Title: Feelings Never Told
#: Track 10. This Unavoidable Thing Between Us
Author: Lucifer Rosemaunt
Fandom: Phantom of the Opera
Pairing(s): Erik/Raoul
Summary: Series of ficlets with songs used as inspiration.
Warning(s): slash
Word Count: 505
Rating: K+
A/N: Remember, there is a fanmix attached to this; go to my profile to download.
Story note: Five-ish once more. Although it should technically be six, but I didn't count the first time I listened to it. Not a single word/plotbunny came at all. :( It was disappointing.
o.o.o.o
Evermore - This Unavoidable Thing Between Us
When we walk away, we only grow more near
When we turn away, it all becomes so clear
This unavoidable thing, joining us.
Erik lounged on the settee, nursing the brandy glass in his hand. The Persian had outdone himself this time with such vintage.
"I am rather surprised," the man hesitantly began and Erik knew he should have expected the once inspector to have ulterior motives. The man had insatiable curiosity, especially when it came to Erik's business. "Why do you not just kill him?"
Erik did not need clarification of whom he was speaking. Raoul de Chagny had been the focus of the Persian's attentions for quite some time now, though he avoided making it known. Erik knew though. The man was not wrong in his observation; it would be a simple thing to kill the vicomte. Christine's pretend with him had gone on long enough. The boy knew too much and suspected more.
"Not that I am encouraging you," the Persian quickly added, taking a healthy gulp from his own glass.
Raoul believed true enough that Christine would be his bride and not Erik's as the ghost had long since planned. He also believed in the ghost however, truly believed in him as both man and myth. It was easy to see every time he arrived at the opera house. He would look up towards the roof before entering, up towards the rafters, always up. It was in vain since such a vantage point would be useless with the distance, and the young man never thought to look behind the next carriage or several meters hidden within the shadows of the opera house's own pillars. He never thought to simply look ahead.
"You have been observing him quite closely lately."
Erik did not reply that the Persian had apparently been observing him quite closely as well because it sounded much like an evasion in his mind. There was nothing to deny. He had needed to observe him and it wasn't difficult. The boy was repetitive; he lived out of habit.
He would enter the building, weaving his way skillfully through the crowd. He would make polite conversation along the way, ever the polite patron. Erik easily shadowed him, just as versed in the trite words exchanged. The words could just as easily come from him instead. Each step was familiar, each breath synchronized.
"It is not necessary." Erik sipped his brandy then stared at it contemplatively as he swirled it in his glass. "He is a mere child, their love comparable; though they know it not."
And it was beginning to show, too. The vicomte had once visited Christine before every performance. Now, he only sat alone in his box, patiently waiting for the curtains to rise, for the attendants of the night's performance as they milled into the auditorium. The vast disparity between Raoul in these moments and the patron who greeted the others so vibrantly was captivating, and Erik knew the subdued intensity, the wandering thoughts, and those steady breaths just as intimately as everything else about him.
"Yes." the Persian poured himself another glass of brandy. "Love often changes without our realizing."
o.o.o.o
End ficlet
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Fic Review: What's with book!canon and me right now?