"We're bigger than Jesus!"
The Prussian smiled and stood proudly next to his band mates. The paparazzi cameras exploded in light and news reported wrote down every word the four men in matching suits uttered.
It was a good time, but that ended quite quickly.
The Beatles - Arthur, Gilbert, Yao, and Matthew– were already really famous; they had major fan bases in Asia, Europe, and most likely all the other continents. What's funny is that they all started as normal high school kids doing drugs and playing at the run-down part of town for the construction workers and any passerbys. They didn't like to brag – well, maybe Gilbert did – but they could say they were getting pretty popular.
Then it just grew into a humongous… thing. Girls screamed their names when they saw them, clubs started requesting they come and perform their hit songs. To the four young men, it was like they had hit a goldmine!
Well, that was until Gilbert said something so utterly stupid and ignorant that the rest of the group almost kicked him out. (But they didn't because none of them were as good singers as Gilbert… well besides Matthew but everybody seemed forget about him after a few moments)
It was July 19th, 1966. It was a nice summer day, a big cluster of news reporters jotted down everything the celebrities said, and all that jazz. And that's also when Gilbert said something that stunned religious families everywhere.
"We're practically bigger than Jesus!" the energetic man bragged. Arthur glared at him.
"You git! Don't you know the consequences of saying that kind of stuff of television?" the easily-angered British man hissed. Gilbert just shrugged, smiling at the paparazzi who were asking questions left and right. Arthur noticed one reporter, a tall, big-boned man with a pinkish-tan scarf wrapped around his neck even though it was the middle of July. He had a queesy feeling about this man who smiled deviously as he wrote down Gilbert's statement in a little memo pad, but he shrugged it off when another reporter asked him a question.
But little did they know that this man was practically the devil when it came to celebrity gossip.
"What the hell is this, aru? " Yao raged when he saw the cover of DATEbook. He tossed the magazine to Arthur, who was busy playing poker with Matthew and Gilbert. Arthur caught it in his hand and read the cover.
"'Beatles' lead singer 'Satan's follower'?'" Arthur read aloud. He glanced at Gilbert who was trying to look casual by flipping through his cards. Arthur sighed and opened the tabloid to the cover story.
"'We're more popular than Jesus!'" Arthur read as he skimmed the page, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion "Wait that can't be right… I heard you say that we were bigger than Jesus," he looked at Gilbert in a confused manner, only for the Prussian to shrug and clean his fingernails with the corner of a playing card.
"I bet this is Ivan's doing, aru! "Yao declared glaring at no one in particular.
"Who's Ivan? "A soft voice questioned. Everybody jumped a little; they had forgotten Matthew was there.
"Mattie! When did you get here? Well anyway, can you make me some pancakes?" Gilbert asked the irritated Canadian.
"I was always here! You guys just never notice!" Matthew Cried, "And no, I will not make you some pancakes." Gilbert frowned and stared at his cards.
"Anyway… Ivan is the tall Russian man that I hangout with a lot ..." Yao explained, feeling a hot sensation on his cheeks. Gilbert exploded in laughter when he saw Yao's face. Yao glared at him and continued with a chuckle, "You know, he never really liked you anyway so I could see why he would do such a thing, aru." Gilbert was about to pound the life out of the Chinese man when Arthur interrupted after reading the article.
"Damn it, Gil! Why do you have to be so ignorant? Our band could be finished – done for! – because of your idiotic statement!" Arthur berated. Does that white-haired fool even know what's coming out of his mouth sometimes?
"Aw c'mon, a little mistake like that could never so much as hurt a fly!" Gilbert reassured, leaning back on the chair and resting his feet on the table. He loved annoying the British man!
"You... You... You IDIOT! Don't you know how much they take things seriously out there?" Arthur yelled, gesturing crudely at the window.
"Well then you can go suck a dick, Arty, 'cause I spoke the truth," Gilbert stood up, placing his cards on the table. The Prussian grabbed his coat and headed for the door.
"Where are you going, aru?" Yao asked looking at the cards then to him.
"I'm going home. If you need me, you have my number," Gilbert answered before walking out the door and closing it behind him.
Gilbert pulled out a key ring with a diversity of keys and started looking through them as he walked up to his apartment door "Damn it, why do I have to have so many keys.." he mumbled to himself. He found the right key after several tries and unlocked the door, turning it and opening the door.
"Honey, I'm home!" he said to no one in particular as he walked in and threw his coat on the couch. He stretched his arms out and walked into his bedroom. He was caught by surprise when he saw Elizaveta sitting on his bed reading a magazine.
