11. Moonlight
There is a particular bench situated right outside the dorms that Glinda favours. It is only a recent occurrence; before, she would never have taken a second look at that serene resting place, half-hidden by the protective branches of the overhanging trees.
She likes to sit there on the nights when she finds it difficult to fall asleep in a room which feels somehow colder and emptier than before. Most of the time, Fiyero will sit beside her, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as they each immerse themselves in the separate chaos of their own thoughts.
Sometimes, Fiyero will touch his lips lightly to the top of her head, so insubstantial that she can barely feel it. Other times, he only looks at her silently, seeming almost confused as a dozen different emotions flash across his eyes, but Glinda never notices the conflict that rages within him.
He always kisses her before they part, on the steps of the girls' dorms, and every time she tilts her head up to his, she somehow always reminds him of Elphaba. The gentle wash of moonlight makes her hair glow luminescent, shadows the hollows of her cheeks and neck, paints her skin a ghostly blue. She looks fey and wild, otherworldly in the way that only Elphaba ever once was.
He is a fool, because despite his expectations, Glinda will never be Elphaba, and he is doubly a fool, because he never learns, and he keeps kissing her anyway.
Instead, the only thing he learns is that sadness has a flavour, and that flavour is Glinda Upland.
A/N: The first version of this was actually pre-Defying Gravity, but I decided I hated it, so I ended up with this instead.