(Hi guys! Thanks for the support on the last chapter :) Means a lot! This chapter was a little harder to write. I hope you like it though...)

Combeferre and Enjolras sat huddled together on the floor for about an hour or so, not speaking, but just drawing comfort from being close and being there. Enjolras had stopped his chain of apologies after Combeferre had softly asked him to 'please stop talking', and now leaned heavily against his older friend's chest, staring blankly ahead and lost in his own thoughts. He didn't know if the cut on his head was still bleeding or not, since Combeferre had pressed his sleeve against it a while ago and hadn't removed it yet. It did hurt a little, but not nearly as much as the stabbing pain in his heart every time he thought back on his nightmare or the events of the past twenty four hours. He had no idea where they were going to go from here. What was he going to do? He didn't want Combeferre to leave him, but he refused to endanger his best friend just because he stayed with him. But if Enjolras chose to leave himself, what would happen? Where would he go? He didn't have any friends, he didn't have any money, he didn't have a place to stay… Maybe he should just accept his miserable life and return home? No… Never that. He would never go back again. He'd rather die.

Enjolras couldn't imagine a life without Combeferre. He had only known the medical student for a couple of months, but he'd grown so attached to the man. He felt safe and loved and appreciated. Combeferre made him feel like he really meant something. Enjolras didn't want to give that up. He was scared to. He didn't know how much he had missed it until he finally got a taste of it. If he'd leave, things would never be the same again. How could he feel happy again? He would not only hurt himself, but he'd also hurt Combeferre and Enjolras never wanted to hurt Combeferre. And still… Hurting Combeferre by leaving seemed like a lesser evil than Combeferre getting hurt because he stayed with him. A much lesser evil. Enjolras would never forgive himself if something happened to his friend because of him.

He unconsciously drew closer to the medical student – pressing his back against the man's chest – and tightened his hold on the arms around him. Enjolras closed his eyes when he felt Combeferre pressing a soft kiss on the top of his head in response. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve someone as gentle and loving as Combeferre. And he didn't understand how Combeferre could stand to stay around him for so long. Maybe he felt obligated and didn't dare to leave. Maybe his heart was just too generous to decide that he was better off without Enjolras clinging to arms like a useless child.

"We should really move away from the floor," a soft voice murmured in his hair and Enjolras was successfully pulled away from his depressing chain of thoughts. "I should clean that cut…"

Enjolras didn't respond, but loosened his hold a little and allowed Combeferre to help him on his feet. He felt slightly dizzy and a wave of nausea came over him, but he quickly forced it down. Combeferre couldn't use him getting sick on top of everything else. His friend didn't seem to miss his sudden discomfort however and he placed both his hands on Enjolras' shoulders to stabilize him and steer him towards their tiny bathroom. He pushed the younger boy on the stool and turned around to collect some supplies. Enjolras watched him with tired eyes as he filled a bowl with water, grabbed a clean, white cloth and some bandages. When Combeferre turned back to Enjolras, he crouched down a little so that he was on eyelevel with his friend. He then carefully tilted Enjolras' chin up and dabbed the wound with the wet cloth.

Enjolras winced, but didn't make any sound. He just averted his eyes from Combeferre's face and instead stared at a small crack in the bathroom floor. He didn't see the way Combeferre had to fight against his own tears.

Combeferre for his part was just as far lost in his own mind as Enjolras was. He tried to put on a brave face and pretend that he had all the answers, but he couldn't do it anymore. To tell the truth, he had no idea where they had to go from here. It wasn't that he was scared for himself. He didn't know these people and they didn't know him. They didn't know where he lived or what he did. No, he wasn't afraid that anyone from Enjolras' past would hurt him. But he was scared for Enjolras. He couldn't help but think what would happen if they found him. Would they take his friend away? Were they actually looking for him? Was Enjolras ever going to feel safe walking around Paris now that he had seen that man? Was he ever even going to feel safe enough to leave the apartment? Combeferre couldn't stay with his friend all the time… He had his studies and he was already behind. Maybe he could send Enjolras to his parents in the countryside. Combeferre was sure he would be welcome and he would be safe there. But he was also sure that Enjolras would see it as a confirmation that Combeferre had enough of him. And that was not true. That was so far from true. Combeferre felt very strongly about the relationship he had built with Enjolras. It felt like he had known him all his life instead of just the past few months. It felt like he had a younger brother and he would never want to get rid of him. He'd rather die.

