#except . Marius and cosette are dating | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pilferingapples · 5 days

Note

I was just reading the "Enjolras and his lieutenants" chapter and I noticed that Enjolras used the informal you for both Courfeyrac and Jehan, but not for Feuilly. Would you happen to know the historical/language reasons as to why that is? I thought it may be because both are students and where I'm from, students use the informal you, even if they don't know each other. But Bossuet addressed Marius with the formal you when they first met, so I'm not sure if that really is the reason for that. Does it mean that canonically, they aren't as close as Enjolras is with the others or could there be another reason for it? Also, do you know why he still only adresses them by their last names, even though he's using the informal you?

Nonny you are asking me about one of the Great Questions of the Novel: what the heck is going on with Feuilly and the t/v distinctions?

I am not going to dive into the weeds of standard t/v use,but --along with all the usual applications, in canon era and especially the kind of social circles that Hugo knew best and is setting up for the Amis, " tu" seems to have been common for young men to use together (a) with friends from childhood (b) among certain groups of Romantics , Because Romantic Friendship (c) particularly relevant here , among certain republican groups, because of the implied equality of everyone using it. Cosette will reference this use later:

And obviously all of this only makes Enjolras vous-ing Feuilly weirder!

And complicating the theorizing, Enjolras does use Tu for Feuilly later on, during his big barricade speech:

Écoute-moi, toi Feuilly, vaillant ouvrier, homme du peuple, hommes des peuples. Je te vénère.

I have no solid answer, only theories! Theory 1: Feuilly is, somehow, fairly new to the group in Lieutenants. Counterargument: then why is he already one of the Lieutenants? And in what seems to be a particularly Secret secret meeting with ONLY the Lieutenants in attendance?

Theory 2: Maybe Feuilly's much older than we generally estimate , enough to make the Tu seem less automatic? The later use of tu at the barricades seems to argue against that, but maybe that's a special " we're all fighting and about to die" level of intimacy, since Tu does seem to be in general use there? Counterargument: hugo refers to them all being Young so very, very often, and ok that seems to include Up To Maybe 35, but still. Feuilly's part of their age cohort by all other signs.

Theory 3, Not Very Satisfying but Realistic: Hugo's bein' weird. Hugo personally used Vous for almost everyone, unless they were either direct family or , to be blunt, someone he was having an affair with. He definitely used Vous in friendships most anyone else would have considered a definite Tu situation. Maybe Hugo had an idea about it that he didn't flesh out; maybe he just wrote that and didn't catch it in edits; maybe his handwriting there was just really especially awful and whoever did the Clean Copy that day * didn't transcribe it right and no one later down the line saw it as a typo. Mundane, unrelated to the narrative reasons.

Counterargument: none ,really, except it's kinda boring.:P

Theory X (silly fandom only theory) : Enjolras and Feuilly are trying to act like they are on more formal terms , for shenanigans reasons. Maybe they're working on their Cover for a Secret Mission. Maybe they're trying to hide the fact they've started dating.

As for the Last Name thing, it's just how some people , especially men, are? I don't know that it really needs more explanation, but by all means tell me if you've got a theory! Personally I've always liked " Everyone is named Jean (so they default to last names) XD

usually, but not always, Juliette Drouet

#thank you Nonny!!#sorry for the delay. my cats are VERY Helpful today #Feuilly talk #hey nonny nonny

87 notes · View notes

gojou-violin · 1 year

Text

kk im on my shit about my ackerman trilogy. im gonna just rant at the wall. so. spoilers for aot manga and anime. :)

trigger warnings: suicide, murder, violence, absolute nonsense from me

if you have any fun questions or comments about my trilogy, my inbox is always open!!!!

ok so for quick run down of the trilogy, this is what you gotta know before i rant:

- estera was forced to marry rod reiss. kenny was uri's bodyguard at the time, so he was really close with the "royal" family, giving him close access to estera. they had an affair. she got pregnant by kenny, they panicked, they went on the run/went into hiding. they had a family together. (based off of sansa and the hound kinda) - daia was born poor, grew up with her abusive father after her mother uhhhh.... died of self causes.... she met levi randomly one day and they got together shortly after. (their story is based off of marius and cosette from les mis)

- uri was kenny and estera's son. after his father was killed by levi, uri went into the military as a means to get close to levi so that he could kill levi to get revenge. during his time in the military, uri dates a girl named keoni. uri goes into levi's platoon, keoni goes into hange's. uri later forgives levi, and they vibe. (uri and keoni are based off of romeo and juliet).

OK SO NOW WE GET TO THE RANT!!!

You know what's ridiculous-- Like, I will never forgive myself for doing this to Levi lmao. The whole trilogy is just... Levi getting shit on.... Timeline wise, this is how everything hits the fan for Levi: Daia is murdered by Kenny (she was pregnant and didn't get to tell him yet), Erwin tells Levi that he was in love with Daia too, Levi kills Kenny, Erwin dies at Shiganshina, Uri comes into Levi's life and Levi is like..... Wait... Kenny had a family? Uri and Levi then get close, Zeke kills all of the Scouts except for Uri and Levi (Ackerman buff), Hange dies-- And then this is where everything gets complicated, so stick with me for a moment... Keoni is turned into a Titan (same as Connie, Jean, etc.), and because Uri thinks that it's all irreversible, he's willing to die with her rather than see her turn into a Titan, so he dies as a result of holding her during the transformation-- AND LEVI HAS TO WATCH!!! When Keoni is turned back into a human, she realizes what happened and, devastated, she kills herself.

LEVI BRO IM SO SORRY

LIKE EVERYONE AROUND HIM JUST. DIES. AND AT THE END, HES SITTING ON THE BATTLEFIELD, MOURNING, AND HE FINALLY GETS TO SEE DAIA AGAIN *screaming into my pillow* AND HE JUST BREAKS INTO TEARS BECAUSE HE FINALLY--- FUCCCCCKK IM SO MEAN TO LEVI

poor boy just wanted to be happy with daia and their kid. he wanted to live a normal life after the war. he wanted to know what it would be like to be loved............ fuck..... and the fact that he couldn't save uri and keoni..... dude he could have saved both of them if mikasa gave him one more second to pull uri onto falco's back. FUCK.

anyhow. rant concluded. im sad.

#op #levi #daia #kenny #estera #uri #keoni #aot

3 notes · View notes

for-the-love-of-javert · 1 month

Note

is there a reason you didn’t provide a “none, he’s gay” or even a “none, he’s asexual” option on that poll, when listing people javert might have gotten with? because that man could be ace, he could be gay, both would fit javert really well. but into women? literally never. genuinely not possible for him.

The question was about Javert dating female characters

Male characters poll to come another time.

It was purely a random idea to do that poll while I was thinking of something to post. And the question was about 'If Hugo had allowed Javert to have a gf'.

There aren't enough slots in the polls to do male and female characters in one poll. Anything is possible and I don't interpret him as being gay when he's never even had a sexual encounter. Also this question could also include purely platonic relationships with no sex but some affection.

It's meant to be for fun not a serious debate thing. Also I write fanfics and I write my AU Javert as hetrosexual/cis. I don't read his and valjeans 'relationship' as being a sexual/romantic attraction either. Though I would neve rule out the possiblity or even likelihood of them being friends. I do not see them as being in love in any way what so ever. But that's just me. I see Javert developing a respect for Valjean and an admiration for the fact that Valjean has managed to turn his life around and become a good man. Maybe a bit of jealousy too because Valjean was able to experience something that Javert has never had. Love, a family, a child. But we will never know for definite whether he is was homosexual or not because there is no hint of him ever having a relationship with anyone in the book. Not intimately not even as a friend. He is a loner. Him being a-sexual is something I wouldn't dismiss. But he lived his life like a monk and aside from his work as a police officer/man of the law and justice, which was the fundemental core of his entire existence he has nothing and nobody. So I do think it's wrong to say it's not possible for him to have relationships with women. Surely he'd keep his options open before deciding which way he is inclined. I wouldn't rule out him being bi.

But honestly I just didn't get the gay vibe from him at all. Not when he hasn't even experimented with anyone or been on a date. Also he's emotionally shut down except when he gets irritated/angry with criminals. I don't think he's ever let anyone in if I were to stick with the canon storyline. Dude keeps himself to himself and obviously his life is much easier that way. I also think he has serious mental health problems throughout his life that he manages to keep in check until the night he commits suicide. Then he got hit by the emotional/mental runaway train and he couldn't handle it and jumped.

