The Effects of Gravity 8/? by ainsleyaisling
Title: The Effects of Gravity 8/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG-13/R
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: Glinda's been feeling neglected, which leads to Elphaba and Fiyero having an extremely awkward talk and Fiyero making a decision.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous part can be found here.
~~Elphaba~~
Nessa hadn't been herself for weeks - or, as Elphaba had begun to think in her darker moments, maybe this was Nessa's self now. She had finally stopped talking about Boq constantly, and seemed to have accepted that whatever his reasons, he was no longer interested in her. The problem was that she had also withdrawn from her friends, refusing even to talk to Glinda more than was necessary for common politeness; however, not wanting to be seen alone for fear that she would look pathetic, she therefore needed to be accompanied by Elphaba nearly everywhere she went. Elphaba loved her sister and could certainly understand that for Nessa, who had never been denied anything (except, perhaps, the one thing she wanted above all - her freedom), suddenly finding herself bereft of the first boy she had ever liked must be very difficult. But that didn't mean she was thrilled to spend every available minute sitting with Nessa and guarding her from the curious looks of the other students. Elphaba would never stoop so low as to be glad of Nessa's handicap, but she often caught herself being rather grateful that she and Glinda had a room on the third floor.
She was partially distracted by her thoughts of Nessa as she climbed the stairs to their room after history class, and the rest of her mind was concentrating on something she had forgotten to write down during the lecture that day. Glinda no longer attended history class - she wouldn't enter the building - and fortunately the new professor hadn't bothered to learn anyone's name, but this meant that Elphaba had to take very careful notes for both of them. She didn't mind. Her distraction, however, was her excuse for not noticing until after she had shut the door behind her, hung her cloak on its hook, set her books on the desk, and kicked off her shoes, that Glinda was crying.
Elphaba trailed off in the middle of a sentence about roadbuilding in Gillikin when she finally noticed Glinda's red eyes and the telltale marks of tears on her face. She had been seeing those a bit too often, this year. When Glinda saw that she had Elphaba's attention she hastily rubbed her eyes and tried to smile, but Elphaba wasn't that easy to fool. "What's wrong?" she asked, hurrying to sit beside Glinda on her bed. "Did something happen?"
Glinda shook her head and said, "No," but the tears began to overflow her eyes again.
"Glinda." Elphaba sat closer and wrapped an arm around her roommate's shoulders. "Come on, what is it?"
"It's silly, never mind." Glinda patted Elphaba's knee and made to stand up, but Elphaba tugged her back down onto the bed.
"It's not silly if you're upset about it." Elphaba slid back until she was leaning against the headboard, then pulled at Glinda's shoulders until the other girl came up to rest against her. "I thought we told each other all our secrets, remember?"
Glinda smiled through the remnants of tears as she settled against Elphaba's shoulder. "Do you really tell me all your secrets?"
"No," Elphaba replied, "but your secrets are generally nicer than mine."
At that Glinda laughed out loud, her hand coming up to rest along the side of Elphaba's neck. It tickled, but Elphaba forced herself not to pull away. "You're always taking care of me," Glinda said, "even when I'm being an idiot."
"Are you going to tell me what you're upset about?"
Glinda raised her head and looked Elphaba in the eye. Elphaba quirked one eyebrow, prepared to hear all about whatever Glinda thought was silly enough to be crying over in the middle of the afternoon. She was rather unprepared when Glinda kissed her instead.
The kiss was both gentler and less chaste than the hasty one Glinda had pressed upon her in the Wizard's palace. Elphaba accidentally deepened it by gasping, and was immediately surprised and ashamed when the increased contact made her stomach drop and her heart race. She raised both hands to Glinda's shoulders and pushed her away as gently as she could, stroking the gold hair as they parted to keep Glinda from feeling rejected.
For a long moment they sat frozen, both with lips still parted; then Glinda turned her head away and said quickly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."
"Hey." Elphaba continued stroking Glinda's hair back from her face until she had coaxed Glinda to look at her again. "You can kiss me anytime you like, I don't mind - but what's wrong? You're not yourself today." Glinda settled her head back onto Elphaba's shoulder without speaking, so Elphaba took a guess. "Is it Fiyero?"
A pause, then a tiny nod.
"Did he - do something?"
"No," Glinda said miserably. "No, that's just the problem."
"All right." Elphaba shifted Glinda to a more comfortable position and twined their fingers together. "I don't think I understand."
