Work Text:
The first time Grantaire told Enjolras he loved him was the first day they met.
Bahorel had dragged Grantaire to a protest about immigration rights that some group called 'Les Amis' had put on. Feuilly had been pestering Bahorel to bring Grantaire ever since he had finally gotten Bahorel interested.
Grantaire showed up expecting a bunch of boring people incapable on changing anything. "Boring" may have been the wrong word.
When Grantaire and Bahorel showed up outside the government building, they were met with the sight of a beautiful blonde man standing on a crate and urging people to vote against discriminatory laws.
Bahorel gave Grantaire a sidelong glance and smirked. "Yeah, that's Enjolras. He's the one who organized all this. Seems he's already made quite an impression on you, huh?" he said with a wink.
Grantaire didn't take his eyes off Enjolras for a second. "He's certainly....something." He finally turned to Bahorel with an incredulous look and asked, "Is he serious?"
"He's the most serious person I've ever met, "Bahorel responded seriously.
Enjolras had just finished, fist in the air and surrounded crowd cheering. Grantaire couldn't hold it in any longer. "You don't seriously believe you can influence anything, do you?"
Enjolras' head swiveled around to find who had spoken, eyes narrowing when he spotted Grantaire.
"Why, yes, I do, actually," he coolly replied. "Is there any reason why I shouldn't?"
"No offense, but there's nothing you can do. Humans are inherently selfish creatures; they're going to choose the easiest option."
Enjolras' eyes blazed and he vehemently responded, "You're wrong. The people believe in the rights of others! Humans are inherently good, and are thus willing to discomfort themselves to a certain degree in order to help others. By protesting across the country, we can and will inspire change in all issues of society!" Enjolras' chest was heaving after his mini speech and his eyes were alive with a burning fire. Grantaire fell in love.
"What can a group of students change?"
"Everything! The world! People are inspired by other-"
"I love you," Grantaire cut him off, making Enjolras falter halfway through his response.
"What?" he scowled, glaring at Grantaire.
"I love you," he repeated.
"Be serious," Enjolras said.
"I am wild."
*
*
*
After that, Grantaire started attending Les Amis meetings and the "I love you"s became a daily occurrence. After the third time, Enjolras started ignoring them.
The sixth time, Enjolras asked Grantaire why he kept saying that, and Grantaire just responded, "Because I love you," with a wink.
Enjolras narrowed his eyes and went to talk to Feuilly about a protest.
The next day, Grantaire stopped Enjolras in the middle of a speech, waving his wine bottle dangerously through the air.
"Your lofty ideals will never amount to anything, Apollo; there simply aren't enough people who care."
"People like you?" Enjolras snapped back.
Grantaire paused with the bottle halfway to his lips. "I care about some things," he finally replied, taking a sip.
"Care? What could you possibly care about?" Enjolras taunted.
"I love you," Grantaire said, smiling serenely up at him.
Enjolras rolled his eyes and turned away, and Grantaire thought he heard him mutter, "You're impossible," before turning to Combeferre and inquiring about the progress of the flyers.
*
*
*
The thirtieth time, they were at Jehan's Christmas party. Jehan had written everyone a poem as a present, and he had declared that everyone had to agree to write a poem to be allowed entrance into his apartment.
Two AM found Grantaire, of course, reciting his poem to Enjolras.
"Your hair is like the golden sun
Your eyes are like the bluest skies
Jehan has the best whiskey around
I love you"
Enjolras merely quirked an eyebrow and told Grantaire it was time for him to sleep, but the corner of his lip was upturned in a fond smile.
*
*
*
Grantaire eventually stopped counting. He simply knew he told Enjolras he loved him a LOT, and Enjolras still (fortunately) didn't seem to get it.
One rainy Friday morning, Grantaire stumbled upon Enjolras in the library.
"Apollo!" he whisper-yelled. "What brings you here this lovely day?" he asked. A crash of thunder sounded outside on the word "lovely", cutting off the rest of his question.
