A/N: You don't have to watch Orphan Black to understand this, but it actually helps if you do watch. Some of the technical parts of the story fits in with the canon, but it mainly fringes on fanon/headcanon.
NB: When I wrote a story something like this before (it was a Les Mis Hogwarts AU), someone anonymously told me that I should have put it in the crossover section. I just want to be clear that this, and my previous story are not crossovers. There is no interaction what so ever with the characters from this universe, which is why I label them AU's, that is to say we're in their universe but we have nothing to do with their story. In this case, the characters from Orphan Black don't even exist.
"You're my bloody monitor?!" Grantaire shoved at Combeferre. He felt ill. He knew that it was possible, but he had hoped, which in retrospect was silly of him. When had Grantaire ever hoped? He scoffed at the thought, and here he was. The hypocrite. Combeferre looked at him silently. His face that was so kind and loving yesterday suddenly seemed cold. "Get the fuck out of my flat."
"Grantaire," Combeferre started towards him, but then he seemed to think better of it and stepped away. "Please just think about this before you do anything. I've never tried to hurt you. I've-"
"You've let those bastards come here and perform tests on me like I'm an animal. Who else was in on it? Enjolras? Feuilly? Marius? Courfeyrac? Please tell me he wasn't involved. Come on. Tell me! I mean my entire life seems to be a joke, why not let me in on the punch line? I could use a bloody laugh right about now. Jesus." Grantaire was shaking. He knew how he looked. He was hungover, his clothes were dirty, he was jittery and now he couldn't stop shivering. "Why would you even do it like this?" He asked quietly. "There were so many other ways you could have done this. You could have just been my friend; I'm already creepily attached to my friends as you know. I'm sure you've reported that back." His voice began to get harsh. "So what was it hmmn? Break a clone's heart and see how they deal with it? Or better yet pretend to love and care for a clone, help them through their fucking alcoholism, be kind and patient when they have their boderline psychotic episodes, let them fall in love with you and then tell them it was all a lie? See how they reac- WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT?!"
"Clones? You're a clone." For once Combeferre seemed at a loss for words. Realization dawned on Grantaire.
"You didn't know." And then he started laughing in a terrible way. "So you can't even fake "professional curiosity" now, can you? You didn't even know. You know what? Fuck this. I'm leaving. Don't be here when I get back."
He didn't look back as he walked away, so he couldn't see the shock and pain written all over Combeferre's face.
Combeferre had a naturally expressive face. He always had, since he was a child. That's why he was so able to get along with people. You could know everything about him by just looking at his face. So when he walked into the backroom of the Musain Enjolras' face changed from his basic determined and responsive expression to anxious. He let Combeferre come to him and tug him into a corner table away from everyone else.
"Grantaire thinks I work with them."
Enjolras paused, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Then why didn't you tell him who we are? What we do?"
"I froze up." Combeferre shrugs.
Enjolras eyes narrowed and he glared at Combeferre. "You never freeze up. You have a plan. You always have a plan."
"Okay. We have no secrets between us." Combeferre exhaled heavily. "He called me his "monitor" which means someone's watching him; him andhis clones." Combeferre paused to let that sink in, and as expected Enjolras' eyes widened and he took a deep breath before continuing. "If I can find out who they are, we can have some more answers. I'll explain it to Grantaire…eventually. I just have to think first. Everything happened so fast, I didn't have time to think."
Their conversation lapsed into silence and Enjolras gave him a final pat on the back before going back to his other lieutenants, giving his friend some time alone.
"So apparently I was fucking my monitor." Grantaire said the moment Joly picked up his phone.
"Holy shit! Are you serious?" Joly sounded worried and upset but nothing in his tone expressed pity. That's the reason Grantaire called him in the first place.
