Chapter Text
Elphaba Thropp didn't miss class. She didn't miss a single lecture with a broken hand, or when she was helping Nessa through flu at the start of term. She'd clearly been upset when Fiyero saw the writing on her hand, he'd been pretty shocked too to be fair, but he knew he'd be able to talk to her after the lecture. He'd use the period to watch her, gage just how upset she was, and adjust his response accordingly. She was still so skittish around him, he couldn't just grab her neck and pull her into a kiss like he'd wanted to. But, clearly he was too slow to respond and she'd panicked, and now he needed to be thoughtful. This was Elphaba and she needed calm, and considerate, and slow.
But damn she could run fast when she needed to.
He sat nearer to the door than usual, earning him a confused look across the room from Boq as the Munchkin walked past him to their usual seats by the windows. The rest of the class filtered in, and the professor started his lecture, and yet there was no Elphaba. The professor put up a slide for them to copy as a study-guide for the midterm later that week… and yet there was still no Elphaba. When the professor called for a five-minute break Fiyero was the first one out the door— and he had no intention of going back.
He started with the obvious places first: her dorm (no answer, but also no sound inside), the library (the study rooms, the Winkie Country section, he even sweet talked the librarian into letting him into the sorcery section to check), and on a whim the cafeteria (he always wanted to eat when he was upset, maybe she did to?). Nothing, and no sign of her as he crossed campus going from place to place either. As he stepped away from the lunch hall, apple in hand, he had a new idea and jogged back towards the main block of class buildings, turning down the open arched hallway for the history department.
Doctor Dillamond wasn't in his office, but the department secretary was kind enough to give him vague directions towards his house. Most of the human staff lived in the rows of townhouses on the south edge of campus —Animals, however, typically lived in town due to the townhouse failing to meet Animal needs (like Dr. Fawler who's seven children simply couldn't fit in a townhouse, or Mrs. Newton's inability to climb the many narrow stairs to the front doors). Fiyero liked the old goat and didn't want to bother him in his personal hours, but he was out of other ideas.
The dirt road through the woods at the east of campus was brighter and wider than he remembered from his late night arrival all those months ago. Off the main path he could seen the trodden grass from where people habitually left the road to go deeper into the woods; worn paths as shortcuts to the river, or to the best glens for sitting and studying, or whatever else students did in the privacy of the trees. The secretary had said Dillamond's house was on the main road, so despite his temptation to wander, he stayed the path.
He was rewarded shortly by the sound of Elphaba's unmistakable grumbles of frustration. He continued walking straight despite the road turning sharp right, following a freshly smashed down pattern in the grass. Just a few yards from the road, he could clearly see Elphaba standing in front of a small stump, her back to him, grumbling angrily at the ground, her arms wide at her side as she shook her hands aggressively as if her flapping wrists might take flight. She didn't turn or give any indication she knew he was there, so Fiyero waited silently.
She took a deep breath and stopped flapping her hands, bringing them around in front of her, her frustrated grumbles becoming words in a language he couldn't understand. Suddenly there was a shower of dirt and small rocks as Elphaba's magic pulled the stump clean out of the ground, tossing it away as if it weighed nothing.
"Holy shit!" Fiyero shouted before he could stop himself. The bits of dirt and rock still floating in the air immediately fell back to the ground as Elphaba spun to face him.
He could see her eyes were ringed in red, her usually smooth emerald complexion blotchy and tear stained. He didn't miss how she hid her left hand behind herself before speaking to him.
"What in Oz are you doing out here Fiyero?"
"I came to find you… you missed calc," he added lamely.
She shoulders sagged an almost imperceptible amount, so he awkwardly cleared his throat and tried again. "That was incredible, I didn't mean to make you stop."
"You didn't. I just…" he watched as she wrangled her facial muscles into an appearance of calm, a series of micro-expressions he was intimately familiar with but found very uncomfortable to see someone else do. "I forgot I have an appointment with Dr. Dillamond, but I needed to get the magic out. Didn't want to have another accident. But it's done now, so you can go."
His eyebrow raised of it's own accord. He didn't want to call out her lie directly, but it hurt that she felt she had to at all. "Elphaba?"
She sighed in defeat. "Don't."
"Don't what?"
"This" she pointed between the two of them. "Whatever you followed me out here to say. Whatever perfectly polite rejection you've been rehearsing. I don't need to hear it because it's fine. I'm fine."
"Well I'm not," he said.
He immediately knew that was the wrong thing to say as he saw her perfectly practiced expression crack. He quickly closed the gap between them, incredibly relieved when she didn't move away as he wrapped her up in a hug. At first her back was rod straight, panic oozing from her, but after only a moment she softened, relaxing into his hold. Not wanting to push his luck, he took a step back, despite wanting desperately to keep holding on. Instead, he claimed her left hand, rubbing his finger across the palm as he brought it to his lip for a soft kiss.
She blinked at him, but didn't pull it away.
"Why— why did you do that?"
Fiyero smirked, "Today is the Vinkus Hand Kissing Festival, didn't you see that in your research?"
Elphaba snorted a laugh before immediately biting her lip to keep from laughing outright. Good.
"Because I wanted to. Because you ran away before I could before."
Elphaba started speed talking over him. "You weren't supposed to see that. It was dumb and I embarrassed you, and , I know you don't—"
"Do you ever let anyone else talk?"
She blinked. "No."
Now it was his turn to laugh, but he had to keep going before she could interrupt again. "I kissed your hand because I wanted to." He leaned forward to meet her eyes to be sure he had her undivided attention. "And I want to take you out for dinner because I think I love you too."
Elphaba blushed a deep forest green from her collarbone to her hairline.
"You don't have to say that."
"I'm saying it because it's true."
"I don't—" she paused as she tried to find the words, but couldn't. "I don't know what to do with that."
"I've rendered the loquacious Elphaba Thropp speechless? This really should be a holiday."
Elphaba shoved his shoulder but still smirked up at him, "And how would you celebrate?"
"Lunch? At that cafe that does the cheese and mustard toasties?"
"A sandwich that crunches so loud you can't hear yourself think does seem pretty fitting."
Fiyero moved himself next to her, sliding his hand down her arm and letting his fingers linger across the smeared text that had set all of this in motion, before intertwining his fingers in hers. He gave her a moment to relax her fingers in his grasp, and once she'd taken a steadying breath he started walking them back towards the road, past the turn for Dr. Dillamond's house, and into town.