This one's ALL Enjolras x Eponine :) It's a peace offering for disappearing for so long.
"Okay, what's wrong?" Jondrette asked. Enjolras looked up, surprised at the question. He thought that he was concealing his emotions well… Obviously he wasn't. He ignored the question and continued reading Jondrette's sentences. The boy stood and walked over to Enjolras and put his hand over his own work.
Enjolras sighed. "Fine. I just wish that you would be honest." He stood and Jondrette backed away, losing his confidence once the taller man stood over him.
"What do you mean?" Jondrette asked, keeping his cool more than Enjolras (which was no easy feat).
"You know what I mean. You're hiding something. And I want you to know that I won't stop investigating until I find out." Enjolras made sure to trap Jondrette between the table in his cabin and his body, forcing the boy to look at him.
Jondrette's eyes were scared, for he was used to being abused as anyone with eyes could see. Enjolras knew this, and being capable of being terrible, he planned to use it against him to extract information. It may have been a selfish manner to do so, but Enjolras hated being in the dark more than he hated Bonapartists.
Jondrette had been on the mend for a few weeks, and his wound was healing quite quickly. He'd said to Joly, "My body's gotten used to it… Ain't nothing I haven't had before." This had made Enjolras frown.
And here he was, walking around a week before Joly predicted he would have the ability to do so. However, with his good health grew Enjolras' discomfort at the secret that Jondrette was so desperate to hide from him.
And now, trapped by Enjolras, Jondrette grew pale and a sweat broke out on his delicate forehead. Knowing the boundaries that lay around Jondrette in knowledge of his recent injury, Enjolras wisely backed away, running a hand through his wild curls.
"I think we're done with our lessons today." He said, pointing at the door, and fully expecting Jondrette to take that way out. However, the First Mate was shocked when he instead saw the gamin come close, a curious light in his eye.
"Would you tell Javert?" He asked, looking down at his hands, which he wrung in his nervous state.
"Depending on the importance of the issue." He answered, stiffly. Jondrette nodded curtly and went to leave, but Enjolras, in a moment of pure weakness, lurched forward and took a hold on Jondrette's arm. "No," He reanswered, looking deep into the boy's eyes so that he would know that he was telling the truth. "You can trust me once I can trust you."
As if upon hearing this broke something in Jondrette, he pulled away, tears prickling at his eyes. "I can't… I can't trust anyone. I've learned that the most difficult way-"
"You can trust me." Enjolras repeated.
"No, I can't." He said, putting his face in his hands. His back started to shake and Enjolras stepped forward. He carefully peeled Jondrette's hands away, and took the boy's tan face in his hands. Frozen by the tender gesture, Jondrette could do nothing as Enjolras leaned in carefully and pressed a kiss to his sweaty brow.
"Yes, you can."
There was a round of rambunctious laughter as the crew bit into the second barrel of rum. Grantaire stood, swaying, on top of an unopened barrel. "Bahorel, give us a beat."
The dandy complied by drumming on the ground with someone's discarded boots. The men started clapping and Gavroche was the first to start dancing. The men cheered him on as the little boy nimbly moved his feet to the homemade beat. Eventually, Courfeyrac stood and joined him, grabbing his hands and spinning him in the air, much to his delight.
Then Jehan got up and started dancing by himself until Feuilly drew him into a mock tango, dipping the smaller man in a manner that had the others howling with laughter. Grantaire unsteadily made his way to Marius and held out his hand. Marius blushed and politely declined, answered by Grantaire's eye roll as he tugged him to their cleared circle.
"Go Pontmercy!" Cheered Bossuet, who proceeded to dance a pathetic Irish jig next to Joly. Even Enjolras was watching and laughing, a mug of rum in his hands.
"Fearless leader! Descend from your pedestal and join us!" Grantaire called from the joyous mess. Enjolras groaned but did so, dancing awkwardly by himself before grabbing Cosette and pulling her into a silly American dance with all dancing feet and occasionally the joined elbows. She laughed, her beauty shining through her disguise in the torch light.
