THE LARK, MY SONGBIRD

[A/N]

one-shot for @-fangirledd

AAH I've been inactive for so long im so so sorry but im getting back on the writing horse now

canon era

femxfem(reader insert with gender-swapped marius? it's kinda hard to explain)

also, this one's a little over 2000 words and I probably should've split this into 2 parts but it be like that sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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The streets were crowded.

The young y/n l/n was trying to push her way through the jumble of people to reach her dark-haired best friend on the other street. "Eponine!" she called, one hand securing her brown cap onto her head and the other helping her push through the crowd. y/n saw the black-haired girl in question raised her head at the sound of her name. Her eyes fell on Marianne and her jaded expression softened for a moment. Eventually, the young woman caught up to her. "Good morning," she greeted.

Eponine grinned. "And to you, Mademoiselle," she said, giving a mock bow at her feet. "I enjoyed the rally today," the brunette stated, moving with the crowd down the street as she spoke while y/n raced to catch up with her quick stride. "You have a knack for public speaking."

"And you have a knack for pickpocketing," y/n joked, taking her small coin purse back from where it was sealed in Eponine's hand behind her back. "What is that, the eighth time you've tried to steal from me in the three months I've known you?" she asked with a smile.

Eponine chuckled. "I'm only conducting an experiment."

"Oh? How so?"

"Well, every time I steal your coin purse, you get quicker to realize it. It's for scientific purposes."

y/n laughed loudly at this as they slowed to a stop in front of a building entrance concealed from the public by a curtain, Eponine seeming to have gotten where she was going. "Are you sure it is for scientific purposes and not self-benefit?"

Eponine opened her mouth to return a sly comment, but at that moment the brown curtain behind them tore open. A plump woman in her fifties covered in rags contorted her face into a scowl at the sight of her daughter. "Eponine! They're coming! Get to your post!" she called in a raspy, brash voice.

Eponine flinched at the sound of her voice and glanced around quickly. "You have to go," she warned y/n before swiftly turning and running in the direction of what y/n assumed was Eponine's "post".

However, y/n reached out and grabbed her by the bicep quickly. "'Ponine, what is going on?" she asked, a little panicked.

"Stay out of this," the girl cautioned before tearing her arm away and quickly disappearing into the crowd within seconds.

y/n called to the girl as she pushed through the crowd hurriedly, "Eponine, wait-!" Before she could finish her sentence, y/n slammed into one of the other pedestrians wandering the street, sending both of them spiraling to the ground. She watched a book fly out of the person's hand and swiftly snatched it up from the dirty cobblestone-paved road and outstretched the book to the other person, but stopped as soon as she met a gorgeous pair of baby blue eyes.

Before her was the most beautiful girl y/n had ever seen in her entire life. Her pale skin glowed with youth and small, almost invisible freckles were dotted over the bridge of her nose. The girl's golden hair was bundled up in a half-up, half-down braided hairstyle under a white bonnet with a few small stray ringlets framing her face. The girl looked at y/n through thick, dark eyelashes, and y/n gulped loudly, trying to find something, anything to say.

"I didn't see you there," y/n said softly, "forgive me." The uneasiness in her stomach made her feel as if she was going to hurl, or cry, or both.

However, the girl's soft smile put y/n's mind at rest as she reached out daintily and took the book from y/n's hand, her slender fingers brushing against y/n's own, sending a shock through the girl's entire body and making the hair on her arms stand on end. She was almost certain the stranger could see the blush spreading over y/n's entire face and even to her ears.

The girl opened her mouth, seemingly to respond to y/n's previous comment, but a hand reached down and pulled the blonde girl up from the street by the crook of her elbow, sweeping her away into the crowd. y/n rose as well and watched as an old, graying man led the girl to the other side of the street and seemed to scold her before leaving her to go through the curtain y/n had seen Madame Thenardier go through earlier. She watched as the girl's eyes searched the street until they landed back on y/n and her peach pink lips parted into a soft smile, which y/n practically melted at.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose as shouting came from within the curtain and an inspector rounded the corner of the street. y/n's breath caught in her throat and she quickly ran into an alleyway, concealing herself from the brutality of the police. Eponine made a break for it as well, but she was grabbed roughly by the man, and y/n flinched as she watched the scene unfold.

After thoroughly inspecting the streets for illegal activity, the tall man made his way back out of the square, the crowd instinctively parted so as not to be forcefully thrown out of the way by his cane. After he was out of sight, y/n raced back into the street to catch the girl from earlier, but she was already gone. She noticed Eponine in the agitated crowd and raced to reach her. "Eponine," she called, grabbing onto the girl's arm. Eponine flinched under her hold and y/n softened her grasp so as not to get her worked up. "Who was that girl?"

Eponine regained her tough exterior and scoffed. "Some bourgeois two-a-penny thing," she muttered under her breath.

"Do you think you could find her for me?" the h/c-haired girl asked, completely disregarding her friend's earlier comment.

Eponine turned to face the girl completely from where she was watching the streets. "What will you give me?"

"Anything," y/n responded hastily, grabbing her coin purse and rifling through it.

Eponine's sarcastic smirk fell as she noticed this and she pushed her friend's hand down. "No, I don't want your money, Madame," she seethed, her words dripping with sarcasm.

Eponine turned to leave, but y/n quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her. "Please, 'Ponine," y/n begged.

The dark-haired girl glanced around the street for her father before looking back at y/n and sighing, something unidentifiable in her eyes. "Fine."

