heyy, so I was wondering if you could maybe draw ler husk and lee pentious? I don’t think I’ve ever see much tickle content with them and I love their dynamic soo yeah^^
if ur requests are still closed you can just ignore this!!
Oooh! Sounds like an underrated and wholesome dynamic! Yes! Lee!Pentious is always fun to draw! X3 I think I’m getting better at drawing poses, especially for Hazbin characters! 0w0
Free Art/Fic Requests: CLOSED (this is an old ask)
WEEEEEHOOOOO!! Finally! Inbox requests are finished!! Thank you to everyone who sent in these fun requests! I had a lot of fun drawing these >w<
I’ll reopen my inbox requests again sometime this year, but for now…WHO’S READY FOR THE BOOP BOOTH!!?
Distance is a State of Mind || Hazbin Hotel Tickle Fic ||
A/N: i accidentally got carried away and made this a whole fic instead of a ficlet. oopsie daisy.
Summary: Pentious invents AngelSkype and nothing else happens
Word count: 2,113
---
Cherri couldn't see very much from her end of the call, just a view of a ceiling and a sliver of Pentious's hood.
"-this blasted thing. Just gotta reroute the... activate the..."
"Uhhh Pentious? Can you hear me?"
He looked around wildly for a moment, stupidly, as if Cherri could be standing right next to him. He seemed to realize she was speaking from the tablet and suddenly all Cherri could see on her end were two ginormous glossy eyes. "Wha-oh. Oh! Miss Bomb! Hello! Can you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can hear you-"
"Can you hear me?!" Pentious shrieked, peaking the microphone unpleasantly.
"Yes! Pentious, I can hear you. Stop shouting."
His hood shrunk a little as he blushed. "Right. Sorry about that. I've been having trouble getting this thing working all morning."
"How have you-"
"So how have you-"
Cherri gave him a nod. "You first."
"No no, you first, please."
"How have you been? It's been a couple weeks since... you know, the whole Heaven-Hell war bullshit. Things settle down up there yet?"
"Oh, yes, Heaven is quite alright. There is some lingering concern about the whole mass extinction threat, but that means more souls participating in Group Therapy. More company for me, haha.
"How are things down there? Is Hell still pissssed at Heaven?"
Cherri considered her answer. "I don't think so, no. A lot of people are still just really shaken up about Vox's superweapon. There have been a lot of mourning families visiting the hotel to pay their respects to all those who died that day. But I guess scared is better than angry- Oh my gosh wait! You'll never believe this! There's more sinners here at the hotel than ever before! 'Parently you caused quite a stir when you made that big speech to all of Hell."
Pentious smirked. "What can I say, I am quite the inspiration."
You sure as hell are, Cherri thought to herself.
"Are you-"
"How are you-"
Cherri barked a laugh.
Pentious rolled his eyes and smiled bashfully. "Oh dear..."
Cherri continued to laugh, a little sweeter and sappier than she meant for it to sound. It sickened her how this buffoon made her act.
Pentious seized that moment to get a word in. "How are you doing, Cherri?"
Her breathing evened out, and she replied. "Better now that you invented a way for us to talk. It's... It's boring as fuck down here without someone to pummel. It's not the same without you here..."
She noticed then, from his silence, that Pentious was concerned.
She tried lightening the mood. "But hey, I'm alright, all things considered. The hotel's not actually that bad. Comfy rooms, nice people; I can see why you liked it here. Don't worry about your egg down here, by the way, we've all been keeping-"
"My WHAT?! Are you- Are you saying one of my egg boys survived?"
"Oh yeah! He's safe and sound. Misses you though."
"AAAUGHHH!" Pentious wailed with joy. At least it looked like joy.
She thought they would get at least fifteen minutes in before he started crying.
Pentious sniffled. "Oh- Do tell my little egg that I love him! And that I miss him!"
"I will, I promise."
That seemed to calm Pentious down. He sighed.
"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that. I want so terribly to come down there and see all of you. The Seraphims are worried that me wandering around down there will cause a disturbance, but I don't even care. Seeing you face-to-face, Cherri, would be worth any risk."
Her heart panged in sadness. She wanted him here too. Along with the pang also came a not-unpleasant flutter. Pentious had gotten braver in his affections since ascending, and Cherri still wasn't quite used to it.
"I know. I miss you too. But it'll happen one of these days, you'll see. Maybe you'll pop down here for a spell and visit me, maybe I'll grow a pair of fucking wings and join you up there in Heaven, I don't know, but it'll happen."
She could practically see the bravado return in Pentious. "That it will, Miss Bomb, that it will."
A squeal rang through the call and Cherri winced at the tone.
She watched as Pentious look to someone at his right as she made out a small voice on the other end.
"-you get it working? Is that Cherri?"
That sounded like Emily. No one else in the universe could rival Charlie's spirited demeanor to such an extent.
The angel's face popped into view.
"Oh my gosh hiiii! It's so good to see your face again! I'm glad Pentious got this thing working! He's been raving about you nonstop, I'm glad you two are talking!"
Even from her small screen, Cherri could see Pentious blush.
"'Nonstop' is a bit exaggerated, don't you think?" He mumbled.
Emily kept on, losing herself in her eagerness. "He'd go on and on about how much he missed you and how worried he was about you, and then he'd get all sad and then we'd need to tickle him to make him smile again, not that we mind but-"
"Okay! Thank you, Miss Emily, that's enough! I think we'll be taking this conversation to the roof, ta-ta!" Pentious fumbled over his words, trying to talk over the angel before she could do any more damage.
Cherri watched the camera wobble as Pentious picked up his tablet and flew off with it.
Emily's still-cheerful voice became but a hum in the background.
"Oh okay byyyee!"
The camera was then stationary again as he repositioned himself on the roof.
"Sorry about that. She just gets so excited, you know." His face was unusually flushed and Cherri could make out beads of sweat falling down his forehead.
