Enjolras was pretending to listen to Marius talk when Eponine ran up to them. She had a smile that lit up her face entirely, and it made Enjolras smile, despite it not being directed at him.

"Guess what monsieur Marius!" She interrupted, clinging onto his arm. Enjolras hated that pet name.

"What is it 'Ponine?" Marius replied, not seeming too bothered about being cut off.

"I got an apartment!"

"That's fantastic!"

"Montparnasse isn't coming with you is he?" Enjolras put in.

Eponine looked almost shocked that he had spoken to her. "No…"

"How did he react when you told him?" Enjolras pressed on. He found it hard to believe she actually left Montparnasse. They had a very stereotypical abusive relationship, with Eponine constantly crawling back to him whenever he claimed he would never do it again.

"Well... He left last week for a trip with his friends... So I haven't really gotten around to telling him yet..."

"Oh, 'Ponine! You know that's not going to end well."

"Anyway," Eponine chirped cheerfully, clearly not wanting to talk about not-quite-ex-boyfriend. "I was really hoping you could help me paint, Monsieur. It seems like such a big job to do on my own!"

"Oh I would love to, but I have plans with Cosette."

"All reading break?"

"Basically" Eponine's face fell drastically.

"I can help you Eponine." Enjolras put in. The other two seems extremely surprised, and he couldn't really blame them. It's not quite like the two of them were very good friends. People were always put off by his slight social awkwardness, despite being such a good public speaker. He loved talking to crowds; it was individual people he had problems with. He was often labelled as rude or a douchebag by people he just met, because of his hatred for small talk. And Eponine seemed so sure of herself when she spoke to people, always saying exactly what the other party wanted to hear. Because of these differences, they mainly stayed away from each other, despite all their mutual friends. He himself wasn't even to sure why he offered to help her. She had just looked so sad when Marius declined her; he did the first thing he thought could brighten her spirit.

Eponine studied him for a second, perhaps to see if he was being genuine, and then smiled brightly. "Sure! I would love that!"