It's embarassing, he knows. In fairness, he shouldn't expect anything more from her, she was too good for him anyway. Five years his senior, she probably saw him as more of a brother figure than a romantic option. But that didn't mean he couldn't pretend.

She was in her third year of university, a dance major, and he was a lowly sixteen year old boy with big dreams of becoming a lawyer. They only knew each other because she lived next door to him and his mother, surprising considering how rich her family was. When asked about it, she said that it was because she didn't see the point in big houses or fancy cars, she only had what she needed and that was enough. He thinks that that's one of the reasons he fell in love.

And he enjoyed being the only boy in her life when she came to his when his mother was at work. She pitied him and played his stupid video games, and didn't complain when he stared at her, and he felt as though anything she did would just convince him of her perfection even more.

When she found out that he wanted to become a lawyer, she decided to bring him to one of her clubs at university, one of the weekly meetings she attends with a group called Les Amis. Something about social rights, he thinks he hears, but he's too preoccupied looking at how pretty her hair looked when she plaited it.

It's at a cafe on campus, he finds out, but in the back room. The stairs are crooked, and the door is creaky, but she's smiling, and he feels proud that he is being introduced to her friends. These people would be at their wedding, so he promises himself to leave a good impression on them.

"Everyone, this is my good friend; Marius."

He feels his face flush as he looks around the people. They're all sat around several tables, all pushed together to create a large surface with random sheets of paper and leaflets on top. There's a tall man with glasses who shakes his hand, and a man with big muscles and a buzz cut who grins at him and tells him to sit down.

Éponine brings him a drink, and he smiles when she sits next to him. "Marius wants to be a lawyer when he is older, so I thought he could speak to you guys and get some tips."

"Wow, how old is he Ép', are you cradle snatching now?" A man with long ginger hair and tattoos laughs sarcastically over the table. Marius frowns.

"I'm sixteen."

The man laughs again. "Exactly. Good luck explaining that to Enj', Ép'."

Éponine rolls her eyes. "I actually thought that Marius and Enjolras would get along."

A man with brown curly hair and a big smile speaks. "Speaking of, let's see."

Marius turns as everybody else does, and sees a man with blond hair and blue eyes walk in. He has a folder in his arms, and a backpack thrown over one shoulder. As he walks closer to the table, he drops his bag on the floor and puts his folder on the table, on top of a poster that reads 'education should not be a debt sentence'.

"Let's see what?" The man pulls a chair next to Éponine's and throws his arm around the back of her own.

The man with the glasses speaks politely. "Enjolras, this is Marius, Éponine's friend."

Enjolras nods and smiles over Éponine to him, and Marius wonders why he has a cut underneath his left eye, but returns the smile cordially. Enjolras extends a hand to him, and Marius takes it, noticing how coarse and strong his is compared to his own. Marius frowns when the blond retracts his hand and places it on Éponine's knee.

"Any friend of Éponine's is a friend of mine." He lowers his voice and looks at Éponine. "Apart from all the ones I don't like, of course." When she giggles, he turns back to Marius with a grin. "Éponine has actually told me a lot about you. Aspiring lawyer, I hear?"

Marius shrugs. "Hopefully."

A man with brown curly hair and dark eyes laughs. "Well, you've come to the right place if you want to hear overprivileged twenty two year olds talk about world problems and spew bullshit about changing things for the better."

"Shut up, Grantaire, you'd know that that wasn't all we spoke about if you had come to the demonstration on Saturday." Enjolras says sternly, and Marius wonders if a loud voice is needed for a law career, because the blond definitely owns one.

Grantaire responds with sarcasm. "You mean the one where you got beat up? Yeah, the one where the police came and stopped you before you were even on to your second point?"

"Both of you, shut up. You're not giving Marius a good impression of our group." The ginger haired man says gently, but the two men stop speaking nonetheless.

Enjolras turns to him and smiles slightly, taking a sip from Éponine's water bottle. Marius frowns at this, but listens to the man anyway. "So, are you studying law at university too?"

He nods. "Well, I'm applying for university soon. I'm only 16, so I'm still in high school."

Enjolras' eyebrows lift in surprise. "Really? Oh, okay." His eyes flick to Éponine, then back to Marius. "Well, that's about the time I started getting serious about law too." Marius smiles a bit at the man.

"So, how do you and Éponine know each other?" Grantaire says this with a grin.

Éponine lifts an eyebrow, then grabs the water bottle from out of Enjolras' hand. "We're neighbours." She takes a sip from the bottle, then places it on the table.

"Éponine helped my mother unpack when we moved in, so now she'll come around to mine and keep me company whenever I'm home alone." Marius grins, and he can already feel himself getting worked up about her.

"Marius is my back up plan." She winks at her friends, and Marius frowns in confusion. Back up plan for what? Her friends laugh, and he feels very left out.

Marius' frown deepens as he sees Enjolras squeeze Éponine's knee and grin at her. "I guess I better up my game then, huh?"

Éponine shrugs, and turns to Marius, grinning. "Well, you're a very promising candidate for my hand in marriage, aren't you?"

Marius grins. "It would be the greatest honour."

Éponine is about to say something back, but Enjolras is suddenly speaking, and Éponine's attention is all on the blond man. He watches as her eyes turn from teasing to adoring, and Marius feels something break inside of him. "Tough luck, Marius; Éponine and I are a team, and it's a team where nobody gets left behind. And I'll be damned if I don't make it to the other side with Éponine."

