Fairly Tulips

~~~

Thomas waited anxiously as he got off the phone with his boyfriend. The relationship had just started and he was already worried about everything. That meeting with the others did not help as much as he thought it would. It might just be mindless panic, or something more. But Thomas was going to ignore that aching feeling for the time being.

Soon as the doorbell rung, Thomas peaked out from behind the doorway, as if he didn't know who it was behind it.

"Ah… Mr. Sanders~"

There weren't too many people that referred to him by his last name. It was just the courteous thing to do to refer to him that way. But he was just accustomed so much by his fans and family to just go by Thomas that hearing his last name made his face flush.

"Hello… to you too… Nico…"

The other man chuckled lowly and pecked Thomas on his cheek, which didn't help the blushing.

"May I…" "Oh! Right!"

Thomas let his partner into his apartment, watching as Nico looked around his living room.

"So, what's the move for tonight, Thomas?"

Oh the formalities were over. What a relief. Thomas let out a soft sigh before scratching the back of his neck.

"I guess… movie night." "Okay! I'll pick the movie. You can make the popcorn."

Thomas nodded as though he didn't know where he was. And for a brief moment, he had completely forgotten how to microwave popcorn. It was nice to see his lover take it so easy. Just laughing at how Thomas burnt the snack up and helping him with the next batch.

Once the movie marathon had begun, Thomas had relaxed up enough to where he allowed himself to rest his head on Nico's shoulders. In reflex, Nico combing his fingers through Thomas' hair. The latter man didn't mind the affection he was being given. Until…

"Sorry, Thomas. But… did you just… squeak?" "Yeah! yeah… sorry about that…" "No no! It's fine! I just wanted to know how I did that. You aren't usually so squirmy unless I get closer to your ears."

Nico lightly flicked one of Thomas' lobes, making the show host giggle louder and covered the sides of his head.

"I thought you might be sensitive but I guess this confirms it." "Whahahahat? Nohohohoho it doesn't!"

Nico smirked as he pinned Thomas down, tickling the sides of Thomas' neck. The latter person kicked out a bit albeit not as roughly since his neck was not that ticklish. His boyfriend cooed at him, making the blushing from earlier return with a vengeance.

"Aww, does this tickle?" "Nihihihih…" "You're so red right now."

A few pecks to the forehead and Thomas was begging Nico to stop, which he thankfully did. Since it wasn't anything too rough, Thomas was able to recover rather quickly.

"Glahahahad you didn't hate any of that." "Why would you say that? You were the one who was getting tickled." "Who said I wouldn't want to seek revenge or something?"

Nico smirked again.

"You have tried and found out that I am barely ticklish. I only have 'sweet spots' as you called them."

Another round of blushing before Thomas huffed and scratched under Nico's calves, making the latter man fall tumble off of the couch.

"Nico! You're okay?" "Of course I am!"

Virgil eyed Kronos, the latter figment of Thomas lying over the top of the couch fast asleep. His long silver hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. His baggy turtleneck collar was pulled up to cover up most of his freckles and nose but if you peeked just at the right moment, you could see them bright as day. The two green rings on either of his hands was a reminder that even the most chaotic spirits can find love. But the most prominent thing was how relaxed he seemed even sleep.

The anxious figment remembered when Kronos had first came back into the MindScape and how sleep was a very difficult thing for him. Even when sleep, Kronos would look rarely look like he was resting peacefully and that kept Virgil on edge for the longest. Luckily now, Kronos was getting adequate rest which the lilac aspect was thankful for.

"whywelookingatmyhubbyvirgey!"

Virgil sucked in his breath as he covered Remus' mouth so he wouldn't accidentally wake up the sleeping side.

"shut up, remus. you could wake him up." "right… he is a light sleeper…"

Virgil rolled his eyes.

"i'm just making sure that he's okay…" "don't worry yourself too much. he sleeps sometimes and then he doesn't. he really is one of us."

That was true. Perfect sleep times were as uncommon among all of them. While they continued to observe Kronos, Remus got an idea.

"have an idea~" "get rid of it."

Remus laughed.

"i haven't even told you what it was yet!" "it usually involves explosives or something that flusters him." "true. the idea is more like the latter option anyway."

Virgil decided to hear Remus out. Remus started going into details about remembering a game they used to play with Kronos when he and Janus were young preteens.

"i named it 'tip the titan'." "that sounds a lot more terrifying than you make it seem." "it's not. there are very clear rules. let's go get janny. he knows the whole thing better than me."

