A/N: Hey everyone, sorry I haven't been around. This is an Enjonine oneshot (maybe) because I'm obsessed with the YouTube channel The Cut where people play funny games and it's hilarious. If you have the time, go check it out. After rereading this, Eponine and Enjolras seem a little out of character, but I'm trying my best here because I haven't written or read a whole bunch in a long time. But I hope you guys enjoy!
Courfeyrac is so dead for this. Enjolras was already definitely opposed to being set up on a blind date by him, but this takes the cake. If he would have known that this was Courfeyrac's plan, he never would have agreed. He silently berates himself for it before taking a deep breath and turning to the camera.
"Beer pong; I can't believe this is your idea of a first date," he mutters to the mess of brown curls behind the camera. And if he wasn't so miffed about the whole situation, he would definitely be proud of his friend's hard work finally paying off. Here Courf was, a successful director. So maybe he wasn't directing Oscar-worthy movies, but these YouTube videos were definitely a start to something much bigger down the line.
Courfeyrac lets out a long sigh and rolls his eyes. "Listen, Enj, Les Amis have all agreed that you need to get out there." He waves his hand around to signify he means the dating world. "And we all know that you're too busy with your studies and applying for grad school to actually do it yourself. So we've taken the liberty of getting a start on that part of your life for you. Plus this is great video content, so it's a win-win for everyone!"
"So getting people intoxicated at one o'clock in the afternoon is your idea of a good blind date."
"No one is more honest and willing to try new things than when they can't see straight."
Enjolras rolls his eyes and fiddles with the ping pong ball in front of him. "Has it ever even occurred to you that maybe I'm not interested in being in a relationship right now?"
Courfeyrac lets out a snort. "And that's why you agreed to this blind date, of course?"
"I didn't know it was a blind-" Enjolras stops himself from getting heated up and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose because he can definitely feel a migraine coming on.
At his friend's silence, Courfeyrac quirks a half smile and goes, "You'll thank me for this one day."
"Oh, I'm so grateful."
Suddenly, the door to the studio swings open and a mess of long brown curls comes rushing in. "I'm sorry, I'm here!" she apologizes frantically before fixing her hair around her and straightening herself out. "Courf! I'm sorry I'm late. I had to drop Gavroche off at camp and then the subway was ridiculous." Her words come out fast and she quickly hugs their mutual friend before excusing herself for just one minute more to use the restroom before they get started.
Enjolras can't help but stare after her as she leaves the room. He swears that he's seen her before, but he can't put a finger on where. And he must be lost in a trance that Courfeyrac notices because he's met with, "You've met her once before, I think. Just briefly." God, is he a mind reader?
"Who is she?"
Before Courfeyrac can answer, she comes rushing back in, her hair no longer tangled but smoothed out a little neater. She must have thrown some lipstick on as well because they're now a slightly darker shade of pink than they were a few minutes ago. She gives Courf's bicep a friendly squeeze as she passes him to introduce herself to Enjolras. "I'm Eponine." Also sounds familiar, he thinks to himself. "We met at Marius Pontmercy's engagement party. I'm a friend of Cosette's."
Enjolras automatically shakes her outstretched hand but his mind races back to that night. Though utterly confused by Pontmercy's sudden urge to marry someone he'd only met a few months ago, he was nonetheless a more than pleasant guest. (Because deep down he was genuinely happy for his very good friend, and Cosette is honestly the perfect person for Pontmercy.) The festivities afterwards, however, is where his memory really starts to fail. Following the formal dinner celebration, a small group of them went out to a nearby club to really celebrate.
"I-I'm sorry," he stutters. "I don't..."
Eponine smiles and laughs, (and Enjolras silently notes to himself that it has the faint sound of wind chimes). "Yeah, I don't imagine that you would remember. You were pretty smashed, actually."
All he could remember was a whirlwind of brown curls and a deep purple dress. He'd found out the morning after that his friends kept replacing his half-drunk beers with full ones the entire night. The poor man had never had a migraine so gnarly in his life. He honestly didn't want to remember what he might have done that night.
He begins to try to explain himself, but she chuckles once more and shakes her head dismissively. "Don't worry, I won't hold it against you." She nods her head to red Solo cups set up on the ping pong table in the middle of the set. "Are you ready to lose?" she smiles at him playfully with raised eyebrows.
Enjolras is taken aback for a moment by her competitiveness but cracks a smile and plays along. "No, but I'm ready to win."
