1. Margaritaville

As expected, the sharp knock – 1, 2, 3 – sounds on his door at exactly midnight. Before he has a chance to answer, Eponine strolls into the apartment and falls dramatically onto his couch with a groan.

Enjolras surveys her over the top of his laptop, smirking when he notices the messy bun piled on top of her head. There was no doubt her hair had either been immaculately curled or straightened before leaving for her date earlier that night. Judging by the state of it now, said date had not gone so well. He felt not a single trace of surprise.

"I can see you've met the man you're going to marry," he deadpans, and Eponine looks up to briefly glare at him.

"Haha. I'm laughing on the inside."

"Seriously, though, what was it this time?"

Eponine's nose scrunches up in distaste. "Okay, so. I know people in this city are legitimately crazy about the Saints. I understand that football is a big deal here. But he talked about it for two solid hours. Two hours! I almost spilled my tea on myself on purpose just to have a really good excuse to leave."

Enjolras closes his laptop and asks with amusement, "If it was that bad, why didn't you?"

"I didn't want to be rude."

Enjolras shakes his head and sighs, rising to complete the now familiar routine of at least two Saturday nights of every month. He walks into the kitchen, grabs two Abita beers (one Strawberry), and brings them back to the living room. Eponine takes the Strawberry Abita with a small smile and leans her head back against the couch.

Silence descends for at least ten minutes, but it doesn't feel uncomfortable or awkward; in fact, this is the most relaxed Enjolras has felt all day. He is so relaxed, in fact, that he props his feet up on Combeferre's beloved antique coffee table, which prompts Eponine to immediately swat at his legs.

"You know 'Ferre will get mad if you scuff up his table."

"It's fine. He won't even notice."

Eponine shrugs in deference, but leaves her hand on his leg. It's fine; Enjolras will just pretend he can't feel her long, thin fingers burning a hole through his jeans, and the comfortable silence falls once more.

"Where did he take you anyway?" he finally asks.

Eponine snorts and turns her head to gauge his reaction. "Margaritaville. In the Quarter."

Enjolras looks at her in disbelief and then begins to laugh.

She swats at him again and says through her own laughter, "Well it's not that bad!"

"Yes, it is. You don't take a date to a place where Jimmy Buffet music constantly plays and you can sit on cheap tire swings at a bar. And then talk about football for two hours."

"So where do you take a date?" Eponine asks, her expression suddenly turning curious. "I think you've been on only one in the infinite number of years I've known you."

Enjolras clears his throat a little uncomfortably and thinks for a moment before turning to Eponine on the couch. "I don't know. Maybe Domenica...quiet enough to talk, good drinks, great food. Classy, but not too fancy. Anywhere but a tourist trap like Margaritaville."

The corner of Eponine's mouth turns up. "Nice. Well at least my date had good intentions...just not very good execution."

"Good intentions don't always translate," Enjolras agrees, and something about the statement rings a little too true for him.

Eponine yawns and stretches, lifting her arms above her head. "Yeah, well. I guess I should get going, it's almost 1."

"I'll walk you home." Enjolras stands and offers his hand to pull Eponine off the couch as she looks at him in exasperation.

"Enjolras, you don't have to walk me home every time it's dark out. It's just across the street. What's going to happen, honestly?"

Enjolras shrugs and walks to the front door, opening it and leading Eponine out with one hand on the small of her back. "You never know. This is New Orleans."

"You could just stand at the window and watch me walk across. I'll even turn around and wave to you from the porch," Eponine protests. This is the same conversation they have every time she comes over late at night. It never changes, and neither of them expect it to. It was just what they did now. They were halfway across the street already and still bickering back and forth.

"Yeah, and what if while I'm watching, some creep decides to come rob you? And then by the time I get there, he's already taken off with your stuff?"

Eponine laughs wryly. "It's not like he'd be getting much. Rob away."

"That's not the point."

Now they had reached the front door of the double Eponine shared with Courfeyrac and Grantaire, and they turn to stare at each other in annoyance for a moment. Enjolras wonders if it was as fake for Eponine as it is for him at this point. Somewhere along the line, real annoyance had turned into a routine, a one-act play, a strange place of comfort that neither were quite ready to confront.

"Well, thanks, Mr. Chivalrous, for walking me home."

"You're welcome. Good night, Eponine."

"Good night, Enj." Eponine quickly unlocks the front door and slips inside, giving him one last smile before the door clicks shut. It's much easier to walk across with her than it is to trudge alone back across the street, but he does it anyway, unfailingly, every Saturday night Eponine comes home from one of her dates.

And his mind will definitely not focus on her for the rest of the night. Nope. Not at all.

Well, hello. Hm.

So, I kind of feel guilty for posting this. I've gotten quite a few messages from readers lately wondering when the hell I'm going to update The Habit of Being Happy and finally post Until the Earth is Free.

Honestly, I don't know. I'm so ridiculously busy with school and writing lesson plans and teaching, I literally work from 6 am to 7 or 8 pm every night. And most weekends I'm up at school working some more or trying to unwind with friends. And my mind doesn't want to focus enough to actually sit down and write.

But I've been really hooked on Enjonine lately (despite the craziness of the Tumblr tag), and had this idea this morning after a night of rare and really good sleep. The inspiration was there, so I just had to go for it. Hope you enjoyed this first part and hopefully I'll get some more posted soon!

Follow me on tumblr at moonlightandmagnolias85 . tumblr . com. :) And please review!

~A