A/N: As always, a big thank you to reviewers. You rock!

This drabble (more of a one-shot, really) is bookverse. Thought you should know before reading. It doesn't contain spoilers though.

Disclaimer: Not mine. 'Wicked' belongs to Gregory Maguire.


005. Outsides.

Gardens and pear trees

"Oh, Master Boq! How nice of you to join me today!" started Elphaba.

It wasn't the bitterness in her voice that startled him – he was quite used to it by now – but her rather sincere tone. The munchkin got up from the solid floor (where he had previously landed from the much tall tree) and incorporated himself into the conversation. "Ah, Miss Elphaba. I didn't see you from up there."

"I suppose you didn't, did you?" she was sitting on a white bench, her knees drawn up to her chest, and her head so immersed in a book that Boq could not make the outline of her face. She was still wearing her apron, he noticed – she had probably just finished collecting her fresh lettuces. Boq hadn't quite mastered his falling yet, but he had at least learned not to fall on her little (but abundant) garden; the pear tree was bound to suffer in the meanwhile, though.

She hadn't graced him with her scornful sight, however, for she hadn't even bothered to look up. He smiled an awkward smile and finished brushing the remaining rubbish from his clothes.

"To what do I owe your delightful presence?" she asked.

"In fact –"

"Oh, yes. I should've known. You're hoping to catch a glimpse of dear Miss Galinda, perhaps? Or is it that we're studying the height of trees and its relation with the law of gravity today?" Boq scowled at the last.

"You can be crude sometimes."

"Believe what you must." She answered him; though he could catch a small smile forming on her lips. "Anyway, my dear munchkin, our beloved Miss Galinda is away at the moment. I would have thought you knew that already, being such a devoted stalker. You disappoint me, really." The ironic tone offended Boq, but only in the most superficial kind of way.

"I am not a stalker!" he protested. Elphaba only smirked and looked at him for the first time since his tacky, unseemly landing. Boq made a face and moved to sit next to Elphaba.

"May I join you for a brief time?" he asked innocently.

"But of course!" she over exclaimed, and he noticed.

"Miss Elphaba –"

"– I told you to drop the formalities, Boq, they are of no use –"

He sighed. "Fine, Elphaba," he continued, "if you must know why I'm here, it isn't because of Miss Galinda –"

"Is that so?" the question was direct, though not full of derision as he might have expected it to be.

"Yes." He said simply. "I came to accompany you; that is, if you let me."

There was a pause, in which she seemed to be thinking. Then, she asked, "Have the boys gone out?"

"Well, yes –"

"Of course. Well, I suppose you can stay all the same; it doesn't harm anyone, does it?" she turned to her book, and a moment passed before he dared speak again.

"Aren't we going to talk?"

"Well, you can talk. I will read." And then she smiled. He didn't know why, but he returned the gesture with a smile of his own. They both fell into a comfortable silence, and Elphaba returned to her reading. Every friendship started somewhere, he thought; this one started in a garden, next to a pear tree.


A/N: I rather liked this one; I hope you did too. Please leave some feedback or review. Thank you!