Enjolras x Reader

Chapter 11

You woke up the next day with a pounding headache, which was for once not caused by the copious amounts of alcohol you had drunk the night before but rather by the painful realization that you were in love with none other than Julien Enjolras.
You've heard it thousands of times before, be it from Éponine, books or, as of late, Marius; being in love was supposedly the most amazing feeling in the world. It was supposed to be a warm, cozy feeling in your chest, a feeling that makes you complete. 
If that were true, how come that the only things you felt were shame and guilt? 

Of course, you've had crushes on boys before, but those were different. Usually, you barely knew these boys and never interacted with them, but Enjolras had been your friend, your leader. You planned on overthrowing the state together with your friends. What changed? Had anything even changed at all? Were you just suppressing your feelings up to this point? 

You hadn't realized just how long you had been lying in bed, until your father came into your room. When he saw you with your arm covering your eyes and a pained expression on your face, he must have assumed the worst as he rushed to your side and put his hand on your forehead. "Ma poupette, are you alright? Are you not feeling well? Do you need a doctor?" he asked, his voice heavily laced with worry. 

"I'm fine, papa." you reassured him. He breathed a sigh of relief. "But I have a question." You continued. "Is it... normal to feel bad about liking someone?" 
"What do you mean?" 
"Is it normal to feel guilty when you think you are in love with, let's say, a friend?" 
"Well," he began, "love can be complicated. When it's a friend, you might be afraid of ruining your relationship with them." 
"How can I tell if I'm really in love?" 
"Real love takes time and patience. When the time comes, you will know." 

You nodded and quietly thanked him. It was quiet for a minute; then your father said, "Please, don't tell me it's the Pontmercy boy." 

Enjolras was the only thing on your mind for hours, even though you didn't want to think about him, but the more you tried not to think about him, the more you did think about him, and the more you thought about him, the more you thought of not thinking about him. 
You tried to find flaws in him, but you couldn't. And you didn't want to. He was still your leader and friend. It made no sense to convince yourself that there was something wrong with either him or you just because of a stupid crush. 
Is this what Éponine has been going through all this time? 

You went to the library earlier than usual, wanting to do at least a bit of research before the students arrived. You took every romance book you could find off the shelf and skimmed through them, hoping to find a character who is going through something similar, but after three hours, you decided to give up. 

Eventually, your friends arrived. Jehan was beaming and said, "You know that people sing when going to war, right? Well, I've been thinking that I could compose a chanson for" he became quiet, "our revolution". He immediately pulled out a piece of parchment and a feather and began writing. Joly and Bossuet were talking, and Courfeyrac was arguing with Marius. This was the perfect opportunity. 

You sat down next to Grantaire. 
"I think you were right. About... Apollo, I mean..." you whispered. He laughed in return and put an arm around your shoulder. "Told you so." 
"There mere thought of him stresses me out, but you always seem so normal around him. How do you do it?" you asked. 
He shrugged. "I accepted that I don't have a chance. I'm in no rush to impress him." 
"But doesn't that make you sad?" 
"Not really. I have no reason to be. He is in my life. That's enough." 
"I... guess that makes sense." 

He ruffled your head and pulled out a small flask from his vest pocket. "Of course it does. Besides, you can always drink your pain away." 
You looked at him worriedly. "R, that doesn't sound healthy." 
"I know, but what can I do?" he said as he took a swig. "But it's not like we have competition anyways." 
"What do you mean?" 
"I don't think he even knows what a woman is." 

He was right. Neither you nor anyone else had ever heard him talk about a woman, and his interactions with them were always purely platonic. Of course that didn't necessarily mean anything; after all, you've seen how Enjolras looked at Éponine.

Crucially, the Prussians did not retreat to the east, along their own lines of communication. Instead, they, too, fell back northwards—parallel to Wellington's line of march, still within supporting distance and in communication with him throughout. The Prussians rallied on 's IV Corps, which had not been engaged at Ligny and was in a strong position south of .

With the Prussian retreat from Ligny, Wellington's position at Quatre Bras was untenable. The next day he withdrew northwards, to a defensive position that he had the previous year—the low of Mont-Saint-Jean, south of the village of and the .

Napoleon, with the reserves, made a late start on 17 June and joined Ney at Quatre Bras at 13:00 to attack Wellington's army but found the position empty. The French pursued Wellington's retreating army to Waterloo; however, due to bad weather, mud and the head start that Napoleon's tardy advance had allowed Wellington, there was no substantial engagement, apart from a cavalry .

Before leaving Ligny, Napoleon had ordered Grouchy, who commanded the right wing, to with 33,000 men. A late start, uncertainty about the direction the Prussians had taken, and the vagueness of the orders given to him, meant that Grouchy was too late to prevent the Prussian army reaching Wavre, from where it could march to support Wellington. More importantly, the heavily outnumbered Prussian rear-guard was able to use the River Dyle to enable a savage and prolonged action to delay Grouchy.

As 17 June drew to a close, Wellington's army had arrived at its position at Waterloo, with the main body of Napoleon's army following. Blücher's army was gathering in and around Wavre, around 8 miles (13 km) to the east of the town. Early on the morning of the 18th, Wellington received an assurance from Blücher that the Prussian army would support him. He decided to hold his ground and give battle.