Tu Es Ma Lumière

199 - Monsters *Modern*

Side Note - Same AU as Jean and James are twins.

/

Francis de Valois-Angouleme frowns as he watches the small, retreating form of his eldest child as the little dark haired boy takes off running from the dinner table. It's just he and the boys tonight, Mary's gone to a conference in Rome about a trade deal with the Stuart Dynasty, leaving her husband to care for their twins and five month old little Aiden. He notes that Jean barely reacts to his brother's suddenness of tears and running, and the baby is more concerned with his breastmilk and mashed up avocados and peaches to really notice the eldest of their little trio take off running.

"Jean?" Francis asks. "Can you keep an eye on your brother for me? Just for a moment, I'll just make sure James is alright."

The dark haired little boy nods slowly, the younger of the two looking up from his brown rice, broccoli and spinach and grilled soy chicken (the boys had an allergy to meat products, an inconvenient trend passed down through the Stuart bloodline) breast. There really is no difference between Jean and James, not really. Identical to the slightest detail, apart from the eyes. Jean had his mothers' eyes, while James took their fathers.

Francis slowly gets up from the dining table and follows the steps in the large de Valois-Angouleme estate, walking through the dining room and two staircases and three hallways until he got to James' room. The blonde co-owner of the Valois dynasty frowns, hearing the cries leaving James' room from behind the door. He opens it slowly, heart aching in his chest as pretty blue eyes take sight of the crying five and a half year old, face down on his bed, his back heaving as he inhaled to cry out again.

"James? What's wrong?" Francis asks, walking into the large room and sitting on the comfortable bed. He places a large hand onto the child's small back, rubbing it up and down slowly. "What's the matter, buddy?" Francis implores, slowly turning him so blue eyes connect. "Do you miss mama, like last night?" Mary would only be gone three days more, but the boys were rather connected to their mother.

"N-no." he sniffles. "Well, yes. But no."

"What's bothering you, little man?"

"Jean." James cries. "Jean."

"What's he done?" Sibling rivalry was rather uncommon in the twins' behaviour.

"Last night, he-he told me there were monsters under my bed. He-he said he saw them, Papa! They were big and mean and scary and when-when I had a dream last night, they were there! Goin' to get me, Papa!"

"Little man, I'm sure it was very scary, do you think that that's likely to happen? Monsters coming to get you?"

"I-I-"

"Cause they won't, little man. I'll protect you from all the monsters in the world." he brings the little boy to sit on his lap, stroking his dark tendrils as the boy leaned his head onto his fathers' chest. "But did you know that not all monsters are scary and mean?"

"They are, Papa!"

"No, little buddy. Let me prove it." Francis gets down onto the floor and perches the little boy on his bed. "What's this monster look like, hmm?"

"B-Big green eyes?"

"Green eyes and a fuzzy tail?" he asks.

"Yes! Papa, that-that's the le monstre that Jean saw last night!" James suddenly shrieks, temporarily slipping into French. "Don't get it out, Papa! Don't get it out!"

"Now, little man, I'm sure this is just a perfectly nice little monster." Francis says from under the bed. He bit his lip, letting out a small growl.

"Papa!" James cried out. "See! See! It's the monster, Papa. It's gonna get me, like Jean says it would!" He bundles the blanket to his chest and begins to weep again.

"Now, now, little man. This is just a perfectly nice little monster." Francis replies. He reaches and grasps the small monster in his hands. "See?" he goes to bring it out.

"No! No! No! No! Papa, don't take it out!" James pleads.

"He's scared of you, little monster." Francis tuts as his child shoves himself into the bed, covering himself up quickly. "He doesn't know that not all monsters are scary. You see, his brother put scary thoughts into his head again, and he's quite scared of monsters." he says, using a normal voice.

Francis highers his own voice, adds a little bit of gruffness that always got him out of helping his sisters polish great-grandmere's silverware in Italy whenever they visited, for it always terrified Catherine to an extent where he would be bundled up in blankets and would sip hot tea until the chores were finished. "I understand, Papa." he begins. James stops squirming in his bed. "Sometimes, you gotta get to know someone before you judge them. You see, not all monsters are scary, not all of them're mean, either. I'm just a little monster, and I'm a nice little monster, too." he finishes.

James' tiny head pokes out of the duvet.

"I would love to see the little monsieur James. I didn't mean to scare him, honest! I was just a little scared of him, 'cause he's so much bigger than me and there looked to be two of them, see? I hid under the blankets until the second one went away!"

"That-that wasn't another me, that's my brother, Jean." James mutters quietly.

Francis began using his normal voice. "Then that's settled that! Now, would you like me to see if I can get the little monsieur out of his bed so he can come see you?"

"Oh, would I!"

James slowly peaks out of his bed, seeing his father sitting on his knees in front of his bed, pretending to hold something in his arms.

"H-Hi." he whispers.

"Hi, James!" he uses the monster's voice. "I'm so happy to meet you! You see? I'm not scary, I just wanted to know if you'd be my friend!"

"Really?"

"Yep!"

"You won't hurt me? Or scare me, like my brother says?"

"Of course not, silly! I'm not a scary monster! I'm a nice monster!"

"O-Okay." James stutters, blinking as Francis got up. "Where's the monster gone, daddy?"

"The monster's under your bed, little man. He's protecting you from under there, you see, some monster's can't be seen, otherwise they go away forever. You wouldn't want that now, hmm?"

"Guess not."

"Good." he says. "Now, how about we say goodbye to little monster and go finish up our dinners? Then we can see if mama can get on the phone and talk for a bit?"

"Okay, Papa." James crawls out of the bed. "What about the monster?"

"The monster will protect your room until you go back to sleep, then he'll protect you, too. Now, run along to the table, your food might be getting cold by now."

James sprints off towards the doorway. When the boy's door is closed, Francis gets on his knees and looks under the bed. He smiles, there's no monster at all. Just a couple of Sterling's toy balls and a feather duster Jean had put there last night when they were playing a version of hide and seek. Even still, he knows his son will be protected as he sleeps.