I'm not dissing you for thinking that he's gay, a sexual, a triceratops or whatever (my brain is shutting off now I need some sleep) , you interpret it however you want to. I just didn't interpet it the same way as you and with no further writings from Hugo or anyone who knew him to state whether he intended for Valjean and Javert to be gay or anyone else for that matter. Then I can't see that as canon because that's just not how my brain absorbed the info when I read the relevant parts.

But imo anything is possible. So yes, I think relationships with women or just one woman is definitely a possibility. Also aren't some of the barricade boy's gay/bi and could certainly be interpreted as being one or the other. Javert is far more complex a character to me. There's a lot to explore and consider with him. Lastly. If someone had asked me before I started my second reading of The Brick which character I thought was gay. Without seeing the films or musical, I'd have said Marius. But then Hugo married him off to Cosette so........

Sorry for the waffling reply. I'm off to bed now. See if I have regained my ability to spell and give shorter answers tomorrow. It's 4.28 am lol.

#asks #ask me anything #poll queries #time for me to go to bed

1 note · View note

everyonewasabird · 3 years

Text

Brickclub 2.3.10 ‘Who looks for the best may find the worst’

Thenardier pushes for a bribe and instead gets the identifying letter that another person in Valjean’s place would almost certainly have shown him first. In context, the chapter title is ironic: the “best” Thenardier is looking for is presumably his getting “corrupted” by more cash (that word seems really important in this chapter), and the “worst” is that, in fact, Valjean has rights here.

I really doubt that’s the only meaning the narrator intends; it never is. There’s something here about deceptive appearances, but Valjean is the opposite of this, more the Aragorn thing--he looks foul and feels fair, and Cosette trusts him instinctively. I suppose Valjean looked for Cosette and found Thenardier, which is another meaning of the chapter.

Thenardier can tell there’s something dodgy about Valjean, but he can’t outwit him, and he can’t get to the bottom of the mystery. In the end he’s intimidated enough to give up.

We saw before that Valjean was at a loss in the city but never in the wilderness. Thenardier, bested in his inn, was never going to win in the woods. Pushed, Valjean returns to the same last resort of precise, legalistic language with which he asserted authority for Fantine’s fate over Javert, only this time it’s receipts. When Thenardier continues to follow, Valjean intimidates him into leaving.

We learn the process by which Thenardier will change over time: He was never anything but a facsimile of an honest and decent person, but through “certain jolts stirring up the underside of his nature” he may become much worse.

This chapter is one of those jolts, starting him down that worse path. And we get a jolt when he thinks “I should have brought my gun.” Who knows whether he would have shot them, but that’s not the point: the point is he’s not in his final form yet. He spoke honestly when he said he needed 1500 francs, and he didn’t think to bring the gun. The crab hasn’t crawled all the way backwards yet. These oversights aren’t from any good quality he possesses--it just feels like inexperience in this kind of thing. He’ll rectify that eventually, though he’s always going to be a little bit of an incompetent buffoon, even when he’s winning.

But what does that matter? This book was written by someone who knew what dictators are like.

It’s his wife who points Thenardier’s remaining innocence out to him--he could have asked for any amount of money, and he didn’t think to lie. That’s the only time she’s ever questioned him; even she can see here that he's still a little bit of an innocent rube at robbing people properly.

I wonder if it’s that humiliation, even more than his constant avarice and later ruin, that motivates the vengeance he spends the rest of the book trying to enact.

He’ll get the money he wants in the end, of course. He’s no match for Valjean, but he is a match for Marius, especially a Marius newly armed with Cosette’s dowry.

Thenardier will have finished his descent by then. Marius’s paying his debt of honor will bring about the worse thing that happens in this book.

Spot the differences:

« Monsieur Thénardier, « Vous remettrez Cosette à la personne. « On vous payera toutes les petites choses. « J’ai l’honneur de vous saluer avec considération. « FANTINE. »

(last time we saw this letter)

vs.

Montreuil-sur-Mer, le 25 mars 1833. « Monsieur Thénardier, « Vous remettrez Cosette à la personne. ― On vous payera toutes les petites choses. « J’ai l’honneur de vous saluer avec considération. « FANTINE.

(letter as it appears in this chapter)

I had pasted Rose in initially, but she exaggerates the differences for effect. But there are small differences in the original French: the date in one and not the other; the different punctuation and line break. It’s not a different letter, but it sure isn’t an identical one.

I’m told editors caught these errors, and Hugo always stetted them.

But why?

It resembles the whole thing with "black thoughts and the spirit of perdition” (what the bishop said he was delivering Valjean from) vs. “spirit of perversity” (what Valjean remembered.)

Except: traumatized people have bad memories. Valjean misremembering is extremely realistic.

But what, what, what is happening in the fabric of reality in this book such that notes alter over time?

If we can’t trust literal written notes, what else can’t we trust--is that the point?

My best guess is that the narrator is reminding us that he’s unreliable and we should never fully trust him. Which is certainly true, though I tend to think of him as subtly misrepresenting and/or playing with tone more than I think of him as outright lying.

#brickclub #lm 2.3.10

26 notes · View notes

vivalamusaine · 4 years

Text

Les Mis Rare Pair Week - Bahorel & Enjolras: Minutes at the Musain

August 26: Friendship! (two days late)

Character Focus: Enjolras and Bahorel - (platonic)

Description: Bahorel and Enjolras are the only ones to show one night for Les Amis De L’ABC. In lieu of a meeting, they share stories of their friends, talk of old memories, discuss theoretical punches to the face and create fraudulent meeting minutes. Modern AU

Words: 2485

Hurrying into the Musain, Enjolras was expecting to be met with a boisterous crowd of tired and overworked friends ready to greet him, but opening the door to the back room of the cafe he was met with an almost empty room. Only one person was seated at the table across from him. Bahorel looked up from his phone and gave him a small wave.

“Are we early…. or late? or is everybody else late?” Enjolras asked with one more confused look around the room. The chaos and stress of exam season always had Enjolras slightly turned around and stressed for time, but usually les amis de l'abc was the exception to his frantic schedule. In the four years since he’d formed it he hadn’t once missed a meeting, and had only been late a handful of occasions that were completely out of his control.

“None of the above!” Bahorel said with a grin and gestured for a bewildered Enjolras to sit in the free seat across from him, he did so with a curious tilt of his head, waiting for explanation. “Have you checked the group chat? It’s just me tonight. ”

“My phones dead,” Enjolras frowned as he placed his messenger bag on the empty chair beside him, another frightful side effect of his busy schedule was that he occasionally forgot to charge it overnight. “All I know is Joly and Combeferre won’t be here. I still can’t believe they’re actually interning at a real hospitals now.”

It felt like just yesterday he’d met them at an orientation party in their first year of university. Fresh faced and bold and excited for the future. They had all felt so mature and invincible then, but they had been practically children.

“Ah, they grow up so fast,” Bahorel replied wistfully, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye. “Well, I have the full litany of pathetic excuses in the chat, let me enlighten you.” He held up his phone and cleared his throat loudly.

“Jehan has come down with a touch of melancholy, can’t bring themselves to leave the bed. Feuilly just came back from a double shift and can’t function like a normal human today — his words, he sends his deepest apologies, Bossuet is desperately trying to cram last minute for his final tomorrow, Eponine is working and took Gavroche with her, Musichetta’s got plans, Grantaire’s dead, Courf is-”

“Dead?” Enjolras interrupted with a horrified expression.

“Yeah, from last night. We went a bit overboard celebrating his guest spot in the gallery. All his pieces sold and all the champagne was free,” Bahorel grinned. “I tried to wake him up three times before I left but he wasn’t having it.”

“Oh,” Enjolras said with a relieved smile. “What were you saying about Courfeyrac?”

“Helping a friend outside of our group move apartments. Can you believe it? The traitor!”

“And let me guess, Marius and Cosette are on a date?” Enjolras said with an amused roll of his eyes. His annoyance was more for show than anything, he didn’t actually mind all that much that they’d missed the last three meetings to run off on some spontaneous romantic adventure together, he was happy for them. It was just becoming a little predictable.

“Yeah, but they have to be forgiven this time,” Bahorel said with a knowing smile. “It’s the most important night of their romantic life for a very important question.”

It took a while for the meaning of these words to hit him completely, but when Enjolras realized what Bahorel meant his eyes went and his mouth fell open slightly. “Marius is proposing?”

