A/N: Hey guys! So, inspiration struck today. I wrote this just now and decided what the hell? Why wait?

It's rated M for a reason. Smut already in this first chapter.

Hope you enjoy, and please leave a review!

It was only the beginning of the semester when trouble started; they'd barely been back at school for two weeks. Then again, ever since Eponine started hanging around the Amis, trouble had followed her.

Enjolras had to break her of her pick-pocketing habit immediately, considering if she was caught stealing from other students and staff she would surely be expelled from the university. Not to mention it was just morally wrong, and the thought appalled him.

Then she'd gotten thrown into jail for helping her father with some scheme, and they'd all had to bail her out at three o'clock in the morning. (And what an epic fight between the two of them that had been. Definitely one for the record books. Never mind the fact that the entire time they fought Enjolras wanted to throw her against the wall and bang her senseless.)

And then, of course, after she refused to help her father anymore after said epic fight, his thugs had beaten the shit out of her one night. Enjolras never told her just how they convinced her father and his cronies to stay away from her from then on, but lets just say the Amis were more than surprised at the amount of weapons stored in his father's safe. Even Thenardier seemed to be scared of an angry Enjolras holding a gun to his head.

Enjolras should be used to trouble by now, considering it had been more than a year since she first came into their lives. But, when you lived for twenty-one years in relative calm, a hurricane like Eponine took more than a year to grow accustomed to.

Enjolras jumped as Eponine threw her books down in the chair next to him, but barely gave her a second glance. He didn't need the distraction tonight, and certainly didn't need the ridiculous sex dreams that seeing her had brought on lately.

"Whoa, Ep...you alright there?" Joly asked kindly.

"No, I'm not alright. These assholes haven't given me my scholarship money yet and I can't pay my fucking rent without it. I don't know what to do."

Enjolras did look up at this, his brow furrowed. "Why haven't they given you your money?" He bit his lip, resisting tell her to also watch her language.

"They haven't said why, only that it's 'delayed,' whatever that means. I'm screwed without it."

Enjolras felt for her; even if she annoyed the shit out of him and made him angrier than all of his other friends combined sometimes, Eponine was an exceptional student and one of the hardest working people Enjolras had ever met. He respected her for that.

"I'm sure they'll get it to you soon, Eponine," Marius remarked. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

Eponine nodded, but still looked distracted.

"Listen, Ep, do you need help? I can loan you your share of the rent for this month if you need me to," Courfeyrac offered.

Eponine sighed and ran a hand through her hair. If there was one thing they had all learned about Eponine Thenardier in the last year it was that she didn't accept handouts. So this meant she had to be desperate.

"Actually...yeah, Courf, I would appreciate it. I swear I'll pay you back as soon as this school gets it's act together." Her voice was smaller than normal, Enjolras noticed. He could tell it pained her having to accept someone else's help, though he couldn't understand why. Everyone needed help sometimes, and this was out of her control.

"No problem, Ep." Courfeyrac immediately grabbed his wallet and signed a check, handing it over to her. "I left it blank because I fully expect you not to take advantage of me."

Eponine cracked a smile at this and put it in her purse, giving Enjolras a glance when she realized he was still watching her.

"Listen, Eponine, if you need anymore help, don't hesitate to ask any of us," Enjolras said sincerely. "It's just a matter of time until your scholarship comes through, so we would all just think of it as a loan. Right?" The other guys nodded solemnly.

Eponine considered him for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip, then nodded brusquely. And that was the end of the conversation.

Until two weeks later, anyway, when Enjolras and Grantaire found Eponine fuming inside the financial aid office, demanding to talk to the Dean of Students about how guaranteed scholarship money can just suddenly up and walk away. She was so angry she looked near tears.

They knew better than to interrupt her ranting and raving, however, and waited for her outside the door.

"This doesn't sound good," Grantaire said quietly to him. "It sounds like she's not getting the money at all."

"I don't know how that's possible. They can't give someone a scholarship and then revoke it without the recipient having done something to lose it. And unless she's lying to us, she hasn't."

"She could be lying," Grantaire pointed out with a grin. "It's Eponine we're taking about here."

Enjolras shrugged and said calmly, "I prefer to give her the benefit of the doubt."

