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Grantaire looked down at his wrist and gently traced the pale, almost invisible white ink tattoo that lay there. It was an EKG line with the highest peak right on his pulse point.
He was jerked from his thoughts when he heard a throat being cleared. Looking up, he felt his heart leap into his throat when he saw that Enjolras was glaring at him. A half second scan of the room told him everyone else was also staring at him.
“Um…” Grantaire trailed off as Enjolras’ frown deepened.
“I was going to ask you to design fliers for the next protest, but if you can’t even seem to bother enough to pay attention then you should leave.” Enjolras snarled at Grantaire, who immediately hunched in on himself. Combeferre placed his hand on Enjolras’ shoulder placatingly only to have it shrugged off as Enjolras took a step towards Grantaire.
R felt his throat constrict as he met Enjolras’ furious gaze. Next to him Combeferre looked exhausted, but he didn’t say anything. There was a tense second where nobody moved, and normally this would be when Grantaire would make a smartass comment, the tension would be broken and Enjolras would go back to ignoring him. Except Grantaire’s mind refused to cooperate, nothing but dark thoughts confirming Grantaire’s uselessness. Enjolras was the one to break the silence.
“Well?” He has one eyebrow raised as he stared down Grantaire. “Are you going to leave? Or are you going to waste more of our time?”
Grantaire bit his lip as he scrambled to toss all of his art supplies into his bag, not caring how disorganized they were. He could always sort them again later. Vaguely he was aware of a commotion going on around him, but he sat alone at the table closest to the door for a good reason. He was out the door and hurrying down the steps and into the main part of the café by the time he realized there were tears blurring his vision and his lip was chewed raw.
He stumbled through the main area of the Musain, barely remembering to throw a mutter sorry over his shoulder when he ran into someone. He thought he might have heard Musichetta calling his name, but he ignored her, instead fleeing from the café while clutching his bag to his chest.
He didn’t make it very far running before he had to slow down as his lungs demanded a break. He still didn’t fully stop though, keeping up a quick walking pace even as his lungs and chest ached in complaint. It didn’t take him too much longer to reach his apartment building and after fumbling with his keys for a moment, Grantaire burst into the messy place. Immediately he slammed the door shut and locked it. He barely paused to double check the window blinds were still closed before he was quickly throwing his jacket to the ground and shucked off the tank top he had on underneath.
He clawed at where his binder was tucked into his pants, struggling to get the item off. He got it untucked and pulled it as far up as he could and then pulled up on the compression panel. It bunched up around his arm pits and he felt his heartrate skyrocket as the material stuck to his skin more than it normally did. Taking a deep breath, he pressed down the panic as he bent over and grabbed a hold of the back of the binder. A calm breath in and out let him easily pull the binder the rest of the way off and throw it away from himself.
He immediately collapsed on the ground as he fought to get his breathing under control. His watch chirped letting him know it was the top of the hour and he stopped the stopwatch he’d started when he pulled on his binder this morning. He frowned at the numbers that stared back at him but was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a door open further in his apartment.
In his rush to get away from them and to get home, Grantaire had forgotten that he’d let Eponine camp out at his place while she was mad at Marius and was avoiding him for a bit. He scrambled to reach for his shirt to cover up. As great friends as he was with Eponine, he didn’t think she’d appreciate getting flashed because he forgot she was here.
He doesn’t have time to pull his tank top on before she walked around the corner, but at least he wasn’t completely on display. Eponine was on the phone and had a serious frown on her face. She looked over at him and cursed as she ran over to him. He flinched back as she dropped to her knees next to him.
“R!” Grantaire couldn’t meet her gaze and tried to curl in on himself to hide from her scrutiny. “You told me you were doing better! This isn’t better, you look like a skeleton!” Faintly he could hear a commotion on the other end of the phone at Eponine’s words.
“Ep, I’m fine. Tell whoever you’re on the phone with that I’m fine.”
“You are not fine!” Eponine barked this at him as she started to move some of the fabric aside to be able to see his sides more clearly. Grantaire vaguely tried to push her hands away but was slightly more concerned about keeping his chest covered. She kept her phone up to her ear with her shoulder. “Ferre, it’s gotten worse.” Grantaire froze as he heard her say that.
“You told him…” His voice was barely there, but with Eponine inches away she heard him and refused to meet his eyes as he stared at her. “I told you not to tell anyone!” He shouted this at her as he tried to push her away.