“No actually, Cosette is. I think she realized that boy would have to trip over himself for another two years before he could even think of mustering up the courage to ask, and she’s impatient as anything to get married. I can’t tell you how unbearable it is to watch ‘Say Yes To The Dress’ with her. That’s supposed to be my cool down show! It shouldn’t make me more stressed! Plus, she’s always talking over Monte to talk about her dream dress and that should be like a federal crime or something. I can’t wait to go gown shopping for her, I’m going to be such a bitch when she tries on her sweetheart neckline princess ball gown. I’ll cause a big scene about how it's totally not the dress for her and I’ll guilt her into trying on an ugly poofy sleeved lace a-line.”

“No, you won’t,” Enjolras laughed fondly. “You’ll fold and cry immediately the moment she comes out in that dress.”

“Fuck, you’re right! I’m getting emotional just thinking about it.”

“Has it really been two years for them?” Enjolras placed his chin absentmindedly in his hand. “Everyone seems to be growing up.”

“Except for us, of course.” Bahorel winked. “Young, wild, and free forever! A youth unbridled by time and motivated for a fresh new world!”

Read the rest on AO3

#enjolras #bahorel #enjolras and bahorel #les mis rare pair week #les mis rare pairs week #les mis rare pair #grantaire #les amis de l'abc #yes i know it is the 28th but i had a very busy week ahhhhh #my writing #my fics #no plot #friendship fic #les miserable fan fiction #les mis fanfic

30 notes · View notes

thelittleredheadedmusician · 4 years

Note

Courf and Ferre decorating for Halloween??

Thanks for the prompt!!! It’s pumpkin carving counts as decorating right?

Pumpkin Guts

Rating: G 779 words Gen AO3

There had been strange noises coming from the kitchen all afternoon. Combeferre was staunchly ignoring them because he’s trying to finish reading this journal article before anyone else came home. Having Courfeyrac in the vague direction of behind him and doing who knew what all is more than enough of a distraction. Besides, Ferre can fairly well ignore the sounds coupled with Courf’s slightly off-key humming of Nightmare Before Christmas.

Until there’s a particularly wet sounding SPLAT.

“What are you doing?” Combeferre sets his laptop aside as he twists to stare over the back of the couch.

Courfeyrac doesn’t hear, his back to Ferre working at the island and shimming. Overlarge headphones press down his curls.

Closing the laptop and setting it on the side table, Combeferre uncurls his legs to climb off the couch. There’s a weird scent that’s wafting from the kitchen and it becomes stronger the closer he gets to Courf. Some vague part of Ferre’s brain recognizes it but he can’t place it. Not until he’s actually in the kitchen and can see what Courfeyrac is doing.

“I am not cleaning pumpkin guts off of the counter,” he says, pulling Courf’s headphones off as he does so.

Startling slightly, Courf offers a wide smile. “Well I wasn’t planning on asking you. Want to practice your surgical skills?” He waggles his eyebrows as he spins the serrated knife to present Ferre with the handle.

Combeferre doesn’t respond, just eyes the trio of large and very orange pumpkins on the counter. The one in front of Courf has its top cut off and set to the side, the seeds and stringy matter already scooped out onto a wax paper covered tray.

“Where did you even get the pumpkins?”

“I have my sources,” Courfeyrac says cryptically. He takes on a smug air that makes Ferre raise a dry brow. Courf sets the knife down and folds like a cheap deck of cards. “Cosette somehow found a farm that was doing pick your own pumpkins and took Marius as a cute date except Marius got overzealous and well, there is such a thing as too many pumpkins.”

Ferre snorts. He doesn’t bother to hide his smirk either.

“So,” Courf continues with a dramatic gesture, “he asked if we would like some and I said yes because I thought it would be fun to carve them.” He frowns at the beginnings of a mess in front of him. “I’m starting to think I was wrong though.”

“Starting?”

Courf just screws his face up to stick his tongue out at Combeferre.

“Are you going for a particular design?” Ferre asks by way of peace offering.

“Uh, Jack-O-Lantern? At least on this one,” he adds quickly.

Nodding, Combeferre picks up the abandoned knife. He nudges Courf over with his hip, taking the space directly in front of the gutted pumpkin. Ferre eyes the gourd for a few seconds before nodding again, this time with finality.

“Get me a sharpie,” he instructs. Courf scampers off to pull one from the junk drawer by the fridge. Tossing it the couple feet, Ferre manages to catch the marker with his free hand. It earns him an enthusiastic round of applause.

The two are laughing as Combeferre uncaps the sharpie and bends towards the pumpkin with it. Carefully, he draws on two triangle eyes and an upside-down triangle for the nose.

“Make him happy. With lots of teeth,” Courf says, coming up behind him.

Ferre nods and draws on a jaggedly toothy grin. “Nurse,” he says in a poor imitation of a television doctor.

Courfeyrac cackles but snaps to attention.

Smirking, Combeferre continues. “Scalpel please.”

Picking the knife off where it was once again set on the counter when Ferre began drawing, Courf passes it over with a smile. “Scalpel.”

“Making the first incision,” Ferre narrates before plunging it into the pumpkin. He makes it through and begins sawing the first side of the right eye.

“More light perhaps?” Courf asks, spinning around to pull a little flashlight out of the same drawer the marker came from.

“Yes, more light.”

They share a glance and start laughing again. Ferre has to bite his lip and remind himself he’s in the middle of something involving a sharp object. Courf comes up behind him again and stands on tiptoes to shine the flashlight. Except the beam keeps shaking because he’s giggling and teetering to keep his balance.

The rest of the carving goes similarly and about twenty meticulous minutes later the Jack-O-Lantern is done and Courf is clapping. “Well done doc. Very well done. I think the patient will make an excellent recovery sitting on our front steps.”

#les mis #les miserables #les miz #courfeyrac #combeferre #fanfic #fanfiction #my fic #writing #own writing #jemsjadependant

9 notes · View notes

smallblueandloud · 4 years

Text

okay, so i’ve spent all day listening to les mis, right? and i love eponine (as all gays do). marius is like... decent. cosette is simultaneously annoying as fuck and also one of my favorite characters. She Has The Range.

anyway, my queer heart wants eponine to be happy, so logically you’d think “Marius Has Two Hands”, right? except honestly i’m not such a fan of marius except maybe when he’s chugging his respect women juice. so i propose the ideal version, which i’m gonna call “Cosette Has Two Hands” but is really “the ot3 of amazing singing”. (under a cut because i just straight-up started writing dialogue at the end, because why the fuck not.)

see, i don’t think the show really mentions this (forgive me, the only version i’ve seen in the movie and it’s been forever), but cosette and eponine grew up together! or at least, they spent their formative childhood years together. i was assuming that it was a cinderella-and-stepsister situation, but judging from the way that eponine’s parents treat her when she’s older, i’m gonna guess that they treated her like cosette even back then. (maybe a little better, but still, not great.) and honestly i don’t care what canon says? I Am The Captain Now

which leads to... young!cosette and young!eponine bonding over having the same shitty childhood situation. eponine gets slightly better treatment, but she shares almost everything she can with cosette, because they’re friends and eponine loves her! like, a lot! and wants to hold her hand! (baby gay eponine is giving me life rn.) cosette has similar feelings! but then a nice stranger comes and takes cosette away to a good (if slightly sheltered) childhood that’s only rarely punctuated by weird muttering about a javier, or something. cosette is NOT sure what’s going on there.

anyways so flash forward to paris. eponine knows who cosette is, right? i mean, her dad recognized jean on sight. (he hadn’t seen jean before, which i’m gonna handwave with “eponine is out and about more than her dad and isn’t exactly STALKING her gay crush / childhood friend but she knows where she is, okay? get off her back gavroche”.) but she hasn’t gone up to TALK to her, because eponine lives on the streets and cosette looks like a pressed flower and eponine is... kind of technically actually a criminal and she does NOT want to see disgust on cosette’s face.

but eponine’s OTHER crush falls in love at first sight with cosette! lovely! then demands eponine take him to her house! wonderful!!!!!!!!! so she takes him, but stays out of sight, so that cosette won’t recognize her, and doesn’t tell marius that she knows her. so cosette asks “how did you know where you live?”, marius says “oh, my friend found you. she’s good with the streets” and gestures at the dark shadow keeping watch at the end of the street, and then “a heart full of love” happens and eponine pines terribly for BOTH involved parties, and then they move on (thanks, eponine’s asshole parents).

