"Relax," says Courfeyrac. "Probably she won't even look you in the eye."
"Yeah, because she's horribly embarrassed for me," Marius groans, drooping into his classroom seat.
"No, because the whole situation is horribly awkward, not just you," corrects Courfeyrac. "Anyway, remember, you're the one who got the I-almost-wish-I-didn't-have-a-hot-girlfriend-because-I-want-a-piece-of-that. I've gotten that maybe twice, three times."
"That doesn't make me feel any better," Marius sighs. "I don't want them to fight or anything because of me."
A lavender-nailed hand comes to rest on the desktop next to Marius. When he sees it he nearly jumps out of his skin.
"Cosette! Hi!" he gulps.
"Hi," she says. "Hi Courfeyrac. Hey, Marius, can I talk to you after class?"
Marius is wide-eyed in terror. "Uh. Yeah. Sure. Of course. Yes."
She smiles. "Okay. Thanks." She turns around and heads up to her seat.
Courfeyrac gives a low whistle.
"Oh god, I think I'm going to throw up," mutters Marius.
"Want me to run on ahead and get us frappes after class so you can drown your sorrows in delicious frozen beverages, or would you rather I stick around?" Courfeyrac offers.
"Maybe it won't even be that bad," says Marius. "Maybe she just wants to talk about homework or something." Courfeyrac looks at him. Marius sighs. "Frappes would be nice."
If talking to a girl is already a Herculean task, talking to his dream girl with which he already has complicated drama and with anticipative warning ahead of time is so much worse. By the time the class ends he is a wreck of nerves. The students begin to file out, including Cosette, and Courfeyrac pats Marius's shoulder reassuringly.
Marius takes his time gathering up his things, until he realizes Cosette can probably guess he's stalling, at which point he hurries so much he drops his textbook twice. He is the last out of the classroom and bursts out of the doors in a flurry.
Cosette is standing there, leaning against the opposite wall, cradling her bookbag to her chest. She smiles, and despite his frayed state, it is enough to make Marius smile too.
"I wanted to talk to you about Éponine," she says. "You've known each other for a while, right?"
"You should definitely not break up with her," he blurts.
Her answering smile hangs crooked on her mouth. "Funny, she said just the opposite."
He sighs. "Sounds like 'Ponine."
Cosette nods her head toward the building door, and Marius follows her out.
"I've known her for a few years now," he says. "I go to that deli she works at a lot." He doesn't know what else to say, so he doesn't say anything. Cosette speaks again after a moment of walking.
"You said it sounds like her. She didn't seem to think so—she said she was trying to be selfless for once."
"Which is ridiculous, right?" he says emphatically. Cosette can't help but smile as his nervousness dissolves in his defense of Éponine. "She's just about the most selfless… I met her when she was in the middle of finalizing the thing with Gavroche. Has she told you about that?" Cosette nods. Marius grins. "Have you met him?"
"Not yet," she says.
"He's great, he really is. And it was such a huge thing, and she was really defensive about it. And she's like that, you know?" He stuffs his hands in his pockets. "I think… I think she feels like she stole Gavroche, and like she barely escaped her parents, and she never reports the leaks and things in her place because she thinks she's got to lie low and not draw her landlord's attention. And now you."
"She didn't… steal me from you," Cosette frowns. Marius's eyes widen.
"Oh no, no, I know, of course not, no! I just meant, you know, that's how she feels," he explains. "Which is dumb, but it's Éponine. I mean—I don't mean Éponine's dumb, just…"
"I know," Cosette assures him.
"It's the only reason I can think why she didn't just… tell me that she was gonna ask you out. Or tell me after the fact, or whatever. Surely she knows I'd have been fine with it."
"You would've?" says Cosette. "You wouldn't have wanted one chance, just in case?"
Marius shrugs. "Éponine deserves to be happy," he says.
Cosette cocks her head curiously. "And you don't?"
Marius colors. "I… I didn't say that." Cosette just looks at him. "Well, I mean… having the guts to go after happiness. It's kind of one of the first parts of deserving it, isn't it?"
