The next morning Eponine dropped Gavroche off at school.
"Only two more weeks 'till summer, Gav! You excited?" She exclaimed to her brother with a big goofy smile.
"I can't wait! Even though I'll miss some of my friends." Gavroche replied.
"That's okay; we'll find a way for you guys to hang out over the summer."
Gavroche now smiled up as his sister, who then bent down to hug him goodbye as he ran across the schoolyard to a group of children. Eponine then turned the opposite direction towards the café.
Upon walking in, she saw Combeferre serving coffee to a stout older man with glasses and brown hair.
"Combeferre, serving your future self, I see?" Combeferre gave her a smile.
"So that's how we're playing today, is it, Ep?"
They both giggled.
"Don't worry; I'll be upstairs in a minute with a comeback." He teased.
Eponine walked up the stairs to see the normal group. She said hello to everyone then sat by Cosette who was sitting by a window by the majority of the group.
"Hey, Ep. What's up, on this beautiful morning?"
"Not much," Eponine responded, "But it is a beautiful morning." Eponine smiled, as she closed her eyes and stretched her arms over her head, touching the rays of sun coming through the open window.
Eponine looked to a corner of the room and saw Enjolras with his face buried in a book, avoiding everyone else, even though most of the boys decided to gather towards that corner anyway.
"Hi, Enjolras." Ep said, smiling, awaiting his response.
Enjolras looked up, and smiling lightly, he nodded his head, saying, "'Ponine."
Eponine remembered the text she got the night before from Enjolras after settling in to watching TV before bed.
Enjolras: [Text] Hey, 'Ponine. So I was wondering.. are we telling anyone about, um, us?
Eponine: [Text] Nah, I think we should screw with the guys a little and not tell them at first, but get close. Hold hands, flirt, kiss.
Enjolras: [Text] That could be really fun, actually.
Eponine: [Text] Great! See you tomorrow then. :)
Now Eponine was in the café, not sitting by him even though she wanted to greatly.
"Eponine, are you listening to me?" Cosette spoke up, nudging Eponine's arm lightly.
"What?" Eponine responded rather innocently.
"Were you staring at Enjolras? My God, you're like a little school girl." Cosette exclaimed teasingly, rolling her big blue eyes.
Eponine smirked at her friend.
"So does anyone else know about you two?" Cosette asked Eponine, pressing her lips together and raising her eyebrows curiously.
"No. Not just yet." Eponine replied, taking a sip of a water bottle she pulled out of her bag.
Cosette laughed and smiled, but then saw Eponine smiling at Enjolras again. He gave an awkward yet sweet smile back. Biting his lip, he rolled his eyes and got up from his chair in the corner to sit next to Eponine.
Upon him standing up, the rest of the guys in the group stared wide-eyed at him. When he sat next to Eponine, most of them didn't know how to react. She glared daggers at them upon seeing their stares. Everyone loved Eponine- and she loved everyone in return- but once you start messing with her, she'll make you feel her unhappiness towards you.
The boys looked away for a moment, but that didn't stop them from their occasional glances.
After a minute or two, Eponine and Enjolras grabbed each other's hands, smiling and giggling at each other. Then Enjolras had one arm around Eponine, who was now holding his other hand. The rest of their friends, other than Cosette, had no clue what was going on.
All of them just watched in awe; basically studying the two, who just a couple of days ago, were not even giving each other a single glance.
Eponine leaned upward to the boy's ear and whispered something, making him blush, and bite his soft pink lip again.
"He's blushing!" a drunken-slurred voice from the crowd exclaimed, followed by a, "Taire- sh! Don't acknowledge it- Eponine might look over."
The boys started talking again, but Eponine was truly enjoying her time with Enjolras.
"Ep, that tickles." Enjolras said, blushing and smiling as Eponine nibbled on his neck, her hand resting on his thigh.
"What... I..." Combeferre muttered, still unsure of what he was witnessing from his friends.
This was Eponine and Enjolras- two people who rarely ever showed PDA like that; especially Enjolras.
A moment later the two were kissing- making out, being the only way to put it.
Enjolras had both of his large hands on the sides of Eponine's tiny waist, and she had her delicate hands holding his head- her fingers going through his soft blonde curls.
