#Ticklish!Minkowski

[stray-tickles]

Braiding

Read on AO3

“Why did I agree to this?”

“Beats me!” Eiffel said with a smile. “But you did!”

Minkowski groaned. “I regret it already.” It was her room. This was probably against some protocol or another, something about keeping professional relationships professional.

Eiffel chuckled, patting the space in front of him and crossing his legs. “Come on, Rapunzel.”

“Maybe I should just shave it all off.”

He laughed. “And you call me dramatic. Trust me, I’m actually not bad at this. Scout’s honour.”

She huffed, but sat in front of him.

“That’s the spirit!”

Minkowski turned to glare at him, but he only grinned back.

At least if he messed up her hair, she could do the same right back.

The first touch of his fingers untangling her hair made her jump. How long had it been since someone had touched her? It must have been longer than she’d thought.

Eiffel gently worked out the larger knots with his fingers, noting how she shivered at the touch. He understood that feeling. Instead of commenting, he grabbed the brush, carefully running it through her hair and smoothing it out.

Okay, so it felt really nice to have someone brush her hair. “You are good at this.”

Eiffel smiled. “No need to sound so surprised.” He paused. “Okay, maybe there’s a little reason.”

Minkowski smirked. She’d softened on her Communications Officer over the last few months. Started letting his jokes get to her, teasing him back on occasion. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but… they felt like friends, now.

That was a nice feeling.

He put the brush down next to them and started gathering her hair into one long strand. Unfortunately for her, doing so meant that his nails brushed the back of her neck, drawing out a twitch and a gasp and oh right, she was ticklish there.

And she’s just allowed her friend and head of mischief full access. Great.

“You okay?” Eiffel asked, his hands stilling.

Minkowski cleared her throat. “Fine, fine.”

“If you say so.” He shrugged, going back to his task.

The second time he accidentally touched her neck, Eiffel started to get suspicious. He could understand once, it was a surprise. But why did she flinch again?

The third time was a test. He let his fingers wiggle a little as they passed just above her shoulder, and yep, that was definitely a muffled squeal.

He grinned. So Commander Badass was ticklish. Cute.

Shit. He knew. He definitely knew what he was doing, because he started doing it more. Every overlapping strand of hair was accompanied with a fingertip trailing across her neck and making her squirm or hiccup or squeak, smiling wider with every attempt. She should stop him.

She should stop him.

A finger wiggled playfully just under her jaw, and she barely muffled a snort behind one hand, twitching forward instinctively and grinning like crazy.

Eiffel chuckled. “Hey, I can’t work if you’re all the way over there.” He teased, but didn’t follow. He had a feeling that if he pushed too hard she’d put a stop to this, and that was the last thing he wanted. This was fun.

It was very tempting to curl up into a ball or run away. Minkowski knew she was smiling, surprised to find how relaxed she felt beyond that giddy tension. She leaned back, fighting not to scrunch up her shoulders.

In the interest of not getting his ass kicked, Eiffel didn’t tease. Much. He sang a quick, “Thank you!” and went right back to braiding. And maybe sneaking in a quick tickle every few seconds. Hey, it wasn’t like she was stopping him.

It was really hard not to scrunch up her neck, but she managed. Just about. She wrapped one arm around her middle and scrunched her eyes closed, struggling not to laugh. This was- it was silly, and yeah, normally that was something she was categorically against, but…

Okay, fine, she was kind of having fun.

Nails scratched just under her ear, drawing out a hicuppy laugh and making her crush the other hand over her mouth. Eiffel laughed silently.

“Umm, what are you doing?”

“Oh, hey Hera.” Eiffel said, looking up at the nearest camera. “We’re having a bit of a slumber party; the Commander’s hair was getting kind of out of control.”

“No, not that, I mean-” His fingers danced over the side of her neck, and she flinched. “That! What is that?”

Minkowski cringed. Really? She couldn’t even respond without laughing right now. Did Hera seriously not get it?

Eiffel chuckled and did it again, noting that her ears had gotten flushed. “What? My hand just slipped.”

Hera groaned. “You’re doing something! Tell me!”

He winked at the camera. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m not doing aaaanything. Right, Commander?”

“Mm-hm!” She managed to squeak, face burning.

Hera huffed, and Eiffel mouthed, “Later.” At the camera. He felt a little bad for leaving her in the dark, but hey, he was almost done.

“Aaaand, done!” He neatly tied up the end of the braid, and because he might never get the chance again, playfully wiggled the end of it against her neck.

There was a loud squeak, and the next thing he knew, his commanding officer had flopped over sideways, both hands smushed over her face and her shoulders locked around her ears. Eiffel chuckled. “You okay there?”

Minkowski glowered at him between her fingers, grateful that her giddy smile was thoroughly hidden.

Hera laughed. At least they were having fun. “Seriously, what’s going on?”

Eiffel smirked. “Well-”

He was cut off by a gentle punch in the arm. Minkowski sat up, still grinning, with a sly spark in her eye and the brush in her hand. “Your turn.”

Oh crap. He laughed nervously. “You don’t have to do that, it’s all good.”

She shifted back and crossed her legs, patting the spot in front of her. “I insist.”

He was so dead.

Cautiously, Eiffel sat down, already half turtled and biting down nervous giggles. He jumped when the brush was dragged through his messy hair.

Then she dropped the brush and dug her fingers into his ribs, making him shriek loudly and fold in half like a cheap lawn chair.

Minkowski grinned, vibrating her fingers into his ribcage. “You okay there?” She asked, amused by his wild cackling.

Huh. Now that she thought of it, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him properly laugh before. Weird, for such an upbeat person. He was certainly laughing now, snorting and cackling and squealing in a way that maybe she should have found obnoxious.

Eiffel kicked his feet and squirmed frantically, trying very hard not to wriggle out of Minkowski’s evil grip while laughing his head off. It was hard; she was unsurprisingly ruthless. “Mercy!” He squealed, twisting ineffectively. “Mehehercy!”

Minkowski rolled her eyes at his dramatics, letting one hand drift to squeeze at his stomach, drawing out a series of snorts. “Weren’t you just telling Hera what’s happening?”

“Noooo!” He whined, curling up as best he could.

Short nails scratched at his neck, and he burst into giggles, shoulders scrunching. “Oh, I think you were.” She teased.

Eiffel felt like he was melting. This was so unfair; he hadn’t been even half this mean! He slapped at her hands weakly, slumping forwards and laughing helplessly.

Minkowski chuckled, worming her hands under his arms and earning a shriek. “Well?”

“Yes, I’m not entirely sure what’s so funny right now.” Hera said, sounding a little smug.

Eiffel wheezed, his smile wide and helpless. Minkowski seemed to notice his need for air and eased off a little, fingers playing gently at his ribs and keeping him jumpy. He couldn’t stop giggling. This was the most fun he’d ever had on the Hephaestus.

He was certainly taking his time catching his breath. She scratched gently at his stomach, and Eiffel yelped and flopped over onto his front. “Okay! Okahahay! It- it tickles, plehehease!”

“Ohhhh, I see!” Hera said teasingly.

Minkowski mercifully retracted her hands. “Why didn’t you say so?”

He wanted to swear at her but was too busy giggling his head off. His limbs had gone all floppy and his brain was pleasantly fuzzy from laughing so much. A hand brushed his hair back and he flinched violently.

Minkowski chuckled. “It’s okay, you’re done.” She said, going back to his hair. “But someone has to do something about this rat’s nest.”

Oh. He relaxed. Should probably get up to make this easier, but he was very comfortable in this boneless, giddy state, and Minkowski was only making it worse by gently brushing his hair. It was calming. He wasn’t going to get up unless someone made him.

It was certainly a lot faster to braid someone’s hair when you weren’t also tickling them to death, Minkowski reflected with a soft smile. Eiffel seemed to have given up on being a human being for now and decided his time was better spent as a jellyfish. It was kind of nice, seeing him this happy.

“All done!” She said, and because she was feeling evil, brushed the end of the braid around his neck, earning a giggly squeal and getting him to squirm onto his back.

Eiffel glared playfully, still grinning. “You’re ruthless.”

She shrugged. “Eh, we already knew that.”

He chuckled and sat up. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“I have tried.” She said with a smirk. “Yet somehow you always wind up there.”

“At what point do you admit that you don’t have a good side?”

She punched him gently in the shoulder, and Eiffel grinned. He was sort of tempted to poke at her, try to figure out if she had other weak spots. Another part of him didn’t want to push the line. It was nice being able to have little hair braiding parties that left them both smiling and a little giggly. The last thing he wanted was to ruin it.

Minkowski ran her braid through her hand. Huh. “You actually did a good job.”

Eiffel put a hand over his heart. “Commander. That was almost a compliment!”

She rolled her eyes. “It took you long enough.”

“All part of the process.” He grinned. “Happy to help out any time.”

The thought had that giddy feeling in her stomach resurfacing and her lips twitching. She bit the inside of her lip. “I’ll keep you posted.”

Eiffel tried to hide his surprise, but nothing would keep the massive grin from forming. “Great.”

It was great. It really was.

Maybe next time, he’d figure out her other weak spots.

[bow-of-aros]

Could we get a lil drabble with lee Eiffel & lers Minkowski & Lovelace? I feel like they’d bully him so much lol

He Had it Coming

I wanted to get something written because I am about to be Very busy. It's kinda rough writing-wise but I love them and the little family they built. Thanks for the prompt and I hope you enjoy this <333

-

“Wait Commander! I’m sorry! Nononono plehehehease!” Minkowski was merciless as she disregarded Eiffel’s pleas. Her brows were drawn together in the single-minded pursuit of making her Communications Officer eat his words.

Said comminications officer’s laughter jumped in pitch when she redirected her attention to his stomach, prodding and kneading the softness there in a way that punched Eiffel’s breath out of him in a wheeze.

Minkowski scoffed, “You’re not sorry. Not yet at least.” Her tone darkened, “Oh, but you will be.”

“So, what did he do this time?”

Eiffel managed to suck in a few hasty breaths when Minkowski faltered briefly. He turned to Lovelace floating there in the doorway, his saviour, “Nothing! I didn’t do anything!”

She just looked at him disbelievingly before her gaze slid over to Minkowski, eyebrow arched questioningly.

“He said that Chicago was a bad musical!” She squeezed at Eifel’s sides, anger renewed at the reminder, “Can you believe it?!”

Lovelace nodded, “Yeah, he totally deserves this. You should let me help, I found this really neat spot the other day that I think you’d enjoy.” Minkowski gestured at her, like have at it. There’s more than enough Doug Eiffel to torture for everyone.

“NO!” Eiffel, on the other hand, did not appreciate this, “Yohohohou don’t have to dohohoho this! Lovelace! Commander! Hahahave mercy!”

Of course, there was no mercy to be had as he was completely ignored in favour of Lovelace saying “There’s this spot right under his chin where, if you scratch it, he fucking snorts and it is adorable.”

Any attempt at defending himself was easily thwarted by the two significantly stronger women and Lovelace’s point was quickly proved.

“Aw!” Minkowski cooed, “That is adorable. You know, maybe I can forgive him if I can hear that a few more times.”

Lovelace grinned was Eiffel thought was a grin made of pure evil and said, “Your wish is my command, Commander.”

Eiffel made sure to sing the praises of any musical that Minkowski mentioned for a good long while after that.

[amazingmsme]

Playing Possum

AN: day 9, here we go! This is an unofficial sequel to this fic. You don’t have to read it to get this one, but it does help add context. This one was really fun & sweet! Hope y’all enjoy!

Eiffel was getting used to their routine. What started out as paranoid sleepovers became a quiet comfort- for him at least. He doubted it meant as much to Minkowski.

For once, he woke up before her. Or rather, he woke up because of her. God, why did she have to twitch in her sleep?

He tried to keep his breath slow and even, squeezing his eyes shut tight. What the hell was she even doing in her dream, playing piano? The gentle tapping was just enough to set his nerves on edge and keep him on the verge of a giggle for.

Her fingers pressed into his sides, long nails leaving ticklish pinpricks in their wake. He couldn't help but violently twitch away, biting back a yelp. Then the nails began tracing his ribs and he gasped, trying to muffle the sound behind his hand. He tried to stay still so that he didn't wake her, but it proved to be an impossible task when he felt his hip on his other side being traced with agonizingly soft circles. He shook his head, arching his back and biting his hand when laughter began to spill free.

He had just wanted to sleep in a little, was that too much to ask? He couldn't fall back asleep even if he tried. And trust me, he'd rather be unconscious right now.

He turned over onto his stomach as gently and slowly as he could so he wouldn't wake the sleeping beast next to him. He was laying on his side when Minkowski shifted in her sleep and threw an arm around him, hugging him close.

He went completely still, afraid to move a muscle. She groans in her sleep and nuzzles into the back of his neck, and he quickly grabbed the pillow to muffle a snort. Her breath is slow and even, coming out in hot puffs of air against the back of his neck.

He was giggling now, scrunching his neck and burying his face into the thin cushion. He was trying to be as quiet as possible, but it was proving to be more difficult than he thought.

And then he was screaming.

