I’m tired of people being like “Enjolras sucks at giving hugs” stop saying that. Enjolras is the greatest at giving hugs. They’re rare. Sometimes he forgets people just need a good hug, he’s so wrapped up in his cause that he just forgets how nice hugs are. But then someone’s sad, like Feuilly, or Jehan, or Grantaire. Or maybe Gavroche did really well on a test and he’s so excited because he studied really hard with Courfeyrac! So they hug him, and he’s a little surprised like “Oh!” But then he wraps his arms around them nice and tight, bunching their shirt in his fist, pulling them closer and he nuzzles his face in their shoulder and he whispers about how much he cares. He tells them how much they mean to him and his cause (because really they’re one and the same, at least in his mind) and he kisses their cheek, and strokes the hairs at the nape of their neck so intimate and so very fond, to the point where they break apart and he goes on his merry way and there’s a longing in the other person’s chest for another hug from the chief.

No, but think about it - Grantaire’s first name is Paul-Émile. He doesn’t normally use it among the amis, but when he first meets Enjolras, he obviously introduces himself.

Except his timing is pretty awful - it’s in the middle of the noisy café, Enjolras is getting talked to - at - from every side, so he mishears it as Paul-Aimé. He repeats it back to Grantaire and Grantaire, through the noise and young Enjolras’ still strong accent, also hears it distorted.

It sounds like Pas-l’aimé or Pas-l’aimer - which means Not-the loved/Not-love him

(Grantaire doesn’t get the chance to correct him until a good month later, but by then he already feels like their relationship is set.)

less of “disconnected unloving enjolras” and more of “enjolras who throws himself fully into everything that he loves— including everyone who he loves”