Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“…What?” Elphaba asks incredulously, raising her eyebrows as she glances up from her book. It’s the first thing that Galinda has said all night to take her roommate’s attention from her nighttime routine. “Are you…joking?”

Galinda giggles as she prances from her side of the room to Elphaba’s, pushing aside her legs to make adequate room for the frills of her fluffiest nightgown. “Obviously not, Elphie. The math works out—”

“—What maths, Galinda—”

“—and I’ve figured out that the easiest way to make you popular,” she continues amidst Elphaba’s protests, although she is secretly pleased at the attention, “is to have you date a popular person. And…who better than I!”

It’s a foolproof plan. She goes into it in great detail (“Surely you’ve dated before, Elphie, it’s just the same!”) and by the end Elphaba has all but agreed (“No. Absolutely not.”).

However in truth, and unbeknownst to her friend, Galinda has a much more nefarious agenda in mind.

See, there are several problems:

1. Elphaba is unpopular. This is simply unacceptable, and as her beloved best friend, it is entirely upon Galinda’s shoulders to amend this.
2. Fiyero, as popular and somewhat desirable as he is, also happens to be a bit of an airhead. And that was coming from her! However, this did not stop him from pursuing her, so she had to find a way to get him to knock it off.
3. Galinda…perhaps, just a tiny bit, likes Elphaba more than she would like a roommate. Or a friend. Or a best friend. In short, Galinda Upland always gets what she wants, and for some Oz-awful reason, she desperately wants her prickly, bookworm roommate.

The plan was probably more to Galinda’s benefit than Elphaba’s, if she’s entirely honest. Because the biggest reason why she wanted to do this was staring her right in the face with the most perplexed expression settling on her striking features: Elphaba, despite her academic excellence, was a thickheaded idiot.

Galinda had been trying, for some time, to get Elphaba to ask her out, to no avail. It simply wasn’t right for Galinda to ask herself, because that simply wasn’t who she was. She was a person of gentle, delicate courting, and her attempts at flirting so far had ended up sailing right over her roommate’s head entirely.

“You’re beautiful, Miss Elphaba,” she said almost every single day, sprinkling in other compliments here and there, and yet, without fail, Elphaba would continuously find some way to disagree with every single one of them. Galinda couldn’t be any more obvious! Oz, it was basically impossible!

Flirting under the pretense of dating meant that Galinda could escalate from ‘subtle’ to ‘basically begging’ much, much faster, due to the graveness of the situation, and it was this urgency that would eventually allow for Elphaba to finally open her stupidly gorgeous green eyes to the truth, and she’d finally grow half a brain and ask her out.

Foolproof, wasn’t it? Galinda quite prided herself on her plans.

“You…want to pretend to date me,” Elphaba frowns, her gaze turning back to the book in her lap, much to Galinda’s dismay. The most riveting idea she had ever thought of, for Elphaba’s own gain (as she framed it, anyway), and yet it was still impossible to tear her away from her literature. “That sounds like a very, very bad idea.”

“I don’t see what’s so bad about it,” Galinda huffs, shuffling closer to subtly divert Elphaba’s attention back to her again. It works— Galinda notes this with glee— and Elphaba regards her with a raised eyebrow. “I think it’s worth a try. Everyone will love you if they think I do, don’t you think?”

If they think I do. It was already humiliating being the one desperately in love, instead of the other way around, but with someone so steadfastly against the idea of being loved? It was excruciating. Sometimes, with the way Pfannee and Shenshen stare at her in disbelieving fear whenever Galinda’s eyes unwillingly follow her roommate’s figure across the room, she thinks that the only person who doesn’t know is…well, Elphaba.

(And Fiyero, maybe, but she didn’t entirely care about him in the present moment.)

The green girl’s cheeks darken as she flushes and turns away. “Well, it’s true that many of them lack the ability to think for themselves.”

Galinda takes this as a yes. “Yes! So we’re doing it, right?”

“I admit, I’m absolutely at a loss as to how you’re going to be able pretend to like me enough for this to work.”

Oh, sweet, oblivious Elphaba. “It’ll be totally easy,” Galinda says, thinking the entire opposite. For someone so used to having suitors fall to their knees in front of her, this particular situation was almost painfully aggravating.

This…would be fine. Surely. Galinda was nothing if not almost annoyingly optimistic.

‘Fake dating’ would entail almost nothing new, for the most part. Just about immediately after the whole Ozdust Ballroom debacle, their relationship had made a sudden leap from an almost childish rivalry to what can really only be described as a best friendship for the ages.

Galinda— who, contrary to popular belief, did not actually have anyone she held to the same high esteem as she did Elphaba— used this as an opportunity to be as close to the green girl as possible. Literally. This was surprisingly not difficult at all— Elphaba, unfamiliar with the concept of friendship as a whole, simply accepted this as the basis of their relationship, and just about tolerated it.

