A/N: The response to this series has really amazed me - it was just something I started for fun, but almost 700 views and 15 reviews in about three and a half days?! That's crazy! Thank you all so, so much for your reviews, waking up to read new ones is so lovely. Seriously, I almost cried this morning, you're all so nice! Thank you to MariusxEponine3 not just for your lovely review but also for this prompt! Really hope you like it, first proper kiss scene I've written, so fingers crossed it's okay!

Prompt: Imagine that Éponine is about to get sold to the whores and Marius sees her father. Rescues her. Then Marius brings her to his place. Talk things out. Then Marius offers her to stay. Then Éponine asks what she means to Marius.

Marius was out walking late. Again.

It was a habit he'd fallen into recently. Things seemed to be getting worse in the Thénardier apartment, and he was worried about Éponine - he knew she was tough, but he'd seen her around her father. She was a nervous wreck. And Thénardier was taller, and a stocky build. If he wanted her to do something, there wasn't a lot she or anybody else could do.

Recently though, he'd heard her screaming. That alone was enough to worry him. Éponine was anything but a screamer - she took things quietly, having long since learned that crying wouldn't do anything to help her. And yet more than once he'd found her in tears, a new cut or bruise forming each time.

Marius sighed. He genuinely cared about her, and wanted to help her, but how? He'd just made it worse when he tried to intervene last time.

He neared the docks - it wasn't a route he particularly liked, but he went there anywhere, often doing what he could to help one of the women preserve her dignity for another night by throwing a few francs in her direction.

But this wasn't a normal night.

Almost as soon as came into the area, he immediately got offers left, right and centre. He refused each one politely, although he continued to give the women a few francs each, feeling sorry for them that they had to degrade themselves to stay alive.

All of a sudden, shouting filled the air. A mans voice. He went over, and crouched behind a crate, curious to see what the commotion was about.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight he saw.

A young girl, eighteen perhaps, was being dragged towards the docks. Not just any girl. He knew that pleading voice well.

Éponine.

Marius wasn't sure what to do, so he sat, frozen. An inkling of a plan was in his mind, but he had to be quick. The identical minute Thénardier said she was available, he pulled his hat down over his eyes to avoid recognition, and threw about ten francs at him. "I'll take her."

Éponine was visibly shaking. He caught hold of her wrist and took her out of sight, before taking his hat off. "Relax, 'Ponine, it's only me. I'm not going to hurt you, or do anything to you, nor am I going to let anybody else do anything. You're okay."

Éponine literally fell into his arms, weak with relief. She was hugging him tightly, as if afraid he would disappear. He wound his arms tightly around her too, still hardly able to believe it was her own father who'd done this to her.

"Come on. You're coming back to mine for a bit" Marius said, wrapping an arm firmly around her shoulders and taking her left hand in his, leading her back to his flat. She meekly followed, not sure whether to be embarrassed, relieved, or both.

When they reached the flat, Marius sat her down on his sofa and got her some bread. It was clear she hadn't eaten in a while - her bones were clearly visible, and she was eerily pale. The bread was gone in less than a minute, she was clearly starving. He could sense she wasn't going to want to discuss what he'd witnessed, so instead set about making some tea.

"Why did you help me?"

Her question came completely out of the blue. Marius blinked. He needed to be careful about the way he phrased this.

"Well, I really care for you - I mean, you're my closest friend. I wasn't going to let that happen to you."

"Friend" Éponine mumbled. "Little he knows."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Éponine?"

"I said nothing!"

Marius sighed. He wasn't getting anywhere.

Éponine sighed. She wasn't sure what to do.

"How do you honestly view me?"

Marius was taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Am I really a friend, or do you just feel sorry for me?"

Marius walked over to where Éponine sat and flopped down next to her, taking one her hands and encasing it in his. "You want the truth? Fine. You're easily my closest friend. I care about you greatly, and I really worry about you sometimes."

Éponine took her hand away. "Friends. That's all" she said, more clearly this time.

Marius wasn't sure what she meant. "What do you mean by that?"

Éponine lost it. She was tired of pretending, tired of putting on a front every time she saw him. She'd lost him to the blonde once, and she wasn't going to let that happen again. "Because I am absolutely and irrevocably in love with you, Pontmercy! How could you be so blind? It killed me to see you with that blonde piece! You're the only thing that's ever made my life worth living!"

If Marius was shocked before, he was astounded then. Éponine loved him?

"Stay. Stay here tonight. Don't go back to your father."

Éponine would have usually refused, but she really didn't want to go back. She was frankly embarrassed by her outburst, but went back to the sofa instead, hiding her face with her matted hair.

She was surprised when Marius shuffled up so he was sitting next to her. He took her hands again, and brushed her hair out of her face. "If it means anything, I believe I may be a little taken with you too" he said quietly.

Now it was Éponine who was surprised. Hardly believing what she'd just heard, she turned to face him. Without thinking, she leaned forwards and kissed him, surprised when his arm found her waist and drew her closer.

Their kiss went on for what felt like hours before they pulled away, both blushing furiously. Marius pulled Éponine into a tight hug, and for the first time in almost twelve years, she felt truly happy. Peaceful, even. She'd never felt this safe before, and hoped Marius wouldn't want to end the embrace any time soon.

He didn't.