Artissimo's Tkl Haven

“Okay, so everyone understands the rules?” Grace asks the six pebbles in front of him, who are safely in their flexible xenonite suits. Sitting criss-cross on the dirt of his bio-dome, Grace points at himself. “Say your answer out loud and then point at the part of my body that matches with your answer.” The intention is for them to not only know the vocabulary, but to see a visual reference of where that body part resides. 

“I’ll pass this beanbag to whoever’s turn it is,” Grace holds up a palm-sized beanbag, rounded and designed like Earth. He gave it to Rocky back when they were on the Hail Mary, but Rocky likes it when Grace uses the tiny Earth to help teach the young Eridians.

The six pebbles all nod at their teacher’s instructions. Thanks to the translator on his computer sitting on a nearby rock, his Eridian students can understand him, and vice versa.

“Okay then! Coral, you’re up first!” Grace tosses the ball to a pink, rectangular pebble with brown, branch-like patterns. She catches it, then hops forward.

“Amaze! I’m ready, Mr. Grace!” Coral excitedly says. She’s mentioned before that biology was actually one of her favorite lessons. Of course she’s ready for this.

Her readiness makes Grace chuckle. “Okay, let’s start off with some basics. What part of a human’s respiratory system is also known as the windpipe?”

Coral immediately squeaks, “Oh oh! Trachea! Helps humans breathe!”

“Yes! And where is it located?” he asks. Coral skitters up to his side and reaches up high. Grace knows that Coral is familiar with where the trachea is, so he bends his head down to help her reach.

“Here!” she points at Grace’s neck.

“Very good, Coral!” Grace takes the tiny Earth from Coral. He passes the ball to the next pebble, “Cole, you’re up!”

Cole catches the ball and switches out with Coral. Cole is a black pebble with flattened points, similar to coal (which is why Grace named him how he did), and gradient orange around his claws as if he just dipped them in molten lava.

“Okay Cole, what is the organ that pumps blood throughout the body?”

“Heart!” his boisterous voice beams.

“And where is it located on a human?”

Cole skitters up and taps Grace’s chest, even making sure to tap slightly to the left from where the center of his chest is. “Here!” 

“Excellent Cole!” Grace takes the beanbag handed to him by the pebble. A few more practice rounds of this and they'll all be tossing the ball back and forth like pros. “Marina, catch!” Grace tosses the ball forward.

A teal pebble, slightly more square-shaped, clasps the tiny Earth. She shifts her joints as if she is shaking out her shoulders. She’s nervous, but determined. 

Marina takes Cole’s place and the teal pebble steps in front of the human. 

“Are you ready, Marina?” Grace asks.

“Ready, Mr. Grace,” she reassures.

“Okay, here’s a slightly tricker one: What is the organ connected to the intestines that helps a human’s immune system?”

Marina taps the front of her carapace. She thinks for a few seconds before her stance brightens. “Oh oh! The appendix!" she shouts with confidence. She leans to the right like she’s about to dash in that direction, but then she leans to the left, then, after a moment, to the right again. She almost wobbles in place, trying to choose a direction.

Oh, Grace knows what she’s doing. She forgot if the appendix is on the right or the left side. It also is probably taking her a moment to remember that, since they’re facing each other, Marina’s left is Grace’s right and Marina’s right is Grace’s left (It’s the classic situation of “My right not your right!”). 

Come on Marina, you got this, Grace thinks to himself.

Something excitedly clicks for the teal pebble. She skitters to her left to reach Grace’s right.

“The appendix is here!” Marina points to the right side of Grace’s belly, and in her excitement, she accidentally jabs her teacher in the side. Grace flinches.

“Hey!” Grace hugs his torso with a giggle quickly following in tow. “Careful, that tickles!”

The rest of the pebbles chirp out quiet giggles in the background. Grace taught them all about tickling a few anatomy lessons ago. Well… more like Rocky taught them and used Grace as a demonstration. Point is, he knows why his students are giggling at him since they’ve seen their teacher in such a silly state before.

“Oh! Apologies! Apologies! Did not mean to activate human tickle reflexes!” Marina lets out a little giggle of her own at the end of her statement.

Grace chuckles, “It’s okay, Marina. Well done on the question.” The teacher takes the beanbag from her claws. Marina runs back to the others and Grace throws the ball to Aqua, a darker blue and square pebble. “Aqua, your turn.” 

Aqua catches the little Earth in her claws. Marina joins the rest of the group, and before her sister Aqua switches places with her, Aqua snickers to the others. She ‘whispers’ something in a low whistle that the translator couldn’t pick up.

Aqua scrambles forward to face her teacher. She lets out another squeaky giggle before standing straight up on her legs to make herself look extra innocent.

Grace lifts a brow at her, but he ignores it, for now. “Okay Aqua, what is the important artery that provides a human’s upper arms with blood?” Grace holds out his arms as a model.

Aqua answers right away. “The axillary artery! It’s located…” she skitters up to Grace and leans on his knee so she can stretch her claw up high. She pauses before pointing anywhere, hovering her claw around the area below his arm. Grace assumes that she’s thinking where exactly on his arm to point. He would be mistaken.

“Here!” Aqua purposely scribbles her claw into the hollow of Grace’s armpit. 

“Hehehey!” Grace jolts and yanks his arms to himself. Aqua, giggling, happily hops away like a stone being skipped on water as she joins her friends. All of the pebbles chirp and laugh at the trick she pulled on their teacher. It occurs to Grace that the thing Aqua may have whispered to them earlier was probably something along the lines of, Watch this. 

Marina tickled him by accident, but her sister took it upon herself to continue the trend. She’s got a sneaky side in there.

“Aqua,” Grace pretends to admonish her, but he’s smiling and the tone in his voice shows he’s not mad one bit.

“Had to, Mr. Grace!” Aqua tosses the beanbag to her teacher, the pebbles still giggling.

He catches the mini-Earth. “Ha ha, very funny,” Grace puts on his best sarcastic tone. “Alright, let’s focus again everyone.” He throws the beanbag to the smallest pebble and they catch it with two claws. “Come on, Fossil. It's your turn.” 

The tiny brown pebble, who looks like a miniature mountain with some spots of green, skitters into position.

Grace continues their game, “Okay, Fossil, what is the organ that allows humans to break down food?”

“Um, it’s… it’s…” Fossil thinks for a second. They tap their claws in the dirt. Then, they let out a little whistle, like an excited gasp. “The stomach!” Fossil trills. They appear to be very excited about getting that answer. Almost too excited.

“Right! And, uh, where is it?” Grace is oh so slightly weary asking that question this time around from the pebble’s track record. But, it’s Fossil we’re talking about here. Fossil is the shy one, the quiet one. They don’t have a trickster bone in their body. Fossil wouldn’t think about—

“HE-Hehehey!” Grace yelps; Fossil has pounced on him like a little puppy and started ticklishly pawing at his belly. “Fohohossil” Grace gently grabs the arms of the pebble and gently pushes them off his hips.

