Irhaboggle Pride (2019) Spectrum

Pink

AN: Here's the next Pride Anthology from me (and also, my 300th work!) Since the theme is the 1978 Gilbert Baker Pride flag, there's 8 colors, which means I'll need 32 days instead of 30. So hey, you get 2 extra stories this year, LOL

"Honestly, Glinda, I don't know how, or why, you stomach that much pink!" Elphaba snorted as she watched Glinda sort through their shared closet. It was not a 50/50 split, however, since Glinda's clothing was all so extravagant and... fluffy. Instead, it was more like 75/25, Elphaba's simple black frocks shoved into one corner while the rest of the space was used to hold all of Glinda's many, poofy, pink dresses.

"Oh, Elphie! Do be quiet!" Glinda huffed as she held up two dresses that were nearly identical in hue.

"Gee, how will you ever figure that one out?" Elphaba pretended to yawn while Glinda assessed the fabrics carefully.

"Hmmmm, this one is a cotton candy pink, and this one is a carnation pink!" Glinda decided at last.

"Why not just call it Pink #1 and Pink #2?" Elphaba snickered again. "It's about the same thing."

"Oh no it is not!" Glinda pouted defensively. "There is a very particular and meticulous art to sorting out different shades and I happen to know quite a lot about the matter!" the little blond stuck her nose up in the air proudly.

"Of course you would," Elphaba smirked. "Such a high-class and elegant academic pursuit is sure to-"

"Oh! Just drop it!" Glinda snapped again, but this time, she sounded genuinely upset. "It's not as if you would know anything about color coordination!" she complained, looking at Elphaba's own black and bleak section of the closet with narrowed eyes.

"Well, I clash with everything," Elphaba deadpanned as she looked at her green skin. Glinda scoffed quietly. This was actually not true, and Glinda had even tried to explain it to Elphaba in the past, but that stubborn woman refused to listen. So rather than waste time on another senseless debate, Glinda went back to sorting the closet. With it came a few more snide remarks from Elphaba.

"Honestly, Glinda, would it kill you to wear something different?" Elphaba snickered.

"Pot calling kettle black, much?" Glinda snorted. "Besides, maybe this color has significance for me. You ever think of that?"

"What? That it symbolizes the zenith femininity and class?" Elphaba continued to tease, but Glinda was dead serious when she nodded. Her conviction was strong enough to make Elphaba pause, but before she could ask, Glinda explained.

"As a little girl, I did used to wear more than one color," she began.

"Wish I could've been around to see it. Don't know if I believe you otherwise," Elphaba interrupted with a dry laugh.

"Because I was told by everyone that pink was a girly color," Glinda narrowed her eyes, but kept talking. "Even though I, and all of my friends, were girls, we continued to treat pink as a bad color. A girly color. Because to us, "girly" didn't mean "female", it meant "weak". Being a girl meant being weak, so anything related to girlhood was considered weak vicariously. Because of that, the strong girls never wore pink..."

Glinda trailed off with a bitter expression, the frustration on her face said it all. Elphaba found herself feeling sympathetic. Although she, herself, had never been one for gender roles and rules, even identifying as gender neutral/androgynous (although she didn't mind referring to herself, or letting others refer to her, as a woman), Elphaba began to see where Glinda was coming from. It was indeed notoriously hard to be a woman in society, especially if one was a feminine woman.

Elphaba, herself, had met a handful of girls who turned up their noses at the prospect of being called girly, as if it was the worst insult in all of Oz. But being tough and masculine was lauded as good, powerful and progressive. It was the only thing Elphaba ever had going for her back at home, since she was very far from feminine. But Elphaba had taken this lack of femininity on her part for granted. As Glinda continued to tell her story, that became painfully clear. She was never allowed to feel comfortable being girly, in case she was deemed weak and un-feminist.

So to Glinda, in a way, pink was a symbol of courage. By wearing it, she was saying that even though people might mock her for it, she wouldn't be cowed into submission. Instead, she was going to keep wearing her favorite color even if it drew scorn her way. Pink was, to her, a color of freedom, self-expression and self-love. It was a matter of pride, wearing so much pink. Glinda was making up for lost time.

Elphaba immediately felt bad for all the times she'd ever teased Glinda for enjoying the color so much. Without even meaning to, she'd fallen into the trap of judging others and believing that pink was a "lesser" color just because it was tied to femininity. Not only did that make her a hypocrite, as someone else who was very used to being bullied and judged just based on appearance and fashion, but it was also kind of sexist. If people only disdained the color pink because it was tied with being feminine, well, what did that say about how the world viewed women?

But there was no such thing as a good or right or bad or wrong woman. There was just Woman. And Woman always deserved support, no matter what form she chose to present herself in. Even if Elphaba didn't understand the feminine world, that gave her no right to deride or disdain it. She owed it to Women, and to her own moral code, to support all women, be they masculine, feminine, both, neither, somewhere in between or outside, or someone who was some mix of all of the above.

24 hours later, the two were in the same position as before, only this time, Elphaba had a present for Glinda.

"Really? What is it?!" Glinda eagerly took the parcel from Elphaba's hands. She tore it open and her eyes lit up. It was a large pride flag, but it was all pink! Squealing with glee at the realization that there was a pink pride flag, Glinda wasted no time in donning it like a cape and dancing around the room in ecstasy.

"Elphie! You are the BEST!" she declared, then she jumped right onto Elphaba's bed and kissed her passionately with gratitude. By the time she tore away, returning to dancing around their dorm room like a madwoman, Elphaba was no longer green, but a very dark black, but all she could see was pink. Hmmm, maybe it wasn't that bad of a color after all...

AN: Once again, we begin with Gelphie! Sorry the fic was kinda preachy, but it IS somewhat based on real life. As a kid, I was the type to consider pink a "girly color" in a bad way. Flash forward to now and I realize that was kinda sexist of me.

Besides, anyone who knows their gay history knows that pink has had a very interesting relationship with the entire queer community, and not just because pink is associated with femininity.

And another fun fact, anyone who knows the history of the Pride Flag knows that Gilbert may have gotten inspiration from Judy Garland's "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

(In case you didn't already realize that Oz was super gay, here's even more proof! LOL!)