Elphaba woke up slowly. The day was bright, peaceful and quiet. She almost smiled because it was such a nice change from what mornings normally were for her. But wait a second! Why weren't they normal today? The green girl turned her head towards her roommate's bed. There was a lump in the sheets so, clearly, the other girl was still very much in bed, but that was the strange thing! Glinda was normally quite the early bird! Humming and dancing as she got ready for her day. But today?
"What? No morning serenades?" Elphaba asked herself as she got up and walked over to Glinda's bed. She touched the lump under the sheets and received no response. Now, Elphaba wasn't one to mommy her roommate, but she did have to admit that it would be beneficial if she at least attempted to remind Glinda that they had class in about 30 minutes. She shook the lump and spoke to it. "Rise and shine, you little idiot, we've got class to go to!" she murmured gently. It took a few more moments but, finally, she received a response.
"Mmmmmmrrrrrnnnnnnnn," it was a loud, long, irritated groan.
"Come on, Glinda, get up. Wakey, wakey," Elphaba continued, pulling the sheet away from Glinda. Normally, Elphaba wasn't one to be needlessly cruel, but messing around with Glinda was one of her favorite activities. She made sure to pull the sheets away slowly, to prolong the torture, but she stopped about halfway when she finally caught a better look at Glinda's face in the sunlight that slanted through their window.
"Sweet Oz!" Elphaba exclaimed. Glinda was curled up into a miserable little ball and she was pale, unnaturally so. Elphaba leaned over Glinda at once, brown eyes narrowing as she swiftly inspected the smaller girl. Aside from being unnaturally pale and, upon closer inspection, Elphaba could see that Glinda's eyes and nose were an angry red. That was all Elphaba needed for her previous thoughts of messing with Glinda to fly right out the window. Instead, she now had a new goal in mind...
"100o. You're sick," five minutes later, Elphaba had just finished taking Glinda's temperature and now she had the full diagnosis.
"Oh," Glinda groaned unhappily, though she wasn't exactly surprised.
"I'll call our professor and say we won't be attending class today," said Elphaba, tossing Glinda a box of tissues before heading out to find the floor's phone and make a quick call.
Another five minutes later, she was back at Glinda's bedside, a glass of water in hand.
"Wait, don't you still have to go to class?" mumbled Glinda, stuffily. She paused to blow her nose. It was very loud and wet and generally gross.
"I can't. Not when you're sick," Elphaba replied. She was going to miss going to class today because it was the one lecture she actually enjoyed, but Glinda was more important. She could get the notes from the professor later, the professor liked her enough to give her a few free passes.
"Elphie, no, go have fun. I'll be ok," said Glinda, feeling guilty at burdening her roommate. She knew how much Elphaba enjoyed this lecture. She didn't want Elphaba to miss it because of her.
"It won't be fun if I spend the entire class worrying about you," Elphaba reminded. It was meant to be something of a compliment, but Glinda seemed to wilt even further in embarrassment.
"Sorry," she mumbled.
"Don't be," Elphaba shrugged. "Just give me 10 more minutes..." then before Glinda could ask why, Elphaba had darted back out of the room. Glinda was puzzled by this, but she was feeling so lousy that she didn't last longer than a few more minutes before she fell back asleep.
Elphaba ended up needing 20 minutes instead of 10, but since Glinda had fallen asleep after she was gone for only five, Glinda didn't even notice when Elphaba came back into the room. In her hands were two large containers. She walked over to Glinda's bed again with an excited and pleased smile on her face, but when she saw that Glinda had since fallen asleep, that pride faded into affection and she shook her head fondly at the sleeping beauty. She gently, gently kissed Glinda's forehead once before she turned to go. Glinda, however, was woken by the kiss, gentle as it was, and cried out before Elphaba could leave.
"Don't go yet! I'm awake," her voice was raspy and weak, but Elphaba heard it and obeyed. When she turned around, Glinda saw the containers. "Wait a sec, what are those?" she asked. Elphaba smiled soundlessly before setting one down and unscrewing the lid of the other. The warm, salty and savor smell of soup pervaded the air and Glinda sighed happily. She did not hesitate to take the container Elphaba offered her and she ate greedily as Elphaba fiddled with her own container.
A few minutes later, Glinda had downed most of her soup and finally started to slow her pace.
"Thanks Elphie, you're an Oz-send," she said, squeezing Elphaba's arm affectionately as she set the soup aside for a moment.
"Hmm, that's not usually what most people say about me," Elphaba replied with a bitter smile, but when Glinda pouted a little, Elphaba forced herself to lighten up. "I can't say I mind this new compliment, though," she added.
"Good," Glinda mumbled, half to herself and half to Elphaba. They were both still working on increasing Elphaba's esteem and lowering her self-depreciation. It was a very slow process, but at least Elphaba would take compliments now.
"Now, how about a little medicine?" Elphaba asked next, a wicked smile suddenly flitting across her green face.
"Oh, no!" Glinda despaired, her own pleased grin changing into a look of horror. Elphaba, however, refused to let her out of it and held out a bottle.
"Ugh! That's nasty!" Glinda whined as she swallowed the gunk down, crinkling her face in disgust. Elphaba's smirk widened.
"Well, you should get better soon now," she said as Glinda continued to make faces.
"You wicked thing!" Glinda growled a little. "Trust me that when I recover, I'm going to sing and dance as loud as I possibly can!"
"Ha, sure you will," Elphaba sounded amused, intentionally setting the bottle right on Glinda's nightstand. Glinda glowered but said nothing, meanwhile, Elphaba only continued to smile innocently.
The very next day, right at sunrise, Elphaba was rudely awoken from her sleep by the sound of an overly-high-pitched voice trilling to some obnoxious pop song. She cracked open one brown eye.
"Glad to see you're better," she said, voice low and raspy with sleep.
"Told you it would happen!" Glinda hummed merrily. Elphaba only continued to scowl as Glinda twirled away, busy brushing her hair and teeth at the same time, half of her makeup on, but then she added in a sincere thanks to Elphaba. "I think I got better so quickly because I had you taking care of me," she said gently and Elphaba smiled despite herself. Though she may not have acted like it, she really was glad that Glinda was better.
AN: Here's a 3rd cliché OTP Prompt: Sickness. Just as before, we're going one fic per girl with the next story either being a sequel or an AU based on your preferences.