now, there are two ways for this to end up: either eponine ends up VERY HAPPY or marius and cosette end up VERY SAD. i think i’m gonna go with VERY HAPPY just because i have enough fractured triads to care about, thanks so much. the way this would probably happen is: eponine is wounded pretty badly, marius holds her in his arms, says a bunch of confusing things (DO YOU WANT TO DATE HER OR NOT, MARIUS??), and she sings “a little fall of rain”, and then she passes out and marius howls with pain, cries for a doctor. she lives, but doesn’t participate in any battles because she’s resting. she comes out into the stillness to see a dark figure hunched over marius.

she runs over to him and threatens him with a knife until it is revealed that he’s the father of marius’ love - oh, thinks eponine, and does not give her name. she can’t help him deadlife marius, but she leads him into the sewers and takes him up to the exit, where surprise! surprise! they run into javert. eponine rushes forward to hold her knife to his throat, because marius is very wounded and she is not going to let him die. she “persuades” javert to let them go, and he does, and then he jumps off the bridge because obviously he’s never going to get jean valjean. or maybe he doesn’t? i really don’t care lmao.

they reach jean’s house, where cosette runs out and sees her father, carrying a gravely wounded marius, and also a figure who is hiding her face in the darkness.

“papa, you saved him-!” she says, fluttering around marius’ face.

“i could not have saved him without this lady’s help,” says jean, Full Of Justice as always.

cosette walks forward to thank her. “you can’t imagine how much i owe you for this. you have saved my happiness. [etc, etc, old-fashioned talking.] please, may i know your name? to thank you? anything you need, anything at all-”

eponine has been curling further into the wall, but finally decides fuck it, she’s going to find out eventually and steps out of the shadows. “it’s eponine, cosette.”

cosette bursts into happy tears, walks forward, and embraces her. jean decides he should probably let his daughter have a personal life, just a little, as a treat, and deadlifts marius inside to call a doctor.

“eponine-” says cosette. “eponine, i didn’t know you were in paris. why didn’t you tell me?”

cosette is crying happy tears, eponine is crying unbelieving tears. cosette has eponine’s face cradled in her hands like she’s something precious, and eponine has only felt that once before (”a little fall of rain”). “i didn’t-” she says, and gasps for air, leans into cosette’s hands. “i did not think you would want to see me.”

“i wouldn’t-?” repeats cosette, incredulous, and gently pulls her forward to kiss her cheekbones, close to her eyes. “you were my first friend, my only friend, my first-”

she cuts off, and they just lean their foreheads together for awhile.

the wedding at the end of the musical is marius and eponine getting married, because cosette has the means to live as a wealthy spinster and besides, eponine deserves it. her parents show up, unaware of who exactly is getting married, and marius punches her father in the face. marius, eponine, and cosette (wealthy spinster that lives in marius and eponine’s house to “help them with the children”) live together in happiness forevermore.

#cosette x eponine x marius #cosette x eponine #les miserables #les mis #sb and l writes #sb and l rambles #i have decided to start counting these towards my total wordcount and i have also decided to start posting more of these #so what if it's not a full fic? it's content. is anyone gonna complain because i don't describe everything in excruciating detail? nope!#idk if i'm completely married to the idea that eponine pines from a distance. i kind of want her and cosette to kiss in that reunion scene #and in order for that to happen they have to have seen each other AT LEAST ONCE since childhood lmao #but whatever! i want poly happiness and if you can't get store bought Homemade Is Fine #for the lesbean #(whenever i have A Thought about musicals i just send it to her first lmao)#musicals

16 notes · View notes

akallabeth-joie · 4 years

Text

Brickclub Les Mis 3.6.6

In which Marius is definitely now aware of his crush on Cosette, continues acting dazed & confused, and then takes Courfeyrac on a date*.

Hugo’s really intent differentiating this love-for-someone-you’ve-seen-but-never-spoken-to-and-know-nothing-about-except-for-their-physical-appearance from lust. I’m still not sure what the practical differences between those two things are, but it’s apparently important since Hugo deals with it twice. First in Marius’s adverse reaction to Courf’s “collection” remark, and then via pronouncement of resident Romantic poet Jehan Prouvaire that Marius’s infatuation is serious, not humorous**.

*Ok, sure, maybe he’s supposed to just be happy and jovial and sociable for a change, but still consider: Marius takes Courf to a fancier dinner than usual, then treats him to the theater, and they breakfast together the next day.

**I know, tropes about the experience of being in love, etc. But if one of my friends kept forgetting to eat, losing hours worth of time, and unconsciously acting erratic, I’d be worried about their health, not their lovelife.

Marius uses 'tu' to his best same-age friend.

#brickclub #Les Miserables #3.6.6 #is this my crack-interpretation with slash-colored goggles #absolutely #but Hugo is really writing the slash for us

10 notes · View notes

eponinemylove · 5 years

Text

les amis in high school!

okay so this idea came out of nowhere and bodyslammed me in the middle of lunch and it’s my civic duty to now share it with all of you!

Enjolras is... how you say... chaotic. He is either a teacher’s absolute favorite or the bane of their existence, and there is no in between

Despite his alarming number of detentions, referrals, and likewise complaints, principal JVJ never suspends him

superintendent Javert is trying to build a case against JVJ to have him removed from that position bc he suspects that he isn’t handling disciplinary actions appropraitely. It drives him fucking crazy that he can’t because there’s no teachers or staff who have anything bad to say about JVJ, and somehow people in high positions keep... vouching for him?

it shouldn’t be possible for JVJ to have that many convenient friends in just the right place to block the investigation, but he does and they all swear he’s a good honest man and is the only competent principal, ever. also he managed to save their ass one time or another and stopped them from getting fired sooo

ANYWAYS back to the amis

Enjolras is what Javert and the school APs like to call a problem child. He will rage at every injustice he sees, systematic or otherwise, which is to say, a fuckton. He starts protests, organizes walkouts, does sit-ins in the cafeteria, and has exactly 0 qualms about tearing a teacher/administrator a new one

He meets the other amis in detention

Joly is there because an AP saw jbm showing (minimal!! barely any) PDA and lost her fucking shit, screaming about how innapropriate they were being. Musichetta is in it for cussing out the AP right back and demanding that she apologize to her boyfriends. Bossuet is actually there for like 3 different things (one of which is just bc he got way too many tardies and got an automatic detention) but the AP didn’t check and sent him anyways, even though he was already going that day. He’s just always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Combeferre got detention bc he was a sarcastic little shit to a kid and the teacher overhead (the kid deserved it tho). Also he helps Enj organize/conduct the sit-ins and stuff, so he’s guilty by association

Same for Coufreyac, but he’s also too loud/talkative/hyperactive in class and ends up getting in trouble with the teachers

Bahorel and eponine both got in (different) fights that day. Eponine never actually gets detention though so that was pretty much her only interaction with the group

Jehan’s teacher thought he “wasn’t paying attention” in class and being “intentionally unresponsive”. Homeboy was really just overstimulated and couldn’t concentrate properly on the reading, but what can you do

Feuilly absolutely doesn’t deserve to be in detention as much as he is. He’s really tired from work and school and so he misses a couple of assignments and occasionally skips his last class so that he can go home and shower/rest before his shift. That’s literally the only reason he’s in detention. Other than that he’s a great student except for the part where he always joins Enjolras in his demonstrations. No one has caught him yet and connected it, otherwise he’d probably be in detention for that too

Also, Grantaire is just always in detention. He sits in the back and usually doesn’t say much, if anything, to anyone besides Joly, Musichetta, and Bousset. Enj thinks that he has it for the entire year, but he’s not even sure how that’s possible. Enjolras starts a new protest every week and even he hasn’t managed that. He doesn’t ask.

After that key first meeting of everyone in detention, the amis get along way too well and decide to start a “club”. Basically it’s just them meeting after school and complaining about everything the APs and teachers do wrong, strategizing, and organizing their protests.

The APs refuse to accept their club. Enjolras gets shut down in like .5 seconds

BUT eponine suggests that they take it to JVJ, and so they do. JVJ approves it, and the club stays. They name it Les Amis d’lABC (obv)

Marius accidentally joints the club. Courfreyac has been begging him to come to a meeting and he honestly thinks that it’s SGA. He almost books it as soon as he meets Enjolras, but at this point he’s too embarrassed and so he just decides to join. Enjolras doesn’t like him very much but he’s Courf’s friend and also he’s dating JVJ’s niece, so.

