Work Text:
“Courfeyrac?”
“Yes?”
“Did you lock the lab behind you after you left last week?”
“Mhm,” replied Courfeyrac, who appeared over the divider between their desks. His bookbag was slung over his shoulder, and his worksheets were squashed between his arm. “What’s the problem?”
“Did a check earlier and the numbers aren’t tallying,” Combeferre muttered, hunched over his laptop. An ancient Excel sheet was pulled up on his screen.
“What isn’t tallying?”
“The equipment. Last week we were three test tubes and two beakers short which…okay, fine. But I counted everything again this morning and there’s a retort stand missing now. A retort stand!”
Combeferre stared up at Courfeyrac, eyes wide with indignation to emphasize his point. Courfeyrac stared down in mild amusement.
“A retort stand…wow…incredible.”
“It’s your lab too,” Combeferre chastised. “You should be worried.”
“I'll start worrying once the actual desks begin to disappear,” Courfeyrac snorted. “I have to go for class soon, the bell's about to ring. But I can try and ask the kids if they did anything during Bio?”
“Thanks. Try and ask the other teachers too, if you don't mind?”
Courfeyrac clapped his shoulder in agreement, before striding off. Combeferre sighed, turning back to his screen and rubbing his eyes.
It was a proper dilemma: his students were to take their Biology practicals this Friday, and yet his equipment were all disappearing into thin air. It was a pattern he had observed since last week: two or three test tubes missing from their holders, a few misplaced beakers, and a pipette dropper gone as well. He had chalked it up to them simply being misplaced – or damaged and thrown away without a report written – but his recount of the equipment this morning confirmed that they were indeed missing, along with a retort stand which was much too bulky and large to ever be misplaced.
Combeferre loved his students, and this school was one of the kindest environments he'd ever taught in, but he was not paying out of his own pockets for these pieces of equipment. And so the only solution was to find them…
…Except that he couldn’t find them . He had spent all his free periods in the morning searching every crook and nanny about the school, and even approaching Javert to ask for help looking at the security cameras. But he couldn’t find anything helpful whatsoever, especially not with Javert, who simply stared at Combeferre with his customary glare.
“I cannot allow ordinary teachers access to security footage,” Javert had recited dutifully, acting every bit of the Discipline Master that he was assigned to be.
Combeferre decided to set aside the weirdly targeted comment on ‘ordinary’ teachers to say: “I understand, but this is a possible case of theft. Surely you’ll want to know what's been happening with the equipment?”
“No,” Javert said, brutally honest. “And I cannot break the rules simply because someone else has broken them. You must report this to the relevant channels.”
Okay asshole , said Combeferre, silently in his head, as he returned to the staffroom, where he sat now with his head pillowed between his hands. Reporting to the higher ups would mean having to wait for new equipment to be bought and shipped, and that would take at least a week. He did not have a week to spare.
As he continued to stew in his misery, he felt a warm weight of a palm on his back.
“Hello Combeferre,” came Enjolras’ familiar voice. “You look upset for a man who has yet to go to any classes today.”
“Hi Enjolras," Combeferre muttered. “It’s got nothing to do with my classes today; I’m just missing some equipment from the science labs.”
He glanced up to see Enjolras frown.
“That’s concerning. You have Biology practicals this Friday.”
“Exactly.”
“Do you know what might have caused their disappearance?”
“No, but I’m thinking some students might be messing with them. But there aren’t exactly clues left behind, and Javert won’t let me see the security footage.”
Enjolras’ face immediately soured, as how he would usually look whenever anyone brought up his fellow History colleague.
“As expected,” Enjolras sniffed. “Well, you can only take matters into your hands now.”
“How?”
“Stay in school while everyone leaves. Stake out the labs. Then you can see if anyone has been tampering with the equipment.”
Combeferre raised an eyebrow.
“A lot of effort for equipment. Plus a healthy risk of getting arrested for breaking and entering.”
“The security here is lax. And I think this costs significantly less money than replenishing the equipment yourself, no?”
“Spoken like a man who has had first-hand experience with this.”
Enjolras smiled but did not divulge any details.
“You should ask the other science teachers if they’re willing to join you for the stake-out; more eyes will be good. And I know most of them are desperate enough about the practical to do a bit of breaking and entering.”
“Very well,” Combeferre conceded. It really was the next best thing he could do that didn’t require him to shell out most of his paycheck. “Will you come too?”
“I can’t, sorry,” Enjolras apologised, adjusting his own laptop and papers in his arms as he began to walk off. “I have a date tonight.”
“Oh that’s fine then— what .”
