Disclaimer: Don't own Phantom, unfortunately.
Chapter Six
XXX
Christine slipped into her house after another rehearsal, bags under her arms. She looked around and frowned when she didn't see Erik right away. Calling out to him, she closed the front door with her foot.
"Erik? Where are you?"
The door to her bedroom opened and he came to Christine quickly, seeing the parcels and tilting his head curiously.
"I've bought some things for you." She said simply, and Erik relieved her of a few bags, walking with her toward the divan and sitting down.
"A mask, perhaps?" his eyes were hopeful, and she nodded in resignation.
"Yes, it's in here somewhere…" she murmured, digging through a brown bag and pulling out a small box, "I'm afraid I didn't know what your previous mask was made of… or even what it looked like, hopefully this will do."
She handed the box to Erik and he eagerly opened it up, looking down at the black porcelain mask wrapped in tissue paper.
"Oh…" he breathed, eyes wide as he pulled it out and held it reverently. "I-it's beautiful…"
She smiled cautiously, opening another bag and pulling out a few boxes. Inside were new clothes, black and elegant. Tears filled Erik's eyes as he saw everything that Christine had done for him, and he moved to slip on the mask.
He faltered when she grabbed his arm, tugging it down and laying her hand on the mask.
"Please… don't wear it. Not when it's just the two of us. I don't… I don't want you to hide from me." She said softly, and Erik swallowed hard and nodded.
Giving a gentle smile, she curled against Erik's chest and he held her carefully, resting his cheek against the top of her head.
XXX
Raoul was angry.
No, not angry.
Furious.
He'd invited Christine to dinner with him, and she'd turned him down!
"I'm sorry, Raoul, but I've plans with Erik tonight."
He just couldn't understand, he'd been successfully courting Christine for months, and suddenly she rescues this circus freak and he's put on the back burner. It just wasn't right!
Could she be falling in love with him?
Raoul blanched. No, it couldn't be! He'd seen the man's face for himself, there was no way anyone could love him. He was hideous!
Deciding to go insist that Christine came with him, Raoul called his carriage and set off for Christine's flat. It took only a half hour to reach her small home, and he rapped sharply on the door with the head of his cane, and smiled warmly when the door opened and he looked into Christine's clear blue eyes.
"Good evening, darling. I was hoping you might have time for a walk?"
She sighed. "Raoul, I told you already this afternoon, I have plans this evening. Perhaps another night?"
"But Christine, I've come all this way! At least let me come in for a visit?"
"Well, you shouldn't have come all this way in the first place, Raoul. You knew I was busy. Now please...-"
She was cut off by Erik calling to her from inside the house.
"Christine? Aren't you coming back to bed?"
Of course, he hadn't meant it in a sexual way, they'd only been lying in bed together reading a play back and forth, but Raoul's face went red.
"You...! In bed with him!"
"No! Raoul, Erik is not feeling well, he's weak and resting in bed, I was sitting with him, we were reading together!"
Raoul just rolled his eyes, pushing past her into the house and storming to the bedroom, expecting to find Erik in a compromising position. Instead, he was laying on the coverlet fully clothed with a mask on and a large book in his hands. At a closer look, Raoul saw that the book was actually one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Twelfth Night".
Erik arched an eyebrow, and Christine came in, her arms folded over her chest.
"T-there are only two of you, how are you reading it together?" he demanded, unable to believe that there was nothing going on.
"We're each reading for several. It's quite simple. I'm reading for Viola, Maria, Olivia, and other unimportant characters, and Erik is reading for Sebastian, Malvolio, Orsino, Sir Toby… you get the picture."
"Oh… I see..." he murmured, now bright red. "I'll just... show myself out."