Chapter Text
"SENATOR OR SUGAR DADDY? THE REAL QUESTION PEOPLE SHOULD BE ASKING.”
Enjolras sighs as he reads the headline of the article. Despite his efforts to change the government from within and his tireless attempts to get his colleagues to see the error in some of their ways, the media continues to paint him as an overly wealthy and ridiculously good looking— their words, not his— senator, without actually looking into what he invests his money in. He’s not angered, per se, but he is opposed to the objectification of rich males over the age 30 being called sugar daddies. A person cannot be judged based on the amount of money that they possess, and the media fails to see that. Fails to see that Enjolras is more than just his money, he’s a man with a goal, someone who is trying to make a difference, even if his propositions are dismissed as a result of him being a Democrat in a Republican dominated Senate.
He doesn't read the article, he exits out of the news app and pulls up his messages, composing a new one to Courfeyrac.
E: I didn’t sleep with him.
•REVOLUTION•
Grantaire had been staring at his computer for far too long. The headline screaming at him.
“SURPRISE: SENATOR IS KINKY AS FUCK.”
Grantaire wasn’t one to publicly kink shame someone seeing as he himself had a decently sized list of kinks, and it’s not like he planned on posting the article anyway. He wrote it just in case. This particularly kinky, and very shady may he add, senator had promised not to continue taking bribes in return for votes in favour of the opposite party.
He sighed and closed the document, he could always publish it if the senator continued to take bribes. Hopefully the senator would heed his warning.
“Hey 'Aire, want to grab lunch?” Eponine asked as she barged into his office.
“Hey Eponine,” he replied.
“Yeah, where do you want to go?”
“The Musain.”
“Is that where you saw that cute blonde girl last Tuesday?”
“Shut it," she answered. “…yes.”
“Okay, let me just grab my stuff and then we can head out.”
He quickly grabbed his phone, wallet and keys to his motorcycle and met Eponine at the door. When they arrived, they grabbed a booth in the back of the cafe with Eponine facing the door in case the blonde girl came in. When the brunette stood up Grantaire was sure that she had seen the girl from before but upon turning he saw two guys heading towards them. One of them was a short man he recognised as one of the Try Guys, and the other was the ridiculously good looking God he had written an article on. Eponine hugged the shorter guy and introduced him as Courfeyrac. Grantaire leaned in and brushed his cheeks against Courfeyrac’s, not noting the man’s reaction before he turned to Enjolras.
Enjolras extended a hand in Grantaire’s direction, but he leaned in and brushed his cheek against Enjolras’ as well. He felt the taller man freeze under his touch, awkwardly, he let go and turned to Eponine.
“He’s French.” she stated as way of explanation.
“What part of France?” Enjolras asked, surprising Grantaire. He hadn’t expected Enjolras to speak to him after the awkward bise.
“Nice.”
“I'm from Nord-Pas-de-Calais-Picardie” Enjolras supplied.
“Le Nord” Grantaire jokes.
“Ah, oui, life in The North is rough.” Enjolras continues in French.
“Do you still have your toes?” That earns him a laugh.“I was born here, but I spent my summers in Amiens.”
“What for? The winters here are warmer than The North.” That earns him a chuckle from Eponine.
They’re still standing in the middle of the cafe, and after Eponine points it out, they move to sit down with Enjolras and Grantaire squeezing into one side of the small booth. Eponine is in the middle of translating the conversation to Courfeyrac when she stops talking mid sentence.
“‘Aire.” she breathes, blatantly staring at someone across the cafe. Grantaire’s eyes land on a blonde woman and they follow her until she stops right in front of their booth.
“Cosette.” Enjolras greets, standing up to hug the woman. She smiles at Enjolras and then turns to hug Courfeyrac as well while Eponine stares with her mouth slightly ajar.
Grantaire clears his throat, hoping that someone will introduce them to the woman that has Eponine speechless, which is a pretty incredible feat if he does say so himself. Courfeyrac is the one to speak up.