It was plain to see he was embarrassed. About which part of Emily's rant, she wasn't sure. Was it the fact that he talked about her to others, the fact that he got lonely without her, or that he apparently could be cheered up by getting tickled?
The idea was so precious, it was nauseating. Like taking that first bite of a cupcake that's only icing.
She could imagine him sulking around enough until Emily and whoever else she was referring to had no other choice but to scratch and poke at his sides and get him laughing.
Her stomach prickled at such a thought.
"She seems sweet. Good to know you've got someone up there looking after you."
"She really has been a tremendous help, yes."
"I mean, since none of us are there to tickle you better, at least she is."
"Ohhhkay, there it is." Pentious pinched the bridge of his nose with his pointer and middle finger.
"So like do you have to ask her to do that or does she just do it for you?"
Cherri knew how much she was bothering him. It was the only thing about this whole situation that felt familiar.
Pentious scowled. "I will have you know that she does so of her own volition, and that I, make no effort to ask her for it. She takes it upon herself and I don't protest."
"Because it makes you happy."
"Cherri."
Cherri laughed. "What? It's cute! I'd be up there tickling you right now if I could."
She had never seen anyone look more like a deer in the headlights as much as Pentious did in that moment. His jaw hung dumbly while he stared at her, eyes frighteningly wide.
He tried to say something then, only whatever it was died in his throat as he let out a... like a choked-squeak sound. He cleared his throat.
"Don't tease me, Miss Bomb..."
And that was the starting gun. An old switch flipped in her head and now she wasn't his friend, or his teammate, or his special someone. She was his nemesis.
"I mean it! I'd walk right up there, sit you down, and give your sides a good squeeze. You are ticklish there, yeah? Most people are, but then you're not most people."
Pentious didn't seem to have anything to say.
Cherri continued. "And then you'd start laughing, and then I'd go what's so funny, and then right as you'd go to say something I'd squeeze them again harder."
The corners of Pentious's lips turned upwards just a little. He looked like he was straining himself to not smile, but it wasn't working as well as he hoped. He shook his head a little, almost to himself, as if that could erase the flustering image in his head like an Etch-N-Sketch.
"I'd walk my fingers up, up, up your belly, and then slooooowly slide them back down, and walk them back up again. I'd make it so bad that you wiggle around, and I'd let you, because I'd just get the tickles to follow you everywhere you went. You could struggle as much as you liked and it'd still tickle just as bad. And I'd remind you through all of it that you weren't stopping me."
"Sh-Shut up!" He whined with a slight giggle. He couldn't hold still anymore, shifting in his seat. His entire face was burning red at this point, from the top of his hood all the way down the length of his neck.
Cherri didn't know if she'd ever seen him this uncomfortable in all the years she's known him.
"And then you'd tell me to shut up, because you'd be embarrassed and because you'd think that's what you're supposed to say. But I'd know that you were having fun. And then I'd walk my fingers up your belly one more time, but then I'd keep going. Up, up, up to your neck, where I'd tickle and tickle and tickle all up and down your hood, burrowing my nails in there when you'd try to close it to keep me out."
Pentious couldn't even look at her anymore. He focused on some foreign object out of Cherri's sight, and squeezed his eyes tight with a titter. His shoulders bounced with what had to be more suppressed laughter, and he shrugged them up to meet his ears. It was as if he could already feel what she spoke of.
"I'd keep that up until you were laughing so hard you couldn't fucking see straight. I'd tell you how adorable you are; I'd maybe call you Sir Precious."
The snake scoffed at the ridiculous pet name.
She chuckled. "I'd then walk my fingers down behind your hood, down to your shoulders, and then alllll the way down your back, crawling along like a spider down to the tip of your tail. I'd take it in my hands and brush it so softly. I'd tease and tickle and pinch and scritch every nerve ending until you couldn't take it anymore."
Pentious grabbed both corners of his hood and wrapped it around his face like a blanket. "You would do no such things!" he cried.
"But right up until you tell me to stop, I'd be drinking up every single little laugh. I'd just sit and listen to every adorable noise you make. Every single giggle you'd try to hide or cover up, I'd hear it all. And I'd tell you how much I want to hear more of it. I'd let you know just how cute and silly you were. Your laughter would echo off of every surface in Heaven and then all the world would know that Sir Pentious is just a tickwish wittle baby."
"I WILL TERMINATE THIS CALL!" Pentious shrieked from underneath the hood.
Cherri lost her mojo for a second, laughing at his struggle. She took a pause and then spoke, tone softening.
"And then you'd know exactly how much I would do for you, and that I adore you."
That last part got Pentious to peek out from under his hood, his eyes big and shining as he gave her a heartfelt smile.
There was that pang in Cherri's heart again. She liked it, though. It kept her believing that she would, without a doubt, find a way to see him again.
Pentious purred. "I adore you too. Very much."
Cherri hadn't realized they had been just sitting in silence staring at each other until a soft beep broke the silence.
Pentious blinked. "Oh shit. The battery is about to die. I'll have to hang up now."
"Oh. Okay. You will call tomorrow though, yeah?"
"Most certainly. As long as you keep those tantalizing words out of your mouth" He warned.
"What, you mean like how I'd cootchie coo you or..."
"Okay, I'm hanging up now!"
---
chat have i cooked or am i just really sleep-deprived. so many times while writing this i had to stop and catch my breath cause i was freaking the fuck out 😭 i gave myself a lee mood with my own damn fic i hate it here /nsrs
Despite Everything, It's Still Us || Hazbin Hotel Tickle Fic ||
A/N: I FINALLY FINISHED THIS WIP! took a hot second but it's here! pentious is TOO much fun to write for, and these two make a very cute couple. bon appetit!
Summary: Sir Pentious and Cherri Bomb get into a bit of a tussle with ticklish assault
Word count: 2,190
---
"You slippery little fuck!"
Up until recently, Sir Pentious would have been scared out of his skin right now. Cherri was chasing after him through the hotel lobby like a jaguar on a hunt, and he was hightailing it the fuck out of there.
