There's a reason I'm splitting this life childhood longer, more detail. Plus! We all know what happens in 2004 ;)

Growing Up

1997-2004 – New York City

The first few months after Erik's tenth birthday and first performance of Phantom of the Opera, Christine would swear on anything that Erik listened to the musical's CD at least once every day since. It became his favorite topic and he could be heard constantly humming one of the songs. The preteen became so involved with it that everyone else in the house had all the songs memorized, just from hearing their youngest member sing it.

"Antoinette be my Christine would you." Erik had asked his friend one night when Nadir, Antoinette, and Erik were in Nadir's room. The younger two came to the older more often since Nadir was seventeen and only had his last year of high school before he was leaving to become a cop. Erik and Antoinette were sitting cross-legged on the bed facing each other while Nadir sat at his desk, doing homework.

Antoinette raised her eyebrow. "Are you going to be my Raoul or the Phantom?" she asked playfully, already knowing the answer.

It got the reaction she wanted when Erik squinted his eyes at her.

"Why on earth would I be Raoul? His part is no fun."

Christine turned her head to Raoul and saw him in the corner of the room attempting to slam his head on the wall, but his head kept passing through.

"Come on, Raoul. Lighten up." Christine told him with an amused grin.

He sent her a glare.

"You try being the person who is considered a spoiled jerk in the musical."

"Hey! At least you're not hated for being the one who chose you over the 'phantom!' People hate me!" she protested.

Raoul shrugged, appearing sheepish. "Okay, you got me there."

"You know, you should go into acting." Nadir stated from his spot at the desk. He spun his chair around and looked at Erik. "I'm sure they'll instantly put you as the phantom. They surely would never have to waste time putting you in makeup."

"Hey!" Erik complained and Antoinette giggled behind him. "You can be Raoul then. Just let me go get a piece a rope. Have to make it real for dramatic effect."

Nadir rolled his eyes and stood from his chair. He went to the bed and fell on top of it, making Erik and Antoinette bounce next to him.

"Like hell, I'll ever play Raoul. We both know that Antoinette would never pick me over you. Therefore, you're more like Raoul in this case."

"Please make it stop." Raoul groaned next to Christine, covering his ears.

Christine raised her eyebrow at him, though Nadir's words stung a little. She had picked Raoul over Erik in their first life. Not that she regretted loving Raoul and her life with him, but it hurt that even in the fantasy of a musical, the 'phantom' could not be happy because of her.

Erik grinned. "Got that right. I'm Antoinette's favorite."

Nadir huffed and used his leg to knock Erik off his bed. Erik let out a yelp as he crashed onto the floor. Nadir and Antoinette laughed as Erik sat up, rubbing his head.

"I hate you." Erik grumbled.

"No you don't." Nadir snickered in response.

Erik slowly got over his excitement on Phantom of the Opera. He continued to see it as his favorite musical and would request to see it again as his birthday present every year but that eventually became the only time he mentioned it. Instead he grew to focus on his own music. He played the violin and piano almost every free minute he had from school things and practiced how to manipulate his voice for his own sake at being better. Christine could not believe how many drafts of music Erik had tossed aside through the years.

Time went on and Nadir graduated from high school and joined the police academy. He graduated that with high remarks and left the foster house, but he visited the family often enough that it was like he had not left at all.

When Erik was thirteen, he asked Antoinette if she would be willing to take his first kiss away. She had laughed fondly but instead of replying, she pressed her lips against his for a few seconds.

Christine and Raoul were not happy to watch that scene but they knew that Erik and Antoinette would not end up together again like they did in their last life. Castiel had reassured them of that.

Antoinette pulled back with a grin.

"There you go! You've had your first kiss." Antoinette declared fondly. "What did you think?"

"Ah…I don't know?" Erik answered with a light blush. "Strange I guess."

"I would be insulted but, you were always kind of different Erik." Antoinette replied.

Erik frowned. "Is that bad?"

"Of course not! Normal is boring!" Antoinette hurried to say and they left it at that.

