Content Advisory: Suggestive Content, Bullying, Derogatory Language, Profanity
✉ Chapter Eighteen: The Morning Aftermath ✉
Elphaba woke before him.
She hadn't remembered falling asleep. It felt more like morning had come between blinks. When she opened her eyes Fiyero's sleeping face faded into view. He looked younger, more boyish than she'd ever seen him. She peeled her cheek off of his chest, leaving behind a funny red imprint over his heart where she'd rested her head upon him. She deftly slid out of bed and goose flesh pricked across her body as she tiptoed across the chilled floor.
Night had its horrors, especially for Elphaba, but morning held a certain level of dread as well. Things that one could conceal under a lantern's glow were no match for dawn's harsh spotlight. Elphaba couldn't help but feel exposed. She took extra care whilst opening her sticky dresser drawer so that it would not screech and wake the boy in her bed. She dressed speedily and as she reached the last button, she realized she had been one off. Before she was able to undo her mistake, she looked up to see Fiyero awake.
"Hi," she blurted out immediately, her hands still frozen in place on her buttons.
"Hey."
She continued to stare at him, distracted by his state of undress.
"…Hi," she repeated dumbly.
Fiyero got out of bed and Elphaba shyly averted her gaze, as silly as that seemed at this point. He dressed from the waist down and closed the distance between them.
"The lights are back on," Fiyero pointed out.
"Yes, I saw."
"I guess we don't really need the lantern anymore."
"Why do you even have a lantern?"
"You don't?"
"No, that's a weird thing to have."
"Well, then you just got lucky I had one last night."
"Pretty sure we both got lucky last night," Elphaba quipped.
Fiyero raised his eyebrows at Elphaba's cheek and chuckled in surprise. Elphaba ran a hand through her loose hair only to get her fingers stuck in a tangle. Fiyero stepped forward and helped her dislodge her hand.
"Oz, Elphaba. Your hair is a mess," he teased.
"I'd say you're at least partially to blame."
"Happy to help." Fiyero took a good look at the sheen on Elphaba's face as the sun shone upon her through the window. "Good morning."
"Good morning."
They shared a quick, gentle kiss.
"How are you feeling?" Fiyero checked, reaching down to take her hand. "Any regrets?"
"Tons," Elphaba replied before offering a wry smile. "But none about last night."
"Even after seeing what I look like in the morning?" Fiyero played, tilting his chin to the side to pose for her.
"Even so. You're still beautiful."
"Beautiful, huh? So, the truth finally comes out, Thropp."
"What truth?"
"You think I'm sexy."
Elphaba scoffed. "Pardon?"
"You think I'm sexy!"
"Maybe in a strident, arrogant, princely kind of way."
"I'll take it."
An awkward silence lapsed between them and Elphaba laughed uncomfortably.
"Is the morning after always this weird?"
"I don't know. I don't—" Fiyero stopped short, realizing he was about to sound like an ass. "I don't usually…stay?"
"Wow."
"I know…"
"You're kind of an ass."
"I know."
"So, you're telling me that you've never stayed the night? That explains why Glinda was never gone."
"Oh, Glinda and I never…"
"You never?"
"No. Well, I mean we did some stuff—"
"Enough," Elphaba held up her hands, not keen on hearing details. "I guess I just…assumed."
Then, as if saying her name had conjured her, there was a sudden rap at the door.
"Elphi—Elphaba!?" called an edgy voice. "Let me in."
"Shit," Elphaba and Fiyero whispered in unison.
They froze and looked at each other in panic. Elphaba began gesticulating wildly and Fiyero furrowed his brow in confusion.
"What?!"
"Come on, Elphaba. I know you're always up early!"
"Go," Elphaba hissed.
"Where?!"
She made a helpless gesture before an idea came to her. She placed a hand flat on his bare chest and began pushing him backwards towards the closet.
"I fully understand the irony of what I'm doing but—"
"Fae—"
"—shush!"
Elphaba thrust Fiyero into the closet with a light shove and closed the door.
"Coming! I'm coming!" Elphaba called out, kicking Fiyero's shirt under the bed before taking a breath and opening the door. Glinda stood before her looking tense and prim.
