The house hadn't changed much since the last time he saw it. It was his second home. If you could call it a home, that is. Gerard, his father, had purchased it for himself and Erik after everything had happened. He kept the walls bare and whatever decorating he did manage was done with furniture. Gray, bleak furniture. Erik's room was the only thing with any life inside the house, his own space to shut the world out. He didn't know what his father was like before his mother's passing, but he didn't care all too much. Not after all the yelling and screaming.

"How long has it been?" Gerard asked, standing over a fresh pot of coffee.

"Six years? Seven? I... can't remember." Erik sat at the kitchen table trying to focus on anything but the voice yelling in his head telling him to leave once more.

Gerard grunted, pouring them each a cup in silence. "I wanted to apologize," Erik continued, "I shouldn't have left the way I did."

Gerard turned for a moment, eyeing his son thoughtfully.

"I should've left a note or something... anything."

Gerard didn't reply as he took up the seat across from Erik, placing a plain navy blue ceramic mug in front of him. The childhood rage that had prickled his heart once before returned to him, building slowly. He swallowed, gripping hard onto his cup as he waited for a reply.

"Why'd you come back?"

Erik found the courage to look at him. He hadn't thought about it, why he had come back. The entire drive was a blur to him, he didn't think twice about what he was doing when he had left his condo earlier that evening.

Erik shrugged. "I guess I just thought we both deserved a fresh start."

Tears pricked his father's eyes as he stared into the blackness of his coffee. "After everything I've done to you?"

Erik watched as his father fall apart in front of him, unsure how to react. In the nineteen years before leaving, not once did he remember such emotion coming from a man like him. The father he knew only had two emotions: anger and apathy. When it wasn't silent, it was loud. When it wasn't loud, it was silent. The most amount of love Erik received was during his birthday and Christmastime, but as he grew older he realized it was not love. No amount of presents or candles on a cake could ever replace the gaping hole that was left in the absence of a hug.

"I'm sorry," he sniffled. "There are so many things I've wanted to tell you, I just-"

Gerard's words were cut short by Erik's hand on his. His father met his eyes through a blur of tears. "It seems we both have our regrets," Erik spoke softly. "Shall we start anew?"

Gerard nodded slowly, accepting Erik's proposal. Erik smiled in return. "I'm glad to be back, dad."

"I'm not going."

Erik had avoided the topic for the past month. He thought maybe Nadir wouldn't bring it up, that by some miracle he would let it slide knowing how Erik felt about large events. He should've known though. Nadir always acted as if he was blind to Erik's own wishes.

Every year the company would put on a party for employees and their families to celebrate another successful year in the business. It was always great for mingling and bonding; the company strived to make work feel less like work and more like being at home with family. Erik, however, was not the least bit interested.

Nadir's fork had fallen from his hand onto the plate below in a loud clatter. "Why not?"

Erik gritted his teeth. "I'm busy."

"Busy with what? Watching documentaries?"

Erik sighed heavily, realizing there was no use in lying. "I'm not going. Must I need an excuse? I just don't want to go."

"Erik-"

"Why must you bother me with this?"

"You need more friends, Erik. All you've got right now is me and Ayesha and that girl you go to watch every Thursday night."

"Who ever said you were my friend?" Erik sipped his water as he watched Nadir's eyes roll into the back of his head. "Besides, that girl is named Christine."

"Well don't you think Christine would like to accompany you to the party?" Erik raised his brow questioningly. "It's just a suggestion, Erik. You could get a little date in and I wouldn't be stuck with Remy and his constant pandering all night."

Erik chuckled, recalling the first time he'd met Remy. He was a small, pitiful man. Afraid of everything from his own shadow to what lied beneath Erik's mask. Nadir had tried telling the man that Erik was not one of the lizard people from one of his made-up stories, but he wasn't buying it.

"I guess your corner of the office is still held hostage by his conspiracy theories?" Erik teased.

Nadir rolled his eyes. "Just yesterday he was informing me that the sun and the moon were both created by the government as part of some large-scale mind control scheme."

Erik laughed incredulously, imagining the wide-eyed, thin-haired man saying the words himself.

"So…" Nadir steered the conversation back. "Will you think about it? For my sake?"

Erik pursed his lips, focusing his eyes on the tip of his straw as he set his cup down. "Maybe."

The streets were busy just as they were any given day of the week at lunchtime. They weren't about halfway back when Erik had stopped at the sight of a flower shop across the street, struck by a sudden idea.

"Is something wrong?" Nadir had turned, realizing Erik was no longer walking by his side.

"Nothing," Erik replied with an unusually happy smile. "Go along with me. I won't be long getting back." Nadir watched with concern as Erik walked away, crossing the street with a crowd of people.

Erik admired the little bundle of roses as he neared the street of the bar. He'd started to believe that maybe he shouldn't have gotten flowers. It was old fashioned, after all. When was the last time he'd ever seen a couple with a bundle of flowers? He tried focusing on what her reaction might be; if she'd smile or blush. What if she didn't like the flowers? What if she wasn't interested? No, Erik told himself. She'll like them.

He stilled as soon as he reached the street, his eyes falling on her place of work. He realized exactly why she'd laughed and teased him for being a gentleman. She worked at a woman's intimates store.

Erik was about to turn around when he watched a young couple exit, a man holding the door for his smiling lady. No, he told himself, I can do it. It's normal. Completely… normal.

