Disclaimer: Unfortunately, all original WICKED characters/names/places etc belong to Gregory Maguire and L. Frank Baum.
Author's Note: I apologise profusely for my terrible and disgraceful unexplained absence from this story. Not only did I feel completely lost as to the plot, but I've been exceptionally busy with my own reality and these past few days have been my first chance in a long time to sit down and think about this project. Rest assured I fully intend to continue it, though I make no promises as to how frequent the updates will be.
Your reviews and responses continue to inspire and motivate me, so thank you very much.
I very much enjoyed writing this chapter, and yes, it is going to get a little more adult from this point forward.
Enjoy! xx
Elphaba stalked up to Fiyero's door, regretting that they had fought. It put her in a fouler mood than usual and she had insulted several porters on her journey into Briscoe Hall. She had met, or rather crashed into, Avaric, whose mouth had been considerably kinder in recent days. He told her in civil tones that Fiyero had raged through the corridors quiet and angry. As she stood staring through the frosted panes, she tried to listen for him and entered, slamming the unlocked door though she had not meant to.
"Elphaba?" His voice came from the couch, slurred and slow. He had been waiting for her; irritated for a reason he could not put into words. That he could forget it meant his temper ebbed too easily for his liking and he missed her. He had slept on the couch hoping she would come and not wanting to have to find her himself. Her voice rose him, and he peeked over the dark edge of the couch to see her worried face.
"You've been sleeping, my love, darling. And I thought you were mad at me. I'm sorry." She said, sitting next to him. He closed his eyes again when she combed a finger along his cheek, and kissed it when she touched his lips.
"I was. I'm not." At her questioning look, he elaborated. "I know how much it all means to you." He kissed her finger again.
Elphaba felt the back of his neck and goosebumps rose on his skin. She loved that she illicited that reaction from him, when they were so comfortable. She guessed he thought she was dangerous. Exotic, as he had said once. "Yero, it does. It does mean very much to me. It's my whole life." This was true and she felt it deep in her bones. "But . . . I never thought I could want something as much as I want you. I love you."
"Well, that's that then. And I love you."
"Kiss me." He smiled and sat up, pressing his arm at her waistband and kissing her hotly. Elphaba smiled and crushed his shirt in her hands. He played with her lips, nibbling and kissing in turn, and teasingly ghosting over her shift at the back, as he always did.
"Fae, if I can call you that again?" He joked, kissing at the corner of her mouth, nuzzling her.
"Yes." She moaned, unable to make any more elegant response. Whether she answered to the question he had put into words, or the one asked by the fingers working at her belt she did not care. She leaned into him to allow him greater ease, and when they had finished, they slept.
"Put my mind at ease, Elphie, and tell me you have made up with Fiyero. I can't stand his moping. It's like watching a little grey cloud wander about town. You know he'd settle for you just humouring him or placating him in any way. I know I would. Just to be nice." She waffled on, folding and pressing skirts and huge netted petticoats in a wild array of colours so bright they would blind you if the sun reflected off them and into your eyes. Elphaba wondered how in Oz her friend could ever arrange them into outfits, but that was a task beyond even her and she just laughed in response. "I'm serious, Elphaba."
"Oh, you're using my whole name! You must be serious. This is a surprise."
"You are being sarcastic, so I'll take that to mean you made up with him. Good, I'm glad." She continued pinning and sorting through her wealth of clothes.
"Well I'm pleased you are so happy with it. But I'm not here to placate Fiyero. He was being a bit childish, don't you think?" She reclined lazily on her bed, not having really wanted to leave Fiyero's bed, but knowing she had Sorcery material to cover with Galinda she had unwound and dressed herself. Although Fiyero's attempts to convince her to stay meant she arrived half an hour later than she had intended.
Galinda shrugged. "I guess. I don't really care. I just don't like to see either of you unhappy." Elphaba copied her and dropped her shoulders. "How's this Sorcery stuff different then?"
"It's not . . not necessarily." Elphaba replied, the wooden drawers wincing in pain as she carelessly retreived her notes. "She just wants to make sure you're where I am."
"I'm not where you are. I'm nowhere near as good as you. Not even in basics." She huffed sadly.
"No, you're not. But even if we were of equal ability, you know as well as I do that every witches' magic is different and difficult in it's own way. That book I gave you - did you read it? Do you know why I gave it to you? You're not looking at this in the right way."
"I know," she said, a curtain of ignorance rising in her eyes as it did in moments such as this, Elphaba noticed, to reveal a smart and observant young witch. "I know. This isn't like essay grades and there is no way to grade Sorcery in the same way as any another course. We have completely different styles because we're different."
