Yay! Thankyou all so much for replying! Goodeeee!(jumps for joy, well, not really)
MetalMyersJackson: I prefer black myself, but Erik is still in the whole "black is for mourning" timeframe, but don't worry, there is more black to come. Oh, would you like to become a member of the DBCA? It comes up later in the story, you'll figure it out then.
Celery-bunch: I'm not going to try and fathom your name…but thankyou, glad you like.
To you all…be warned, this has been a mostly serious phic so far…but its about to get darker soon, and of course, much nuttier!
Erik returned to his little cave to the sound of music, (not literally)
"My gift is my song..." Adriana sang softly, flipping through a bright green notebook,
"And this one's for you,
And you can tell everybody,
That this is your song
I may be quite simple, but
Now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind
That I've put down in words" Erik cleared his throat from the entrance, she looked up with a smile,
"How wonderful life is,
Now you're in the world."
She noticed the packages balanced in his arms and quickly stood to relieve him of several.
"What are these?" she asked, examining the brown paper wrapping,
"Your clothes," Erik replied shortly, one such package fell from his arms and he kicked it upwards, Adriana dived forward and grabbed it, one foot dragging along the ground as the other jumped forward. Erik looked down at her in surprise as she stared up at him, a blush coloured her freckles,
"Netball reflexes," she apologised, Erik raised an eyebrow.
"What?" he asked flatly, he shrugged, standing upright again,
"Fourteen girls in short skirts and white t-shirts throwing a ball around at 9 am on a Saturday morning." Erik shook his head in bewilderment, Adriana sighed,
"Never mind."
"I don't intend to." Instead Erik handed her the rest of her clothes, curiously, Adriana opened one package, pulling out the delicate fawn cloth of her new day dress, she gave a squeal of delight.
"Eek! It's gorgeous!" She gave Erik a brief hug around the shoulders and held the dress up to her form. Erik froze with the brief contact, then returned to placing packages on the chairs.
"I suggest these first," he said, trying not to blush as he handed her the parcel of underclothes, she ripped the paper open unceremoniously and looked at the mass of white cloth and boning that was a corset. She looked at Erik, an expression of apprehension on her face.
"Your joking, right?" he regarded her calmly, she sighed, "I guess not." She took out the second corset, this one black with black and imperial purple lacings, a smirk crossed her face and she glanced at Erik, who was deliberately avoiding her gaze. Underneath lay the two pairs of black trousers, she smiled in relief, "Thank God" she muttered.
"What?" Erik had started sorting the packages into piles.
"I assume these are for me? Thanks Erik, no offence but I can only wear a skirt for so long without going insane from the need to move." Erik shrugged in reply. Adriana made short work of opening the other packages, and the divan that ha been her bed the night before was soon covered with metres of cloth in all colours and fabrics. After casting a critical eye over what lay before her, she finally picked up a pair of the black trousers, the black and purple corset and the red blouse jacket. Rather casually she stripped off her gloves and pulled out her hair clip.
"Um, Erik?" she asked, turning her back to him, he looked up,
"Yes?"
"There's a clip behind the bow on this dress, can you undo it for me please?" without a thought, Erik reached out his long cold fingers and clipped open the dress.
"What manner of corset must you wear to keep your dress held like this?" he asked, Adriana, who had her arms crossed across her chest shrugged,
"I'm not wearing one." Erik's fingers jerked back in shock,
"You what! Damn you woman, have you no modesty!"
"Not really," she replied, reaching her hands behind her to unhook the hook and eye on the base of the gap between the bow and her dress. Erik closed his eyes with a silent prayer to avoid looking down her dress, which was near to impossible as it had all but fallen forwards and off her body once Erik had let go of the back. Adriana looked around to find Erik's face incredibly close to her own, his eyes glowing in the light of a single candle. She swallowed, forgetting what she was going to say, he blinked feet frozen to the floor...
Then the candle went out (just for fun! And can you tell I'm writing this while reading a Mary Sue fic?).
The sudden darkness broke the spell, and Erik backed hastily away,
"I will give you you're privacy." He muttered, this was the second time today he had kissed a girl, well almost kissed her anyway, he grinned. He was having what was turning out to be a surprisingly good day. He pretended very hard not to have heard the very quiet "Pity" murmured by Adriana (actually it was half sung, as in Mrs Potifer from Joseph and the technicoloured dreamcoat) as she stripped, telling himself it was the rustle of her clothes as she changed.
"Erik?" Adriana called a minute or two later,
"Are you dressed?" he answered, slipping back inside. With his keen night vision (when did this become an X-men fic?) he saw her standing there in a pair of the trousers and a black chemise, the black corset was around her middle and she was fumbling with the strings. "You call this dressed?" Erik raged, she turned around and glared at him.
"I never said I was," she remarked acidly, "And I'm afraid I don't have night vision to guide me, or a pair of whore's pulls to get this insane contraption on, so your just going to have to grit your teeth, bear it and help me."
Furious, Erik grabbed her arm and shoved her around to face the wall, he snatched up the strings and gave a sharp yank. Adriana's waist collapsed inwards and she gave an extremely unladylike word slip out of her mouth. Angrily she jabbed an elbow backwards and into Erik's gut, he released her with a grunt of pain as she scrambled frantic fingers over the strings. Erik, realising he probably should have used a little restraint ran his fingers down her back, easing the strings. Utterly pissed off, Adriana turned on him,
"Are you trying to kill me?" she demanded, Erik shook his head,
"If I had wanted to kill you mademoiselle, I would have done so already." He told her icily, she glared at him.
"Whatever," she snapped, grabbing her red jacket/blouse thingy (think Erik's Red Death jacket but with ¾ sleeves and a little more feminine, but still hard core!) and shrugging it on.
"You forgot to do it up," Erik remarked, turning to relight the candle,
"I don't intend to, get over it." She was thoroughly pissed off now as she stormed back to the couch to start folding the clothes back up.
"Just follow me." Erik snapped, filling his arms with packages and other objects (how he filled his own arms I don't know, but just deal, okay?)
"Fine," Adriana picked up her clothes and slung her bag of random stuff over her shoulders. Erik led the way out of the cavers, somehow managing to hold a candle at the same time as all his things to light the way.
After endless turns they reached the lake, Erik disappeared for a moment and Adriana heard the sound of several objects hitting wooden boards, before the Phantom reappeared, tugging along an ornate gondola. "Put your things in here," he snapped, Adriana complied, carefully setting her clothes against the bow of the boat, and slipping her bag on top. Then, because she was still sore (literally) about the corset incident, she started to sing.
"I remember there was mist
Swirling mist upon a vast glossy lake
There were candles all around
And on the lake there was a boat."
With a growl, Erik leapt into the gondola, (How fitting) she thought
"And in the boat there was a man..."
She stepped into the boat, already low in the water because of the other packages, and ducked as Erik (not completely unintentionally) swung the pole over her head, narrowly missing her skull.
"Will you please SHUT UP!" he shouted, violently casting off. Adriana crouched in the boat, suddenly subdued as Erik poled them to his old home.
Reaching the far bank, the both froze in shock, and Adriana let slip the only French word she had not received from Madeline.
"Merde" she whispered, staring at the carnage in shock.