Work Text:
Jean Valjean was sitting on one end of his dining room table, clad in his suit and fiddling with the end of a completely ridiculous tablecloth. The blasted thing contained much too many frills for any normal human's liking, but Cosette had informed him that it was perfect for a date.
A date which he had planned for Javert, who was conveniently missing.
The younger man was an hour late for! An hour! He had always admired the man for his punctuality, but this was bizarre. Javert was never late.
"Papa? Has he not arrived yet? You've been sitting there for quite some time?"
Valjean shook his head sadly, not looking at his daughter standing before him but rather at the candle burning in the middle of the set table.
"This is the third time this week. Do you think he's ill? Should I go look for him?"
Cosette was allowing questions to fly out of her mouth by the second, not giving her father an chance to answer even if he had intended to.
"Papa?" she asked worriedly after seeing that he wasn't acknowledging her attempts to speak to him at all. After a few moments of silence Cosette stomped her foot and walked out the front door.
Valjean barely took notice, overcome with the worry that something could have happened to Javert. He had said that work had been the reason he wasn't able to make their plans to dine together earlier in the week, but that couldn't be it tonight.
The man had promised Valjean that he would be there.
Though the two men hadn't been on many dates or even kissed more than a few times, he had thought that Javert wanted to be around him. He had the impression that Javert would find a way to tell him if he didn't want to continue their relationship, if it could even be called that at this point. Valjean hadn't seen the other man in an entire week. Javert could have had second thoughts about the older man by now.
What if he has grown bored of him? Or figured out that he was able to do much better than an old ex-convict?
The thought alone scared Valjean.
"Papa! There's a note for you!" he heard Cosette yell from the door as she made her way back into the house, managing to snap him out of his thoughts.
"It was taped to the door, I don't know how I didn't notice it."
"I don't know who would be sending-" he cut himself off when he saw the unmistakable handwriting of Inspector Javert.
"Thank you Cosette." She then sat down in the chair beside him, urging him to read the note.
Valjean felt his heart sink as he opened the envelope, already knowing what it's contents would be:
Dear Jean,
I apologize for being unable to attend dinner this evening. I have work to finish that can not wait. I hope we can reschedule.
- Your Javert
Cosette managed to grab her papa's hand before he crumpled up the note and threw it across the room.
"I'll clean all this up, you go to bed. I'm sure Javert will have less work to complete tomorrow." She smiled, rubbing his hand gently to try and calm him down.
Valjean clenched his teeth as he nodded slowly, letting go of Cosette's hand and getting up from his seat.
"I'll be back in an hour or so." he informed her, storming out the door before she could so much as ask where he was going.
How could Javert do this to him?
He hadn't done anything to provoke this behavior. Why did the man he wanted to spend all his time with not want to see him?
He was through with Javert's constant excuses and disregard for Valjean's own feelings. It could not be work that was keeping him from at least speaking with the man.
Certainly a police officer did not have that much paperwork to complete, and if he did he would like to assume that Javert would have a courtesy to tell him ahead of time.
They had known one another for quite a while and he knew that if Javert was anything it was dedicated, but why couldn't he be more dedicated to something other than his job?
That is if this whole situation was in fact due to work, which Valjean found highly unlikely.
After much contemplation Valjean ended up at the mostly empty p police station. There was absolutely no way that someone could be working in there at this hour. Despite this thought he went up to the first person in the place anyway.
"Excuse me, is Inspector Javert here?"
The man before him was much taller, but looked more confused than a man should who was supposedly working.
"Javert? Hm..." be murmured scratching his head, as if he had no idea how to form a sentence.
"Yes. Have you seen him?"
"I thought I heard he went home early today, said he wasn't feeling too well or something like that."
"Oh. Thank you."
Valjean turned around on his heels and exited the station immediately, wondering why Javert had lied to him.
He had expected his excuse to not be work, but why didn't he tell him that he was ill?
Feeling utterly confused, he walked in the direction of Javert's apartment. If the man wasn't there then he must have a good reason for missing dinner for the third time this week.
Maybe he would finally be able to tell the older man that he didn't want to be around him, even if that was the absolute last thing he wanted to hear.
