A/N - Thanks for the feedback. I guess this is time to re-state that I don't own Hugo's characters. Kind of a given anyway but I suppose I should make it more obvious. The back yard is shades of my school yard in the late '60s/early 70s and. So, the grown ups are Hugo's (except Ramin, he's himself), Gavroche is Hugo's. The rest of the kids are mine and Squishy is, too. (Seriously, he is!). The Harry Potter exhibit is great - if it hits your city, go see it but don't wear a green shirt like I/Gavroche did.
The session with Jean Prouvaire had been brutal and intense. Gavroche broke down a few times, hiccuping and gulping stories out as Courfeyrac and Grantaire held their breath and shed tears of their own. "I just want an ordinary family." Gavroche cried.
"Well...we're not exactly ordinary..." Courfeyrac said "...but we..."
"It's ordinary to me." Gavroche cried. All he had meant was a 'nice' one where he didn't have to dread hearing the footsteps of various people coming through the door. Where the numbers 5:00 didn't mean run and hide because the person coming in was going to kick his ass for no reason. "I don't want to be beat up for something I didn't do..."
"...there's nothing you could have done to allow someone to beat you up, Gavroche..." Courfeyrac said.
"Well, sometimes we would..."
"Nothing." Grantaire said directly, both pairs of blue eyes staring at each other. He well knew the order in Gavroche's day waiting for his father to come home. "Gavroche..." Grantaire held his arms out and Gavroche climbed into them. "...this isn't about me but just to let you know, that little boy was me twenty years ago." he hugged him. "Trust me, I know how you felt." he said. He would skip the part that he hadn't experienced the sexual abuse that those kids had but that is the only thing that would have turned a terrible situation horrendous. "It's just really important for you to know that it's not your fault. No matter what you did, no matter how naughty you think you were, you didn't deserve that."
Grantaire wished someone had told him that when he was a kid. It would have been so nice, at the end of each evening if someone had come to tell him that he had been a good boy all day. Even if they had no answers as to what made his father do that, just to be told that and tucked in like they did to Gavroche and the others. To just 'worry' when he had been naughty and not 'fear' to the point of nausea or bedwetting. Just for someone to come in and say "you've done nothing wrong" instead of "George, you have to be careful, don't make daddy mad." Someone to rub his knees where he had knelt on a broom handle for an hour or massage his shoulders when he had to hold his arms in the air until his fingers trembled from lack of blood. Hell, for someone to LOOK at his knees or trembling hands would have been a luxury. He shivered and held a bit tighter to Gavroche, suddenly wishing both of the children were there to hold but Peep had issues of her own and her therapist was at the deaf school. Jehan joined them but they needed an interpreter.
+"Gavroche..." Jean Prouvaire said as Gavroche sat on Grantaire's lap, sort of like a swing, sitting on his lap, holding onto Grantaire's arms the way one might the chains of a swing. "...when you're naughty now, what happens?"
"Take away games or hot tub time, maybe extra chores..." Gavroche shrugged.
"Chores like scrub the garage with a toothbrush or..." Prouvaire grinned.
"No..." Gavroche laughed. "...maybe sweep the floor after supper when it's not your turn or sit in a chair while everyone plays in the hot tub."
"And then what...what about bedtime?" He asked.
"It's normal again."
"They tuck you in?" Prouvaire asked "kiss goodnight, make sure you've had a snack and you have enough blankets?" he asked and Gavroche nodded. "THAT'S what's supposed to happen, Gavroche." he told him. "You have been so good, such a help, so brave..." he reached into his pocket and pulled something out. Courfeyrac had put a bug in Jehan's ear and the therapist put two passes to the Harry Potter exhibit in Gavroche's hand.
"Whoah!" Gavroche couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had been jealous when the twins had gone and got a "we'll see" any time he asked Courfeyrac...he just knew the show would be gone before they had a chance to see it. "But it's for today." Gavroche said. "I have to go back to school, you have to go to work." he looked at Courfeyrac.
"Oh let's." Courfeyrac stage whispered. "Let's play hookey." he had okayed it with Ramin and he told the teachers he didn't know if Gavroche would be back that day, depending on how upsetting the session was...knowing full well they'd be going to the exhibit afterwards.
"I have to get back to work." Grantaire said and Courfeyrac dropped him off in a scummy area of town. Gavroche closed his eyes, it was too close to home..
