I was exploring the local Van Gogh Immersive Experience near where I live a little while ago and was struck with inspiration...that soon died, hence why this oneshot is coming out so late, but it's here now! I can easily see Erik and Christine taking full advantage of something like that to just be surrounded by art and enjoy time together, going in as friends, but possibly leaving as something more. I really hope you enjoy this little piece! You can find a video of this exhibit on YouTube if you're so inclined to look for it :)
The pair stepped through the dark curtains into the large, dimly lit space and Christine couldn't help but gasp and giggle excitedly as she looked around them. The walls were lit up with floor-to-ceiling projections of every Van Gogh painting one could think of; The Starry Night, Café Terrace at Night, Vase with Twelve Sunflowers. If one could think of a painting by the famous artist, it was there, and it was beautiful. That had certainly been lacking in the past year; fear and anxiety and pain had been the dominating feelings ever since the world first slammed into lockdown and even just standing near another person become an enormous health risk, so she was glad to be here - fully vaccinated, true, but still being cautious, with her best friend, surrounded by art. It was perfect.
"Isn't it beautiful, Erik?" she asked as she looked up at her friend, her voice soft so as not to disturb others taking in the art but still loud enough to be heard over the music being played in the space for ambience.
He nodded and looked down at her, and she could tell that he was smiling. That wasn't an easy task, between the mask that Erik already wore on a daily basis long before the pandemic had even begun, covering his face entirely except for his lips, and the cloth mask that he wore across his mouth and nose to protect against the virus, but Christine had become an expert at being able to tell when he was smiling at her even when he was so covered up. She could tell that his mismatched brown and blue eyes sparkled a bit, crinkling in the corners, and that was enough to show how happy he was even when he wasn't flashing his handsome smile or using his beautiful voice.
His eyes had, by far, become her favourite feature of his. Perhaps the pandemic had amplified that, given how much she had seen them and only them, but she had always admired them. They were so expressive; they conveyed the deep joy in his heart so much so that she could feel that same glee, and she could feel her heart crying out when he wept and tears spilled onto his face. The face that he was always so desperate to hide, never convinced that she would stay, that she could be his friend, because of it. Oh, how he underestimated how she wanted to be so much more, that his face made no difference in how much she loved him. She could only hope that one day, he would see that.
"Let's sit, shall we?" he asked as he offered the crook of his arm to her. "We have lots of paintings to look at and I don't intend to view them all standing. This isn't a traditional art gallery, we may as well treat it as such."
"Yes, we certainly should. Good thing we brought pillows," she said with a smile as the pair walked through the small, spaced-out crowd to find an open circle to sit in and view the rotating paintings being projected onto the walls. "This floor really does look far from comfortable."
"Well, given that this space was never meant to be a public art gallery, I can't be surprised," Erik said, laughing quietly. "It wasn't exactly designed to be filled with people sitting around to look at art, so we must make do with what we have."
Christine nodded and set her small backpack down in one of the free white circles on the ground. "I suppose we will," she replied. "The things a pandemic will make you do."
"Indeed," her friend replied as he slipped a square cushion out from under his arm and set it on the ground before sitting on top of it. "Still, it's nice to have this sort of thing, don't you think? I was feeling rather deprived of the arts, particularly with theatres closing down and everything. It's been terrible, having to be away for this long. I don't think I've ever gone this long without seeing at least a little concert or something, never mind a full opera or musical or play or something."
"It really was. I feel awful for all the performers as well, it must be so hard," Christine said softly, pulling out a small sketchpad from her backpack, only to laugh a moment later as she settled down next to Erik. "We talk as if our own careers haven't been personally affected by this as well."
"You do have a point there."
The financial loss that all the performers in New York and worldwide were having to deal with was not lost on them, what with Erik being a composer whose works were sometimes performed for the public, even in settings as grand as the Metropolitan Opera itself, and Christine as a rising opera star. Rather than being on stages celebrating the art that they loved, they had been confined to their little apartments for months and had only just been able to see each other in person again rather than over Zoom calls that lasted for hours. She was eternally grateful that they had video conferencing available; she could only imagine what her phone bill would look like with how much she and Erik talked.
That was part of what made her wonder about what they had together. They had been friends for years, having bumped into each other at a workshop for up-and-coming musicians and performers. She remembered fondly how nervous he had been simply being at the conference itself, never mind how antsy he had become when she had insisted on engaging him in conversation. She had been intrigued by him right from the get-go, and his mask (the porcelain one; they had met at a time long before medical masks had become the typical 'mask' meant in conversations) hadn't even been the main reason why, though she did certainly notice it. No, it was his voice, the tenor sound to it and the way he could string sentences together with such eloquence drawing her right in. From the beginning, she had thought he would have a beautiful singing voice, and as their friendship developed, he became more relaxed around her to the point that they were visiting each other's apartments, she finally heard that gorgeous singing voice he possessed. She had known then that he was a keeper.
