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Chapter Text

The group had settled down for the night, a stream near the yellow brick road. The young girl, and her dog toto quickly retired to their slumber. Leaving the two queerly made men in each other's company for the remainder of the night. Neither had a good read on the other yet, however they both found themselves quite intrigued by the other.

“So, whatever do you suppose we do until they wake up my metal comrade?” the straw man said, breaking the comfortable silence the two had been enjoying for the past while.
“Well, I suppose they must need sustenance, when I was still a human man I remember it being quite important, so perhaps we find them something to eat and drink for the morning” the man made completely of metal replied to his new friend's query

“That is a splendid idea my friend!” the scarecrow replied with new found vigor. Attempting to stand before falling once again to the forest floor. “Oof-”

“Oh my dear, are you alright?” the tin man asked, as he helped the straw man up

“Oh I'm very alright, just not very balanced that's all! Perhaps a brain may help with that!” he smiled at the tin man. “Now, let's go find some food, it shouldn't be all that hard!”

“Well, shall we go my friend?” The metal man offered an arm for the Scarecrow to hold on for stability, which the Scarecrow took with a smile.

“We shall” the Scarecrow replied, the two began to search in the forest. finding various food items, mostly fruit, even a few vegetables when they were lucky! After a few hours of searching, and a lot of conversation between the two. They felt their connected interest in the other slowly but surely deepening, it felt eerily... familiar. Though neither man said it aloud, They could both sense the strange feeling of deja vu.

“Say my friend, I know we've only met recently but it feels as if it's been for much longer, even though I haven't been off my pole before this.” The scarecrow said, still holding onto the tin man's arm for stability.

“I was thinking the same thing my friend, though I believe I'd remember meeting a living Scarecrow before” the tin man teased in reply lightheartedly, holding the Scarecrow up as they walked back to the campsite where the rest of their group was still sleeping.

The Scarecrow let out a soft laugh at his new friend's teasing “yes, well I suppose that's true my friend”

“I do hope this is enough for Dorothy and toto” the tin man said, referring to the food they'd collected.

“I'm sure it will be, and if not we can always find more!” The scarecrow said, his cheerful optimism might have annoyed the tin man if he didn't find the other man so delightful to be around.

Since he lost his heart he's felt almost like a different person. the socially awkward munchkin boy, and his fiery locks of hair had disappeared. Along with his heart seemingly in a moment, then again, he wasn't himself when he had lost his heart was he? Just a shell of a man, he wished he could blame nessarose for it all.

Yet he found himself still defending her at times, even when he hadn't meant to. She was cruel and wicked to him and all of munchkinland, just like elph- the witch was to the entirety of oz. he should have found it easy to hate her, to hate both of them. To hate fiyero, he'd helped the witch, he was a traitor.

Yet he couldn't truly hate the witch or fiyero. it was a different feeling than how he felt about nessarose, she had made him powerless, unable to leave. He could hate elphaba, or convince himself he did. She had done this to him after all. Fiyero had helped her escape, and now no one knew where he was. Though the tin man knew what had happened to his old friend, his screams were as clear as the current night sky. He still couldn't bring himself to hate fiyero, especially with the memory of his screams still fresh in his mind.

“Tin man?” The scarecrow’s voice interrupted his thoughts

“Huh- oh, yes ?” he said, shaking himself out of his thoughts.

“I've been trying to get your attention for a few minutes now my friend” the scarecrow said, sounding concerned. “Are you alright?”

“I just got lost in my thoughts my friend, I'm alright” the tin man replied, trying to assure his worried friend.

“If you say so… we've returned to the campsite if you didn't realize my friend, I would guess we still have a few hours till the rest of them awake” the scarecrow informed him.

“It seems so, I suppose we could spend the rest of that time talking”

“I would like that, talking to you is one of the utmost joys I have experienced”

“I can most definitely say the same for you my dear friend, I have never known anyone I enjoy simply just being around, even if it is sitting with you in silence”

“Tin man?”

“Yes my friend?”

“What they're doing, it looks pleasant, I would like to try it with you”he said, referring to the cuddling forms of Dorothy and toto. The young girl was laying on a makeshift bed the scarecrow had created with toto in her arms.

“You mean cuddling?” the tin man asked.

“Yes, I'd like to try it with you” the Scarecrow said simply in reply, as if it was a casual thing he was saying.

“.. alright, though I must warn you it may not be very comfortable with my cold, rough tin body” the metal man warned.