"God that jacket stinks." Courfeyrac said as Grantaire pulled on grubby outerwear.
"Why do you think I put it in the trunk of the car?" He said and gave him a kiss. "Have a good time." He said to Gavroche
Gavroche took Courfeyrac's hand as they walked from the car to the museum and Courfeyrac's big hand hugged the smaller one and squeezed it tight. The exhibit at the museum turned all of the adults into kids so Courfeyrac had just as much fun at it as Gavroche. They got to uproot a mandrake and levitate a feather.
"I want to buy a wand." Gavroche said at the gift shop and Courfeyrac took out his wallet until he saw the price.
"Fifty dollars?" He asked and shook his head. "It's not like it really IS Harry's." He said, hoping there wasn't going to be the same reaction as there was at the Christmas festival.
"Can we get a picture of us at Hogwarts?" He pointed to the green screen and photographer. "Nico and Minette got theirs done." Courfeyrac was about to say it would be okay as long as it wasn't fifty dollars but kept his mouth shut. It had been an exhausting day and they had this special occasion. A picture of them smiling in front of the Hogwarts express he would pay fifty dollars for...luckily it was only thirteen. "What...happened?" Gavroche pointed.
Courfeyrac laughed. "Oh yeah, warning when you're in front of a green screen in a green shirt...you become part of a train." He said when all they could see of Gavroche was his head, hands and a floating hand beside him where Courfeyrac had his arm around his shoulder. The lady offered to change the colour of Gavroche's shirt so that it would show up but they agreed this one was even more special. "Okay, it's time to go." He said gently to Gavroche, bracing himself...this child did NOT quietly exit places he was having fun at, especially when he knew it wouldn't be there forever. Courfeyrac's dark brown eyes met Gavroche's sapphire ones in a very "I'm not kidding" way.
"Okay." Gavroche sighed and clutched his picture and followed him out the door. They stopped off to visit Courfeyrac's parents, of course they had to have a piece of pie. Marcelle asked if they could keep the Hogwarts picture there but Gavroche wanted to take it home for his room.
"I'll print another at home." Courfeyrac promised and looked at the mantle where he could hardly see his grad photos anymore for pictures of the kids and family. Focus was on Peep and Gavroche but the others were in there, too.
"Nico..." Enjolras blinked his eyes open in the middle of the night. "What's up?" he said. It wasn't a weekend so if Nicolas wanted to sleep in there, questions would be asked. On weekends, no questions asked.
"It's really windy out there." Nicolas said.
"It's just wind, Nico." Enjolras said. "I know..." he said. He knew why the wind freaked him out but there had to be an end to that. "You're inside, you're warm and comfy, we're all home..." he said but heard the wind gusts beating the hell out of the window. He got up and looked out the window. He could barely see anything for snow. "It's just snow and wind, you're safe here." he said and steered Nicolas by the shoulders back to his room. "I swear I'm going to get some thumbtacks for your bedding." he said when he pulled the blankets apart to sort them out again. "Get you a sleeping bag instead of blankets." he yawned and Nicolas lay in the bed. "You think that might be a plan?" he asked him. "A sleeping bag? That way you can't kick your covers off and get cold. We'll get you one this weekend and then...THEN there is no excuse." he told him and grabbed another blanket from the closet to spread over him.
"What if it snows a lot?" Nicolas asked.
"Sounds like we're going to get a fair bit but there's nothing to worry about." he said. "Stay in bed." he said. "And...we'll make a chart. You'll get a star for every night you spend in your own bed. If you stay in your own bed Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, then you'll get a gold star and you can turn them in for prizes." he said. "Go back to sleep now." he said, kissing Nicolas as he lay his curly blond hair on the pillow.
He woke a few hours later. "Nicolas...it's just wind." he said when he felt the little boy crawling into bed with him. It was his own fault, he started it - his mother warned him and now it was his own job to fix it.
"Is the sleeping bag one of the prizes?" Nicolas asked and Enjolras groaned.
"No...that's on me but if you don't go back to bed you're not going to get the point for the prize." Enjolras said.
"Can we start it next week?" Nicolas asked.
"Fine." Enjolras moved over and let Nico climb aboard. He would be so tired for work if this kept up.
