Hello again, my dear lovelies! I just can't explain how much it means to me to have you all loving this story. It means so much! So, as a reward for everything you absolutely wonderful people do for me, here's Chapter 23! I promise it's quite adorable. You'll like it!
Also, you would rather be Eponine or Musichetta.
The first thing Enjolras knew was a throbbing in his head. He opened his eyes and looked around; he appeared to be in a hospital room. He could see the I.V connected to his arm, and see the bed with white sheets and… Eponine?
He turned his head, afraid his eyes were deceiving him. But no, it was indeed her, sitting in a chair beside his bed, head slumped. Sleeping. He became aware of a tingling in his hand, a good sort of feeling, and looked down to see that his fingers were intertwined with Eponine's.
His head throbbed painfully, drowning out the question as to why Eponine was holding his hand and making him press his fingers to his head. He found that it was burning hot, then realized that he was burning hot.
What's wrong with me?
He sank back to the pillow, squeezing Eponine's hand as he slipped back into the arms of oblivion.
….
He felt a cool hand on his forehead. He didn't know to whom the hand belonged, all he knew was that it was cool, a blessed respite from the burning hot he felt all over. Sighing, he leaned into the touch, earning a surprised gasp from someone. "I think he's awake," murmured a voice that could only be Eponine. "You awake, Enj?" asked another voice that sounded like Grantaire.
Suddenly, he smelled the familiar and comforting aroma of rich vanilla and lavender. The smell of Eponine. Instantly, he felt calmed and the fever seemed to go away. He cracked open his eyes, and to his immense relief, saw the dark haired girl standing above him, hand pressed gently to his forehead. "Eponine," he sighed. She smiled, and her eyes were especially bright, tear-bright.
"Enjolras," she murmured. "You're awake."
Suddenly, another voice startled him. "What are we, chopped liver?"
He turned his head to find his best friends waiting for him: Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Jehan, Joly, Grantaire, Bossuet, Bahorel, and Feuilly. Courfeyrac had such a hilarious
expression on his face that Enjolras cracked a smile.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Well," started Grantaire.
"Montparnasse of the Patron-Minette attacked you, cut your neck, and basically beat you up. You passed out, got a very bad fever, and here you are waking up," said Jehan.
"What day is it?" he asked. "July 23," replied Grantaire. "You were out for nearly a day!"
That explained the feeling of hunger gnawing at his belly. As if in response, his stomach rumbled loudly and all of the Amis laughed. He pressed a hand to his forehead and felt that it wasn't burning hot anymore, just warm.
He turned toward Eponine. She had an immensely relieved expression on her face, though he was not sure why. Suddenly, the door to his room opened and in ran a young woman in white scrubs. He heard Courfeyrac wolf whistle quietly.
"Oh, you're awake," she said to Enjolras. He nodded sarcastically and Eponine bit back the urge to laugh. It was nice to see that he was back to his old self again.
But what of her? Even if Enjolras was Enjolras again, she felt even less her then she ever had before. She had told Montparnasse that she had loved Enjolras just to piss him off, truly, but on her walk back to the hospital, she had found herself believing it.
No, Eponine, she told herself when she felt her mind wandering back down that familiar path. Remember what happened with Marius? You loved him, but did he love you? Enjolras will never love you. He'll never love anyone but his stupid Patria.
Eponine blinked in surprise as the nurse abruptly left the room. "Whew!" said Courfeyrac. "You're free to go!"
"Yeah, I just got to go to the front desk," he said, getting out of the hospital bed. "And where the heck are my clothes?"
Everyone shared a laugh, and Courfeyrac opened the cabinet next to the bed, retrieving a plastic bag. "Here they are," he said, handing the bundle to Enjolras, who retreated to the bathroom to get dressed.
A few minutes later, all of the Amis were standing in front of the counter. "Gregory Enjolras," the secretary said. "You are good to go. Come back on August 16 to get your stitches out, and don't do anything too strenuous until then. Also, sleep a lot until your fever subsides. Just rest for the next week or so. I promise, it will do you good."
Enjolras thanked him, subconsciously touching his throat. He felt a long gash where Montparnasse had cut him, and could feel the stitches. He also felt hot to the touch, but that was the fever.
"Not strenuous?" asked Courfeyrac mischievously when they had gotten outside. "I know what's not strenuous."
"What?" Enjolras asked, dreading the answer. "A movie marathon!" replied the exuberant young man. "I have all eight Harry Potter movies, I can bring them all over and everybody else can bring snacks!"
"We have a buttload of microwave popcorn and some tubs of ice cream!" cut in Eponine. "I baked some cookies yesterday," added Jehan.
"Alright everybody," said Courfeyrac, standing on a bench. "Let's all go buy some junk food, like sodas, candy, or whatever you want, just make sure it's enough for everybody, and we'll meet at Enjolras and Eponine's apartment in an hour." He turned to them.
"You guys set up the living room and pop the popcorn," he said. Eponine nodded enthusiastically. She turned to Enjolras, who looked less then amused. Once all the rest of the Amis had piled into their respective cars and driven off, he sighed loudly. She turned to him. "What's wrong?"
