Chapter Text
Elphaba wakes up to the sound of whispering. Hissing really - but it’s different from the snake whisper of her father’s admonitions. This is more like a vine creeping over a wall, flowers turning toward the sun.
Ah, Elphaba thinks, her eyes still closed. Galinda.
She focuses more and hears a second pair of footsteps with a heavier, lankier gait. Fiyero, she guesses - and is proven right when something tumbles and Galinda whisper-shouts his name. Elphaba almost wants to shake her head at them. Wonders how Galinda had managed to pull off those stunts when they’d first started living together, what with how loud she’s being now. Galinda and quiet don’t exactly go well together, Elphaba muses. But she wouldn’t want to change a thing.
“Oh look, Elphie’s smiling. She must be having a nice dream.”
“…Do you think there are rabbits in her dream?”
Elphaba barely keeps herself from laughing as they bicker, forces herself to stay still so they can keep doing … whatever it is they’re doing. She had suspected that the two of them were up to something a week or so ago. Their furtive glances and swift topic changes whenever she’d joined them weren’t exactly subtle. But Elphaba trusts them, knows they’ll let her in on their secret in time.
She listens to them shuffle about for a couple minutes more and catches Fiyero whispering goodbye. Hears the soft sound of their kiss before she herself is surrounded by a familiar scent - a mix of horse and coffee and evening - before feeling a kiss is pressed onto her own forehead.
A door opens and closes.
Then the far side of her bed squeaks.
Elphaba holds back her own squeak, holds herself still as she feels Galinda wiggle under the covers and shuffle closer. Closer. Close enough to feel a sigh on her cheek.
“You can open your eyes now.”
Elphaba contemplates continuing to feign sleep just to be stubborn but as always, Galinda is her undoing. Feels a gentle warmth brush against her jaw before settling against her cheek. “Please, Elphie? For me?”
And really, who is she to deny that voice, this girl, anything?
When Elphaba opens her eyes, the first thing she sees is Galinda. Eyes sparkling even in the low light, smile as soft as the gold hair splayed out on her pillow. Then she catches sight of green over Galinda’s shoulder.
Elphaba lifts her head and gasps in wonder. Decorations of all colors cover nearly every surface of their room, the most prominent being a handpainted banner with two words she hasn’t seen or heard in many years: Happy Birthday.
At first she thinks it’s a mistake - they’re beyond pranks now but Galinda is prone to jumping to the wrong conclusions. But then Elphaba thinks on the month; counts the days.
“Is this all right?”
Elphaba turns to see Galinda biting at her lip, her fingers playing nervously with the blankets.
“I just thought,” Galinda starts, uncharacteristically hesitant before she finds her confidence, “Well, we knew you wouldn’t want anything big, but we still wanted to celebrate you. I want to celebrate you.” She drops the blankets and takes up Elphaba’s hands instead. “Because you deserve to be celebrated, Elphie.”
The colors surrounding them start to shimmer and blur - Elphaba doesn’t realize she’s crying until she feels Galinda’s hands back on her face, wiping the tears away. “It’s okay,” Galinda murmurs, smiling the way she does when it’s just them.
Elphaba nods because it is okay, more than: it’s good. Good to be remembered, to be seen, to be heard - feels the press of lips against each cheek, and thinks as she feels them against her own mouth - to be loved.