The Effects of Gravity 15/? by ainsleyaisling
Title: The Effects of Gravity 15/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG-13
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: An interlude. Pfannee has suspicions, and Glinda knows something she isn't telling Elphaba.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous section can be found here. This part took so long because it's been kicking my butt, and finally I decided to divide it up. So this bit is a little shorter than usual, but I think it works better as a standalone chapter.
~~Glinda~~
On the morning after Fiyero ended their relationship, Glinda was awake early and spending nearly an hour choosing her clothes for the day. It was a careful balance - she had to look good enough that no one would think anything was wrong, fresh and pretty and bright enough that her classmates would never suspect she had spent half the night before crying in Elphaba's arms - but on the other hand, she also had to avoid drawing extra attention to herself or appearing as if . . . as if she were trying too hard. She was beginning to understand how Elphaba had felt, going to that ball. And when it came right down to it, neither she nor her roommate was very good at not attracting attention.
She was just deciding that she was finally satisfied with herself, smoothing the last neatly (but not ostentatiously, she hoped) arranged curl, when she realized that Elphaba was watching her and probably had been for some time. "Well," she said, looking not at the real Elphaba but at her reflection behind Glinda's in the mirror, "how do I look?"
"Your back looks lovely," Elphaba said from her perch on her bed.
Glinda turned, her exasperation almost entirely feigned. "Well?"
"Perfect."
Glinda frowned and lifted one hand to her cheek. "You mean 'pale,' don't you?"
"Yes," Elphaba replied flatly, "but 'perfect' is equally true."
"To you, maybe."
Elphaba was in the process of putting on her shoes; she propped one stockinged foot on the bed and leaned her chin on her knee. To Glinda it looked extremely uncomfortable. "Are you implying that I have no taste, or that I always think you look perfect?"
"The latter," Glinda said, with a feeling of warmth as she realized it was true.
"If it helps, I did not think you looked perfect last night," Elphaba mused. "Still beautiful, but not perfect." She dropped her foot suddenly and went back to putting on her boot. "Anyway it's the middle of winter; no one will notice if you're paler today than you were yesterday. Hardly anyone saw you yesterday in any case."
"You're very helpful."
"Stand next to me all day - that'll make you look pinker." Elphaba shivered as she stood up, and Glinda was at her side in a flash, feeling her forehead.
"That's the third time this morning, and it's warm in here," she said. "You'll get a chill from being so cold last night."
Elphaba looked a little bit guilty - from knowing she hadn't taken proper care, probably. "People don't actually get sick from being chilled," she said, lightly pushing away Glinda's hand.
"It weakens the chest," Glinda maintained. "Especially when you're as thin as you are."
"I'm not going to get sick." Elphaba left Glinda standing between their beds and went to fetch her cloak. "Let's get to class."
Although she knew it would be better to appear completely independent and carefree, Glinda crossed the campus toward their history class with her arm tucked through Elphaba's, holding her hand tightly. They separated as they entered the classroom, but when Fiyero looked up to note their entrance Glinda felt Elphaba's hand, fleeting but reassuring, at the small of her back. She and Elphaba by silent agreement took Glinda's old place, on the other side of the room from Fiyero, and Glinda couldn't help slipping her hand back into Elphaba's as they sat down amid the silent stares of many of their classmates.
Pfannee came and sat next to Glinda, with a quick glance from her to Fiyero and back again. "Something wrong this morning, Glinda?" she asked.
Before Glinda could become defensive, Elphaba replied in that annoyed-with-the-world tone that was such a particular talent of hers, "I'm not feeling well and Glinda's fussing."
Partly because they had been discussing Elphaba's health that morning, Glinda managed to reply immediately and only afterward realized Elphaba was covering for her. "I am not fussing," she said.
Elphaba coughed quietly into her hand, and Pfannee put a couple of extra inches of bench between herself and Glinda. "Well, don't cough in my direction," she said. Elphaba just smiled.
After class, however, Elphaba had to hurry off to a private meeting with their sorcery instructor, which left Glinda to walk to lunch with Pfannee alone. Pfannee wasted no time, not that Glinda had expected any different, in saying, "So - not going to lunch with Fiyero today, then?"
"Oh." Glinda laughed, and hoped it didn't sound as empty as it felt. "That's all ancient history, didn't I tell you?"
