Disclaimer: I do not own PhofOp.

…Seriously?

Antoinette ended up finding out about Meg being at the party. Raoul didn't hear about it until the first day of class when Meg had met up with him and Christine for lunch. She had been sulking and a little pale so Raoul had asked what was wrong. In answer, she told them about how Antoinette had seen her at the party but hadn't given it away until after. She had chewed her out the next morning and Erik had gotten into trouble as well.

Why? Raoul had asked. Because Erik had tried to help her leave before Antoinette could see her. Meg replied.

Meg admitted to feeling better that Erik had also gotten in trouble with Antoinette because that meant that the anger was split between the two of them. Meg was also grateful that her sister hadn't seen Raoul or Christine. Even though they had not done anything, it would have been enough to get on Antoinette's bad list for a while.

At first, Raoul didn't understand what the whole big deal was, but then Meg told him about her dad and it suddenly made a lot of since. It also explained Erik's disappointment with them at seeing them at the party. Christine was able to convince him that they had not been drinking, thank goodness. It would have stunk to have taken a step back in their relationship before it started.

That whole first week of classes was both hectic and dull. Hectic because everyone was trying to get settled back into their school lives after a short break but it was dull because the first week was filled with the simple stuff. Sure, some evil professors started the material on the first day of class, but most spent it going over the basics of the class. Raoul had the later and as a result, it was a pretty uneventful week.

Late that first Saturday night, Raoul woke up to the sounds of someone in the kitchen. He peaked his eyes open to look at the clock and let out a groan upon seeing the time.

It was too late for this crap, Raoul thought.

He tried to go back to sleep but he couldn't. He tossed and turned and placed his pillow over his head in attempt to block out the noise but to no use. After ten minutes of the noise, Raoul sat up with an irritated sigh. He glanced over and saw that Nadir wasn't in the room. Raoul wasn't concerned, the man was usually with Erik when he didn't come back for the night.

Wanting to go back to bed as soon as possible, Raoul jerked his covers back and climbed out of bed. He opened the door and flinched as the lights in the hallway flared in his vision. He made his way towards the kitchen, the noises getting louder as he got closer but he also noticed the smell of something.

Curious, Raoul got to the kitchen and opened the door.

"You are so lucky its Saturday." Raoul remarked when he saw who was in the room.

Erik looked up from his spot in front of the sink where he was apparently doing the dishes. Catching sight of Raoul, he sheepishly shrugged.

Raoul yawned and went inside the room enough to close the door. When it shut, he leaned back against it. "What are you doing in here anyway? Don't you ever sleep?"

"No he doesn't." Nadir remarked, sitting at the table they had for the room. In front of him was a plate of cookies, one of them in his hand. "And he drags me into whatever he wants to do at night."

Raoul saw Erik roll his eyes but didn't stop in his washing. "I sleep, I just do not need a lot of it."

"Must be nice." Raoul stated. He looked at the plate of cookies that were giving off the scent he had smelled in the hallway then looked back at Erik. "Aren't you not allowed to use the kitchen?"

"That was for last semester." Erik answered, rinsing the dishes. "They were kind enough to allow me access after."

"Antoinette, however, we are not letting to cook again." Nadir told Raoul.

Raoul frowned in confusion. "Why not?"

"Ah, she was the one who had started the fire." Erik informed him. "I took the blame."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because he knew that the school wouldn't punish him as severely as they would have if Antoinette had admitted." Nadir sent him a pointed look.

Raoul looked away from Nadir, not being able to meet his gaze. His ears felt heated and hoped that his hair would be able to cover most of the tips at least. He remembered how he had reacted that night of the kitchen fire. He had been such a jerk and had said mean things to Erik, who apparently hadn't done anything. He also remembered Erik's response to him accidently getting near his mask. Raoul was still not over that brief flash of fear that had been in Erik's golden eyes.

And now he's being told that he had acted that way for no reason? The level of jerk he had been to Erik seem to get higher and higher.

"That's all in the past." Erik stated firmly, jerking Raoul back to the present. Erik turned off the water and reached for the towel to dry his hands.

"Speaking of Antoinette." Raoul began. "Why isn't she with you?"

Erik's hands twitched in the towel and Nadir was suddenly very interested in the cookie plate. Raoul raised his eyebrow at the reaction but waited for one of them to speak. It took a few moments, but Erik was the one to answer.

"She is upset with me for what happened at the party." Erik explained, putting the towel down and leaned against the counter, his hands on the tiles.

"Oh," Raoul stated. "Meg had told me she had found out."

"More like she always knew." Nadir countered, taking a bite out of his cookie. "She had seen Meg walk by and then had seen Erik go after her. There was quite the scorn that night."

Erik scowled at him. "You are lucky that I did not tell Antoinette that you knew as well. You would have been right there next to us."

"Is Antoinette really that bad when she's angry?" Raoul questioned and had to hold back a snicker at the level of disbelief in the looks the other two gave him.

"You know that saying 'Hell hath no fury'?" Nadir asked him. When Raoul nodded, Nadir grinned. "Antoinette is the embodiment of that."

Raoul had to admit that he was impressed and a little scared of Antoinette. He knew to never get on her bad side. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind."

"You better." Nadir nodded seriously. He turned back to Erik. "Though, she's worse with people who are not her friends."

Erik grinned. "True."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door before it started to open. Raoul quickly jumped out of the way, almost hitting his head on the towel dispenser but he was barely able to avoid it. A head peaked in and Raoul recognized their RA.

"Hey guys, can you keep it down? I know its Saturday but there are people trying to sleep." The RA stated, his tone telling Raoul that it wasn't a suggestion.

Erik nodded and straightened from the counter. "We were about to finish. We'll leave shortly."

