I really need to change the mood here on this blog after what happened a few days ago, so how about I talk about my urge to go on a reblog spree?
I’ve been seeing a few posts about lee!Cloud, and I really want to reblog it all because let’s be real, lee!Cloud is both hilarious and adorable, and it’s a crying shame that there isn’t that much content for it (or anything else related to FFVII, for that matter).
The only problem (which isn’t really a problem, to be honest) is that there are only three fanfics and one fan art for lee!Cloud (or at least, that’s what I’ve seen so far), so I’ll have to hold off on the spree until I see at least one or two more posts. I don’t want the reblog spree to be short.
Sleep is for the Ticklish (SSB Edition) (Super Smash Bros Tickle Fic)
A/N: Wow, I did it again! I wrote another fic!
As you might have seen from my list of potential tickle fics, I couldn’t decide on whether or not I wanted to write this concept with Shulk and Cloud, or Shulk, Fiora, and Reyn, so I wrote both of these ideas down on the list. This fic is the SSB version, A.K.A the Shulk and Cloud version.
I provided a link to the list of tickle fic prompts from which this fic was inspired from, but if you haven’t seen the list of potential fics, here’s the link to the prompt list:
For your information, this fic will not contain any sort of romance or NSFW content. This fic is just about a blonde swordsman tickling another blonde swordsman until he comes to bed.
I might have forgotten something here, but I’ll worry about that later. For now, onto the fic.
Update 07-10-22: This fic is now on AO3! Here’s the AO3 Link!
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Cloud approached the door to the lab of the Smash Colosseum. He had just woken up from a deep sleep, and would have returned to bed, if it wasn’t for one thing.
Shulk was likely still in there, working on some sort of device or weapon. Either that, or he was doing research on the other Smash fighters.
Normally, Cloud wouldn’t have a problem with this. Having prior knowledge of a person’s fighting style would give someone an advantage in battle. Not to mention how the addition of a new weapon could enable a person to come up with new, effective strategies.
No, the problem was that Shulk would stay up late. VERY late. Sometimes, he wouldn’t get a wink of sleep at any point during the night. It irritates Cloud quite a bit, but he’s more concerned about Shulk’s health than he is annoyed by the younger blonde’s bad sleeping habits.
Luckily for Cloud, he knew just the thing that would get Shulk to sleep.
The light was still on in the lab, confirming his suspicions. He quietly stepped closer towards the door. He could hear the sound of a page being turned in a book, along with the faint sound of someone breathing.
He carefully grabbed the handle, slowly pushed it down, and opened the door as quietly as he could.
The first thing Cloud saw was Shulk sitting in a chair in front of the large desk that was up against the back wall of the room. He couldn’t see what he was doing, but based on the fact that there was a book in his hand, and a couple of papers on the desk, the mercenary assumed that he was taking notes. He didn’t know what those notes could possibly be, but reading those notes wasn’t his goal.
He carefully crept up behind Shulk and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. The visionary jumped at the sudden touch, then turned around to face the older blonde.
“Cloud?” Shulk asked, not understanding why the other was still awake.
“How long have you been in here?” Cloud responded with his own question.
“Uh… I don’t know.”
Cloud let out a sigh.
“You can’t keep doing this. You may not know what time it is right now, but I do.”
Shulk had a confused look on his face. “What time is it?”
“About 1:46 A.M.” Cloud answered, not surprised by the look of shock that came on the boy’s face in response.
“What?! It’s that late?!”
Cloud shook his head. “Yes.”
“Wait, why are YOU awake right now?”
“Well, I was going to go back to bed, but I realized that you were likely still awake doing work or research. I came to check in on you.”
Shulk suddenly became nervous. “I’m sorry, I’ll go to bed soon.”
Cloud saw right through that statement. If there are two words that could describe Shulk right now, they would be “terrible liar”. The younger male was known for being a truthful person, so if he were to tell a lie, people would instantly catch on to the fact that he’s lying.