(Although, ‘tolerated’ could be a stretch. While Elphaba was more than vocal about her apparent distaste for Galinda’s physical affections— “Miss Galinda, do you really need to be lounging on my bed?”— she never made any moves to stop it.

In a giddy, hopeful way, Galinda thought that she might actually like it.)

Despite her ditzy exterior and general personality, Galinda was not stupid. There was admiration, and there was yearning, and she knew exactly which one applied to this situation. Truth be told, it should have been obvious from the beginning— even during the more contentious rivalry that coloured the beginning of their days at Shiz— that “loathing” was less of a definition and more of a misspelling. A few letters in the wrong place, if she let herself think of it in that way.

She certainly did not loathe Elphaba at all. In fact, she did quite the opposite. It was simply the idea of her that was so infuriating, but the girl herself? Oz, Elphaba is gorgeous. And that was no exaggeration, despite the green girl’s protests to the contrary. One would have to be blind to deny it, and Galinda is naturally drawn to beauty— truly, it was a matter of time.

“So, here’s what we do,” Galinda cracks her knuckles, stretched across Elphaba’s bed like a cat in the midday sunlight, tapping her favourite glitter pen against her favourite pink paper. “We pretend to date for, say, 3 months. We tell everyone. And then we act super cuddly in the public. And then we also have to kiss.”

Elphaba, at her desk as usual, turns to her in mortification. “Okay, first of all: what. Second of all: what. And third of all: what?”

“Oz, you really are a prude,” she groans. “Publicity? Affection? Kissing? You haven’t done anything interesting in your life, have you? Never dated a guy to climb the social status?”

“If anyone wanted to date a head of broccoli, maybe I would have,” snarks Elphaba, turning back to her paper. “Do we seriously have to do this? Is there not any other way? I still don’t know why you want to—”

“Because I’m the most amazing best friend of all time.” Lie. “And I want you to be popular.” Lie. “And it’s totally entirely just for that.” Also lie. Three in a row! That might be a new record.

See, in the time since she’d created the first list, Galinda had realised several flaws with her plan:

1. If Elphaba becomes popular, she might not hang out with Galinda anymore. This was very, very bad, because Galinda might be a little selfish and desperately wants Elphaba to herself.
2. If Elphaba never figures out the true reason she started this, they would have to fake date forever or eventually fake break-up. And that means no hanging out with Elphaba anymore.
3. If Elphaba doesn’t ever manage to ask her out, like she’s planned, Galinda might explode. This is a very, very real possibility, because despite her glasses, Elphaba is so incredibly oblivious. And stupid. And pretty. Gah! Galinda! Focus!

Mostly, the major flaw was underlined in glitter and sparkles: NO MORE ELPHABA.

This was, of course, bad. Galinda thought she might implode at the thought— after so long (a month) around her, the prospect of living without the exasperating bookworm that took up so much of her brain space was entirely unfathomable.

“You’re insane,” Elphaba’s voice jolts her from her thoughts. There’s a crease between her eyebrows, as she frowns at the book under her fingers. It’s a deliriously adorable sight, and Galinda feels a sudden urge to scream. “There’s no way this is going to work.”

“Too late, you agreed,” she grins with a dramatic flourish. Inwardly, she groans. “Now, come on. I have an extensive game plan.”

(It’s a three-pointer, as most of Galinda’s lists are. She can’t entirely stand to write nor read more than that. )

Step one: Spread the news to everyone.

“Is this really necessary?“

“Obviously, Elphie. Keep up! If nobody knows we’re dating, how are you going to be popular?”

“…Hmph.”

Step two: Become masters of PDA.

“This, of course, isn’t a huge problem for me. As you well know.”

“Considering you’re stuck to my arm right now, Miss Galinda, yes. I am far more than familiar with your ways.”

Step three: Learn to kiss—

“Okay, wait, hold on,” Elphaba sits up at this, frowning as she pulls up the paper. “I thought you were kidding about this part.”

“Why would I kid about this? I never joke about anything. I’m very serious, Elphie, you know this.”

Elphaba’s eyebrows raise high enough to disappear under the loose strands of hair that are draped across her forehead in an unfairly effortless and gorgeous way, and Galinda seethes. “I’m going to ignore that, on account of the obtuse lie you’ve just shamelessly told me. But, seriously, Galinda. Isn’t this too much?”

“It’s never too much,” says Galinda, at the same time she thinks that this might not be enough. By Oz, Elphaba is so clueless. For someone with such big glasses and a wide scope of knowledge, she was so frustratingly blind. At this point, Galinda might have to hire a plane to write the words Elphaba Thropp, just ask me out already, Oz damn it, for the green girl to recognise her obvious affections. “Listen. We’re making you popular, no matter what. Just because I’m the bestest best friend ever.”

Her roommate rolls her eyes and tuts, dropping the paper back on the bed before retreating to her side of the room. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, I suppose.”

So, that’s a yes!

