Simple Distractions

"Oh Boq, if you are going to spend all of our time together talking about Ms. Glinda, I may as well pack up right now and go back to my dorm room!" Elphaba huffed in mock annoyance as she, yet again, found herself listening to Boq talk her ears off about Glinda. Although Elphaba loved the insufferable little blond just as much as Boq did and although she enjoyed hearing about the insufferable little blond just as much as Boq did, she did still occasionally want to cover other topics that weren't just about her.

"We came out here to study history together, not what Glinda may or may not be doing at the moment!" the green girl continued mockingly. Boq turned bright red with embarrassment.

"Forgive me, Ms. Elphaba. Just simple distractions," he said, though he didn't sound quite as sorry as he could have. But that was because he knew, way down deep, he and Elphaba were on another level. Even if Glinda had stolen Boq's heart, he was sure that Elphaba had stolen his soul. They were intertwined even deeper than he was intertwined with Glinda, if he was intertwined with Glinda at all!

No. As much as Boq fawned over Glinda, he was sure that, deep down, Elphaba was the one he was the most meant to be with. Perhaps she wasn't even as half as pretty as Glinda, but she was twice as relatable. There was just something about her that fit so well with Boq. He would've been a fool to say there was no connection or chemistry between them. Because he felt it! And so did she! Why else would they be sharing session alone together with no one else around except each other? Boq didn't even believe in soulmates, finding the entire concept unrealistic and ridiculous, but whenever he hung out with Elphaba, he could almost see where some of those theorists had come from. It was just creepy how well they seemed to fit together. So even if Glinda had Boq's eye, Elphaba had his attention, if that made any sense... Glinda was only one of the simple distractions from what Elphaba was.

"Boq!" Elphaba's sharp snap woke him up for the second time in five seconds. "I really am going to start getting cross with you!" she insisted, sounding a bit more sincere than before, but Boq still felt no fear. Maybe Elphaba could scare the rest of the world with her sharp temper and even sharper wit, but not Boq, never Boq. Whether it was his own courage or her own innate inability to scare someone she actually cared about, Elphaba's temperamental flares never bothered Boq at all.

"If it assuages your annoyance any, this time, it was not Ms. Glinda that I was thinking about," he replied cheekily.

"Oh?" despite herself, Elphaba raised an eyebrow in interest.

"This time, I was thinking about you," Boq nodded, that cheeky smirk still on his face. Feisty little mouse, wasn't he?

"And what, pray tell, were you thinking about exactly?" Elphaba asked, voice suddenly becoming very low and sultry. "Were you perhaps thinking bitterly of me and wishing I might jump into the Suicide Canal and never resurface? Or perhaps you were thinking about how much uglier I am compared to Glinda? Or maybe you were wishing I would just disappear so you could be released from your studying."

"Not quite," Boq laughed back at her, unfazed by her sudden change in tone.

"Then you were dreaming of me, perhaps? Realizing how much more you love me than you ever loved Glinda? Or perhaps that you had loved me all along and were simply too afraid to confront it until now? Or were you thinking even more scandalous than that? Fantasizing about what a night between us might look like, the beanpole and the elf. Were you wondering what I look like naked? If my green skin doesn't also alert to missing parts? Or perhaps... some added ones?" now Boq was finally looking embarrassed.

"Ms. Elphaba!" he complained and Elphaba burst out laughing, a rare but enjoyable sound indeed.

"Ah, Boq! You are too much fun to mess with!" she crowed.

"I can tell," he huffed in mock indignance. "But you certainly seem to have given my fantasies a lot of thought, haven't you?" he added a second later, a sly grin spreading across his own face.

"What are you implying, Master Boq?" Elphaba asked innocently.

"That perhaps I am not the only one who is a little distracted right now," Boq leaned in towards Elphaba, but his attempts at fazing her did nothing. She only laughed in his face, tickled by his joke but unmoved by his gestures. She found him adorable, fun and funny. She was very fond of him. He was one of the few kind, gentle, intelligent boys on campus, and that was why they got along so well. Boq wasn't like the other guys...

Boq slumped back with a pout which only made Elphaba laugh even harder. No, Boq most certainly was not like the other guys, but that was exactly why Elphaba loved him so dearly. Misfits had to stick together after all!

"What a child you are!" she teased. "Little one!"

"And a mother are you?" Boq snorted. "Tall, lanky one?"

"Hush!" Elphaba shook her head. "Me? A mother?! The very idea! I pity whatever poor soul must become my son or daughter!"

"As do I," Boq agreed and Elphaba punched him playfully in the arm. Only he ever got to see her like this, which made their bond even stronger.

Suddenly, Glinda was totally gone from both of their minds. That distraction had successfully been overcome. But now the two fools had become distracted by one another, and it didn't seem like there would be anyone saving them from that any time soon.

"Ms. Elphaba I do believe that this is most improper!" Boq muttered as Elphaba leaned in closer and closer and closer.

"Why Master Boq, I do believe that I don't care at all!" and then neither of them said anything else as their lips met in the middle. But if Boq had been able to speak through the feeling of Elphaba's lips pressed firmly against his, he would've agreed very much with her... Then he would've chided her for succumbing to these simple distractions and she would've, no doubt, clouted him over the head for making such a joke at her expense. Then she would've gone right back to kissing him anyway.

So why not just cut out all of that messy middle part and just keep on kissing? Boq asked himself as he and Elphaba pulled even closer together, books and notes all but forgotten now, simple distractions to something suddenly far more important than studying. All of those confusing romance rituals are nothing more than simple distractions from something far more important: love. Lips locked and unlocked over and over again.

And the two spent quite a lot longer in that position, indulging in their simple distractions and getting nothing of academic value completed at all. But by the end of it, they were both very satisfied and happy nonetheless.

AN: Just a lighter, happier, fluffier Elphaboq to counteract the deeper, angstier stuff of the last fic.