AN: I knew you'd all like the Fiyeraba fluff ;).
Thank you all for the congratulotions! I'm really happy myself. I'm currently working on re-doing an essay... and after that: summer vacation! :D (Including a holiday in Portugal with my family, London and Wicked with friends, and seeing Sister Act for the last time!)
ExoticPeachBlossom: Something about your review made me laugh. You'll understand that after the next chapter.
Elizabeth, I'm so glad you liked it! I hope you had the most fabulocious birthday ever :).
Bigby the Big Bad Wolf: Thank you so much, you have no idea how amazing it is to hear that. I feel honoured!
Bunny: Nope, this is going to be a long one!
Chapter 8. Pretence
When Elphaba opened her eyes the next morning, she found herself confused. This didn't smell like her own bed… and this wasn't her own room. Where in Oz was she?
Then she remembered what had happened the night before, and she pushed herself into a sitting position. Across the room, Fiyero was sleeping on the couch – one leg and one arm hanging over the edge to let the tips of his toes and fingers graze the floor, his head tilted back and his mouth slightly agape. He snored a little.
She yawned, wincing at the stabbing pain in her head. Other than that, though, she felt much better than she had yesterday.
She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and padded over to the bathroom, the carpet covering Fiyero's bedroom floor feeling soft and warm underneath her bare feet. She looked at herself in the mirror and made a face. She looked like a zombie. A green zombie with tousled hair and sleepy eyes, dressed in a man's shirt and pyjama trousers.
She splashed some water in her face and rinsed her mouth before coming out again. Fiyero was up now, too, moving around the room as he put away the blanket and pillow he had used that night and cleaned up his room a little.
He looked up when she emerged and smiled at her. "Hey. Feeling better?"
She sank down on the rug in front of the couch, watching as Fiyero re-lit the fire in the fireplace. "A little, yes."
He went into the kitchen, only to come out again a few minutes later carrying a tray with two mugs of tea and two plates with toast and fruit. He put the tray on the salon table and scowled at Elphaba when he saw the gooseflesh covering her bare arms. "Do you not know how to take care of yourself or do you just refuse to do it?"
She raised an eyebrow. In reply, he went to grab the blanket from the bed again and wrapped it around her. "There."
She rolled her eyes.
He sat down on the floor next to her, their backs leaning against the couch as he handed her a mug and placed a plate in front of her. "Here you go."
"Thanks." She cradled the mug between her hands, taking a small sip of her tea and heaving a sigh of contentment. He grinned at her – a lopsided grin – and she studied his face.
By now she had learnt that his different grins had different meanings. His straight grin was the one he used when he was, as Elphaba had put it that day with the Lion Cub, 'pretending to be shallow and self-absorbed'. When he was fooling around with girls or talking about parties and drinking. He also used it when he was trying to be polite or when he wanted to placate someone.
His lopsided grin, however, was real – the one he used when he genuinely thought something was funny, or when something made him happy.
"It's all fake," she muttered, leaning her head back against the couch as she put her cup of tea down momentarily and closed her eyes. "Isn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"You." She indicated him with a hand gesture, not opening her eyes. "Everything I told you in that clearing. I was right, wasn't I?"
He stayed silent for some time – so long that Elphaba thought he wasn't going to answer her. Then he said, quietly, "I guess so."
She raised her head and opened her eyes to look at him. "Really?"
He shrugged. "Yes." He studied her for a moment. "How did you know?"
She smiled a little sadly. "I can often see through the masks people wear," she said. "It took me a while with you, because I was, admittedly, a little blinded by your…"
"Gorgeousness?" He dramatically struck a pose. "Awesomeness? Charm?"
"…arrogance," she finished, making him pout.
She smirked before growing serious again. "But that day with the Lion Cub," she said quietly, "I saw it."
"How?"
She shrugged, making light of it, even though her eyes weren't light at all. "Let's just say it takes one to know one."
Suddenly he understood. "You're pretending, too."
She didn't reply, but he nodded. It all made sense to him now.
"You pretend it doesn't bother you, what people say," he said. "All the remarks about your skin. But it does, doesn't it?"
"How can it not?" she said softly. "Yero… I've been treated like that my entire life. The children at school called me the 'frog girl' – people were calling me 'asparagus' and 'artichoke' before I even knew what those words meant." She shook her head. "I'm used to it," she said. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."
He squeezed her hand sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Fae."
She shrugged half-heartedly, only one shoulder actually moving up.
"No, really," he said, his tone so serious that it made her look at him. "I'm sorry. About… about everything, really. I'm sorry for what happened to you, and I'm sorry for saying all those mean things about you in the beginning, when we first met…"
She chuckled softly. "That's okay. I have yet to meet a person that does not give me weird looks or call me names when first meeting me… and at least yours was original," she added teasingly.
"Still," Fiyero insisted. "It's not okay."
"But it's reality," she replied, her dark eyes opaque. She sipped her tea and looked away, making it impossible for him to try and read her facial expression.
