A/N I had a very small play with the timeline and inserted an extra night between Galinda meeting Fiyero and the dance at the Oz-Dust so that this could happen. Fiyero sneaks into the Girl's Dorms to have a surprise midnight tryst with Galinda. It doesn't quite go as he planned.
Shattered fantasies
Fiyero grinned to himself as he snuck down the corridor of the girl's dormitories. He couldn't wait to see the look on Galinda's face when she answered the door.
"Fiyero!" she would gasp, her blonde curls still perfectly formed, her night dress fashionably short, and just the right side of sheer. "You can't be here." She would give a coy head tilt.
"But I just couldn't wait any longer to see you!" he would whisper earnestly and step towards her. She would put one hand out regally.
"No, Fiyero, stop. What would happen if you were caught here?" she would feign concern.
"I don't care about that. I just needed to see you." Then he would turn his head just-so…
In the real corridor Fiyero practised the head tilt.
"I think I hear something…"
"Quick! You better come in!" she would urge, pulling him through the door. They would be kissing before it even swung closed…
Fiyero gave a quick frown, back-tracked in his mind and added himself kicking the door shut, for dramatic effect. Perfect. A private midnight makeout session.
He reached the door that he knew was Galinda's, she'd made very sure he'd known the number, and gave a quick knock. At the noise, he gave a little flinch and pushed away the sudden quirk of unease about what would happen if he did get caught. He reminded himself that he was shallow and self-centred and didn't care a clock-tick what his Father would say if he got kicked out of another school. He focused on the image of Galinda and heard footsteps on the other side of the door. He smiled and posed sexily in readiness. 'The advantages of a private suite,' he mused gladly.
The door opened and he started.
The green girl he'd nearly run over when he first arrived was there. It shattered his fantasy and left him reeling. Pale skin replaced with emerald green. Blonde gentle curls with a dark, functional braid. The sheer silk nightdress with a long, serviceable, cotton night gown.
On seeing who was at the door she gave her most fearsome scowl.
"You! What do you want?"
The shock was wearing off too slowly.
"Galinda…" he managed weakly as he concluded that he must have just got the wrong room.
"She's not here," came the blunt reply. "Sorry to disappoint you. It's just me."
"What?" he was frowning now, bewildered. "But…this is her room?"
"Yes." The green girl was practically radiating animosity. "I'm her roommate. Bet she hadn't got round to telling you that yet, had she?"
It felt like his brain had turned to mush. This was not how the evening was supposed to go.
"Where is she then?" he managed to get a measure of confidence back in his tone.
The girl tilted her head, unimpressed.
"Does it look like I am the sort of person she would tell?"
Fiyero glanced at a noise down the corridor and muttered absently, "No. I guess not." He saw the tinniest flash of hurt as he looked back, although he may have imagined it, and added, "I mean, because, she didn't even tell me she had a roommate, not because you're…ummm…"
"Green," she finished.
He stared at her, stunned at her bluntness, and she glared right back at him. He must be tired, he decided; tripping over his words, caring about how he came across. That wasn't him at all. She raised her eyebrows.
"Anything else I can help you with?"
She was being sarcastic with him and the ridiculousness of the situation struck him and made him smile. Not a sexy smile, or a forced carefree smile, or a manipulative smile. A genuine one. It felt good. Pure. Like a sun ray cutting through the fog. He responded to her comment in kind.
"You could tell me your name."
That threw her for a second, eyes widening in surprise before becoming suspicious.
"What could you possibly want with that?"
"It is considered the polite thing to do," he said to her, a little tongue-in-cheek, "when someone meets another someone, even if it is the middle of the night."
"Does that include when an unknown someone appears at your door with no explanation and a barrage of questions?" she snipped right back at him.
He feigned a serious look. "In those cases, it is especially important for protocol to be followed."
She was watching him with those piercing eyes, like she was trying to place him in a box but he wouldn't quite fit.
"I know who you are. Prince Fiyero. Shallow, selfish and general layabout. Skimming the surface of life."