Minkowski blew a raspberry right at the nape of his neck, sending him into hysterical laughter. His legs kicked out uselessly as he held the pillow tighter. He couldn't escape her grasp, and he decided to drill into his hips while she blew another raspberry. Eiffel cackled and scrunched his shoulders.

"Nohoho! Minkowski s-stohop!" he pleaded as he blindly reached down to pry her hands away. It was a pathetic attempt.

"Y'know, it's actually pretty thoughtful how hard you tried to stay still. I bet it was driving you nuts," she taunted, nuzzling closer to growl in his earl. The deep, gravely sound sent goosebumps down his arms, and he frantically tried to rub the feeling away from his ear.

"You knew?" he asked incredulously, forcing himself to choke down a shriek. Her thumbs her circling the hipbone, digging in just enough to send him up the wall. He bucked and writhed as he fought against her grasp. "You were ahahawake the whole dahamn tihihime!" he accused, only making her grin more smug.

"I didn't know you were ticklish Eiffel! Why didn't you tell me? This is perfect for morale, and now I won't have any problems making you do your work," she rambled, and he could feel his face flushing with embarrassment.

"What? Nohoho! You cahan't!"

"Actually, I can do whatever I deem necessary for the crew."

"Ohoho come ohon! You're just beheing mehehean!" he whined. "Have mercy!"

"Sorry Eiffel, that's not really up to code. Rule 633 of Pryce and Carter strictly states: "Mercy is such a 20th century value." I'm just trying to comply with the manual."

"Ohoho yeah? Well rule 634 says: it's still best to beheheg!"

"Oh? Is this you begging?" she taunted before the realization hit her. "Wait a second. Did you just quote the survival manual?" she asked, masking how much it impressed her by teasing him.

"NO! I refuse to memorize it!" he insisted.

Minkowski sported a downright malicious grin, "Mhm," she hummed, tracing the shell of his ear. He snorted and scrunched his neck helplessly as a flood of giggles escaped his lips.

"Ohokay! Ohohokahay, lehet me goooo! Ihit's too damn early for thihihis!"

She only continued for a few seconds longer before finally releasing him from her evil, ticklish clutches.

"Asshole. I'll totally get you back for that, just fyi," he warned.

"Yeah, I'm really quaking in my boots."

"Eiffel scoffed, "I'm serious! You'll regret it!"

"Oh I'm sure I will," she played along. But when the time came, she knew she'd be just as giddy and nervous as Eiffel.

[secretblog1212]

I’m a content starved hoe, do you have any wolf 359 headcanons?

Phat mood though. And of course!!!! However you get my all mightier delerium where I’ve not had sleep for almost 20 hours where I power cleaned a lot and probably should of been able to go to bed but thought I could pull and all mightier and fix my sleep schedule (not gonna happen) enjoy my darling child.

So Eiffel is the most ticklish little bab to ever exist, only rivaled by Jacobi but let’s just focus on the main 5 (Hilbert, Minkowski, Eiffel, Hera and Lovelace)

So yeah. They are all touch starved babies who crave affection and human touch and it’s so sad. Like. They just want hugs please.

Eventually they start to get closer and Eiffel confides in Hera about how he wants to ask Minkowski for a hug but could never do that because ducking nothanks.ratherdie. And she keeps it for a while before she spills the beans. Everything starts off small, just shoulder pats when they walk past or sitting a bit closer than they used to. But Eiffel is known for his ability to rile people up.

One movie night he kept making snide comments and she just got fed up, she kept poking his chest while telling him off for being and annoying twat face. He manages not to laugh becuase her hand is too close to his ribs and fucking hell this could end very badly. But he does flinch back when her hand wanders a bit too low and grabs her wrist on instinct. She’s too shook to think of anything to say and he quickly comes up with some snide remark to cover his ass before he fucking zooms himself out of the room. Like, later skater.

And of course Hera asks about why he ran away and has now locked himself in his bedroom with his head in his hands and is blushing like a fucking mad man. He has to explain the whole concept of tickling and how when Minkowski kept poking him it made him feel all tingly and he COULD NOT live if she knew his weakness.

Hera, the curious bab she is, asks him if he likes it, especially since it seems like a good bonding activity and includes pleanty of the physical contact he has been wishing for for months. And he just blushes even more because “It’s not that I don’t not like it, it’s just embarrassing Hera. Like. I know she won’t do it if I told her not to, she’s not an asshole, but I can’t let her do it becuase I want her to and that would make things awkward. You understand? So you can’t tell her any of this Hera.”

This comes the biggest fucking Lee mood of his life. Like, literally. She keeps coming so close to tickling him, a hand on his arm as she scoots past him, playful pokes to the side to get him to scoot over. He is on EDGE like. Hyper aware of everything and he just wants to get rekt this has been going on for weeks and he’s fucking dying okay. So. He decides, he can get away without telling her if she just flinches and laughs a bit next time something happens. Easy, she’ll be curious and she’s demonic enough to go straight into a teasing attack.

So his plan is set in motion. He’s being told off with some more chest pokes and he flinched to the side and smiles a bit, looking down and moving to protect himself. She doesn’t ducking catch on at first though. AND MAKES HIM EXPLAIN WHY HES ACTING STRANGE LIKE DO YOU INDERSTAND THE STRUGGLE HE IS GOING THROUGH??? His one goal to not have to tell her he’s ticklish, and now she’s forcing him to say it. The word and everything. And he just kind of mumbles and everything explodes all at once cause he’s a shit liar. Just. “I- I mean, nothing. Obviously why would you think anything- NO! Don’t I’m fine, not acting weird at all, your acting weird. You keep poking me- what’s that about huh? No that doesn’t have anything to- there isn’t anything to explain. No correlation! I’m just- fine! I may be just a little bit tick- like not even enough to do anything ticklish so don’t even think about it alright and it’s just you keep poking me and- no it’s fine, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable actually I kind of wish you did it- WAIT NOT WHAT I MESNT TO SAY ignore that I’m just going to go hide in the comms room for the next couple of days bye!”

And so the next time she sees him she’s already talked to Hera about r and knows hat he has been talking to her about how much he wishes he could just go to her and act normal but his Lee mood has only jntisifies and he’s ducking dying okay. She just keeps poking him, but this time with intent and he just curls up around her arm and leans into it and it’s be cutest shit I’ve ever ducking seen okay. They both need it, they don’t realize how much they missed other human contact until they started leaning up against each other during movies and just in general being more playful with each other when nothing serious was going on (as friends, not shipping) and when Minkowski sees that Eiffel is a bit closer than usual shell have him meet up in the living room area or something and she’ll just hover and spider her hands over his stomach till he starts squirming and giggling and the anticipation is about to kill him so she goes in for he kill and destroys his ribs and he’s ducking a mess and it’s beautiful.

[stray-tickles]

Seriously

Read on AO3

--

“Seriously Commander, I’m fine.”

“You were bouncing off the walls.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing!”

“Eiffel!”

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.”

So things were stressful without Hera. It was especially stressful when they had minimal warning of an incoming solar storm, and a certain communications officer found himself with no time to brace before it hit.

It was possible that watching her only ally and friend for millions of miles get knocked around like a pinball had Minkowski a bit concerned.

Eiffel let her drag him to Hilbert’s lab without resistance. He probably did need to be checked over, though he was certain it was all minor scrapes and bruises. He sat on the medical table and kicked his feet. “Look mom, I’m a real boy!”

“Shut up.” Minkowski muttered, lips twitching up slightly. Hearing him joke helped. When had that started to happen? “Lay back, I need to check for broken ribs.”

A check-up was one thing. Laying down and allowing a friend to poke and prod at his torso was another. Especially when said friend was giving him a faint smile and owed him severe recompense for troublemaking.

Eiffel leaned bodily backwards, his knees curling up to his chest and a twitchy, nervous grin claiming his face.

Minkowski frowned. “What’s wrong with you?” She put one hand on his knee, trying to get him to lay flat. This turned out to be a mistake, because Eiffel immediately squealed and started giggling, jolting enough that her hand was knocked away.

Ugh. “Eiffel!” She tried to sound annoyed, but his laughter was infectious, and it was impossible to keep a straight face.

“Sorry!” He wheezed, tipping his head back, trying to get a lid on the giggles. “Sorry, gimmie a sec.”

It was easier to get himself under control when he wasn’t looking at her, but just barely. Eiffel sucked in deep breaths, trying to calm down and lay back. The moment he’d relaxed his legs a little, hands grabbed at his sides and he shrieked, shoving them away and going right back to giggling.

At least she’d stopped. He looked back to his commander to find her giving him a quizzical look. Then she raised her hands and wiggled her fingers at him.

Eiffel squealed, his arms shooting forwards in defence. “Nono, don’t!” He giggled, their hands now tangled together.

Minkowski shook her head fondly. So that was it. “Settle down.” She chided, unable to hide her amusement. “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

“Nooooo.” He whined, not letting go of her hands.

“Eiffel.” She said with a laugh. “Come on. I promise not to tickle during a medical exam.”

This was silly, he knew that, but between the hundred actual threats that kept popping up, maybe they both needed a bit of silliness. He fixed her with as hard a look as he could manage while smiling this much. “You promise?”

She rolled her eyes. “Hand to god.”

Eiffel cringed back but released his grip on her hands. Minkowski was surprised at how tempted she was to immediately break her promise. He was pretty cute when he was giggly like this. “Thank you.” She said as non-teasingly as possible, slowly reaching out to feel up his left side.

The first touch made him jolt and yelp, but Eiffel fought to keep still. He could tell she was trying not to tickle, even if it was only mostly working. He bit down on his lip to keep from squeaking and buried his face in his hands.

“Good job.” She said, switching to his other side.

“Shuddup.” Eiffel muttered good-naturedly.

Minkowski chuckled. It was nice to have a moment of levity with everything that’d happened. “Okay, I think you’re good.”

Eyes peeked out at her from between Eiffel’s fingers. “Really?”

Her smirk widened. “Yep. Medical exam over.”

“Oh, good.” Eiffel had just enough time to feel disappointed before fingers dug into his sides, wiggling playfully.

He jumped, arms snapping down in defence, and squealed out, “Hey!”

Minkowski grinned at his snorty laughter. “What? I said the medical exam was over.” One hand shifted to dance across his stomach, making him try to double over. “Now, you promise that next solar storm you’ll strap in properly?”

What the- “Fuck! You- ahahasshole!” He was half curled around her hands now, and it did nothing whatsoever to help.

“Hmm?” She said with faux innocence. “That doesn’t sound like ‘yes commander, sorry commander, whatever you say commander.’” So she was milking this a bit. So what?

Eiffel slapped one hand over his face, shaking with laughter. He wouldn’t have thought Minkowski was the type for tickle attacks, but here he was. He was honest enough with himself to admit he was having fun. “Okay, okahahay!” He squealed, batting at her hands, which slowed. Panting for breath, he looked up at his smug commander and grinned. “Kiss my ass, commander.”

It probably wasn’t a good sign that the insult made her smile more. “Well now you’re in for it.”

As if that wasn’t precisely what he’d been going for. His hands latched onto her wrists when they shot forward to attack, but he was too giggly and squirmy to actually stop her. Instead, he kicked and shrieked, cackling when her hands buried themselves under his arms, wiggling and scratching.

Eiffel squeezed his eyes closed and curled into as tight a ball as he could. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed this much. He felt giddy.

Minkowski smiled down at him. That laugh really was infectious, as was Eiffel’s obvious happiness. “You sorry?” She asked teasingly, “Huh?”

He shook his head helplessly, red in the face and smiling widely.

Hmm. Eiffel had jumped pretty dramatically earlier when she’d put a hand on his knee. To test her theory, she left one hand wriggling at his ribs and latched the other onto his kneecap.

Eiffel screamed. “NONONO WAIT!”

Minkowski stilled her hands, a little taken aback. “Hm?”

“Please, plehehease!” He tittered, trying to squirm enough that she’d let go. “Anything- anything you want, please!”

She chuckled. “Wow. Anything?”

“Commander!”

“Okay, okay.” She relented, letting him go. “Wish I’d known about the ‘anything I want’ button a year or so ago.”

Eiffel sucked in air, still grinning like crazy. He was probably doomed now, but hey. He’d had fun. It was a little surprising to see Minkowski still smiling at him. He wasn’t sure when they’d become actual friends, but he was grateful.

A hand ruffled his hair briefly. “Be more careful next time.”

He chuckled. “Yessir.”

Minkowski opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a familiar klaxon. Both of them groaned. “Come on.” She said, offering a hand up. “Let’s go.”

Eiffel took it gratefully. “Yessir.”

--

“Seriously. Please be more careful with the plant monster.”

“Sure.” Minkowski muttered, not really listening. Her shoulder was back in place, that was what mattered. She could find it.

Eiffel sighed. “Okay, gotta check for broken ribs and then you’re on bed rest.”

“Okay.” Maybe if she got the thermal gear…

Fingers pressed against her ribs, and she doubled over with a snort. Damnit. If she’d been more awake, more aware, then she could have kept a lid on that, but no…

Minkowski froze, waiting. Knowing that Eiffel was going to take advantage of her weakness and make her look like an idiot, just like everyone else around here.

“Sorry.” He said with a touch of amusement. “I’ll be careful.”

