"I'm bored," Josette grumbled, standing up from her tilted chair nailed into the barricade and stretching her stiff muscles.
"Bet I'm boreder than you," Courfeyrac replied. Josette's eyes lit up at the idea of a competition.
"Let's have a contest to see who can plan the funnest activity!" She proposed, knowing Courfeyrac couldn't resist a challenge. Narrowing his eyes, Courfeyrac replied, "Challenge accepted!"
"Challenger goes first," she stated to Courfeyrac, a grin spreading across her face as a plan formed in her head. Rolling his eyes, he agreed reluctantly and sat back down near the base of the barricade. Josette skipped off to find the rest of the revolutionaries.
The first she spotted was Gavroche, stretched out in the Box Of Shame with a Grimm's Fairy Tales book clutched tightly in his hands. She poked him.
"Hey, Gavroche, wanna have some fun?" She asked him, a mischievous smile compelling him to agree.
"Of course!" he exclaimed, tossing down his battered book and leaping out of the box with childish ease. The two set off to find Combeferre, with Josette walking briskly and Gavroche half-skipping to keep up with her longer stride. Combeferre was lying in a crook of the barricade, under the apex of two pieces of tawny wood planks. His glasses were perched on the edge of his nose, and he was squinting with apparent interest at a torn pamphlet. Josette cleared her throat, and Combeferre glanced up, his weary face breaking into a grin as he saw the up-to-no-good look in their eyes.
"Trouble?" He asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. Josette and Gavroche nodded excitedly.
Groaning a bit, he pushed himself up and brushed the dirt off his dusty overalls. "'Bout time," he said, eyes twinkling. "Enj was making me read this thing about fighting strategies on barricades. Don't ask me where he got that from." Josette let out a chuckle and motioned for Combeferre to follow her and Gavroche.
Spotting Grantaire passed out on their lone couch a few feet away, she wandered over and motioned to Gavroche."Wanna do the honors?"
Gavroche laughed. "Heck yeah!" he answered, bouncing up and down a little.
He backed up, took a deep breath, and started sprinting towards the couch. Knowing full well what was coming, Josette and Combeferre backed up. With a flying leap, Gavroche sailed towards Grantaire and landed rather hard on his rump. With a startled and slightly hurt yelp, Grantaire sat up, a giggling Gavroche ending up on his lap.
"What the heck?!" Grantaire shouted, shoving Gavroche off of him. "How many times do I have to tell you to NOT do that?" Anger etched itself across Grantaire's face, but he realized he couldn't keep it there as his friends snorted with laughter. "What are you up to?" he inquired, knowing his friends wouldn't normally dare to wake him up while he was sleeping off a hangover.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, Josette replied, "You'll see. Courf and I are having a contest to see who can plan the funnest activity."
"Oh boy, this is gonna be good," Grantaire said, having been a victim of Josette and Courfeyrac's frequent contests. He stood up, tottered a little, and made his way over to stand beside Combeferre.
"Great," Josette mumbled. "Now we gotta get Enjolras to join." Everyone knew that wouldn't be an easy feat.
Peeking through the cafe's windows, the foursome saw their fearless leader scribbling something down rather fiercely, as if he was afraid he'd forget. His dirty blond curls danced on his forehead in the flickering candlelight. Josette tapped on the window. The revolutionary inside turned around and showed a grim smile when he saw four of his best friends standing outside the window with a slightly evil look in their eyes. Enjolras walked to the door and pushed it open. "What are you four up to now?"
"Nothing," was Josette's careful reply. "Not like we're taking a field trip to a political history museum or anything..." She coughed lightly and then trailed off, a deceiving grin on her face as Enjolras practically jumped up and down.
"I'm in!" he exclaimed. He rushed back into the cafe and blew out his candle. Shrugging on his favorite scarlet jacket as he went, he exited the cafe and crossed back over to his friends with a skeptical look on his face. "Is this some trick to get me to do something stupid again?"
"No..." Josette replied, her green eyes wide with innocence.
Enjolras sighed, but he knew he couldn't argue with his friends when they were set on something.
"Gavroche, can ya fetch the others? Tell them to hurry, we'll be waiting in the car," Josette whispered to the young gamine, not even bothering to question why they had a car in Paris in 1832. Gavroche nodded and ran off, his shaggy hair bobbing in the afternoon sunlight.
An hour later, all the Amis are piled into a silver SUV, headed towards Josette's still unknown destination.
Courfeyrac, Bahorel, and Grantaire were practically shouting a rather off-tune version of 99 Bottles of Beer. "53 bottles of beer on the wall, 53 bottles of beer! Take one down, pass it around, 5 bottles of beer on the wall! 52 bottles of beer on the wall, 52 bottles of beer..."
Gavroche and Éponine were playing a loud game of Go Fish, with some of the rules altered to Gavroche's liking.
Feuilly and Jehan were discussing something in a low whisper, a subtle blush spreading across their faces whenever someone stared at them.
Bossuet, Joly, and Musichetta were playing some sort of hand clapping game in the back row.
Marius couldn't convince Cosette to come along ("I am never hanging out with your crazy amis again! Not after Wet & Wild, Monsieur."), so he was sitting, rather forlornly, between Joly and the window.
Enjolras was in the passenger seat, alternating between scribbling notes on his arm and shouting at the Amis to "Quiet down for just a minute!"
Josette was driving, happily listening to her friends making a huge ruckus in the backseat.
45 minutes later. They have arrived at their destination.
"This. Is. Not. A. Political. History. Museum." Enjolras said through gritted teeth, his face a bright red as he stared at the large blue and yellow Ikea sign in front of them. All the Amis knew Enjolras's weakness for furniture stores. Barricade building was an instinct, a primitive one he couldn't control.
The rest of the Amis, however, were overjoyed at the prospect. Courfeyrac's spirits were dampened a little as he realized it would be hard to beat Josette's "Funnest Activity" challenge. But the cheerfulness of Ikea soon seeped into them all, and soon the whole gang was running towards the mountainous building with joyful expressions and shouts of exuberance, despite Enjolras constantly yelling "Watch for cars! 'FERRE, MOVE, IT'S GONNA HIT YOU!" (The car in question was actually nowhere near hitting Combeferre.)
Josette held the door open for all the Amis, the cool air conditioning blowing rather harshly and tousling their hair. Once the last Ami ran in, Enjolras, she abandoned her position and ran inside. Despite a few odd looks from fellow customers and a security guard, the group managed to get up the escalator in a somewhat civilized manner. Once they reached the top, though, all hell broke loose.
AN: So, this is just a little something I wrote in my spare time. I'm working on perfecting my writing skills, and I'm kind of rusty. I've read quite a few stories about Les Amis taking a trip to Ikea, and it's one of my favorite stores, so I decided to give it a go as well. And yes, I am well aware that "boreder" and "funnest" aren't words. I can imagine Les Amis using them though. Anyways, the next chapter will hold a record of the chaos that happened. Reviews are *greatly* appreciated!
Disclaimer: Does "Trust Gavroche" = "Victor Hugo"? I think not.