Combeferre caught a flash of a smile as Enjolras swept out of the staffroom. He quickly gathered his worksheets for his own class as well, attempting to catch up with him.
“Wait! Don't you dare run off— Enjolras! What date?”
And though Combeferre was unable to catch Enjolras and grill him - having to actually do his job and go for his classes now - Enjolras’ advice did not stray far from him. Finally, with nothing left to do lose, he sent a vague text into the science teachers group chat just before his next class started:
Re: issue with missing lab equipment, meet me in the staff breakroom@ 5.45pm. Leave your phones at your desk.
Combeferre paused, thinking, before sending one last message:
Wear running shoes.
—
At 5.40pm, Combeferre was already awaiting the arrival of his fellow teachers in the breakroom, though he wasn’t having much hope. One by one, he had gotten private messages from his colleagues on the various reasons why they could not stay behind. Even Courfeyrac – always down for mischief – had to leave to entertain his visiting family for the week. Combeferre understood the reluctance; it was on short notice after all, and no sane teacher would voluntarily stay any longer than they’re legally obligated to.
However, that meant that he watched in weary resignation as the clock reached 5.50 with no other presence entering the room. Guess he was alone in his equipment rescue attempt today.
As Combeferre made to grab his bag and head to his hiding spot for the evening, the patter of running footsteps suddenly sounded down the corridor.
“Sorry, sorry! My meeting overran– I’m here now! Am I too late?”
A man slid into the breakroom, slightly out of breath. Combeferre didn’t recognise him immediately, much to his own mortification (what teacher doesn’t know their fellow colleagues?) but his guilt quickly ebbed away the moment he stared at him longer.
“What the hell are you wearing?” Combeferre blurted out.
The new teacher frowned and did a slow spin, staring down at his own outfit as if he could not tell what was insane about his black-and-white striped shirt, all-black trousers and shoes, and the cheap robber eye mask strapped to his head.
“Well, we are staying in after school to get the equipment back, right? I know you didn’t say that explicitly in the text, but well…how else are we gonna find it? And I don’t wanna stand out on the cameras, y'know, if we do get caught, so I grabbed the shirt and the mask from the costume store in the mall after class.”
“You don’t wanna stand out?” Combeferre echoed incredulously. “You look like a goth candy cane, you’re doing nothing but standing out. We’re not the robbers here; at least take off the mask.”
The stripped man honest-to-god pouted, but did pull down his mask. Now Combeferre could vaguely recognise him.
“You’re one of the new teachers, right? Bio and Chem?”
“Yes! I just came last week; my name’s Joly.”
“Combeferre; Bio and Physics,” Combeferre replied, shaking his hand and noticing with confusion the black gloves he had on, matching his cartoon robber outfit. At his inquiring look, Joly sheepishly pulled them off.
“Yeah, I remember you,” Joly said, smiling so warmly that Combeferre wondered how he could have ever forgotten him. Not even Courfeyrac had that bright of a smile. “You’re the head of the science department after all.”
Combeferre nodded, a wry smile surfacing now. “Mhm. To my detriment, sometimes.”
“With all the missing equipment? Yeah, I can tell,” Joly laughed. “Hopefully the pay is well worth it!”
He’s an oddly cheery man, Combeferre thought. Even his hair – fair and curly and tied back – bounced with every movement of his head, accentuating his youth. Combeferre felt a mix of nostalgia and awkwardness: he had forgotten how bright-eyed new teachers were, with most of his teacher friends being those that had been in the industry with him for years, and was thus unfamiliar with how to interact with someone still so fresh and optimistic.
Combeferre was thankfully saved from coming up with another conversation starter when the gate closing chime began to play over the speakers. Both men glanced up at the clock; it was 5.55pm.
“So I’m guessing the plan was to stake out the labs tonight, right?” Joly asked.
“Yes. Enjolras – History and English, if you haven’t met him – told me the stairwell just behind the Home Econs kitchens are barely swept by security, so we can hide there til the gates get locked. Then we can head towards the labs.”
“Sounds good!” Joly exclaimed. “But we shouldn’t go by the left hallway, if we’re heading to the labs from there.”
Combeferre frowned.
“Why not? Are there cameras?”
“Well, no…but it’s just a thing I do! There’s a superstition around this school, that there’s a ghost that haunts the left hallways, so I avoid that area as much as I can.”
“But,” Combeferre said, “aren’t most of the labs on the left?”
“Yeah…so I tend to just sort of jog there as fast as I can during the school day,” Joly grinned. “But since it’s at night and spirits are more volatile, I wouldn’t go there!”
Combeferre felt a twinge of annoyance; there was no time for superstitions right now.
