Archive of Our Own

They called them the VKs. "Villain Kids". A fitting name for the baddest quartet to ever walk the halls of their high school. Mal, whose own hand-drawn picture was graffitied into the dictionary when you looked up the word "Delinquent". Jay, with ten sticky fingers that were just as dangerous picking into pockets as they were curled into fists. Carlos, stuck close to Jay's side, whose explosions in the chem lab and hackings of the school's website were far less "accidental" than he would like his teachers to believe. And Evie, who made her way through life with kisses and promises, a trail of broken hearts left in her path until vicious tongues promoted her title of school flirt into something far less innocent. Color them the least popular kids in school.

As such, the least popular kids in school had no one but each other, sticking close the way Carlos stuck to Jay, a camaraderie built fast and strong on the need to look out for one another in a school that would love to see them burn. Freshman, sophomore, and junior year; three years of friendship between them, three years of hangouts and wiling away time at each other's sides.

Friday night with nowhere to go. Wandering town under the glow of streetlamps, eyes open for chances at mischief and fun. At the behest of Carlos and Jay, and the bottomless pits they called stomachs, a casual stop was made for ice cream, and the VKs came out of it with their favorites. Mal with spoonfuls of strawberry, Jay with rocky road, Evie with her neapolitan, and Carlos enjoying cookies and cream. They walked. They talked. They hoped to run into someone from school, hoped to scare them off and send them running down the street. They didn't need plans, or a destination. Aimless wandering was a form of entertainment for the VKs, so long as they were together.

"There's never enough cookie in this cookies and cream," Carlos grumbled, despondently digging his spoon into the aforementioned abundance of cream.

"File a complaint with city hall," Mal said over her shoulder, uninterested.

She and Evie walked together while the boys followed behind. Typical. She and Evie always walked together.

Her little quip brought a giggle out of Evie, which in turn brought a sly, proud smile out of Mal. Also typical. Evie always laughed at Mal's quips, and Mal always seized the opportunity to make Evie laugh.

They were circling the perimeter of the biggest park in town, where Jay decided properly walking the sidewalk was boring and instead chose to follow along up on the low stone wall ringing the park, arms outstretched like a daring tightrope walker and comically pretending to lose his balance to bring a rise out of Carlos down below. Up there was a nice vantage point to watch Mal leaning over, leaning close, spoon stealing the strawberry out of Evie's cup of neapolitan even though she'd yet to finish her own. Jay stifled a groan but indulged himself a roll of the eyes since neither girl was looking. It wasn't the first time he had to watch Evie give Mal a teasing shove—hand and fingers lingering on her arm a little longer than strictly necessary—or listen to the husky laugh that first earned Evie the role of school flirt.

Jay knew secrets, knowing them and keeping them was essential to a thief. Mal liking Evie and Evie liking Mal was no secret to him, you could cut the sexual tension between them with a knife. And frankly, he was getting tired of it. Life with Mal and Evie was essentially a never-ending bout of "Just shut up and kiss already!" He cast his eyes over and down to Carlos, keeping pace with him on the sidewalk. Carlos was one of the smartest kids in school, right there next to Evie (despite what the rumors said about her), and Carlos had long since figured it out too. Just like Jay, he knew that while Mal's tongue licked strawberry off her spoon her mind was definitely thinking blueberry.

It hit the boys at the same time, and without a single word—just how exactly they were going to manufacture their own fun on this dead Friday night. All they had to do was exchange a glance, one single, solitary locking of eyes, and then the game was afoot.

"Let's play Dare," Jay casually suggested, leaping down from the wall and landing on the concrete with a thud and scuff of his shoes.

It was really Truth or Dare, but with the VKs already knowing practically everything there was to know about one another, more often than not the game simply turned to "Dare". Mal turned around, walking backwards with a fiendish glimmer in her eyes.

"Okay. I'll go first. I dare you to lick the bottom of your shoe," she said easily.

Jay's eyes hardened.

"Damn, Mal. You're not even going to lob me a softball to start??" he really expected no less, but still he couldn't help being offended.

