Title: Model Student (Education Variation 02)
Author: Lucifer Rosemaunt

Summary: Short ficlet variations on a theme: education/school. Erik's in it for the art. Obviously.
Fandom: Phantom of the Opera
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Erik/Raoul slash
Warning(s): modern!AU, university!AU, liberties taken with their respective ages, nudity
Word Count: 1,722
Rating: T

o.o.o.o

Erik did not know what was wrong with him. He had been drawing live models for several years already and had easily reached the mindset of detached appreciation of the beauty a body could present. After all, it was not as though he were seeing something he had never seen before.

To top it all off, this was their final project, and here he was unable to complete a single piece to his satisfaction. It had to be the model's fault. Erik was unable to do the young man any justice because of how distracting he was. It was definitely the model's fault that his mouth became dry, his hands shook, and his blood generally rushed somewhere it should not in a public setting, much less when his degree depended on it.

The worst was that the model was not even unprofessional. He arrived, disrobed, and sat under the lights, perfectly still, eyes not wandering as some of them were wont to do, not glazed over, but in thought yet focused on his job. His face was placid though engaged and he did not seek to fill the silence with words. The serenity he projected contrasted so greatly from his normal smile and constant need for movement that Erik could not accept the sketches of him so still.

Their paths had crossed when the other man had actually been clothed. It had been a jarring and pleasant accident because it would be a lie if he denied having wanted to wait and follow him out of the classroom the past few sessions. He had refrained and yet, they had found themselves in the same place.

Erik had recognized him immediately at the coffee shop near the campus with a girl tucked comfortably beneath his arm. He had a smile that reached his eyes and a laugh that shook his whole lithe frame. The subsequent blush as he looked around to see if he had disturbed anyone by laughing so loudly spread across the bridge of his nose and flushed his cheeks. He was gorgeous even with clothes on and Erik had spent long moments debating whether he would want him naked all the time for him to appreciate at any moment or want him to wear clothes so that he would be the only one ever to see him naked, which made no sense whatsoever since Raoul was already naked more than Erik wanted him to be.

Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the task at hand and keep his mind in this studio. He forced himself to place one line after the other, drinking in every curve and tone, every bit of flesh available to him as he went through sketch and drawing after drawing, hating every one because it was not good enough.

It was the last day and Erik had already tossed two fully completed works aside just that week. This would be the last time he would see Raoul like this. It was a shame and the only consolation he had was the knowledge that he would be able to catch him at the coffee shop every now and then if he were lucky. It would not be the same of course. He would not be allowed to look at him so freely, so unabashedly and with a desperate want that he hid behind his easel. He would not be able to move around the room, hoping to find an angle that made Raoul look less handsome or less distracting enough so that he could finish his final. Raoul was handsome in every angle.

The shuffle of papers sounding behind him caught his attention and he glanced over his shoulder to see the professor going through his discarded pieces. There Raoul was: his hands, the slender curve of his neck, his thighs, and his eyes, and they simply were not enough.

"I shouldn't tell you this," she started, her voice low, "but you're even beginning to stress me out, not to mention you're pretty much frustrating the other students with the sheer volume you're producing."

Erik frowned and looked at the others, but all he could see was their eyes on something that was not theirs.

"You're getting an A." She shook her head, impressed with his work. "You're wasting your talent here. You should go to an art school," she lifted her arms up, palms outward to placate him before he could respond, "but I'm sure you heard this lecture a million times before." She had a fond smile as she gave his drawings one last glance. "And relax, you're glaring at Raoul again." She grinned before walking to the next student. Erik glanced at the pieces she had put down and could only see was how poorly he was at capturing Raoul's vitality, his presence.

Returning to the current piece he was working on, he frowned. It was all wrong, and he glanced at Raoul beyond his easel and decided he had not been glaring, not that the blond ever noticed him so it hardly mattered. As the last hour came to an end and nothing had improved, he sighed before packing his things. He slid the drawings into his portfolio, mentally calculating that he had at least twenty minutes before Raoul arrived at the coffee shop. Erik liked getting there beforehand to settle in the table in the corner so that he could surreptitiously continue to watch and draw Raoul no matter where the young man chose to sit.

The coffee shop was fairly full when Erik arrived, but he was still lucky enough to grab his preferred table. It became a little more worrisome as time passed however, since Raoul was late. He stared morosely at his sketchbook, in an effort to stop glaring at customers as every seat and table began to be filled. That did not stop him from trying to will people to leave so that Raoul would not just grab his coffee and decide to leave. Erik would not even care if the woman he kept showing up with was there with him as long as Raoul stayed longer than a few minutes.

