How're you tonight, monsieur?
"Oh my-! It is… the puppyduck." Jean Valjean halted in his tracks and stared at the boy in front of him. "Cosette’s been looking for you, boy. Where have you been?" The (over)protective father crossed his arms and stared at the young man. He pursed his lips and sighed heavily through his nose. "Well, young baron?"
Jean stopped and turned, and very politely put his hand over Marius’ mouth. His face was one of disbelief and incredulousness. His daughter, his Cosette, married this man? Really? He felt very faint, suddenly, praying to God it wasn’t true. This was really his son-in-law? Lord, grant him strength. Jean was a good and fair man, just in his ways but- this boy! He brought his free hand up to his lips and made a “Shhh!” gesture. ”Quiet, boy. You’ll wake the dead.”
Marius was too happy to feel ashamed and he replied, “To be fair, looking at you, the dead have already awakened. Since you died. Not saying you look like death right now. Actually, you do, but that was rude, sorry.” He finally closed his mouth even though he was dying to talk more and satisfied himself with skipping instead of plain old walking.
Jean breathed deeply for a moment, eyes closed, and trying very hard not feel offended. This was his son-in-law. This was his son-in-law. He didn’t know if he could see through with this. He turned on his heel, finally opening his eyes, and leads the way to the house.
"We’re here," he said with a gesture to the building. "Have a look inside, but she probably isn’t here." He opened the garden gate and let the boy follow him up the porch stairs.
"Alright, thank you!" Marius looked around the garden as Valjean opened the door and then walked into the house. He politely kicked his shoes off at the door and looked around at the decor. "I can tell Cosette lives here, it looks very nice. May I go to her room?"
Jean gave him a wide eyed and very much not-okay-with-that look. “No, you may not creep around my daughter’s room. She’s rarely in there regardless, unless she’s sleeping.” Lie, not a lie, either way- Marius is not going into her room. Especially unattended. Jean toed off his shoes and knelt down to put on his indoor pennyloafers.
Marius sighed and said, “Okay, I understand.” He sat down on the couch and hugged a cushion to his chest. He had wanted to smell Cosette’s pillow but apparently that would have to wait, “So what am I going to do now? Go home, sleep here? It’s fairly late.”
Jean have a long suffering sigh but he wasn't one to turn anyone away. "You may stay. However, I'm not sure if Charlie is staying the night so you can't sleep on the couch. You'll take the guest room." Charlie was the homeless man who hung around the area. He would help Jean garden and, in return, Jean let him sleep on the couch (as the man hated beds) and he fed him.
