Thunder rumbled outside the walls of the Evil Queen's home, making the usually dreary castle feel oddly cosy. Heavy rain assaulted the windows and lightning flashed. Evie was grateful for the warm cup of tea in her hands, and shivered.

Across the room, nestled in Evie's tattered love seat, sat Mal, quietly scribbling away in her sketchbook. Sleepovers were a usual thing as of recent, especially when tension heightened between mother and daughter.

"So, Mal." Evie smirked, sipping her tea. When she didn't continue, Mal looked up from her sketchbook.

"So, Evie."

"I noticed Emmet Facilier was flirting with you at Celia Hook's party last Monday." Evie grinned. She knew this would push Mal's buttons; she loved teasing her. As predicted, Mal scoffed.

"No he wasn't, stop being ridiculous."

Evie feigned shock. She rolled her head forward, purposely widening her eyes, "Mal. It was so obvious that he was desperate to get you on your own."

An eye roll this time. Typical.

"You know Evie, you have this compulsive habit of making things out to be more than they are. Probably because you're such a damn romantic."

Evie smirked, setting down her tea. She immediately picked it back up after Mal yelled at her to keep still, because she was still drawing her and it wasn't finished. The next question she was about to ask was sure to get a reaction from Mal.

"And you're not?" She said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Mal laughed out loud, "E, you've known me long enough to know that I believe romance is made-up concept, love doesn't exist and relationships are stupid."

Evie scoffed and narrowed her eyes playfully, "Lucifer, you are such a cynic."

Mal only smiled at her, and returned to her drawing. Defying Mal's wishes, Evie set her tea down and jumped from her bed, ignoring the angry curses being sent her way.

"You know," Evie said, holding her hands in front of her and acting as innocent as she could, "Something tells me that the only reason you don't like relationships is the fact that you haven't kissed anyone and you're afraid you'll be bad at it." She paused, before adding, "And not the good kind."

Mal's mouth dropped in amused shock, and she took one of the pillows to throw it at Evie. She avoided it, and started taking step after step towards the love seat.

"Careful now E, you're getting a little too brave."

"What?" Evie shook her head innocently, "Can't take the heat?"

Mal, more shocked than amused this time around, fumbled on her words, "Don't be stupid Evie. I just don't like relationships."

"But I'm right about the kissing, aren't I? I know you Mal, and you can't stand being bad at something, so you don't even try." Evie knew full well what she was doing. She was really getting under Mal's skin with this conversation. But it was for her own benefit; the girl needed some action.

Mal opened her mouth to protest, but closed it again. Instead, her cheeks turned an adorable shade of red and she glared at Evie, who had sat down on the love seat.

Evie's eyes sparkled, "I knew it."

"You know, you're more evil than people give you credit for." Mal mumbled, before adding, "And its kind of a dire situation E. Who could I privilege with the honour of my first kiss with. There isn't a person worthy on this entire island."

Evie gasped in mock offense. She placed a hand over her heart, before moving up a little further to where Mal sat.

"I'm offended M. That was cold."

Mal looked at her in confusion. When she didn't say anything, Evie gave a small laugh.

"C'mon Mal, seriously. Kiss me."

All the pestering was worth the look on Mal's face. This time, the look of shock on her face was just that; pure shock. No amusement, no annoyance, no nothing.

"Don't tell me that you're passing up the opportunity to kiss the fairest of them all." Evie said, raising her eyebrows.

Mal immediately shook her head, which made Evie giggle.

"No! No, its just…I don't know," Mal stuttered, the red returning to her cheeks.

"I mean, you are talking to someone who knows what she's doing. I've had plenty experience with boys," Evie grinned, and gave her a wink.

It was Mal's turn to smile. She finally her one up on Evie is this conversation.

"Oh yeah, so you have no experience with girls? I guess you're not as suitable as you think."

Evie sighed loudly and held out her hand to examine her nails, "You'd be surprised. I'm quite the expert in that department too. Do you even know me, M? I'm hurt that you doubt me."

Mal's face fell. For fuck's sake, she thought, this was Evie they were talking about. Of course she had. She bit her lip.

Evie knew that she had this in the bag. Mal might be intimidating, but Evie was manipulative. She dropped her voice to a low, husky tone- a talent she used for situations like this. It drove people crazy.

Leaning in closer, she said, "The fact that you're hesitating tells me that you want to."

When Mal made a pained face, Evie knew for certain that she wanted to, and that she wanted to bad. But she wanted to hear her say it. She covered Mal's hand with her own and intertwined their fingers.

