba shuddered as his warm breath tickled her ear. "Fiyero," she said, fighting to keep her voice even but failing, "remove your arms from me this instant."
Fiyero shook his head. "Nuh-uh, no way. I happen to like having my arms around you. And don't pretend that you don't."
"Who's pretending?" Elphaba retorted, but it came out a lot softer than she had intended.
"Not me," Fiyero told her earnestly, putting a different meaning into her words as his lips swiftly descended onto hers.
Elphaba stayed frozen for a moment, but quickly found herself relaxing into the kiss against her better judgement. She reached up to clasp her hands around Fiyero's neck.
After a while, they broke the kiss, both a little breathless.
"What was that for?" Elphaba questioned.
Fiyero shrugged. "It's something I've always wanted to do," he said casually.
"And that's it?" Elphaba felt her hopes deflating.
"Well, I might happen to love you," he admitted.
Elphaba peered through the darkness to search Fiyero's face now that her eyes had adjusted to the lack of light. She felt for sure he had to be teasing her, but his face was a picture of seriousness. "You do?" Surely this can't be happening. I must be dreaming.
"Yes. And I was wondering…if you feel the same way about me."
Elphaba heard the note of hope in his voice. It was the sound she would never in her life want to disappoint. She heard herself answer him, "Yes, I do."
And then Fiyero was kissing her again.
They stayed that way, breaking apart in an attempt to slow down their breathing each time they heard footsteps. It was a while before anyone decided to open the door.
"Well, well, well, what's going on here?" Avaric grinned slyly and slipped inside, shutting the door behind him.
Elphaba went rigid in Fiyero's arms, while Fiyero himself merely grinned. "Isn't it obvious? Playing Sardines." His hold on Elphaba tightened protectively as Avaric sidled over.
"Got room for one more?" He leered at them, causing Elphaba to turn away in disgust.
Fiyero shuffled over, pressing Elphaba into the corner and squashing himself as close to her as humanly possible, leaving a larger gap for Avaric.
Elphaba bit her lip to suppress a gasp as she felt the air being crushed out of her. She wriggled in her spot until she was standing a bit more comfortably, then hesitantly slipped her arms around Fiyero's waist, much to Avaric's amusement.
Fiyero secured her arms around his waist and stooped to steal another kiss from Elphaba, only to have her turn her head at the last instant and redirect the kiss to her cheek, too embarrassed to do anything in Avaric's presence. Fiyero, sensing this, brought her head to rest on his chest and left it at that.
After a few minutes, Boq's head appeared inside the closet. "Ah, there you all are." He closed the door carefully and strode over to the group.
"How did you find us so quickly?" Avaric asked in confusion. It had taken him a whole hour to find Fiyero, and now, not ten minutes after he had done so, Boq had found them, too.
"Next time you try to hide, Avaric," Boq said briskly, "you might want to actually close the door properly."
Fiyero and Elphaba groaned in unison and fixed Avaric with a glare, while Avaric merely said, "Oops."
"So, we're just waiting for Galinda now, are we?" Fiyero questioned.
"Yep," Boq confirmed. He went to stand beside Avaric. "Shove over."
Avaric complied, bumping into Fiyero and Elphaba.
"Watch it, buster!" Elphaba snapped.
Fiyero clamped a hand over Elphaba's mouth. "Shhh!"
The four stood in silence as they listened to the footsteps outside the door, accompanied by Galinda's quiet mutterings.
"Where could they be? It's like they all just suddenly disappeared off the face of the Earth!" Her voice had a teary edge to it. Obviously poor Galinda didn't quite grasp the concept of the game. "Elphie? Fifi?" She shuffled closer to the door. The foursome heard a creak before Galinda let out a yell. Suddenly, the door swung open and Galinda's blonde curls swung into view. "There you all are!" she exclaimed, rushing towards them. "What are you doing in here?"
The four rolled their eyes. "Hiding!"
"Oh." She began to tear up. "Was it something I said?"
Elphaba growled irritably as Boq hurried towards her. "No, no, no," he comforted her. "It's just the way the game is played. Look, you found us," he explained, "so now it's your turn to hide, and we get to try to find you. Understand?"
"I have to hide?" Galinda asked fearfully.
"Yes," Boq confirmed with a relieved smile.
"But then my dress will be squished and my curls will go limp!" Galinda wailed.
Everyone else sighed.
"You agreed to play the game, Galinda, so we play by the rules or not at all," Avaric told her matter-of-factly. "Off you go."
Galinda stamped her foot. "I won't!"
"Oh, for goodness' sake, Galinda, if you don't want to play, just say so," Fiyero said. He was growing impatient for several reasons. Firstly, Galinda's tantrum was starting to grate on his nerves and he just wanted to get on with the game. Secondly, it was rapidly become highly uncomfortable with everyone squished into a very cramped space. Thirdly, due to the situation, he could no longer kiss Elphaba, an experience he was desperate to repeat. Grabbing Elphaba's hand, he made for the door.
"Where are you going?" Galinda snapped.
"We're going to play our own game of Sardines," Fiyero replied. "Just the two of us."
Suddenly Elphaba liked Sardines.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the characters mentioned in the above story; they belong in their entirety to L. Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire. I DO, however, own the story, which is protected in my name under Australian Copyright Law dating back to 2012.