It took some doubts, questions, counterpropositions and debates until the majority of the group accepted the event idea, but once they did, they wasted no time and got right into the preparations. Given how difficult the school administration had been about letting them open the club to begin with, they'd decided to book a venue off the campus grounds, and Shilah, who had come up with the idea, was tasked with finding the right place. He seemed hesitant at first, but when Galinda offered to help him, he immediately protested that he'd do just fine on his own.
"And thank goodness. We need a venue for a rally, not a wedding," Fiyero mumbled to Elphaba when he heard about it, and she let out a sound that was something between a laugh and a groan.
"Come on," she said. "I know Galinda is… well, Galinda, but she wouldn't actually try anything with him as long as he's her teacher… I think."
Fiyero shrugged.
"I don't know," he said innocently. "You seem like you wouldn't try anything with your best friend's boyfriend, and yet I remember having suspiciously many coffees with you while Galinda and I were going out."
"Hey!" She dangerously pointed a finger at him. "I was helping you study, that's all. Those were just coffees."
"Maybe for you," he muttered, but refrained from adding anything when he saw Elphaba's death glare.
Shilah, it turned out, had indeed succeeded in finding a venue on his own, which Galinda happily announced at the beginning of their next meeting.
"Oh, Galinda?" Pfannee said, raising her hand as if she was in a lecture, and elbowing the giggling ShenShen. "I could write to my sister Kyarra. She works for Ozmopolitan; maybe she could try to get us some press coverage?"
"Oh, that would be amazifying!" Galinda gasped and Elphaba, once again, rolled her eyes at her pretentious vocabulary. "Now, as we've established, it would be good if some of our fellow students could prepare a little performance, maybe present some of their talents. Anyone?"
The room fell quiet; everyone clearly hesitant to go first.
"Elphaba could sing," came a quiet suggestion from Nessarose and Elphaba looked at her sister in horror.
"I could not," she growled, her eyes sending daggers. "I do not."
"Yes, you do. You should sing mother's song, Fabala."
"I won't!"
"Oh come on, Elphaba!" exclaimed ShenShen with a teasing smirk. "What's the big deal?"
"The big deal," Elphaba hissed, sticking up her chin, "is that our mother's dead, and all I remember of her is when she sang that song to me."
The room went quiet for a good while as nobody really knew how to react.
"Well," Shilah said finally, clearly just wanting to dissolve the tension. "How about we go over our list of guest speakers? I have managed to invite a few Animals who would be willing to participate, and…"
Elphaba's mind trailed off. She regretted her outburst, but she was relieved it closed the matter. The memory of that one song – that and the little green bottle she'd kept hidden under her pillow – was the most valuable thing she owned. She felt she was justified in wanting to keep it for herself.
•••
Spring at Shiz was in full bloom, and Elphaba, Galinda and Fiyero gladly took advantage of the sunny weather, often meeting Nessarose and Boq outside for fresh-air study sessions. Elphaba observed, to her pleasant surprise, that her sister and the Munchkin not only still talked to each other, despite their countless fiery disagreements, but seemed to have grown genuinely fond of one another. All in all, the five of them formed a truly bizarre, yet somehow strangely effective friendship.
"Wow, someone's comfortable," Boq allowed himself a little teasing smile as he glanced at Fiyero, who'd rested his head on Elphaba's lap while she focused on her biology textbook.
"Jealous?" Fiyero asked, wiggling his eyebrow at the Munchkin. "I bet you wouldn't complain if I used you as a pillow."
"Maybe you should test that theory," Elphaba said, shoving him off her lap without her eyes ever leaving the textbook. "Get off me, Tiggulaar."
"You know what, Boq is making a really good point," Nessarose said with a slight smirk, watching her sister curiously. "What is going on between you two?"
"What? Nothing," Fiyero said with a nervous chuckle.
"Fiyero, do you like Elphie?" Galinda asked, her eyes bolting from Elphaba's face to Fiyero's and back.