“This is Cosette.” he says pointing at the petite woman, Courf then points at Grantaire and Eponine, introducing them both and a light pink dusts Cosette’s cheek as she shakes hands with the brunette. Grantaire watches the encounter, amusement present on his face. Enjolras ends the moment by asking Cosette what she is there for, the woman is about to answer when her phone rings. She frowns at the mobile device as if it has offended her and tells Enjolras that she'll see him later before making a hasty exit. Eponine still has heart eyes when Grantaire turns back to her causing him to snort, having never seen her spot such a look before.
Grantaire catches what seems to be the beginning of Enjolras’ and Courfeyrac’s conversation on a recent article and it takes him a minute to realise they’re talking about his article. Well, not his exactly, the article is written under a pen name but it’s his nonetheless.
“This person probably hasn’t even looked into what I do, Courf. They just threw me into a category because of what I have earned.” He catches Enjolras say.
“What makes you think he didn’t look into your investments?” He says, drawing their attention to him, earning a look from Enjolras and a glare from Eponine.
“Had they bothered looking into what I do and how my money is used, they would not have mislabelled me as a ‘sugar daddy’ There’s no reasonable explanation as to why I have been called one aside from the fact that I am a wealthy male. And what makes you so sure that R is a male?”
“You’re being stereotyped as a sugar daddy because you are a rich good looking male. It doesn’t matter what you’ve invested in or has attempted to do in the Senate, it’s all image based and you have it.” Grantaire answers, ignoring Enjolras question, which the blond notices.
“You didn’t answer my question.” He insists, seemingly disregarding what Grantaire had just said. He opens his mouth to reply but at that moment his phone chooses to ring, frowning, he answers the phone, turning towards away from the table for a sense of privacy.
“Merde," Grantaire breathed as he hung up the call. "Ep, we have to go to the hospital again."
"Again?" Eponine asked."Is everything okay?" Courfeyrac asked.
"Yeah, our friend is in the hospital again. It's the third time this month," Grantaire replied.
"Wow, talk about bad luck," Courfeyrac commented. Enjolras scoffed.
“You got anything to add?" Grantaire questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“No." Enjolras said.
Grantaire turned to Eponine and nodded. Both of them slid out of the booth, before leaving Grantaire bowed mockingly and said, "It was a pleasure meeting you two."
Enjolras simply rolled his eyes while Courfyrac looked delighted. Grantaire reached into his pocket and pulled out a card, handing it to Enjolras whilst explaining that he would like to interview him for The Horizon Times some day. Enjolras watched as Eponine and Grantaire left, not even bothering to take their coffee with them.
"Well, that was interesting," Courfeyrac started.
"Which part?" Enjolras asked turning to face Courfeyrac. "The part where he argued with me or the fact the he didn't answer my question?"
Courf breathed a laugh, "Well both, if we're being honest."
“He was practically arguing with me and did you notice how he sided with R?" Enjolras asked beginning to sound like a child.
"Yes, I did notice. So are you going to call him to set up an interview?"
"Yes," Enjolras replied. “I think it’ll be good for me. It’ll allow me to express my opinion on certain matters.”
Courfeyrac hummed in agreement.
•REVOLUTION•
"What did Bousset do this time?" Eponine asked as they left the Musain.
"He didn't say, but knowing him, he might've slipped on a banana peel."
Eponine laughed before saying, "It's not like he hasn't done that before."
The motorcycle ride to the hospital didn’t take long and when they arrived they were met by Joly who led them towards Bousset's hospital room.
"Hey Joly," Eponine said. "What did Bousset get himself into this time?"
"Oh just you wait," he replied pressing the bridge of his nose.
With Joly walking ahead of them they walked into Bousset's room. Inside the room was Bousset in a leg cast and a sheepish smile on his face.
"Hey guys. Crazy story of what happened," he said.
"Did you trip going up the stairs?" Grantaire joked.
