A/N: I do not own Wicked.
Well, this came out a lot less sexy than originally intended, but hey, I'll leave that to my much more qualified peers. Plus, it's coming up around that time of year again (read: lots of anniversaries), so my thoughts are somewhere else.
Reviews are much appreciated.
Lights and Lease by Billy Jay 936
"Fae…." Fiyero called to Elphaba from her table at the podium.
No response, not even she tilted her head to sip the rest of her tea.
"Fae…yoohooo…," Fiyero said, scooting over from his seat at the edge of the set, now being only a stone throw away from where Elphaba stood, his voice now echoing off the walls of the relatively empty stage.
Elphaba continued to arrange her copies of the script without comment and Fiyero sighed and crossed his arms, thinking of his next plan of attack. Fighter for love, Fiyero was.
Fiyero had been trying to get Elphaba's attention all day, with varying results. Elphaba certainly had noticed him, but she was also doing her best to not give him the time of day, at least for today. And Fiyero had to admit, that bummed him out a bit.
All this happening on a fasting day just added to Fiyero's discomfort.
The trail of expulsions and colleges Fiyero had gone through had left him ineligible to officially participate in any of the clubs at Shiz University. But Lurline is damned if Fiyero still wouldn't occasionally pop in and hang out with the cast and crew, and often times they were always happy to let him in, much to Elphaba's chargin.
Being co-director (co- to Glinda, who was also in charge of costume and makeup), Elphaba was admittedly lenient on her boyfriend when he first hung out with the theatre kids, glad to see Fiyero actually enjoying himself while they were playing around in-between session. However, there were times where Elphaba noticed Fiyero simply dozing in-between the sets of whatever plays they were putting on at the time, and it was only then that she would snap at him, often saying "Fiyero! If you're going to hang around here, you're going to work-you're strong enough to move the sets around, go help out the crew. Go on, get!" , with Fiyero replying with a grumble and some vague accordance, crawling out from his hiding space to help Glinda in the dressing room or Boq with the sets or Nessa warm up her voice.
Fiyero's presence even helped boost the attendance in Theatre Club, if not outright encouragize new members to join, so it wasn't like he was being a pest. He was willing to help give help to whoever needed it, so it wasn't really like he was a nuisance.
It was just that Fiyero was one of those charismatic people who could and would, for better or for worse, draw attention to themselves, and the fact that his beloved Elphaba was ignoring him on purpose was playing on his heart as well as on his ego.
Fiyero knew that he had to step his game up a bit, but he had no clue how to do so. And then he glanced at a copy of the script someone left on the set piece next to him. Picking it up and flipping through it, Fiyero's eyes went wide with recognition.
"You guys are playing 'Lease'?" Fiyero asked, and Elphaba broke up from her reading to blink at him.
"Yes," Elphaba answered, before adding, "I thought you knew, you're sitting on a porch set," Elphaba said, her tone more bemused than snarky.
It was true, Fiyero was sitting on what can honestly be said was a weathered, Emerald City-esque porch.
"Huh," Fiyero said. "Never would have noticed it"
Elphaba simply rolled her and went back to her papers.
Fiyero smiled and stretched. "You know, there was always one song from Lease I really enjoyed though I don't think I could ever play it without a partner," Fiyero confessed.
"Oh, I'm sure you'd make a lovely Seraphine," Elphaba said with a smirk.
Fiyero laughed "Hey, don't degrade Serephine to me, Serephine is flawless! You see most of their designs in the Gilkin" Fiyero teased, and he was happy to get a small, concealed cackle from Elphaba in response.
Elphaba tilted her head to the side, biting her lip in thought before saying, "Alright, what is your favorite song from Lease, then, Yero?" She asked.
Fiyero smiled, standing up to walk over to her. "One of my favorites-" he gently corrected. "And it's -"
And that's when the lights went out.
"Elphie, Fifi!" came Glinda's cry from the girl's dressing room. "Are you OK?"
"We're fine, Glinda!" Elphaba cried back. "It's just from the weather, I think! Keep everyone together, I'll find the light-switch!"
"Or at least, Morrible!" Fiyero's voice added in the darkness beside her. Grabbing her hand, Fiyero said "Time to put those latent hunter skills to good use. This way, Fae!" Elphaba rolled her eyes but followed Fiyero out of the theatre and down to the barracks that would lead them to Morrible's office, being careful to grab her satchel as they left the room.
A few minutes later, Fiyero felt Elphaba let go of his hand to rummage in her bags, and he could hear the faint clattering of books and pencils jolting around as she did so.
"You know, this wouldn't be such a good time to try to catch up on reading, Fae." Fiyero teased, and then he heard a faint click in the darkness before a flash of light hit his eyes.
