Chapter Twenty-Three: Surprises

Fiyero ran after her as Elphaba strode towards Three Queens. She glared at him when he caught up to her. "You are not going to do a thing to him. That's my job."
"Fine. But I'm still coming with."

She groaned but continued on.

"Hi Elphie!" The Munchkin boy's smile faded when he saw Fiyero. "Um, hi Fiyero."

"I wouldn't worry about him, Boq," Elphaba said angrily. "I'd be more worried about me."

"What in Oz are you talking about?"

"You think I don't know what your motives were this morning when you asked me to lunch? They had nothing to do with wanting to spend time with me. You just want to get close to Galinda."

"Why Elphaba, I'm offended that you'd think something like that."

He was right. Elphaba had no way to prove Boq's intentions. Not that it stopped her. "You can play innocent all you want. She knows exactly what you did, too. Maybe you didn't notice she was sitting right behind us in class?"

Boq's face seemed to have lost all of its color. "No, I didn't notice. Do you think she heard?"

"I know she did. We talked about it after class."

"Oh, dear."

Fiyero was enjoying this. He bit his lip to keep from grinning at Boq's humiliation. "That wasn't exactly fair, what you did."

Boq hung his head. "I'm sorry. I just… you two are the only people who even talk to me and I just thought that maybe if it at least looked like I had something, she'd think better of me."

"If it takes that much to impress her, she's not worth it, anyway," Fiyero said.

"You don't understand."

"You're right, I don't. I don't see it at all."

"I've seen other guys stare at her. Other guys get it."

"I'm not like them. And…" Fiyero hesitated, looking at Elphaba. "I have my own attractions. And the girl I'm attracted to happens to be the one you tried to ask out this morning."

Elphaba covered her face with her hands. "For Oz's sake, Fiyero, you promised we'd be discreet. First Galinda finds out and now this?"

"That explains a lot… So you guys are 'official' and all that?" Boq said quietly.

"Yes, basically. But I'd appreciate it if you didn't go telling everyone about that." Fiyero said harshly.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't go telling everyone what I did." Boq looked up at him sheepishly.

"On one condition," Elphaba interjected.

"What?" Boq asked.

She slapped him hard across the face. "I get to do that."

Fiyero passed his winter exams with great grades, though not as great as Elphaba's. With their first semester over with, they headed back to Shiz for the winter holidays. On the one hotel stay, Fiyero insisted Elphaba sleep in his room. He kept her up half of the night with his attentions, worrying he wouldn't be able to touch her at Kiamo Ko (though he certainly intended to try). And she actually put up with it. Perhaps she felt the same way. Or perhaps she hoped that would keep him away from her at the castle. He wasn't sure. By the time she had fallen asleep in his arms it was only three hours until dawn. Still he didn't sleep, watching the sun come up through the sheer curtains on the windows.

This was one of the first times she'd actually stayed in his arms for longer than an hour or two after falling asleep. He supposed she was cold, as the weather was quite nippy. Or maybe she knew he was awake and didn't want to upset him. When she finally did wake, she looked at him and smiled sleepily. "You look like you didn't sleep a wink."

"I didn't. I'll just sleep on the way to Kiamo Ko." He didn't, though. He ended up merely staring at her – well, for as long as she would put up with it.

"Stop staring."

"I'm sorry. I just… I won't see you around the castle much."

"Fiyero, I know you. You like to pretend you'll stay away, but I know you'll sneak into my room by the second night. So stop fretting." Elphaba folded her hands across her chest.

She was right about that. He snuck into her room two nights later while she was changing and cleansing herself with her oils.

"Fiyero, sweet Oz!" Elphaba stood there completely naked with a bottle of oil shattered at her feet. She had dropped it when he had opened the door. For a moment she reached to cover herself, but then shrugged as if it didn't much matter. "You are going to scare me to death one of these days."

"You weren't expecting me?" He teased, drinking in the sight of her.

"Not at that exact moment, no." Elphaba bent down and began carefully picking up the pieces of glass on the floor.

"Let me help. It's my fault." Fiyero slipped out of the room and grabbed a broom and dustpan and rushed back into the room. He nudged Elphaba, who was still standing there naked, out of the way and tried not to let the sight of her distract him while he swept up the glass. After a moment, he was done. He put the broom and dustpan to the side of the room and looked back over at her. At that point, he couldn't contain himself anymore. He was across the room and kissing her in an instant. Within minutes, her legs were wrapped around him as he pressed her against the wall.

Afterwards, she went to her bedstand and got out another vial of oil. "Thanks to you I have to do this again."

"I'll help," he offered.

"Not this time. You don't need to start something all over again. And you shouldn't be in here much longer anyway. You've been here over an hour…"

She was right, and it made him a little sad to think about it. They couldn't share a bed tonight like they usually did after making love. He sighed heavily. "I love you, Elphaba."

She smiled at him gently. "I'd be careful with your words around here."

"No one can hear me in here, Elphaba."

Elphaba sat down on her bed. "You should go."

Fiyero kissed her, hating it as he walked out the door. "Goodnight, Fae."

"Goodnight, Yero."

The next morning, his father sent one of the servants to bring him to the royal study. Fiyero was unsure exactly what it was about. He hoped he hadn't somehow found out about his little adventure with Elphaba last night. He swallowed hard. Perhaps he shouldn't be thinking about that at the moment. Fiyero walked into his father's study.

The study was large. Bookshelves with books that were covered in dust lined the walls and a large mahogany desk in the center. His father sat behind it in a hard wooden chair. He looked up as Fiyero walked in. "Ah, good. I wanted to speak with you."

"What is it?" Fiyero tried not to seem nervous. He didn't need to give away that he'd done something wrong. It hadn't felt wrong. Why did everyone else think it was wrong?

"I think it's time that we introduced you to your future wife. I know you aren't to marry her until you finish Shiz, but it would be nice if you were at least acquainted by then."

"Sarima?"

"Is there another girl we promised to marry you to?" Fiyero's father laughed. "Yes, Sarima. She's a very lovely girl. I'm sure you'll find her very appealing."

"Oh." He was not excited about this in the least, but at least his father had no idea about he and Elphaba. "That's fine."

"I thought you'd be a little bit more excited."

"Maybe I will be once I meet her. How can I be excited to see someone I've never met?"

Fiyero's father sighed. "Fiyero, you've been a little resistant about this marriage since the beginning. Let me make it clear: You are to be nothing but respectful to Sarima. At least until you're married. If you want to ignore her or have affairs, that is your business, but right now, you have to behave. Okay?"

"I got it." Fiyero wondered what Elphaba would think about this when he told her. Maybe another late night visit was in order. This time he had an excuse.