Summary: Leon has an accident

Léon Pontmercy was up early this morning, he needed to be up early so he could hide something before anyone, especially his brothers, found out about it. He'd wet the bed during the night, and he couldn't face the embarrassment of having anyone find out about it. At aged seven and the youngest boy in the family he was often subjected to taunts from his older brothers and if they found him this morning with a soiled bedsheet they would never let him forget about it.

All he needed to do was take a fresh bedsheet from the closet at the end of the hallway and then hide the wet one in the laundry before anyone else was awake, it was a simple task and nothing could go wrong as long as he hurried.

He quietly tiptoed past the other doorways until he reached the closet, opening the door quietly he was dismayed to find the bedsheets were all folded tightly packed on the higher shelf inside where he couldn't reach, not even on his tiptoes. If he pulled out one of the lower ones he might inadvertently pull the whole contents of the closet out, making more mess than he could hide, if he went to get a chair to stand on to reach the top he might accidently make too much noise and wake somebody. Neither choice seemed a better option so instead he decided to stuff his sheet inside the closet and hurry back to his room, even if someone found the sheet they surely wouldn't know it was his. Unfortunately, he was interrupted mid-task by his father.

"Léon?" Marius said, surprised to see his son up so early. He was only awake himself so he could catch up on some paperwork in his study before the rest of the household were up and about.

Léon gasped and quickly spun around to face his father. "What are you doing up so early?" he asked, walking up to his son.

"N…nothing" the boy stammered out

"What's that?" he asked, pointing towards the sheet that was halfway stuffed into the closet

"Nothing" the boy repeated nervously, knowing he had no way of getting out of this but too scared to say anything else.

Marius though had put two and two together and realised what his son was doing, it wasn't the first time he had wet the bed, nor was it the first time any of his children had wet the bed, so he wasn't so surprised by that, it was just that he was trying to hide it that was strange.

"Léon, did you wet the bed?" He asked straightforwardly, and the boy nodded slowly, looking like he was about to cry.

"It's alright son, don't cry" Marius said, placing a hand on the young boys shoulder. "Here…." He said, taking a clean folded sheet from the closet and handing it to him, before taking hold of the soiled one. "I'll take care of this; will you go and wait in the parlour so I can talk to you?"

Léon did so, sitting down on a sofa feeling utterly humiliated. He loved his father, but he didn't want him to know he was still wetting the bed. He was seven years old for god's sake, he wasn't a baby. He looked up to his father immensely and wanted so badly to prove to him that he was just as grown up as his brothers could be. Now that he'd seen this though, surely he'd never think that.

When his father came into the room he couldn't look at him, not even when he walked up to him and ruffled his hair playfully. He had a mass of dark hair on his head that seemed never to stay flat, Marius found it endearing, but it drove his nanny to distraction as she could never brush it to look neat and tidy.

"Don't look so worried Léon; I'm not mad at you. I just want to talk to you". He said, before sitting down and pulling the boy onto his lap.

"There's no shame in bedwetting son, It happens to most children. Why on earth would you try and hide it?" He asked.

"I didn't want Jean and Courfeyrac to tease me about it". The boy said, wiping his face of tears

"Why would they tease you?" Marius asked him

"They're always teasing me. Especially Courfeyrac, he makes me feel like a baby". Léon said.

"Hmm, well. Courfeyrac thinks he's funnier than he is" Marius said, noting how his middle son often made jokes at the expense of his siblings. "But you know better than to listen to him don't you?" he asked, to which Léon nodded.

"Good boy". Marius said. "I know you may not think it now, but one day you'll need your brothers."

Leon looked at his father as if he didn't believe him, honestly who could need brothers who made fun of you all the time?

"It's true" Marius said, reading his sons mind, "One day me and your mother…..well, we might not be here anymore. And then you'll find that the bond with your family is the most sacred thing of all. Courfeyrac makes fun of you now, but one day he'll realise how much he needs his brothers. Be strong my boy, and don't be afraid of being a child right now. I know how badly you want to be treated like a man, but there's lots of time for you to become a man, for now can you just be my little boy?" He asked him, to which the little boy nodded.

"And let me tell you something else about Courfeyrac" Marius continued, "He used to be scared of baths. He used to scream to house down when he was a baby whenever your mother tried to bathe him, it nearly drove her mad.

"Really" asked Léon with a hint of surprise, he'd always thought of his brother as being so tough so it was strange to hear that they he was once a scared little boy.

"It's true" Marius said, "Courfeyrac is my son and I love him, just as I love all of you. But the boy is a fool. I worry sometimes about the kind of man he's going to become, but I don't have to worry about that with you, because I already know you're going to be a good man".

Léon smiled at that; it was nice to hear his father speak so highly about him.

"You're going to make me so proud Léon. I can tell that already". Marius said with a smile. "So don't let your brothers get to you. You're a good boy, remember that and don't let anyone change that about you".

"I'll try papa" Léon said, managing another smile and thinking that his father was the most wonderful father in the world. Other fathers might have punished their sons for wetting the bed, but not his, no; instead here he was telling him how proud he was of him. Maybe his brothers were mean to him sometimes, but his father loved him and he loved his father and sometimes that's all a seven year old boy needs.

I love Leon, he's a cutie pie. (Well he is in my head anyway) Leave a review if you liked this chapter, or any other chapter too.