#yes Valdis is built like that for a reason

[lord-prey]

Did I ever post this here?

Anyways I just think it’s neat

[paxcallow]

Fortified

Having a best bud who can apparently read auras like really accurate mood rings is pretty convenient when you had issues healthily expressing your emotions even before you were betrayed by the people you trusted. It’s pretty inconvenient in basically every other way.

OH YEAH BUDDY! INSPIRED BY THAT ANON WHAT ASKED ABOUT THE SIGHT, I FINALLY GET AROUND TO POSTING A STORY INVOLVING TICKLING. #GetCringe2024 is fully realized.

enjoy!! involves my OCs dirk and rose (the b team) and is somewhat hurt/comfort? mostly comfort.

it also indirectly mentions a pretty major spoiler for the sight! if you care!

x 3,072 wordz.

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Rose Valdis was sleeping over for the first time. Though to Dirk, it didn’t feel like a particularly special occasion.

Firstly, because Rose had in fact climbed through Dirk’s bedroom window in the middle of the night once- long story- so she’d already seen his house after dark, and secondly… well, this wasn’t exactly a sleepover.

Tonight, Rose was here to guard him.

The reason why was another long story, and not a fun one.

… You know what is fun, though? Blanket forts!

It’s fun to build them in your living room with sleeping bags inside so your big brother doesn’t have a conniption at the idea of a girl staying in your bedroom while she serves as your bodyguard. Putting aside his world being turned upside down by the knowledge of spirits and Seers and factions and treachery and wacky stuff like that, Angus had been a teenager once too, and he knew what teenagers could get up to.

Not like he needs to worry about that with me and Rose, Dirk thought, lying inside the fort, staring emptily ahead at the blanket wall. Valdis made him think and feel very silly things, but the more time went by, the more he thought he wouldn’t ever be interested in… that kind of thing. A prospect like that would’ve troubled him before, but certainly not now. It didn’t seem important, now.

His body felt heavy.

The flap of the fort opened, and in stepped Rose, hunched over. Dirk had been feeling claustrophobic for obvious reasons, so he built the thing wide and tall enough that she didn’t need to crawl to get inside.

She sat down beside him, and in the corner of his eye he could see those anglers that got her hair into that perfectly triangular shape, and the long, flowing sleeves of the silk pajamas she’d just changed into. Yes, he noticed it was something she could fight in, if need be.

When he said nothing, she asked, “Likest thou company?”

A sigh huffed out of Dirk. Here it came: the pity. “You don’t need to feel sorry for me, Rose.”

“Then I feel it not.” She shifted, getting comfortable on her sleeping bag. The one she wouldn’t actually be using tonight. “But I needn’t pity thee to observe.”

Dirk swallowed. “Observe what?”

“Thou hast been not so talkative of late,” she replied, sounding somehow like she was changing the subject. “Least, not so talkative as the Dirconius I know.”

“Mm. Been kinda preoccupied lately, if you’ll recall,” he droned.

Silence. Her gaze on the back of his head.

“… Thine aura,” she seemed to finally answer his question. “Tis a plant searching for sun, these near days. Gray,” she murmured. “Nebulous and cold. And sending out runners.”

Dirk paused… then rolled onto his back to look at her. Her expression wasn’t pitying. Well, Rose wasn’t really expressive in general, beyond that neutral smile of hers. It wasn’t here now, but she was unjudging; looking back at him and awaiting a response.

She’d talked plenty about her aura-sight before- she’d even shared it- but in Dirk’s experience, she didn’t often tell people directly what their aura looked like in the moment. Maybe she thought it was bad etiquette or something. So maybe this observation felt especially important to share.

“Do you want company?” She repeated.

‘Runners.’ For once, he could visualize what she was talking about. He pictured a pathetic little fart cloud surrounding him, trailing tendrils off across the floor and reaching out for… anyone.

Yeah, he felt isolated. He felt alone, and he didn’t want to, and was that so shameful? No, unless you’re a supervillain.

Problem was, Dirk didn’t fit in with this new group. With the Sight. For the past three, four months he had been their recurring villain; actively trying to thwart them at every turn. And still, when what happened, happened… they took him into the fold, no questions asked. Swore to protect him.

