Lav💙

Dust particals danced in the flickering torchlight of the forgotten service corridors, where the scent of wood and smoke clung to the walls. You moved silently, heart hammering against your ribs. The Ninja had split up to search for him after the final match, You had volunteered for the lower tunnels. You knew Jay. Or at least, you had once known him.

After jay put on that mask, something inside him changed. It was as if you could see it ripping every ounce of his goodness into jagged shards. You tried to catch him before he left, but he was gone as fast as he came. No note. No goodbye. Just the image of his smirk that would surely haunt your dreams.

You rounded the final corner and froze.

There he was.

Leaning against the rough stone wall, jay had his arms folded over his torn dark blue gi. His messy hair was a bit longer now, and his eyes burned with that unnatural red glow. A faint cut ran across his left cheek from the final blow that had caused him to loose. He looked powerful. Dangerous. Beautiful in a way that made your stomach twist with equal parts fear and something far more treacherous.

“Jay,” you breathed.

He didn’t startle. He’d known you were coming. Of course he had. His head tilted, that smirk sliding across his lips like a knife. “Took you long enough, sweetheart. I was starting to think the Ninja had given up on their lightning bug.”

Your fists clenched at your sides. “We would never give up on you Jay. We’re still fighting for you. The tournament, everything that’s happening up there, it doesn’t have to be like this. Come back with us. Before it’s too late.”

He pushed off the wall in one fluid motion, feet scraping softly against the stone. The air between you thickened. “Too late?” His laugh was low and bitter, edged with lightning he no longer had. “It was too late the second Ras showed me the truth. Goodness was a chain. A weak, pathetic leash keeping me from real power. I shattered it. I chose this.”

You took a step forward, refusing to back down even as your pulse roared in your ears. “You chose wrong. The Jay I know, he's risked everything to save his friends, he's made us laugh when the world felt like it was ending. I know he’s still in there. I know he is. You didnt erase him, just buried him under whatever poison that mask pumped into you.”

His eyes narrowed, “Buried? Try obliterated. You have no idea what it felt like, feeling every soft, useless part of me crack and fall away. No more guilt. No more second-guessing. Just power.” He closed the distance until you could smell the faint cologne radiating off his gi. “And you… you’re clinging to a ghost.”

Anger flared hot in your chest, “Then why are you hiding down here alone instead of out there with your group? If you’re so free, why do you keep hesitating? Why do you watch us like you’re waiting for something?”

“Because I like the show,” he snarled, voice dropping low. “Watching you all scramble, pretending you can fix this. Especially you, looking at me with those big, hopeful eyes.” His hand shot out fast, slamming against the stone wall beside your head. You flinched- but not away.

You refused to shrink. “Then stop watching and come back. Fight with us. We need you, Jay.”

His other hand came up, caging you completely. Both palms flat against the wall now, arms bracketing your shoulders. You were trapped, back pressed to cold stone, chest inches from his. The heat rolling off him was impossibly warm. His breath ghosted across your cheek, warm and ragged.

“You still don’t get it,” he growled, voice vibrating with anger. “I don’t want to be fixed. I don’t want your pity or your stupid team. I want you to see what I see now.” His knee nudged forward, just enough to brush the inside of your thigh, pinning you more firmly. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough that you felt every inch of the space he claimed. “The goodness you’re begging for made me weak. Hesitant. Scared to take what I wanted.”

Your heart stuttered. The air between you filled with something far more dangerous than this argument. His eyes dropped to your mouth, lingering there like a physical touch. You could feel the tension coiling in his shoulders, the way his fingers flexed against the stone as if fighting the urge to touch you.

“Jay…” Your voice came out softer than you intended, half warning, half plea. “This isn’t you talking. Ras-”

“Ras showed me the truth!” he snapped, but the anger cracked at the edges, revealing something raw underneath. His forehead dropped until it nearly touched yours, breath mingling hot and fast. “He showed me how much I held back.” His gaze burned into yours, inches away. “Including you.”

Your breath caught. Heat flooded your face, racing down your neck, pooling low in your belly despite every instinct screaming danger. This was wrong. He was wrong. But the way he looked at you now, furious, hungry, filled with memories he cant recall.

“You’re lying,” you whispered, but it sounded weak even to you. Your hands came up instinctively, pressing against his chest to push him back. The fabric of his gi was warm, and beneath it you felt the rapid thud of his heart, matching yours.

He didn’t budge. If anything, he leaned in harder, the pressure of his body against yours increasing until you could feel the hard planes of his chest, the faint tremor in his arms. One of his hands left the wall and slid down to grip your hip, fingers digging in just enough to anchor you. The contact sent sparks dancing across your skin.

“Am I?” His voice was a rough whisper now, lips brushing the shell of your ear. “Tell me you haven’t thought about what it would feel like if you stopped playing nice. If you didnt have to live up to a fake legacy.” His thumb traced a slow, deliberate circle on your hip bone, right at the edge of your gi’s sash.

Your fingers curled into his gi, Anger and want twisted together until you couldn’t tell which was which. “This isn’t fair,” you hissed, tilting your head just enough to meet his eyes again. “You’re using whatever darkness is in you to twist everything. I came here to save you, not… not this.”

A dark chuckle rumbled in his chest, vibrating against your palms. “Save me? Sweetheart, maybe I’m the one who can save you from all that self-righteous restraint.” His free hand finally left the wall, sliding up to cup your jaw, thumb pressing lightly against your lower lip.

The corridor felt smaller, All that existed was the heat of his body caging yours, the scent of him flooding your senses, the way his eyes darkened as they tracked every expression on your face. You should shove him away. Call for the others. Remind him of the team, of everything he’d lost.

Instead, your traitorous body arched slightly into his touch, hips shifting against the knee still braced between your legs. The friction was minimal, His breath hitched suddenly.

“See?” he murmured, voice husky with triumph. “You feel it too." His forehead pressed fully against yours now, noses brushing.

Your hands fisted tighter in his gi, pulling him impossibly closer even as your mind screamed protest. “Jay… stop.”

But the word lacked conviction. It came out breathy, almost a moan. His smirk returned, slow and wicked, but his eyes held a flicker of the old Jay. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, swallowed by hunger.

His thumb dragged slowly across your lip again, parting it further. “Make me.”

The challenge hung between you like a live wire. Your fingers loosened their grip only to slide up, one hand tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck.

He groaned softly, sending a shiver straight through you. “That’s it,” he whispered, lips hovering a fraction from yours. “Fight me. Want me. Hate me. Just don’t ask me to go back to being weak.”

The first brush of his mouth against yours wasn’t gentle. It was angry. Desperate. You gasped into it, and he swallowed the sound, pressing you harder against the wall until there was no space left between your bodies. His hand on your hip slid lower, gripping the curve of your thigh and hiking it up slightly against his leg. The position left you both off-balance, clinging, breathing raggedly between kisses that tasted like regret but somehow everything you’d missed for so long .

You broke apart only when your lungs burned, breaths mingling together. His eyes were wild now, “See what you do to me?” he rasped, voice wrecked. “For some reason I can’t stay away from you. I can feel my heart being tugged,”

Your hand stayed in his hair, the other pressed flat over his racing heart. “Then don’t,” you whispered, the words slipping out before you could stop them. “Don’t stay away. But don’t ask me to abandon the team either. Come back… and we’ll figure out what’s left of you. Of us.”

He laughed again, but this time it was softer, edged with pain. His thumb stroked your cheek, surprisingly tender. “You wont give up, will you?” He leaned in for another kiss, slower this time, almost reverent before pulling back just enough to rest his forehead against yours. “The fights not over. Neither is this.” His fingers flexed on your thigh, a final possessive squeeze, before he reluctantly released you and stepped back.

The sudden absence of his heat left you cold, your legs shaky. You slid down the wall an inch, catching your breath. He watched you, chest heaving.

“Tell the others I said hi,” he murmured, already turning toward the shadows at the corridor’s end. “And tell them… next time you come looking for me alone.. I might not let you leave so easily.”

He vanished into the darkness, leaving you standing there against the stone, lips tingling, and skin still buzzing from his touch.

“Luffy! Get in here, right now!” Yelled a voice from the kitchen, his shouts echoing throughout the deck as all the other straw hats turned their heads on reflex.

“Hah, Sanji sounds mad.” Zoro grinned, looking down at his captain who was suddenly looking very guilty— avoiding all possible eye contact with Chopper whom he was previously playing with. “What did you do this time?” The swordsman asked with a small laugh, Luffy reaching up to scratch at the back of his head.

“Meee? Hahaha, y’know—”

“LUFFY! If I don’t see you here in the next five minutes, you’re skipping dinner!” Sanji yelled one more time, interrupting his captain's weak words with an honest warning.

At the threat of no food, Luffy stood up almost instantly. For some reason, running towards Usopp who was currently lost in conversation with Nami. Usopp gasped when his captain suddenly grabbed his wrist with the intent of dragging him away. “H-Hey?! What are you doing?!” Usopp groaned, dragging his feet on the wood.

Luffy paused, the motion almost making Usopp slip face-first. “Come with me, please! I need the moral support to deal with Sanji’s yelling!” He begged with a small whine, something the boy did quite often when he wanted something, even though it hardly worked on his crewmates anymore. “Come on, with you around, maybe Sanji will go easy on me!”

Usopp looked at his captain's puppy dog eyes and sighed. “Urgh, fine! But you'd better protect me if I get caught in the crossfire!” He made Luffy promise with their pinkies connecting childishly, the two nodding in agreement before heading to the kitchen.

Usopp wasn’t sure what Luffy had done to make Sanji so mad, but surely, it wouldn’t hurt to be there as friendly support, or a mediator, right?

Well, that’s what he thought, until they entered the kitchen and Usopp spotted it, the fridge lock was completely shattered. His eyes widened as he quickly realized what had happened, his head whipping towards Luffy. “You dumbass! You didn’t..!” He whisper-yelled.

Basically… late last night when Usopp and Luffy were still up messing around, Luffy got hungry. When he went to the kitchen and came back with some food, Usopp just assumed Sanji was still awake in there and had whipped something up for their captain to eat.

Clearly— by the bent fridge, broken lock, and an angry Sanji emerging from the pantry, that was not the case.

Wait a second, is that why Luffy dragged him along?! To take some of the blame for HIS crime?! Oh, that stretchy bastard!

Luffy went to reply to Usopp with a similar whisper before Sanji slammed an empty container hard on the countertop. Making the two boys straighten up instantly, “Now, Luffy.” He began with an evident edge to his voice, Usopp already starting to sweat without his name even being mentioned.

Just then, as if amongst his rage Sanji had been too distracted to notice Usopp being in the room with them as well, his eyes that were filled with fire suddenly softened towards him.

“Oh, Usopp!” His eyebrows raised, surprised. “This doesn’t involve you, don’t worry. You hungry or something? How about you just sit down at the table and I’ll make you something..” his head slowly turned towards Luffy. “…After I deal with this one.”

Once again Usopp felt nervous even if Luffy was the one he was drilling. It was his tone that was making the sniper so squirmy. Yet… he greatly appreciated Sanji’s instant assumption of innocence, not to say he isn’t innocent though, cause he totally is!

“S-Sounds good to me!”

Luffy’s mouth went agape, already having been ditched by his supporter who was now sitting at the table anxiously twiddling his thumbs. “Sanjiiiii, I didn’t do anything!” He lied unconvincingly, rolling on his heels.

“Don’t even.” He disregarded Luffy’s lies, walking over to him. “I want you to look at two things.” He started, pointing towards the broken lock and then the empty container. “You, being the idiot you are, broke the god damn fridge lock, and even bent the fridge while you were at it!” He began to yell, Luffy avoiding eye contact in a way a dog does when they’re guilty.

“Now I’m not stupid, you clearly took something from the fridge.” He then walked over to the container, holding the evidence up. “The problem is, I have no idea what was in here! So I don’t know if I have to remake something I meal prepped— or add something to the shopping list!” Sanji then walked back to Luffy, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I need you to tell me exactly what you stole right now, and then, you’ll be dealt with.”

D-Dealt with?! Damn, Usopp was now extremely happy to be safe at the table! Well, guess it can’t be helped huh? All Luffy can do now is fess up to Sanji, and pray the cook goes easy on him, then, things can go back to the chaotic normal it usually is.

Luffy, will definitely just admit it, right? He won’t be the stubborn idiot he usually is… right—

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Luffy avoided him with mock innocence, making Sanji almost throw the container at his face.

Oh. My. God.

Usopp almost face-palmed right then and there, how does this guy always manage to make things worse for himself? Why is he being stubborn?!

“The hell?! Luffy, I'm not an idiot! You’re the only person who could have done this!” Sanji said, growing fairly frustrated with his captain's actions.

“Um, nope. Wasn’t me, sorry.” He whistled, not even flinching when Sanji’s grip on his shoulder tightened a concerning amount.

The cook was losing his cool, and he had every right to be! Maybe Luffy just doesn’t want to face the consequences, but it’s obvious that he is the culprit. No amount of denial can change that fact. “Fine, if that’s how you wanna play? I’ll play.” Sanji grumbled.

