Disclaimer: I do not own Les Miserables.
A/N: UGH this chapter was an absolute BITCH to write. I have a strict chapter setout that I need to follow (otherwise this story could end up unfinished and messy and just ew), but this chapter feels really 'filler-ish' to me, even though it's setting up for later chapters.
Anyway, I really appreciate the reviews/story alerts/faves, etc. You're all awesome people! I would like to remind you, though, that this is going to be a very slow burn, and you can't hate me for that because I already warned you in the summary.
Eponine was woken up by a small figure jumping onto her bed.
"Gav, it's too early for this." She groaned, shoving at her brother.
"Sorry." The boy said, grinning. Eponine sat up and sighed, looking around her room.
She tried to keep it as clean as possible, washing and folding her own clothes, mopping and sweeping, even wiping down the windows, but it was still disgusting as ever.
"We're going to get out of here one day, Gavroche." Eponine said suddenly. "We're going to leave without looking back, I promise you."
"Azelma too?"
She winced. "If she wants to. You know what she can be like when it comes to me. What's for breakfast?"
"There isn't any." Gavroche replied. "No bread, no milk, nothing."
Eponine sighed heavily.
"Come on, I'll treat you at the bakery."
"Really?" Gavroche lit up all at once, bouncing on her bed.
"Hey, hey! Don't be too loud, you'll wake up the old man, and then there'll be no treat for either of us." She whispered, quietly hopping out of her bed. She pulled her blanket up over the pillow to make it look like she was still there – not that it would stop anyone from coming in – and shooed Gavroche out so she could get dressed.
After pulling on a plain shirt and jeans, she slipped on her jacket and held her shoes in one hand so they wouldn't make too much noise.
Her brother was waiting downstairs, hair a mess and clothes wrinkled, but he looked so happy she couldn't bare to tell him to sneak back up to his room and risk being caught just to get changed, so she tried to smooth down his hair as best she could, and then took his hand and snuck out the back.
They walked down the street together, laughing and talking, and Eponine noticed that his pronunciation was getting much better.
"School is doing you good." She commented.
Gavroche shrugged. "It's boring sometimes but I learn a lot."
"You have to promise me you'll keep at it, okay? Your education is important."
"I promise, 'Ponine." He smiled up at her.
They made their way to a cheap, but friendly bakery a few blocks down from the inn. It had just opened, and the smell of fresh bread was intoxicating.
The bell on the door rang when they entered, and Gavroche immediately ran over to the display case. After barely a few seconds, he jabbed his finger at one of the pastries and exclaimed, "I want that one!"
"I want that one, what?" Eponine hated the way she sounded saying that, but the boy needed to learn manners, and he wasn't going to learn them anywhere else.
"I want that one please."
A plump woman behind the counter smiled at Gavroche and took out the pastry, before placing it in a paper bag.
"Will that be all?"
Eponine's stomach rumbled quietly. "Yes, thanks."
"Aren't you hungry, Eponine?" Her brother asked.
"I'll steal a bite of yours." She replied quickly, counting out the few coins she had in her wallet and placing them on the counter. The worker gave the bag to Gavroche, and he thanked her before pulling Eponine out of the bakery.
They wandered over to the park, and Eponine tried to distract herself from the aching hunger in her stomach as she listened to Gavroche tell a story about school in between bites of his pastry.
As Gavroche was ending his story, Eponine saw a figure heading towards them. She grabbed her brother's arm and was ready to run, jumping to the worst conclusion, but it was only Enjolras, his face serious as always, striding towards them. Gavroche didn't notice the man until he was right in front of them, and of course as soon as he did, he jumped up, excitedly chatting away.
"Gav." Eponine cut in. "I have some stuff to talk about with Enjolras, so could you start walking without me?"
It was a bit of a risky decision to send him back on his own, but he was very street-smart for a 10 year old, and Eponine had a bone to pick with Enjolras. Gavroche nodded after a moment of staring, and left them alone at the bench.
"Will he be alright? I didn't know you lived so close." Enjolras asked, taking a seat next to Eponine. She shrugged in response so she didn't have to talk about where she and Gav lived.
"Shouldn't you be a little less lenient? Letting him go off on his own doesn't seem like the best thing for him." He frowned.
"Well, if you want to bring him up your own way, you can start by buying all his food and paying all his school fees. Then we can talk about what the best thing for him is." Eponine replied with a sigh.
Enjolras shuffled awkwardly in his seat. "You know, if you need any of us to lend you some money or a place to stay, we'd all be-"
"I don't need your fucking pity, alright?" The brunette spat out.
"It's not pity. It's friendship."
Eponine laughed at this. "If you're so concerned about being a good friend, maybe you should be talking to Grantaire and not me."
"As if he'd be up this early. I thought you were mad because of the things I said to you last night."
Goddamn boy was fucking clueless! He had almost no clue what was going on around him.
"People have been saying things like that to me my whole life, Enj. I was mad because you were being a dickhead to one of your best friends for no reason." Eponine explained, getting up to start walking and gesturing for the blonde to follow.
He got up slowly, and they began walking as Enjolras explained his thoughts on Grantaire.
