Work Text:
In retrospect, they were kinda sure, that it must have been a miracle.
It had been early December when two men in different parts of Paris had taken a pitying look on their best friends and decided, that something had to change.
*
“Look, I am not saying, that he is unbearable, but honestly… Enjolras needs to chill.”, Courfeyrac was spread on the covers of Combeferre’s bed sighing for the dramatic effect. His best friend only looked at him unimpressed. He really should start to lock his door. It was 8 am on a Saturday and Conbeferre had been fast asleep.
Until Courfeyrac had let himself fall onto him, without a warning.
“And you think the solution for this would be for him to try a dating-app?”, Combeferre asked dryly.
Really only Courfeyrac could consider this a good idea. “First off all, he would never do this. And second of all, do you really think it would be successful?”
He liked Enjolras, both of them did. But Enjolras on a dating-app was a thoroughly horrible idea.
Before Courfeyrac could speak up, Combeferre kept talking. “Do you remember that one time he got into that discussion on Twitter with a Republican? There might be more on this app. And people on those apps tend to use a rather forward and at times rude language. Enjolras won’t be flirting, he will be trying to teach them common sense and hmpff..”. He glared at Courfeyrac, who had put his hand over his mouth. The other man only laughed and shifted his weight so he was now lying on top of Combeferre smiling at him devilishly.
“Shut it. I am very aware of this. That’s why I have made his account. Tell me I’m a genius.”, he smirked.
“You are crazy.” Combeferre’s stern look, made Courfeyac shake his head.
Something in the living room fell over with a loud thump, which was followed by weirdly eloquent cursing.
“You will thank me when he stops being like this.”
*
In a less well-off part of the city, a woman was pretty sure she was dreaming.
“No, no, no. Again. You want to do what?”, Éponine was pretty sure she had misheard, she hoped she had.
“As I said,”, Jehan looked up at her from where his head was laying on her thighs.
“R needs to get laid, but he won’t be able to pick anybody at the moment. So a dating app would be perfect.”
He smiled at her and Éponine only shook her head.
“Grantaire would never agree to get an app like this. You need to post pictures there and he hates most of the ones he has of himself.”
“Yeah, no way am I going to let him do this by himself. We both know how he gets. One wrong word about art and he is ready to rip a man apart.”
He started tugging on Éponine leggings and continued: “That’s why I decided to make an account for him!”
“… This is going to blow up in your face.”, Éponine commented dryly.
No way would this work if the goal was to get Grantaire meet new people then Jehan finding him potential candidates was a bad idea. The boy had a weird taste in… almost everything.
“No, it’s not. I’ve already made up my mind.”
“Then why did you wake me at arse o’clock?”
“I know for a fact, that you have a folder on your phone titled ‘R is beautiful’. I need all of the pictures.”
*
Soon enough Courfeyrac had the profile set up. He had tried to act like Enjolras would as he had filled out the information, which had been a bit difficult. After all, he still wanted to seem likable enough for people to write him, so he had cut a bit short on the activism stuff. Enjolras usually introduced himself, by introducing their student group, but this wasn’t the most important information for dating.
At least for Courfeyrac.
He decided to give it a go and look if anyone would fit Enjolras taste. And that turned out to be much harder than he had anticipated. Enjolras had never even talked about what kind of people he was into. It was information he hadn’t even shared with his closest friends. Well, shit.
In the end, Courfeyrac swiped right for some guys and decided to wait at let other’s make the first move.
*
Jehan had set up Grantaire’s profile as soon as he had gotten the photos from Éponine. Shit, he had totally forgotten, that there were so many photos of Grantaire with Sir Oscar.
Sir Oscar was Jehan’s cat, but he and Grantaire had lived together for two years and during that time both of them had fallen in love with the moody cat. With a fond smile on his lips, Jehan swiped through the photos and he stopped at a rare one. It showed Grantaire, a colorful beanie (made by Jehan) on top of his black curls and Sir Oscar on his arm.
And he was smiling. Smiling so broad and carelessly, it made Jehan’s heart ache.
He hadn’t smiled like this for some time.
Jehan considered himself lucky, that he kinda knew what Grantaire was looking for in a guy. Usually, it was a guy with no or a rather short criminal record. (Montparnasse might have been a mistake.)
