Chapter Text
Elphaba is going through her heat, her suppressants only half working despite being given to her by Madame Morrible herself. So Galinda was stuck sharing a room with an artichoke reeking of pheromones.
The smell of the omega was nothing like what Galinda knew of omegas, or even other alphas. It was sour, tart, like she was smelling a lemon up close. At first the blonde hates it, growls and complains loudly about how the smell was foul and burned her nose. She theatrically covers her nose as she opens the windows and uses her favorite strawberry bubble gum air freshener.
Elphaba doesn't visibly react, just rolls her eyes and continues to curl up in her nest of blankets with her book.
Surprisingly that's not what stresses her out, as she adapts quite quickly to the scent. She adapts so quickly that the next morning her nose itches pleasantly at the scent, her mouth salivating the more she takes in the sour aroma of the still-sleeping omega.
It's stupid and makes her blush with pure embarrassment.
It gets worse two days later, when the suppressants become less effective and the smell is so intense that Galinda wakes up hard as a rock. She can't help it, she's an alpha and is naturally drawn to the unclaimed omega sleeping meters away from her. Suppressors trying and failing to hide the symptoms.
She feels stupid, like an animal that can't control herself despite the fact that the omega is probably the ugliest girl in all of Oz.
But that's not the worst of it, what bothers her even more is that by the end of the fourth day the sour smell turns sour-ish weird, a sourness that is not pleasant. Galinda is not saying that the previous sour was pleasant, just that the new one was very unpleasant.
Naturally she growls at Elphaba for that, being a bit more rude than she initially intended. The green girl just looks at her, her big brown eyes impassive as always, but for a second she flinches and that makes the Galinda's alpha squirm with guilt.
It wasn't her fault! It was Elphaba who had been filling the room with her pheromones, making her mind always on edge. She had nothing to apologize for.
Still, she hesitates before leaving to go to her classes. She quickly glances over her shoulder at her roommate, the girl already curled up in her nest of blankets again, her heat too advanced to attend classes.
The green girl still gives off that acid and sour smell, but the sour continues to be wrong. It makes her inner alpha restless, which in turn makes Galinda unable to concentrate on absolutely nothing all day. She can't concentrate on history, magic studies, or anything. She can only recall over and over again that annoying smell.
At lunchtime her friends notice her restlessness, which doesn't surprise her. She feels the pheromones of irritation coming out of her pores in waves.
"Are you okay, girl? You're oozing hate" Pfannee asks curiously, Shen beside her nods softly.
Galinda swallows the growl in her throat, making sure to sound almost as sweet as ever. "It's not hate, I've just had a not so nice day."
She hopes she doesn't have to explain herself further, and she doesn't because the group begins to speculate what it is that's bothering her. As soon as Elphaba's name leaves their lips, her alpha becomes even more uneasy.
"Oh right, it must be horrible to have to put up with that vegetable stinking around" Milla chuckles, causing the rest of the group to do the same.
Her alpha growls at the laughter, Galinda wants to yell at it that they said that very thing to Elphaba since she started her heat. That thought just makes a surge of guilt pop up.
"Surely she smells something strange, like rotten?"
But it's not her fault! It's not her fault that Elphaba had such a peculiar smell, and it's not her fault that that smell soured even more.
"I don't think so, surely it's something more dull, dust or something."
It wasn't her fault that Elphaba was green, that she was weird, or that....
"Why don't you take us out of the doubt, Galinda?"
The blonde isn't sure who's asking her, she just knows that she now has her three friends watching her intently. She's not going to answer, and she knows it even before her alpha basically screams in displeasure at the idea.
"She doesn't smell like anything, magic suppressants and stuff" She responds with feigned disinterest, her irritation pheromones still palpable. "You know what a nerd she is."
Every word feels like sandpaper in her throat, she doesn't show it. Galinda is perfect, and it's not the first time she's had to contradict her stupid inner alpha because she acts like an animal.
Luckily she doesn't have to deal with that anymore, as the bell rings and they all have to go back to their classes.
The guilt never leaves her, her alpha snarls and writhes angrily, clawing at her insides. Galinda ignores it, ignores it in every class. She begs it to shut up, to leave her alone, to stop spinning in circles on the green omega and let her live without that uncomfortable weight on her chest.
It doesn't work, by the end of the day she returns to her room frustrated and grumpy. Still she hesitates as she grips the doorknob, hesitating to turn it.
From the door the sour smell is already noticeable, but at least it hasn't gotten worse. She sighs in relief at that, taking a breath before entering.
