He'd never break her rules. Anything that could cause him to lose her was beyond just plain "out of the question" to him. She was already hard enough to keep close. So Fiyero didn't exactly know what happened, really. It was just talking, it was just… okay, so he was wrong.
He and Elphaba had agreed to meet at the café for lunch. Fiyero arrived at 11:30, not sure if she'd said 11:30 or noon. When she didn't show up within five minutes, he was certain it was noon. Bored, he looked around the café, people watching – a habit that he was sure he must have gotten from Elphaba.
Avaric was there with a bunch of his friends – his "other group", as Elphaba called it, that he did the dirty stuff with that he talked about doing so much. Fiyero was certainly not inconspicuous and could never hope to be in the middle of anywhere that wasn't the Vinkus. Thus, Avaric spotted Fiyero and waved him over, grinning. This unnerved Fiyero, as they hadn't really spoken since the time Elphaba had told Avaric that Fiyero thought Avaric's little escapades were disgusting and Fiyero had backed her up.
Fiyero wanted to pass the time, though. He wandered lazily towards the table and sat down. "Hey."
"How've you been?" Avaric asked amiably.
"I've been pretty good actually. Never better." Fiyero said truthfully. He was happy with Elphaba, happy they'd made love and happy she'd told him that she loved him. Of course, he was also very happy she was still at Shiz and not off somewhere in the city doing Oz only knew what.
"You have seemed kind of bubbly lately. What's up with that?" Avaric inquired.
Fiyero didn't know Avaric had paid any attention at all to anyone else's mood. He did miss some of Avaric's side comments and observations, he realized. Maybe it wasn't so bad to be having this conversation. "Nothing, really. I guess that's what it is. There's nothing wrong and I've got most of the things I want, I just have to keep it that way."
"You and Elphaba are, like, an item, huh?"
"We've been dating more than a year." It had been a long time, hadn't it?
"Never thought that would happen."
"What? Elphaba and I?"
"Sort of. Elphaba with anyone is a bit surprising." Avaric shrugged. "She never seemed like the type to date anyone."
"True." Fiyero allowed this much. He hoped Avaric wouldn't make any rude comments about Elphaba, because then the easygoing conversation would be ruined.
"Still, you never want anything else?"
"What do you mean 'anything else'?"
"Like, you never want to go down, spend some time at the Philosophy Club, do something of the variety you and Elphaba wouldn't do?"
"Like what?"
"Sex." Avaric said bluntly.
Fiyero coughed. "I don't feel I need anyone else."
"Are you telling me you're still a virgin? Sweet Oz, man, it's been years since I was! I've constantly got girls begging me to bang them."
"I don't want just any girl begging me, anyway." Fiyero said evasively. He wouldn't fit in if he lied and said he and Elphaba had never… but he couldn't very well just tell the world, could he? What damage would it do, though? After all, her Nanny knew, as did her father. It wasn't as if it could get much worse.
"I'll bet you'd like to have Elphaba lying on her back pleading for you, wouldn't you? Believe me, it's quite an ego-lifting experience, having some chick telling you how good you are in bed."
"I'm sure it is." Fiyero dismissed. It couldn't hurt really, though, could it?
"Honestly, we have to get you laid. Come on, let's head over to the Philosophy Club right now." Avaric suggested.
"Really, that's fine. I don't need to get laid or anything. I'm okay."
"You're still a wimp, are you? Afraid to lose your precious virginity? Saving it for your wedding night?"
"I don't need to save my virginity, Avaric, seeing as I don't have it to save." Fiyero replied hotly.
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really. Elphaba may not look like one who'd do something of that nature, but I assure you, I've been given quite an ego-lift myself."
Avaric raised his eyebrows and patted Fiyero on the back. "You've banged her? She gave it up for you? Nice job, that's like squeezing blood out of a turnip, Fiyero. Was it any good?"
Fiyero bit his lip but continued. "It was good, yes, and she couldn't stop whispering how amazing it was. As I said, I do not need to go out and have sex."
"No," a harsh voice echoed behind him, "you don't. I think you have quite a few other issues to deal with."
He turned around just in time for Elphaba to slap him. "Fae, I…"
"Never call me that in public. That was the rule, remember? Well, no surprise you didn't. You don't seem to remember several things. It shouldn't really shock me, but you've been acting this way all along, haven't you? You weren't 'disgusted' by any of these things your wonderful friends like to do, were you? I'm amazed at your patience. Honestly, how were you able to deal with me long enough if all you were in it for was the right to brag about spreading the legs of the coldest girl at Shiz?" Elphaba shook her head, struggling with tears. She reminded herself that those could come later, but not then. They were beginning to overcome her, though, and she whirled around and stalked out of the café. This is what happens when you're late for just one little lunch date, isn't it? She wondered. This is what happens when you finally let yourself believe you had something worthwhile. Nothing is, and nothing can be, not for me.
