Je suis aimé par tous?
July 22, 2002
Disturbing fanfic trend of the week: Gavroche romance.
Quoth Quiara: "Given the average age of of ff.net writers, I'm surprised this hasn't happened before... Victor looks at Enjolras, 22-looks-17, and says, 'Kid.' 14-year-old looks at college boy and says, 'Too old for me.'"
To which there is a certain amount of truth. But still, ack.
See, there's this, which is just kind of silly; too much quotage and not enough character development. But then again there's another story, which its author bills as a "sweet little fic" and which, frankly, gives me the squirms, not just because it's atrociously formatted. I quote, verbatim:
"'...just be careful with Gav, his reputation is, well.scarred.' 'And why's that?' 'Well, let's just say that it had something to do with, um.remember Sophie? The, um, well, you know what she was.' 'Sophie was a.Oh my! Navet! I'm sure it isn't true!'"
And:
"It was really Charlotte's first kiss, but Gavroche.well, he might tell one otherwise."
Now hold on a minute. Gavroche is twelve. And while today that might not seem too young to go, um, experimenting, in 1832... Hugo consistently speaks of Gavroche as a child, not an adolescent. And in canon his only interactions with women are very much on a little boy's level. The only possible exception that comes to mind is the incident with the girl to whom he tosses his muffler, and that's rather a random act of kindness than a flirtation. He's just not old enough for serious romance.
I can cope with Gavroche flirting, in a twelve-year-old kind of way, with Mary Sue Gamine. But Gavroche sufficiently experienced to have "a reputation"? Really, really squicks me.