#lee!ruggie

"Uh, Ruggie-san? Are ya- err, are you certain this is a good idea?"

Epel couldn't help but to question his upperclassman, a hesitant frown of skepticism on his face as they both hovered over their sleeping Spelldrive Captain, who remained blissfully unaware of their presence for the time being.

When Ruggie had first come to him during training camp suggesting they mess with Leona the next morning, he couldn't deny that he'd been more than a little... Hesitant...

As much as he preferred Leona to Vil most of the time, that wasn't to say he was stupid enough to think that his Spelldrive Captain couldn't be just as, if not more temperamental than his own dorm leader at times.

He could actually be pretty scary too in his own right, just not in quite the same way...

Where Vil could most accurately be compared to an icy blizzard when he was mad, Leona was more akin to a raging flame of quiet anger. It would hardly be considered wise to test his patience... The last thing Epel would ever want to do would be to intentionally incite that blazing wrath upon himself.

Ruggie hardly seemed to share in these reservations, however...

"Aawww, don't tell me you're chickening out on me now? What's wrong, you scared? Shyehehe..." the second year taunted him, not seeming the least bit nervous over the potential consequences his little scheme might result in.

Either he was incredibly brave, or extremely stupid... Maybe both.

Why he'd even come up with this idea to begin with Epel had no idea. All he knew was that he'd been remarkably persistent in his efforts to get him to participate, and it was only after a significant amount of taunting and bothering that he agreed.

Sitting here now though, crouching in their shared tent at training camp, while actively planning to tickle their literal apex predator of a captain awake? He was really beginning to question whether he'd made the right decision...

He almost found himself tempted to back out, only to end up caving again anyway when Ruggie began to cluck at him teasingly, an embarrassed flush rising to his cheeks as he whipped his head up to glare at him.

"Ok ok! Fine!!" He growled out, taking a swat at his snickering upperclassman that he unfortunately managed to dodge.

"Ugh! J-Just shut up will ya?! I ain't no chicken!!" He huffed. No one accused Epel Felmier of being a coward, and he never backed down from a challenge!

With this thought in mind, he firmly pushed aside the quiet voice in his head suggesting this was all a terrible idea... After all, what was the worse that could happen? Leona surely wouldn't be mad enough to actually hurt them right?

Probably...

~~

"Mmmggh..." Leona grumbled in his sleep, twitching a little at the annoying tingling feeling that disturbed his peaceful slumber.

It was still pretty early in the morning by his standards, and he'd been hoping to catch atleast a few more hours sleep before he'd inevitably be dragged out of bed by Ruggie or some other annoying juniors to run Spelldrive drills. It seemed that would not be the case, however.

As his mind reluctantly began to shift towards wakefulness, his body too became more aware, and it suddenly became a lot more apparent what had disturbed him to begin with...

"Wha?! Whahaha?!" He growled out a startled involuntary laugh as he blearily opened his eyes, and there hovering over him were Ruggie, because of course it would be him, and a little more surprisingly, Epel, the only somewhat tolerable person that dwelt within Pomefiore's halls.

"Wakey wakey Leona!" Ruggie snickered, sounding far too cheerful and mischievous this early in the morning, his grubby little hands squeezing up and down his sides, causing him to laugh against his will while Epel was a lot more unsure about it as he scribbled along the underside of one of his knees.

"Wahaha?! You lihihittle-?!" No doubt he'd been dragged into this little scheme by Ruggie, that much he was certain of, but that little fact was hardly going to earn him any kind of lenience, oh definitely not. As far as Leona was concerned?

They were both dead!

~~

In retrospect, Epel really should've listened to the voice in his head. This had, in fact, been a terrible idea from the beginning.

One minute, he'd been sitting next to his captain's knees and only just starting to get into the fun of tickling him when he heard his raucous laughter, and the next?

He found himself being roughly tugged off balance by one arm. Not by Leona, but by Ruggie, whom much to his insult and dismay was already darting out the tent flap after shoving him on top of their already ticked off upperclassman like some sort of human sacrifice.

"Thanks for being a good decoy Epel, have fun! Shyehehe!" He teased, turning tail completely and rezipping the tent, quite literally sealing poor Epel's fate just as Leona began to recover from the bony elbow that had struck him in the gut.

Oh no...

Epel laughed a little nervously as he scrambled to sit upright, bringing his hands up placatingly as he began to back away from the furious lion.

"W-Wait just a- aaAAH!! Aahahaha nohohOHO!! Leona-sahahahaan I'm sohohohorryyehe!!" As Leona finally pounced on him, and his own frantic laughter began to fill the tent instead, he made a vow to himself right then and there;

C: Chase | What are their chances in a chase, both as a lee and ler?

Ler: thinking of all these twst lers chasing people is scary. Ruggie included. He's got hella stamina and can fit in tight spaces.

Lee: Aladdin chase scene. He's only getting caught if he wants to be caught. (He gets caught a lot.) but he likes making the lers work for it!