Mal just smirked. Another giggle from Evie as she watched from over her shoulder. But Jay was Jay, and a Villain Kid, and a Villain Kid did not back down, which is always what made their game of dares so intriguing in the first place. He handed his ice cream to Carlos before kicking his leg up and yanking off a shoe, athletic body balancing perfectly on one leg without even wavering. Carlos' face scrunched up terribly as Jay followed suit.

"Jay, dude, that is nasty," he grimaced.

"That's why it's called a dare," Jay wrestled his shoe on again, took back his ice cream.

It was very tempting to just jump right into it, to throw out a "Mal, I dare you to kiss Evie" and finally be done with it, but Jay knew better. He had to play the long con for this one. A little thing here, a little thing there, lulling the girls into a false sense of security. It would be more fun that way. More wicked.

"My turn," Jay announced, clapping his hand to Carlos' back and almost making him spill his ice cream. "This one's for you, buddy. I dare you to lick that car tire."

Jay pointed. Carlos blanched.

"You guys are sick," the boy argued. "Why do we always do all the gross dares?"

"I think you mean 'all the fun dares'," Mal taunted, stopping her walk to boost herself onto the stone wall and have a front row seat.

"I'm not doing it," Carlos vehemently shook his head.

"And why not? Jay did," Evie wickedly teased.

"Jay knows where his feet have been! This car could've driven through miles and miles of dog poop!"

"Sure could've," Mal nodded in agreement.

Jay vaulted onto the wall too, parking himself next to Mal.

"It's now or never," he said. 

Leave it to the well-oiled gears in Carlos' mind to always be whirring and churning.

"...Alright, fine. But I get the next dare," he firmly told them, trying to make himself stand tough.

All at once, the three of them mimed taking their fingers and crossing their hearts.

One small victory out of the way, Carlos gave a heavy sigh and crouched down beside the car parked alongside the curb, shining in the light of the streetlamp. He heard the others behind him, making hushed yet snickering remarks about car alarms, but he closed his eyes and did it, tasting rubber and dirt with a shudder. Jay whooped and clapped, very impressed.

"Okay Carlos, your turn," Mal told him, jumping back down off the wall.

Carlos straightened up and downed a spoonful of ice cream first to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Yeah, my turn," he said, briefly grateful his ice cream was lacking in cookie so he couldn't imagine it was tire chunks. "I dare you all to come back to my place."

He reveled in the blank expressions suddenly on the faces of Jay, Evie, and Mal.

"Hell Hall?" Mal blurted, using the school's well-worn nickname for Carlos' manor.

"With the Devil Woman??" Evie added.

None of the VKs had the poster parents for goodness, but Carlos' mother often tended to make them look quirky at best.

"Mom is out for the night," Carlos shrugged easily, enjoying his small moment of triumph.

"And what if she decides to come on back?" Jay demanded.

"That's why it's called a dare," Carlos was smug.

Mal scowled. Not at Carlos and his smugness (although that definitely wasn't a plus) but at the others and herself. She had a reputation, as both a Villain Kid and the Villain Kids' leader. Wavering at the thought of crawling into the lair of Carlos' harpy of a mother—especially after life with her own dragon of a mother—was not a thing she should be doing.

"Well we're not going to get there by just standing around," she snapped Jay and Evie to attention. "Let's go."

None of the VKs drove. Cars equaled freedom, and their parents simply couldn't allow that. But years upon years of walking the town had taught them shortcuts, the fastest routes, and with Carlos' house practically on the other side of town, they needed every shortcut they could get to avoid a tiring trip.

"M," Evie's hand curled delicately around Mal's arm a little while later. "What if Cruella really does come home early and finds us at her house?"

Her voice rasped with whispered worry, like the shrieking woman was eavesdropping nearby and waiting to strike. Evie's soft touch never failed to bring out one of Mal's own, the shiny side of a rusted and two-faced coin.

"She won't, E," Mal patted the hand on her arm. "Carlos knows his mom, we're in the clear. It's not like it's the first time we've ever snuck over."

Mal reminisced times before Evie had moved to town, times in middle school when Jay, Carlos, and herself were still young enough to have not quite cemented themselves as poison and were actually able to get guests to show up to secret parties thrown in the spacious De Vil Manor. But then her coin flipped, the bright shiny side hitting the pavement and Mal's second face gleaming over her shoulder at Carlos.