Glinda sat up abruptly, although she kept her fingers tangled with Elphaba's. "I think he thinks differently of me now."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think he feels the same about me since . . . well, because of what happened."
Elphaba frowned. "Are you suggesting that Fiyero thinks less of you somehow because you were attacked?"
Glinda nodded, her lip trembling with the fresh threat of tears.
"That doesn't sound like him." Elphaba squeezed Glinda's hand gently. "And hasn't he been very . . . well, supportive, through the whole thing?"
"Yes," Glinda admitted. "But - remember before we left for the Emerald City, when I said he had been acting so distant?"
Elphaba nodded.
"Well, since we got back, for a while everything seemed fine again. But lately - he's been very kind, and he spends a lot of time with me, but . . . it's just not the same. He'll take my arm, or hold my hand, but he hardly ever kisses me, and when he does, it's, well . . ." She leaned over and, before Elphaba could react, pressed a quick, very chaste kiss to her lips. "Like that. It's not really like before - he's not distant exactly, he just doesn't seem to want me anymore."
"I'm sure it's not that." Indeed, Elphaba didn't think Fiyero was the type to be so callous as to reject a girl just because someone else had forced a kiss on her. "Maybe he's just . . . afraid of hurting you."
"What?"
"Sure," Elphaba said, warming to the idea. "Maybe he's afraid of scaring you, since . . . that happened. Maybe he's afraid you would take it the wrong way, or feel like you were being attacked again."
Glinda hesitated. "You really think that could be it?"
"Yes, I do." She held out her arm, and Glinda came to lean against her shoulder again. "I don't suppose you've thought of talking to him about it?"
"Have you ever contemplated going up to a boy and asking him why he hasn't kissed you lately?"
"I take your point," Elphaba said, "but as no one has ever kissed me in the first place - other than you, of course - it would be a fairly silly question."
"Well, it's difficult in my case too."
"I have an idea - don't kiss me again, and in a few minutes I'll ask you why you haven't."
"I hate you," Glinda said fondly.
The conversation lingered in Elphaba's mind, especially because (although she stopped crying and allowed Elphaba to drag her down to dinner) Glinda did not appear much happier in the next few days. So it was that Elphaba found herself waiting for Fiyero outside his dormitory before their literature class, asking herself exactly when she had lost her mind.
"Elphaba!" He was clearly surprised to see her there, but he recovered quickly. He motioned toward the boy who had come out with him - a tall Munchkinlander probably, Elphaba thought, with dark hair and the freckles common among even the richer farmer-folk. "Do you know Rikk?" Fiyero asked. "My roommate."
"Oh - I don't think so."
Fiyero gave an exaggerated half-bow of introduction. "Rikk, Elphaba."
The other boy held out his hand, causing Elphaba to start with surprise. "I've seen you around," he said pleasantly.
"No doubt," she replied, managing to smile nonetheless.
"Are we skiving?" Fiyero asked hopefully.
"No," she said, unable to repress a small laugh. "I just - I needed to talk to you, about something. I thought maybe on the way?"
Fiyero turned to his roommate, who held up both hands and said, "I'll see you later." With a smile he added, "It's nice to meet you, Elphaba."
"How unique," she muttered as he turned away.
"Be nice, he's all right," Fiyero said as they turned and fell in step. "And you can be terrifying when you want to be, you know. What was it you wanted to talk about?"
"Well - Glinda."
He almost stopped walking, but recovered. "All right."
"She thinks - somehow she's gotten the idea that . . ." Elphaba cringed and forced the words out. "That you feel differently about her because she was attacked."
Now he did stop walking. "What?"
Elphaba stopped to face him and shrugged. "She . . ." This is the most awkward conversation of my life, she mused. Why did I think I liked her enough for this? She sighed. "She says you've been . . . acting differently, and she thinks that you think less of her, or like her less, or . . . don't want her, as much, because of what happened to her."
"That's crazy," he said, his eyes flashing at her. "Why would I feel differently about her because of something that wasn't her fault?"
"That's what I said!" Elphaba spread her hands helplessly. "But - you have to understand, she's trying so hard to get over this and forget about it, and - anything different, anyone's behavior toward her that changes, she's going to think it's about . . . that. So if you're - having a bad day, or . . . if there's some other reason for the way you're acting -"
"How am I acting, exactly?"
