Disclaimer: I don't own Les Mis.

This was a birthday fic prompt over on tumblr for Textsfromumbridge/ ThinksInWords.

Prompt: Enjolras and Éponine meet online

Enjolras stared at his computer screen, dreading the next few hours to come. He was coming through the comments section on his web articles and deleting the unsavory ones. It seemed as though the females at the university thought the way to get his attention was to come onto his blog and leave insightful comments about his articles. However, instead of appearing as insightful they came across as insipid, desperate, and a little bit crass. So to keep the integrity of his blog he went through his weekly posts and deleted any of the comments that weren't directly related to his article or was obviously some sorority girl trying to get in his pants.

The idea for creating the website came about after a night of friendly drinking and tossing around ideas on how to get their words to reach more people, they had a fair number show up to rallies and meetings but it still paled in comparison to the number of students that attended. They set up the website and each of them had their own separate blog on the website.

Enjolras, being the administrator and leader wrote editorials on whatever story he felt needed attention and kept the calendar, meeting minutes, and meeting schedule up-to-date. Combeferre focused on education and occasional issues that didn't receive enough media attention because he was the only Amis aside from Enjolras that had the time and patience to do the research needed. Joly, being the medical student was obviously in charge of medical issues such as access and health care. Feuilly was in charge of women's and children's issue and Bahorel wrote about environmental issues with a focus on animal rights. Bossuet, despite his bad luck and misfortune in the stock market was actually brilliant in financial matters and ran an advice column for the students bogged down in debt. Jehan was in charge of the website development and drew a weekly satirical comic. Lastly, Grantaire just wrote sarcastic articles based on the more interesting comments left on the other's posts. It was perfect for the cynic and he somehow managed to educate people through his nihilistic opinions and was so popular he had even opened up a letters to the editor format where people could submit questions.

This week Enjolras had written about the recent budget cuts that the school was about to experience due to grant funding getting taken away. The area the school decided to cut were the scholarships and way they were planning on going about it was atrocious. Instead of looking at a student's GPA, their involvement in the university, work study, or how much they need the scholarship the school decided they were going to give every student a number and arrange them according to how much money the school spent on them. When he had written the article he had just learned of the plan so it was more of an informative post instead of his usual call to action, but at the end he stressed that the budget cuts were going to be the highlight of the next Amis meeting and urged everyone to come and help formulate a plan of action.

He was half-heartedly looking through the comments as this week they obviously had a reoccurring theme with comments like I'm good at raising things if you ever need my help with that and can't make the meeting but am willing to meet privately to 'discuss the options' with you. They weren't even trying to be clever anymore and they began to use too many emoticons, but one comment actually made him shake with laughter so loud Grantaire actually came to look.

Grantaire opened his mouth to ask what caused the laughter, but seeing the tears of mirth practically rolling down his roommate's face with a finger pointing to the computer screen erased the need for words.

"Hungry_for_you writes: I have an idea, you and me locked in the dean's office for a sit-in in protest. I know a great way to pass the time, we can even maculate." Grantaire couldn't even get the last three words out without clutching his sides in laughter.

"First of all, me needs to be I and second… don't use a word if you can't tell it's a verb. You need another word there, hon." He paused due to his own laughter, "Oh man, Enjy… this one deserves to be posted on the wall of shame!"

Enjolras reached for one of his notecards on his desk and quickly wrote the comment down, "For the wall, R and that one deserves to be ranked pretty high. No matter what the others say, because we all know out of everyone this is the most hilarious comment to come across this website." Grantaire plucked the card out of his hand and practically ran out of the room in glee.

Enjolras turned back to the comments page and decided to leave that one just in case his friends didn't believe him when they saw the new addition to the number one spot on the wall when they came home and got ready to prune some more comments. He instantly regretted it when he came across a comment that contained more than just a little innuendo. The words barely registered in his brain he was so surprised that someone would be that explicit and what did manage to stay in his brain were burned into it. He didn't even know there were that many positions that made use of a desk!

