Bonjour, my miserable(s) friends! Thanks for all of the wonderful feedback this Fic has received! I'm thinking about continuing this 'verse on AO3. I' m pretty obsessed with that website now. Anywho, there's an OC in this chapter. (I know! The first OC I've used in this story!) She belongs to abbygoogle42, who had wanted me to use her for a while. So I finally did. Also, please don't kill me at the suckiness of this chapter. I've never tried to write a Spin the Bottle scene, and I suck at kiss scenes, so don't kill me. Please, I'm not ready to die at the barricade yet! :3
-Georgie
XXX
The month leading up to the showcase began to pass with some interesting developments. Apparently, Eponine and Cosette, schemers that they were, had now decided to make sure everyone in the Company was dating someone. They called it Operation Get Them Together. So far they had succeeded with no one, but that didn't deter the two. One night, as everyone disappeared into Courfeyrac's apartment for a giant sleepover/study-session-where-no-studying-gets-don e/rehearsal-where-no-rehearsing-gets-done, Eponine caught Cosette's arm. "'Setta, I have a plan," the alto said.
"Oh, what's that?" Cosette asked, watching wistfully as Marius walked into the apartment, lost in his own little world.
"You and Marius are getting together…tonight," Eponine insisted. "You two are the first on Operation Get Them Together."
Cosette flushed a million shades of red. "I don't know, 'Ponine," she said longingly, "he probably doesn't even notice me."
Eponine rolled her eyes. Honestly, she thought, this girl. "Cosette Fauchelevant, are you joking? That boy has been in love with you since he came here."
"You're joking!" Cosette accused. "R-really?" The blonde blushed again and gave a tiny smile.
Eponine buried her face in her hands and made a muffled noise that could have been "idiots." She grabbed Cosette and all but dragged the girl into the apartment. "So," she said loudly, getting everyone's attention, "we're playing Spin the Bottle now."
Courfeyrac let out a whoop. "Sounds good to me!" the Irishman called out. "Everybody get in a circle!"
The Amis grumbled and there were more than a few mutters of "this is a stupid idea," but eventually they were in a circle(ish) shape with one of Grantaire's old wine bottles between them. Cosette leaned over to Eponine and whispered, "This plan is so smart! We can kill two birds with one stone this way!"
Oh, 'Setta, Eponine thought. She loved the girl dearly; she did, and would go as far as to say that Cosette was her best friend, but sometimes she was just so…thick. Like not realizing that Marius was head over heels for her, and had been for months. Or the fact that yes, Spin the Bottle was a ploy to finish Operation Get Them Together all at once.
Azelma looked over at Gavroche. "'Ponine, are you sure this is a good idea? We've got kids here." She gestured to Gavroche's little girlfriend – a tomboy named Camille. She was a blonde, freckled spitfire a year older than Gav that all of the Amis were quite fond of. They were both in seventh grade, and this giant sleepover/not-studying/not-rehearsing session could be considered their "first date."
"I'm no kid," Camille grumbled with crossed arms.
"You've been thirteen for two weeks, 'Milla," Gavroche reminded her. "You're still kinda a kid."
Camille shrugged and grinned. She loved that Gavroche was friends with a bunch of adults and older teens, and loved even more that they seemed to like her. It made her feel grown-up. The girl was currently clad in blue jeans and a flannel shirt, which two people (Montparnasse, who was sort of scary, and Courfeyrac, who had immediately gotten admonished for flirting "with the kid") had already complemented. "I'll play it, but only if it's on the cheek," Camille decided.
Gavroche nodded. "Me too."
"Unless it's with each other," Eponine smirked.
Both kids blushed and mumbled something.
"Okay, so there's no kissing the brats," Courfeyrac concluded, "unless it's on the cheek. Got that. Now somebody spin that bottle." The actor was getting antsy, it seemed.
"Cosette'll have the first spin," Eponine said slyly, sliding the green bottle over to the blonde.
"Oh-okay," the girl stammered. She tentatively palmed the bottle and spun it. After spinning a few times, the neck pointed to Feuilly. Her eyes darted to Marius for the briefest second, and he seemed a little bit…defeated. Cosette smiled to herself and leaned forward before giving the painter a chaste kiss. She could have sworn that she heard a grumble from where Bahorel was sitting….
Next came Feuilly's turn. He rolled his eyes and spun the bottle…and it landed on Bahorel. The two stared at each other for a moment, the brawler growling angrily. He crossed his arms, and Feuilly repeated the gesture. "NO," they said at the exact same time.
"You have to!" Courf whined. "Besides, we all know you're into each other."
