"Here we are, Enjolras, are you ready?" Courfeyrac stopped outside the jewellers, halting the two admittedly less enthusiastic men behind him.
"No." Enjolras said. Honestly, he thinks he could have done this part alone. He only really needed advice from his friends, now it felt like his friends were proposing to Éponine, not him.
"Great. So, I was thinking maybe we could split up, note down rings we think are suitable, then regroup." Courfeyrac walked them into the shop, his face lighting up as he saw all the jewellery. The shop was grand, gold bannisters and white, marble floors. "Okay, Enjolras, you and I will take upstairs, Combeferre you will be situated with the ground floor. Meet back here in fifteen minutes." Courfeyrac nearly ran to the pristine staircase, Enjolras lagging behind, as Combeferre casually strolled around.
Enjolras was picky. Everything had to be orderly and perfect, which is probably why he had unconsciously asked for advice in the first place. So, naturally, he wanted the ring to be perfect too. Éponine deserved the best, and he'd be damned if he didn't give her the best.
He genuinely thought that an engagement ring was a small band of silver that the woman wore, and that was it. However, as he stood and gaped at all the different rings the shop had to offer, he didn't know what to do. What if he screwed it up? What if he chose one that Éponine hated? Surely she wouldn't deny him due to his horrible choice of ring, would she? No, Éponine was too good for that, she wasn't materialistic. But, then again, doesn't the ring symbolise more than just the new engagement? Enjolras didn't know, and, frankly, his head was starting to hurt, so he decided to just get it over and done with.
He started at a big circular desk, a big counter with all the rings under a large glass container. The rings all had diamonds in, all in different shapes and patterns, and Enjolras almost shrieked at how expensive some of them were. Some of them were nice, although that was in his obviously uncultured opinion, some of them were ugly, and some were the down right opposite of Éponine. If he wanted to do this right, after all this effort he had put in, he had to get the right ring. Which blatantly took a lot more thinking and effort than Enjolras had originally thought.
Moving to another counter, he saw that these rings were significantly lower in price, so, he instinctually looked at the rings before him in detail. They looked, albeit, cheaper than the previous rings, but they would be decent enough. There was a particular one that wasn't perfect, but it was elegant and pretty, so Enjolras thought that maybe-
"No."
He jumped at the indignant voice behind him. Startled, he spun around, only to find Courfeyrac standing behind him with a scowl on his face. "Enjolras, if you think I'm going to let you buy that ugly piece of metal for your beloved, you should just walk out of this shop right now." The disappointment and resentment dripping from Courfeyrac's words was palpable.
"No, I'm not going to get this one. I was just checking. I actually, uh- I quite like this one." He almost scrambled over to the previous counter he was at, pointing at a random ring. He closes his eyes quickly and made a silent plea that Courfeyrac wouldn't go ballistic.
"Enjolras, a halo style ring doesn't show Éponine's personality at all. That idea is preposterous, a classic ring style would much better show it. For example, this one-" he pointed at a simple looking ring, with a large diamond in the middle. He opened his mouth again, took a deep breath in, obviously to start lecturing him again.
"Excuse me?"
They both turned to look at a brown haired, blue eyed girl, who looked about eighteen. She was clearly a sales assistant, and she looked almost excited to be talking to them.
"Hi, I couldn't help but notice that you are looking for an engagement ring. Could I be of any help?" She sent a beaming smile to both of them, and Enjolras looked at Courfeyrac to see if they did in fact need help.
"Yes, oh, thank you. This man is hopeless. It's like he's never seen a ring before. I mean, you'd think he would want to get it right for the person he wants to spend the rest of his like with, but, no, not to him." Courfeyrac rambled on, his attention going back to the rings on display.
"Right. Well, do you have any specific ideas?" She looked at Enjolras, who just shook his head casually, and looked away. Honestly, he would do this without needing store help. He's never needed the establishment's help before, he doesn't need it now, even in his hour of need.
"Classical setting. Platinum band, diamond stone." Courfeyrac said automatically, his eyes never leaving the rings.
"Okay, well, we have a great selection of platinum rings here, if you'd like to come this way." She walked over to a different display. There was a large selection of silver looking rings which, Enjolras guessed, were all in a 'classical setting', whatever that meant. He looked over the expanse of the bands, all shimmering under the glass cover. They looked nice, that's for sure, but he wanted something special- something that reminded him of Éponine. She was admittedly different than all the other girls he had ever met, so, naturally, he should give her a ring that signified how much she meant to him, right? However, all the rings he saw were either too flashy- Éponine would kill him if it was too expensive-, too plain- after dating Éponine for such a time he knew that she was anything but boring-, or too utterly not her. That's when he saw it: it was right at the back, and was almost drowned out by the bigger ring in front of it, but it screamed out to Enjolras. It was simple, yet had an elegant look to it, whilst managing to not be too exuberant.
