Okay, so this is a little longer than usual but also a commonly used concept; I hope I didn't cliché too much... Afterwards, there will be another arc of... fluff? Not only, but that's the aim... Imma gettin 'em somewhere... (¬‿¬ )
Enjoy!
"Rule number one: always have curls."
"What?" Elphaba frowned fiercely.
"It's important. My hair needs to be styled."
"Alright," the green-skinned woman rolled her eyes, "then my rule number one is not to have my hair styled."
"Why?" Glinda wined, having looked forward to doing so. "It's so beautiful, pleeease, Elphie?"
"No. It's supposed to stay that way."
"Can I at least braid it?" The blonde asked, innocently fluttering her eyelids at her best friend, who looked as if she'd send her eyes on another roller-coaster looping.
"Fine." She sighed, seeing her friend cheer to herself. "But no fancy hair products and stuff." Elphaba clarified, receiving a nod. Wondering whether the blonde still knew the actual reason of their talk – a plan she still found very risky –, she let her continue anyway.
"Rule number two is to never go anywhere without shoes. And I mean high-heels."
"Oh, Sweet- Glinda! Take this seriously."
"I do! I am. It's a curse to be this short, believe me." The blonde crossed her arms, huffing. "You'd be intimidated, too, if everyone was like a metre taller than you."
"You're exaggerating."
"Well, anyway, it's important to me. So, heels." The young witch decided, earning an annoyed sigh, but no objections.
"I'll try." Elphaba promised with slight irritation. She really was not good in walking on heels, but if she could balance on a flying broom, she would manage, she told herself. When the girl across from her kept on watching her, the green witch thought for a while. "Then my rule number two is no flirting with your servants. Or anyone else for that matter." Glinda gasped lightly, looking offended – though not enough, as Elphaba thought, both knowing it was not entirely untrue. They held eye contact for a couple of heartbeats, until the shorter witch gave in, scowling with pushed-out lips, obeying.
Elphaba opened the Grimmerie on the page she had marked, knowing she did not have to mention to stay hidden – even Glinda, no, especially Glinda knew that. She looked at her friend from below. Glinda nodded slowly, looking excited, but determined. Spells are irreversible… Elphaba thought, making her tingly. What if Glinda was wrong and her spells did not lose effect after some time? What if they had to stay that way forever? What if it went wrong in the first place?
"Elphie…" Glinda breathed, giving her friend an encouraging look, placing her hand on her friend's. "It'll be fine. Remember," she smiled, "together, we're unlimited." Elphaba had to smile at that, too, sighing, letting her shoulders slack. She nodded, watching the blonde inhale, collecting herself.
Murmuring at first, Glinda melodically chanted the spell in the Grimmerie, her hands stretched out over the page, slim fingers slightly shaking from anticipation. Elphaba listened, not daring to look at the book, knowing she was not allowed to correct the pronunciation. The theory was, after all, that when the blonde conjured her way, the spell would not be strong enough to be permanent – like the binding to Avaric had been.
Elphaba thought it was over before it had started. She was used to feeling the magic, making her experience it herself. Now that Glinda had been the one to use the spell, it already seemed odd to the green witch. They stared at each other. Damn.
"Nothing happened." Elphaba cursed inwardly, huffing as she turned the Grimmerie to reread the spell in her head.
"No, we need to wait. It took a while for the last spell to take effect; let's be patient and see what happens." Glinda reminded, still looking convinced. They sat back on the bed, waiting. For almost an hour, they stared at the ceiling, always giving each other testing, suspicious looks, always with the same results. Sighing, they closed their eyes, too unsettled to be needing a distraction like a book.
Knock knock. It came from the door. Elphaba rolled her eyes, knowing it was lunch time and the boy was about to pick Glinda up.
"Come i-" she heard her voice call without having opened her mouth. Eyes shooting open, she stared at herself – no Glinda, right? – receiving the same shocked expression. Avaric hesitated, telling the two silent witches about lunch, placing it on the bed – he brought both of their meals, assuming them to be wanting to eat together. He frowned at the huge eyes the girls gave him, retreating backwards and leaving with a short bow.
Elphaba broke out in laughter at his face, slamming a hand over her mouth when the voice she used was higher than her own.
"Oh my gosh, Elphie…" she heard herself say, blinking into her own face, "We did it!" Glinda cheered inside of her best friend's body. Jumping off the bed, she almost missed the door handle, being a lot further down than usual. "Avaric! Call in the meeting!" She yelled down the throne room, leaning against the door with a mischievous smile upon closing it.
