Singing in the Rain Chapter 31, a les misérables fanfic

It's late, sorry! It's really long though, if that helps?

It's like half 4 here, I just got in from a night out - sorry for any grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis. Or Evita. Or What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?. Or Every Avenue, or their songs. BASICALLY: NO.

Éponine never got a chance to think about her awkward walk of shame encounter, because as she opened the door to her room, she found Gavroche jumping up and down on her bed, arms flailing wildly. He looked so happy; she couldn't hold back a grin.

'Morning! You're feeling better, then?!'
'Yep! S'gonna take more'n a bullet graze to keep me down!'
So it would seem! 'Yeah, well, don't hurt yourself… Courf and a few others are coming for breakfast, so you'll want to change your clothes, hun.'
He stopped bouncing immediately. 'ARE WE HAVING BACON?'
Remembering Courf's text from earlier, Éponine felt a blush rise in her cheeks. 'Maybe. Maybe pancakes.'
'PANCAKES?!' All of a sudden, Gavroche was a whirlwind of activity, rushing around all over the place. Before she even understood what was happening, he was changed, and taking spare clothes to Jacques in Enjolras' room.

She stood, alone in the doorway for a second, laughing to herself. My brother is mental…
She quickly stripped off her wrinkled clothes and changed into clean ones, stopping to look in the mirror when she had done so. Other than her messy curls, springing out all over the place, she looked just about passable, so she pulled it up into a messy bun, uncovering her neck and shoulders.

Oh, no.

A huge, glaring, purple splotch of a hickey covered one side of the join between her neck and collarbone, just high enough that a t-shirt didn't cover it. DAMMIT MONTPARNASSE! Furious, she pulled her hair back out of the bun, and tried to arrange her hair and shirt to minimise visibility. If no-one notices that, it'll be a fucking miracle. I swear to God I will kill him later.

She headed for the kitchen to start making pancake batter, smiling at Jacques and Gavroche, who were gabbling at 100 miles per hour about pancakes to Enjolras, who looked confused, uncomfortable and a little terrified. It wasn't long until there was a knock at the door, and Courfeyrac, Grantaire and Joly all piled into the apartment, laden with boxes wrapped in newspaper. Gavroche and Jacques immediately set about ripping said newspaper off the boxes, revealing pastries, sweets, toys and even a couple of books. The noise level in the apartment rose to record levels as the boys whooped and shouted at each other excitedly.

Éponine and Grantaire shared an amused look across the carnage that was the living room. Courfeyrac came to stand beside her, and she shouted over the noise into his ear 'WHAT'S ALL THIS FOR?!'
'TO KEEP THEM OCCUPIED AND YOU SANE.'
That's so sweet! 'THANK YOU!' she shouted.
He couldn't hear her. 'WHAT?!'
She considered shouting again, but the noise level rose further still as Jacques unwrapped a box of jam doughnuts. She winced, laughing, and then stood on her tiptoes to kiss Courf on the cheek. The gesture clearly surprised him, as he looked down at her questioningly, but she just mouthed 'Thank you.' He shrugged and then grinned, gesturing to Enjolras, who looked as though he had wandered into a war zone with no protection. Éponine had never seen such blind terror on a man's face, and immediately fell about laughing, holding onto Courf's arm for support.

Éponine cooked the pancakes and they all ate them together, chatting cheerfully about nothing in particular. Éponine couldn't help but enjoy spending quality time with a few of her friends, just chatting and eating: it was refreshing to be back to normal after all the dramatics of the day before. In fact, she would even go as far as to say she'd almost forgotten about the day before, until suddenly Grantaire shouted 'Ahhh!' and pointed at her, a shocked expression on his face. Everyone stopped and looked between R and Éponine, confused looks on each of their faces. Éponine raised a questioning eyebrow, but R simply said 'Pony, we need to talk. Now.' She shrugged at Joly, who looked almost worried, and followed Grantaire into her room, shutting the door behind her.

