Work Text:
Grantaire didn't really have a habit of paying much attention to her fellow bus-riders. They were just so... dull. They weren't like Jehan, who had burst into her life with splashes of pastel and brightly colored poetry. They weren't like Éponine, who barreled through with rolling punches and aggressive affection. They weren't like Joly, Bossuet, or Musichetta, tripping into each other bringing laughter and happiness with them. So every day she was on the bus, she'd put in her headphones, and let the music wash over her; one thing she would never be able to drown out is the brisk automated voice coming over the bus' tinny speakers.
"Now approaching: Werblin Recreation Center." Grantaire let out a muffled sigh. Three years of being on this campus, and she still messes up which bus she has to take to go around campus in a clockwise order instead of counterclockwise. At least she had left for her shift earlier than usual; now she had some time to spare before she clocked in 15 minutes early as usual. She opened her eyes, in the process of mentally calculating how long it would take to walk from the campus center to the basement room where she worked. Her thoughts shuddered to a halt, and she blinked slowly, making sure that the vision in front of her wasn't a hallucination. She had been keeping an extra close eye on her food when she met with Jehan for lunch, just in case xe thought it would be a good idea to put something in there to keep her calm. Xe meant well, but R really didn't want to show up high off her ass during her third week on the job. The entity standing in front of her seat hadn't gone away after her little session of looking even more like a crazy person. The voice over the speakers crackled to life, breaching through the heavy drumbeat of her music ringing through her ears.
"Now approaching: Busch Campus Center." They had passed by the two previous stops, the incoming rush of students pressing the current inhabitants closer together, pushing the inhuman creature closer to Grantaire. Before long, the doors of the bus opened and people spilled out, rushing to their own destinations, and the angel now filled the recently vacated seat next to Grantaire. It was as if all the air in the bus had been sucked into a vacuum, she could barely breathe. Oh great, now she had the mental image of the air actually getting sucked out of the bus, and she swears that she can hear the crunch of the metal collapsing in on itself. As if she can deal with that and the fact that the most beautiful girl she has ever seen is now sitting next to her. The doors of the bus closed shut, and R can see the girl out of the corner of her eye, mouthing along to the automated voice with a sarcastic twist to her pretty, dark purple, nearly black, painted lips.
"Please stand behind the yellow line while the bus is in motion." It takes all of he willpower to keep the laughter at bay. Amusing as the girl's reaction to the bus is, it doesn't give any indication of her age. The buses are annoying to the point of frustration, and even the freshman shoot dirty looks at the speakers each time the doors close. Grantaire's been here for three years - graduation is next year, holy shit, when the fuck did that happen?! - and if this goddess has been here with her this entire time, then where the hell has Grantaire been? 'At the bottom of a bottle, fucking up her life,' a traitorous voice whispers at the back of her mind. She shakes her head, pushes the voice away, and tries to surreptitiously get a better look at the goddess sitting next to her. Her hair had been the originally been the thing to catch her attention, a deep burnished gold that was a few shades lighter than her nut brown skin. Her cobalt blue eyes were rimmed with kohl, and oh fuck was that a nose piercing? Her mouth reminded R of cherries, their juice staining everything red and dark purple, of summer days and competitions with Éponine and Bossuet, Joly, Jehan, and Musichetta laughing and watching on as they tried to see who could spit their cherry pit the farthest. Her eyes traveled further, greedily drinking in the oversized dark blue plaid shirt held open over a white crop top, the short shorts doing nothing to conceal the lightly muscled runner's legs, and the bright red high-top Converse. 'Athena' her mind whispers, waves of inspiration crashing through her. 'Liberty' it says to her. 'There is one I would follow,' her mind quotes, and she has to stifle the hysterical giggle before it can escape her. She turns back to her phone, and shoots off a desperate text to Éponine, the only one in their group of friends who isn't in class or at work.
"Pretty girl sitting next to me worthy of being called a Greek goddess." Three minutes pass, and the bus driver finally retakes his seat - why they idle for ages at some stops is beyond R. She fidgets restlessly, trying her best to not stare at the girl on her right like the creep she feels she is. There's still no answer from Éponine, so she sends off another message, trying not to panic needlessly over this. "She's Athena, great and powerful. Her majesty is second to nothing other than her beauty." She bites her lip, tugging roughly at the chapped skin, and without thinking to hide what she's typing, she fires off another text. "Men would weep at her feet, just begging for a chance to gaze upon her face." A hand appears in her line of vision, tapping lightly on her wrist. It's her Athena, smiling shyly at her. Grantaire glances down at her phone in horror, her panicked texts to Éponine in full view. She tugs her headphones off of her head, wayward curls falling into her face.
"I'm really sorry!" she blurts out. Her Athena - fuck, why is she referring to her in the possessive? If that isn't creepy as fuck, R doesn't know what is - looks confused.