"Elphaba!" He was running after her. "Please."
"No," she hissed over her shoulder. "I've heard enough. I'm not going to stand here and let you feed me another bullshit sappy line." Elphaba broke into a full speed run and kept at it, only increasing pace as she ran further. She reached her dorm room, panting, slammed the door and buried herself in a pillow, finally allowing the tears to come.
"Elphie, Elphie, what is it?" Glinda was there, shaking her, hugging her. "What's going on?"
"I… I never thought I'd fall for anything like that. I tested him in so many ways. But he was still unreliable and hateful. I just don't understand why he took all the time to make me," her voice quivered, "fall in love with him just so he could tell people he'd gotten through my barriers, including my clothes."
"Fiyero? Oh, Oz, no, Elphie. He wouldn't do that. What are you talking about?"
Elphaba's head jerked up as there was a knock on the door. "Don't answer it. I don't want to talk to him."
"Elphaba, I'm sorry," came Fiyero's voice through the door.
Glinda got up and yanked the door open. "I don't know what you did, but it was enough to make her cry and anything that bad has got to say something about you. Get out of here, now."
Before Glinda whipped the door shut, Fiyero asked, "She's crying?"
"Satisfied with yourself now?" A heavy thud and the door was closed. Glinda shuddered and sat on the edge of Elphaba's bed. "What happened, Elphie?"
Elphaba explained what she'd heard (only the last three bits of dialogue) of the conversation between Avaric and Fiyero. When she finished, she wiped her face with the blanket. "How could I fall for that, Glinda?"
"Elphaba, he's a guy. They talk that way."
"He told me he hasn't spoken in a friendly way with Avaric in more than a year!" Elphaba exclaimed. "I wouldn't go around telling someone I had barely talked to about something like that, Glinda. And he was bragging about it, Glinda, he was bragging, like I was just some achievement."
Glinda wanted to say then that, maybe if Elphaba had told her what was going to happen, she could've talked her out of it and spared her all of this. She wanted to say a sort of "I told you so". But she didn't. "Oh, Elphie, I never thought he'd do that. Maybe he just got pulled into conversation and he didn't know how to avoid it?"
"You didn't hear it, Glinda. You didn't."
Nessa had wheeled into the room. "The Unnamed God punishes all sins."
"Nessa," Glinda began carefully, "I don't think this is a good time."
"But this is the only time. If she understands that now while she's in the most pain, it'll make her think twice."
"It's too late for that, Nessa!" Elphaba snapped. "I don't care what I'm being punished for, since I don't believe I have a soul to punish."
Nessa's face hardened and she used her feet again to drag her chair out. Nanny peered through the door as she dutifully shut it behind her. She did not ask questions, just turned away as the knob twisted and the door closed.
"Elphaba, really, though, are you sure it's not some sort of miscommunication?"
"Why are you making up reasons for him?" Elphaba spat accusingly.
"I'm just trying to help. I don't want you to lose what the two of you had over something that could just be a comprehension problem."
"There never was anything we had, Glinda, don't you see that? He made it up. The boy sat and read books to me in a used book store in the middle of the winter just so he could get close enough to me to fuck me."
Glinda winced at the expletive. When it had first happened, Elphaba had gone on about how personal it was and such. The word Elphie had just used was not personal, it was not intimate. She realized that Elphaba's faith in whatever love she'd ever believed in was deteriorating and no one could prevent that except for Fiyero. And he certainly wouldn't be of help anytime soon, from the way things sounded. "Elphie," Glinda just hugged her best friend for a long time, "I'm so sorry. I thought he was good, too, Elphie, I thought so, too. He didn't just trick you. You weren't stupid. No one saw this."
Fiyero was slumped outside the door, head in his hands. He'd heard every word of the discussion beyond the wooden obstruction and he'd heard Elphaba's throat contract with sobs. She was really crying over him. Well, now he had the answer as to how much she cared; he'd just ended up getting the answer the wrong way. "I have to fix this," he told himself, "I don't know how. I can't lose her. I can't. I'm going to make her believe me. I'm going to make this all better. I have to."
Elphaba had fallen asleep oddly quickly. Glinda supposed she just didn't want to face the waking world and reality anymore. Who could blame her?
It felt like everything was broken.