Chapter 1 – Warm Ups

Summary – Look, Chad wasn't the smoothest guy in the world. He pretended to be, but when faced with a pretty girl that wanted to kiss him, he just sort of panicked. Cue Mal, of all people, helping him build his confidence so Evie could get the prince she deserved. Chad's not sure what she gets out of the exchange, exactly, but he's not complaining.

Also known as: That time kissing practice helped save the world, sort of. Or at least, led a motley crew of teenagers to consider alternatives other than evil ;)

-:-:-:-:-:-

"What the hell are you doing?"

Chad wouldn't say he was surprised by the sudden intrusion so much as he was bamboozled, because one moment he'd been walking back to his dorm room after Tourney practice, pondering the conundrum that was Evie, and the next he was blindsided by a petite, purple-haired teen who more or less shoved him into an alcove between buildings and glared at him as though offended by the audacity that was his existence.

It was very confusing, and a little bit terrifying.

"Um… walking?" Chad didn't know who this person was. He knew she was very pretty, with pale skin and bright green eyes and a commitment to the color purple which seemed pretty neat, but like, that didn't help the situation any, because Chad had always been mildly terrified of pretty girls. It was what made being near Evie so difficult.

"I mean," the small girl hissed, jabbing a finger into Chad's chest. "What are you doing with Evie?"

"Um." Chad looked around in panic, as though the referenced princess was somewhere nearby and he'd just missed her, but luckily it was just him and the tiny accuser in their little alcove. "…I don't know?"

"You don't know?" the girl growled, digging her finger deeper into Chad's chest. She was going to leave a bruise at this rate, but Chad didn't have the heart to mention that, since she probably didn't mean to. "You're making her do your homework and you don't know?"

"Oh." Chad blinked. Maybe this girl was one of Evie's friends. "Right. I didn't think she'd actually do it." At the worsening glare, Chad rushed to add, "I mean, usually that makes the girls go away, so I asked her to do it, but then she said yes so now I just feel bad and I think she might actually do my homework so…"

Evie's friend stared at him like he was an incomprehensible thing. "So… what, you're a queer?"

"What?" Chad could feel a rush of heat flood his cheeks. "No. I mean- I don't- maybe like, partially? I dunno. I know I'm attracted to girls but like, they also scare me, because they want me to be super charming like my dad but I can only fake that for about two minutes before I start freaking out."

Chad wasn't allowed to socialize much when he was younger. After his mother's death, security had really tightened up around the castle, and his father and grandpa had been so busy running Sardinia that they didn't really have time for Chad, and no one else really knew what to do with him either, so just sort of… nothing happened.

"I don't know what to do," Chad gushed, because purple-haired girl didn't look like she was going to say anything. "I've never gotten to this point and I think Evie wants me to kiss her. I've never kissed anyone; what if it's super awful? I don't want to give her a bad kiss, she's like, super smart and poised and pretty."

"Okay." Evie's friend held up a hand as though to cut him off, and then her eyes closed, one hand rising to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Are you telling me that you tried to scare Evie off not because she is the daughter of the Evil Queen, but because you're afraid of disappointing her?"

"Right." Chad nodded, and then he frowned. "She's the daughter of the Evil Queen?"

Evie's friend stared at him like he was stupid, which was probably not unfair.

"Oh, right." Chad flushed. "Ben brought transfer students over from the Isle. Um… well, as long as she's not evil it should be fine, right? And Evie doesn't seem evil, she's just like- really cool."

And wanted Chad to kiss her for some reason which was sort of weird, because she could literally pick anyone.

Evie's friend dragged a hand across her face. "Sweet evil," she hissed, which was worrisome for all of a second, and then she was latching onto his wrist. "Okay, we're going to your room."

"We are?" Chad asked, surprised, but he followed her nonetheless, because this was the longest conversation he'd had with a girl since he'd come to the 'appropriate dating age'.

"Yes," the slight teen huffed. "We're going to fix your stupid performance anxiety and then you're going to date Evie and not make her do your homework."

"Could you, um- if you're her friend, could you just get my homework back from her?" Chad asked. "I'll do it myself, just like- I didn't expect her to call my bluff-"

"I'll make it happen," Evie's friend groaned with a roll of her eyes. "Hades, I have to do everything."

"Sorry," Chad said, because it was only polite.

For whatever reason, that earned him a startled look of confusion before the girl recovered into what seemed to be her usual scowl. "Whatever. I warn you now, if this was all just some act-"

"It's not," Chad cut in, insistent. "I mean, the charming stuff, that's mostly an act, and I'm not even that good at it."

"You don't have to do that stuff," Mal declared, dragging him onward despite the fact that she couldn't know where they were going. "Just… do this, now. Evie will like that."