"Have you seen any?" He heard Courfeyrac say to him, but he kept his eyes fixated on the ring, almost as though he would lose it if he let his eyes stray. "Well? Enjolras?" He could vaguely register the saleswoman stood near to them, but only let his eyes flicker to Courfeyrac once.
"That one." He pointed to the ring, and watched as Courfeyrac's eyes lit up and a look of pride and excitement took over his mischievous face. He patted Enjolras on the back, smiling at him brotherly.
"Have you chosen one?" The lady moved closer to them and took a look at the ring they were both in front of. "Oh, lovely choice. Would you like to have a closer look at it?"
"Yes." He heard Courfeyrac say automatically. Nodding along, he smiled at the woman, watching as she reached into the display and brought the ring out, passing it to him.
"Oh, yes, what do you think Enjolras? Is it right?" Courfeyrac looked at the ring, glancing up at him for confirmation.
"Yes. This is the one." He nodded towards the woman, passing it back over to her.
"Great. Now, which one of you would the ring, uh, need fitting for?" She smiled at them.
"...huh?" Courfeyrac said confusedly. Enjolras stared blankly at her, his face matching Courfeyrac's.
"Well, which one of you would be wearing the ring?" Her face grew red, and her smile faltered, before she pushed the smile back onto her face with much greater force.
"What do you mean?" Enjolras looked at Courfeyrac for help.
"Oh, wait, god, you don't think-" Courfeyrac struggled for words, "we- him and I, no-", he motioned between the two of them. The woman's face dropped wholly, and it would have been funny if they weren't so astonished.
Enjolras caught on. "No! We're not- we don't- I actually- uh-", he also struggled with what to say.
"He's getting engaged- not me. He has a girlfriend, it's not me, I'm just their friend, actually." The woman's face had gone totally red now, her smile transforming into a look of fear and worry.
"I am so sorry. I just assumed since you were both here together, and you-" she pointed at Courfeyrac- "were so interested and getting so excited about it, I just thought- I mean, I apologise." She looked genuinely scared of their reactions, her hands clasping together and fidgeting.
Enjolras sighed. "It's okay, apology accepted." He nodded at her awkwardly. "Well..." He trailed off.
"Um, so do you have any measurements for the ring?" She said clearly, flattening her hair out, and smiling largely.
"Well, she isn't here, so-"
"Enjolras, do you have that ring I told you to bring?" Courfeyrac turned to Enjolras and blanched.
Enjolras had received a panicked text from Courfeyrac about half an hour before they were supposed to meet, ordering Enjolras to bring one of Éponine's current rings. Enjolras had walked ominously around their apartment, attempting to discreetly sneak into Éponine's jewellery box and take any ring he could find. It had proved to be a difficult task, but he had succeeded after a couple of stammered conversations with his girlfriend about why he was so interested in her fingers and why he kept looking towards her wooden jewellery case.
"Yes! Yes, I did, actually." He retrieved the small golden ring from his pocket. He had dared great lengths to get it, and he was proud of his work. Courfeyrac stole it from his hand as he held it delicately. He had, in fact, bought Éponine the ring on the day of their one year anniversary. She had almost ran away when she thought he was proposing, adding to the fact why he needed his friend's help so much.
"Good, will this work?" The brown haired boy passed the ring to the woman.
"Yes, this will be fine, thank you."
"Great. Now, we need the ring as soon as possible-"
"Courfeyrac."
"Not now, this is important-"
"Courfeyrac, we forgot about Combeferre."
"Enjolras, shut up, we need to- oh, crap." He turned to Enjolras and gave him a look of pure fear. Courfeyrac looked at the saleswoman panicked. "Can we possibly leave for about five minutes to find our friend?" He gave her a sweet, hopeful smile.
"Of course." She smiled back at them.
They instantly jerked and walked quickly to the stairs. "Okay, if we can't find him, we split up and ask around. But, knowing Combeferre, he's already thought out a rational plan, so we shouldn't really worry. But, oh, god, Enjolras, we're awful friends." As they hurried down the stairs they furiously scanned the bottom floor, their eyes darting around the different people walking around.
Standing where they had instructed him to, Combeferre was positioned at the front entrance, a bored look on his face. His arms were crossed and his legs looked slouched. Courfeyrac hurried towards him, a pensive expression written on his face. Combeferre's facial expressions didn't change when he saw them, instead looking more uninterested, if it was possible.
