The Art of Manipulation || Phantom of the Opera & Loki the God of Mischief ||

-It Takes Ugliness To Know Beauty-

I don't know what being possessed me, but all it allowed me to do was stare at the half naked Erik; my eyes wide and my jaw slack. He walked out of the room the hidden door concealed, gently patting his bare abs and pectorals with a towel, not noticing me by the dresser. I watched, completely awestruck and mesmerized by the way his muscles moved beneath is flesh. It is true, Erik's form was quite slender, leaning more towards the image of a skeleton caged in skin; but what little filled out his insides seemed to be more muscle than fat, explaining why Erik was much stronger than he looked. Despite his thinness, he had broad shoulders, the line coming to his hips creating that perfect V shape. What caught my eyes next was the dark line of hair that trailed down into his trous-

"Alouette!"

My eyes - half hooded and glazed - lazily rose to meet Erik's wide eyes, "Hiya." My lips lifted into a sloppy half smile and an airy laugh escaped my throat.

It was only after Erik had stared at me expectantly for about a minute with his towel half covering his torso that I became alert and aware of the situation. I squealed, my eyebrows shooting to the ceiling and my mouth forming into an alarmed O. I quickly turned and faced the dressers, closing my eyes tight and lowering my head for good measure, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I swear I called out for you when I got down here! When no one said anything I thought I'd see if you were sleeping! I'm so sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

I expected my ears to burn from his fury. I expected them to ring for the rest of the evening from his yelling. However, neither came. What did come, was the sound of a minuscule smile.

"That's...That's quite alright. You merely startled me. I...I didn't hear you enter the lair." He cleared his throat before continuing, "I built a hidden bathroom to insure no one would come in on me while I was in there. Usually I can hear when others are down here but..." He trailed off, the hand he had been awkwardly gesturing with returning to his side.

I nodded my head, my face still downcast and my eyes still tightly shut, "I understand. Again, I'm so sorry." I bit my lip, a crimson blush burning my cheeks.

Another sound of a smile came from the shirtless man behind me, "I'd be sorry, too, if I had to see me half naked."

"Oh!" My eyes opened wide and my voice raised an octave, "That's not what I meant at all! I'm not at all sorry that I saw you half naked!" A chuckle caused me to cringe at what I had just said. I pressed my forehead into the corner of the dresser and dug my teeth into my lip, "I'm sorry. That's not what I meant either." I squeezed my eyes shut and silently cursed at myself, resisting the urge to teleport far, far away from here.

I heard Erik lean onto one foot, a low chuckle vibrating within his chest, "You really need to stop apologizing, Alouette."

I released my lip from my teeth, glancing more at my shoulder than over it, "Oh. Right." Sorry.

A short silence stretched before Erik said, "Can I...Can I have a shirt, please? I forgot to bring one into the bathroom with me."

"Oh...Right.." I took a step back from the dresser, looking at the many drawers like I could see through them. After a moment of this I asked, "Which drawer are your shirts in?"

Erik hesitated, like he was going to say I didn't need to get one for him. But he reconsidered, instead mumbling, "Middle one on the left."

I opened the drawer, countless white shirts bellowing out like cotton balls springing from an opened jar. They were neatly folded and properly placed inside the drawer, shocking compared to the state the lair is in. Looking down at the shirts I asked, still without looking at Erik, "Does it matter which one?"