Tickle Headcanons-Number Five
Gonna be another long one, folks, the more I love the more I ramble
Kid Number Five was always an old man in a kids body
So different to nowadays where heās
Hmm.... anyway. As a wee one he didnāt participate in all the tickle fights in the academy for a long time, as a ler and definitely not as a lee
Sounded exactly like Hargreeves, like crisp and calm āstop this childish nonsenseā except it didnāt scare anybody because he was a lil boy
Had no interest in tickling anyone, nope, absolutely none
Flashes away the second tickle wars break out, totally to his room or the study. Definitely not just right outside the door to watch his siblings be silly
Okay, so he may have memorized his siblingsā ticklish spots
And practiced the tickling movements he saw his siblings make on himself to see if he could do it right
It wasnāt like he wanted to play he just... it was always best to know their weaknesses, just in case it would ever come up while sparring, or on a mission
Vanya catches him watching, once, and he turns scarlet, yells at her for being anywhere near their play area against Dadās rules, and flashes her back to her room before she can see what heās watching
Dad makes them spar without their āadvantagesā for once, but Five doesnāt really think thatās fair, because Lutherās powers canāt really be separated from any kind of physicality, and he may have taken some shots at his neck and ribs during the fight, quick and subtle, to throw Luther off and level the playing field (see, itās totally useful!)
Luther yells that Five was cheating, and Five refuses to acknowledge he would ever do something so cheap or silly as tickle him, he must just be ridiculously sensitive, not his fault, and Hargreeves buys it, cause I mean, itās Number Five
Klaus asks Five to tickle him once or twice when the others refuse, and Five flashes away like heās been burned, this is clearly a trap, who would offer themselves for an embarrassing torture method such as that, Number Four obviously wishes to get him in arms reach
There is one time, though. Klaus throws himself over Fives lap one day while Five is trying to read, and with hardly a look at him, Five digs a hand into Klausās hip. Klaus screamed, falling off the couch entirely, not used to being taken by surprise on these things
The whole room stares at them, and Klaus is pointing like āNumber Five tickled me! Heās in the game! Heās in the game!ā And Fives just like āWhat the hell are you on about, Number Four?ā And flashes away before the others can get any ideas
When he does start playing, at about twelve years old, he refuses to act like heās that into it, but the others whine that itās not fair, he can get behind anyone with his powers, and for some reason he knows where theyāre all most ticklish
Canāt help but smile wide when he hears his siblings laugh
In his late fifties, seems to have forgotten the concept of tickling even exists
His siblings remind him, and heās so touch starved he just.... breaks but he makes sure to remind them that they will get wrecked if they touch him
Kid Number Five saw tickle fights were becoming a Thing
And went from Not Particularly Touchy to flashing away the second anyone was close enough to pat him on the shoulder
Didnāt even know if he was ticklish
Probably not, I mean, when he tickled himself he didnāt laugh
They got older, and they all realize that his powers actually have a limit- if they chased him long enough, he wouldnāt be able to get away
He is not the least bit put out that they donāt want to include him in their silly childish bonding activities, not at all.
Finally, one day, he just.... doesnāt flash away when the tickle fight breaks out
It takes a minute for the others to notice him awkwardly standing there, half-afraid they genuinely donāt want him to play anymore
But then they all basically stop the fighting to point it out to each other. It takes a lot of effort for him not to flash away at them all approaching him at once, evil grins on their faces
He still doesnāt flash away
He will die if you get anywhere near his knees, and blush and cackle if you get his hands. Other main spots are his underarms, feet, and back, but heās ticklish /everywhere/. Giggles and angry shouts and threatens and shrieks.
I know thereās this generally understood thought in the community that Five canāt use his powers when heās being tickled because he canāt focus, but I disagree. I think if his arms are free, he can
Afterwards he claims he couldnāt, and fuck them all for doing that to him, but if no one is holding his arms down when heās being tickled, he spends the whole time gripping his hands together, trying to stay in the room
If you do get a hold of his knees, or get his armpits or feet in the right way, he loses all cognizance of that, all thrashing and fighting, and actually teleports not just himself, but everyone else touching him, some random place throughout the mansion. Itās not that he can focus- his arms just do it out of muscle memory, just places heās teleported to in the past that are in range, he canāt help it
Siblings have been known to politely ask him to teleport him somewhere, and when heās like ā????no???? Since when am I a taxi use your legsā, and theyāre just like āwell shit, guess I have to borrow your powers thenā and go straight for his knees, and keep him screaming until the random teleporting takes them where they claimed to want to go
Once theyāre all on him at once, and his soul is leaving his body, and his arms teleport them into Hargreevesās office and oh boy was that a day.
From the day he discovers how ticklish he is, he blushes like mad the second anyone mentions tickling
Partially because heās embarrassed just thinking about how he reacts but also because holy fuck he didnāt expect to like it fuck
Does mental gymnastics to figure out how long it makes sense for him to let himself be tickled before tapping out and apologizing or doing what the siblings are asking or whatever, terrified someone will guess he likes it if he holds out too long
Sometimes if you watch closely, when Diegoās teasing Klaus about how much he likes being tickled, you could see Five in the background turning red and doing his damnedest to hide it
Klaus figures out he likes it, because Five slips up- he tickles Klaus, and characteristically Klaus doesnāt care about getting anyone back. Five gives this thoughtless āwhat? Youāre not going to retaliate?ā That sounds way too disappointed and oh boy he made a mistake.
Klaus is no ler but he joyfully becomes Fives personal ler and worst nightmare
He gets older, and this 58-year-old man internally swears it has been 84 years since he was last touched (at least touched in a positive way, not counting all the getting knocked around as an assassin)
Acts all composed and huffy and okay Iām gonna make my sandwich when he first gets back, but almost cries when he leaves the room to go look for clothes, cause heād kind of expected them to???? Hug him???? Or at least try anyway damn
Manages to get his mind off it till the apocalypses are over (and those blessed hugs in celebration definitely felt good) but when thereās no more end of the world coming, it definitely starts to get to him how touch-starved he is
But heās too prideful to ask to be held or something because a) heās 58 b) heās trying to be respected as 58 while looking 13 and c) he doesnāt want it to become a thing. He wasnāt Klaus, he didnāt need people all over him all the time
One day heās like āwho hid my fucking coffee where is itā just not in the mood, and Klaus is snickering. Remembering Klaus has been making a lot of height jokes recently, he starts to look for high places Klaus could have hid them, and sure enough, itās on the highest shelf in a nearby cabinet
Helps with his dignity that he can teleport himself onto the counter but he still has to reach for a the damn thing. He refuses to ask for help so he just reaches up, half-climbing-cussing Klaus out in his head.
Klaus sneaks up behind him and pokes fingers into his armpits and Five shrieks and slams his arms down, losing balance. Klaus keeps his hands there, making Five falls against him instead of hitting the floor, but then keeps on wriggling his fingers, and Five just falls apart
The whole family quickly knows, as Five loses all control of himself immediately and ends up flashing he and Klaus into every room of the mansion.
Klaus is all smug when he stops until he realizes Five has started crying and gets really worried heās overstepped, trying to help him sit up and apologizing
Five just starts hugging him and the siblings appear to find Five crying and clinging to Klaus for dear life
Nobody asks him what that was about after the fact but within the next week everyone spends some quality time with him (and thereās a lot of hugging and hair-ruffling and hand-squeezing, and Five acts all huffy but never tells any of them not to)
He and Klaus start many of the household tickle fights, from then on.