Pfannee's eyes widened as she sensed gossip. "No, you did not," she said.
"I expect it went out of my head this morning, what with Elphaba feeling ill," Glinda went on airily. Thank goodness she had always been a good actress, anyway. She shook her head. "She has no constitution, you know - how could she, being so skinny?"
Something about those words appeared to have distracted Pfannee from the subject of Fiyero, for the time being at least. She frowned prettily at Glinda for a moment before saying, "You know, I don't entirely understand . . . you and Elphaba."
"What's to understand?" Glinda asked.
"Well, you - like her."
"Yes." The wind kicked up; Glinda plunged her hands deep into the pockets of her coat and shrugged. "So?"
"You never used to."
"I didn't know her that well before."
"And now you do."
"Now I do."
Pfannee shook her head. "I mean, at first when you actually started talking to her it seemed like maybe you were feeling guilty -"
"I was," Glinda said.
"But for what - you don't have to like everybody."
"Not for not liking her - but for being hateful to her. For being meaner than I had to be, when she was nice to me." She looked up at Pfannee. "You can see that, can't you?"
"I guess." Pfannee paused. "But that's a reason to be . . . civil to her, not to like her."
"Well, first I was civil to her, then I got to like her. Honestly Pfannee, it's not that hard to understand."
"But why do you like her? That's what I don't see."
Glinda hesitated, debating whether to give the honest answer or the glib one. "Because of how she is with me," she said finally. "She - thinks she doesn't know how to love people, because of the way she's always been treated. But she does know how; she just does it without thinking. That's why." That was a bit glib, but it wasn't dishonest.
"She hasn't . . ."
Glinda waited the space of several steps for Pfannee to finish her question, but it didn't appear that she planned to continue. "Hasn't what?"
"Hasn't . . ." Pfannee's mouth twisted as Glinda looked at her, and she did an uncomfortable half-skip in place of a step. "Well, you know - replaced Fiyero."
Glinda felt her forehead wrinkle automatically as she pondered the question. "Replaced him? What do you mean?"
Pfannee's face had gone extremely pink and it didn't appear to be from the cold; whatever she was thinking, it was obviously embarrassing her in some way. "Replaced him - as your . . ."
"Oh." Glinda very nearly stamped her foot. "Why does everyone think that?"
"So someone else has asked you the same thing?" Pfannee asked curiously.
"Not - exactly." It certainly wasn't something she could explain to Pfannee, and at any rate she wasn't really sure herself.
"But it's not true?"
"Of course not. Elphaba would never -"
"Elphaba would never?" Pfannee paused mid-stride. "Does that mean you would?"
"That I would - oh, I see." Glinda had begun to feel a bit lightheaded; she hoped she wasn't coming down with whatever it was Elphaba was so staunchly insisting she hadn't caught. "I meant, it seems to me that the . . . perception is, that if we were - er -"
"Like Amathee and what's-her-name from Settica?"
Glinda nodded, her face heating up to rival Pfannee's. "Yes, like that - that it would be because Elphaba was doing something to me."
Pfannee raised an eyebrow. She was clearly growing more comfortable with the subject now that it was out in the open. "Isn't that the general idea in those kinds of situations?"
"No, I mean - they think she would be - manipulating, or controlling, or - hurting me in some way. That it wouldn't really be my choice. Understand?"
Pfannee hesitated and then started walking again. "I suppose," she said. "But - so your answer to my question was that Elphaba isn't - doing something to you that you don't want. So you didn't necessarily say that you and she aren't, well, for lack of a better phrase, doing things to each other."
"There's no need to be so crude about it," Glinda complained, taking refuge in prim shock to avoid thinking too hard. "Now I wonder just what you thought I was letting Fiyero get away with."
Ha. Pfannee at long last looked reasonably chagrined. "I didn't mean to imply . . ."
"And anyway, the answer is no. As to Elphaba."
"You're not . . ."
"We're not." Glinda paused. "And listen, if you ever hear anyone else saying anything . . . well, I just hate that people might say things like that about her. She has enough trouble without people thinking she's - I can't even think of a word."
"Molesting you?"
"- yes, that. I mean, if anything -" She froze.
"If anything what?"
Glinda could have slapped herself for what she had nearly said. It would hardly have helped to quell any rumors that might be flying around. She shook her head and smiled. "If anything she's the least likely person I can think of - you know how reserved she is."