The highways were snowed in and it would take until way in the evening for them to be dug out so it was an unintended day off. The storm had finished, it was a fine winter day. One of those bright sunny days with the aquamarine blue sky that made the snow so white you could barely look at it. For Christmas, one of the things in every child's stocking was a pair of sunglasses so they could play in the snow and on the ice when it was so bright. Enjolras and Ramin were teaching them how to skate. Most were doing okay but they preferred to take the skates off and slide around on their boots and the seats of their pants. As if the rink wasn't good enough, Courfeyrac and Combeferre piled up the snow beside it, making a huge slide that finished off on the rink. In the middle of the yard was an enormous snowball that they all pushed around. It was even taller than Combeferre and all the kids with two adults could barely surround it holding hands. There was a bet on how much it weighed but they would never know. The yard was almost as much fun to play in on a winter day than a summer one.
Eponine stayed indoors most of the day so when kids came in for warm ups she could switch the mittens for warm dry ones, let them go to the bathroom and blow their noses. One by one there were all the kids indoors so the adults headed in and enjoyed the smell of pizza in the oven.
The kids were exhausted shortly after supper. They had romped and jumped around in the yard the whole day and there was no evidence there had been fresh snow when you looked in the back yard. Enjolras was pleased that Nicolas was so tired, he fell asleep on the couch. Enjolras took the opportunity to tuck his bedding in well under the mattress though he was sure the blankets would be twisted and diagonal by the morning.
After the kids were in bed, the adults sat in the living room, watching the orange flashing lights of the graders going up the highway in front of their house. It had been a fun day off but that held the workload back.
"I can't breathe." Courfeyrac said, feeling the pressure on his chest.
"Yes you can." Grantaire mumbled beside him in the bed. "You're talking, if you couldn't breathe you wouldn't be able to talk." he reached over and stroked his hair. "You're okay, it was just a dream." Courfeyrac had often had his suffocation dream and sometimes if Grantaire even casually draped his arm across Courfeyrac's chest as they were sleeping it would set him off. Now it made sense. Grantaire hazarded it now that Courfeyrac was somewhat awake and lay on his side, draping his arm across him, pulling him closer and kissing his head. "You're okay, go back to sleep." he mumbled.
As Gavroche slept, he could see himself sitting in school. How could they send him back to his parents? He didn't care anymore that his hands were filthy, as were his clothes, his hair in greasy strands and he probably stank. He tried to convince himself that he had done nothing wrong but if he hadn't, who had? Jehan had told him and Courfeyrac had told him and Grantaire had told him that he had done nothing wrong...it was not his fault. They all cried a lot and hugged and made a million promises...he tried to remember if they had said they would always be together but they hadn't. If only they had, then he would have someone to be mad at because they had broken their promise but it wasn't even possible.
Again, he slept back in a bed that smelled, sat on scratchy furniture that burned his skin when he lay with his cheek on it. The carpet was so dirty it virtually crawled and his socks went 'tick tick tick' any time he walked across sticky tiled kitchen floor. Until he moved to the acreage, he thought this was normal. Now he knew...but he did have one thing that made him smile. His calico tie-dyed shirt. He had it buried in his clothes, he didn't want them to find it. He would take it out from under the mattress and bury his face in it, smelling the last of the laundry soap from the acreage. Once that was one, then the shirt would stink just like everything else.
Hardest of all was that there were no other kids there. Thenardiers weren't allowed to have foster kids but for some reason they were allowed to have their own kid back. There were no snacks in the fridge or cupboards, the milk was on its last legs and any sort of bread was stale. It didn't matter though because there was nothing to put on it. He thought about Peep loving her sandwiches and how it would have killed her to be there. Well, it almost killed her to be there anyway and he went to the closet she had lived in. He opened the door and the little girl looked up at him. "Peep?" he asked, reaching in there but she vanished, all that was there was the smelly carpet where she had lived. He was a bit relieved for that, hoping she was enjoying her life as Courfeyrac and Grantaire's little girl. He missed her though, his sister. He had always admired that about Nicolas. No matter what he had or didn't have, he had a sister and Gavroche had no siblings at the house. He had gotten so used to having them at the acreage.
He heard the creaking of the front porch and knew that meant his father was getting home from the bar that he owned. It was amazing that place was still in business, considering that Thenardier himself drank a lot of what they ordered. Once he was drunk enough, he gave quite a bit of it away as well. The door opened and his father came in reeking of booze and his mother reeking of the food she had cooked for the bar patrons. He asked if they had brought any food but they walked past him like he didn't even exist.
