Enjolras had shyly approached Courfeyrac earlier that week, his cheeks flushed and his voice sightly higher pitched than usual. Courfeyrac had raised an eyebrow at the odd request, biting his lower lip in what Enjolras knew to be an attempt to contain his laughter. He pretended not to notice, but felt the blood pound through his ears, glad his curls were long enough to hide their brilliant color. But in the end Courfeyrac had agreed to teach Enjolras how to lap dance.
The next step was getting Grantaire to agree to being the test subject. Enjolras remembered the disaster that had been the last time he had tried to give Grantaire a lap dance. He had been trying to show Grantaire how he didn't see him as a friend, that he wanted more from their relationship. But Grantaire had started stammering before quickly sitting Enjolras down and telling him that while he appreciated Enjolras' right to behave as he wanted, he didn't think he should be on the receiving end of a lap dance from Enjolras. Enjolras knew a rejection when he heard one. So Enjolras let time slip by, passing up opportunities to approach Grantaire about the lap dance lessons until he found Grantaire knocking on his door, with Courfeyrac gazing at him disapprovingly.
"What do you mean, you didn't tell him what we would be doing?" Courfeyrac hissed. "You know Grantaire hates surprises."
Enjolras did seem to know that, if the last lap dance was any sort of indication. He held Courfeyrac's gaze, refusing to admit that he knew he had messed up big-time. Grantaire's knocking became more insistent. Enjolras moved towards the door. "I'll handle this, don't worry."
Enjolras swung open the door to find an exasperated looking Grantaire, hair windswept, cheeks and nose tinged pink in stark contrast to the dark stubble that covered the lower half of his face. Enjolras swallowed painfully. "What the hell Enjolras? You send me a cryptic message telling me to come over and then you make me wait in the cold for five minutes?" Grantaire pushed past Enjolras and started unwinding the scarf from his neck and Enjolras followed the torturous path of the scarf as it uncovered more and more of Grantaire's throat. Grantaire caught him at it and narrowed his eyes in concern. "Are you alright Enjolras? You seem really out of it."
Enjolras shut the door and stepped closer to Grantaire, stopping his actions by covering his cold hands with his own ones. Grantaire's eyebrows shot up behind his curls and his mouth opened slightly in confusion. "I have something to tell you," Enjolras said.
"Well what is it? You're acting shifty. It's not a dead body, is it?" Grantaire was scanning his face with his green eyes, his scarf forgotten in between his hands and halfway unwound around his neck. Enjolras started unwinding the rest of it, ignoring Grantaire's increasingly bewildered expression.
"Well, I kind of needed someone to practice lap dancing on. I know you didn't really like it last time, so I asked Courfeyrac to teach me but I needed someone to do it on and so I thought of you and I know I should have asked you, especially since you hated it last time, but I couldn't do it with anyone else-" Enjolras broke off as a flash of anger crossed Grantaire's face.
"What do you mean I hated it? I really liked it. But if I had let you keep going I was going to grab you or do something stupid, so I thought it best if you did your lap dances somewhere else because as you know I have self-control issues, the alcohol and the cigarettes are proof of that, and I can't mess things up with you Enjolras." Grantaire was breathing heavily at the outburst, and he was avoiding Enjolras' increasingly hopeful gaze, staring at their hands which had somehow become intertwined.
"Grantaire, I wanted you to touch me. I want to do couple things with you, like holding hands and spending time together and watch movies and cuddle under blankets and the sex stuff too, but I don't know how to tell you that, and I tried with the lap dance thing and I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, but I can't do casual sex Grantaire."
"Fuck, no, Enjolras. Don't you know by now? I love you. I've been in love with you since the first meeting I attended. I wouldn't just take advantage of you for casual sex, for my sake as well as your own. I thought you knew."
Enjolras blinked. Grantaire loved him? A rush of relief blew threw him and he felt the giddiness force itself up his throat, a giggle escaping his mouth. Grantaire quirked his lips up at that, and soon Enjolras was enveloped in Grantaire's arms and Enjolras was laughing into Grantaire's collarbone, surrounded by Grantaire's scent. Somehow as Enjolras' chuckles pattered out, their lips found each other in a sweet kiss of relief.
"Go out with me?" Grantaire asked quietly, their foreheads resting against each other, noses bumping. Enjolras grinned in response, pecking him on the lips again.
"Well this has been lovely," Courfeyrac's voice interjected from behind them. Grantaire and Enjolras jumped, pulling apart hastily to find him leaning against the doorway to the kitchen and an immensely satisfied expression on his face, before he started moving towards the door. "I'm assuming my skills will not be needed then?"
"Wait no, I still need to learn how to lap dance!" Enjolras protested.
"Oh, don't you worry about that Enjolras, Grantaire is the best lap dancer I know." Courfeyrac winked and was gone, door clicking shut to a deathly silence.
"You can lap dance?" Enjolras asked, looking at Grantaire incredulously. Grantaire shrugged, his eyes downcast. He looked up in surprise as Enjolras caught hold of his wrist and pulled him back to his chest. "Here's what I suggest," Enjolras said innocently. "I pop in a movie and we can cuddle for a bit before you show me exactly how good of a lap dancer you are."
Grantaire laughed, his eyes eagerly running over Enjolras before flopping on to the couch. "Let's get started then. The sooner, the better." Enjolras could not agree more.