Grantaire was never a great believer in anything. In fact, he took great care not to be one. He would be a cynic until the bitter end, for all it could be was bitter. Things changed, however, when Courfeyrac had introduced him to Enjolras in high school.
Enjolras was different; he was a believer- an idealist, even. And Grantaire was drawn to him like man towards the light of day.
If Enjolras was the sun, then Grantaire was the moon; forever orbiting him as his opposite.
Grantaire believed in nothing, but he believed in Enjolras. Seeing the look on his face after he'd cut his hair had shaken something within Grantaire. The look was something bordering self-doubt, and Enjolras didn't doubt things. That was Grantaire's job.
In highschool, before they'd met, Grantaire had taken to drinking, and occasionally getting high with Jehan. It was the only way he could deal with life, he thought. He wanted to feel something besides the gaping hole within himself.
Academically, he was poor, and his family knew it. His talent lay in art rather than the sciences. Whilst he was gifted, it was seen by his parents that there was no future for their son. In the end, after much arguing, they had decided to fund him going to an art school, but they were unwilling to ever speak with him again unless he, quote: "Got his act together."
If he had never met Courfeyrac and Jehan in school, Grantaire would have been alone. And if that were the case, there was no telling what he'd have done.
Before his parents kicked him out, he'd never actually gotten the chance to 'come out' to them. Grantaire could only imagine how well that would go down. Maybe they were just looking for an excuse to be rid of him and that bombshell would have been perfect. He probably should have told them sooner, it would have meant less church visits.
Sexually speaking, he was never exactly confused. If he wanted the D over the V then that was his business, and if people had a problem with that then tough. He really didn't give a shit. His friends didn't seem to care, and they were all pretty open about who they were.
Although, Enjolras was another story.
For a while, it seemed to have been assumed that he was straight by the amount of female attention he received. However, any girl who had ever tried to flirt with him was abruptly and mercilessly shot down. After that, people decided that he must swing the other way. Male attemps went just about as well as female. Soon enough people just gave up and decided that there must have been something seriously wrong with Enjolras.
Grantaire didn't give up though. He'd finally found something to believe in, and he wasn't ever going to give him up. He'd sooner start drinking non-alcoholic beer.
His drinking habits had always earned him a bad reception from Enjolras, a sober man. But he didn't mind as long as the aknowledgement was there.
Even if the looks Enjolras shot Grantaire were tinted with scorn, he didn't care as long as he was looking at him. Even if his words were biting, Grantaire didn't care as long as he was being spoken to. Even if Enjolras didn't sit with him, he was just happy to be near him.
Grantaire did dream though, that maybe one day those looks and words would be filled with something other than detestation. Love would always come to mind first, but that seemed too far away and fairytail. Putting faith in that ideal would only cause further pain in the long-run, and perhaps alcohol poisoning.
Then again, Enjolras did put up with him. He'd never even entertained any of the other who sought him out. If he truely hated Grantaire then he wouldn't bother to stand for any of his nonsense.
Maybe that had to count for something?
I know this is definitely shorter than my other chapters and I'm so sorry... But I never promised continuity! Please don't get angry with me... I already have one pissed off revolutionary to deal with.. apparently he liked his hair more than I thought.
So I kinda wanted to get a bit of character-ish and E/R stuff in and I wrote this and it ended up very R-centric... Hopefully this is alright?
Updates will probably take much longer than this one from now on 'cause I'll be going back to school next week. I'm only off right now because of study leave and I finished my exams weeks ago, thus I had way too much time on my hands. And y'know just as soon as I've said that I'm probably gonna end up updating really quickly because inspiration struck... It mostly depends on how quickly ideas come to me.
With regards to the question I asked last update... My personal favourites would Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, The Book of Mormon, Newsies, Next to Normal, and Blood Brothers! I could probably list more but let's keep it vaguely short and sweet.
This updates question: Red - The colour of desire, or the blood of angry men?
Thanks to those who read, review, follow, favourite, and generally make me want to be a better writer!
- Callie