When they came back up the stairs, Glinda looked up from her wardrobe, "Elphie, you know, I'm sorry about… what are you still doing here?" She raised her eyebrows at Fiyero.
"It was snowing too hard," Elphaba explained, gesturing towards the window.
"We tried opening the door and we couldn't even get it further than an inch." Fiyero added, placing his bag on a chair and hugging himself with a shiver.
"How are you going to get back to your dorm?" Glinda asked.
"He's not," Elphaba stated. "He couldn't possibly make it, even if we managed to open the door."
"What do you mean?"
"He's going to have to stay here." Elphaba kept her face blank as she said this.
"How?"
"What do you mean, how?" Elphaba laughed. "Somehow. We'll have to manage. Not everyone's back. It's not like he'll get caught in here."
"But he's a boy!" Glinda exclaimed.
"Gee, Glinda, we didn't know that." Fiyero said.
"What in Oz are we going to do?" Glinda wondered.
"I'll sleep on the floor." Fiyero offered.
"It's not going to be much of a problem," Elphaba waved Glinda's questions away.
"But… I need to change for bed. How can I change for bed?"
"Glinda, we have a bathroom."
"Oh, yeah."
Elphaba snorted despite herself as Glinda grabbed a nightgown and headed into the bathroom. Looking away, her gaze wandered to Fiyero. "If you want to try going outside again…"
"No," he held his hands up, "that's all right, thank you very much."
"It's late. I guess we'll all have to take turns with the bathroom."
After everyone was changed for bed, Glinda climbed into her bed, beneath her white, ruffled blankets. "Goodnight, you two."
"Goodnight, Glinda," Elphaba said, staring out the window, not quite ready to go to sleep.
"Goodnight." Fiyero mumbled.
In moments, the blonde girl fell asleep, without another thought (if she'd ever had any to begin with). Fiyero and Elphaba sat in silence until Elphaba shuddered. "Sweet Oz, it's cold. You'd think that even though the staff isn't around, the heating would still be on."
"I guess not." Fiyero replied.
"Do you need an extra blanket?" Elphaba held up her only blanket, meager and thin.
"I'll be fine."
"You'll freeze."
"So will you."
Feeling out of character, Elphaba moved over in her bed. "This is going to sound crazy, but maybe it's best if you…"
Fiyero understood, but was as uncomfortable with the idea as Elphaba seemed to be. "If I what?"
"Well, slept next to me, I guess…"
They were both silent. Each of them stared their separate directions and Elphaba began to hum to herself and kick her feet as she sat on the side of the bed. After a long pause, Fiyero whispered, "I'd like to, in a way, but wouldn't it be a bit uncomfortable for you?"
"Wouldn't it be a bit uncomfortable for you to sleep on the floor blanket-less?" She retaliated.
"Well, yes, but…" He stood.
"I don't bite. It's a big bed." She tried to make the situation simple, though they both knew that, to either one of them, it certainly was not.
"I…" He moved towards the bed.
"What?"
"I don't want to make you uncomfortable."
"Which would make you more uncomfortable, sleeping next to me or sleeping and freezing yourself silly on the floor?"
"Freezing," he decided, and sat beside her on the bed. Neither one of them moved to lie down, though.
"Um, okay. Well, goodnight, then." She tried, still unable to move.
"Goodnight." He did not move, either.
Elphaba forced herself to move the slightest bit and lie down, squishing herself against the wall next to her bed to leave room for Fiyero. Scrunching herself into a ball, she fiddled uncomfortably with the blanket.
"Do you need more room?" He asked as he laid down.
"No, I'm fine." She whispered, barely able to speak. How could it be, that this strange but beautiful boy was right next to her in her bed? Of course, this was not the circumstances she'd have preferred, but she wasn't sure what she'd have preferred in their current situation anyway. "Sweet dreams," she murmured.
"You, too." He said.
Closing her eyes, slightly comforted and slightly put off by his presence next to her, she fell asleep in no time.
She woke up to a very uncomfortable pressure in her gut. "Ow!"
Glinda had been poking her. "Elphie…"
"Glinda, how many times to I have to tell you…?" She sat up, then realized Fiyero was still asleep and began to lower her voice.
"Fiyero's in your bed." Glinda said, horrified.
"Nothing happened."
"Well, of course not, knowing you. But what is he doing in your bed?"
"I didn't have an extra blanket."
"You could've just asked me."
Elphaba blinked. "What?"
"I have one on the top shelf in my closet. If you'd have just woken me up, I would've gotten it for you."
"Are you serious?"
"Of course."
Elphaba was unable, however, to decide if she'd have rather let Fiyero sleep on the floor than in her bed. What scared her the most was the fact that, in the back of her mind, she knew about the blanket in the closet. Both she and Fiyero had glimpsed it the night before.