Elphaba could hardly believe it. They were going on a date with Galinda!
It had been some months after they went to the con together. After those few days, they had been spending more and more time together. Often, Galinda would come to the coffee shop where Elphaba worked. They'd talk until Elphaba would get distracted and the orders would pile up.
It had taken some time for them to fully acknowledge what was, to perhaps everyone else, obvious. They had a crush on Galinda. After the realization of this, it consumed their every thought until they couldn't take it anymore. So they asked Galinda out. And Galinda accepted.
Now, they were getting ready for their date. They had no idea what to wear! They'd never really cared much about romance. They'd never thought they'd end up with someone who liked them.
Thankfully, they were proved wrong.
They tried on more outfits than they thought they had until they decided on one they liked. It was simple, a flannel shirt over a white shirt and jeans that weren't ripped at the knees.
Elphaba, being the only one of the two of them to own a car, was going to pick Galinda up in just 20 minutes. They had some time to kill and had no idea what to do in that time.
They ended up pacing in their house, glancing at the clock every so often, until they had to go. They took a deep breath and grabbed their keys, going into their car.
They pulled up Galinda's address on their phone and started the drive.
The entire time there, they could feel the ball of anxiety growing in their stomach. But they ignored it. They were going on a date with Galinda, and they were going to enjoy every second of it.
They pulled up to Galinda's apartment and were surprised to see Galinda already waiting for them. She skipped over to them, a large smile on her face.
"Hey!"
"Hey. I'm not late, am I?" Nervously, Elphaba checked the time.
"Nope! I just didn't want to wait inside." Galinda opened the car door and went inside. "So, where are we going?"
Elphaba smiled slightly. "That's a surprise." Galinda huffed but didn't say anything.
They drove for a little while longer. The whole time, Elphaba found themselves growing a little more and more nervous. They hoped Galinda liked where they had picked for their first date.
Even just thinking those two words caused a flutter of butterflies to swell within them,
Finally, they got there. As soon as Galinda sees the building, she lets out an excited gasp. "Laser tag! I haven't gone in years!" As soon as Elphaba hears the excitement in her voice, they let out a sigh of relief.
"Oh, good. I was worried you'd find it stupid." Elphaba finds themselves smiling at Galinda's excitement.
"No way! Now come on!" Galinda quickly opens the car door. Elphaba chuckles and climbs out of their car. They follow her to the building. Elphaba opens it and holds it out for Galinda, who pretends to swoon as she walks through. They laugh.
They enter the waiting room. Since Elphaba didn't put a reservation in, they're playing with other people who also didn't put a reservation in. The other people are a family - two parents and their two kids, a boy and a girl who look to be about the same age. Both Elphaba and Galinda are relieved that at least they aren't the only adults in this game.
The teams get split up, and Elphaba and Galinda are on opposing teams. Elphaba had sort of hoped they'd be on the same team, but the other people decided to split it up between gender. They weren't sure where to put Elphaba, but seeing as there were only two guys, they got put on their team.
Elphaba had plenty to say about all that, but they bit their tongue for Galinda's sake. They weren't here to start arguments, they were here to kick ass.
Galinda immediately insists her team color be pink. The little girl quickly agrees. The mother, who clearly doesn't care, also agrees. Elphaba turns back to their team. The boy and father are bickering amongst themselves on what color they should do. One says blue, the other says red. It looks like blue is going to win until Galinda calls over to them.
"You should do green!"
The two on their team look at Elphaba warily. The boy can't hold back a snort. Elphaba rolls their eyes, but the two agree and the team color becomes green.
After their team colors are picked and their equipment is put on, someone comes up to them to tell them the rules. He looks rather bored.
"No running, no physical contact, hold your laser gun with both hands at all times, and no climbing. Have fun."
And with that, they're set loose.
They all rush in, starting to go to their respective bases when Galinda glances over at Elphaba and then starts giggling.
"What? What is it?" Elphaba demands to know. The others turn to look and soon find themselves holding back laughter with varying degrees of success.
"You glow!" Galinda manages to wheeze out between her laughter.
"What?" They look down at their hand and, sure enough, they're glowing. It's faint but noticeable. They stare in bewilderment before letting out the barest hint of a chuckle.
"It'll be easy to find you," Galinda teases. Elphaba rolls their eyes.
