courfius + please come get me?
Thank you! After a week here it is! (Itās only 700 words becauseā¦ uhm. The entire thing would literally take too long. Also, Courfeyrac is not really part of thisā¦.?? Sorry!) (I also have no excuse why this took so long! SOrry!)
Grantaire has been right. In his field of work, Marius could not afford to get attached because as someone hunted by several governments it would make him easy to spot and any relation to another might not only endanger himself but innocent bystanders, too.
Usually Marius is good at following the unofficial codex and rules that they have established throughout the months that Grantaire had taken him in but usually he has not been attached since ā well, they do not talk about that. But infatuation is a fickle thing that is unpredictable and clouds the mind and Marius has been inattentive and walked into it with eyes wide open. He is angry ā at them for taking Courfeyrac, and at himself for letting this happen in the first place. Grantaire is not pleased with him but Grantaire has no right to judge him for this. Grantaire is a hypocrite.
They want a ransom.
And it is not money they want because everyone can get money. They could have taken any child with rich parents. No, what they want is far more valuable: information. The kind of information that only those possess who interfere with government businesses. The ABC agents sit in his neck, demanding that he fix this because they have not gotten the equipment they need from their higher ups, and it would be so easy for Marius to trade the information he has for Courfeyrac and let the ABC deal with it, if it were not for the fact, that Courfeyrac is one of the ABC agents.
Marius has not much to go on and his time is running out. The only thing they send him is a voice recording of Courfeyrac and Marius has tried to track it down. In fact, he has tried for days now, but the line is secured with a system that seems vaguely familiar yet unusual that none of Mariusā keys match.
Usually, Marius would trust in Courfeyrac ability to fend for himself until help comes but the recording has made it clear that Courfeyrac is not well. It is a trap. Marius knows because they have left some coordinates and a time and place, and he could just wait but the ABC is adamant that he stay and find those bastards before the time comes. It has been hours since he last moved from his spot amongst his equipment that only because he needed to.
Some time on the third day, Grantaire comes and takes over, allowing him a few hours of restless sleep where the sound of Courfeyracās voice, hoarse, laboured and broken echoes in his ears, amplified through the headache and auditory hallucinations of his tired brain. When he is too restless to sleep he listens to the recording over and over again, trying to remember what Courfeyracās voice sounds like when he is not in danger ā a warm and bright and pleasant tone, not too grating, not too loud ā and holding onto the thought that they will not kill Courfeyrac if they still want information.
Courfeyracās presence lingers in his apartment. A personalized mug hangs above the drying rack when he brought it over one in order to personalize Mariusā apartment, over the sofa lies a flannel shirt that Marius borrowed once and never returned, on the coffee table a fashion magazine with colourful bow ties and suspenders, and underneath the table, as Marius knows, hides a gun. Courfeyrac had smuggled it from the ABC to him, in case he needed to defend himself.
A part of him is angry that he has let it come that far, angry that he has let Courfeyrac into his apartment, into his life. It has been a selfish decision and Courfeyrac is paying for Mariusā mistakes. Nothing in the world is worth Courfeyracās safety. Not the kisses, not the soft touches, not the dates under starry skies.
Angrily wiping the tears from his burning eyes, Marius turns to make himself comfortable and closes his eyes.
Then his computer gives a soft āding!ā and Grantaire punches the air in tentative victory.
The recording plays again, this time from his computer instead of his phone, tinny, broken, hoarse:
āMariusā¦ Iām ā please, come get me.ā
