Somedays, I really want to see the Amis (in a modern AU or not) being dicks. Being stupid young kids doing thoughtless or ignorant things, whether in pursuit of their goals or just through selfishness. There’s definitely enough in canon to support it:
- Enjolras spray-painting signs, tearing down posters, smashing windows and the like without giving any thought to the minimum-wage workers who would have to clean it all up (or, in a worst-case scenario, assuming they’d be happy to do this for the greater good.) Enjolras also loudly and crossly defending his heroes even if this also means being an apologist for some really crappy behaviour. (That guy abandoned his kids? Who cares, he did some good stuff too!)
- Bahorel also merrily and obliviously smashing things up
- Grantaire drunkenly catcalling, insulting and unexpectedly grabbing the waists of women (maybe partly because he’s attempting to bury or hide his feelings for Enjolras, but mostly because he’s never bothered to learn or consider why that’s awful behaviour)
- Courfeyrac objectifying women (“I would like to add that woman to my collection”), cheating on or discarding them when it suits him and being utterly oblivious to their actual lives and feelings, thinking it’s all just harmless fun. (D’ya remember that cut scene with him and Azelma? I know it was cut, but whoa.)
- Joly and Bossuet on the whole going along with any crappy behaviour they see in their friends, because they’re their friends, and they themselves don’t know enough about why certain behaviours are harmful. Enjolras and Bahorel are writing slogans on stuff with hard-to-remove paint? Cool, let’s have a drink and join in!
- Combeferre and Feuilly not speaking out whenever someone does fuck up or completely overstep a boundary, Combeferre because his desire to get all the facts first overrides his other tendancies and Feuilly because he doesn’t want to antagonize a group he still feels a bit on the outside of
But then (here’s the best part) I want to see them growing into better people with help from the folks around them and each other. I just don’t want them to be perfect, I guess. They were awesome and heroic and kind and loving and brave, but they sure as hell weren’t perfect.