But they were all awkward around him now. Or tense. Or they pitied him. That Ridley kid seemed sort of okay when not being a complete showoff, the spirits were… spirits, and Miguel, eh, major square but he at least was logical.

And Gwen Friede… god, she saved his life, but…

Dirk’s hands closed into fists.

… But when it came down to it, Rose was the one he had a rapport with before all this. He kind of got her. And while Rose had trouble getting a lot of things, she got feelings better than most. She got him. She had since they met.

Rose was the only person right now he could call his friend.

With that thought, before he could stop himself, he was pushing up off his back and throwing his arms around her shoulders in a hug.

Rose gasped, taken off guard. Dirk rested his cheek on her shoulder and shut his eyes, trying to create distance from this very silly thing he was doing. As futile as he knew that was, it’d at least stop him from immediately pulling away.

“No point lying to you,” he finally muttered. “Is there?”

“Nay,” Rose whispered back. “None at all, my friend.”

In turn, her arms and those flowy sleeves encircled Dirk, too. It was a relief.

“… Thanks for comin’ over,” he said. And then, quickly, “I mean, not the guarding thing, I know it’s just your job. I really don’t think I’m…” Long story. “… Like, those guys would haffta have the stones the size of Nowata to actually try and…” Long story. “S-so I’m not really. Worried about that.”

He didn’t think that counted as a lie, because not even he was sure if it was.

“But stuff’s weird right now,” he sighed, unconsciously squeezing her a little tighter and hoping she didn’t notice. “Really weird. And you’ll hate hearing it, but at this point you’re the most normal part of my life.”

“Scoundrel…!” Rose jestingly hissed at the thought.

She fell silent then, and right when Dirk was worrying this hug was going on long enough to be considered awkward, he felt a hand start to move, fingers drawing light circles on his back.

Hesitant as he was to accept it without protest… it felt nice. Then those fingers curled, and the tracing turned to scratching. And that felt nicer. His eyelids fluttered. His mom used to do this when he was a kid. It’d been a while since he was touched like this, and frankly, he missed it a lot more lately.

So he quietly breathed, letting it happen, and Rose took it as endorsement to scritch wider circles across his back. Much wider, actually, to the point that he twitched each time her fingers drifted to the sides, itching a bit.

… And then… no, no-no-no. Too close to the sides. Not itching. Tickling.

He tried hard to hold it, but a snort ripped through Dirk and he jerked out of Rose’s arms.

By the time he shot her a “watch it” look, she appeared to already know what she’d done. And her eyes were full of wonder.

She smiled. “Remarkable. Though t’wasn’t my intent, that certainly stirred joy.”

Dirk glared through his residual smile. Mixed results. “Hey. T-tickle laughter doesn’t automatically indicate joy, dipstick. You should know that better than anyone.”

Rose shook her head. Childish nicknames never had an effect on her. “Thou’rt right; it doth not. But surely, then, a dazzling burst of violet…?”

It took Dirk a second to realize what she was talking about, and his heart sank. Oh. Oh, no.

“In fact… I recall another time I spied this shade. T’was a time ere thy joining the Sight that we needed a so fleetingly captive Seer’s crucial knowledge. The location of a certain book, me thinks. And that I sought to make him reasonable by making him laugh.” Her fingers tapped thoughtfully together. “In fact, if Memory’s arrow doth fly true, that quavering lilac emerged the moment he supposéd my wicked design to foster his honesty.”

… Another long story.

Definitely a more fun one, if only by being completely ridiculous! Though not as ridiculous as this slander. And the fact that Rose was pulling a memory from… before to taunt him with- while everyone else on this dang team was on eggshells about it, about him, about everything- made his friggin’ brain short-circuit.

“You…! I—!” He sputtered. His cheeks were heating up. “I’d just- f-figured out I wasn’t gonna be water boarded or something! I was… relieved!”

Rose grinned, a hand to her mouth, trying to appear demure. “I’ll say thou wert. Never did I extract that information.”

Dirk almost choked. “I DON’T—I don’t have to hear this from you. You’re the one who… who kept tuh- t-tickling your enemy even though you thought he li-hiheHEY! ‘EY!”