"I…" Cosette's eyebrows wrinkle. "I've… never thought about it like that."
Marius just shrugs again.
They are approaching the campus Starbucks now, where Courfeyrac is waiting at a table with two cups and watching their approach through the window.
"Well, I won't keep you," says Cosette.
Please keep me, Marius almost says. Despite how reluctant he was to talk to her, he's more reluctant still to leave. He wishes he had something more to say, something interesting. She'd seemed interested when he said the thing about happiness. He suspects it was deep.
"Well… he says. Cosette waits . "I'll… see you Tuesday," he says. She smiles, as though it was something interesting to say after all. She waves goodbye and walks away, leaving Marius watching her go, oblivious to Courfeyrac knocking on the window of the Starbucks.
Cosette is sitting at their breakfast bar doing her homework, the news on the TV with the volume just a little too low to understand. Valjean comes in and puts on the kettle, and the kitchen is silent for a minute as she works and he waits for the water to boil.
Eventually, Cosette puts down her pen and directs a thoughtful frown at her father. "I have a question."
"About homework?" says Valjean. "Because I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll try."
Cosette shakes her head. "No, about… life."
Valjean tries not to look significantly more nervous about this subject than about chemistry or college algebra. "Of course, little bird. What's on your mind?"
Cosette chews her lip. "Is it wrong to care for two people at once?"
It takes a confused Valjean a moment to figure out the most likely definition of "care for."
"Is this about that girl you're—" He searches for the word. "—seeing?"
Cosette nods. "And a boy," she mumbles.
Valjean gets a brief, fervent flash of longing for the days when the most complicated thing asked of him as a father was wearing a tiara at a tea party. And then he takes a deep breath.
"I think," he says slowly, "that it can't really be wrong to love. Certainly not to love more than you're expected to."
"But isn't it… I don't know. Disloyal?" She looks miserable and Valjean aches for her.
"Well, I guess I can see how the people one loved might be pained by it. But I don't think it would be your fault." He hopes he's saying right. "It certainly doesn't make you a bad person. As long as you didn't hurt anyone on purpose."
"Oh, I'd never hurt either of them, never," she says emphatically. Her father's heart pangs.
"When we can invite other people into our hearts, that is nothing but a virtue," he says. "Maybe you should talk to these two, though."
Cosette nods, frowning at the counter. "I should," she sighs. There is a short silence.
"And, I suppose," Valjean says after a moment, "whoever you end up with… bring them over for dinner."
Cosette smiles. "Thank you, Papa," she says. "I will."
"So you don't cook?" says Gavroche.
Cosette laughs even as Éponine, standing at the stove, barks "Gavroche!"
"What?" he says.
"That's very impolite. She's not cooking because she's a guest."
Gavroche regards Cosette. "She just seems like the type who would cook anyway."
"I'm afraid I don't cook too much," Cosette admits. "I mostly bake."
"Like cookies?" Gavroche says with interest. Cosette nods.
"Cookies, cakes, pies, bread," she says. Gavroche gives Éponine a meaningful look.
"You are not making Cosette bake for you," Éponine says, stirring the soup. "Not tonight."
"Later though," Cosette promises. "What kind of cookies do you like best?"
"Peanut butter!" says Gavroche. Éponine peers over his shoulder on the way to the refrigerator.
"Gav, you have to show your work. I know your teacher's already talked to you about this."
"Why should I have to show my work if I can do it in my head?" he complains.
"To prove you're not using a calculator."
"You could tell them that you don't let me use a calculator."
"No I couldn't," Éponine says as she pulls out a stack of bowls from a high cabinet. "Because compromising in order to get along with people is a life skill and I'd hate to deprive you of that lesson."
"But I'm not compromising!" says Gavroche. "I'm just doing what they tell me to."
"Well, that can be a life skill too," Éponine replies, unperturbed, "if it's not a big request, made by someone who isn't a bully, and there's nothing at stake but inconvenience. Like this: Set the table."
"You're a bully," Gavroche grumbles, but gets up and picks up the bowls.