"Who, me? No. Of course not. Nope."
"Yeah, no. Same here," said Elphaba, hiding behind her book which she, given the circumstances, had considerable trouble focusing on. "Don't care a bit."
"Right…" Galinda said, narrowing her eyes. "Not a bit, exactly what I thought. Well, I happen to know quite a few girls and boys who have been dreaming of just one little date with our notorious Winkie prince—"
"Vinkun prince," Elphaba corrected as Fiyero winced at Galinda's unwitting usage of the offensive term.
"Right, sorry. Vinkun prince. I keep forgetting. Anyway, since you guys claim that there is nothing going on between you, I'm sure neither of you would mind if I mentioned to the crowd of prince Tiggulaar's admirers…?"
"Not at all," Fiyero said with a smug grin. "Send them in, I'd love to make their acquain—"
He was forced to stop mid-sentence, finding it understandably difficult to keep talking with Elphaba's mouth aggressively crashing into his. Her textbook flew up, landing in the grass, as she grabbed Fiyero's collar, drawing him possessively to herself; wordlessly yet deafeningly announcing to the entire world that he was hers to have, no one else's. Mine, screamed her lips on his, her chest pressed to him, her hand getting tangled in his hair. Fiyero himself was initially shocked by this sudden outburst, but adjusted to it in no time, trapping her face between his palms, his thumb rubbing softly up and down her cheek. An involuntary disappointed sigh escaped his lips as Elphaba unexpectedly pulled away, pushing him backwards, and he almost collapsed, his head so dizzy that he barely managed to steady himself.
"Uh…" he said eloquently, quickly looking around and trying hard to ignore the knowing smirks and smug looks on his friends' faces. "Nothing to see here, folks."
"Oh, I disagree," said Nessarose, who looked both amused and disgusted. "I think we've seen plenty."
Galinda nodded.
"Yeah. Took you guys long enough."
"You… don't seem very surprised," Elphaba said, confused by the lukewarm reaction.
"Don't I? Oh no, I was trying my best. Wait, how's that?" Galinda pressed her hands to her cheeks and let her jaw drop in theatrical shock as she squealed: "Sweet Oz! You guys are together? No way!"
"What's next?" Boq gasped in pretended confusion. "Do we find out that, I don't know… Pfannee and ShenShen are dating?"
Elphaba stared at him.
"Are they?"
"Seriously?" Galinda groaned. "Elphie, for someone this smart, you can be so incredibly dense sometimes."
Elphaba stared at her silently, then glanced at Nessarose and Boq, who were both holding back laughter.
"How long have you known?" she managed finally, and Glinda waved her head dismissively.
"Oh, Oz, forever! I've had my suspicions since he brought you those flowers when we were leaving for the Emerald City. After we came back, I started watching you both closely, and honestly, it was not all that hard to figure out. You two are really not subtle with all your lovesick glances and flirting and 'study sessions', you know."
Elphaba opened her mouth to say something, but she could think of nothing, so she just closed it with a defeated sigh. She snapped her head around when she head Fiyero snicker behind her back.
"Don't be so happy," she hissed at him, rolling her eyes. "You hímerthaari."
"You do know you just called me a frozen fish?"
"Well, you are that, too. And stop using your teacher mode on me!"
"Why? Are you just too attracted to me when I do?" he teased, and Elphaba hated to admit that he wasn't entirely wrong.
"Oh, shut up, idiot."
"Make me."
"GET A ROOM, YOU TWO!"
•••
That evening, Fiyero heard a soft knock on the door, and as he opened it, he saw a miserable-looking Elphaba.
"That petty pink monster won't let me in."
Galinda had decidedly not been pleased with her roommate's secrecy, especially when Elphaba refused to answer the increasingly personal questions about her and Fiyero's relationship. Go sleep with your boyfriend, you traitor, she'd called through the closed door, which she wouldn't open, no matter how much Elphaba begged, cursed, pleaded or threatened.
