A/N: Hey again, don't hate me too much. I have one more prepared chapter after this one (which is stupid because I ended up writing this from scratch cause I didn't like the next one) buuuuuuttttt yes. Hello. Hope you guys enjoy this (like seriously your reviews are the sweetest things) and let's have a prayer circle that I end up liking the next one by the time I upload it.

Loveless

Part III

Éponine knew that they knew she was cheating. The point here was that they just had to prove it first; something every one of them was starting to feel was nigh impossible.

Joly mumbled under his breath, "She's not even moving a finger, this is scientifically impossible."

Bossuet threw him a pleading look. "Then tell me how I'm nearly out a grand. Please."

Éponine grinned.

Oh, she was cleaning up good.

There was a small clatter behind her as something thumped quite resolutely against her chair. Frowning, she looked up to see the leader of the ABC tutors standing above her and gritting his teeth. He was slightly off balance, as if someone had pushed him, but Éponine couldn't see any intruders anyone. The only people standing behind him were Grantaire and Courfeyrac, who were looking way too satisfied to be mad at the guy.

Enjolras pursed his lips as he looked down at her.

"So. Revolution."

Somewhere behind her there was the sound of a face hitting the table.

Eponine spun, only to find that several of the boy were attempting to grab cards when she wasn't looking. With a warning glare, she snatched the offending deck from a gaudily ringed hand and slowly dealt another player in. She glanced at the still frozen Enjolras. "C'mon, grab a chair or something."

"I'd rather—"

"If I'm gonna have to discuss revolution I either have to be drunk or cashing in," Éponine informed him as she gestured to the pile of bills before her. She smiled innocently, surrounded by the tragic faces of those who dared oppose her and her impossible winning hands. "And right now, I'm looking forward to taking you for everything you have."

"Can that be a come on? Please, someone tell me that's a come on."

"Definitely propositioning of some sort going on here…"

"Shush guys, I'm recording this!"

Éponine threw another look behind her, pausing in confusion at the vintage looking camera suddenly in Jehan's hand. He smiled and didn't even bother hiding it, simply waving jovially. There was the sound of a chair being pulled back and soon she found herself sitting beside the one man in the entire café that didn't seem to want to put up with her. Éponine sighed. Lovely. At least she'd be cleaning him out in the end.

She dealt quickly and efficiently, throwing a smirk to those who tried to watch her hands for signs of cheating. Enjolras looked at his cards as if they had personally offended him, which was actually a far better expression than many of the others were sporting. Bossuet looked about to cry.

Éponine kept her face blank, up until the point where they all turned to her, expecting some sort of demonic look. At their insistence, she suddenly flashed her teeth in what could only barely be called a smile.

"Fold."

"Fold."

"Fold, and Jehan, please destroy that."

"Fold, and don't listen to him Jehan, I want a copy!"

"Raise, five dollars."

All heads spun to Enjolras, some looking at him in terror, others with an expression of gleeful satisfaction.

Éponine raised her eyebrows in surprise, but raised as well. He nodded and opened his mouth as if to say something else, but stopped. He paused a few moments and just looked at her as the room grew quiet. She wanted to twist her head and look at what was happening, but something in that stare kept her rooted and she didn't know why.

The café seemed to get smaller as everyone leaned in to hear Enjolras ask, "So…what had brought you to the barricades?"

"Someone give me a knife, don't ask any questions, just GIVE it—"

"Chetta, darling, you might want to think about expanding your menu to something a little more alcoholic."

"Nah, just give it here Grantaire, and make it the good stuff. We'll see how well the marble prince handles himself when he's piss drunk—"

"I don't even care if it's a knife, I'll go for a particularly rusted spoon at this point—"

Éponine raised a brow at their comments but secretly thanked them as Enjolras was forced to tear his gaze away from her to glare them into silence. He looked back with an almost wary look in his eyes, waiting for her answer.

She shrugged. "It was a slow day."

She wasn't about to embarrass herself with stories about just how hard she'd fallen for Marius, not now. Éponine revealed her cards with a flourish—a trio of the queen of spades, an impossible hand. Impossible because there'd already been around a dozen played already, even with the extra decks.

