1v1? 2v4
The ringing coming from two devices was loud.
Elphaba groaned, burying her face further into the pillow. “No.”
Glinda, still warm and practically on top of her, sighed contentedly and didn’t move.
One second of silence, then the ringing continued.
Elphaba exhaled sharply, cracking open one eye. Glinda was half-sprawled across her, head tucked against her shoulder, an arm draped lazily over her stomach.
The worst part?
Glinda was awake.
And not moving.
“Glinda.” Elphaba’s voice was low, warning.
Glinda hummed, her fingers brushing lightly over Elphaba’s ribs, her nails dragging just enough to make her stomach tighten.
“They’ll stop calling,” she murmured, smiling against Elphaba’s skin.
Elphaba sighed. “They’re not going to stop.”
Glinda huffed, pulling elphaba closer. “Shhhh.”
Elphaba swallowed hard. “That is not helping.”
Glinda giggled, then—with absolutely no shame—tilted her head and pressed a slow, lingering kiss to Elphaba’s jaw.
Elphaba stiffened instantly.
Glinda felt it. And grinned against her skin.
“Come on, Elphie. We have a brunch to scandalize.”
-
Brunch had started with one goal: eat, drink, and survive the aftermath of last night without giving anything away.
Simple enough.
Except for the fact that Crope and Tibbett had laser-focused suspicion, Boq was deep in denial, and Fiyero—infuriatingly smug Fiyero—had leaned back in his chair, swirling his coffee like he was watching a performance meant for him alone.
Elphaba had seen it coming the moment they sat down.
Glinda, however, had welcomed it.
It had started innocently enough.
“So,” Tibbett said, setting down his menu and folding his hands like a man about to conduct a very serious meeting. “How was last night?”
Elphaba lifted an eyebrow. “Last night?”
Crope sipped his mimosa, unbothered. “Yes, last night. We haven’t left you two unattended in a very long time.”
Glinda, radiating unbothered ease, lifted her own glass. “We went to bed.”
Tibbett’s eyes narrowed. “Together?”
Elphaba did not react.
Glinda, perfectly timed, let out a soft, delighted little laugh, reaching for her napkin. “I mean, not together, Tibbs. Really.”
Crope pointed his fork at them. “You see, that was too smooth. Almost too smooth.”
Fiyero tilted his head at Elphaba, lips twitching. “Yeah, Elphie. That felt rehearsed.”
Elphaba cut her toast into precise, even squares. “I didn’t say anything.”
Tibbett gestured wildly. “Exactly! That’s what makes it suspicious.”
Boq, who had been quietly praying for peace, sighed and shook his head. “You guys, please. Not everything is some great conspiracy.”
Crope’s eyebrows shot up. “Boq. Darling. Sweetheart. Look at them.”
Boq did.
Glinda, serene and glowing, a little too bright-eyed, a little too pleased.
Elphaba, calm and collected, but with a certain edge to her silence that suggested she was far too entertained by this conversation.
Boq sighed. “I hate that I’m starting to agree with you.”
Glinda smiled, setting her glass down. “You boys are so dramatic.”
Elphaba hummed in agreement, turning her page in the menu.
Tibbett leaned forward, suspicious. “Glinda.”
Glinda arched a brow, innocence incarnate. “Yes, Tibbett?”
Tibbett squinted. “Tell me where you slept last night.”
Elphaba didn’t move a muscle, but she felt Glinda shift just slightly beside her, that tell-tale gleam of mischief in her eyes.
Glinda took a long, slow sip of her mimosa.
Then—
“My dorm, of course.”
Elphaba, stoic as ever, sipped her coffee.
Tibbett groaned. “You’re both impossible.”
Crope crossed his arms. “Okay, fine. Maybe we’re looking at this the wrong way. Let’s change tactics.”
Elphaba finally looked up from her menu, bored, but amused. “Oh?”
Crope smirked. “Let’s talk about the past.”
Glinda grinned, tilting her head. “Oh, I love nostalgia.”
Crope leaned forward, elbows on the table. “You remember first year? The rumors?”
Tibbett’s eyes lit up. “Oh oz, yes. The Milla Incident.”
Glinda’s smile did not falter—but Elphaba saw it.