Their relationship—at least to her—had seemed to change over the past little while, though, especially just before the pandemic had struck. There were more subtle touches, more stolen glances and hesitant smiles. Christine couldn't exactly say how long she had felt that way about Erik; seeing him as more than a friend, as someone that she saw herself spending her life with as a husband rather than just as a companion. All she knew was that that same feeling filled her chest whenever she looked at him, but she still didn't know if those feelings were reciprocated at all. She liked to think they were, but she didn't dare draw any conclusions.
"Sketching today, are you?" she heard Erik ask.
"I figured there isn't any better place to get inspiration than in a room surrounded by paintings from one of the best artists in the world," Christine said with a nod. "I have a couple of sketches I wanted to touch up."
Erik nodded and leaned his head against hers while his arm snaked around her waist, making her heart flutter. She knew exactly which pages in her sketchbook to skip so he wouldn't see any drawings of him that he didn't know existed; he had sat for her to draw him once or twice, but that wasn't the extent of the drawings that she had of him. There were others just of him and one or two of him...sans shirt, so rather than expose herself and her admiration for him, she flipped around them and showed him the sketches she'd done of the rest of their friends; Raoul and Meg, Nadir and Rookheya. They had a tightknit group, each of them bringing acquaintances with them when they had become friends; Nadir and Erik had known each other since they were teenagers, and Rookheya had entered Nadir's life somewhere along the way, while Christine and Meg had met at theatre school and Raoul was a childhood friend. Sometimes it looked like Erik and Raoul wanted to bite each other's heads off, but they were civil for the most part, which Christine was glad for. She didn't want to have to pick between them.
"I think all your sketches look lovely, so I don't believe any of them need to be touched up, but I will leave it up to your artistic discretion to decide that," he said, only to reach over and gesture to the picture of him and Nadir that Christine was showing him. "Although, my nose looks a little sad in this one."
Christine rolled his eyes and slapped his chest. "It is not! I redrew it about four times, it looks like your nose," she said with a quiet giggle.
"Alright, alright, if you insist," Erik said, the low rumble of his chuckle resonating through her more than usual with how quiet the room was.
The pair fell into a comfortable silence then as they watched the art all around them, Christine sketching and Erik switching between watching over her shoulder and answering the odd email or taking a picture on his phone. Those lulls in conversation when the two of them could just enjoy each other's presence without the need for chatter or jokes or anything was something that Christine valued so much in their relationship. It satisfied something in her knowing that all they need to be content was for the other person to be present.
After a few minutes had passed, she glanced up from her sketching when she heard a breathy laugh from Erik and saw him looking at something on his phone. "What is it?" she asked.
"They finally did it," he replied, and as he turned his phone so she could see the screen, Christine's eyes went wide when she saw what he had laughed at; a picture from Nadir, clearly taken rather sneakily, that showed Raoul and Meg sharing a kiss.
"Oh, it happened!" Christine said excitedly, only to pause and set a hand over her mouth when she realized how loud she'd been in the relatively quiet room. "Oops."
Erik laughed quietly and leaned his forehead against the top of her head. "You're adorable," he said. "And you owe me $5 because they got together before you bet they would."
"Yeah, yeah, I'll give you your money, relax."
As the two of them laughed together, they turned and found themselves face-to-face, much closer than they ever had been, truth be told. The masks made everything more frustrating, but Christine had looked at and drawn his face so much that she knew exactly where his lips were, which was what made it so easy for to lean forward and press her masked lips to his and-
"Oh," she breathed as she leaned back, her eyes wide as she looked back at him, seeing an equally surprised expression on his face. "I-I don't...that was dumb, I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry."
"Christine, hold on," Erik said, a bit of a laugh escaping him. "There aren't any apologies necessary."
"Of course there is, I kissed you like an idiot when we were just having a conversation," Christine replied, shaking her head and turning back to her sketchbook to aimlessly darken one of the strands of Erik's hair she had drawn.
She heard her friend sigh and steeled herself for the scolding comments that could be coming her way, but frowned a bit when she felt him turn her head towards him with a single finger beneath her chin. His eyes were genuine and kind when she looked at him again, which only confused her, yet also fanned that spark of hope that still burned low in her chest.
"You're not an idiot. You're just more confident than me," Erik said softly.
There was that crinkle around his eyes; he was smiling. Those feelings were reciprocated, good god, he felt that way about her. She had never known such relief in her life.
"Well...I guess we'll be ending some bets the others have made about us as well," Christine replied, a giggle slipping out of her despite herself.
"I suppose we will be, yes," Erik said with a chuckle. "But let's just enjoy this for now."
Their second kiss was everything she had ever imagined and yet, nothing like her dreams all at the same time. To be fair, the part that stuck out the most was that it was through their masks; oh, how she wanted to pull it off and truly kiss him, feel his lips against hers, but she knew that keeping as safe as possible still had to be a priority, romance or not. The kiss was perfectly tender and full of the love that she never would have imagined he could ever reciprocate. She had always hoped that he felt the same way but knew that the chance of him only wanting friendship had always loomed over them. How glad she was that she was wrong.
Proper kisses would come in time, though, that much she knew. They had the rest of their lives ahead of them, after all.
as per usual, not sure about the ending, but this is finally out in the world and i'm pleased with that. i hope you enjoyed :)