Hey Cutie!💙

As much progress they had made on their recent adventure, she still didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, especially with something like this.

“Is it so hard to believe that I just want to see what it’s like? It’s not every day Caine lets something like this slide.”

“Why don’t you just take it yourself, then?”

The pupils again, starting huge then slowly shrinking while he thought of a response.

“That’s no fun.”

He didn’t want to do it alone. At first she really expected that he was just trying to trick her into taking it for his own, twisted amusement, but something about him seemed to genuinely want to do this.

“Gosh, I thought you would know that it’s no fun getting blasted by yourself. What, are you too much of a goodie too shoes to get high?” He taunted.

She’d smoked a couple of times in college when she was offered, but smoking a little weed was WAY different than just eating some weird sauce that Caine came up with.

“I’ve been high before,” she rolled her eyes. “Have you?”

Again, a slight shift in his expression. During one of their conversations earlier, he’d mentioned that he was 22 when he arrived in the circus, making him the youngest one out of the group, barely past the legal drinking age where they were from. Thinking back on it, that was about the age she tried an edible for the first time. Depending on how he grew up and where he was from, he probably never got the chance to do something like this before.

She thought back to the bar they had been at on the previous adventure. Could that have been his first real experience with alcohol? He had seemed to get much more loose after that drink, maybe because it was his first real drink. If that was his first time feeling drunk, was he just wanting to try out a bunch of things he’s never gotten to experience before?

She almost felt bad for him for a second. His entire young adult life and experiences had been taken away before he even got to try living them. But chasing these experiences he’d been robbed of was going to end badly.

“Look, I get it, I miss having the choices we had out there. We’re adults, if we want to drink or smoke we should be able to. But we have no idea what that will actually do to us here, and we can’t just trust Caine to be honest about it either. No way am I eating something like that.”

Something changed in his expression as he looked at the sauce in his hands. It was as if he put two and two together, like he was starting to process what the sauce really was. Some strange way Caine got around not being able to affect their minds directly. A loophole in his own rules.

And as usual, as quickly as it happened, it disappeared as he sported his usual smirk.

“Jeez, if I’d known you would be lame about it I wouldn’t have asked. You think Zooble would be into this stuff?”

Out of everyone there, Zooble was the most likely to have been a stoner at one point. Pomni wasn’t going to say that now though.

“There’s no way they’d try anything like that in this place, especially not if you offered.”

“Good point. Oh, I bet I could convince Gangle to try some.”

There it was, back to his usual prick attitude. She wasn’t sure if he was serious about finding and harassing Gangle over the stupid sauce or if this was just his way of messing with her, but she sure as hell wasn’t risking it. She had to get rid of that stuff before things got out of hand.

“You are not going out there to peer pressure Gangle into eating this weird *bOnK*-ing sauce. Now give me that.” She tried making a lunge to grab the bottle out of his hands.

“Hey- come on!” He pulled the bottle away, “I just want to see what’ll happen.”

“You know what’s going to happen already. That stuff completely messed up Ragatha for, like, the whole day.”

“Yeah, all the more reason to get someone else to test it first. Maybe it affects everyone differently.”

She thought back to when she’d learned about how their different avatars reacted differently to some things, like with the breath holding. She also remembered him taunting her into showing him what her ‘cartoon body’ would do.

“Of course you never planned on eating it yourself! You just want to get someone to trip out of their mind.”

“I never said that.” The grin on his face grew back to its usual, cartoonish proportions. “But now that you mention it, that would be pretty entertaining!”

“Just give me that thing, we shouldn’t have it in the first place.” She managed to grab a hold of it as he tried to keep it from her reach. She squeezed trying to get a grip on it, accidently putting more pressure than she intended.

In a second, the pink substance shot from the bottle and hit Jax directly in his eye.

“Oh *sQeAk*!” She yelled.

He flinched suddenly, wincing back as he tried to wipe it away. For a moment he looked fine, but just as it had with Ragatha, it all hit at once. His body relaxed and his eyes went wide. From Pomni’s perspective, all she could see was his pupils dilating as he stood frozen in place, still holding the bottle. They’d gotten so large that almost his entire eye looked black

“Crap, are you okay?”

“I- I feel…” he doubled over for a moment, bringing his hands to his stomach as he slouched.

Dang it, was he going to be sick? That was a lot of sauce. What if he took too much for his mind to handle? Was overdosing a thing in the digital world? Would Caine be able to fix him? All of these worries ran through Pomni’s head as she started hearing him make a strained, breathy noise.

His shoulders shook as the noise started getting louder, and she placed what it was. He wasn’t getting sick or panicking, he was-

“Are you laughing?”

He giggled as he steadied himself upright and she was able to see his face. His smile was different than usual, it was a wide, dopey grin, like he was half asleep and struggling to stay awake.

“I just- ahahahahaha! I feel weird!”

Without realizing it, or maybe he was too out of it to care, he dropped the pink bottle and let it roll on the floor, straight to Pomni’s feet.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she picked it up. Looks like the stupid sauce did affect everyone a little differently. When Ragatha accidentally got some on her she’d been fully relaxed, no cares in the world as she spoke her mind for once with no filter. Jax on the other hand turned out to be a giggler. Most stoners will tell you that everything is way funnier when you're high as a kite, and that was how Jax probably felt at the moment.

“Okay, you're fine. You're just going to… be like this for a while.” She sighed, already planning on getting rid of that damn bottle when she got the chance. “It’ll take a long time to wear off. You should lie down somewhere.”

Jax tried taking a wobbling step before nearly tripping over his own feet. “Whoa, my legs are like jelly right now. That’s crazy!”

She could just leave, let Jax ride this out on his own, but one look at how he was struggling to walk had her second guessing. He couldn’t truly get hurt, but there were worse things to worry about. What if being stuck like this for too long could cause someone to abstract? Stuck in a room, alone, out of your mind and helpless to do anything about it while you slipped away? That was a fate too cruel for anyone. Pomni couldn’t just leave him there, even if it was his fault he was in this situation. Well, maybe it was just a little bit her fault too.

“Alright, let me just help you to the couch.” She reached out to grab him, hoping she could support his weight.

“No,” he swatted her away defensively, slurring his words. “I can do it, I swear.”

Clumsily, he put one foot in front of the other, grabbing whatever he could to stabilize himself as he made his way across the room, then flopping face first down on the couch.

“See, did it.” He mumbled into the cushion. “I win.”

“Sure Jax, you win.” She followed him over. The couch was long enough for him to lay down comfortably, but no room for her to sit without him moving. “Can I sit here?”

He gave a grunt as rolled himself over, bending his knees to make space for her. She was almost surprised that he didn’t just make her take the other couch. She was more surprised when after she sat down, he laid his legs in her lap.

“Jax,” she groaned.

“Whaaaat? You're sitting on the couch now.”

She supposed she didn’t mind, as long as he didn’t plan on kicking her.

“I guess I’m trip sitting for the rest of the day.”

“Yoooooou could still try some,” Jax grinned, “we could be stupid sauce buds.”

“Absolutely not, that’s the last thing we need.”

“Boooooooo! Lame!”

Great. She had a whole day of this to look forward to. Not that time really mattered there, but she would have at least appreciated a nap at some point. She considered dozing off on the couch, but she had a feeling leaving Jax unattended for even a few minutes was a bad idea. She couldn't take her eyes off him for a minute.

Then again, looking at Jax now made her doubt he could do much of anything in this state. He was lounged back, but instead of his usual, cocky posture he was fully limp, looking around constantly at seemingly nothing with wide eyes. It was enough to almost make her think he was harmless.

He started giggling quietly to himself. She couldn’t tell if he was laughing at her or at whatever he was seeing around him, but he wouldn’t stop.

“What’s so funny?” She finally broke, asking with an amused grin of her own.

“So, Pompom. You know how cats hate water?” He rambled.

“What? I mean, yeah, I guess.”

“But they like fish. And fish love water. They’re in water.” He giggled deliriously. “What’s up with that?”

She tried to comprehend where the hell that thought could have come from. Trying to understand it just made it make even less sense.

“Pfft! What the heck are you talking about right now?”

“I’m saying it’s weird. Like, what’s up with that?”

“That makes no sense,” she replied, trying her best to contain her laughter.

“You're right, it doesn’t make sense. They should love water, it’s where the fish live!”

“This is going to be a long day, isn’t it?”

Even as she sighed to herself she couldn’t help but smile. She had thought that Jax would get on her nerves after a while, but she had to admit that his crazed ramblings were pretty funny.

“Hey Pom, what’s a didgeridoo player called?” Jax continued.

“A didgeri-what?”