Jondrette scowled from the shadows, falling deeper into them as he watched the couple dance. Cosette took no notice of Jondrette's hateful eyes or Marius' wistful ones. Instead she lived the moment in the present, happily dancing with the handsome and drunk Enjolras.
However, the latter saw it and praised himself silently. He was terrible, after all...
"Damn it, Enjolras!" Jondrette cried, busting into his cabin. Enjolras looked blearily up from his bed. His shirt was unbuttoned, his cravat loose around his neck, and his trousers unbuttoned. Of course Jondrette would catch him in this less than satisfactory manner. However, with the way Jondrette bit his lip, he didn't find it so bad.
"Jondrette, it's past curfew…" He said, standing up and trying to make himself look at least somewhat decent. However, Jondrette stopped him with a raised hand and a pained look.
"I'm Éponine Thernardier." He said, so quietly that Enjolras couldn't be certain that's what he heard.
"Thernardier… As in the pirate Thernardier?" He asked. Jondrette nodded, looking almost relieved at the fact that he ignored the first part. His reprieve lasted only a few seconds before Enjolras' eyes widened in shock and he looked at Jondrette in a new way, stepping close to regard him in the lamplight. "Éponine?"
"That's everything I have been hiding; are you happy?" He- She- snapped.
Enjolras pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to make sense of the strange situation. "Will your father come after you?"
She pressed her lips into a tight line and removed her cap casually. Enjolras tried not to gawk as chestnut locks poured down her shoulders, framing her face and making sense of her ethereal beauty. "Don't think so. He's been pinched, and he never cared much for me. Even less for Gavroche." She looked up at him with those eyes that he'd tried to not believe were beautiful. "So you care not for the whole woman factor?"
"Well, it's an issue, but a lesser one most certainly." Enjolras assured her. He sat down on his bed, and patted the space next to him. She took it delicately. "Besides, isn't Fauchelevant a woman?"
Éponine snickered, a rather unladylike action, and nodded. "She doesn't realize that most can see right through her disguise. She's rather lucky that she got this crew, otherwise…"
They both shuddered at what could have become of innocent Fauchelevant.
"I think I saw through yours… At least to a certain extent." Enjolras admitted. "I always thought you were far too pretty to be a boy."
He wondered if he said something wrong when Éponine's face flashed an expression of alarm. She then managed a thin smile. "No one's ever called me pretty before."
Enjolras was genuinely surprised by this. "Really? I would think you would get it quite often."
She flushed a rather endearing shade of red. "No, not particularly, Monsieur."
"Enjolras."
"I'm sorry?" She asked, looking up.
"You can still call me Enjolras. You're a member of the crew. Although, because of Courfeyrac and Grantaire, I would suggest you keep on your disguise." They chuckled, and Enjolras was surprised at the continued ease between the two.
"I still prefer 'Enjy'." She smirked and stood, satisfied at the turn out of the evening.
"I don't." Enjolras stood with her and casually placed an arm around her to steer her to the door. "Tomorrow, same time as usual?"
"Yes, Enjolras. That would be lovely." She smiled and added, "In private you may call me Éponine if you wish. Jondrette isn't my real name, after all."
"Éponine…" Enjolras said the name to himself, loving the way it rolled off his tongue. Éponine blushed again, obviously liking it as well. "Éponine…" He said again, lowering his face to hers.
His lips ghosted hers before there was suddenly nothing, and he looked up to see her smoothly exiting his cabin as she pulled her cap back on, a wicked grin on her face.
"Patria is your mistress, non?" She blew a kiss in his direction and he ran for the door in time to see her running across the deck, her bare feet gently hitting the deck as she went to where the rest of the cabins were.
Damn girl was going to be the death of him.
I'm sorry if this is particularly terrible. I didn't read this over- I wanted to get it up as soon as possible! Review, please!
