Chapter Fifteen: Room 303

She woke without moving or shifting; eying the clock to find it was one-thirty in the morning. Thinking for a moment, she deduced that she couldn't have been asleep very long and wondered what had caused her to awaken at an hour so different from her sleep pattern. Of course, she knew. Before even fully emerging from sleep, she'd known. He was sleeping peacefully beside her, his face in a grin of satisfaction. His arm held her by the shoulders, close to him, their faces inches apart. Her lips fought a smile and lost in an almost joyous surrender.

It wasn't what she'd have guessed; it was so typical. They'd done it in a cheap hotel. Some angry (and, resentfully, Elphaba couldn't help but assume, probably single) woman had banged on the wall and shouted for them to "keep it down". But she couldn't simply lie there, meeting his frantic movements with her own even more vigorous responses, and just smile silently, giving no audible encouragement, no oral compliment to let him know that what he was doing felt just so incredibly good. Sure, her body and motions might let him know, but it had gotten so difficult to control her moans and cries towards the end that she'd given up and let go. The recollection aroused her and caused her to blush in the darkness and giggle helplessly.

The giggle, her giggle, a sound so foreign and random in the black and silent hours of the moment, woke him. He felt his eyes took much too long to adjust so as to give him the treasured benefit of studying her face. He scooted nearer to her and murmured, "What a night, huh?"

She did not want to talk about it, not while it wasn't happening – only then would she utter any sort of opinion of it. Even then, those thoughts were expressed in panted encouragements and wild, desperate sounds of desire. Elphaba avoided words and simply reached and stroked his forehead, just purring slightly, softly. "Mmm."

Fiyero kissed her cheek and whispered, "You okay? Sore? Happy? Disappointed?" His eyes bore into hers, sapphire globes of curiosity and wonder, imploring her.

She sighed; his questioning constantly made her uneasy. It wasn't that it hadn't been amazing; there was just something about the discussion of sex that unnerved her, but she could deal with this. "I should be sore after all of that, especially all of that with you," she teased. "But I'm not. And I'm certainly not disappointed. If anything, I'm astonished that it was so good." She admitted.

"You didn't think it would be?"

"I did, sort of. But not like that. You can't even imagine what that felt like. I thought I'd burst if it got any better." She rolled over a little and ran her hands along his chest. "And it probably gets better every time."

He laughed. "I'd expect you to be finished with this tonight."

"I always surprise you, don't I?" She mumbled playfully.

"Yes. I was expecting you to tell me we'd learned enough about one another already. I mean, I know what it feels like inside of you, I know what it tastes like inside of you, I know how it feels when you…"

"Shh." Elphaba was already feeling embarrassed enough by half of what he'd said, so she cut him off with her mouth, kissing him and hungrily tugging his body over hers, pressing her hips against him, leaving him helpless to reject her. She held him to her tight, so tight that he pulled away.

"Calm down," he said, "I can't get my hands between us to touch you, nor are you allowing me to do this," his mouth went to her neck, kissing feverishly, sucking ardently as she hissed in surprise and enjoyment. His hands moved along her torso and to her breasts, sliding along them mercilessly.

She was already going mad. Her hands were lost, unable to do much except touch him ever so slightly. Feeling his mouth lower to her breasts and his hand move to explore her, she arched her hips slightly, against his fingers. "Only once and already you know how to get me begging."

"I don't hear you begging." Fiyero smiled down at her. "But I'd like to."

"I didn't mean literally." She tried to frown amidst the caresses, but could not manage to.

"Well, I want you to." He pressed against her harder.

"Oh!" She fought back, though. "In your dreams. Get on with it, you might as well, you're just delaying it by trying to get me that fragile, otherwise."

His fingers crept further and began a slow, painfully rhythmic movement in her. "Oh? I want you to beg."

"I – will – not…" Despite her struggle, she was having difficulty responding to him with anything but sounds of pleasure, which she desperately didn't want him to hear. She bit her lip as he thrust his hand faster, minutes going by with clenched teeth and eyes ready to tear. "Not… giving… in…"

He smirked, replied, "I doubt that," and with a last drive of his hand, succeeded.

She screamed, screamed until her air was gone and her voice was hoarse, but she didn't ask for anything, not until the last, scratchy sound, "Please." Elphaba arched her hips more and spread her legs further for him. "Fiyero…"

He knew he'd get no more than "please" and he was lucky he'd gotten that much. The sound of his name from her lips in the state she was in enticed him and with a swift motion, he was inside of her. "I knew you'd beg."

