Hey everyone sorry for the late update. I was somewhere that I thought would have reliable wifi and I was wrong. But, I'm back with the new chapter. Here we go.
Avoiding the Siblings
When Sunday came, Erik sent Raoul and Christine a separate email to let them know that they got the positions. Monday came and Raoul went to the daycare to be with Erik during the day while Christine went in the evening to do the music lessons. The kids at the daycare were happy to see Raoul. They were happy enough that they piled on top of him again. This time Raoul couldn't break free because they had learned their lesson for the first time and more of them laid on his arms.
Erik was the one who had to eventually save him. Raoul's neck was sore from trying to sit up with the weight of the kids, but Erik's smile as he shooed the kids off of him made it worth it.
"I thought you said that they don't do that often." Raoul pointed out with a grin.
"They don't." Erik agreed. "But I think they are happy that you were the one chosen."
"And you?" Raoul asked, going to stand by Erik's side. The older man was picking up a few pairs of shoes that some of the children had left scattered as they took them off. "Are you happy that you picked me?"
Erik straightened and they were only a few inches apart. Erik's golden eyes met his and for a few seconds they stared at each other.
"Well," Erik began causally, not moving away. "It's only been one day. You certainly haven't made me regret it…yet."
"Ouch." Raoul huffed in mock offence and backed away. "Glad to know you have such high expectations."
"Oh, I do." Erik countered lightly. "You just don't know them."
Raoul blinked in surprise at the admittance and stared after Erik as he walked away to put the shoes he picked up in the coat closet.
"Wow, I can't believe you are already flirting with him." Christine came up from behind Raoul, looking after Erik.
"I can't believe he let me." Raoul mumbled in reply, trying to make his lips look like they weren't moving. It wouldn't do for any of the kids to think he was talking to himself.
Raoul saw Christine shrugged in the corner of his eye.
"Maybe he didn't notice it was a flirt? We both know that he's not really good at picking up such things." Christine offered.
Raoul would've nodded but stopped himself in time. Instead he mumbled a soft, "Maybe."
The day went by fine, Raoul no longer had to deal with the kid's pranks because they had accepted him. The day came to an end and when all the kids were gone Erik bid him a farewell. He switched back into his ghost form and watched Christine go inside to do her time with Erik. Mondays were violin and Christine helped where she could, her father's teaching coming back to her as the lessons progressed.
Raoul thought that as long as they could keep doing what they were doing, they might be able to move into the friend department and hopefully soon after that more than that. However, the pace was based off Erik's stride, he had control over everything in this, even if he didn't know it. Raoul knew that he and Christine were completely gone over for the older man and they couldn't risk losing him by trying to go to fast.
Raoul snorted at the thought, wondering how Erik's first life self would react if he knew that his soul had such power over the two of them. He would probably be amused and have a form of satisfaction at the irony.
Tuesday, things went by normally for Raoul but when it was Christine's turn, Erik was obviously nervous. When Erik gets nervous he has a habit of wriggling his hands as if trying to grab something with both hands but could never grasp it, resulting in the constant shifting of his hands together.
"Erik?" Christine asked him as she took out the piano books Erik had in one of the draws in the music room. "You okay?"
Erik sighed and forced himself to put his hands at his sides. "Yes and no."
Raoul watched Christine raise an eyebrow at the older. "You want to give me a little more to work with?"
"Yes, I'm okay because my niece, Meg, is coming tonight. She's one of my students." Erik explained, pacing because if he couldn't wriggle his hands, he paced. "No, I'm not okay because that means my sister will be dropping by."
"Do you have a bad relationship with your sister?" Christine inquired with a frown.
Raoul had to give her props. She was a lot better at pretending to know nothing to try to get more information out of Erik.
"Oh no, we have a wonderful relationship." Erik stopped in his pacing and turned to Christine. "However, she knows about you and I would rather not have the two of you meet yet."
"Why would that be a problem?" Christine countered as she flipped through one of the piano books. Raoul and she knew the reason, Antoinette was basically the stereotype of protective big sister. Sure she likes to tease and mess with Erik but she was a true force to be reckon with if something had to do with Erik's emotions, especially when it involved other people. Raoul had acknowledged a long time ago that the Antoinette in this life was scary when she needed to be.
"If you knew my sister, you wouldn't ask that." Erik told her. "After I told her about you it made her curious. Knowing her, she's going to try to meet you and I fear if that were to happen too soon, she'll scare you away."
Christine snorted and looked up from the book in her hands. "She's protective?"
Erik squinted. "You have no idea." They did. "But it's not just that, she will want to interrogate you and trust me when I say that it's exhausting to deal with."
"Alright, alright." Christine laughed. "I won't be here when your sister comes. Maybe I can hide out in the restroom or something until she leaves."
"I wouldn't have you go that far." Erik protested. "Only…watch out for her."
Antoinette came and Meg along with her. Erik had left the room to go greet them and Christine made herself go ghost form. The two of them went to the front and saw Erik holding Meg's hand as they walked towards the music room.
"Is your assistant here yet? She should be, I know you hate slackers." Antoinette stated. Not giving Erik the chance to reply, she wiped the music door open, only to find it empty.
"Antoinette!" Erik protested, his eyes shifted in confusion in search of Christine. "That was rude! If she had been in the room, you would've given her a heart attack!"