“You know, didgeridoo. The big tube things the Australian guys play, that's all Wooooomp.” He made a tube with his hands and tried to imitate the deep, bass notes that usually come from the instrument, but he made it sound more like a drunk whale.

“I have no idea,” she replied.

“Maybe a didgeridooer. That makes sense, right?”

“None of what you’re saying makes sense at all.” She snickered. “Are you thinking about that because of the president adventure? The one where you were supposed to be Australian?”

“Hehe, yeah. See, now you're getting it.”

“Guess you're just processing the adventures in your own way.”

Now she was starting to see a thought pattern. A mix of passive thoughts and his brains attempt to make sense of the day they had. Even then it was hard to keep up with the rapid fire statements.

“Oh, the vegan thing.” He groaned suddenly as he face palmed.

“The vegan thing?” She asked. “You mean from earlier? What about it?”

“It was so dumb, right? I’m just vegan now.”

His vegan status had been removed for a while, but for the time being he probably had the memory of a goldfish.

“You know it stopped once the adventure was over, right?”

“Oh. Yeah.” He mused, before getting the biggest grin on his face. “Hey Poooooom. If two vegans got into a fight, would it be considered a beef?”

As stupid as that joke was, Pomni laughed out loud at it. “I don’t know, Jax. Did you bring up the vegan thing just to say that?”

“Nah, that’s just improv, baby.”

She hated how funny she thought this was.

“Stohohop talking!”

“I’m just asking the big questions here. Like if I were vegan still, could I eat animal crackers?”

“Ohoho my gosh, shuhuhut up.” She said, playfully shoving him.

Jax rolled onto his side, curling up his legs and clutching his stomach in laughter.

This was the most she’d ever heard him laugh before. Thinking back, it might have been the first time she heard him laugh ever. For all his talk about wanting to “see funny things happen to people”, he never actually seemed to laugh at anything. Maybe a smirk or a quick breath through the nose, but nothing like this. It was different than she expected it would sound, high pitched and almost wheezy at times. It suited him.

“Pom. Hey, Pompom.” He asked when he could finally stop himself from laughing. He started prodding her leg with his foot to get her attention.

“What? Ow- hey! Knock it off. What is it?”

“Can you take off your hat? Or is it, like, part of your body?”

She thought about it for a moment. She’d tried taking her hat off before, but it only stretched out, along with her face.

“I guess it’s part of me, I can’t really take it off.”

“Is it still a hat, then?”

“I… gah, stop asking questions I can’t answer!”

“Poor Pom, can’t braid your hair or anything.” He slowly sat up and scooted closer to her, a hand going for the hat.

“Jax- I just told you it doesn’t come off!” She tried to scoot away.

“I knowwww. I want to see the puff ball things.”

Her jester hat had two, little puffs on the ends. She never paid much attention to them, but for some reason Jax seemed especially fixated on them. He grabbed hold of one, actually gentle for once, before he gave a little tug. To her surprise, the pompom actually came off.

“Yessss!” He cheered, “Can I borrow this?”

“What? Why do you want it?”

“I want to see if it can be my tail. I miss my old one.”

That was something else from the adventure he’d mentioned, at some point in time he had a tail that he lost. She still had no idea why or how he lost it.

He tried to maneuver his body so that he could somehow see where his tail would have been. As expected, he only managed to roll over on the couch.

“Pfft, Jahahax!” Pomni snickered. “That’s not going to work.”

“Says yoooou,” he scoffed as he continued his impossible task, endlessly rolling in place.

“You should be resting,” she tried putting her hands on his legs to stop him when he came around again.

For whatever reason, he actually stopped once he was facing her.

“Fiiiine. But I’m keeping this.” He said, showing off the pompom in his hand.

“Hey! I didn’t say you could keep it.”

“Finders keepers. Pompom from Pompom, it’s mine now.”

“Would you give that back?” She reached over to grab it, only for him to lift it over his head. “Why do you want it if you can’t use it?”

“Souvenir.” He simply said.

It was stupid, she knew. He was obviously trying to get on her nerves, and was somewhat succeeding, but there was something different about the way he was taunting her. It felt more playful, like someone goading a friend into a wrestling match.

“I said give it back,” she laughed as she finally gave in, leaping from her spot on the couch, trying to climb on his legs to properly reach far enough. She managed to straddle them as she tried to snatch the pompom from his hands, only for him to somehow stretch it even further from her reach.

“Why don’t you maaaake me?” He taunted.

Now he was clearly asking for it. If it was a play fight he wanted, it was a play fight he would get.

“That’s it,” she reached forward to scribble her fingers underneath his arms.

She was expecting him to flinch and bring his arms down long enough for her to snag the stolen pompom. What she wasn’t expecting was for Jax to flail so hard that he nearly knocked her to the side, squeaking so loud it made her jump in surprise. He crossed his arms around his chest, protecting his underarms.

“Nohoho tickling! Not allowed!”

“Wow,” she laughed, “Are you seriously that ticklish?”

His face started flushing red as his laughter picked up again.

“Noooo I’m not!” He brought his hands over his face, trying to hide his sheepish grin while still holding on to the pompom.

“You’re not what?”

“Mm not ticklish.” He mumbled into his hands.

“Um, yes, you definitely are.”

She wasn't sure if this was his usual deflecting or if he didn’t remember that she literally just saw him burst into laughter after she brought her hands down.

“Noooo,” he continued to argue. “Tickling just isn’t allowed.”

“Wha- That means that you're ticklish!”

“No it doesn’t.”

“Oh really?” She smirked, shifting her weight until she was seated on his legs. She poked at his side, making him jump as immediately broke, swatting away at the offending hand.

“Y-yeah. Not ticklish. Nooooooope.” Despite his argument, the nervous grin didn’t leave his face.

“Oh, so I can keep doing this-“ Pomni brought her hands down to his sides, squeezing just underneath his ribs. “And you won’t mind?”

“Pohohohohom! Nohohohoho!” He protested through another bout of laughter. “I sahahahaid not ahahahallowed!”

He would have probably kept this argument up all day if she didn’t do something. She could just drop the topic, but he was still holding that pompom in his hand, and she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

“I’ll only stop if you give me back my pompom.” With that she suddenly jumped back to tickling under his arms. He brought his arms back down, trying to block the sensation as he threw his head back in laughter. He managed to keep the pompom tucked away in his hand.

“Ah! Nohohoho fair! You’re cheheheheating!”

“Cheating?” She scoffed, “This wasn’t even a game! Just give it back and I’ll stop.”

“Nhehehehever!”

He turned his body away as quickly as he could, breaking her grip as he rolled on his side. He tried to stealthily put the pompom in his front overall pocket, hoping that Pomni wouldn’t notice.

Pomni had seen it plain as day. He wasn't nearly as slick as he thought he was being. Without wasting any time, she reached swiftly into his pocket and grabbed it back.

“There!” She shouted triumphantly.

Jax weakly reached for it as she sat back up, scooting back over to her side of the couch. She was able to attach the little ball onto her hat again.

“Nice try, Jax.” She gloated.

Jax was unusually quiet, eyes looking down. It almost looked like he was pouting. What, was he really hoping to keep that pompom forever? Even if he’d managed to successfully hide it, she probably would have just kept tickling him until he gave it up. It seemed like a weird thing to be a sore loser about, but maybe his ego was just that fragile. She wouldn’t have been surprised.

“You’re no fun,” He finally said.

“You can find your own tail later,” She lightly scolded. “Maybe Caine can give you a new one.”

He didn’t seem to lighten up at the suggestion. Whatever this was, it wasn’t about the tail thing. She was about to ask what was wrong when she saw his loopy smirk.

“Pom, I’m boaaaaard.” He complained, all while his smile morphed into something more mischievous.

Oh yeah, she was going to have to find something to occupy him until this whole thing blew over. Or until he wiped himself out enough to sleep the rest of this off.

“Oh, do you want to try to do something?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to get uuuuuuuup.”

Pomni rolled her eyes at him. Even when he was high off his ass he was so demanding. “I could grab a board game or something, maybe we could play monopoly.”

“Hmmmm, I don’t know, I think this would be more entertaining.”

“What do you- hey!” She was interrupted as she felt a jab to her side. Jax had managed to poke her side with his foot, actually managing to tickle her back.

“Jahahax! Stohohohp that!” She tried to push his legs away, but he was strong and held out.

She’d almost forgotten just how ticklish she was, at least in the real world. Jax seemed real keen on reminding her about it.

“Do something fun, then I miiiiight stop.” He kept poking and prodding her side, gentle enough that it didn’t hurt, but firm enough that it tickled like hell.

“Knohohohock it off!” She yelled, half annoyed and half amused by him. “Ugh, you're so annoying!”

“Cmon, Pompom, do something funny. You’re a clown, right?”

