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The next morning, Enjolras wakes to Grantaire’s am slung over his bare chest. At first Enjolras panics because wait, Grantaire is dead. He recalls the goings on of the day before and he seriously considers hitting Grantaire with a pillow because, he still VERY pissed off.
More than that he was scared.
Enjolras might not ever fully recover from what Grantaire did. There would always be a part of him that thought,
“ He could do it again. He could up and leave and never look back. ”
However, right now, watching the rise and fall of Grantaire’s chest and slept was soothing and Enjolras hadn’t been this happy in years. Five, to be exact.
Enjolras lays his head on Grantaire’s chest and closes his eyes. The others could wait a few more hours. Right now, Enjolras wanted to be selfish. Enjolras wanted to cling to Grantaire and never let go. He feels his eyes flutter shut and all he hears is the sound of Grantaire’s breathing and he couldn’t think of anywhere in the world he would rather be.
Except maybe somewhere tropical with Grantaire.
The next time Enjolras wakes up, it’s to the smell of something that smells vaguely like bacon and eggs. He sits up groggily and yawns, he sleepily makes his way to the kitchen to find Grantaire cooking and humming along to something he couldn’t quite place.
When Grantaire sees him, he pouts.
“Damn. I wanted to make you breakfast in bed.”
Enjolras can feel his smile stretch the entirety of his face. He rests his head into the crook of Grantaire’s neck and Grantaire wraps his arms around the blonde.
“Morning.”
“Good morning.”
“The pancakes are going to burn if we stay like this for very long.”
“One pancake won’t make or break my morning.”
Grantaire holds Enjolras until smoke actually begins to float off of the pancake and threatens to set off the fire alarm.
Enjolras sits at the dining table and watches Grantaire in silence, with a smile set on his lips. Enjolras takes the time to watch him and actually look at him. He notices that Grantaire has new sets of tattoo’s, things he didn’t notice in the dark. Words scrawled across his back in different languages with different symbols. He would have to ask about them later, but right now, he was content to happily watch his boyfriend move fluidly through his kitchen, well, maybe it could be “their” kitchen eventually.
Grantaire turned with a smile on his face and set a plate of pancakes, bacon, eggs and French toast in front of him. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Grantaire looks at him with his face slightly contorted.
“I’m going to make it up to you. I don’t care how long it takes. If I have to make you breakfast every morning for the rest of my life or tell you every second of every day how much you mean to me, I don’t care.”
Enjolras smiles and places a hand, softly, on Grantaire’s face.
“You already have, by coming back. I love you either way. If you want to make me breakfast for the rest of our lives then that is completely up to you but I’m not objecting.”
Grantaire smiles and kisses Enjolras softly on the lips. There was no passion in it, there was only a warm feeling of love. It was soft and gentle.
It was a promise.
Grantaire and Enjolras decide it would be best to invite all of the Amis over so that they can be informed about the five years Grantaire was away. It was going to double as informational and a therapy session. Everyone needed it. It was Grantaire’s idea; however, that Combeferre and Eponine be invited over two hours before everyone else.
“Why?”
“Because, you and Eponine are angry with Combeferre and it’s my fault. He was only doing what I begged him to. He was there but he was the one I knew wouldn’t try to follow me, he isn’t in love with me and Eponine would have felt like it was running away. You both would have torn through every country until you found me.”
Enjolras couldn’t deny that. He had the means and he wouldn’t have ever stopped.
“Combeferre doesn’t deserve to be hated for being a good friend, a GREAT friend.”
Enjolras pursed his lips.
“Alright. I’ll call them.”
Twenty minutes later, Eponine, Combeferre, Enjolras and Grantaire are sitting in Enjolras’s living room.
Eponine has her arms crossed and a scowl paints her features while Combeferre’s face is expressionless.
Grantaire leaned against the sofa while Enjolras had his legs crossed.
“Ok, this is really tense so I’m just going to go ahead. Eponine. If you’re going to be angry with anyone, don’t let it be your fiancé. You love him, and if you haven’t noticed, he really fucking loves you. I asked him, actually, I begged him to watch out for all of you. I pleaded with him to keep my secret and he was the strongest of us to keep it. I know it killed him and I am a horrible person to have asked him to do that but he loved you so much, Eponine. He was there for you and me and Enjolras every single day while my burdens slowly killed him because he was watching my 'death' destroy you.” Grantaire says with as much intensity as he can muster.
Eponine was silent, she didn’t seem to be changing her mind.
Combeferre was fiddling with his hands and Grantaire realized he was still holding on to Eponine’s ring.
“I’m sorry I called you a son of a bitch, Combeferre.” Enjolras says quietly. “You were there for Grantaire when he was alone. I know you were doing what you thought was right and I’ll kick Grantaire’s ass later, but, I forgive you as well. You’re my best friend.”
Combeferre smiled at him but it faded when he glanced at Eponine. Her steel eyes locked with Combeferre’s.
