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A/N: Christmas present for a friend :) Reviews would be good.
Snow Flurries
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Elphaba stared angrily at the book in her lap, the page's letters only dimly lit by the sinking sun that barely made it through the window of her room. She had been trying to get some sense and order into the words that seemed to start dancing like snow flurries before her eyes as soon as she tried to read a sentence for hours.
Those snow flurries had surely been planted into her head by Glinda who had been talking about nothing else the past few days (or had it already been weeks?) because Lurlinemas was nearing and in the blonde's eyes snow was a must-have during the holidays. White flakes had been absent from Shiz so far and every day Glinda's anticipation grew, although Elphaba had been able to detect her room mate's disappointment in the last few snow-centered conversations they'd had.
Lurlinemas was only days away and not a single snow crystal had been spotted on and around the campus, a fact Elphaba was rather glad about. Snow was frozen water, after all, and due to her curious allergy she had never been able to enjoy the presence of any form of water.
Glinda, however, had made it quite clear that her Lurlinemas would be ruined if it didn't start snowing soon and the fact that she was staying at Shiz instead of spending her holidays with her family didn't exactly make anything better. Even though Glinda had been remarkably brave about having to stay at school, telling Elphaba that she would finally have time to get acquainted with the university's large library (Elphaba hadn't been able to suppress a snort when she heard that plan) and catch up on her studies.
Not believing that Glinda was all too content with the arrangements that had been made without consulting the blonde first, Elphaba had decided to do her best to make Glinda's holidays as worth while as they could get, since she was actually looking forward to spending more time with her room mate (she would never say that out loud, of course). They had been growing closer ever since Doctor Dillamond's tragic death and Elphaba was, as surprising as it was, enjoying Glinda's company lately.
Elphaba's thoughts were interrupted by their subject when Glinda opened the door and let it fall shut with a loud thud. The blonde let out a heavy sigh, massaging her hand before dropping down on her bed.
"The last final! And sweet Oz, I couldn't write another essay for a week," she exclaimed, examining her hurting hand. "I must have written at least ten pages..." was added in a softer voice as Glinda was more thinking aloud than actually speaking to her room mate.
"Without you I couldn't have managed to come up with even one." Glinda turned to her side to smile happily at Elphaba who had provided a lot of help for the blonde's Ozian History studies.
With a throaty chuckle, Elphaba returned the smile before focusing on her text again (or rather pretended to), but before she had even started to read, she felt the mattress sink down a little as Glinda had decided to join her room mate on the bed, throwing her arms around the green girl and enveloping her in a hug.
"Thank you, Elphie," the blonde whispered, ending the embrace and making herself comfortable next to Elphaba. Taking a look at the book in Elphaba's lap, she furrowed her brows. "Can you even read in this horrible light?" she asked, shaking her head before reaching over Elphaba to light up the single candle on her room mate's nightstand.
"There, that should be better." Glinda watched the glow of the flame for a moment before returning to her previous position, placing her head on Elphaba's shoulder.
"I feel like I should.. give something back." The musings were spoken after a while of silence and Glinda turned her head to look at Elphaba. "My help with your studies wouldn't do you any good, though," she continued with a soft laugh. "And it's not as if you'd want my advice when it comes to fashion, now, is it?"
This time Elphaba had to snort, shaking her head in amusement. "I think our styles would clash," she said, her eyes resting on Glinda's goofy smile for a moment. "And really, you don't have to give anything back. I told you that it wasn't a problem for me and I didn't miss anything while I helped you with History. Isn't Lurlinemas supposed to be the time of charity?"
Glinda hummed against Elphaba's skin in a gesture of agreement. "It is. Still... You helped me a lot in the past few weeks and it wasn't only History," she objected with a sigh.
"Maybe some kind of opportunity will arise one day and you can show your gratitude then, if you insist on it, my sweet," Elphaba chuckled softly.
At once, Glinda sat up, eyes wandering between the book in Elphaba's hands and her dark eyes. "Am I keeping you from something?" she asked with a guilty look on her face.
"Not at all... I wasn't able to concentrate anyway. Maybe I should've lit the candle a little earlier," Elphaba joked, touched by Glinda's considerate behavior that would never have shown just months before. Closing her book and placing it on her nightstand, she threw a glance out of the window and her eyes widened.
"Glinda, look!" she gently nudged the blonde's shoulder as blue eyes had fallen shut in exhaustion with her head still resting on Elphaba's shoulder. Glinda's lids fluttered lazily until she caught sight of the thick flakes dancing merrily before their window.
In the blink of the eye Glinda had jumped out of the bed and was now watching the snow intensely. The last rays of the sun had disappeared behind the horizon and dark clouds had taken their place. Clouds that had obviously been carrying snow.
Glinda let out a happy squeal, resisting the urge to open the window and try to catch the tiny crystals as she was well aware of the cold outside. "Oh Elphie, look!" she gasped, motioning her friend to join her at the window without tearing her eyes from the white wish-come-true.
Not complying, Elphaba remained on her bed, watching Glinda until the blonde turned around with a blissful smile lighting up her face and repeated her request. "Come on, Elphie! You have to look at this!"
With a sigh escaping her lips, Elphaba finally got up and joined Glinda at the window watching the snow whirl around in the air, not exactly sharing her room mate's excitement over this occurrence.
Only when Glinda's hand found her own, intertwining their fingers, Elphaba's heart made a little jump. "Just look at this... it's so beautiful," Glinda sighed contently, turning her head for a moment to share a happy smile with Elphaba who actually returned this gesture.
When both heads had turned back to the window, Elphaba looked at the powdered landscape and the dancing snow crystals more closely and as Glinda unconsciously scooted closer to her room mate, she decided that she would actually enjoy nature's cold beauty this year.
The End