Chad pondered over this as she pulled him up the stairs and into the dormitories, veering off to the side in the general direction of Chad's room.

Maybe she really did know where he slept.

"You really think so?" Chad asked. "But I'm all…" What was the word Audrey had used? "Um… needy."

Evie's friend shot him an unreadable look. "Just stick to the part where you give her compliments and like, respect her as a human and you'll be fine."

"Oh, okay." Those both seemed doable. Chad already did those. "And um… you don't think she'll be disappointed?"

"Trust me, you've already got everything she needs." Which seemed like sort of a vague response, before she continued with, "You don't care that she's from the Isle."

"I mean." Chad frowned. "Should I? She didn't commit any crimes." The thought of it filled him with an unspeakable sadness. "…that must have been awful. I'm glad Ben brought the transfer students over, maybe he'll finalize their citizenships after coronation so they don't have to go back." He thought about it some more. "And then maybe he'll bring some more kids over. He should try for all of them, and maybe they can't all come here, but like-"

He stumbled when Evie's friend brought him to an abrupt halt, whirling to face him with a glare. "Do you even know who I am?"

"Um…" This was likely a question with a very obvious answer, and Chad felt dumb for not knowing it. "…Evie's friend?"

The glare intensified. "From the Isle."

"Oh." Right, that sort of explained her clothes. They were way more durable than the stuff the princesses wore. "I didn't know that."

"I'm beginning to think you don't know anything," Evie's friend huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "I'm Mal."

"Oh." Chad perked up. "I'm Chad."

"I know," she drawled, but it seemed like the corner of her mouth was picking up in a smirk, so that probably meant good things. "Do you know who my mom is?"

"Um…" Chad was getting really sick of these questions he didn't have answers to. "Someone with purple hair?"

"Maleficent," Mal deadpanned, watching Chad with a careful look.

Maleficent. As in-

"Oh, wow." Chad blinked, because Mal's mom had been like, super terrifying. "So are you like, part fairy?"

That seemed to catch Mal off guard, and then she studied him warily. "Yes?"

"That's awesome." Chad grinned. "My mom had a fairy godmother. They said her blood was 'Fae blessed', and I don't think that passed onto me, but like- fairies are cool."

Mal gave him another look like he was stupid. "You know I'm part dark fairy, right?"

"Yeah." Chad nodded. "Dark as in shadows, not evil. Or, I mean, it doesn't necessitate evil. That's um, not a direct correlation, I think."

Mal just sort of stared at him again. "You're a damn weirdo."

Chad blushed. "Sorry."

"No, that's-" Mal pinched the bridge of her nose again. "That's fine. At least, comparatively, that's fine. Come on."

She dragged Chad onwards until they were eventually at his room door, which meant Mal had tracked down that information before finding him.

She didn't wait for Chad to pull the key from his pocket, choosing to do so herself before deftly unlocking the door and pushing her way inside. As expected, Doug was already at his desk working on homework, and he blinked at their entrance.

"Doug, Mal," Chad said while Mal tossed the key onto his desk. "Mal, Doug. Doug is the son of-"

"I don't care," Mal said, and then she was grabbing Chad's wrist again, pulling him towards his closet for whatever reason.

"Um," Doug said from behind them.

"She didn't mean that," Chad assured his roommate, and then Mal was pushing inside the walk-in, locking the door behind them and nudging Chad towards the ottoman he'd brought from home because sometimes he needed to hide in his closet when things got overwhelming and it just seemed kind of sad to huddle on the floor all the time.

"Sit," she instructed, so Chad sat, and then his heart started beating at a rapidly accelerated tempo when Mal curled up on the ottoman next to him. "Alright," she said. "We're going to get you over this kissing thing."

"How?" Chad asked. "I mean, have you ever done it? Because I've never done it-"

"We're going to kiss, stupid," Mal sighed, and that didn't do much to help Chad's nerves.

"But-" he sputtered. "But it will be bad."

"Exactly," Mal sighed. Again. "The first few times will be bad and then you'll get better and you'll use the better kisses on Evie and you'll hold her hand and do whatever it takes to make her happy, got it?"

"I mean- yeah, I can do that." When it was spelled out for him like that, it didn't seem so hard. "Would you um- be okay with giving me tips? To keep her happy? I don't want to be a bad boyfriend. Not that I'm her boyfriend," he rushed to say. "She might change her mind, and that's okay-"

"Hades," Mal cursed again. Or at least, Chad was pretty sure that was a curse. "You are going to be her boyfriend, okay? And you are going to treat her like a damn queen."