Galinda mentally cracks her knuckles (she can’t physically do it a second time, what if she ruins her perfect hands?), and carefully constructs a second, secret plan— Operation: Fake Dating That Will Hopefully Turn to Real Dating. Step one: Start off subtle.

“But you’ll kiss me, right?”

Okay, so maybe ‘subtle’ isn’t in the cards.

“Galinda.”

“Oh, fine,” Galinda sighs, falling back onto the bed. Oz, Elphaba’s pillow smells like her. She’s going insane. “We don’t have to kiss. At least, not now. But at least by the third month. Or, we can—”

“I’m not practising kissing with you,” Elphaba deadpans. Damn it.

Galinda drops her head in her hands. This…was going to be a long, long, long three months.

Month one: So, rough start.

1. Elphaba is being awkward. Galinda is being awkward. This is not normal behaviour for two people who are supposed to be dating.
2. Everyone keeps talking about them. This is…good? Like, this is what Galinda wanted to happen. So, it should be a good thing that it is happening.
3. Suddenly, Galinda has zero confidence at all!

The library is abuzz with the news, and Galinda flicks her notebook shut as soon as Elphaba appears in the peripheral of her vision (there are…a number of pink hearts around glittered initials that she would never let her gorgeously annoying roommate see), and she scoots aside to allow for the green girl to sit with her.

“I feel like everyone’s watching us,” she mutters, pulling out her books and collapsing into the seat beside her. Her hair is, as usual, meticulously braided and curled over her shoulder.

Galinda hums, and casts a glance towards everyone else. It’s true— there are more eyes on them than usual, and that’s saying something, with how often Galinda is stared at. So far, the plan is working. “Well, that was the whole point, wasn’t it? Now they’re talking, and now they see you with me. This is the first step to popularity.”

Despite her words, Galinda feels a sense of unease with all of the eyes. This is uncommon, as Galinda is more than used to being watched, as the crown jewel and centre of attention of many in Shiz, but for some unknown reason there’s a strange squirming in her chest as people peek at them from behind their books. It’s not like she’s ashamed of being with Elphaba; everyone is just about used to seeing them together now that they were best friends, but this was…different. Probably because they were ‘dating’.

Who knows. But…it wasn’t enough, she thinks.

“Elphie. Come here. Hold my hand.”

”What? I need it to to write—”

“Just do it, for Oz’s sake! You can write with your other hand!” Elphaba continues to protest, until Galinda gives up and grabs the hand herself. Her hand is warm, and strangely soft, and also home to some terrifyingly long nails. (She tries not to think of what that might mean.) “See, this isn’t so bad. It’s just like usual.”

Elphaba glances at their hands, and then out at the student body, before looking back at her. “Well, the implications state otherwise—”

“Elphaba, I don’t care about the implications. Just do your writing. It’s working!”

New problem: It’s working.

While this seems to be a good thing, considering her earlier words, Galinda is now considering swallowing her pride and admitting that she’s not entirely happy at how things are working out. Sure, Fiyero has stopped his advances towards her, and has instead revealed himself to be quite the companion. But, people are starting to be friendly towards Elphaba (although not fawning over her as they do Galinda), like smiling at her, laughing with her, and—

There’s a sudden pain in her palm, and Galinda yelps as she releases her fist from their iron grip around her pen, glancing down to see crescent indents in her skin from her nails. Oz, maybe this situation is a little more dire than she originally thought. There’s something maddening about it, which in turn was confusingly annoying. Galinda wasn’t selfish, or at least she hoped she wasn’t. She wanted Elphaba to be popular, because she was her best friend, and no best friend of Galinda’s was going to be unpopular and unliked.

But…not too popular, hopefully, because as much as Galinda pretended to enjoy the presence of others, she would probably die if Elphaba spent too long away from their dorm room.

As of late, even before the fake dating, Galinda had broken her usual ritual of hanging out with Pfannee and Shenshen or whomever else after classes to make a direct beeline to their dorm room just to have a few hours with Elphaba before bed, even if those hours were spent in an amicable silence.

It seemed that her infatuation had overpowered her every other sense. It was known to the entire student body that the green girl excelled in the art of sorcery, and now she had Galinda put under her spell. The idea of this new habit being discarded as her original one had been was both ludicrous and also terrifying to her, and it occured suddenly that Galinda had to do everything possible to prevent this.

Nevertheless—

“—alinda. Galinda!”

Oh. There is a green blur in front of her face.

Galinda’s eyes come back into focus to the sight of Elphaba’s worried eyebrow-creases, and her pretty green lips drawn downwards. “Are you…okay? You’ve been staring into space for ten minutes now.”

Well. This dilemma was definitely a lot bigger than she originally thought.

“Of course, Elphie,” the blonde smiles easily, releasing her pen onto her desk and beaming at her. “I’m fine. Just thinking, maybe. About our plan.”

“Your plan. Are you regretting it yet?”

Yes. Sort of. “No. Are you?”

She only rolls her eyes in reply, before standing up and moving back to her side of the room. Galinda feels, suddenly, quite cold with her absence. “If you’re sure, then.”

