Miserable Rouge! - A Les Mis AU

Only a Man in a Material World

But Grantaire never showed for dinner with the Duke that night either.

Thenardier paced around the room again, getting impatient. Finally, he called Montparnasse. "Where is he?"

Montparnasse's eyes widened. Great. "Oh, he went to confession. At the church. With the Bishop of Digne."

"And why, my boy, would he do that?" Thenardeir asked, twirling his watch chain around his finger.

"First of, all, call me your boy again and it will be the last thing you say," Montparnasse snapped, wiping his eyes, then wiping the black eyeliner on his coat-sleeve. "Second of all, he wanted to... start a new chapter. You know. He thinks you're going to be nice, though I doubt that." He hoped this would be over soon so he could go back to crying alone in his room.

Thenardier grinned at him schemingly. "Are you joking, Montparnasse? I'm going to make him feel like he's the only man in the world, under my care."

"You do realize that he is a grown man and you would be there, so obviously he'd know that there are other men in the world," Montparnasse argued.

"Are there other men who will be as understanding as me?" Thenardier asked, "I know a lovely young lady who would be just his type of person, to fill every void in his sweet little heart." And he continued grinning, quite unsettling to Montparnasse, so much so that the younger man left the room shaking his head.

This whole thing was starting to lose his interest. Especially with Thenardier treating him like he was a baby. He was a grown married--well, that was a questionable and touchy subject at the moment--man, for goodness's sake. He could run his own club, thank you very much.