"Yes, ma'am," Chad said, and that at least earned him a tiny smile, which he reveled in up until the point where Mal leaned forward with her dainty, pale hands and started cupping his cheeks.

"Relax," Mal ordered, tapping his jaw with rough fingers. "This isn't a big deal. As long as you don't treat it like one, it's fine."

"Okay." Mal was doing him a favor, so Chad needed to listen to her. He needed to calm down and breathe and not get overwhelmed by the fact that she was very pretty and he didn't have a lot to offer her. "I'll um- I'll try-"

"Just shut up," Mal said, and then she was leaning forward.

Mal's lips were as soft as they looked. They were pretty and firm, and Chad was afraid of ruining them, of ruining this because it seemed so nice, but then Mal was moving against him, so he tried to follow her lead. He wasn't sure if it was going alright, but Mal seemed like the type of person that would tell him if it wasn't, and she kept angling his head so she could pull him into deeper kisses.

"Oh wow," Chad breathed when she finally pulled away, feeling partly dazed. "Was that good? You did good. That was- it was very nice."

"Let's keep it that way," Mal growled, and then she was climbing into his lap.

He had- there was a pretty girl in his lap, and Chad was sort of afraid of how his body would respond to the warm weight straddling his legs. His hands moved reflexively to her waist, but Mal didn't seemed to mind, the other teen seeming content to keep a hold of Chad's face while they just sort of… lazily made out.

Good golly, miss molly, they were making out. Chad was making out with someone and it wasn't going horribly wrong. That was pretty great, and then Mal was curling her fingers through his hair, scratching against his scalp in small patterns that made Chad shudder, because it felt so good.

Or, unfortunately, too good, because Chad might be a prince but he was also a hormonal teenager and he couldn't help how his body reacted in a certain way until that growing swell of warmth was pressing against Mal.

That was what made the half-fairy pull away, looking down with a concerned expression, and Chad tried to sputter his apologies. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Huh," she mused, reaching down to cup his groin. "You got worked up from this. With me?"

"Y-You're very pretty," Chad muttered somewhat ineffectually, and then she was squeezing her hand-

Chad was completely blindsided by his release, falling apart then and there from so very little, and as good as it felt, he was mostly humiliated when it was done, because Mal was still watching him with a quirked brow.

"Okay," she said, rubbing at him in a sort of tease. "We'll have to work on that."

"Work on um- what?" Chad breathed, still feeling half out of it.

"Your stamina," Mal said, rolling her eyes. "It sucks. Evie deserves more than that, if she feels like, you know, getting jiggy with you."

"You're not wrong," Chad said. "But do you think she'd actually want to- I mean, you know, before we get married?"

That time when Mal rolled her eyes, she did it with such intensity that Chad was sort of surprised she didn't fall over. "That is the most Auradon thing I have ever heard," she grumbled, her palm very much still between his legs. "Look, I don't know what Evie's going to want to do with you, all I know is that whatever it is, you're gonna make it happen, okay? Which means we need to be prepared for any eventuality." Mal gnawed at her bottom lip, seeming lost in thought. "You know, I might have a spell for that."

"Really?" That seemed like a very specific thing to have a spell for.

"Sure." Mal shrugged. "I'd have to reread the book again, but I think there's something in there for that."

"That would be cool."

This earned him another one of those unreadable looks. "You'd be cool with getting spelled by the daughter of Maleficent?"

Chad shook his head. "I'd be cool with getting spelled by Mal, Evie's friend and determined protector."

For the first time since their conversation had started, Mal gave him a genuine smile, one that warmed Chad down to his very bones.

Yeah, maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe this year, Chad could have friends.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Are you ready for this?" Mal asked when they reconvened in the closet the next day, which was apparently their new meeting ground. Mal had climbed in through the window that time, half giving Doug a heart attack before he rushed to hide some paperwork on his desk (why Doug thought Mal cared about his homework, Chad did not know).

Chad had less of a heart attack, but only because Mal had told him 'doors were for posers' the day before, which meant she obviously had an alternate solution in mind when it came to entering dorm rooms.

Which brought them to the closet.

"Not really," Chad admitted, lying down on the ottoman as instructed. "But that's like, my general outlook on life, so don't be offended by it."

Mal gave him another one of those looks that Chad was beginning to recognize as 'amused'.

"Whatever," she dismissed, flipping through her spellbook. "Theoretically, this should work, though for whatever reason the effects only last for an hour. I'll have to do more research into extending it, but for now we'll just practice with the basic spell and go from there."

"Um… cool." Chad hoped this worked out, and if it did work out that there was a way to extend the spell, because having Mal recast it on him every time he made out with Evie (if he made out with Evie, just thinking about it made him shaky), would probably make things awkward very fast.

