Title: Obstinance
Main Pairing: Elphaba/Fiyero
Rating: T
Warnings: A slightly grumpy Elphaba...
Disclaimer: I do not own characters, settings, or ideas conceived by Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, Gregory Maguire, L. Fank Baum, and associates. This was written for pleasure, not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended.
Summary: A fic I'd originally intended as multi-chaptered, but ended up turning into a one-shot. My version of how Elphaba could have met Fiyero.
Author's Note: A spur-of-the-moment idea. Enjoy!
"Seriously, Elphie, how are we supposed to see those splendorific eyes if they're hiding behind your glasses all the time?" The mattress of the bed compressed behind Elphaba, and she stifled a groan as her roommate advanced on her. "How about you try reading without them."
"I'd rather not," Elphaba grumbled, "besides - hey!"
She almost toppled forward as her glasses were snatched from the bridge of her nose. "Give them back, Galinda. I need to finish this chapter."
"Tut, tut, always reading some sort of musty old book. When's the last time you let your hair down and just had fuuuun?" The bubbly laughter of the blonde led Elphaba to question what sort of activities Galinda referred to as 'fuuuun'.
"I have fun all the time," At the reproachful raise of an eyebrow, "Well I'm not trying to look like a fashion queen when I'm doing my homework."
"Why ever wouldn't you?" Galinda asked in genuine confusion, "Someone might see you like that."
"You know what, you're right, never mind," Elphaba held out her hand in exasperation and nodded towards her glasses.
"I am right, aren't I? What?" Galinda bounced closer to Elphaba, "You can't really expect me to give you these back, can you? What sort of friend would I be if I let you walk around like this for the rest of your life? I know just what you need!"
She hopped off the bed and sped into her expanse of drawers at a remarkable speed for her petit legs. Chaos ensued when all an assortment of garments flew from its depths. It sure was a deceptively small dresser.
"What do you think of this hat?" she asked, brandishing a large-brimmed floppy hat with an assortment of hideously orange and red flowers tacked on.
"I'll clash with it," Elphaba responded stiffly, lifting an arm as if to prove it.
"Oh shush, I always thought red and green went well together,"
"Not when it's not Lurlinemas."
"Elphie, please, just try it on."
"Fine,"
"You know, maybe you were right. Orange and red really aren't your colors." Galinda swept the hat away in a grand flourish and deposited it at the pinnacle of clothes littering their floor.
"Hats aren't for everyone. Besides…" she commenced on a lecture of how important the perfect accessory was. Elphaba resisted the urge to roll her eyes and turned back to her book. She could almost read it when she held it up two inches from her nose and squinted.
"…I get the feeling you're not listening to me." Galinda's pouting face appeared over her right shoulder with a flounce. Elphaba jumped, the book falling to her lap, and threw out her palms behind her. Crack.
"Galinda…"
"Yes?"
"Please tell me that was one of your things that just crunched."
"See, I would, but I didn't get anything else out for you to try on, yet."
"This was one of those times where you're supposed to lie to me even though it's obvious." Elphaba located one of the ear pieces and gingerly raised her glasses to a point where even she could see how mangled they were.
"Ohmygosh I'm so sorry! I swear I put them on the desk when I went to get some other things and-"
Elphaba held up a hand to stop the tirade of words and tears that were beginning to course from her friend. "No, it's not your fault." She didn't sound convincing, even to herself.
"Oh, Elphie, I'm SO sorry!" Galinda fluttered a hand around her face, "I wasn't serious when I said that you couldn't wear them for the rest of your life. I didn't actually mean that I was going to take them away."
"Yeah, I know."
"You're mad at me, aren't you?" Her eyes widened as Elphaba shrugged. "I know you're mad."
"I think I'm going to find Boq and ask him about the homework." Elphaba brushed off the nonexistent dirt on her jumper and stood. A hand grasped her wrist as she made to the door, and she trudged for a few moments with her roommate in tow before turning to face her.
"It wasn't your fault, so I don't want to hear it. No seriously," she wrung her hand free.
"Wait, stay right there!" Galinda muttered and dashed back into the bowels of the room. She emerged a few moments later with her wand. Elphaba could not control her snort as her friend placed the remains of her glasses on the table, dashed back two steps, rolled up her sleeves, and cleared her throat.
"Watch this," She waved the wand and spoke solemnly, "Now, you are going to fix yourself when I say 'repair'. Repair!"
