Gilbert remembered the first time he ever saw Roderich. It was June eighteenth, nineteen-twenty seven. He had been thirteen years old at the time, an age where he was beginning to discover who he really was, as much as a thirteen-year-old could discover himself. One thing he had discovered was that he was definitely, and completely awesome. Of course, he'd known that pretty much since the day he was born, but it was really starting to show when he was thirteen.
Gilbert was the fastest in his whole school, even out of the older boys. He was also the tallest boy in his town, at least out of the ones that were the same age as him, and he was even taller than the boys that had towered over him when he was younger. His dad always said that he would get a growth spurt eventually, and he was right.
The first time Gilbert heard his dad say that was a nice fall day in October when he was ten. He had come home in a bad mood after being bullied by boys older than him, and even some boys that were the same age as him. They laughed and jeered because he couldn't run as fast as them, or do as many push-ups as them, despite how hard he tried for a ten-year-old.
"You're so skinny, Beilschmidt!" the boys would say, laughing and poking at his thin arms.
"Don't worry, Gilbert," his dad had said, glancing up from his newspaper. The headline was something about a zeppelin making a transatlantic delivery flight from Germany to America. "You'll grow bigger than them some day. All Beilschmidt boys are like those plants in your mother's garden, they never stop growing. And then you can make those bullies run home crying."
At first, Gilbert really liked the thought of getting back at the kids who had been cruel and mean to him. Didn't they deserve to run home crying after so many times of making him do the same? However, he decided that it would probably disappoint his mother, she was always telling him about doing what he would want done to him, or something similar, and the last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his mother.
The first time he had done so was when Ludwig, his younger brother, had been born. Gilbert had been five, and hadn't exactly wanted a younger brother to take care of, but his mother was trying to get him to promise that he would always be there for his younger brother to protect him. Gilbert didn't want to do that, five-year-old him was convinced that having a baby brother would mean that he would have to grow up and become an adult and go to war with his dad and maybe not come back like his friend's dad.
"Gilbert, he's your baby brother, you'll need to teach him a lot of things and be there for him," his mother had said as she softly rocked the small, blond baby in her arms.
"No! I hate him!" Gilbert shouted, running out of the room, despite his mother's cries for him to come back and stay inside while it was raining.
Gilbert didn't care about rain, he didn't care about his brother, and he didn't want to care about anything. He did honestly, he didn't want his mother and father to be upset with him, but right in that instant he didn't want to grow up and he wanted to stay five years forever. Soon after the incident though, he'd received a letter from his grandparents in Berlin, scolding him for his childish behavior. The letter made him angry at first, but then he realized that maybe he had been being dumb, and not exactly an awesome big brother.
After all, how was his brother supposed to grow up being as awesome as Gilbert if he didn't have a mentor and big brother as awesome as Gilbert? So after that, Gilbert decided he would be as awesome as he could be, and be more awesome each year, if that was even possible. But so far, it had been. He had eight years of awesome behind him and it was making him eight times more awesome. He made sure he didn't disappoint his mother, looked after his brother, and made his father proud.
Back to being the most awesome thirteen-year-old for miles, Gilbert was the first boy in his age group to have any sort of hair on his chest. Yes, the older boys who had more laughed at him in gym when he boasted about it to his friends, but they didn't matter, all that mattered was that his friends had reacted well when he showed them.
Gilbert also had the best younger brother. Ludwig, though five years younger, was fun to be around, despite that the word fun didn't seem to be in the eight-year-old's vocabulary, and none of Gilbert's friends minded when Ludwig tagged along. Ludwig was quiet and kept to himself, and rarely ever spoke. That's probably why everyone liked him so much, even more than they liked Gilbert.
"What a well-behaved boy!" the neighbors and teachers would croon, patting the top of Ludwig's head.
Yes, it was true that Gilbert and Ludwig's father and mother were far more loving and doting towards Ludwig because he was better behaved and didn't cause any trouble, but Gilbert didn't mind. It didn't bother him at all really, just let him know that he had been a good big brother to his little brother. His most important job, though, was keeping Ludwig safe at all times.