“Oh nonsense! I'm sure you will be just fine” The Scarecrow said, obviously not agreeing with the tin man's statement

“Well alright then” the tin man said before laying against a log, he was joined by the Scarecrow who rested his head on his chest. He wrapped his metal arm around him, trying to be as gentle with the straw man as he could. The two men stayed like this until the rest of their group awoke, even then they were reluctant to part.

Chapter Text

The next day of their journey had quickly come and gone, then once again it was night. Dorothy, and toto having already retired to sleep as they had the past nights, leaving the tin man, along with the Scarecrow to talk. While waiting for their companions to awake, and for dawn to arrive they talked about everything and nothing in between, and when they ran out they sat in silence until a new topic arose. Their current topic was flowers, as the Scarecrow noticed how find the tin man was of them.

“Well, I couldn't possibly choose a favorite flower, they're all so unique! However I am quite partial to poppies and tulips, especially tulips. They remind me of when I was a young boy.” the tin man said, the scarecrow was about to reply when he thought of something, or the closest to what having a thought could be without a brain.

“Tin man, were you a munchkin?”

“Yes, actually..how did you figure that out?”

“The tulips, I noticed a lot in munchkinland so I put two and two together” the Scarecrow lied, but the truth could give away that he was not always a Scarecrow as he so claimed. The true reason he had asked was because he was reminded of an old friend, one he hadn't seen in nearly half a decade now. Boq had always liked tulips, all flowers really but that was just a coincidence, right? There wasn't a reason to get his hopes up, especially when he had things to focus on- his train of thought was interrupted by the tin man speaking once again

“What about you my dearest, Scarecrow?”

“Hm? Oh- yes flowers.. well I was always partial to poppies as well, or daffodils.”

Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by sobbing coming from the young girl Dorothy, making both of the men's focus go to her.

“Dorothy, what's wrong?” The tin man asked, to which she buried herself in their arms. “It's alright there's nothing to be frightened of, we'll protect you” the Scarecrow assured her, the two men comforted her until she was able to finally say what had happened.

“I had an awful dream, it was about that terrible cyclone and auntie em- I dreamt that I never got back home” the little girl had started to cry once more
“It's alright Dorothy, we'll find a way to get you home, we promise” the Scarecrow said, as he and the tin man were rocking her softly.
“No matter what we have to do,” the tin man added. Then for the rest of the night the two men held Dorothy as she slept, silently enjoying the other's company so as to not wake the young girl.

The next morning they resumed their journey, as they walked, a black puff of smoke appeared in the air, which within was the wicked witch of the West, or as the two men knew her, elphaba.
“Helping the young girl along now, are you my fine gentleman?” She said in a mocking tone, her eyes briefly making contact with the scarecrow.

“Why don't you just give me back those shoes you little brat? And get that wretched rope off that poor Dog!”
“I a..already told you miss, I can't take off these shoes, glinda the good witch told me specifically not too! And toto needs a leash. I'm afraid he'll run off!” Dorothy tried to explain to the witch, however it seemingly only made her angrier.
“Oh you little-” she was about to say before the tin man interrupted her
“You truly are a wicked woman! Terrorizing a small girl only for your own good!” the tin man seemed to have personal issues with the witch- elphaba, the scarecrow noted. He should ask him about that sometime.

“Be quiet tin man, or I'll make a beehive out of you!”
“Well there's no need to be so threatening-” the scarecrow attempts to intervene, before interrupted by elphaba
“oh really? What if I stuff a mattress with you Scarecrow!” she said, before a ball of fire appeared out of her hand.
Who knew elphaba would be into that- the scarecrow thought to himself before he immediately had multiple balls of fire thrown at him, and his leg was set on fire. So he had a rational reaction, screaming in terror and falling over. The tin man was the first to react, quickly trying to put out the fire, which he succeeded at. During all of this the witches cackle could be heard before she declared
“I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” Before promptly disappearing in the same manner she'd arrived.

Dorothy was left quite shaken, even the scarecrow was shaken, although for completely different reasons. Why had elphaba set him on fire was the main question running through his foggy mind, a feeling of hurt accompanying it. Did she not recognize him? Did she hate him now? The most terrifying of all was, ‘what if she truly is wicked, like everyone says’. A thought he quickly pushed aside, she must have a good reason, she always did. He assured himself, then stood up.