If only I had a camera, Evie thought. She had to force herself to not laugh at the look on Mal's face. Her mouth was doing that soft 'o' shape, and her whole expression was entirely concentrated on Evie's face. It was as if she had literally hypnotised her.

"You're not saying no." Evie whispered, smiling.

And then Mal nodded like a bobble head, completely under her spell. She breathed out, "Okay. Yeah."

Evie – 1, Mal – 0.

She got up from the love seat, guiding Mal by both her hands to her bed, a great big sturdy thing with four bed posts and a canopy. It was high bed, too, so she pushed Mal back to sit on the matress, while Evie remained standing, tucking herself in between Mal's legs.

"Just relax, okay, "She said, her voice low and calm, "Trust me. Let me do all the work, all you have to do is relax."

Evie bent slightly, getting to Mal's level, and she placed her hand under her jawline. She could see Mal staring at her lips. Evie's eyes fluttered shut, just as she closed the space and their lips touched. Mal tensed at first, but eventually relaxed, and Evie smiled into the kiss. There was a beat and she pulled back, their lips separating with a small pop.

Evie, standing at full height again, placed her hands on her hips and giggled at Mal, who still had her eyes closed.

"You can open your eyes now loser."

Mal opened them, looking at Evie as if she were in a daze.

"That was great," She mumbled dreamily.

Pleased with herself, Evie gave a nod of approval and left the space between Mal's legs. She grinned when Mal stuttered out, "Wait! I still don't know how to…ugh, you know…do the tongue thing."

She turned slowly to face her, "What, like, make out?"

Mal visibly cringed at the words, "Ew, yeah. That."

"My my M," She giggled, "What happened to the cynic I know and love?"

Mal glared at her, "Are you gonna show me or what?"

Teasingly, she pretended to think for a minute, before smiling, "Ooooookay. But first-"

She walked to her cabinet on the far side of the room, rooted around in it for a few moments, and returned with a bottle of bootleg spirits. When Mal shot her a look, Evie shrugged and said, "You're a little tense, it might help you relax, if you want to."

There was a beat before Mal took the bottle. They took turns taking swigs because they didn't have glasses, passing it back and forth between them. While they waited for it to kick in Evie gave Mal some ground rules, until Mal blinked hard and said, "Okay, I can feel it now."

"Pssh, amateur." Evie smirked at her, and Mal scrunched up her nose and smiled. They resumed their earlier positions, only this time Mal wasn't stiff and Evie wasn't holding back on the contact.

"Now, remember what I said, and do what I do. But take it slow- I'm in control here, take your cues from me." Evie said, and Mal rolled her eyes.

"Okay, bossypants."

Evie took Mal's face in her hands again, and closed the space. The kiss started out like the one before, calm and easy. Evie kissed her again, opening her mouth and closing it against hers. She couldn't help noticing how soft Mal's lips were. She wondered whether she used lip balm.

Kicking it up a notch, her hand moved to Mals hair and she slid her tongue along Mal's bottom lip, hoping she'd understand. She did. Boy, she did.

Evie was leaning more and more into Mal, and Mal wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her closer. They toppled onto the sheets, moving up to the centre of the bed. To tease her a little bit, Evie took Mal's bottom lip between her teeth, pulling back and sucking on it slightly. Mal actually moaned a little bit. Evie would remind herself to tease her about that later.

Evie pulled back for air, hovering above Mal, their mouths only milimetres apart. They were both gasping, their breath hot and blowing hard into each other, and Evie found it so entirely hot. Something clicked then, like there was a fire in her stomach and all she wanted to do was kiss her again. So she did.

She didn't want to stop kissing her.

Evie moved from her lips to kiss her jawline, then brushed along her neck, and stopped at her collarbone. Considering Mal didn't stop her, and judging from the small 'Oh' that came from her mouth, she didn't want her to stop.

(In short, Mal was having the time of her life.)

Eventually, after a little more kissing, Evie pulled back, rolling to the side. They both lay on their backs, gasping and staring at the canopy above.

"Woah," Mal breathed.

Evie looked at her, "I'm taking that as a compliment."

Mal locked her eyes with her and just nodded. They both looked back at the canopy. After a beat, Evie said, "I threw in a hickey. You know, so you'd know what that felt like too. No charge."

Mal's hand flew to the sore spot on her neck. All she managed was to splutter out was a bewildered thanks.

With a contented sigh, Evie got up from the bed, declaring she was getting water. Mal told her to get her some too, and as she left the room, Evie shouted without looking back, "Don't say I never gave you anything."

When she returned, she found Mal sitting on her bed, leaning back on her palms, smirking.

"Up for round two?"