"LURLINE!" he shouted.
"Found it!" Elphaba said cheerfully. "I always carry one of these for emergencies, just in case something happens with Nessa. I'm sorry, Yero, you were saying?" Elphaba added, concerned as she put the light back on her boyfriend, who was now rubbing his eyes.
Fiyero chuckled. "Nothing, nothing. You caught me off-guard there. I was just going to give you first hint 'You got a light'?" Fiyero said his voice a soft purr.
Elphaba's eyes grew wide and she shook her head, trying to place it. "That's a song lyric! But from where?"
Fiyero chuckled. "I don't know, Miss Director, you tell me!"
Elphaba huffed. "Oh, bah, to you!" she said, playfully hitting Fiyero with the bottom of her flashlight while she did so, with Fiyero laughing as they made their way down the entryway.
"You're close!" Fiyero answered. "Stairs, Fae." He added, and Elphaba nodded as she handed him the flashlight to make their way downstairs.
"I hate how low down, Madame lives sometimes," Elphaba said, doing her best to fill the silence in the darkness. "If it wasn't for Nessa's chair…Yero?" Elphaba said, noticing Fiyero tremble a bit before sitting down to take a breath. "You're shivering! Are you OK?"
Fiyero nodded, shrugging his shoulder to get the chill off of him. "Just haven't eaten much today. Anyway, sorry about the flashlight, Fae."
Elphaba nodded though she did help him get back to his feet as they made their way down the last few steps of the stairs, carefully notice the slight trembling in the hand where Fiyero held the flashlight.
"At least, the room stopped spinning" Fiyero joked, and Elphaba frowned. "That's not funny, Fiyero. Is something wrong?"
Fiyero shook his head. "Everything's dandy. Just the storm making me dizzy. I hate this kind of weather on a fasting day" Fiyero admitted, before nearly ramming himself into a door.
"Found it!" Fiyero said, holding the flashlight under his chin as he pushed the door open.
"Down this hallway," Elphaba said, gesturing down the entryway to Morrible's private chambers.
Fiyero nodded, passing Elphaba the flashlight this time as he tried to gather himself, breathing in, breathing out.
"What are you fasting for, Yero?"Elphaba asked after a few minutes, breaking Fiyero out of his concentration. "If you don't mind me asking, of course. I don't mean to pry."
Fiyero smiled, scooping Elphaba by the waist to kiss on the cheek. "Totally fine. Just an Arjiki tradition. We fast to remember those we lost in the Grasslands during our initiation"
Elphaba nodded, then she realized something. "Oh, Yero. I'm sorry about your friends"
Elphaba saw the outline of Fiyero's smile in the dim darkness. "It's fine, Fae. Thanks for the company. Besides, you still owe me"
"Owe you what, dear?" Elphaba asked coolly, and Fiyero laughed again.
"Did you figure out the song yet?"
Elphaba thought about it. "I have to admit, I'm not as familiar with Lease as I want to be. I've never seen it."
Fiyero froze. "Wait, what, really?"
Elphaba shook her head, before her shadow dancing at the edges of the flashlight beam. "I've only read the script for it"
"I first went with my cousin to go see it in the Emerald City a few years back. Do you want to go?" Fiyero asked.
Elphaba blinked. "Who me?"
Fiyero smirked. "No, with my cousin."
The sound of a throat clearing broke them out of their reverie.
"Madame!" Elphaba cried. "W-we were just looking for you. The whole school's blacked out." Elphaba explained hastily, with Fiyero nodding to add to the effect.
Morrible quirked an eyebrow. "I'll deal with the rainstorm. And if you are concernerized with your sister, she is fine. Miss Nessarose is just taking a nap, she said the weather was making her tired."
Elphaba breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Madame."
Morrible said. "Well, you both may say with Miss Nessa until this business is settled. I can't have you wandering around in the dark."
Fiyero might have honestly preferred that to hanging around Morrible's stiff, perfumy suite, but Elphaba said: "Thank you, Madame."
Morrible nodded at them both again before leaving to deal with light. Elphaba and Fiyero sat down on her couch, both sighing tiredly as they tried to get comfortable on her stone hard cushions.
Elphaba felt Fiyero chuckling as she lay with her head against his chest.
"What is it?" she murmured.
"Nothing," Fiyero said. "So, you think I'd make a lovely Seraphine?"
Elphaba groaned into his shirt. "Oh, you'd just love the attention"
But Fiyero felt her smile, and he moved her face up to kiss her in the darkness of the room.
"Only from you" he admitted softly.
And the couple sat there quietly, waiting for the lights to come back on.