Speaking of, Cosette comes one meeting because Marius does, and oh my god, they love her. Everyone is so confused as to how she’s dating someone like Marius (he’s not that bad!) but they don’t say anything

Seriously though, she’s great. She’s so funny and kind and she’s full of amazing ideas that help their plans. Even Enjolras adores her

Anyways the Amis fuck a bunch of shit up for administration bc they’re not doing their jobs and also the amis all have issues with authority (Javert is pissed)

So at this point y’all are thinking that Enjolras is pretty much a teacher’s worst nightmare, right?

WRONG

It’s Grantaire

Grantaire is infamous among teachers. They tremble at the sight of him. He will start shit just to start shit. It’s amusing to him. He’ll argue with the teachers over anything, the most random shit, and derail the entire class. God help you if he ever gets bored, because that’s when he makes the most mischief.

The thing is though... every time he’s being an asshole and arguing with the teacher about something... he always has a point. That’s the most infuriating part for them

Like, it’s not because he actually cares about the curriculum or policy or loophole that he noticed, because he doesn’t. But he’ll point it out and debate it because he’s antagonistic and this is fun, and he’ll always have valid reasoning and a legit point. Teachers start to think he’s planning this out, but he’s literally not. He just notices all these failings and he strings them together but doesn’t actually say anything about it until he has nothing better to do. And the teachers can’t even really argue because he’s right!! That shouldn’t be happening, or that doesn’t make any sense. Damn it, R, I don’t know why, don’t you talk to Principal ValJean?

When he’s not arguing with teachers, which is rare, he actually gets along pretty good with them. He knows at least 3 by name, and all his teachers call him R. He’s a good student (academically), too. He does amazing in all his classes, excluding math and science (which is basically just Math with explosions), even though he never seems to be paying any attention in class. Like, he’ll literally sleep through a lesson or just completely do his own thing, but he’ll get an A on the test and all his homework gets handed in on time and it’s actually well thought out and written

Most of his teachers hate him, but they can’t do anything about it because he’s right, he’s just really obnoxious. His math and English teacher love him though, and are always talking to him after class and in the halls

Enjolras hears about R a lot, mostly from disgruntled students and staff. He can’t figure out who this kid is but he sounds perfect. He overhead a senior complaining about him in her history class because R called the teacher out for sending a girl home for her ripped jeans. R stood up on the desk wearing the same ripped jeans and went on a rant about how sexist that policy was and how her outfit distracted no one and was not a problem, but the teacher was, and now he was disrupting her education, and he’s a sexist prick, etc etc. Apparently the entire class joined in and nothing got done all period and now they all have 10+ pages of homework and didn’t get the review for the test tomorrow. The teacher agreed to push it back for their period, but R got an automatic F and the senior girl is pissed because now she has 3 tests that day and no time to study and do all the extra homework

Enjolras swoons

He tells the Amis about it after school and Courf laughs so hard he’s wheezing. Everyone is in complete support of R and Enj says something about how they should recruit him for their club

Musichetta says she’ll ask him if he wants to come but Courf said he probably won’t

Enjolras loses his shit because “You guys know him?? Can I meet him???”

Everyone is so confused

“Enj, you’ve met Grantaire. Didn’t you take Spanish with him freshman year or something? And you’re always in detention with him??”

Enjolras feels like the biggest idiot ever because of course R is Grantaire. He’s a dumbass

Meanwhile Grantaire has been harboring the biggest crush on Enj for the last 2 years but Enjolras can’t (seemingly) stand him for the most part and he actually doesn’t get along with him that well so he’s resigned himself to Oh well, I guess I’ll just drool over him in detention

Enjolras just has a killer RBF, he doesn’t hate Grantaire at all and is mortified when he finds out what R had assumed

Anyway Grantaire joins their stupid club even though he doesn’t actually care that much. He argues a lot with Enjolras just to be a dick (poor Enj is so confused bc he knows Grantaire doesn’t agree with the side of the arguement he’s taking so why) but, again, he brings up a couple of good points as annoying as they are

Ok I’m going to stop here let me know if y’all want a part 2

162 notes · View notes

catstrophysics · 4 years

Text

OKAY THESE ARE THE FIC RECS I PROMISED @undesirableno394 TO ANYONE WHO DOESN’T CARE DON’T CLICK READ MORE!!!!!!!! I’m very bad at tumblr and don’t know how things work

Enjoltaire

That Love Whose View Is Muffled Still Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Enjolras is a marching band drum major, Grantaire is on the football team. Minor misunderstandings. Drunken moments. Absolutely amazing. Patchwork Evening Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Courfeyrac fixed Enjolras and Grantaire up on a date, which they ditch to go do other date-like things. Trans!Enjolras!!! Super soft and funny and gentle, and they steal a quilt. The Finer Points of Communication Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Enjolras tries to sext Grantaire. Badly and hilariously. Honestly it’s just a really funny fic, I’ve read it a few times because it’s a bit of a mood. like real people do Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Enjolras takes Grantaire on a couples’ night event at the Louvre, because he knows how much he loves art. Fake-dating turned to real dating. This one might be one of my favorites. he fell like fire and rain at once Rating: Teen and Up Summary: CANON VERSE ABSOLUTE PAIN THIS IS THE EXCEPTION TO THE “FANFIC IS ALWAYS SOFT” RULE I MENTIONED now go read it qu'ici c'est nous les rois Rating: Teen and Up Summary: School musical AU! It’s funny and great and lighthearted. Enjolras has terrible fashion sense. World Ain’t Ready Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Really Really Really Really Really good HS AU slowburn… like. Hot damn good. Idek how to explain it, it’s that good. It’s the best writing of Ép I’ve read, and the author is actually getting it like, real published! 180k+ First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Love Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Fake marriage AU! The Amis plan the wedding, and it’s just super soft and funny. Dating Your Crush: Six Easy Steps Rating: Teen and Up Summary: The quintessential high school AU. Grantaire is a fool and this is lowkey where I’m getting vibe inspiration for mine from, but with less “R’s a dick” Life is Only Moments Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Wistful and gentle and sort of ow, I almost killed the author for ending it how they did but there’s a second chapter that’s the actual happy ending. The Lesser of Two Evils Rating: teen and Up Summary: They’re forced to hold hands as punishment for fighting. Summary enough? Lovesickness Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Enjolras thinks he’s getting sick, and keeps asking Joly about his symptoms. (Spoiler alert: he’s not sick.) Love Letter to Impressionism Rating: Teen and Up Summary: R knows a lot about Enjolras’s interests, but Enjolras doesn’t know a lot about R’s. College AU.

Courferre The Yeti Conspiracy Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Grantaire and Courfeyrac have a YouTube channel together a la Buzzfeed Unsolved, and Cute Neighbor Combeferre moves in. And the mysterious “C” sends in really detailed fan emails weekly? Hmmm. The Guy Next Door Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Courfeyrac loses a bet, and can’t ask anyone on a date for a month. NBD, except he just moved in next to SUPER HOT AND SHY NEIGHBOR: Combeferre. Bombproof Your Horse Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Combeferre is a librarian's assistant, Courfeyrac desperately needs academic help.

JBM and the sun shines rings around your smile Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Medieval AU, Chetta is a blacksmith and Bossuet is a prince.

Multi Honorable Mention bc I’m currently reading this (about to finish) and I like it Observations on interpersonal relationships, the importance of cleaning schedules and more. Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Everyone’s housing is ending for different reasons, and Marius has been left a house.

Gen/Other/More Multi/IDK but I like Primary Colors Summary: triumvirate friendship and codependency! In Defiance of All Geometry Ship: Combeferre/Grantaire/Enjolras Rating: Teen and Up Summary: Amis House is a co-op at a college. Super funny, super soft, super “Grantaire is oblivious”, super... yeah, honestly I wasn’t going to give it a shot and then I did and I’ve read it like five times. A Ghost, You Say? Rating: Gen Summary: Les Amis are ghosts and ghost Courfeyrac teaches Marius to dance before the wedding to Cosette. Sad, but not painful sad. Just... what might have been sad. I think this is about half of what I have for now, sorry it took so long! I’ve got more in my AO3 History if you ever want more recs, but they get a little more eccentric! And this is... sort of a ton, oops:) Posted this privately so that you get the link but it doesn’t take up the whole blog:)

#fic recs #les mis fic recs

4 notes · View notes

goodbyecringe · 4 years

Text

(Un)Natural Selection Chapter 18

Éponine

Enjolras spent the plane ride jumping from each Elite girl arranging date after date. I knew forcing the kiss last night would throw him over the edge. He would have never considered me to be anything more than his political partner if I hadn’t initiated that kiss. I could tell that he was questioning how long he would keep me in the Selection and I wasn’t here with the right intentions. But I must have offended him because he hadn’t made eye contact with me since we boarded the plane.

