A/N: Originally posted on Tumblr for PotO 13 Nights of Halloween, hosted by a-partofthenarrative. Happy Halloween!
As Erik locked the door to his office behind himself and started to walk down the empty hallway of the music building, he found himself wondering if he looked as ridiculous as he felt.
Tonight was the department's annual masquerade ball, a fundraiser that the university's music program held every year on the Saturday before Halloween. Normally he simply refused to attend, but this year was different, all because his star student had very casually asked him a month ago if he cared to meet her at the ball.
And like the lovelorn fool he was for her, Erik had read far too much into her invitation - which was how he had come to be dressed as he currently was, in an elaborate costume that he had spent entirely too much time making. For some reason, he had thought that if he showed up in a spectacular costume, Christine might be impressed, but now that the moment was at hand, Erik realized how stupid that idea was.
Christine was kind, intelligent, funny, gorgeous - she certainly would never be interested in him romantically, no matter how much Erik might wish that to be possible. The thought of her wanting to date her deformed voice teacher - who was more than twice her age - was laughable.
Reminding himself of that fact, Erik entered the grand foyer, beginning to move around the corners of the room as he scanned the crowd for Christine. Recognizing her by her dark hair, he found her with a small group of friends. Just as he was about to approach her, however, the rest of her costume registered in his mind, and Erik found himself simply staring at her for a moment.
Christine routinely shook him with her beauty, but never had he seen her looking quite like this. He dimly realized that she must be dressed as a cat, based on the ears she was wearing and the vaguely feline black mask that surrounded her blue eyes, but it was her outfit that had knocked all sense out of him.
She was wearing black cutoff shorts that barely covered her perfect backside, along with fishnet stockings and a surprisingly sexy pair of black combat boots. And as though that wasn't enough to do him in, Erik couldn't help but notice that her black top was extremely sheer - so much so that he thought he could see a glimpse of a black lace bra before he tore his eyes away guiltily.
Deciding to get what was certain to be an obligatory dance on her part out of the way so he could make his retreat, Erik cleared his throat and stepped closer to her.
"Good evening, Christine," he murmured, causing her to spin around quickly.
"Erik!" she exclaimed, and to his confusion he could only describe the look on her partially masked face as excited - no doubt he was merely seeing what he wanted to see. "I'm so glad you're here!"
"Ah, thank you," he replied, hesitating awkwardly for a moment before continuing, "Would you care to dance?"
"Sure!" she replied, taking the arm he offered her before leading her onto the dance floor. As she moved into his arms, Erik felt his nerves start to get the best of him, but when they started dancing and Christine smiled up at him, he was able to relax slightly.
And to his surprise, the one dance he had expected turned into three before Christine smiled up at him. "I think I need a break, Erik. It's kind of warm in here."
"Of course," he answered automatically, trying not to be disappointed that his time with her was coming to an inevitable end before she surprised him with her next words.
"Do you want to get a drink?"
"Oh, certainly," he answered, trying to hide his surprise that Christine wanted to continue spending her evening with him.
After they each had a glass of wine, Christine led him to a relatively quiet corner of the room before turning to look up at him again.
"I really like your costume, Erik," she said in what he could only describe as an admiring tone. "It's so elaborate. Did you have someone make it?"
Unable to censor his words while basking in the glow of Christine's attention, Erik answered her without thinking. "I made it, actually. I've always enjoyed sewing."
As soon as the words left his mouth, though, Erik instantly wished he could take them back. Unbidden, a memory of his mother berating him for having an interest she considered inappropriate for boys sprang into his mind. Surely Christine would think him just as pathetic.
However, if Christine did think such a thing, she hid it very well. "You made it? Wow, it always amazes me how talented you are, Erik."
Feeling himself standing a little straighter at her praise, Erik belatedly realized the gallant thing to do would be to return her compliment. "Thank you, Christine. Your costume is very nice, also."
"Oh, thanks," she giggled, blushing a little. "You know what it is, right?"
Wondering if he was missing something, Erik replied hesitantly, "You're a cat, right?"
"Well, it's supposed to be like an alternate version of Catwoman, I guess. So, like sexy, kind of punk Catwoman." Dropping her gaze, she looked away from him. "I guess it's not working. I should have known it wasn't really my style, anyway."
