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“Elphie.” Galinda rolls onto her side from across the room. She yanks the chain on her lamp and illuminates their shared space in pink, not for the first time tonight. “Are you asleep?”
Elphaba considers not responding, but when she hears Galinda shifting in her blankets, she decides to roll over too before Galinda does something crazy like try to invade her own bed. “…no.”
“Oh good,” Galinda says with an immediate sigh.
“But I would like to be. Can I help you with something?”
“Is it as cold on your side of the room as it is on mine?”
Elphaba raises a brow. Even without her glasses, she can see the doe-eyed expression on Galinda’s face and just knows this is going to become another reason she’s up all night. “I hardly think the temperature can be so different over—”
“But the window, Elphie,” Galinda says then points to the hairline crack that is definitely not the source of her frigid dilemma. “I think we should contact maintenance about that anyway. You know, it’s a hazard, after all.”
Elphaba sighs. She sits up in bed and pushes her glasses up on her nose. “So, what do you suggest?”
Galinda follows suit, pressing an index finger to her lips, her left dimple appearing—which Elphaba absolutely does not notice. “Maybe, possibly, you’d be willing to let me borrow your blanket? Just for tonight!”
“Galinda, I am not letting you steal my covers and leave me with—”
“You could join me.”
That shuts her up on the spot. Not to mention the fact that the little bat of Galinda’s eyelashes does something ridiculous to her stomach, causing little flutters of annoyance to shoot straight through her. When she doesn’t respond, Galinda leans forward off of her bed in anticipation.
“Or not,” Galinda says. “Maybe ShenShen is—”
“No,” Elphaba says before she finishes that sentence. There’s something about Galinda leaving at some unreasonable time of night and leaving her there in their questionably heated dorm that compels her to add, “Stay, I’ll share.”
Galinda lets out what can only be described as a squeal before she’s shuffling across the floor and doing that very crazy thing Elphaba was afraid of all along—she climbs under the covers with her. She settles in like a kitten, wriggling and stretching and taking over so much of Elphaba’s pillow she’s immediately filled with regret. Then she shifts back a little and suddenly Galinda’s back is pressing into her and Elphaba’s cheeks are flushing a deep emerald. The regret is replaced with... Something else. Something that is not best to think about at odd hours of the night. Thank Oz Galinda doesn't see her before she gets herself under control.
“This is better,” Galinda says with a hum.
“Absolutely,” Elphaba manages to get out. She swallows hard. Her hand hovers just above Galinda’s arm but doesn’t land. “Are you warmer now?”
Galinda nods through a yawn and cranes her head back to look at Elphaba with those soft brown eyes. If she didn’t know better, she might think there’s a rosy tone to Galinda’s cheeks that wasn’t there moments ago. Clearly the sleep deprivation is finally getting to her after three nights of studying—or trying to—with Galinda “cheering her on” in the most distractifying of ways.
Elphaba slides her glasses off and reaches over Galinda to put them on her bedside table, then carefully slips further into the bed. “Good. Now can we get some sleep?”
“Anything for you, Elphie.” Galinda manages to find a way to get even closer to her like she’s made a game of it. “And by the way… You make a really good big spoon.”
Elphaba snorts. “Goodnight, Galinda.”
“Goodnight, Elphie.”