Seeing Sanji become so angry in the corner of his eye, made Usopp debate admitting what Luffy ate for him, I mean— he does know after all. It’d be nice to get this situation over with, Sanji’s wrath should never be underestimated. From past experiences, Usopp knew that well.

And yet, that consideration was lost when sudden screams of laughter filled the room and stole Usopp’s attention. A sound you would never expect from such a tense situation— but it rang clear.

He looked over to see what was happening, no more of those sneaky side glances. There was no denying what he saw, or heard— Sanji had latched his hands onto both of Luffy’s hips, and was squeezing at them relentlessly. Luffy, bursting out with surprised laughter.

“Hehehehey! Sahahahanjiiiii!” Luffy giggled, curling forward as his hands wrapped around his waist.

Sanji’s smirk was almost devious. “What? You asked for this. This is your punishment for being so stubborn.” The chef explained. This unexpected turn of events making Usopp’s eyes widen. “You admit what you ate, and apologize for breaking the fridge lock, and I’ll spare you. How does that sound, Captain?”

“Dohohoho yohohour wohohorst!” Luffy challenged cheerfully, not at all shaken by Sanji’s attack. If anything, he looked happy.

Sanji though took that as an invitation, tackling him to the ground and hovering over him. The blonde wasted no time, his hands finding their way to Luffy’s waist, targeting any spot that Luffy wasn’t rushing to defend with his arms.

The banging, clashing, and loud laughter made Usopp jump, unsure on what to do in this situation. Should he… leave? Would that look suspicious or unnatural? He didn’t know, but he sure as hell couldn’t focus on finding the right thing to do with Sanji’s teasing words to Luffy distracting him like crazy.

“Such a high bounty, when all it takes is a couple of tickles to take you down? You’re no threat at all.” Sanji commented, his expression smug.

Luffy was squirming so much that he was practically rolling around, making Sanji’s hands basically chase him. “Sahahays yohohou!” He snapped back, completely unbothered by Sanji’s attempt to fluster him.

That in return made Sanji’s cheeks burn a slight red, probably because Luffy was right. Still, a little bit of an annoyed growl was added to his voice. “Why are you being so difficult? Is it that hard to just admit it?! I seriously can't with you!” His voice came out as a whine, his frown coming back.

“Sohohohorry Sahahanji!” He apologized mindlessly for those critiques, not caring in the slightest.

Usopp had his head kept down, deciding it was better to pretend he wasn’t even here. Sanji on the other hand continued his attack, working at making Luffy’s laughter grow in volume and rise in franticness. Despite those changes, Sanji would be a fool not to notice that his laughter, his smile, and his eyes, were still so god damn happy.

Not that Sanji wanted him to be sad or anything— but he was clearly enjoying being tickled like this! With such a playful means of interrogation, he’d prefer Luffy to enjoy the laughter but still want to cave. Yet, that outcome didn’t seem the slightest bit plausible now.

And unfortunately, even if Sanji had his sights set on figuring out what his captain stole…. And hated how stubborn he was acting—

He found Luffy’s joy to be annoyingly adorable. Why did his captain have to be so cute? He cursed how his frown was rapidly dissipating.

As he looked down at his giggling friend, Sanji finally cracked. Failing to hold back an adoring look, a fond smile finding its way to his lips. “This is pointless, hmm?” Sanji noted, shaking his head with a small laugh. “This isn’t a punishment for you at all, is it Luffy?” He complained despite speaking so sweetly, analyzing Luffy’s genuine joy at this situation.

Luffy’s arms hugged his tummy, laughing loudly without a care in the world. “Why wohohould it behehehe?!” He questioned cheerfully, lost on why this could be considered anything other than innocent play between two friends.

Sanji rolled his eyes lovingly. Jeez… his captain was definitely having fun. “You’re hopeless.” He sighed, his fingers climbing their way up and digging into the grooves of his ribs, Luffy’s arms clamping tightly against his sides as a reflex.

He was laughing like crazy, but still had the happiest expression ever, it was making Sanji lighten up more and more. “Thihihis ihihis fuhuhun!” He squeaked.

Sanji unfortunately felt his heart warm at such an adorable admittance, rolling his eyes again. “Damn it, stop being cute, I'm supposed to be mad at you.” The chef joked a bit, Luffy kicking his legs.

This clearly wasn’t working, but Sanji still needed to know what Luffy ate, so evidently… the chef needed to somehow find another way of getting some answers.

He looked around the room hoping for inspiration to strike him, only to find Usopp avoiding all eye contact with them, which was odd. Usually, he’d be watching such a playful dispute with a smile, giggling quietly at the silliness of it all.

Though Sanji had let him off the hook earlier, telling him to sit down and assuming he came in for food— now that he was looking at him more intently, his body language read nervous. It was clearly Luffy who did this, so why did Usopp look so guilty?

A light bulb instantly lit up in Sanji’s head, a devilish grin taking form. He wasn’t sure of the exact context, but he totally knows something, doesn’t he?

Still making Luffy laugh like a madman, he focused his gaze completely on Usopp. “Now, it’s obvious tickling won’t get our dear Captain to fess up…” Sanji announced loud enough to make Usopp jump at his volume, a sight that made Sanji snicker. “Our ticklish little sniper, on the other hand…”

Those words made Usopp completely panic, his head turning around slowly, in an almost cartoonish way. “W-What did you say…?” He asked, struggling to wipe a nervous smile away. “M-Me?! Why would you target me? I-I don’t know anything!” He stuttered over his lies, shrinking when Sanji’s eyes sparked an impish gleam.

That's when their Captain suddenly burst out with a silly warning. “Usohohohopp! Sahahave yohohoursehehelf! He knohohohows!” Luffy squeaked out with bright giggles, the sniper's eyes widening instantly.

“L-Luffy!” He scolded, cursing his captain for completely ruining his chances of lying his way out of this. Well, not that the chances were that big anyway, but still!

Everything was tumbling downhill! Usopp really thought he’d be safe if he just played dumb and waited for everything to be over, how could he be so naive?!

In a flash, Sanji stood up and left the melted puddle that was now Luffy recovering on the ground, eyes locked on to the wide-eyed sniper. Usopp scrambled out of his seat, unable to control the butterflies that started swarming in his tummy.

One step forward, and this advancement quickly turned into a playful chase between the two, the pair running aimlessly around the kitchen. “Nononono! Stay b-back! This isn’t fairrrr!” Usopp whined, all while smiling like an idiot. “How did you even— how did you figure out that I know?!”

Usopp had yelled at Sanji while jumping behind their island, Sanji running up to the other side still grinning. “You couldn’t have been more obvious, Usopp. For such a good liar, you can’t keep secrets for shit.” He teased a bit, even if he was telling the truth.

The truth didn’t help Usopp’s impending doom, though, nor did it stop the giddy titters that were now slipping past his lips. “Sanji— plehehease! C-Can we tahahalk about this?!” Usopp pleaded, being circled around the island tauntingly by Sanji.

“The only talking I want is your admittance.” The chef said with a mischievous smirk, suddenly leaping over the counter and grabbing onto Usopp.

Usopp screamed as this happened, absolutely helpless as Sanji with ease led him softly to the ground, straddling his hips with his powerful legs, all while Usopp giggled madly and pleaded some more with the blonde.

His pleas fell on deaf ears, as Sanji after getting properly situated dove for Usopp’s sides, scribbling at the sensitive skin in a way that he knew worked well on the boy.

Usopp failed miserably at holding back his now pouring laughter, latching onto Sanji’s wrists as weak hands tried to push the cruel and oh so evil tickles away.

“EEEAHhahahaha! Sahahahanji! Eeeheheek! Nohohohoooo..!” He squeaked and squirmed as much as he could, his face split into the most adorable smile, one that made Sanji’s just as wide.

“Dohohon’t tell him ahahanything..!” Luffy called out tiredly.

Hearing that, Sanji moved his fingers towards his tummy, clawing at the spot just above his belly button. “Ignore him Usopp, you’re too ticklish for this, yeah?” He snickered, enjoying making these teasy comments towards him.

Why? Because unlike with Luffy, it worked absolute wonders on Usopp, and garnered just the type of reactions Sanji wanted.

He immediately cackled at both his words and the tummy tickles, shaking his head frantically back and forth. “Luhuhuffy! Sahahave me!”

The straw hat stayed still, sprawled out on the kitchen floor, his chest moving slowly up and down. “Suhuhure… lehehet me juhuhust… catch my breheheath..”

“LUHUhuhuffy!” He screeched, not only was he getting caught in the crossfires as he feared— but Luffy was too tired right now to fulfill his promise of protecting him!

“Don’t worry, you can save yourself Usopp, just tell me what he stole!” Sanji urged, his clawing transitioning into a barrage of pokes across his tummy. “I could make this soo much worse for you. Don’t forget, I know all of your ticklish spots!” Sanji threatened playfully, giggling sweetly at how it made Usopp flush a bright red.

For being so angry earlier, he sure did sound pretty damn cheery while reducing Usopp to a sputtering, laughing mess. “And I mean, all of them.”

With that, Sanji’s fingers reached behind him where Usopp couldn’t see, squeezing at his calf muscles gently, Sanji’s thumb and fingers nipping at the spot repeatedly. “PFFAHAHAHAHA! NaHAHAHhahat thehehere!” Usopp screamed, his legs kicking a lot more wildly now— it was a miracle that they hadn’t hit Sanji in the face yet.

How embarrassing, Sanji really did know all of his weak points. In all honesty, Usopp had forgotten just how ticklish his calves were, but with how lost he was in his current laughter? He was sure he’d never forget again.

Head tipped back, he felt his tummy becoming a bit sore from all his laughing. They really give the toughest battles to the most ticklish of people, huh?

Unfortunately for Luffy, Usopp was not his strongest soldier. “Thahahat’s ihihit! I’m tehehehelling him— Ihihim tehehelling hihihimm!” He caved, announcing it loudly and letting the exhausted Luffy know that betrayal was just around the corner.

Sanji beamed with pride, he knew this would work! Thank you Usopp for being so ticklish, he thought. It really made things easier for him. “Attaboy.” Sanji praised, removing his fingers from his calves and reaching a hand forward to gently rub Ussop’s arm. Being kind enough to let the sniper somewhat catch his breath.

His chest rose and lowered, taking in selfish gulps of air that were often interrupted by aftermath giggles. After a couple of seconds, Usopp was able to open his eyes, looking towards Sanji. “Ohohokay.. okahahay.” He started, letting out a shaky sigh. “Basically— me and Luhuhuffy were—”

Just then, the truth was interrupted by Luffy who lunged forward towards the pair. Making it clear he had finally recovered from earlier by the speed of his movements. What followed, was an instant return of Usopp’s laughter, Sanji watching the whole thing with a raised brow.

“W-WHA?! Luhuhuffy?! Whahahat thehehe hehehell?!” Usopp gasped when Luffy’s fingers hooked under his jaw, digging under his chin and scribbling against his neck. Naturally, the sniper was confused, but also very distracted by the feeling of one of his worst spots being targeted, scrunching up his shoulders desperately.

Luffy’s eyes narrowed, staring down at his sniper. “Don’t you dare Usopp!” Shouted his captain, “If you tell him, I’ll never stop tickling you!” The boy warned, still fluttering his fingers against Usopp’s neck.

The sniper was appalled by his threat! It was childish, and unfair, yet he couldn’t do anything about it. Usopp squealed as the tickling continued, he didn’t know who to call for help at this point. Luffy was supposed to protect him, but now, he’s the one tickling him!

Sanji listened to that whole exchange of theirs and burst out into giggles at the absurdity, his captain really was something else. Unfortunately for Luffy though, his final attempt at saving face became fruitless when Sanji grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him next to Usopp, freeing the sniper from his tickles.

“Nice try, Captain.” Sanji grinned before both of his hands shot under Luffy’s arms, surprising no one when loud boyish laughter followed suit. Once again Luffy was laughing under the hands of Sanji, and he totally deserved it. “Now Usopp, as you were saying?”

“Dohohon’t! I behehelieheheve in yohohou!” His captain wailed, his supportive words not meaning shit after that stunt he pulled.

And yet… “I-I...” Usopp hesitated, he wasn’t sure why. He was pretty eager to tell the cook everything before, but something now told him to stay quiet.

Sanji took quick note of this silence, a hand leaving Luffy to lift Usopp’s shirt. That specific movement made a fluttery knot grow in Usopp’s stomach, especially when he heard Sanji take in a deep, deep breath of air.

“AHhaha wait nonono! Sanji— dohohon’t! I’ll tahahalk! I’ll talk!” He folded like earlier, pushing at Sanji’s face that was now hovering over his exposed tummy. And just like that… one threat of raspberries and Usopp was back to compliance.

Sanji blew out that stored breath, feeling just a little bit disappointed he didn’t get to blow a raspberry on Usopp’s tummy and watch the boy really laugh. Well, this was a win either way. “Good choice, Usopp.” He said, reeling back as his other hand returned to Luffy. Paying little to no mind to how much the stretchy boy was laughing and squealing, more focused on Usopp.