"They're going to burn." Elphaba said through pink lips, grinning back at her friend, staring to be annoyed by the bouncing curls around her face. Glinda smirked back at her, curling her lips inwardly.
"Make some toast, Elphie."
Elphaba truly made toast of the men in front of her, biting down a smirk as she saw one of them trembling slightly.
"I see. And who exactly decreed you to be lawyers?" She almost spat the last word, tapping her pen to make them even more uncomfortable.
"I-I… well, you see, Your Goodness, we, uhm…" the leading lawyer tried to start, unable to come up with something anyway. She knew it was clear to see that their superior was fully aware of their scam, so they would not dare to lie any further.
"Execution," they all gasped at the blonde's cold voice, "of law 364, paragraph 19," they all exhaled in relief, and Elphaba frowned slightly, but continued, "will be your penalty." She concluded, glaring at them one after the other. "I don't assume any of you would know what that means, but you will see." She taunted the 'lawyers', dismissively waving her hand.
She had the guards outside the study lead the men away, sighing to herself. Getting up, she staggered on the high heels she had squeezed her tiny feet into, opening the door to the bathroom. A green face smirked widely at her.
"Elphie, thank you. Thank you so much." Glinda whispered with the green witch's voice, hugging her. The height difference was really too strange for both of them, so they released each other again quickly. "Before this is over, I want to style your hair."
"No styling my hair." Elphaba gave back, but Glinda pouted the thin lips back at her friend.
"Just hairstyles. No products, I promise." She said, starting to braid the waist long, raven black hair. Elphaba sighed, muttering a 'fine', leaving after telling the blonde in her body to be getting their lunch.
Halfway down the stairs, she remembered that she did not have to get it herself. It was a little exciting to be walking around freely, but on the other hand, Elphaba did not want to risk doing something too suspicious in front of the staff. That, and she did not know how and when the swapping back would occur – if it would occur.
She threw the door on her right open, raising her brows at Avaric – whom she had banned for the meeting –, reading a book.
"Lunch?" She asked, trying to sound like Glinda. She had watched them often enough; she knew how the blonde acted around the boy.
Nodding hesitantly, Avaric rose from the bed, placing the book onto what seemed to be a board game.
"What's that?" Elphaba made her voice sound innocent. Turning, he glanced at her, so she put on a smile. She sauntered over to the bed, flopping down much like Glinda did, eyeing the complicated signs on the board.
"It's called the Phoenix's Blaze. The chef gave it to me." Avaric explained, adjusting the bookmark in a tactic manual for said game, then put both beneath the bed. "I think he wants to challenge me; there aren't a lot of people who comprehend the rules." He added, making Elphaba interested. She loved a challenge and even more if she could beat him. A thought crossed her mind and she had to fight the smirk that wanted to creep onto her lips.
"Avaric?" She asked as sweetly as she could, remembering to flutter her eyelids. He blushed, looking slightly confused. Elphaba lifted the blonde's pale chin a little, glancing into his eyes with sparkling blue ones – she did not want to miss a millisecond of his reaction. "I know you have a crush on me." She said, watching his blush burn up to his ears. Avaric blinked at her once, then replied more collected than she had expected.
"You're right. Always have and always will." He confessed, making her jaw drop, turning into a gleeful, almost devilish grin.
"I knew it." She whispered, quickly recalling to flutter her eyelids. He held her gaze, plainly cocking a single brow.
"Too bad she didn't hear that." He dryly commented, raising his brows once, then turned for the door. Elphaba's – Glinda's to be exact – expression froze. She rushed towards the door, slamming it close in front of his nose, stammering a 'you knew?!', breathing an unbelieving 'how', starting to get angry. Avaric didn't flinch. He gave a smirk, then left to get the two witches' lunches.
Scowling, Elphaba stomped up the stairs, cursing about the shoes that almost made her fall with every step. She barged into her best friend's room, hearing her own voice hum merrily from the bathroom. With a frown, Elphaba caught sight of her hair, braided artistically around her head like a crown, flowing in waves down her back. She rolled her eyes, then slumped down on the couch.
"Look, Elphie!" Glinda cheered, turning to beam a huge smile when she was done, the hairpins sparkling as much as her eyes did. Elphaba raised her brows, irritated at first, but surprised by how beautiful the make up on the green face looked. She opened her mouth, but when her words failed her, she sighed instead.