"Just relax," Mal huffed, rolling her eyes. "I might be new to magic, but this is straight forward enough."

She frowned at the book in concentration, waving her fingers in a vague sort of pattern. Chad couldn't really tell if anything was happening, but he did feel a sort of static build in the air, the hair on his arm standing up for a brief moment before a swell of foreign warmth seemed to flood Chad, settling right between his legs.

"Um." Alright, he was superbly aroused and nothing had happened, almost to the point of aching and Chad whined, shifting his legs experimentally as he tried to sit up.

Oh, just- wow that hurt and felt good and was super-duper conflicting.

"That is… unexpected," Mal said, setting her book aside and climbing onto the ottoman beside Chad. "Were you- I dunno, thinking any happy thoughts before this?"

"N-Not really?" Chad gasped, wanting to palm himself but also not because Mal was right there. "I was just nervous."

Mal stared at him for a moment. "We'll consider that hurdle later, for now, why don't we try kissing without the premature, you know."

"Right," Chad said, and didn't realize he was setting himself up for a torturous thirty minutes until Mal was climbing into his lap again. "S-Sorry."

"I already knew it was there," Mal huffed, her thigh shifting against him, sending distinct tingles through Chad's torso. "Let's just-" She ended the conversation by pulling Chad into a kiss, which was suitably distracting.

Chad thought he was getting better – things seemed more natural, at least, but it was hard to focus on that with the throbbing heat between his legs. He didn't feel close to falling apart, just aroused which was odd but what the spell entailed so he guessed everything was okay?

At least, it was until Mal reached down and started squeezing him, introducing a whole new level of torture.

It felt good, that went without question (and it was still very overwhelming and odd that a girl was touching his genitals, albeit through a layer of clothing), there just didn't seem to be any relief from it. Mal started out her administrations easily, giving him a few soft gropes here and there, but as the minutes dragged on, she started to move her hand faster, attempting to coax a reaction out of Chad.

When she finally pulled away from Chad's lips, he whimpered, a horrible whine spilling from his throat as his hips rutted into her contact, even though it seemed to offer no relief.

"What the fuck?" Mal hissed, staring at Chad's groin like it offended her. "Why haven't you come yet?"

"I don't- I don't know," Chad gasped. "It's like I can't. I want to, but I can't."

"Let me re-read the stupid spell," Mal muttered. "Here, just-" She pressed one of his hands between his legs, and Chad didn't even have the forethought to be embarrassed as he tried to relieve some of the ache, rocking into his own hand with a whine while Mal flipped through her book.

"D-Did you find something?" Chad gasped, humiliated to find frustrated tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.

It felt good, but mostly it hurt, and he really just wanted it to go away.

"…shit," Mal hissed. "I must have misread this."

"Can- can you undo it?" Chad gasped, eyes struggling to stay open as he was overwhelmed by the devastatingly strong sensations.

"Um… probably not."

"Mal," Chad cried, literally cried, because he was a baby but also because his groin was on fire.

"It'll wear off in an hour!" Mal said. "Less than that, now. Just- what do you need to make this easier?"

"Could… could we kiss again?" Chad felt embarrassed to ask, but- "That sort of helped distract from-"

"Okay." Mal didn't make him finish, simply climbing into his lap again and then she was um- licking at his lips, and then into his mouth, which was definitely distracting because it should be gross but really it felt nice.

Too nice, nertz, the heat kept pooling between his legs, and he couldn't help but rut up into-

"S-Sorry," Chad gasped again, tiny tears spilling from the corner of his eyes. "Maybe you should-"

"It's fine," Mal snapped, and then she was um- grinding down against him, and that was- he was grinding between her legs and granted they were wearing clothes but she was also starting to get flushed and she looked very pretty like that and-

This was literally going to drive Chad crazy.

He wasn't sure how long into it they got before Mal lost herself. She buried her face into his shoulder, fingers digging into his curls while she rocked through her release, and that was so very hot and so very touching but mostly it was overwhelming because Chad ached for his own relief.

"Just-" Mal huffed sometime later, her hand working furiously between Chad's legs while he shook. "Any second now-"

"Fuck!" It felt like Chad had been punched in the gut, like the sensation of every release he should have had hit him at once until he was a trembling mess, spasming back against the ottoman with a rough cry while his body seemed to tremble helplessly.

It felt good to let go, or to finally be allowed to let go and Chad was embarrassed by the mewls that fell out of his mouth, exacerbated by the hand Mal kept between his legs until Chad was finally done. It made him grateful that Doug had left for chess club that evening shortly after Mal arrived, or there really wouldn't have been any way to describe that.

