Rando/Arataki

Rudo took off like a bolt of lightning, a screech ripping from his throat as he twisted to the door. He nearly knocked Zanta out of the way in his escape, taking the turn too hard and bruising something in the process. He didn’t care- the pain could wait, he needed to go.

Behind him, he could hear Enjin’s cackles following closely. The older man was enjoying this- just the absolute delight that dripped from his words made it obvious. “What’s wrong Rudo? Scared I’m gonna getcha?” He sounded so far now, but Rudo knew the second he turned around, the gap would be closed. He couldn’t look back!

….He dared a peek.

Enjin’s face was a mere centimeters away.

“AHH!” He screamed so loud he threw himself off balance, going tumbling to the ground. He tried to roll, hoping he’d find footing. His high pitched attack seemed to give him just a few moments as Enjin stumbled, a hand on his ear and laughter getting wheezier.

 “N-No! No, get away!” He cried, backing up the best he could as the smiling devil closed in like a predator. “Wait! Wait, Enjin please! I’m not ready!”

“Sorry- a little late for that I fear.” Enjin all but purred, grabbing Rudo’s leg and pulling him forward. The teen squealed and tried clawing at the ground. “You knew exactly what you were doing back there. Don’t start acting like none of that was on purpose.”

“I-I’m sorry!” Enjin had him flipped on his back, capturing his wrists with one hand. Pinned and exposed, he saw his life flash before his eyes; all the things he wished he’d done, things he regretted saying and not saying. “I’m sorry, I'll take it back! I promise I will take it back!”

“Sorry’s not gonna cut it, kid.” The blonde pinned his legs with one of his own, voice grim. “Sorry doesn’t carry much weight around these parts. You’ve wounded me pretty deep. Now you must pay.”

“I’m sorry! I’m so-ohohhohhoohohhrry!” The teen’s pleas melted into desperate giggles when Enjin dug a single finger into his side, right below his ribcage. He twitched at the feeling, his arms pulling sharply at Enjin’s grip as he tried hiding his growing smile with his arm. “Eehehheenjin, I’m so sohohohohohorry!”

“So desperate for me to forgive you, eh? Warms my cold dead heart.” Enjin laughed alongside him, bringing a second finger in. Then a third. Before long, he had all five fingers gently digging into his ribs, making his squirms increase and his giggle fits raise in volume. “Shame that’s not enough to save you. Now- who looks like a lizard monster?”

“Ehehahahahhahaha! Buhuhut yoohohohu kihihinda dooh-Wahahahait, wahhahit, wahahait I lied! I’m sohoho-EHEHEHHE!” Rudo all but screamed when Enjin squeezed his side, pressing his thumb in. “WHAHAIT EHEHENJIN LEHEHEMMEE THIHIHINK!”

“Nah. Lizards don’t have that kind of patience.” Enjin adjusted his pose so he could pin Rudo down with his legs, releasing his hands so he could grab both his ribs. The teen all but howled with laughter at that, arching like a bow as he grasped at Enjin’s wrists. “Or maybe they do- they got to hunt and whatnot. Say, am I a poisonous lizard or just one of those dumb ones? Come on- make your argument!” He snickered as he curled his fingers, spreading them out and leaving not a single spot untouched.

“I cahhahahan’t! I cahahhana’t- I cahahhahahan’t thihiihhink! Ehehehenji-EHEHEHIN!” Rudo kicked against the ground like a child having a tantrum, squirming about as his face flushed a bright cherry red. “EHEHEHENJIN! EHEHENJIN I CAHHAHAN’T BREHAHHAHTHE!”

“Whoa there.” Enjin stopped immediately, hands still on his sides as he let Rudo gasp for air, a touch of concern coloring his smile. “You good?”

“Whoohohoa..whohohoaa..whooooohohoho..” He nodded, covering his face with his gloved hands. Eventually, he felt himself start to think again, wondering just what to do. He could easily tell Enjin he was done, but…

Making a decision, he peeked up at him through his fingers. “You’re one of the duhuhmb ones.” He giggled, unable to keep a straight face. Enjin’s expression went from worried to outrage, jaw dropping and brows tilting like a cartoon villain. He was so expressive! “One that wahahits to get eaten!”

