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Enjolras was talking to Combeferre about getting posters to put up around the university when Grantaire came in. Enjolras paid no attention to him, completely ignoring him until he was right beside him. “And they can go here and –.” He stopped mid-sentence. Glancing at Grantaire, he said, “Can I help you?”
R smiled cheekily and asked, “Will you go on a date with me?”
Enjolras’ eyes widened and a blush crept up his neck. “I-I’m sorry?” he stuttered.
Not missing a beat, Grantaire asked again. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“What?” he asked, incredibly confused. “Are you talking to me?”
By this time, everyone had been alerted to their conversation, since Enjolras’ voice rose. Grantaire licked his lips and glanced around, seeing everyone staring at him. Confidently, for the third time, he asked, “Will you go on a date with me?”
Everyone was silent for a long time. Grantaire was about to ask again when Enjolras flatly said, “No.”
A few people gasped, but Grantaire’s smile didn’t dim. “Okay,” was all he said before sitting down at his usual spot for the meeting. He produced a flask from his jacket pocket and took a long pull from it. Enjolras watched him before finally shaking his head. “We’ll talk later,” he said to Combeferre, then began the meeting. Not once did he meet Grantaire’s eyes.
***
The next day, the same thing happened again. Enjolras was getting his notes together when Grantaire strolled up to him. “Will you go on a date with me?” he asked.
The members had watched R walk up to E, so when he asked, it was dead silent. A confused look was once again on Enjolras’ face. “Are you asking me again?”
“Yep,” Grantaire replied with a laugh.
“…Why?” he asked after a pause.
Grantaire shrugged and said, “I wanted to let you sleep on it to see if your answer would change. Did it?”
Enjolras shook his head. “No, I still won’t go on a date with you.”
Like the day before, he smiled and said, “Okay.” He went to sit down, grabbing the bottle of wine from off the nearest table first. This time, Courfeyrac tapped his shoulder.
“Why did you ask him again?” he whispered.
He gulped the wine before answering, “I wanted him to sleep on it.”
All their eyes were turned to Enjolras for the meeting after that, and the incident was soon forgotten.
***
This quickly became a daily occurrence. Grantaire would walk up to Enjolras before the meeting and ask him on a date. Enjolras would refuse, then R would sit down for the meeting. It got to the point where E wouldn’t wait for him to ask.
Enjolras was talking to Marius this time, who was asking about a good book to read to impress Cossette. Grantaire came in and right up to him. Before R could open his mouth, Enjolras looked right at him and said, “No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say!” Grantaire protested.
He rolled his eyes then responded, “Okay, what were you going to say?”
“Would you like to accompany me on a night out with just the two of us?” he asked with a grin.
Enjolras narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. “No. And it’s not funny anymore, Grantaire. You can stop now.”
R shrugged and simply said, “I’m not trying to be funny Apollo.” He turned and took his seat, taking the wine with him.
It happened every day for almost three months. Enjolras stopped caring after a few weeks. If this was his form of entertainment then he’d let it go. It wasn’t hurting anyone. After so many days of this being asked, it was strange when it almost didn’t happen.
The meetings started promptly at 7:30 pm, whether everyone was there or not. People tended to come in a few minutes late, but Enjolras wouldn’t stop for anyone. When 7:32 rolled around, the meeting still hadn’t started. Enjolras was at his podium, poised and ready to go, but couldn’t find the words yet. Eventually Combeferre brought it to his attention.
“Um, Enjolras are you going to start the meeting?”
“Not everyone is here yet. We can wait, it’s a fairly short meeting.”
Combeferre glanced around. The only ones missing were Jehan, who was out of town until Thursday, Marius, who was probably with Cossette, and Grantaire. Only lord knows where he could be. He decided not to comment on it though, deciding his life was pretty good and didn’t want it to end.
Finally, at 7:41 Grantaire showed up breathing heavily. He started toward the front when he realized no one was talking. “Did I run all the way over here and miss the whole meeting?” he asked between breaths.
“We haven’t even started yet,” someone called out.
R shot a curious glance at Enjolras. “We were waiting,” was all the response he got. A smile lit up Grantaire’s face. He approached Enjolras with a lighter step.
“Will you go on a date with me?” he asked, predictably. However, he surprised everyone when he produced a single red rose from inside his jacket. Somehow, he managed to get it there without damage.
A flaming blush took over E’s face and he gulped. “The answer is still no,” he quietly answered.
Grantaire placed the rose on his podium before taking his seat. His endless patience confounded Enjolras to no end. How long was he going to do this? Until he said yes? If so, he was going to have to wait for a very long time.
Another few weeks went by with Grantaire asking in different ways. One time, he held up a huge sign that said ‘DATE?’ Another time, he showed up with Enjolras’ favorite Starbucks drink and instead of a name it read ‘date?’ Eventually, Enjolras started to look forward to the new ways he would be asked.
The gang kept telling him to accept it at least once. Just see how it goes and if it sucks then you’ll both drop it and it’ll be the end of that. But Enjolras… didn’t want it to stop. He thought it was sweet that Grantaire would go through the trouble to think of different ways to ask him out. Of course, once he began to think like that, he immediately shut it down.
‘I don’t like him. I never have, and I never will,’ he thought to himself.
The next day will be six months of asking. Everyone was annoyed by it by then and wanted Enjolras to say yes.
“Enjolras just do it. He won’t stop until you do,” Courfeyrac complained.
Combeferre added, “It won’t be that bad, you know. Just one time won’t kill you.”
He just shook his head. “I don’t want to give in first. I want to see how long he’ll keep this up.”
Grantaire hadn’t arrived yet, and the buzz of what it would be today went silent when they heard what E said.
“…So you like him back?” Jehan asked with a sly grin.
