#jaime writes

“HYuHUhUNG- IHI SWEHEAR-”

“You swear? What do you swear huh?”

Harua hadn’t intended on getting dragged into a tickle fight between K and Taki, but here he was, cackling his head off as K kneaded his thumbs into a spot on his waist with such precision that all he could do was laugh. Taki, the brat, had his arms pinned above his head firmly, making his attempts at an escape futile.

Before this mess began, he had been relaxing in his room before an ear piercing shriek was heard throughout the entire dorm. Honestly, it was a pretty normal thing to randomly hear someone shriek as desperate cackles followed, so he hadn’t bat an eye. There was one thing that caught his attention though. Whoever was laughing had such a high laugh that it was hard to recognize the victim of the tickle attack. Admittedly, he was curious to know who was behind the ridiculously high sound, so he left his room, following the sound of laughter down the hall to K’s room. The door was left ajar, so he took the opportunity to peek in.

He had to stifle a laugh at what he saw. K lay draped over the edge of his bed, his tummy and waist exposed as Taki sat on his thighs, drilling into the stretched out skin between the two spots, making K squeal like a pig that inhaled too much helium.

“TaHAHA- TAHAHKIHI IHIHIT’S BAHAD- IHIHIM SOHOHORRY”

“Ahahaww is it hyung? Is your wiw squealy spot too tickly for you to handle? I thought you weren’t ticklish? Were you lying to me? That can’t slide you know~”

Oh this was too good to pass up.

Harua grinned as he pulled out his phone, pressing record. He began video taping their very one sided fight as he struggled not to laugh at the noises that K was making. Honestly it was adorable, their oldest hyung sounding like a toddler because of one tickle spot. Taki was relentless, scritching at the spot with his nails before seeing that K was getting too used to the sensation and pinching, making him almost get bucked off with how hard K jolted.

“Does it tick tick tickle hyungie? Cmon you have to answer me! I need to know if it tickles because if it doesn’t I’ll have to use my super duper tickle technique to really get you laughing~”

Harua would kill to see K’s face in the moment, but the fact that his laughter got impossibly higher made it obvious that the teasing was getting to him, a lot more than he let on. He snickered softly into his free hand, extremely amused but still trying to be quiet so his recording would catch everything, this was valuable blackmail of course! He hadn’t noticed Yuma, who had also been attracted by the noise, standing right behind him. He tapped his shoulder, making him jump, before letting out a sigh of relief as he paused his recording.

Yuma chuckled as he whispered softly, not wanting the two inside to hear them, “I could have sworn that it was Taki getting tickled, not K hyung.”

“I know right? He sounds so different, especially with that spot that Taki is getting, who knew he had a spot like that. It’s too funny, do you know how good the blackmail from this will be? I got it on video!”

The two began giggling to themselves as another high pitched scream came out of the room behind them, barely keeping their volume down. The two were so distracted by their own giggles that they hadn’t noticed the silence that followed the last scream. Yuma was about to say something through his chuckles before he stopped suddenly, looking a bit nervous and backing up slowly. Harua hadn’t noticed his shift and before he knew it, the door swung fully open, exposing a K who was glaring at the two with something darker behind his expression.

“Give me a good reason I shouldn’t tickle you both right now.”

Before Harua could open his mouth to formulate some sort of explaination, Yuma began spewing out reasons as to why he should only get the younger. Harua tried to get his say in as to why he shouldn’t be attacked, but Yuma just had to reveal the one thing that sealed his fate.

“You know K hyung, he has a video of you getting tickled! So you should get him!”

K’s expression hardened as he looked at Harua, who was trying to make himself seem smaller, hoping to get swallowed whole by the ground.

“You have.. what now?”

Before he could even speak, K had picked him up and threw him over his shoulder, retreating into his room and closing his door. Harua squeaked and squirmed wildly, hoping to maybe free himself from a very bad situation that he had gotten himself into.

Damn it Yuma.

K had thrown him down onto the bed next to Taki, who looked on with an expression of confusion, but amusement. He tried to scramble away, but K’s hands on his hips made him freeze in place, clutching his phone tightly to his chest.

“Now Harua, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. Apologize and delete the video and I may just go easy on you. If you refuse, well, let’s just say that you’ll be laughing for a while.”

Harua’s face heated up slowly as he processed his options. He was going to get wrecked either way, and Taki did not seem like he wanted to help. As a matter of fact, Taki shifted to sit behind him, pulling his arms above his head and pinning his arms there, making him even more helpless to the wrath of his eldest hyung. His phone slid out of his hand as K began tapping on his hips, snapping him out of his thoughts, as giggles slowly bubbled in his chest.

“Well? What will it be?”

Harua admittedly was in a small mood because of Taki’s teasing, but they didn’t need to know that. Instead, he stuck his tongue out at K, soon regretting it as he drilled right into his hipbones, digging in with something that could only be described as evil, tickle driven rage. Harua burst into loud cackles immediately, flopping around a fish out of water, but it didn’t phase K at all. He simply chuckled and massaged deeper, driving Harua up a wall.

“NOHOHO- WAHAHAIT hYUHUNG- IHIHIT’S SOHOHO BAHAHAD-”

K kept a near neutral face, occasionally smirking as he tickled the boy to pieces, barely flinching when Harua let out a loud squeal as his hands trailed up towards his sides.

