#ticklish!ben

The question completely caught him off guard, causing him to flip the grilled cheese out of the pan. "Oh shit, one sec," he mumbled, picking it up by a corner and dropping it back in the pan. He looked at Diego, who was studying him intently now. "Funny you should ask."

"It's a yes or no question Klaus."

"Yes, okay? He said he's bored. He misses messing with you guys."

Diego didn't know what to think. The idea of a ghost, any ghost even if it was his brother, unsettled him. For the longest time he didn't want to believe Klaus. He didn't want Ben to be stuck here, wandering lost in the afterlife. He didn't want that for his brother. But he was here, and Klaus was taking care of him in a way. And he was still their Ben. A smirk found it's way onto his face.

"Heh, figures."

"Why, what'd he do?" Klaus asked, amusement clear in his voice.

"He uh, he messed with my knives."

"Uh oh," Klaus ooed childishly, earning a smack to the back of his head.

"I'm serious man, it wasn't funny. I went to the bathroom and came back literally a minute later. All my knives were balancing on each other with the tips pointed at me. Freaked me the hell out, and I just wanted to make sure it wasn't something to worry about."

Klaus was impressed by his brother's apparent ability to manipulate the material world, especially since he made a fuss any time Klaus asked him to do something. He chuckled, a wide grin firmly in place. "Wow, he's getting creative."

"Well tell him to knock it off? I'd rather just see him or feel a hand on my shoulder to know he's there. Not- that."

"Why not tell him yourself?" he asked, sliding the sandwich from skillet to plate. The question caught Diego off guard and he shifted uncomfortably.

"W-well I don't really know where he is, or if he's listening, and besides, you said he's bored. I uh, shouldn't ruin his fun, y'know?"

"I'm a little shocked. You're going soft," Klaus mused, taking a large bite of the grilled cheese. His eyes rolled back and he hummed in delight.

"Excuse me?"

"The Diego I know would never let Benny boy get away with messing with your knives, even if he is dead." He spoke in a deadpan, resting a hand on Diego's shoulder. He brushed him off.

"The hell are you talking about?" he snapped, not sure what Klaus was getting at.

"Do you really not remember the brutal punishments you'd dish out to anyone who dared touch your precious knives?" he asked. Diego rolled his eyes.

"Brutal is a bit, dramatic, don't you think?"

"But you agree I have a point." Diego had to give him that one.

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

"Would you like to get him back?"

Now that got his attention.

When Klaus and Diego walked into the library, Ben didn't spare a second glance. He couldn't fathom why either of them would be there, but he currently couldn't care less, nose stuck in a book.

Only when Diego waltzed right up to the table in the corner he was sat at, did he think something was amiss. Even though he couldn't see him, Ben shifted in his seat and eyed him carefully. Diego shot Klaus a look, earning a nod of confirmation.

"Hey Ben. I know you're here, or at least Klaus says you are."

Ben immediately looked at him, hanging on his every word. It'd been far too long since his other siblings addressed him directly. He realized it was a strange thing to miss.

"Your knife trick was pretty good. You got me man," Diego said, a proud smirk tugging at his lips. He held his hand up for a fist bump. Ben let out a surprised chuckle, reaching out to bump their fists together. He didn't expect his hand to actually make contact, and he looked over at Klaus, his own hands glowing blue.

"Thanks man."

"Don't thank me yet," Klaus said cheekily. Ben was about to ask what he meant, but Diego snatched him by the wrist and pulled him into his lap. Ben blinked in surprise; it all happened so fast he barely knew what had happened.

Diego grinned evilly at his brother. "You seem to have forgotten the consequences for messing with my shit," he growled, wasting no time and dug his wiggling fingers into Ben's tummy.

He was rewarded with a surprised squeal, followed by loud, carefree laughter.

"Diegohoho nohoho! W-why?" he choked out between growing hysterics. He'd always been fairly sensitive, but the lack of this particular sensation over the years meant a major shock to his system when he finally felt it. It was just as maddening and torturous as he remembered. And just as fun.

"Because I don't want you thinking you can fuck with my knives whenever you want. And, honestly, because this is fun as hell," he teased, vibrating a clawed hand on his stomach. Ben thrashed in his lap, shrill giggles and snorts filling the air. He reached up, hiding his face in his hands.

"Oh no you don't," Diego mused, drilling his thumbs in his armpits to make his arms come crashing down.

Allison’s room could best be described as a bit of a time capsule; posters from the beginning and middle of her career, drawings that she’d made and been gifted as a child, and family photos in the form of newspaper clippings. Going through the drawers and boxes under her bed provided nearly endless entertainment. A small gasp escaped from her grin when she pulled out one specific piece of paper that she’d forgotten about — a somewhat poorly drawn chart that depicted each of the Hargreeves siblings’ most ticklish spots. The tickle fights they’d had as children were sparse, considering they only really had free time for about an hour a week, but damn, were they competitive. This was the cheat sheet that she’d made to always get the upper hand. 

The colored pencil had smudged a bit, but Allison could still make out the faint markings of each of her brothers’ names. She smiled to herself, leaning back on a stack of books to read the chart. They’d been so young then, but she could still hear their laughter echoing down the mansion hallways, as clear as anything. She let out a small laugh at a note in the margin: Ask Mom for acrylic nails before next week.

“Everything okay?” Luther was leaning against her door frame, just a bit bigger than when they were kids, but still with that same kind smile. She smiled back.

“Just reminiscing. Check this out!” She held up the faded piece of paper for him to read.

“No way!” the large figure exclaimed, gently taking the chart from Allison’s hand and sitting on the side of her bed to look at it. “This is from all our —” 

“Tickle fights,” Allison interrupted with a laugh, “yeah. Crazy, right?”

“Yeah,” an awkward chuckle from Luther masked the slight nervousness he felt reading his name accompanied by the bullet-pointed notes: squeeze his calves, scribbles under toes, tops of feet are weirdly ticklish??, kicks a lot. “God, I haven’t been tickled in… years, probably.”

