Hello everyone. Here I am again, with another new story for you all. Of course it is Courfeyrac and Gavroche again, but this time in a modern au setting! I shuffled the ages around a bit to make Gavroche younger but that's all I have changed in the characters.
As to how this story works, the normal text is in present text whilst everything in italics is flashbacks.
Please enjoy
Courfeyrac had always thought that he had everything that he needed. He had his friends, his apartment, his job as a trainee lawyer and his money which allowed him to have whatever he wanted. With this money, as a young adult at the age of twenty-two, he didn't know the feeling having to depend on anyone nor had he ever experienced the feeling of having somebody who depended on him. Until this moment in his life, that is. Upon this moment, Courfeyrac changed from the young man who lived through each day without a care to a man who was a much needed guardian to a lonely and dependant little boy.
There was no going back now; he couldn't say to her that he didn't want to do it anymore. He had made a promise that he could not go back on no matter how afraid of failing he was. Having grown up as an only child, he didn't understand the love between siblings but he could see it when he watched her with him. He could see that there was an uncontrollable urge for the older sibling to protect the younger ones. That was a well-known fact to him. He had never had the chance to experience this devotion to a sibling for himself but he had to admit that he had felt something stir in his heart when he had first seen the little boy, tucked away in a little corner of the orphanage's garden, hiding away as if fearing he would get hurt.
As he approached his apartment, Courfeyrac smiled to himself unable to believe that he had offered his services to this extent. When he saw her, saw Eponine Thenardiar, sitting with her head in her hands and her shoulders heaving with her sobs, he knew that he would do anything in her power to make it alright even become the guardian, the father figure for her tiny four year old brother.
Eponine bit down on her lip as she cried, so wrapped up in her thoughts that she did not notice the door of the cafés back room open behind her to reveal Courfeyrac, Grantaire, Combeferre and Enjolras. She ducked down to rest her head on the table as if trying to hide herself from the four young men. Throughout her seventeen years she had made to believe that she was not good enough to be seen alongside these wealthy students with their high career prospects and fine clothing. She was poor, from a house down in the slum areas of Paris where violence and crime were common. They were from the wealthy part of the city where everything was perfect. She had met them through Marius Pontmercy, who as a young politics student believed that everyone should be equal no matter where they came from or what their parents were like.
"Eponine, what's wrong?" Courfeyrac asked moving to sit across from her at the table.
"Yes, what is it?" Combeferre said softly sitting beside her and putting an arm around her shoulders.
Eponine sighed, amazed at the fact that these young man were so kind to her. She was not like them. They had perfect parents who loved them and didn't use them as personal slaves in their criminal ways. She didn't know whether they had siblings or not, but she was sure that if they did they would be as perfect as their older brothers. She had two siblings, well she did have. Azelma had been fourteen years old two winters ago when she had fallen ill. Her parents who were cruel and cold hearted people who cared only for their own personal gain didn't take her to a hospital as they couldn't pay the bills, it was like they did not care for their child who was growing weaker by the day. Azelma did not survive that winter. Her other sibling was a little boy, Gavroche. In order to pay for Azelma's funeral, Eponine's parents decided that they needed to rid themselves of another mouth to feed. Eponine was useful to them, able to steal and con, but Gavroche who had been no matter than two years old at the time was a nuisance to them. Eponine didn't know what was happening but she had sobbed that night when she was locked in her bedroom whilst her father left the house with the toddler in his arms. The next morning, little Gavroche with his cherubic face and golden curls was nowhere to be seen.
Wiping her eyes, Eponine looked up at Courfeyrac and sniffled. "You remember I told you about me brother, Gavroche, how my father took him away and I never saw him again" She cried
He nodded. "Of course I remember" He said softly holding her hand.
"I finally found some information on children in the orphanages, before I could only find information on the good proper ones in the centre of the city but there's this one, 'Maison pour les enfants perdus' in the slums." She said looking down "He's there, now four years old, Gavroche, surname unknown."
"You found him, oh Eponine that's great. You can go get him, can't you?" Combeferre smiled.
She broke into fresh sobs "No! No I can't, I can't take him home, it's not safe, and my parents hate him. They gave him away!" She cried. "And… You have to be twenty-one to foster, I'm too young, and by the time I'm old enough, it could be too late for him, this place is horrid. It's a slum house"
"How did they get permission to make a slum house an orphanage, that cannot be safe" Enjolras sighed sitting at the head of the table. He was the leader of their group. The young men met there to discuss their strong political views and their willingness to fight for equality for all. "And they won't let you have him, even though you are his sister?"
"I don't think it's legal" Eponine sighed wiping her eyes on the sleeves of her tattered leather jacket and peering at her phone. "And I can't tell them I'm his sister; they know that he must be from a bad home if he is there in the first place!"