But things were different now. He had fallen in love with her. And she had loved him back.
That second part was what surprised him the most.
Their dynamic had changed a lot since he ascended to Heaven, and yet it almost feels like nothing has changed at all. The thud of his heart still battered his ribs like a ram in her company, sweat still dotted his brow when he made eye contact with her, and his stomach seemed to do somersaults when they touched. How funny it is that romance and hateful bloodlust felt so similar.
He had made a promise to himself to behave whilst visiting Hell. He was a changed man, a fuller man than the one who died burdened by shame. He had friends now, and some sense of agency over himself. Now that the Seraphims had granted him access to both Heaven and Hell as he pleased, he had the freedom to live the best of both worlds.
And he stupidly chose to indulge in that freedom by ticking Cherri off.
He couldn't help but tease her just a little. He honestly didn't know how else to speak to her. Anytime he tried to open his mouth, no words would come out. Just nervous babbling that left him feeling more like a mouse than a snake. So, he pushed her proverbial buttons. He had to admit, reformed as he was, being a little prick was quite fun.
Cherri was gaining on him. "Get back here, you little shit!"
Pentious turned back to blow a raspberry, and like always, his hubris would be his downfall.
He hadn't been watching where he was going and slammed face-first into the hotel's wall.
"Ssshit" he groaned. The race of his heart grew faster as he felt Cherri scoop him up off the floor, carry him over to the lobby's couch, and flop him down like he was an emaciated rat.
"So," Cherri huffed, still catching her breath, "still think bugging me was worth it?"
Not really, no, he thought to himself.
Stubborn, he smiled coyly up at her. "All I did was help you with your exercissse! I'd say a thank you is in order."
"You were playin' keep-away with my MP3 player."
"Well, it got you moving, didn't it?" he quipped, smiling like a doofus. Perhaps she would lose interest in killing him if he looked cute enough.
Cherri looked down at him in disbelief. This pesky little fucker was so annoying. Annoying and fun, and sweet, but definitely still annoying. Whatever. She could handle him easy.
Popping a foot up beside Pentious's head, she leaned in and cracked her knuckles exaggeratedly.
"Any last words?"
It was a good quality of an opponent to know when you've been beaten. To throw in the towel, on the off-chance that you will be granted mercy for complying. Now was not the time to be cheeky. Now was the time to apologize politely for taking her belongings and offer to leave her be.
"You've gotten sssslower" he hissed, staring death in the face.
At first, Cherri said nothing. Only steadied herself and adjusted her weight to keep her balance.
Pentious thought for a moment that she had bluffed, that maybe the fight just wasn't in her today. How foolish he still was.
It was in that moment that Cherri had chosen to squeeze sporadically up and down his sides (or wherever sides would be; it was difficult to tell with him being a snake and all).
Pentious shrieked in surprise, wriggling around like a worm on a hook. Her touch sent jolts of laughter coursing through him, heightened by his serpent-like form. Being an animal with so many abdominal muscles is not very advantageous when tickling is involved. In fact, Pentious would go on record to say that it was quite the opposite. It just meant more parts to tickle.
He could hear his own giggles echo out in the otherwise empty room, and while it did mortify him that he was caught sounding so child-like, Cherri's accompanying laughter put him a little at ease. If he wanted to share this moment with anyone, it was her.
He also needed her to stop tickling him there goddammit before he threw his back out.
Neither need was mutually exclusive.
"Anywh-any-" Pentious gasped.
"What?" Cherri chuckled.
"Anywh-ehehe-re else!" shrieked.
"Ohhhh, I get it. You want me to tickle somewhere else."
"Yes!"
In retrospect, he probably should have known that that wouldn't work.
Cherri paused for a moment, just long enough for Pentious to venture a look up at his torturer. "Whatever the bossman wants."
With her hand, now fashioned into a claw, she skittered and crawled up to the snake's neck. Front and back, side to side, up and down; there wasn't an inch of skin that didn't jump wildly under her nails.
The other hand, went right back to squeezing his side.
Pentious let out a rather long squeal, and very nearly headbutted his nemesis with the force with which he folded inward. The sounds that he made were hard to describe, as they were ones he had never even heard before. It sounded like someone was torturing a chicken.
His hood, while it would be most effective staying shut, was so overwhelmed with this giddy panic that it started to rapidly open and close, making for a rather unintimidating display, like a bird dancing for a potential mate.
Cherri snorted at the sight.
Pentious couldn't really blame as her, as the stupidity of the moment was making him laugh too. Damn his reptilian reflexes.
He couldn't exactly answer at that moment, so Cherri slowed her attack just enough to bring his breath back, just enough to keep him giggling.
Pentious's crazed laughter died down as he laid there helplessly, finally opening his eyes to meet Cherri's.
"You alright?" she repeated, softer this time.
"Mhm" Pentious nodded, with a dreamy look in his eyes that made Cherri's insides melt, because even after being tickled to his wit's end, he still looks at her like he's the happiest sinner in the world, if only when he is with her. Transformed was the man who was once her rival. It was like there was a whole new person looking up at her.
Oh, what the hell! She couldn't resist.
Cherri leaned down to gingerly nose Pentious's neck. "Your face is all flushed" she hummed. With tender care, she planted little kisses all over the ticklish skin she had just attacked.
That, and the puffs of her breath, tickled very pleasantly, and Pentious couldn't help the way his shoulder bounced. "I wonder whose fault that is."
"Obviously yours, for picking a fight you couldn't win" Cherri stated.
"I told you, I was helping you work out."
"I don't believe that for a second."
"Good, because I didn't mean a word of it."
Cherri inhaled and blew a raspberry on his neck, right where it met the shoulder.
"EHEHEhehehe!" Pentious giggled, sounding much more like a mouse than a snake. "Not those infernal blueberries!"
"They're called raspberries, you dingbat, and you know you love them."
Pentious's words cut out in some places due to the huffs of his laughter. "About as much as I love a heart attack."
