Hello, I hope this little scene at the beginning here matches up to the aww factor that the ending of the previous chapter had. This chapter is split into three parts.
I hope you all enjoy this.
Courfeyrac went wide eyed when he heard that one word. Papa. Had he heard the little boy correctly? He wasn't sure. Taking a deep breath in attempt to compose his thoughts, he smiled, he couldn't stop himself. He had to admit to himself that if he had correctly, it felt good to have Gavroche calling him papa. "Pardon Gavroche? What did you say?"
"I said goodnight papa, you my papa" Gavroche said shyly, hiding his face behind his monkey toy unsure to whether Courfeyrac liked being called papa or not.
"Roche, you know I'm not your real papa don't you?" Courfeyrac said gently moving to lie beside the boy and carefully moving the toy away so that he could see his face. "'Roche?"
"Yes I do, but you my new papa. You much better than old papa" Gavroche smiled shuffling close to Courfeyrac.
The young man smiled, unable to stop the tears in his eyes. Gavroche trusted him enough, loved him enough, to call him papa. Not only was he acting like Gavroche's father figure now, the little boy saw him as papa. "Do you want to call me papa, not Courf anymore?" He asked, wrapping his arms around Gavroche and bringing him closer to him, kissing his head.
"Yes, you papa now" Gavroche smiled kissing his cheek. Gavroche had never really wanted to call anyone papa before. He could vaguely remember being very young and crying for his papa and mama but they never came. Courfeyrac would come if he cried for papa, Gavroche knew he would. "Please you papa now?"
Courfeyrac chuckled feeling the tiny kiss on his cheek and nodded, looking at Gavroche with teary eyes. "I would love to be papa now little man"
Gavroche beamed, pressing himself against Courfeyrac's chest "Yay, you my new papa" He smiled, hiding a yawn "I love you papa"
"I love you too kiddo" Courfeyrac smiled kissing his forehead and brushing his hair away from his face. He watched Gavroche smiling and watched his eyes close as he began to fall asleep. Courfeyrac stayed beside him, allowing him to fall asleep in his arms. He couldn't believe that Gavroche saw him as his papa now. The little boy had only been living with him for a few short weeks but was comfortable enough to accept him as a father. He felt honoured and simply couldn't stop smiling.
Eponine, from her space still curled up on the couch, set her mug on the table and stood, wandering what was taking Courfeyrac so long to take Gavroche to bed. He had said that he would come right back and that they could watch a film before Eponine had to be home. With a sigh, she quickly walked through to Gavroche's bedroom trying to stop herself from worrying. Was something wrong? Leaning against the doorframe, she saw Courfeyrac lying on the small bed with the tiny boy curled up in his arms sound asleep. The young man in question had a gentle smile on his lips yet appeared to have unshed tears in his eyes. "Courfeyrac? Is everything alright?" She asked.
Courfeyrac hadn't heard her approaching until she spoke. Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he sat up carefully so not to wake the sleeping Gavroche. "Yes" He nodded, standing up and running his hand through his neat brown curls.
"Then why did it take you so long to put him to sleep?" She asked, looking at him with a confused expression.
"We were talking" Courfeyrac smiled walking to her. "Eponine, he called me papa"
Eponine smiled brightly, amazed. For a child who had been through as much as Gavroche had, she would have thought that it would take a long time for him to trust anyone. She had doubted that Gavroche would ever call Courfeyrac papa, let alone come to call him papa so soon after getting to know him. She knew now that this really was the perfect arrangement. Gavroche was happy. He was comfortable. He loved Courfeyrac. With a smile, she acted on impulse, it seemed right for the moment. Looking up at Courfeyrac and seeing the happiness in his eyes, she walked the rest of the way to him and wrapped her thin arms around his torso. "I told you he adores you, you are his papa now"
"Yes, you were right" Courfeyrac smiled bringing his arms around her and allowing her to press herself against his chest. "It feels amazing to hear him say it, to know that he trusts me enough"
"He trusts you to look after him more than he has anyone before" She smiled, leaning her head on his chest and smiling as she felt his arms wrap around her. He felt warm and gentle, and she could feel his voice rumble through his chest as he spoke.
"I'm glad about that" He said softly, smiling as he felt her press against him. Carefully he leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head. "Thank you Eponine"
She blushed at the kiss looking up at him as he pulled away, much to her dismay. "What are you thanking me for?"
"If I didn't know you, I wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to have him" Courfeyrac smiled walking with her back to the lounge. "He is very special to me"
"I can see that, what you have done for him is very special for me" Eponine smiled sitting beside him.
…
Courfeyrac stirred hearing the little footsteps crossing his bedroom and feeling the bed sink under a small weight. He smiled to himself, pretending to still be asleep
"Papa" Gavroche smiled "Papa wake up it morning". He climbed up onto the bed and reached up to touch Courfeyrac's cheek. "Papa" He giggled, seeing Courfeyrac smile.
"Good morning little man" Courfeyrac smiled opening his eyes and rolling onto his back to look at the little boy. He felt something stir in him every time he heard him say papa, he had to smile to himself.