Fossil scatters back to their friends and a wave of chirpy laughter from all of the pebbles reach Grace’s ears. The teacher clutches his tummy. His students think this is hilarious. At this point, it sounds like they're watching a comedy special rather than taking a lightning round pop quiz.

Well… two can play at this game. 

Grace softly laughs, masking his idea that is brewing underneath. “Okay, okay. You got me, Fossil. Give the ball to Flint, and then Flint, it’s your turn.”

Flint, a pale red pebble with jagged features is handed the beanbag. He moves to stand front and center. Grace’s mouth wants to twitch into a smirk, but he resists the urge.

“So,” Grace begins, and like he is about to give a lecture to a conference of professors, he states, “Where is the intercostal neurovascular bundle located in relation to the thoracic wall?” Grace officially shows off his smirk now.

Flint squeaks out in complete surprise, like a mouse caught in a trap. The other pebbles behind him look really surprised too.

“What?” Flint’s tone is one of shock. “Flint does not remember this lesson from before– and why does Flint get the hard one, question?!” he stomps his back foot.

“I’m throwing in new vocabulary, ” Grace explains, smiling. “You all are too smart. I have to increase the difficulty. Come on, take your best guess, Flint.”

Flint taps his claws together. He makes a low hum, which is like the Eridian version of an ‘Um…’

“Is it… Is it the knee, question?” Flint wearily points to Grace’s knee. He’s not confident in his answer at all.

Grace can’t hold back his smile anymore, and it grows wide across his face. “Ba ba!” he pretends his voice is like a buzzer on a game show. “Wrong! It’s the ribs!” He lunges his hands at Flint.

Startled, the red pebble lets out a high-pitched whistle before dissolving into giggly squeaks when Grace’s fingers tap along his carapace through his xenonite suit. Now it’s his turn to tickle his students. Flint wiggles around and scrunches his arms while Grace keeps a gentle grip on him.

“Mr. Grahahace!” Flint giggles, “Whahat fohohor, question?!” 

Grace releases Flint, allowing the pebble to regain his balance. “See that? New rule! You get the wrong answer, you get tickled!”

“WHAT?” all of the pebbles squawk in unison, creating a blend of all the little voices Grace assigned to them blasting from the computer.

Coral steps forward. She stomps her back leg. “No fair! Mr. Grace gave Flint a very very hard question!”

“Yeah!” Flint backs her up.

“Well, that’s what you all get for tricking and tickling the teacher,” Grace leans back on his arms with a nonchalant smile. He picks up the beanbag and gives it a little toss in the air.

“Because that was funny,” Cole quietly snickers. Grace shoots him a playful glare.

Aqua takes a stand next to Coral. “Oh yeah? How would Mr. Grace like it if we gave him a really hard question about Eridian anatomy!”

“Yeah! Let’s quiz Mr. Grace!” Marina joins in on their side. All the pebbles chirp like a crowd applauding for the same cause.

“A challenge, huh?” Grace plays along. He puts the beanbag to the side. “Alright, lay it on me. But I have to warn you, I’m pretty good at this.”

Might as well let the pebbles have some fun (after all, fun helps with learning). Grace is quite confident in his knowledge in biology, of course, so he’ll use this opportunity as a double anatomy lesson for the pebbles to talk about human biology and Eridian biology.

Aqua is the first to think up a question. “What is Eridian blood mostly made of, question?” 

“Easy. Liquid mercury,” Grace crosses his arms and grins at Aqua.

Aqua rattles and lets out a little growl. Flint tries his luck and asks, “What are the receptors on our shell for, question?” 

Grace answers again, confident and correct, “For hearing. Got anything harder?”

Flint stomps his front leg, clearly thinking, darn.

There’s a pause as the pebbles think.

Fossil pipes up. “Pebbles need to remember, Mr. Rocky may have taught Mr. Grace a lot! Need to get Mr. Grace with tough, tough, tough questions!”

Wow. Three times the ‘tough’ on that one. Grace is sooo scared.

Is he getting a little over confident now? Against Eridian kids? Yeah, maybe, but at least he’s winning.

Coral suddenly lights up. “Oh oh! Coral got it!” the pink pebble chirps. “What type of silicate are Eridan nerves made of, question?”

Ha! Silicates? That chemical compound made up of silicon, oxygen, and metal? Child's play! Grace has got this one in the bag.

“Simple,” he says, “It’s…” he pauses. His smile starts to fade. “It’s… um…”

Uh oh.

Grace knows that Eridian nerves are made up of a silicate, but there’s seven different types! Rocky never told him what type they are.

Years together on a ship out in space and his buddy never had the decency to talk about how his nerves are polymerized together. Gee, thanks Rocky. That would have been REALLY good to know right about now.

“I… I don’t know,” Grace slowly, and almost painfully admits.

“Ha ha! Yes!” Coral laughs and bashes into her teacher. Her claws immediately go after tickling Grace, scribbling at his torso. Yeah, that was inevitable– Grace knows about Eridian anatomy, but he’ll admit not everything. These kids are smart enough to know that.

Grace leaps in place. “Cohohoral!” Grace giggles. He tries to nudge her with his elbow.

“My turn!” Flint enthusiastically says. He’s so ready for revenge. “How many sacs do Eridans have to hold lots of energy, question?”

“Uh, it’s– hehehehe!” Grace gently shoves at the persistent Coral on his side. “It’s three!”

“Bizz Bizz!” Flint buzzes, trying to mimic his teacher’s buzzer sound from earlier. “Wrong!” Flint sings and leaps towards Grace. 

Shoot! It’s four, not three! In the middle of his tickly distraction, Grace forgot about the last one that even Rocky said is hidden deeper in their carapace than the others. Now he’s suffering the consequences of his mistake; Flint joins in on the opposite side of Coral, tickling the bottom of his ribs while Coral focuses on his side.

Grace wraps his arms around himself and wiggles between the two pebbles pressing into his torso. His legs come uncrossed so he can kick and so his knees can curl towards himself.

Now that Flint had his turn, Cole and Fossil jump forward at the same time to take theirs.

“What Celsius temperature is ambient circulatory system, question?” Cole enthusiastically shouts.

“And what Celsius temperature is hot circulatory system, question?" Fossil chirps.

“H-Hohohold on! One at a tihihihime!” Grace says through his laughter. He already made a slip up on the last one, and now he’s got an extra Eridian in the mix this time. The last thing he needs is two questions coming at him at once.

“Answer the questions, Mr. Grace,” a teasing voice, who he recognizes as Aqua’s comes from the translator. That sly little pebble–

“Will repeat! What temperature is ambient circulatory system?” Cole says.

“And hot circulatory system!" Fossil chirps.

