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Elphaba stared at the room in roiling silence. Once again, Galinda's things began their inextricable expansion into her space. Suitcases, steamer trunks, bags, clothes. Any little inch Elphaba tried to leave clean immediately got consumed into that miasma of pink.
Elphaba stomped over to the dresser, pushing back the sea of perfumes, makeup trays, and nail polish racks. She would just sweep them into a drawer until Galinda came back. Out of sight, out of mind. Elphaba tugged open the drawers, one after another filled to the brim.
In frustration, she yanked open the final small drawer in the corner—her drawer, Galinda had made abundantly clear. But it, too, contained more of Galinda's things. Foremost, a monogrammed kerchief tucked neatly in there.
In her drawer. Frustrated, she grabbed it. Feeling something hard and flat wrapped inside of it, Elphaba set it atop the dresser and looked at it with confusion. Curiosity quickly got the best of her, and she couldn't resist the temptation to unfold the fabric and look within.
It was a shard of broken glass, curved like a long, wicked hooked finger. Why for the love of Oz did Galinda have that tucked away in there? Before she could ruminate too long, there was a slam behind her.
"Elphie, darling! I thought you had a seminar this afternoon?" Galinda's voice fills the room with its singsong warmth. It pulled Elphaba from her revere. She turned, a dark brow arching.
"It was canceled." Elphaba said evasively. She didn't want to explain about the shortage of professors now. Galinda wouldn't understand except how it disrupted her daily routines, not the plight of the animals.
"Well had I known, I would have invited you to the gardens with us," Galinda's voice carried from the other side of her dressing rack and vanity. "It was a wonderful picnic— I mean, of course it was, I was there!" Galinda leaned backward into view with a toss of her hair, grinning.
"And Fiyero was telling this wonderful story of—" Galinda's voice stopped, and she leans more slowly this time with an arch of her back, fully seeing Elphaba for the first time. "What are you doing?"
"What is this?"
"Glass," Galinda said simple, stepping fully into view. Her hands laid flat against her stomach, and Elphaba could tell there was something more to it. There was a tension to Galinda's tone and body as she stood there primly.
"…why was it in my drawer?"
"I had no where else to keep it, Elphie. Look around," She gives a vague gesture before hurrying forward with a skitter of pink pumps. "I'll just take that now, probably should be thrown away."
Elphaba shot her hand down to slam atop the shard before Galinda could snatch it. Instead, Galinda's hand fell atop her own, and Elphaba could feel how hot and a little sweaty it was.
"Why did you keep it?" She demanded, and Galinda shifted, eyes darting to the window behind Elphaba and back again. Neither of them moved their hand as Galinda took a sharp breath in and Elphaba could see her pulse thrumming at the bottom of her throat.
"As a memento," Galinda finally said, the plush glossy pink of her lips pushed into a frown.
"A memento?"
"Yes! To remember out first fight." Galinda gave her a hard look and an expectant tip of her chin.
Brows furrowed with confusion and Elphaba turned her head to look behind her, then back to Galinda.
"You keep a glass bottle of your mother's under your pillow! Why is this any weirder?"
The sharpness of the words made her recoil, hand tugging out from under Galinda's. Was it any different? Elphaba kept hers for… a lot of reasons, but mostly a reminder of regret and how much she had to prove. What did Galinda have to prove? What regrets did she have?
"Galinda…" Elphaba started, voice soft and comforting. The way she talked when she really wanted to be heard. "I never said anything about weird. I just worried that…"
Galinda was already folding the glass back up into her kerchief and scooping it. She turned. "That what?" she demanded.
"That you might be blaming yourself for something?"
"Blaming?" Galinda repeated, blinking slowly.
"I don't want you to hurt yourself. I couldn't bear it if.. if… I know what its like to—"
Galinda shook her head with enough force to tousle her curls that spilled over one shoulder. "Elphie, no."
"You used magic, Elphie. Because of me. That's why it's special to me. I—" Galinda took another step back, further away. Elphaba followed, matching her step. Galinda swallowed hard, whatever words in her throat now consumed with it.
"Then what?" Elphaba insisted.
"Elphie, please," Galinda almost whined, hands tightening their hold on the wrapped piece of glass enough that Elphaba worried it might cut her through the fine linen.
"Tell. Me." Elphaba stepped closer, and when Galinda's retreating rear bumped into her vanity, she yelped. Elphaba caught her, trapped, hands laying atop the ones gripping the memento.
"This is the closest I've ever come to making magic, Elphie," Galinda's words erupted from her mouth, unable to hold back the tide of emotional word vomit any longer. "Making you make magic. And I'm proud of you. And maybe a little jealous, yes. But most of all, I just want it because it reminds me of you. How I was— maybe— your muse."
"My muse?" Elphaba couldn't help but laugh, dumbstruck by the absurdity of it all, "By making me loath your guts?" Elphaba immediately regretted her words as Galinda's face fell.
Crestfallen, she rolled her lips into a thin line. "See? I knew you wouldn't understand."
She tried to push away from Elphaba, but Elphaba squeezed Galinda's hands more firmly, pulling them in against her own breast. "No, wait." They were close enough Elphaba could smell the lavender and pear scent on Galinda's skin. "You are," she admitted, voice little more than a whispered rush of air.
"I… am?" Galinda trembled, rich brown eyes searching across Elphaba's face for some sign of deception.
"You are." And Elphaba could only nod, leaning in closer as her eyes fell between them to where their hands locked around the shard of glass together. Galinda, too fell in to fill what little space was left between them. When their foreheads touched, Elphaba felt a spark of something that was more than magic. It was electric in a way that made the air pulse with kinetic frisson and made her feel like she could fly.
"Elphie," Galinda whimpered quietly. Her refined, slight nose with a little upturn nuzzled itself against Elphaba's cheek. It was seeking. Offering. Hoping.
Elphaba breathed her in again, inhaling her. Touched her. Heard her. And whatever else Galinda may have been, Elphaba knew she had to taste her, too. Full lips consumed Galinda's yielding, plush ones. The glossy petals slightly tacky from the lipstick, but it made it all the sweeter as she felt Galinda first stiffen, then slowly melt into it with a high pitched and needy whine.
Galinda had her hidden treasure, and that was fine. Elphaba had one now, too, and she was her muse.