Just then, Eponine came out of the office, her face beet red and fingertips practically shooting sparks. She was so preoccupied she almost ran right into both of them.

"Jesus, guys, what the hell?"

Grantaire held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'm sorry! Don't shoot!"

"I'm not in the mood for this, asshat," Eponine muttered, and attempted to push past them.

Enjolras gently grabbed her elbow and Eponine whirled around, an instinctual response ingrained in her after years of being shoved around. She roughly shrugged him off, twisting her own arm in the process. "Don't touch me, Enjolras!"

"Eponine, stop it! We heard what you were saying. Tell us what happened," Enjolras attempted to say in a soothing voice. He held his hands up like Grantaire to let her know he wasn't going to try to touch her again.

Eponine heaved a sigh and seemed to deflate, turning to lean against the wall. "What happened is my scholarship money is gone. They're talking in circles – saying someone mismanaged their finances, or maybe moved the money to another account by accident, but...either way, it doesn't matter because it's not there. And without it, I can't stay here." By the end, Eponine actually looked on the verge of tears again and Grantaire's eyes were wide.

Enjolras leaned against the wall next to her, his mind already turning. "This doesn't sound right to me."

Eponine glanced at him and said accusingly, "Some fucking sympathy would be nice, Enj."

Enjolras rolled his eyes. "Do you want sympathy or do you want me to try and fix this?"

"You can't fix it. You're not all powerful, Enjolras. You can't fix everything. And I didn't ask you to fix it for me."

"I know that, Eponine," Enjolras said impatiently. "But maybe there's something else going on. It sounds kind of fishy, that amount of money just disappearing."

Combeferre worked in the financial aid office. And he was a computer genius...

Enjolras looked at Grantaire and raised his eyebrows. "Think Combeferre could find something out?"

"I don't want to get 'Ferre involved," Eponine hissed. "He shouldn't be snooping around or he'll get in trouble. And he needs his job as much as I need my scholarship."

Enjolras was about to answer when Grantaire shook his head and pulled Eponine forward, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Ah, but 'Ponine, you're one of us now. And we take care of each other."

And just like that, Grantaire diffused what would have surely turned into an another epic screaming match between them. Truthfully, Enjolras was a little disappointed. He rather enjoyed fighting with Eponine.

Only a week later, Combeferre turned up with some very interesting news. As smart as he was, Enjolras couldn't really follow how he had traced the money around to different locations, first within different school accounts, and then to a small bank a couple of towns over.

"Now, here's where it gets interesting," Combeferre said, leaning forward. Everyone else unconsciously leaned closer, too, as he lowered his voice. "Not a single person that teaches or works at this university uses this bank. It's in the middle of nowhere, seriously, just a little bank in this one-horse town with one stoplight. Except for this guy." Combeferre pulled out a file and handed it to Eponine.

"Glenn Claiborne? What does he teach?"

"He's a history professor," Enjolras supplied, a bit surprised to hear the name. "And you were able to trace the money to him, 'Ferre?"

"Not exactly. The money is at this bank. But his name isn't on the account; however, he does have separate checking and savings accounts there. It's the only connection I've found between someone here at the university and the missing money."

Eponine passed the file to Enjolras when he held out his hand for it, and Bossuet and Joly leaned over to read it with him.

"This guy is a total goon," Bossuet said. "I had him last semester. He totally sucked."

"If he did it," Eponine interrupted, "I mean, if he took the money...how do we prove it? If you haven't found something already, do you think you can?"

"I don't know," Combeferre admitted. "Honestly, I've done everything I know how to do. I can keep trying, absolutely, but I can't make any promises."

Marius frowned from across the table and said contemplatively, "And you realize we can't even tell them where the money is? Because then it would just incriminate us."

Cosette, Marius' girlfriend and Eponine's roommate said in her most irate tone (which meant she still sounded like a kitten), "But Eponine needs that money! That's not right, if we know exactly where it is and can't get it for her."

"We have to find more proof," Enjolras said firmly. "We have to find something definitive and find a way to give it to the university anonymously. That's the only way to keep ourselves in the clear and hopefully get the money back."