Looks like they’re insistent on asking him both questions at the same time. It’s all part of their ploy to confuse him. They know how well versed Grace is on Eridian knowledge, so they have to trick their teacher if they want to continue winning. These little rascals! Grace has taught them well.

Well, he won’t fall for it!

Grace takes a giggly breath, trying to clear his head from the tickly sensations that are filling his brain to the brim.

“Aha-ambient is 310 degrees Celsius! Hohohot is 210!” Grace calls out, dissolving into more laughter once the answer is said.

He’s confident about his answers, that is until a second afterwards, it hits him—oh no! He switched them! (Ambient is 210, while hot is 310!)

“Wahahait!!! I mean–”

“Nope nope!” Cole cuts him off.

“Too late, Mr. Grace!” Fossil adds before they both race towards their teacher. Cole hops onto one of Grace’s legs, pushing it flat to the dirt so he can squeeze at Grace’s right hip. Meanwhile, Fossil moves next to Flint and sneaks their tiny claws through Grace’s defenses to reach the side of his belly. The giggles that come out of Grace nearly propel him backwards like a spaceship's engine. He miraculously keeps himself sitting upright, knowing that the pebbles will have access to even more of his tickle spots if he topples over.

It’s like Grace is on thin ice playing a game of hangman, but instead of drawing an arm or a leg when he gets an answer wrong, Grace gets an extra pebble added to the tickling pile. He has four out of six pebbles on him now. Here comes the potential fifth.

Aqua scuttles up and wiggles with excitement. She asks, “Where is Eridian brain located, question?”

Yes! Grace knows this one for sure!

“It’s–AHA!” he feels a little claw flutter at his knee. Grace nearly falls back and holds himself up by an arm while his other hand protects his torso. “Fossil! Nohohohot the knee! Not the knee-hehehe!” The tiny brown pebble has climbed and clinged on to his pants leg like a mountain and is squeezing and fluttering their claws around his knee at the peak. Fossil chuckles along with their teacher. 

“Knees, question? That is incorrect! Correct answer is the center!” Aqua exclaims before pouncing at Grace. She clashes into him like a dodgeball and knocks her teacher flat on his back.

“Hehehehey! Thahahat wasn’t my answer!” Grace snorts as the pebbles, like a swarm, quickly adjust to continue to tickle Grace in this new position. The teacher wraps his arms around himself and scrunches his shoulders when Aqua flutters her claws gently at his neck.

“But Mr. Grace said it!” Coral teases, swiping her claws along his side again.

“No taking back!” Cole chirps, still standing over his leg and scratching at his hip.

Geez, they are ruthless! 

Grace is already in a laughter-filled frenzy, and Marina hasn’t even taken her turn yet. The teal pebble steps up to the group.

Marina chuckles, “Okay, will give Mr. Grace an easy one! What is powerhouse of the cell, question?”

Grace doesn’t even have to think about his answer to get this one right; it’s embedded into his mind. It better be, considering he has a degree in molecular biology. Like a reflex, he yells, “It’s mitochondria! It’s mitochondria-ahahaha!”

“Nope!” Marina squeaks.

“WHAT?!!!” Grace shouts. “Nohohoho! That’s right! That’s dehehehefinitely right!” Grace starts cackling when Marina scuttles over and dips her claw into his armpit.

Marina corrects him, “The powerhouse of the cell is an organelle surrounded by a membrane. It is called ‘mitochondria,’ but Marina did not ask for the name.” She giggles.

Oh, come ON! She got him on a technicality! He changes his mind, Marina is the sly one out of those sisters!

“Thahahahat’s cheating!” Grace jokingly debates through his laughter.

“No cheats! All fair!” Marina says.

“Mr. Grace just needs to do science better,” Cole snickers, clearly taking a page out of Rocky’s book with that last statement, he sees. 

“Yes, Mr. Grace has gotten six questions wrong in a row. Very bad score. Mr. Grace needs the refresher knowledge more than pebbles,” Aqua teases. 

“Hehehey! I’ve been ahahahaha-a little distracted!” Grace yelps. “Gihihihive me another one, but let mehehehehe have a breather first!”

As requested, the pebbles listen to their teacher and pause their tickling, though they still keep their claws close by for an impending attack, which makes Grace giggle even more when he realizes his shirt has risen up a little during his wiggling to reveal some of his bare tummy. While Grace vibrates with residual giggles and breaths of air, he can already guess that his students are thinking up more trick questions to ask him. Suddenly, Coral perks up with a squeak.

“Pebbles! Coral has idea! Gather!” she chirps by Grace’s hip. The pebbles move over and lean closer to Coral. They surround their teacher as if they were using his tummy like a table in a strategy meeting. The young Eridians speak in low, quiet notes so the translator can’t reveal their plan, and Grace doesn’t catch any of their whispers due to being more focused on trying to replenish oxygen back into his system.

By the time he is able to control his breathing and sit up on his arms to look at the pebbles, he only hears their synchronized chirps of agreement before they lean away from the huddle and turn to Grace.

“Okay! Pebbles will end the tickles if Mr. Grace can get this next question correct!” Coral says. “Ready when you are Mr. Grace!”

Some of the pebbles are already snickering. These six young minds have certainly conspired to tickle their teacher silly. Grace should brace himself. 

“I’m ready. What’s the question?” Grace can’t resist smiling at the enthusiastic kids.

The pebbles turn to each other and snicker again. Coral stands up straight to speak on behalf of the pebbles, “What is scientific name of Mr. Grace’s most ticklish spot, question?” 

“What?! I’m not answering that!” Grace already starts giggling along with some of the other pebbles that chuckle at his reaction. The pebbles already know this answer! They’ve seen it! They just want him to say it. Diabolical. All of them (he loves them).

“Give me a different one!” Grace exclaims.

Marina squeaks, “Nope! No skips, Mr. Grace!”

Aqua adds, “Also there's a time limit now.”

“Three!” Fossil already starts counting down.

“Wait- What?!” Grace’s eyes pop open wide.

“Two!” Flint says and puts his claws up.

“Since when was there a timer-?” Grace is practically stunned.

“One!” Marina says; the claws of all the pebbles raise up over that one spot.

“Wahahahait! Hohohold on!” Grace holds a hand up.

“Go!” all the pebbles squeak and dive their claws into his belly. 

Grace jolts forward and combusts into laughter, even more so when they push up the hem of his shirt to claw at his bare tummy. Grace reaches out for the pebbles, gently pushing at their hands, until his ticklish core muscles betray him and send his upper half toppling backwards to the ground. Through his squirming, he uses his arms like a bulldozer to try and slide the wall of pebbles away, but all six of them working together easily maneuver past his defenses. Grace snorts and throws his hands up under his glasses and over his eyes, all while his legs paddle behind the pebbles.

“Pebbles will give one more chance for Mr. Grace to answer!” Coral squeaks over her teacher’s wheezy laughter. “What is scientific name of most ticklish spot, question?”

