" I just wanna be myself " (A Hunchback Of Notre Dame fanstory)

Chapter 6

The years seemed the fly by quickly, as Edgar went from a small newborn baby, to a near walking 2 year old. His hair had gotten thicker, and had reached his shoulders. He was now capable of crawling around on his own and had begun standing too, he hadn't started walking yet.

The quadruplets had all turned 6 years old, and they were now in school! So, they all had to start their school routine by waking up on time so they could eat breakfast, brush their teeth, get dressed, and make sure they were out the door and on their way to the local bus station so they could make their way to their school.

As of now, it was early September, the quadruplets were all at school, Esmeralda was at the local market buying some groceries for dinner later that night, that left Quasimodo home with Edgar.

Quasimodo had just gotten done washing the dishes and had just put them away in the cabinet. Meanwhile, little Edgar was laying on the floor, a small toy block clutched in his hand, he was very focused on what his parent was doing.

" ...And that's the last plate! Finally, all the dishes all put away! " Quasimodo exclaimed, he turned his attention to Edgar " So, little buddy, you wanna help le père with putting away your siblings toys? "

Edgar looked over at his parent, using his small hands to pick himself up and he slowly stood up, he tried to balance himself, but his legs seemed extremely wobbly and he just couldn't hold himself up, as he landed right on his butt.

Quasimodo let out a quiet laugh as he picked up his child " Don't worry, le père's got you! " He then made his way to Charlotte's and Jade's room, where thankfully, there wasn't a lot of toys on the floor, just a couple dolls and that was really it.

" You think Mommy's gonna be proud that we cleaned up the house? " Quasimodo asked as he looked over at Edgar, who had just thrown on of the dolls into a toy bin.

Edgar blinked " A-aah? " he babbled out " P-papa? " 

Quasimodo felt himself freeze in place, his eyes wide open " C-can... Can you repeat that? " He spoke.

Edgar smiled " Papa! Papa! " 

Quasimodo smiled as he picked up his child " You did it! You said your first words! You said your first words! "

Edgar began laughing as he clapped his hands together, a wide smile forming on his face as he was overwhelmed with pure joy. The two then made their way to Micheal's & Felix's room, and my god was it messy! There were toys everywhere! It looked like someone had knocked over a bunch of shelves at a toy store!

" Now this... " Quasimodo muttered " This is a mess! But i'm not upset about it, they are just young children after all, it's expected that they would make a mess with all their toys. " 

Edgar picked up one of the Wonder Woman dolls that was randomly strewn about on the floor near Felix's bed, he clutched it in his small hands, before he brought it to his mouth and began to gently chew on it, before he then proceeded to spit it out. The Wonder Woman doll now had a small tooth indent on her head.

" Does that doll taste good? " Quasimodo jokingly asked as he carefully placed some of the action figures up on a small shelf, to which, Edgar shook his head with a disgusted look on his face.

" Bonjour! I'm home! " Esmeralda's voice called out " Quasi, Pouvez-vous m'aider? I have a bunch of food! "

Quasimodo picked up Edgar " We'll clean the rest up later, but now, we have to help la mère put away all the groceries she brought home " He then walked back to the living room, where Esmeralda was standing, she had just started to get some of the groceries out of the bags and had begun placing them on the kitchen counter.

Esmeralda turned her head " Ah! There's my handsome boys! " She said, her lips turning into a soft, warm smile " How'd you both do? Is the hallway a huge mess? " Her tone was jokingly.

" No, no " Quasimodo responded as he placed Edgar down on the soft carpet " We were actually in the middle of cleaning Micheal's and Felix's room. But getting food is much more important! " He began helping Esmeralda, by putting the meat she had bought in the freezer, while she was putting the fruits and vegetables away, either in the fridge, or in a fruit bowl.

Meanwhile, Edgar's little hands grabbed himself a bright green apple from one of the bags, he looked at it, clearly intrigued by the bright and vibrant color of the fruit. He tried to take a bite of it, but his small baby teeth didn't even punctured the fruit, which made him a little upset.

Edgar looked over at his parents, he held up the apple and let out a squeal " Papa! Papa! " He then began to wave the apple around, trying to get his parents attention.

Esmeralda turned her attention to Edgar, she let out a quiet laugh " Oh, Is someone hungry? You want me to cut it up for you? " She asked, which made Edgar nod in response.

Esmeralda carefully took the apple, washed it off, and proceeded to dice it up into small, bite-sized pieces, she then sprinkled a small amount of cinnamon and sugar onto the pieces before she added them to a small bowl. She then handed the bowl to Edgar, who smiled widely as he scooted his way over to the living room and sat on the soft carpet.

" Does he still not like using forks? " Quasimodo asked as he placed the last jug of milk in the fridge before promptly closing both the fridge door and the freezer door.

Esmeralda shook her head " No, he doesn't. It's not a bad thing, but i'm somewhat afraid of how other people will react when they find out that Edgar doesn't use utensils "

Quasimodo looked surprised at this " Well, who really cares what others think? He's OUR child, i think it shouldn't matter what others think. If they have anything they wanna say about our children, they should tell us, and if it's not positive, they can keep it to themselves. "

A sigh escaped past Esmeralda's lips " You're right, You're right. I mean, Edgar's still a toddler, he'll grow. Maybe one day he'll use utensils, and if he doesn't use them one day, or if he sticks to plastic ones, then that's fine too "

Quasimodo looked over at Edgar " Do you think that... Maybe he's autistic? " He asked, his head resting in his palms.

Esmeralda blinked " He's what? "

" Autistic "

Esmeralda scratched her head in confusion " What's that? "

Quasimodo thought about it for a minute " I may be a bit wrong on this, But Autism is a developmental condition. It's in the brain, and it can cause a lot of things "

Esmeralda crossed her arms " I mean, it could be possible. Don't you have autism? If so, isn't it hereditary or something? " She asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Quasimodo nodded " Yes, i do have autism. Although, I've never shown any signs of it for a long time, that is, until my therapist told me that i was ' masking ' my symptoms " 

" Masking? What does that mean? " Esmeralda asked as she turned to face her spouse.

Quasimodo took a deep breath " Masking... its like... uhm... Imagine acting completely normal, like nothing is different about you. Basically, from a young age, i had to act ' normal ' or ' not different ' around others. Afterwards, i'd just feel... exhausted. " A saddened look formed on his face.

Esmeralda embraced her spouse, she gently ran her fingers through his hair " Well, now you don't have to mask anything! I love you for who you really are, I hate seeing you upset or exhausted from pretending to be something that you're not. You got that? You're perfect the way you are! "

A warm smile formed on Quasimodo's face, he felt his face heat up with joy " Merci , Mon amour. Merci! " 

The sound of small feet patting on the wooden floor caught the couple's attention, they turned their heads as they noticed Edgar standing up, using his little hands to balance himself on the edge of the couch, he really was trying to stand up on his own, but for whatever reason, his right leg seemed more limp, as if it didn't wanna move.

Esmeralda held her arms out " Come here, Mon bébé, come to Maman. Come on, come to Maman. " she spoke, her tone was soft and gentle.

Edgar looked up at his parent, his little legs were wobbling, it seemed as if his right leg was completely limp, as if it wasn't moving. Before he even knew it, he began to fall forward, thankfully, Esmeralda had caught him just in time before he had fallen onto his face.

" Woah! You almost took a tumble there, didn't you? " Esmeralda exclaimed as she lifted Edgar up and carefully placed him on her lap " Is your leg not okay, Mon ange? "