It’s a tricky one. Do I think Enjolras returns Grantaires feelings when we are first introduced to Les Amis? No. It says in the text that he disdains him, and that Grantaire is an ‘unaccepted Pylades’ – something that obviously will come up later in the text.
Do I think Enjolras hates Grantaire? Absolutely not. Disdain is far from hate, and he never sends him away even though it’s clear he has the unspoken authority in the group to do so. The fact he decides (grudgingly) to trust Grantaire with Barriere Du Maine speaks volumes about the fact that maybe he has hope for him, and would like Grantaire to prove himself to the group – and to him.
Do I think it’s still unrequited by the time we get to their death scene? No. The transformation in Grantaire and the title of the chapter referencing Orestes and Pylades says everything – Grantaire is no longer an ‘unaccepted Pylades’. Enjolras has accepted him for that role; ergo, he returns his affections, even if sadly only briefly and even if in a way that’s up to debate. Because really, it’s not a sudden revolutionary passion that has transfigured Grantaire, it’s his love for Enjolras.
the book: Still, this skeptic had a fanaticism. This fanaticism was not for an idea, nor a dogma, nor an art, nor a science; it was for a man: Enjolras. Grantaire admired, loved, and venerated Enjolras.
the book: a skeptic adhering to a believer is as simple as the law of complementary colors. What we lack attracts us.
the book: Grantaire, crawling with doubt, loved to see faith soaring in Enjolras. He needed Enjolras. Without understanding it clearly, and without trying to explain it to himself, that chaste, healthy, firm, direct, hard, honest nature charmed him.
the book: there are men who seem to be born to be the opposite, the reverse, the counterpart. They are Pollux, Patroclus, Nisus, Eudamias, Ephestion, Pechméja. They live only on condition of leaning on another; their names are sequels, only written preceded by the conjunction “and”; their existence is not their own; it is the other side of a destiny not their own. Grantaire was one of these men. He was the reverse of Enjolras.
the book: We might almost say that affinities begin with the letters of the alphabet. In the series O and P are inseperable. You can, if you choose, pronounce O and P, or Orestes and Pylades.
the book: yet returning, [Grantaire] said of Enjolras, “What a fine statue!”
people, somehow: this is heterosexual, it’s not like… romantic or anything, grantaire was a straight man
I like that! However this is the 1800′s and Enjolras is canonically an only child – so I feel it would be less dating and more, ‘You are having intimate relations with someone OUT OF WEDLOCK oh my GOD?! YOU NEED TO BE MARRIED IMMEDIATELY WHAT WOULD THE NEIGHBOURS THINK?!” because Enjolras is from a wealthy family and that sort of thing would be a raging scandal.
And Enjolras would honestly probably roll with it because really, he doesn’t care, it’s just some papers and some vows, it doesn’t change anything, and it’s an excuse to move out of the family home (since a ‘woman’ would be unlikely to be sent to live alone in Paris by her parents)
So it would be more like uncomfortable shot-gun wedding au.
Like, Enjolras would go through a careful process to choose who to ask. Like, most of Les Amis wouldn’t quite be aware of his situation, save for Combeferre and Courfeyrac, but he’d think about telling one of them if necessary.
Process of elimination.
Can’t be Combeferre, because his family probably already have plans for him.
Can’t be Courfeyrac, because Courfeyrac, bless his golden heart, is canonically a bit of a tomcat and it would be deeply unfair to expect him to start hiding his romantic endeavours because he and Enjolras are supposedly happily married and it would be a scandal if Courfeyrac was caught on the arm of some girl from a wineshop.
Jean Prouvaire is also an only child, so again, his parents probably have plans.
Bahorel is just…a good soul, but the idea of him being Enjolras’ ‘type’ would be somewhat too far-fetched for his parents to believe.
Bossuet and Joly both have that thing going with Musichetta and…each other? Enjolras doesn’t want to make it weird.
