#tklfics

They're very light. When Floyd first met him, they were barely there at all, his almost sickly pale skin clear as glass. But tending to Heartslabyul's gardens has gotten him in the sun more, letting him tan a bit, the speckles across his cheeks growing more prominent. There are lots of changes that Floyd has noticed through the almost two years of knowing him; he's a few centimetres taller, his eyes brighter, his smile less hidden. But for some reason, Floyd is captivated by those freckles.

There aren't even that many, confined only to the expanse of his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose, and Floyd has counted them time and time again—by which he means probably no more than twice, because sitting still long enough for that is a rare feat for him, but he's done it, okay, that's what matters!

He thinks the reason he likes them so much is because he's just never seen them before. Sure, Crabby and Seagull-senpai have them, but in all honesty Floyd doesn't care that much about them. Freckles are unheard of down in the Coral Sea, where sunlight barely reaches anywhere, unless you count the bioluminescent speckles on their skin.

"Stop staring at me," says Riddle. His face doesn't turn pink as easily under Floyd's gaze anymore. It's a little disappointing.

Floyd does not stop staring. He's sitting behind Riddle, arms around his waist, head on his shoulder—where else is he supposed to look? "Tell me about the stars."

Riddle tilts his head. "The stars?"

"The little shapes."

"Constellations?"

"Yeah, sure. Never seen 'em." Stars were a rare sight growing up, since seeing them meant going to the surface. On land, though, Floyd can look at the night sky all he wants, and even now he's still amazed by all the twinkling lights.

Riddle is already talking. "You probably have. They just require a bit of...creativity to see them. None of them actually look like the things they represent. Capricorn, for example, is supposed to be a goat, but the constellation is really just a triangle."

"That's dumb," says Floyd, face now nestled in Riddle's neck. "I could make way better ones."

Riddle laughs at that, or at least lets out an amused-sounding huff, which is basically the same thing. "Could you?"

"Mhm." Floyd pokes at Riddle's cheek, running his finger lightly over the freckles. "See. This one's a fish. It's tiny, just like you."

Riddle scrunches his nose, leaning away. "Stop that, it feels weird."

Floyd keeps going anyway, putting a little more pressure, just enough for Riddle to feel it, to make him laugh. He's ticklish in the strangest places. It's cute.

With exams coming up, Riddle is sure to be overworking himself. While things have gotten better, Trey still can't help but worry. Riddle doesn't often let himself rest, so Trey has taken it upon himself to more or less force a break on him via snacks. Riddle may be one of the only people at this school who enjoys academics, but even he needs to step back every now and then.

As he approaches, though, it becomes clear that Riddle is not studying — at least, not in any way that Trey knows of. There's laughter leaking out through the gap in the door, a specific sound that Trey hasn't heard in years. Curious, he stops just outside the door, peeking in through the cracked opening.

His view is mostly obstructed, but he can see the upper half of the bed. There he sees Riddle, lying on his stomach, someone's hands crawling up his sides and along his ribcage. His face is buried in the soft blankets, although his pink ears are more than enough evidence of a bright blush. He keeps grasping at the sheets before letting go again, like he's not entirely sure what to do.

"Stahaha—you—aha! Cut it ohohout!"

"Why?" comes a second voice, playful and carefree. It's certainly not someone from Heartslabyul, but Trey recognises its owner nonetheless. "Goldfishie likes it."

"I dohohon't!" Riddle protests, though it comes off more like a whine. Coming from someone like Riddle, Trey has to admit that it sounds adorable.

Floyd coos. "Aw, it's okay if ya do. 'S cute." The words are accompanied with a little squeeze at the top ribs, a move that elicits a loud squeal from its victim.

There's a whimpering sound between giggles, though whether it's from exhaustion or embarrassment, Trey can't tell. "D-don't say thihihings like thahat—!"

