Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All characters belong to their real owner, Joss Whedon. I don't even lay any claim to the situation, as kids playing cards isn't anything I can claim as my own.

Wagers of Favors

Buffy and her friends lazily slouched on her couch, bowl of popcorn forgotten. On the TV was playing a lousy daytime soap opera.

"I'm so bored," Xander whined.

"Maybe there's a good movie on," Willow suggested.

Buffy didn't move to change the channel, continuing to stare at the ceiling in a lazy stupor. "Why aren't we at the mall?"

"No money," Xander replied.

"We could play a game," Willow said.

Xander looked over to his red-haired friend. "What kind of game? 'Cause I know better than to play against you at Trivial Pursuit."

"I don't know? Life?"

Xander shot Willow a smirk. "How about Truth or Dare?"

"How about no!"

"Mom keeps a deck of cards somewhere around here," Buffy commented. She went from dazedly staring at nothing to watching her friends with dead eyes.

"Poker?" Xander cheered up some. "It's a manly game of chance, skill, and the removal of pesky clothing."

Willow cringed. "Bad Xander! No strip poker."

"Can't play with no money; we're broke, remember?"

"Why do we even need money to play?" Buffy pondered.

Xander and Willow answered at the same time, "How else would we know who won? ... Jinx!" The two laughed at their unintentional chorusing.

Buffy sighed and returned to staring at the ceiling. "Who knew days were so boring?" School was over for the summer, the Master was defeated, and Buffy was spending one last day with her friends before she left to spend time with her dad in LA. She looked out the window, as if to curse the sun. "There's no vampires to slay during the day," she said with a pout.

Willow scratched her chin in thought. "We could play for favors. You know, write them down on some slips of paper and wager them."

"Favors? You mean like asking you to do our homework?" Xander beamed.

Willow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but not all year. It would only be good for one use, better believe it, buddy."

Buffy perked up. "Wait, you'll do the winner's homework?"

"And you can do heavy lifting," Xander joked as he grabbed a handful of popcorn to stuff into his mouth.

"Hey yeah, and Xander can ... Xander can ..." Willow blushed. "Sorry, Xander. I can't think of anything you can do."

"I can pick out what you girls wear," Xander suggested while wagging his eyebrow in a mock leer.

Buffy snorted. "I don't think so. I've seen some of the things you drool over in the Victoria's Secret catalog when you think no one is watching."

"That's not a bad idea though," Willow opined.

Buffy gave her best girl friend an incredulous look. "What?"

"I mean for Halloween. We could give up the right to choose our own costumes."

"Oh, that's not so bad," Buffy agreed.

Xander smiled as he got a far-away look to his eyes. "Ooh, spandex."

"I take that back, it could be a very bad idea," Buffy joked while sticking her tongue out at Xander. Willow giggled.

"So we doing this then?" Xander sat forward, excited for once that entire day.

"Yeah, let's. Get them cards, Buffy. And bring us some pens and paper."

Buffy shot out of her seat. "I'm on it."

Soon the trio were sitting around Buffy's table, pen and slips of paper at hand and the bowl of popcorn off to the side.

"Wow," Xander exclaimed as he held up a blank slip of paper, "you cut these so neatly and uniformly, Willow."

Willow lightly punched her friend in the arm. "Shush, Xander."

"Maybe his favor could be he stays quiet for a day," Buffy mock suggested.

Xander quirked an eyebrow. "Not going to happen. Ask Willow. It's impossible." The girls giggled. "And we'll need more than just the idea or two. If we were only going to hold two favors to wager, we might as well just play strip poker with just our shoes. We'll need more to win or lose if we want the game to last us a good while."

"We'll think of something. That's why I made so many slips."

Buffy began to scrawl on one of hers. "You said, 'Heavy Lifting,' right? So I'll write 'Buffy helps with one heavy job' on my slip."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, and I'll make one for homework."

Xander sat and blushed. "Uhh ... Halloween costumes, right? So ... 'Xander will let the person holding this choose his Halloween costume.' I hope you girls plan on saving up, I don't want to go as some dorky, bargain bin, costume king."

Willow laughed. "Right, my second slip is also the right to dress me for Halloween." As she wrote this, Willow blushed and didn't look back up at her friends.

"She goes in a sheet every year, a ghost," Xander explained to Buffy, who then shot Willow a thoughtful and cunning look.

"Oh hey ... Xander, your other favor. The thing you can do for one of us," Buffy suddenly exclaimed happily, "can be that you'll hold our shopping bags on a mall trip."

Xander blinked. He didn't quite like the sound of the idea, but it didn't seem too bad. He shrugged. "Yeah, OK. I'll write that down. So that makes two each."

Willow blushed lightly as she shot Xander a glance out of the corner of her eye. Xander missed it. "How about one that gives up one dance at The Bronze?"

Xander looked confused. "You mean one where you don't have to dance, because I got say, Will, you don't dance already."