The rest of the night is spent in their usual quietness, where Galinda hums along to whatever melody has stuck itself in her head, and Elphaba spends her time dutifully completing Madame Morrible’s extra Sorcery work, and some. Honestly, how long could one spend poring over words? It seemed so entirely…well, not useless, but unnecessary.

Jealousy is an ugly emotion, Galinda thinks, but unfortunately it is one she feels rather often with the presence of the ghastly books Elphaba keeps stacked haphazardly on her desk. But as usual, she simply lets her be. She’s happy with her books, as she will be happy in her newfound popularity, once it inevitably happens, after all of this.

Unless she finally learns to use those eyes of hers. Oz, please let this work.

The next few weeks are basically no different. Galinda attaches herself to Elphaba’s side, pink becomes synonymous with green, and eventually Elphaba is sought out by their fellow students and talked to just…like everyone else.

The green girl, despite initially expressing distaste with Galinda’s plan, seems to enjoy the fruit of its efforts— she comes back to their dorm with a smile on her face, and tells Galinda of the people who sit with her in the classes they don’t share. And Galinda is…happy for her.

Of course she is! What kind of best friend would she be if she weren’t? Elphaba seems so much happier now, and Galinda wants nothing more than to see her smile.

She has a pretty smile. And Galinda likes seeing it, even if it’s….because of someone else. Because at the end of the day, it’s her that Elphaba is fake dating, after all. And her who gets to see the sweet look on her face in front of everyone else, and her who gets to hold her hand between classes—

Gah! Galinda! Focus!

She shakes her head and blinks out of a semi-conscious daydream involving Elphaba, long fields, and the beautiful sparkle in her eyes, before glancing up at the girl herself, who is laying in bed, propped up with pillows, with an open notebook on her lap.

It seems like it would be so easy to just lean over and tell her now. Tell her about the dreams she has of emerald skin and gentle smiles, tell her about how Galinda doesn’t actually want that damn prince because for some reason she just wants her.

Unfortunately, actually articulating it into words is proving to be rather difficult.

Hey, Elphie, remember how I said that fake dating was a good idea? Well, what about real dating?

Elphaba Thropp, you’re an idiot and I’m in love with you!

Are you absolutely sure we can’t practise kissing?

Horrible. Terrible. Ugh, is this what everyone else feels like? Elphaba is blind and so absolutely naive and so difficult to pursue, unlike Galinda’s long line of suitors, and yet Galinda did nothing but chase after her. Is this what all of the princes in all of her favourite books as a child felt, singing to their princess?

Well. None of their princesses were green, and stubborn, and gorgeous like Elphaba was. And Galinda had absolutely no experience in being the asker-outer, since most pined after her, instead of the other way around.

“You’re staring,” Elphaba says, and Galinda almost breaks her neck jolting out of her trance. “Are you alright, my sweet?”

What.

What?!

Ooh. This is bad. Galinda’s cheeks are suddenly as pink as her outfit. “…What?”

Elphaba turns to face her with a nervous smile, raking her fingers through her hair to sweep it into her signature braid. “Well, you said I’m not good enough at the whole ‘dating’ thing, so I decided to up my game. You like these little endearments, don’t you?” She hums, tapping her pen against her lip. “You don’t like it?”

On the contrary, Galinda thinks, she might like it a little too much.

“It’s good,” she says instead, tapping on blush to hide the very real one hiding on her face. “Yeah. It’s good.”

No, it’s really not. Elphaba knew how to use pet names now? Where was her nervously unsociable roommate? The prickly, stubborn girl who pretended to hate her with a burning passion at the beginning of their Shiz days? It was undoubtedly an adorable endearment, and in any other situation Galinda would have fawned over it, but right now she was trying not to develop a fever with how warm her face was getting.

Where did this come from?!

Oh, it’s bad. It’s bad. And this is just month one out of three!

“Okay, well, good,” Elphaba says, pushing her chair back from the desk, and holding out a hand. She takes it, and pulls the green girl into a hug, something that had very quickly become a staple of their relationship, even before the dating, and Elphaba hums and draws her closer.

She’s screwed. Galinda drops her head onto Elphaba’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of peppermint, and wishes desperately that she weren’t such a fool.

Chapter Text

Month two: Why did I ever think this was a good idea?

1. Elphaba is surprisingly very good at this ‘fake dating’ business, all of a sudden. She’s actually…a great girlfriend.

2. Things are starting to be a little more tense lately. Either it's working in the way she wants it to, or it's working too well to actually work.

3. Does that even make sense? Does anything make sense? Ugh! How frustratingly maddening, the fact that Galinda has to work so hard for so little.

Galinda stretches out across Elphaba’s bed, gently, so as to not wake the other girl, who is still fast asleep behind her. It’s quite incredible, how heavy of a sleeper she is, even with Galinda, who had the unfortunate tendency to wriggle around in her sleep like a particularly distressed (and yet glamorous) worm.

