I know I have a couple of requests, but this is the only thing I have motivation for right now
Thunderstorms
Warnings: Tickle fic, descriptions of a panic attack, implied separation anxiety, also the tickling is mainly at the end of the fic for this one
Pairing: Ler! Eda, Lee! Collector (Platonic)
Words: 3000+
(I’ll also be referring to the Collector as he or they throughout the story as that’s what they use!)
Months had passed since the Collector’s colourful takeover of the Boiling Isle’s. Well, he didn’t really mean to take over. The child had only been searching for friends his entire life, and being around Belos for hundreds of years practically crushed any sense of morality he had at the time. Luckily for him, but also for the rest of the Isles, Luz and her friends returned from the human realm to put a stop to the Collector’s reign, which consisted of befriending him, and dealing with Belos. After all, the child didn’t know what they were doing, and it’s not like they were going to kill them.
Eda had agreed, well insisted, on keeping the Collector at The Owl House, mainly to teach him how to control his power, which even surprised Eda with how well they were managing it at such a young age. They simply lost control if they were too overwhelmed. She even helped teach the kid some morals with the help of Luz and King. He even got him own room, which should’ve been nice for him, I mean they decorated it with stickers of stars, moons and even created some nice purple lighting for themselves as it reminded them of the night sky. And while the room looked nice, every night after Eda tucked him in and left the room, he would always feel…bad . That’s the only way he could describe it, he just felt bad, like worried, but also sad. They were always so worried that Eda would never reopen that door in the morning. The Collector rarely managed to get themselves any sleep like this, and on the special occasions he did, it was plagued by nightmares, horrible, horrible nightmares and he hated them so much! He could remember Belos, all the lies he fed into the child, being sealed away for hundreds of years, but he also saw things that never happened, like Eda leaving him or King running away from him. It wasn’t scary in a way that someone would be scared of a spider, or Hooty, it was scary in an existential way. It was scary in the way that he always thought it would happen. It was scary in the way that he already lived through it.
‘After the Day of Unity, you can be free.’
The words rang through the child’s prison, the only thing to keep him company being the endless piles of random kink littered across the dimension and of course, Belos. The boy held onto his hood, his eyes already teary at the sight of this place as he wondered around.
‘But you promised to let me go! I taught you magic stronger then anybody’s!’ He argued, his voice came off angry, and he certainly was at the prospect of being lied too, but he couldn’t deny just how scared he was in the moment. Millions of thoughts ran through his head, but it was like they were all foggy. Desperation practically leaked through his voice as he scrambled around, trying to say anything to convince Belos to release him, but in the end, he was just thrown away into a pit, his voice echoing all the way down as dread began to fill him. The relic he was imprisoned in touched the bottom of the inky abyss he was discarded into, like a children’s toy; he stared up helplessly as sunlight became a memory to him.
It was only then that the Collector woke up, almost jumping out of his bed in fear. He squeezed his eyes shut, his face scrunching up as their hands practically dug into his blanket, holding it like their life depended on it. The powerful being took in as much air as his mouth would allow,the cooling feeling of terror filling his body soon fizzling up ever so slowly, only to be left with an empty void of sorrow. They absolutely hated feeling this way over just a dream, it made them think they were more immature then they already were. His red eyes gazed over to the window, desperate to take his mind off that horrific dream. However, his slow movements was interrupted by a loud boom coming from outside. The Collector flinched backwards, biting down on his inner cheek hard, their head stared down at the protective bedsheets enveloping his small body. ‘Please, not now..’ he whimpered ever so quietly, the stream of rain plummeting against the ground becoming more aware to then. The being let out a shaky breath, greedily inhaling repeatedly afterwards as he buried his face in his hands. The child has never been fond of thunderstorms, he hated them in fact, they were too loud and too sudden for his liking. And given the petrified state he was already in, he wasn’t capable of handling them, at all.
Another crash echoed throughout his window.
‘It’s okay, it’s okay, remember what Luz said, it’s just thunder..’ they whispered to themselves, their voice becoming louder in an attempt to drown out the noise.
Crash!
‘I can do this, I can do this..’ he said, the Collector’s voice becoming more squeaky as fear began to become more apparent in his face.
Another boom of thunder was all it took to send the Collector practically flying out of his bed. Their breathing quickly descended into panicky intakes of oxygen as they messily discarded their bed sheets to the side. ‘I can’t do this!’ He wailed, feeling tears began to prickle in his eyes. He couldn’t stay like this any longer; he couldn’t bare another second of it. Startled, the enby reached around for their door handle before quickly flinging it open.
‘Eda!’ They shrieked, bolting out of their confining room and running down the hallway. He could feel bad about waking people up later, he needed someone, anyone to help him through this, he couldn’t stay another second in that room. It was too scary, too dark, too alone for them to remain there. Eda’s practically shot open as she heard her- the kid screaming in the halls. She know the Collector was a child, but they had a lot of power and didn’t seem to be scared by most things, they usually found most things exciting or interesting. So hearing him practically scream in fear left a sinking feeling in her stomach. Her covers were quickly thrown off of her as she immediately began running out of her room, immediately shaking off her tiredness. The woman was normally more grouchy when she woke up, but it’s not like she could afford to leave the Collector like that. The woman practically ripped open the door, stepping into the hallway as she turned her face to the Collector’s room, seeing the door flung open and the child blindly running towards her.
