Work Text:
Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands has always been straight.
Right?
So why is she constantly blushing all sorts of shades of bright pink and red around her new roommate? As hard as she tried, she couldn’t help staring at Elphaba instead of paying attention in class. It was so frustrating. All of her friends back home had always teased her about being boy crazy, there was no way she could possibly be a lesbian. The thought had crossed her mind before, but she pushed those feelings deep down where she could just ignore them for as long as she pleased. Being straight was comfortable, she guesses, she didn’t have to worry about what her peers thought. Besides, what would Pfannee and Shenshen, her two closest friends at university, think of her if she were to be seen with the laughing stock of Shiz University? She dismissed the thought to the back of her mind quickly.
That’s when Galinda heard rumors of the new transfer student. Prince Fiyero Tigelaar of Winkie Country, to be exact, had just enrolled in Shiz University. Galinda thought to herself, that this would be a great distraction from how she was feeling. She could have any boy she wanted after all; all she had to do was toss her hair a couple of times, and they couldn’t resist. It was no different with the Winkie prince. That very same day, while she was giving him a tour of the book place, he asked her to be his date to the Ozdust, as he had convinced the whole student body to sneak out and dance til dawn at the illegal Ozdust ballroom that night.
At around 6:30, after they had dinner together in the Shiz cafeteria, it was time for Pfannee and Shenshen to come over to the dorm room she shared with her very green (and very attractive) roommate, and get ready for the dance. Galinda didn’t know why she felt sick to her stomach, like something was wrong. Maybe it was just her anxiety that was twisting her insides like a rope into a knot. But Galinda never has anxiety, right? What does she have to be anxious about?
Her friends poked fun of her over the “hideodious hat” they had found in her closet. She made a fake disgusted face, “I’d give it away, but I don’t hate anyone that much” she said. She didn’t think it was that bad, her granny had made it especially for her. She had brought it to school in with her luggage, and had hoped to ask Shenshen if she thought it was cute. It was a statement piece. She pretended their jokes didn’t hurt her feelings a little bit sometimes. She pretended to be unaffected by their banter. They then convinced her to give Elphaba the hat as a (cruel, in Galinda’s opinion) prank.
This was what she wanted, isn’t it? To go on a date to this magical ballroom, with the prince? This was all so confusifying. Every girl (or boy, really) would kill just to go on a date with the prince, so why didn’t she want to? She felt broken, like she just wished that she could be normal for once. She wished she could talk to Elphie. She would probably understand. Just then, as if on cue, Elphaba herself stepped through the door, into their shared dorm. “Galinda, me and Nessa were just talking about you” she said with a straight face. “Well, we were just talking about you!” Galinda said, nervously, looking around as Pfannee and Shenshen bolted out of the door, giggling to each other, quietly, leaving the two girls alone together.
“We were talking about how you should join us tonight, I’m inviting you to come tonight because everyone will be there, and don’t tell me you have nothing to wear, you could wear this!” She said as she held up the pointy black hat that her friends had just crudely laughed at, she tried not to let it get to her. “It goes with everything you own” she joked, lightheartedly. She handed Elphaba the hat, they smiled at each other, and then left to their own opposite sides of the room. Galinda felt butterflies fluttering around in her stomach at the sight of Elphaba’s smile, but why? I’ll worry about it later, she decided.
Galinda flopped face first onto her bed and groaned quickly in frustration, deep in her thoughts, taking the risk of ruining her freshly applied, glittery pink makeup. She sighed to herself. She felt like she was going to puke. Like she was seasick. She didn't want to go to the ball with Fiyero, not really. But she has to, she thought to herself, it’s what everyone wants and expects from her. Sometimes, she grew tired of being popular, even though she’d never admit to it. He was handsome, but nothing about it felt right. Not as right as it had felt when she was around her Elphie. She had to tell him. She would feel horrible if she kept leading him on.