When Usopp started to talk, Luffy yelled at him with more giggly threats. “Bahahasically, me and Luffy were up late last night— he went to get a snack, and when he cahahame back, he had this squid dish, I don’t knohohow what it was!” He started to explain, Sanji nodding along.

“Ah, so that was it. You ate the squid risotto meal I prepped, huh? You’re lucky I still have squid and can remake it, you little shit.” Sanji glared down at Luffy. Though, noticeably with zero anger in his eyes much like earlier, his gaze still shining with playfulness rather than rage.

“I-I promise thohohough! I had no idea he stole it! Ussop’s word!” He swore, glad he didn’t need to lie in his explanation.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, I believe you.” Sanji sighed, taking in his admittance and analyzing the situation quickly in his brain. A couple of seconds later, his fingers stilled, sparing Luffy.

He looked down at both boys, his knees that were still straddling a tuckered-out Usopp, and Luffy who was curled up in an even more tuckered-out ball. They both looked tired, yet happy? That was good, he knew tickling wasn’t something negative for Usopp either, no matter how effective it is on him.

With a comforting pat on Luffy’s back from Sanji, and two gentle kisses placed on top of their foreheads, the cook started to stand up, leaving the duo to continue lying on the ground. “Well, I'd better get to cooking, then,” Sanji said, going to the broken lock.

Luffy, and Usopp both felt a bit… shocked by his words. Though they were too tired to move, their eyes locked onto Sanji who seemed very calm. Was Luffy really getting off that easily? No punishment, nothing?

Luffy wanted to question that. “Aren’t yohohou gohohonna… d-deal with mehehe?” He enquired through aftermath giggles, still feeling the warmth of that gentle kiss Sanji had placed on his head.

“I think I just did, didn’t I?” The cook amused, curling his fingers in the air as emphasis. Sanji found himself holding back a laugh when that tiny motion made both of them visually tense up— despite knowing they were safe from more tickling.

Luffy let out a sigh of relief, his smile widening. “Though, you did cause quite a lot of damage…” He pondered, looking between him and the broken lock. “Once you’ve calmed down, how about you go fishing for me? Catch me something good, and I’ll consider your debt paid.”

The captain sprang up, having enough strength to sit up and shoot Sanji a proud grin. “I can do that…! I’ll catch you the biggest fish ever…!” He cheered, just a little out of breath.

That sounded good to the chef, humming a satisfied sound.

Luffy after a couple more minutes of catching his breath stood up, reaching a hand towards Usopp who had one eye closed. “Come on, let’s go catch a fish together!” He urged, flashing his signature wide-toothed grin.

“Yeah…! Let's!” Usopp nodded, taking his hand and letting himself be dragged upwards, Luffy lifting his friend’s weight with ease.

When they began walking out the door, Luffy slung an arm around Usopp’s shoulder, leaning in close and complaining in his ear. “I can’t believe you told on me, you snitch.” He joked a bit, making it obvious that he wasn’t genuinely mad at him for folding.

Usopp deadpanned, shoving him light-heartedly, “Don’t even with me, or you can catch this fish on your own.” He warned playfully, sending a quick poke to Luffy’s side.

Damian Wayne had been stabbed twice, poisoned six times, almost lost a finger, and very nearly attacked by a Caspian cobra that had mysteriously appeared in his closet—though, in the end, he simply adopted the serpent and named it Caspian.

He wasn’t upset about any of it.

In fact, he was starting to consider it foreplay.

Most people wouldn’t interpret a tripwire on the staircase or a gas-emitting bookshelf as romantic gestures. But Damian was not most people.

You were, after all, an assassin—one of the most lethal in the world, a Black Widow. And also, his wife. Which meant that affection came with a few… complications.

Like needing to sniff his tea before every sip.

That morning, he sat in the garden beneath the soft canopy of climbing vines, a leather-bound Persian manuscript resting in one hand, a delicate china teacup in the other. You floated into view like a vision, carrying a fresh tray of biscuits, teapot and a suspiciously serene smile that usually meant something was about to happen.

You refilled his cup with practiced grace, the scent of jasmine rising between you. He brought it to his lips, took one measured sip, then paused. His nostrils flared slightly. He sniffed again.

“Belladonna?” he asked, not looking up from the page.

You set the tray down, gently brushing crumbs off your fingers. “Only a trace.”

He hummed thoughtfully. “Too floral. It throws off the jasmine.” Another sip. “Next time, try aconite. It blends better.”

You leaned down, pressing a kiss to his hair. “Noted.”

Your attempts came and went like the seasons—some subtle, some so absurdly theatrical it was almost comical. Once, you’d rigged the library’s fireplace to release a sleeping gas if the wrong book was pulled from the shelf. You knew Damian would figure it out. And he did—of course he did—though he was a little smug about it.

He crouched by the hearth with a small, curved blade in hand, dismantling the delicate mechanism with an ease that irritated and impressed you in equal measure.

“I almost admire the mechanism,” he said dryly, flicking a piece loose and catching it mid-air. “You’re improving. The trigger delay was clever.” He glanced over his shoulder, eyes glinting. “You’ll have to try harder next time.”

And you had.

The following week, you’d set a spring-loaded dart trap just outside the hallway near the greenhouse—timed perfectly to his morning routine, right as he turned the corner, casually eating an apple.

The dart whistled through the air.

Damian shifted to the left without so much as blinking. The dart missed him entirely—only to pierce straight through the apple and embed it into the wall with a soft thunk.

He stared at it for a moment. Then calmly walked over, plucked the dart free, and retrieved the apple.

“You’re getting lazy,” he remarked, holding the dart up to the light, examining its make. “This one’s off-balance. It veered left.”

“Maybe I just wanted to nick you,” you said breezily as you strolled past, lips twitching into a grin. “You did mention needing to work on your reflexes.”

He chuckled under his breath, biting into what remained of his apple.

“How considerate, beloved,” he muttered.

But then came that Sunday afternoon.

Damian’s brothers had come over—against his better judgment—for what they claimed would be a “simple brotherly brunch.” 

Within minutes, he regretted opening the door.

His home was louder than usual, filled with overlapping voices, the clatter of silverware, and the relentless stream of bickering that passed for affection in the Wayne family. The pancakes were drowned in ungodly amounts of syrup. Someone had opened a bottle of orange juice with their teeth. 

And worst of all? Someone—he still didn’t know who—had touched his katana display. There were smudges. Smudges. Left on the usually pristine, sparkling glass. He said nothing. But he made a mental note to run a full scan later and find out exactly which one of those imbeciles had committed the crime.

He had just excused himself to fetch something from the west wing and only made it half way across the dining room when it happened.

A soft click.

He froze mid-step. Looked down.

A pressure plate.

From his seat, Jason glanced up, a fork halfway to his mouth. “What was that?”

The ceiling above them shifted with an ominous creak.

And then—whoosh.

A pendulum blade, polished to a mirror shine, dropped from the rafters and arced through the air like something straight out of the Addam’s family. It missed Damian by less than an inch as he pivoted smoothly to the side, ducking in one seamless motion. The blade swung past with a rush of air, that ruffled his hair.

The others froze mid-bite, forks suspended in the air, expressions shifting from confusion to outright horror.

Before anyone could react, another panel hissed open—this time along the wall. A rapid click—shhhk echoed through the room as sleek, retractable knives launched from hidden compartments, hurling straight toward Damian.

He moved like water—graceful and effortless—spinning out of the way, one hand casually snatching a blade mid-air. While another knife sliced cleanly through the fabric of his sleeve, but didn’t touch skin.

He exhaled, long and put-upon. 

“Again with the ceiling blades,” he muttered.

The others, however, were not so composed.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Jason barked, nearly flipping his plate as he bolted upright.

Dick stood, wide-eyed, gaze darting to the now-settling blades embedded in the wall. “Are you okay?! What the hell just happened?!”

Tim was already pulling out a compact scanner from his pocket, frantically scanning the room. “Is the house booby-trapped?! Did someone breach the security grid?! Is there an intruder?”

Damian remained exactly where he was, unbothered, as he studied the captured blade that was held delicately between his fingers.

“No intruder,” he said annoyed at the clear overreactions. “This was my wife’s work.”

All three stared at him in horror.

Tim blinked. “Your wife just tried to impale you,” he said slowly, carefully, as if explaining a basic law of physics to someone who should’ve known better.

Damian hummed to himself, turning the blade between his fingers, letting the light catch the polished steel. “She’s improving,” he remarked. “These ones actually had decent balance.”

Jason just stared. “Why the fuck are you so calm?” he snapped. “SHE JUST TRIED TO KILL YOU.”

Damian let out a slow sigh, clearly irritated by the dramatics. “She didn’t try to kill me,” he said, as if the distinction was obvious. “If she wanted me dead, I would be.”

“Damian,” Dick said, cautiously, as if speaking to a feral animal.

“She’s just being affectionate.”

Tim blinked. “That’s not affection, that’s—”

“It’s her love language,” Damian interrupted, stepping around the still-swinging blade without a flinch. “She’s very dedicated to making sure I'm aware of her love.”

Dick looked like he was about to pass out. “You’re telling me this happens regularly?”

Damian shrugged. “You’re just upset no one’s ever loved you that much.”

Moments later, you strolled in, utterly unbothered. Silk robe tied neatly at the waist, not a single hair out of place. In one hand, a steaming cup of coffee. On your lips, a soft, pleasant smile that nearly made it hard to believe you were the architect of the carnage around the room.

“Good morning,” you greeted cheerfully, leaning in to press a kiss to Damian’s cheek before casually glancing at the embedded blades. “Did the new blade wall trigger too soon?”

Damian nodded as he tucked you to his side. “Off by two seconds. Adjust the fuse delay.”

You let out a quiet sigh. “Noted.” 

Your gaze shifted to the blade still turning slowly from the ceiling. You tilted your head. “Is that one still rotating? I meant to fix the alignment—it’s drifting too far left.”

“I told you to aim for a clean ninety-degree arc,” Damian added, glancing down at you. “You’re losing power on the backswing.”

You made a soft, thoughtful noise. “I was worried about overcompensating.”

“Next time,” he said, without missing a beat, “use a counterweight.”

Jason looked at Dick. Dick looked at Tim. Tim looked like he was ready to drag you both to Arkham and check you two in under a shared room. The three of them turned back in unison, staring at the two of you standing there—utterly calm and composed, as if you were discussing home décor and not lethal traps embedded into the manor’s infrastructure.

Jason blinked. “You’re two are joking, right?”

“Of course not,” Damian replied coolly, taking the coffee cup from your hand with ease and pressing a kiss to your cheek. “We’re a team. I only wish the best for my beloved.”

“I don’t think the feeling is mutual,” Tim muttered under his breath.

Damian rolled his eyes and took a slow sip of the coffee. He paused, considered the taste, then added matter-of-factly, “This is poisoned, isn’t it?”

You tilted your head, smiling sweetly. “Just a touch of cyanide.”

He took another sip, unfazed. “The coffee was already bitter. This just makes it more obvious. Try strychnine next time—it’s cleaner.”

You giggled and kissed his cheek again. “You’re so picky, darling.”

Dick stared at the two of you, eyes wide, colour slowly draining from his face. “I—I think he’s going to die.”

“No,” Damian said simply, sliding an arm around your waist as the two of you turned and began walking away—utterly unfazed by the blades, the scorched wall, or the stunned expressions behind you. “We made vows, Grayson. I promised to love her, cherish her—and survive her.” He glanced over his shoulder. “This is just the life of marriage.”

And for Damian Wayne, it was everything he could have ever asked for.

There was an odd sense of energy in the air as you stepped onto the grounds of the Citrus Altar, a basket of scones hooked on your arm. Well, perhaps it wasn’t all that odd anymore since you had been there quite a few times to visit, but the feeling of mild static shooting through your feet and making your icing hair stand on end was an odd sensation no matter how many times one experienced it.

And this time was no different as you jolted slightly, immediately bringing a hand to try and smoothen your hair back to how you had it before you arrived. Maybe it was a waste of time to even try and make yourself look somewhat presentable if this was how it was going to turn out (you were also feeling slightly silly for trying at all when you knew beforehand). But despite the fact that you weren’t here for anything too important, you still felt obligated to look decent when entering such a sacred place.

Of course, if the knights of the altar wanted the rare cookie visitors to look presentable when entering what they frequently stated was a ‘place of honor’ for their floor, maybe they shouldn’t constantly charge the place with electricity. Then again…you supposed that this was a heavily protected place and the frequent electricity was necessary.

Oh well, too late to take back all that wasted time.

You stopped just at the entrance to the main part of the altar, just before the citrus barrier. An even stronger static atmosphere sent your semi-decent hair right down to ‘you didn’t even try’ territory.

You were definitely going to get laughed at at this rate. And here you were hoping to avoid the upcoming jabs from the cookie you were visiting.

Though, you supposed that was your own fault for getting so close.