But then what were they supposed to do? Combeferre didn't know how to help Enjolras. He had tried pretty much everything to convince his friend that he would never leave. He had tried to make Enjolras realize that he was safe with him, that he would protect him if necessary. And Combeferre had thought that they were making progress. The past month had passed without any problems. Enjolras enjoyed his work and he and Combeferre had felt good living with each other. But then since yesterday, everything had gone downhill so fast. Enjolras was even worse off than he had been when Combeferre met him for the very first time. Now his young friend couldn't even look at him anymore. As if telling him his story had somehow changed things. It hadn't changed anything. Not as far as Combeferre was concerned. Of course it was an awful story, but it didn't change how Combeferre felt about Enjolras. Not in the slightest. If anything, he was even more proud of his friend.

"Are you dizzy or nauseous?" Combeferer asked softly as he steered his friend towards the bathroom.

Enjolras shrugged, but didn't say anything.

"I'll take that as a yes… I don't think you have a concussion, but we'll take it easy just to be sure…"

The medical student gently dabbed the dried blood away from the cut and checked it over. It wasn't a deep cut and luckily didn't need any stitches. With a soft squeeze of Enjolras' shoulder, Combeferre set to bandaging the wound. Enjolras didn't look at him the entire time and the older student suddenly felt tears well in his eyes. He couldn't stand Enjolras shutting himself off from him like this. They were in this together and they were going to get out of this together. Combeferre bit his lip and closed his eyes for a second to force the tears back. The last thing Enjolras needed was to see his friend cry. He already felt guilty enough.

"Julien," Combeferre said quietly after he was done dressing the wound. Enjolras still didn't answer and he didn't look up either. Combeferre's heart twisted painfully. Was this how it was going to be from now on? How could that be? How could they go from being so close one second to this distant the next? "Julien… Could you please look at me?"

Combeferre felt a small tremor go through Enjolras' body at his question, but to his relief Enjolras slowly looked up at him. His sky blue eyes shone with pain, fear and desperation and Combeferre wished there was something he could do to replace those emotions with happiness and confidence. He forced a gentle smile on his face and pulled a hand through Enjolras' tousled hair, letting his hand rest at the back of his friend's head. "I don't know what's going through your head right now, but I'm going to say this one last time and one last time only and I urge you to take it to heart and to never forget it…"

He watched Enjolras' eyes widen ever so slightly and rubbed his thumb in gentle circles through the golden curls when his friend swallowed thickly. He waited until Enjolras gave a small nod and then continued. "You and I… We are in this together, Julien. No matter what. You hear me? I am here and I'm staying here. And you are staying with me. You're not allowed to leave my life. Not after everything you and I've been through. I want you with me, is that clear? I don't know where we're going to go from here, but I promise you that wherever we'll go, we'll go there together. I we're going to be okay. You are going to be okay. You're out, Julien. You're away from that life and you're never going back. No one is ever going to take you back there, I swear to you. From now on, you and I, we're a packaged deal. And whenever life gets hard, you and I will deal with it together. Can you please, please, believe what I'm telling you here? Because I cannot keep repeating myself over and over and over again. You are my family now, my little brother, and I will never let go of you. Never."

Combeferre made sure that he and Enjolras held eye contact the entire time. Every time Enjolras tried to look away, Combeferre squeezed his shoulder and forced his head back up. He hoped and prayed that he had finally succeeded in getting the message through to Enjolras' head, even if it was just partly. When he was done talking, his younger friend's bottom lip started quivering again and he pulled his head out of Combeferre's hold.

"I don't want them to hurt you…" Enjolras whispered to his feet, "Please, Combeferre… I'm nothing but a burden and a danger to your life… I… I have to g-go… I-If they find me… I-I can't lose you Combeferre, I can't… I would never forgive myself if something happened to you." Enjolras was starting to panic again, but Combeferre wouldn't have it. He placed both his hands on either side of Enjolras' head and pressed their foreheads together.

"Don't say things like that, Julien…" Combeferre said strongly. "Don't ever say that you're a burden to me and don't you even dare think that you could endanger my life. Please don't. Besides… Tell me honestly. Do you really want to leave?"