"No," Bousset laughed.
"Something better happened."
"Better?" Joly screeched. "How is two grown adults fighting better?"
"Hey no spoilers. This is a great story I'm about to tell," Bousset replied.
"Oh man I'm so ready for this," Eponine said as Grantaire laughed.
"Take it away," Grantaire said.
"Okay, I'll set the scene. Me and Bahorel. My apartment. About 10 this morning," Bousset started. "It all started last night though. Me and Bahorel were working, doing our secret agent stuff that I can't really disclose. But anyway, we were talking about who the better agent is, because I mean, that's something you just gotta know."
"Oh my god," Joly breathed. "You two are idiots."
"Anyway, we decided hey, this is a situation that can be easily solved by a simple game of combat."
"I remember, this is how we used to solve problems back in college," Grantaire laughed.
"Not you too!" Joly moaned as Eponine raised an eyebrow.
"And it always worked didn't it?" Bousset asked.Grantaire laughed as he nodded.
"Okay so back to the story. The rules were super simple. Grab anything that can be a weapon, but it can't be an actual weapon, like our guns or shit like that. So naturally I grab my lighter and hairspray."
"Naturally. As one would." Grantaire cut in.
"Yes! See, someone understands. Anyway, I have my homemade flamethrower and out of the corner of my eye, I see Bahorel grab a sock and start stuffing something inside it."
"Oh shit," Eponine said.
"So I go to my place of hiding, I have the distance with this improvised flamethrower, but I also have to be sneaky. This was to see who is the better agent anyway, so I figured I would go all explorer man and hide. After 10 minutes, I'm not seeing Bahorel anywhere, so I thought well I better go and find him so I can prove I'm the better agent. And holy shit, I really should've waited it out."
"No shit," Joly commented.
"Don't worry doc, it's a good thing I'm dating you so you can always patch me up," Bossuet winked. "Anyway, Bahorel also had the same idea and he was hiding. I have no idea where he was, but I heard a warcry and as the sock swung towards my legs I saw my life flash before my eyes. I thought holy shit this is how I die. Next thing I know I'm on the ground and my leg hurts. Like a holy shit do I still have a leg type of pain. Bahorel is standing over me freaking out. He's going on and on like, 'holy shit I'm so sorry. Oh my god I have to call Joly’."
"What was the sock filled with?" Grantaire asked in disbelief. "Usually we fill the socks with things like, butter or shit that's not gonna break a limb."
"Pool balls," Bousset said laughing. "Why we didn't ever do that is beyond me."
"Maybe because you can end up with a broken tibia." Joly suggested.
Bousset snorted, "I'm me, I'll get injured doing just about anything."
"I mean, he's not lying," Grantaire shrugged.
•REVOLUTION•
"Courf, did you really think that I slept with him?" Enjolras asked Courfeyrac as they made their way home.
"I mean, R only writes about people he's slept with. Everyone knows this." he replied.
"I haven't slept with anyone is such a long time, honestly."
"Well maybe he just has something against you?" Courfeyrac suggested.
"I won't be sleeping with anyone anytime soon," Enjolras replied.
"We'll see about that," Courfeyrac said suggestively while raising an eyebrow.
Enjolras groaned, "Please stop trying to set me up with people, we all know how it went last time."
"How was I supposed to know that the other guy was a republican?" Courfeyrac laughed.
"It wasn't that!" Enjolras whined like a child.
"What else was it?"
"For one thing, he was incredibly rude. Two, he wouldn't listen to me. All he did was talk over me and completely disregard my opinions. You know I don’t judge people based on their political view."
"Okay, fair point." Courfeyrac said.”So you’re still going to give that journalist a call?”
"Yeah, I'll probably call tonight to set something up." Enjolras replied.
When Enjolras arrived home, he pulled out his cellphone and dialled Grantaire’s number. They agreed to meet the following day at Grantaire’s office.
“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Have a good evening.” Enjolras said before hanging up.