#I really didn’t mean to make it sound like marius was in the vents

[ladydragonkiller]

New chapter up!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39452052/chapters/100100895#comments

[mysunfreckle]

More Enjoltaire cuddles

 & general Amis friendships, modern AU, ~1.3k

For @adorablecrab <3

Being with Enjolras was easier, Grantaire had found, than just being around him. And not just because he didn’t have the whole ‘unrequited feelings’ thing to deal with now. No, interacting with him was just a lot easier now he had the option to pull Enjolras into a hug instead of saying something. Everybody agreed about that actually. When they had gotten together, Courfeyrac had told Grantaire that he was now the designated source of cuddles for Enjolras. Grantaire hadn’t really paid attention to that because one, he had just gotten together with the man he’d been in love with for over a year, and two, he and Enjolras had talked about what a romantic relationship between the two of them would involve and Enjolras had been absolutely clear that cuddling would be very welcome.

By now, however, Grantaire has learned that being Enjolras’ “designated source of cuddles” is as much for the benefit of the rest of the group as it is for his and even Enjolras’ benefit…

“Grantaire!” Courfeyrac exclaims when he steps into the Musain. “You, Enjolras, couch, now.”

“Gee, Courf,” Grantaire says sarcastically. “Don’t I get a minute to take my coat off?”

“You’re not wearing a coat,” Courfeyrac points out. “Now get to holding my best friend.”

Grantaire promptly turns around and hugs Combeferre from behind where he’s sitting next to Feuilly. Courfeyrac makes an exasperated noise.

“Hi, R,” Combeferre smiles, patting his arm for a moment.

“Hi,” Grantaire grins. He lets go of Combeferre and looks around. In a corner Enjolras is sitting with Marius and Bossuet. He’s talking very rapidly and the other two look like they’ve stopped trying to cut in a while ago. Since it’s Marius and Bossuet he’s talking to and Bahorel is nowhere to be seen despite his very loud purple coat being draped over a nearby chair, Grantaire guesses this is a legal dispute. And clearly one that is making Enjolras unhappy. Actually unhappy. This happens sometimes, especially when Enjolras hasn’t had enough sleep, which is most of the time. At some point in talking about things he cares about he gets angry about them being the way that they are and if he doesn’t catch himself he’ll keep going until he goes straight through angry and into sad. Courfeyrac has several names to describe the dejected state Enjolras sinks into when he gets so upset he starts to feel sadness for the world instead of anger at the injustice in it, but everybody agrees that whatever it is called it should be avoided at all cost.

“Hey,” Grantaire says, strolling up to the couch.

“R!” Bossuet beams and he pushes himself up from the couch immediately. “Here, take my seat, not enough room to properly stretch my legs.” He pulls in a nearby chair for himself.

Grantaire sits down in between Enjolras and Marius and gives the former an affectionate nudge. Enjolras comes to sit against him in a silent return of affection, but does not cease his frantic explanation of the legal complication he is trying to convince an already convinced Bossuet and a slightly bewildered Marius of. But he’s not really arguing anymore, he’s venting.

Grantaire listens in silence, because even though being friends with Bossuet has taught him a fair bit of law, he hasn’t got a clue what Enjolras is going on about right now. In any case, he’s not going on about it anymore. Or at least not with the same speed and intensity as he was just now. Because strangely, even though Grantaire didn’t exactly do anything, Enjolras is slowing down. He leans against him more and more and when Grantaire puts his arm around his shoulders, Enjolras lets himself slide down on the couch a little so he can lean his head against Grantaire’s arm.

Bossuet and Marius watch the proceedings with optimistic caution.

“It’s just…it’s important,” Enjolras says, suddenly looking very tired.

They both nod in agreement. That is the safest response. Grantaire doesn’t say anything either, instead he pulls Enjolras a little tighter against him. The fact that he can communicate with Enjolras through physical shows of affection now instead of having to use words is probably the best thing that ever happened to him. Well, one of the best things.

There is a short, hesitant silence.

“I’m tired,” Enjolras sighs. The anger is gone, but so is the brimming sadness. He looks at Bossuet and Marius. “Sorry for ranting…thanks for listening.”

“Any time,” Bossuet grins.

“I wish I could have been more helpful,” Marius says earnestly.

Enjolras gives them a tired, but very appreciative smile and then glances up at Grantaire.

“Rough day?” he asks with a soft smile.

“Not really,” Enjolras says. “I mean, nothing specific happened, it just…I’m tired.” He lets his head slump against Grantaire’s shoulder and closes his eyes. No one says a word. The calm that settles over them is kind of like the uncertain quiet after a thunder storm that looked like it was going to come closer, but ended up passing by a couple miles off.

Courfeyrac comes over and glances at Enjolras, who is now hiding his face in Grantaire’s shirt and is very reminiscent of a sleeping child. “Oh thank goodness,” he says with a sigh. He pulls a face. “You know, I would be hurt that you’re so much better at this than I am, but to be fair you do look comfy to sleep on.”