***
Though Valjean did not visit Javert's lodging's often it didn't take him more than five minutes to get there. He quickly climbed the stairs despite the puzzled looks he was receiving from the other inhabitants, knocking on Javert's door with more patience than any other person should have at a moment such as this.
"Who is it?"
"Javert, open this door."
There was no answer for what felt like hours, but Valjean heard the presence on the other side of the door step back and mumble something that sounded like "It's open."
Letting out a sigh of relief Valjean opened the door, only to be met with a sight he certainly did not expect. The Inspector was nothing but a lump underneath the blanket on a bed. Javert was curled up with his head underneath his pillow on his bed.
The only reason that the older man had noticed him was because the apartment only consisted of one room.
"Javert?" he cautiously walked over to the bed, sitting down on the end.
"Javert?! Are you ill? What in God's name is the matter with you?"
He knew he was asking too much at once if he actually was feeling ill, but at the moment Valjean did not care about making the man comfortable.
All the Inspector managed to do was curl up into a tighter bunch of blankets in attempt to hide from Valjean more than he already was.
"Javert, if you did not want to see me you could have just said so! I do not need you putting on this whole charade!"
Still nothing.
"Javert?! Have I done something to you? If I have I apologize, but please talk to me. I promise you will never have to see me again afterwards."
Javert merely shook his head from underneath his thin pillow.
"You are behaving like a child! What is wrong? Do you not trust me enough to tell me? Or is there someone else you would rather tell?!"
Valjean couldn't take the stubbornness anymore, without giving the man a chance to answer him he grabbed the pillow covering Javert's head and promptly smacked him with it.
That managed to get his attention.
"Please tell me what's wrong Javert. If you don't want to see me anymore you only need to say so." He muttered, throwing the pillow off the bed.
Javert took the moment to sit up, finally looking at Valjean but then hastily down at his hands.
"I don't want that." he mumbled, sitting up but still not looking at the other man.
"Then what do you want? Why have you been avoiding me?"
Javert gulped, feeling anxiety come over him as it usually did when a matter was personal. He didn't know how to deal with something personal. Work he could do, his duty he could follow, but feelings were complicated, and he couldn't understand what was so difficult.
"Javert?"
"I apologize for lying to you. I...nevermind."
"I forgive you."
"I-I am not good at this." he mumbled, motioning to the two of them as he spoke.
Valjean furrowed his brows in confusion as he looked at his companion. "What do you mean?" Was all of his worrying for nothing?
Javert closed his eyes, feeling more comfortable discussing his feelings without having to look right at the other man.
"Nothing, nothing." he opened his eyes, taking the other man's hands in his. "I am sorry."
"I know it's something, and you can tell me."
"It's not important."
"Yes it is."
"No."
"Please?"
Javert looked down at their hands, feeling stupid, vulnerable, and weak for the state he was currently in. He felt a kiss on the tops of his hands, urging him to elaborate.
"I was scared. In case you have not noticed, I am not much of a people person."
Valjean nodded to confirm, wanting him to continue.
"I thought that you wouldn't want me. Or that you would end up growing tired of me. I have no idea how to act, and I am sorry. I was acting like a child, and I feel like an idiotic child now." he sighed, not daring to say anything more.
Javert felt two strong hands on his arms in an attempt at comfort and he assumed to try to get him to say more, but he simply shook his head.
"You're not a child. If I have not grown tired of you by now then I do not think that I ever will you impossible fool." Valjean smiled, earning him a curve of his lips that could almost be called a smile, from the younger man. With that he leaned in closer to meet their lips in another soft apology.
"Do not apologize for being yourself, though I would appreciate if you would talk to me about it next time." Vajean smiles before kissing Javert again.
The kiss is not as awkward as their previous kisses have been, but still awkward in the least. Javert grabs the collar of Valjean's shirt, pulling him closer though the kiss is still messy, and he would not have it any other way. Valjean's hands trail down Javert's arms while their lips smacked against one another's.
Once they finally broke apart for air they're both flushed and panting, refusning to remove their hands from one another.
"Can I come here for dinner tomorrow? You won't have too much work?"
"I think I can manage that. But will you stay now?"
Valjean was already removing his jacket and tie before the question had left his companion's lips. Javert wrapped his arms around the older man, pulling him down into his embrace.
"You may need to go find my pillow."
Valjean could only laugh.
FIN