At 8 o’clock sharp, right when he had promised to pick her up, she heard three loud knocks at the door. She was immediately filled with dread from her head down to her toes. She hesitated to step out of the door, “come on” Fiyero said with an excited smile, “let’s go!”, reaching out his hand. Galinda slowly took it, faking a smile, taking a shaky breath, not feeling very confident like her usual self, and they started making their way to the ballroom.
They made it about halfway there, and just as they were about to board the small wooden boat, floating on shimmering water from just the moonlight, to take them to the Ozdust together, Galinda no longer holding his hand, she stopped. She looked up at Fiyero, with a tear starting to well up in her eyes, “can we talk?” She said shakily. Fiyero looked back at her, eyebrow raised and said, “um, sure?”. Galinda turned to her classmates, “we’ll catch up when the next boat comes by”, waving. Her classmates let out a collective “ooo” teasingly and the boat took off. They walked together in silence, away from where their classmates had just left, and behind a large pillar in the room.
“Is everything alright?’’ Fiyero asked, looking concerned. “I can’t go to the Ozdust with you” Galinda said softly through tears, that were now streaming down her face. His face softened, and he pulled her into a gentle but firm hug, awkwardly trying to comfort her. They didn’t say anything for what seemed like an actual eternity. “Did I do something wrong?’’ Fiyero asked, breaking their silence. Galinda looked up at him with blurry vision, it felt like the world was spinning, like was going to faint, “no, I just…” she hesitated for a long time. “I think- I think I’m in love with Elphaba Thropp” she blurted. “I’m so sorry, Fiyero”.
And suddenly she was running. She didn’t know what she was going to do or say when she got to her dorm, but she ran as fast as her feet would take her, despite the horrible burning pain it gave her to run in these stupid chunky pink high heels, and how out of breath she got from how tight her pink and yellow, frilly corseted dress was.
What if Elphie doesn’t feel the way I do about her? She thought. What if she doesn’t even like girls? Or even worse, what if she doesn’t like me?
Galinda came to a stop at the front door of their dorm. She took a few shaky deep breaths to gather herself. “I can do this”, she whispered to herself, unsure, “I can tell her how I feel”. She knocked on the door twice, softly, as to not startle her roommate, and entered.
And now all she could do was stare. Her heart skipped several beats. There, on Elphaba’s side of the room, she had just finished getting dressed to go to the dance, and she was so beautiful. Breathtaking. Everything about her was beautiful, she had long, green and black ombre acrylic nails with gold leaf accents that shimmered in the light. She had long, freshly braided jet black waist length braids and perfectly contoured and highlighted green cheeks, scattered with adorable little green freckles. Galinda wanted to count them all. She had big beautiful brown eyes that Galinda could stare into for hours and just get lost in, and she swallowed when she noticed that Elphie was wearing a tight corset around her slim waist, showing off her figure, matching perfectly with her long black gown and pointy black hat and high heel, knee high boots.
“What happened?” Elphaba asked, tilting her head slightly. “Where’s Fiyero? Aren’t you supposed to be going to the Ozdust with him? I thought you’d be there by now.” Galinda paused, and then said, “can I have a hug?” through tears. Elphaba quickly got up from her bed where she had been sitting, where she had carefully been putting her long braids into a slick ponytail behind her head, and hugged her, tightly.
Galinda wasn’t sure if she’d ever been hugged this long before, but she certainly wasn’t complaining. It made her so sad to think that Elphaba probably hadn’t had many hugs before, let alone any. She was hugging her like she had really needed one, too. This was going to be her first party, after all.
They stayed hugging for a very long time, and then slowly as they broke apart, Elphaba frowned. “Tell me what happened” she said, sympathetically, grabbing one of her hands with both of hers. Galinda jumped a little, if only she knew how that had made her feel. It made her feel like she was going crawl out of her own skin, sure, but it also made her feel so warm, excited and jittery. She’d never felt exactly like this towards any of her crushes, every time she’d had a crush on a boy she would always just pick out the most handsome and decided that that was going to be her crush. Crushes have always felt so numb and empty and unfulfilling, like she had to have one as a rite of passage to being a girl, until this one; the one she has on Elphaba Thropp.
