#vive la rarepairs

[museaway]

Have dedicated the last few weeks to a fic for a rarepair with 13 entire works on AO3, 2 known pieces of fanart (plus one I scribbled in a notebook), and a fandom that basically consists of me, the friend who introduced me to the ship, and a handful of people who could not escape our enthusiasm.

[dykerachelsummers]

if y’all haven’t read valseverse by @arrowswing, what are you even doing?

valse de la douleur, the first story in the series, is a brilliant and beautiful dickroy adaptation the pre52 cry for justice story, featuring secret marriages and a far more coherent storyline than dc could hope to put together.

meanwhile la reine est morte (vive la reine), manages to simultaneously be a sequel and a prequel to valse, probably the best ollie queen origin i have ever seen AND it says dinaholliehal rights and sure dinaholliehal is currently a rarepair but that’s lame and i think we should fix it.

anyways i read a lot of fic and i very rarely recommend fics like this so y’all should trust me and read it and also shower arrowswing with love bc honestly, they’re my favorite current writer in the dc fandom and were even before we became friends.

[somuchbetterthanthat]

“How much bored are you, Elodie” “why, bored enough to write about all the rarepairs of les miserables, including most I don’t ship at all, in three sentences or less (or more), starting right now, apparently”

PART I (N°12 to 17)

N°12 - Enjolras/Éponine

“it’s not that I don’t like him,” said Éponine, glancing vaguely at Enjolras, who was reading in a corner and ignoring them completely. “It’s just that I don’t trust pretty boys like that. Barely looks human, your friend.”

“Well,” started Courfeyrac, ready to concede the fact, and then stopped and frowned. “Wait. Does that mean you don’t think Marius and I are pretty?”

Éponine stared at him, and then decided that since she was to be a proper lady now, she ought to delicately stay silent on the matter, while Cosette hided a laugh in her embroidery. 

N°13 - Enjolras/Combeferre 

“I brought you some soup, orders from Joly,” said Enjolras, a gentle but firm hand on Combeferre’s shoulder to stop him from trying to get up again. 

Combeferre, surprised, forgot to struggle, squinting at him instead: “Did you make it?” 

“No,” Enjolras snorted. “Madame Fran, your neighbor, offered to make some for you. She also said I should tell you she’s very happy you found a nice man like me, and she won’t report anything to the police, you can trust her, ‘cause her Raymond is just like us, and she’s not one to judge.”

“Ah,” said Combeferre, cheeks darkening slightly. “How nice of her?”

N°14 - Courfeyrac/Marius Pontmercy

“Look at you,” said Courfeyrac, probably much too fondly, as he pushed Marius’s hands away to take over the tedious task of tying his cravat properly. “A lesser friend than I would refuse to appear with you in public, I hope you appreciate how grand my affection for you is.”

Marius, who’d been awfully quiet for the past hour, stared at him for a few seconds before he frowned determinedly, and nodded - Courfeyrac assumed it was for himself and whatever decision he had just came to. He smiled, ready to tease, and was completely taken by surprise when Marius bent down, put his hand on Courfeyrac’s cheek, and kissed him firmly on the lips.

“What-” 

“I do appreciate it,” said Marius, bit stiffly, taking a step back, his neck reddening quickly. “More than you think.”

N°15 - Combeferre/Grantaire

“Ha!” exclaimed Grantaire, grinning delightedly at Combeferre. “You have walked into this room without knowing who you were going after, Goliath! Let everybody see this: I put of course no glory in my victory, I expect no songs of worship or admiration, though we must admit my name does invite for some lovely rhythms, if there are poets here -” (he gave a pointed look at Prouvaire) “but to think, they thought of you of a giant! Look, tyran, you were brought down from your throne of ivory; and I! who among you all have no desire to fight, stand proud winner at the end of the battle! Why but soon I’ll be one of you all completely! One king down, bring me all the others! Let’s never hear of blond and terrible angels anymore, I will lead you exactly where we need to be! Ha! Vive la république, citizen Combeferre. You are dead.”

Combeferre, lips twitching, offered his king to Grantaire. 

“A beautiful game,” he said. “You have mastered the art of battle, citizen Grantaire. Only next time, please do remember that in chess, contrary to real life fighting, cheating is usually frown upon.”

N°16 Montparnasse/Jehan

“To confront death like this is quite unexpected,” sighed the young man. “I always thought fear would grip my stomach before true peace; where is the young lady, pale and no more touchable than thin air, that must help me sing my last song and chase the fear away? You are not, I’m afraid, a very good servant of death; I would expect them to look grayer, and more somber. Your outfit, in any case, pains me.”

Montparnasse, taken aback for a moment, decided his future victim was insulting him. He pushed the blade deeper against his hip, ready to be done with it, and did not see the tall man stepping out of the shadow before it was too late; he was hit hard, and fell on the ground violently. 

“Come now, Jehan,” said another voice. “Your new friends’s outfit is literally the only thing that I would concede as a saving grace.” Montparnasse whimpered as he tried to get up, and saw his young victim giving him a pitying glance, as the other man kept talking: “Last year’s fashion, if you look at his hat. Better than your fashion sense, that’s for sure. Now come on, Prouvaire. We had business. Let the kid rethink his life’s choices in peace.”

N°17 Marius/Éponine 

“Before, I’d always thought you’d knew how to dance,” said Éponine, frowning, while moving as gracefully as she could in the heavy dress she was wearing. “Didn’t you have lessons? I thought all rich boys like you did.”

“I was very bad at them,” said Marius, who was frowning too, staring at their feet. “We’re not doing bad right now though, are we?”

“How should I know?” asked Éponine. “Never went to fancy balls before; I’m sure you’re supposed to hold me closer though,” she said lightly, and grinned when Marius blushed, satisfied to know of the little effects she could have on him.