He stared at his screen in shock and disgust and decided he was officially done for the night. However, the first line of the next comment was visible at the top of the screen and his eyes were drawn to it before he could move the mouse and exit out of the window. All he could see was the screen name but it was enough to make him pause, it was the_flower_that_blooms_in_adversity and while he was unwilling to admit it to his fellow friends Mulan had always been one of his favorite Disney movies.

He scrolled past so that the entire comment was visible. It was rather long as Enjolras began to read,

"I'm one of those scholarship students that are currently living in fear that my scholarship is going to get taken away from me. My GPA is a 3.76, my attendance is perfect, and I work two jobs on campus that equal out to be between twenty five to thirty hours a week along with taking the full course load my scholarship requires (15 hours). I have never turned in an assignment late, showed up to work late, or called in sick unexpectedly. I also have custody of my two younger siblings, one in high school and the other is in junior high.

However, despite all of that I am in fear of losing my scholarship, a scholarship that is the only way I can stay in school, because I am a full ride student.

At the same time I know a student that plagiarizes over half his paper, buys the rest online from students in a similar position as I, never shows up to his work study or appointments, and continually skips class. This student has nothing to fear because he has a scholarship that only pays for half of his tuition and is actually bragging about it to the rest of us.

I am telling you this so that you know a personal account of how some of us feel because you, obviously, are not in constant fear right now that your life is about to take a drastic turn. You talk about all of these issues and you are stressing action along with showing up to your meetings but you don't take a second to realize that the students most affected by this are most likely going to be working their asses off at one of their many jobs and can't come to your idealistic group's meeting.

This is a very important issue and does require attention and action to be drawn to it, but given your groups past you are a lot of talk and very little action aside from raising social awareness on your website and around campus. And the action that you do act on produces terrible results and never achieves what you set out to do ( I am of course, referring to the time the cops showed up at one of your rallies and used tear gas when a riot broke out and got everyone arrested).

I urge you to take caution in your approach to this and listen to other people's ideas so that you can be successful in this endeavor because this is something that many of us can't afford to have happen to us simply because of how much money the scholarship has to spend on us."

Enjolras leaned back in his chair with a smile on his lips. Finally, someone with a brain comments on the blog and they actually gave some good advice. I wonder what else they have to say, he thought as he leaned forward to click the email reply button and eagerly started penning his reply.

A few weeks had passed since he sent his first email and he was quickly realizing that it was the best decision he could have ever made. The person at the other end had an amazing idea for combatting the school's decision. They suggested contacting all of the scholarship students that were in the same position and organize a time when everyone would stand outside the dean's building, holding signs up that stated, "I am not a number or dollar signs, I am a person." The signs would also say their current GPA, attendance record, number of hours they worked a week, and (if the person was willing) why they needed the scholarship.

He was thrilled with the idea and even suggested calling some of the local papers to give them the scoop, a suggestion that was well received. The Amis were also on board with the idea and were shocked that Enjolras could come up with such a passive, powerful plan. He refused to tell them anything as to how the plan developed and continued to talk and plan with the unknown person. This led to them talking to each other every night since, working out the plans before the conversation would ultimately dissolve into friendly chatting.

From their chats he was able to deduce that the person on the other end was a female, which to be honest, surprised him. He wasn't used to smart, level-headed women talking to him aside from his friend's sisters and their girlfriends, or Éponine who was so in love with Marius that Enjolras didn't think she noticed anyone else. It was refreshing to not feel objectified by an unknown person of the opposite sex and he found himself starting to fall for whoever was on the other end, and he knew that was the main reason for not wanting to tell his friends about his accomplice. They would know instantly how he felt and he hadn't come to terms with it himself and thus didn't want to be subjected to the jokes or romantic advice from his friends.

Because of his feelings he wanted to know more about her, but every time he tried to ask any probing questions she would deflect and return to whatever meaningless fluff conversation they were having previously. Granted, those conversations were enough to know her, but not enough to really know her. He wanted to respect her privacy so he would never broach the topic again but it didn't quell his desire to know more so he tried to search for other, more subtle ways to find out information.

