#ler!powder

“Damn it!”

The loud clattering of the wrench echoed off the lab walls, mimicking the man’s frustration. He hadn’t meant to throw it that hard, but…well, he was pissed.

Once again, their prototype had failed. Ekko was almost positive he’d triple-checked their work on the calibrator, but even after hours of work, it had failed. He was left with a useless configuration of metal, a caffeine headache, and a scrap of his will to live.

He was considering throwing the thing off the roof to watch it bounce, but a knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

“Ekko? Everything okay in here?”

The man sighed, flopping down into their nearby armchair. 

He still hadn’t quite grown used to seeing her. Not Jinx, the woman who routinely tries to kill him and his scouts with a smile, but her. Powder, how happy she would’ve been able to be if things hadn’t gone so south that day. What could have been…

Her hand on his shoulder snapped Ekko out of his thoughts.

Right. Normal, functioning people responded to questions they were asked.

“The damn thing’s refusing to work. Can’t even get the calibration to function properly, and I’ve been at it for hours.”

Powder sighed, looking him over. The bags under his eyes were concerningly deep, and his shoulders were tense enough to leave him sore in the morning. “Have you tried taking a break?”

A break? Really? He said he’d been having problems making progress, and she wants him to stop? “And how would that help?”

“You’re killing your brain, Ekko. It’s begging for help by refusing to work.” Powder accentuated her point by tapping the man’s forehead. “I bet it’ll be fine if you just put the pencil down for a bit and do something else.”

Ekko opened his mouth to argue, but she had a point. At the very least, her suggestion was worth a try. “Fine. What should I do?”

“Jeez, you need instructions on how to relax?” she groaned, shaking her head. “You really are far-gone.”

“Just shut up and help me.”

With a playful giggle, Powder grabbed Ekko’s hand. He tried to ignore the slight warmth that bloomed in his chest as she placed his hands on his knees. “Okay, sit like this. I’m gonna try working that disgusting tension outta your shoulders.”

“Shut up.”

“Said that already. Still not happening.”

Ekko’s second snarky retort was cut off by the feeling of her thumbs pressing into his shoulder blades. It hurt a bit, but that was quickly overshadowed by the relief that followed. Oooooh fuck…

“Shit, you’re tense. Like, disturbingly tense. Do you ever relax, genius?” Powder chuckled softly as she spoke, half in disbelief. No wonder he always looked so pissed when he was working—he was probably in a bunch of pain. 

“Yeah, I sleep,” he huffed, though his voice was breathier than normal. The massage practically had him melting into his chair.

Powder scoffed at that, shaking her head. “No you don’t. You pass out from exhaustion at your workbench and consume enough coffee to power a small army.”

“Wow. Don’t hold back or anything,” Ekko chuckled, letting his eyes drift close. The occasional grunt and groan of relief slipped past his lips as her nimble fingers worked the tension from his muscles. He could feel himself drifting, head tilted against the back of the chair. It felt amazing.

Eventually, Powder reached his neck. Her fingers gently prodded the muscles there, searching for tension with quick brushes and pokes. She’d expected some small responses, maybe a hum or a grunt.

What she wasn’t expecting, however, was Ekko to jolt and grab her wrist.

The reaction was obviously instinctual. Ekko’s hand had shot up, and his brows began to furrow as he realized what had happened. He quickly released her wrist, looking away. “Uh...sorry.”

“Everything okay? Did I hurt you?”

The concern in her voice made Ekko groan and run a hand down his face. Of course she had to find that little spot on his neck. “No, I…it’s nothing. Just caught me off guard.”

Powder’s brow quirked, and he knew he was screwed. “No, it’s not nothing. You flinched and went all action-mode on me, Ekko. What did I do?”

She rested her hand on his shoulder, somehow managing to make him feel even worse. How was he supposed to stay collected with those grey-blue eyes staring so expectantly at him?

“It just...kinda tickled, okay? Drop it.”

Powder’s eyes widened, the corner of her mouth quirking up for the briefest of seconds. “Ooooh, okay. Could’a just said that from the beginning,” she teased, lightly punching his shoulder.

Her hands moved back to his shoulders, continuing the massage. Ekko was on alert at that point, flinching a bit as her hands touched down. However, once she continued her gentle ministrations, he quickly drifted back into that hazy, warm, contented headspace.

