A/N: Alright, I chose one of my favorite movies for this (please don't judge me ;)) and it was so much fun tbh. Happy reading!
"Come on, Elphie, you need to see this!" Galinda yelled at the top of her lungs to drown out the noise of the roaring ship's engine and the excited chatter of the other tourists leaning over the railing to catch a glimpse of the whales they had been promised. She waved her to come over for what felt like the hundredth time already, but Elphaba only ever shook her head.
Out of their entire tour group, she was the only one not pushing and shoving others out of the way for a better view, except for a teenage boy who had gotten seasick and was constantly throwing up in a bucket. Elphaba was not seasick, and yet she sat on an empty bench right in the middle of the ship, a safe distance to the water on all sides.
The things she did for her girlfriend, she thought bitterly, as she considered her unusual situation. A girl with an allergy against water had no business on a ship surrounded by nothing else. Still, she was right here, and all thanks to Galinda, who had spent days talking about this whale watching tour she had read about in a brochure. Of course, her girlfriend knew about her special aversion and would have never asked her to do it against her will, but as always, Elphaba couldn't stand the thought of not giving the blonde everything she wanted.
She had spent an entire day doing her research – that the trip didn't involve any contact with water, that in decades not even one ship had sunken and that they had a small indoor area she could hide in if it suddenly started raining. In her enormous backpack she had stuffed not only Galinda's sunscreen with the highest sun protection factor they could find for her pale skin, but also Elphaba's raincoat and her oil against burns. She was prepared for everything, and even though Galinda had laughed at her at first, her girlfriend had also checked a dozen times if their backpack was still on board and always well within their reach.
During the last hour, while they had moved further and further away from the safe shore, Galinda had given her the time to get used to it all. She alternated between looking for whales with the others, excitedly squealing whenever she spotted one, and checking in with Elphaba.
This was the first time she had orally asked Elphaba to join her on the railing, and although part of her wanted to share the experience with her girlfriend and go, the other, still dominant part, was terrified of getting wet. The maritime climate already made her skin tingle in a not exactly unpleasant, but still weird way. The contact with sea spray, which the wind could blow in her face would certainly be much worse.
When she shook her head in denial yet again, Galinda gave up her spot on the railing and went over to Elphaba, slightly weaving from side to side due to the quickly moving ship. At that sight, Elphaba was more than glad that she had been able to convince her girlfriend not to wear heels for once and go with flat ballerinas instead. Without the help from her shoes, she looked even tinier than normal, but even Galinda had already admitted that was better than spraining her ankles.
"Elphie", she said as she was close enough, so she didn't have to yell, and sat down next to her on the bench. "Everything alright?"
"I've been better", Elphaba confessed, knowing her girlfriend well enough to know that she would immediately detect a lie. "But at least I'm not puking my guts out, so I guess it could be worse."
They both looked over to the poor boy still clutching his bucket at the back of the ship.
Galinda was the first to avert her gaze back. "Are you sure you're not seasick? You do look a little green."
Playfully smacking her shoulder, Elphaba rolled her eyes, but still couldn't help but grin. "You know, I've been waiting for someone to make that joke for an hour now."
"I'm the only one who gets to make fun of you", Galinda replied and tapped her on the nose. "If anyone else says that to you, I will toss them overboard myself."
Elphaba chuckled at that, eyeing the tiny blonde with furrowed brows. While she knew from experience that Galinda was stronger than she looked, she still doubted she would be able to lift anyone on that ship up, let alone throw them in the water.
"Don't", she said because of that and pulled her girlfriend a little closer. "They will only toss you overboard and then I would have to rescue you, which I would very much like to avoid."
Galinda looked up at her with wide eyes. "Don't you dare try and rescue me! You would get yourself killed!"
"Probably", Elphaba had to admit. "But then who will stop the whales from eating you for dinner?"
"They don't eat humans, silly. The tour guide just explained to us that they only eat … what was it called again?"
"Plankton", the green girl reminded her, before gently nudging her shoulder. "But you're tiny enough that they probably wouldn't know the difference."
