War of the Wills

Disclaimer: I don't own phantom of the opera. But if I did, it would be great. Rated for language and sexual themes/content.

Since then, Lily donated any free time she had to helping Erik. He never asked her for help directly, and the only kind of help she was able to give him was keeping his home straightened up. Sure, she'd trip over her own feet with nearly every step, but she did keep his home clean.

Erik did let her out during the day, as he always did. Victor had been by to see her again, and Erik could only watch as Lily- not wanting to be rude to Victor- agreed to a date. But Erik had quickly realized that she'd lied to him about Victor being boring and talking only of politics, Victor surely knew how to sweep a woman off her feet, and with each swoon Erik saw in Lily, he angrier he got. He just wasn't sure why.

He never let Lily know though that he was following her on her dates with that man. Each time she agreed to go out with him was like stab in the heart, and Lily was the only woman that had ever asked him what he wanted, the only woman that had stayed by his side, even though he'd been nothing but mean to her. He had to hold onto her, she was the only true friend he ever had.

One night, when Lily was below in his lair, he was trying to come up with a way to keep her with him. Part of him was going to force her to stay against her will; but then he remembered that last time he tried something like that, it turned out to be a catastrophe.

He could hear her behind him, sweeping up the floor around the candle sticks; she'd gone and fallen over that broom more than he thought possible. The damned thing just kept getting in her way.

What could he do? How could he convince her to stay and not go out with Victor again?

"Boo!" She giggled, putting her hands over his eyes. Oh- that was something else entirely. Lily had been trying incessantly to get him to smile. Ever since that night he nearly killed himself, she has been working to get him to give her one small smile. But no luck came to her, at least- not to her face. "Guess who?"

"I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say- the only other person down here." He replied, tapping his fingers on the keys as she slid her hands off his eyes, and put them on her hips. She looked like an old woman when she did that, but Erik said nothing.

"Jesus, you're so stubborn." She mumbled under her breath, she'd have returned to her sweeping had Erik not challenged her.

"I'm not the one who keeps trying to get me to smile. You try the stupidest things." She lightly smacked his back and sat next to him on the organ bench. He hated when she sat so close to him, he was not used to such close contact.

"I'm not as stubborn as you."

"Yes you are- if not more so."

"Fine, let's see who's more stubborn." She faced with a grin. "I challenge you to a war of wills. The first to admit they're uncomfortable loses, the rules are as follows: You cannot just give in without truly being uncomfortable, you have to do your best, It's anything goes, and rape doesn't count."

"Don't flatter yourself, I wouldn't rape you." He actually did mean that, he wouldn't rape her. But if she wanted to…then he might have to think about it. But he wouldn't rape her. "What are the stakes exactly?"

"If I win: I get to tell Claire where I've been going.

If you win: You can do whatever you want." He shrugged, if she won he would have to honor his gambling and let her tell Claire, but then again- if he won…

"If I win: You have to skip your date with Victor next week to sit down here and model for a few paintings. In any pose I ask, and however I ask." Perhaps it was because she was so sure she'd win that she agreed. She agreed to his bet, and that was when the war of the wills began.

At first, nothing happened. It was as if they took the first few days to find a weak spot to strike. No one did anything, until Saturday night.

Erik went into the kitchen to see Lily with the box of cheesecake she'd brought down for them that day, lighting candles on the table. He froze, so sure that it was a ploy. But then again, he was the stronger willed. So, stubbornly, he went into the kitchen and sat down.

It was a shameless- albeit amusing- plot. Lily flashed him smiles, and when she placed his plate of cheesecake down in front of him, she was sure he was able to get a glance down her dress, which caused a blush to creep up his neck. She slid over to her side, and ate very slowly.

But the true plan didn't begin until Erik felt her foot sliding up his pant's leg. Lily saw his fork stop in mid air when he felt her foot against his leg, she didn't mind the torment she was giving him- it is anything goes war of the wills.

Erik did nothing but continue eating.

It was bothering him, there was no denying that. But he couldn't let her see his discomfort. He was not going to risk her divulging his identity to Claire, and he wanted more than anything to win- and it wasn't just his competitive personality shining through.

She watched as he got up and put his plate away, only to go back into the main room, unharmed. She narrowed her eyes at him, and pounded her fists on the table:

"If that's how you want it, well there you go."

Lily waited a while, she waited until Erik had convinced himself to calm down from the earlier strategy, and had sat down to play his organ. He sat there for a few minutes, tapping on the keys, releasing his discomfort into what he was working on. Lily walked behind him, brushing her hand along his shoulder blades, and fingering the small bit of hair hanging down on his neck from his black wig.