He had no time to prepare for what came next.

“GAH! N-no, shihihihit!” Ekko jerked in the chair, trying to grab her hands again. Instead, Powder dodged, catching Ekko’s wrists above his head, She used gravity to her advantage, getting the boy savior into a position that he couldn’t really escape from. At least, not when he was so tired.

“No assaulting the masseuse, mister. Let me work my magic.” Powder playfully scolded him, gently futtering the fingers of her free hand along the base of his neck.

“Thihihis ahain’t mahahagic!”

“Heretic,” she scoffed, letting her hand slip down to poke Ekko’s side. Sure enough, she got a nice yelp out of him. “Ooo, here seems pretty tense.”

“G-gehehet ohoff!” Ekko tried to growl through his laughter, though it sounded more like a whine than anything. His already lighter voice was ptiching and cracking as he tried to hold back his reactions.

Powder chuckled, though she did let go of his arms. Once Ekko had brought his arms back down to hug himself, she leaned down on the armrest beside him.

“Shihit…” he huffed, straightening his vest. He and Powder were close, so he wasn’t horribly embarassed. Just...shocked. “Why’d you do that?”

“Well, you’re tense. I’m just trying to help.” Powder rested her head on Ekko’s shoudler. “That would always work when we were kids. You could never stay in a bad mood after some tickles.”

“Don’t— don’t say it like that, Powder.” He looked away, feeling his face heat. Of course she’d remember that. In her timeline, childhood memories like that weren’t tainted, weren’t inacessible. He envied her for that. At least, that version of her.

“Don’t say it like what?” Powder tilted her head, noticing Ekko’s fluster. “Does that still get you? Just the word tickle?”

Instead of responding, the man shoved at her head. Powder laughed as she clutched onto his shoulder, palancing on the armrest.

“Ohokay! I’ll take that as a yes.” Ekko could hear the grin in her voice, even as he stabilized her on the armrest. She caught his gaze, and her expression softened. “Would you...want me to help you relax? I’ll be gentle, promise.”

Ekko sighed, biting the inside of his cheek. Of course she’d ask that; it seemed to be her mission to fluster him as thorughly as possible. But…the offer was tempting. It’d beed a long time since he’d allowed himself to truly relax and have fun with someone he trusted. Hell, it’d been a long time since he’d found someone he truly trusted.

“...fine, whatever.”

“Wait, really?” Powder’s eyes widened, a smile of excited disbelief lighting up her features. “You’re actually gonna let me help you?”

“Just do it before I change my mind,” he huffed, shoving her head off his shoulder. He chose to ignore how happy seeing that excitement made him.

“Aye-aye, captain.” Powder gave him a playful little salute before swinging over the armrest, straddling his lap. The way his cheeks immediately darkened made her giggle. “Arms away from your chest, please.”

“I hate you…” Ekko huffed, though he did what she asked. He forced his arms out to the sides, holding each armrest tightly. She’d already established a silent challegne with him: don’t move your arms.

“No you don’t.”

Powder wasted no time, immeadiatley spidering her fingers up and down Ekko’s sides. She got a shocked grunt out of the man, a few giggles slipping through the cracks. He wasn’t expecting her to go all out at first.

“C’mon, stop hiding your laugh. The whole point of this is to relax, not murder your diaphram.”

He wanted to play hard ball? Well, two could play that game. Remembering childhood tickle fights, Powder shot her hands up to Ekko’s ribs, scratching between the bones in a way she knew would have him in stitches.

“SHHHIHIHIT! POWDEHEHEHER!” Ekko jolted in the chair, his composure immediately shattering. He did manage to keep his arms on the chair, though he was white-knuckling the poor upholstry.

“There we go,” she sung, clearly proud of herself for breaking him. The point of her silliness was to help him realx, though, so she backed off his ribs. Instead, her wiggling fingers wandered down to his sides, gently scribbling and kneading the soft skin shrouding his muscles.

“Y-youhuhuhu chehehater!” Ekko wriggled beneath her in the chair, feeling like a kid again. When was the last time he’d let himself truly laugh like that? Have fun like that? As embarassing as it was, he was enjoying himself.

His accusation got a playful scoff out of Powder. “Not cheating, just good strategy. You’re the one who tried to macho trhough it.”