“You were so cute,” Allison giggled, and Luther wasn’t entirely sure that he liked the look she was giving him. “I wonder if this is still accurate.”

Luther cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, um, no way to know for sure, so-”

She had tackled him to the bed before he even knew what was happening. “Only one way to find out.”

She sat across his knees - “You kick, remember?” - and gave one of his calves a squeeze. Luther bolted upright, gasping.

“Um, I think there’s another way to find out! See, I could just tell you-”

“No,” Allison smiled, squeezing again and enjoying the desperate noise her brother made. “I’ve gotta test it to know for sure.”

He got as far as “Wait, Allison, please-” before he was choking back giggles, trying to worm his way out of Allison’s hold as her long nails skated over his ankles. She grinned.

“Okay, so squeezing your legs still definitely works. How about your feet?”

“No!” Luther cried, burying his face in a pillow and nearly squealing as she traced gentle lines over his soles. Allison giggled at the sound, scribbling over his heels and leaning forward to keep his straining legs from kicking.

“Feet are still pretty bad too. Thank God the serum didn’t affect these, huh?” She skittered her nails around the tops of his feet, and Luther let out a screech into his pillow. It was taking all of his strength to not… well, use his strength. 

“You remember that pedicure I dragged you into, right?” she laughed at the memory, and again at Luther’s quick nod into the pillow.

The screech turned into an uncharacteristically high-pitched yelp when Allison held his toes back with one hand, and skittered beneath them with the other. Finally, he’d began to laugh an endearingly childlike giggle. “AH - Allison,” he attempted to catch his breath with a forceful gasp as his massive arms squeezed the pillow to his face, and his legs shook, “Allison!”

Allison laughed at him and his sounds, almost not wanting to stop. “Alright, alright, I don’t want to kill you. Not yet, anyway.” She rolled off his legs to lay next to him on the bed, grinning from ear to ear. “Looks like your weak spots are still the same!”

Luther groaned, trying to catch his breath through the pillow (he wasn’t confident enough in the color of his face yet to look at her). “That was mean.”

“Hey, I was just consulting the chart!”

“You wrote the chart!”

“And I stand by it,” she teased, giving his leg a poke that made him twitch. She grabbed the paper and left the room, satisfied that her victim was suitably tickled out.

Luther rolled onto his back, panting. “Screw that chart.”

—

As she was leaving the room, Allison couldn’t help but notice the absence of Vanya’s name on the chart. It wasn’t a surprising fact. They never included her in anything as children, not even tickle fights. This fact still broke Allison’s heart, but of course, with the opportunity to make up for lost time, it’d be foolish not to take it… right? 

After spotting her much smaller sister reading on the couch, Allison made her way downstairs and plopped down right next to Vanya with a grin. 

Ever since their trip to the 60s, the sisters certainly developed a strong bond. Allison was, quite possibly. the one sibling that Vanya felt the most comfortable with; Klaus being a close second. Her attention drew away from the book in her hands, and towards her smiling sister. “Hey, Allison.” Vanya smiled, setting her book down, saving her place.

“Hey, um,” Allison subtly hid the chart by her other side, raising an eyebrow with a mischievous glint in her eye, “Vanya, are you ticklish? By any chance?” 

“Uh,” Vanya chuckled, shifting awkwardly with a shrug, “I - I think so. I mean, sometimes Sissy would touch my neck and it would feel kinda funny. Like the back, right here?” She touched the back of her neck to show her scheming sister exactly where she was ticklish. Big mistake.

“Oh,” Allison chuckled, not expecting this to be so easy. She sneakily reached her arm around the back of the couch, “Like, right… here?” 

Vanya twitched, letting out something akin to a squeak as her shoulders jumped up beside her ears. “I think - hey!” Her sister had begun tracing wicked fingers along the crease of her neck, her nails sliding effortlessly between the wrinkles to get at the weakest points. Vanya scrunched like a turtle, reaching back to swat at the offending hands, but the light touch made her limbs turn to jelly and her effort was not very coordinated. The endless stream of bubbly giggles, however, was new. 

Allison’s face lit up. “Looks like you are ticklish.”

Understatement of the century. Vanya opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a squeal when Allison’s tickles wandered down from her neck and over her shoulders, sneaking pokes in under her arms. 

“Where else, I wonder…” Allison mused, and slid her hands down her sister’s sides. Vanya’s spine nearly snapped with how quickly she arched her back, letting out a gasp. “Oh, here?”

“Allison, please!”

“Please what?” She tapped a nail on the curve of Vanya’s waist, prompting a high-pitched giggle. Vanya shook her head, seemingly struck dumb by the overwhelming feeling. Another pinch to her side, and she wriggled, curling in on herself. Unfortunately, this left the back of her neck unguarded, and with a smile, Allison reached to tickle her there. 

Vanya squealed. “Please, I can’t - mercy!”

Allison laughed at her sister’s reactions, easing off to just rub her shoulders. “Okay, so, neck and sides? Those are the big ones?”

The sigh of relief that escaped Vanya was soothing. “I - I guess so. I think?”

“Well, I still have more exploring to do, but I can be merciful for now,” Allison replied with a wink. “I’ll add you to the chart.”

“Chart?”

“Yeah, see?” She pulled out the piece of paper. Vanya’s eyes lit up.

“Oh my God, this is adorable. How old were we when you made this?”

Allison smiled. “I don’t know, ten maybe? We used to have these epic battles…” She trailed off, catching her sister’s eyes. “I’m sorry we didn’t - ”

Vanya held up a hand to silence her. “It’s okay. I’m included now.” She raked her gaze over the paper in her hands. “Luther was ticklish on his feet?”

Allison couldn’t stop her laugh. “Still is, I just tested it.”

“Shit, that’s goddamn… cute. All of these are so cute,” she said with a smile.

“Aren’t they?” Allison replied, snatching the paper once again with a cunning smile. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some notes to update and some experiments to run.”