"Why would you be sorry? I think it's one of the greatest compliments I've received, to be compared to the goddess of wisdom." Oh goddammit, her voice is as hypnotizing as the rest of her. Before R can stop herself, she opens her mouth, and the words flow out in waves.
"Not just wisdom. She's also the goddess of courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, strategic warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. I'm the weird person who memorizes Wikipedia articles, sorry. But you look like you could lead people to greatness. Like that painting, Liberty Leading the People. I'd follow you. I think that the world is a shitty place, but I'd believe in you." They're on a bus, and Grantaire knows that she's going to be embarrassed by this later, fuck she's embarrassed now, but the words won't stop coming out. "I just - fuck. I sound like a creep, don't I? Can I paint you?" The smile on the girl's face had been steadily growing, but when R posed her question, she looked confused by the sudden change in subject, and R quickly tried to explain herself. It's just that I'm an artist, and I - is it okay if I ask you to model for me? Contrary to my weird and kinda creepy ramblings, I really don't want to make you uncomfortable." The girl let out a laugh, causing some of the other passengers to look their way in annoyance. She spoke again, her tone lightly teasing.
"I don't mind. I'm Enjolras by the way, not Athena unfortunately. I run a social justice club, so I actually don't have a lot of free time. You're always welcome to come to a meeting though." Before Enjolras can continue her spiel, the bus' PA system cuts in with its listless voice.
"Now approaching: Hill Center." Both girls are clearly startled.
"I hope you weren't intending to get off at the library stop or the Psych building stop, because we've definitely passed those." Enjolras snorts.
"Nope. Getting out here actually. You?" R grins happily.
"Same. I work in the basement of Hill actually." Enjolras' face falls a little.
"Damn. I have class in the Physics building." They get off and follow the crush of people walking off the bus, and end up standing next to the stairs separating the Physics building from Hill Center, staring awkwardly at each other. "You know... I didn't catch your name," Enjolras says softly, and Grantaire starts to turn red.
"Oh. Oh! Right, sorry. I'm Grantaire. Call me R, though. Less of a mouthful that way." Enjolras gets a determined look on her face - something R suspects is quite a common occurrence - and reaches into her shirt's pocket before pulling out her phone. She fiddles around with it for a few seconds before holding it out to R.
"Do you want to put in your number? That way we can try and set up a time when I can model for you. Or if that would take too long, do you want to maybe go get a coffee together or something?" R's hand freezes where it's poised to take Enjolras' phone, and she's staring wide-eyed at her. A moment passes and Enjolras' fingers tighten around her phone. "Oh crap... I read things wrong didn't I? Courfeyrac said that I need to work on my people skills, I'm sorry." Grantaire snatches the phone from Enjolras' hand, obviously startling the other girl. She quickly inputs all of her contact information, her face burning a bright red, mentally cursing her mother's fair skin that showed blushes so easily, wishing she inherited her father's dark skin. She shoots off a text to herself before showing the message to Enjolras.
"You didn't read anything wrong. I'm probably as bad at people skills as you are, it's a miracle my friends have stuck around as long as they have." Enjolras smiles again, putting her phone back in her pocket.
"Just to be clear, you just agreed to go on a date with me, right?" R nods, and before she can stop herself, she blurts out the one thought that's been niggling at her ever since they started talking.
"I really want to kiss you..." Enjolras bites her lip, and bends down to press her lips to Grantaire's.
"There. I honestly wish we had time for more, but I really have to run to class now, or else I'm going to be late, okay?" R checks her watch. She still has 10 minutes left before her shift is supposed to start. Good. At least she can still think straight - ha! When has she ever been straight? - after that kiss...
"Yeah, I have to get to work too. See you around?" Enjolras nods. They part to go their separate ways, but when Grantaire reaches the top of the stairs, she turns around. "Three hours!" she yells to Enjolras, who turns around to face Grantaire from where she was about to open the door of the Physics building.
"What?!" she yells back.
"My shift at work! It's three hours long, and I don't have anything after for the rest of the day!" Enjolras' deep bellied laugh is loud enough to reach Grantaire even across the distance separating them.
"Neither do I! I'll pick you up here by the stairs later, yeah?!" Grantaire can't keep the shit-eating grin off of her face.
"It's a date!" She runs inside the building, rushes down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and manages to sign in to her shift 5 minutes early.
Two hours later, she finally gets a reply from Éponine.
"You need a drink?" the message reads, a second one coming in a beat later. "You're sounding a little thirsty." Grantaire smiles down at her phone, Éponine's brand of humor never failing to cheer her up.
"Nah," she sends back. "Got a date instead." She turns off her phone, knowing that there'll be a barrage of questions waiting for her when she turns it on again. She turns back to her work, still smiling, and eagerly counts down the minutes until the end of her shift.