"Besides, if we get caught, it's not us who should be worried," her smile was positively evil. Carlos bravely stuck his tongue out at her.

Keys jingled when they reached the place and Carlos unlocked the front door.

"What if your mom gets Dobermans to guard the place while she's away?" Jay elbowed Carlos while the boy clicked on the downstairs lights.

"...That's not funny," Carlos grumbled.

Evie and Carlos were kindred spirits despite Evie's attachment to Mal and her bad influences, so this time around she came right to her friend's aid, putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Torment Carlos later, Jay. We have a game to finish," she said.

"So torment him when it's my turn again?" Jay accepted the challenge with a shit-eating grin.

They moved to the living room, spreading themselves out on the furniture pointed around the tv after Jay decided to spread himself out on an entire sofa, leaving armchairs and the other couch to his friends.

"Okay, whose turn is it?" Mal never strayed far from Evie, perching on the arm of the cushy chair her best friend sat in even though there was plenty of room elsewhere.

"Evie's," Carlos answered.

So Evie puzzled over her dare for a minute, choosing a victim.

"...Carlos will like this one."

For one horrifying moment Carlos thought his only ally tonight had turned on him, and that she meant the dare for him, but Evie went on.

"Jay, I dare you to let Carlos put duct tape on you and then rip it off," she said.

Carlos bounded to his feet before Jay even agreed, raring to go.

"Go ahead, I can take it," Jay sat up straight, squaring his shoulders.

So Carlos ran off towards the kitchen to fetch a roll of tape from the junk drawer.

"You're kind of evil, you know that?" Mal said to Evie, impressed.

"Mhm."

Mal was keeping her cool, it was one of her many talents, but Jay knew the truth—if she was any more turned on she could power the whole house.

Carlos didn't even give Jay a chance to brace himself when he hurried back into the living room with a long piece of duct tape, slapping it down the length of his burly arm.

"Nothing personal," Carlos was quick to say, ever the picture of innocence.

He didn't play around, ripping the tape off in one cringeworthy move. To Jay's credit, he survived with only clenched teeth, squeezed eyes, and a mighty hiss. The girls laughed, enjoying the game.

"Good one, E."

"Thank you, M."

Their eyes met, and their gazes lingered. Jay and Carlos exchanged a lingering gaze too, not an "I can't believe you just fucking ripped duct tape off of me" gaze, but an "I wonder just how badly Mal wants to kiss Evie right about now" gaze. Jay decided to dip his toes in the water, to shift the focus of the game the way he and Carlos had agreed to right at the very beginning. Still, he had to take it slowly, gradually. Make it all seem very innocent.

"Mal, let me go next, huh?" he said hopefully.

"Whatever," she waved him off dismissively, not caring if they didn't follow the last round's turn order.

Instead of a dare, Jay picked a rare truth, skipping over the part where he asked "Truth or Dare?" because the VKs played their game a little bit differently. He already knew the answer to his own question, which is why the gang hardly ever picked truths to begin with and relegated the game to "Dare".

"Evie, if you had to be trapped in an elevator for a whole day, who would you want to be trapped with?" he asked, leaning forward on the couch in interest.

Evie was caught off guard by the appearance of a truth, it showed in her eyes, but it took only a second to reclaim her composure and an even shorter second to answer.

"Mal, of course," she said right away. "Why would I want to be trapped with one of you boys? You'd probably end up licking the walls."

Mal let loose a single "HA!"

Carlos didn't ask permission for himself to have the next turn, he just jumped right in, abandoning his empty cup of ice cream on the coffee table to bounce the wadded-up strip of tape between his hands.

"Okay Evie, then if you were trapped in an elevator for a whole day with Mal, what would you two be doing in there?" he questioned.

Another truth. Jay worried that Carlos might have overstepped and dunked his entire foot in the water with a messy, noisy splash, but their luck held out. Neither girls' suspicion was raised.

"I'd obviously have my phone, so assuming I have to be trapped for this scenario instead of just calling for help," Evie's straight As were talking, "we'd probably just watch movies the entire day."

"And what about when your phone died?" 

