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“Is there green paint on your face?” Lucius says when Stede joins them in their seats near the back of the movie theater.
Stede’s hand flies to the side of his mouth and he wipes at it with the back of his hand. “What? No, of course not.”
Lucius grabs for the hand before Stede can clean it off with a handkerchief. He brings it up to his face to examine it. The theater isn’t dark yet, and the smudge is subtle, but it’s absolutely green.
“You were gone for a long time,” Lucius says shrewdly. “What were you doing?”
“I was getting candy.”
“What candy?” Lucius says, finally letting go and gesturing to Stede's empty hands.
“Er. The lines were too long?”
Lucius gives him an unimpressed look.
“I… waited for the candy for a while… and then… decided I didn’t want to wait anymore.”
Jim leans forward on the other side of Stede and offers, “He’s got a green handprint on his butt.”
“What!” Stede says in horror. He jumps out of his seat and looks over his shoulder, turning around twice like a dog while he tries to look at his behind. He’s wearing a bespoke bright pink suit in honor of Glinda and would be extremely vexed to get paint on any of it.
“You don’t,” Jim says. “But now we know what you were doing.”
Stede scowls at them and plunks back down into his seat.
“Can’t believe I fell for that,” he mutters. “He was wearing arm socks.”
“Oh my god,” Lucius says. They’re in the back row and he gestures to the rest of the theater which is almost all the way full now. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know. He’s the one in green face paint?”
Lucius and Jim look at Stede, unimpressed, and then down at the several hundred other patrons who are here to see Wicked on opening night. Many of them are of course wearing green face paint.
“Where did this even happen?” Jim asks skeptically.
“I went outside to get some fresh air,” Stede says. “He was smoking a vape on the patch of grass I like to stand in when the movies get too loud near the back of the theaters. He complimented my vest.” It’s bright silver and sparkling. He’s going for a masc Glinda’s Opening Good Witch vibe, topped off with a diamond-point pink bowtie with silver embroidery in the shape of Glinda’s crown. “He was dressed as Elphaba, and we thought our outfits kind of matched.” Stede smiles to himself, remembering. “It was a very ‘he was a punk, she did ballet’ situation, but with complementary texture journeys.”
Jim snorts.
“What?” Stede says. “I know who Avril Levigne is. I was in my mid-twenties when that song came out and it was everywhere.”
Lucius grabs Stede’s arm and shakes it. “The guy, Stede, the guy!”
“Right. So. We chatted for a few minutes, and then we wanted to take a picture together. But it had to be the full outfits, you know?”
“What was he wearing?” Jim says.
Stede smiles again. “A floor length chiffon sheath dress with swarovski crystals descending down and around it like a cyclone.” Stede sighs. “He had the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. Even in the green paint.”
“You took a picture together?” Lucius prompts.
“Yes. We walked to his car a little ways into the parking lot so he could position the phone right to get the full looks. We took a few pictures.” Stede bites his lip so that the smile doesn’t get any wider than it already is. “We were still chatting more than taking pictures, and I mentioned I’ve always thought Galinda was a little in love with Elphaba.”
“Duh,” Lucius and Jim say at the same time. Jim waves for Stede to continue.
“And he said, ‘me too,’ and then suggested we take a few… pictures to that effect.”
“Oh my god,” Lucius says delightedly. “I bet you didn’t even realize he was actually flirting until you were washing the green paint off your face!”
Stede scowls at him. “I did realize, actually, when he kissed me on the lips.” He smiles, even though the next part hurts.
“And then?” says Jim.
Stede’s expression dims. “He got a call. He apologized but said he really had to take it and walked off enough I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I panicked and ran.”
“Stede, jesus christ,” say Lucius, at the same time Jim says, “Dios mío.”
“What was I supposed to do!”
“Give your number to the beautiful guy brave enough to wear a ballgown to a movie theater??”
“It wasn’t a ballgown, Lucius, please be serious. I already told you it was a sheath dress.”
Lucius rolls his eyes. “Stede, you have to—”
Just then, the lights dim, which means the previews are starting. Stede shushes any of Lucius’s continued attempts to talk to him about this, and then the movie starts in earnest and Lucius stops trying.
It does take a tiny bit of time for Stede to forget about his mysterious stranger, and he can’t say he ever really forgets, but the movie is fantastifying enough that he is fully immersed. He laughs, he cries, his every fear that this adaptation of his favorite musical is going to be found wanting dissipating into mist until it's somewhere over the rainbow. Of course, once Defying Gravity is over and he’s gotten somewhat in control of his sobbing, he looks eagerly at the patrons as they leave the theater. But everyone in green face paint lacks his Elphaba’s gorgeous silver-gray hair.
The three of them chat about the movie as they join the throngs leaving the theater. Stede is so excited about the conversation he almost misses his mysterious stranger standing outside the doors to the outside.
Stede turns at the tap of his shoulder and catches his breath. Lucius and Jim realize just a step behind him what’s happening. Their mouths drop open at the same time, which makes sense; the man is so, so beautiful.
“Hey,” he says shyly.
“Hi,” Stede says, equally as shy.
“I’m Ed, by the way.”
“Stede.”
“What’d you think of the movie, Stede?”
“Transcendent.”
“Yeah, it was pretty good. Did you cry?”
“Only about seventy, seventy-five percent of the movie.” Stede eyes the tear tracks through Ed's face paint and large smudge under his nose where snot would have been. “What about you?”
“Nah,” Ed says. “Not me. I’m tough.”
“Mmhmm.”
“Can he give you his number?” Lucius interjects loudly enough that several people turn and stare.
“Okay,” Jim says. They take Lucius firmly by the arm. “We’ll see you at the car, Stede.”
Stede sighs. “Sorry about them.”
“Don’t be, I mean, it’s very Pfannee and Shenshen to your Galinda. They were good additions, yeah?”
They chat a bit about the movie. Stede expects it to be awkward after Lucius’s rude interference, but it isn’t.
“And Defying Gravity, my god,” Stede says. “Cynthia Erivo is simply unmatched.”
Ed looks down at his magnificent shoes. “I missed that one.”
“What??”
“Yeah, I, uh.” He looks up at Stede, shy again. “I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss you coming out of the theater.”
“I see.” Stede pauses for just a moment before he smiles warmly at Ed. “Sounds like you need to see it again, then. To get the full experience.”
“Yeah?”
“Yes. Maybe… Saturday? We’ll do dinner first?”
Ed beams at him. “Yeah. That sounds good.”