Odysseus has a ridiculously ticklish back, but only certain people know (Polites, Penelope, Athena and Eurylochus)

Instead of tickle monster Polites says “I am the God of tickles!” And everyone just thinks it’s dumb /pos instead of it actually making them flustered

Polites and Ody got into a lot of tkl fights when they were younger

It used to be one sided (Polites constantly winning against Ody) but one day, Ody thought of a whole strategy to take Polites down (maybe even asked Athena for help) and it worked

The tkl fights between those two were never one sided again after that lol

Ody gets super flustered and embarrassed, but he never stops digging his own grave by constantly teasing his ler with witty comments (maybe he does it on purpose WHATWHOSAIDTHAT)

Hermes is the BIGGEST switch known to mankind, along with Polites

Hermes and Apollo get into a lot of tickle fights (almost like how Polites and Ody did), and love to bring other people into them

“Ahahahahathehehena! Hehehelp me gehehet Hehehermehehes!” “Um… I’m good…” “oh, come on, Athena! Try and get me! Betcha you can’t~” “oh my goodness- FINE.”

(Athena is really often the one who ends up getting caught in it all)

Athena never loses tickle fights

No matter if she gets gained up on or if it’s one-on-one, she always somehow manages to come out on top

(That’s the main reason Hermes and Apollo call on her the most WHATTTTT)

Going back to Hermes, his wings are EXTREMELY sensitive, probably his most ticklish spot

I’ll talk for days about how much Hermes enjoys being tkled and tkling other people (cough cough Apollo) (not like he dislikes it either tho)

That brings us to where I think the characters are the most ticklish!

Odysseus: thighs (we all agree on this LMAOO), back, ribs (back of ribs are KILLER)

Polites: Stomach, knees, hips, ribs

Eurylochus: Ribs, underarms, sides

Hermes: wings, knees, underarms, neck

Athena: ribs, back/wings, stomach

Telemachus: hips, thighs, ribs, knees

Penelope: Sides, neck/ears, knees

Apollo: knees, neck, sides, stomach

That’s about all the characters I write for LMAOO (don’t ask why it’s all the main characters… and Apollo, bc idk I just really liked him…)

I really need to talk abt Telemachus because OH BOY HES SO ALSNEOEKKSKE /pos

He liked being tickled until one of the Suitors found out he was ticklish, and now he’s just like extremely embarrassed by it and sees himself as pathetic for having an odd weakness

But slowly, after Athena takes him under her wing (literally and metaphorically) she starts doing her “stamina exercises” she used to do with Odysseus, and she calls him out that he seems to be enjoying himself (I WILL G L A D L Y WRITE A FIC ABT THIS BTW)

Once Odysseus gets back to Ithaca, he slowly starts warming back up to his son, and that eventually leads to tickle fights

In Ody’s mind, Telemachus is still little, so he always uses “the tickle monster” tease and Telem thinks it’s so embarrassing (but not necessarily bad)

Now I wanna go back to Hermes bc this man is SO SILLY

He is constantly paying little visits to Odysseus and his crew and just messing with everyone

One time he visited the crew and he just kept on tickling everyone else but not Odysseus, and eventually everyone was like “Ody, man, you need to talk to him” and their “talk” ends up being Hermes wrecking his ass /silly

Athena taught Ody how to fight back though because she has experience from Hermes, so Odysseus know how to flip the tables on the God if nessesary

Whoever on the crew tickles Odysseus, he will waste NO TIME in getting them back, he won’t even wait for them to be in private

He says that he “needs to set an example”

It’s mainly Polites who dares to tickle him in front of the crew

About Polites, I’m a firm believer that his main love language is physical touch and friendly banter, which makes tickle fights between him and Odysseus (who is famously witty and known for digging his own grave) extremely entertaining to watch

Polites won’t confirm or deny if he likes being tickled, but he just gets so embarrassed when someone asks that he just can’t stop giggling (so it’s obvious that he does)

Eurylochus, Apollo, and Polites are the only people who get flustered by the word “tickle” (for Polites and Apollo it’s only in the context of someone teasing him by saying it, for Eury he just gets so awkward if it’s bought up)

You can’t really tell if Eurylochus likes it, he's almost never on the receiving end, and whoever tries is only really able to get one or two pokes in before he brings their hands away

I’m reality, Eury doesn’t like HATE it, but he’d much rather be on the giving side because he just finds it so embarrassing (/neg) when people tickle him

This goes without saying, but Odysseus is like a master teaser

That’s partly because of all the tickle fights he had when he was younger (thank you Polites) so he just knows what gets to people all. the. damn. time.

Ody will deny he giggles until the day he dies

Herme’s favourite tease is saying “tickle” over and over again

Everyone teases that Hermes should be the God of tickles because of how often he messes with people using tickles, but he’s not embarrassed in the slightest at that tease

Speaking of, Hermes is really hard to tease because he literally is so open about liking it, and takes everything that you would think embarrassing as a compliment

While on the ship, Odysseus threw his back out trying to move their food supply, and Eury offered a back massage, and that’s when he found out how ticklish Ody’s back is LMAOO

Hermes eventually finds out, but it takes him a while, and when he does he teases Ody about how he’s been hiding such valuable information for such a long time

Polites always drags his finger down Odyseus’ spine in passing

Omg I can make a whole post abt Odysseus having a ticklish back you don’t understand how cannon this is for me

Athena tries to tease Hermes about how Odysseus constantly gets him back and that because Hermes is a God he should just be able to get out, but Hermes just giggles and goes “That’s because I like it, darling, and I wanted him to feel strong for defeating me in a battle” like he is SO UNBOTHERED

Eurylochus has been able to get Polites and Odysseus at the same time and he will never shut up about it

He also does it a lot more than you would think, like it’s so easy for him to tickle both of them and they don’t know how he does it

Eurylochus only doesn’t mind it if it’s with Poli or Ody, so he doesn’t get mad when they team up and get him (he admits that he deserves it LMAOO)

Penelope tickles Odysseus when he returns because she misses his laugh

Tickling became such a big this with Polites that now whenever Odysseus even sees someone getting tickled it reminds him of Poli (/pos I promise he like smiles)

Odysseus doesn’t usually play dumb while tickling people, he likes to show them that he knows how to get to them

That being said, he knows that Polites gets EXTREMELY flustered when people tease him by playing dumb, so he makes an acception for him

“Aww! What’s wrong, Polites? Is this a bad spot or something?” “SHUHUHUT UHUP YOHOHOU KNOHOHOHOHOW IHIHIHIT IHIHIHIHIHIS” “Yeahh but your face gets all red when I remind you, it’s so cute” “HOHOHOLY SHIHIHIT- I SAHAHAHAID SHUHUHUT IT”

Polites has literally the cutest giggles, they’re like squeaky and hiccupy, and he always goes “ehehehahaha!” Iykwim

Odysseus laughs with a lot of big gasps in between them, and if you get him for long they slowly turn squeaky and into snorts

Eurylicus has these like boomy laughter, and rarely giggles like the other two, they’re just loud and deep chuckles kinda

Sometimes if anyone gets the three of them them all together (i.e. Athena or Hermes, or honestly maybe a few crew members) a common tease is that they sound like they’re trying to harmonize their laughter

Hermes has the most high pitch laughter, but he doesn’t make any other notable sounds, mostly just giggles or hysterical cackles if you hit a good spot

Athena has the most majestic laughter literally ever, like they sound so… pretty in a way? No one really knows how, but that’s the main reason she would get tickled (again mainly by Hermes’ and Apollo, but sometimes other gods or even Odysseus)

Similarly, Penelope has very cute but also majestic giggles, and Odysseus says it’s his favourite feature of her, on top of her beauty, wits, Humor, etc etc.

Telemachus has his fathers laugh, and that’s why Penelope loves it so much, however he has picked up his giggles from his mother, they’re very cute

Apollo’s laugh is kinda generic, they’re very stereotypically “hahahaha!” (Idk how to describe it LMAOO) but they are SOOO bright and happy literally everytime

Also Polites swears the most out of all of them when he’s being tickled, and everyone is always shocked

* I mean, it makes sense. Of course it does. But, relaxing wouldn’t hurt him, and he was acting like he was going to implode if he stopped thinking about tomorrow.

“Look, Ody, I completely understand that you’re stressed, really I do,” Polites finally said after catching his attention for the first time in the past 30 minutes.

“But if you keep stressing yourself out like this, you definitely won’t be ready for tomorrow,” Eurylochus finished, patting Ody’s shoulder endearingly but sternly.

That only seemed to make him worry even more; he began sputtering unintelligible whispers. Polites reached out to grab his arm, but he yanked away and curled into a ball.

“What if I’m not ready? What if I mess everything up? What if I-”

“Ody!” Polites yelled, grabbing his face and forcing him to look at the smaller. “Deep breaths, okay? You’ll make it through this.”

His breathing stayed frantic and hiccuping, but he kept his eyes on his friend, trying his best to copy what he was saying, but he was struggling on staying focused. His vision kept fading in and out. And when it was even somewhat working, it was blurred with tears.

“It’s okay, Odysseus. Just try to copy me. Breathe in, and then out. You got this,” he said, rubbing his thumb on the prince’s cheek comfortingly. He took in shaky breaths, tears still rolling down his face and still hiccuping.

When he calmed down some more, to the point where he stopped hiccuping, they both went through a couple breathing exercises before anyone tried to speak again. Once Ody’s breathing became somewhat normal, Eurylochus spoke.

“Is there anything we can do for you, my friend?”

“I… I don’t know,” he cried, wiping the tears welling in his eyes. “I just wanna feel…happy? Or anything other than anxiety.”

He buried his face into Polites’ shoulder, who happily wrapped his arms around his friend. Ody was only thirteen, and yet he was becoming king. There was so much stress weighing on his shoulder, he didn’t think there would ever be a time when this stress would recede. He sobbed into his friend’s shoulder, and while his only thought was how pathetic the soon-to-be king must look crying his eyes out, he couldn’t bring himself to stop. It was possibly the last day he could ever get away with crying, ever.

All he wanted was a bit of relief, but he couldn’t find any of that, no matter how hard he sobbed, how much he breathed, how many times he told himself he’d be fine. There was nothing that was helping, and it hurt. A lot. And as much as it hurt him, it hurt his friends too. They hated to see him like this. But there was nothing they could think of that would help.

“I don’t know what to do!” Odysseus cried, shoving himself further into Polites’ embrace.

Polites rubbed his back soothingly. “I know, Ody.”

Eurylochus knelt down next to the other two. “Ody-”

He didn’t get to finish whatever reassurance he was about to give because of Odysseus throwing himself on top of the larger boy to hug him. Polites joined and they ended up creating a small dogpile of sobs. They stayed there for awhile, crying and hugging and reassuring.

“I’m…” Ody started once he calmed down, “terrified.”

“We know,” Eurylochus said. “And we’re here for you when you need us.”

“I just…” Odysseus tried, “I just feel like I’m not allowed to act my age. Everyone is telling me that I need to be more mature. That I’m not allowed to be a kid. Maybe they’re right…” He finished, looking away sadly.

“Sure, you’re not a kid anymore. But you are a teenager. You're still allowed to have fun, even if you have big responsibilities coming up.” Eurylochus said. Ody looked ashamed as he stared at the floor. “I know tomorrow is stressful for you. But you’ll be okay. And you’re going to have fun tonight, because… because tonight is about you being carefree, even if it’s the last time. So, could you trust us? Would you let us make tonight better? More fun than just stressing over everything? Please?”

Odysseus looked up and smiled warmly at his friends. “Okay. Can you work your crazy friendship magic? And maybe cheer me up?” he said weakly, laughing a hoarse and dry laugh.

“Y’know what? I think we can figure something out,” Polites said, winking. “Let the council decide how to cure the sadness!”

Ody shook his head lightheartedly. “Okay, ‘council’ let me know what you decide.”

The two stepped aside for a moment, making sure they were out of earshot. With them still being young and silly teens, their ideas were sure to be…something.

“What can we do?” Eurylochus asked, clearly lacking ideas.

“I have an idea, but you can’t tell me not to do it or that it’s a silly idea. It’ll be good to remind him that he still has us, especially when he wants to relax from being king for a minute.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“He’s ticklish, right?” Polites grinned evilly, turning to look at the teen in distress.

Eurylochus caught on quickly, also sparing a glance towards him. “Yes, he is.”

Odysseus suddenly became more squirmy with the sets of eyes on him. “What did the council say?” He asked as they walked towards him again.

“We’ve found a solution to your problem!” Polites exclaimed, sitting down next to the prince.

“And that is?” he asked again, now a little worried.

Eurylochus joined the two. “You’ll see. Will you lay down?”

“Uhh, okay?”

When he did lay down, Eurylochus pounced to grab his arms and Polites immediately

clambered onto his waist. With their combined efforts, they effectively had him pinned.

“Hey wait! What are you doing??” He yelped, struggling against both of his friends.

“Exactly what we said we’d do!” Polites smiled, resting his hands on the soon-to-be king’s sides.

