Chapter Text
the crook of elphaba’s elbow ached from the reusable grocery bags digging into her skin. she’d done the entirely idiotic thing and tried to bring all her groceries in at once, with upwards of four bags piled onto each arm. she struggled through the doorway, wide as it was, and into the kitchen.
“hi!” her sister was lying on the couch, scrolling through tiktok on her phone. “do you need any help with those?”
“no, but thank you.” she slowly untangled herself from the bags one by one and set about putting them all away. elphaba had one wired earbud in and the other kept getting caught on her kitchen drawers, but she wanted an ear free to chat with nessa. “did you work today?
“yes! got another two thousand words on the water park article.”
elphaba separated the groceries into pantry goods and refrigerated goods. “that’s due next week, right?”
“yes, and i am still on track, luckily.”
“oh, good!” elphaba had hoped that her own tendency toward procrastination would be something she’d grow out of in adulthood, but unfortunately, she excelled at completing her work at the last minute. this was not a problem her sister had, although they both had issues doing anything without music on. hence, the earbud problem.
when elphaba finished with the groceries, nessa called, “c’mere! i need you to see this woman.”
elphaba knelt next to the couch and peered at nessa’s phone. there was a woman so beautiful she looked entirely unreal standing in a pristine kitchen, going on about some kind of lavender soap that ‘even your husband would love.’
“i think,” nessa said, “this is the saddest woman i have ever seen in my life.”
elphaba stared at the screen. the woman smiled so brightly it was hard to look at her. “what do you mean?”
“she’s one of those, like—she’s ‘voluntarily’ a housewife? and she does what her husband tells her to do all the time? but my god, elphaba, she has the best outfits.”
blinded as she was by the smile, elphaba tried to look at the screen again. the housewife wore a dark green dress, embroidered with flowers, and tied with a soft brown belt. elphaba shrugged and stood up, stretching her legs. it was a pretty cute outfit. “i hate marriage,” she said. “and i hate tiktok.” she went into her room, changed into comfier clothes, and came back out. sitting next to her sister on the couch, she sighed. “okay, what other inane little videos do you want to show me?”
nessa sat up straighter, grinning. “so many. i’m so glad you asked.”
elphaba did not have any shame about her reading habits. why should she? she was a grown adult; she could read what she liked. but the instinct to cover the danmei novel in her basket the second she saw the woman from across the room was overpowering. she didn’t know her name; hell, she didn’t even remember her tiktok handle. but it was the same woman nessa had shown her last week. and, somehow, even more terrifyingly beautiful in person.
whatever, it wasn’t like she was talking to her. elphaba put her head down and tried to walk past the cookbook section without staring for too long.
“excuse me?”
oh, no.
“do you work here?”
oh, no. elphaba turned, making the basket in her arms more visible than she’d like in order to indicate that she was, also, a paying customer at this bookstore.
they locked eyes. this was unfortunate for a few reasons. the first of which was that elphaba could not handle direct eye contact well at all. the second, and perhaps worse of the two, was that she was distinctly unable to keep the recognition out of her expression.
the other woman gasped. “are you a fan?”
elphaba was more embarrassed to be mistaken for a fan than to be interacting with someone who could only be called internet famous at best, but she knew her blush added no credibility whatsoever to the statement, “no, but my sister is.”
this was not strictly true either, but neither nessa nor the woman she’d mocked in private needed to know elphaba had lied to save herself.
“oh, how sweet! do you want me to sign something for her?”
elphaba considered this. she had notebook paper and a pen in her bag, and nessa would probably appreciate it if only to laugh at elphaba’s misfortune later. but the whole ordeal was mortifying enough. “didn’t you need help with something?”
“ah.” she looked up at a shelf that was far nearer to elphaba’s eye-level than her own.
“you want to borrow my height?” elphaba grabbed the book she had indicated, glancing down as she did so. from what she could glean, it was a recipe book on how to best disguise vegetables in desserts so your kids and husband wouldn’t complain. she was entirely unable to stop herself from arching a brow.
