Fandom: Phantom of the Opera
Disclaimer: Please don't sue. I don't own *insert fandom name from above*... All I own is an overactive imagination.
Summary: Garnier Hospital Supplementary. Multiple pairings, main one being Erik/Raoul.
Warning(s): slash
Pairing(s): Erik/Raoul, mentions of Raoul/Christine and Erik/Christine
Word Count: 1,830
A/N: Probably not as edited as it should be. Sorry about that.
Story note: This one digs deep into the past. Sort of.
o.o.o.o
Doctor's Code
By: Lucifer Rosemaunt
Chapter 02 - Songbirds
o.o.o.o
"Hi."
Christine clutched her father's hand and stared at the boy before her. His blond hair was short, standing up at odd angles in a manner that gave her the impression that he'd taken scissors to it himself. He was dressed immaculately in a light blue sailor suit, the hem of which he worried between two small chubby hands, but despite that, he smiled brightly.
"I'm Raoul," his voice was nearly as high as hers, she noted.
Christine took a step back and tried to hide behind her father's legs. He laughed at the action before gently pushing her forward, but when she didn't say anything, he asked, "And how old are you, Raoul?"
Proudly holding up a hand, he replied, "Five."
"Oh," Mr. Daae smiled indulgently at the child, "my daughter's five, too."
Raoul grinned even wider. He opened his mouth to say something when a shout from across the hall interrupted him.
"Raoul!" A teenager jogged towards them. He slowed to a walk when he saw who Raoul was talking to. Clearing his throat nervously, he addressed the adult formally, "Mr. Daae. I apologize if my brother is bothering you."
"Philippe," Raoul whispered harshly at him, scowling.
Mr. Daae shook his head. "He was not bothering us at all. In fact, he was introducing himself. And," he glanced back down at Raoul to urge him to continue, "he was about to say something to my daughter."
Raoul looked from Mr. Daae to his daughter before stating, "Your singing is pretty."
Christine blushed and tried to hide behind her father's legs again.
Mr. Daae crouched down so that he could whisper to his daughter. "Don't you want to thank him?"
She shook her head quickly enough that her curls fell in front of her face.
"That's okay," Raoul shrugged and patted her shoulder. "It's pretty even if you don't say you're welcome."
Philippe tugged him back to his side quickly, but Raoul only looked up at him in confusion.
Mr. Daae lifted Christine up and chuckled, "Your brother's going to be quite the lady's man when he's older."
o.o.o
Raoul looked at his sneakers. He'd tuned out his teacher's voice the best he could. She'd been going on for what felt like hours now, and it wasn't as though he'd never heard this lecture before. He was just waiting to get the note she would inevitably want him to bring home to be signed. A sigh threatened to come out; a note from school always meant that he'd hear another lecture from his father telling him to quit choir.
"If you're not interested in choir, you shouldn't have joined," Miss Valerius scolded. She paused, already knowing that Raoul wasn't really paying attention. She knew the Chagny child was good. He tried his best in classes and normally he could behave, but as she'd found with all young children, boys especially, they couldn't help but be disruptive. She simply couldn't understand why he would become disruptive during choir when he normally sat the straightest and sang the loudest.
She asked directly, "Why were you talking?"
He looked up, just to make sure it wasn't a rhetorical question. "I am interested. I don't mean to talk. We just…" He hesitated to tell her the truth.
"Well?" She prompted. He couldn't have suddenly stopped liking choir. He'd even been ecstatic with the music she'd chosen.
"We," he bit his lower lip in thought before blurting out, "we don't sound good."
She nearly grinned at his response. He truly sounded dejected at the fact that they had yet to perfect the song. Hiding her smile behind a cough, she said pointedly, "That is why we practice, Raoul. Practice."
Raoul nodded as he knew he should. In his opinion though, when they'd gotten the sheet music the week before, the other students should have gone home and practiced by themselves as he had.
Miss Valerius sighed. "Go home. Try to behave when we meet next and I won't have to send a letter home."
Raoul looked at her with wide eyes, nodding vigorously. "I will. I promise."
She made shoo-ing motions with her hands. Before she could change her mind about the note, he quickly gathered his bag and ran out of the classroom. In his haste, he almost ran past Christine.
"Christine." He skidded to a halt, brightening notably upon seeing her. "You waited."
"Again?" She asked, hands on her hips.
He shrugged. Grinning roguishly at her, he added, "I only like the songs you sing. You know I can't help it."
Christine only rolled her eyes at him. Generally immune to his behavior, she still couldn't help but blush at his praise. "You like it when Miss Valerius sings," she pointed out. "You like singing as well, and you like a lot of other people's voices. In fact," she said smugly, "you just don't like people who sing poorly."
Raoul paused in consideration. That was all very true. "Well, I still think that there's no one in all of junior high who sings as well you do."
She smiled gratefully because she knew that Raoul truly did believe that. Not wanting to continue this line of conversation, she resorted to the only sure way to distract him. "Let's go to the hospital already or else we'll be late. Your brother will be wondering where we are."
