That Wednesday, Marius decided to call Enjolras and Eponine to have them hang out and do homework.

It was sort of a customary thing for the three of them to get together and do homework. Of course, that usually just meant they would laugh and ultimately get nothing done. However, Eponine was always good help when Marius was struggling in math.

He didn't know what had happened, but his best friend had been acting weird lately. She was always in such a good laugh, she would always be joking around with him. He had no idea what could have triggered it. Eponine just hadn't been the same as soon as school started.

Marius decided not to let his thoughts bother him, he and his friends were having a good time as they laughed about something stupid in the school's library. Somewhere in the corner, the librarian was giving them a dirty look.

The only one in their trio who actually had anything out was Eponine, she was lazily looking through her math notebook. Enjolras, in contrast, was lazily looking through his phone. His eyes enlarged with interest at the sight of a new text from a girl and Marius tried to crane his neck in order to see the message. However, he couldn't see it at all.

After a while of goofing off and finally getting kicked out by the librarian, the trio found themselves back in Marius' convertible, the rain falling on them because the roof of the car was stuck. Normally, Eponine would be miserable and complaining, but she couldn't help but laugh as it started to poor and the car (alongside their clothes) were being ruined.

"Just take me home, I'm tired," she instructed Marius.

"You're sick of us already?" Enjolras joked, nudging her from the front seat.

"Yeah, you're kind of getting old after six or so years."

Marius waited until she was inside to leave the driveway, baffled by her sudden aloofness. She was still Eponine, but she didn't tease as much. She just seemed sad about everything.

"Is she okay?" Marius wondered aloud, hoping that his best friend knew something he didn't.

"Yeah, she's just... I don't know, she's just Eponine. Girls are different from us."

Marius absentmindedly agreed with his friend's statement and also agreed to stay at Enjolras' house for a while. As usual, his parents were busy working and Marius could predict that their old friend Grantaire was probably already there.

To no surprise, Grantaire was already drinking down stairs in the basement, with plenty of their friends already invited. Enjolras, like he always was, became quickly annoyed with the sight. If his parents came home to find a bunch of high school boys hanging around their house, they would freak out.

It was a familiar picture to Marius. Raoul and Tom Feuilly were playing a fast paced round of ping-pong while Derek Bahorel was laughing about something ridiculous alongside Grantaire. The quiet ones of their group, Will Combeferre and Jason Prouvaire, were sitting on the basement couch, one reading and one writing.

"What're you writing?" Grantaire asked, snatching Jason's notebook from his hands and began to read aloud, Courfeyrac snickering over his shoulder.

"She is like the warm sunrise on a summer day, the beautiful breeze and the daylight breaking," Grantaire read dramatically. Courfeyrac was laughing even more.

"You guys are so mean," Marius commented, "I appreciate your work, Prouvaire."

"That's because you like some girl of your own, Pontmercy," Courfeyrac said in his sing song voice.

"You do? Who, 'Ponine?"

"No, I don't like her. She's one of my best friends. That would be weird."

"Don't walk around it, what's her name?" Combeferre said, suddenly interested, he even abandoned his precious book.

"Not important," Marius muttered, embarrassed. He could even feel himself turning red.

"Come on, who is she, Prince Charming?" Grantaire asked eagerly.

"You don't know her, she's new this year."

"Oh! I think I know who you're talking about," Raoul said, joining the conversation. "It's Cosette Valjean, that new junior!"

Of course, Raoul was well aware that Cosette had her own crush on his friend through Meg and Christine, but decided to hold his tongue.

"Uh, yeah... That's her," Marius admitted, facing the onslaught of further jokes. Finally it seemed to stop.

"Are you guys friends?"

"Actually, I'm going to her house tonight to help clean out her room."

Feuilly grinned. "Yup, help her clean."

"I'm serious! She just moved here a few weeks ago!"

They all laughed again and Marius decided it was time to go there anyway. They all waved him goodbye and good luck, which just made him more embarrassed.

"Don't be a fool, wrap your tool!" were Courfeyrac's final parting words.

Marius found himself a bit intimidated at the Valjean's front door. He wondered what her parents must be like. Were they strict and cold? Or (hopefully) kind and welcoming? For one thing, they obviously were fairly well off.

Cosette greeted him at the door and quickly introduced him to not a set of parents, but one man who looked fairly old for someone who was supposed to be her father. Nevertheless, Marius made sure to be polite to him.

Her father seemed a bit restrained at being friendly and tried to intimidate him, but ultimately wasn't doing a great job. Eventually, Mr. Valjean wore off the strict facade and showed himself to be a kind man.

Cosette's new room still wasn't complete yet. It was large and painted a pretty shade of purple, she had two large, wooden book cases on either side of her room. There were books everywhere, it was almost like a library. Her room had a French theme to it, with some pictures of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower on the wall.

"My father gave me another book shelf for all the books on the floor. It's going to take forever to shelve them all. Are you sure you don't mind helping me?" Cosette asked him.

"Nothing else I would rather do," he assured her. She smiled.

Cosette had an entire system to her bookshelf. She organized it by size and genre. Encyclopedias on the very bottom, then other non-fiction, classic literature and then fiction. He didn't end up helping that much, she just kept on passing him books she had organized and then put them on the bookcase.

She was very particular about everything. Occasionally, he would mess up and embarrass himself. If it was anyone else, Marius would have gotten annoyed. But, since it was Cosette, he thought her exactness and desire for everything to be perfect was adorable.

They had gotten to talking, she explained her life story. It was everything awful- from a dead mother, to working like a slave and a father who abandoned her. Suddenly, Jean Valjean had appeared in Marius' mind as something like a saint.

It was interesting how the best people always had the worst lives. Marius was well-aware that Eponine didn't have a good home life. She was more like a mother to Gavroche then an older sister. At least Cosette had her adoptive father.

"This is all I have left from my mother," she told him, carefully holding a little, gold locket in the palm of her hand. With a certain amount of caring and respect, she let Marius hold it.

"What was her name?"

"Fantine."

"Then what does the 'E' stand for?" he asked, curious. The necklace had a big, capital E engraved in it. She smiled and looked down sheepishly.

"Nothing," she murmured. Marius laughed at her embarrassment.

"Tell me!" he demanded, but she continued to stay quiet, still blushing.

"My real name starts with that," she explained simply.

"What's your real name?"

"I'm not telling you! I don't like it!"

"What is it?" he asked again.

"Oh, gosh... My real name is Euphrasie. Oh, God, I hate it."

"Well, I like it," Marius informed her. Cosette's- or Euphrasie's- eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's cute. It's like you."

Cosette was silent for a moment, a big, silly grin on her face. "Thanks... You're cute, too."

They both sat in an awkward silence for a moment and at the same time leaned in to kiss each other.