"Tickle you long enough, and I might just give you one."
"You wouldn't."
"Yeah, you're right. I wouldn't."
The shifting body underneath her prompted Cherri to raise her head to find Pentious leaning in for a kiss. A kiss she very happily accepted.
Cherri's body had started to melt in her lover's embrace, finally taking the chance to relax against him.
Which was what he had been waiting for.
He brought his lips to her ear. "I might."
Her jellied arms hit the floor as Pentious grabbed her and rolled them both onto the floor, with Pentious now sitting atop her.
Even with her brute strength outmatching his, the angle was too awkward, and there wasn't enough surface area to build up force. She was stuck.
Cherri growled defeatedly. "Oh you little bastard!"
"You didn't expect that I would simply get up and walk away, did you?" Pentious laughed his signature evil laugh, basking in his victory. "You see, your choice of words 'picking a fight I couldn't win' implies that I get a turn."
In that moment, Cherri gazed up at her boyfriend and glimpsed now remnants of the man whom she had once battled with. The Sir Pentious with a warship birthed from his own two hands. The Sir Pentious with a dangerous mind that had routinely nearly brought her to her knees. The Sir Pentious with the sinister glimmer just beyond his eyes. There was a lust there, a crave, a predation, for the calculated destruction he wrought. Something Cherri had not seen in any other sinner, that level of glorious rampage.
Pentious was a good man, but he was also a mad one.
"This, my dear, is my turn" he hissed.
Cherri had just enough time to gasp before she felt his claws spider over her protruding hip bones.
Her laugh came easily, loud and exuberant and full of snorting, as she kicked out fruitlessly trying to get out from under him.
Pentious, meanwhile, had melted instantaneously. He had put on a tough face for the game of it, but he had to deny his every instinct to let out a great big awwww!
He couldn't help it, he was soft. That was something that had regularly gotten him overpowered in the fiery tussles of hell.
He was a sap and they both knew it, so he allowed himself a moment of sweetness.
"Did it hurt when you fell into hell? Because you- wait no" he stuttered. "Did- did you- did it- when heaven-"
"You're SUCH a dohohork!" Cherri mercifully interrupted his trainwreck, shouting through her laughter.
"Alright fine, maybe so," Pentious regained his composure, "but I've got you here squirming around on the floor.
"And I can tickle tickle tickle you to my heart's content."
To illustrate his point, he raised his claws up to the top of Cherri's belly and slowly dragged them down to the pudge at the bottom.
And still, he did not stop taunting. "I could have you smiling all day long. How does that sound, Miss Bomb?"
Fuck, he was disturbingly good at teasing, Cherri grimaced.
Obviously she couldn't let him know that. With some struggle, she raised a single finger to her boyfriend's face.
Pentious promptly ignored it. "Oh my! What's this I've discovered here! A button, for me? I have no choice but to press it, of course."
He then wiggled a single claw over Cherri's bellybutton, following after it as she tried to worm herself away.
Cherri cackled with her whole throat, head thrown back. "YOU'RE EHEHEVIL!"
"You started it!"
"You did!"
"Oh, right."
As Cherri lost herself to her wild laughter, Pentious smiled warmly down at her, and moved his claws to scratch gently at her ribs, a place where he knew wasn't excruciating but would at least keep her twitching in place.
Cherri was certainly grateful he had abandoned her stomach, and wheezed out some giggles.
Pentious lowered his face down-
Oh fuck, Cherri blanched.
-and nibbled his teeth onto her midriff.
It drove her crazy, the gentle way he glided his fangs along her skin, incredibly careful not to puncture.
Pentious was still grinning the whole time, which admittedly made his task more difficult, but it was working anyway.
There were few things in this realm that he loved more than the wonderful sound of his sweet Cherri's laugh. He meant what he said earlier, although he said it to be threatening: he would have her smiling all day long if he could, if it wouldn't kill her twice over.
Cherri Bomb was well worth waiting for; well worth fighting for, well worth dying for, just about anything really.
He could've kept on losing to her in battle for a thousand lifetimes, if that was what it took to remain by her side.
Fortunately, he didn't have to fight anymore.
Pentious turned his head so that his cheek was cushioned by Cherri's quivering belly, and stayed there. Fingers stopping, eyes closing. His entire body cuddled up to her and her warm blood, cozying himself against the fire of her love.
Realizing the tickling had stopped, Cherri placed a hand at the back of Pentious's head and rubbed it, the way one would to comb through someone's hair.
There they laid, not a word spoken between them. There was nothing to be said that wasn't already made apparent.
I love you, and this is where we belong.
What a wonderful life to live.
Cherri spoke first. "You do know I'm going to tickle you again, right?"
A/N: I don't normally do headcanons for one character alone but I'm too damn gay for him y'all gotta understand
---
- 100% lee; he doesn't know that though since he's had such little contact with other human beings
- his family didn't really tickle him growing up, they just weren't that physically affectionate
- witnesses the occasional lovers' tickle fight from his window (still not okay but whatever); the first time he saw it, it fascinated him greatly and dwelled in his mind the entire night. it looked so carefree and playful, and it made him a little uncomfortable at the twinge of jealousy he felt. watching those silly moments makes his stomach flip and his cheeks flush.
- ever since he discovered those moments, he has tried through several personal experiments to tickle himself, but to no avail
- incredibly ticklish. not just in a sensitive way, but in a He Gets So Flustered Every Little Thing Makes Him Laugh way
- is not aware of how ticklish he is. a stray cat sat on his windowsill once and licked his face, which tickled a little, but that's about it
- he has no one in his life who would tickle him BUT LETS JUST imagine for a moment that he does 🙏
- is pretty clueless as to when someone is about to Get him. it only dawns on him when it's too late
- will try with every fiber in his body to hold his laughter in. his childhood was very formal and dignified, and he was discouraged from laughing uproariously, thus leading to a subconscious repulse of his own laugh
- he can't hold it in for very long though; the sensations are too overwhelming to overcome. once the dam breaks, there's no chance of closing it back up. he will squeal and shriek and giggle till kingdom come.
