A/N: Technically this is a crossover... but the crossover character is just "Death," and you really don't need to know much more about him than that. This Javert is particularly stubborn and prudish.

All of a sudden, through all the roar and gurgle of the water, Javert heard a voice. "All right – enough. Here I am."

He opened his eyes and though he knew he must be still in the Seine, still being thrown around and dragged under, Javert was also lying in someone's lap, cradled by a pair of strong arms.

"Hush – enough," the person repeated. "Look at me."

Javert blinked. The feel of the water was fading now; now he felt more and more like this was real, only this, the ground under him and this cool soothing voice in his ear. "Look at me."

He turned to look, and met a pair of bright eyes with long lashes. His glance flickered over the rest of the person's face: it was a man, a blond, whose collar suggested a dark coat of some kind, maybe even a uniform. An unfamiliar uniform, though. Javert cleared his throat. "Who are you?"

"I'm Death. Obviously."

Then there was a cool hand on his cheek and the man was leaning towards him, lips parted, as though he intended-

"Whoa!" Javert flinched away at the first brush of contact. "Excuse me, did you just-…?"

"Yes. Hold still," Death laughed. "That's how I seal your fate – with a kiss."

"No. Wait." Javert struggled to sit up, and Death let him. "You want to kiss me?"

"You want it. You're the one who called me, after all."

Javert licked his lips. "That's sin."

"What – calling me, or kissing me? If you're willing to do the one, I'd think the other would hardly matter."

Javert thought it over a moment. "I see your point… but I can't kiss you." He looked away.

"To escape the world, you're going to have to."

"That's ridiculous. You're lying to me." Javert pushed his hair back and noted that it was dry. Impossible. "Are you suggesting that nobody can die without…" He laughed. "Are you telling me you require it of nuns? Priests? Children? Are you telling me that if I refuse your advances I'll live forever?"

Death's smile was a little bit dark, and his eyes smoldered. "Nobody refuses my advances. If that's what you want to call it."

"Nobody? Ridiculous: I refuse."

"That's a shame. That means you'll live until it's truly your time to go. It might be years from now. You don't really want to wait years, do you?"

Javert didn't answer. He ignored the fingers that were walking delicately up his neck; the touch might be curious and even pleasant, but it didn't move him in any way that mattered.

Death seemed surprised by this, and withdrew his hand. He sighed and his half-smile disappeared. "If you truly want a way out, turn to me and accept the gift you've asked for."

"Gift," he snorted.

Death shook his head. "You are difficult," he said after a moment.

"I cannot be seduced, if that's what you mean."

"Immune to all the nicest parts of life? How sad."

Javert didn't miss a beat. "What would you know of life?" A look of irritation flitted across Death's face at that, and he realized in a flash: "You're jealous."

But now, far from being annoyed with him, Death laughed. "And you're entirely too clever for your own good. For the last time: do you want to die, or not?"

"I do. But not at the price you've named. I've lived my whole life without committing a sin like that, it's not in my nature, and I'm not going to blacken my record now."

Death grinned. "Then I'll do you a favor, silly as you are. Because I like you." He shifted and his hands moved to Javert's shoulders. The grip was surprisingly harsh, almost painful. "I'll save you from suicide… and grant you death anyway."

Javert tried to pull away, then tried to fight, but Death wrestled him to the ground easily. He turned his head to the side, closing his eyes, breathing through gritted teeth. Death held his jaw and turned him back by force. "No!" he yelled, meaning it, before the cool lips pressed to his and Death laughed into his mouth.

He heard the water once more and felt his lungs hitch, but unlike before, he didn't really mind it and it didn't frighten him. Because now there was a gentle hand between his shoulderblades, and a voice murmuring soothingly into his ear.

The End.

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