"Morning papa" Gavroche smiled crawling across the bed to sit on Courfeyrac's lap as the young man sat up. "What are we doing today papa?" He smiled brightly, happy that he had Courfeyrac to be his papa.
Courfeyrac smiled ruffling his hair. "Well, it's Eponine's birthday soon so we can go buy her a present and then make her a card?" He smiled standing up with the boy in his arms "Yes?"
"Yes, for 'Ponine's birthday" Gavroche smiled "But you write the card papa, I can't write"
"Then I'll have to teach you how to write your name so you can sign it" Courfeyrac smiled setting him down so that he could get dressed. "What shall we buy her?"
"Something pretty" Gavroche smiled following him as he walked to the kitchen.
Once they were both ready and dressed, Courfeyrac got Gavroche into his car seat and drove to the nearby shopping centre determined to find Eponine the perfect birthday present. "What are we going to get Papa?" Gavroche asked as Courfeyrac lifted him up onto his shoulders to walk through the various shops.
"What about a pretty necklace from me, and a nice teddy or something from you?" Courfeyrac smiled, holding onto his legs to keep him steady on his shoulders.
"Yeah, that's good papa" Gavroche smiled playfully patting Courfeyrac's head "You think of everything"
Courfeyrac laughed carrying him into a jewellery shop. "You've got to help me chose little man"
"Alright papa" Gavroche replied looking around him at all of the necklaces and bracelets.
Courfeyrac smiled looking around with him, looking through what felt like hundreds of necklaces before finding the perfect one. It was a simple silver chain with a small locket covered with a beautiful intricate flower design. On the back a message was written When I can't come to you, I see you here. It was perfect, he could put a photograph of little Gavroche inside, so she would have something on him when she couldn't get out of the house to come and see him. "What do you think of this one 'Roche?" He asked holding it up for Gavroche to see. "Is it pretty?"
"Yes papa" Gavroche nodded "She will like that one"
"Perfect" Courfeyrac smiled purchasing the necklace. He then took him to a toy store to get a teddy bear for him to give to Eponine, even though he knew that he would leave the store with more than he intended. If Gavroche saw something that he wanted, Courfeyrac would not be able to say no.
"This one Papa!" Gavroche smiled holding up a big soft teddy bear that was holding a bunch of felt flowers. "It's a teddy and flowers all in one, 'Ponine will like it"
"Okay then" Courfeyrac smiled putting the bear in the basket and quickly following the little boy as he ran in the direction of a display of toy trains. "Gavroche wait for me please" He called.
Gavroche, with his eyes wide, stared at the display of trains, watching the train set running as the little blue train made its way along the track. "Look at the trains' papa"
Courfeyrac smiled picking up a box containing a track and a few of the small toy trains. He couldn't help himself from spoiling the boy, he loved the way his face lit up when he got a new toy. "Alright Gavroche, just this one yes?" He said showing him the box.
"Yes pwease papa, tank you" Gavroche beamed taking the box and holding it tightly.
"Alright then, come on then, lets buy these and go home so we can make the card" Courfeyrac smiled playfully swinging Gavroche back up onto his shoulders.
…
With the presents wrapped and set aside, Courfeyrac had already wrote his own card to Eponine before giving Gavroche sheets of craft paper and coloured pens to make his own for her. He watched happily as the little boy drew flowers and stick figures, decorating the card. "What have you drawn?" He asked sitting with him
"Flowers like the teddy got, because they are pretty and this is Eponine" He said pointing to a stick figure with long brown hair and a big smile. "And this is me, I'm the little one, and I have yellow hair, and this one is you with the curly hair".
Courfeyrac smiled brightly kissing his head, wishing that the drawing wasn't on the card in way, no matter how much he knew Eponine was going to love it. He wanted it to be the sort of child's drawing that a father was stick on the fridge door; a drawing of their family. "Very good kiddo" He smiled. "Now Ill write the message, but you should write your name in it"
"I don't know how too" Gavroche pouted.
"Ill show you" Courfeyrac said picking up a pen and a scrap piece of paper before writing out Gavroche's name in big letters. "G.A.V.R.O.C.H.E"
Shyly, Gavroche picked up a pen and tried to copy the lettering in his wobbly handwriting. "Like this papa?"
"That's it" Courfeyrac smiled "Well done, can you write it in the card. It doesn't matter if its messy, Eponine will like that it is in your handwriting"
Gavroche nodded, a look of complete concentration on his face as he tried to write his name as neatly as possible, looking back up at Courfeyrac's writing so that he knew he was spelling it correctly. "There we go, I did it papa" He said holding the card up. The message was in Courfeyrac's neat handwriting with Gavroche's name written messily at the bottom in the childish handwriting of Gavroche.
"That's perfect 'Roche, Eponine is going to love it so much"
"Tank you papa, I hope so" Gavroche smiled
There we go, I hope you all liked this fluffy sweet chapter
Please review and let me know what you thought.