- his hands are all over the place when he's tickled. they're either hiding his burning face, hugging his torso, or flapping happily (you can pry the autistic headcanon out of my cold dead hands)
- worst spot are his sides; they get the most, shall we say, glass-shattering reactions. but his favorite spot is his belly; that spot gets the deepest, full-body-joy laughter from him
- tears up very easily when laughing
- twists and wriggles around if you don't pin him down
- not very feather ticklish, surprisingly; it just feels itchy
- doesn't like having his feet tickled, it's a bit too overstimulating
- knees are fair game though, and boy do they have him CACKLING
- he is so easy to tease, to an almost pathetic level. compliments can fluster him pretty well, but mostly for the wrong reason; he feels very self-conscious about himself. baby-talk though? brutal. throw some kitchee-kitchee-coo's at him and he is putty in your hands
- will whine through laughter if you tease him
- canonically I don't think he is capable of really tickling anyone... but for FUN- I think he can tickle someone as long as he doesn't have to tease. just a gentle, silent tickler that grins warmly at you and drinks in your laughter
---
I might also do some sir pentious headcanons soon we'll see
Welcome Home, Pentious! || Hazbin Hotel Tickle Fic ||
A/N: I'm writing this the night before episodes 5 and 6 of season 2 come out so this might be completely inaccurate in less than 24 hours (says the tickle fic writer). this was kind of written on a whim and probably isn't that good but im bored
Warnings: light angst, looks like noncon for a second but i promise it's not
Summary: Sir Pentious is allowed a visit back to Hell to see his friends again, and the gang makes up for lost time.
Word count: 4,498
---
The flesh still tingled from where he pinched himself. He made sure it was nice and hard in order to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
He had been lost in thought, combing through his memories, when Emily uttered the words he never thought he'd hear.
"I'm sorry, dear, could you repeat that?" He asked dumbly.
"I said you're going back! To Hell! For a day at least, but still!" Emily screeched.
Hell. He was going home. He was finally going home.
Pentious couldn't believe it. He thought it was impossible! Improbable! Mathematically infeasible!
And yet there was no punchline. No "gotcha". Emily was just watching him with a glow in her eyes, waiting for the news to sink in.
This was real.
He was going to see his friends.
"AAAAAAAGH!" Pentious cried with joy, scooping Emily up and twirling her around. There were too many emotions he was feeling right now, so they just decided to overwhelm him all at once.
Emily giggled as she was spun through the air. She didn't get a moment to catch her breath as he put her down and asked a million questions.
"When do I leave? How long can I stay? Do they know I'm coming? Do you think they're alright? How will we get there? What about the barrier-orf" Pentious's ramble was cut short by Emily's finger pushing his lips shut.
Emily took a deep breath. "You leave today, you can stay for 24 hours max, they don't know you're coming, I can open you a portal, and the barrier is temporarily disabled while the Seraphims and I figure out a more permanent solution!"
She gasped like a fish flopping out of the water, trying to catch her breath.
Pentious couldn't contain his excitement.
"Well, what are we waiting for! To Hell we go!" He cheered.
"Mhm!" Emily nodded, determined and ready. Despite everything she had planned for Pentious's welcome party, this was the one thing that would ensure his happiness, and for so long, it was the one thing she couldn't give him. No matter what it took, she would get him to his friends!
With a deep exhale, her eyes closed and her wings opened. New eyes sprouted from her wings and dress as she funneled her power into her hands. The magic felt warm, like a charge, though it didn't burn. It sparkled underneath her skin and brightened her veins with energy. Her signature bubbles appeared one by one until they swarmed, spinning round and round until-
A spot of red poked through the sky.
The tear stretched bigger, and bigger, until it was big enough to walk through.
Emily sighed as she looked at her work.
Beside her, Pentious was laughing deliriously. He couldn't seem to calm himself down.
"This is wonderful! Thank you, Emily, thank you!" He said as he hugged her tight.
Even as she hugged him back, she felt a twinge of sadness. She only wished she could have done a better job at making him feel at home here, in Heaven, with her.
Apparently her sorrow was more noticeable than she thought.
Pentious pulled away with a smile until he took one look at her face and the smile dropped.
"Oh dear! What's the matter?" He asked gently.
Nice going, Em. Do not spoil this for him!
"Nothing! I'm fine! I'm happy for you, really. Hell is where all your friends are. I understand why you want to go back." Emily tried to brighten her tone, even through her glumness. Even if there was nothing here for Pentious, he still had people in Hell who he cared for, and delivering him back there was all that mattered to her right now.
The snake bowed his head slightly, his cheeks flushing a little. He looked uncomfortable, almost bashful even. "Not... all... my friends."
The waterworks came pouring before Emily could stop them. She wailed pathetically as she clutched him again. Her heart was so full!
Pentious chuckled awkwardly at the sobbing mess before him, before reciprocating her hug.
Emily willed herself to let him go before she got too carried away.
"You have fun now! Go! See your friends!" she sniffled as she waved a handkerchief goodbye.
"I will!" He shouted in triumph. "I'll be ready and waiting tomorrow, look after my Eggys while I'm gone, okay byeeee!"
He slithered through the portal, and it shut behind him.
Emily smiled to herself, watching after him.
He was going home.
...
Pentious had expected Hell to look a little different once he crossed through the portal.
Most places did after you've spent time away. Everywhere you looked, the colors seemed to shift almost unnoticeably. The air smelled different, or the sounds had dulled.
But as he stood there, in that puddle of motor oil, underneath his familiar burning sky, amidst the screams of animalistic rage and terror, he knew nothing had changed.
Same old Hell.
Refreshing, he thought, in an ironic sort of way.
Now he just had to reach Charlie's hotel.