Courfeyrac chimes in after them, "Alright let's get started."
After introducing themselves to the camera, Courfeyrac proceeds to explain the rules. "If you get the ball in the cup, you can either do the dare underneath it and keep the cup on the table, or drink the cup and set it to the side. The winner gets two hundred dollars in the end. Who do you think is going to win?"
Eponine lets out a confident chuckle and rubs her hands together. "Oh, definitely me."
Enjolras smirks and raises an eyebrow at her. "I wouldn't be too sure."
"I guess we shall see then," she offers lightly before throwing the first ball and sinking it into the middle cup. She yells in celebration, challenging Enjolras the whole time to see how he'll react. But he's not going to let the small victory go to her head so quickly, so he keeps his cool and reaches for the dare underneath the cup.
He gives it a once over before reading it out loud. "'Let your opponent wax your armpit hair off.'" He quickly turns to Courfeyrac with an incredulous look and raises his eyebrows.
Eponine can't stop laughing at their exchange either, which doesn't help the situation. Through her fit of giggles, she manages, "Wait, wait. Are we talking about both armpits or just one?"
Courfeyrac reluctantly admits, "Both," which makes Eponine cover her mouth in an attempt to quiet her amusement and stare at Enjolras, who just blankly stares at Courfeyrac with his mouth slightly agape because he's not too proud to admit that he really would rather not wax any part of his body.
A moment goes by and Enjolras finally makes a decision. He groans softly and looks Eponine straight in the eye. "Just do it quickly."
About a half hour goes by and Eponine has two cups left on the table, one without a dare and one with; Enjolras has three left, all with dares. The one thing he's noticed throughout this whole game, however, is that Eponine can definitely hold her alcohol. Although the twelve ounce cups aren't filled entirely with beer, they're filled enough to get any normal person at least tipsy after drinking two of them. And as where Enjolras starts to feel the slightest bit tired, Eponine is more energized if that's even possible.
Another thirty minutes goes by and they're down to their last cups, Eponine's without a dare underneath and Enjolras's with. Both of them have been stripped down to just their underwear and shoes (by the other person), and Enjolras un-enthusiastically realizes that he's done more risque things in the last hour than he has in his entire life. But he doesn't feel so bad because Eponine has had to do just as many things as he has, if not more, because even though she's good at beer pong, he's surprisingly better. And he wonders idly why neither of them had come across at least one dare that had to do with kissing the other person. (Not that he would have minded in any way).
Enjolras sinks his last ball into her cup on the second try, and he just smirks smugly without a word. Eponine is silent for a minute before letting out an exasperated laugh followed by a sad, "Aw man. You win."
"I win," he confirms, though not smugly or egotistically. He's just stating a matter of fact. Out of curiosity, he picks up his own cup and reads the dare underneath. "'Kiss your opponent with tongue.'"
Eponine raises her eyebrows and laughs sheepishly. "We were so close," she jokes, running a hand through her mess of curls and looking across the table at him through long eyelashes.
And Enjolras has never been particularly good at reading women but he decides to take a chance and responds, "We could always do it anyhow. You know, just to close the game out."
Eponine smiles and bites her lip playfully. Whether she's really feeling what he is or it's just the alcohol finally kicking in, Enjolras isn't quite sure, but before he knows it, Eponine is around the table in front of him with her hands tangled in his shock of blonde curls and her lips on his. His arms wrap around her waist instinctively and their bodies are pressed against each other. She has to stand on her toes to reach him, and to level the height difference between them just a little bit, he sets her on the edge of the table before standing between her legs in one fluid move, and she smiles against his lips in surprise. Their one kiss kind of turns into a makeout session, but neither of them are complaining. Their tongues are tangled for what feels like a while (though not long enough) before Courfeyrac clears his throat and they're brought back to the real world.
Enjolras's lips finally part from hers and he can't help the smile that spreads across his face. When he opens his eyes to see her smiling back at him, his can feel chills running through him and he doesn't dislike it.
"So," he asks quietly, moving to peck her lips gently. The rumbling of his empty stomach interrupts them and they both chuckle. "Would you like to get some lunch?"
Eponine moves her head back to look at him and taps her lips with her pointer finger as she thinks about it. For a moment, Enjolras is scared that it actually was just the alcohol talking, but then she smiles and cocks her head to the side as she looks up at him and nods. "I think I would."
And Enjolras makes a note to thank Courfeyrac later.
