A/N: Written for an anonymous Tumblr prompt that read "What the HELL is that?!" -E/C?"
"What the hell is that?" His voice is strained, half-strangled in his surprise as he points at her face. She smiles at him and takes his hand, raising it to touch the soft leather.
"Why, it's a mask, Erik darling. I would have thought that you of people would know that."
His eyes are wide as his fingers travel over the mask. She shaped it so that it cling to the contours of her face just so, and left a gap for her mouth, the mask tapering off either side of her lips. He swallows hard, hooks his fingers around the side, and pulls it off, weighing it carefully in his hand.
"Nothing has happened to your face." His voice is soft, confused as he looks from her to the mask and back again. "Why do you have a mask?"
"Because." She takes the mask off him and fits it back on. "This way when we go walking, you will not stand out so much. It will not be a masked man and me, it will be a masked couple, and perhaps people's stares will slide away easier then."
Tears glisten in his eyes and he raises his hand, fingers lingering at the edge of the leather again. "They'll call the gendarmes down on us, thinking we have something to hide."
"If we had something to hide, we would hardly be so obvious as to wear masks that stand out like these."
He kisses her hand and takes her in his arms, holding her tight to him. She can feel the pounding of his heart in his chest, and his tears slipping into her hair, so she wraps her arms around his waist and holds him tight until he eases.
"All right, my love," he says at last, his voice half-lost in her curls. "All right."