—

It seemed like whenever she saw Klaus, he was always talking to some ghost. Usually arguing with them. Sometimes flirting, you never know. The conversation that Allison walked in on today, however, was definitely not flirting.

“Just shut up, you don’t have a goddamn clue… That’s what I said, you never fucking listen to - Allison!”

She paused in the doorframe, amused. “Am I interrupting?”

“What, this?” Klaus gestured vaguely at the armchair across from him. “Nah, nothing important. Just bonding, you know how it is.” He seemed to disconnect from Allison for a second, listening, and then shot a glare at the armchair. “Dickwad.”

Allison clapped her hand over her mouth at the insult, but not quickly enough to stop the laugh that escaped. Whoever it was, they had pissed Klaus off. “Okay, well, I was just going through some of my old stuff, and I found…” She pulled out the wrinkled piece of paper. “This.”

Klaus’ eyebrows furrowed. “Okay… What is that?”

“A chart I made when we were young, to win those fights we used to have.”

“What fights?” Before Allison could answer, her brother’s gaze flicked to the armchair and back to her. “The tickle fights? You made a… what did you say, a chart?”

She nodded. “It’s detailed.”

Klaus laughed. “So organized! Let me see -” He reached up, but she snatched it out of his grasp. 

“Nope, this is valuable information. But, I could let you see… if you participate in the experiment I’m running.”

Rolling green eyes, Klaus scoffed and lifted his arms up, a playful smile on his face as he looked away. He clearly already knew exactly what these so-called experiments were; perhaps Vanya’s laughter from downstairs was a giveaway. 

A smile played on Allison’s lips. She remembered how Klaus never really hated tickles, and acknowledged the note by his name: asks to be tickled all the time, listed alongside others such as SUPER ticklish armpits, tapped his hips once and he squeaked? maybe he’s ticklish there too? Haven’t tried yet. She laughed, launching her tickling fingers towards Klaus’ armpits, only to be stopped by him slamming his arms down at the last second.

“Sorry, sorry. Instinct,” he smiled, already giggling a bit, before lifting his arms again.

All of a sudden, his elbows shot down towards his hips as he choked on his laughter, “B-Ben! No!” Klaus collapsed to the floor within seconds, kicking his legs and screeching.

Allison smiled. Of course, only Ben could rile her brother up like that. Squinting, she smirked, noticing the placement of Klaus’ slapping hands, “Klaus? Ben’s not getting your hips, is he?” 

The silly noises he'd been making between silent laughter was accompanied by a desperate nod, messing up his long hair.

“Good!” Allison exclaimed, a bubbly tone to her voice, before lowering herself to the floor next to her flailing brother. “What a long overdue discovery.” Her pinch to his left hip felt more real than Ben’s spidery ghost tickles, and he squeaked. Her hands moved quickly, though, to lodge themselves under his arms while he was distracted.

The yelp that left Klaus’ mouth was loud enough to make Allison flinch slightly, but her hands stayed put. “Allison,” he whined, squeezing his arms to his sides as he simultaneously tried to roll away from Ben’s way-too-tangible thumbs digging into his hip bones.

She raised her eyebrows curiously as she twitched her fingers ever so slightly, relishing in the squirms and adorable gasps that followed. 

When Allison began to wiggle all ten of her fingers, plus the other ten digits, both on his worst spots, his eyes squeezed shut as his squeaks and laughs rose yet another octave. Curling in on himself, he shook his head, unable to shake either of his ruthless tickle-monster siblings.

“Tickie, tickie, tickle!” Allison cooed as she laughed along with him.

“What's wrong, Klausie? I thought you loved tickie, tickie, tickles.” Ben’s words were snide and Klaus could practically hear his stupid grin.

High-pitched giggles rolled out of his mouth as he grabbed onto a nearby throw pillow. “Stopstopstop, okay! Okay, jeez!” It was obvious that he wasn't that desperate for the tickles to stop; he really just needed a breather. Klaus threw the pillow in an attempt to hit Ben, but it just phased through him. Ben stuck his tongue out. 

“Asshole,” Klaus grumbled at his invisible brother. Allison laughed again, before leaning over to whisper something into Klaus’ ear. A noticeable smile washed over his face as he looked directly at his ghost brother, crawling towards him.

Ben's eyes widened as he stumbled backwards, falling back onto the armchair. His arms flailed, not knowing how to defend himself since it had been such a long time.  “Nonono, Klaus, what did she tell you? – EEP!” His reaction to Klaus’ quick and repetitive pokes to his stomach was immediate. 

The notes on the chart read really squeaky, ribs and stomach (but be careful!!!), starts begging after mere seconds, & very gullible, so easy to tickle. Ben had always been super easy to trick into getting tickled when they were younger; asking him to reach things in high up cabinets, challenging him to keep his arms up, and tons of tickle hugs.

He hadn’t been tickled since before he died, but it was just as unbearable as he remembered. He couldn’t hold back a squeak as Klaus prodded around the soft area just below his ribs, throwing an arm over his face to hide his blush. 

Klaus threw his head back and laughed. “Awww, I forgot that you were so sensitive, Benny! Guess now we know what’ll happen when you make fun of me, hmm?”

Ben wanted more than anything to snap back at his brother, but couldn’t possibly reply around his high-pitched giggle fit, so he settled on a squeal. “Allison! H-help!”

“She can’t hear you,” Klaus cooed, racing his fingertips up Ben’s ribs to elicit another adorable squeak, clearly amused. 

Allison laughed at the image of her brother kneeling on the floor, ruthlessly attacking absolutely nothing. “No, but I can picture it. Remember those physical exams that Grace would give us?” 

Every month, in order to keep them all in tip-top shape for missions, Grace would perform physical examinations. These exams, of course, included lots of pressing and prodding tummies with her cold robot hands, much to Diego and Ben’s dismay. Diego would often need to have a break after ten seconds, but Ben would always just giggle his little heart out, and could never sit still, try as he might.

