LifesDarkFire here with a very fluffy one shot of Erik and Meg. This is my first story for the POTO category and my first attempt at writing about this couple so please go easy on this story.
Disclaimer: I sadly do not own anything dealing with POTO, the musical,book, or adaptions. But I do indeed own a toy yo-yo.
Julienne was once again on the dock watching as a handsome young man boarded the cargo ship blue eyes shimmering in excitement, his blonde hair tousled by the wind. A tear ran down her cheek as she brought their daughter's chubby hand up to wave goodbye to her handsome papa. A stone was in the pit of her stomach for some reason she knew Philippe would not be returning to Paris, would not see their daughter grow up to call her…..
"Mama!"
"Mama!"
A persistent voice and a small hand shook Julienne out of her dream, which she quickly realized was just a memory of the last time she had seen her husband Philippe. She blinked back the tears and looked into the face of their daughter. She had his eyes, and his blonde hair, tied back in a light blue ribbon but there was something wrong with her daughter and concern rose.
"What is it Meg? What is so important that you must drag me out of bed?" Her tone was stern as she raised one eyebrow to reinstate her question. Young Meg blushed and hung her head low at her mother's questioning, "I-it is nothing mother, I'm sorry I bothered you." She turned quickly to escape her mother's harsh gaze, knowing she had been foolish to wake her for her own childish needs.
"Meg… Meg come back here and tell me what is wrong." Julienne commanded.
Meg slowly pivoted in her ballet slippers and walked slowly back into her mother's gaze. "My new toy," she whispered, "it has disappeared! None of the other girls even knew I had it, when I asked them if they had seen it they said that the Opera Ghost has taken it because I am a bad dancer." Silent tears rolled down Meg's cheeks and Julienne knew that her daughter's missing toy was not the cause. "Come here." Was all she said as she enveloped Meg in a tight embrace and quickly brushed the tears from her eyes.
"Meg, the Opera Ghost has not taken it, do not make that accusation again." Julienne cautioned. Meg nodded wide eyed at her mother's admonishment, she was very strict about the Opera Ghost and Meg always knew to obey her when it came to him.
"You my daughter are not a bad dancer", she continued only to be interrupted by Meg's sudden question of "You really don't think so?"
Julienne shook her head, "No, I know you are a wonderful dancer. I have taught you myself haven't I? Now about your new toy, what do you call it again?"
"A Yo-Yo!" Meg quickly stated as she bounced on her mother's lap for emphasis. "Oui a yo-yo , now it is round correct?"
Meg nodded solemnly. "And it's has a pink string with ballet shoes carved on the side! If you throw it down with the string wound around the inside, it will snap back up again!" Her blue eyes shimmered at the thought of her toy and how much fun it had proven to be.
Julienne chuckled. "Do you think it could have rolled under your bed? Or, maybe it has fallen into a drawer, or in one of your practice tutus?" Julienne asked thinking of all the places a rolling toy may have gone.
"No! I have checked all of those places, even under my mattress, inside my closet, in my ballet slippers…" Meg dwindled off trying to think of any other places she forgot to mention.
Julienne narrowed her eyes in concentration, where could a toy go to? Surely the girls had to be wrong he would not steal a child's toy, much less Meg's toy. Besides he had to be seventeen, eighteen? What would he do with a yo-yo?
"I do not know what to say Meg but, your yo-yo it seems has run away." She watched her daughter's eyes widen at the thought. "Really mama?" she asked, "Did I not treat it well enough? Perhaps I was too rough when I played with it; I did drop it on the floor accidentally."Meg twisted her blonde hair around her index finger in worry, had she really mistreated her toy so badly that it had run away? There was only one thing to do she decided, but to beg for its forgiveness and see if it would come back home.
"Oui!" Meg cried as she sprang off of her mother's lap with determination. "Oui, I know what to do mama! I will beg for Monsieur Yo-Yo's forgiveness, and hopefully he will come back home!"