Especially from a prissy, know-it-all neighbor and his mean, tom-boy of a sister who had only just moved in that summer. Roderich's family moved to Germany from Austria, and him, his adopted sister and his parents all looked exactly the same; brown hair, pale skin and weird eyes. The only way Gilbert could describe Roderich's eyes were that they were prissy-purple. On the other hand, Elizaveta's eyes were a mosaic of all of the greens Gilbert's thirteen-year-old mind could imagine. Her eyes were awesome, like they were made from all of the different leaves in the trees during summer.
Everything about Elizaveta was awesome, really. Gilbert couldn't think of anything about her that wasn't perfect… aside from the fact that when they first met, Gilbert had had no idea that the girl was, in fact, a girl.
The first time Gilbert properly met either Edelstein child was later in the afternoon when their whole little family had moved into the house across the street from his own house. Of course, the first thing on Gilbert's mind was to make sure that the new boys knew that he was the top dog around here. At least, he was top dog when it came to kids thirteen and under. Putting on his best smile and making sure his pants and shirt were clean, he knocked on their front door, waiting politely.
Their mother, a pretty lady with long brown hair and those same prissy-purple eyes as Roderich, answered the door. "Hello, young sir," she said, smiling politely. "I'm guessing you're here to play with Roderich?"
"And the other boy, too!" Gilbert interrupted, internally scolding himself for doing so. Interrupting adults was so not awesome.
The woman seemed taken aback, blinking a few times and furrowing her pretty eyebrows. "The other boy?" she mused, thinking for a few seconds. Then she laughed, a light laugh that sounded like the tinkling of bells. "You mean Elizaveta."
Strange name for a boy, Gilbert thought, not even considering that Elizaveta might actually be a girl and not a boy. All he could think about was where the best mud puddle was in town currently, or if he could somehow manage to push the two of them into the pond by the school.
"I'll get them for you," their mother said, going back into their house. Compared to all the other ones in their neighborhood, it was a really nice house, a really, really nice house. Gilbert couldn't help the twinge of jealously he felt. These Edelsteins even had a car, something no one in this town had aside from the mayor.
A few moments later he was brought out of his thoughts as the door reopened, and two other kids his age were standing there, Elizaveta and Roderich. Really, Gilbert had mostly just wanted to cause havoc with Elizaveta, just from the way Roderich kept his nose upturned and his arms crossed, let Gilbert know upon sight that this kid was going to be a total snore and no fun at all. However, Gilbert tolerated his presence for the meantime, knowing that both of them needed to learn who was boss around this town.
Elizaveta crossed his arms too, examining Gilbert with a little smirk and raising an eyebrow. "Are you what passes for a boy around here?" he asked.
Gilbert raised an eyebrow back, sticking his hand out in a somewhat formal greeting. "My name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, hopefully you learn fast, because if you forget that, you'll be in for it."
A grin breaking onto his face, Elizaveta took Gilbert's hand, shaking it firmly and then grabbing Roderich by the arm and pulling him out of the doorway where he was reluctantly standing. "This is my brother Roderich. Well, I call him my brother. I am adopted, and he acts too much like a girl to be a brother."
Roderich's face flushed an indignant shade of red, and he huffed, holding his arms close to his body and turning away from Elizaveta and Gilbert. Gilbert snickered, grabbing the brunet's shoulder and trying to pull him into the conversation.
"Aw, c'mon, Roderich! I'm sure you're lots of fun; Elizaveta just always has to deal with you so now you're boring. Don't worry, I'll make you awesome again!" he assured, giving Roderich a not-so-light smack on the back, causing the boy to yelp. "That's my job around here, I make everyone awesome. Sure, no one can be as awesome as me, but I can get you close."
All Roderich had to say to that was a short and curt, "You sure are conceited."