"I could break into his office," Eponine said seriously, and Marius almost spit his drink out, looking shocked at the prospect.

"Eponine!" Cosette exclaimed. "You can't do that! What if you're caught? You'd get kicked out of the university no matter what you found in there!"

"Oh ye of little faith," Eponine smirked. "I don't get caught."

Enjolras raised an eyebrow and contemplated her for a minute. "What do you think you could find there?"

"I don't know...maybe he has a bank statement or some paper trail that links him to this account where the money is. It's worth it to look, isn't it?"

Enjolras looked back down at the file for a minute, then cleared his throat. "Well. Combeferre, you're going to keep digging, too, right?"

"Yeah, absolutely."

Enjolras turned back to Eponine and leaned forward. "I'll make you a deal, Eponine."

"Oh? And what deal is that, Enj?"

"If Combeferre hasn't found anything else in a week, I'll break into Claiborne's office with you."

Eponine laughed uproariously, throwing her head back in ecstasy and letting Enjolras know exactly what she thought about his offer to break the rules for her. She always accused him of being all talk and no action, after all. When she was finished with her hysterics, Eponine reached over to shake his hand. "Okay, Pretty Boy. You have a deal."

"Hurry up," Enjolras hissed. "I hear someone coming."

Eponine simply shot him a quick glare, her nimble fingers twisting the lock-pick in her hand this way and that. "I'm doing it as fast as I can."

Never in his life did Enjolras imagine that he would be breaking into a professor's office, especially with a girl who knew exactly what she was doing and didn't seem fazed by breaking and entering in the slightest. (Fuck, he actually found it kind of hot. He was past the point of kidding himself anymore.) But here they were, Eponine calm and collected and Enjolras sweating bullets as they stood in the hallway. Combeferre hadn't been able to find anything else about the money or Professor Claiborne, so true to his word, Enjolras agreed to accompany Eponine to break into his office. The rest of the Amis were waiting anxiously for them at the Musain, their favorite coffee shop, and had strict instructions to go to the jail and bail them out if they weren't back by ten o'clock that evening.

Finally, Enjolras heard the lock slide out of place and Eponine grinned at him triumphantly, quickly opening the door and slipping inside the office.

"Okay," Enjolras said, immediately taking charge once they were out of the hallway (and remembering to lock the door again behind them), "So we're looking for anything out of the ordinary in the way of bank statements or transfers. Or anything that has the name of your scholarship on it."

"Yeah," Eponine said distractedly, already riffling carefully through the man's desk drawers and barely making a sound. She was skilled, Enjolras had to admit.

Enjolras joined her, opening drawers on the other side of the desk and quickly moving aside loose papers and pens. Apparently, Professor Claiborne wasn't very organized.

"What are you doing?" Eponine gasped, swatting his hands away from the desk. "You can't do it like that, you idiot!"

"Like what?"

"All messy! You have to careful, put everything back the way it was. Or else he'll know someone's been in here. Come on, Enjolras, you're not a dumbass. I know you've never done this breaking and entering thing before, but Jesus."

Enjolras felt the tips of his ears turning red. "Sorry. I'm not a hardened criminal like some people around here."

Eponine glared at him again and heaved a sigh, but soon turned back to her own drawers. They went through the desk in silence for a few more minutes, until Eponine thrust a paper under Enjolras' nose.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Enjolras took the paper and glanced at it. It was a deposit receipt for the bank account Combeferre had turned up, for the exact amount of money Eponine had been informed her scholarship was mysteriously short on. The date on the receipt lined up, too.

Enjolras got up and quickly crossed the room to the copy machine, running the paper through. He folded the copy of the receipt and slipped it into his pocket, giving the original back to Eponine to put back in the drawer.

"It's a good start," Enjolras said, but froze at the sound of a familiar voice in the hallway.

"Oh, shit," Eponine muttered, quickly closing the desk drawer and standing. She looked around frantically and flew to the window, but Enjolras, actually keeping his head for once, grabbed her elbow and shook his head.

"We'll never make it," he whispered. "Just get in the closet."

Eponine frowned, but followed him across the room to the coat closet. She slipped inside as he held the door open, and he wedged himself in against her, both of them barely fitting into what was clearly the tiniest closet known to man. She reached around him to pull the door closed just as Professor Claiborne finished his conversation in the hallway and entered his office.

