-sighs-
Well...it seems that I have deleted MS Word. I have to use WordPad now, which is utter garbage.
Oh well...
oo0o0oo
Erik leaned over Tori, who was sitting in a chair and staring into space, and gave her a hug around the neck, restng his head on her shoulder. She looked at him sideways, grinning.
"What is it?"
He sighed gently. "Tori, I have to let you go for a short time."
"Why?"
He let go, running a hand through his hair. "Well, there's only a few weeks before the Masquerade, and you need a costume. You should celebrate Christmas with your loved ones, as well..."
"But Erik? She turned to face him, a little ounce of innocence in her eyes for effect. "Can you promise me something?"
He raised an eyebrow, but his eyes were intrigued. "Go on..."
"Will you go with me to the Masquerade?"
His heart skipped a beat, but he had no idea why. He had been very close to Tori for the last two months now, and he would have expected it. But, like her reaction to his face and her transition from being shy to being chattery, it was completely unexpected and always took him by surprise whenever he thought about it.
After a minute he gulped and nodded.
"Erik, are you frightened?"
He shook his head a little too frantically. "No! No, of course not. It's not that, it's just a little..." He inhaled and exhaled deeply.
Tori's face lit up with understanding. "Ah, I see."
They sat in silence until they remembered the task set before them, and Erik took her back to the surface.
At the mirror, Erik embraced her quickly before letting her out. A few steps form the mirror, Tori turned around, walked back over, removed his mask, and planted a kiss on the deformity before replacing the porcelain.
"I love you, my Phantom."
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A/N: You can't blame me for that teensy bit of fluff, can ya?