Cloud gave him a glare. “That’s a lie. You plan on staying up all night doing research, aren’t you?”
“U-um…” Shulk began to shrink into himself. Clould’s glares scared him, even though there was a hint of affection behind them.
“I see... That’s nothing new. No matter, I know how to get you to go to sleep.”
Shulk shrinked into himself even more.
“H-how?” He stammered out. Cloud’s plan was beginning to show some results.
The older male slowly pulled the heir out of his chair before throwing him onto his shoulder. Unfortunately, there was no bed nearby, so he would have to walk down to his room with Shulk on his shoulder. Good thing that Shulk was rather light.
“W-what are you doing?” Shulk asked quietly as Cloud turned the lights off and walked out of the lab.
“Taking you to my room. You know what I’m going to do to you.” Cloud answered as he closed the door.
Shulk knew what that meant, and began to lightly squirm under Cloud’s arm.
“W-wait, no! Don’t y-you dare do it!”
“Do what?” Cloud quickly switched from a slightly disappointed tone to a teasy one.
“I… Don’t…”
Cloud lightly chuckled at Shulk’s stutters. He still couldn’t say the word, how cute.
His room wasn’t that far from the lab. In fact, it was only that close to the lab because he changed rooms with Ryu in order to keep an eye on Shulk. In no time at all, he was at the door.
He noticed that the younger blonde didn’t protest too much, but he figured that he was trying to stay quiet so as to not wake up another fighter. He quietly opened the door, also being cautious to make sure that no one else woke up, and closed it upon entering.
He nearly threw Shulk down onto his bed and pinned him down.
“W-w-wait! Someone will h-hear us!”
He had a good point. Considering Cloud’s plan to get him to sleep, someone might be awoken by the sound of loud laughter from the other room.
Or that would have been an issue, if all of the rooms didn’t have soundproof force fields that could be activated at any time at the press of a button.
“Not if I soundproof the room.”
Cloud went over to the glowing blue button on the wall and pressed it. The force field activated immediately and silently.
He quickly went back over to the other blonde and pinned him down again.
“That’s better. Now tell me. Will. You. Go. To. Sleep?”
At every word, Cloud gave a gentle poke to a random part of Shulk’s body, earning him a few jerks and twitches.
“Nohohoho. W-waihihit, I meahahan’t…!” The visionary realized his mistake.
“No? Very well then. I guess I’ll have to convince you…”
The mercenary decided to throw off Shulk’s expectations by targeting his knees, lightly tickling both the front and the back of his kneecaps.
“I’m being merciful. If you don’t promise that you will go to bed, I’ll make you suffer.” Cloud’s teasy voice came back towards the end of the second sentence, but it now had a hint of a threatening undertone.
Shulk’s eyes widened at the threat. “Nohohoho! Nohohohoho! Plehehehehese dohohohohon’t!”
“Will you go to bed, then...” Cloud decided to lean down and whisper into the other boy’s ear, “...Brother?”
Shulk nearly lost it as soon as the word “brother” left the other man’s mouth.
“Ohohohokahahahay, Ihihihihi’ll slehehehehehep!”
“Hm…” Cloud gave him a quizzical look. “I don’t believe you.”
Shulk squeaked. “Whihihihihihihihiy?”
“You tried to lie to me earlier in the lab. Why should I trust anything that you have to say now?”
The heir didn’t respond, choosing to remain as silent as he could while he giggled his heart out.
“You’re not going to answer me? Okay then, I guess I need to get serious...”
In a split second, Cloud’s hands darted up to Shulk’s upper body, targeting his rib cage. The move made the other boy shriek, and it broke the laughter dam within him.
“NAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!”
If the soundproof force field wasn’t on right now, Shulk’s laughter would have woken up both Lucas and Bowser Jr.
“This should be easier now. Are you ready to give up?” Cloud taunted.
