-:- January-:-
"Elphie, whatever happened to that fan I was using the night we met?"
The addressed paused in her work to glance up at the blond across from her. Little had occurred between Lurlinemas and now, nearly a month had passed and the year was now 1933. New years had brought in celebrators and countless kisses once the countdown had ended. Elphaba had just barely contained the urge to slap everyone within arm's reach at the display.
A green head shook slightly as she returned her attention to the counting machine on the table before her. Being a manager and dealing with people had seemed like the worst thing she could think of when she was forced to take the job. Her perception of the job had only worsened when she realized she was in charge of all the number work involved as well. She preferred the numbers over people sure, but it sure was tedious.
She sighed as her fingers tapped over the buttons on the machine, "I haven't the slightest. Most likely some rummy(1) got 'is hands off it when you fell off the stage and took it as a souvenir. Why?"
Glinda giggled at the thought, rocking in her chair, "I suppose you're probably right. I was just thinking about doing that act again is all, I wonder if we've any spares?"
"The marvelous Glinda is recycling acts?" Elphaba chortled quietly, almost to herself, never once looking up from her work, "Are you hoping to fall in some other poor manager's lap?"
"Elphie you mean thing you, it wasn't on purpose," the blonde laughed good-naturedly at this.
"Mmmhmm," the green girl paused again in her typing, looking up once more. "Say, when did you even start calling me that?" her tone was alarmingly serious, and her expression matched her tone.
Glinda started a bit, her laughter humming into silence as her expression worried, "I don't know. A week after I met you? Why, do you mind?"
Elphaba rolled a pencil between her fingers, her eyebrows wrinkling in thought, "I suppose, that as long as it's only you saying it, I don't mind."
A semi-awkward silence took hold of the room then. Neither girl could tell you why it had settled, possibly because Elphaba had not immediately gone back to typing down figures on the machine. The more likely cause, however, was because brown eyes had met with blue over that last sentence, and neither party had thought to look away yet.
The predicament didn't last long though. A door somewhere behind the stage slammed loudly, jarring both out of the silence. Glinda stood abruptly, just managing to catch her chair before it toppled over backwards as Elphaba cleared her throat heavily and looked down at the papers before her.
"I'm gonna go-"
"Well I'd better-"
Both girls started talking at once, and stopping in unison to allow the other to speak. The silence resumed for only a moment before the greener of the pair nodded and waved her hand indicating for the other to continue.
"I am . . . gonna go check the back. For another fan," casting a sidelong glance at Elphaba as she tucked her chair back underneath the table
"Right. I'd better be getting back to work as well," Elphaba added, shifting her papers, her eyes trained on them as if the figures there were the code to life itself.
With a curt nod Glinda moved away. As the pink clad flapper vanished around the corner, Elphaba released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Leaning back in her chair, brown eyes stared blankly at her papers, her former urgency when regarding them having all but disappeared. She sat like this for a moment before raising a hand to her chest softly.
What is this feeling?
-:-:-
"They did what?" Fiyero half bellowed in disbelief.
"You heard me, right underneath the mistletoe!" Avaric replied, a huge smile plastered on his face as he slammed a hand amiably on his friend's shoulder.
Fiyero, in turn, stood slack-jawed at the news. He eyes his friend so see whether or not to trust these words before straightening up, "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"My mind misplaced with what with it bein' New Years and all. You might be tied down with your beauty, but I spent that holiday chasin' the finest skirts anyone's ever seen. Apart from possibly the skirt you own," Avaric winked suggestively. His cheery mood was evaporating at an amazing pace though because of his friend's demeanor.
"You should have told me sooner," The tanner man commented, folding his arms across his chest. He was really quite intimidating when he painted himself with the serious look.
Avaric's face twisted at this, he thought that the other Gale Forcer would have shared in his enthusiasm. "Sorry, I didn't think you'd take it so hard."
"No. I mean you should have told me sooner," Fiyero's expression broke here a grin spreading over his face as he flung an arm around his friend's shoulders, "so that we could come up with a plan to get them to do it again!"
-:-:-
"Elphaba!"
The raven haired manager groaned and dropped her hands to the bar in front of her, the empty glass in one of her hands making a dull 'thunking' noise as it connected with the bar-top, "What is it Mr. Fiyero?"