“Beehive out of me?” The tin man said, sounding quite offended. “Well, I'll make sure you get to the wizard, whether I get a heart or not!” He declared, then followed by the scarecrow.
“And I'll make sure you get home, whether I get a brain or not! Stuff a mattress with me? I'd like to see her try.” He assured the young girl, before picking her basket up. Then the three continued their journey, into the deeper parts of the forest.
“We better be careful, I've heard there's lions and tigers and bears in this forest” the tin man comments, seemingly scaring Dorothy and earning him a warning look from scarecrow to which he gave an apologetic look too.
“Lions and tigers and bears..? Oh my..” Dorothy whispered worriedly, picking up toto and holding him closer. There was shuffling from the bushes, before a roar was heard and a lion jumped out at them. Scarecrow jumped, he strangely recognized the lion…it was then he realized he also recognized the forest they were in. his thoughts were very quickly and rudely interrupted by the lion pouncing on him.

Chapter Text

The Scarecrow let out a scream, closely followed by his companions. The lion was growing, and attempting to roar, though it sounded more like a ruff from a dog. The Scarecrow was still screaming and the tin man snapped into action distracting the large cat by taunting him. The lion turned to the tin man, about to pounce when he saw the small dog toto, so he started to stalk it, like a predator with its prey, but just as he was about to attempt to strike Dorothy picked toto up and smacked him.
“You leave him alone! Picking on such a small creature at your big size!” She reprimands. The lion started to cry, wailing out “well you didn't have to go and hit me did you? I wasn't gonna bite him!” He said as he continued to wail.

“Why, you're nothing more than a great big coward!” Dorothy said bluntly, to which the lion nodded in agreement. “It's true, I ain't got no courage at all, even my tail frightens me” he said pitifully. Suddenly Dorothy got an idea “say, lion why don't you come join us? We're off to see the wonderful wizard of Oz, I'm sure he could get you some courage!” she declared, to which the lion replied, “oh, well..I suppose so, as long as it's not too scary”.

The scarecrow looked down, he suddenly realized that the lion had taken the straw and fabric from one of his legs. Seemingly the tin man noticed at the same time, as he began to scold the lion for harming the scarecrow.
“My friend it's alright, I did not feel anything, though now I have to fix my leg, which I'm not very sure how to do” he admits, causing the tin man to get an idea. “Dorothy, do you have any spare fabric with you by chance?” the tin man asked, to which Dorothy answered
“I have this scarf, will that work?” She said, after looking in her basket, holding the scarf out, along with thread and needle having caught onto tin man's idea.
“Yes that'll work perfectly” the tin man smiled down at her, ruffling her hair to which she giggled at and pushed his hands away with not very much effort.
The tin man, now with the supplies, sat next to the Scarecrow, beginning to see him up, then refilling him, then finished sewing him up.
“Thank you tin man” he smiled, “I'm good as new now thanks to you!” He said, and the tin man replied with,
“oh, it was no trouble, I just wanted to help you, my dearest, companion,” he said, helping the Scarecrow up. When the scarecrow showed difficulty walking, the tin man declared that he would carry him until nightfall.
“Oh tin man you don't have to- woah!” His words were interrupted by the tin man literally sweeping him off his feet into a bridal carry.
“Nonsense, you're practically no heavier than a couple of grapes” he said and the scarecrow replied,
“Well you are very strong tin man, so alright”.

And off the group went to see the “wonderful” wizard of oz, Scarecrow was truly getting tired of hearing the wizard be called wonderful at every turn. He'd gotten much more of enough of the wizard in the past five years after all, so he'd rather not hear about him anymore. However he had to stick to the plan, he couldn't leave poor Dorothy alone either. He'd also grown quite the connection with the tin man, hopefully the two would stay in contact when this whole mess was finally over with.

They continued their journey until night reached, and they stopped again for the night. The group retired to bed, leaving the straw man and man made of tin to talk, which they did. Whispered conversations of nothing and everything in between, near the crackling fire, with a night sky full of diamonds.

“Tin man, I've wondered, how did you..become a tin man?” The scarecrow asked, the conversation getting more personal.
“Well, I suppose it's time I tell someone isn't it.. as you know I used to be a munchkin man, one day as I was working I had the misfortune of running into the wicked witch of the West, and she cursed me to be the tin man you see before you, along with my heart” he explained. The Scarecrow listened, silently noting to himself to ask Elphaba if she had in fact done that, and who the tin man was. He couldn't help but get a wave of nostalgia from being around the tin man, the question was, why?
“Well, for a man without a heart you seem to care quite deeply for people,” the scarecrow said, leaning against the tin man's chest.
“You always see the best in everyone don't you my dear companion?” the tin man said, wrapping his arms around the straw man softly.
“I try my best, my friend,” the scarecrow replied.