Willow ducked her head. "No, I mean, the holder can ask that person to dance and they have to."

"Oh," Buffy caught on, "that's a good one. Too bad Angel isn't playing with us."

Xander scowled at hearing Angel's name, but liked the idea of getting Buffy to dance with. "Alright, I'mma writing that on my third slip. 'Xander owes you a dance at The Bronze.'"

The group lapsed into silence. Xander broke it. "Hey, how some that might be worth a bit more compared to others."

"What are you thinking, Xander?" Buffy questioned.

"Oh ... just that maybe we could owe something like a dare."

Willow grew thoughtful. "A reasonable dare, sure. Why not another for truth?"

And so the group wrote out more slips, three owing up a dare each and three more for truths.

"Do they all have to be something each?" Willow asked. "We could pile up some one offs to deal out. You know, like winner gets to pick our next movie or video, or something like that."

"We'll need them in multiple of threes," Xander pointed out.

Buffy nodded. "Or, maybe not for the movie-choice one as that can get messy, but some could be duplicated to make it dividable into threes."

"So," Willow grabbed some more slips, "one for picking the next movie, another for picking the game we play the next time we are together like this, and we need one more."

"How about a reasonable favor," Xander suggested. "From the player of our choice."

"How is that any different from the dare ones we have," Buffy inquired.

Xander argued, "A favor and a dare are not the same things. A favor usually benefits the asker. A dare is done for amusement sake."

"Alright," Willow slid three slips of paper, face down, into the middle, "that's one for movies, one for games, and one for a favor. What else we got?"

"Kisses," Xander joked.

Buffy threw some popcorn at his head. "You wish." Though Buffy did see the dreamy look in Willow's eyes and vowed to make sure she won that favor. "Alright. But it has to be on the lips, for a minute ... and with tongue."

Willow blushed and Xander stared at his slayer friend in surprise. When Buffy began to write, Willow grew pale. "Wait, what, you're not serious?"

"You're really serious?" Xander also asked, in shock.

Buffy shrugged. "We need something to make the game high stakes. And that's as high as I'll go. And there's only the one. Not like three reasonable dares or Willow doing some homework. It'll be something to fight for."

Xander couldn't help the big grin spreading on his face, his thoughts already on the slayer he'd call that wager on. Willow blushed and looked down, but her eyes danced with longing as she shot another sideways glance at Xander. Buffy held in a shudder and hoped she wouldn't come to regret her idea.

Brandishing the piece of paper for all to see, Buffy gave her friends a moment to read it before adding it face down to the pile. It did grant the person who held it the right to choose one person for a minute long french kiss. "We have to agree to honor it. It's worthless otherwise."

Xander quickly nodded, only thinking about kissing Buffy. Willow tentatively nodded. She wondered what Buffy got out of it as the only boy to choose was Xander. Willow wasn't sure she liked the idea of Buffy and Xander kissing, but she didn't think Buffy wanted that either. Buffy was trying to figure out how she could get Angel to pay the token.

"Now we need two more," Xander said. "and two more gets us to third base."

Both girls quickly shook their heads. "No! Don't even try, buster."

"How about," Buffy paused to think, "if you're so eager to touch us, giving a back or foot rub."

"Ooh, good one, Buffy," Willow agreed.

Xander snorted. "Back rub? What good does that do me?"

"The other favor, to make three, could be having your choice of comic book bought," Willow advised.

"Fine, that sounds fair. One so you girls get your feet massaged and another so I get a comic book."

"Graphic novels don't count as a comic book," Willow argued, quickly seeing the loophole.

Xander pouted. "Fine, fine. No graphic novels."

"That's like ... seven slips each once we divide up the ones in the middle. Is that enough?"

Willow shrugged. "I don't think so, Buffy."

"We could add in something that we won't want to win. Try to get others to win it. You know, like buy a round of drinks at The Bronze. Soda isn't that expensive, so it's not a bad idea." Xander waited to see what his friends thought.

"Hmm," Willow thought. "Need two more, so drinks, donuts, and ..."

Buffy caught on. "Ice cream."

"You do know the person holding the paper has to buy, not have it bought for them?" Xander asked.

"Yeah. It adds a wrinkle. But it'll get the higher stake favors into play more." Her two friends looked at her questioningly. "I mean, we wouldn't merely accept someone using one of those as a wager on its own, nor would we feel like betting anything too valuable from our own pile if it was played. So the only way we'll let someone play one of those is if they paired it with something worth a bit."

Xander smiled. "Oh, right. Good point. Maybe we need three more a bit worse than buying some soda or ice cream cones."

"Like what?" Willow asked in a worried tone.

"Weapon cleaning, being Buffy's practice dummy, and uh ..." Xander stopped to think more.

"Those are good suggestions. I have no problem with them," Buffy agreed.

"Host a party?" Willow suggested. She knew Xander wasn't keen on having people over, but it was the only thing she could think of.

