Disclaimer: I still don't own Wicked :(

"What did you say the name was again?"

Fiyero shifted his gaze from his hands to the small man behind the counter. Half-munchkin, it looked like, with a face lined with age and a long greying moustache taking pride of place above his top lip.

"E-elpaba." Fiyero stumbled. He could feel the cool metal against his skin as he spoke. "They'll only be room for the 'E' I think."

The man leaned over the counter as Fiyero layed his hand down onto it, the silver gleaming like a diamond against his pale palm. Diamonds, he suddenly thought. Would she have prefered diamonds? He internally scolded himself for not thinking this through properly.

No. Diamonds are gaudy. Elphaba likes modest.

"Yes." The man considered. "Yes I think you're right." He paused and admired it a little longer. "It's a beautiful locket. For your girlfrie-?"

"I hope so." Fiyero interrupted, cringing at the word 'girlfriend'. She wouldn't like that word, he didn't think. She'd be his...partner? No, that didn't fit either. Well, whatever they'd be, they'd be happy; he was sure of it. If only it weren't for Galinda (or Glinda, as of that morning.)

"Pass it over then." The man chuckled. "I should have the engraving done by the end of the day."

His tanned hands trembled as he passed the locket into the man's shrivelled one. It suddenly struck him how un...-him he was acting. Well...he supposed he was either acting entirely himself or like someone utterly different. He wasn't sure he knew the difference anymore. Not since she'd come along to confuse him, to tell him things that he'd been too afraid to admit to himself. And now that she'd spotted the cracks in his facade, they seemed impossible for the prince to ignore any longer. Only, he couldn't quite tell where the cracks ended and he began.

"Well a beautiful locket for a beautiful girl."

"Yes." Fiyero mused."She's extraordinarily beautiful."

He left the shop with an optimistic smile. He was taking a risk, he knew that. He didn't think she'd say yes. And, of course, there would be the break up with Ga- Glinda first. No doubt there'd be tears on her part, but she'd recover. She'd convince another brainless boy to spend his freetime with her within days. He pushed back the pang of guilt that came with that thought: of course she'd find someone else. And then, if by some miracle Elphaba accepted his gift, she and him would be...together. Not boyfriend and girlfriend, perhaps, but together.

He wondered what she'd be like as a not-girlfriend. He couldn't imagine her doing any of the things that Galinda did. They wouldn't go to parties, and she certainly wouldn't drag him round shops to show him the most 'fabuloshous' outfits.

They might go on walks. He grinned at the notion; her slender fingers wrapped around his, feet and hearts moving in perfect unison. And she'd smile. That enchanting smile that he'd caught her flashing when he'd walked in on her packing for the Emerald City. Or the sweet, shy smile that he didn't know existed until that morning when he'd handed her those poppies. God, he didn't know a set of teeth could be made to look so gorgeous.

He wondered if she might kiss him. Just the idea of their lips touching was enough to send his heart reeling, so that it felt like a thousand butterflies were breaking their way out of his chest. But then he thought about the way she'd stiffened after that glorious moment with the lion cub when their hands touched. She wasn't the type for intimacy. Nonetheless, he held onto the hope that he might at least get to spend more time with her, have more of those breathtaking moments.

He'd just have to wait until she came back.