She huffed, but he kept his word. Pressed firmly enough not to tickle or bruise, making certain she hadn’t broken anything.

The other shoe had to drop. This was Eiffel for gods’ sake. But no. He quickly finished, not hiding his relieved sigh at nothing being broken, and tugged her non-dislocated arm over his shoulders. “Come on. Get some rest.”

What was happening? “Fine.”

They made it back to her room without any more words passing between them, and she shrugged him off at the door. “I’m fine from here.”

“Okay.” God, that man had eyes like Bambi. “Night.”

“Good night, Eiffel.” She was probably being too harsh with him, but she had too much on her plate right now to care.

“Oh, and don’t think you’re off the hook.” He said, smirking minutely. “I’m gonna get you back when you least expect it.”

Minkowski hesitated in the doorway. The… promise? Threat? Whatever it was, it put her at ease. He was definitely still Eiffel. “Goodnight.” She said again, closing the door.

It was nice to have a friend in her corner.

--

Eiffel was following her.

Honestly, after her weeks long hunt for the plant monster, he probably should have considered whether trying to sneak up on her was a good idea. Not that he’d ever been capable of that. It felt… silly, that he was doing something so childish right now. Especially when she had an idea of what his end goal was.

She had kind of tortured him after that medical exam.

She realised, as she took a right turn, that she was smiling. After worrying about the plant monster for weeks, being playfully stalked by someone best defined as her friend was… okay, it was fun trying to shake him off.

It was also highly amusing that Hera was noticeably silent. She obviously knew that Eiffel was following her and was choosing not to say anything. Maybe she should be mad about that.

Minkowski took another right turn, laughter bubbling up in her stomach. She wanted to run, but that would give the game away.

Another right turn, glancing quickly behind her to see if she could catch sight of him.

That turned out to be a mistake, because Eiffel was not behind her.

Eiffel gave an evil laugh and launched himself off the ceiling, into his commanding officer.

Minkowski yelped when he barrelled into her and wrapped his arms around her. “Eiffel!” It was hard not to laugh. “What the hell- let me go!”

“Absolutely not!” He said, gently digging his fingertips into her ribs and making her double over.

“Eiffel!” It was impossible not to grin and almost impossible not to laugh. His fingers didn’t dig in hard at all, wriggling up and down no matter how tightly she locked her arms around her sides, silly and insistent.

He chuckled. “I think I’ve shown admirable restraint in waiting this long for my revenge actually, commander.”

One hand managed to worm itself against her stomach, scratching and burrowing and earning a loud snort, utterly breaking her resolve. “Ahahasshole!”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about!” Eiffel said, grinning. “I’ve been the responsible sensible one for days.” A finger wormed itself under her arm and earned a muffled squeak. “Now I need to get all that asshole energy out!” He stressed the words by rapidly vibrating his fingers and got a garbled shriek for his trouble.

It was pretty cute that Minkowski thought her half-hearted flailing was fooling him. As if he’d forgotten that she could knock him out with one hand tied behind her back. It was nice to see her laugh.

Minkowski squirmed and flailed and did not kick Eiffel in the nuts, even though she knew she easily could. A particularly evil squeeze to her ribs drew out a snort, and she tried her best to stifle her laughter behind one hand, the other still shoving ineffectively at him.

Eiffel chuckled. “Aww, cute.”

“No I’m nohohot!” She managed, pushing his hands away more forcefully and ignoring how much her helpless giggles undercut her argument.

“Hmm, guess we need a tiebreaker.” He said smugly, pinching gently at her stomach. “Hera?”

“Uhh- one moment!” Hera chirped, sounding distracted.

Eiffel stilled his hands. “Everything okay?”

Minkowski panted for breath, waiting for Hera’s reply and whatever emergency might be waiting for them.

“Yes!” Hera said. “I just need to… okay.” She chuckled. “Solar activity is normal, oxygen levels are nominal, and the commander has a very cute smile.”

“Hera!” She yelped, right as Eiffel laughed and went right back to his playful torment.

“Sorry, commander.” Hera said over her giggles. “I’m just stating scientific fact.”

Her legs curled up to her stomach and she tipped her head back against Eiffel’s shoulder. “You two!” Menaces, the both of them.

“Mm-hm?” Eiffel said smugly, hooking his head over her shoulder and almost immediately getting a shriek and a hand to the face, shoving him away. Laughing, he ducked his head away from her hand and, to test a theory, switched to the other shoulder, nuzzling gently against her neck.

The sound that followed was one best described as a squeal, and even the swift kick to his shin wasn’t enough to dampen Eiffel’s delight at the fact. All the same, he stilled his hands. “I hope you learned your lesson.” He said, smiling fondly. “This is what happens when I’m forced to be responsible.”

Minkowski tried to get a lid on her residual giggles and elbowed him gently. “Lemmie go.”

Eiffel chuckled and did as he was told. “Ten-four.”

The giddy feeling didn’t fade, but she did her best to glare. “Jackass.”

He only grinned at her, utterly unrepentant. It was nice to see her smile.

Hera laughed. “You guys are ridiculous.”

“Oh yeah?” Minkowski crossed her arms. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you taking sides, Hera.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She said cheekily.

Eiffel raised an eyebrow. “Hey, are AI’s ticklish?”

Minkowski rolled her eyes and Hera scoffed. “I’d like to see you try!”

“I just might, you know!” He floated slowly down the corridor.

Hera was fondly exasperated. “Eiffel, I don’t have a body, how would that even work?”

“I for one am very interested to find out!” He said teasingly, wiggling his fingers at the nearest camera.

Hera laughed. “You’re so weird.”

Minkowski floated quietly after them, smiling to herself. This wasn’t what she’d imagined when she’d thought of having command of her very own crew, but if she was serious, she wouldn’t change it for the world.

[stray-tickles]

Command

Read on AO3

--

Minkowski was sure Eiffel would laugh if she ever said it out loud, but sometimes she didn’t like being the Commander.

Yes, she’d always wanted it, yes, going to space had been her dream (turned nightmare), and yes, command suited her.

But.

Honestly, always being the one who was de facto in charge could be draining. Lonely. Sometimes the distance between her and her crew felt like a gaping chasm. She’d see Eiffel goofing off and feel deeply tired because someone had to get him on task and it had to be her, even if she’d rather not. Hell, sometimes she wanted to goof off too.

He and Lovelace had been goofing off quite a lot lately. It was hard to mind with how much happier they’d been, and if a bit of childishness was what it took, well. She didn’t mind.

Okay, so maybe she’d joined in on their shenanigans once or twice. It was hard to resist when she managed to catch Eiffel reaching for something high up, knowing that a quick jab under his arms would have him folding in half, squealing and grinning like an idiot. Never mind Lovelace, who had no idea how to defend herself. It was honestly damn cute how she’d just dissolve into giggles within seconds.

It was fun messing with them. The half-hearted glares they’d send her way, trying not to smile, the playful punches in the arm. Those were moments when she felt more like their friend and less like their boss. She never went any further than a quick poke or some teasing though, that felt like a line she couldn’t cross, even if they were really annoying sometimes.

She could hear Eiffel’s shrieking long before she entered the kitchen and rolled her eyes at the sight of them. He was backed into a corner, curled up in a ball, while Lovelace towered over him, one hand squeezing his kneecap and the other scampering up and down his ribcage. “What’d he do this time?”

Lovelace looked up and smiled at her. “Oh, hey Minkowski. Does he really need to do anything to deserve punishment?”

She almost laughed. ‘Punishment’. Sure. “Hmm, you make a fair point.”

“HELP!” Eiffel squealed, twisting like a fish on a line. “Cohohommander! Help!”

“Oh yeah, good idea Eiffel!” Lovelace said. “Wanna help?”

They looked happy, and part of her wanted to join. She shook her head. “Not today.”

Lovelace shrugged, “Suit yourself.” And returned to her torment of their Communications Officer.

Minkowski made her seaweed brew slowly, listening to them laugh and roughhouse in the background. It was nice.

--

She was double checking their navigation when Eiffel caught up with her on the bridge. There was no point in asking what he was there for. ‘Causing trouble’ was the usual answer.

“Thanks for the help.” He said sarcastically.

She spared him a glance, swallowing a smirk. “You seemed to have everything under control.”

Eiffel huffed. “Well, it’s good to know you have my back.” He said, poking her in the back of the ribs.

Maybe her guard was down, maybe it had been a while since she’d been touched by another person, whatever the reason, his playful poke managed to elicit a twitch and a yelp.

Minkowski pointedly shifted a little out of reach, not looking at him. Eiffel only grinned and followed. “Something wrong?” He asked innocently, poking again, this time getting her in the ribs and making her twist out of the way, biting back a squeak.

She tried to glare at him, but it was taking real effort not to smile. There was something so easy and light to his playful attack. “Quit it.”

“Quit what?” Poke. The smile broke through, she couldn’t even say it was entirely against her will. After all, it was Eiffel, her friend, being mischievous. She’d wanted that.

She batted at his poking hands, biting her lip and smiling, knowing that if she said anything else right now, she’d break out laughing.

Eiffel was grinning at her, soft and affectionate. “Hmm? Still don’t know what the problem is here, Commander.” Poke poke poke.

His last poke found a particularly sensitive spot on her ribs, and her hands immediately snapped around his wrists, pulling him away. They stayed frozen for a moment, Eiffel’s eyes hesitant and questioning. Minkowski tried not to give anything away, but she knew she was still smiling.

She cleared her throat. “I have work to do.” She said, letting him go and floating back to the console, schooling her features.

Eiffel cocked his head, watching her curiously. Huh. “Okay!” He said, unable to resist clapping her on the shoulder and making her jump. “I’ll see you around then.”

“Sure.” She tried to sound uninterested, but once he had left, allowed that silly smile to come back.

That was… kind of fun.

--

That silly, happy feeling in her stomach was one she hung onto for the rest of the day. She had precious little time for levity, but Eiffel seemed to have made it his mission to get her to crack a smile at least once a week. She’d never tell him how much she appreciated that.

She didn’t see the others while she ate, but that wasn’t unusual, both of them tended to eat earlier than her. The common area was clear as well when she entered, so Minkowski resolved to spend the time before bed relaxing and re-reading her book.

It couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds of peaceful reading when a familiar voice shouted, “Mutiny!” and she found herself being tackled from two different directions, held in a very awkward group hug.

It took a lot of effort not to laugh. “What the hell are you two doing?”

They were both grinning, which didn’t bode well. “Well,” Lovelace started, “Officer Eiffel alerted me to a crew issue that required our immediate attention.”

Eiffel was nodding along. He looked like the cat that got the cream.

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah?”

“Mm-hm.”

“And what is this urgent issue?”

A pair of hands squeezed her sides, making her jolt. Lovelace’s smirk grew. “Morale was low.”

Oh no. “Don’t even think about-” Her mouth snapped shut when she felt a poke at that same weak spot on her ribs from earlier. Her head whipped around to glare at Eiffel, but he only grinned back and poked the same spot on the other side.

She tried not to smile. They were right there, and no matter how much she squirmed in their sneaky group hug, she couldn’t get away.

Did she want to?

That thought was cut short when Lovelace’s hand scratched gently at her stomach, making her jump and clasp one hand over her mouth to hide her twitchy smile, the other clamping onto her wrist and trying to push her away.

Lovelace chuckled. “Oh, nice try, lucky I’ve got two of these things.” Her other hand took up where the first left off, clawing and scratching and, generally speaking, driving her a bit crazy.

And Eiffel wouldn’t stop poking at her. It shouldn’t be this effective, it just shouldn’t! Every new poke made her jump, her shoulders now shaking with silent laughter.

“Sorry Commander.” Eiffel said, not sounding sorry in the slightest. “But Pryce and Carter five clearly states; ‘Remain positive at all times. Maintain a cheerful attitude even in the face of adversity.’ Just following procedure.”

Oh, fuck him. “Shut u- nohoho!” Goddamnit, now that she’d started laughing she couldn’t stop. And of course, they weren’t stopping. She tried to shove at Lovelace’s hands as they clawed at her sides, but then Eiffel wormed a finger under her arm and she was suddenly curled up in a ball, giggling like a little kid. She didn’t giggle, she was the Commander of a space station!

“How’s morale?” Eiffel said teasingly. “Any better?”

She cracked an eye open to glare at them, but instead of the smug grins she was expecting, found herself faced with twin smiles so full of affection and softness that she immediately closed her eyes again with a squeak, feeling her face and ears flush and shoving her hands up to hide.

“Awww.”

Minkowski tried to growl between giggles. “You- you’re both sohoho dead!”

Lovelace hummed, squeezing at her kneecap. “That doesn’t sound like good morale.”

“Fuck you!”

Eiffel laughed. “Commander! You kiss your mother with that mouth?” He slowly counted up her ribs, making her try to twist that side away, snorting.

“Kiss my ahahass!”

He tutted. “And when we’re trying so hard to cheer you up.” His hands found the twin sweet spots halfway up her ribcage, and he decided to linger there for a bit, lightening his touch. Minkowski gave an incoherent shout, and he and Lovelace shared a grin. “Cute.” He mouthed, knowing Minkowski wouldn’t notice.

