Fiyero flipped a page. "So is this part of my birthday present, too?" Elphaba nudged his book with smile. "I don't think I've ever seen you read this long."
He narrowed his eyes and mocked shushing her.
She went back to her notes. The end of her pen tapped against her lip absently, and he hid his stare with the book. Her hair fluttered loose around her shoulder despite her many attempts to tuck it behind her ears. He indulged a fantasy of wrapping that hair around his wrist. Burying his hands in it at the nape of her neck. The ends of it tickling his chest as she climbed in his bed.
He must have nodded off because he woke with his face plastered to the tabletop. He righted himself, and a raven head lolled off his shoulder. She jerked awake. "Uh?"
"You, too?"
She nodded, eyes bleary. He helped her gather her belongings and checked the time. "Still your birthday. For the next ten minutes at least."
She pressed a sleepy smile. "I get a birthday wish?"
"Anything you want."
Her eyes drifted to his lips, but then continued to close. Wishful thinking, indeed. "A nap would be awesome."
"Or…" He took her hand and led her to the back of the bookshelves. "I mean to show you this when you finished studying, but I should have expected that to be never."
She yawned and swiped a clumsy hand at his arm. "Where are we going?"
"You don't know?" he teased. He located the pull-ladder and yanked on it. "I thought since you basically live here-"
"Shut up," she mumbled, too drowsy to be intimidating. "You barely know where the library is."
He went first up the ladder, half to open the door and half because the hem of her skirt floating above might drive him fully insane. He offered a hand as she lifted herself through the hatch.
"The roof?" He kept her hand to haul her over to the edge. Her grip was tight. "This isn't some murder-suicide thing, right?"
He tucked his chin in an unamused expression. "Look up, Miss Negativity." An inky sky speckled with bright stars stretched around them. The lights from the university dulled the darkness, reflecting back the pinpoints of brilliance above. "It's no Vinkan sunset, but still."
"I would imagine the stars there are like the ones in Munchkinland." He tilted his head, and she explained, "No city lights, no clouds, just sky and stars and dark."
His smile was soft. "You miss home?" Oz knows he did, much as he loved it here.
She blinked up at him. "I am home." The moment swelled around him almost irresistible in its intensity, but he forced himself to be still. "Look, Kumbricia's broom."
"What?" He followed her point. "That's the dragon's tail."
"No, it's Kumbricia's broom. See, there's the bristles."
"Those are claws." He leaned close to trace her finger over the spine and teeth. "It's part of the Great Sky Dragon. Mukemal drak av havaya."
She shifted her weight toward him. "What else?"
He considered the sky. "Well, Okcu ve kartal-altin, the Archer and Eagle. See the arrow?" She followed his finger to the line of stars. "And here, Kyvrik havai, the Serpeant."
"Your sky is much more violent. I like it."
He laughed. "Why, what are yours?"
She pointed out a curve with two sharp points. "Cow's horns. Ok-cow Ka-horn-e," she mocked his translation, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "Sorry. Yours sound so much more interesting in Vinkun."
"Inek korna," he supplied, and she grinned up at him.
"See?" He gave her an indulgent smile and nodded back toward the stars. She indicated a rectanglish shape with three dots in the center. "The Maiden in the Tower."
"Damya vij vezyule." She tried to repeat it, and he laughed. "Close enough."
"Was it hard to learn another language?"
He shrugged. "I've always spoken both, as long as I can remember."
"Say something else. Say," she thought for a moment. "Say 'library'."
"That's what you want me to say?" He shook his head, but said, "Librefiya."
"Say," she yawned, "birthday."
"I think you meant 'bedtime.' Come on, let's go." She stretched, and took a step toward the door. "
"You should teach me Vinkun. You know, when you're done teaching me basic coordination."
He chuckled softly. "Sure."
"Liberifayra," she repeated to herself as she descended the ladder, and he fought a grin. She tried again, "Librafia."
He repeated it correctly, amused by her attempt to copy him. "Why the sudden multiculturalism?"
She shrugged, eyes on the ladder as he lifted it back into place. "Why not?"
"If you want, you can come with me at vacation," he forced his voice to sound casual, but now that he said it aloud, he desperately wished she would agree.
"I didn't think you went home. Don't you go with Avaric?"
"Sometimes. It's too long a trip to bother usually, but if it's for your educational advancement, how could I turn you away?"
Her fingers plucked at her sweater. "I don't want to be a bother."
He rolled his eyes and tapped her nose. "I offered. No bother." The library was empty as they slipped through the dimmed rooms. "It's been too long since I've been home, anyway. You're giving me the perfect excuse."
He was pushing now. The logical part of his brain managed to shut him up before he made it worse. She changed the subject as she opened the main door. "How'd it get so late?"
"See, the sun goes down at night…"
"I feel like I could sleep forever." She let out a long yawn. He steered them toward Crage. "Seven's going to be painful."
No argument there. "What if we skip your run tomorrow? We should start on golfing anyway." She wrinkled her nose. "You'll like it. It's very geometrical."
Her eyebrows lifted. "Is it?"
"So I'm told." He caught her hand. "You're doing well so far. At this rate, you'll make your A for sure."