“Ihihi wahas nohohot— GYAHA!” Once again, Ekko’s poor underarms were randomly largeted. He lurched forward, though he did manage to keep one of his hands on the armrest. His head rested on Powder’s shoulder; what little energy he’d had after working on the calibration had been spent.

“Don’t lie to me, Ekko. You were literally grunting.”

While Powder would’ve loved to bully Ekko further, she truly did want to help him relax. She moved up to his neck, gently dragging her nails over the surprisingly soft skin there.

“Th-thahahat wahahas unnehehecessahary…” The man burried his face in Powder’s neck, giggling away. He’d given up on saving face, instead wrapping his arms around Powder. She was warm, and it was instictual to hold on to someone when he felt vulnerable.

Powder was slightly surprised by his clinginess, but that shock quickly melted into adoration. He was acting so cute, and she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t making her feel anything for him.

The gentle tickling continued until Ekko was practically limp against Powder, giggling his head off as he held her. She finally stopped, patting the man’s back a few times to let him know she was done. “Alright, no more. You still with me?”

“Shihihit…” He was a bit out of breath, feeling giddy and light after the silly moment. It was realy nice to simply have Powder close to him, in his arms. Apparently, tickling made him soft.

“Okay, you’re being really cute right now,” she hummed, starting to scratch his back. Of course, he had no choice but to lean into the touch. “And look at that. Almost no tension left in you. Never doubt me, wonder boy.”

“Whatever,” Ekko mumbled into her shoulder, letting his eyes close for a moment. He was so comfortable…damn it. “Back to work in twenty?”

“I’m…” Ekko sighed as Powders expression turned to unamusement.

The boy have pulled Powder aside into a room, he was planning to tell her that he was not from her dimension. The thing is, he couldn’t get past the part of actually telling her. He stumbled and beat around the bush, and Powder had began to grow frustrated.

“Spit it out Ek!” She threw her hands over her face. Ekko paused at the nickname, quickly shaking it off.

“I’m not your Ekko!” He said, finally he crossed his arms and examined Powder for a reaction.

Powder stared, before bursting into laughter, “Thahat- That’s a good one Ekko!” She held her stomach, looking back up at the white haired boy, but he wasn’t laughing.

“You’re serious? What does that mean?” She asked, it didn’t make sense, what did he mean by not her Ekko? He WAS Ekko!

Ekko nodded, “I am not from here, I’m from another dimension where-..” he froze, should he tell her? Or should he leave it at that?

“Another dimension?” Powder raised her voice, clearly angry, “I don’t like plaything these games Ekko, is this about one of your dreams again?” Ekko jumped at the sudden change in her tone.

“W-what?! No! Look-” He threw his hands in front of himself, trying frantically to explain. He spouted information about Hextech and the firelights, how the under city wasn’t and hadn’t been the same and how his own family ended up leaving. Powder could tell this ‘dream’ had taken a toll on him.

“It’s not real! Look, I’m still here!”

“No! It wasn’t a dream!… believe me!” He begged, looking into Powders eyes, she always had that same pouty look, it was creepy.

Powder sat back on the bed next to Ekko, “If I were to believe it is real, you won’t make fun of me?” She gave in, and Ekko lit up.

“Yes! I mean- No! I won’t make fun of you!” Powder giggled, but took in everything Ekko told her.

“Huh..”

“Yeah..” Ekko laid back, holding his hands over his face, Powder watching still a bit astonished. As Ekko fell back on the bed, part of his dapper suit rode up against his shirt, exposing a bit of his stomach.

Powder instantly noticed, deciding if she should do what she really wanted to do. It couldn’t hurt? But how good will ‘Ekko’ take it? What if he gets mad? I’m sure it will be fine!

The blue haired girls swiped a finger across his exposed stomach, giving her the perfect reaction. Ekko jumped up holding his stomach, he shouted his confusion.

“WhaT! What was that!” He shot her a look of surprise, as Powder laughed.

“Your still sensitive Ekko,” She sighed, her expression softening as she examined her next victim.

“W-what?” He watched as the girls face change to mischief. Powder pounced on him, pushing his shoulders down and sitting on his lap.

“Ticklish Ekko!” She pronounced with a ‘I thought you knew this’ tone.

