Prologue
In hindsight, Avaric should have known something was going to change since that morning. That weird morning he'd gone to Fiyero's.
It was a normal thing for Avaric to go to Fiyero's apartment in the morning. So that day, as always, he'd arrived at Fiyero's door two hours before they were due to be at work, because that's how long it took to get Fiyero ready in the morning, especially after having gotten absolutely hammered the night before.
Avaric had met Fiyero when he'd arrived at the Badlands. He'd moved in to the apartment right above his and figured he'd introduce himself, not just because Fiyero had looked new to the country, but also because since they were going to be neighbors, it would be nice to get along with each other.
To say that Fiyero had gone through some shit was an understatement. His parents disowned him and kicked him out not just of their house, but the country, because they were that powerful, for being a disappointment. Well, they'd actually used much harsher, fancier, nastier language to describe Fiyero, but a 'disappointment' was basically the gist of it. Avaric had never asked for more details than Fiyero was willing to give, but even what he had shared was shocking. No one deserved to be treated the way Fiyero had been by his parents.
This was the thing. Fiyero was a nice guy. Considering all he'd gone through, Avaric was genuinely surprised at what a nice human being Fiyero turned out to be despite everything. He's been living here for two years now, had gotten a job with Avaric at the salt mine, was a hard worker, and became a good friend to Avaric.
Which was why it was so hard to just leave Fiyero alone when he spiraled down.
It started small. Fiyero would want to go out for dinner once in a while and would invite Avaric to go with him. And it was fun. They would hang out and talk outside of work, it was how they'd gotten closer as friends. Back then, Fiyero would only drink one, maybe two beers. Then as time went by, he'd get as many drinks as he could stomach. Then he stopped having dinner and just drank for the entire time they'd be at the bar. One night turned into two, three, four nights a week, sometimes more.
And it was becoming more and more frequent. It wasn't just a once in a while thing or even a monthly thing. Fiyero had started to drink almost daily in the past couple of months. Hell, there were times Fiyero went to the pub right after work and did not leave until the early hours of the morning.
Avaric knew it would be easy to just let Fiyero deal with his own shit. He wasn't obligated at all to look after Fiyero and he would remind Avaric of this in the morning every time he complained about having to watch out for him. And Fiyero was right. If he wanted to live his life this way, that was his deal and Avaric didn't have to look out for him the way he did. But Fiyero was his brother and he loved the guy.
So Avaric stayed with Fiyero until he called it a night and walked him home from the bar to his apartment. He'd make sure Fiyero would throw up first if he needed to before he got into bed in a new set of got up early in the morning to help him get ready for work. Had pain meds at the ready with a couple glasses of water and made sure he could walk properly before they headed down to work.
And then the women came into the picture. Now he not only got Fiyero ready for the day, but Avaric also had the job of kicking Fiyero's one night stand out in the morning.
The best days were when Fiyero would just be completely exhausted after work and would just go home and sleep until the next morning. It was when Avaric got the most sleep.
He didn't know how to talk to him or bring it up. Avaric knew this was a big problem and it was so hard to see Fiyero destroy himself like this, constantly drinking himself into oblivion and sleeping with the first female form that crossed his path. But he also felt like it wasn't his place to try and dictate Fiyero what to do with his life. Fiyero was going to crack badly, and soon, if something didn't change. Something needed to change, desperately. And Avaric had no idea it was about to that morning.
The night before, Avaric had just been absolutely exhausted after a particularly hard day at the mine. He honestly hadn't known how Fiyero had the energy to still want to go to the bar. But he decided this would be the one time he would not accompany Fiyero. He was exhausted and deserved to put himself first. But he wasn't too worried, the bar was a block away and Fiyero could take care of himself even when he was drunk as a bitch.
When he opened Fiyero's door the next morning, it was the smell that had caught Avaric off guard first. Usually the small apartment reeked of the night's previous activities between Fiyero and the woman of the night, but today it didn't really smell like anything. But Avaric figured Fiyero must have just kept the door shut this time.
But besides that, everything looked…tiddy. Usually there were some things knocked over here and there from drunk stumbling and kissing while trying to get to his bed. But nothing seemed out of place this morning. Everything seemed in order. Even that stupid blue plactic cup that had been in Fiyero's sink for weeks had been washed and placed in the cabinet.
What caught Avaric even more off guard was the fact that there were clothes neatly folded on the table. He inspected them. Ok, there was definitely a woman here then and he would have to kick her out, but usually finding her clothes would be a scavenger hunt. Clothes would usually be all over the place; the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom, there was even this one time he'd found a bra inside the freezer. But here they were, neatly placed on the table.
Well, one less thing to worry about.
When Avaric opened the door to Fiyero's bedroom, the next thing to throw him off that morning was the bed. There was no one on the left side.
