'A few more hours' was easier said than done. With the thought of a dead body being stored on the other side of the bunker, not many members of the group could fall back to sleep as easily as Montparnasse, who was face down in his pillow and completely out of it within minutes. After about forty five minutes he was the only one still fast asleep.

Musichetta and Feuilly both passed their time in the gym, with him running and her doing some kind of inhuman stretching. It wasn't long before she noticed the slightly bewildered look on his face, and with a grin, ushered him over, offering to teach him some of the more basic yoga poses she could think of. He was something of a big guy – not in width but in build – and while he was strong, watching him gracelessly stumble again and again was just a little bit funny to her. Helping to steady him, she gradually relinquished her grip on him until he could balance unaided.

"There we go! What did I say? Easy!"

"Yeah, yeah – do I get a medal?"

"Mm, no…sorry – You do get to teach all your buddies at the ring though. Imagine that lot taking a yoga class…"

"You saying we couldn't?" He asked, quirking a playful brow at her as his balance began to waver. Within seconds, he had to quickly catch himself, stumbling to the side yet again.

"I'm saying it'd be mildly hilarious." She replied with a smile.

"Hey – can I ask, what do you make of him? Montparnasse?"

"I know, if he's telling the truth, then he saved all our lives. But he doesn't really help anyone's image of him. I mean, he hasn't done anything to really irritate anyone, but….I don't know, he just makes me uneasy."

"I see what you're saying. I guess we have to wait until the end of the year to find out either way though."

"I guess so."

X

Grantaire had already begun to fall back to sleep when Enjolras returned to the relaxation room, doing his best to be quiet as he padded back to the bed. Though when he didn't feel him lie down, Grantaire opened his eyes just enough to look up at him.

"You okay…?"

"No." he answered, almost in a whisper as he rubbed his eyes with his fingertips, trying in vain to blink away the ache only a few hours of sleep caused.

"Want to talk?"

"It's fine…you're tired, go back to sleep."

"You're tired too." Sitting up, Grantaire pulled at one of the lighter blankets, draping it lazily around Enjolras' shoulders. Appreciative of the gesture, Enjolras tugged it further down, and filled his fists with its corners as he rested back against the wall. Mirroring his movements, Grantaire watched him closely, ready to say something else before the blond beat him to it.

"I want to believe we're going to live this time around; I was the one who encouraged us to leave the wildcard out before, and so it was mainly me responsible for us losing last time-"

"You know that's not on you. We all voted."

"I argued against him." He said steadily, letting his eyes wander up towards the warm, pale light above them. "And now that our lives are reliant entirely on Montparnasse being right, about him knowing exactly what numbers are in the code and being able to remember them…waiting for months on end to find that out is going to drive me mad. And now we have a dead body to worry about as well…"

"I know you'll never be friends necessarily, but maybe this time you should give him the benefit of the doubt? He looked like he was telling the truth."

"He's a good liar, Grantaire. If it meant him being the centre of attention, even for a little while, don't you think he'd lead us all on? After all, we have no way of testing if he's right or not, not for a long time yet."

"Well…the way I see it, we either live until the end of the year and we lose another round, or he's right and we live longer. Either way, thinking about it too much now will drive you mad."

Turning his head to the side, Enjolras looked at his companion, trying to see if he really believed what he was saying. Recognizing the look, Grantaire just gave him a big smile in return and a shrug.

"If you want I can tell you horrible jokes until the year's up – that way you'll be so busy wanting to throttle me, you won't have time to be suspicious of him."

"Please don't…"

"How does Jesus make tea?"

"Grantaire-"

"Hebrews it."

That one got the tiniest of smiles, though Enjolras was doing his best to repress it.

"Why shouldn't you trust atoms?"

Opening his mouth to protest, with another look at Grantaire's eager, equally exhausted face, Enjolras just shrugged, wincing with a groan when he got his answer.

"They make up everything! Okay, okay – how do you know that turquoise is the best colour?"

"I don't know."

"It's cyan-tifically proven"

"Grantaire, that was awful-"

"How did Jesus pay for our sins?"

"What is it with you and Jesus?"

"Praypal. And hey, me and the big man, we've got a good thing going."

Happy to see him laughing again, Grantaire shifted around so that he was sat crosslegged, slouched under his own blanket, secretly relieved when Enjolras didn't pull his legs away in return.

"See..? It's working."

"Only because I'm tired, and your jokes are terrible. Can I ask though, are you religious at all?"

