Chapter the Tenth Eponine and Jehan

A/N SO LAST CHAPTER WAS HOW EPONINE MET CHAPTER IS...WELL YOU'LL SEE. THIS IS SET ABOUT A MONTH INTO THE NEW SCHOOL YEAR SO ABOUT FOUR MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE HUGE FIGHT IN CHAPTERS ONE AND THREE AND EPONINE'S BROTHERS ARE AT SCHOOL.

USUAL DISCLAIMER APPLIES. BUT THE ONLY WARNING I CAN GIVE FOR THIS IS PURE TEETH ROTTING SWEETNESS AND MAYBE THE ODD SMALL SWEAR WORD THESE PEOPLE ARE WORKING UNDER THE DELUSION THAT JEHAN IS SWEET AND INNOCENT. ALSO JEHAN ALWAYS USES FIRST NAMES BECAUSE HE FINDS THEIR LAST ONES TOO WEIRDLY META.

Coming out of a lecture one Monday lunchtime Eponine clicked her phone on and was met by a deluge of messages from Jehan.

J-man

12.30

'Oh Woden! Eponine you need to get here now. It's Adrien and Zack.'

J-man

12.33

Seriously come now I need you.

J-man

12.34

I'm in the library.

"No shit Sherlock," she muttered, rubbing her face. Jehan practically lived at their uni library. By (*ummm*) Artemis she did not need this today. Not after a two hour lecture on some obscure practise Javert said she would never need to use anyway.

The Idiots had been doing so well. They hadn't had a bad argument in months.

Not a 'we need Eponine' one anyway. Not since before summer. But if Jehan needed her…

She groaned and swapped course to the library instead of the Gateway building. It was only a matter of heading right instead of left but it was also going away from food towards utter idiots and she was so not amused.

She nodded to Becky on the desk and went through to the back room holding the teaching stuff and the computers where she knew Jehan to be. Right at the back, hidden next to the stairwell she saw him perched cross legged on the desk there, flicking calmly through his 'very-expensive-copy-that-my-nanna-gave-me-that-you-can't-touch-ever' copy of Les Miserables. He still hadn't forgiven her for making notes in his 'just for uni' copy...

(HONESTLY! How many copies of that book did a man need?!)

Wait. What?! In the text he had sounded frantic but there he was calm as a summer's day with a huge grin on his face.

Then he beckoned her over urgently, finger on his lips.

'What?' she mouthed heading over and then she saw what had got him so frantic.

Sat on the ground were two figured. The tall blond one's head was resting against the table where Jehan sat watching. He seemed to be asleep, his arm wrapped around the waist of his companion- a black curly haired shorter figure leaning against him, legs in the blond one's lap- who was reading aloud, glasses askew.

As she got closer she distinctly heard the words 'Padfoot', 'Harry' and 'Hogsmeade'.

Taking in Jehan's giant grin and the way they were wrapped around each other she understood and whipped out her phone to snap a picture. Blackmail material.

She snuck around them and curled up on the desk next to Jehan.

"I can't wait until Adrien realises Sirius was denied a trial," she muttered. He grinned at her, pursing his lips and pointing at R.

Ponine glanced at her big brother. Judging by his smirk it seemed nor could he. Love Jolras though he did the man sure loved winding him up.

They watched the Idiots snuggle for a few minutes, each surreptitiously snapping a few photos but doing no more until Enjolras let out an indignant squawk. Above them Ponine and Jehan glanced at each other and burst into silent giggles as he started ranting about injustice in a completely fictional world. R smirked and lightly pulled his hair which brought the other's attention back to him.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Carry on. Please."

R pecked his cheek and went back to reading.

'We should go.' Ponine mouthed and slid off the table sneaking away, noting as Jehan quietly followed her.

"You gonna tell the other's what you saw?" she asked when they were outside.

"No," he said simply and she nodded. Jehan was all for the romance nonsense. She, however, was not above using her friends' love lives to her advantage.

12.54

Yo catboy bet you a tenner Enj and R are going out. She texted Bahorel.

12.56

Not a chance. I haven't got a tenner to lose Poni. Nice try.

12.58

AWW n0 fair.

13.00

Ask Marius. He'll bet you.

That...was a very good idea.

"Hey you wanna go see Vic and grab a brew? I'll throw in a donut?" Jehan asked.

"A brew?" she mocked. "Look at you and your northern talk."

"It's what Felix calls them," he replied with a shrug. "Do you? I hear Mike's in the cafe."

Mike. Combeferre. Who hates being called Mike but normal rules didn't seem to apply to Jehan.

She shrugged."Sure. Whatever."

"He likes you. Michel. He likes you. The way Adrien likes Zack. Felix told me. And he doesn't lie to me. Do you like him?"

"Course I like him silly. Everyone likes him."

He just looked at her sternly so she sighed.

"Yes. yes I like him okay. But that doesn't mean I want to act on my feelings."

Jehan stopped her in the middle of the path, earning them more than a few filthy looks from passers by.

She took his arm and steered them off to the side, standing unded a tree that still held most of it's summer foliage.

"Why not?"

"Because...oh lots of reasons. I'm not good enough for him. I'm a mess at relationships and I have nothing to offer except a ton of baggage and a criminal family history. He deserves someone smart and rich and good who doesn't come with a mismatch of issues.

Add three kids into the mix that are basically mine even if I didn't bring them into this world and that's too much yo ask him to cope with. Then what happens when he realises this and breaks up with me because he will. It will tear us all apart. I don't want that. Even if I do like him."

Jehan frowned at her and slapped her arm. He hated it when people talked bad about his friends. Even if that was themselves.

"And what about what Michel wants? Doesn't he have a right to know how you feel? You should tell him. Just...tell him and see what he says. Say it in French if it's easier..."

"Yeah. Yeah. I really should. I'll...I'll tell him now. Come on flower boy before I lose my nerve."

He grinned, tucking his hair behind his ear and grabbed her hand.

"I'll be right here."