~~~~~~~~~

"And why do you want to play this game now, Remus?" "Because it's fun to fluster him~ And I like the way his voice sounds when he laughs." "Fair."

Janus sighed as he got out a yellow book from his bookcase, shuffled through the pages, and found a piece of loose leaf paper that he worn from age.

"Wrote the rules down years ago."

The rules read:

The one doing the tickling ("ler") has to find a way to put Kronos on his back or stomach and keep him him there for long enough.

If Kronos lands on either of his sides, you have to find another way to "tip" him over.

If Kronos' hands catch himself before his back or stomach hits the ground, he is not "down" or "out".

While you can restrain parts of his body, it has to temporary until he is actually "down" or "out".

If Kronos voices he is uncomfortable or is showing signs of agitation, the game stops altogether.

Once "down" or "out", you go for either his worst spots or his favorite ones.

The point mostly is just to let Kronos laugh and have fun again.

~~~~~~~~

"Seems too easy. What's the catch?" "My dear Virgil~ Do you really think that we would actually upset Kronos with just playful childish fun?" "Of course not. But it does seem like there's anything stopping him from leaving." "Nope! He can stop at any time because we implemented the 'Stoplight' method years ago."

That notion made Virgil feel a little bit better about all of this. The purple figment agreed to playing the game. Remus cheered as he raced down the hallway albeit very quietly as the others followed suit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That nap seemed to make Kronos feel better and now he was hungry. As he was going through the cabinets for a spoon to eat his pudding with, Remus rose up behind him and shouted:

"TIP THE TITAN!!" "Wh- what, love— ACK!"

Kronos fell to his side as Remus tackled him. It was a gentle tackle, signaling to the orange facet that the latter trait was being playful.

"Remus? The hell are you doing?"

Remus snickered.

"We are playing 'Tip The Titan'. You remember the last time we played, don't you?" "I recall well, yes. August 12th, 2003. I was in a crabby mood from discovering an new ability. You two helped me calm myself down." "That's sexy~"

Kronos stammered and blushed as he instinctively rolled over but remembered the rules and lifted himself off of the ground enough to where his stomach would be flat down. Kronos dusted himself off before helping Remus up.

"Let's play a game!" "Is there any particular reason we are indulging in such youthful frolicking?" "Nope! Just want to hear you laugh and scream!"

Kronos ran around the island as Remus chased after him. Once Kronos got to the exit door and the was wide enough for Remus to run through it, the intrusive side sprinted towards Kronos.

"TIP THE TITAN!!"

But instead of knocking Kronos over like he had just done, the taller facet caught him. Remus whined when he realized that he was caught.

"Hey! No fair!"

Kronos chuckled to himself as he lightly tossed Remus over his shoulder.

"There's no rule against me tricking my opponent's movements."

Dammit! He's right. Remus grumbled and crossed his arms as the titian aspect took them to their shared bedroom.

"Oh and one more thing, Remus." "Hm~?"

Remus started cackling and flailing as two hands appeared and started tweaking and squishing his kneecaps.

"I know you know where all of my whipped deodorant jars went… don'tcha~?" "KROHOHOHOHO!! NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Kronos was less on edge about the whole game ordeal. It wasn't uncommon for the bouts to last days or weeks at a time. Just depended on how willing they were to keep playing or if there was a minitature competition involved. Like one time, they wanted to see who could get Kronos to shift into his giant self the most. It was all fun and games from start to finish.

But since this particular occasion had no real objective or reason to be happening, there wasn't going to be a clear set time this would all be over. Kronos would estimate until the end of the week but that wasn't an exact guarantee.

Today was Janus' turn and it went like how it used to. A causal nudge or trip that would get Kronos attention but not do much until Janus did it again in a different way that usually always inevitably ended with him falling by mistake from trying to react too slowly or quickly.

Kronos was coming out of his room, earbuds in ear and lightly bouncing on his heels. He was trying to fix his hair at the same time so that it wouldn't all be flying in his face. Perfect. Janus stepped out of his room enough to where his shoulder would be able to graze Kronos' side, a sensitive spot of his. Just as he predicted, the grub figment squeaked and jumped a bit to get out of the way. When Kronos turned around, Janus was smiling innocently as he closed his bedroom door to make his way down the hallway.

"Ah… Janus. It's nice to see you. You are up pretty early." "Oh, am I?"

That question gave Kronos a sense of suspicion. He eyed the deceptive trait out of the corner of his eye, his expression showing his mood undoubtedly.

"Only by an hour and a half. Which isn't too uncommon. I have been having small shifts in my own body time as well." "Because of Thomas?" "Not so much that. But everything with Remus and me combining and sharing our rooms, moving some of his things and—"

Something tripped him and stumbled for a moment before looking at his feet again.

"My, you are quite distracted this morning~" "Apologies." "There's no need~" "What do you mean by—" "Tip The Titan!"

Shit! This early?! Kronos was tripped up by something again and this time wasn't able to completely catch himself in time and went falling to the ground. And… his hands caught himself. Kronos sighed in relief while Janus hissed softly under his breath.

"Now, Jan. I'm perfectly fine with playing this game with you all. As long as it's reasonable. Not before the others have been up for over an hour. Is that fair?"

Janus nodded. New rule added to the list they had made.

"Before we proceed any further…"

Kronos rose up from the ground and placed a hand on either side of Janus' shoulders.

"Yes?" "A requital will be needed~"