“I wasn't expecting to care this deeply for you so fast” The Scarecrow admits, to which the tin man replied
“I would agree, I've come to care very deeply for you even without my heart, it almost feels as if I have it back when I'm around you”
If the scarecrow could physically blush, he most certainly would be at the moment.
“You make me feel like I have a brain when I'm around you..You're the sweetest man I know, tin man” he said in a soft voice, before he pressed a soft kiss to the side of the tin man's face. The softness of scarecrow and the toughness of the tin man, despite being quite the opposite fit against each other perfectly. The tin man was a little surprised, however he only smiled and held the scarecrow closer in his arms. which the Scarecrow gladly accepted, laying his straw head on the tin chest of the man in front of him. The two sat there until morning, enjoying the other's presence as they seemed to do every night.

Chapter Text

Boq walked through the mansion, when he heard the ring of a bell. He walked to the room Nessarose was in
"Yes madame?"
"You know you're supposed to call me Nessarose." Nessarose attempted to reach out and take his hand, he flinched away.
"What do you need from me madame?" He said in a emotionless tone.
"..tea, two sugars." She said holding his hand, well it was more of his wrist she was holding. Her grip was tighter than was necessary, if not borderline painful. After a minute of silence, after her grip got tighter, she let go. Boq walked away, the suffocating feeling he felt slowly getting a small amount better the farther he walked away from the governor.

He began to prepare her tea, his mind wandering to Fiyero. He didn't hear much from any news outside of munchkinland since nessarose took over, so he wasn't sure what Fiyero was doing now. After Elphaba's...rebellion, Fiyero had disappeared in the middle of the night. Boq's memories went blurred after that point. He finished her tea, and put two sugars in as she asked, however a feeling of helplessness and rage filled him. So he spit in her tea, a small act of rebellion, one she'd never know of. of course, but even small acts were better than nothing at all. He walked back, handing her the tea.

"Is that all madame?" He said, refusing to even look at her, the cold, obsessive woman next to him was a far cry from the kind, social girl he'd met in shiz. "Stay with me." she said, sounding almost desperately, "you know I need you with me boq, If you left me I don't think I could go on." Boq felt himself deflate, the guilt of resenting her hitting him from her words,even know deep down he knew he was justified in it. She then grabbed his hand roughly. "You won't leave. You can't leave." She said coldly, the look in her eyes scared Boq. "Yes madame." He said in a quiet voice.
"I don't want you going any farther than 30 feet from me at all times boq, you know I need you." Nessarose said, a obsessive and desperate tone in her voice.

"I know madame." Boq replied in a shaking voice, partially from the repressed anger, and the pain from her tight grip on his hand.
"You know I love you boq, we deserve eachother. We were meant to be." She said, looking up at him, he still wasn't looking at her. "..may I go back to the servants quarters madame?" Boq said, trying to ignore her statement.
"Fine. Don't go for too long my sweet boq." She said in a sickly sweet tone, one that made boq feel ill.

Boq had to pull his hand out of hers, before walking to the servants quarters. He went into the small room with multiple beds, laying down on one. He let out a shuddering breath, tears fell down his face. He hated what his life had become, he couldn't help but think of what things were like at shiz, when things were simpler. He held the thin pillow, if it could even be called that. He felt completely and utterly trapped, he even missed his parents. Which was ironic, considering they didn't even notice when he left for shiz in the first place. Eventually he passed out on the bed, both from pure exhaustion, and from crying himself to sleep.

Fiyero walked into the Wizard's office, he wasn't sure how long it'd been since he joined the emerald guard. Although joined implies that he had much of a choice in the manner, along with living in the emerald palace. He'd only ever left the palace either to continue the search for Elphaba, or for the irritating PR stunts Madame Morrible arranged.
"Oh, you're here. Have you got any updates on the witch's hiding place?" The Wizard asked him.
"No your ozness, nothing new."
"Oh its alright, I know you've been trying my boy." The Wizard replied, in a faux fatherly tone, putting a hand on fiyero's shoulder.

"Don't touch me." Fiyero blurted out, and the Wizard's faux fatherly demeanor faded.
"What?" The Wizard replied, Fiyero felt himself shrink, but kept his stance.
"I said don't touch m-" his words were interrupted by a harsh grip on his chin, and the Wizard was practically radiating rage.
"I am the Wizard of Oz, I'll touch anything I want." He said in a stern tone. "Do you understand?"
"You don't have a right to do whatever you want just because Oz fell for your act-"
A blow hit Fiyero's face, hard enough that he fell to the ground.