“I believe in ghosts as much as the next person–” He does, truly. Or at least, he doesn’t not believe in them. “–and so I think they wouldn’t mind if we used their hallways for us to get our lab equipment back.”
“Maybe…” But Joly looked so unsure, nearly afraid at breaking this superstition that he had formed in his head that Combeferre sighed internally and shook his head.
“Never mind. There’s another corridor we can come from.”
Joly brightened up considerably and nodded.
“Thanks! Let’s go then, before the security makes their sweep!”
Luckily, the wait for the security to pass was uneventful. Still, as Combeferre stood by the stairwell, occasionally peering over the parapet to see if the gates had been locked, he kept glancing over to Joly. He was sitting on the steps and humming softly, but was also keeping a steady eye on the corridor to ensure that no one was passing by. Combeferre hadn’t been awkward around another colleague for so long that it made this particular situation even more awkward; he could not pick up any similarities between them so far apart from their shared subject in Biology, and so didn’t know how to bridge their gap.
Still, perhaps he could try. Combeferre cleared his throat, about to start a conversation, when Joly leapt to his feet.
“Sh!”
At once, Combeferre came down towards him, a hand on his shoulder to pull him away if they needed to run. Closer to him now, he could hear what Joly was hearing: a rustling that seemed to be getting louder.
“Run, Joly!” Combeferre hissed into his ear, tugging on the man who was frozen in his spot.
“No, wait,” Joly responded and, much to Combeferre’s horror, ran towards the sound instead.
“Joly!” Against his better judgement, Combeferre chased after him.
His better judgement was indeed correct, for Joly ran right into the bins that were placed outside the kitchens. The absolute din of the bins crashing onto Joly was made much louder when the raccoon – for it was a raccoon that had made the rustling, having snuck onto school grounds from a nearby park, – leapt onto the poor man and began screeching.
Joly screeched back, hands grappling the animal to try and pull it off. Combeferre, equal parts horrified and exasperated, lunged forward to pry the creature’s claws off of Joly’s striped shirt. Eventually, the raccoon let out a final shriek as Combeferre accidentally launched the animal across the hallway, skittering across the floor. Both men hadn’t even stood up yet when the raccoon began running again, leaping up onto a wall and bouncing off it to escape over the side of a stairwell.
Unfortunately, as it bounced off the wall, it smashed right into the fire alarm. The school began to blare with a loud siren.
Combeferre didn’t need to yell at Joly again; both simply scrambled to their feet and bolted for the gates. Combeferre could see Joly’s eyes squeezed shut as they ran through the left corridors, much to his bewilderment.
They spilled out onto the pavement outside the gates, barely missing the security cameras from capturing them. Joly was pawing at the front of his shirt and shuddering.
“A raccoon! A whole raccoon, god, who knows what diseases it has!” Joly cried. “I think I still have a claw in me.”
“Why did you even run towards it in the first place?” Combeferre snapped.
“I thought it was a student! I had one who was rummaging through the bins once and it sounded just like that.”
“Still doesn’t warrant you leaping towards it!”
Joly pouted and continued to scrape at the front of his shirt. Sighing, Combeferre came over and lifted his shirt, observing his chest. There were light, superficial scratches, but nothing seemed to be infected or even bleeding.
Combeferre said so, before tugging his shirt down. “Still, you should probably get a shot. Just in case.”
“Yeah, I’ll head to the hospital,” Joly sniffed, before smiling again, albeit a little more subdued. “Where’s the nearest bus stop there?”
“Bus stop?”
“I don’t have a car.”
Combeferre closed his eyes, counted to five, and opened them again. Serves him right for coming up with this plan in the first place.
“I have one. Let’s go.”
Joly grinned, and skipped all the way to the parking lots.
—
Tuesday morning found Combeferre hunched over his desk again, tapping away at his slides for the day. He hadn’t gotten much work done yesterday, having accompanied Joly to the hospital to get his shots. He had paid for half of it - having offered to pay for all, since it was his plan that had gotten Joly into this mess in the first place, but Joly had insisted on simply half - before driving him back home before returning to his own flat. The entire adventure had spent all his energy.
It seemed that he hadn’t quite recovered fully from his exhaustion, for it took a whole minute for him to realise that Joly was next to him, and speaking.
“–ello? Combeferre?” Joly’s words finally entered Combeferre’s hearing. Combeferre blinked and refocused on the world; he had just typed out a whole line of ‘tttttttt’s on the slides.
“Morning, Joly,” Combeferre turned to greet. “Are you feeling better from yesterday?”
“Yup! Wasn’t in much pain at all, actually. I think the shots really helped,” Joly smiled. At least he had his cheeriness back.
