The next evening, surrounded by members of your beloved community - your family - you began the initiation ceremony to join Les Amis de L'ABC.
Enjolras brought enough candles for each member in your community who was close to you, even the younger ones, to participate. Bahorel, Combeferre, Bossuet, Courfeyrac, Joly, Jean Prouvaire, and Feuilly (who you hadn't seen since the unpleasant first meeting at the Musain) joined you to help celebrate. Feuilly was eager to see you again, and his eyes were kind, as he spoke of how he wished to talk about working-class populations and workers' rights with you.
You beamed. They had all changed...for the better. Sure, they had a long way to go, but this was certainly progress.
Grantaire was still nowhere in sight. "He was released from the hospital this afternoon, but right after this, I am going to check on him," Joly told you. "They wanted a nurse doing home care, so I volunteered to lower his hospital bills, but he was already looking remarkably better."
"He looked better when I saw him, also," you commented. "I look forward to the day I can forgive him."
"You are gracious. Even so, don't get your hopes up that you will see him tonight," said Joly, and you bowed your head.
"Ready?" asked Combeferre, touching your shoulder.
"I wanted to wait for Grantaire..." you mumbled.
"Enjolras has said it is time for you to step in the middle of the circle now," Combeferre replied gently, and you numbly obeyed.
Your community friends and Les Amis de L'ABC had formed a circle, as was tradition for all initiations, and they held their lit candles in front of them. As you moved to stand in the center of the circle, candles twinkling in a sea around you, it was hard to even see people's faces. Beyond the light, you saw only silhouettes and shadows. Their murmuring voices lulled to a quiet which you hadn't thought possible to come from your community.
A clear voice rang out from the darkness:
"Will you, (Y/N), fully accept all risks associated with our society and promise to uphold all ideals that Les Amis de L'ABC promotes to your fullest capability?"
"I will," you responded to Enjolras's disembodied voice.
"Do you swear secrecy to the cause, and complete dedication, regardless of how future outcomes may appear?"
"I do."
A figure stepped forward, and you immediately recognized Enjolras from the slender silhouette. He had passed his own candle to Combeferre, and now carried in his hands a sash the color of the French flag and a rosette, both of which he presented to you. Goosebumps covered your whole body as he knelt before you and gently wrapped the sash around your waist, tying it in a tight knot.
It was so quiet you could hear Courfeyrac whisper, "I thought we all tied the sashes ourselves at initiation," and at this knowledge, you didn't think your heart could beat any faster.
Enjolras stood, leaning forward to pin the rosette to your clothing. You noticed sweat on Enjolras's brow and realized that this was just as big a deal for Enjolras as it was for you. It was then you had a flashback.
He reached for something and you walked over to see what it was. He was blowing the dust off of the object, saw you looking, and quickly covered it. "You mustn't see it yet. The others will be upset if I do not present it to you in front of them."
"If it's that special, I can pretend like I never saw it..."
He slipped whatever it was into his pocket. "Not yet. Patience."
"Was this what you hid from me on the third floor of the Musain?" you whispered, as he finished pinning it to your outfit. He smirked, silently retreating back into the darkness. He returned almost immediately with an unlit candle, which he handed to you, then took his own lit candle. It was time to finish the initiation.
"WAIT!" cried a voice that was certainly not Enjolras, and Grantaire stumbled into the center of the circle on his knees. "Forgive me, (Y/N), my only true friend...I have made it."
Enjolras's eyes flickered to the figure kneeling at your feet. "Grantaire...are you quite well?"
"I know exactly what I am doing here, and I would not miss it for the world. Apologies to come following the ceremony, I am a horrible scar on the-"
"Grantaire, hush!" exclaimed Enjolras, growing frustrated as the serious ceremony was now interrupted. "Grab a candle from Combeferre and gather quietly in the circle if you are to stay here."
Grantaire stumbled to his feet, looked to you and said, "My initiation was the best day of my life. Remember it, (Y/N), always." And pressing a whiskery kiss to the back of Enjolras's palm, he disappeared into the sea of candles and sillhouettes. You noticed the candlelight brighten almost immediately, and you heard his voice shouting "READY!" You smiled, and Enjolras turned back to you to continue the initiation.
"By lighting your flame, you are igniting the flame of rebellion in your heart and swear to uphold all morals and values of Les Amis de L'ABC for the rest of your days," he spoke. Then, softer - "Whenever you are ready, you may proceed."
Your eyes never left his as you hesitated, feeling the weight of this moment...the first female in Les Amis de L'ABC. "Go on," he said, so quietly his lips barely moved. "I trust you, (Y/N)."
Your eyes never left his as you lit the wick. It might have been just a trick of the light, but Enjolras's eyes looked as watery as your own.
The candle must have lit, because the entire circle erupted with whoops, the loudest coming from Grantaire and Combeferre, your two best friends. You were filled with emotion, as Enjolras proclaimed, "You are now officially a member of Les Amis de L'ABC. Welcome to the revolution."
More cheers, eruptions of sound...
The world was reeling...
The blurred candlelight made it seem as if a halo surround Enjolras as he leaned his head closer, bowing his head slightly with his eyes closed as he gently pressed his forehead to yours.
Your heart leapt in your chest at this public display of affection, which you knew was a giant step forward for Enjolras to show his feelings for you in this way.
You heard Bossuet telling Grantaire "I swear, he's never tied anyone's sash himself before, it was AMAZING," and you heard Feuilly and the others introducing themselves to members of your community. You let all these outside noises exit your consciousness as you felt Enjolras's marble forehead pressed against yours, his eyes still closed.
Gently closing your own eyes, you wrapped your arms around him in a gentle hug - your own first public display of affection toward Enjolras. "Thank you, Enjolras. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
His response was to wrap his arms around yours, and as you hugged you felt his heart beating rather rapidly, sending your own heartbeat into overdrive as you-
"GET A ROOM!" bellowed Courfeyrac, and several of the Amis guffawed. As your eyes shot open, Enjolras had already broken the hug and was striding over to Courfeyrac, shouting, as 'Ferre looked to you, beaming with pride.
The moment was over.
But based upon the look on 'Ferre's face, it would certainly not be the last.
A/N: So in this COVID-friendly version of Brigadoon I saw, their "kiss" was foreheads pressing together and it was so sweet it made me tear up; take that for what it's worth.
Grantaire has been inducted into Les Amis previously, in the same way - and you'll understand why he calls it the best day of his life if you read Chapter 19 of my ongoing fic "Daylight!" I will say I cheated a bit.
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ENJOLRAS X READER ONE-SHOTS/For Thee & Only Thee
Fanfiction"Yet here and now, you felt that you, too, had a marble heart which he had cracked with a single blow. And maybe, just maybe, you were cracking his as well." HAPPY one-shots/imagines/fanfics with your favorite barricade boy :) Meant to make you smil...