Gilbert wasn't very surprised to see that she was reading none other than DATEbook… the cover story to be exact. "Gil, dear, I need to talk to you,"
Gilbert just stood there looking at her like an idiot. He wasn't paying as much attention to what she was saying, but to what she was wearing.
Elizaveta's ensemble was very simplistic, a short black robe with white panties and bra underneath that very much complimented her curves, but it was enough to make even the most serious man gawk. And she knew it.
"Gil, stop staring," Gilbert snapped back into reality.
"What?"
"I said stop staring you bumbling idiot,"
Elizaveta got up from the bed and shoved him against the wall, pushing the magazine into his chest "Gil, what is this?" she asked him coldly. The white haired man laughed nervously and scratched the back of her neck.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Liz!" he lied. What he got was a hard hit on the forehead by a rolled up magazine.
"Of course you know what I'm talking about, idiot!" she snapped. Gilbert looked at her, realizing she was serious.
"Well, it's true isn't it?"
"Damn it, Gilbert! You can't go around saying stuff like this! There are people out there that take things literally! You can't go around saying that you have more popularity than freaking Jesus!" she yelled as she glared at him with angry emerald eyes. Gilbert just laughed.
"See that's where you're wrong, Liz, I said we are practically BIGGER than Jesus," he corrected with a smirk on his face.
"Either way, you shouldn't have said that, you probably hurt millions of religious fans with that ridiculous outburst!" Elizaveta retorted, slapping him on the side of the head. "Now, you have two choices: you either apologize like you mean it to all those fans, or you lose me," she calmly announced, stepping back so he could take in what he could lose.
He tried not to look at her curvy body but failed miserably. "But Liz-"
"No buts, Gilbert, it's either you apologize or I'll leave you," she repeated, looking Gilbert in the eye. But she softened her glare and cupped his cheek in her hand, "Gil, I really don't want to leave you but… what else can I do?"
Gilbert sighed and looked down at the hardwood floor between them. After a long period of silence, he pocketed his hands and whispered a soft yet irritated, "Fine you win."
"Excuse me? I didn't hear that," Elizaveta purred, knowing that Gilbert had admitted defeat. She leaned in closer to him, mocking him by cupping her ear so she could hear him better.
He grew agitated by her ridicule and nearly screamed at her, "I said you win! I'll apologize even though I don't see a reason why I should,"
She laughed. Of course he wouldn't be able to figure out why he needed to take back what he said. Bigger than Jesus?
What couldn't be apologized for? But she was contempt with how it turned out, so she stepped back from him and smiled before walking back to the bed and returning to her magazine.
"I just have one question, though," Gilbert said after a few moments of silence.
"And what is that?"
"Why are you wearing that?" he gestured to her outfit with his chin. Elizaveta looked down at herself.
"I thought it was going to be harder to persuade you," she explained and went back to the magazine, leaving Gilbert to wonder what would've occurred if he hadn't been so easily actuated.
"Some teenagers have repeated your statements – 'I like the Beatles more than Jesus Christ.'" the interviewer told Gilbert, who was sitting on a long leather couch with Arthur, Yao and Matthew. The man continued, "What do you think about that?"
Gilbert considered the question for a few moments "Well, originally I pointed out that fact in reference to our home town. I meant that we meant more to kids than Jesus did, or religion at that time. I wasn't knocking it or putting it down, I was just saying it as a fact and its true more for where we're from than here in the US of A. I'm not saying that we're better or greater, or comparing us with Jesus Christ as a person or God as a thing or whatever the hell it is. I just said what I said and it was wrong…" he paused for a second, "…Or it was taken wrong. And now it's… all this."
"But are you prepared to apologize?" the interviewer asked impatiently.
Gilbert cocked his head; I thought I already apologized… Oh well, he probably just didn't hear it in that freaking awesome statement that came out of my mouth "I wasn't saying whatever they're saying I was saying," he chuckled and looked behind the camera where Elizaveta was standing, feeling triumph in her victory of breaking the beast (in this case Gilbert) "What I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry I said it… Really, I am. I never meant it to be some lousy anti-religious thing. I apologize if that will make you happy, but I still really don't know what I've done. I've tried to tell you what I did do but if you want me to apologize, if that will make you happy, then OK, I'msorry." Gilbert finished and leaned back on the couch, while the others stared at him dumbfounded. That was the most intelligent thing that ever – and they mean ever – came out of his mouth, and he knew it.
"That boyfriend of yours sure knows what he's saying," an assistant said to Elizaveta after Gilbert's apology. She chuckled.
"Don't give him too much credit; I'm the one who told him what he did wrong in the first place… But apparently he still doesn't get it. Oh well, at least he apologized."
The assistant smiled and nodded and walked off to finish her job, leaving Elizaveta to smile to herself. "No one ever said that living with him would be easy!"