D: Death Spot | What is their most ticklish spot?

The bottom of his spine righttt at the base of his tail. So many nerve endings the poor guy.

Flops onto Jamil's lap. Bites at his thigh to get his attention. Jamil goes "???" until that dang tail starts wagging and he understands what Ruggie wants. Even stroking the area with one finger gets him squealing. (Add this to the fic too ✍️)

K: Killer Move | As a ler, do they have special skills to use against their lees and drive them crazy with?

Mfs when they name their UM "Laugh With Me!" you will laugh with him. My hc for him in my tickle UMs post can also just work in canon. You copy him -> he tickles himself -> you tickle yourself -> works on you and not him -> you laugh from the sensations while he laughs at you

T: Teasing | Their most favorite methods of teasing their lee/ler?

"Why are you laughing?" "Why are you tickling yourself?" "Whats got you so worked up?" "Stop? Stop what?" Hes so annoying omg. It's the worst.

U: Unusual | Do they have some unusual tickle spots? Where?

You and Ruggie had gotten quite close too, sometime after you two had worked together to stop Leona when he overblotted.

The point was, you guys were friends now, and you were going to visit Jamil’s dorm for the first time to study with him and his not-quite-yet boyfriend.

You were a bit worried if you’d be lost, and part of you wondered if you should have asked Jamil to meet you at the front, but it turned out the layout was quite simple. You looked at the doors, each with names written on them, indicating whose dorm it was. As you walked down the hall, you could hear… laughter? Quite a bit, at that. It wasn’t any of your business, you thought to yourself, until you found yourself at the source of the laughter. In front of Jamil’s door.

You peeked your head in, the laughter too loud for the sound of the door opening to be heard. What you saw was definitely not something you had put on your bingo card that year.

Ruggie and Jamil were having a tickle fight. Or rather, maybe a tickle attack by the way that Jamil was clearly losing.

“...Oh?” You sputtered, weakly. You were unsure if you should interrupt, but by the look on Jamil’s face, you made the right choice. Ruggie’s movements faltered, leaving Jamil an opportunity to scurry away. A pout ever present on his face, you turned to Ruggie, with the biggest shit-eating grin you had ever seen on his face. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, hey. Did you know that Jamil is ticklish?”

“Oh shut it– Don’t act like you aren’t too.”

Well, this was a strange situation you found yourself in.

“That’s a lot of talk for someone who was laughing under me! Shyeheehee!”

“You say that, but if I remember correctly, last time I was the winner.”

… Should you go? Were you interrupting?

“Okay, that’s it. I’ll prove it to you!” And just like that, Ruggie was on top of Jamil, tickling him like there was no tomorrow. Jamil burst out into immediate laughter, despite his obvious attempts to hide it, and you.. Well, you just stood there, a bit unsure of what you should be doing.

You moved more into the room, shutting the door behind you, trying to gain some sort of normalcy. Perhaps, if you were with others like Ace and Deuce, you would have found it normal. Is this just something not-couples do?

“You’re way more ticklish. Don’t even deny it,” Somehow, in the midst of you sitting at the table in the center of the room, unpacking your stuff, Jamil had gotten the upperhand. Ruggie was laughing hard, his tail swishing fervently beside him. Wasn’t the whole argument about which one was ticklish? Not which one was more so?

You waited for them to stop, which the two were stubborn, so it took a bit. However, at last, Jamil was laughing, begging for mercy where Ruggie teased him relentlessly.

“You’re clearly the more ticklish one here. It’s okay to admit it. Hehehe…”

“I don’t know, it seemed like a tie to me,” You piped in, laughing to yourself. The two whipped their heads toward you, as if the fact they just had a tickle fight in front of you caught up to them. They even looked a bit embarrassed, before Jamil realized what you said.

“That’s definitely not true!” He crossed his arms. Ruggie seemed overjoyed at your comment, sitting up.

“They’re just being nice, of course. It was definitely you. You lost, remember?” Ruggie chuckled, even though that definitely wasn’t what you were saying. At all. You decided not to comment.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We are meant to work on our assignments, anyway.” Jamil sat next to you, reaching his textbooks out of his bag. After Ruggie caught his breath, he moved to join you too.

A few minutes later, the three of you actually managed to get a lot of studying done, tickling all but forgotten.

That is, until you heard a snicker beside you. Ruggie’s tail swished behind him, as it looked like Jamil had poked him to get his attention. Ruggie rolled his eyes, moving to retaliate. . Again? Is this just what went on whenever the two of them were together?

“Wait,” Jamil said, gesturing towards you, who smiled awkwardly.

Ruggie spoke, his voice laced with curiosity. “Hey,” You tilted your head. “You ticklish?”

Jamil raised a brow, but then turned to you, as well. Your eyes widened. What kind of..?!

You cleared your throat with a cough. Now, there are three ways you could go about this.

Say yes: Get tickled.

