A/N: Ok, so basically this is a modern AU adaption of Les Miserables and this is a very simple introduction. I plan on making the chapters sorta like one shots, but I don't really know. We will see how this plays out. This is just an introduction and a characterization chapter, next will be about how Elliot gets started with the 'revolution' and the meeting of Martie and his beloved. Obviously Elliot is Enjolras, Martie is Marius, Connor is Courfeyrac, Penelope is Eponine, Jimmy is Joly and Grant is Grantaire. Leave a review!
It all started in a small back room in that college town bar. It was a small room with yellowing wall paper and outdated pictures of circus men, horses and school mascots. School spirit might have been high had the 1980s school flags been replaced with something more recent and the pictures been swapped with ones of meaning, but not many people frequented the room, therefore the owners of the bar never thought much of it.
Elliot Dupont had been the first one to stumble across the room rather on accident as a freshman all of those years ago. He'd come to the bar not to drink, but to pick up a friend who had had a bit too much to drink and needed a shoulder to lean on. A sharp eye had spotted the camouflaged door in the back of the bar, and a curiosity that couldn't be quenched had thus lead the young Elliot to push the door open and take in a room that seemed to transport him back twenty years ago. A round table sat in the very middle of the room surrounded by about twenty chairs, and a dusty chandelier, one that dripped with imitation crystals, lent the only light to the room.
In a ghostly way, it was entrancing.
The room was tucked into the corner of Elliot's mind and not drawn forth for another three years. A junior at Duke university with a major in History, no one imagined he would ever amount to much. He was passionate, yes, but was passion really enough? Of course he had intelligence on his side as well… but his options were almost null with a major like history when you refused to be a teacher. But he had plans in his head, and that seemed to be enough to fuel his aspirations.
The senior remembered the room when they needed a place to rent out for a small 'study party.' They included the majority of Elliot's friends, considering it was finals week and all of them had resigned to their fates that included long study sessions every night. And that was how this small, unnoticed room turned into the meeting place, the place where each boy escaped whenever he needed time away, or just needed a friend to lean on.
Tonight was no exception; it was 9:30 PM on a Thursday night, and already the bar out front was buzzing with students and townies out for a drink after a long day. Elliot pushed his way through the crowd, his messenger bag slung over his shoulder and his eyes fixed on the door at the far end of the room. No one tried to stop him, at least none of the regulars did. A few girls tried tugging at his hands or shoving their cleavage in his face, but neither attempt worked and he continued towards his destination. The door was slung open quickly as he strode in, a slight look of disgust on his face as his bag was dropped onto the table and a chair was taken. Immediately a history textbook was withdrawn from his bag and it took no time for Elliot to get completely swept up in his text and his studies.
Elliot was an attractive man, one who was moved by politics and social injustices, and one who had come to announce that romance was the least of his worries after breaking up with his girlfriend freshman year. Since then he'd had no romantic connections, no girlfriends, no dates, not even one night stands to appease his sexual needs (which most of his friends teased was non-existant). He was a handsome young man, one who was crowned with a halo of golden curls and searching hazel eyes that seemed to stare into your soul. Just one look of his eyes and he could persuade just about anyone of anything, and if the gaze didn't do it, his words surely would. Elliot had been blessed with a tongue that could convince even the most stubborn man to do the one thing he'd never want to do.
The next man to enter the room boasted a messy head full of coal black curls, a strong jaw line covered in stubble from a lack of shaving the past few days and a mouth that was usually stuck in a condescending smirk or a straight, emotionless line. Grant Abner didn't believe in much of anything, and everyone knew it. The senior who was studying philosophy was a cynic to the worst degree, and while everyone knew that, they also knew that if there was one thing he would ever put his faith in, it was Elliot. They were childhood friends, and had known each other for far too long, or maybe just enough time. They knew each other inside and out, and the familiarity both of them appreciated. Grant started coming to The Musain mostly because there was alcohol, but it also helped that Elliot was here more often than not. He entered the room tonight with a pitcher in his hand that was full of a brown liquid, one Elliot immediately recognized as a whole pitcher of whiskey and coke, and a silly straw carried the liquid from said pitcher into Grant's willing mouth. He didn't even bother bringing books to the meeting room anymore, and instead slid into a seat beside Elliot immediately.