She sat beside him, placing her fingers on the keys. He stopped playing almost immediately, making her look at him curiously- while looking sweet.

"What?"

"Don't 'what?' me." He snapped, she shrugged and began to play- badly. It wasn't until he grabbed her hands and asked her to stop that the two felt a surge of fire through their veins. Originating from the point where their flesh touched. That made them both uncomfortable at the same time, but neither one would admit it. They both jerked their hands away from the other.

"Can you teach me? We've got all this free time…" He knew it was preparation, he knew it was a trick, but he couldn't help but agree.

"Place your fingers on the keys, here." He instructed, she raised her wrists, her tiny, bony wrists and placed them on the ivory keys.

He taught her to play a few simple keys, after a few moments, they stopped and Lily asked him to play the new piece he's been working on.

"It's not done yet." He told her. "I don't like to play pieces until they're done."

"Please…?" she whimpered, trying to win him over with big puppy dog eyes. He almost broke free of her glance, but he didn't. He agreed to give her a preview.

As he played the first few bars, he felt her move closer to him, and place her hand on his knee. He continued to play, despite the tightness in his body. He tried to ignore her, as if her hand slowly rising up the middle of his thigh was not bothering him at all. But before she got too high, he slammed his hand down on her bony knee and did the exact same thing to her.

They both refused to admit that they were uncomfortable, even if the other's hand was nearly brushing against their… "Special" spots.

Eventually though, they both drew their hands back when their own attempts became too ill-intentioned for them. They resumed behaving like adults, until it was time for Erik to either sink or swim in the deal.

He could have easily won if he'd walked in while Lily was bathing and offered to wash her back; he could have more than without a doubt triumphed while Lily was changing into one of his longer shirts to wear for the night. But he wouldn't win like that, he had a much better plot in mind, something that he was sure would get her to admit her discomfort and allow him to be the winner.

Lily lay down in the silk bed once she was finished changing, her head resting against the pillow, she closed her eyes. She felt Erik resume his spot beside her, and even though she expected him to do something to try and win the bet, he did nothing.

Nothing- until she felt his hand snaking up her thigh, brushing along her panty line and causing a choke to climb her throat. She knew though- how to counter-act his defence.

"Oh…Victor…" She softly moaned, pretending to be asleep. She knew that had really pissed him off, because she knew that- for one reason or another- he hated Victor. The power of psychological warfare was a scary secret that most women knew, and no one needed to use that power than Lily at that moment.

But that didn't stop Erik; she felt his hand slide away from her panty-line, and crawl up the side of her body. He felt her stiffen at his touch- and he would admit that her body was a lot smaller than he remembered, and she was a lot thinner. Her fingers were clasping around the silk sheets, he could feel her starting to tighten up; it wouldn't be much longer.

No matter how many times she tried to make it seem like she was sleeping, and dreaming of Victor, Erik knew she wasn't. Even if she was- that would make her very uncomfortable, and he would win. Yay him!

His fingers danced along her breast, she tried to survive it. She tried her hardest not to give into his attempts, if she gave in then she would have to do what he said, and frankly that wasn't something she wanted to do. Considering she had a general idea what position he wanted to paint her in.

But none the less, it caused her to jerk out of his grasp and fall out of the bed. Giving him a three second panty-shot.

"You PERVERT!" She screeched, wrapping her arms around her breasts. "Who the hell gave you the right to do that?"

"Same person who gave you the right to do what you did earlier." He snapped, but not meanly. He snapped at her playfully; suppressing a big grin. "What? Does it make you uncomfortable?"

"FUCK YES IT DOES!" her hand clamped over her mouth, she'd lost the bet- oh god…

"I win." He boasted proudly. "And that means you have to skip your date tomorrow and let me paint you any way I want." Sighing, she nodded. Lily knew when to admit defeat, even if that meant posing nude for his paintings.

What surprised her was the fact that he didn't ask her to pose naked. All he did was tell her to sit at the organ, put her fingers on certain keys, and keep the pose. That much she was willing to allow. When she questioned why he didn't want her naked, he simply replied,

"Well, unless you want to be undressed when I paint you, I'm not going to make you do something like that over a friendly bet." And that she found very sweet; enough to turn her white complexion into a pale pink.

This chapter the result of a daytrip from kansas to oklahoma with my family with basically nothing to do but listen to my iPod.

...well that, and I was feeling DEVILISHLY evil and wanted to bother Erik and Lily a bit.