Song's were sent to me for next semester's voice repertoire: one song in each of the four Romantic languages! I'd gotten good grades for this past semester, and some former neighbors (very great friends) visited us from out of state. (Erik stayed with Nadir then because we were already cramming for beds.) My guide dog took a trip to the vet for a checkup, and we visited lots of relatives because both me and my sister were home for the summer between college semesters. Erik was, to my family's knowledge, a fellow college student studying abroad from France. But since he didn't really interact with a lot of people, he was, shall we say, easy to hide: he easily moved undetected between my house and Nadir's, so nobody knew how often we were actually together.

Erik hadn't come back from Nadir's. It had been several days since our friends had left, and I'd texted Nadir when they'd gone, so where was Erik? I sent Nadir another text: "When is Erik coming back?"

Nadir replied quickly, saying Erik would be back later that night. Good.

My sister was happy to be home...but also happy that we could be together again...happy that she could make sure that I was doing what I was supposed to. We love each other to death, but she has had the job of my unofficial caretaker and sighted guide since before we could walk. And as I gain more independence, her dominance gets more annoying and I push away, which makes her feel hurt. It makes me want to just avoid her, which is unhealthy. I almost thought I should just go over to Nadir's. It's not like I'd be abandoning family time; my sister spends most of her time with her friends, and she and her friends all have boyfriends. All my friends were up at college, and most of them did not live close to me outside of school.

Where the crap are you, Erik?

We'd just gotten back from Dairy Queen, mmmmmm ice cream blizzard, and it had been raining and cloudy all day here in a place where rain is rare. The only bad thing about tonight was that my sister was happy with her friends-her and two other girls and all three had boyfriends. I felt like the seventh wheel all day.

I went up to my room to get ready for bed. Sometimes I wish that online dating was safer (way too scared to try that), or that making a fantasy boyfriend was a thing. I want a good human relationship so bad, but I'm the shyest when it comes to actually getting out there, and I'm scared of getting hurt. Yeah, yeah, 'tis better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all. But I can't even take those first steps...I kind of suck. I opened my bedroom door.

"Hello, my darling," cooed a voice.

"Erik?" I asked stupidly as I approached my bed. Was he doing that manipulative trance thing with his voice?

A hand with spidery fingers gently enveloped my own. I felt the skinny arm, and then that hand brought mine to touch the masked face.

"Erik!" I practically screamed and tackled him on my bed in a hug. "I missed you! Everyone else has friends and boyfriends to spend time with and I missed you!"

"You haven't forgotten about Erik?" Trance broken, mind clear. There was a note of happy disbelief in his voice, and I felt his arms hesitantly encircle me and then tighten abruptly when I reiterated that I'd missed him a lot. "No one has ever missed Erik before!" he whispered.

My own words were muffled, because my face was buried in his shoulder. "Well, I did! My sister has so many friends and everyone has a boyfriend...or it seems like it...and I've just had my books. But now you're back! And I have my new songs for next semester, so we can keep singing together, and I won't be alone anymore!"

"Erik thought you were no longer interested...he stayed with his friend Nadir and they talked about going back to their world...because Lauren seemed to be so fascinated with her books and her modern-day musical artists. Erik thought...but now..."

"No, don't go back! I love you too much." Erik gasped, but I just continued rambling. "Your phangirl says stay. Please, pretty please? You can even come back to school with me and get alone time while I'm in class and help me with homework, and then we can do whatever you want. I mean, if you want to stay...I bet you miss your own world and your own time and your own culture...and you can only take so much of a phangirl...especially one who's being all flaky or whatever."

"Hush. Hush, you silly girl! Of course Erik will stay. Your Erik wouldn't ever abandon you. Not when you have given him what he could only dream about in his own world...not when you have shown Erik kindness." Erik settled us down in bed and pulled the blankets over us, still tightly holding me. "Sleep now, my dear. Tomorrow, we shall continue your lessons. Your Erik will make sure you are never alone again."

Mission "Get Erik Clingy" accomplished. Time to start getting him integrated into my society ... shouldn't be too hard. But for now, sleep. I'm sleeping in the arms of an Erik! My Erik.

"Does this mean I can call you _my Erik now?" I joked.

"Yes, you can. May I...may your Erik...kiss you goodnight?" (A/N: I couldn't resist-sorry.)

And there go the phangirl feels. "Yeah," I squeaked. He'd have to take off the mask..."Don't care if the mask is on at all, actually. A blind plus."

I had to loosen my grip around Erik's thin body to free his arms so that he could take off his "face". Darn. But after a minute, I felt cold lips on my cheek. And then Erik's breath caught. "Lauren does not die after Erik has kissed her."

Ignoring the voice in my head screaming "Don't do it," I reached my hands out to touch his face. Whoa ... feels really weird. Erik remained still as a statue as I explored. My finger almost went right into his nose (I muttered a quick and embarrassed "Sorry") and I touched as gingerly as I could, because his skin almost felt gone in places. I just pretended like I was reading worn out braille.

"I'm not hurting you, am I?" And then, my fingers were wet. "Oh, Erik, are you crying? Don't cry! I just wanted to understand ... I can stop." I took my hands away. "I just wanted to see you."

I settled back down to go to sleep, and felt Erik's lips on my forehead. "You are truly an angel...you are my angel. Sleep now, my angel."

A/N: Every phanfic needs a dramatically fluffy cheesey chapter.