All Janus heard was a finger snap and was immediately overwhelmed by some helpful yet fluffy moth friends of Kronos. They tickled his ears and neck gently, climbing all over his brim of bowler hat and faux monocle.

"Krehehehe… kr– Krohohonos!" "Requital time period starts now and ends at breakfast." "Nohohohohoho… not ahahaha whole hahahahour!"

Kronos whistled as he left Janus to curl up on the corner near the staircase, as he went to start breakfast for everyone. Including the morning troublemaker.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Kronos anticipated Virgil to be the next aspect to take part in their role in the mischievous escapades of "Tip The Titan", predicting when was difficult. As far as his memory served him, he did not remember an instances of Virgil indirectly or directly interacting with him in this fashion before. It would a change of pace for the both of them. Possibly a good change but he was always aware that Virgil might take it completely different from himself.

Kronos was in his room, about to start his weekly bedroom reset. He had gotten a lot better with maintaining a consistent pattern for his cleaning routines. Making the bed up first was just muscle memory at this point. The titian aspect also knew that since everyone was up by this point, the game could start at any time like he had promised.

So when he heard the playful shouted again albeit a bit quieter than Remus or Janus had done, Kronos was ready. The taller trait was tackled face first to the bed. Kronos snickered under his breath.

"Morning, Virgil." "I… I won??"

Virgil laughed to himself before he saw Kronos shake his head "no".

"What do you mean 'no'? You're on your stomach." "Sorry, Virge. The sides of the bed don't count as being 'out'. I have to be flat down. It's too easy for me to do… well… this…"

Kronos stood up from his position on the bed with Virgil still on his back.

"See? It's no fair if I can just get up or squirm out of reach quickly." "I guess that is fair."

Kronos smiled and got on his knees to let Virgil down. Virgil stood their idle for a moment until Kronos looked back at him.

"Yes, love?" "No revenge plans? For me disturbing you?" "No vengeance on my heart at the moment. However, if you want me to indulge in a playful bout with you, I am more than willing to."

Virgil nodded. A small bonding experience between the two that helped break down more of the wall of fear that they had for each other. Another way of becoming closer with their famILY.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few days of this persisting, the three Dark Sides were about to give up.

"Ugh! What are we missing, Jan?! He always seems to be a step ahead of us!" "Not sure." "Wait? We haven't gotten the others involved in this, right?" "Yeah? Where are you going with this, Virge?" "Maybe if we got the others involved, it could make it easier for us to take Kronos down." "Would it be fair? Surely, 6-to-1 is a reasonable amount of people for this game." "Do you have any better ideas, Scales?"

Janus shrugged and smirked up at the anxious trait as he put another spoonful of potato salad in his mouth.

"Yeah yeah! Let's go get Teach and his friends!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kronos, despite his better judgment, had became a bit cocky from winning against the other three so many times over the past few days. His ego surfacing was rare but the possibility was never zero. This time, Kronos made himself even more of a target by wearing one of his favorite baggy cropped sweaters, a pair of shorts and toe-less socks.

He was slumped his in favorite armchair as he lazily glanced over the pages of the book he was currently reading. The orange figment was patiently waiting, knowing that any moment he could be attacked. As time ticked by, Kronos had became bored waiting. It wasn't like he had any real fear of anything. The others would never harm him over a silly game such as this. And even if minor injuries occurred, they would be fixed quickly.

Kronos walked down the hallway and checked his phone for the time. Hmm… nearly noon. Lunch should be getting started around now, right? Kronos paused in the middle of the hallway and listened out. No sounds coming from the kitchen. The TV wasn't on to create minor white noise either.

"Hmm…"

Kronos walked down the stairs and where the living room was. The coral trait stopped to look around before he felt goosebumps on his neck. Someone was here; waiting patiently just as he was. Kronos didn't need a weapon or anything for this. Just stood still until he heard slight movement from behind the couch. With a quick motion, he moved over to the couch and looked behind it. It was Patton.

"Hiya, kiddo!" "Patton? What are you doing on the floor, love?" "I'm hiding from the others." "Why?" "They seem to be playing a game that I'm not familiar with but it does involve—" "TIP THE TITAN!!" "ROMAN!! WAIT!!"

Kronos was barely able to catch Roman before he backwards on the couch, directly on his back.

"GET HIS ARMS, LOGAN!" "Affirmative!"

Logan had rose up on the other side of the couch and secured Kronos' arms above his head. Kronos groaned as Remus shouted out:

"FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE! WE WIN!!"

The others all gathered around, waiting for Kronos' response. There was nothing but joy all over the latter side's face.

"You won. Though maybe not as fairly as I thought." "Whatever, Kronny~! The point is… WE WON!! YES YES YES!!" "Now what?"

Everyone, including Kronos, got quiet. Then Kronos started squirming as each of side took their places around him. Logan wiggled his fingers behind his ears, making the orange trait snicker and try to scrunch his neck up. Roman and Remus took one of Kronos' soles and pinched the exposed toes, which only made Kronos' voice louder.

Patton took blowing into Kronos' stomach while Janus counted his ribs. Virgil poked and rubbed Kronos' hipbones. All of the different sensations were neither bearable but were also not entire unbearable. His favorite spots were being tinkered with so it made the experience a lot better than just his worst spots getting attention.

"Look, guys! The kiddo's glowing!"

