TW: mentions of scars, abuse, anxiety
But I have no phantom NOTPs so I’ll post this anyway. An Erik/Raoul au where Erik falls for Raoul’s perfection.
Raoul loves it- he loves the fact that Erik basks in his perfection, his pretty face, his supposedly wonderful life. But at the same time, it scares him. Because he’s not perfect. He has scars from therapy, scars that he gave to himself from anxiety, secrets that no de Chagny should have.
He thinks Erik will leave him if he finds out it’s all been a lie. Raoul is his father’s hated son, he caused his mother’s death, he has panic attacks, he’s been committed to bedlam for a month in his youth, he was assaulted in the navy, he’s afraid of getting too close to people, he’s struggled with sexuality, he has arms full of self-inflicted scars. There’s a perfect man that Erik loves and it’s not Raoul de Chagny.
When Erik finds out, he says nothing. He strips and shows Raoul instead: his own lavish amount of scars, from his mother, from the freakshow, from the streets, from himself, from Persia, from drugs, from his arms to his legs, around the torso and the back, everywhere.
“Raoul de Chagny, you will always be beautiful.” If anything, all this means is that Raoul understands. This means that Raoul suffered and survived and did a far better job than Erik.
Erik tells Raoul he should never be ashamed- Erik would never be ashamed of loving this man. There is a perfect man and he is Raoul de Chagny.