The first thing she sees is Elphaba curled up and asleep in her nest, her cheeks a darker green than normal, small beads of sweat falling from her forehead. The taller girl breathes softly, her lips slightly parted and her usually stern face more relaxed than Galinda has ever seen it.
She hasn't finished processing the sight when the omega begins to squirm, her scent intensifying but not in a bad way.
When those deep brown eyes make contact with hers, the unpleasant sourness disappears for a glorious second that Galinda's alpha savors. Elphaba smells perfect for that second, feels a flash of bliss as she smells it.
Then the scent is ruined, an avalanche of unpleasant sourness consumes it almost completely. Elphaba frowns and turns away from looking at her. Galinda has the sudden urge to groan in frustration, her alpha shaking as never before in anguish.
It's only then that she understands what the unpleasant sourness in the omega's scent is. It's anguish, that nasty sourness that ruins the delicious sour smell is anguish. The realization brings Galinda a few seconds of relief, before her mind catches up and she understands that Elphaba has been distressed for hours.
And now she is even more distressed at the sight of Galinda.
Her alpha is demanding that she do something, anything to calm the omega's distress. For once in a day she agrees, it didn't take a genius to know that being an omega in heat in distress was horrible.
"Elphaba?" She hates how her voice sounds awkward, but for once she prefers it to her growling voice. The memory of growling at Elphaba in the morning echoes in her mind and she feels terrible about it.
The green girl doesn't respond, only snuggles further into the blankets. Her chest tightens painfully as she watches her curl into a ball, hiding as the anguish in her scent continued to be prominent.
Galinda knows she hasn't been the nicest to her roommate, she knows she shouldn't be surprised at being rejected by the omega. The fact doesn't make her feel any better, it only makes her alpha wallow in self-loathing and despair.
She's not sure if Elphaba's distress is specifically about Galinda, or if it's because she's in heat and has no company. Both alphas and omegas had a very hard time without a partner in rut, but Elphaba seemed to be used to it and she thought no more of it than that.
Now she regrets mocking that a couple of days ago, again coinciding with her alpha being angry with herself.
"You want me to leave?" She doesn't want to, not when her whole being seems to be begging to stay near the distraught omega. Still, she's not an idiot. Galinda prided herself on being a decent alpha.
Elphaba is quiet, still turning her back to her as she is hidden in her nest of blankets. Her black hair is scattered around her, she's sure it must be covering her face.
Galinda is about to ask again when the green girl murmurs softly.
"No..." Her voice is soft and calm, just a little higher pitched than normal. She doesn't turn to look at the blonde, just glances over her shoulder at her briefly before returning to her position curled up in her blankets.
Galinda feels a surge of adrenaline when Elphaba doesn't kick her out, her alpha purring excitedly. "Okay..."
Elphaba says nothing more, the distress in her scent is still present and doesn't seem to subside, which makes Galinda continue to feel uneasy. She wants to help, she wants to reassure the green omega, she wants to get rid of that distress.
She doesn't want to let her sleep like this, not when the girl has already spent the whole day alone and distressed.
She approaches awkwardly after a few minutes of silence, not missing how the omega's anguish increased the closer she got. Galinda repeated to herself that if it didn't subside once she was by her side, she would back off and leave her alone.
Galinda sits on her roommate's bed, breathing slowly. She focuses on calming her own pheromones, trying to let the restlessness leave her. To her good fortune, her body reacts automatically, calming pheromones begin to emanate from the shorter girl.
She waits for Elphaba's reaction, slightly alarmed as the distress in her scent suddenly intensifies until it consumes it completely. Just as she was about to walk away, the scent begins to slowly purify, the distress once again at minimal levels.
Her alpha howls happily, pride fills her chest and Galinda restrains herself from sighing. She doesn't want to scare Elphaba.
She is the frightened one when a soft but cutting voice asks. "What are you doing?"
Galinda freezes briefly, unsure of what to say. She only came over because guilt consumed her, more or less. Besides, her body and alpha seemed to automatically react to the omega, no matter how much Galinda wanted to pull away.
"I'm... I'm sorry I was mean to you before. I know heat is hard and I didn't mean to distress you" She mumbled in embarrassment, closing her eyes.
Elphaba didn't say anything again, but she does move. She looks at Galinda, her eyes curious and wary, but the heat makes a fog in her brain and she gives up on her search for the blonde's ulterior motives.
