"Wet clothes," Elphaba grumbled with disgust. "How I loathe them."

Fiyero took her cloak from her and went into his bathroom, hanging it over the curtain rod. He also removed his jacket and hung it on the back of the bathroom door.

Elphaba stood in his large room, actually taking the time to look at it for the first time. It was definitely twice the size of the room she shared with Galinda, in fact, she surmised that his bed was the size of the room she shared with Galinda. The largeness of it made it a little drafty, however, and she found herself shivering.

Fiyero, emerging from the bathroom, observed this and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her. "Hullo," he murmured in her ear. "I hate to be stupidly male, but I just have to..." and instead of saying what he had to do, he kissed her neck. She closed her eyes, leaning against him, savoring the sensation of his lips softly massaging her. "You're freezing," he whispered. "Want to change into something warm and dry?"

"Are you offering me the privacy of your bathroom to change?"

"Not necessarily," Fiyero admitted. "Do what you want to do. I want you to be comfortable."

Elphaba turned in his arms and faced him. "So do I," she smiled. He couldn't quite read her facial expression, but, even if he could have, it still would have surprised him that she reached up and unbuttoned his shirt. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but, stunned, he couldn't move, and so he stood helplessly as she slid her hands under his shirt, over his shoulders, and pushed his shirt off him. "You looked like you needed a hand getting changed," she told him, smirking.

"I really did," he agreed fervently.

"What about me? Do you think I need help with the zipper of my dress?"

Fiyero's mouth dropped open as he nodded. She turned around and pulled her braid of of the way, turning her head toward him a little and glancing over her shoulder. He slid his hands up her back and gently tugged down the zipper, then rubbed her back under her dress, massaging the garment off her. When it fell to the floor around her ankles, and she stood in nothing but a slip, he dropped his head forward and rested his forehead against the nape of her neck, sighing. "How is this happening?"

"Don't ask me," Elphaba pleaded, "I'm barely sure." She turned around once more and allowed him to enfold her in his arms, feeling heat grow between their bodies instantly. She realized she was more than partial to being pressed up against his muscular form, and that, even if she hadn't been shivering, she would have been stuck to him.

"You're still freezing," Fiyero lamented, and, with that, he pulled away from her, kissing her briefly on the forehead, and walked to his closet, returning with a thick bathrobe, which he threw around her shoulders. She stepped out of her dress entirely and allowed him to tie the belt around her waist, then scooped up her dress. "I've got that," Fiyero said, taking the dress from her and disappearing into his bathroom once more.

While in there, he took a moment to catch his breath and clear his head. Why did she have to trust him so much? It made her take her clothes off, and made him refuse to pressure her. She should have barbed wire around her. Ugly, pointy barbed wire.

"I just want to say," he announced as he once more exited the bathroom, "that you are, hands down, the most seductive woman in the entire universe." She practically jumped away from him. "And don't scowl at me, or argue with me," he bossed, before she could do either.

"Alright, then can I just respond that you are, hands down, the craziest man in the entire universe?"

"I'll take it," he shrugged agreeably. He moved to his chest of drawers and found a sweater, pulling it over his head, then, grabbing a book off his desk, handed the volume to Elphaba as he crossed the room and stoked a fire. "Make yourself comfortable," he suggested, nodding in the direction of his bed.

Curled up in the glow of the fire, Elphaba read while Fiyero played with her hair. Eventually, they drifted off to sleep, warm and dry, and smiling.

The new couple spent the next few weeks in bliss.

Winter break officially constituted school closing, so there was little supervision, allowing the two of them to come and go as they pleased, at any hours. It was a good thing, too, because Elphaba had taken to studying with Fiyero, then falling asleep on his bed.

Fiyero had taken to cold showers.

Though she was practically begging for Fiyero to lie with her, undress her, and be with her, Elphaba was forcing herself to be reasonable, to know that she was much too afraid, at this point, to do what her body desired. In the dark, late at night, he held her close, massaging her back with his hands, pulling her to his chest, trying to keep himself calm.

