Chapter 4.

A/N Another state, another chapter? From Tucumcari New Mexico :) (the Blue Swallows Motel ! Awesome :)))

He was really making headway. He grinned at the realization as he waited for her at the door to the cafeteria and watched as she, without knowing it he was sure, smiled as she made her way towards him. She did that these days.

Smile when she saw him.

He was pretty sure she wasn't fully aware of how much she'd changed around him. She was still uncomfortable and edgy around everyone else but she visibly relaxed when he entered the room. Because he'd smile at her, wink (at which she would roll her eyes, but with a grin) and then sit down next to her. Always. He always sat next to her. Galinda would be in his lap, or on his other side or on Elphaba's other side and didn't seem to mind her boyfriend's attentions to her best friend. His relationship with Galinda was easy and comfortable.

His relationship with Elphaba however, was much less so. It was a relationship, though. Not a romantic one, but not just a friendship either. He felt...protective of her. That's why he sat next to her and why he was so happy that she was letting him. Not that she'd been able to stop him before, but these days, she relaxed when he plopped down beside her. He wasn't sure why exactly and what had evoked the change but he liked to think it was because she knew he was there to be her friend, to save her from Avaric's idiotic remarks, her sister's disapproving remarks and Galinda's make overs. To like and appreciate her for who she was.

She let him touch her, even. Not often and not for long, but she let him take her hands to lead her through busy streets and restaurants and he was allowed to, as he did often, place a hand between her shoulder blades whenever he wanted her attention, when he nudged her forward in the line for the cafeteria or when she'd been working for too long, hunched over her books and notebooks, and her muscles were all cramped up. She'd flinched the first time he'd done that and he'd been sure she'd glare at him and stalk off.

She hadn't.

She'd shrugged it off and walked towards their table and spent the entirety of the meal avoiding his eyes but she hadn't walked away and she hadn't gotten mad. He'd wondered if anyone had ever touched her in her life, had ever wanted to, and concluded that probably not. Galinda did and Nessa must but he knew from Galinda that Elphaba didn't have a great relationship with her father and from casual comments and conversations between Nessa and Elphaba, he'd gathered that Elphaba definitely was not her father's favorite. It annoyed the hell out of him but didn't seem to bother her much.

When Nessa had received a parcel for Lurlinemass and Elphaba hadn't, he didn't detect any surprise on either of their faces and he figured this was how it always had been. He tried to ignore the way his stomach felt when he lingered on how different they were treated by their father, by everyone, but his mood was spoiled for the rest of the day and he'd snapped at Galinda when she'd excitedly opened her many presents from her parents. He'd gotten Galinda some jewelry, as the perfect boyfriend is supposed to do, but he'd gone into town the next day and bought Elphaba many stupid things that she didn't need and wouldn't want, disregarded them all and wrapped them for his sisters.

Like she accepted her status as the school outcast and the many insults from her students, she accepted that her sister was their father's favorite. He didn't understand how someone who was so...fierce and passionate and intense about injustice in any place in the world, would so easily brush aside the unfair hate and disgust people felt towards her, even her own family.

However, even he never fully realized it until Tibbet said it. He was at the Ozdust with the guys, sharing drinks and laughs, after his friends had pointed out, not unkindly, that he didn't spend enough time having fun, and even less having fun with them. He knew they were right and just because he'd come to realize they weren't his best or truest friends, they'd also never done him any harm and he did enjoy a drink and a dance. He was changing, but he was still Fiyero Tiggular.

He was having a pretty good time, too. He wasn't overdoing it, just enjoying himself. He was only on his second beer. He had an exam tomorrow and Elphaba would kill him if she showed up hungover and failed after she'd given him her notes. Again. And, if he were honest, he wanted to do well on that exam after spending all that time studying. Good grades made his teachers happy, his parents even happier and, as a result, his life much easier. Who would have thought?