"Aw, man," Chad gasped, chest heaving as the aftershocks rocked their way through his body. "Oh, geeze. Wow, I-"

"Guess that explains the reason for that spell," Mal said, flopping down beside him. "…are you mad?"

"What?" Chad blinked over towards her muzzily, still lost to the lingering throes of arousal. "Um- no? You were trying to help me. I'm not mad at you for that."

Mal shot him a dry look. "You got stuck with a magic boner for an hour."

"Yeah." Chad winced. "Let's not do that again."

There was a beat, and then Mal laughed. It was a helpless sort of laughter, and Chad found himself joining in on it, because the situation was so very silly.

"O-Okay," Mal giggled, wiping mirthful tears from her eyes. "If you insist."

"I do," Chad said, laughing along with her. "Please. Like, the end was good, but that was the only good part."

"I shall make a note to be more diligent reading these things in the future," Mal declared, petting Chad's shoulder. "In the meantime, I guess we'll work on your problem the old-fashioned way."

"But not like, now," Chad said, whimpering at the very thought of it. "Please. I um- I don't think I can take it."

"No," Mal huffed, grinning. "Not now. Now, we'll get cleaned up," she declared, rolling to her feet. "And then maybe you can show me how to do some of this stupid homework, because Evie wants me to try but it's dumb."

"Not all of it is," Chad offered, and this was- it was cool. Despite how horrific the rest of it had sort of been, he was bonding with Mal now, which meant maybe he could bond with Evie, and maybe things weren't entirely hopeless.

So he held onto that.

-:-:-:-:-:-

There was a lot of trial and error after that. They elected to do things the non-magical way, which required about a weeks' worth of sessions in Chad's closet before Mal was willing to give him the all clear to move on to Evie. Chad wasn't entirely sure what Mal had told Evie in order to get his homework back, but the purple-haired teen had assured him that the princess wasn't mad, and had even given him pretty explicit instructions as what to do.

"She is a princess," Mal explained, looking at Chad meaningfully in case he missed that. "You will treat her like one. Fairytale romance the shit out of her. She wants to be treated and recognized in a manner befitting her status. Do you get that?"

"Yes," Chad said, looking up from where he was dutifully taking notes. "Should I um… get her flowers? Or would she like chocolates more? Maybe I should just do both."

"Yes," Mal said, her eyes narrowed in concentration. "Both. The answer is always both."

Mal was so very helpful.

"Hey, Chad," Evie said when he came to pick her up, dressed in an elegant navy dress and looking far too pretty for someone who could be interacting with Chad on a regular basis.

Mal was standing just over her shoulder, making gestures towards Chad that ultimately equated to 'don't fuck this up'. She used them a few times during their meetings.

"Hey um- Evie," Chad managed, passing over the red and gold roses and box of Sardinian specialty chocolates. "I'm sorry about um- everything."

This earned him a laugh that was sort of like majesty, if that had a sound. "I thought it was sweet, once Mal explained it," she said, eying the gifts with an open delight. "Thank you, Chad."

"My pleasure, your highness," Chad said, remembering to bow. He could do this. He could be charming. "Our um- car awaits."

"Outstanding," she said, passing the gifts off to Mal, who was generous enough to give Chad a thumbs up.

As per Mal's request, Chad 'fairytale romanced' the sputz out of Evie. He took her to a nice Hanoven restaurant so she could get a taste for her home kingdom, the way she never had before. Chad was worried about what he would say, so he focused on mostly asking questions about Evie's likes, about what she'd always wanted to see in Auradon. About the books she read and the clothes she wanted to design (and he was sure to compliment her on the stuff she made, because apparently like, all of Mal's clothes came from her and Mal was always dressed super cool).

They even bonded over Mal, Evie seeming to appreciate the fact that Chad thought she was pretty great.

"You're not scared of her?" Evie asked over the dessert course.

"No, she's awesome," Chad assured her. "I like anyone who is willing to fight for their friends."

Because that meant they cared a lot.

Chad wondered what that was like, sometimes.

"She does," Evie hummed, somewhat dreamily. "Mal's very protective. She fights for what's hers."

"Then I think you're lucky," Chad said. "To be her friend."

The smile that earned him lasted the rest of the night, and when they got to the starlit carriage ride around the park, Evie let him hold her hand.

"Maybe I'll take you to the book shop next time," Chad said as he took a break between pointing out constellations. "Mal said you've been wanting to expand your personal collection."

He saw Evie freeze in his peripherals. "And you're… okay with that?"

"Hm?" Chad turned to meet her confusion head on. "Of course. A healthy intellectual curiosity is a gift, I think. Or- Queen Belle said that, I was just quoting her, but um…" He stared down at his lap, feeling awkward and dumb all over again. "I didn't really have friends, growing up. But I did have books, which are reliable and…"

"An escape?" Evie offered, squeezing his fingers.

