Not Quite Immune
Published: 2024-09-16 to Chaotickles on AO3
Words: 1,385
The Umbrella Academy
Lee!Five
Ler!Diego
Ler!Luther
With a smidgen of Lee!Diego and Ler!Lila
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Summary:
Five should know better that his lack of powers would no doubt lead to mischief of epic proportions between his older (or younger?) siblings. He quickly discovers he isn't exactly immune to an older affliction, and his Luther and Diego have no qualms about ensuring he gets what is coming to him. Spending his youth avoiding tickle fights was bound to catch up with him, especially in a timeline where he can't just teleport away. Set in the end of Season 3, where the Hargreeves realize they are without powers and adjusting to relative normalcy.
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The Hargreeves siblings cleared time once a month for a dinner, just to catch up and appreciate the normalcy of it all in the new timeline. Appreciating their new found freedom and lack of responsibility to repair a broken timeline. The siblings would meet in a dive restaurant, still appreciating a quieter atmosphere, or would agree to meet at one of their houses for a homemade dinner.
This particular evening, dinner was hosted at Diego and Lila's home. Lila had already warned them that they would be ordering Pad Thai because she despised cooking.
All the siblings ate surrounded by the coffee table, laughed and joked with one another each claiming an area on the overstuffed furniture or floor. When it inevitably got to a break in the conversation where Luther, hesitant to have the evening end too soon, he would begin to reminisce about their past- the good memories.
"I'm just saying! Dad was pissed when he found out that Klaus had broken the ant farm and they all escaped," Luther chuckled.
"That's because they found their way into dad's candy stash!" Ben laughed. "Can you all believe the man had a sweet tooth?"
"Hey, the ant farm never would have fallen off the dresser if the prick wasn't so adamant about us running midnight drills!" Klaus argued, but he couldn't help but grin at his siblings.
The rest of them laughed fondly at the memory, despite Reginald banning the rest of them from keeping pets ever again after the great Ant Farm Escape of 1999.
"What about the time Diego and Luther got into a wrestling match and knocked over the bookshelf with dad's first editions?" Allison smiled at her brothers, grateful they no longer fought as much as they used to.
"I remember that distinctly! And it was not a wrestling match. I was cornered and chased! Diego was defensive immediately. "And Luther is a cheater!"
Luther laughed.
"I remember that too! And tickling is absolutely not cheating!"
Diego crossed his arms.
"Yeah, but you were definitely stronger than the rest of us thanks to your power. Your tickling was brutal!" Diego shuddered at the memory. Luther definitely cheated. At least in Diego's mind.
"You're ticklish, babe?" Lila grinned next to Diego and she noticed him tense and lock his arms to his sides as her hands darted to scrabble at his ribs and sides.
Diego barked out a short laugh quickly grabbing his girlfriend's evil hands.
"NohoHOhoHO LilahahaHA!" Diego giggled.
Luther looked smug.
"He's ridiculously ticklish! I'm surprised you didn't know!" Luther watched as Lila tried grabbing at Diego's hips but he narrowly escaped.
"Whatever! Cheater." Diego glowered at Luther. "And your power definitely used to offer an unfair advantage in tickle fights."
The rest of them spent time talking about how their powers had a sort of advantage in combat (tickle fights).
Luther was obviously the strongest and had more stamina to outlast the others in a tickle fight. Diego didn't have much of an advantage, but the threat of his knife throwing skills could quickly dissuade a tickle attack. Allison could rumor her siblings to turn on another victim or rumor someone to be more ticklish than they actually were. Klaus never really put up much of a fight against his siblings. He never minded being tickled to pieces. Five would blip to a safe part of the house to remain in hiding while his siblings would tickle each other half to death. Ben would occasionally use his tentacles to tickle his siblings. Viktor was generally excluded but had a few memories of being dragged into the fray.
They laughed and chattered at the memories of their tickle fights. All of them except... Five.
Five had grown... uncomfortable to say the least. Having usually vanished the moment dog piles typically turned into tickle brawls, he had almost no experience being the victim of tickle fights with his siblings.
And unfortunately, Diego and Luther noticed his uncomfortable demeanor.
Diego and Luther had returned to the original argument of using Luther's strength to cheat in a tickle fight.
"How is that worse than Five teleporting away to avoid ever getting tickled at all?" Luther argued chuckling and shooting a glance at Five.
Uh oh.
Five definitely didn't like where this was going.
"Well, nobody can cheat at tickle fights because none of us have powers anymore," Viktor tried to take the locked stares of Diego and Luther off an already uncomfortable Five.
But his observation didn't help Five's case.
"Riiiight," Diego smirked. "Because now Five can't just cheat and blip away from a tickle fight anymore."
All the siblings turned to look at Five who had jumped up from the recliner he had perched in.
"I assure you that this childish nonsense won't work on me, besides, I should get going." Five made a few paces toward the door but Luther and Diego stood in his way. Even without powers, the two were much bigger and stronger than Five. And Five quickly realized he wasn't getting out of this unscathed.
Even without powers, the threat of being overpowered by two "older brothers" intending to tickle the everloving snot out of you was a relatively terrifying ordeal.
Five tried to school his features as his brothers lunged for him but the lanky kid just wasn't as coordinated as he was when he could just vanish away from trouble. It was a moment like this where he wished they still had their powers. He soon found himself pinned, Luther, still all muscles, pinning his arms above his head and Diego positioning himself on Five's legs. Five started struggling.
"Guys, please. Don't." Five begged, something that felt like panic, but sillier, rising in his chest.
"This is only fair, Five. Think of all the fun you missed out on because you were too afraid of a little tickling." Diego teased.
"You're not quite immune to being ticklish, are you Five?" Luther smirked down at his squirming little brother who was actually much older than the rest of them. Five's mind may have aged but his body surely didn't. And his physiological reactions to being tickled never changed either.
Diego and Luther began exploring his various tickle spots and Five was trying not to die of embarrassment. It didn't help that Lila, Ben, Allison, Viktor and Klaus offered an unwelcome audience to this very one sided tickle massacre.
"Go for his knees!" Klaus crowed.
"FUhuHUck yohouhohoHoHO KLAUSAHAHAH!" Was all Five could say in response as Diego methodically began squeezing his much smaller brother's most ticklish spot.
Combined with Luther's incessant digging into his underarms, Five was in tickle hell.
So this is what it was like? This is why Five could distinctly remember his siblings being tickled to tears and hearing their loud booming laughter from across the mansion all those years ago? The hysterical begging and screaming of his siblings despite the laughter was remembered as a warning as Five hid to avoid the inevitable until Reginald had put a stop to their nonsense.
This is what he was missing out on?
Five felt like he was going crazy. The funny feeling of the tickling along with Luther and Diego laughing at his happy and snort filled laughter and his other siblings who watched him writhe around, amused at the sight brought forth feelings Five didn't realize he had up until this timeline.
Feelings that maybe, just maybe, Five could be vulnerable and have somewhat a normal existence with his adopted siblings. Despite feeling embarrassed by this whole ordeal, he actually no longer had a reason to believe that being tickled was as scary as it seemed. Because it was much, much worse.
Diego and Luther were a ruthless pair. Exploiting all Five's sweet spots until he was gasping and choking for air not unlike his siblings had done in past tickle fights.
Finally, when they stopped, Five had come to the realization he didn't quite hate being tickled although he would never admit that to his siblings or to anyone.
And his brothers seemed grateful for the opportunity to horse around with him even if it meant they nearly tortured him to death. Without his power, Five couldn't easily escape such situations, and maybe he was starting to realize he didn't want to.