A loud screech came out of the blonde as his navel was suddenly being attacked by a single finger that managed to worm its way under his sweater. It nearly interrupted Cloud’s actions.
“Dear Gods, I didn’t know you could make that noise! Surely, you are finally going to admit defeat now, right?” Cloud’s voice was full of amusement as he randomly switched between the giggly blonde’s rib cage, sides, and underarms with his right hand. His left hand never left his stomach.
“YEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHES! IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI’LL GOHOHOHOHOHO TOHOHOHO BEHEHEHED!” Shulk had been squirming this whole time, but at this point, he was thrashing.
It didn’t last long, however, as Cloud had decided that he had enough. His hands left his body, and he set Shulk free from his pin.
Cloud watched as Shulk’s chest heaved up and down, giggles and laughs still pouring out of his mouth.
“Too much?” He asked, worried that he went too far.
“N-nohohoho… I think ihihihit was… enough… hehehe…” Shulk struggled to get his words out in between his pants and residual giggles.
He felt the bed shift, and he felt Cloud’s hand on his right side.
“Nohoho more…” He half-whined, half-giggled.
“Don’t worry, it’s over.” The merc’s hand gently rubbed away the tingly sensations, though it solicited a few timid, heart-melting giggles when it moved over the visionary’s belly. These giggles were a typical reaction that Shulk can have when he gets flustered during a particularly tickly belly rub.
“Calm down there, giggles. I’m not trying to tickle you anymore.” Cloud said, booping Shulk’s nose. The action caused the latter’s blush to darken into a shade of red similar to the Monodo’s Smash Art.
“I know… I can’t help it…” His voice gradually went from sounding somewhat sleepy to incredibly sleepy.
“Mission accomplished.” Cloud thought to himself as he saw Shulk close his eyes. He stayed up a bit longer, stroking the other’s hair, before he too succumbed to his exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep, right next to his “brother”.
I’m not going to lie, I would like to be Cloud’s lee. However, I would only want this if Cloud has his true personality. If he has his First-Class SOLDIER persona, I wouldn’t want him to tickle me at all (though I suspect that I wouldn’t have to worry about that).
I would have said that I would like to have him as a tickle fight companion, but I wouldn’t be able to turn the tables on him. I have little to no physical strength, so if I were to tickle him, he would quickly turn the tables on me (not that I would mind, but it could be a frustrating if I’m not in the mood to get tickled).
Say, Shulk can be so giggly even if he's the ler, so I can picture him like that while he was tickling Cloud, maybe as a way to cheer him up!
YES YES YES A MILLION TIMES YES
Shulk's such a gigglebug that he can't resist to urge to laugh along with his lees, including Cloud!
Cloud will never admit it, but to see Shulk laughing just as much as he is when he's the ler for once... it warms his heart. In fact, it warms his heart so much, his demeanor will change (albeit very slightly) once Shulk is done, even if he isn't in need of cheering-up.
He tries to hide this from everyone who sees him, but despite all of his best attempts, he can never truly convince people that Shulk's laugh isn't adorable to him.
Cloud felt the sleepiness in his brain as he woke from a deep sleep. He didn’t dream of Zack, Aerith, or Sephiroth, which was a bit odd to him, but he didn’t feel like questioning it.
Sadly, he had gotten used to seeing those three faces in his dreams, despite all of his prayers for a peaceful sleep. However, for some unknown reason, his prayers were answered at some point during the previous night.
Why now? Why did it take so long for him to not have a nightmare about the carnage that had occured in the fight against Shinra and Sephiroth? Why did he have to suffer for so long? Who or what was responsible for the nightmare-free night that just happened? Those questions would come to his mind sometime later in the day, but right now, his mind was incapable of thinking about anything.
Well, anything that wasn’t Shulk. Cloud quickly noticed that he wasn’t lying next to him, and he nearly shot up out of the bed in fear. “Where is he?”