“Of course, I did, R.” Eponine snapped back at him as she stood up, obviously frustrated. She continued to speak as she walked away, back into his bedroom. “You’re Wasting. I want you to live, and that means I had to tell someone…” She reappeared and chucked a black bra at him as well as a pair of shorts. “Just be glad I didn’t tell Joly.”
Grantaire shuddered at the thought and Eponine turned her back to him to give him some privacy. He quickly put on the bra with a grimace and pulled back on the tank top he’d been wearing earlier, not bothering with the shorts.
“Who all did you tell?” She turned back to face him when he spoke up.
“Just Combeferre and I made sure he knew not to tell anyone else…” She paused for a second and bit her lip. “Though I think everyone else now knows something is up.”
“What!?!?”
“Combeferre called me because he wanted to make sure you were okay, and I think he might have us on speakerphone.” Grantaire hung his head and tried to keep himself from panicking again. He could only imagine what everyone thought of him after his atrocious actions earlier. “Hey, I don’t know what exactly is going through your mind right now but stop. Combeferre also wanted me to tell you that what Enjolras said earlier was completely uncalled for and is not supported by anybody else in the group.” She paused for a second as she listened back into whatever was being said over the phone. “Combeferre is going to be here in a few. Don’t give me that look. You shouldn’t be alone right now, I have work in thirty minutes, and everyone would feel better if he would check you over.”
Grantaire bit his lip, he really wanted to say no, but he also knew Eponine was right. She often was. When he didn’t immediately object, she nodded once and turned her attention back to the phone. He tuned her out and felt himself getting really tired all of the sudden as his brain got foggy. He wasn’t quite sure how long he hadn’t been paying attention when Eponine gently placed her hand on his shoulder, concern written all over her face.
“Come on, let’s get you up off the floor.” Eponine gently helped him stand up and pressed the shorts back into his hands giving him a pointed look. When he still didn’t move, she sighed. “Shorts are going to be more comfortable than jeans.”
He relented and undid his belt and let his jeans fall to the floor. When he wobbled slightly as he tried to step into his shorts, Eponine helped stabilize him. Grantaire was then quickly sat down on the couch in the living room. She then coaxed the tank top off of him and he just let her.
He was exhausted, from emotional drain as well as lack of sleep. Grantaire wrapped his arms around himself and shivered as he felt the edge of the scars that covered his back, realizing they were easily on display with the bra Eponine had given him.
“Can you get my half binder?”
“What are you at?” Eponine was already reaching for his wrist as she spoke and frowned just like he had earlier when she saw the numbers on his watch. She let out a sigh but didn’t say anything before she went back into his room, reappearing with his half binder. Once she’d turned around again, he changed into it, struggling to get his limbs to cooperate with him, but eventually got it on correctly. He started his stop watch again and sighed as he saw the numbers start to climb again.
At least now he felt more comfortable with most of his scars covered, and the ones that were visible mostly just looked like stretch marks. Eponine was the only one who’d seen all of his scars, though he knew most of the others had gotten glimpses. The feeling of his binder was also a familiar comfort, one that he needed to have to get out of the house most days. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d left the house without his binder on, and he was ninety percent sure Combeferre had never seen him without his binder on.
Eponine settled down on the couch next to him and started to run her hand through his hair. He smiled and leaned against her as he relaxed and let his mind wander, like it always seemed to be prone to now a days. He was sort of brought from his mind when a knock sounded from the door and was completely brought back to the present when Eponine got up to actually answer the door.
“What is he doing here?” Eponine snarled as she opened the door and Grantaire curled up as tightly as he could, already knowing who had to be on the other side to get that reaction from Eponine.
“He followed me even after I told him to go home.” Combeferre sounded annoyed which was impressive, he was never anything but calm and level headed.
“I want to apologize and I’m just as worried about Grantaire as everyone else.”
“After what you said, you have no right to be worried about Grantaire.” Eponine continued to block the door, keeping both of them out of the apartment.
“Enjolras is just as much Grantaire’s friend as the others.”
“Is he though? Because R’s other friends don’t treat him like shit and throw him out of the group, and Enjolras doesn’t treat everyone else the same way.”
“Eponine, please. I know you’re mad at him, and rightfully so, but right now our main concern is Grantaire.”
“Speaking of, what is wrong with him? Combeferre wouldn’t say.” Enjolras spoke up again, but this time his voice was quiet and subdued, more so than Grantaire had ever heard it before.