"Me? Nah, never given it much thought – but if it means making you smile like that again, I'll happily poke fun at any deity."

While the comment itself sounded far sweeter spoken out loud, it did make Enjolras go a very subtle shade of pink. It was easy to miss, but Grantaire wanted to think he'd been lucky enough to see it, soon coming out with more jokes, and easing them both into a similar mood as the night before had offered.

"What do you call a bee that eats other bees?"

"I don't know."

"Hannibal Nectar."

"Oh Christ…"

X

"Do you believe him?"

Looking up from his book, Marius replaced the bookmark between the pages and closed it carefully, giving his partner a small smile, hoping it came across as reassuring as he meant it to.

"I think so. I don't see why he'd lie – I mean, I know he doesn't have the best track record, but this is about his life as much as mine or yours."

With an unsure nod, Cosette stirred her coffee "That's what I thought…"

"But?"

"…I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about all of it."

"We're in the middle of a global volcanic cataclysm – I'd be impressed if anyone didn't have a bad feeling about it."

Giving him a tiny smile, she made her way over to the sofa, placing her mug down gently and taking her usual place next to him, slotting into the crook of his body as easily as the last two pieces of a puzzle.

"I want to believe him, really. It's just the constant nagging voice in my head, 'what if he's just leading us all on' – what if we get to the end of the year and he turns round and admits he was lying the whole time? You have to admit that's something he'd do. After all, none of us particularly get on with him that well."

"It's a possibility, but like I said – it'd be his life on the line as well. And he looked genuinely annoyed that no one was thanking him."

"Or annoyed because no one really seemed to believe him straight away. Then again, I suppose he dug his own grave on that one…"

"He did indeed." Pressing an affectionate kiss to Cosette's forehead, Marius wrapped an arm around her, letting her lace their fingers together, her hand's startlingly cold compared to his.

"It'll be alright. If he's lying, then we lose another round. And if that happens, at least we're together this time."

By the time midday had rolled around, Grantaire was the last one to wake up. This time, he was alone, though the space where Enjolras had been was still warm. Despite there being no one around to see it, he smiled- widely and unabashedly. Other than what it said on their cards, they were in the bunker as they were in real life; and even if Enjolras being nicer to him was only a result of the card he'd been given, Grantaire was certainly ready to enjoy it while it lasted.

The 'year' passed by quickly, and without any major incident. And when it came to the moment that had sat brooding at the back of their minds for the previous twelve months, as it turned out, Montparnasse had been truthful. He had a better memory than they'd first given him credit for – something he thanked his new found profession for, what with having to remember lines and all – and just in time for the lesson to come to an end, the survivors left the bunker, and consequently won the round.

Heading round to the other side of the desk-wall to the sound of applause from their classmates, they all gave a theatrical bow as the teacher got to his feet.

"While things didn't quite go as I'd expected, I'll give you this; you all managed to live the year. Congratulations."

"Is it weird that I want to go again?"

Looking down at where Courfeyrac was sat, he looked to the others, hoping someone agreed with him.

"I'm just saying, this was a seriously cool way to spend a lesson – it got kind of serious at times, but it's an awesome way to make you think, you know? I think we should go again. I mean, we don't have anywhere to be"

"It's the last day of the year, and you want to stay behind?" Babet asked, shooting the other young man a questioning look.

"That's what I'm saying, yeah. I mean, come on – raise your hand if you haven't enjoyed this."

Only one actually put their hand up; it was Claquesous, who didn't exactly look impressed. It was fair enough – he'd been the only one who hadn't gotten to take part so far, so for him it'd been just over an hour of sitting around watching his classmates decide each other's fates, and occasionally vote him out of the equation.

"It's completely up to you lot." The teacher said easily, helping Combeferre to his feet, and then Jehan. "I'm in no rush to go home particularly, though I'll have to leave you in a while for a meeting. If none of you have plans, you're all welcome to stay for another hour or two, run through some scenarios by yourselves until I get back."

With a glance at Enjolras, Grantaire clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

"Well, I'm definitely game. Come on – this is the last time we're all going to be in this classroom, the last time we're here until graduation. I say we do it. And maybe in the next round we can find room for an asexual veterinarian"

The jibe was met with a moody snarl, but a nudge from Montparnasse eventually made him reconsider the point.

"Okay, fuck you – if I end up staying here, we're all getting new cards. I'm not getting stuck with some crap job next time."

"Fine, fine. We give anyone who wants a new card a new set to pick from."

With Claquesous placated, they all agreed a short break was needed before the third round began.