And here, a reward for your patience :)

Crope and Tibbett were right. Fiyero had been too focused on Elphaba to really notice, but Galinda wasn't the only girl fixated on him. After the two boys pointed it out, Fiyero started noticing more and more his strange interactions with the other women around campus that were also increasing in determination the more settled he became. So many of them he never knew, others he barely remembered, and all of them seemed determined to engage him in conversation. Or have him pick up their dropped books. Or ask him dumb questions about lectures.

It wasn't so big of a deal at first. But the problem with noticing their attention was that it encouraged more of it.

"Fiyero!" a voice he didn't know called out coquettishly the moment as he entered the hallway from his Life Science class. His stomach was growling, he had a headache, and all he could think about was getting a large beef sandwich from the refectory in his gut, but it seemed that wasn't in the cards for him. He turned with a cool smile at the beautiful Gillikinese woman gliding towards him through the dispersal of students.

He did recognize her. She was in his new law class. She had introduced herself and engaged in hollow chitchat just the previous week, and while her burgundy hair and her caramel brown eyes should have enraptured him, he remembered instead being fixated on her crooked front tooth and wondering if it was because she sucked on her thumb as a child. In hindsight, he probably should have made more of an effort to learn her name. He was as bad as Galinda at that.

"What a pleasant surprise," the woman said to him, sliding a hand around his bare upper arm as she reached him. He could feel her fingertips sneak under the hem of his sleeve to massage the muscles there. "Just get out of class?"

"Biology," he said reactively, too distracted by her nervy grip to think about his words. He would have chosen anything in the world besides "biology" if he knew how her eyes would light up and how her hand would slide up even further in his sleeve until it was wrapped securely around his bicep.

"What a great subject. I love studying biology. Are you doing anything right now? I was thinking that maybe we could grab a quick drink. Maybe in my room. We can talk all about biology if you want…"

Sweet Oz. It was obvious that she was more interested with studying his biology in all of its structure and function and whatnot than anything Dr. Dillamond had to teach. Fiyero wasn't sure this was really happening. It certainly never happened the last time around; barely any girls engaged him at all because of his relationship with their queen bee.

The tightening of his stomach must have been what caused all the blood to rush into his head so fast, as though it all had been squeezed upward like paint from a tube, and it was the excess of blood that made him stupidly stammer, "Uh, a-a drink, so early in the day?"

A thin eyebrow arched up and a wide smile spread across her face. "Yes. Why Fiyero, it's almost as if you've never done anything naughty before, and we both know that's just not true."

It may have been true years ago, but it certainly wasn't anymore. "Ah, yes, well…"

She stepped even closer to him and her other hand spread flat against his abdomen. That squeezing sensation reached his lungs, and as her hands slithered up against the buttons of his shirt so did the tightening he felt until even his esophagus was restricted, leaving his mouth hanging open without any sounds except an occasional manly choking sound.

He was little better than prey, trapped in a stone hallway full of indifferent students. No, Fiyero thought wildly, these were science students who, if they noticed his situation at all, saw it like an act of nature – the female in heat, selecting her mate – or, even more likely, watched on in envy.

"I promise, it'll be a drink you will never forget."

"Oh."

"So, what do you say?" she said, her fingers toying with his top button before slipping into where the material parted at his neck to tickle his skin.

"That's…" he said, his voice strangled. He cleared his throat. "That's quite an offer."

"It is," she said, and she said something else but just then Elphaba's perfect voice was all he heard as she thanked Dr. Dillamond behind him. Well, that, and the sound of his internal voice keenly acknowledging the Unnnamed God for her timing.

"I'm sorry, I can't," he told the woman quickly, spinning around in time to catch Elphaba's wrist in his own and yank her over. She yelped in surprise but before she could screech at him he said, "Elphaba and I have to work on a project. Was Dr. Dillamond able to give you the guidelines we need?"

"What?" Elphaba asked, but he stared at her with big, pleading eyes. He was so grateful for her intelligence, because she read his face quickly and rearranged her own features accordingly. "Oh, yes. He outlined everything we need. For our project."