“Maybe, because it isn’t his place to tell you.”
“Ep, you don’t get to take the moral high ground. It wasn’t your place to tell Combeferre either.” Grantaire didn’t bother uncurling to call out Eponine, but he didn’t have to, to know that she’d turned around to glare at him. “Please just let them in so we can get this over with. Besides, don’t you have work to get to?” Eponine hesitated for a moment before stepping aside to let the other two into the apartment.
Grantaire heard both of their gasps when they saw him, and he knew he looked bad, but he didn’t think he looked that bad. He tried to ignore them as much as possible as they came over, and it worked pretty well until someone gently rested their hand on his knee.
“Grantaire, will you please look at me?” He hesitated for a second, before he lifted his eyes to look at the man he originally hated when they first met. Combeferre smiled at him when their eyes met, and Grantaire wondered how he’d ever hated the man.
He saw a flash of gold over Combeferre’s shoulder and his eyes jumped to where Enjolras was standing awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. Right. Combeferre was Enjolras’ soulmate and Grantaire hadn’t really hated Combeferre, but rather he’d been jealous. And it had quickly become apparent to himself that he wasn’t just jealous of Combeferre but Enjolras as well. They were the perfect example of soulmates, completing each other seamlessly. Of course, soulmates or more importantly, Grantaire’s lack of a soulmate was the entire reason he was in this mess in the first place.
“Grantaire?” He was jolted from his thoughts by Combeferre. He blinked at the other man for a second and found himself mirroring the frown on his face. Why was he frowning? Wasn’t he just smiling? “Hey, focus on me, please.” Oh, he must have lost focus again. “Do you lose concentration a lot?”
Grantaire nodded and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Enjolras flinch slightly at that. He was confused for a second, wondering why Enjolras reacted when he remembered that earlier Enjolras had berated him for not paying attention. Oh, that might have something to do with it. He met Enjolras’ eyes for a second and he took a step towards Grantaire.
“Grantaire-” Combeferre immediately cut him off.
“Now is not the time, Enjolras.” Combeferre then turned his attention back to Grantaire. “Can you concentrate for a minute? I need to ask you a few questions.” Grantaire nodded at him, confused where this conversation was going and trying to focus on him. “First off, when was the last time you ate?”
“Umm… I think I had a sandwich yesterday morning. But I’m not one hundred percent sure. It might have been the day before that. I’m pretty sure I ate it on Sunday morning. It’s Tuesday, right?” Combeferre was frowning again and over Combeferre’s shoulder he could see Enjolras frowning as well.
“It’s Wednesday.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah, oh. Are you sure you haven’t eaten since the sandwich?”
“Pretty sure.” Combeferre glanced over his shoulder to Enjolras but he had already disappeared. Instead he turned his attention back to Grantaire.
“Do you know why you haven’t been eating? Have you not been hungry? Have you forgotten?”
“Where did Eponine and Enjolras go?” In the distance he could hear someone banging around in the kitchen. That was probably where they’d disappeared to.
“Eponine left to go to work. Enjolras is looking in the kitchen. The question?”
“Right. Sorry. Both? I always seem to forget to do a lot of things lately.”
“Apparently one of those things is to go shopping. You have nothing easily prepared in your kitchen. Ferre? What’s going on? I’m really worried.” Enjolras spoke up as he crossed the room to where Combeferre was kneeling in front of the couch. Combeferre took a deep breath and sighed.
“I’ll tell you when I’m one hundred percent sure.” He then hesitated a moment. “Grantaire do you have a scale?”
“Yeah, but I already know what’s wrong with me.” He remembered the conversation he’d had with Eponine about this, and both of their fears. He’d told her it wasn’t nearly as big of a deal as she was trying to make it. Or maybe it was… He’d really wasn’t feeling great right now.
“What’s wrong?” He looked between Combeferre and Enjolras. He didn’t really want to tell Enjolras, but he also knew that if he told just Combeferre, Enjolras would still know by the end of the night, so there wasn’t really much of a point telling them separately.
“First, what did Eponine tell you?”
“Eponine thinks you’re starting to Waste.” Beside Combeferre, Enjolras froze.
“Well she’s not wrong, but I’m not starting to Waste.”
“Grantaire, this isn’t funny.” Enjolras snapped as he glared at Grantaire.
“Enjolras!”
“Do you really think I’d joke about this? Who would ever joke about that?” Grantaire’s voice started off strong, but quieted as he lost the anger that fueled the first part, revealing just how hurt he was that Enjolras didn’t believe him.