"School, of course. And you?" Enjolras asked, looking Grantaire up and down almost judgmentally.
"Philosophy!" Grantaire replied cheerily, pulling a Rosseau novel from his backpack and searching the shelves before retrieving a Robespierre book.
"I didn't realize you read philosophy in your free time," Enjolras stated, an inquiring look on his face.
"How else would I keep up with the elegant arguments spewed from your silver tongue?" Grantaire quipped.
Enjolras just rolled his eyes and smiled, responding, "I suppose I had been wondering where your surprisingly well-informed responses had come from."
"Apollo, I'm touched! Was that almost a compliment?" Grantaire asked, grin evident on his face.
Brow furrowing, Enjolras responded, "I do wish you wouldn't call me that."
Grantaire just gave a half-smile and said, "I love you."
Enjolras opened his mouth as if to respond, eyes squinting, before closing it again.
Huh, that was new.
*
*
*
After that, Grantaire and Enjolras became an approximation of friends. They talked more, anyway.
A warm day in August, almost a year after they had first met, found them in the Musain after a meeting, talking civilly about their opinions on movies, of all things.
"What are you talking about? Oz the Great and Powerful was fantastic! It proved that even selfish people have inherent goodness in them!" Enjolras said, scandalized Grantaire could possibly disagree.
"It proved James Franco makes a lot of money," Grantaire stated lazily.
Enjolras' mouth gaped open. "Th-that's not the point! And, besides, of course he makes a lot of money; he's brilliant! Have you seen Howl? It was artistic and incredibly well-made. He played the role so well, capturing all the nuances. Not to mention, his character staying with Peter until the end was uplifting!"
"I should have figured you for a Franco fan. You don't have good taste in anything else; why would you have good taste in actors?"
"James Franco is amazing!"
"Please! His boyfriend Peter whatshisname was MUCH hotter."
"All right, I'll give you that. But James is still fantastic!"
Grantaire snorted. "Figures you'd say that."
"What?" Enjolras asked, brow crinkling.
"Peter looks like you."
"What?! He does not! He's far more attractive than I am."
Grantaire just stared at him for a minute in shock, mouth slightly open, before shaking his head and laughing. "I love you."
"I love you too."
Grantaire whipped his head up and looked straight into Enjolras' eyes. "What was that?" he asked warily.
Enjolras looked down and licked his lips before looking back up and meeting Grantaire's eyes. "I've never known whether you're serious or not, but I love you too."
Grantaire blinked. Twice. "I- Enjolras, what-?" he forced out before finally saying, "Of course I'm serious."
The corners of Enjolras' mouth turned up into a smile before a full grin overtook his face.
"Did you mean that?" Grantaire asked disbelievingly.
Enjolras leaned in and kissed him as an answer, cupping Grantaire's cheek in his hand. When he pulled back, Grantaire wore a look of pure wonder.
"How long did you wait before telling me?" Grantaire mumbled incredulously.
"Long enough," Enjolras admitted. "I had to be sure of how I felt."
Grantaire gave a slight laugh. "I've been in love with you since we had that stupid argument about immigration the first time I met you."
"You cut me off when I was talking about the people," Enjolras recalled, tilting his head.
"I meant it. I always have. I was just lucky you never realized I was serious," Grantaire laughed, half of his mouth tilting into a half-smile. "Did you ever figure it out?" he asked, smiling softly when Enjolras laced their figures together.
"When I started to realize I had feelings for you, I hoped, and I took comfort in the fact that our relationship was different. But you were never serious about anything, so why would you be serious about this? Then again, maybe this was the ONLY thing you were serious about. You did keep coming to the meetings just to tease me, of course."
"I figured I couldn't have been any more obvious. It seems it worked well enough, anyway," he said, smiling gently and squeezing Enjolras' hand, because he could do that now.
"I love you," Enjolras replied, smiling back with a look in his eyes that made Grantaire's knees weak before leaning in to kiss him again.
"I love you too."