Despite laughing his head off, Grace holds out on giving an answer in an attempt to be playfully stubborn, but they’re making it difficult to even pretend to be stubborn when there’s a dozen little pebble claws on him.

“We’re waiting, Mr. Grace,” Aqua says through a teasing melody.

The teacher snorts and removes his hands from his face. “Ohohohokay! Okay! Ihihihihit’s my belly!” he admits.

“Scientific name!” Coral corrects.

“Rihihihight! Right!” Grace remembers while he throws his head back with laughter. “Ihihihit’s the stomach! Nohohow get off me yohohohou little rascals!” Grace playfully swats at his students. 

With their question correctly answered, the pebbles pull their claws from their teacher and skitter away from him to give him some space, though giggling to each other still. After a few breaths of air, Grace pulls his body off the ground like a ragdoll, rolls down his shirt, then adjusts his glasses so he can glance down at his students.

He clutches his belly like he just ran a marathon, “Phew, you guys are brutal!”

Marina steps forward, a softness in her whistle. “Mr. Grace okay though, question?”

Grace lets out a chuckle. One moment these kids are tickling him to pieces, the next moment they’re making sure he’s okay. He’s gotta love them.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Grace replies. “Where did you kids learn how to get so smart?”

Cole chirps, “We learned from the best!”

“Flattery, huh?” Grace jokes, though it does warm his heart to hear that coming from the pebbles. “Well flattery isn’t going to get you out of his review we still have to do, remember?” the teacher says with a smile. “Come on, let’s get back into position, everyone.”

Following their teacher’s instructions, the pebbles line up side by side as they were at the start of the review game. 

“Where's the ball?” Grace looks around himself, searching for the little beanbag. He finds it rolled off to the side, which definitely happened during their silly scuffle. “Here it is,” Grace reaches for and cups the little earth in his hand. “Okay!” he faces his students, “Are we ready?”

Fossil quickly raises their claw.

“Yes, Fossil?” Grace asks, surprised to be met with a question rather than the pebble’s usual enthusiasm.

Fossil taps the pads of their claws in the dirt. “Can Mr. Grace add tough tough questions to review like before, question?”

Grace blinks at the small pebble. “Huh? You want me to ask the hard questions? But, this is review, so you may not know the answers if it has new information.”

“That is okay!” Fossil raises their carapace. “Pebbles can learn! Can use tough questions as opportunity! Pebbles agree, question?” Fossil asks their fellow club-mates.

The other pebbles chirp. Flint steps up, “Yes yes! Tough questions are fun! It gives pebbles a challenge!”

“So pebbles are more versed in human anatomy!” Coral agrees.

“Please, Mr. Grace?” Aqua wiggles happily in her spot.

Grace feels the excited energy bursting within the pebbles. His worry was that he was packing them with too much information, but all they want is the potential for even more knowledge. He can’t blame them for their enthusiasm.

Grace shakes his head and sighs, a smile on his lips. “What am I going to do with you kids…? Alright, I’ll add in a few tough ones here and there, but we have to go fast, okay? It is a lightning round review after all.”

The pebbles squeak with joy.

“Amaze! Amaze! Thank you, Mr. Grace!” Fossil cheers.

Grace giggles at their celebration. “Alright, now let’s settle down and focus everyone. Ready?” he curls his fingers around the beanbag as the pebbles happily await the continuation of the game. “Let’s go!” Grace announces. He tosses the ball towards his students and the lightning round review commences once more.

“Okay, so everyone understands the rules?” Grace asks the six pebbles in front of him, who are safely in their flexible xenonite suits. Sitting criss-cross on the dirt of his bio-dome, Grace points at himself. “Say your answer out loud and then point at the part of my body that matches with your answer.” The intention is for them to not only know the vocabulary, but to see a visual reference of where that body part resides. 

“I’ll pass this beanbag to whoever’s turn it is,” Grace holds up a palm-sized beanbag, rounded and designed like Earth. He gave it to Rocky back when they were on the Hail Mary, but Rocky likes it when Grace uses the tiny Earth to help teach the young Eridians.

The six pebbles all nod at their teacher’s instructions. Thanks to the translator on his computer sitting on a nearby rock, his Eridian students can understand him, and vice versa.

“Okay then! Coral, you’re up first!” Grace tosses the ball to a pink, rectangular pebble with brown, branch-like patterns. She catches it, then hops forward.

“Amaze! I’m ready, Mr. Grace!” Coral excitedly says. She’s mentioned before that biology was actually one of her favorite lessons. Of course she’s ready for this.

Her readiness makes Grace chuckle. “Okay, let’s start off with some basics. What part of a human’s respiratory system is also known as the windpipe?”

Coral immediately squeaks, “Oh oh! Trachea! Helps humans breathe!”

“Yes! And where is it located?” he asks. Coral skitters up to his side and reaches up high. Grace knows that Coral is familiar with where the trachea is, so he bends his head down to help her reach.

“Here!” she points at Grace’s neck.

“Very good, Coral!” Grace takes the tiny Earth from Coral. He passes the ball to the next pebble, “Cole, you’re up!”

Cole catches the ball and switches out with Coral. Cole is a black pebble with flattened points, similar to coal (which is why Grace named him how he did), and gradient orange around his claws as if he just dipped them in molten lava.

“Okay Cole, what is the organ that pumps blood throughout the body?”

“Heart!” his boisterous voice beams.

“And where is it located on a human?”

Cole skitters up and taps Grace’s chest, even making sure to tap slightly to the left from where the center of his chest is. “Here!” 

“Excellent Cole!” Grace takes the beanbag handed to him by the pebble. A few more practice rounds of this and they'll all be tossing the ball back and forth like pros. “Marina, catch!” Grace tosses the ball forward.

A teal pebble, slightly more square-shaped, clasps the tiny Earth. She shifts her joints as if she is shaking out her shoulders. She’s nervous, but determined. 

Marina takes Cole’s place and the teal pebble steps in front of the human. 

“Are you ready, Marina?” Grace asks.

“Ready, Mr. Grace,” she reassures.

“Okay, here’s a slightly tricker one: What is the organ connected to the intestines that helps a human’s immune system?”

Marina taps the front of her carapace. She thinks for a few seconds before her stance brightens. “Oh oh! The appendix!" she shouts with confidence. She leans to the right like she’s about to dash in that direction, but then she leans to the left, then, after a moment, to the right again. She almost wobbles in place, trying to choose a direction.

Oh, Grace knows what she’s doing. She forgot if the appendix is on the right or the left side. It also is probably taking her a moment to remember that, since they’re facing each other, Marina’s left is Grace’s right and Marina’s right is Grace’s left (It’s the classic situation of “My right not your right!”). 

Come on Marina, you got this, Grace thinks to himself.

Something excitedly clicks for the teal pebble. She skitters to her left to reach Grace’s right.