“Grantaire, we’re not accusing you of lying. We just don’t want to assume it’s a worst-case scenario.”
“It is. I’m Wasting, I have been denying it for a while now. And I can’t say for certain how long it’s been, but at least a month or two.”
“R, you’ve gotten to the point where you’re forgetting to ear. You should be in the hospital.” Combeferre stood up, already heading towards the door.
“I’m not going to the hospital. There’s nothing they can do that we can’t do here.”
“Yes, there is, they’ll contact the government and put out a description so you can find your soulmate. Statistically, soulmates are likely to live within a few hundred miles of each other.” Combeferre had started to ramble and Grantaire just shook his head.
“I have no intention of finding my soulmate.”
“What?” Enjolras shouted as he jerked his head up to look at Grantaire like he’d grown a second head. “What do you mean you don’t plan on finding your soulmate? You have to!”
“I have to do no such thing.” Grantaire snapped as he stood up to get up in Enjolras’ face like he did any time they usually argued. However, the world tilted a little as he stood up and Combeferre gently steadied him with a hand on his lower back and on his shoulder.
“Careful.” R ignored Combeferre’s soft words, a little unsure if they were directed towards him or Enjolras.
“If you hadn’t already found Combeferre, would you want to find your soulmate by an announcement on the news? Just to find that they were practically dead already?” Grantaire kept his eyes trained on Enjolras.
“We’re still trying to find our third soulmate. So, it’s not a matter of if I hadn’t already found Combeferre. We would be devastated to found out our soulmate is Wasting, but we would do our best to help them.” Grantaire just stared at Enjolras as he felt his whole world crumbling beneath him. They had a third. It was painful enough to pine after both of them, but he didn’t think he could stand to watch them find and fall in love with a third person. But then again, he probably wouldn’t be around to see it. He hadn’t realized he knees had given out from underneath him until Combeferre suddenly filled his vision, a frown on his face.
“Grantaire, are you okay?” He barely registered the question and instead blurted out what was on his mind.
“What if they’re already in love with somebody else?”
“What are you going on about?”
“Is this about Enjolras?”
“What?!”
“So you noticed.” Grantaire shied away from Combeferre’s too gentle, too understanding gaze.
“Kind of hard not to.” The smile broke Grantaire’s heart. The corners of his eyes started to burn, and he told himself he wasn’t about to cry in front of them. “I really don’t know how he’s never noticed.”
“What are you talking about?” Combeferre continued to ignore Enjolras’ questions and gently reached out, cradling Grantaire’s face for a second and then thumbing away the tears that were still forming.
“You fell in love with me too, didn’t you?” It was technically a question, but it felt more like a statement. Combeferre’s eyes told Grantaire that he could give whatever answer he wanted to, but he still knew that Combeferre already knew. After a second Grantaire gave in and nodded. Combeferre didn’t hesitate to gently pull him into a hug, resting his chin on top of Grantaire’s head. He smiled and buried his face into the taller man’s shoulder as he tried to sort through all of the emotions he was feeling.
“I’m still very confused.” Grantaire jumped having completely forgotten that Enjolras was in the room. He could feel Combeferre sigh, but he didn’t move to let go of Grantaire, which eased some of his nerves.
“Grantaire, do you want to move to the couch, or stay here?” Oh yeah, they were sitting on the floor. He’d forgotten that.
“Umm… The couch would probably be better.” Combeferre loosened his grip on him but didn’t let go entirely. He helped him to his feet and gently over to the couch, continuing to ignore Enjolras. Grantaire sank gratefully onto the middle of the couch, immediately pulling the fluffy blanket over himself as he realized that he was cold. Combeferre perched on the seat to his left and looked at Enjolras expectantly.
“Can you please explain what is going on?”
“Sit down please.” After a second of hesitation, Enjolras sat down on the arm of the couch, as far away from Grantaire as possible. He felt his heart sink when he saw this, did Enjolras really hate him that much? “Hey, don’t follow those thoughts.” Combeferre covered his hands where they were starting to twist up the blanket.
“Combeferre.” Enjolras had his arms crossed and he was glaring at his soulmate.
