Saturday mornings are usually quiet in Hazel's cozy home. This particular one finds Bailey and Gus in the living room - Bailey's brought his new video game console for the weekend, and managed to rope Gus into helping him break it in. At least, that was what he'd agreed to.

Gus must've backed himself into some kind of corner, though, because he's currently pinned to the floor and getting the living daylights tickled out of him.

"YOU LITTLE CHEAT!"

"I didn't- hah! - that wasn't chehehea-"

"That absolutely was!"

"It's the developer's fault!"

"Well it's too bad the developer's not here, then, isn't it?!"

The prince punctuates this with a series of tazes into the scientist's ribs.

"NOhaha shhtahap!" Gus brings his knee up hard-

A sharp crack sends Bailey reeling backward.

"OW ow ow!"

"Oh shit! Bailey?!" Gus bolts upright, laughter evaporated. "Are you okay?"

"Ahh..." Bailey groans, cradling his face in his hands. "FUCK dude, I think you broke my nose..."

Gus pales. "Oh my God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, don't worry man, I'm just saying." He winces. "That was a really good hit."

"Do you need ice or something? I can go get... s-some ice..."

As he says this Bailey pulls his hand away from his face, and finds it covered in blood. Bright red drops sprinkle down the front of his shirt.

Gus mumbles some Drearish words into his hands that Bailey recognizes from previous experiments gone particularly pear-shaped. "Bailey, I am so sorry-"

And the prince inexplicably cracks up.

"...What?"

"I've never seen someone go from hysterical to horrified as fast as you just did!"

"Because I kicked you in the face! You're bleeding everywhere, I- I think I did break your nose... there was that cracking sound-"

"Dang, you heard that too? I thought that was just in my head." Compared to Gus, Bailey is remarkably unfazed by his own injury. "Anyway, I'm just saying, that was one heck of a mood swing. I feel like I've got whiplash."

"Oh no... Really?"

"In the metaphorical sense, dude, don't worry. I can handle a little-"

"Oh my gosh! What happened?!"

Gem's just walked into the room to find Bailey covered in blood and Gus looking like he accidentally killed someone.

"Gem, I think- I think I broke his nose..."

"What?" Gem rushes to her flying partner, kneeling to cup his chin in her hand. "How?!"

Bailey sees the remaining color drain from Gus's face, and jumps in before he can answer. "I was getting him back for... uh, what was I getting you for, again?"

"...Beating you at Mario Kart by exploiting a hardware glitch," Gus mumbles.

"Oh yeah!" Bailey chirps. "Anyway, so I was exploiting Gus' hardware glitch by tickling him senseless."

Gem glances over at Gus, just now noticing his rumpled, halfway-untucked shirt and the hair falling into his eyes.

She hits Bailey with a flat look. "Sounds like you set yourself up for that one, sweetie."

"I should've been more careful," Gus murmurs miserably.

"No no no, sweetie. First rule of tickling is any damage you get, you asked for."

"Also, totally worth it, for the record. Haven't heard you laugh like that for months."

"Over a year," corrects Gem absently. "Tip your head back..."

"She's right. It's been awhile, man."

Shifting into her element, Gem guides Bailey to the bathroom to clean himself up, fetches him a clean shirt from his room, and within a few minutes they're all back on the living room sofa - Bailey with his head lolled back to balance a bag of ice on his nose.

"I'm so sorry, Bailey," Gus mumbles for the 100th time; still sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chin.

"Well, you wait. 'Cause as soon as I can aim my face at you again I'ma finish what I started."

Meanwhile, Gem is regarding Gus thoughtfully. Despite their reassurances, the poor guy looks like he desperately needs a hug. Or a drink. Or both.

She has a better idea.

"Oh, don't worry, Bail." She scoots across the couch toward Gus. "I'll take care of it for you."

Gus is too preoccupied to recognize her intent; he just looks up at her, confused, until she tazes him in the side and manages to pin him flat on his back in one quick motion.

(This is the disadvantage you run when you are short, cerebral, and surrounded by action-adventure characters: if someone wants you immobilized and is sitting within arm's reach, there is very little you can do about it.)

"Ah- Wait!" The second her fingertips rest against the scientist's belly, the panic in his voice takes on a very different tone.

"What were you calling this? A 'hardware glitch?'" She begins poking and prodding at his sides, probing for weak spots.

Gus falls into startled giggles almost instantly. "Stoppit! Leave me alohone!!"

"Leave you alone?"

"Ye-yes, leave-" All the tension he's tied himself up in just collapses under its own weight. "-Gehet OFF me!"

"Nooo, I think I'll stay here awhile."