That night, y/n had managed to sneak away from the meeting their leader had organized(she did not seem happy about it, quite the opposite, actually) and left with Eponine to go find the girl of her dreams.

They walked together through the streets, Marianne going on and on about the girl's endless beauty while Eponine only half-listened. "Her hair was a soft golden color and her eyes were the most beautiful I've ever seen."

Eponine nodded. "Mhm, and what color were they?"

y/n stopped in her tracks. "...Green? No, blue. They were blue." She heard Eponine laugh under her breath, but dismissed it as she continued following Eponine down the cobblestone street. "And then she smiled her gorgeous smile at me, and I thought to myself, right then and there, 'I have to find this girl,' and now here you are, taking me to her, and I just want to tell you, Eponine-" she stopped and took her friends hands in hers-"how much I appreciate this. You are the best friend a girl could have."

y/n watched Eponine strain to hold a smile. "Of course," she replied before turning to gesture to a large, black metal gate before them. "After you, mademoiselle."

The girl's eyes lit up as she surged forward, tugging on the gate only to realized it was locked. She bit her lip and glanced around the alley before scaling the gate, placing her foot in gaps in the brick wall beside the gate as she climbed, praying the wall was worn enough to hold her.

It was, and y/n was over the gate in no time while Eponine lingered outside, watching y/n meet the love of her life through the metal bars.

y/n looked up at the building and saw the silhouette of a girl in the candle-lit glass doors to a balcony on the second story. She watched for a moment as the figure brushed out her long blonde hair in her mirror and a soft smile fell over her face as she glanced around for a way to grab her attention. As her eyes fell on the rocks littering the small garden, y/n quickly scooped up a pebble and threw it at the glass pane of the balcony doors where it landed with a small 'tink!'

Suddenly, the doors opened and the girl from earlier in the street stepped onto the balcony, now dressed in a pale pink nightgown, her freshly brushed hair falling daintily over her shoulders. A lump appeared in y/n's throat, which she tried immediately to swallow down as she began searching for something to say to this vision of beauty before her. She honestly hadn't expected her to open the door, much less that she would get the chance to talk to her.

y/n opened her mouth and said exactly what she felt. "Love."

The single word cut through the freezing night air and reached the girl at the window. Her eyes widened. "I'm sorry?"

y/n cleared her throat. "Love. I never knew what it was, what it meant, until today. I never loved my family, my family never loved me, I knew nothing of love until you taught me this morning on that street. I felt like my world had suddenly begun and I had not been living until my eyes fell upon you, and I knew immediately that was what it was; love." A soft smile fell over the blonde girl's face and y/n began to think that maybe she had struck a chord with her until she watched the balcony doors slam shut.

y/n raced forward in an attempt to catch the girl before she went, but the doors were sealed and the figure against the candlelight was gone. y/n placed her hands against the cobble wall as if she could reach through them and touch the girl. "Oh God, I'm doing everything all wrong," she muttered to herself. "May I at least learn the name of the girl that will forever be on my mind?" she pleaded up to the empty window.

Suddenly, a small clearing of the throat was heard from behind her, and y/n whipped around quickly to see the blonde girl in her full glory standing before her. The knot in her throat reappeared. The girl's pink lips parted softly and the same word rolled off of her tongue, "Love." With one word, all of y/n's troubles evaporated into thin air. "I felt it as well."

y/n couldn't help but let a wide grin fill her cheeks as her heart swelled with joy. "My name is y/n l/n."

"And mine's Cosette," the girl responded.

y/n surged forward and grabbed her by the waist, twirling her around the garden, "Cosette!" she called, "I couldn't imagine a lovelier name for such a lovely girl."

Cosette's giggles bounced off the cobblestone walls of the garden as she tried in vain to quiet y/n, terrified of her father finding a strange girl in her garden this late at night, "If you aren't careful, I'm afraid all of Paris will hear us," she warned.

y/n laughed. "I can't help it if I'm excited to finally be speaking to my soulmate."

A radiant smile that warmed the heart of y/n spread over Cosette's lips. "Soulmate, I quite like the sound of that."

y/n held Cosette's soft hands in her own. "You must promise me you will never go away, and that we will be together always. I don't think I could bear the thought of living without you beside me."

"You are quite dramatic, do you know that?" the girl chided lovingly.

y/n squeezed her hands tighter. "Please, Cosette, promise me. Forever."

Cosette nodded in consent to the vow. "Forever," she agreed. y/n wrapped her in a warm embrace which turned into a soft, loving kiss. y/n held Cosette close to her by her waist as Cosette placed her arms around the back of y/n's neck.

The kiss electrified y/n's entire body and she knew at that moment that she never wanted this feeling to end. If she could help it, she would always be by Cosette's side.

As they parted, a voice from inside the small cottage called, "Cosette!" y/n's entire body tensed and a look of panic fell over Cosette's face. She gave y/n a gentle push toward the wall as y/n quickly began scaling it. She was just barely out of sight when she heard the door creak open.

"Cosette, I told you to stay inside," the gruff voice said. y/n watched through the gate as the man from earlier ushered her inside the house, shutting the door roughly behind them.

As y/n began the long trek home, she noticed her step a little lighter, the crickets singing a little sweeter, and the stars shining a little brighter.

She did not notice Eponine, far behind, watching y/n grow further and further away from her.

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[A/N]

and they were lesbians

oh my god they were lesbians