Title: Concerning Stolen Gondolas
Author: Kytten
Pairing: Erik/Raoul
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own these boys.
Summary: Why should one hide himself from the world? It goes against nature.
Author's Note: Once more, a visit to my friend's house has spawned a short little story. I figure, if this happens again, I'll post it as another chapter here too.
I may try and make them all fit together, but I doubt it. As it is, this could probably stand on its own.
Concerning Stolen Gondolas
Chapter Two
For all his talk, Erik did nothing to stop the vicomte from returning. Every week, Raoul would return. It became their routine, their habit. They would talk sometimes, but more often than not, Raoul simply sat in the shadows and watched as Erik worked.
He came in silent, keeping to the darkness in an attempt to go unseen. He didn't know that Erik knew, and waited for his visits. He didn't know that in his coming he'd set off dozens of tripwires.
Sometimes he'd bring things with him. Gifts, tiny things that could be easily hidden about his person, and left on the corner keys of an organ, unseen until knocked off by a high note.
Erik waited for these as well. He'd smile when he found one, something that had been rare until now. And then he'd hide it away, behind some mirror or lose rock.
When he was alone, he mused on it, on their situation. Raoul was a vicomte, and given to fits of eccentricity. He had become something of interest, a game that would live out its value in time. But for now, while he still shone bright with promise, Raoul was interested. And when Raoul was interested, it was something like courting.
Erik enjoyed it, although he'd never admit it. Not even the high courts of Persia could torture him into admitting his budding feelings for the vicomte. He enjoyed the attention, and that was all the more he'd admit to himself.
Which was a damn sight more than he'd ever admit to Raoul, anyway.
Sometimes they talked. It was a rare event, seeing as how Erik was content to ignore his presence. But when they did, Raoul was always more than charming. He was like a dragon's hoard at times, all light and shimmer. What made it worse, was that Erik was sure he wasn't trying. His interest seemed genuine.
Which made it all the harder to push him away.
He knew he had to. It would make the fall from grace that much easier, but god, he didn't want to.
Raoul was more intelligent than he'd ever given him credit for. And when he wanted something, an entire ocean couldn't stop him, let alone a stagnant lake.
"Why hide from the world?" he'd asked him once, curled up in a high backed chair. "It's not natural."
"If you haven't noticed," Erik snapped. "I'm not natural."
"That's not your fault."
"Neither is it something they'll forgive me for."
Raoul went silent for a long moment before speaking.
"I think you're going about it all wrong."
"Going about what?" Erik turned, glancing back at him before returning to his work. A sentence hung unfinished, as it had for the past quarter hour.
"You've got it backwards." Raoul's thoughts came out cryptic at best. Sometimes they were damn near opaque. He forgot people couldn't see inside his head.
Erik pursed his lips and glared.
"All of it at once, monsieur." It was not the first time he'd said it.
Raoul blushed and looked up. He hated to seem half-brained in front of Erik."It's not right, you having to hide." He paused, trying to think of the right way to say it. "Why not cover the eyes of the world instead?"
Erik laughed at him then. Raoul blushed and fell silent, content to let the subject die. But that's not to say he didn't still think about it.
And Erik, stubborn as he was, dwelled on it every time he was alone. When Raoul was above, laughing in the world of the living, he hid in his shadows and mused on those words.
Cover their eyes instead.
And when he looked into Raoul's eyes, it was possible. Hell, to hear the boy talk, it was already happening. France loved their mystery composer. The one man whose music could rip at their heart and make their blood throb.
To hear Raoul talk, you had the world once you had France.
And they most certainly had France.
Just as certainly as Raoul had him.
