A/N: Hey everyone!

So it's been quiiite a while since I've been on here, and oh…how I've missed it. Blame it on school. I took on wayyy too crazy of a course load apparently, and that combined with the fact that any time normally spent writing for fun became time writing college essays...well, let's just say, free time hasn't been much of a commodity in my life. Blech. BUT I'M BACK! *fires confetti cannon* So this little idea was loosely inspired by listening to Coldplay's new(ish) song Ink—I grew kind of attached to the idea of carving names into things. It was supposed to be a drabble, but they just kept talking and now I don't even know what it is…just roll with it. It's also pretty cheesy and the fluff got a little out of hand, but hey—what's fanfic if not incredibly cheesy? Anyway, please enjoy! :D

Disclaimer: I greenified myself for Halloween, does that count? It should (especially since I swear there's still green in my ears and I can't get it off it's insane). But alas, I'll admit it…I don't own Wicked.

"I wish we could stay here forever."

"Me too."

It felt nice to be in love. And perhaps even better than that was the knowledge that the person in question loved you in return; there was such a happy warmth about the whole idea of it. A warmth that was independent from that of the little fire crackling at their feet, and a warmth that kept radiating stronger even after those material embers had dimmed into dust.

They'd just been sitting there for hours, using some vast and stately Quoxwood tree as a backrest, and seemingly paralyzed by the fear that a wrong shift could send the whole thing tumbling. Her head lay comfortably against his chest, and he had his arms gently wrapped around her own frame; statuesque, serene, and quite perfect. Altogether too cliché from an observer's standpoint—but that wasn't a problem in the isolated Gillikin woods, anyway.

She started laughing.

"What is it?"

"I feel like a schoolgirl."

"Well, considering you technically should still be one right now, I'm not gonna try and stop you."

She started tracing his fingers with her own. "Honestly, I feel like more of a schoolgirl now than I ever did back at school."

He chuckled a little. "Only a little less homework, right?"

"Right."

"Not that that's a problem."

"Ha. Not for you, Yero."

Smiling, he started playing with the loose ends of her hair; she leaned back into him even closer and sighed. "The fire's dying."

"Well, I can't get up to fix it. I'm comfortably stuck."

"It's okay, I got it." With a quick wave and puff of smoke, it was set alight once more; he shook his head, laughing softly.

"You never cease to amaze me."

"Oh, if only everything was as easy as lighting a fire…"

"Hey, here's no need to brag about it."

"Yeah, yeah. I think you're just jealous."

"Hmm."

"Don't worry—you've got you're own kind of magic." He raised an eyebrow. "Like, I dunno...how about the way your hair manages to stay so perfect, even in the middle of the forest. That's true sorcery."

"What are you implying?"

"I'm just impressed, that's all. Whatever you put in it lasts—"

"Wait, are you saying that I put stuff in my hair?"

"Are you saying that you don't?"

"Guys don't put stuff in their hair, Fae."

"You're such a liar!"

"Only Glinda does things like that—"

"Oh, then why is it so shiny right there?"

"I don't know, maybe it's the light of the fire or something..."

"Just admit it, Fiyero. You can't make a secret like that last forever."

You can't make a secret last forever…or can you? Instead of replying, he suddenly grinned widely and sat up with a start. "Wait. I've got an idea."

Reaching into his uniform pockets, he pulled out a small, unimposing dagger—probably some rudimentary method of defense for the Gale Force crew. Elphaba furrowed her eyebrows.

"What are you doing?"

"Something to satisfy your inner schoolgirl." After shifting slightly to face the tree behind him, he cautiously lifted the blade to the old bark. Elphaba was perplexed; he couldn't be vandalizing some random tree in the middle of nowhere without due cause. But after a glance at the line he started chiseling and an observation of the current circumstances, it finally clicked.

"Wow…you're really going to do that."

He smiled mischievously. "Why not? It's symbolic."

"But won't it hurt the tree?"

"Nah, it's only bad if you carve it all the way around. Trust me, I did this all the time as a kid."