“Is it bad? Well you brought this onto yourself, I’m simply teaching you a lesson.”

Taki, who had been previously silent, chuckled softly at the two before adding fuel to the fire.

“You know hyung, since he was laughing at your laugh being so high and recording, we should do the same! I’ll record him and you can find his squealy spot, doesn’t that sound fun Rua?”

Harua reddened as he shook his head quickly, looking up to K with the most pleading eyes he could muster, as the older smirked, stilling his hands briefly.

“That’s a great idea actually~ I think I have a feeling of where it may be, but I think I should check a few other spots just to be safe, what do you say bunny?”

“IhIhi- IhiHI thIhIHInk yOhou sHOhohoulDN’T-”

“Should’ve thought about that before choosing the hard way hm?”

Taki had already swapped his position to pin Harua’s arms under his knees and pulled out his phone, recording Harua, who soon fell into another fit of giggles as K began his search for a so-called “squealy spot”. He slowly traced around his tummy button, acting to dip in a few times, to draw giggly pleas out of the younger boy.

“You’re just so ticklish aren’t you? Kitchi kitchi koo~ Aigoooo you shoulda thought of this before you recorded K hyung hm?” Taki grinned as Harua shook his head faster, his giggles rising in pitch as the anticipation drove him up a wall, only worsening with Taki’s teasing.

“Your giggles are already so high~ Are you nervous or are you just this ticklish hm? Tick tick tick tick tick.. When am I gonna dip in Ruru? Maybe NOW!”

K dipped his finger in and wiggled it around rapidly, causing Harua to let out a loud squeal before falling into another fit of loud giggling.

“nOhOhOHO- HyuHUhUNG- WahahaIT IhIHIT tIHICKLEHEs- NohOHoHoT tHIHIS.”

K chuckled and kept at it for a few more seconds, before moving his hands up to his ribs quickly, vibrating his fingers in between the bones and massaging at the muscle. Not expecting the change in spots, Harua jolted and let out a yelp, before cackling loudly and arching his back away from the tickles as best as he could. No matter how much he squirmed, Taki and K held him in place pretty firmly.

“HYUHUHUNG- IHIHI SWEHEHEAR-”

“What do you swear huh? To laugh your head off for me and Taki? Well you’re doing great so just keep giggling yeah?”

Harua was going to go insane, it tickled so badly but K didn’t seem like he was going to stop anytime soon. Just as he thought it couldn’t get worse, K’s hands grazed down to his waistline. He froze, sucking in a breath as K raised an eyebrow at his reaction.

“Oh? Is this a bad spot tickle bunny? Surely you won’t mind me testing it out right?”

Before he could protest, K kneaded deep into his waistline, drawing a loud shriek out of Harua, followed by high pitched cackles, even higher than K’s. K let out a chuckle and Taki giggled along with Harua as he pointed the camera at his scrunched up, smiling face.

“That’s the spot~ Ahahaw bunny why didn’t you tell us about this wiw tick tick tickle spot you had? It’s so adorable~”

Harua could barely hear him over the sheer volume of his own laughter. He squirmed and tugged at his arms, but all he could think about was how badly it tickled. K kneaded and squeezed at the spot, causing his laughter to jump with each new method, driving him up a wall. He seemed to realize that Harua’s laugh was beginning to sound tired, so he decided to end off with one final thing. He slowed his hands, gently brushing a thumb over the spot, allowing Harua to catch his breath.

“oHo tHank gohod-” Harua was cut off by his own shriek as vibrations rippled through his waist, caused by K blowing a long raspberry on the dreaded spot. He cackled hysterically before his laugh dipped into silence, which K took as a sign to stop. Harua giggled weakly at the remaining tingles, curling up as best as he could as Taki let him go, grinning and pausing the recording, before replaying the last bit where Harua was in hysterics. He covered his face in embarrassment as Taki giggled at him, before getting up and running off before he could do anything.

“You kind of deserved that you know~”

“Whahatever…”

Several of the lesser houses share a training school on the outskirts of Antiva City. He's not allied with them, but he did a small favor for the Heir that runs the place, so he has an invitation to come visit. "Fledglings disappear all the time," they told him. "If another one goes, as long as it's not one of the favorites, no one will be the wiser." So Viago can't pick the star pupils, but those aren't the ones he wants anyway. No flash, no one with eyes on becoming a Master someday. He wants someone who will be grateful for the attention. 

The school is … impressive, Viago can grudgingly admit. Heir - the one who works for these families, anyway - commands respect, but not a concerning amount of fear. The younger ones are bright and cheerful, running through their acrobatics training in the yard with an instructor Viago recognizes from one of the circus troupes that perform in the city. Inside, Heir spars in the training room with the teenagers, the ones old enough to be nearly ready for their first contracts. This is where he wants to be - he wants one of these. Old enough to be of use, hungry enough to follow a Crow without an established house. 

Heir has already warned him which of the children were off limits. And Viago can see why they're the favorites; one girl nearly finds Heir's weak spot, she just needs a little practice to be fast enough to exploit it. Another boy talks a big game, enough that Viago would have probably poisoned him long before now if he'd been one of his peers, but he has the brute strength to back it up. Brute strength is not always the right skill set for a Crow, but the larger houses always have need of enforcers. 