Lovelace raised her eyebrows daringly. “Cute!” She said aloud, delighting in how much redder her face got beneath her hands.

Minkowski felt like her brain was melting out of her ears. Even if they stopped, she wasn’t sure she’d ever stop laughing. She felt giddy and silly and really really happy.

Not that she had to admit to that. “Ihihihi-I’m gonna have you- AH- cohohourt martialled!”

They both laughed. “I’m not military.” Eiffel said.

Lovelace shrugged. “I’m legally dead.”

“Spierdalaj!” She spat.

Lovelace laughed. “Polish? Cute.” Then, because she was curious, she let one hand drift up and gently trace and scratch around one of her flushed ears.

Oh no. “Nononono wait! Wahahahait!” It tickled, it really tickled! The feeling of fingertips ghosting over her ear made her want to crawl out of her skin, and when Lovelace’s nails came into play she shook her head back and forth in an attempt to throw her off. She was dimly aware that her giggles had gotten to a pitch best described as squeaky, and that made everything so much worse.

Eiffel was mostly just hugging her now. “Morale okay there?” He murmured, just close enough to her other ear to make her squeak and shake her head.

He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair. It was nice to see her laugh. Minkowski really didn’t let herself go much, so he knew he’d need backup. He’d seen the hesitant way she’d pulled away from him earlier, how she’d forced the smile from her face. Seemed like sometimes, she wanted to let herself go.

God. How could she feel Eiffel smiling at her? He wasn’t even tickling now, leaving Lovelace to wreak havoc on her ears, his head resting against hers, and he was smiling at her and it felt warm like the sun. And she couldn’t stop giggling!

Finally, she snapped, hands dropping from her face to grab at Lovelace’s wrists, fully revealing that wide, giddy smile.

Lovelace grinned back at her, eyes crinkling a little at the corners. “There she is.” She said, gently poking her on the nose before Minkowski managed to grab her hand to stop her.

Minkowski heaved in a breath, still giggling. This was better, but they were still both right there, looking at her when she was a complete mess. She turned as best she could and buried her face in Eiffel’s shoulder.

Lovelace’s grin turned wolfish. Feeling a little evil, she took a deep breath, leaned closer, and blew a loud raspberry just behind her ear.

A few things happened at once. First, Minkowski screamed. Then she impulsively slapped Lovelace hard across the face, and with the force of her spasming, broke free from their trap of an embrace, weakly floating away.

Lovelace cackled, rubbing her cheek, and Eiffel wrapped a hand around her ankle. “Where are you going?”

She couldn’t stop laughing. This was so dumb, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. “Okay!” Minkowski managed to say between giggles as Eiffel reeled her back in. “Okayokayokay- okay!”

He grinned, wrapping his lanky arms around her again and letting her hide her face in his chest. “I guess morale is good now?”

She nodded weakly. It didn’t feel like she’d stop smiling for a long while.

Lovelace chuckled and rubbed calming circles on her back. “I can’t believe you slapped me.”

Minkowski grumbled at her, not trusting herself to speak.

Eiffel laughed. “I mean you kind of deserved it, that was mean.”

“Worth it.” She said, utterly unrepentant. “Still alive there, Minkowski?”

She didn’t think she could handle looking at either of them right now. Still. “You’re both dead.”

“Uh huh.”

“Of course.”

They had the gall to sound amused. “I’m serious.”

“Oh yeah.” Eiffel let one hand stroke her hair down flat. “This is a very serious situation, don’t you know.”

She turned her head just enough to glare at him. Then her breath hitched when he let one finger trail a little too close to her ear, but he went no further. Just proving a point. Proving that, even though he couldn’t see it, he knew she was still smiling. Proving that he knew how much she’d needed that.

“Shut up.” She muttered, squeezing him tightly because she couldn’t find the courage to say thank you.

His shoulders shook from quiet laughter, and he squeezed back just as tightly. “Sure thing, Commander.”

[stray-tickles]

Passing Through

Read on AO3

Eiffel tried to act nonchalant. He was back on the Hephaestus now, there was nothing to worry about. He was safe. “I’ll uh, see you guys in the morning, I guess.” He muttered, quickly leaving before he did something stupid.

Every inch of his body ached with fatigue, but the thought of sleeping was terrifying. He’d had dreams that he was back before, only to wake up alone on that tiny shuttle. This wasn’t a dream, he knew that, but still…

Minkowski stared at the closed door for a long time after it closed. Probably too long. She’d wanted to stop him. A weak, scared part of her had wanted to call out, to grab Eiffel and not let go, because she knew now how easily he could just disappear, and she knew she couldn’t handle that happening again. She didn’t stop him because that would be childish. Eiffel was the one who’d just been through hell, and what he needed was rest.

She could keep a lid on it. She had to.

She couldn’t sleep. And she couldn’t even pretend it was because of their new crew members lurking around doing who-knows-what with her station. It was the thought of her Communications Officer, too skinny and too pale, his eyes sunken, looking like the universe itself had chewed him up and spat him out. In a way, it had.

Hera would tell her if anything was wrong. Especially if anything was wrong with Eiffel. She could ask Hera if he was okay right now and she would tell her.

Minkowski got up anyway, floating to the door in her standard issue pyjamas and feeling quite foolish. Maybe just seeing his door would be enough to set her mind at ease.

She did a double take when she floated down the corridor and found someone else already outside Eiffel’s room.

“Captain.” She said, as casually as she could manage given that they were both outside of Eiffel’s room in their pyjamas. “Imagine seeing you here.”

Lovelace covered her surprise well. That or she wasn’t terribly surprised. “Minkowski. Come here often?”

No. She’d barely looked in the direction of Eiffel’s quarters in months. “Just passing through.”

Lovelace nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

Neither of them moved.

Minkowski hummed. “You’re passing through very slowly.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“You were here first.”

“I was, wasn’t I?”

--

There were voices, Eiffel was sure of it. He’d already grabbed every spare blanket he could and wrapped himself up like a hibernating animal, and now he was hearing voices. He swallowed nervously. “Hey, Hera?”

“Yes, Officer Eiffel?” She responded gently.

“I-is- is there someone there? Outside?” He hoped there was. Even if it was Kepler or Jacobi. Better than more hallucinations.

“Oh.” Hera sounded… amused? “Yes, there is.”

Eiffel relaxed. “Oh. Good.”

Hera made a sound that made him think she was trying not to laugh. “Do you want me to patch the audio through?”

--

“Where are you even going that you’d be passing through at this hour?”

“I could ask you the same thing!”

Minkowski growled. “I am… I needed some air.”

“Oh yeah.” Lovelace scoffed, “Sure.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Please, you’re not fooling anyone.”

“And you are?!”

She shrugged. “I’m a free spirit. Sometimes I like to loiter.”

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “Bullshit. You could loiter anywhere and you’re outside Eiffel’s room in the middle of the night?”

“Is that where we are?”

“Don’t pretend you’re not worried about him!”

Lovelace raised an eyebrow at her. “You first.”

Minkowski glared at her fiercely, but before she could respond, Eiffel’s door whooshed open, making them both jump.

Eiffel was giving them a sappy, tired smile from his disaster of a bed. “You guys are so sweet.”

Her face burned. “You- Hera!”

Hera laughed. “What? A crew member just wanted to know what was going on.”

Eiffel gave them his best puppy eyes. “You coming in or what?”

Slowly, awkwardly, Minkowski moved to go in. It seemed that Lovelace had no qualms, almost barrelling into Eiffel after launching off the wall, somersaulting into one of the spots and giving him a quick hug. It took a lot of restraint not to tell her to be more careful.

Eiffel didn’t look like… Eiffel. It was him, she knew that, but he was quieter and too skinny and pale. Not much at all like the man who had left. She sat beside him quietly, regretting the decision to come until that too skinny arm slung itself casually around her shoulders and his pale head knocked against hers. All the tension and regret left her in a shaky sigh.

Eiffel hummed, feeling very happy and peaceful sandwiched between them with Hera’s presence floating over them. “I really missed you guys.”

“We missed you too.” Lovelace murmured.

Minkowski was silent. ‘Missed’ didn’t feel like enough to express the hole that Eiffel had left behind, and she couldn’t even say that. She returned the hug and hoped that was enough.

The lost look on Minkowski’s face wasn’t exactly hard to spot. “Hey.” Eiffel chided quietly. “Sleepovers are meant to be fun, stop looking so sad.”

The words did help a bit. He was teasing her like he used to. “Sorry.” She muttered, smiling weakly.

He grinned and squeezed her tightly. “Better.” Hmm… “Still room for improvement though.” And the next thing she knew, Eiffel’s cold, bony hand was poking and squeezing up her ribs, making her jump and yelp.

“Eiffel!” She tried to squirm away, fighting not to smile, but couldn’t bring herself to actually stop him with how skinny and weak he was.

He chuckled and brought his other hand into play, which was enough to break her resolve. “Sorry Commander.” He teased, wiggling his fingers over her sides as she giggled into her hands. “You were given an order to cheer up.”

Okay, so maybe this wasn’t so bad. The last time she’d laughed at all was before Eiffel had left, and him being kind of a menace and tormenting her… she’d missed that. But that didn’t make it any more bearable. “Eiffel!” She yelped again, managing to squirm out of his grasp and onto her side, trying to guard her weak spots.

Did he really have to do this in front of Lovelace? She didn’t need her argumentative smartass second in command knowing about this particular weakness. It was embarrassing enough without her giggling like a little kid.

Eiffel smiled down at her, continuing to poke and tickle. He’d missed his crew. Especially missed seeing them happy, and his commander seemed like she needed a cheer up.

Minkowski was starting to feel light-headed and giddy. She batted half-heartedly at his mischievous hands. “C-cut it out!” She said with a snort, and was somewhat surprised that the hands were withdrawn.

She was less surprised when she opened her eyes and saw that Lovelace had pulled Eiffel into a tight bear hug. She grinned at him wolfishly. “I’d call that insubordination, wouldn’t you, Officer Eiffel?”

Eiffel bit his lip around a smile. “I mean, technically…”

That was as far as he got, dissolving into bubbly giggles as Lovelace scrubbed her fingers back and forth over his stomach.

Minkowski sat up, on the brink of telling Lovelace to stop for risk of hurting him when their eyes met, and Lovelace winked. Then her gaze moved to Eiffel’s face and something inside her melted. His hair was gone, and he was pale and skinny, but that smile and that goofy laugh were exactly the same.

He also wasn’t fighting her off even a little bit. Just hanging there in Lovelace’s arms and giggling himself silly. Huh.

It was hard for Eiffel to worry about reality or hallucinations or sleep or his crew when he could barely form a thought. All he could feel was a warm body pressed against his back, arms around him, and hands setting his nerves alight and drawing out laughter he couldn’t contain if he wanted to. He didn’t want to. He’d spent months convinced he’d never see another person again, and nothing else in his life had made him crave affection quite that much.

All that to say, the thought of escape wasn’t one that held much value to him.

His chest was just starting to hurt when Lovelace’s hands stilled, letting him heave in breaths between residual giggles. He felt buzzy. He felt happy. He opened his eyes and saw the fond look Minkowski was giving him and couldn’t even bring himself to feel embarrassed. Even though he apparently wasn’t above pouting and making grabby hands at his commanding officer.

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “I know your game.” She said playfully. “You’re just waiting for me to get close enough.”

“Who, me?” Eiffel grinned, holding a hand to his chest in mock offense. “I would never.”

“You weren’t gone for so long that I forgot about your scheming, you know.”

He put on his best puppy eyes. “Please?”

Minkowski scoffed, looking away and trying to bury her smile.

Lovelace smirked. “Wow, Minkowski, never thought you’d be scared of Eiffel.”

Their eyes met and Minkowski levelled her with the best glare she could manage. Based on Lovelace’s lack of reaction, it wasn’t very effective. She gave an exaggerated sigh and surrendered. “Fine.”

“Yay!” Eiffel said quietly. Easier to make light of it then admit how desperately he needed the closeness right now. He was grateful that they didn’t mention it, or God forbid, leave. Minkowski crawled that bit closer to them and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He was the tallest of them but felt very small sandwiched between them. Very small and very safe.

Eiffel’s eyes had just about fluttered shut when a finger wiggled against Minkowski’s side, making her twist away and let out a shaky laugh. Lovelace smirked at her and she glared back, face flushing.

A cold hand caught Lovelace’s mischievous one and pulled it away. “Ssshh.” Eiffel whispered, his head resting comfortably on her shoulder. “Time for the sleepy part of the sleepover.”

Minkowski leaned against him as gently as she could, still weary of hurting him. “Good to have you back.” She said in a low voice.

“Good to be back.” He mumbled, squeezing her shoulders.

It was. It really was.

[bow-of-aros]

Day Eleven: Hug

Summary: It's been rough ever since Hilbert's mutiny, Eiffel and Minkowski could both use some affection.

-

Hey folks! Here is another short one that was actually a request. Hope that y'all enjoy <33

-

It’s been a disaster on the Hephaestus recently. With Hilbert’s mutiny and Hera still being offline, Eiffel and Minkowski have barely gotten a chance to breathe between the constant emergencies that need their attention.