“it’s—” the woman blushed. “for a friend. a housewarming gift.”
“no judgement,” elphaba said. she had certainly been judging. “but personally, i love vegetables.”
now it was the influencer’s turn to raise a brow. she couldn’t be more clearly looking at the color of elphaba’s skin. but she didn’t comment. “frankly, me too! it’s—i know you said you haven’t seen the videos, but if you’re ever looking for recipes, i promise it’s—well,” she cleared her throat.
there was something in her eyes, something that elphaba couldn’t quite understand, and then she saw it. whatever sadness nessa had been so, so sure about. “i’m not actually on tiktok,” she said, trying to make her voice sound as genuinely apologetic as she could. “but i am always looking for new vegetarian dishes.”
“are you on instagram?”
elphaba shook her head.
“twitter?”
she shook her head again. she had been, a few years ago, back when it had been a decent leftist space, but she hadn’t touched it in years. she was only on tumblr and reddit now, and she certainly wasn’t going to volunteer either of those accounts to a woman like this.
for a moment, this seemed to stump her. then, surprising elphaba entirely, she said, “fuck it,” and handed over her phone, with the option to add a new contact open on the screen.
elphaba blinked at her. both the cursing and the disclosure of personal information seemed wildly out of character for someone with her proclivities, but here she was. what the hell, sure. elphaba added her name—first only, not that it mattered—and her number and handed back the phone.
“elphaba.” the woman smiled up at her. “what a lovely name. i’m glinda, but i’m sure you knew that already.” she laughed, a high and pearly thing, and then sent a text.
elphaba’s phone buzzed. there was a link to an incredibly straightforward recipe for jackfruit tacos.
“let me know if you get a chance to try that out! i sent the version without all the silly preamble; you look like someone who doesn’t have time for all of that.”
elphaba cleared her throat. “yeah,” she said. “that’s a fair assessment.”
glinda looked at her again for a long while, and elphaba felt a bit as if she was under a microscope. finally, she smiled, and it was difficult to tell if it was genuine. “i really should get on with my shopping.”
as though elphaba was the one holding up the conversation! she’d wanted no part of this to begin with. she laughed apologetically and stepped to the side, heading for the register. what a bizarre little woman.
the jackfruit tacos were good. really good. it was unfortunate that they were good, because now nessarose was begging elphaba to ask for more recipes.
“you’re the one that follows her on tiktok, why don’t you make something of hers?”
they were sitting on their couch, waiting for their burger/veggie burger order, and both deeply annoyed at a recent increase in delivery prices.
nessa huffed. “it’s not the same. she sent you such a nice version of that one; all the ones on her website are riddled with ads and stories about her weirdo husband.”
“what about the videos?”
“even worse! i don’t think she ever says a single unit of measurement in any of them. just, like, garlic! pepper! caramelized onion!”
elphaba laughed. “i’m guessing she didn’t even show the process of onion caramelization.”
“of course not.”
elphaba sighed. she opened glinda’s text message history and stared at it. it had been two weeks since their meeting at the bookstore, maybe she’d forgotten all about her. or maybe not.
the jackfruit tacos were fantastic. any other suggestions?
glinda responded faster than elphaba possibly could have imagined.
Glinda from TikTok
How’s teriyaki mushrooms sound?
the link that followed was for a veggie dog topping situation complete with pineapple and onion. much like the previous recipe, it was straightforward and looked easy to follow.
thanks!
the next day, elphaba had an opportunity to try it out. and much like the previous recipe, it was fantastic. for a while, food was all they texted about. elphaba dutifully made everything glinda sent. eventually she started sending pictures, sending a recipe or two back, and then, slowly, occasionally, they began to talk about their days. it was strange. pleasant, really, in an unexpected way. elphaba found she liked having the routine of check-ins, of little pictures and videos. she found herself looking forward to glinda’s texts, as much as she was often bemused by them. she was just so bright, and so straightforward, it was astonishingly easy to talk to her.