Blood rushed to her face; she looked up at the heavens and silently asked for strength. "She says you haven't - been - oh, please don't make me say it. Please say you know what I'm talking about." She peered at him out of the corner of one eye, and was relieved to see him nod.
"Yeah, maybe," he said quietly.
She let out the breath she had been holding. "Well, I'm sure you have your reasons, but - if she doesn't know what they are, she's going to assume . . . if you seem to have changed your feelings about her, she's going to assume it's because of what happened. It's just - where she is right now."
His eyes held hers with a staggering intensity; she dropped her gaze to his chin to avoid reacting. Finally he said, in a neutral tone that she couldn't read, "You're right. I understand completely." He passed his hand over his face tiredly and asked, "Does she know you're talking to me?"
"Oh, no. And please don't tell her, she'd kill me."
"Yeah, well." He turned and started walking toward their class, letting Elphaba catch up. "I have no desire to admit that I had to have this explained to me. You must think I'm a complete jerk."
"No, I don't," she said sincerely. "You weren't trying to hurt her."
"No," he said, more to himself and the sky than to her. "I was trying not to."
Elphaba gave him a curious look, but he didn't seem inclined to explain.
~~Glinda~~
She and Elphaba hurried from dinner toward their dormitory, arms folded and coats tightly fastened against the cold night. It was already dark and they were surrounded by other students hurrying home before they froze, so she didn't notice Fiyero's approach until he was right between them. She gave a little start, and was gratified to notice that Elphaba did as well. At least I'm not the only jumpy one around here.
"Ladies," he said as cheerfully as he could with the cold wind blowing in their faces. "Think I could borrow Glinda for a while?"
For some reason Elphaba looked momentarily horror-struck, but Fiyero clapped her on the back and said, "Don't worry, Elphie, it has nothing to do with our literature class."
"Why would it?" Glinda asked, pressing her lips together to keep them from shivering.
"No reason!" Elphaba said brightly. "I'll see you at home then."
She hurried away, and Fiyero called after her, "Elphaba! Thought you'd like to know that Rikk said you were 'bizarrely normal.'" He grinned.
"Is that what passes for a compliment in your world?" She shook her head. "I'm going home before I freeze to the path. 'Bye!"
"What was that about literature class?" Glinda asked curiously as Fiyero took her arm and turned her away from the dormitories.
"Oh - um, well we ran into my roommate on the way to class and Elphaba - was nervous about meeting him, that's all. I promised her I wouldn't tell you. She was afraid you'd think she was being silly."
"But you just did tell me."
"Oh. Oops. Don't tell Elphaba."
"Why would she be nervous about meeting your roommate?" Glinda was beginning to feel more and more confused.
"You know how she is with new people. I guess I kind of laughed at her for it."
The wind picked up and she tucked her arm deeper through his. "Where are we going?"
He stopped. "Here."
Glinda looked up and felt her stomach clench. "No."
Fiyero wrapped both arms around her and pulled her against his chest as they stood looking up at the darkened facade of the history building. "Come on. It'll be all right."
"Fiyero, I really can't." She dug her heels into the ground and resisted his gentle attempts to pull her along.
"Yes you can." He cupped her face in his hands and bent down to her level. "You have two more years here, you have to go in sometime."
"No, I don't."
"You really do." He bent and kissed her, the same brief kisses she had complained of to Elphaba. "Look, I'll be right here with you. I have an idea - I want to help."
"An idea?" Her teeth were beginning to chatter and she wondered how long he would keep this up.
"You trust me, don't you?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"And you're really cold, right?" He smiled. "Come on. I promise, I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
She nodded, feeling her breath growing shallow. She forced herself to inhale slowly as they entered the darkened building and started up the hallway.
"See, no one here but us," Fiyero whispered. "And professors upstairs."
She gripped his hand tightly as they continued up the hall. "They fixed the door," she whispered haltingly as they reached the outside of their history classroom.
"Replaced it, actually," he replied. "You'd be able to see it's new if the lights were on. Elphaba was pretty thorough." He slipped an arm around her waist and pushed the door open. "Come on."
Trembling overtook her body as they stepped inside. With moonlight providing the only light, the classroom looked so similar to the last time she had seen it - well, before Elphaba had knocked over most of the furniture anyway. The wall against which she had been trapped loomed across the room, drawing her frozen attention.
Fiyero left her side just long enough to lock the door. "What are you doing?" she asked, slightly panicked.