"Yup," Grantaire sighed. "Serious as a heart attack. You know I never got that saying. It's such a bloody yank thing. Yeah so heart attacks are serious; land of the fat home of the heart disease, y'know what else is serious? Cancer. What've you guys got against cancer anyway? It's an incredibly serious disease. My mum died of it y'know. Not that I need to tell you that I-"
"Grantaire." Joly sighed. And Grantaire halted.
"I have the feeling that something other than me sleeping with the enemy has come up?"
"You would be right. Come over to my place. Jehan's already here."
"Shit. It must be serious." Grantaire's eyes widened. They generally stuck to phone calls or webcams and refrained from meeting in the same place because "my long lost twin!" is somewhat easy to pull off. "My long lost triplets!" on the other hand? Not so much. "I'm on my way."
"Holy fucking shit. This is unreal. This is utterly and completely unreal." Grantaire sighed as he sat down and looked at the person sitting opposite him.
"It's one hundred percent real. This is Cosette; she used to be Colby Fauchelevent but now she's Cosette." Jehan explained whilst getting him a cup of tea.
"I started transitioning when I was fifteen. My papa was very supportive of it. I never thought this was possible honestly. I met Jehan in my Literature class and he invited me over for tea. Someone asked us if we were siblings and Jehan went off on a rant about racial stereotypes, which was incredibly illuminating to be honest, and when we got back here and I saw the pictures on the wall…" She trailed off gesturing to all the pictures Jehan had of himself growing up; his graduation pictures, his fifth birthday party, his first day of college, his baby pictures. "It was…they were pictures of someone whose face I've hated for a long time having experiences I didn't have and I cried out, which…well...obviously. When I explained it to Jehan he told me everything, and it's amazing and terrifying and very, very overwhelming."
"This is amazing though!" Joly exclaimed ignoring Cosette's, Jehan's and Grantaire's confused faces. "We've obviously been looking at this all wrong. Our biological make up is the same, but there are obvious differences neurologically. That's why we have the same fingerprints, but since we're being secretly examined at night-" Cosette bit her lip at this but Joly went on excitedly. "They'll always be able to tell the difference between us. I mean we're probably marked, with something like a chip? I'm not sure, but experiments are marked. If we were to find these markers and also find a way to switch them around they'll still be able to place their subjects. It's quite obvious actually. I don't know how I didn't see this before. Like Grantaire. You're bipolar when none of us are. Well Jehan has his clinical depression and I have a touch of hypochondria, not that I'm comparing your gender identity to a mental illness Cosette. I would never. They're completely different things, but it's the brain I'm talking about. Neurologically we're all different!"
Joly flopped down on the couch next to Grantaire and sighed, obviously pleased with his observation.
"So Cosette," Grantaire turned the conversation around to her. "Are you fucking your monitor too?"
This never would have happened if it wasn't for the fucking chip; the one that come out of his mouth two mornings ago, the ultimate proof that they were nothing more than lab rats, to poke and prod and perform sick, twisted, (Okay they didn't exactly known what was being done to them, but come on these people are creeps) experiments on. Grantaire hadn't touched a drop of alcohol in two years until the stupid chip. And then he came home wasted and confronted Combeferre about what he'd already known.
"What chip?" Cosette asked.
"The bloody chip that fell out of my mouth, somewhere around two days ago." Grantaire near snarled, but Cosette looked unperturbed.
"We knew we were being watched," Jehan started, trying to explain it to Cosette. "We assumed it was because we were experiments and we were right. What we failed to remember is that experiments get tested. We don't know what they do to us, but at night someone close to us, it has to be someone who lives with us or someone who has a key to our houses. This group, they're too high tech, they'd think breaking and entering is beneath them. In their eyes they're doing good."
"But aren't they?" Cosette asked curiously.
Grantaire's eyes snapped to hers and she ducked her head. Joly glared at him and Jehan went on as if that little exchange didn't happen. "That's undecided for now. Why do you ask though? Your input is important to us, seeing as you're one of us now."