"For what it's worth," he said, taking her hand in his, "I promise that I, at least, will never do it again. Ever. And I truly am sorry for everything I said to you in the beginning."
She squeezed his hand. "Thanks, Yero," she said.
He grinned at her and gently poked her side. "So am I forgiven for being the brainless idiot that I am?"
"Only if you forgive me for being the grumpy know-it-all that I am," she said, and he laughed.
"Deal."
"Does that mean we're friends again?" she asked.
He shook his head. "No." Upon seeing her wide-eyed and slightly shocked look, he chuckled. "It means we never stopped being friends in the first place," he told her.
She breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh. Okay. Good."
"So you do like being my friend," he said smugly.
She glared at him. "Shut up."
He laughed, then rose to his feet, picked up the empty tray, and carried it back to the kitchen to clean up later. When he came back into the room, he found Elphaba going through a pile of papers that had been on the floor.
She looked up and flushed a little.
"I'm sorry," she apologised, quickly piling the papers on top of one another again and pushing them aside. "I didn't mean to snoop around…"
"It's fine," he assured her, leaning against the wall. "It's just… something I've been working on."
"Music," she stated, and he nodded.
"Yeah. My parents taught me how to play and write music when I was still very young," he explained. "I've always loved it. Recently I haven't done much with it – for the past few years, I mean… and now I found some old things I wrote once and I really wanted to go back to writing my own songs. I've been working on a particular song for the past weeks, but…" He trailed off.
Elphaba skimmed through the pages, looking impressed. "Will you play it for me?" she asked him.
He took his guitar from a corner and fidgeted with the strings a little before striking a chord. He played the first verse and the chorus by heart, having been working on the song for so long already that he could probably play it in his sleep.
"This is really good, Yero," she said in surprise when he was done.
"Thanks." He sighed and put the guitar away, pushing his fingers through his hair. "My problem isn't really the music – it's the lyrics," he admitted. "But, well, I'll figure it out. I want to finish the song first and I'll worry about the lyrics afterwards."
Elphaba smiled and got up to place the pages on his desk. On her way back, the photograph on his mantelpiece caught her eye and she approached it, studying the person in it with her head slightly tilted to the side.
Fiyero, realising what she was looking at, swallowed.
She half-turned to look at him and gave him a small smile before turning back to the picture. She pointed at it. "Someone you are close to?"
He nodded, the large lump in his throat preventing him from speaking.
Elphaba just smiled softly. "She's beautiful," she commented a little sadly.
She was beautiful. Shiny, copper-coloured hair that fell in thick waves to her shoulders. Rosy lips, peachy skin with a vague hint of freckles on and around her nose. She had a healthy red glow on her cheeks and her full lips were curled in a smile, hazel eyes sparkling as she looked straight at the camera. Elphaba wondered who this girl was, but something in Fiyero's eyes kept her from asking.
Instead, she turned to face him again, deciding it was time for her to leave.
"Thank you," she said sincerely. "For letting me stay over and taking care of me."
He found his voice again, the pressure in his chest lifting a little now that Elphaba's attention was not on the photo anymore.
"Anytime," he said.
She hesitated for a moment; then she gave him a brief, tentative hug. "Well… I'll go back to my own room now, then."
"I'll walk you," he offered, but she shook her head.
"I'm fine," she said. "It's okay."
Normally, he would have insisted on taking her home; but for some reason, her interest in Aliyra had thrown him. And so he just nodded wordlessly and watched as she grabbed her now-dry, but filthy, dress and her bag, promised him to return his own clothes to him later, and left the room.
"Elphie!" Galinda cried, leaping up and hurrying towards her roommate to take her bag and dress from her and all but drag her over to her own bed, sitting her down. "I can't believe that Avaric actually threw you in the canal! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said Elphaba, but the blonde just cast her a suspicious look before taking the dress into the bathroom to wash it. She came out some time later and immediately set to moving around the room, fetching Elphaba one of the green girl's own nightgowns and urging her to change and go to bed.
Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Glin," she said patiently. "You're very sweet, but I just woke up. I don't need to go to bed again. I'm feeling fine, really. Fiyero made sure of that."
Galinda squealed. "Oh, Fiyero! I'm so glad he found you, Elphie! You have no idea how worrified I was when Boq appeared at the door last night and told me you had been thrown into the canal by Avaric and his friends and that Fiyero had only barely saved you from drowning to death! You could have been deadified, Elphie!"
Elphaba raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Is that what Boq said?"
"Not exactly," Galinda admitted, "but, well, it's true, isn't it?"
"It's not that big of a deal, Galinda, really," Elphaba tried to convince her friend. "Avaric tried to get back at me by tossing me in Suicide Canal and Fiyero got me out. That's all. I didn't almost drown or almost die. I'm fine."
Galinda huffed. "I don't believe that for a clock-tick."
Elphaba opened her mouth to say something, but just then, there came a knock on the door and Galinda went to open it.