One of the things he was dying to ask her about was his screen name. Yes, it was a commonly known quote from a beloved Disney movie but it was an unusual screen name. So he decided he was going to ask her about it that night after they finished deciding the day they would do the protest and broach the topic by using a little bit of self-deprecating humor.

TheModernSaint-Just: So we are all set for two weeks from now; Thursday at 8 am correct? I talked to two of the people you sent me and they will be there at the start, will you be able to?

the_flower_that_blooms_in_adversity: I'm not sure yet, I have to take care of some things at my brother's school and I don't know how long it will take.

But you will be there, right? How will I know who you are?

I will and you won't.

Enjolras knew by her short reply that the subject was closed and decided to put his plan into action.

Okay. So I have to admit that your screen name is what caused me to pause long enough to read your comment. It's unusual… and it's from one of my favorite movies.

Secret Disney fan then, huh?

Yes. I would like to blame my younger sister and her love of the princess films, but sadly I can't. Mulan was my favorite and the best one on in my opinion and so I would casually suggest it every time she begged to watch a movie with me (I always wanted to be able to say that it was her idea if someone caught me watching it- and I still use that excuse today only instead of my sister I can convince Jehan). I have the entire movie memorized… and if you mention that to anyone there will be consequences ;)

My lips are sealed, Cri-kee.

Very funny. Anyways I was wondering why you chose that phrase as your username?

Enjolras hit the send button with trepidation and hoped that he would finally get something personal out of her. After all, most people tended to pick screen names that have some meaning and could therefore tell you quite a lot about a person.

It's from a happier time

Meaning?

The movie came out when I was a child and my father took me to go see it at the theater. I was a daddy's girl and he worked so much that we rarely got to spend time together so the times we did are precious. When my family started to fall on hard time it was difficult for me to process. I always got what I wanted and all of a sudden that changed and my parents were worried all the time. On some nights when I was terrified, when we didn't know where we would sleep, he would hug me and quote that line from Mulan to make me feel better. This was before the situation got to my parents and changed them for the worst and it just helps me remember.

Enjolras leaned forward to put his hands on the keyboard, glad that him divulging that embarrassing tidbit seemed to work in getting her to loosen up. But before he could finish typing his response she had already sent one back.

I have to go, my sister needs to get on the computer to type up her report for school.

She signed off before Enjolras could say goodbye and he was left wondering if he made a mistake.

Luckily it appeared that he didn't scare her off as they resumed their normal chatting activities the next night and their chats seemed less restrained. She was more willing to share small tidbits (nothing too revealing, of course) and would laugh easily. In return, Enjolras was more light-hearted in his conversations with her. They weren't always focused on his activism or the next big plan and it was freeing to just be able to talk to someone.

Enjolras was sitting in the Musain, a bar that was on campus and the meeting place for all the Amis, surrounded by his friends and contemplating how he could get her to open up more and eventually let him know who she was.

"Enjy!" R yelled, disrupting his thoughts.

He looked up from his drink so look at his inebriated friend, prompting him with a nod to continue.

"We just convinced Éponine to join us for a drinking game now that her shift is done. You should join us! We are playing a variation of Truth or Dare. You can either answer the question being asked or do the dare and if you refuse you have to take some shots, the challenger gets to pick... you know you want to…." R trailed off in a sing-song voice.

Enjolras cringed at the thought of playing the game, "No thanks, I think I will just be an observer tonight. Besides, I have a feeling that after this game some of you will need help getting home."

His eyes scanned the table to look at his friends, they had all had a number of drinks already and he was not looking forward to the end of the night. His eyes settled on the last person to join the table, the only one besides him that was sober, and noticed that she had managed to strategically place herself directly in front of Marius and kept quickly glancing up to look at him before looking away. During one of her glances she noticed Enjolras staring at her and quickly dropped her eyes down to study the drink her hands, her shame at being caught apparent by the slump of her shoulders, her hair creating a curtain around her face and the redness blooming across her face. She peeked up and he could see her eyes staring at him through her hair. He gave her a small smile to let her know that he understood and that she wouldn't receive any condemnation from him. After all, he had recently entered into the realm of unrequited love.