"I only meant that we wouldn't be alive right now if wasn't for them would we?"
"No we wouldn't." Joly said slowly as if weighing his words carefully. "But they gave us human life and they let us live human lives. They should treat us as human beings. We are human beings and we deserve a certain amount of respect. We deserve to have our thoughts, our ideas and most importantly our consent considered in this matter don't you think so?"
"Yes I do. I'm sorry for-"
"Don't be." Joly sighed. "Some of us are sensitive because of the betrayal of our trust, but we don't shun anyone's opinion here."
"I'll tell him when he gets back home." Combeferre said to Enjolras as they packed up their documents. They were the only ones left back. Enjolras lay his hand on his friend's shoulder. He was not well versed or generally interested in relationships generally and so he didn't know exactly how to help, but he knew when his friend needed him. "It makes sense for me to tell him, he can help me more this way."
"That's a good idea." Enjolras smiled. And Combeferre knew that if it were anyone else but him, Enjolras wouldn't even deign to have this conversation so he smiled back.
"I don't know who my monitor could be." Cosette said thoughtfully. "The only people they could be are my father and my friend, a girl my age that I know. We sort of adopted her when she was a child. There's no way she could know about this, or be trained enough to watch me."
The evening was cooling down and they all sat down thinking about that.
"I guess you'll have to try to track down everyone in your life. It could be anyone, from your father to your ballet instructor. You'll never know." Joly replied.
"Speaking of monitors, I'm also fucking mine by the way." Jehan added.
"I am too." Joly sighed.
"Wait and you guys let me bitch for an hour. Explain!" Grantaire cried.
"Montparnasse let it slip after we did it. He didn't go oooh I'm your monitor but he mentioned me asking my mum about my meds. There's no way else he could have known." Jehan said blithely. "I almost choked him then and there. It's still not the same as you Grantaire. Me and 'Parnasse were just fuck buddies, so there was no heartbreak. I don't think he even realized what he said. Moron."
"Bossuet confessed to me last night. He told me that he was sorry and that he wanted us to run away together to escape Neolution, that the name of the group by the way Cosette, but I told him no. He didn't even know we were clones. I briefed him on the entire thing. I wasn't even going to say anything to be honest, but since we're all confessing."
"Wait so does he know we're all here?" Grantaire suddenly felt uncomfortable, and if he was getting too big for his skin.
"L'Aigle loves me more than he cares for his job. He won't expose us I promise. The only reason he kept working with them was so he could get all the information possible. That's why I invited you over here actually. I had no idea Jehan was bringing a friend."
"One has such whims." Jehan smiled, and Cosette giggled and Grantaire huffed a sigh; and just like that the tension in the room dissipated.
"Cosette is meeting her clones." Professor Fauchelevent sank down heavily on his chair.
"Yes Monsieur Fauchelevent." The lady replied.
"I had hoped this day would never come." He sighed. "But I always knew it would."
"So we're nothing but things to them." Cosette let out a saddened sigh. "We're things."
Grantaire, who was sitting next to her now that she and Jehan had switched places, started rubbing her back soothingly. "We're not things. I promise. We're people. We're people."
"They patented us." Joly's usual smile was replaced with a frown. "Which means that they don't think that way about us, we're disposable to them."
"It's interesting." Jehan said, his chin resting on the back of his hand. "It's the nature vs. nurture debate here isn't it? We're technically all the same people, but we've all lived different lives, had different experiences, grew up in different households. Of course we're not real to them. Not yet. Not until they've perfected us."
"What do you mean?" Joly asked, and Grantaire and Cosette looked at him curiously.
"They're not trying to make a bunch of people, they're trying to make the perfect human and so far Cosette's probably the only one that's passed that test with no mental illnesses to speak of." Jehan looked thoughtful. "But they're not done. When I'm finished with a piece and I'm satisfied I keep right next to my bed. I keep it safe, but if I write something similar but something that's better. I rip the old one to pieces. Joly's right we're disposable."
