"Isten, Gil...Another fight?" She sighed as she stared out the door at her friend.

He nodded, although it was pretty obvious by how he looked. His hands were battered and bleeding, especially on his knuckles. He had a few cuts and forming bruises that dotted his face and arms. His clothes were a bit torn and dirtied, and his hair was messier than usual.

"Well, come in then," Elizabeta opened the door wider so he could come in. He followed her into her kitchen, where she sat him down and began to tend his wounds as she did every time he got in a fight.

It wasn't as if he couldn't tend them himself, or that she liked him fighting. In fact, he was a perfectly capable medic for his age, and she hated it when he got hurt. She thought his fighting was foolish and didn't accomplish anything. She thought he was fighting for fun. She thought that he did this to get on her nerves.

He didn't.

He fought because, behind her back, all the guys at school were awful. Half of them say awful, cruel things about how she looks, acts, and thinks. The other half jokes about doing perverted, sexual things to her. GIlbert kept them in their place by beating them all down, he was only fighting to protect her.

She didn't know that because he didn't want her to know that he loved her. He didn't want her to know just how disgusting most of the guys were. Gilbert wanted her to be happy. He wanted her to be able to relax. She did. With no comments made by the male population of their high school, Elizabeta was able to let off some pressure and focus on making the girls like her, although that wasn't that easy either.

Back when the name calling, and protecting, first started, Gilbert was beaten up every day because of how he didn't tend to himself. So, Elizabeta told him that any time he's hurt, he should come to her house and she woud fix him up. During the time she was applying salves, wrapping bandages, and giving him medication, she would rant about how reckless he was.

Elizabeta had recently begun to date a boy named Roderich who lived next to Gilbert. He was proper, polite, and handsome in her eyes, and she spent almost every moment of the day with him. When she was with Gilbert, she complained about how he couldn't be more like Roderich.

"You are such an idiot, Gil. I can't believe it! You never used to get into so many fights! What happened?" She demanded.

He shrugged, not looking her in the eyes as she wrapped a bandage around his arm.

"C'mon, Gilbert. We've been friends forever. You can tell me if something's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, Eli," he smiled at her fakely.

She sighed once again, "Okay..." She knew that when Gilbert got like that, he wouldn't tell her anything.

A few days after that, Elizabeta was walking down the hall to her gym class alone. She had just said goodbye to Roderich, who took independent study instead of gym after he had turned in a series of complaints from his doctor about him having a weak body. She was smiling, as she always was when she went to gym. She loved the exercise of it and was the best girl in their year.

As she was about to turn the corner to another corridor when she heard yelling and a collision of bodies. She halted in her tracks, not wanting to get involved with a fight. She heard several punches, gasps, grunts, and various noises of pain, which she winced at.

"You got what you deserved, you asshole! You jumped us 'cuz we were sayin' all that stuff 'bout that Elizabeta girl, right? Ha! She's acts almost like a guy! Every guy in the school wants to fuck her though." She didn't recognize that voice, but it sounded cruel.

"Shut up!" That was Gilbert! She heard a lunge, a crack, and a groan before she heard him slump to the floor.

"You gotta stop this, it's beyond obvious that you like her. But ya'know what? You'll never have her. That kid Roderich is gonna be good to her so he can get in her pants! He's been talking about it non-stop!" The other boys cackle.

Elizabeta clutched her purse angrily. She was mad at so much! Mad at the boys for hurting her dear friend. Mad at Gilbert for being so stupidly caught up in protecting her, and not telling her that he liked her. Mad at Roderich for being so shallow. Mad at herself for missing all of this up until now.

She leaned against the wall and wiped forming tears from her eyes. The guys walked away, so she entered that hallway and knelt next to Gilbert. He looked up at her, shocked to see her, and a little bit ashamed.

"You heard?"

She nodded and pushed stray pieces of hair out of his eyes. They were sticky with blood.

"And you're not gonna stop hanging out with me?"

She shook her head.

"Why?"

Elizabeta leaned down and pressed a kiss to his slightly swollen lips, to which Gilbert responded by kissing back. "Because I actually like you."

"So you're gonna break up with that pussy?"

"Consider it done."