Galinda's words could have come out of a book, which they did, but she had digested them and Elphaba saw that she had grown to trust her own ability. This new teacher was taking an entirely different approach to their tutorials: she focused on Elphaba in one way and on Galinda in another because she immediately saw how very seperate their abilities were. She even commented that whilst Elphaba might have more of an intrinsic, developed power, she could not yet fully control it. She could not hold back when it was not needed nor could she call on it when it was. She noticed that Galinda, however, had excellent control and had no worry about being unable to harness her power, though it would not be the kind of thing where it would rescue her from a trying situation should she find herself in trouble. Elphaba's was more likely to do this, as it seemed to act more on feeling than on reason. For the time being at least.
"Ah, Galinda!" Elphaba's voice made Galinda pause in her tracks: like there was a spider on her back, or she was about to step in faeces. "This is theory session, put that damned training wand away. You'll blow up your precious dresses."
"Oh haa haa!" Galinda tucked away her little white stick and flopped onto her stomach to mirror Elphaba's posture across the room. They thumbed through dusty heavy pages that should have put them to sleep, particularly Galinda, but their recent turnover in teaching staff and their new attitude to the course lit a bulb somewhere that allowed them to see the reasoning in the archaic language of the scholars whose works they so conscientiously perused.
An evening of work set their minds to rest and prepared them for applying what they had discovered practically tomorrow afternoon. Study followed study and articles, discussion panels and dissertations from around Oz and through all of history had slowly settled into their minds and bodies. Ink drained from their pots and quills were worn down to the feather, requiring repeated trips to various storage closets to refresh supplies. The wood in the fire was stoked several times and windows were opened and shut as the weather changed from the warmth and brightness of the afternoon to the colder, windier evening darkness.
Elphaba grew irritated by her long hair where at first it had acted as a blanket and kept her warm. She tied it up carelessly, tightly, so it would not loosen and fall. Galinda clipped hers back delicately and ensured she was always positioned in a flattering way. It calmed her. Elphaba studied upside down, at the top and tail of her bed and flung her limbs any which way that felt comfortable.
The candles burned down to wicks. The street filled with noises of drunk, happy students. Eventually, someone knocked at the door, snapping them quickly out of their scholarly stupors.
Galinda and Elphaba looked at one another, as though noticing suddenly that they were not in a world of their own.
"Who is that?" Galinda asked Elphaba. "Who is that?" She addressed the knocker.
"It's Fiyero. Come on, you two. We're all going out: you've been in here for five hours and it's enough."
Elphaba swung her legs from the bed as Galinda rubbed her eyes and collected discarded papers and curlicued notes. "Fiyero!" The green girl exclaimed as she opened the door. Though taken aback, Fiyero responded eagerly when she threw her arms around his neck and buried her tired body into his. He held her back and her neck, and hugged her.
"Evening." Elphaba laughed. She felt his hand move into her hair and closed her eyes as he kissed her softly.
"So what are we doing, tonight then?" Galinda chirped. She bounced into the living room with that pure contentedness that is only achieved when a heavy weight of work is lifted from the shoulders. She tossed her curls, giggled with anticipation of their evening, of getting drunk with Elphaba and whipped round to face the couple whose silence irked her. She raised her eyebrow at them. They weren't kissing, not much at least, but Fiyero's arms at the small of her back kept Elphana pressed against him and Galinda knew (though she could not see) that her friend must be sporting a bright blush on her cheeks. Fiyero was talking quietly to her and Elphaba closed her eyes as she listened. It was the most romantic thing Galinda had ever seen.
Quickly, she lost her chirpiness.
Elphaba's heart was thumping nicely in her chest. She felt the strength of Fiyero's arms and let herself fall into them. He was perpetually cradling her and whispering secrets into her ear. She was perfectly aware of Galinda fluttering about the room but she knew her friend would not care much: Elphaba had certainly witnessed more. As Fiyero's breath faded Elphaba felt his kiss on her jawline. She giggled and clutched at his lapel when he dipped her back, her feet sweeping ungracefully from the floor. "Fiyero!"
He laughed and picked her up in his arms. "What do you want to do tonight my love? Dancing?" He spun her round.
"Fiyero! Put me down!"
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over your peals of laughter!" Elphaba giggled more and suddenly felt Fiyero fall from beneath her. "Whoa. Ow!"
"Oh my Oz!" Elphaba struggled to breath. "You idiot!" She laughed, burying her face in his chest and shrieking. Fiyero lay back on the floor and joined her.
"Sorry!"
"That was really funny." Galinda commented, forcing laughter and a smile as she went to change.
"Oz, Fae I bet I have bruised backside." Fiyero said, his face screwed up as he tested the sensitivity of his rump and tried to stand.