"I AM UTTERLY TERRIFIED." Grantaire announced from the group, wide eyed. His outburst, while making most laugh-even Cosette- made Eponine part from Enjolras and look at the group, while Enjolras just looked down as his cheeks burst into a fiery red.
"Oh, no, Ep, you cannot give that look; not after that." Combeferre said to the girl, jokingly, even though he somewhat meant it. "Are you guys like a thing now?" he questioned, asking what everyone else was curious about.
"Maybe. Any one not cool with this?" Eponine said, half joking and half sick of her relationship status being the new topic in her group of friends.
The group shook their heads no; Cosette just giggling, loving how the boys could act so tough to each other but tremble from hearing one touch of annoyance or confrontation in Eponine's voice.
"But, uh," Joly spoke up, "Is Enjolras okay? His whole face looks like Rudolph's nose."
"Does not!" Enjolras exclaimed, touching his hand protectively to his cheek.
"Enj," Ep said, "it might."
"It's not my fault I blush easily. Get back to your banter!" He exclaimed embarrassed to his other friends.
Eponine realized she loved seeing him when he's embarrassed- not because she liked seeing him in social agony, but because he looked so adorable and innocent when he had red cheeks. It made Eponine remember that this mostly serious man had moments where he couldn't help but have a huge smile on soft face.
The attention averted from them to nobody seeing Pontmercy all morning and Cosette sighing as she said "I don't know, he's either right by my side or off doing something he told nobody about."
Until three o'clock, Eponine was at the café talking with her friends and discussing some of the things they hated about some of their classes; then she left to leave and pick up Gavroche.
"See you later?" she mumbled to Enjolras, pecking him on the cheek.
"Your house- 5?" he responded. Eponine nodded her head yes, then grabbed her bag and left.
Once picking up Gavroche from school, the two walked home happily talking about their day.
"How much homework do you have tonight, Gav? I was thinking maybe me, you, and Enj could go out to eat or something."
"Not much. But yeah! Can we go to Pavanelli's?" Gavroche asked, plopping his black book-bag on their dark brown kitchen table.
"Sure." Ep told him, already thinking about how nice it would be to sit outside in the warm night air on the balcony of the family-owned Italian restaurant. Half an hour later Eponine was helping Gav with math problems.
"Ugh, why is math a thing, Ep?" the boy asked, annoyed with the 15 long-multiplication problems spread before him.
"I don't know, Gav. But it really does suck." Gavroche laughed at his sister's agreement when there was a knock at the front door. "I'll be right back," Eponine told him, standing up, "Try finishing that problem, yeah?"
Eponine opened her front door to see her father.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Eponine aggressively questioned through gritted teeth.
"I want to take my boy out." Thenardier slurred, followed by a belch which smelled strongly of whisky.
"Good lord, are you drunk?" Eponine asked, knowing the answer to her own question.
"Whr's m' boy? Gavroche!" he tried looking into the house, seeing Gavroche emerge from the kitchen.
"Ep? The boy asked, sounding nervous.
"Get out of here. Now. You know you aren't allowed to see him. You aren't taking him anywhere, and you aren't speaking to him. Leave." She strongly told her father.
"Come on, let me in." Thenardier demanded, grabbing Eponine's upper arm tightly.
"Let go of me!" she screamed at the man, trying to pry his bony fingers from her soft skin.
"Move, girl- Before I hurt you!" Eponine was struggling to get the man away from her brother and out of her sight before he actually went through with his threat.
"Gavroche, go upstairs! Hurry!" The terrified boy ran up to the second level of their home and went into his bedroom, where he locked his door and held the small pocket knife his sister constantly told him to not have in his clenched fist, worried his "father" would get past Ep and to him.
Downstairs, Eponine was still trying to hold off Thenardier. He took one large hand off his daughters arm and smacked it against her smooth face.
She let out a loud scream and fell to the floor as he pushed past her; now entering the house.
'Ponine quickly got back to her feet and tried to keep Thenardier from getting any farther into the house.
"Let me see my boy!' he screamed trying to get Eponine out of his way.