"Um, Glin, I don't have the best eyesight, but I don't think that did anything."
"I know, I know, let me try again. Repair. Oh! is this thing going to workify or what?"
Elphaba grinned. "Maybe the spell would be more cooperative if you didn't try to hypnotize my glasses."
"I-I'm not trying to hypnotize them," Galinda sniffed.
"Anyways, I really need to discuss this chapter with someone else, and since I don't think you've done it yet," she paused to ascertain what she already suspected, "I'm going to find Boq, now."
"Wait, you can't go yet."
"Why not?"
"Well, I feel really bad about breaking your glasses and stuff-"
"Which you didn't-"
"So I wanted to invite you to my girl's night out this weekend. This week we're going to see a movie with our dates and then hang out in the lounge and get to know them."
"What happened to the girls only part of the girl's night out?"
"It's much more entercataining when boys are involved." Galinda waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
"Galinda Upland, you sound positively wicked!"
"So, whataya say?"
"I won't have a date," Elphaba bit her lower lip and worried it between her teeth, "and I don't intend on asking anyone out between now and then."
"I could hook you up with someone." Galinda grinned and curled a lock of golden hair between her fingers.
"Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I'll be able to make it."
"Or I could always bring them back to our room. I hear your bed is softer than mine…"
"Don't you dare!"
Galinda smirked and bounced on the heels of her feet. "You don't want the party in here, right?"
"Yes."
"Perfect, I'll see you back here at five on Friday, thank you for being so enthusiastical. What," she haltered at Elphaba's expression, "you expect me to let you go out like that? No way in Oz."
"There's nothing wrong with the way I dress! But I suppose there's no way I'm getting out of it, either, is there?" Elphaba groaned as Galinda's face lit.
"So you will come?"
"I don't really have a choice, do I?"
"Oh Elphie you're the best! I promise you'll have tons of fun, and I'll get you a really great guy, and I'll even fix your glasses! I won't stop trying until I fix them, promise!"
Elphaba only nodded as she left. As a matter of fact, the world didn't seem quite as hostile when she couldn't conjure a perfect image of people's faces. As long as she could maneuver the campus without impaling herself on a tree, she could actually get used to it. Friday suddenly loomed over her head with the promise of disaster. With a certain amount of trepidation, she stalked away from her room where the occasional swear would burst from.
She hadn't walked a hundred paces before she almost ran head-on into another person. Out of reflexes more than anything, she stumbled backwards. A warm hand caught her shoulder and steadied her balance. Looking up, she found herself staring into a face that was certainly not a girl's.
"Oh gosh, sorry, what, what are you doing here?" she quirked a brow at the sign on a nearby door that indicated the ladies' room after she had regained her composure.
"A fellow was allowed to walk in a hallway the last time I checked," he retorted with a miniscule amount of amusement.
"This is the girls' dorm." Elphaba stated matter-of-factly.
"I kind of got that already, thanks."
"So what are you doing skulking around in the halls?" She peered behind him and swiveled her head to briefly stare behind herself to determine which girl he had been visiting.
"I don't call walking skulking, thank you." A scowl tugged at the corner of his lips, curling his slightly fuller upper lip inwards.
"You know what I meant."
"Actually, I don't." He shrugged nonchalantly and glanced over her shoulder as if he expected their conversation to attract attention.
Elphaba huffed and crossed her arms across her body. The boy in front of her was clothed nicely, not with the air of self-proclaimed wealth but more of prestigious quality that wasn't flaunted. It suited the way he carried himself, and the slightly disdainful way he spoke to her. She supposed she didn't feel inferior, but felt the tangible separation between them.
"I don't think I need to explain myself, do I?"
"I never had the best grades in school, but you probably don't need to spell this one out for me," he uttered with mirth.
"Speaking of school, I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?"
The boy shrugged, his hair tickling his forehead. "Yeah,"
"Well get on with it, then."
"What?" He assessed her then, letting his eyes wander freely over her figure, and making Elphaba suddenly very uncomfortable with the dress she was wearing.
"That I'm a seasick frog or something. I don't know. People always manage to come up with new ones." Her eyes narrowed as his brows furrowed in confusion.
"You mean like, crack a joke because you're green?"
"The asparagus. Whatever."
"I wasn't going to say anything about it," he answered slowly, "But now that you brought it up, I was wondering why."
"Why I'm green?" she asked impatiently, "I was born that way, thanks."
"Oh," he mused simply.