Eponine froze, her arms still around his waist and her hand on the doorknob. She was pressed flush against him and Enjolras groaned inwardly. This was not a good position to be in with her.

"Can you back up at all?" he whispered quietly.

"No. I'm against the wall," she whispered back. "I'm sorry being so close to me is so incredibly repulsive for you."

"It's not," Enjolras insisted. It was actually quite the opposite, and unless he could control his body, she was going to know that in about thirty seconds. Enjolras closed his eyes and titled his head back, trying to ignore her breath against his collarbone. He reached out to steady himself against the back of the closet, his arms boxing her in on either side.

Music began to play quite loudly from inside the office, a sure sign that Professor Claiborne wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and solidly convincing Enjolras that this was absolutely the worst idea of his life. He closed his eyes and began to think about all of the unattractive things her could call to mind, desperately trying to ignore Eponine's hands at his waist and her head against his chest.

She suddenly shifted, however, and before Enjolras knew it, one of his legs was securely wedged between her thighs. And he was hard. Very, very hard, and now pressing against her with absolutely no hope of hiding it. He let out a strangled sound of exasperation and felt Eponine grin against his neck as she felt him, her hands suddenly tangled in his shirt.

"Well, hello there," she whispered, laughter evident in her voice. "Maybe you're not so repulsed by me after all. Does all of our bickering actually turn you on, Enjolras?"

"Eponine, I swear to God..."

"What?" Her lips were now against his ear, and she was clearly enjoying this. "Do you want me to do something about it? I could help, you know..." He knew she was just teasing him, back in her element and reveling in the power she now knew she had over him.

"I want you to shut up," he whispered as forcefully as he could, and grabbed her waist, holding her as far away from him as he could, which only resulted in an inch or so more of space.

"You're absolutely infuriating," Eponine snapped, but kept her mouth closed for the next several minutes as the music continued to play. It seemed she couldn't resist torturing him for very long, however, because she soon wiggled her hips against his and moved her arms to circle his neck. He almost couldn't believe it – she usually stayed as far away from him as she could, recoiling every time their legs or hands brushed under a table.

"Eponine, you need to stop," Enjolras whispered, pleading this time. He literally couldn't stop himself from pushing against her, however, grabbing her hips and grinding into her.

"I don't want to." Her voice was breathy, and the teasing tone was completely absent now, throwing him for a loop.

Enjolras swallowed, wondering if the world had actually completely gone mad. How did they go from bickering about breaking and entering to basically dry humping each other in a closet?

"Just admit it, Enjolras...all the fighting we do? You like it," Eponine purred seductively against his neck. There was really only two possible scenarios going on here: either she was having the time of her life messing with him and would use this as blackmail every day for the rest of their lives, or she meant it.

"We can't do this right now, not with him out there..." Enjolras protested weakly.

Eponine smiled and began to boldly nibble at his Adam's apple. "Well, it's a good thing I heard him leave a few minutes ago then."

Enjolras stopped and listened, realizing the music was now off. He'd been too preoccupied to notice. His hand immediately reached for the doorknob, but Eponine stopped him with a forceful grind of her hips against his and a growl from the back of her throat. She grabbed his hand and brought it between them. Enjolras was too shocked at her forwardness to protest.

"Please, Enj..." She actually sounded a little bit nervous now, as her fingers gripped his wrist.

"How do I know you're not fucking with me?" Enjolras asked, his other hand reaching up to grasp her hair. He gently titled her head back so she would look at him; even though it was dark in the closet, he could still see her eyes shining up at him. She bit her lip and guided his other hand lower until it was between her thighs.

"Does it feel like I'm fucking with you?"

Enjolras let out a breathy moan as he cupped her sex. She was hot and wet, obviously as turned on as he was. His eyes moved back to hers to see her still gazing at him. The expression on her face was one he'd never seen before, and unless he was mistaken, he thought she looked a little scared, maybe even of rejection.

"You're..." he couldn't finish the thought. His mind was too foggy, and his hand was already beginning to rub Eponine through her panties, even though he could swear he didn't mean to.

