They both freeze, Grantaire because holy shit Enjolras has his actual head on his shoulder and Enjolras because “I fucked up I fucked up I fucked up”. And they stay like that for the rest of the movie, screaming internally for an hour and when the screen turns to black, Enjolras’s neck is all stiff
Jehan: Are you in love with Enjolras?
Grantaire: …no.
Jehan: Then why do you draw ‘R+E’ in hearts everywhere?
Grantaire: It stands for regret and eroticism.
So at the beginning I’d like to say that even though I’ve read the book multiple times, those are just my personal thoughts! And I’d also like to mention that I see Enjolras as a heavily gay coded character (in a way that Victor Hugo would still be able to publish the book in 1860s, of course) (and Grantaire as a bi character but I have less sources for that than for Enjolras being gay).
So.. I believe that there was no secret relationship between Grantaire and Enjolras. As much as I think they’d be able to keep their relationship secret in the 19th century Paris, I don’t think anything in the book indicates that there could be something.
But! I do believe that there could have been something. We are only given a few chapters in which we see them interacting but even from the description of Grantaire Hugo is trying to tell us something? “Grantaire admired, loved and venerated Enjolras’’, “He had a need of Enjolras. That chaste, healthy, firm, upright, hard, candid nature charmed him, without his being clearly aware of it, and without the idea of explaining it to himself having occurded to him.’’. Then Hugo compares Grantaire and his relationship with Enjolras to, for example, Hephaestion (close friend and probably a lover of Alexander the Great), Patroclus (again.. close friend and probably a lover of Achilles from Homer’s Iliad), Pechmeja and Pylades (I spoke about them in THIS post which is very old and I’m gonna redo it one day because I haven’t mentioned of some things in it).
So yes, I think that both had some feelings for the other one, but due to the times they lived in, their own rather stubborn, sometimes clashing personalities and the lack of time, they never learnt about them and their relationship forever stayed in the ‘maybe’ phase.
And I think that Hugo knew what he was doing (for all those who think that I’m lying – Victor Hugo knew about gay people and he even mentioned the possibility of a man being attracted to another man in Les Miserables! It’s not like they made us all in 1980s.)
I’d be more than happy to discuss everything about enjoltaire and all chapters and comparisons but as you mentioned – you haven’t read the book and I don’t want to make you see some spoilers!
Historians: Enjolras loved Paris and France
Historians: Grantaire was a metaphor for Paris, France
Audience: …so did Enjolras love Grantaire?
Historians: um?? what the fuck is this ooc bullshit
Listen, I love sweet, awkward Enjolras who has trouble with pda as much as the next fan but please imagine if you will a really, really adorably physical Enjoltaire.
Imagine Enjolras and Grantaire being unable to keep their hands off each other for more than a second or two (“We’re making up for lost time~!” R insists, with his boyfriend cuddled up in his lap). It gets absolutely ridiculous; Enjolras sitting in Grantaire’s lap even though there are plenty of other chairs he could be sitting in (which has absolutely nothing to do with the way R’s hand rubbing his thigh and cupping his hips), intense after-argument makeout sessions that make everyone in the immediate vicinity feel slightly dirty, Enjolras draped across Grantaire’s lap with the artist running his fingers through his hair and ranting to Courf about something then completely loosing his train of thought because ‘Taire tugged on his hair in just the right way and goddamn that felt good. The Amis are all torn between thinking it’s adorable and begging them to just get a room.
One time poor Marius forgot one of his textbooks in the Musain and went back after a particularly argumentative meeting. He was still bright red when he got home and refused to talk about what he saw.
¯_( ಠ_ಠ)_/¯ 