Chapter Text
*** In which Enjolras and Grantaire attend their little goddaughter's birthday party and have a revelation ***
“I can’t believe you’re making me do this.”
Grantaire walked out of the bedroom doing up his cuffs and grinned at the sight of his distressed husband sat on the floor of their lounge, surrounded by rolls of brightly coloured gift wrap and cascades of rainbow ribbons.
“The gift wrapping or the birthday party?”
Enjolras looked up from his task as he unrolled a length of sellotape and ripped it with his teeth. When he saw the face of Grantaire smirking down at him, he wrinkled his nose in a show of distaste and said “Both.”
It wasn’t that Enjolras didn’t love his little goddaughter, nor that he was unwilling when persuaded to engage in yet another game of Pin The Tale On The Donkey (he always won); right then, the biggest issue was trying to gift wrap a cuddly stegosaurus that seemed to have more protrusions than was surely necessary.
Grantaire couldn’t stifle the laugh as he watched Enjolras fight to attach another strip of tape, only for one of the creature’s legs to spring up and rip through the paper. “You having fun there?”
Enjolras held out the roll of tape to the awaiting hand with a pout, glad to be able to pass the job on to his more adept husband. “Why can’t she like something that’s easier to wrap like… I don’t know, a book or something?”
“She’s three! I don’t think books are all that appealing to her yet.”
“Well at least a dinosaur that’s got less bloody horns! Anyway, I liked books when I was three,” said Enjolras although he was smiling now because he secretly adored the fact that this sweet little girl had an obsession with dinosaurs. It was like she was already sticking her tongue out at gender stereotypes and rising to an innocent rebellion. Perhaps she had been spending too much time with her Uncle Enj.
“Yeah, but you were special,” Grantaire teased.
“I choose to take that as a compliment,” said Enjolras, reaching over to plant a kiss on his husband’s cheek before he rose to his feet.
“Go get your sexy ass ready while I get this finished. And don’t linger too long in the shower, remember we have to pick up the cake on our way round.”
“Ooh, I LOVE it when you’re so dominant,” Enjolras called as he walked away and earned himself a playful whack around the legs with the cardboard tube.
*
An hour later, they were in the car driving to Marius and Cosette’s house, Grantaire behind the wheel and Enjolras beside him, balancing the cake box precariously on his knees with the bag of now neatly wrapped gifts wedged between his knees.
“All I’m saying is it doesn’t look like a T-Rex,” said Enjolras, as he carefully lifted a corner of the box to inspect it yet again. “Doesn’t look very terrifying.”
“Will you stop worrying? She’ll love it. Besides, I don’t think we’d be too popular if we turned up with a cake that made all the kids cry. Not all three year olds are as hard core as our little Genevieve.”
Enjolras tensed a little in his seat. “How many kids are coming to this thing?”
“Marius told me about eight or ten I think,” said Grantaire and took one hand off the steering wheel to give his husband’s leg an affectionate squeeze. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
Enjolras didn’t like feeling incapable in any aspect of life and he was painfully aware of his ineptness when it came to dealing with children. Genevieve was different, of course. She had spent much of her three years on earth with her two beloved “uncles” and there had been many sleepovers at their house when Marius and Cosette were sleep deprived and desperate for respite. On those occasions, Enjolras loved nothing more than turning the kitchen upside down while baking cookies with her or snuggling up to read a bedtime story before she inevitably dozed off in his arms.
However, when it came to other children, he just seemed to struggle to bond with them. It didn’t come naturally, anyhow, unlike his infuriatingly perfect husband who could sit in a ball pit surrounded by masses of hyperactive, sugar-high children pelting him with plastic ammunition and not be in the slightest bit fazed.
Enjolras sighed. “I guess it’ll be different when it’s ours.”
It wasn’t immediately clear which one of them was more taken aback by that statement. Grantaire’s eyes darted to those of his husband beside him who looked as shocked to have spoken the words as Grantaire was to hear them. “Did you just say what I think you just said?”
“Umm… apparently so… Did I?”
Grantaire looked back at the road and breathed deeply to calm himself. He had long ago accepted that children were unlikely to be a part of their lives as a couple and something he would just have to learn to live without. Being a father was something he had always wanted but so was Enjolras and he had made his choice four years ago at their wedding and not regretted it once, even if some days his heart hurt a little more than he would have liked to admit.
There was a moment or two of silence before Grantaire said quietly, “A child, Enj… A child?”
Enjolras had shuffled round in his seat so he could face the man who was staring so hard at the road and wished more than anything that he was free at that very moment to pull him into his arms.
“Why not? We could at least start looking into it, couldn’t we?”
“I think we need to have a long talk first.”
Grantaire couldn’t glance at his husband again right then because he knew it would be enough to invoke the sudden flow of tears he was trying so hard to stem.
“Lets do that,” said Enjolras and smiled to himself. “And for what it’s worth, you would make a great dad.”
*
The tension of unspoken words was heavy between them by the time they arrived at the party and Enjolras wished he’d kept his mouth shut. It wasn’t because he regretted the words, he only wished he’d had the sense to wait until a more appropriate time to raise the subject. He knew he could be impulsive at times and doubtless Grantaire was wondering over the validity of his interest in the idea. Enjolras wouldn’t blame him at all for that.
