Hi guys! So this will mainly be from Eponine's point of view, unless otherwise stated. Just wanted to say that I'm not going to follow the EXACT plotline of Les Mis. The basic plot will be there, but I'm changing some stuff around, so no hate for that please!

"Eponine!"

I turn around, my heart fluttering in my chest. I knew that voice. I would always know that voice. I put on my best smile and raised my chin. "Hi, Marius."

He is, of course, smiling. Marius is hardly ever sad, he has hardly even had the slightest tone of anger in his voice. Except when he was at the ABC meetings – I had listened in on one once. They talked about the French government in the loudest voices possible…then again, most of them were drunk.

"What's been going on?" He asks. Polite, but nothing more. Just as he always has been. There's never anything more.

I sigh. I should really give up on the dream that one day he'll run up to me and confess his feelings for me. All I want is for Marius to be happy, whether it involves me or not, but I can't help but think of how nice it would be if it DID involve me.

I shrugged. Things had been going on, but I didn't want to talk about them. Not to Marius.

I turn into the ally where I sleep on the days I don't want to go home and face my parents. They were relatively agreeable before we lost the inn, but now they snap at everything I say.

Marius knows that I sleep here sometimes. Occasionally, he offers to let me stay at his home for the night, but I always refuse. Honestly, I don't think I could handle it: being alone all night with him. As friends.

Suddenly I feel his hand on my shoulder. A million bolts of lightning race through me, and I want to jerk away and melt into him at the same time. The scene I have so perfectly planned out in my head races through my thoughts: him confessing, me confessing, kissing in the rain.

"Your sleeve fell down your shoulder," he says, pushing it back up. The harsh reality hits me, that he didn't feel any lightning.

Then I remember. "No, don't, I…"

But the sleeve is all the way up, and there is the bruise, and Marius is staring at it, half shocked and half scared. I stand completely still and watch his reaction carefully.

He looks up at me, and even though I really should let this go, I can't help but notice the genuine care in his voice. "Eponine, who did this to you."

It's a statement, not a question. I feel the hot tears prick at my eyes and I slowly turn away, sitting down on the crate that serves as my bed.

But Marius knows me too well. "Your father," he remarks, answering his own question.

Silent tears are rolling down my face now. "Marius, don't."

I hear him sit down next to me, and just him being there reminds me that it will be okay for now.

It's been an hour of sitting in silence, but we haven't moved. Nobody else is on the streets, just us in the ally. I plan on staying, and I don't know if Marius will.

As if he read my mind, Marius looks at me. "I'll stay here tonight, if that's okay."

I nod silently, and he lays down on the pavement.

I watch him as he does. I wish he felt the same way, but really, there's no way he can. He's made it clear that while we're friends, and will always be friends…well, that's it. We'll always be only friends.

The thought of any other person laying a hand on Marius…I want to break that person's teeth already, and the person doesn't even exist. Not for the first time, I think about everything I feel for him.

I love him. I do. But he doesn't love me. Get over it. Leave and find somebody else. Without me, his world will go on turning.

A bitter, selfish thought came to her.

A world that's full of happiness, that I have never known.

Marius's breathing is deep and even. He must be asleep, and must think I'm asleep.

"I love you," I whisper, barely audible.

He doesn't respond.

I already know I won't be sleeping tonight.

Tell me what you think! It's kind of hard to write fanfiction in the first person, but I really want the emotions to be clear. The next chapter will be posted ASAP!