“The appendix is here!” Marina points to the right side of Grace’s belly, and in her excitement, she accidentally jabs her teacher in the side. Grace flinches.

“Hey!” Grace hugs his torso with a giggle quickly following in tow. “Careful, that tickles!”

The rest of the pebbles chirp out quiet giggles in the background. Grace taught them all about tickling a few anatomy lessons ago. Well… more like Rocky taught them and used Grace as a demonstration. Point is, he knows why his students are giggling at him since they’ve seen their teacher in such a silly state before.

“Oh! Apologies! Apologies! Did not mean to activate human tickle reflexes!” Marina lets out a little giggle of her own at the end of her statement.

Grace chuckles, “It’s okay, Marina. Well done on the question.” The teacher takes the beanbag from her claws. Marina runs back to the others and Grace throws the ball to Aqua, a darker blue and square pebble. “Aqua, your turn.” 

Aqua catches the little Earth in her claws. Marina joins the rest of the group, and before her sister Aqua switches places with her, Aqua snickers to the others. She ‘whispers’ something in a low whistle that the translator couldn’t pick up.

Aqua scrambles forward to face her teacher. She lets out another squeaky giggle before standing straight up on her legs to make herself look extra innocent.

Grace lifts a brow at her, but he ignores it, for now. “Okay Aqua, what is the important artery that provides a human’s upper arms with blood?” Grace holds out his arms as a model.

Aqua answers right away. “The axillary artery! It’s located…” she skitters up to Grace and leans on his knee so she can stretch her claw up high. She pauses before pointing anywhere, hovering her claw around the area below his arm. Grace assumes that she’s thinking where exactly on his arm to point. He would be mistaken.

“Here!” Aqua purposely scribbles her claw into the hollow of Grace’s armpit. 

“Hehehey!” Grace jolts and yanks his arms to himself. Aqua, giggling, happily hops away like a stone being skipped on water as she joins her friends. All of the pebbles chirp and laugh at the trick she pulled on their teacher. It occurs to Grace that the thing Aqua may have whispered to them earlier was probably something along the lines of, Watch this. 

Marina tickled him by accident, but her sister took it upon herself to continue the trend. She’s got a sneaky side in there.

“Aqua,” Grace pretends to admonish her, but he’s smiling and the tone in his voice shows he’s not mad one bit.

“Had to, Mr. Grace!” Aqua tosses the beanbag to her teacher, the pebbles still giggling.

He catches the mini-Earth. “Ha ha, very funny,” Grace puts on his best sarcastic tone. “Alright, let’s focus again everyone.” He throws the beanbag to the smallest pebble and they catch it with two claws. “Come on, Fossil. It's your turn.” 

The tiny brown pebble, who looks like a miniature mountain with some spots of green, skitters into position.

Grace continues their game, “Okay, Fossil, what is the organ that allows humans to break down food?”

“Um, it’s… it’s…” Fossil thinks for a second. They tap their claws in the dirt. Then, they let out a little whistle, like an excited gasp. “The stomach!” Fossil trills. They appear to be very excited about getting that answer. Almost too excited.

“Right! And, uh, where is it?” Grace is oh so slightly weary asking that question this time around from the pebble’s track record. But, it’s Fossil we’re talking about here. Fossil is the shy one, the quiet one. They don’t have a trickster bone in their body. Fossil wouldn’t think about—

“HE-Hehehey!” Grace yelps; Fossil has pounced on him like a little puppy and started ticklishly pawing at his belly. “Fohohossil” Grace gently grabs the arms of the pebble and gently pushes them off his hips.

Fossil scatters back to their friends and a wave of chirpy laughter from all of the pebbles reach Grace’s ears. The teacher clutches his tummy. His students think this is hilarious. At this point, it sounds like they're watching a comedy special rather than taking a lightning round pop quiz.

Well… two can play at this game. 

Grace softly laughs, masking his idea that is brewing underneath. “Okay, okay. You got me, Fossil. Give the ball to Flint, and then Flint, it’s your turn.”

Flint, a pale red pebble with jagged features is handed the beanbag. He moves to stand front and center. Grace’s mouth wants to twitch into a smirk, but he resists the urge.

“So,” Grace begins, and like he is about to give a lecture to a conference of professors, he states, “Where is the intercostal neurovascular bundle located in relation to the thoracic wall?” Grace officially shows off his smirk now.

Flint squeaks out in complete surprise, like a mouse caught in a trap. The other pebbles behind him look really surprised too.

“What?” Flint’s tone is one of shock. “Flint does not remember this lesson from before– and why does Flint get the hard one, question?!” he stomps his back foot.

“I’m throwing in new vocabulary, ” Grace explains, smiling. “You all are too smart. I have to increase the difficulty. Come on, take your best guess, Flint.”

Flint taps his claws together. He makes a low hum, which is like the Eridian version of an ‘Um…’

“Is it… Is it the knee, question?” Flint wearily points to Grace’s knee. He’s not confident in his answer at all.

Grace can’t hold back his smile anymore, and it grows wide across his face. “Ba ba!” he pretends his voice is like a buzzer on a game show. “Wrong! It’s the ribs!” He lunges his hands at Flint.

Startled, the red pebble lets out a high-pitched whistle before dissolving into giggly squeaks when Grace’s fingers tap along his carapace through his xenonite suit. Now it’s his turn to tickle his students. Flint wiggles around and scrunches his arms while Grace keeps a gentle grip on him.

“Mr. Grahahace!” Flint giggles, “Whahat fohohor, question?!” 

Grace releases Flint, allowing the pebble to regain his balance. “See that? New rule! You get the wrong answer, you get tickled!”

“WHAT?” all of the pebbles squawk in unison, creating a blend of all the little voices Grace assigned to them blasting from the computer.

Coral steps forward. She stomps her back leg. “No fair! Mr. Grace gave Flint a very very hard question!”

“Yeah!” Flint backs her up.

“Well, that’s what you all get for tricking and tickling the teacher,” Grace leans back on his arms with a nonchalant smile. He picks up the beanbag and gives it a little toss in the air.

“Because that was funny,” Cole quietly snickers. Grace shoots him a playful glare.

Aqua takes a stand next to Coral. “Oh yeah? How would Mr. Grace like it if we gave him a really hard question about Eridian anatomy!”

“Yeah! Let’s quiz Mr. Grace!” Marina joins in on their side. All the pebbles chirp like a crowd applauding for the same cause.

“A challenge, huh?” Grace plays along. He puts the beanbag to the side. “Alright, lay it on me. But I have to warn you, I’m pretty good at this.”

Might as well let the pebbles have some fun (after all, fun helps with learning). Grace is quite confident in his knowledge in biology, of course, so he’ll use this opportunity as a double anatomy lesson for the pebbles to talk about human biology and Eridian biology.