On the way there, he thought about what he would say. What was there to say in a situation like this? The idea of someone ascending to Heaven and then coming back down was unimaginable. That left him with nothing to work with.
He wondered if his friends would even recognize him. Although he was back in his old stomping grounds, he retained his Angelic form, white attire and all. They might mistake him for a treacherous Angel and kill him on sight. What happens to an Angel if they are killed in Hell?
Focus, Pentious, focus!
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and get back on track.
It had felt like so long since he had seen his friends. No month had ever dragged so agonizingly slow in his life.
He suddenly wondered if they would even remember him. He had only been a guest at the hotel for a few months. His life back on Earth had been spent with so few people that his social skills left something to be desired. It was no different here in Hell. It was entirely possible that the moments he had with his friends had meant much more to him than to them. After all, they probably had other friends to converse with, each other even. A night out drinking or a cozy game night probably was nothing more than a fleeting memory in their heads. And his death had surely been overshadowed by the wave of the Extermination. Perhaps they did not even notice that he was gone.
In the end, he decided it didn't matter. It didn't matter if they remembered him or not or if they were happy to see him or displeased. He missed them dearly, with all his soul, and he would see them again. He, at least, just wanted to see their faces one last time, before he was spirited away back up to Heaven.
In what felt like no time at all, he was standing in front of the hotel doors.
On the other side of said doors, was the only family he had ever known.
Come on, Pentious, you can do this! Just open the door.
And yet his arms stayed limply at his sides.
Was he ready for this after all?
Was this too soon?
It wasn't too late to turn around. Maybe he could find somewhere to hide until Emily reopened the portal.
Bam!
One of the doors swung directly into Pentious's face, knocking him onto his back. Two demons (other guests, he assumed) had breezed past him on their way out.
Pentious gathered himself and quickly slid in through the open door before it shut again.
The lobby had been redecorated in the time he had been gone. New ornamental décor where there wasn't before. He liked it. It was also much fuller than it had been last time. Guests were milling about, talking, laughing, sitting by the fire; it was so odd! From what he saw so far, the Extermination was the best thing that ever happened to this hotel.
He slithered his way through the crowd of sinners, pretending not to notice the way they stopped in their tracks and gawked at him. He couldn't say he could blame them. Six months ago, if he saw an Angel just waltzing through Hell, he'd lose his damn mind.
He wasn't really concerned about them, anyway. He needed to find Charlie.
Luckily, he still remembered the way to the lounge. Maybe they were in there.
He made his way down the hall and to the room. He pushed open the doors-
They were all there.
Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, Husk, Nifty, Cherri-
They had turned to see who had just entered. They were all staring at him.
Satan's fire, he had never been more nervous in his entire life. Or afterlife, for that matter.
His heart had risen to his throat, cutting off all oxygen to his lungs, it felt like.
His mind started racing with just how to explain who he was and try to jog their memory of who the mysterious stranger was standing in their room when he was startled by a scream.
"PENTIOUS!" Came the voice- many voices- all of them at once, as his friends practically rocketed towards him. Before he knew what was happening, he was tackled to the ground and buried in an enormous hug-pile. He couldn't see what was happening. Someone's arm was in front of his face, and he could only make out a few recognizable body parts in the jumble. He was being squeezed as if he would slip through their arms at any moment. He felt what he recognized as tears streaming down his back as someone (Charlie, probably Charlie) blubbered into his ear.
"I'm so- happ- we- missed- you- so- mu-u-u-uch!" Charlie sobbed. It became less and less recognizable as a cry and more so like hyperventilating.
Angel (the Angel Dust, sitting beside him) shook Pentious's shoulders. "We thought you were gone for good! God, we sure missed you, buddy."
Somewhere behind him, Husk (curmudgeonly though he was, nothing sounded better right now than a night at the bar talking with the rugged feline) wrapped his claws around one of his arms. "Couldn't stay away that long, could ya?" he laughed. "Charlie's been talking nonstop about you since you been gone."
He felt a pair of strong arms wrap around him from the side, and heard Vaggie (brave, strong Vagatha) speak to him. "We're so proud of you, Pentious. You did it. You really did it. This place... just wasn't the same without you here."
Scurrying up his back and burrowing underneath his hat, was none other than Nifty (endearing, rambunctious, slightly terrifying; there was no one in Heaven nor Hell quite like her). "Bad boy!"
The grip around Pentious's head was released, and for the first time in minutes, he could see again. His eyes blinked to see all of his friends looking at him with love in their eyes, more love than he ever thought could be held just for him.
Finally looking at him face to face, Charlie (dear, sweet Charlie; he might have missed her most of all) smiled, tears still running down her cheeks. "Welcome back, Sir Pentious."
Pentious thought his heart couldn't fill any more than it had right then, but he was once again proven wrong when he turned and saw Cherri sitting beside him.
His chest twisted harshly, crushing any and all words he might've thought to say in that moment.
In that profound moment, he knew of only one thing. One word.
"Cherri" He choked.
"Just shut up." She hissed, lunging at him with arms wrapped around his neck. From behind his ear, he heard a tiny sniffle.
This was almost worse than never coming back. Maybe if he ran away now and fled back to Heaven, Cherri would stop crying. She should never be crying. Or hurting in any way.
He squeezed her tight, and some tears of his own slid down his face. He had missed her so much.
"Cherri-" Whatever he was about to say, whatever nonsense was about to tumble out of his mouth, was killed on his tongue as Cherri pulled back and kissed him.
Kissed him didn't feel like the correct wording. It wasn't simply a kiss; her lips were intertwined with his and were suctioning hard enough to keep him sat there forever, her hands were cupping the back of his head and pulling him further into her as if he would try to escape (he wouldn't), their souls homogenizing into a single being untethered from anything else in the universe until they were unrecognizable as separate entities.
Why she felt compelled to kiss him, he didn't know, but he would be a fool to try and question that now.
In this one moment, Heaven and Hell touched, and he was at the dead-center of it.
"Aw yuck, get a room!" Angel groaned tauntingly.
