Enjolras x Reader

Chapter 3

The next two years were rather normal, or well, as normal as they could get, being friends with Éponine and Azelma. In both 1825 and 1826, you noticed Madame Thénardier had started putting on some weight, though she lost said weight within a few days . When asked about it, she would be offended and tell that person off.
Azelma once told you that she saw her mother holding a baby the night before her big stomach was gone for the first time, but none of you ever saw that baby, or any baby for that matter, afterwards.

Though, this made you wonder where babies actually came from.

The three of you went to the smartest people you knew in hope for an answer.
You first went to ask Marius, but he did not know either. (Looking back, you were sure he was lying.)
Then you went to your teacher, but he immediately sent you away.
Lastly, you asked your father. He was taken aback by the question and inquired about you interest on the topic. You explained to him, that Azelma had seen her mother hold a baby and that this led to you wondering where babies came from.
At the mention of Madame Thénardier, he became nervous, but this went over your head, as your focus was finding and answer to the question, but the three of you were, yet again, left without an answer.

Asking the Thénardiers was not an option, as Madame became upset when asked and you were sure that Monsieur wasn't smart enough to know the answer, so you resorted to asking the women at the inn.
They told you about people kissing and getting naked to have a baby, but you didn't believe that something so gross could be true, so in your 9 and 10 year old minds, the question remained unanswered.

In 1827 you went to the inn, as usual, just to be greeted by a crying Éponine. You tried to comfort her and asked what happened. She told you about how her parents were forced to shut their inn and planned on moving to Paris soon and the two of you wouldn't be able to see each other anymore. This caused you to start crying too.

You couldn't imagine life without your friends, that's the reason why, when you were about six, Éponine, Azelma and you had made a pact to always be together, no matter what happened.

You went home with red puffy eyes that day, wanting to tell your father the news, but he beat you to it. When you entered the house, before you had the chance to say anything, your father had informed you that, due to reasons related to his job, you would have to leave Montfermeil and relocate to Paris.
Upon hearing this, you immediately ran back to the inn to tell your friends.

When you were older you realized, that this was most likely a lie and it had nothing to do with job. Your working theory was that he had caught wind of it before Éponine and made some sort of an arrangement to be able to work in Paris.

A few months later your family and the Thénardiers moved to Paris. There you met inspector Javert. One day he was in your house, discussing something with your father. He gave off a very strict, serious and hateful impression. You accidentally made eye contact with him, only for a split second, but it was enough to make a shiver run down your spine.

This was the first time you'd seen the man, but certainly not the last, as it seemed that he and his cold, imitating gaze followed you wherever you went.

The next time you saw the man, he was giving the Thénardiers, who then called themselves the Jondrettes, trouble for something they claimed to not have done, but most likely did do. They had gotten into conflict with the law many times before, but this was different.
Éponine tried to stand up to Javert and defend her parents and was shoved to the ground in return. This was the moment you decided that you hated the man.

"Nobody gets to hurt my friends!" you angrily yelled. Your father sighed and shook his head. "That is no excuse for your behavior! If I hadn't been around, who knows what might have happened to you!"
"But-"
"No buts! You can't go through life hitting everyone you disagree with!"
"He hurt Éponine!"
"You're not better than him by responding with violence!"

There was a moment of tense silence before you were sent home. This was the first time you had argued with your father and the beginning of the strain in your relationship.

As for the Jondrettes, their life didn't get easier. They moved to Paris in hopes of making more money, but that was not the case.
Making a fully honest living  had never been an option for them, but where they previously scammed under the guise of being law abiding innkeepers, they now had completely turned into criminals.

When they moved, so did the Montparnasses. Now, as children, you and Montparnasse never got along. He was often mean to you; he'd pull your hair, call you names, trip you, hit you and just be a little menace. Though he and his friends were always nice to Éponine and some of the other girls in Montfermeil.
This proved that he could be a charming boy if he wanted to and you always asked yourself why he chose to be terrible instead.

While he was a nuisance as a child, he was a danger as a teenager. The hair pulling evolved into assault, the name calling to death threats, the tripping to mugging, the hitting to stabbing and murder and the group of friend to a criminal organization called "Patron-Minette".
It didn't come as a surprise when you found out that the Thénardiers worked together with Patron-Minette in order to rob and scam people.

What did shock you, however, was how much Gavroche adored Montparnasse. The boy was only six years old and was talking about mugging and hurting people. It hurt your heart to see this small child, who was like a brother to you get corrupted by some imbécile bastard.
You and Éponine tried to keep the boy away from him, but your efforts were in vain, because due to the Jondrettes' neglect of the child, Monsieur and Madame and subsequently you, seldom knew where he was at, as he often times wouldn't come home for days on end. When he returned, Éponine wouldn't let him out of her sight for weeks.

In 1829, you were 14 years old. That meant that you had finished school, as secondary education had only been available to boys. At first you were happy, because you were able to spend more time with Éponine, Azelma and Gavroche, but after nearly a year, you started to miss learning. You had already read every book in your home twice and longed for something new.

You weren't let into the library because you were a woman and, according to the librarian, your place was at home in the kitchen and you were old enough to marry, so you should be on the lookout for a husband.

You took a book from the shelf in your room, not paying attention to which book it was, and plopped down on your bed. You looked at the book, "Twelfth Night" by Shakespeare. It was a comedy about a woman who dressed up as her supposedly dead twin in order to find work and fell in love with her boss, who asked her to seduce a woman on his behalf and...

An idea popped into you head.