“Cheering you up,” Eurylochus finished.

Odysseus had a puzzled look on his face, staring up at Eurylochus with furrowed brows.

Polites snickered at the innocence of his friend. He began to tap teasingly on his sides, which seemed to get the point across. Ody’s eyes widened quickly and he started to squirm intensely. He hid his face in his arm, eyes squeezed shut and his jaw clenched.

“There we go!” Polites said, taking one finger and scritching it on Odysseus’ neck. He scrunched his shoulders up and made a strangled noise in his throat. “Took you a minute to catch on, huh?”

Odysseus shook his head frantically.

Eurylochus grinned and leaned over Ody’s face to tease him. “What are you saying ‘no’ to?”

He only got more frantic shaking in response. Eurylochus chuckled before pinning his arms under his knees.

Since Odysseus’ eyes were still closed, he couldn’t see anything they were doing. What kind of friends would they be if they didn’t take advantage of that?

Polites held a finger up to his mouth in an attempt to tell Eurylochus to be quiet. He then mouthed some words to the other.

Don’t touch him until he opens his eyes!

Once he was sure the other understood, the three of them stayed in silence. Polites even took the extra step to remove his hands from Ody’s sides, hovering them over his stomach.

After a couple more minutes of silence, the pinned teen peeked one eye open. He made direct eye-contact with Polites, who smirked before dropping his hands to claw at his stomach. He yelped and slammed his mouth shut, gritting his teeth to prevent any giggles slipping.

“Awe, don’t fight it, Odysseus!” Polites pouted. “Just laugh. It’ll be good for you.”

With that, he moved to his ribs. He scribbled into his lower ribs, making him squeak and thrash. Eurylochus joined in by pinching his top rib.

“Come on, Ody, it won’t kill you to just be happy,” Eurylochus said, digging into his underarms.

Odysseus made a very un-king-like noise before bursting into little giggles. “Ihit mihight!”

Polites rolled his eyes. “Drama king.”

“Shuhut uhup!”

“That’s not any way to treat your best friends, Ody,” Polites teased, stopping his tickling. “I wonder if your attitude could benefit from a visit? Perhaps from your old friend~?”

“NO! Nohonono!” Odysseus yelled, eyes going wide and thrashing getting worse. “Ihi’m nohot a kihid! Don’t threheaten mehe with something soho.. Chihildish!”

“You’re not in a position to boss anyone around,” Eurylochus reminded, ending his tickles and poking his cheek. “I think you could do well with some attitude adjustment by the monster.”

“I thought we stopped using ‘the monster’ when we were eleven,” Ody sassed, glancing to the side.

“What? You literally used it on me last week!” Polites yelled.

Odysseus cheekily laughed. “You screeched so loud.”

Polites’ jaw dropped, his face turning red and his eye twitching. Eurylochus held back a laugh, coughing to cover it up and accidentally freeing Odysseus’ arms.

“Okay, that’s it!” he yelled, flipping his friend onto his stomach, to which he let out a groan of surprise.

“What are you-?” Ody began, turning his head as much as he could to look at his friend, who was now sitting on his back.

Eurylochus looked at the pair stunned.

Odysseus got his answer when Polites traced one finger up his spine. He squealed, flushing a deep red shade. “Wait, Poli-”

“Ohoh, did you think I forgot about this spot?” he teased.

“Ihi- I’d hoped you did…” Ody muttered.

Eurylochus laughed. “Speaking of spots you hoped we’d forget about…”

He walked to sit next to his friend’s legs. He experimentally wiggled a finger on the back of his knee.

“NOHOHO!” Odysseus screeched.

“Ohoh my gohosh! I forgot how ticklish your legs are!” Polites said, poking his back playfully.

“Shuhut uhup!”

“Hey! What did we say about bossing us around?” Eurylochus tsked, scribbling into the back of his thighs. Odysseus snorted loudly then screeched before falling into steady, boyish laughter.

“Dihid you juhust snort?” Polites giggled, tracing little shapes on the prince’s back.

“Behe QUIHIEHET! POLI!” he tried to shush them, but was interrupted by Polites clawing into his shoulder blades..

“Yes, dear friend? What’s the matter?”

“NOHOT THEHERE!!”

“Why not?” he smirked, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “Too ticklish?”

“Noho! IHI’M nohOT!”

“Oh, well, if you’re not ticklish, why are you laughing so hard?” he said, digging into the back of his ribs. The only answer he got was screaming laughter and a couple snorts.

“And why are you snorting so much? Are you a little piglet now?” Eurylochus said flatly, spidering across his thighs, which elicited even more snorts.

“SHUHUSH! PLEHEAHASE!”

“Well, since you said please,” Polites teased, just before he went silent. Well, maybe not silent, but he did stop talking. Instead, he started to blow raspberries on his neck, making little growling noises.

“POHOLIHI!!” Odysseus yelled, trying to push himself off the ground. Everytime he got close, though, Polites would scribble under his arm or on his ribs, making his arms fail and him plop back down.

“Polites isn’t here anymore,” he threatened, “Only the tickle monster!”

Eurylochus chuckled deeply. He then pinched lightly up and down his thighs and knees.

“AHH! PLEHEAHASE!” He begged, kicking his legs violently, almost whacking Eurylochus a couple times.

“Can you not?” Eurylochus complained, removing his hands from Ody and dodging yet another flailing leg.

“I CAHAN’T COHONTROHOL IHIT!”

He sighed, “Fine, I’ll help you.”

“Whahat ihis thahat suhupohosed to mehean?”

His answer came quickly when there was a sudden weight on his ankles, revoking his ability to kick his legs. The pinching also returned.

“NOHO! NOHOT FAHAIR!” Odysseus whined, trying once again to push himself off the ground, but failing thanks to Polites. Speaking of, how on Earth has he not run out of air yet?

“You complain and complain and complain, and yet you haven’t tapped out.”

“SHUHUHUSH!!”

“No, I don’t think I will. I think I’m gonna mention how you haven’t said stop once,” Eurylochus said, noticing how Odysseus got more red and more shy in his actions. “I’m not saying this to embarrass you. Just know that it’s okay to want to laugh. We won’t judge you, right, Poli?”

Polites answered with a thumbs up, still blowing raspberries all over his neck and shoulders.

“See? Don’t be embarrassed,” he reassured, lightly scratching the back of his knee. “Just remember that we will use this against you whenever you get too stressed,” he finished while winking at the prince.

“Ugghh, yohou're bohoth luhucky wehe grehew uhup tohogehether!”

“Uh huh.”

To really rub in his annoyance, Eurylochus reached forward to squeeze his hip bone. He jumped with so much power that he almost launched Polites across the room. The only reason he didn’t go flying into a wall was because Eurylochus caught his arm and pulled him back towards himself.

“Thanks, Eury,” He said, laying down in a dramatic heap. Said man gave him a nod while Odysseus caught his breath.

“You still alive, Ody?” Eurylochus asked, climbing off of him and rolling him onto his back again. He only provided a weak thumbs up.

Polites adjusted his head to rest on Odysseus’ stomach. “Have you had enough yet? Are you done stressing over everything?”

Ody looked away shyly. “I…don’t know.”

“Awwwee!! Ody~!” Polites said, pushing himself towards the prince’s face and trying to hug him.

“Oh shove ohoff!” He laughed while hitting at the optimist’s shoulders.

Polites gasped dramatically. “How rude! I think you deserve to be punished for that.”

Almost immediately, Polites was on his waist, pinching lightly at his ribs. He grappled with his hands, but wasn’t doing much to stop him.

“Noho!”

Eurylochus rolled his eyes. “If you really disliked it as much as you’re pretending to, there’s a lot you could do to stop it.”

Odysseus flushed and shut his eyes tight.

“But we all know you don’t want that, right?” Polites finished.

“Stohop teheasing mehe!”

“Stop teasing you?” Eurylochus asked, taking a seat right next to Ody’s head.

“Yehes!”

Polites paused to think, hand on his chin. “Hmm…No! I quite enjoy teasing you. Especially on how adorable your laugh is!”

Odysseus notably got redder, his boyish laughter getting more loud.

“Ooo! Or how cute your smile is!” Eurylochus added.

“Or-!”

“SHUHUT UHUP!” he yelped. “IHIHI”M NOHOT CUHUTE!”

“Oh, of course you are, Ody!” Polites teased. “You’re our adorably cute friend! With super cute reactions and giggles and-”

Odysseus shoved a hand over Polites’ mouth. Polites blinked, dumbfounded, before licking his hand in an attempt to get him to move it.

“Eugh! Dohon’t lick me!” Ody complained, wiping his hand on the other’s shirt.

“Ugh, ‘don’t lick’ and ‘don’t tease’, is there anything we can do?” Eurylochus joked. He then also began to trace his collarbone.

“Nohoho!”

“No we can’t?” Polites said. “What a shame. ‘Cause we’re still gonna tease and tickle you!”

“Pohohlihi! Eheuhury!”

“Yes?” the two replied in sync.

“Ihi dohon’t knohow!”

Eurylochus laughed and ruffled Odysseus’ hair, stopping his tracing on his collarbones.

“Hehey!” he whined, batting at the taller’s hand.

“Whahat?” Polites snickered, moving to rest his hands on his sides again. This seemed to send him into a giggle fit.

“Poholitehes!”

“Ohodysseus!” Polites mimicked. “I’m not even doing anything!”

“I knohow!” he groaned. “It stihill tihickles!”

Eurylochus held in a laugh. “You’re that ticklish?”

Odysseus glared at his friend. “Shuhut uhup!”

“You really haven’t learned your lesson, have you?” Polites said with faux disappointment. He looked to Eurylochus before saying; “Grab his arms.”

He obeyed, having little trouble pulling them above Ody’s head.

“Noho! Ihi’m sohorry!” he pleaded, tugging on his arms.

“You know what to say when you’ve had enough~” Polites teased. He then began to slowly rake his nails up and down the length of Odysseus’ torso.

He yelped and started to squirm intensely.

“Oh my, this is getting in the way, isn’t it?” Polites pondered, talking about Ody’s shirt. “Oh well. I’ll just move it!”

With that, he pushed his shirt up to his top rib.

Polites faked a growl. “Ooooh, you know what, Ody? I’m really hungry.”

Odysseus went wide-eyed. “Nohot ahagain!”

“And I must admit, raspberries are sounding really good right now!" He sucked in a breath and blew a raspberry just below his ribs.

Odysseus screamed before falling into shrieky laughter.

After a couple more raspberries, he finally attempted to speak. “STOHOP PLEHEASE!”

Polites listened immediately, switching to hugging the future king instead. Eurylochus also released his arms, allowing him to hug the other back. At some point, Eurylochus was dragged into the pile too.

“Sorry, did we overstep?” Eury asked the second that the trio sat up.

Odysseus looked at them both darkly.

Polites paused for a second. “...Ody?”

Suddenly, Odysseus jumped at Polites with intent to pin him.

Eurylochus jumped back with a gasp, ready to stop a fight before he noticed the mischievous grin on the prince’s face. He stepped over to grab Polites’s arms the same way he did with Ody. Ody quickly sat on Polites’ waist.

“What kind of king would I be if I didn’t punish an assault on the crown?” Odysseus said. He then looked at Eurylochus. “Don’t think that just because you’re helping me now means you won’t get your punishment.”

“I figured as much,” he blushed.

“Wahait! Why me fihirst?” Polites asked, wriggling within his pin.

“You’re easier to take down.”

“Whahat ihis thahat suhupohosed to me-AHAN? OHODY!”

Odysseus had begun to claw his stomach, the same Polites had done to him just a little bit ago. “Poli!”

“Wehe weherehe ohonly cheheheering yohouhu uhup!” he defended. “Juhust lihike you ahasked uhus toho!”

“As true as that may be,” Ody started, a slight blush dusting his face and ears, “you still planned and launched an attack on royalty. The Prince of Ithaca, at that.”

“Yohouhu quihite lihiterahally ahasked fohor ihit!”

Against his better judgement and any survival skills he had, Eurylochus nodded in agreement with Polites. “That is true.”

“You’re both awfully sassy for your positions, even you Eury.”

Eurylochus shrugged. “Just telling the truth.”

Odysseus stared in shock at his friend before playfully threatening him. “The more you back-talk me, the worse you’ll get it.”

His eyes widened and he puffed out his cheeks slightly, apparently not catching the teasing lilt to his voice. “Yessir.”

“Oh lighten up, will you?” he said, reaching to poke his side with one hand while moving the other to squeeze Polites’ ribs. “I’m only joking. I mean, you are still gonna get tickled, but I won’t kill you! You both should know more than anyone that I won't tickle you if I’m actually mad at you.”

Eurylochus jumped, looking away shyly but with a grin on his face. “Of course, piglet.”

The prince gasped. “Polites, I’ll finish with you later.”

In less than a second, Odysseus had Eurylochus on the ground, both wrestling for an upper hand. Eventually, Odysseus was able to take a seat on the taller’s thighs, pinning him down.

