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The Amis enter the exhibiton in a cloud of inapproprietly loud chatter and swirling colours, generating irritated looks from the people around them. The gallery is huge, a ballroom type room with a gigantic chandelier hanging from the celing and people in evening dress milling around. The Amis fail to completely blend in. They've tried, obviously. It's Grantaire's big night, so of course they've tried their hardest but their dresses are just a little too bright, a little too bohemian to genuinely fit in with the possible patron crowd.
Within seconds, Bousset and Joly had already found one of the waiters and, with matching charming grins, snagged glasses of champagne. Jehan is spinning in the enterance way, a grin lighting up her face surrounded by the art that she loves so much. Ferre looks a little like a harrased mother, leaning a little weakly on Feuilly who is grinning and hauling around a confused-looking Bahorel by the hand.
Catching Jehan mid-spin and pressing a kiss to her neck, Courfeyrac glances around the group and catches sight of their errant leader standing a little away from the group and staring around like she's looking for someone. “Enjolras?”
The blonde leader's eyes scan over the crowd in the exhibition, skipping over the bland faces of posh people sipping champagne and searching for one in particular. A girl in a long, red dress, a guy in an electric blue suit, an old lady in a pink suit-y thing… Her eyes skim dismissively past them, past a group of people chatting to a tiny figure in a suit, past-
She looks back to the group, to the figure in the suit and fuck, there's R.
Wearing a suit.
“Enjolras? Hello?”
R has a glass of champagne in one hand and the other tucked in her pocket, and she's chatting politely with other arty people about the piece she is currently stood in front of- a big red and gold piece showing a sleeping figure in a field of poppies. Whenever the people turn away she takes huge, panicked gulps of the bubbly alcohol and then starts coughing. Enjolras smiles fondly without even realising. R’s hair is swept up in a fancy plait-type thing and she is wearing lipstick (bright red) and while she doesn’t look pretty in the poetic sense of the word…
Fuck. She's wearing a suit.
“Enjolras.” Combeferre joins in.
“Enjyyy?”
There are tiny splatters of paint on the sleeves, she notices, gold and green and blue and silver and purple dotted messily on the fabric. And a tie. Worn loose, half undone, and the top button slightly open…
“Hello, earth to Enjolras?”
“What?” Enjolras snaps out of her daze, and realises that all the others are staring at her, smirking. “What?”
“I see you’ve found our precious little artist,” giggles Courf, her arm slung casually around Jehan’s shoulders even though the red haired girl is almost a foot taller than her. “Were you actually going to talk to her or were you just going to stay over here staring at her intensely from a distance? Cos that might actually come across as a bit weird, you know..?”
Jehan elbows her in the ribs.
“I…” The blonde stutters, “What?”
Combeferre sighs, and pushes her glasses up her nose. “We’ve been noticing it for a while actually. You keep… Staring at R. Whenever you think she’s not looking.”
“It should really be freaking her out actually, E, it’s pretty weird. But to be honest she’s so far gone that by this point you’re just out-weird-ing each other,” Joly chips in with a grin.
Enjolras scrunches her face up in confusion.
With a sigh, Courf looks to the others for help. “Jehan? You’re the romantic here, explain to our emotionally stunted friend.”
Jehan elbows her girlfriend again and smiles at Enj reassuringly, which only increases her feeling of terror. “We think you’re in love with Grantaire.”
There is a pause. A long pause.
“God, you can practically see the loading symbols behind her eyes,” mutters Feuilly to Combeferre loudly, and Joly hushes them, waiting intently for the response.
Enjolras opens her mouth and then closes it a couple of times, like a bewildered trout. Then, finally…
“She’s preparing to speak!” Jehan whispers excitedly.
“Oh.” Enjolras says, as if the entire universe has simultaneously been explained to her and has stopped making sense. “Oh!” She says again and she starts to smile.
“… And the penny drops!” Courf squeaks.
“Wait, do you think she likes me back?” Enjolras breathes hopefully, and in unison her friends all roll their eyes.
“Look, just go talk to her, ok?” Jehan says in her ear, gently giving her a push in R’s direction. Enjolras turns round to panic at them, to demand that they at least give her time to get her head round it all, to order them to give her the car keys so she can run away and hide, but they all seem to have melted away into the crowd and when she turns back round, Taire is staring at her with one eyebrow raised. It shouldn't be attractive. She looks pissed off. But E feels like she's swallowed the sun, can feel the colour rising in her cheeks and her stomach is full of moths coming to the light and oh my god. She's so in love.
R is looking at her oddly. Say something! She hears Courf prompting her in her head and smiles involuntarily. “Um. Hey,” she says quietly, eyes on the floor.
“Hey yourself. I didn’t think you’d come!” Grantaire says with the self-deprecating smile audible in her voice and E looks up.
“What, why not?”
“Well, you know. You’re not exactly my biggest fan and all.”
E frowned. “That’s not…”
“I don’t mind or anything. You know, it’s… Whatever." She laughs a little bitterly. "You should have seen your face when I was coming over, like you were checking the fire exits or something for a way to escape!"
"I was not!" She scowls. The bubbly feeling was still there, just a little more... Irritated. R seemed to do that to her.