Feuilly is wonderful and Enjolras would pick him in a heartbeat since he’d play the part very well, but Feuilly is a poor worker, and so his parents would never accept that as a possibility.
Marius is just a definite no.
Which leaves him with Grantaire, who actually, realistically, isn’t such a poor choice. If he can afford to drink himself to sleep every night without having to work himself to death like Feuilly does, then he must have a reasonably respectable background (even if he’s no longer welcome there…) – plus he seems very educated, again, hinting at a not entirely poor upbringing. Plus, cynical as he is, Grantaire is clearly eager to please Enjolras and do anything he can to help him. On top of all this, Grantaire is a man of the world, and certainly has friends from all walks of life and the slums of Paris; there’s no way he wouldn’t have heard about people in Enjolras’ situation, so telling him wouldn’t pose a great risk. He’d probably just shrug it off and be like, ‘Alright’.
And Enjolras would feel bad about taking advantage of…whatever it is Grantaire feels towards him, but, hey, this arrangement would benefit them both since Enjolras is set to inherit after his parents (being their only child) which means Grantaire will get the lion’s share. And besides, there’s the matter of a dowry handed to them both in the form of an allowance every month, so Grantaire could upgrade from his dirty hovel in the rough part of Paris to lodgings with at least a few less rats and leaks and murderous neighbours.
So to keep up the pretence they end up living together, keeping this information from the rest of Les Amis aside from Combeferre and Courfeyrac (since it would surely raise a few eyebrows) and going on as normal at the meetings.
And literally everything goes on as normal and Enjolras thinks that Grantaire’s misery and wallowing and excessive drinking are because he regrets the choice to be legally tied down to someone he clearly cannot stand, since he’s always watching Enjolras from the back of the Musain with these sad, betrayed eyes. And it’s not until the ‘Do you permit it?’ scene that Enjolras realises Grantaire was actually very deeply in love with him.
Like five of you said you wanted a happy version so.
Instead of all the bad stuff happening, they form an unlikely team when forced to live together. It turns out they’re more compatible than first thought. When Enjolras is working himself to death well into the night and it’s starting to get light out, Grantaire will come to him in the study with a candle and urge him to go to bed. Grantaire finds himself drinking less because Enjolras’ company is actually quite enjoyable when he’s not in the Musain and fired up on revolution, and so the need to drink himself to sleep is less prominent. Their debates are calmer, since they are at home, and they see eye-to-eye on more things than they originally thought possible.
They have quiet evenings where Enjolras is reading or writing notes and Grantaire sits and sketches, and they’re generally just surprisingly comfortable in each other’s company. Courfeyrac jests that they have settled into the roles almost too well.
Eventually this comfort starts to develop into something more on Enjolras’ part, and then from that other feelings start to emerge (I will die defending Enjolras as demisexual) – Enjolras has seen the way Grantaire looks at him, and though he’s not particularly good at reading people he thinks that even he can recognise what it is the cynic feels for him. He’s just never had the time or inclination to really think on it until now.
So one night he takes a risk. Though they usually have separate bedrooms Enjolras goes to Grantaire’s instead of his own, waiting in the bed in his nightshirt, trying to distract his nerves with a book.
When Grantaire returns that evening from whatever it is that Grantaire likes to do in the day (he has so many varying hobbies he could’ve been anywhere) he is naturally stunned to find Enjolras in his bed. Enjolras, in typical Enjolras fashion, is extremely open and frank about what he feels, and that if Grantaire is so inclined to take him to bed he would be very much in favour of that, but if not, he will of course return to his own bed and they need never bring this up again.
You can probably guess what Grantaire’s response is.
After that, one of the two bedrooms becomes a studio for Grantaire’s painting, since they have no need of it. They become a secret power couple, balancing each other brilliantly. They still bicker at meetings but make up later in each other’s arms. Combeferre and Courfeyrac raise their eyebrows at it but do not say a word, of course, they never would, not on their life.