Aqua is the first to think up a question. “What is Eridian blood mostly made of, question?” 

“Easy. Liquid mercury,” Grace crosses his arms and grins at Aqua.

Aqua rattles and lets out a little growl. Flint tries his luck and asks, “What are the receptors on our shell for, question?” 

Grace answers again, confident and correct, “For hearing. Got anything harder?”

Flint stomps his front leg, clearly thinking, darn.

There’s a pause as the pebbles think.

Fossil pipes up. “Pebbles need to remember, Mr. Rocky may have taught Mr. Grace a lot! Need to get Mr. Grace with tough, tough, tough questions!”

Wow. Three times the ‘tough’ on that one. Grace is sooo scared.

Is he getting a little over confident now? Against Eridian kids? Yeah, maybe, but at least he’s winning.

Coral suddenly lights up. “Oh oh! Coral got it!” the pink pebble chirps. “What type of silicate are Eridan nerves made of, question?”

Ha! Silicates? That chemical compound made up of silicon, oxygen, and metal? Child's play! Grace has got this one in the bag.

“Simple,” he says, “It’s…” he pauses. His smile starts to fade. “It’s… um…”

Uh oh.

Grace knows that Eridian nerves are made up of a silicate, but there’s seven different types! Rocky never told him what type they are.

Years together on a ship out in space and his buddy never had the decency to talk about how his nerves are polymerized together. Gee, thanks Rocky. That would have been REALLY good to know right about now.

“I… I don’t know,” Grace slowly, and almost painfully admits.

“Ha ha! Yes!” Coral laughs and bashes into her teacher. Her claws immediately go after tickling Grace, scribbling at his torso. Yeah, that was inevitable– Grace knows about Eridian anatomy, but he’ll admit not everything. These kids are smart enough to know that.

Grace leaps in place. “Cohohoral!” Grace giggles. He tries to nudge her with his elbow.

“My turn!” Flint enthusiastically says. He’s so ready for revenge. “How many sacs do Eridans have to hold lots of energy, question?”

“Uh, it’s– hehehehe!” Grace gently shoves at the persistent Coral on his side. “It’s three!”

“Bizz Bizz!” Flint buzzes, trying to mimic his teacher’s buzzer sound from earlier. “Wrong!” Flint sings and leaps towards Grace. 

Shoot! It’s four, not three! In the middle of his tickly distraction, Grace forgot about the last one that even Rocky said is hidden deeper in their carapace than the others. Now he’s suffering the consequences of his mistake; Flint joins in on the opposite side of Coral, tickling the bottom of his ribs while Coral focuses on his side.

Grace wraps his arms around himself and wiggles between the two pebbles pressing into his torso. His legs come uncrossed so he can kick and so his knees can curl towards himself.

Now that Flint had his turn, Cole and Fossil jump forward at the same time to take theirs.

“What Celsius temperature is ambient circulatory system, question?” Cole enthusiastically shouts.

“And what Celsius temperature is hot circulatory system, question?" Fossil chirps.

“H-Hohohold on! One at a tihihihime!” Grace says through his laughter. He already made a slip up on the last one, and now he’s got an extra Eridian in the mix this time. The last thing he needs is two questions coming at him at once.

“Answer the questions, Mr. Grace,” a teasing voice, who he recognizes as Aqua’s comes from the translator. That sly little pebble–

“Will repeat! What temperature is ambient circulatory system?” Cole says.

“And hot circulatory system!" Fossil chirps.

Looks like they’re insistent on asking him both questions at the same time. It’s all part of their ploy to confuse him. They know how well versed Grace is on Eridian knowledge, so they have to trick their teacher if they want to continue winning. These little rascals! Grace has taught them well.

Well, he won’t fall for it!

Grace takes a giggly breath, trying to clear his head from the tickly sensations that are filling his brain to the brim.

“Aha-ambient is 310 degrees Celsius! Hohohot is 210!” Grace calls out, dissolving into more laughter once the answer is said.

He’s confident about his answers, that is until a second afterwards, it hits him—oh no! He switched them! (Ambient is 210, while hot is 310!)

“Wahahait!!! I mean–”

“Nope nope!” Cole cuts him off.

“Too late, Mr. Grace!” Fossil adds before they both race towards their teacher. Cole hops onto one of Grace’s legs, pushing it flat to the dirt so he can squeeze at Grace’s right hip. Meanwhile, Fossil moves next to Flint and sneaks their tiny claws through Grace’s defenses to reach the side of his belly. The giggles that come out of Grace nearly propel him backwards like a spaceship's engine. He miraculously keeps himself sitting upright, knowing that the pebbles will have access to even more of his tickle spots if he topples over.

It’s like Grace is on thin ice playing a game of hangman, but instead of drawing an arm or a leg when he gets an answer wrong, Grace gets an extra pebble added to the tickling pile. He has four out of six pebbles on him now. Here comes the potential fifth.

Aqua scuttles up and wiggles with excitement. She asks, “Where is Eridian brain located, question?”

Yes! Grace knows this one for sure!

“It’s–AHA!” he feels a little claw flutter at his knee. Grace nearly falls back and holds himself up by an arm while his other hand protects his torso. “Fossil! Nohohohot the knee! Not the knee-hehehe!” The tiny brown pebble has climbed and clinged on to his pants leg like a mountain and is squeezing and fluttering their claws around his knee at the peak. Fossil chuckles along with their teacher. 

“Knees, question? That is incorrect! Correct answer is the center!” Aqua exclaims before pouncing at Grace. She clashes into him like a dodgeball and knocks her teacher flat on his back.

“Hehehehey! Thahahat wasn’t my answer!” Grace snorts as the pebbles, like a swarm, quickly adjust to continue to tickle Grace in this new position. The teacher wraps his arms around himself and scrunches his shoulders when Aqua flutters her claws gently at his neck.

“But Mr. Grace said it!” Coral teases, swiping her claws along his side again.

“No taking back!” Cole chirps, still standing over his leg and scratching at his hip.

Geez, they are ruthless! 

Grace is already in a laughter-filled frenzy, and Marina hasn’t even taken her turn yet. The teal pebble steps up to the group.

Marina chuckles, “Okay, will give Mr. Grace an easy one! What is powerhouse of the cell, question?”

Grace doesn’t even have to think about his answer to get this one right; it’s embedded into his mind. It better be, considering he has a degree in molecular biology. Like a reflex, he yells, “It’s mitochondria! It’s mitochondria-ahahaha!”

“Nope!” Marina squeaks.

“WHAT?!!!” Grace shouts. “Nohohoho! That’s right! That’s dehehehefinitely right!” Grace starts cackling when Marina scuttles over and dips her claw into his armpit.

Marina corrects him, “The powerhouse of the cell is an organelle surrounded by a membrane. It is called ‘mitochondria,’ but Marina did not ask for the name.” She giggles.