"Calm down Eponine, we will think of something" Combeferre sighed "We will get Gavroche here for you, he will be safe"
"How? He is four years old, he's a baby, and I am nineteen, they will never let me have him, and I would not have anywhere to keep him safe" Eponine said running her hands through her tangled brown hair in frustration.
"Yeah, it's not like one of us could go get a little kid, that would just be stupid" Grantaire said swaying back on his chair with a can of beer in his hand.
Courfeyrac leaned against the table, his eyebrows knotted in thought. He had this big apartment, with this money to spare. He didn't care for grandeur and finery, he would rather use what he had to aid someone who needed it more than he did. He may have been an only child but he could remember his parents telling him he was a natural when it came to caring for children whenever his young cousins were staying with them. He smiled at the thought and leaned across to Eponine. "I'll do it" He smiled.
"What?" Eponine stared at him blankly, almost dropping her phone in shock. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, if you would want me too, and if you think I could get Gavroche to trust me enough, I will go to this orphanage and get Gavroche. I'm finished with my studies and I fit my training around my schedule. You could see him during the day and he could stay with me at night. I have a spare room" he said. He didn't believe the words as they poured from his mouth, his offering to take in a little boy who had been through too much in his short life, but he wanted to do it. He always believed that every child should have the opportunity to have what he had growing up if he had the chance to give that to Eponine's little brother, giving him a better life and giving her comfort and peace of mind, he would.
Eponine gaped at him, her brown eyes wide with surprise at the offer he was giving. She had never experienced such kindness. Her own parents had thrown the child away as if he was the dirt under their feet and know Courfeyrac was offering to give up a part of his home, his time and his money to care for Gavroche, a child he did not even know. "You… You would do that, oh Courf" She breathed leaning across the table and taking his hands. "I can believe you are offering to do this"
"I want too, for Gavroche and for you" He smiled. "I might as well use my time and income to do good, and my parents did always tell me that I was a natural with kids".
As he stood now, slowly opening the door to his apartment, Courfeyrac smiled feeling the small body in his arms shift closer to his chest with the little head of blonde curls nestled against his shoulder. "Hey Gavroche, do you want to see your new room before you fall asleep. I got you some things" He said softly.
The little boy looked up at him and wiped his tired eyes before nodding. "You got me stuff? No one got me stuff before, 'cept for 'Ponine" He smiled.
Courfeyrac smiled setting the boy down and pushing the door open. "This is home now 'Roche, we can visit Eponine during the day and you can stay here at night"
"Forever, you won't give me away will you?" Gavroche said looking up at the dark haired young man.
"Of course I won't, you're like my little brother now and we live here together" He smiled "Now, come on sleepy head, let's go see your room". He took Gavroche's tiny hand and led him through the apartment to what would now be his bedroom. His name was written on the door in blue lettering with little drawings of cartoon planes and trains weaving their way through the letters, the whole picture a gift from Fueilly. Inside the room was painted a pale blue. A bed stood in the centre of the room with white sheets with colourful cartoon trains on, a large brown teddy sitting on the pillow. A wardrobe and a chest of drawers stood against the wall and a carpet reached across the floor, soft enough for him to sit and play on. A toy box sat under the large window and a number of other toys scattered the floor. On the bedside cabinet was a photograph of him and Eponine that Courfeyrac had taken on the day he first spent with Gavroche. Having been given the boy to spend the day with so that they could bond, he had taken him to the café to be reunited with his sister.
Gavroche stared at him and then looked around the room, picking up a toy plane. "This all mine? No sharing" He asked. "All for me?"
"All for you, that's why I brought it you silly boy" Courfeyrac smiled kneeling down to his height. "Do you like it?"
He nodded, yawning and stepping forwards to wrap his arms around Courfeyrac's neck. "Love it all Courf, tankyou" He said in his adorable lisp.
"You're welcome 'Roche" Courfeyrac smiled kissing his head and picking him up carefully. "Now bedtime little man, we can have a look at all of your toys in the morning, yeah?"
"Yes pwease" Gavroche smiled allowing Courfeyrac to carry him to the bed and lay him down. The little boy had never had anyone to really trust in his life, he couldn't really remember his parents but he knew that they didn't want him and he couldn't remember Azelma. The only person he knew that he could trust was Eponine. And now Courfeyrac. He had taken an instant liking to the young man with his kind eyes and cheeky smile. "I like it here"
"That's good, I'm glad" Courfeyrac smiled tucking him in and passing him the teddy bear. "Now, get some sleep. Tomorrow we can get Eponine to come round and she can play with all these new toys with us"
Gavroche smiled curling around the teddy bear and closing his eyes. He could get used to this new life.
Translations – 'Maison pour les enfants perdus' – House of the lost children
I hope you all liked this. It was something different for me, but it was something that I really enjoyed writing.
Please review and let me know whether you liked this and want me to update it or not
