Title: The Light's Out But Someone's Home (Halloween Variation 02)
Author: Lucifer Rosemaunt
Summary: Short ficlet variations on a theme: Halloween meet cute. Trick or Treating basics, everyone has to learn them at some time.
Fandom: Phantom of the Opera, partial Love Never Dies
Pairing(s): Erik/Raoul preslash
Warning(s): modern!AU, kid!fic, Love Never Dies
Word Count: 1,295
Rating: K+
o.o.o.o
"Gustave! Don't…" Raoul chased after his son and almost succeeded in grabbing his cape, but it fluttered out of his reach.
His little five-year-old vampire pressed the doorbell button vigorously for a moment before Raoul could snatch his hand from it. A little out of breath, he crouched so that he could be eye level with his son as he placed his hands on small shoulders to ensure he had his full attention.
Gustave was usually well-behaved, but it was not a surprise that Halloween would be the night that his normally obedient son would get a little out of hand. Then again, weekend visits had not sufficiently prepared him for the past two weeks of full-time child care.
"You cannot run off like that," he chastised, relieved that his boy had only run down a walkway and not across a street. Never quite experiencing that kind of fear before, he had to remind himself to keep his voice calm. He waited until Gustave nodded and looked contrite. "And remember? Houses with no porch light on means no one's home to give out candy."
Gustave pouted. "But he has jack o' lanterns." He pointed to the row of elaborately designed pumpkins and Raoul had to admit, he was more than a little impressed with the display. There was an obvious progression from a simple triangle eye and jagged-teeth pumpkin to a headless horseman, horse included, to a cemetery scene and an angel with glowing red eyes. There were several empty spots but the entire front porch was lined with at least a dozen expertly carved pumpkins. To top it all off, there were a variety of colors shining from them and Raoul peeked into one to see it lit by a glowstick. It was beautiful and kind of a shame that they were only temporary.
"Maybe whoever is here," he offered, "ran out of candy already."
The door opened suddenly and Gustave screamed, scrambling to hide behind Raoul, who admittedly had also jumped at the violent motion. Standing up, he was about to apologize when he was cut off.
"Get off my porch, you brats…" the man who opened the door stopped abruptly.
Raoul was distracted enough by the white half mask that glowed a faint orange from the light of the nearest pumpkin and by surprisingly green eyes that it took him a moment to feel indignant. "Sir, we…"
Gustave cut him off by running from behind him and yelling, "Mr. Erik!"
"Mr. Erik?" Raoul echoed, staring down at his son, who was facing this tall and rather imposing man as though they were friends. He did take the momentary interruption to further scrutinize him. He was the kind of handsome that would be distracting if not for the intrigue the mask presented. The man looked older than him, was definitely slightly taller since he had to tilt his head slightly to look him in the eyes, and was dressed simply in khaki pants and a polo t-shirt.
"Trick or treat!" His son held out his half-filled plastic pumpkin container.
Erik spared Gustave a meager quirk of lips, looking between the small boy and his father and the undeniable similarities between them. "You must be Mr. Chagny?" He did not give any time for a response. "I apologize for" he gestured towards the door then to himself "my behavior. Some of the older kids do not bother with the treat portion of the season any longer." His eyes darted towards the row of pumpkins and Raoul frowned at the thought of vandalism against such art.
He shook his head, any transgression already forgotten. "It's fine. I- how do you know my son?"
Gustave, not one to be ignored for very long, lowered his pumpkin bucket and answered, "Mr. Erik does art and music."
"For the Kindergartners?"
"Once a week I teach the little ones," Erik explained, "and more frequently for the older children."
Raoul had to focus on comprehending the words and not being distracted by the tenor voice or the way his lips moved. It had been years since he had last felt this attracted to someone and so quickly.
"But I'm also one of the teachers on the playground during recess," Erik said before changing the subject, "Gustave explained how he was going to be living with his father from now on."
Raoul looked away, hands finding his son's shoulders once more, but this time to keep him from trying to sneak a peek behind his teacher to look into his house. "Yeah. It's a change, but you know." He cleared his throat and said more firmly, "Sorry for disturbing you. He's faster than he looks, I suppose."