Usually, almost always, half of Fiyero's body would hang off of the left side of the bed to one, in Fiyero's words, sleep more comfortably; and two, to stay as far away from the other body as possible.
But today, there was one big shape under the covers on the right side of the bed. And that was odd. As fuck. Oh dear Oz, had Avaric walked in right in the middle of Fiyero screwing the girl? It wouldn't be the first time. But he quickly dismissed the thought because the big lump under the covers wasn't moving, the only movement was due to light breathing. Avaric sighed. Thank Oz.
When he got closer to the bed, Avaric could see that Fiyero was still asleep and he was surprised for what, the fifth time that morning? Because there was a green girl lying on top of him.
The girl herself was shocking. How in Oz was she green? Was that her actual skin tone or was it paint? Maybe a weird ass kink Fiyero never told him about? Whatever, he'd ask later.
But the other thing was that Fiyero was hugging her. The girl had her head on his chest and an arm draped across his chest, and Fiyero had an arm around her shoulders, holding her close, his other arm rested on top of hers, and his face was buried in her hair.
They were actually…cuddling. And that's never happened.
Sure, he's found girls draping over Fiyero, but then Fiyero would look like he'd been trying to get away the entire night. But with this one, he was welcoming her touch and her embrace. And that was weird. Very weird.
Ok, whatever. Avaric had a job to do, well two; get the girl out and get Fiyero ready for the day. Another day in paradise.
Avaric went back out and grabbed the clothes that were on the table which included a blak cloak, dress, tights, and undergarments. He also realized there were some boots next to the couch which were definitely not Fiyero's size, and he grabbed those too.
Now came the awkward part. After a couple of months, it's gotten less awkward, but that didn't mean that it was easy or that he looked forward to waking up a strange woman and practically telling her to get out.
The easy ones would just silently get dressed at leave, and they had no idea how much Avaric appreciated them, because then there would be ones who would be a bit full of themselves, thinking that sleeping with Fiyero made them special, especially if he'd been their first, which yikes. He felt sorry for those.
And then they'll demand that he wake Fiyero up, claiming that they'll only leave if he himself kicks them out, which they doubt he will.
Avaric would actually feel a little bad when their face would fall once Fiyero did tell them to 'get the hell out', but not too bad because he loved the feeling of 'I told you so'. They'd asked for it.
Avaric gently shook the green girl, not actually touching her bare skin out of some common decency, and settled for touching her by her back where the sheets covered her.
"Ma'am," he said once she started to stir.
Her eyes tightened, then opened, and then closed again due to the brightness of the room.
"Time to get up," he whispered, not wanting to wake Fiyero up and have him face the girl. That just amplified the awkwardness eight times out of ten.
The girl rubbed her eyes and made a couple sounds. That's when Avaric noticed the dark circles under her eyes and just how frail she seemed. The poor thing actually looked exhausted. Fiyero must have really worn her out last night, he must have been especially drunk and probably pissed.
Avaric actually stepped back a bit when Fiyero's arms tightened around the girl.
"Sh," Fiyero whispered tenderly. "Go back to sleep Fae," he rubbed her arm and gently led her head back onto his chest with his hand.
What the fuck did Avaric just witness? He was too taken aback to say or do anything else.
Fiyero opened his eyes and saw Avaric. "Just let her rest," he said, his eyes quickly stealing a small glance at the woman in his arms, who had all too quickly and willingly fallen back asleep. He pulled the covers up more to completely cover her bare body. "She'll be staying here a while. I'll be up in a moment."
Fiyero was willingly getting up? And not throwing the typical five year old tantrum of 'five more minutes'?
"Ok," was the only thing Avaric managed to say. He put the girls clothes and boots on the drawers next to the bed and walked out. He helped himself to a glass of water while he waited for Fiyero in the kitchen.
After about ten minutes, Avaric was sure Fiyero had probably fallen back asleep. Just as he'd stood up to go and wake him up, Fiyero came out of his room, closing the door behind him, dressed and ready to go to work.
And most shocking of all - this morning was just full of shocks - Avaric realized that Fiyero wasn't hungover. Did he even drink last night?
Even though Avaric hadn't gone to the bar with Fiyero the previous night, there had also been other nights he hadn't gone with him and they still had the same outcome. Fiyero would get drunk, sleep with someone, and be hungover the next morning. The same old thing whether he was there or not.
"What, do I look new or something?" Fiyero asked with a small smile.
Avaric hadn't realized that he'd been staring at Fiyero in shock. "Kind of," he admitted. "What the hell happened last night?"
Fiyero frowned for a split second, but then smiled softly, grabbing some food and water out of the fridge. Avaric noticed that he didn't look smug like he sometimes did, he looked like he was remembering something, something sweet. Was that last night?
Fucking Oz.