Klaus giggled too. “Of course, dear little Benjamin could never stand those. Could you, Benerino?” Their brother merely cackled in response, batting helplessly at the tickling fingers. God, if this didn’t end soon, he was going to die again. Could ghosts die again?

“I… neeheed AIR, you asshole!”

“No you don’t,” Klaus replied simply, pinching at the skin right above his belly button. Ben shrieked, flailed, and ended up rolling off the armchair onto the ground. Klaus took it as a cue to stop and sat back, grinning at his work.

“What’s he look like?” Allison asked, not even trying to hide her sadistic smile.

Klaus grinned at the rumpled pile of ghost on the floor, who flipped him off. “Like shit.”

“Fuck off,” Ben replied, but he was smiling. Mission accomplished.

—

Diego frequently sat in his room alone, doing God knows what. The minute that Allison walked in, he was just twirling one of his knives in his hand. Turning around to look at his sister, who had been smiling at a piece of paper, his brows furrowed, “What?” 

Allison couldn’t help but chuckle to herself as she read the notes beside her stoic brother’s name: ticklish EVERYWHERE, pokes make him squirm, sometimes cries at tummy tickles, GET HIS BELLYBUTTON, & make sure he’s not holding anything. She remembered fondly how her and her brothers would always gang up on him and tickle him until he cried. Grace always had to step in to get them to stop. She cleared her throat, and looked over at him, turning the paper around to face him, “Remember this?” 

“Oh, ... yeah, from those - those fights we had when we were kids. Yeah.” Diego placed his knife down on the desk, and moved to stand up, subtly trying to escape what he feared was about to happen. 

“Hm, what kind of fights were those?”

“You - y’know. The -… the wrestling and stuff.” He silently cursed his sister for trying to make him say it; she knew that he absolutely hated the word, both hearing it and saying it… and experiencing it. Diego pretended to nonchalantly pace away in order to exit the room, only to make his way into the corner farthest from the door, where Allison was inconveniently standing. 

“I heard a rumor… that you can’t move until I start tickling you.” Allison sped up the last part of her rumor, making it so he couldn’t cover his ears as he typically used to. Walking over to him, she grinned and wiggled her fingers in the air, eyeing his torso.

A grunt left Diego’s already reluctantly smiling mouth as he attempted to tug on his legs in order to move, “Dammit! Screw you, Allison! - ACK!” His eyes squeezed shut, embarrassed at the slight giggle that he’d let out without her even touching him yet. 

“What is it, Diego? Surely, you've grown out of letting a few tickly fingers take you down?” Allison teased, poking his tummy with her two index fingers.

A snort escaped his mouth in an attempt to stifle the giggle fit that was bound to start as he doubled over. He tried to use his regained mobility to make a break for it, but it was too late. The momentum from the force he'd been using in his attempts to get away pushed him to the floor. He was absolutely cornered.

“Nonono — I-I, yes, I have grown out of it!” The way his arms were wrapped around his torso and the quick pace of his words, however, told a different story. “I’m seri - NO,” he yelped before dissolving into a squirmy puddle of silent giggles. Allison’s digits were swiftly poking and scratching at any spot they could reach.

“You’re what? Cereal? Serene? Can’t be serious; you’re giggling too much for that, silly.” Ever since they were children, Diego always seemed to bring out Allison’s most brutal teases. “It seems to me that you still might be the most ticklish one in this house, Diego! Tell me, how does it feel to have such a title?” She’d been able to latch her hands onto the sides of his stomach before wiggling her fingers into them. 

His laughter rose in volume when he opened his mouth to speak, “I-It tickles! - Shit, shit,” he squealed over Allison’s coos, “Sh-sh-shut up!” Saying the word, along with his embarrassingly childish reactions to such simple touches, was enough to redden his face. A squawk left his mouth when he felt a clawed hand digging into his lower tummy, dangerously close to his bellybutton. 

Allison stopped for a second, glancing down at both of Diego’s hands clutching onto her single hand on his stomach, and back up at her uncontrollably giggling brother. The grin on her face was the only thing that preceded her free hand flying straight towards his unguarded navel. 

Diego weakly pushed at her hands as he kicked his legs and screamed. His cackles now echoed through the whole house. Both of her hands were squaring in on his stomach and fuck, he couldn’t take it. “Allison - fuck! I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, oh my God, stop,” Diego rambled quickly between gasps of laughter, tears forming in the corners of his eyes, much to his own chagrin, and Allison’s amusement.

He was just so fun to tickle. He always had been. Of course, Allison knew he wasn’t going to die; he was just over dramatic sometimes. “What’s the magic word?”

“F-Fuck off,” he growled.

Allison mimicked a buzzer noise as she continued to tickle and poke around Diego’s hypersensitive midriff, even adding a few pokes to his thigh, and pinches to his triceps, “Wrong.” She laughed at the rather adorable image of her brother, curled up in the corner of his room, hands flailing in an attempt to get the tickles to stop, and twitching away from every little touch. He really was ticklish just about everywhere. 

“I've gotta tell Lila about this,” Allison chuckled, making a mental note. “Imagine her finding out that you're ticklish on your shoulders. And your chest? She's gonna have a field day, I know it.”

A squeal, “Noho, okay, okay, please! Pleasepleaseplease, fuck,” he rolled over, yelling when the tickles didn’t stop, “Fucking please, Allison! Pleehease.”

“All right, you big baby!” She decided to finally let up, chuckling at the residual giggles that escaped Diego’s mouth. 

He clutched his stomach, wheezing. “Christ, I fucking… forgot what that felt like.” A warning look was shot towards his sister, “Don't you dare tell her.”

Allison grinned, poking him again and brightening when she was rewarded with a yelp. “I think we all did, and…” a quick spider over his tummy got him to curl up again, “I think I just might.”

—

Allison clutched the chart firmly in her fist, making her way up the many flights of stairs. Last but not least. She glanced at the notes by the scrawled out ‘Number Five:’ says he's not ticklish but we know he is, flinches when anyone touches his knees (especially the left one), and hiccups a lot after laughing really hard.