That tiny, almost imperceptible shift.
Fiyero, who had been watching closely, smirked and stirred his coffee. “Ah. Now we’re getting somewhere.”
Elphaba picked up her fork. “I highly doubt that.”
Glinda brushed a curl from her face, delicate and unbothered. “Oh, honestly. That wasn’t an incident. It was a misunderstanding.”
Boq, finally engaged, blinked. “Wait, what was the misunderstanding?”
Glinda waved a hand dismissively. “Milla thought I liked her, and I didn’t. Simple.”
Crope shook his head. “No, no, the way she told everyone was what made it an incident.”
Glinda pouted slightly, taking another sip of her drink. “Mmm. Well. That part wasn’t my fault.”
Tibbett turned to Elphaba abruptly. “Did you think she liked her?”
Elphaba chewed her toast slowly, swallowed, and shrugged with practiced ease. “I didn’t think about it.”
Fiyero chuckled. “Yeah, see, that is a lie.”
Elphaba met his gaze. Unmoving. Unreadable.
Fiyero grinned. “I know you, Fae.”
Elphaba sipped her coffee. “Do you?”
A loaded pause.
Glinda, who had been entirely too quiet, set down her glass and tilted her head toward Elphaba, smiling.
“Elphie,” she said sweetly. “What’s my favorite perfume?”
Elphaba turned her head, bored. “The gardenia one you keep on your dresser, but you always steal mine when you run out.”
Tibbett gasped.
Crope’s jaw dropped.
Boq put his face in his hands.
Fiyero just laughed into his coffee.
Glinda, absolutely glowing, reached for her mimosa again. “See? Elphie pays attention.”
Tibbett pointed wildly between them. “THAT WAS—THAT WAS TOO SMOOTH.”
Crope smacked the table. “FAVORITE PERFUME KNOWLEDGE? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”
Glinda sighed, exasperated. “Oh, honestly. We live together. Of course she knows.”
Boq groaned. “I need more pancakes for this.”
Elphaba picked up a sugar packet, tearing it open with casual precision. “You boys exhaust yourselves over nothing.”
Tibbett threw his hands up. “Okay. Final question.”
Everyone stilled.
Glinda looked delighted.
Elphaba simply waited.
Tibbett pointed at them both. “Are either of you in love with each other?”
Elphaba, without missing a beat, lifted her coffee to her lips.
Glinda’s smile didn’t waver, didn’t shift, didn’t crack.
She just tilted her head, eyes bright, playful, unreadable, and took another slow sip of her drink.
Crope groaned. “That’s it. I give up.”
Fiyero, still smirking, lifted his glass in mock salute.
Elphaba took another sip of coffee and didn’t look at Glinda.
Glinda didn’t look at Elphaba, either.
But beneath the table, their knees brushed.
A silent moment. A game still in play.
Elphaba’s fingers twitched just slightly—and Glinda felt it.
But neither of them moved away.
-
Tibbett had finally relented, throwing his hands up in dramatic defeat.
Crope sighed like he had just lost a decade of his life. “You two are infuriating.”
Elphaba barely glanced up from her toast, cutting it into small, methodical pieces. “And yet, here you are.”
Glinda, looking as radiant as ever, simply smiled into her drink, watching them all with that soft, effortless charm that always made people forget just how calculating she could be.
Fiyero, still thoroughly entertained, set his coffee down and leaned back. “Personally, I think we should just accept that they’re never going to crack.”
Tibbett groaned. “That’s the problem—they should have cracked by now. No one is this good.”
Elphaba lifted her coffee to her lips, utterly composed.
Glinda, without missing a beat, rested her hand lightly on Elphaba’s thigh beneath the table.
Elphaba did not react.
She simply sipped her coffee, barely a flicker of acknowledgment passing over her face.
Crope shook his head, watching them both. “You know, it’s actually impressive at this point. If something was going on, you two would have made a mistake by now.”
Elphaba hummed in agreement.
Glinda, smiling sweetly, brushed her thumb lightly over Elphaba’s knee.
Elphaba’s grip on her coffee did not falter.
Tibbett muttered into his mimosa. “I know they’re messing with us.”
No one noticed the way Glinda’s fingers traced the lightest patterns over the fabric of Elphaba’s slacks, just enough for her nails to barely graze against the material.