I fidgeted with the black sleeves on my dress until Cosette moved to sit across from me. She, like the rest of The Elite, was in a conservative black dress that had long sleeves, since the weather had begun to grow colder. I had never seen her in any remotely dark color, but even in black, she radiated positivity. We sat together in silence preparing for the solemn occasion while Claudia made rounds to each group of girls to brief them about the proper protocol.

“Under absolutely no circumstance should you smile, grin, doze off, or move your eyes excessively. You are not to take any of the attention away from Prince Enjolras and the meaning of this trip,” Claudia said in a serious tone.

“Where should we look? Should we look directly at Enjolras or out into the crowd?” Cosette asked.

I would have never been able to think of that question.

“I would encourage you to give your attention to His Highness. If the press believes you’re disinterested they might try to create a new story.”

Cosette gave a deep nod of understanding.

“Do you have any questions Miss Éponine?” Claudia asked.

I felt like I had to come up with something, even if Claudia would berate me for it.

“How should we sit? Are we all tucking our left or right ankles?” I asked.

“Well you will all be sitting stage right, so I would recommend universally tucking the right ankle so it points to His Highness,” she thought, bringing her hand to her face.

“What a great question, Éponine! I would have tucked my left ankle,” Cosette lied to make me look better in front of Claudia.

Claudia quickly began to clarify with the other Elite so there wouldn’t be any misconceptions about how we were to sit. I rolled my eyes as Cosette laughed.

“You didn’t have to lie just to save me from the wrath of Claudia,” I smiled.

“I didn’t lie, the nuns taught me that lying is never acceptable. I really could have tucked my left ankle,” she shrugged as I rolled my eyes.

We sat in silence, watching Enjolras move from May to a solitary seat towards the front of the plane. I could only assume that he had exhausted himself socializing with all of the girls so quickly.

“Don’t you think it’s refreshing to be out of the palace, Éponine?” Cosette asked.

“I guess. I don’t really mind being stuck in the palace all of the time.”

“Yes, it is rather beautiful. But I did start to get cabin fever a few months ago, but thanks to Enjolras I can now go out to the garden whenever I want,” she smiled.

I was surprised to hear that since none of the Selected girls were permitted in the gardens without permission due to safety concerns. Enjolras had bent the rules for Cosette, so were they closer than I had realized? Then again, Enjolras bent the rules for me every time I went to a meeting with Les Amis.

“When is your next date?” I slipped, not thinking before I spoke.

“He wants to go horseback riding after breakfast tomorrow. Listening to the other girls it sounds like he has a busy week ahead of him,” she frowned.

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked, wondering what had upset the usually bubbly Cosette.

“I’m just worried that Enjolras doesn’t reciprocate any of our feelings. I mean he’s jumping about to make all of these dates so quickly that I’m not sure what's going through his head,” she frowned, looking out of the window.

“Do you love him?”

“He’s very kind to me and I can tell that he cares about me, but I don’t know if I would say I’m in love with him. Papa told me that when you’re in love, you just know. I’ve read books that say when you fall in love it’s like being born again and it’s like nothing else matters. Have you ever felt like that?”

“I think, maybe a little,” I smiled.

I felt my face heat up as I began to picture Marius, who had been so kind to me since we met. Of course, Enjolras was also kind and generous, but he felt more like an intellectual challenge than my soulmate. Whenever I became sad or angry I knew that his calming letters could fix any situation. Even the pictures of Paris had become a sanctuary after listening to Teresa brag for several hours in the Women’s Room. And even though my life would be forever changed for good if I won the Selection and married Enjolras, Marius was different. We didn’t spend any of our time talking about politics, even though Marius was a lawyer. We spoke about poems and the worlds we wished we could live in. Marius was the only person that knew of my family’s origin. And yet, despite knowing my horrible secret, and he still wrote to me regularly.

When we landed in Carolina, there were more press members than I had ever seen, even more than the day I flew to Angeles. We were instructed to keep a solemn expression as long as we remained in the public eye, to express the seriousness of the occasion. The airport was louder than anything I could remember. Reporters were screaming their questions at all of us and while some of them focused on the crime, most of them concerned the Selection.

“Lady Teresa, who are you wearing?”

“Lady Adele, have you and the Prince kissed?”

“Lady Éponine, how does it feel to cheat the caste system?”

I felt the anger begin to grow so hot that my blood could boil. Illeá was divided on a Six making The Elite. Some thought that I was the perfect picture of Lower Caste representation while others thought that I was a greedy, heartless whore that had slept my way to the top. But both sides were wrong because I wasn’t pristine or heartless. But the longer I was in the palace the more I agreed that the money was a large influence and after last night’s kiss, how far would I go to stay here? Justine had written to me that there was enough money for Azelma, Mercer, and me to attend the most expensive university in Illeá. I didn’t have anything to gain by staying in The Selection any longer. Although, as I sat on the stage with my right ankle tucked I remembered what Enjolras said last night.

He didn’t want me to leave, even after I told him that I was a Six. I had completely forgotten that Enjolras knew I was just like any other servant that worked in the palace. I stared at him while he delivered an emotional and empowering speech on the importance of unity. His blonde curls appeared darker, like the circles under his eyes, showing that he hadn’t slept after he left my room. I noticed that here he stood firm and tall which opposed how he spoke wildly with his hands at the Cafe. Was I really the only member of the Elite that had seen the real Enjolras? Did Enjolras bring the other girls to kitchens to make them sandwiches? Was he lying when he said he didn’t have feelings for me?

Just as Enjolras began to reach the conclusion of his speech I could hear the crowd begin to scream. Enjolras stopped speaking, something I had never seen unless it was me that interrupted him. A loud bang rang through the crowd and all hell broke loose. Citizens ran in every direction trying to move to safety away from the shooter. Another gunshot rang through the area and my body began to move before I could control it. I felt myself jump past the guards that were beginning to shield the Elite and Enjolras. I felt my heel snap beneath my weight as I collided with the Reports that were fleeing.

I smelled him before he grabbed me. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes brought me back sleepless nights on the pull-out couch while Azelma snored lightly. All of the memories of screaming matches, beatings, and the slow-burning pains associated with being a human ashtray made me stop in my tracks. My father grabbed me by my arm and marched me into one of the many buildings that surrounded City Hall. The knife pointed into my side would tighten whenever I would try to fight him and eventually Babet caught up to us so he could hold his gun to my back. When we finally reached our destination, I was handcuffed to a pole on the wall.

“Are you crazy?” I screamed at my father before he slapped me across my face.

“You don’t write, you don’t call, if I didn’t know any better I would say you’ve been avoiding your dear Papa,” he growled.

“Well it’s good to know there really is something in the space between your ears,” I spit at him.

“You little brat, I’ll kill you right here!” He screamed, holding the knife to my neck.

“Go ahead. I’m sure you’ll get away even though the Royal Family would pool all of their resources to find my killer. Your little gang would be discovered and you would all hang,” I snarled.

My face was numb after the third slap.

“Listen here you brat, you’re going to do a job for us. Call it insurance, in case that Prince finds himself a better hussy for his bed. You’re going to start giving Montparnasse the attention he deserves or you’ll get some well-deserved visits. Of course, you should know that If you tell anyone, you can kiss your loverboy goodbye,” he sneered.

I wanted to scream but I was being suffocated as something was held over my face. Everything was becoming fuzzy as I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness. When I woke up, it felt like a fever dream. Joly and Combeferre were above my head having a serious discussion.

“We should tell Enjolras about these scars and burns. She was clearly being abused before she came here,” Combeferre whispered.

“That would violate confidentiality, ‘Ferre. We can’t make exceptions to the rule,” Joly refuted.

“If Enjolras knew how bad it really was he might stop ignoring his feelings for ‘Ponine. If his mother didn’t tell him that he needed to see the other Elite, he’d probably stayed here until she was discharged.”

My mind started racing just as everything began to go fuzzy again.