"Well? Can I come in?"
"It's your room," Elphaba answered flatly. Glinda stepped inside with a huff and turned to Elphaba.
"I won't stay long. I just came to give you this," she said, reaching into her purse and pulling out the vanilla candle. "Here."
Elphaba, touched, accepted it. "Thank you."
"I slept through it but ShenShen told me about the power outage and I thought…" Glinda cleared her throat. "No matter. I don't need it there anyhow."
"Glinda…" Elphaba sighed guiltily.
"I see you've heard about my name," Glinda said with a cool toss of her hair.
"Yeah. It's nice…though I miss the guh."
Glinda didn't smile, but something told Elphaba that she wanted to.
"Anyway. See you in sorcery seminar. I hope you didn't think that I was going to quit," she said as she crossed back towards the door. She stopped and curiously tilted her head. "What's that?"
Elphaba swallowed dryly as she pointed towards the lantern left behind on her desk.
"A lantern."
"I didn't know you had a lantern," she said slowly. "That's a weird thing to have."
"Yeah, well…" Elphaba shrugged.
"Oh, that reminds me. While I'm here I really do want to fetch my reticule. I can't trust Pfannee and ShenShen to do anything for me."
Elphaba's stomach plummeted as Glinda started crossing towards the closet.
"W—wait Glinda, I'll find it and bring it to you at seminar!"
"Don't be silly. I'll just grab it from the—" Glinda flung the door open to see a shirtless Fiyero sheepishly staring back. "Closet."
"Hey Galinda…"
"It's Glinda now," she said before promptly slamming the door back in his face.
Glinda turned to face a horrified Elphaba and looked her up and down, scrutinizing her disheveled hair and hastily buttoned blouse.
"Do you know how horrendible I felt when I woke up and found out there was a blackout? I was so worried that you felt scared and alone only to find out—" Glinda let out a crazed laugh. "You weren't alone!"
"Glinda…it's not what it looks like?" Fiyero offered half-heartedly as he cautiously reemerged.
"Well—it is," Elphaba amended guiltily.
Glinda began walking towards the door and Elphaba threw herself in front of the door to block her exit.
"I never lied to you!" Elphaba insisted desperately. "I give you my word that I never lied to you."
"As if that's worth anything," Glinda spat.
Fiyero noticed the wounded look on Elphaba's face as she numbly stepped away from the door. Glinda reached out to grab the doorknob and Fiyero purposefully crossed to Elphaba to take her hand.
"Glinda, if you're mad at anybody be mad at me. Elphaba is blameless," he asserted. Glinda turned to look at them. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, I just…I love her."
Elphaba looked up at Fiyero and he met her eyes meaningfully and squeezed her hand. Glinda stared at them for a long moment before pressing her lips together in a thin line.
"Well then…you deserve each other."
She turned and left and Elphaba covered her face with her hands as the door closed behind her. Fiyero wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"So, that didn't go great…"
"Didn't go great?! That was a disaster, she's never going to talk to me again!"
"You'll make up," Fiyero kissed the top of her head.
"No, we won't," Elphaba shrugged out of his embrace and paced towards her dresser. "Apparently I'm not only bad at making friends but I suck at keeping them."
Elphaba turned to her mirror and winced as she began to yank her tangles apart.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? We do have classes today," Elphaba muttered irritably as she slid on her glasses. "I can't believe I lost my virginity on a school night."
"Hey, where's my shirt?"
"Under the bed. You realize what this means now, right?" Elphaba asked. "We need to make a plan."
"What kind of plan?" Fiyero asked as he tugged on his shirt.
"Glinda's going to tell people what she saw, probably everybody," Elphaba turned to him. "Don't you understand? People are going to know."
"About what?"
"About us! About what we did. Personally, I think that denial is the strongest course. It's our word against hers. I mean, I have no social influence but you do, plus the idea of us being together is outlandish enough that people may not buy it anyway."