No one noticed the way Elphaba, calm as ever, let her leg shift slightly—just enough for Glinda’s touch to slide higher.
-
The conversation drifted.
Crope and Tibbett had, mercifully, started interrogating Boq about some disastrous date he’d had the week before, giving Elphaba a moment to breathe.
Or at least, that’s what she thought.
Until she felt Glinda’s hand slide a little higher.
Slow. Intentional.
Elphaba, cutting a strawberry in half with absolute precision, did not react.
Glinda’s nails dragged lightly, teasing, testing.
Elphaba’s pulse spiked, but her expression remained impassive.
Glinda leaned forward slightly, taking a sip of her drink. “Elphie, you’re so quiet.”
Her voice was silk, lazy and teasing.
Elphaba finished chewing, set down her fork, and tilted her head toward her.
“Am I?” she asked, voice steady.
Glinda did not break eye contact as her fingers pressed lightly against the inside of Elphaba’s thigh.
Elphaba’s breath stayed even.
Crope, who had turned his attention back toward them, sighed dramatically. “See, that was suspicious.”
Glinda, perfectly unbothered, tilted her head toward him. “Oh?”
Tibbett pointed at them accusingly. “The eye contact. That wasn’t normal.”
Elphaba raised a brow. “Normal how?”
Fiyero grinned, watching the exchange with great amusement. “You two just stared at each other for a full five seconds like you were about to start a war or make out and I honestly couldn’t tell which.”
Glinda laughed, light and carefree, as if she hadn’t just trailed her fingers along the inseam of Elphaba’s slacksbeneath the table.
Elphaba—who was beginning to reconsider all her life choices—picked up her napkin and placed it neatly in her lap, casually knocking Glinda’s hand away in the process.
Glinda, unfazed, smirked just slightly.
Fine. If that’s how Elphaba wanted to play.
She took a slow sip of her mimosa, then, without looking, let her leg shift, pressing her knee firmly against Elphaba’s under the table.
The movement was subtle, delicate—undetectable to everyone else.
But Elphaba felt it.
And she did not move away.
-
Minutes passed.
The game was set.
Glinda pushed just enough—a hand grazing too lightly, a touch lingering just long enough to make it feel deliberate.
Elphaba let her.
Until she didn’t.
Until she shifted slightly under the table, just enough for her fingers to brush lightly over the inside of Glinda’s wrist, featherlight and unassuming.
Glinda’s grip on her glass faltered for just a second.
No one saw it.
But Elphaba did.
And Elphaba smirked.
Glinda exhaled slowly, setting her drink down with perfect ease, and leaned forward just slightly, letting her knee press even more insistently against Elphaba’s.
Crope was still talking, still guessing, still chasing proof he’d never get.
Fiyero, observant but entertained, watched them just closely enough, brow slightly raised, but he didn’t say a word.
And Elphaba?
Elphaba was winning.
Because now Glinda was the one distracted.
Her fingers twitched slightly under the table, and Elphaba caught them with ease, pressing a thumb against the pulse point at her wrist.
A slow, deliberate movement.
Glinda’s breath hitched just slightly.
Elphaba turned her attention back to Crope, sipping her coffee like nothing was happening at all.
Glinda, thoroughly annoyed at having lost the upper hand, tilted her head and gave Elphaba a look that promised retaliation.
Elphaba, still pressing light, teasing circles against her wrist, smirked.
Glinda, smiling into her drink, lifted her free hand and casually brushed her fingers over the side of Elphaba’s neck, barely-there, fleeting and intimate.
Elphaba’s jaw tensed just slightly.
Glinda noticed.
And Glinda grinned.
Under the table, Elphaba released her wrist.
A silent, unspoken truce.
For now.
-
Crope sighed. “I don’t get it. Why won’t you just admit it?”
Glinda looked at him, wide-eyed, beautiful, utterly unreadable.
“Admit what?” she asked sweetly.
Tibbett groaned. “That you two are clearly—”
Elphaba set her cup down and tilted her head, her expression the picture of cool amusement.
“Clearly what, Tibby?”
Tibbett opened his mouth—then shut it.
Because he had no proof.
