AN: So you all seemed to agree that "Your foot smells like Morrible" was the funniest line in the previous chapter :P. I must say that my personal favourite was "Fiyero jumped onto Elphaba's closet and sang like a beast". Maybe because I think in images. Heheh.

PerlogAnnwyl: That was epic. XD

BlueD: The site censors the link :( can you try again with spaces and such in between?

Thedoctor24601: I AM NEVER GOING TO GIVE UP ON PIE.

Honestly, though - pie is not that bad. Why are you all so traumatised by it? People all over the world eat pie every day. In both senses of the word. *smirks*

Speaking of which... this chapter contains pie. And not the food kind. It's nothing profuse or M-rated, but I thought I'd give you a heads-up.

Day Five

Fiyero took the others to the market the next day – a Saturday – to show them around. It didn't take him long to find the man his parents had always bought their wine from.

Fiyero greeted him and the man stared at the prince for a few moments before his face broke into a smile.

"Little Prince Fiyero Tiggular of the Vinkus!" he said enthusiastically. "Who is not so little anymore now," he added, taking Fiyero in. "Oz, have you grown! I can still remember you, fourteen years old, begging your parents and me for a sip of wine…"

Fiyero grinned at him. "I'm surprised you even remember me," he said. "I don't have to beg you for wine anymore now, though – I'm twenty-three. It's completely legal."

The man laughed. "So it is! And who are your friends?" he asked, still smiling. He did not seem at all shocked by Elphaba's skin and she took an instant liking to the man.

Fiyero introduced everyone and when he told the man that none of them had ever had any Vinkun wine, the man insisted they try it instantly, pouring them all a generous cup of spicy Vinkun wine.

Elphaba eyed Fiyero suspiciously. "What are you looking all excited about?" she demanded.

He grinned at her. "I just can't wait to see your faces when you try it," he said and he and the man both laughed.

Boq was the first to take a sip, tasting it thoughtfully.

"This is good," he declared. "This is really good. Oz, I have to buy ten bottles to take home to Munchkinland!"

Elphaba tried it, too, and she discovered that Boq was right. She didn't care much for wine, but this was the most delicious wine she had ever tasted.

"Okay, I wouldn't mind having more of this," she admitted and Fiyero beamed at her.

The man urged them all to sit down at one of the two tables accompanying his stall as he went to pour them more cups of all different kinds of Vinkun wine, having them try out everything he had. Dusk settled in and a band began to play on the square where the market was held as the friends talked and laughed and drank, probably more than was good for them.

The music was good and at some point, Fiyero leapt to his feet and started singing along, pretending to play a guitar. Galinda and Nessa were doubling over with laughter and Boq joined the prince, playing the invisible drums. Fiyero suddenly swept Elphaba off her chair and pulled her into a dance, which she would normally have objected to – fiercely – but the wine made her not mind so much. They danced and sang and laughed all evening long.

It was well past midnight when they returned to the beach house, all of them decidedly tipsy. Nessarose and Galinda both couldn't stop giggling and Fiyero was still singing loudly. Boq, being the most sober of them all, kept quiet and made sure none of them fell over.

Elphaba herself was feeling light-headed, too. Very light-headed. She found herself grinning all the time, which was very unlike her, and she had a queasy feeling in her stomach and a weird feeling overall, like she was under water or something.

She had never had so much alcohol before. She wouldn't have, either, if she'd known that Vinkun wine was so strong; but no-one had told her and it had tasted so good, she had just tried everything the man had given them and she had only realised she'd had a little too much when it was already too late. She was glad Boq, at least, had had only three small cups, so that there was at least one of them still fully aware of everything around them. She herself certainly didn't feel alert.

"Come on, guys," Galinda said with a skip and a giggle once they reached the beach house. "Let's go inside. I'm cold!" She hugged herself and shivered violently to illustrate her point.

"You go on ahead," said Elphaba, turning to look out across the lake. "I think I'm going to stay out here for a little while longer. Clear my head, you know." She was still feeling a bit fuzzy – okay, extremely fuzzy – from the wine, and she hoped some fresh air would help. Or… some more fresh air. Whatever.

"Alright." Galinda kissed her friend on the cheek with a loud smack. "'Night, Elphie."

"Goodnight." Elphaba watched as the blonde danced into the house, closely followed by a giggling Nessa and by Boq, who was shaking his head as he manoeuvred Nessa's chair onto the porch.

Elphaba sat down in the sand and closed her eyes for a moment, only to open them again when Fiyero let himself fall down in the sand beside her.

"Hey," he said, more serious than he had been all day. "Are you okay?"

She smiled at him, though it was a little shaky. "I'm fine. Just wobbly. And dizzy. And…yeah."

He chuckled. "I know what you mean."

"Of course you do," she said, thinking of the Fiyero she had gotten to know when he had first come to Shiz.

He smiled.

They sat in silence for a while. Elphaba had her eyes closed again and was breathing through her nose, but she wasn't feeling any better – her body felt heavy and her head even heavier.

She swayed a little, losing her balance, and Fiyero caught her with an arm around her waist. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Yeah." She yawned. "Just not used to alcohol, I guess."

