Taking Care of You

Grantaire: Starving

Grantaire made his way down the street towards the Café Musain. He was not as drunk as usual which was actually why he was gong to the café in the first place. That and he was hoping Enjolras would be there for him to annoy. He was only a few streets away when someone ran around the corner and barreled into him. He looked down and saw Gavroche with a loaf of bread in his hands.

"Gavroche what –" he was cut off when a merchant came running around the corner. Gavroche tried to make a break for it, but Grantaire kept hold of him. The boy managed to stand behind Grantaire as the merchant ran up to them.

"Excuse me monsieur," the merchant said, "But that gamin behind you has stolen that loaf of bread in his hands."

"Really?" Grantaire said, looking down at Gavroche, "Well, this should more than cover it." He pulled a few coins out of his pocket and handed them to the man. The merchant looked hesitant, but eventually nodded and walked away.

"Merci Grantaire," Gavroche said, breathing heavily.

"You're welcome," Grantaire said, putting his hand on his shoulder as he started walking towards the café again, "But what happened? I've never known you to get caught before."

"I know, and normally I would avoid stealing food if I could. It's true!" he added indignantly when Grantaire gave him a look, "I'll steal from rich folks so I can buy food, but I really don't like stealing from people round here cause they're just as poor as me."

"Then why did you steal from him?" Grantaire asked; look down as the boy walked along beside him.

"I didn't have a choice," Gavroche admitted, "It was either steal the bread or go a fourth day without food."

"You haven't eaten in four days?" Grantaire said as he stopped walking to look at the boy in shock.

"No monsieur," Gavroche said, "I got some food yesterday, but there were a couple boys I know who are younger than me and hadn't eaten in even longer and they needed it more."

"So, you had food, but you gave it away to someone else?" Grantaire said.

"They needed it more," Gavroche said simply and Grantaire was once again struck with how good of a kid Gavroche was despite everything he had been through. It almost made Grantaire believe in humanity.

"Alright, come on," Grantaire said and he lifted Gavroche onto his back.

"Where are we going?" Gavroche asked, wrapping his arms around Grantaire's shoulders and holding the bread tightly in his hand.

"The Musain," Grantaire said, "I'm going to get some food in you."

"You don't have to monsieur," Gavroche said immediately, "I've got bread now."

"Keep that for later," Grantaire said, "I'll get you some proper food." They arrived at the café and Grantaire set Gavroche down and instructed him to get sit at a table upstairs. The boy complied and Grantaire went over to the counter to get him some food. He bought some soup, bread, and a hot chocolate for Gavroche, pulling out the last of his money he had on him.

"And some wine I'm guessing?" the woman said as she set the food in front of him.

"Not today," Grantaire said, "Lad need food more than I need the drink." He walked away, leaving the woman standing there in shock. When he got upstairs he found Gavroche sitting sat one of the tables flipping through a book of the boys had left behind. He could tell by the way the boy was flipping through it that he couldn't read or understand any of it.

"You should get Combeferre to help you with that," he said. Gavroche looked up, his eyes widening when he saw the food Grantaire was carrying.

"W-with what monsieur?" he stutter, still shocked that the food was for him.

"Reading, I'm sure he wouldn't mind teaching you a few things," Grantaire said, picking up the book, "Though you might want to start with something easier than Voltaire. Enjolras probably forgot this here at the last meeting."

"You should return it to him, that way you have an excuse to see him," Gavroche said and Grantaire looked up at the boy in shock.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Grantaire replied, though he was about as convincing in saying this as if he had said he'd never had a drink in his life.

"Please Monsieur," Gavroche said, "I may only be ten, but I know about these things." Grantaire stared at him for a moment before finally speaking.

"Eat your soup."

I still do not have anything Bossuet or Feuilly could teach him so if you have any ideas they would be much appreciated! Thanks!

So, some foreshadowing on what the next chapter will be about {insert smiley here}. I'm hoping to have the next chapter up tomorrow. I sit at the back of the room in one of my classes and usually have plenty of time to write so depending on what we do tomorrow I'll be writing this.

Also, you may have noticed the Enjolras/Grantaire mentions in basically every chapter and they're pretty likely to continue so I hope you guys don't mind.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/followed! Let me know what you think!