"And on that somber note," Grantaire sighed standing up. "I'm going to bid you guys goodnight. Cosette how're you getting home?"
"Jehan's dropping me." She smiled, and as sad as Grantaire was he smiled back and kissed her on the cheek.
"Fine. Tell me when clone club is going to reconvene." He said as he traipsed out the door.
"First rule of clone club Cosette," Jehan said severely as they grabbed their coats. "Is to never use the "C" word, Grantaire is a terrible example."
"Why are you still here?" Grantaire glared at the man sitting on his couch.
"I lied to you and I'm sorry about that, but let me tell you the truth now. Let me explain." Combeferre pleaded.
"You have five minutes." Grantaire sighed; because as upset as he was, as betrayed as he felt. It was still Combeferre.
"I'm not your monitor." Grantaire snorted at that. "I wasn't even aware that you had a monitor believe me. I did lie to you though. I'm not a librarian."
"Figures." Grantaire muttered.
"I work with an organization called Les Amis De l'ABC. We want to bring down Neolution." Grantaire started at that and took a step closer to Combeferre. "They came across our way when Feuilly first heard of groups of workers being mutated against their wills. We weren't sure at first, it sounded too surreal, but we checked it out and it was true. People with tails, third eyes, two tongues (not tongues that were split, two separate tongues), it was terrible. And we started to investigate, and there was a project that was kept under wraps. It was strange because they weren't advertising their other….experiments, but they weren't hiding it either. We have an inside man in there. Codename: Eagle and he helped us to dig deeper, but it was never deep enough."
"Bossuet." Grantaire whispered.
"What was that?" Combeferre asked.
"Nothing." Grantaire raised his chin up. "You only have three minutes left."
"You still can't give me the benefit of the doubt then." Combeferre muttered almost bitterly. "Don't you think you owe me at least that? After everything we've been through."
"That makes it harder to trust you!" Grantaire's cold mask broke and he looked shattered, more than that he looked pissed off. "After everything we've been through, you lied to me. You didn't trust me enough to tell me about all this, and you can bullshit all you want I was just a fucking cover to you!"
"His name is Grantaire." Enjolras said, handing Combeferre his file. "Neolution lost track of him somewhere around his childhood. He might be important to them. He is or was a part of their unnamed project. If we can find out more about him, we'll know what they're up to."
"Fine." Combeferre nodded as he started to read the file. "And we know nothing about him?"
"Outside of the two arrests for burglary, and a stint in rehab for heroin, we know nothing. Is this okay, that is to say is it too much to ask of you?" Enjolras looked uncharacteristically worried.
"I'm capable." Combeferre replied firmly. He knew how important this was.
"Okay, well it's in your hands now. He takes ballet classes at the centre on the corner of fifth and sixth."
"Only in the beginning and I'm sorry for that, I truly am, but what we're doing is important. Experiments are one thing, this is illegal cloning! This is madness disguised as science. This is-"
"This is the reason I'm alive right now. Without them I wouldn't be here. I come from them, from their filth. I'm just as fucked up as they are. We are projections of our creators after all right?" Grantaire repeated Cosette's rhetoric from earlier and then some. He didn't care for it at the time, but in all honesty he just wanted to be antagonistic. Combeferre deserved it, which is why he also replied. "You know, I should have known. I don't know a single person who would have stayed with me through all this; all the alcohol, the drugs, the relapses, the rehab, the AA, the therapy, me being pathetically in love with their best friend. I mean I mooned after him for so long. Getting over that was hard, but I did it because I thought 'Well this man's a saint. He put up with me, he loved me, and he's so good.' Oh I stopped thinking of Enjolras that way and I switched it on to you. Except it was better because I thought he walked on water, but I thought of you as walking the earth. You were beautiful and intelligent and kind and caring and so human and it was amazing. You were everything, everything I've ever needed and wanted, but turns out you're just like everyone else. You're just as self serving as the rest of them aren't you?"