Glinda from TikTok
What are you up to today?
not much. off for the summer so mostly just reading and hanging out with my sister.
Glinda from TikTok
You’ve mentioned her a lot. Do you live together?
yes
used to help take care of her (she’s a wheelchair user)
but she’s pretty independent so it’s mostly for rent
Glinda from TikTok
That’s very sweet!!
what about you?
Glinda from TikTok
I had planned on doing a GRWM video this evening—morning light is ridiculously easy to fake—but Chuff wanted mashed potatoes. Such is the way.
glinda’s schedule was tightly organized around producing content for her channel and maintaining her home for her husband. occasionally, she admitted, these two things stood at odds. if her planned video didn’t align with his schedule or his tastes, she would cancel recording for the day and make what he liked for dinner.
on those days, it was very hard for elphaba not to comment. her judgement and criticism of this kind of relationship was an almost instinctive revolt. but she knew how critical people had been of her role as a caregiver for her sister, and for once in her life, she held her tongue. she didn’t know their relationship. it wasn’t her place.
sometimes, though, much less often, elphaba could tell when things weren’t so strictly scheduled. one saturday evening, glinda had sent her an inordinate amount of instagram links to cat videos in under twenty minutes. elphaba could barely open them without an account, but what she could see was admittedly delightful.
big plans tonight?
Glinda from TikTok
It’s a rare free evening! How about you?
nessa rejected my offer to bring her to a concert
so, i find myself with an extra ticket
…i don’t know if it’s your scene
Glinda from TikTok
…Who’s playing?
…brandi carlile?
Glinda from Tiktok
I love country!
elphaba was neutral on country music in general, but had a soft spot for folk, and even softer spot for women she knew were singing about women. she wondered if glinda was at all aware of brandi carlile’s sexuality, or about the kinds of people who’d go to a concert like this. she decided it didn’t matter. if the incredibly straight influencer wanted to go see dyke music with elphaba, elphaba would take her.
elphaba was nervous. she’d invited glinda on somewhat of an impulse, and now, standing outside the venue, kicking her feet in the dirt, she felt a bubble of anxiety in her chest. their first meeting had only been a couple of sentences exchanged. what if it was awkward, seeing each other for the first time since then? she had arrived early—probably too early, judging by the fact that hardly anyone was here yet, and was about to return to her van and listen to music in the driver’s seat when she saw a golden blur hurtling toward her at very fast speeds.
glinda pulled herself to an abrupt and impressive stop nearly a foot away from elphaba and beamed. “hello!”
“hi,” elphaba returned a smile, and turned to head inside.
glinda followed and then slid in beside her. “i like your outfit. very dapper.”
as they entered the lobby, elphaba looked down automatically. she had dressed, as she often did, with stock wardrobe pieces she had in different color variations. dress pants, dress shirt, waistcoat. simple, easy, butch. she suspected dapper was a compliment, but coming from someone with glinda’s background, it was hard to tell. she thanked her, regardless. “and i like yours! event appropriate.”
she was referring, of course, to the cowboy boots, which nicely complemented glinda’s mock-patchwork sundress.
glinda’s smile got even brighter, and she kicked her boots together gleefully. “thank you!”
elphaba looked around. outside, it had seemed like barely anyone was there, but the inside of the venue felt much more crowded. the line for merch was already long, as was the line for snacks and drinks, but she felt glinda gravitating toward the latter and followed to wait with her. while the herds of concertgoers had her on edge, as large groups often did, she realized that glinda’s presence had the opposite effect. it was easy, standing beside her, commenting on cowboy hats of passersby and running through brandi carlile’s discography to guess at what she’d play. people still stared—of course they did, they always did—but with glinda beside her, their gazes softened somewhat, as though her presence made elphaba’s less bizarre. huh.
elphaba hadn’t planned on getting anything, but after watching glinda’s purchase of a coors light and a pack of skittles, got a water bottle and a kitkat bar. she checked her watch. they had a little bit of time before they had to be in their seats. she wasn't sure a second line was worth it, for herself or for nessa, but she was willing to check out the merch table if glinda wanted.
she turned to glinda to ask about it, but closed her mouth. someone else in the line had just recognized her companion.