"Yeah." Chad grinned. "Like that."

"…I didn't have friends growing up either," Evie admitted, sort of blowing Chad's mind. "I was confined to my mother's castle until I was six for… my own protection, so I mostly kept myself occupied in the library, teaching myself things."

"It really paid off," Chad said. "I never would have thought to teach myself to sew. Like, I learned how to play the piano through trial and error, but Mal says you know like, four languages and basic alchemy and you're a super talented seamstress and-" Chad cut himself off with a flush, knowing he was blushing horribly. "Sorry, you're just really cool and… I'm sorry you've been stuck on the Isle." He hated the thought of someone as bright and talented as Evie being trapped behind the barrier. "You deserved to be out here this whole time, reading as many books as you wanted."

For a moment, Chad thought he really messed up, Evie was so quiet, but eventually she squeezed his fingers again.

When he looked up, she was smiling at him in that small way of hers. "Thank you, Chad. I really appreciate that."

And the strangest thing was that he was pretty sure she was telling the truth.

He parted ways with her at the door to her dorm room, passing over the bag of food they had gotten for Mal and the others (the guys whose names Chad couldn't remember), before he got to kiss Evie's knuckles.

Overall, it was not bad for a first date. He was pretty sure if he and his dad actually talked to each other, this would be a thing they could bond about.

The next series of dates went pretty well. Chad did end up taking Evie to a book shop, and maybe to a fabric store. They worked in the kitchens together to make a picnic from recipes they had read in books but never dared to try themselves and ate them out in the gardens, giggling at the splotches of flour and fruit juice staining their clothes. Chad took Evie to an exhibit on Hanoven culture in the Central Auradon Museum, he brought her a movie adaptation of one of her favorite books and they watched it in the lounge area of her dorm room (Mal joined them for that one, making it even better in Chad's opinion, the purple-haired teen mocking their excitement from her position splayed across the couch). They had study dates during the week, and sometimes he brought her the latest fashion magazines and she would explain the intricacies of the designs to him in French, because of course she knew the major language of Central Auradon and Sardinia.

Through it all, Mal was determined for Chad keep up his practice sessions with her, the purple-haired teen demanding recaps of all of his interactions with Evie. It helped to have her as his own private coach, because she knew better than anyone else if he was messing things up. So far she said he was doing a good job, but she warned him not to get cocky. Which was like, the last thing Chad wanted, so he definitely did not do that.

Overall, things were good. Chad hoped they stayed that way.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"It's not something just anyone could do," Audrey was saying – well, boasting, and the rest of them were dutifully listening because that was what you did when the princess of three kingdoms took over the lunch conversation. "It takes leadership, determination, and experience to be captain of the cheer team."

"I never said it didn't," Ben offered kindly, the only one who would dare to break into the conversation when Audrey got like this. "I'm just saying…"

Important Ben stuff. Chad knew he should be listening, but half of his attention was a lunchroom away, at Evie and Mal's table. Chad would be eating with them, only Mal told him that sometimes Evie needed 'friend time' without Chad, and because Chad respected boundaries, he resigned himself to his usual lunch table where he never said anything. It was difficult to say something wrong if you didn't say anything at all, so Chad had mastered the art of polite disinterest years ago, even though sometimes he was quite interested, if entirely intimidated.

"I mean," Audrey continued. "It's not like Mal could do it."

"She probably could if she wanted to," Chad said before he could help himself. "She just wouldn't want to."

The entire concept of cheerleading seemed incomprehensible to Mal. She tended to edge away from the cheerleaders when they were wearing their uniforms the way one might avoid a rabid dog. It was sort of funny, until Chad realized she had likely encountered rabid dogs before.

It took Chad a few moments to realize the rest of the table was staring at him in surprise, because he'd just broken his two-year no-talking streak.

"Do you know her?" Aziz asked finally, his gaze flicking over to Mal's table.

"Oh, yeah." Chad grinned. "She's Evie's best friend, and like, she's super tough, but also super cool. Look at this." He dug through his backpack until he found his notebook, then opened it to the back page. "She drew this picture of Evie for me. Look how good it is."

"Wow," Aziz said, completely without sarcasm, Chad was pretty sure. "This is good."

"I wanna see," Lonnie said, deftly relieving Aziz of the notebook. "…damn."

"Right?" Chad grinned. "She's a super good artist, but she refuses to join the art club."

Chad had settled for buying her art supplies instead, which she had accepted with great reluctance until Chad offered them as payment for her coaching sessions. Then she seemed more welcoming of the gifts.

