Disclaimer: I do not own PhofOp.
Warning: Religious talk in this chapter. Hopefully I don't offend anyone, but that's what this warning is for.
Unintended Reveal
"I sort of hate Erik now." Raoul mumbled into his pillow as he laid in his bed in the dorms.
Christine turned her head to look at him. She was lying next to him. It was a tight fit but they made it work. "Why do you say that?"
"Because ever since that whole thing at the library with Carlotta I've been imagining Erik with us more and more!" Raoul groaned, his voice muffled by the pillow. "He gave us a peak of what he could do but what we can't have!"
Christine could not help but agree. It's been a few weeks since they had seen Carlotta, who had ambushed Christine while she was studying with Raoul and Erik. She had tried to get rid of the red head but hadn't been able to. She had gone back to the table they were at, expecting to get into another fight with her in front of Erik, which she had not been looking forward to when she saw something else instead.
Raoul had been kissing Erik and Erik had been participating! They looked like they had been together for months considering how well it was happening.
It was beyond the hottest thing Christine had ever seen.
For a brief moment, she had believed that Raoul had told Erik about their feelings for him and the elder had accepted, but a part of her knew that hadn't been the case because she knew that Raoul would have never told Erik without her.
But that brief moment, Christine had seen what she had wanted. Raoul gave Carlotta a complete false charm act and when she had turned to Christine, she did the same. Acting as if Erik had been with them for a while and had gotten over Carlotta.
The last part was, of course, true. The first part not so much.
But that moment, Erik had leaned towards Raoul and whispered those words with such longing and then held his hand out for Christine to take, his golden eyes setting her body on fire. That one moment, Christine let herself believe that maybe it wasn't an act, that Erik really wanted them.
Then Carlotta left and Erik dropped the act, leaving her cold. She almost couldn't hide her hurt, she thinks Erik had seen something but thankfully he hadn't said anything. They brought themselves together and had continued the tutoring as if nothing had happened. For Erik, she supposed that it was just that. For him, he had been doing his friends a favor by helping them out.
Christine was both envied and pitied Raoul because of it.
Envy in the fact that he had gotten to kiss Erik but pitied him for the same reason. To kiss him, only to have him brush said kiss off must have hurt, but there was nothing they could do about it. Not yet anyway. That night they had let out their frustration together, but Christine felt an ache in her heart after, as if they were missing someone.
By now, both of them knew who that was.
They had talked about Erik's face behind the mask. Meg didn't want to give any information and she hadn't except to warn them that it was most likely worse than what they thought. That wasn't encouraging but it gave the couple something to talk about. And talk they did. To them, they might be underestimating how disfigured Erik was underneath that mask, but Christine was confident that their feelings wouldn't change by seeing it.
"You haven't woken Nadir up because of your thoughts towards Erik, have you?" Christine questioned and that earned her a soft elbow in her gut.
"Ha ha." Raoul stated sarcastically, turning his head out of his pillow to look at her. He wrapped his arm around the top of her waist and held it there.
"Notice how that didn't answer my question." Christine replied innocently.
"No, I haven't woken him up, though there were possibly a few close calls." Raoul mumbled, his cheeks turning a light pink. "If he has, I'm hoping that he thinks I'm thinking about you."
"Somehow I doubt that." Christine responded. "Didn't you say that you think he suspects something?"
Raoul sighed. "Yeah, that's true. He's crafty, so I can't tell. I might be overthinking it. I tend to do that."
Christine leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on his lips before pulling back with a grin. "Yes you do, but I love it."
Raoul grinned back and lifted his arm off her waist. "You have class right? I'll see you later."
Christine hopped out of his bed and grabbed her backpack. She gave another wave to Raoul, who gave one back, before heading out.
As she walked, she only had one jacket on, it was finally getting warmer and the wind wasn't as chilling anymore. Sure they had there off days but most of the time the sun was out to cancel the cool temperatures to something more pleasant. She heard a voice and glanced over at the quad and saw a guy preaching about the bible to everyone walking by. She avoided passing by him, because it was awkward deal with those people, especially if you get called out by one of them.
Luckily, she was able to go around him with no problem and made it to class with time to spare.
Class was lazy. It was the week before Spring Break, so professors were getting as lazy as their students when it came to class.
Thankfully, or maybe not, depending how one looks at it, Christine had all her mid-terms that week. She knew a lot of people that hated that, but she personally preferred that. It meant that when she was done she could truly enjoy her week vacation, unlike some that would have to do their studying while on it.
She had taken one that morning and she was confident in her grade. Though she made sure to not be too confident lest she be disappointed if she receives a lower grade.
After class she made her way back to her dorm. As she passed the near the quad she noticed that she didn't hear the guy who had been speaking earlier. Usually he was there for a few hours so Christine got curious.
Not enough to change her path but enough to look at the quad when she passed it. What she saw made her freeze in her stride.
The man that had been preaching was in an apparently frustrating conversation with Erik.