Enjolras didn't react, but for a slight thinning of his lips as he laid down his two pair kings of heart. He seemed more interested in her face than the money she quickly scooped up, his stare penetrating as he saw behind her casual response. Tapping a finger against his cheek, he drawled, "And I suppose that's what kept you until the end? Boredom?"

Even with the bandage off, her hand throbbed in phantom pain. Éponine met his challenging stare as she dealt the cards out again, although no one picked them up, all seemingly engrossed in the conversation. With a patronizing smile, she deflected, "And I guess you think that I supported the cause? A revolt in the university structure? A new era of leadership?"

That had gotten to him. Something flashed in his eyes as he raised yet again, seemingly not caring about what bill fell from his hand. "We were trying to help the students."

"The students, monsieur, don't give a fuck," Éponine spat, repeating his gesture as she refused to back down from his glare. She revealed her cards, more impossible aces, not even glancing at the string of low numbers in his hand before dealing again.

"Our cause was right and the people would have seen it in the end," he replied, heat brewing in his eyes, the same as she had seen in them in all those meetings. It only infuriated her this time, unlike the casual brush off she used to give to her sightings of the prince-like figure that reigned as leader of the ABC tutors.

She scoffed. "People only do what's right for them!" If it hadn't been for Marius, she wouldn't have been there at all. These rich kids could protest and revolt all they liked, but for every one of them there were hundreds of other students that simply couldn't afford to go against the university in fear of being in her exact same position. Expelled, broke, no diploma, no financial aid, not even a place to sleep at night other than ratty women's shelters were filled with more people starting to give her dirty looks on account of her increasing regularity.

Éponine slammed her cards down, a royal flush, taking his lonesome king in with a pause of victory. Not unchanged by the argument, Enjolras looked flushed and about to yell. She took in more than a little satisfaction at the fact that she had managed to managed to get him into this state. Grabbing the winnings yet again, Eponine opened her mouth to brag before realizing something.

She deflated as the anger bled out of her.

This was stupid.

Sighing, Éponine sat back down and looked over how much she'd won. She'd been correct in thinking she'd made off like a bandit—with this much, she could look seriously into getting herself an apartment soon.

"So was participating in the barricades right for you?" His quiet voice cut through her thoughts and Éponine was shocked to find Enjolras looking away to the side, rather than glaring her into ribbons.

It didn't keep her from snorting. "Oh god no." Éponine remembered her situation and the entire thing with Marius and rolled her eyes. Her chair creaked as she started to hand back the winning to the strangely quiet members of the ABC tutors. Some looked at her in shock. Bossuet looked at like she was a modern day Saint Mary. She continued talking, still refusing to look at Enjolras, "There's the right thing to do, then there's what's right for you."

Blinking slowly, Éponine unfolded the wallet in the center of the table, making it out clearly to be the property of the apparently very well off marble prince. She groaned a little as she handed it over, feeling almost physical pain at the thought of parting with such loot. She couldn't even make an exception to her new 'no thieving from friends' rule for the guy who hated her guts. Having a newly found conscious sucked. Playing with her scarf with one hand as she looked longingly at the wallet the way some addicts looked at a missed score, she said without an extra thought, "And sometimes you just have to say screw it and do whatever the hell you wanna do."

He gave her a strange look as he gingerly took his belongings back, his eyebrows knit in confusion, although Éponine had no idea over what. She still wasn't going to outright tell them about her thing with Marius. It had been a dumb crush, but it had definitely meant something to her at the time and she wasn't going to just ignore that. She'd taken a rubber bullet for the guy. Still stupid love was as much a reason to join a revolution as anything else, right?

There was a quiet chatter behind her as Grantaire turned to Courfeyrac and asked, "Think this is gonna make it any better?"

Taking in the way their leader stared at the girl as she suddenly grinned and suggested another game to the now terrified crowd of grown men, Courfeyrac groaned. "Worse, my friend. Much worse."

Jehan gloated for days afterwards to Chetta about getting the perfect picture of the unknowingly famous pair, even though it could be nothing else but luck that had caused his camera to go off at the exact moment Éponine had been leaning across the table, grinning hard and dealing another hand, unaware that the gaze of a flushed and softly smiling Enjolras had been fixed solely on her.

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