𝔊𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔯𝔡 𝔅𝔲𝔱𝔩𝔢𝔯 'Phantom of the Opera' 𝔒𝔫𝔢-𝔖𝔥𝔬𝔱𝔰

The Cape

𝔖𝔲𝔪𝔪𝔞𝔯𝔶: When Erik leaves for a bit, you can't help taking his cape and messing around...

𝔚𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰: None!

𝔚𝔬𝔯𝔡𝔰: 1865

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ℌ𝔢 𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔡𝔦𝔰𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔡 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔯𝔢𝔢 𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔱𝔢𝔰, and that's all it took for you to become a child again, playing make belief with the most unlikely of objects: the Phantom's cape. Erik, once known to you as your Angel of Music, before he could no longer resist and took you beneath the Opera House, is now your lover, and close friend. What began as an obsession of his, blossomed into a tragic romance like that of a fairy tale. He, a lonely, damaged soul and you, the bright, talented beauty; two spirits intertwined in a stroke of fate. Erik performed for your attention, playing at the ominous Phantom while balancing the more gentle 'heavenly' appearance the Angel of Music was expected to bear. While he put on a good show for a while, it was his humanity that kept you beneath the Opera House for weeks, watching him, learning from him, and pitying him until pity became sympathy and sympathy became compassion and in a final flourish, compassion became love.

It took time, and no small amount of patience, but you convinced Erik that you trusted and loved him.

Not as a ghost nor an angel, but as a man.

From there, he learned he could trust you.

That he could love you.

You became more than his muse and he more than your teacher.

Now you come to stay with him, but return to the Opera House freely for shows and rehearsals. Despite the exciting life you live above the surface, it is with Erik in the winding passages he rules that you feel most at home.

Perhaps the ease is what made you act so ridiculous.

Or maybe you've just always been that way.

Erik got up to take care of something and left you alone in the living area of his home, sitting on the couch, staring at his cape, hung up on a rack just a few feet away. At first you didn't even notice it was there. You zoned out, staring at the cape while your thoughts wandered every corner of the universe inside your odd little brain. You thought about breakfast, about dinner, about tripping on a sidewalk as a child to your first audition for the Opera. When your thoughts circled around your first kiss with Erik, on the rooftop of the Opera House, in the gentle rainfall, protected by his cape, you slowly reeled yourself out of the daze.

That's when you notice the cape.

Immediately, you remember the warmth of the cape settling around your shoulders and coming to rest over your head as Erik leaned down to capture your lips. Rain dripped down his face, no doubt creeping under his mask, but he held that cape over your head. Loyally defending you from the rain.

You blush to remember it, but smile anyways.

It's then that you have an idea. An impulse if you will. As you gaze upon the majesty of the great Opera Ghost's cape, you find yourself wondering what it would be like to try it on, not just have it held over your head like a glorified umbrella. As slow as the metamorphosis of a butterfly, your smile unfurls across your face, stretching into something absolutely dopey and childish. You hear an inhuman noise of excitement trill in the back of your throat, almost like you accidentally swallowed a fairy in your sleep. Without thinking, you shoot up from the couch, not even stopping to check if Erik's returned. You just tip toe on point like the expert ballerina you are right over to the coat rack and reach for the cape.