"I'm the one who needs to be sorry, Mr. Chagny," Erik said gruffly, "I was rude and…"
"It's Raoul," he said. "Sorry for interrupting, but it seems unfair I know you by Mr. Erik and you call me…"
"You have so many cool pumpkins," Gustave interjected, undaunted by the fact neither adult was paying attention to him.
Raoul smiled at his son, glad that he had stopped whatever ramble he would have fallen into. "He does." To Erik he said earnestly, "They're amazing by the way. I didn't know any of his teachers lived in this neighborhood."
Erik shrugged. "I am not known to make nice with my neighbors." And Erik would never admit that he had seen Raoul when the young man took his morning runs and could perfectly time looking out of his kitchen window to see the blond in his short, track shorts and sweatshirt – a combination Erik found absurd and yet endearing. It was something of a surprise to find out that his morning runner was in fact a parent of one of his students.
Gustave wordlessly held his pumpkin up again, and Erik frowned slightly. "I'm sorry I don't have any candy."
Instead of being disappointed though, the young boy replied, "That's okay. You should come over to our house and get some. We have a lot of candy and then you could help daddy with carving pumpkins. We have one that's just a hole in the front."
Raoul ducked his head, doing everything in his power to avoid meeting Erik's eyes.
"That sounds like a very nice offer," Erik said and Raoul hazarded looking up only to find that the masked man still had his eyes trained on him, a smirk firmly in place. "But I don't like candy very much and I'm sure you're going to be very busy tonight."
Before Raoul could say anything, Gustave nudged his leg. "He can visit, right? The pumpkin. We won't be busy at all."
Raoul sighed, but figured that even if he extended the invitation, the other man did not need to think it necessary to accept it. So, to appease his son, he nodded. "Of course you can visit. We're just two streets over on the corner. The only house with a dog dressed as a mummy." He pointed down the street. "We have a lot of candy."
"And pumpkins," Gustave interjected.
"And uncarved pumpkins," Raoul agreed, his face hot.
"You have to promise to come," Gustave insisted. "I wanna see you make a pumpkin."
Erik's immediate reaction would normally have been to say no, but the pleading look on the boy's face and the amused smile on Raoul's made him pause; Raoul admittedly made him pause.
The young man thought to save him, saying, "Mr. Erik might have other plans, Gustave."
But Erik had already made up his mind and before he could convince himself otherwise, he said, "I promise I'll visit." Immediately, he knew it had been the right choice at the surprised smile that lit Raoul's face.
"Good," Gustave said and Raoul echoed the sentiment, "Good."
o.o.o.o
End ficlet
A/N: So, why do one-a-days when I can just try to edit and post as many of the variations as possible on Halloween itself. (I don't think I'm going to succeed past 2, but we'll see.) Also, as you probably realized, 'meet cutes' are surprisingly unsatisfying (and I'm not very sure just how cute these meets are turning out to be).
Fic Review: This little plotbunny literally spawned the need for an entire single-parent!Raoul series, because I need it. I haven't figured out exactly why Raoul's a single parent: a. Christine recently died; b. Christine and Raoul recently separated because she wanted her own life; c. they were never married and Gustave's something of a surprise and Christine can no longer handle it. I'm not sure, but I need him going to parent-teacher conferences or getting called to the principal's office or going on field trips – and of course each of those situations has Erik involved in some manner, especially the field trips. And Gustave adores Erik and doesn't understand why he cannot invite his teacher over for play dates since his father seems to like him a lot too. XD
Also, Erik shows up later on in the evening (at like 7pm – because Raoul and Gustave had gone trick or treating really early) when Gustave's settling in to watch Monsters Inc. and Raoul's surprised to find him at his doorstep. Erik sheepishly says, "I always keep my promises." And Raoul not only respects that but also wonders if there are any rules against teachers dating a student's parent – although he knows he's getting ahead of himself there since he doesn't even know if Erik would be interested. Either way, they spend the next hour or so making a mess in the living room while Monsters Inc is running trying to carve pumpkins. Raoul is downright horrible at it, but he looks adorable with pumpkin guts all over his face. (Sidenote: way to be socially incompetent, Erik, just bringing up the latest gossip about child custody with Raoul himself. You know he wanted to facepalm right there.)