Ten Years
In honour of the tenth anniversary of 'Wicked'
on 30 October, 2013.
Thunder could be heard rumbling outside as Fiyero slipped his arms around Elphaba's waist from behind.
"What are you thinking about?" he questioned softly.
Elphaba tipped her head back to rest it against Fiyero's throat closing her eyes as she felt the vibrations from his vocal cords. "Everything, nothing, life…us."
Fiyero quirked an eyebrow, even though she couldn't see it. "Us?"
"Mmm-hmmm."
"What exactly about us?"
Elphaba turned around in Fiyero's embrace and slipped her arms around his neck, smiling gently. "Just that I can't believe it has already been ten years since I fell in love with the most amazing man in Oz."
Fiyero returned his wife's smile as he nuzzled her lovingly. "Ten years, hmmm? I believe that calls for a celebration."
"Oh, really? And what do you suggest?" Elphaba asked coyly.
"Well…we are in our bedroom…"
"Mmm…"
"…and there is a bed just a few feet away from us…"
"Mmm…"
"…which means there are pillows at hand…"
Elphaba frowned slightly, suddenly unsure as to where this was leading.
"I've got it!" Fiyero said, widening his eyes and nodding his head in a dramatic fashion. "Let's have a pillow fight!"
Elphaba's expression turned disbelieving, and she subconsciously stepped back. "You what?"
Fiyero flashed an impish grin, a hint of dimples showing themselves in the dull moonlight.
"Are you serious?" Elphaba tried again.
Fiyero still didn't say anything.
Elphaba moved away from Fiyero and walked slowly over to the bed, shaking her head. "I don't believe this," she muttered as she surreptitiously grasped the corner of a pillow. "Okay, if you want a pillow fight, we'll have a pillow fight." Elphaba swung around and hit Fiyero square on the chest with the pillow.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Fiyero protested. "I suggested it; therefore, I should get to start. You're not supposed to get a head start!"
Elphaba merely grinned, but quickly darted out of the way when Fiyero lunged forward to grab a pillow of his own.
Fiyero turned around, a smirk etched across his features, and it was a game of waiting to see who would make the first move – or get jumpy and run away. After a few long moments – nearly a whole minute, in fact – Fiyero lashed out with his pillow. Once again, however, Elphaba managed to narrowly avoid a hit.
"Missed me!" Elphaba sang, dancing around to the other side of the bed.
Fiyero growled playfully as he pretended to glare at her from the other side of the bed. "I'll get you soon enough!"
Elphaba laughed. "Good luck with that."
"I will get you, and that's a promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Yero," Elphaba chided him teasingly.
"You think I won't be able to get you?" Fiyero mock-demanded, feigning a look of hurt.
"I know you won't be able to get me," Elphaba replied with a smirk.
"Oh, yeah?" Fiyero threw the pillow at his wife, expecting it to hit her in the face. Instead, the pillow stopped when it was halfway across the bed, and Fiyero gaped at the sight, for the pillow appeared to be suspended in the air. After a moment, he realized exactly what it was he was looking at, and Fiyero screwed up his face as he looked at Elphaba. "Fae," he whined, "you're not supposed to use magic! That takes all the fun out of it!"
"Does not," Elphaba retorted. "It makes it more fun!"
"Well, it would if I could do magic as well," Fiyero conceded, folding his arms across his chest, "but I can't, which means it's not as fun. And besides which, it's totally unfair."
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "You're just jealous." She gave a small flick of the wrist, causing the pillow to fly backwards and hit Fiyero in the face…except it didn't fall to the ground.
Fiyero reached up to pull the pillow away from his face, but found he could not do so. "Uh, Fae…?" he asked apprehensively. "What's going on here?"
Elphaba sniggered. "It's defying gravity."
"Fae…"
"Alright, alright." With a sigh, Elphaba released Fiyero from his feathered prison, though she smirked as Fiyero let out an exaggerated cough immediately afterwards.
"Right, that's it," Fiyero announced, striding around to the other side of the bed, only to see Elphaba climb onto the bed. Fiyero raised his pillow and tried once again to make contact with Elphaba. Unfortunately for her, she was too slow this time around, and Fiyero's pillow hit her on the backside as she hopped off the opposite side of the bed. "Victory is mine!" Fiyero crowed, doing is a little victory dance.