"Not your turn," Mal pointed out to Carlos, reminding him he'd just asked a question. "It's mine. So, I dare Jay to let me give him a marker mustache."

"Pfft, is that all?" Jay flopped back down across the length of the couch. "Do your worst, Mal."

She didn't even have to search the vast expanses of Hell Hall, Mal kept ahold of a Sharpie at all times the way Evie kept ahold of a compact, and she drew the marker from her jacket pocket like a sword from a scabbard.

"You're lucky we don't have school tomorrow, Jay. That'll never wash off in time," Evie warned as Mal twisted the cap off and advanced on the couch like a slithering snake.

"So what if we did? Maybe they'd send me home and I'd get a day off," Jay was unperturbed.

Everyone got a kick out of watching his nose wrinkle with the smell of Sharpie right there in his nostrils, and Mal decided halfway through that no marker mustache was complete without a goatee and—why the hell not—a black eye. Jay's long hair was the only thing that spared him from matching marker sideburns.

"I dare you to make that your new profile pic," Carlos capitalized on the situation.

"It's Evie's turn," Mal shot him a glare as she settled back onto the arm of Evie's chair.

"M, relax."

Another touch of her hand to Mal's arm, another touch that would've overstayed its welcome if Mal wasn't so welcoming as far as Evie was concerned.

"Sorry, Evie. Go ahead," Carlos apologized with a smile.

Evie wondered if she herself might like to try out a truth, but it was a much harder thought process; the four really did know everything about each other, there weren't very many secrets left to uncover.

"It's a Friday, and the night's still young. Guess where Uma is?" she began.

"Working the night shift at her mom's restaurant, duh," Carlos shrugged, missing the point.

"Mal, I dare you to prank call Uma at the restaurant."

"Oh, hell yes," Mal whipped out her phone the same way Carlos had whipped out the duct tape.

A history of past prank calls had the number long since saved in Mal's phone, and as the dial droned on she switched to speakerphone. It only took seconds before a very bored and grudging voice answered, pissed at always getting stuck on night shift duty when she could be out with the friends she affectionately (and sometimes cruelly) referred to as her "crew".

"Ursula's Fish and Chips."

Mal didn't even bother disguising her voice. By the time the girl knew it was her it would be too late.

"Hi, can I speak to your manager? I have a complaint. Some friends of mine came in to eat the other day and I heard you gave them crabs."

"Mal, get off the phone!!"

The VKs' hysterical laughter erupted in an instant, Uma caught a good deal of it in just the short time it took her to beat Mal to hanging up.

"Mal, you're such a little shit!" Jay had nearly laughed himself off the couch.

"I know, I know."

The game was on pause until they settled down, sides hurting and Carlos wiping tears from his eyes.

By the third round they had all gotten the sense that turns would be taken on a first-come first-served basis instead of an orderly fashion (because what Villain Kid would stand for an orderly fashion?) so Jay seized his chance.

"Evie, I dare you to use a terrible pick-up line on Mal," he said, head hanging off the edge of the couch and watching the girls upside-down.

Testing the waters a little bit more.

Evie looked offended, but at the wrong half of the dare.

"Please, I do not have terrible pick-up lines. I do not have terrible anything," she flipped her hair back in one haughty motion.

Jay rolled his eyes.

"Then pick a terrible line that's been used on you. I know you have plenty of those. But you really have to sell it."

As if that were any kind of a challenge. Evie could sell water to a fish.

They watched her thoughts dart around inside her head while she thought back and settled on one, and then she slipped smoothly into character. Evie's hand on her arm was one thing, but Mal didn't know what to think or make of Evie's hand on her thigh, sliding slowly and ticklishly to her knee before creeping back up, sending dangerous  sparks to where Mal shouldn't be feeling them. Evie's eyes were dark chocolate just then, smokey and shadowed, and Mal got lost in them before she got lost in that husky voice that floated melodically from parted lips.

"...M, they say you are what you eat. And I plan on being you by morning."

The boys weren't sure what they were trying hardest not to laugh at—the thought of some sleaze imagining that line would work on Evie, or the way Mal's head looked like it would explode.

"...You're good," Mal breathed, fidgeting in place before Evie took her hand away.

