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Loud laughter rings throughout the hallways of the Umbrella Academy, and Vanya Hargreeves sits alone in her bedroom, ear pressed against the wall.
She recognizes the sound immediately as Diego’s shrill laugh, his stuttering words ringing out between each giggle. She can’t help the small, sad smile that quirks on her lips at the adorable, familiar sound.
However, it’s only familiar from a distance.
Despite their father’s strict attitude, tickle fights are actually quite common in the Umbrella Academy, except when it comes to Vanya. Just like everything, she is left out.
Well, aside from today, it seems.
A flash of light, a soft sound, and suddenly, Five is standing in her bedroom.
She jumps, eyes wide, dropping her book and it clatters to the floor.
“Shh!” Five says, rushing to her side. “Can I hide in here, please?”
“From what?”
“From them! They’re coming after me next!”
“Coming after you...how?” she asks, confusion furrowing her brows.
Five sighs, and Vanya swears she sees his cheek turn pink, something she isn’t sure she’s
ever
seen.
“They’re trying to rope me into their childish, stupid games—”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“They’re trying to tickle me!” he finally says, crossing his arms over his chest, looking thoroughly embarrassed and annoyed.
“Oh. Well...Isn’t it fun?” Vanya asks.
“Fun?”
“Well, yeah. You guys are always laughing!”
“Oh…” It seems to hit Five then that he doesn’t even know if his sister is ticklish at all, having never once included her in their playful endeavors. “Well, I think it’s fun to be on the giving end more than the receiving. Klaus likes it though, I think.”
“What does it feel like?” she asks, scooting closer to him, invested.
Five frowns, looking for a way to explain it. “It’s sort of like an itch, except you can’t just brush it away. And it makes you laugh, but not because anything is funny. It’s just your body’s way of handling it, I suppose.”
She tilts her head, still not fully understanding his description. It’s a hard thing to understand without experience.
And that sets off the lightbulb in his head.
“I could do it to you, if you want?” he offers, not sure where this sudden boldness has come from. Well, his cheeks are still quite hot, and he isn’t holding himself with his usual confidence, so he supposes bold isn’t really the right word. Perhaps brotherly nature is a better way to describe it.
“Please,” she replies, a smile breaking onto her face.
He gives her a smile of his own, quick and small, but a smile nevertheless. “If you want me to stop, just say so, okay?”
She nods, and immediately curls up when his fingers reach out and touch her side.
That gets a real grin out of him. “I think you might be more ticklish than m—I mean, Klaus,” he says, using both hands to prod Vanya’s sides tentatively.
First, she screws up her face and holds her breath like a bratty child bargaining to get her way, but then all her features soften, and a soft, tinkling laugh spills from her lips.
“Fihive!” she giggles, hands grabbing at the sleeves of his blazer.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asks, slowing down his touches.
“No, it’s fuhun!” she replies.
And maybe that sort of melts Five’s heart a little, but he tries not to let it show as he picks the pace back up, scribbling his fingers against her ribcage.
Vanya takes it like a champ, not begging profusely like Klaus or squirming around like a fish out of water, which is Ben’s thing. She just tilts her head back and laughs.
Finally, she grips his arms harder and gasps, “No more!”, and he backs off immediately.
“Couldn’t take it anymore?” he asks, a slightly teasing tone slipping into his voice.
She flushes and shakes her head, still smiling the widest he’s ever seen it.
“Why don’t you like it, Five?” she asks.
If he had been flustered before, he’s doomed now. A shrug, eyes fixed on the floor. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t like it. I guess it can be kind of fun...It’s just embarrassing, you know? And they always take it too far until it makes my stomach hurt,” he mutters, hands tucked into his pockets. “I know they don’t mean to, I just don’t like when they gang up on me.”
There’s a softness in Vanya’s eyes as she strokes her thumb against his arm where it still resides. “Would you mind if I tried? I promise I’ll be gentle, and if you want me to stop, I will, I swear!”
Half of Five’s mind screams at him to abort immediately, to teleport away, to run for his life. The other half keeps his feet rooted to the floor, a fluttery, nervous feeling in his stomach, but not in a bad way.
“I suppose,” he finally replies. “But if you ever tell anyone about this, I—”
“I won’t. Besides, who would I tell?” she asks, a little chuckle at her own sad joke. “I don’t really know what to do.”
“Just...Use your fingers, like you’re playing your violin,” he replies, unable to believe that he’s really instructing his estranged sister on how to tickle him.
“Where should I start?”
God, this should not be so embarrassing. “Almost everyone is ticklish on their sides,” he supplies.
And so, her nimble fingers reach out and press against his sides, and Five instantly begins to giggle, one hand flying up to cover his mouth while the other fists itself in the fabric of his shorts, not wanting to shove her away and accidentally hurt her for something he basically instructed her to do. She gets punished enough in this house anyway.
Funny how he only went to her to escape a ticklish demise, and that’s exactly what he’s facing now.
“I wish you wouldn’t cover your mouth when you laugh,” Vanya comments. “I think the sound is very cute.”
He shakes his head, laughter kicking up a notch when she finds his ribs.
“Is this too much? I can stop.”
He shakes his head again. He can handle another moment, surely.
Vanya’s fingers creep higher, and when they press into his rib cage just beneath his underarms, he wrenches his body away with a squeal of, “Stop!”, and she steps back immediately, looking guilty.
“I’m sorry!” she says.
“Don’t be,” he replies breathlessly. “You didn’t do anything wrong, I just...Have less stamina than you, I guess.”
That praise makes her beam. “Thank you for letting me do that.”
“No worries.”
“Next time they come after you, you can always hide in here.”
“Well, clearly I’ll get tickled one way or another.”
She giggles. “But I’ll be nicer about it.”
Footsteps come clamoring down the hall, the call of Klaus and Diego’s voices ringing through the air, calling for Five to come out from where he’s hiding.
“Go,” Vanya whispers. “Try the bathroom on the third floor. That’s where I go to read cause no one ever goes in there cause of the spiders.”
“Thanks,” he whispers back, and with another flash, he’s gone.
Vanya sits back down on her bed, picking up her book with one hand, a smile still on her face. She takes her own fingers and presses them into her belly, disappointed when it doesn’t produce the same feeling that Five’s had. She’ll have to ask him why that is later.
Her door flies open, Klaus peering around like a watchdog. “Is Five in here?” he asks.
“No,” Vanya replies. “Why?”
“No reason,” he says, and shuts the door again, their footsteps and mumbles fading.
And so, the next time that laughter rings through the halls, she happily waits for Five to pop in.