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Erik slid his arms into his housecoat, the satin sliding smoothly along the sleeves of his nightshirt, and padded into his kitchen, where the kettle was squealing away on the stove. Lifting it off, he filled a waiting teacup, the smell of a jasmine blend filling the air as the hot water poured through the herbal mixture. With the saucer in hand, he made his way back out to his parlour, intent on drinking his tea and finishing his current read by the fire before working on one of his compositions that had been begging to be finished for weeks. Finally, he had a relaxed evening to himself when his mind was properly at rest—Christine was coming along beautifully in her training, the entirety of the opera company was being obedient for a change, and Carlotta was on yet another one of her hiatuses. Things simply couldn’t be better, as far as Erik was concerned.
He took a long sip of his tea as he settled into his armchair, considering how content he felt at that moment—with most aspects of his life, that is. Always there in the back of his mind was the lingering feeling of loneliness that often settled upon him at the end of each day, as if gently wrapping its fingers around his heart and squeezing out any ebbs of hope that remained of ever finding someone to share this quiet time with.
Sucking in a deep breath to try to shake the feeling, he turned his attention instead toward the book resting on the side table, a novel he had heard Christine bring up at one of her recent lessons— Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. He could already tell within the first few pages that it was a far cry from the usual books that he read, but if it meant that he would have something else to talk to Christine about, something to bond over with her, he would read a hundred romance novels. Anything for her.
Erik smiled at the thought of her, already mentally planning how he would bring this up in their next conversation—how he could mention to her that he’d begun reading it, how she would smile at hearing this news, how they would share in their likes and dislikes as they discussed the material. How he dearly loved to picture her smile and how her hazel eyes lit up like the dawn of the morning sun whenever the expression crossed her beautiful face.
That idea filled his mind as he picked up the book and began reading where he had left off, making mental notes of particular points or quotes that he was looking forward to bringing up with Christine. He quickly blew through several chapters, and when he was in the midst of trying to understand Mr. Darcy’s rather strange tactic of insulting the woman he had feelings for, a noise from down the hall—a noise that could only have been made by another human, especially considering Ayesha was asleep on the chaise—ripped his attention away from the story.
Before he could even think of jumping to his feet to meet his intruder with his lasso in hand, however, that same intruder appeared—or rather, stumbled into—the room, making Erik raise his brow in surprise. “Christine?” he asked, marking his page and shoving the book under a nearby throw pillow so she would miss him reading it. “What…what are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi,” Christine said with a rather enthusiastic grin. “Fancy meeting you here.”
A frown slowly started to form on Erik’s face. “Well…I do live here, so it can’t be all that shocking, can it?” he asked with a confused chuckle.
“You make a good point,” Christine replied with a soft giggle. “Well, hello.”
“Hello,” Erik said, still frowning as he tried to understand the situation. “Um…what brings you down here, my dear?”
“I missed you,” Christine responded in a tone that conveyed that this fact should have been obvious.
“You saw me just this morning.”
Christine paused for a few seconds, the silence bordering on awkward, before softly saying, “I know this.”
“And yet, here you are, claiming to have missed me,” Erik replied as he got to his feet to walk over to her. Upon further examination, as he drew closer to her, he noticed that she seemed to be swaying a bit, noticeably unbalanced, and looked generally dishevelled. “Christine, are you quite alright?”
“Peachy!” Christine replied, grinning once more as she stepped closer to him and threw her arms around his waist in a hug. Taking in a breath, she softly said, “You smell nice.”
Erik’s eyes immediately went wide as he stared down at the top of her head in shock, baffled by the words that had just left her mouth. “I…thank you?” he asked, a nervous laugh escaping him as he started to push her away. “Are you sure you’re alright, Christine? You seem a little bit…off.”
“What are you saying? Do you not like my hugs?” Christine asked with a heartbroken little frown, having completely misunderstood his statement.
“Wh- no, no, I do like your hugs. I love them, in fact,” Erik replied as he gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “You’ve just never commented on…how I smelled before, it seems slightly out of character. Not to mention that you look a bit unsteady on your feet.”
“Oh, that. I’m fine,” Christine said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “I’m always fine when I’m here.”
“And I’m glad that that is the case, but something does seem to be not right here,” Erik said, concern starting to come into his voice. “What is going on, Christine? You never come down here on your own.”
“I told you, I missed you!” Christine replied, giggling quietly. “You’re handsome, so what can I say?”
Erik’s heart felt as if it stopped beating for a moment when he heard those words, but he shook them off, not quick to believe much that was coming out of her mouth at the present moment. “Christine, something is wrong besides you missing me,” he said, leaning back a bit as she stepped close to him again and looked up at him. When she did so, though, he caught a hint of a smell that was not a perfume of any sort, and that gave him pause. “Christine, have you been drinking?”