Glancing at his watch, he gasped. "Philippe's going to be so mad at me."
o.o.o
"Roses again, Raoul?" She clutched the bouquet to her chest.
Raoul leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on her cheek. "How could I not?" He glanced at the stage that she had just been upon. They stood at the three point line on the basketball court; the gymnasium doubled as a general auditorium for these small events. Raoul wondered if they would have to use the actual auditorium if Christine were to sing again. He was certain she would bring in a larger crowd. Leaning a bit on one of the metal folding chairs, he said earnestly, "You sang the solo beautifully."
Christine blushed. "I was lucky," she admitted. "It was only because Gabriel was sick."
He shrugged. He never did believe Gabriel sang better than Christine, but Christine was always telling him he was biased. "Yes, that was lucky, but did you hear the audience go wild after you'd sung?"
Her eyes grew distant for a moment before she replied, "Don't think I don't know that was mostly you."
He laughed. "Be glad I wasn't on the stage behind you or else I would have made a scene."
She rolled her eyes. "You mean, I should be glad that Mr. Reyer scares you."
"He doesn't scare me." Raoul retorted but heard how defensive he'd sounded. So, he added, "Choir shouldn't be that difficult."
"We're not in grade school anymore. Of course it'll be more difficult." Christine looked around the gymnasium and saw that almost everyone had already left.
Raoul offered his arm, which she took easily, holding onto him tightly. They had begun to spend less and less time together. She almost missed the days when he had followed her eagerly into choir.
She said a little wistfully, "You don't have time between all your volunteering anyway."
He glanced down at her, as though hearing the tone. "I would've made time." His voice was completely serious. "You know that, right?"
Looking at him, she didn't have a doubt in her mind that he would have simply to be with her. "Yes. I do."
o.o.o
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Raoul tilted his head back to lean it against the bathroom door. Eyes shut, he focused past the sound of running water to hear an unfamiliar song being sung by an all-too familiar voice. So caught up in the music, he didn't hear the shower being turned off and the curtain being pushed aside. However, he did manage to jerk away from the door when it opened suddenly.
Erik quirked an eyebrow at him.
Blushing, Raoul scrambled to his feet. "Erik."
Smirking at his blush, Erik mocked, "Do you need to use the toilet?"
"No, I was just…" Raoul looked down, feeling more blood rush to his cheeks before looking away to the side.
"Making sure I don't fall again, huh?" Erik didn't even attempt to hide his annoyance but tempered as it was, he'd obviously expected as much from Raoul already.
Seeing an out, Raoul took it. As apologetic as he could manage, he replied, "You never know when the attacks hit and most household accidents do occur in the bathroom." He was going to continue babbling, but Erik cut him off.
"You were always reluctant giving me sponge baths and now you won't leave me alone."
Raoul laughed, "Yeah. What do you know?"
"You have a horrible fake laugh," Erik pointed out. Crossing his arms across his chest, he asked, "Why are you really here?"
"Um…" Raoul still couldn't quite look at him. He wondered if he should just lie to Erik but really couldn't come up with a reason why he had to. "You sing, huh?"
"Yeah. So?" Erik asked expectantly.
That was a good question. Raoul didn't know why it mattered that Erik sang. All he knew was that when he'd been doing his sporadic check to make sure Erik hadn't hurt himself in the bathroom, he'd heard him singing. Raoul had been caught in that single moment and leaving had not been an option. He couldn't put the feeling of hearing Erik's voice or the way it moved him into words. Before he could censor himself, he said, "Your singing is pretty."
Erik scrutinized him for a long moment in shocked silence before teasing, "Is that a turn on?" He moved closer and Raoul took several steps back to increase the distance between them.
"You're blushing," he noted.
"Erik." Raoul forced himself to meet his eyes. "You're naked."
He glanced down as though that were brand new information. "I took a shower." He took a step closer, and Raoul knew he would soon be running out of space.
"And you're not in the shower anymore," Raoul nearly stammered. He was looking everywhere but at him directly. It had been easier to ignore his nakedness when the older man hadn't been approaching him with a mischievous grin.
"I forgot to bring clothes."
Raoul's back hit a wall. "And a towel?"
Cornering him, Erik moved so close Raoul could swear his clothes were getting damp even though they weren't actually touching.
"I prefer air drying."
Forcing out a scoff, Raoul shouldered past him, making sure to avoid touching unnecessary places and strode quickly down the hall.
Erik grinned, watching him go with a leer.
Raoul paused suddenly. Turning, he purposefully eyed Erik up and down. "With you, the answer's yes."
"What?" Erik asked, taken aback by the bold deliberateness of Raoul's gaze on his body.
It was finally Raoul's turn to smirk, "It is a turn on."
o.o.o.o
End chapter 02
A/N: Don't forget to R/R (Read and Review)!
Chapter Review: So, sleuths, what have we gathered? Raoul's a rebel and even in this 'verse has a thing for a good voice. :D Some things never change, right?
Sneaky Erik coming out of the bathroom naked. :D