Notes: Cross posted to ao3.
I just really wanted Shiz era Gelphie fluff, and I left my Wicked book at my mom's place when I moved back to my dorm and I can't get it right now (though I've probably read it about 12 times since I was 11 but it's currently like 160km away), so this is some book and musical universe and some alternative universe (in that, eventually, Glinda goes with Elphaba after Defying Gravity). Basically an AU where I take aspects from the book and musical I like and completely ignore or change those I don't. Incredibly self-indulgent and hopefully not as confusing as it sounds.
I'm aiming for 10 chapters of this, all connected one-shots, and then a separate fic covering Defying Gravity.
Your face crept into that space
Between my reflex and my resolve
Kind of like that crevice
You don't notice
'Til it takes down the damn wall
"Checking My Pulse" — Alix Olson
To be completely honest, it's quite awkward in the weeks following that night at the Oz Dust. Galinda would like to pretend that her and Elphaba became instantly best friends, but lately she's been trying to stop lying to herself and finds that she can't bring herself to lie about this. She supposes it makes sense, her and Elphaba had been so horrible to each other for so long that it is hard to put that all behind her (though it's also remarkably easy to forget how mean they were to each other when it's late at night and they're laughing so hard they can't breathe).
Galinda is trying, and she thinks that Elphaba is too, or she hopes so. Sometimes it's hard to tell with Elphaba, but at the same time Galinda finds that she can read the green girl remarkably easily. She quickly learns that, while Elphaba is bluntly honest about the world with no patience for social etiquette, she doesn't mean half the things she says about other people.
It's completely and utterly refreshing to Galinda.
It gets easier as the weeks go on and they warily learn about each other. And sometimes Elphaba gives her that same, almost shy, smile that she did when Galinda stepped up beside her at the Ozdust Ballroom, the lights glittering in Elphaba's dark eyes like stars in the night sky, and Glinda's entire world brightens.
It was something that Galinda had missed while living at Shiz, seeing the stars, though it's something she never thought she would have. As bustling as the city is, and as much as Galinda loves the whole experience of being away from home, she finds that the lights from the city obscure the stars almost completely. Galinda had never realized how strongly she would ache with longing for the bright stars on a clear night in Frottica with the fresh breeze on her cheeks and the moonlight in her hair.
But when she saw the lights reflected in Elphaba's dark eyes she felt, for a brief moment, like she was back at home sitting under the stars.
Galinda shakes her head and comes back into the present, glancing up at where her roommate is curled up on her own bed, and hopes that Elphaba hadn't seen her so lost in thought, and especially hopes that Elphaba can't see the heat she feels high on her cheeks. Elphaba's so lost in her book that Galinda supposes she should have known better than to think the green girl would be paying any attention to anything outside the dusty pages in her hands. Thunder rumbles in the distance and Galinda turns her gaze to the window. Clouds had been gathering at the edge of Shiz all day, slowly but steadily growing darker and heavier as the afternoon sun turned to evening dusk turned to the inky night. Galinda sighs and turns back to her sorcery book, frowning deeply at the words in front of her. With the energy of the gathering storm Galinda has been finding it harder and harder to concentrate all day, imagining how comfortable her bed would be instead of her desk chair.
"If you think any harder your head might just explode."
Galinda jumps at the low voice behind her, and she turns quickly in her chair to find Elphaba looking at the textbook over Galinda's shoulder, holding a dark blue nightgown in her hands. She smells fresh, like the woods behind Galinda's house in Frottica, faintly like pinewood and earth, having just returned from cleaning up in the bathroom. Galinda blinks and glances away from her roommate, she hadn't even heard the green girl getting ready for bed. "Not that it wouldn't be amusing," Elphaba continues, a small smirk spreading across her face, "but I'd rather not be scrubbing your brains from the ceiling tonight."
"Oh hush you," Galinda sniffs, turning back to her textbook, trying, and failing, to concentrate on the words in front of her. Elphaba remains hovering behind her, distracting and insistent, clearing her throat occasionally even while Galinda continues to steadfastly ignore her. Eventually, after reading the same paragraph three times and still not retaining any of the information, Glinda sighs and closes the book. Elphaba snickers at her and leans past the blonde girl to blow out the lantern out on the desk. Galinda pouts up at the green girl as she brushes against her side, but Elphaba just rolls her eyes and stands back up.
"Come on, it's bed time."
Galinda huffs, to save face and all, but quickly stands and moves to her dresser to get a nightgown out because she is more than ready to fall onto her soft pillows.