“’Ferre. I love you but I feel…I honestly don’t know how I feel. I love you and when I woke up and realized you weren’t there, it killed me. I want to be your wife but you have a long ass way to go.”
“I can live with that.”
“Yes, you can.”
Eponine reaches out and Combeferre takes her hand. Eponine retrieves her ring from Combeferre and places it back on her hand.
Grantaire leans down to Enjolras and whispers, “I think we’ve made a lot of progress here. “
He smirks and nods his head. Now all they had to do was ease the tension with the rest of their friends.
Five hours, three shouting fights and nearly four cases of beer later, the Amis are sitting together and laughing as if the last five years were a horrible nightmare. They reminisced and caught Grantaire up on all that happened in his absence. Grantaire began to dissect all the things they had done wrong while he was in Ireland and ways to counteract it in the future.
They were a family again.
Joly and Bossuet were being drunk under the table by Musichetta and Grantaire. Bahorel, Grantaire and Jehan had already decided when they were getting into the ring together. Grantaire imagined Enjolras would have a lot work on patching him up later. Marius and Cosette were just happy that he was back. Combeferre and Eponine were conversing quietly in another room and everyone thought it best not to disturb them. Courfeyrac was pulling Grantaire into sappy hugs nearly every five minutes and Grantaire obliged with very little protest. Enjolras held Grantaire’s hand the entire night, if their hands weren’t touching; it was there shoulders or knees. They were inseparable and it would be like for a very long time.
After the night came to a close, Eponine and Combeferre’s wedding was definitely back on and the Amis could rest easy knowing Grantaire was back and he was ok. Enjolras knew that each of the Amis would need their own personal time with R, the quiet nights alone were his. He was content knowing that. He wouldn’t mind letting one of the others take him for a few hours because, even though he feared Grantaire would disappear again, he hoped beyond everything he would be there, in his bed, every night.
Immediately after Grantaire had the door shut and locked as Jehan and Courfeyrac said their farewells, Enjolras had Grantaire’s collar in his hands pulling him towards his room. Grantaire smirks and tugs Enjolras shirt off of him. They make it to bed already down to their underwear and panting.
Grantaire placed his head on Enjolras chest and Enjolras wrapped his arms around him.
“I love you.” He says beginning to kiss down Enjolras’s neck. Enjolras moans when Grantaire bites down relatively hard.
“ Grantaire. ”
An evil smile curled above Grantaire's teeth.
“Yes, love?”
Enjolras pulls Grantaire’s head down and slamming their mouths together. He takes advantage of the flurry of breath and teeth to wrap his leg around Grantaire and flip him onto his back.
“Jesus shit, Enjolras.” Grantaire says breathlessly.
Enjolras smirks and straddles the man beneath him while grinding his hips onto Grantaire’s. Grantaire lets out a mix between a whine and a moan.
“Aw, poor thing.”
“You’re such a dick, Enjolras.”
“I'm not the one who left for five years.”
“I know and I’m trying to make up for it.”
“You will.” Enjolras answers with a devilish smirk marking his features.
He felt Grantaire swallow nervously and he couldn’t help but laugh. Grantaire tries to rest his hands on Enjolras’s hips but Enjolras intercepts them. He makes a ‘tsktsk’ sound and moves Grantaire’s hands above his head.
“Hands up, this is punishment.”
“Dear god.”
“Truly sorry.”
Enjolras trails his tongue down Grantaire’s chest and ends with his teeth around the waistband of Grantaire’s boxers.
“SonofabitchEnjolras.” Grantaire let’s out in a breath.
“Such coarse language.” Enjolras says looking through his lashes.
“Sorry.”
Enjolras snorts and goes about his business of dragging his teeth across Grantaire’s waist.
“Oh god, Enjolras.”
Enjolras smiles into his skin and starts to pull off the remainder of their clothes.
He plays that game for a very long time in Grantaire’s opinion. It really was inhuman. Everything Enjolras did was slow and torturous and with the full intent of pushing Grantaire to the edge without actually being able reach a release. Finally Enjolras was merciful enough and Grantaire is left panting and completely wrecked.
He blinks quickly and finds Enjolras smirking at him.
“ You’re turn. ” Grantaire hisses.
Enjolras laughs as Grantaire pulls him on top of him.
Later that night, Grantaire is asleep but Enjolras can’t help but stare at as his chest moves to a very particular rhythm. He was peaceful and Enjolras still couldn’t believe he was there, wrapped in his arms, again. He wanted to hold on to this image. He never wanted Grantaire’s beautiful sight and artistic more than in that moment.
He placed a soft kiss to Grantaire’s temple and panicked briefly when Grantaire stirred; worried he’d woken him. He settled back and Enjolras let out a small breath and laid his head on Grantaire.
Grantaire had been traveling far to long, Enjolras was glad for him to finally be where he belonged; home.