"Ugh, I need to go ooooouuuut!" Galinda Upland moaned theatrically as she was flopped back on the couch of two of her oldest friends.

"I this not out?" Crope asked, gesturing at the tiny living room of his and Tibbet's small Emerald City Apartment. "It's not your apartment."

"You know what I mean."

Crope's boyfriend, Tibbet, made a noise of understand. "She wants out, out Crope. Like…bar partying out."

"Or restaurant out or….something!" Galinda huffed. "I'm tired of being stuck in my apartment by myself and hanging with the same old people…not that you two aren't great but I just need..."

"Variety?" Tibbet offered up.

"Yeah."

Crope and Tibbet tittered in sympathetic unison.

"You should come see our show." Crope offered. The two boys were gay as the day was long and practiced drag at one of the local clubs downtown.

"I've seen your shows already."

"Not our new one!"

Galinda huffed. "But it's at a gay bar."

"So?"

"Everyone knows that all the girls at gay bars are either straight, questioning, or taken."

"Not true, it's a changing demographic!"

The blonde sighed and took a melancholic swig of her cider.

"I thought you wanted out, out," Tibbet commented, "Not a new girlfriend."

"...True," Crope responded, "but scoring at least a fuck buddy means she has something exciting to do in her life, Tibbs. The ~variety~." Air quotes came with the last word. "Isn't that right, G'lin?"

"Mmm."

"Well there's that newish lesbian bar or 45th," Tibbet tried. "I've heard good stuff about the kings who perform there. Maybe you should go hook up with a king, G'lin."

"I'm not really into that whole….." The Frottican gestured at her face. "Thing."

"Well I'm sure there will be plenty of dykes there who would be more than interested in a cutie femme like yourself. Take a chance, G'lin—what've you got to lose?"

-/-

Friday night found Galinda at the The V. She paid her cover and went inside; it was a small space, with a bar at the back and a stage at the front, tables along the sides, and a wide dance floor spread between the lot. The dance floor was currently filled with chairs; the troupe performance would be at eight, then drinking would get underway. Solo performances would happen later.

Galinda had known very little about drag kings until Monday night, when she had hesitantly agreed to go to The V as long as Crope and Tibbet gave her some details. She found out that kings generally performed as a troupe, although some new troupes, like the one at the V, also allowed their kings to do solo shows.

The blonde was partially interested in the show but more interested on trying to score a free drink or two. She milled at the bar in her tight red dress, flirting with a couple of the butch women (and a few of the femmes) that showed interest. She got a strawberry daiquiri for her trouble, and might have gotten another free drink had the show not been announced to start.

She took a seat in one of the folding chairs nearby (but not next to) to the woman who had bought her a drink—play it coy, Galinda, play it coy—and settled in to watch the show. It was a comedy about coming out, pretty light hearted considering, but she was less focused on the plot and more focused on the players. She inspected each of them in turn, wondering how they applied their makeup and facial hair, and in the case of the green one, how long the green took to apply, take off, and how the green was central to the character he (she?) was playing.

The show was about forty five minutes, and after the floor was cleared of chairs so the dancing could commence. Galinda flirted her way to another drink—a screwdriver this time, not very exciting at all—and danced for a bit with the butch who had bought her two drinks. The butch was cute but was far too rough when they danced. The blonde excused herself to the bathroom and when she came back, the butch had found another femme to dance with.

Annoyed, Galinda circled around the dance floor but struck out. Eventually she ended up on the wall; she nursed a whiskey she had bought herself and wondered if it had been a good idea to come after all. She had gotten two free drinks, but she hadn't gotten anything beyond that.

There was a muffled thud; not that she heard the thud, with the loud music in the club. She felt it through the wall. When she looked up, she found the green drag king slumped several feet down the wall. She took him in, the carefully applied scruff and thickened eyebrows, the long dark hair, the scowl at the dance floor, the studded black jacket over a white t-shirt...and the green, which was very well applied. She wondered if he was hot with that jacket—the bar was a throng of writhing bodies, and even Galinda in her short dress was slightly flushed with heat.