It didn't always work. One night, Elphaba had turned away from him in her sleep, but settled back against him. His arm had snaked its way around her waist, pulling her close, and, she had arched her back, writhing so that she was flush up against him, her bottom firmly against his groin. Previously half asleep, Fiyero was suddenly awake at the feeling of tightness in his sleeping shorts, and Elphaba was definitely awake - she literally bounced away from him, instantly tense.

"I'm sorry," he groaned.

"I..." Elphaba felt childish, and ill-prepared for her attraction to him. "Don't apologize, I'm sorry. It shouldn't be a big deal, I mean, it isn't... I, well, you, it's just... I think we... Ugh!"

Fiyero, still breathing deeply and thinking about math, sports and ugly old women in an attempt to... relax ...found a new occupation for his thoughts. "Fabala, just talk to me, tell me what's going on in your head."

"It's embarassing," she protested.

"You can't embarass yourself in front of me, I love you," he murmured absently.

Shocked, Elphaba could only stare at the ceiling. "Pardon?"

Fiyero realized he'd let slip the word that could change their relationship forever, but couldn't bring himself to take it back or say it again. "Uhhmmm..."

"You can't love me," Elphaba pondered. "You may think you do, but I'm sure you don't. It's alright, you don't have to."

"Yes I do," he argued. "Not, 'I have to', but 'I do'." He clarified awkwardly. Why did she make it so hard? "Elphaba," he said, sighing. "I love you. So tell me why you're so afraid of getting close. I can tell you want to, I can feel your skin getting hot through your clothes, I can feel... I can tell."

Elphaba twisted her mouth around, chewing the inside of her cheek. "I am just very new at this," she said. "And beyond that, we're only a couple weeks in... Nobody has ever really come near me, and you... You seem to want to be with me -"

"I do want to be with you."

Elphaba tried to ignore that those words, husky with lust, came from the mouth of the most desireable man she'd ever met. "It's just all new, and so it's a little scary. But I do want to, I want to be close to you. I want to touch you..."

"So touch me," Fiyero said.

"But what if I'm bad at it?"

Fiyero almost laughed. Just being near her turned him on. Actual physical contact - she could probably poke him in the eye and it would feel good. "You won't be bad at it. Just, do what you will," he said, stretching out and tucking his hands behind his head.

Elphaba turned to face him, and put her hand on his heart, then rubbed his muscular chest, his shoulders, stroked his face... She sat up, and looked down at him. "You're so beautiful," she said wondrously. "It frightens me."

He smiled at her warmly, and sat up to kiss her. "I lied, you can't do what you will. I need to touch you back." His arms found their way around her waist and pulled her close, pulled her right into his lap. They kissed, exploring each others bodies, Elphaba not daring to open her eyes the entire time. If this was a dream, she didn't want to wake up for at least an hour. After awhile, she was straddling him, feeling the anticipation of being with him build, feeling more and more caught up, less and less like herself.

"Wait," she begged breathlessly. "I'm too emotional. I'm in over my head. My body thinks it's ready but my heart..." If they were together, naked, connected - then, for some reason, he came to his senses and realized he could do infininitely better than her, her heart would never survive. "My heart."

"If you're not ready, you're not ready, it's okay," Fiyero soothed her, smoothing her hair out of her face and kissing her. "I can wait. You're worth the wait."

He leaned back, and she fell with him, lying on his chest, hugging him close. "I don't want to lose myself," Elphaba admitted. "I've been so girlish and shy and awkward around you lately. I don't want to be needy."

"You're not needy. Remember the other day, when you wouldn't talk to me for three hours?"

"I was studying."

"Exactly."

Elphaba smiled contentedly and shifted so she was back on the bed, but left her arms around him, pressed her body close to his, and once more rested her hand over his heart.

As more and more students began to return to Shiz, Elphaba spent more time in her dorm, leaving Fiyero with nothing to do but study. He did, though begrudgingly, trying to focus on the words in his books when most of them reminded him of Elphaba.

Green. Girl. Smart. Lips. ...the, it, and, when... It didn't take much for Fiyero to think of his girlfriend.