Oh, come ON! She got him on a technicality! He changes his mind, Marina is the sly one out of those sisters!

“Thahahahat’s cheating!” Grace jokingly debates through his laughter.

“No cheats! All fair!” Marina says.

“Mr. Grace just needs to do science better,” Cole snickers, clearly taking a page out of Rocky’s book with that last statement, he sees. 

“Yes, Mr. Grace has gotten six questions wrong in a row. Very bad score. Mr. Grace needs the refresher knowledge more than pebbles,” Aqua teases. 

“Hehehey! I’ve been ahahahaha-a little distracted!” Grace yelps. “Gihihihive me another one, but let mehehehehe have a breather first!”

As requested, the pebbles listen to their teacher and pause their tickling, though they still keep their claws close by for an impending attack, which makes Grace giggle even more when he realizes his shirt has risen up a little during his wiggling to reveal some of his bare tummy. While Grace vibrates with residual giggles and breaths of air, he can already guess that his students are thinking up more trick questions to ask him. Suddenly, Coral perks up with a squeak.

“Pebbles! Coral has idea! Gather!” she chirps by Grace’s hip. The pebbles move over and lean closer to Coral. They surround their teacher as if they were using his tummy like a table in a strategy meeting. The young Eridians speak in low, quiet notes so the translator can’t reveal their plan, and Grace doesn’t catch any of their whispers due to being more focused on trying to replenish oxygen back into his system.

By the time he is able to control his breathing and sit up on his arms to look at the pebbles, he only hears their synchronized chirps of agreement before they lean away from the huddle and turn to Grace.

“Okay! Pebbles will end the tickles if Mr. Grace can get this next question correct!” Coral says. “Ready when you are Mr. Grace!”

Some of the pebbles are already snickering. These six young minds have certainly conspired to tickle their teacher silly. Grace should brace himself. 

“I’m ready. What’s the question?” Grace can’t resist smiling at the enthusiastic kids.

The pebbles turn to each other and snicker again. Coral stands up straight to speak on behalf of the pebbles, “What is scientific name of Mr. Grace’s most ticklish spot, question?” 

“What?! I’m not answering that!” Grace already starts giggling along with some of the other pebbles that chuckle at his reaction. The pebbles already know this answer! They’ve seen it! They just want him to say it. Diabolical. All of them (he loves them).

“Give me a different one!” Grace exclaims.

Marina squeaks, “Nope! No skips, Mr. Grace!”

Aqua adds, “Also there's a time limit now.”

“Three!” Fossil already starts counting down.

“Wait- What?!” Grace’s eyes pop open wide.

“Two!” Flint says and puts his claws up.

“Since when was there a timer-?” Grace is practically stunned.

“One!” Marina says; the claws of all the pebbles raise up over that one spot.

“Wahahahait! Hohohold on!” Grace holds a hand up.

“Go!” all the pebbles squeak and dive their claws into his belly. 

Grace jolts forward and combusts into laughter, even more so when they push up the hem of his shirt to claw at his bare tummy. Grace reaches out for the pebbles, gently pushing at their hands, until his ticklish core muscles betray him and send his upper half toppling backwards to the ground. Through his squirming, he uses his arms like a bulldozer to try and slide the wall of pebbles away, but all six of them working together easily maneuver past his defenses. Grace snorts and throws his hands up under his glasses and over his eyes, all while his legs paddle behind the pebbles.

“Pebbles will give one more chance for Mr. Grace to answer!” Coral squeaks over her teacher’s wheezy laughter. “What is scientific name of most ticklish spot, question?”

Despite laughing his head off, Grace holds out on giving an answer in an attempt to be playfully stubborn, but they’re making it difficult to even pretend to be stubborn when there’s a dozen little pebble claws on him.

“We’re waiting, Mr. Grace,” Aqua says through a teasing melody.

The teacher snorts and removes his hands from his face. “Ohohohokay! Okay! Ihihihihit’s my belly!” he admits.

“Scientific name!” Coral corrects.

“Rihihihight! Right!” Grace remembers while he throws his head back with laughter. “Ihihihit’s the stomach! Nohohow get off me yohohohou little rascals!” Grace playfully swats at his students. 

With their question correctly answered, the pebbles pull their claws from their teacher and skitter away from him to give him some space, though giggling to each other still. After a few breaths of air, Grace pulls his body off the ground like a ragdoll, rolls down his shirt, then adjusts his glasses so he can glance down at his students.

He clutches his belly like he just ran a marathon, “Phew, you guys are brutal!”

Marina steps forward, a softness in her whistle. “Mr. Grace okay though, question?”

Grace lets out a chuckle. One moment these kids are tickling him to pieces, the next moment they’re making sure he’s okay. He’s gotta love them.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Grace replies. “Where did you kids learn how to get so smart?”

Cole chirps, “We learned from the best!”

“Flattery, huh?” Grace jokes, though it does warm his heart to hear that coming from the pebbles. “Well flattery isn’t going to get you out of his review we still have to do, remember?” the teacher says with a smile. “Come on, let’s get back into position, everyone.”

Following their teacher’s instructions, the pebbles line up side by side as they were at the start of the review game. 

“Where's the ball?” Grace looks around himself, searching for the little beanbag. He finds it rolled off to the side, which definitely happened during their silly scuffle. “Here it is,” Grace reaches for and cups the little earth in his hand. “Okay!” he faces his students, “Are we ready?”

Fossil quickly raises their claw.

“Yes, Fossil?” Grace asks, surprised to be met with a question rather than the pebble’s usual enthusiasm.

Fossil taps the pads of their claws in the dirt. “Can Mr. Grace add tough tough questions to review like before, question?”

Grace blinks at the small pebble. “Huh? You want me to ask the hard questions? But, this is review, so you may not know the answers if it has new information.”

“That is okay!” Fossil raises their carapace. “Pebbles can learn! Can use tough questions as opportunity! Pebbles agree, question?” Fossil asks their fellow club-mates.

The other pebbles chirp. Flint steps up, “Yes yes! Tough questions are fun! It gives pebbles a challenge!”

“So pebbles are more versed in human anatomy!” Coral agrees.

“Please, Mr. Grace?” Aqua wiggles happily in her spot.

Grace feels the excited energy bursting within the pebbles. His worry was that he was packing them with too much information, but all they want is the potential for even more knowledge. He can’t blame them for their enthusiasm.

Grace shakes his head and sighs, a smile on his lips. “What am I going to do with you kids…? Alright, I’ll add in a few tough ones here and there, but we have to go fast, okay? It is a lightning round review after all.”

The pebbles squeak with joy.

“Amaze! Amaze! Thank you, Mr. Grace!” Fossil cheers.

Grace giggles at their celebration. “Alright, now let’s settle down and focus everyone. Ready?” he curls his fingers around the beanbag as the pebbles happily await the continuation of the game. “Let’s go!” Grace announces. He tosses the ball towards his students and the lightning round review commences once more.

