oblivious

Elphaba tries and tries not to let Glinda’s tardiness worry her but as she sits behind her desk, the book opened, leg bouncing anxiously, she finds her thoughts often straying to her blonde roommate who now she gets to kiss and be kissed in return, apparently. And perhaps, had their relationship not wordlessly gone from friendship (even though it was a peculiarly close one) to this, Elphaba would still find herself warding off thoughts of Glinda being stuck somewhere without a way to ask (or scream) for help. But that’s not something she will tell—

Glinda opens the door. Curiously, she timidly looks at Elphaba and turns around to close the door. She whispers a tiny hi and when she’s close enough, Elphaba’s watchful eyes catch some scrapes and bruises painted across Glinda’s delicate body. Elphaba is at her side in an instant.

"What happened?" She doesn’t mean for her voice to come out as hard as it does. Her hands hover just above Glinda’s arms, travelling down until they take her hands.

"Elphie..."

"Galinda. What happened?"

It just slips out honestly, Glinda’s original name, but Elphaba tucks away the knowledge of the shudder and shock and something else that goes through Glinda when she hears it for another time.

"It's fine. I'm fine, I promise." Glinda walks then, carefully stepping out of Elphaba's hold.

"Will you just tell me what happened, please?" Elphaba murmurs, following along as she walks to the bathroom.

"I was at the laboratory, practising. Madame Morrible came around and asked if I was willing to help her with something," Glinda turns around from where she leaned over the faucet, already darting a hand out to stop Elphaba from going after Morrible, "Elphaba. Please. I offered. It's not her fault I'm unable to do magic,"

Elphaba frowns, not really understanding what that means. Just what happened between them that resulted in this? "She is our professor, Glinda, it is up to her to know when someone isn't capable of defending themselves with magic from magic." Elphaba goes to turn around again, laying a hand over Glinda's on her arm to uncurl from around it, to let her go after Madame Morrible for a certainly well-deserved lecture on student's safety when Elphaba sees Glinda fold in herself, arms crossing over her chest as she takes a sit on the covered toilet of the bathroom.

Elphaba feels an uncomfortable tightness inside her chest, almost like her heart is being compressed inside a windowless, door-less four walls of heavy concrete at the sight of Glinda hugging her knees to her chest, skirt sliding down, and face contorting into utter... sadness, before hiding it behind her crossed arms.

Slowly, worriedly, Elphaba approaches her and crouches down, trying to find her eyes. Elphaba gently cups her knees, lightly using them to balance her weight; when that doesn't make Glinda look up from where she's hidden her face, Elphaba uses both her thumbs to slide, featherweight, up and down on the bare skin of her legs to catch her attention. Softly, Elphaba whispers, "Glinda,"

That gets her to look up and Elphaba's heart is completely squeezed out of existence by the concrete walls when she does. Glinda's crying. Her eyes are full of tears and there are some streaming down her cheeks already. Her lips are trembling.

"Sweetheart, what happened?" She murmurs, pleadingly.

But Glinda doesn't say anything. She scrunches her eyebrows and more tears fall from her eyes, swelling up with new ones immediately after. Glinda takes one of Elphaba's hands from her knees and laces their fingers together. Unfortunately, that, paired with her already unstable emotions from what's going on here, means that Elphaba is tilted off balance. But before she can fall backwards, Glinda helps stabilise her. Her legs come down, thighs catching Elphaba along with her other hand darting out to Elphaba's shoulder.

At least it helps ease some of the tension, Elphaba thinks, because Glinda sort of laughs, wetly.

"Sorry," She says, almost inaudible and scratchy.

Elphaba smiles sadly at her and shakes her head; she has nothing to feel sorry for. Then, using Glinda’s knees, she gets up and rummages through their bathroom cabinet on the left for cotton balls and band-aids. To her side, Glinda adjusts herself where she’s sat. She licks her lips once and wipes some tears off her cheeks while watching Elphaba.

Once Elphaba finds what she wants, she wets the cotton ball and goes back to crouching in front of Glinda. Wordlessly, because Elphaba knows asking more questions right now will do more damage to Glinda's emotional state than help, she works on cleaning the scrapes with water before band-aiding the ones that look like they'd hurt if they continue exposed.

Gently wipe, cleaning off blood. Carefully applying a band-aid.

One.

Two.

Three.

Before she can grab the fourth, she feels a warm hand settle on the side of her neck. Elphaba's attention strays from the recipient with cotton balls and the box of band-aids on the floor to Glinda's face. This time, her heart soars at what she finds written there.

Glinda had stopped crying, she now has the tiniest, softest little smile on her lips, a dimple showing and her eyes shine with fondness. Elphaba is ready for the disruption of her equilibrium this time; Glinda applies little pressure upwards and Elphaba follows, free hands using the sides of Glinda's waist to balance herself.

Their lips meet so tenderly that Elphaba feels goosebumps rise across her entire body. Applying the same little pressure on her neck as before only now to prevent Elphaba from moving, Glinda's upper lip slides from the very top of hers until she reaches the top of the lower one, then, she takes it inside her mouth, mildly sucking on it, her tongue dipping out only slightly but enough to make Elphaba dizzy, her soaring heart now beating fairly quick as well and a surge of heat spreading throughout her body.

Glinda rests her forehead on Elphaba's afterwards.

"Thank you, Elphie,"

It's only later when they're curled together in Elphaba's tiny bed (because Glinda requested the change for tonight) that Elphaba asks again and Glinda responds.