“Tickling? No, no, I’m not ticklish!” He protested, holding onto her wrist.

“Uh? Yeah, you are!” Powder grinned as she quickly broke the hold Ekko had on her wrist, shooting down to squeeze his sides. The response was instant.

“GahAHAhaa!! Jihi-Pohohowder!!” He threw his head back giggling, quickly using his hands to cover his mouth.

“Oh no! I don’t think so! Let me hear that laugh!” She teased, moving higher to his ribs.

“W-wahahHAHAit! Nohoho!” His laughter raised an octave and became more frantic. Powder couldn’t help herself but to giggle along with him.

She admired his laughter, it wasn’t her Ekkos laughter but it was still nice to hear. Ekko squirmed from beneath her, this sudden new sensation he hadn’t felt is years all hitting him at once. Sure he did lie, he WAS in fact ticklish, but he never thought of it as being insanely ticklish.

He remembered as a kid back when he would hang around The Last Drop, Vi would sometimes give him a poke to get his attention, and Powder would blow in his ears to startle him, but he hadn’t thought of that since… since he last saw Vi.

“Gosh, you still have the same spots as my Ekko” Powder mumbled, thinking for a second giving Ekko a break.

“Y-yohou! F-f-fuhacking evil!” Ekko panted holding a finger to Powders face.

“Evil? You haven’t seen what I’m about to do to you next..” Powder sang, biting her lip to hold back her giddiness as she watched Ekkos face become confused.

“W-what…” he questioned himself, panic setting in, what did she mean next? I thought that was it?!

As quick as Jinx was, it felt like Powder was faster, darting for the spot between Ekkos ribs and armpits, leaning down and blowing soft air and whispering into Ekkos ear and along his neck. The boy bursted into shocked laughter before falling into cackles.

“FUHUHUHAHAHACK!!! JIHIHIN- GAHAHAHAA! P-P-POHOHOWDEHER!!” He tried scrunching his shoulders to block her out but it only cause her to become closer.

“Jinx? Oh please you’re confusing me with somebody else!” She teased blowing air along his neck, causing an adorable squeak and snort to come out of the boys mouth.

“GAHAHA-snort- AHAHA! WAHAHAIT!” Ekko pleaded, trying to use his strength to push Powders shoulders, but also trying to protect the spot Powders had been torturing.

“God, you still have that same old echo in your laugh,” Powder sighed, still whispering into his ear causing an ungodly squeak to come out of the poor boy.

The space bunned girl decided to let up, slowly loosening up of her tickling but still staying close to his neck.

“P-pohoOWDEHER!” He snorted as another wave of air hit his ears.

“Ok ok ok!” She backed off her hands, falling into a hug with Ekko on the bed, neither of them bothered to push each other off.

As Ekko processed what had just happened, giggling freely over the shoulder of Powder, he gently wrapped his arms around the girl laying on top of him.

“You know, ‘Ekko’, you’re very similar to my Ekko.” Powder admitted, speaking softly.

“How did you know?” Ekko said sleepily

“Know? Know what?” Powder sat up a bit to look at the boys face, flushed a bit from laughing and smiling.

“Know where to-… to get me?” He sighed and gave a goofy laugh showing embarrassment.

“Oh Ekko,” Powder giggled back “I’ve tickled you loads of times, I learn.” She laid her chin back into his shoulder, whispering the last 2 words.

Ekko snickered scrunching his neck, “Maybe in your dimension, in mine nobody’s tickled me in the past 10 years.”

Powder paused, it made her a bit sad to know that Ekko had never play fought in his dimension, let alone tickle fights.

“Yeah?” Powder replied, “it-it’s fun, I mean, I didn’t necessarily hate it…” Ekko mumbled, waiting for Powders reaction.

“…” silence filled the room. Crap, was that not the right thing to say? He was just thinking out loud, he didn’t really mean it! Ekko panicked thinking of ways he could back himself up or explain himself when he felt a soft touch to his sides.

“You liked it, huh?” Powder teased, spidering against his sides.

“Pohohowder!!”

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

It was a regrettable choice on Silco's part, buying a fresh new set of oil crayons for Jinx so that she could preoccupy herself, whilst he got his work done in (mostly) blissful silence, with the occasional smoke break to relieve some tension.