"Wait, Elphaba—"
"Besides which they'll all know she has a motive to get back at you for breaking up with her. It wouldn't be out of the question that she's spreading lies—"
"Elphaba!"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"I don't mind people knowing about us."
"But—"
"I want people to know about us."
Elphaba closed her mouth and eyed him skeptically.
"So, you're saying that you're okay with people finding out that you were with me? That you slept with me?"
"Are you okay with people knowing you were with me?" Fiyero asked.
"That's not the issue here! People will know that you, the smooth-talking scandalacious prince—"
"Thank you."
"—slept with the green freak."
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't call my girlfriend a freak."
"Okay now you're just getting ahead of yourself. You're not taking me seriously!" Elphaba complained. "People are cruel, Fiyero. You may not know that but I do. I won't be the only target this time, people will bring you right down with me. Don't you care what people think of you?"
"Of course, I do! You know that. But people might surprise you."
"People never surprise me."
"Never?" Fiyero asked flirtatiously as he took her waist. Elphaba reluctantly smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Maybe one person has," she allowed.
"Elphaba," he said patiently. "I'm not going to hide you like some shameful secret."
Elphaba closed her eyes and sighed, feeling herself losing the debate. "Okay."
Fiyero, after much insisting from Elphaba, at last left her room to make his morning class. She was fairly relieved that she didn't have to make the walk of shame herself, Fiyero blended in better with the masses. Her first class wasn't until the afternoon so she took the morning to reassemble her space and reassemble herself. She reset her mother's bottle and made the bed, fighting off a blush as the events from the previous night returned to her mind. Now that Fiyero left she took the time to properly rebutton her blouse and detangle her hair. As she slid on her glasses, she realized that she was smiling. The sight of it made her laugh and she shook her head at her own reflection.
She didn't look or feel any different. It simultaneously felt like everything and nothing at all had changed for her.
Her first class was uneventful save for the fact that her mind was wandering more than usual. People weren't exaggerating about how distracting romance could be. She never thought she'd fall into the cliché of daydreaming about a suitor, but then again, she never thought she'd have a suitor to begin with.
Elphaba cracked open a book to read as she exited the classroom, but it didn't hold her attention for long. It started with a single whistle and brasher than usual laughter. When she finally peered up from her page her feet stopped upon realizing that all eyes were on her. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand and jumped as someone slammed a piece of paper into her chest and kept walking. She scrambled to look at it and the color drained from her face to see that it was a letter, or rather a photocopy of one. A letter she'd written to Fiyero as Fae. However, their code names had been aggressively scratched out and addressed anew.
Dear Hunky Prince Fiyero,
Yes, I do have a favorite keepsake. It's a small green glass bottle that belonged to my mother. It's not worth anything outside of sentimental value, but nobody in my family knows that I kept it. There is something about it that's special and comforting to me, so much so that I sleep with it under my pillow every night.
Love, The Backstabbing Green Bitch
Under the revised signature was a crude postscript written in different handwriting.
P.S. Since I know you're into freaky chicks you can come get nasty with me any time.
Elphaba looked up to see that the copy in her hands was not the only one. Many students had their own page which they held up towards her with vicious delight.
"Who did this!?" she yelled, but her voice didn't sound as strong as usual. The peals of laughter crescendoed.
Elphaba set off down the hallway and turned into the dining hall. There was no shortage of flyers there either. Distressed and lightheaded, Elphaba was briefly relieved to spot Nessarose at the end of a long table.
"Nessa, oh Nessa…" she breathed out as she approached her sister. Nessarose lifted her eyes and Elphaba instantly shrunk back under her irate glare.
"Is it true?"
"What, you think I did this? This has all been a mean trick, you have to know that!"
Nessarose promptly unfolded the page resting beside her. "'It's a small green glass bottle that belonged to my mother. It's not worth anything outside of sentimental value, but nobody in my family knows that I kept it'!?" she read crossly. "Did you write that?"
Elphaba's throat went dry and she swallowed.
"Yes, I wrote that but—"
"I can't believe you've been lying to me! For years! You know how much I have always wanted something of hers!"
"I can explain—"
"Not now."