Bursting into his room, Allison, expecting him to be doing… well, whatever old man stuff he liked to do, was surprised to find her brother fast asleep in his bed. After all he’d been through, experiencing the apocalypse twice & back to back, he certainly deserved a nap or twelve. 

One thing that all of the siblings agreed on, though silently, was that Five was utterly adorable when he was asleep, and not snapping at anyone. Surely, just a smidge less adorable than when… 

A poke to the blanketed figure made his snoring breaths hitch, and then they continued as normal.

He’d napped long enough, Allison thought to herself, not knowing if he’d been sleeping for two minutes or two hours. Nothing could beat her infinite curiosity, though, about just where dear old Fivey was ticklish. It had been far too long, and she knew he was at least a little bad on his knees but there was no way that could be all. That little body definitely held tons of bottled up laughter over the years that just had to be let out.

Of course his right leg was sticking out of the mass of comforter and sheets. Of course it was. 

Allison quickly spidered her fingers right above the hem of his grey knee socks, that he even wore to bed, apparently. 

A sudden jerking motion under the covers followed as he stopped snoring.

“Fiiive,” Allison crooned in a somewhat warning tone. No answer. She pinched the sides of his knee, only to be awarded with a twitch and a “cough” that was far too loud to pass off as a cough. 

“Fuck off, Allison,” Five’s sleepy voice, muffled by the pillow, piped up.

“Okay, rude,” she replied, going in for the kill, skittering all five of her nails over his knee cap.

He internally cursed at the choking sound that escaped his throat, as he pulled his leg under the covers, in order to provide some defense. The blanket reshaped itself as he curled up, and Allison thought she heard a grumpy sigh through the fabric.

“Y’know, you might’ve spent almost 50 years without other people, but I would’ve thought that you’d remember at least some of your manners.” Another sigh. “No apology? Fine then.”

Allison sat right down on Five’s bed, and grabbed his left ankle, pulling it out from under the covers.

Before he could teleport away, he felt unbearably light and spidery tickles along the back of his knee. A screech that he couldn’t hope to suppress left his mouth, but only took seconds for the bubbly giggles, and the violent kicking, to begin. 

Allison’s steady hold on Five’s ankle turned out to be a major asset to her attack as his whole body thrashed around, tangling himself in his blanket and sheets. She couldn't help but flinch at the frantic movements and his other foot weakly pushing at her hip.

“Good to see little Five still has those tickly, tickly knees!” 

“Allison! Fucking,” he squeaked, unable to hold back the helpless laughter, “Fuck you! I’m gonna - ACK,” another giggle. “Dammit! I’ll fucking kill you!”

The giggles laced with threatening screams were delightfully familiar. “Sure you will, Giggles,” she teased, prodding and squeezing around his entire knee, adding some occasional rib tickles into the mix to make him twitch. 

Five’s hands flickered blue, but there was no way he could teleport with how unfocused he was. He felt like he was going crazy. It had been ages since he'd laughed so freely, let alone been tickled; certainly since before he left. The sensation, so completely disarming while also frustratingly familiar, overwhelmed him.

“Fuck you, I swear - shit! Oh my fucking g- Allison!”

“Yes?” She stuck her tongue out in concentration, digging into the spot just above his kneecap that made him scream. 

Five was in hell. His hands were still glowing, but never enough to do anything goddamn useful. He could feel his leg twitching, trying to kick, but Allison was merciless, and she had a lot more practice tickling his thirteen-year-old body than he had fighting off her adult reflexes. The giggles pouring out of his mouth were starting to grow hoarse, though, and he was pretty sure that if this kept up much longer, he’d actually go crazy.

“F-fine!”

“What was that?”

“I said - ” The tickling stopped, but his eyes locked on where Allison’s lethal nails were still hovering over his ribs. Flushed, he choked back a giggle. “I said fine, you fucking - ”

“Fine what?” Allison aimed a poke at the space between two ribs and he jerked.

“Fine, I’m sorry!” The hands withdrew, and Five curled into himself, breathing heavily through the last remaining chuckles. Allison blew on two fingertips like a gun, and dodged the smack that Five sent her way. 

“Fuck off. Hic.”

Allison’s eyes lit up. “There they are!”

“Huh? What are you - hic - talking about?” Five grumbled, pulling his knees into his chest and sucking in a big breath to try to stop the hiccups.

She grinned, pulling out the chart, and resisting the urge to reach out and poke his puffed cheeks. “I took notes.”

Five’s eyes widened, and he let out his breath, looking vaguely… impressed. “Holy shit. You’re thorough.” His eyes scanned over her scribbled words. “Diego? Really?”

Allison chuckled. “Really. I’m surprised you forgot, he’s the worst of all of us. Even worse than you.”

Five’s nose wrinkled, and he let out a childish snort. “Serves him right.”

“Oh, shut up, you ticklish little son of a bitch.” Diego muttered from the doorway... alongside Klaus, Vanya, and Luther.

Five spun and internally cursed at himself at the blush growing on his face, wondering how long the rest of his siblings had been there watching him get absolutely wrecked.

“I know you are but what am I,” he snapped back at his bigger but younger brother, who’d lunged towards him, ready for a battle.

Diego was blocked by Allison though, and he stopped, knowing not to cross her while she was in the terrifying mood she’d been in all day.

“Guys, enough. Can’t we have just one fun day without you at each other’s throats?”

“Y’know what, Allison, I know I didn’t get a very close look but…” Klaus clicked his tongue as his strong brows furrowed, “I don’t think I saw your name on that little chart.” He made his way over to his other siblings with an unmistakable glint in his eye and grabbed the chart from his sister’s hand. 

Allison always did have the upper hand in all their tickle fights, and now they all knew why.

“W-well, that’s because I made it.” The look that her family exchanged did not go unnoticed, and she stepped backwards, ending up stumbling onto Five’s bed. “Hey, hey guys, wait - ”

4. what is their laugh like?