"Combeferre, we are sor-"
"I have been stood here for about twenty minutes. I have had to shoo three salespeople away who thought I was lost, one of them came and asked me three times. But, I'm hoping that you have purchased a ring, so we can just leave this shop at once." He said it mechanically, as if he had been planning it in his head.
"Actually, we have found the ring, but we haven't bought it yet." Courfeyrac started.
"You have had at least forty minutes, I don't understand why you haven't got it yet." Combeferre's words became increasingly articulated and dictated.
"We were going to buy it, but then we remember that we hadn't met you." Enjolras added in.
"Have you already chosen the ring?" Combeferre sighed.
Enjolras nodded.
"Have you got one of Éponine's rings?"
"We've already given it in." Courfeyrac said.
"There's a lady getting the ring ready upstairs." Enjolras said timidly.
"Give me your credit card." Combeferre said finally.
"Excuse me-?"
"Pass me the card. I will go buy the ring, you two wait outside."
"But, Combe-"
"Give me the card. Wait outside."
Courfeyrac literally spun around and dashed out of the exit, the door swinging behind him. Enjolras reached into his pocket quickly, not daring to meet Combeferre's eyes. He had never seen Combeferre so tempered before, and it was not a pretty sight. He passed he plastic over to the bespectacled man and nodded at him shortly. He then promptly turned around and walked away, never looking back.
As he walked outside, he saw Courfeyrac standing directly next to the door, his face white. He leaned on the wall next to the brown haired boy and faced the road.
"Did you see him? I didn't expect that." Courfeyrac said quietly.
"I know." Enjolras exhaled.
"His eyes, though, they looked deadly."
"Yeah. It was scary."
"Never again are we bringing him engagement ring shopping."
Enjolras gave him a side glance, before choosing to ignore him. He just wanted to leave now.
"Do you think he's still angry?"
"I don't know, Courfeyrac. He's not here, I can't tell."
"Oh. Me neither."
Enjolras rolled his eyes.
"Do you reckon he's got the ring yet?"
"Maybe. Maybe not."
Courfeyrac coughed.
"Do you think he's talking to the lady?"
"Possibly."
Silence.
"I liked her, she was nice."
"Yes."
Enjolras just wanted to stand and wait in silence. He heard Courfeyrac chuckle.
"Remember the time that she thought we were getting engaged?"
"Yes, I remember it."
Enjolras glared at the street.
"Her face when we told her we weren't getting engaged was hilar-"
"Courfeyrac, we were instructed to stand outside and wait for Combeferre, not to reminisce about what happened ten minutes ago." Enjolras snapped.
"Okay." Courfeyrac nodded timidly.
Enjolras sighed and could see his breath in the air. Éponine always pretended she was a dragon whenever it was cold enough to be able to do this. Then he'd always wrap her in his arms and-
"Hey, do you think it's gonna snow soon?"
Enjolras had had enough. He turned to him.
"I don't know, Courfeyrac. Maybe you should ask Combeferre." He bit out.
"Well, Combeferre isn't here, I can't ask him."
"Oh my god." Enjolras breathed out dejectedly.
Enjolras was getting frustrated. Surely Combeferre must have gotten the ring by now, it had almost been ten minutes. Enjolras' hands were staring to go numb, and he was certain he would seriously damage Courfeyrac soon.
"I'm tired."
"Oh."
Monosyllabic sounds were all Courfeyrac was subjected to now.
Enjolras could vaguely see a large tree in a field acrosst he street. There had been this one time where Éponine had climbed a tree when they were playing hide and seek, and he had almost given up hope on trying to find her. He had called her name, and checked every plausible place he could think of. It wasn't until he had sat under the tree to call her phone and had felt red berried being throw onto his head did he realise where she was. He had immediately smiled and attempted to climb up the tree. He had needed a little help from Éponine, he never claimed to be an expert sportsman, and Éponine had always been better at physical challenges than him. Then, when he got onto the same, thick branch as her, he had leant in and kissed her and whispered to her-
"Hey, Enjolras, what should I ask for this Christmas?"
"Courfeyrac, I swear to god." He gritted out, not even turning to him.
"What?"
"What?" Enjolras pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What do you swear to god?"
"I swear to god that I will punch you in the-"
The door opened next to him, and he almost cried with joy when he saw Combeferre walking out, a small white bag in his hand.
"Thank you, Combeferre! May we go?" Enjolras reached for the bag happily, more than ready to get in his car and drive away.
"Yes?" He said, handing Enjolras his credit card back, a confused smile on his face, all remnants of anger gone.
"Great. See you tomorrow, Combeferre." He ran to his car and darted off down the road.
"What's his problem?" Combeferre asked Courfeyrac.
"I have no idea." Courfeyrac shook his head.
courf is my spirit animal.
I don't own the god damned musical or book