Say You'll Share With Me | Phantom Oneshots

Let Me Be Your Shelter

a request from the lovely benny-lynne on tumblr that has sat in a document on my computer for WAY too long, so here it is - "E/C hurt/comfort that takes place while she's his student"

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It had started happening more and more frequently, he noticed; Christine would come in for their lessons and she'd be noticeably downhearted. He could see it in her eyes, which were usually so bright, but looked far duller in the recent days, and could hear it in her voice - its colour and life had faded a touch, which impacted how much attention she paid to her pitch and pace, or so he assumed. He knew he had trained her far too well for it to be mere forgetfulness, but the true motivator for her sour moods as of late still escaped him.

He had asked her about it; gently, of course, but he had inquired after the first few instances that he noticed just how off she seemed to be, but his inquiries had never been met with more than a shrug and some sort of half-hearted excuse like "I didn't sleep well" or "rehearsal has me rather tired." He knew better than to believe any of that, though, given that he had seen her after a restless sleep and an exhausting rehearsal day and knew that she did not react the way she had been lately. For another thing, he watched the rehearsals himself and he knew that the particular routine they were rehearsing for the upcoming production was less than strenuous.

More than anything, Erik wished that he could help her in person. He had left little gifts for her to find in her dressing room — roses, a new hairbrush, a new day dress (which he had been very pleased to confirm she actually fit into) — and he could tell that she appreciated them if the little 'thank you' notes left for him to find were anything to go by, but it still didn't seem to make much of a difference. Even with the moments of smiling that she had from time to time, she still came into her bedroom every night looking dejected, crestfallen. Erik had even thought he had heard her crying into her pillow once or twice, and the thought broke his heart.

He wanted nothing more than to be able to stand in the room, wrap his arms around her, and hug her while she cried until there were no more tears left for her to cry and she had broken free of whatever pain was holding her captive. To see her in pain almost made it feel like the exact same pain was plaguing him, even if the cause was a complete mystery to him, and he just wanted to take that pain away from her.

The mirror remained a barrier, though. He had yet to work up the courage to reveal himself to her, fearing the repercussions of that decision and being terrified of the thought of her rejecting him and refusing to see him again because of his appearance. He couldn't have that. He couldn't lose yet another person that he loved; that had happened far too many times in his life and he was not eager to relive it.

Eventually, though, there was an occasion that broke those barriers completely.

He had already been waiting behind her mirror to speak to her after the performance of Roméo et Juliette that evening, wanting to congratulate on her performance in the chorus, but when the door to her dressing room flew open, his proud smile quickly faded away when he saw her. She was crying; no, she was sobbing. Her face was buried in her hands, her chest racking with sobs as she slammed the door closed behind her and locked it with noticeably shaking hands before she crumbled to her knees in the middle of the room, hiccuping and gasping for breaths.

He didn't know what came over him — a deep-set need to make sure that Christine was happy and protected, he guessed — but before he knew it, he had opened the mirror, run into the room, and was sitting on the floor next to his protegé.

"It's alright, Christine, shh," he said gently, cradling her head to his chest as soon as she threw her arms around him, seemingly recognizing his voice and seeking out comfort without a second thought about him being...well, actually in the room. "What's happened, dear?"