Elphaba, suffering from a strange and inexplicable bout of homesickness, decided to do something that she, usually, wouldn't even dare to think about. She was going to cuddle with her teddy bear. It was a small, raggedy old thing, but she'd had it ever since she was a baby, and it was one of the few creatures that didn't seem to mind her verdigris. Because of that, the little teddy bear was one of Elphaba's most prized possessions, and it carried a lot of emotional meaning to it. Elphaba definitely needed some of that history and that comfort today. So she went to her suitcase and pulled out the teddy bear, which had been tucked away in the farthest corner of the suitcase.
"Oh! You sweet little thing!" Elphaba sighed in relief and happiness as she wrapped her lanky arms around the stuffed toy, burying her face in its fraying fur. Along with having fraying, fading fur, the little teddy bear had several tears all along its body and one of its ears was lopsided and one of its button eyes was nearly about to come off. Elphaba adored that toy more than words could say.
"Elphie! You have a teddy bear?" all at once, a familiar and high-pitched voice sounded off from the dorm room door.
"Galinda!" Elphaba shrieked, having neither expected nor heard Galinda's return. She tried pathetically to hide her stuffed bear.
"What? This? No! No. I-I-I, uhhh, well, it's not-, you see-, it-, I-, It's not really mine. I just-, you know, nothing, it's nothing!" she stuttered.
"Isn't he a bit worn out?" Galinda finally interrupted, voice soft and gentle. There was genuine concern and affection in her eyes, her silent way of promising that she was no judging Elphaba for snuggling a stuffed bear despite being a college student.
"I've had him since I was little," Elphaba confessed finally, voice sounding very small as she shyly pulled the bear back out from behind her back.
"And he is actually a she," she added a second later, blushing a little as Galinda stepped closer to inspect the old and fading toy.
"You know," she offered as she inspected the teddy. "I could take care of her, if you wanted."
"Really?" Elphaba asked hopefully, almost wondering if she were dreaming. If not, this would mark the very first time in history that someone didn't make fun of Elphaba for having a teddy bear.
"Really," Galinda replied with a smile that was both serious and gentle at the same time. Seeing it made Elphaba know, immediately, that Galinda wasn't kidding or teasing. She smiled back trustingly before surrendering the teddy to Galinda's care.
"Thank you," Galinda murmured reverently. She took the bear in her arms with such tenderness that if Elphaba didn't trust her already, she did now. Elphaba knew at once that she had made a very good choice in trusting Galinda.
A few hours later, the bear had been returned to Elphaba, and she looked as good as new! Both of her eyes were firmly back in place and she had been cleaned up nicely. She even smelled like fruits, but not a single strand of fur was out of place. That meant Galinda must've washed her by hand. And on top of sewing her back together again! There were no words to fully describe Elphaba's gratitude for what Galinda had done.
"Thank you so much!" she cried as she cuddled the bear again.
"Any time," Galinda replied, feeling quite proud to have made Elphaba so happy.
"I didn't even know you knew how to sew!" Elphaba added.
"Well, I may have had servants to do everything for me," Galinda admitted. "But it was still part of proper etiquette that I, as a lady of high society, know how to sew," she paused to snigger and shake her head. Weren't those the days? Back when she still honestly believed that she would've been content with a life where marriage to a rich and powerful man would've been the end goal. Times certainly had changed...
"And also," she added a few seconds later. "I have a teddy bear of my own."
"Really?" Elphaba asked, raising her head up from her own bear in genuine surprise.
"Yeah," Galinda gestured to her half of the dorm and Elphaba followed her over.
After a few minutes of digging, Galinda pulled out a human-sized bear. It was even bigger than Elphaba! And easily twice as wide!
"This is Juan-Pablo!" Galinda introduced the massive bear to Elphaba. Her own teddy suddenly seemed embarrassingly tiny in comparison.
"Ok," Elphaba said, impressed and intimidated that she had somehow never seen this bear before, despite its size. "Explain who Juan-Pablo is."
"Well, I walked into one of my classes one day and it was sitting in my chair with a Christmas hat on, and my wand and my yellow purse," Galinda explained. "And actually, it was so big that I wondered if anybody was in it!" she added as she snuggled Juan-Pablo's giant torso.
"Well, yeah, he's huge!" Elphaba chuckled, finding the idea of someone hiding out in a massive bear suit all to scare Galinda quite funny. But honestly, Juan-Pablo looked large enough for both Elphaba and Galinda to fit inside of him easily! That's how big he was!
"So he's been sitting here now ever since," Galinda continued. "But then he went missing last week. Turns out the Shiz boys had him at their dorm and had stolen him!" she added.
"Well, that's a rather large feat to hide a bear of that size," Elphaba said, wondering how it was possible to make off with such a big stuffed toy.
"I think we put out a missing person sign for Juan Pablo," Glinda said next.
"Yeah, we did," Elphaba murmured in realization. She did remember that! Galinda had enlisted her help in creating posters for "Juan-Pablo", but back then, Elphaba hadn't been paying enough attention to all of that to realize just who (or what) Juan-Pablo really was.
"And he turned up a couple days later. And he got rescued," Glinda finished with a giggle, cuddling the bear. "I'm so happy for him!"
"I'm just so glad he's back in our lives," Elphaba joked playfully.
"So why don't we give them a play date?" Glinda asked next, clapping eagerly.
"But isn't that kind of childish?" Elphaba asked nervously.
"Not at all," Glinda replied serenely. "I know a girl who has a bear named Peter Panda! She lives a couple floors above us, but she's in our year!"
"Really?" Elphaba asked, unsure of whether or not she believed that there was another college student out there with a teddy bear currently living in her room. But Galinda only nodded in reply before hastily grabbing Elphaba's arm.
"Come on!" she pleaded and Elphaba could only acquiesce, allowing the tiny blond to drag her, her bear, and Juan Pablo out the door to go on a play date. It certainly was a nostalgic event, if nothing else!
AN: The first part is based off a fanart of Elphaba confessing to Galinda that she has a stuffed bear, which is in need of repair, and being the great girlfriend that she is, Galinda offers to help! (Sadly, I can't find that pic, so I don't have a link for you guys. My apology!)
The second is based off of this YouTube video: watch?v=VLswE1jwqTg&list=PLvxuQlafitC25mUFGfRi2AcpT_CvvqFy2&index=10
(Which is Part 11 of the Wicked behind the scenes series "Fly Girl" with Lindsey Mendez. It's at the 15 minute mark).
And the reference to Peter Panda is a reference to my own special stuffed bear that I've had for about 11 years now and he is still my favorite toy of all time. He's an adorable little Webkinz panda and I LOVE HIM!