Lazily he looked at some profiles, but while R would probably have swiped right, but most of the men were just looking like bad company. So Jehan let the romantic in him take the lead and looked for somebody more ‘special.
And he found him, oh he was perfect.
The pictures showed a handsome blonde man, one time smiling at the camera, another time at the front of the crowd at what looked like a protest. The third picture showed him and some friends. As he let his gaze wander over the faces, Jehan stopped at the face of a curly-haired man, who was laughing at the camera.
He wished he could write that man instead.
But no! He was doing this for Grantaire. And if Granataire and… “Enjolras” worked out, maybe he could introduce Jehan to his ridiculously handsome friend.
It was a win-win situation.
To EnjolRAD:
Hey, I saw the pic from the protest. When was this?
*
Courfeyrac was just dozing off, a documentary on Disney movies running on the TV when his phone chimed.
A message!
From: R
Hey, I saw the pic from the protest. When was this?
Amazing! This was perfect. He decided to check the guy's profile before he answered. Apparently, R was an art-student, 21 years old and he looked good. Not exactly Courfeyrac’s type, but objectively speaking, he was good-looking. There was one photo of him and an adorable cat and yes, Courfeyrac could probably see even Enjolras fall for this smile. The guy seemed to be none of the assholes, that would ask for dick pics after one message or who would start sexting unprompted. So yeah, he would give him a chance. And also damn… He had some good-looking friends.
True, on some of his photos, he was accompanied by a dark-haired woman with a wolfish smile and Courfeyrac really wouldn’t want to meet her in the dark. But on his other side there also most of the time seemed to be another man. In every photo, he was wearing a different outfit with clashing colors and terrible patterns. But his smile seemed so soft it made Courfeyrac want to see him smile like this in real life.
Damn, that R better turned out to be a good guy for Enjolras, Courfeyrac wanted to meet his friend.
*
From EnjolRAD:
It was last summer’s IDAHOT, we organized it with other local groups.
To EnjolRAD:
Really? That sounds like a lot of work.
Jehan hesitated. Grantaire usually would have made a dismissive comment, but he was pretty sure the other man wouldn’t take it well. On the other hand, he wanted to act at least a bit like Grantaire.
To EnjolRAD:
I really admire your work, I am always a bit unsure about, what it will really achieve.
Yeah, that sounded quite okay.
From R:
I really admire your work, I am always a bit unsure about, what it will really achieve.
Courfeyrac snorted and was glad for R, that he was having this conversation him and not the real Enjolras.
To R:
I can see, where you come from, but I strongly believe that one day all it will be worth it. We work towards a larger goal and if just enough work with us, we can reach it. Change is never easily enabled, it’s hard work and yes maybe we fail, but if we do, we get up again and try again and again.
Look how far we have already come! We can never forget, how much the people before us have already done, but it’s also not the time to stand still! We can do more, so future generations will one day be able to feel safe!
The message was pieced together with lines Courfeyrac remembered from some of Enjolras’ various speeches. Still, he thought it was okay, even for a skeptic.
When Jehan read the message, he held back a laugh. That man was very into all this protesting stuff, he could see Grantaire complaining to him about so much idealism. And hell, Grantaire would complain, but he would do so with a small smile on his lips.
To EnjolRAD:
I can see, where you come from. I didn’t mean to undermine your work! I’m just not the most positive person when it comes to such topics. Maybe you’ll have to convince me ;)
He really hoped the smiley face wasn’t too much.
The programme had changed to a rerun of High School Musical when Courfeyrac read the message. He snorted at the smiley and scratched the head. Damn, it was already 2 am!
He had spent way too much time, chatting with this guy. But he somehow felt like this would be nice. And maybe if they talked some more, he could ask about his friend.
*
In the next weeks, leading up to the Winter break Courfeyrac chatted a lot with R and while he tried his best to act like Enjolras, he sometimes let his own personality come to the surface. The man’s friend, he had found out just yesterday, was called Jehan and apparently he was a poet, the owner of the adorable cat and all in all quite a cool guy.
Courfeyrac was smitten.
So he decided to initiate step two.
