Chapter Text
"You look nervous."
"It's just…marriage. It's a big deal," Marius turns from straightening his tie in the mirror and clasps his hands in front of him, wondering why he's so anxious all of a sudden.
"It's not your marriage," Courfeyrac moves closer and takes over for him, smoothing down his collar while he's at it. "There."
"Thanks," he sighs and sits down on a nearby couch, foot tapping idly against the carpet. "I guess I've just never seen myself as the guy that would have close enough friends that I'd actually go to their weddings."
"So you and him…that's not in your future?" Courfeyrac sits beside him and slings an arm over his shoulders. He's mellowed in the last three years, although he's still far more flirtatious and touchy than most people, and Marius doesn't get to see him as much since they don't live together anymore. So this…having a day when all of them can get together…it rarely happens, and it's nice.
"Maybe one day. But it's not something we've really talked about," he shrugs, stopping himself from fiddling with his tie and messing it up again by clamping his hands firmly in his lap. "And you and…"
"God, no, marriage isn't for either of us," Courfeyrac laughs and Marius has to admit that he has a point. It's still kind of amazing to him that they've all made it this far with relatively little drama, but he's grateful for it all the same.
The door creaks open then and Enjolras breezes in, as commanding and graceful as ever, settling himself on Marius' other side.
"Are we ready?"
"Soon, I think. I'm not interrupting whatever madness they've got going on out there," he admits before the door opens again and Musichetta all but flies in, Feuilly following her and closing the door firmly before he sags against it and pulls irritably at his collar.
"Sorry," Musichetta straightens up and walks over to the mirror, smiling as she takes in her appearance. "My girls are lovely but I'm still far more used to hanging out with you guys and I need that masculine energy right now," she says with a laugh, stopping when there's a rather disgruntled meow from the far side of the door and Feuilly opens it just enough that the cat, now much bigger and sleeker and grumpier, apparently, slinks in. "He really is part of the family," she reaches down to scratch under his chin as he starts purring happily.
"You look lovely, my dear. Do your parents and his parents know that you're also going home with his best man tonight?" Courfeyrac seemingly can't resist and she waves a hand at him.
"Stop. And no, of course not, but that's not really any of their business who we share our bed with," she adds and he shrugs, looking put-out for some reason.
"I'm jealous, that's all. I think adding a third person to the experience could be a lot of fun…"
"No," Feuilly says firmly, still looking horribly uncomfortable. "God, I hate suits. Haven't worn one in years and now I think I'm remembering why," he loosens his tie a little and breathes a sigh of relief.
"You look so handsome, though," Musichetta assures him. "You all do."
Enjolras shrugs non-committedly and stares at his lap, and even though Marius is used to him being, well, moody, this is odd even for him.
"Hey," he whispers, reaching over to grip the other man's hand. "What's wrong?"
"I'd say 'nothing' but you know me too well by now. It's just my parents, as usual. When they found out I was going to a friend's wedding today they decided that they'll just have to 'try harder' to find me a wife and I…I can't tell them the truth, but I can't keep playing along like this, either," he looks conflicted and Marius isn't quite sure what to say because this has always been one thing there doesn't seem to be a good solution to.
"You know I have enough money to take care of us if they, you know, do something really drastic…" he stops, because of course Enjolras knows, and Marius might not be best friends with his grandfather but they have managed to patch things up and when the older man had guessed the truth he had, as Marius has surmised all those years before, been far more interested in the fact that Enjolras has a good family name and a lot of money than the fact that he's another man.
"I know. I do. I just hate living a lie and being a coward about this, but I don't think I have any other choice at the moment," he sounds frustrated. Courfeyrac leans over to pat his knee, looking at least mildly sympathetic.
"Hey, we're supposed to be celebrating today, remember? Have your family angst another time," he adds and Enjolras shrugs, obviously agreeing even if he doesn't say it aloud. Marius squeezes his hand before letting go and the door opens again as Jehan slips in.
"Where are the others?" Musichetta turns from adjusting her hair in the mirror, the cat twining around her legs and darting under the hem of her dress when she moves to pick him up.
"Combeferre's sitting down in the lobby, Grantaire's at the hotel bar…"
"This shouldn't surprise anybody," Enjolras sighs and Marius nudges him gently. He knows that Enjolras and Grantaire are friends now, but he also knows that Enjolras is hardly a fan of how much the other man drinks and they'll probably never see eye-to-eye on that matter.
"And Bahorel's trying to pick up your maid of honor," he says to Musichetta, who laughs and shakes her head.
"Well, I'll wish him good luck with that one but I doubt he'll have any," she looks amused, finally sighing and bending down to pick the cat up and, keeping him held far away from her dress, sets him on the bed.
"Oh, and nobody's seen Joly or Bossuet for…a while, now," Jehan stuffs his hands in his pockets, leaning back against the door.
"I trust them to be careful," Musichetta frowns and crosses her arms. "Well, I trust Joly, anyway, but I don't want there to be any scandal about how the husband-to-be was caught in a compromising position with his best man," she turns back to the mirror for one more quick check before nodding in apparent satisfaction.
"Speaking of fooling around and compromising positions…" Courfeyrac has a glint in his eye that can only mean one thing and Marius sighs internally because no, he's never going to change. "Jehan, dear, how do you feel about threesom-"
"Still no," Feuilly cuts him off before he can finish. "And we're going to talk about this later," he adds, although Courfeyrac doesn't look at all disappointed by that.
Jehan laughs nervously but Musichetta smoothly comes to his rescues, holding out her hand. "Well, I guess we'd better start getting ready. Walk me down?" she asks and he nods and offers her his arm, leading her out of the room.
"That's our cue as well, gents, so let's get this thing started," Courfeyrac hops to his feet, grabbing Feuilly's hand and pulling him toward the door, and once they're gone Enjolras stands up and holds his own hand out to Marius.
"Shall we?"
"Yeah," Marius stands up, lacing his fingers with the other man's as they leave the room (and the still-purring cat, who's now decided to curl up on the bed and has happily gone to sleep).
And really, he thinks as they take the elevator down to the ground floor, if somebody had asked him five years ago where he'd see himself today his answer would probably have been radically different from the reality. But a rather large part of him knows than, whatever it might have been, it certainly wouldn't have been any better than the life he's living right now.
"Now who's thinking too hard?" Enjolras says quietly, cupping his cheek and kissing him just as the doors open. "Come on. If I'm not allowed to worry about anything today, neither are you."
"I wasn't worrying," Marius shakes his head. "Just…thinking about how this all happened. How different it might have been if we hadn't, um, acted really out of character that one night at that party."
"Maybe we would have still found each other somehow," Enjolras isn't normally one to be sappy and he doesn't say this as if it's meant to be romantic. It's simply a fact in his mind and Marius can't really say whether or not he's right.
But then, he realizes, it doesn't matter. Because, no matter how it happened, they did find each other.
"Yeah. I'm sure we would have," he smiles, Enjolras settling an arm around his waist and guiding him forward as they walk through the hotel lobby to meet their friends.