"I suppose."
Glinda bit her lip as they walked the rest of the way in silence. What she had nearly said, of course, was that she was the one who was always kissing Elphaba and making her uncomfortable; she was the one who kept demanding things Elphaba wouldn't have offered. She hadn't thought much about it before, but . . . but . . .
"Elphaba," she said on her roommate's return to their dormitory before dinner, "would you rather I didn't kiss you?" She made her tone light and airy and carefully did not look at Elphaba while she was speaking.
"Just now, yes, I would prefer that you didn't." Glinda would have been hurt, but it was easy to tell that something was wrong. Elphaba's voice, hardly sweet on the best of days, was low and scratched and strained. Her skin was a sicklier shade than usual and there was a flush of unnatural (well, unusually unnatural) color in her cheeks. Her posture, as she dropped her satchel on the floor and sank onto her bed, was slumped and weary.
"You are ill," Glinda said, going to sit beside Elphaba. "I -"
"If you say 'I told you,' I will kiss you and hope you catch it."
Glinda closed her mouth momentarily. "I'm sorry," she said once she had decided it was safe. "What hurts?"
"Everything." Elphaba finally leaned back fully onto the bed, and Glinda frowned down at her.
"You'd better go to the infirmary."
"No."
"But Elphie -"
"No. I'll be fine."
"You're far from fine." Glinda passed her hand over Elphaba's forehead, which now felt quite warm.
Elphaba closed her eyes and turned her face slightly into Glinda's touch. "Please don't," she asked. "Just go on to dinner and let me rest for a while. I'll be feeling better by the time you get back."
Glinda bit her lip again. Go to dinner without Elphaba? After their lunchtime conversation she wasn't certain that she wanted to sit with Pfannee just now - but then, if there were rumors circulating, surely it would be better to be seen more often in the company of her other friends and without Elphaba. Especially now that she and Fiyero - well, weren't she and Fiyero anymore. No, this was the best thing - she knew, of course, that there was no good outcome here; if she abandoned Elphaba it would seem only logical to the rest of the student body, and if she clung to her (the way she wanted to?) some of them would assume that she was under Elphaba's sway. Glinda would just try to have to reach some kind of happy medium, if she wanted to protect them both.
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG-13
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: An interlude. Pfannee has suspicions, and Glinda knows something she isn't telling Elphaba.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous section can be found here. This part took so long because it's been kicking my butt, and finally I decided to divide it up. So this bit is a little shorter than usual, but I think it works better as a standalone chapter.
~~Glinda~~
On the morning after Fiyero ended their relationship, Glinda was awake early and spending nearly an hour choosing her clothes for the day. It was a careful balance - she had to look good enough that no one would think anything was wrong, fresh and pretty and bright enough that her classmates would never suspect she had spent half the night before crying in Elphaba's arms - but on the other hand, she also had to avoid drawing extra attention to herself or appearing as if . . . as if she were trying too hard. She was beginning to understand how Elphaba had felt, going to that ball. And when it came right down to it, neither she nor her roommate was very good at not attracting attention.
She was just deciding that she was finally satisfied with herself, smoothing the last neatly (but not ostentatiously, she hoped) arranged curl, when she realized that Elphaba was watching her and probably had been for some time. "Well," she said, looking not at the real Elphaba but at her reflection behind Glinda's in the mirror, "how do I look?"
"Your back looks lovely," Elphaba said from her perch on her bed.
Glinda turned, her exasperation almost entirely feigned. "Well?"
"Perfect."
Glinda frowned and lifted one hand to her cheek. "You mean 'pale,' don't you?"
"Yes," Elphaba replied flatly, "but 'perfect' is equally true."
"To you, maybe."
Elphaba was in the process of putting on her shoes; she propped one stockinged foot on the bed and leaned her chin on her knee. To Glinda it looked extremely uncomfortable. "Are you implying that I have no taste, or that I always think you look perfect?"
"The latter," Glinda said, with a feeling of warmth as she realized it was true.
"If it helps, I did not think you looked perfect last night," Elphaba mused. "Still beautiful, but not perfect." She dropped her foot suddenly and went back to putting on her boot. "Anyway it's the middle of winter; no one will notice if you're paler today than you were yesterday. Hardly anyone saw you yesterday in any case."
"You're very helpful."