Julienne had to place a hand on her mouth as she bit back her laughter at Meg's idea. She watched happily as her daughter bounded out of her room and into the hallway quietly whispering "Monsieur Yo-Yo?" "Monsieur Yo-Yo…?"
After what seemed an hour of tracking around the hallways of the dormitories Meg's throat hurt from whispering "Monsieur Yo-Yo I'm sorry, come back please!" She returned back to her room defeated and tired, it was after all very late and already past her bedtime. She went to sleep quickly once her head hit the pillow knowing her mother was already planning an even harder practice for her and her fellow ballerinas tomorrow. She drifted off thinking that maybe Christine had seen her lost Monsieur Yo-Yo.
Five stories beneath Meg's bedroom a young man in a white half mask fumbled with something in his hands. "Flick of the wrist." He mumbled to the air around him as he tossed the wooden toy made of two circles held together with thread downwards and attempted to pull it up quickly by the pink thread wrapped round the middle. What resulted was the wooden toy dangling from the pink string, and the young man's seventy-sixth try at playing with a yo-yo. "Come on Erik," he coached himself; "if little Meg Giry can do it so can you. It's just a simple flick of the wrist and an upward pull." The yo-yo flew out of Erik's hand and hit the stone wall behind him. He growled in frustration as he bent down to pick it up, utterly humiliated. Here he was a young-man at seventeen who could not master a child's toy, but could run Paris' most famous Opera? Erik huffed in disgust and had a sudden urge to throw the offending toy into the brackish water of the underground lake. A memory stopped him just as he pulled his arm back to throw, the memory was of little Meg Giry wandering down the semi-lit halls calling "Monsieur Yo-Yo!" in her child's voice. Erik groaned in regret as he snatched the Yo-Yo back to his chest thinking of the reprimand Julienne would give him if she ever found out that he disposed of her daughter's currently favorite toy. He did not want to even dwell on the guilt little Meg's tears would cause him; there was something about her that tugged annoyingly at his heart when he thought of her in pain. Frustrated, annoyed and tired Erik put the small wooden toy on the keys of his piano determined to master it when he woke the next day.
Meg woke up early the next morning determined to march all over the opera house in search of her Monsieur Yo-Yo. The thought of walking all over the opera house by herself made her stomach a little queasy as she thought of all the stories she had heard about the Opera Ghost. Meg shook her head and figured that if she did meet the Opera Ghost she would just have to question him about Monsieur Yo-Yo's whereabouts, he would probably not object to that.
Meg's search for Monsieur Yo-Yo was cut short by her mother who walked quickly into her room to announce that breakfast would be held early so they could have more learning time. Meg bowed her head and held her tongue wishing that she had more time to look for her lost toy.
Erik woke up to the same disappointment as Meg, after his hundred and thirtieth try at the yo-yo he gave up and placed it back on his piano keys. It aggravated him to no end how a small child seven years younger than him could master such a simple creation but he himself could not. Erik sat pondering the ivory and ebony keys of his piano when he had a sudden epiphany. Why not ask the child how the stupid toy worked? He could write her a letter from the Opera Ghost simply stating she was to demonstrate how to operate the yo-yo. It would happen to run away again and simply return once he was satisfied with it. Erik clapped his hands together in amusement, pulled a fresh sheet of parchment out and began to write his letter to Mademoiselle Meg.
Meg slowly walked back to her room, her feet ached from her mother's recent lessons, her stomach growled even though she had just finished eating dinner, and on top of all of that discomfort she still had not found Monsieur Yo-Yo!
She sighed as she took off her ballerina slippers and gently laid them down on the bottom of her closet; she slowly tugged the light blue hair ribbon from her hair and placed it carefully on her dresser. The ribbon had been a birthday present from a family friend simply named Erik, her mother never said much about him, only that he would always protect them because she had saved his life. Meg had accepted that simple answer because it sated her childhood curiosity but Madame knew that in later years Meg would want to know more. Right now though Meg had an even bigger problem on her hands, Monsieur Yo-Yo had been missing for two whole days.