“What? Of course not, why would you think that?” he defended.
Jehan shared a glance with the other two before saying, “You don’t want to give in first. So you are willing to go on a date if he were to stop?”
Enjolras’ eyebrows furrowed in annoyance. “That’s not what I was implying.”
“But you aren’t denying it either.”
Before he could make a retort, the doors burst open and Grantaire rushed in. He stopped just in front of the podium and smiled charmingly. He winked before slowly unbuttoning his vest. He threw it across the room and began working the buttons on his shirt underneath. Someone wolf whistled once the shirt was completely unbuttoned. He slowly slipped it down his shoulders, keeping eye contact with Enjolras.
Enjolras felt like his face was engulfed with flames. His eyes raked up and down the exposed chest, only stopping when he heard the laughter. He thought it was at himself but he realized everyone was still looking at R. He took the shirt and threw it to the opposite side of the room. He turned quickly and pointed to his back with his thumbs. In huge, black ink, it said, ‘ENJOLRAS, WILL YOU GO ON A DATE WITH ME?’
Enjolras let out a light laugh. He took this way too far this time. “Please tell me that isn’t real.”
Grantaire scoffed and said, “Of course not, I had Cossette do it with a Sharpie.” He paused, and when he didn’t get a reply he asked aloud, “Will you go on a date with me?”
E laughed again then said, “No.” However, he didn’t get the same response as normal.
Everyone’s laughter had stopped abruptly. When he turned around, Enjolras understood why. Hurt and anger was all over his face. “And why not?” he demanded. He’s never asked that before, Enjolras mused.
“Grantaire, I thought you were kidding. I assumed this was just an elaborate joke,” he answered with a shrug.
R’s face was bright red with anger. His voice had risen to almost a yell. “You think I’ve been joking about this? I asked you 183 times now. Every day for six months I’ve asked you out, and you think it’s a joke? I put myself out there like this every day for you to think I’m kidding?”
Enjolras was shocked. “I’m sorry Grantaire but… what did you expect me to think?”
He threw his hands up and shouted, “Oh, I don’t know! Maybe that I actually really like you?! That I want to date you?! Or how about considering it?” He stopped to take a few shuddering breaths. When he spoke, his voice was soft and it broke Enjolras’ heart. “What’s so wrong with me that you couldn’t say yes even once?”
He didn’t bother waiting for a reply or even to get his shirt and vest. He stormed out and slammed the door behind him. No one spoke for a long time. E watched the door, hoping for him to come back and make a joke. But it never happened. Eventually, Marius stood and rubbed the back of his neck.
“So I’m gonna go…” he glanced at Enjolras and continued, “Cossette wants to know how it went and I don’t think Grantaire wants to talk about it.” With that, he left. A few others followed him.
Enjolras was speechless. After a few more minutes of silence, he stepped down from the podium. He didn’t say a word as he collected the abandoned clothing and left, closing the door softly behind him. There weren’t many places he would’ve went to, so he started off with the most obvious choice. Grantaire’s apartment.
It wasn’t too far away, just a couple blocks, so he made it there in no time at all, even at the snail pace he was going. He was recognized by the doorman and was allowed in. He made his way up the stairs and to the apartment number 205. Enjolras stood in front of it for a long time before finally raising his hand to knock. Before he could, the door swung open to reveal a now fully clothed Grantaire.
They stared at each other for a few moments until Enjolras finally dropped his gaze. Without a word, he offered the shirt and vest. R took it gently, then stood back and held the door open. Gruffly, he asked, “Would you like to come in?”
Enjolras knew he should say no. He should decline and leave and not cause any more heartache tonight.
But he couldn’t do that.
He stepped inside and made his way to the couch. Grantaire’s apartment was sparsely decorated, since he rarely ever stayed there. He usually ended up passed out on someone’s couch.
Grantaire disappeared in his bedroom momentarily to presumably deposit his clothes before settling in the arm chair across from the couch. They didn’t talk for what seemed like an eternity to Enjolras. He finally broke the silence. “I’m sorry.”
When Grantaire didn’t respond, he looked up at him. He had a very stony, serious face that didn’t look right to Enjolras. He hated to see him not smiling, and he hated it even more that he was the one that made it like that. “I see,” was all he said.
Enjolras took a deep breath. He was about to say something he couldn’t admit to anyone, not even himself. “I do really like you.” He couldn’t lift his gaze back up from the floor. His eyes settled on a knot in the wood and refused to move. “When you first asked me, I thought you were trying to embarrass me. I thought it for a while. I didn’t want to get hopeful. I assumed it was a joke and you were just playing me. So I just refused. The longer it went on, the more I wondered. How could anyone want me? How could anyone have such endless patience with me? Around the four month mark, our friends kept telling me to just accept it. Just once. See how it goes. But by that point, I was too scared you had lost interest and only kept this up to irritate me.”
He didn’t realize Grantaire was next to him until a pair of hands covered his own shaking ones. He let out a deep breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. He forced himself to take a look at Grantaire. He tried to quirk a smile but he was sure it looked like a grimace. “If you’re still asking, I’ll accept,” he whispered.
They stared into each other’s eyes, which ended up being interrupted by Grantaire’s eyes flickering down to E’s lips. He leaned forward and murmured, “May I?”
Enjolras nodded his head once before a soft pair of lips met his own. He sighed into it and moved closer, bringing one hand out from under R’s and moving it to his cheek. It was rough with stubble, and burned as they moved, but Enjolras loved every second of it.
They withdrew, not wanting to push each other too far too soon in this new thing. A smile formed on Grantaire’s lips and Enjolras couldn’t help kissing it. This one didn’t last as long, seeing as Grantaire pulled away. Before E could say anything, he asked, “Enjolras, will you go on a date with me?”
Enjolras rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “I would love to.”