“You know, normally cookies stop before getting close to an electricity field,” a familiar voice commented casually from just inside the entrance. “Well, regardless, we’re not exactly open for visitors right now, sooo…”

“What about a not-normal visitor bearing snacks?” you responded, holding up your basket and shaking it like a bag of coins.

The owner of the voice soon revealed themselves after that, golden-yellow eyecing darting to the basket with pursed lips. Then his eyecing flicked back up to you and he shrugged. “Perhaps. I’ll have to take a look. Y’know, make sure there’s nothing dangerous.”

You leveled him with a bemused stare as he lowered the citrus barrier to snatch the basket from your hands, peering inside while still glancing your way. You crossed your arms as you awaited his ‘verdict’.

After a moment, Lemon Zest Cookie closed the basket with an assured nod. “Alright, snacks check out. Uuunfortunately, I’m still gonna have to detain you. Trespassing and all that,” he said bluntly, placing the basket on the ground and looking at you with what could have been a convincing dutiful stare if not for his previous actions.

You blinked at him, stare unchanging in its unamused nature. Then you raised a brow at him.

Lemon Zest Cookie kept up the somewhat serious demeanor before dropping it and raising his arms to lock his fingers behind his head in a decidedly un-dutiful pose. “Kidding! No need to look so serious, y’know.” He let out a chuckle. “I distinctly remember you laughing at my jokes before. Don’t tell me you’ve lost your sense of humor.”

“Maybe you’ve gotten less funny,” you replied, finally cracking a smile.

“Ha! You say that, yet you smile. I win,” Lemon Zest Cookie stated with a smug smile, dropping his pose to set one hand on his hip.

“You always say you ‘win’ with anything.” You enunciated your words with air quotations.

“Well, yeah. I mean, take our races, archery matches…” the lemon-infused cookie listed off, tapping his palm with each activity.

“You’re just naming the things you’re good at.”

“Yeah, problem?”

You released a huff of laughter.

“Aaand I think we can add ‘better hair’ to that list,” Lemon Zest Cookie suddenly commented, making you instantly freeze and rush both your hands over your head. You sent him a glare when you heard him start laughing (like you knew he would). “Yohohou look like a hedgehog! I’m sure the rest of the knights would love to see this! Haha!”

Instead of standing your unamused ground like usual, you shot him an alarmed look. Which was a mistake as it just made him laugh more.

“HAHA! Thehere it is! Knew you still had a sense of humor!” He leaned his head back onto his intertwined fingers.

You rolled your eyecing, mouth twitching with the effort to not smile despite the mild annoyance. “Shut your ever-charged mouth,” you replied with no true sincerity to the statement.

“Nah,” he responded back in kind, before dropping his pose and…actually looking somewhat serious. “All jokes aside, you do need to leave. Thanks for the snacks, but…” His eyecing drifted to the side with a worried furrow of his brow. “Things have been a little dangerous recently. We’ve had to up security and patrols. Many of the knights haven’t been taking breaks, myself included. We’re hoping to nip the problem in the bud before it spirals, but things are still going a little…awry.”

At his tone, you found your facial expression matching his. It was moments like this that reminded you that, despite his laidback demeanor, Lemon Zest Cookie was still an elite knight of the Citrus Order and he had a duty to carry out. And while you were usually content with leaving him to his job after hanging out for a bit, you hadn’t been there that long before he was sending you off. And one part of what he said stood out to you…aside from the obvious issue.

“You haven’t been taking breaks?” you questioned with a sudden burst of concern.

Lemon Zest Cookie brought up a hand to rub against his forehead, his other rested once more on his hip. “Should’ve known you’d focus on that part,” he muttered, speaking up with his next words. “Look, I mean it when I say things have gotten a little hectic. We’re not sure what’s causing it yet, but a lot of the entities here have gotten somewhat aggressive. We can’t spare any expenses.”

You frowned. “But you all are going to run yourselves ragged if you keep that up…”

Your friend gave a small, halfhearted shrug, much more dejected with the motion than he usually did. “Yeah, well…anything to keep the altar safe,” he offered after a moment.

Your eyecing ran over his form, noticing several things you hadn’t when you first arrived. Lemon Zest Cookie’s uniform looked a little…battered, scuffed with white choco powder in some places like he hadn’t had time to sit down and properly get the dirt out. And now that you were looking at him, he looked…tired, dark spots under his eyecing and his eyelids drooping frequently before he forcefully blinked to keep them open (which wouldn’t have been that unusual if he wasn’t on-duty; despite his attitude, he did care about his job).

He truly looked like he hadn’t rested.

Your concern had reached a new high, though your expression now showed nothing but a sense of determination. You walked up to him…and snatched back your basket.

Lemon Zest Cookie blinked, a rare moment of complete surprise free of sarcastic undertones appearing on his face. “Wh-hey, I thought those were for me!” he protested, reaching out.

You lifted your head in a show of faux-haughtiness, eyelids drooping to give him a look. “Sorry, but these scones are for relaxing visits,” you stated, closing your eyecing for a moment to sell the attitude. “And I see that there is no relaxing here.” You opened one eyecing halfway to look at your friend (wondering briefly with a hint of anxiety if your little bout of playfulness was inappropriate for the situation).

Lemon Zest Cookie stared at you for a few seconds incredulously, before sighing, lowering his head slightly. He once again looked at the ground. “Look, I know what you’re doing and a break would be nice, but…I’m still a knight. I have a job to attend to.”

You let your act fade as you frowned, brow furrowing in worry once more. “And that job is going to be a lot harder if you don’t rest,” you argued a little loudly, huffing a small, mildly frustrated laugh. “Can’t believe I have to convince you to wander off,” you joked lightly, but when you received no laughter, you took a breath and softened your face. “Look, just a small break? It doesn’t have to be long.” Trying to break up the tension somewhat, you patted the top of your basket with a small grin. “After all, I said these scones are for relaxing. And if you don’t relax, you don’t get them.”

“I suppose you did say that…” the lemon-flavored cookie murmured, a tired smile forming on his face. Then he frowned once more, glancing back at the altar. A moment later, he sighed. “Alright. I’ll get someone to take my place and make sure no innocent cookie gets disintegrated by the citrus barrier, then I’ll go with you.” He turned around and headed back towards the altar, the barrier closing back over the entrance.

You smiled victoriously, and waited.

Once the positions had been properly shifted and Lemon Zest Cookie was freed up, he met back up with you outside. You, wanting to get as far away from the source of his stress as possible, suggested the first floor of the tower. It was the most tame one currently, with most of the cake soldiers and archers being more inclined to stay away from trouble than the rest of the floor’s inhabitants. Lemon Zest Cookie agreed easily, saying that he was going to suggest that floor anyway.

“So there wasn’t too much trouble switching?” you questioned him in reference to his shift, handing him a lemon scone.

He took the offered treat and took a bite, completely shameless as crumbs fell out of his mouth when he responded. “Nah, we were going to switch anyway.”

“You could at least chew your food before speaking.” You gave him a mildly disturbed look.

“Make me,” he taunted with a grin in your direction, deliberately taking another messy bite of his treat.

You groaned, shaking your head as you redirected the conversation back on track before your friend could find more ways to mess with you. “So your brother was okay with you leaving?” you asked, taking a scone out for yourself and nibbling on it.

Lemon Zest Cookie, having thankfully finished his snack, gave a loud laugh. “HA! No. He wanted me to stay a few more hours, but I said you were visiting, so…”

“That changed his mind?”

“Nope!”

You huffed a laugh as you rolled your eyecing. “Sometimes I question how you got your position,” you said, not at all meaning anything by it. You knew he earned his place among the Order.

“It’s ‘cause I’m awesome, that’s why,” Lemon Zest Cookie replied with a boastful grin as he once again brought his hands to the back of his head.

“And here I was praising you in my head…” you groaned out, a deadpan expression replacing your playful one.

“Wait, really? What were you thinking?” The lemon-flavored cookie suddenly tilted himself to be within your line of sight, grin growing. 

“Well, I’m not telling you now!” You redirected your walking so he was once again out of your sight. “It’ll just make your head bigger!”

“Hm, okay, fine,” your friend hummed out and you could practically see the leisurely shrug without even looking at him. 

Then your eyecing widened in betrayal as your scone was snatched from your hand, whirling out with an offended look. “Hey!” You could hardly even begin a protest before your half-bitten scone was tossed in the air with a ‘hup!’ and proceeded to be consumed by the maw of your friend.

Lemon Zest Cookie just grinned, once again assuming his habitual relaxed pose. He ate the treat all too quickly. “Well, you weren’t eating it, sooo…” He stuck his tongue out.

“I clearly was!”

“Nah.”

You glared at him as he had the audacity to start laughing at you. “I am going to get you one of these days,” you declared, though it sounded more like a grumble coming out.

“Still waiting on that,” he responded easily, letting out another set of chuckles.

You rolled your eyecing for what felt like the thousandth time that day, picking out another scone and tossing one to the other cookie in the hopes of maybe satiating the ‘beast’. 

For a while, the two of you made your way through the grassy terrain of the first floor, continuing your back and forth without faltering even once. And even though the both of you were walking and not really ‘resting’ per say, you could already see the difference in your friend’s energy levels.

He still had the physical symptoms of his exhaustion, but his poses looked a lot more relaxed, the laidback attitude he was known for appearing less like a facade to keep up.

Several times, you found yourself smiling softly, glad you were able to help him in some way, even just for a little while.

Of course…the smug cookie that you called one of your closest friends had to go and ruin that patch of softness by swiping your chosen scone. AGAIN.

“Really?!” you exclaimed incredulously. “Okay no, this is not happening–” This time, instead of watching the scene unfold like a helpless bystander, you abandoned the basket and dove for your rightful scone.

Lemon Zest Cookie just laughed at your attempts, stretching his hand holding the scone out while pressing his other hand against you to keep you away. “Going to hahave to try harder than thahahat!” he taunted, grinning widely.

You huffed, mentally laying out your options to get your precious scone (that you had made!) back from his grubby hands. Of course, you could always get another from your basket, but you refused to give him the satisfaction of your relenting. But you knew he was far stronger than you, him having daily training while you didn’t, so taking it back by force wasn’t an option.

Unless…

You squinted, wondering if that was even an option. You hadn’t tried, admittedly.

But after a moment of glaring at that infuriatingly smug face, you realized that there was more on the table than just getting your delicious scone back.

No. If this worked, then you would finally have something over him and something you could use to mess with him for once. 

A grin of your own spread across your face, much to the confusion of your friend (though his hold stayed as sure as ever). A drop of sugar-sweat ran down the side of his face, his grin turning somewhat nervous. “Hey, what’s that look for–ghk!”

While he had been focused on your face, you had slipped a hand around his torso and experimentally wiggled your fingers into his armpit, making the arm holding the scone spasm and lock itself down to his side (with your hand now trapped beneath it). His eyecing went wide as he stared at you, a smile still present but now bearing an ‘oh crumbs’ undertone to it.

Meanwhile, your grin only grew, a surge of excitement rushing through you. Yes! He was ticklish!

“Hey, so…that was weird, right?” Lemon Zest Cookie uttered out, a little too casual (and he knew it). “Like, really weird. I don’t know why my arm did that. Hey, so like, we should just–HCK!” His body bent towards you sharply as you once again moved your fingers against the dough of his underarm, his other hand abandoning its mission of keeping your body away and focusing on grabbing your other arm to prevent an attack from both sides. “H-hey! Wh–”

“You trapped my hand, sugar-brain,” you responded, far too calmly for the energy whirling around within you, the only indication of it being your all-too-large grin. “I’m trying to get it out.” That was a lie. A boldfaced lie.

“Well then, let meeHHEHE-!” There was a light, wheezing start to his laugh as you wiggled your thumb that was mostly free into the soft part of his dough where his shoulder and pit met. And you decided that you weren’t going to stop that time, using his surprise to move your other hand in his weakened grip to the hip closest to you. Then with a small giggle, you began rapidly squeezing it.

“HhhEHEHY, HHHAHA–” A much more intense wheeze kickstarted the set of laughter that left him, his body trapped between two distanced sensations and wriggling wildly. Yet, for some reason, his body kept leaning back into you, like he was confused on where he was supposed to go to get away from the attack. In his movements, the scone he was holding cracked in his hand and fell to the ground in pieces. “Hehey, yohoHOUR scone FEHEHELL! Yohohou sHHHOHOULD GEHEHHHEE-!” he tried to protest, perhaps hoping to direct your attention away.

Unfortunately for him, you had found a new target.

“Sorry, you’re not distracting me this time!” you chirped, not at all sorry. “I can’t believe I never knew you were ticklish!” Despite the arm pressing down on your hand, you managed to slightly bend your fingers to lightly and weakly scribble into his underarm. Which, despite the inefficiency, seemed to work just fine.

