"What was your first kiss like?"
"Uh...the only kiss I remembered was yours..."
"Really, but it was so long ago?"
"It was," she said, "but it was something I could remember all my life. It was just that special, you know?"
"I can understand that..." she said quietly. "I know my first kiss was with you, too."
"This is cheesy as fuck!"
Elizabeta's left eyebrow twitched in annoyance. Why had she bothered explaining Gilbert, her boyfriend, about her secret hobby as a fanfiction writer who wrote fluffy, gay love stories set in high-school and followed the forbidden-love-trope? It was because he kept nagging about how she wasn't being totally honest about her secrets, or it could be because he was just disappointed it was something less exciting? Or maybe, just maybe, he just didn't understand that his girlfriend is a fanfiction writer...
"I knew it," Elizabeta mumbled discreetly, "you just don't understand."
"Understand?" Gilbert gawked in dismay. "You mean that I have a girlfriend who writes gay fanfiction online?"
"You said, 'I wanna know what you do online yet never show me! Why aren't you honest with me?'" Elizabeta retorted, pouting her face away from Gilbert's shocked expression.
"Remembering that, I should assume this..." he held up the paper of her recent, edited draft of 'School Girls Summer: Midnight Eclipse', "this is what you write everyday? Gay stuff?"
Elizabeta turned her head and sneered, "You know...I happen to like doing this, if that hasn't been established already..."
"Oh, I think you established that five times-I remember because I counted-before you began reading this to me!"
"Gilbert...you know what? I happen to like writing these kinds of things, not because it improves my talent or makes be happy, but it makes other happy. I meet so many new people who enjoy my work, saying how much I improved or how they can't wait for the next chapter's release which, by the way, is like a month long period when I usually establish a weekly schedule and post on Friday night-"
"I-" But Elizabeta held her hand up, stopping Gilbert.
"And yeah, I get haters sometimes who said I should quit writing. But with all the praise and positive I hardly ever notice it and continue doing my best! So, considering the recent events of you not thinking I was being honest to you, I show you my work in hopes you would be just as positive as they are. But you almost...almost make me feel like you hate what I do, like the haters..."
Elizabeta felt something wet dripping on her cheeks, passing down like streams as they fell off her chin and as her hiccupping grew immediate and louder, she finally realized she was crying. She felt her body was shaking, her shoulders squared but hunched and her arms crossed around herself in a self-embraced hug. Elizabeta had no idea what she was thinking, letting Gilbert in on her secret like this. She should have known he would react like this but she didn't take into account how it could affect herself and how she looked at writing now.
Writing was once her hobby that turned into a delighted, loving escape and job for herself when she realized how she made everyone, new and old, in love with her vivid, imaginative storytelling about two young girls in love. She loved doing her best, giving everyone what they wanted when the time was right in the chapter build up, she never stopped believing in her work or how much in influenced everyone who read them.
Some said they laughed, others said they cried, and Elizabeta remembered how overwhelmed in enthusiasm she was with all the positivity. But letting the one person she was close judge her like this...
"Hey, Eliza..." Gilbert said, his tone quiet but calming.
Elizabeta forced her shut eyes open, slowly seeing Gilbert's worried expression come into clearance from her tears.
"What...?"
"I'm...sorry."
Blinking the tears away, she gasped, "What, for judging me when-"
"No! God, no," he protested with urgency. When Elizabeta waited for his answer, he sighed and confessed, "I'm sorry for not understanding you. I shouldn't have been so rude when you were trying to explain to me. It wasn't awesome or right of me to do."
The pause was unsettling for both of them when it dragged itself for a while.
"You really mean that?" She asked, wiping a tear with her right back hand.
"Yes, absolutely! I'll do anything to get redeemed, anything!"
"Wait, for real?" Elizabeta asked, curious. He nodded repeatedly and Elizabeta felt a slow, sly smile come into place. "Anything?" she emphasized with a mischievous giggle.
XxXxXxX
Gilbert was honest about what he had said before, but this time he was worried he might have jumped the gun too quickly for Elizabeta when she said anything. Maybe he should have limited the options so he wouldn't be stuck doing something he was unfamiliar with like this...
He stared at the computer screen with a document written in large, spaced paragraphs. He saw the headline that read 'chapter one' and the word count on the bottom screen reading forty thousand, five hundred and thirty two.
Gilbert looked up to his grinning girlfriend and gulped, "You're making me...edit this?"
"Only this one," she said, and he sighed with relief. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. "But just so you know, we agreed that we're going to be co-writing and editing this, so you'll have to edit the next forty-five chapters plus the epilogue story and-"
He gaped at her, "For how long, did I agree to this?"
"For the rest of the year, which is about the next eleven or so months. But then again, the time that takes to finish a story is almost time-comsuming as TV animation shows so my plan is to..." Gilbert lost track of what she said for it faded into emptiness; he only thought of all the free time he had lost in just a second.