“Oh hell no- you mean that?” He grabbed Rudo’s sides again, tickling a little faster and nearly sending him to the galaxy. “The dumb kind waiting to be eaten! I thought for sure you’d at least say I look like a Charmander, but nooooo!”

“Thehehehen fihihihine! Yohohoohu’re chahahahrmahhahander! Eheheha, the lahahahazy one- EHEHEHEHEEE!” He all but wailed when Enjin tickled his armpits, shooting his hands out and pushing on his grinning face. “Stahahhaap, stahhahaap, pleahahahse! I thihihink you’re coohohohol! I THIHIHINK YOOHOHUR COOL NOW STHAHAHP!”

“Gehehahaha! That’s what I thought!” Enjin cackled as he sat back, finally climbing off the giggly teen and stretching his back with a low groan. “Ugh, my back. I’m getting old.”

“Rehehal old!” Rudo called out, spasming backwards before Enjin could tickle him again. “Ehehe, kidding! I’m kihihidding..eh. Did I really hurt your feelings when I called you that?” He suddenly asked, looking up at the blonde as he dug for a cigarette. “A lizard, I mean.”

“Pfft- please! A grown man like me, being hurt by that?” Enjin wheezed out smoke as he threw an arm around Rudo’s shoulders, giving him a shake. “I’ve been called everything under the sun, kid. Being called a dumb lazy lizard is the least of my worries.”

Rudo figured, but it was still reassuring to hear. He lightly shoved at Enjin, laughing through coughs as he fanned away the smoke. “Hah, yeah. Hey…are you ticklish, Enjin?” He looked up at him curiously, the hand pushing at the blonde’s side curling gently.

Enjin nearly choked on his smoke, jerking away and grabbing Rudo’s hand. “Kid, I swear.” He glared down at the widening grey eyes shining with mischief. “You want me to tickle you, again?”

“Maybe next time!’ Rudo quickly shot up, running off and leaving Enjin snickering.

“Maybe next time, then.” Enjin blew a cloud of smoke free, smiling from ear to ear. So the kid wanted to play again. He had something to look forward to, now.

"Wahahahait!! Nohoho!! L-Leona-san nohohot thehehere!! Dahahang it, Cahahaptain lehehet me gohoho!!!"

Epel squealed, his accent in full effect as he kicked and squirmed under his upperclassman's weight, desperate to buck him off.

All of it had started earlier that morning, during Spelldrive practice. It was a nice day, so as usual, Leona had been sleeping under a tree nearby, taking an extended breaktime while everyone else ran drills. An overall normal practice really.

Epel had been feeling pretty good that day. More than good actually. Vil had a housewarden meeting early that morning so he hadn't had to listen to any lecturing, he'd gotten a good grade on his Alchemy test and even received praise from Professor Crewel for it!

His good fortune even seemed to have extended to Spelldrive during the first half of practice. He'd pulled off some new maneuvers flawlessly, scored a lot more points than usual, and overall had seemed to improve his overall control a lot. That is, until he'd gotten just a tad overzealous and threw the disc too hard. So hard that it missed it's mark entirely and veered off to the right.

Straight into Leona's face.

Epel would never forget that moment in his life, seeing the rightly angered Housewarden of Savanaclaw slowly sit up and lock eyes with him, while their teammates all pointed towards him as the culprit, his furious green gaze turning straight onto him.

What followed next was a bit of a blur. One minute he'd been midway through trying to stammer out an apology, and the next, he found himself shrieking and flailing in the grass with an extremely ticked off Leona hovering over him whilst he dug into his ribcage. He hadn't even seen him move!

"Eeeheeheek!!? N-Nohohohoo!" Epel would've liked to be able to say he was the type of person who could take it stoically, or at the very least, was able to somewhat fight it off effectively in order to maintain a semblance of his dignity in front of their teammates, but alas, that was not the case.

Instead, all he could manage to do was screech and wriggle in surprise under his captain's claws while he tried to vainly free himself from his grip, and even that privilege was soon taken away from him when Leona eventually seemed to quickly tire of his constant thrashing and gestured Ruggie over, who jogged over with a knowing smirk.