Normally, Shulk would sleep with him and cling onto him like a child. If it was anyone else, Cloud would have shoved them off of him in a heartbeat, but Shulk? He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t bear the thought of a sad visionary.
Not only that, but he found it to be quite cute. Shulk was surprisingly affectionate once he got to know someone, but he would be too shy to show it during the day. When the sun goes down, however, the restraint is gone, and he will shower his loved ones with physical affection (though none of the affection was romantic or questionable in nature). Cloud experienced this for the first time when his room and the Hom’s room got merged into one by Master and Crazy Hand.
He didn’t know why the two hands had given them a single bed instead of two separate ones, but oddly enough, he wasn’t mad at them. Shulk was one of the more “calm” fighters in the roster (likely due to his shyness and his tendency to get lost in his work), so despite the awkwardness, he didn’t see anything wrong with them sharing a bed. If anything, Shulk was the one who felt a bit uncomfortable with it at first.
As the two of them grew closer and began to see each other as brothers, the younger blonde warmed up to the idea. He told the mercenary that he wasn’t used to being in close proximity with another person (even though his friends would cuddle with him on a regular basis), but after a few nights, he grew to love the feeling of being physically close to someone that he cared for.
One day, he timidly asked Cloud if they could cuddle. The latter was shocked by the request for two reasons: One, no one had ever asked him if he could cuddle with them, not even Tifa or Aerith, and two, Shulk had found the courage to ask him this. No longer abashed by the idea of sleeping beside him, Cloud responded with a “yes”. Ever since then, the scientist would huddle up to him every time they went to sleep, and Cloud’s heart would melt every single time without fail.
They would hold each other until they woke up in the morning. Usually, the merc would wake up first, and he would either sit there and watch the younger blonde sleep, or try to wake him up.
At first, when he chose the latter option, it was difficult for him to get the other’s eyes to open up, but after Shulk taught him about tickling, it became significantly easier for him to wake him up.
Ah yes, that was another benefit of sleeping next to your “brother”. Ever since he learned about lees, lers, switches, and how he could effectively tickle another human being (or at least any sort of humanoid being), it became a morning routine for Cloud to tickle the younger blonde until he was wide awake and begging for mercy.
Clearly, he wouldn’t have to do that this morning, since Shulk was already awake and nowhere to be found. He wanted to get up and find him, but fatigue had a strong grip on his consciousness, and he was slowly succumbing to sleep once more. He nearly missed the sound of someone turning the door knob ever so slowly.
“Hm? Who could that be?” He thought as he watched the door open.
At first, he didn’t see anyone, and it nearly made him jump out of the bed to grab the Buster Sword off of the wall. Looking down didn’t help matters, as he saw an unrecognizable hand come out from behind the door. It pressed the button that activated the room’s sound-proofing barriers, and the merc let out a small yelp in response. At this point, Cloud was trying to calm himself down as he began to shake in fear. He had dealt with the supernatural before, so he should collect himself and get ready for battle.
Suddenly, he heard a familiar titter from behind the door. Even though the sound-proof barriers were on, they didn’t work that well if a door or window was open.
“That little shit!” Cloud facepalmed at himself as the door opened to reveal a very giggly Shulk on the other side. He should have known better than to think that there was a ghost in the Smash Colosseum.
“Mohohorning Cloud!” The Hom was still laughing as he closed the door behind him and greeted his “brother”.
“You’re such a jerk…” Cloud mumbled, trying not to smile at the younger boy’s giddiness.
“Eh?” The giggling stopped, and the happiness began to fade from his face. “Are you mad at me?”
“No, but you didn’t have to scare me like that. I thought there was a ghost hiding right outside of our room.”
“Oh, I’m really sorry. I thought you were still asleep, so I tried to be as quiet as possible. I didn’t know you were awake…” Shulk apologized as he sat down on the opposite side of the bed.