Lemon Zest Cookie’s entire body jerked, a burst of energy running through him as he spasmed violently, head lowered slightly as his shoulders shook. “It’s nAHAHAT sohohomething tHAHAHAT I-hhHHHHAHAHA! WOHOULD YOU LEHEHET ME SPEEHEHEHEAK!?” he wheezed out, head lifting and his laughter intensifying briefly as you scooted your trapped fingers down his side, lightly squeezing his dough with each motion like your fingers were climbing down. 

“I mean I would.” No, you wouldn’t. “Buuut this is funnier,” you admitted smugly, sticking out your tongue. Oh, how you loved turned tables.

“Of cohohourse ihihit IHIHIS!” he, well, would’ve grumbled if he wasn’t currently in a fit of laughter. And that laughter only grew when your once trapped fingers arrived at his side, your other hand following to the same spot on his other side. Then you paused, your fingertips faintly pressing into the outskirts of his stomach. Perhaps you wanted to give him a break.

HA, as if!

“You’re right. Go ahead, say what you were going to say,” you offered, smiling in what could have been in an innocent way if not for where your fingers were.

Lemon Zest Cookie took a few shaky breaths, trying to give a confident grin of some kind, but it only ended up looking nervous. “Ha! R-right! The moment I even try TOHOHO-I KNEW IHIHIT-HHHAHAHGK!!” And then you attacked, cycling your fingers in a set of multiple smooth motions as if they were running on his stomach, sending jolts of ticklish energy through him and making him once again lean back into you. His arms crossed over his stomach region as he bent forward, legs positioning in an attempt to keep his balance standing up. “Weehee-WEHEH’RE GONNAHAHA FAHAHALL IF YOHOHOU DON’T STAHAHAHAP!”

Of course, you did not stop. In fact, you made a point to quickly move your fingers up and rapidly wiggle them into his bottom ribs.

And you found your friend violently spasming in your grip once more.

Aaand falling to the ground just as he said you both would. Well, it was more like he fell and you stumbled trying to keep a hold on him and got dragged down with him.

Lemon Zest Cookie got only a moment’s respite from your tickling, though he was far from able to escape or retaliate if the way he was lying on the ground with residual giggles still pouring out of him was any indication. His face even had a new shade of red on it, eyecing squeezed shut.

And for that moment, you allowed yourself a small, much softer smile. After all, you had brought him out of the altar to relax and have some fun, so this seemed like a good route to take.

With that in mind, your smile morphed into another grin as you crawled to loom over him. And as he rolled onto his back, one hand over his stomach, you climbed over him, trapping his legs in place. His eyecing shot open when he registered the new weight, looking up at you. A new line of sugar-sweat ran down his forehead. “...hi.” His eyecing darted to your raised hands that had now formed claws. “...you still mad about the scones?” he asked, grinning nervously.

Your face dropped for just a moment as you squinted, your mouth a thin line. “Yes, I’m still mad about the scones!” you exclaimed in a rush, lowering your hands. (Truth be told, you were never truly mad and he knew that, but who could say no to some theatrics?)

Lemon Zest Cookie had the audacity to grin smugly–smugly!–in your direction. “I would hardly say it’s my fault you suck at eating, hedgehog.”

Oh, that...was…it.

With a blank face and no words to prelude your actions, you swiftly brought your hands down to his sides, practically hugging them as you rapidly squeezed the sensitive spots. Immediately, you had to fight to keep your place over him as he started squirming, jerking violently with every squeeze (of which there was a lot of that happening) as if he were being electrocuted by his own static.

“WaiHHHT! YOHOHOU CAHAHAN’T-” Your friend abandoned whatever sentence he was trying to get out as a long wheeze left him, momentarily stopping his frantic movements as the air left him before he threw his head back as much as he could while lying on the ground. “I thohohought yOHOU WERE DOHOHONE!”

“I would’ve been done much sooner than this, but you sealed your fate with that comment!” you retorted, smiling once more without even realizing it. Deciding to change up your tactic slightly, you raised your hands ever-so-slightly, using only the tips of your fingers as you kept up the squeezing motions. Though with this new adjustment, it was more like you were clawing at his sides.

“Oh c’mOHOHON!” Lemon Zest Cookie’s hands found themselves weakly grabbing onto your forearms, though in this state, he couldn’t even think about moving them away. “Cahahan’t you tahHHHAHAke a jOHOHOHOKE?!” 

“I can. But that plus stealing my–” you accentuated your point with a more firm squeeze, making him yelp. “–scone, and you’re practically asking for it!” Then you gave a toothy grin. “Besides, give me a moment to enjoy this. Being ticklish is a pretty funny weakness for an elite knight to have, isn’t it?” Maybe you were being a tad mean, but with how often your friend messed with you, you would say that it was slightly deserved. Giving him some room to respond, you lightened up on your tickles, leaving him giggling with tiny wheezes peppered throughout.

“Yohohu’re wahahahay too excihihited abohout this. Weheheirdo…” he managed to wheeze out, peeking on eyecing open before a warning finger wiggled into the divot of his left hip, making him squeeze it shut again with a louder giggle.

You decided to ignore his second comment. “What? That why you never told me or something? Were you embarrassed about me finding out?” you asked with a chuckle, mostly rhetorical. Yeah, right. Lemon Zest Cookie wasn’t the type to get embarrassed over something like this. This was more something he would use to embarrass others in the Order or someth–

You almost stopped your attack completely once you registered the new darkened shade of red on his face.

“Oh my Witches. You are embarrassed!” you exclaimed with a dawning realization, somehow grinning the widest you have by far. “Wow! Lemon Zest Cookie, elite knight of the Citrus Order and resident smug jokester, is embarrassed by tickling!” Okay, you were definitely being mean by this point.

For some reason, a loud, slightly frantic giggle rang out between all his other ones when you finished your sentence. The back of his head once again met the ground below him as his grin wobbled. “Ohohokay ohohokay! I gehehet it! Beehehee quiet abahahout it, will ya?!”

“Maybe around other cookies, I will,” you responded, with just a hint of smugness. “But I am going to hold this over you forever.” Took you long enough to finally find something!

Lemon Zest Cookie made what sounded like a groan, before you decided to take advantage of his head’s position and wiggle your fingers into his neck, making him swiftly throw his chin back down, scrunching up his shoulders with a strangled noise. “GHK-HEHEHEY!!”

Ignoring his reinvigorated protests, you continued to tickle his neck, using the tips of your fingers to run up his chin then start back down at his neck. You repeated this a few times, your other hand having stopped its motions almost entirely.

However, when you moved it down and squeezed at his hip to readjust yourself, you were almost shocked into stopping by a burst of loud laughter. It seemed he also realized his ‘mistake’ as his eyecing shot open briefly before being forced to close again by his own laughter.

You blinked before remembering that he had let out a particularly loud wheezing laugh when you had targeted that spot before, and proceeding to grin mischievously. You slipped your fingers out from their place against his neck and moved both your hands down to his hips.

Then you experimentally squeezed them, earning a yelp.

You looked up to find your friend staring at you with a nervous smile, before shockingly, it turned…mildly confident? “Wehehehell? Gohoho all ihihin if you’re gohohonna dohoho it!” Despite his words, you saw jam gradually rising to his face and came to one conclusion.

He was trying to bluff you out.

You knew this trick of his all too well. It was a frequent tactic of his to act confident when he was, in fact, not to throw off someone else. But, since you knew this fact, all you could do was smile calmly. “You got it!” you chirped.

“Wahahait, what? Wait, I was jOHHHHOHOKING!! I WAHAHAHAS KIHIHIDDING-HHHAHAHA-!!” Aaand back into the ground went the back of his head as laughter poured out of his mouth. Your thumbs were almost gently massaging into his hips while the rest of your fingers provided backup in the form of light squeezes. You sat down on his legs when he almost threw you off from his sudden frantic movements. 

“Wow, so this is a bad spot!” you remarked, mildly exaggerated surprise in your tone. You circled your thumbs into the divots of his hips for a few seconds before stopping and lightly pressing them into the dough, wiggling them quickly.

“STAHAHAP SOUNDING SOHOHO EXCIHIHITED!!” Once again, your reward was a bout of laughter with so much wheezing thrown in, you were almost concerned! Looking up, however, greeted you with the sight of Lemon Zest Cookie with one arm thrown over his increasingly red face with a large grin peeking out from underneath and his other hand a fist lightly knocking into the ground.

“Should’ve expected that, y’know,” you replied with a sly grin, though your previous mischief was replaced by something along the lines of curiosity. If you knew your friend–and you did–he could have…stopped you. At any time. And paired with the previous embarrassment that didn’t seem to come from a place of discomfort…

Your smile became a little more genuine. He was enjoying himself!

You removed your hands from his hips, if only to give him a break. Though maybe ‘break’ wasn’t the right word, as you decided to move back up to his stomach and give it a few more scribbles, earning much less intense laughter. You would admit it…you kind of just wanted to see him try and fail to bend his body into the ground to try and escape the sensation. And you couldn’t help but laugh when that exact thing happened, earning what could have been a groan from your friend. Though any annoyance that could have been portrayed by him in that moment was ruined by his increasingly red face and the light titters still pouring out of his mouth.

In fact, there didn’t seem to be any annoyance present…at all!

His laughter had become lighter, with each breath taken to catch it being accompanied with small giggles. Even though you weren’t touching him anymore, having removed your hands to finally stop your onslaught, he flinched occasionally like he was still being poked. Or like someone was giving him static shocks, ironic as it was.

You finally climbed off of him, but remained by his side as he recovered on the ground.

Though you couldn’t resist playfully poking him in the stomach once he regained the energy to remove his arm from his face, making his upper half shoot upwards briefly before he relaxed and lowered his head.

The lemon-flavored cookie sighed shakily, still giggling slightly. Then he opened his eyecing and gave you a look with a lopsided grin. “Wehehell, I hohope you enjoyed yoursehehelf…”

“Well, I know you did,” you shot back with a smug smile.

And you watched as the red that had slowly begun to fade tint his face once more, though he pretended as though it hadn’t, resuming a relaxed pose and bringing his arms behind his head. “Mahaybe I’m just enjoying my generous time off. Kinda glad I let you drag me off.”

“Wouldn’t put your arms up like that,” you commented casually, watching with immense amusement as your friend subtly (see: not subtly) lowered his arms down to lightly cross them over his stomach. Then you couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t believe it! I’m so going to do this more often.”

“And if I attempt to do it to you?” Lemon Zest Cookie questioned, his usual smugness not taking long to reappear on his face. “What then, huh?”

You squinted at him blankly. Then without looking, you wiggled a finger into his hip. A yelp left him as his body bent the other direction. “You might want to try another time, pal,” you responded with a small laugh.

Lemon Zest Cookie laughed too after a moment. “Fine, I can wait,” he relented easily with a shrug.

“Right, second qualification for being a knight of the Citrus Order, huh?” you pronounced, nodding slightly. “Patience.”

“There’s a lot more to it than that, but eh. Not my department.” Another shrug. Then a pause. “Why specifically the ‘second’ qualification?”

“First one being ticklishness, obviously!” you teased, mischievous grin returning. (Yes! He took your bait!)

And you had to hold back a laugh at the uncharacteristic pout on the other’s face. “I’m going to be hearing about this for a while, aren’t I?”

“Yep!” you responded cheerfully, standing up and grabbing your basket, looking into it to see that it was…empty. “Oh, the scones are gone! Some animal must have come along and eaten what was left…” You glanced around. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry! Let’s go and-” You stopped when you looked back down at your friend.

With his arms back behind his head, Lemon Zest Cookie was fast asleep. Oh right, he was already tired. All that tickling must have tired him out even more.

Something happened to Sonic in that stupid Godforsaken cave…

…And Tails was sure of it.

Well, to be completely honest…he wasn’t just sure.

He was positive.

The fox knew his big brother; and he knew him very well.

For Pete’s sake, some people ('some' being literally everyone) might say that Sonic basically raised him.

So…figuratively speaking…

If the blue eyed fox started to take notice of the blue blur’s new and outlandish behaviors…that wouldn’t be odd or out-of-character for him, right?

For example, Tails started to take notice that his blue furred brother now 101% listened to anything and everything literally anyone in a close proximity was saying…

…Wait, that sounded kinda wrong…

…Okay…backing up…

To clarify: Sonic was most definitely listening to his friends before— it wasn’t like he was ignoring themin any sense.

It was just…the blue blur liked to daydream and just be in his own little world sometimes; completely unaware of anyone else.

But now, the fifteen year old quite literally dropped everything he was doing just to listen to one of them speak; no matter how irrelevant it would be to him or to them. 

When someone spoke, the hero in blue’s eyes would concentrate with absolute laser focus like he was inevitably going to miss something important…

…Or…someone important. 

And the more that Tails really thought about it, Sonic had also became very affectionate too. 

Like…very very affectionate; (basically, affection times a billion).

The hedgehog was already physically affectionate as is…

…But…not like this. 

Tails swore anytime he saw his elder brother he was either hugging, hand-holding, fist-bumping or just straight up laying on one of their friends.

Which, would be 'cute' Tails supposes…

…If it wasn’t so…unlike Sonic.

And I know what you’re thinking….

