Joly tried to quiet his sobs. He leaned closer to Bossuet, taking comfort in the man next to him. How dare that rotten man say such things-but if Joly kept thinking on that track he was just going to get worked up again. Or, more likely, just start crying again. He took another deep breath . He and Bossuet were sitting in a gray, musty, rarely-used stairwell. Joly would've thought it was completely unused, except at that moment the door opened and Courfeyrac entered.

Immediately Joly cut off his sobs and scooched closer to Bossuet. Maybe they could pass this off as cuddling?

"Hey Joly, Bossuet, how's it-what's wrong?"

Or not.

"It's fine, Courf, just a bad day," said Joly. He gave a small smile.

Courfeyrac didn't seem convinced. He sat down next to them. "Are you sure? You look pretty upset, and I hate that. Is there any way I can help?"

"No, it's fine-" Joly began, but Bossuet interrupted him. He was clearly angry about what had happened. Which Joly understood, of course, but they didn't have to share it with the whole world, did they?

"Any way you can make the dean of students less of an asshole?"

Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow-a trick he was rather proud of-at Bossuet's language. It was unlike him. "Why? What happened?"

"The elevators in one of my lab buildings isn't working, and I can't really climb the stairs that well, not everyday anyways. I asked him to fix it, and well. He said no. Along with some insinuations that I don't need the elevator because apparently chronic joint problems don't qualify his bullshit standards of a 'real disability,' some misinformed opinions about my OCD, and some insulting things about my and Bossuet's relationship," Joly finished bitterly. He hated this. He hated people like that. He hated authority figures who didn't care. He hated people who didn't even try to understand what they way talking about. He hated bullies who seemed to find pleasure in hurting people instead of helping them.

Courfeyrac had gone rather still. "Is that so?" he asked, pulling a phone out of his pocket. He fired off a quick text to Enjolras that something had happened, he might be a little later than usual, he'd call if he needed backup, but he didn't think he would. His mouth stretched in a grin as he stood up. "I'm going to go talk to him."
"Wait, Courf, no! You don't need him mad at you too, he's the dean of students."

"He doesn't have anything against me, I'm well within my rights to bring up things I believe he has improperly handled. In fact, he should be thanking me for not going directly to his boss."

"He doesn't need anything, he'll make it," said Bossuet, "He used my skin color, he was ableist towards Joly, and homophobic to both of us! He'll just kick you out of the school if you make him mad."

"No he won't, he can't," said Courfeyrac as he exited the stairwell and walked towards the dean's room, "He works under people. If we need to, we'll go over his head."

Joly hurried to walk alongside him, "It's not worth it, I'm just one person, leave it alone!"

"What do you want to bet he's done the same thing to countless others? And you're worth it, Joly, even if it is just you. You have the right to be able to attend all the classes you've paid for, if nothing else. Ah, here we are." He opened a door marked Thomas Bradley, Dean of Students and walked in. Joly and Bossuet followed behind, exchanging glances..

"Yes?" the dean asked, impatiently, "Didn't I just speak with you two?"

"You did," Courfeyrac cut in smoothly before Joly could even figure out what to say, "And there are a few problems." He smiled pleasantly. Joly had the feeling he was enjoying this. Joly was not.

"And what's that?"

"Well, you see," began Courfeyrac, "you were rather unkind. A student comes to you, with a disability, saying some of the infrastructure in place for him is not functioning. The school does not discriminate based on ability. The school also has hired electricians and mechanics. There is no reason this can't be fixed. There are only two reasons I can imagine that you would turn down his request for help. One, you may feel as though he doesn't need it. If this is why, then you clearly don't understand that his problem has a medical diagnosis, a doctor's note could be provided to fix that. But that shouldn't be necessary, the school must have working elevators even if no one requires them. There isn't any form of logic that would lead you to conclude elevators aren't necessary. Even if you somehow don't care about disabled students, maintenance teams need the elevators for lifting large loads. The elevators are use to transport equipment. Even the cleaning service uses the elevators for their carts. You must understand they're necessary. So the other option is that you specifically have something against my friend. Or perhaps my friend and his partner? I was told you were offensive about the differently-abled, neuroatypicality, sexual orientation, and skin color over the course of one short conversation. If a single one of those things is true, that is enough to call your job into question. Unsurprisingly, minority groups are the ones that need the most help by the administration of which you are a part. As the dean of students, your job is to be the link between administration and the student body. Right now, you are failing in the most spectacular way imaginable. So with that in mind, could you please fix the elevators?¨

The dean, who had been completely unprepared for anything more than a few mumbled words by a shy undergraduate, had sat through the entire tirade growing paler and paler. The unfortunate truth was that the young student was right. His job was at risk if this got out. As he listened to the impromptu speech, unable to find space to interject, he found there wasn't a lot to say. The boy had anticipated his responses and already refuted them.

At last he said, ¨Of course. And may I have your name?¨ Usually students were more scared of making him angry if he knew their name. The boy probably wouldn't try this again now, he would be too scared of getting on his bad side.

¨de Courfeyrac," he said, ¨I'm actually coming to the board meeting this weekend, to argue for gender neutral bathrooms. I'm sure I'll see you there. If that's all, may I go?¨

Bradley gave an absent nod and the three boys left. That one would be a trouble maker. Hopefully he'd lose interest in fixing the world and start to focus on girls or something normal. And hopefully those other boys didn't pick anything up from him.

Outside the room, Joly turned to Courfeyrac with wide eyes. "Courf, that was incredible!"

"Don't mention it, it was fun. And useful. He was going to be a major opponent this weekend, now he's scared of me. Are you both okay, you sure?"

"Yeah, fine," said Bossuet, "And thanks. That really helped."

"A lot of it was borrowed from my friend Enjolras, he's better at this sort of thing. I just tried to channel him. I think it worked."

Joly had heard of Enjolras, but hadn't ever spoke to him. It wasn't like Courfeyrac, who was his next door dorm mate. Enjolras was terrifying, a firebrand. He was also apparently very rich, and general opinion was that that was the only reason he hadn't been kicked out. Joly didn't really listen to rumors, so he's assumed Enjolras was another party boy. Apparently not. He sounded like the sort of person Joly wanted to be friends with.

"I'd like to meet him, sometime," Joly said.

"Sure. He and Combeferre and I are all super busy for the board meeting, but we meet in a cafe once a week. I'll text you details. We'd be glad to have you."