Hey! Sick again. I have a ridiculously bad immune system. Anyway, this plot bunny has been bothering me for a while, so I wrote it! Hope all y'all like it! I love how in some versions, Grantaire and Gavroche seem pretty close, and I think it's cute!

DISCLAIMER- Still don't own Les Mis :*(

Gavroche stumbled into the nearly empty back room of the Musain, shaking with suppressed sobs and holding a dirty piece of cloth to his forehead to stop the blood dripping down his face. Grantaire, for once sober, was the first to notice the little boy.

"Gavroche!" His alarmed cry caused the other Amis that were occupying the room to turn around and see the boy. Gavroche rushed to Grantaire and flung himself into the student's arms, succumbing to sobs. The two other Amis who were in the room were Marius and Joly. The two young men quickly gathered around, wanting to help, but Grantaire waved them away. "Give him space." He mouthed before continuing to comfort the little boy. The other students backed away, waiting. Grantaire and Gavroche had bonded when Gavroche was very young and had begun appearing at meetings.

As they were waiting, the two Amis stared at Gavroche, wondering who on earth had done that to him. There was blood staining the tattered remains of his shirt, and a few welts and bruises were already visible where cloth was not covering.

After a few minutes, Gavroche's tears subsided, and he sat up unsteadily, taking shaky breaths. Joly took one look at the dirty cloth covering the head wound and promptly ripped a strip of cloth off of his shirt. "Look here, Gavroche." The little boy obeyed and turned to the medical student. Joly removed the dirty cloth, revealing the wound, and the Amis looked in shock at it. There was so much blood they couldn't see the source, and Joly covered it quickly with the clean cloth.

"Marius, go to the front and get water. We need cloths too. Make sure they are clean." Marius nodded and disappeared into the front room. Grantaire turned to the injured boy.

"Gavroche, who did this to you?" Gavroche shook his head, eyes wide. "Please. Who hurt you?"

"No! I can't tell!" Gavroche cried, already big eyes huge with fear. "If I tell, he'll know!"

"Gavroche, please calm yourself. I need to see your wounds, so I need you to remove your shirt." Joly spoke in a calm and businesslike tone, Gavroche shuddered, and took a shaky breath. Grantaire held the cloth in place as Gavroche removed the shirt with difficulty. The boy had probably not removed the shirt in quite a while, so parts of it were sticking to him with dried mud, sweat and blood, but he eventually pulled the tattered cloth over his head.

"Oh, Gavroche," Grantaire gasped when he saw the boy. He was skinnier than any of them knew, every single one of his ribs were visible, and his spine stuck out as a bumpy ridge on his back. His collar bone protruded obviously, and his shoulders were sharp. Marius re-entered the room and stopped short, but at Joly's gesture, continued inside with cloths and a bowl of water. He set the objects down and sat next to Grantaire.

Joly sighed sadly but moved to inspect the wounds on his back. "Gavroche, the shape of these welts looks like someone belted you, is that true?" Gavroche nodded, looking down. "Was there any sharp metal on the belt?" Gavroche nodded again, and Grantaire closed his eyes as if trying to calm himself. "Okay, after I clean these up a bit, we need to move to my flat. I'll be better equipped to treat you there." Nobody argued, so the medical student commenced rinsing the wounds. Gavroche winced every once in a while, but was otherwise unresponsive. After about ten minutes of quiet, Joly spoke. "We can go to my flat now." Gavroche's wounds had been temporarily bandaged, and his head wound had been covered, but the bandage was stained red.

"Come, 'Vroche, put my coat on." Marius said, realizing that the gamin's shirt would do nothing but dirty the clean bandages.

"But-"

"We will need to wash the blood out of your shirt, just wear my coat for the trip there, okay?" Gavroche huffed but nodded and put the coat on. He slipped off of the chair onto his feet but winced heavily and gasped when his left foot came into contact with the floor. Grantaire grabbed his arm and kept him upright, before putting him back on the chair. Joly kneeled next to the chair and took his ankle gently. Gavroche gasped and tried to pull away, but Joly continued inspecting it.

After a few more minutes, Joly looked up, both concern and relief reflecting in his eyes. "It's not broken, just sprained." Grantaire sighed in relief, and Joly continued speaking. "He'll need to stay off of it for a few days though." They all looked straight at the boy with raised eyebrows.

"Wha'?" Gavroche asked.

"You will stay off of your ankle, won't you?" Marius asked hopefully. Gavroche rolled his eyes.

"'Course I'll stay off it." He said, a bit of his humor showing through. "I walk on my feet, not my ankle." He smirked, and the three young men groaned.

"Grantaire, can you carry him to my flat?" Joly asked, ignoring the boy's protests. Grantaire nodded and picked him up gently. For all of the gamin's complaints, Gavroche eventually conceded and wrapped his bony arms around the young man's neck. After paying for their drinks, the little group started to make their way down the street.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, the students exchanging worried looks with each other. Who had done this to their littlest friend? Silently, they agreed to wait until they arrived at Joly's flat before questioning the boy. It wouldn't do any good to make a scene in the middle of the street. Marius was just opening his mouth to comment on something when they heard a gasp.

"Gavroche!" The voice was female and familiar, worry evident. The trio of students spun around, Gavroche still in Grantaire's arms but was now struggling to get down. Eponine stood behind them, eyes wide in shock. She rushed to the struggling Gavroche, staring at the bloody bandage. "What happened!" she demanded of the trio.