But there are plenty of fledglings who Viago assumes are fair game. He rules out most of them on sight. That one looks too hardened already, they would probably balk at the menial tasks Viago wants to give them. Another one is obviously calculating, in all the wrong ways. Every Crow needs to have a scheme, but you can't wear it on your face like that. And anyone who looks to be cheerfully social is ruled out immediately. He would murder them within days. But still, there are options. A smaller boy that seems to be underestimated by his peers, he's intriguing. A tall, lithe kid of undetermined gender who can bend their body in ways that do not seem natural - but seems to be a little awkward and tense otherwise. There are a couple of fledglings that are just … average. Nothing that makes them stand out, nothing that would rule them out, the children who are destined to become the rank and file of the Crows. But someone like that would probably be eternally grateful if Viago picked them out of the crowd and gave them an interesting job. 

He overlooks the girl sitting against the wall until one of the other fledglings starts taunting her. "Oooooh, Tamsin's drawing something again." 

Heir is finishing with another trainee, and turns to the source of the noise. "Well," they say, "if she has time to draw, she has time to fight." 

The girl - Tamsin - barely blinks. She tears a page out of the notebook in her lap and shoves it into the neckline of her shirt, before standing up and grabbing a set of training daggers. Two other fledglings immediately grab her abandoned notebook and start rifling through it. Viago can't hear their words from here, but they're obviously mocking whatever they're finding, and occasionally tearing pages out and holding them up. Meanwhile, Tamsin takes her position opposite of Heir and waits.

It doesn't seem like a very interesting fight at first; the girl is adequate, but not good by any stretch. Heir, however, seems to be criticizing her more than most others, which makes Viago pause. "You're missing the openings," they bark, spinning her around and thumping her backside hard enough with the flat of the blade that she certainly has a mark. "I know you see them. Again."

It repeats once, twice, three times. And on the third time, Viago realizes what's wrong - or different, at least. The girl is deliberately failing. And she's good at it. It looks like run of the mill incompetence at first glance, but now Viago sees the moments that she wavers, when she nearly turns the correct direction to counter the incoming blow, but chooses to let it fall. She's throwing her own training. Why? Heir clearly knows what she's doing, and is trying to get her to stop without saying anything directly. 

After one pass, as Tamsin is returning to her stance, Heir casts a quick glance over at Viago. Interesting. This girl is not on the list of fledglings he can't touch. 

The other fledglings are not smart enough to realize what she's doing - at least, not the vocal ones. Viago can hear the brute talking to his friends nearby, laughing at Tamsin's failures. But the small group gets bored of heckling after a time, and starts talking amongst themselves. And Viago notes that Tamsin notices, by the quick darting of her eyes. The next time Heir comes at her, she turns in what Viago considers the correct direction and makes a lunge at the deliberate opening Heir left. It doesn't succeed, but it's a smoother attempt than most of the others he's seen. Heir gives her an exasperated look, and thumps her with the dagger once more for good measure. 

When the training session ends, the fledglings are free to confirm that they noticed Viago watching, and those with a keen eye make their way over to him in an attempt to impress. He has little interest in entertaining them, however, and mostly glares until they slink away. Once he's free again, he makes his way out to the hall that separates the training room from the dormitories. Most of the children are still there, properly cleaning their training weapons as they've been taught to do. Viago waits until he sees Tamsin put her weapons away, then walks over. "You," he says. "Come with me." 

At least ten pairs of eyes follow them out the door. He hears Heir bark at someone who clearly tries to follow them, and rolls his eyes. "That one will never make it," he mutters.

"Addie's not bad," a quiet voice says at his side. "She just doesn't think before she acts." "Which is how Crows get killed." 

Once he's a good distance away from the building, he stops to look at the girl. She has dark hair, pulled into a severe bun, and is clearly old enough to have the start of a woman's body, though she hunches in an attempt to hide some of it. She doesn't meet his gaze. "Look at me," he says, and she only hesitates a half second before complying. Green eyes, a face that will settle somewhere between plain and pretty, he guesses. "Tamsin, is it?"

"Yes sir."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen, I think."

"Do you have any idea who I am?" He's genuinely curious, he has no idea whether his work has made it into fledgling gossip yet.

She studies him silently for a second. "Nobility," she says slowly. "There are some Crows who are nobles, or merchant families. Most of them are from the great houses, though, and they'd send their lackeys to come to a place like this. So you're probably independent. There are a couple of people I've heard about like that, though."

Viago did not expect that level of speculation. "I was looking for a yes or a no," he says, but he can hear his amusement creep into his voice. 

"No, not specifically." Her gaze darts away for a moment, as her cheeks flush, but she brings it back to meet his again. She's got a backbone, at least.

"I'm starting my own house," he tells her. "So - tell me, which of your peers would you recommend to me?"

She blinks at that, and her brow furrows. "Depends," she says. "What are you looking for?"

"Intelligence, competence, nothing flashy."

"Hmmmm." She looks away, clearly running through a list in her head. "Jordana's not bad, she's the one who got knocked on her ass, but don't hold that against her. She gets some of the best grades in our lessons, and she's in charge of making sure the little kids do their letters in the morning. Rodrigo is the tiny one, he's better than everyone gives him credit for, and he's fast enough to steal the buttons off your coat if you look away for a second. And Aerin's reliable, and getting better and better with her blades every day. If she doesn't get a job soon, Dominic's probably going to go after her."

"Ah. Is Dominic the muscled jackass?"