"You were here all the time?" She asked at last, annoyed by her voice coming higher than usual. No wonder Glinda lost every argument; her voice was not half as annoyed as her own was.
"Mhm." Glinda hummed positive, turning to admire the new look she had created in the mirror. "Elphie, you really are beautiful." She said, smiling brightly.
"You didn't watch?"
"I'm not a stalker like you, I have hobbies." Elphaba snorted at that, chuckling when her friend turned, hands on her hips – her hips.
"Without anyone around? That's hard to believe…" she muttered, groaning when she remembered her failed prank. "He confessed. He said he's into you." She retold, watching green eyes roll of annoyance.
"Yeah, right."
"It's true!" She groaned. She wanted Glinda to turn him down, but shrugged. Let him suffer, then. She thought, giving up. Going back to the bedroom, Elphaba waited for the anticipated knock, not getting up but waiting for the late lunch to be handed to her – she did not like people doing everything for her, but if it was the boy she could annoy with it, she did not mind as much.
"Oh, Avaric, look!" Elphaba's voice cheered more than it ever had – still a normal range for Glinda, who gave herself away too obviously. Spinning without heels, as she did not need them to be even slightly taller than Avaric, Glinda burst in from the bathroom, presenting her handiwork. With flowing hair and sparkling eyes, she gave him an expecting look. Avaric smiled – for the first time towards Elphaba's body – and returned an impressed nod.
"You're quite the artist if you can make a face like that look good." He complemented, a smirk fighting to creep onto his lips. Glinda gasped, unable to hide her own playful grin, while Elphaba grunted, kicking his shin as hard as possible with her now short legs. Avaric groaned in pain, but so did the newly blonde, having used the almost healed right foot. Glinda giggled.
Sitting down on the bed, she prevented Avaric from leaving with her lengthened eyelids, offering him to share her own lunch – she was too excited to be hungry. Elphaba rolled her eyes, hoping for them not to become established in this constellation, but used her chance to mock him.
"You know Glin," she used the nickname on purpose, "perhaps you can get a feeling for magic this way." She proposed, meeting sparkling eyes. The makeup really suited her own face, she had to admit.
"That's a great idea, Elphie!" Glinda exclaimed, scooting back on the bed, collecting her legs for a cross-legged position. Taking a deep inhale, she closed her eyes, trying hard to summon magic from within her. Elphaba watched, pondering on the thought if it would help her friend if she would be able to summon magic in the blonde's body.
Glinda gasped, shaking from excitement when she felt warmth spreading in her chest.
"Hands, Glin, control it." Elphaba reminded, feeling excited herself. Had they already practised enough? Was there a feeling strong enough to aid her? Or was it Elphaba's body that did the trick? Whatever it was, she hoped for it to give the young witch enough confidence to be able to do it again as herself.
Pressure and warmth travelled down the girl's shoulders, where it started glistening with light as she opened her eyes to stare at it in her hands.
"You imagine… glitter?" Elphaba asked, knowing that if she would have summoned raw magic, it would have looked different.
"Glitter is magic, Elphie." Glinda retorted, blinking at it excitedly. "What do I do with it?" She asked, overchallenged.
"Hm…" Elphaba put two fingers to her chin, frowning. She smirked, having come to an idea – there was still a servant to be taunted. "Didn't you want to try healing magic?" She asked, receiving an enthusiastic nod she had never seen herself do – the whole body switching was still confusing her. "Alright," she turned to Avaric who had watched in awe and silence – and affection, she knew –, "break a finger." She ordered receiving exclaimed 'whats' from both sides. "Fine, I'll do it." She said, taking one of his hands in her now pale ones.
"No, no, Elphie, wait." Glinda tried, finding her magic draining, so she sat back, refocusing. Avaric had moved away from Elphaba, who smirked at him.
"Wouldn't you do anything to help her? Then she could finally practise." She asked with played seduction, fluttering her long eyelashes. "Oh, come on, just one." She said, pulling on his wrist, taking his hand with force, examining it. "You said yourself you wouldn't need it, since you're not going to marry." She stated when holding onto his ring finger. Avaric's eyes widened in shock, making him unsure about how much power she possessed if she knew – speculating on Glinda having told her, but not quite believing it – and incapable of responding.
"Don't be mean, Elphie!" Glinda pouted, taking his arm to get it away from her devilishly grinning friend. "Why wouldn't he? He's so sweet; I'd marry him. Now please stop with that finger-breaking-stuff. I can practise otherwise… I guess…" she said, not knowing she was making the boy she was holding on to explode with blush.
