Chapter 4

"W-we're here!" Antonio yelled, slamming the door open. Alfred turned and saw The Spaniard and Prussian panting heavily. Alfred broke out into laughter.

"Damn, guys! What happened to you?"

"We were almost late! I hate being late!" Antonio cried. Gilbert gave a low snarl under his breath for that.

"I realized." Alfred rose an eyebrow with a smirk. "Well, let's get to work."

The other two nodded. Already they got to work on props and wires.

"Son of a bitch!" Alfred yelled angrily.

Gilbert heard his friend and turned to him, "What's up?"

"This prop's paint is chipping. I have to repaint it." Alfred hit the prop with a fist, snarling.

Gilbert rose an eyebrow, "Why you?"

"The law of the employees say that whoever finds it, has to fix it."

"Who declared that?"

"…Me…."

Gilbert gave his usual cackle. Alfred fumed angrily and walked backstage to get a bucket of blue paint. Gilbert wiped a tear from his eye.

He figured since he finished checking the wires, he may as well check out the props on the other side of backstage. He walked across the stage and made his way to the back area. He peaked through the curtains and his eyes widened. This area led alllll the way backstage. To the greenroom and dressing rooms. Where the actors got themselves ready.

Curiosity taking over him, he continued to walk further backstage. He snickered a little.

Oh man! I've never been this far back before!

Suddenly a loud crashing sound came from further backstage followed by the sound of water trickling down the hall like a river.

"Son of a bitch!"

Gilbert heard the angry cry and rushed further backstage. He finally stopped short when he saw his boss soaking wet, a broken glass of wine on the floor around him. All Gilbert could do was cover his mouth, trying to hide his laughter. He immediately stopped when Edelstein looked up and gave him the most menacing glare he'd ever seen. "GILBERT."

"Yes sir?"

"CLEAN THIS UP FOR ME. NOW." And before Gilbert could protest, Roderich threw a mop at him, which Gilbert caught. Roderich snarled, "Hurry up."

"What's this? You gonna bully me now since we have the same crush?" Gilbert asked.

Roderich grunted, "No. I just want you to DO YOUR JOB."

Yeah, ok. I believe that.

"Now get to work, dammit. I have to go take care of the stain on my clothes."

"Yeah, yeah, have fun priss." Gilbert snickered. Roderich once again glared at him, fury dancing in his eyes. Gilbert stopped snickering and his emotion changed from sarcastically joyful to full-on pissed.

"I'm not scared of you." He snarled to his boss.

"I know you're not. You better listen to me though; if you want to keep this job."

Son of a bitch.

Roderich turned to walk away, but paused and turned back a little. "And Gilbert, stay away from the dressing rooms. I'm sure the actors would not want a poor fool like you around them while they prepare themselves for tonight." Then he turned and walked away, turning the corner to the bathroom.

Gilbert fumed. He threw the mop to the floor and began to pant angrily.

Calm down, Gil. If you act like this, you'll get fired for sure. He began to pant heavily, trying to calm himself. He reached for the mop and picked it up, dumping it into the bucket of water. He began to clean up the red wine that slithered down the hall towards the dressing rooms.

Shit. Edelstein said he shouldn't go down there. Gilbert thought for a moment. Then he had an idea.

Welllll, Edelstein did say he wanted all the wine cleaned up. And the wine is down the hall too. If I don't clean it up, I'll be in trouble. Heh, heh.

With this idea in mind, he walked down the hall and continued to move the mop over all the wine, whistling a soft tune as he passed the dressing rooms. Kesesesesese.

He technically wasn't disobeying orders, since had to clean up all wine, which was near the dressing rooms mostly. How clever he was.

West would be so proud of me!

He continued to clean it, ignoring the talking that came from each dressing room.

Suddenly-

"We've been falling out for way too long,
So let's forget who's right, and forget who's wrong!"

Someone was singing. It was beautiful. Who was it?

He recognized the voice immediately. Elizabeta!

He stopped mopping and listened closely to her singing. Just like in the play, it was beautiful. He knew he shouldn't do this, he wasn't even allowed to do this, but he moved closer to her dressing room.

He moved close to the door and continued to listen:

"'Cause life's too short!
To always feel shut out and unloved by the sister I long to know.
Life's too short, to never let you celebrate me, the true queen of the ice and snow!"

He wiped a tear from his eye. "That's beautiful!" He blurt out.

