A/N: Just a little short one-shot... I have to say that Boq is one of my favorite characters in Wicked. In both the book and the musical, in fact. I can sort of empathize with him... being a pushover, I mean. Anyhoo. This takes place in the middle of "Dancing Through Life"... it's just a little look into the mind of our favorite munchkin.

Disclaimer: I'm not Gregory Macguire, and I don't own the rights to Wicked the Musical. I just write fanfiction sometimes. That's all. Don't get confused.

He didn't know what had prompted him to say it.

There he was, watching the girl of his dreams dance her little heart out, standing next to the punch bowl with the sympathy date. The only reason he'd even considered asking Nessa was to gain Galinda's approval. It had been the girl's idea.

Now Boq saw that it had just been a ploy to get the miserable munchkin out of the glamorous blonde's hair for the entire night. And he was mad. Mad at himself that he had been so gullible. Mad at Galinda for being twisted enough to trick him into a date that no person with a conscience would ever be able to back out of. Mad at Fiyero for being so damned perfect. Mad at Elphaba for... Actually, Boq wasn't really sure why he should be mad at Elphaba. But he didn't really have to have a reason; nobody else seemed to have a problem with blaming her for everything.

Ok, so maybe he did know what had prompted him to say it. He had just been standing there, watching perfect, beautiful, shallow Galinda fawn all over the Winkie prince while he was stuck with the imperfect, rather plain, innocent girl in the chair, and something inside of him had snapped. Maybe he was just sick of being the only one angry at Galinda (besides Elphaba, but he was mad at her too, for whatever reason). Maybe he was thirsty for revenge.

Or maybe he was just a decent guy who didn't want to string a poor girl along.

"Uh... Nessa? Listen... there's something I need to tell you."

The wide-eyed girl in the chair looked up at her date, an uncertain smile on her face. "Yes Boq, what is it?"

His palms were sweaty. He wiped them on his pants and cleared his throat. "It's... it's about why... well, why I brought you. As my date. It's because..."

"Because I'm crippled?" Nessa supplied softly. The girl smiled serenely at the flabbergasted munchkin staring down at her. "No need to look so surprised, Boq. I may be naïve, but I'm not stupid. You felt sorry for me, so you asked me to the dance. I don't mind, really." But Boq could see that Nessa did mind; the hurt was evident in the girl's eyes. "So you don't have to stick around any longer, if you want to go dance-"

"No!" The boy looked just as surprised at the word that fell out of his mouth as the girl did, but then he nodded. "No," he repeated with determination, "it wasn't that at all. It was because... uh, because..." Boq glanced wildly around the room, searching for inspiration anywhere he might find it, when his eyes fell on a certain blonde attempting to seduce a certain prince in the middle of the dance floor. He felt his chest burn in anger; so she was perfectly content with making him jealous? Fine. Two could play at that game. "It's because you're absolutely beautiful."

At first, Nessa's gaze was uncertain, but soon all uncertainty faded and turned into joy. "Oh, Boq! You're so wonderful!" she gushed. "We were just made for each other, I know it!" She reached out to grasp Boq's right hand and laced her fingers with his.

Part of Boq's mind was screaming at him, berating him for being a liar and a cad. Who was he to toy with the poor girl's feelings? She'd find out sooner or later that he didn't really love her at all! But another part of his mind felt really good. Especially when he glanced over at Galinda and saw that she was staring at his and Nessa's interlaced fingers with a frown on her face. That part of his mind was reveling in the fact that maybe, just maybe, Galinda was jealous. That maybe she was upset that she had lost an admirer. And with that on his mind, Boq turned his head to look back at Nessa. "Come on," he suggested boldly as he wheeled the star-struck girl out onto the ballroom floor. "Let's dance." The munchkin felt his heart swell with pride as he saw the frown on Galinda's face deepen before she twirled away violently and continued dancing with Fiyero. It was an amazing feeling, payback.

The boy forced himself to ignore the twinge of guilt in the back of his mind as he pushed Nessa around the dance floor. It would all be over soon, he reminded himself. Nessa would grow out of her crush soon enough.