P: Protective

Eliza sighed, watching the mall security officers lecture Gilbert about assaulting other men. Some young punk had tried flirting with her, coming on rather hard.

She smiled faintly. It was actually pretty amusing. She barely got one word in before Gilbert knocked the man back about ten feet with one good punch. Her boyfriend was a pretty protective guy...he always was.

Back in grade school, she remembered him picking on the quiet boy, Toris. He'd throw pens and paper at him, chase him with rulers, kick the chair out from under him, and whenever he got in trouble he said the same exact thing: 'I'm making sure he stays away from me, because then he'll stay away from Lizzy.'

Vaguely she remembered hating the albino's guts. She just saw him as a dumb bully. All through grade school actually. He picked on her sometimes too, stealing her pencils, pulling her hair, tripping her.

Then in middle school, she was dismayed to see the dumb brute had managed to get into almost all of her classes.

Smiling wider, she remembered spending a lot of time in the principal's office, explaining why Gil had beat up another boy.

Eighth grade stuck out the most in her mind, she had met a really nice boy from Romania named Vladimir, he was out casted, quiet, but very nice. Most kids thought he was a vampire, including Gil, which she found odd since he was pale too.

Gil had gotten into a big fist fight with Vladimir over Eliza, even though she still hated his guts. Well, she said she hated his guts. They had a very complex and awkward friendship at this stage.

Though seeing Gilbert pound the crap out of the smaller boy, she got pissed, went off on Gil, and even started dating Vladimir.

Sadly she found out Gil was right about him. He wasn't that nice, he would hurt her, on accident or purpose, she didn't really know. He liked some pretty dark things too.

So when the broke up, Gil was there, and for the next five months, another male didn't dare come close. He was protecting her.

At the time, Eliza just thought he was being a good friend. But truly, he did it because he really liked her, and always had.

High school was worse. She saw Gil less, and had a lot of classes with this boy named Roderich.

And Roderich...he was perfect. Good grades, respectful, charming, proper and handsome. Not at all like her brutish, loud, C average rude best friend.

She sighed softly remembering. She dated Roderich for two full years, a lot of people thought they'd get married after school. She was happy...she liked, maybe even loved him.

Gil didn't. Gil hated him. He was hurt too, felt replaced. He barely saw Eliza for those two years, she brushed him off, avoided him.

He didn't know why. Hadn't he don't everything right, been the good friend, always there?

She did. Roderich was perfect. Gil was not. But to her...perfect got a little boring. After two years, it got a lot boring. Seeing Gil would have made her leave Roderich in seconds.

And she knew just where she'd run. To her pale, protective best friends arms.

In the end, Eliza and Roderich fought, and she did leave him.

And though he felt betrayed, Gil was right there, as he always was, waiting. He didn't say I told you so. He didn't bitch about it, not until months after, not until he knew she could take the teasing, and wasn't heart broken.

They dated. He didn't change, nothing would change him. But she knew deep down there was always that fear of being replaced by someone better. It wasn't that hard to find someone better.

Eliza never knew why he was so protective. She had long since decided it was because he loved her. But now looking back, she decided it was probably his fear of being replaced mixed into his love.

She smiled and left her thoughts as he walked over, looking at the ground.

She smirked lightly "Did you learn your lesson?"

He looked up grinning "Don't break bones, then they can't arrest you."

She sighed "That was not what you were supposed to learn..."

He took her hand and started walking "Don't tell me what I can and cannot learn!"

Mentally she sighed. This would not be the last time he went into a protective frenzy. But maybe it wasn't so bad. At least she knew he cared and still wanted to be there with her.

Maybe he was still a stupid pale brute.

But he was a very protective and loving, stupid pale brute.

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