“So you got this guy to think he might like Enjolras, while in reality, it’s you?”, Combeferre had once again been ambushed by Courfeyrac in the morning. At least he brought coffee this time.
“Yes, I am charming, as you might have noticed!”, Courfeyrac sighed and Combeferre only chuckled.
“Yeah look at you, so charming, I am pretty sure you haven’t showered in three days.”
“… I mean true, but it’s finals week and those minutes in the shower would be wasted.”, Courfeyrac argued. But yeah, maybe he should take a shower. He got up, putting down his coffee-cup and started to rummage through Combeferre’s wardrobe.
“No!”, the other man protested from where he was still in the bed propped up against the headboard. “You are not stealing my clothes again. You still have my favorite shirt and it doesn’t even look good on you.”
“Shut up. Everything looks good on me. And now let me shower, I need a plan, how I get Enjolras to meet R.”
With a groan Combeferre let himself fall back on the pillows. This was going to end up bad.
*
“Èponine! I have found a guy for R. But I have no idea what to do now.”
“And that’s why you are sitting in my bathtub in the middle of the night? How did you even get in…. ah forget it.”, Éponine had let out a scream when she had gone to the bathroom to brush her teeth before going to bed and had found Jehan sitting in her bathtub. He even had brought his own bath bombs.
“No, I am sitting here because I can think better while taking a bath and your bathtub is nicer than mine.”, he said with a shrug as if it was obvious.
“Sometimes I really can’t deal with you.”
“Yeah but now is not one of those times.”, Jehan shot back. “Because now I need you and Grantaire’s happiness is at stake.”
“Yes, of course. You haven’t even shown me a picture of him.”, she said with a mock glare.
“I’ll show you when you get in here. You look very stressed.”
“Oh, I wasn’t stressed until I thought somebody broke in our flat, to take a bath.”
“Don’t worry, I have a key.”
“You didn’t fucking tell me he was so hot? Is hot even the right word? Damn yeah, R needs to get fucked by him.”, Éponine was sitting opposite of Jehan with his phone in her hands, swiping through the conversation and photos.
“Oh, you really got R’s way of talking down. I am impressed,”, she said after she finished reading through the messages.
Jehan only didn’t blush, because his face was already red from the hot water.
“Thanks, but how do I get to meet them? I can’t tell R, that I faked his profile.”, he let himself sink deeper into the water until Èponine kicked him for taking up all the space.
“Nah, just say to that guy that you’ll bring a friend since he’s a stranger and tell R you need a friend for this exact reason. And then I don’t know. You just don’t turn up or whatever and there they are at a date.”
“You are a genius!”
*
“Combeferre I have a plan!”
“Great now get out of my shower, you’ve been in there for the last 40 minutes!”
*
They decided to meet some days before Christmas after they were done with their finals and to Jehan’s delight, Enjolras had announced that he would be bringing Courfeyrac along when he heard Grantaire would bring him.
This was going to be great!
Now they were sitting in one of the small coffee shops they had chosen and were waiting.
“So are you nervous?”, Grantaire teased with a gleeful smirk.
“No.”, Jehan lied smoothly pointedly looking at his tea rather than at his friend. He was nervous, but not because of himself. He was nervous because he really hoped Grantaire and Enjolras would work out.
Soon enough he saw two men stepping in and he held his breath. It was Enjolras and right behind him, Courfeyrac.
“Wait, who is your date? Please tell me it’s not the blond god.”, Grantaire muttered under his breath. He was blushing slightly and Jehan had to kick him under the table for him to stop staring at Enjolras.
“Nope, that one is single.”, Jehan said and Grantaire turned around once more to look at the man. God, maybe his plan would work after all.
Courfeyrac and Enjolras found them soon enough sat down opposite of them. Jehan had actually wanted to keep his attention on Enjolras and Grantaire and he had tried in the beginning.
After a short round of introductions, all of them had sat there a bit awkwardly, until Courfeyrac’s face lit up when he looked at Jehan’s arm.
“Are those tattoos? Damn that’s neat!”
And well, after that Jehan hadn’t really been able to think about Grantaire and Enjolras anymore. “No, I just write on my arms sometimes, when I run out of paper or when I’m just bored. I once wrote a whole short story on Grantaire’s back! I have photos. Just so you’re warned, we were both drunk, so the story itself is kinda shitty!”