Endless hiccupy giggles. Ben could never be tickled for long because he giggles so violently that it steals his breath away. It’s really warm and a lil squeaky :’)

5. do they enjoy tickling? if yes, is it a fun platonic/familial thing, or kinky thing to them, or can it be both depending on the circumstance?

Just a fun bonding thing!

6. are they more often a lee or ler, generally?

Lee, but being a ghost has given him more opportunities to be mean >:)

7. who is someone in their life that they tickle often?

Klaus!! They’re constantly bickering and driving each other nuts, so Ben is constantly putting Klaus in his place. 

8. who is someone in their life that they get tickled by often?

Also Klaus. Ben routinely forgets that Klaus can touch him. It never ends well. 

9. does the word “tickle” or any variation of embarrass them?

Not really? I think the teasing embarrasses him more. 

10. are they embarrassed about their ticklishness, and do they try to deny/hide it?

He’s a little embarrassed about being as ticklish as he is, but he can’t hide it at all. One look at his stomach and Ben is giggling. 

11. would gentle tickling or rough tickling affect them more?

Gentle. He gets really worked up about how badly it tickles and that makes him giggle harder and he gets stuck in a giggly feedback loop. 

12. is there a specific spot that they enjoy being tickled, either exclusively or more than other spots? what is it?

Not really?

13. is there a spot that they can’t stand to be tickled, either because it’s just too sensitive, or it’s uncomfortable/painful/etc? what is it?

He cannot handle more than like 10 seconds (generously) of tickles on his stomach or he will die (again). 

14. would they ever purposefully bug a friend/partner/sibling into tickling them, and if so, how would they go about it?

Maybe he’d bug the others when he misses them, y’know? But I still haven’t nailed down my ghost lore yet so I haven’t decided if the others can touch him. He does like pushing Klaus’s buttons but not really to goad him into tickles specifically? He just likes rolling around and being reminded that he is seen and felt by his family :’) Tickles are a bonus tho. 

15. does teasing affect them?

He caught a brief glimpse of Ben’s smirk before grabbing his brother by the shoulders and flipping them over, pinning Ben against the ground so Klaus could worm his hands beneath Ben’s hoodie.

“Klaus!” Ben squeaked, giggling as Klaus’ fingers spidered over his belly. “Stohohop!”

“You started it,” Klaus retorted, grinning as he moved up to Ben’s ribcage. Vague memories were returning to him of how Ben had also been ticklish as a kid – he’d been so sweet and gullible that tickling him was just so much fun. Apparently that hadn’t changed.

Ben clearly didn’t mind it too much, either – Klaus was under no illusions that his brother couldn’t just go incorporeal if he really wanted to get away. Instead Ben was just trying to wrestle Klaus off of him. “Stop tickling mehehehe!” he protested, squirming and laughing as Klaus’ fingers skittered across his ribs.

Klaus shrieked in surprise as Ben gave up on trying to push him away and instead dug his fingers into Klaus’ stomach, conveniently exposed by his crop top. “No fair!”

“Very fair! You tickled me first!”

“No, you tickled me first, asshole!” Klaus exclaimed, going boneless and flopping down on top of Ben. This had the unfortunate side effect of pinning Ben’s hands between his and Klaus’ stomachs, allowing him to easily continue tickling Klaus’ belly.

“Ugh, you’re heavy,” Ben complained. “I can’t breathe.”

“You’re such a drama queen. You’re a ghost, you don’t need to breathe!”

“Your sweat is dripping on my body and I want to die again!”

“It’s summer, it’s hot out,” Klaus whined, attempting to contort his body so he could tickle Ben’s armpits while evading his brother’s arms flailing against his stomach. “At least I’m not wearing any sunscreen, then I’d be getting that all over you t-aah!”

Ben wiggled his fingers into Klaus’ hips, distracting him enough that they rolled over, Ben planting his knees on top of Klaus’ thighs so he could continue with the sudden tickle attack. “You jeheheherk!” Klaus cried, laughing helplessly.

“Um… Klaus?” A confused voice came from behind them. Ben paused and Klaus peered around his brother’s shoulder to see Allison looking at them – well, him – with raised eyebrows. “What are you doing?”

If Klaus were one to get embarrassed easily, he might be more concerned by his current predicament. Thankfully, he had no shame.

Still, he could see how from Allison’s perspective it could look a bit strange to see him rolling around and trying to tickle the air. With a grin Ben moved aside, allowing Klaus to lurch to his feet and throw an arm around Allison’s neck. She looked slightly disgruntled – probably still sweaty, then.

“Just a teensy disagreement with Ben,” Klaus explained, tossing an arm in Ben’s general direction and sticking his tongue out when Ben teasingly wiggled his fingers in the air at Klaus.

Allison followed the direction of Klaus’ gaze and gave Ben a wave. Looking amused she asked, “Was he tickling you?”

“Yeah, he was. I was tickling him too, though! You know our Benny, just a ticklish little bean.”

In lieu of tickling Ben, who Allison couldn’t even see, Klaus playfully wiggled his fingers against the side of Allison’s neck. He was briefly alarmed by her loud, sudden squeal before a grin broke out across his face. “Looks like you’re ticklish too, huh?”

“Hehehehey!” Allison cried. She jerked her shoulder up to try to protect her neck, but Klaus simply reached under her chin to tickle the exposed skin there. Allison squealed and collapsed on the ground, curling up into a ball.

Klaus laughed and followed suit, kneeling next to Allison’s curled-up form. “Don’t you think you’re being a wee bit dramatic, o sister mine?” he asked, poking at her sides. Allison giggled and jerked her arms down, exposing her neck for Klaus to resume tickling. “I’m just tickling you.”

“But I’m reheheheally tihihicklish!” Allison laughed, letting out a loud shriek when Klaus managed to worm his hands beneath her arms and tickle her armpits. “Plehehehehease!”

“Please what?” Klaus teased. “Please tickle you? But I’m already doing that!”