"He just stumbled into the cafe, injured. He wouldn't tell us how he was hurt, but he said he was belted, and the belt had sharp metal on it." Marius said, and the other two exchanged slightly confused glances. Eponine and Gavroche, for all they knew, had never spoken one on one, but the girl was obviously extremely worried. When said girl heard the part about the metal, her eyes widened, understanding and anger reflecting in her expression.

"You didn't!" Gavroche seemed to understand what she was saying, because he gulped and nodded.

"I didn't think..." He trailed off for a second. "Didn't think he'd be there." Eponine took a deep breath as if to calm herself before speaking.

"What the hell did you need to go there for? You know you aren't welcome there! I coulda gotten whatever it was!" Gavroche scowled.

"I know I ain't welcome there! They made that quite clear!"

Eponine was obviously frustrated. "Then why'd you come?"

"He took my hat! I had ta get it back somehow! Longer I wait, more likely he's gonna toss it!"

"Why didn't you just-" Eponine broke off and cursed, eyes growing huge. "'Vroche, run."

Before any of the Amis, who had been silent during the whole exchange could react, Gavroche rolled out of Grantaire's arms and hit the ground, about to take off running, but collided with a man who grabbed his arms and held him captive.

"What the-?" Joly started, all of them in shock about how quick it had happened. Gavroche twisted and turned in vain, trying to escape the man's grasp.

"Lemme go!" The man only tightened his grip.

"Brujon! Let him go!" Eponine cried, trying to pull the man away.

'Brujon' simply stood there, as if he was waiting for someone. That someone's arrival was made evident by the sudden widening of Gavroche and Eponine's eyes, and Eponine stopped trying to wrestle the man from the boy, instead looking down, obviously worried. The three Amis turned around and spotted the one who had caused fear to enter the headstrong girl's eyes. Her father.

Thenardier was standing a few feet behind the group, glaring at the little boy, and twirling a very familiar hat in his hands. "Brujon," he barked. "Release him." The dim man dropped Gavroche, who fell to the ground before springing up and rubbing his arm, glaring at the new arrival with venom in his eyes that the three Amis had never seen there before.

"Whaddo you want." Gavroche practically growled. Thenardier stepped forward, and the students made as if to rush to the little boy, but the con clucked dissaprovingly.

"Ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you." The rest of Thenardier's gang appeared from the shadows, stopping the boys in their tracks. They were outnumbered and outmatched. With a horrible smile, Thenardier turned to Gavroche. "Well well," he said, "look who it is! The little rat that broke into my home!"

Joly, Marius, and Grantaire swung to stare at Gavroche. He did what?! Gavroche continued glaring. "So what if I did. You already got me. I don't care, do I?" He reeled back from the punch the older man gave him in the jaw. Marius and Joly had to restrain Grantaire from going after Thenardier.

"That'll teach you to come back into my home again!" Thenardier snarled.

Gavroche stood back up as straight and defiantly as he could, with his sprained ankle. "I didn't want to come back into that 'home' of yours! You stole my hat, I was only gettin' back what was mine in the first place!"

"You little brat! That hat ain't yours! You forget that I have rights to everything you have. This hat is mine." Thenardier smirked foully.

"You ain't got no rights to nothin' of mine."

"I can have anything of yours, and you can't do nothing about it. The fact remains that although you left us, I have rights to anything of my children's." His smirk widened at Gavroche's glare. Grantaire and his companions stared in shock. Thenardier's words implied... No way. But Gavroche never said anything about his parents, most assumed he didn't have any to speak of. Still, there was no way...

"You ain't allowed anything of mine. I ain't no Thenardier, and I ain't no child o' your's. Best thing ya ever did was toss me out." Gavroche spat at him, venom piercing every syllable.

That did it. The little boy's words confirmed Thenardier's implication. As Thenardier advanced again, feeling came back into the legs of Grantaire, and he lunged forward to protect the boy he viewed as a mixture of brother and son. That scoundrel would not touch the one thing that Grantaire truly loved. Time seemed to slow down, and Grantaire saw Thenardier moving forward slowly, fist swinging back. Blood rushed in his ears, deafening him. Gavroche, normally so brave, shrunk back in fear. Grantaire stepped forward and punched.

Thenardier stumbled back from the force of the blow, holding his stomach. His cronies started to advance on Grantaire, but one spotted a police hat among the crowd, and the thugs scattered.

In the moment of silence afterward, everyone stared at Grantaire, who was breathing heavily and shaking out his hand. He didn't notice, though, he was watching Gavroche. The little boy had fallen to the ground when he backed up, his injured ankle giving out. He was huddled in on himself, shaking slightly. "Oh, Gavroche." He knelt next to him and put an arm around the boy. He stayed stiff for a moment before melting into the embrace.

"I d-don' like t-talkin' 'bout them." He stuttered out. "Not my f-father."

Grantaire pulled him close. "They aren't your family if you don't want them to be," he said softly. Eponine knelt down next to them and laid a hand on Gavroche's back.

"'Vroche, they ain't your family, but we are. We all care about you." In that moment, with the simple words of a street girl, Gavroche smiled, knowing that what she said was true. He had a family with his friends.

Not sure how well I like the ending, but let me know!

-Little-miss