"It truly wasn't Madame Morrible's fault. Although, I do understand how it seems like it was but it wasn't. And it was nothing at all, it didn't hurt, nothing bad happened,"

And even though Elphaba believes her, she will still pay Morrible a visit. Perhaps even her higher-up.

"Then, why were you crying?"

Glinda sighs, "It's magic. All I have ever wanted ever since I can remember is to have it... It wasn't hard to be optimistic about it the first year but little by little, whenever it didn't come, whenever I couldn't make something happen with it, I just couldn't let it go. So it started to grow inside of me, that I wasn't worthy of it, that I'm not worthy because I don't have it. I don't know, Elphie, I'm just— I'm feeling too much, I think."

Elphaba doesn't exactly know what to say to this, she tugs Glinda closer, gathering her thoughts.

"I understand what it feels like to want something so badly and for so long that it starts to grate on you, it starts to make you feel like there's something wrong with you and that's why it never does come," Elphaba sighs. "But magic doesn't work like that. And if you start to doubt yourself, Glinda, I will be here to believe in you for the both of us,"

Sometimes Glinda has urges.

They’re not bad urges, she would say, but they’re also not great.

For example, right now, right this instant, Glinda sees herself very, very realistically as if she’s actually doing it, pulling Elphaba down and kissing her senselessly.

That would not be a problem, strictly speaking, because they have kissed before (essentially made out, which is something Glinda should not be thinking back on right now… because. The urges.) and that’s fine, that’s great. Glinda’s initiated and Elphaba has as well.

But. And here’s where it’s tricky because, for some stupid, out of character for both of them, really, they still have not explicitly talked about it. They haven’t discussed what it meant, what it means that they keep doing it and that Glinda’s chest feels like it will explode whenever they do share a heated or even just a chaste kiss. The problem right now, though, is that they haven’t discussed the kisses they shared in private. And now, they’re in public. At the Ozdust, to be more specific. Celebrating the end of the year, the end of their college years.

And Elphaba looks decidedly kissable in her black silky dress, braids half up half down and her dark green lips shining with gloss and the last two glasses of drinks they have been sharing.

(If Glinda had been chasing Elphaba’s lip-gloss marks on the cup so she could press her own over it, well… Glinda calls that tending to her urges the best, the healthiest way she can.)

“You have been staring at me the whole night, Glinda,” Elphaba leans down to whisper in her ear. They’re at the bar, just resting their feet from all the dancing they’ve been doing, Elphaba has her arms splayed out on the bar table behind them where the bartender tries to give water to a student who’s clearly too drunk to stand on his own. Glinda is tucked close to her left.

Glinda feels herself blush, “Have I?” She hums.

Elphaba smirks at her. Then she leans to reach her ear again and Glinda closes her eyes, her fuzzy brain making her forget to contain the fond, probably yearning smile that spreads while she enjoys Elphaba’s closeness. “Yes, you have. Is there something I can do for you, my sweet?”

Glinda opens her eyes when she feels Elphaba’s head lean back.

Honestly, she would like to blame the urge or the alcohol swirling pleasantly through her but she knows this is entirely her own fault.

Glinda laces her fingers with Elphaba’s, making the arm that was resting behind her on the table circle Glinda’s waist and then she is the one leaning up to whisper into an ear, “If you take me to our dorm room I’ll tell you, Elphie,”

Glinda smiles at the way Elphaba’s breathing stutters and the way she looks incredulously at Glinda but before she can say anything, Fiyero is right next to them.

“May I steal Gli—”

Glinda’s brain sees Fiyero’s lips forming the start of her name and she’s afraid of having to let herself be stolen away but then.

“I’m taking Glinda.” Elphaba says. Her eyes widen and she adds, “Home. I’m taking Glinda to our dorm room,”

Then Glinda is all smiles and perfectly splendid nervous energy at what’s going to happen in their dorm room.

On the boat ride, she rests her head on Elphaba’s left shoulder, sighing contently when Elphaba reaches for Glinda’s hand, lacing their fingers.

On the walk to their dorm room, their hands don’t part.

When they enter, Elphaba sits on Glinda’s bed and takes off her boots. Glinda watches from the door.

“Elphie—”

“Come here,” Elphaba beckons her over, a hand darted out towards her.

Glinda straddles her on the bed once Elphaba’s scooted backwards a bit so they don’t fall off. She smiles down at Elphaba and feels heat swirl lowly in her belly from the way Elphaba’s eyes drop to it.

Glinda tends to her earliest urge and leans down to kiss Elphaba. It’s intense and messy and delicious from the get-go and there’s want surging throughout every point of contact Elphaba’s hand make with Glinda’s bare skin.

“Galinda.” Elphaba moans.

Glinda disconnects their lips with a pop, though a string of saliva briefly still connects them, and finds herself breathless not only from Elphaba’s moaning of her name but at the clear desire that she can read on Elphaba’s face, a desire that feels like matches her own.

Glinda decides to stop being stupid, then, and she kisses her again now knowing that there’s no reason to not discuss what they are for each other with Elphaba because it’s clear that they both want the same thing —   from the way Elphaba gasps into Glinda’s mouth when Glinda uses her torso to lay Elphaba down on the bed, Glinda following closely without breaking their kiss, from the way Elphaba’s hands tentatively but desperately pushes Glinda’s dress of her body, slowly sliding it off and watching her naked body afterwards as if it was a work of art, from the way Glinda’s lips travel all over Elphaba’s body, kissing and nipping and sucking and tonguing her — and it’s so clear because everybody else seemed to have thought they were already dating, calling Glinda oblivious, laughing behind their backs.

Well, Glinda will deal with them all later.

After her Elphie is spent and sweaty and coming undone under her ministrations.