"I can test it for you." Elphaba smirked and pinched him, making him squeak and swat her arm playfully. "Galinda, let's drink a lot tonight."
"Amen." The blonde replied, with enough relief and sardonism in her sugary voice to concern Elphaba. She frowned at Fiyero and he shrugged.
"Go look at yourself in the bathroom, Yero. Make yourself handsome." And she kissed him.
Fiyero joked as he strolled out of the room. "But how will you be able to take your eyes off me?"
Elphaba rolled her eyes. She watched Galinda shift aside dress after dress in her closet in a rather sombre manner. "What's wrong, my pink lady?" Galinda chuckled half-heartedly and thumbed a blue skirt and its silky petticoat. "That's pretty." Elphaba offered, uselessly. Galinda nodded and lifted it onto the bed. "Glin?" Elphaba walked over to her and took her hands. Had it been the other way around, she knew Galinda would have tried to hug her. Elphaba only squeezed her hands and searched her expression.
"I'm fine, Elphie. I just want a boyfriend."
"Oh, what?"
Galinda stared at her friend earnestly. "I just want a boyfriend." She repeated, as though it were the most obvious thing in Oz. "I want someone to spoil me."
"Oh for Oz' sake, write to your father then! I'm sure he's send you a legion of dressmakers and ridiculous surprises. He'd organise a half-birthday party for you and pay for the coverage to be splashed all over one of your sainted magazines." Elphaba huffed and threw the bathroom door open to reveal an embarrassed Fiyero with his trousers at his knees.
"ELPHABA!"
"Oh she can't see you, you moron." She nipped, closing the door behind her.
"You know Elphie, it's all very well for you to be throwaway about this. You have a boyfriend. And for goodness' sake I only meant that I wanted someone to be close to. Someone to dance with." Galinda huffed her way back across the room before Elphie could hurl the door open and bite back a scathing and hurtful retort. "And I'm getting ready now. So leave me alone."
"Oh very hard to bother you when you lock yourself in the bathroom." Elphaba murmured. She skirted around Fiyero to brush her teeth. "Fiyero, it's not bruised. Pull them up."
"Hey, we've got ages: Galinda's only just in the bathroom." Elphaba scoffed. "Oh come on. What's wrong now?"
She dropped her brush from her mouth, foaming paste threatening to drip from her lips as she tried to communicate a serious point. "Why is she so desperate to be in a relationship? She has thousands of friends and her family worship the ground she walks on and she owns every material thing she has ever asked for." She shoved the brush in her mouth again. "And then some."
"Galinda . . . she's just meant to be in a relationship. With a boy. She's meant to be courted and dated and doted upon. Surely you can see that." Elphaba flipped her hair back, signalling her disinterest in the matter. They would make up when they were drunk, and there was nothing more fun than a drunk Elphaba. She became intensely passionate in every way when she'd had a few. The memory of her dependant state aroused him. Fiyero kissed her neck and ran his fingers along her blouse. His trousers had been discarded at the door, and he pressed himself against her.
"Don't do that to yourself, Yero." She said, referring to the stiffness she felt against her hip. "We don't have time, and this is definitely not the place."
"You're smiling." He kissed her neck again and ghosted her breasts. "It's fun."
"It is . . . but no. Stop." Fiyero sighed as she broke contact. "I'll leave you in here to calm down." He held onto her hand. "Tonight, my love. We'll do it tonight."
"We do it every night. And in the same place."
Her eyes drew into slits as she stared at him. "What do you mean? It's boring?"
"Oz no! It's never boring." She smiled. "I want to do it tonight. But . . . there are lots of places to hide in those . . . clubs . . ." He trailed off, not looking at her. Elphaba deliberated a moment: she was considered a rebel and a good girl, in equal measures by the people here. She did well with her grades but she hardly conformed to anything or anyone and she liked that. And here was the man she loved suggesting they have sex in public. Thinking, she found it ridiculous that she should deem it remotely strange or stupid considering where they had done it for the first time and the many hallways and passages that had become a bed for them in the Vinkus.
"Yero . . ."
"And I mean publicly," he said, almost reading her mind, "in the club, when we're dancing and surrounded by . . ." he stepped closer to her for effect, though he struggled to control himself, "lots of people and there's no space between us." Elphaba closed the gap between them and kissed him hard, consenting. Consenting to everything.
Fiyero had been right. A few drinks in and the awkward and very noticable silence between the two girls had disappeared when Galinda returned from the bar with a green-coloured drink for Elphaba and threw her arms around her.
"You deserve everything you want, Glin!" Elphaba had yelled above the deep baseline. Galinda kissed her cheek and they vanished into the crowd of people for a while.
