This is for hihiyas, who helped be build the headcanons for it as we were both suffering for a bad cold. Thanks to her for the beta'ing as well

This is total self-indulgence, but since we've proved it cures bad cold, I'm sharing it.

Part I

Éponine was feeling so bad, so sick, coughing so much her neighbour had already banged on the wall twice. Another thunderbolt. Catching a cold in the middle of the summer was the worst thing ever. She wanted to wrap herself in her blankets with liters of the hottest tea, but it was like 100°C outside. She kicked her duvet and opened the window just enough to get some air without getting any rain in her flat.

She was almost back in her bed when she heard the doorbell. It was past 10 pm, who could that be? Marius, maybe? After all, he lived on the other side of the hallway, and he knew she was sick. That wasn't so crazy an idea.

But when she opened the door, it wasn't Marius. Far from it, in fact. From the only person she wanted to see, it went to the person she hated the most. At the moment at least. Nobody deserved the amount of hate she felt for her parents.

"What are you doing here?"

"Making amends. I was told by people much more sensible than I am that I had been a 'fucking arsehole' to you, so here I am. May I come in?» Seeing that she wasn't moving, he showed the grocery bag he had under his arm. «I can make soup. My grandmother's recipe…» She still wasn't letting him come in. «Please, I've been appointed to your exclusive service until you get better. If I come back to the flat too early, they'll make me sleep on the doorstep. I am not fond of this arrangement, but I have no choice. And I've got camphor balm and cough syrup too."

For such a fierce guy, he was fucking good with puppy eyes. Plus she hadn't eaten anything since noon, and she had run out of syrup one hour before, so…

"OK." She just goes back in her bed, on the furthest end of her studio. "Wake me up when it's done."

She didn't know how long she slept, but it didn't seem like much. She had been half-awake, half-asleep the whole time. Enjolras in her flat wasn't something that made her sleep carefree.

Instead of sitting at the table, she went to the sofa and switched her tiny telly on, making it clear that she wasn't willing to talk with him. There was a pretty agreeable smell coming from the bowls Enjolras had in his hands, but it wasn't enough to make up for the way he had treated her at their stupid meeting earlier that evening. Yeah, she was sick and it involved a lot of coughing and sneezing, but for Enjolras The Great, the superhuman who had certainly never been sick since chickenpox when he was like three… What was she saying?! Rich boy got a personal physician or whatever privileged people had. Anyway, he had been a rude arsehole calling her out and making her leave. She had made the effort to come, after a whole day of working with an A/C that had worsen her cold every hour. She hated summer, A/C and all of this shit! She always ended getting sick half the season. But in winter, when you were supposed to catch a cold, nothing. Ever!

After two bowls of a soup that was way too good for her liking, « You can go now. »

"I'll just do the dishes and then, I'll leave. Hoping my punishment will be enough for Combeferre and Courfeyrac," he sighed.

"You know, you shouldn't complain. Without them, you wouldn't be even half human."

He didn't answer, walking right to the kitchen. She headed to the bathroom with the tube of camphor balm.

Once her tee shirt removed, her throat and chest thoroughly rubbed and a few contortions to reached her bad, she resolved to call Enjolras. It didn't rejoice her, but after all, wasn't he here at her service.

And he hadn't suffered enough for her taste.

Ten seconds after she had called him, he appeared, a tea towel in his hand. She could see him, as she was facing the wall, hoping for a minimum of decency, but she could hear his gasp.

"Can you rub my back? I can't reach it."

As he hesitated, she reminded him. "Or I could just call Combeferre."

He grunted – Nobody wants to deal with an angry Combeferre – and reluctantly took the tube on the sink.

They were placed strategically for her to see his face, and its quite interesting shade of red was worth all the colds she had ever had in her life.

It took him a long minute and a few heavy breaths to dare touch her. His fingers were so light on her skin that it made her shiver. She tried to persuade herself it was only the fear, or the fact that she was half naked, but it had certainly all to do with him. She had tried to close her eyes and focus on something else, but it revealed itself being much worst. And it got even worse when she caught his eye as his fingers follow her spin and go far too low for the camphor to be actually efficient.

"I'm not made of sugar, you know!" she said a bit too rudely, but she was too close to lose her mind to care. "You're supposed to rub my back, not tickle me."

He grunted, gave her another look through the mirror. Maybe she wasn't the only one who enjoy it too much… Then his hands went back to her shoulder blades for a last and more vigorous rub.

He had barely removed his hands but she already missed it.

He cleared his throat. "Maybe you would want to put some on your feet too. My nanny used to do it, then put woollen socks on. I remember it being quite comforting, if not effective."

Then he disappeared. She could bet he had never been more eager to do the dishes in his life.

When she came back in the main room, he was done, putting the last cup in the cupboard. She didn't dare coming too close, but she could see that he had actually the two days worth of dishes that was waiting in her sink.

She sat on her bed. "Thank you. Maybe you're more human than you look after all," she said with a smile, which had an immediate effect of making the red come back on his face. Yep, very human…

"Do you need anything else, » he asked, hesitantly. "A cup of tea, anything?"

"No, thank you."

So, he took his bag next to the door and went to go out.

"But you can come tomorrow. I have loads of laundry to do."