Monday morning found Fiyero barely walking into class with a couple minutes to spare. He had another challenging night of erratic sleep and emotive dreams; the dreams were already forgotten but the fatigue on his body never faded so fast. Caving to the call of caffeine, he stopped at a small shack that sold coffee and pastries not too far from Ozma Towers and waited in line to order himself a double-shot of espresso to go, all the while letting his mind drift to the green girl he would soon see in his morning biology class.
Elphaba was already settled with her head in a book when he arrived, so she didn't notice his approach until he was right in front of her holding a brown paper cup in front of her face. He greatly enjoyed watching her expression change in the seconds he stood there, her brow furrowing over the eyes that had stopped scanning the page as his slight shadow fell over her, and without even putting down her book or lifting her head her dark eyes suddenly glared up at his outstretched hand.
"What is that?" she asked cautiously.
"It's mineral tea," he said, putting it down on her desk while he took a big swig from his own paper cup. He cringed slightly; his coffee was still a wee bit too hot for such mouthfuls yet. "That's what you like, right? You ordered it at brunch the other day."
"Yes, but…" Elphaba sighed, finally closing her book and setting it on her lap. "What is it doing on my desk?"
"It's waiting to be enjoyed." Rather than push past the students sitting at the wings on either side of the second row, Fiyero rudely climbed over the seat next to Elphaba to get to his own, but she didn't react to that because, well, he always did that. "It's not poisoned," he promised, dropping his stuff down in one seat and his body in another. "At least I don't think so, I didn't actually brew the stuff."
"I'm still confused why you brought it to me."
"Well," he said, propping his boots up on the desk next to hers, which caused her face to contort in annoyance and disgust in a way that really made the few coins he dropped for her drink wholly worthwhile. "I can tell you my reasoning has nothing to do with the fact that you're the smartest kid in class and teacher's pet. Buying you gifts for that would just be unethical."
Though he spoke with 100% honesty, she took his bait and narrowed her eyes with feigned exasperation, just as he wanted. "Right, and you wouldn't do anything so unprincipled."
"Exactly."
Dillamond called order then, which disappointed him because he wanted to continue their banter, but was rewarded when her green fingers wrapped around the disposable coffee cup and brought it up to smell the steam. The gentle smile that pulled at the side of her mouth upward seemed to be connected to a string in his heart because it sent it strumming pleasantly as she gently sipped her tea, her focus now entirely on the Goat and the intro to his latest lecture.
Oz, he was done for. He already knew he was a sucker for the subtlest of smirks from her, but now he knew what he would be doing next Monday and every Monday following, and that involved bringing her tea in hopes he could see her smile like that again.