“I’m not asleep,” Enjolras informs him, voice muffled against Grantaire.

“Shush,” Courfeyrac says affectionately.

Bahorel sticks his head around the corner of the door and glances around. “Is it safe?” he grimaces dramatically.

Bossuet grins and rolls his eyes. “Grantaire is here,” he says, by way of an answer.

“Oh good, I’ll take bullshit over law any day,” Bahorel says and he flops down on a chair.

“I’ve hardly said two words and I’m already being put down,” Grantaire complains.

“You mean you weren’t planning on talking bullshit?” Bahorel grins.

Grantaire looks him dead in the eye across the tussled mess of Enjolras curls. “Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur,” he quotes.

Bahorel’s face blanches and Enjolras lets out a muffled, but very appreciative sound that sounds suspiciously like a giggle.

“Enjolras what have you done,” Bahorel horrors.

“Hey,” Grantaire smirks. “Dirty talk isn’t his thing, gotta do something to impress him.”

Enjolras snorts and Bahorel still pretends to be horrified. Courfeyrac gives Marius, who actually laughed without turning into a beet for once, an approving smile.

“Well I’m impressed,” Bossuet says cheerfully. “You know any more?”

Grantaire makes a doubtful sound, but Enjolras replies (without opening his eyes): “He does. He has a good head for Latin.”

“A talent you’ve been able to hide so far,” Bossuet teases. Between his law and Joly’s medical stuff there’s a fair amount of Latin quoted in their household, but Grantaire usually responds with a few sentences of broken Portuguese and dramatic arm gestures.

Grantaire huffs. If he hadn’t been holding Enjolras he would have dramatically turned away from Bossuet, but he is holding Enjolras so he is not moving. No way.

Enjolras smiles and actually opens his eyes. “Do you remember the one about-”

Bahorel rises from his seat so abruptly his chair moves back with a screech. “Do you want me to leave?” he threatens. “Because I’ll leave. Feuilly! They’re threatening me with legalese!”

Feuilly is idly folding one of the pages of Combeferre’s notebook into a lotus while listening to one of his audiobooks. “Be nice to Bahorel,” he hums. “He passed another test today.”

There’s a round of laughter and Grantaire delights in the feelings of Enjolras’ body shaking against his. He takes the opportunity to relax a little further into his position on the couch and while Bahorel complains loudly about being mocked for his tragic existence, Grantaire buries his face in Enjolras’ hair for a moment. He hums something that has no words, but a very distinctive rhythm. Enjolras hums back. They know what they mean.

[deladane]

Day 11: Sunday, March 11 ~ Sea Day #3

Day 11: Sunday, March 11 ~ Sea Day #3

Today was a much-needed sea day sandwiched between 2 sets of 4 port days in a row.  Even though we did not set an alarm this morning, we still woke up at 8:15am.  At least we got over 8 hours of sleep!  We took our time getting ready, then went to the Oceanview Buffet for breakfast.  It was nice to add some variety after eating basically the same thing for breakfast for the last 5 days (how ironic considering I eat the exact same thing for breakfast every morning at home! Haha)

We spent 2 hours relaxing on our balcony, watching the waves go by, with me writing in my trip journal while DH read a book. Since our cabin is on the starboard side of the ship, we were facing north for today’s journey west.  We had shade all day on our balcony, which was great! There was nothing else to see but water because there aren’t any islands in this part of the Caribbean Sea, but maybe people on the port side balconies could see Venezuela?

At noon, DH wanted to get some coffee from Café al Bacio, so I joined him for a walk downstairs.  While there, I noticed they were playing archery in the Grand Foyer.  It was really a neat set up- they had an inflatable target area and 4 cone-shaped nozzles blowing air straight up so there was a ball hovering mid-air.  The contestants had to knock the ball down, either by hitting the ball directly with their arrow, or by hitting the cone so the air stream was blocked and the ball would fall.  It was fun to watch, and the players were actually pretty good at it!

Eddy was hosting a game of music trivia name that tune at the pool, so we went upstairs to give it a go.  Today’s theme was “Names” so every song title had a name in it and we had to guess both the song title and the artist.  They played 15 songs for a total of 30 points.  We only got an 18 out of 30, so we didn’t stand a chance because the winner scored a perfect 30!  I did think it was fun that they picked songs from the 50’s through the 90’s to appeal to a wider audience, but that also means we are less likely to win because we don’t know most of the older songs.

It had been several hours since our last feeding, so we went upstairs to get something to eat for lunch from the buffet.  The theme of the day was Mediterranean food, and they had a specialty station with made to order schwarma.  I wasn’t in the mood for that, so I opted for a random assortment of carbs (as usual!).  The dumplings from the Asian station were delicious!

For dessert, I went over to the Slush Bar and ordered the Mint Cookie drink.  This is by far my favorite drink from this bar, but it is very filling so I only let myself have it one time on this cruise.  It’s totally worth it though!