Gem hears Gus laugh so rarely these days, she'd almost forgotten what it sounded like - a soft little chuckle that makes his eyes scrunch up and his hair fall into his face and his round little belly shake. It's surprisingly quiet, volume-wise, but somehow that just makes it sound even more desperate - even doing everything he can to keep a lid on it, he just can't help himself.

Gem pauses, briefly distracted by Bailey standing up. "You need something, sweetie?"

"No, no. Avenge me, fair lady. Just grabbing another towel."

"Wait! Don't leave me alone with her!" With her palm still pressed into Gus's stomach, Gem can feel him hyperventilating under her fingers.

"Keep making him laugh, Gem," Bailey calls from the hallway bathroom. "It's good for pain relief."

"I'm not the one in pain!" Gus wails.

"I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about me." Bailey shuffles back to the living room balancing a bag of ice on his face and a towel under his chin.

"Oh no... Does it still hurt?" Gus tries to prop himself up a little, his expression suddenly darkening. "I probably did break your-"

Gem chooses that moment to resume scrunching her fingers, and he can't even hold himself in long enough to finish the sentence.

"AaaHHH-! Gem! Keheh- nohot your nails please don't use your nails Gem-!"

"What, you mean like this?"

"Yes yes yes yes-"

She pauses, letting him catch his breath for a second.

"...What about right here?"

She rakes her nails up and down the sides of his belly, a technique that's been sending him into fits since he was little. She works her fingers over the gentle curve of his tummy, aiming for a weak spot that, if she remembers correctly, sits just below his last rib, a little to the side...

"HAHahow- Gem!!"

She'd also forgotten his little cackle. He folds around her fingers and quickly devolves into a hiccupping belly laugh that is nearly impossible not to chuckle along with.

"Nohoho- Gem please, you're- you're killin' mehehe...!"

"Serves you right for breaking my copilot's nose!"

"I- I didn't mean to- AH! Stop doing that!!"

Without warning she scribbles both hands into both sides. The poor guy curls up like a dead beetle and bursts into a sharp yelp of laughter, followed by a reckless cackle that he immediately buries in his sleeve. The other sleeve is clutching his side, too weak and too disoriented to muster defense by this point.

"Yeah, see?" Bailey is smiling under his ice bag. "Better than Tylenol."

"Ahahagh, you bastard!" Between his laughter and his inability to control his accent, Gus is virtually incomprehensible.

"Hey, wait a minute, I'm the one sitting here with a busted nose! Why don't you break Gem's nose if you're so distressed?"

"I can't - I cahahan't - she's too -" (gasp) "Heh - her reflexes are too good-"

"Damn right," Gem mutters smugly.

"Only reason- I got you vas-" (brief giggle fit) "-wahas you vouldn't notice a jet plane comin' at your face-"

Gus has a tendency to dig his own graves in these situations. He now has not only Gem and her nails to deal with, but also his own hysterical giggling at his own joke. Gem even pauses for a second, afraid to overwhelm him.

"That's it. Gem, move over." Bailey, on the other hand, has no such concerns.

"No, sweetie, you gotta keep your head back!"

Bailey ignores her, plops down on Gus's knees, and plants his free hand into Gus's stomach. "Sorry, am I funny to you?!"

Poor Gus is already hiccupping with laughter.

"Is this a joke to you, Doktor Dreary?! Hold my ice..."

Gem throws up her hands. "I am not holding your damn ice!"

Bailey simply tosses it aside and digs both thumbs under his friend's ribs- which renders him silent for a moment, he's cackling so hard.

"Get off him and let me handle this!"

"Nooo, now it's personal. I'll give you something to laugh about, smart guy..."

"Bailey, you're bleeding again!"

"I don't care! I got my manhood to protect!"

"Your manhood?!"

Bailey pauses. "Honor" had been the word he was looking for, but he hadn't seen it getting much use lately, and he'd been making a point lately to update his antiquated vocabulary with more modern terms...

"Well, I mean - it's not like I got anything against your, uh... womanh-"

"Hold your own damn ice." There is a wet slap as it hits him in the arm.

"Ow! Now my arm..."

"-and get your bloody ass off that floor before Gus hits you in the 'manhood' with the other knee."

Gus cracks up softly again, earning a dark look from Bailey (or as dark a look as he can manage - he's so delighted at the sound of his friend going to pieces that it's not very convincing).

"Perhaps... 'reputation'... is the word you want..." Gus is thoroughly drunk on his own laughter. He sounds like Count Dracula with a head cold.

"I hope you laugh so hard you crack a rib," Bailey mutters, pulling himself to his feet.

"Don't forget your ice..." Gus holds it as high as he can without having to muster the energy to actually sit up (he doesn't think his abdominal muscles could handle it at the moment).

Bailey snatches it from him. And then delivers an affectionate prod in the side with his toe. Gus curls sideways with a gasp.