What's In An Unknowable Birthday? I Guess We'll Find Out!

[summerdude]

Magnus is a man on a mission. Actually, he's a man on several missions, but now that he's successfully pulled off the bachelorette part of Galahad's wedding, this one stands out as of particular import. As such, he has a pad of construction paper chock-full of notes tucked in his backpack and he's swinging briefly into every room he passes, on the lookout for Grantaire.

Comments

[futaille]

"Clearly I should be more difficult to balance it out," he says, not that it actually stops him from working on his sketch.

[summerdude]

"Why do you want people think that you're not helpful?" Magnus remembers, as he asks the question, that he also has a rough sketch of Klaus, too, so he starts rummaging for it. "Is it like a pressure-reduction thing?"

[futaille]

"Something like that, I suppose. If people think I'm generally helpful, it's a disappointment when I'm not."

[summerdude]

Magnus blinks, considering this, then shakes his head. "Yeah. I don't get it."

[futaille]

He looks up and shoots Magnus a grin. "I am frequently unfathomable."

[summerdude]

"No, I mean, like. Everyone gets that one guy can't be helpful all the time in, like, all settings." Unless, of course, the guy in question is Magnus, in which case it's illegal to be unhelpful.

[futaille]

"Possibly. But I still prefer it when the moments I am are a pleasant surprise."

[summerdude]

"Well, in that case, I have some bad news for you, dude."

[futaille]

"So I'm learning. My burden to bear, I suppose."

[summerdude]

"Well, hey," says Magnus, encouragingly. "Sometimes actually consistency is unpredictable. You know?"

[futaille]

Grantaire lets out a short burst of laughter. "I suppose you're not wrong. The number of people who would have ever predicted I'd attain some consistency is undoubtedly minuscule."

[summerdude]

"That's so sad, though," sighs Magnus. "You, like. Get that that's sad, right?"

[futaille]

He shrugs, a wry smile flitting across his face. "Fitting, I suppose." He knows, at least, that he's not from a book titled Les Heureux. "Would you believe me if I said this is an improvement?"

[summerdude]

"How so?"

[futaille]

"I assure you that however sad you think it is, I was at least ten times worse in Paris."

[summerdude]

"Worse how?"

[futaille]

"I'd tell you to ask Enjolras, but I think there is a chance of misinterpretation there. At home, I could barely help reinforcing my reputation as an annoyance. An amiable one, to be sure, but an annoyance nonetheless. It was really only the amiability that made me not completely intolerable to be around."

[summerdude]

"What, were you, like, trying to avoid the mortifying ordeal of being known or something?"

[futaille]

"That's certainly evocative phrasing. No, I just... couldn't help myself, really."

[summerdude]

"Why not?"

[futaille]

"I have no idea. I assure you, there are much more important things to think about at any given moment than why I'm being foolish."

[summerdude]

"See, me, I hate assholes," Magnus says. "Especially ones with more money than manners and sense. So that's why I was a foolish annoyance to, um. Certain people back home."

[futaille]

"Whereas most of the people I annoyed, I liked."

[summerdude]

"Huh."

[futaille]

"Yes, exactly."