As the boy and the girl hoped, the girl did get better. It wasn't as quick as they'd both fantasized about, but it was not a slow process, either. Fiyero visited daily, spending almost the entire days on the weekend. Elphaba ailed for no more than two weeks and she was back, snapping and striding and smacking, to everyone's… delight.
The return from spring break had everyone looking forward to summer – or almost everyone. When Fiyero found her the day after she got back from Nest Hardings, Elphaba was sulking in his favorite clearing in the forest. He sat down next to her on the blanket she'd brought, put an arm around her shoulder and said, "Hey, I missed you. What's wrong?"
She kissed him quickly. "I missed you, too. My father scolded me continuously when I got back."
"What'd he say?"
"Sent me to my room for dinner and then came in and lectured me about fornication. What else? He said that I'll never get married, especially not after I've been tainted by the loss of my virginity."
"We'll see about that," Fiyero said quietly.
Elphaba looked away. She was aware he'd said something about marriage when she'd been sick, but she'd been half delirious and had no way of telling him it made her uncomfortable. "Fiyero…"
"What? I'm just saying."
"No."
"No what?"
"Don't talk about it, okay? We're not done with school or anything. I'm not sure I even want to get married straight out of college, anyway."
He didn't understand how she could love him so much that his betrayal would cause her to cry, that the thought of losing him made her nervous, that she'd make love with him but not want to get married. The thought of such hurt him slightly, but he didn't press it. Fiyero stared at his lap and shrugged. "Okay."
She knew that tone. Elphaba cuddled closer to him, trying to make up for whatever pain she'd just caused. "Please understand. I do love you. More than anything."
He brightened. She'd barely ever said the word "love" if she didn't have to, now she was saying that he meant so much? "I love you, too, Fae."
"Then make love to me." She said suddenly, pulling away a bit and lying back on the blanket. "Screw my father and his stupid sins. I want you and I love you and I don't care about any of that other crap. So love me."
Hesitantly, he looked up at the sky.
She laughed. "Oh, silly, don't worry. I've got a waterproof coat in my bag and an umbrella. Besides, now we know where to go if we have to."
With this assurance, he obliged. He leaned down and kissed her deeply, refusing to climb on top of her and lying her on her side so they faced one another. They made love like this – no dominant lover, no inability to touch certain parts of one another, no lost warmth. Elphaba, embarrassed about herself as usual, wrapped the blanket around them and hid their bodies (more specifically her own body) protectively. It was less of a pleasure seeking experience than it was a love. Nonetheless, Elphaba's cries echoed in the forest, and Fiyero felt thoroughly spent afterwards, as they wrapped their arms around one another, kissing and nuzzling. "Fae-Fae."
"Yero my hero," she whispered.
Out of nowhere, he said, "Come home with me."
"What?"
"Over the summer. My parents have been asking to meet you since the winter of last year."
"My father would never allow that," she told him.
"What's he going to do? You don't need any money. I'm already going home and the carriage can easily fit two people. And it isn't like we need to sleep in separate beds, anyway." Fiyero argued.
"Look, he isn't going to take me out of Shiz. He won't take that money away, since I can't do anything with it but go to Shiz. But he can make it as hard as possible for me to do anything else by taking away all other funding."
"Then I'll pay for anything you need."
Elphaba shook her head. "No! I will not let you do that."
"It's not that much money. You aren't very demanding when it comes to necessities, Fae. I'd hate to be the man who'd make Glinda a promise like this, but this is you and I love you and that's the way it'll be." He insisted.
"Only if you let me get a job during the year to pay you back."
"No, and I'm saying that simply because that would detract from the time we spend together."
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Fine. But only because you insisted and I feel bad for not feeling the same way about marriage that you do."
He kissed her. "Thank you." Fiyero nibbled at her neck.
"Oooh!" She giggled helplessly, and then stopped him. "Wait. We've got one more problem. How are you going to keep away from me?"
"I won't need to. Not really. See, the castle's so huge, that if we wanted to hide for a few hours and… have a little time for romance, I guess, we could be done before anyone even found us."
"Not everyday," she warned.
"No. I don't want to get you pregnant." Fiyero grasped her wrist. "Are you watching that?"
"You think I wouldn't?"
"Good. I was just making sure. I know how badly you want to finish school and I don't want anything to stop you."
"But that's not all I was saying. We don't have to do it every day, Fiyero."
"I never said we did. Not even every other day. There's plenty of time to do other things around the castle, anyway. And my mom and dad would find it suspicious if we snuck off every day."
"They won't if we sneak off, I don't know, once a week?"
"They might. But they won't really care."
Elphaba looked at him skeptically. "I didn't promise once a week. And there are weeks when we just can't at all, all right?"
"I know this. We studied this." He teased.
"Ah, but you're a man and some men don't pay attention." She poked him.
"Now, Fae, if I sneak into your room at night…"
"For sex?"
"For sleeping."
"What kind of sleeping?"
"Holding you and closing my eyes as I dream."
"Go ahead. I'd like that, actually."
"However, every once in a while, I might have a… uh… rousing dream about you and then I'll want, well, you know."
"We'll see. You know how I can't manage to," she flushed, "keep very quiet."
"The walls are stone."
"I'm still loud."
"There are other rooms."
"Not in the middle of the damned night, there aren't!" Elphaba snapped.
"As you wish."
"But," she was already thinking it over, "maybe if I really wanted to, too, we could sneak to some other part of the castle and find somewhere."
"We don't even need a bed, as this proves." Fiyero gestured to the blanket.
"It's more comfortable."
"Really? I kind of like it here."
"You're not normally on the bottom." She wrinkled her nose.
"You weren't today."
"I am usually."
Fiyero pretended to pout. "Aw, poor Fae, actually demanding comfort?"
"Shut up. If it's possible, I'd rather be comfortable. Is that too much to ask?"
"Nothing's too much to ask for when it's you." He answered, leaving her lying in the blanket as he stretched out.
She eyed him. "Well, I promise you the five nights on the way to the Vinkus, anyway. That much I can confirm for you now."
He wasn't paying much attention. "Tell me, what else have you got with you?" Fiyero crawled over to her bag and began digging through it.
"No sex toys, I hate to disappoint you."
"I wasn't looking for sex toys. That's not the only thought I have… well, most of the time, it's not." Fiyero took out a book. "Hey, this is no fun! It's a schoolbook. I'm not reading this to you."
Elphaba flipped onto her stomach, still hidden by the blanket, of course, and reached for it. "I might as well get some studying done."
"You aren't serious. You're here, alone, for a nice amount of time, with me, naked and you want to study?"
She peered at him from the top of the book. "We just had sex. You can't tell me you want more."
"What do you want me to do? Sit here and look at you and not think about it?"
"I'm covered! Aren't you the slightest bit tired?"
"If I told you I was thirsty, would you let me taste, please?"
"Sweet Oz, you're lustful today!" She exclaimed. Crossing her legs, she added, "And no, you may not."
"But you like it, too."
"I'm lying on my stomach. It's easier to read this way. I will not let you prevent me from reading this."
"You don't have to be on your back for us to have sex, Fae."
"The entire anal thing is so not happening. Didn't I tell you that?" She raised her eyebrows.
"And you were thinking I hadn't studied reproduction enough. It can still be the same way even from behind."
"I'm not going to lie here and feel like a dog, Fiyero."
"There are a few other positions that I can take you from behind in."
"You know too much," she put down the book.
"If I know too much, I don't want to think about what other guys know." He replied quickly.
"Ah, Yero, you know I love you. Stop asking for sex and come sit with me."
"Could you get dressed first?"