"Oh, what?" He was proving to be rather infuriating. The more she talked to him, the more her insides squirmed uneasily.
"That makes sense."
"Of course it does." Elphaba tapped her foot on the ground to break the monotonous silence that had rushed in around the two like someone had opened the outside door.
"Lovely to chat with you and all, but I gotta go," he mumbled over his shoulder as he strode past her. She stood there for a moment, listening to his steps decrescendo, before realizing how odd she would look if he turned back. It was high time she found Boq…
Elphaba shrugged her bag off her shoulder and sat down heavily next to Boq, pulling her book from inside and opening it with a little more force than necessary. He glanced up from his own copy with mild curiosity on his face.
"Everything okay?" He shut his book after putting a slip of paper on his page and turned his body so he was facing her.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Okay." He sucked in the corner of his lip uncertainly.
"Galinda's making me go to something she calls 'a girl's night out' on Friday, and before then she's gonna do me up like some kind of doll." Elphaba ranted without preamble.
"I thought you said you didn't want to talk about it?" Confusion pulled at the creases in his forehead.
"I don't."
"So why are we-"
"Can we please just study?" Boq shrugged and said that he guessed they could, though he didn't understand how girls could be so confusing. Elphaba replied that Galinda made even less sense than she did, purposefully making his cheeks explode into flame.
"Look, I'm sorry you had a bad day and everything, but I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't take it out on me," he mumbled.
"So now you're taking her side?" Elphaba narrowed her eyes at her friend, who shrunk under her accusatory glare.
"I'm not taking anyone's side, just…"
"She indirectly broke my glasses. How can you take her side?"
"How can you indirectly break anything?"
"Well, I was actually the one who broke them, but she put them there when she was trying to glamify me or something." It felt fantastic to vent to Boq. Although she would hear about it later, it was taking a great deal of weight off her shoulders.
"Wouldn't that just be an accident?" His hand edged towards his book and twitched when Elphaba spoke.
"See, you're taking her side." she complained.
"El, listen, maybe now isn't the best time to study." he murmured, nudging his book towards the open mouth of his bag.
"And then there was this new guy hanging around in the girls' dorm like some sort of creeper…"
"El…"
"What?"
"Tell me about it later if you want to study now. Otherwise, I'm gonna leave."
"Why? We're here, aren't we?" Elphaba frowned at his subtle efforts, "Do you not get any of it or something?"
"I understand it fine, thanks." His chest puffed up pompously. Elphaba had unintentionally struck home when she brazenly scrutinized his intellect.
"Well let's study then. I had a question about the Second Oz War. I didn't really understand when…" Elphaba began, trying to keep the bitter taste of frustration out of her mouth as she explained her uncertainty. Boq quickly answered her question and she jotted it down in her notes. Their study session proceeded in the slightly awkward and angry manner.
"Thank you," she whispered some time later, letting her hand rest on his arm for a moment.
"For what? We just studied."
"Oh, just, you know."
"Example 2 of how confusing girls are!" Boq exclaimed triumphantly, pumping his fist in the air in some sort of mock celebration.
"Dork," she muttered, but couldn't contain a smile.
"Celery," he returned, flashing a grin in her direction as he gathered his stuff together and dumped it in his bag.
"Hey, my skin's much richer than celery. I prefer the term spinach, thank you."
"Whatever. Later, Elph." With that, Boq brushed past her and out of the door of the empty classroom.
Elphaba slumped slowly back to her room. Her bag seemed to weigh twenty pounds more than it did on her way over, and her feet dragged against the carpet. The mere thought of confronting Galinda and all her perkiness drew a frown on her face and she paused for a moment or so outside her door. Slight sounds emitted from the room, and Elphaba briefly wondered if Galinda was still trying to fix her glasses.
She leaned on the handle and opened the door wearily. Frantic scrambling and gasps resulted as Elphaba came face-to-face with the boy she had met in the hallway jumping off of Galinda, both of them red-faced and panting.
"Galinda?" Elphaba started slowly, experiencing a strong wave of déjà vu, "Why is your zipper undone?"
Galinda flushed down to the roots of her hair, and her hand instinctively reached to her back. "Oh, you know, it got hot in here."
"I'm sure," Elphaba rolled her eyes.
"Elphie," Galinda mumbled gingerly, "I want you to meet Fiyero. Fiyero, Elphaba."
"We've met," Elphaba replied icily, hands clenching as he provided an angelic smile that denied any of the intense kissing and groping he had just supplied her roommate.