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Glinda sighed, and laughed, while she danced with Ren to the next slow song that echoed through the ballroom, “They don’t see it, do they?”
Ren looked up to Elphaba and Fiyero and where their table was, “That they both feel something, but they’re dancing around it?”
Glinda nodded, “He’s got to realize his traditional methods are going to go right over her head,” she smiled watching them, “He wasn’t even talking to that girl that excused himself from earlier…”
“What?” Ren questioned, watching the blonde now as they danced.
Glinda nodded, “He just made it look like it so he could go over to her. He needed a plausible excuse to go over without seeming like he was seeking her out.”
She really had to giggle at the moment, she realized that just as those two had been observing people together at the table, Glinda had been observing them herself. Fiyero had taken his moment with Elphaba when he had noticed she and Ren move away from their crowd. She watched now as they talked at the table again, Elphaba seeming slightly more relaxed.
“He’s falling hard for her,” Ren noted, and Glinda nodded before laying her head on Ren’s shoulder as they swayed, and a smile danced across the blonde face as she watched them, “And she is falling just as hard for him.”
.
.
Once the boys returned the girls safely to their room, after their night at the Ozdust, and they had closed the door behind them, Glinda turned to Elphaba, waiting for her to confess anything about her night, but nothing came.
She watched from her bed as Elphaba went into their adjoining bathroom for a moment, before returning to their room in her typical navy nightgown/frock, and a light grey house-cardigan overtop. She watched as she silently walked to her bed, clicking on her nightstand light on, and beginning to pick up her book, before Glinda stood dumbfounded, “Elphie!”
Elphaba eyes snapped up the Glinda’s, and she just looked to her, “What?”
Glinda stood there, giving her roommate a look, one that conveyed a look of “Are you really going to say nothing about what just happened?”
Elphaba was many things, but stupid, was not one of them. She knew exactly what her roommate was waiting for. Waiting for her to tell her about what had happened in the night prior to them coming over to herself and Ren, but if the blonde wanted details, she was going to have to fight for them. So, Elphaba settled for turning her head to the side, as if she knew nothing of what the blonde wanted.
Glinda rolled her eyes, before bounding over to Elphaba’s bed, and sitting in front of her best friend, taking the book, putting it back onto her night stand, “Elphaba Thropp, you need to explain to me what happened tonight!”
Elphaba smirked, she did sometimes get a bit of a kick out of playing dumb to her, “I don’t know what you mean….” She went to grabbed her book again, but the blonde’s hand smacked it back onto the nightstand, with quite the thud, and Elphaba turned to her shocked, “Glin!”
The blonde shook her head, hand still on the book, “No, Elphie! You are not escaping this.”
She slowly moved her hand, making sure Elphaba wouldn’t reach for it again, before she turned to her, “Elphie, what was that with you and Fiyero?”
Elphaba turned head again this time, but not with the same meaning as last time, “Fiyero and I?” she questioned, and Glinda nodded slowly, “You danced… You slow danced, with Fiyero…”
She watched the green girl for any reaction to her words, but Elphaba attempted to hold strong, “Yes, I danced one dance with him, because he insisted, and quite literally pulled me along with him. We also just sat at a table too, but I don’t see you freaking out over that.” She finished, pointedly. Only to have Glinda to retort immediately, “And speaking of that!”
To which, Elphaba rolled her eyes, before reaching behind her, and threw her pillow at the blonde, deflecting again, only to have her catch it, and immediately hug it to her, “You guys were talking for an awful long time.”, to which Elphaba retorted, “You took in that much while you were busy with your friends?” her eyebrows raised.
Glinda shrugged, returning the green girl’s look, “Maybe, someone was observing you, just as much as you two were observing others.”
Elphaba gaze snapped to hers, before her hands moving down to pick at the stitching on her cardigan, “Maybe, you notice too much for your own good, Miss Upland.”
Glinda smirked, upon hearing the name Elphaba used, knowing that she was getting somewhere with her. She kept a gaze on her until Elphaba recounted the evening herself, telling her what they had talked about, before Fiyero had dragged her over to her and Ren. Glinda was on the edge of her seat, listening to each word Elphaba recounted, and slowly, she concluded the evening when the two boys had returned them safely back to the dorm, to which Elphaba added, “To which, they didn’t have to do that. We could have walked ourselves back, just fine.”
Glinda rolled her eyes, “Elphie, they were being chivalrous. They were being kind.” She gave her a pointed look, when Elphaba turned the conversation around before Glinda could further press about Fiyero, “So, Ren?” she was the one now asking the questions.