She chuckles at that. "Yes sir."

"Is he the reason you were pretending to be incompetent in there?"

That earns him a wide-eyed stare. Viago sees several responses cross her face, before she finally settles on, "Yes sir."

"You're scared of him."

"He's gotten rid of two kids I'm sure about, and at least one other I suspect didn't run away." She shrugs and looks away. "Master Salvatore should come any time to take him away, but it won't be soon enough."

Salvatore Casadei. Viago should have figured. The man is less a Crow than a thug who terrorizes several villages outside the city with his so-called patronage. He takes just enough contracts to keep the other Crows from tossing him out on his ear. Or stabbing him in his ample belly, to be more precise. "So," Viago says, "you pretend to be incompetent so he doesn't think you're a threat."

"I don't need him to notice me, no. I'm definitely not good enough to fight back." 

"Why not? You could be."

She looks back at him, skeptical. "Maybe. But sometimes camouflage is better."

Viago doesn't disagree, but it's an interesting position for a fledgling to take. Especially one who would be more likely to survive if she's chosen for a house. "What's your ambition?"

"Me?" She shrugs. "I figure I'd be good at pretending to be a servant, or someone else humble. The kind of person Crows usually get contracts for don't notice people like that. Until it's too late, hopefully."

She's not wrong. And it's a good use of someone who has taught themselves the art of hiding in plain sight. She becomes more and more intriguing to him by the moment. Then, he remembers the moment he first noticed her. "What did you draw back there?" he asks suddenly.

It's clear from her surprise that she's forgotten about it - or that she expected him to. "Um …" She reaches into her shirt and pulls out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "It's just an idea. I was reading about old castles, mechanisms that they built to repel invaders. I wondered if it would be possible to design a portable version of one of them. It's probably dumb, but I like to think about things like that."

"Let me see," he demands. When she reluctantly hands it over, he unfolds it to see a surprisingly detailed sketch of what appears to be a device to launch a small acid arrow, with notes around the edges about possible triggers and what dimensions would produce something that would work but still be small enough to break down and reassemble. It's – well, it's probably not workable, but from what little Viago knows about devices, some of the principles are sound. It's just clear that she doesn't have quite the right information at hand to understand where the flaws are. 

Intelligence, check. Not flashy, check. Observant - not something he'd specifically thought about, but a very good trait to have. Creative, a definite bonus. And she would certainly have reason to be grateful to him for getting her out of the little thug's line of sight. 

He looks down at the paper, the back up at Tamsin a couple of times, before he finally nods. "Okay. Get your things, I want to be back home before dark tonight."

She opens and closes her mouth a few times, like a particularly clueless fish. "What?"

"Close your mouth, it's unbecoming. You're joining my house. Go, if I have to wait more than ten minutes, I'll thump you worse than Heir did when we train."

Tamsin's face goes through a rapid variety of expressions - confusion, thoughtfulness, suspicion, but it finally settles on the feeling he'd wanted to see. Hope. "Yes sir." She turns back toward the building, but quickly looks back. "Wait. What house am I joining again?"

"De Riva."

"Oh, so that's who you are." She looks him up and down, her gaze assessing. "Huh." 

"I'm counting the minutes now, Tamsin."

"Right. I'm coming!" She dashes back into the building with an energy he hasn't yet seen in her. Good. 

Viago looks at the drawing that she forgot to take back. "If she can perfect this," he mutters, "I bet I could make an arrow with one of my new concoctions …"

Suho waking up had to be the best thing that ever happened to Sieun. For two years, he waited at his side, sending him update after update, just to feel a bit closer to the unconscious boy. Now here he was, awake and with him again, but now, not only had he grown as a person, now, he had his new friends to introduce to him.

While they all got along well, Baku and Suho clicked immediately. He wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that they both lacked braincells, or if it was how they both loved to get on everyone's nerves. Whatever it was, whenever those two worked together, he knew that something crazy was destined to happen.

At first, the teasing started small, Baku calling him "ice princess" while Suho would ruffle his hair, or Suho picking him up and Baku putting his books in places he couldn't reach. It was definitely a bother, but it wasn't one he minded. That was until the subject of tickling was brought up. He always witnessed the other two ganging up on Gotak or Juntae, but he always excused himself without being noticed, making it so that he wouldn't randomly gain their attention and fall victim to their schemes.

That plan tended to work until one evening when they were all "hanging out" as Baku would say. It was more like they all piled into Sieun's room unannounced and randomly occupied his space. Sieun tried his best to continue his studying but paused slightly when he overheard the conversation going on between the two troublemakers, as if they didn't have a squealy Juntae below them.

"Suho, my best pal... my dearest friend... you gotta tell me.... Is our ice princess ticklish too? I have never once seen him smile, which is insane because how could he not! Being in my presence and all!"

Baku paused his boastful speech to coo at Juntae, who started shrieking as he vibrated his fingers into the muscles of his tummy. Suho chuckled and held Juntae's arms firmer and responded casually, pinching between each of the smaller's ribs, making him jolt around like he was being shocked.

"Aigooo, you don't know? I'm shocked you haven't tried it yet! Our Sieun-chan is insanely ticklish, especially his-"

Sieun stood up abruptly, making the other two pause and stare at him. He glared at both before walking out the room, using the excuse that he needed to use the bathroom. As soon as he got to the bathroom, he couldn't help but turn pink. Right where he could hear, they were about to start the conversation of how ticklish he was, how embarrassing.