He didn't think it was possible, but at that moment he was more in love with her than ever.

"You're working with the grasshopper?" she sneered.

"Uh, who?" he said with faux confusion, though his blood boiled at the cruelty. "You don't mean Elphaba, do you?"

He had to admire her persistence: "Come on, Fiyero. Wouldn't you rather study biology with me?"

"You're welcome to join us for lunch," he said, as though it was a great idea. "I'm sure you'll have some great ideas for our assignment."

"Perhaps another time, Fiyero."

She stepped away, her fingers lingering possessively on Fiyero's shirt until she turned away, shooting Elphaba a horribly disdainful look over her shoulder as she did so. He was sure his mouth was still hanging open by the time she met up with her friends at the end of the corridor.

"You can let go of me now."

The chilliness of Elphaba's tone made him spin about stupidly. "Oh." He released her wrist. He must have been holding it tightly but she showed no indication of pain as she pulled it back to her side. "Sorry."

"What was that?"

"An explanation to get away from her. I think I panicked a little," Fiyero admitted, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously.

"Oh please. Did they put you up to this?" Elphaba asked, shooting a look down to the gaggle of girls lingering in the hallway to watch them.

"No…" Fiyero's hungry stomach twisted even more as he noticed her temper start flaring up.

"Did they bet you money to get near to me?"

"Nuh uh."

"Is this the setup for a prank at my expense?"

"Nope."

"Perhaps this is simply so you can go back to them and give them a good laugh about your experiences here, like Galinda has done by dressing me up in those hats. Go on, tell them how prickly I am."

"That woman legitimately invaded my personal space and I needed an out. It's as simple as that."

"I don't believe you. It's never simple."

"It is. Some people make things simple. I'm a simple guy."

"An understatement if I've ever heard one," Elphaba said unkindly. "I think I understand your logic now. The occasionally clever prince knows no one comes near the green girl and took advantage of it. You're right, it is simple."

"So you think I'm clever!"

"Occasionally."

"Silly me, and for a moment there I was thinking that I was entirely repellant. Now at least I know I'm occasionally tolerable."

"I never said tolerable. You're putting words in my mouth."

"My sincerest apologies. The compliment must have gone to my clever head."

"Must have." Elphaba's gaze shot through her lashes, not even sweeping so much as glaring, making him feel like at that moment she didn't think him deserving of a proper eye roll. "I can't think of any other way to make this conversation a bigger waste of time."

He knew she wasn't his number-one fan, but he liked to think that perhaps with his omnipresence in their shared classes he was starting to grow on her a bit. Clearly that wasn't the case. Fiyero sighed. "Look, this would go without saying under normal circumstances – so obviously not this one – but I borrowed you because I prefer your company to hers, not because I wanted to bother you."

"That would be a first," she said, but halfheartedly.

Fiyero's chest felt tense as he watched her—her gaze unreadable as she turned to face the end of the corridor from where the sunlight glared in the lenses of her glasses.

"So you…" she finally murmured, seeming a bit wilted and vulnerable for a moment before she cleared her throat. "I mean, do you really mean that? About preferring my company?"

He frowned. "Wouldn't you?"

Her emerald features eased at his compliment. "I suppose so."

"Since that's straightened out, how about that lunch date."

The corner of her full lips twitched up and he actually started hoping she'd take him up on lunch, just so he could keep watching that beautiful mouth of hers. He would even sacrifice that giant beef sandwich he was planning to demolish just to see it.

"Which lunch date?" she asked rhetorically. "The one you only made up to avoid a romantic rendezvous with a brazen, nameless beauty?"

"Oh, so you don't know her name either?"

She cackled at that, quickly and harshly and in a way that made Elphaba distinctly Elphaba. "I don't understand you," she told him, shaking her head and walking away with that crooked, wry smile still tugging at her face.

He turned, watching her ungainly departure, his hands stuck in his pockets nonchalantly.

"So a rain check then, yeah?"