He’d broken off into a startled laugh when Rose reached her hands for him, and jerked backward, pressing himself against the couch that served as the fort’s back wall. He held his breath, staring at her.

“There it was again…” she said, almost sing-song.

“You’re a buttcap,” he croaked in reply.

“And you’re violet, Dirk.” Agh! Informal vocabulary! “Behold, I can control it.”

And he jumped again, snickering uncontrollably as her hand advanced, fingers wiggling dangerously close. But still not touching. Now, this was torture. If she’d done this back on that stupid night she was talking about, he conceded things would’ve played out differently.

“See?” (He did not.) “It shineth more brilliantly!”

Tossing his head back against the couch, Dirk punched his sleeping bag. He couldn’t take this! “Cohohome ON, would you just do it already?!”

Rose, who’d been waiting for permission, took mercy on him. Which is to say she took no mercy at all, making contact and wiggling her fingers right back into his sides. And her thumbs into his stomach. And wow, it was bad!

For his part, Dirk squirmed and slapped a hand over his mouth and the sounds that immediately escaped it. Various dorky chortles and yelps, strangled sputters, as he desperately tried to keep a lid on the laughter. For one particular reason:

“R-Rose, my brother—!” He giggled, regretted it, “Plehease, my brother’s g-gonna- hehee!- h-hear…!”

Because if there’s anything worse than (*if there’s anything that could ruin) being ruthlessly tickled by the girl you kinda (*really) like, it is definitely your older sibling bearing witness and teasing you about it until the end of time.

“Nay, tis doubtful. I hearkened to his chamber whilst changing into my bedgown. The sound of intense gaming pricked mine ears.” And then, leaning in as her hands spidered up to his ribs, hushed like this part was a federal secret: “I think he’s playing a MOBA…!”

Inexplicably, those words cracked something inside Dirk, and he buckled hard. Howling with laughter, he butted his head against Rose’s collarbone and clung to her arms, once again trying to create some mental distance from what was happening and once again fantastically failing. He couldn’t not feel it. Oh, he couldn’t not laugh! Not anymore!, and once again, this encouraged her to redouble her efforts.

“Va-HALDIS, this is st-st-stupid, I huhaHATE this!”

“Dost thou, in truth, Talwar? No point lying to me, right?” The audacity, to echo the thing he said before.

“That’s different!” He squawked in protest. And realizing his error at the same moment she found the weak spot that was his sternum, cackled, “A-and I’m nohohot LYING!”

He was, though.

Wasn’t this what he wanted, after all? To be touched? To feel normal? And wasn’t your friend subjecting you to a tickle-sesh just for funsies, just to screw with you, more normal than your friend embracing you in sympathy because you, like… felt alone in the world?

Dirk certainly didn’t feel alone right now! Rose was right.

He felt… really happy.

He was only able to have that coherent a thought because she’d stopped to let him catch his breath, but shrill and embarrassingly high went his next bout of laughter and useless went his brain when her fingers found their way under the flap of his dumb chullo hat, fluttering against the shell of his ear.

Reflexively, he pinned her hand between his shoulder and cheek, but Rose only chuckled and scritched at his freshly exposed neck with her free hand. This squeezed out of Dirk a long, helpless squeak much like that of a rodent being killed.

He tore his grip off Rose’s shoulders and clutched her wrists instead. He didn’t really want to stop her, but it was just too much not to defend against. His head bowed, his shoulders hunched up, and that strange high-pitched sound kept streaming out of him even as Rose didn’t move. The mere notion was ticklish enough.

And she definitely clocked that. He was tensed for her to make a play; pull some bullcrap with her powers to out-hand him, but she… didn’t move. The terrible anticipation again.

“Oh, Dirconius…”

“… k-kill you,” Dirk strained with the last of his willpower. “Kill you!”

“A threat too late,” murmured Rose. Her voice trembled with a suppressed laugh. “By thy dagger, I am slain.”

Even now, Dirk’s pudding-like mind managed to wonder what that meant. He was the one dying! But he looked up through tears and Rose’s face- her face, it was pink in the cheeks, her eyes squinted up from her smile, and shining straight back at him. Her shoulders twitching with that same stifled laughter.