“Whahahat does that have to do with anything?” She swatted at his legs, hoping he would relent with a hard enough smack.

“Just do something funny, make me laugh!”

“I was making you laugh a lot earlier. Did you forget about all of that?”

Just like earlier, his face flushed as he averted his eyes.

Pomni started piecing it together. The constant pestering and comments, even when he knew he was helpless and couldn’t fight back. The bashful look on his face when she commented on it. He was trying to goad her into tickling him. He’d put the pompom in his pocket, not in the hopes of keeping it, but so she would tickle him into giving it up eventually.

“Are you trying to get me to tickle you again?”

Jax froze completely, staring up at her. It was hard to read his expression. Somewhere between surprise and embarrassment. In the blink of an eye it disappeared as he went back to lightly kicking her sides. “I’m just looking for something entertaining.”

Of course he would never admit that he wanted something. Even in this state of delirium, without cares or worries, he’d still rather taunt someone into retaliation than actually ask for something.

Well, she understood what he was trying to accomplish. If he wanted to be entertained so badly, why not give him what he wanted?

“Alright. Just remember, you asked for this.” With that final warning she grabbed a hold of his legs, hopping over them so she could hold them down with her body weight before she squeezed his waist.

“Pohohohompom! Wahahahahahait!” He broke, bucking his hips in a halfhearted attempt to get her to fall off. Pomni held tight, refusing to move.

“Pfft, you literally asked me to make you laugh! What were you expecting?”

“Ihihihihihihi- nohohohohohohoooo!” He was in no position to argue with that. His arms failed helplessly as he tried to grab at her hands to get them to stop moving. His grip was so weak that he couldn’t even hold on. “Youhohohoho suhuhuhuck!”

She gasped playfully. “I suck? You asked me to make you laugh, and that's what I’m doing.” She started to spider her fingers up and down his sides, feeling his body shake as his laughter rose with each touch.

“Where else are you ticklish?” She asked.

“I- hehehehehe- I dohohohohohohn’t know!” He insisted as he made another attempt to grab her hands, able to gently grasp the wrist but putting up no real resistance.

“You’re such a liar, of course you know!”

“Yoooou’re the liar,” Jax snickered.

“That doesn’t even make sense!” She laughed, quickly reaching her hands to scribble along his neck. He scrunched up his shoulders at the contact, trying desperately to keep her fingers at bay. His laughter started to settle, but it was clear he was trying to hold it back.

“Not the best spot,” Pomni mused, shifting her reach to gently trace his ears instead.

“Pom!” He whined, bringing his hands up to try and cover his ears. Unfortunately for him they were too big to block completely, leaving the ends exposed for Pomni to continue. Light as a feather, she scratched the ends of his ears. Jax kept laughing, but he almost seemed to relax at the touch, as if he was melting into it. Pomni wouldn’t have believed the sight if it wasn’t happening right in front of her.

“Better,” she stated, “but I bet you have a spot that’s way worse than this.”

He almost seemed disappointed as she stopped, but the expression was quickly replaced by anticipation as he watched her hands hover above his torso, scanning for where to strike next. They settled right over his belly, dipping down to test the waters. He let out a wheezing, nearly screeching laugh before her hands could make contact.

“I didn’t even touch you!” She laughed. “Is this a bad spot?”

“Nohohohoho it’s nohohohot!” Now that was definitely a lie.

“Really? It sure sounded bad. Is your tummy your worst spot?”

“Dohohohohn’t call it that!” His frantic giggling grew louder as he curled in, arms wrapping around his torso to protect himself.

“What? Don’t call it your tummy?”

“Yehehehehes! It’s stupid!” Somehow the pink hue to his face grew even darker.

“What, you don’t want me saying you have a ticklish tummy? I hate to break it to you, but you do!”

“Nohohohoho!” He practically begged. “Nohohohot allowed!”

“Well yeah, if you keep covering yourself like that.” Pomni wasn’t very strong, but Jax was nearly wiped out at this point. Any resistance to her pulling his arm to the side was futile as she used her knee to pin his hand down to the couch, followed by doing the same to the other side.

“There, now those can’t get in the way.”

Jax wasn’t responding anymore, the only noise he was able to make were soft giggles as he squinted his eyes shut, anticipating whatever would happen next.

“So, you’re still not ticklish, right? You won’t laugh if I bring down my hands and tickle your tummy? Because it's not ticklish?”

“Juhuhuhuhst gehehehet it over with!” He finally shouted.

Pomni had no idea teasing like this could be so effective against him, but he looked flustered out of his mind. She felt mean for just a moment, holding him in suspense like this, but after thinking about all the shit he’d put her through before, she figured she was entitled to at least this as revenge.

“Alright, if you really want me to.” Putting him out of his misery, she gently kneaded at his belly. It almost felt plush, soft the way a stuffed animal would feel, but with a bit of added resistance. As she curiously pressed into him, Jax nearly deafened her as he screamed.

“NOHOHOHOHO! *hOnK* YOHOHOHOU!” He flailed his body, seemingly involuntarily, trying to pull his arms free to no avail.

With his eyes squinted shut, he kicked his feet behind her body. Whether it was an attempt to get her off of him or an involuntary response to the intense tickling, she couldn’t tell.

“Wow, you even kick your feet like a rabbit!’ She laughed as she felt him thrash. She had to admit, this teasing thing was pretty fun. Especially when her victim was Jax, and especially when he was acting like this.

“Youhohohohur crahahahazy!”

She wondered if he was sober would he have ever let her do this? Would he have actually wanted her to do something like this all along, or was this just from the stupid sauce? She supposed it could just be a strange side effect, craving something along the lines of physical stimulation. But maybe there was some part of him that actually wanted this. To be able to laugh freely. The mask he wore had been coming down lately, she’d seen just bits and pieces of who he really was and wanted to be. Was this something that he craved deep down?

Without even realizing it, she’d slowed her relentless scribbling down to a gentle trace along his sides, letting him catch his breath while he still squeaked out the occasional laugh.

He giggled up at her, looking with dreamy, teary eyes. She wondered what he saw from his perspective at that moment, questioning whether he was really looking at her or something else.

“Hehehehe! Hehe- he….” He took a deep, long breath that almost sounded like a sigh. “I missed this.”

Pomni raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“This. You always were the best at making me laugh, Rib-“ he trailed off, seemingly lost in thought, before his eyes widened. For just a moment he seemed to have some sort of clarity, like he realized he said something he didn’t mean to.

“Nothing.”

The pupils went back to how they were before, and his lazy, blissful smile returned to his face.

“What we’re we talking about?”

A strange feeling washed over Pomni, making her finally get up to release him from his constraints. Jax rubbed his hands, which were probably sore. She couldn’t tell if he remembered what had happened.

“Hey Pooooom.” He said lazily. “You’re kind of cool I guess. Even if you're weeeeeird.”

She smiled gently. “Yeah, I guess you aren’t that bad either.”

The rest of their time together was spent trying to play board games, only to give up 5 minutes in to play around with the colorful pieces and cards. More crazed ramblings that Pomni couldn’t help but find hilarious as she laughed more than she ever had before entering the circus. And eventually, when the weariness of the day wore on him, Jax started snoring loudly on the couch. Pomni thought about finding a blanket, maybe something both she and him could share, but decided against it, not knowing how he’d react once the sauce wore off. She remained awake to keep an eye on him, busying herself with the books that were up on the shelves in the small nook in the corner of the room.

Eventually, all good things must come to an end. She noticed that Jax’s snoring stopped and she heard a groan from the couch.

“Uhhhh. What happened?” Jax asked, a hand to his forehead.

Pomni was seated on the other couch, a book still in hand before she set it aside.

“You, ah, accidentally got some sauce in your eye.” She said, trying to break it gently to him. “Oh! Don’t worry, I made sure nothing bad happened. You might just feel a little bit… Off for a while.”

He groaned as he sat up, probably groggy from the ordeal. He glanced sideways at her before giving an incredulous squint.

“I didn’t do anything… Weird, did I?”

She thought about how to respond to that. How much did he actually remember? She had a feeling that if he knew what he had said, everything he had done, would have made him furious. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't remember what occurred.

“No, you were just mostly tired the whole time.” She lied.

She tried to read his face, hoping that he would believe her. For a moment, a look of recognition crossed his face, and he looked upset. That was before he went back to sporting his usual grin as he yawned.

“Well, guess that was a waste of time,” he said, stretching as he stood up. Without even acknowledging her, he made his way to the door.

She stared as he left, wondering if he truly didn’t remember anything. He was about to open the door when he turned back to her, eyes narrowed.

“If you tell anyone about what happened, I’ll find another truck to throw you out of.” His face was nearly deadpan as he threatened her.