Nessa wheeled herself in, closely followed by Boq.
"Fabala!" she exclaimed the moment she laid eyes on her sister, and she quickly moved forward to hug the green girl. "Oh, thank goodness!"
Elphaba glared at Galinda. "You just had to make a fuss over all this, didn't you?"
"I was worried!" the blonde protested. "And Nessa is your sister – I thought she should know!"
"I'm fine, Nessie," Elphaba tried to reassure the younger girl. "Really," she added when she saw the unconvinced look on Nessarose's face.
"Fiyero took care of her," Galinda informed the other two, at which Boq looked relieved and Nessa frowned slightly.
"He didn't do anything inappropriate, did he, Fabala?" she asked her sister, who rolled her eyes.
"No, Nessa," the green girl replied patiently. "He was a perfect gentleman."
Nessarose nodded. "Good. Because it's hardly proper for a girl to stay over in a boy's room, and though I understand that these were special circumstances, I still don't think –"
"Alright, so shall we go and get a drink somewhere?" Elphaba interrupted the wheelchair-bound girl. "Because I could really, really use a cup of coffee."
"Elphie –" Galinda began, but a glare from her roommate cut her off.
"I'm just going to change into my own clothes," Elphaba announced, rising to her feet. "Galinda and I will meet you two at the Primrose Café at eleven."
Galinda, Boq and Nessa started talking at the same time.
"Elphie, don't you think –"
"Maybe it would be better for you to –"
"Fabala, are you sure that –"
"Goodbye, Boq," Elphaba said, emphasising every syllable and accompanying her words with a pointed look. "Goodbye, Nessa."
Nessa closed her mouth and turned around to leave with a huff. Boq cast another slightly worried glance over his shoulder, but then he followed his girlfriend.
Galinda shook her head. "Elphie –"
Elphaba held up a hand to silence her. "Not another word," she warned the blonde.
Galinda obediently sat down on her bed in silence as Elphaba grabbed a dress from her closet and went into the bathroom to change. She washed up, brushed her teeth and combed her hair, then changed into her black frock and came back out. "Ready?"
Galinda eyed her accusingly. "You don't listen to my fashion advice at all, do you?" she demanded.
Elphaba grinned at her. "Of course not." Mostly in an attempt to annoy Galinda even further, she then pulled back her hair and started braiding it, knowing how much Galinda hated it that way.
"Oh, no, you don't!" the blonde cried, jumping up and nearly attacking her roommate as she quickly pulled Elphaba's hair loose again. "If you pick the dress, then I pick the rest."
She quickly pinned Elphaba's hair up in a high ponytail with a silver hair clasp and then pulled out a pair of silver ballet flats to match the hair clasp.
"No protesting," she said before Elphaba could even open her mouth to say anything. "They're not pink and they don't have heels, so I think I compromised enough already. They're really comfy, Elphie, I promise. Just please, please don't make me look at you wearing those horrendible boots," she almost begged her friend. "I can't stand them."
Elphaba grumbled, but gave in. "Fine," she said, slipping into the ballerina shoes. "Just this once. But tomorrow I'm going to braid my hair and wear my glasses, along with my hated black boots and the ugliest and most unfashionable frock I can possibly find in my closet."
Galinda crossed her arms. "In that case I'm going to skip class tomorrow so that I won't have to look at you," she declared.
Elphaba grinned, knowing her friend would probably do it, too. "Sweet Oz, Galinda."
Galinda stuck out her tongue and linked her arm with Elphaba's. "Come on, let's go," she said. "I could use some coffee myself. I barely slept at all last night, I was so worried about you! Ooh!" Her eyes lit up. "Maybe you and I, and Boq and Nessa, can devise a plan together to get back at Avaric!" She squealed and jumped up and down. "Isn't that the most scandalacious idea, Elphie? Maybe we can find his bottle of shampoo and replace the shampoo with bleach, so that his hair turns white!" She giggled. "Or maybe I could get Milla, Pfannee and Shenshen to work with me in order to embarrass him or something! I mean, the girls adore Avaric, but he constantly cheats on them with everyone – I bet they'd like to teach him a lesson! Or maybe we'll just get Fiyero to punch him, that would do it, too…"
"Galinda," said Elphaba as they made their way outside and into the sunshine. "We're not going to punish Avaric."
"What?" Galinda stopped walking, a horrified expression on her face as she looked at Elphaba. "What do you mean, we're not going to punish Avaric?"
"That would only make it worse," Elphaba told her. "And besides, no matter how nice it is of you to want to stand up for me, you really don't have to," she added. "I'm fine on my own."
"Oh, not this again!" Galinda complained as she grabbed Elphaba's arm and dragged her to the Primrose Café. "Just shut up, Elphie, I'm not even going to listen to this! We're your friends and that's it." She sniffed. "But fine, whatever you want. I'll just make a plan with Nessa, Boq and Fiyero, then," she decided. "I bet they will be on my side."
Elphaba feared that she was right.