The next year, Erik was fourteen when he decided that he should try something else. This time, he asked Nadir when the young cop was spending the night with them.

Nadir was not as easy to persuade as Antoinette.

"Why can't you ask another boy? You know, someone who's actually your age?!" Nadir argued. He was sitting on the end of the bed in his old room while Erik stood a few feet in front of him.

Erik stared at him like he was an idiot. "Really? You expect me to be able to ask a random person with my face? If I don't get automatically rejected from being a boy, I would definitely get rejected because of my face."

"Have you tried girls yet?" Nadir questioned.

"Yes, and it was rather uninteresting. The next logical step is to try boys."

"Oh, of course! Very logical!" Nadir countered sarcastically.

Erik just stared at him and Nadir sighed after a second and ran his hand over his face.

"I'm twenty-one Erik and you're fourteen! You being a minor is bad enough, but I'm also a cop."

"What are you going to do if you kiss me? Arrest yourself?" Erik scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "No one's going to find out, we're the only ones here."

"You are so not." Raoul grumbled next to Christine. "I swear, if they do this, it'll forever be burned into my brain."

"So don't look." Christine offered and grinned when Raoul sent her a scowl.

"Oh, don't act like you're okay with this. I know you're not." He told her.

They stared at each other for a few moments, Christine was the one to look away. She could not deny that Raoul was right.

"Please, Nadir." Erik widened his eyes and pouted for good measure.

Nadir and Erik stared at each other, both keeping the same expression. Nadir was the first to break and he let out an exasperated sigh.

"I hate you so much." Nadir growled, but it was obvious that he had given in.

Erik noticed this as well and perked up. "No you don't!" he replied cheerfully.

"If I'm doing this, you're shutting up." Nadir commanded.

Erik did as he was told and stared expectantly at Nadir as he waited. It took a minute for Nadir to work up enough nerve, but when he did, he quickly grabbed Erik's hand and used it to pull the younger to him. As he did, Nadir tilted his head up and brought Erik's head down causing their lips to meet.

"Yeah, okay. I can't watch this." Raoul declared and walked out of the room.

Christine wanted to go after him but figured one of them should remain at Erik's side. Though, she looked away from the scene in front of her. It had been bad enough to watch Erik kiss Antoinette but Nadir too? This sucked. She heard the sound of them pulling away and only then did she turned back around.

"There. How was that?" Nadir asked once he broke the kiss.

Erik hummed and licked his lips. He cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. "Nothing."

Nadir nodded and pushed Erik back gently for him to stand. "Might be because we're not like that Erik, but who knows? All I know is that I never want to do that again. With you or any other guy."

Nadir shuddered and Erik grinned.

"Thank you Nadir." Erik stated pleasantly.

Nadir snorted but shook his head with fondness. "Yeah, yeah."

After that, Erik seemed to have forgotten anything to do with those kinds of relationships. Instead, he focused on school and his music. When Erik was fifteen, Antoinette graduated high school and got accepted into a dance academy within the city.

"They teach acting too. Who knows? Maybe I'll be on Broadway someday." Antoinette told Erik on the night before she was to leave.

Erik was sleeping in her room and the two laid on her bed facing each other.

"If anyone can, it'll be you." Erik asserted firmly. He sighed. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'll come visit! You won't notice I'm gone. It's not like I'm out of the state, or even the city." Antoinette comforted. "In a few more years, you're going to be out of here as well. Then, you'll be too busy with your own life for little old me and Nadir. Just you wait."

Erik frowned. "That's not what I want."

"Kidding, Erik. We'll be around. Both me and Nadir. Don't worry about it."

During Erik's senior year in high school Erik made a discovery.

"Antoinette!" Erik called out as he rushed into her room at the apartment she was renting out.

"What!" Antoinette asked dramatically, taking on the hurried tone Erik had used. She was writing in her journal at her desk but stopped when Erik came in.

"I think I know what I am now!" Erik replied, purposing ignoring her tone. He held out his phone and Antoinette took it from him. She read it with a frown and then looked up at him.