Pomni nervously looked around, hoping to find the right thing to say. “Nothing happened. Nothing to tell them about.”

Eyes still narrowed, he opened the door. “Thats what I thought,” He murmured as he finally left.

On some level, Jesper knew that, he wouldn’t have agreed to stay behind otherwise.

Those two had a strong bond. It was obvious to anyone who knew where to look.

Or, at least, it was to Wylan, who spent half of his time trying to emulate Kaz’s body language and the other half trying to convince himself that it was normal to stare at Jesper. Everyone did it. He was objectively attractive

“Earth to Wylan? Anyone in there?” Wylan blinked a couple times as Jesper snapped his fingers in front of his eyes. “Where did you go?”

Wylan could feel his face warming under Jesper’s concerned gaze, so he tried to cover it up with a scoff. “I was just imagining the horrible consequences of giving you a bomb. I think I went into preemptive shock.”

“That’s not fair! It would be for science! You like science!” Jesper was clearly trying a new angle, and Wylan was honestly a little tempted to just give him an empty box and watch him try to detonate it.

But he wouldn’t do that.

Not yet, at least.

Even though he knew it was probably a mistake, Wylan turned his back on Jesper to check on his compound. “It’s not science when I already know the result. The result being mass destruction”

“Look, let me just—what was that?” Wylan had turned around just as Jesper was trying to reach past him, and Jesper ended up accidentally jabbing him in the ribs. To say that Wylan jumped would be an understatement.

He’d basically folded in half, letting out a loud yelp and curling in on himself and cursing his instincts for the blatantly obvious reaction.

Reluctantly, Wylan straightened back up, unwilling to face the ridicule he was sure Jesper was just waiting to unleash on him. But, instead of the disdainful sneer he’d been expecting, Wylan looked up to see a fond smile of Jesper’s face, his eyes dancing with unrestrained delight.

The moment their gazed locked, Jesper’s grin took on a sharp, mischievous edge and Wylan automatically took half a step backwards, only to bump into his work table.

“Where are you going, Merchling?” Jesper asked teasingly. “This is a new discovery, and it needs to be documented. Now this is some science that I can get behind!”

Jesper took another step forward, quickly cutting off Wylan’s already limited exits.

“I am not above blowing up your kneecaps,” Wylan threatened.

“Well,” Jesper shot back, leaning closer to loom over him, “You’re not above many things, are you?”

Wylan rolled his eyes, because it’s not like he hasn’t heard that before. If Jesper wasn’t making some sort of comment about Wylan’s height, he was resting an elbow on top of his head, or exaggeratedly leaning down in order to look him in the eye.

In the split-second he took his eyes off Jesper, he realized that he’d made a crucial mistake. A warm hand wrapped around his wrist and yanked him close, spinning Wylan around faster than he could blink until his back was pressed flush against Jesper’s chest.

Before his face could go completely red, though, fingers curled expertly into his sides and Wylan let out a loud squeak. Jesper seemed to chase the sound, fingers pinching up his ribs until the squeak broke into full-fledged laughter, and Wylan was trying his damndest to fight him off.

And failing miserably.

How had he not realized how strong Jesper was?

It was only when Jesper fluttered a couple of fingers against Wylan’s neck that he managed to find his words. “Jesper! Quihihihit it! Nohoho not there!”

Which might as well have been a flashing neon sign that said TICKLE HERE in big letters.

Jesper leaned in close, his lips brushing against Wylan’s ear in a way that made him squeal, and said, “Why not? It’s for science!” He blew a sharp puff of air into Wylan’s ear, chuckling lowly at the shriek he let out.

“Now, this” Jesper said, skittering his fingers across Wylan’s stomach, “This could keep me entertained for ages. Who needs cards when I can just do this? Just me and you, doing our fun little science experiments together. And do you want to know my conclusion?

He went back to squeezing Wylan’s sides, drawing out a choked-off snort as he frantically shook his head. “No! Yohohou—you didn’t even have a hypothesis!”

“You’re right!” Jesper said, “Okay, how about: Wylan has the cutest, squeakiest laughter out of everyone in the whole Barrel?”

Oh God, this was humiliating. Wylan was never going to be able to live this down.

But, if this is what it took to keep Jesper away from Makker’s Wheel, Wylan would just have to suffer through it. Just so that Kaz wouldn’t kill him, at least.

Not any other reason that may or may not involve being held against Jesper as his hands drew increasingly embarassing noises out of Wylan.

Definitely not.

“And my conclusion is,” Jesper continued pointedly. “I was absolutely right.”

As soon as he said that, Wylan heard him take a deep breath and plant his lips on the back of his neck. Before he had the chance to feel any particular way about that, Jesper blew the most horrible raspberry that Wylan had ever experienced. It sent electrick shocks down his spine as warning signals started blaring in his brain.

Over his cackling, he could just barely hear someone’s voice go, “Jesper, you have to let him breathe.”

And just like that, Wylan was being lowered onto a chair, riding out the lingering giggles as he sucked some much-needed air into his lungs.

He knew what would be waiting for him when he finally opened his eyes, but Wylan was still mortified to see Kaz standing in his makeshift lab, leaning on his cane, expression stony but looking at them with what might’ve been a flicker of amusement in his eyes.

“Tonight went according to plan, we’ll meet in the morning to discuss next steps.” It was mostly directed a Jesper, but then Kaz’s stare shifted over to him. Wylan could just barely catch the dip of his chin as he nodded in—what? Gratitude? Appreciation? Simple acknowledgement of what Wylan just put himself through?

Whatever it was, it vanished as soon as it appeared, and Kaz turned on his heel, the thump of his cane echoing as he walked towards the door.

Just before crossing the threshold, he paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “Wylan, if you want revenge, make sure to go for the knees.”

And then he was gone, but not before Wylan could catch a decidedly smug grin ghosting across his lips.

After a second, Kaz’s words registered in his head and Wylan slowly turned to face Jesper. It sent a wave of satisfaction through him to note the panic in his eyes and waver in his voice as he said, “Merchling—Wylan. You really don’t have to do this!”

Wylan didn’t bother wasting any time, tackling Jesper to the ground before he had a chance to run for it.

“Oh, but I really do,” he said. “After all, it’s for science!”

In the end, there were two new discoveries made that night.

The first was that Wylan had the cutest, squeakiest laughter out of everyone in the whole Barrel.

And the second was that Jesper could absolutely not handle what he dished out. In fact, he seemed to be worse than Wylan himself.

She wandered around the circus for a while. It was silent save for the occasional popping of one of the bubbles overhead. Pomni stared at them for a few minutes, waiting for one of them to grow fangs and a potty mouth, but they stayed blank, floating to and fro much like actual bubbles would.

The circus was strangely eerie without Caine’s booming voice or Kinger’s squawks or Ragatha’s awkward laughter to fill up the place. Ironically, the colorful walls and large, cutesy props sort of reminded her of an abandoned mall or a toy store. This would have been exactly the type of place Pomni would have been itching to sneak into with nothing except her cell phone and a camera in her hand. 

But that was a habit of the past.

Eventually, Pomni found herself stepping into the circus’s common room…if one could call it that; nothing about this place was particularly ‘common,’ but it was one of the few relatively normal rooms.

Pomni stopped in her tracks.

Jax lay across one of the couches with one of his arms draped haphazardly over his face. His legs hung over the armrest. His eyes were closed. Pomni would have thought he was sleeping if it wasn’t for the way his foot tapped against the side of the couch.

She scratched the back of her hand as she thought about what to say, but her mind went blank. Should she even talk to him? Breaking the silence somehow felt like some sort of taboo. 

…Well, if it was anyone who would be more than willing to break anything that was considered to be remotely decent, it was Jax. With newfound confidence, Pomni stepped over to where he was lying down.

“Hey,” she said, her voice low. “I thought you’d be in your room.”

If Jax was surprised about Pomni’s presence, he didn’t show it. Instead, he opened one eye and scanned her up and down before closing his eye again. “I got bored,” he said simply.

“Me too.” Even though Jax was no longer looking at her, she still smiled. Granted, it was a small, awkward one, but a smile nonetheless. After what had happened with the whole button thing, she wanted Jax to know that there weren’t any hard feelings, at least not on her side. “I napped for a bit, but that was it.” She bounced on her heels as she glanced around the looming circus tent. “It’s a bit weird here without anyone else.”

Jax hummed flippantly in response. 

“Uh,” Pomni stretched out the sound. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

For a few seconds, she thought Jax wasn’t going to answer, but then he shrugged. “I don’t care,” he muttered through his teeth.