"That's the one," he said jovially, the description echoing emptily inside, like stones rattling down a well. She gave him a sharp look, as though she could hear the ping as they fell. He shook the feeling off. "Your name?"
"Elphaba Thropp," she finally managed.
"Well, Elphaba, it was nice to meet you…"
"I doubt that," she interjected but he ignored her.
"Maybe you could give Galinda a message…" The words froze in his throat. There was a tap of shoes down the hall. Someone was coming, and for a moment he was afraid, just for a moment. Even as he felt the flash of fear he was pulling on his armour of careless indifference, only to find his arm grabbed and tugged sharply. He stumbled forward into the bedroom as Elphaba quickly released him and snicked the door shut. Again, he felt the similarities, but most starkly the differences, of his fantasy and the reality. The daydream seemed so silly now, shredded and discarded like stale cotton candy.
"What…?" he managed weakly before she cut him off with a hissed, "Shut up!"
She was standing guard at the door, coiled tight, eyes fixed unseeing at the wood, listening. The footsteps approached the door and continued past without slowing. Elphaba visibly relaxed, before turning burning eyes onto the interloper.
"I think it's time for you to leave," she told him in a steely voice.
"Why did you do that?" His voice was enquiring, bewildered, "You didn't have to do that."
Elphaba averted her gaze, fixing it on the wall, and shrugged.
"What else?"
"Well you could have slammed the door in my face…" he prompted.
The green girl sighed and muttered something quietly, that sounded a lot like, "well it was tempting…" before she looked directly at him again. The longer he spent with her, he realised, the less the colour of her skin bothered him. Her eyes were expressive and bright. Beautiful. He let the shutter fall down on the thought as she spoke.
"It was because you looked afraid."
"Afraid?" he scoffed. "Afraid of what?"
Elphaba wasn't perturbed by his tone and her expression never faltered.
"Of what, only you can answer, but it's the first time I've seen you look like you care about something…"
He folded his arms sharply and snapped, "I don't care about anything."
She blinked and took a step back.
"My mistake." Her voice lacked conviction. He detected a hint of mockery. He didn't push it and neither did she.
Unaccountably inclined to wind her up Fiyero took a stroll around the room instead of leaving like she'd asked. Galinda's influence on the room was obvious. Her bed was littered with beautiful outfits and along one side was an entire wall of shoes. Elphaba's bed had clearly been added later, shoved into one corner. It was bare and sparse of personal items. He guessed he kept all those drab clothes of hers in the closet. The only personal touch was a stack of books. He picked the first one up and flipped it over. Study books for magic. He glanced over at his girlfriend's roommate and she watched him defiantly.
"You do magic?"
She blinked. "Oh good. You can read."
He put the book down with a snap and pointed a finger at her.
"You need to lighten up; have more fun."
"Right," she folded her arms. It drew his attention to her chest, tightening the fabric of her nightwear, "because that's working so well for you." He had stopped listening, found himself wondering…He quickly pulled his gaze back to her face to find a faint blush on her cheeks and she dropped her arms.
"You…" she averted her eyes, a tremble in her voice, "…you need to go."
"Right," he stammered back, feeling, for some reason, like he was also blushing. "I should leave you to…" he waved a hand generically at the pile of books, "whatever, before I…thank you, by the way."
She nodded, once, sharp, and he felt like someone was propelling him towards the door, even though she was nowhere near him. She pulled the door open as he was pushed towards it. 'Magic,' he thought, before he caught the door frame, forcing himself to stop.
"I guess I'll be seeing out around."
She finally looked at him properly and he realised he'd been hoping she would, so he could see her eyes before he left.
"I imagine so," she replied dryly, "I'm hard to miss."
He smiled, not knowing why, and again she seemed confused by his response.
"Goodnight then," he murmured quietly, before he was shoved through and the door snapped shut in his face. He stared at it a moment, bewildered, until it opened a crack and a hurried "Night" was thrown at him, before shutting once more.
Fiyero grinned to himself and took off down the corridor.
Elphaba Thropp. His girlfriend's roommate. Intriguing.
He'd have to make sure he saw her again soon.