"Somehow that doesn't really surprise me," Fiyero chuckled, letting her into the room. He embraced her from behind, but was alarmed to feel her tense up in his arms.
"What is it, Fae?" he said, stepping away, gently guiding her to turn around and face him.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, staring at the ground. "I've just been so scared of this; of people finding out about us. This whole time, it seemed too good to be true… And I guess I just don't really know what I'm doing; and I'm afraid there's going to be so much more pressure now that people know, and—"
"Hey," Fiyero called softly, tilting up her chin. "This isn't about anyone else but you and me. Nothing has to change between us. And I'd never pressure you into anything. You know that, right?"
She nodded, biting her lip and still avoiding his eyes. You were once the Wicked Witch of the West, she berated herself. People trembled at the very thought of you! Get it together, Elphaba. For the love of Oz, you're not a little girl! Still, when she spoke again, she hated her voice for sounding so small and weak and pathetic.
"Are you sure you don't mind that I'm not… that we don't…" She squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head, and started over. "I overheard you talking with your mother about, um… things… last summer."
Fiyero frowned, only now realizing the concern that she was trying to voice.
"Fae…" He opened his arms, but waited for her to take a step towards him before embracing her carefully. "Look, I can't lie about my past. I can't pretend to ever have been the image of virtue and modesty. Neither can I pretend that I don't want you that way. Because I do. I dream of making love to you." She tensed up at the thought and he stroked her hair comfortingly. "But I meant what I told my mother, Fae. I would never do anything to hurt you, or rush into anything we might not be ready for. I love everything that you are – your mind, your soul and your body – and I want to show you that in any way I can. But if you don't want this, neither do I. I'll love you just the same."
"I might want it, too. Someday," she said, very quietly, resting her head against his chest. "But not yet. Not anytime soon."
"That's okay, k'ámir," he assured her, still stroking her hair. She wanted nothing more than to let him know how much she appreciated all he was doing – and all he wasn't doing – for her; and she tried to remember the words she'd been practicing on her own for some time. Finally, she lifted up her eyes to say: "Kyé ámia't."
Fiyero's face lit up.
"I love you too." He placed a soft kiss on her forehead, then tilted his head, looking at her musingly and smiling in spite of himself. "Fae… When did you know?"
"What?"
"Dái tyé ámia'k."
Elphaba bit her lip, thinking deeply about her answer to his question. When did she realize that she loved Fiyero?
"I'm not sure, to be honest," she said slowly. "I think… It first started dawning on me when I grabbed your hand in the clearing. But I only fully admitted it to myself when… when you kissed me for the first time."
Fiyero grinned, seeing how flushed she was.
"Is that possible?" he teased. "The one and only time I've arrived at the right conclusion earlier than you!"
"When?"
"The moment Glinda got off the train and you didn't. That's when I knew for sure. But I was definitely into you for much longer. Pretty much from the start, I think."
She huffed incredulously.
"Yeah, right."
"I'm serious!" he insisted. "Once I realized you weren't coming back, I started obsessively analyzing every moment we'd spent together and understanding why I had behaved the way I had. I got you the flowers to remind you about the moment we'd shared. I ran away in the clearing, because I was afraid of how drawn to you I felt. I teased you about being Galindafied because I didn't want you to change who you were. That first night at Ozdust, I stared at you any chance I had, not because I found you strange or off-putting, but because I was intrigued and impressed by how fierce and honest you were. And even that first time we met…"
"Your opening line was Maybe the driver saw green and thought it meant 'go'," Elphaba reminded him; her eyebrows raised, but the corner of her lips twitching in suppression of a smile. "And, it was what you said to me after your driver almost ran me over. That was hardly a promising start."
"Hey," he retorted and pointed a finger at her. "It may not have been promising, but it's what got us here."
"Well, I'd argue that we got to where we are now despite that disastrous start. But," she added, covering the pout on his lips with a little kiss, "no matter how we started out – I like where we are now."