"You little shit." The Wizard grabbed him by his collar. "I get you a high ranking job under me, I let you live with me in a lavish palace, and you want for nothing, and you repay me with this behavior?" The Wizard held him by his throat, his grip squeezing, enough to be painful, and restrict Fiyero's breathing.
"You're a fraud-" Fiyero choked out. "A pathetic man who gets off by having power over anyone he deams lesser than him."
The Wizard did not appreciate the boy's words, and threw him against the wall with full force.
"Are you going to apologize or do I need to use different methods?"

"Do your worst." He looked up at him defiantly. The Wizard didn't seem to appreciate his tone, and in a fit of rage he grabbed the fireplace poker, from the fireplace, and burnt the OZ logo into Fiyero's leg. Fiyero screamt out in pain, as tears began running down his face, he hyperventilates as he tried to form words through the intense pain.

"I'm sorry- I was just being dramatic I'm sorry-
"Good, i knew you'd see reason." The Wizard said in a a faux caring and fatherly tone.
"You know it hurts me just as much as it hurts you when I have to remind you of your place." the Wizard said, helping Fiyero up as if he felt guilty about his previous actions.
"I know" Fiyero said softly tears fell as he limped, the pain was so intense he could barely comprehend what was even happening anymore. His determination to fight back having been broken down once again as it had been many times. Then the usual disassociation kicked in, as the world around him and everything in it faded away, his thoughts floating back to shiz, and Boq, Oh how he missed him.

Chapter Text

The Tin Man broke the silence.

"My dear friend, did you just…kiss me?"

"I suppose I did; is that alright?" The scarecrow asked in reply. The tin man gave a curt nod.

"I didn't mind it," he replied.

The sun had started to rise, and their companions slowly awoke. The group resumed their journey to the Emerald City, skipping along the yellow brick road.

"Tin man, scarecrow, you sure do seem to be in good spirits today!" Dorothy commented, noticing how close the men stood together and had their arms intertwined.

"Oh, we're just excited to see the wizard!" The scarecrow lied through his teeth; the girl didn't need to know the mess she had been unfortunately caught in. Of course the Tin Man didn't seem to know either, nor the Lion. Speaking of the lion, the scarecrow had recently realized that he had met the lion before; of course, the lion didn't realize, as he was only a cub when he and Elphaba had saved him from Professor Nikidik.

He also felt so comfortable around the tin man, as if they'd known each other much longer than just the few weeks of traveling... The man's eyes brought him briefly back to Shiz, late nights of dancing in the Oz dust, unruly ginger hair, and the dorky boy he'd known. Of course it was just a coincidence; brown eyes were very common. Nothing more to it; he was just being hopeful once again. His thoughts were interrupted by the tin man himself.

"Once we do get to the Emerald City, I do wonder if we'll have to do something in return for him," the Tin Man ponders aloud.

"Oh…I just hope it's not anything too frightening—" the Lion, well, Brrr, said, shuddering.

Their journey continues, and they reach a field of poppies. The scarecrow was briefly reminded of that day in class, when Elphaba had made their entire class fall asleep. The group realized how close they were to the Emerald City, Dorothy exclaimed.

"We're almost there! Oh, let's run!" The young girl said excitedly, and her companions followed, however scarecrow and tin man noticed around half way through the poppy field the girl had grown quite tired, along with toto and the lion. Toto had already fallen asleep; Dorothy quickly followed, and then the lion.

"It's the wicked witch!" The tin man yelled, "Oh, what do we do?" He said in a distressed voice and began to cry.

"My friend, don't cry, you'll rust again," the scarecrow said in a worried tone. After a few minutes, mostly filled with panic, it began to snow, which only rusted the tin man more; however, it woke the three up. After the scarecrow dried the tin man and re-oiled him, they were on their way and quickly made their way to the Emerald City after some convincing. Then they were welcomed into the city and quickly put into salons and made "presentable" to see the wizard.

As they were about to make their way in, the witch's signature cackle could be heard from the sky. They looked up, and a message was written across the sky.

"SURRENDER DOROTHY," which quickly sent the citizens into a panic. The group, however, walked to the gates of the wizard's palace.

"We're here to see the wizard!" Dorothy said tothe man outside the gate.

"Nobody can see the great Oz! No one," the guard said in reply.