"This wasn't even my idea!" he pointed out. She smiled. "They're the Amis, what do you expect?"
He laughed a small laugh. "I guess you're right,"
"Now come on. Let's go home, I'll get you some fever medicine and pop some popcorn, and we'll watch some movies. You can even fall asleep if you want. I know I will,"
He seemed to take some comfort in that, and so they got into the car and drove home.
….
"Enjolras?" Eponine asked from the kitchen, where she was popping popcorn. No reply. "How's the living room looking?"
He had volunteered to set up the living room while she cooked, and she had not heard from him in a few minutes. She peeked out from the kitchen. The living room was looking good. The couch was in one corner, the table in another, creating a sort of square with the wall. Pillows and blankets were laid all over the floor, creating a cushy seat for anyone who sat down. And Enjolras was on the couch. She walked over to him curiously, to find that he was asleep, one leg dangling off the couch and body parts at odd angles. She assumed he had fallen asleep accidentally.
She sat down gently beside him, pressing a hand to his forehead. "Oh Enj, you're burning up."
The fever he had seemed to have subsided when they had checked it not an hour before, registering at 99. But it seemed to have spiked again. "I'm worried about you, Enj," she murmured.
"What?" a groggy voice asked. She looked down in surprise; Enjolras had opened his eyes. "You're hot again," she murmured. "Are you sure you don't just want to go to bed?"
He smiled tiredly. "I'll just sleep through the movies." She grinned. "You can sleep on me if you like, I don't care."
"I couldn't do that," he said, almost stiffly. "Why?" she asked. "I wouldn't want to invade on your privacy."
She laughed. "You wouldn't."
Just then, they heard a knock on the door. They both hastily got up, Enjolras to look awake and Eponine to answer it. She opened the door to find Courfeyrac, grinning, with some shopping bags. He dumped them on the coffee table and pulled out a stack of DVDs. Flipping on the TV, he stuck one in and the interactive menu for Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone came up. "There," he said, pleased.
Turning around, he opened the other bag to reveal a box. "Fried chicken," he exclaimed. Then, he pulled out another box. "Waffles." She snorted and he laughed.
Just then, the doorbell rang again and this time it was Jehan with a huge plate of artfully frosted cookies and Grantaire with a bunch of sodas and some movie theater candy.
A few moments later, all the Amis were there, sitting or lying all around the living room, and the feast was laid out on the coffee table. Chicken and waffles, popcorn, cookies, and soda wasn't even half of it. There was a gigantic bowl of candy (any type you preferred) and another huge bowl full of pudding.
Someone had brought a chocolate pie, and there were about 6 bags of marshmallows. Also included were Haribo gummies, chocolate covered strawberries, and a large tin of caramel corn. Also included were a few bags of Oreos, and another bag of Chips Ahoy completed the junk bonanza.
"Alright," said Courfeyrac. "No stopping the movie while it's playing. Bathroom breaks are between movies in 15 minute intervals. So if anybody needs anything, get it now."
All the Amis shifted in their seats to get more comfortable, yet nobody got up. Eponine was sitting on the couch, her legs draped across the cushions. Enjolras sat below her, on the floor. She motioned for him to come up, and he, reluctantly enough, stood up. She picked up her legs, but once she had sat down, draped them over him again, resuming her original positon. He stiffened for a moment, but then relaxed, leaning back against the couch.
Combeferre dimmed the lights and the movie marathon began. Eponine watched intently for the first hour or so, but then she felt a weight settle on her. She looked down and saw that Enjolras had lied down over her legs, head on her lap. He closed his eyes, settling back.
She smiled despite herself, and, looking around, smiled even more when she found no one had noticed. Reaching out an arm, she found that she could still reach the snack table quite comfortably without moving. She set her soda down on the table; it appeared she wouldn't be moving for a while.
Turning back to Enjolras, she gently reached a hand down and pressed her palm lightly to his forehead. He felt warm to the touch, but not burning hot as she had feared. His fever was odd. It seemed to go up and down. He didn't seem to mind. At least, he wasn't complaining.
She took her hand off his forehead and began to play with his wonderful, messy curls. Just running her fingers gently through at first, then burying them deep within his lovely locks, as she had seen him do many times when he was stressed.
His eyes fluttered open, and she was about to take her hand away, but his hand flew up and kept hers in place. "Don't stop," he whispered. "Please don't stop,"
She smiled a tiny smile. "Of course."
"I just don't want to do this, 'Ponine. I'm just so tired."
"Then sleep. I don't mind, I promise."
He smiled faintly. "Good night, 'Ponine."
"Good night, 'Jolras," she said, voice warm.
He closed his eyes, and she resumed gently carding her fingers through his soft hair, until she too, fell asleep.
Would you rather be Marius or Enjolras? (Hard, I know…) :D
Love you all!
P.S: Updates will probably be coming a bit less frequently because my school starts next Monday. Anyways, love you all!
-crescentmoonthemage