A/N: Les Miserables? Not mine. Longer author's note at the end. Reviews... Please?

Chapter 3

"Smile, Antoine," Madame Enjolras whispers to her straight-faced son. "You will scare off the guests." His mother has been introducing guest, mostly young women his age, to Antoine Enjolras ever since he stepped foot in the huge ballroom. He must admit that his father could throw a grand party with impressive entertainment and tight security; he also suspected the bright lights and frivolous decoration were his mother's doing.

Antoine plasters a forced grin on his face. Madame Enjolras resists the urge to roll her eyes in front of a guest. Instead, she leads the guest towards the extravagant buffet table, her long teal dress billowing behind her.

"And that won't scare the guests more," Charles Combeferre comments dryly next to Antoine. Antoine shoots him a glare that could maim. "Would it kill you to smile, my friend?"

"Yes," Anotine relaxes his facial muscles, dropping the joyful mask and resumes his aloofness. "In fact, it would kill me to smile at these self-righteous, vain, narrow-minded-"

"Antoine!" Both men turn to a young man dodging a sea of people to reach them, his dark hair was tousled, which was unusual in this event. "Charles!"

"Courfeyrac!" Charles clasps his hand on Bernard Coufeyrac's back when he arrives. Bernard Courfeyrac dislikes his first name; he deems it unattractive to women. "I mean seriously! It's a name for an old man! No offense other guys named Bernard but what woman would be seduced by: Hey there pretty lady, name's Bernard, what's yours?" Since then, he preferred to be called by his last name.

Courfeyrac spots the sulking Antoine giving the crowd the evil eye. Playfully, he nudges the marble statue to grab his attention. "I see you're still the life of the party as always, 'Twan! Who are we trying to kill with our glare this evening?" Feeling extra mischievous, he loops his arm around Antoine. Normally, Antoine is never amused by people casually invading his personal space, but when the circumstances that are not to his liking combine with his dear friends' cheeky jokes, he becomes more bitter.

"Don't call me Twan," Antoine shakes off Courfeyrac's arm but that does not dampen Courfeyrac's high spirits.

Thus, their discussion regarding Antoine's new nickname is officially in order. "I think Twan is better than Anty or Annie. Twany isn't that bad either." Courfeyrac thinks out loud.

"What about from Enjolras?" suggests Charles.

"Yes... Not much names we can get from Antoine. Antoine sounds so... royal and classy... like a name of a king or prince."

"I like Enjy!" Charles quips with a grin; his smile reaches his dark eyes behind his glasses.

"Prince Enjy... It suits him so well!" Courfeyrac gives him a thumb-up. "Coufeyrac approves!"

"Then it is settled! You shall now be called Enjy! H-Hey! Don't ditch us, your highness!" Antoine already has his back turned as he heads towards the table at the corner. Even in his annoyance, he gracefully sits on the chair and crosses his arms. Charles and Courfeyrac follow him and occupy the chairs nearby.

"Maybe you should relax," Charles worriedly suggests to Antoine. "Even if you won't dance, have a drink, chat with people and meet someone new without wanting to roll your eyes."

Courfeyrac helpfully joins in. "Meet a girl, take her dancing, take her outside, taker her to a whole new world, take her to your bed-"

Antoine throws daggers at him with his eyes. As a result, Courfeyrac shuts his mouth instantly; thankfully, he knows when he's going a bit too far with his fun. Charles says, "He has a point though…" His innocent brown eyes widen when he reevaluates his words. "No! Not about taking her t-to your… a w-whole new world! B-but meeting a girl! It won't do you any harm in meeting a girl. You don't even have to make her your girlfriend or whatever."

"Not that you'll have any problem with that. You're definitely not like most guys." When he catches sight of Antoine's not amused face, he continues on anyway. "I'll make you a deal, my friend. If you talk to one girl tonight, whether she likes you or not, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the party after you dance with her. You have to make an effort to be nice… and smile. Anything to get you a social life, Enjy."

Antoine's ears perked up slightly. A night of peace was rare for him. If he talks to one girl now, Courfeyrac lets him be then he could silently escape this wretched party and go back to his books when the clock strikes midnight. He nods, "I'll do it." What can possibly go wrong?

"Ouch," Courfeyrac dramatically places a hand above his heart. "You really don't like me talking to you."

For the first time that evening, Antoine smiles genuinely. "Just not about parties and women, my friend." His eyes search for a decent woman to converse with; someone he doesn't know, someone who doesn't look condescending and someone who probably doesn't wear too strong perfume.

