A/N: Just a cute, short thing I wrote a while ago but never posted.
He hears a knock on his door. Something he hadn't been expecting considering he was not well liked by his coworkers and really didn't have any friends to speak of who would actually give him a house warming. No one should even know his new address either as no one had asked him for it.
Javert looks through the peephole of his apartment store to see a man. Although quite average in height, he is broad. In his hands the man holds a coffee pot with a bow on it, which raises questions in Javert's mind.
His hand hesitates over the doorknob. Who knows who this man could be. It could all be a plot to murder him.
He shakes his head. No, he's overthinking something so simple. The man is probably just the one man in this entire building that cares that a new person is going to be sharing space with him. However, it doesn't quite explain the coffee pot. The only way that mystery will get solved is if he opens the door.
Javert sighs and turns the knob.
"Yes?" he asks, eying the stranger wearily. There's something about the man's weathered face that's striking something in his memory. But at the current moment he can't say what it is.
"I brought you a house warming gift." The man gestures to the coffee pot with the garish bow placed on the side, sparkling eerily in the hallway lights. "I only realise now that I'm standing here, you might already own a coffee pot."
Javert stares. His eyes moving between the gift and the man holding it.
"You'd be correct in that assumption."
The man shuffles awkwardly on his feet and Javert begins to feel slightly sorry for this man who simply wanted him to feel welcome.
"It... looks better than the one I currently own. Thank you." He takes the gift from the man's arms and places it on the table next to the door.
Neither of them speak.
Javert feels awkward for accepting a gift so willingly from this stranger. He's not fond of charity and thinks it demeaning at the best of times. But the man looked dejected standing in front of Javert's door with a coffee pot, of all things, in his hand.
Before the moment can become even more awkward for the two men, the one at the door shoots his hand out in front of himself and says "Jean Valjean."
"Excuse me?"
"Jean Valjean, It's my name. I live right across the hall from you, welcome to the neighbourhood." He gestures to the hallway.
"My name is Javert," Javert responds. He can see the confused look the briefly crosses Valjean's face before he is able to hide it under a mask of warmth. He knows what it is that has passed through this man's head. It's a question he has asked himself many times in his youth.
"If you need any help with moving in, don't hesitate to ask." He leaves Javert standing at the door, staring after him as he heads toward the elevator to exit the building.
Javert closes the door slowly, not quite believing what has just come to pass. Did a man really come up to his apartment to introduce himself to him with a coffee pot as a housewarming gift? A glance at the table beside the door is answer enough.
He takes the gift in his hands and carefully moves it to his sparse kitchen. The bow placed on top adds colour to the dimly lit room. A quick look at his old coffee pot and before he knows what's happened, it's in the designated section of his apartment for his garbage from moving.
The bow is left on the new coffee maker, adding a small splash of red to his drab kitchen. He doesn't know why that man gave him a gift, but, it leaves a strange bubbly feeling inside Javert.
Maybe, at last, after many years of living a lonely existence, he's finally made a friend.