Eurylochus yelped, trying to shove him off. “I was joking! Ody!”

“Eury!” he repeated, grappling with his wrists. “Just- stop fighting me-! Eury, you’re making this a lot more difficult than it needs to be!”

“That’s the goal!” the other said, still pushing at Odysseus.

“Why? So you can delay the inevitable?”

“Or is it ‘cause you want to provoke him more?” Polites chimed in after catching his breath. He started to walk towards the pair. “Need some help, Ody?”

“Sure. Remember, the same thing goes for you that went for Eury.”

Polites scoffed, grabbing his friend's arms and hoisting them above his head. “He was so quick to turn on me, what I get out of helping you is the least of my worries.”

Eurylochus bit his lip and shrugged.

“Valid reasoning,” Odysseus agreed, starting to skitter his nails on Eury’s sides. When he didn’t give a reaction, both of the other boys frowned.

“Are you allergic to laughing when it’s not at our expense?” Polites pouted.

Eurylochus smirked before nodding.

Polites’ eye twitched. “You’re so mean!”

“Careful, I think that’s a compliment to him,” Ody joked while moving his hands to his ribs. That caused Eurylochus to snort and clench his jaw. “There’s some progress!”

A sparkle appeared in Polites’ eyes. “Come on, Eury! It’s easier to just laugh than hold it in!”

He only shook his head.

“Eury~!” Ody continued.

Another shake.

“I’m gonna move to a better spot if you don’t give up in three seconds.”

Eurylochus didn’t budge.

“Three,” Odysseus started.

“Two,” Polites added.

“One,” the prince finished.

Still nothing from the other.

Odysseus shot his hands to Eurylochus’ underarms. “What a shame.”

“NO! Ohody!” the teen gently pulled on his arms, clearly not trying to go anywhere.

“You’re so dramatic!”

Polites snickered and pinned the taller’s hands under his knees. He then started to lightly trace shapes on his arms. This managed to draw out a snort.

“Oho? Ahand I’m the piglet?” Odysseus teased, drilling into his hollows.

Eurylochus kicked his legs out, his chuckles consistent, save for a snort every now and again. “Shh!”

“I know you did not just tell me to ‘shh’!” the prince pulled his hands away and leaned over the other threateningly. “For one, you cannot be talking. You are the loudest one here right now. Second, I am your superior, in case you’ve forgotten, Eury.”

Eurylochus looked at him with fake concern. “Ohody-!”

Odysseus covered his friend’s mouth with his hand. Small giggles still escaped thanks to Polites’ tracing. “Nope. I don’t wanna hear it.”

I bet you can guess what happened next. (this is a very common theme)

“EUGH! Did you lick me?? What is with you two and licking me?” He yelped, yanking his hand back to his chest. Polites choked on a gasp, went into a coughing fit, and then started laughing like a hyena.

A small grin of triumph crept onto Eury’s face.

“Oh and you look so proud. Smug jerk!” he said with no malice behind his words. “Polites, will you let go of his arms?”

Through his giggles, he nodded and released the other. He brought his arms down quickly.

Ody laid on top of his friend and got his hands under his arms.

“Whahat are you dohoing?” Eurylochus asked, holding the prince’s wrists lightly.

He responded by sucking in a breath and blowing a raspberry on his neck while scribbling into his underarms. The taller shook his head and pushed on his friends shoulders.

“Ohody! Pleheahase!”

“I’m guessing he won’t stop unless you apologize,’ Polites said. Odysseus answered by shaking his head yes. “There.”

Eurylochus lasted less than a minute before a steady stream of apologies could be heard from the teen.

The prince let up almost immediately, still laying on the boy. “You okay?”

“Yeheah.”

He whispered so Polites couldn’t hear, “Good, ‘cause we still gotta get Poli.”

They both smirked, Ody climbing off so they could both sit up.

Polites glanced at the two suspiciously. When Odysseus stood up, he started backing away in a way that he thought was discrete.

“Where ya going, Polites?” Eurylochus asked, following in suit of the future king.

“Oh, y’know, away from you,” he said, finally turning and booking it through the doorway.

“Poli!” Ody yelled, chasing after him immediately with Eury tailing him.

“No!” he responded, rounding a corner and shoving past a girl with pretty blonde hair. “Sorry!”

The girl looked taken aback, noticing the other two boys running towards her just in time to step out of the way.

“Sorry!” The two got out as they followed the other. She shook her head in response.

After a couple more minutes of running, Polites found himself headed to a dead end. He muttered a curse under his breath and stopped right in front of a wall. When Eurylochus and Odysseus caught up to him, he spun around and covered his torso.

“Hey guys…!”

“You ran,” Odysseus started, stepping closer to the cornered teen, “halfway around the palace, and all you have to say is ‘Hey guys’?”

“Uh, well,” he nervously laughed, backing into the wall. “It’s a survival instinct?”

“Polites, oh my gosh,” Odysseus fought a snicker, “You’re acting like we’re gonna hurt you. It won’t kill you to laugh a bit.”

He shook his head. “It might.”

Without warning, Ody launched himself at his friend and tried to take him to the ground. “Let’s find out then, yeah?”

“No!” He yelped, shoving at the other. “No no no! I don’t agree with this!”

“Relax, will you?” He rolled his eyes, finally getting Polites pinned.

Eurylochus walked over as well. “It’s only fair.”

“You already got me!”

Odysseus scoffed. “‘You already got me’” he mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “Don’t even start with that.”

There was a small giggle that he assumed came from Polites.

“Shut up!”

“You just don’t learn, do you?” the prince sighed, picking up where he left off on his ribs. The smaller immediately fell into frantic giggles.

He shook his head and grabbed the others wrists.

“No? You don’t learn?” he teased, attempting to shake off his wrists while still scribbling on his ribs. “At least you’re honest.”

Not letting go of his wrists, he called out; “Ohohdy!”

“Poli!” he mocked. “Will you let go of my wrists?”

Polites thought for a second before letting go and grabbing his sides. Odysseus yelped and switched to grabbing his friends wrists. Polites quickly began to squeeze, causing the teen to fall to the side and onto his back.

“Poli- noho!”

He tried to climb onto Ody’s waist to pin him, but Eurylochus grabbed him and pulled him back to the ground.

“Yeah, no. Doing that will only make this worse for you.” Eurylochus said, sitting on Polites’ thighs. Once Odysseus caught his breath, he crawled to his friends.

“That, my friend, was not smart at all.” he laughed, grabbing his arms and pulling them above his head.

“Ihi’m sorry!” He yelped when Eurylochus pinched his side. Said boy grinned and continued to pinched and prod at his sides.

“No you’re not! Lying deserves to be punished, y’know,” Ody said, skittering his nails on the smaller’s neck. His head, in turn, shook side to side as he twisted and turned in their hold.

“It wahas aha reheflehex!”

Odysseus rolled his eyes and switched to raking his nails up and down his arms teasingly. “Uh-huh.”

Polites tugged on his arms half-heartedly. His giggles went softer and he turned his head to hide in his shoulder.

“Awe, don’t hide from us, Poli!” Eurylochus sing-songed. “Don’t be shy!”

“Ihihit tihickles!” he said, shutting his eyes.

“Oh really? I never would’ve guessed!” Odysseus cooed sarcastically.

“Especially with how much you’re laughing,” Eurylochus joined.

Polites shook his head even more. There was another, higher-pitched giggle that did not sound like Polites.

Odysseus immediately paused his attack, his heart dropping. Eurylochus followed in suit.

“Who’s there?” He called out, standing up and grabbing a practice sword from the nearby shelf. Polites propped himself up on his elbows, still giddy, while Eurylochus climbed off.

The blonde girl from earlier stepped into view from around the corner. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to spy.”

Polites flushed, realizing that she had been watching that whole interaction.

Odysseus tossed the wooden sword aside, sighing in relief. He softened his tone before saying; “What were you doing, then?

The girl looked at the ground bashfully. “I heard a yell and came to make sure everything was okay. Then I saw you three roughhousing and… I guess it was just intriguing. I’m really sorry.”

“That’s alright,” Eurylochus answered quickly. Out of nowhere, a brunette girl came running around the corner.

Odysseus, who had turned to face Eurylochus, didn’t notice her. She jumped on his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He yelped before catching her legs so they were in a piggy-back position. “Gosh, Ctimene! You can’t scare me like that.” He said, dropping her gently.

“Sorry! I see you met Penelope,” she grinned, poking his spine.

“Penelope, huh?” Odysseus smiled.

Penelope nodded.

“Well, it was lovely to meet you, even if you - both of you -” He cut in, poking his sister’s side, “scared me half to death. However, this rascal still needs to be punished, so I need to get back to that.”

Ctimene’s eyes lit up. “Two questions; Can we help? And why does he need to be punished?”

The prince flushed. “I suppose you can. And he helped to plan and carry out an attack on royalty.”

The younger furrowed her brows before smirking evilly. She pulled on his arm repeatedly. “What did they do, Ooody~?”

He shoved her away playfully. “Ctimene!”

“Whahat? It’s an innocent question!”

Eurylochus, who apparently loved to embarrass his friend, chimed in. “In case it isn’t obvious by the means of retribution he’s using, we tickled him.”

“Eury!” He yelped, face growing red.

Both girls giggled, Ctimene reaching forward to tweak his ribs. He grabbed her wrist, making a strangled noise.

Polites cleared his throat. “So… uh, are we done here?”

Odysseus, grateful for the distraction, jumped at him. This sent them into a wrestling match for the upper hand.

The other three watched them while trying not to laugh.

Suddenly there was a yelp from both teens at the same time. They were two different pitches, as if they were trying to harmonize. Why, you ask? Eurylochus and Ctimene separated the two after a silent agreement, Ctimene grabbing her brother and Eurylochus grabbing Polites. They both sat on their captive waists.

Penelope giggled, still keeping her distance out of nervousness.

Odysseus’ eyes went wide, fighting against his sister. “No- Not again!” Ctimene laughed at his panic, though it was obvious she was struggling to keep him down.

“Penelope, will you help me?”

Penelope tilted her head before nodding timidly. She moved to sit by his torso. As soon as she grabbed his arms to pull them up, he didn’t tug on them out of fear of hurting or scaring her. He still tried to buck Ctimene off though.

Polites, on the other hand, didn’t get any chance to fight thanks to Eurylochus immediately digging into his stomach. He barked out a laugh and tried to push his hands away, failing miserably.

“EUHUREHEY!” he screamed.

“There’s no need to yell, I’m right here.”

Polites groaned through his cackles, throwing his head back.

Penelope grouped his wrists together gently, holding them in one hand above his chest. Ctimene rolled her eyes at her brother not fighting Penelope.

She placed her hands on his ribs, not doing anything yet. He clenched his jaw, refusing to let any noises escape.

“Ody~ I’m not gonna do anything until you tell me to.”

This was a common thing that happened between the two. Both of them used this trick whenever they got the upper hand in their sibling squabbles. They wouldn’t tickle the other until they told them to. Sometimes they would make the other tell them where to tickle them too. Normally, Odysseus would’ve told her to “get it over with already”, but he seemed adamant on not saying a word.

“Odysseus. You can’t stay silent forever~”

He shook his head, squirming under the two girls’ gaze.

“Ody, come on. If you don’t tell me when, I’m gonna make you say where too.”

Penelope shot her a quizzical look. Ctimene smirked, more than happy to fluster her brother.

“This is normal, don’t worry. Usually, he tells me to start pretty quickly, even if he has to choose where. I guess he’s embarrassed ‘cause he wants to look cool in front of you.”

Odysseus made a strangled noise in his throat. His face began to look like a tomato with how much he was blushing. Penelope laughed sweetly.

Polites threw his body from side to side, trying to get Eurylochus’ hand off of him. Although, he didn’t really want it to stop.

“Eheuhurehehy!” He giggled out, kicking his legs lightly to release some energy.

“Yes, Poli?”

“Ihit tihickles!”

“Oh yeah? That’s insane Polites.”

“Ihihi’m gohonnaha dihie!” he groaned, pushing on Euryochus’ shoulders.

Eurylochus rolled his eyes. “You won’t die. But… if you’re feeling that way, maybe some medicine would help?”

Polites glanced up at him skeptically. “Whahat kihihind ohof mehedihicihine?”

“Raspberry?”

Polites gasped. “Wahait! Ihi neheehed a breheahatheher!!”

Eurylochus immediately backed off. “Are you okay?”

“Yehes,” he looked at the ground shyly. “Yohou cahan start again ihin a minute…”

The other smiled warmly, excited that Polites trusted him enough to say that. He was still gonna tease him though. “Awe, Poli! Do you like this?”

“Shuhut uhup!” He said with exasperation. He was pretty worried that Eury was judging him for not disliking it.

“Relax. I think it’s cute!” He leaned in closer to whisper to his friend. “You’re not the only one, by the way. Ody obviously likes it too.”

Polites laughed at that remark. “Do you?”

Eurylochus chuckled nervously. “Uhh…-maybe-. Have you caught your breath yet?”

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you,” he teased.