It was going to be an amazing night, that was obvious to everyone. It was dark, hot, loud and the drink was cheap and seemed to flow from every direction. They mixed their spirits dangerously and in a flurry of excitement, knocking back absurdly coloured liquids in alluring glasses and cackling with laughter at everything and nothing. For Fiyero, everything was blurred except the shapes and expressions of Elphaba, who curled herself into him when she returned from the floor with Galinda.
They had a large group with them, collected from the last semester. Friends they trusted and friends whose wit amused and inspired them. A new breed of people who cared less about normalcy and stereotypes and more about extravagence and experience. Crope and Tibbett were wild and hilarious and provided a constant source of amusement for Elphaba and Galinda. Even Avaric had cooled his aggressive hatred of the green girl and went back to flirting with every female on two legs.
"I have never! Let's play I have never!" Screamed Boq, on his fifteenth or sixteenth beer.
"YES!" Elphaba demanded, slamming her drink on the table and dissolving into giggles with Galinda when a small wave of ale jumped over the rim and splashed lightly onto the table. "Oops!" She whispered and randomly turned to kiss Fiyero for a moment. He held her close with a hand on her stomach and, in their druken state, the issue of courteously averting the eyes no longer existed and they all watched.
"Wow, you two are hot!" Crope shouted when Fiyero nibbled Elphaba's lips and let her skirt travel up with his hand to her chest. "Can't take my eyes off you!"
"Come on, you two, I HAVE NEVER! Elphaba and Fiyero will be pissed out of their faces by the looks of it: I don't doubt they've done everything!" Galinda nudged an oblivious Fiyero and made the whole group whistle and cheer. They were more willing to believe Galinda, who they assumed knew exactly what Elphaba had done with Fiyero. Not that any revealation would matter: not a soul at the table would be in a mind to recall anything that had happened that night in the morning.
Elphaba let Fiyero kiss behind her ear. "Not everything. Not yet." She whispered, her breath tickling his skin and daring him to press her closer. He knew what she referred to, so the sudden drop of her hand to his crotch was unnecessary though highly welcome. Fiyero smiled and kissed her lips again.
"I have never . . ." Galinda began, her eyes lazily tracing the lights, "I have never . . .
"Gone down on a guy!" Elphaba finished.
"ELPHIE!" Galinda exclaimed, her face written in complete shock.
"What? Well, have you?" She challenged.
Galinda stared at her friend, then suddenly burst into laughter. "NO! I've not! HA!" She shouted, and the table cheered and then cheered more as Elphaba knocked back a drink.
"Well I HAVE!" Elphaba said proudly when she had swallowed, and she turned to wink at Fiyero.
"You've really done that Elphaba?" Asked Pfannee, highly intrigued. To her, that Elphaba was sleeping was someone was all very grown up.
"Course." She said matter-of-factly, and felt Fiyero kissing her neck. "He loves it." She said, giggling at what the group assumed were Fiyero's continued ministrations to her collarbone, but what was in fact her reaction to the placement of his hand between her legs. She fervantly hoped no one could see what he was doing. After all, the table was tall, and the seats almost like bar stools.
Soon, the game broke up into little groups of accusatory factions and aroused young men and women and Fiyero led his girl onto the dance floor, with not a sliver of smoky light between them.
Galinda was thoroughly enjoying herself. She remembered being sad about not having a boyfriend, but at the same time she didn't really care. In her drunken stupor, she figured it was not romance she craved, but sex. Every time she caught her reflection in a mirror she pouted and prided herself on how sexy she looked. She was such a catch and there were hundreds of boys around here that she wanted to kiss and several who had already made passes at her. Lurid ones, even.
"Hey Miss Galinda!" Came a familiar voice, straining over the pounding music towards her. Galinda affected her best pout and tossed her curls in his direction.
"Taffid . . ." She responded eagerly. The fair-haired Gillikin boy reached her and kissed her cheek. They'd met before and he'd flirted a little but Galinda had been fairly disinterested as he had been one of many. Now that she was drunk, however, he seemed more like one in a million. He was built and strong and wearing his kit from . . . whatever sport it was he took part in: Galinda only recognised the Shiz insignia and the old Ozian motto 'To Win is to Be'. She vaguely recalled that Taffid had once told her such a motto meant only the best survived the harsh environment of the sports leagues at this University. Well, he could have been lying, but she hardly cared.
He just looked so handsome tonight.
He offered to buy her a drink and they went over to the bar together. Galinda noticed he'd put his hand on her back and she jumped a little at the contact. Somewhere on the dance floor, Elphaba and Fiyero were entwined in one another's arms.
Ooh la la, Galinda! *winks*!