Words: 2704

Human AU

Warning: Slight cussing and mild violence. Oh, and a lot of tears.

Pairing: PruHun, GilbertxElizabeta

Song used: Laugh maker- BUMP OF CHICKEN

o.O.0.O.o

Elizabeta Hedervary was sulking in a corner of her apartment room. It was a rather bad day for her, as if she had woken up at the wrong side of the bed. And all the accidents were now just circling in her mind like vultures.

She woke up that morning to find herself a bad hair day, a result of not washing her hair the day before. After that, she spilled coffee all over her uniform, which she later found had a large tear at the back, courtesy of a small cat fight in school just to get the latest shounen-ai from the claws of Ivan Braginski's younger sister. Man, that girl should cut her fingernails, she shivered at the thought. At least she woke up early or else she would be late for school. Ho boy, was she wrong. She later got herself stuck in the middle of a traffic jam. And it took her almost half an hour to crawl out of the mess of wheels and horns. When she finally got to school, she met him.

Roderich Edelstein had always been her crush since the start of the school year. He was perfect in her eyes. Son of a musician, he was wealthy, and had the hands of Beethoven, elegantly moving over the keys on his grand piano. He was smart and strict, but kind and charming, and had the attitude of a perfect gentleman. On top of all, he was gorgeous, with those deep purple eyes, those shining glasses, his smooth pale skin, his perfectly combed dark hair and that cutesy mole right under kissable lips.

Then she realized, he was too perfect for her.

Because linked tightly to his arm when they bumped into each other, was a girl. She immediately recognized her as the school's richest female, whose father owned a large musical instrument company. And she was very beautiful to boot. They brushed past her before she even had the chance to apologized, as if she wasn't there.

She could only stood still like an idiot.

Well, that was a perfect couple.

From all the unlucky moment she had that day, including a detention for arriving in class late, the small "meeting" seemed to had the heaviest impact on her. And she'd just given him her homemade Valentine chocolate about three weeks ago, confessing to him with sheer braveness. He accepted it with a smile. Then as fast as time went by, he was in the hand of another woman.

A sudden stinging sensation erupt in her heart.

Her eyes felt watery.

Oh shit.

I shouldn't be crying just because of him, she thought as she furiously wiped the tears from her eyes. But her tongue felt dry. There was a huge lump stuck in her neck. Her nose stings. And her eyesight got blurrier after a while.

Oh double shit.

A tear dropped. Following it was another, and another, and another... Soon, her hands were wet with salt water as she wept into her palm. She cried softly as she curled herself into a ball. She had never felt so weak in her entire life. She cried and cried, until her hands couldn't hold on longer, and her knees became another target for pitiful drops of salt.

Knock Knock.

She still cried.

Knock Knock Knock.

She raised her head from her soaked pants as she focused her view at the wooden door.

Knock Knock.

Somebody was there. But she couldn't meet anyone, with her face like this! Her brown hair was a mess, and her eyes were red and puffy for crying for so long. She couldn't meet that person outside her door! She was feeling terrible right now, and she just wanted to be alone, for Goodness Sake!

Knock Knock.

The person was still there. Whoever he or she was, that person was very stubborn. She breathed in shakily before she cleared her voice, hopefully that it would sound normal, before she spoke.

"W-who's there? What do you want?"

The person chuckled. She had heard that voice before.

"I'm not that awesome of a name, but someone has called me 'Laugh Maker'. I'm here to bring you a smile, dear Lizzy. But the awesome me is unawesomely cold right now, so can you let me in?"

Oh fuckin' hell, she thought angrily as she recognized the person. More like the idiot, Gilbert Beilschmidt, I should've known.

"'Laugh Maker'? This isn't a joke, Beilschmidt!", she yelled over the door, "I don't even remember anyone calling you that! I don't even remember calling for YOU!"

I'm sorry Gilbert, but I only want some time alone for myself.

"Leave me alone and get the hell outta here, you idiot!", her voice died down as she pushed herself further into the corner where she sat, "If you are here, I can't cry..."

I don't want you to bother me! I don't want to pull you into my own mess! I'm sorry, Gilbert...

Little did she now that her words had turned his smile upside down.

o.O.0.O.o

She didn't know how long she had been crying. Nor she didn't know that she was in such an uncomfortable position, either. Her back was hunched, and she buried herself deep into the corner with her arms and legs holing her so tight she could barely breath. Her soft cries had already broken into hysterical tears ever since she shouted at her best friend, yes, her BEST FRIEND, over the door that separated her from the outside world.

She did call Gilbert Beilschmidt her best friend, right? Well, he pretty much is. They had known each other since both were tiny bundles in the crib. They grew up side by side, and was deemed as the inseparable pair by their friends and families.

Whenever she felt bad, Gilbert would always be there, next to her, comforting her with such soothing words that it took her years to get familiar with, since he was quite a delinquent back in those days. He would hug her tightly and brush his fingers through her hair, and if she cried, he would hum a lullaby and cradle her in his arms until she went to sleep. But before that he would try to make her smile or laugh.

And she would do the same thing to him, too.

But when they got to high school, something went wrong. They realized that... They were drifting apart, slowly but surely.

Gilbert became a notorious bad boy in school along with his two buddies, Antonio and Francis. They called themselves as the Bad Touch Trio and turned out to be the most desired group of men in school, since girls love bad boys.

She befriended with a group of girls around her age and they got along nicely. Gilbert always manage to pop out randomly to scare the girls away from her, claiming that she was too awesome to be "girlified" by girly girls. And she always manage to knock the sense out of him with her cast-iron frying pan.

One day he did the ultimate of pranks. To bomb the girl's locker room with reptiles and bugs.

They quit being friends after that.

But some things didn't really change though.