He returned and pulled her close. "I thought you'd feel better knowing no one else can get in. Well -" he rolled his eyes a little "- except Elphaba, I guess."
She nodded and looked around the room, feeling her trembling slowly begin to subside. "So this was your idea?"
"Not exactly." His hand came up to hold her chin, and he bent to brush a soft kiss against her lips. "You have some pretty awful memories of this place."
"Yes, I do."
"I thought maybe we'd give you some better ones." He kissed her again, no less chastely but longer and with clear intention. "All right?"
Her heart pounded, but she nodded. "All right."
This time when he kissed her, there was nothing chaste about it. I guess Elphaba was right, she thought distantly as he unclasped her coat and eased it off her shoulders. He broke their kiss long enough to glance behind him and sit down on a desk, pulling her forward to stand between his knees. He shed his own coat quickly, then pulled her back into a gently passionate kiss, his hands stroking over her unbound hair. She sighed into his mouth at the feeling of everything she had been missing and lifted her hands to rest them over his chest. He covered them with his own, holding onto her wrists, and pulled back to ask again, "All right?"
She gave him a tremulous smile and replied quietly, "Yes."
"Good." He kissed her again, then brought his hands up between them to the collar of her dress. By coincidence she was wearing a dress that opened in the front, just as she had been on that day, and his fingers carefully slid the first button free of its clasp.
This was nothing new; he had often (although not recently) opened the top of her clothes just enough to reach the upper curve of her breasts, and he had always heeded her request to stop there. But this time she felt her heart begin to race; she wrapped her hands around his wrists and asked, "Fiyero, how much do you know about - about what happened? And about what I said, at the inquest?"
He stopped his motions and looked down into her eyes. "Everything, I think," he replied, confirming her suspicions. He brushed a kiss across the knuckles of her right hand. "Does it matter?"
"Elphaba told you." It wasn't a question.
"Yes, she did." He frowned somewhat comically in the darkness. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that, either. Don't tell Elphaba."
"Are you really that afraid of her?" she asked, feeling herself smile for the first time since they had left Elphaba on the path outside.
"I don't think I want her mad at me." Tentatively he freed a second button. "She only told me because she didn't want you to have to."
"I'm not going to yell at her," she promised, her breath hitching as he loosed a third button. "Fiyero . . ."
He kissed her, gently, and murmured against her lips, "Trust me."
"I do," she stammered. His hands were working steadily now, pausing only when he had opened her dress to the waist. She had no idea why she wasn't stopping him.
His fingers skimmed up from her waist, brushing over her body through the slip she was wearing under her dress. It laced at the top to hold it tight; she felt her eyebrows lift and her breath catch but said nothing as he began to draw the laces free. She was relieved to feel a throb of arousal as his fingers traced over the skin between her breasts - at least it meant she was capable of feeling something other than fear.
"Still trust me?" he asked, bending to kiss her neck, his breath hot on her skin.
"Y-yes," she managed. And she did, that was the miracle of it. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling his strong shoulders under her hands as he finished unfastening the top of her slip and parted the fabric, exposing her chest to the cool air.
Her fingers twisted nervously in his shirt - she trusted him, but she had never let anyone see her like this, not even Elphaba by accident (she didn't think). "It's all right," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her lips before lowering his head and kissing the place where the swell of her breasts began. She closed her eyes as his hands moved gently over her, gasping and arching her back when his lips followed them. When she didn't think she could take any more she whispered, "Kiss me, please," and he immediately obeyed, raising his head to bring their lips together.
With shaking fingers she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it open, then tugged him closer and pressed against him, sighing at the feeling of skin touching skin. His arms wrapped tightly around her as they kissed, supporting the back of her head and holding her firmly to his body. When they finally broke apart they were both breathing hard, and his face was as flushed as hers felt. She rested her hands shyly on his bare chest, unable to meet his eyes.
"Better?" he asked, taking hold of her chin and forcing her to look up at him.
She smiled, laughed, covered her face with one hand, scrunched her eyes shut, and nodded.
"Good." He gave her one more kiss, then carefully gathered the fabric of her slip together and began lacing it again. To keep herself from laughing at his somewhat ungainly efforts she focused on buttoning and smoothing his shirt, stepping in to help only when he reached the point of trying to rebutton her dress.
"Fiyero?" she asked hesitantly as he fastened the last few buttons at her collar.
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
His hands stilled and he offered her a wobbly smile. "I love you, too."