"Stand next to me all day - that'll make you look pinker." Elphaba shivered as she stood up, and Glinda was at her side in a flash, feeling her forehead.
"That's the third time this morning, and it's warm in here," she said. "You'll get a chill from being so cold last night."
Elphaba looked a little bit guilty - from knowing she hadn't taken proper care, probably. "People don't actually get sick from being chilled," she said, lightly pushing away Glinda's hand.
"It weakens the chest," Glinda maintained. "Especially when you're as thin as you are."
"I'm not going to get sick." Elphaba left Glinda standing between their beds and went to fetch her cloak. "Let's get to class."
Although she knew it would be better to appear completely independent and carefree, Glinda crossed the campus toward their history class with her arm tucked through Elphaba's, holding her hand tightly. They separated as they entered the classroom, but when Fiyero looked up to note their entrance Glinda felt Elphaba's hand, fleeting but reassuring, at the small of her back. She and Elphaba by silent agreement took Glinda's old place, on the other side of the room from Fiyero, and Glinda couldn't help slipping her hand back into Elphaba's as they sat down amid the silent stares of many of their classmates.
Pfannee came and sat next to Glinda, with a quick glance from her to Fiyero and back again. "Something wrong this morning, Glinda?" she asked.
Before Glinda could become defensive, Elphaba replied in that annoyed-with-the-world tone that was such a particular talent of hers, "I'm not feeling well and Glinda's fussing."
Partly because they had been discussing Elphaba's health that morning, Glinda managed to reply immediately and only afterward realized Elphaba was covering for her. "I am not fussing," she said.
Elphaba coughed quietly into her hand, and Pfannee put a couple of extra inches of bench between herself and Glinda. "Well, don't cough in my direction," she said. Elphaba just smiled.
After class, however, Elphaba had to hurry off to a private meeting with their sorcery instructor, which left Glinda to walk to lunch with Pfannee alone. Pfannee wasted no time, not that Glinda had expected any different, in saying, "So - not going to lunch with Fiyero today, then?"
"Oh." Glinda laughed, and hoped it didn't sound as empty as it felt. "That's all ancient history, didn't I tell you?"
Pfannee's eyes widened as she sensed gossip. "No, you did not," she said.
"I expect it went out of my head this morning, what with Elphaba feeling ill," Glinda went on airily. Thank goodness she had always been a good actress, anyway. She shook her head. "She has no constitution, you know - how could she, being so skinny?"
Something about those words appeared to have distracted Pfannee from the subject of Fiyero, for the time being at least. She frowned prettily at Glinda for a moment before saying, "You know, I don't entirely understand . . . you and Elphaba."
"What's to understand?" Glinda asked.
"Well, you - like her."
"Yes." The wind kicked up; Glinda plunged her hands deep into the pockets of her coat and shrugged. "So?"
"You never used to."
"I didn't know her that well before."
"And now you do."
"Now I do."
Pfannee shook her head. "I mean, at first when you actually started talking to her it seemed like maybe you were feeling guilty -"
"I was," Glinda said.
"But for what - you don't have to like everybody."
"Not for not liking her - but for being hateful to her. For being meaner than I had to be, when she was nice to me." She looked up at Pfannee. "You can see that, can't you?"
"I guess." Pfannee paused. "But that's a reason to be . . . civil to her, not to like her."
"Well, first I was civil to her, then I got to like her. Honestly Pfannee, it's not that hard to understand."
"But why do you like her? That's what I don't see."
Glinda hesitated, debating whether to give the honest answer or the glib one. "Because of how she is with me," she said finally. "She - thinks she doesn't know how to love people, because of the way she's always been treated. But she does know how; she just does it without thinking. That's why." That was a bit glib, but it wasn't dishonest.
"She hasn't . . ."
Glinda waited the space of several steps for Pfannee to finish her question, but it didn't appear that she planned to continue. "Hasn't what?"
"Hasn't . . ." Pfannee's mouth twisted as Glinda looked at her, and she did an uncomfortable half-skip in place of a step. "Well, you know - replaced Fiyero."
Glinda felt her forehead wrinkle automatically as she pondered the question. "Replaced him? What do you mean?"
Pfannee's face had gone extremely pink and it didn't appear to be from the cold; whatever she was thinking, it was obviously embarrassing her in some way. "Replaced him - as your . . ."
"Oh." Glinda very nearly stamped her foot. "Why does everyone think that?"