“So you have. Good!” He rushed out, avoiding the question. He lifted the other’s shirt and sucked in a breath dramatically before blowing a raspberry on his stomach.

Polites yelled out a giggly “no!”, shoving Eurylochus’ head lightly.

Eurylochus kept blowing more and more raspberries, placing them in different spots around his stomach. This elicited cackles from the near-sighted teen.

“Ody, I’m gonna give you three seconds to tell me to start. If you don’t, you’re choosing the spot, and it has to be a bad one.” Ctimene said, getting tired of the silent treatment.

Odysseus shook his head.

“Three… two…O-”’

She was interrupted by a rushed out, “Just start!”

“Finally.”

With that, she dug into his ribs, drawing out a short yelp and some chuckles. The longer she had kept this up, the harder it was getting to not fight Penelope for his arms’ freedom.

“Pehen-Pehenelohope!” he began, fighting every instinct to yank his arms down.

She jumped at hearing her name. “Yes?”

He racked his brain to find a way to explain without seeming pathetic. He ended up just saying; “Aharms!”

She got confused before realizing that he was starting to pull more on her hold. “Oh!” She laughed a bit, pushing his arms to the floor above his head. She then crawled to be above his head as well, pinning his arms under her knees, and in turn, his head ending up in her lap.

He blushed profusely, turning his face away. Penelope thought it was cute, noticing how his nose scrunched up and his eyes were shut tight. She idly traced shapes on his shoulders, which, much to the prince’s dismay, caused him to snort.

Ctimene cackled. “I forgot you snorted! Yohou’re like a pihiglet!”

Eurylochus paused his raspberries to agree. “That’s what I said!” He went back to his previous action right after speaking.

Odysseus winced. “Yohouhu cahanohot be tahalking! Bohoth ohof yohouhu!”

Ctimene glanced at Eury. “You snort?”

He went red, ignoring the question and therefore making the answer obvious.

“Good to know…”

After a couple more minutes of the light-ish tickles, Ctimene stopped abruptly.

“Do you wanna see something really funny?”

“Sure!” Penelope answered, also relenting.

“Okay! Will you let his arms go for a second?”

Odysseus knew immediately what was coming. “NO! No! Ctimene, you know I love you rihight?”

Ctimene smirked. “Of course I do. You’re not getting out of this, though.”

“Buhut- But ihi’ve ahalreheady had to suhuffer this today! Please!”

She pretended to consider, but seeing the giddy smile on his face, she decided she didn’t care. “Nope. You’re going through this again.”

Penelope released his arms and Ctimene rolled him over, which was much easier than she thought it would be. She sat on the backs of his thighs, taking notice of how his shirt had ridden up.

“Ready?” She asked both Penelope and Odysseus. Penelope nodded and Odysseus groaned loudly, shoving his face into his arms, which were folded above his head. He was too tired to bring them down.

Polites frantically slapped the floor, hysterical laughter still pouring from his lips. He couldn’t get words out and his cackles were getting wheezy.

Eurylochus stopped, switching to lightly rubbing his stomach in hopes of helping. “Sorry, you okay?”

Polites was still giggling, the rubbing was not helping. “Yehes.”

“Did I overstep?”

Of course he’d ask that first thing. Ever the worrier. “Noho, you’re ohokay.”

Eurylochus looked unsure, studying the teen. “Are you sure? You’re still giggling an awful lot.”

“Yohour hahand,” he managed, not pushing him away or trying to stop him.

“Oh! I’m sorry,” he said, quickly pulling away.

Polites flushed. “Noho, it’s okay. Ihit feels nihice.”

Eurylochus smiled softly, starting up again.

“You’re actually adorable,” he teased without meaning to. (Platonic!!!)

“Behe quiehet!”

Eurylochus laughed at the weak shout. “Whatever.”

Ctimene spidered across his back with both hands, grinning triumphantly when he wheezed and fell into boyish laughter. He didn’t have the energy to fight back, so he just laid there. He could feel eyes on him, but had no clue who the eyes belonged to.

“Ctihimehene!” He protested weakly, turning his face towards Penelope without realizing.

“Don’t even, we can all tell you don’t mind that much.” She started. “Plus, I have one more thing to do, then I’ll be done, okay?”

She pushed his shirt up and blew three or four raspberries on his spine before letting up.

“Did I kill you?” She asked, flipping him onto his back, his head landing in Penelope’s lap again.

In response, he stuck his tongue out and made a little blegh noise. Playing dead for his little sister, forgetting completely about Penelope.

“Ohody! Yohou’re so stuhupid!” Ctimene giggled, lightly punching his stomach.

When he opened his eyes to retort, all he saw was Penelope leaning over him with a wide smile and beautiful eyes. Any words he was about to say turned to mush as he stared at her.

“Eww stop looking at each other like that!” Ctimene said, pulling her brother’s legs to yank him off of Penelope. He sat up and shoved her over onto her back.

“For one, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Second, you’re going to pay for that, sis,” he explained, scribbling over top of her sides and rib cage. She bursted into giggles.

Polites, who finally told Eurylochus to stop, sat up and laughed at the siblings.

“You two are so childish!” he cooed.

Odysseus shot him a glare. “Don’t forget that you started this! If anything, you’re the childish one.”

Penelope and Eurylochus laughed at the pair.

And the best part? Odysseus was no longer stressing about becoming king the next day. All he could focus on was laughter, no matter who’s it was.

Art above by Yon Hara

Lee

-*Huge* lee. He's very ticklish and loves being tickled, great combo.

-This man has the prettiest laugh you've ever heard.

-Pleads a lot, don't listen to him though he's having a great time.

-He kicks and squirms frantically, though he's very careful not to hurt his ler.

-Death spots are his sides and his ears.

-The best way to tickle him is with light spidering or scratching. If you're too rough it could hurt.

-Stays tickle drunk for a while, during which he'll giggle constantly.

-Always massages where you've tickled the most, as if he can still feel it.

Ler

-He loves to hug his lee from behind then attack their belly or sides. He chuckles mischievously the whole time.

-"Come on, you can get away! I believe in you!"

-If he's feeling mean he might ask Ody or Eurylochus to hold your arms up while he attacks you.

-He can get rough at times, but he always makes sure he's not hurting you.

-He loves to build anticipation. He'll hover his fingers on top of where he's about to attack ominously, giggling at how nervous you look.

What he didn’t know was that Polites was watching him periodically through the day. Every grunt and hiss of discomfort wasn’t left unheard. He knew that he had to do something.

“Polites, I told you, I’m fine.” Odysseus excused after the third time his friend offered to take over steering the ship. Even such a simple task has become painful. 

Polites wasn’t having any of it. “No you’re not, Ody. We do this same thing every single time.” He cleared his throat before reenacting how he’s noticed their conversations have gone recently, making sure to use a lower voice to mimic the captain “‘How are you doing, captain?’ ‘I’m fine Polites.’ ‘You don’t look fine because of x, y, and z.’ ‘I said I’m fine.’ ‘But you’re not’ ‘but I am’ ‘but you’re not’ ‘but I am’ ‘but you’re-’”

“Polites!” Odysseus interrupted with a chuckle. Despite wearing a smile, even the bounce of his shoulders caused a pain similar to a stab to twist through his lower back. “I don’t sound like that. And I told you, I’m okay. Just let me steer the ship.”

Polites was about to give up. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t want to push Odysseus either. But just as he was about to walk away, an idea came to his head. It was an offer he knew not even his stubborn captain can turn down. 

“What if I massaged your back?”

Polites’ question was way too smug than it needed to be. But… at the same time… Polites was known as a good masseuse. The best on the ship. Odysseus knew this, since they literally grew up together. Everyone goes to him with sore muscles, especially backs. Unlike Odysseus, the crew is better at asking for assistance and breaks.

There was silence, a lot of it. And Polites almost thought that Ody missed the question. 

“Captain-?”

“Get Eurylochus to steer the ship,” he finally said, reluctance, but relief in his voice, “tell him we’re gonna make a pit stop at Ismarus. He knows where it is.” Polites didn’t need to be told twice.

Fast-forward a few minutes, and now the captain was standing in Polites’ room, crossing his arms and trying not to furrow his eyebrows at the still-present pain. Polites sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to him, and Odysseus let out a soft sigh before he sat down. “This is stupid.” 

“It’s really not.” Polites shot down his complaint instantly, carefully guiding his friend to lay down on the bed. Odysseus gingerly turned over onto his stomach, resting his head on a pillow.

“I’m a grown man. And a captain.”

“So grown men don’t get to have massages?”

“Real men don’t need them.”

“Wow, okay, then half of your crew aren’t “real men”.” Polites shot back, pressing a thumb into the middle of Ody’s lower back, as if he knew exactly where the sore spot was. He was rewarded with a pained hiss, the same one the captain has been making all day. “Just relax, would you? There’s nothing weak or weird about getting a massage.”

Odysseus would have responded if he wasn’t busy clenching his teeth. How could something feel so good, but so painful at the same time? He gripped the bedsheets, fighting the urge to squirm under the pain. Maybe lifting those barrels today wasn’t the best idea.

After around a minute, the pain started to go away. As if it were magic, Polites was able to get out a lot of the kinks and knots of tension in his back. The crewmate noticed ow Odysseus gradually loosened his grip on the bedsheets and started to actually relax.

“There you go. I knew you’d come around eventually,” Polites said with a calm smile. He laughed when he was met with an annoyed hum. He noticed that his lower back was probably okay, and it was time to move up.

He latched his hands onto Odysseus’s middle back, which made Odysseus tense up again. Polites paused for a moment, looking over his friend, but then figured that it must have been painful there too.

In reality, Odysseus’s back is very ticklish. Like deathly. And before he couldn’t feel it, too overwhelmed with his sore muscles. But now… did Polites always massage this lightly?

“You’re tensing again…” Polites muttered, genuine worry lacing his voice. He decided to press a little harder behind Odysseus’s ribs, trying to work out the knots in the muscles, “does it hurt?” Odysseus couldn’t help but let out a very quiet noise. It was faint, and luckily, it slipped while Polites was talking. The king nodded, deciding to excuse his reaction and not bring his.. sensitivity to light.

The nod made Polites frown. He really didn’t think it was this bad. “Ody, you really gotta take breaks,” he started one of his usual pep talks, sighing as he held Ody’s ribs more firmly, using his thumbs to massage circles that were meant to be soothing, “even if this is from you sleeping funny, you shouldn’t be doing all of these tasks on a bad back. And you were helping people lug supplies from one end of the ship to the other! Sure you walked slow and sat down a few times, but seriously, you need to-”

His rant was cut short by a gasp. Polites snapped out of his thoughts, glancing down at his hands that seemed to have a mind of their own. His fingers were lightly massaging lines down Ody’s spine, something he’s done on the other crewmates.

And that’s when he finally realized.

“You good, Ody?” He asked, his tone slightly more smug this time. Teasy. Not what Odysseus wanted.

Odysseus nodded, turning his head to subtly hide his face in the pillow. It would have worked if Polites was still clueless. “N-Never better… You can move spots now.”

“No… you’re still tense here. Especially when I do this.” He punctuated his sentence by dragging his thumb down Odysseus’s spine once again. That caused a flinch, and a smirk to tug on Polites' lips, “See? I can’t move now.” Oh, this smug ass. But before Odysseus could even think about getting up, Polites got back to work. He continued to massage Ody’s spine with one hand, his other hand curling into the backs of his ribs. 

The action causes Odysseus to gasp and squirm a little now, especially when Polites decided to lighten his touch. “P-Polites! Stop that!” Ody demanded, fighting his giggles as he reached back to fend off his friend’s fingers. He was met with a slightly painful jolt in his shoulder, and he let out another grunt. 

This time, Polites pauses again, deciding to take it easy on him. With a soft smile, he moves up to actually massage Odysseus’ shoulders. “Hey, hey. Easy. I know you’re ticklish, but try to be careful right now.” The sudden call out caused Odysseus to scoff in surprise, but he just nuzzled into the pillow, appreciating that Polites at least went back to his initial massage. “I knew you were doing that on purpose..” he grumbled, similarly to a grumpy toddler. He shut up when he felt a quick scribble on his neck.

“I wasn’t at first,” Polites says honestly, but Odysseus obviously doesn’t believe him. But it doesn’t matter anyways, when the captain lets out a strained squawk of laughter before crumbling into a fit of snickers. All because Polites remembered how horribly ticklish Ody’s shoulder blades are. “I’m not lying!” “I-I didn’t sahahay that you were!” Odysseus argued, pounding one of his fists into the mattress to try and get some energy out. Unfortunately, Polites just laughed, as that encouraged him even more.

“You were thinking it though.”

With that, Polites started to actually start to tickle the captain. He scratched gently at Odysseus’ lower back, while he fluttered his fingers along his shoulders and neck. That made Ody’s laugh break from snickers, to giggles, to actual laughter. 

“Pohoholities!” “Ohoho-Odysseus!” Polites mocked with a grin, having too much fun with this, “I see you’re liking my new massage technique. It’s pretty effective, isn’t it?”