However, it all went South quite rapidly as the new leader of Zaun took note of pink and blue scribbling all over the walls in just the next hour. Turned out, Jinx loved to draw, but she would much rather use anything 𝘣𝘶𝘵 paper. Which is what led up to her officially crossing the line around five days later. Clearly, the little devil had grown very comfortable around Silco, and thought of no repercussions when she scrawled various patterns and shapes all across Silco's ashtray.

Which, to be fair, he dismissed after a few minutes of staring at it, figuring that if he let her get it all out of her system, there'd be no more vandalism of his personal belongings. Oh how wrong he was.

And on this day, five days later, Silco came to that truth very angrily. She had doodled all over his jacket!! That was it, he didn't care if she was still just a child, such acts could not go unpunished. That afternoon, after scaring off a few smug underlings that dared to scoff a chuckle at the unwilling alterations of his jacket, he had Sevika drop Jinx off in his office, making sure he wouldn't be interrupted until his next meeting a couple hours later.

A sigh, the first sign of his disappointment in the small girl innocently gazing up at him. "Jinx." He started, standing up from his desk chair and walking around to where she was sitting. "I don't suppose you have some kind of reasonable explanation for the pure disrespect towards my reputation and fearful appearance?"

Looking at Silco like he was speaking another language, Jinx tilted her head to one side in confusion, those weirdly modest eyes boring into him and eliciting another short sigh, mainly to keep away any consideration about giving in to her pouty little expression. That was weird, why did he even get that feeling? Whatever.

He shook off the thought, and instead brought some light to what he was going on about, outstretching a pointed finger to the jacket that was slung over the back of his chair, pink and blue lightning bolts and monkey faces in crystal clear view for little Jinx. At the revelation of finding out her actions were wrong, her face contorted into a more irritated and obvious pout, looking to the side as she huffed through her nose.

Good, she knew she was caught. Though, Silco was expecting more of a fear response, instead of subtle arrogance. He had assumed this would work out in the same way that it would when he gave a scolding to some random poor criminal that worked for him. But no, Jinx instantly took the path of not seeing what she had done incorrectly.

Yes, previously he had just offered an honest lecture whenever she acted out a little. However, she wasn't messing with his stuff at that time. Now it was personal, not so easy to brush off.

"Oh you cannot be serious. You know you did this, and yet you don't even care to be guilty. Why's that, hm?"

"..Ugh, I didn't think you'd mind so much, Mr. Silco. I mean, you liked my additions to your ashtray and your walls! Hell, you 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 didn't say anything when I accidentally blew up to the paperwork that was being delivered to your office the other day!" Jinx argued, not even realising what she had just admitted to. It had been a pretty damn significant pile of contracts and work sheets that was lost to flames.

That.was.𝘩𝘦𝘳?! Oh if he wasn't mad before, Silco was definitely fuming now. He held no concerns for her young age and tendency to make silly mistakes, that was unacceptable. "What?! You were the one that burnt up dozens of highly important papers?! Oh for ffff- do you even feel any remorse for that?!!"

The girl in question was taken off guard by his lack of knowledge on the fact that it was her fault. Opening and closing her mouth in an attempt to say something, she instead wound up staying silent with that pout from before, a little bit guilty now, but refusing to show weakness. After a few moments, however, she found her voice again, and took the first chance to use it.

"Yeah well, it was an accident, I didn't mean to! I'm sure your old fart assistant, Sevika, can get you replacements for the paperwork." She countered, getting a bit angry now. She was tired of accusations against her. Oh, 'Jinx is always the one messing up', 'she can't be trusted with 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨'. Well she was having none of that anymore.

Silco wasn't having any of this either, his frustration only rising to dangerous levels at her backtalk. Maybe he could forgive her for the jacket at this point, but that stack of information and deals was 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦. At least, as far as he knew. "No, no she can not get me replacements! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I was 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 that I could harmlessly test out my new monkey bomb on the wall of an alleyway! But stupid Sevika passed by just as I threw it, wasn't my fault, you don't have to be so 𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 at me for an accident!"

"𝙅𝙞𝙣𝙭!!"