“holy shit,” the person called, “are you @glindathegoodwife?”
glinda clapped her hands together. “yes! as a matter of fact!”
elphaba trailed behind her as they went over to say hello, stunned at the audacity of some people. but after all, she’d hardly been any better.
“can i have your autograph? i mean—would you take a—”
“of course, dear.”
elphaba wordlessly offered to photograph them together, marveling all the while. glinda really was famous, then. elphaba wondered how much of her popularity was due to a genuine following, and how much to controversy, but her inclination was to believe it was a mix of both.
“enjoy the show!” glinda called, as they stepped away. to elphaba, she stage-whispered, “i’m so sorry about that!”
elphaba threw a glance over to the merch table as they passed and finally saw enough of it to decide nothing spoke to her. “oh, that’s alright. does that—does that happen often?”
“constantly.” glinda thought for a moment, and then her eyes went wide. “did you think—when we first met—oh my goodness. heavens. i probably came across as awfully conceited, didn’t i?”
she had, of course. but elphaba wouldn’t say that. “it’s not surprising you made that assumption, considering. but i do watch your channel sometimes now.”
they had gotten to the usher, and handed their tickets over, so elphaba almost missed how bright pink glinda turned as she’d said that. thank god she’d seen it.
after they got directions to their seats, glinda turned to her, and said, “you really don’t have to. the recipes i send are really, a much better—”
“i promise i enjoy them; the videos are interesting!” and they were, if nothing else, interesting. plus, nessa had been right. her outfits were always to die for.
“oh,” glinda said, as everyone turned to leave after the encore song finished, “can we stay out?”
elphaba turned to look at her. it was late, and she’d had a fantastic time, certainly, but, “don’t you have to go home?”
glinda’s eyes were shining. she was still visibly buzzing with excitement, bouncing on her toes as she waited to exit the aisle. “i didn’t tell him what time i’d be back,” she said, somewhat sheepishly, “so…”
the words were out of elphaba’s mouth before she had time to think about them. “ice cream?”
“i wouldn’t complain.”
and so, ice cream it was. well, gelato, actually. whenever elphaba wanted to brave the market, bottega gelato was a frequent pit stop, so rather than head toward the crowded parking lot, they walked there.
despite the difference in their heights, they fell in-step easily once they started talking.
“i can’t even remember the last time i went to a concert,” glinda told her, humming ‘raise hell’ to herself whenever there was a pause in the conversation. “maybe i was still in high school.”
“who did you see?”
she hummed a little more. “leeann rimes.”
“you do like country!”
“i like women in country,” she shrugged. “i like some men in country. i like them better when they’re singing about something real.”
elphaba made a noise of agreement.
“what about you, who’s the last act you saw?”
“rainbow kitten surprise, i think! nessa and i go a fair bit. it’s our second favorite hobby.”
“what’s the first?”
“bitching,” elphaba grinned. “mostly about other people, corporations, society as a whole, each other, you know.”
glinda laughed. “does—” she looked like she was searching for a polite way to ask, “does she do okay, at concerts?”
elphaba nodded. “we do our research; we don’t go to standing room only ones, and most facilities do have to have accessible options.”
“that’s nice.”
when they arrived at the shop, elphaba held the door open for glinda, who nodded her head gracefully, and then giggled. as elphaba followed her, she was greeted with the warm scent of waffle cones. it was less crowded than usual, almost empty at this hour. given glinda’s wealth and her excitability, elphaba was immediately struck with a fear that her new acquaintance—friend, maybe? would be the type of person to try every flavor available.
it seemed the person behind the counter anticipated something similar, because after a quick greeting, they added, “no rush. y’all can take your time.”