#enjonine #eponine #enjolras #prince enjolras #the selection #les miserables #fanfiction #crossov #crossposted #ao3 #combeferre #joly #modern au

1 note · View note

pilferingapples · 7 months

Note

Valvert and CombeferreEnjolras and CourfeyracMarius :)

I am assuming this is for the ship bingo thing and not the Five Facts thing, anyway you got me to open my tablet soXD

ValjeanxJavert

listen I GET theoretically what people see in them but they just don't do it for me I would however ship them as pigeons bc that would be incredibly funny. PIGEON JAVERT. PIGEON COP. CHASING PIGEON VALJEAN FOR STEALING SOME BREAD, A THING ALL PIGEONS DO. Then they nest??

Enjolras/Combeferre

I really love them as friends! Their relationship is beautiful and founded on arguing with each other constantly even on the brink of death, just beautiful. But also they are Complete as friends, for me!

WITH TWO CRUCIAL EXCEPTIONS: One, they are definitely dating in Shoujo Cosette (or should I say Engaged? good for you. go see those apples) and Two: PIGEONS, I WOULD SHIP THEM AS PIGEONS, COOING DRAMATICALLY OVER PIGEON MATTERS OF LIFE AND PIGEON SOCIETY. NESTING WING IN WING. CHALLENGING THE PIGEON COPS. beautiful!

Courfeyrac and Marius

listen I DEFINITELY get why people ship this one and I would TOO if I thought Marius was remotely tuned-in enough to even think about it. He is not. He is Marius Pontmercy. (I DO ship them with Cosette as a throuple though. I think being with Cosette is a crucial part of Marius getting his head in the game (of being a person who exists)! and then she and Coufeyrac can take it from there)

ALSO I SHIP THEM AS PIGEONS SO MUCH. THEY'D BE GREAT. ABSOLUTELY NESTING TOGETHER.

#What we have learned today is I want the Hatoful Boyfriend LM AU #also how on earth do most people do these. What Process are y'all using. I highly doubt everyone is doing this with layers in Painter.#TIME TO POST PROBLEMS FOR MYSELF

25 notes · View notes

hms-chill · 5 years

Text

(Not a) Hugger

Summary: It's been a few years since Grantaire was hugged. Or cuddled. Or touched for any length of time.Which is fine. Really.

Except that it isn't fine, and he would very much like to be hugged, but the only thing worse than being touch-starved would be seeming needy.

OR: Grantaire communicate with your friends god damn it

Trigger warning for the mention of an eating disorder. Grantaire's mostly better, but it's mentioned a few times, as is past abuse.

Grantaire can't remember the last time he was hugged. It was probably in high school, as part of one of the big group hugs that always followed successful soccer games the one year he played, so it's been about seven or eight years. Which is fine; he just doesn't think about it. He doesn't think about it when Cosette comes into the Musain for a meeting and hugs everyone, even Enjolras, who gives in and hugs her back, and they both look more relaxed when they separate. He doesn't think about it when she gives anyone going up for a speech a hug, and they relax enough to stay put together. When he gives a speech at a rally, just to get one of those hugs and gets instead a squeeze on the arm, he doesn't think about the fact that it's been years since anyone hugged him.

When he's at a movie night with Joly, Bossuet, and Munchetta, he doesn't think about how much he wants a hug. They'll pile onto each other, cuddling close, but that's fine. Grantaire gets the popcorn to himself, and he doesn't feel left out. He most certainly doesn't think about how much he'd like a hug when Combeferre mentions the effects of touch starvation in a meeting about prison injustice. He talks about it as a cruel and unusual effect of isolation, and Grantaire tries his hardest not to think about how his irritability and insomnia sound a lot like the evils Combeferre is upset about. He knows how it feels to be isolated, and he recognizes the feeling of being alone in a room full of people who claim to love him (and likely do, despite his infinite failures). But that's fine. He can live with all that. He just doesn't think about it.

Except that he does think about it, almost every day. He thinks about it a lot on bad days, when the eating disorder he thought he kicked out a few years ago rears its ugly head to remind him that no one would ever want to touch his body. On even worse days, he thinks about it when he hears his father's voice telling him that no one would ever touch him unless they wanted to hurt him. On the worst days, he wraps himself tightly in a blanket and pretends that's the same thing as a hug, or at least a good enough replacement. It never is, but he can pretend.

In his better moments, his rational brain reminds him that he could ask someone for a hug, but he can never bring himself to do it. If Cosette hugs everyone but him, there must be a reason, and it has to be that there is something wrong with him (the voice of the eating disorder points to the spare tire around his middle that's developed since it ruined his metabolism). If Joly cuddles with Bossuet and Munchetta all the time, it's because they're dating, and Grantaire can't disrupt their relationship any more than he already does. If Courfeyrac hugs everyone else, it's clearly only because he and Grantaire have the world's best secret handshake, and it would be a pity to miss even a single opportunity to use it. Besides, he can't impose on any of his friends. Asking them to hug him would make them uncomfortable, so he doesn't say anything, and if things get worse, he pretends not to notice.

The worst part is that he's not sure why. If he knew why his friends don't hug him, despite the fact that they all hug each other, it might be easier. 'You smell', 'I don't want to', or even just 'bad vibes' would be easier to deal with than the options his shit brain gives him. But he doesn't know, and if he asks anyone, they'll know he's upset by it and everything will be ruined. They'll either hug him out of necessity or continue to ignore him, and he's not sure which would be worse.

It all boils over after a movie night turned sleepover at Combeferre's. Grantaire wakes up before his friends to see nearly all of them cuddling someone. Feuilly's head is on Bahorel's chest, and Jehan is held under his arm. Joly is sandwiched between his partners. Enjolras is holding Combeferre's arm while Courfeyrac hugs his boyfriend from behind. Even Marius, who never wants a partner and is usually not a cuddler, is snuggled up with them, his back pressed against Courfeyrac's. Eponine and Cosette are cuddled close, Gavroche clinging to Eponine's back like a spider monkey. But Grantaire, despite being very available for cuddles, is left out of every single pile. He puts on his shoes and slips out the door. He can't do this. He can't watch from the outside as all his friends love each other; it might destroy him.

Joly finds him later, in his own apartment, sitting on the couch with his knees pulled up to his chest, staring at a dark TV screen. His hair is still damp and sweaty from the hardest run of his life, his breakfast sits untouched on the coffee table, and he's not sure if the salt on his face is from sweat or dried tears. He'd like to blame the tears on the wind, but it's a still day.

Joly sits beside him on the couch, then reaches over to squeeze his hand. That tiny touch is nearly enough for Grantaire to break down again.

"We missed you when we woke up this morning. Bossuet thought maybe you'd come back for your bag, but he had to work, so I brought it over. Do you want to talk?"

Grantaire shakes his head. It would be so easy to lean over and flop into Joly's lap. Just a simple fall, and he'd be touching his friend, and things would be, if not okay, so much better than the pressing loneliness he's used to. But he can't. Joly doesn't hug him, and there must be a reason, and he can't make his friend uncomfortable.

"Alright, well, I just wanted to let you know that we missed you. We love you, R. Do... do you mind if I stay for a bit? It looks like it's going to rain, and that means the bus will be crowded, and we both know people don't respect the handicapped seats nearly enough for me to want to deal with them right now."

"Please do. You can turn something on if you want. Sorry I smell." I'm sorry you're trapped with someone like me. I'm sorry for being a disgrace of a person. I'm sorry you worried. I'm sorry you have to know me. I'm sorry.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. How do you feel about Bake off?"

"It's not a great food day. Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry for; I'm glad you told me. I'm proud of you. How about Too Cute instead?"

"That sounds good."

"Perfect."

Joly loads an episode called "Super Pups: Pint Sized", his hand never leaving Grantaire's. They watch quietly, the sounds of rain starting to fall outside complementing the show's bouncy soundtrack. But "Super Pups" autoplays into a kitten episode, and when it opens on a shot of the kittens piled up together, Grantaire feels the icy grip around his insides tighten. He swallows hard, then takes a deep breath and tells Joly he's going to the bathroom. He finds a discarded flannel there to muffle the tears he's been trying his best to ignore.

A few minutes later, there's a soft knock on the door.

"R? Can I help, Love?"

"I'm fine." His voice doesn't sound like his. He's made Joly get up and come find him, and he's made Joly worry again, and he's done everything wrong. This is why his friends don't like him enough to touch him.

