#clydesbarrows

the act of defense doesn't last long, though, because as soon as the beautiful man takes him underground--no, literally underground, they're in some sort of cave and do the souls know about this? of course not, these are human rebels, they'd be killed within instants--she disappears. there's a new girl, though, with soft blonde hair and she doesn't look like she wants to kill him. 

he's kept in a cell and the girl watches over him, telling grantaire that her name is cosette. she doesn't call him 'it' or 'the alien'. she just calls him grantaire.

it turns out, the beautiful man goes to steal things. cosette tells him this, tells him that enjolras--and god, what a perfect name--goes out and steals food and brings it back for them to eat. cosette makes sure grantaire gets his own, and plenty of water.

then, she takes him to the river room. on the way, he gets daggers thrown at him. well, no, not really, that's just a saying his human body remembered--what an ugly body, he thinks. the face (my face, he tells himself) is mangled and has scars of acne and his nose is crooked and the hair is absolutely awful--anyway, there are people who hate him. he knows this, he can see the way the guy with flaming orange hair glares at him and the way the girl who stood up from him huffed out a breath of annoyance and the way the small man who looks like he's about to fly pointedly avoids his gaze

the river room has a river in it, obviously, and she tells him that he can wash up here. which is great, he's thankful, but that's more time spent looking at this horrid body he's in

cosette gives grantaire jobs to do. wash the dishes, bake the bread, wash the clothes, bake the muffins. it's not hard stuff, but grantaire does it and is tired, he's exhausted from all the hate he's had to put up with. he tells cosette this, just as the girl who defended him walks by, and she snorts. that's when it starts.

little by little, people come around. eponine, the girl who defended him slips him some whiskey (that's how that starts, too). feuilly, the ginger, talks to him about art among the souls. jehan, the guy who looked as if he was ready to take flight, he whispers kind words to him. musichetta smiles in the tunnels, bossuet laughs with him at dinner, courfeyrac challenges a game of cards. joly, though, he's the doctor. he's what grantaire's afraid of--being sent there to be tortured and killed and brutally cut open to see if the human body can be saved

enjolras comes back the next day. he has a split lip and a black eye, which makes grantaire ache, but other than that he's okay. he ignores grantaire while yelling at cosette, asking her why the hell is it still here and why hasn't joly taken care of it

grantaire shuts himself away in his cell that night, even though he has a room with eponine from now on. he doesn't want to be near enjolras, who keeps reminding grantaire that he's an alien and a parasite and horrible

cosette lures him out with food while eponine lures him out with whiskey. everything's okay for a while, until enjolras comes. to talk, he says.

eponine agrees, letting enjolras be alone for grantaire for maybe the first time. grantaire says enjolras' name, and enjolras visibly winces. he doesn't ask for grantaire. what he does ask, though, is to not put up a fight. that makes grantaire's body go stiff, but enjolras doesn't elaborate. he only leaves grantaire in the darkness

the next few days are uneventful and grantaire is wary, looking for enjolras everywhere. he stays by cosette and eponine, trying not to look too scared.

it starts by jehan asking him to tell stories. grantaire tells him what his lives were like on the other planets; he thinks jehan will especially like the blind world, where you had to feel colors. he was right, jehan likes it

then, feuilly asks more about the art. a guy named combeferre asks about the education program, jehan asks for more stories, joly asks about the medicine. soon enough, every day after dinner is called class time with grantaire and he teaches about the alien worlds. enjolras never comes.

until he does, one day, because combeferre asks him to. enjolras was wrong, so, horribly wrong. grantaire is so full of knowledge, and he's talking about his old lives passionately.

this is when enjolras changes. he starts calling grantaire by his name and not 'it'. he asks him for opinions, and what his views are. he learns that grantaire hates the souls and he hates this system and they do actually agree on one thing, miraculously.