~~~

It wasn't an uncommon thing for Roman's frustrations to leak out into Thomas' work. It had been a pretty stressful week and in order to make up for that, Thomas wanted to make a few YouTube shorts to get out of this irritable funk. Roman, despite wanting to produce the best videos possible, was getting more and more flustered as time went on. He noticed little hiccups that he wouldn't have otherwise.

That kind hyper-aware nagging felt more of something Logan would do, which did not help his mood at all to acknowledge that. After going through several more edited list of ideas, Thomas finally sat up from his chair with a heavy sigh and made the rise up motion.

Roman was sitting gripping his pencil roughly and mumbling to himself before noticing where he was. His demeanor changed immediately when Thomas asked what was going on.

"I'm quite busy making coming up with ideas. As you can see, none of them are worth anything for your audience to see." "That's not true! Maybe we could compile multiple ideas in one. Like we used to do for Vines." "But will your fans actually want to see that or do they want 'real content'?"

The host sucked his a breath of air before looking down briefly to think. This ideas weren't even Sanders Sides related, however, he still believed that his audience would enjoy a bit of humor. Especially considering the current state of most online platforms. A bit of whimsy never hurt anyone, especially during hard times.

Roman finally snapped and went on about how every time he tried coming up with a new idea this week, his art block has been stifling it. His creative juices would be flowing but there seemed to be some barrier stopping it. Even causal hobbies were becoming harder to indulge in due to this funk.

