A Franc or Two - Les Misérables [IN EDITING]

Laced - Chapter 30

The rest of your morning was spent inside of the back room.

"Careful, [Y/N]," Grantaire frowned, holding the broken-up ice (which was now wrapped inside of his coat) nervously. He was quick to place it on top of the table. "Are you sure you're alright with me seeing your back? I don't want to—"

"Yeah, it's fine," you said, standing up from your seat. "Unless you don't want to..."

You paused waiting for Grantaire to oppose the idea, although he didn't say anything.

You turned around.

"Grantaire, carefully take my corset off."

He seemed a little hesitant at his own idea. Of course, he wanted to check things out for himself, but he was most nervous about you feeling uncomfortable— after all, aside from Madame Houcheloup, you were the only woman to look at him and see someone brilliant. You were the only reason he hadn't given up on... well, everything.

"Grantaire? My corset, please— it's putting a lot of pressure on my back."

Those words snapped him back to reality.

"Oh, right," he smiled. "Sorry— I haven't done this before. Erhm... How do I...?"

"Here, I'll start it," you said, quickly undoing the bow and glancing back at him. "It's easy, just... pull the loops a little."

Naturally, you began to undo your corset as far as you could reach— mostly because your pain became borderline excruciating.

"Alright, I've got it," he said. Whether or not he truly understood was irrelevant to him at that point— he definitely didn't want you to be hurt.

He struggled for a few moments, but after some time, he seemed to get the gist of it...

But that wasn't until someone came into the room.

"Oh sh— I'm so sorry!"

Sure enough, as you and Grantaire both jumped and glanced to the door, you were greeted with the sight of Courfeyrac holding Gavroche.

"What're they doing?" Gavroche asked, craning his neck a little.

"Nothing, Gavroche, nothing," Courfeyrac said quickly. He was almost prepared to turn and leave before Grantaire stopped him.

"Courfeyrac, can you come here for a moment? I need help with this." Grantaire was still struggling with the strings of your corset, and as you glanced back a little, you got a glimpse of Courfeyrac's unentertained face.

"That's... a little strange, Grantaire," he said. He paused when he locked eyes with you.

"Wait... [Y/N]?" he blinked.

"Courfeyrac— I think she's injured. I need your help getting this off so I can see."

Though he still seemed a little skeptical, he set Gavroche down and made his way over to you.

"I... well, alright then. Let me see," Courfeyrac said. Gavroche, of course, was quick to follow his lead and make his way over.

"What happened?" Gavroche asked.

"Not now, Gav," Courfeyrac frowned, placing his hands on your corset strings. "Oh, and it's... erhm, not polite to look."

Gavroche, trying to be the little gentleman he was, was quick to clap his hands over his eyes.

"Actually— Gavroche, can you go run and get Joly?"

"Yeah," Gavroche said with a grin. Proud of his little mission, he tried to navigate out of the room with his hand still over his eyes, but after nearly (full-on) running into furniture, Grantaire was quick to help guide him out of the door.