Sonic the Hedgehog not wanting affection is like him not eating a chillidog; he quite literally needs both to survive.

The hedgehog in question most definitely liked being physically affectionate just as much as the next guy…

…I mean, have you met him?

But…he also liked his alone time just as much. 

But again, (and Tails will put this in all bold for emphasis)…

…He knew his older brother.

Sonic loved physical affection but not when he was high-fiving, hugging and fist-bumping people every single second of the hour! 

And it was almost like the green eyed teenager was just…scared that anytime he did a high-five/hug/fist-bump with someone it would be his last high-five/hug/fist-bump with that same someone…

…If…that made sense. 

To be honest, the orange-yellowish fox could just be simply chilling in his lab, tinkering with an invention or two as per usual and his big brother would just speed from out of nowhere, wrap him in a gentle but tight hug from behind and bury his face into his hair.

Not that the blue eyed mammal was complaining, though. 

Sonic’s hugs always made his day better…honestly. 

But what didn’t make his day better, though, was not being able to figure out what the hell was going on with his sibling that made him act so…

Oddly.

And sometimes…if Tails payed attention, anytime he started to speak or make his presence known in literally any conversation with their friends, Sonic’s eyes would just…sharpen slightly. 

And you want to know what scared Tails the most…?

He had…never ever seen that kind of look come from Sonic before…

…And he didn’t know what it meant for him or for his older brother.

“Tahails! Pihick uhup your items!!!”

…Oh…right. 

He was actually doing something besides decoding his big brother’s recent weird behaviors as of late.

The two brothers, Sonic and Tails, were having a sleepover at the fox’s lab. The two popped popcorn, watched a couple movies, did prank phone call’s (on people that definitely weren’t Shadow) and just overall had a blast and enjoyed each other’s company…

…Eeeeeeven though the blue blur was still holding onto Tails like he was going to go somewhere.

And…that lowkey humored the blue eyed fox to no end... 

…Where would he even go? An alternate dimension?

“I aham! Hohold your horses, Sonic.” The preteen giggled, tapping on his IPad screen as he made his Minecraft character pick up his dropped items as he continued to run absentmindedly.

“Whehere thehehe heheck are yohou running to?” Sonic snickered softly, slightly peering over his little brother’s head from behind to see the electronic device. 

The fox shrugged in his brothers lap, “Dunno. Wherever the wind takes me, I guess.”

And at that, the blue blur could absolutely not help but let out a small snort at the other mammal’s retort, burying his face into the fox’s fur from behind as he hugged him, making Tails' heart melt a little. 

Call him corny but…it’s been a long while since he’s seen such a genuine smile strech to the blue hedgehog’s features...

…And it’s been an even longer while since he’s actually heard such a genuine laugh come from the hedgehog too.

It was a small laugh…but it was a genuine laugh nonetheless. 

“That’s seems like something I’d say.” The older smirked, hugging Tails a tad bit tighter, “Seems like I’m rubbing off on you~!”

The smaller mammal blushed slightly at the other’s sudden comment, rolling his eyes fondly as he glanced away, trying to hide the smile that was clear and bright as day, “No, you most definetley are not.” 

“Yes, I most definetley am.” The blue hedgehog said in that annoyingly annoying big brother tone he always did, sticking his tongue out playfully, “Juuuust a couple days ago you were flossing unironically on one of Robotnik’s robots during one of our many victories.” 

The elder ruffled Tails' hair, “That seems like a very 'me' thing to do, does it not?”

“I thought we agreed to never mention that again.” The younger glared as he put his IPad to the side of him, turning it off as he pointed an accusatory finger at the other, his cheeks turned to a light tint of pink.

The other in question just shrugged innocently, squeezing the smaller mammal even tighter, holding back another snort as he heard his little brother slightly squeak at the pressure, “What I see is what I see, little buddy.” 

The orange-yellowish fox ran an annoyed palm down his face, glancing to the back of him to make eye contact with the mammal that was behind him, “Ugh…what did I tell you about calling me that?”

And just like that, the room’s atmosphere completely…shifted. 

Sonic’s demeanor almost immediately faltered at his brother’s words, his small and (somewhat forced) goofy grin now going downwards, resembling a small grimace. 

The hedgehog took his arms off of Tails…almost like he was too hot to touch and Sonic would get…

…Burned somehow.  

And if Tails looked hard enough (and to be honest…he really and truly wished he didn’t), he could see the other’s ears go down a bit. 

The older looked away, making eye contact with the carpeted floor as his shoulders slumped, rubbing his now free arm anxiously “I…” He paused, realizing how weak his voice sounded from his usual tone now as Tails repositioned himself to face him.

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!!!”

The blue blur just continued to look down as he played with his fingers rapidly and anxiously, “…Sorry.” 

The fox’s ears pressed against the top of his head as well, immediately taking his big brother’s hands in his, squeezing them gently, “Sonic…I-I was just joking…” He explained in the most gentle voice he could muster at the moment…

…Because what the actual hell was happening?! 

Why was Sonic— his big brother and literally his most favorite person in the entire world— looking at him as if he was going to slit his throat?

Why was Sonic— the teenager who literally raised him— holding back on so many of his usual everyday quips and one liners?

Why was Sonic acting so...different? 

“Y-Yeah! I know!” The green eyed mammal stated quickly, his voice more high-pitched and frantic than usual now, “Just…y'know…don’t wanna make you upset or anything-“

“—But I’m not upset!” Tails interrupted, his gaze hardening slightly as his brother flinched at his words.

Why won’t he look at him now?

“Well, you lowkey sound like you are!” Sonic shouted back louder than he anticipated, forcing his hands out of his brother’s as he held his own to his chest, glaring at the floor as his eyes started to water. 

But as the silence lingered on, the teenager now started to fidget with his quills, slighting tugging on them as he tried but struggled to find the right words to express his feelings; and he wasn’t alone.

The orange-yellowish fox chewed the inside of his cheek, a stupid nervous habit and stim he couldn’t seem to quit no matter how hard he tried. 

“…But I’m not mad at you...” The younger finally murmured, trying to reach out to the taller teenager who only flinched away at the contact... 

…And it took absolutely every single fiber in the blue eyed preteen’s body to not start sobbing on the spot. 

Instead, he simply bit the inside of his cheek once more, looking down at the carpeted floor as well. 

“Sorry…I-I…I just overreacted is all...” Sonic blurted out suddenly, “I just…” He sighed, running a singular hand through his now frazzled and frizzed up quills, “…Y’know…?”

“No.” The orange-yellowish fox laughed, despite the situation not being a laughing matter in the slightest, “No, I don’t 'know' because you refuse to tell me anything…!” He said as he tapped his fingers rhythmically on his thigh as he rubbed his eyes tiredly, peering down at the small digital clock he had placed on his nightstand. 

1:45 a.m.

…Great. 

Welp, he’s stayed up later. 

And he’s not going to even think about the concept of sleep until him and his big brother have a conversation; a conversation that didn’t consist of Sonic constantly assuring the other that he was 'fine.'

And honestly? At this point in time, he couldn’t even tell if the whole ‘I’m fine’ slogan the hedgehog got so comfortable with saying was Sonic trying to convince Tails…

Or…Sonic trying to convince himself. 

“I’m not a little kid, Sonic.” The shorter mammal stated, crossing his arms as the other rubbed the back of his neck. 

“…Uh…yeah you are—”

“What I mean is: I’m not stupid.” The fox interruptted, trying his best to ignore the way his stomach twisted and turned.

Well, it was now or never…

“Something happened to you in that cave.” The two tailed mammal deadpanned, pointing an accusatory finger at the figure in front of him, ignoring how wide the other figure in question’s eyes became, “I know something did.” 

After a single and not at all subtle beat, the blue blur swallowed a lump in his throat, scratching his arm slightly as beads of nervous sweat started to form on his brow, “N-Nothing happened…” He croaked, silently pleading with his brother to drop the subject entirely. 

But that was his first mistake.

Tails was just as stubborn as Sonic…if not more…

…He did raise the little guy after all. 

“YES, SOMETHING DID!" The shorter mammal snapped, getting up from the carpeted floor as he took a couple steps away from the other, trying to recollect himself (which did not work in the slightest…).

“SOMETHING HAPPENED IN THAT CAVE, SONIC! WHY ARE YOU LYING TO ME?! WHY WON'T YOU TALK TO ME?!" The fox breathed heavily, trying to calm himself down from his unexpected but longoverdue outburst.

Believe it or not: he wasn’t angry…even though from a bird’s eye view it probably did seem and appear that way…

…He was just…scared and didn’t know what to do about the situation now. 

And if you knew Tails…you would know he absolutely LOATHED not knowing what to do in a situation. 

…This supposed 'nothing' was hurting Sonic; both physically and mentally. 

Tails was supposed to be his wingman; to be the one Sonic always relied on…

…What hapened to that…?

The two tailed fox physically deflated, rubbing his face again as he looked at his downtrodden brother…who was still looking at the ground, “Why won’t you just tell me the truth, Sonic…?”

The shorter mammal fidgeted with his fingers as he softended his gaze to his older brother, searching for something…anything on his face that could give him an answer as to why his sibling was acting this way, “Did…D-Did I do something wrong?” 

The hedgehog’s head jerked up, getting up from where he was sitting, now locking eye contact, “What…? N-No you didn’t—”

“Then why won’t you talk to me like you used to? Why won’t you look at me like you used to…?” The young fox cried out desperatley, clutching his brother’s hands in his and squeezing them together tightly, trying to read the other’s expression that was basically…unreadable.

“You’ve been acting so freaking strange since…the cave.” The younger murmured, the last two words to come out of his mouth tasting like absolute bitter bile to him, “Your behaviors are different…your facial expressions are different…” He sighed, realizing that he could make factual statements forever and ever…but he still wouldn’t be able to reach through or even over the wall Sonic built around himself.

“Sonic...”

“I really don’t wanna talk about it, Tails...” The elder murmured quietly, squeezing Tails' hands gently now, “…I…I-I promise I will one day…j-just…not…today, okay?” The taller finally looked into the other’s eyes, trying his best to pull off his 'signature sassy Sonic grin…'

…But to be honest? It just looked like the low-budget Temu version.

“You did nothing wrong, little brother…” The blue quilled hedgehog assured, “And I mean that. I-I just…” The taller mammal sighed heavily, letting go of one of Tails' hands as he ran an exhausted hand down his face, “I just really need to get myself together and figure things out…”

The older exhaled sharply, “A…A-A lot happened.” 

And at that, the young fox couldn’t help the small, dry chuckle that had left his mouth…

…No freaking shit, Sherlock. 

Well…at least he somewhat admitted something went wrong in a sense; a step in the right direction for now. 

“Ihi bet...” The blue eyed fox nodded, reaching out to hold his brother’s hand once more. 

The preteen sighed dramatically, “…Fine…fine. Okay.” He locked eyes with the taller, his expresion turning stern, “But best believe I’m holding you to that promise.” 

“Pff…trust me: I know…” Sonic responded, nodding his head knowingly as a small, but real smile streched to his features, “But I never break my promises. And when I promise something…I never break that promise.” He finished, adding a small wink to the end of his sentence. 

At that, Tails pinched the bridge of his nose, letting himself succumb to the contagious giggles him and his brother were now letting out, “You’re such a dork…”He smiled, hugging the ever living daylights of the other.

Even if it was for a nanosecond…

…It was nice to have his big brother…his actual big brother back. 

Sonic let out a tiny squeak at the sudden force but soon relaxed into it, hugging the two tailed fox, “'Love you too…”

“I know you do,” Tails said snarkily, but his tone mostly had a hint of affection to it, “And I love you, big bro.”

“I know you do.” Sonic mimicked, letting out a dramatic and over-the-top screech as Tails playfully punched him in the shoulder.

“Alright, wise guy…as much as I love the little heart-to-heart we just had…” The fox was cut off by his own yawn, “…I’m. tired.” 

“I can see that.” The green eyed mammal snickered, yawning himself, “You sure you don’t wanna try doing another night in survival in Minecraft?” 

“You just want to see me brutally die again.” Tails deadpanned. 

“I just wanna see you brutally die again.” Sonic said, crossing his arms.

.

.

.

.

“Okay…last time I’m asking—”

Sonic huffed, “—More like millionth.” He coughed under his breath. 

“Shut up.” The fox glared wholeheartedly, lightly flicking his brother right in the middle of his forehead with his pointer finger. 

Sonic squawked at the sudden flick, instantly grabbing a pillow from the preteen’s bed and hitting him with it.

The shorter mammal just let the pillow slide down his face as he rolled his eyes fondly, putting the thrown pillow to the side of him, “I won’t forget our talk, Sonic.” The preteen exclaimed, his expression firm and confident. 

“Oh puh-lease.” The older mammal snorted, “You forget everything under the sun.”

“Do not!”

The blue quilled hedgehog just simply sighed, resting his cheek on his knuckles as he rested his back at the headboard of Tails' bed, “Alright…fine. What did you have for breakfast this morning?”

