Title: Sing For Me
Author: Lucifer Rosemaunt
Summary: 3 short vignettes on Erik, Raoul, and singing.
Fandom: Phantom of the Opera
Pairing(s): Erik/Raoul implied slash, could be read as gen
Warning(s): none, kind of crack?
Word Count: 600+
Rating: K+
A/N: PurpleSnowstorm215 actually gave me a prompt (wherein Erik and Raoul sing together and/or Erik tutors Raoul). I normally don't do prompts because I suck at them, but these 3 drabble-ish came up and I figured, why not just post them.
Story note: Unsurprisingly, this came out very Erik POV-centric. I was going to make them double drabbles but just shrugged to myself and said whatever. (Way to win, laziness.) Also, I am stupidly amused by the title.
o.o.o.o
(1) word count: 231
Erik has come to realize that he may have a tendency to hum to himself, perhaps all the time. He is unsure when or why the habit truly begins but thinks it may have been to ensure he is never in the stifling silence that has been thrust upon him with his forcible exile from humanity.
Learning this about himself only comes to pass when the viscount begins to infiltrate hour upon hour of his day. It is not even because Erik stops humming now that he has company. It is because unlike any sane individual who would simply bring it to his attention, Raoul entertains himself by creating his own nonsensical lyrics to go along with whatever tune has caught Erik's attention.
It is subtle at first: the young man simply muttering to himself, a distraction Erik could have easily ignored. Time, however, emboldens him to sing loud enough for Erik to hear not only his atrociously poor rhyming abilities but also the fact that his own humming is the source of Raoul's diversion.
He does not want to encourage the viscount when he obviously has no talent as a lyricist. Erik can only roll his eyes every time he hears Raoul's favorite refrain of them going on adventures, searching high and low, but he keeps humming anyway, never truly convinced that there is a reason for him to stop.
(2) word count: 269
The first time Erik really considers Raoul's voice is when he is bedridden with a fever that makes him feel as though his blood is boiling and that death is simply torturing him with a little more time. His eyes burn and despite the water that Raoul keeps at hand, his thirst does not abate. The moist cloth upon his forehead does little to calm such heat and sleep is a distant memory, ashes blown away in the wake of his current ailment.
At times, he hears his mother at his bedside, bemoaning her fate with such a monstrous son; while other times, it is Christine, who spares him kind words but cannot seem to offer him more. The gypsy even makes an appearance, spewing epithets and names he has long since abandoned. He knows his mind is addled, knows it is Raoul who has kept vigil by his side, but he cannot rein in his thoughts from where they wander, forced to suffer through their presence.
It is with a kind hand and a gentle voice that Erik is drawn from such misery when Raoul begins to sing a lullaby, one that Erik will later learn had been sung to Raoul as a child by his brother when he was ill. That lullaby and Raoul's tenor voice are the only things that give him rest and only the knowledge of the blond's utter disregard for commonsense and his steady presence by his side keeps his dreams peaceful.
Erik is glad to be able to return the favor, singing the lullaby back to him when Raoul catches his fever.
(3) word count: 225
Erik abuses Raoul's graciousness, mostly because he can. The viscount should not have offered his assistance if he was unwilling to bear its consequences; however, Raoul has proven that he is willing. When Erik hands him the sheets of a new song he is working on, Raoul looks excited, eager to tackle the solos and duets alike. The young man suffers under his attentions and criticisms, singing the same line over and over again just so that it sounds exactly how Erik has heard it in his mind. He struggles through strenuous vocal exercises and does so happily only because he thinks he is aiding Erik's process.
Erik does not attempt to disabuse him of this notion and may very well have been the source of it. He will carry this ruse for as long as he can, not knowing any other recourse after the blond had outright denied his suggestion that he come under Erik's tutelage to improve his voice. Raoul had been adamantly against it, using the fallout with Christine as an example. So much promise and talent could not go to waste though.
He'd had no other choice. He is certain that what Raoul does not know will not hurt him. In fact, Erik is helping him; Raoul's voice is improving. He simply does not understand why he feels guilty doing so.
o.o.o.o
End ficlet
A/N: Don't forget to R/R (Read and Review)!
Fic Review: The slash is really just implied in this fic. First one's my favorite and you know Erik ends up singing along to Raoul's lyrics, making it impossible to finish operas because those songs are now reserved for just them.
I really hope someone else can do the prompt better justice. So, just throwing that out there. (Attack, plotbunnies.)