A/N: Good news, readers! Heather wants to do more Skype conversations with Erik! Mwahahahaaaaaaa...as always, I don't own Phantom of the Opera or any of its characters.
Two days later, David got to stay home from school as it was a snow day. A HEAVY snowfall. A wet, heavy snowfall. But it being the first real snowfall of the year, we weren't about to stay cooped up inside. Oh no. The day before, we had rented snowshoes for such an emergency, and we were going to get our money's worth. Thankfully, we were able to pry Erik away from the keyboard without too much of a fight. In fact, he didn't really put up a fight at all-until we showed him all the layers he would have to put on. "I'll suffocate!" His eyes widened behind his mask, as if I were holding up a punjab. Well, okay, I was holding up a scarf at the time, but really...
"Erik, we just don't want you to freeze or get hypothermia!"
"I'm used to the cold..." He glared.
"Too bad. Get those snowpants on." Grumbling, he slowly did as he was told.
"This had better be worth all the effort, Mademoiselle."
"Oh it will be. Trust me. See you in the van!" Without waiting for him to retort, I made my way down to the van where the others were waiting.
When he finally made his appearance, we all had to bite back fits of hysterics. Trudging toward us down the lamp was a giant marshmallow, burnt to a crisp. Only it looked as though it had been burnt from the inside out, judging by the glare behind the mask. He fell against the van, catching his breath. "How. On earth. Do you expect me to walk in all of this?"
"You'll get used to it. Now come on...we're going to be late." The marshmallow pushed its way into a sitting position, and as Susan pointed out his seatbelt, his glare fell on her.
"You have got to be kidding me."
"Nope. Buckle up."
Fox Park was expectedly covered in several feet of well-packed snow-fields and woods of white bliss. We piled out of the van like sardines, grabbed our snowshoes, and made our way to the trails. Erik was still getting used to the sheer poofiness of his clothes, and with every step he complained about feeling like he was wearing one of Carlotta's costumes. We decided to say nothing of the comparison, instead sat down on snow-covered stumps to put on the snowshoes. It wasn't often that we were able to do this, and my feet were just itching to hit the trail. As I stood, I watched as Erik did the same. His eyes stayed on the enlarged shoes. "Of course. As if walking wasn't hard enough in all of this, you just had to add these!"
"It's not that hard...you'll-"
"Get used to it, I know!" He growled. Sighing, he lifted up one foot, then the other, then-PLOP!
"Have a nice trip, drop in next fall!" Hope's grin was soon covered by a fist full of snow as he got onto his knees, then his feet. He tried walking again, but the foot he was trying to lift was caught under the back of the other shoe, and before I could warn him, his face was in the snow yet again. As Hope opened her mouth to throw yet another snappy remark his way, her glasses were soon in the snow at her feet, buried in the snow that didn't stay on her face.
….Several failed steps, snowballs, and snappy remarks later, the great snow war of the century broke out. With Susan acting as referee, it was Erik and I against Hope and David in this all-out anything goes battle, beginning with the construction of our snow forts. As soon as I explained to Erik what a snow fort was, he pushed me aside with that maniac grin on his face, and so I sat in the snow constructing a pile of snow balls. He wouldn't let me even watch him build. Rolling my eyes, I passed it off as just another artist at work.
By the time both teams were ready, I had built a pile almost to his head. Hope and David had been done for quite some time and had also stocked up on twice as much ammo. I wanted to yell at Erik for being such a perfectionist, but when I glimpsed him putting the finishing touches on a, get this, punjab of snow, I quickly forgave him. Standing atop a set of stairs she'd had time to smooth out, Susan called for the war to begin. "What, no time to strategize?" I glared at her as a snowball from David's mitten whizzed past my face. Grinning sheepishly, her only response was to shrug and duck as a snowball just barely missed her temple. Now it was her turn to glare at the culprit, a sheepish-faced Hope. Before I could giggle, Erik was at my side, his Phantom self magically recovered from the bulkiness of the winter clothes.
"You are to lurr Hope through my labyrinth. I shall take care of David. The traps shall take care of Hope."
"...They're non-fatal, correct?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Possibly..." he smirked.
"ERIK!"
"Mademoiselle, who do you take me for? I merely want to frighten her. You need not worry, but do not give it away."
"Very well. Then allow me to wander over there and bid her good bye properly." Matching his smirk, I armed myself with as many snowballs as I could and wandered across enemy lines. "Oh, Hooope..." I grinned despite the mounds of slush being hurled at my face"
"What?" She was obviously annoyed that I had distracted her from her target practice.