They sat there together, on Elphaba’s bed. Galinda was going to explode. She couldn’t tell her roommate how she felt, she thought she hated her. Everyone thought they had some kind of weird rivalry, in fact, but Galinda was tired of pretending to hate each other.
“Elphie” Galinda said, voice cracking. “Have… you ever- been in love?”
The air in the room felt thick, like you could cut it with a knife. “Are you not in love with Fiyero?” She asked, “I thought you really liked him”, ignoring the question. “You’re ignoring the question!” Galinda said, playfully, letting out a laugh despite still being in the midst of crying. She sniffled. There was a long pause. Then Elphaba responded, “I guess you could say I’ve been in love”. Galinda shouted, “with who?!” Elphaba shushed her, “with who?” She said quieter. “I’m not telling you. Why do you ask? I thought you liked Fiyero.”
“It’s… complicated” Galinda pouted, looking away from her roommate in embarrassment. Then she got an idea. “I‘ll tell you who I like if you tell me first” Galinda said, playfully. “Absolutely not.” Elphaba said, stubbornly, eyebrows furrowed. “Oh come on Elphie” she said, grabbing a pillow off her bed, and smacking it into Elphaba’s side, harder than she intended. “It’ll be fun! We never tell each other secrets, we never even get to talk and just hang out”. “Hey!” Elphaba whined “that hurt”, rubbing her side where she had been hit with the pillow. Galinda slouched over in embarrassment, hiding behind the pillow, “sorry” she said, sincerely.
“Do I know them?” Galinda asked eagerly, her heart dropping all the way to her feet at the thought of her crush being forever unrequited. “You could say that” Elphaba sighed, her big brown eyes twinkling in the yellow light from the lamps in their shared room. Galinda had to know, she would simply die if didn’t tell her. “Can you describe them to me?” “Well” Elphaba said, she looked like she was shaking. “I haven’t known her very long, but she’s very sweet and insanely pretty. I just don’t know how she’d feel if she knew how i felt about her”. Galinda stared, “well, you could always just ask- WAIT ‘HER’?” She gasped, “I knew it!” Elphie gave a very confused look “how?” Galinda didn’t realize how weird that had come out, “just a hunch”, she shrugged.
“What about you?” Elphaba asked, flatly. Galinda tried to read the expression on her face, but the brim of the hat she had given her seemed to be covering her eyes. She wished she could read whatever emotion she was portraying. “I don’t know what you mean” Galinda said, almost sarcastically. “I think you do” Elphie said. “I don’t think I should tell you” said Galinda, her eyes widened. She was nervous, she tried to remind herself to breathe. “Why? Is this someone I know?” Elphaba asked. “I think so.” Galinda said. What had she gotten herself into? She had no idea what was going to happen next. She started nervously biting her perfectly manicured nails and looked away.
“Galinda”, she heard Elphaba say, softly, “you can tell me anything”
“Hey, Elphie?” Galinda said, this was her chance she thought, “yeah-?” Elphaba tried to say, looking up from under her hat, but she was cut off. Galinda was kissing her. At first, she tensed up, but once the shock wore off, she found the courage to kiss her back. They were holding hands now, and they finally broke the kiss. “They looked into each other’s eyes. “Do it again” Elphaba said, and they kissed again, more eager this time, pulling each other closer.