Baku and Suho chuckled as Sieun left the room, letting up on Juntae who immediately curled into Gotak for comfort after being "brutally attacked".

"As I was saying, his palms are super ticklish, he can barely handle a few scribbles there, let alone some raspberries or nibbles. Then there's his bellybutton, super sensitive to feathers and light touch, he's just a cute walking tickle spot who tries to keep a cold facade up."

Suho grinned as Baku lit up at the news, before they both launched into making their plan - how best to make Sieun drop his facade and make him a laughing mess.

By the time Sieun returned to his room, the two were oddly calm, talking to eachother in hushed voices, before getting loud again once they noticed he returned.

"AHH OUR ICE PRINCESS! Come sit with us yea? Just riiiiight here!" Baku grinned and patted the spot between himself and Suho trying to seem as normal as possible, which Sieun could see right through.

"Why? I can sit by my desk."

Suho joined in this time, using the fact that Sieun tended to give in to him easily, making puppy eyes as he locked eyes with him.

"Cmonnnn, please? You gotta come sit here with us!" He frowned before continuing, "Unless you don't want to and obviously hate us so much."

"YEAH! Unless you reallyy hate us and think we're so horrible."

Baku and Suho carried on their theatrics for about a minute before Sieun sighed, accepting that he wasn't getting out of this, then sat between the two, who looked like they struck gold.

The plan started now.

It started slow, it was meant to catch Sieun off guard, so of course they had to seem as innocent as possible! Suho leaned into him, laying his head on his shoulder as he talked about random topics as Sieun nodded along, not too interested in exactly what he was saying. Suddenly, a finger wiggled against his side, making him jolt. He turned to look at Baku who was looking at his phone, but had a small smirk on his face.. definitely him.

"What? Why are you looking at me?"

Sieun shot him a glare, shifting a bit more into Suho, which would give him enough time to react if he tried anything again.

"So- have you been listening Sieunnie?"

"Ah sorry, what were you saying?"

The peace continued for a few minutes again before Suho started absentmindedly tracing his wrist. He let out a small squeak and tugged at his wrist, only making Suho hold onto his arm firmer, moving to tracing the lines of his palm. He tried his best to hold back any noises, but he couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips. Of course Baku couldn't let it go unnoticed, scooting closer and holding his other arm firmly.

"Aigoooooo! Our ice princess is starting to melt, isn't he? Look at that smile!"

Suho cooed softly, smiling at Sieun who seemed like he wanted to sink into the bed frame to escape his captors. Phase 1 complete, now onto Phase 2!

Before Sieun could attempt to escape, Baku quickly pulled Sieun down, making him lay flat on the bed, keeping his palm exposed and arm trapped, while Suho did the same to his other arm. Sensing something was about to happen, he glared at the duo.

"Whatever you two have planned, you will regret it if you go through with it."

Suho snorted as he began to trace and scribble at Sieun's palm, making him jolt and tug at his arms, already struggling to contain his reactions.

"I don't think you're in a position to be making threats Sieunnie~ You're much too ticklish to be making any type of demand!"

Suho was about to continue before Sieun cut him off with a shriek and frantic squirming, startling him slighty. He looked up to see Baku, who had started his attack, went straight in for the kill, nibbling at the sensitive skin.

"BAHAHAKUHU- WAHAHAIT NOHOHOHO-"

Suho let out a chuckle, narrowing his eyes playfully at Baku who looked like a kid who discovered a candy store for the first time.

"AIGOOO SUHO LOOK! HE'S SO SMILEY!" Baku grinned and continued his onslaught of nibbles, driving Sieun up a wall as he squealed and tugged on his arms like his life depended on it.

Suho only grinned, scratching at his tummy, which drew more hysterical laughter out of Sieun.

"Just a ticklish wiw psycho aren't you? Look at that adorable smile! We obviously need to do this more often hmmm?"

Sieun shook his head quickly, turning red at the differing reactions from the two who seemed to only gain more motivation as time went on. He tried everything he could to get away, tugging his arms as hard as possible, squirming, kicking... nothing seemed to work. He remained trapped, unable to stop laughing and having to bear their merciless tickles. It wasn't even like he could call out to Gotak or Juntae for help, they both left the room as soon as the tickle monster duo started, not wanting to be met with the same fate as him.

Sieun was brought out of his thoughts when he felt something light and soft brush across his tummybutton, making him arch and let out a giggly yelp. Baku smirked evilly as he repeated the motion with what he realized was a feather. Where the hell did he get that?

"Nahahawww Princess~ Does that tickle? Is it too tick tick ticklish for the super serious tickle toy? I don't think you're very serious now with how hard you're laughing! Just look at you aigoooooo! Just a giggly wiw brainiac aren't you?"

"OHOHO SHUHUHUT UHUHUP- LEHEHET MEHEHE GOHOHOHO- SUHUHUHO-"

Sieun was cut off by another shriek as Suho thought it was a suitable time to start his onslaught of raspberries, causing his hysterics to jump an octave. The two carried on for what felt like an eternity, going back and forth, driving Sieun up a wall, before finally stopping. He drew in some much needed breath, letting out his final giggles, before being met with an arguably stupid question.

"So obviously I tickled you better right Sieunnie? You like my tickles more right?"