Galinda immediately shoved her away, crossing her arms in front of her chest, although that didn't stop her from grinning. "Hey! Why are you so mean to me? I didn't do anything!"
"Well, you did make that green face joke", Elphaba pointed out with a smirk.
The blonde couldn't argue with that and let herself be pulled over to her girlfriend again. "That I did. Alright, we're even, no more skin or height jokes for the rest of the day."
"Deal", Elphaba said as she kissed her forehead, although they both knew there was a great chance they would break their own rule soon enough.
Another round of excited calls rose up in the crowds, accompanied by more than a dozen clicking cameras and light flashes, indicating that a whale had decided to honor them with its presence. Elphaba couldn't understand how they were able to bear it at all, if it were her in the water, she would swim away as far as she could from those gaping people. The tour guide had explained that they loved the attention, but Elphaba wasn't sure if that was actually scientifically proven or if he just said that to ease people's conscience. If they had one at all.
She made a mental note to check if there were studies about that topic once they arrived home, before turning back to her girlfriend. "Don't you want to go back?"
"No", Galinda replied and slid an arm around Elphaba's waist. "Not without you."
"Glin …", Elphaba started but was quickly cut off by her girlfriend.
"I know." She placed a sweet kiss on top of her shoulder before smiling at her. "I won't force you to go and I'm already immensely proud and touched that you're even here with me at all."
Elphaba fumbled with her fingers in her lap. "But you wanted to go on this trip to watch whales, not to sit back here with me."
Shaking her head, Galinda reached for her fingers to stop the anxious movement, instead interlacing her own with them.
"First of all, I've already seen enough whales to last a lifetime. Second, I'm here with you and to spend time with you, and if I have to do it back here, I will."
Before Elphaba could reply, the seasick boy at the back of the ship beat her to it. "Mom, look! There's a whole group of them, right over here!"
Of course, not only his mother had heard him, and suddenly everyone stormed towards the boy, leaving the front of the ship empty.
Elphaba nudged her girlfriend's shoulder and drew back her hand. "Come on, go."
"Haven't you listened to anything I have just said?" Galinda immediately protested and grabbed her hand once again. "I'm staying with you. But maybe that's the perfect opportunity for you to come with me."
She pointed a finger at the abandoned part of the ship. "No one's paying attention and I promise you that you won't get wet."
Looking first at the railing and then at her girlfriend with wide eyes, she nervously bit her bottom lip. "I don't know, Glin, the water-"
"Is about eight feet below us and we've slowed down enough so it won't spray on us. You know me, would I ask you to do this if I seriously thought you might get hurt?"
Elphaba thought back to all the times her girlfriend had reminded her to bring an umbrella, how she checked the weather report for possible rain every morning, sometimes driving the green girl close to insanity with her highly developed protective instinct. No, that Galinda would never bring her in any situation that might harm her.
Hesitantly shaking her head, she stood up and the big smile on her girlfriend's face already made it worth it.
"I'm so proud of you", she said and stood on her tiptoes to kiss her cheek, before leading the way towards the railing on the front. She moved slowly enough to give Elphaba time, not only to get used to the thought of getting closer to the threatening water, but also to back out if she felt like she had to.
But although she held Galinda's fingers in a death grip and was clenching her jaw tight, she refused to stop. When they reached the bow of the ship her girlfriend's hand was probably void of any blood, but she didn't complain.
"Don't look down yet", Galinda whispered and she complied, concentrating on the horizon instead. The sky was deep blue, not a single cloud in sight, the sun able to burn on them without any impediment. Thankfully, Elphaba's skin was rather insensitive, her verdigris barely changing by sun exposure. Galinda, however, constantly had to put sunscreen on her own pale skin that had a tendency to burn and become pink rather quickly. Even now, after Elphaba had already reapplied it three times since this morning, the yellow straps of her sundress were in heavy contrast to her skin tone.