'R, what is this about?!' she asked.
'YOU HAVE A HICKEY. A GIANT HICKEY. WHAT IS GOING ON?!' hissed Grantaire.
'Shit is it that obvious?!' she lamented, rubbing her neck. 'I might have done a very stupid thing…'
'What happened?!'
'Well I saw an old… friend at the protest yesterday, who said he wanted to speak to me. So I met up with him last night, and one thing kind of… led to another and…'
'OH MY GOD YOU GOT LAID'
'Well… yeah.'
Grantaire beamed, and wrapped his arms around her in a squeezing hug.
'Grant… why are you…. Get off!' she laughed.
'Ok, first thing's first. Marks out of ten?'
She blushed. 'Much as I hate to admit it… like 9'
'YESSSS!' he grinned.
'This is weird, you know that, right?'
'Yep. Second: why was it stupid?'
'There's a lot of history… it's complicated.'
'That's teasing, come on, tell me!'
So she told him: about how they were like siblings, then pre-teen loves, then… complicated. '…and I hadn't spoken to him except to convince him not to kill someone in about two years. Then, out of nowhere he's there yesterday. And the subject came up when I met him and he was… apologetic. And nice. And… like the old 'Parnasse. The non-murdering one.'
'Do you like him?'
'No! Well… yes. No! I don't know. All I know is that I had the best sex of my life and half of me wants to do it again but the other half is PISSED that it happened at all.'
'Pony, this is awesome news!'
'…it is?'
'YES! You're rebounding! Have as much life-altering sex with this guy as possible, babe! Look at it this way: have you thought about Marius yet today?'
She realised with a start that no, she hadn't.
'…exactly. You don't seem like you trust this guy, which seems fair enough, but if this is helping you get passed the whole Pontmercy thing, I am all for it. Have some FUN; you don't have to marry him. Screw around a little!'
'Maybe you're right.'
'I'm always right.'
'You're like my slutty fairy godmother.'
'YES! Hey, I want to meet this guy!'
'He's erm… coming to the Musain tonight. But I think it's best if we pretend we don't go regularly… I still don't trust him.'
'THIS IS SO EXCITING! Also, best explain this to the guys… especially Courf. You know how much of a blabbermouth he is.'
'Thanks, good point…' the horrible image of explaining this to the guys… Marius. Courfeyrac. Enjolras. Oh fucking hell, this is going to suck. She cringed. 'This is going to be embarrassing, isn't it?'
'Pfffft, no!' smirked Grantaire. After a pause, he asked cheekily 'is he hot?'
'Oh God, yes.'

After what seemed like no time at all, but was in fact the entire day, the friends made their way to the Musain for the night, with Les Amis taking up their usual table upstairs. Éponine wasn't singing from 8pm, but at quarter past 7 heard a voice in her ear, from behind her say 'Hello Nina.'
'I told you not to call me that!' she admonished, but was smirking. Turning her head slightly to say hi, she met the familiar cold gaze and crooked smile.
'Hi.'
'Hi.'
She stood up to get the attention of Les Amis, as well as Musichetta, Sylvie and Cosette, who had joined them. 'Everybody! This is Montparnasse; he's an… old friend of mine. 'Parnasse, this is everybody.'
'Hello everybody' he drawled.
The response was a chorus of 'Hi!'s and 'Hello's, with the enthusiasm levels varying from the grinning Grantaire, to the indifferent and slightly bored-looking Enjolras. Happy that everyone had seen him, she muttered 'I need to warm up, come out the back?' quietly to him, getting a calm nod in return.

She took his hand and led him into the little kitchen (she almost laughed out loud, as she heard Courfeyrac exclaim 'I was wondering how this guy convinced Ép to sleep with him when I've failed, but now I get it, he's fucking beautiful!' He must've thought they were out of earshot… they weren't.) She closed the door behind them, then squeaked slightly in surprise as Montparnasse's lips were suddenly on hers again, soft but insistent. Before she could think, she responded, but after a minute had a sudden realization of what was going on and broke away breathlessly.
'What are you doing? I said it was a one-time thing!'
'Come on, Nina!'
'Don't fucking call me that! Also, I meant it, this is a BAD idea. It's not going to end well for anyone.'
'Jesus, Éponine, look on the fucking bright side, why don't you?'
'Shut up!
'Look me in the eye and tell me you don't want to do it again.'
She met his piercing gaze, but couldn't honestly say it.
'I thought so.' 'Parnasse smirked, then leant back in for a kiss. She dodged him by leaning backwards, but her resolve crumbled when their eyes met again. She exhaled, and then snapped 'FINE. At least come into the storeroom, I am NOT getting interrupted.' Taking his hand again, she opened the heavy door that separated it from the kitchen. 'Also, you have like 20 minutes, tops. I need to warm my voice up. And STAY QUIET.'
His smirk grew and he gave a mock salute. 'Yes Captain!'
'At last, some fucking respect' she joked.
'Shut your face.'

