Work Text:
1.
Courfeyrac and Marius offer first. Bossuet thinks Courfeyrac breathes that kind of thoughtless generosity.
“Sure,” says Bossuet, and thinks better of it after a few days.
It isn’t that they’re bad roommates—not at all.
It’s just a very small space for three people, and Marius is already sleeping on the futon, so Bossuet ends up sleeping on the floor. Add to that the chaos that Bossuet would happily admit that he brings wherever he goes, and Marius’s unease at that very chaos, and it isn’t exactly an ideal living situation for any of them.
Bossuet stays for a week.
2.
After two days living together, Bossuet is convinced Grantaire is the kind of friend who’s most likely to remain his friend for as long as they never have to live together again.
For one thing, he doesn’t clean up until things got seriously gross, and his idea of what isn’t ‘seriously gross’ is broader than that of possibly anyone else on the planet.
Bossuet stares at the pile of encrusted dishes—and the occasional bottle, still half-full. “Do you ever do your dishes? Or throw anything away?”
From where he’d draped himself across the “sofa” (Bossuet’s mattress) Grantaire shrugs. “Sure.”
3.
The less that Bossuet thinks about his attempt to live with Combeferre and Enjolras the better.
“I mean,” he said to Joly and Musichetta later, “they were just so organized.”
4.
Bossuet then lives with Jehan in an attic room, and stays for just long enough to be driven crazy by Jehan’s midnight writing.
Jehan tries to be considerate, of course—he keeps himself to only a few candles, and mostly doesn’t mutter to himself about rhyme schemes, but Bossuet always ends up laying awake for longer than he wants, and waking while he’s still tired.
When he says that he’ll be moving out soon, Jehan almost manages to not show his excitement at having his nights be uninterrupted by his friend’s need to sleep at semi-regular hours of the day.
5.
Bossuet doesn’t ask to stay with Feuilly, and Feuilly doesn’t offer. Four roommates are more than enough, especially when one of them is Bahorel.
6.
When he moves in with Joly and Musichetta, he thinks he’ll just stay until he has his own place.
“I’ll be gone in a week,” he promises, lugging a trunk of his things up the stairs, through their door. The trunk is streaked with ink (from Jehan, who apologized) and neatly labeled (from Enjolras or Combeferre).
Living with Joly and Musichetta is… comfortable. They’re not considerate, which might be it—Joly stays up studying, and Musichetta crashes around the kitchen after her early-morning runs, and neither treat him like a guest.
He’s almost sad when he finds a new apartment.
7.
Bossuet’s potential new apartment feels cavernous—empty in a way he can’t quite place.
He goes back to Joly and Musichetta’s feeling vaguely dissatisfied. Everything’s right about it:within his budget, a decent bedroom and kitchen, and the landlord doesn’t seem like too much of a dick. Still…
“How was it?” Joly asks over dinner.
Bossuet shrugs. “Meh.”
No one seems disappointed by his non-answer. Joly turns to Musichetta, raises his eyebrows. “You want to ask?”
Bossuet looks at Joly, then Musichetta. “Ask what?”
Musichetta grins, says, “Joly and I were wondering if you’d like to just move in with us. Instead of moving out.”
Bossuet looks around their rooms, and realizes why the other apartment had felt so empty. He grins. “I’ll stay.”