"You have no idea. There's a reason they think I'm the school slut, you know."

"We know you aren't," Mal said firmly.

Evie had long since made her peace with the rumors, but damned if Mal didn't see more than her fair share of detentions for making fists in the faces of those she caught snickering and pointing when Evie breezed by. Her eyes had cleared back to milk chocolate now with her faux seduction over, shining at Mal and her soft but certain words.

"...Anyway," Mal cleared her throat, thinking she might have to make threatening fists at herself if her cheeks dared to turn red on her. "Jay's all dolled up, and I think it's only fair that Carlos looks just as good."

"What are you gonna do? Play connect-the-dots on my freckles?" he scoffed.

"Not exactly. You're going to sit nice and still while Evie puts lipstick on you."

Evie's expression twisted in vain disgust.

"Ugh, do I have to waste a shade on him? My brands are very expensive."

Carlos disapproved for his own reasons.

"Mal, if my mother comes home and sees me—"

"Then maybe she'll stop making you fluff her furs and start letting you wear them."

"Or maybe she'll make you your own personal coat out of those Dobermans," Jay taunted.

Despite a mild protest, Evie already had her lipstick out of her purse, twisting the tube with the same intense, studying concentration a doctor gives to a syringe.

"You heard Mal, sit nice and still," she said, standing up.

As Evie squished his cheeks and painted his lips, Carlos bitterly remembered that this whole game of Dare had been Jay's idea in the first place. He would have to hold on to that little bit of information for the next time he and Jay were made partners in chemistry. And he wondered if a blinding magnesium flash grenade was a thing he could manufacture in the span of a forty-five minute class.

"Oh, hang on. I'm taking a picture."

"Evie, no you're not," Carlos fretted as Evie traded lipstick for her phone.

"Come on, Carlos! I promise it stays between us."

Jay sat up again and moved beside him, squishing himself and Carlos into a single armchair.

"Don't worry pal, I'll be in it with you," Jay assured him, grinning for the camera and throwing bunny ears behind Carlos' head.

It wasn't so bad a deal then, and Evie snapped her picture, showing Mal after she sat down and got comfy again.

"Want your revenge?" Mal offered Carlos the chance to go next, but he was a step ahead of her.

"I'll go last," he said with a shake of his head.

"Then it's my turn," Evie noted.

"You should give Mal another dare," Carlos suggested. "That last one was awesome." 

"Mm, I should," Evie's eyes lit up with a devilish glow. 

A very good idea. Evie wondered if someone would ask her another truth. She wondered if someone would ask if she liked using that little pick-up line on Mal, because that was a question she would love to answer. 

Her hands on Mal, watching her head spin, Evie speaking those deadly words and feeling her squirm. 

"Okay, a dare for Mal," Evie turned her body towards her in the chair. "I dare you to use a terrible pick-up line on me."

Jay and Carlos could've high-fived. The girls were making this too easy. Mal didn't respond to Evie in any way, ignoring her entirely as she hopped off the chair and started wandering around the room. With curious eyes she stooped over and looked underneath both sofas, behind the armchairs, under the table, even lifting the edge of the black and white rug and peering underneath that too. Seeming to be searching for something.

"Mal, what are you doing??" Evie finally asked.

Mal stood back up, seriously met Evie's eyes with the straightest of faces.

"I lost my virginity. Can I borrow yours?"

The air burst with the rambunctious shouts of Jay and Carlos, the obnoxious boyish "OHHHH!!"s that rattled the room as they couldn't help but clap for Mal. The normally unflappable Evie turned red, the shade offsetting the blue of her hair. She wanted so badly to kiss that pompous grin off of Mal's lips. Mal took her seat back on the arm of the chair like a showman took a bow, and Evie said nothing out of fear of stammering and stumbling over words.

Mal was just so hot. "School Slut" may have been a vicious overstatement of Evie's character, but she wasn't a nun, either. She'd had her tumbles, her dates, but nothing like Mal. Bad girl Mal with her sinister eyes and ridiculous amounts of leather. Not that Evie wasn't a bad girl herself, herself with equally ridiculous amounts of leather, it was just...Mal was just so hot. But she wasn't only the bad girl, when Evie was around she was suddenly...the soft girl. The dream girl with vivid eyes and a laugh like sunshine, scooting in close on a walk through town to snag bits of strawberry ice cream because of course the bad girl had a frilly favorite ice cream flavor. As if she wasn't endearing enough already.

