A/N: Thank you to BabyNake, peanutpup, Phantomgirl24, and Banshee713 for the reviews on the last chapter!
If Christine had any reservations about agreeing to let Erik instruct her once again, they melted away as soon as the two of them began their lesson. Even though they had agreed that their sessions should stay somewhat relaxed so that Christine didn't strain her voice before her upcoming concert and opera season, being back in that familiar dynamic reminded her of how good their teacher and student relationship had always been. Erik had an almost mystical ability to get the very best out of her voice, and that hadn't changed in the past five years, it seemed.
And the pull she had always felt toward him during their lessons was present as well, no matter how much Christine wished to deny it - although at the moment, she wasn't sure she did. The connection between the two of them was undeniable, and Christine was tired of fighting it.
When the lesson concluded, Erik began to shuffle the sheet music in front of him, not looking at her as he spoke. "Christine, that was wonderful, and that's with you saving your voice. I look forward to the performance you're going to give the night of your concert."
Caught up in the moment, Christine dimly registered Erik's praise, but she didn't want to discuss her voice. In fact, she didn't want to talk at all.
Circling the piano, she moved to where Erik was still seated, sitting down next to him, noticing the way he stiffened slightly when she did so.
"Thank you, Erik," she said, tipping her chin up toward him, hoping he would take the hint, but he didn't move. Lost in the moment, she leaned even closer, and finally Erik responded, inclining his head toward hers. Letting her eyelids flutter closed, Christine waited for him to cross the final inches between them, anticipating their first kiss after all this time.
However, his lips never touched hers. Instead, she heard Erik breathe out in a choked exhale. Opening her eyes in confusion, Christine took in the disheartening sight of Erik scrambling up off the piano bench as though he couldn't wait to get away from her.
Avoiding meeting her gaze, he grabbed the sheet music that he had brought with him before he mumbled, "As I said, you did very well, Christine. I hope I can see you and Gustave again, and maybe we can do another lesson before your concert, if you would like."
Stunned, Christine realized he was waiting for an answer, looking for all the world like he wanted nothing more than to get away from her.
"Fine," she managed, so surprised at Erik's behavior that she didn't know what else to say.
Staring after him as he nodded and murmured something about texting her the next day, Christine watched as Erik bolted from the suite, firmly closing the door behind himself.
As she sat there, trying to process what had just happened, Christine didn't know if she felt more angry or embarrassed. Erik had gone to such lengths to manipulate her life, both five years ago and just this summer, but when she practically begged him to kiss her, this was how he responded? Acting disgusted by the very idea?
And why had she even wanted to kiss him in the first place? She still wasn't sure if she was going to be able to forgive him enough for everything he had done in the past to allow him to be in Gustave's life permanently; needless to say, they didn't need to complicate things even further by beginning an ill-advised physical relationship.
Yes, if she was feeling drawn toward Erik it was no doubt due only to the reminder of the past that their singing lesson had exhumed. Now that Christine recognized that fact, she just had to remember all the reasons that the two of them becoming involved physically was a bad idea, and keep that in the forefront of her mind when she and Erik were together.
Surely that wouldn't be too difficult; after all, she didn't have much choice if she wanted to protect her heart from getting broken by him for the second time.
xxxxx
Once Erik reached the safety of his own suite, he took a moment to lean back against the door after he locked it behind himself, trying to calm down after the close call he had just had with disaster.
After drawing a few deep breaths, he crossed the room to the leather sofa, collapsing to sit on it before pulling off his mask and tossing it on the seat next to him. Leaning forward, Erik buried his face in his hands, still trying to calm down after the temptation of being so near to Christine combined with the knowledge that he had come so close to ruining any progress he'd made with her.
She had made it very clear that she had no interest in him romantically the night they reunited; leave it to him to nearly fuck everything up just when Christine had agreed to let him see Gustave by almost trying to kiss her. What had he been thinking?
Although he knew the answer to that: when it came to Christine, thinking clearly had never been his strong suit.
Attempting to distract himself from the desire that was still raging through him after being so close to Christine, Erik forced himself to think about the conversation he had had with Nadir the day before yesterday. While the other man could often be annoying, thinking he always knew what was best for Erik, the fact was that he had given Erik some advice that had seemed to serve him well with Christine yesterday.
xxxxx
Nadir had apparently known something was wrong the moment Erik had walked into his office, because as soon as Erik had taken a seat in the chair in front of the other man's desk, he was already asking Erik what was bothering him.
Not seeing any reason to drag the conversation out, Erik got right to the point. "I just found out that Christine's son is mine."
If Erik had been less shaken than he was by the events earlier in the day, he would have gotten an enormous amount of satisfaction at the shocked look that came over Nadir's face. It wasn't every day that his know-it-all friend was at a loss for words, but sadly the opportunity was wasted on Erik today.
After a few moments of silence, Erik snapped, "What? Is it so surprising that I could be his father?"