He would always come over whenever she needed him. And now she cried because she had shouted at her friend.

And maybe more for her broken heart.

Knock Knock.

She groaned, irritated.

Knock Knock Knock.

She couldn't believe that he was still there. She stood up and almost trip over the water that reached to her ankle. She did cry hard, didn't she.

She then glided over her room and stop in front of that godforsaken door. Her heart was still aching and her tears were flowing buckets. She was not sad anymore, but she was furious, very very furious.

Elizabeta clenched her hands as she took in a deep breath before she shouted loudly:

"DIDN'T I SAY FOR YOU TO DISAPPEAR?, she choked on her tears as her voice started to crack, CAN YOU JUST GO AWAY?"

By now, her fists were clenched so hard, her knuckled were turning white and she could feel her nails cutting into her skin. But the result was immediate, because there were no more knocking on the door. She sighed shakily as she leaned her head onto the hard wood.

There was silent. The silent that she craved for...

"You are the first person to tell me that in my life."

Her eyes widened. What?

"I'm really sad now..."

What are you talking about?

"What should I do? I think I'm going to cry..."

GILBERT?

"LAUGH MAKER, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?", she yelled in shock, "THIS ISN'T A JOKE, BEILSCHMIDT!"

It can't be helped if you cry, too.

"I'M THE ONE WHO WANTS TO CRY!, she breathed in her tears, I DON'T REMEMBER CALLING FOR SOMEONE LIKE YOU!"

She hiccuped pitifully before slumping down the door way. Her tears were pouring out, stronger than ever. And she knew, judging from the sound behind her door,

Gilbert Beilschmidt was crying, too.

o.O.0.O.o

She was now back to back with the so called "Laugh Maker", both boy and girl's back were pressed tightly on the door. Their tired crying voices were mixed with hiccups, both of which were out of rhythm. Both had their backs against each other as they sobbed into their hugged knees.

Elizabeta sighed heavily into her wet-jeaned knee. She was tired of all this whimpering and weeping and sobbing. She was tired aof keeping her friend away from her. And she was very tired of this broken heart. She just wanted this to end.

That means that the idiot would have a chance.

She sighed once more before turning her face slightly to the door and she spoke quietly, but enough for the boy sitting behind it to listen.

"Do you still intend to make me laugh, mister Laugh Maker?"

Surprisingly, he replied, "It's the only thing I live for, to make those who are close to me happy..."

He said those who are close to him... Does that mean that I'm close to him?

"If I can't make you laugh, I won't go home."

She was silenced this time. The painful feeling in her heart was going away and replacing it were thousands of butterflies, fluttering in her stomach as she felt her face heat up. Should she give him a chance?

He's worried about me!, she gasped, deeply touched. Before she knew it, her mouth had moved on its own as a sentence was form.

"I thought maybe I could let you in, she said, before adding an extra thought, but, the problem is the door won't open. It must be the pressure of the collected tears!"

There was no answer.

"Push the door from your side. It must be unlocked by now.", she called out.

There was still no answer.

"Please, Gilbert! At least you have to say something, like 'un' or 'sun' or whatever!, she was troubled, Answer me, Gilbert!"

Silence met her question.

"Oh, no! It can't be!", she moaned into her palm.

Gilbert was gone.

Anger surged through her veins as she bit down her lips to keep her from crying out loud in frustration. The pain in her heart had come back, bringing the sharp stinging along with it.

Gilbert was gone.

"LAUGH MAKER? THIS ISN'T A JOKE!", her voice finally cracked.

"NOW YOU LEAVE ME BEHIND BY MYSELF!", her eyes were filled with angry tears as she started banging the door.

"YOU DISAPPEARED WITHOUT MINDING ME!", the butterflies had vanished into thin air, and her hands were burning.

"YOU BETRAYED ME THE INSTANT I BELIEVE IN YOU!", she broke down, crying as she felt her heart going to explode. Mustering up the last of her strength, she gave one final call.

"LAUGH MAKER, GILBERT, BEILSCHMIDT! THIS ISN'T A JOKE!"

CRACK.

That was the sound of glass breaking that she heard.

Could it be?, she wiped her tears away and turned around.

Sitting on the broken window with a pipe in his hand sat Gilbert Beilschmidt, who apparently had cried harder than she thought he would. He looked so terrible it was actually amusing, since the albino had never cried this bad before.

But when he looked into her wide teary green eyes, his frowning face broke into a huge childish grin as his ruby red eyes lit up with joy and happiness.

Just like the ol' Gilbert.

"I brought you a smile.", he sheepishly grinned as he handed her what looked like-

"MY DOORKNOB?"

"Yup, accidentally broke it while trying to open that freakin' damn door. It is totally not awesome.", he pouted.

She could only stare at him as two option appeared in her head. She could beat him up for breaking her window and door then hug him, or she could hug him then beat the shit outta him.

She settled for number two.

And his face was totally priceless when he was engulfed into her arms. But when he hugged her back, well, it was her turn to squeal in surprise.

The hug last for about ten minutes as they just stood there, unmoving and not breaking away even though it was pretty awkward. In fact, she found the hug warming and soft to the touch, a total opposite of the rough and rowdy Gilbert in school.

Just like the ol' Gilbert.

"Hey, Lizzy.", Gilbert spoke as he broke the hug.

"Hm?", she felt a little disappointed when the warmth was gone.

"Here.", he sneaked something small into her hand.

Given to her was a small hand mirror. And reflected on the mirror was her face.

"Your crying face can smile, you know.", he whispered softly.

And she smiled.

o.O.0.O.o

"Can I hug you again?"

"Yeas Gilbert, go ahead."

"Awesome~!"

"AFTER you help me clean up this mess."

"Aw shieBe."

She pecked him on his cheek.

He cleaned the house in no time.