"You two are finally back together, huh?" Grantaire asked. Everybody was seated in Grantaire's living room on the couches or the floor. Cosette and Marius nodded, their hands firmly clasped together on the table in everyone's view. Bahorel swore that he was going to puke. Marius released his hold on Cosette's hand, and stroked her hair.

"Cosette's hair is like the finest silk, the most gorgeous shade of gold. It feels like heaven, and smells like lavender and rosemary and honey. Her skin is soft like smooth floortiles", everybody glanced at him awkwardly at that simile,"and her eyes are as blue as the sky on the sunniest day imaginable."

Cosette blushed, then pinched Marius slightly. "I'm still here, I can hear everything you say." she said. Marius blushed as well.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that."

"No, no! It's absolutely sweet of you to say that!"

Everybody's attention was on them. Courfeyrac sighed in annoyance, and Jehan sighed dreamily. Suddenly, Grantaire shot up from the couch. Everybody's eyes turned to him.

"No one cares about your lonely soul!" he yelled. Surprisingly, Cosette was the first one to laugh. It started out lightly, then she started laughing louder and louder, until she was giggling uncontrollably. Everybody else joined in, but Marius didn't look very happy.

"I'm not lonely! I have Cosette!" Marius complained. Everybody kept laughing.

"By the way you talk about her, you sound pretty lonely even though she is your girlfriend." Combeferre said, straight to the point.

"No one cares about your lonely soul, Marius!" Cosette shrieked between fits of laughter. Marius pouted.

"Even Cosette's saying it!" Marius whined. Grantaire left the room, Eponine hopped into Enjolras' lap, Combeferre took up reading his book again, Courfeyrac played with Gavroche, and Cosette kept snickering. Marius wrapped an arm around her. "I'm not THAT lonely, am I?" he asked her. Cosette shrugged, and he sighed.

"It's just a light joke, Marius. Don't take it too hard." Combeferre said behind his leather book cover. Grantaire emerged from the kitchen with a tray that contained a few glasses of wine.

"Pony, Apollo, you know that you can't hide alcohol from me. No matter where I am, no matter where you hide it, I'll always find it. That's the one sense that hasn't been dulled by my drinking yet. Who wants wine?" Grantaire yelled. He passed the tray around until everybody had alcohol except for Enjolras and Eponine.

"Don't call me Pony." Eponine muttered darkly.

"Don't call me Apollo." Enjolras murmured at the same time. They looked at each other, and laughed softly. Some people smiled at them. Grantaire slurped his share of drink down, and reached for the bottle for a second serving. A similar slurp, then some hacking and coughing came from the corner. Some people jumped in surprise and turned towards the sound, including Eponine and Enjolras.

Gavroche was sitting on the floor in the corner staring distastefully at his glass of wine. When he felt many pairs of eyes on him, he glanced around at everybody quickly, the innocent look playing in his eyes.

"What?" he asked. As quick as lightning, Eponine had snatched the glass from him. Gavroche whined slightly, but she shook the glass menacingly at him. He recoiled slightly.

"You're thirteen! You're underage! You can't drink yet!" Eponine shouted. Gavroche shrugged.

"You're underage, too." he pointed out.

"Do you see me drinking?" Eponine questioned him. Gavroche paused, then shook his head. Courfeyrac took the boy into his arms.

"Come on, Ep. Give him a break." Eponine turned to Grantaire, and the drunk flinched. He knew what was coming for him.

"GRANTAIRE! You drink too much, you really need to get this drinking habit under control! I can't stand it anymore! You're setting a bad example for my little brother! You too, Courf! What's wrong with you, Grantaire? Can't you get a hold of yourself? Enjolras has been trying to get you out of this situation for years, and you haven't paid a single minute of attention to his worry! Our worry! Everybody's worry!" Eponine stormed.

"Great. Now I'm involved." Enjolras muttered.

"Enjolras and I searched the entire house for a good hiding place for your wine! It's not because we wanted to play a joke! It's not because we were doing it to hurt you! We weren't doing it so you could find it and bring it out to serve to my little brother! No! We did it so maybe you could break the habit by not drinking for an hour or two! You can still drink, just try not to do so as much, and maybe if you lessen your dose, you'll eventually stop! I don't want Gavroche to drink alcohol yet! I don't EVER want him to drink alcohol after the example that my father set up for us! He beat us, he did! My father! Every night he would come home all drunk with his friends, who were intoxicated as well, and they would beat us! I don't want to see something like that ever again! Not from you, not from Gavroche!" Eponine yelled. She stomped out of the room.

"All I had was a sip of wine. I didn't even like it!" Gavroche pointed out.

Courfeyrac stroked his back. "I know, I know." he murmured.

"'Ponine, wait!" Enjolras cried. He raced after her.

"Eponine, what's the big deal?" Grantaire shouted. He followed after Enjolras.
All was quiet of a few moments, before everybody continued doing their things. Marius began touching and smoothing Cosette's hair, while trying his best at singing to her, forgetting all the lyrics and falling badly out of tune. Jehan got bored, and began reciting Shakespeare from memory, if you call that fun. Courfeyrac and Gavroche began playing rock, paper, scissors, but also involved gun, bomb, shield. Combeferre took up reading his book again, and Joly began organizing his medical bag. Bahorel started talking with Bosseut about the upcoming game.

Meanwhile, outside, Enjolras tried to comfort a sobbing Eponine, while Grantaire tried to convince her that his first goal would be to not drink for a day.

"I'm so sorry, Grantaire, for yelling at you like that. I shouldn't have." Eponine apologized. Grantaire patted her back.

"It's fine, I deserved it for giving Gavroche that stuff. Plus, you have a really big point." Grantaire said.

"I just don't want my family or friends to become something like my father. That's what I'm most afraid of. I don't want to be out down all over again." Eponine sobbed. Enjolras and Grantaire hugged her comfortingly. She smiled through her tears.

"Don't worry. We won't put you down." Enjolras said.

Two days later

"Okay, team! We need to get these plays in action! We've discussed them with the coach, but we really need to play them out. We'll start with Red. Remember, Joly runs 25 yards, cuts right, receives it, and runs all the way down." Enjolras, the quarterback, instructed. Everybody got in position.

Enjolras took the ball from Bosseut, who was Center, and waited for Joly to sprint that far. Then he took his best aim and threw it. Joly caught it, and began running as fast as he could towards that marked line. After they had finished it, the coach, Mr. Johnson, shook his head.

"Joly, that cut needs to be more sharp." the coach said. Joly suddenly looked panic stricken. Everybody was confused.

"Cut? What cut?" Joly yelped.

"Cut, Joly. The football term for turn." Enjolras explained, laughing slightly. Everybody else chuckled a bit, before resuming their serious state. They practiced it again, and Joly did much better.

"Boy, if we don't take this seriously, it's going to be a hard game." Enjolras told Combeferre, who nodded in agreement.

A/N: I'm trying to post as often as I can. Updates are going to be a bit slower now, though. Please review!