"Oh that's terrible, Roman." "Yes, I know. But! I will keep trying." "Don't you think you need a break first, buddy?" "I have already lost a lot of time trying to reignite my flame. Maybe a different approach is needed."

Thomas chuckled under his breath as an idea surfaced in his mind. Roman looked to his host for a moment before completely turning his body.

"What are you laughing at, Thomas?" "Bold words from someone within tickling distance."

Roman gulped as he tried sinking out but rose back up immediately with Thomas already standing next to him. He felt a pinch to his hips and squawked, backing up slightly.

"Come on, Princey~ Laugh~" "Th- tehehehe… thomahahahas!" "Yeah, that's me." "Yohohou are thehehehe worst!"

Thomas gasped in faux pain and went for Roman's underarms, causing the other aspect of his personality to curl up.

"THOMAHAHAHAHAHAS!!" "I'll keep this up until you are in a better mood."

~~~

Virgil was right about that old hoodie. It did provide comfort even in his lowest times. But for the embodiment of chaos, those moments where his own mind was overwhelming was truly rare. It was so often that he told himself that he should be used to it and why did it start to feel like his head was constantly pounding, even when standing perfectly still.

Though Virgil still made it no secret that he could tolerate him and Janus at best, Remus still was fond of standing in as Virgil’s annoying “older brother” and having all of the perks that came with that. Stealing his clothes and holding a random ransom in order to make it harder to get it back was one of those “perks”.

He had stolen this particular hoodie a while ago because it seemed like something Virgil wouldn’t want to have out in the open. It was a pastel purple hoodie with a soft, fleece interior that made it incredibly warm and comforting to wear. It had stitched off areas on different parts, including the hood part. The sleeves had thumbholes and were long enough to keep your hands inside of them anyway. And on top of all of that, it was weighted. Why Virgil would hide such a perfect jacket was beyond Remus.

He wore it around his room a couple of times just to get a feeling for it but soon he remembered the ransom when Virgil texted him later that day. Remus, being the cheeky ragebaiter he was, poked fun at Virgil hiding a hoodie like this because of what the others would think.

Virgil: Whatever, Remus! Just give me my shit back! Remus: Not until you tell me what it’s for~ Virgil: Why would I do that? Remus: Oh… just in case, I want to burn it~

Virgil's slew of angry emoji responses made it clear to Remus that the hoodie was special. Considering how neat and well-thought out the gift was, it had to be the combined effort of the Light Sides. Everything screamed "Make the new guy comfortable".

Virgil: ISTG REMUS! IF YOU DESTROY THAT FUCKING HOODIE! Remus: Chill your dick! I still have it!

It wasn’t a long time before Virgil barged into Remus’ room as he was feeding his pet rats. He put on his “innocent” act.

“Why~ If it isn’t Raccoon Boy~ What brings you by~?” “Fuck off, Remus! You know exactly what this is about!”

Remus cuddled Gluestick close to his chest while pulling the hoodie down.

“Oh what’s the matter? Hate to see me so comfortable~? For shame, Virgey. Haven’t they taught you better?”

Virgil grumbled under his breath before it started to dawn on him what hoodie Remus was wearing and then got a smirk on his face.

“I guess I didn’t leave the remote inside of it. That’s good.” “I knew it! I knew there was a reason you didn’t want me to see this! It’s your jerk-off tee~”

Virgil cringed as he summoned something into his hand, possibly the remote he had mentioned.

“Ew! Gross! The hoodie doesn’t do that!” “Oh phooey~ Everyone has become boring as fuck, I see~” “Oh hush, Remus.”

Virgil placed the batteries that went to the remote into the back of it, a green light flashing at the top of it. Remus was trying to peek over the latter side’s shoulder to see what all of the buttons said but Virgil kept it close to himself as he readjusted another knob before clicking a button. That’s when Remus’ breath hitched. It felt as though the hoodie… came to life?? The fleece interior was now softly brushing against his back but not hard enough to invoke any type of boisterous laughter.

“H-hey… Virge?”

Remus had to put his pet down just in case things got out of hand. Virgil just eyed Remus as he seemed to be struggling more.

“Yes? What’s up?” “What’s your shit doing to m-me?”

That last hiccup came with a snort as Remus started to feel his sides being tampered with. Virgil tapped the remote against his opposite hand as his smirk widened.

“It’s doing what it’s intended to, actually.” “Wha… what?” “The hoodie is meant for when I get into certain moods and don’t want to ask the others. They made this hoodie with multiple settings so I can get all of the enjoyment I want out of it. Never thought about using it on the others before.”

Remus scrunched up as he felt the soft interior rubbing against the underside of his jaw.

“You… you hahahave a tickle hoodihihihie?? No fair! Whyhyhy didn’t you ask mehehehe first?” “And has my experience been ruined by your ‘adjustments’? Not a chance.”

Remus’ snorting got worse as time went on, especially when the rubbing got closer to his hips. His hips are so sensitive but the softer the tickles were, the more it felt like Remus would start cackling. The intrusive facet rolled around on the floor, hugging himself close as the tickling continued. He no longer wanted to fight back. Soft tickles were hard to come by, even by Janus. Sure, he was gentle in a sense, but the teasing made Remus the experience even worse.

Maybe he could ask Patton but he knew that even if Patton said yes, it would be a constant asking of “How comfortable he was” until Remus got impatient and possibly make the moral figment upset. He would rather die than tell Roman; giving out free blackmail isn’t Remus’ style after all. Logan could also do it but if he wanted to have a simple experience, which was rare, he had a fear that Logan would turn it into a long, scientific experiment.

Virgil was making this all worth it. Just letting Remus basically get himself tickled because of many factors. The first being Remus could just take the hoodie off, which Virgil recommended once the lower part of the hoodie started tickling Remus above his hipbones. The second was just telling Virgil to turn it off, especially if he was truly getting tired of sensation; Virgil would understand. But he didn’t. He just kept letting the hoodie do its thing, even putting the hood back on so that his scalp could get scratched.

The session lasted some time before Virgil powered it off. Remus sat up quickly from his slumped position with a visible pout.

“Why’d you stop it?” “It’s been two hours, Remus.”

The emerald trait scoffed.

“I’ve been tickled worse for longer. Hit me, Emobolt~!”

