Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/858030. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Choose_Not_To_Use_Archive_Warnings, Underage Category: F/M, M/M Fandom: Les_Misérables_-_All_Media_Types Relationship: Enjolras/Grantaire, Courfeyrac/Marius_Pontmercy, Joly/Jean_Prouvaire Character: Jean_"Jehan"_Prouvaire, Enjolras_(Les_Misérables), Joly_(Les_Misérables), Grantaire_(Les_Misérables), Marius_Pontmercy, Courfeyrac_(Les_Misérables) Additional Tags: Sick_Fic, it's_much_cuter_than_the_title_suggests, Alternate_Universe_- Modern_Setting Stats: Published: 2013-06-25 Words: 1854 ****** And They Say The Hard Working Fall The Hardest ****** by CassandraMoats Summary Some people just get sick. Some people have to make them feel better. Everyone was getting sick. The entirety of Les Amis was waiting to see who was next; Jehan, the sweetest of all of them had already fallen ill once, and while they all spoiled him rotten in his ailment, they were certain he'd get sick at least once more before the end of sick season. After him, Feuilly had fallen ill, and it had taken Bahorel and Bossuet holding him down to his bed to stop him from going to work. Which had both of them sick for three days. Next Eponine had fallen ill, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of them felt it. However, they'd all prepared themselves. They'd started washing their hands more, and eating less junk, anything to prevent the fate of whatever they had been passing around; unfortunately, the group didn't have everything a bunch of college kids needed to avoid the dreaded sick; ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Courfeyrac, I don't see why you have to do this." Marius muttered, taking the medicine his lover was offering. "I can care for myself, and I don't want to see you sick." Courfeyrac had insisted on babysitting Marius much to the dismay of the freckled man. "Well, you said I couldn't kiss you until you were better." He sighed. "So it's my new personal mission to make you better." He always had something to set his mind to; normally it would be kissing Marius, but since Marius was currently huddled under a mass of blankets it was to make him feel better. "Come on, there has to be something you'll let me do for you Marius; anything I can do." Courf thought, looking around at things; Marius looked like a cute little cocoon wrapped in all the blankets, so he did the first thing he could think of to make his cocoon feel better; he wrapped himself on top of it (to keep the warmth in of course) and put his arms around Marius. "Does this make you feel better?" he asked. Marius sighed, but he knew Courfeyrac was trying, which made him feel much better than the warmth. "Please try and sleep, okay? I'll be right here when you wake up, at your beck and call." Marius smiled and shut his eyes. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Grantaire I'm not staying in this bed." Enjolras had been trying in vain all day to get out of the room; he had work to do that was more important than laying down, like Grantaire had wanted him to do. "Okay, then I'll put you on the couch. Or 'Ferre's bed. Point is you need to lie down." "I won't get any better lying down." He muttered. Finally, Grantaire tried a slightly more aggressive approach and pulled Enjolras onto the bed in a hug, and refused to let go. "If you don't let me go I'll bite you." He warned. "I'm not afraid of it." Grantaire smirked, and wriggled his eyebrow at the fearless leader. "Oh dear god, you'd like that wouldn't you Grantaire?" He could only smirk at the other. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Jean Prouvaire you're gonna get sick again." Joly mused. Joly himself was already ill, and he couldn't bear for his favourite poet to fall ill again, especially if he knew it was his fault. "I will not Joly! Besides, you and 'Ferre took care of me when I was sick, so I have to return the favour." He told the other frowning. "Please don't hate me for trying to help you, you know how much I hate watching you look miserable." Joly rolled his eyes. "I'm not miserable if you're here." he told him. "You know what could help? Would you read my poetry? From there?" Jehan was about a foot from the bed. "Or you can sit down, it matters not to me. Just don't come closer." "I'll go get you tea, and then I'll read you something I wrote." Jehan promised, running to go work on Joly's tea for him. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Marius are you sleepy?" Courfeyrac asked the other. Marius was already asleep though, and Courfeyrac decided to start a project to make him feel better. Slowly, carefully he brought in more blankets from the closet (Why did they have so many blankets, they really didn't need them all, except for occasions like these) and draped them over the bed, making his boyfriend a cave of blankets. By the time Marius awoke, he couldn't see any of his regular room, and disoriented as he was from only just waking him, he was trying to piece together what had happened. Courfeyrac came in holding a blanket and snuggling it around Marius. "I see you're awake now my love." He told the other smiling. "I've been waiting for this for some time." Marius blushed. "You seem to have made yourself plenty busy." For a second Courfeyrac was worried. Was his fort of comfort and too many blankets a ridiculous attempt to woo sickly little freckled Marius? "Do you not like it? I can tear it down if it bothers you." And Marius knew he promised Courfeyrac they couldn't kiss until he was well again, but he just looked so cute right then, he had to make an exception. "I adore it Courfeyrac." Marius told him smiling. "Can you do me a favour? I really want some soup." Marius asked. "I am at your beck and call." he grinned, running to the kitchen. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Grantaire looked at the Enjolras in his arms, who had spent the past hour giving him the death glare when he figured he would not escape. "This would be much more romantic if you'd quit threatening me with your eyes." Grantaire told him. Enjolras clearly was not interested in the romance. "Just let me go work, please." he whined. Grantaire was about to say something, but was cut off by the sneezing of his lover. He needed a voice of reason. "COMBEFERRE!" he called loudly, waiting for the doctor who lived with his boyfriend. He walked in, having been called all over the place in light of the recent malady, and the fact that Joly was now ill too. Combeferre looked at Enjolras trying to get out of Grantaire's grasp. "You know if you throw up on your work, you won't be able to use it for the rally." Combeferre said. Somehow, that seemed to scare him more than anything Grantaire had told him about his own health for the past hour, and he sunk into Grantaire's arms, giving in to his attempts to take care of him. Which were more or less holding him till he felt better. It seemed to be working. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Another, another!" Joly begged. He adored Jehan's poetry, and it did make him feel better. "Jehan you're very skilled at your work." Joly complimented, soliciting a blush from the smaller man. This was the intended reaction, and Joly grinned. He adored Jehan and his poetry and his blushing, and all three at once were a sight for Joly's sick eyes. "Joly, it's getting late. Perhaps you should sleep, and I'll bring you soup." he suggested, his face still a faint tint of pink. Jehan was mortified of his blush, but he was perpetually embarrassed about silly things, so he normally blushed. Leaving the room, Jehan wondered what he could do for Joly. He was a happy man, and he wanted to make him even happier. Soon Jehan came back with a bowl of soup, to find Joly curled up and knocked out. He smiled and set the soup down and curled up next to him. He knew Joly would hate for him to be that close, but he also knew it was only because he was ill. He knew a lot about Joly; the fact that he wasn't so much afraid of getting ill as he was passing it along to his friends, or them getting ill, or hurt or anything like that. He knew Joly liked poetry even though he didn't understand it, and he knew Joly hated flowers because they always messed with his allergies, but he always kept flowers around, because Jehan liked them. Yes, Joly was wonderful, and adorable and he made Jehan happier than anyone else; perhaps because his happiness was infectious, more so then anyone else's. Jehan wrapped an arm around Joly, and fell asleep. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "Is it good soup?" Courfeyrac asked. His cooking abilities weren't the best, but he could make soup. He just wanted to make sure it was profound soup, that would make sure Marius never wanted to leave, because who would want to leave someone who made soup that was good? Certainly not a sick man. Marius laughed at him. "This is the best soup I've ever had." he reassured him. He ate all of it, and didn't even throw it up (a good sign, since he could finally keep something down). Marius and Courfeyrac curled together in their fort, where Combeferre found them the next day when he came to check on them. He smiled, and left a note, and then let the two sleep. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Enjolras had forced himself to let Grantaire take care of him. He hated whole heartedly letting someone else be in charge of his health that wasn't Combeferre (because let's face it, Combeferre will always make sure his health was still in tact) but he thought Grantaire was kind for attempting to help. He made him soup, and it was sort of cold, but Enjolras would deal with it. For a short time, he thought he should get sick more often, because Grantaire wasn't being half as self-destructive as usual, which is why Enjolras let him take care of him. It brought a smile to his sick face to see his boyfriend working hard on something, even if it was himself. (Not that he didn't love it was him Grantaire's attention was focused on, merely he wished it wasn't what made him less self destructive.) After a while, Enjolras finally passed out. Grantaire thought it was the cutest he had seen his boyfriend. Enjolras, so full of life now sprawled out under a sheet, sick and tired. Perhaps it was not the best he had seen Enjolras, but it was the cutest. He climbed in the bed, and went back to trying to treat his ailment by holding him. Later on after the sick season had passed, Enjolras'll swear that's how he got to feeling better, but only to Combeferre and Grantaire. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Joly threw up again, and he was glad the poet had already gone to sleep. He didn't want to worry the man, because he simply didn't want to make him feel bad. He had found the man curled by him, and he looked to precious to ask to move. He was asleep any way, and waking a sleepy Jehan is either like waking the dead or a princess, depending on the day. Of course, Jehan heard him throwing up though, and came in to investigate. He frowned, and pulled Joly's hair back while the doctor threw up. "Go to bed alright? I want you to feel better." Jehan muttered. Joly kissed him, and took his advice. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!