Christine blinked at the sight and decided to get closer. She knew that Erik was atheist and was bound to insult the guy. Not that she cared about the guy, but Erik would do it for the sake of getting the man angry which wasn't okay.
As she got closer, she saw that the man was already mad and was gesturing violently with his hands and arms, his voice loud, his shoulders hunched. Erik, on the other hand, looked cool as a cucumber, standing in front of the man with his hands on his waist and a smirk on his lips.
The man's language got increasingly damning, telling Erik how he was going to go to hell and his soul suffering for all eternity.
Erik gained a thoughtful frown at that. "Well, that sounds contradictory to the all-loving god you are supposedly talking about. He seems kind of like a hypocrite."
Christine had to hold in a snort at his tone, but the man now looked like he was about to burst a vein.
"Repent, or you will not be saved!" The man growled.
Erik widened his eyes innocently. "I do not see you repenting for how you are treating me! I thought you were supposed to be all-loving like your god?"
"Erik." Christine called out when she got close enough.
Erik turned towards her and smiled. "Hello Miss Daae. I'm having the most interesting conversation with this man. It's quite intriguing, won't you join me?"
Christine put her hands up. "Oh, no. You leave me out of this."
Erik pouted and it really shouldn't have been as cute as it was.
"'I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.'" The man growled soft enough that Christine almost didn't hear him. Then she watched in horror as the man lunged forward, taking advantage of the fact that Erik was facing Christine more and ripped the mask off.
Erik immediately brought his hands to his face, covering it completely, and hunched forward as if he was punched instead of having his mask removed.
"'All day long my dishonor is before me. And my humiliation has overwhelmed me.'" The man recited harshly, staring at Erik with cold eyes, the mask in his hand.
"Erik—" Christine tried to go to him, but he flinched back like a kicked puppy. He curled inside himself as if trying to shrink in himself, but when that didn't work, he rushed pass Christine and sprinted away.
"Erik!" Christine yelled after him but he didn't turn back.
""And he said, 'I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.''" The man concluded with satisfaction.
Christine looked at him in disbelief, which was quickly turning into rage but before she could say anything another spoke.
"The hell is wrong with you?!" a girl Christine didn't know spoke up.
"The guy obviously has a reason for wearing that. You don't know why!" a boy joined it. "Who are you to take that from him?!"
Christine noticed that there were several people around them, all of the having witnessed what the man did.
"You're on our campus buddy, you don't go around touching students!" another girl growled. "We should have you reported!"
There was a cheer from the crowd and the man started to argue against them. However, a boy who looked big enough to be a weight lifter stepped forward and walked towards the man. The man instantly shut his mouth when the boy glared at him and held out his hand.
"The mask." He snarled.
The man dumped the mask into the boy's hand and he nodded. "Don't come back here."
The man quickly walked away, more like raced, with his bible clutched to his chest.
"Here."
Christine turned around and saw that the boy was holding the mask out to her.
"I hope your boyfriend is okay. I'm sorry, that guy went too far." He said.
"He's just a friend." Christine replied as she took the mask. When the boy started to apologize again, she shook her head and grinned. "Hopefully my future boyfriend though."
The boy grinned back.
Christine thanked the people who had said something in Erik's defense and walked away with the crowd wishing her luck.
She walked back towards her dorm with feeling light and heavy at the same time. Light because there were people who stood up for Erik, even if he didn't get to see it, it had happened and that was amazing. She doesn't get to hear a lot of good things people do for others, so it was nice to be reminded every so often. But she felt heavy because of Erik.
She knew that he wore the mask for a reason, Meg had told her that in enough detail. To have his mask suddenly harshly removed, in a public place no less, much have scared him.
And there was the fact that Christine had seen his face.
It hadn't been for long. Erik had put his hands up the instant he felt the mask being removed but for that gap between the mask being removed and his hands covering his face, she had seen it.
It was worse than Christine had imagined.
She had never seen anything like it, though she would say that the closest she could think of was a zombie movie. She knew that sounded terrible but it was the truth. His face had taken her by surprise, she wasn't going to lie about that.
However, she also knew that she still loved him. Yep, she was confessing it to herself. She loved Erik. She didn't know exactly when it happened but it did and Christine was going to be damned if she let something like Erik's disfigurement get in the way of that.
Erik was witty, kind, and smart. He loved to tease her and Raoul but also would be as patient as a saint when it came to tutoring them. He obviously cared deeply for his friends and acted like the protective older brother he wasn't by blood to Meg. She liked how long his fingers were, the hidden strength of his shoulders and his eyes that made her heart skip a beat when they are focused on her. She knew that Raoul felt the same to.
Hopefully, Erik will allow them to be with him.
And there we go. Yes, those quotes were really from the Bible, I had written what Psalms they were, but misplaced them. Prompt for this was actually 'Help! The religious fanatic is preaching about how I'm going to hell in the college plaza!' Or it was something like that. Obviously, Erik didn't need much help but yep! Hope you enjoyed it, write a review if you did. Erik's POV is next. Two more chapters! See ya next time.