Dinner conversation is fast moving and widely ranged, as it could only be with a ten-year-old at the helm. Sometimes Éponine sits and watches Cosette with Gavroche, and sometimes Cosette watches Éponine with him, but Gavroche usually has a question to ask or an observation to fire off at either one of them to pull them back in if they go too quiet.
"Oh, Gav," Éponine puts in at one point. "I just remembered. Marius got sent to jail."
Cosette drops her soup spoon with a clatter. "What?" she gasps. "Why?"
Gavroche laughs. "Don't worry," he says. "it's just Monopoly."
"They play distance Monopoly," Éponine explains. "Gav's got the board set up in his room, and Marius has a diagram of it on his wall or something."
"If he needs to draw a chance card or whatever, I do it for him. When he's over we play a few rounds on the board," says Gavroche, "and in between we tell each other our turns through Éponine or Feuilly."
"Guess he told Feuilly today?" Cosette asks hesitantly, looking over at Éponine.
Éponine gives a small smile. "No, actually. Marius came into the deli and had lunch and chatted. It was… very normal." She clears her throat and tears off some more of the garlic bread she got from the grocery store for the occasion. "And you know, good luck to him ever getting out of jail. He's terrible at rolling doubles. You'd think it would be random, but no. Marius breaks probability." She grins. "And he never lies about his rolls."
Dinner gives way to dessert, gives way to a few games of Uno, still sitting at the kitchen table. Gavroche beats them both soundly twice before Éponine starts gathering up the cards.
"All right, you. Time for bed."
"I'm not tired."
Éponine looks at him hard. "Time. For bed."
His show of dawning comprehension is theatrical enough to suggest he understood perfectly well the first time around. "Ohhhh, all right, I getcha," he says with an enormous wink. "I'll go to bed."
Cosette laughs and Éponine rolls her eyes.
"Move it, twerp. And you'd better brush your teeth. "
When Gavroche has gone to bed, they curl up on the sofa, just to sit quietly. "Gav and marius really get along, huh?" says Cosette.
Éponine nods, smiling. "Gave adores him and the feeling is mutual," she agrees.
"I know. I talked to Marius recently, and the smile on his face when he talked about Gav… it was great."
"Well, Marius, you know, he… he gets it," Éponine says hesitantly. "I mean, his parents are both gone, and he lived with his grandfather until a couple years ago. It's not my story to tell, but. Well, Marius… he flinches when people shout." She chews her lip. "He gets it."
Cosette nods with the understanding of someone who also 'got it.'
They sit quietly for a while, Éponine's arm draped over the back of the couch, her hand tracing through Cosette's hair. Cosette pulls her feet up under her and tilts into Éponine, tucking her shoulder under the other girl's arm.
When Cosette finally speaks, it is quiet and tentative. "Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Yeah, course," Éponine answers easily. Cosette pauses first, even so.
"Back when we met," she says slowly and carefully, "did you… I kind of got the impression that you… liked Marius."
Éponine laughs lightly. "Well of course I—"
"You know what I mean," Cosette cuts her off. Éponine's laughter falters and stops immediately. She is quiet. Cosette waits.
"Maybe… a little," Éponine admits. "For a bit." Cosette just looks at her, with those big, blue, impossible-to-lie-to eyes. Éponine sighs. "For a while. For… a few years. Since the day I first met him, okay?"
Cosette nods understandingly. She pauses again. "Can I ask another question?"
"Oh god," Éponine whimpers. Cosette doesn't press. "Yeah, shoot," she says reluctantly.
"Do you still like Marius?"
"I'm dating you," Éponine says. "I'm not dating him."
Cosette smiles. "I think that's my line," she says. "Anyway, that's not what I asked."
"I would not rather date him than you."
"Also not what I asked."
Éponine grimaces. "I… yes. I still do. I thought maybe it would start to go away once we got together, because you're amazing, you're wonderful, but… it really hasn't. But just like you said, I have no intention—"
Cosette leans over and silences her with a quick kiss. "It's okay, really." Éponine smiles weakly. Cosette takes a deep breath. "I have a proposal."
Éponine
Coffee?
Marius
sure when?