It's then that Trey manages to look away, not wanting to further intrude on a moment clearly not meant for outside eyes. There's a part of him that wants to stay, to watch, just so he can tease Riddle relentlessly about whatever this new relationship with Floyd is; but this isn't something he's supposed to be seeing, and he'll respect that.

"Eh, don't really wanna..."

"YOHOU...! Plehehease!"

"You're so red now, you look just like a lil' goldfish, y'know?"

"Stohohop!"

"So tiny and soft...could just squeeze ya all day."

"M-mehehahaha...!"

"Goldfishie's so ticklish, it's so cute! Wonder what happens if I do—"

"DOHOHON'T!"

Not by his own volition, obviously. It's because of Epel, who is perched happily atop his lower back, undeterred by the almost violent squirming and kicking. Ace's hands scrabble desperately against the floor, like he's trying to crawl away, but Epel is stronger than he looks and very, very stubborn.

It's all Ace's own fault, really.

Deuce tosses another couple pieces of popcorn in his mouth, eyes fixed on the grainy television screen. "She's gonna die," he says, regarding the woman on screen. The dialogue is barely audible over Ace's squeals. Thank the Sevens for subtitles.

"H-hehehelp! Mehehercy!"

See, Epel is hard to break, but one of his surprising weaknesses is horror movies — and, of course, during their binge of various horror films, it was bound to be discovered. It was Ace who had figured it out, and, being Ace, he'd made an excuse to leave the room, only to sneak back in and scare the poor Pomefiore boy half to death.

Thus, the current situation.

Sebek huffs in annoyance, arms crossed. "This is stupid. Humans are so foolish," he says, but everyone can see the pink tint to his pale cheeks.

"You don't sound sorry to me," comes Epel's voice.

"I ahaham! I p-prohohomise!" Ace's frantic pleas raise an octave, and as the others look over, they see Epel's fingers crawling over the hypersensitive spot between his shoulder blades.

Jack, ever the merciful one, looks away. "...Should we do something?" he asks, even though his tail has been wagging ever since Ace started laughing.

Ortho scans the situation for a moment before shaking his head. "His vitals are normal. Plus, his heart rate shows he's having fun."

Ace's ears turn bright red at the callout. "I am nohohot! I ha-hahahate yohou—!"

"You deserve this," Deuce tells him, still watching the movie as the woman from before does, in fact, get killed. "Hey. I was right."

"She obviously faked her death!" Sebek argues. "She's the real killer!"

"Huh? I guess that could be true..."

"Of course it is. These movies are so predictable."

"Hehelp mehehe!" Ace wails at the group, finally giving up on escape and instead falling limp beneath Epel's torturous hands.

Jack's ear twitches. "Maybe you should give him a break," he says, and Epel sighs in disappointment but pulls his hands back anyway. Ace buries his face in his arms, giggling himself stupid.

"Silver..." Kalim pokes at his companion's side, a pout on his face. "Come on...if you don't wake up, I'll fall asleep too, and then Jamil will be mad at me!" He accompanies this last part by shaking Silver, but still, the boy's eyes remain closed.

Kalim sighs, leaning back on his hands, staring at the ceiling as though it'll give him an idea. Silver is supposed to be tutoring him, but he doesn't mind the excuse to get out of doing his work. The issue is that it's just the two of them, and now that Silver is asleep, he's all alone! He might just die without someone to talk to!

He studies the intricate carvings on the ceiling. They're very pretty, the lines spiraling around each other. He wishes he could get a closer look, but it's so high up, and he can't just appear up there like Lilia could.

Lilia...Lilia! Right, Silver and Lilia have known each other for a long time! Surely Lilia would know how to wake him up. Kalim wracks his brain, trying to remember if Lilia had ever mentioned something like that. It takes a minute, but eventually a memory comes to mind, one club meeting when Lilia had been recounting fond memories of the other Diasomnia students.

Kalim sits up excitedly. So the ceiling had given him an idea, after all!

