Hi, hope you don't mind me intruding. I definitely agree with you in that it's difficult to expand the RxC relationship into fanfic, and I can see how people would find Raoul "boring" especially standing next to Erik. Indeed, I too found him so at first.

But I would argue that it's not Raoul, but ERIK, who doesn't seem real. Raoul may be sweet and valiant and with a bit of a hero-complex, but Erik in comparison is this force-of-nature; this horridly disfigured, angelic-voiced, tortured, outcast, musical genius. So me, Raoul=the real. Erik=the fantasy.

I hope that made sense :)