At Home With The Boys - A Les Mis / Barricade Boy Modern AU

3 am

When, Combeferre came downstairs to have an after-midnight snack and read a bit, he found Enjolras and Grantaire already in the kitchen, dancing to a song Combeferre didn't recognize, foreheads touching. It looked like Grantaire was speaking, but it was too quiet for anyone but Enjolras to hear. Seeing how peaceful they were, Combeferre decided it was best to sneak by them and make himself unknown.

By some miracle, he managed to make it all the way to the fridge before Enjolras looked up, surprised.

"Hello, Combeferre. What are you doing up?"

Combeferre smiled and poured the milk into his bowl of cereal. "I could ask you two the same question."

Grantaire finally noticed Combeferre's presence after realizing that Enjolras was no longer pressed against him. With a small grunt of frustration, Grantaire buried his head in Enjolras's shoulder and kissed his neck affectionately, bending down quite a bit to reach the right level.

For just a moment, Enjolras closed his eyes, and smiled, placing a light kiss on the top of Grantaire's head. Then, he turned back to Combeferre.

"We were looking for a bit of alone time," Enjolras explained, placing a teasing amount of stress on the word 'alone'.

Combeferre laughed, walked over to Enjolras, and wrapped his arms around the boy's waist. Placing his mouth next to Enjolras's ear, Combeferre whispered, "If you're looking for alone, sir, then you're in the wrong house.

Enjolras turned to him so their noses were touching. "If that isn't the truest thing I've heard today, I don't know what is."

Grantaire smiled into Enjolras's chest, still silent, and nuzzled farther into the boy's collar, stretching his arms out to include Combeferre in the hug.

They stayed like that for a few moments, melting into each other, before Combeferre pulled away.

"If I don't hurry, my cereal is going to become inedibly soggy," he explained with a chuckle. Grantaire was frowning now, missing the warmth that Combeferre had provided.

As Combeferre was preparing his cereal, he felt a pair of arms slide softly around him, and a long mane of somehow found itself draped around his shoulders like a shawl.

"Why are you guys up?" Jehan's soft voice flowed into Combeferre's ears.

"Jehan, we couldn't sleep. Apparently, neither could you."

"No, you woke me up," Jehan complained into Combeferre's t-shirt.

"Sorry, Jay." Combeferre let his cereal go and wrapped his arms around the small boy clinging to him. "We'll be quieter next time."

Jehan nodded against Combeferre's back.

Two hands wrapped themselves around Jehan's waist firmly. Out of nowhere, Jehan was swept up from the ground and lifted into the air, spinning wildly. Jehan laughed with glee, spreading his arms out and kicking his legs. Courfeyrac, the mysterious man who had swept Jehan off his feet, was now running back and forth, swinging Jehan through his legs as he ran. Courfeyrac tightened his left arm's grip and swung Jehan up, catching the boy's legs just under the knee with his right arm. Jehan, who was now being carried bridal-style, curled into Courfeyrac, wrapped his arms around Courfeyrac's neck, and smiled, still laughing to himself.

"So," Courfeyrac began with a teasing smile, "why did no one invite me to the party?"

"There was no party until this one showed up," Grantaire mumbled accusingly, jabbing a finger in Combeferre direction. Combeferre waved as he sat down to eat his cereal and read.

Courfeyrac walked over to Combeferre and lowered Jehan down onto the larger boy's shoulders. Jean immediately began reading Combeferre's book. This had become a habit of his recently, although it made no sense to the rest of them why he would want to read bits of a book he knew nothing about. He response was always the same, though -- "If you were given the choice to live a little or not at all, what would you choose?"

Followed by the sound of thumping footsteps, Montparnasse appeared in the doorway, looking strangely awake for someone who had just woken up. In his arms, he held a sleeping Gavroche. There, clinging to his left arm and practically sleepwalking, was Eponine, who couldn't possibly look more tired.

"Somebody," Eponine declared loudly, her voice heavy with sleep, "get me a cup of coffee immediately."

While Montparnasse looked ready to fight her on the idea of 3 am caffeine, Eponine pressed a finger to his lips.

"Shush, babe. I need to wake up."

A smile grew of Courfeyrac's face, and everyone else in the room simultaneously groaned. They all knew what that smile meant.

Courfeyrac then proceeded to change the song that was playing at the moment, and in no time, Uptown Funk was playing through the speakers at top volume.

Before the lyrics had even begun, Bahorel and Feuilly, who seemed to have a knack to sensing when the song was playing, were racing down the stairs, dysfunctionally attempting to hold hands while running at completely different speeds.

When the singing started, the pair was singing along as loudly as they could. And, as for everyone else, if they weren't reading -- and that is to say, if they weren't Combeferre or Jehan -- they were dancing. Somehow, Montparnasse managed the near impossible feat of getting the half-asleep Eponine to dance and keeping Gavroche asleep at the same time. Even Combeferre and Jehan chimed in once in a while, with Jehan calling out "too hot" and Combeferre responding with "hot damn" and then the two of them punctuating their solos with a high five before going back to reading.

Somewhere along the way, Joly came into the kitchen with Bossuet just behind him and Musichetta riding on his back. Musichetta joined in the singing with Feuilly and Bahorel, while Bossuet and Joly went the dancing route.

Soon enough, Gavroche was awake as well, and wasted no time in joining in the fun. Eponine was usually opposed to the boy being up that late, but she knew this was something she couldn't take from him, so instead, Eponine, Gavroche, and Montparnasse formed a circle and began dancing and laughing together.

Before they knew it, the song was almost over. Just before the song ended, Marius and Cosette sock-slid in, joining in on the final yell that ended the song. When their dancing was over, they all clapped and high-fived, doubled over with laughter and sporting huge smiles on their faces.

After a while of celebration, they all settled in, Eponine finally getting to drink her coffee and Gavroche going back to sleep on the couch. They all had, at once, realized how tired they really were, but it would be too big of a lie to say that it hadn't been the best 3 am dance party they'd ever been to.