“Eiffel!”

Speaking of emergencies.

Eiffel stretches as best as he’s able to before turning to deal with whatever disaster has befallen them this time.

“Yes, commander? What is it this time? Another engine failure? Explosion on the bridge? Are we falling even faster into the big firey ball of death? What is it?”

He’s exhausted, he’s stressed, he’s grieving the loss of his best friend. But when he sees the taken aback look on his probably even more exhausted commander’s face, he puts all of that on hold for a moment and takes in a big calming breath.

“Sorry, commander,” Eiffel says, dragging a hand down his face, “Didn’t mean to snap at you. What’s up?”

Minkowski stares at him for a moment before just… Deflating. Eiffel doesn’t think that he’s ever seen her without military perfect posture, so seeing her slump her shoulders unnerves him more than he cares to admit.

Whatever emergency is happening can wait for a minute.

“Alright!” Eiffel cracks his knuckles and makes a show of stretching his arms, “Bring it in!”

He floats on over to her and, slowly, just in case she wants to punch him in the face instead, wraps his arms around her.

It’s awkward for a few seconds. They haven’t exactly done this before and they’re both tense beyond comprehension, but Minkowski eventually sinks into the hug, wrapping her arms around his shoulder and burying her face in his neck, heaving a big sigh.

Eiffel can feel his own mountain of stress start to seep out of him, just a little bit, at the first real bit of comfort that he’s experienced in who knows how long.

“We need to eat, Eiffel,” Minkowski’s voice is muffled from where she’s pressed up against him, “That’s what I wanted to say. No emergency yet.”

Phew. That’s good to hear.

“Yeah, well, eating can wait a minute. I think we both need this.”

Minkowski apparently doesn’t agree, as she starts half-heartedly trying to wriggle out of his hold.

“No! You are going to stay here and accept this comfort!” He squeezes her a little more tightly around her sides, playfully trying to keep her in place when he hears a quiet little yelp and Minkowski still in his hold.

“Uhhhhh, Commander? What was that?”

“Nothing, Eiffel. Now if you would just let me go so we can get some food.”

She trails off but still doesn’t move, so Eiffel is not aborting Mission Make Minkowski Smile that he just concocted right there on the spot.

He starts gently poking at her torso, quick little jabs around her sides and up her ribs that have her giggling much faster than he thought she would.

Maybe she needed this as much as he did.

“Eiffehehehel! This is insubordinahahahation!”

He can’t help but scoff at that, “Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do, throw me in the brig with Doctor Evil? Face it, commander, you gotta put up with me for the sake of all our lives!”

She’s still giggling, and even Eiffel has to admit that it’s pretty adorable. She is significantly less intimidating like this.

“As your commahahanding officer, I ohohohorder you to cut it ohohohout!” She still hasn’t tried to pull away, but Eiffel decides to have a little mercy and just wraps his arms back around her, wriggling fingers not included.

They stay like that for a few more moments before Minkowski finally pulls away, straightening back up and cutting him a stern look.

“Alright. You’ve had your fun but we really should get some food into our systems before the alarms start going off again.”

She starts pushing towards the kitchen before tossing over her shoulder, “And I’d watch your back, Officer Eiffel. I won’t let this go unpunished.”

But he catches the curve of a smile as Minkowski turns a corner and vanishes, which makes any retribution she could have in store for him worth it. They can get through this.

[stray-tickles]

Thank You

a.n. MORE wolf 359. Bc I am inspired.

Read on AO3

--

Eiffel had to admit, he was grateful for the R&R. It wasn’t like he could do much when he could barely see, but part of him thought that he’d be expected to do… well, something. More surprises from Commander Minkowski.

He groaned, laying back on his bed. “Hera, is there a traditional gift that says, ‘thanks for saving my dumb life’?”

“Umm, not that I’m aware of.”

“Come on, work with me, there’s gotta be something.”

Hera paused. “Flowers?”

“Oh, very funny.”

“I’ve heard chocolates are a good gift.”

“Something we have, come on!”

Hera sighed. “Have you considered simply saying thank you?”

“I did that already! It’s not- obviously that’s not gonna be enough.” He lay back on his bed, running his hands over his face. “Look no one’s… No one’s ever done something like that for me. So… I’ve gotta figure something out.”

Hera was silent, but he knew she was there. She was always there.

“Maybe a candle?” He snorted. “Oh my god she’d hate that. Objectively a terrible gift even if we weren’t in space.”

“What about a letter?” Hera suggested.

“Hmmm, nah. Hey, we got any ingredients for a cake? I can write ‘thanks for saving my ass’ in icing.”

“Sorry, no cake.”

“Damn. Eh, I can’t bake anyway. Balloons?”

“Somehow I don’t think Commander Minkowski would like balloons floating around the station.”

Eiffel laughed. “We don’t need to put helium in them!”

He could tell Hera was amused. “That’s only marginally less dangerous. Really though, consider just saying thank you. I’m sure Commander Minkowski wouldn’t mind you saying it a second time, and you can think about what you really want to say.”

He buried his face in a pillow at the thought. “Hera.” Eiffel said, muffled, “I cannot do that.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! I just can’t! I mean, come on, she’s terrifying!”

“She’s not that bad.”

“No! Not like, bad terrifying, just… I dunno, strong? And I’m a pain in the ass, I can’t do that.” Eiffel sighed. “Maybe that’s it. I could make a voucher book of ‘Eiffel Free Days’. Cash ‘em in and enjoy the blessed silence.”

“Eh, personally I’d prefer the cake.”

“Commander!” Eiffel sat up so quickly he bumped his head, the implications hitting him slowly. “You… have been standing there. This entire time.” He groaned, pulling the pillow over his face and laying back down.

Minkowski grinned widely, stepping into his room. “No please, tell me more about this parade you’re planning.”

He groaned again, drawing it out in an attempt to erase her presence.

“I mean, balloons, cake, flowers, sounds like a good time.”

“Hera how could you do this to meeeee?” He whined into the pillow. She had to know she was there. She’d known the whole time.

Hera giggled. “I don’t know, I guess it slipped my mind.”

“You’re the worst.”

“I think fireworks would work, don’t you?”

Eiffel hurled a pillow in her direction, but it flew wide. It was probably a bit harder to aim when he couldn’t see. Minkowski retrieved the pillow and approached his mortified form. It was nice to hear him say those things. She hadn’t thought that Eiffel had much respect for her, but maybe that assessment was incomplete. She hit him over the back of the head with the pillow.

The impact drew a yelp, and Eiffel peeked out from his pillow. This close, he could just about make out the outline of someone standing there. He narrowed his eyes. “What happened to Commander Hardass?”

She snorted. “Sorry, she’s on her break, you’re stuck with me.”

The next pillow impacted on her shoulder. Eiffel glared playfully. “Careful, I’ve got plenty of ammunition here, even if I can’t see.”

“Mm-hm.” She smacked him across the face, drawing out a spluttering laugh.

“What is happening?” He said, throwing another pillow in her direction. “Are we friends now? Is that what this is?”

Minkowski rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

Eiffel smiled. He hadn’t heard a ‘no’. In which case…

Two pillows hit Minkowski in the face in quick succession, earning a yelp and a playful growl. “You’re really gonna assault a superior officer?”

He blinked innocently. “I thought she was on break? AAH-” Within moments, Eiffel found himself pinned down, being repeatedly beaten over the head with a pillow by a snickering Minkowski.

He couldn’t have kept from laughing if he’d wanted to. “Help!” He shouted, trying in vain to shove her off. “Officer down! Officer down!”

“Um, is everything okay?” Hera asked, confused.

Minkowski laughed. “Everything is fine, Hera, nothing to worry about.”

“Call the cops!”

“Shhh.” She held the pillow just over his face, leaving enough room for him to breathe. “Stop fighting. Let it go dark.”

Eiffel shook with laughter, doing his best to mime suffocation. Where had this side of Minkowski come from? He was almost mad to find that she did know how to have fun after all. Almost.

He kicked out his legs, surprised that it actually threw her off balance. Unfortunately, the next thing he knew a hand was grabbing at his ribcage seeking purchase, and he had no chance of not squealing.

Eiffel couldn’t make out more than her rough outline, but the smug smirk was something he could feel in the air. “Oh?”

“No!” He yelped, managing to wriggle off the bed and onto the floor, “No ‘oh’, nothing! Nothing to report here!” He didn’t even get to his feet before two hands struck like lightning, lobster clawing up his ribs and drawing out immediate, shrieking laughter.

Minkowski laughed too. This was good information to have, but more importantly, it was fun. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had fun. “Sure there’s nothing to report?”

His hands latched onto her wrists, and she graciously allowed him to pull her away for a few moments. He was grinning, all teeth and ruffled hair. “You really gonna attack a blind guy?”

“Eh, only if he’s a real pain in the ass.” She teased, twisting her hands free and digging her fingers into his stomach, sending Eiffel right back to cackling. He flung one arm over his face, the other flailing around uselessly as he twisted in place, trying to escape. Her fingers massaged deep into the soft flesh of his stomach, and it was torture.

Minkowski snickered. “Wow, not a single ab.” She continued to knead at his stomach like a cat making biscuits. “Forget a six pack, you could at least have a one pack.”

“Um, Commander?” It was hard to tell if Hera was amused or concerned.

“Nothing to worry about, Hera!”

“SAVE MEHEHE!”

“I’m getting some mixed messages here.” Hera said, voice tinged with laughter.

Minkowski couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled this much. “Seems our Communications Officer is a bit ticklish.”

Eiffel cringed, feeling his face burn. He batted weakly at her hands, biting down on giggles. “Nohoho I’m not!”

Hera giggled. “Seems like more than a bit.”

“No!” She was poking now, drawing out squeals and making him curl up more with every jab. Eiffel could feel himself getting lightheaded and giddy from laughing so much. Just as he was considering the suicide mission of fighting for revenge, he felt a telltale itch in his throat. “Wait!” He gasped, making the sign for a time-out. “Waitwaitwait!”

Sure enough, moments later he broke into a coughing fit, shoulders shaking from the intensity. He was taking a few deep, stabilising breaths when a hand found his shoulder, which definitely didn’t make him twitch.

“You okay?”

Eiffel nodded, pushing himself into a sitting position.

Minkowski grimaced. “Sorry.” She muttered. “I shouldn’t have…”

He was still smiling, he knew. He was a bit sore and out of breath, but he felt… good. Better than he had in a while. “No, it’s okay. Fun’s in short supply on this ship. In fact, I thought you’d jettisoned it to make space for… I dunno, more protocol?”

“Careful.” She smirked. “I know how to shut you up now.”

Eiffel shrank back mockingly, holding his hands up. “Oh no, Commander please have mercy!” He whined, grinning when she laughed. He let out a sigh. “Seriously, I… thank you, for saving my life.”

Minkowski shrugged. “That’s my job.”

“No, no, that was above and beyond, and you know it.”

She looked away. “It’s my job to keep my crew safe. You don’t owe me anything, okay?”

Eiffel groaned. “You’re making this really hard, you know that?”

She sighed deeply. “Fine. When we get back to Earth, you can make me a damn cake.”

“I’ll do you one better.” He grinned. “I will buy you a damn cake.”

“Fine.”

“A goddamn cake.”

Silence.

“A motherfucking goddamn cake.”

He wasn’t going to crack her just by swearing about cake. She refused.

“A motherfucking goddamn cocksucking cake.”

Shit. She couldn’t keep from laughing at that, noting his proud little grin as she got herself under control. “I-” She giggled. “I have serious questions about the icing on this cake.”

Eiffel laughed too. “Commander! Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“Fuck off.”

“Language!”

She would never admit it to him, but his dumb jokes were worth flying out into a solar storm to save.

[amazingmsme]

5 F for the obscure media asks?!

Im intrigued 👀

Thanks for this, it was so cute & fun to write! Eiffel is my most specialist boy in the universe, hope you enjoy!

After the attempted coup, Eiffel and Minkowski were on edge pretty much constantly. Sure they had tied Hilbert up and threw him in their makeshift brig, but storage closets weren't all that hard to bust out of if you're determined enough. And Hilbert was plenty determined, it seemed.

Minkowski had come to the decision that they needed to stick together at all times and even went as far as to wait outside of the bathroom door for Eiffel, and making him do the same for her. Instead of splitting tasks like normal, they worked in the same room one task at a time, always keeping an eye on the other and checking over their shoulder.

On the Hephaestus, there is no "night and day," only the preconceived notion of it. Out here in the vast array of stars seven light years away from earth, they were completely and utterly alone. If Hilbert went rogue again, there'd be no chance of saving them.

At first they tried sleeping in shifts, but that quickly fizzled out when they both started falling asleep during their shifts. It just made sense to share Minkowski's admittedly already crammed bunk. Sleeping so close was surprisingly comforting for Eiffel, offering some much needed peace of mind. She'd protect him if anything were  to happen. The weight of her body kept him from drifting too far away from the bed, and it was nice to wake up with his head still on his pillow in the morning.

As it turns out, Eiffel talks in his sleep. It startled Minkowski at first, hearing a mumbling voice in the dark loud enough to wake her. It only took her a second to realize it was just Eiffel, muttering incoherently as he dreamed.

