beagoldfish | Fic: Charity

Title: Charity
Ratings & Warnings: T
Fandom: Les Miserables
Relationship(s): Enjolras/Cosette Fauchelevent
Summary: Modern AU; Enjolras and Cosette come back from a charity gala

On AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/77389021

"I don't know how you do it," Enjolras said, gently tugging on the zipper just below the nape of Cosette's neck.

"It was a lot, huh?" Cosette tilted her head to try to look over her shoulder as the dress came loose on her shoulders.

"I mean, yeah, it was a little...over-stimulating," Enjolras sighed. He stepped aside to let Cosette work her way out of her outfit, but he wasn't sure where to go or where to look. It was all still new: her. Her world. "But it wasn't just that."

Cosette hummed with sympathy and curiosity; then the dim bedroom was silent but for the swishing and rustling of fabric.

"It's just...all the money in that room," Enjolras went on. "I know the whole thing was for charity...but still..."

"I know." Cosette lowered herself to sit on the edge of the bed next to Enjolras. Her knee came to rest against his. He was still in his dark dress slacks--the pilly wool pair he'd gotten from one of the better secondhand stories in town.

"It's just...not my world."

Cosette's breath caught. "It's not mine either."

Enjolras nodded and clasped his hands in his lap; his gaze sunk into the cracks between his loosely threaded fingers. He was being unfair. Cosette moved in this world now, the world of professional philanthropism, of conspicuous charity, but she hadn't been born into it like everyone else they had mingled amongst tonight. And he knew that she knew that everyone else at the gala knew that. Knew that she had once been a charity case herself.

Truthfully, however Enjolras tried to atone for his privilege these days, his origins were far closer to those of the other gala-goers than Cosette's. Maybe that was why he'd been so uncomfortable about going with her in the first place. He'd been her plus-one, but he hadn't added anything to her night, just stood moodily and broodily on the edges of whatever cluster Cosette found herself chattering in. He'd wanted to go home from the moment they walked into the ballroom, but now that they were back, he felt guilty for making Cosette leave earlier than she probably would have on her own.

He suddenly turned to pull at the comforter, yanking it over the both of their heads. Cosette shrieked a little in startled delight, nuzzling up to Enjolras as the faint desk lamp across the room fought through the heavy, quilted fabric of the cozy cave that had sprung up around them.

"Can we just live in this world?" Enjolras asked.

He knew it was a cheap move, playing cute to cut short the harder conversation. And he knew that Cosette, pulling him in for a smiley kiss, was playing along for his sake.