The City That We Loved

The Knight of Flowers

A/N: Yes, the title is a Game of Thrones reference. That is all. Enjoy...no, I'm not crying...go away...

The day of the rally had come. Enjolras was one of the first to arrive. He had his bag slung over his shoulder. Combeferre was the only other person on site, aside from tourists. He was setting up the flags. Enjolras noticed the security guards giving them wary looks but he ignored them. They weren't doing anything wrong quite yet.

"They don't like us, obviously," Enjolras muttered, taking a flag from Combeferre. He grinned when he noticed his friend wearing the cockade. He always did. It had become almost customary of the Amis to wear it at rallies and protests.

"Well, I'm sure they recognize you, Enjolras," Combeferre said. "You can't seem to miss being on the news all the time." Jehan and Courfeyrac were the next ones to arrive.

"Where's Pontmercy?" Enjolras asked. He was relieved Marius wasn't there. Last time he'd kept getting in the way and Enjolras was moments away from choking the life out of him.

"He's out with his girlfriend," Jehan explained, playing with a flower in his hands.

"Oh. Charlotte, right?" Enjolras asked.

"It's Cosette," Jehan and Courfeyrac said together. Enjolras rolled his eyes and handed a flag to Courfeyrac and a sign to Jehan. "I really don't care what her name is, to be honest. As long as Pontmercy is miles away from this rally, I'm completely happy."

"Well, you should," Jehan said. "Marius bought her a ring last week. He's going to propose to her on their date tonight." Enjolras pulled his brows together and thought for a moment.

"Nope...still don't care about his lonely soul," Enjolras said, shrugging.

"He's asked me to be his best man," Courfeyrac said, adjusting his jacket proudly. Enjolras rolled his eyes again. His eyes travelled over the tourists. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew someone was watching them and it wasn't the security guards.

"Your five o'clock, Courfeyrac. Don't look," Enjolras said, avoiding looking in that direction. "Looks like the police heard about our rally. They can't do anything until we do something. We'll have to make this one quick and to the point."

"You've got your speech prepared?" Combeferre asked. Enjolras nodded.

"Memorized it last night, word for word," Enjolras explained. "It's going to get crowded. Stick together. No one gets left behind, you hear me?" They nodded. "Good. When Bossuet, Joly, and R get here, Courfeyrac, you're in charge of telling them this, okay?" He nodded.

"R's coming?" Courfeyrac asked. Enjolras started to nod but stopped when he saw Courfeyrac's smile. He rolled his eyes and sighed, once again. "You've got to stop doing that, Enjolras. One day your eyeballs are going roll right out of your head." The three who had yet to arrive did. R was drinking from a flask, Joly was avoiding sneezing and coughing tourists, and Bossuet had tripped over the sidewalk just as they arrived.

Like nothing ever changed.

"Do tourists ever wash their hands?" Joly asked. "I mean, half of them are sick."

"It is fall, Joly," Combeferre said. "A lot of people get sick at this time of year." Joly took a handkerchief out of his pocket and covered his mouth.

"Did you know that thirty-six thousand people die from the common flu a year?" Joly asked through the handkerchief. "I could be one of those thirty-six thousand, Enjolras. This rally better be worth it."

"Oh, trust me, it will be," Enjolras assured him, with a friendly smile. He went to pat Joly on the back and he backed away. "Alright, alright, sorry." Joly took the handkerchief away from his mouth and stuck out his tongue.