“That’s great.”
“And you? Are you alright?”
Surprised at the question, Combeferre returned the smile with a tired one of his own.
“I am, thank you. Just a little tired.”
Joly laughed. “Same. I don’t think I’ve run that fast since I was in high school myself.”
“Same for me.”
“Well, we might have to run again soon. I’ll meet you in the break room again at 5.45?”
Combeferre hesitated. He had originally given up on the stakeout plan after their disastrous attempt yesterday, and was simply going to come up with a new plan between now and the end of the school day that didn’t involve running from a rabid raccoon. But before he could kindly decline Joly, he heard the clicking of heels heading towards them.
“Hi, Combeferre, Joly!” Fantine greeted warmly. “Sorry to disturb you Combeferre but I’m missing a vernier caliper in the lab. Do you know where it could be?”
Combeferre and Joly exchanged a look.
“No,” Combeferre said, barely concealing his weariness. “But I’ll search and let you know again soon?”
“Thank you! See you around.”
Both men waved goodbye. Massaging his temples, Combeferre turned to Joly and nodded.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll see you there.”
Thankfully, when Combeferre showed up in the backroom once more, Joly has discarded his robber outfit with a much simpler black outfit. Except the jumper he had on was much thicker than one would expect to wear in the middle of summer.
“You’re crazy,” Combeferre simply stated.
“I’ll let the raccoon know to attack you next time then,” Joly huffed and gathered his bag. “So: same stake-out point?”
“Okay.”
“Avoid the left!”
“Okay. ” Combeferre rolled his eyes.
Waiting in the same stairwell once more, Combeferre suddenly realised the awkwardness from before was gone, as he sat side-by-side with Joly upon the steps. Guess manhandling a raccoon together would break the ice with anybody.
As such, he found the courage to ask:
“How are you finding the school? Are you settling in well?”
Joly looked over at him, shock illuminating his face for a moment, before a tentative smile appeared.
“It’s great! I mean, I’ve only been here a week so everything’s still a bit strange, but the kids are great and the equipment are pretty top-notch. Well, before they started disappearing that is, but still. It’s been great.”
“And the staff?”
“Great,” he echoed, but his smile was a little dimmer. “I mean, I haven’t really gotten to talk to alot of them yet, and some…don’t understand me well, but I think I’m still new, y’know? I’ll settle in soon.”
Combeferre frowned. “But you’ve made friends, right?”
“Yeah, yeah! Um. Bossuet; we’re in the same cubicle together, and Grantaire. He paid for my first coffee here, taught me the difference between watercolours and gouache in the meantime, and then drank my coffee because he forgot he bought it for me.”
“Sounds about right,” Combeferre chuckled. “Everyone else is pretty nice too, you know. If you’re friends with Bossuet and Grantaire, you’ll be friends with all of us too.”
Joly smiled wryly. “Thank you. But I think some really do find me a bit too neurotic to handle.”
Combeferre hesitated, eager to dissuade Joly’s pessimism, when the loud clang of the school gates’ closing alerted them both. Joly jumped to his feet.
“That’s good; we’ve lasted longer than yesterday! Let’s go.”
They snuck through the school, based on the directions Enjolras had given Combeferre, and found themselves perched behind a pillar rounding the corner towards the labs. Combeferre was satisfied; this was indeed longer than they had lasted yesterday, and now that they were in position, there was very little that could disrupt them. All they had to do was simply stay put and keep their eyes peeled.
But his conversation with Joly earlier continued to haunt him. Combeferre, having been in school for nearly four years now, had forgotten the anxiety that came with entering the workforce for the first time, and the difficulty in making friends that did not simply part ways the moment the final bell rang. He got lucky with Courfeyrac – his cubicle mate, and quite possibly the most sociable man in the entire city – and with Enjolras, a childhood friend who joined the school just a year after Combeferre. And so to start from scratch, to make friends with people still so distant from you, was foreign to him.
Furthermore, Combeferre realised with a distant jolt, Joly had not listed Combeferre as one of his friends. He did not expect him to: he had not even remembered the man’s name before Monday, and did unleash a raccoon upon him, even if that technically was Joly’s own fault. But it had him consider his own shortcomings: he was the head of the science department! He should have reached out to all his new teachers the moment they arrived. And Joly’s comments on being shunned had Combeferre cringe internally; did he not find him annoying too, when Joly had approached him on Monday? He was no better than the rest who had written him off as far too superstitious and eccentric. He needed to rectify this.