There was a long, strained silence after that.
"What?" Courf gave a shrug. "They're always beating up on each other. It's like…their form of love."
"Please. Shut. Up." That was from Feuilly. His face was nearly as red as his hair.
"Ah, what the hell," Bahorel grumbled, and grabbed the painter by the neck, smashing their faces together. Everyone watched as Feuilly went from awkward to horrified to compliant to horrified again to pulling away in shock, face tomato-red and breathing labored.
"Okay, there's one," Eponine whispered in Cosette's ear. She got a giggle in response.
Bahorel and Feuilly stared at each other awkwardly, still red-faced.
"Well, well," Bossuet chuckled from where he was sitting with his arm around Joly. "Never thought I'd be lucky enough to see that." As he finished this statement, a book from the shelf above him fell and hit the top of his head with a smack. "Ow," the photographer grumbled. "Never mind!"
Musichetta laughed and kissed the top of his head. "Bahorel, spin the bottle!" she crowed.
Bahorel looked away from Feuilly and spun the bottle with a bit more force than necessary. It landed on Marius, and the boy looked thoroughly frightened. Bahorel pressed his lips to Marius's for a millisecond and then pulled away, eyeing Feuilly. The painter looked almost…jealous. Good, Bahorel thought smugly. He threw an arm around the boy, who roughly shoved him off. Irritated, Bahorel cuffed him. Feuilly growled; Bahorel growled; they went outside to settle the matter in a fistfight.
Marius, still shocked after his kiss with Bahorel, spun the bottle and it landed on Cosette. Before anyone could say a word, the two had all but flown at each other. Everyone watched, bemused.
After a few more turns of the bottle in which Eponine and Combeferre shyly exchanged a kiss and somehow migrated next to each other, Jehan had perched himself in Courf's lap and was happily sucking his face off, and Bossuet had shared an extremely uncomfortable kiss with Enjolras, the bottle was spun by aforementioned ballerina.
It landed on Grantaire.
The two stared at each other for a long moment. Grantaire remembering that he was a worthless drunk, and Enjolras remembering their electric contact a few weeks ago. Finally, Enjolras shrugged and raised an eyebrow, smiling somewhat sheepishly.
"You really don't have to do this," Grantaire said uneasily.
Before he could stop himself, Enjolras blurted, "But I want to."
And then it was all over. The two closed the space between them in a millisecond, their lips pressed together and their hands flying and their faces so red they were almost purple. Their friends laughed and clapped, and Jehan managed to extract himself from Courf for a minute to give a very undignified squeak of happiness.
Camille leaned over to Gavroche. "Why is everyone here gay?" the blonde said very quietly.
Gavroche nearly choked on his soda. "Never thought of it that way," he managed between giggles. "Um…well, my sisters aren't. And neither are Marius and Cosette."
Camille nodded seriously. "It's okay, though," she said. "I don't mind. I actually really like them. They're nice."
Gavroche beamed. "I'm so glad," the twelve-year-old said.
Spin the Bottle kind of disintegrated after that. True to the name, the giant sleepover/study-session-where-no-studying-gets-don e/rehearsal-where-no-rehearsing-gets-done included no rehearsing and no studying. Everyone separated off with their significant other (or others, depending on who you were) and the party mellowed out. Gavroche and Camille got out their sleeping bags at about midnight, both of them yawning. Lightning and Bunny had been put to bed hours before in the bathtub (no one ever claimed to be responsible adults) wrapped in blankets. At Eponine's order, everyone turned in early.
Courf and Jehan disappeared into his room, Marius and Cosette curled up together in a giant armchair, and Montparnasse and Azelma claimed the couch. Grantaire eyed them with disapproval as Montparnasse wrapped his arms around the girl protectively. He wasn't disapproving long, though. He had Enjolras.
Joly, Bossuet, and Musichetta lay in a tangle of blankets, Musichetta in the middle with her boyfriends on either side of her. Bahorel and Feuilly lay in an aggressive heap, and Combeferre had nodded off against the wall, his head lolling over Eponine's.
Gavroche and Camille snuggled down in their sleeping bags, and Camille felt herself just nodding off when she felt a poke in her side. "What?" she mumbled, noticing that everyone but Enjolras and Grantaire – Enjolras was playing with the ballerina's hair and whispering things to him – were asleep.
"Camille," Gavroche hissed.
"I said what," she grumbled sleepily.
"Okay," Gavroche said, before leaning over and pecking her on the lips, looking somewhat shocked, and then burying himself in his own sleeping bag.
Camille smiled, touched her lips, and then lay back down. She could get used to this indeed.