"Hey, calm down, I was joking! I’m just glad you’re here.”
“I’m glad I’m here.” She blushes even harder, shuffling awkwardly. Her red and black dress suddenly feels to obvious, too visible. In her mind she can see everyone looking at her, and they can all tell just by looking at her that she has a stupid, stupid crush on the girl in front of her. "I mean..."
The darker skinned girl laughs awkwardly at that and looks around, trying to change the subject. “So, seen anything you like?”
There is a pause, while Enjolras tries to think of something to say and Grantaire wonders if she actually heard her.
“You’re wearing a suit!” Enjolras blurts suddenly, too loudly. A few people around them turn round, shooting them odd looks.
“Um, yeah?” R frowns. “I know, it’s not exactly… girly. But you know I’m not really like that anyway and I couldn’t imagine getting in a dress for this thing. And Jehan found it and she said it was perfect and I liked it much better than a dress and you know, I couldn’t have turned up in my hoodie and jeans…”
Enjolras blinks.
“And… well, I thought you were supposed to be all ‘fuck gender roles’ and everything anyway, so why do you care?” She smiles awkwardly, too sadly for Enjolras' liking, like she's used to expecting things from Enjolras and is used to being disapointed. “Autonomy over your own body counts for nothing when the lovely Athena doesn’t like your choice of clothes.”
“No, no, I like it!” Enjolras squeaks. She raises a hand slightly like she wants to smooth down the lapels but is afraid she might get bitten. And don't call me that, she thinks but she doesn't say.
“Oh.” R takes a deep breath.
“Yeah.” If she keeps pulling that slightly disapointed face E is going to cry, right in the middle of the gallery. “I like it a lot actually.”
“Oh.”
“But I like you more.”
“Oh." Taire frowns. "What?”
“And I know you don’t like me and all so I’m sorry to do this in a public place and please don’t feel pressured at all, I understand that you don’t really like me very much but anyway. Um. I just worked out that I’m in love with you. Well, I didn’t exactly work it out on my own, the others helped and stuff but… I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me.”
“Wait, wait, back up.” Taire’s eyes are the size of saucers. “You’re… in love… with me?”
She shifts her feet awkwardly, eyes darting round to try and catch sight of Ferre or Courf. “That’s what I said.” Help, she tries to telepathically broadcast into the hive mind that they seem to share.
“Me. As in, drunk starving depressed artist me.”
“Um. Yes?”
Grantaire looks down at the floor for a moment, eyes shut. When she opens them again, Enjolras is still there blushing like a beetroot and looking very much like she wants the aliens to come and take her back to her home planet. “That’s… good.” She says at last, weakly.
“Is it?” The bubbles are back but they're turning in to fireworks of anxiety and E really just wants to kiss her.
“As long as I’m not dreaming. I mean, probably. I’m not dreaming, right?”
“I don’t… think so.” Enjolras’ hand settles on her lapel like a flighty butterfly, smoothing down the fabric.
Grantaire takes a deep breath and looks her in the eye, sincere for once in her life. “Well, I mean I love you too. Obviously. Who couldn’t fall in love with you? You’re… perfect.” Theres a moment when E thinks it's finally going to happen, she leans forward a little and bites her lip because she doesn't know what she's meant to do... The black-haired girl leans forward a little too, and up close E can see her freckles and the tiny laughter lines under her eyes and the teeny tiny dimple she gets when she quirks her mouth up like that.
"No, you are."
And then R jerks away and her mouth twists into a cynical smirk. "God and if this is a practical joke I'll feel like such an idiot but you know. You know now, you might as well get some fun out of it. I love you. Ok? I love you. Go tell the others if you'd like. Go laugh about the miserable cynic in love with a perfect statue."
“Do you really think that I'd do that?" She catches at Grantaire's sleeve, pulling her back closer but the artist yanks her sleeve away. "You say you love me but you think that lowly of me?"
R won't look her in the eye. "Not of you."
"Of who then?" This doesn't make sense.
"Myself." At Enjolras' confused look, she elaborates unwillingly. Each word seems dragged from her. "Why would someone like you want someone like me? You could be a model, you're so beautiful. And... You believe in people, Enj. You believe so strongly and I could never match that and..."
"Don't say stuff like that, please, don't!"
"It's ok."
"No it's not. God, you really don't get it, do you?" She waves a hand around the room. "You create so much beauty, it's written all over the walls in here. I know you think I don't like you but our arguments keep me sane, honestly. And how could you not think you're beautiful?" She grins. "You're wearing a suit."
Grantaire looks at her, finally. There's a trace of the old smile back again. "Is this just about the suit?"
"Of course not, I-"
"Joking! God, you'll need to lighten up if we're going to do this."
"So... we can give it a shot?"
"If you want to. If you're sure."
Enjolras gave up trying to hold back her grin. "Can I kiss you?”
“Can you… You’re seriously…” She groans, running a hand through her pretty plaited hair. “Of course you can, you fuckwit.”
Enjolras grins. “Oh how romantic.” Halting R's hand in it's path, she tangles their fingers together and tugs her close.
They stay that way for the rest of the night, and in the cab on the way back home.
Enjolras never wants to let go.