They reached her dorm, and she stepped toward him into a hug. Surprised, it took a moment for him to wrap his arms around her. One hand came to cup the back of her head, but he managed to stop himself before he buried his face in her hair.
"Thanks, Fiyero," she murmured. "You're a good friend."
He hoped she didn't feel his wince. That's what he wanted, right? She didn't want more, and he had decided to be content with her friendship, for now at least. So why did the words sting?
"Happy Birthday, 'Phaba," he breathed, his hand smoothing over her back.
She sighed into his shoulder and stepped out of his arms. "But it's not my birthday anymore." She nodded toward the sky. It was well past midnight.
"It can always be your birthday." It didn't make sense, but she smiled anyway. He combed a hand through her hair, untangling an imaginary knot. She blinked up at him, and if she were any other girl, he would have kissed her. If it had been two weeks ago, or if he hadn't realized she meant more to him than he could possibly lose…
"Yero?" her voice breathless. "Do you-"
"Hey! Arti!" A drunken voice slurred happily. "The Yers!"
He had never wanted to punch his friend more than at this very moment. "Avaric, what are you doing here?"
"I, gotta," he trailed off, his attention wandering, "Damn, Arti, you look kinda pretty."
She crossed her arms tight over her chest. "Gee, thanks. I'm touched."
"Hey, I'mahave to stay with you." Avaric dropped an arm around Fiyero's shoulders. "Some guys maybe looking for me."
Fiyero looked at him sideways and fought a sigh. "Night, Elphie. You okay from here?" She shot him a condescending look. "Course. See you in the morning."
"What time?"
He weighed the potential lack of sleep his friend was about to inflict on him. "Ten? Maybe eleven?"
"Sounds good. See you then."
"Night, Arti!" Avaric waved limply. She shook her hand and spared Fiyero a sympathetic look. His friend lolled against him. "Sorry I interrupted your foreplay."
Fiyero grimaced. "Not a problem, Av. Just walking her back." He refused to look at her face.
"Hey, gimme your keys. I'll crash at yours, an you can stays with Arti." He let go of Fiyero, wobbled a few steps, and clutched the lamppost. "Or we can all stay here. I'll sit outside till your done."
Fiyero was going to murder him, if Elphaba didn't do it first. She took the steps to the front door. "Yeah, I'm going to go before he starts stripping."
"Ooh, I get to join?" Avaric teetered toward her, and Fiyero hauled him back.
"Night, 'Phie. Happy birthday." That earned him a smile from her as his friend's drunken weight slumped against him heavily. "Come on, Av. If you pass out, I'm not dragging your sorry ass all the way to Briscoe."
He heard the click of the door behind them and started the long journey back to their dorm. Out of sight from Crage, he flicked Avaric on the ear. "Thanks for that."
"Hey! Whas that for?"
"Oz, Av, why are you such an idiot?" But he felt like asking himself the same question. What did he think would have happened, if Avaric hadn't interrupted? She didn't want him. He was her friend. Hadn't she said that?
"Sorry."
"And what're you thinking? Saying all that about foreplay? I should make you sleep in the hall."
His friend mumbled a drunken apology.
"Dammit, Avaric, why are you so drunk anyway? Shouldn't you have some tolerance by now? Or are you just trying to make my life miserable?" He fumbled with the front lock and propelled his friend through the doorway. "Other way, genius."
The tall boy clung to the stair rail. "Why're you so mad?"
He wanted to rage at him, dump all the frustration on him and leave it behind. Avaric might deserve it, but it wouldn't do any good. Fiyero drew a deep breath and let it out. "Sorry, Av. Just tired." So tired.
They reached their floor, and Avaric tipped toward the floor, nearly bringing them both down.
"I didn't mean it. You don't have to sleep in the hall. Come on."
Fiyero dragged him back to standing, which earned a slurred, "Thanks, Yer. You're a good friend."
He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I heard."
He unlocked his dorm and plopped Avaric against the wall inside. The taller boy stumbled off, and Fiyero set to work locking up and getting ready for bed. "You better not be on the bed," he called from the bathroom as he brushed his teeth.
It wasn't the end to the evening he'd envisioned when they'd left that afternoon. Not that he thought he'd be anywhere else, exactly. But if he'd had to guess, it wouldn't have been Avaric spending the night.
He walked out to find his friend passed out facedown in the middle of the bed. Fiyero let out a sigh. "Ass."
He shoved the boy over and groaned at the puddle of drool. "Gross, Av, that's my pillow." He contemplated shouldering his way on the bed, but sleeping with a drunk, sweaty Avaric was not what he'd signed up for. Lurline, he was probably a cuddler.
Fiyero made a pallet of blankets and wrestled a pillow from under his friend. The floor was hard under his back. His hip dug uncomfortably into the cold tiles under him. He decided to focus on the earlier part of the day, full of stars and hugs and beautiful brown eyes. He shut his eyes, willing himself to sleep.
Avaric began to snore.
AN: This went a little differently than I'd planned. I just can't seem to stop writing Avaric. Please let me know what you thought, and thanks for the reviews. I hope to have a chapter ready in time, but I'm flying out to New York for an interview this week, so I might be a little late posting. I should at least have an update to Shot in the Dark by then. Wish me luck :-)