Immediately she stopped singing and turned to the door. "Hello? Someone there?"

Gilbert slapped a hand over his mouth. STUPID! He slapped himself on the head.

"Hello?" She asked again.

Gilbert gulped. He wasn't sure what he should do. Walk away, or say something! He thought for a moment. This would be the perfect time to finally talk to her like a person. He breathed in heavily and prepared himself. Here I go.

He stepped to the center of the door and smiled nervously. "Hey…"

"Oh hi! Your name is Gilbert, right?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Well, how can I help you?"

LORD WHAT DO I SAY?

"Um…well…" He choked on words.

"Hm?"

"Well, I came to talk to you…."

"Oh?" She asked, amused. She sat down in her chair, an eyebrow and a smirk creased her face. "What's up? You can come in, you know?"

Gilbert nodded and walked in. He blushed lightly and looked to his feet. "Well… your singing is really nice."

"Aw, thanks. I get that a lot." She giggled. Gilbert laughed a little. Elizabeta waved her hand, "Was that it?"

"No, no. Um…ugh, I'm not gonna act like a coward."

"Hm?"

"Well, I watch you act and sing, and you're very good at it! And I hear you like fencing too. I like sword stuff too; and, wrestling is cool too. I fight well. I saved my brother from bullies when he was young and I've beat up people who've tried to steal from me and-"

"Woah, woah Gilbert, slow down. You're going to faint going on run on sentences like that." She said. Gilbert obeyed, and breathed a little. She nodded, letting him continue:

"And, you're really uh…."

"Really what?"

"….Pretty."

Elizabeta grinned. "I get that a lot too, ha ha. But, hearing it makes me happy. Thanks."

He blushed. "No, I mean it deeply."

"Oh?"

"I mean, people probably come up to you, saying that all the time. But, their just people. I..well…. I'm not like them. I think you really are pretty; no, beautiful." He began to sweat nervously. She just stares at him, head cocked to one side. He gulped, realizing what he had just done.

I have to leave. NOW.

He realized he had just made a HUGE fool of himself, and that she was probably scared of him now. He flinched, "Well, I better go so I don't freak you out more right, heh, heh." He gulped and made his way to the hall.

"No wait."

He paused and turned around. He was nervous to ask. "Y-yes?"

"Thank you." She smiled. He blushed widely.

"I-I thought you hear that one all the time." He said.

She shrugged, "Not like the way you said it. That was so nice. No one's ever said something like that so deeply to me. I've even had boyfriends who don't even say things like that to me."

Well then they must have been idiots.

She smiled. "Why are you just an employee? Being such a nice guy, you should be an actor!"

"UHH…I don't think I'd be very good at acting. I like singing though." He confessed.

"Great! Maybe I can pull some strings and get you in the play…"

"Ahh! I don't know!"

"What? Stage fright?"

He looked away. "No. I just, don't know…"

She chuckled. "It's ok, Edelstein can't say no to me. He likes me too much."

He gave a swift glance to her, eyes wide, "You know he likes you?"

"Isn't it obvious? He almost asked me out to dinner last night. Thank god Yekaterina texted me when she did. I would feel so bad saying no. I wanted to turn him down anyway." She crossed her arms and grunted. Just the thought of him makes me sick.

Gilbert flinched. "You don't like him back?"

"No, not at all. He's so rude and prissy! He treats his employees like shit and thinks he's so better then everyone else. He whines and complains about every little thing, boasts, and god forbid he makes a mess or just doesn't feel like doing anything, he'll make someone else do it for him. Did I mention he gets lost easily?"

"What do you mean by 'easy?'"

"Well, he generously offered to pick me up lunch the other day. When I told him what I wanted, he went to the store and five minutes later he called me going: "Help, Elizabeta! I'm unbelievably lost!"

"Hah!"

"I know he's such a loser, heh, heh." She laughed.

Gilbert sighed. "He sucks. You know how I got here? He told me to mop that river of wine over there." He pointed to the hall, which still contained a large river of red liquid.

Elizabeta's eyes widened. "No offense, you might want to get to that before it stains."

Gilbert's eyes widened. "Oh shit."

Elizabeta giggled. "You're sweet, Gilbert. Well, I have to continue putting on makeup and such. Come see me later! If, Roderich lets you."

Gilbert smirked. "He can't get by me. I'm awesome!"

