Say You'll Share With Me | Phantom Oneshots

POTOber Day 6 - Touch Me, Trust Me

day 6 prompts: touch-starved/hunger/lust

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Erik still couldn't believe his eyes as he looked at her. Christine lay in his arms, the faint light of the coming sunrise streaming through the curtains seeming to set her aglow. He didn't completely understand how the events of the night before had even happened; she had found him, they had spoken for a while, and then she had kissed him...and kissed him some more, and before he knew it, she had shyly led him towards his bedroom, which he hadn't protested to. He would have had to have been out of his mind to refute that when she was the one offering it, the one initiating and telling him that she wanted it. That she wanted him.

And she had stayed. He hadn't known what he was going to do once it was...over, and he had spent about an hour lying awake thinking to himself while he held Christine close, never wanting to let her go. He wanted to savour the feeling of her in his arms, her head tucked in the crook of his neck and her hand resting on his bare chest because he never knew if he would feel it again.

Then he had fallen asleep—exactly when, he couldn't say— and when he awoke, she was still there. She hadn't moved a muscle and was still holding onto him just as securely, a content smile on her face as she slept, and her wild curls spread across his chest and falling into her face. She looked absolutely beautiful.

Erik couldn't help but smile as he hesitantly reached up to brush a few stray curls out of her face, stroking her cheek and gently kissing her forehead as he did. He stiffened, though, when he felt her stir, and he lifted his head just in time to see her open her eyes and look up at him, then smiling warmly.

"I'm sorry to wake you," he whispered.

"Don't be. It's a nice way to wake up," Christine whispered back.

Erik found himself smiling slightly as she started to stroke her hand across his chest. Her gentle touch at that moment and the night before were sensations that he was completely foreign to. He had been starved of touch, period, for almost his entire life, no one wanting to do anything even resembling what she was doing, and yet, here she was. How he had been deemed so fortunate, he had no idea.

"Well, good," he said softly, only shrinking back for a brief moment when Christine leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. A kiss. Something he had always dreamed of, yet was never given to him even by his own mother, and here was Christine giving it to him again, even after all the kisses they had shared amidst their intimacy the night before. He couldn't grasp it.

"Christine, I..." he began as he pulled away and pressed his forehead against hers. "Why are you here?"

She frowned at that. "What do you mean?" she asked, and Erik sighed and leaned into her touch as she set her hand to the marred side of his face, completely unafraid and unaffected by the strange feeling and sight.

"Why did you come back? Why did you allow this, allow me to...to have this with you?" he inquired, staring into her eyes and seeing only concern and affection in them. "I don't understand."

Christine gave him a warm smile, brushing his cheek with her thumb. "I love you," she said softly. "What is there to not understand about that?"

"A lot," Erik replied as he felt tears starting to fill his eyes. "No one has ever said that, ever felt that way. No one has ever been willing to touch me with such...gentility and affection and kindness before, I don't understand what you could possibly see in your future with me."

"A life that we can build together and make wonderful. I had figured that I could have that with Raoul, and for a time, I was content with that thought, but I realized that the two of us were on very different paths. I saw a future that we could have together, though. A life, a home, a family. I want that with you, Erik. I want to give you so much more than what you've had this entire time."

Erik lay there silently for a moment, feeling her wipe away tears from his face that he hadn't even noticed had fallen. "You've given me so much already. How could you possibly give me more?" he breathed.

"When people love each other, they give one another as much as they have," Christine replied with a smile as she ran her finger down the bridge of his nose.

"And I am prepared to give you the moon, my darling. That and more," Erik said softly, taking it upon himself to lean forward and kiss her as his hand slipped up to tangle itself in her hair. "But it will never be enough to repay you for all you have given me. You will never understand how much I love you."

"Well, you will have a lifetime to express it to me."

"Then I will do exactly that."