Work Text:
"Fuck it. fuck it I quit" He said, balling up the paper and throwing it to the ground. It rolled to a stop at a pair of bright pepto bismo pink shoes. A hand, all clunky rings and chipped nail polish, picked it up and tried to smooth it out.
"Oh Bossuet, sweetie. Did you fail the bar exam again? I'm sorry." Jehan said, rubbing their hands over their friend's freshly buzzed scalp, an attempt at comfort.
"No it's fine. It's alright. This is my wake up call. I'm never gonna be a lawyer." Bossuet said, "I've been wasting my life. I gotta do something different. Who knows, maybe I'll be a car salesman or a bartender or an artist. Just not a lawyer."
"I love you Boss but no one should trust you around anything expensive. Have you ever thought about social work? then your education wouldn't go to waste." Jehan suggested, "You'd still be able to help people. I have a friend who's going to school for it. Want me to introduce you?"
"Sure I guess?" He said, after thinking about it for a minute. "Do they want to meet up for drinks? I feel like celebrating being done with law."
" Let me text him." They replied. After a minute, "Joly says sure! He's gonna meet us at the Musain. Here, I'll drive. Let's get you drunk my friend."
---
The pair made their way into the musain, a local hole-in-the-wall pub. Bossuet scanned the sparse crowd for anyone matching Joly's description. Tall, young, and smiley, with brown eyes and brown hair. There was only one occupant that fit the description, and he was currently waving at the pair of newcomers.
"Jehan! Its lovely to see you. And you must be the aspiring lawyer, Bossuet!" Joly exclaimed, standing up to hug his friends. He had a cane which he used to stand up. It was covered in chalkboard paint, with verses of poetry and drawings of flowers on it.
"Jolllllly! My love, you look amazing today!" They responded. "This is Boss. He decided to quit law school today. I mentioned you and he seemed interested about you career choices. I think you two will get along swimmingly, even outside of your schooling."
"Oh I'm sure we will. I've heard so much about you, from both Jehan and Grantaire. Don't worry my friend, it's all good things." He said with an impish smile.
"You know Grantaire?" Bossuet asked.
"Ah of course I do. I've known him since high school. Thank you for taking such good care of him. He's quite fond of sparring with you. God knows how useless I'd be at that." Joly said, motioning to his cane. "If you were wondering, I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. My joints don't work quite like they should. Don't feel shy, you can ask questions if you'd like."
"Does it hurt? I mean of course it does obviously. Just ignore me." He asked, hiding behind his drink. "ANYWAYS I'd love to hear about your work? I'm not sure what social work entails, but it definitely sounds more interesting than being a lawyer."
"Haha don't stress about it. It is painful, but I make do." Joly replied. "I'm not a social worker yet, I'm just going to school for it. You should totally look at changing your education if it interests you. Wanna meet up next week so I can go over the courses and stuff? Here, I'll put my number in your phone and you can text me when you're free. Then tonight we can just get shitfaced instead of talking about school." Joly said, grabbing Bossuet's phone.
"Oh yeah" Jehan said, "I forgot to mention, Joly can drink anyone and everyone under the table."
---
The night was going alright until someone walking past the table pushed Joly. Hard. And had some choice words.
"Fucking crip."
Bossuet leaped from his seat and decked the guy across the face. At that, a different bar patron stood up and very drunkenly tried to punch Bossuet but missed. He stumbled and fell, his head hitting the table top when he went down.
"Oh shit that's a lot of blood. Hey buddy you okay?" Joly asked, despite the man trying to punch his friend. "Hey Boss, can you help me right this guy? His head's bleeding quite a bit so watch out. I don't want him passed out like that in case he has a concussion. Hey wake up." Joly said, lightly slapping the man's cheek. Bossuet took hold of the man's arm and flipped him over, pushing him upright. He tried to wipe away some of the man's blood from his face, using his shirt as an impromptu cloth.
Before they could do anything, the Musain's bouncer came over.
"Sorry Joly, Jehan, and friend. I gotta kick you out. Try not cause trouble next time?" He looked somewhat pained that he had to evict the group.
The three friends went out on the street, feeling a bit tipsy, but otherwise not off put by the bouncer. They were walking back to Jehan's car, when a policeman approached.
"How are you folks doing tonight?" He asked, staring at Bossuet.
"We're doing fine sir." Jehan replied, wary of the officer.
"Can I just ask you a few questions?" Again, the officer was focused on Bossuet. "Are you injured?"
What rotten luck.
"I'm sorry officer. I have no idea whose blood this is. The last thing I remember is deciding to take a break from law school." Bossuet answered.