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG-13/R
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: Glinda's been feeling neglected, which leads to Elphaba and Fiyero having an extremely awkward talk and Fiyero making a decision.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous part can be found here.
~~Elphaba~~
Nessa hadn't been herself for weeks - or, as Elphaba had begun to think in her darker moments, maybe this was Nessa's self now. She had finally stopped talking about Boq constantly, and seemed to have accepted that whatever his reasons, he was no longer interested in her. The problem was that she had also withdrawn from her friends, refusing even to talk to Glinda more than was necessary for common politeness; however, not wanting to be seen alone for fear that she would look pathetic, she therefore needed to be accompanied by Elphaba nearly everywhere she went. Elphaba loved her sister and could certainly understand that for Nessa, who had never been denied anything (except, perhaps, the one thing she wanted above all - her freedom), suddenly finding herself bereft of the first boy she had ever liked must be very difficult. But that didn't mean she was thrilled to spend every available minute sitting with Nessa and guarding her from the curious looks of the other students. Elphaba would never stoop so low as to be glad of Nessa's handicap, but she often caught herself being rather grateful that she and Glinda had a room on the third floor.
She was partially distracted by her thoughts of Nessa as she climbed the stairs to their room after history class, and the rest of her mind was concentrating on something she had forgotten to write down during the lecture that day. Glinda no longer attended history class - she wouldn't enter the building - and fortunately the new professor hadn't bothered to learn anyone's name, but this meant that Elphaba had to take very careful notes for both of them. She didn't mind. Her distraction, however, was her excuse for not noticing until after she had shut the door behind her, hung her cloak on its hook, set her books on the desk, and kicked off her shoes, that Glinda was crying.
Elphaba trailed off in the middle of a sentence about roadbuilding in Gillikin when she finally noticed Glinda's red eyes and the telltale marks of tears on her face. She had been seeing those a bit too often, this year. When Glinda saw that she had Elphaba's attention she hastily rubbed her eyes and tried to smile, but Elphaba wasn't that easy to fool. "What's wrong?" she asked, hurrying to sit beside Glinda on her bed. "Did something happen?"
Glinda shook her head and said, "No," but the tears began to overflow her eyes again.
"Glinda." Elphaba sat closer and wrapped an arm around her roommate's shoulders. "Come on, what is it?"
"It's silly, never mind." Glinda patted Elphaba's knee and made to stand up, but Elphaba tugged her back down onto the bed.
"It's not silly if you're upset about it." Elphaba slid back until she was leaning against the headboard, then pulled at Glinda's shoulders until the other girl came up to rest against her. "I thought we told each other all our secrets, remember?"
Glinda smiled through the remnants of tears as she settled against Elphaba's shoulder. "Do you really tell me all your secrets?"
"No," Elphaba replied, "but your secrets are generally nicer than mine."
At that Glinda laughed out loud, her hand coming up to rest along the side of Elphaba's neck. It tickled, but Elphaba forced herself not to pull away. "You're always taking care of me," Glinda said, "even when I'm being an idiot."
"Are you going to tell me what you're upset about?"
Glinda raised her head and looked Elphaba in the eye. Elphaba quirked one eyebrow, prepared to hear all about whatever Glinda thought was silly enough to be crying over in the middle of the afternoon. She was rather unprepared when Glinda kissed her instead.
The kiss was both gentler and less chaste than the hasty one Glinda had pressed upon her in the Wizard's palace. Elphaba accidentally deepened it by gasping, and was immediately surprised and ashamed when the increased contact made her stomach drop and her heart race. She raised both hands to Glinda's shoulders and pushed her away as gently as she could, stroking the gold hair as they parted to keep Glinda from feeling rejected.
For a long moment they sat frozen, both with lips still parted; then Glinda turned her head away and said quickly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have."
"Hey." Elphaba continued stroking Glinda's hair back from her face until she had coaxed Glinda to look at her again. "You can kiss me anytime you like, I don't mind - but what's wrong? You're not yourself today." Glinda settled her head back onto Elphaba's shoulder without speaking, so Elphaba took a guess. "Is it Fiyero?"
A pause, then a tiny nod.
"Did he - do something?"
"No," Glinda said miserably. "No, that's just the problem."
"All right." Elphaba shifted Glinda to a more comfortable position and twined their fingers together. "I don't think I understand."
