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University holidays annoy Enjolras. Oh, he enjoyed having the extra time to catch up on his reading, and having the extra time to devote to Les Amis was always a good thing. It was just so very hard to get the Les Amis members who didn’t stay with their families to concentrate during the holidays.
He’d called a meeting for the afternoon in the Musain. Cosette, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, and Bossuet were crowded around Cosette’s laptop, laughing at something as he entered.
“Good, you’re all here! Now we can get started organising for next semester, I thought –“
“We’re not all here,” said Cosette (and really, interrupting him without a second thought, Grantaire was clearly becoming a bad influence). “We’re still waiting on Eponine, and Bahorel. Otherwise you’re just going to have to repeat yourself.”
Ah. There was a reason Cosette was one of his second-in-command, she did know him quite well. Cosette patted the spot next to her on the couch.
“Come on, Marius sent me another video, you can watch it while we wait.”
“What do you mean, another video? What, exactly, is he sending you videos of?”
Cosette flushed a little, and the others laughed. “Not that kind of video, get your minds out of the gutter! Apparently Grantaire’s sister got a new video camera, and this is easier than emailing. He sent me another one of them going to the beach a few days ago; I put it up on facebook. Which you would know, if you ever checked facebook properly.”
She pressed play, and the video footage shakes a little before righting itself.
“Is this right? I think it’s on.” Marius’ grinning face took up the whole screen, and he leant back to wave. “Hello Cosette! And anyone else who might be watching this, hi!”
Marius moved behind the camera. He was in a small bedroom, a suitcase-worth of possessions scattered around. As he spoke, he moved through the doorway and down a bookcase-lined hallway.
“So this is where we’re staying for the holidays! Grantaire’s sister’s place is really nice, and she’s really nice. I think you’d like her Cosette, she’d defiantly like you, of course, I mean, who doesn’t like you?”
A woman laughed in the background, and the camera turned sharply. A kitchen, stainless steel benchtops, and yellow cabinets were blurry for a moment, before the camera auto-focused. The woman standing there, cutting up vegetables, smiled.
“Having fun there Mr Pontmercy?”
“I’m making another video for Cosette. Claire, say hi to Cosette!”
“Hello, Cosette! Marius misses you like crazy. I cannot believe my brother convinced him to leave your side for two whole weeks. You should call him before he wilts, like a flower without the sun.”
“Speaking of which, where is Grantaire?”
“I saw him head out the back a while ago. He’s watching Jenny” Marius turned the camera away, towards a screen door. The bright sunlight made it impossible to see out for a moment.
(“Jenny is Claire’s daughter,” says Cosette before Enjolras can ask, “she’s four.”)
Grantaire was sitting underneath a tree, reading.
“Hello!”
Grantaire looked up. “Are you ever going to give that camera back?”
“It’s for Cosette. What are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m waiting to be rescued.” Grantaire laughed, gesturing to the skipping rope in a circle around him. “You see, this is the tower, and the Princess has gone off to fight a dragon and a few other evil villains, and then she’s coming back here to get me.” There was a crashing sound, and the daisy bushes waved. “That sounds like an epic battle coming to a close.”
A little girl, with the same dark, inky curls as Grantaire and Claire, stumbled out from between a gap in the bushes. Her fairy wings flapped as she walked, and she held a plastic sword in front of herself, triumphant.
Grantaire gasped dramatically, putting one hand to his chest. “Fair princess! Are the evil forces gone at last?”
“I defeated them all! With good magic!” She kicked the skipping rope. “You’re free!”
Grantaire scooped her up, onto his shoulders. “What now?”
“I wanna explore the mountains! Over there!” She gestured wildly with the sword in the direction of the garden fence. She turned and surveyed Marius critically. “Did you want to come too?”
Grantaire grinned, bouncing her a little on his shoulders. “Come on Marius, who knows what adventures await us?”
“Okay, let me just put this down somewhere –“
Black, and then Marius was one screen again. It was later now, night.
“Sorry about that! Jenny can be pretty enthusiastic. We had to stop her from climbing over the fence into the neighbour’s yard like three times. Grantaire’s reading her a bedtime story now, so I don’t really have long to say goodbye, but um, I really miss you? Claire said it’s okay to keep borrowing the camera while I’m here. Unless this is annoying, you should tell me if it’s annoying you.”
“She’s not going to be annoyed.”
Marius dropped the camera.
“Jesus Christ, Marius, be careful.” The camera’s view wobbled around. Grantaire must have picked it up. “I don’t think it’s broken. Anyway, Jenny wants you to say goodnight to her.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. She loves you already. Don’t read her any more stories though, she’s supposed to be asleep.”
“Okay.”
“Stay strong Marius, don’t give in to her puppy eyes.”
Grantaire waited until Marius’ steps faded, and then pointed the camera to a mirror. He waved. “Hey Cosette! Marius probably won’t edit or check this footage before he sends it, so you should know that he super-misses you. Well, he misses everyone because he is a huge sap, but mostly you. Say hi to everyone for me, and, uh, tell Enjolras to use the holidays to relax not work himself into a revolutionary fervour or something, okay. Goodnight!”
A black screen, and then Marius again, for a moment.
“I do so check these videos before I send them. Grantaire misses everyone too, and I am not a huge sap. I am only a little sap, sometimes. I’ll call you tomorrow? ‘Night Cosette”
When Enjolras gets home that night he does check facebook and finds the other video. It’s mostly Marius rambling about the beach, and introducing Claire and Jenny (although Jenny seems a little shy in this video, she must have warmed up to Marius since then). He’s about to switch it off when Grantaire emerges from the ocean, green bathers sticking to his thighs in a way that is frankly rediculous. He waves at the camera and flops down next to Marius.
What a good camera, Enjolras thinks vaguely. He can see each individual drop of water as it runs down Grantaire chest.
(When Cosette asks him if he’s watched the other video yet, his mind flashes to green bathers, and he can feel his cheeks heat a litte.
Cosette laughs, and nudges his shoulder.
“Yes,” she says, “I thought you’d like it.”)