"No, of course I don't want to leave, b-but 'Ferre," Enjolras muttered shakily but before he could say anything else, Combeferre gently placed a hand over his mouth to silence him.

"Then that's that. Julien, I am not afraid of your past… And I understand you're afraid and that seeing that man yesterday hurt you in ways I can't even imagine… But I don't believe you have to be this scared." Combeferre shook his head when Enjolras tried to disagree. "No, Julien… Look, I talked to Feuilly this morning and he told me what happened after you left. That guy… He didn't even follow you. He just turned back to Feuilly, paid for the books he bought and then stayed for a while to talk to monsieur Beaumont. That means he has no idea where you went. He doesn't know where you live and he probably didn't even care. I think he was just making empty threats to scare you.. Because everyone back at Montpellier was really looking for you, why then would he not follow you?"

Enjolras didn't say anything, but he had started to tremble again and silver tears were slowly leaking from his bright blue eyes.

"I'm not saying you don't have a reason to be frightened. Of course you do. After everything you've been through, it's only normal to be scared. But I don't think you have to be scared that they're here to look for you and I definitely don't believe you when you tell me you might be a danger to me. They don't even know who I am… "

"Then why was he here?" Enjolras interrupted him in a small voice. "Why would he come all the way to Paris if not to look for me? I ran away from him… H-He paid for me… I-I still owe him…"

"You don't owe him anything," Combeferre growled angrily, not caring that Enjolras tried to flinch away from him at his sudden threatening tone. "You don't owe him anything, you hear me?"

Enjolras just looked at him and Combeferre sighed, softening his voice.

"As for why he was in Paris," the medical student continued, "According to Feuilly he is here on business and he visited the bookshop to pick up some copies for his son because apparently those are hard to get in Montpellier."

Enjolras stared at the ground and shook his head. He didn't believe it. He couldn't. He wished Combeferre was right about everything, but he highly doubted it. He had been in too much bad luck to believe otherwise.

"I'm not saying that we should just go on like nothing's happened, Julien," Combeferre said kindly, once again tilting Enjolras' head up and brushing the curls away from his teary eyes. "We'll lay low for a while. You can stay in and I can skip a few classes. We can put an extra lock on the door and we can always go back to Avignon for a while if you want to. I promised my mother we'd come back for my birthday anyway, but we weren't able to back then, so we can always go now. I only have to make a few arrangements. Just… No matter what we decide… It will never consist of either you or me leaving the other. Never."

Combeferre kept his eyes locked on Enjolras' for another few moments and then pulled the younger boy in his arms, whispering directly in his ear: "And I would never think any less of you because of your history. I could never be ashamed of you and you could never, ever disgust me. I'm proud of you and you're the strongest and bravest person I've ever met. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me." He tightened his hold and smiled when he felt Enjolras' arms come up around his shoulders and his friend's head buried in the crook of his neck. "We'll make it work, mon Ami. I promise we'll make it work."

When Enjolras nodded jerkily, Combeferre felt tears well in his eyes again, but this time they were tears of relief instead of fear and desperation.

"Now," Combeferre said after a little while, "Let's go back to the living room and make ourselves comfortable. I'll make us some tea and prepare something to eat, you settle on the couch and rest your head. Then after we eat, we'll work on that law and history book you brought back a few weeks ago. And after that I need you to get some sleep, because you've hardly had any rest lately. I'll make sure to wake you if you start dreaming. Does that sound good?"

Enjolras nodded again, face still buried in Combeferre's neck. Before he pulled away, he mumbled in a small voice: "C-can I sleep in your bed?"

"You know you don't have to ask. Of course you can."

The next couple of hours, Combeferre tried his best to take Enjolras' mind of things. They talked about Combeferre's study, they discussed topics in the book Enjolras had brought back and Combeferre even convinced his friend to play a few games of dominoes. His heart made a little jump when he was finally able to make Enjolras smile, even if it was only for a second. He still wasn't sure where they were going from here, but he did know that they would figure it out together. They were going to be okay, Combeferre was sure of that. Yes, they would lay low for a while and yes, Enjolras was going through a difficult, emotional time, but the medical student had to believe that his friend would pull through. Because there was no other option.

TBC.

(I am still struggling with this story... I feel like it's starting to get boring. Please tell me what you think and review? Ideas are always welome and highly appreciated!)