And so Combeferre turned to Joly next to him and tapped his shoulder,
“Joly,” he smiled. “I just wanted to say—”
A squeak resounded through the silent corridor. Combeferre and Joly both froze.
When the squeak came again, Joly gasped.
“It’s the raccoon! It’s back for revenge!”
“Don’t be silly,” Combeferre replied, though he was beginning to believe it himself when the squeak came again, much clearer than before. He realised what he was hearing then.
“It’s shoes,” he hissed, his hand on Joly’s shoulders becoming a death grip now. “And there’s only one person with shoes polished enough to squeak so loud—”
“Javert,” Joly groaned. Combeferre snorted; it seemed like even a week-old teacher was familiar with Javert’s antics.
“He takes his Discipline Master duties way too seriously. No; don’t run yet, we don’t have to call this off so early. Let’s hide ‘til he goes.”
“Where?”
Combeferre’s mind raced, keeping an ear on the footsteps coming down their left while mapping out all the possible rooms they could hide towards their right. Just before Javert came around the corner, Combeferre came to a decision, grabbing Joly’s hand and dashing towards his chosen spot.
“This is the biggest janitors’ closet in school,” Combeferre pulled Joly over to a discreet grey door along the wall. He was worried it might be locked, but it was thankfully ajar.
Before his logic could catch up and wonder why the door was open, Combeferre led Joly and himself inside, shutting them in. Their vision was an immediate sea of black.
Combeferre pressed his ear against the door, trying to hear when Javert passed them by, his hand still clutching Joly’s. That meant that when Joly suddenly squeezed his fingers, Combeferre felt it at once.
“There’s someone else here,” Joly whispered in his ear. Instantly, Combeferre heard the shuffling and low grunts and groans in a distant corner.
We’re going to die, Combeferre immediately thought. We’re going to die, and no one’s going to find our bodies because no one is going to enter this stupid janitors’ closet.
But before Combeferre could turn to Joly to apologise for leading them to their deaths, he heard the click of a button. Light spilled forth from Joly’s tiny phone, illuminating the corner of the dark closet.
Being a science teacher, Combeferre was a strong advocate for the proper handling and disposal of chemicals under any circumstances. Still, he wished he could douse his eyes with the bleach in the labs as he watched Enjolras – his best friend since diapers – sticking his tongue way too far down Grantaire’s throat, their arms tangled up in each other’s shirts, with Grantaire’s trousers (his trousers!) slipped down to his thighs.
It seemed that Joly too was traumatised by the sight, for he let out a blood-curdling scream, even louder than the one he had released when he was jumped by a raccoon, which finally alerted the lust-addled couple. They leapt apart, except Grantaire tripped over his pants and pulled Enjolras right down with him.
“Sorry, sorry!” Joly yelled, fumbling with his phone and the room fell into darkness once more.
As Enjolras began swearing up a storm, Joly and Combeferre burst out of the room, still clutching each other’s hands as they ran for their lives. Miraculously, they managed to avoid Javert and the cameras once more as they scrambled to the gates, Combeferre boosting Joly up before crawling up over it as well.
Even before they collapsed onto the pavement again, Joly was already wheezing with laughter.
“Oh my god,” he cackled, clutching his side. “Oh my god; Grantaire and Enjolras?!”
“I need bleach,” Combeferre bemoaned, his glasses already off his face as though his blurred vision could belatedly prevent him from seeing what he just saw. “I need bleach and acid and every chemical we can find in the labs. Something in there has got to be able to erase my memory.”
Despite Combeferre’s mortification, he couldn’t help but join in Joly’s loud howls of laughter soon after; it was contagious. Enjolras and Grantaire indeed! It made a bit of sense now; he barely saw Enjolras today, and only caught a glimpse of him from a distance, smiling and chatting with Grantaire. He must have been the date Enjolras mentioned on Monday. And even a man both blind and deaf would have picked up on Grantaire’s long-time crush; this couple was a long time coming.
“Grantaire told me he had a date!” Joly said through his gasps of laughter, as though he read Combeferre’s mind. “Said the date was either going to be the best thing he’s ever done, or the worst. I can see why now.”
“Enjolras told me he had a date too, but didn’t divulge any details.” Combeferre wiped the tears from his eyes and wore his glasses again. He grinned at the sight of Joly prone upon the ground, still letting out his last few wheezes. “What were the odds; us hiding out in the same closet where they were rutting like bunnies?”
Joly shuddered. “Please don’t remind me. Once you find the bleach you better pass some to me too. Grantaire owes me so much coffee to make up for that.”
"I’ve unfortunately no bleach on me right now.” However, the coffee gave Combeferre an idea. He stood up and held out a hand, reminiscent of their day yesterday. “But if you want, we can grab the coffee instead; we deserve it. And hope to god we don’t run into those two again.”
