Javersmerelda

(If characters are all from the same author, it’s not really a crossover, right? *heh*)

Grantaire awoke feeling restless, so he gathered his sketching materials and let his feet take him where they wanted to. Soon he finds himself in an unfamiliar area of Paris. Surprised and delighted--there aren't many of those left--he settles himself down on an embankment to draw. After a while, he realizes that something about the wall he's drawing seems...off...He finally realizes that there is in fact a concealed door, that he would never have noticed, had he not been looking at it so carefully. He gathers his pencil and paper, and carefully clears some plants away, tugging at the door.

He finds himself in a dark tunnel, a bit like the sewers, but quite dry. There's very little light, though he can see some glowing at the end of the tunnel.

Deciding that this is the perfect adventure for an otherwise dull day, he fishes in his pockets until he finds a stub of candle and a match, and sets off, following his little light and the glow he can see.

It doesn't take him long to feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. The light at the end of the tunnel doesn't seem to be getting any closer and now he could swear he's hearing humming.

A little disconcerted, but not one to give up easily once he's set his mind to something, he swallows hard and keeps walking, one hand brushing the back of his neck subconsciously. He shakes his head a little to see if that will stop the barely audible noise.

The humming only gets louder, and perhaps jauntier. Then it stops and he hears two distinct voices.

"We should hang him, Clopin!"

"Yes, I quite agree. We haven't had that sort of entertainment in at least a day."

The hairs on Grantaire's arms raise--one of the voices is absurdly high and squeaky, and the other is jovial enough, but with a definite hard, menacing edge. He blows out his candle, then turns and heads back the way he came as quietly as possible, glad that there were no side-passages to confuse him.

"Does he think you won't find him if he blows out his candle?" the squeaky voice asked.

"It seems that way. Too bad for him." the deeper voice chuckled. The laugh went on for awhile, echoing through the tunnel until Grantaire couldn't be sure where it was coming from.

The laugh is extremely unnerving, and Grantaire finds himself trembling slightly, wrapping his arms around his torso--it suddenly seems much colder and damper in the tunnel. He tries to breathe quietly and not run for the exit, knowing logically that the voices must still be somewhere behind him, but...not very comforted by this.

As he approaches the entrance, he bumps right into a man wearing a plague doctor mask. "Boo." he chuckles. The puppet on his hand waves a tiny noose.

Grantaire yelps with suprise and fear. "How...how did you get ahead of me?" he stammers, taking a step back.

"I've always been ahead of you." he grinned.

The puppet nodded. "Let's put him on trial!"

"Whatever for?" the man looked surprised. "Did we decide on a crime?"

"Trespassing!"

Grantaire is trembling, though he couldn't have told anyone why--he's faced much more dangerous situations, and not been nearly as afraid. Maybe it's the damned puppet... "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to trespass. I was just curious, and I saw the door, and I'll just be going..."

"No, you won't." the man grinned, grabbing him with the unpuppeted hand and dragging him towards the lighted end of the tunnel. When they finally got there, he popped Grantaire onto a platform and threw a noose around his neck. There were puppets seated at what looked like a courtroom. A judge with a tiny gavel, a jury, all frowning, and the man was busily affixing a wig to the puppet on his hand.

"It will be a fair trial!" he announced.

Grantaire can't help but laugh at the dire and absurd scene, although he's rather pale. The man is clearly insane, but very strong and no less dangerous for his madness. "Please, I think there's been some mistake..." he says, still trying to sound reasonable. He tries to remove the noose without drawing the other's attention.

"No mistake was made!" cried the puppet, "This man is clearly a murderer!"

"This trial is for trespassing." the man muttered.

"A trespasser! Look, even now he's still trespassing!" the puppet slapped R's face (albeit, gently).

It crosses Grantaire's mind that, if this wasn't happening to him, it would be really, really funny. He would pay to see someone correcting...his hand. The puppet slapping him is the last straw. Throwing the noose aside, he moves to jump off the platform. "Alright, look here, you!" He finds himself looking around the courtroom for a moment, as though they're people, then shakes his head and looks back at the man. "I'm sorry I trespassed in your...weird lair...but I'm leaving now."

The man jerked R back by his collar, forcing him into the chair and sitting in his lap. "It's best just to let them talk." he smiled amiably. "Otherwise they get quite cross."

Grantaire gasps as he's pulled back, leaning as far away from the masked man as he can. "...no one is talking but you..." he says, rather wide-eyed.