Their eyes were still glued to each other when R exclaimed loudly, "Alright! 'Ferre, you're up first! Truth of Dare!"

The suddenness of it all startled them and they looked away from each other quickly, both hoping nobody caught them.

The attention of the table shifted to Combeferre as he sat contemplating which one he would pick. He was always the more analytical of the group and Enjolras was actually surprised that R would pick him first, but suspected R was trying to catch him off guard to get him to spontaneously make a decision. Enjolras sighed and wished that R would just see that his constant attempts were futile.

About five minutes passed before Combeferre gave his response. "Truth."

R cackled with glee and rubbed his hands together in a villainous manner. "Who do you keep sneaking into our apartment late at night when you think everyone is asleep?"

Enjolras could see that Combeferre was shocked to be asked that question and that that never factored into his decision in saying truth. It was very rare to catch him off-guard and he suspected that Combeferre was just drunk enough to actually answer him.

"She's a fellow researcher in my lab, but our P.I. frowns on inter-lab relations so we have to keep it a secret… kindly keep it as such. " He mumbled just low enough for everyone to hear him and moved on quickly to the next victim before anyone could probe further. "Jehan, you're up."

"Dare." He gulped.

Combeferre thought for a moment, "I dare you to go up to the microphone on stage and recite a poem that you make up on the spot."

Jehan nodded bravely, took a shot, and walked up to the stage. He decided on a haiku on how his friends dared him to do this. He gave it his best overdramatic reading, including a bow at the end that caused everyone in the bar to burst out laughing.

Skipping back to the table his hopped back onto his stool he smiled widely before turning to Bahorel.

"Truth of Dare?"

Bahorel shouted truth without evening thinking about it, causing Jehan to grin so deviously he looked like the Cheshire cat.

"Favorite movie… and your real favorite, not the one you tell everyone." Jehan said, practically jumping up and down in excitement. He had caught Bahorel alone in the apartment of day watching the movie with a pint of ice cream.

Bahorel glared at him before taking another drink. He squared his shoulder and cracked his knuckles, "Pretty in Pink… with Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion a close second." He answered proudly, daring anyone to comment on it.

However, none of the Amis could bring themselves to form words they were laughing so hard.

"This is why I tell everyone my favorite movie is Fight Club, although I don't understand why you all are laughing. Ducky is a BAMF and the goth chick from Romy and Michelle is sarcastic gold." He said to Jehan.

It took a few minutes for the table to calm down and Bahorel settled his gaze on Joly, intent on revenge. "Joly, Truth or Dare."

"Dare."

"I dare you to lay your head on the bar table for five minutes and not go wash your face after." Bahorel said maliciously. Enjolras rolled his eyes, wondering why on earth Bahorel would give a dare he knew Joly would back out of.

Joly gulped before replying, "I…. I… Nope. Not gonna do it."

Bahorel laughed, "Alright, three shots… Tequila." He said before lining up the shot glasses and filling them with Jose. With that Enjolras finally understood why Bahorel decided on the dare.

Joly nodded before slamming the shots. When he finished he turned to Marius, and gave him the choice.

"Dare."

"I dare you to go kiss the blond waitress you have been crushing on."

Marius jumped up with glee and went to go find the waitress. The kiss didn't let up and the table turned back to resume the game.

"Well, since he is obviously not coming back I will take his place. So… Éponine, truth or dare." Jehan piped up.

Enjolras was staring at her in sympathy and knew that Jehan would be gentle in whatever he asked. Her grief at seeing Marius kiss her co-worker was obvious on her face and Enjolras could see his friends giving her similar looks.

Éponine looked back at her drink before replying hoarsely. "Truth."

Jehan sat for a moment and contemplated his question. "Alright, well a lot of us don't know much about you so how about… You're favorite quote?"

Enjolras wasn't surprised at the question their resident poet gave her as Jehan always had a love of words.

Éponine was obviously still shook up for Marius that she answered almost immediately and absentmindedly, "It's from my favorite movie, Mulan, the quote about the flower."