“aw, you’re such a doll,” glinda smiled. “i may just have to take you up on that.”
efficiency had always been the name of the game for the thropp sisters in any customer service interaction, but elphaba decided to trust the poor shop employee and tried desperately not to feel embarrassed by the time glinda was on her sixth little taster spoon.
in the end, she settled on pistachio. elphaba got hazelnut. it was a nice night, one of those early summer nights where the air stayed warm after the sun disappeared, but not too warm, so they sat at a table outside.
the entire concert, glinda had been animated, excited, singing the songs to every song she knew and most of the ones she didn’t. but now she was quiet, almost contemplative. elphaba thought again about what nessa had said, that first time she showed her glinda’s channel. this is the saddest woman i have ever seen in my life.
maybe she was the saddest woman elphaba had ever seen, too.
it was hard not to ask. elphaba had been very good at not asking. they certainly didn’t know each other well enough for something as presumptuous as, ‘are you happy?’ and certainly not, ‘are you happy, you know, in your marriage?’ but she wanted to know. she felt an odd sort of protectiveness over her, despite not really knowing her situation, and she wanted to know more, to see if the instinct was right. she asked something else instead. “when you were a kid, what did you wanna be when you grew up?”
glinda looked up, surprised. “oh, a lot. i’m sure i changed answers every day. singer, dancer, movie star. i desperately wanted to be famous.”
elphaba laughed. “how’s fame treating you now?”
“oh, you know. i have a moderate following, i can’t complain.” she hesitated, seeming to remember something. “actually, for a while, in high school, i thought about going into architecture. but that was as unrealistic as the rest of them, of course.”
elphaba didn’t need to ask her if she gotten married young. if getting married had stopped her from becoming an architect. she could feel it in that last sentence as loudly as if glinda had said it all out loud. she nodded.
“what about you?”
“oh,” elphaba sighed, “a doctor, for a while, and then a vet, and then i thought i wouldn’t get a job, i’d just take care of nessa, but she did not like that idea.” elphaba laughed. “she said she fully intended to get a job, and i’d better get my own so i wouldn’t get bored.”
“what does she do?”
“she’s…a critic?” elphaba shrugged. “kind of a journalist. she writes reviews for movies, restaurants, anything, really. people kept telling her she had to specialize in something, but she has opinions on everything.”
“and what do you do?”
“have i never said?”
“you don’t talk about yourself much, to be honest.”
“...huh.” she hadn’t realized that. “i teach.”
“kids?”
“yeah.” elphaba scraped the bottom of her gelato cup. “eighth grade u.s. history.”
“huh,” glinda furrowed her brow. “aren’t eighth graders terrible?”
“they can be,” elphaba admitted, “but really, they just want to be seen. they want to be treated like people. so many things are changing in their lives and in their bodies, and their self-esteem is in the toilet, and it’s like, if i can challenge them to be their own people, form their own opinions, and defend them…they feel real. they feel like they did something cool.” she swallowed and looked down. she’d talked more than she meant to.
“oh,” glinda said, “so you’re a saint, then.”
elphaba laughed, startled. “certainly not. it’s not easy, it’s just…worth it.”
Glinda from TikTok
Is today another ‘not much’ day? Or do you have any other secret concert tickets I should know about?
volunteering actually!
Glinda from TikTok
Oh? Do you volunteer a lot?
sometimes the library, sometimes planned parenthood, sometimes the zoo.
depends on who needs the help the most. today is a food not bombs day!
Glinda from TikTok
Oh.
elphaba didn’t know what to say to that. was it disappointment? she bit her lip. it was probably the planned parenthood one that got her in trouble. talking to glinda was always so easy, so comfortable, she’d forgotten she might need to censor herself, forgotten that they might have…slightly different political opinions. her thumbs hovered above the keyboard, trying to think of an explanation that would get the conversation back on track. she started a couple of times and then deleted it all.
Glinda from TikTok
Wikipedia said most chapters are vegan or vegetarian. Is yours?
oh. glinda had been googling food not bombs. relief flooded over elphaba and she let out a shaky sigh.
yes! sorry that you had to look it up, i should have just explained!
i’m actually using one of your recipes today :)
Glinda from TikTok
How sweet!
what are you up to?