Pomni plopped down at the end of the couch, next to Jax’s head. If she had the choice, she probably would have sat on the other side, where his legs were, but there wasn’t any room for Pomni to sit. Honestly, there wasn’t much room on this side, either. The top of Jax’s head narrowly avoided brushing against her thigh, but that meant his ears were nestled squarely in her lap. She pressed herself against the back of the couch.

Jax’s eyes popped open. His pupils were tiny. “What are you doing?” The question came out quickly, almost a snarl. His ears perked up in such a way that they were no longer touching her skin, which she appreciated.

“You said I could sit here.”

“I said I didn’t care.” Jax glared in a rather non-uncaring way. “And, I thought you meant one of the other couches. You know, the three other free ones?” He jabbed his pointer finger toward the set of equally colorful couches across from them. 

“Oh,” Pomni said. “Sorry.” She didn’t bother to move.

Jax gave her an unimpressed look before rolling his eyes. He settled back into the couch cushions and covered his face with the back of his forearm. “...Whatever,” he mumbled.

They sat like that for a long time. 

It was weird. For a while there, it seemed like Pomni and Jax were sort of getting along. Sure, he was pretty rough around the edges and overall a jerk to literally everyone here, but they were beginning to find some sort of common ground. That was, until the gun adventure, and now…whatever that whole thing was with Caine. She couldn’t understand him.

Pomni glanced down. Jax’s ears bobbed slightly in the air. Every so often, one of them would droop down far enough to hit her leg, but he always picked it back up.

She kept watching it.

Maybe that was the problem with this place. Everything here looked close enough to real, but not real enough for them to stick. Jax was a person, obviously, but he was also a purple rabbit made of whatever passed for code in this world, splayed across a toy-bright couch underneath a giant multicolored circus tent. The whole scene felt staged. It felt like something set up for her to poke just to see what would happen.

“You know, it’s kind of funny,” Pomni said, “but, for some reason, I had assumed that you were slightly fuzzy. Like an actual rabbit.” Before she could think better of it, she rubbed one of his ears with her forefinger and thumb. Jax flinched slightly at the contact, but he didn’t move away. “But, you actually feel more like rubber.”

“Did you find that out when you were beating me into a pulp?” Jax asked.

Pomni blinked. “Ah, well, um, yes,” She stumbled over her words. “But, you did throw me out of a moving truck once, so I think we’re even on that front.”

“Touché.”

“You have to admit that it is kind of interesting, though, right? Our bodies, I mean.” She stroked the tip of his ear with her thumb. Jax sniffed, stiffening slightly. “Like, I’m wearing gloves, but I can still feel things normally.” To emphasize her point, she ran her fingers down the length of his…fur? skin? Whatever exactly covered his avatar.

Jax bolted upright and turned around in his seat. “D-Don’t do that,” he yelped, cringing at the way he stuttered. He tugged at his ear, as though he was attempting to shake out the sensation. 

“I’m sorry.” Pomni held her hands in the air. “I didn’t mean to tickle you.”

It was as though Pomni had just kicked his puppy. Jax stopped cold before turning around fully, so he was now on his knees facing her. “You didn’t tickle me,” he sputtered, his voice turning ever so slightly shrill. “I’m not ticklish.” He slapped the cushion with his palm.

“Relax,” she said. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about–”

“I’m not embarrassed!” Jax gestured toward himself. “Who said I was embarrassed? I just don’t like people touching me, alright?”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Pomni found herself agreeing with Jax just to get him to settle down. “I don’t like being touched all that much, either.”

Jax paused. “...Good.”

A beat passed between them. Pomni glanced to the side, but there wasn’t much to look at. Jax wasn’t moving. He scrutinized her every movement as though she was going to jump him at any moment. Pomni tapped her fingers against her knee just to have something to do. 

“I was being serious, though,” she said just to break this awkward energy.

“About what?”

“About how there’s nothing embarrassing about being ticklish.” 

Jax crossed his arms. “Would you let go of that already?” He kissed his teeth. “I didn’t peg you to be some sort of pervert.”

“Pervert?!” Pomni sputtered. “What are you talking about?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Jax’s tone took on that same lazy drawl it usually did when he was trying to deflect. He smirked as he leaned back against the armrest. “I mean, you basically waltzed in here begging to cuddle up with me—”

“Excuse you?”

“And then you start touching me all over—” He threw his hands in the air wildly in some strange attempt to mock her. “—like some sort of perv!”

Pomni frowned. She waited a second just in case she had managed to mishear him, but nope. 

She chose her words carefully. “...If the first thing you think about when someone accidentally tickles you is something perverted, then maybe you’re the issue?”

Jax went still.

He stared at Pomni. His pupils were so tiny that his eyes were basically a sea of yellow. Jax’s ears straightened up as if someone pulled them by a string, and his shoulders hunched over. He sort of reminded Pomni of a predator hunting his prey, which was kind of funny considering what he looked like.

Then, he smiled.

It was wide, almost encompassing his entire face. 

“Wow, Pomni, you’re even more perverted than I thought.”

“Are you serious?”

Jax stretched his arms out in front of him before cracking his neck. He was acting like someone who was about to start a workout. “Let’s see how you like it when someone gets handsy with you.”

“What are you talking about—ah!” Pomni screamed as Jax leapt on top of her, knocking the wind out of her chest. They tumbled into a heap on the floor. “What are you doihing—!” Pomni got her answer once Jax started digging into her sides.

“See? You’re ticklish, too!” Jax exclaimed. He sat on her legs, pinning her to the ground. 

Pomni noted the last part of his sentence. “I nehever said I wasn’t!” Jax didn’t answer. Instead, he chose to drill his thumbs underneath her arms. Pomni flinched. She could feel a wobbly smile creep onto her face as quiet giggles poured out of her. “Hehey!” She placed her hand over his to dull the sensations. 

Jax scowled and moved onto her stomach, then her hips, and then her sides, again. If Pomni didn’t know better, she would say he was beginning to get annoyed. What? Were her reactions not funny enough for him? Because they certainly weren’t funny for her.

Finally, having had enough, Pomni seized Jax’s shoulders and shoved him to the side. He gave a clipped yell before crumpling onto the ground like a rag doll. Pomni pushed herself up. She knew she didn’t have much time before Jax would decide to retaliate, so she did the only thing she could think of.

She sat on his back.

“Huh? Hey!” Jax collapsed underneath her weight. Pomni experimentally wiggled her fingers against his ribs. Any sort of smartass comment that Jax might have said in that moment was drowned out by a high-pitched squawk. “AAHHAHAHA—!” He slammed his fists against the ground as his arms scrambled underneath him in some sort of futile endeavor to push himself up.

Jax’s laughter was more like a scream than actual laughing, but it was amusing nonetheless. His face scrunched up, but he couldn’t keep his lips closed for more than half a second. Pomni suspected that he was trying to hold his laughter in, but he was apparently too sensitive to even do that. 

“Huh,” Pomni said. “I guess you are ticklish after all.” She spidered her fingers up and down Jax’s sides. While she always thought his overalls were pretty goofy, they gave her great access to exploit his weak spots. 

Jax’s legs twisted and turned wildly as he tried to buck Pomni off, but she held on strong. “Sh–shuhut uhuhUHUHP!” His laughter was borderline maniacal with the occasional hiccup splattered in between. How endearing. “It’s nahahat…!” Jax squeaked when Pomni pinched his side. “It’s nahat FAHAHAhair!!”

“What isn’t fair?”

Her fingers crawled up and around his back, targeting the especially sensitive spot between his shoulder blades. Jax tried to push her off of him, but he couldn’t quite reach the spots where Pomni’s hands were. Despite being taller than her, Pomni was definitely bigger, which she used to her advantage. She planted her knees against the ground to steady herself.

“You’re n—nahahat that—!! Eheheeh!” A particularly squeaky chirp spilled from Jax’s lips. “Stahap! Stop thahahaat!” Jax’s fingers dug into the floor, but he couldn’t find any leverage. 

Hm. Was Jax complaining that she wasn’t as ticklish as he was? How childish could he be? Though Pomni supposed she wasn’t one to talk, considering the circumstances. 

“I’ll stop if you promise not to tickle me again,” Pomni said.

Before the softball adventure, Pomni didn’t think they could blush. They didn’t exactly have blood, after all, but Jax had proved her wrong, then. And, he was proving her wrong, now. Jax’s face had taken on a more pinkish hue. Since they didn’t need to breathe here, Pomni surmised that his reddening cheeks were mostly due to embarrassment. Unless his face just did that when he held his breath, but she doubted that.

She lightly brushed her index fingers up Jax’s armpits. His arms clamped around his sides as he let out another sharp scream. “AHAHAH—!” Jax almost managed to fully shake her off of him that time. That must have been a particularly sensitive spot. “Nuh uhuh!! Yoh–ou…” Another hiccup. “You stah–AHAH–arted it! Eehehek!”