She didn't look at anyone as she gathered her things and stood to leave. "I have to go. I just remembered that my sister had a test to study for with some friends and I need to go home to be with my brother." With one last glance at the passionate couple on the other side of the room she ran out with a stricken face.

Enjolras sat up straight in his chair; his brain didn't process what she had said until she left because he had been so focused on wanting to make sure that she was okay. And of course he had now lost his opportunity to run after her upon realizing that Éponine was the one he had been chatting with all this time.

His mind still reeling from the shock he turned to his friends to make his excuses and left. He decided to walk home so that he could think about what had just occurred and gave his keys to Feuilly since he had had the least to drink after a promise that he would wait to drive everyone home until he had sobered up.

By the time he had arrived home he wondered why he was so dense in the first place. Looking back through all of their conversations it should have been obvious who he was talking to. Everything lined up and he had truly fallen into the same situation as Éponine herself. But, unlike Éponine, he was not going to stay on the sidelines and watch her pine after Marius. No, he was going to find a way to shift her feelings from Marius to him. He sat down and his computer to come up with a plan, not realizing that he didn't have that far to go in convincing her.

Enjolras enacted his plan almost immediately, he was tired of having to hide behind a computer screen and seeing Éponine working every night at the Musain was not helpful when all he want to do was grab her in his arms, kissing her senselessly.

He decided the best way was to use the same approach he did when finding out her user name. Over the next week and a half he found out that she was much more receptive to answering questions if he started the conversation. He had start off gently and ended up finding out a lot, but she still was close-lipped about anything to do with her family. He was the same and he was worried about opening himself up so much to someone with the possibility of getting rejected when he revealed his feelings. He decided that that night was the night to quick being scared and to jump right in.

They had been comparing and contrasting the role of female characters between her two favorite novels, Persuasion and They Mysteries of Udolpho, when he decided to shift the conversation towards family.

I enjoy looking at the different familial backgrounds between both of the characters and seeing how their relationships with different family members effected their decisions and the course their life ultimately took.

That can be said of anyone, I think. I mean, I know that my experiences with my family are the main reason for who I am today. For example, if my father wasn't a complete asshole bigot I wouldn't be as active as I am now. He seemed to make it his past time to comment on the misfortune as others while nit-picking my life to pieces.

Same here. But I guess I identify with it in these two books because they hit kind of close to home.

How so?

Enjolras waited, preparing himself with a funny yet embarrassing story about the time he accidentally locked himself inside his high school, handcuffed to some band lockers mind you, when he was protesting cuts to the art department just in case he needed to throw that out there.

My family fell on ruin, as you already know, and after a while my father started to get desperate and he began to get in with a bad crowd. He forced my siblings and I to work for him and when I grew older one of his buddies offered enough money for me that he tried to sell me off to him. That was the day that I packed my bags and left. I immediately found a lawyer who was willing to work pro-bono and I cut ties off with them completely and when I turned 18 I began to petition the courts to gain custody of my younger sister and brother. My sister was old enough to make her own decisions according to them, and I only got my brother because my parents couldn't even remember his name the day we met in court.

Do your siblings miss your parents at all?

Not at all, we have our disagreements of course, and sometimes I think they wish I was home more… but they both understand that I am doing what I have to. My sister helps out a lot with my brother, which I am extremely grateful for but it doesn't stop me from wishing I could be there to help him with his homework every night.

Enjolras sat and contemplated his response to her when she sent another message.

I'm sorry, I have to go again. My brother seems to have gotten himself into a mess and I have the neighbor banging on my door to complain.

I hope he didn't do anything too terrible… I also hope I didn't drive you away with our current conversation.

Thank you, but knowing him it was… last time I got that severe of a knock he decided to take a bite out of every single tomato in our neighbors prize winning gardens… he thought they were apples because they were all green.

And no, you aren't driving me away… I don't usually talk about these things, but there is something about you that just seems safe. I trust you.

Enjolras burst out laughing reading the line about the mischief her brother got into at times and his heart lightened with hope when he read that she trusted him.