"I have a message here from the Opera Ghost." Using my best Madame Giry accent, I unloaded my arms of the snow down her back. Roaring, she lept over their snowfort wall and chased me into Erik's world, where the daylight dissolves into darkness...darkness...
After reaching my marked out spot at the far side of a tree next to our fort, I grabbed another handful of snowballs and threw them at her, purposefully missing(that's my story and I'm sticking to it. *nod*). Smirking overly confidently, she slowly made her way towards me-and into the punjab. Right on cue, the punjab triggered a branch directly above her to give way.
"HOOOPE THE SNOWMAAAAN WAS A JOLLY HAPPY SOUUUL..." Singing purposefully off-key so as to alert the genius behind the trap, I danced around our new snowman, dodging her gloved claws left and right. Pretty soon, Erik sauntered over to bask in his triumph, and I quickly decided to cover David whilst the two snow-rivals fought. At one point while I was waiting for David to show himself, I happened to glance over just as Hope lept out of yet another trap(I believe this one was a snow version of the water pit)and landed on Erik's back, her hands full of snow from his own trap which she now smeared all over his face. The two landed face-down in the snow, collapsing another trap. Erik was about to make her pay for that, but Susan called foul, declared a tie, and announced that it was time to go home. Glaring at everyone so hard that I was surprised that the snow didn't melt around us, Erik marched past us in his broken snowshoes and made his way to the waiting van. I have yet to determine if they were broken in the snow battle or by his own frustrated hands. I highly doubted that now was the best time to confront him on the matter.
"Pass me aduther dissue." It was the day after our snow war, and the entire household had a cold. Including the cats, but none of them had made the request. I glanced over at the bundle of blankets sitting on the couch. He was wrapped head to toe in every single blanket in the house, still glaring at us from a tiny gap in the blanket folds. As soon as he realized we do not own a fireplace, he went ballistic. Hope, for some odd reason, decided to barricade herself in her room until his cold was over. Or at least, his wrath.
"Erik, did you sneeze on those blankets again?" My hoarse voice managed to convey my annoyance.
"...Doe. Of course dot. I'b just brepa—ah-ah-AAAAACHOOOOOOOOOO...byself." One would think a million cannons went off by the way the cats scattered and the newspapers flew around him.
"...You're doing that load of laundry. End of discussion, Mr. Hanky."
"Id's dot wise do use your voice whed id sounds like a doad, badeboselle...esbecially do hurl idsulds ad your guests."
"Well you sound absolutely ridiculous yourself." I was saved from his glare by the whistling of the teakettle, and I scampered into the kitchen to fetch the master's tea. I tried to get him to try Zicam or something, but he, like Hope, insisted that only tea would work for him. Suit yourself, I'd told him, you'll just have to deal with the cold symptoms way longer. Dipping the teabag into his mug, I took a detour to the medicine cabinet to grab one of the Zicam tablets. Popping it into my mouth, I let it dissolve while I opened a can of fruit. He'd balked at the idea of canned fruit at first, but when I pointed out that it was the beginning of winter and none of us were in enough good health to make a Walmart run, he'd given in.
Upon my return, I found him tipped over, a chain of kleenexes linking him to the box on the back of the couch. It was clear that he'd tried to grab one while still remaining in his bundle, and the kleenex box had won. Suppressing a giggle, I set the teacup and bowl on his tray table. "Don'd laugh wobad! Just helb be ub!"
"Please?" I playfully glared back.
"Blease..." he muttered, his tone the absolute opposite of a genuine plea. Once I set him straight, I pushed his snack toward him.
"You'll have to remove your arms from hibernation in order to eat and drink, Erik. I'm not about to spoon-feed you."
"Id's freezingk oud there are you oud of your mind wobad?"
"YOU'RE telling ME how cold it is when YOU'RE the one with all the bla—-" Before I could finish my rant, my voice finished for me. Have you ever heard an ailing opera ghost snicker? Well I was hearing it now, in the most obvious yet un-said "I told you so" that ever existed. Grumbling, I went to make a second cup of tea.
A/N: I could wait for more ideas for Erik with a cold, but you've all been waiting long enough. I'll try to get these chapters out much more quick. After all there's only 4 more days til Christmas!...yikes! Okay...I at least hope to get NEAR Christmas day published by Christmas. Can't make any promises, but you can either have rushed or well-written. I prefer to give you the latter. So if your Christmas gift from me is late, I hope you understand! Anyway, keep the feedback coming! Next chapter: Christmas shopping and wrapping paper MAHEM! Mwahaha! Stay tuned!