Suho scoffed at the question, glaring at Baku, before asking Sieun the same question.

"I tickled you better right Sieunnie?"

"I didn't know you were so ticklish hyung."

Hao flinched at the voice, looking back to see Hanbin looking at him with a fond smile. Their meeting with Jiwoong had just ended, and Hao was just about ready to go home, lie in bed, and never get up again.

"I'm an average amount of ticklish Binnie, it's nothing to talk about." Hao could barely handle looking in his direction as he fought down his blush, already humiliated by where this conversation may have been going.

"I thought it was adorable, you have a nice laugh."

Hao froze, blinking in shock at what the younger had just said. Him? A nice laugh? Adorable??? Hanbin had to be out of his mind, right?

"Ah, thank you Binnie" Hao forced a smile onto his face to try and mask his embarrassment. Before Hanbin could continue, Matthew had approached the pair, greeting them both, and Hao thanked God for the timing, it gave him the perfect reason to get out of an embarrassing situation.

"Look at the time! I should be heading back to Heaven with Matthew right? Right! See you Binnie!"

Matthew tilted his head in confusion as Hao dragged him away leaving behind Binnie who had a confused but fond smile on his face.

"What was that all about hm?"

Taerae had approached Binnie, having just witnessed the angels leaving, or more so, Matthew getting dragged away.

"I think I may have embarrassed Hao hyung? Jiwoong hyung had a tickle spell on him and we kind of saw the end of it, so when I complimented his laugh, he rushed off."

Taerae chuckled to himself as he wrapped an arm around Binnie's neck.

"Complimenting hm? And he got embarrassed? That's pretty funny."

Binnie chuckled as he ruffled Taerae's hair, much to his displeasure.

"It was nice to see him laughing like that, it's not every day you see something like that happening."

"Why not just do it yourself? He doesn't seem like he'd mind if it was you."

Binnie hummed in thought, but before he could answer, Taerae was walking away, calling out a "Have fun!" as he headed back to his office. Taerae's suggestion had put a devious idea in his head, why not just tickle Hao every time he was down in Hell for a meeting? Jiwoong WAS right, he could afford to laugh more. With that, he started to plan a masterful plan on how he would start adding tickles to his interactions with Hao.

First it started with gentle brushes that could be mistaken as mistakes or friendly gestures: a brush on his back that slightly grazed his side, pulling out a soft gasp, or a poke to his side to notify him of something during a meeting, or a gentle squeeze on his knee while they talked, causing a bit of squirming.

Hanbin couldn't lie, it was fun to see Hao try to keep his composure at the seemingly innocent touches, and once he started to become accustomed to the new increase of physical touch, he decided to up the intensity a bit.

It was another meeting with Matthew, Hao, and Jiwoong, and how could he not take the opportunity to slide his hand into Hao's wings? He was always curious as to what they felt like, but he wasn't expecting a squeal to be torn from Hao's throat. He pulled his hand back quickly, and Hao turned red, covering his mouth and ducking his head down in embarrassment as Matthew giggled and Jiwoong looked on with an amused expression.

"Can I continue Hao? Or is there something you would like to add to this point?" Jiwoong could barely hold back his smirk as Hao's blush darkened.

"Yes... Sorry, please continue."

Jiwoong nodded and continued to discuss the points of their meeting, but all Hanbin could focus on was how adorable Hao's squeal was. He wanted to do more, to make him actually laugh and squirm, all the while being a precious shade of red.

Hanbin snuck his hand back into his wing subtly, smirking when Hao flinched and glared at him, whispering in an annoyed tone, "Just what do you think you're dOING-"

Hao bit his lip as Hanbin curled his fingers into the muscle, gripping the table to focus on not flapping his wings or letting out another embarrassing squeal.

Hanbin grinned slightly and began to squeeze the muscle faster, enjoying how Hao was quickly losing the battle of holding back his reactions. With each squeeze, a small yelp or gasp escaped, only making Hanbin crave more.

"Whahat- are you doing- hAnbin-" Hao whisper-yelled, trying his best to block the pokes and prods directed at his wings while not alerting the other two, which proved to be rather difficult.

"Hm? Oh there was some dust on your wing, is something wrong?" Hanbin smiled innocently and retracted his hand, only causing Hao to grow more flustered.

For the rest of the meeting, Hao would flinch or squirm every time Hanbin did something as small as shift his position, making him chuckle softly at how adorable the older was being. The meeting continued without any other distractions and ended after some more missions were discussed and everyone was on board. Hao had started to walk out of the room with Matthew but was stopped by a hand holding his wrist, the hand belonging to none other than Hanbin.

"Tyu, you can go ahead, I have something I need to discuss with Hao hyung." Hao looked at Matthew with pleading eyes, but he didn't catch on, only nodding and starting to walk away.

"See you in a bit hyung!"

That was the last sentence they heard before Hanbin shut the door.

"Do you know why I wanted to talk to you hyung?~"

Hao squeaked and stepped away from Hanbin while a nervous smile grew on his face.

"Whatever you are planning.... don't you dare Binnie."

"What am I planning, hm hyung? You seem awfully jumpy today. What's the matter?" Hanbin began to step towards Hao before he was cut off.

"NO- No Sung Hanbin don't you dare get nearer-"

Hanbin chuckled and continued to walk towards Hao who was backing away, his smile growing wider.