"Give it here, you're doin' it wrong."

Minkowski settled down, resting her head on his chest. As she fell back asleep, he would periodically spout off some nonsense.

"Hmm, purple tiger's gonna pounce..."

She stifled a giggle behind her hand, deciding to stay awake for a while and see what else he'd say. The next day, she decided to bring it up.

"So you're a sleep talker, huh?" she asked casually as she rummaged through the pantry. Eiffel was pouring a cup of lukewarm seaweed coffee and froze.

"Uh, yeah sorry. Hope it didn't bother you too much," he said, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.

"Not at all, it was actually pretty funny," she teased.

"Oh shut up."

And that was that. Neither of them dwelled on the subject, and if he happened to wake her up, she'd just fall back asleep.

About a week later, Eiffel was pulled from his slumber when he felt a soft tingling sensation on his side. He tried to brush it off in his dream, but the feeling only got stronger. He woke himself up with soft giggles spilling from his lips, utterly confused and sleepy. Another flutter on his waist drew forth a quiet snort, eyes finally shooting open.

Minkowski was hugging him in her sleep like usual; that wasn't the problem. But he noticed her hands twitching restlessly in her sleep, fingers curling and tapping against his skin. He contemplated waking her, but he didn't want to face her wrath for ruining her sleep over such a silly matter. Not to mention, he really didn't want her having that kind of knowledge to use against him. He'd never be able to slack off or sass mouth her ever again, not without severe ticklish punishment.

So he just laid there, trying his best to fall asleep as her nails grazed over his sensitive skin in the most agonizing way imaginable. He squirmed but not too much, afraid of disturbing her peaceful rest. And really, it wasn't the worst thing in the world.

He could get used to this, he told himself. He would live, even though he felt like he'd die from suppressed laughter.

All in all, he really didn't mind. And Minkowski never had to know.

[amazingmsme]

Don’t Be Silly

AN: can’t believe it’s already been a full week & I just about have all of next week fully written & ready to post as well! Here’s some wolf 359 fluff for y’all to enjoy, so let’s hear it for day 7! But first, quick question: can an ai be ticklish? Idk but Eiffel’s about to find out

Eiffel was a talker. Honestly, he could talk about anything if only there were someone willing to listen. Back home, few people cared to listen to his ramblings. Minkowski and Hilbert cared even less. And he didn't even want to try with Lovelace...

Hera wasn't like the rest of them. She would happily listen to him all day, and call him crazy, but he didn't think her interest was forced. No, she had a natural curiosity about her that drew her towards him like a magnet. She often kept him company as he rambled to the empty abyss of space, unsure if there even were any "dear listeners" out there.

She liked listening to him talk. She's surprisingly learned quite a lot from him. About earth, mostly. She supposed it was natural to miss your home when you're so far away from it.

He liked telling her about the things he missed. She didn't quite understand why, as he always seemed melancholy after their talks. But he would speak with such fond excitement, so it must bring him some joy to express his longing.

Today, he was talking about the weather of all things.

"Yup, you really don't know what you have until it's cruelly stripped away from you. But I miss it all. Yes dear listeners, I never thought I'd say this, but I miss allergies! I miss the cottonwood in the spring, in all its shitty, fuzzy glory and I miss the fucking ragweed! I want to go outside and sneeze my ass off and squint at everything I look at because it's too damn bright and I forgot my sunglasses because it was supposed to be cloudy and it's sunny out of nowhere!"

"That... doesn't really sound fun."

"Yeah, well, it's not. But it's at least real," he lamented, fiddling with a knob that did nothing. Or if it did, he wasn't aware.

Hera's breath hitched, and she hoped she could mask it as just a glitch. That was odd. She felt that. It wasn't the first time she could "feel" in a sense. She was deeply connected to her electronic mechanisms and coding, and she would definitely feel if something damaged either. She has sensors all around the ship: in the walls the ceilings, the equipment, she even has a few exterior sensors along the sides and docking bays. She'd felt that odd tingle shoot through her wires on a few rare occasions, but it had always been fleeting. Minkowski pressing random buttons on the motherboard to see what they did, Eiffel fixing a dent too close to a sensor, Minkowski clicking and dragging the mouse across the screen... If she could, she would've shuddered at the thought. She tried to focus on what he was saying.

"And they're always right! I don't know how, but every damn time a patch sprouts up, it rains! Guess that's where they got the name though, right?"

"What?"

"The rain flowers," he clarified, tapping his fingers on some buttons. Truth be told, most of the buttons and dials in the coms room were for show, like the decorative smoke stack on the Titanic. The real controls were localized to a single panel, and she had always assumed they had no effect on her. Now, she was glitching out as she fought the urge to laugh.

"Right, right," she agreed, wishing he would just stop twisting that knob.

Of course, she could never be so lucky.

"I tell ya, there's nothing like a good thunderstorm, a rocking chair on an enclosed porch, a cigarette and a cold beer. I really mean it, that is paradise. You can take your sunny beaches with all that fucking sand, I'm a doom and gloom weather kinda guy. But don't get me wrong! I'd literally kill to be on a nice, secluded beach-" he rambled on wistfully, dreaming of all the places that were better than here. She was having trouble focusing when his other hand tapped the empty keyboard, all the while he still played with that fucking dial-

"Wow, okay, glad my heartfelt longing is so funny," he sassed, seemingly out of nowhere. Then she realized, with subsequent horror, that he was giggling. What the hell was going on with her? She needed to get a grip, or maybe a systems reboot, have Minkowski check her wiring, whatever it was, she'd do that later. It took more effort to stop laughing than she would like to admit.

“N͞-͓̫̬̞ͩͮ́n͚̓̃͆̇͘͞o̲̮̼͍̿̀͠, I wasn't laughing at you!" She glitched slightly as she spoke, which wasn't exactly out of the norm for Hera, but it did make Eiffel pay more attention to what she was trying to say.

"Yeah? Then what's so funny?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. Well, at least he'd stopped fiddling with that stupid dial.

"Well, I, uh... Ï̶͈ͣt̵͖͌ͧͥ̎̀’̆͘s̨̯ hard to explain," she struggled to come up with a straight answer.

"Yeah, yeah," he brushed her off, rolling his eyes.

"I promise I wasn't laughing at you!"

"Oh sure, I believe you!"

"Eiffel!" she whined, catching a glimpse of a smile. "I really wasn't! It's just... I don't know, maybe I have a wire loose somewhere." That seemed to make him concerned, which was the opposite of what she was going for.

"Are you okay? It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"No, it's nothing like that," she was quick to put his worries at ease. "But I'd appreciate it if you stopped messing with that control panel."

"Why? This one doesn't do anything," he back talked, purposefully pressing down on a few buttons. "See? Nothing happened!"

He didn't receive a response. Hera was too busy focusing on containing her laughter, but her lack of a response only served to pique his interest.

"Hera? You there?"

"Mhm!"

His smile looked... different somehow. He thought for a second before finally speaking, "Hey so I've got a question. And I've just been dying to know... Can an AI be ticklish?"

The question threw her off guard, and a short giggle slipped out. "Whahat? N-̭͎́n͊͞o, that's impossible! Come on Eiffel, d-̝͈̑dŏṅ̮’t͓͕͌ be silly."

"See, I'm not sure how impossible it actually is. I mean, you're pretty advanced-"

"Why would an AI even be ticklish?"

Eiffel shrugged. "I don't know, why do you feel pain?" Hera scoffed, and okay, yeah, blunt question.

"Probably to alert me to the well being of the ship. But that serves a purpose!"

"Maybe this does too," he taunted, reaching over to twitch the dial and she couldn't help but shriek.

"Eiffel! Dohohon't!"

"I knew it! You are ticklish! You know, they probably programmed you like this so we'd have some form of entertainment up here."

If she could, she'd be blushing right now. "They did nohohot!" she insisted. The worst part was that she really didn't know why, and that sounded like a cruel, ironic punishment they'd inflict on her. Sure, give the rogue AI the most embarrassing human weakness.

Except... she wasn't entirely sure it was a built in punishment. What if they had designed her specifically to feel more human? Or was it truly just the way her sensors reacted to certain input?

"No no, I can see what they were going for! It's like a video game!" he chuckled gleefully, continuing to play with the extra control panel.

"Shut up, noho it's not!" she scolded. He added his other hand to the mix, pressing buttons and flipping switches. She squealed, and the lights began to flicker.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Just think of all the fun you've been missing out on!"

"Ahahahactually I haven't been missing out ohon anything," she sassed before a loud squeal burst from her speakers.

"Well I have! I've been curious about this for months!" he exclaimed, continuing to press the buttons randomly.

Months? No, he wasn't serious, he was just saying that to mess with her! He would've asked as soon as the question entered his mind, like today. If he thought she was ticklish, he would've tried something long before now. But then she remembered all the times in the past few weeks where he would press random buttons, flip switches and pull levers at random. He even willingly offered to do repairs on some severed wires, and he made sure to take as much time as possible. She was able to brush off her reactions then, claiming it just pinched a little. Had he known the whole time?

"Wait ahaha second, Eiffehehel did you know?" she accused before he sent her into another giggle fit as he slid the faders up and down on the board.

"I just wanted to test it out and see-"

"You sneaky little bihihitch!"

"Eh, I've been called worse," he shrugged off the insult.

"Why dihidn't you tell mehehe?" The sincerity of the question made Eiffel pause.

"I... thought you knew?"

"How would I know?"

"Uh, because you can feel it," he deadpanned. Hera really wished she could roll her eyes.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know what it was! I thought it was like... a bug in my system or something!"

"Oh it's a bug alright," he grinned devilishly. "A tickle bug!" To make his point, he pressed as many buttons as he could with his left hand and turned the dial with his right. Hera squealed, and she didn't even know her voice box went up that high.

"Eiffel! Ihihi'm serious!"

"Alright, I'll stop. For now," he added cryptically, but true to his word, he retracted his hands.

Hera panted for "breath," even though she didn't technic need to. But Eiffel understood the need to compose yourself, and didn't call her out on it.

"You're insufferable!" she finally said, amusement still clear in her voice.

"That's what they tell me," he proudly agreed. "So? What's the verdict?"

"Huh?"

"What're your thoughts on... all that," he gestured vaguely with his hand. She really wished he'd stop moving his fingers like that.

"Oh! Um, w̋ͩ-w̵̷̝el̥̺̏l͍, it felt kinda like my whole system was getting shocked, and I'm pretty sure I've never laughed that much before," she began to explain shyly.

"I didn't hear you say you hated it," Eiffel probed a little deeper.

"I̺͙̯ͦ͛̌ͧ-̲͖̭̝Ì̡-̘̣̈́͡͠I̵̜͗͆ͩͪ͜ d̈́ͨ̑̍̊̿̀i̘̳dň̰̯̯́’̭t͟-" Hera glitched slightly, and she started over. "Hate is a strong word." He didn't say anything else; he didn't have to. He just smiled and shook his head.

Hera found herself stuck halfway between excitement and dread for what the future held in store.

[amazingmsme]

Trying to plan for tickletober, & my list is lookin’ real sparse. I’m mostly looking for prompts for the following fandoms:

Epic (even tho I already have a few planned)

Hatchetfield

Critical Role

Blood of Zeus

My Adventures with Superman

Slay the Princess

Villainous

Dungeon Meshi

The Amazing Digital Circus

The Magnus Archives

D&D: Honor Among Thieves

Game of Thrones (EARLY SEASONS, NO SPOILERS)

House of the Dragon

Deadpool & Wolverine

& some obscure ones that would really make my day

Wolf 359

Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas

Night Film

The Last Days of Jack Sparks

Stoked

Prompt list under the cut

1. Anticipation- Fjord & Jester (critical role)

2. Chase- Heron, Hermes, & Apollo (blood of Zeus)

3. Prank- Elpenor & Polites (epic)

4. Hide & Seek- Pomni & Gummigoo (tadc)

5. Boo!- Bill & Ted ft. Paul (tgwdlm)

6. Cuddles- Steph & Pete (npmd)

7. Fidget- Hera & Eiffel (wolf 359)

8. Nuzzles-

9. Wake up- Eiffel & Minkowski

10. Spidering-

11. Hug- Ruth & Richie (npmd)

12. Mischief- Asterios, Elpenor, Odysseus, Polites & Eurylochus (epic)

13. Win-

14. Lose-

15. “Are you ticklish?”- Mark & Karen (Hatchetfield)

16. Cackle- Tinky & Ted (Hatchetfield)

17. Raspberries- Pomni & Jax (tadc)

18. Tickle fight- lords in black (Hatchetfield)

19. Secret-

20. Tease- Narrator, voice of the hero, & voice of the cold (slay the princess)

21. Costume-

22. Role reversal-

23. Sweet-

24. Joke-

25. New discovery- mermaid!odysseus & Penelope (epic au)

26. Ticklish kiss- Lois & Clark (maws)

27. Non-human parts- Asterios & Elpenor (epic)

28. Spooked- ghost!polites & Odysseus (epic au)

29. Magic-

30. Trick-or-Treat-

31. Aftercare-

[stray-tickles]

Revenge

Read on AO3

Eiffel doesn't really mind the tickle fights, but it's a little unfair that he can't get revenge.