That's why he'd hesitated when the guys had invited him along but as much as he had changed and as much as he somehow preferred to spend his time with Elphaba these days, he had to admit that spending some time around men sounded fun. And it had been.

Until now.

Avaric was drunk. Which meant he was an ass. He really wasn't a horrible person. He had too much arrogance, too much swagger and way too much money, but he wasn't, by nature, a terrible person. Except when he was drunk. Like now.

And the problem was, Avaric hated Elphaba. Nobody knew why exactly. Sure, nobody really liked her. Nobody really knew her. She wasn't particularly nice either. Plus, she was green. Enough reason for most of Shiz' population to dislike, ignore and make fun of her. But that's where it ended.

Not for Avaric.

Fiyero had the sneaking suspicion that the self titled golden boy had a bit of an unwanted thing for her. He'd never say so out loud. Avaric wouldn't take to it well. He was more than content despising her. And mocking her every chance he got. Even when she wasn't in the room. Like now.

"Thing with the Bean is, she doesn't know her place."

Fiyero put his glass down with a thud. Enough was enough.

"She has a name."

Nobody listened. They were all drunk.

"But she does, though", Tibbett argued, "doesn't she?"

Nobody knew whether he was responding to Avaric's comment or Fiyero's. Nobody cared.

He looked around the room, as if waiting for someone to support his claim. Fiyero had been about to argue with Avaric, or leave angrily, or both, but now he kept silent and looked at his classmate in surprise.

"She never really shows her face anywhere, does she?" Lack of support from his peers had turned his claims into questions. He ploughed on, though.

"I mean, she never goes anywhere. She doesn't exactly force her company on us, or anything, does she? She knows people don't want her around."

Tibbett said it without malice. He spoke the simple truth, harsh as it might have been. It hit Fiyero like a punch to the gut.

She knows people don't want her around.

What was her life like? It's like he was seeing it for the first time, despite having seen it so many times before. Nobody wanted her around. If not for Galinda, she would have been completely alone.

His stomach did that thing it did whenever he thought about how lonely her life must have been. Might still be.

He left without saying a word. He was going to find her and take her out. Or sit wherever she was studying and annoy her into conversation. He needed to prove, even if only to himself, that not everybody felt that way. That some people did want her around. That he wanted her. Around.

He'd try the library first. He'd have to think of something to lure her out. Elphaba and libraries went together a little too well, for his liking. He'd have to insist, especially when she was on a topic that really roused her interest. He'd have to not take no for an answer.

Like the time he'd told her they were going out to dinner to celebrate his grades, at which she'd kindly informed him that they were nothing to write home about yet, but he'd only winked and told her he'd done just that and that his parents had given him dinner and a show to celebrate and it was only fair he'd take the girl who had inspired it all in the first place.

She'd frowned, scoffed and snorted, but she'd come.

That's when Fiyero had discovered, rather late, that not asking was the only way to get the girl to accept anything. Asking her led to frowns, cynical remarks, questions about his mental health and rejections. Not asking did not. Not asking, meant informing her that he was buying her lunch, dinner or coffee. And informing her annoyed her to no end, but, in the end, made her give in. In any other girl, he'd have found it tiresome. In her case, he understood it was because asking her, meant her having the chance to think that you were hoping for a rejection, so he wouldn't give her that chance.

He'd tested that theory when he'd left a huge bunch of poppies on her desk, for Lurline mass. He'd attached a card that told her not to mention it, and with that he meant that she wasn't allowed to mention it.

She hadn't, but she'd quietly thanked him a week later, in between classes, avoiding his eyes.

Elphaba was not in the library. She was in the common room of her dorm. It was a Friday night. Nearly everyone had gone out and the room was deserted. She was enjoying the silence and quite looking forward to a quiet night without any chattering girls around. She had coffee and was reading a book. Not for school. Just a book she enjoyed. For fun. Galinda had tried to convince her to come out with her and the girls, as she always did, but Elphaba had declined, as she always did.