“Yeah, by accident!” Pomni rolled her eyes. She suspected that he was mainly refusing due to pride. He could be pretty stubborn, after all, but she could be, as well.

“Oh, I’m sohoho getting you bahaHAHAck when I gehet out of thihihs!” 

At this rate, Pomni was going to be tickling him forever. She needed to find a way out without Jax immediately getting revenge. She shifted, so she was looking behind her. Jax’s legs were still kicking as he writhed all over the place. It sort of reminded her of that one rabbit from that movie she watched a long time ago as a child. What was their name, again? Thumper? 

Huh. 

Something else managed to grab her attention. She blinked just to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but no, Jax’s tail was wagging. That was pretty surprising, considering he didn’t have the thing a couple of weeks ago. Pomni wasn’t all too knowledgeable about rabbit biology, but she wondered if his tail was similar to a dog’s. Maybe Jax was secretly enjoying this? It certainly didn’t seem like it by the way he was yelling at her, but his tail was telling another story entirely.

She didn’t dwell on it. 

She hummed in a fake inquisitive way. “I wonder if your paws are also ticklish.”

Jax shrieked. It sort of hurt her ears. “FIHIHINE! Fihihihine! I wohohon’t get you back! I promihihise! Ahahaha! J–Just stop! Ple—ahahah—!” 

Satisfied, Pomni stopped tickling him. She slid off of Jax to give him time to calm down. Jax’s arms gave out from under him as he fell into a pile of limbs on the floor. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. His cheeks were still rosy in hue, but they were starting to return to their natural purple shade. A singular droplet of a tear had welled up in his right eye, which made Pomni scratch her cheek. Yeah, she might have gone too far this time. Again.

Jax wheezed. He tried to push himself up once more, but he only managed to prop himself onto his elbows. “Never ever mention this to anyone ever,” Jax said in between labored breaths. He wiped away the tear with the back of his hand. 

“As long as you do the same,” Pomni said.

Jax paused for a moment, like he was mulling it over. Then, he nodded. “Deal.” He held out his hand. 

“Deal.” Pomni shook it. 

With eternity stretching out ahead of you into the disorienting expanse of the unknown, you had to find ways to preoccupy yourself. If this Circus was all they were going to know for the rest of their existence, they had better start getting comfortable.

Each member had their own ways of doing so. Ragatha had her friends to fill the suffocating silence and keep her tethered to what mattered. Zooble and Gangle had their art, something new and fresh that spit in the face of the automated creation, reinventing their universe into something beautiful and real. Kinger had his memories, his dark, pillow fortress acting as his safe haven from the harsh light that threatened to take away from him all that he had left. Pomni, still quite inexperienced in the ways of the unique depression the Circus gave, had not found her pastime yet. She was still grappling with the reality that she would never see Earth again.

Jax had his mischief. No matter what dreadfully dull situation he found himself in, he had his sharp wit and playful spirit to keep him entertained. Though he was starting to find that his hijinks were much more enjoyable when shared with someone else.

Pomni was his favorite someone else, even if he would never admit it. She accepted him in a way that no one else in this Circus had, except Ribbit. She didn't try to change him or make him into something that he wasn't. She indulged in his chaotic nature without losing her own sense of character, which made her the perfect "straight-man" to bounce off of.

Today, the two had found themselves in a game of... whatever this was. There hadn't been an establishing of rules of any kind, and neither one was keeping score (a score of nothing in particular, hence the lack of rules), but it was fun. And it kept them busy.

The game consisted mostly of ducking behind obstacles and throwing colorful balls at each other, a much less uncomfortable snowball fight. The balls had come from the latest addition to the Circus: a ball pit room that, while fun on paper, was horrifyingly claustrophobic in practice. So neither one felt particularly bad about taking the balls from it. It wasn't like they'd be missed.

Pomni had created quite a bit of distance between herself and Jax and was catching her breath behind a giant red cube. Clutched in her hands were the only two balls she had left. The rest were lost to bad aim brought on by panic at Jax's approaching. If she could just steady her mind and keep her cool, these balls could meet their target.

She jumped at the sound of Jax's voice echoing off of the Circus walls.

"Come on out, Pom Pom! You know you can't hide from me forever! Why don't you come out here and face me like a man?"

"That's awfully sexist of you!" she shouted back.

"Point taken. But you're still being a wuss!"

With each word, his voice grew incrementally louder and louder, and Pomni knew that she didn't have long before she was found. She had to ready herself.

Maybe a distraction could buy her some time.

She took one of the balls, reeled her arm back, and vaulted it as hard as she could away from her hiding spot.

She heard the sharp clap of the ball hitting the floor. The muttering thuds as it bounced away. The stillness that followed.

For what felt like hours, nothing happened. She waited.

A voice. "You know I saw where you threw that from, right?"

Crap.

Pomni needed to run, and fast.

Pushing off of the cube behind her, she threw herself forward and moved her feet out in front to catch her. It was less of a run and more of a perpetual stumble, but it got her away from where she was, and that was enough.

Pomni counted about four strides before she heard the horrifying sound of an approaching tap tap tap tap tap and was yanked backwards by the devilish rabbit.

Jax lifted her up by the lappets of her hat. "God, you are slow" he scoffed.

Pomni pouted at him. "You just have freakishly fast rabbit legs, that's not my fault."

"No, but you alerting me to your hiding spot is."

"I thought I was being clever" Pomni smiled defeatedly.

"Guess there really is no beating the fastest rabbit in the West!" Jax cheered with a phony western accent. "Any last words before your humiliating defeat?"

He had an inkling that Pomni would say something snarky, or make a bid for a rematch.

He hadn't expected her to pelt him point-blank in the face with her remaining ball. The impact caused him to drop Pomni in shock.

Jax stood dumbly as he processed what just happened and came back to his sense to find the tiny jester laughing at him.

"Your- your face!" she gasped.

Through peals of laughter, Pomni started to get to her knees, but Jax stepped forward and pinned her down with one hand, chuckling evilly as he grinned down at her.

"Ohoho no no no" he said. "I want an apology. For the ball to the face, and the vicious mockery." He batted his eyelashes as if he were about to cry, but the humorous way the corners of his lips turned up was unmistakable.

Pomni took this as a challenge and began struggling to wriggle herself out from underneath him. Though a valiant effort, the size difference between them substantially hindered any attempts at escape. Instead of it looking like a mutual wrestle for dominance, it looked more like a kitten held down by a Doberman.

Jax laughed at the pitiful sight. "Yeah, you're not getting out of this one, Shorty. I'd start cooking up that apology if I were you."

He hadn't meant to, but while he was talking, his gloved fingers shifted against Pomni's belly due to all of her squirming.

Pomni's knees hitched up a tiny bit as she gave an involuntary squeak.

Jax blinked. What was that reaction for? He hadn't done anything to hurt her, at least not to his knowledge. It sure as hell wasn't a sound of fear, that much he knew for certain. Pomni was too tough to be intimidated by him.

He watched her, trying to piece together what he just heard, and noticed the way her eyes kept darting back to his hand on her torso. Her smile stretched outward in a nervous manner, and the pale skin of her face was beginning to bloom with pink.

He looked down at his hand. And then it clicked.

Once Pomni had realized that Jax hadn't meant to tickle her on purpose, she tried to straighten herself like nothing had happened and hoped that he hadn't caught on.

That hope was shattered as she looked up to meet Jax's eyes, only to find that they were almost entirely black with how his pupils had grown, his Cheshire smile gleaming down at her.

"Oh, this is rich" Jax said.

"C'mon, Jax..."

"I'm getting that apology, Pomni" he threatened darkly. "Better save yourself the trouble and give it to me now."

To accentuate his point, he tensed his fingers just a smidge. He was rewarded by the feeling of her belly clenching beneath his touch.

Pomni looked up into the face of certain doom, her inglorious defeat looming over her, and smirked.

"Make me" she dared.

And oh, that was just the answer Jax had hoped for. Better even.

She had granted him permission, and he would ride that permission to the end of the line.

Jax replied with a deep rumble. "My pleasure."

His hand began to claw swiftly into her belly, his fingers pressing as deep into the artificial muscle as he could.

The resulting sensation was insane.

Pomni screamed for a second before dissolving into manic cackles. She clutched her stomach where Jax's hand clung onto, but hadn't the strength to push him away. Her head fell back and her legs kicked wildly.

Her unrestrained laughter was infectious, and Jax began to chuckle along with her. "I mean, this could not have gone any better for me. All these weeks of you egging me on and now I find out you're ticklish? Oh, I am going to have so much fun with this, Pomni. Just you wait and see."