The Collector had their eyes squeezed shut, unable to take in their surroundings as their feet pounded against the ground. It wasn’t until the sight of a taller figure in front of him that he managed to slow down a bit. If anyone could help him through this, to get over that awful nightmare, it would be Eda. He needed Eda. The child desperately pounced up at Eda’s leg, overestimating how much force she could take as they accidentally knocked her over onto the ground. ‘Ah!’ Eda let out a sudden yelp of surprise at she fell to the ground, barely able to use her arms to break her fall in time. However, it wasn’t falling she was worried about, it was the state that the Collector was in.
The child of the stars was in front of her, sitting on his knees with an expression of guilt and fear spread across his face. They tried to take in a breath, but they couldn’t even focus on that, leading to them only quick, short breaths and before he knew it, he was hyperventilating. His hands buried themselves in the roots of his fluffy white hair, his crimson eyes pointing down at the floor, not wanting to face Eda. It had only been a mistake, one Eda didn’t mind, but still, he knocked her over. He woke her up in the middle of the night, pushed her down, all for what? Because he couldn’t handle a thunderstorm? How was he supposed to explain that now? There was no way Eda would help him, she’ll get mad and send him back to his room or maybe just leave him. His mind spiralled with wilder and wilder ideas by the second, stressed out of his mind. However, in his panic, he could feel himself being picked up, slowly and softly. He barely managed to stare up at Eda, and while he was expecting her to be mad and start berating him, her face was riddled with concern for the enby. It didn’t take long until the witch had the child on her lap, with their heads facing each other. ‘I-I’m sorry..’ was all the Collector managed to choke out, great, now he’d made Eda worried! She shouldn’t have to waste her time with something like this when she could be getting sleep. ‘Oh, starlight, you have nothing to be sorry for, just please, let’s get your breathing under control, okay?’ Eda reassured him, her voice a lot more soft then it usual was. She placed her hands on The Collector’s shoulders, gently squeezing them to keep him grounded. The child of the stars meekly stared back up at her, their breathing still a hyperventilating mess. The child spluttered for breath, clenching his fists as he struggled to even take in air. How was he not even able to breath properly for Eda? Why couldn’t he do anything right?! He thought, his mind swirling around in a toxic circle, fuelled by his own fear.
‘I-I can’t..’ they mumbled, their voice getting quieter and more meek then usual; probably a sign they were getting very short on breath. Eda’s gaze toughened, not in a mean or judging kind of way, it was more of a determined fashion. There was still a glint of softness in her pupils towards the child. ‘Of course you can, here, starlight, just look at me, okay? Just copy me, that’s all you need to do, you’re safe,’ the witch comforted them, her multicoloured eye looking against the Collector’s red ones. Slowly but surely, his breathing began getting more stable and calm, he still looked slightly on edge and his body was tense, but at least progress was being made. The Collector soon curled up on her lap, hugging his knees to his chest with a fairly strong grip. There was a comfortable silence for a couple moments, something they definitely needed after all that. It was soon broken by Eda however, her hand resting against the child’s side as she spoke. ‘Do you want to tell me what all that was about?’ The woman asked, not trying to sound pushy. She figured if the Collector had a problem, especially one that left them this petrified, it would be better to solve it. The enby thought for a moment, before giving a small nod and just mumbling ‘n-nightmares..’.
Ah, of course. A child of the stars is still a child after all. Oh well, at least this wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle. ‘Okay then, Coli, do you wanna talk about them?’ She prompted, earning a whimper from the Collector. It seemed like they had suddenly lost the ability to speak at the thought of talking about the recurring, plaguing, horrific dreams. It felt like an invisible barrier was between his brain and his mouth, even though he knew it would help Eda, and more importantly himself, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. And he didn’t need to. ‘Okay, that’s alright, starlight, you don’t have to talk about it. Do you wanna stay in my room for the night, or should I get you back to your bed?’ The Collector blinked slowly, it felt like the option of being able to stay with someone, anyone else for the night had pulled a weight off his heart. ‘You, please..’ he answered in a resigned tone, barely able to open his mouth to answer but it was a start.
Eda nodded down at the child, her arms wrapping around them a little tighter as she stood up, still cradling the enby in her arms. She even began rocking him slightly, wanting to make sure he was as comfortable as possible after such a stressful night. It certainly worked, the Collector’s breathing had returned to normal at this point. Good, Eda thought, at least she was making progress with the kid. Or at least so she thought. Another crash of thunder caused the Collector to flinch back into the witch’s arms, their hands grabbed the edges of his hood as he pulled it tightly around his eyes. The Collector pressed their eyes shut, his breathing hitched for just a moment before he heard Eda speak. ‘Oh, you don’t like the thunder, do you?’ The woman observed, making them blush slightly; being scared of thunderstorms was always embarrassing for them, they had only told Luz about it and she had reassured him, he just couldn’t help but think like that. The Collector nodded, making a small humming sound as he snuggled closer against the Clawthorne, finding her comforting to be around. ‘Okay, thanks for telling me, that was really brave of you,’ she told him, the simply bundle of words instantly putting a smile on the child’s face. ‘We’ll be able to handle the thunder together, alright?’ She asked, bumping open the door to her room with her hip.
