Raspberries

Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Summary: Elphaba, Fiyero, and a raspberry patch on an early spring morning. Pure fluff.

A/N: Can be set after Changed?

The breeze played with the ends of her hair, lifting it like the leaves on the trees. The bushes rustled with sudden movement, and a bucket was placed on the ground. Sweet, ripe, dark, juicy raspberries dropped into the pail, the soft plunk of berries hitting other berries sounding like rain on the room of the dorms. A laugh was heard, followed by a throaty chuckle. The sound of more berries dropping into a pail was heard, followed by the rustling of leaves.

"I found some more!"

The pail was picked up, and she hurried to him.

"Where?"

"Right there." The couple knelt in front of the bush, and Fiyero pushed some of the branches aside, revealing ripe, juicy berries hanging in clusters. They looked at each other, before Elphaba reached into the bush, and gently plucked the berries from their hanger. She held the berries gently in her hand, and dropped them in her pail, before setting the pail down and sitting on her haunches. Fiyero joined her, and the two picked in silence for a while, before moving to the next bush.

"I wonder if these are ripe enough to eat." She asked, walking next to him as they went to the next patch.

"Of course they're ripe enough to eat. If they weren't they wouldn't be dark, they'd be green. Not that I'd complain. I happen to like green." He said, smiling at her. She rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the arm.

"Not funny!"

"I'm not trying to be!" She glared at him, stalking off. He followed, capturing her around the waist. "Hey, I love your skin color. It's beautiful. Simply beautiful. All right?" She nodded, turning in his arms.

"I'm sorry. I.. I shouldn't--" He silenced her with a gentle kiss.

"Come on." They continued on, fingers laced. Finally, they stopped in front of a huge raspberry patch. Breaking contact, they raced among the patches, picking raspberries and dropping them in their pales faster than you could blink. "Hey! No magic allowed!"

Elphaba cackled, and continued to magic the berries into her pail as Fiyero rushed to pick them. They raced to the last bush, pushing each other out of the way to get to the berries.

"No! They're mine!"

"No, they're mine!"

"You already got your berries!"

"Look who's talking!"

"Those are my berries! I picked the most!"

"Using magic doesn't count!"

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't!"

They wrestled and fought like rambunctious children, toppling over into the berry bush and kicking over the pails in the process.

"Gotcha!" Fiyero cried, holding Elphaba down. The green girl struggled to get up, reaching out to kick, and ended up kicking both pails instead.

"Fiyero!" He laughed, leaning down to steal a kiss before catching sight of the river of berries tumbling down the small embankment towards the brooke. Instantly, he let go of Elphaba, and got up, Elphaba pushing herself to a sitting position, her conical hat askew on her lovely head. "Our berries!"

She climbed to her feet and chased after Fiyero, stopping at the edge of the embankment. Silent, they watched several of their berries float away in the gentle water.

"What now?" She asked, looking back at him. "I mean, there goes half of what we picked today."

"We could combine the pails." He replied. She met his eyes.

"All right."

So together, they went back to the bush, and poured the remains of one pail into the other.

"Come on, let's get back to home." He took her hand, and they rushed home, planning on baking with the berries.

Later that night, Elphaba cut a piece of raspberry pie and joined Fiyero in front of the fireplace. The night was like winter, and the couple sat huddled in front of the fire, covered in a blanket.

"It's delicous." She said, taking another bite.

"Good. I'm glad." He replied. They'd used some of the berries for pies, and the rest they placed in a bowl. So they spent the night snacking on berries, their lips and fingers becoming stained with raspberry juice. Giggling, Elphaba let Fiyero feed her the berries, before doing the same to him.

"Mmm."

He kissed her gently, before pulling away at her giggle.

"What?"

She smiled at him.

"I just realized something."

"Oh really? And what is that?"

"I love raspberries."

He chuckled, and pulled her close, threading their berry stained fingers together, before kissing her gently.

"So do I."

With another gentle kiss, they settled down, feeding each other raspberries and arguing about who had truly won their early morning race.