Hating himself for inadvertently causing Christine to feel bad about herself, even for a moment, Erik once again spoke without thinking. "Oh, it's working, Christine. Although to be fair, you look sexy in anything you wear."
It wasn't until he saw the shocked look on her face that Erik realized exactly what he'd just said, and when Christine continued to stare at him without saying anything, he couldn't take the humiliation any longer. Turning, he quickly stalked to the nearest door, intent on returning to his office so he could change and get the hell out of this nightmare.
xxxxx
The instant the door closed behind him, Erik took off the ridiculous feathered hat he had chosen to be part of his costume for some reason, angrily tossing it in the general direction of a chair before pulling the skull mask from his face and throwing it after the hat. How had he ended up in this position, embarrassing both Christine and himself with his idiotic statement?
Suddenly, he turned at the sound of a quick knock, followed by the door being pushed open before Christine walked through it. For a moment, he could only stand in shock, before realizing that he was standing in front of her unmasked. Horrified, he turned to fumble for his usual black mask, but Christine spoke before he could grab it.
"You don't need to worry about that, Erik, at least not on my account."
Realizing that she had seen his face several times by now and not wanting to look any more foolish in front of her than he already had tonight, Erik gave up his task and turned to face her slowly. Wondering if he could still salvage the situation and keep Christine in his life as a friend and student, he decided to try some damage control.
"Christine, I am so sorry. That was completely inappropriate, and it won't happen again. Is there any chance we can just forget it ever happened?" he asked, only to be disappointed when she slowly shook her head.
"No," she confirmed, and Erik felt his shoulders slump in despair over the fact that he had once again managed to ruin any good thing that came along in his life, just before Christine confused him by crossing the room to stand directly in front of him.
Slowly, giving him plenty of time to pull away if he wanted to - not that he ever would - she reached up and placed her hands behind his neck to pull him down into a soft kiss. "Is this okay?" she asked, pulling back after a minute to look up at him.
Wondering if he was dreaming, Erik slowly nodded. "Of course, Christine. I just didn't think you would ever want to…"
With a slight, adorable frown creasing her brow at his words, Christine shook her head. "Erik, how much more obvious can I be? I invited you to meet me at the party tonight, didn't I? And I have to admit, I picked this costume hoping it would get your attention."
Sucking in a shocked breath at her statement, Erik managed to gather himself enough to answer her. "Well, it certainly did that."
Apparently that was what Christine wanted to hear, because she leaned up and pulled him into another kiss - one that was decidedly less innocent than their first.
As their embrace became more heated, Erik was vaguely aware of Christine dropping her hands from his neck so that she could wrap her arms around his waist and press herself even closer to him, and this evidence that she wanted to be close to him made him feel lightheaded. Without conscious thought, he began tentatively running his hands over her back as their kiss deepened even further. It wasn't until Christine gasped against his mouth that Erik realized he had allowed his long fingers to reach just under the bottom of her black shorts, exploring that area at the backs of her thighs that had been so temptingly displayed by them.
Angry at himself for ruining what might be his only opportunity to ever kiss Christine, Erik dropped his hands and stepped back. "I'm sorry, Christine, I wasn't thinking straight," he began in a sad attempt at an apology, but she merely blinked up at him, looking a little dazed.
"Oh, it's okay, I didn't mind. But, if we're going to continue this, maybe we should go to your place? Or we could go to my apartment, but I don't know how late Meg will be out."
"My place?" he echoed dully, unable to fully process the fact that Christine had just invited herself to his home, but apparently that was all the encouragement she needed.
"Yeah! Let's get out of here," she said, pulling him toward the door. Thankfully, he had just enough presence of mind to grab his black mask on the way out and to pause long enough to lock his office door behind them before Erik found himself following Christine down the deserted hallway.
As they skirted the foyer and the sounds of the masquerade still in full swing, Erik glanced down at her, unable to believe this was actually happening. However, he couldn't deny that it truly was when Christine looked up over her shoulder to smile at him before leading him out into the cool autumn night.
A/N: Thanks so much for reading, and please feel free to let me know what you thought!