"Go on, get to your base." The countdown before the official start of the game is almost over.
They all rush to their base and get ready for the true start of the game. With just a few seconds left, the boy turns to Elphaba. "You better not make us lose." Elphaba just grunts in response.
"Do you have a strategy?" The father asks.
"Yeah. The strategy: win."
And just like that, the countdown is over. Almost immediately, it becomes chaos. Elphaba turns to properly look at their teammates.
"Both of you, stay here. I'm going to go out and go after their base."
"You'll attract attention to yourself!" the father protests.
"Exactly. I'll keep them distracted. Now stay." They head out without checking to make sure either of them heeds their order. Immediately, they start looking for Galinda.
It's not hard to find her. They'd recognize her anywhere. However, before they can go after her, the girl on Galinda's team has spotted them. She lifts her gun and fires. Elphaba manages to dodge just in time. They hear the girl let out a huff in anger.
And that's when the other kid comes, immediately firing toward the girl as he lets out a battle cry. Elphaba rolls their eyes at the kid's disobedience, but they hadn't really been expecting any better. Why would anyone follow a green person they had just met? They just hope at least the father listened. Someone has to guard the base.
With the two kids battling it out, it gives Elphaba the perfect chance to go after Galinda. They soon find her again and head towards her. She's trying to sneak around the sides, clearly aiming for their base. Elphaba sneaks after her.
They wait for the right moment, and then...they shoot. And hit her right in the back. Galinda lets out a surprised gasp and quickly whirls around, locking eyes with Elphaba. Her eyes narrow, and then she smirks, soon lifting her own gun and shooting. Elphaba dodges, and Galinda groans.
Elphaba rushes closer while keeping their gun up, shooting every once in a while as they get closer. They go after each other for some time. Elphaba isn't sure how long they're shooting after Galinda.
During all this, they manage to get closer and closer. And they start shooting the other less and less often. It's not long until they're practically in a corner, surrounded by black obstacles with neon colors painted on them. There's limited room for dodging, but they've officially stopped aiming. They just started feeling drawn to each other.
Elsewhere in the arena, there's a war going on. But here, it's just the two of them.
Galinda looks thoughtful and lets go of her gun, letting it hang by the wires around her neck. She takes just a few steps closer, smiling up at Elphaba. Elphaba raises an eyebrow at her, wondering what she's doing. It isn't long before her plan is revealed.
Quickly, Galinda maneuvers them around and then pushes Elphaba against the wall. And then she kisses them.
Elphaba lets out a shocked sound that, if they thought about it, would realize almost sounded like a squeal. But considering the fact that Galinda was kissing them, they didn't think about it.
Instead, they think about how soft Galinda's lips are. They've never kissed her. It was something they've wanted to do for a while but had no idea how to go about initiating it. And now that it was happening, they hardly knew what to do.
They let go of their gun and their hands move directly to Galinda's hair. They tilt their head slightly and the kiss deepens. They run their hands through Galinda's hair and tug slightly. The feeling draws out a soft moan from Galinda, and they almost moan themselves at it.
Galinda's hands have moved to their hair, where she runs her hands through it. Galinda had always said how much she loved their hair.
Eventually, they're forced to pull apart. They're both breathing heavily. Elphaba hardly knows what to do with themselves after that kiss. So they just stare into Galinda's eyes. Galinda looks nervous, but also very pleased with herself. And then she looks mischevious. Before Elphaba can ask or even say anything, Galinda has grabbed her gun.
And then she shoots them. Right in the chest.
A second after that, a speaker comes on announcing the game has ended.
Elphaba is stunned, especially as the speaker follows up with, "The pink team has won."
Galinda smirks. Elphaba sighs and picks their own gun back up. "You're a sneaky lil shit, y'know that?"
"Yup!" Galinda is still immensely pleased with herself. "But hey, you're the one to ask me out on this date." She chuckles and grabs Elphaba's hand, tugging them out and pulling them over to where the others have gathered.
The two people on Elphaba's team glare at them. "Where the hell were you?! We lost because of you!" the boy yells. Elphaba at least has the decency to look sheepish.
"I was going after Galinda!" they try to defend themselves.
"More like you were making out with her!"
Elphaba flushes at that and can't seem to say anything to defend themselves further with.
Meanwhile, they notice the mother grinning at Galinda. "Nice work," she comments.
Galinda just smiles back.