"Asexual, a person who has no sexual feelings or desires. You think you're asexual?"

Erik nodded and sat on the floor cross-legged next to her chair.

"I've done a lot of reading and it sounds a lot like how I feel. You know I don't have the same interests in people as most do. I thought it might have been because I was only a late bloomer, or something was wrong with me, but I'm not! There are others like me! Enough that there's a specific name for it!" Erik gushed excitedly, looking up at Antoinette from the floor.

"But…"Antoinette bite her lip. "Does this mean, you never want to get married? Have kids?"

Erik blinked then appeared thoughtful.

"To be honest, not really. Maybe I'll meet someone someday who would be okay with me but I find that highly unlikely. Kids, well, you know that I plan on running a daycare when I graduate, as for my own…I can't say yes or no to that yet, but there's always adoption. I mean, look at the two of us. We turned out great, I think!"

Antoinette smiled. "I think so too. Okay, Erik. I'm happy for you. It must be relieving to know."

"You have no idea!" Erik deadpanned, taking his phone away.

"Soo, when we are finally together, he won't want to do any of that stuff?" Raoul contemplated.

Christine shrugged. "To be honest, I think he was always like that. Even in our first life."

Raoul raised one of his eyebrows. "Really? First life too?"

Christine nodded. "He wanted to get married, but he never made any sort of move towards anything physical. When I had kissed him, he had basically gone into shock. His next life, I thought he and Antoinette would end up together but they didn't and he showed no signs of desire towards anyone. The next one, he died too young for us to know but after that, again, no interest of that kind. Even the last one, he was with Antoinette but he had admitted to not having desires and she accepted that."

Raoul considered that for a moment then shrugged. "Yeah, okay. I see your point."

"Oh!" Antoinette straightened suddenly. "I just remembered! Stay here, I'll be right back."

Antoinette left the room and Erik waited, remaining on the floor. A few moments later she came back and presented Erik with her own phone with an excited grin. Erik took the phone and looked at the screen. His eyes widened and he stumbled to his feet.

"You're coming with me! We have to see it!" Erik exclaimed eagerly. "Nadir's coming too. We'll kidnap him if we have too!"

"Of course!" Antoinette replied with the same eagerness.

Christine was able to make out the screen enough to see what it displayed. She took a sharp intake of air through her mouth.

"They made that damn musical into a movie!" Raoul groaned in dismay.

Christine could not help but laugh at his reaction.

The movie, The Phantom of the Opera, came out and Erik, Antoinette, and Nadir went to see it. Christine and Raoul sat on the rails to watch the film. The movie had some differences then the musical, some allowed more development with the story, and others were strange and uncalled for.

Christine found the 'Christine' impressive. She needed more training but her skill was good for her age.

The 'Raoul' was handsome and his voice pleasant but Christine did not like how his tone sounded condescending sometimes towards 'Christine's' belief in the 'Phantom.' Raoul had not believed her either, but he had not made her believe that she sounded crazy.

She thought that the 'Phantom' was decent enough. He brought on a more romantic side of the story that got people to sympathize with the character more.

In the final scene, Christine's eyes teared up and then trailed down her cheeks at the 'Phantom's' now famous line of Christine, I love you.

She did not think she'll ever be able to get over that part.

The movie ended and Christine wiped her face. She looked at Raoul and saw that his eyes were misty.

"Finally get to you?" she teased.

Raoul blinked then sighed. "Maybe a little. It stinks being the bad guy in a love story."

"Technically, you're not the bad guy, the Phantom is." Christine countered.

Raoul snorted. "Tell that to all the fans who wish you had ended up with Erik."

"Well…" Christine started lightly, turning her head to look at the credits. "I have to admit that if Erik had done something similar in our life like the Music of the Night scene, I'm sorry, but I would have totally chosen him over you."

Christine laughed as Raoul pushed her off the rail.

There we go! Hope everyone enjoyed it. Please leave a review sharing your thoughts about the chapter. Next chapter will be Christine's POV again. See ya next time!