Hello again, lovelies! My wifi is up, and so you can expect a steady stream of chapters at least until my school starts on the 26th. But anyway, HAPPY CHAPTER 20! This is an extra super cute one!

Also, for the question for the chapter, since I forgot to post it last chapter, the favorite slash paring (your guys's vote) is Couf/Jehan! Woohoo! Anyway, chapter time, and LET'S GET 4 MORE REVIEWS TO BREAK A HUNDRED! WOOHOO! :D

"It's really high up here," noticed Grantaire, leaning over the railing that kept patrons away from the glass that made up the building. "No," replied Courfeyrac sarcastically. "We're on the top of the Empire State Building, why wouldn't it be?" asked Eponine. Grantaire just shrugged.

It was 10:30 in the morning in New York City. All the Amis were sightseeing before they went and saw Les Miserables on Broadway that evening. At the moment, they were on the top floor of the Empire State Building. Eponine looked over. Jehan looked sort of green and kept glancing at the elevator. Bossuet was lying in the middle of the glass observatory deck and staring through the floor, Bahorel beside him. Courfeyrac and Grantaire were to either side of her, both leaning on the railing and staring through the glass. Enjolras was near the end of the observation deck, conversing with Combeferre about something. He seemed into the topic, as his eyebrows were creased in concentration and his eyes burned with passion that Eponine could see from 20 feet away.

"Alright everybody, we're going down!" Enjolras's voice broke through the clamor. Jehan was practically hanging on his arm, an expression of thanks on his face. The rest of the Amis, the ones who didn't have a fear of heights, sighed and trudged towards the elevators.

It took forever to go down, Eponine noticed. People kept getting on and off the elevator, at nearly every floor! Just when she was beginning to think that they were never going to reach the bottom, the doors opened to reveal the lobby. They all spilled off the elevators and emptied on to the street, where their rental cars were waiting.

"Where to next, Greg?" asked Grantaire. Enjolras turned toward him. "I don't know, Jimmy. Where do you want to go?"he asked, through clenched teeth.

Grantaire had such a look of shock on his face that Eponine almost burst out laughing, yet she sobered when she saw the apparent seriousness of the situation. Enjolras had a look of pure annoyance burning within the depths of his blue eyes and his fists were clenched. Grantaire looked surprised for a moment more, and then that same annoyance became visible on his face.

"Stop calling me Jimmy," he said quietly, and yet you could hear the power. All the Amis had stopped and were staring at the verbal fight, all silent. "Only when you stop calling me Greg," replied Enjolras, voice cool but angry.

They stared at each other for a moment more, each challenging the other, until Grantaire looked down. "Fine. Where to, Enj?"

"F.A.O Shwarz." replied Enjolras. All of the anger and tenseness immidiatly vanished from Grantaire's face. "The big toy store?" he asked gleefully. "Yep!" replied Enjolras. "Ooh! They have the floor pianos there!" exclaimed Courfeyrac.

And so the mood was high on the journey through town.

About a half-an-hour later, they arrived at the toy store. All the Amis ran inside joyously, excited to be kids again. "Look! The floor piano!" said Jehan. Grantaire and Courfeyrac immidiatly ran up to it. They stood on opposite ends of the piano and nodded to each other.

Then, Grantaire started to hop between the piano keys, starting the beat to what Eponine recognized to be "Heart and Soul." Then, Courfeyrac began to play the melody, gracefully jumping from key to key and not missing a beat. Jehan began to sing the words, and they had gathered quite a large crowd by the time the two had finished. Grantaire and Courfeyrac took a bow, and stepped off the piano as some people clapped.

"Where should we go next?" asked Bahorel. But Eponine already knew. She had seen a place from across the room: the life-sized ride-on stuffed animals section. She told the others so, and they ran across the room to the plush animals. "Who's riding what?" asked Bossuet. "I call the elephant!" shouted Grantaire, already climbing on the huge plush creature. "I got the giant hedgehog!" exclaimed Feuilly. "I want the giraffe!" said Jehan. "I call the dragon!" shouted Eponine.