By the time he'd approached the glass door, he lost all courage once more. What was he thinking? He was a grown man, absent of a girl by his side. It would at least make sense walking in as a couple. Movement from inside the store startled him and he rose to his full height, looking in at the girl who'd inspired the idea for his romantic gesture while she stood straightening merchandise unknowingly. She must've felt him staring or noticed the lingering shadow of his figure in the corner of her eye because she looked up, her eyes meeting his with a similar startled jolt. She smiled and waved him in.

Erik had been holding the bundle of roses behind his back when he approached the front door and held them there as he entered, taking in his new surroundings of colorful lace and perfumed air. "Welcome, sir. Is there anything I can help you with today?"

Erik looked up half expecting the girl in front of him not to be Christine. It hadn't sounded like her voice, yet it was. She laughed quietly at the expression in his eyes and mouth. "Is there anything you came in for?"

Erik shook his head. "Just you."

She laughed. "Well, sadly I'm not on sale."

He pulled the bundle of roses out from behind him, pushing them towards her and watching as her face eased into surprise. "Oh!" she softly exclaimed. "Are these for me?"

Erik noted the blush of her cheeks as her head tilted back up so she could regard him with her blue eyes. He nodded slowly, trying to not lose himself in the shower of color from her expression. "Yes. For you."

Christine took the small bundle into her hands with a shy smile, her fingers brushing against his for a brief, exhilarating moment that sent butterflies fluttering throughout his chest. Erik cleared his throat as he steeled himself. He hadn't prepared his words, he realized. He was so focused on what her reaction might've been to the flowers, but now he was kind of grateful he'd been so distracted by that small moment. He'd forgotten to worry about how she'd react to his next words. "I was wondering if maybe you'd like to… there's a party this Saturday where I work and-"

"Yes!" Christine smiled, her shoulders jumping slightly. "I'd love to."

Erik quietly sighed in relief, his chest tightening with warmth. "Alright. I'll pick you up then?"

Christine nodded. "Yes. What time?"

"Uh…" Erik scraped through his mind to find the time of the event. "I'm not quite sure yet, but I'll text you as soon as I know, alright?"

Christine's manager peeked into the room from behind Erik and shot her a threatening glance. "Where do you get your cologne from?" Christine asked suddenly, her voice changing back to the stranger's that had greeted him when he entered.

"M-my cologne?" Erik stuttered in confusion.

"Come," Christine said, turning for the back of the store. "Most people know us for our lingerie, but we're also quite well-known for our perfumes and colognes."

"Really?" Erik asked, playing along with a voice that sounded a bit too intrigued.

"Yessir. Let me show you." Christine spoke as if she were announcing it to the entire store. She stopped at the perfume display, gently setting her bundle of roses down in front of a row of cologne bottles. She pulled a dark bottle from the bottom of the display along with a test strip and spritzed a generous amount in one pump. She smiled as she handed the strip over.

"You don't have to get anything," she whispered as he brought the strip to the nostrils of his mask. "I just want to talk to you a little longer."

Erik chuckled quietly. "I really should be getting back to work myself." He watched the twinkle in her eyes dwindle as her mouth dropped into a small frown. "But I'd much rather extend my stay."

The upper corners of Christine's lips twitched back into a smile. "Let me show you this one, sir. It's my favorite of our most recent release."

Christine replaced the dark bottle and pulled a clear one with a gold cap. She sprayed the cologne onto a fresh paper strip and handed it over. Erik brought it to his nose, inhaling swiftly. "Is that orange?" he asked.

"Fruit notes and sea salt if I remember correctly," Christine said matter-of-factly.

"And this is your favorite?" he asked, gazing at the bottle.

"Mhmm," Christine smiled. "You may also like-"

"I'll take it."

Christine looked to Erik in surprise for a moment and leaned forward in another whisper. "Are you sure? They're-"

He shrugged. "I need to upgrade my cologne." That and he wanted to smell good for her. If it was a scent she enjoyed, he wanted her to smell it all the time; tuck her cheek into it, kiss it softly, fall asleep in a blanket of it. If it was his scent, maybe she'd love him just as much as she loved it.

She pulled a new box for him from below the display, unlocking a drawer. "Here you go, sir," she smiled, setting the box in his hand. "Is there anything else I could help you with?"

Erik smiled, amused by this overly enthusiastic corporate zombie of a Christine. "Actually, there is. I was wondering, what might be your favorite women's perfume?"

Christine blinked for a moment, remembering her character. "Ah, yes! This one is my favorite." She rounded the display and picked up a pink bottle to show him. She again followed the routine of spraying and giving.

Erik smiled, trying to decipher the notes. "Peach? Apple?"

"And rose and jasmine."

"Do you wear this one often?"

Christine laughed warmly. "I may work here, but that doesn't mean I can afford everything."

Erik inhaled the sweet scent of it once more, imagining it floating off of her as she was near. "Can I get this in a bottle as well?"

Christine eyed him in confusion for a moment before she moved to unlock the drawer and pull a brand new box for him.

"Thank you for your help today, uh…" Erik leaned over the counter, squinting at her nametag as she stood behind the register. "Christine."

She held back a small snort of laughter, smiling as she bagged his items. "Your total is $349.62."

Erik held his hand to his chest as if he'd been shot in the heart, mockingly grimacing. Christine laughed in amusement at his little display and he slid his card into the card reader. "You know, you're quite persuasive, Christine. They should really give you a raise," Erik spoke aloud.

She blushed in slight embarrassment, pulling his receipt after it finished printing. "Thank you for visiting us today, sir. Come visit us again soon."

"Oh I will," Erik smiled, waving as he left.