“Nohohoho! Klaus!” Allison tried to curl up even tighter as Klaus’ finger jumped from her neck to her belly to her sides, tickling any exposed place he could see. “I heheheheard- a ruhuhu-”

“What did you hear? I didn’t catch that,” Klaus said, trying to infuse innocence and confusion into his tone. He was met by the sound of Allison’s loud cackling.

Still, he didn’t want to wear his sister out too much. With a final tickle to the back of her neck Klaus pulled away and quickly rolled to his feet. “You know, I think you could give Ben a run for his money when it comes to ticklish siblings!” he said cheerfully as residual giggles poured from Allison’s lips. “See you later, Ally!”

He rushed out of the garden, not wanting to wait around for Allison to regain her breath. He’d been on the receiving end of too many rumors as a kid to willingly subject himself to Allison’s idea of retribution. Which would be worth it, mind, considering how much fun it had been to tickle her.

Klaus hummed in thought as he made his way downstairs. Had he ever tickled Allison before now? He had to have at some point to know her weak spots, but not many instances of him and his siblings tickling each other came to mind. It wasn’t like the seven of them spent much time playing together as kids, what with a mere half an hour of free time a week. Training they did plenty of, but just playing? Not so much.

“I’ve got a brilliant thought,” Klaus announced, only remembering afterwards to see if Ben was listening to him. Good brother that he was, Ben was following Klaus down the stairs.

“Hide before Allison can enact brutal revenge?”

“Psh, no. No, what do you want to bet the rest of our siblings have equally hilarious reactions to being tickled?”

Ben looked amused. “Yeah, I bet they do. You know they’ll kill you though, right?”

“Only one way to find out!”

Klaus flounced into the living room, certain he’d find at least one of his siblings there. Sure enough, Vanya was curled up on the sofa with her nose buried in a book, though she looked up when she heard Klaus enter.

Sweet little Vanya was a pleasure to spend time with and Klaus was probably never going to stop hating the fact that they’d all ignored and dismissed her for decades, but he could at least keep trying to make up for it. With a wide smile, Klaus flung himself onto the sofa.

He landed partially on top of Vanya who smiled back while wrinkling her nose. “Hi Klaus. Can you get off of me? You’re a bit, um-”

“Damp?” Klaus suggested, delighting in Vanya’s clear dismay at the term. He scooted a bit to the side to give his sister some space. “Yes, well, it’s a lovely day out, and I was up on the roof. Onto a completely different topic, are you ticklish?”

“Am I- what?” Vanya looked completely nonplussed.

“Silly question, everyone’s ticklish! The question is where,” Klaus mused. “Maybe here?” He reached over and tickled the bottom of her bare foot, resting between them on the sofa.

When he looked up, he could barely contain laughter at the expression on Vanya’s face. She looked utterly bemused like she couldn’t understand what was happening. Klaus ran a finger down the bottom of her foot, and she let out a soft, squeaky giggle, automatically pulling her feet away but not quite out of reach.

“Feet, check.” Klaus stated. “What about your toes?” He wiggled his fingers beneath them and Vanya snorted, a blush starting to spread across her cheeks as her giggling grew louder.

“Klaus, wait!” Vanya protested, pulling her feet closer to her body in an attempt to hide them. Her side was left wide open however, and Klaus took advantage by giving it a series of rapid pokes before his fingers wandered to her stomach.

A sharp ‘crack’ broke through the sound of Vanya’s laughter and Klaus jerked back on instinct before peering around his sister to look at the lamp sitting on the table next to the sofa, which now had a noticeable crack running through its glass base.

For a moment there was utter silence before Klaus started giggling. Vanya followed suit, though her cheeks were still flushed and she looked embarrassed. “I’m sor-”

“Don’t worry about it, sis.” Klaus said, dismissing her apology. It figured that a tickle attack could be a bit much for someone still getting used to their powers.

“I think my stomach’s really ticklish,” Vanya muttered sheepishly.

Klaus laughed. “No kidding. Seriously, don’t worry about it. Still, I think that’s my cue to go.” He patted Vanya on the head and blew her a kiss as he left the living room, only to immediately run into Luther in the hallway.

“Is everything okay? I thought I heard something break.”

“Nothing to worry about, dear brother!” Klaus said, looking up at his largest sibling. Klaus was relatively certain that Luther’s ears were extremely ticklish, but the man was simply too tall for Klaus to reach up there. Instead, he decided to aim for a lower target.

As soon as Klaus squeezed Luther’s knees through the fabric of his jeans, Luther jolted away and landed on the floor, looking bewildered as he stared up at Klaus, who was trying not to die laughing. “Klaus! What the hell was that for?”

“Your face!” Klaus gasped, wiping away tears. “You just fell on your ass Luther, oh my god.”

“Well I wasn’t expecting you to attack me!”

“I wasn’t attacking you, I was tickling you.”

“Oh, uh, but. I’m not. Ticklish?”

“Really?” Klaus raised an eyebrow as Luther tried and utterly failed to look sincere. “Not even a little, teensy bit?” He stepped closer, eyeing his brother for signs of genuine discomfort; seeing none he decided to take advantage of Luther’s current position.

“H-Hey!” Luther exclaimed, flinching away when Klaus wiggled his fingers over Luther’s neck, just beneath his ear. “Klaus!”

“I think you are ticklish,” Klaus declared. He grinned as he was rewarded with Luther’s laughter – a nice sound given how rare it was.

Luther was avoiding pushing Klaus away, instead scrunching up his shoulder in an attempt to protect his neck and ears. “Fine, I’m ticklish! Happy?”

“Very,” Klaus confirmed. Beside him, Ben was looking amused as Luther picked himself up off the floor. “See, I told you this was a good idea.”

Luther looked up, realized Klaus wasn’t talking to him, and rolled his eyes before walking off.

Ben raised an eyebrow but kept up with Klaus as he went off in search of his two missing siblings. “I’ll give you the reaction hasn’t been bad so far, but that’s because you’ve been avoiding our two stabbiest brothers.”

“I haven’t been avoiding them! I’ve been intentionally saving them for last.” Although he could admit Ben might not be wrong about the stabbing. “And Diego wouldn’t stab me. Probably.”