“Yohohou’re not ma- hahaha! Mahahassaging me, yohohou dumbass! You’re tickling mehehehe!” Odysseus laughed, shoving his face more into the pillow. You know, he would hate this a lot more if it wasn’t Polites. But something about his childhood friend made this action feel nicer in a strange way. Regardless– “Stohohop! Cuhuhut it out!”–that didn’t stop him from trying to get away.

Polites didn’t ‘cut it out’. In fact, he met his hands in the middle of his back once again, scratching over the backs of his ribs. “Nah, I don’t wanna.” He answers as he causally starts tickling his best friend’s death spot. And it was honestly hilarious how Odysseus reacted.

Suddenly, his back wasn’t hurting as much. He quickly started to flop around, letting out loud, slightly-higher-than-usual laughter. He hit the bed, kicked his feet, and tried to twist and turn. But no matter where he would try and hide, Polites followed him with such an ease it was incredible. He would push him down every time he tried to turn over. In fact, Polites would really dig into his ribs for a few seconds whenever he tried anything.

It really didn’t take long for Odysseus to start snorting. One of Polites’ favourite factors of tickling him, in his opinion. 

“Aww! I gotcha snorting now! Is this spot really that bad?” The crewmate teased, his grin so wide it’s almost splitting his face. He then switched to holding his back down with one hand, using the other to now gently spider over Ody’s ribs. He was met with a loud wheeze, before he started to laugh silently. 

Polites, in turn, barked out his own laugh, “Hah! I guess that answers my question.”

After a few more seconds, Odysseus found his laugh again, resulting in a loud snort and more squirming. “POHOHOLITIES! StohoHOHOP! IT’S- It’s sooOOHOHO BAHAHAD!” he complained, kicking and hitting the bed, since it was the only thing he could do.

“Such a drama king.” Polites teased once again, moving his tickling fingers over to the captain’s lower back again. However, this time, Odysseus jerked in a way that made the pain come back.

“Ah! ah - ah- ah-” He hisses, trying to warn Poiltes, who gets the hint. As much fun as that was (yes, Odysseus did have fun), the optimist had to remember that they were there because of Odysseus’ bad back. 

So, with a reluctant sigh, he let go of Odysseus and switched back to gently massaging the newfound knots of tension in his lower back. “Alright, alright. I’ll stop. But you’re lucky.”

Odysseus just melted into the bed, allowing himself to actually fully relax as he took in deep breaths. It was almost strange, how much energy the squirming took out of him. But he wasn’t exactly complaining.

With a lazy nod of his head, Ody looked behind him, just to give a glance at his friend. It was supposed to be a glare, but obviously failed miserably. “Yeah. I’m ‘lucky’.” He sassed, but realized quickly how ineffective it was when Polites was holding back a laugh, “Just… keep going, okay? It’s actually helping.”

“I thought ‘real men don’t get massaged’?” Polites quoted smugly, grinning from ear to ear. To be honest, he wasn’t even laughing at how his friend seemed to have folded. He was laughing at how ridiculous he looked. The once nicely-kept hair, all sticking out in different directions. How Odysseus’s face looked like a tomato with a dopey grin. It was way too amusing. “I guess you’re not a real man anymore, huh?”

“Oh shut up, I forgot how good you were at this,” the king brushed it off, stretching slowly to not hurt his sore muscles anymore. It brought so much more relief than he could have imagined. 

For the next little while, Polites spent some quality time with his captain. He was more than happy to help… and to “accidentally” brush over Odysseus’ ribs or sides. 

Odysseus inhaled sharply and turned to Polites, unintentionally aiming his sword at him. “Oh, uh, sorry.” Ody said awkwardly as he put his sword back into the holder around his waist, “what’s up?”

Poli didn’t seem to care about a literal sword being pointed at him, but seemed rather intrigued by his friend’s reaction. “What was that?” He asked, a slight smile as he put together the pieces very quickly.

The captain’s eyes widened a little “what was what?”

“Your reaction! When I poked you!” The younger said, now fully smiling. Odysseus didn’t have time to respond before Polites lunged forward and started to squeeze his sides. 

Ody gave another sharp inhale as his arms shot down to his sides. This all happened so fast, and he was really not expecting Polites to start tickling him of all things! Yes, his friend was well known for cheering people up, and that was accompanied with some pokes every so often, but now his confidence seemed to be spiked since they were away from the rest of the crew. 

After realizing Odysseus’ stubbornness with laughing, Polites went behind the former and wrapped his arms around him in some kind of backwards-bear hug.

“You can relax, my friend,” Polites smiled as he continued to squeeze up and down now both of Ody’s sides. The captain tried to wiggle out of his friend’s hug.

He threw his hand over his mouth, to try and stop himself from laughing. “H-Huh?” He didn’t realize his stress was showing so obviously.

“I can tell you’re getting nervous, so do yourself a service, and try to relax my friend!” Polites couldn’t help but giggle at his best friend. They both knew how sensitive Odysseus was, and always has been since the two of them were little. No amount of mental barriers or war fighting could change that.

“I-I’m fihine, Polites!” Odysseus cursed himself for letting a snicker out, quickly pressing his lips tightly against each other, “What are yohou doing?”

“I’m tickling you, silly!” The optimistic man exclaimed. After realizing that the sides weren’t getting much of a reaction, Polites tried to wiggle his finger between Ody’s arms and his ribs. However, Odysseus was strong, and refused to move his arms even an inch. Polites sighed playfully, moving to his captain’s hips and giving them some squeezes as he said, “I know that you’re tired of the war and bloodshed. But tell me, is this how we’re supposed to live?” 

Despite it not being a bad spot, Odysseus felt his knees buckle, finding it becoming increasingly hard to stay standing. “Poholites! I sahaid I’m fine! Le-let go!”

“Captain, I saw how you gripped your sword, enough said” Polites said, sincerity in his voice. Odysseus was about to say something in rebuttal, but cut himself off by a strained noise when Poli started drilling into his hips, “Why should we take when we could give? Y’know Ody, you can show a person that you trust them when you stop and lower your guard. So c’mon, captain, don’t you trust me?”

“I-I doho! But why are you-” Odysseus cut himself off again, but this time with a short scream followed by frantic giggling as Polites scribbled quickly up and down his back. “Wohohoah- hahahang ohon a mihihHIHINUTE-“

“I’m tickling you because you suck at hiding your emotions. I know you’re not really fine, Odysseus. I saw what happened.” Polites explained, absolutely loving how he's finally able to freely tickle his friend for the first time in 10 years. Ody’s thoughts were right, now that they were away from the crew, he felt like he could go back to how they used to be before the war, when they were home. Gods, he couldn’t wait to go home.

Poli’s thoughts were cut short when he felt Odysseus losing balance and slowly becoming deadweight in his arms as he continued to trace a straight line up and down Ody’s spine. “You didn’t think I forgot about this spot, did you?” Polites giggled as he guided Ody to the grassy floor. 

“Nohoho! Pohoholitehehehes!” After making it to the ground, Odysseus immediately turned over, protecting his back from his friend’s wiggling fingers.

“Awwh, Ody! Now I can’t tickle your back!” Polites faux pouted, however the pout turned into a smirk very quickly as he sat himself beside Ody, wiggling his fingers above his stomach, “oh well, I’ll just go here instead!” 

“Wait- AH! Pohohoholi! Plehehehease, dohohohon’t!” Ody pleaded, gasps and hiccupy laughter peppering his words. He tried to grab at his friend’s hands, however everywhere he tried to grab, Polites just started tickling in another spot, using a different tactic every time. From poking and squeezing to scribbling and spidering, he tried it all. “Stohohohop!”

“Aww, “please don’t stop”? Is that what you said? You don’t want me to stop?” Polites borderline bay-talked, giggling as he teased, now having way too much fun with this. He was finally able to get at the captain’s ribs, him being weaker due to the tickling. The spot caused Odysseus to bark out a laugh, a lot louder than the previous giggles. “Wehell I mehean, if you insist! You even said please! Hehaha! How polite of yohou! How am I to deny such a Nihice requehest?”

Odysseus couldn’t tell if he wanted his friend to let up, or if he was right, and he didn’t really want the playfulness to stop. Because as much as this was embarrassing, it reminded him of when the two of them were younger, and their constant tickle fights. It let him think of something else than his guilt and sorrow.

“Ooh~ someone’s blushing~!” Polites teased as he really dug his fingers into Ody’s ribs, “what’s wrong, Ody? *gasp* was a right?! And you’re embarrassed because I called you out?” 

“S-SHUHUhuhut uhuhup!” Odysseus frantically shook his head as a way to deal with the overwhelming sensation on his ribs. “Thahahat ihihis nohohot whahahat’s hahahappehehening!”

Polites let out another gasp, but his wide and playful smile showed just how offended he got. “Odysseus! How dare you tell me, your best friend, to shut up! I’m deeply hurt, and I think now I need to teach you a lesson.” The captain's eyes widened again as he let out a series of “nonono”s as he knew exactly where Polites was planning on going next. 

He tried to curl his legs into his stomach, but Polites squeezed the top of his knees to cause him to uncurl. Polites then took his seat on top of Ody’s ankles, and chuckled as he saw his friend’s fearful yet excited expression. “Just so that doesn’t happen again!” 

Those were the last words Odysseus heard before his own screaming laughter would follow soon after as Polites started squeezing up and down his thighs. “FUHUHUCK! PohoHOHOLITEHEHESE STAHAHAHAP!” He screamed as he attempted to kick his legs out from under Polites’ weight.

“No can do, friend! Now, back to what I was telling you. This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms!” The optimistic man said as if he wasn’t tickling the living daylights out of his best friend, “whatever we face, we’ll be fine if we’re leading from the heart! No matter the place, we can light up the world, and here’s where to start! You what? Greet the world with- OH GODS-”

Unfortunately for Polites, he was extremely focused on teaching his friend the importance of letting your guard down every so often. So focused that he didn’t notice Odysseus managed to sit up and embrace him in a giant bear hug, scaring the ever-loving shit out of him. During the hug, Odysseus laid back down, pulling Polites down to lay on top of him. He then started to scribble his blunt nails up and down the length of Poli’s sides, keeping his actions light and quick.

The reaction was instant, opposite to the man who was first in this position. Polites started to pour out giggles as if they were water being spilled out of a cup. “Ohohohodyseheheus! Nohohohoooo!” He squealed, trying to fight back. He plunged his hands into the captain’s underarms, which caused him to throw his head back as some full-hearted belly laughter, and started to break free from his hold.

Odysseus didn’t let it get to him too much, however, as he still managed to roll him and Polites over, so now he was straddling the smaller’s hips. Odysseus sat up, proud of himself that the plan actually worked. He quickly fixed Polites’ glasses, which were crooked due to the roughhousing. “Ah, now that’s more like it~” Ody sighed, amused with how his friend let out streams of anticipatory giggles. 

“Ohohodyhehehe! Thahat was sohoho unfahahair!” Polites complained, letting out a squeal when he felt a poke on his side. He grabbed Odysseus’ wrist, pulling it and the attacking finger away from his body.

“You really think this is gonna stop me?” Ody questioned, clearly amused, “come on, we both know that you’re too ticklish for that.” 

Polites didn’t even have time to answer before Odysseus brought his free hand to tickle up and down his wrist and forearm. “AH- whahahat thehehehe fuhuhuck?!” Polites exclaimed, giving a short squeal of surprise before landing into helpless giggles. He then grabbed Ody’s other wrist, hoping that it would stop him.

Odysseus sighed softly, chuckling when Polites glared at him. “Give up the act already, Poli, I know how much you love this. So might as well just let me tickle you already!”

The statement brought even more red to Polites’ already blushing face. “Shuhut uhuhup!” He turned his head to the side, hoping that the grassy floor would hide his blush. Unfortunately for him, it did the opposite, as that action just showed off his red ears.

“Aww, Polites, you’re blushing so much your ears are red!” The Captain stated as he brought up a hand to quickly trace around Polites’ ear, the hands holding his wrists doing nothing to stop him. Odysseus chuckled when he groaned (more like whined) and turned his head to block his ears, “that is so cute!”

“I ahahaham nohohot! Ahand you’re ohohone tohohoho tahahahalk about blushing..” somehow, Polites still managed to tease his best friend. He giggled when he saw that he succeeded; Odysseus’ face grew more pink and he didn’t respond with a witty, sarcastic comment… right away.

After around 5 seconds to think of what to say, Odysseus spoke up. “You know what, you’re oftly bold for someone so ticklish,” he started, easily breaking free from Polites’ hold and pinning his hands underneath his knees, “someone should take you down a few pegs.”

The sudden vulnerability somehow made Polites more ticklish, and he could already feel the ghost tingles lingering over his body. And Ody hasn’t even brought his hand out to tickle him!

“Wahahait, cahahaptiahahan, I’m sohohoHOHORRY! NAHAhahaho!” Odysseus broke the anticipation and scribbled his fingers along Poli’s right side.