The small fox pursed his lips together, his tails twitching in irritation as his big brother held back a small laugh, “That’s not fair! No one can remember what they have for breakfast in the mornings!” 

“I can.” The blue blur said with a smirk. 

“Minus you, I guess.” The blue eyed fox huffed.

“Minus me.” Sonic smiled, yawning again as he fluffed out his pillow, now lying down next to his little brother who intertwined his hand in his.

“…Sonic?” The small fox mumbled out meekly.

“Tails.” The green eyed mammal said.

“Do you promise to tell me what’s going on when you’re ready...?” The orange-yellowish fox murmured.

“I promise…seriously.” The green eyed hedgehog said, pulling his little brother in a hug, “I promise, okay? Don’t worry your tiny, miniature, fun-sized little head.” 

“I don’t…appreciate the different synonyms you used to describe my head…buhut…thanks.” Tails chuckled as a warm smile spread to his features. He soon relaxed in his big brother’s arms, but had to hold back a long sigh as the blue blur called out his name…

…Again.

“…Tails?”

Never a dull moment with this guy, huh?

“Sonic.” The yellowish-orange fox hummed.

“Y'know…I should really try a seafood diet…” The blue blur explained, resting his chin on the top of his little brother’s head. 

The little brother in question let out a soft snort at the random exclamation, “Uh…okahay? I…thought you hated sushi, though?” 

“No…your thinking of 'seafood.'” The green eyed mammal said, “I’m talking about a seafood diet. I seewhatever food I want…and I eat said food; haven’t you heard of it?” The blue quilled hedgehog exclaimed, holding back a laugh as his little brother got out of their hug and turned to face away from him. 

“…We ahare nahahat doing thihis rihight now; goodnihight.” Tails giggled begrudgingly, trying to ignore the fact that his heart basically somersaulted in chest seeing proof that Sonic was somewhat now acting, well, like…

…Sonic; no matter how annoying that was.  

“Tahails?” The fifteen year old chuckled. 

“Sohonic.” The shorter mammal sighed, mentally kicking himself for breaking into laughter so quickly.

But honestly? It felt so damn good to finally…laugh wholeheartedly with his brother again.

Let’s…just say its been a while since they’ve done that without there being unresolved tension in the air. 

“I’m writing a book about glue…” The green eyed mammal stated, laying on his back now as he stared up at the glow-in-the-dark sticky stars Tails had sticked to his ceiling. 

The two tailed fox rolled his eyes fondly, resting the side of his face on his pillow as he yawned subtly, “Good fohor yohou, Sonic.”

“But I’m stuck on the first page!” The blue blur snickered, putting his pointer fingers up in the air to resemble drumming sticks, “Ba-dum tss!” He finished, the corners of his mouthing turning upwards as he could see his younger brother’s ears twitch in annoyance yet fondness…

…Emotions were weird like that.

The preteen turned so he faced the other mammal once again, poking him in the side warningly. The teenager let out a small and sudden surprised shriek-laugh, holding onto his attackers wrists as he did so, “Pff— snrk! Tahahails nohoh!”

“Sohonic I swehear to Gohod ihif yohou make anohother corny johoke—“

“—Whahahaat dohoes a nohosey pehepper do?” The green eyed hedgehog asked, completley ignoring his brother’s snide comment, “Ihit gohoes jahalapeheño buisness!” He grinned proudly before shrieking again even louder this time, throwing his head back as the fox now used both of his hands to scribble at his sides diligently. 

“Hey! Hehehey!!” The hero in blue giggled, grabbing his little brother’s wrists but not pulling them away, which, humored the blue eyed mammal to know end. 

Tails got up from where he was lying down, sitting on Sonic’s hips as he wiggled his fingers over his sides menacingly.

The teenager’s face flushed at the action, quickly hiding his face in his hands as he giggled in anticipation. 

“Shuhut uhup aahand gohoh to sleep!” The two tailed fox exclaimed, his eyebrows creasing together in fake annoyance as his older brother just continued to laugh.

“Speeheeaking ohohof cohorny johokes…” The teen mused, raising an amused brow through his chuckles, “Whahahat dihid the bahaby cohohorn sahay to the mahamaha corn?”

Sonic couldn’t help but giggle louder as he peeked through his arm to see his younger brother’s unamused face, taking it upon himself to finish another one of his totally hilarious jokes, “'Where’s Pop CoHOHORN?' N-NAHA snrt! GahaHAD n-noho wahaHAIT!” The taller squealed, hugging his middles as the blue eyed mammal on top of him continued to torment his sides. 

“'Wait?' Pff…what am I waiting for, big bro?” The small fox asked innocently with a hint of teasing to his tone, causing Sonic to blush harder. 

The taller mammal squawked loudly as the baby blue eyed fox diligently moved his fingers along his ribs. The blue blur shook his head back and forth, carefree giggles and shrieks pouring out of his mouth like a raining downpour.

“Wohoah! R2D2! Relax!” Tails teased as his brother let out a squawk similar to the beloved small robot from Star Wars, “I’m barely even tickling you.” 

“S-Shuhuhut uhup!”

“Yohou shut up!” The two tailed fox laughed, “I wahas trying to sleeheep earlier!”

“Sohohoh wahas Ihihi!” The taller remarked. 

The skilled engineer rolled his eyes, moving away from Sonic’s ribs as he stuffed his hands into the other’s underarms. 

The blue quilled hedgehog went totally and completely ballistic at the action, throwing his head back as he kicked his legs on the mattress, resulting in some blankets and pillows falling on the floor. 

The green eyed teenager screeched, thrashing on the bed as his brother casually tickled him like he wasn’t sounding like a dying parakeet, “YOHOU ahactuHALLY suhuHUCK!” 

“Nohoh you.” The shorter mammal shrugged as his thumbs digged into his brother’s underarms, suppressing a small flinch as the other’s laugh got louder and louder. 

The hedgehog laughed to his hearts content, thrashing and squirming on the bed out of instinct, but, never really seeming to be avoiding Tails' touch in the slightest. 

“TAHAILS!!” The teen shouted through his chorus of giggles and snorts, kicking his feet in an attempt to hold back even more laughter.

“Sohonic.” The fox hummed, unfazed by the other’s shrieks, squeals and threats. 

“PLUHUH— snrt! HEASE! Ihi snrt cAHAn’t!” The speedy blue devil pleaded. 

“'Can’t' what~?”

Sonic’s blush went a shade darker, “YOHOU knohow whAHAHAT!” 

“I really and truly don’t.” Tails insisted, not even trying to hide the big grin on his face as he snickered to himself, watching the other get completely lost in his own laughs, “Care to enlighten me?” He asked as he momentarily stopped his torturous fingers.

The blue quilled hedgehog groaned through his giggles, covering his face with his arms once again because he quite actually hated this.

Oh, he absolutely hated this.

He hated how easy it was to reduce him to a flustered, giggly pile of…well, flusteredness. 

He hated that despite this being very embarrassing...he wasn’t trying to get away.

But…he also hated how it took his literal world disappearing for him to not take moments like this for granted.

And he also hated how he just…missed things like this.

He missed being able to joke and laugh and have fun with his friends and just…be himself without having to worry about anything else.

His dear old rival Shadow the Hedgehog once told him that…'tomorrow was never granenteed.'

And after going through the Shatter Spaces…Sonic finally understood what he meant by that. 

“Guess not.” The baby blue eyed preteen shrugged, using his fingers to now knead and squish at the hedgehog’s tummy. The hedgehog in question arched his back as fast as the speed of light, frantically shaking his head that if someone walked in, they could’ve mistaken him for a bobbyhead doll. 

Sonic kicked his brother in the back with his knee, letting out an embarrassingly girlish squeal as his knees and thighs were now being tortured mercilessly.

The blue hedgehog’s face darkened to a bloodshot red, trying and failing to kick his legs out of his little brother’s evil grasps, “YOHOU snrk AHAHARE snrt snrt SOHOHOH DEHEAD!!” 

“How am I 'dead?' You’re the one laughing like a broken water hose.” The inventor remarked, moving to lightly tickle the other’s neck, “Besides, you haven’t said 'stop' once this entire time I’ve been tickling you.” The younger smirked, watching as his brother’s tail wagged back and forth beneath him.

Sonic curled in on himself as he moved to his side, trying to wriggle away as he scrunched up his shoulders to at least stop the other momentarily, “SHUHUT snrt IHIHIHT!!!” He squealed, not being able to form another retort as loud cackles overcame him. 

Following his older brother, the fox used one hand to pinch up and down the blue hedgehog’s hips a his other hand stayed tickling at his neck, “Aww~!” Tails giggled, “There’s that laugh I know and love.” He cooed. 

The speedy hedgehog’s feet kicked about a million miles per hour, the blanket that was once covering him and his brother long forgotten as it fell down to the floor with the many many pillows…

…And plushies…

…And other blankets…

…Several blankets. 

The hero in blue’s eyes quite literally popped out of their sockets as he let out a breathless squeal to the sensations at his neck and hips, laying limp on the bed as his feet had a mind of their own, still kicking. “NEHEH— snrt! NEHE— snrt! NOHOH!! NAHAT THEHEHERE!” 

“But why not~? You told me you loved it here!” The younger playfully teased, not phased at all by the kicking nor squirming the older was doing. 

“L-LIHIHIAR!” The hedgehog weakly exclaimed, snorting and cackling up a storm as his brother now used both of his hands to nimbly skitter alongside the crooks of the others neck. 

“Lihihiar? Who are you calling a liar, Mr. Snorty McSnorterson?” The orange-yellowish furred fox remarked smugly, removing his fingers from Sonic’s scrunched shoulders as he now wiggled them just to the side of the green eyed mammal’s ears, barely but almost touching. 

The older tensed up in anticipation, his giggles bouncing along, across and around the walls as he digged his heels into the mattress. Sonic buried his face into his arm harder, feeling like he was about to melt due to how much he was blushing.

The fifteen year old’s free hand flapped on the bed in suspense but excitement, his giddy giggle grin wideneing as he shared a gaze with his younger brother, “T-Tahahahails.”

“Sonic.” The fox said simply. 

“W-Weehee cahahan tahalk snrk about snrt thihihis..r-rihihight…?” 

The preteen tapped his chin thoughtfully in, well, thought as he looked up at his glow-in-the-dark star covered ceiling as he fake pondered, “I mean…we could…” The baby blue eyed mammal dragged on, trying not to break character but most definetly doing so as he saw his usually so stoic and cocky brother be taken down a peg so easily, “But I’d rather just tickle you instead.” He exclaimed plainly, brushing his fingers along his older’s helix and lobule (basically the top and bottom of ears— that’s just scientifically what they’re called 😗👍🏾).

If Sonic could roll his eyes at his brother’s dumb comment he would…but as of right now he was focusing on surviving to see the next day!

Well, he technically already did since it’s, like, 2:30 a.m. in the morning as of right now but you get the point!

The blue quilled hedgehog absolutely howled with laughter, nearly screaming to the top of his lungs as his voice matched the same volume to one of a squeaky door. 

“I think someone got more ticklish here~!” Tails sing-songed, slowly tracing up and down the other’s ear, chuckling to himself as the green eyed teen wriggled and squirmed like a worm on a wet sidewalk.  

The shorter mammal kept one hand on the taller’s ear but then took it upon himself to drill his thumb into his underarm…

…Just for shits and gigs.

“Tickles here too, huh?” Tails hummed, tilting his head slightly. 

“NO SHIHIT— SNRT! EEEEHAHAH!!!” Sonic jerked as if he’d been electrocuted with all of Zeus' lightning, his kicking legs not even being visible anymore due to how fast they were going. “NAHAHAHA SNRT SNRT F-FUHUCK YOHOHOU!!!” The hero in blue cursed, although said curses got drowned out due to his full on belly cackles.

The orange yellowish fox just shook his head in fake disapproval, “Oh, Sonic…my sweet sweet older brother!” He nonchalantly raised a brow, “We both know you’re way too ticklish to be cursing at me like that.”

Lord up above where did Tails learn to be so freakishly mean?!?!

Oh…right. 

Sonic honestly brought this upon himself. 

The blue quilled hedgehog didn’t even attempt to apologize, already accepting his face as his little brother went to gently scratch on his ears using both of his dumb borderline stupid fingers. 

“Awe…it looks like you missed this.” Tails chuckled softly, taking notice just at how…happy his older brother was as of right now. 

He hasn’t seen such a big smile on the guy’s face since the cave…

And if you knew anything about having siblings, despite how corny this sounds, being the reason they beam so brightly is almost as good as the feeling of winning the lottery…! 

…Almost.

“NOHOH! NO SNRT IHI DIDN’T! YOHOU SNRT DIHID!” The blue quilled hedgehog whined, too embarrassed and exhausted to even make up a good rebuttal.

But he could if he really wanted to, mind you. 

He just…didn’t feel like it right now.

“Yeheah…yeheah, Ihi did.” The inventor admitted softly, quiet enough to miss but also loud enough for Sonic to hear.

Which, he did in fact quite hear.