“Perhaps a little,” Christine said softly, raising her hand to indicate “a little” with her fingers. “But not much. I don’t think. Tonight is sort of fuzzy.”
“Which means that you have had more than you think,” Erik said with a sigh—one of both exasperation at his student’s antics and concern for her wellbeing. “Why were you drinking?”
‘I went out with a few friends to celebrate the closing of La Traviata . It was a successful run,” Christine explained, only to hiccup quietly. “We had the one with the bubbles.”
“Champagne,” Erik said, nodding and quirking a brow. “And what led to you having so much champagne that it has you in this state, hm?”
“I don’t know. We were having fun, and it tasted good,” Christine said with a small shrug.
Erik sighed, resisting the urge to roll his eyes, and stepped back, then took her hand. “Alright, come on, you are going to bed.”
“But I wanted to spend some time with you. I miss you,” Christine said softly, a pout forming on her lips as he led her toward his guest bedroom.
“You are in no state to stay up any later than you already have. You need to sleep this off so that you will be back to yourself by the morning. I will still be here tomorrow and we can spend time together then.”
Christine’s pout immediately turned to a smile. “Do you promise?”
“Yes, I promise,” Erik replied. He opened the door to the guest bedroom and ushered Christine inside, quickly wrapping an arm around her when she stumbled over her own feet.
“Oopsie,” Christine said with a giggle, holding tighter onto him as he brought her closer to the large bed.
“Yes…oopsie,” Erik said, hating that that word had even left his mouth. He helped Christine to sit down on the edge of the bed, then stepped over to the dresser. “Now, I’m getting you a fresh nightgown, so you just get changed and get into bed, alright? You need to sleep.”
“Are you going to help me?” Christine asked with a frown. “That’s quite impr…improp…impractical?”
Erik couldn’t help but laugh quietly at her confusion, leaning his head against the edge of the dresser for a moment. “It would be both impractical and improper, yes,” he finally replied as he pulled a nightgown out of one of the drawers. “So you’ll be changing yourself.”
“Okay. I think I can,” Christine said softly, gently running her fingers over the fabric of the nightgown. “This is pretty.”
“I’m glad you think so,” Erik said as he laid the garment on the bed next to her. “Now, get changed, brush your hair, whatever you wish. I am going to make you some tea to have before bed, and then you are going right to sleep. I would suggest that you take a bath, but to be quite frank, I do not trust you with water that can go above your head right at this moment.”
Christine’s brow creased at the comment. “What do you mean? I like water.”
“I know that, but with how inebriated you are, I do not trust you not to drown yourself by accident,” Erik said with a small smile.
“I don’t know why I would do that, but okay,” Christine said with a rather forlorn sigh. “I need to take off my clothes. This won’t fit over them.”
“No, certainly not, so I will leave you to do that. Just be careful, please,” Erik replied, patting her shoulder before he stepped towards the door. “I will be in the kitchen.”
“Thank you,” Christine replied, briefly grinning at him before she began to remove her clothing, not even waiting for him to close the door.
Erik’s eyes widened as she started to unbutton her blouse, and he quickly shut the door and fled for the kitchen, well aware of the warmth that had so quickly come into his face. “God, what has this evening turned into?” he mumbled, setting a hand against his unmasked cheek as he stepped into his kitchen to prepare another cup of tea for his houseguest.
He hadn’t been away from the room for long before he heard the sound of light footsteps approaching the kitchen, belying Christine’s presence. What he didn’t expect to see when he turned around, however, was Christine standing in the doorway in her corset and undergarments, tears pooling in her eyes.
“Erik, I can’t untie my corset,” she said with a sniffle.
It took a moment for Erik to form an intelligent response, his mouth slack and eyes wide as he tried his best to keep his focus on Christine’s eyes and nothing else, though that proved rather difficult considering her state of undress. Finally, though, he found his voice again and choked out a simple, “What?”
“I can’t get out of my corset, and it’s stuck, and the laces are too hard,” Christine replied, a tear slipping down her cheek. “Help.”
“I- Christine, don’t cry,” Erik said, forcing himself to walk to her side so he could gently brush her tear away with his thumb. “Um…why is it proving so difficult? You got out of your blouse just fine, and those buttons are rather small. You seem to be capable enough.”
“I don’t know, but it won’t come undone,” Christine said softly.
Erik sighed and ran a hand through his hair, glad that she was too drunk to take note of how much he was blushing at the idea of helping her remove any of her clothes, never mind her undergarments. “I…I suppose if you really need the help,” he said. “Turn around.”
