Okay so I love gelphie, but this always makes me mad, when authors do this. I'll let the story explain why. Personally, I really love Mecelphie's characters from her series, but I won't steal. Instead, I did the one naming thing, where you just say a normal name with food in your mouth. Worked pretty well to me.

It had been a month or so since they'd come out to their friends. Generally, their university friends were accepting, after the initial shock faded.

And so, they were all having lunch together, reminiscing.

"Galinda, you never did tell us," a red head named Kaiwyn asked, "how you two went from not getting along, to being in love."

"Oh," Galinda replied, giggling, "sometimes loathing and loving just get mixed up, I guess."

Elphaba had been discussing theses with Lec, Kaiwyn's beau, but turned when she heard this. "Am I missing something?"

"What, darling?"

"Galinda, we hated each other," Elphaba replied. "There was no confusion about what I was feeling, at least. I legitimately hated you. When I looked at you, all I could see were your character flaws. I truly and deeply loathed you."

Galinda raised a brow, unimpressed with Elphaba's romantic capacity.

"I, I mean, I'm sorry, Glin. But I absolutely abhorred you. And unless I'm gravely mistaken - and if I am, I'll sleep on the couch for a month - you hated me too. Right?"

"Well, I mean, you were far from agreeable."

"But did you hate me?"

Galinda thought back, and figured that with Elphaba, honesty and romance just didn't mix. "Okay, yeah, I hated you. Can you blame me?"

Elphaba smiled, laughing. "No, not at all, my sweet." She folded her hands, putting her elbows on the table, just to further irritate Galinda and prove her point. "You see, Kaiwyn, we loathed each other. No confusion about it. But then, something changed." Elphaba gave Galinda what they both knew was a loving gaze. "There was nothing predestined about loving each other. I don't believe that. But I believe that the world was made to change. People change, opinions change. The change in each of us was forced because we were forced to interact. We very slowly grew accustomed to the other's company. We didn't know how to communicate, and often that exacerbated it all. But then one miscommunication was taken better than the rest, and I responded in kind. I'm a tit-for-tat person. Galinda: don't you dare laugh - that was not what I meant."

"Pretty sure it was."

"Okay fine, it was. But anyways," Elphaba gave that quiet and breathy cackle that Galinda used to hate. "Some mistake made Galinda see the good in me, and that same mistake made me see the..."

"Wickedness in me?" Galinda teased.

"No," Elphaba said, thinking hard as she examined all of the blonde's features. "More than that. It made me see everything in Galinda. I already had learned she was beautiful, good, smart, all of her other good features - we'd fought enough for me to know those things. But it forced me to see, no, feel something infinite in her. Something beyond those things. I couldn't for the life of me tell you what it was, but it was something I had never seen before. Something in me changed, to make me see you as I do. I didn't love you then, Oz knows I didn't, but I was starting to understand that I would never understand you fully. And for once, I was okay with not understanding."

Galinda smiled, beginning to tear up: Elphaba had never told her this, never offered raw honesty like this. "I saw the generosity in you. First good thing I'd ever seen from you."

Elphaba laughed, "That's why I know we can tackle anything. Because I've already seen and picked out the worst in you. And I'm fairly sure all of Oz knows the worst in me. But that thing changed, and we still remember hating one another, at least I do. That's what makes us strong. I could've blown off whatever that infinite thing was because I already knew you, already knew you were good in ways I could never be. I'd already had made up my mind about you. But I changed, and I changed my mind. I made the choice to pursue that infinite thing. We changed, as everything does, and I think for the better. You certainly changed me for the better. And I know I won't be the same way ever again, because having known you changes things."

Galinda put her hand affectionately on Elphaba's elbow (which was still on the table Ozdammit.)

"We would never be as good together as we are, if we hadn't seen the worst of each other first. I hated her, then I could stand her, then I pursued her, and now I'm accepting that my world will never be the same. Because something changed."

When they went back to their room after that meal, Galinda put herself in Elphaba's arms.

"Is something wrong, my sweet?"

"I don't think you know it," Galinda grinned against her shoulder. "But I think you just told all of our friends that you're in love with me."

Elphaba's eyes widened and she thought silently for a moment. "No," she replied thoughtfully, "I definitely just told them that I hated you."

"You talk about something infinite, some deep change; and claim you only talked about how you hated me?" Galinda laughed.

"Wait, is seeing that infinite thing being in love?"

"Yep. And it's nice to know that you fell first." Galinda hugged her tighter, "You mean, green, romantic thing."

"You know, I can totally still hate you."

"But you don't want to."

"I don't want to," Elphaba agreed thoughtfully. "Hating you was fun, but all that changing was too much work. Wouldn't be worth it to start hating you again."

"I love you too, Elphie."

Behold, my favorite thing about gelphie: they legitimately hated each other. there was no confusing loving for loathing. There was no misunderstanding. There was just change: and I need a story where the change is good, to give me hope in this damn world. Things change, and I doubt anything was ever predestined. Especially not in a relationship like that. Hating one another at first is what made them strong as a pair - both as friends and as partners. So, I hope you liked my one-shot/rant.