The RA nodded and closed the door again. When he was gone, Raoul turned back to the other two.

"No one comes when you're banging around the dishes yet we get called out on talking?" Raoul whispered, trying to be quiet.

Nadir shrugged. "That's college for you. It's full of contradictions."

"The trick is flexibility." Erik added. "You have to keep an open mind, otherwise, you would go crazy."

Raoul shook his head but didn't say anything. He didn't want to try to discuss the craziness of college this late at night. He was going to leave but then caught sight of the cookie plate again. He paused for a moment and that was enough for them.

"You want one? They are plain sugar." Nadir offered. He finished the cookie he was on and gestured towards the plate. "Erik made them and, unlike Antoinette, he can cook."

Knowing Erik was the one to make them, Raoul felt the urge to grab one get higher. Outwardly, he shrugged but made his way to the table. Grabbing a cookie, Raoul caught sight of Nadir giving him a knowing smirk and realized that he might know about Raoul and Christine's feelings towards Erik.

Clearing his throat, Raoul thanked Erik for the treat and said goodnight to both of them. As he left the room, he tried not to think about how red his face was because of Nadir's expression. He could hope that Erik didn't notice. With his luck, his chances were slim.

At least the cookie tasted amazing.

"You what?!" Christine exclaimed in horror.

Meg shifted on her bed nervously, not being able to look at Christine. "I, ah, may have accidently let it slip that you and Raoul were polyamorous."

"I can't believe you!" Christine hissed. Feeling agitated, she began to pace back and forth within their dorm room. She needed to get out some of her anger. "How did the subject even come up?"

"Anton asked about how long the two of you were together." Meg began, watching Christine pace. "I swear I didn't mean to say it, it came out as we were talking about you two."

Christine stopped with a groan, placing her head in her hands. "We were going to be the ones to tell Erik."

"Yeah, and when exactly was that going to happen? School started a couple weeks ago." Meg pointed out. She got quiet when Christine sent her a glare through her fingers.

"When we were ready to tell him!"

"If it makes you feel any better, Erik didn't have a bad reaction." Meg informed her cautiously. "None of them did. Sure they were surprised, but who isn't?"

Christine had to admit that the news did make her feel better. She didn't want to think about Erik being disgusted by her and Raoul's relationship. That was one of the reasons they hadn't told him yet, their fear got in the way. A reasonable fear to be sure, but a fear nonetheless. Now she knew that Erik didn't mind, but that still didn't mean that he would be open to participating in one.

Christine forced herself to take a few deep breaths before letting out a large sigh. She straightened, letting her hands go to her hips and regarded Meg.

"Raoul is going to be pissed at you too, you know." Christine stated.

Meg winced but nodded in acceptance. "Yeah, but hey, everything is out in the open! You can totally start dating."

"Do you hear yourself? I think you're being a little too optimistic." Christine countered, going to sit on her desk chair, she swerved it to face her friend. "Just because he accepts it doesn't mean he likes us that way."

"I think he would be open to it." Meg told her, then gained an unsure appearance. "The problem will be whether he'll let himself be open to it."

Christine frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there's a reason Erik doesn't date and it's not because he's asexual." Meg began, her hands twisting together in her lap. "He doesn't think anyone would be able to have such feelings towards him once they see his face."

Christine gestured with her hand for Meg to explain more and she did. "It's happened in the past, so it's not like this is his thoughts. There was one particular girl who Erik had a crush on when he was younger, who also liked him back. However, for whatever reason, she wouldn't believe Erik was disfigured and when she finally saw his face…"

"What happened?" Christine pressed, though had a sense of dread that it wasn't good.

"She screamed and ran away from him." Meg announced softly. She rubbed her forehead as if trying to wipe away the memory. "They had been on a balcony at her house when it happened and she fell off."

"What?!" Christine gasped. "Was she okay?"

"Yeah, luckily she just broke her leg instead of her head, but she wouldn't go near Erik after that. Avoiding him everywhere. It got so bad that her father sent her to another school. I don't think Erik ever forgave himself for what had happened." Meg finished with a somber tone.

"But it wasn't his fault! It was an accident." Christine stated.

Meg shrugged. "Try telling him that. Anyway, I think that was the point Erik decided that he would never be loved that way."

Christine remained silent after that, mostly because she was shocked. For serval minutes neither of them spoke but eventually, Christine broke the silence.

"But…" Christine gained Meg's attention. "Raoul and I already know and believe that Erik wears that mask for a reason and accept that. We like him because of who he is, not how he looks. Is his face really that bad?"

"Probably more than you are thinking." Meg countered. Christine blinked at her in surprised and she shrugged. "I grew up with Erik, he's like my older brother, I've long since gotten used to how he looks. I can't tell you how 'bad' he looks because my idea of bad is different. From experience though, I can say that usually people underestimate rather than the opposite."

"Can you describe him then?" Christine asked.

"I don't think it's my place to." Meg countered and Christine could understand that.

She sighed. "Thank you for that. It's given Raoul and I something to talk about before we get serious."

"Don't worry about it. Better now than have all your hearts broken in the future. Though if you do end up together, I still get bragging rights." Meg finished the last part with a smirk.

Christine grinned back. Abruptly, there was a frequent knock on the door and she hurried to the door to open it.

As soon as it was opened enough, a disheveled Raoul rushed through the door and, upon seeing Meg on her bed, glared.

"You told him?!"

Meg shot Christine a startled look and Christine bit her lip. She had forgotten that she had text Raoul about Meg.

Whoops.

And there you go! I forgot to mention that it shifts over to Christine's POV in the second half, so sorry about that. But! I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless and will leave a review. Next chapter will be in Erik's POV and oh boy, you're in for a show! ;) …well, you'll see.