“Thank you,” Christine replied with another sniffle as she turned to face away from him.
With a small nod and another deep sigh in an attempt to calm himself down, Erik clenched his fists to steady his shaking, then reached for her corset laces—which were indeed tied up in quite a tangled mess—and started trying to untie them. “You have made quite a mess of this, my dear,” he said.
“I know. I don’t know how it got there.”
“Well, I’m sure trying to undo it when you are as inebriated as this did nothing to help, but it’s alright. I will manage to fix it, I’m sure.”
‘I think so. You’re good at fixing things,” Christine said with an overly emphatic nod.
Erik smiled at that. “I do try, so thank you,” he replied, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he tried to untangle the knot of laces. “Though I can’t say I have any experience in, uh…the art of removing stuck corsets.”
“That’s okay. I think you can do it,” Christine replied with a bit of a giggle. “Good-looking people can do a lot of things.”
“Uh…right. I’m sure they can,” Erik said with an awkward laugh as he considered just how drunk she must have been to think he was even slightly good-looking.
Christine waited patiently as he continued to work at her corset laces, which only took a minute or two. Smiling back at him and giving a word of thanks, she pressed a kiss to his cheek and turned to leave. “Come back when I’m done!” she said just before she closed the door.
“Yes, of…of course,” Erik said softly, though he knew she couldn’t hear him with the door closed. Shaking his head to clear his mind as best he could—though he didn’t think the memory of Christine in that state would be leaving anytime soon—he turned back to his original task of making tea, setting the kettle back on the stove for another moment or two to warm the water up again.
Several minutes and several deep breaths later, Erik found himself back at the door to the door to the guest bedroom, a cup of tea in his hand. “Christine, are you decent?” he called softly, not wanting to just barge into the room like an animal.
“I think so. I have clothes on,” Christine replied. “Why? Should I not have clothes on?”
“No! Dear God, please keep your clothes on,” Erik immediately exclaimed, setting his free hand over his eyes. “It’s good that you’re decent, I am thrilled, really. Can I come in, then?”
“Yes,” Christine said with a smile. “Though the nightgown might be backwards.”
“That’s fine, as long as you’re wearing it,” Erik replied with a bit of a laugh, opening the door and smiling a bit at Christine, who was sitting on her bed. “I have your tea.”
“Thank you,” Christine said softly, tilting her head to the side to admire the way the candlelight caressed his face. “You’re handsome.”
Erik frowned a bit, still not understanding why she continued to bring up that particular subject. “Um…thank you,” he said, finally deciding that there was no point in arguing, as he set her teacup on the nightstand.
“You’re welcome,” Christine replied with a smile. “Are you going to sit down?”
“Did you want me to?” Erik asked. “I thought you might wish to have your tea and then go right to sleep.”
“I already told you, I’ve missed you. That’s why I’m here.”
“Yes, you’ve mentioned that.”
“So I want to spend time with you,” Christine replied as though this were obvious.
Erik couldn’t help but smile at the exasperation in her tone. “Of course, pardon me,” he said. He looked around the room in search of somewhere to sit, but finding no extra chair, he sighed to himself and perched on the edge of the mattress, making a mental note to bring in a chair for the vanity. “I can stay for a moment, I suppose.”
“Good,” Christine replied, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair absentmindedly. “I like it a lot when you’re around.”
“You are odd for that. Most people are rather eager to be rid of me,” Erik said as he leaned his head away from her hand, beginning to get too flustered by the gesture to let her continue.
“Why? You’re handsome and you have nice eyes,” Christine said softly. “You’re good to look at, if nothing else.
“Well, for one thing, the vast majority of people would not agree with your bizarre claim about me being handsome,” Erik replied, smirking a bit. “And are you saying there is nothing else to me besides these ‘good looks’ of mine, Mademoiselle?”
“No,” Christine said with a giggle. “You’re smart and funny and fun to talk to. I like spending time with you.”
Erik’s smirk softened into a much warmer smile at that. “You’re very sweet,” he said softly. “I enjoy our time together as well. Very much so.”
“Thank you,” Christine said softly as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“You’re welcome,” Erik replied as he hesitantly wrapped an arm around her in a brief hug. “Now, drink your tea. You need to get some rest.”
“I will,” Christine replied, smiling as she gazed up at him, unable to look away from his mismatched eyes.
Erik returned her smile, his heart beating a bit faster as he observed how intently she was staring at him. “Good,” he said almost breathlessly before he pulled his gaze from hers and moved to grab her teacup, only to pause when she grabbed onto his housecoat and tugged at the fabric.