"Silver," he tries again, leaning in close. Silver's eyelashes flutter slightly, but he stays sound asleep. Kalim reaches out hesitantly. He should probably be gentle, right?

Silver twitches as Kalim begins trailing his fingers around his sides, lightly drawing random shapes and lines. It's something, but clearly it's not enough to wake him up. Apparently, the gentle approach isn't working.

Kalim hums, thinking of his next move. His gaze lands on Silver's legs, his knees pulled up to his chest. Perfect.

"Agh—K-Kalim?!" Silver awakes with a start, a laugh spilling out of him before he even knows what's going on. His reflexes are quick, though, grabbing Kalim's wrists right away.

Kalim grins. "You're awake! I was getting so lonely without you!"

"I fell asleep?" Silver blinks a few times. "Sorry. What were we doing?"

"You never told me you were ticklish," Kalim says, ignoring the question. Silver has such a pretty smile!

"Ah..." Silver rubs the back of his neck. "It never came up."

As soon as Kalim's wrists are released, he's right back to crawling his fingers up Silver's sides, drawing out confused giggles. "You're so cute! How did I not know!"

"Kahalim!" Silver protests, curling back in on himself.

Lilia coos, the look in his eyes so soft and adoring. "It's supposed to tickle, silly!" He's moving with such skill that it's as though he has every one of Malleus's ticklish spots memorised; which, after nearly two centuries, he probably does.

Malleus brings a hand to his face to muffle himself, one foot stomping into the floor. "Stohop teasihihing!" He's squirming, but he has enough self-restraint to lie mostly in place stretched across Lilia's lap, head and legs draped on the carpet.

"It's been so long since I've been able to do this," Lilia says, "and it seems like you're still as ticklish as when you were younger." He runs his nails over Malleus's neck, making him giggle and scrunch his shoulders up. It's embarrassing, yes, but at the same time it feels so freeing.

Lilia seems to know all of his ticklish spots, but Malleus himself doesn't; this is a learning experience for him. He's not used to having weaknesses like this. He's quickly finding out all the spots that make him flail, like how his hips get him almost squealing, or that he can't stand when Lilia squeezes right above his knees.

It's all too much, but it's fun.

"S-stohop," he eventually gasps, even though it really hasn't been that long, but Lilia pulls back anyway. He runs his hands through Malleus's hair soothingly, smiling down at him.

┈┈・୨ ✦ ୧・┈┈

It all starts because of Sasha and Connie.

It doesn’t seem to be an uncommon occurrence with them, given how no one looks fazed when Sasha suddenly squeals with laughter, Connie digging his fingers into her sides with a smug grin. Levi stares for a second before moving on, because he doesn’t have time for that—but the sight lingers in his mind for longer than he’d like to admit.

He knows what tickling is, obviously, but it’s just that he’s—he’s never experienced it for himself. He doesn’t even think he’s ticklish, anyway, but despite how much he tries to convince himself otherwise, he’s curious. He wants to try it, just once, to see for himself what it’s like.

Simultaneously the worst and best person he can go to about this issue is Hange. On one hand, it’s Hange—he’ll never hear the end of it…but at the same time, he doesn’t trust anyone else with this. He’s not letting himself be vulnerable in front of just anyone, especially not in such an embarrassing manner.

So.

inspired by this comic! i have never watched tadc and i have no idea what it's about, but i do love these two a lot <3 apologies if it's ooc. i wouldn't know.

┈┈・୨ ✦ ୧・┈┈

Pomni can't count the amount of times she's wished to be human again—but she swears, she really means it this time.

Of course, she’s said that the last five hundred times, too. Once she gets her actual body back, she’ll never take it for granted again. She had no idea just how difficult a different form would be, and she’s the most human-like one here. She can’t imagine how Kinger must feel without legs, or Zooble with their limbs in complete disarray. Pomni is probably the most fortunate of the bunch, which is really saying something, because this body sucks! It’s not anything she can’t handle, most of the time, but now…