Summary: Expulsion has never felt so much like victory, or, three boys of the revolution.

A/N: Please forgive the random, slightly pretentious French words. I'm not 100% sure what the equivalent of collège and lycée is, considering pre-tertiary Australian education is just Primary and High School.

Enjolras' parents have never liked Combeferre, or his family. When they were children, they tried to keep them apart as much as possible, ultimately resorting to excuses so flimsy that there had been mutterings that Enjolras wasn't allowed to be around Combeferre because of his parent's own prejudice, and they have to relent. Truthfully, Enjolras is not entirely convinced by the accusation. His parents are not pleasant people, but they have always been entirely open with their bigotry and condescension. If they were racist, on top of being elitist and homophobic and classist, he's sure he would have heard them say something specifically to that effect. They would not bother to imply. As it stands, Enjolras knows full well that what his parent's don't approve of is Combeferre and his family's political leanings. They feared that exposing him to their liberal ideals would "contaminate" their only son.

To be fair, Enjolras supposes that, in a way, they were right about that.

They sent Enjolras to his first collège on the presumption that it would be too conservative for Combeferre's parents to stand, but when Combeferre had asked them if he could go there too, they had relented.

When the two of them are expelled from the school, Enjolras' parents send him to the only other private collège in their town. Enjolras knows that they hope this will separate them, but Combeferre only follows him to this school, too.

When his parents pass Enjolras' leaving the principle's office after enrolling him, Combeferre's mother actually smirks at them as she enters to enrol her own son.

-00000-

As they sit together in the principle's office of their second collège, Enjolras is hit with a strong sense of deja vu. The same framed degrees line the wall in the same place as they had at their previous school. The desk before them is made of the same wood, and the stationary and electronics that sit atop it are arranged in a similar manner. The entire room is a hard, visual testament to the cookie-cutter style of education that the club that they had been running without permission was in defiance of.

Combeferre even runs his hand down Enjolras' arm the same way to get him to uncross them.

Enjolras had swept into the office ahead of the principle with his head held high, Combeferre close at his heels. Like as not he was heading for his second expulsion in a little over a year, but the status quo does not change without action, and action bought with it consequences.

The other boy bursts into the principle's office after a good minute and a half of near silence. Enjolras is sure that there had been an attempt at intimidation there; the assumption on the principle's behalf that if he stayed quiet enough, either Enjolras or Combeferre would feel compelled to talk to fill the silence. But he had not counted on Combeferre being completely unflappable, nor the calmness that Enjolras can draw from him when the situation calls for it, matching his breathing to Combeferre's steady presence. If Enjolras had been here alone he does not doubt that he would have incriminated himself further trying to push his point, trying to get their principle to see the truth in his club, in their message for change. But Combeferre tempers him and reminds him that sometimes silence is as powerful as words, pushing the opponent to speak first and reveal his hand early.

Enjolras does not recognise their intruder, but Combeferre seems to. He furrows his eyebrows, tilts his head to the side slightly and asks "Courfeyrac?". And Enjolras does know him. He remembers the boy from their last meeting who had flared up as quickly as the syllabus he held in his hands when he took a lighter to it, his dark hair and grey eyes that had seemed to reflect the fire as if they had become the flame themselves. And like the flame, he was warm; bright and engaging. The others in the club had been drawn to him and Enjolras had seen the way he encouraged laughter from everyone around him.

Courfeyrac doesn't seem bothered by the way three pairs of eyes swivel to look at them. He doesn't even really seem to notice, keeps his bright-eyed gaze fixed firmly on the principle as he strides into the room and stops abruptly in front of the desk. Enjolras takes note of the way his hand trembles, clasped so tightly around a copy of the school guidelines. Courfeyrac is the only member of their club who has come to their defence, but Enjolras thinks that right here and now, he'll probably be enough.

In the end, Combeferre leaves the principles office with his last-warning suspension, and Courfeyrac with his first. Enjolras gets expelled. It's not a surprise. It doesn't even sting. From the moment Combeferre had received his punishment Enjolras knew that his wasn't going to be the same. The principle wanted them separated, and Enjolras was the more visible of the two. He can't help but suspecting that his parents have a hand in his expulsion. He doesn't know why, and he doesn't know why they would want him expelled and not Combeferre, but the obvious desire to separate the two of their reeks of their deluded idea that Enjolras will somehow be "fixed" if he's not around Combeferre.

He doesn't regret anything. Especially not now, marching out of the school with Combeferre and Courfeyrac flanking him, close enough that their arms brush together on occasion. He is glad, in fact, that Combeferre is allowed to stay. He wants to be a doctor one day, and he needs to stay in school for that to happen and Enjolras has put his dream in jeopardy more than enough already.

And now they have Courfeyrac.

Enjolras knows that together, the three of them will be unstoppable.

-00000-

Two weeks later is the first time Enjolras has to go to school without Combeferre. Even he is surprised by how fast he can get himself expelled from a public school. He knows his parents had hoped that without Combeferre he would be calmer, blamed his behaviour on the influence of the other boy, but Enjolras had felt untethered without him; no one to absorb his ideas, no one to temper his fire, no one to stop him from exploding, bright and loud and fierce if only in an attempt to take down the establishment with him. He had a destination in mind, but no one to lead him there, and every step was skipped to his end and ruin.

By the time he is sixteen and no school will take him - his parents money be damned - he is spending most of his nights at either Combeferre's or Courfeyrac's. Enjolras believes in education as a basic right to all, and even if he doesn't attend classes himself, he refuses to fall behind and he spends hours pouring over their notes and quizzing them from text books. Courfeyrac works on making his handwriting more legible. Combeferre never gets impatient with the two of them pestering him. The three of them prop each other up. A triangle. A triumvirate.