Disclaimer: I do not own PhofOp.

An Ex Appears

"I'm going to go get water real quick." Christine remarked as she stood up from the table they were studying at in the library.

"Do not take too long, or else Mr. de Chagny will forget what he's just read." Erik replied causally then smirked at the sound of protest coming from the younger. He heard Christine chuckle then heard her leave.

"I won't forget what I've read!" Raoul hissed at him.

Erik lifted his head from his own work, making sure that their eyes met. "What was the cataclysm often thought to be the beginning of WWI? Do not look at you book."

Raoul immediately got a blank look then groan in frustration. He pressed the palm of his hands to his eyes. "I literally just read that! I hate history!"

"Need a hint?" Erik asked, pausing in his writing to observe Raoul.

"I know it was about a person! Crap, what was his name?!" Raoul whispered to himself.

"It is truly remarkable how you got through high school history let alone last semester's course." Erik stated thoughtfully. When that earn him a glare from behind hands, Erik sighed.

"Hey, I'm good with numbers!" Raoul grumbled, placing his elbows on the table but not removing his head from his hands. "Talk math, I'm your guy, but I'm not good at remembering stuff like this. Christine was always better at this."

"If we were talking about math, you would not be here to get tutoring." Erik countered, pointing his pen at Raoul. He leaned back in his chair. "What did I tell you to look for to remember your lessons?"

"Try to find something funny about it." Raoul answered without hesitation. He dropped his hand and let them fall on the table. "Kind of hard to do when most of it is pretty dark."

"True. But there are things that could be considered amusing." Erik retorted. "Take the beginning of WWI. Sure there were other factors that would have led to the war, but this specific event is considered the one that tipped the balance. A domino effect in fact. An assassination gone wrong and then by sheer luck fixed itself all because of a…"

"A need for a damn sandwich!" Raoul almost exclaimed in realization. His eyes lit up. Erik winced at the volume and Raoul must have seen it because he lowered his voice again. "I don't remember the name specifically, but wasn't it because the assassin went and got a sandwich and the target just happened to show up there."

"It's Ferdinand and yes, that's a basic short version." Erik acknowledged. "Go ahead and start reading the next section. Miss Daae will probably want to test you when she gets back."

"What's taking her so long anyway?" Raoul wondered to himself so Erik did not answer.

Raoul went back to his book and Erik went back to his own assignment. Easy work, but Raoul did raise a good point. It was taking Miss Daae a while to get water, he wondered if she saw someone she knew and had decided to talk with them for a bit.

Mentally shrugging, Erik focused back on his work.

After a couple minutes, he heard a loud female voice come from down the hall from where they were at. It pierce through the silence like a sharp knife, startling Erik. His head jerked up at the sound and noticed that it seemed to be getting closer. He turned to Raoul and was surprised by how pale the younger seemed to have gotten, his expression one of horror.

"Are you alright?" Erik asked.

Raoul jumped and turned his wide eyes to Erik. He gestured towards him as he stood up.

"Work with me real quick. Pull your seat out." Raoul instructed hurriedly.

Confused but also curious, Erik did as he was asked. He had no idea what the younger was going to do and why he was doing it, but Erik was willing enough since Raoul seemed to be frazzled.

One could imagine his shock when Raoul came around the table and proceeded to straddle him.

"Mr. de—!" Erik began but was cut off by Raoul's finger pressing against his lips.

"Work with me." Raoul pleaded.

Erik paused at the tone and observed the younger, whose eyes kept shifting towards where that female voice was getting louder, which was amazing in volume to Erik. He watched, then things became clear.

"That's your ex?" Erik asked against Raoul's finger. It was weird but sounded clear enough.

Raoul nodded fiercely, his eyes getting more desperate as the voice got closer.

Erik could not believe he was going to do this.

With a sigh, Erik quickly grabbed Raoul's hand to pull it away from his mouth and reached out with his other hand to take the back of the younger's head to pull him down. As he pulled, Erik pushed his head up.

Their lips met.

Raoul was motionless at first. Long enough that Erik questioned whether that was what Raoul had meant, it was hard to imagine anything else given that it was an ex and the younger was currently sitting on him. However, Raoul began to response to the kiss and Erik felt relieved. Not saying it was not strange, because it was, but it wasn't like he had not done something similar before. It was an act.

Raoul placed his free hand on Erik's neck as he pressed himself to him, close enough that their chest were touching. The hand that Erik had grabbed tightened its grip on his own, interlocking their fingers.

Normally the library was cold, even when it was winter, to keep everyone from getting hot when it got crowded. Erik felt warm with Raoul's body pressed against his, the hand on his neck causing his skin to tingle at the spot. It was entirely pleasant.

Suddenly, there was a cry in disbelief and Erik jerked back at the sound as did Raoul. Because of it, Raoul almost lost his balance but Erik was able to take hold of his shirt in time for that not to happen. Raoul was panting above him, but Erik quickly got his own breathing under control and looked to see who had made the loud noise.

He saw a woman perhaps Raoul and Christine's age, with a flashy outfit and hair so red that Erik briefly wondered if she dyed it. Next to her was a stunned Christine but she did not look angry, that was the other female. Furious was doubtless a better word, consider the woman's face was the shade of her hair.

Erik would remain grateful that his mask hid his own pink face, and wondered if the woman would ever return to her normal shade again.

"Y-you!" The woman stuttered out in frustration.

"Oh! Hey, nice seeing you here." Raoul beamed with a clear note of smugness in his tone. He remained on top of Erik and did not appear to be moving anytime soon. "It's been a while."

