It would be a lie to say that this was the first time Marius had woken up from a dream about Napoleon riding a giraffe. It would be a lie to say that it was the first time he had awoken to Courfeyrac's terribly off key singing. It would also be a lie to say it was the first time he'd risen late.

Getting tangled in his sheets and flailing to the floor, dragging his clock with him, Marius scrambled madly out of bed. There was a distinct clatter as it hit the floor too close to his foot and he winced. It was half past eight in the morning. The cafe opened at nine. His alarm failed to alert him, and now he was in the shit.

Halfway through his frantic teethbrushing, a thought struck Marius that Courfeyrac should already be in work. Usually he was in earlier to lay things out that day and pick up the flowers from Jehan, because as much as he adored and trusted Marius, there were some things Courfeyrac just had to do himself.

In other words: Why the hell was he belting out Adele at half eight on a Wednesday?

Marius cautiously began to walk towards the kitchen, then realised he still had a the brush in his mouth with a face half covered in toothpaste, and darted back into the bathroom to clean himself up.

Creeping back out of the bathroom, now toothpaste foam free, Marius padded towards the kitchen. Along with two shirts and a pair of pyjama bottoms, Courfeyrac had also filched his roomate's slippers, so the poor beggar was now barefoot.

The sight of Courfeyrac with bedhead reaching the crescendo of 'Rolling in the Deep' and flipping pancakes in a pair of floral boxer shorts (from Jehan?) would have been odd to Marius when he first moved in. Now it was just to be expected.

He did, however, wish that Courfeyrac would actually wear the clothes he stole from Marius. And maybe sing something quieter.

"Why aren't you at work?" It came out a tad more demanding and whiny than Marius had hoped. He cringed at himself for his tone.

"Because we've got stuff to do today." Courfeyrac, however, wasn't bothered by it, and if he was, he didn't let it show as he used up the last of the batter. He looked up from his cooking to Marius and gestured for him to sit.

For lack of anything better to do, and a slight grumble from his stomach, Marius complied. He wasn't exactly an interior designer, but he could appreciate the convinience of the breakfast bar. And he could definitely appreciate the plate of fresh pancakes in front of him.

"Can you even afford to close today?" Marius said between bites.

"Yup, I checked myself and money is no problem right now," at Marius' suspicious look he added, "I even got Combeferre and Enjolras to double and triple check, if that makes you feel better."

Marius just nodded his understanding. It was Courfeyrac's business, so he could run it however he wanted. Also, from what time he'd spent with them, Combeferre and Enjolras seemed to be reliable and intelligent people. If they thought Courfeyrac was financially stable, then he probably was. Although, the question still remained as to why he'd chosen that day to close. Marius asked him.

"Because," Courfeyrac paused, plating up his own breakfast, "today we are shopping for the little get together we're having tonight." Courfeyrac now had his own plate of pancakes and was happily tucking in.

"We?" Marius froze.

"You agreed that you would come, and you're not allowed take-backs." Courfeyrac grinned.

Memories of his roomated sprawling over his desk like a giant house cat came to Marius' mind. Ah yes, now he remembered.

"Now you better eat up," he continued when Marius didn't reply, "we're leaving at eleven to go to the store. Oh, and you'll probably see Feuilly there 'cause he's taking a morning shift today so he can join us tonight."

The rest of their morning at home passed fairly quickly. Courfeyrac's animated chatter filled up any silence, and Marius was content to listen to his friend speaking. Although he was a little ruffled at the fact that he would miss an evening studying, the prospect of maybe making some new friends made Marius feel better about the situation. Besides, Courfeyrac would have found some excuse to drag him away from it, or his own thoughts would betray him and Cosette would fill his mind.

Two days ago they'd spoken again.

They exchanged numbers.

Courfeyrac had teased him for the rest of the day, and Jehan just about swooned at how tooth rottingly adorable they were.

Literally all he'd done since then was either text her, or want to text her. Obviously he wasn't going to continuosly send her messages every waking hour. Unfortunately, neither of them had enough time for that.

But it was all just so perfect.

They liked a lot of the same movies, the same foods, even the most of same people. Working across the street was convinient as well. She was just so kind, and sweet, and smart, and funny, and beautiful, and Marius still needed to actually ask her out.

In fact, he had still neglected to find out where she lived. Maybe Eponine would know? No, Marius disregarded the idea, she was definitely younger than Cosette. He doubted they even knew each other.

Wait. That was another thing he hadn't asked. Another really very important thing.

Marius waited until there was a break in Courfeyrac's speech before asking his question.

"Courfeyrac, I was just wondering," he began, making sure he had his friend's attention, "I didn't know if you would happen to know how old Cosette is?" Immediately Marius looked back down at his hands, realising the implications of his question and feeling altogether quite awkward.

"Oh?" Courfeyrac looked like he was thinking, "I'm pretty sure she turns eighteen in a few months. So she's still in school right now from what Jehan's told me."

Marius was twenty two.

Oh shit.

Why did she have to be a minor?

So this update is kinda pointing towards me doing weekly updates? Just be clear that I am in no way promising that. If it happens, then it happens. But if it doesn't please don't be too disappointed.

I am officially back in school now so homework has once again reared it's ugly head... Weekly maths and English homework is what I'm doing instead of updating this thing. Yay.

This may seem more like a filler chapter because, let's face it, not a lot really happens. I was going to originally write all the way through until the end of the "little get together", then I decided that it would be too long of a chapter and it would be better for regular updates if I split it in two.

In reply to reviews: Yeah, I am so, so sorry for my spelling errors. The real kicker about that is that I spelt it right in the description. I make one damn error in the first chapter and it just continues on for the rest and I don't even notice. Anyway, I fixed said error immediately (well, after hiding in a duvet cocoon for an hour) and thank you so much for pointing it out. Please, please make sure to call me out on shit like that because I am really, really dumb and won't notice it.

Also, wow. Didn't really anticipate any hate (can I call it that?) on this story. The only thing I can really say to that is, kinda paraphrasing 10 Things I Hate About You, "remove head from sphincter, then type." I already explained my stand on writing Eponine into this, so please don't press the issue. She's a side character who'll only really appear alongside Marius. Unless I change my mind, that's how it's going to stay.

Sorry.

As always, thank you to those who read, follow, favourite, and review!

- Callie