She sat on the worn-down sofa, sipping her coffee and reading her book. She didn't hear anyone come in until suddenly, out of nowhere, Fiyero plopped down beside her. Feet on the coffee table. Body brushing hers. His head lazily falling on her shoulder.

"Hey."

She nearly jumped at the unexpected touch and sound.

"What are you doing here?"

Fiyero frowned, but with glee.

"Ouch."

"Oh, you know what I mean. It's Friday night. Shouldn't you be at the Ozdust or something, getting inebriated?"

He grimaced at that because it stung a little.

"I don't do that nearly as much. Besides, have I not spent many an evening studying with you?"

"Yes. And that is my point. This is a free evening. There isn't anything major due next week. So why are you not out celebrating?"

She looked down as he looked up, his head shifting from her shoulder, slightly to the side. A little too close. She tried to move, awkwardly, but he moved with her.

She looked into his eyes and her breath hitched. Had anyone ever been this close to her?

He didn't seem aware of it though.

He didn't move away, he didn't say anything either. Just stared at her face until her cheeks flamed.

He was aware of it. He was very, very aware of it.

He knew, precisely and with no little surge of excited panic, that if she would just lower her face the tiniest fraction, and he moved up the slightest bit, their lips would meet.

He didn't though. He wanted to. He knew, very clearly and with a surprising lack of confusion, that he wanted to. He also knew it was probably too fast. And if he made a wrong move, all that had been built between them would be gone. She'd be gone.

He didn't move forward, but he didn't move away either. He was curious to see how she would handle this. What she would do. Her shoulders were tense, her breathing was shallow and she was extremely uncomfortable. He took it all in with a strong sense of sympathy and a stronger sense of satisfaction.

She made to move, sliding over to the left a little, away from him. He moved with her, sitting up, his head closer to hers now. His shoulder touching hers. She gave in and sat back again. She turned to look at him, cheeks flushed a fascinating shade of almost-purple.

Ha.

She felt something for him. She must, or she wouldn't be sitting there still. She'd have hexed him to infinity. He'd probably be balking right about now.

It took everything he had not to kiss her. Her lips were so close to his, it was almost physically painful to not lean in, but he didn't.

He took pity on her instead. She obviously had no clue what to do. She was uncomfortable and edgy and it wouldn't be long before her nerves and insecurities would make her do something rash.

It struck him how well he'd learned to deal with her. And she with him.

When he'd formed the resolution to work on his friendship with her, after that nerve wracking day with the Lion Cub and her fingertips on his cheek, he hadn't thought to consider how much he'd come to need her. How much he liked her.

And in moments like this, when someone made a nasty or simply insensitive remark, he was taken aback at the fierceness of his reaction. How angry he got. How sad. How protective. How strong the urge to find her and ask her if she'd been loved. To assure him that she had been. But he knew better.

In those moments, the protective streak in him trampled everything else and he knew that she, in his quest to be her friend, had become his best friend.

But there were other times, other moments, when she rolled her eyes, as he opened doors and pulled back chairs for her, or smiled at him when he came to their door, picking up Galinda for a date. She'd open the door, smile and then look at her feet, because the shyness around him never went away completely and returned full force whenever Galinda was around. Her hair would swing forward, her shoulders set as if preparing herself before she'd look back up. He felt a tingling in his spine every time she did that.

Or when she raised her eyebrow whenever a waitress flirted with him inappropriately.

Or when she dropped the cynical act and the sarcasm and she spoke to him about her childhood, Nessa, her mother. Softly and slightly hesitant because sharing her stories was unfamiliar to her. She never told him anything too personal, never anything that she thought could make him pity her, but he knew better than she did what passed for normal and he could read between the lines. He could read between her lines and he knew that she had suffered, much more than she let on. Much more than he wanted to know about.

Moments like this, when he sat next to her, completely at ease and found himself content.

