Chapter Text
Elphaba and Boq went to their history class together a couple days later like they always did, chatting along the way. She set her bag down on a seat, Boq setting his stuff next to her. Fiyero was sitting next to Pfannee, doodling something in a notebook.
Oh, right. She was probably supposed to have him connect his hearing aid to the transmitter. She picked it up and walked over to him.
“Fiyero? Do you, uh, need to connect to this?” she asked, setting it in front of him. It was a round device with speakers on the side and a flat top with a couple buttons for volume and connection.
“Oh, yeah. Thanks,” he said and signed. He lifted it to his hearing aid for a few seconds and set it back down. She took it back and started walking back to her seat.
“Those things have terrible range, by the way,” he called back to her.
“What do you mean?” she asked, turning around. At her old school, she used some other kind of transmitter that the teachers usually wore, but those apparently weren't very common.
“They’re great for picking up only voices, but these aids won’t stay connected to it across a room.”
“You know, if you wanted to sit next to me, you could just say that.”
“He’s right, Miss Elphaba,” said Dr. Dillamond, “I am not sure why the technology hasn’t advanced, but it must be something about the magic in them.”
“I think it’s actually eavesdropping proof or something,” Fiyero said, “So it doesn’t let you hear voices you wouldn’t be able to hear without it.”
Elphaba tilted her head. She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
“Mr. Pfannee, switch with Miss Elphaba, please,” Dr. Dillamond said.
“I can-” Pfannee started.
“No, it’s fine,” Fiyero interrupted him. She wondered what he was going to offer.
Pfanne narrowed his eyes at her but got up. Elphaba brought her stuff over to the chair Pfannee had vacated and sat down. Fiyero grinned at her, and she nodded back. Dr. Dillamond began the lecture, and Elphaba tried her best to focus on it. The transmitter really only made things louder, not necessarily clearer. Normally she could fill in the gaps with her own knowledge or the textbook anyway. Fiyero seemed to be having more trouble. A couple minutes into the lecture, Fiyero slipped on a pair of dark blue rectangular glasses that had a band connecting the two arms to keep it on his head, probably due to the fact that he didn't really have a right ear. He looked cute in them.
A few minutes before the end of class, Elphaba considered asking Fiyero if he wanted any help. He did come to school six weeks late, after all. But she worried he’d take it the wrong way, she sometimes got annoyed if people assumed she’d need tutoring or extra outside help because she was hard of hearing(even though, when she was younger, she sometimes did, especially before teachers caught on to the fact that she could benefit from a transmitter and other accommodations since her father never discussed that with them or her). Oh, well, she’d just ask anyway. He missed six weeks. On a spare scrap of paper, she wrote,
Don’t take this the wrong way, but since you came quite a bit after the start of the semester, do you want any help catching up?
She slid it over to him. He started writing, hesitated for a second, finished it, and slid it back to her.
No I get what you mean. Sure, we can just meet in my dorm at around seven if that works for you. I did do some work for this class I think, but I have other classes I might be lost in. I have a flashing doorbell, use that or I won't hear you
Sounds good, she wrote back.
She had been hoping to see Fiyero when she had lunch or in her other class for the day, but he wasn’t there. Boq had told her where Fiyero’s dorm was, so she headed there a few minutes before seven. She pressed the doorbell button, and Fiyero opened the door a couple minutes later. The room was dark, and he looked a bit disheveled, his hair sticking out in multiple directions. His right eye was taped shut.
“Uh, should I come-” she started.
“I, uh, can’t do tonight anymore. Sorry.” He was blinking hard in the light.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“We can meet up tomorrow if I don’t feel like shit.”
She somehow belatedly realized his hearing aid was off. He definitely couldn’t hear her, but she wasn’t sure what else to do. She remembered seeing him sign when they first met, and she knew the alphabet, so she decided to try that. Just to ask if he was okay, then she would leave him alone.
“A-r-e you-” she started to fingerspell, but Pfannee walked up to them and signed something to him. Elphaba took that as her cue to leave, but she glanced back at them. Pfannee handed something to Fiyero, who thanked him. Pfannee glanced at her and signed something else to him, and they laughed. Were they laughing at her? She thought Fiyero seemed all right…
She was leaving the dorm when Pfannee called,
“Hey, green girl!”
She ignored him and kept walking.
“I know you can hear me.”
“Go away.”
He jogged around her to block her from going through the door.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“Don’t get your hopes up with Fiyero.”
“I’m not,” she said, trying to push past him. Pfannee pushed her back, making her stumble slightly. He looked at his hands like he had just touched something gross.
“He wouldn’t want to date you, is all I’m saying. He’s a prince.”
“How would you know?”