Honestly, if Evie was dared to kiss her...

"My turn again," Carlos readied himself. He pretended to think like he didn't already have his dare of choice sitting squarely in his head. "Mal, this one's for you. You have to hold hands with Evie for the entire next round."

Evie had already slipped up and lost it after the pick-up line; she kept her cool this time around. As did Mal.

"Getting soft?" Mal taunted. "I notice you boys aren't daring me to go around licking shit."

"Don't flatter yourself, I just like to keep my handsome face the way it is, free from bruises and black eyes," Jay spoke like his handsome face hadn't been turned into Mal's living doodle pad minutes earlier.

Evie expected Mal to reach out and snatch up her hand just like that, but instead, Mal offered it. The other side of the coin. Like a prince to a princess, Mal held her palm out and waited, and it wasn't too long of a wait before Evie slipped her fingers through hers.

"Easy peasy," Mal said.

Evie couldn't tell if Mal was knowingly or unknowingly tracing a thumb back and forth across her skin.

"And I'll go next, since we're on the subject," Mal continued. "I dare Jay to go lick the kitchen floor."

"Oh geez, who knows what kind of shit Cruella's dropped on that floor!" Jay whined.

Mal found it amusing.

"Maybe literal shit, what with all the dogs she's herded around for her wardrobe."

"My mom doesn't make coats out of dogs..." Carlos shyly murmured.

The VKs knew that, but never would they let the chance to rag on the Devil Woman pass them by.

"If you don't do it you forfeit," Evie matter-of-factly said. "Lose the game and don't get to make anymore dares."

"Alright, alright, I'm up."

Jay grumbled and wedged himself free from the chair he was still squished in with Carlos.

"Can I dare Carlos to mop up in there first?" he questioned.

"No," the other three all said at once.

"As a matter of fact, Carlos, go be his witness," Mal ordered.

Carlos knew better than to miss out on this, and followed Jay out of the room and down a dim hallway to the kitchen. 

Leaving Mal and Evie alone.

"...So, chicken out and you forfeit, huh?" Mal began, turning her head towards Evie.

"Isn't that the way it's always been?"

"Don't know. None of us have ever chickened out before. But that's a pretty steep punishment, not getting to make another dare."

"I think it's fitting," Evie said.

"So if I were to dare you, and you chickened out—"

"Why would I do that?" Evie interrupted.

"I don't know, I guess if it was something you really didn't want to do..."

Mal still had her thumb drawing nonsensical patterns on Evie's skin.

"Something like?" Evie prodded. Her eyes were very drawn to Mal's lips.

"Maybe something like...not making a sound while I bite that stupidly perfect lip of yours."

Oh yeah. Mal was so hot.

"He did it," Carlos announced, coming back into the living room with Jay in tow.

Breaking whatever mysterious spell had just settled over Mal and Evie.

"I'd rather lick the bottom of each and every one of Carlos' shoes," Jay stated for future reference.

He saw the general disdain burning in Mal's eyes as he laid back across his couch, and wondered what on earth even a pair as desperate as they were could accomplish in only the forty seconds that he and Carlos were gone.

"How about another truth for Evie?" he cooly proposed.

"Why am I the only one getting truths?"

"Because that's the way the ball bounces. So, truth. If you were forced to pick from the three of us, which one of us would you rather sleep with?"

"Oh please," Evie rolled her eyes. She would've sternly crossed her arms if she wasn't still enjoying the company of Mal's hand. "You guys are my friends, I'm not sleeping with any of you."

Jay blinked dumbly. That was a lie if his trained ears ever heard one.

"Come on Evie, we're not judging," he pushed.

"I don't want to sleep with anyone here, that's the truth," Evie insisted.

It so was not. Carlos and Jay knew their presence was the only thing stopping Evie from capitalizing on one of those pick-up lines. 

"I dare Evie to whisper something in Mal's ear that'll make her turn bright red," Carlos said.

