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Enjolras has often thought that he and Grantaire are the complete polar opposites of one another, that no two people could be more different from each other. However, now that he’s gone on a few dates with Grantaire (coffee, dinner, and dinner and a movie so far) he’s come to a different conclusion: Grantaire’s actual polar opposite is, in fact, Marius.
He’s started keeping a mental list, actually.
Grantaire takes his coffee black, no sugar. Marius adds at least three sugars to his.
And
Marius can sleep through sirens, fire alarms, people yelling right next to him, anything. Grantaire is such a light sleeper that, unless he’s exhausted, he can be woken up by the sound of a book page being turned.
And
Marius, despite working and studying on campus every day, still regularly gets lost on the way to class. He’s never even seen Grantaire look at so much as a city map, and he seems to know where everything is by some sort of instinct.
(Although, that being said, they both seem to need to move constantly. Marius gestures when he talks, and fidgets in his seat. If Grantaire isn’t sketching, he taps his fingers against the nearest flat surface (the counter, the armrest, his leg). They both drive him insane during meetings. He feels like an annoyed parent, telling them to sit still).
He’d asked Cosette about it once, wondered aloud how two people who were so different could manage live together.
Cosette had given him a strange look. “Which two people, exactly, are we talking about right now?”
“Grantaire and Marius.”
“It’s not that strange. They’re more alike than you’d think. You probably just need to see them together more.”
“Maybe.”
Which, apparently, Cosette takes as his suggestion that they go on a double date.
She mentions it in front of Grantaire before he gets a chance to, and Grantaire looks so pleased with the idea that he can’t say no after that. Marius suggests one the free movies they show in the park, and Grantaire suggests dinner beforehand, and they’re off, swapping competing ideas, arguing over the best places to eat (and apparently there are a wide variety of points to consider when deciding this – price, food selection, if they’ve been previously, location, and distance to the park. Enjolras usually just eats at where ever is closest that’s open).
Cosette plays mediator, and they compromise on a 24 hour diner, two blocks from the park.
“If that’s okay with you, Enjolras?” asks Grantaire.
“It’s fine,” and then, wanting to actually feel as if he is contributing something to the preparations, “I’ll drive us there, if you like.”
“That sounds great, thank!” says Marius
Enjolras is about to point out that Marius has his own car, and suggest that maybe they arrive separately for some privacy, but Grantaire interrupts.
“Yeah, thanks! That’s way easier than taking two cars, don’t you think?”
With all three of them looking at him like that he has no choice but to agree.
He picks Cosette up before he heads to Marius and Grantaire’s. Cosette doesn’t stop smiling the whole ride there, and talks excitedly about the old black and white western they’re going to see. He’s not really concentrating through, thinking about the night ahead, planning possible conversation topics, his responses to things Grantaire might say.
Cosette must notice (of course she notices, it’s Cosette), because when he pulls up in front of their house she puts a hand on his arm.
“Don’t think so much Enjolras,” she says, “everything’s going to be fine, you don’t need to plan for every little thing.”
“I know it’s fine,” he says, “there’s nothing wrong with being prepared.”
He does try to stop mentally planning out the conversation as they go up to the door. He raises his hand to knock, and nearly has a heart attack as Marius pulls it open before he gets there.
“Cosette, Enjolras, hello! Grantaire’s just finished getting ready, hang on,” Marius looks behind him and yells, “Grantaire! They’re here!”
“Calm down, Marius,” Grantaire’s voices floats downstairs, “I’ll be down in like ten seconds, I’m just putting my shoes on.”
Cosette seems content to wait on the doorstep, so Enjolras follows her lead. She leans against Marius, twining their hands together. Marius beams at her.
“It’s good to see you.”
Cosette laughs a little. “You saw me yesterday.”
“But I haven’t seen you since then.”
They’re worse than Jehan and Courf, thinks Enjolras.
Grantaire thumps downstairs, winding a lumpy green scarf around his neck as he comes to the door. He smiles at Enjolras, and Enjolras smiles in return, an automatic reaction.
“Hello, sorry about that. Ready to go?”
He sits in the front with Enjolras, and Cosette moves to the middle of the back seat so that she can sit next to Marius (they’re still holding hands). Grantaire steals side-long looks at him during the drive to the diner, and Enjolras sincerely wishes they had taken separate cars.