Xander squirmed. "I don't know. Our parents might not like-"

Buffy interrupted. "Mom wouldn't mind, and it is not like it would be unsupervised. Nothing crazy, just some friends, chips, dip, and music."

Willow counted out the favors. "Up to nine favors each, once we pass out the one-offs. Three more different one-offs or one with three copies, or even one where you need all three to cash it in? That would give us ten each, a round number if not a good one."

"Any ideas? I don't think I can come up with three new ones," Xander pointed out.

"Me neither," Buffy agreed. "And nothing like the kiss. One is more than enough."

Xander winked at Buffy. "Maybe a date, but you need all three?" Seeing the girls frown, he quickly added, "No kissing or anything, just two friends hanging out."

"Maybe..." Buffy drawled out.

"Maybe something that won't ruin a friendship," Willow advised.

"Worth a shot," Xander muttered to himself.

Buffy glared at Xander, having heard him with her slayer-powered hearing. Willow glanced over at him, as she couldn't make out what he said. "What was that?"

Xander blinked. "I said ... 'Maybe it's enough.'"

"Oh." Willow shrugged. "Yeah, maybe nine each is enough."

"I don't know. Ten is a nice number. I'm not sure what I want out of you, is all. Not like any of us really has much of anything." Buffy shrugged as she stared off to the side in thought.

"Let's just play," Xander said. "It's taking too long to figure out one to three more."

"Yeah. Go ahead and deal, Buffy." Willow snagged the pile of slips from the middle, gave them a good mixing, and separated them out into three piles before handing the piles out.

Buffy began to shuffle the cards. "I forget, do I deal five cards or seven?"

"Depends on the poker style. I had assumed draw, but stud and hold 'em are options. Maybe dealer chooses?" Xander asked.

"Which is the one no one gets to see your cards?" Buffy asked.

"Draw. Deal five cards," Willow said. "We used to play that one with Jessie all the time. Usually for monopoly money. Do you know the hands Buffy?"

"Hands?"

"Yeah, you know, combinations of cards and what they'll beat and not beat," Xander supplied.

At her blank look, Willow and Xander shared a glance. "Here, hand the deck over. I'll show you some hands." Willow took the deck and began picking through it for cards to make poker hands out of.

'Either she's hustling or she's never played before. I'm thinking it's a dumb blonde act.' Xander thought to himself.

Soon the game got underway; Xander opened the bids with 'buy ice-cream,' Willow with 'buy a round,' and Buffy with 'weapon cleaning duty.' Xander discarded two, Willow three, and Buffy one. The bidding then went on with Xander wagering 'Xander truth,' Willow wagering 'Willow homework,' and Buffy betting 'Buffy dance at Bronze.' Willow won that hand with three of a kind.

The deal moved on to Willow, as she said that her, Xander, and Jessie would always play it so the dealer rotation was opposite to the card play. No one knew if that was the correct method or not, so they just went with it.

Xander folded right away and Willow folded after the discard, losing 'weapon cleaning duty' back to Buffy.

A few hands passed like that, each betting small favors they were comfortable with, at first. Soon, Xander was wagering 'Xander's costume choice' and Buffy was convincing Willow to double up the smaller favors as she had more at the moment.

After a few more hands, Buffy lost a 'Buffy truth' to Xander, Willow picked up a 'Buffy costume choice,' and then things began to get more interesting, the game heated up, smiles broke out, stories were told, and time passed in comradeship.

Joyce Summers walked into the kitchen, after a long day working at the Gallery. She picked up take-out from Buffy's favorite place, for one last dinner before Buffy had to leave the next day to visit with Hank Summers. She was surprised, and pleased, to see Buffy and friends playing a card game and having a lot of fun doing so. 'Glad I picked up extra, I figured Xander and Willow would probably be around.'

She watched the kids closer, seeing what they were playing. "I fold, I only got a pair of eights," Buffy remarked.

"Buffster, I keep tellin' ya. Only play a hand that is a pair of Jacks or better," Xander said as he raked in bits of paper.

'Poker?' Joyce wondered. 'Looks like fake money.'

"Oh, hey Mom! Need a hand with those bags?"

Joyce shook her head. "No, I got it sweety. Xander, Willow, Staying for dinner? I got enough."

"I just need to let my mom know. May I use the phone?" Willow got up to use the phone that Joyce nodded at.

"Sure, Mrs. S. Hey Willow, let your mom know I am eating here too."

Willow rolled her eyes at Xander. "Tell your own mom, doofus."

Joyce noticed that Xander and Buffy swept up their 'fake money' and pocketed them. Buffy also made a neat pile of Willow's for her, the smallest pile. "Oh, playing again after dinner? Who's winning?"

"I guess I am, Mom. I have more."

"Ah, Buff, but it's what one has, not how much, that counts," Xander counseled in a wise voice. Joyce didn't pay him much mind, used to his antics.

Joyce noticed that the kids never did play poker again that night, but neither did they throw out their slips of paper.