Elphaba broke together with laughter, yelling out a cackle that was too dirty to come out of the blonde's mouth. Avaric excused himself wordlessly, to which Elphaba fell off the bed, wheezing and panting. Glinda yelped, hitting the ground. She looked up, seeing Elphaba's face stare down at her. They shared a gaze with huge eyes, knowing the spell had lost its effect, until the green witch hollered out in laughter once more.
"Elphiiie…" Glinda grumbled, giggling at hearing her friend openly display her joy. Shaking her head, she got to her feet, rubbing her aching back. "Oh, Elphie…" she sighed, smiling, "I'm going to take a bath, so you'd better not raise any suspicions. Keep it down." She said, giving her friend a playful nudge, who was crying from laughing by now. Elphaba was going to respond, but the only thing she managed was a breathy 'his face', watching Glinda leave with her bathrobe and nightgown.
Glinda watched Avaric prepare the bath. He did not speak a single word, avoiding to look at her. Glinda sighed, starting to unlace her bodice.
"Sorry about Elphie…" she muttered, trying to hide her embarrassment by pretending to be busy with the lacing. "One day, I'll heal you, but you don't have to break a finger for that, don't worry." She clarified, starting to loosen the skirt. Avaric nodded, still not meeting her glance, leaving when he noticed her having started to undress.
Glinda frowned. She had been waiting for Avaric to come back, but he did not. For almost an hour, she had been sitting in the bathtub, already having washed her hair, though she had waited for a long time, always hoping for him to do it in her stead. When she got out and went upstairs, she was frustrated. Feeling grief tug on her, the young witch tried to ban the images from her head, haunting her with her father's and Nanny's death.
Inside her room, she put on a neutral expression, witnessing how Elphaba emerged from the closet – her new time-out room – looking at her friend with great effort, but snorting with laughter a second later. The green witch stumbled into the study, where she slowly calmed down, distracting herself with reading.
Glinda smiled weakly, happy for her friend, but unable to shake her own feelings off. Not wanting to upset her best friend, she silently let her tears drop, huddling underneath her blanket to sob as quietly as possible. She did not know what exactly it was, but it came in waves, shaking her with sorrow and guilt. Crying to herself, clutching one of her pillows to her stomach, the blonde gasped between whimpers, mourning for minutes to pass.
A tentative knock was heard on the door – two actually, with the specific rhythm. The young witch held her breath, shaking her as she desperately needed the air, having to pant slightly. She sniffled.
"Yeah?" Her voice was tiny and trembling and she cursed inwardly for it to have come out that way.
"It's me…" Avaric said from behind the door. Glinda quickly wiped her face with her pillow, turning it around to hide the wet side. She wondered why he hesitated, knowing it was normal for him to enter upon her first reaction.
"Come in." She silently said, wiping her eyes again with the heels on her hands when the door carefully opened.
"Are you okay?" He asked softly, nearing the bed. Glinda held her head low, not wanting to show her tear-stained face. She nodded weakly, clutching the blanket as she sat up. Avaric hesitated, not daring to sit down just yet. "Is… is your offer still standing?" He asked, making her look up. She could see the hurt in his eyes when they met her glistening ones. Clearing his throat, he revealed a bleeding injury on his finger, making her forget about her own worries for a moment. "I… cut myself in the kitchen." He confessed uneasily, sitting when she reached out for his hand.
Glinda examined the strangely angled cut, frowning as she was slightly disgusted by the wound – wounds in general –, making her wonder how she had imagined herself to manage healing magic. With an unusual ease, she felt the magic rise inside of her, pulsing with every centimetre it climbed into the tips of her fingers. Avaric compelled himself not to wince when she accidentally made his skin burst, opening the cut further. Shrieking lightly, the blonde quickly sucked the blood away, making the boy blush heavily.
"Sorry…" she mumbled, this time imagining mended skin, seeing his fingers as they usually were in her head, recalling their tender movements that she loved to watch and feel so much. The bleeding stopped, though the wound remained, slightly crusted over and larger than before, but it was a first. Frowning with sympathy, she did not want to accept his thanks, but did not dare to deny it when he warmly smiled at her. "…Avaric?"
"Hm?" His voice was calm, and he looked honestly impressed by her – to her lack of – skills. It was magic after all, she thought. She eyed the wound again, her mind having clicked, but she spoke gently, nonetheless.
"You don't work in the kitchen."
Avaric did not respond.