And that leads her into her next thing. Somehow, fake dating has led to what Galinda likes to call ‘practice’— wherein, in the comfort of their dorm, they do what the title suggests and practise all the dating that they haven’t quite perfected in the public.

(No, this does not, as of yet, include kissing. Trust her, Galinda has tried.)

Example—

“You look good today,” Elphaba says, propping the door open with her back and crossing her arms, the universal sign of ‘waiting for your girlfriend to hurry up’. “Dressing up?”

Galinda, popping her feet into her prettiest, pinkest heels, winks and links their arms together. “Only for you, darling. I like looking good for you.”

And also—

“You bought dinner for me?”

Galinda tuts and pushes the box across the table towards her roommate, who has the imprints of hair across her cheek. The telltale sign that her sleepless nights have been countered by library sessions. “Well, someone has to feed you, hm? Look at you, dear, you’re going to wither away if you keep skipping meals.”

Elphaba looks at her, pauses in scrutiny, an expression that Galinda doesn’t quite recognise on her face. “…Thanks.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I’m only the world’s most fantastic girlfriend.”

“That you are.”

To be completely and entirely frank, it was driving Galinda a little bit mad.

Part of her plan had been, obviously, flirting as intensely as she could with Elphaba, in order to get her to realise how incredibly down bad Galinda had suddenly become. Of course she knew it would come with its difficulties; Elphaba was nothing if not academically versed and simultaneously socially inept, and in addition to this she had absolutely zero relationship experience. But she didn’t think it would ever get to this.

Elphaba had begun to reciprocate.

This was bad, see— if Elphaba was giving her intense flirting back, it meant she was taking the fake dating as seriously as she took her studies: deathly. And that also meant that she did not, at all, suspect Galinda of the ulterior motives she harboured. It had begun at the end of their first month ‘together’, with the endearment that now appeared in close to every conversation the two had, but Galinda didn’t think it would ever progress any further than that, due to Elphaba’s innocence surrounding real dating.

Except even that was almost too much, especially for Galinda’s heart, which had developed the habit of growing too large for her chest whenever Elphaba was near.

Whether it be at lunch (”My sweet, the salt?”), or at night (”Goodnight, sweet girl.”), or during class with her mouth close to Galinda’s ear (“Galinda, sweet, stop copying my damn notes!”), it never failed to make the blonde’s knees feel like jelly and her heart threaten to burst right out of her chest. And it was simply disastrous!

Galinda was supposed to be the one making Elphaba feel helpless with her quick witted teases and impeccable courting, and yet here she was, cheeks pinker than her usual attire, absolutely dumbfounded over her nerd roommate.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen, she thinks sourly, watching Elphaba’s gorgeously free hair drift over her peacefully sleeping face, physically itching to either rip the hair from her head or tuck it back behind her ear.

That leads her quite nicely to the present.

See: Galinda had known, since the beginning of their history as roommates, that Elphaba suffered from an affliction that was commonly known as ‘being incredibly cold all the time’. It was evident in how she was constantly shivering, or how she bundled up in all her blankets— and after the Ozdust ballroom spectacle, Galinda’s as well— during late nights studying at her desk, or how she never wanted to go outside when the temperature was below ‘warm’.

At this point, Galinda was beginning to suspect that all of the black that made up her wardrobe was simply because of the colour’s sunlight-absorbent qualities.

Therefore, in the colder weeks, Galinda tended to hear the incessant tossing and turning of her roommate in bed as she attempted to search for a warmer sleeping position to ensure she didn’t wake up frozen in the morning. And being the criminal mastermind that she is, the blonde came up with another one of her infamous three-pointer lists:

1. Galinda, from youth, had a strange quality about her skin that allowed her to almost radiate heat even in the coldest winters. Elphaba was always cold. The universe was basically handing her an opportunity far too good to miss.

2. This was simply the perfect way to progress the plan. Because: how better to advance one’s fake relationship than hugging your former nemesis/current pretend girlfriend to sleep? Surely there was everything normal about that. And if she lets Elphaba feel how fast her heart beats close by, then—

3. Okay, fine! Maybe Galinda just wanted the chance to cuddle with the girl of her green-tinted dreams. Look, it’s the perfect moment. She’d be stupid to give it up, even if it means giving up her dignity and risk having some sort of heart related health incident in front of Elphaba.

Elphaba, half asleep and almost delirious from the outside chill, did not protest to this at all. In fact, she seemed to encourage it— as Galinda traversed the area between them and stood in silent query in front of the green girl’s bed, Elphaba had scooted backwards and made adequate space for Galinda to fit. And just like that— a new normal was formed. Elphaba was a fan of routine, and Galinda of habit, and this just so luckily happened to be both. And it was a good thing!

Well. It was for Elphaba, at least, who took great pleasure in pressing her incredibly cold feet to Galinda’s poor ankles in the dead of night.