~~~

"So will you, Logan?" "Are we not too old for these sort of childish endeavors, Right Brain?" "Of course not!" "You truly embody Thomas' most inner joy." "Come on, Leftie! Just one round of Leapfrog!"

Left Brain wasn't used to telling the other half of the mind that there were better things to do than hopping around everywhere and displaying aspects of hedonism. But for this one time…

"Pretty please?"

Of course Rightie would do that. That tone always got to him.

"Fine. I will indulge in your game."

Right Brain cheered as the two got into position. This version of Leapfrog was a lot more complex. It combined aspects of The Floor is Lava. The both of them had to hop from one table, chair, couch, etc. without their feet hitting the actual ground. Whoever fell first lost and would be tickled for certain duration of time.

Rightie hopped two stairs at a time before bouncing to the couch. Curse him for his animal trait giving him an advantage. If there were truly no rules, then Leftie wasn't going to let empathetic side be the only one with a leg up in the game. The latter side used their wings momentarily to give them enough momomentum to get to the couch as well.

"Good hop, L!" "Thank you."

Left Brain got a tap on the nose before Rightie jumped up and hollered out:

"Tag! You're it!"

Within a few jumps, Left Brain was on the kitchen counter. Those jumps were far too spread apart for Rightie to use his wings, at least not excessively. Flat-out flying was against the rules. Even with the odds against him, Right Brain jumped from the sofa to the table that had to smoothest surface before hopping to a chair. A very unstable chair. "Shit!" was all the intellectual aspect could muster before the chair gave out beneath him and fell to the ground. Leftie gasped and hopped down to see if the other figment was okay.

"Rightie! Are you okay?!" "A-affirmative."

Both of them looked down at their feet for a brief moment before Left Brain tackled Right Brain.

"Nehehehehahahahahah!" "I win! I win-y win win!" "Leheheheheheft!"

"That's not true. As you said last week, the most sensitive side of your body is your least dominant. Which is our…"

"Dohohohohon't you dahahare!" "RIGHT Side!" "LEHEHEHEHEFT!" "And to think, Vision always goes for your calves!"