"He isn't your boy. Not anymore." She growled at him, throwing her fist at his long face, making his lip bleed. He stumbled backwards and fell into the wall.
"You can't keep me from him." Thenardier slurred, stumbling forward again on his drunken feet.
In return to Eponine's surprisingly strong hit, he then threw his own fist into her face.
Eponine yelped as she felt a horrible pain in her forehead and eye.
"Why must he do this?" She thought, stumbling toward him as he started toward the stairs.
As she ran past him on the stairwell, he tried grabbing her arm to pull her back, but she escaped his familiarly hard grasp on her small wrist. It took her a minute as she struggled from his grip, but once she was free she ran into her bedroom and grabbed her pistol from the nightstand drawer.
As he was walking down the small hallway Eponine cocked her gun and pointed it straight at him.
Thenardier heard the sound of gun being cocked and turned around.
"Get the hell out of my house. Get out, and don't ever try to come near Gavroche again."
Despite the fact he was drunk, Eponine could see the terror in his eyes. She started toward him, and he backed up.
"Don't do anything rash, doll."
"Don't call me doll. And either way this ends, nothing rash would've happened here."
His mouth fell into a deep frown and he headed towards the stairs. Eponine followed him, keeping the gun pointed at him.
At the door, he said to her, "Your mother left, you declared your hate, then left, and then you took my boy away from me. Don't you owe it to me for me to see him every once in a while?"
Eponine's stare hardened, starring daggers into him. "You were broke, became a stone-cold drunk, and abused Mamma and I. You've filled my life with so much hate and misery, and I will never let that sweet boy near you. Not ever. Now leave, and don't come back here. If you do, I will use this." Eponine told him, looking at pistol that was still pointed at her father, who was now outside.
"Love, please-" he started.
Eponine slammed the door in his face. He stood there for a second, and Eponine watched through the peep-hole in the front door until he left. Once she saw that he was out of their front gate, she waited a minute to make sure he wouldn't come back. When she was done waiting, she ran upstairs and put her gun back, then went to Gavroche's room.
"Gav, it's me, love. Open up."
Gavroche opened the door and Eponine wrapped her arms around him.
"It's okay. He's gone now. He's gone." She kneeled in front of him, and looked her brother in the eye- he looked terrified.
"Eponine, your face! Oh my gosh, are you okay?"
Eponine stood up and went into the bathroom across the hall. The area around her eye was bright red- the sign of a soon-to-be black eye. Part of her forehead was badly bruised, and her lip was busted open and bleeding. She could see on her arm and wrist where Thenardier had grasped onto her as tightly as he could.
"Why did he do that to you, Ep? Why?" Gavroche asked as Eponine wetted a rag and gently placed it to her aching lip.
"He did it because," she started, "because he is a miserable, violent man. Don't worry about him, though. Nothing will harm you while I'm around- especially not him." Eponine told him, giving another hug.
About an hour or so later there was another knock on the door. Gavroche gave a nervous glance from the couch, and Eponine told him it should be Enjolras.
Her lips were still incredibly sore, and her eye was now a bluish-purple color, and she could feel it throbbing, but she still tried to smile as she answered the door.
"Lord, Eponine, what happened to you?" Enjolras exclaimed, rushing in the house and cupping her face lightly.
Eponine told him about the ordeal, and all the color flushed from his cheeks.
"Oh, 'Ponine. Dear, dear, 'Ponine. Are you going to be okay?"
"Yes, I'll be fine, Enj. Just mostly annoyed and upset that he would even come here."
Enjolras nodded his head, agreeing.
"Why don't we just stay in tonight?" He suggested. "We can just order in some food, watch a movie, and play a game with Gav. We can all go out together later this week, yeah?" Enjolras smiled at Eponine, who was still mildly fuming, but couldn't really focus on anything except for her throbbing face and aching arm.
"Yeah." She said. "That'll be good. Thank you, Enjolras." She gave a small smile, and he smiled back, giving her a sweet kiss on the center of her forehead.
Authors note: Thanks to the reviewer [guest] who gave me the idea to have Thenardier come and "visit"! Also, if you have any suggestions for an idea, or just any feedback at all, I'd love to hear it. Thanks for reading, loves! Xx -Allayna