(She pretends to hate it, and takes great joy in kicking the green girl back, usually delving into some sort of half-wrestle for space on the bed that is definitely not large enough for them both. Galinda’s not about to suggest they move to her double bed, though, because that meant Elphaba wouldn’t be so close each night. Priorities, and all.)

Elphaba wakes up not too long after Galinda finishes writing her 'Month 2' checkpoint list, gladly, because Galinda might throw herself out of the window if ever she saw. "Mhh…good morning."

"Hello, darling," Galinda smiles, at the lump of her roommate hiding beneath the blanket. "Up with the sun, I see."

"Good work is done just as effectively at night as it is in the morning, if not more so," is Elphaba's response, muffled by the bedsheets. "Besides, it's cold. You better stay here unless you want me to freeze."

Oh, stubborn girl.

“This is your fault for not bringing your own heater, darling. Back home, Momsie and Momsicle always make sure I have mine with me so things like this don’t happen,” Galinda says, pointedly leaving out the fact that she was the one who had initiated the bed-sharing.

“You have two mothers?”

Galinda frowns, rolling over until the two of them are eye to eye. This turns out to be a spectacularly bad decision, because from this close, she can almost count every freckle smattered across her roommate’s nose, and suddenly she is overcome with the urge to kiss them all. The idea is almost too tempting to resist. “Yes. I do. Why? Are you homophobic?”

“Er, Galinda,” Elphaba raises an eyebrow. “I hate to remind you of this, but we’re…quite literally dating.”

Oh. Right.

Well, she’s not wrong, even if it’s only pretend. “Ah. Touché.” Then she clears her throat, stands up, and heads to her vanity. "Well, I digress. Come on. Up with you. It's early, yes, but never too early to look your best!"

"Ugh…only you would spend so long in the mornings just to look good. I'll never understand it. You know you could beat me at top of the class if you spent this much time studying instead it. You know you could, you look just as beautiful outside the makeup as you do within it."

Could she just stop with all these words that make Galinda's heart feel like it's going to run away without her? "Ah, but darling, you know I could never knock you off that perch of yours. Think of it as another kindness."

"Of course. You're the most generous of all, aren't you, my sweet?"

"Now you're starting to understand."

“You’re…wearing it.”

Elphaba is standing at the mirror, which in itself is a strange sight— Galinda enjoys joking that perhaps she never looked in a mirror because she was a vampire, and thus had no reflection— but the stranger thing about the scene was the pointed hat delicately crowning her head.

Galinda thinks, for a moment, of their dance. She was a fan of chaos but not disorganisation, and yet it had been the opposite. Improvisation, a commotion, but a peaceful one. A quiet one. Galinda was not one for quietness, Elphaba always says that she spends more time with her vocal cords active than not, but it hadn’t been uncomfortable for her. In fact, it had been the most comfortable thing she’d done in a long, long time.

But, to reiterate— that hat, the one that had really put all of this into motion, was now being worn for the first time since the Ozdust, so long ago.

Elphaba blinks, hands falling from the rim of the hat. “Well. Yes. I’m aware you gave it to me mostly of pure mockery, but…well. It is kind of the only hat I own.” It was true. Galinda had on many occasions snooped through Elphaba’s closet— for popularity reasons, she says, although she did thoroughly enjoy dressing Elphaba up like a life sized, very much verdant and unwilling doll— and there was barely anything in there. "And…you know. It's a nice hat."

Galinda thinks, suddenly, of their beginning. The weeks leading up to their dance, the jabs, the thinly veiled insults. The ballroom, the laughter, the tears, and—

Oh, Oz. Elphaba must be an angel, because there was no other way anyone would've even tolerated someone as terrible as Galinda had been to her. How could anyone stand that? Although, Elphaba was stronger than most, what with her horrific upbringing, but that simply made her feel worse. The fact that Elphaba had endured so much, and Galinda had simply added onto that—

"Oh, Elphie, I'm so cruel," Galinda cries suddenly, much to Elphaba's shock. "I was so horrible to you. And mean. And just awful! How have you ever managed to forgive me?"

Elphaba blinks, once, twice, before immediately rushing to her side when she notices the tear tracks on Galinda's cheeks, pulling the blonde into her arms. "Wh— oh, Galinda, don't cry—"

"I'm a monster! And— and even though I was so absolutely unpleasant to you, y-you still kept the hat, and you still talk to me, and…why would you ever forgive me? Why are you so simply good?"

"Okay, wait, hold on," the green girl interrupts. "I'm not sure if 'good' is the right way to describe me, first of all, but— it's really not just you. I've grown up with this. Seriously. And…" she pauses, a hand rubbing at Galinda's arm in a comforting motion. "You're probably the only one who's ever tried to actually know me, really. Not even Nessarose has."

“Oh, Elphie. You really are good. And…I love that stupid thing,” Galinda sniffles, turning away and rubbing at an eye. Elphaba, from what she can tell, hasn’t moved at all. Hasn't let go of her, or taken the hat off. “My grandmother made it for me. I pretend to hate it because it’s so unlike everything else I own, but she—” She stops, biting the inside of her cheek. “She believed in me. Told me I would become a sorcerer one day, and made that hat. I love it the same way I love her.”