Glinda sat up abruptly, although she kept her fingers tangled with Elphaba's. "I think he thinks differently of me now."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't think he feels the same about me since . . . well, because of what happened."
Elphaba frowned. "Are you suggesting that Fiyero thinks less of you somehow because you were attacked?"
Glinda nodded, her lip trembling with the fresh threat of tears.
"That doesn't sound like him." Elphaba squeezed Glinda's hand gently. "And hasn't he been very . . . well, supportive, through the whole thing?"
"Yes," Glinda admitted. "But - remember before we left for the Emerald City, when I said he had been acting so distant?"
Elphaba nodded.
"Well, since we got back, for a while everything seemed fine again. But lately - he's been very kind, and he spends a lot of time with me, but . . . it's just not the same. He'll take my arm, or hold my hand, but he hardly ever kisses me, and when he does, it's, well . . ." She leaned over and, before Elphaba could react, pressed a quick, very chaste kiss to her lips. "Like that. It's not really like before - he's not distant exactly, he just doesn't seem to want me anymore."
"I'm sure it's not that." Indeed, Elphaba didn't think Fiyero was the type to be so callous as to reject a girl just because someone else had forced a kiss on her. "Maybe he's just . . . afraid of hurting you."
"What?"
"Sure," Elphaba said, warming to the idea. "Maybe he's afraid of scaring you, since . . . that happened. Maybe he's afraid you would take it the wrong way, or feel like you were being attacked again."
Glinda hesitated. "You really think that could be it?"
"Yes, I do." She held out her arm, and Glinda came to lean against her shoulder again. "I don't suppose you've thought of talking to him about it?"
"Have you ever contemplated going up to a boy and asking him why he hasn't kissed you lately?"
"I take your point," Elphaba said, "but as no one has ever kissed me in the first place - other than you, of course - it would be a fairly silly question."
"Well, it's difficult in my case too."
"I have an idea - don't kiss me again, and in a few minutes I'll ask you why you haven't."
"I hate you," Glinda said fondly.
The conversation lingered in Elphaba's mind, especially because (although she stopped crying and allowed Elphaba to drag her down to dinner) Glinda did not appear much happier in the next few days. So it was that Elphaba found herself waiting for Fiyero outside his dormitory before their literature class, asking herself exactly when she had lost her mind.
"Elphaba!" He was clearly surprised to see her there, but he recovered quickly. He motioned toward the boy who had come out with him - a tall Munchkinlander probably, Elphaba thought, with dark hair and the freckles common among even the richer farmer-folk. "Do you know Rikk?" Fiyero asked. "My roommate."
"Oh - I don't think so."
Fiyero gave an exaggerated half-bow of introduction. "Rikk, Elphaba."
The other boy held out his hand, causing Elphaba to start with surprise. "I've seen you around," he said pleasantly.
"No doubt," she replied, managing to smile nonetheless.
"Are we skiving?" Fiyero asked hopefully.
"No," she said, unable to repress a small laugh. "I just - I needed to talk to you, about something. I thought maybe on the way?"
Fiyero turned to his roommate, who held up both hands and said, "I'll see you later." With a smile he added, "It's nice to meet you, Elphaba."
"How unique," she muttered as he turned away.
"Be nice, he's all right," Fiyero said as they turned and fell in step. "And you can be terrifying when you want to be, you know. What was it you wanted to talk about?"
"Well - Glinda."
He almost stopped walking, but recovered. "All right."
"She thinks - somehow she's gotten the idea that . . ." Elphaba cringed and forced the words out. "That you feel differently about her because she was attacked."
Now he did stop walking. "What?"
Elphaba stopped to face him and shrugged. "She . . ." This is the most awkward conversation of my life, she mused. Why did I think I liked her enough for this? She sighed. "She says you've been . . . acting differently, and she thinks that you think less of her, or like her less, or . . . don't want her, as much, because of what happened to her."
"That's crazy," he said, his eyes flashing at her. "Why would I feel differently about her because of something that wasn't her fault?"
"That's what I said!" Elphaba spread her hands helplessly. "But - you have to understand, she's trying so hard to get over this and forget about it, and - anything different, anyone's behavior toward her that changes, she's going to think it's about . . . that. So if you're - having a bad day, or . . . if there's some other reason for the way you're acting -"
"How am I acting, exactly?"
Blood rushed to her face; she looked up at the heavens and silently asked for strength. "She says you haven't - been - oh, please don't make me say it. Please say you know what I'm talking about." She peered at him out of the corner of one eye, and was relieved to see him nod.