--

Doug Eiffel had plenty of vices. Many had been left behind on Earth, one or two he’d brought with him. He liked to indulge, sue him. He liked things that made him feel good, tasty food, quality movies, calming cigarettes, and he liked good company.

He was honest enough with himself to admit that he kinda sorta didn’t mind Lovelace finding out that he was ticklish. Or that she’d told Minkowski. They were his friends, his only friends really, so what, was he supposed to complain? Like, oh no, woe is me, my friends keep making me laugh until my thoughts go fuzzy and I feel like I’m on a cloud. Yeah, terrible.

They had to know he was at least okay with it. It was kind of hard to hide when he was all giddy and melted, and he wasn’t being any less annoying despite this supposed comeuppance.

It was a little disappointing that he couldn’t get them back. Lovelace was very certain and smug about how non-ticklish she was, and trying to launch an attack on Minkowski was doomed to failure. The one time he’d managed to sneak up on her, he wound up getting punched in the face.

Yeah, it was fine that he couldn’t get them back. Even if Lovelace got really smug sometimes, and Minkowski couldn’t relax without being forced to at gunpoint.

He’d really like to be able to threaten revenge right now, though.

Lovelace’s laugh followed him down the corridor. “You know I’ll catch you eventually!”

Eiffel knew that, but it didn’t make the chase any less fun. He ducked around a corner, short of breath and smiling. “Hera?”

Hera laughed. “Do you want me to open an airlock? Suck her into space?”

“Not just yet, I’ll keep you posted.”

“I don’t know why you’re even running. I mean, it’s not like you don’t-”

“Shut up!”

“Eiffel you’re running into a…”

He turned another corner and froze. Oh no. Dead end.

The footsteps following accelerated, causing panic to seize Eiffel as he turned around.

Lovelace laughed evilly. “Gotcha!” She cried, stalking towards him like he was a prey animal.

Eiffel squealed, shrinking back until he was up against the wall. “Nooooo!” He whined, squeezing his eyes shut, and despite knowing the futility of it, his arms still shot forwards to counterattack.

His eyes shot open when there was an unexpected and loud shriek.

They both stared for a moment, wide-eyed and frozen. Then, a slow smile spread across Eiffel’s face. “I thought you said you weren’t…”

“I’m not!” Lovelace protested, feeling her face flush. She wasn’t ticklish, she’d never been ticklish, so what the hell?

Eiffel took a step forwards. Had he always been that tall? “Oh, so if you’re not ticklish then you won’t mind-”

She bolted in the other direction before he could finish speaking. Nothing good would come of standing around. While she was familiar with the steps of this game, it wasn’t like she’d been on this side before. Was it normal to feel this… smiley?

Eiffel laughed and took chase. Oh, this was good, this was sweet. “You know I’ll catch you eventually!”

Lovelace almost called him out for not coming up with his own taunts, but between the nervous giddiness in her stomach and running, she decided not to waste her breath. She swung around a corner, grateful that she was faster than Eiffel, and flew into the broom closet, silently closing the door behind her.

Loud footsteps came to a stop not far from the door, and she held her breath.

“Heraaa?”

Lovelace’s eyes widened. “Hera don’t you dare!” She hissed.

She could hear Hera having a conversation with Eiffel outside. It was a little disconcerting when she also heard Hera whisper, “And why not?”

“I’ll kill you.”

“Hmm, you’re not exactly selling me on taking your side here…”

She was teasing her. Hera was teasing and she couldn’t do anything about it. “Fine! I-I won’t kill you.”

“There you go!” Lovelace felt her face warming from the anticipation and how flustered she was getting. Hera continued. “Honestly though, why are you even hiding?”

“I-I…” The question pulled her up short. What else was she supposed to do here?

“I mean, you said you weren’t ticklish, right?”

She cringed back against the wall, “I wasn’t!”

Hera paused. Oh. So that was it. She giggled. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid.”

“No!” She wasn’t afraid, not of Eiffel of all people! Not of…

“You wouldn’t be scared of a few tickles, would you?”

Fuck. She was grinning now, full of nerves and embarrassment. What was is about the word? She sank to the ground, blushing heavily and struggling to keep the nervous laughter in.

Then the worst thing happened. The door opened.

“No!” Lovelace whined, covering her face with her arms.

Eiffel stood in the doorway for a moment, frozen. Then, unbearably, he stopped being frozen.

He gasped. “Oh my goodness! Look at you!”

“Go away!”

He sank to his knees, sliding over to her curled-up form. She recoiled, giggling nervously, and he grinned. “You’ve gotta stop being so cute, my heart can’t handle it.”

“I’m not!”

“Oh yes you are!” He sang, hovering his hands over her teasingly, increasing the giggles and making her squeeze her eyes shut. Why, how could she feel it when he wasn’t even touching her, when she couldn’t even see?

Hera tutted in false concern. “Careful Eiffel, you’re scaring her!”

“Noho he’s not!” Fuck, these two were evil together.

“Hmm, fair point, she did run away real fast.”

Lovelace shoved a hand in his face to shut him up. “It’s reflex!”

He faked a grab at her and the hand was retracted with a squeal, getting a laugh out of Hera and Eiffel.

She groaned, burying her face in her hands. “Just do it already, it can’t be worse than this.”

Eiffel chuckled. “I mean, if you insist.” He said, one hand latching onto her side and wiggling his fingers mischievously.

He was prepared to duck to avoid getting punched. He was not prepared to see Isabel Lovelace, badass space marine, burst into giggles and go completely boneless. It felt like his heart had exploded in his chest. “Awww!”

“Nonono- shut up!” Lovelace squealed, kicking her feet weakly. She’d definitely never felt this before. It was like vertigo or electricity emanating from that one spot and balling up in her stomach, teasing out laughter. She felt the impulse to squirm away, but found that her bones had turned to jelly. “Eiffel!”

“Hmm?” He was grinning at her. Somehow that made it worse. “Problem, Captain?”

His other hand joined, both now scratching at her ribcage. “I cahahan’t- plehease! It-”

“Tickles?” Eiffel supplied.

She snorted. “Fuck! I guhehess!”

“How’s the whole ‘not being ticklish’ thing working out for you?”

She batted at his hands, although it felt like she had all the strength of a kitten right now. All the laughing was going to her head, making her feel loopy. “I’m not!”

Eiffel snorted, squeezing at the fleshy parts of her sides and drawing a loud shriek. “You may want to reassess that.” He teased.

“I have a theory.” Hera said, amused.

Lovelace tried to turn and bury her face in… something.

“Uh, yeah Hera, it’s called ‘Captain Lovelace lied to us!’” Eiffel said sarcastically, one hand moving to scratch at her neck and send her giggles into a higher pitch than she’d thought herself capable of.

“Hmm, no, I don’t know if she did.” Hera mused. “I think she was telling the truth.”

“Ah yes, this is the very picture of ‘not ticklish’.” Eiffel chuckled, deeply enamoured with the blushing, giggly remains of Isabel Lovelace.

“Shut up!”

“Make me, giggles!” He taunted, clawing at her stomach and earning a loud snort and further kicking.

Hera laughed. “What she said to me was that she wasn’t. As in, wasn’t before. My theory is that this is a new development. Let’s say, from when her craft first docked with us.”

Fuck. That actually made sense. Lovelace didn’t have any evidence but… it felt right. People had tried tickling her growing up, partners had tried as she got older, roughhousing and sex, nothing had had an effect on her like Eiffel’s evil hand vibrating into her stomach. “Yohohou fucker!”

“Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense!” Eiffel exclaimed. He scratched under her chin teasingly. “Of course the Dear Listeners couldn’t resist that smile.”

Lovelace squashed her head down, only succeeding in learning that apparently her ears were also ticklish. “Eiffel shut uhuhup!”

“I’ll have to thank them on my next broadcast.” He said. “Dear Listeners, thank you so so so much for this adorable gift.”

“Gonna kill yohohou!”

“Aww, but I’m having fun!” A finger tried to find her belly button through her shirt, earning an incoherent shriek. “Aren’t you?”

The question had her pulling her arms over her head again, giggles pitching higher. It was stupid, Eiffel was being dumb and silly and… Yeah, she kind of was having fun with this. Between the laughing and the playing and how goddamn teasing they were being, this was just… fun. She felt giddy and giggly in a way she hadn’t in a very long time, and she couldn’t even stop it because someone was doing it to her. Someone she trusted and cared for.

Eiffel noted the fiery blush spreading to her ears. “Oh? Oh my god you are having fun, aren’t you?”

“Fuck off!”

“That’s not a no!”

“Screw you!”

He wormed a finger under her arm. “Tell me to stop then, Captain giggles.”

“Eiffel!” She shrieked, jolting when his other hand started poking around her stomach and sides. She couldn’t catch her breath, she couldn’t- “Hic!”

Eiffel chuckled, relenting. “Okay okay, hiccups are definitely a sign to stop.”

Lovelace hiccupped again, trying and failing to glare. “Yohou’re the- hic- worst.”

He grinned, resisting the urge to ruffle her hair. “So? First tickle attack, how do you feel?”

Like I’m floating. Like that was overwhelming and the best cheer up I’ve ever had. Like I’m never going to stop smiling. “Like you’d better- hic- count your days.”

“Yeah, you’re very scary right now.”

“Sleep with one- hic- eye open.”

“Of course.”

Another voice joined, making them both jump out of their skin. “You know, there’s protocol on what to do if you find two crewmates in the broom closet.” Eiffel turned to see a smirking Minkowski. “But I’m not sure if that applies.”

He huffed a laugh, standing up. “Hey Commander.”

She crossed her arms, looking between them. “Do I want to know?”

Lovelace considered her options. She could not handle any more people knowing about this than already did, Hera and Eiffel were already too much, let alone Minkowski. Maybe Eiffel wouldn’t say anything?

Then she remembered that she had sold him out to Minkowski at the first opportunity, and that hope went up in smoke.

Eiffel chuckled. “Well, you see…”

“We were making out!” Lovelace blurted. It was the first lie that came to mind, unfortunately not a believable one, based on their expressions.

“Anyway, as I was saying-” Eiffel said.

“No!” She flew at him, clamping a hand over his mouth. She felt his grin widen, and only had the amusement in his eyes as a warning before his fingers dug into her sides, making her shriek with laughter and double over, failing to wriggle out of his grip for a few seconds.

When she did, she darted behind Minkowski, glaring at an innocent looking Eiffel.

Minkowski glanced over her shoulder at her, failing to hide her amusement. “Thought you weren’t ticklish.”

“I wasn’t!” Lovelace protested.

“Seems it was a correction from our Dear Listeners.”

“Ah, I see.” Her grin widened. “How unfortunate for you.”

Lovelace felt herself flush. How was she supposed to live like this? She fixed them with her best scowl. “Never again.” She growled and turned to walk away.

Eiffel and Minkowski exchanged a smile. He held up a finger, waited a moment, then faked running after her.

Lovelace span around, fists raised. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

They both laughed, and maddeningly, she could feel herself smile too.

“Bit jumpy there.” Eiffel teased, winking at her.

“You-” She pointed at him. “You’ll pay.”

He grinned. “Okay.” Sounds like fun.

She backed away, glaring at them both until she was out of sight. Then, since they couldn’t see, she let the smile she’d been suppressing spread across her face. Okay, that was horrendously embarrassing and she kind of wanted to crawl into a hole, but… It was fun.

Besides, she could always get revenge.

[bow-of-aros]

Intro + Masterlist

Alrighty folks, it's time that I finally put all my fics in one spot, but that will be under the cut.

Hello everyone! Feel free to call me Bow (creative, I know) and this is largely a tickle blog. But also I'm physically incapable of not talking about my obsessions so there's also gonna be a lot of bullshit here. So if none of that is for you, kindly move along.

Some fun facts about me are:

My pronouns are she/they/it, I'm aroace, I love music, podcasts, books, and the funky little queers on my tv screen, my current obsessions are Spies are Forever (Owen Carvour my beloved) and Hatchetverse (Everyone my beloved), and I'm in a Creative Writing program in university!

My ask box is open. I accept silly quips and tortured screaming in equal measure. I'm not gonna kick out any minors but keep in mind that I am over 18 and will write whatever I want to (I will attempt to tag anything nsfw but there probably won't be much). You can find my main blog and ao3 @hellyeahheistbooks if you are so inclined.