Before he had the time to react, Christine’s lips were on his, the fingers of one hand burying into his hair while the other still gripped onto his housecoat. What she lacked in coordination she made up for in intensity, pressing herself closer to him so as to leave no room between them.
Erik’s eyes had gone as wide as saucers, and after letting her linger for what he knew was far too long, he put both hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her away. “What- what are you doing?” he asked, becoming more aware of how his breathing had picked up and how his heart was pounding harder than it probably ever had.
“Kissing you,” Christine said with a lazy grin as she moved to kiss him again.
“No, wait, stop,” Erik replied, pushing her back. “Why are you doing that?”
Christine shrugged slightly. “I wanted to. You were there,” she replied simply. “I like you.”
“Friends do not just kiss one another because they are ‘there,’” Erik said with a bit of a laugh, though he pretended that he didn’t feel a sting at the idea of her kissing him just because he happened to be there.
“No, I said I like you,” Christine insisted. “I wanted to kiss you because I like you. And you were right there. Did you just expect me not to kiss you?”
Erik frowned, baffled by what he was hearing but not immediately inclined to believe it. “You’re drunk, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said quietly.
“Yes, I do,” Christine said softly. “I’ve always liked you.”
“I am your teacher and friend. That’s it,” Erik insisted. “Anything else wouldn’t make any sense, nor would it be possible, and you are too drunk to walk straight. You’ve made this up.”
“But why would I make it up?” Christine replied, too inebriated to fully understand his point.
“You are drunk, Christine. Very few people make sense when they have had too much alcohol, and this certainly does not make sense.”
“But I do like you,” Christine said softly. “I was just telling Sorelli earlier. She said I should tell you, so I am.”
Erik opened his mouth to respond, but couldn’t find the words to do so. What Christine was saying was completely unbelievable to him—how could she like him in that way? Her? —and yet, he wanted to believe it so desperately. The prospect of having everything that he had ever wanted was right there in front of him, and all he had to do was grab it.
“Don’t you like me too?” Christine asked after a few minutes of silence had gone by. “I sort of thought you did. It seemed like it, anyway.”
“I…Christine, I…I don’t know what to say,” Erik said quietly, his mind still trying to wrap itself around the entire idea of Christine being sweet on him, worrying that he didn’t return her affections.
“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same,” Christine said softly, though she was doing a rather poor job at hiding her disappointment. Not meeting his eye, she moved from the bed to pull back the sheets. “I’m sleepy.”
“No, I…” Erik began, able to tell that she was obviously disappointed, which made it finally truly click that her feelings for him were real. So, with a deep breath to steady himself, he spoke in a soft voice to calm her worries: “I…I do feel the same.”
“Really?” Christine replied, her eyes lighting up at the comment. “You do?”
Erik gave a small nod. “I do. I…I have, for some time now.”
“You have?” Christine asked softly. “Does this mean we’re going to get married?”
“I- well, that’s quite a big step, considering we just said that we have feelings for each other,” Erik said with a soft laugh. “But…maybe down the line, I…I’m not sure.”
“That’s okay,” Christine replied, only to hiccup again and immediately giggle. “Oops.”
Erik chuckled, unable to be anything but endeared to her even with the rather unladylike gesture. “Tonight has been full of surprises, hasn’t it?” he said softly, hesitating for only a moment before brushing his knuckle against her cheek.
Christine gave an emphatic nod before she leaned into his touch. “Yes, it has.”
With a smile, Erik leaned forward and pressed a soft, reverent kiss to her forehead—something he had wanted to do for so long. As he pulled away, he was surprised to feel her press her lips against his again, and he let her linger for another moment, returning her kiss with the slightest of pressure.
After a moment, Christine moved one hand to the back of his neck, the other hand coming up to cup his cheek as she pressed closer to deepen their kiss.
Beginning to notice her intentions to continue moving things forward, Erik gently pulled away and gave Christine a small smile. “No more of that tonight,” he said in a soft voice. “You are too inebriated for me to feel as if I am not taking advantage of you.”
“You’re not,” Christine insisted, only for another hiccup to ruin her argument.
“You don’t have all of your wits about you, my dear. I am only trying to be gentlemanly and not do anything that you might regret tomorrow,” Erik replied. “If the morning comes and you still feel the same about…well, about everything, then we can talk more about where we stand on everything about…about us.”
Christine smiled at this and leaned closer to briefly kiss his cheek. “Alright,” she replied, only somewhat begrudgingly. “Does this mean you’re leaving?”
“It wouldn’t be proper for me to stay in here,” Erik said softly. “But I will be here when you wake up, I promise.”
“As long as you promise.”