"Yeah, maybe," he said quietly.
She let out the breath she had been holding. "Well, I'm sure you have your reasons, but - if she doesn't know what they are, she's going to assume . . . if you seem to have changed your feelings about her, she's going to assume it's because of what happened. It's just - where she is right now."
His eyes held hers with a staggering intensity; she dropped her gaze to his chin to avoid reacting. Finally he said, in a neutral tone that she couldn't read, "You're right. I understand completely." He passed his hand over his face tiredly and asked, "Does she know you're talking to me?"
"Oh, no. And please don't tell her, she'd kill me."
"Yeah, well." He turned and started walking toward their class, letting Elphaba catch up. "I have no desire to admit that I had to have this explained to me. You must think I'm a complete jerk."
"No, I don't," she said sincerely. "You weren't trying to hurt her."
"No," he said, more to himself and the sky than to her. "I was trying not to."
Elphaba gave him a curious look, but he didn't seem inclined to explain.
~~Glinda~~
She and Elphaba hurried from dinner toward their dormitory, arms folded and coats tightly fastened against the cold night. It was already dark and they were surrounded by other students hurrying home before they froze, so she didn't notice Fiyero's approach until he was right between them. She gave a little start, and was gratified to notice that Elphaba did as well. At least I'm not the only jumpy one around here.
"Ladies," he said as cheerfully as he could with the cold wind blowing in their faces. "Think I could borrow Glinda for a while?"
For some reason Elphaba looked momentarily horror-struck, but Fiyero clapped her on the back and said, "Don't worry, Elphie, it has nothing to do with our literature class."
"Why would it?" Glinda asked, pressing her lips together to keep them from shivering.
"No reason!" Elphaba said brightly. "I'll see you at home then."
She hurried away, and Fiyero called after her, "Elphaba! Thought you'd like to know that Rikk said you were 'bizarrely normal.'" He grinned.
"Is that what passes for a compliment in your world?" She shook her head. "I'm going home before I freeze to the path. 'Bye!"
"What was that about literature class?" Glinda asked curiously as Fiyero took her arm and turned her away from the dormitories.
"Oh - um, well we ran into my roommate on the way to class and Elphaba - was nervous about meeting him, that's all. I promised her I wouldn't tell you. She was afraid you'd think she was being silly."
"But you just did tell me."
"Oh. Oops. Don't tell Elphaba."
"Why would she be nervous about meeting your roommate?" Glinda was beginning to feel more and more confused.
"You know how she is with new people. I guess I kind of laughed at her for it."
The wind picked up and she tucked her arm deeper through his. "Where are we going?"
He stopped. "Here."
Glinda looked up and felt her stomach clench. "No."
Fiyero wrapped both arms around her and pulled her against his chest as they stood looking up at the darkened facade of the history building. "Come on. It'll be all right."
"Fiyero, I really can't." She dug her heels into the ground and resisted his gentle attempts to pull her along.
"Yes you can." He cupped her face in his hands and bent down to her level. "You have two more years here, you have to go in sometime."
"No, I don't."
"You really do." He bent and kissed her, the same brief kisses she had complained of to Elphaba. "Look, I'll be right here with you. I have an idea - I want to help."
"An idea?" Her teeth were beginning to chatter and she wondered how long he would keep this up.
"You trust me, don't you?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"And you're really cold, right?" He smiled. "Come on. I promise, I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
She nodded, feeling her breath growing shallow. She forced herself to inhale slowly as they entered the darkened building and started up the hallway.
"See, no one here but us," Fiyero whispered. "And professors upstairs."
She gripped his hand tightly as they continued up the hall. "They fixed the door," she whispered haltingly as they reached the outside of their history classroom.
"Replaced it, actually," he replied. "You'd be able to see it's new if the lights were on. Elphaba was pretty thorough." He slipped an arm around her waist and pushed the door open. "Come on."
Trembling overtook her body as they stepped inside. With moonlight providing the only light, the classroom looked so similar to the last time she had seen it - well, before Elphaba had knocked over most of the furniture anyway. The wall against which she had been trapped loomed across the room, drawing her frozen attention.
Fiyero left her side just long enough to lock the door. "What are you doing?" she asked, slightly panicked.
He returned and pulled her close. "I thought you'd feel better knowing no one else can get in. Well -" he rolled his eyes a little "- except Elphaba, I guess."