Apparently brought back to reality by Erik's angry tone, Nadir responded, "Forgive me if I'm a bit surprised, but…you never mentioned this could be a possibility?"
"I didn't think it was any of your business, Nadir!"
Suddenly Nadir straightened in his chair, a worried look in his eyes. "Oh, god, Erik, you didn't…that weekend in your apartment…"
Angry at Nadir's implication, probably more for the fact that he could understand the other man's concern more than anything, Erik retorted, "For your information I didn't fucking touch her then! Christine came back to my apartment later, completely by her own choice, the night before I left for America. She initiated what happened between us."
"Then why on earth did you still leave Paris the next morning?"
"It was obvious she only wanted the one night," Erik replied, but the words sounded hollow to his own ears, especially after what he had learned from Christine the other evening when they had reunited on her balcony.
"Are you sure that was the case?" Nadir said, echoing Erik's thoughts as he absently rubbed a hand over his eyes before continuing, "But anyway, it seems like there's a more pressing issue here. What are you going to do about the boy? Gustave, correct?"
"Yes, Gustave is his name, after Christine's late father. And to answer your other question, I...don't know."
"Do you want to pursue a relationship with him? What does Christine think?"
"That's the problem - I don't know what Christine thinks, not really. We just had a very strange lunch, and at the end of it Gustave invited me to spend the day with them tomorrow."
"What did you say?"
"I didn't know what to say, but I do...want to see him, Nadir."
"Did Christine agree to you spending the day with them?"
"Well, not exactly, but she did ask me if I wanted to, and then we arranged to meet tonight to talk about everything. And that's why I'm here - I could use some advice, Nadir."
The other man let out a long breath, apparently thinking about Erik's words before speaking.
"Well, it's not like I have experience with something like this, Erik. But if I had any advice for you, I'd say to try not to think too far ahead, and to follow Christine's lead. I would defer to her judgment - she's obviously managed to raise Gustave by herself up until now, so I assume she won't take kindly to it if you try to come into the situation and take control, like you normally would do."
xxxxx
Leaning back, Erik let his head fall against the back of the couch, thoughts of Christine still at the forefront of his mind. As usual, trying to distract himself from thinking of her had proven to be unsuccessful, he reflected, as he gave in and allowed the memory of their lesson from earlier to play through his mind.
If he disregarded the disastrous near-kiss, the rest of the lesson had been wonderful, at least for him. Making music with Christine again had been sublime - although he was finding it impossible to stop thinking of the end of their session, when Christine had sat so close to him on the piano bench, with no idea of the monstrous desire her innocent action had aroused in him.
Eventually, Erik rose and made his way to his bathroom, leaving the lights off by habit so he wouldn't risk seeing himself in the mirror over the sink that he perversely left uncovered. Stripping off his clothes, he let the shower warm up before stepping under the hot spray, hissing in an involuntary breath at the sensation of the water on his erection - which was still as intense as it had been when he was sitting so close to Christine.
Determined to ignore his desire, Erik grabbed the soap and began washing, wanting to get in and out quickly, but within a few minutes he realized he was stroking himself without having made a conscious decision to do so. For a moment, his mind warred with his body, as he told himself that what he was doing was disrespectful to Christine, but thinking of her further only served to drive his arousal even higher.
Giving in, he let his eyes fall closed as his usual fantasies of Christine began to play through his mind, imagining that it was her small hand gripping him instead of his own, that maybe she was here with him and planning to drop to her knees soon and use her mouth on him.
Disgusted with himself but enthralled by the thought of Christine eagerly sucking his cock - no matter how impossible such a scenario actually was - next Erik let his thoughts return to the night she had shown up at his apartment unexpectedly, the details of which were burned into his brain due to how many times he had replayed the entire encounter in his mind.
He increased his pace slightly as he allowed himself to recall how Christine had tasted under his tongue, and the eager way that she had clutched him closer to herself while giving him breathless instructions on how she liked to be kissed and licked - instructions he had been more than delighted to follow.
Sensing that his orgasm was drawing close, Erik's mind wandered to what was perhaps his most erotic memory of that night - the moment he had realized that Christine was touching herself while she rode him in the dark. Predictably, the thought of her rubbing her clit while she fucked him was all it took, and Erik felt himself start to come, helplessly letting it wash over him while Christine's name formed soundlessly on his lips.
When it was done, Erik let himself lean against the wall of the shower, feeling his breathing slowly return to normal as the usual feelings of shame and self-loathing that followed whenever he pleasured himself to thoughts of Christine took over. He hated debasing her memory like this, but as usual the desire those memories had elicited had been irresistible, and he had given in to his baser urges.
Reaching out to turn the shower off, Erik reflected that if there was one bright spot in the situation, it was that at least Christine would never know about this. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to deal with her certain disgust, since there was no way she would ever learn his shameful secret.
A/N: Thank you everyone for reading, and please feel free to review if you want! I hope you're all doing alright, or at least as well as can be expected during this time - it's been tough, for sure. I hope reading this brightened your day a little bit, and that you all stay well out there!