Marius was thoroughly confused. Éponine had been his friend for ages but she had never mentioned this bloke before… Mont-something? Oh, he knew this. Was it Montparnasse? Like… the tower, or the cemetery? Weird name. Anyway, she'd never mentioned him, which was a little irritating – she told him everything, they were really close! – and then they'd suddenly disappeared when he got here. He was horrified she'd been so blunt about her one-night stand earlier when she told them about pretending not to know the Musain; she should really be ashamed, sleeping around. She should try and find herself a real love, like he had with Cosette. Éponine had never seemed interested in love before, it was always him who had crushes, or lovers. She just helped him with his, rather than find her own: she was sweet that way, so helpful.

He was just pondering this, and about to share his thoughts with Cosette, when she and this bloke emerged from the kitchen, looking more dishevelled than when they entered. Éponine's hair, in particular, was wild. How odd. She headed straight for the microphone in the corner, whereas Mont-whatever came back over to sit with them, taking a seat next to Jehan, who looked a little in awe of him. They had started to talk a little, but Éponine's voice suddenly rang across the room, and the packed café-bar fell silent.

'Is this on? Ooh, sounds it. Sorry, I'm not very good at microphones.' She sounded kind of breathy and excitable. He hadn't realised she liked singing or performing that much. 'Anyway, hi everyone, my name's Éponine and I'll be singing a few songs for you this beautiful evening, thank you very much for coming down!'

She started by singing 'Another Suitcase In Another Hall' from one of Cosette's favourite musicals, Evita.

I don't expect my love affairs to last for long
Never fool myself that my dreams will come true

Cosette was swaying along, smiling her beautiful smile. She loved this song. He'd never noticed that freckle under her eye before – he'd thought she had no freckles at all, but this was quite big, isn't that strange? He could never get over how perfect she was.

Anyway, the next song she sang was called 'What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?' which seemed like a strange choice to him, because it wasn't even December yet. He pointed this out to Cosette, she'd have something interesting to say on the subject, she always did, but she just shushed him and told him to listen. Marius was a bit upset by this, because as nice a singer as Éponine was, and she was good, he supposed – another surprise, she'd never said – he'd much rather talk to Cosette. Still, he'd do as he was told.

'Thank you, everyone. The next song is a little different to anything I've sung before, but I've always believed in being honest with my music and this one is… perfect. It's a rockier song than any of the others I've sung, it's by an awesome American band called Every Avenue, and it's called I Can Never Tell You No.'

The introduction kicked in, and Marius was a little startled by the volume. It was definitely louder than the others. He wasn't expecting that.

I seem to want only what's bad for me
I chase my everclear with nicotine.
It's way too fun to ever quit
and you're my favourite part of it…

This seemed more like Éponine's sort of music. He was pretty sure she had an ACDC t-shirt, and this song was rockier than all that musicals stuff.

But you're a bitch and I wish that I wasn't addicted to it
Whiskey kiss, honey lips, what you do with those hips, I lose it!
Just when I think I got control
your body tells me that I don't
and I know that you know
that I can never tell you no…

Marius caught Courfeyrac's eye, who smirked at him, then nodded at Mont-whatsit, wiggling him eyebrows. Wait, did he think that was who Éponine was singing about? Wait… was this guy the one she had slept with last night?! Had she mentioned that?!

Hands on the stove and I can't let it go.
You'd think I'd learn but the burn never gets old…
And I know that I should give it up
But maybe I'm not strong enough
It's one step forward, two steps back
I'm always gonna do this dance….

That did sound quite sexual, he supposed. And she was certainly more active than usual, even jumping up and down and dancing as she sang the chorus again.

Perhaps Courfeyrac was right. How odd!

That face, those eyes, your taste, your hair
you can't kick, you can't quit, you gotta hit it again, and again, and AGAIN!

She had her hands in her hair now, shaking her hips quite provocatively. Not very classy, Marius decided. Cosette would never behave in such a way.

But you're a bitch and I wish that I wasn't addicted to it
Whiskey kiss, honey lips, what you do with those hips, I lose it!
Just when I think I got control
You go and take off all your clothes…
and I know that you know that I can never tell you no!
I can never tell you no!

Well. That was strange. Éponine seemed to be taking a break now, having a chat with a few people in the audience. He did notice she met that Mont-thingy's eyes and smirked before she did, though. Maybe Éponine was finally interested in guys! Shame it wasn't one of Les Amis, though. He much preferred them to this new guy. It didn't really seem like a good idea if she had to lie to him about a café, either – he still didn't really understand that. Never mind. He'd ask her about it later, he had a favour to ask anyway.

She did seem different today.

Marius was really fun to be :L Might be terrible, let me know!

I will reply to your reviews and messages very soon: tomorrow, most likely, but right now I need some SLEEP! Thank you very much, please let me know what you think!

FurtherIllumination: Spongebob is welcomed and encouraged.