“He just told me.”
She rolled her eyes and tried to push past him again. That time, he stepped to the side in a way that made her stumble out the door. He smirked. She walked back to her dorm(slowly, too- why the campus was so poorly lit she would never know), wondering if Fiyero actually said that or if Pfannee was just being horrendible as always. She didn’t have feelings for Fiyero anyways.
Fiyero was in both of her classes the next day, and they ended up having to sit next to each other again. She ignored him in both classes for the most part, despite his attempt to talk to her. He gave up after one time, and they didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the week, even though Fiyero had started hanging out with her, Boq, and Nessa.
***
Fiyero glanced at Elphaba as she sat next to him in their Environmental Sciences class and placed the transmitter between them. They hadn't talked to each other since she came to his dorm Monday evening when he felt a bad migraine coming on and was nauseous. He had decided to not push too much in case she took him as being, well, pushy. But he did hope to get a chance to talk to her after class.
“Elphaba, wait up,” he called to her as they left when the class was over. She didn’t turn. He wondered if she was just ignoring him or didn’t hear him.
“Why do you even care about her?” Pfannee signed to him.
“Because I think she seems nice. I really think you should lay off her,” he replied, also signing.
“Whatever. I think she likes you. It’s kinda weird.”
There were many things he could say to that. But he decided on,
“Why do you think she likes me?”
“She looked mad after I told her you wouldn’t be into her on Monday.”
“Do you still want to go out with me or something? Why would you say that?”
“No, it’s just, we’re friends, so I just let her know. She was being annoying anyway.”
“We’re not friends. And leave her alone. Seriously.”
Was Pfannee the reason she had been avoiding him? The only reason he was even hanging out with him was because he was the only student there he knew of who could sign.
“I can do whatever I want. Why should I anyways?”
“Just…never mind.” He turned around and walked away, leaving Pfannee confused.
Later that evening, after taking some medication for his asthma and writing a letter to some friends of his, he decided to check for Elphaba in the library. She was at a table near the back, reading something. Maybe she was busy, but he walked up to her anyway. She looked pretty sitting there.
“Elphaba?”
She didn’t respond. Did she just have her hearing aids off or was she ignoring him? He gently waved his hand in front of her to get her attention. She jumped slightly(making him cringe) and switched her hearing aids back on.
“Sorry,” he said, “Are you busy?”
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I just wanted to talk to you. I felt like we started off weirdly.”
“What?”
He noticed the source of what probably made her turn off her hearing aids- some kind of teacher meeting in the large room behind her, and the door was left open. A few of them had just left the room. He repeated what he had said. She looked at him for a moment and said,
“I’m not busy.”
“Okay.”
He pulled out a notebook, flipped to a new page, and wrote,
Is it okay if we just write? I have some listening fatigue right now, I think it’ll just be easier especially with that meeting behind us.
He put the notebook down next to her, and she read the message. After a minute, she wrote something and gave it back to him.
Sure. I think I do too honestly. I’d have moved somewhere else but these chairs are the most comfortable here.
Walking around the table to sit next to her, he noticed the chairs were in fact much softer than the other wooden chairs in the library. He sat in the chair next to hers, switched his hearing aid off(no point in having it on if he didn’t need to), and wrote back,
They’re really comfortable. You mad at me?
She picked up her pen, hesitated, and wrote,
I don’t know. Maybe.
Did Pfannee say something to you?
It doesn’t matter. You guys are friends anyway.
He's not my friend. Especially not if he’s being cruel to you.
Does anyone else at this school even know how to sign?
Don’t worry about that. He could be deaf, have some of the same conditions I have, and we could have a bunch in common and I still wouldn't want to hang out with him because he's a jerk. Other people can learn to sign or at least write with me if we're hanging out.
She didn't write anything down for a couple minutes, but finally put,
Okay, if you're sure. Can I ask what was going on on Monday?
I had been in the hospital getting an antibody infusion, and then after that, started feeling really sick.
Oh, that’s…a lot
It’s no big deal. At least not as much anymore. Let’s just say my immune system doesn’t work that well, but one of the treatments is infusions every three weeks. I’m not sure if the infusions were actually related to me feeling sick or not, since I could have eaten gluten by accident that day or the day before.
The tea from the cafe had barley in it.
Oh that was definitely it then. How did you make that connection though
Boq’s sister can’t eat gluten. Plus the word gluten does get thrown around a bit more in Munchkinland than in other counties. Not like the stereotypes might have you think, but it does.
I see. Most people have no idea what it is. I usually just say I can’t have wheat since that rules out most things that would cause an issue.
Okay. Do your immune system problems make you get sick more easily?