"Are you friends with her, Chad?" Audrey asked, wearing that distinct expression she used to indicate that she was not happy and soon everyone else would also not be happy. Chad wasn't sure why she was wearing it, though.

"Man, I hope so," Chad said, retrieving his notebook because it contained a few more doodles from Mal and they were all precious to him.

Unlike his girlfriend, Ben seemed positively thrilled by this news. "That's great, Chad," he chirped, almost making Chad freeze in terror because he wasn't used to the other prince's attention being entirely on him. "I'm glad to hear you two are getting along."

"And that's not all," Lonnie said, brightening up in that certain way that meant she had hot gossip to share. "I've heard that Chadwick here has been seen taking Evie on excursions that could be considered romantic."

"Yep." Chad grinned, brightening up himself because it was finally his turn to brag. "Evie and I are dating."

"Evie?" Aziz echoed, his brows furrowed in thought. "You turned down most of the princesses in the school but you decide to date her?"

"Um." Chad could feel himself blushing. "She um… was the only one to call my bluff, so… yeah."

"Your bluff?" Doug shared a confused look with Jane – the two of which had also dedicated themselves to similar plans of survival-by-silence, so they also normally didn't talk, unless it was to each other.

Chad ducked his head. It was embarrassing, now that he had to spell it out, in front of Ben no less. "Yeah, I um… I…"

"Oh, for Goodness' sake," Audrey said, picking angrily at her salad. "Chad was afraid of dating girls because he has daddy issues."

"I do not." If Chad had been embarrassed before, now it was- this was different, darker and more cruel, maybe closer to humiliation because that wasn't right.

Audrey rolled her eyes. "He was afraid he'd let down the whole 'charming' name or whatever – that's why he hasn't dated anyone. The only reason he's dating Evie was because she was so desperate to get a prince that she's willing to work through his dumb issues."

"That's not true either," Chad said, feeling… he didn't know how he felt, but 'small' seemed accurate. "Evie isn't like that."

"No, let me guess," Audrey said. "She's 'super cool'."

"She is," Chad insisted. "She's really smart and talented-"

"Grow up, Chad," Audrey huffed. "Just because they're nice to you doesn't mean they're your friends. They're just using you because you're the only prince dumb enough to fall for their bullshit."

"Audrey," Ben chided, wearing that same conflicted look he always wore when Audrey said something horrible, which was kind of a lot of the time. "That isn't true-"

"Oh?" Audrey challenged, glaring at her boyfriend. "And what? Do you think they want to hang out with Chad because of his sparkling personality? I mean- what personality? He doesn't have one!"

The words rang through the dining hall with a sort of brutality that ended all other conversations. Everyone stopped to stare at their table, Chad feeling more and more incompetent as the seconds dragged on. Because as shocked as his tablemates seemed by the volume of Audrey's outburst, none of them seemed entirely surprised by the contents of her statement.

Which meant they… they agreed. They thought Chad was nothing. He was nothing, to them.

"Audrey," Ben repeated, his expression hardening with resolve. "You need to calm down."

"I'm just saying what we're all thinking," she spat, turning her fury onto Chad. "Chad, you're a useless waste of space. You're going to be a terrible king, and we've all thought that much for years-"

"I wouldn't take the judgement of a spoiled brat too seriously," Mal said, because Mal was there, standing just over Chad's shoulder with a look of fury in her eyes that could not be contained. "Feeling defensive, Rose?"

"You don't know shit, Mal," Audrey hissed.

Mal didn't so much as blink. "I know your boyfriend's got a wandering eye," she drawled, looking entirely bored as she dropped that bombshell. "And instead of taking it out on him, you're attacking the competition."

None of that made sense, but it did shut Audrey up, the rest of the table falling into looks of shock.

"Whatever." Mal rolled her eyes, motioning to Chad. "Come on, let's get out of here before her stupid starts to spread."

Chad scrambled to follow the order, mostly relieved (and a bit ashamed) that Mal had come to his rescue. He should have rescued himself, or just been better so Audrey wouldn't have yelled at him in the first place. There was nothing he could do about it now, so he tried to walk with his head held high just like Mal, feeling some of the tension ease from his chest when Evie herded him into a spot between her and the purple-haired teen.

"She's wrong," Evie said simply, cradling Chad's hands in her own. "Whatever she said, she was wrong. She's just jealous."

"Just…" Chad ducked his head, his throat feeling a bit thick. "It feels like she'd kind of right."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Mal groaned. "You're shy, that doesn't mean you don't have a personality. Just because you're not yelling at everyone and bossing them around doesn't mean you don't count. You're quiet and sweet and… Evie, you take over."