Mal froze. Not very villainous of her.

"Guys, no," she frantically shook her head.

Acting frantic. Another non-quality of Mal's, but what else was she supposed to do? Evie had the voice of an enchantress, a sultry and dulcet tone where even a "Good morning" out of her mouth sent shivers down spines. A voice like that was trouble enough on its own, Mal certainly didn't need it tickling her ear, whispering secrets for her and her alone. But Evie paid no mind to her best friend's inner turmoil, pulling her in close with a tug of their hands and tilting her head up so her lips grazed the shell of Mal's ear. The boys watched with fascination as the pale pallet of Mal's face changed before their very eyes. Like watching a crab boil.

"...Wow, what did you say??" Carlos wondered.

"That stays between me and Mal," Evie slyly said, her smile proud and accomplished. "And now it's my turn. Since you two seem to be having so much fun with us, I think it's time one of us had fun with you."

Jay raised an eyebrow.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning Carlos is going to sit in your lap for three whole minutes," Evie cooly explained.

"The hell he is," Jay scoffed.

Evie just shrugged, still cool as a cucumber.

"Then I guess you both forfeit."

"Both of us??" Carlos repeated.

"Wait wait wait," Jay lifted a hand, not about to go out like that. "Fine. No forfeiting here."

"You can't dare us both!" Carlos pointed an accusing finger.

"I just did."

Jay sat up from his comfortable position.

"Dude, don't be a wuss," Jay told Carlos. "Just do it, we'll get them back."

"Yeah, we will," Carlos nodded.

A hilarious sight. Evie and Mal holding hands on one couch, Carlos parked in Jay's lap on the other. Both pairs staring each other down.

"...Knockout round," Jay said after the three minutes were up and he'd shoved Carlos off of him.

Realizing the previous round was over, Mal and Evie let go of each other's hands. 

"Now we try to get each other to forfeit, with dares we know we won't want to do," Jay explained.

"Now it's interesting," Mal smirked. "High stakes."

"High stakes, losing is on the line," Jay nodded. "The most crazy ass dares that we'll for sure look for a way to back out of."

Mal didn't even need to think twice.

"So, Carlos," she got his attention. "Your next door neighbors have that pair of Dalmatians, don't they?"

"Yes..." Carlos warily eyed her, narrowing his gaze in suspicion.

"Dare you to knock on the door and ask to give the dogs a friendly little pat on the head."

"No. Nope. It's not happening. I quit,"  Carlos said without hesitation, roughly shaking his head and drawing his legs up onto the couch like the floor was made of spiders (or hundreds of tiny spider-sized dogs).

Mal held up her hand, Evie high-fived her.

"Carlos is out. Too bad, buddy," Jay reached over and gave him a playful shove.

Carlos just grumbled under his breath. Evie, more than happy to follow the trend of girls versus boys, took on the next dare.

"Then this one is for Jay," that evil smile on her face was something she long ago picked up from Mal. "I dare you to let me cut your hair."

Jay's eyes went deliciously wide.

"Wait, what? My hair??"

"Of course, if you want to forfeit..." Evie wickedly mused.

"How much hair are we talking?"

"That's up to me to decide."

He was tempted to just give up, to ride out the embarrassment of quitting rather than letting Evie loose with a pair of scissors. But Jay still had dares to give. He wasn't about to quit now and let the whole game have been for nothing.

"...Go for it," he crossed his arms and steeled himself.

With just a glance from Evie Carlos was up, returning to the kitchen's junk drawer to make a grab for the scissors. She took them in her hand like a warrior princess being given her sword, a terrible glinting shine in her eyes. Mal couldn't believe that Jay had actually agreed. Letting someone else handle his hair was like Evie letting someone else do her makeup—it simply didn't happen.

Mal watched, hoping to see Jay flinch or scrunch up his face or squeeze his eyes shut like a tense little boy about to get his shots, but Jay had his pride. And thankfully for him, he also somehow managed to keep ahold of a place on Evie's good side, as the hair she cut off was only a small snippet from the back of Jay's head, where no one would ever notice.

"Consider this a warning shot," Evie viciously teased as she dropped the scissors onto the coffee table with a clatter and sat back down.

