Chapter Text
"Did you know I hate you?" Combferre asked resignedly as Joly examined the bruises littering Enjolras's chest and arms.
"He's okay. Bit of bruising. Black eye. Nothing broken. Can I get to sleep now? I've been feeling a little under the weather."
"Yeah thanks, night Joly." Combferre turned back to Enjolras. "You had to pick a fight the night before your photo shoot."
"He didn't pick a fight," Jehan said, in a voice that was somewhere between indignant and giggling. "There was a girl-"
"Don't you get started, piano man. Unless you want to tell me what you were so busy with while Lancelot here was getting himself a black eye? I asked you all to stay in. The least you could've done was behave yourself. He looked at them with a small frown. "Where's Courf in all this?"
"He turned in early," they lied in unison.
"Get some ice on that eye, Lancelot, and pray that Feuilly can do something to cover it up."
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Courfeyrac and Jehan were both grounded tonight, so Enjolras had wheedled Marius into going out with him.
While he was an essential part of the band, Marius rarely joined them when they went out at night. He was a quieter guy, and he preferred reading in his room to getting drunk.
Since it was Marius, they had chosen a very out of the way piano bar, so it was rather empty compared to their usual choices.
It was quiet and welcoming. An older woman was at the piano, plunking out a soft melody, while the woman sharing the bench sang quietly in her ear. A young couple was trying to solve a sudoku, clearly struggling, probably due to the empty shot glasses cluttering the table.
A group of young people argued quietly around a table in the back.
Courf and Jehan would've wrecked this place.
The bartender was friendly, though not very talkative and Marius was quiet and introspective.
Somehow Enjolras always ended up alone with his thoughts in bars.
Well not always, his mind prodded unhelpfully.
For some reason Marius hadn't come back. He had gone to the bathroom- well Rnjolras wasn't sure how long ago, but it was definitely too long for the bathroom.
He rubbed his eyes.
This was not a runners-high night. They had been shooting a music video and it had been exhausting.
Apparently a good music video needs a lot of running. And apparently the running is a very specific run that requires about 6 or 7 takes to get right.
There had been no singing, no crowd. Just the same 10 second scenes over and over.
He was about to stand when someone slid into the stool beside him.
"Can I get you another drink?"
Enjolras's head jerked up.
"Grantaire?" Then, rather stupidly, "You have tattoos."
Grantaire rubbed at his bare arms, almost self consciously.
"And you're a world famous rockstar." Grantaire called the bartender over and ordered a drink Grantaire had never heard of. Enjolras was only red in the face because of all the alcohol. ;(One beer and one shot of something light that Marius liked but was too embarrassed to order alone.)
"You didn't mention it," Grantaire continued.
"It never came up." The drinks arrived and Grantaire stuffed some bills in the tip jar.
"We've known each other for over a year now."
"We've spoken twice. And even that was mostly about alcohol."
"And sex," Grantaire supplied helpfully. "Speaking of which, where's your sparkly boy?"
"Grounded. He had this, Enjolras paused, blushed, took a long drink. "This, well this small party and overslept and missed practice. But I think it's actually because the uh- the party kept Ferre up."
Grantaire grinned. "How small?"
"2 people?"
"Well nut so much a party, then."
"I probably shouldn't be discussing this."
"So is Ferre the big bad man who was gonna kill you?"
Enjolras blinked at him owlishly. "Do you remember every word of our meetings?"
It was Grantaire's turn to go red. "Well you're a famous rockstar!"
"How'd you find out?"
"Cosette. She's into celebrity stuff. Your remember her? She's actually talking to your puppy. He mentioned you and she sent me over." He gestured to a point beyond the bar and Enjolras leaned over to see.
Marius was sitting at a little table with the girl- with Cosette- who was gesturing eloquently while she spoke. There was a smile on her face and a brightness in her eyes that Enjolras felt could light up all of Paris or heal souls.
Maybe he was drunk. He took another drink.
But maybe he wasn't far off, because Narius was leaning towards her, like a flower seeking the sun. He had this rather comical, dopey smile on his face and his chin propped on both fists.
Enjolras frowned. Every time Marius fell in love it ended badly.
"So what have you been up to these last seven months?" Grantaire asked.
"Singing, mostly. Being dragged around to Courf's bars and Jehan's art things. Sometimes Marius's poetry readings."
"Don't you do anything you like?" Grantaire asked softly.
Enjolras smiled. "I write my music."
"I like your music," Grantaire said. Their voices had been getting progressively quieter, without Enjolras noticing, and they were leaning into each other. "They inspire me. They make me want to start a revolution."
Grantaire's breath smelled like scotch and Enjolras was beginning to feel dizzy. "You are a revolution," he whispered. Then he frowned because he didn't actually know what that meant.
But Geantaire was smiling broadly. "It's almost closing time. Let me walk you to your hotel."
The walk back was peaceful.
Just before they parted, Grantaire grabbed Enjolras's phone from his pocket.
"So you can text me. If you're ever bored at Jehan's art things."
Enjolras wanted to kiss him. He really did.
"Fuck it," He thought. He leaned in.