He smiled again and she dropped her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes again. "You smell nice," she murmured, turning her head to bury her nose in his neck. "Fiyero? Galinda says you like me."

"I do," he said, trying to make his voice sound as normal as possible, even though he felt like he was on fire, with her lips brushing against his neck like this.

"But she says you like me, you know, that way."

"I do," he said again. "I told you, but you didn't believe me."

Her eyes opened again and she raised her head to look at him. "You meant that?" she asked incredulously. "All of that?"

He nodded.

"Oh." She was quiet for a few more moments.

Then she suddenly leant forward and pressed her lips against his.

He was so startled, he didn't even respond at first; but then he kissed her back. Of course he did. Even if it was mostly the alcohol that was causing this, he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to kiss her.

When she pulled away, however, she didn't seem that affected by the wine at all. Her eyes were clear and bright and she seemed to be knowing what she was doing.

And so he kissed her again, holding her close as he felt her relax in his arms, and he deepened the kiss. She moaned softly and wound her arms around his neck. "Yero…"

He shouldn't be doing this. He knew he shouldn't. Even if she seemed sober, she wasn't – not entirely, anyway – and he didn't want her to do anything she might regret later.

But he had longed to kiss her for so long already, and the feeling of having her in his arms and her lips on his was something he simply couldn't get enough of.

"Fae?" he whispered, slowly lowering her into the sand.

She made a soft, satisfied sound in her throat that made him smile. He leant down and captured her lips with his own again, running his fingers through her beautiful long hair as he felt her melting into the kiss.

They broke apart, both of them gasping a little.

"I know you don't believe me," Fiyero breathed, resting his forehead against hers and looking into her eyes, "but I am hopelessly, completely, wonderfully, desperately, head-over-heels in love with you."

She gazed up at him, her eyes dark and unreadable. "Fiyero?"

"Yes?" he whispered.

"I'm in love with you, too." It slipped out before she could help herself.

Now that she thought about it, though, she wasn't sure she wanted to help herself. His kisses were making her feel dizzy and fuzzy in the head – much like the wine had before, only in a much more pleasant way.

And she was in love with him. She'd known that for a long time already; she just hadn't wanted to admit it, not even to herself. And of course she hadn't believed that he could ever feel the same way about her. But here he was, declaring his love for her, and the wine was getting to her head and making her do and say things she wouldn't normally do… and she actually kind of liked it.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again, deeply. He buried his fingers in her hair. An annoying voice in the back of his head kept nagging him not to do this, to wait until they were both sober, that he was going to regret this; but he pushed it away and focussed on the feel of Elphaba's soft, warm weight against him. He started working on the buttons of her dress and she helped him pull his shirt over his head, revealing the diamonds on his chest once more.

She tore herself away from his lips to trace the diamond shapes with her fingers, smiling when she felt him shiver. She leant forward and traced one with her lips, which was followed by a sharp intake of breath from him.

"Fae…" he whispered, pulling away to look at her. "Are you sure?"

She rolled her eyes and kissed him again, hooking her leg around his hip.

Think about this, Fiyero! that voice in the back of his head screamed at him. Are you really going to take her virginity outside, on a beach, with both of you under the influence of alcohol?!

He started to pull away, but then she started pulling at his trousers and he gasped. "Fae…"

She made another of those little noises in her throat. He had never heard her do it before, but it drove him crazy.

She unbuckled his belt and he pulled away again. "Elphaba, stop."

"What?" She blinked at him, the fog clearing slightly from her eyes. She frowned. "Why?"

"Just…" He sat up and pushed his fingers through his hair, trying to regain control over his breathing.

When he looked at her again, she was staring down, her fingers playing with the sand and her shoulders slumped.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, more to the sand than to him. "I shouldn't have assumed that… I mean, of course you wouldn't want…"

"Whoa. Wait." He held up both hands. "You think I don't want you? Are you crazy? No! That's not what this is about!"

Uncertainty still sparked in her eyes when she looked up. "It's not?"

He groaned. "Oz, Elphaba. Do you have any idea at all of what you're doing to me?"

She tilted her head a little to the side, clearly clueless. That only made her look more adorable and he had to look away to keep himself in check.

"I just…" His voice sounded so low and throaty, it made him wince. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I just want to make sure that you want this, too. And not because of the wine. Maybe we should wait and…"

He stopped when she wrapped her arms around his neck again and started kissing his jaw.

"And…" He tried to finish what he had been saying, but he couldn't really remember what that was anymore.

She slid the straps of her dress down her arms.

He gulped. "Fae…"

She kissed him softly. "Yero…" The fact that her voice was just as breathless as his own did nothing to clear his head. He still tried, though.

"Fae, are you absolutely sure that –"

"Shut up, Fiyero." She kissed him again, harder this time, and pressed herself closer against him until finally, his resolve broke and he gave in.

Probably no update tomorrow, since I'll be travelling all day - we're going home... but maybe if I still have some energy left tomorrow night I'll give you a Dances with princes update.

So this was my final message from Portugal. Next time I talk to you, it will be from the Netherlands again!