"It doesn't have to mean anything," Eponine said hungrily. "We can still be...whatever we are...just..."

"Okay." He found himself agreeing, pushing aside Eponine's underwear to slip a finger inside of her.

Eponine gasped and held tightly to his shoulders, squeezing her eyes shut. She clearly hadn't expected him to take charge without a bit more coaxing on her part. Enjolras was the first to admit he wasn't very good at this. He didn't have a whole lot of experience aside from sleeping with his high school girlfriend and two other girls his freshman year, and he hadn't exactly tried very hard to make them feel good, he had to admit. But the look on Eponine's face as his fingers clumsily tried to please her was captivating, and the soft, almost purring sounds from the back of her throat were incredible. She suddenly gasped and grabbed his wrist.

"Oh...oh, there...do that again," she pleaded, and Enjolras wrinkled his brow. He wasn't sure what he'd done.

Eponine let out a frustrated sigh and took his wrist, moving his fingers inside of her and shifting her legs open wider. She bit her lip and when his fingers found the spot again she moaned, tilting her head back. "That's...that's where you want to be," she informed him matter-of-factly.

"Oh." Enjolras grew a little more bold now, feeling the little nub with his fingers. She was soon squirming around him and making the most incredible noises he'd ever heard. His other hand was also starting to stray dangerously close to his own throbbing cock. He was so hard it hurt.

When Eponine began whispering his name, burying her face into his shirt, something inside of him snapped. He couldn't take it anymore.

In one swift motion, he pulled his fingers out of Eponine's wet folds, ignoring her sound of protest, and picked her up, slamming her body against the back of the closet. He ground his hips into hers and attacked her neck, sucking roughly under her ear at her pulse point.

Eponine wrapped her legs around his waist, her hips locked against his as he slammed into her. "Oh, fuck," she gasped.

Enjolras didn't say anything, but moved his lips lower, down her chest to her breasts. He didn't even care that her shirt was in the way, and he bit and sucked at them through the fabric. This was, by far, the most intense sex-but-not-sex he'd ever had, and he was a little embarrassed to find himself almost ready to come in only a few minutes, his hips bucking faster against hers.

"Enjolras, I'm...oh..." Eponine's legs began to tremble around him a little and Enjolras slammed into her harder, his heart pounding against his chest. She moaned his name as she came and Enjolras only lasted for a few more thrusts after her, creating an absolute mess in his pants. He leaned down and rested his forehead against the curve of Eponine's neck and shoulder, his chest heaving.

Eponine tangled her hands in his hair and kissed the top of his head. They stayed frozen for a few minutes, both trying to regain control of their breathing and calm down, and finally, Enjolras gently lowered Eponine back to the floor. He pushed her hair back from her face and smiled a little awkwardly, suddenly realizing that through that whole thing, they had never kissed. Not on the lips, anyway. And now he didn't know if he should kiss her or not, so he just didn't.

"Are you alright? To leave?" he asked quietly.

Eponine nodded and reached around him to open the closet door. She slipped past him without a sound and, noticing a mirror on the other side of the room, quickly ran her fingers through her hair as she gazed at her reflection. Her face was flushed and her long hair tangled, a light sheen of sweat covering her forehead and chest.

Enjolras watched her, thinking she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and winced when he saw a bright red hickey appearing from where he'd attacked her neck. She would only be able to hide it with a scarf. Enjolras finally snapped out of his contemplation and attempted to fix his own mussed appearance. It was painfully obvious just by looking at the two of them that something had happened, and Enjolras only hoped they didn't run into any of their friends before they both got a chance to get home and take a shower.

"Are you ready?" Eponine asked finally, crossing the office to the door.

"Yeah, let's go."

Eponine listened at the door for a minute, trying to tell if anyone was in the hallway. When she was satisfied all was clear, she cautiously opened the door and peeked out. She gestured for him to follow, and soon they were both walking down the hallway as if nothing had happened...neither the breaking and entering or the dry sex they'd just had in a closet.

When they reached the doors that led to the Quad, Eponine gave him a small smile. "I'll see you at the Musain in an hour?"

He nodded, but she was gone before Enjolras could reply, leaving him wondering what the hell to expect the next time he saw her.

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