"Already hitting the liquor, I see," Elliot commented as his eyebrow arched and he looked from the alcohol to his friend, one of the closest he had. Grant held up a finger as he chugged down the alcohol, taking it from full to ¾ full far too quickly.
"I don't enjoy this whole studying thing," Grant murmured as he sighed and leaned back in his seat. Elliot opened his mouth as if to give him a clipped response, but the door was pushed open almost immediately, causing each man to avert his gaze and welcome the next person to enter.
Ah, Martie. Martin Pontmercy III was a studying pre-law and was the most… whimsical of the group to say the least. With his head in the clouds and an affinity for romance, he and Elliot didn't always see eye to eye. It was another member of the group, Connor, who had offered him a place to crash after a drunken night and had boasted about his group of friends, then brought Martie around the next day to meet the gang. He was a tall, skinny red headed fellow who occasionally could be awkward but usually was helpful. He was smart enough, he did get into Yale after all, but sometimes he was blinded. Tonight he clutched a pitcher of beer in one hand and two glasses in the other, one which he immediately slid towards Elliot once he'd filled it, the other which he kept for himself.
These were the three who were almost always present in the Musain. Of course a few more were missing, but the three seniors knew they would be along eventually. "Have you two forgotten about exams next week?" Elliot asked as he eyed his glass of beer carefully before taking a tentative sip of the amber liquid.
"Hardly. I've been studying all day, Elliot. We need a break sometime," Martie murmured (some would argue it was more of a whine). He took a long gulp of his beer and glanced over at Grant, who was now half way through his pitcher and was eyeing Martie's own beer at the time. Immediately Martie pushed it out of his reach, knowing the man wouldn't hesitate to start drinking his alcohol if he ran out of his own.
Elliot sighed and closed his text book as he took another drink. Maybe he did dserve a break. He leaned back and took a long gulp of the beer, his eyes scanning over Martie and Grant's faces; Grant was smirking widely and Martie was nodding in encouragement. "You don't have to get trashed, just let loose," Martie encouraged. The door opened then, allowing three people entry.
Connor O'Donnell was the most charming of the group, and was usually one who could come up with some rather marvelous ideas. While Elliot was a planner, Connor could think of something quickly and on the spot, and was rather marvelous and charming with not only the ladies but occasionally the gentlemen, all depending on what he was trying to achieve. He had a smile that lit his whole face, and his grey eyes were impossible not to fall into. Much like Grant, a gorgeous mop of cheeky black curls graced his head, framing his baby face in an attractive way. Along with him was Jimmy Todd, a medical student who had stumbled upon the small group one night when he was a bit drunker than he should have been and had discovered the mysterious magical door. Unlike the charming Connor, Jimmy was a very logical, straight forward kind of man who put all of his faith in science and who worried far too much about the germs that polluted the earth. Both men had drinks as well, and it was evident at this point that no one was going to get any studying done, much to Elliot's dismay.
The third person that entered seemed to be a shade of a person, someone who had slipped in and immediately slid into a chair beside Grant as soon as she'd come in. She was a few years younger than the boys, and a fake ID had been her key to getting into the bar. Penelope Thenardier wasn't a student at Yale; in fact, she wasn't even a student. She worked at a local diner as a waitress, and after a rather flustered encounter with Martie at said diner, she had somehow become a quiet, small part of the group. She had long, glossy brown locks that she usually kept back in a braid and her whole attitude was content towards life with a silent appreciation for those brave and bold. She had a lot more moxy to her than she let the boys know, but the one thing that never went unnoticed by the rest of the group was her bigger-than-schoolgirl crush on Martie that he just didn't see.
And those were the group who had named themselves the Les Amis de L'ABC, a name that Elliot had found fit and dubbed them after taking a French Revolution course. Of course there were many more of them, in fact this was an understatement of who they were. But for the night it was these six, and at the end of the night it didn't matter who or how many of them were there, because they would always have each other's backs.