His voice was fully raised, Jinx having stood up from her seat by this point. She never responded well to yelling, it either scared her half to death or made her feral. In this case, I believe it's safe to assume the latter. Considering just a few seconds after Silco had shouted her name, she began building up some kind of territorial roar in dominance. In an instant, Jinx pounced on her new makeshift parent, both of them tumbling down onto the floor.

"Jinx what in Zaun has gotten into you- ack!" Silco was cut off by yet another war cry and the newfound sensation of ten fingers rapidly clawing at his midriff. It was Jinx's 'tactic', to try and scratch her way out of a fight, but since her fingernails had been so chewed on due to her thinking about, uh, 'the incident', her digging caused a very different reaction from the older man.

It tickled, oh it tickled real bad. Silco had to immediately bite down on his bottom lip to stifle any and all laughter, writhing beneath the blue haired demon child that was attempting to somehow hurt him. One hand frantically swatted at any part of Jinx he could reach, while the other went straight to covering his mouth instinctively. Smiling and laughing were a sign of weakness, weakness that he couldn't afford even at the best of times.

"Stopthismadnessrightnowyounglady!" Silco warned through gritted teeth, though it was muffled by his hand, so Jinx barely heard a word and continued her attack, a lot of pent up anger being released in this moment. A moment that, unfortunately, could probably last a longer time than either of them would manage. She was so concentrated on 'ripping apart' his abdomen, that she almost missed the sharp flinch and barely held back giggle.

...Her digging slowed to a brief pause, ever curious about Silco's strange response to the 'violence'. The second her fingers broke contact with his clothes, he wasted no time to indulge in a few relieved breaths, the hand clamped around his face falling limp on his chest and revealing a blink-and-you'll-miss-it smile beneath that disappeared as soon as she caught a glimpse.

Now, she was a child, children knew these kinds of games like the backs of their oddly skillful little hands. At least, Jinx sure did, the mischievous git. So it was only so long before the dots connected like beautiful clockwork in her brain, and her anger dissolved slightly with a smirk. "What's wrong, Mr. Silco? It doesn't look like I did any damage to you, so why are you catching your breath like that?"

Dammit, she was actually very intelligent sometimes, Silco almost forgot with his fit of rage. It was his turn to be taken off guard, any verbal articulation running away from him. But he didn't get the chance to get it back anyway, since Jinx was already digging into his stomach again by the time he had just about built a reasonable excuse. However, she was much more informed this time, and her clawing changed from blind rapid attacking to precise rapid tickling, softening her touches just a tad as well, to see if that pushed him closer to breaking.

And of course Silco already had that same hand back over his mouth again, but he wasn't so lucky with his resolve, as the change in her tactics did absolutely work on him. A couple giggles slipped out here and there, albeit to his embarrassment. Though, Jinx started to think about what had gotten him to flinch so harshly the first time, and then obviously made it her number one priority to find out his weak point.

Jinx was having a great time, learning more about the lead criminal of Zaun than quite a lot of people in an impressively short time. It was exciting. Maybe, if there was a promise of excitement like this every day, maybe she'd find herself at home here, after all. The little girl had some giggles of her own for the silly situation, finding his suffering hilarious and relishing in the way his legs kicked almost pathetically behind her, since despite everything, Silco didn't want to hurt the tiny menace by accident.

But then, she found it. Completely not on purpose, she found his weak spot. One finger made touchdown with the space on his side that lay just beneath his bottom left rib, and it was all over. The normally stoic man practically 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘥 behind his hand, the dam of laughter breaking at last. "Ahack! S-stohohohop thihihis, you detehestable nuisance! I am 𝘯𝘰𝘩𝘰𝘵 going tohoho tolerate this behahavior, Jihihinx!!"

"Oh, well I wasn't asking for you to tolerate it, so great! Hey, could you hold still for me? I'm in the mood to draw something." She replied cheerfully, keeping one hand occupied with skittering around that weak point of his, whilst she reached the other far beneath Silco's desk and grabbed her emergency stash of crayons. Her victim tried to scowl through his unyielding chuckles at the realisation of what she was planning.

Grinning wide, Jinx picked out her favourite pastel blue crayon and thought about what to draw for a minute, before seeming to clonclude that thought stream and going straight to drawing the outline of her 'masterpiece' yet to come. It was unbearable for Silco, since she just 𝘩𝘢𝘥 to start her art next to the bottom left of his ribs, combined with her free hand still idly spidering across his midriff in unpredictable directions.