"How was Horrible Morrible for you today?" Elphaba asks from across the room. Galinda quickly glances over her shoulder, pausing as she digs through her dresser, to see Elphaba is turned towards her own bed, just pulling her nightgown over her head, covering the sharp line of her spine and hiding the expanse of soft green skin. Galinda quickly turns back to her drawer before Elphaba can catch her and tries to ignore the flush to her cheeks and the hunger gnawing at her stomach (probably because she didn't eat much today, possibly, most likely, she thinks). More than that, Galinda steadfastly tries to ignore why the belated thought of Fiyero is met with a small twinge of guilt. Galinda chooses not to linger on that thought though because, while she is trying to stop lying to herself, she's not quite willing to face whatever makes guilt itch at her fingertips when Fiyero crosses her mind as somewhat of an afterthought.
It's not that she doesn't like him, she does, it's just know she's starting to realize that she doesn't like him the way she wishes she did, or at least, the way she had wished she did. He's simple and carefree and maybe just a little bit self-absorbed, and Galinda is starting to realize he's not what she wants, not anymore. Maybe he is what the Galinda from before that night at the Ozdust wanted, an easygoing and handsome prince, but now she's starting to wonder what exactly drew her to him in the first place. Galinda sighs a little and clenches her hands briefly. She's starting to find herself dividing her life into before the Ozdust and after the Ozdust. It was the night her entire life started changed, a stark contrast to what she had promised Elphaba that night.
Galinda frowns, staring at the multiple nightgowns neatly folded in the drawer. Easy, she finally decides. Fiyero is easy because he doesn't expect anything of her. He's like everyone else in her life, who continuously underestimates her and makes her unenthusiastic to put forth any effort when everything she does is going to be met with apathy anyways. He's everything she should want, a high society girl such as herself, but he's everything she, the Galinda who found her best friend somewhere she wasn't expecting to, doesn't want.
Galinda hears movement on the other side of the room and her frown deepens. Ever since the Ozdust Elphaba has been pushing Galinda for her thoughts, prying into her life, asking her honest opinion, and the way Elphaba's face brightens every time Galinda answers is intoxicating. They get into long debates, staying up far later than they should, and Galinda is very quickly becoming addicted to someone actually looking at her as if her opinions and thoughts are important. It's something she's never had before, especially not with Pfannee or Shenshen or Milla. It's what she imagines true friendship should be.
"Galinda?"
Galinda jumps for the second time that night, spinning around to see Elphaba looking at her in amusement and mild concern. "What?" she asks, wincing slightly when she hears how harsh her voice sounds. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."
Elphaba shrugs and crawls into her bed. "I asked about Morrible, but I believe you were a couple towns away." Thunder rumbles deeply and Elphaba glares warily at the window, pulling the covers up to her chin with a huff.
Galinda frowns and thinks back to her sorcery seminar that morning. The past couple days Morrible had been separating the two girls, claiming something about Galinda's inadequacy in all thinks magical was distracting Elphaba from her studies. Elphaba called bullshit, but Morrible was insistent, and so the two girls were taking lessons at different times now.
"She was Morrible," Galinda finally answers, rubbing the silky fabric of her nightgown between two fingers, before tossing it onto her bed and reaching up to start undoing the pins holding her hair up and out of her face. Elphaba stares steadily at her, and just a month ago it would have unnerved Galinda; instead it warms her insides, like hot cocoa sliding down her throat, making her realize how much she actually craved real attention, not the interest high society fakes. "She was testing me, trying to get me to do advanced magic today to prove myself," Galinda continues, pulling the last pin from her hair and picking up her nightgown, pausing on the way to the bathroom to glance at her roommate.
Elphaba remains silent but when Galinda catches her roommate's brown eyes she finds them smouldering almost gold with poorly disguised displeasure in the flickering lantern light between their beds. "It's not as bad as it sounds," Galinda insists, continuing into the bathroom. She ignores the itch in the burnt tips of her fingers from her magic coming too fast and then sputtering out as Morrible forced her to try the complicated spell again and again and again.
"Oh I'm sure," she hears Elphaba drawl from beyond the bathroom doorway, voice floating easily through the door Galinda left cracked open.
"You're too suspicious," Galinda calls back, even as the thought of Morrible's pleasure in forcing Galinda to try things she knows Galinda will fail at sends an icy shiver up her spine. Galinda hears Elphaba snort, but her quick wit doesn't have a sharp retort so Galinda quickly brushes out her curls.
Lightning flashes in other room and sends a burst of light across the bathroom, thunder following shortly after. Galinda splashes water on her face, scrubbing her makeup off and feeling a little bit more like herself rather than the painted exterior she always shows the world. She has been starting to find it harder and harder to paint the Galinda from before the Ozdust on in the mornings, and she is starting to find it harder and harder to pretend to be her. Spending time with Fiyero tires her, spending afternoons pretending to agree with Pfannee and Shenshen and Milla tires her, spending the days acting like she isn't changing tires her, but perhaps most surprisingly of all, spending most of her time with Elphaba isn't tiring at all.