“I’d love to!” Joly took his hand and pulled himself up. “Let’s go, before those lovesick idiots come and hunt us down.”
Both headed to Combeferre’s car once more, still laughing all the way.
—
The arrival of Wednesday morning sobered Combeferre up; he was now two days away from his practicals with zero equipment recovered. Even worse was that Enjolras had apparently sworn off talking to Combeferre for the rest of the week, half out of embarrassment and half out of anger for having been caught by Javert. Grantaire did come to apologise, however, and stated that they were at least caught fully clothed.
“It’s been a blast writing the report so far,” Grantaire snickered. “Enjolras keeps turning into shades of red that not even I’ve seen before.”
“Why were you guys even in there yesterday?”
“We were supposed to meet for our second date, but we got sidetracked and didn’t hear the bell. Or the gates. Or the door opening and closing.”
“Ah,” Combeferre said weakly. “Sorry for letting you get caught, then. But…congrats on getting together?”
Grantaire waved a nonchalant hand. “No worries. I’ll send your apologies and congratulations to Enjolras.” And he winked and sauntered away. At least he seemed happier, Combeferre thought, unlike the utter misery he found himself in right now.
He somehow felt even worse when Joly appeared next, greeting him cheerfully, but leaning his weight on a cane as he walked. Combeferre leapt to his feet in shock.
“Are you okay?” Combeferre exclaimed. “Did you hurt yourself yesterday?”
“No I’m fine, Mom,” Joly teased, patting Combeferre’s arm. “But thanks for asking. I use a cane sometimes; my knee and hip aren’t the best, so whenever they act up I pull this bad boy out. I think the past two days have just been tough on them.”
“I’m sorry,” Combeferre began to apologise, feeling guiltier than ever, when Joly clicked his tongue.
“Nope, none of that now. I chose to run back and forth through the school on my own; it’s none of your fault.”
“You can sit out for tonight’s stake-out.”
“Nope on that too. But let’s try and avoid running as much as possible, okay?”
“Of course,” Combeferre nodded. “I don’t think there are any other horny couples we’ll stumble upon tonight.”
Joly gagged dramatically. “I’ll hold you to that! I’ve got enough of last night on my mind already.”
“Fair enough.”
Luckily for both of them, it did seem like no other couples were in the school that night. Hiding behind the same pillar, they even managed to last several hours longer than before, which finally led to the topic of taking shifts.
Combeferre, the senior, insisted on taking the first shift, and arranged his bag to elevate Joly’s sore leg to make up for the lack of a proper mattress. Joly looked a little misty-eyed at that, but didn’t say anything, simply snuggling into his own bag-slash-pillow and falling asleep nearly instantly.
He wished he could say that the rest of the shift went smoothly, and that he himself managed to go to sleep after Joly woke, but life seemed to be out to get him this week. An hour into Joly’s snooze, a shuffling and sniffling in the stairwell nearby caught Combeferre’s attention. A louder sniffle confirmed that someone was there.
Not wanting to disturb Joly, Combeferre simply sent a text to Joly’s phone so that he’d know where he was going, and crept his way over to the stairs.
“Hey, hey,” Combeferre said quietly, spotting the young girl curled up at the top of the steps, face buried between her knees. “Hi. I’m Mr Combeferre; do you know me?”
The girl looked up, cheeks red and streaked with tears, and stared at Combeferre like he was a ghost. Thankfully, he recognised her:
“Amélie,” Combeferre smiled gently. “What are you doing here?”
“I—” she broke off, still crying a bit. “I don’t know. My friends told me that I– that I have to stay, or else…”
He went over, sitting next to her. Amélie immediately smushed her face into his sleeve.
“We were going to watch a horror movie but they said I was too much of a scaredy-cat to come,” she explained, her face red with embarrassment at recounting the experience. “And– and I am, but I wanted to hang out with them anyways, so they made me prove that I could be brave.”
“So they told you to stay overnight in the school,” Combeferre inferred. “By yourself?”
Amélie sniffled and gave a shaky nod against his shoulder.
“But it was scary. I kept hearing noises, and there was that whole story about ghosts in the left corridors, and– and I got scared. I really am just a scaredy-cat.”
“Absolutely not, Amélie,” Combeferre stated firmly. He took out a pack of tissues, gently extracting his arm from Amélie’s wet face, and passed it over to her. Once she seemed to have calmed down, he continued:
“Bravery is not the absence of fear. Doing what you are doing, despite your fear, is what makes you brave. But you don’t have to prove this to anyone, especially not to people who cannot understand this. As long as you know what you are capable of, that is enough. True friends won’t tease you for it.”