“PIHIHIHICK AHANOTHER SNRT SNRT FREEHEEAKING SNRT SPAHAHAHOT SNRT!!!” Sonic shouted.

“'Pihick another spohot?'” The younger boy repeated tauntingly. 

“YEHEHES!!!” 

“But Ihi like thihis spohot!” Tails fake pouted, fighting back an evil smile as his brother lightly tapped on his arms, signifying he called quits, “OKAHAY!! OKAHAHAY ALRIGHT OKAY!!! STOHOP!! STAHAHAP!”

The orange-yellowish fox ceased the tickling immediatley, going back to laying next to his older brother. “Alright! Alright…! I’m stopping, I’m stopping.” He snickered, grabbing the many pillows, plushies and blankets that fell due to their little tickling squabble, putting them all back on the bed.  

Sonic let out a small snort, lolling his head to the side as he playfully glared at the mammal beside him, “Ahas sahahaid previously: yohou. suhuhuck.” 

The younger just giggled at the older’s comment, putting a blanket on top the both of them as he silently snuggled against him. The blue quilled hedgehog grumbled incoherent curses, sighing as he wrapped his arms around his little brother as they both drifted off to sleep.

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙵𝙸𝙽˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙ 

I paced angrily out of the main room in the tent, hands curled into fists at my sides as I left my fellow circus members behind. There were no words that could describe how frustrated I was, how confused, and, though I’d never admit it, how scared. My eye twitched at the familiar sound of a long coat flapping behind me.

“Leave me alone, Caine”, I snapped, continuing towards my room. The floating ring master was not so easily deterred and continued after me, however, keeping up with no effort.

“Come on, (Y/N), it was just one time! I know you don’t like the dark, but-“

“Correction.” I spun on my heels to face him, becoming even more annoyed with the way he loomed above me in superiority. “I hate the dark. There is nothing I hate more than the dark. And what did you do?” I crossed my arms and looked at him expectantly. He blinked as he stared at me, a few seconds passing, as if he had to process that I was actually demanding an answer from him.

“It was an adventure for everyone!” He immediately defended himself, still in that jovial tone he used to announce everything. “Not everyone is going to agree on what type of adventure they want to go on-“

“Anything! Anything else!” I threw my hands up in exasperation as he looked shocked that I had cut him off. “Anything but a power outage! I can’t even begin to tell you how horrifying that entire experience was!” I made drastic hand motions at him as I rambled angrily, his hands falling to his sides limply as if he was at a loss for words. “These adventures are supposed to be fun and distracting, Caine! You failed.” I pointed a finger at him accusingly, hoping to really drive the point home.

He gasped in exaggeration, putting a hand to his chest. “I… failed?” His eyes glanced around rapidly, his thoughts clearly racing. I nodded in affirmation; there wasn’t much I could do to show him how serious I was, but hurting his ego definitely helped me feel better.

“Yep, you failed — you had one job, Caine, and you couldn’t even do that right.” I began turning, throwing him a look over my shoulder as he continued to spiral. “So, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be in my room until I feel better.” I paused, giving him one last angry glare. “Which will probably be a very long time.” He locked eyes with me one more time before I turned and opened my door a few feet down the hall, making sure to slam it.

I sighed and fell backwards onto my bed once I had locked it, eyes squeezing shut. I hardly ever liked Caine’s adventures… some of the others seemed to genuinely enjoy them, but I did not. All they were to me were distractions; they were definitely something I appreciated and subconsciously looked forward to, given their quality of keeping our brains from actively melting into goop, but they were never fun for me, especially this time around. Running around in the dark for god knows how long trying to find a generator sounded like something straight out of a horror game, and he thought that would be fun?

“Stupid dentist model”, I muttered, eyes slowly opening.

“That’s a little rude, don’t you think?” I gasped and sat up in shock as I was met with his multicolored irises; he was floating right above me, and a little too close for comfort, at that.

“Caine, what the hell are you doing in here?” I demanded, slowly calming down from the unwelcome surprise. “I wanted to be alone, if I hadn’t made that clear!”

“Well…” He floated back a few feet, twiddling with his thumbs as he glanced away. He almost looked… nervous? “I felt bad for how I made you feel with the last adventure, so…” He looked back up at me, arms folding behind his back. “I figured I would come and fix the problem!”

“What…?” I paused, eyes narrowing at him. “Fix how?”

“By comforting you, of course!” He floated a little closer, his confidence seeming to return. I watched him nervously; ‘comfort’ could be practically anything in his book.

“You’re avoiding my question”, I said quickly, my eyes never leaving him as I withdrew my arms close to my chest. “What are you planning on doing?”

I merely blinked at him as he halted right where he was and put his arms out invitingly… oh.

“A… hug?” I scoffed without thinking about it, trying to collect my words as he looked taken aback by my reaction. “Look, Caine, I uhh, really appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine. In fact, umm, I already am fine!” I forced a smile, eyebrows furrowed together regardless. I felt myself begin to sweat as he glanced me over; it was nerve-wracking knowing he was analyzing every single part of my body language.

“It would appear you’re lying, my dear; no need! I can surely have you feeling better in no time!” I sighed in defeat as he put his arms back out completely, nodding at me. It looked like he wasn’t going away until he was sure he had fixed what he had done. In all honesty, I had already forgiven him; he was strangely charming in his own goofy little way. I really couldn’t stay mad at him for long. Plus, I guess I wouldn’t mind a hug…

“Alright”, I finally muttered, putting my arms out in turn.

I squeaked in surprise as he suddenly picked me up, squeezing me and subsequently cradling me in his lap. I hesitantly looked up at him; sometimes I wished he blinked. I slowly wrapped my arms around him, hugging him back. It was… nice. But after only a brief moment, he pulled back, still keeping me in his arms, studying me.

“What are you doing?” I was more confused than anything, but the sentence still began with a stutter, which again appeared to ring alarm bells in his head.

“Hugging does not appear to be enough, so I’m just testing something to see if this method is an option”, he said blatantly. I jumped as he suddenly poked me in the side; I immediately covered the area on reflex, my other hand grasping his wrist. I realized my mistake too late as I looked up and saw him appear to smile.

“Ah! Perfect! Then I should have no trouble cheering you up at all!”

“Wait!” I said in panic as he suddenly positioned his hand in a clawing motion just above my stomach, struggling to get out of his grip as he held me against him.

“You’re confusing me a bit”, he said, cocking his head to the side. “You ask for me to stop, and yet you’re still smiling. Having some mixed emotions?”

I realized I was, in fact, smiling, which was apprehensive to the idea of what he was planning on doing, and also just from nervousness.

“I’m just… I…” I struggled to find words, too flustered to outright say anything.

“You’re just… what?” He paused before he started slowly wiggling his fingers just above me, to my horror. “Maybe this will help you speak your mind?”

“Wait, no, I just-“ I shrieked as he tapped my stomach a few times, hands flying to grasp his wrist once again. “I’m just embarrassed! This is just really embarrassing, okay?” I rushed the words as he showed no signs of stopping, holding back nervous giggles.

“You do appear to be embarrassed, yet also conflicted. Going to push my hand away or just stay posed like that?” He stared at me expectantly, his hand frozen against me. I glanced around, fingers twitching against his arm as I struggled to accept that that was true. It had been a very, very long time since anyone had ever given me affection like this before. What was worse, that didn’t even account for the affection I probably lacked before I joined the circus. Given how easily flustered I was, it was obvious this was all foreign to me. I forced myself to look him in the eyes, only curling in on myself even more as I could tell the bastard was still reading me like a book.

“I…” I swallowed nervously. “I just… I’ve never had…” I found myself unable to look at him, or even continue speaking. There was something buried that felt dangerously close to the surface that I just couldn’t remember – something painful. My smile left my face.

“Oh, sweetheart…” My eyes widened at the sudden nickname, head swiveling to look at him.

“You don’t have to admit it!” I hid my face in my hands as he began slowly dragging a single finger across the front of my body in lazy patterns. “It’s obvious this is a… sensitive subject for you.” I could’ve screamed when he made that stupid pun, only leaning further into him in an attempt to hide.

“If you tell anyone…” I started, muffled by my hands. I shrieked as he suddenly squeezed my side, interrupting me.

“Tell anyone what, my little possession?” The mocking tone of his voice took me by surprise.

“Tell anyone that I… e-enough with the nicknames!” I squeaked, kicking my legs in reflex as he traced across my ribs.

“Tell anyone that you like being tickled?” He said the word with such ease that I gasped, staring at him. He looked down at me for a moment and I could see the gears in his head turning as he read my expression. Then, appearing to smirk (as much as giant teeth can), he snapped his fingers.

“Oh! Embarrassed by the word, hmm?” I rapidly shook my head, to which he only continued to stare, obviously not buying it. “So you are!” He sounded delighted, and I groaned, hiding my face again.

“So don’t say it!” I muttered, my voice sharper than I meant for it to be. I became incredibly suspicious as he went silent, so I looked up at him again. That same blank gaze was returned to me, unmoving.

“Tickle.”

I blinked in surprise before I attempted to sternly tell him off. “H-Hey! What did I just-“

“Tickle, tickle, tickle!” I screeched as he suddenly dug his fingers into my ribs, his other hand that was supporting me scratching under my arm. I struggled to pry his hands from my body, finding that he wouldn’t move at all. I quickly fell into helpless laughter, legs kicking.

“C-Caihaine stahap!”

“Stop what?” He said nonchalantly, feigning ignorance.

“You know exAHACTLY WHAHAT-“ I nearly shrieked as he pinched between my side and hip, squirming in his lap.

“Oh! Is this a bad spot?” I nearly fell into hysterics as he repeated the action as fast as possible.

“Just not- NOT THEHERE-“ I struggled to finish a single sentence, especially when he started rapidly switching places, a loose yet determined grip on me to prevent me from moving very much.

“Where’s this loud voice when you’re performing, my little superstar?” If I could’ve cursed him out for the snide comments he continuously made, I would have.

“Quit it!” I struggled to annunciate through a stream of giggles and my flustered complexion, his hand trailing down to my stomach, drawing more bubbly noises from me.

“Oh, you circus members are always SO delightfully predictable”, he mused, his hand jumping around to a few different spots, gauging my reactions with robotic precision. “Always leaving your weak spots open!”

“Y-You’re so bahackhanded!” I squeaked before finding myself thrashing in his grip and practically snorting.

“Hmmm, I have to disagree there. I’m much more front handed when it comes to playing with my performers! Are you seeing my point of view here?” He suddenly stopped only to wiggle his fingers in front of my face, eliciting nervous giggles as I sank even further into his lap in a subconscious attempt to keep them away.

“No response? Well, at least I know how to make you smile, right?” He moved to squeeze both of my sides at once before spidering; I somehow seemed even more trapped now than I was before, so I opted instead to cover my heated face rather than attempt to escape.

“Careful not to blush too hard… your facial polygons are getting artifacts, dear.”

“Ahand whose fault is thahat?!” I exclaimed, squealing as his hands began traveling up and down, definitely feeling the artifacts forming now if I hadn’t before.

“I’m only cheering you up! You’re the one that chose to be this sensitive…”

“IT WASN’T A CHOICE!” I protested through laughter. It was more than embarrassing to know this AI was managing to tease me into oblivion, able to manipulate my reactions like a puppet on a string. Worst of all, he was cheering me up, and pretty soon I would have to genuinely ask for it to end before he got suspicious-

“So, having second thoughts? Is this method working? Five star review?” He continued reciting practical nonsense, his fingers not missing a beat on wiggling into any hyper-sensitive areas they could find.

I realized it was pointless trying to cover it up; he already knew I was enjoying it. I’d just be prolonging the amount of sarcastic questioning I’d experience, which he’d then accuse me of also liking. I struggled to think of words, any words, while he practically played me like an instrument.

“Okay, OKAYHAY! IT WOHORKED ALRIGHT? NOW STAHAP!” I was surprised when he did finally pause, drawing me just a bit closer, those grotesque eyes within his jaws studying me briefly before he scooped me up, setting me back on the bed and then zooming into the air in front of me.

“I’m just messing with you! Of course it worked! That method has yet to fail me!” I wondered how many other performers he had done this to when he accidentally upset them…

While I was lost in thought, he floated closer, and I came back to attention to find him staring inches from my face. I drew back a bit in surprise before he spoke.

“Still embarrassed by it? Don’t be!” He punctuated his exclamation with a fancy spin. “Just don’t think about the fact that I could hold this above your head forever and there’s nothing you can do about it – it’s that simple!”

I groaned and set my flustered face in my hands… At least the artifacts that formed seemed to have mended themselves. “Right, Caine, that simple…”

I felt a hand gingerly set on my shoulder and looked back up.

“That… was a joke. I won’t tell anyone, ringmaster’s promise!” He nodded to himself and I smiled slightly.

“...Thank you.”

“Anyways, now that you’re a blushy mess rather than a depressed one, I’ll be on my way! You know where to find me!” He glanced about a dozen different ways, which was concerning but not unexpected, before poofing out of my room with a small eruption of cartoonish smoke.