Glinda smiled, “Yes; Ren. You’ve known about that for a while now, Elphie. He’s just so sweet. We have a bunch of classes together, and I guess the walks between them, we just slowly grew closer. We’ve recently realized how much we have in common.”
Elphaba smiled at the look on her best friend’s face as she talked about the boy she liked. She could tell this one wasn’t just a fling, this was one was one Glinda seemed serious about. She didn’t try to flaunt him everywhere with her; she looked for him in the small, quiet moments, not quite public about it yet. It was small ones like she had just witnessed at the Ozdust tonight.
Glinda knew exactly what Elphaba was doing, she was no fool. She knew she had hoped if she got talking about Ren, that she could evade further questions about Fiyero. She raised her own eyebrow to Elphaba, “So, you and Fiyero?” she tried, more gently this time.
Elphaba sighed, she was not going to let this go, “What about me and Fiyero?”
Glinda looked to Elphaba, and she realized, that her and Ren had been right. Both were falling hard without any realization that so was the other, her eyes widened, “Oh my Oz, you seriously don’t see it do you?”
Elphaba gave her a confused look, “See what?”
“That he is completely in love you?!” Glinda exclaimed, making Elphaba eyes widen, “What?”
The blonde shook her head, smiling, “Oh, Elphie. You are as blind to it as he is,” she paused, thinking back into their evening, “Do you remember when he came over to you, at the table?”
Elphaba thought back; had she really been watching them for that long without her noticing. She nodded, “Yes? He said something about trying to get out of a conversation, and he saw me stretching my arm, and mistook it for a wave, giving him an excuse.”
Glinda smiled, as she shook her head, “Elphie, he wasn’t talking with anyone before he came over to you,” she paused, taking in Elphaba’s expression, and continued, smirking, “He did say something to that girl that was beside him, maybe to excuse himself through the crowd, but he wasn’t actually talking with them.”
Elphaba looked to her questioningly, “But, then why did he say-“
Glinda cut her off, “He needed a plausible excuse to go over and see you.”
Elphaba sat there for a moment, replaying the moment in her head. Now that she thought about it, the girl had looked slightly confused, “But, why-“
“He wanted to be with you, Elphie!” she finished, trying to make Elphaba understand. She thought for a moment, before smirking again, “And those hand touches…”
Elphaba gaped at her, “How long were you watching us?”
Glinda just shrugged, “Long enough…”
They fell into a silence, before Glinda spoke again, “You do realize everyone else can see it besides you two? Right?” Elphaba went to retort, but Glinda held her hand up, “I won’t bother you more on it tonight, but I see it, Elphie. I know you are falling for him, and you’re falling hard. Just remember, all in the blink of an eye, you could run out of time. You need to figure out what you want to do, and you need figure it out before someone else does… The way he looks at you, Elphie…I can only hope Ren looks at me like that someday…” she finished, wistfully.
With that, Glinda got up from Elphaba’s bed, and went back to her own bed. Elphaba was surprised that Glinda was willing to drop it so easily, but her words haunted her as she tried to fall asleep, ‘Could run out of time; someone else.’
The thought of actually having to realize her feelings for Fiyero, terrified her. But did the thought of losing him terrify her even more?
.
.
After her conversation with Glinda, Elphaba began to notice more things; the exact things that she had warned the green girl of. The looks, and hands of the girls when they spoke with Fiyero, flirting with him; touching his chest or arm as they spoke. She didn’t think herself to be the jealous type, and jealous wasn’t the even the word she’d use, but it hurt. Somehow, it did now bother her to see them near him. But it wasn’t like she had any kind of a claim on him, yet somehow it stung.
Even if she didn’t admit it to anyone else, she could at the least admit to herself, she did feel something for Fiyero, and it scared her. She had never felt this way before for anyone; and it was unchartered territory for her. She thought over Glinda’s words for the next few days. She kept talking herself up, to finally try to say something to him, but she never found him alone in the days that followed.
.
It was around a week after the night at the Ozdust, that Elphaba finally found Fiyero; alone. She took him in, sitting on a stone bench, in one of the gardens that surrounded Shiz. She couldn’t quite make out the expression on his face, looking at something in his hand. A letter?
“Fiyero-“ she started, and his head whipped up to meet her gaze, and it was now that she could see he was scared, but trying to hide it from her, “Fae.”
He slid over on the bench, to make room for her sit beside him, and he just silently started at the letter, not saying anything more. She looked to him concerned, “Fiyero, what’s going on?”
He just let out what she could only guess was a laugh, mixed with a cry, and turned the letter to her, “It’s from my parents.”