And as he sat there, his arm touching hers, his hand lingering in the small space between his leg and hers, he realized that not ever before would he have been able to just sit here like this, with a girl he wanted, or befriend someone who was so much trouble ( and oh, was she trouble, but he had to fight a smirk at the thought). It was ridiculous how much he loved the way she spoke to him. As if he was her equal. As if his opinion was one that mattered.

She knew he had a brain and she would not let him get away with not using it.

The way children loved it when they were treated as adults, with a strange satisfaction and a sense of awe, was how Fiyero felt when she talked to him about the things that were important to her.

He loved how he became a part of her mission. How her passionate nature stirred something in his languid and passive one and fueled his lust for life. She was the cynical one, without a doubt, but he was the bitter one, really. He just knew how to hide it better.

He got up suddenly, and she fell to the side a little, which made her realize how much she'd been leaning on him in the first place.

He stood before her and held out his hand to pull her up.

"Come on. Up. We're going out."

She looked up at him, ignoring his hand.

"Out?"

"Yes. Out. You'd think that after all this time with me, you'd be more familiar with the concept."

She made a funny little face and rolled her eyes.

"Shut up. I'm not going out. Fiyero. It's...late."

It wasn't and she knew it.

He gave her a look that said as much.

He pulled her up and began dragging her up the stairs, back to her room.

"We're going for drinks. It's Friday. We're young and pretty. That, if anything, is cause for celebration."

A snort at that.

"I'm sure it is in your case. Go ahead."

He gave a sigh of frustration and fought not to lose his patience.

"This is not up for negotiation, Thropp. I'm merely giving you an opportunity to get your coat. It's a little chilly."

"Fiyero." she started to argue and turned around mid stairs, to face him. Ready for a discussion and ready to win.

He just stared at her. Stared her down.

"Coat."

And there was something in his eyes that made her halt her comments. Something that he wouldn't let her see but that told her that he needed this.

He needed this from her.

She gave in.

She let him. Because she didn't want to fight him. Because he'd been so happy. Because she wanted to.

She enjoyed quiet evenings in, with no one that bothered her, made her feel unwelcome. But she enjoyed his company even more. And for some reason, he seemed to want hers. Often.

He dragged her off into a taxi, that he paid for without paying heed to her objections, and into a cafe. Many of their classmates were at the bar, Galinda, surrounded by her devout followers, was at one of the big tables in the back but seemingly too busy being adored and having a good time to notice them come in.

He asked for a table for two.

She marveled sometimes at the effect he had on people. When the waitress stared at her just a bit too long, he had only to clear his throat and raise his brow to have her scurrying of in a hurry, only to return with their drinks and a thousand watt smile, within minutes. She'd have liked to get angry at the waitress for being such a fake, and at Fiyero for being so...ugh...so...well...nice, really. He meant well, and just because she wasn't used to that, did not mean she had to be mean about it. Still.

"You don't need to do that. I'm quite used to it."

She spoke with a hint of a smile in her voice, because she didn't want him to think she was angry with him, and because she truly was used to it and a funny look from one haughty girl didn't do much anymore.

Fiyero only frowned at that.

"Well, you shouldn't be, should you?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but he was faster.

"Don't answer that."

The kindness in his eyes made her insides squirm but she ignored it.

She wasn't sure when, where or how it had happened but somewhere along the line, she'd gone from tolerating his presence to craving it. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

The waitress flirted with him. A lot.

Elphaba did not seem to care much. She raised her eyebrow the way she always did, but ignored it otherwise, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth.

All of a sudden, he found himself annoyed. How did this girl just assume that they were not together? He and Elphaba could be a couple. He was willing to bet that the girl wouldn't have behaved like this if he had been here with Galinda. He could have been Elphaba's boyfriend just as easily. But he knew, as well as she did, that nobody would hurry to think them a couple, because nobody would expect, or believe, Prince Fiyero Tiggular to be the green girl's anything.