"He has so much potential. He's intelligent, and funny, and while he's sarcastic about most of our issues, when he's a part of our rallies, they're always better. He just doesn't think he has it in him. We all know he does, but he spends most of his time drinking and passing out. I understand it was his personal choice to drop out of university so he could spend more time at his job, but I feel like he just did it to get more money so he could buy his own apartment where no-one's going to stop him from wasting away his life."
"Enj, you don't get it at all. He's your friend, and you have to accept him the way he is. If he enjoys doing what he does, then that's his fucking business! He never drives while drunk, he doesn't drink enough to do any long-term damage to his brain, and he's always with friends if he's in public. He is smart about it. Dropping out? His decision. Getting completely shit-faced some nights? His decision."
"Okay, okay. I get that. I just worry about him." Enjolras sighed.
Eponine fought the urge to scream at him. Grantaire and Enjolras both made her completely crazy sometimes – Grantaire for not admitting his feelings, and Enjolras for not seeing what was right in front of him. Some days Eponine felt like she was stuck in the middle of a bad romance book.
"We all worry about each other. That's what friends are for, right? That and picking up pieces, of course." The brunette couldn't resist adding that last remark in.
Enjolras coughed. "I'm sorry about that. I'd had a bit too much to drink."
"Poor light-weight Enjy. Three sips of gin and tonic and he's swearing, knocking things over, and god-forbid, fucking women."
"I resent the implication that I don't fornicate."
"... Did you seriously just say fornicate?"
The man blushed. "It's a perfectly acceptable use of the term."
"If you're a 60 year old maths professor who hasn't performed the action since he was in his twenties, then yes, it's perfectly acceptable." Eponine rolled her eyes.
"Christ Eponine, do you seriously think I've never... fucked?" Enjolras spat out the last word as if he couldn't wait for it to leave his tongue.
"Yep."
Her friend stopped in the middle of the footpath and spluttered.
"Just because I've chosen to focus on my studies for the time being doesn't mean I didn't have relationships in high school."
Well, this was a bit of a game-changer. The group had always assumed Enjolras was asexual, or at the very least only interested in a particular type of man or woman that he'd yet to meet.
"How many?" Eponine asked, as casually as she could.
"I had 2 girlfriends, and a few flings. I don't see why it's such a big deal."
The girl shrugged. "I guess we just always assumed that you weren't interested in that kind of thing – I didn't even know you were straight."
"See, this is exactly why the 'Nothing Said, Nothing Assumed' campaign is important! Stereotyping and judgement of others based on trivial information like how many people you've dated is completely wrong, and so is defining someone by their sexuality. Straight and gay are just words we use to put ourselves in boxes! Yes, I have only been attracted to women in my life, but I don't need to label myself." Enjolras animatedly explained.
Eponine sighed. He had reverted back to his usual self, and right on time, too, because they had reached the edge of the park, and Eponine had to run if she was going to catch up with Gavroche before he got to the inn.
"Right. Well, I'm sure I'll hear more about it soon."
"You'll hear about it tonight at the meeting! In fact, I might reference our conversation – I won't name you, of course, but this is exactly the kind of thing we need to make people aware of. Not that you're not an important player in the social justice game, Eponine, because you definitely are. That's why you should join more of our rallies and campaigns!" Enjolras grinned. "You're coming tonight, right?"
"I'll try. I have to finish one of my essays, so I might be a bit late." Eponine lied as she started heading down the street. She'd finished all her essays for the week, so now it all depended on being allowed out by her papa (unlikely) or sneaking out (risky). This was one of the reasons why she was considering going down the same path as Grantaire and dropping out of university to focus on a full-time job so she could move into her own apartment with Gavroche.
"Well, your education is incredibly important, but if you finish in time, stop by!" The blonde said, waving as he walked off in the other direction.
Eponine started jogging as soon as Enjolras was out of sight, hoping that Gavroche hadn't been caught sneaking back in.
As her feet thumped against the pavement, the girl thought about what Enjolras had said about only being attracted to women. Shit, if Grantaire heard Enjolras referencing the conversation about him being primarily straight at the meeting that night, he'd be crushed. Eponine took out her phone as she turned onto the street where the inn was located, texted Gav to make sure he was okay (he was), and quickly called up Grantaire.
"Eponine?"
"Hey. I didn't expect you to be up this early."
"No sleep for the wicked."
"Hey, um..." Eponine quickly thought about how to give him the heads up about the situation, but had another idea. "Let's ditch the meeting tonight and spend the night at yours. We should talk about some stuff."
"Sounds serious." Grantaire laughed. "Okay, I'll see you tonight."
"Wait! Make sure to stock up on alcohol. And ice cream. Lots of alcohol and ice cream." There was silence on the other end of the line, so Eponine hung up. She walked to the back of the inn, and after seeing that the backdoor was already open, rushed inside as quickly and quietly as she could.
A/N: I'M SORRY THIS IS SO AWFUL. I needed to set up the story. This chapter serves a purpose. Really, it does.
If you feel the urge to review (go ahead!), could you let me know what you guys think of Enjolras/Grantaire and Eponine/Marius? Because obviously we have some hurdles to get over before we can start up a romance between E and E, and those hurdles mainly consist of the people who are either desperately in love with them, or who they are desperately in love with, and hurdles are hard, man. Like, I don't know about you guys, but when I try getting over them, I end up face down in the dirt after having knocked the first (and smallest/easiest) one over. So it's going to take a while...
Like I said, slow burn.
Xx