Elphaba turned to read the note within his hand. She was shocked at what she read, catching lines here and there that stood out:
“Fiyero, since you have seemed to not prove us wrong again-“
“If you cannot find your own suitable match-“
“We will have to find a suitable match ourselves.”
Elphaba realized now why this letter had upset him, they were giving him an ultimatum. She knew enough about him to know, this would only make him rebel against the thought, and them more, “An arranged marriage?”
He nodded, crumpling the paper in his hands, to which Elphaba reached over, grabbing it from him, and un-crumpling it. He was mad now, yes, but he wasn’t going to want the letter destroyed, “They don’t even tell me how long I have. Graduation? The end of this semester?” he asked, in a voice she had not yet heard him use before. It sounded like anger, like defeat, like someone who had always just wanted to have the option to make choices in their life. She thought about it. Graduation was in 2 years’ time. The end of the semester was in 3 months’ time. Those timings were two very different timelines, “When do you have to be married by?” she asked, voice quiet, trying to not upset him further, but trying to help.
He shrugged, expression still one in shock, “By the time I graduated from Shiz,” he paused, “But according to this, the ‘match’ needs to be known before then…”
She could only sit in silence with him for a moment, before she could hear him whispering to himself, almost pleading with something within him, “I just need more time…I can’t yet…”
It was only when he turned to her, seeing her observing him, that he realized he had said that aloud, and that she was waiting for his next words, he sighed before speaking, “I do have someone in mind-“
She thought that having seen other girls around Fiyero stung, but now these words were seeming to sting even more. He continued, “But, I just can’t yet. It’s too early. I haven’t even said anything to her…”
Elphaba tried to think of any words that could help, but she blanked. So, her hand moved on its own accord, like back from the night at the Ozdust, and grabbed his hand, “Fiyero - “
His gaze, slowly moved down to where she held his hand. Hers did too, she hadn’t meant to. They both stared down at their joined hands, when she remembered why the blonde’s words seemed familiar the other night, it was from a quote Elphaba had read from a poem, and told the blonde about. Of course, she’d use it back on her.
“I didn’t know we would have to say good-bye. All in the blink of an eye, we’ve come to the end of our time, might not get a second chance to experience you again, oh, but I’m glad that I did. I hope I see you again.” was how the first verse read, and she began to feel the weight of the blonde’s words now, making it true: tell him, or lose him forever.
It was as she went to speak, that he squeezed her hand, just as she had when she grabbed his, and her vision seemed to go black, and he had to leap forward to catch her from falling off the bench.
.
Everything seemed hazy around her, and she tried to make out her surroundings. Everything seemed to be a blur, except for one thing, him. What was her magic trying to show her? Everything seemed to be in a smoke, only allowing her to see what it wanted her to see.
She walked, in what seemed to be slow motion, towards where he stood. It seemed to be a cathedral or church of sorts, maybe a castle? It seemed to be made of large stone, ones that voices would echo off of.
She finally made it to him, and she looked to him. He was in much fancier clothing than she was used to, and she realized where her magic had taken her. The very thing Fiyero and she had just been talking about. His eyes though, they weren’t his, not the ones she knew. These ones were defeated, sad and not the bright ones she had grown to know. He seemed to be very sullen, trying to force a smile, when he turned to the doors that opened.
As Elphaba turned to try to see if anything else would unblur, but it wouldn’t. She couldn’t see who was at the back doors. She turned back to Fiyero, and his almost seemed to connect to her own. He was staring at her. She walked closer to him again, and she dared to try something, something she had never attempted when she had gone into a vision before. She reached her hand, up to his cheek, and she noticed him leaning into it, trying to relive a past memory. She noticed that it seemed to only be him, that could see her, and he looked to her, his voice barely above a whisper, “She’s not you, Fae…” he began to fade from in front of her, her grasping the air where he had stood, but there nothing to grab. He was gone. She could tell from the feeling she had that the vision was about to let her back into reality, and she jolted.
.
She jolted in Fiyero’s arms, gasping as she came back to, stilling trying to process what she had just seen. He just watched her, with such sincerity, that it almost broke her heart more. He looked genuinely concerned, and waited for her to speak, “I think… I had one of my visions, when you tightened your grip on my hand…”
He waited, while she seemed to collect her bearings, and she had to decide, if he asked, would she reveal what she had seen.
They waited another moment, before it came, and his words made her flinch, “What did you see?”