She's never had anyone bother to offer her a modicum of comfort in her previous heats, or well, really under any circumstances. So she decides to silence her rational side, and let her omega revel in the soothing pheromones, try to satiate the ever-present anguish of loneliness in her cycles.
Minutes pass and Galinda doesn't move, just continues to release soothing pheromones until Elphaba's omega feels drunk with bliss. She feels her eyelids heavy, ready to take another nap. This time she doesn't have that constant ache in her chest, just a very small doubt.
Galinda feels a soft smile form on her face as she watches the omega snuggle into her blankets, a pillow between her arms tight in a hug, her little face sunk into it. It's almost adorable, Elphaba has never looked so... soft for her eyes.
She doesn't leave her side, even when it's obvious the taller girl is asleep. She doesn't want to, she wants to make sure her sleep is nice and peaceful, that there's no more of that distressed sourness in her scent.
Her alpha is finally mildly content, her chest purrs with contentment and she feels happy. Well, almost happy, because no matter how much time passes, no matter how many pheromones she releases, that hint of distress never disappears from Elphaba's scent.
Galinda begins to feel uneasy again, guilty even. She thinks about whether that scent reflects how lonely Elphaba always is, whether that slight distress is always accompanying her. She hates it, the thought causes herself to begin to feel a painful emptiness inside.
Her pheromones change slightly and the omega whines between dreams, causing her to concentrate again on her scent being soothing and pleasant. She frowns in concentration, relaxing again only when Elphaba returns to her peaceful sleep and her sour scent without too much distress.
Both she and her alpha feast on this, ecstatic at being able to keep the girl in a comfortable state. But her alpha decides that this is not enough, that she must take the omega in her arms, fill her with her scent, reassure her that she is not alone and that Galinda will take care of her.
It's a terrible idea, the blonde knows it all too well and she had hoped that her alpha would know it too. Because again, she hadn't been kind to Elphaba before, she was probably to blame for a lot of that distress.
But she can fix it now, her alpha tells her insistently. Galinda refuses, she's pretty sure Elphaba will kick her out if she crosses that line.
It's not like she wanted to anyway, it was just the stupid green girl's scent that made her act that way. Her alpha growls at her as she calls the scent “stupid”, reminding her to be nice to the vulnerable omega. She growls back at it, she wasn't planning on being rude to Elphaba, she's been rude enough and learned her lesson.
Her alpha never shuts up, slowly starting to get restless. The little voice growls at Galinda, nagging and demanding. She ignores it, simply continues to stare at the sleeping girl, taking in the delicate lemony scent.
She thinks her alpha has finally given up when it shuts up, leaving her alone with her task of soothing the sleeping omega and admiring her in silence. She is very wrong, because soon she begins to feel hungry, very hungry that it curls like an emptiness in her stomach and chest.
The more time Galinda spends the more she realizes that the only thing that will satisfy her hunger is to have Elphaba. She resists at first, but soon feels dizzy, a fog begins to blind her and she is surprised that she can't resist it.
Maybe a little hug won't hurt. It will only be a very small and soft one, and she'll be gentle and it won't wake the sleeping girl.
It won't be all bad, it'll just be Galinda offering her help.
She moves slowly, crawling on the bed until she is near the nest of blankets. Galinda doesn't push her luck and lays down outside of it, no matter how much her alpha complains, she knows it's a bad idea to get into the nest of a rutting omega without permission.
The blonde holds her breath as she lies on the bed, concentrating on keeping her movements cautious while keeping her pheromones soothingly constant. She drapes her arm over the blankets and over Elphaba's stomach, unable to get very close due to the barrier of the nest, but nonetheless feels a surge of happiness when she manages to touch her.
The omega moves a little and Galinda can't breathe for a few seconds, she forces herself to keep up the pheromone flow, praying it will be enough to keep Elphaba asleep. After a couple of minutes with no more movement, she breathes softly again, glad she didn't disturb her roomate.
Galinda feels good, even if she wishes she could get closer, her alpha seems mildly satisfied. She can't help but purr, feeling sleep starting to rub off on her.
Her bliss only increases when at last the light sourness of distress leaves Elphaba's scent, leaving only that acidic fullness Galinda was missing since she managed to sense it a moment ago. Her own intensifies in response, bathing the omega in a quest to show her gratitude.
Elphaba doesn't wake up, blissfully unaware of the alpha that was embracing her. Galinda doesn't care, all she cares about is how perfect the moment feels.
She doesn't think about the consequences as she drifts off to sleep.