That made it Jay's turn. Or, as he had suddenly just decided to call it in his head, "Magic Time". Months of Mal and Evie skirting around each other came to an end tonight.

"Thanks Evie, but I'm not about to return the favor and go easy on you. Nothing personal, I just came to win, that's all."

"Get on with it," Mal snapped.

Jay answered with a boyish shrug.

"If you insist. Okay, Evie. I dare you to tell us what you whispered in Mal's ear a couple minutes ago."

Mal went paler than usual, dipping down to the other end of the spectrum instead of the beet red she'd turned the last time this subject came up. She wasn't the religious sort, but how she prayed Evie would forfeit.

"You really want to know, hm?" Evie asked with her husky enchantress voice.

Uh oh. That didn't sound like the beginnings of a forfeit.

"Evie..." Mal nervously whispered.

Evie just smiled, pleasantly amused. Nervous was a cute look on Mal. Rare, practically hypothetical (in theory, Mal could get nervous) but cute nonetheless. Evie was going to enjoy it.

"I told her I was telling the truth when I said I didn't want to sleep with anyone here. Including her," Evie glanced at Mal out of the corner of her eye, seeing her mortified beyond mortified.

Jay's face fell. He'd admit it to no one, but his heart sank a little too.

"...Wait, really?"

"Really. I don't want to sleep with Mal. I want to fuck her, first and foremost. Sleeping with her can come later, there's plenty of time for that, but first we’re going to fuck each other senseless."

Silence. Still and stoney. So this is what it felt like in the aftermath of a bomb drop. Jay let out a heavy exhaling breath, ignored Carlos' jaw spilling to the floor, and leaned back on the couch.

"Mal, I dare you to kiss Evie," he flatly said with a wave of his hand.

"...God, I thought you'd never ask," Mal breathed.

And finally, Mal abandoned her post on the arm of Evie's chair to take up one in Evie's lap, hands gripping the collar of her shirt and pulling her into a rough kiss. And how Evie hungrily kissed back, holding Mal around her waist and getting at her with a bite to her stupidly perfect lip, instead of the other way around. Evie's smile pressed itself to Mal's mouth, Mal could feel it, almost as much as she could feel her jacket being slipped off her shoulders by Evie's ready hands before they settled back on her waist.

"I hate you," Mal breathlessly pouted, breaking away and leaning her forehead against Evie's with a bitter frown stuck firmly in place.

"You don't," Evie tilted her head and kissed the length of Mal's neck, nipping at her pulse point.

It made Mal shiver, made her squeeze her eyes shut and curl her fingers tighter around Evie's shirt.

"I do," Mal cruelly leaned back when Evie went to kiss her again, making her chase after her lips.

"Keep lying, it's sexy."

"Fuck you."

"Don't worry, you will."

Evie was smart, slipping one hand into Mal's hair to hold her still so she could be properly made out with the way she so desperately wanted to be made out with. Evie kissed her pouts away, a dream come true.

"You're lucky I'm such a patient girl," Evie said, brushing her nose against Mal's. "In our next lifetime I'm not waiting so damn long for you."

"What if I'm still hot?"

"...Okay, maybe if you're still hot. With your sparkling green eyes. And that insufferable smile. Your ridiculously heartwarming laugh..."

"Evie?"

"Hm?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Mal didn't even have to dare her.

Somehow, with Evie's free hand sliding underneath her shirt and nails lightly scratching the skin of her side, Mal managed to remember that the game of Dare wasn't quite over, and that a tie hung in place between herself, Evie, and Jay.

It was just really hard to care with Evie's tongue in her mouth.

And neither girl realized in the slightest that the boys had escaped to the kitchen, Jay sitting atop the counter with a bag of chips and Carlos tapping an anxious foot on the floor as he leaned against the refrigerator.

"Shouldn't we stop them??" the boy fretted, looking to Jay. "If mom walks through the door and finds them making out or who knows what on the couch—"

"She'll gasp, she'll faint, she'll wake up on the floor, and you can blame it all on her smoking too many cigarettes. Happily ever afters all around," Jay was wholly unperturbed as he stuffed his face with chips. "Now zip it and let them enjoy this. We've all waited long enough."