Combeferre who'd stayed silent throughout his entire rant snorted at this point. Snorted! "You think I'm self serving? Everything you just said wasme, me, me and I'm the one who's self serving. There's a mirror in the bathroom, Grantaire, that I think you need to take a look at." Combeferre had the skill of making you feel small with very few words, and he put that to use.
"If I'm so selfish then why are you still here?"
"Because I love you! I'm in love with you! And you're so used to expecting the worst that you can't see it. I love you. I love you. I lov-" His third admission of love was cut off by Grantaire's lips on his. He kissed his lips chastely and then proceeded to kiss other parts of his face when Combeferre still insisted on talking. "And I think you're amazing." Kiss on the forehead. "You're beautiful and so, so strong." Kiss on the cheek. "All the things you think are flaws aren't!" Kiss on the other cheek. "They're proof that you're a survivor." Kiss on the jaw. "You've survived alcohol and drugs and mental illness," Kiss on the chin. "And you're still here." Kiss on the neck. At this point Combeferre roughly grabbed Grantaire's face in his hands and brought him back to eye level. "You're still here because you're the strongest person I know. You survived. You're here. You're alive, because you're amazing. You're amazing." He pressed their foreheads together and sighed, rubbing his back as Grantaire cried. "It doesn't matter how you were born, or what those monsters do to you. I'll fix it. We'll fix it. I promise."
Their movements were stilted and still somewhat awkward, the room had a strange tension of love, distrust and desire but they stood there, even when his tears were all dried up, foreheads pressed against each other's, hands wrapped around each other's.
"The unknown subject is going to be tracked now Monsieur. We've put agent Bahorel on his case. He's going to befriend him. Cosette said he's fond of all his friends, we'll know everything soon." A woman in a heavily accented voice walked towards Professor Fauchelevent and he patted her on the cheek and smiled.
"It's a pity. We didn't get to originally track him like the others, figure out his life story. This is amazing. An anomaly." He sighed and started scratching through his notes on the table. "That will be all Eponine. Keep that eye on Cosette. She's very dear to me."
"As she is to me. I'll keep her as safe as possible Monsieur."
"Good." He smiled, and he went back to his notes.
A/N:
If Grantaire (and therefore all the other clones) looks like Nathan Stewart-Jarret, Cosette looks like Azealia Banks.
Jean Valjean is not a bad man okay. Let me give you a little JVJ backstory. It didn't fit into the actual story so I'll tell you here.
-Basically he went to prison for manslaughter (because let's be real in this day and age he'd just get a fine for that bread). A man was trying to attack his sister and he stabbed him twelve times. It wasn't officially recorded as self defense because they were homeless people, and we all know how society treats homeless people.
-Jail was hard for him, and as a man of colour (think Idris Elba) he knew he wouldn't get the sort of treatment that was his right, so he became bitter and he educated himself. Upon escaping jail (some Shawshank shit went down)
-Instead of meeting the bishop he fell in with a group called Neolution. The idea of evolving beyond what human beings thought possible intrigued him. He educated himself in prison and he did it to put that education to nefarious means, but instead he took that good old Jean Valjean saviour complex and sought to improve mankind. He was there when the entire "cloning business" started up.
-Fantine was one of the surrogates and he stayed with her through a difficult delivery because he was fond of her. He took her daughter when she died on the table and raised her.
-Cosette isn't a Rachel Duncun type character because she wasn't born with the knowledge of Neolution and what they do. To her, her mother died when she was young and she's basically just Ultime Fauchelevent's daughter, and Eponine Thenardier's sister and she loves and trusts them both completely.
-Jean Valjean doesn't think of the clones as real people
-Cosette is the only exception.
I have never written in this format before, I hope it was okay. If you have any questions please feel free to ask. Comments and constructive criticism are both greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.