He had run away suddenly too, one moment he was there in her dresser drawer and then when she got back from her dinner he was gone. Meg's thoughts were cut off shortly when she noticed a large envelope sitting on her bed where she had just sat down. She quickly scooped it up hoping that maybe it would be news of her precious wooden toy. She inspected the writing and giggled because it seemed very childish like her own. "Mademoiselle Meg" was the only writing on the envelope; Meg glowed with pleasure at the thought that she was getting a letter! Only adults got letters, her mama got letters that made her happy or sad, the opera manager got letters from the Opera Ghost but he was never happy about them. Meg paused, her finger sliding under the envelope flap 'I do hope I'm happy about this letter.' She thought solemnly as she slid her finger all the way breaking the red wax seal. She took the letter out of the envelope and read what was written:
"Mademoiselle Meg,
It is my pleasure and duty to inform you that I have come upon your Monsieur Yo-Yo who crossed my path last night. It is to my knowledge that he ran away from you recently and I know that you wish dearly to play with him again. I ask you then to come to Box 5 at eleven o'clock tonight, and I will gladly give you back your toy if you would but show me how it works.
Your friend,
O.G"
Meg gasped at the thought of meeting the Opera Ghost, but her shock and happiness that he had found her toy quickly overcame her nervousness. Meg could hardly keep from leaping out of her bed as her bed side clock read ten fifty. She did not want to keep the Opera Ghost waiting so she decided she would allow herself ten minutes to get to the illustrious box five. Jumping at even the slightest creak in the floor board Meg half ran to Box five fearing getting caught more than the infamous Opera Ghost himself.
Meg arrived exactly at eleven o'clock, the church bells chimed out the hour as she slowly opened the door. She saw no one in the box but saw her toy, now dubbed Monsieur Yo-Yo on the ledge of the box. She ran delightedly to her yo-yo but her slipper caught a snag in the rug and she soon faced a tumultuous fall forward only to be rescued by a firm pair of hands holding onto both of her shoulders. Meg crashed into a warm chest which rumbled with laughter. She flushed suddenly embarrassed at this stranger who laughed at her and a frown quickly replacing her look of shock. Meg looked up at the man who had saved her from her face plant and childishly stuck her tongue out, not even phased that the stranger was a young man wearing a white mask.
"Excuse me Monsieur," she said briskly, "but I have important business to attend to with the Opera Ghost."
That sent the stranger into another fit of rumbling laughter and Meg scowled at him and crossed her arms.
"I suggest you leave while you still can." Meg advised, her face slowly heating up with a flush, "I'm sure the Opera Ghost will be very, very angry to see someone intruding on our private meeting."
"Oh, I'm sure I would be. If someone was intruding that is." The stranger replied smirking from beneath his half mask.
Meg gasped surprised as her entire body flushed with embarrassment. "Oh!" she cried putting a hand to her face, "I'm sorry! I just thought the Opera Ghost was… well a ghost." She stated looking at Erik with curiosity now.
He nodded in understanding, "I'm sorry to disappoint you mademoiselle but I am entirely made of flesh and blood."
That statement made Meg blush an even brighter red leaving Erik understandably very confused, for he could not read minds. Thankfully so because Meg was presently thinking how the young man in front of her was curiously handsome, probably even more so without his mask and how she wished he would take it off. But Meg was raised with proper etiquette which she abided by sometimes and knew it was best not to ask such a sensitive question.
"Well Monsieur Opera Ghost, I believe you wanted me to show you how to work my toy?" Meg asked picking up the yo-yo and began to spin it.
It was Erik's turn to blush and he quietly stammered a "Yes". Meg nodded in affirmation and slowly showed him how you simply let the wooden toy roll out of the hand downwards and with a quick yank pull it up again. She then turned to Erik and held it out to him, and sighed in agitation when he stared at it blankly.
"Are you going to try it or not?" she asked. Erik looked down at the yo-yo then at the face of the child who held it out to him.