"Oi. Ruggie." Leona grumbled, pausing his attack and scowling a little as he struggled to try and get the annoying first year to uncurl from his protective little ball. "Keep the cub still would'ya? His squirmin' is gettin' on my nerves."

"You got it Boss~! Shyehehe!" Ruggie replied, pliant to his housewarden's whims as ever, and Epel watched through mirthful tears as the other beastman jogged over, ignoring his underclassman's pleading for him not to.

Already anticipating that the hyena might try and pull his arms up over his head, Epel tensed himself up as much as he could in preparation for a struggle as Ruggie's mischievous expression came into view, fully intending to at least put up a fight for his pride's sake.

Ruggie snorted, clearly amused by the first year's weak attempt at self defense as he leaned over him, and instead of making a grab for his wrist or trying to pin his shoulders down, all he did was snicker. How cute this little first year was!

"Hey Epel?" He greeted teasingly, waiting a moment until the younger finally looked up at him, then winked while pointing to the corners of his own wide smile, "Laugh with me~!"

With a smug grin, Ruggie casually raised his arms up and interlaced his fingers together behind his head, and he couldn't help but laugh at the horrified look on Epel's face as he was magically forced to imitate the pose against his will. The heck?!

"E-Eh?!... What in the- how are ya doin' that?!- Eeheeheep?!!" The violet haired boy squawked bewilderment as he felt that invisible force tugging his arms upward, kicking his legs out in a frankly hilarious display of panic when he seemed to realize the full scale of his predicament. Was this Ruggie's signature spell or something?! No way! This had to be cheating!!

If it was though, neither Ruggie nor Leona seemed to care as they both hovered over him, Leona's fingertips already poised over his stomach and making him giggle in fearful anticipation while Ruggie just stood there and watched. Keeping his magic active so that no matter how hard he tried, Epel simply couldn't bring his arms down, as if there were invisible puppet strings keeping him in place.

Leona smirked a little as his fingers twitched down to teasingly tug at the hem of his shirt, and Epel gasped, eyes widening as he rapidly shook his head in protest, a plea already slipping past his lips. He hated to beg, but this? This was one situation that called for it!

"L-Leona-san, please... Please no! N-nohohot thahahahat!! EeeyaaAHAHAA!! AHAHA NOOHOHO!! I'M SOHOHORRYEHEHE!!" He shrieked as soon as his fingers started tapping against his bare stomach, bucking around for as much as Leona's weight and Ruggie's magic would allow him to. He could even hear a few of their other teammates snickering at him before they went back to practice, leaving poor Epel to his fate. How embarrassing!

"Shyeehehe!! That's what you get for hitting Leona-san in the face! What even was that throw~?" Ruggie teased, and Epel couldn't help but to whine through his laughter, snorting when Leona's fingertips dug into his bottom most set of ribs. This sucked!

"Ehehehehehahaha!! I'm sohohohorryehehehe!! Plehehease!!" He whined, thumping his heels in the grass hysterically. Honestly what had he been thinking? He hadn't thrown anything that far off target since he first started playing! His aim was normally way better than that! He'd gotten cocky, and now his moment of carelessness had landed him here!

Leona, for his part, hadn't actually said much of anything this whole time, expression unchanging as he oh so easily went about the task of driving Epel's nerves up the wall. Yet for all his annoyance at the younger student for waking him, a small part of him couldn't help but find the younger boy's giggly mewling a little bit cute. Just a little. And, perhaps, he could admit, that not all kids were completely unbearable...

The entire thing was terribly embarrassing for the poor Pomefiore student. No matter how hard he tried, Epel simply couldn't break free of Ruggie's magic in order to fight back, and even if he could, he highly doubted it would be any use anyhow. Leona-san was simply too far out of his league to escape from without some serious assistance.

Just as he began to consider the humiliating thought of calling out and begging their teammates for help, Leona surprisingly seemed to decide on his own to have some mercy and let up, signaling casually for Ruggie to let him go as he stood up and stretched, yawning lazily as if he hadn't just half murdered one of his underclassmen in the middle of practice.