Gilbert didn't know what conceited meant, but he knew from the way Roderich said it that it was definitely an insult. Gilbert also knew that anyone who dared insult him got an extra shove into mud, or maybe rocks. He wondered briefly if Roderich was the type of sissy baby who would cry after getting a little muddy. It wasn't exactly something that Gilbert doubted. He laughed aloud just thinking about it, and earned himself two mildly confused looks from the other boys.
"Let's go!" Gilbert announced, grabbing both boys by the wrist and dragging them away from the safety of their house.
Their day at the pond, in some way that Gilbert still couldn't quite comprehend, ended with a sopping wet Gilbert, and perfectly dry brothers laughing at him the whole way back to their houses. Gilbert's face was cherry red with embarrassment, and all he could hope was that none of his friends or the older boys saw him. The last thing he needed was to be known as the boy who got outsmarted by the new kids. He would be laughed at for weeks, years probably.
Grudgingly, Gilbert parted ways with Elizaveta and Roderich, sticking his tongue out at them as they turned their backs and went into their fancy home, painted all white on the inside. Gilbert stormed into his house, ignoring his mother and brother who were sitting at the dinner table, reading Ludwig's newest book, and going straight to his father.
"Those new boys made a fool of me!" he announced, not even bothering to check if his father was doing something. Which, thankfully, he wasn't.
"Which new boys?" the older German man asked, raising his eyebrows.
"The ones across the street! The Edelstein boys, Roderich and Elizaveta!" Gilbert said, his anger instantly deflating as his father burst out laughing. "What are you laughing at?" he snapped, furrowing his eyebrows.
"I am laughing at you," Gilbert's father responded, leaning back in his chair. "Did you really think Elizaveta is a name for a boy? She is a girl, Gilbert."
Gilbert instantly felt humiliated, he had thought it was a strange name, but that was the only thought that crossed his mind. It didn't really matter to him if Elizaveta had a girl's name, it just matter that he, well, she, was fun to play with. And she was fun to hang out with, for a girl. He still couldn't wrap his mind around it though, Elizaveta was nothing like any of the other girls in their town. Most of those girls didn't want anything to do with him, calling him a "smelly boy", which was untrue, because his mother made him take a bath every day. He couldn't believe it. A girl had made a fool out of him. It was hard to even believe Elizaveta was just another girl, until he saw her in a dress for the first time.
It was later in the summer, towards the start of the school year again, and Roderich apparently had a piano teacher coming in to listen to how he'd practiced, or something like that. Gilbert stopped paying attention when Roderich mentioned the word "piano". What kind of boy played piano? However, Gilbert made sure he stuck around for the event, because if their family was having a visitor, it meant Elizaveta had to look like a girl. She really did, and it was quite the shock to Gilbert.
Elizaveta's hair was combed for once, and she had a pretty bow on the top of her head, to make up for her hair that she preferred to keep short. Somehow, her mother had managed to get her into a pretty green dress that was simple, but looked very nice on her. Gilbert didn't have an eye for fashion like the French boy that he met in Berlin oh so many years ago, but he knew that the dress at least looked nice on Elizaveta.
Gilbert could feel the blush on his face, as there was a very prominent burning feeling in his cheeks and ears, and he knew Elizaveta had noticed and was going to tease him. He couldn't let her get away with that! And he definitely could not let the other girl know that he thought she looked genuinely gorgeous.
So, a safe distance away on the opposite side of the street from where Elizaveta stood in her doorway, Gilbert let the girl know what he thought of her appearance.
"Aww, look how pretty you are!" Gilbert teased, sticking his tongue out at the brunette. "You actually look like a girl for once; it must have been magic!" With every taunt, Gilbert could see Elizaveta's face becoming redder and redder, his own blush going away and turning into his usual cocky grin. "Your mother must have been scrubbing your face for hours to make it look like a girl's face!"
"Gilbert Beilschmidt, you shut up right now!" Elizaveta shouted back. "I may be in a dress but I can still fight you to Hell and back! Come over here and say all of that to my face, Gilbert!"
