AN: Hello once again! Funny how two of you immediately thought that Elphaba wouldn't be going back to Shiz... maybe you're subconsciously associating the letters Fae, Yero and Galinda wrote with the letters they wrote in Yero My Hero, after which Elphaba didn't come back? :P
And yes, I said pie again. Because I'm just evil like that. (No, frankly, I had all but forgotten it was even in this chapter, but it gave me the giggles once I read your reviews.)
Azaisya, I love you saying that, because 1) I quite liked the '...or a castle' line myself, and 2) I thought no-one would pick up on the 'yours' Fiyero kept signing his letters with, as opposed to Elphaba ^^.
PerlogAnnwyl: Keep guessing! :)
Chapter 11. Songs and studies
"Elphie!" Galinda threw her arms around her roommate. "You're back! Just in time to help me unpack!"
"Hello to you, too," Elphaba said drily, hugging her roommate back briefly, "and no."
Galinda pouted. "But Elphie!"
Elphaba shook her head. "Sorry, Glin. I promised I'd help Nessa first, and then I'm going to find Fiyero," she said. "You know, to congratulate him on his results in person."
Galinda's face brightened. "Ooh, yes! His results! I still can't believe he actually passed everything – and with such great scores, too!" She playfully nudged Elphaba's side. "You must be a very good influence on him, hmm?"
Elphaba flushed a little. "I don't know what you mean," she said dismissively.
Galinda giggled. "Sure you don't. Well, good luck with Nessa, then. Tell her I said hi. Shall we all meet for dinner tonight?"
"Sure," Elphaba agreed. "I'll be back before that, though. See you later." With a small wave, she left the room.
After she had helped Nessarose settle back in with Horrible Morrible, she went straight to the boys' dormitories and knocked on the door to Fiyero's suite. She could hear him rummaging around inside and then he opened the door, an irritated expression on his face. That expression soon turned into a smile, however, when he saw who it was.
"Hey," he greeted her, kissing her cheek before she could even register that that was what he was about to do. She blinked in surprise, but he didn't seem to notice. He all but dragged her inside. "I thought you were Boq," he admitted. "That Munchkin has been nagging me with questions about his relationship with Nessa ever since I got back. How are you? I missed you," he added.
"I'm fine," she said, ignoring that latter statement because it made her uncomfortable. She looked around. There were suitcases lying on the bed, unopened. Fiyero's guitar was leaning against the couch and there were notebooks and loose pages everywhere.
"What in Oz happened?" she demanded. "You only just got back and it looks like a bomb exploded in here!"
He gave her a sheepish grin. "I worked on the song at home," he explained, "but I had accidentally left part of the sheet music back here, so I couldn't finish it even after you sent me the lyrics… which I was really bummed about. So the moment I got back, I pulled out my sheet music and started finishing it." His eyes were shining. "It's not done yet, but almost. Would you like to hear it?"
"Of course!" she said, smiling at him.
He grabbed his guitar and she sank down onto the couch, watching him in interest as he started playing.
During the chorus, he sang the lyrics she had suggested to him in her letter; and she smiled and softly sang along. When he finished, he looked at her expectantly.
"What do you think?"
"It's wonderful," she said truthfully. "Really. It's perfect. And you play so well! I wish I could play an instrument," she added wistfully.
He beamed at her. "Will you help me finish it?" he asked her pleadingly. "I tried to come up with some lyrics myself, but, well… I'm not half as good at it as you are."
She rolled her eyes. "Yero –"
"Please?" he interjected, making big puppy eyes at her.
She hesitated for a moment, then caved. "Alright."
"Awesome!" He scooted closer to her, showing her the things he had already worked out and the ideas he'd had. She suggested some things herself, which they then tried out – Fiyero playing the guitar, Elphaba singing – and he wrote down the lyrics and changed some things in the sheet music, after which they started over again. They ended up spending the entire afternoon working on the song together and they didn't even realise it was that late until they heard the clock in the hallway chime seven times.
Elphaba's eyes widened. "Oh my Oz, is it that late already?" she said, shocked. She rose to her feet and turned to face Fiyero. "I promised Galinda we would all go and have dinner together tonight," she said apologetically. "She's probably waiting for me. Us. Though mostly me, I guess, since I told her I'd be back at our dorm room before dinner, and… oh, shiz."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Fiyero carefully placed his guitar back in its rightful spot before placing his hands on Elphaba's shoulders. "It's fine. Galinda will live," he told her. "Come on, I don't feel like changing clothes, anyway – let's just go. We'll pick Galinda up at your dorm room and meet Nessa and Boq… where?"
"We'll have to pick them up, too," said Elphaba, biting her lip worriedly. "Oz, Galinda is going to kill me."
"I'll go get Nessa and Boq," Fiyero promised, "and you can get Galinda, and then we'll meet in the courtyard and go into town together. Okay?"
She nodded and he squeezed her shoulders. "Remember," he said with a lopsided grin, "you can take Galinda."
She chuckled weakly.
"Unless she grabs a stiletto heel," Fiyero continued. "Then you'd better run."
Now she laughed out loud. "I'll keep that in mind." She turned and quickly hurried off.
Galinda turned out to still be getting ready, trying to match her shoes with the gems in her new necklace and earrings, and so she wasn't too upset that Elphaba had been gone for so long. When the green girl told her roommate apologetically that she had spent the entire afternoon with Fiyero, Galinda just smirked knowingly.
"Did you have a good time?" she asked innocently, putting in her earrings and slipping her feet into the high heels she'd picked out.
"Yes," said Elphaba, who was pulling her hair up into a high ponytail. "I did. We worked on his song together."
Galinda squealed. "He sang for you?!"
"He played the guitar," Elphaba corrected the blonde. She blushed a little. "I sang, though."