It also took Avaric a moment to realize that what Fiyero had grabbed from the fridge wasn't actually for himself when he'd gone back into his bedroom with the food and water and come back out with his hands empty. He just left the girl breakfast. He just. Left. The girl. Breakfast.
What in Oz happened to Fiyero Tiggular?
"Did you get bewitched by the girl in there or something?" Avaric gestured to the bedroom.
"Or something," Fiyero's smile widened and he grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge. "I'll tell you later, ready to go to work?" He offered one of the bottles to Avaric.
What in the - "Yeah," Avaric said, stunned. He took the water. "Let's go."
Fiyero had been very vague as to what had happened that night, and so had Elphaba - he'd learned that was the green girl's name when he'd properly met her after he and Fiyero had returned from work.
The simple story was that Elphaba had been sitting at the table Fiyero usually sat at at the bar when he'd gotten there. They got to talking, hit it off, slept together, and they just couldn't stay away from each other.
There was definitely more to it than that. But it seemed Fiyero and Elphaba wanted to keep the specifics of that night private, and Avaric was going to respect that, so he didn't ask for more.
That afternoon, seeing Fiyero and Elphaba was surprising, yet endearing. They acted like they'd been a couple for a long time, not two people who'd shared a passionate rendezvous after having just met the night before.
Fiyero had greeted her with a kiss when they'd arrived. She had made some dinner and seemed to know where everything was in the apartment, effortlessly getting plates and silverware. They joked around and hugged, the physical affection never wearing throughout the evening.
It was no secret that Fiyero seemed to be absolutely gone for this one, and Elphaba seemed to be on the same boat.
True to Fiyero's words, Elphaba stayed a while. Avaric had at first thought that it would be a couple of days, but after seeing them together, it wasn't surprising that days turned into weeks, and then into months; and she was still here.
It wasn't surprising that Fiyero stopped going to bars every single Oz damned night. He still went out once in a while, but when he did, Elphaba came along, too. And he barely drank anymore.
It wasn't surprising that there hasn't been another woman since Elphaba in Fiyero's bed.
Avaric was getting much more sleep thanks to her. He no longer had to stay up late or wake up early. And Fiyero was also going to sleep at a decent hour and waking up without Avaric's help, and would meet him right on time so they could head to work together.
He was healthy, and he was getting better.
Elphaba became a cook and a medic for the mine they worked at. Both men had been worried about anyone treating her unkindly. It wasn't often, but it wasn't rare either for her to face some discrimination. But the other women all too willingly accepted her, glad and thankful to have more hands on. The fact that she was willing to train and learn to help the injured also earned her a lot of respect. Her day consisted of making lunch, sometimes breakfast for the miners, and taking care of anyone who got sick or injured on the job.
Almost everyone liked her. And really who wouldn't once they got to know Elphaba? She worked hard and she was a lovely woman; one of the kindest, funniest, and feistiest people Avaric had ever met. Though she was like a sister to him, Avaric could see why Fiyero had been drawn to her. Many of the older women were also very protective of Elphaba since she was once of the youngest of the group at only 20 years old.
Avaric had laughed when Fiyero had confided in him after a couple of months that he was in love with Elphaba. Duh, even a blind person could see that.
They had a small, yet formal wedding after two years together. It was simple and intimate with very few guests. They swore to love and take care of each other, sealed their promise with a kiss, and then everyone gathered at their apartment to celebrate.
That day they were both the happiest they'd ever been in their life.
Looking back, Avaric should have realized just how prominent Elphaba would become in Fiyero's, and consequently his, life from that morning when he first saw them together four years ago. Something important had happened between them and it bonded them together. They'd needed each other.
Fiyero had been so right. She was here to stay, and their journey together was just beginning.
Hello ! Welcome to this story which I am super excited for !
When I watched "The King" (2019) about three years ago I always wanted to write a story based on that scene when Hal's friend told his one night stand to leave. Something about it just made me think "I can make that into something romantic". Nothing ever really came of it, but it was always there. Sometime in November I had a dream about that scene and it just kept growing and growing and I got a writer's high, where everything just kept coming to me and I couldn't stop writing. About ten hours later an entire draft was born and writing out the chapters has been absolutely rewarding. That all nighter was absolutely worth it.
Since I don't mention it in the chapter, I'll mention it here, Fiyero will be two years older than Elphaba in this story; so that would place him at about 22 when they met, 24 when they got married, and 26 for the rest of the story.
Avaric was a central point in this chapter but it's more Fiyero and Elphaba from here on out.
I started to write this story when I was taking three writing intensive classes at my university, so I feel like my writing improved a little for this one.
Tell me what you thought :)
PS - thank you for voting for me at the Greg awards! I've also been super inactive because of classes, but I'll have more down time this semester :)