Éponine
B4 ur next class? Im on campus
Marius
Be there in 5
He's glad they're okay again, he thinks as he heads toward the Starbucks. He'd certainly had no problem forgiving Éponine, but he was afraid she wouldn't let him. He's glad they can go back to being easy friends, doing things like getting coffee, just him and her—
—and her girlfriend, apparently. Marius's feet stumble when he sees them sitting together, both on one side of their little table. Something in his stomach goes heavy to see them, both of them, not just Cosette. It's certainly not betrayal or anything like that. But it hurts somehow to see both of them there. He doesn't know why. He should be happy for them.
"Hey," he greets, shuffling to a stop in front of their table.
"Hey," says Cosette.
"I didn't tell you she was here because I was afraid you wouldn't come," Éponine says.
Marius stuffs his hands in the front pocket of his hoodie. "Fair enough."
"Come on, sit down," says Cosette. Marius does so, hunching awkwardly over the edge of the table, completely forgetting to get any coffee.
"You guys wanted to talk to me or something probably, right?" he says, sounding resigned.
Cosette and Éponine trade glances. Éponine shuts her mouth tight like there's something she's refusing to say. Cosette turns back to Marius, then takes a deep breath.
"We'd like to ask…" She licks her lips. "We'd like to ask you out on a date."
Marius looks at both of them blankly.
"Both of us," Cosette clarifies.
Marius blinks.
Éponine starts to sink down in her seat. Cosette clears her throat.
"What?" says Marius helpfully.
"I want to date you," Cosette explains, "and Éponine wants to date you. And we want to still date each other. So we're inviting you to date… both of us."
Marius looks first at Cosette, and then at Éponine, who is in the process of turning dark red. He swallows.
"Éponine… wants to date me?" he asks.
"Y-es," says Cosette. "And me. Both of us."
He looks between them again.
"I've… never really thought about Éponine that way before," he says. Éponine immediately pushes her chair back and stands up.
"This was a terrible idea," she says. Cosette grabs her arm before she can get away and directs a pleading look at her, whereupon she sits reluctantly back down. Satisfied Éponine will stay put, Cosette turns back to Marius.
"How?" she says. This time boy Éponine and Marius blink at her.
"How… what?" says Marius.
"How can you absolutely never have thought of Éponine that way?" She seems genuinely mystified. "Or how can that matter that much? I mean, I never really thought about girls that way unless in a sort of vague, abstract way before she asked me out."
Éponine is possibly redder than she was, but there is a sort of smile in the corners of her mouth, even at she stares at the tabletop rather than at either of them, and she mutters something that sounds like "I knew it."
Marius opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again. "I— I just—" Closes it again.
Cosette sighs. "Who do you know who would try to introduce you to girls?"
"Courfeyrac," Marius answers immediately. Cosette breaks into a smile.
"Courfeyrac? From history class?" She giggles. "I believe you. Okay, that's easy." She gets up from her seat and circles around to Marius's side of the table and sits back down. Marius looks questioningly at Éponine, but she just shrugs, as confused as he.
"Okay, I'm Courfeyrac," says Cosette needlessly, before slouching carelessly next to Marius in a very familiar manner. "Éponine, I'd like to introduce you to my good friend Marius Pontmercy," she says in a flawless impression of Marius's roommate. "Marius, Éponine Thenadier." She leans close and stage-whispers conspiratorially in his ear. "Be cool, dude, she's totally into you."
It is probably the "be cool" that really does the job. Marius, presented with this simple instruction that even at his best he finds so difficult, is undone by the addition of being cool with a girl who's "into" him. For a split second he forgets it's not Courfeyrac talking, forgets it's not a stranger he's being introduced to, and in this brief window, his brain cold reboots.
He looks at Éponine, sitting uncertainly across from him, blushing and fidgeting.
And for the first time, Éponine is a girl.
"Buh," says Marius.
Éponine raises her eyebrows. Marius swallows, a little bug-eyed. He tries again.
"You're…" he says Éponine and Cosette wait. "You're… really pretty 'Ponine." She starts to smile. "Why did I never notice that?"
"Well," says Éponine kindly. "You are kind of an idiot."
