Author's Note: I accidentally wrote a bonus scene for the prequel to "A Saturday Night" I'm working on, and since I don't intend to include it in the story (which is basically a comedy), I thought I'd post it as a one-shot for you. Yay! If anyone's wondering, the song Eponine sings is loosely inspired by the song "Once Upon Another Time" by Sara Bareilles. Now, enjoy!


The party had been in full swing for a couple of hours now. The group of friends had made a rather noticeable dent in the alcohol supply, but it would still be another hour of so before the thirstier members would start to wonder how they could bribe anyone still relatively sober to go on a booze run.

Which meant that Enjolras should have been rather safe and undisturbed in his corner for much longer. He sat engrossed in his reading, the same drink handed to him at the beginning of the night now warm and practically untouched on the table beside him. He would normally spend at least some time at these parties people-watching, smirking at his friends' behavior, but tonight his thoughts were troubling him. He had escaped into his book to avoid dealing with them at the moment.

And it would have all gone according to plan if Feuilly's iPod hadn't died. It was an old model he had bought second-hand off of another student, and it never seemed to hold a charge for longer than two hours. When the music suddenly cut out, everyone in the apartment groaned.

As a few people started to fumble around in their pockets to see if they had thought to bring their own players with them, a drunken chorus of Bahorel and Grantaire started to swell across the room. It took Enjolras a moment to realize what was going on, but when he did, he could feel his blood start to freeze.

They were calling for Eponine to sing.

He knew she was minoring in music, and that she would often sing in some of the local bars, but he had never heard her before. He suddenly had the creeping suspicion that her impending performance would dredge all the thoughts he was trying to avoid for the night up to the surface.

Her voice rose up slowly, softly, twisting around the room as everyone fell silent to listen. It was a sad song, full of longing for lost days and old innocence. He couldn't tell if it were one of hers, but she sang it as if she had yanked every word out of her soul just for them. To make them understand, even if just a bit.

And for those few minutes, he did. He understood everything with a brilliant clarity. His feelings, his fears, her sadness. The same sadness that had driven her to provoke him with arguments these past couple months, just to laugh at his frustration. Because she only knew how to react to what she felt with anger.

Marius had tried to explain her to him once, but, being Marius, had been unable to communicate just what he wanted to say. It was probably better that way. If Enjolras had understood back then, he might have been too smart to allow himself near her.

He would bury these thoughts again, and lose this clarity once her voice stopped, but until then he let himself feel it all.