"I see." She grinned. "And even I he doesn't let you, tell him I said you can come see me. Kay?"

"Yes!" He howled. He stopped short. "Sorry."

"It's ok." She chuckled. She turned to her mirror and continued to put some mascara. Gilbert smiled. Finally he got a chance to talk to her like a person. And she thought he was sweet and nice! Mission accomplished! He fist pumped the air.

He watched her for a second. She still looked nice.

He sighed with a smile. "Well, see you-"

His stomach rumbled loudly.

He blushed.

Elizabeta turned. "Oh?"

CRAP. Toni forced him out of the house so fast he wasn't able to eat breakfast and now he was hungry.

"Well," he said bashfully, "I guess that's my signal to leave."

"Yeah. Go fill your stomach. I think it's mad at you. You didn't eat this morning?"

"Nah. A certain Spaniard wouldn't let me." He frowned.

Elizabeta chuckled. "Well, you can have this." She walked over to a table and unfolded something out of a plastic bag. She took out three cookies shaped like little hearts.

"Where'd you get those?"

"Roderich gave them to me this morning. I don't want them. Plus they're fresh. They smell good right?"

She wasn't kidding. The scent filled the air like Lysol in a room. "You really don't want these?"

"Yeah, take them. I'm not hungry anyway. I think your stomach will appreciate it." She smiled with a snicker.

He took them from her warm hands. The marvelous scent from them hit his nose, making his stomach rumble. He licked his lips. "You sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. Now clean up the river of blood before Edelstein yells at you." She laughed, returning to her chair. Gilbert saluted, "Yes mam!"

She laughed at his little act, making him laugh with her. "See ya!" he rushed out and grabbed the mop, running down the hall to clean the rest.

"See you later!" She called. She returned to her makeup and smiled. What a nice guy.

….

Immediately after he was done cleaning, he threw the mop into the closet and dashed to his friends. "Guys, guys! I did it!"

"Did what?" Antonio asked.

Gilbert panted heavily. "I-I did it."

"Did what?" Antonio asked again, impatiently.

"I talked to Elizabeta!" he cheered.

"Que?!"

"WHAT?!" Alfred yelled from above them. They looked up and noticed him on a ladder staring down at them from above. Gilbert smirked:

"Yep! It's true! Don't ask how I did it it's too much to explain. But I did it." He smiled happily.

Antonio grinned. "Congratulations, amigo!"

"Yeah, dude! I'm surprised she didn't kick your ass!' Alfred laughed.

Gilbert smirked. "Well, I'm hungry. She gave me these." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the three cookies. His two friend's eyes widened:

"SHE gave you those?! Woah! Who knew a rich actress would be nice to a poor employee!" Antonio commented. Alfred nodded his head in agreement.

Gilbert nodded boastfully. "And she said I was nice and sweet."

"Aww. I love it." Antonio smiled. Alfred gave him a thumbs up and a wink, but gagged to the romance. He still didn't like that stuff.

The scent of the cookies filled the air, and Antonio and Alfred eyed them hungrily. "Can we have one?" Toni asked.

Gilbert held them tightly and pulled them away. "No! These are my actress cookies!"

"You're greedy." Toni snarled.

Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "I got these from Elizabeta. Why would I share them?"

"True." Alfred nodded. Antonio turned away. "Whatever." He mumbled.

Gilbert took a bite out of one of them and smiled. They were amazing. Tears of joy fell from his eyes. He wiped them away and gobbled down the treats.

"I assume they were good?" Alfred asked.

"DUH." Gilbert laughed. The other two laughed.

The sound of Roderich clapping sounded that the play would start soon. Gilbert grabbed a chair and sat himself down, ready to watch. Antonio smirked and shook his head. "Really amigo?"

"I want to see her act. That a problem? I've been doing it every night so far."

"True. I just think you're silly love struck. That damn cupid." He laughed. Gilbert dissolved into laughter.

Alfred gagged above them.

The play began to start, and Gilbert watched, interested as ever. Elizabeta acting was amazing, and he promised himself he would watch her every time.

Author's note!

And the hero finally confesses. I love it XD

If this isn't romantic I don't know what is. ALSO! Life's too short-Frozen. I don't really enjoy Frozen, but my friend showed me this song in a Warrior Cats video and I liked it. So, I figured it would be a nice song for Elizabeta to sing. And scene.

See you in the next chapter! :3

Tails