"Yeah," he says. "Are you really… I mean, do you…"
"Yeah," she says.
He looks from Éponine over to a grinning Cosette and then back to Éponine. "Well," he begins. The bug-eyedness is starting to fade in favor of a faintly smiling dazedness. "Well," he says again. "I guess… would you… would you like to go out with me?" He looks between them again, unsure who to address the question to. "Both of you?" he clarifies, not quite believing what he's saying.
He almost startles as Cosette next to him takes his hand in hers, and then he watches as she reaches across the table and takes Éponine's in her other. She is smiling at both of them, broad and warm and happy. Marius lays his other hand palm up on the table between he and Éponine, and after a moment, she shyly takes it.
"Yes," says Cosette for both of them. "We would very much like to."
"I'm not ready," says Marius. "He said to wait to come over until we were ready, right? I'm not ready." He is frozen in place, not looking like he has any intention of moving from the back seat of Cosette's car, ever. Cosette looks in the rearview mirror at Éponine for backup, but her girlfriend looks just as reluctant as her boyfriend does.
"Oh for goodness sake, he's not going to eat you," Cosette says, rolling her eyes. She hops out of the car and pulls open Marius's door with no mercy. "It's been three weeks, you're ready enough. He's really eager to meet you." She pauses. "Well, eager might be the wrong word. Terrified might be more accurate." She tugs ineffectually at Marius's elbow. "Ép, can you help me out here?"
"I'm not ready either," says Éponine. Cosette levels a look at her, and she sighs and unbuckles to help shove Marius out of the door. Faced by both of their efforts, he sighs and unbuckles too.
"Honestly I think my dad's in a worse shape about this than anyone. He's never had to do this before."
"I've definitely never met the parents of anyone I've ever dated," Éponine points out.
"I've never dated anyone," offers Marius.
Cosette giggles as she coaxes the two of them up to the walk. "Okay, then everyone's equally out of our depth." She gives Marius a quick, reassuring kiss, and then turns and delivers one to Éponine too. "Stop worrying. And I hope you guys are hungry. Papa's a great cook."
Marius groans. "I'm not sure I can eat anything. I feel queasy."
"Uh oh," says Éponine. "Papa Fauchelevent might get offended and hate you forever." Marius groans again and Éponine just laughs. She steps forward to straighten Marius's tie, then thinks better of it and unties it.
"Hey!" Marius squawks.
"She said you didin't need to wear a tie," Éponine says as she reties it. "But if you're going to insist on one you could at least have the decency to tie it straight."
Cosette just stands back and watches them, grinning. When Marius's tie is tied to Éponine's satisfaction, Cosette shakes her head. "You're still worrying."
"I can't help it!" he whimpers. Éponine rolls her eyes and gives Marius a reassurance kiss of her own, although her version features a firm hold to the back of Marius's carefully combed hair and somewhat more tongue than Cosette's version. When it's over, Marius is swaying a little bit.
"He's not worrying anymore," says Éponine cheerfully.
"How about you?" says Cosette. Éponine falters for a second, but then smooths her blouse and sticks out her chin.
"I'm fine," she says. "I'm pretty sure I could take your old man in single combat anyway if he did try to eat me. Let's do this."
Cosette hooks one arm through Éponine's, and one through Marius's, and leads them up the walk. At the door, she nods to the doorbell, and Éponine pushes it.
"Don't you have a key?" Éponine whispers. "It's your house."
"He'll want to answer the door," Cosette whispers back. After a moment, the door unlocks and swings open, and Cosette's father is standing in front of them.
"Papa, this is Marius Pontmercy and Éponine Thendadier. Marius, Éponine, my dad." Valjean takes in the sight of the trio before him, takes what he probably thinks is a surreptitious deep breath, smiles welcomingly, and offers a handshake first to Éponine and then to Marius.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you," he says. "Please, come in." He holds the door open, and they all walk in, one by one, into the light and warmth and the smell of supper.
AN: Check on AO3 (Handle Solshine) for upcoming sequels and prequels to this story, plus for a link to an amazing podfic of this story! Thanks for reading!