She looked to him, his face read worried, and genuinely concerned about the vision having almost dropped her to the floor, had he not been there. Still deciding what to do on the first predicament she had, she sighed, the least she could do was be truthful, “I was somewhere with large stone walls, with many people there, I could hear them, but I couldn’t see everything. It was all hazy, and I could only see one thing that it would allow me to.” She paused, and she looked to see him hanging on every word she said.
“Who? What? What did it let you see?”
She sighed, looking down to still where he still held her hand, “You.”
His gaze intensified, and his eyes widen, begging her to keep telling him, she shrugged, “You were standing at the front of what was, maybe a cathedral of sorts?”
Fiyero kept his gaze, his tone becoming serious, “Could it have been a wedding?”
She nodded, “It could have been. But, like I said everything, but you, was hazy. I couldn’t see whoever was coming into the room, when my vision pulled me back.”
He nodded, “Did I at least look happy?”
It broke her heart the way that he asked. She couldn’t bring herself to say the words; you had lost your spark, your happiness. The silence seemed to be all the answer he needed.
He slowly nodded, lowering his gaze, and waited, she continued, “I could touch you, though. I have never been able do that in my visions before.”
He nodded, eyes still lowered, “Do they-“ he waited, and she encouraged him, “Do they, what?”
He met her gaze, “Do they always come true? Your visions?”
She could see the same defeat now in him, that the vision version had. She shook her head, “No, they don’t always come true.”
He seemed slightly relieved at that, and nodded, “ That’s good.” Was all he could manage.
.
They sat in silence for a few moments, just trying to take everything in, that both had said.
Elphaba surprisingly spoke first, “Fiyero?”
He turned to her, and she continued, “You said…” she paused, tell him or lose him forever, “You said before, that you had someone in mind. Why don’t you just tell your parents that? Ask for more time?”
He shook his head, “They won’t listen, I have danced around it for long enough. They don’t believe that I’ll ever settle down. Even if I tell them I need more time, to convince her, I don’t think they’ll go for it. They don’t even know about her. How could they when I’m still trying to convince myself, that I’m worthy of her.”
Her gaze fell, she couldn’t believe that there was someone else, just as Glinda had warned her, “Of course, you are, Fiyero.”
His gaze snapped to her, realizing that she hadn’t meant to say it aloud. She shrugged, it had slipped out, “You are an amazing friend, Fiyero. Whether it’s friends, or something more, you deserve all that you give, to come back to you. Whether you realize it or not.”
He just watched her, turning his head to the side, what he gave?
She could only smile sadly at him, why in Oz was she not saying how she truly felt, “You don’t see it do you? The loyalty, the selflessness, the courage, and the lending an ear, no matter what is going on in your own life…”
He took in her words. He felt with how she was speaking, there was something more behind it, “I could say the same about you.” He retorted.
She smiled, and when to say something, but stopped. Fiyero took in how she picked at the dress hem on her frock, and he waited, waited to see if she’d say anything further. When she didn’t, he decided, this was his moment of courage, the very thing she had just mentioned, “The girl…” he paused, and she stopped picking at the hem, fingers frozen in place, “I don’t know how to bring this up to her. It’ll seem so out of the blue, what if I scare her off, forever?”
She sighed; wishing only wounded the heart, but how could she also not help him, even if her moment of courage never came, he was still her friend, and that vision version of him, had broken her heart, “You… I guess you just have to take the chance, take a leap of faith, that it’ll work itself out. If she’s what you really want.”
He nodded, before getting from the bench, the tolling of the nearby bell tower having begun to ring, startling him. He fidgeted for a moment before turning to her, “Thank you”, he said with sincerity. She nodded, and watched as he began to walk away. She got up herself, walking the opposite way to Crage Hall, all because she couldn’t find her courage.
When Fiyero turned around, “Fae.”
Elphaba turned, and waited for him, “Yes?”
He smiled, “The girl that I have feelings for-“ he paused, and she kept his gaze, “it’s you.”
She tried to reply, but her voice got stuck in her throat, so she kept his gaze, and he kept his as well, “I can try to write to them, give me; us, more time, but, I just need to know you feel the same.”
He paused, she just stood still, unmoving. His heart dropped for a moment, thinking he had done it, he had scared her off forever. He turned away, ready to walk away, when her voice rang out, “Fiyero!”
He spun around, facing her. The look on his face, was the one that Glinda had mentioned before, she could finally see it herself now. A look of complete adoration.
‘Might not get a chance to experience you again, but I am glad that I did’, echoed through her head, trying to find her courage. She closed her eyes for a moment, waiting for it. Her eyes snapped open, looking straight into Fiyero’s,
“I do.” She paused, “I do feel the same.”