"Yohohohou ahare in so muhuch 𝘧𝘶𝘩𝘶𝘩𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 trohouble, I swehehehear!!" He cursed, honestly so focused on deterring her verbally, that he pretty much forgot that he could struggle against her, aside from relentless squirming and the occasional swat at her arms. Truth be told, he hadn't been tickled for so long, that his mind was at an utter loss on deciding what to do when the feeling overwhelmed all his senses.

"Yeesh old man, don't you know not to swear in front of a kid?" Jinx reprimanded, that same shit-eating smirk eating away at her cheeks as she chose to take it a step further, the wandering digits of her available hand suddenly shoving themselves underneath his shirt and spreading their cold state along his torso through merciless tracing and skittering, all while continuing to scribble all over the opposite side of his shirt. Silco was going mad with hysterics.

"Ah fu-UHUHUHUCK, GEHET YOUR FIHIHILTHY GRAHABBERS 𝘖𝘏𝘖𝘏𝘖𝘜𝘛 OF MY CLOHOTHIHIHING!!" All this, and his body still didn't know what to do with itself, stuck between defending himself from the Blue Justice on top of him, and diverting his energy purely to keeping his dignity intact by covering his mouth with both hands.

Jinx saw his struggle with ease, her rage basically vanishing at how funny he looked when in such a confusing and helpless position. Thankfully, she was almost done with her crayon picture, adding a few finishing touches solely for stalling purposes. "Okay, almost doooneee! You didn't keep still, like, at all. But that's fine, I like messy art styles anyway!"

"YES WHAHATEVER, LOOK- I'M SOHOHORRY THAT I WAHAS UNNECESSARILY AHAHANGRY AT YOHOU! CAN YOU STOHOP NOHOHOHOW?!!" Apologies weren't Silco's strong suit, but he had a bit of a feeling that it was the quickest way out of this humiliation, without resorting to bribery. Though as soon as the 'sorry' came out his mouth, he was pretty damn sure that bribing Jinx would have been much easier. But he couldn't take it for any longer, that hand under his shirt was freely torturing him and he hated it.

Jinx was a bit surprised at his remorse, as not many people actually felt bad for being angry at her. She couldn't mess this up again, so with the final detail to her drawing, she finally let up, picking herself up into her feet and waited for him to regain his stamina and do the same, since he was too big for her to help up.

With greedy and eager inhales, Silco merely laid there for a short while, embracing his poor abdomen and huffing out any excess mirth. Until at last, he had come to his wits, and followed suit in standing up, only to instantaneously be spun around to face the office mirror, so that he could see the picture she made with her crayons. And damn did his heart practically melt when he saw it, two stick figures holding hands that resembled Jinx and him, a lopsided smile on her face while a neutral frown rest on his, with vaguely coherent words beneath it all that read 'thanks for tolerating my bullshit for three months <3'

It didn't show on his facial expression, but it was with that sweet message, he officially decided to see her as 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳. Not Vander's stray, not the cause of a disastrous warehouse explosion, not a singular-purposed part in his grand plan, but his child. Was this how Vander felt when Violet was taken under his care? It was..an indescribable emotion.

However, he eventually came to terms with the fact that he had definitely been staring at the mirror too long, as Jinx was beginning to give him a weird look through the reflective surface. Flustered, Silco cleared his throat and idly checked the time as a distraction, only to whisper "shit.." as he saw that his meeting took place in a couple of minutes.

The picture on his shirt, while incredibly wholesome, would destroy his reputation entirely, so he was swift to cover it with the vandalised jacket, though he didn't mind that so much, as it was all miscellaneous patterns rather than anything specifically embarrassing.

And with that, he gave a goodbye hair ruffle to Jinx, and was off. Within his meeting, Silco did learn that those destroyed papers were actually replaceable and he got mad at Jinx for nothing. Though, if it hadn't happened, they wouldn't have had that...crazy bonding session, and he wouldn't have made the mental decision to never yell at her ever again. Both because he was now a tidbit scared of her wrath, and because she had already been yelled at enough times in her life.

And he'd be damned if he was going to let anything happen to his little menace from now on. Of course, he got some light revenge later on, but it was all in good fun.

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Wow, I haven't written a full fic in fuck knows how long..