Pomni, through her mania, called out. "Nohoho!"

"Yehehehes!" Jax mocked. "I'll use this to win every game, every argument. I can just squeeze up and down your little belly and get anything I want. And right now, I am going to get an apology. So how about it, Pom? You ready to give in yet?"

Pomni weighed her options. There really was no hope for her if she tried to brute-strength her way out, and pleads for mercy were like catnip for Jax. Her only solution was to give in to Jax's demands. But her pride was just too damn strong.

"Nehehever!" she shouted.

"Alright, suit yourself."

While keeping his palm against her belly, he moved his pointer finger up into the hollow of her underarm and began to worm around there, which earned him hiccupy giggles from his victim.

Jax was loving every second of it.

"God," he chortled, "how am I supposed to take you seriously now that I know you can laugh like this? You sound like a rubber duck."

"Doho nohohot! Yohohou duhumb je-jerk!" Pomni shot back indignantly.

"Still not hearing an apology. You know, you're only making this harder for yourself."

Pomni didn't grace that with a response.

Jax continued. "Phew, all of this horsing around really works up an appetite. If only I had something here I could eat..."

Pomni struggled harder. "No! No no no!" she squealed.

"Tickle monsters get very hungry, Pomni, be considerate" Jax scolded. "I guess since you're here, you'll have to do."

Pomni felt a blend of dread and joy flood her veins. "Plehehehease nohohohooo!"

Jax faltered for a moment, caught off his guard by how unrelenting adorable Pomni had the nerve of being. Regaining himself, he reared up his head, gnashing yellow sharp teeth.

With a mighty hiss, Jax brought down his jaws to the jester's stomach and chewed gently.

Pomni shrieked in ticklish agony, head thrown back once more as her arms went limp against her chest. She gave one hearty kick as she felt Jax began to shake his head back and forth.

Rarely ever had Pomni felt this emotionally confused. Part of her felt the need to get out of this somehow, but the other part of her was just having too much fun. It felt good to play with Jax like this, and she knew better than to wonder whether he would respect her wishes enough to let her go if she really demanded.

In this moment, nothing else existed. No suffering, no heartache, no ever-present despair.

Just laughter.

Jax picked up his head to catch his breath and admire his handywork.

Pomni was still laughing herself crazy and lying limp on the floor. She seemed to be almost done now. One more big gnaw should do the trick.

Jax leaned back again, relishing the way Pomni groaned with fear, and brought his teeth back to her belly.

Sure enough, Pomni waved the white flag a few seconds later.

"OKAHAY OKAHAHAY! I'M SORRYHYHY!" she laughed.

True to his word, Jax stopped his onslaught and released her. As Pomni caught her breath, Jax sat back on his heels. "Aaaah, what a delicious feast. Meals are so much tastier when they're squealing for mercy, eh Pomni?"

Without even raising her head, she lifted her middle finger to him.

Jax chuckled to himself. "That was the funniest freaking thing I've seen all week. Ah, I needed that." He noticed Pomni hadn't said anything yet. "You dead down there, Pom Pom?"

Not a word.

"Pomni?" Jax repeated, slightly concerned.

He leaned forward to get a better look at her and make sure she was alright. They couldn't asphyxiate in this world, but that didn't mean you couldn't torture them half to death.

Jax leaned a little closer.

Suddenly, he felt the wind get knocked out of him as his back collided with the hard Circus floor.

Pomni was straddled atop him with a devious toothy grin on her face.

"I believe I am owed an apology now, don't you think?" she asked.

Jax couldn't believe it. That dirty cheater had tricked him. He had to admit, he was kind of proud.

"For what?" Jax replied. "You're the one who started it."

"No, actually, that was you when you started throwing your balls at me!" Pomni argued.

She scowled at the stupid grin on his face.

"Shut up, you know what I mean" she huffed. "Now, apologize for tickling me half to death."

"I will never apologize for a good bit."

"Never?"

"What are you gonna do about it?"

Pomni quirked up an eyebrow, turning her lip to make a smirk as she raised her gloved claws.

At that moment, Jax felt his stomach drop to his feet.

"Ha! Nice try" he bluffed. "That doesn't work on me. I'm not ticklish."

"You really think I'm gonna fall for that one?"

Jax smiled. "Is it working?"

Pomni shook her head fondly. She was going to enjoy this.

Unlike Jax's sudden and forceful approach, Pomni slooowwwly descended her wiggling fingers towards Jax's middle.

The rabbit's eyes widened. "Wait- alright, alright, hang on- you- c'mon now, let me up- this is childihish."

Pomni said nothing. No cunning remarks for Jax to bounce off of. No taunts, no banter. Just her knowing smile.

The lack of responsiveness drove Jax mad.

He felt the pit in his stomach yawn wider the closer Pomni's hands got. They were almost to him.

He braced himself and held his breath just as her fingers finally touched down and started to tickle.

Already this was much harder than Jax had anticipated. He wasn't an extremely ticklish person, but he had gotten so unused to the feeling since being here in the Circus. He had lost whatever resilience he had built up to it.

He exhaled hard through his nose and breathed back in, careful not to let one of those breaths deform into a laugh. Not here. Not in front of her.

As the prickling sensation traveled through his nervous system and throughout his torso, Jax's twitching got more erratic. His laughter could be controlled, but his squirming could not, which wasn't really helping his "not ticklish" case.

Pomni watched as her delicate dance of fingers slowly drove Jax insane. She figured that he would try and hold in his laughter, but that wasn't going to deter her. No, it only fueled her determination.

She decided to play a little dirty.

"Jax?" she said. "You feeling alright? You look a little tense."

Jax's eyes bugged out at her at the audacity, but she kept on.

"You're not fooling me, Jax. I can tell you're trying not to laugh. I think you just might be... just a tiny bit... ticklish."

With eyes now shut tight from the strain, Jax shook his head stubbornly. Whether that was to deny her statement or to try and shake the tickles away, Pomni wasn't sure.

"Jaaaax" Pomni sang. "I know you wanna laugh. I know you wanna."

God f%$# dammit, Jax swore. She was right.

His earlier confidence was wearing down. She had him right where she wanted him and there were little places for him to run to. If he didn't think of something fast, he might... actually have to laugh.

Pomni could practically hear the thoughts tunneling through his brain. Her hands slowly migrated to the bunny's sides and gently spidered up and down their lengths.

It tickled so f%$# bad. Every nerve ending was screaming.

A quiet little whimper caught in his throat before he could stop it. His ears drooped as his smile grew sillier. Oh no.

Taking in the sight of her prisoner, Pomni dealt the final blow. The ultimate weapon.

Tickling faster, she drew in a deep breath and began to sing. "Tktktktktktktktktktktktktktk!"

Jax couldn't hold it in any longer. That stupid sound!

Like a bursting dam, high-pitched giggles started to spill from his mouth, growing louder with each passing second. He felt a rosy warmth spread across his face as he heard what humiliating noises he was making. He buried himself inside his hands as the giggles overtook him.

He was so focused on his own reaction that he couldn't see Pomni's face.

A face that was now glowing in awe.

She had never heard him laugh like this before.

He laughed all the time: snorting with derision, chuckling at his own quips, cackling at others' misfortune. But he had never giggled.

Especially not like he was the most vulnerable, most happy soul in the world.

Her heart melted inside her chest. It took everything within her not to coo, for she feared that if she did, Jax would tuck back into his shell and never reemerge ever again.

Instead, she spoke to him in his language. The language of teasing.

"Are you sure you're not ticklish?" she asked.

Jax found just enough strength to say "F%$# yohohou!"

"Old Jaxxy boy can't handle his tickles? Hm? Does it tickle too much?"

"SHUHUT UP!" Jax shrieked from behind his hands.

Smiling, Pomni ignored him and shoved both hands into Jax's underarms, tickling every inch she could reach. "Kitchee kitchee coo! Kitchee kitchee kitchee coooo!"

He absolutely howled with laughter, taking his hands away from his face to try and pry Pomni's wicked hands away from his pits.

In doing so, Jax inadvertently allowed Pomni a look at his face. His watery eyes, rosy cheeks, and bright smile just about took Pomni's breath away.

She almost wanted to keep this going forever, until she realized that she was supposed to be extracting something from him.

"If you don't apologize, I'll just have to keep tickling" Pomni threatened. "Maybe I'll have to move on down to your hips-"

Jax sprang to life. "OKAHAY! Alrihight, alrihihight, I give! I give!"

"And?" Pomni prompted.

"I'm sohohoryhyhy!"

"Thank you." And with that, Pomni slowed her torture to a stop, regrettably. She climbed off of Jax so that he would have room to breath and get his bearings. He kept giggling for a surprising amount of time. He just couldn't seem to get himself under control.