“Mr Combeferre is right,” came a new voice, and Combeferre and Amélie both jumped. Joly smiled sheepishly at the bottom of the steps, waving a hand while the other clutched the banister, supporting his weight.
“Hi, sorry, I’m Mr Joly. I heard your conversation and…well, I think you’re incredibly brave already, Amélie. I’m a teacher and I can’t even walk down the left corridors because of the ghost. I just close my eyes like this:”
And Joly squeezed his eyes shut, stumbling comically up the steps towards them. Amélie giggled.
“Really?”
“Really. So if you’re a scaredy-cat for staying after school by yourself and getting spooked by the corridors, then so am I.”
Heartened by Joly’s words, Combeferre added:
“And yet Mr Joly is one of the bravest men I know. He fought off a raccoon once, you know.”
Joly flushed as Amélie laughed. Combeferre grinned.
“It’s true! And without screaming too much either. So you see, Amélie; bravery isn’t as simple as just not being scared.”
She nodded, wiping the last of her tears with her tissue, and hugged Combeferre tightly.
“I understand,” she mumbled into his shirt, before letting go. “Thank you Mr Combeferre. And Mr Joly.”
“It’s our pleasure. Let’s get you home, okay? Your parents must be worried.”
Amélie looked a little guilty at that.
“Will I get in trouble?”
“If you don’t tell anyone that Mr Combeferre and I were here tonight as well,” Joly said. “Then you’re not in trouble at all.”
She grinned and nodded enthusiastically, leaping to her feet. After a quick pit-stop to collect their bags and Joly’s cane, they were soon cruising down the road in Combeferre’s car, Amélie bouncing excitedly in the passenger seat.
After a quick explanation to Amélie’s surprisingly understanding parents, Combeferre found himself alone with Joly again, driving down towards his apartment. Though he was disappointed once more at the failed stake-out, he was more than willing to give it all up to ensure his student was safe. As such, he couldn’t find it within himself to be truly angry.
“That was a really nice thing you did,” Joly suddenly said, staring out at the windshield with a soft smile. “For Amélie.”
“I was saying nothing but the truth. She shouldn’t have to prove anything for people who can’t see how brave she is already, simply by agreeing to this dare. I know Amélie; she’s always up for doing new tasks, no matter how tough. That’s one of the bravest things you can do at that age.”
“At any age, honestly,” Joly agreed. “Change is always scary.”
He looked nervous all of a sudden, fiddling with the handle of his cane, before turning to face Combeferre with a small smile.
“The kids are lucky to have a teacher like you. You’re teaching them really good things.”
Combeferre blushed furiously. Though he kept his eyes on the road, he returned the smile.
“I just try my best…”
“Seriously, Combeferre. No average teacher would risk an arrest three nights in a row just to get back equipment for their students’ practicals. And you have a real connection with Amélie too; it's hard to get them to open up at that age.”
Joly patted Combeferre’s knee.
“Also, it’s not just you as a teacher. You’re a great person too; you took all my concerns seriously, even if you didn’t understand them. Or thought they were silly. No– don’t try to say you didn’t find them silly; they are ridiculous! But you humoured me and…that’s more than a lot of people have done for me, in my life. If I had you as my teacher, my childhood would have been much better.”
“Joly…” Combeferre murmured, gratitude flooding his chest. Still, his conscience prompted him to say:
“I wasn’t very welcoming in the first few days, though. You say I was great, but I was still quite judgemental, and yet you took everything in stride, and you always seemed so happy, even when we kept failing. If I had you as my teacher, you would have been one of my favourites. Truly.”
Joly sniffled dramatically next to him, leading Combeferre to laugh and pat the hand still on his knee.
“I know you’re still a new teacher, but the way you’re now – with how you treated Amélie earlier too –, you’re already one of the best I’ve seen. You’re gonna be great here.”
“Thank you, Combeferre. That really means a lot.”
Finally coming to a stop in a parking lot, Combeferre turned to properly grin at Joly, who was already beginning to tear up.
“What you said means a lot too. I’m glad to be your friend.”
“Well,” Joly raised an eyebrow, despite his watery eyes. “No one is really my friend until they come up to my flat. Wanna grab a bite? I can make us sandwiches.”
Combeferre snorted.
“You’ve just backed me into a corner. But yes, Joly. I’ll come up with you.”
With a cheer far too loud for the time of night, Joly bounded up the steps as quickly as he could with his cane, as Combeferre followed behind with a smile.