"You're thoughtful," Evie said, squeezing his fingers until Chad looked up at her. "You're supportive. You're patient. Those might not be in-your-face personality traits, but it doesn't mean they're unimportant."

"What she said," Mal finished with a nod. "Now forget that dumb fuck and focus on the rest of lunch – Jay was just getting to part two of his dissertation as to why Carlos should do his math homework."

"He shouldn't," Chad said, furrowing his brows in concern.

"This was the common consensus," Evie said over Jay's groan. "But you have to admire his tenacity."

"I don't," Carlos grumbled before turning his attention back to his own homework.

After that, Chad actually got to have a talking lunch for the first time, and it was enough to distract him from the stares that definitely lingered, from Ben's worried looks and Audrey's murderous glares, because those weren't important.

What mattered was Evie and Mal, and Chad had both of them right here. So that was what he held onto.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Do you like Ben?" Evie asked out of the blue one day when Chad was coaching Jay through his math homework – not that he was very good at Algebra but like, he was still better than Jay.

"Um… yes?" Chad hazarded, wondering if this was a trick question. "He's Ben. Of course I like Ben."

"She means, like- you know," Jay said, wagging his brows in a manner that was likely suggestive, if only Chad knew what he was suggesting.

"I also like his eyebrows," Chad tried.

Jay slumped his head back in despair, so obviously Chad's guess had been wrong.

"Are you attracted to him?" Evie clarified. "You know, physically."

"Um." Chad did not like that question, because it required him to look into his and Ben's non-existent relationship and that was a thing he did not ever want to do. "I try not to think about Ben too much."

"If only he reciprocated," Carlos murmured from his position hunched over his desk.

Mal chucked a ball of crumpled up paper at the young De Ville's head. "You guys need to focus," she drawled. "Forget Ben, we have to do something about Audrey."

"We do?" Chad asked, trying to share a confused look with Jay, only the Agraben teen was nodding in agreement.

Mal shot him a look that was her approximation of patient. "She tried to attack what's mine. Countermeasures must be taken."

Jay leaned closer to Chad, lowering his voice to a soft whisper. "Before you ask, you're what's hers. And yes, you are hers."

"Oh." Chad blinked, feeling his cheeks fill with warmth. "Um…"

"Yeah." Jay grinned. "It's a pretty good feeling."

"I think I have an idea," Evie hummed, flipping through the battered spell book Mal had brought over from the Isle that she never let anyone else read. Anyone aside from Evie, that was, but they had both agreed that Evie was a special exception to many rules.

She passed the book over to Mal, indicating a specific page, and waited for the purple-haired teen's judgement.

She got it by way of a wicked smile. "Yeah," Mal said. "I think this will work."

"Don't worry about it," Jay told Chad just when he was starting to wonder if he should ask or not. "They get like this."

"Huh," Chad said, tapping his pencil against the desk. "Neat."

And that was all that needed to be said about that.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

I don't… I don't remember where this story concept came from. I had plans for a secret Mal/Chad epic that sort of petered out and got funneled into other projects, but I liked what I had for this story enough that I rounded it out and decided to post it as a two-shot.

So I give you Mal vetting Chad because what Evie wants, Mal tries to make sure she gets, though she honestly didn't intend to grow as attached to this random blond prince as she ultimately did. But there's the rub, isn't it? No one's prepared for Chad, lol ;)

This story will consist of 2 chapters of story content and 1 chapter of deleted scenes. The deleted scenes will be posted along with chapter 2.

I update once a week, generally on Sundays, but because things have been so crazy lately, I decided to make an effort to update twice a week. So there will be one update on Sunday and one update on Wednesday/Thursday for now :D

Story notes:

I'll just say this now, and it will be evident more next chapter – but the VKs as a whole are not great with boundaries at this point. Like, it all turns out for the best anyway and no one's hurt, but they're still adjusting to what is considered entirely right and wrong. That's something they get better at in my other stories, but this is just a short two-shot so they're not really there yet. I'll do my best to give appropriate warnings as needed, but I just wanted to give that extra heads up to be safe.

In this universe, we're going to pretend that Chad never gave Evie his number or whatever the hell was on that card, and that they like, met in passing organically outside of chemistry class

Yes, even in my short stories, we gotta talk about that Isle reform, apparently. I just can't help it, it's in my blood.

And like, story-wise, once Mal found out that Chad was Cinderella's kid she would probably ask him about the wand, but let's all just pretend she was distracted by the enigma that is this version of Chad.

Hanover is my name for Snow White's kingdom, because Charmington is just- no.

Central Auradon is King Adam's kingdom in specific, not the unification of kingdoms, and Sardinia is my name for Chad's kingdom instead of Cinderellasburg – both stories are based in France, which is why their language is French.

Until next time :)