"Mama! Do you have any food?!" he shouted. "Mama! Stop! I'm hungry!" He remembered having his tye-died shirt from the acreage. Any time he was hungry there, there was food. There was a phone number on there. He should, by rights know Courfeyrac's phone number but he couldn't remember so he went to find the tshirt...where was it? He began to dig, he couldn't find it. There it was, how come he couldn't read the phone number? "I'm hungry!" he kept shouting and turned the shirt over and over to see the phone number.
Courfeyrac sat straight up when he heard Gavroche shout that he was hungry. It wasn't like him to have hunger wake him up in the middle of the night. Sometimes Peep did but Gavroche ate more than she did in the daytime so it staid him through til the morning. He listened for the cry again in case he was dreaming then slipped out of bed and padded down the hall to wake the child having the nightmare. "Gav..." he said, turning the light on dim then going to where Gavroche was crouched beside the bed, digging through his toybox, crying that he couldn't find it and that he was hungry.
"Gav.." Courfeyrac kneeled and picked him up. "Wake up, sweetheart." He shook him gently.
"So hungry." Gavroche cried. Courfeyrac wanted to turn the light up a bit more and picked Gavroche up so he could walk to the light dial.
"Stand up." he said, putting him on the ground. "Look, here's Squishy" he said. It was a pillow full of soft styro beads and it had a small motor. If you squeezed it, it vibrated and purred and Gavroche loved it. It had no face but he gave it a name all the same. Courfeyrac put Squishy in Gavroche's hands. "Here." he gave the pillow a quick squeeze and started Squishy's heart purring. Gavroche's eyes opened. He looked around...back in his plush room with familiar walls, the faint smell of spice muffins Eponine had made for bedtime snack. "You know where you are?" Courfeyrac asked him and Gavroche wrapped his arms around his waist and cried into him. "You want a snack or was that just your dream talking?" Courfeyrac asked, rubbing his hair. "What were you looking for?" he asked.
"My t-shirt." Gavroche said. "With the phone number on it."
"Well, it's not there." Courfeyrac said and pulled his dresser drawer open, pulling out the tye-died one. Gavroche was upset, he wanted to do anything to settle him down. "Look, see?" he pointed to the Harry Potter picture beside the bed.
"I want to see Peep." he cried.
"She sleeping." Courfeyrac said.
"I don't want to dance, I just want to see her." Gavroche repeated a bit of sarcasm he'd heard the guys joking around with. "In my dream I saw her and then she was gone and I want to see her here now." he said.
"Okay but you be quiet." Courfeyrac said. If they woke her, she probably WOULD be hungry. That was usually her excuse for not going back to bed.
"She doesn't have her thingy in, we won't wake her." he said though they found themselves whispering. Courfeyrac turned the hall light out so that it wouldn't cast light onto the little girl. Gavroche looked at her asleep, so relaxed in her light blue flannel plaid pyjamas.
"Don't..." Courfeyrac whispered when Gavroche kissed her cheek. Touch and light woke her just like sound did other people but she didn't even stir. "...okay, bed." he told him.
"Can I leave Squishy with her?" Gavroche asked.
"She'd got Fuzzy." Courfeyrac pointed to the stuffed goose with the long neck wedged in the crook of her elbow. "You need Squishy." he said and led him back to his room. "Now...are you really hungry?" he asked.
"No." Gavroche laid down and closed his eyes while Courfeyrac covered him up.
"You want me to leave the light on?" he asked and again Gavroche shook his head. "Okay, good night...AGAIN." he said and kissed his silky blond hair. Gavroche fell asleep quickly with Squishy in one hand and the t-shirt in the other.
The next morning was interesting. Snow pants, snow boots, wading through snow to get to the van. Thankfully, Mrs Grant actually came to pick them up in her van so it was warm and snow-free as the kids climbed in and waved goodbye to everyone as Grantaire stuffed Peep in her snowsuit into the back seat of his car and drove her to her school in the city.
"Hi Sylvie!" the teacher met them in the hallway as Grantaire was unzipping her snowsuit. "I have good news." she said to Grantaire, handing Peep over to one of the aides. "There's a family who is looking to adopt Sylvie."