“No worries, but can I ask you something?”
“Sure!” Cloud could hear the happiness return to Shulk’s voice. “What’s up with that?” he wondered.
“Why did you turn the sound-proof barrier on?”
“Oh, um, about that…” The younger blonde started, but suddenly went silent. A five second long silence fell between them, and during that time, Cloud noticed that something was off with that statement. While Shulk sounded a bit embarrassed about… whatever it was that encouraged him to turn on the sound-proof barriers, it didn’t sound genuine at all. Cloud was about to ask him about this, but before he could say anything, he was pushed onto his back by the younger blonde.
“I was thinking about a change in our morning routine.”
It didn’t take long for the mercenary to put the pieces together after hearing that statement.
“Don’t you even darEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!” In an instant, Cloud’s body was hit with a barrage of tickles from all directions and spots. Shulk would switch spots every second, clearly intending to weaken him before he got the chance to fight back.
“Sorry, not interested.” The heir taunted him with his own catchphrase as he continued to torture him. Hearing this, Cloud nearly fell into hysterics, laughing even harder than before.
He had never suffered like this before, and Shulk had only been tickling him for a whole minute. Even when Tifa and Aerith teamed up to tickle him in between missions during their days in AVALANCHE, they were never this merciless. Sure, Aerith’s teasing was a bit cruel, and Tifa was a surprisingly evil tickler, but they had never studied the art of tickling like Shulk did. When it came to tickling, Tifa didn’t think too much about techniques or worst spots, she just went all in. Aerith was afraid of hurting Cloud back then, and looking back, he wished she’d felt the opposite. Who knows what she could have done to him if she hadn’t restrained herself?
For now, he couldn’t think about the “what ifs”. Actually, he couldn’t think about anything that wasn’t related to the tingling sensations that were shooting through his body at lightning speed. Shulk was being way too cruel to him right now.
Shulk let out an unnerving chuckle that reminded the older blonde of Zack when he got into a ler mood. “Are you sure about that? Do you think that you will have the energy to move when I’m done?” He leaned in a little bit closer to his “brother’s” face and spoke in one of the most terrifying voices known Cloud, “I don’t think you will. Not when I’m through with you~”
“Where the hell did that voice come from?” Cloud somehow managed to ask himself as he fell deeper and deeper into insanity. “Since when could he pull this off?”
“Surrender? Oh no, I’m not forcing you to do anything for me, brother.” A light giggle fell from Shulk’s lips as he leaned down to whisper into Cloud’s ear, “I just want to make you laugh.”
And with that, Shulk moved his hands to the merc’s underarms and scribbled his fingers all over them. At the same time, he began to blow small raspberries into his neck.
The visionary spoke between each raspberry he blew, “‘Get out of there’? Get out of where?” Suddenly, a second raspberry was blown. When it was done, Shulk continued, “I’m tickling two spots at once right now! You’ve got to be more specific if you want me to stop~!”
“I do?” A third raspberry sent Cloud’s nervous system into overdrive. “Are you sure? Like I said, I’m tickling two different spots right now. You need to be specific!”
Noticing that his “brother” wasn’t thrashing as much as he was before, Shulk pulled his head away from Cloud’s neck and slowed the ticking down until he was lightly tracing the outer edge of his underarms. Cloud’s laughter died down, but it didn’t stop completely.
“Am I?” Shulk said as his voice returned to the teasing tone from earlier. He looked down at his hands and feigned surprise. “Ohhhh, so that’s the spot you were talking about!”
Cloud bit his lip, determined to hold back his laughter. The action came from a feeling of frustration that rose within him once he realized that Shulk’s teasing was that effective on him. Unfortunately for him, he caved under the gentle tickles that plagued his underarms.
“Jackass?” The heir stopped his tickling, slightly surprised at the sudden insult. “And to think that I was being nice and merciful!”