"Shit," Eponine slightly loses her balance and patience with these black heels. Sure, they are only three inches but Eponine almost never wears high heels with a tight-fitting dress. In her papa's schemes before, she watched out for cops or pickpocket from pedestrians, not walk around seducing men with a sultry smile and excessive swaying of hips! Although looking back, her papa did try to get her to do that but it ended with her practically skinning a drunkard's face with her nails and a trip to the police station. Her papa must have thought it was not worth the trouble.

Stumbling from the elevator, she steadies herself by placing a hand on a bare wall. Looking up, her brown eyes widen in awe and her jaw falls to the ground. "Wealthy bastard," she whispers to herself. "Elegant wealthy bastard with expensive glass decorations and loads of food," Her first whim is to dash to the buffet table and wolf down all of the appetizing delicacies but her gut told her to wait until she can swipe at least a necklace before stuffing herself. Her fingers reach for the only piece of jewelry she owns, a silver necklace with a red stone pendant in the shape of a raindrop, for good luck. Feeling more motivated, lifts her chin higher then dives into the sea of people.

The intricate arts of thievery and deceit take time and effort to master. Eponine, growing up with parents such as hers, is no stranger to the ways of a con man. With her swift fingers, charismatic small talk and years worth of practice, manipulation became a second nature to the young Thenardier.

"Great party this is," Marius Pontmercy nods to his friends. "Too bad Antoine doesn't seem to like parties much."

Jean Prouvaire's crystal blue eyes twinkle when he gets all poetic and romantic. "The vivid lights may brighten the room but the beautiful faces brighten my heart."

Benjamin Bahorel exposes his white teeth in a wide smile. "Too bad you don't brighten theirs, Jean."

"Courfeyrac seemed to be enjoying himself. How many times have I seen him chatting to different women in the past hour?" Francoise Feuilly uncomfortably rubs the back of his neck; he was unaccustomed to these sorts of social gatherings and prefers to decorate fans or read books. "Joseph has been examining the buffet table for almost an hour to check if the food is safe to consume." He casts a worried look at Joseph Joly asking Bossuet if the chicken smells funny. Bossuet smiles wearily and shakes his head but Joseph continues to fuss about it anyway.

"At least this time he did not ask for all the guests' past medical records." Benjamin smirks then takes a sip from his glass. "It's a good thing too that he already completed his shots."

"Got us all vaccinated too," Marius sighs, rubbing his left arm thoughtfully; he was never fond of needles.

"Aha," a sly smile replaces the worried frown upon Eponine's face. "Tricky little watch we've got here, it took me long to get you but I got you!" A golden watch, worth more than everything she owns put together, glistens under the bright lights of the party.

"Hey guys," Marius asks his friends in a horrified tone. "Have you seen my watch? It was my grandfather's; he'll have my head if I lose it!" Turning around like a lost puppy, he spots Eponine a few steps away holding his watch in her slender hands. "That's mine, Mademoiselle."

Muttering a curse under her breath, the thief feigns innocence, her round brown eyes turn into saucers and she gives him back his watch. "Oh, I apologize, Monsieur! I found this thing on the floor. I was about to look for its owner… but it seems that its owner has found me." Distraction, she reminds herself, she needs to distract him from figuring it out. Shoulders back and chin up, she offers him her hand, which was adorned with various bracelets and rings that were not there when she arrived, for a handshake. "Eponine… Jondrette."

Instead of shaking her hand, he carefully takes her hand in his own larger one and presses his thin lips against the back of her hand. "Marius Pontmenrcy, pleasure to meet you, Eponine."

One touch of his lips is all it takes to capture Eponine's cold heart. Her whole body seems to be glowing with embarrassment and flattery. Her stomach churns, her head spins, her pulse beats like a drum and her breathing shallow; is this what they call love? Is this the same feeling fools blabber about in their drunken state? Surely, the heart knows what it is doing! People do say to follow one's heart for it will lead you to the right path.

"The pleasure is all mine… Marius."

A/N: Before you judge me with my names for the Les Amis, can I confess that I've not done reading Les Miserables? I'm only at Valjean's trial b-but I swear I've done my research! So to make it easier for me, the first letter of their first name is the same as the first letter of their last name! Does that sentence make sense? Idk. Combeferre seems like such a Charles, to me anyway. I really like the name Courfeyrac so he's still Courfeyrac. If I'm not mistaken Bossuet is Lesgle's nickname... And I tried to be funny, I really did! But I'm not sure since my mom tells me I have a "weird sense of humor".

Antoine sounds like a princely name to me... Maybe it's because I'm so used to common names like John, Mark... or Bob. I also learned that Antoine was pronounced AN-twahn! I wasn't so sure before. Ehehehe, Twany. This is what I get from writing all day.

Review? So I don't feel like I'm babbling and talking to myself...