“Oh no, I bet you’re real sorry,” Odysseus said, sarcasm dripping from the words as he switched to gentle spidering, “but that won’t help you! Nobody tickles the king of Ithaca without severe consequences!”

Polites was about to answer before Odysseus started tickling just above his hip bone, and that threw the kind man in a fit of panicky giggles. They picked up in pitch and speed. Nervous and excited energy lighting up his nerves as the captain teased right above one of his worst spots. He couldn’t help but try and squirm away from the touch.

“Giggling so much already? I’m only using one hand!” Odysseus chuckled, clearly enjoying this as much as his friend was. He then noticed the latter’s frantic squirming. He couldn’t not tease him about it. “Aww look at that! Your left side wants some tickles too!”

Polites managed to let out another giggly whine groan through his laughter. “Nohohoho it dohohoesn’t! Leheheheave my leheheft sihihihide ahahalohohone!” 

“I really think it does though! It keeps on pushing itself into my other hand! It's practically telling me “I want you to tickle me, Odysseus! I love it when you do that!” Aww, Poli! How am I supposed to deny such a request?” Odysseus couldn’t help but laugh along with his own playfulness. His smile widening with how Polites shook his head as he continued to let out a steady stream of giggles, his blush still growing with every stupid word that came out of the king’s mouth.

“Ihihit sahahays ihihihit dohohohosehehen’t whahahannahaha tahahalk tohohoho yohohou!” Polites squeaked when he felt Odysseus start to poke his left side with the hand that wasn’t tickling him already. He was poking in the same spot, right above his hip. It was driving him mad.

“Well that’s rude! Maybe me tickling it will show it what happens when it disrespects its captain!”

“Ehehehahahaha! Nohohaha! Gehehehet ahahahahawahahay!”

“Hmmm… nooo I don’t think so~ in fact..” Suddenly, Odysseus brought both of his hands over to Polites’s left side, spidering them up and down, starting from his ribs and going down onto his hips.

Polites screamed. “EEEHEHEHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOhohahaha! Yohohohou sahahadist! Yohohou mohohOHOHHONSTER!” he threw his head back as hysterical laughter poured out of his wide and bright smile. His laughter increased an octave when Odysseus focused on spidering both of his hands over his hip for a few seconds.

“I’m the tickle monster! Get it right, Poli.” The king noticed how now Polites was now squirming to the right side, again to get away from the tickles, “oh, so now the right side wants attention again! Well, I have to give it what it wants~” He then gave the same treatment to his right side as he was the left side.

“Ohohohodyhehehe! Stohohop!”

“Stop what? Tickling you? I don’t think that’s what you want if you ask me.”

“Stohohop teheheheasing mehehehe!”

“Why would I? Awww, is it because you’re getting all flustered? Is me talking about how much you want me to tickle you making your cheeks and ears go all red? Does it make the tickling sooo much worse~?”

“FuhuHUHUHUHUCK OHOHOhohoff! OhohHOHO GOhohohods- Ihihihit tihihihihihickles!”

“I know, giggles, that’s the point.” Odysseus deadpanned, but a small smirk remained on his face. He never would have thought he would miss this as much as he really did. 

“Dohohohohon’t cahahahall mehehehe giggles!” Polities may have been protesting (barley), but he was having an absolute blast. He’s been waiting for a moment for Odysseus to be able to let his guard down. He really needed to learn how to open his heart again, and if he had to get tickled for him to be able to do that, so be it. 

Not… that he minded much. But he would never say that out loud. 

“Why not? I think that name describes you pretty well.”

“Shuhuhut uhuhup!” Polites giggled out, his laughter calming down a bit as Odysseus gave him a breather. It wasn’t much of a breather, however, with how Odysseus still continued to tap his fingers on Polites’ hips, causing a constant stream of giggles to pour out of his mouth. “Stahahap dohohohoing thahahat!”

Odysseus was genuinely confused for a second, before he realized his absentminded tapping. “Oh sorry, forgot how ticklish you are to lighter touches,” He gave an amused chuckle, placing his hands on Polites’ stomach, but not moving them yet, “Better?”

Panic returned to Polites’ eyes as his friend casually put his hands on his absolute worst spot. He hated the shit eating grin that Odysseus wore when he knew how much his teases were getting to him. 

“Noho! Nohohot behehetter!” He shook his head, causing his glasses to go askew once again and his headband(?) to almost come off his head, “Plehehehease n-nohohot thehehere! Ohohohodysseheheheus!”

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” Said captain chuckled at his own “joke”.

“Ihihit tihihihickles!”

“How? I'm not even tickling you yet!”

“Ugh, I knohohohow!” Odysseus chuckled at his friend’s giggly protests as he decided to end the anticipation and started to quickly spider up and down Polities’ stomach.

The latter squealed (for what felt like the 10th time that day) as all of his pent-up giggles burst free in waves of hysteria. Adorably bright cackles started to be heard throughout the forest of the island. The bright sound attracted some… things..? But they couldn’t be seen or heard by the two over the happy belly laughter and the sight of Polites’ huge smile. 

Polities started to think of an escape plan. Of course, he was having a blast, and he didn’t wanna stop this playful little game with his friend. But he had to get him back for this attack (he knows he started it, but it’s just so fun to see the great, powerful, war-hero Odysseus break down in a fit of giggles. Is that a crime?).

“Aww, Polites! Even your laugh is adorable! Seriously, can you get any cuter?” Odysseus was delighted to bring his friend into a pile of, how he put it, adorable laughter. It sounded so hearty and bubbly, it practically lit up their surroundings, if his smile didn’t do that already. Odysseus decided to switch tactics, forming his hands into claws and shaking them against the muscles of Polites’ stomach, causing some slightly deeper laughter to erupt from his chest as he almost completely froze under the feeling. He tried once again to curl up on himself, but the weight of Ody on his thighs were preventing him from doing so. 

“Holy shit, I forgot how much this gets to you! Is it really that ticklish? I don’t think it is, maybe you’re just being dramatic.” Odysseus chuckled when Polites gave out yet another flustered noise, now continuing his squirming. “That’s right, Poli, try to get away! I mean, not like it’ll do anything~”

“BY THEHEHEHE GOHOHODS PLEHEHEHEASE SHUHUT UHUHUHUP!” Polities pleaded. He needed a way to get out of this and politely humble his beloved captain, and fast. Then finally, an idea struck his mind. Well, it’s worth a shot! He thought.

Odysseus was about to send another tease his best friend’s way, but he cut himself off with a surprised gasp. Polites, that little shit, started to wiggle his fingers from under Ody’s knees, effectively tickling just above the captain's shin.

Odysseus thought if he just lifted his knee for a split second, he would be able to reposition Polites’ hands to prevent him from trying to fight back. Biting back giggles, he slightly lifted his knee.

He wasn’t expecting that immediately after he gave Polites a little bit of freedom, he shot his now free hand to grab onto his thigh and give it a few short squeezes. 

“Wa-AIT- POHOLITES!” Ody shrieked out, trying to squirm away, but he fell backwards instead, accidentally making himself more vulnerable.

Quickly getting seated on Ody’s thighs, Polites gave a giggle-filled yell of success and started scribbling all over his friend’s stomach, just as how he did.

“Aha! I didn’t think that would work!” Polites exclaimed, “are you really just that ticklish?”

“WihihHIHIHill yOHOhou shuhuhut uhuhuHUHUP!” Odysseus’ laughter came out in waves of loudness, if Polites went over a particularly sensitive part of his stomach, especially near his ribs.

“Oh now you want me to shut up!” noticing the difference in volume, Polites scribbled the fronts of his ribs, just below his chest. Ody’s laughter spiked, jumping an octave as he started shoving Polites’ hands with renewed effort.

“Aww! What’s wrong Captain? Is this a bad spot for you?” Polites teased, “are your ribs ticklish?” 

“WHAHAHAT DOHOHO YOHOHOU THINK?!” Odysseus barked out laughter as Polites started to poke around the area, occasionally poking his chest and collarbones to keep him squealing. “STAhahahahap!”

“But Ody~ I don’t want to!” Polites drew out like a little kid, with faux sadness in his voice, “And I don’t think you want me to either!” 

Before Odysseus could answer, Polites started focusing his tickles around his neck, causing the captain to squeal uncharacteristically loud and high. Poli had to stop his torment to laugh for himself, he would have doubled over if it weren’t for one hand on Ody’s chest keeping him upright as the other one wiped fake ‘tears of laughter’ from his eyes. “Oho gohohods, what was thahat!”

“I dohon’t wanna hear it from you! You’ve made far more embarrassing noises, Mr. Piggy.”

“Mr. Piggy-?”

“Whenever anyone targets your hips, you sound like a little piggy!” Odysseus chuckled as Polites’ cheeks turned a warmer shade of pink. He then proceeded to mock his friend’s laugh (and doing a pretty good job at it actually) while throwing in snorts every other second, just to rub it in.

That was it. Polites was sick of Odysseus teasing him constantly, even when he was the one getting tickled! He liked his captain more when he could barely think straight.

“That’s enough out of you!” Polites said, with an unexpected urge of strength, he managed to turn Ody over to lay down on his stomach.

“What the fuck-?”

“What was it you told me? ‘Don’t be so bold when you’re so ticklish’?” Polites smiled as he pinned Odysseus similarly to how he pinned him just minutes earlier. “Sometimes you need to take your own advice, cap’.”

“That is not what I said!” He argued, but he squealed again when Polites ran his finger down his spine.

“I said that’s enough out of you!” Polites exclaimed. He gave no warning before he started to spider his fingers along his shoulder blades. 

Whatever protest Odysseus was going to say melted away into hysterical giggles, desperately trying to pull his arms free from under Poli’s knees, but he was unsuccessful. Not knowing where to focus his ticklish energy, he started kicking his feet, feeling the pointy grass tickle the tops of his feet due to his sandals.

Trying to escape that feeling, Ody bent his knees, but didn’t stop kicking, now unintentionally kicking Polites’ back.

“Ody! Will you stop kicking me?!” He playfully scolded, turning around and grabbing Odysseus’ ankle to tickle his calf. 

Ody screamed before falling into shrill laughter. He cursed Polites for knowing literally every single one of his spots. To be fair, he knew all of Polites’, but still! “POHOHOLITES! Plehehehehease! Whyhehehe thehehere?!” 

“Because you were kicking me!”

“I dihihihidn’t mehehehean tohohoho!”

“Oh yeah, sure you didn’t,” Polites gave a playful eye roll, even though he knew Odysseus couldn’t see him. He then went back to tickling his back, this time using his knuckles to run along the backs of his ribs, knowing how well that method works. 

“BY THEHEHEHE GOHOHOHODS- POHOHOHOLITES! NOHOHOT THEHEHERE- NOHOHOT THAHAHAT!”

Polites smiled proudly. “Just be quiet and laugh for like 5 seconds!”

“ONETWOTHREEFOURFIHIHIVE!”

“Oh don’t be such a smart ass!”

The captain’s laughter was much deeper than his friend’s, though not nearly deep as Eurylicus. His laughter was constantly broken up by gasps which eventually turned more squeaky, gasping enough air to let out short screams whenever a particularly sensitive spot was found. Safe to say it was one of Polites’ favourite sounds. 

When he finally snapped out of his thoughts, he then remembered why he started tickling Odysseus in the first place.

He slowed his tickling down to gentle tracing along the King’s lower back, allowing him to catch his breath but still keep a consistent stream of giggles flowing out of his mouth. The sudden switch in intensity caused a snort to come out of the latter, making the optimist giggled, “and you called me Mr. Piggy! I’ve noticed that you tend to say things to me that also apply to yourself.”

“Ohohoho behehe quihihiet!” Said captain giggled out, letting out another snort and a few gasps as he caught his breath.

“So.. do you feel better now?”

“W-whahahat?”

“Well that was why I started tickling you! To get your head out of the dumps! No point if it didn’t work,”

“I wahahas fihihine behefore Yohohou tihihickled me!” Odysseus lied. He didn’t know why, but something about him didn’t want his best friend to know that something was bothering him. Maybe because he didn’t wanna burden him? Well, whatever the reason, Polites stopped his tickling for a second.

“Y’know, I wouldn’t be lying in your position.” Odysseus swore he felt his heart drop when he felt Polites roll up his shirt. Now feeling the cold air against his back and the same pokey grass on his feet now on his stomach, he began to backtrack and desperately pull at his pinned hands.

“Heyheyhey- NO! WAIT! I’m sohorry! I lied! I wahas upsehet, but I feel behetter! I prohomise! Poholi, dohohon’t!” 

“Jeez, Cap, I’m not gonna kill you!”

“You might!”

Polites giggled at the captain’s quip, placing his hand on the middle of his now bare back. “But thank you for being honest, that’s already a step closer to greeting the world with open arms!”

“Yeheah yeah, open arms and all, but if you’re really thankful then Yohou’ll lehet mehe go!” Odysseus tried to bite back his growing giggles, but the hand on his back made him wanna twitch, even though it wasn’t tickling him! God, now he really did feel what he did to Polites.