"Uh- er.. Yes, I will uhm try it." He stammered out again wondering how a ten year old child had him stumbling over his two feet trying to talk to her. He let the yo-yo roll down like she had showed but still could not yank it up. After the tenth try he looked over to where she had taken a seat and heard her quietly laughing at him.
"Oh? Meg you think its funny?" Erik asked frustration making him irritable.
"Oui monsieur!" Meg replied a giggle slipping from under her hand.
Erik sighed defeated and gave her back the toy. "Maybe I was not made for this."
Meg quickly shook her head, "No, you just need practice, just like I have to practice to become a good ballerina!" Meg cocked her head to the side her blue eyes alit with an idea. "How about we make a deal?" she asked innocently. Erik narrowed his eyes as the girl's head bobbed up and down in excitement. "What sort of deal?" he asked his voice low and cautious.
"Simple Monsieur! I will teach you how to play with the Yo-Yo and when you have mastered it you will tell me your real name!" Meg stuck out her hand nodding in agreement and approval at how smart she could be.
Erik's eyes narrowed even more until they were barely slits, "What if I told you I don't have a name?"
Meg shook her head, "No you cannot fool me, and I know you don't let your friends call you Opera Ghost."
Erik blushed a light shade of pink as he mumbled, "I don't have any friends."
Meg pressed a finger to his lips silencing him as she shook her head vigorously, "No, you have Monsieur Yo-Yo and I, we will be your friends and together we will learn more about each other just like real friend do!" Meg smiled happily as Erik took her hand and shook it slightly. Stifling a yawn he then ordered his new friend to go back to her room and to bed. Meg nodded in happy agreement and took her newly found Monsieur Yo-Yo back with her humming a happy tune at having made friends with the Opera Ghost, whose identity she would eventually know.
This was definitely a secret they would have to keep from Mama, at least for a little while.
9 years later:
Erik sat in his lair his back against his piano as the tears slowly coursed down his cheeks he looked up as he heard footsteps edging closer to him. Closing his eyes in defeat Erik made quick peace with the thought of death. Instead of the sword's blade or the bullets ricochets he heard an angel's sweet voice.
"Monsieur Yo-Yo was very worried about you. We were both wondering Opera Ghost, if you finally mastered how to play?" Erik raised his head slowly to meet Meg's eyes and wondered how she could look at him without flinching at his deformity. "Let us see what I can do Meg." He took the yo-yo out of her hand and deftly tossed it down and yanked it up slowly he caught it in his hand and marveled at what he had just done. A giggle pierced the thick air, the only warning Erik heard before Meg threw herself on him and embraced him in a tight hug.
"I knew you could do it!!" she cried as she bestowed brief kisses upon his upturned face as tears coursed down both of their cheeks. "Now tell me who are you, you mysterious opera ghost?"
4 years later
"Meg!"
"Meg!"
"Look! Look what Philippe's doing all by himself!" A melodic voice brought Meg from her memories and she smiled at her husband who was pointing at their two year old son. "Yes, I see he's mastered Monsieur Yo-Yo." She replied giggling.
"I see it took him quicker than it took you Erik!" She teased, laughing as he grabbed her for a quick kiss. "Yes," he murmured into her thick hair, "but that's because he takes after you."
They both laughed as they twirled around their small country house, as Philippe the first of many children played with their old friend Monsieur Yo-Yo.
I hope you like the story, now if you could just click review it would be greatly appreciated. The idea came to me late last night as I played with my own dollar store yo-yo and ate an enourmous quantity of kettle corn so anything you find wrong, or strange I blame it on my late night epiphany. I hope to write more stories in this fandom since I have been somewhat... obsessed with POTO since I was twelve and discovered it when my middle school band played a compilation of the songs and I learned I shared a namesake with one of the characters. Please leave any constructive criticism I would greatly appreciate it for future reference with my writing. Reviews, well they just make this writer extremely happy.
-LifesDarkFire