"I... I want to help you, R, I do. Please know that. I'm sorry for holding your hand; I know you don't like to be touched. That was--"

Grantaire cuts him off by throwing the door open. Joly stumbles back in surprise, catching himself on the wall of the hallway.

"You... you think I don't like to be touched?"

"I know you don't. I'm sorry."

"Don't... no, don't be sorry. I loved that. It... it's not you holding my hand that made me cry, I promise."

"But you hate being touched. Bossuet tried to hug you once and you flinched so hard you tripped over a couch."

The memory floods in: Grantaire, freshly at college on an art scholarship and still trying to believe that no one here wanted to hurt him, clinging to his one shot at a life away from his father. Bossuet, who'd taken two gap years and was bigger than Grantaire by a sizeable amount, coming toward him after a game night in the lounge with an arm raised in a position that Grantaire only knew as one of anger. Grantaire stumbling back, cowering, falling onto one of the lounge couches, and excusing himself to go hide under a blanket in the room he shared with Joly.

"That's... that's not... I thought he was going to hit me. I... He was so big, and so much stronger than I was, and I was just starting therapy and still trying to make myself eat a full meal sometimes instead of just going hungry, and if he'd wanted to hurt me I couldn't have stopped him. You remember how tiny I was; he could have snapped me in half, and after my dad, I wasn't at a point where I trusted him not to want to. I thought everyone hated me, and that they'd all want to hurt me, and that's what was scary. It wasn't about the hug. It was never about the hug."

"So you don't hate hugs?"

"You... you don't hug me because you thought I didn't like them?"

"We told the others, too. When we first dragged you to a meeting, Chetta told the group chat you didn't like hugs so that no one would scare you off. But you don't mind?"

"Not... ot at all. I mean, it's been... it's been a long time, but I don't think I mind hugs at all."

Joly comes back across the hallway slowly, like he's approaching a wild animal, and he wraps his arms around Grantaire and squeezes. Grantaire lets out a sob as his own arms come up to hold Joly close.

"I love you. I've got you. I'm sorry," Joly says softly, letting them sink to the floor together. "I love you, and I'll give you as many hugs as you want from now until forever."

Grantaire's not sure how long they stay there, in a pile outside his bathroom while he cries and Joly promises not to let go. It's at least until the sobs stop, but that's really no measure of time at all. When he's pulled himself together a bit, Joly pulls back just a touch and reaches up to cup his face, but Grantaire pulls back on instinct. Someone's hand near his face has never been a good thing. Joly pulls his hand away and squeezes Grantaire's arm instead.

"So your face isn't a place you're comfortable with me touching. I'm sorry. I should have asked. But I... R, I'm sorry about this, but my leg doesn't like being on the floor very much. Is it okay if we move this hug to the couch?"

Grantaire nods, trying his best not to be embarrassed of his flinch. Or his tears. Or the fact that he'd just broken down completely at a simple hug from a friend. There are a lot of things for him to be embarrassed of from the last hour, ever since Joly found him staring at a blank TV.

"Is it okay if I take your hand?" Joly asks, and Grantaire nods, so Joly holds his hand and leads the way to the couch. Too Cute is paused on the image of a kitten wobbling across a blanket.

"I'm going to go make some popcorn, and then I'm going to come back and cuddle the hell out of you while you eat it for breakfast," Joly says. "If you want to, when I get back, we... we could do something called green-yellow-red that Cosette taught me. It'll help us make sure we're both comfortable while we're cuddling, so for example, today, I'm... my chest and arms are green, and so's my back and shoulders, really anything from the waist up. So go for it with hugs there. My face I'm going to say yellow, and same with my hips and my good leg, so just ask and I'll let you know in the moment. My bad leg's red, so I'd rather you didn't touch it. Oh, and the top of my head is green. Does that make sense?"

Grantaire nods, doing his best to remember. He can't mess this up. If he ruins cuddling with Joly now, he might never get a second chance.

"And it's alright if you make a mistake; I can let you know if I'm ever uncomfortable. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me on purpose; you'd never hurt anyone. Is it alright if I kiss the top of your head?"

"It's... it's nasty. I haven't been great at showering recently, and I went for a run."

"I don't mind, but do you?"

Grantaire thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. A few weeks ago, Cosette had taught everyone a game she used in consent workshops where they practiced saying yes or no, and she'd pushed them to make the choice in that moment however they felt. Grantaire is trying his hardest to make her proud.

Joly brings over a blanket and presses a kiss to the top of Grantaire's greasy, sweaty head before disappearing into the kitchen. As he hears popcorn start to pop, Grantaire takes stock of his body, trying to decide if it would help or hurt to have Joly cuddle the parts of it he (especially) hates. He's got some semblance of an answer by the time the popcorn's done, and he gives Joly an assessment that includes a green 'spare tire' (a phrase that makes Joly frown) and a red face. Joly repeats Grantaire's requests, asking about parts he forgot and referring to the spare tire as a stomach, which is probably the kindest thing anyone's called it since it developed. Then he hands Grantaire the popcorn and cuddles up next to him, stealing pieces from the bowl and always keeping at least one arm firmly around Grantaire.

When Bossuet gets off work, he joins them with pizza, and they play green-yellow-red again before Bossuet joins their pile. If Grantaire has the best nap he's had in years with Joly's arms around his waist and Bossuet's chin on his head, well, he tries not to envy Munchetta when he wakes up.

The next time he sees Cosette, she asks if she can hug him, beaming. He agrees, and she holds him so close and so tightly that he forgets to see his body as a disgusting mass of fat and acne for the rest of the day. She tells him he gives wonderful hugs, and he tells her that that quote will be his next tattoo. It makes her laugh, and he can't help but grin back. He and Courfeyrac add a hug to the end of their elaborate handshake, one that involves Grantaire supporting most of Courf's weight and not caring at all. His body may not be as thin as it once was, but now it can lift his friends in the air, which is clearly a good trade. At the next rally, when Joly's leg gets sore and Bossuet has already slipped twice, Grantaire pulls his friend onto his back. Joly's arms wrap around Grantaire's neck, and Grantaire becomes the hottest mobility aide at the protest.

In short, the floodgates are open. Once it's established that Grantaire enjoys hugs, he starts getting them regularly, and he eventually starts giving them, too. He starts spending evenings squished into a chair with Joly, often with the other man in his lap and occasionally with Jehan, Chetta, Bossuet, or a combination of the three leaning against him. He carries Joly when his leg gets bad or Gavroche when he's too short to see or exhausted but too proud to admit it. He hugs Eponine, something he hasn't done since puberty, and she nearly cries telling him how proud of him she is. He does cry, and that sets her off, and Gavroche finds them crying and brings them a carton of ice cream and two spoons and leaves them be.

He hugs Enjolras last. Enjolras isn't a hugger. Even after spending most of his life with Courfeyrac, he'll lean into hugs good-naturedly, but he won't initiate. Between that lack of initiation and Grantaire's overwhelming self-doubt, it's really a miracle that they hug at all. It finally happens at Courfeyrac's birthday party, and he maintains that it is the best gift he could ever get. Enjolras has just gotten into his top choice for law school, and he doesn't want to upstage Courf, but he's so excited he has to tell someone, and Grantaire is nearby. And Grantaire is thrilled, and he's so excited that hugging Enjolras feels like the most natural thing in the world. That, of course, tips their friends off to something major, which ends up stealing the moment for a bit as Grantaire and Enjolras find themselves in the middle of a giant group hug. But when Grantaire looks up to see Enjolras's grin, everything feels just right.

On AO3

Notes:

You know when you're just minding your own business, then suddenly your brain goes "hey, when was Grantaire hugged last?" and you have a mild crisis about your beautiful touch-starved son? Yeah. - To make things worse, I like to think of physical touch as one of Grantaire's main love languages, so he's just been casually not believing his friends love him for like seven years. - The consent games mentioned are ones we've done for the play I'm working on! Green-Yellow-Red is pretty explained, but for the other (yes/no), you all stand in a circle. You say someone else's name, and they say either 'yes' or 'no'. If they say 'yes', you walk to stand by them and it's their turn. If they say 'no', you ask someone else. It's super simple but I love it and think it's super important.

#cuddling #grantaire #i love my son #hugging #grantaire deserves a hug #Les Miserables #les mis fic #les mis #joly #my other son #they're all my sons/daughters/nb children #consentual cuddling

8 notes · View notes