Half a week had passed since Elphaba had chased the GF and his friend from her back halls for being too loud. Ever since then she couldn't help but notice that the pair of them would snicker under their breaths when they saw her, or when they saw Glinda for that matter. On the whole though they'd been avoiding the semi-retired mobster. She preferred when they kept their distance, but their laughter was getting on her nerves.
Fiyero smiled, straightening his tie that had become skewed as he ran up to the green manager. "There's something in the storeroom!"
Elphaba's frown deepened as she saw he was clearly serious, "Then do something about it."
"Are you kidding? I don't work here!" the man seemed appalled at the thought.
"Oh right," Elphaba rubbed her temples exhaustedly, "I forgot since you're always here. Remind me why you're here before hours now?"
Fiyero shrugged, "The back door was open."
Suppressing the urge to lecture the GF about just walking in she threw the towel she'd been using to clean glasses on the counter and moved to follow the man. In doing so, she missed the pleased smile that graced his face.
-:-:-
"I really don't see anything up here Avaric," the blonde huffed, standing on her tippy toes in her attempt to see the top shelf.
"Nah, you've been looking for one o' them feathered fans right? I definitely saw one up there," Avaric assured her from where he stood by the door, "Maybe you should try standing on something."
Glinda scoffed, glancing over at the useless Gale Forcer as she pulled a stack of boxes toward the walls, "Such a gentleman Avie! Honestly I can't figure out why you're single." The girl rolled her eyes as she scrambled up the rather precarious ladder of boxes she'd created.
"Cause I like it that way," the man half growled, catching a glimpse of his partner in crime coming around the corner.
-:-:-
"Come on Elphaba," Fiyero urged, winking discreetly at his friend by the storeroom's door.
"What exactly do you think is in there that you're too much of a piker(2) to go in yourself?" The green woman sighed.
"I dunno but it's going 'boom ba boom boom. . . BOOM'." The tanned man paused, and raised his hands to accentuate the final boom. His eyes widening for a brief second before he shook the expression away and continued to lead the manager down the hall.
Elphaba rolled her eyes once more at the display and peered into the room, ignoring Avaric entirely. Instantly she was greeted by the view of Glinda all but climbing the back wall to reach to the top shelf. The woman's face deadpanned, not even bothering to look at the two men, "Really? It's just Glinda you idiots."
Fiyero and Avaric peered over either of the tall woman's shoulders. "Oh, so it is," the tanner man chirped merrily.
Before Elphaba could even consider whether she should go help the blonde or just leave, she felt a mighty shove on her back. She stumbled forward as the door slammed shut, making an awful noise. The noise startled not only the unbalanced manager, but also the blonde who jumped in alarm.
This was a very poor idea as the sudden movement caused her already precarious perch to topple. The boxes slid out from under her feet, pitching the blonde backwards. Elphaba looked up just in time to see a flurry of limbs and pink fabric coming towards her.
If there hadn't been any noise coming from the room before there certainly was now. The two men outside could hardly contain their joy at their brilliance. Now that they had the two locked in a room together they were going to peer through a small whole they'd drilled through the thin wall to see what would happen.
Meanwhile back inside the storeroom, dust from the avalanche of boxes was beginning to settle. The room's occupants had disappeared beneath a slew of old costumes that had fallen from their designated box. After a short moment, the pile of garments heaved before giving way to a head of short, disheveled curls whose owner gasped for fresh air. Glinda glanced around the room distractedly as she tried to figure out what was going on, looking rather like a meerkat checking for predators, before shrugging her arms free of the debris.
At her movement a pile of clothes to her left growled, the blonde herself seeming to shift upwards a bit as the noise was issued. Snickering lightly to herself her attention lingered thoughtfully over the displaced clothes before reaching out a hand and gracefully plucking up a silk scarf. As soon as she did so she found a pair of brown eyes glaring back at her.
This elicited more giggles from the blonde, and another growl from the raven haired girl below her, "Gerroff will ya?"
Glinda coughed softly, holding back further laughter, as she tried to disentangle herself from the pile of old props, outfits, and otherwise useless junk. "A please would be nice."
Elphaba grumbled and rolled her eyes, grimacing as the blonde leaned all of her weight on the green girl's stomach by mistake. Some moments later both girls stood dusting themselves off. Without glancing at the room's other occupant or the mess behind her, Elphaba reached for the door. She was rewarded only by an unpleasant 'click' as she tried, and failed, to open it.