Marius is looking at Enjolras as he says this, and while he assumes it was meant as a joke, he can't help but see the glare in his blue eyes and hear the harsh tone of his voice. The man with the glasses must see these signs too, as he claps the man on the back with wide eyes. "Alright, don't give the boy such a hard time, Enjolras, I'm sure he's not actually here to 'steal your girl'."

Enjolras frowns at his friend. "That's very true, since Éponine isn't 'my girl'."

Combeferre nods. "I know, but-"

"Éponine is her own person, she is not my possession-"

Marius smiles.

"-She is merely my fiancée. And since that makes me her fiancé too, I suppose the dominance in this relationship is equal."

Marius's smile drops. His eyes drop to Éponine's left hand, and he frankly doesn't know how he missed it. The ring is big, much more than Marius would ever be able to afford, and his eyes flick back up to Éponine's face, only to see her grinning at Enjolras.

"Thanks, babe." She kisses him on the cheek, and Enjolras blushes lightly.

Grantaire laughs. "Nah, Éponine has you completely whipped."

"Excuse me?" Enjolras turns to Grantaire with an exhausted tone of voice.

"Éponine is so dominant in this relationship, it's hard to watch. Remember yesterday when she left for an hour to help Cosette?"

Enjolras slumps back in his chair. "Yes."

"What did you do?" Grantaire is speaking as though he is scolding a child.

Enjolras mumbles, and Éponine giggles at him. "I sat down."

"Where did you sit?"

His voice is getting more muffled as the conversation continues. "In the corner."

The man in the glasses continues. "And what did you do whilst sitting there?"

"Texted Éponine."

The man with the ginger hair raises an eyebrow. "And did you speak to anybody else?"

"No."

Grantaire nods his head. "Correct. You ignored everybody else for a full hour. Just because Éponine left to help her friend."

Éponine turns to Marius and smiles sympathetically. She whispers to him while the others are still bickering. "I'm sorry, I know you must be pretty bored. We're not talking about law at all. We can leave if you want."

"No, it's fine." He smiles at her, despite the fact that he doesn't like hearing about her relationship with another guy constantly.

"Are you sure? I can drive you back right now if you want."

Marius' smile turns into a grin. "Well..."

"We can go and get ice cream then watch a film if you want?" She smiles at him, and he nods at her. "Great, one second." Marius tunes back into her friends' conversation.

"-it would be cute if it weren't so disgusting, like, come on, you live a block away, go back to yours and do it there, not in front of your single friends who, in all honesty-"

"Guys, Marius and I are gonna go now."

Enjolras sits up straight next to Éponine. "Why?" He pouts, and he hears Grantaire groan in the background.

"You're all boring Marius. He came to talk about law, not how sexually active you and I are." She turns to Grantaire and grins. "Which is very."

The man with the curly hair and huge smile rubs a hand over his face. "God, Ép', you're killing me here."

Éponine stands up and grabs her bag from behind the chair. "Come on, Marius."

Dutifully, Marius stands up and follows her as she walks out of the chairs. Enjolras stands up, and Marius is for a moment in between them, Éponine checking her phone and Enjolras looking at her with a lost expression in his blue eyes. Marius frowns. His own eyes were hazel; how boring is that?

Enjolras just strides past Marius, and grabs Éponine's hand. Despite everything the group of friends were just saying, they're all watching the couple readily.

"Ép', I thought you said you were staying at mine tonight?"

"I am, I'll come around later." She nods at him.

He wraps his arms around her, and Marius watches as his arms settle on her hips. "But...I bought grapes. You love grapes."

"Green or red?"

"Green, of course."

Marius watches as Éponine stands on her tip toes and kisses Enjolras, and he has to look at the floor after a moment.

He does however, hear Éponine speak. "This is why I'm marrying you."

"Is that all?" Enjolras laughs.

"No, amongst other things. You do have a pretty comfy bed."

"Then I'll make sure we spend a lot of time there tonight."

Practically all of Éponine's friends groan, and Marius can't even muster the strength to take his eyes off of the floor.

Éponine's eyes flick to Marius, then she turns back to Enjolras. "I'll make it quick." She steps back for Enjolras. "Bye, guys." She nods at her friends.

She doesn't even wait for them to reply, walking out of the door, not even shutting it behind her.

Marius, standing there awkwardly, lifts a hand at them. "I'll see you guys later then. Thank you for having me."

The man with the glasses smiles at him. "Nonsense, it was a pleasure."

"Yeah, any guy who loves Éponine as much as we do is instantly welcome." The man with the curly hair raises an eyebrow, whilst still grinning. Jesus, was he ever sad?

Enjolras pats him on the shoulder. "Good to see you, man."

Marius turns to him. "Pleasure." He nods, then follows Éponine's example and leaves without a reply.

He does, however, hear them laugh and several people speak.

"Wow, maybe you're not the only guy Éponine has whipped."

"Éponine so has a thing for lawyers. You're next, Combeferre."

"Really, Enjolras? Grapes? How romantic."

"Wow, you've definitely got some competition there, chief. "

Éponine is sat waiting in her green car, and they listen to Queen on the way home, stopping off for ice cream, of course. She texts while they watch I-Robot, and she leaves half way through, but she kisses him on the cheek when he walks her to her car that night, and that's all he can ask for, so it's what he's happy with.

Yes, I'm one of those people who likes to see what it would be like the other way around. Thanks for reading, I write all this stuff and never publish it on here for some reason. Please review! Thanks again! x