He does sound like a handful! And… I am glad that you trust me… the feeling is mutual just so you know. Good night and sweet dreams.

He hoped he didn't sound too corny wishing her goodnight and she logged of before responding to him.

It was the morning of the protest and Enjolras was pleasantly surprised at the number of students that had shown up and participated. Over a hundred students had shown up, all wearing identical expressions of anger and frustration holding signs up stating their stats.

Before stepping up on the podium Enjolras tried to find Éponine in the crowd but it was so thick that he couldn't see past the third row.

"Hey, Enjy!"

He turned his head to see all of the Amis walking towards him, all wearing a triumphant grin.

"I think this may be your best one yet! It certainly has the best turn out…. When are you finally going to admit who helped you with this?" Combeferre asked.

Enjolras turned away, pretending to survey the crowd so they wouldn't see the slight blush across his cheeks as he lied. "No one, I told you the idea just came to me when I was researching the requirements to be eligible for the different levels of scholarships."

He could see that Combeferre didn't believe him, and to be honest, he didn't expect to be to pull that over him. 'Ferre had known him his whole life and was his closest friend so being able to tell when he was lying was practically second nature. Thankfully, all he got was a look before he had to step up and make his speech. He was so focused on trying to find Éponine that he didn't even remember giving his speech, the only indication of it was the roaring applause at the end and the congratulations he received as he made his way back to his friends.

Throughout the rest of the morning he mingled within the crowd and talked to some of the reporters while keeping an eye out for Éponine. He never saw her show up and he began to feel antsy. This was the first time he had ever wanted his protest to end so that they could have a celebratory drink at the Musain and he knew that Éponine would be there working.

By the time the evening arrived Enjolras was a ball of nerves. They had successfully gotten the dean to change the method they were going to use to cut funding and it was going to take everything ounce of self-control he had to not run up to her, pick her up in his arms, and twirl her around in celebration. He never got the chance to test his will since the Musain was so busy the waitress could hardly have time to breathe. So Enjolras could see Éponine running around frantically and resolved himself to waiting until they chatted later that night to tell her the good news. He also decided that he was done with pretending to not know who she was. This whole day seemed to prove that to him at every turn. He wanted to celebrate his successes with her, acknowledge her brilliance at coming up with the successful plan, and most of all, acknowledge his feelings for her in public.

He made his excuses almost immediately after seeing Éponine leave for the night and went home to log onto his computer.

We were a success! Were you there today?

Congrats…. No.

Enjolras was puzzled by her terse reply.

I hope whatever kept you was nothing serious.

I was held up at my brother's school... He decided to protest his teacher's decision of giving him a detention for not completing his assignment by letting a stink bomb lose in her classroom during lunch the other day. I was stuck in the principal's office most of the morning trying to convince them to not suspend him.

Sigh… boys will be boys. Were you successful?

Thankfully, yes. But not after they gave him detention for a month.

Hopefully that works and deters future rebellious acts… although I must admit, I never did and I suspect you were your own brand of difficult.

That I was… When I was his age I didn't like to be told what to do and had no problem expressing my opinion.

I can see that.

Enjolras paused, taking a deep breath to regain his confidence.

So, I was thinking about you most of the day today.

Were you now?

Yes. Everywhere I turned I hoped I would find you. There was no one I wanted to share today with more.

That's understandable, I guess. We did sort of share this idea together and it would make sense to want to share in the success.

That wasn't just it…

I don't understand

What I am trying to say is that I wanted you there as more than a friend… I find myself thinking about you a lot. I want to sit with you and talk to you in person, to share in the day's event with you, to be affectionate with you, to sit on the couch and cuddle as we watch Mulan together.

Enjolras continued on, spurred by the relief he felt finally confessing his feelings for her and pouring out his desires to her. All that was left was to tell her that he knew who she was and maybe, just maybe, they would put this silliness behind them and they could do all the things he just suggested and more.

I think we finally had one of these conversations in person, Éponine.

He paused and waited, holding his breath in anticipation.

*the_flower_that_blooms_in_adversity has logged off*