"So someone else has asked you the same thing?" Pfannee asked curiously.
"Not - exactly." It certainly wasn't something she could explain to Pfannee, and at any rate she wasn't really sure herself.
"But it's not true?"
"Of course not. Elphaba would never -"
"Elphaba would never?" Pfannee paused mid-stride. "Does that mean you would?"
"That I would - oh, I see." Glinda had begun to feel a bit lightheaded; she hoped she wasn't coming down with whatever it was Elphaba was so staunchly insisting she hadn't caught. "I meant, it seems to me that the . . . perception is, that if we were - er -"
"Like Amathee and what's-her-name from Settica?"
Glinda nodded, her face heating up to rival Pfannee's. "Yes, like that - that it would be because Elphaba was doing something to me."
Pfannee raised an eyebrow. She was clearly growing more comfortable with the subject now that it was out in the open. "Isn't that the general idea in those kinds of situations?"
"No, I mean - they think she would be - manipulating, or controlling, or - hurting me in some way. That it wouldn't really be my choice. Understand?"
Pfannee hesitated and then started walking again. "I suppose," she said. "But - so your answer to my question was that Elphaba isn't - doing something to you that you don't want. So you didn't necessarily say that you and she aren't, well, for lack of a better phrase, doing things to each other."
"There's no need to be so crude about it," Glinda complained, taking refuge in prim shock to avoid thinking too hard. "Now I wonder just what you thought I was letting Fiyero get away with."
Ha. Pfannee at long last looked reasonably chagrined. "I didn't mean to imply . . ."
"And anyway, the answer is no. As to Elphaba."
"You're not . . ."
"We're not." Glinda paused. "And listen, if you ever hear anyone else saying anything . . . well, I just hate that people might say things like that about her. She has enough trouble without people thinking she's - I can't even think of a word."
"Molesting you?"
"- yes, that. I mean, if anything -" She froze.
"If anything what?"
Glinda could have slapped herself for what she had nearly said. It would hardly have helped to quell any rumors that might be flying around. She shook her head and smiled. "If anything she's the least likely person I can think of - you know how reserved she is."
"I suppose."
Glinda bit her lip as they walked the rest of the way in silence. What she had nearly said, of course, was that she was the one who was always kissing Elphaba and making her uncomfortable; she was the one who kept demanding things Elphaba wouldn't have offered. She hadn't thought much about it before, but . . . but . . .
"Elphaba," she said on her roommate's return to their dormitory before dinner, "would you rather I didn't kiss you?" She made her tone light and airy and carefully did not look at Elphaba while she was speaking.
"Just now, yes, I would prefer that you didn't." Glinda would have been hurt, but it was easy to tell that something was wrong. Elphaba's voice, hardly sweet on the best of days, was low and scratched and strained. Her skin was a sicklier shade than usual and there was a flush of unnatural (well, unusually unnatural) color in her cheeks. Her posture, as she dropped her satchel on the floor and sank onto her bed, was slumped and weary.
"You are ill," Glinda said, going to sit beside Elphaba. "I -"
"If you say 'I told you,' I will kiss you and hope you catch it."
Glinda closed her mouth momentarily. "I'm sorry," she said once she had decided it was safe. "What hurts?"
"Everything." Elphaba finally leaned back fully onto the bed, and Glinda frowned down at her.
"You'd better go to the infirmary."
"No."
"But Elphie -"
"No. I'll be fine."
"You're far from fine." Glinda passed her hand over Elphaba's forehead, which now felt quite warm.
Elphaba closed her eyes and turned her face slightly into Glinda's touch. "Please don't," she asked. "Just go on to dinner and let me rest for a while. I'll be feeling better by the time you get back."
Glinda bit her lip again. Go to dinner without Elphaba? After their lunchtime conversation she wasn't certain that she wanted to sit with Pfannee just now - but then, if there were rumors circulating, surely it would be better to be seen more often in the company of her other friends and without Elphaba. Especially now that she and Fiyero - well, weren't she and Fiyero anymore. No, this was the best thing - she knew, of course, that there was no good outcome here; if she abandoned Elphaba it would seem only logical to the rest of the student body, and if she clung to her (the way she wanted to?) some of them would assume that she was under Elphaba's sway. Glinda would just try to have to reach some kind of happy medium, if she wanted to protect them both.