---
Everything was happening so fast.
Here he was, in the lounge, with his friends. Who had missed him. Thought about him. What had he ever done to deserve to feel this happy?
The lounge doors had been locked so that they would not be interrupted. Everyone was now gathered around the sofa, talking and swapping stories, laughing and smiling, and maybe crying a little bit.
Pentious was deeply satisfied to hear that the Angel Captain Adam had been killed, and by none other than Nifty! He was both impressed and intimidated, a feeling he had grown accustomed to when near her.
Charlie, of course, had a million questions about Heaven and Emily and where he was staying and were they treating him well and was he being fed and were his Egg Boiz up there too and was Dazzle up there-
Goodness, is this what he sounded like?
He tried to answer as many questions as he could, some answers more satisfying than others.
Vaggie patted her girlfriend's shoulder. "Easy, sweetie, let's give him a chance to breathe."
Charlie smacked herself in the forehead. "Right, of course! You just got back."
"For the next twenty-four hours at least," Pentious reminded.
"And then you're going back?" said Angel.
"I suppose so," Pentious said lowly.
"Ah cheer up, kid," Husk piped in, "You're here now, and I say we make the most of the time that we got."
"Pussycat's right," Cherri added, practically sitting in the snake's lap, "why worry about tomorrow when we can just have fun tonight?"
"Hear, hear!" cheered Vaggie.
Angel chuckled suddenly. "Hey, remember the night before the Extermination when you and Charlie tried to see who could down the most cocktails?"
Charlie laughed good-naturedly, while Vaggie moaned in disgust. "Don't remind me. I was vomiting for the next three hours."
"Didn't think Charlie would actually win, no offense."
"None taken," Charlie chirped.
"Remember when we all got thrown into that turf war downtown and Angel had to drag Snake-Eyes over here outta the fray?" Husk's laughter rumbled.
Pentious winced. "Oh yes, that was uh- quite the fond memory," he said darkly.
The group laughed. Even Pentious. It had a been a long time since he had had a good laugh.
Angel was wheezing, wiping a tear from his eye. "Hey hey, remember that time Pen fell out of our trust fall?"
"What? No he didn't, we caught him" Vaggie countered.
"Yeah, the first time. I'm talkin' about the second one Charlie had us do while she was running around trying to save the hotel like a jackrabbit on crack."
"Sorry," Charlie grinned sheepishly.
Husk's ears perked up as he remembered that day. "Ohhh yeah! We all caught him, but he started wriggling around and fell to the floor."
Everyone began to laugh at the thought, while Pentious stiffened ever so slightly.
Angel hooted. "Yeah, Pen, what was that about? We had you, and then all of a sudden you freak out on us."
"I didn't 'freak out', I slipped. You weren't supporting my weight" Pentious huffed, using air quotes.
"Not what happened," Vaggie said dryly.
Pentious hissed at her dismissingly.
Angel cut back into the argument. "No, no, I remember. We held you in the air, you started laughing and twisting around and then you fell..."
The spider's words had trailed off slowly, like he had had a revelation halfway through the sentence. Whatever he had thought of in that moment must have been the same thing the others were thinking, because everyone seemed to quiet themselves. The silence that now hung in the air was suffocating, and Pentious was all too aware of the eyes honed in on him.
He had hoped that that little anecdote would pass on by before any thought for too long about what might have actually happened, but since when did things ever turn out in his favor?
Cherri, who had been quietly listening this whole time, was the first to break the silence. She slowly turned to look him in the face. "Pentious... are you... ticklish?"
He was so completely, royally, metaphysically, holistically, fucked.
He felt his stomach drop down into his tail. His hood snapped shut, only making him look more suspicious.
He didn't know what to say in order to get himself out of this situation. He didn't know what to say, period.
"I uhhhh..."
Angel started cackling. The sound made Pentious jump.
"Oh that's a 'yes' alright! I know that look!"
"NO! It wasn't! I hadn't said anything yet!"
Husk smirked. "If what you were about to say wasn't 'yeah I'm ticklish', then you're lying through your teeth."
Pentious flinched.
"Aww come on, there's nothing embarrassing about being ticklish" Charlie cut in. Her tone was intended to be soothing, but there was a hint of glee behind it that unsettled the snake.
"That's right," Angel affirmed, "Nothing embarrassing, at all. Just funny."
"I think it's cute!" said Charlie.
"Fuck all of you" Pentious moaned, wrapping his hood around his face.
He felt eyes on him still, or to be more accurate, eye.
"You know," Cherri started, "I wonder if it's possible for Angels to be ticklish."
Perhaps if he made a run for it now, he could outrun the lot of them and fly his way back up to heaven on his itty bitty wings.
Charlie hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I guess if it's for science..."
"One step ahead of you" said a voice from behind.
Pentious's arms were being raised over his head as Angel Dust looked down at him from above. "Sorry, Pen. This is too fun to pass up."
"Wait wait wait, hold on-!"
Vaggie held up a time-out sign. "Alright, alright, here's the deal. If he says "stop", you gotta stop." She looked right at him. "You got that, Pentious?"
Dumbly, he nodded.
Despite everything in his body telling him to get the fuck out of there, there was another strange part of him that didn't quite want to escape. He could've told them to stop now if he so chose. He didn't. Everyone was looking at him the way his nemeses usually did right before blowing his ass up, only this was a little different. These looks weren't quite as sadistic. They looked almost... warm. The way you look when you're little children playing in the grass and you all dogpile onto one of you and roll around in mirth and whimsy. That warmth kept him in his place.
He had never actually been tickled on purpose before. He had seen others do it, but he was far too removed from the situation to be involved. He pondered for a moment what it would feel like.
He didn't ponder for long.
Pentious was pulled from his thoughts by a skittering sensation running up both of his sides. At first, he giggled quite loudly in shock (he hadn't anticipated it would come on this strong at once), but swiftly bit down on his lip to muffle the sound. Not that it was really working.