There’s a hidden message, as there is with many of Galinda’s words around her beautiful, haplessly clueless friend. That’s why I trusted you with it. Because I love you.

Unfortunately, as stated previously, Elphaba is an idiot.

“That’s…surprisingly sweet,” the green girl says, and Galinda decides to give up on her flirtation endeavours for today.

“I wasn’t lying, you know,” she says suddenly, Elphaba jolting in surprise, dark eyes wide. And, goodness, it’s lucky Galinda knows how to swim, otherwise she would probably drown in them. Okay, that’s too much now. “It really does suit you. You do look really smart wearing it. And sharp.” A pause, as she glances outside their window. “All the things I never really managed to be.”

“Hey.” In the short time since she’d looked away, the green girl had knelt in front of Galinda and was now cupping her cheek with a hand. “Don’t say that about yourself, Galinda. You’re really smart. And I'm not just saying this as your fake girlfriend— don’t think I haven’t noticed you actually doing well in all your classes.”

It’s sweet, and Galinda wants to die, but instead she glumly says, “except Madame Morrible’s class. She hates me, Elphie, and she thinks I’m useless at magic.”

"Madame Morrible is slightly flawed, maybe. She's just got some extreme favouritism issues to work out."

This makes her smile. "True. But it's towards you, and I think after everything you've gone through, you deserve to be someone's favourite." Galinda pauses, ruminating on her next words, before she smiles shyly and looks away. "You know— you're my favourite person, Elphaba Thropp."

Elphaba stills entirely, like she's unsure of how to respond, before she grins. "Really? The bar must be low, then."

"Hey—!"

"Nevertheless," she continues, laughing, her face bright and stunning, "you're my favourite person too, Galinda Upland."

Oh. Galinda's cheeks are suddenly very warm. It's a wonderful moment, she thinks, with just the two of them. It's one of those moments that make her think that maybe, just maybe, her plan really is going to work. Galinda was over the moon— there was nothing that could possibly ruin her day!

So, her day has been ruined.

See, the new problem was that someone has Elphaba captive. And as of late, Galinda has found that her nights have no purpose without her.

And by 'captive', of course, she means that Madame Morrible— her idol and number one hater, too— has requested a personal session with her favourite person, and now there was no beautiful girl for Galinda to bother. It was utter pandemonium, because without her, there was nothing for Galinda to do anymore.

To the other students of Shiz, it felt like the endtimes as for the first time in history, Galinda Upland was sitting in the library— the library, the place that Galinda would once never have been caught dead in!— writing idly in her notebook as she waited for the sun to come down. All by herself!

The students gathered in gossiping herds, wide eyed, as the university's princess graced the one place nobody ever expected her to grace. In an ironic twist of events, as the girl completed some uncharacteristic studying, everyone else was busy with quite the opposite as they tried to discern her reasons for doing so.

"She must be unwell," some said, mostly ones that she had never actually spoken to, but had developed some superficial idea of her based entirely on word of mouth. "Galinda Upland would never be found here in good health…"

From the corner, a Munchkin girl gasps and whirls to face her seatmate. "Oh, maybe it was Madame Morrible! She got into the Sorcery seminar, maybe she's overloading the poor girl with work…"

"Magic," a boy whispers, and this one Galinda actually paid attention to, "perhaps Elphaba practised some hex on her that went awry!"

That one was probably the closest to correct. Galinda was sulking, and it was all her no-good fake girlfriend's fault! It truly felt like a spell was binding her into place, making her wait like some sick, lost, wet puppy for her to come back. It was agony waiting in an Elphaba-less dorm room, but the library— as dreadfully boring as it felt to her— was also, perhaps, the closest place she could get to her wayward bookworm.

Even so, everyone was correct to some degree, as well as wrong. She would not ever— usually, definitely not when she's not with Elphaba— be caught in the library.

"It's the same way I would never have tried the colour green if not for you," Galinda says one day, arm linked tightly with Elphaba's, gently tossing her hair to show off the sparkly green ribbons that adorned her gold hair. "No, I wouldn't ever have gone into the library myself. But with you? I'd go anywhere."

Elphaba had blushed the prettiest shade of green at that, which saved Galinda from feeling any sort of embarrassment from the sappiness of the statement. Elphaba was always pretty when she blushed.

Galinda Upland in the library was one thing, but with an open notebook? Studying? Not only was it unheard of, but it was simply blasphemous to think about.

But that was the thing. She was not studying. Instead, she was attempting to devise another one of her plans.

Understand— her current plan was, in fact, working to some degree. Galinda felt, in some small, desperately hopeful part of her, that things had been…slightly more tense lately. In a good way! Almost like Elphaba was finally starting to catch on, finally starting to see that Galinda really cares for her.