"It was a small plea," she conceded, moving with him, sweat already gleaming on her. The bangs on the wall were beginning, and a shrill, angry voice shouting. But they had just barely begun. They moved in a gentle, torturesome rhythm, and Elphaba had only started to feel again the rush, the heat.

Fiyero watched her as they moved on, the look in her eyes causing him to make his attentions and speed faster, wanting to bring her that wonder as quickly and ecstatically as he could. He groaned as she wrapped her legs around him – not at his waist, but higher, allowing him even more depth (though, she almost giggled again as she thought to herself, he certainly had the capacity to go more than deep enough) – and pulled him as far as she could, unable to get enough.

She knew she must be loud; she must be crooning and carrying on uncontrollably, but she didn't care. All that mattered was feeling their hips crash together, feeling every throbbing hard inch of him, feeling him pulling slightly out of her and suddenly plunging into her again and again, feeling this pressure burning and building within her and waiting for the heavenly taste of release, a taste she soon enjoyed. Her cries of ecstasy as they reached a climax together were feral and untamed. When it was over, she hugged him close and he did the same in return. Adjusting to their sides, they fell asleep that way, Elphaba's head buried in Fiyero's chest, weak mumbles of joy soothing his ears.

He nuzzled her hair. Fiyero wanted to tell her that he loved her, now. Wasn't it about time for him to let her know? In fact, he should've let her know even before that; making love to a woman normally requires a confession of such love, though this had not. But he feared Elphaba would shrink away at his words, and so he savored the feel of her body, of holding her, of protecting her. It bothered him that he was suddenly worried that he might never have all of those sensations together again.

She shook him awake the next morning, and he was disappointed to find her dressed and out of bed. He was holding nothing. Elphaba didn't say much, only, "You'd better get dressed. It's almost time to check out."

He glanced at her; she acted as if nothing had happened the night before. From the bite mark on his shoulder and the state of the bed and sheets and blankets, he was sure it hadn't been a dream. Well, maybe she wasn't comfortable talking about it right now, he thought, and decided it would be best not to bring it up at the moment. Instead he stood up, not bothering to cover himself, which made Elphaba blush furiously and turn away. He realized that she hadn't exactly seen all of him the night before, only touched and felt everything. It had been pretty dark, even the first time. Still, he didn't like her getting uneasy. "Elphie," he teased her by calling her the name she despised so much, "you don't have to freak out. It's not as if - "

"Fiyero!" She cut him off, whirling around and glaring at him. "I know, all right? But that doesn't need to affect every single thing we do, okay?"

"It should affect this." He insisted. "You don't have to get all funny about the fact that I'm standing here naked."

"Fine. I won't get funny about it. Happy?" She stared at him unflinchingly, trying to hide the way the curve of her lips turned upwards as her gaze slipped over him. "Now, you can get dressed. I don't think it would be very appropriate for you to leave the room like that, after all."

"That's true," he acknowledged, searching around for his clothes and hastily putting them on. "Is this decent enough?"

She moved closer to him, finally, and smoothed his hair, straightening out his shirt. "It is now." Immediately she was at the door.

It was almost as if nothing happened. He wasn't sure if he liked this. "Where's Glinda and Nessarose's room again?"

"They were on the first floor. We said we'd meet in the lobby so we can check out together."

"Oh," he nodded and grabbed both of their bags.

"You don't have to carry that," Elphaba began.

"But I will." He told her.

She sighed but headed out the door with him behind her. After meeting Glinda and Nessarose in the lobby, they took their keys to the front desk to check out. Two clerks were behind the desk, a young Quadling man in a tuxedo helping a short, stubby and heavy middle-aged woman, who seemed to be checking out as well. Elphaba handed the keys to the other clerk, a tiny, ageless woman. "Rooms 109 and 303," She said distractedly.

The woman being helped turned to them and eyed Elphaba and Fiyero with disgust. "So you're the couple who was up all night ruining my beauty sleep. I was in room 304. I didn't appreciate the screams and moans coming from the wall next to my bed, you know."

Glinda and Nessarose choked and looked questioningly at Elphaba and Fiyero. Elphaba reached for the receipt the clerk had handed her and motioned for Fiyero to grab their things. "I'm afraid you must be mistaken. My boyfriend and I did, indeed, share a room, but slept chastely in separate beds. We don't believe in doing that sort of thing outside of the bonds of marriage. Maybe it was the couple in room 305." With that, she grabbed Fiyero's arm and began to steer the group out of the hotel.

Before they'd completely exited the building, an elderly couple (the man in a wheelchair) emerged from the hallway. The man in the wheelchair placed the key on the clerk's desk and said, "Room 305 for check out, please."