Disclaimer: Everyone may be shocked to hear this, but I do not own the lyrics to the song "I will Survive". I'm not sure who does. Perhaps Gloria Gaynor does, since she sings the song.

An uneventful month passed for Erik with the slight exception that one morning Erik opened the door to find a bouquet of roses lying on the doorstep. Carefully, Erik picked them up, and looked at the card that was attached to them. "To the greatest bloke in the world." Erik read out loud. "Love from your secret admirer, The Vicomte de Chagny." Erik looked up at Raoul's house, where Raoul was peering out the window at Erik. Once Raoul noticed that Erik was staring at him, His head quickly shot back down underneath the window. Erik shook his head, and carried the roses back into the house.

"Sorry Raoul." Erik said, preparing to throw the bouquet out.

"Oh Erik." Erik turned around to see Christine standing behind him smiling widely. "You got me roses, oh you are so sweet." She said, stretching her arms towards the roses.

"Well I might as well not make her pissed." Erik thought, removing the card from the roses, and handing them to Christine. A single tear ran down Christine's cheek. "Oh great, now I made her cry." Erik thought in alarm.

"These roses are so delicate and beautiful, just like life itself."

Christine cried, and darted off into another room. Erik stared at her retreating figure. Christine sure went through a lot of emotions these days, Erik thought to himself as he pocketed Raoul's card.

"Christine could you please move?" Erik asked that night, noticing that Christine was sitting in his reading chair. "I want to see just how much ham is actually in this book." He looked at Hamlet affectionately.

"Mm no." Christine said without looking up from her bacon soufflé. "I don't want to get up, and I'm not going to get up. And besides I'm too fat to get up."

"Ergh." Erik threw down Hamlet in frustration. "There is no winning with that woman." He fumed to himself, leaving the room. "And if I have to hear about how fat she is one more time." He balled his fists in anger. Erik sighed as he stepped out into the fresh night air. "I need advice on how to handle pregnant woman." Erik thought to himself. "Advice from someone important."

"Raoul?" A voice asked at the back of his head.

"Good god no." Erik exclaimed. "I mean Nadir."

"Oh Nadir is not important." The voice informed him. "He's not even in the musical."

"Nevertheless, I am going to go see him." Erik announced to an old man walking a dog.

"Are you calling me fat?" The man asked offended before hobbling away.

Seven minutes later Erik arrived at Nadir's house, and started pounding on the door.

"Open up Nadir, I know you're in there!" He hollered until Nadir finally opened up his door.

"Finally." Erik put his hands on his knees, and tried to regain his breath.

"Oh hello Erik." Nadir didn't seem very pleased to see Erik. "You may want to come back later."

"Not now Nadir." Erik replied, shoving Nadir aside, and striding into his house. Erik stopped short when he noticed who was also inside Nadir's house. "Why the fuck is Raoul here?" He hissed at Nadir.

"He wanted to talk to me." Nadir said calmly, not flinching under Erik's furious gaze.

"Hey Nadir, this thing is really pretty." Raoul said carrying something that looked suspiciously like a dirty glass unicorn. "Erik!" Raoul gasped as he saw Erik, and dropped the unicorn in surprise, causing it to smash against the floor. Erik rolled his eyes, and prepared to leave, when Nadir shoved him towards Raoul.

"Just talk to him." Nadir whispered in Erik's ear. "All right I'll leave you two alone." Nadir winked at a furious Erik, and walked out of the room.

"Hey." Raoul said, nonchalantly leaning against the wall.

"Whatever." Erik muttered to himself.

"Oh Erik." Raoul walked towards Erik with stars in his eyes. "It's no use hiding your love any longer."

"I don't hide my love for Christine." Erik started to say, but was cut of by Raoul wrapping his arm around his shoulder and pulling Erik towards him.

"You know you don't love Christine," Raoul rolled his eyes. "She's so annoying, you just love her body." Erik found himself nodding along, but quickly stopped, and shoved Raoul away from him. Always thinking fast, Raoul grabbed Erik's hands and held them to his face. "Oh Erik if we're in love, we don't need to hide it from this homophobic world, we need to scream it out to everyone!"

Erik closed his eyes, and momentarily let his heart swell with affection, before getting a grip on himself and tearing his hands from Raoul's grasp. All his life he was deprived of love, then he met Christine, and when she finally returned his love, even she had never looked at him with the same ardor that Raoul was now looking at him with. This wasn't the way things were supposed to be like. The only feelings that the Phantom and the fop were supposed to have towards each other were hatred that's the way it always was and always will be.

"You don't love me." Erik finally hissed at a crestfallen Raoul. "And

I sure as hell don't give a shit about you! I hate you!" Erik raised his hand, and Raoul cringed as if Erik was about to hit him. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!" He repeatedly screamed at Raoul. Then without another word, he swept past a shocked and somewhat amused Nadir, and slammed the front door behind him.

Nadir walked over to the stricken Raoul, who had sunk onto the couch, and looked as if he was fighting back tears.

"Oh it's ok Raoul." Nadir said in a soothing voice. "Erik is a very complicated man, you need to get used to his passionate bursts of rage. Here, have some tea." Nadir tried to hand Raoul a cup of tea, but Raoul shoved it aside.

"I'd rather have a beer." He muttered, and got up in search, no doubt to find the nearest pub.

Ten minutes later, Raoul found a pub, and started downing down shots of brandy.

"Why hello." A busty redhead rubbed suggestively against Raoul.

"Bah." Raoul impatiently brushed her aside, and handed his empty glass to the bartender.

"Trouble with Christine?" He asked, well aware that Christine was no longer living with Raoul.

"Christine fucking sucks." Raoul slurred, grabbing the glass from the bartender. "Everyone fucking sucks." He mumbled. "You don't need Erik." A voice in his head informed him. Raoul took a gulp of brandy, and finally reached the stage of complete plasteredness. So he did what he always did when he got plastered; he sang. (If Christine only knew how drunk he actually was when singing "All I ask of You.")

"Screw you Erik." Was his last semi-sane thought before standing on his chair and belting out:

"At first I was afraid

I was petrified

Kept thinking I could never live

without you by my side

But then I spent so many nights

thinking how you did me wrong

And I grew strong,

And I learned how to get along!"

Erik was walking by the pub when he heard melancholy caterwauling from inside the bar.

"Good God." He said. "That person is singing like they have their balls in a vice." He walked up to the window, and groaned when he saw Raoul was singing on top of a barstool. "What is wrong with that man?" He asked himself.

"I will survive!" Raoul was singing back in the bar. In mid-thrust, he noticed Erik staring at him with disgust. "I'll show him who hates who." He thought to himself, then grabbed the redhead by the waist, twirled her around, and kissed her passionately. Erik gritted his teeth, and wondered whether he should kill the redhead or Raoul or both.

"That's it!" He yelled charging into the bar, whipping out his punjab lasso. Everyone stopped talking, and stared at him. Then suddenly, and a bit randomly, a gunman burst into the bar screaming,

"All right everyone I'm robbing a bar, yeah that's right." Noticing

Erik holding his punjab lasso, the gunman grabbed the person closest to him, Raoul, and screamed again, "No one move or the fop gets it!"