When they pulled apart, slowly, they opened their eyes and smiled at each other, affectionately. “Hey Elphie, do you still wanna go to the Ozdust? I’m free tonight now, I suppose”. Elphaba let out a laugh and rolled her eyes, “of course I’d like to go to the party with you, Galinda”
They were well past an hour late to the party at the ballroom when they got there, and they had been the only two students on the boat ride on the way there, because everybody else had already arrived earlier than them. It definitely didn’t bother them though, it made for a very sweet, quiet, romantic moonlit boat ride. They star gazed, Elphaba pointing out all of her favorite constellations she had read about in books. God, she’s such a nerd, Galinda thought, but it was cute, actually. She was almost sad when they stepped out of the boat and onto the pavement, just outside the ballroom.
When they opened the door and entered, together, the room erupted with live, upbeat jazz music from a band full of animals, multicolored lights flashing, and dancing and laughter from all of their peers, it was so full of life. But all of that came to a halting stop when everyone began to notice their presence. A collective gasp, whispers and silent snickering rang throughout the ballroom. Galinda could feel their stares, like they were piercing through her skin. She felt terrible, was this what Elphie felt like all the time?
Galinda grabbed Elphaba’s hand, and they ascended down the staircase onto the dance floor, you could hear their heels clacking the cold stone floor as they walked. “Follow my lead” Elphaba said under her breath. Galinda nodded, raising her eyebrows, unsure about what was going to happen next.
Elphaba began dancing, her face looking expressionless. The dancing consisted of lots of unique moves Galinda hadn’t seen before, involving toe tapping, waving, and stepping. Everyone started laughing, “what in Oz is she doing?”, they giggled, rudely. And then, once she had observed the choreography of the dance, Galinda joined her. For the first time, she found herself not really caring at all what her classmates thought. Once Galinda joined her dance, the whole crowd slowly began to follow their steps, and suddenly, the room was full of music and dancing again. Elphaba and Galinda were both relieved that they were no longer the center of attention, they could just blend in with the crowd and have a good time like normal students. They were normal students, Galinda thought.
The band of animals started playing a slow song, the kind of song you just sway calmly to with your dance partner, and the two girls did exactly that. It felt nice, and when the song was near its end, Galinda held Elphaba’s hand high in the air, and twirled her. Elphaba was caught slightly off guard, and stumbled slightly. They both let out a laugh. “Do you want to get out of here?” Elphaba said, Galinda’s eyes widened, “yes”, she said, quickly, nodding her head. They locked arms and darted out of the ballroom, making their way back to their dorm.
When they finally made it back to their dorm, they stepped in together, and paused, “what happens now?”, Elphaba asked. Galinda leaned in and planted a kiss on her cheek, “let’s get changed into our pajamas!”, she said, and they both made their way to their closets, picking out which pair to get changed into. “No peaking!” Galinda said, sarcastically as she slipped out of her dress and into her pink, long and frilly nightgown.
Elphaba had picked out a long, black nightgown with a long, greenish grey seemingly hand knitted sweater, cinched with a belt.
Once they had finished getting undressed from their night out at the dance and into their nightwear, Elphaba made her way to Galinda’s side of the room, filled with all shades of pink, it smelled like vanilla and flowers and was scattered messily with cosmetics and shoes and extravagant, glittery dresses, she noted, as she propped herself on the foot of Galinda’s bed.
joined her, sitting cross legged, close to Elphaba at the head of her bed. Elphaba tilted her head and kissed her, both of them smiling into the kiss. When they pulled apart after several kisses, Galinda patted the side of the bed opposite to her, “get in” she said, pulling the covers back. Before turning her bedside lamp off, Galinda noticed that some of her pink lipstick had smudged onto Elphie’s face, she giggled and wiped it with her thumb, “pink goes well with green”, she whispered, “hmm?”, Elphaba hummed, looking confused. “Goodnight Elphie”, she kissed her on the forehead. “Goodnight, Galinda”, Elphaba said, and they were asleep.
As the sun rose the next morning, they both woke, stretching and yawning, squinting their eyes. Galinda, not so sure whether to believe last night had actually happened or not, rolled over and looked at Elphie. “Why, Miss Elphaba”, she said, when her eyes had fully opened, “you’re beautiful”.