Eventually, his chest did stop trembling, and his laughter died down.

As his mindfulness returned and he realized what had just happened, he turned to Pomni sharply. "If you tell anyone about this, I'm throwing you off a bridge. And tickling you until you have a heart attack."

Pomni glanced away doubtfully. "Not possible, but don't worry. This stays between us. Besides, I don't want anyone finding out I lost to you in our game either."

That last part wasn't true at all, but it was an easier pill for Jax to swallow than I won't betray your trust.

Jax read her face for a moment, and then softened; a thank you behind his eyes.

With his anxiety relieved, Jax pushed himself to his feet. "Weeellpp, guess we've gotta clean up this mess." His smile had returned to its usual impishness, and his carefree charisma seeped into the air like it had never left.

Pomni looked around at the sea of colorful balls littering the floor.

"Oh. Yeah."

Pomni glanced up at Jax with a smirk. "Whoever collects the most balls gets the other's dessert."

"Oh, you're on."

---

Neither could really remember how exactly they got into this position. Both were together in Pomni’s bed. Jax was laying on his back while Pomni was snuggled against his chest. Arms wrapped around the other, Jax’s hand rubbing small circles along Pomni’s back.

Their last adventure had really taken it out of everyone and each had gone to their respective rooms as soon as they got back. It was Jax who followed Pomni to her door and demanded she let him spend the night there. Of course she obliged, not without a little teasing first. But that’s how they worked. Jax was a little less of an asshole, more affectionate. Pomni liked giving him affection no one else was allowed to give.

Another thing she did which seemed impossible for others to do was fluster him. Jax always had this facade in front of the others. But with Pomni that facade seemed to crumble, only a little though, and neither could complain.

“You like what you see~” Jax teased. The two had been staring at each other for a bit now. Pomni didn’t mind the silence. It was comfortable. But I guess it seems that Jax got bored and intended to make it her problem. Pomni rolled her eyes.

“What’s the matter? Rabbit got your tongue?” Jax poked Pomni’s forhead causing her to grunt. She went to move as if she was going to get off of him.

“Uh, uh, uh~ Where are you going?” Jax leaned forward, grabbing onto one of Pomni’s bells that dangled from her hat.

“Hey!” Pomni yelped as she was yanked back towards him. Their faces merely inches apart.

“Hey, what? I’m just trying to entertain myself here. Not my fault you happen to be the perfect toy for me to mess with.” Jax grabbed the other jester bell. Pulling and jingling them to his hearts content.

“You’re lucky I hate you a little less than the others, otherwise I would’ve probably pulled these little bells off and kept them for myself. Then again I like knowing when you’re around the corner.” Pomni huffed out a breath and tried to shove Jax back, but her small arms proved her unhelpful. It didn’t help that his giddy smile kinda made her want to let him continue.

“Knohock it off!” Pomni couldn’t help but giggle at the silliness. However, she was also getting tired of being on the receiving end of his torment. It’s about time she got him back.

“Okay that’s it-” Pomni poked her fingers underneath his arms causing Jax to shriek. He hastily brought his hands back to his sides. Pomni took the opportunity to fully straddle Jax, her hands now hovering above the purple character.

“Wahahait- PohomPohom! Nohoho!” Jax gently grabbed onto Pomni’s wrists, barely pushing against her. Whether the reason was because he was tired or secretly enjoying the attention, Pomni was going to take advantage. He did deserve it after all.

“But, I thought you were bored?” Pomni snickered at the nervousness in Jax’s eyes. This wasn’t the first time this particular situation had happened. Jax was bored, Pomni happened to be there, Jax “entertained” himself, Pomni got him back. Tickling was actually not out of the ordinary for them. Either of them ending up on the receiving end at some point or another.

“Wehell I’m not anymore soho goho awahayahay! Nohohoho!” Jax fell into small giggles when Pomni’s fingers met their destination on his sides.

“We both know that’s not true.” She quickly adjusted herself. Grabbing his arms and swiftly pushing them against the mattress against his sides. Her body sat back down, keeping his arms pinned to his sides and leaving Jax utterly defenseless.

Jax’s eyes widened. He didn’t have time to process what was happening until he was already stuck. He pulled at his arms and kicked his legs. He wasn’t getting out of this easily-

“Thihis is soho nohot fahair!” Jax couldn’t help the anticipatory giggles that escaped his lips. He couldn’t help getting giddy when Pomni acted this way. And he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t excited for her to continue.

Pomni set her hands lightly on Jax’s stomach. His breath hitched and his face blushed. Why did she always have to go to that spot?!

“Dohon’t you dahare! You f$&@er!!” Jax tried to break free, albeit with no success.

“Three~”

No. She wouldn’t-

“Oho, you aha$$@?*#!”

“Twooo~”

She was.

“Dohon’t!”

“Two and half~”

“Juhust do it ahalready!!”

“Fine. But you literally asked for it.” Pomni giggled. And with that, her hands plunged into the pool of ticklish nerves on Jax’s stomach. Her fingers scribbled across his waist, pinched his sides, poked his lower ribs, no place was safe from her tickly revenge.

“POHOHOMPOHOHOM! PLEHEHEHEASE!”

There was that nickname again. Jax tended to call everyone in the circus names, but this one seemed to come from a place of genuine liking. A nickname you’d give to someone close.

“Wohow. Really ticklish here, huh?” Pomni teased as Jax’s face scrunched up in ticklish frustration. His legs kicked out at the covers. His back arching against the bed as he tried hiding his face against the pillows beside him.

“YOHOU KNEHEHEHW THAHAT YOU JEHEHERK!” His foot thumped against the bed, creating a silly, little rhythm that matched with his sporadic laughter.

“Yeah you’re right. I also know it gets even worse if I do this.” Pomni smirked, switching from a light pinching to kneading little circles into the lower sides of his stomach. But not only that, she leaned down and started peppering Jax’s neck with light kisses. Something Jax couldn’t ever handle no matter how many times she’d kissed him there before.

“AHAHAHA!! NAHAHAHAT THEHERE! POHOMNIHIHI!” Jax shook his head back and forth, his hands curling into fists as he fought to fight back with his full strength. Even though his body was yelling at him to escape from the ticklish trap.

“Not there? Why not?” Pomni teased, bringing her head out of his neck for a second to look behind her.

“Your foot is thumping a lot. Plus if you really wanted to escape you totally could.” But could he? Jax always crumbled when he was tickled. Especially by Pomni.

Pomni continued her attack on Jax’s stomach, taking note when he twitched more desperately at his lower stomach being targeted. How he squealed if you got too close to his belly button. Even letting out a small snort when you clawed into the center.

“SHUHUHUT UHUHUP!! STAHAHAHAP!” Jax kicked and squealed. Stop was his favorite word when being tickled it seemed, but he never actually meant it. He liked the back and forth banter. The fight of it all. And he’d be damned if he gave in that easily.

“KOHOHOCK IHIT OHOHOFF!” Jax kicked, but Pomni kept her hands locked and kneading at that spot.

“Fihine. Fine. But one more thing.” Without giving him a second to think, her head dove back into his neck and blew the longest raspberry she could muster. And after she was done. She kept going.

“GAHAHAHAHA!! SH!&!! STAHAHAHAHAP!!” Jax was losing it. He squealed and scrunched his shoulder against Pomni’s head. Both of his feet thumped against the mattress as his eyes screwed shut. Ticklish tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“OKAY! OKAHAHAHAHAY! IHI’M SAHAHAHAHAHA!” Jax couldn’t finish. Pomni started nibbling rather than kissing. She was really determined to drive him up the wall tonight.

“POHOMNIHI! STAHAHAHAHAHAP! PLEHEHEHASE!” Jax’s eyes opened wide as he shook his head back and forth. His blush darkened as his squeals and shrieks filled the bedroom. She was going to kill him some day.

“You know what you have to say.” Pomni paused to say before leaning forward and nibbling into the base of his ear. Jax screamed before falling into silent laughter.

“I’M SORRY! IHI’M SAHAHAHAHARRY!!” Jax was finally able to cackle out. Pomni gave his neck one last kiss before she stopped. Letting go of his arms and lying to the side of him.

Jax immediately curled into a giggly ball. His eyes sparkled with leftover tears and his foot still jerked every now and then from the leftover sensations.

Pomni giggled next to him. How could she not? He looked utterly adorable all tickled out. Jax rolled his eyes and smiled widely.

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up. You got me good. Don’t think I won’t get your back though.” Jax chuckled then squealed again when she jabbed him in his ribs.

“Okahay! Enohough! Not tonight I promise.” Jax sat up, drank some water, then grabbed the comforter that had fallen on the floor before covering the two of them up in the cozy covers.