Fiyero groaned. "Please tell me you're joking. I really have to do this?"
Elphaba didn't quite suppress her grin as she nodded calmly. His head flopped onto the desk with a thud. "Why, Fae, why? Is this still about that biting thing? Look, I said I'm sorry." Her grin widened, but she forced it back into a stern expression.
"Fiyero, it's my turn. Are you a man of your word, or not?"
He lifted his face, but only to shoot a glare at her low blow. "Taking Galinda shopping is NOT a lesson. It's a cruel and unusual punishment."
"So was that kickboxing lesson yesterday." The kink in her neck drew a groan as she rubbed helplessly at it. "I'm going to be sore for weeks."
He laid his face upturned on his arm to leer at her, "When you say it like that, it sounds so dirty."
"Lecher."
"I wouldn't be such a lecher if you weren't such a temptress."
She rolled her eyes, "Say what you want; you're not getting out of this."
He catapulted himself up, eyes frantically wide and begging now. "Are you serious? Come on, Elphaba. Please? Surely there's something else…anything else. Can't you just shoot me or something?"
He knew the instant that wicked smile slid across her face that he was in trouble. "Anything?" With an audible gulp, he nodded. "Alright, I'm listening."
Ooh, he got to bargain? She never let him bargain with her. Grinning, he bounced to his feet, taking her hand in his. "I could get rid of that kink in your neck for you." The relief that flashed before she could hide it told him that he was on the right track. "In fact, I'll be like your masseuse slave for…a month?" Her smile widened. "Just think of it," he slid his arm around her shoulders, "I'll be at your beck and call. Crook your neck reading too many books at 2 a.m., I'm there. Get tired of carrying that heavy backpack across the entire campus, I'm there. Pull a muscle beating up one of those pathetic idiots that is mentally deranged enough to make fun of you, I'm there." She was actually considering it. He flashed the most charming smile he could manage, until she rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Alright. But you've got to con someone else into taking her, because I'm sure not going to."
"Done." That was easy. Manipulating brainless, popularity-starved coeds was his old pastime.
"And you have to help me with my Animal Rights work."
He groaned, but when she fluttered her eyes in imitation of a certain blonde, he realized there was a worse fate at risk. "Fine."
Her smile turned carnivorous, and it was then that he reconsidered who he was dealing with. Maybe Galinda wouldn't be so bad. He gulped audibly at her expression as she asked, "Just how badly do you not want to do this?"
Flashes of his past role as doting boyfriend on numerous and extensive trips to the dressagons came to mind. He would be damned before he held another purse while forced to answer if skinny little Galinda looked fat in a poofy dress that could hide a hippo. As he visibly winced, he could swear Elphaba suppressed another sly smile.
Fiyero leaned forward until he was supporting himself with an arm on either side of her, and for a second he allowed himself to enjoy occupying so much of her personal space without injury. Holding her eyes, he deadpanned, "Anything else."
For a second she just blinked at him, and a thousand very unlikely scenarios flew into his fantasy before that sexy, wicked smile of hers faded back. She leaned up to whisper in his ear, unnecessarily as they were quite alone, and his eyes flew shut. If he were capable of thought at the moment, he would have been surprised at the movement, and he'd have wondered what she was up to. If he had been capable of thought. Instead, he lost himself in her breath on his neck and her hair in his face. It was all he could do not to gasp out loud or push her below him and strip her clothes off right there on the desk as her lips only just brushed his ear.
Barely, he registered the words she whispered in his ear, but it was enough to pull him back and drain all the blood from his face. He pulled back to stare at her with a mix of renewed respect, awe and even a little fear. "Not that. Come on Fae, not that."
This was how he came to find himself hiding in his own bathroom. He liked to think he was a brave guy, and downright shameless when it came down to it, but as he caught his reflection in the mirror, even he blushed.
"I'm not coming out," he called through the door, only to hear her snort with laughter.
"I'll skip the obvious and say, isn't that my line?"
"Oh, ha, ha." He crossed his arms. She might be amazing, but she was also downright infuriating at times. "You'd be a lot funnier if you weren't trying to torture me."
"Hey, this got you out of shopping, didn't it?" Damn her for being right. He sighed, opening the door reluctantly so that only his head poked out. She smirked, "Come on, it can't be that bad. Just get out here."
So she wasn't going to give up until he was completely mortified, huh? He took a deep breath and plunged into the room with more bravado than he felt. Her eyes wandered up and down him, and he would have quite enjoyed that had she not been muffling laughter the entire time. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I look ridiculous."
She crossed the room to him, closer than he'd expected, and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He thought for a second she was going to tell him that he looked fine, or couldn't look ridiculous if he tried, or some such line that undoubtedly he'd used on her after suffering one of her roommate's makeovers, but she merely smirked. "Yeah, you really do."
He glared at her and wrapped his arms around her waist to trap her next to him. "So do I get to dress you up in whatever I want next time?"
To his surprise, she laughed. Her hands slid down his chest, and she leaned up to his ear again. He held his breath rather than let it betray him as she whispered, "Oh, Fiyero." Shivers coursed through him at his name in that sexy voice. "You wish."
Then she slid back with an evil grin, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Oh, that is it!" He launched himself after her despite his awkwardly exposing attire. "You are soooo dead." She cackled in response, laughing so hard that she tumbled onto his bed. He fell onto her as she collapsed and took his revenge in tickles. She had turned into quite the brave little flirt tonight, no doubt due to his less than imposing state in this costume of ultra-tight tights, but he was loving every second of it.
"Yero," she croaked under him, "get off me. I can't breathe."
He rolled onto his back and pulled her against him. "Well that's what you get now, isn't it?" She merely laughed again, and for a moment, he held her with nothing but their softening giggles to break the stillness. Then she tilted her face up at him, and his breath caught yet again. Automatically, he leaned closer, her lips a tempting invitation to trouble that he was not planning to pass up, until she hiccupped a final laugh.
"Ready to go?"
He pulled back to stare in her eyes. "Are you serious? You really expect me to go out in public dressed like this?" Parading around and making an ass of himself in front of her was one thing. Doing it in front of the whole student body was quite the other.
She sat up, suddenly stern. "Of course! How else are you supposed to help with my project? That was the deal, remember? And I hope you practiced your part."
His mouth worked uselessly gaping in the air. "But…Elphie, come on, have a heart?"
Crossing her arms, she replied, "Don't call me that. And you agreed to this. Come on, it can't be worse than shopping with Galinda."
Oz, the things he did for the women in his life. He stood up. "Fine. But you owe me at least an extra dance or so."
She smiled as he came to join her. "Deal." He paused at the door, squaring his shoulders and trying hard not to think how the entire world would now know far more than they should about his you-know-who. She caught his arm and turned him to face her. "Fiyero, I didn't mean it." He tilted his head at her in confusion so she continued, "You don't look stupid."
"I don't?" a small smile sneaking its way onto his face.
She blushed. "No, you look," she paused here to bite her lip, "you look alright." It was now a full-blown grin spreading across his cheeks. She rolled her eyes at his expression and slid through the door without another hesitation or comfort.
Cocky, he strode out and met the shocked stares and whistles with an arrogant nod. She thought he was hot.