I take a moment to look around me. The train car is empty—a privilege of being with the woman who Is The Government, I guess. Speaking of which, she’s sitting on my right, gazing out the window. I watch her face for a minute as rolling fields pass in our view. She’s not doing any work either, her laptop abandoned on the seats across from us with the neon-colored screensaver spinning across it. 

On my left is Carl. I hadn’t noticed he was sitting next to me. Usually he chooses a seat farther away, but the car is small. Or maybe he just likes us. Heh.

Come to think of it, this whole train ride is rather strange. We have the entire military (yes, all of them) at our disposal with more jets and planes and cars than we could ever use, but we’re sitting on a train for 5 hours just to get to an appointment with an expert. Why the sudden lack of efficiency? It’s not like Stratt. 

I slump in my seat as I ponder this question, sliding down slightly. My sweater bunches, riding up where my back meets the seat and driving my collar up to my chin. I purse my lips, using my precious free will and free time to let my brain be, well, dumb. I don’t notice the amused glance Stratt and Carl exchange over my head. 

After a few minutes of further silence, Carl clears his throat. I glance up at him over my glasses and raise my eyebrows slightly. 

“What… What are you thinking about, Dr. Grace?” Carl asks, thinly-veiled amusement in his voice. 

I shrug, worsening the shirt-bunching-up situation. I glance down slightly to make sure I’m decent—my tummy isn’t exposed, only a hint of my sides and back ribs, so I’m fine. “Nothing,” I reply.

Carl gives me a skeptical look. 

“What? I actually am thinking about nothing,” I reply. 

He smirks slightly at my cheekiness. I see his hand twitch, hesitate, and then something in his eyes hardens into resolve. Before I can process what that means, Carl’s thumb is jabbed into my side where my shirt rode up. 

I let out a very unmanly yelp and sit up straight, yanking my shirt down. I pretend not to hear the choked and muffled noise of amusement from Stratt next to me and I pretend not to see the amused look they share over my head (again). Mercifully, neither of them question my reaction.

“I wasn’t lying,” I say defensively. My voice is slightly high-pitched, dang it. “I was thinking about nothing. Or, how we’re doing nothing right now. Which is weird! Objectively. Y’know. We’re always so…” I gesture vaguely, “busy.”

Stratt finally speaks up. “So you think you’re being underworked, Dr. Grace?” 

There’s something in her tone I can’t place, something in her eyes that I can’t figure out. I think she’s… teasing me? Stratt? Teasing me?

“I- wha- no,” I say, flustered. “N-not necessarily.”

“I’m hearing he’s underworked,” Carl says to Stratt, an air of performance in his voice. 

“Mm, yes, that’s what I’m hearing as well…” Stratt muses. 

“Guys?” I say, chuckling nervously.

“I have just the thing,” Carl says. 

Before I can process what that means, Carl’s big, strong hand is tweaking my side. I squeak and flinch, my body twisting away from his hand until I’m practically in Stratt’s lap. “Carl!” I yelp.

He’s grinning. Motherfluffer. “I didn’t know you were so ticklish, Dr. Grace.”

“I- I’m not,” I deny vehemently. “Y-you just surprised me.” 

“Twice?” Stratt chimes in. I make a very intelligent grumbling noise in reply, covering my reddening face.

Unfortunately this blinds me to the shared look of mischief between Stratt and Carl, who nod once and then start tickling me. In. Earnest.

I absolutely explode with sound, somewhere between a laugh and a surprised squawk. “No- NO! Come ohohohon- GUYS!” Stratt’s nimble fingers worm their way under my sweater and the buttoned shirt underneath, scribbling diligently at my tummy. Carl continues the pinching and tweaking motions up my sides. I’m nearly hysterical. 

“What’s that, Grace?” Stratt muses calmly. “I can’t hear you. You’re going to have to use your words.”

“Noho- NOHOHOHO… Don’t use my ohohown exprehehessions on me!” I squeal. It’s a very masculine, put-together squeal—uh, what do my students say?—Trust.

I try to curl my knees to my chest and armadillo my way out of this one, but Carl puts a stop to that pretty quick by pinning my knees down with his free hand. He also squeezes my knees and thighs a few times, coaxing a few snorts out of me. Stratt actually coos at my reaction, which if I wasn’t being tickled to death I would find shocking.

“No- pleasepleaseplease- ahahahaha… fudge- you’re killing mehehehe!! Please…”

My laughter goes silent when Stratt sticks a finger in my bellybutton and swirls it around. I have a death grip on her wrist, but I can’t find the strength to push her away. My brain isn’t letting me. Traitor. I squeeze my eyes shut so I don’t have to look at the smug grins on their faces.

She stops, though, mercifully. Carl takes the hint and reduces his awful squeezing along my sides. I get about 20 seconds to breathe before Stratt’s hands wander up under my arms for a grand finale. 

“Oh- Christmas Eve!” I yelp. My eyes shoot open and my elbows tighten to my sides, trapping her hands. 

“Oh, I’m stuck,” Stratt says, her bottom lip sticking out slightly in a faux-pout. 

“N-nahano, you’re not stuhuck, just gehehet out-“

“She’s trying,” Carl adds unhelpfully as Stratt wiggles her fingers around in earnest, right into the hollows of my armpits. I’m wheezing. Thank God she’s not doing this under my shirt, or I’d have actually died.

“I think we have a hostage situation,” Stratt remarks, changing technique to scratch her nails lightly up, down, up, down… It’s maddening. Fresh rounds of giggles burst out of me at every motion of her fingers.

“Don’t worry, backup is on the way,” Carl says, bringing his walkie-talkie to his mouth to mime calling for help. It’s not like I receive much help, because then he’s pulling up my shirt and digging one hand, poised like a claw, into my lower belly. 

I’ve always had a slightly soft stomach—no matter how much I work out or ride my bike to work, there’s always a little bit of pudge at the very bottom of my belly under the abs I’d worked hard to maintain. And, of course, Carl abuses this feature. Ruthlessly. His fingers vibrate into the soft skin, making me squeal and my arms loosen to grab at his hands. This action frees Stratt’s hands (where they were never really trapped, let’s be honest). As soon as Stratt is free, they both stop. 

I suck in greedy lungfuls of air. Vaguely, I process that there’s moistness at the corners of my eyes from laughing too hard. I can also vaguely sense that they’re both smiling at me. I tuck my knees to my chest, hide my face, and let out an embarrassed groan. “Ne-never do that again.”

“No promises,” Stratt says. 

“Okay, I’m asking you again—am I expendable? Is that why you’re keeping me around? Because I almost just died—“

“So dramatic,” Stratt murmurs, cutting me off. She’s smiling wider than I’ve ever seen her smile. I stop my flustered rambling, just looking at her smile in awe. I glance the other way to Carl, who’s sporting a similar grin.