Polites didn’t like the dismissive tone in his friend’s words. “Oh sweet Odysseus, when will you learn that sometimes you need to be quiet?” Polites sighed, playful disappointment clear in his voice as he leaned down while taking in a breath of air. 

Again, before Ody could say anything, Polites blew a huge raspberry on the small of his back, using his hands to squeeze his sides and occasionally scribble up to his ribs. 

Odysseus screamed into the grassy floor, but it didn’t do much to stop the hysterical giggles from pouring out of his mouth. Tears of laughter started to grow in his eyes as Polites continued to blow raspberry after raspberry, until one landed on the backs of his ribs.

“POHOHOLITEHEHEHES! NAHAHOHOHO! plehehehehease- STOHOHOHOP! IHI SAHAHAID SOHOHORRY!” Odysseus continued to kick his feet on the ground, the feeling of the grass no longer bothering him due to it now being compared to the torment on his back. “I’msorryI’msorryI’msorry- IM SOHOHORRY!” 

Polites took a break from the raspberries to laugh as he gave some more scribbles over the length of Ody’s back. “Relax, Ody! I know you’re sorry, I forgive you! I’m not actually upset. Gods, Ody, you of all people should know by now that I wouldn’t tickle you if I was mad at you!” He said. Sensing that Odysseus was reaching his limit, he slowed his hands to a stop and got off of him, pulling his shirt back down in the process.

Odysseus turned back over as soon as he was able to, cringing when he felt how hot his face was. 

“Do you feel better now?” Polites asked, joining his friend by laying down on the ground.

“…maybealittle.” Odysseus quickly mumbled, surprised when Polites gasped.

“‘Only a little’?! No, I did not go through all of that effort to cheer you up, just for you to, one, not thank me, and two, for it just to work ‘only a little’!”

“‘All that effort”, yeah I bet it was so difficult on you when you tickle me to literal tears.” 

“Well, I guess it wasn’t that hard.” Polites teased, earning a well deserved shove from his friend. “But I got tickled too, if you haven’t forgotten!”

Odysseus chuckled. “Oh trust me, I didn’t forget.” Now it was his turn to tease as he poked his friend’s stomach, causing Polites to squeak and curl his legs into himself. 

“Hey! I can still get you back you know-”

“Welcome”

A hushed voice came from all around them, cutting off whatever Polites was going to say back to Odysseus.

The latter quickly got up off the ground, grabbing his sword from his belt and aiming it threateningly in all directions, the weapon making a satisfying “shing” noise. 

“Stay back!” He ordered, scanning the shadows for any sights of the creature, well, creatures.

“Stay back, stay back.” The voices returned. It was almost like they were whispering, but they could still clearly be heard over all of the usual sounding animals of the forest.

Polites got up, hiding slightly behind his friend as he spoke up, “my friend, greet the word with open arms.” He just had to take the opportunity to hold his side, not doing anything, just resting there. Threateningly. 

The gentle reminder made Odysseus soften a bit, but only a little. And the hand on his side took him aback. Gods, Polites really couldn't read the room sometimes. “We’re only here for food,” he informed the creatures, slightly gentler this time.

Apparently not as gentle as he thought as he felt a squeeze to his side as the creatures repeated his words back at him. After a short gasp, he looked back to his comrade just to be met with a stern look. He turned back to the bushes surrounding them. “Six-hundred friends are waiting for us to show our faces.” 

He heard the creature repeat the word “food” a few times, sensing them coming closer from behind the soldiers. He whirled around to face them. “Stay back, I’m warning y-OU!” This time a small yelp could be heard from the king as Polites squeezed his side again, “Polites, what in Hades are you doing.”

“Open arms, Odysseus.” Polites said, as if he was scolding a small child, “trust me on this, okay?”

Odysseus didn’t say anything back to him, just giving a huff of annoyance as he turned back to the task at hand. “If we don’t get back safely, my men will turn this place into blazes.” he felt Polites ready his hand to squeeze his side again, but Odysseus cut him off, “how am I supposed to say that gently, Polites.” 

“I don’t know! But threatening people isn’t greeting them-“

“-with open arms, I know!” Odysseus said, annoyance clear in his voice. 

“Odysseus, please. Don’t you trust me?” 

Now the captain felt bad. So he sighed and searched for better wording as he turned back to look around him at the… animals? around them. “We… uh… hope we don’t need to do that. But could you… lend us some of your food…” he looked back at Polites and was met with an encouraging smile, “… please.”

Polites would have hugged his friend because of how proud he was of him. Before he could do that, however, a few creatures came forward, bringing a basket of some odd looking fruit in front of the pair and dropping it on the ground in front of them.

“Here you go!”

Polites’ smile grew when he saw the cute faces of the creatures. “See, Ody? This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms!” The optimist finally let go of Ody’s sides to immediately bend down to greet as many fuzzy creatures as he could, all of them engulfing him in a huge dog-pile like hug.

Odysseus huffed out the biggest sigh of relief as he put his sword away. He knew Polites means well, but he’s going to need to talk to him about what just happened and tell him about times and places for goofing off. And that’s going to be an embarrassing conversation… 

However, for the time being, he let his friend laugh freely as some of the creatures swept him away in some sort of crowd-surf thing.

Ody bent down to pick up a fruit, cracking it open over his knee. Wait… why was the fruit glowing..?

------------------------------------------------

Wait… why was the fruit glowing..?

Odysseus looked around for some kind of answer. He didn’t have to look far, as he found a glowing pond surrounded by the fuzzy little creatures. There were some Lilly-pads floating on the water’s surface, sprouting the same fruit he was holding.

This reminded him of something he read about with Athena. Something about the fruits being extremely dangerous, trapping whoever eats them in a bliss-like dream… just for the rest of eternity.

“See Odysseus? This life is amazing when we greet it with open arms! Whatever we face, we’ll be fine if we’re leading from the heart,” Polites shouted from his spot on the creatures, as he brought the fruit closer to his mouth to take a bite, “No matter the place, we can light up the world, and here’s where to start! Say it with me, Ody, greet the world with-”

Odysseus quickly ran over and grabbed his wrist, pulling the fruit away from Polites’ mouth. The action pulled his friend off the creatures as well. “My friend! I wish that I could say that I agree,” Odysseus brought the fruit up to show Polites his observation, “but look at the way this fruit is glowing, and filled with glowing seeds.”

Polites’ expression turned worried as he looked at the fruit in his own hands. He cracked it open on his knee, like how Odysseus just did, and saw that his fruit was glowing as well.

“It’s a Lotus, it controls your mind and never lets you free.” The captain explained, pointing at the glowing pond. He dropped the fruit back into the pond. “That’s what we get with open arms.” He finished, walking away from Polites and deciding to try and climb up a tree that appeared to have some apples on it.

Polites, however, was crushed. How could these adorable little creatures want them to be mind-controlled? He wasn’t gonna give up. He had a point to prove, he wasn’t going to let Odysseus win this argument. He had to show him that he needs to let loose sometimes. 

In one last attempt, he bent down towards the small creatures that were gathered around his feet. “Lotus Eaters, I’d like to show my friend that kindness is brave. Could you tell me where there’s other food to eat?” 

“The cave!” 

“A cave!” Polites exclaimed, a wide smile on his face as he turned around to shout up the tree at his friend, “They’re saying there’s a cave where we can feast!” 

“Uh-huh… and what does the gave have? More lotus?” Ody sassed, attempting to balance on a branch to reach an apple.

Polites gave no mind to his friend’s snarkiness, turning back to the Lotus Eaters, speaking purposefully louder so that his hard-headed captain can hear him from his spot in the tree, “And… where do we sail to find this food-filled cave?”

“East! That way!” The Lotus Eaters responded, pointing in the general direction of a separate island.

“Thank you!” Polites couldn’t be more smug. And Odysseus heard it in his voice. Oh gods, this is gonna be a long day, he thought as he finally came down from the tree, but I’ll let him have this one.

“Welcome!”

A surprised giggle snapped Odysseus’ attention back over to his friend. A smile creeped his way onto his features as he witnessed whatever Lotus Eaters Polites was talking to covered him in one giant hug. He leaned on his spot on the tree as he noticed how the fuzzy little creatures climbed on his shoulders to give his face a hug. 

That’s when Polites shrieked. “W-Wait! Friehends!” He squealed as he attempted to bite back his giggles, his face forming an adorable, wobbly smile. His attempts were fruitless though, as some more of the Lotus Eaters gathered, now some going under his shirt to nuzzle into his stomach and his sides, also climbing on top of his knees. Not again, not again!!!

Finding it hard to stay in the crouched position, Polites sat down, now fully giggling as he tried to gently remove some of the Lotus Eaters surrounding him. “G-Guhuhuys- Wahahait! Th- ahahaha! Thahat tihihickles!” Polites couldn’t hold back his laughter as the Eaters clung onto his body, refusing to let his take them off.

Odysseus chuckled as more eaters swarm around Poli, making him giggle out “nonono”s before falling into hysterical giggles once more. That’s when he finally put the pieces together. “Wait a minute… Are they attracted to your laughter?” The captain couldn’t be more amused as he began to walk over to the scene. He sat down beside his friend, “Is that why you guys came here to find us? You heard Polites laughing when I tickled him?” 

“Yeah, yeah!” 

“We like!” 

“Laugh nice!”

Odysseus let out another laugh as Polites’ blush darkened at the words the Lotus Eaters were repeating. “Oh this is golden! Polites, I never want you to ever complain about your laugh ever again!” Ody said, watching as Polites shook his head, his cheeks turning a shade darker.

Suddenly he squealed again, kicking his legs out. “AH- N-NOhohot thehehere! OHOHODY! Ohohody, theehehey’re gehehetting my hihihihips!” Polites narrated. He was torn from grabbing at the creatures and keeping his hands away to not risk hurting them, making his hands to make this adorable flapping motion. And holy shit, Odysseus couldn’t stop laughing at him. Not to mention the annoyingly dragged out “awww” he let out in the middle of his laughter.

“Dohohohon’t lahahahaugh! Ihihit’s nohohot fuhuhuhuhunny!” Polites whined, shrieking again when the Lotus Eaters resumed the nuzzling on his stomach, “OHOHODYSSEHEHEUS, HEHEHELP!” 

“Oh, well, if you insist, I will help!” Odysseus said as he pushed down on Polites’ shoulders, making him lie down. He then removed the Lotus Eater on his stomach.

“T-Thahahank YOHOU!” Polites was filled with false hope before Odysseus placed his claw-shaped hand on his stomach, shaking it into his stomach, just like he did earlier.

“I’ll help them tickle you! You know, you’re always so smug when you've thought you won something. Maybe you should remember how ticklish you are before you decide to show attitude to your captain” Odysseus laughed again as he started to drag his hand in circles around Polites’ stomach, relishing in the way the switch in tactics made him shriek before falling into hysterical cackles once more.

“OHOHOH FUHUHUHUCK YOHOHOU! *snort* ehehEHEHAHA” Polites yelled as he covered his profusely blushing face with his hands.

“Wow. Really. After I just said to not show attitude to me.”

“SUHUHUCK AHAHA DIHIHICK, *snort* YOHOHOU BIHIHITCH!”

“*gasp*! Polites! Such a dirty mouth you have today! Now I’m not sorry for putting you through this again.”

“Nonono- NOHO WAHAHAHAIT! *snort* OHOHOHODY!”

The Lotus Eaters found themselves to be completely entranced by the sound of Polites’ bright laughter, still being able to be heard from behind his hands. They wanted to make the kind man laugh like how his friend was, so they copied Odysseus’ movements, and all started to scratch at their designated spots, as if they were digging a hole in the ground.

However, they didn’t realize how unbelievably sharp their claws are. While it was effective, the giggly “ohohow…” Polites let out didn’t go unnoticed by Odysseus. He decided to stop his scratching to focus on informing the Lotus Eaters of the problem.

“Nono, not like that! Your tiny claws are hurting him!” There was a collective gasp from the creatures as they all stopped scratching, backing away from Polites, giving him a break.

“Oh no!”

“No hurt, nice man!”

“We no mean to!”

“No, don’t worry! We know you didn’t mean to.” Odysseus said quickly, turning to his still giggling friend to make sure he wasn’t hurt. When he got a weak thumbs up, he turned back to the eaters, “Here. Why don’t you guys tickle him like… this!”

Ody then started to rub the back of his hand along Polites’ stomach, using his other hand to gently run along his sides. He grinned as his friend tensed up, letting out anticipatory giggles as Odysseus was quite literally teaching them how to tickle him. Gods, this was so embarrassing.

There was another collective sound, this time of understanding. One of the Lotus Eaters that was in the dip of Polites’ waist began to rub its body around that little area. Odysseus’ smile grew at the squeal and frantic laughter Polites produced, and at just one Lotus Eater. 

With the nod of approval from Odysseus, the rest of the Lotus Eaters began to copy the movement. Polites let out a combination of a snort and a shriek as he felt as if there were thousands of little fuzzballs all over his body. From behind his knees, over his sides, over his ribs, and (probably the worst ones) around his neck. Frantic, yet bubbly giggles made themselves known as his eyes and nose scrunched from the force of his bright smile.