He was deeply engrossed in sketching Raoul's eyes from memory and wondering if he was even going to show up today when a cup was placed at his table.

Erik bit out, "What do you think you're…?" The question died once he looked up.

"Is this seat taken?" Raoul asked.

It took a long moment before Erik could respond as he took in the loose sweatshirt, fitting jeans, and tennis shoes that Raoul wore. He shook his head and though it should not have been a surprise, Raoul actually took a seat. He crossed his legs and leaned on the table, chin in hand with a tilt of his head. "What are you drawing?"

Erik shut the notebook with more force than necessary, but instead of being insulted, Raoul just smirked and Erik's fingers twitched around his pencil desperately. He wanted to capture that amusement and the way the neckline of his sweatshirt dipped low enough so that his collar bones showed. Instead of giving in to the temptation, he began to tap the pencil on the table.

"So you're one of those artists." Raoul picked up his cup, tongue darting out to lick the rim before taking a sip. A polite smile was in place when the cup came down. "I'm sorry I gave you a hard time."

Erik's mind went down a dangerous path before he viciously shut down that train of thought and finally found his voice. "What?"

Raoul shrugged. "Your final project and everything. I noticed you were having a hard time. It's my fault, I know. My friend always says I should get a little more meat on me so that my ribs don't show so much."

Erik could hardly understand what was happening. Raoul had noticed him, not only noticed him but had watched him enough to know he had been having a hard time. It made no sense, but he did have enough wherewithal to be able to respond to the egregious lie Raoul had been told, "You're perfect." Whether he should have actually said that aloud was another story though.

But Raoul quieted and the smile became something more than polite, the corners of his eyes crinkling. As though realizing something, Raoul oh'd and held his hand over the table. "I'm Raoul, although I suppose you know that already."

"I do know." Erik shook his hand and held it, taking the opportunity to look at them more closely.

Raoul laughed, immediately knowing what he was doing. "And you're Erik."

"Yes, I'm Erik," he released Raoul's hand reluctantly. "Wait. How did you know that?"

Raoul gestured with a tilt of his head towards the counter. "I've seen you here before. I may or may not have listened for a name to go with the face."

"Ah, yeah." Erik tried to stifle both his disappointment and anger, thinking Raoul was just another one of those people who thought they could get him to show them what was behind the mask. "Well, the mask is memorable." He focused on a spot just over Raoul's shoulder, tapping the pencil in his hand an unsteady staccato against the table. His gaze was close enough that he was able to see the face Raoul made.

"I suppose it is." Raoul cleared his throat and averted his gaze downward towards the table between them. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth before deciding to say, "I always try to learn the names of the people who make my job harder."

That managed to draw Erik's attention. "How did I make your job harder?"

Raoul placed a hand over his and the pencil to still the movement. "The way you look at me," he said plainly before leaning forward to whisper conspiratorially, "At least when you weren't glaring at me, although perhaps even then. It's in the job description, you know, not getting off on being watched. This was the first time ever I've had to fight down an erection. It's harder than you think." He barked out a surprised laugh at his own pun, and at that moment, Erik could not help but think he may have fallen a little bit in love.

o.o.o.o

End ficlet

A/N: Because me wanting Raoul naked all the time has to come through sometimes. ;3 You can also probably tell just how little I know about nude models and art classes. My bad? I'm not really that embarrassed about my lack of knowledge since I've gotten what I've wanted: Raoul naked and Erik appreciating the view.

Fic Review: And they do get together but down the road Raoul becomes a little self conscious because Erik's all about his body and drawing it and they don't really even touch all that much because Erik's a shy shy virgin who doesn't know if he would be able to stop himself if he started because he desperately wants to mark Raoul as his and he can't because Raoul's body is how he makes money (which sounds bad when I put it like that, but it is). And Raoul thinks Erik's just obsessed with him as a real life model and not him as a person and they have this huge blow-out where Raoul's like, "Why don't you just get a mannequin to ogle at?" And he storms out but he has to come back to grab his stuff eventually because they're practically living together and Erik forces him to stay and he admits how much he absolutely hates when Raoul models and Erik adores absolutely everything about him from how he looks to his smile, his laugh, his thoughtfulness, and his absolute dependence on caffeine. A whole long drawn out exploration of Raoul's body follows, hands on every bit of his skin as well as tongue and lips and he does mark Raoul and they do have sex and it's fantastic.