And beneath the table, Glinda let her hand drift back onto Elphaba’s thigh, just lightly, just enough.
Elphaba let her.
And no one noticed.
Elphaba felt it coming before it happened.
The next step in Glinda’s plan.
Because she wasn’t satisfied with just this—Glinda never played a game she didn’t intend to win entirely.
So when she turned to Crope, smiling sweetly, Elphaba braced herself.
“Well, as much fun as this has been,” Glinda said lightly, “Elphie and I have so much to do today.”
Elphaba narrowed her eyes slightly.
“Oh?” Fiyero arched a brow, intrigued.
Glinda nodded, feigning regret. “Absolutely. Errands, schoolwork, you know how it is.”
Crope blinked. “It’s Sunday.”
Glinda sighed dramatically, looping her arm through Elphaba’s, effectively trapping her. “I know, isn’t that awful? Responsibilities never end.”
Elphaba remained completely, utterly still.
Because she knew what Glinda was doing.
And she had no choice but to go along with it.
Tibbett frowned, suspicious. “Where exactly are you going?”
Glinda smiled. “Oh, just back to our dorm.”
Elphaba closed her eyes briefly, considering every decision she had ever made that led her to this moment.
Crope narrowed his eyes. “What exactly do you two have to do that’s so important?”
Glinda did not hesitate. “Studying.”
A beat of silence.
Fiyero coughed. “Studying?”
Glinda tilted her head, all innocence. “Yes, Fiyero. Studying.”
Tibbett scoffed. “You expect us to believe that?”
Elphaba, finally snapping back into the game, lifted a brow. “Why wouldn’t you?”
Crope gestured wildly. “Because it’s you two. We’ve been watching you flirt all morning, we know something is going on, and now you’re trying to casually leave together under the world’s flimsiest excuse.”
Glinda blinked, looking deeply offended. “Are you accusing us of lying?”
Boq, who had been trying desperately to ignore this entire conversation, muttered, “Yes. Yes, we are.”
Elphaba sighed, rubbing her temple. “Alright. We’re leaving now.”
Tibbett shot up in his seat. “WAIT, NO—”
Glinda giggled, already pulling Elphaba to her feet. “Bye, boys! Have fun overthinking nothing!”
Crope groaned loudly as they walked away. “I HATE THEM.”
Tibbett shouted after them. “WE KNOW YOU’RE LYING.”
Glinda simply blew them a kiss over her shoulder, all confidence, all victory.
Elphaba let her pull them out of the restaurant, refusing to give the boys the satisfaction of looking back.
As soon as they were outside, Glinda squeezed Elphaba’s arm.
“That went well,” she said, utterly delighted with herself.
Elphaba sighed, glancing down at her, unimpressed. “We’re studying?”
Glinda grinned, unrepentant. “I lied.”
Elphaba huffed out a laugh, shaking her head. “You’re ridiculous.”
Glinda stepped in closer, voice dropping. “Mmm. But you like it.”
Elphaba let her linger for just a second, let the weight of the game settle between them.
Then she tilted her head slightly, voice dangerously smooth.
“Maybe.”
Glinda shivered.
And Elphaba knew, without a doubt, that she had just won.
Glinda tugged at her arm. “Come on, Elphie. Let’s go do anything but study.”
Elphaba smirked. “I thought you said we had a busy day.”
Glinda, already leading her toward the dorms, eyes shining, laughed.
“We do.”
And Elphaba let her.
Because for once—just this once—she had absolutely no interest in putting up a fight.
-
They had sorely underestimated the boys.
Crope waited for them to be out of ear shot and turned to the group. “So, we’re all in agreement that something happened last night and they are definitely a thing now, right?”
Fiyero snorted. “Oh absolutely. I think Glinda has forgotten the fact that we dated for an entire year and I can spot her lying from several thousand miles away”
“But we let them have it, right? I mean, they should tell us when they feel ready.” Boq mumbled.
”Oh Boq, you’re so cute,” Tibbet sighed. “We all love games, let’s play. Well let them think they’re getting away with it. It’ll be so fun!”
“Boq will be so good at acting oblivious, it’ll just be a normal day!” Crope snickered.
Boq slid a hand down his face and groaned. “Oz, help me.”