Work Text:
Surely a full bus should be warmer than the cold outside, Enjolras thought as he stood to vacate his seat for the old lady that boarded at this stop every day. Granted, he didn’t wear many extra layers come autumn, but he could swear the bus driver had the air conditioner on from how cold it was.
Every day catching this bus was the same. It stopped not far from Enjolras’s apartment at precisely 7:38am, and he always caught it and took the same seat, which he would vacate four stops later, like he just had, to offer it to someone less able to stand than a fairly fit twenty-six year old.
Enj had barely finished that thought when the bus pulled up to a stop it usually skipped. No one ever boarded there so they usually just drove right past, but there was someone there today.
None of the other passengers seemed to notice the change in procedure, they were all staring at their phones, or reading the paper, or fussing over their work, but it bugged Enjolras.
The new passenger boarded with a bounce in his step, and a quick look at him showed a set of headphones through his mess of curly dark hair.
He moved to stand not far from Enjolras, who couldn’t help himself but look at every detail about this odd stranger.
The stranger was notably short, probably a solid 5 inches shorter than he was, even without his signature heels. Dark brown curls surrounded his olive face, and he didn’t look far from Enj’s age, perhaps a little older. He wore a dark green hoodie and carried a laptop bag covered in buttons and pins, from geeky logos and quotes to a rainbow pride patch, which made Enj’s heart jump slightly. Not that he was interested, but it was always fun to know that strangers were like him.
Shit he noticed you looking. Play it cool Enjolras.
“I like your patch.” he muttered. The stranger looked down at his bag and then back to Enjolras, then smiled and raised a thumbs up before returning to his music, mouthing along to the words and tapping out the occasional beat on the bar he was holding onto.
After a few minutes they were at Enjolras’s stop, so he smiled at the man politely as he moved to the front of the bus to get off. The stranger nodded at him as he passed, and that was the first time he caught the bus.
The stranger was nowhere near as consistent with his commute as everyone else was. Though he caught it often, there were several days where he just didn’t show up, but the days he did, Enj couldn’t help but watch him. He didn’t usually have anything to do besides looking out the window, so where’s the harm, right?
It was mid winter when the bus pulled into the stop the stranger would board at, though it clearly wasn’t him there. The silhouette they’d stopped for waved to the open doors dismissively, indicating that they were waiting for another bus.
The bus was about to pull out of the stop when he saw the silhouette turn to look at someone, and looked to see that the familiar stranger was running up the path behind them, trying to wave for the bus while his laptop bag waved dangerously in the wind behind him.
“Stop!” Enjolras yelled, rushing to the front of the bus as they started to move.
Usually being late to the bus meant missing it, but for whatever reason it was important to him that this specific man not be forced to wait in the cold, wearing nothing for warmth but the same hoodie he’d worn the first time he boarded.
Enjolras was surprised when the driver actually did stop, opening the doors quickly to allow the man to board.
As he walked to his usual spot, he looked to Enjolras and smiled appreciatively, which caused some of his coldness to temporarily leave as a heat raised in his chest. He decided right then that no one should ever be allowed to smile like that. It kills.
Enjolras looked out the window for a while at the icy parisian streets, before his eyes inevitably landed back on the stranger.
He almost had a heart attack, however, when he noticed that the man had been watching him.
Enjolras flushed as he tried to think of something to say, and he blurted the first question to come to his mind.
“How are you not cold?”
The man just shrugged and smiled again, god that fucking smile.
“I dunno, I just don’t really feel it. Never really have, honestly.”
“Lucky...” Lucky? Really? Of all the things he could say-
His mini freakout finished only when they pulled into his stop, and he rushed off the bus, praying that the stranger hadn’t seen the panic in his eyes.
It was a few days before the man caught the bus again, and Enjolras was relieved when he saw the familiar hoodie at the stop, having been almost certain he’d freaked the guy out so much he’d changed buses altogether.
The man boarded silently, and looked at Enjolras slightly nervously as he did so. Shit.
He didn’t stand as close to Enjolras as he usually did, probably trying to keep his distance from the awkward mess he was.
Enjolras couldn’t help glancing at him every now and then, however. He wasn’t mouthing along to his music today, seemed to be deep in thought, but occasionally still tapped out a beat. He also kept glancing back at Enj, who looked away as quickly as he could.
As they neared his stop, Enjolras moved to pull his bag onto his shoulder, and turned around as he felt a tap on his shoulder.
The man was holding his hand out to him, avoiding eye contact.
It took a moment for Enjolras to realise that what he was holding was a small, folded slip of paper.
He didn’t usually take things from strangers, unless he’d dropped it, or was legitimately interested in the cause of a handout, but something inside him had decided taking that slip was important, so he smiled politely at the man and took it, and the man smiled back at him.
He was about to open it up when the bus stopped, and he rushed to get off before it pulled away.
He stopped just outside the bus and unfolded the paper.
R.
XX-XX-XX-XX-XX
His face flushed a little as he realised what it was. Looking up as the bus pulled away, he spotted the man, R, through the window.
R was watching him and, when he saw Enjolras looking at him, winked .
As he turned to walk the rest of the way to work, Enjolras pulled his phone out of his bag. He didn’t usually use it much when he was commuting, but he wanted to get the number saved before he lost the note.
He added the contact as R, followed by a bus emoji and a headphones emoji.
It seemed rude, he thought, to have this guy’s number and not give him his, so he quickly opened his messages and sent one.
‘Hi R. It’s the guy from the bus. My name’s Enjolras. Figured you might want to have my number too.’
He fully intended to leave it as that, but it wasn’t very long before his phone buzzed with a new text, and he couldn’t help but check it.
‘hey enjolras. i’m grantaire, but most people call me R. thanks for letting me know.’
Enjolras smiled as he read it, and couldn’t resist sending a reply.
‘You’re very welcome. If we’re using nicknames, you can call me Enj if you want. It’s what my friends usually call me. But if it’s their suggestions there’s a lot you can choose from. Blondie, The Twink, you could even call me E. I’m not picky.’
It was strange, he thought, how happy he was about the length of the walk from his stop to work, now that he was texting R.
‘not picky, hey? how about i go with apollo. seems fitting for you.’
‘Apollo? Like the god?’
‘of course. he was meant to be wonderfully handsome, right?’
Enjolras’s cheeks reddened at that, not just from the cold.
‘Are you flirting with me, R?’
‘about that. are you doing anything this evening?’
Enjolras’s heart started racing. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been hoping for this, but he definitely hadn’t been expecting it.
‘I get off work at 5:30 then I have no plans. Any particular reason?’
‘i was wondering if you’d like to meet at this cafe i know, it’s three stops after the stop I get on the bus in the morning, so i figured it’d be a good place to go?’
‘Are.. Are you asking me on a date?’
‘maybe i am ;)’
He’d barely read the message when another one came in.
‘it’s okay if you don’t want to, though. I totally get it.’
Enjolras smiled warmly as he typed his reply, as if trying to comfort R through the phone.
‘I’d love to. I can be at that stop by 6.’
A flood of texts came into his phone at once.
‘oh’
‘oh!’
‘oh shit i didn’t think you’d actually want to,,’
‘ok i’ll! see you then! gtg!!’
As Enjolras turned to walk into work, he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.