"I do dare hyung~ Why don't you come here so I can get it over with? It's obvious that you want this, why try to resist it so much? Oh, I know! Is it embarrassing for such a highly ranked angel to be so quickly taken down by tickles? Is that what it is?~"

"Shut up- Be quiet you brat-" Hao flushed a deep shade of red, wrapping his wings around himself in an attempt to hide, but all it did was encourage Hanbin to continue.

"Why should I be quiet? You seem to be loving all the attention considering you haven't told me to stop, not even once~"

Hao looked down and remained silent, looking for some believable excuse as to why he never said stop, until he felt a weight pulling him down to the ground.

"YAH- SUNG HANBIN LET ME GO."

Hanbin straddled the angel's waist and pinned his arms beneath his knees, leaving all the spots he wanted access to exposed.

"Why should I let go? I just want to see you laugh hyung~" Hanbin tapped at Hao's tummy, causing him to jolt and bite his lip, his stomach filling with butterflies and anticipation.

"If you're going to do something, just do it already-"

"Well someone's eager~ What if I want to drag it out? What if I want to take my time and watch you become a giggly puddle from my hands? Where's the harm in that?"

Hanbin chuckled as Hao whined, squirming under him and trying to escape, but he only made himself more exposed to Hanbin's plan.

"Tsk tsk tsk, the little angel is trapped~ Perfect for me to just tick tick tickle away at~" Hanbin cooed as Hao began to giggle nervously, slightly flapping his wings in a final attempt to escape.

"Dohon't- HahaNbihin-"

"Don't what?" Hanbin silently pleaded to himself that he would fall for it, and it must've been his lucky day!

"TihihicKlehe mehE-"

Before Hao could process what he had said, Hanbin dove in, kneading his tummy in a way that was simply put, unbearable. Hao burst into loud giggling as he tugged at his arms, trying everything in his power to get away from his hands, which were causing tingly sensations to shoot through his nervous system.

"NOhOho- IhihIhit tIhihIclkeheS-"

"Wow really? I would've never known!" Hanbin grinned as he drilled deeper, drawing more squeals and giggles out of the older.

"WhAHAt dIhIhid Ihihi eheheveHen dOHO- SHIHIHIT NOHO-"

Hao's giggles turned into cackles as Hanbin began to knead at the muscles in his wings.

"This spot is just so sensitive~ You're such a giggly mess aren't you? Aigoo how adorable~ Plus you just need to smile more, and this is working pretty well, isn't it?"

Hao could die at this very moment. Trapped, getting his wings tickled, and knowing he'll probably never live this down was enough to take him to a grave beyond heaven. He was pulled out of his thoughts with a shriek, as he felt a buzzing against his wings. Hanbin had begun to blow raspberries along the muscles, making sure to focus on the more sensitive spots, driving Hao up a wall.

"FUHUHUCK- HAHAHANBIHIHIN IHIHI- SHIHIHIT-"

"Yes hyung? Whatever is the matter?~"

Hao threw his head back, cackling and squealing with every raspberry.

"IHIHI'LL DIHIHIHIE HAHANBIHIN PLEHEHEASE-" Hanbin chuckled and slowed his raspberries, opting to scribble over his ribs, drawing snorts out of Hao.

"You know you can't die again, right?"

"wHahateHehever-"

Hanbin grinned smugly, pinching in between each rib quickly, "By the way, you haven't said stop, not once~ Are you liking this hyung?~"

Hao turned a darker shade of red, which Hanbin honestly thought was impossible at this point. As much as he was having fun, he could tell Hao was starting to get tired.

"Can you handle one last thing hyung?"

Hao nodded through giggles, relaxing a bit, thinking it wouldn't be anything too bad, but he began to panic as he realized where Hanbin's hand was heading.

"nOhOhO- nO wAhahait hAhanbIn- bIhiHinnie- cMohon nOho-"

Hanbin grinned, drilling deep into the bases of Hao's wings, causing the man below him to let out a loud shriek before falling into silent cackles. Seeing that the angel had enough, Hanbin slowed down, getting off the older to grab him some water, while Hao giggled softly from aftershocks.

"Are you alright hyung?" Hanbin helped Hao up and handed him a bottle, which he accepted and gulped down greedily.

"I'm fine, you are a brat, you know that right?"

Hanbin grinned and led Hao out the room with a grin.

"I do, but it made you laugh, didn't it?"

Hao huffed and swatted his arm, rolling his eyes.

If there had to be a time that Taerae loved, it had to be at night when all the intruders had left. Around this time, him and the other indoor monsters were free to roam outside of the facility and see the others who lived on the outside, like Jingxiang and Gunwook. Admittedly, he looked forward to when the pests would leave, their noisiness would always annoy him as they searched the facility, stealing the items that belonged to him and other monsters, and the fact that they could make him immobile by holding eye contact annoyed him even more. While heading to the spot he, Matthew and Gunwook would relax at, he heard loud laughter that sounded a lot like Matthew's. He huffed and began to smile at the sweet sound, walking just a bit faster to their spot, only to see Gunwook laying on top of the smaller and blowing raspberries nonstop on his ribs, drawing sweet cackles out of the older. Taerae had found himself to enjoy being around those two a lot, and it all started when Matthew insisted on him meeting Gunwook. Since then, the three had become close, meeting at the same spot almost every night. Being stuck in his own thoughts, he hadn't even realized that Gunwook stopped tickling Matthew until they had called out to him.

