Ocean Mist (Azul Ashengrotto/Yuu)

23 ~ Ticklish

Yuu woke up to the feeling of someone shuffling around. She opened her eyes, squinting tiredly to see Azul carefully trying to get off the bed.

"Come back," she murmured tiredly and he flinched, not knowing that she had woken up. "It's a weekend, Azul..."

He brushed a strand of hair out of her face as he replied, "I'd love to, dearest, but I'm terribly behind after not doing anything I should have yesterday."

She grabbed his waist and tugged him back next to her. He tried to push her off, but she was much stronger than she looked. "Yuu, please..."

"Nope." She buried her face in the crook of his neck, tangling her legs around his. "You're staying here~"

He let out a sigh, accepting his fate and cuddling with Yuu for about 10 minutes before starting up his protests once again. "Yuu, I... I promise I'll cuddle you as much as you want tonight if you let me go."

"It's 6 in the morning," she yawned, pressing a kiss to his cheek. "You'll cuddle me as much as I want later, anyway~"

Azul finally managed to wrench Yuu off of him, though it was harder to try and ignore her whines for him to come back.

"Azul..."

"I'll be so lonely here without you~"

"Hhnnggghhh..."

He stood, arms crossed. "I really can't spare any more time," he said impatiently. She made her best puppy-dog eyes at him as she responded, "Not even if I help you with your work?"

"What could you help me with that I can't do myself," he muttered, raising an eyebrow, to which Yuu responded by abruptly yanking him onto the bed under her and wiggling her fingers.

"Wait, no-AHAHAHA!"

She moved to tickle his sides, pleased with the new knowledge of how ticklish he was. He tried swatting her away but was unsuccessful as he continued to painfully laugh, tears springing to his eyes.

"This is what you get for being mean to me~"

Azul let out another shriek of laughter as she moved her hands to tickle his stomach, one of his more ticklish places. He changed his attention from trying to get her to stop to tickling her back, and soon enough, she began laughing as well, leaving the both of them trying to make the other stop while simultaneously tickling them.

Floyd and Jade paused outside of Azul's door, hearing shrieking laughter coming from inside. "Sounds like another poor soul has fallen victim to death by tickling," Jade spoke. Floyd nodded, moving his hat to his chest. "Poor Azul~ Sometimes, I can still hear his voice."

The door slammed open, revealing a very red-faced Azul and a tired looking Yuu clinging to his leg as he walked. "G'morning~" Yuu yawned. "Did you guys know how ticklish Azul is? And I thought I was ticklish!"

Floyd let out a loud laugh. "Hey, hey, Lil' Shrimpy, did you find out where his most ticklish spot is~?"

"Floyd," Azul warned sternly, though there was desperation in his face. He'd already suffered enough tickles to last him a lifetime.

A derisive look appeared on Floyd's face and he grinned toothily. "What'll you give me to not say, huh, Azul~?"

"No Lounge work for the rest of the week," Azul suggested.

Jade let out a quiet snicker as Floyd crossly responded, "It's a Saturday."

"I'll give you the answers to our next Potionology test," Azul tried again.

Yuu turned to look up at him from her spot hanging from his leg. "You have access to that?"

He patted the top of her head, turning from Floyd to look at her with a smile. "I have access to everything, my dear."

"I don't care about that," Floyd groaned. "Eh, whatever. Lil' Shrimpy, go for his toes next time. Ever since he got 'em, he's been super ticklish there~ He's even more ticklish there than he is in his tummy!"

Yuu stared up at Azul menacingly and he quickly kicked her off of his leg, taking a few steps back. "I don't have time to deal with your antics," he said, adjusting his coat. "Yuu, feel free to come by my room whenever you'd like, unless it's to tickle me. Jade, Floyd, please refrain from bothering me today unless there's absolutely no way around it."

"The blatant favoritism," Floyd whined as Azul disappeared. Jade brought a knuckle to his chin as he let out a laugh, sizing up Yuu. "My dear," he taunted, allowing his teeth to show through his grin.

Yuu let out a loud yawn as she responded, "You're both just jealous. Anyway, I'm going back to Azul's bed. It's so much more comfortable than the twin beds us non-housewardens get~"

She trudged back to his room and flopped onto his bed, pulling the covers over her and comfortably drifting back to sleep.