—
Thursday was, despite the impending doom of Friday, perfectly fine. Combeferre woke up well-rested and relaxed, and found Joly equally jubilant, using his cane once more even though his aches had subsided.
They decided, last night in Joly’s flat, that they would just order the equipment instead and split the cost between the both of them. Combeferre was initially adamant that Joly shouldn’t pay on his beginner teacher’s income, but Joly insisted.
“We were in this together from the start; we’re gonna be in this together til the very end.”
And so Combeferre loaded his Amazon cart with the items, ready to order them once the school day ended.
Before that, however, Grantaire had invited their small group of friends to drinks after the end of class. It was not an unusual request, especially coming from Grantaire, but it was certainly the first time he had promised he’d pay for it all.
“I hear,” Joly whispered to Combeferre during their lunch break. “That it’s because he and Enjolras are gonna officially announce their relationship tonight.”
“Great,” Combeferre sighed. “Hopefully that means Enjolras can finally look me in the eye now.”
Sure enough, once their friends had all rolled into their favourite bar in town and ordered their drinks, Grantaire paraded right through the doors with Enjolras, holding their interlocked hands up high.
“I know you guys placed bets!” Grantaire hollered as their group began to whistle and howl. “We demand a 50% cut! And Combeferre and Joly are not allowed to receive any payments, the cheaters!”
Combeferre and Joly booed as their friends laughed around them.
“Wasn’t our faults you guys were going at it in an unlocked closet,” Joly jeered. “You were begging to get caught!”
“And I made my bet ages before you guys even conceived the idea of a date,” Combeferre pointed out.” I won’t rescind that!”
It didn’t take long for the group to realise there was a backstory to Enjolras’ and Grantaire’s relationship. Soon, Combeferre and Joly found themselves pouring over the sordid details with their friends while Enjolras hid his burning face behind his hands.
Despite his friend’s embarrassment, Combeferre was pleased. Joly indeed looked right at home with their merry group of friends, his joy and eccentricity matching theirs as he recounted their story.
“What a shame!” Bahorel crowed once Joly finished. “That two touch-starved idiots foiled your heist. So you never did find those equipment in the end?”
“No,” Combeferre shook his head. “We kept getting sidetracked. It was pretty crazy, honestly.”
Feuilly gave him a consoling pat from across the table.
“The school does seem like a whole different battlefield at night,” he said solemnly. “If it helps, I have a test tube that I borrowed from the lab. I’ll pass it to you tomorrow.”
Combeferre blinked. “You have a test tube? What for?”
Before Feuilly could reply, Prouvaire tapped his thigh.
“I took a vernier calliper! Sorry for not letting you know; my kids needed it for a quick experiment.”
“I have two beakers, by the way,” Cosette pipped up from the end of the table. “My mom passed them to me when I wanted to show them to some new kids.”
“And I have a retort stand,” Bahorel added. “Needed it to win a bet.”
Stunned, Combeferre could only turn to the one other man who shared his thoughts. Joly reflected his own disbelief back to him.
“Raise your hand,” Combeferre started, his voice dangerously low. “If you took at least one item from the science labs without filling in the request form.”
Everyone but Enjolras and Courfeyrac raised their hands.
“There’s a request form?” Came Grantaire’s voice.
Combeferre closed his eyes and counted to five. Before he could begin his tirade, Joly spoke for him:
“You’re telling me that Combeferre and I have been running about the school, risking arrest, when you guys have been the ones holding onto our equipment?”
Everyone shuffled in their seats awkwardly.
“I thought one missing item wouldn’t hurt,” Bossuet protested. “I didn’t know everyone else nabbed an item too.”
“Well, you’re lucky everyone else did, or we’ll be sending you into school alone to put it back.”
“Put it back?”
Combeferre glanced at Joly, who shot him a wicked grin, an eyebrow raised. Slowly, Combeferre felt his own lips twitch into a smile.
“Yeah,” Combeferre added. “Our practicals start at 8am on the dot. And we need to sanitize the equipment before the kids use it. So…”
“What, you want us to break into the school and return it?” Grantaire argued.
Combeferre and Joly nodded in unison.
“We’ve been doing it all week; you guys can do it too.”
The rest of them exchanged uncomfortable looks, but none moved. Finally, Combeferre cleared his throat and glared.
“Everybody OUT!”
Everyone scrambled to the doors, making a beeline for Bahorel’s carpool truck. Only Joly remained by his side, laughing.
“Let’s go; they need experts like us to make sure they don’t get caught,” he stood up, a hand on his cane and the other outstretched.
Combeferre took his hand, reminiscent of all their nights before, and squeezed it gratefully.
“Let’s go.”