"Taerae-yah are you just going to stand there and stare?" Matthew giggled and motioned for him to come sit with them, to which Taerae obliged with a small smile.

"What did Tyu do to get wrecked so badly Wookie?" Taerae smirked at the smaller, feeling satisfied at the colour that blossomed on his cheeks.

"He didn't do anything, I just wanted to hear his laugh. It's super cute hyung, don't you agree?"

"HEY! I'm right here y'know."

Taerae chuckled softly at the two's antics, catching their attention.

"You know, as much as you hang out with us, neither if us has tickled you Rae-yah." Matthew smiled at Taerae who was taken aback by the sudden change in the conversation.

"Hyung is right! I haven't heard you giggle that much, I'm sure it'd be adorable!" Gunwook grinned and Taerae swore if he had a tail, it'd be wagging at a thousand miles per hour.

"That's cute and all, but you two do know I'm not ticklish right?"

"Why do I feel like you're lying to us Coilie, you wouldn't riight?" Matthew smiled playfully at Taerae who couldn't help but avoid his eyes.

"I'm just not, you'd be wasting your time trying."

Gunwook hummed in acknowledgement but there was a grin growing on his face.

"Say hyung, if you aren't ticklish, surely you wouldn't mind if Tyu hyung and I tickled you a bit? I'm sure it'll be fun!"

Taerae tried his best not to make a run for it right there, but much to his own disappointment, he couldn't say no to those two no matter how much he wanted to. 

"Okay okay fine, but I'm warning you, you'll get bored quite fast.”

“Yay! Okay Tyu hyung can you hold his arms up?”

“Alright! This is going to be so fun!”

The two giggled as they shifted, allowing Taerae to lay down, and Matthew to hoist his arms above his head. Taerae would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling a bit nervous, especially with the way Tyu smirked down at him while Gunwook raised his shirt to expose his abdomen.

“Ready hyung? This is reaaally gonna tick tick tickle~” Gunwook grinned, wiggling his fingers close to Taerae's side. Much to his amusement, Taerae flinched and began to squirm a bit.

“Yes, I'm ready but it won't wORK-” Taerae was cut off by a squeal when Matthew suddenly bent down and blew a long raspberry on his neck.

“Uh huh, and you said you weren't ticklish. What was that then hm?~” Matthew grinned as Taerae went a bit pink at the noise that escaped him.

“Nohothing- You simply caught me off guard.” Taerae tried his hardest to hold back a nervous smile as Gunwook's fingers began to trace up and down his sides slowly.

“Yknow hyung, the sooner you laugh, the sooner this will all be over! Or is it that you've been wanting this hm? Have you seen Tyu hyung and I's tickle fights and been wanting in? The big bad Coilie is actually a big softie huh?” Gunwook cooed, switching to gently spidering over the older's sides, grinning when Taerae squirmed more, letting out small squeaks that he tried desperately to muffle.

“Cmon Coilie, let out that adorable laugh for us~ You know you want tooo~” 

Taerae shook his head quickly at the teases, but the longer the gentle tickles went on, the harder it became to hold back his giggles. Finally, the dam burst when Matthew began to knead at the centre of his underarms.

“WaHAHAit- TyUhUhu dOHohOn't-”

“Ahahaw, listen to that precious laugh~ Isn't he the cutest like this Wookie? We should have done this way sooner!” 

Gunwook grinned and nodded, prodding along Taerae's lower tummy, drawing louder squeals out of the man below them. 

“Just a cute little coilie for us yea? Look at how widely he's smiling! Are you having fun hyung? You haven't tried to escape and you haven't said stop eiither~”

“SHUHUT UHUHUP-” Taerae blushed bright red at the accusations, only causing his tormentors to coo more. They continued on for a while at the pace they had established, until Taerae had shrieked and his squirming had increased tenfold.

“SHIHIHIT- WOHOHOHOOKIHIHIE NOHOHOT THEHEHERE-”

“Not where hyung? This tickly little tickle spooot right here?~” Gunwook grinned as he drilled small circles into the older's hips, causing his laughter to raise in volume and pitch.

“Huh this must be a suuuper bad spot if our dear coilie is laughing thiiiis hard~ Does it tick tick tickle Rae-yah? I bet it does!~” Matthew giggled as Taerae only went redder at his comments.

“PLEHEHEASE- IHIHIHIT'S SOHOHO BAHAHAD-”

Gunwook hummed in acknowledgement and smiled fondly.

“I'll stop after one last thing, okay hyung?”

“fIHihIne- WAHAHAIT FUHUHUCK-”

Taerae was sent back into hysterics as Wookie pressed long raspberries to his hips, the vibrations traveling through his whole body as his thrashed and shrieked.

Gunwook paused as Taerae's laughter dipped into silent wheezing and Matthew followed, letting go of Taerae and rubbing away the remaining phantom tickles.

“That was adorable Rae-yah, we should do that so much more!” Matthew cooed while patting the Coilhead's hair, smiling fondly as the final giggles slipped out of him.

“I agree hyung! We have to make you laugh more!”

Taerae simply sighed and leaned into Matthew, who was more than happy to hug him into his side.

“Group cuddles Wookie? I think we tired our favourite coilie.”

“Okay!”