“Wow, you just can’t take light tickles at all, huh?” Odysseus mused, deciding to add to the feeling again by lightly tracing circles around the giggling man’s bellybutton.

“OHhohoHO MY- EEHEhehehahaha! Shuhuhush!” Polites giggled, short squeaks and hiccups weaving their way in and out of his words, “Ihihits SOHOHoho- AHahaha!” 

“Ticklish? I know! It’s almost like we’re tickling you!” Odysseus didn’t miss the jolt he made when he said the word, “They seem to be having as much fun as you are, Poli.”

“So ticklish!” 

“More laugh! More laugh!”

“Nahahahahohoho!” Polites was going to die there. He was sure of it now. 

That was, unless… he could get these mini tickle monsters to turn on their leader. “Hehe- hahahaha! Hehe’s tihihicklish tohoho! Rehehemehember?”

“Wait, what-”

That was all the captain got out when he saw all of the Lotus Eaters turn to him with hunger in their eyes. He attempted to get up before they all started to rush to him. “nonono- Polites you tr-AITOR!” He shouted as they all pounced on him, knocking him down to the ground once more.

“Thahat’s right, friends! Knohock hihim down!” Polites exclaimed triumphantly. That was easier than I expected, he thought as he pointed towards his friend’s legs. A few of the eaters followed his directions, climbing up Odysseus’ legs.

Odysseus gasped in surprise as his legs shook not to kick the little suckers off of him (what? They’re cute…). “Poholites, IhI’m sorry! Please- gehet them ohohoff!”

The plea would have sounded genuine to anyone who wasn’t Polites, but he knew Odysseus, and saw the excited glint in his eyes. He didn’t actually mind this little revenge stunt, and he knew his friend knew that. That sure as hell wasn’t gonna stop him from begging for his life.

“After what yohou just put mehe through? Noho way!” Polites giggled, happy that some of the Lotus Eaters already began to crawl into Odysseus’ shirt to rub their bodies against his ribs. He saw is friend about to snap his arms down, but refrain from following through, still not wanting to accidentally crush one of the fluffy creatures. Although he was finding it a lot more difficult than his best friend. So… Polites decided to help him out.

“Whahahahat ahare you- HEY!” Odysseus protested when he felt Polites grab his hands, pinning them above his head under his knees, “Whahahat the- N-noho fahahair! I never heheld you down!”

“Yeah, you’re right, but I don’t want you to hurt them!” Polites grinned, bringing his hand down to lightly tap his nose. He giggled at the way Odysseus’s nose scrunched up, before he quickly began to tickle his neck. 

Odysseus snorted at the action, trying to tilt his head from one side or the other, just tying to block his friend’s hands, but being useless as Polites just tickled both sides of his neck. “Whahahat mahahakes yohohou think I wohohohould huhuhuhurt thehehem?”

Polites gasped, speeding up his tickling on Odysseus’s neck, and he honest to Gods squealed. He smiled widely as he said, “Aww so you do like them!” Polites then looked down at the pets, all still surrounding Odysseus’s legs and torso. He then got an idea, stopping his tickling for a moment, giving Odysseus a chance to breathe at least a little. “Can we keep one as a pet?”

Odysseus, still giggling at the feeling of the Lotus Eaters nuzzling into him, shook his head. “Wahahat? Absolutely not!” He said, as if the answer was obvious. What, he didn’t really expect him to say yes, did he?

Polites just sighed and shook his head, knowing his friend was gonna say no. He smirked, then shrugged, and Ody did not like the look in his eyes. “Okay, then…” the younger said, before addressing the little Lotus Eaters, “watch out, you guys!” 

He waited for all of the curious creatures to back away from Odysseus before he got off of him, and rolled him over so he laid down on his stomach, surprisingly easy. 

The captain’s eyes widened to saucers, and he quickly began to try and get up. “Polites- no!” was all he managed to get out before Polites pushed him back down to the grass.

“Can we keep one?” He asked again, as if Ody’s mind would change.

“No!”

“Alright, suit yourself,” Polites grinned impossibly wider. He then waved for the Lotus Eaters to come back, patting Odysseus’s back lightly, “come on, friends! Let’s convince him!”

The Lotus Eaters seemed to grin as well, wasting no time to scurry over to the captain and climb onto his back. Polites smirks as he hears Odysseus try to reason with him, his words growing more giggly with anticipation.

“Polites! Polites, let's not get too a-ahahead of ohohourselves- Juhust tell thehem to- to stahahahap!” He tries to sound commanding, he really does, but he also knows that this is Polites he’s talking to. Plus, it’s really hard to sound serious when you’re giggling like a child. “You’ve tihihickled mehehe already, dahahahamnit!”

Polites just smirked, ruffling Odysseus’ hair. “Awh, I did? Well, that didn’t seem to bother you before, now did it.” He teased, before turning his attention back to the little creatures on Ody’s back. “Okay friends, follow my lead.”

Odysseus dissolved into embarrassingly loud giggles when Polites gently took two of his fingers and lightly tickled the middle of his back. This seemed to catch the Eater’s attentions, and they began speaking.

“Oooh, grumpy man laugh nice too!”

“No grumpy anymore!”

The near-sighted man couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that they referred to Odysseus as “grumpy man”, hearing Odysseus’ groan of embarrassment was just the cherry on top. Then the Eaters listened, and began to gently scratch at his back. 

“ShihiHIHIHIT! NONONOHOHohoho! Pohohohlites- AHahahaha! Get thehehem off, gehehet them ohohohoff!!” The shriek the king emitted was so loud, it almost scared the creatures off of him. But oh Gods, it made Polites cackle. And after the initial shock, the creatures made a very happy noise.

“Grumpy man happy now!” they all said in unison, as if cheering that they managed to put a bright smile on Odysseus’ face, despite he’s been laughing for the past two minutes.

Polites just smiled, pulling his hand away as the Lotus Eaters seem to have him covered. He instead crawls over to lay beside Odysseus on his side, smiling with his friend as he rests his head on his hand. “Soooo… did you change your mind yet?”

Odysseus blushed some more and turned his face away from his friend, not wanting him to see him so embarrassed. But he still managed to shout a “NO!” through his laughter. Polites just chuckled and moved to lay down on his back and still talk to his captain casually, as if he’s not being tickled by like 10 little creatures. “Come on, Ody! Let’s take some back to the crew! They would love them! I know Elpenor and Perimedes would, anyways.”

Odysseus still shook his head, not wanting to cave in. He swore he couldn’t live with even one of these laughter-hungry creatures on the ship, let alone a few of them! But after around 30 seconds, one of the Lotus Eaters began to lightly scratch behind his ribs, and he gasped and fell into very loud laughter. He shoved his face into the grass, but it did nothing to muffle his laughter.

Polites was surprised he even lasted 10 seconds before he weakly tapped onto the grass. “FINEFINE WHAHAHAHATEVER- WEHEHE CAN TAHAHAHAKE SOME- JUST MAHAHAHAHAKE THEM STOHOHOHOHOP!” he shouted through laughter. 

And that was enough for Polites to laugh victoriously, springing back up to his feet and bend down near Odysseus’s back. “That’s what I thought!” He couldn’t help but stick his tongue out at Odysseus, even though the captain couldn’t see him. He then began to take the Eaters off of Ody’s back, “Come on, friends. That’s enough tickling now.”

The small monsters made a sound of disappointment, but began to back away from Odysseus. The king began to catch his breath, still giggling as the Lotus Eaters protested.

“But we make grumpy man happy!”

“Yeah! We like grumpy man now!”

“Why stop, nice man?”

Polites chuckled again at how they would refer to both of them. But he decided to humour them, bending down closer to the ground he can talk to them while Odysseus recovered. “My friends, grumpy man laughed too much. He’s too ticklish to be tickled anymore.”

“Hey!” Odysseus protested, now turning back over and still giggling, “I at least lasted way longer than you.”

“Oh please, just barely. You couldn’t even last a minute with them on your back.” Polites shot back, grinning.

Odysseus just rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. He then felt something crawling on him, and his eyes widened again as he saw it was one of the Lotus Eaters. “Nonono- not again-” He sputtered out, before he cut himself off. The Eater laid down on his chest, tilting its head back to look at Odysseus with this almost smile etched onto his face.

The taller of the two let out a loud “AWWWW” at the sight, scooting closer to them. “See, Ody? They love you now! All you had to do was let your guard down.” He said, of course connecting this moment back to their previous discussion. He gently scratched the Lotus Eater’s stomach, smiling as it lets out a happy humming sound.

Odysseus rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help but feel a fondness growing for the creatures. He really couldn’t deny it anymore, the little suckers were… adorable.

“Okay, okay. I guess they’re cute,” he looked at Polites, chuckling at how smug he looks from his admission, “we can take two. I’m taking this one.”

The younger chuckles, looking around at the creatures, looking for one he wants to take, “I knew they would grow on you, you know.” 

He then felt a gentle nuzzling against his knee, and he immediately knew that’s the one he wanted to take. “Awww, aren’t you the cutest!” He was borderline baby-talking. He scooped up the little creature and brought it to his face, nuzzling it with his cheek, “you’re coming back to the ship! Yes you are!”

Odysseus scoffed out a chuckle, finally standing up and placing his Lotus Eater on his shoulder. “You are such a softie. How am I even friends with you.” He joked before he offered Polites his hand, who just chuckled and took it, pulling himself up.

“Because you aren’t as Captain Stone-Faced-Grumpy-Pants as you think you are,” He teased, gently shoving his best friend. 

Odysseus chuckled and rolled his eyes. He was about to respond before he saw the Lotus Eater in Polites’ hands had a little leaf on it. He pointed at it, gasping. “You can’t take that one! That one’s the little monster who got my ribs!” He exclaimed, pointing at the creature. 

But all Polites did was laugh and respond with an even more enthusiastic tone of voice, “then I’m absolutely taking this one!”

Odysseus huffed with another amused eye roll and looked back at the Lotus Pond, thinking of something. He walked over to the pond, which makes Polites kinda confused. “Captain? What are you doing..?”

The king took out his water container, dumping the remaining water out onto the grass. He then filled the container with the glowing water (he assumed it’s Lotus Juice) while responding, “This might come in handy. Just say goodbye to your friends, we’re going back to the crew to tell them about the cave.”

Polites nodded and turned back to the rest of the Lotus Eaters, waving goodbye. The Lotus Eaters surprisingly waved back.

“Goodbye! We miss you!” they all say in unison, which is only a little scary. But Polites doesn’t think of it, giving the Eaters one last friendly smile before turning around to begin walking back to the ship, Odysseus walking beside him.

It was silent for a few moments, before Polites broke it, him never being one to sit in silence, “Well, I definitely wasn’t expecting so much tickling today.” His comment makes Odysseus laugh, “Didn’t you start this whole thing? It’s all your fault!”

“Hey, it’s not like I’m complaining…”

“Ohh right, forgot you love being tickled.”

“Ah- Hey! I do not love it!” “Polites, I’ve known you for years- nay, decades. You can’t hide shit from me.”

“I thought you didn’t like swearing.”

“I don’t mind it. But me personally, I would never swear at my captain.”

“Okay, okay! I’m sorry, alright?” Polites laughed, shaking his head. He then put his Lotus eater on his head, allowing it to make itself comfortable on his hair. A few more moments pass before Polites speaks up again. “This life is amazing-”

“Polites, I’m gonna punch you if you say that again,” Odysseus threatens with a chuckle. Polites laughed with him, putting his hands up in a mock surrender.

“Fine! But just… I can see in your face, that there is so much guilt inside your heart,” He continued, his tone slightly more serious. Odysseus’ face hardened a little, knowing his friend was right. He couldn’t shake the guilt from a few days ago. He knew he could never forgive himself. He was honestly surprised his men didn’t think any different of him. 

The captain looked at the grass and sighed. He then felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, making him stop walking. Polites stood in front of him, “look at me, Ody.” Odysseus hesitated for a moment before he looked up again, allowing Polites to continue, “why not… replace the guilt, and focus on lighting up the world? And here’s how to start… don’t punch me.”

Odysseus barked out a laugh. “I can start by not punching you?” He mused, just teasing his friend a little more. But he knew what he meant…

“No… well, yes, but that’s not what I meant, stupid,” Polites laughed with his best friend, “You greet the world with open arms. Go on, say it. “Greet the world with open arms”.”

Odysseus sighed. He was sure getting sick of his friend saying the phrase “open arms”. But he still let his words sink in. The king took a deep breath, clearing his mind and focusing on Polites’ way of thinking. He then let himself smile a little, his eyes still full of guilt and sorrow. But it’s a step in the right direction, seeing as he smiled without Polites needing to tickle him.

“Greet the world with open arms…” He repeated, a little slowly, but Polites still smiled. He moved back to his spot beside his friend, patting his back as they begin to walk again, already seeing the ships and some crew members on the shores of the island.