"I have hardly said a word, except to correct Monsieur here." he gestured to the puppet. "Now, let's watch the trial. But first, what is your name?"

Grantaire briefly considers coming up with a false name, but a) it isn't a real court, and b) the man is clearly delusional, so it doesn't seem worth the effort. "...Grantaire..." he says, not bothering to respond to the rest.

The man starts to monologue through the puppet with the wig, presenting the case to the judge puppet, who had permanent angry eyebrows. "This man was caught trespassing by me, myself and Clopin, who is the only witness here who is not completely round the bend!"

Here, Clopin paused to whisper to Grantaire. "That's me."

"Clearly he needs to be punished! Hang him!"

The little puppet jury didn't move, but the insane man threw his voice from them. "He's guilty! Hang him!"

Clopin left Grantaire's side, disappearing beneath the judge's pulpit. The judge puppet moved, then pointed down at R. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Grantaire raises an eyebrow, wondering if this is -really- happening to him, or if he had slipped on a puddle on the way into the tunnel and hit his head...-really- hard. Still, he's very impressed by the man's ability to throw his voice. "I...ah...I'm sorry! I realize that this isn't exactly a legal court, but I don't think that will effect the...ah...effectiveness...of the sentance. I didn't mean to trespass, I didn't know I was. Please, just let me go."

The judge looked down at where Clopin was hiding and they had a whispered conversation. Then the judge looked back up and shook his head. "No. Hang him!"

Clopin skipped out from under the pulpit, wearing a little inspector puppet, that looked like a tiny copy of Javert.

Grantaire pales, convinced that he's about to die in this mad puppet theatre. Perhaps if he played along...? "Ah, Inspector! Surely you can see that it was an honest mistake! No one loves the law more than Javert, he'll make sure justice is served! Hanging seems...rather extreme!"

Javert-puppet seems to consider this, scratching at his little puppet sideburns. "I'm certain we can come to an agreement." Javert puppet looked to Clopin. The voice Clopin chose sounded precisely like Javert's.

"Ah...yes...I'm sure we can..." Grantaire suddenly realizes there's nothing keeping him in the chair, and he leaps up, preparing to bolt.

"Then we'll only half hang him!" Clopin grinned, tossing the noose over Grantaire with the help of Javert-puppet. He tightened the noose and tossed it over a pole above them, pulling the rope down, and Grantaire's body up to his tiptoes.

Grantaire gasps, too startled by Clopin's speed to struggle. He dances on his toes, gasping, face turning scarlet--and his cock instantly hard, making him redder. He wonders, idly, what the man means by 'half hang'...

Clopin ties off the rope so Grantaire is left dangling, carefully puts down Inspector puppet (making sure that he's facing away) and then drops to his knees, removing Grantaire's pants and starting to suck him off.

Grantaire strains to look down at the man in front of him, but soon has to give up and concentrate on not suffocating. His cock springs to full attention, which concerns him a great deal and makes him wonder if insanity is possibly contagious. It doesn't help that he's fantasized about this...more than once.

Clopin takes his time enjoying Grantaire's struggling and gasping, taking the boy's entire cock into his mouth. He has to lift his mask in order to do so, letting it rest on his back as he sucks the man's cock.

Grantaire is soon moaning ecstatically (if a little hoarsely) and praying that he'll get to cum before he's killed, at least.

The madman slides a long, lubricated finger into Grantaire's anus, finding just the right spot and putting pressure on it. The head of R's cock hits the back of Clopin's throat.

R tries to gasp "oh, god", which mostly comes out as a strangled gasp, bucking and riding the finger until he almost loses his footing.

Clopin lifts him up a bit by his ass, allowing him a few gasps of air while he slides in another finger.

Grantaire gasps accordingly, his feet pumping madly until his ankles are resting on Clopin's shoulders, his eyes rolled up in his head in ecstacy. He had always sort of half-wanted to die more or less like this, but hadn't thought it likely.

Clopin bites down at the base of R's cock, not as hard as he could, but certainly hard enough to hurt. His fingers curled inside the other.

R's eyes go wide, and he's momentarily afraid that his cock has been bitten off, and he gives a hoarse little scream, but soon realizes he's fine. He spasms wildly as the fingers curl, cumming tidally, most of it landing on the noose and his neck.

