She isn't sure what to make of them the first time they meet. Marius has dragged her to one of the meetings that his friend Courfeyrac told him about, and she spends the entire time getting progressively drunker with a cynical man named Grantaire while everyone else debates. She rolls her eyes because even though she's found a suitable drinking partner in Grantaire, she does not have time for these confused little boys. Marius told her that Courfeyrac said this meeting would change his life, but she seriously doubts it. So far the only thing that was potentially "Life changing" was when some bald guy tripped over thin air, and almost spilled hot tea all over her. She's wasting her one day off here, stuck with Marius' weird friends. Her eyes never really stray from Marius, until she notices a man with shaggy hair and glasses slip in the side door. Her gaze follows him as he weaves through the sparse crowd to stand to the right of a blonde who is leaning over a giant text book and making notes on a laptop. She watches the one with glasses whisper in the ear of the blonde, and notices that his hand lingers on the other man's shoulder just a touch too long to be only friendly. She nearly chokes on her beer and nudges Grantaire with her elbow, swallowing before asking him what was up with Blondie and Specs.
He lets out a guffaw, and tells her that no one knows, and whenever someone tries to pry the answer out of Combeferre, all they get is silence. She ponders this while watching the two, and sips at her beer again. She's about half way through this bottle when the blonde one climbs up on a table, and starts giving a speech. She almost chokes on her beer again, looking at Grantaire, trying to figure out if this guy is for real, but her new friend is watching the blonde intently. She rolls her eyes, and tries to listen to whatever this guy is ranting about. She's not going to lie, his voice is super great for this kind of thing, and the way his eyes blaze is totally sexy, but she can't help but snort a little at the pile of shit coming out of his mouth. She thought she was being subtle with her disdain, but evidently not, because Specs (Combeferre?) glances at her, holding her gaze before shaking his head a little. She smiles sweetly at him, turning her attention back to her beer, and tries to block out Blondie's voice. She must be successful, because twenty minutes later that Combeferre guy is at her elbow, pushing his glasses up with a move she didn't know could be sexy. (She totally should have started hanging out with Marius' friends sooner, because even though they're all weird, they are also ridiculously hot). She's pretty much certain that he's about to ask her why she's here when the blonde's voice cuts through the bar, calling his name. She watches as Blondie struts towards where they are (Fuck, models didn't even look half as good as him). He studies her, makes an approximation of the noise she made during his speech before speaking with Combeferre. She flushes when she realizes that he heard her, and took notice. She puts down her bottle and tries to slip off her stool and out the door, but she is stopped by a strange hand on her wrist. She looks up at Combeferre's smiling face and skewed glasses, and smiles back. He tells her that she is more than welcome at their meetings as Blondie screws up his beautiful features in what could be called a smirk. She nods and slips out the side, texting Marius as she goes.
Three months pass, and she's been going to these meetings almost regularly, if she can get off work. So far she's learned that Blondie's name is Enjolras, and since the first meeting, she's been in about 25 fights with him, and she's won 17 of them. (Courfeyrac has been keeping score as well as taking bets on both the topic and the length of the argument). If she and Enjolras ever get too passionate about a topic, they turn to Combeferre to be the voice of reason. Most of the time, its only friendly debate, but she almost scratches him across his pretty face when he suggests that criminals are a product of having no choice. She knows a little too much about criminals, and after that she doesn't come to a meeting for at least a week. When she finally returns, she is greeted by 'Ferre's arms around her, and she cheerfully accepts Enjolras' apology.
At the next meeting, she's sitting with Combeferre, his arm draped around her shoulder as they watch Enjolras rant about the distribution of wealth, at which point she asks him the question that's been on her mind since the first meeting. Combeferre chuckles quietly, as to not disturb their esteemed leader, and pulls her to the bar, where he tells her how they were best friends since kindergarten, and at some point two years ago, they realized they had accidently started dating. She can't control her laughter at that point, because she can clearly see Enjolras freaking out when he realizes he's been accidently dating his best friend, the only one he would think to call in a situation like that. Her shoulders are shaking from her laughter, and she can't quell it, even when Enjolras shoots her a death glare. Combeferre gives his boyfriend an apologetic glance as he covers Eponine's mouth with his hand, quietly laughing with her. They both try and grow somber when they receive a "shush" from Enjolras, but it just makes them laugh harder. She thinks she sees him crack the semblance of a smile at their antics.
She thinks back to that moment when she is sitting on the floor of her closet four months later, crying her eyes out because she realized that she loves those stupid boys. She loves the way Enjolras' passion for change can't be contained, and the way Combeferre balances him out. She loves debating with Enjolras, but even more than that, she clings to the memory of Combeferre snapping at her one night when she says something off hand about Asians and A pluses. She's in love with everything about them; except she's pretty sure they could never love her.
She stops coming to meetings again. It hurts her too much to pretend like everything is normal. She tells Marius to make excuses for her, and turns down Courfeyrac and Grantaire's offers to get drunk with them. For 7 months, she's had some of the best friends she could ever ask for, and her stupid emotions had to go and screw it up. She has seen them together a couple of times in public, but has always ducked out of the way before they could notice her. She spends a lot of time alone in her apartment, only leaving for work and for classes, coming back immediately after and curling up in her bed. This goes on for two weeks, before she hears a knock on her apartment door. She ignores it, and sinks further down into her blankets, trying very hard to fall asleep. She can hear the muffled cursing from outside the door, and then the scraping of a key being inserted into a lock. She panics and reaches for the nearest heavy object before venturing out into the main room. She watches as the door knob turns, and her mind is filled with every thug her father has worked with. She tightens her fingers around the book she had picked up, and is ready to swing when she notices the glint of gold hair in the dim light of the threshold. She drops the book on the ground with a thud as Enjolras and Combeferre push their way into her apartment, seemingly unaware that she is standing nearly in front of them. Enjolras starts to shush Combeferre, at which point she locks eyes with him, and the sound dies on his lips. She watches him swallow and step hesitantly forward. Combeferre lingers to the back, his face serious. She feels tears prick and threaten to fall from her eyes, but she runs a hand across them. She's cried enough over these two, and she sure as hell isn't going to cry in front of them. She sniffles, and then all of a sudden, she is wrapped in two pairs of arms. The tears fall from her eyes as these two ridiculous, silly boys cover every exposed inch of her with kisses, and she brings her arms up to embrace the two men who she didn't even realize loved her.