Phew. Now that that's over, let's get onto the masterlist :D

Updated: Feb 9th, 2025

(Marking tickletober 2024 fics with an asterisk)

Critical Role

*Anticipation (lee!Caleb, ler!Mollymauk)

*Cuddles (lee!Caleb, ler!Mollymauk)

*Mischief (lee!Mollymauk, ler!Caleb)

*Ticklish Kiss (lee!Caleb, ler!Mollymauk)

*Magic (lee!Mollymauk, ler!Caleb)

Dead Boy Detectives

Your Laughter Stirs My Soul (lee!Edwin, ler!Charles)

Moments Like This (lee!Charles, ler!Edwin)

Pink Really Is Your Colour (lee!Charles, ler!Edwin)

Playing With Fire (lee!Edwin, ler!Charles)

You Can't Hide Forever (lee!Charles, ler!Edwin)

Fair and Square (lee!Charles, ler!Edwin)

Self-Defence 101 (switch!Charles, switch!Edwin)

All the Time in the World (lee!Edwin, ler!Charles)

Well if I’m Dead, and You’re Dead, Then Who’s Driving the Bus?! (lee!Edwin, ler!Charles)

*Boo! (lee!Edwin, ler!Charles)

Hatchetfield

*Chase (lee!Peter, ler!Ted)

*Prank (lee!Ted, ler!Bill)

*Fidget (lee!Peter, ler!Ted)

*Wake Up! (lee!Ted, ler!Bill)

*Spidering (lee!Peter, ler!Steph)

*Are You Ticklish? (lee!Ted, ler!Paul)

*Cackle (lee!Peter, lers Richie and Ruth)

*Raspberries (lees Richie and Ruth, lers Peter and Steph)

*Tickle Fight (switch!Peter, switch!Ted)

*Secrets (lee!Peter, ler!Ted)

*Tease (lee!Peter, lers Ted and Steph)

*Costume (lee!Ted, ler!Paul)

*Sweet (lee!Peter, lers Ruth and Richie)

*Joke (lee!Richie, ler!Peter)

*Non-Human Parts (lee!Peter, ler!Ted)

*Spooked (switch!Peter, switch!Steph)

*Trick or Treat (lee!Peter, ler!Ted)

*Aftercare (lee!Ted, lers Paul, Bill, and Charlotte)

Nitrogen, Erbium, Deuterium (lees Peter and Richie, lers Ted and Paul)

Lend a Helping Hand (lee!Ted, ler!Paul)

Vengeance Shall Be Mine! (lee!Peter, switch!Richie, ler!Ted)

Sketchbook (lee!Richie, ler!Paul)

Fair Play's for Losers (lee!Peter, ler!Ted)

Fun and Games (lee!Paul, ler!Ted)

Newsies

*Nuzzles (lee!Crutchie, ler!Jack)

*Win (lee!Jack, ler!Race)

*Lose (lee!Race, ler!Jack)

Solve It Squad

We Love You, Dumbass (lee!Scrags, lers Esther, Keith, and Gwen)

Here's the Plan (lee!Scrags, lers Esther and Keith)

Spies Are Forever

Just Like Sunshine (lee!Owen, ler!Curt)

Wrapped in a Bow (Series)

Part 1: A Little Bit of Gratitude (lee!Curt, ler!Owen)

Part 2: A Debt Unpaid (lee!Curt, ler!Owen)

Part 3: Finish What He Started (lee!Curt, ler!Owen)

Part 4: A Finely-Tuned Instrument (lee!Curt, ler!Owen)

Wolf 359

*Hide and Seek (lee!Eiffel, ler!Lovelace)

*Hug (lee!Minkowski, ler!Eiffel)

*Role Reversal (lee!Kepler, ler!Jacobi)

*New Discovery (lee!Jacobi, ler!Maxwell)

He Had it Coming (lee!Eiffel, lers Minkowski and Lovelace)

Non-tickle fics

Hatchetfield:

What do you want, Pete?

A Familiar Tune

Spies are Forever:

Come Back For Me

Then Beg

My Nostalgic Time Machine

[amazingmsme]

Monster at Play

AN: If I’m still awake, it still counts as the same day. I had trouble settling on today’s prompt, but I’m glad I stuck with what I did. The plant monster is an underrated part of wolf 359 & this totally happened in canon, just trust me on this one

If Renee Minkowski set her mind to something, she wouldn't stop until she achieved her goal. That's why she was going back in the ducts to hunt down the plant monster once and for all.

She knew it was benevolent, but that didn't mean she wanted it running amuck on her ship, stealing tools and what not. It needed to be detained, or come to some kind of agreement if it was intelligent enough.

She was crawling through the vents grumbling to herself, cursing the stupid mutant plant. That's when  she felt a vine wrap around her ankle and tug. She yelped, grabbing onto the sides of the vent. She didn't have much purchase on the smooth metal and was tugged back deeper in the vents.

"Hey! Let go!" she yelled, kicking at it with her other leg. It grabbed that ankle too, dragging her deeper into the bowels of the ship. She screamed out for help, hoping one of her crew mates would come to her rescue, but unsure if they could even hear her.

Thin vines slipped inside her shoes, eliciting a surprised giggle. She scrunched her feet, kicking as much as she could to force them out. A loud squeal rang through the air when they slipped inside her socks, writhing against her soles and between her toes.

"Fuhuhuck ohohoff! W-whahahat doho you wahahant?" she growled through her laughter. As if in answer to her question, the plant monster drug her to a closed off room in the middle of the ship. She froze when she saw the plant monster looming over her. It was a large Venus flytrap type of plant and looked eerily similar to Audrey II from Little Shop. The theatre nerd in her was amazed that something so fantastical could actually exist, but the sensible part of her brain told her she needed to get the hell out of dodge.

Her pulse was racing as the green tendrils pulled her closer to the mouth of the beast.

"No! Bad plant, bad!" she yelled, fighting back as much as she could. Her efforts slowed as it drew her closer and she saw how it was almost smiling down at her. Weird.

"Look, I-I don't know if you can't understand me or what, but consider this a warning! As commander of this ship, I order you to leave us alohohone!" Her demand melted into a giggly plea as more vines wrapped around her, prodding her belly, sides and thighs. Two more wrapped around her wrists and stretched her out on the ground. Despite her best efforts, she was thoroughly trapped until the monster got bored or decided to show mercy.

"Hehehera cahahan you hehehear mehehe?" she called out to the AI. Her confused, tentative voice answered.

"Um, yeah I can hear you. Are you... okay? You look like you're really struggling but you're laughing an awful lot so like, I'm getting mixed signals."

Minkowski blushed and rolled onto her side. "Hehehera get Eihihihiffel!"

"Sure thing Commander!" she chirped, and just like that, she was alone with the plant monster once more.

It made a rumbling, almost purring noise as it shuffled closer, leaning down to inspect its prey. Minkowski breathed heavily, attempting to crawl away. It reached towards her with a large leaf and she winced, bracing herself for the worst. She was surprised when instead it patted her head as if she were a dog.

"What?" she asked, more so voicing her disbelief than actually trying to ask it a question. It cocked its head to show it was listening, much to her dismay. So she went out on a limb.

"Are- are you nice? What's your deal?" she asked between panting for breath. It looked at her and shrugged with two vines. She rolled her eyes with a huff, prompting it to wiggle a soft vine under her arm. She barked out a laugh, tugging on her trapped arm.

"Ihihi dohon't know whahat you wahahant!"

The plant monster didn't seem to care about the torture it was putting her through. Minkowski would say it went on for an hour. In actuality it was closer to ten minutes.

When it finally released her, it tapped its large leaves against the ground, making a noise akin to a fucking chuckle. She stared on in disbelief as she caught her breath.

"Are you just bored?" It nodded after a moment. She sighed, flopping her head back against the floor. "We all are buddy. But you can't be doing this anymore, okay? This is a one time deal," she said sternly. It stared at her blankly, or she assumed it did, seeing as it had no eyes. "I'll see about getting you some toys or something if your own to play with so you'll leave us alone. That sound good?" It made a gurgling sound in return, and she assumed that was good.

When she finally made it back to her quarters, Eiffel met her in the hall. He seemed nervous, but was relieved when he saw her walk up.

"Commander! There you are! We've been worried sick, are you alright?" he asked, scanning her up and down to make sure she was okay.

"Yeah, no thanks to you! I told Hera to tell you to get your ass down there! What happened?" she snapped, shoving him in the chest. He stumbled back, wrapping his arms around himself defensively.

"Well it sounded like you weren't in any real danger. And I'm a little claustrophobic and the only way there was through the vents, and honestly when Hera explained the situation, Hilbert and I really didn't wanna get involved, so we uh, decided to, um, let you ride this one out?" he trailed off, voice getting higher pitched the longer he spoke in classic Eiffel fashion.

Her jaw dropped and she slugged him on the arm, eliciting a short cry of pain. "Assholes! So you both knew and neither of you decided to fucking help?" she snapped.

"Ow! Hey, we weighed the pros and cons, and took a vote. And Hera said she'd tell us if you were in any real danger, so we were on standby!" he explained his side of the story. She didn't care to hear it.

"Oh whatever. You're lucky I don't feed you both to the plant monster," she threatened, shoving her way past him.

"All that and you didn't even give him a name?" Eiffel called out teasingly. Minkowski froze, slowly turning to look  at him. He realized his mistake and took off down the hall, Minkowski hot on his heels. It wasn't long before more laughter filled the air.

[amazingmsme]

Lesson Learned

AN: This one’s late ‘cause I’m a bit busy with school right now, but I got it done nonetheless! The “punishment” prompt just screamed Eiffel to me. He’s rotten & deserves to get wrecked. Enjoy!

Minkowski should've known something was up just by the way Eiffel was looking at her. He was more smug than usual, he kept glancing at her, and to make him look all the more incriminating, he would occasionally giggle to himself. She poured herself a steaming cup of the hot seaweed water that replaced their coffee months ago. She was still getting used to it.

She grabbed a few creamer packets, ripping them open with her teeth. After dumping them in, she added a few dashes of sugar. She saw the way Eiffel turned away and fucking snickered to himself and she snapped.

"Mind telling me what's so damn funny?" she asked, stirring her drink with vigor.

"Oh nothing. My mind's just wandering, and I crack myself up," he answered smoothly. She was still skeptical.

"Mmhmmm," he hummed with a glare, taking a sip from her mug. She froze.

It was far worse than usual. In fact, it was downright God awful. She stifled a sputtering cough, holding a fist up to her mouth. Eiffel was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

She had to pretend everything was fine.

"When you're done with your daily log can you meet me in the engine room? Just need some help with minor repairs," she said nonchalantly. Eiffel seemed slightly taken aback by her lack of reaction but quickly recovered to maintain appearances.

"Uh yeah, sure thing."

Minkowski nodded and left the room, taking another sip of her ruined coffee substitute, gagging as soon as she was out of earshot.

Eiffel was perplexed. Did his trick fall flat? Did she have no tastebuds? Did she just really enjoy salt? He shrugged it off, going about his work normally. By the time he made it to the engine room, Minkowski was already waiting for him.

He clapped his hands together as he walked up. He slapped the engine's hull and leaned against it casually.

"Alright, what's wrong with her this time?" he asked, breathing out a heavy sigh.

"Oh nothing, that was a lie to get you to come down here."

"Wha-?"

"Hera, lock the doors."

"Sure thing Commander!" came the AI's chipper voice followed by the ominous click of the locks.

"Uuuh... Is everything alright?" he chanced asking that dreaded questions. Minkowski shook her head and chuckled evilly.

"I thought it was. But then you decided to try and pull a fast one on me," she said in a cool, calculating tone. He gulped.

"So you did notice. Wasn't sure with the way you actually drank it," he sassed, feeling himself become more relaxed. "You didn't really mind though, so how's about we call it even?"

She couldn't believe her ears. He couldn't actually be serious right now, could he?

"Oh we can call it even. As soon as I have my revenge," she said evenly. Eiffel gave a nervous chuckle, shifting back and forth on his feet.

"Is that really necessary? I-I mean, it was just a joke. No harm, no fowl."

She shook her head. "Sorry Eiffel, but I can't let you keep getting away with pulling stunts like this. I'm gonna have to punish you." He winced at her cold tone.

"You really don't have to do that," he said, sounding deflated.

"Oh but I want to. See, I don't know if you know this Eiffel, but you're too cocky for your own good. And I don't want it to come back to bite you in the ass when it matters, so I'm gonna do it for you."

"I'm not following," he deadpanned. She rolled her eyes.

"What else is new. Just- get over here," she motioned  for him to come closer, and again when he didn't listen. She gave him a once over and sighed. He was completely stiff.

"God, just relax. You're not in trouble-"

"Whew, that's a relief."

"But I am pissed off. Damnit Eiffel, you know how nasty that stuff is on its own, did you really feel the need to swap the sugar for the salt?" she asked exasperated. He had to hide behind his hand to muffle his giggles.

"You think that's funny?" she asked, crossing her arms. He gave a shy nod, a rather proud grin on his face as his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

"In that case, let me give you something to really laugh about," she growled. Before Eiffel could know what hit him, Minkowski rammed into him and immediately began scribbling her fingers over his ribs.

"Ahahaha whahahat thehe hehehell?" he cried, doubled over in laughter.

"You love pulling pranks and being such a jokester, so I just thought I'd help you get a few laughs," she said, fake sweetness dripping from her voice.

"Whahahat dohoho you wahahant from mehehe?" he screeched, glueing his arms to his sides as a feeble attempt at protection.

"Oh nothing, just revenge for making my life a three ring circus," she teased, and even he chuckled harder at that. Encouraged, she crawled her fingers up to his armpits, earning a loud shriek of laughter. He stumbled back and she followed, hands raised with wiggling fingers.

Nervous giggles bubbled up his throat before she could even touch him again, but once she did, he was in hysterics.

Eiffel learned an important lesson that day. And he intended to learn it again.