After a pause during which the green girl hoped she'd just been imagining that click, she tried again with the same result. Her jaw set in a dangerous angle the raven haired woman jiggled the handle and even threw her shoulder against the door for good measure, silently hoping it had just stuck. Eventually Elphaba couldn't ignore what she knew had been true from that first click. Exasperated the manager released the door handle and instead slammed the butt of her fist against the door.
Glinda watched quietly as the rooms other occupant slowly leaned forward until she heard a dull sound that indicated a green forehead now rested against the door. The room remained quiet like this for a good couple of minutes, the blonde blinking wordlessly at the fit she'd just witnessed. It was so quiet in these moments that the performer would later swear she had heard the manager's brain clicking with thought. So to distract herself Glinda instead turned to rummage through the heap of junk behind her.
Just as she started this Elphaba stood bolt upright once more, turning her head abruptly to glance down the wall next to the rooms only exit. Muttering something about death under her breath the manager rested both hands on the wall, running them up and down, her face impossibly close to the poster covered dry wall. The blonde watched, her brows furrowing in question although she said nothing.
The green girl caught the look out of the corner of her eye and sighed before scooting down the wall a bit to continue her scrutiny of the wall, "Fiyero and Avaric are up to something. They led me here and I'm assuming they did the same to you. Furthermore they've locked us both in here. So either they must be planning some sort of surprise, which I find unlikely anyways and unless you've got a birthday you haven't been telling me about then I can't imagine what said surprise would be anyways.
"Or," She paused after this, scratching at the corner of one of the many old show posters that covered the walls, "They've locked us in here under the delusion that we're going to 'have a moment' or something. If it's as bad as I think it is, then they're likely drilled a hole somewhere in my dry wall to watch."
-:-:-
"She figured that out rather quickly," Avaric whispered in a deflated sort of way.
From where he stood with an ear plastered to the door her could easily hear the girls within. Fiyero took his eye from the tiny hole they had further down the wall to peer at his friend for a moment. They were taking turns viewing; after all they could put to many holes in the wall that would have been suspicious. The posters on the inside of the room easily hid the peek hole; especially since the boys has craftily place it directly over one of the poster's eyes.
Fiyero chuckled lightly before turning to look through the pepper again with a shrug, "She's a smart cookie."
The pair fell silent once more, concentrating with all they had on what might be going on within the room. They wore symmetrical frowns at the general lack of action. Even so the two Gale Forcers were so focus on their task that they hadn't heard the little footsteps behind them. When a voice asked them what they were doing both of them jumped and spun around, trying to look natural. Fiyero's face softened though when he saw who it was.
"Hey there Boq, arrive a little early today?"
The munchkin snorted at the statement, "It might shock you to be reminded that I actually work here, unlike you. Now will you please answer the question?"
Boq waited semi-patiently for an actual answer, raising a hand to flick non-existent dust from his shoulder. Fiyero had almost forgotten Boq had been the rum runner for the Filibuster for a while now, since the munchkin almost always joined him and the rest of the Gale Forcers for drinks in the evening. The tanned man figured that most of the running must be done during the day, or at least what part of it that Boq handled.
"Why don't you just toddle off now little one, this game is for big boys only," Avaric sneered harshly, cutting into Fiyero's thoughts.
Indignant Boq was about to retaliate when Fiyero stepped forward and moved his hands in such a way to indicate the pair quiet down, "Simmer down now children. Boq can you keep a secret now?"
"You're going to tell him?" Avaric half yelled as Fiyero cast him a dark glance and he reduced his voice to a whisper, "Why don't you just go tell Elphaba then? Or better yet how about the wizard himself?"
Fiyero shared a quick hushed word with Avaric before turning back to Boq and explaining the situation. The taller man could hardly contain himself at the strange color the munchkin's face had adopted. At first he had begun to blush, but at the same time he seemed to pale. It left the most interesting blotchy pattern of red and white on the shorter man's face. Avaric did little to hide his amusement and chortled openly.
"That," the munchkin's voice trailed before he cleared his throat, which remarkably also seems to clear his face a bit, "That's all fine and well but, you realize that Elphaba is going to skin the pair of you when she gets out. You're going to have to let her out eventually."
As if on cue the three of them could hear the manager hollering something about death and murder from within the room. Both Avaric and Fiyero's face blanched at this, they hadn't considered the thought. As it sunk in just how literal any death threat from Elphaba might be Avaric shot down the hall. Fiyero stay just long enough to whisper a hushed warning to Boq.