Galinda can't fight the small smile that spreads across her face, becoming friends with Elphaba was freeing and comfortable; Galinda isn't afraid to be herself around the green girl because, while Elphaba teases her more than not, Galinda knows that her roommate would never genuinely mock Galinda for being herself. Spending time with Elphaba isn't tiring at all, it is energizing and the best part of any day lately.
Galinda frowns at her reflection, before turning on the tap, hoping the sound of water will cover her fumbling as she sneaks a little bit of her roommate's burn cream. The salve cools the itching in her fingertips almost instantly, and Galinda sighs in relief, shutting off the water and quickly changing into her nightgown. Lightning flashes across the bathroom again, followed almost instantaneously but a loud clap of thunder that sounds like it's directly above Galinda's head. As she blows out the lantern in the bathroom she blames the crackling energy in the air for her restlessness this evening, and blames her pensive self-reflection on that restlessness.
When Galinda emerges from the bathroom, Elphaba is already curled into the tight ball she sleeps in, even if her sharp limbs are bent into more angle than ball. Galinda crosses the room, double checking the lock on the door, and blowing the lantern on the nightstand between their beds out before crawling into her own bed. Elphaba is facing Galinda's bed, but Galinda sprawls herself on her back and stares up at the ceiling. As excited as she was to get into bed not even a half an hour ago, Galinda finds herself sill wide awake and wired. The wind picks up, howling outside the dorm as if trying to blow it down. Galinda can hear Elphaba flinch, catching a shadow of movement out of the corner of her eye, the sound of sheets rustling as she resettles herself again.
"Why did you do it?" Galinda asks, suddenly brave in the darkness of their room. She hears Elphaba shift in her bed but she doesn't answer. "Elphie?" Galinda finally asks, wondering if her roommate has already fallen asleep.
"You're going to have to be far more specific after midnight. I can only read minds in the daylight," Elphaba's disembodied voice emerges from the darkness, her voice sharp.
Galinda grins at the ceiling, knowing that the green girl isn't really being harsh to her. "Why did you get me into Madame Morrible's seminar, I mean?" she clarifies.
"Miss Galinda, it's past midnight and we have to be up before seven, must we do this now?" Elphaba asks, a breathiness to her demand that's only a little bit exasperated. But Galinda is nothing if not persistent, and she can handle a slightly exasperated Elphaba. A slightly exasperated Elphaba is just a little more cranky than a regular Elphaba, and Galinda knows all the right things to do now.
"Why yes, Miss Elphie," Galinda responds sweetly. "It's not like we're going to sleep much with all the electricity in the air."
"Electricity?" Elphaba sounds slightly more awake, though no less exasperated. Pre-Ozdust Galinda wouldn't have known any better, but Post-Ozdust Galinda knows that the low tone to Elphaba's voice is threaded through with just a hint of fondness.
"Yes, you know," Galinda answers, extracting one hand from beneath her blanket to wave it vaguely in the air. "I always find myself restless when there's a storm." Elphaba snorts and Galinda grins into the darkness on the other side of the room. "Oh hush, you terrible thing."
Lightning flashes across the room as the clouds open above them, rain pelting the window without restraint, Elphaba's curled herself into, blankets making her seem more lump than girl. Galinda lets out a relieved sigh that's obscured by the rumble of thunder, feeling the tension ebb out of her body as the rain douses the energy she's been feeling all day.
"See," Galinda smirks across the room in another flash of lightning, admiring how the lightning paints her roommate in brief flashes of new leaf green, "electricity."
"Well storms always make me nervous not restless," Elphaba snaps, voice only just quieter than the clap of thunder that follows her admission, and her jaw shuts with an audible click of her teeth. The next flash of lightning allows Galinda a brief glimpse of Elphaba's embarrassed horror.
"Well that makes sense," Galinda replies, needing that look to disappear from her roommate's face with a desperation she doesn't understand, "what with your whole allergy to water and everything."
"Yeah," Elphaba agrees warily. They're both quiet while lightning fills their room with fleeting flashes of pale light and thunder rumbles overhead.
"You never answered my question," Galinda finally says.
She can hear Elphaba throw her hands up and the soft thud of them hitting the mattress again, "Ugh," she groans.
"Why did you get me into the seminar?" Galinda repeats with a small grin.
Elphaba groans again, but shifts so she's facing Galinda. "Because you gave me that hat."
Galinda is glad that a flash of lightning doesn't come because she's sure the guilt on her face would be visible even in that brief moment of light. "Because I gave you the hat," Galinda repeats dumbly.
"What are you, my echo?" Elphaba growls, but she's far too sleepy for it to come off as anything other than adorable. "Yes, the hat. It was the first time I'd gotten a gift."
"The first—" Galinda starts, and she can sense that Elphaba is suddenly wide awake.