"Nessa—"
"Not now, Elphaba!" Nessarose cried. She childishly held up a hand to her face to shield the fact that the social outcast was associating with her.
Elphaba numbly turned and began crossing the dining hall, but she didn't get far.
"Elphaba!" called a voice from behind her. "Elphie, stop!"
Elphaba turned around to face Glinda. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair windswept like she'd been running. Elphaba, in a burst of adrenaline, thrust the page into her former roommate's hands.
"I hope you're happy!" Elphaba yelled.
Scandalized ooohs broke out as nearby students spectated the confrontation in a vulturish manner.
"It wasn't me," Glinda said in an affronted tone, as if insulted that Elphaba could think that of her. "You have to believe me!"
"Like you believed me when I told you Fiyero and I weren't having an affair behind your back?!"
"But something is going on! I mean this morning? Those letters?!"
"The letters were anonymous, Glinda!" Elphaba shouted, trying to get it through her head. "Fae and Yero were our pennames! I didn't know I was writing to him and he didn't know he was writing to me. We didn't even find out until you told us!"
Glinda, lacking a rebuttal, glanced inquisitively at the paper in her hands.
"This is how you found out, isn't it?" Elphaba continued, jabbing at the page. "You found this letter and thought you'd share my private thoughts for everyone to see."
"I didn't post these, Elphie! It must have been ShenShen or her boyfriend. I was upset this morning and—and I showed her the letter but I never—"
"Save it for your adoring fans. I really do hope that you're happy, Glinda, but stop playing so innocent," Elphaba turned and began to walk away. "You've outgrown that game."
"I didn't do it!" Glinda yelled after her.
Elphaba slammed the exit open and charged into a crowded hallway. Into a nightmare. Copy after gut wrenching copy plastered nearly every stretch of open wall, littered the floor, and resided in the hands of each and every student. A few exasperated professors worked to clear off their classroom doors and bulletins, but even they turned to sneak curious glances towards Elphaba.
Elphaba, frozen and horrified, became suddenly aware of the tips of her hair standing on end as if affected by static electricity. The heinous flyers began to ripple on the walls as her internal turbulence began to alter the physical world. Snickers began nervously dying down as the students began to notice pages tearing themselves off of the walls and swirling around Elphaba's feet in a low twister. People moved to cling up against walls or ran towards each other to seek safety in numbers from their victim's wrath. Elphaba's humiliation and hostility bubbled up within her and she braced herself for the final burst.
But her burst stalled, for down the hallway, she saw him. Fiyero, ferociously ripping as many pages as he could off the wall, turned the corner and spotted her. She waited for him to retreat, to turn away in disgrace, but he didn't. Instead, he dropped his bundle of papers and rushed towards her. In an instant she was in his arms and, in no state to reject him, she clung to him as her swirl of papers stilled and floated naturally to the ground.
"You okay?" Fiyero asked attentively, pulling away to cup her face in his hands. Elphaba shook her head. "Me neither, let's get out of here."
He grabbed her hand tightly and began leading her towards the exit amidst a cacophony of shocked gasps and wolf whistles.
"Hey Tigelaar, is she as much of a freak in bed as she is in real life?"
Fiyero turned. Elphaba recognized Jozsef Fox as the one who spoke.
"Shut up, Fox," Fiyero growled.
"Hey just saying! The ugly ones are usually the wildest. If that's true then…you should share her."
"Shut up! SHUT UP!" Fiyero shouted loud enough that the whole hallway went quiet.
"Fiyero," Elphaba caught Fiyero's arm before he could lunge at the offender. "It's okay, it doesn't bother me."
"It bothers me!"
Elphaba gently took Fiyero's fist in her hands and brought it to her lips, eliciting gasps and whistles from the crowd.
"Yero," she called, gentler this time. Fiyero's fist unclenched as he turned to look at her. "Pace yourself. There's more to come."
Fiyero's stiffened jaw relaxed and he backed off for Elphaba's sake.
"I'll get you back for that, Fox," Fiyero promised. "Mark my words, I'll get you back for that."
Fiyero threw a protective arm around Elphaba and they exited the building side by side to face what was to come together.