"Oh my Oz!" Galinda threw her arms around Elphaba. "I didn't even know you could sing, Elphie! You should sing for us all sometime!"
"No," Elphaba protested, but Galinda shushed her.
"We'll discuss this later," she decided. "Come on, Fiyero and the others are probably already waiting."
They ended up having a nice, quiet dinner with just the five of them, exchanging stories about their Lurlinemas break and what they had been up to.
"Hey, Fae?" Fiyero asked quietly when the others were all immersed in conversation.
She looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Will you come to my room again tomorrow?" he asked her. "To finish the song?"
She hesitated for a brief moment, unsure of whether that was a good idea or not. After the Lion Cub, and after he had saved her at Suicide Canal, something had changed between them. She could feel it and she knew he could, too. She wasn't sure what it meant, exactly; but it was making her nervous.
Yes, she'd had a great time that afternoon, but she wanted to keep herself from seeing more into it than there really was.
Nevertheless, when he turned large, pleading eyes on her and said, "Please?" she could only laugh and nod.
"Okay," she said.
He beamed at her and squeezed her arm happily.
"But we'll only spend half the day working on the song," she warned him. "The other half, we're going to study."
Fiyero made a face. "What?!"
The others overheard and Nessa laughed.
"Get used to it, Fiyero," she said. "There's no stopping Fabala when she's ready to get back to work."
"Elphie!" Galinda protested. "The first classes of the semester haven't even started!"
"No," Elphaba agreed. "But the first classes of the new semester will build on what we have already learnt in the previous semester, and so I want to repeat the study material we had to learn for midterms, in order to understand everything the professor will teach us this semester. And given the fact that Fiyero promised me he'd make an effort to actually pass everything this time, I'm going to get him to study with me again."
Fiyero moaned. "Oh, joy."
"You wanted to change," she pointed out to him and he sighed.
"True. Alright, then," he caved. "But…"
"Here it comes," Elphaba muttered under her breath. Boq grinned and Nessa laughed.
"…I'm still taking you out for dinner," Fiyero finished.
"Fine," Elphaba replied. "But I won the bet, so you don't get to take me anywhere fancy."
"Fine," he said gruffly. "Nothing fancy. But it won't just be the cafeteria or the Primrose Café, either. I'm taking you to a real restaurant."
"Fine," said Elphaba, crossing her arms. "But I'm not dressing up."
He scowled. "Fine."
Galinda, Nessa, and Boq watched them in amusement.
"So, Fabala," said Nessa curiously, "what are you planning on doing to Fiyero now that you've won the bet?"
Galinda giggled. "I have some ideas," she offered.
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "No, Galinda," she said patiently, "I am not dressing him in drag, or having him buy me a diamond, or a castle, or making him go shopping with us and pay for everything."
Galinda opened her mouth to say something, but her roommate wasn't finished yet.
"I'm also not going to ask him to organise your wardrobe, clean up our room, pay for every meal for the next month or throw a party at the OzDust."
Nessa giggled. "It's clear who came up with all those ideas," she said.
"I just think we should get the most out of this!" Galinda defended herself.
"Um, hello?" Fiyero waved at them. "I'm right here, you know. I can hear you concocting your evil plans. And Galinda, I hate to disappoint you, but it's Elphaba I closed this bet with," he stressed. "So why would I organise your wardrobe?"
Galinda pouted. "Because I'm very nice?"
Everyone laughed.
"Don't worry," Elphaba said to Fiyero. "I'll think of something."
He gave her a lopsided grin. "I have no doubt you will," he said, eyes dancing. "I can't wait to see what you come up with."
Her cheeks were burning a little at the look in his eyes, but she managed to throw him an ominous look before she looked back at the food in front of her.
"Can we stop now?" Fiyero whined.
Elphaba cast a glance in his direction. "We'll take a break at six, Fiyero, I told you that," she said. "Just focus until then."
"But I've been focusing for hours already!"
She quirked an eyebrow.
"Okay, half an hour, then," Fiyero relented. "But still. For me, that's really long."
She sighed. "Look… maybe this isn't fair of me," she said, removing her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose. "I mean… just because I want to prepare myself and repeat everything we've studied before the break, doesn't mean I have to make you do the same."
"I promised you I'd try, though," Fiyero said with a sigh. "And I really want to change," he added, earning himself a smile from her. He only now noticed that there was a dimple in her right cheek when she smiled.
"I know that," she said. "And you are trying. Your midterm results are a testimony of that." She shook her head. "But just because you promised you'd make an effort, doesn't mean you have to become a study freak like me," she said lightly. "I know I can be a little extreme sometimes. And as long as you'll pay attention in class and study seriously for your exams… I don't think it's fair of me to ask more of you."
She tilted her head a little to the side. "How about I'll go back to my own room to study," she suggested, "and you can go and do something fun. I'll ask Galinda to get me some dinner…"
"You don't have to go," he said hastily. "You can just stay here to study, I'll go have dinner with Boq and some other boys and I'll bring you something, too, and then we can work on the song again afterwards? I mean, it's still not finished…"
If he was completely honest, the song was all but finished. In fact, it could have been finished ages ago; but it was a good excuse to get Elphaba to come to his room and spend time with him, and so he tried to draw it out as long as possible, always finding excuses to work on it again, changing lyrics or chords or a little bit of the melody.
"Okay," Elphaba agreed easily. "If you don't mind me staying here…"
He shook his head. "Not at all." Feeling bold, he planted a kiss on her hair. "See you in a few hours."
"Okay," she repeated, already engrossed in her study materials again. Fiyero doubted if she'd even noticed what he did. He wasn't sure if he should be happy about that or not.
You'll like the next chapter. It's got fluff :). Still not the fluff you're looking for - that will be Chapter 14 - but it's fluff nonetheless.