While in the human realm, the Collector could’ve been given a pair of headphones to help with their fear, nothing was that simple in the demon realm. Eda took to casting a hex inside her room, the vibrant, yellow lines of her magic slithered around the room, illuminating it for a couple moments before dying down. The result of the magic was to silence any noise coming from the outside of the room, and vice versa, something that would hopefully console the Collector. The child then raised its head, pulling back down their hood curiously. The splattering of the rain was completely gone, the Owl House had never sounded this peaceful to them! His mouth parted into a small ‘O’ shape at the comforting silence before staring back up at Eda, his red eyes full of wonder. ‘This is amazing, thank you, m- Eda!’ They exclaimed, kicking their legs slightly in excitement of the new found peace. It was like Eda was a safety blanket for them, something to rely on, someone to stay with, someone to truly live with them. It felt like he was truly alive.
‘Ah, you don’t have to worry about it, you little rascal!’ She smiled down at him, a single gold fang showing, glinting with mischief. Suddenly, the woman’s long nails connected against the soft pyjama shirt the Collector was wearing, clawing and scribbling all around. Eda figured that after such a long and stressful night, the enby could use a good laugh to calm himself down. Even though they looked anything but calm right now, but not in a bad way. Not at all in fact! ‘BAHAHAHAHA, EHAHAHAHADA!’ The child’s limbs flew all over the place as his body wormed around in Eda’s arms, he always knew that he was too ticklish for his own good, though he’d hardly ever complain about it, quite the opposite. He loved the touch, at any opportunity really. Being starved from contact for so long left him craving for any kind of affection, including tickling. He’d normally have to annoy the people around him to get tickling, so not having to ask in this situation was an even better bonus. ‘Yeeessss, Coli?’ She answered annoyingly, smiling at just how happy the child looked in her arms. Their face flushed a lovely shade of crimson before they promptly raised their arms to bury their face in their slightly oversized sleeves. Not only was Eda a great tickler, given she had years of experience, she was also an amazing teaser, though she was probably being nice with her teases to the Collector right now. ‘IHAHAHAAHAHT TIAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHCKLES!’ He screamed, barely able to contain himself as he writhed and wriggled about in the Owl Lady’s hold, but made no actual attempts to get away. Given how strong he was, it wouldn’t even be a challenge to move away from Eda’s tormenting nails so she figured he was enjoying himself there. The assumption being totally correct, of course, which only encouraged her to keep going. ‘Naww, does it? I hadn’t noticed through all that adorable laughter in hearing!’ She cooed over the precious state the Collector was left in, their face beginning to go red as a result of the teases. He tried to hide his face in his hood, but it felt down as a result of all his thrashing. ‘BAHAHAHAAHAHA, EHAHAAHAHDA!’ They whined loudly, quickly tilting their body over to bury their head into Edalyn’s shoulder, the feeling of the fabric of her shirt being comforting to him. It was all extremely comforting to him, just knowing Eda was there with him, and actually enjoyed spending time with him.
Her hands trailed down to his hips and began squeezing against them, earning a series of high pitched squeals from the child. ‘Awh, trying to hide that blush, are we? Come on, starlight, there’s no use hiding from the tickle monster!’ The teasing definitely worked at revealing their blush as soon their entire face had gone red at Eda’s childish teasing, though that was to be expected from her. ‘SAHAHAHAHMEONES GAHAHAHAHAHNNA MEHEHEHEHE, YOHAHAHU KNOW!’ The Collector fretted, still slightly guilty about waking Eda up in the middle of the night. It didn’t matter much though, he was only focusing on all the tickles he was getting right now. ‘Don’t be silly, Coli, the room’s still hexed, no one’s gonna hear this cute laughter! It’s quite a shame for them, really!’ She smiled down at the absolute precious sight in her arms, adoring how the Collector had just went limp to take in all the tickles he could. Though, despite his enjoyment, it was easy to see that he was getting tired, his aforementioned limpness leading to Eda catching on quickly. The woman’s hand slowed as she stopped using her long nails to tickle him, and stuck to simply circling her fingertips against his sides, leading to giggles pouring out of him as his eyes shut peacefully. ‘T-thahahnk you..’ he mumbled as loud as he could to try and fight against the oncoming sleepiness, but it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep, taking in calm breath.
Eda smiles fondly down at the sight, slowly lowering the Collector down into her bed and tucking him in. She couldn’t undo what Belos had done, and she couldn’t just magic away their nightmares, but from now on she’d make sure they wouldn’t have to face them alone.