Joly and Bossuet make jokes about how Grantaire must have found a kind mistress, since he seems more jovial of late. If Enjolras smirks to himself behind his papers at this, whose to know?
And since you wanted a truly happy version; in a totally unrealistic spin, the June rebellion is a success. Enjolras is forced to fade out of his radical politics, since there’s no need for a boy with a bayonet anymore and if he was to be in the public eye there is the great risk of exposure. He writes for papers though, under a pen-name, and his works are popular discourse regarding the political atmosphere. He takes pleasure in that, and is able to have a quieter life than he imagined.
To his parents he is still their daughter, happily wed and oh, what a shame, apparently barren, for there are no children to show for it
(unless you are inclined to believe they might choose otherwise). To Les Amis, he and Grantaire are simply living together as bachelors often do – nothing strange about it at all! And if they all notice there is only one bedroom in their home, well, that’s none of their business.
Maybe the reason Enjolras and Grantaire fight so often is that Enjolras is autistic and can’t usually tell if Grantaire is being serious, sarcastic or playful, or if theyre playing devils advocate rather than stating their own opinions; The reason his learned checklist isn’t working accurately (what are the eyebrows doing, how are they standing, how is the mouth moving etc added up to an educated guess) is that Grantaires depression dulls their affect, meaning all those little movements are harder to spot, assuming they’re there at all. The drinking doesn’t help.
When some kind of delicious fanfic trope forces them to spend time together he slowly builds up a personal checklist for Grantaire and, to make things easier, R works on making their facial expressions clearer and more honest/reflective of their meaning and mood. They still argue, but it’s much less upsetting for both of them.
Bonus: After a few months of hanging out together and a tonne of what Combeferre assures them is Enjolras’ flirting (which mostly involves making intense, barely-blinking eye contact because when he researched flirting they kept talking about Holding Their Gaze but never specified things like frequency of blinking. Also, various snacks and treats on long painting days because ‘humans need food to live, ‘Taire!’) Grantaire asks Enjolras out for coffee. Enj doesn’t realise it’s a date proposal and turns them down because why would he want coffee after 4pm, does R not want him to sleep tonight??? Unfortunately, it comes out as “Why on earth would I want to go for coffee with you?”. They… Yeah, they don’t take that super well.
A month or so later he marches up to Grantaire after the meeting and asks why theyre behaving so weird/avoidant and if his flirting is making them uncomfortable. They stare gobsmacked at him for a good minute straight, only snapping out of it to double over in a fit of giggles when Enjolras then asks if they’re flirting with him during what he thought was a serious conversation.
And then idk they fall in love and get married or something who knows can you tell I’m not a writer
Remember all those stories Grantaire tells about his sexcapades and all the sex he’s getting? Well…
He lives in a world in which sex is omnipresent. Tv shows, movies, advertisement, conversations… Sex sells, and he can’t escape it.
And maybe he is getting a lot of sex. A lot of one night stands, physical experiences. Because he heard that if he doesn’t like sex, something must be wrong with him, right? He’s a man, men like sex, that’s all men think about right? He needs to get more to actually want it, right?
Needless to say all those ideas and social pressure fucked him and his self-esteem up, like he couldn’t find a way to “fix” himself
Then came les Amis and Enjolras. And for all the compliments and comments Grantaire made about Enjolras’ beauty, it was all from an aesthetic stand point. He’s an artist. He can recognise beauty when it stares at him.
But Enjolras totally believed Grantaire was sexually attracted to him.
So when they started dating and making out for the first time, things got a bit heated, as in the kissing and cuddling got intense, and they both pulled away at the same time
“Listen, there’s something-”
“-need to tell you-“
They looked at each other, confused, and lost and awkward. Until Enjolras took a deep breath.
“I’m not into sex. And I know I should have been upfr-”
“I don’t like sex either.”
They looked at each other, burst out laughing, and went back to cuddling and making out
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 