As they got out of the car and made their way to the garden gate, it was a welcome relief to hear the excited squeals and babble of the sea of children beyond. Grantaire led the way, elbowing the balloons out of the way as he pushed the gate open.
“At last! Back up has arrived!” Cosette exclaimed as she strode across the garden and enclosed them, one after the other, in a quick but tight embrace. “Is that the cake?”
“One non-scary chocolate T-Rex with green buttercream icing,” Enjolras announced as he held out the box for Cosette to take. “Entirely non-threatening and delicious.”
Cosette laughed as she peeked inside the box. “Oh it’s perfect, Gen will LOVE it! Thanks guys.”
Glad to have his hands freed at last, Enjolras quickly linked his fingers with Grantaire’s because it was the only way he could think of right at that moment to acceptably show his husband the affection he suspected was needed.
“Where is the birthday girl?” asked Grantaire, giving Enjolras’ hand a quick squeeze as he felt it link with his. He scanned the grass that was littered with discarded paper cups and streamers and the odd random shoe laying on its side here and there. Despite the mess, there was only two children to be seen running back and forth between the chestnut trees. The gravelled path, however, led around the side of the house to where the garden opened out and the raucous that was coming from that direction indicated a substantially greater scene awaiting.
“GEN! YOUR UNCLES ARE HERE!” Cosette turned her head to shout and before she’d finished getting the words out, a squealing little girl in a fluffy purple dinosaur onesie came hurtling around the corner, the fabric horns on top of her head wobbling madly and falling down over her face.
“Uncy Taire! Uncy Ej!” she shrieked, as she threw her arms around Grantaire’s legs.
Grantaire bent down to scoop her up into his arms and Enjolras leant in to place a kiss on her cheek but when he did so, she threw her arms around his neck to keep him there.
“Happy birthday sweetheart,” Enjolras said when he was finally released and tapped her on the nose, making her giggle. “You having a good party?”
“I got some dinosaur play dough, and Ben brought me lego but I’s already got it but Mum says we gonna change it and we got jelly and popcorn,” she rambled, falling over her words in the excitement of getting them out.
“Oh wow, are you gonna show us?” said Grantaire as he placed the wriggling child back onto her feet. She replied by reaching up to grab his hand and lead the way as fast as her little legs would allow.
Enjolras looked at Cosette as she breathed out an exhausted sigh and blew away a free strand of messy hair that had come loose from her bun. He laughed and enclosed her in another hug because she looked like she needed it. “You ok?”
“Exhausted but good,” she said as she allowed herself to be held and rubbed a grateful hand over his back.
“Where’s Marius? Hope he’s pulling his weight,” said Enjolras when he released her.
“Hah!” she exclaimed. “Wait until you see.”
Enjolras followed her into the garden where he was met with a scene of what could only be described as happy chaos. There were balloons and streamers draped and tied onto every available surface, some floating free and being batted across the grass, paper plates with half eaten sandwiches and cupcake wrappers littered everywhere, upturned cups and pointy party hats, masses of torn wrapping paper, little gatherings of people chasing children about or stood chatting over plastic glasses of lemonade and if that was ten children or less then he needed glasses! Amongst it all, taking pride of place in the middle of the garden was a giant bouncy castle and currently ricocheting at dizzying heights from one side to the other was Marius, sending several smaller lighter bodies shrieking with laughter as he landed with force and sent them vaulting up into the air.
“Oh, I’m already there!” said Enjolras as his eyes lit up and he started to kick off his shoes.
As he raced over to join them, Cosette laughed and shouted after him “You boys are all as bad as each other!”
*
As the afternoon continued, the little party goers began to leave one by one, some with cries of protest and some asleep in their parents’ arms. By the time the sun was beginning to set and the air was cooling, there were only three toddlers left but their parents were Cosette’s closest friends and unlikely to leave anytime soon. As the little group of women moved their garden chairs into the last warm patch of sun, the children were either playing on the blanket at their feet or still bouncing with considerably less vigour on the inflatable castle.
Grantaire had migrated into the kitchen with Marius to help him clean up and they were stood either end of the room, Grantaire with his hands submerged in a washing up bowl full of soapy water and Marius bent over the rubbish bin, tying the ends of yet another full bag, when Enjolras came in from outside with Genevieve asleep in his arms.
“Cosette said to take her straight through to her bedroom,” he whispered as the two men turned to observe him.
Marius gave him a nod of agreement and as Enjolras walked past Grantaire, he gave him a little wink and earned a smile from his husband.
In Genevieve’s bedroom, Enjolras laid her carefully onto her bed where she snuggled onto her side, still clutching her new cuddly stegosaurus which had been declared her “very best friend” and he covered her with the duvet, reaching down to brush a soft kiss onto her forehead before he crept out, pulling the door almost closed behind him.
Back in the kitchen, Marius had gone and Grantaire was stood leaning against the sink, waiting for his husband to reappear. When he did so, he threw him a smile and held out his arms.
“You ok?” said Enjolras, as he folded himself into the loving embrace.
“Mmm,” Grantaire murmured in reply. “Even better now.”
“Same. It’s been a good day.”
After a moment of just enjoying the quiet comfort of each other’s presence, Grantaire spoke next.
“You would too, you know.”
Enjolras drew himself back just far enough to be able to look into his husband’s eyes. “I would what?”
“Make a great dad,” said Grantaire and smiled.