Cloud took this opportunity to catch his breath and plan an attack. “I didn’t mean it, brother…”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know you didn’t mean it.” Shulk said, allowing a smirk to grow on his face. “But I think that warrants a punishment. Don’t you agree?”
“Dear Gods that smirk!” Cloud was almost shaking again, but this time, it wasn’t due to the possibility of the Smash Colosseum being haunted. It was due to his “brother’s” behavior. His smirk was hauntingly similar to Sephiroth’s smirks, the kind that he wore when he and Cloud would clash with one another.
Sephiroth had tickled him once before, but did Shulk see that? He had to have seen it! Why else would he be able to mirror his smirk?
Shulk’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts, “Alright, since you were showing signs of exhaustion earlier, I’m going to make this the grand finale before I take my leave. Are you ready for this…” he leaned in towards his face once more, “…Cloud?”
The only response he got was an arm reaching out for his stomach. Fortunately, he predicted this (not through a vision, but by reading Cloud’s face) and swiftly dodged it.
“Nope, not happening.” He taunted the other before he went in for the kill. His left hand skittered over Cloud’s knee, and his right hand drilled into the center of his underarm.
The last thing the merc thought before he exploded with laughter was “What the actual fuck is this?!”
“AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-NAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” He practically screamed at the sudden feeling of his worst spots getting the most brutal torture from the gentle hands of the younger male.
“Dear Bionis! I didn’t know you could scream like that!” For the first time in this entire tickle session, Shulk was genuinely surprised. “Good thing I turned on the sound-proof barrier, huh?” He knew he wasn’t going to get a response out of Cloud, since he was unable to say anything coherent though his laughter, but he figured that it was worth a try.
“Maybe I should be a bit more merciful…” he pondered out loud, “…but I promised a grand finale, so I guess I’ll ignore that for now!”
Knowing that any further teasing would likely break him, Shulk remained silent for the rest of the time that he spent tickling Cloud. He would occasionally move his right hand down to his knee and his left hand to his underarm, but other than that, the visionary stayed in one spot (or rather, two spots).
As soon as the older blonde’s laughter went silent, Shulk stopped, this time for good. He sat in front of him as he recovered, making sure that he wasn’t in pain or feeling any sort of lightheadedness. When it became apparent that he was feeling fine, the Hom jumped off the bed and ran out of the room, leaving Cloud to lie on the bed. Once he regained his breath, he thought about everything that just transpired.
“That was cruel… When did he get so good at being the ler?” He knew that he read up on tickling on a regular basis, but there was no way that he could get that good at it without practice, right?
As much as he wanted to know about Shulk’s research, he was too busy thinking about revenge to care. Slowly getting up off of the bed, he immediately conjured up a brutal tickle attack of his own. As he turned off the sound-proof barrier, he quietly chuckled to himself as he thought of a possible location that the heir could be hiding in.
“Brother… you better be prepared for my sweet revenge.”
Their morning routine may have been a little bit different today, but nonetheless, it came full circle.
To try and lighten up the mood from last night, I have a headcanon for Cloud.
I don’t know how Cloud’s “mako eyes” work at all, but from what I have read, they apparently glow. I have no clue how bright the light is, and I have no idea if the light can be seen in the dark, so this headcanon might be nonsensical.
Anyway, all I can think of is Cloud going into a ler mood, walking into a room in the Smash Colosseum, and turning off all of the lights so he can make some of the other fighters shudder in fear upon seeing his glowing blue eyes (or glowing green eyes, I can’t seem to find a definitive answer for the color of the light). They know that someone is about to get the tickling of a lifetime from him.
Shulk and Pit are the two main victims of Cloud’s antics. They’re just relaxing somewhere in the Colosseum (either separately or together), and all of a sudden, the lights go out.
As soon as the lights disappear, they freeze up. They know what’s coming. They can see those eyes. They can FEEL those eyes.
They better hope that they can find an exit in the dark, or otherwise, they are done for.