Well, she'd caught him there, hadn't she? Gilbert blanched at the thought of getting his butt handed to him by a girl, especially a girl wearing a frilly bow and a stupid green dress. Elizaveta smirked, knowing she had Gilbert in the palm of her hand.
"What's the matter, Gilbert? Are you too scared?" she called, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward, raising a thin eyebrow at the blonde boy across the street.
"I'm not scared of you!" Gilbert shouted, taking a few steps towards the street to prove his point. Elizaveta just laughed at him, crossing her arms with a wide grin, keeping her eyebrow raised at Gilbert, posing a challenge for the boy. Gilbert was not one to back down from a challenge.
He crossed the street, his chin held high, and his stride confident as he approached Elizaveta, using his height to his advantage and leaning over the girl. "I think your dress is ugly," he sneered, tugging on the left sleeve of said green dress. "And I think this bow is dumb, you still look like a boy, even with all of this girly crap and even though you're clean for once, and don't smell like a pig, you saukerl."
Gilbert instantly knew he had gone too far with that last insult. At first, Elizaveta looked ready to cry. Her green eyes took on a glossy feature he had never seen, and it stunned him, he never thought Elizaveta the type of girl to cry. He always thought she was the girl that solved her problems with her fists.
The next thing Gilbert knew, Elizaveta's fist was in his face and he crumpled to the floor, holding his nose and shouting in pain. Elizaveta was standing over him, looking her usual triumphant self with her hand all bloody. Elizaveta's mother rushed out a few seconds later, gasping as she realized what happened. Elizaveta was dragged inside by the ear, and then a second later Elizaveta's mother was back, guiding Gilbert inside and to the kitchen.
She sat him down on a chair, handing a towel to him so he could hold it to his nose, tutting the whole time like a mother hen. "That girl is so violent," she was muttering, grabbing their first aid kid from a cupboard beneath the sink. She walked back over to Gilbert, taking the towel from him and wiping his face free of blood, looking over where he'd been punched. "Well, she did not break your nose, that's good," she said. The woman handed Gilbert a couple of pills and a small glass of water, pausing her cleaning of his face for him to swallow the medicine.
As she went back to cleaning the blood, Gilbert glanced towards the doorway of the kitchen, spotting a certain prissy-purple-eyed brunet smirking at him. Gilbert narrowed his eyes, his own fist itching to punch that smug look off of Roderich's face. Before his mother noticed him, though, Roderich had exited the kitchen and, presumably, went back to his sissy piano.
"Why does Roderich play piano and Elizaveta does not?" Gilbert asked, just hoping his breath didn't smell bad as Mrs. Edelstein was very close to his face when he spoke.
"Roderich likes music, Elizaveta does not, it is as simple as that," the lady said.
Gilbert just nodded. That reasoning sounded dumb to him, weren't girls supposed to stay inside and play frilly instruments, and boys were meant to play outside and cause trouble? That's how it had always been in their town, the girls never ran around, or played football with the boys or got themselves dirty. Elizaveta was the exact opposite though. Gilbert snickered, when school started, Roderich would probably get along better with the girls than the boys; he could perfectly imagine the brunet brushing hair and playing house, instead of running races and playing sports.
He couldn't wait to see that. In the meantime though, this summer of nineteen-twenty seven was going to be a lot of fun. There was no debate that June eighteenth, nineteen-twenty seven, Gilbert's life was changed forever. He could remember the first moment he ever saw Roderich, the brunet climbing out of the Edelstein family car, examining the run down street with run down houses with distaste, as if he were better than everyone else around him. Gilbert remembered the exact scornful glare that Roderich gave him from across the street as he straightened his perfectly ironed coat, and Gilbert fondly remembered that exact moment as the moment he realized that he hated Roderich Edelstein.
A/N: I have taken over this story for a friend, it's doubtful anyone really knows that story anymore, it was published two years ago. I am not quite sure the direction this will end up taking, the original writer's intent was PruAus but this also has the potential to become PruHun, I'm not really sure yet. The rating will most likely be bumped up in chapters to come, but for now it is just a cute story of three childhood friends.