Heart Full of Love
A Les Miserables FanFiction
By EveryDayArtist
Rating: K+
"To love another person is to see the face of God" –Come to Me
"Enjolras. Enjolras, come on, wake up!"
The young man groaned and buried his head into his pillow, trying to block out his roommate's voice. Combeferre smiled at the mass of golden curls that stuck out at odd angles as he shook his best friend's shoulder. "Come on 'Jol. It's almost noon, I think that's enough sleep for today, alright?"
Mumbling under his breath, Enjolras sat up and yawned. "I was up late drafting a letter."
"I know. A thrilling way to spend Christmas Eve."
The activist groaned again as he slunk out of bed. "A commercialized, objectified holiday to promote the desire of more and make large corporations-"
Combeferre shut him with a cup of coffee. "No. Absolutely not. Not today; today we are not talking about anything like that. Come on, we have a guest."
Jehan looked up from where he was setting the table and rolled his eyes. "Seriously? I think you're the only person I know who sleeps so late on Christmas."
"When'd you get here?" The young man sat down, sipping his coffee as Combeferre went to finish setting out the food.
"About nine, but I went to a service at around seven, so I've been up since around six-thirty." The poet reached over to hug the older boy. "Merry Christmas."
Enjolras responded in kind; no matter how he felt about the holiday, there was no way he was upsetting Jehan on Christmas.
"Courfeyrac went home with his girlfriend for the holidays and Bahorel had a family thing so I invited Jehan over." Combeferre served up the cinnamon rolls as the younger boys portioned out eggs and bacon.
"I didn't really want to face my parents." The poet admitted. "Ever since the argument, I just don't feel comfortable there."
Enjolras nodded as the boy continued. "Anyway, we'll see everyone else tonight. I'll need to swing by my place to grab the presents, by the way."
Enjolras pointed to where a large bag was waiting by the door. "We've got ours ready to go so that shouldn't be a problem."
"Good." Jehan smiled. "You missed a call from Joly earlier. I guess they'd been caroling last night…"
"AAAaAaaaAAaAnd aaaaaa hHhhhHHhhaaAAAppy NNNNNNNew yeaaaaAAAaaaaAr!"
Joly collapsed against Musichetta, giggling uncontrollably as Bossuet smiled at the sounds of laughter from the other side of the phone.
Combeferre's warm voice managed to be heard over the din. .:Sorry Enjolras missed that. We'll see you guys tonight right?:.
"You will." Bossuet confirmed, watching his roommates continue to sing at one another. "When Jehan stops laughing, tell him Merry Christmas for us." As he hung up he shook his head at the off-key merry makers and crossed his arms. "Are we watching the movie or what?"
Joly sobered up and stood. "I'll get the cider. 'Chetta, can you get the lights?"
"Will do, hun." The woman dimmed the room as Bossuet flipped on the TV. As she settled next to her friend, she curled her legs under her and smiled. "I can't believe you love this movie."
"Christmas Carol is a classic!"
Musichetta giggled. "The story yes, not so sure about the Muppets version."
Joly rolled his eyes as he handed out the mugs of warm amber liquid. "Let's just watch alright?" He glared at Bossuet. "And careful with the drink."
"I'm not gonna drop it! What am I, twelve?"
"I do not want to have to treat you for burns again this year!"
As the young woman snuggled between her large, unlucky protector and wound up, cuddly caretaker she felt a surge of warmth and impulsively kissed them both on the cheek. "Come on boys, let's watch the movie."
"Are you sure you're okay with not going?"
Marius smiled kindly as his roommate repeated the question for the seventh time that morning. "Yes, I'm sure. She's coming to see us tonight so I can give her the gift then."
Feuilly shrugged slightly, looking uncomfortable. "I just don't want you to feel like you have to stick around to keep me company."
"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't? Anyway, I want to let Cosette have some time with her dad." Marius perked up slightly. "Wanna go to the park? People are usually starting that snowball war about now. Let's go kick some butt."
Feuilly's normally serious face lit up. "Let me get my gloves. I have an idea for our fort."
"Hey."
Grantaire looked up drowsily from his bed at Cosette. "Hey."
Still in her church clothes, the girl sat on the mattress, putting a hand on his forehead. "Still high. How do you feel?"
"Well no hallucinations." He grinned weakly. "But my head is pounding and I was shaking pretty bad for a while there."
Three times Grantaire had tried to go cold turkey. Three times the withdrawal had been too much and he'd given in. But this time Cosette could feel something was different. They kept nearby and watched as he strove to overcome the symptoms and defeat his inner demons. She pushed his sweaty bangs from his eyes and smiled encouraging. "You're doing so well. I'm really proud of you." She reached down. "I got-well, papa got you something." She placed the object on the table next to him and smiled. "Every time you want a drink I want you to draw in this until the craving is gone." She squeezed his hand. "We're so proud of you."
He grinned up at her crookedly. "Thanks for the gift. I… I think I'm okay enough to eat something."
Cosette laughed and helped him up. "It seemed like something you'd like. Come on then."
As she chattered on he smiled and shook his head. He hadn't meant the sketchbook; this Christmas was going to be hard, still in the clutches of the addiction but he wasn't alone and he'd been blessed with the three words he'd never thought he'd hear.
Proud of you.
Merry Christmas everyone; or just Happy Holidays. I hope you had a wonderful day and that you enjoyed this bit of Christmas fluff. This takes place between the prologue and chapter one of "They Will Come When We Call"