"No, it isn't," Elphaba argued. "We're tied at one-all." She paused. "Actually, no it isn't. It's two-one to me. I win."
"One of those was with magic! That doesn't count!" Fiyero disputed.
"Okay, fine," Elphaba relented. "It's one-all."
There was a moment of silence, before the two launched themselves at each other in an all-out frenzy to attack the other and thus win the fight. Had there been any spectators, no-one would have been able to figure out who hit who or to whom which pillow belonged. As it was, Elphaba and Fiyero themselves weren't even sure who was winning; all they knew was that they were hitting each other blindly, and soon they were giggling and gasping for breath.
Eventually, the pair collapsed on the bed, both beginning to tire after their fight.
"Who won in the end?" Fiyero asked as his breathing began to return to normal.
"I have no idea," Elphaba admitted. "We both did. There, now it's fair and square."
"Mmm, I like that idea," Fiyero murmured as he stretched an arm out and draped it across Elphaba's stomach, pulling her closer. "So, ten years, huh?"
"What?"
"You were saying earlier about how it's ten years since you fell in love with the most perfect man in all of Oz," Fiyero reminded her.
"Oh, that. Yes. Except I believe the word I used was 'amazing'."
"Amazing, perfect, same thing."
Elphaba laughed. "Egocentric. Some things never change, do they?"
"But most things do."
They were both quiet for a sombre moment, before Fiyero lightened the mood again.
"Okay, it's ten years since you fell in love with me. It's also ten years since I fell in love with you." Fiyero leant over and dropped a gentle kiss onto Elphaba's lips.
"It's ten years since a lot of things," Elphaba said, beginning to feel a bit nostalgic as memories from that first – and, for her, lone – year at Shiz floated back to her.
"Such as…?" Fiyero prompted.
"The Lion Cub, for one thing."
Fiyero and Elphaba shared a soft smile and another kiss.
"What else?"
There was a moment of silence before Elphaba replied, "Since I found my first friend."
Fiyero stroked Elphaba's cheek with his thumb. "I miss her, too."
"She's easy to miss," Elphaba said with a chuckle. "Hard to be around sometimes, but so very easy to miss when she's not there."
"That might have something to do with the noise she emits," Fiyero said drily.
"Probably," Elphaba agreed.
"So what else?" Fiyero asked after a short pause.
"What else what?"
"Ten years."
"Ten years since I gave up a nowhere-near-normal life for one even less normal."
"Alright, stop right there. I'm not having you take this down the path of regret. I want you to concentrate on the good things."
Elphaba narrowed her eyes at Fiyero. "Well, you give me some examples."
"Okay," Fiyero said slowly, turning onto his back and pulling Elphaba to lie on his chest. "It's ten years since I met the most amazing woman to ever have graced this planet. It's ten years since that same woman influenced me to grow up and change my life for the better. It's ten years since that woman made me actually think. It's ten years since that woman taught me to see people without prejudice. It's ten years since that woman captured my heart and ran off with it, and ten years since I vowed to myself that I would never let her go so easily."
"Stop it," Elphaba admonished softly. "I'm going to start crying in a minute."
Fiyero kissed her temple. "It's ten years since I first married the most perfect woman in Oz."
Elphaba pulled away to look at her husband. "What are you talking about? In case you've forgotten, we've only been married for five years. And what do you mean by 'first'? We've only been married once, and I intend that once to last forever."
"Good to know," Fiyero said with a grin.
"Seriously, Fiyero, tell me what you're talking about!" Elphaba demanded.
"Alright, so we didn't actually get married back then," Fiyero admitted. "But that's when I started fantasizing about our wedding day."
"Did you really?" Elphaba asked, not fully believing Fiyero's words.
"I did indeed."
Elphaba leant down and pressed a firm kiss to Fiyero's lips. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
"Let's go to bed."
"Yes, let's." Fiyero kissed her again. "And here's to the next ten years."
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own any of the characters mentioned in this story; they belong in their entirety to L. Frank Baum and Gregory Maguire. I DO, however, own the story itself, which is protected under my name by Australian Copyright Law dating back to 2013.