He breathed heavily through his nose, turning his face away to try and hide himself.
"Aw come on" Angel said. "You can do better than that!"
"You're just not doing it hard enough" Cherri critiqued. "Here, let me show you."
Pentious's face burned red. "Wait, wait, wait, wait-"
His pleas were interrupted by the sound of his own laughter.
Cherri was burrowing her fingers deeper into his flesh, adding pressure to the touch and making it tickle a lot more.
It surprised Pentious how his laugh sounded. It's not like it was something he was consciously aware of, but he had a faint idea of what his laugh sounded like normally. He heard himself when he attacked his enemies with vigor. He heard himself when he was paling around with his friends. He had never heard himself laugh like this before. High-pitched and wild and slightly hissy.
It was...
Partially humiliating.
Angel cheered above him. "That's more like it!"
Cherri, the one who was actually doing the tickling, looked not quite pleased but more... awestruck. She watched as her nemesis wriggled beneath her hands and laughed like a little boy and could only stare in wonder at how the Hell this was the same Pentious she had spent years beating the crap out of.
"You should laugh like this more often, P" she said with her chest. "This is too fuckin' precious to let alone."
Pentious didn't think that his face could burn any hotter, and yet, here he was, with a complexion that rivaled a ruby's hue and a temperature that could have put Satan's embers to shame.
"Agreed" Angel said.
"Mhm" Husk hummed.
"Same" Vaggie added.
"Wohould you ahahall shuhut the fuhuhuck uhuhup?!" Pentious barked, mustering all the strength he could in-between his fits of hysteria.
"Aw, look what we've done. The little tacker's embarrassed," Cherri cooed.
"I AHAM NOT!" Pentious shrieked, completely embarrassed.
Charlie, who had been simply watching from the sidelines, interjected.
"It's okay Pentious! Think of this as another trust exercise."
He had just enough time to completely dismiss that idea before he felt a scritch on his lower tail. "eeHEE-"
Charlie smiled apologetically. "Sorry, just couldn't help myself."
Angel seemed to light up at that new reaction. "Cherri, hold his arms down, will ya? I wanna try something."
That didn't sound good.
All six of Angel's arms scratched and skittered over the length of Pentious's tail, earning shrieky laughter from the serpent.
Even he didn't realize how ticklish he was. It wasn't something that was ever exploited to this degree.
"TOOHOO MUCH!" he shouted.
"Oop, sorry buddy," Angel chuckled, lifting his hands, "Little too ticklish down there, huh?"
Pentious's shrieks died down considerably. "I ssssupose so."
"Suppose? You don't know? Wait a minute, wait a minute. Have you never been tickled before?" Cherri asked, verbalizing the question they all had on their minds.
"I can't say I have, no" Pentious blushed.
"That's so sad!" Charlie whined.
Husk stood up from his seat and made his way over. "Right, that's it. If this is the kid's first time, we gotta do this right. You got his arms steady, Cherri?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"'Cause in a minute, he's gonna try everything he can to pull them down."
The ominous tone was not lost on Pentious. A pit formed inside his belly and he felt a shiver run down the length of his body.
Husk settled himself next to Pentious's head and readied his claws above his armpits.
Oh no.
The second those claws made contact, he tugged his arms down to his sides with all his strength, just like Husk said he would. Only Cherri had meant what she said; she got his arms real good.
Pentious squealed and giggled like a mouse on helium, his smile growing over his face. His torso lit up like a Christmas tree from the tiny bolts of energy tunneling their way through his nervous system. It drove him crazy. Absolutely crazy. And yet, he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it. Yes, it was maddening, and he couldn't keep up with this game for much longer, but the attention he was getting made Pentious feel loved, in a peculiar sort of way. He had never been friendly enough with anyone in his existence to experience something this affectionate before. Never before had he felt completely and utterly powerless but also like the most protected being in the universe. This was, until now, completely beyond his imagination. Maybe Charlie was right. Maybe it was a little sad.
"Man, he is lovin' it!" Cherri commented, noting the way Pentious groaned a little at her through chortles.
"Let's see what'll happen if we try a little bit o' this," Husk said, not picking up his claws as he crawls them up to his neck.
Pentious's laugh deepened a little then, tittering and snickering as his hood flared up a little. He pressed his chin down to touch his chest and tried to shrug his shoulders as best he could. It did practically nothing.
"This-s-s-s-s-s feels funny!" He declared. To whom he was telling, he had no idea.
A chorus of aww's sung through the air, the sound of which only increased Pentious's struggle to hide his face.
"He even hisses when he laughs, how cute is that?" Angel smiled.
"That's soooo adorable!" Charlie squealed.
"That's pretty damn cute" Husk admitted.
Cherri smirked down at their victim. "You know, if I had known about this while we were still rivals, I would've never let you hear the end of it. You're lucky I don't want to kill you anymore, or I would've had you in tiny little pieces."
Satan smite him now.
Despite it all, he was enjoying being back here with his friends again, and this kind of fun was something he was missing back in Heaven.
Their little tickle game went on for only a few minutes more before Pentious had exhausted himself and called for mercy. He still could not believe what had just happened. That he was just tickled to his wit's end, and he did not stop it until the very end! Although, to be fair, he had gotten used to that feeling of novelty. Having a new band of friends to teach him how to be a person who had friends meant every experience was a learning opportunity to discover what he had been missing out on in his time on Earth. If these silly little games were what friendship was all about, then he certainly would not complain.
Everyone had settled back down and casually went back to sharing stories as if nothing had happened. But it did not go unnoticed by Pentious how Cherri's thumb gently rubbed back and forth over his shoulder, the touch somehow firm yet calming. Though she said nothing to him, he knew (perhaps telepathically) that she planned to tickle him much, much more often.
And that, he thought, sounded like Heaven.
---
HO BOY that was long! Again, this was written before the new episodes came out so there might be some canon divergence or inconsistencies. But I hope you enjoyed this anyway!