She snorted. "If you say so." She sat to watch him begin to carve, wincing slightly as the soft wood was cut away from the bark in a quick, jabbing fashion. He stabbed harshly into the trunk.

"Hey, what'd that poor tree ever do to you?"

"I'm not hurting it, I'm immortalizing it." He chopped into it again, sending a few errant shavings flying.

She smiled. "Yeah, okay, so its life was completely useless until you decided to stab it's skin and watch it's guts fly everywhere, merely so that it could be 'symbolic?'"

"Well..." He lowered the knife from its point of incision. "When you put it that way..."

"Hey, I'm just teasing, Yero." She touched his arm, vaguely aware of the realization that they had only been together for so long, and that neither really had a good idea as to what they were doing. "The real reason is much more ridiculous."

"Ridiculous or not, it's already started—there's no point in sacrificing this poor tree's bark for nothing."

"Oh, you'd better finish it. I demand to see the finished product."

"In that case, you can't look until it's done."

"Oh, so I can't make fun of you when you add an extra line..." Yet despite her sarcasm, she obediently closed her eyes and laid her head on his lap; for a while silence took over, save for that rhythmic tapping of the dagger on wood. She could sense herself drifting in and out of consciousness, very much against her will—but then again, perhaps she needed sleep after a day so different from the ones she'd been leading for the past few years. After some moments passed in this mental state, she was abruptly awakened by a gentle hand on her shoulder and a not-so-gentle exclamation in her ear.

"Hey, I'm done! Do you want to see?"

She sat up, letting him take her hand in the process. She smiled as she saw it there, etched in crude block lettering on the trunk of the tree: "Yero + Fae."

"Oz, if that's not the cheesiest thing I've ever seen, I don't know what is."

"Personally, I'm rather proud of it."

"It's got a nice aesthetic, I'll admit. Quite artistic, with an organic flair..."

"Hey, I'm trying to be romantic here. I don't have a lot to work with in the middle of a forest."

She laughed, falling into him once more. "Fair point." Reaching her arm out, she traced the grooves of the words on the rough bark; he softly placed his own hand on her back.

"Now we really will be here forever."

"Or a couple hundred years, at least."

"Same difference."

She laughed in return, and he kissed the top of her head. After a few moment's reflection, she frowned subtly.

"Fiyero?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm afraid."

"Hmm? Of what, love?"

"The future." She paused, twirling her hair softly with her finger. "Our future."

"Elphaba..." He shifted slightly to face her, placing his hand to her cheek. "I...I won't pretend I'm not just as scared. And I know that nobody is 'born to be together' or whatever, but...what we have is special. And no matter what happens, we'll find each other. I'm sure of it. I love you, Fae." He paused to trace the subtle smile growing on her lips with his finger. "Besides, our names are carved together now—we're bound for eternity."

This loosened her up once more. "You sure take a lot of stock into that wood carving, don't you."

"It's symbolism, Fae! You don't mess around with that."

Laughing softly, she buried her face into his chest. "I don't deserve you."

"No, love." He smiled, stroking her cheek softly with his thumb. "I don't deserve you."

Diminutively reaching out, she traced the carving once more; it lit up, pulsing and glowing. "Bound for eternity..." As she let her hand fall, the magic gleaming vanished. "Do you really believe that?"

"Every word."

Her rationale found that hard to believe. What force could possibly bring two people together under such complicated circumstances, and then just threaten to break them apart at whim? An eternity was such an abstract concept to follow; everything about it was empty and unreachable. But then again, they had been reunited after all this time—and that surely meant something, right?.

As they sat there, huddled by the light of the fire and resting on the side of that solemn Quoxwood, it was hard to imagine anything beyond the two of them. Perhaps this was what eternity was, after all; a snapshot of happiness that couldn't be dissolved, even if the world around them did. There was no telling what might happen in the days to come, or what forces might sweep in and blow away this little oasis they'd found together. But that began to seem irrelevant, for by lying there, under the omniscient moon and open sky, something remained clear: they were together now. And that, for all it was worth, was enough to last them for more than a lifetime.