Say no: Get tickled.

Say a little: …Maybe get tickled..?

Or maybe, maybe you wouldn’t get tickled at all! It wasn’t that you hated being tickled, but… it was embarrassing. You don’t get tickled often, and your reactions are wild and all over the place. Knowing Ruggie and Jamil, they’d eat it up, with their teasing remarks.

Now that you think about that, walking into a tickle fight with them was not as out of character as you had initially believed.

The truth is, there was no right answer. You may truly be in danger.

“...Ah, a little?” You stuttered out, uncertainty in your tone.

This time, Ruggie and Jamil made eye contact, an evil glint in their eyes and like they had coordinated it, they had jumped on you. Ruggie pinned you down to the ground, holding your arms up with his knees with ease. You hadn’t been prepared for it at all, and almost immediately after realizing you were stuck, Jamil had started tickling you, a bit shyly at first but it seemed like when Ruggie and Jamil were paired together, they were a tad more sadistic than they had let on.

You burst into immediate laughter, completely bewildered that something like this was happening in the first place. Ruggie, still sitting on his knees on your arms, joined in, scribbling your neck and ears, while all you could do was squirm and giggle.

“Nohoho, wahahait!” You cried, already feeling overwhelmed, as you thrashed around.

“Seems like we have our answer. Shyeheehee..”

“Aren’t you a bit embarrassed?” Jamil teased, clearly trying to be nonchalant, but the slight curl of his lips gave him away.

“H-hush..!” You laughed, trying to move out from underneath Ruggie’s knees. Jamil tickled you anywhere he could, each finding spots more sensitive than the next.

“Definitely more ticklish than us, right?” Ruggie asked out loud, and you couldn’t even answer if you wanted to, too caught up in your laughter.

“That’s debatable. You’re pretty high up there, Ruggie,” Jamil chuckled, a smirk clear in his features.

Ruggie gasped at that. “You–” He leaped onto Jamil, who had flinched when Ruggie began to tickle him instead, leaving you an opportunity to get away. Or… join in?

Before you could second guess yourself, you helped Ruggie in tickling Jamil. Instead of you laughter, it was his. You noted down the spots that made him laugh, in case you needed it later, but it wasn’t especially difficult.

Ruggie was gripping his arms, kneading at his biceps. You hadn’t even known someone could be ticklish there, but it was proving to be very effective indeed. You tickled his sides, squeezing at the sensitive skin, a bit in awe.

“Nohoho! Whahahat?!” Jamil gasped, looking utterly betrayed.

“That’s what you get, hehe!” Ruggie giggled, looking delighted and so ecstatic, you almost felt bad for Jamil. Almost.

“I think you deserve this.. You started it,” You said, which was true. You don’t think you could have imagined being the one to tickle him first.

“Gahaha! So did Ruggie! Get him!” Jamil added, which was technically right. And taking another look at him, he looked halfway to dying, so you decided to show a bit of mercy to him by latching your hands onto Ruggie’s waist instead.

“N-nahaha! Y-ya weren’t s’posed tohoho listehehehen!” Ruggie immediately curled into himself. You doubled down, leaning towards him to straddle him. He was on his back as you started scratching at his tummy, to very satisfying results. After Jamil had caught his breath, which didn’t take too long, he had started playing with Ruggie’s ears. You laughed upon seeing how his ears twitched at the, you assumed, ticklish sensation.

“Even with such small touches, you’re reduced to laughter,” Jamil added.

“Sohoho ahahare you guys!” Ruggie shot back, which admittedly, didn’t really do much when it was paired up with his cackles. You noted the differences in their laughter. Jamil’s was deeper, more breathy and gentle. On the other hand, Ruggie’s was higher pitched, more cackly, much like a hyena. And you… you didn’t even wanna think about what your laughter sounded like. You flushed at the thought of it.

Ruggie tried fighting back, with all his might, but apparently tickling someone and then getting tickled could really wear you down. You were beginning to understand that too. It didn’t take long before he had given up on fighting back, despite how obvious he wanted to, his boisterous laughter filling the air.

“Ohohokay! You guhuuys win!” Ruggie shouted at last, a shrill tone in his voice. You both stopped, giving each other a satisfied grin.

“That was fun,” You admitted. Unexpected? Absolutely. But it definitely was not unwelcome. In fact, you felt even closer to the two.

“Glad you had fun,” Ruggie rolled his eyes, jokingly.

“I, for one, had a great time reducing you both to pieces,” Jamil replied, and you shoved at him halfheartedly.

“I recall you being completely wrecked too?”

“Whatever…”

“A tickle fight, though? I would have never expected to see that from you guys.” You said, honestly.

“Blame Ruggie. He was the one who started it,” Jamil said, turning towards the table.

“Cuz you said you weren’t ticklish. Obviously, I had to prove you wrong.”

Jamil didn’t have a response to that, so you laughed. “Well, either way, it was fun. But, should we get back to studying now?”