“I notice you can’t say the same for Five.”

Klaus rapped his knuckles on the closed door of Diego’s bedroom, ignoring Ben’s raised eyebrows. He did have manners. “Diegooooo. Can I come in?”

At Diego’s affirmative-if-less-than-enthusiastic “sure,” Klaus swung open the door and crossed the short distance to the bed Diego was lying on and flopped down next to him. Diego groaned loudly when Klaus landed partially on top of him, though Klaus could see a small smile playing at his brother’s lips. “This bed isn’t big enough for both of us.”

“This bed is barely big enough for you,” Klaus countered, wiggling around until they were lying semi-comfortably side-by-side, squished together so neither would fall onto the floor. “Get a new one.”

“I’ll work on it. What do you want?”

“Can’t I just want to spend time with my favorite brother, who isn’t holding any knives at the moment?”

Diego eyed him suspiciously. “Should I be holding a knife right now?”

“No, no,” Klaus responded hastily. “Unfortunately, that would greatly impede my ability to do this.” He reached over and brushed his fingers underneath the hem of Diego’s shirt, kneading at the tops of his hip bones.

Diego screeched loudly; Klaus jolted in surprise before a grin spread over his face and he spidered his fingers upward to tickle Digeo’s belly. Out of the corner of his eye Klaus saw Ben doubling over with laughter in the corner at their brother’s extreme reaction. “Ticklish, Diego?”

“Nohohoho! I’m nohohot!” Diego insisted, his protests at total odds with the loud laughter pouring from his mouth. “Stohohohop!”

“I don’t know, I think I’m having too much fun to stop,” Klaus replied. His hands wandered further up beneath Diego’s shirt until he located Diego’s belly button; Klaus wormed a finger inside, eliciting another loud shriek of laughter from Diego. Biting back his own laugher, Klaus teased, “You’re just soooo ticklish.”

“Sh-shuhuhut up! I’m nohohohohot!”

Klaus’s finger wiggled deeper into Diego’s belly button, poking at the sensitive bottom. “Nohohoho!” Diego begged, pushing at Klaus’ hands. In the process of shoving Klaus away Diego lost balance and fell off the side of the too-small bed with a loud ‘thump.’

Klaus giggled and peeked over the edge of the bed, where Diego was lying on the floor with an intriguing expression of mixed aggravation and relief, holding an arm protectively over his stomach. “Oops. Sorry?”

A loud ‘pop’ quickly drew Klaus’ attention away from Diego and to the other side of the bed, where Five had appeared in front of the door. “What is all the racket about?” Five groused, raising an eyebrow as Diego clambered up from the floor.

“Nothing,” Klaus said, trying to maintain an innocent expression. Diego shot him an exasperated glance and Five narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

Realizing that he might not get a better opportunity to catch his youngest-oldest brother off-guard, Klaus quickly reached out and poked Five’s stomach through his sweater. There was no reaction, other than Five giving Klaus one of his patented “my family is so weird, I don’t understand you” glares.

Klaus glanced over the ridiculous school uniform that Five was still content wearing and zeroed in on one of the only places that wasn’t covered by clothing, and reached out and squeezed Five’s knee. If Klaus hadn’t been paying such close attention to Five’s reactions, he might’ve missed the way Five froze for a brief moment. Klaus squeezed Five’s knee again and Five giggled quietly before disappearing from the room with a loud ‘pop.’

“I don’t know what I’m more surprised by,” Ben mused from the corner. “That Five didn’t kill you, or that he’s actually ticklish.”

Klaus slid off of Diego’s bed. “Don’t be ridiculous mon frère, everyone’s ticklish.”

Following Klaus’ gaze, Diego waved at Ben, then turned to Klaus. “Is there any particular reason you decided to t-tickle me?” Diego asked, his cheeks flushing as he stumbled over the word.

Before Klaus could respond, two sets of footsteps signaled Vanya and Five’s arrival. “Apparently he’s been tickling everyone?” Vanya said, looking amused as she glanced between Klaus, Diego, and Five, who had a smirk that immediately put Klaus on edge.

“And that means there’s only one person in this family who hasn’t been tickled today,” Five declared, taking a predatory step towards Klaus, who moved backward in response. The backs of Klaus’ legs hit the bed and Diego reached over to pull him down onto the mattress.

Klaus looked at his three siblings leaning over him, all with grins of varying degrees on their faces. “I don’t know if this is necessary-” he hedged, trying to hold back a smile at what he knew was coming.

“Oh, it definitely is,” Diego declared.

Klaus couldn’t prevent the giggles from pouring out of his lips as Diego’s fingers wiggled across his stomach. At the same time Vanya poked Klaus’ side, her hesitant touches growing more confident at his resulting laughter. Klaus squirmed although he didn’t quite fight back, enjoying both the pleasant sensations and the experience of spending time with his siblings without anyone fighting. Still… “Thahahat tihihickles!”

“That’s the point, isn’t it?” Vanya teased, her fingers spidering over his sides and up to his ribs.

“I’ll go get Luther and Allison,” Five announced.

“Nohohoho!” Klaus giggled, hearing a loud ‘pop’ as Five disappeared from the room. A new touch joined Diego and Vanya’s poking at Klaus’ exposed neck and he twisted his head around to see Ben looming over him with a grin. “Behehehen! How could you betrahahay me like thihihihis?”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Come on, you were totally asking for this.”

“I wahahahasn’t!” Klaus protested. Though Vanya and Diego couldn’t hear half the argument, they both had matching grins at the knowledge that Ben was ganging up on Klaus as well.

“Ben’s on our side, isn’t he?” Diego guessed. “Sorry bro, you don’t have anyone to blame for this but yourself – we deserve some payback.” Well, alright, Klaus could understand that…

“Oh, Klaus, you’re ticklish too?” Luther teased in a rare moment of playfulness as the rest of Klaus’ sibling made their way to Diego’s bedroom. “That’s great!”