I sit on the edge of my bed and watch her carefully.

Waiting.

She's all smiles as usual but I can't help but feel its' all pretend. She's sitting on the floor with her back to me, hugging her pale, pretty legs to her black-bound chest, and I stare so intensely the rest of the room blurs. But her back is steady, her breathing is steady, her façade is steady. It's our little game.

She stands up and turns her foot in, lifting her heel to do so.

"I like these!"

"Yes… they're very nice…"

"I don't remember them… Are they new?"

She's gotten very good.

"No. I've had them for several years."

I've gotten even better.

"Oh!" She turns both feet in, pigeon-toed. "Were they a gift like the brown ones I like so much?"

"Yes. They're from my sister."

"The one in Luxemburg?"

"Hm-mm!" I smile up at her because I can feel her eyes looking for mine.

"She has good taste."

"I think so too… Try the heels in the back."

"These?"

"Hm-mm… Here, let me tie the ribbon for you." She cautiously plants her foot in my hands so I can wrap the strong ebon silk over her perfect, tiny foot and around her delicate ankle. "Ah…" I pull the bow closed and make two little balloons bloom on either side that float her black-bound foot to earth again.

"Woah!" She leans forward, then back. She looks at me and the smile spreads like a cold with coughs of giggling.

"Are they too tall?"

"Hee-hee! I think so!"

We laugh so hard we can't talk for a while, so hard she has to lean her head against my shoulder, so hard we fall back onto my bed and can do nothing but shake, so hard it can't be real.

Yes, I bought them yesterday.

She's gotten very good.

No, I don't have a sister.

But I've gotten very good.

We lie still for a while like everyone does after they laugh a long time and she looks for her white hands on my white blanket and I look for the little white patterns on my white ceiling.

"Have you tried them all on yet?"

"Mm… I don't know." She counts on her fingers, whispering the names as she does so, "Your boots, Slippers, Browns, Black Heels, Ribbon Heels, Tinys, Calico Flats, Pumps, Shinies, Luxemburgs, Polands, Silkies… That's twelve." She lies down to look at me, "That's all, right?"

I forgot. I forgot to cover up this time.

I hid the receipt. She thinks I've lost all their pictures.

Maybe she'll believe me anyways.

"No… I'm pretty sure there are thirteen."

"Really?"

I smile over at her because I can feel her eyes looking for mine. I always close my eyes when I smile at her but she hasn't noticed yet; she sees my face and thinks her eyes have been answered but I'm not that good yet. My eyes can't lie as well as the rest of me can.

"Hm-mm. Thirteen. You haven't tried on the flats yet."

"Ah!" She rolls over and sits up. She teeters over to my closet and sits down slowly. I sit on the edge of my bed and watch her carefully.

Waiting.

She's been all smiles as usual but I see my eyes in the floor length mirror –"Oh! What a nice mirror! Did you but it when you went into town last week?" "No, it came with the room."-and I know it's all pretend.

"Mm… the flats… They're my favorites." She lifts her heels out of the thin black backs and then lets them fall in again. She examines her feet from every angle, taking longer than necessary because she doesn't want to take them off ever. "You have such beautiful things, Miranda," Beautiful? "It must be nice to have so much family…" Beautiful… She hasn't noticed yet but I have a whole box of receipts under my bed and she has such beautiful things.

"Yes… It's nice, isn't it?"

She pauses.

"… It's gotten late, hasn't it?"

I don't answer.

"Oh, I'm sorry… I should pay more attention to the time."

She has probably been counting the seconds.

"These really are my favorites," she smiles.

"I'm glad," I say looking straight at her. "I like them too."

"Well," she scoots over to the door and begins to slip into the pair she always dons last. "I had fun as always! Thank you for having me over!"

"Of course!" I manage but that's the last thing I want to say to her. For once I want to be honest with her, for once I want to see her back shake, for once I want to hear her tell me it's all pretend. But that would break the rules of our little game.

"Have a good evening, Miranda!"

"Have a good evening, Lenalee."

The door shuts, I fall back, I listen to the absence of a cacophony that any normal shoe makes in the high-ceilinged halls of the Black Order.

Favorites.

She's said that about every pair in my closet. She'll say that about the white sandals that will make fourteen receipts under the bed.

I know how to pick her favorites. Everything is her favorite. Anything. Anything but what she has.

Just to make sure everyone gets this and I don't get a lot of confused reviews:

1. There are actually two games: the shoe trying on game and the game of lying to each other.

2. Everything is Lenalee's favorite because it's not her dark boots. The whole game is kind of an escape (thus the fairy tale title -wink wink-)

3. Miranda didn't originally have all the shoes...she went and bought them so Lenalee would have more to try on...

4. Miranda does not really have a sister in Luxemburg...though that would be cool. XD

If you have any more questions or notifications of mispellings, etc. feel free to bring them up! These were just a few things my at-home beta-reader was shaky on so I thought I'd clear it up. :3 Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

-S