“Do you want me to explain it, or do you want to?” Grantaire just pointed to Combeferre, keeping his gaze on his lap. He let his mind wander, vaguely listening in as Combeferre gently explained Grantaire’s feelings towards both of them to Enjolras. Grantaire was a little surprised that Enjolras didn’t interrupt him while Combeferre spoke, but then again, he’d hardly ever seen Enjolras and Combeferre argue and interrupt each other. He could only long to be a part of their apparent triad.
Grantaire wasn’t sure if he had completely wrapped his head around the fact that there was a theoretical chance that he was their third. He didn’t really believe he could be, but the chance was still theoretically there. And he wasn’t sure if that slim chance was something to hold onto as a sliver of hope or if it was the worst thing.
He was pulled from his thoughts by Combeferre gently squeezing his shoulder. He looked up at him, a little bit confused. Combeferre just smiled at him, and Grantaire looked towards Enjolras, surprised to find the blond man staring at him. Enjolras isn’t glaring at him like he expected, instead he was studying him as if he’s never seen Grantaire before.
“So, you’re in love with us?” Grantaire nodded hesitantly. “The entire time?”
“Practically, yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Grantaire looked at Combeferre in panic.
“I’ll admit I’m curious as well.”
“You can’t be serious, right?” Grantaire glanced between the two, both of them looking at him expectantly. “You’re both so amazing, I could never be good enough for one of you, let alone both of you. I’m not worth anything. And before today I didn’t even know you had a third that you were looking for. Not that I would ever be good enough to be your soulmate.”
“Okay, slowdown.” Combeferre gently grabbed Grantaire’s wrists to stop him from rubbing at the tattoo on his wrist. “What do you mean you’re not good enough?”
“I’m a piece of shit. Nobody would want to be saddled with me. I’m a complete mess, I can’t do anything right. It’s probably a good thing I’ll never meet my soulmate.”
“Grantaire.” He flinched slightly at how sharp Enjolras’ voice was. It took all of his willpower not to pull away as Enjolras telegraphed his move to place his hand on top of where Combeferre was still gently holding his wrist. “I understand that we haven’t usually gotten along, but I know that you are nothing like what you just described, and anyone would be lucky to date you, let alone have you as a soulmate.”
All three of them sat in silence for a moment as Grantaire tried to process how the last few minutes had gone. The other two let him, no pressure. It was Enjolras who finally broke the silence after a few minutes.
“Grantaire, I’m pretty sure there’s been some serious miscommunication between us.”
“Some?” Both Grantaire and Enjolras ignoring Combeferre’s comment.
“I’ve kinda been under the impression that you hate me.”
“How? As Combeferre said earlier, I’ve been in love with you since we met.”
“All you ever do is argue with me.”
“That’s the only way you’d pay any attention to me. I tried to talk with you, just talk and you brushed me off.”
“When?”
“Like within a week or two of meeting you. After I’d gained enough courage to talk to you.”
“I think I remember that now. You’d been an ass to Combeferre.”
“Because I’d just found out he was your soulmate and at the time I was mad, and jealous.”
“Jealous?”
“Yeah, initially because he was your soulmate and then because I wasn’t soulmates with both of you.”
“But what if you were our soulmate?” Grantaire froze at Enjolras’ suggestion.
“That’s ridiculous. I already told you. I’m not good enough to be your soulmate.”
“That’s the most bullshit thing I’ve ever heard. There is no such thing as not being good enough for your soulmate. Soulmates are the best fits for you.”
“However, much I want to be your guys’ soulmate doesn’t change the fact that I’m not.” Grantaire’s voice broke as he confessed. “I love you both so much it hurts, and… and I don’t even know - know if I’ll be able to love my actual soulmate as much as I love both of you.” Grantaire kept his eyes on his lap, watching himself fiddle with the edge of his shorts. He flinched slightly when Enjolras wrapped an arm around his shoulders and gently pulled him into a hug.
“We love you too, and we want to date you.” Grantaire tried to pull away from the hug but Enjolras held firm.
“I don’t want your pity.”
“It’s not pity.” Combeferre spoke up as he settled closer on the other side of Grantaire, effectively trapping him between the two. “As mentioned before, there has been some miscommunication. Enjolras and I have been in love with you for a while now too. Enjolras is just really bad at communicating and I’m not very expressive with my affections.”
Grantaire stayed frozen between the two of them, trying to process it. Then Enjolras buried his face into his shoulder and Combeferre chuckled, his voice low and rumbling next to Grantaire.
“Enjolras on the other hand is very affectionate when we’re not in public.”