“I’d love to see it.”, Courfeyac responded and they fell into an easy conversation, completely blanking out the two men next to them.
After they had talked about their favorite colors (all of them for both), their animals (Courfeyrac once had owned a Husky called Pepper) and their favorite Disney movie (an essential information as both insisted), Jehan felt completely comfortable with Courfeyrac.
“You know.”, the other man said after some time. “Enjorlas showed me R’s pictures and when I saw you on them, my first thought was ‘Damn I want to see him smile like this in reality.’” He ducked his head when Jehan broke into laughter.
“That was cheesy. But I thought something similar when Grantaire showed me a picture you were in.”
They smiled dopily at each other until Enjolras broke it off.
He and Grantaire both looked at each other with murderous expressions, to put it nicely.
“I am glad your date is going so well, Courf but I don’t think I am needed here anymore, am I?”, he looked at Jehan sharply.
Wait. Courfeyrac’s date?
“What do you mean, his date?”, Jehan blurted before he could even think about it.
“Uhm yes?”, Enjolras now looked at him like he was completely crazy.
“He told me, he was on a date with me, but he needed a friend, in case you were a floral print loving serial-killer.”, the last part was accompanied by an eye roll.
“But this was supposed to be your date!”, Jehan gestured between Grantaire and Enjolras and when he noticed what he had said he his hands on his mouth.
Damn!
“I am not on a date!”, Grantaire shot back, looking perplexed.
But Courfeyrac looked just as mortified as Jehan did.
“Jehan, you said he wasn’t your date?”, Grantaire looked confused and Enjolras added: “I am nobody’s date dammit.”
“Courfeyrac, you better explain this now or I swear I will put you on clean-up duty…”
“I don’t understand this, why should I be dating…”
“I am not on a date! I am just his friend!”
“You are on a date with Enjolras!”
“Courf, shut up I don’t have a date.”
“Shut up! Please.”, Jehan slammed his hands on the table, breathing harshly.
This situation was crazy and while Courfeyrac looked like he was sitting in front of a horrendous final, Enjolras and Grantaire were glaring at each other.
“I think there might have been a misunderstanding. Courfeyrac, is there something you want to tell Enjolras?”, Jehan grimaced slightly. Both of them were idiots.
“Uh, yeah look. Combeferre and I…”
“Keep ‘Ferre out of this.”
“Okay, so I had the idea, that maybe you need to get laid. So I made a profile on a dating-app with your information.”
“You did what now? Are you out of your mind, why should do ever do this?”, Enjolras was clutching his coffee cup tightly.
“Yeah and there I found Grantaire.”, Courfeyrac gestured to the other man.
“I don’t have a profile on any app I… Jehan!”, now it was Grantaire’s turn to glare at his friend.
“Uhm yeah, I kind of had the same idea?”, he admitted.
“Wait so I was writing you the whole time?”, Courfeyrac amazingly ignored their two very angry friends and took his hand.
“Uhm yes?”, Jehan wasn’t sure what to do, so he squeezed his hand.
“That’s amazing! I knew from the beginning I would like you.”
He heard Enjorlas sigh.
“Okay, you know what, I don’t to interrupt the two of you anymore. But Courf I am still pissed and it will have consequences.”, then he stood up and took his jacket.
Courfeyrac ducked his head and whispered, “Help me, please.” To Jehan.
Grantaire also rose to his feet.
“Éponine was in on this, wasn’t she?”, was the only thing he asked.
Jehan nodded and he just snorted.
“I would be angry like Apollo over there, but to be honest? It’s hilarious and at least the two of you found each other.”
Then he turned to Enjolras and helped him with his jacket.
“Fancy dinner Apollo?”, he said with a smirk.
“I told you for the last hour, to not call me that! But yes, I’d love to.”
And then the two of them were gone leaving Courfeyrac and Jehan behind.
“Did we really have the same idea?”, Courfeyrac asked, looking much less intimidated now that Enjolras was gone.
“Great minds think alike I guess.”, Jehan mused.
“Do you think they...?”, he added, after all, that had been the primary idea.
“Three weeks. He aggravates Enjolras, who somehow is really into that.”, Courfeyrac winked at him.