The diner is half-empty when they get there. Cosette leads the way to the corner booth, sliding her way into the cracked leather seats. Marius slides in after her, reaching across for the menus and spreading them across the table. It occurs to Enjolras suddenly that they often go out together, the three of them, and feels suddenly like an outsider.
Grantaire gestures him into the booth first. “I know you like window seats better.”
When Grantaire slides in after him, he presses their legs together under the table top, his left hand resting on Enjolras’ thigh, while his other hand reaches for a menu.
“So what do we all feel like?” says Grantaire, “Jehan recommended the waffles.”
“You’re not having waffles for dinner,” says Enjolras, not looking up from his menu.
Marius and Cosette laugh as Grantaire pouts (not for long though, it turns into a smile as though he can’t stop it), and Enjolras smiles, relaxing a little. Grantaire keeps his hand on Enjolras’ leg, only moving it when he absolutely has to use his other hand to eat, and Enjolras finds that he misses the warmth of it.
The meal is peaceful, Cosette tells them about her shopping adventure with Eponine and her little brother Gavroche (he’d climbed a fountain and they’d almost got arrested by security), Marius tells him the plot Game of Thrones very excitedly (with interruptions by Cosette and Grantaire), and Grantaire tells them how he was fired from a job as a projectionist (he kept falling asleep and didn’t change the reels).
It’s only a ten minute walk to the park, with Grantaire leading the way. He catches Enjolras’ hand as they leave the diner, pulling him along a little before they slow down to let Marius and Cosette catch up. He keeps their hands together, and he keeps glancing down when he thinks Enjolras isn’t looking (Enjolras can’t fault him for that, he keeps doing the same).
The movie has almost started when they get there, but they manage to find four seats together. Grantaire takes the aisle seat first, making them slide past him awkwardly. As Enjolras moves past him, Grantaire trails a hand across his leg. Enjolras shoots him a glare, but there’s no heat in it.
“I would have thought you and Marius would sit together,” he says, after a moment.
Cosette answers before Grantaire can. “If you let them do that, they talk through the entire movie.”
Grantaire leans forward to see around Enjolras. “We do not!”
Marius leans forward too. “We do, kind of. But there’s always so much to talk about!”
Grantaire opens his mouth to speak, but Cosette shushes him. “It’s starting!”
The movie is not Enjolras’ usual type – criminal being brought to justice, horse chases, and gunfights aren’t really his thing – but he enjoys in nevertheless. It might have something to do with Grantaire, who leans against him before the movie is ten minutes in, tentative and not yet resting the full weight of his head against Enjolras’ shoulder. Enjolras puts an arm around the back of Grantaire’s chair.
Grantaire smiles into his shoulder. “That’s an old move.”
“I got it out of Marius’ playbook.”
Grantaire snorts. Marius has an arm fully around Cosette’s shoulders, and she’s snuggled into his side.
Marius and Grantaire lean forward the moment the movie is over, and immediately start talking over the top of each other.
Cosette laughs at Enjolras’ startled expression. “You just have to wait for them to let it out.”
They keep talking to each other, boyish and excited, almost all the way back to the car. Enjolras looks at their matching grins, and thinks maybe there is some truth to what Cosette said about them, that even though they seem to be two very different people, they share enough similarities that they can be close friends.
During their re-enactment of the final shootout, Grantaire ducks behind Enjolras.
“I surrender! I give up my criminal ways for good!”
Enjolras laughs. Grantaire slides his hand down until it catches Enjolras’ again. They walk back to the car, hand in hand, and Enjolras’ face almost hurts from smiling.
He drops Grantaire and Marius off first.
“Let me walk you to the door,” says Marius.
Enjolras almost points out that this is not Cosette’s door, but then Grantaire looks at him and –
“Yes, Cosette, you should do that, I have, uh, something that I would like to discuss with Grantaire.”
Cosette smiles sweetly, and Marius offers her a hand out of the car. They walk up the steps, and Enjolras turns to Grantaire.
They don’t discuss anything for fifteen minutes.
Cosette laughs a little at his rumpled shirt when they drive away, smoothing down her hair in the mirror.
“See, I told you everything would be fine,” she says, teasing.
Enjolras is smiling too hard to disagree with her.