“Don’t let him fool you. He’s just as affectionate, just in different ways.” Enjolras’ voice was muffled against Grantaire, and R felt panic starting to rise within himself.
“I think I’m asexual, or maybe demisexual? Greyasexual? I’m not sure. I just know I don’t have much of an interest in sex. I thought you should know if you’re serious about dating me, even though I still don’t know why-”
“Thank you for telling us.” Combeferre cut him off, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze at the same time. “It’s not a problem for either of us. Enj is asexual and I’m demisexual.”
“We’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you out for a while no and I know this isn’t the best circumstances, but will you go out with us?”
“But why would you want to?”
“I know your brain is telling you you’re not worth it, but it is so completely wrong. You are worth it. You’re absolutely amazing and we want to date you.”
“But I’m Wasting. You know that not even 1% of people who start Wasting survive, and if they meet their soulmate it only rises to 15%.”
“We know. But we’re selfish and want as much time with you as possible. We also want to support you to the best of our abilities.”
“What about your third soulmate?”
“What about them? They’re not here and there is no guarantee they will be a third romantic partner.”
“We will cross that bridge when we get there. But in the meantime, we love you and would like to date you.”
“Okay.” Both Enjolras and Combeferre squeezed him a little tighter in their hug. Grantaire let out a shaky breath and let himself slump more against Enjolras. “Okay. We can try this.” Combeferre leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of Grantaire’s head and then one on top of Enjolras’. All three of them stayed curled up for several minutes, basking in the peace of the moment. The silence was eventually broken by Grantaire’s watch chirping followed almost immediately by Combeferre’s.
“Do you want to stay on the couch, or do you want to go lie down? Either way you should probably take off your binder.” Combeferre kept his voice quite but it still broke the moment.
“How long have you had it on?” Grantaire took one last deep breath, trying to let the moment last a little bit longer before slowly unwrapping his arm from around Enjolras’ waist to answer his question. It took him a second to free his other arm to be able to change the setting to the stopwatch to see how long he’d had his binder on. Both of the others stiffened beside him.
“I know I’ve had it on too long today, but it’s really not that bad.” Combeferre was the one to move, gently grabbing his wrist, his thumb ghosting over the nearly invisible tattoo.
“How long have you had this?” Combeferre’s voice shook slightly and Grantaire frowned.
“May 2015. Why?” There was a second of hesitation before Combeferre reached for his own watch, which was worn correctly; tight and facing upwards. Unlike Grantaire, who kept his on the loosest setting, allowing it to slide around his wrist and usually kept it facing down. When Combeferre’s watch came off, it revealed Grantaire’s tattoo.
The white ink had kept it mostly hidden on Grantaire’s pale skin but contrasted beautifully with Combeferre’s dark skin. Enjolras snapped out of his stupor and brought his own wrist forward. It wasn’t as easy to see as Combeferre’s, but it still stood out more on his golden wrist than it did on Grantaire’s. All Grantaire could do was stare at their wrists, not really believing what he was seeing.
“We’ve had these since May 2015, but we’ve been looking for you for so much longer than that.” Grantaire hadn’t realized he’d begun to cry until Combeferre gently wiped his cheeks before pulling him into his chest. He immediately buried his face and mumbled a question.
“What was that, R?” Enjolras asked quietly as somebody ran their fingers through Grantaire’s hair. Grantaire tilted his head enough to be heard.
“I’m awake right now, right? This is actually happening?”
“Yes, this is actually happening.” Enjolras reassured him, pressing a kiss to the back of his head.
“Come on, let’s get you into bed. I promise we’ll still be here when you wake up.” Combeferre helped Grantaire to his feet, gentle hands keeping him steady when he swayed slightly. Enjolras was up in a second, snaking an arm around his waist for more support.
They helped him into his room, sitting him down on his bed, and Combeferre quickly found an oversized t-shirt for Grantaire to change into. Without being asked, they both turned their backs to let him change, even though they both already knew the maze of scars that covered his back.
“Please stay.” Grantaire’s voice was barely above a whisper, like he was terrified to ask, or that they would reject him. Instead, Enjolras and Combeferre returned to his side in an instant, curling up with him between them.
“We can talk more in the morning.” Combeferre reassured him from where his face was pressed into his shoulder blade.
“Because we promise we’ll be here.” Enjolras reaffirmed Combeferre’s words from before and all Grantaire could do was nod, too choked up to say anything. And feeling safe for the first time ever, Grantaire fell asleep between his soulmates.