But at the same time, the whole thing felt pretty hopeless. Elphaba was a fantastic girlfriend and it frustrated her to no degree! It was almost sickeningly sweet, the way Elphaba was with her— offering her arm as they walk across the grounds, or offering her shoulder for Galinda to lean on, or kissing her cheek when they flushed red from the cold— and she was almost far too lost in it. In some ways, it felt real, and that was the worst part! If it feels real, and they haven't talked about it, that means it still wasn't real at all, and in another month she'd have to fake break up and they would have to go back to being, as they always were, just friends.

Nothing was coming out onto the paper, unfortunately, as Galinda twirls her glittery pink pen between her gorgeously manicured nails, staring glumly down at her notebook. Mostly, it was a bunch of little hearts scattered across the page, which had increased significantly in number as their relationship— both real and fake— had progressed, mostly doodled in her notebook, or sometimes Elphaba's, if she was feeling extra ambitious.

(Sometimes, also the margins of her essays, much to the confusion of Doctor Dillamond, who wondered what exactly had happened to make Galinda feel so…well, strongly, about the history of politics in Oz.)

Other than that, nothing. No more three pointers, let alone just one! As soon as Galinda had gained the ability to think, it had all magically disappeared.

Speaking of thinking. Or…lack thereof.

“Well hello,” an infamous voice says from somewhere behind her, and Galinda hurriedly flips her notebook closed as Fiyero and his annoyingly boyish grin slide into the seat across from her. “What’re you up to, all alone in…the books place? Never thought I’d ever see you in here, let alone without that girlfriend of yours.”

Girlfriend. Look, Galinda is a little bit of a liar, but she’s not going to lie about how the word makes her feel. Even if it’s not real.

Yet! Not real yet. She has to remain positive and confident in her plan. Because Galinda Upland gets what she wants, and as Momsie and Momsicle always say, she can do anything if she puts her mind to it!

(Granted, she’s not quite sure if her mothers meant it in this way, although she’s more than sure that they would be supportive of her decisions, as questionable as they may be.)

“She’s busy,” Galinda grouches, “Madame Morrible called her in for a private session for Sorcery, so she won't be back until later tonight.”

Fiyero hums and leans back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other. "You don't sound very happy about that. Is it the Madame Morrible thing, or the Elphaba thing?"

"The Elphaba thing. She's not around for me to bother, which means I can't make her fall in love with me, and— oh!"

Oops. Silly Galinda. She winces as Fiyero looks at her with a frown. "…Aren't you both dating, or…?"

"Well— yes— but," she stumbles over her words. "It's…a bit more complicated than that."

And that is how Galinda spends half an hour talking about her plan— her three-pointers, Elphaba and the pretend relationship, and the ever-growing dilemma of their rapidly approaching end-of-relationship.

By the end of it, Fiyero is laughing. “Oh, this is funny! Frankly, I don’t blame you for all of this. Elphaba seems to be a little bit...”

“Stupid? Absolutely dumb?”

“I was going to use nicer words, maybe. But yes, that works.” He whistles. "Although, you're…not too much better. Your plan isn't entirely…how do I put this? It's not exactly the most…okay, I'm seeing the laser eyes, and I'm going to back off now."

The what…? Oh. Galinda hadn't even noticed the crease between her eyebrows. She quickly schools her expression into something more open and friendly, lest she develop some mild case of wrinkles, which was unacceptable for her complexion, obviously. "It's better than just telling her I like her. If I'm going to gently nudge a girl into asking me out, I'm going to do it in style."

"Naturally," the boy says, with something of amusement colouring his voice. "Although…have you thought about maybe asking her yourself?"

Well, she—

Hm. Galinda closes her mouth again. She hadn't…entirely thought about that.

"I…can't do that," she settles on.

"Sure you can. You just spent half an hour telling me about how good her hair smells." It's true. "And how cute she is when she sleeps." Okay, but in her defence, she…doesn't quite have any defence. "And how you suddenly feel all warm and everything when she smiles at you." Alright, this was getting too pointed now. "Can't you just…tell her that?"

"I just want to make sure that she likes me for real," Galinda slumps in her seat. "But— she's so difficult to read! I can't even, like, touch her shoulder or blow her a kiss or something and know instantly like I can with everyone else. She's just— ugh— so impossible!"

(Fiyero thinks, suddenly, of the Ozdust ballroom. Even without the lights above, you would have to be blind to not see the deep, emerald flush settling on Elphaba's face as Galinda's thumb settles on a high cheekbone. For someone who prided himself on brainlessness, it was almost funny how stupendifyingly obvious this entire thing was to him. Maybe Elphaba wasn't the only 'stupid and utterly oblivious' one.)

"Hm," he says, in lieu of a proper response.

"Oh, Fiyero. Oz help me,” Galinda just about whines into her hands, fully aware of the life-altering consequences of doing so with a face full of makeup, and yet accepting her fate. “I’m in love with a moron.”