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Les Amis de l'ABC

The back room of the Cafe Musain had a long, dark, wooden table in the middle which was vandalized with different names and quotes, short poems and lazy sketches. The table was surrounded by short stools which obviously has been sat on many times, bottles of wine and beer was scattered around the room but nevertheless the place was clean. The room was lit by the yellow hanging lights from the ceiling and was as bright as the lights from outside the room, the room also had a jukebox on the corner, the music coming out from it would only be heard by the people who were inside the room. The back room and the main cafe/restaurant was separated by the bar, the only way in and out was a double door. The back room was also the space that separated the washroom and the main cafe/restaurant. It was a room that was reserved for private parties or big groups or small gatherings but for the past five years, the back room of the Musain has become the meeting place and the home of a group of friends, named themselves 'les amis de l'abc' (but would usually just be called Amis), who attracted very many things; danger, the police, girls, boys, riots. The owner, Mrs. Louison didn't really mind the Amis despite their close encounters with the police and their endless riots and rallies all through out their university years because they were mainly the reason why her business was booming, the leader of the Amis would usually give his speeches in her cafe and the Amis attracted many listeners and the Musain became a place where a revolution started and ended, it grew more popular and popular everytime the Amis had a rally or the leader had a speech he wanted to tell. The back room was a place the Amis would usually hang out at so just left them be and so did the other patrons of the Musain. They came there to do various different things other than plan to overthrow the government, after all they were just school boys.

"Éponine thought that after graduation she'd go and live with Montparnasse but, well..." Marius paused a bit, had a sip of his beer and finally found himself talking about it again. "She's been sleeping on our couch for the past two days and she's been really bugged about it. I told her it was fine but she kept on insisting so," Marius scratched his head and brushed his hair. "this morning she said that I've already done enough and she said she's just look for a place to stay, I think she's now in a small hotel not far from here." Marius finished his story and took a long sip of his beer, he looked up at his friends and sighed.

"Oh well, how is she?" Joly, a medical intern, furrowed his eyebrows and he looked very concerned. He and Éponine might not have been the bestest friends but he supposed they were good friends, he cared for the girl and so did every single one of the Amis.

"This morning, she looked fine, a bit weary but fine. I really wish I could've done more to help."

"She probably just needs some time for herself, I mean, the girl did just underwent a bad break-up." Jean Prouvaire made a very good point, like he always does, especially when talking about stuff like this.

The night went on and passed by like all the usual nights, they drank and talked about different things. Iwan Bahorel almost had a fight with another customer, Stuart Bossuet tripped on some bottles, Hugh Joly was there to tend the wounds, Jean Prouvaire (which was called Jehan) recited a very lovely poem and made some comments about modern literature, Gabriel Feuilly left early so he can rise early to go to work, Francis Courfeyrac flirted and George Grantaire was his wingman, Marius talked about Cosette and fretted over Éponine, Killian Combeferre was quiet but chuckled at times and Aaron Enjolras, the leader, talked about equality and work for a bit but remained quiet, as if thinking, for the rest of the night.

The night grew darker and sleepy, most of the customers in the Musain had left and silence started to sink in, the waiters and bartenders have started cleaning up; putting chairs up, washing dirty dishes, cleaning the tables, stocking up for the next day. Most of the Amis have gone and the ones left sucked in the soft sound coming from the jukebox, Grantaire, Marius, Bahorel and Combeferre were the only ones left.

"So, mon ami" Grantaire said to Marius, he was half drunk but was still sober enough to have a decent conversation with. "How's the new apartment treating you and dear Cosette?"

5 months before Cosette graduated from the university, Marius switched apartments with Grantaire so he and Cosette can move in together. Grantaire moved in with Courfeyrac and had lived with him since.

"Great," Marius said cheerfully. "She loves it and I think she really feels at home."

"Where is she, anyway?" Bahorel asked while carving some random song lyric on the dark table with a fork.

"Oh, she's with her father. They're spending the week together, some daughter-and-father bonding before she starts her new job and you know, starts living independently." Marius smiled brightly at Bahorel and the rest of his friends as he talked about Cosette.

They sat again in silence and laughed about a couple of things until Bahorel thought it was time for him to go and left the three men in the back room of the Musain.

Grantaire looked intently at the two men sitting opposite him, he sipped his beer a couple of times until he came into a 'eureka' moment and stood up from his stool. "I think I've solved Éponine's 'homeless' problem!" He said wide-eyed

"Grantaire, sit down" Combeferre looked at him and sighed, he focused his gaze on him as Grantaire tugged on Marius's shirt like an excited school girl.

"Well, you know how Combeferre and Enjolras's apartment has an extra room? A guest room?"

"Wait, what? Where is this going?" Combeferre looked at both of them in confusion. Marius nodded and Grantaire motioned his hand as if trying to make Marius get his point.

"OH!" Marius said, his eyes wide open. The both of them looked at Combeferre but his confusion just got deeper and deeper. Understanding these two men was harder than understanding the Schrödinger's theoretical paradoxical cat. They looked at him waiting for an answer, Combeferre took his glasses off and cleaned the lenses, when he looked up the two men were still looking at him and waiting for an answer.

"Well? Great idea, right? What do you think?" Marius chirped excitedly.

"What the hell do you want from me?" Combeferre said, finally giving up.

Grantaire told him his grand idea and he thought about the suggestion until finally coming to a conclusion.

"No."

"Oh come on, Comb, I mean, she's our friend plus you don't even have guests over, it's a waste of a perfectly good room. And you're kind of paying for the extra, useless room. It's kind of impractical." Marius ended his small rant with a swing of his beer, he looked at Combeferre with a convincing look and smiled at Grantaire. Combeferre debated the said suggestion in his mind and finally came up with a rebuttal.

"Okay, maybe I'm up for it but what about Enjolras. I mean, you know him, he doesn't really, you know, do well with this sort of stuff. And Enjolras, Éponine and I aren't really, you know, 'close'."

"What sort of stuff? Helping friends out? Come on, I'm sure you can convince him and it'll be great getting to know Éponine a bit better." Grantaire's words found themselves out of his mouth and into Combeferre's ears. The drunkard was right and so was Marius.

"Okay, fine but I won't push Enjolras. If he says no then we won't do it but I will help Éponine on finding a new apartment."

"No." Enjolras raised his eyebrow and fixed his tie as he got ready for work. He faced his roommate, who was eating cereal in the kitchen table, "No." He repeated

"Come on, man, let's just help her, I'm sure it's going to be fun plus it's helping a friend out.

"Well, what does she think of it?"

"Um," Combeferre looked up, trying to remember something, "I don't think she knows"

"Well, how do you know she's up for it?"

"I don't, she's really independent, before leaving the Musain, Marius told me to make it look like she found the apartment herself. Make her ask us if she could move in, I think she hates it when people help her. Remember when we were in the university and she was practically broke but she didn't ask for our help even if we'd lend her money right then." Combeferre remembered Éponine's struggle with money all through out her university years, good thing she was on a scholarship and worked in a small bookstore just right next to the university.

"Okay," Enjolras seemed to be convinced. "I'll think about it."

Yay! another chapter done, I am going somewhere right, right? Thank you all so much for reading! I am so happy, reviews? anyway, thank you so much for reading this fanfic you lot have made me suppper dupper happpppeeey!

さようなら

Sayōnara

-georgette-