Watching the wake on a lazy sea day

We spent some more time relaxing on the balcony until 2:45pm when we made our way up to the Sky Lounge for another round of music trivia with the CLA staff.  Today’s theme was songs from movies, and we had to guess the title of the movie, not the actual song name.  They had 20 songs for this game, and some of them were much harder than others!  We teamed up with a pair of ladies which did help because we knew the answers to different movies from them, but we still only scored 14 out of 20.  I think the winners scored a 17 or 18, so again, we didn’t win, but that’s okay because we made some new friends and we had fun trying!  

Next, we went down to the World Class Bar for the mixology class.  DH had a great experience with this class on the Equinox, so he wanted to do it again as long as the bartender was teaching about different drinks.  The class was taught by one of the World Class Bar bartenders named Marius, and we ended up having a private lesson because we were the only people that showed up!

The class was very different from 2 years ago because instead of DH going behind the bar to actually make the drinks, Marius just talked about the process of how to make each drink, and why they use certain shakers or strainers or whatever other supplies.  Last time, we learned about 3 categories of cocktails (a Collins, a Swizzle, and a mojito), whereas this time, Marius taught us how to make 4 specific drinks from the World Class Bar menu.  Last time, the class cost $35, but it was only $25 this time (plus a mandatory 18% gratuity).  We learned a few new pointers and it did give us an appreciation for the art behind making cocktails, but we weren’t sure how useful it was since it’s not like we will ever make these specific cocktails at home.  The drinks he taught us were the Kentucky Calling, Celebrity No. Ten, Ketel One Strawberry Fields, and Zacapa Above the Clouds.  For the last one, Marius pulled out the fancy smoker machine, which is always fun to watch.

The class was about an hour long, and then we went back to the cabin to get ready for our second Elegant Chic night.

Random side thought that I am going to talk about now because this was when I took this photo… Sometimes it can be a bit disorienting when you get off the mid-ship elevators on your deck to go back to your cabin.  If you didn’t pay attention when you got on the elevator, then you may not know if you are on the port or starboard side of the ship, and then you don’t know if you need to turn left or right out of the elevator and where you need to go to get back to your cabin.  Today I had an epiphany!  There are different pieces of art hanging on the walls opposite the elevators, and it is different on every deck as well as on the port vs. starboard side.  If you take note of which piece of art is on your side of the ship on your deck, then you will know that you are on the correct side if you see that piece of art when stepping off the elevator (and if you do not see that piece of art, then you are on the opposite side of the ship!). This slice of a tree trunk was the art on deck 10, starboard side:

If we stepped off the elevator on deck 10 and saw this, we knew we were on our side of the ship.  On top of that, if we saw this tree trunk, we knew we had to turn towards the left to walk in the direction of our cabin.  If we got off the elevator and did not see the tree trunk, that meant we were on the port side and needed to turn towards the right and cut through the library to get back to our cabin.  It sounds silly, but it really made a huge difference in feeling like we were “home” and knowing our way around the ship!  Thank you Celebrity for posting so many different pieces of art to make this solution possible!

It became a game for us to seek out spots around the ship that gave a nice background for a photo when we were all dressed up for the evening.  Elegant Chic nights are even harder than casual nights because there are more ship photographers to contend with, but we got creative tonight and took some photos in the library.

When we arrived at the hostess stand for dinner, Cervine greeted us by name and knew our cabin number and preferred table number without us even speaking a word!  I think this is one of the (many) benefits of a 14 night cruise.  We spend such a long time on the ship that the staff really gets a chance to know us, whereas on a 7 night cruise, the cruise is over before you get a chance to form a routine and know the staff.  Dinner was delicious as always, especially since we were seated with our favorite waiters, Pinto and Jose!

Dinner menu

Wild Mushroom Vol-Au-Vent

Traditional Steak Tartare

Classic Chateaubriand

Moroccan Spiced Ahi Tuna Steak

Dessert Menu

Dessert Drinks Menu

Tonight, we decided to try some dessert wines, and we both liked them so much that we asked the sommelier to bring us the bottles so we could take a photo in hopes of buying a bottle to drink at home!

Frosty Ice “Bombe”

Tonight’s show in the main theater was called Amade. There was no real plot to this show, but the best way to describe it is a combination of Lady Gaga and Mozart. The costumes were incredible, and we really enjoyed the dance numbers to modern music.  Personally, the highlight for me is always when the aerialists perform because they are extremely talented, especially considering they perform on a moving cruise ship!

I apologize that these photos are so blurry. We always preferred to sit at the back of the theater so we could make a quick escape as soon as the show ended, but that meant I had to zoom in a lot to take my photos and they always came out blurry.

After a full third sea day, we went to bed early tonight, excited to finally arrive at the ABC islands tomorrow!

Step Tracker Daily Total:  6,003 steps; 2.38 miles; 7 flights of stairs