He turned and noticed her stare; she flushed and turned away to fuss with her whiskey glass. They stayed that way; Galinda glanced at him once and a while, but he became engrossed in his phone. Finally he put his phone away, then got off the wall and headed to a door that lead backstage.

Galinda kicked herself for not sparking a conversation. Just as she was about to call the night a bust, the individual performances were set to begin. Galinda figured she might as well stay and see what the troupe had to offer. She was curious as to how they would differ from the drag queen performances she was used to.

As it turned out, they did not really. There was a lot of lipsynching, some dancing, some crotch grabbing (mostly when tips were given), and many sexual innuendos. Galinda watched the kings move about on the stage, not entirely living for it; she appreciated the kings for their craft, but was not very attracted to it.

As what she thought was the last king left the stage, the MC announced, "Lastly for tonight, Elphabang Deepthropp is going to perform to Everything I Want to Do."

The green king took the stage, and the mic, and Galinda's eyes widened. Elphabang? Elphabang Deepthropp? Oz, what sort of name was that? It was one of the more lewd names she had heard tonight. Her thoughts were removed when he took the mic and the music started.

It was a rock song with heavy guitar and a drum beat that made her tap her foot along despite herself.

"She's got a dirty mouth, it taste so clean with every taste of me
You know that every single thing she does
She does for me, because it's what I'm dreaming of

And she likes to take her time
more then fortunate, form of torture
And she likes to touch and tease
It's always fun for me, it's always unbelievable

You and me, sitting in a tree,
F-U-C-K-I-N-G"

Galinda supposed she should have expected such a raunchy song from a drag king a name like Elphaba Deepthropp. Still, Elphabang hit every word with flawless lipsynch and seemed to be riling up the crowd as he stalked the stage. Soon tips were held up for him to collect—and he did, with a crotch grab for each one. While Galinda wasn't sure about that, she rummaged for a bill and squirmed through the crowd to hold it up.

Elphabang came to take it near the end of the song. He grabbed the bill, saw who had held it up to him, and grinned. He did the requisite grab but added a pelvic thrust; a smirk twisted his dark lips at her. The crowd went wild and Galinda felt herself got hot with something that was definitely not embarrassment.

She quickly exited the crowd and as Elphabang finished up she went to the bar. There was a line; by the time she got up to the bar the dance floor had returned to being a dance floor. She had just paid for a second whiskey when a gruff voice startled her.

"Didn't peg you for the whiskey type."

Galinda whirled around to find Elphabang standing behind—and slightly over—her. Thank goodness she had elected to wear heels—he was tall, and she could smell the musk of sandlewood and sweat emanating from him. She swallowed, the regained her composure and replied, "Most don't."

The king seemed surprised by her feisty reply. She saw him press his lips together, as if he was trying to decide whether or not to say something. Then, "If that wasn't your second in the last hour and a half I'd buy you another one."

Galinda's eyes widened a bit. She had not even flirted with him! "Maybe another night," she replied coyly, moving away from the bar with her whiskey.

"Maybe later?" Elphabang said, slightly anxiously. He followed after her, as if he did not want to lose her. "Or…we could grab something to eat?"

"You've known me all of two minutes!" the blonde protested.

"We leaned on that wall for at least thirty minutes."

Galinda opened her mouth, then closed it. He was wittier than his biker persona let on. Still, she was not the type of girl to play it fast. "Maybe next weekend."

"If you come next Friday and stay all night, I'll buy you all the whiskey you want. And take you out for something after."

"You drive a hard bargain, Mister Deepthropp."

The smirk appeared at that. "Is that a yes?"

"It's a maybe. We'll see how you do next Friday." Galinda sipped at her drink. "I judge based on dancing, you know."

"…I don't dance."

"Then you can buy me all the drinks you want but I won't go out with you after." She downed her drink and, emboldened by the alcohol, handed him the empty cup. "Your choice."

"But—"

"Dance or no date," she replied, trying her best to look sexy, and then went off to get her coat and head home. She left him to stand by the bar with her empty glass, a dumb look on his face.