"You had better not let them out; you'll be killed for association!"
It took less than a second for the remaining two men to run down the hall and vanish out onto the streets. None of them returned for drinks that evening.
-:-:-
"I'm going to kill them! No, first I'm gonna make them clean this mess," Elphaba spun around, having given up on locating the peep hole and waving a hand instead at the emptied boxes and props Glinda was currently wading through. "Yes, they're going to get all this shit picked up. Then I'm going to kill them! As soon as I find a way out of here."
"Ah-hah!" the blonde shrilled, standing up straight. For a brief moment the raven haired woman looked hopeful, thinking that the other girl had found a way out. Glinda turned to face her friend, flicking her wrist as she did so, "Another fan!"
The green girl tossed her hands in the air again, her eyes looking towards the heavens for a brief moment. Glinda merely snickered at the motion, waving the feathered fan. Elphaba, in turn, growled and kicked some sort of tiara near her foot before turning and flopping back down onto a pile of the clothes, making herself comfortable.
"What are you doing?"
Elphaba glanced at the questioning blue eyes that peered out from over the fan, "I'm waiting, what's it look like? They can't possibly keep us in here forever, and I don't see any other way out."
The flapper flicked her wrist once more, collapsing the fan into her hand before looking around the room. "So we're just stuck here?"
There was silence as the other woman simply nodded.
Glinda hmmed quietly to herself, raising her free hand to her chin, "You think they've got us in here to watch us?"
Again silence.
"Then, they probably won't let us out until they see something. . ."
Elphaba ignored this comment, the blonde turned around to see the manager had allowed her head to loll backwards and had closed her eyes, having apparently thought this would be an excellent time to catch up on her sleep. Glinda huffed quietly, stepping over a few discarded garments moving across the room.
When the pile shifted to her immediate left, the green girl half-heartedly opened one eye. At the sight of Glinda standing over her instantly both eyes flew open in their entirety. "What are you doing?"
Glinda smiled a sugar-coated smile before dropping to her knees, now comfortably straddled over the other girl's lap, "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm giving them something to watch."
Swallowing heavily, Elphaba tried to retain her composure. Her voice betrayed her though, coming out quiet and unsteady, "I don't appreciate having my words turned arou-"
She was silenced as Glinda grabbed her shirt front and yanked her up, crashing their lips together. Elphaba wasn't sure if it was the sudden movement or the kiss itself that stole the breath from her lungs, but suddenly everything else seemed to vanish. All her worries, the fact that they were in a storage closet, even the fact that somewhere two dead men were watching them. All that mattered in that moment was Glinda, and that her lips were on the green girl's own, and that those lips were smiling.
Glinda moved back for a moment, still smirking like she had before, "Oh yeah? And I don't appreciate your words while I'm trying to kiss you."
The raven haired woman's breathe hitched, eyes locked with the blue ones that seemed preposterously close to hers. Those blue eyes danced with amusement, both of the girls sitting in silence trying to recover their breaths. Elphaba was the first to talk again.
"You're plan doesn't seem to have worked, the door is still locked."
Glinda half-laughed in an exhale, eyes never leaving the beautiful brown orbs before them. "Hah, forget the plan. The plan was stupid," the blonde's voice huskier than Elphaba had ever heard it as she leaned further down, breath playing across a green ear, "maybe they just haven't seen enough yet."
-:-:-
It was well into the night before someone found the pair in the store-room. The pair had both been too busy to talk about what had happened. Elphaba had immediately roared something about going to visit some graves before grabbing the violin case she kept behind the bar and vanishing. Glinda had been ushered off to the stage, her disappearance having been the only reason anyone had bothered to go searching for the pair in the first place.
The next day Fiyero and Avaric spent cleaning up the back storeroom, with Elphaba standing over them the entire time. In the end she'd allowed the pair to get off with only the cleaning. Neither knew why she was being so gracious, but they took what they could and didn't show up for drinks for nearly a week after the incident. For all their trouble, they still hadn't seen anything interesting.
-:-:-
1 – Rummy: a drunken bum
2 – Piker: a coward
A/N: I've not much to say for this chapter actually, just that I hope you all enjoyed it? I'm actually really worried about the ending since I've never written anything similar to that before. It's a first folks! I hope I didn't screw it up.