Clopin pushes him off after he's cum, letting him dangle and spin on the end of the rope. He lifts the little inspector puppet, nodding to it. "Is this about half hanged?" he asked. His face is still bare of the mask. "Cut him down." the puppet told him. Clopin sighed and cut the rope, letting R fall to his knees.

Grantaire gasps and chokes and reddens as he hangs, his loose hands clawing wildly at the rope, feet kicking in all directions. He doesn't hear the conversation, and when he's cut down, he's only on his knees for a moment--he very quickly falls forward to all fours, clawing at the noose, sobbing.

At that moment, another, hidden door is opened, and Javert himself walks in. He's not wearing his great coat and top hat, and his sideburns are about the only recognizable part of him. He's wearing a rather outlandish emerald green coat, and his long hair is tied back with a matching ribbon. He strides in, obviously quite familiar with the place.

"Francois!" Clopin brightened considerably. "Look, I have little Francois out!" he showed him the puppet, who did a little dance.

Javert smiles, somewhat indulgently. "Yes, I see that. It's...a remarkable replica. You're in a good mood--" he sees Grantaire at that moment, but doesn't recognize him from this angle. "I see you're...entertaining...someone." He wants to rush over and make sure the man is alright, but he's clearly alive, and one must be delicate with Clopin.

"Yes, but you argued that he should only be halfway hanged, so he's still alive." Clopin nestled into Javert's chest affectionately, tense body relaxing.

Javert gently wraps an arm around the shorter man, idly stroking his chest. "Did I? You mean this one, here?" He points to the puppet. "How did you...half hang him?"

The puppet nods. "I hanged him until he came, of course."

Javert raises an eyebrow behind Clopin, but nods. "...of course...and you did a very good job." He notices now that the man is, in fact, dripping onto the platform. "May I go see, cousin?"

Clopin nods, going to tuck the Javert puppet away. It wasn't needed now that Francois was really here.

Javert lightly strokes Clopin's hair, stepping up to the platform to examine the victim.

Grantaire, meanwhile, is not completely aware of what's going on. When he hears the new voice, he just assumes Clopin is still just talking through the Javert puppet.

Clopin tucks away his puppet, then follows Javert to see Grantaire, sitting next to the panting, gasping man.

Javert kneels beside the collapsed man, removing the noose as gently as he can, frowning a little when the coarse fibres are reluctant to pull free of his stubbly neck. When the rope is tossed aside, he gently raises the man's face, eyes widening momentarily as he recognizes him. "...Grantaire?" he gasps, quite concerned. "Are you alright?"

Grantaire finds himself looking into the cool grey eyes of the Inspector himself. For a moment, he thinks the puppet is just being held really close to his face. "Javert?" he tries to ask, having to stop and painfully clear his throat with a racking cough "...am I dead? Are you dead?"

"Neither of you are dead. Unless we're all dead together." Clopin said sagely, picking at his fingernails with a knife.

"...yes, thank you, cousin..." Javert sighs, carefully rolling Grantaire onto his side for the moment, before standing and regarding Clopin. "And what was he, ah, tried for?"

"Trespassing. Possibly murder." he frowned. "Are you angry, cousin?"

"No, Clopin, of course not...is it trespassing or murder?" Javert asks, gently.

"Trespassing. Between you and I, I don't think the prosecutor was entirely sober."

"I see...a serious accusation, indeed. You should look into that." Javert produces a bottle of wine and a packet of food, offering them to Clopin. "I would like to take the accused with me."

"You are the inspector, I suppose." he eagerly takes the food and drink. "But I was hoping you'd stay." he pulled the mask back over his scarred face, as if suddenly realizing he was exposed.

Javert had been a little surprised to see the scars--not that he hadn't before, but Clopin was usually loathe to be without a mask, unless he was intentionally trying to display them. "Ah...I wish I could, cousin, but these are serious charges. He must be interrogated at once." Javert is practically vibrating with the effort not to just scoop Grantaire up and be gone, but...Clopin is older than him and therefore commands his respect.

Clopin nods, miserably. "You'll come back?"

"Of course." The inspector kisses his masked forehead. "Don't I always?"

He nodded again, clinging to Javert briefly before letting him go, he retreated to the pulpit, digging through his puppets.

Javert embraces him in return, rushing to Grantaire's side as soon as Clopin leaves. He gathers the now unconscious boy up as carefully as he can. "Until next time, cousin." With that, he leaves the Court of Miracles and is back on the Parisian streets.

Grantaire stirs in the Inspector's arms, moaning a little.