"Yes the first time someone's given me a gift," Elphaba snaps, and this time Galinda can tell she means the bite to her voice, pitched slightly higher than her normal gravelly voice.
"Oh Elphie, I didn't mean it like that," Galinda insists, propping herself up on an elbow to lean closer to her roommate's bed, hovering partially over the space between their beds.
Lightning flashes again and illuminates a pout on Elphaba's face that would be cute in any other circumstance. "Then how did you mean it?" Elphaba asks moodily after the thunder passes.
"I just— Elphie, no one's given you a gift? Ever? Not even your parents?" Galinda asks before she loses her nerve.
"I had a wooden bird," Elphaba finally admits, and Galinda is too afraid that Elphaba will stop talking so she remains quiet, barely breathing, "from my father, I think, but if it was a gift I was too young to remember."
Galinda briefly wonders what it is about the night, with its dusky shadows and heavy air, that makes it so apt for sharing secrets and confessions. She settles back into her pillow and stares up at the ceiling. "That still doesn't really answer my question."
Elphaba's voice is rushed when she responds, just a little bit testily, "Just because no one's gotten me a gift before doesn't mean I don't know that you have to give one in return."
Galinda turns her head to look at the lump of blankets that is her roommate, and even though Galinda knows she couldn't possibly see it, she's sure that Elphaba is blushing. It's something in the way her voice slips just a little bit higher at the end, the breathy and angry way she started speaking, the rush to her words. Somehow Galinda just knows that Elphaba's blushing on the other side of the room and Oz damn it all, of course this was the one night when heavy with storm clouds hid the moonlight for Galinda to see the blush she's certain is there.
Elphaba is blushing and Galinda is determined to make her do it again, sometime when she can actually see it.
"Well you don't have to return it," Galinda teases.
Elphaba curls tighter into herself as a particularly loud clap of thunder seems to originate from directly above the roof. "Yeah, well, maybe I wanted to," Elphaba challenges, and Galinda's mouth suddenly tastes like ash.
"Well now I feel simply awful," Galinda moans.
"Why?" Elphaba asks wryly.
Galinda sighs and rolls onto her side so that she's facing Elphaba again, the few feet between their bed seeming both too close and too far all at once. "Because I gave you that hat to be mean," she finally admits quietly. Galinda's not quite expecting the cackling laugh that emits from Elphaba, so amused it could almost be called giggles if it were anyone else; Galinda thinks it's more than a little endearing.
Elphaba finally manages to control herself enough to look up at Galinda with a wide smile, and the next flash of lightning catching sharpened teeth in its light. "I know that," Elphaba snorts around another round of laughter.
"Wait, what?" Galinda demands, "How'd you know? Oh, I'm going to kill those girls."
Galinda can practically hear Elphaba roll her eyes. "As amusing as that would be, they didn't tell me. I figured it out all on my lonesome when I showed up to the dance wearing it and everyone stared. Well," she amends, more thoughtful than bitter, "stared more than usual."
"Oh," Galinda says, feeling smaller than she ever has.
"But," Elphaba continues, and Galinda is once again certain that her roommate is blushing, "then you made a fool of yourself in front of most of the school."
"Hey!" Galinda protests on a surprised laugh. "Last time I do something nice for you."
"Well it was your fault in the first place," Elphaba teases, and there's something soft in her voice that Galinda can't identify for the life of her, but it's something that she wants to hear again and again and again.
"Hmph," Galinda responds.
"Strong argument, my sweet, very articulate," Elphaba says, and there's that soft thing again. Galinda's curiosity is piqued enough that she squints her eyes at her roommate but can only just see the whites of her eyes above the blanket during a flash of lightning. Elphaba's brows are relaxed and her eyes half-closed. Galinda wonders if maybe that soft thing is sleepiness. (As it is, both girls are too sleepy to realize the term of endearment Elphaba uses until the next day, when Galinda starts blushing furiously during mathematics and prays no one notices, and Elphaba thinks of it in the library and buries a flaming face into a book with a groan.)
"Thank you," Galinda says. "Though you do look good in the hat."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah," Galinda agrees, her smile taking on a teasing edge. "Really fits the whole wicked witch look you've got going on."
Elphaba snorts and snuggles deeper into her blankets. "Well I try."
Galinda rolls her eyes, pulling her own covers closer to her face, sleepiness finally starting to overtake her even as the storm howls outside their window. Elphaba even seems to have relaxed, her eyes no longer darting nervously to the windows, the lump of blankets no longer as stiff.
Galinda lets out a yawn and lets her eyes close. "Fresh dreams, Elphie," she mumbles.
Elphaba doesn't respond, so Galinda assumes she's already asleep and curls more comfortably into her blankets.
Elphaba was not, in fact, asleep, she is only almost asleep, and as she senses her roommate drifting off she whispers across the space between their beds, no more than a soft release of air.
"Fresh dreams, my sweet."