The infusions enough for me to just have to be bit extra careful about getting sick. But I have respiratory issues too so I guess that's another concern. It's part of reason I have a private suite
Good to know. What was Pfannee doing there?
Giving me medication for my migraine cause he gets them too, and I didn’t have any medication for it. I haven’t had one in a long time, so I wrongly assumed I wouldn’t need to get any before coming here and would just get some nearby.
Oh. I wouldn’t have expected him to be that nice honestly.
Yeah, well, I think he only likes me because he would get a kick out of being the prince’s interpreter or whatever. Which isn’t even technically allowed for many reasons. He’s not qualified, for one. His sister is Deaf, so he’s fluent in Ozian Sign. As you’ve noticed I guess.
That must be why he never made fun of my voice the way Galinda did and Shenshen and some others do. Or at least probably.
Yeah probably. I hope you don’t feel ashamed of your voice or anything.
Nope. At least not anymore. So uh should I assume you two weren’t laughing at me on Monday then?
No, of course not! And I’m glad you’re not ashamed of your voice.
Good
He wasn’t sure what else to talk to her about, but he didn’t want the conversation to end. So, after a minute, he wrote,
Okay weird question but before me have you ever really gotten to meet any other Deaf people or at least some other disabled people besides your sister?
She wrote for a while, then passed the notebook back to him.
Not really? I mean, my father kept me pretty sheltered, so I didn’t interact with many people in the first place, but I honestly found that disabled people were a bit more likely to not be weird about me being green, so literally the only two people besides Boq who wanted to be my friends were also disabled. Which I’m glad about anyways since I actually had people who could understand me. Only one of them was deaf though, and I only got to know her for like ten months before she died. And the other one had the same heart condition as me but I haven’t talked to her in years.
Oh, I’m sorry. And yeah, I was kind of wondering if our community would be more chill about that. Makes sense anyways.
Yeah, but Nessa had a couple friends who were also disabled who hated me. You can’t win them all I guess. But our disabilities had almost nothing in common anyway.
Yeah, I guess you can’t. I had practically the opposite experience, pretty much all I know is people like me. Or us. Around the time I was born, there were two other kids who were born with some similar conditions to me, and now we’re all best friends. Plus some others who are a bit older or younger who also have similar conditions. And I went to a Deaf school, too. All my classes there were in Ozian sign language, and all my classmates were Deaf. Plus even my sister is disabled. I don’t think I have any friends who aren’t disabled besides Bock.
Elphaba tapped his shoulder and fingerspelled,
“B-o-p.”
He tilted his head in confusion for a moment, then wrote Boq? on the notebook.
“Yes.” she signed.
He tapped the q on the notebook and made the sign for it. She repeated it and signed,
“Thanks.”
No problem. I think I can see how a beginner would mix those two up. You should practice.
I will. And that’s lucky. Didn’t know deaf schools existed until now, sounds cool.
Yeah, it was great. And now I don’t even have an interpreter at this school yet because they can’t find one. Ozian isn't my first language, which makes that hard.
I hope they find one soon.
Thanks.
Is it weird that I’m kind of surprised Galinda’s so nice to you?
No, not really. I guess because I’m royalty she can ignore things she would normally be rude about. Something like that at least. I’ve met quite a few people like that. It’s annoying.
Wow. That does sound really annoying.
Yeah. I kinda figured out the hard way it’s not worth it to hang around people like that
Yeah
Elphaba looked at her watch and said,
“I’ll write this if you want me to, but Boq and Nessa asked me to meet them now for dinner. You can come if you want, unless you already ate.”
“No, I’ll come along,” he replied. He had eaten earlier(he ate early to reduce the risk of anything he ate coming into contact with gluten), but he could see if anything else looked good. Plus, he liked hanging out with them.
They packed up their stuff and walked side by side to the dining hall, not talking. The hallway they were walking through was pretty crowded anyway. The dining hall, thankfully, was not. They got their food and walked to the table Boq and Nessa were sitting at, next to each other.
“Hey, Fiyero,” Boq called to him, “Which one of us do you think is taller?”
“What?” he asked, laughing.
“Fiyero’s definitely taller,” said Elphaba.
“I mean, I might not be. He’s tall for a Munchkin. No offense.”
“And you’re short for a Vinkun,” he replied as they sat down, “Nessa’s pretty sure I’m taller. That’s why I asked.”
“It might just be the girls, though,” Nessa admitted. Curls?
“You know what? We should see who’s taller right now,” Fiyero said, standing up.
“Oh, all right.”
They stood back to back.
“You’re basically the same height, I think,” Elphaba said.
Fiyero could tell Boq’s curls sprung up above his hair a bit, but besides that, they were.