Glinda from TikTok
I need a new TikTok profile pic, so I pulled out the ol’ ring light.
elphaba did not possess any qualifications when it came to evaluating profile pictures that glinda’s audience would approve of. this did not stop her from volunteering to help.
i might not be able to reply right away, but feel free to send pics if you can’t decide!
Glinda from TikTok
🥺
volunteer work was something that elphaba did by choice, something she loved doing, but it was still work. today, though, having glinda to text on her breaks and in between rushes made it fly by completely. she really had a knack for taking pictures of herself. and elphaba liked to be useful.
by the time she got home that day, they were still texting, even though glinda had long ago decided on a new profile picture. in the process, elphaba had also acquired a contact photo for glinda, one particularly silly one that elphaba knew she’d want to look at again. she did not, however, bother changing glinda’s contact name, because it amused her to leave it that way.
glinda still didn’t have a picture for elphaba yet, but she’d told her she was waiting for the right moment to capture one herself.
this pleased elphaba, despite her general dislike of being photographed, but she conveyed neither of these things to glinda. instead, they chatted about phantom of the opera until they both fell asleep.
the second time they met up, they went to the aquarium. glinda had some specific sponsorship deal with a brand debuting there and had agreed to film some content for a day-in-the-life tiktok. “I want to actually explore, after, and i’d love the company,” she’d told elphaba, so elphaba went.
she wondered, as she drove, what glinda’s husband was up to today. it was a saturday; shouldn’t her weekend hours be dominated by his presence? shouldn’t he…come to something like this? to support her? she didn’t understand it. she didn’t think she could.
glinda met her in the parking garage, loading the last of her film equipment into a very expensive car. elphaba didn’t feel ashamed of her hunk of junk ADA van—charles was a family member, thank you very much—but she certainly marveled at the difference.
glinda caught her staring and grinned sheepishly. “a birthday gift,” she admitted, and elphaba could only nod.
“did anyone help you film today?”
“no,” glinda said, and there was no discernible emotion behind it. she closed her truck with a soft click. it echoed around the concrete walls as if she’d closed it much louder. “i do everything alone.”
“i could have come earlier—”
“oh, goodness no.” her tone was much livelier now. “i’d never dream of asking such a thing.”
and to elphaba, who wouldn’t have even blinked at the suggestion, this was madness. but she shrugged. “shall we?”
“let’s!”
as they walked through the parking lot, elphaba asked, “could any of your other friends not make it?”
“i didn’t ask any of my other friends,” glinda said, looking like somehow her feathers had puffed up. “i thought of you. you seem like the kind of person who’d have opinions about fish.”
elphaba laughed. “i do. do you?”
glinda’s nod was solemn and serious. “of course.”
elphaba paid her admission, glinda showed her ticket, and they went in. the lobby of the aquarium was a large, open space, with hallways branching out into different themed exhibits. in the back of the atrium, two glass doors opened into an outdoor tidepool with an ocean overlook, and they let the sea air breeze through.
“you’re awfully inquisitive today,” glinda told her, subtly guiding them both left, in the direction of a large overhead fish tunnel.
elphaba let it happen. “i’m always inquisitive. i like information.”
“alright, then. what else do you want to know?”
elphaba hummed. she got lost in thought for a moment, watching the quick and shy movements of a clownfish, and then looked back at glinda. “you’re an advocate for a certain kind of lifestyle. what do you like about it?”
glinda looked taken aback for a second. “aren’t you some kind of…feminist? i’ve been expecting your—your judgement, or your disgust, or—”
elphaba shook her head. “i don’t understand it. but part of supporting gender equality means supporting, you know, a woman’s right to choose. if this is the life you chose, then i’d like to know why.” there was so much she wasn’t saying. so many quick judgements and harsh criticisms and unbuoyed cynicism about housewifery that exists only between herself and her sister, but—but. that wasn’t the way she wanted to be with glinda.
glinda still looked shocked. “i’m touched. confused, but touched. you have seen my comments section, haven’t you?”
nessa had shown her. this was part of the reason elphaba had elected to never criticize glinda’s choices to her face. the unbearable entitlement and cruelty of the people who claimed to want the best for glinda had been difficult to read, and elphaba could not imagine such ‘well-intentioned’ ridicule thrown at her. “they’re extremely presumptive,” was what elphaba settled on.