"You're safe." Javert murmured, opening the door to his flat without putting the boy down.

R rolls his head until he can look up at his saviour, wincing as he moves his neck. "What happened?" he whispers roughly.

"You met Clopin." he sighed, stroking Grantaire's hair and tucking him into bed, climbing in with him. "Try not to move your neck. You'll stay here until you heal."

Grantaire has a sudden, vivid flashback to what he had thought would be his last orgasm, and he bucks wildly in the other's arms.

Javert pulls R to his chest, letting him buck and shake.

After a moment, Grantaire recovers, bright red with embarrassment. "Uhh..." he says weakly. He cuddles up against the Inspector, rather at a loss. "Thank you..." he croaks.

Javert smiles wryly. "You enjoyed some of that, then?"

"Ohgod..." Grantaire says, burying his face in Javert's chest, utterly embarrassed.

"Well... I'm sure some of it was good." Javert wasn't sure what to say to make R feel better. "You don't have to explain."

"...thank you..." the R-lump murmurs, yawning. "You'll have to explain...later..."

"You sleep." the inspector kissed R's forehead.

Grantaire nods, drifting off in the Inspector's arms.

R woke to the smell of bacon and eggs cooking. He was still in Javert's bed, a mug of coffee sitting on the bedside table.

Grantaire stretches, yawning, only to yelp when it moves his still-tender neck. "Ow...I think I have splinters..." he nurses the coffee happily, cuddling it close to himself for comfort.

Javert comes in with a plate of food. "You're awake." he smiled, giving him the plate and sitting behind him, letting R rest on his chest.

Grantaire nods, smiling in return, and happily nestling onto the older man. "Thank you for saving me," he says, still a little raspy, but mostly recovered.

"I'm just glad I got there when I did, and that he wasn't intent on killing you." Javert stroked Grantaire's hair.

"He wasn't?" R asks, purring softly at the hair petting. "What was he doing? ...why were you there?" He suddenly has a flood of questions. "...not that I'm not grateful."

"He was... mostly just playing with you, I think. I don't know if he would have killed you if I hadn't come in then. And... I've known him since we were young."

Grantaire nods. "...how?" he asks, a little tentatively, not entirely sure he wants to know.

"We're... cousins."

Grantaire raises an eyebrow. "...oh. That's...odd. Has he always been..." he searches for a neutral word.

"No, he's changed." Javert picked a few rope bits off Grantaire's neck.

"Ow. Thank you. What happened?"

"When he came to Paris, a man took an interest in him. This was when he was twenty or so. Clopin didn't want to be his lover, but the man threatened him with burning at the stake." Javert continued to pick at the rope.

R's eyes widen in horror. "Oh, god..." he whispers, turning to look at Javert. "...ow."

"He was the man's lover for a few months, but I think it was then that he started... talking to himself." Javert kissed R's neck. "The man decided to get rid of him and tried to burn him. Clopin was very lucky that someone got to him in time, his burns didn't kill him."

Grantaire nods, eyes wide with dismay, speechless.

"He hasn't been the same since. And once he'd recovered, he became very conscious of his scars."

"...scars? Oh, the mask." Grantaire's eyes are rather teary. "I can't imagine...I'm glad you...thank you..."

Javert kissed R's forehead. "Are you crying for him or for you?"

R smiles, rolling so he's cuddled beside Javert. "...mostly him," he admits. "I'm ok."

"Eat your breakfast." he murmured, stroking R's back. "And don't worry about Clopin."

"...how can I not! That poor man! ...how many people has he killed? What is that place?" Hunger wins out quickly, as it usually does, and he's soon ravenously devouring the food.

"I'm honestly not sure if the exact number, but several a year. I don't always find the bodies. Mostly they're gamin who wandered into the Court of Miracles."

Grantaire looks briefly repulsed, swallowing his mouthful. "The Court of Miracles?" he asks. "-That's- the Court?"

"You've heard of it?"

R shrugs. "Of course, who hasn't? Thought it was a myth. I certainly didn't think it was a...deranged puppet theatre..."

"It didn't used to be. It was a sanctuary, but... for Clopin, a sanctuary had to be devoid of other people. He's the only one who stays there these days."

The cynic nods, still looking a little disturbed, but definitely feeling better after his meal. "...thank you..." he breathes.

He gets kissed soundly.

R smiles genuinely, nuzzling even closer to the Inspector. He thinks about...repaying...the man for a moment, blushing as he remembers his last sexual encounter.