She nodded and looked around the room, feeling her trembling slowly begin to subside. "So this was your idea?"
"Not exactly." His hand came up to hold her chin, and he bent to brush a soft kiss against her lips. "You have some pretty awful memories of this place."
"Yes, I do."
"I thought maybe we'd give you some better ones." He kissed her again, no less chastely but longer and with clear intention. "All right?"
Her heart pounded, but she nodded. "All right."
This time when he kissed her, there was nothing chaste about it. I guess Elphaba was right, she thought distantly as he unclasped her coat and eased it off her shoulders. He broke their kiss long enough to glance behind him and sit down on a desk, pulling her forward to stand between his knees. He shed his own coat quickly, then pulled her back into a gently passionate kiss, his hands stroking over her unbound hair. She sighed into his mouth at the feeling of everything she had been missing and lifted her hands to rest them over his chest. He covered them with his own, holding onto her wrists, and pulled back to ask again, "All right?"
She gave him a tremulous smile and replied quietly, "Yes."
"Good." He kissed her again, then brought his hands up between them to the collar of her dress. By coincidence she was wearing a dress that opened in the front, just as she had been on that day, and his fingers carefully slid the first button free of its clasp.
This was nothing new; he had often (although not recently) opened the top of her clothes just enough to reach the upper curve of her breasts, and he had always heeded her request to stop there. But this time she felt her heart begin to race; she wrapped her hands around his wrists and asked, "Fiyero, how much do you know about - about what happened? And about what I said, at the inquest?"
He stopped his motions and looked down into her eyes. "Everything, I think," he replied, confirming her suspicions. He brushed a kiss across the knuckles of her right hand. "Does it matter?"
"Elphaba told you." It wasn't a question.
"Yes, she did." He frowned somewhat comically in the darkness. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that, either. Don't tell Elphaba."
"Are you really that afraid of her?" she asked, feeling herself smile for the first time since they had left Elphaba on the path outside.
"I don't think I want her mad at me." Tentatively he freed a second button. "She only told me because she didn't want you to have to."
"I'm not going to yell at her," she promised, her breath hitching as he loosed a third button. "Fiyero . . ."
He kissed her, gently, and murmured against her lips, "Trust me."
"I do," she stammered. His hands were working steadily now, pausing only when he had opened her dress to the waist. She had no idea why she wasn't stopping him.
His fingers skimmed up from her waist, brushing over her body through the slip she was wearing under her dress. It laced at the top to hold it tight; she felt her eyebrows lift and her breath catch but said nothing as he began to draw the laces free. She was relieved to feel a throb of arousal as his fingers traced over the skin between her breasts - at least it meant she was capable of feeling something other than fear.
"Still trust me?" he asked, bending to kiss her neck, his breath hot on her skin.
"Y-yes," she managed. And she did, that was the miracle of it. She wrapped her arms around him, feeling his strong shoulders under her hands as he finished unfastening the top of her slip and parted the fabric, exposing her chest to the cool air.
Her fingers twisted nervously in his shirt - she trusted him, but she had never let anyone see her like this, not even Elphaba by accident (she didn't think). "It's all right," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her lips before lowering his head and kissing the place where the swell of her breasts began. She closed her eyes as his hands moved gently over her, gasping and arching her back when his lips followed them. When she didn't think she could take any more she whispered, "Kiss me, please," and he immediately obeyed, raising his head to bring their lips together.
With shaking fingers she unbuttoned his shirt and pushed it open, then tugged him closer and pressed against him, sighing at the feeling of skin touching skin. His arms wrapped tightly around her as they kissed, supporting the back of her head and holding her firmly to his body. When they finally broke apart they were both breathing hard, and his face was as flushed as hers felt. She rested her hands shyly on his bare chest, unable to meet his eyes.
"Better?" he asked, taking hold of her chin and forcing her to look up at him.
She smiled, laughed, covered her face with one hand, scrunched her eyes shut, and nodded.
"Good." He gave her one more kiss, then carefully gathered the fabric of her slip together and began lacing it again. To keep herself from laughing at his somewhat ungainly efforts she focused on buttoning and smoothing his shirt, stepping in to help only when he reached the point of trying to rebutton her dress.
"Fiyero?" she asked hesitantly as he fastened the last few buttons at her collar.
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
His hands stilled and he offered her a wobbly smile. "I love you, too."