"Oi!" The Savanaclaw Housewarden shouted, waiting a moment until he had the full undivided attention of their whole team before he spoke, "Any of you herbivores hit me and wake me up again, and I'll get you twice as bad as I did him, got it?" He warns, glaring them all down threateningly and waiting for them to nod their understanding in various stages of terror and pity as they looked down upon their poor fallen teammate, before shooting Epel one last hard stare and walking away to continue his nap. Gone just as quickly as he'd come.

The second he was gone, Epel slumped into the grass and groaned, arms tossed over his face in embarrassment, already debating whether or not he should call it a day before he let out a small squeak when he felt a teasingly gentle poke on his stomach.

He peeked an eye open to see, and then pouted a bit when he saw it was Ruggie squatting there next to him, grinning as he offered him a hand up. And he at least had the decency to look like he felt a bit bad while he helped him to his feet.

"Shyehehe! Geez, he really gotcha good huh?" He snickered while he helped the first year to his feet, "Come on. As repayment for helping out Leona-san, I'll getcha something to drink from the vending machine, just don't go telling the others about my generosity, yeah?"

The room felt so bland, everything did. You had been in your room for days, just waiting for yourself to stop breathing, or at least for someone to put a bullet through your head with open arms. Everything felt like too much, even blinking and breathing was a pain in the butt.

You heard three gentle knocks on the door, you didn't even reply, just wanting everyone to dissappear. Whether someone was there or not, you always felt so alone in the end, like they were pretending to be there just to hurt you in the end. Suddenly, you see the door creak open slightly, revealing the white haired man - Jing Yuan.

He had held up a tray of food and a glass of orange juice. He didn't put much on the plate, knowing it was a difficult time for yourself.

"May I?" He asked, tone gentle, soothing. His eyes radiated kindness, no hint of betrayal evident in he's expression, but regardless, you kept your guard up. You nodded subtly, but just enough for Jing Yuan to notice.

"Thank you." He said with a small, genuine smile, it almost made you want to smile yourself, feeling your worries wash away just in the slightest. You didn't shift from your position on your bed, hair matted, eyes red from lonely tears, and pajamas evident on your clothes. You hadn't gotten up from your bed all day, which concerned Jing Yuan greatly.

"Do you feel cold? I can grab you some blankets. If you need anything, just know I'm willing to fetch it." He reassured, causing you to relax in the slightest. Jing Yuan was always an understanding man, no matter the circumstances.

"He's faking it, you can tell. He wants you to leave, he wants you dead. Just die already, no one would care." Great, those demon's had to take over again, just as you were feeling at ease. You felt your eyes well up with tears, immediately catching Jing Yuan's attention.

You expected him to laugh, to point and mock you, waiti-

Wait.. You felt oddly warm, and you felt something wet against your head.

..You were within he's embrace, he held you with such care, like the elder sibling he was. He was crying with you, he felt everything you were going through currently, and for once? You felt at ease.

You let yourself cry, scream, hiding yourself within his arms, as you felt yourself go completely limp. He didn't say anything, if at all, he raised a caring hand, running it through your locks with grace and care. His other hand rubbed soothing circles against your back.

"That's it, Y/N. Let it all out, I'm so proud of you. That's it, that's it, shh shh.. Atta boy/girl.. There there, I know it hurts, you're doing so well, just know I'm so proud of you."

Those words were exactly what you needed, he didn't tell you you were right, wrong, anything, he just listened as you sobbed, letting out every aching feel in your body, as your dam broke from centuries of pain, guilt, all of it just hurt oh so much and it made it hard to breathe.

"You're doing so well. Take some deep breaths with me, ready?" He let you breathe in sync with him, washing away your pain, allowing you to relax. He gently tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear, thumb caressing your cheek with care, with adoration and praise.

"There you go.. Feeling better?" He asked, of course he was highly aware this didn't help everything, but it allowed you to feel something you hadn't in ages - love. Love and care. You felt loved, you felt cared for, all just from him being there, and that's the best thing you could've ever received in these trial times.

"You should be proud of yourself, not for the big things, but the smallest things. You had woken up this morning? That's a great accomplishment! You ate a little? Another achievement! It's not the big things that count, but the little steps in life, and with each little step is a leap of faith."

And with that? You had smiled the most subtly, resting yourself against his chest, dozing off after all your tears drained your energy away.