Chapter Text
7 Things Combeferre Loves About Eponine
1. From the first day she walked in the café with Marius, Combeferre knows he likes her. She walks with purpose, her head is always held high and her steps are brisk. When she enters a room she always looks like she feels completely at home. He thinks she must have been a queen in a past life.
2. Eponine talks a lot. Maybe there are other men who would find this unattractive but he likes it. It’s nice to sit back and listen to her chattering. She’s a good storyteller and when it’s his turn to talk, she always asks good questions. She’s insightful, that one. And she likes to learn. It’s a good thing he loves to teach.
3. Eponine loves music. She makes mix tapes (she calls them that even if everyone uses CDs instead now. She claims it sounds better when you call them tapes) for everyone and at all times. For heartbreak and exercising and for playing after having watched a scary movie and for the day that Courfeyrac’s cat dies. Or just as gifts for her friends. She always puts so much thought into the songs she chooses and who she gives them to. Combeferre loves that. How thoughtful she is. And how she is so eager to give something of herself to the rest. He’s got stacks of CDs at his house before they even start dating. And afterwards he just makes Eponine sing them for him instead.
4. She writes constantly. She won’t let him see what it is most of the time, but she carries notebooks around everywhere she goes and copies poems down on napkins. She and Jehan write their favorite words on each other’s arms and palms. Combeferre thinks she would make a good poet too. She’s too impatient for writing novels, and has always preferred short stories. He loves that she can tell a good tale using only a few words and move on to the next one.
5. Eponine likes to go people-watching. She takes him to the park and they sit in silence, watching the world pass them by. Sometimes they make up lives for the people they find interesting, as if they were characters in a story the two are writing. She likes happy families best.
6. When Combeferre catches a cold one winter, she’s the one who stays by his side. She brings him soup every day and they watch Inception and Forrest Gump together. When he tells her she should go before catching the sickness too she refuses.
“Someone has got to take care of you, especially since you’re usually too busy taking care of everyone else to think of yourself.”
He’s known for a while that he loves her but this fills him with hope. He can’t breathe. Oh. It’s because he’s coughing so hard.
Combeferre falls asleep but when he wakes up, she’s in bed next to him, curled up against his chest. Maybe he does have a chance.
7. She says “I love you” first. Eponine is impulsive like that. And she can never keep her feelings to herself for too long. She gives him a book (Wuthering Heights, he already owned it but chooses not to mention it) with a sticky note inside- I love you. But when he looks up she’s already running out the door. He chases her down the street and pulls her in for a kiss. Like Heathcliff, he can’t live without his soul. Unlike him, he doesn't have to.