The woman whipped around to Christine, who had by then taken on an innocent look that said what she was seeing was completely normal. Erik had to admit that he was impressed. "Are you going to let your boyfriend kiss another man?!"

Christine shrugged, not affected by the woman's rage. "Sure, when that man is our partner."

The woman gapped for a moment. "You have male partners as well?"

"Why wouldn't we? We are a free loving couple." Raoul argued with a triumphant grin.

The woman clenched her fist by her side. Erik could tell that Raoul was having way too much fun messing with the woman, ex or not, he figured it would be best if things came to an end.

"Raoul." Erik purposely made his voice go deeper and huskier. He's never used either of the couple's first names but he knew that it would be strange to not in this kind of situation. He waited until Raoul's gaze was on him then leaned forward until their lips were a few inches away from each other. Making sure their eye contact did not break he continued.

"I need you." Erik whispered, though projected it loud enough for the woman to hear it perfectly. He watched Raoul's eyes dilate and rolled his own eyes to focus on Christine. He raised the hand that was not holding the bottom of Raoul's shirt from when he grabbed him to keep him from falling and held it out towards Christine. "Christine."

Christine visibly shuddered, her eyes also getting dark.

"I can do that." Raoul breathed as Christine started towards them. He turned towards the woman and waved her away as if dismissing a servant. "You mind?"

The woman appeared about to burst a vein from trying to hold in a scream. However, she made one soft noise of anger and stomped away from the table. By the time she was gone, Christine had placed her hand in his which he raised to his lips for a second then lowered it.

"I'm guessing that will be enough?" Erik questioned, his voice normal.

The two of them blinked at him then realization came on both their faces.

"Oh yes! Definitely! More than enough!" Raoul hurried to say. He got off of Erik and took a couple steps back, not looking at Erik.

"I can't believe Raoul was able to talk you into doing that." Christine stated sheepishly, taking her hand back.

Erik shrugged. "It was a simple thing to do to help a friend. It's only a matter of acting."

"I'll say! Your imrov skills were awesome." Raoul remarked with a sad grin.

That's curious, Erik thought in confusion.

"Yes, well, it was not the first time I have done that." Erik declared. He wanted to laugh at the abrupt sight of the two jaw's dropping in unison but settle for a smirk.

"You what?! With who?!" Raoul demanded after the initial shock wore off. He held up his hand in a stopping motion. "No wait, don't tell me. I want to guess."

"Probably Anton, right?" Christine guessed looking thoughtful.

Erik nodded. At least they seem to be out of whatever cause them to act strange those few moments.

"Oh, come on! I had wanted to guess!" Raoul pouted, crossing his arms to his chest.

"That one's kind of obvious." Christine replied with an eye roll.

Erik chuckled. "True, but you only guessed one of the two people I did it for. You and Raoul would be three."

"What?" Raoul stated in surprise. "Who else is there?"

Erik gave both of them a look, waiting for the connection to be made.

"Not…Nadir?" Christine guessed hesitantly.

"Noo…" Raoul started but then took on an expression of disbelief when Erik did not say anything. "Really?!"

"It was once, but yes." Erik informed them.

"Oh my gosh, no way!" Raoul laughed. He pressed his hand to his mouth to cover his laugh. They were in a library after all. "What the heck happened?"

"We were at a club and a woman was not taking no for an answer." Erik shrugged. "When I got back with our drinks, he grabbed me to kiss me. I knew that she had been making him uncomfortable so had gone along with it and played my part. The woman gave up after that as you can imagine."

"I don't know why I find that hilarious but it is." Raoul chuckled.

"What about your ex? If you don't mind me asking." Erik questioned honestly curious. He glanced at the direction the woman had left. "What in the world did she do to the two of you while you were dating?"

Raoul huffed, crossing his arms over his chest and leaned against the table. "What didn't she do?"

"She was sweet at first." Christine told. "She was nice and caring and that's what we thought she was like."

"I'm taking that was not the truth?" Erik inquired.

"Nope! Shortly after we got together she turned into the biggest diva in existence." Raoul rolled his eyes. "It was like she was the queen and we were the ones lucky enough to be in her presence. It got old real fast."

"We broke up with her and she didn't take it well." Christine added. "There was a huge argument and what we got from it was that we were not allowed to break up with her."

Erik raised his eyebrow, not that they could see it. "How did that go?"

"Oh, we dumped her again and again, every time we saw her." Raoul stated and then turned to Christine. "Is that what took you long with getting water?"

"Yeah, I had tried to stop her from following me back here but that obviously didn't happen." Christine answered. "I'm really hoping she finds someone else soon, because this is getting beyond annoying."

"Worse case, you get a restraining order. Those are quite effective." Erik offered. The couple looked at him in disbelief and he shrugged. "What? They've worked for me."

"You have a restraining order on someone?" Raoul gawked.

"On my biggest fan. I rather not talk about it." Erik stated firmly.

"That's fine. We should go back to studying anyway." Christine agreed. She went to the other side of the table, pulling Raoul with her and both sat down.

"As you wish." Erik approved, turning to Raoul. "Mr. de Chagny, whose assassination is considered the event that led to WWI?"

Erik laughed when Raoul dropped his head to the table with a groan.

Muhahaha! I really hoped you enjoyed that read! It took me a while to write that kiss scene because I get frickin embarrassed writing it, lol. I you liked it, be sure to leave a review! Next chapter will be in Christine's POV and this will start the countdown. We have three more chapters left. :) See ya next time!