"But she's Dorothy!" The tin man argues; this seemed to change the guard's mind, so he walked in and returned a few minutes later.

"The great Oz says he will not see you," he said briskly, and Dorothy, who moments ago had been so excited to go home, began to cry. "Oh, now I'll never get home…" The Scarecrow and the Tin Man both hugged her. "I never appreciated Aunt Em or Uncle Henry, and now I'll never see them again." She said in a tearful tone, and this seemed to break the guard, as he soon declared that he would convince the wizard to see them. Sure enough, a few minutes later, they were escorted inside into a large throne room. The scarecrow recognized it, and he hated it; flashes of his past with the wizard played in his mind. He didn't even notice how he shook, then the wizard's voice boomed.

"I am Oz. The great and terrible, why do you seek me?"

Dorothy stepped up first. "I am…Dorothy the small and meek—I wish to go back home…"

Then the tin man, who overexplained slightly but eventually got to his wish of having a heart once again, and then it was the scarecrow's turn. He hated having to ask for help or be there at all, but he spoke of wanting a brain. Then the lion approached but quickly fainted before even managing to say anything.

The wizard's voice boomed once more.

"I will grant you your heart's desires after you kill the wicked witch of the west and bring her broom to me so that I will know that she is dead."

"But—" the tin man attempted to speak.

"Silence! "Now go," the wizard's voice boomed, and the group quickly listened, along with the Lion, who'd only woken up moments prior.

To their surprise, a large group awaits them, all yelling about killing the witch and wishing them luck. Suddenly, anger overtook the Tin Man at everything she'd done to him and Oz, at everything Nessarose had done. So he yelled out:

"This isn't just a service to Oz; I have a personal score to settle with Elpha...with the witch! It's due to her I'm made of tin! Her spell made this occur! So for once I'm glad I'm heartless; I'll be heartless killing her! And…I'm not the only one." He looks at the lion. "Come on! Come on!" The Lion cowered away. The Scarecrow was shocked at the Tin Man's words; the man had been so sweet and kind before, so why was he so angry suddenly? The tin man continues.

"Remember what she did to you in class that day? When you were just a cub and she cubnapped you!" The tin man said, and the scarecrow froze. How could the tin man possibly know about that unless...oh no. It wasn't a coincidence he could only think about Boq when he looked at the Tin Man; they were the same person… but how could Boq be so…angry and vengeful? The man he knew was dorky, kind, and awkward; what had happened? His thoughts were interrupted by the tin man—well, Boq continuing his rant.

"And the lion also has a grievance to repay! If she'd let him fight his own battles when he was young, he wouldn't be a coward today!" He said, and then a voice yelled out:

"Good fortune, witch hunters!"

Then the group was on their way, now all quite tense, and began to make their way to Kiamo Ko. They once again stopped for one night so Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion could sleep.

"Tin man, we need to talk," the scarecrow said, and the tin man replied.

"Yes?'

"...I haven't been entirely truthful, my friend."

"What do you mean?'

"I…haven't always been a scarecrow."

"Then what… or who were you?'

"Fiyero, tigelaar," the scarecrow replied, reminiscing about their first meeting. The tin man sat in shock for a few moments.

"...Fiyero? How—?"

"It's a long story... I know who you are too, boq."

"I thought you were dead."

"...ditto... After I heard Nessarose was crushed by the house, I had thought you had been with her." The two sat in silence before Scarecrow broke it once again.

"Do you really feel that way about Elphaba?"

"...if I'm being honest, only slightly. I still can't help but see my friend even though she's turned me into this monster—"

"Boq...you're not a monster, and you know Elphaba. Do you truly believe she did it in a malicious way?" The Scarecrow took his hand, the Tin man seemed to think.

"I want to believe it; I suppose I just...don't understand why she would have any reason to..."

"We can talk more about it tomorrow if you'd like."

"Yes...I think I'd like to just enjoy being with you before all the chaos, my dear."

"Me too, Boq..." The two sat in silence, unintentionally leaning into the other. Before either processed it, they leaned closer and closer until their lips met; it was soft. Different from how it was before, of course, with their new forms and all. They each leaned in, Fiyero's hands resting on Boq's metal face, and Boq's hands going to Fiyero's waist... After a while they parted, only slightly.

"I've been waiting for that for half a decade…" Fiyero mumbles.

"Me too, my love," Boq said, their tones growing more sensual.

The two men stood up, Boq now carrying Fiyero deeper into the woods so they wouldn't be heard by any unsuspecting people.