For indeed it was. A huge green plush dragon, with four legs, two giant wings, and large horns atop its head. It had to be at least five feet tall and five feet long, and Eponine struggled to clamber on. A hand suddenly reached down to pull her up and she looked up to see Enjolras, already atop the dragon, extending a hand to her. She took his hand, and he pulled her up to sit in front of him.

She noticed Grantaire looking at her with a strange expression visible on his face. Was it… jealousy? She couldn't tell.

But she put those thoughts out of her mind as they gallivanted through the humongous toy store. They built a really long wooden train track for all the tiny wooden trains to go on, they played a few games of Settlers of Catan and went head to head on Mario Kart. They tried on sparkly pink and purple tutus (yes, even the guys) had puppet shows and karaoke contests, built a huge LEGO village and even played with Barbies for a while. (They used all the Barbie houses and each had a character with a wardrobe and a pet.)

When Enjolras finally checked the clock, he was shocked to see that it read 5:25. "We have to go, guys. The show starts at 7:00 and it's 5:30."

All of the Amis let out a collective groan. "We haven't even seen the third floor yet!" said Jehan. That made Grantaire laugh. "Let's go see Broadway. Some of those girls in the Barbie section were looking at us pretty weird."

This made everyone laugh. "Wait!" said Jehan! "I've got to go buy a tutu!" And so he ran to the right section, everyone trailing behind.

He picked a pink sparkly tutu, and looked positively gleeful as he checked out and bought it. "Alright everybody," he said, raising a fist in the air. "To Broadway!" shouted Courfeyrac, taking the lead as all the Amis ran out of F.A.O Shwarz and down the street.

…..

6:47. That's what Enjolras's phone said when he checked it. He looked around. All the Amis were, (for once) waiting patiently in their seats for the show to begin.

They had all dressed their best, most of the guys in suits, Grantaire in a dress shirt and slacks, Eponine in a dress, and Jehan in his nicest sweater. (Luckily Courfeyrac had talked him out of wearing the tutu.) He turned toward Eponine, next to him. She was in a formal black dress and a short blue jacket.

He had never remembered her willingly wearing a dress before, and he had to admit, she looked pretty. Even though he didn't like women, she was a fairly good-looking one, once her hair was washed and she was in fresh clothes, which was, he realized with a start, was because of him.

But, before he could get much farther in his thoughts, the lights dimmed and the curtain began its ascent. The show was beginning.

He was familiar with the story of Les Miserables, so he knew it was sad. And even so, he could feel his eyes growing a bit misty in some spots. When Fantine was singing
"I Dreamed a Dream," he could hear soft sniffling from beside him. His gaze slid over to Eponine. She was sniffling quietly, and a single tear was silhouetted on her cheek.

Never mind Eponine, he thought. Girls cry. No biggie.

But when Fantine died, Eponine's sniffles turned to chocked sobs. He looked at her again and noted that she couldn't keep her eyes from the stage, yet tears were coursing down her cheeks and one of her hands was over her mouth, in a futile effort to quiet her weeping. Her other hand was tight, gripping the armrest between them.

What harm can it do? he asked himself, before placing one of his hands over hers on the armrest, squeezing it in an act of mutual comforting. She glanced at him, thanks clearly visible in her tear-filled eyes. He nodded and turned back to the show, hand not leaving hers until the curtain came up.

I don't love her, he told himself afterward. It was just an act of comfort. I don't love her. Granted, there are things I love about her. Her laugh, her eyes, her little habits that have slowly become endearments. But I don't love her. I won't love her. Love is not something I'll waste time on. I don't love her.

But another voice, whispered in his head, too quiet for him to hear it. Yes, you do, it said. You just can't see it yet.

Cute? I hope so!

Read n' review!

Question of the chapter: Would you rather be Enjolras's Patria or Eponine's best friend?