It pissed him off.

"Excuse me, miss?" his smile was charming, even as his words were laced with steel. The waitress didn't seem to notice but Elphaba did.

"Could we have a bottle of your best wine, please? We're celebrating our anniversary, you see."

Elphaba's head snapped up but she didn't say anything, just watched as the waitress stammered a confirmation and walked away, confused and not altogether happy.

Then she turned back at him. Her eyes asking for an explanation.

"I didn't like her attitude. And I don't understand why you put up with it. You're all about fighting injustice but you just let people put you down."

He was angry and he took it out on her. He was annoyed with her too.

She wanted to walk away, would have in any other case, with any one else. But they were too close for that now. He deserved more than that now.

"Fiyero."

"No. I'm serious. You never accept injustice. You would be on the rooftops if they let you. So why won't you do the same for yourself?"

He really wanted to know. He'd been to afraid to ask the question but now that he had asked, he wanted an answer.

She set her shoulders, took a breath. Her mouth grim and tense.

"What's the point?"

That wasn't good enough.

"You could say that about the Animal bans too."

She shook her head, tired and weary.

"That's not the same." he wanted to argue again but she silenced him.

"No. Fiyero. Let me finish. It's not the same. Animals have always had the same rights. They're being stripped away only now. There is something going on there. Something strange. Something bad. It is not the same. I am green."

She looked him in the eye. Imploring him to listen, almost daring him to disagree. She wouldn't discuss this again.

"I am green. No one else is. At least as far as we know, and for argument's sake it doesn't matter if there is anyone else on the other side of the world that is green or blue or purple. I am a freak. Okay? People don't know what to do with me and people, as a rule, are, unfortunately, not tolerant and not kind to what they classify as wrong or strange or ugly. It's the way it is. My own parents couldn't deal with it. I don't expect others to."

Her breath ran out. Her cheeks flamed. She looked down at the table top and then slowly back at him.

He didn't say anything, just looked back at her.

"It..." She faltered. Wanted to run, but forced herself to get it out, over and done with.

"I wish, of course, sometimes that people wouldn't respond the way they do. But there is no point in wishing. And a waitress that sees you and me together will sooner assume that I forced you here at gunpoint, than believe that you are here with me out of your own free will. I don't much care about that because she isn't doing anything wrong. She is simply like everyone else. No one understands why you are here with me. She is not the exception, Fiyero. You are the exception."

Her tone was matter of fact. No traces of bitterness of self pity.

His throat hurt and he didn't know why.

"Do you understand why I am here with you?"

She looked puzzled and unwilling to answer.

"We're friends."

He shook his head. This just wouldn't do.

"Do. you. Understand. Why I am here with you?"

"I..."

Oz, what did he want from her?

"I don't...I don't know."

He shook his head, sadly and with a touch of disappointment and resignation. He wanted to leave. He wanted to shake her. He wanted to yell. At her. At everyone in the room. He wanted to drag her over the table and kiss her.

"Fiyero?"

Her voice was smaller than he'd ever heard it. He looked up into her questioning eyes, where insecurities and fear were not quite held back.

He raised his eyebrows, a sign that he was listening.

"We are friends, right?"

He didn't know why it had waited until now, but at that question, he was sure he felt his heart break.

Oz...

"Always, Elphaba Thropp."

He picked up his menu again and forced a smile.

"Always."

She smiled again, wistfully this time. This girl had too many smiles to keep track off, and so many of them that only he got to see.

And something changed right then and there. A current of electricity between them, that reached out both ways and sparked off what was already there, slowly simmering.

Fiyero could feel it happen, though he couldn't, didn't dare, name it yet.

And wondered if she had felt it too.

I know this chapter is pretty long. I tend to do that. Would it be better if I made them shorter?

Tell me what you think, if you could :)

Next up: Winslow, Arizona.