Elsewhere, Galinda returned from her trip home, followed by carts of luggage full of new things she'd received from her parents.

"Elphie, you tricky thing!"

"It's nice to see you, too, Galinda. I trust your holidays were satisfactory?"

Galinda looked at her room mate, who was lying on her bed, reading. "Elphaba, don't tell me you spent all break lying on that bed, reading," she scolded.

Elphaba smiled. "No, Miss Galinda, I did not."

"Oooohhh," Galinda sighed. "Anyway, I found my present hidden in my things! I absolutively love it!!"

Elphaba had stashed Galinda's gift, a lovely sparkly bracelet, among Galinda's many pairs of shoes. Galinda ran to her room mate and awkwardly hugged her. "You're lying on your tummy," she grunted. "This is impossible!!" Elphaba relented, and, sitting up, actually returned Galinda's hug.

"Whoaaaa," Galinda exclaimed. "You're... you're friendly!"

"No I'm not," Elphaba snapped.

"Yes you aaaaarrrrre," Galinda sang, hopping up and dancing around the room before dropping down onto her own bed and kicking her legs with excitement. "Tell me everything that happened while I was gone!"

Elphaba felt fiercely private about her goings-on with Fiyero, and the fact that he'd told her he loved her. Beyond that, how could she talk to his ex about these things? "Isn't that a little awkward? I mean, he's your ex."

"Elphie, I got over Fiyero this winter. He spent the last month we were together pretty much ignoring me, it was pretty obvious he didn't care for me the way he did for you. It was hard, but it was best for all of us. And, besides, there are many handsome men out there. I met a whole bunch of them at various social functions!"

"We just spent time together," Elphaba said. "It was nice, he's nice."

Galinda frowned a little. "I'm going to find myself the most scandalaciously beautiful boyfriend ever, and then you'll know it's okay to talk about this to me."

"What if I find it all very private?"

"Oh Elphie," Galinda laughed, hysterically. "That's ridiculocious!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "In any case, we haven't told anyone that we're together. We didn't even leave the school grounds. It's a personal thing, and besides, we didn't want anyone getting wind of us and before it becomes known that you broke up with him."

"That was very good of you," Galinda murmured absently.

"And I'd prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about Fiyero and I being... That we're... You know."

"A couple? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Lovers?"

"Involved," was Elphaba's short reply.

There were finals in the beginning of the new year, half way through January, then, a few days between the terms. It was during that time that Elphaba was informed my Madame Morrible that she had been invited to meet with the Wizard. It would be just an overnight in the Emerald City, and she could be back before the next courses began.

Elphaba would have floated through the days leading up to her trip if the unthinkable hadn't happened. Dr Dillamond, Elphaba's favorite teacher, was removed from the staff just before Elphaba was to depart. Arrested, it seemed, for speaking out about the rights of Animals.

The students were all abuzz with the news, some more upset than others, but all concerned by the teacher's dismissal. Even Galinda, who had had her (minor) diffferences with the Goat, found herself horrified by the removal of the teacher.

Elphaba was inconsolable. She spent most of her time in a state of silence, not even calling out in objection to the new teacher, who was clearly appointed to spread the idea that ANIMALS SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD. Fiyero took her to his dorm two nights before she was supposed to leave, and forced her to lay down and let him give her a thorough back massage.

"You're really tense," he marvelled. "I didn't know this amount of stress existed."

Anyone else would have gotten a snide comment in return for that, but Elphaba found herself smiling. She, despite her better judgement, liked that Fiyero was generally carefree. He kept her more relaxed than she'd ever been, and he was serious where it counted.

"Fiyero," she started, "what would you think of you and Galinda coming with me to the Emerald City?"

"I'd love that, Fabala," Fiyero replied, happily. He dropped down onto his side next to her and stroked her hair. "And I know Galinda would, too."

"You two seem alright with each other," Elphaba pondered out loud.

"I think we are," Fiyero agreed. "Splitting up was the best thing for us, we both know that."

"So you should both come with me. To the Emerald City."