"You said she was in her low twenties so I doubt that." Antoinette refuted. She let out a disappointed sigh. "I kind of wish to stay to see her."
When Erik sent her a glare, she raised her hands in surrender. "But I know how you can get if something gets in the way of music. I'll be back later."
Antoinette gave Meg a kiss on her forehead and left. She walked out of the building, Meg turned to her uncle.
"Is this person the one you talked about on Friday?" She asked. "The one that Uncle Nadir and mom made a bet—"
"Yes!" Erik interrupted softly, his cheeks taking on a pink shade. "Let's not mention any of that in front of her, shall we?"
Meg shrugged and the two entered the music room. Christine made herself visible again in the hallway and entered the room a few moments later.
"You must be Meg." Christine stated upon entering the room. Raoul moved to one of the wall of the room and got comfortable since the lesson was about to start.
Erik and Meg looked up from where they were setting up.
"And you're Miss Destler." Meg reply cautiously.
Raoul found her tone amusing. In this life, Meg was shyer towards strangers though she opened up a lot once she got to know someone. In her first life, Raoul had found her to never be shy, then again, that Meg had been on the stage since she was a child. Still, he knew that Christine was happy to be able to talk to her old friend.
"Please, call me Christine."
The lesson went on without a hitch and by the end, Raoul could tell that Meg liked Christine. Erik offered Christine the chance to leave slightly before the lesson ended and Raoul knew that it was to try to get Christine out of there before Antoinette showed up. Also knowing this, Christine took Erik up on his offer and said her goodbyes to the two.
Antoinette was disappointed that she missed Christine, the squint in her eyes told Raoul that she knew that it was somehow Erik's fault, something the younger sibling denied.
The days went by and Raoul and Christine got used to the routine of their positions and Raoul was certain that the two of them were growing on Erik, at least to the entry of friendship. It was a month after they began helping Erik that the new building was ready to be moved into. Erik didn't ask either of them to help, and as a result watched Erik move thinks from one building to the other with the help of Nadir in their ghost forms. The two foster siblings were able to finish by the end of the day and both were exhausted.
"Don't ever get another building." Nadir huffed, wiping his sweaty forehead with a towel Erik handed to him. The two of them relaxing on the back end of Nadir's truck, eating their packed dinner Rook had made for them.
Erik grinned and took a sip of his water bottle. He pointed at Nadir. "I don't know, I think this was a good workout for you. Is that a belly roll?"
Nadir pushed Erik off his truck and Erik landed on his feet laughing.
"I'm fit!" Nadir growled.
"I'm teasing. You're still a devilish heartbreaker," Erik mocked with a smirk.
Nadir rolled his eyes, but did not do anything when Erik climbed back onto the truck.
After that, Raoul and Christine decided to let Erik know that they were dating. They couldn't say they were married. While they technically were, the certificate was over a century old and the record showed that they were dead. They wanted Erik to know that they were together because they thought it might make things easier. They needed Erik to be with both of them and if he fell for them only to discover that they were with each other could cause unnecessary results. If he knew that they were together before he started developing feelings for them, it would be easier to go after him together.
A week later, they put their plan in motion. It was a simple one, all that there was to it was Christine showing up at the daycare while Raoul was still working with Erik. Raoul and Erik were cleaning up while waiting for the last few kids to be picked up. Christine knocked and waved through the glass doors as Erik and Raoul looked up. Erik looked startled, but hurried to the door and unlocked it, letting Christine in.
"You're early, Miss Destler." Erik remarked.
Christine shrugged and walked inside.
"Sorry Erik, it's my fault." Raoul joined in as Christine made her way to him.
They made it look like she was handing him something, there wasn't anything there but they needed an excuse for her being there. Raoul placed the 'item' in his pocket before they turned back to Erik.
One of Erik's eyebrows was up as he observed them. "You two know other?"
"Yeah, we're dating." Raoul informed him.
Raoul was a little disappointed that no form of disappointment or any jealous emotions flashed through Erik's eyes. Instead the older man cocked his head to the side and appeared thoughtful.
"Interesting." Erik's lips twitched as if fighting back a smirk.
"Something funny?" Christine asked, curious. Raoul and Christine might have been by Erik's side his entire life, but that didn't make them mind readers.
Erik quickly shook his head, forcing the would-be smirk away. "No, no, it's nothing."
Suddenly, one of the kids who was waiting to be picked up tugged on Christine's dress.
"You're pretty." The girl commented and Christine went to her knees and smiled at the girl.
"Why thank you and you are beautiful yourself." Christine replied, causing the toddler to blush.
I guess that went well, Raoul thought. He glanced back and saw Erik on his phone appearing to be texting someone.
He also had a smug expression as he typed.
Erik finished whatever he was doing, and looked up as he put his phone away, the smug expression disappearing into an innocent look as he noticed Raoul watching him.
"I needed to send a text." Erik stated innocently, making Raoul squint at him in suspicion, but decided not to question it.
He already had an idea of who Erik had text and what was in the message.
Either way, Raoul and Christine had gotten that part done and pretty easily at that.
And there we go. Hope everyone enjoyed it. Be sure to leave a review if you did! Next chapter will be in Christine's POV.