“exactly.” glinda pointed to a small shark darting out from behind a rock. the delight in her face was apparent, and it brought a matching smile to elphaba’s face too. “i think…well, there’s a few things i like. service,” she said, “is the biggest. i like to take care of people. i like the organization, of course, and the cooking…” she trailed off, still staring at the fish. “but mostly, it’s the clear expectations. the rules. the traditions. i like to know my place.”
before elphaba could speak, glinda looked up to interrupt. “that sounded bad. i don’t mean that, i only meant—i-i like to know what’s expected of me.”
it had sounded bad. but elphaba was still stuck on the striking comparisons between what glinda had said and what she knew of formal and long-term kink arrangements. it took all of her self control not to point this out. and, frankly, it also sounded like what she knew of symptoms of autism. she didn’t point this out, either. “it sounds comforting. i get it,” she said, though she wasn’t sure she completely did, “i like routines too. and clarity.”
glinda looked relieved that elphaba had not pounced on her slip of the tongue, which really only made elphaba worried about the kind of company glinda usually kept.
“what about—”
“chuffrey?”
“yeah,” elphaba said softly, “what do you love about him?”
there was no hesitation in her voice at all when she said, “security. safety.” she smiled, and there was no light in her eyes at all when she said, “he has very strong arms.”
disturbing. “what’s his personality like?”
“he’s very smart.” she swallowed and moved further down the tunnel.
elphaba shook her head and trailed after. they would simply have to move on from that statement. luckily, they turned a corner and smacked right into the jellyfish. the room was dark, each tank designed so that the creatures themselves glowed as they pulsed through the water. toward the center of the room, there was a large cylindrical enclosure, entirely full of moon jellies. they came to a stop directly in front of it, and stared.
they didn’t talk for a long while, slowly settling into a comfortable silence as they stood side by side, enchanted by the movements of the invertebrates behind the glass. the music in this room was trance-like too, calming and gentle.
as they finally turned away, glinda asked, “what about you?”
“what about me?”
“have you ever—considered…?”
i hate marriage, was on the tip of elphaba’s tongue, as it always was. it isn’t for me, was right there too. but instead she said, “it’s rare. for me to feel anything like that.”
glinda considered this for a moment. “there‘s probably one of those…funny little labels for something like that, isn’t there?”
“oh sure,” elphaba said, barely taking any offense.
“you’ve never been in love?”
“once,” elphaba answered, and left it at that. in a brighter voice, she said, “if you take me to see the rays, i might cry.”
“CRY?” glinda looked around, embarrassed to be shouting. “whatever for?” she asked, at a far more normal level.
elphaba shrugged. “i just like ‘em.”
“well, we must see them. immediately.”
before elphaba could blink, her hand was in glinda’s, and she was getting tugged toward the rays’ feeding pool. elphaba didn’t know if glinda had thought about it. if this was normal for her. it certainly wasn’t normal for elphaba, whose comfort with physical touch was limited strictly to besties and family (which in her case, was just nessarose, on both counts). but she didn’t want to let go. did that make glinda a bestie, then?
in her defense, elphaba did try not to cry when she saw the sting rays. but running her hands along their smooth fins, she felt tears welling in her eyes. “pathetic, i know,” she said, wiping her cheek on her shoulder so she didn’t have to lift her hands out of the pool.
“no,” glinda said softly. “it’s…” she cleared her throat, and an expression of pure, smug, pride settled over her features. “i knew you had opinions on fish.”