Grantaire sat in the apartment he shared with Jehan, his room was plain, the only thing that would indicate that it was Grantaire's room would be the bottles strewn carelessly across the floor and the rancid smell of alcohol that never seemed to leave the room. The rest of the apartment was quite nice, almost beautiful as Jehan had taken it upon himself to place flower vases everywhere and paint the walls with bright garish colors. Grantaire winced at the color of the living room, a luminous yellow, but couldn't help crack a grin, remembering Jehan's messy style of painting. His thoughts then drifted to Eponine. After receiving the call about her becoming a stripper and prostitute, he could't seem to process what she had said properly.
Jehan then walked in, sighing heavily as he threw his bag down by the door and hung his orange coat up. He threw himself on the sofa beside Grantaire and let his head rest in the man's lap.
"What's up little poet?" Grantaire asked, stroking Jehan's ginger hair soothingly.
"Nothing …" Jehan said, closing his eyes and smiling at Grantaire's delicate artist hands on his hair.
"Don't give me that crap, tell me." Grantaire said.
"Just thinking about Eponine and Courfeyrac …" Jehan said, making Grantaire silent for a moment before speaking.
"They'll be fine, they argue all the time." Grantaire carefully reassured Jehan.
"They won't be, didn't you see Eponine's face? She looked broke, even more than than usual. Courfeyrac barely even looked guilty and the both of them are too stubborn to apologize before the other."
Grantaire didn't reply because he knew Jehan was right.
"Eponine's a stripper." Grantaire eventually said.
"What?" Jehan asked.
"I got a call from her, she's becoming a prostitute too … she said she needs the money." Grantaire carried on rolling Jehan's hair between his fingers.
"Why didn't she ask any of us?" Jehan asked suddenly, sitting up.
"You know what she's like, she thinks it's charity …"
"God help her if Enjolras ever finds out." Jehan said as Grantaire shuddered at the thought.
"Is she being careful?" Jehan asked.
"I think so …" Jehan nodded before getting up from the sofa.
"I'm gonna go check on Courf, see how he is, I got a text asking me to meet him at a coffee shop."
"See ya later my little flower." Grantaire blew a kiss at Jehan who rolled his eyes playfully as he grabbed his jacket before walking out of the door.
Grantaire sighed before taking another swig of his beer.
Combeferre breathed heavily, water dripping down his naked body as he jumped out of the shower. He picked up a towel and wrapped it around his waist before opening the bathroom door and sneaking to his room. He picked up some joggers and a shirt and walked back into the bathroom. When the steam had gone from the room, Combeferre saw his reflection in the bathroom mirror and found himself tracing faint lines against his pale wrists.
'I'm so pathetic' he thought as his eyes landed on a sharp piece of metal glinting on the edge of the bath.
Combeferre picked up his razor, unscrewing the blade inside. He discarded the razor and then held the single blade in the middle of his palm for what seemed like an eternity.
Pale lines and red lines littered his arms and wrists on both his left and his right arms. His thighs also seemed to be the canvas to many cuts, some deeper than others.
His hand was steady as he brought the blade to an untouched area on his arm. His hands shook the first few times he did this, but eventually he learned to control himself and stopped shaking. With a steady hand he swiped the blade across his skin, tiny droplets of scarlet following in the blade's path. Combeferre let a tear fall down his cheek as he repeated the action again and again until his arm had more than a dozen different cuts. Red liquid seeped down his arm, dripping onto the bathroom floor.
Combeferre gritted his teeth as he looked at the cuts, yes they were painful but that was the point. He knew he didn't want to die, what was the point in that? He just needed a way to cope. He knew he was a bit bigger than his friends and wasn't nearly as attractive as Courfeyrac and Enjolras and this led him to become insecure, often getting bullied at college. Being a medical student, he knew the dangers of what he was doing and what sort of psychological effect it was having on him, but ever since he first did it three years ago it started to become an addiction, a craving. He often wondered how his friends hadn't noticed but tried not to ponder on this.
Looking at the drops of blood on the floor, Combeferre grabbed his towel and wiped it down before throwing the bloodstained towel into his wash basket.
He left the bathroom with his trousers and shirt on, deciding to walk into the kitchen only to be startled by Enjolras who was sitting in the kitchen reading a newspaper almost silently.
"Christ Enjolras, stop sneaking in like that!" Combeferre shouted before running back to his room to throw a grey hoodie over himself. He walked back into the kitchen to see Enjolras who looked shocked before his features twisted into concern.
"You've been crying …"
"Yeah, got shampoo in my eyes …" Combeferre lied swiftly, answering way too fast for Enjolras' liking.
"Fine, I have my French speaking exam tomorrow, so I'm going to revise. Would you kindly let Courfeyrac know that should he disturb me at any point this evening with his childish antics or loud women then I will personally make sure he get's locked in a room full of spiders for an hour straight." Combeferre would have laughed if it weren't for the completely serious expression Enjolras had on his face.
"Perfection takes time." Enjolras said before picking up his bag and walking into his own room that consisted of everything red and black.
Combeferre rolled his eyes before jumping onto his couch, switching on the tv. After about 5 minutes of skimming the channels, he settled for hell's kitchen.
Around half an hour later, Courfeyrac returned with Jehan, his inky locks of hair dripping coffee onto the hallway carpet.
"Wow … what happened?" Combeferre stood up and walked over to them.
"Courf tried to hit on Maureen Johnson while she was with her girlfriend Joanne …" Jehan filled in for Combeferre.
"Dude! I had no idea she was a lesbian, she was dating that guy Mark Cohen a while ago. Her girlfriend is a douche, she threw coffee at me!" Courfeyrac argued.
"I can see that." Combeferre smirked.
"Urgh … Need shower, must get clean ..." Courfeyrac mumbled as he headed to the bathroom.
"Don't disturb Enj, he's revising!" Combeferre called out.
He got a grunt in reply and laughed before turning to Jehan.
"You staying over tonight?"
"Yeah, but I need to talk to you about something while no one is around." Jehan said, twiddling his thumbs.
"Come on then, we'll go to the kitchen, do you want a coffee?"
"Tea for me please."
"So what's up?" Combeferre asked after they sat down with their drinks.
"Erm … I really don't know how to say this … but … Eponine is a prostitute and a stripper …"
Enjolras looked at his paper and smirked, he knew it all off by heart now. The only thing bothering him was his headache, he'd only been revising for half an hour and suddenly his head started pounding. He heard the sound of the shower on, the occupant was singing the glee version of Don't stop believing. Enjolras rolled his eyes but had to admit that Courfeyrac had a pretty decent voice. He heard the sound of the kettle go off and decided he could really use a drink.
He opened his door and noticed Combeferre sit on the couch beside Jehan.
He was about to ignore them and walk straight into the kitchen, but was stopped with a single sentence.
"Erm … I really don't know how to say this … but ... Eponine is a prostitute and a stripper …"
Enjolras stopped in his tracks and stormed to his room, grabbing his signature red jacket before sprinting out of the apartment. His car screeched loudly, speeding down the street until silence enveloped the house, the only other sound being Gordon Ramsay's foul language on the television.
Combeferre looked at Jehan who wore an identical expression of fear. The moment was interrupted by Courfeyrac who came in with the towel wrapped around his waist, a look of confusion plastered onto his face.
"What did I miss?"
A/N: Thoughts? I'm trying as hard as possible to include the other amis problems as well. Eponine has this stripper/prostitute problem, Combeferre is cutting etc etc. But again, let me know what you think, if you have any criticism or ideas just let me know :)
-R