“Okay, it’s definitely the curls,” said Nessa.
“Yeah, definitely,” Boq agreed, “Anyways,----gets much colder…they keep a bag----ball----shed, and-”
“We’re not----Boq,” Elphaba said.
“Yeah, I wasn’t going to. We----. I was thinking we could ----. Maybe a picnic too.”
“What?”
Boq repeated something.
Fiyero was barely listening- he couldn’t really understand it anyways- pushing his food around the plate. Why had he agreed to come to the dining hall? His listening fatigue was already bad enough, and he couldn’t focus enough to tell what anyone was saying anymore. He decided to switch his hearing aid off, but after less than a minute, Elphaba put a gentle hand on his shoulder. He sighed and switched it back on. She pointed to his bag and made a writing gesture with her hands. It took him a moment to realize what she meant, but he pulled out the notebook and pen they had been using earlier and gave it to her.
Are you okay?
I’m fine.
No you’re not. I know horrendible listening fatigue when I see it. Boq and Nessa aren’t going to care if you write to them or have to leave.
I know. I just wanted to make a good first impression.
Well, we were talking about bringing some netball stuff and a picnic to the forest sometime next week.
That sounds fun. I’m in.
Boq and Nessa were staring at the two of them writing to each other in either awe or confusion. Nessa’s lips moved, but he had turned his hearing aid off again.
“I’m in, by the way,” he said. They grinned.
Nessa asked what we were doing, by the way. I just told her you found it easier to write at the moment.
Okay
If you need to go, you should. We don’t mind.
He looked up and smiled at her. She grinned back.
In the morning two days later, he went to the outskirts of campus to find Feldspur. He had seemed worried about something the day before when he introduced him to Elphaba, but Fiyero thought it was better not to ask. He found him grazing in a field near the stables.
“Hey, Felds.”
He looked up from the patch of grass he was nibbling from and said,
“Hi.”
There was something in his eyes Fiyero couldn’t quite decipher.
“You doing all right?” he asked.
“Oh, yes. Just thinking.”
He raised his eyebrow.
“Are you sure?”
He could tell there was something different about his demeanor. He seemed on edge. Feldspur sighed.
“I didn’t want you to worry. But----stables with me,” he replied.
“Okay.”
He followed him there, wondering what this could all be about. Feldspur led him to a stable with a small brown foal, so skinny he could see each and every rib through the skin.
“What’s wrong with him?” he asked.
“Well, he told me he had escaped possible danger in the Emerald City. Ran here all by himself, and he’s still young.”
“Danger?”
“His mother apparently lives in the town nearby, but he was starving and had to rest here. I’ve brought him food, but he has yet to eat as much as he should. He didn’t want to tell me anything, but…” He sighed again.
“What do you think is going on?”
“I suspect there’s someone out there who wants to see why Animals can speak and do things for themselves when animals cannot.”
“That’s horrible.” He knew people had started to act a bit more uncomfortable or almost hostile towards Animals in recent years. Just a few months ago someone had been weird about Feldspur being in a restaurant. But this seemed…he didn’t know what to think.
“Is there anything we can do?” he asked.
“I think we just need to make sure this foal gets better and returned to his family, and hope that whoever did this gets taken care of.”
Fiyero nodded.
“On a more pleasant note, how are things with you and Elphaba?”
“What do you mean?”
“The day we met her and when you were here together yesterday, your heart rate sped up.”
He opened his mouth and closed it again, not sure what to say.
“That could mean anything. It doesn’t have to mean I have a crush on her. I only like her as a friend.”
“You sure about that?” Feldspur raised his eyebrows.
He…wasn’t so sure. He was getting less and less so by the minute.
“Look, I’m eventually going to get kicked out of this school, too. I’m trying not to get too attached.”
“Right.”
“I mean it. And it also doesn’t mean I’m going to date any of them.”
Though Elphaba was different from most of the people he hung around at universities. In more ways than one.
“Right,” Feldspur scoffed, “Have they still not gotten an interpreter for you?”
“No,” he replied, annoyed,
“Do you think it would work at all for me to go in there and…no, that wouldn’t work at all, would it?”
Feldspur had suggested in the past that he go into his classes and use the modified sign language Fiyero had taught him. They didn’t use it super often, but it was helpful. Feldspur, on the other hand, understood Ozian Sign pretty fluently, since he had made an effort to teach him just in case, and it came in handy when he didn't feel like talking.
“Definitely not.”
“Okay, well, I hope they find one soon.”
“Me too. I think I should go now.”
“All right, see you. Good luck with Elphaba,” he said, smirking.
“Yeah, okay,” he said jokingly.
He walked to class trying not to think about Elphaba.