Distracted from her own thoughts, Elphaba slowly began to get used to her new spot. Galinda had been right, the water was still in a safe distance from her, but the view of only the ocean around them now seemed beautiful rather than life-threatening. Turning her head to her girlfriend standing next to her, she couldn't help but smile at her.
"Thank you", she said and Galinda squealed, throwing her arms around her waist.
"I'm so proud of you", Galinda repeated her earlier statement, doing her best to take in the moment and save it forever in her brain. "You are so brave."
Elphaba chuckled a little at that. "It took me approximately five minutes to get here, you can hardly call that bravery."
"Considering your last encounter with water, I think I can call you brave as much as I want", the blonde replied, grimacing at the memory. Despite Galinda checking the weather report, they had been surprised by a small rainstorm on their way back from the cinema one night, leaving them to wait for it to end under a tiny canopy for two hours. Galinda had been forced to act as a human shield the entire time to protect the raindrops from hitting Elphaba and had gotten sick in result. After finding out that another weather forecaster had warned his audience about the possible rain, her girlfriend had started to check multiple reports every day.
"Fair point."
They stayed like that for a little while, before Galinda wriggled herself out of Elphaba's arms to climb on the railing instead.
"Glin-"
"Relax, Elphie, I'm not going to fall", Galinda interrupted her. "And if I do, get someone else to rescue me!"
Throwing both of fists in the air, she let go of the railing, nearly causing Elphaba to have a heart attack.
"I'm the king of the world!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, and Elphaba's concern was quickly forgotten as she recognized the line from her girlfriend's favorite movie of all time.
"Are you serious?" Elphaba asked, rolling her eyes. Some of the tourists at the back of the ship looked towards them, startled by the noise, but quickly diverted their attention to the group of whales apparently still within their sight.
"Yes! Did you really think I would miss this chance? Now come on, get behind me!"
Elphaba crossed her arms in front of her chest. "You have to be kidding me."
"Do I look like I am kidding?" Galinda pointedly stretched both of her arms to the side and tossed her hair back with one swift move of her neck. "I'm flying, Jack!"
"Sadly not", Elphaba deadpanned. "I'm not doing this."
"Please, Elphie!" Her girlfriend turned her head to look at her with pouting lips and wide, begging eyes, knowing well enough that Elphaba could not say no to her.
The green girl sighed, causing Galinda to squeal in delight.
"I love you too much, you know that?" Elphaba said defeatedly as she positioned herself behind the blonde, carefully smoothing her hair to the side, so they wouldn't fly in her own face. She did not climb up the railing, but Galinda being the tiny girl she was, Elphaba was still about an inch taller than her.
Stretching her own arms out as well, interlacing their fingers, she placed her head in the crook of Galinda's neck, like she had seen in the movie way too many times.
The blonde giggled as Elphaba pressed a soft kiss against her neck. "You have to sing too, Elphie!"
With horror Elphaba remembered that in the movie Jack did sing in the scene, though she couldn't for the life of her think of the song. Not that it mattered since she wasn't planning on singing anyway.
"I'm not going to sing."
Galinda sighed but turned her head to smile at her. "I know. I didn't think you would."
"What's next in the movie?" Elphaba asked with a smirk, though she, as well as probably every citizen in Oz, knew exactly what would follow. "I can't remember."
The blonde giggled before moving their interlaced hands in front of her body.
"That's because you messed up the scene by refusing to sing", Galinda said, before leaning in to close the gap between their lips. It was a weird angle at first, and for a second Elphaba wondered how that could be the most famous kiss in movie history, but all such thoughts were quickly forgotten as her girlfriend opened her mouth, inviting her in. No feeling in the world compared to kissing Galinda, and it chased away the last remains of worry about the water at the back of her brain.
Although she had always considered the movie as well as that particular scene too corny, especially mixed with that soundtrack and the colorful sunset in the background, she was sure she would never be able to watch it again without thinking of this.
Her girlfriend slowly turned her into a hopeless romantic and she couldn't do a thing to stop it.
But right now, Elphaba thought as she smiled into the kiss, she could not care less.