He wanted to speak, ask what her deal was, but found his words dried up. Rose’s fingers- squished in the vice of Dirk’s shoulder and neck- slowly relaxed, and every little twitch sent a rush of goosebumps up his back. The only one free was her thumb, rested on his jaw when she’d gone for his neck. And now it gently stroked there- back, forth- so soft as to be unconscious, but it made Dirk’s heart pound in his heaving chest as he gazed back into her eyes.

And oh, it pounded. What was this?? The look in her eyes. Dirk knew how he felt about his friend, try as he might to deny it, but it’s not like she’d…

… It was a trick to get him to lower his guard, or…

He swallowed. She was so close, now.

… It was a trick, or…

The staircase creaked.

Spell broken, Dirk and Rose’s still-locked eyes widened in unison.

Rose knew it meant Angus, but Dirk, having y’know lived here his whole life, knew the bottom step was the only one that creaked just that way. So he knew it meant Angus in about… four seconds.

…

In a flash, Rose broke away from Dirk, doing an elaborate spin-move onto her own sleeping bag. She swatted her bangs tidy, and by the time the lazy footsteps made their way through the kitchen and into the living room, there was a book open on her crossed legs and she was intently reading it.

Dirk did not even know where she got a book.

Angus’ shadow fell over the blanket fort before he crouched to peek through the flap. In spite of the stress carving constant bags under his eyes lately, he looked somewhat enchanted by its existence.

“Hey, guys. Cool fort,” he said with a fleeting smile. “I’m gonna… try to go to bed. You good?”

“Ay!” Rose cheerfully replied. Dirk nodded and heard his tiny brain rattling around his skull like a sleigh bell.

He thought that’d be the end of it, but then Angus looked him over. His shirt twisted, his face flushed, his hat farther down his forehead than usual. Angus raised a brow.

“What were you laughin’ so hard about down here?”

Dirk’s voice caught in his throat. He heard. “U-uh.” He looked to Rose, cheeks burning. “Um.”

“Forgive my mischief,” Rose said at once. “I had just shared with Dirconius the word in Old English for ‘poop.’”

“Oh, yeah?” Angus brightened, hungry for low-brow knowledge. “What is it?”

Rose blinked.

“… Shiytteþ.”

Angus squinted. Dirk also squinted.

“That’s just ‘shit’ with ‘eth’ at the end.”

“Yeah that’s why it was so funny,” piped up Dirk, his voice noticeably cracking.

Angus fell silent for a moment, glancing from Dirk, a mess, to Rose, vacantly smiling down at the book in her lap and flipping from page to page.

Finally, he chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ll bet that was hilarious, Dirky,” he said with a smirk and an eye-roll before standing and heading out of the room. The two listened to his footsteps moving through the kitchen- stopping at the fridge for a minute- and back upstairs.

Dirk was going to choose to believe he bought that.

With a long, exhausted groan, he slid down onto his back on his sleeping bag. The journey pushed hi hat over his face, covering it completely. Rose’s prop book shut. She giggled.

“My mistake. Sound travels short of such ease at my abode.”

First giving himself a moment to recover from all that, Dirk took his hat off his face and wrung it in his hands. He felt so light now. “Valdis…”

Curious, Rose looked over.

“Thank you.”

“Of course. Tis the honorable thing to cover for one whom thou hast compromised.”

“N-no, I meant… thanks for…” Oh, he had to shut up. He had to shut up now. “For, um. Th-that was…” Shhhhhut up. “… fun.”

He didn’t shut up.

But Rose positively beamed. It almost hurt to see. Rose wasn’t very expressive in general. But her smile… her real smile…

She leaned comfortably against the couch, hugging her own arms. “T’was my truest pleasure,” she said warmly. And, “Any time, Dirk.”

“… Do not expect me to take you up on that.”

“Oh, no. I expect it not. And yet…?” Mischievously, she trailed off.

Snorting, Dirk draped an arm over his grinning, blushing, hot face. In the dark, his exhausted brain whispered, so soft as to be unconscious as it finally felt like it could sleep tonight, safe and aching with laughter and light and warm:

Not alone. You’re not alone.